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


Chapter 11


They don't see Burgh again until midway through the week when he shows up after class ends, with a cheerful looking Iris in tow.

"Hi Cheren! Hi Alder!" she greets, immediately wandering off to check everything out. She peers through the doorway into the classroom curiously before turning back around with a twirl of her dress. "Wow, this place is nice! I'm impressed. Good job."

"Thanks." Alder grins at her. "So, what brings you two here?"

Burgh just shrugs. "She wanted to come see the place. I don't think she believed me when I told her."

"I was surprised!" she exclaims, walking back over to them. "Also, I wanted to come say goodbye. I'm leaving tomorrow."

"Already?" Alder asks, sounding disappointed. "Sorry that we didn't get to spend much time with you."

She shrugs it off, not looking bothered. "It's alright. I know you're busy. Next time you won't get off so easily!" She makes her way over to the stairs and looks up. "What's up here?"

"That's the study area," Cheren tells her. "Want to see?"

"Yes please!" Iris practically bounces up the steps, Cheren notices with amusement. Her sandals make a thumping noise on the wood.

He smiles and follows behind her, wondering where she gets all of her energy from. By the time he's reached the second floor, she's already weaving her way through the tables and making her way to the bookshelves. She pulls one off the shelf and flips through it, pausing when something seems to catch her interest.

"I really am impressed," Iris says. She doesn't look up from the page. "I'm glad Alder's finally found something he wanted to do. Thanks for helping him out."

Cheren rubs the back of his neck awkwardly at the praise. "He's helped me a lot too."

Iris just smiles. "That's what he does."

"Yeah," Cheren agrees.

There's a moment of silence while she skims through the book in her hand. "You like him, don't you?" she asks suddenly, glancing up at Cheren.

"What?" Cheren chokes out. "How-" His face flushes. Just because he's started to come to terms with it himself, doesn't mean that he wants other people pointing it out.

"It's pretty obvious," she says, an amused look crossing her face. "I won't discourage you. I think you may be good for him, to be honest."

Cheren's not sure what to say to that, but she doesn't seem to be expecting a response. She places the book in her hand back onto the shelf and takes a final look around the room. She nods to herself, looking satisfied. Cheren trails after her as she heads back downstairs, feeling a bit awkward.

Burgh glances up at Cheren on the steps. "Alder says you've gotten yourself a job."

"Ah," Cheren says, hand on the railing. His eyes flicker to Alder before answering. He can't see his face from this angle. "Yeah." The fact that Alder even thought to bring it up concerns him a little. They haven't talked about it since. Is he still bothered by the idea?

"I think it'll be great!" Burgh says, reassuringly. "Just don't wear yourself out trying to do too much."

Cheren nods, he and Iris making their way over to them. "I know." He's a little worried about that, but he's going to do his best.


Cheren doesn't have to be at the bookstore until 10 in the morning that Saturday, but of course he's ready over an hour before he actually needs to leave. He leans against the couch, absently scrolling through his emails. There's one from his mother that he's been putting off answering. Truthfully, he's not sure what to say to her. His life has become oddly domestic.

He sighs, checking the time again and pocketing his phone. He decides he may as well head out. It can't hurt to be a little early.

Alder comes out of his room when he's about to head out the door, still looking half asleep. He's wearing only a pair of threadbare pajama bottoms, and Cheren looks anywhere but his chest. He doesn't need to end up even more nervous.

"Leaving?" Alder asks.

"Yeah."

"Well, you know I'm not crazy about this whole thing, but I'm proud of you. Good luck."

He blinks. "Thank you."

Alder just ruffles his hair as he passes by him to go to the kitchen. His hand lingers for a moment, just resting gently on the top of Cheren's head, but he doesn't say anything more.

Cheren pulls away, but the damage has already been done. "I just fixed that," he bemoans, attempting to smooth his bangs back down. He sighs and grumbles a goodbye as he leaves. If his heart is beating a little faster than usual, that's his business.


The manager, Sheryl, Cheren reminds himself, doesn't seem to mind that he's early. She just smiles and shows him how to clock in, then sets him off to shelf a cart of new books.

