Love Is In Bloom Part 1
Ship: Femslash Amour
Summary: How Alice and Serena's relationship evolved overtime. Part 3 of a request for TheDoctor1998
A/N: Just a heads up, it's been a while since I've seen XY, so my recollection of the order of events may be off.
Two months had passed since Serena met Alice. After the initial shock of finding out their companion had previously been a boy, Clemont and Bonnie were more than accepting of Alice, assuring her they had no hard feelings over her secret. Bonnie even offered to help her find a romantic partner, something that made Alice deeply embarrassed.
Currently, the four of them are at Professor Sycamore's Summer Camp. The sun was setting, and Alice was relaxing in the cabin, stroking Pikachu's fur. Just then, Serena came in.
"Hey Alice, Shauna and I were going to go for a swim! You want to join us?"
Alice shook her head.
"Sounds like fun, but I don't have a swimsuit."
"That's fine, I have a spare you can borrow."
"Really? Great! Thanks!"
"Sure! Just give me a second…Ah, here it is!"
Alice recoiled when she saw what Serena pulled out of her bag.
"A…A bikini?"
"Is something wrong?"
"Well…um, uh…"
Then it hit Serena.
"You haven't gone swimming since you transitioned, have you?"
Alice nodded.
"You don't have to come if you don't want to, I can tell Shauna you're with Clemont if you want."
"Well…I want to go, but…I don't know, I've never worn one before…"
"Why don't you try it on? The worst that can happen is that you don't like it."
"You promise you won't laugh?"
"I promise."
Alice thought for a minute, before apprehensively taking it.
"Alright, but you better keep your word."
Serena turned around to give her some privacy.
"No peeking!"
"I won't!"
"Ok, I'm ready."
Serena turned around, and was stunned silent. Alice looked…she looked…
"Well?"
"You look beautiful…"
"You're just saying that."
"No, no! Really, you look amazing!"
Alice turned to the mirror, and examined herself.
"I do look kind of cute…"
"The cutest, now come on!"
The two ran to the lake, where Shauna was waiting.
"Hey guys! Alice, you look great!"
"Hehe, thanks."
The three played in the lake until the sun went down, and had a great time. Back at the cabin, Alice tried to return the bikini to Serena, but she shook her head.
"Keep it!"
"You sure?"
"You never know when you may need it again. Besides, it looks much better on you."
Alice felt so happy that she hugged Serena tightly. Once she realized what she had done, she blushed profusely.
"Sorry, I just…I got excited, I guess, I…"
But Serena smiled, and hugged her back.
To say Serena's first Showcase had been a disaster would be an understatement. At first, everything went well, but then Fennekin tripped on her outfit, completely messing up their game. Nobody laughed, thankfully, but she was so embarrassed. Needless to say, she didn't make it to the next round.
Right now, Serena was sitting on the edge of a curb, crying her eyes out.
"I was in over my head. I hadn't even heard about Showcases until I met Shauna, why did I think I could become Kalos Queen?"
Fennekin nudged her arm, letting out a soft "Fen". Despite how she felt, Serena smiled and stroked her fur.
"It wasn't your fault, Fennekin. I should have made sure your dress wasn't too long for you."
"Serena, you alright?"
Serena glanced up to see Alice coming up to her. Pikachu was with her, and ran up to Serena's shoulder to nuzzle her. Serena smiled, and stroked Pikachu's fur.
"We were worried when you didn't come back to the Pokemon Center, I thought I'd look for you."
Serena sighed sadly.
"I'm fine, I just needed some space to think."
"I thought you guys were great!"
"You're just saying that to be nice."
"...Yeah. Sorry."
Serena shook her head.
"I appreciate the effort, but generic platitudes aren't going to make me feel better."
Alice nodded.
"I know what you mean. I remember my first league loss."
"Really?"
Alice chuckled, and began her tale.
