It didn't take long for the news to spread through the tightly-knit community of Dewford like wildfire.
In spite of Haru's refusal to take any inquiries before afternoon, people kept coming in with various inquiries anyway. Many of them were just there to learn more about their relationship, some were simply there to congratulate them and others came to share their piece of mind that what they were doing was wrong and they both should be banished from the town. A simple demonstration of Homura's 'Flamethrower' scared the latter group away real fast. Eventually Haru decided to just unplug the doorbell in frustration. That didn't stop the curious and overzealous people of Dewford from knocking on the door, obviously. Both of them refused to answer until the crowd gave up and left.
There was another knock on the door a bit later. It sounded rather hesitant.
"I'll get it, darling." Homura decided to answer the door, letting her partner rest.
"Um, are you Mrs. Takahashi?" The guest was a young boy, whom Homura concluded to be a trainer, most likely a teenager. He was accompanied by a Mawile.
"Please, call me Homura." She greeted the young pair using telepathy. Her psychic powers worked a lot better without the dampening effect of the chamber she used to live in. It felt refreshing.
"Um, I was just wondering -" The young trainer looked rather nervous before asking, "If Juliet and I can get married one day, too?"
Homura leaned down and petted the Mawile, who cooed in appreciation. "So you're Juliet, huh? Aren't you cute!" Homura giggled, communicating to the Pokemon normally.
"Thank you, Miss Homura! It's nice to finally meet you, everyone's been talking about you and your partner today!" Juliet spoke.
"I can guess. Do you want to marry your trainer one day, too?" Homura was unsure of how to feel.
"I love him, so maybe." Juliet twiddled with her digits.
"Alright then." Homura went back to her upright pose and switched to telepathy again, "I don't really know your human laws, but Haru said you can do it once you two are grown-ups and consenting. Just cherish your time together for now, you get to pick a mate for life only once." Homura smiled.
"Thank you, Miss Homura. Please be happy together!" The boy blushed and made away with Juliet, who waved at Homura with her second jaw as they were leaving. Feeling content seeing the happy pair, Homura closed the door and went back to Haru.
"Haru, you won't believe who were here just now!" She gleefully exclaimed.
"Who? You sound rather excited." Haru remarked.
"Some boy and his Mawile wanted to get married like us someday, so they decided to ask us." Homura giggled.
Haru's jaw dropped. He definitely wasn't expecting that. Sometimes, all it takes is one spark to ignite a wildfire.
"See? You weren't expecting that!" Homura laughed once more.
"Well, neither were you!" Haru retorted, joining his partner in mirth.
The house was fairly small, divided into two floors like traditional houses. The main floor consisted of the living room, a kitchen with the dining table inside, another room where Haru's father lived, alongside other facilities one might expect in a house like this one. Haru's bedroom was upstairs, and it was quite messy. It was natural for someone who spent most of the time outside of the house working and after getting home, had to cook and deal with his father. By the time he could hit the bed, he was too tired to tidy up the room. Still, it was his favorite part of the house. He hoped that it'd be to Homura's liking as well.
"So, what do you think? Good enough to live in?" Haru posed the question to Homura, who was still inspecting the bedroom. There were many things that looked new to her, like the old-school desktop workstation, a wooden desk with large stacks of papers and books, some storage boxes in the corner, and a few things she didn't recognize. It was way different than what she was used to, but it felt more comforting than the sterile and lifeless environment of the lab.
"Good enough to live in? Haru, with you around, any place is good enough for me!" Homura sat down on the bed. Haru followed and they snuggled together, like back at the lab. Haru pulled her closer, unsure how to break the news to her. But it was better to face reality sooner than later.
"Well, maybe we won't be around each other during the day anymore, you know." Haru softly spoke, trying to sound comforting. "I mean, you're no longer a part of the research program, but I'll need to keep working to support ourselves. Maybe they'll assign me another Pokemon to look after." He closed his eyes, trying to hide the sadness. Sure, they'd no longer have to be separated after two months or so, but there was still this large trade-off. They'd only have the company of each other after work, instead of during it, like they had gotten used to.
Homura sighed. She already realized that, but it was a price she was willing to pay to be with Haru for the rest of their lives. Still, a wave of jealousy washed over her. Haru was going to spend their time together with another Pokemon now, huh? Well, nothing could be done about it, life wasn't fair and both of them already knew that too well.
Being a Psychic-type, Homura was naturally more clear-headed and focused, unlike Haru - who always had a cluster of emotions lumped together; as far as Homura could sense. He always treated her nicely, so it never really concerned her. But as a mate, maybe she should try to enlighten him a bit.
