Again, FRANTIC. :D Requested by Hanon Diethel!

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon. If I did, I would have hired a scientist to bring to life all the cute Pokemon.

31. Poison:
"Romeo was stupid for drinking the poison to begin with," she declares, and while Ruby agrees, he gives her a tender peck on her lips, murmuring, "If it was an excuse to kiss Juliet, I don't blame him."

At first he didn't know what inspired her to start reading, but as it turned out that once she did, Sapphire was a complete bookworm. He stared, astonished, as she tore through Steinbeck and Tolstoy and a whole bunch of other dead guys whose name he didn't seem to recognize. On the second Tuesday after her book binge, he finally cracked and asked her why, and she looked up from Sophie's World to reply, "Dad bet me I couldn't finish one row of his books; I won that bet but now I want to read more!"

Ruby considered her reply before shrugging and mentally patting himself on the back; his suspicion that money had been involved was at least partially correct.

So this routine continued for a while. Sapphire became so engrossed in her literature that after intense training with her Pokemon, she came straight back to the cave, where Ruby, as usual, was either grooming his Pokemon or sewing. The pair of them spent the day in companionable silence, with Sapphire often breaking the silence to question Ruby about certain themes or even to mention certain things she liked or disliked about the books. The tall boy found this suddenly intellectual Sapphire a little unnerving at first, but he got used to it within weeks, answering her many questions and often engaging in discussions with her.

Their Pokemon, who couldn't tell the difference between their friendly squabbles and their intellectual discussions, wondered why books weren't being thrown, and eventually they engaged in bets on when Sapphire would finally throw something at Ruby. (Toro won that bet by saying that Ruby would be the first one to throw something- she got lucky because a needle accidentally slipped from Ruby's fingers when he was waving his arms around animatedly.)

Ruby came in one day, waving a small book as he stepped into the cave. "Look at this," he grinned from ear to ear. "You'll never guess what I found in my room…"

Sapphire looked up from Hamlet (she'd just recently started Shakespeare). "What do you want, Prissy Boy?" she wanted to know in annoyance.

Ruby tossed the book at her and she caught it. "You'll thank me," he said with a smirk. "How far are you in Hamlet?"

"Just about to finish, actually," Sapphire replied. "For cryin' out loud, Ruby, you know I don't do romance." She pushed the offending book away with a finger. "Especially not Romeo and Juliet."

"Aw, come on, it will be fun," Ruby protested, delicately settling himself onto the blanket he laid out next to Sapphire. "We can take turns reading the lines. Or, you could read it yourself..." he lamely added when Sapphire fixed him with an unreadable stare.

He got up and began to leave the cave, whistling to his Pokemon as he went until his friend's reluctant voice drifted to his ears.

"Ruby? Get back here."

..

"That's the stupidest story I have ever read," Sapphire declared an hour and a half later, uncurling her legs as she stretched- Ruby had to blink rapidly to drag his eyes away from the smooth skin that glowed a warm brown in the sunlight. Sometimes, he muttered inwardly, he hated being an eighteen year old boy.

"Somehow, though, it's managed to become one of the best known love stories in the world," he pointed out as Sapphire finished stretching and curled back into the crook between his head and shoulder. His fingers absently played with hers as he placed the book next to them.

There was a nice silence that reigned between them until Sapphire said drily, "Why on earth would you fall in love and agree to marry someone you just met a couple hours ago?"

Ruby wanted to shrug, but he liked the sensation of Sapphire's head on his shoulder too much to move. "Eh," he said in a vague tone. "Maybe Shakespeare really liked his love at first sight idea. It happens, you know."

"Does it last?" Sapphire wondered aloud. "Don't you think that perhaps love is best developed over the years?"

Ruby wasn't sure if they were still talking about Romeo and Juliet, so he settled for a non-committal grunt, leaning his head against Sapphire's. "Maybe," he murmured, and the word hovered in the air for a while, silently invading their peaceful atmosphere.

Again, it was Sapphire who broke their comfortable silence. "Romeo was stupid anyway," she declared, "for drinking the poison."

Ruby chuckled quietly, and Sapphire tilted her head up to find him looking down at her with his warm red eyes that reminded her of crackling fires lighting up the cold night. "Well," he said softly, his grin growing a little wider, "if it was an excuse to kiss Juliet, I can't really blame him, can you?"

All of Sapphire's clever retorts were burned away when he reached down and gave her a soft kiss on her lips. "Besides," he added when he pulled away, "I'm sure Juliet would have done the same thing. Don't you think?" and it was Sapphire's turn to wonder if they were still on the topic of the star-crossed lovers.

Later that night, Sapphire looked at herself in the mirror and admitted that maybe Romeo and Juliet wasn't so stupid after all. But, she reminded herself with a brilliant smile, she still believed that love was best developed over the years, and she didn't need a playwright to tell her otherwise-

-she just needed Ruby, and they would write their own story.

..

PARMESAN. This sounds so completely cheesy to my ears haha. But I really need to stop writing angsty, depressing stories- so this will be my cure! :D I don't know if this is enough to be considered fluff, since I'm generally not a fluff writer- and this story is rather short anyhow.

Sooooo? Reviews, as always, are greatly appreciated, like a waiter appreciates tips :]

A/N: ooops. I found a mistake. You're a genius if you can find the mistake in this story :D