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xxanimecoolgirlxx · 3 years

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@threateningkahootmusic Prejudice and Fame belongs to them.

Vickie sat at the bar, mindlessly looking at her drink. Another long day at work as a news reporter/ investigative journalist, this time something about a corrupt company. Now normally this wouldn’t be an issue.

Except for the fact that she wished she could legally punch in a couple of individuals teeth without immediately facing assault charges.

Among other things, the company was facing allegations of workplace harassment, discrimination, unequal pay of workers based of sex, and an hostile work environment. And from her experience for working undercover there, it was, indeed, true. In fact, she’d say that the allegations weren’t telling enough! The amount of sexist and racist remarks made at her by staff and management alike would be enough to ensure that no new hires would be daring enough to go there. Even Vickie was surprised at herself for getting this far without snapping at someone. Not that it would’ve made a difference if she did.

All of this evidence through recordings and screenshots would make this seem like an open and shut case, right? Not quite. Even with the damning audio recordings, the camera feed, the multitude of paper documents and such, she knew it wouldn’t be enough for anything to really change. She needed something bigger. She knew that as it stood right now, at the very worse the company would blame a few lowly managers as scapegoats, fire them, and then say that they will do better in the future while knowing good and well that they had no plans on doing anything. Hell, even if they did get any legal repercussions, they could just settle out of court and be done with it. No, Vickie would need something bigger.

Right now she would be doing more research into the company had her work friend not dragged her to this self proclaimed “high end club”. Apparently her friend had been assigned to do an interview to this celebrity, Fame, at least that’s what she hoped his stage name was. She didn’t see a point in drawing needless attention to herself to she opted to stay at the bar and subtly watch from afar. Not like she was dressed to be here anyways, her black knee length form fitting dress was too professional to be in a function like this, her black hair wasn’t styled up to anything fancy and her dark skin wasn’t adorned with any makeup too flashy. It looked like she was at a job interview more than a nightclub. She was more worried about her case than anything else.

“Come on now, I know your defining character quality is being a square, but lighten up a bit, let yourself have some fun.”

Vickie’s eyes wondered over to the ghost that seemingly followed her everywhere, Helena. Seeing that Helena was invincible to everyone but her most of the time, she couldn’t outright face her or talk to her in public without looking odd to say the very least. She raised an eyebrow at the ghost. Like hell she was going to let herself get sloppy drunk and make a complete fool of herself. Maybe that was some other’s tastes to get so blasted that the next morning they don’t know where they were, but it wasn’t Vickie’s taste.

Helena could see the look in Vickie’s eyes

“I know what your thinking. I’m not asking you to behave like an absolute moron. But just chill it. You’re not on the clock right now, you’ll always have time to do this tomorrow. But for the love of god stop worrying yourself.” Helena then crossed her arms

“I promise you if you burn yourself out and pass out from pulling an all nighter again, let me you tell, you will not hear the end of my lectures in the morning.”

Vickie sighed. Although she didn’t say anything, she did make it a point to relax her shoulders and let herself slightly slouch a bit. She finished her drink before ordering a new one when commotion could be heard from the other side of the club behind her. Even with the loud music, Vickie could tell something was going on. Helena looked over and moved closer to see what was going on.

“Oh goddamnit, Prejudice, this is the 5th time this month you’ve crashed the party!” Fame grumbled as Prejudice smirked, snatching a drink out of the hand of Vickie’s coworker.

“Yeah, and I’ll do it again. Besides, I like how you get all p!ssy about it.” Prejudice said as he took a drink from his stolen beverage.

Helena moved back over to Vickie

“Don’t look now, but I think that’s the CEO of that company you’re looking into.” Helena whispered despite knowing she couldn’t be heard by anyone else. Vickie stole a glance to confirm what Helena was saying before looking away just as quickly as to not accidentally get unwanted attention.

“The hell’s he doing here? Shouldn’t he be more worried about saving his company’s face by discrediting the allegations?” She muttered quietly to herself as she took a sip from her Bloody Mary. Helena glanced over

“It looks like him and that other fellow know each other.” Helena said. “I’ll keep watch.” Helena said as she floated over to the crowd. Vickie’s grip on her glass tightened. Maybe this could be the chance she’d been looking for to get solid concrete against the company. Since her coworker, besides from an obvious camera crew, had a recording pen on her, maybe the pen might catch something incriminating, maybe embezzlement, tax fraud, something that really couldn’t be ignored, something that could ruin this business and its corrupt ways.