"Haru, you need to look into the future." She tried to tell him about the bigger picture, but Haru interpreted it differently.
"Huh? Isn't that your area of expertise?" Haru was unsure what she meant.
"No, you dummy! That's not what I meant!" Homura pushed him back onto the bed, taking advantage of his confusion. Pinning him down by the shoulders, she grinned, remembering her unsuccessful attempt to tackle him earlier this morning.
"Hey, let go! You're being pretty aggressive today!" Haru was about to try and push her off, but stopped midway as they locked eyes. The two had always been pretty close, they were used to snuggling and holding hands, but they had never held each other like this before. Haru felt something awaken in him. He blushed, breaking off eye contact.
"Well, who has an opening now?" Homura teased, but the sight of her beautiful brown-haired partner pinned down beneath her was enough to side-track her. It didn't feel enough for her. Then she noticed his tense posture.
"Haru, what's wrong? Why are you getting tense?" She asked, concerned about possibly having hurt him.
"N-Nothing, Homura. It's just that you're so beautiful and warm and fluffy -" Haru tried his best to draw her attention with words so that she wouldn't notice his rising physical arousal. It felt too soon and far too embarrassing! What if Homura thought of him as some kind of horny bastard?
"Haru, now you're making me tense." She bit her lips, trying to contain her own feelings inside her. Whatever the reason was, his words were drawing her in. She wanted to hold him even closer, maybe bathe in his scent or have him inside her...
She hurriedly let him go and stood up on her feet, feeling ashamed with herself. It was far too soon! The embarrassment on her part radiated off as heat from her ears. Haru used this opportunity to get back up and cover himself in a manner that wouldn't give away the obvious.
"I'll go get some fresh air! You're heating up the room!" With that, he darted out of the room.
As both of them were out of sight of one another, each breathed a sigh of relief. A major crisis has just been averted.
"What is this 'cooking' thing, exactly?" The couple was back at the living room after both of them had calmed down, oblivious to the effects they had on each other earlier.
"Cooking, huh? Well, that's just a way of processing raw food for human consumption. Humans can't usually eat raw food, save for fruits and a few other things." Haru tried his best to explain. "Why do you ask?"
"Well, you said your father wanted someone to cook around the house." Homura reminded him.
"You don't need to cook for him, really. I doubt he'd appreciate it the slightest." Haru sighed. He usually handled the cooking around the house. While not delicious by any stretch of the word, it was edible to him. Yet he had to deal with a relentless barrage of complaints from his father who refused to actually tell him what was wrong with the dishes.
"Why do you say so?" Homura was intrigued. Humans were complicated.
"Experience. I cook around the house but he keeps complaining about it not being good enough." Haru sighed.
"Then why doesn't he do it himself or at least help you?" Homura didn't get it. "If I remember correctly, he doesn't have a job like you; so he stays home, right? Aren't pack members supposed to help each other?"
"Because he thinks cooking is a woman's job." Haru sighed once more.
"But if humans can't eat raw food, shouldn't everyone learn to cook? Why just the women?"
"See? You already understand my point without being told!" Haru finally smiled. "I'll teach you to cook if you really want to, but not right now. For starters, we use petroleum-based fuel to sustain a fire for cooking; being a Fire-type yourself, if you aren't careful you can easily cause an explosion in the house, which you'll probably survive with injuries, but I won't; I doubt the house will, either. Or this neighborhood."
"Haru! Don't talk about death just like that! For someone so nice, you sound rather cruel at times." Homura chided the researcher.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to make you feel bad." Haru looked down apologetically, "But that's why you should know about the dangers. So let's set some rules first!"
"Okay!" Homura was excited to learn, as always.
"Um -" Haru tried to decide which one was the most important. "Let's see, don't get into fights."
"Huh?" Homura wasn't expecting that.
"When was the last time you fought a real battle?" Haru asked.
"Umm, as a Braixen, I think. That'd be a year ago. No, wait - I fought a real Flygon two months before meeting you." Homura tried to remember.
"Yes, and you lost. After that this facility moved on to simulations." Haru remembered filing that into the report last night.
"Hey, I tried my best -" Homura's protest was cut short as Haru quickly pulled her into an embrace. "I'm not scolding you, silly, I just don't want you to get hurt again. Or hurt others needlessly." He whispered.
Homura nodded, not being able to keep up the psychic link with their bodies tensing up again. Fortunately, Haru felt it himself too and let go quickly. Living together was going to be hard.
[AUTHOR'S NOTE: Due to personal struggles, I'm planning to step down the update schedule to once a week. The story will most likely be updated every Thursday (GMT +6) from now on. Your readership and patience is most appreciated. Thank you.]
