pro·pi·tious adjective
giving or indicating a good chance of success; favorably disposed toward someone


Chapter 7


Cheren's grateful for the free time they have before the grand opening, because he knows there won't be much of it afterwards. That especially goes for Alder. He was concerned about Alder's workload even before the huge response they got. It's really going to be a handful now. He'll just have to help out as much as he can.

Needless to say, he spends the day after the preview event taking advantage of that free time and doing basically nothing.

He wakes up late and even then doesn't get out of bed, instead grabbing his laptop off the floor and aimlessly browsing the internet for a while. He ends up checking the local news and is surprised to see an article on the school. It's short and to the point, but overall positive, so Cheren's pleased. He hadn't really expected any feedback so soon.

Finally his stomach growls, and he decides he better get moving. He shuts the laptop and wanders out to the kitchen. Alder's sitting at the bar, and he's suddenly reminded of the night before. Somehow in his half asleep state he had managed to block it out.

"Morning," Cheren says, feeling somewhat uncomfortable. He's pretty sure his weird behavior was obvious, and he doesn't want to explain it. He's not sure he even could if he tried.

"Hey," Alder greets, looking up from the comic section of the newspaper. He seems to decide he's finished with it, because he closes it and folds it back up. "Do you want to do something this week?"

"Um," Cheren says into the refrigerator, before turning his head so Alder can actually hear him. He's a bit surprised by the question. "I don't know. Why?"

He shrugs. "You haven't gone out much since you got here. And I definitely owe you one. Aren't there any museums you want to see or anything?"

Cheren grabs the milk and shuts the door while he thinks. "Hm. Maybe." It's true that he hasn't been anywhere. The few places that he had to see, he visited when he was in Castelia years ago. He's not really the type for that touristy stuff in general, but it might be fun.

"Well, let me know. We could go tomorrow if you want."

"Okay," he agrees. He grabs his bowl of cereal and sits next to Alder at the bar. "I'll look up some places later."

"Alright. Anywhere is fine."


Later in the afternoon, Cheren brings his laptop out into the living room. He searches for nearby attractions and scrolls through the list. There are an overwhelming amount. Well, it is Castelia after all.

"What about the natural history museum?" he finally decides, looking up over the screen to get Alder's opinion.

"Sure. I don't actually think I've been there before."

"Alright." Cheren maps it out on Google to figure out where it is. It's not too far, though he isn't really familiar with that area. "Do you want to invite Burgh?"

Alder looks amused at the question. He grins at Cheren from across the coffee table. "I knew you'd end up getting along with him. But it's up to you," he says, giving a noncommittal shrug. "I don't mind if it's just us."

"Oh," is all Cheren can say, feeling caught off guard. He stares down at the screen, unsure of how to respond. There is a small part of him that doesn't want Burgh to come, despite how much he genuinely likes the man, and he doesn't want to think about why that is.

In the end, Cheren invites him, but he's busy. He wishes he were more disappointed.


They get to the museum the next day around noon. It's fairly crowded, but not intolerably so. They have to wait in line to get their tickets, and Alder pays for his without even asking. It's not that unusual, but for some reason today it makes Cheren feel a bit odd. He mentally scolds himself for being ridiculous. He takes the ticket and shoves it in his pocket, irritated at himself.

They decide to go up to the top floor and work their way down, which means the ancient Pokemon exhibit is first. It's pretty interesting. Cheren already knows most of what the guide tells them, but he listens anyway, leaning against the metal barrier around the skeletons and looking up in awe. He's seen all these things in books, but it's always completely different when they're right in front of you.

He's a little reluctant when it's time to move on. Alder gives him a knowing smile.

The next floor is based on modern Unova Pokemon, which is cool, but after traveling all over the region and seeing most of them in person, not as exciting as it could be. There is a model of a Snivy, Oshawott, and Tepig though, and he smiles at it, feeling nostalgic.

"That seems like a long time ago, huh?" Alder asks, noticing his expression.

"Yeah," he agrees. Sometimes it feels like a lifetime ago.

They stop to take a break when they get to the museum café. It's busy, so Cheren grabs a table while Alder waits in line. It's moving fairly slowly, and after a while, Alder turns and makes a face at him. Cheren just laughs.

Today has been a good day.

Alder finally appears about 15 minutes later with their food, setting the tray down and sighing dramatically. "I thought I might starve to death before they let me out of there." He pulls his phone out of his back pocket and places it on the table so he can sit down.

Cheren takes his sandwich, grinning. "That's why I got the table."

"Terrible," Alder says, shaking his head. "You should respect your elders more."

"Uh huh."