As she took another swing of her drink, she started noticing the feeling of eyes burning into the back of her head, like someone was staring at her. At first she thought it was Helena, until the ghost floated back over and the feeling didn’t go away.

“Did you catch anything?” Vickie whispered subtly.

“No, but he’s been staring at you. I think? He may be looking at your general area but he’s definitely been looking intensely at the bar area.” Helena said.

Vickie wanted to test that theory. She got up from her chair and walked around, acting as though she was merely stretching. The feeling of being watched didn’t fade no matter where she went. Even well after she sat back down in her chair. Ok, he definitely was staring at her. Did this guy somehow know who she really was, what her goals were? She didn’t think so, she’d done a good job hiding it.

By this point, the amount of people in the club dwindled down a bit, at least in the area she was in. Fame had moved to a different spot of the club and so did a large group of the crowd there. Everyone else around her were either drunk or leaving. Vickie was mid drinking her beverage when she felt someone approaching. Great, just great. She didn’t look over as she just wanted to be left alone. But alas, her luck for the night turned to be Jack sh!t as Prejudice sat down in a chair next to hers at the bar.

Vickie didn’t look over, just remained silent and indifferent as Prejudice pretty much ordered the bartender for some hard liquor. Helena looked like she wanted to intervene but Vickie signaled her not to with some cleverly hidden hand signals the two hand memorized over the course of their friendship/ her being tethered to Vickie. It was quiet for a moment, before Prejudice slammed his shot glass. He glanced over at the bartender.

“I’d suggest you take your fat ginger freak a$$ out of here before you also get a taste of what this little dumb bimbo is going to get.” Prejudice said, in this almost joking way, though she could tell by his voice that He at the same time sounded serious. Either way, it was enough to get the bartender out of there.

Vickie didn’t even have time to get up herself when she felt a hand grab her by the hair and slam her face down onto the counter. She felt her arm being twisted behind her back, the grip getting tighter when she struggled. Helena tried to help, to pull the man off of her but she was swatted away like a fly, which set off all alarms bells in Vickie’s brain. This man clearly wasn’t human.

“Now what do we have here? You know, looking at you, I’d think you’re just another dime a dozen mortal sl/t with less brains than a mutt, it took me a bit to discover what you were actually trying to do.” Prejudice said in casual voice that somehow sounded threatening at the same time. Even then, it was how he said theses things that started grinding Vickie’s gears. He said these things like he was entitled to say them, like it was owed to him.

“You may have fooled my dipsh!t employees, you dumb b!tch, but I’m not exactly as easy to convince. I know you plan on finding whatever evidence you can to ‘ruin’ me or whatever you want to call it. What, you plan on cancelling me? You seem like the type to type essays on Twitter on inequalities or whatever nonsense about equality like anyone will give a damn. At least nobody important will care.” He grinned.

“Oh go f*ck yourself you pompous little sh!t!” Vickie growled. She let out a loud hiss of pain as he twisted her arm more as a result.

“Oh, a little feisty? Good, I’ve been wanting something more entertaining than some obedient little pets. So please, go on. I’m going to break that jaw of yours either way but still, I want to hear more.” Prejudice goated on. She felt his hand slowly leave her hair and travel down to her waist.

“You know, if you really wanted to make yourself useful, doll, than you should stop worrying about whatever job you work in and start worrying about wearing something nice. You dress like a sl/t that acts like they’re someone of any respect. Really you’re not fooling anyone ” Prejudice said, the cockiness in his voice was what sent Vickie off to a boiling peak.

Using the mobility gained by his hand not being holding her head down, she stomped on his foot with her heel, as hard as possible, the man let out a curse but before he could really do much she took a shot glass from the table, spun around and smashed it right in his eye. Sure, this did result in her held arm getting twisted even more and probably dislocated, it gave her the opportunity to get free from his grasp as he stumbled back.

She then took this opportunity to start beating him with pretty much everything and anything in sight, fists, heels, a wine bottle she smashed over his head, chairs, anything in sight. All whilst calling him every name in the book, every swear and curse she could think of, hell, she was pretty sure she set a record. But even all of that didn’t really do much, not when immediately after she was backhanded to the ground when he finally got his footing. She didn’t even have time to recover as he grabbed her by her throat and slammed up against a wall, several times. By the time he stopped her head was spinning and blood was dripping from the back of her head. He then held her up off her feet, hand still firmly on her neck and then he squeezed down, hard.

She desperately scratched at his hand, tried to take gasps of air. But his tight grasp cut off her airways, leaving her attempts useless. Even worse, there didn’t even look like she laid a scratch on him, as any and all injuries or bruises inflicted on him had somehow already healed.

