Oh sweet Jesus… Am I really doing this? Am I really writing godamn fanfiction for Pokémon? Hoooo boy… How I wish I could say this is my first story ever… How I wish I could say that… I wrote my first in 2013. I was a naïve child then. It was a different account. A different time… Since then, I have developed a… let's just say a more cynical outlook on life. Now, I'm not going to say that ALL of fanfiction is a wasteland of poorly written yaoi lemon written by a 14-year-old girl, but an unfortunate amount of is. Then we have me. A cynical, self-loathing, apathetic teenager/adult who is just doing this out of boredom. But, I digress. You didn't click on the undoubtedly generic title for me to bitch about a medium I chose to join completely out of my own free will. You came for the amateurishly written story. So, here it is. For my third, possibly last story, I present to you, what I consider to be an underdeveloped pairing. Read at your own peril. Let us see how much I can make myself cringe.

Disclaimer: I don't own- You know what? No. I'm not going to do a disclaimer. Do you honestly think someone with the username Baba-freaking-banana is actually Tsunekazu Ishihara, president of the Pokémon company? No. You don't. Also, jus' so y'all know ("This") represents Kenny's thoughts

It was a cold day. The kind of day that you'd think someone wouldn't think to wear short skirts, but Dawn never was one for conventional pants. But Kenny wasn't complaining. At least, not about that. No, Kenny was complaining at the fact that a certain bluenette ("Is that the term? Someone with blue hair?") seemed either unbelievably oblivious, or unbelievably cruel. He suspected the latter.

"Is this okay? I don't want to overdress…" Kenny, forced out of his thoughts, looked up at his not-crush holding a rather sparkly skirt. He didn't necessarily want to call it "hideous" but he had difficulty thinking of another word to describe it with. Thankfully, Dawn sighed and said "It's too showy, isn't it?"

Kenny decided to simply agree.

"Sorry for calling you all the way out here, Kenny. I just wanted a boy's opinion."

Several responses come to Kenny's mind, ranging from "You should be sorry", to "Don't go on your date with Paul, you belong with ME!" After much deliberation, he settled on "S'no problem."

Yep. She was going on a date with Paul. Now, Kenny didn't want to be rude, but if he had to describe Paul in one word, it'll be… Well, let's just say "difficult". He seemed a little mean. Well, Dawn liked him, for some reason he couldn't discern, so he didn't want to vocalize any qualms with Paul. Kenny had simply decided to brood over the whole situation. He knew this date was going to end horribly. Kenny didn't fancy himself a "Love Guru", but Paul and Dawn seemed far too incompatible for anything of substance to blossom. Dawn is simply going through her "Bad boys are hot" phase, and Paul was most certainly a bad boy. In fact, according to Dawn herself, Paul seemed more than a little hesitant in accepting Dawn's offer.

"Kenny?"

Even so, did she have to invite HIM over?! Sure, Kenny knew a bit about fashion, but this seemed like rubbing salt into a wound. Not that there WAS a wound to salt, of course not. He was just concerned for Dawn, the way a brother would be for his sister. Granted, they weren't related, at all… But, let's say he DID like Dawn. Which he didn't. Obviously. But, if he DID, they could CONCIEVABLY date. If he wanted to date her. Which he didn't. Obviously.

"KENNY…"

I mean, for argument's sake, let's say he DID like Dawn. He knew for a fact that she didn't like him back. I mean, he found THAT out back at the lighthouse. Granted, she did say he was handsome… Not that the complement didn't made him a little giddy, but he knew that she was a bit of a flirt when it came to him. There was that whole "Do you think I'm pretty" debacle back at that contest, effectively rendering him speechless. Yet, when offered an exclusive chance to travel with him, Dawn turned him down, instead deciding to continue traveling with Ash. So yes. She doesn't like him, at least not in that way.

"KENNY!"

