AN: This story takes place at Naranja Academy instead of Uva because
1. I played Scarlet first
2. I like the word naranja better lol
They always said that being a teacher would be hard, that it was a thankless job and didn't pay nearly enough for how much schooling and effort it took, but to Dendra, that couldn't be farther from the truth. She was the battle studies teacher at Naranja Academy and absolutely loved it! Being able to battle and teach young minds how to do so gave her such purpose in life, along with being pretty fun. Unfortunately this wasn't the case for all staff at the academy.
Being a health teacher was Nurse Mirams goal but with how many times she failed the credentials exam, it's safe to say that's off the table for her. She still managed to get a job in the education field, but like her title suggests, she just works as a nurse in the infirmary. Most students only come to her when they or their pokémon needs help and leave promptly after. Despite her best efforts, she has hardly been able to teach the students anything about their or their pokémons health.
Even with these vastly different experiences in the workplace, Dendra and Miriam had budded a wonderful friendship. They looked forward to seeing each other between classes everyday and Dendra always had some new and wild escapade going on, whether that be trying to not make sandwiches that cause others to need to see Nurse Miriam, or having to lead a gym challenge because she lost a bet. No matter what it was, Miriam loved to listen to her friend's stories… even if they had to be told while Dendra was getting her various and common injuries tended to as she wasn't the most careful when it came to executing these tasks.
Dendra was teaching a rather intense class of battle studies, they finally had time in the period to get some real sparring done and all of the students were having a blast battling each other. Dendra was frantically running around to each match, trying to observe their tactics and cheer on her students before being distracted by another pair's fighting style. "Alright Carlos! That was a great move- WOW! Maria, how cool!" All of this running around and being distracted by pokémon caused her to not be fully aware of her surroundings and BAM! Dendra had run head first into a pawmott that was launched out of its court and she fell right to the hard dirt below with a puff of dust. Though she was obviously hurt, Dendra still offered praise to her student, "Amazing knockout, Leo!" She said with a thumbs up, still lying on the ground.
The bell rang dismissing the class just as the poor battle studies teacher was hit, "Okay class head on to your break. I'm so happy we got to do some hands on learning today, let's shoot for the same thing tomorrow." Leo, the student who's pawmott had struck Dendra came up to her and asked, "I'm really sorry about that. Are you alright, Ms. Dendra?"
"I'm fine, kiddo. I'll go to the infirmary in a minute and be ready to go for tomorrow's class, don't you worry!" The student nodded and ran off to his friends who were waiting for him in the field. Dendra finally stood herself up after a few seconds of rest and made her way to the infirmary.
Miriam had been sitting in her office, bored, for what seemed like hours. She let out a deep sigh before hearing the door creak open, "Hey hey! Is my favorite nurse in?" Her eyes shift to focus on the woman who had just walked in. "Dendra, this is the 4th time you've been in here this week! You need to be more careful." Miriam furrowed her brow and led her friend to sit on one of the infirmary beds, "What happened this time?" she asked, putting a hand on the other woman's shoulder.
"I got hit with a pawmott.." Dendra answered a little bashfully.
"A pawmott?!" This was certainly a new one, Miriam was used to treating pulled muscles or injuries from falls, even accidentally being hit with pokémon moves but never had she dealt with injuries caused by being hit with the pokémon itself.
Dendra giggled a little before explaining more, "The students were sparring and I guess I got a little distracted trying to observe them all. A kid's pawmott was knocked out of the court and hit me when I was running past." She hit her head lightly with her palm to demonstrate the impact. Miriam just smiled and shook her head before grabbing an ice pack and handing it to Dendra, "Here, hold this wherever it hurts. Did you hit your head at all when you fell?" Dendra raised an eyebrow and looked up slightly in thought, not exactly a good sign that she couldn't remember what happened to her just five minutes ago, "I think I did," She touched the back of her head and was met with a sharp pain, "Yep, I definitely did." She winced.