Prejudice’s smirk became wider as he squeezed tighter, his free hand yanking out any remaining glass from his eye.

“God, aren’t you just a fidgety little spazz? Hmm? Did you really think you could fight off a god? Though you’ve been great entertainment so far, it’s been a while since someone’s actually tried to fight me. Good to know not every mortal nowadays are p/ssies.” He spoke.

Vickie could see her world starting to turn dark as Prejudice kept talking

“Let’s just get this part over with. You WILL delete whatever ‘evidence’ you have against my company, and you’ll drop this case. If you don’t, we’ll, I’m sure you don’t have many options here, unless you wanna have a meeting with Death.” He said.

“Then, I want you to meet me in my office as soon as you enter the building. Don’t try quitting now that you won’t be able to do that little expose thing. I can ruin you in so many ways I’m sure your pretty little brain won’t comprehend. It’s alright. You don’t have to think, just do as I say and I won’t have to hurt you.. too much, sweetheart.” That ‘sweetheart’ was said in the most patronizing tone that it would’ve made Vickie said had she not been on the brink of passing out from lack of oxygen.

That was when Prejudice finally dropped Vickie, leaving her on the floor taking greedy gasps for air, her lungs burning from the lack of it. Prejudice just smirked at her once more before checking his watch. He took him longer than he thought. No worries, he didn’t have too much planned for today’s anyways.

Vickie laid there weakly on the floor as Prejudice just walked away, as if he didn’t just do what he just did. Helena by this point finally came too and quickly picked up Vickie, getting her out of the club and into her car.

“Vickie, Vickie. Don’t pass out on me, Vickie just try and stay awake! I’ll get help!” Helena said as she dashed over somewhere as Vickie fought to keep her eyes open before exhaustion finally hit and she felt her eyes close, her body forcing her to rest for the sake of recovery.

#original character #creative writing #tw violence

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makomaragi · 5 years

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I!! finally!! finished it!!!

I started this fic in 2011 or 2012 when I first got in to Scientificshipping. People had asked me about how I thought they got together, and I was always like “lol I’ll just write a fic about it one day it’s too hard to explain”

This is that fic!!! my magnum opus.

It’s long, and awkward, and definitely not perfect. But I’m pretty pleased with myself to finally be able to put this out in to the universe.

Pairing: Professor Aurea Juniper/Fennel

Rating: G/PG?? No sex or anything, just dumb gay babbies being useless lesbians.a lot of drawn out feelings. gets pretty straight to the point.

song recs:

the mountain goats - old college try

blue october - picking up pieces

blue october - the follow through

Try as she may, Fennel simply couldn’t concentrate on the paperwork in front of her. The thought of telling Aurea of her feelings was beginning to overwhelm her, and she couldn’t avoid the paperwork nor the woman she thought of so often forever. Not that she ever needed an excuse to speak to Aurea, but lately she was beginning to make them to herself. Aurea was far busier than she ever was with this or that, and Fennel felt selfish for interrupting her schedule with her own business, even if Aurea had said repeatedly that she didn’t mind. Aurea had always said that when something was bothering her, she threw herself in her work instead, but Fennel quickly realized the solution to her problem wasn’t as simple as it was for Aurea. It seemed that the harder she tried to concentrate, the more her thoughts drifted off to thoughts of her.

She had tried once before. She invited her to lunch at the Striaton Cafe a month or so ago. It was innocent enough, meeting for coffee and brunch as they had countless times before. Fennel had showed her a few things she was working on, none of which she had much much progress towards at the time. Her intention had been to make her aware of her feelings, but the timing it didn’t seem right. So they went back to talking about science, as they always did, the professor far more involved in the project than Fennel was in the moment.

There were points that she decided that, maybe it should stay a secret. But that didn’t feel fair to herself, or even to the professor, somehow. Fennel began to look at it as if she were on the receiving end of someone’s unrequited love, she would want to know. Feelings she had been harboring since they had studied together, though she managed to keep them at bay. They would come and go by her own doing. As of late, Fennel wouldn’t say the thoughts or feelings were consuming her, but weighed more heavily on her mind than they had before. The only reason she could conclude was that they had simply been spending much time together than usual, though not nearly as much as they had in college.