"WAHH!" Kenny was snapped out of his thoughts, this time more forcibly. He was met with an irate Dawn holding another skirt which he could only describe as, uhhh… not exactly "hideous", but…

"I called your name three times! Sheesh… All I wanted was your opinion on the shoes!" Kenny came to the unfortunate conclusion she had decided to wear the "Not exactly hideous" skirt to the date. He resisted a snicker.

"Uhh… I think the ones you have on now is fine… After all, it's just a walk through the park. I don't think Paul will care about what you wear..." What else could he say? He didn't feel so nice thinking it, but there was a pretty big part of him hoping this date will be a failure.

"Really? You think he'll just be happy to see me?" Well, Kenny didn't necessarily say THAT. But, Kenny was nothing if not a gentleman, so he gave her an enthusiastic nod.

"Well, if you say so... Thanks Kenny! I'll tell you how it goes! Here's hoping it goes well!"

Kenny couldn't wait.

(2 days later)

It went horribly. Who'd have thought it. Now, to Paul's credit, he WAS shockingly courteous to Dawn. Speaking politely, never raising his voice, holding doors, all that jazz. But, according to Dawn…

"It just didn't work out, y'know?" "I mean, it's not HIS fault, he just isn't very good at conversation." "I guess he just doesn't have it in him." "I guess I should've seen this coming, I mean, why did I even like him in the first place? All we ever did was argue." "I guess it just wasn't meant to be."

Kenny felt giddy. He liked being proven right. His ego didn't need much more inflation, but this has inflated it to the point of smugness. He almost felt smug enough to ask Dawn on a date of his own, but his own stubbornness wouldn't allow that. It's not like he- Oh screw it. He liked her. Are you happy? He recoiled a bit when he realized he was asking that question to no one. But it's not like it mattered. He knew she didn't like him like that. He was in the ultimate friendzone, he was in so deep she asked for fashion advice. She wasn't into him, Kenny was sure.

Dawn was confused. She felt so sure that Paul was the guy of her dreams, yet she isn't nearly as fazed as she should be at their date's utter failure. In fact, she realized something that she never thought she would. She liked Kenny. Arceus only knows how long she felt this way, but it seemed so obvious now. On her date with Paul, she compared everything Paul did with what Kenny would do. What Kenny would think, what Kenny would say, what Kenny would choose. Why didn't she realize it until now? Maybe it was just that she knew him for so long, was so comfortable with him, that she didn't even know that she wanted to be with him. Maybe she just assumed that he would always be there for her. Even when she stood him up at a lighthouse, she knew she would see him again, that he would greet her with a cheeky grin and call her "Dee dee". It didn't bother her as much as she led on. But she knew that was unfair to Kenny. If there was even the slightest chance that he felt the same about her (Which given the clues, seemed pretty likely), she had to lay it all on the line, and just he honest. But, she was in a bit of a predicament. Even if she asked him out right this very second, he would just assume he was the rebound, only to get her mind off of Paul. So, she decided to wait. Wait until he decided that he was ready to believe that-

"I really like you." …Or that.

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WAIT WHAT?!

"H-HUH?!"

"You... heard me…" A little sudden, considering he only realized his feelings about a minute ago, but Kenny was a bit sick of all the games. He knew he was going to be rejected. He knew that. But, he was more than a little sick of Dawn leaving him in the dust. Maybe if she knew how he felt, she could be a bit more conscious about all the flirting. At least she could know that she shouldn't have him help prepare for any dates.

"O-oh… I see… Well, Kenny, I have something to tell you then…" Here it comes. The whole "Can't we just be friends?" speech, where they'll awkwardly greet each other in the coming months, but then hopefully they'll get past this hurdle, be friends again, and Kenny can finally get some closure-

"I really like you too."

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…Or that.

So, tell me what you think. Great? Awful? Amateurish? I bet it's amateurish. If you want me to improve, the only way to do that is for you to leave a review. So, uhh… please do that.