Bashful Brilliance

(Brendan x OC, Dawn x Ash)

(A/N: Because this chapter involves two separate settings for a bit, I'll have to express the change between them somehow. So, I'll be using the good ol {{Setting}} for now. Kay? Kay. Sorry ^^;)

{{Dawn/Brendan}}

Dawn looked at Brendan curiously. She could see easily just from the moments she'd had to watch him with her sister that the two were particularly close. May's statement earlier on when they saw her only confirmed it. However, many questions rolled through her mind as they walked down the path heading to Twinleaf Town. Just how strong was the bond? She knew her sister was quite oblivious, but she had to ask about it because of that fact. "So, Brendan... About Hiruka."
"What about her?" Brendan gave a quizzical look, watching the piplup near them scurrying to keep up with its trainer.
"You two really get along, don't you?" Dawn gave a small smile of sorts, but her voice implied something slightly more than the words did. Brendan didn't seem to catch it. "But...What about what May said?"
"Oh...That..." Brendan stared at the ground as they walked suddenly, trying to hide the redness in his face. "It's a...long story to say the least."
"I was more asking if she was on target or just teasing you." Dawn laughed a bit, as did Brendan, though Brendan's was fairly nervous in comparison.
"S-Sorta a mix of both. I mean... May knew before I told her that I liked Hiruka, so..." He trailed off. Dawn smiled a bit.
"I'm glad." Those simple two words were enough to finally get Brendan to snap out of his strange anxiety and look at her, though showing signs of surprise. "Sis couldn't get comfortable with people that easily for a long time. She was always afraid since she was chased as a kid. But... Well, you two seem to get along well, and a lot faster then most people would I think. Because last I checked, she hadn't mentioned you until you started traveling together about a year ago almost."
"I know she had a hard time opening up- others told me about it too. Silver and Li, mostly, but... Richie and Gold mentioned it too, and even her dad and Hunter mentioned it a lot. Heck, even she mentioned it after a while. I don't know how but... She managed to be able to calm down around me- and honestly, I found it easier to relax around her than I did beforehand." He smiled to Dawn simply, who then smiled back.
"Does she know though?"
"Sorta...But... I don't really know how to explain it..." He sighed, getting lost in thought for a bit of time.

{{May/Hiruka}}

Hiruka looked around aimlessly as she walked along the stranger that had been claimed to be Brendan's sister. She was silent for some time, trying to think of what to say. As she thought about it, his father hadn't really mentioned having any children, which had made her upset a long while back. She hadn't really known about May either- but on top of it, even Brendan hadn't mentioned having siblings. Had it just not come up? Or was she actually not as close to him as she'd hoped she was? A sigh escaped her as she thought on it, catching May's attention.
"Thinking about my brother?" The words startled Hiruka as she looked back at the girl curiously. "You two really are quite a pair, aren't you?"
"Um... I don't really understand what you mean," Hiruka replied softly. She looked at her feet for a moment, but only a quick moment, before looking back at May with a curious face.
"He talks a lot about you, Brendan. You're really important to him from what I can tell." She gave a light smile, but even May couldn't likely notice the butterflies her words made run through Hiruka's stomach. "What about you though?"
"What about me?" She looked confused by the question, causing May to laugh.
"Is he as important to you?" She looked up at the sky, seemingly thinking about something. "Our cousin lives at the Azalea gym now... He mentioned you too. Apparently you're the gym leader's daughter there, right? Our cousin moved there because our families both agreed on it when you were able to talk to them. He seemed really happy. Wally mentioned that when he was traveling with you guys in Hoenn, you got really annoyed with our dad at one point, but afterwards you couldn't seem to get out of your head for a while because you startled yourself with what you'd said to him. Wally says you ended up having to ask him about it didn't you?"
"I did, yes..." Hiruka stared at her feet, this time longer and throughout her next explanation. "Norman never mentioned to me, ever, that he had kids. I knew him for a long time as a family friend... He used to live in Ecruteak working at the gym, which was a place I used to go a lot to visit with my father or do errands. But he never even mentioned he was a father. He always talked about mine, but... He didn't seem to recognize he was a father at all, so I assumed he wasn't. When I first met Brendan, he didn't really tell me much about it- Morty actually explained a lot of it to me." Hiruka looked at May again.
"I got mad when we ended up visiting Norman on our trip in Hoenn the first time. He got more excited to see his nephew then his own son- in fact, he seemed to pay no attention to Brendan when we got there. I gave him hell that night before we left... But... I think I ended up giving myself hell in the process too."
"What'd you say that scared you so much?"
Hiruka took a deep breath and slightly mimicked herself from back then, though not yelling the way she had been. "He really is a good person. If I weren't being careful, I'd have fallen for him already." Shaking it off, she looked at May. "The fact that I'd ever said such a thing scared me like nothing had in years. I've always had a hard time getting extremely close to people. Everyone else always pointed out I was clinging to him, but I never really noticed it, let alone why. After a long time, I finally managed to talk to Wally about it and he helped me understand why it had ever come up in that conversation."
"Why was that?" May gave a sly smirk, giggling lightly to herself.
"I was trying to tell myself that I had. I wasn't even really talking to Norman at all at that point."