She had moved back to Striaton about four months ago now, having spent the few months before that living with the professor in the apartment above the regional lab after the explosion at the Dream Yard. It had been the most traumatic experience of her life, losing her lab, losing her life’s work and everything she had been working toward, leaving her without anything and relying on the kindness of her best friend to get her out of the city it all happened in. She didn’t want to move back – Aurea had offered her various jobs at the lab, none of which she felt qualified for in having destroyed a lab already. No, it was her younger sister that moved to the region from their home in Kanto, and in to the apartment that Fennel still had a lease on for another six months, that led her back there. Mentally, she wasn’t prepared to return, nor did the professor pressure her to. But her sister did, and she decided a distraction was the best answer.

It all seemed distant now. Maybe it was the medication that was helping her, or the combination of that and the project she began developing. The idea for it had come to her long ago, in college, but she never had the time or resources to invent something until now. She had told her sister and the professor about her idea, both who encouraged her to go forward with it, but even months after the fact, she didn’t have much to show for it besides mountains of paperwork containing her drawings and diagrams of how she thought it might work. It was the money that was the problem, nor did she feel comfortable asking her family, let alone Aurea, for anything towards her idea that might not come to fruition. Especially not after everything she had done for her already.

No matter how she looked at it, however, the repercussions would change them both completely, and she fought herself with wondering if she was ready to handle whatever the effect would be of her confession. It would be perhaps the boldest thing she had ever done. Nor did there ever seem to be an appropriate time or place for the conversation.

It happened much too quickly between the phone call and organizing her own thoughts that Aurea was seated on her couch, looking over the paperwork Fennel had put a half hearted effort in to. Fennel usually would have been seated next to her, leaning over her shoulder and translating her messy hand writing to her, but instead she rested on her desk, deep in thought how to approach this. There was a pang of guilt in using the paperwork as her ruse, but it hadn’t been completely irrelevant either. She had completed enough to have something to show for her work at long last, and truly had wanted the professor’s opinion on it before moving forward.

“This all looks really good, Fennel…” Aurea started, flipping a few pages over to be sure she hadn’t missed anything. “Have you submitted your paperwork to the League to get funding for your project?”

“Err…no…I didn’t know that was something I had to do,” Fennel felt embarrassed, having not even thought of doing so when it seemed like such an obvious task to Aurea.

“If the League approves it, they’ll give you a budget for it. How else do you think I have enough resources to work on the machines at the lab?” Aurea gave a small laugh and a smile to follow. “It’s not too hard, just time consuming.”

As Aurea turned back to the blue prints before them, Fennel couldn’t help but to hold her stare on her a bit longer, even if Aurea wasn’t looking at her anymore. The way she carried herself, ever the professional when it came to discussing the meticulous details of the machine Fennel wanted to build, but a caring smile between glances of paperwork was all Fennel needed to see. Even the way she pushed her hair out of her eyes with her delicate fingers when it slipped out of place when she was leaning down had a sophisticated air to the simple motion.

They were all mannerisms she had grown used to concerning her best friend over the years, but in recent weeks, it was becoming more and more difficult not to be entranced by them when she was with her.

“Fennel?” Aurea’s voice interrupted, and she realized she had been staring. Fennel cleared her throat in a weak attempt to recover.

“Hmm?”

“I was just asking what your plans were for this. Do you plan on eventually making it available to trainers?”

“Oh…I hadn’t even thought of that yet. Er…are there benefits to that?”

“The League is more likely to approve of it,” Aurea shrugged, winking.

Fennel let out a small laugh, blushing ever so slightly. Was she teasing her? “Right, then. Yeah…I don’t see why trainers couldn’t use it eventually.”

“Anyway, you need to come up with a budget. Figure out how much you think all of this will cost. All of it, including paying your assistants should you choose to hire any to help you in this endeavor.”

Fennel caught herself starting to stare again, and put a stop to it as soon as she felt her eyes glaze over. She could tell by the seamless confidence in Aurea’s voice that she believed her project was worthwhile; she knew her well enough to tell when Aurea was disappointed by something, not being sure if it was familiarity in her stance of if the professor was too forceful in faking sincerity. “Um, okay,” was all she could manage, not entirely sure how to go about completing such a task.

Aurea laughed. “I can help you. Next time we get together, we can sit down and figure it all out.”

“Thanks. That would help me a lot. I’ve…I’ve never done anything of this magnitude before, is all. Not on my own, anyway.”

“Of course you have. The Dream Site project was all your own, yes?”

“Yeah…but…I never had to take this much initiative with it.”

“I do have a few pointers for you. Well, first I think that you need to clarify what you’ll be doing with the Dream Mist, and how it affects the Pokemon. Be sure to emphasize that it won’t hurt them. And I know it’s obvious to you, but make sure that you clarify why the Pokemon has to be in the REM stage of sleep for this to work.”