"Let me know if you can't figure out where something belongs," she tells him.

He nods, and away he goes. The majority of the books on the cart look like fiction, so he heads over to that section first. He glances at the first author and finds the spot without much effort. It's not a difficult job. He's organized plenty of books in his life. Admittedly, they've mostly been his own. He finishes fairly quickly and heads back to the front with the empty cart.

"Done already?" she asks, raising her eyebrows. "Nice job. Oh, leave the cart over there." She gestures vaguely off to the side.

He joins her behind the counter, feeling lost and wondering what he's supposed to do next. It reminds him of how he used to feel in Aspertia.

"You don't have any retail experience, right?" she asks, sounding curious.

"Not really," he admits.

"Hey, there's nothing wrong with that," she says. "I'm just going to have you bag and watch me today. I'll show you the register tomorrow."

"Okay." Cheren nods. He sure isn't going to complain about that. He eyes the cash register, feeling somewhat terrified. It looks complicated. He's not sure why it requires so many buttons.

It's slow for the first hour or so, but then it picks up dramatically. He struggles with a plastic bag as the line backs up. "Sorry."

"Take your time," she says, smiling patiently.

It dies back down again around lunch time, much to his relief.

"Why don't you take your break now?" she suggests.

Cheren nods and heads outside, crashing on a bench right outside the door. He pulls his phone out and starts to text Alder to complain. Halfway through, he changes his mind and erases the message. He's trying to prove something here. He can deal with it. He tucks his hair behind his ear and sighs to himself.

After he estimates that his 15 minutes are up, he goes back in. There's a line again, and he hurries over to start bagging their stuff. Once they've gotten through everyone, she hands him a list of books.

"I need you to pull these. They're reserves that we keep back here behind the counter," she explains, pointing towards the shelf behind them.

He nods. He's been to enough book stores that he knows how the process works. He fetches the books on the list. There're only a few, and she shows him how to tag them by customer. When he's finished, he goes back to bagging. Occasionally she goes over buttons on the register with him. He's pretty sure he won't remember them by tomorrow. He's not even sure he remembers then 5 minutes later.

Another employee shows up in the afternoon, but the store is so big that Cheren doesn't really interact with her at all before he gets off at 4. He does introduce himself on his way out, and she seems nice enough.

Cheren says goodbye to the manager and starts walking home. He barely has the energy to get the several blocks back to the apartment. He shoves his hands in his jacket pockets and sighs again. The retail world is harder than he thought.


He collapses on the couch when he gets home, exhausted. He doesn't even bother taking his jacket off.

"Fun day, huh?" Alder asks, looking amused from where he's standing in the kitchen.

Cheren just groans, leaning back and closing his eyes. After a moment he forces himself to sit up. "It wasn't that bad, I guess. Kind of overwhelming. I haven't done that kind of thing before."

"That's understandable," Alder agrees. He leans over the bar, elbows on the counter. "You'll get used to it."

"I hope so."

"So what'd you do all day?"

"Mm," Cheren thinks. "Put books away. That kind of thing. I didn't have to actually wait on anyone today, so that was good."

"Sounds right up your alley then."

He laughs. "That's true. At the very least, I know how to do that much."

Alder hums in agreement. "You hungry?"

Cheren realizes that he is, actually. He didn't feel like trying to get something during his short break, so he hasn't eaten since breakfast. He'll have to start taking lunch with him. "Kinda."

"What do you want?"

"Ugh. I don't know. I don't feel like dealing with it." He's so tired. He's tempted to just go straight to bed.

Alder gives him a look of pity. "I'll make it. Just tell me what."

"Really?" Cheren asks, surprised but grateful. "Uh… pasta of some sort? Anything is fine."

"You got it."

Cheren leans against the arm of the couch while he waits, head resting on his arm. He watches Alder move around the kitchen and wonders how the hell he got so lucky. The ex-champion of Unova is making him macaroni out of a box. Unbelievable. He closes his eyes and must drift off, because Alder nudges him awake not long later.

