The Twelve Dilemmas of Christmas

It's that time of the year again and I'm back! I'm not sure how many chapters I'll knock out this year but here's one to get us started.

The holiday season comes with good times and bad. It's important to overlook the dilemmas and enjoy the good times. Multiple shippings.

x … x … x

Dilemma Seven: School (Egoshipping)

Meticulous. It was about the only way to describe Gary Oak, as Misty was painfully reminded of as she watched her boyfriend review the flashcards for his marine pokemon ecology exam for the eighth time that day. He knew the material in and out, evidenced clearly by his grade in the grad school class as well as his research work. There was no way he could possibly fail the final for the class, yet his studious side had entirely taken over the enjoyable parts of his personality. The redhead had spent the last several hours of the evening wrapping Christmas presents in the living room – several of which were Gary's – all without her boyfriend even noticing. She knew he was just stressed, after all, this was his last final before graduation, but she couldn't help but miss how wonderful his attention to detail was when it was focused on her.

Frustrated, Misty stalked across the living room and stood in front of the couch where Gary was sitting. She reached out and pulled the stack of flash cards out of Gary's hands.

"Come on, Mist, I need to study," Gary complained.

"No you don't. You already know this – you've aced everything in the class, your thesis is about this stuff, and you've already done three studies on it with Professor Birch and Professor Ivy."

Gary was quiet for a brief moment. Misty could tell he was trying to keep from getting annoyed with her; he normally wasn't the type to get frustrated with her but when it came to exams, his fuse became significantly shorter. "I'd still like to study," he finally retorted.

Misty rolled her eyes and picked up the card from the top of the stack. She had an idea. "Describe the symbiotic relationship between bioluminescent bacteria found in the coral reefs of the Orange Archipelago and the water pokemon Lanturn." She read flatly, resisting the urge to roll her eyes. Gary had written a paper about the exact topic in October – that time his attention to detail all but ruined her Halloween.

It took five minutes for him to finish giving his detailed answer and Misty actually did roll her eyes when he finally stopped talking. "Now, if you could just condense that to a few sentences instead of a few pages, you would be in great shape," she said.

"Thanks for the support, babe," Gary shot back sarcastically.

Misty grinned at the response; this was the Gary she loved – sarcastic as ever. Their constant bickering kept the two of them on their toes more than anyone else possibly could. Her grin turned into a smirk and she reached down to pull off one of her Stantler-clad Christmas knee-high socks. Catching onto her idea, Gary grinned as well.

"Next question."

Misty rolled her eyes again as she picked up the next flash card, tossing the first one to the rug next to her discarded sock. "Describe the multiple effects of the declined Sharpedo population on the coral reefs of the southern Hoenn region."

This time the response only took two minutes and was rewarded by the removal of the second sock. Within fifteen minutes, her hooded sweatshirt, long-sleeved shirt, and pajama shorts were scattered about the floor with several other flash cards. Gary finished the response he was on and smirked up at Misty as she stood over him.

She smiled in response and reached up to tug the hair tie from her long red hair. Gary's smirk faded slightly, obviously he was expected her to have removed one of the two revealing articles of clothing that still remained. At this point studying was not as predominant on his mind as it had been. Clearly his attention was on Misty, which had been her plan to begin with.

With a glance at the clock on the DVD player, Misty pulled one final card and tossed the rest over her shoulder. "You need to go to bed in an hour to get up in time for your exam tomorrow," she reminded Gary solemnly. "We only have enough time for one more card."

"And why is that, exactly? I thought you said I had an hour left."

"Gary, I've spent all day shopping, baking Christmas cookies, and wrapping presents. Yesterday I spent all day decorating the apartment. We could both use some fun to get rid of the holiday stress." A grin worked its way across Gary's face and Misty tossed the last card at him before slinking forward and straddling his lap. She smirked, leaning closer to him. "What day is Ash supposed to come to visit?"

Gary frowned, he should have known Misty would have done something like this. "I don't recall that being on any of the cards," he replied smoothly. He wrapped his arms around Misty's waist and slowly began moving them up her sides.

Misty grinned as she swatted away his hands. "Maybe you should have paid attention to what I told you earlier instead of reviewing all of these cards."

"Who says I didn't pay attention to you?" Gary asked with a smirk. His hands slid further up her sides before stopping at the strap of her red bra. "Ash comes in on the nineteenth," he said smoothly, unsnapping the first clasp on the garment. "Tracey comes in two days later," he continued, unsnapping the other clasp. "And Brock comes in on the twenty-third and he's only spending the night so he can spend time with his family," he finished, pushing the straps off of her shoulders and tossing the bra away from them.

Misty couldn't help the look of surprise that crossed her face. "I didn't realize you were paying attention," she murmured.

Gary smiled again and his hands slid back down his girlfriend's side to rest on her hips. "When it comes to you, I always pay attention," he replied. "By the way, thanks for the Legend of Zelda game," he added, starting to push down the edges of her one remaining article of clothing. "You should know better than to wrap Christmas presents with me around."