#Spoke and minute are brothers decided arbitrarily based on mc skin similarities

[v1ct0r1an]

A Graduation Present

Now, Minute doesn’t always know what to expect from his brother. They don’t talk often. Spoke is way too busy doing tours to spend time with family which is expected from a wanna-be rock star. It’s not like his brother even meshes with the rest of their immediate family either. He’s always been loud and abrasive, always brushing aside school for his dream.

So, imagine Minute’s surprise when he sees Spoke at his graduation. He didn’t even invite him, he’s certain no one did. The guy just showed up. On second thought, it’s not all that surprising actually. Minute had made local news with a couple other students featuring as “top graduates”.

What’s actually confusing is why Spoke is walking over to him with an egg cradled in his arms, looking like living death.

“Hey Spo-” Minute doesn’t even have time to finish his greeting before the very same egg is shoved into his arms. His brother has this dumb smile on his face despite pallid, almost sickly look. He clears his throat, carefully looking over the egg before his eyes flit to Spoke’s. “Uhm, what’s this exactly?”

“A pokemon egg, duh,” Spoke answers like Minute didn’t already know that. It makes him grit his teeth.

“Okay, but what’s in it?” Minute asks, his pale eyes narrowing with suspicion.

Spoke scoffs and crosses his arms. “If I told you, that’d ruin your graduation surprise,” He states, rolling his eyes. He laughs to himself a bit as if he was being funny. It only makes Minute more suspicious.

“So we’re trolling?” He assumes out loud, drawing out the “so”. He doesn’t believe for a second that this will be a good surprise. He takes note of how light the egg is. It’s only a few pounds and he can even feel movement inside. Spoke must’ve been carrying the thing around for a while before handing it off to him.

“I would never,” Spoke retorts, looking away, lying. “Listen, little brother of mine, I just wanted to give you a present for graduating! Is that really a bad thing?”

Minute sighs and adjusts his hold on the egg. He doesn’t want to risk dropping it, even if pokemon eggs are rather sturdy. “No,” He says reluctantly. “I just don’t get why. Like, why a pokemon and not anything else?”

“Hey, hey, what’s a better gift than a brand spanking new member for your party?” Spoke asks in return. That shit-eating grin of his hasn’t left. Seldom does Minute ever see him not smiling; whenever he does see him that is.

“So it’ll be useful?” Minute queries. If this mystery pokemon is expected to join his team, then it must be something with potential. Something strong.

“Depends on how you use it. I’ve found it very useful on my team. Anyway-” Spoke chuckles to himself, his gaze flitting away from Minute and across the room, obviously distracted. “Do you think the school would let me perform here?”

“Probably not,” Minute states, still caught up on the fact that this is from one of the pokemon on his brother’s own team. What could it possibly be? A Toxel, maybe? A Grooky? Noibat or Kricketot perhaps. The egg is certainly heavier than he expects a Kricketot egg to feel so he thinks can knock that off the list immediately. The other three certainly do have potential…

“Oh,” Spoke sighs, his shoulders slumping but he still looks infuriatingly joyous. He straightens up right away though, not one to be caught even the slightest bit dejected, and pats Minute on the shoulder, making the other tense up a bit.

Spoke is surprisingly strong for how thin he looks. It makes Minute think the ghoulish look might just be an aesthetic thing. “Well, I’m proud of you for making it through, little bro,” He states, his eyes crinkling as he grins and Minute, for once, does believe him.

“Yeah, thanks. It was actually pretty easy,” Minute says, feigning nonchalance. It makes Spoke’s face scrunch up a little.

“Well- I’m glad you managed to get through it,” Spoke bites out, his voice is slightly restrained and Minute can just tell he’s annoyed him.

It makes him smile back.

Out in the crowd around the two, Minute can spot Jumper right away just by seeing her Hoppip hair bow. And also by her all pink attire. She really sticks out in the sea of graduation robes and well dressed parents. “Well, I think I’ve got to go now,” Minute says to Spoke, taking the first step back.

“Oh, really? You can’t spare a few more minutes with your brother? Not even a thank you?” Spoke asks and Minute hesitates to even show a hint of appreciation for this mystery egg.

Through gritted teeth Minute manages a “fine. Thanks,” before he hurries off to meet with his friend. He manages to catch her by the elevator while Spoke just watches until they’ve lost sight of each other.

“Hey Minute, having fun?” Jumper asks as he rolls up the sleeves of her sweater. Minute can see her eyes catch on the egg in his arms before they meet his eyes.

“Yeah. I ran into Spoke just a second ago too,” He mentions. He holds out the egg a bit and Jumper nods as she narrows her eyes.

“Really? I could’ve sworn he was touring Galar this week though,” She says. With a hum of confusion she looks around but Spoke is already long gone, either lost and trying to find his way out of the building or he’s straight up left.

“I didn’t know that,” Minute mutters. He looks down at the odd egg and as much as it pains him to even think it: Spoke had actually been sweet for once. Even worse, he feels a pang of guilt for not thanking him properly. It’s probably too late now to try and find him though. “He gave me this. Wanna head over to Professor Mystic’s with me tomorrow? I need to find out how long this thing has until it hatches.”

And Jumper nods, always ready to go along with whatever plans are presented. “That sounds good to me. Oh- and can we stop and get some Casteliacones on the way? I just need to grab a couple treats for the team.”

“Sure. I mean, it’s on the way there already,” Minute agrees with a shrug. He was planning on dropping by somewhere for some rage candy bars anyway.