“Okay,” Fennel said with an accidental dismissive tone, looking at her feet.

“Anything else, then?” Aurea looked up at her, concerned by her friend’s shift in body language. “Err…I hadn’t meant to offend you. This is all written well enough, you just need to elaborate on those few statements, is all.”

Fennel let out a deep breath. “Aurea…” Why hadn’t she had a drink or two before this, if only to give herself any sort of imaginary courage?

The professor held her gaze on her, only moving to push her bangs out of her eyes, the action in itself throwing off Fennel’s concentration on what she wanted to say. She bit her lip, standing up from where she was seated. She wanted to go sit next to her, to take her hands in her own, it would make it more meaningful. But it didn’t feel right, not now, not with how flushed she was sure her face was becoming.

“I…I have these feelings for you…I’m not sure what to make of them. I think about you more than I should, in ways I know I shouldn’t.” Fennel turned away, pretending to organize some papers on her desk.

“I don’t know what that means.” Aurea gave a deadpan reply, too quickly for Fennel's liking. The professor’s mind was still on the research in front of her, surely.

Fennel stopped shuffling the papers, her hands now planted firmly on the edge of the desk, hanging her head down, her shoulders tensed. She could feel Aurea's stare on her, even though she wasn't facing her. The option of choosing her words carefully came and went, completely over Aurea's head. "I think I'm in love with you," she surprised herself how easily the phrase escaped her, not once even having the thought in those words to herself.

There was a long silence, Fennel was half tempted to turn to see if the other woman was still seated, though she hadn't heard her move. Aurea had only subtly re-situated herself, learning forward on the couch, her hands folded together on her knees.

"When, um..." There were a million more questions on her mind, why was this the one she chose?

"A long time. It took me a while to realize it..."

“I see.”

“I’m…I’m sorry..I…I just…you have a right to know. I can’t help how I feel. But I have feelings for you, and I’m pretty sure I always have….” As difficult as it was, she forced herself to face Aurea. Aurea still carried a blank expression, taking it all in. Fennel leaned back on her desk, tilting her head to the ground, smiling to herself, thankful her hair had fallen in her face. This was it, right? This was when the object her of affections realized their own feelings in return, and they’d kiss, and live happily ever after.

“I think I’m going to go,” Aurea stood up, the noise catching Fennel off guard. She picked up her coat off of the back of the chair, throwing it back on haphazardly, staring at the ground. “I…”

“I’m so sorry, Aurea…” Fennel felt the tears started to slip down her cheek now. She wanted to run after her, to grab her hand, and as she turned to take her leave to kiss her gently. But all she could do was watch as Aurea silently gave a small nod before she was out the door.

“I…I don’t know if this is a good idea, Fennel,” Aurea’s eyebrows were raised, eyes wide as if she were frightened, a force driving her out of the room.

No, this certainly hadn’t gone the way Fennel had thought it would. In a perfect world, Aurea would have admitted that she, too, had harbored such feelings for so long, but instead, she was gone before Fennel could imagine the rest of the scenario.

Where Aurea had gone off to, Fennel had no idea. She tried calling the lab after two days, only to be told she wasn’t there – or maybe she had been told to tell her, specifically, just that. But it didn’t make any sense, especially from a scientific point of view.

She tried her Xtransciever. She tried her phone. She went as far as to take a taxi to Nuvema one day, only to find her lab apartment seemingly abandoned. Her Jeep wasn’t in the driveway, she was gone. Her interns and assistants were of no help in knowing where she went exactly, just that she had left in a rush.

Fennel told herself she had gone too far too quickly out of desperation for any sort of answer. What did “not a good idea” mean?

Carrying on with the project Aurea helped her with brought her both frustration and a sense of purpose. Would it impress her? Or would the thought of working on something she helped her with drive her to insanity? She forced herself to fill out the paperwork the professor had encouraged her to do so, giving her some sense of accomplishment.

There was no point in dwelling on her feelings for the professor in the moment, let alone the professor's feelings for her. She allowed herself to cry once over it, realizing how selfish she was, and there was nothing left to do except allow Aurea to come to her own terms on how she felt. Worst case scenario, she wanted nothing to do with her ever again. It would be difficult, especially seeing as how their work often led them to collaborate together on projects; but Aurea was ever the professional and would be able to set anything personal aside far better than Fennel ever would. She wasn’t sure what she considered a positive outcome anymore, besides Aurea agreeing that they would forget entirely about the encounter. Fennel decided, should this be the case, she would move back to Kanto. It would be the best possible outcome for both of them with only herself to blame.