"Cheren," he says softly. His hand is warm on Cheren's shoulder.

He blinks, sitting up and taking the bowl that Alder hands him. "Thanks."

Alder sits down across from him and starts quietly reading the newspaper while Cheren eats. He's halfway through his macaroni when he happens to look up and sees Alder staring at him over the page.

"What?" Cheren asks.

He just shrugs, going back to his paper.

"Okay," Cheren mumbles, feeling self-conscious. He gets up when he's done eating and puts his bowl in the sink. He digs through the cabinets for a container to put the leftovers in. He can just take it for lunch tomorrow.


By the next weekend, Cheren's seriously beginning to wonder if he made a mistake taking on another job. He barely made it through the week, and he now has another day and a half ahead of him at the bookstore.

He's sort of been trained on the register at this point, so the manager leaves him there alone while she goes off to work on the floor. He's pretty uneasy about it, but at least she's not that far away if he needs help. It's not that busy at the moment anyway.

A customer comes up to the counter, and he plasters a smile across his face. "Hi. Find everything okay?" He manages to successfully ring her up and feels ever so slightly proud of himself as she walks away. "Have a nice day," he calls as she leaves. Maybe he can do this after all.

The store stays mostly empty for a while after that. Cheren's just starting to get bored standing around when the bell above the door jingles. "Welcome-" he starts, before realizing the customer is Nate. "Woah. Hi," he says, surprised. He hasn't seen Nate in a long time. He was off traveling when Cheren was working at the gym.

Nate looks over, and his mouth drops open. "Cheren?" he asks, immediately making his way over to the register. "I wondered where you were!"

"Here I am," Cheren says, wondering if he can get away with skipping the explanation. He changes the subject instead. "What are you doing here?" He's not surprised to see Nate in Castelia, it's a popular city, but he doesn't necessarily seem like a big reader.

"Oh, I've gotta find a birthday present to send my mom. Any ideas?"

Cheren thinks for a moment. "I might have something." He's been working just long enough that he's started noticing which books are the top sellers.

"That'd be great!" Nate grins at him.

He glances around the front of the store quickly and decides it's probably safe to leave the register for a minute. He leads Nate over to the new release section and picks up two that he's already sold several copies of just this morning. Despite his time in Aspertia, he doesn't know Nate's mom that well, but he's had enough customers rave to him about the author that he thinks they're a pretty safe bet.

"You pick," Cheren says, handing them both over to Nate.

"Hmm." Nate squints down at the covers, inspecting them. "This one looks cooler," he decides, putting the other one back down on the table.

"I think so too," he agrees.

Cheren quickly rings him up on the register. He manages to hit the wrong button, setting off an obnoxious beeping noise. He laughs nervously, a little embarrassed, but Nate doesn't seem to notice or care.

"Thanks!" Nate says, taking his bag. He looks like he wants to say something, but a customer comes up in line behind him. "Wanna do something when you get off?" he asks, throwing a glance over his shoulder.

"Sure," Cheren agrees, and he means it. He's always liked Nate. He tries to think if he still has his number to call him later and isn't sure. "I'll be done at 4. Want to just meet me back here?"

"Sounds good," Nate agrees. He moves out of the way and waves as he pushes the door open to leave.


Nate is waiting outside the store when Cheren gets off, leaning against the brick entrance. He's staring down at his Pokedex, visor casting a shadow over his eyes, but he looks up when Cheren walks over. "Hi!" he chirps, face immediately lighting up.

Cheren wonders what it's like to be so… enthusiastic about seemingly everything. Is he just getting old?

"Hey." Cheren smiles back. He undoes the top button of his uniform, wishing he had brought an extra shirt in his bag. He feels silly walking around with a logo on him. "So what do you want to do?"

Nate makes a thoughtful face. "Ice cream?"

Cheren just nods. "I know a good place then."

He takes him to an ice cream parlor that he's been to a couple times. It's a cute place, maybe too cute for Cheren, but Bianca loved it when he brought her. He's not surprised when Nate seems to as well. They stand in line to order, and the owner's Vanillite hovers in the air next to them.