"Like it was yesterday. It was the Top 16 of the Indigo League, and I was on top of the world. I'd gotten through the preliminaries, even surpassing my rival! I thought I was unstoppable, but…it wasn't meant to be."
"What happened?"
"More like what didn't happen? I got kidnapped by Team Rocket, and no matter what I did they wouldn't give up. I managed to get away, but I was so far behind schedule I almost got disqualified for missing my match. I had no time to heal my team, and they were exhausted. In the end, it was my Charizard against his Pikachu…"
"And?"
"And Charizard refused to do anything I said. In the end, they called the battle, citing Charizard's disobedience as a forfeit."
Alice began to tear up.
"I was so mad. Mad at the world, mad at Charizard, just mad! It wasn't fair! Like the universe itself was conspiring against me to make me lose! All our hard work, for nothing!"
"Alice…"
After a minute, Alice took a deep breath, and wiped the tears from her eyes.
"I know this sucks, and it feels like your dreams are crushed. To be honest, the pain never fully goes away, but there is one thing you can do: get back on your feet, and try again. I promise, it will get better."
After a minute, Serena smiled, and gave Alice a hug.
"Thanks, Alice. Actually…there is one more thing you can help me with."
"Anything, just ask!"
Serena took out her bag, and after digging around for a few minutes pulled out a pair of scissors.
"I've been wanting to change my look up for a while, and now seems like the perfect time!"
"You want me to cut your hair?"
"Please? You told me your friends taught you how to style your own hair, and it looks amazing!"
"Yeah, but I've never cut someone else's hair before…"
"It'll look great, I trust you."
After a minute, Alice took the scissors from her hands.
"Thank you!"
"Just remember, this was your idea…"
Alice got to work, snipping away at her locks patiently and steadily. Serena stood as still as she could, eager with anticipation until…
"Alright, there you go…"
Serena took out a hand mirror, and when she saw her new look she gasped.
"Oh no, you hate it! Sorry, I messed it up, I-"
But Alice's rambling was soon cut off by a bone-crushing hug from Serena.
"I love it! Thanks, Alice!"
Alice smiled, and returned it. She was happy to help her friend. And…it felt nice to hug Serena. Something about the sensation felt…different.
"Aw, he's so cute!"
Noibat cooed as Bonnie scratched his chin, cheerfully flapping his tiny wings and soaking in the attention as he sat in Alice's lap.
"Easy Bonnie, remember that he's Alice's Pokemon, not yours."
"It's fine, Clemont," Alice chuckled. "He is cute!"
Noibat smiled, and cuddled into his "mother's'" chest, Alice continuing to hug him as she reminisced.
Noibat wasn't the first Pokemon she had hatched from an egg. Phanpy, Scraggy, Larvitar, Togepi to a lesser extent, each of them had hatched while under her care. And aside from Togepi (though in hindsight, that was probably for the better), all of them had imprinted on her as their parent. And she loved them just as equally as they loved her. Granted, Noibat was the first one she would be acting as the mother too, but she was determined not to let that change anything.
Serena got up to pet him as well, which was when something unexpected happened. When he saw Serena coming up, he jumped right out of Alice's arms and into her chest. Serena was surprised, but returned it.
"Well, aren't you a friendly one?"
Clemont thought for a minute, then chuckled.
"What's so funny, big brother?"
"Well, I read in a book somewhere that baby Pokemon are great at picking up on their trainer's emotions. Happiness, sadness, fear…love."
Bonnie quickly picked up on what her brother was implying.
"Ooooh! Alice and Serena, sitting in a tree! K-I-S-S-I-N-G!"
"No, No, No!" Alice tried to backpedal. "I don't like her that way! I mean, no offense Serena, but I just…I mean, uh-"
"Oh, no, it's fine!" Serena assured her. "I don't feel that way about you either!"
"Uh huh," Bonnie said with an eyeroll.
The subject was dropped, and everyone got ready for dinner. But neither Alice or Serena noticed the other blushing like mad.
But Noibat did.