A few thousand miles away, Professor Juniper hovered over some ancient Pokemon bones sprawled out before her.

The more she worked, the less she would have time to think about what was going on in Unova. The team of scientists she was assisting didn’t seem all that surprised by her sudden appearance, nor did they ask any questions. It wasn’t the first time and wouldn’t be the last that she caught wind of an excavation and decided to take part – Lenora always gave her the best tip offs.

She was quite good at keeping herself busy throughout the day and well in to the night, keeping thoughts at bay for as long as she could. Going home would mean facing Fennel again and she still had no idea what that would entail.

Aurea told herself she had taken the trip to clear her head, but truly, it was avoidance. She had no idea why she left the way she did that night, not even giving Fennel, or herself, any chance to talk about any of it, rather than being driven by fear far away to other regions in avoiding it all.

Until one day, four or five nights in to her research expedition, the weight of it all collapsed down on her. Fennel had surely wondered where she was – they had a habit of speaking at least once a day in their normal lives, sometimes multiple times. It wasn’t right of her to disappear like this. Fennel had tried to reach her, multiple missed calls, some even forwarded from the lab, all of which she didn’t know how to handle yet.

This had been a mistake on her part, one of which she mourned having not had handled better in the moment presented rather than almost a week afterward.

The professor had never considered the idea of being in a romantic relationship with Fennel, or any relationship at all for that matter. There was a thought that if it had to of been anyone, she supposed it may as well of been her. She was the most comfortable with her. They had lived together on and off for their entire adult lives.

The thought that continuously crept up on her was that of hurting her if things didn’t work out. Just because they were friends didn’t mean that they would be compatible romantically.

The more her thoughts were left to linger, the more she realized she wasn’t entirely opposed to it. There were certain qualities in Fennel she always deemed adorable, now realizing it may have been some hint of unconscious attraction. Was she attracted to women and simply never considered it until one presented herself to her so openly? She had never looked at women exclusively, but the idea of looking at Fennel romantically seemed more realistic once the realization crossed her mind. Simple motions that were simply part of Fennel’s personality came to mind – the way she tapped her fingers together under her chin when she was unsure of something, the way she shoved her fist against her cheek when in deep thought, but mostly, the way her face looked when she was presenting something she was passionate about.

This was certainly no way to begin a relationship – she wasn’t sure of anything herself.

But Fennel was.

And it went back to what she feared, in hurting her if this didn’t pan out. What was Fennel’s endgame? She couldn’t imagine a world in which she didn’t speak to Fennel – besides the circumstance she found herself in now, of her own doing – the worst case scenario of them having a bad break up didn’t seem realistic for some reason. They had disagreements over the years, like any friends, but always patched things up rather quickly. She supposed this maturity of their familiarity with one another could carry over romantically.

If she was being honest with herself, it was the subject of intimacy, let alone sex that scared her the most. It was embarrassing to admit even to herself that she never had any such encounters, nor did she ever find herself in a position that they were ever presented to her, until now, hypothetically.

The longer she waited, the worse it would be when she arrived home. Fennel was hurting right now, she was certain of that, and to her own doing. They weren’t even involved romantically and she had already hurt her, just as she feared.

There was a distinct, determining thought that the idea of Fennel hurting, and worse yet, because of her, left her sitting up in her tent in the dark.

Maybe she’d make other mistakes, should they pursue this, but reflecting on her thoughts in all of it only made her promise to herself that she would never hurt Fennel ever again. There were still many bridges to cross when she returned home, and maybe they wouldn’t be together forever, but if she was still thinking about it and not dismissing it entirely, there must have been some merit.

If she was going to do this, she needed to be honest with her. Honest with why she left, and honest in all of her uncertainties.

The professor didn’t feel in control of her actions when she booked the flight back to Unova for the next morning, surely confusing the research team more than anything. They never asked her any questions, probably assuming she came out of boredom in a lull of trainers stopping by.

She had hardly made it off the plane when she turned on her Xtransciever, finding Fennel’s name and initiating the call, her stomach in her throat.

Fennel was preparing for bed when her Xtransceiver buzzed. Who would be calling her at this hour? At the name appearing on the screen, she hesitated. Was she okay? Was she just going to ignore what happened and everything would go back to normal? Certainly it couldn’t after their last skirmish, but she couldn’t avoid her forever, and she didn’t want to.

