#alternatives: floette klefki whimsicott petilil solosis dratini roserade riolu

[stargazer-dreamer]

the most magical place on mars

character: spike spiegel

reader: gender neutral

summary: he told you he would take you wherever you wanted for your date. he forgot to mention that he hated theme parks

notes: pokemon with a bit of a disney filter. copyright friendly, of course

✩ he never liked theme parks. he supposed, when he was younger, amusement parks were more his thing—fast rides to get his adrenaline pumping—but theme parks never sparked any interest in him

✩ especially this one. based around a popular video game series he had absolutely no interest in, cute and cool monsters alike filled the scenery as the two of you walked through the front gates

✩ no, he didn’t care for theme parks. but the way your eyes lit up as you pointed out a sign that said “route 1” (whatever that meant) warmed his chest, so he didn’t mind how much the tickets had cost—he was on a date with you. seeing you happy made him happy

✩ immediately, you wanted to buy the iconic chupika ears. putting them on, you tried to get him to wear a pair but he was able to get out of it by pointing out a nearby popcorn stand

✩ pockmon world was known for its seasonal rotating popcorn buckets—but you wanted the standard one. it was circular shaped and represented the in-game device used to trap monsters in (“catch, spike, catch. you don’t trap them, you catch them.” “i don’t see a difference here”)

✩ armed with a cheap refillable snack, he followed behind you as you dashed off to the next thing

✩ costumed characters occasionally passed by, and he had to take pictures of you with your favorites. he had to wonder, with the more spectacular holograms floating about, why the park would subject its employees to sweat in the suits rather than focusing on creating more advanced AIs, but that was none of his business

✩ not when he focused the lens on you standing next to a brown fox-thing. your smile was infectious

✩ he couldn’t help it. he was having a good time

✩ the two of you waited in lines, rode some rides, and looked at the attractions

✩ before he knew it, it was lunch time

✩ miraculously, there was a table open in one of the sit down restaurants. spike scanned the menu and let out a sigh of relief. walking around the park, it seemed like all the food stalls were heavily pockmon themed. pock puffs? plowsoke tails? food tins? none of the names explained exactly what kind of food they were and he had gotten a bit frustrated (you had even munched on something that looked distinctly like kibble?)

✩ sandwiches, curry, he knew what those were. actual food, finally. you explained that all the dishes were in the recent game, but he didn’t really care. he ordered a pasta

✩ it wasn’t very flavorful. you had taken several pictures of it, though

✩ after lunch, you wanted to look around the gift shops to kill time before the parade started

✩ the floats, and the music, and the confetti sure was a sight, even spike had to admit that. apparently, it featured just about every monster in the game. he was not aware there was so many of them

✩ “have to catch them all,” or whatever. he got it now

✩ something that he was embarrassed to admit—he was starting to favor a specific monster after seeing it in the parade

✩ you dragged him to a shop that sold all of them in plushie form and pressured him to tell you which one it was so you could buy it for him

✩ it took a good ten minutes, but he caved, and with a shaking finger he pointed at the tiny kappa-looking one

✩ your first reaction was to laugh, which did not help with his embarrassment

✩ “your favorite pockmon is tadlo?”

✩ “…it looks funny. look at its face”

✩ regardless, the two of you left the shop with a plushie each. he looked at his. it had six stubby legs. he thought it only had four

✩ the two of you spent the entire day at the park. at the top of the capsule-shaped ferris wheel, the fireworks started

✩ when you turned to him to point one out, he kissed you. softly against your lips, he told you he loved you

✩ he wasn’t a fan of theme parks or pockmon, but spending time with you was something he would never pass up