17: Mess
His room was a disaster zone. Clothes were anywhere and everywhere throughout the limited space, whether it be bundled up against a wall or tossed lazily onto his bed. She feared for attempting to walk into the room because it looked like a minefield to her. He had yanked drawers and cabinets open, and left them in that position, as though a failed reminder to put every article of clothing back away once he was done. His desk space appeared as though someone had laid their arms down on the surface and frantically flailed them about with the intent of destruction.
Pikachu found herself in awe at the side of Fox that she had never seen before. At face value, the vulpine was seemingly very well put together, professional, clean.
Or at least she had assumed.
She also found it extremely amusing that his Achilles' heel was his inability to keep a living space organized under special circumstances. And he stood in the middle of the chaos, hand under chin, eyes searching.
"What is the matter with you?"
Fox's tail swished back and forth as he ignored her probe. When she realized he wasn't going to humor her sarcasm, she grew agitated.
"Fox," she repeated, stern.
Another response of dead air. She wasn't sure if he was just choosing to not respond because both of them knew that the current situation didn't look good on his behalf, or if he genuinely did not hear her.
She sighed to herself before taking a cautious step forward into the mess of clothes and items, careful to keep her eyes trained on the ground so she didn't step on anything undesirable. She reached the back of the pilot who stood a few inches taller than her, causing her to have to crane her neck slightly up at him.
She reached a hand out and gave a gentle yank on the collar of his jacket. "Hello, excuse me."
He whirled around to face her, eyes lighting up. "When did you get here?"
Pikachu felt her jaw drop and eyes widen like saucers at his lack of awareness to her presence. "I've been here! For like five minutes!"
He flinched slightly at her offended tone before reaching down and giving her hand a quick squeeze. "Sorry- consider me distracted." He then worked his way around the blonde to his deck, scratching his head at the clutter.
"Yeah, I could tell," she replied sarcastically. "I came to see if you wanted to train but I can tell that you are dealing with something right now that probably deserves your attention."
He shot her a smirk. "Yeah. Something that deserves a little more attention than you right now."
"Ha ha," she mocked, rolling her eyes. "What exactly are you doing, anyway?"
Fox breathed out slowly as he pinched the bridge of his nose. "Looking for all the blueprints I brought with me for the new models of the arwings that Slippy has been working on."
Her ears perked up in interest. "That's why your room is a disaster zone," she giggled, and he scowled at her laughter.
"It's a little more serious than you may think, believe it or not."
Pikachu ceased her laughing and changed her expression to show her sympathy for the stressed vulpine in front of her. "I'm sorry."
Fox kept his mouth closed, raising a single eyebrow at her, challenging her previous statement. The blonde in turn raised a hand to her mouth in an attempt to muffle her laughter. He took note of her tremoring shoulders and reached behind him, hand grabbing for the sweatshirt. He whirled around, throwing the article at the blonde, gentle to not hurt her but forceful enough to cross the room to where she was standing. The sweatshirt met her face, earning an 'oof!' from her out of surprise. She grabbed at the sweatshirt and pulled it down off of her face, revealing a heavy-lipped pout.
"That wasn't very nice."
"You weren't being very nice."
Her eyes brightened at his retort. "I wasn't laughing at you! I was laughing with you- big difference."
"Sure, whatever you say."
Pikachu's pout grew before she stuck her tongue out at the vulpine, tossing the sweatshirt over her head and pulling it down onto her small frame. "Thanks for the sweatshirt, by the way," she sneered playfully, causing Fox to deepen his frown.
"Hey now," he began, taking a step forward. "That's my favorite sweatshirt."
"Well then you shouldn't have offered it to me like that."
"I didn't."
Pikachu waved her hand back and forth in front of her, beginning to make her way towards the exit into the hallway. "Pish posh, McCloud."
Fox rolled his head to the side, trying his hardest to not let his eyes roll at her dismissive behavior. "At least help me, clean up this place if you're going to start stealing my stuff."
The girl's face scrunched up in distaste as she hummed, sounding disinterested. "That sounds fun and all, but I think I'll have to pass on that one," she sang, continuing to back up towards the door. Fox scrambled in her direction, accidentally bumping his hip on the side of the desk.
"Hold on- you can't take my favorite sweatshirt."
Pikachu's lips curled into a smile as he paused in front of her. "How about this? You clean up this room, and I'll give you back your sweatshirt in return when you're done."
He bit back a groan before finally conceding to her offer. Besides, at worst he would have to deal with separation from his sweatshirt for a few hours while riffling through the disaster zone he currently inhabited. "Fine, fine."
Her smile widened at his, leaning forward and planting a small kiss at the corner of his mouth. Rocking back on her heel, she let out a content sigh as her eyes roamed the room. "I'll be back in a few hours to check on you then."
Fox hummed in response, heading back to the desk to start his organization there. Pikachu turned back to the door to make her leave before pausing briefly at the glint of blue that caught the corner of her eye. She bent down by the bed, snagging the loose item on the ground, snickering aloud to herself.
"By the way, Fox…"
"Yeah?" He started, peering back at the blonde, sticking a hand out to intercept the item thrown in his direction. Revealing to be the blueprints he searched for, his jaw went slack in amazement while Pikachu grinned at him.
"Have fun with your mess!" She taunted, blowing a kiss at the stunned vulpine, finally making it out of the bedroom.
(A/N) I'm sorry! I've been a busy bee as of late, and I can't write to save the life of me for whatever reason.
Also, they are dating in this chapter.