“Aurea...” she couldn’t help but smile at seeing the other woman’s face appear on the small screen.

“Are you at home?”

“Yeah, but I’m going to sleep soon.”

“Can we talk?”

Fennel became suddenly alert, “Right now?”

“I’m on my way. I’ll see you in a bit, if that’s okay.”

“Okay.”

Aurea had hung up the call before she could ask any questions, supposing it was best to have whatever conversation they would in person, even if it was quite late.

She wanted to lash out at her, tell her how upset she was at her for disappearing, but it didn’t seem fair to, either. Aurea had a right to distance herself from what she had suddenly dispelled on her at their last meeting, and Fennel accepted she wasn’t the one that had any right to be upset.

The drive from the airport in Nuvema to Striation City didn’t make sense, especially as it was now past midnight. Was she sure about what she was doing? Fennel didn’t deny seeing her, nor did she seem angry or even upset. Surprised was the only adjectives that came to mind. Nothing was making sense anymore. Were her feelings simply in vain now?

Knocking on her door seemed to be the loudest noise heard throughout the city at that time of night. Fennel must have been waiting close by, answering within a few seconds.

“Fennel...hi.”

“Hi.” Fennel held the door open in her night gown, rubbing her eyes as if to emphasize how tired she seemed to be. She ushered her inside, quickly closing the door, both of them standing in her living room now awkwardly.

They both started talking at the same time, interrupting each other continuously a few times before Fennel realized what was happening and conceded. She was the one that caused this, it seemed fair to hear what Aurea had to say first.

“I’m sorry for the way I left, um...last time.”

“I’m sorry for coming on so strong to you...that wasn’t fair of me...to put you in that position...”

Aurea was staring at her for a long minute after she had trailed off, Fennel unable to read the exact expression etched on the professor’s features. She wasn’t angry, or even upset, she just seemed...oddly calm.

“We can forget it ever happened. I should have never done that to you,” Fennel’s eyes darted to the floor, no longer able to suppress the tears stinging the corners of her eyes, nor was she sure what there was for her to say that could rectify where they found themselves now.

Before she could decipher her friend’s expression further, she was cut off by the professor’s lips against hers, the force of the sudden push knocking her back a few steps. Without thinking, she had put her hands around her, in those short few seconds, if it was even that, before Aurea had pulled away.

Fennel’s eyes were wide, her cheeks stinging with tears, still unsure if she was seeing correctly through the saline blocking her vision. It was incredibly forward and out of character of the professor, never one to be so direct in much of anything unless it involved scientific theories or discoveries.

“Is...is that what I was supposed to do? I’m sorry if that was inappropriate, it just seemed-”

Her thought wasn’t finished, in a daze the scientist’s lips pushed against her own again, this time Fennel wasn’t holding back, wrapping her arms around her torso to bring them closer together. She had thought about what it would have been like, kissing her best friend, her sense of urgency taking priority over relishing anything tactile about it. Maybe she would regret it later, but in some way, this seemed oddly perfect.

“I always thought I’d kiss you first,” she let out a laugh through her sob.

Aurea was smiling, but still stiff and trembling to her touch, Fennel quickly releasing her hold on her at the realization.

“Are you okay?” the dream scientist asked, increasing the space between them.

“Yeah.”

“What….what happened? Where did you go, what made you do that?”

“I went to Sinnoh for a while...I don’t really have an answer why. I just needed to get away from here, give myself some time to think.”

“I still regret how I acted the last time I saw you. I shouldn’t have put you in that position...you had every right to never speak to me again.”

“I shouldn’t have disappeared on you, though...”

“This is no way to start a relationship,” Fennel chuckled a bit. “Wait. So...are together now?”

“If you want to be,” the brunette was giving way to a sheepish smile.

“You know my feelings on it,” Fennel directed her eyes to her feet again. “So, are we?” Maybe she was being persistent, but she needed to hear Aurea say it, if it was indeed what she wanted.

“Yes.”

Fennel felt as though all she had been doing since Aurea entered her home was cry, the tears that were beginning to dry being replaced with fresh ones again. “Okay,” was all she managed to say for some reason. In front of anyone else, she probably would have been embarrassed, but she was far past the point of feeling foolish in front of her anymore.

Aurea still had the remains of upturned lips, placing her hand on the door handle. “I’m going to go home now and go to sleep.”

“You can stay if you want, it’s pretty late,” the dream researcher proposed without realizing what she was saying. “You certainly don’t have to if you don’t want to, or if you aren’t comfortable, but you know you’re always welcome.”

