AN: Sorry this took so long; final projects and all that. But it's Summer now! And I'm only taking two classes in the Summer semester so I'll have more time to write woohoo
From falling, running into things, and unforeseen projectiles (including pokémon), our beloved black-haired battler has hit and hurt her head due to it. As you may assume, this has caused some lasting effects on her critical thinking and judgment so it should be no surprise that her reaction to Miriam leaning on her was to not so quietly say "Osu!".
This was of course, not the reaction that the nurse was expecting, though she did find it quite charming and couldn't help but let out a small giggle. Almost immediately it set into Dendra's head what she had said and her face got as red as a voltorb in a split second as she sat straight up and balled her fists tight in her lap. This made Miriam laugh a little more. "Uhm- I'm sorry, I didn't mean to uh say that." Dendra spat out nervously. Miram started fidgeting a little with her hands, "No it's fine," She looked away bashfully, "I.. thought it was kind of cute" Still looking away, she smiled.
'CUTE!?' Dendra thought, somehow blushing more than she had. Boy was she a mess now and Miriam had definitely noticed. In an attempt to lessen the tension, she layed a hand on the flustered woman's shoulder, which did help in calming her down a bit. They made eye contact and Dendra put a hand on her neck, "Do you really, um, think I'm cute?" she said with a bashful chuckle. Now it was the other woman's turn to blush, "Y-yeah,," she said while holding her arm nervously. The two of them looked at each other again, smiled, then started giggling. "You should've told me that earlier, Miri!" she playfully hit the pink-haired woman's arm "Y'know, I think you're pretty adorable too." She winked Miriam, still with some blush tinting her fair skin.
Miriam was surprised by the statement but quickly shook herself out of being flustered. "Well I think this would be the perfect time to ask if you would be interested in a date?" She smiled sweetly at Dendra who gave a wide, excited smile back, "Osu! We should have a picnic! Just the two of us! I think that would be fun!" She continued smiling to which Miram nodded happily, "How about tomorrow? School will be out for the weekend and there's some really beautiful places just outside of Mesagoza."
"Sounds great!" Said Dendra, "I'll head out to stock up on ingredients!" She waved goodbye and walked out of her now date's house giddily.
"Bye, Dendra! Stay safe, don't hurt yourself anymore before we see each other again!" Miriam said with a wave.
Man Dendra was pumped! She ran, and I mean ran, to the shop for ingredients. Being the protein-counting fitness junkie she was, she went straight to the meats and grabbed as much as she could carry. As she was about to check out, the sandwich pick section caught her eyes, specifically translucent, sparkly, heart picks. These were perfect! She managed to grab a handful of them even with everything she was already carrying and proceeded to the register to buy her finds.
"Just this!" Dendra said as she plopped everything she had grabbed on to the check out desk. The clerk's eyes widened a bit in surprise as the mountain of products was set in front of her. "Oh!.. Um, you havin' a party?" She asked, in a polite, customer service voice. Dendra smiled wide and laughed a little, "Nope! Just a picnic!" She leaned towards the clerk and said in a lower yet still excited voice, "I'm having a date!" Her voice didn't stay as quiet as she thought which gave the clerk another shock. Once the items were finished being scanned, the clerk gave Dendra the price, "This all comes out to 4500 pokédollars, ma'am." Dendra happily paid despite the steep price and happily went home to await the next day.
Miriam was excited, just like her date, but she was dreading it slightly. Dendra was a great teacher and coworker…but she was known to not be the best at sandwich making. Some would even say that her sandwiches were entirely inedible. At least she was a nurse, she would be able to save either of them if the teacher created a biohazard of a sandwich. Somehow this made her feel better and she was able to sleep happily and excited for their date.