{{Dawn/Brendan}}

"Hiruka came up to me one day after having a chat with my cousin Wally. Mind you, we were on a boat. She seemed really scared, but... At that point I'd assumed it was just because of the boat part since I knew she was deathly afraid of water... Then again, so am I, and I wasn't nearly as nervous as she was- I'm usually not though. She gets nervous easily compared to me." He looked at Dawn with a serious face, one that if anyone that knew him well saw they'd be in utter shock (except perhaps Hiruka who had actually seen his serious side at times). "She told me about an argument she had the night before with my dad. She said she wasn't doing well for a while, which I'd known, but she actually told me why finally. Apparently, she said something to my dad that really made her think... That's what she had talked to Wally about. When I asked her what it was... She told me she liked me."
"Even I can tell she likes you. But that doesn't tell me your side of the story, Brendan."
"Hold on okay? I'm getting there." He took a brief, thick breath of air into his lungs before continuing. "I responded in kind and hugged her like there was no tomorrow- I honestly wasn't sure if I could believe it or not. Part of me assumed I was dreaming, actually. But... Even if I told her that, she still took a while to adjust- then again, so did I. Nothing really changed though. But... I asked her to not make dinner one day and she was really startled." He laughed a bit. "Apparently she was even more out of it with the idea of dating or anything like it then I was. I guess it didn't help that I didn't tell her I wanted it to be a date, of course... But... I wanted to take her out to eat. When I did and told her I was paying, she got really mad. I finally confessed my reason and expected to be slapped or something of the sort- in the end, she just laughed at me, wondering why I hadn't just said so in the first place. To be honest, I laughed too- I did feel sorta dumb."
"Yeah, Hiruka never was good at telling what goes on in people's heads. Pokemon, yes. People, not so much." She looked at Brendan with a smile. "You made it sound far more complicated then the story was though."
"Oh, that wasn't what I was saying was complicated." Brendan explained. "It's just how strong my feelings for her really are. I took a while for a reason... And I wanted to talk to her family before I talked to her about it. But I'd like to wait to get to that until we get to your house, okay?"
"Sure, I guess. Somehow I have a hunch this has something to do with the extent of it..." She laughed and watched as Brendan, red as could be from even mentioning most of what he had, ran off ahead of her towards Lake Verity.
"Brendan, wait!"
"No, you hurry up!" He laughed at her teasingly, but saw a strange drop of sweat on her head.
"Brendan, you're going the wrong way! Twinleaf town is to the left!"
"...Oh." Laughing nervously now, he ran back to join her as they managed to get to Twinleaf Town.

{{May/Hiruka}}

"Well, I guess that makes sense." May explained in response to Hiruka's explanation. "But... Why do you get nervous so often lately then? If you know he likes you back, then..."
"He mentioned a while back that he's been thinking a lot about the future and what he wants to do," Hiruka interrupted. "But... I was too nervous to tell him I have too. But... While his was more based on whether he'd travel or not... Mine was more based on the relationship aspect thing..." She laughed nervously.
"Oh... That's the thing." May smiled simply, patting Hiruka's back. "Well, you'll never know how he's gonna respond if you don't tell him, Hiruka!"
"I guess so, but... I-I'm not sure I'm ready." Letting out a deep sigh, she ended up starting to finally lead the way to Twinleaf Town to reach her home.