Miriam was rightfully concerned at this and got a little more serious, "Let me get a closer look, could you turn around for me?" Dendra shifted so she was sitting the other way. "Would you mind if I took out your ponytail so I can assess you better?" Miriam asked, realizing that she wouldn't be able to see any injury marks with Dendra's hair put up so tight. Dendra's face immediately tinted ever so slightly pink, "Umm.. yeah! Do whatever you need to haha. You're the nurse!" The nervousness was apparent in her voice but Miriam didn't pick up, she was much too focused on making sure her co-worker wasn't too badly hurt.
"Okay, and let me know if it hurts when I touch your head at all." Miriam gently pulled the hair tie out of Dendra's hair and set it on the counter next to her before parting her hair to look for any bruising or cuts. She was laser-focused now and had an expression to match, Dendra's face however, got redder by the second. This would probably be a good time to mention she had developed a small crush on Miriam since working with her. Maybe it was how kindly she treated her, how supportive she was of her cooking endeavors (even if they weren't that great), or just because she was pretty. But one thing Dendra knew for sure was that this crush wasn't going away anytime soon.
Dendra was snapped out of her thoughts when she heard the report from Miriam, "There's a couple bruises, they're not too bad but I still think it's best to check you for a concussion." The teacher turned around to face the nurse with a bright smile, "Alright, do whatever you need to do, Doc." Miriam giggled at her enthusiasm and grabbed a small flashlight, "All you need to do for this is look straight ahead while I shine this light in your eyes." Dendra nodded as she started to move the flashlight in front of her face. Apparently ignoring the instruction, she started turning her head to follow the light. Miriam just smiled softly and grabbed the other woman's face, "I said look straight ahead, dear." she teased, still holding her patient's face while running the light in front of her eyes again; said eyes dilated slower than they should've with the light.
Dendra was now a blushing mess, 'She called me "dear"!?'. Miriam took notice of the blush and started to sport some of her own and looked down bashfully for a second. She hadn't noticed the name that she subconsciously said but was a little embarrassed that she let it slip. Just like the teacher across from her, Miriam had developed a small crush on a coworker and you'd never be able to guess who.
Both of their inner thoughts aside, the nurse realized she had to share her diagnoses and cleared her throat slightly to compose herself, "Well..Dendra," she had to take a second to stop herself from saying "dear" again, "your pupils didn't dilate as they were supposed to but since your mental state seems to be in as working order as usual, I'm going to say that this is a minor concussion." Miriam made sure to look directly into her eyes to get her attention before saying the next part, "You should avoid strenuous activity for the next week or two depending on how quickly you heal."
"NOOOOO!"
The scream was heard around campus, how could Dendra, of all people in Paldea, avoid physical activity. Hell, that was her job for Arceus' sake! This news snapped the teacher out of her bashful state as she grabbed Miriam's shoulders, suddenly not blushing at the physical touch, "How am I supposed to liveee?" She said, lightly shaking her friend back and forth, "I won't be able to pump up the students! I won't be able to work out, how will I stay strong?"
Miriam waited a second for Dendra to calm down before reasoning with her, "Don't worry, you can still teach your class, you'd just need to be more careful. Maybe observe their battles in a different way or stick to lectures for a bit." She smiled, removed the other woman's hands from her shoulders, and held onto them in a comforting manner. Dendra, while less frantic, but still upset asked, "But how am I supposed to stay strong, do you know what a week of rest does to this?" She rolled her sleeve up and flexed her rather toned bicep. Miram's eyes widened and a light blush crept back onto her cheeks before she answered the questions, "Well y'know there's low intensity exercises right? You could do some of those." She looked to the side and loosened her grip on Dendra's hands, which the battle studies teacher hadn't realized she was holding until then, "We could um, train together while you're healing! I do some easier workouts on my own to keep up with the hecticness this job brings anyway." She laughed a bit, with a slight tinge of awkwardness.
Dendra's thoughts started racing again when she noticed that Miriam was holding her hands and even more when she proposed them training together. She was still composed just enough to let out an "Osu! I'd love to."
AN: This is the first fanfiction I've written (that wasn't satire lol) so I'd appreciate any sort of constructive criticism. I thought this pairing was cute from first seeing them interact in-game so I will definitely be continuing this story especially if you guys like it.
Also I'm dyslexic so please PLEASE tell me if there's spelling or grammar errors so I can fix them.