They don't talk much as they eat, partly because it's so noisy in the crowded café that it seems pointless. Cheren looks down at his sandwich. It's rather bland, but he's not sure what he expected from cheap museum food. He stares at Alder's burger jealously, even though he knows it's probably not much better. Oh well.

Despite the noise, he still jumps in surprise when Alder's phone starts buzzing on the table.

Cheren glances over, wondering if it's something related to the school. "Who is it?" he asks, freezing when he sees the name. It's a woman's, and he has a sinking feeling he knows whose.

Alder doesn't answer, simply rejecting the call and taking another bite of his burger.

They finish eating and head off to finish touring the rest of the museum, though Cheren's good mood seems to be ruined. He follows after Alder through the rest of the exhibits, only half paying attention.

Alder asks if he wants to stop in the giftshop on the way out, and he just shrugs.

"I guess," Cheren says, supposing he could buy something for his mom for when he visits.

After wandering around the store for a while, he ends up just getting her a mug. He's never been good at these things. At least it'll be useful. He pays and meets Alder by the entrance. He's standing there waiting with a bag in his hand, which he hands to Cheren when he approaches.

"What is this?" Cheren asks, accepting it. He glances up at Alder, who simply smiles and shrugs, and looks in the bag. He pulls out a tiny miniature of the Snivy, Oshawott, and Tepig exhibit they saw earlier and stares at it wide eyed. "You got me this?" he finally asks, looking up.

"I thought you'd like it."

Cheren looks back down at the figure in his hand. "Thank you."

He does.


He sticks the figure on his dresser when they get home, next to the Pokedoll Bianca gave him for Christmas. He's also added a couple small frames with the pictures Bianca took of the three of them while she was in Castelia. Cheren eyes the photos and wonders how they're doing. He really should call them soon.

His train of thought is broken by Alder suddenly appearing in the doorway. "What do you want for dinner?" he asks, smiling a little when he notices what Cheren's looking at.

"Do we actually have anything?"

"Not at all," Alder confirms. "Pizza?"

"Why not?"

Alder must take that as a yes, because a few minutes later Cheren hears him on the phone ordering. He gets the kind Cheren likes without asking.


He comes out of his room when he hears the doorbell ring later. Alder answers the door, and Cheren notices it's the same delivery guy as always. He can feel him judging them.

"Thanks," Alder tells the guy, shutting the door.

He sets the box down on the coffee table while Cheren goes to get some plates from the kitchen. He hands one to Alder and sits down, grabbing the remote to turn the tv on and picking up a slice of pizza with his other hand. He flips channels for a minute, but there's nothing decent on, and he finally just leaves it on something random. Cheren's trying to decide if he wants to bother getting up and finding a DVD when Alder's phone rings for the second time that day.

He looks up from his pizza as Alder grabs it to see who it is. He glances at Cheren for a millisecond, which is all he needs to figure it out. He picks up the remote and turns the tv all the way down. "Are you going to answer?" Cheren asks.

Alder hesitates for a moment. "I suppose I might as well." He picks up.

Cheren can just barely make out the conversation, but he can hear enough to know that he was right - it's Mary's sister.

"We have dinner reservations for 8 o'clock if you'd like to come," he's pretty sure she says.

He puts his pizza down, staring at Alder nervously to see what his response will be.

"That sounds nice..." he trails off.

Cheren's stomach sinks.

"But I can't tonight," he continues. "We've already got plans."

Oh.

He glances up and smiles at Cheren, before making an irritated expression at something she says. He puts his feet up on the coffee table and crosses his legs, leaning his free elbow on the arm rest. "Sorry. I really can't."

Cheren hears her start to argue.

"Again, maybe some other time, but I'm already doing something with Cheren tonight," he says again. "Thanks for inviting me though."

"What are you doing that's so important?" she asks, seeming unwilling to take no for an answer.

"Well…" Alder pauses and looks at the tv. "Right now we're watching Jeopardy. And there's pizza involved."

"Are you serious?"

"Completely."

She's talking too quickly for Cheren to understand at this point, but it doesn't matter anyway, because Alder suddenly says "Some other time. Bye," and hangs up. He tosses the phone on the table and rolls his eyes.

Cheren raises his eyebrows.

"She's always been persistent, that one. The complete opposite of Mary."

"Are you sure you don't want to go?" Cheren asks, regretting it as soon as it's out of his mouth. He doesn't want to know if he does.

"Of course. I'm sure it's just a set up anyway. She's not subtle."

Cheren nods, picking up his plate again. "She wants you to get back together," he says carefully.

"Seems that way."

"... And what do you want?" he asks, staring down at his pizza.

Alder just shrugs. "It didn't work the first time, don't know why it would the second. We've both moved on."