After waking up, Miram quickly got ready, spending extra time on her hair and make-up to make sure she looked her best. She made a cup of coffee to give her some energy and headed out once she finished it. It would be a fairly long walk outside of town so she opted to take a flying taxi to their meeting spot. As the ride started, a wave of anxiety washed over Miriam. She didn't really feel nervous, she knew it was irrational, but she couldn't help but think about the possibility of doing something embarrassing, something to make Dendra not like her anymore. She was practically shaking with nerves as she got out of the vehicle, "Are you alright, miss?" The cab pilot asked. She flashed a friendly smile and said with a wave, "Y-yep! Thank you for the ride, sir!"
Miriam waited there for a few minutes, checking her rotom phone more often than usual, before Dendra came jogging toward her, a backpack full of picnic materials, "Hey Miri!" She waved a hand above her head as she slowed down to a walk and eventually a stop when she reached the other woman. "You look great!" she said slightly out of breath before taking off her backpack and setting it down. Her date gave her a quizzical look and asked, "Did you run all the way here?" She smiled widely, "Yeah! It wasn't too far and I wanted to get some cardio in." Miriam smiled sweetly with a light blush creeping across her face, "You're adorable."
With their compliments exchanged, they started to set up their picnic table, "What ingredients did you get Dendra?" Miriam asked, her worries about the sandwiches returning a little. The athlete brought out her ingredients and set them on the table similarly to how she did at the market. Miriam had a similar reaction to the clerk at the market. She pulled out her own ingredients, a healthy mix of vegetables, protein, and condiments like you would expect from a medical professional. Together, their ingredients were the perfect mix for tasty sandwiches.
"Wow you got some fancy things, Miri! I can't wait to put these together!" Dendra grabbed some bread to start preparing a sandwich. "Osu!" a revelation, "I have an idea! How about we both make sandwiches, cut them in half, and share them." Miriam pushed her worries away, at least enough for Dendra to not notice them, "That sounds so cute! Let's get started." She also grabbed bread and started stacking her ingredients in an elegant way. The more culinary challenged of the two did as well, though a little more sloppy. After her..creative..sandwich was done, Dendra reached into her bag and excitedly pulled out the heart picks she had picked up.
Noticing that Miriam's sandwich was also completed, Dendra smoothly reached over and stuck the pick on it. "Here ya go! Cute isn't it?" She smiled big and Miriam's face grew pink. "Yeah it is!" She looked at her date and smiled. The teacher brought out a bread knife and started slicing her sandwich in half, offering the utensil to the nurse, "You ready to swap?" She asked. Miriam cut her sandwich as well and handed a half to Dendra before even looking at what she had concocted. Dendra handed a half of hers over happily, "I hope it's better than the last one I gave you." She bashfully put her hand on her neck. 'So do I..' Miriam thought, but only showing a smile on her face.
"I'm sure it will be!" she was not sure. Hesitantly she took a bite and- It was great! Even with the over abundance of meat on the sandwich, it was genuinely fantastic, "WOW! You really improved, I love this!" Miriam excitedly continued eating the sandwich. Dendra's face lit up, "Thanks! I worked with one of my students to get better at cooking, and I guess it paid off." She grabbed the half that Miriam gave her and took a bite. She would've liked anything she made, but it was of course good. "Yours is great too, Miri!"
They finished their meals and put away their things to just appreciate the nature around them. The two sat down in the grass and Miriam laid her head on Dendra's shoulder again to which Dendra wrapped an arm around her shoulder. They sat comfortably for a while, looking around at the wild pokémon around and pointing out cool things they saw. Dendra used her free arm to pull out her phone and snap a cute photo of them.
While looking around, Dendra noticed something unusual, "Hey Miri," Miriam was starting to fall asleep on her shoulder but slowly lifted her head and rubbed her eyes a bit, "Yeah?" The more awake of the two pointed towards a glowing…thing in the distance. "You see that? That purple thing? I've never seen something like it before.." Miriam looked up and saw what looked like a stake stuck into a hill a ways away from them, "Huh? I think Raifort was saying something about colorful stakes and some pokémon legend." Dendra whipped out her phone again to take a photo of what they saw, "We should tell her about this!"
AN: More fluff coming in the next chapter but also some adventure stuff because what's pokémon without a little adventure?