"Hey buddy!" Nate coos, sticking a finger out and grinning from ear to ear.

They get their ice cream and snag a table near the window. Nate waves his spoon at Cheren. There's a tiny smiling ice cream cone on the handle. "This place is so cool!"

Cheren laughs. "I figured you'd like it."

They eat in silence for a few minutes before Nate puts his ice cream down. "So you have to tell me… what happened exactly? I went back home recently, and they told me you just took off!"

Cheren resists the urge to sigh, wondering if he'll ever stop having to explain himself. He can't be annoyed at Nate though, it's only natural that he'd be curious. "It just… became too much," he says vaguely.

"Hmm," is all Nate says. Cheren wonders if he senses that he doesn't really want to talk about it. He takes another bite of his ice cream. "So do you like it here?"

"Yeah, I really do. More than I thought I would."

"Good!" Nate nods. "Then that's all that matters."

Cheren smiles at his simple minded-ness. "More importantly, what have you been up to?"

"Nothing exciting. Training, mostly."

"So beating Iris wasn't enough for you, huh?" Cheren asks, amused.

"No way!"

He shakes his head. Sometimes Nate reminds him so much of Black.

They sit around talking until well after they finish eating. Finally, Cheren decides he better head home. It's been nice seeing Nate again, but he's so tired. He's still not used to this whole working thing.

"Give me your number," Nate demands before they leave. "I don't have yours anymore, or I would've given you a call before!"

They trade numbers for the second time and go their separate ways. When Cheren looks back, Nate is still standing there on the sidewalk waving.


"Hey," Cheren says as he walks through the door. "You'll never guess who I saw today."

Alder peers over his newspaper. "Who?"

"Nate."

"Really?" Alder asks, seeming interested. He folds up his paper and tosses it to the side. "He's a good kid. What's he up to?"

Cheren shrugs as he puts his bag down. "Nothing new, really. We hung out for a little bit after I got off. It was fun. I hadn't seen him in forever." His phone vibrates in his pocket, and he pulls it out, surprised to see that he already has a message from Nate. He just saw him, after all. He opens the message and stares down at his phone.


FROM: Nate

It was so good to see you again! Honestly, I've always had the biggest crush on you hahaha. Call me anytime if you want to meet up!


"Uh," is all Cheren can think to say. Did Nate somehow text the wrong number? No, that can't be right... "What."

"What?"

He hesitates for a moment before handing over his phone.

Alder raises his eyebrows. "Well, I guess he thought it was fun too." He hands it back to Cheren with an unreadable expression.

Cheren sits down on the couch, wondering how he's supposed to respond to something like that. For a second, he wonders if he should consider it. Like Alder said, Nate's a nice kid. He's cute, and they get along fairly well. It's not like he has many options available.

Then he looks up at Alder and realizes there's no way that he can do that to Nate. It's not that he doesn't have any other options. The reality is, he's in the biggest city in Unova, and if he really wanted to find someone, he probably could. The problem is that he doesn't want any other options.

It would be wrong to lead Nate on when he's still so hopelessly stuck on someone else.

"What are you going to do?" Alder asks.

"Tell him thanks, but no thanks, I suppose." Cheren starts typing out a reply. He feels bad and hopes Nate isn't very serious about him. He's pretty sure he's not. At the very least, Cheren never noticed a thing.

"Maybe you should give him a chance."

Cheren's fingers pause on the screen, stomach dropping. He glances up at Alder before looking back down at his phone. "No," he says, trying to sound unaffected. It comes out sharper than he intended.

Alder blinks, looking taken aback. "Alright."

"I'm not interested in dating anyone right now," Cheren says. It's not really a lie.

"Ah." Alder seems more understanding this time. "That makes sense."

Cheren sends the text, getting up and going into the bathroom where Alder can't see him. He leans against the sink and rubs his face, feeling sick.

He hates this.


Notes: What's this?! It hasn't even been 6 months between chapters?! I would ideally like to start getting this updated more frequently, but we'll see what life throws at me.