"Ah," is all Cheren can think of to say. He's relieved but tries not to show it. He takes a bite of his pizza instead.

"Is this really all that's on?" Alder asks after a few minutes, staring in disbelief at the tv.

"Pretty much," Cheren confirms. He throws Alder the remote so he can see for himself.

He flips through the channels quickly, before giving up and going back to Jeopardy. "You're right," he says, sounding resigned.

"Do you want to play a game or something?" Cheren asks. He hasn't set up any of his game consoles yet since moving in, but it wouldn't take very long.

"Could be fun," Alder agrees.

He finishes his piece of pizza before going to his room and digging out his Playstation. He can only find a couple of his old games. The rest must be back at his parent's house.

He carries the stuff back into the living room and puts it down on the floor in front of the tv. "Which one?" he asks, holding up the games so Alder can see them.

"Uh… that one," he points.

Cheren glances at it and groans. He's terrible at fighting games. Black always used to kick his ass. Well, at least he's bound to be better than Alder.

Alder joins him on the floor, sitting cross-legged and leaning against the coffee table, while Cheren hooks everything up. "I'll warn you in advance. I'm terrible at these things," he says, as Cheren leans forward to turn the console on. "They didn't have any Playstation's when I was a kid."

"That doesn't exactly surprise me," Cheren admits, amused. He sits back down and looks up at the tv to get it set up. "Didn't Benga ever make you play any?"

"Hm. Not really. It was all Pokemon with him from the moment he could walk."

Cheren nods. That sounds like him.

"And my daughter was… well, she didn't care about games or Pokemon," he continues.

"Really?" Cheren asks, looking at him in surprise. "But… you were the Champion."

He laughs. "Not to her. She definitely took after her mother. I was so pleased when Benga started showing an interest."

"Wow."

"Well, it keeps you grounded at least. No matter how crazy the attention got, at least there were two people who weren't impressed with me."

"Huh." Cheren tries to imagine growing up with such an important father and not caring. He can't. At one point, Alder was everything he wanted to be. Things have changed now of course, but sometimes he's still so larger than life that Cheren can scarcely believe that he actually knows him. Not only knows him, lives with him. His child self wouldn't believe it.

"So what do I do?" Alder asks, as the start screen pops up.

Cheren presses the button to get to the character select screen. "Pick one of these guys and press A," he tells him.

"Umm…" he thinks out loud as he chooses. "Okay. This one. Now what?"

Cheren picks his own character and then leans over to Alder. "Press these to move," he says, pointing at the arrows on his controller. "And these to… do things," he explains, vaguely.

"Do things." Alder snorts. "Okay. I guess I got it."

He doesn't.

The round starts, and Alder presses the buttons randomly, not hitting Cheren's character a single time. Cheren laughs, wondering if he should let him win. Nah.

"Are you really trying?" Cheren asks, as the first round ends, and his name flashes as the winner.

"Of course!"

He shakes his head, scooting over closer to Alder to tell him what to do again. "Concentrate on these two buttons," he says, hand reaching over Alder's lap to demonstrate. "That's how you attack. You can even do both at once if you want." Alder's own hand is in the way, and their fingers accidentally touch. Cheren suddenly realizes how close he's gotten to him and quickly moves back to his spot, blushing slightly.

"Alright, let's go again," Alder says, seeming to be completely oblivious. He looks confident this time as he practices pressing the buttons.

Another round starts and Alder almost seems to have it… until somehow his character gets turned around and he can't get him facing the right way again. He starts fighting the edge of the screen instead of Cheren.

"No!" he yells at the tv. "Why?"

Cheren laughs, leaning forward and clutching his controller. Alder continues shouting which just makes him laugh more, tears coming to his eyes.

When he's done, he looks at Alder, who's still glaring at the screen and frantically mashing buttons. He grins at him, feeling an overwhelming fondness for the man, and it suddenly occurs to him that he has got it bad. Damn. The smile slips off his face, controller in his hands forgotten.

His first thought is that Black can definitely never find out about this - he'd never hear the end of it. His second is to tell himself what an idiot he is. Of all people, he goes for the most unobtainable person he knows. How incredibly stupid.

"Cheren?" Alder asks, finally noticing him staring at him.

"Oh. Nothing," he says, turning back to the screen, frowning. Alder's actually managed to beat him this time while he was spacing out. That's embarrassing.

He can never know, Cheren decides. It's not like anything good would ever come of it anyway.


Notes: I really wanted to get this out for Pokemon Day, but clearly that didn't happen. Sorry for the delay! Also if you want to head over to ao3, I have included a floor plan of their apartment in this chapter.