This prompt was given to me by L Jade E, my cousin! :) It's an attempt at humor/friendship, as well as a slight romance from Dawn's side.
And Paul suddenly found himself being rained - or hailed - on by pencils.
...
You're probably wondering what the heck happened before, right? Well, then, I guess I'll just have to explain it then.
~FLASHBACK~
Dawn hummed cheerfully and continued to doodle on her paper. She was insanely bored, as it seemed everyone she knew was very busy. So she did what she always did, draw. She never drew anything in particular, and she wasn't paying attention when she drew, so she didn't quite know what she was drawing until she actually looked it over, when she was done. It was strange how her mind worked while she drew; she couldn't hear or see or smell or really sense anything while she was drawing, but she never payed any attention to what she was drawing while she was drawing.
Anyway, so Dawn was drawing in the Pokémon Center lobby, her perfectly sharpened pencil in hand. At least a dozen more lay by her elbow, as well as a perfectly pink and round eraser. So concentrated was she that she didn't even notice when a tall, dark and (slightly) scary figure stood in front of her.
The Figure, as he shall be referred to for now, waited for about two minutes and she didn't even glance up. "Dawn," he called quietly in his usual monotone.
She didn't even acknowledge him.
"Dawn."
Nope.
"DAWN."
"Huh? What?" Dawn's head jerked up, and her sapphire eyes, framed by thick, black, and now-innocently-blinking lashes met his. "Oh! Hi, Paul!"
He rolled his eyes, but decided it wasn't worth it to tell her he'd called her several times already. Because then she'd get all happy-go-lucky and start chattering on about how she was so glad he remember his manners. "Where are your friends?"
"They're busy. I'm not sure, but everybody's busy. So I'm drawing," she explained, absent-mindedly twirling her pencil around on her fingers and thereby covering her picture.
"...Why do you have...fourteen pencils?" he asked. Normally he would just walk away, but it seemed like (a) too much of a hassle to turn his back - she'd certainly blow up again - and (b) it seemed really rude to just abandon her while her friends ditched her.
Yes, Paul CAN be nice. When he wants to be.
Plus, he was honestly really bored, too.
"You never know what could happen," she told him sagely, as if sending along great wisdom. Paul actually paused at that, opened his mouth to remark, and closed it again.
"What are you drawing?" he asked bluntly. Dawn looked surprised.
"I'm not sure."
"...You're not sure what you were looking at less than a minute ago?"
"...Yes...?"
"That's pathetic," he scoffed. Really, how could she not know?
"HEY! Don't you call me names! That's so not nice, mister! You're just jealous that you can't draw so you're insulting me! Ya know what, I don't actually know what it is! I'm not kidding!"
"Well, then look at it," he told her bluntly.
Dawn opened her mouth for a comeback, but just shook her head and peeked. What she saw made her face turn bright red, brighter than Paul had ever seen. Dawn folded the paper in half and tapped her fingers on top of it, cursing herself for not paying better attention.
"What is it?" She didn't answer. Paul, seeing that asking would get him exactly nowhere, picked the paper up and prepared to unfold it, higher than she was able to ever reach. Dawn shrieked in alarm and jumped up, hands stretching for her paper back. "Give it back, Paul! That's mine!" she protested.
Paul unfolded the paper and blinked. Was he really seeing what he was seeing?
Dawn panicked and did the only thing she could think of that would unnerve him enough to drop it. Throwing something at him. (Don't blame her for the...intriguing idea; she was panicking.) Her eyes laid on the fourteen pencils she had brought with her.
Emergency protcol necessary!
Target open and defenseless!
Ammunition acquired!
And Paul suddenly found himself being rained - or hailed - on by pencils.
~END FLASHBACK~
And we're back. Paul, as Dawn expected, dropped the paper to cover his face - which was reddening slightly as he realized that he had correctly seen what was on her paper. Dawn lobbed the last pencil - eraser-side forward, if anyone's wondering - and looked around frantically. Where was that darned picture?! Aha!
THWOCK! The eraser thunked against the side of Paul's head, and he recoiled, allowing Dawn to snatch her drawing from the floor with a major blush. She made to crumple it in her hand, but Paul grasped her arm, causing her to jolt in surprise.
In a voice more taciturn than usual, Paul asked, "Can I keep it?"
Dawn paused. "What?"
"Can I keep it?" he repeated.
Dawn tilted her head as if wondering if he was thinking properly. "I...yes?"
"With a signature from the artist?"
Dawn, still not understanding, blushed as she brought the paper to her table. She signed the corner with a flourish and added the date, careful not to look at the drawing itself. Her blush redder than Pikachu's cheeks, Dawn handed Paul her drawing. He folded it in half and slipped it onto his pocket.
"...Thanks. See y'around." And he was gone. Dawn blinked, but closed her eyes and let out a huge sigh, completely puzzled as to what had just happened. Should she feel humiliated because he saw what she drew? Or should she be furious that he had taken it without permission? Or should she think she was the luckiest girl in the world because Paul had asked for her artwork, and a signature? Even though the very last bit was probably to humor her.
"Well. I guess I'll have to settle for confused...Where's my last pencil?" she asked, frowning as she counted up. Only thirteen pencils.
I'm sure you can guess who has the last pencil, along with a beautiful pencil sketch of two people, a coordinator and a trainer, sitting together watching a sunset over the ocean.
Aww, that was sweet! Well, I think so. It seems I've done a few IkariShippings. If you have a request or suggestion, please let me know~!
IKARISHIPPERS! If you like IkariShipping, please read Midnight! It's getting lonely...
Reviews and PMs are appreciated! :)