For whatever reason, Aurea hadn’t considered this as an option. She supposed it did feel weird coming over to her apartment past midnight, confirming the direction of their relationship, and then going their separate ways.

“Okay,” came her delayed reply. It meant a trip back out to her Jeep to retrieve her suitcase, but at least she had been prepared for what came of the evening. Far preferable than making the evening even more awkward by having to borrow some of Fennel’s clothes, if it had come to that.

Settling in to bed next to Fennel felt natural as it had the countless times before. They lay a bit apart, facing each other for some reason, Fennel’s grin not wavering, fixated on those emerald eyes across from her. She had turned her lights out, save the night light plugged in next to her night stand.

“So you’re my girlfriend now,” the dream scientist couldn’t help but grin when she said it out loud.

“Yeah,” the professor confirmed with a small smile.

“I’m your girlfriend,” Fennel repeated, reaching for the other’s hand and giving it a light squeeze, her grin becoming more defined when Aurea returned the gesture.

Aurea’s smile feigned, though her eyes were still vibrant as ever. “I, um..I don’t know that I’m going to be any good at this, Fennel. I’ve never done this before.”

“It’s okay. We can figure it out together.”

Aurea was certain Fennel had a boyfriend at some point when they were in college, it not seeming like an appropriate time to question her about it. Nor did it at all seem like a fair comparison to the situation they found themselves in now by any stretch.

“We need to take this slow,” the professor added.

“I think so, too,” Fennel nodded. But there was still the obvious question that weighed on her mind. “What made you change your mind?”

“I didn’t change my mind, I just realized it was something I needed to think about.”

“It’s okay if you still don’t know how you’re feeling. I don’t want to pressure you in to anything. But please tell me now if you want to just….forget this ever happened, and we can go back to how it always was”

“I don’t think it’d be that simple,” the professor replied calmly. “When I was gone, all I was thinking about was how hurt you were, and I never wanted to be the cause of that. I’m not perfect….and I’m sure I’ll still make mistakes...but I promise, I’ll do my best never to hurt you.”

“You’ve never hurt me, Aurea. But you can’t just go running off to other regions to avoid things anymore, not if you’re going to be my girlfriend. You have to talk about it with me, okay?”

“Okay,” came her hazy agreement. “I told you I wasn’t good at this stuff.”

“I don’t think I am, either. And I don’t want you to be with me because you feel you owe it to me or something.”

“That’s not it,”

“Then what?”

“I...when I was thinking about it...I did realize that I’m….attracted to you. I guess I just never put it in that context before. Nothing of this sort ever crossed my mind until you brought it up.”

Fennel couldn’t hide that she was reeling in that moment,not able to hide any blush that came across her face, or how her toes curled upon hearing the object of her affections for so long admit such a private sentiment. She hid her face under the covers for a moment, squeezing her eyes shut, biting her lip.

“Are you alright? I can go, I’m sorry-”

“So you think I’m pretty?” Fennel revealed her face, flashing her most charming smile she could muster through her elation. It was childish, she felt that she should be about ten years younger having this conversation in her childhood bedroom with a crush, not with her long time best friend in their mid twenties.

“I just said that.”

The dream scientist let out the giggle she had been holding. “Well, I’ve always thought you were pretty, too.”

Aurea gave way to a slight chuckle at that, not sure she ever heard such a direct compliment as such from someone that wasn’t family.

“What do we do now?”

“Go to sleep,” the brunette stated, her thoughts on any of it were interrupted by a yawn, now realizing how exhausted she was now that she was lying down in a bed proper. She had not meant to be as dismissive as she was over what Fennel had said, but the traveling and what unfolded afterward had left her simply wanting to sleep.

“Are you okay with me staying here, or do you want me to go on the couch?”

“You can stay.”

Fennel didn’t want to push any boundaries, but she supposed her boldness had already landed her in hot water once. All Fennel wanted to do was push herself the few inches over, wrap her arms around the professor, snuggle in to her back, and fall asleep to the scent of her hair against her face. But, she hoped there would be other nights for that closeness. She certainly didn’t want to make her uncomfortable, especially with how tired she was, she best give the professor her space for the evening.

“Good night, Aurie.”

“Night, Fennel.”

The professor had closed her eyes almost immediately, Fennel feeling a bit scandalous still staring at her. At the thought, she forced her eyes shut, finding herself too excited to fall asleep as easily as she usually did.

Aurea woke up as early as she always did, an internal alarm set for the sunrise even without a literal one. Fennel had her arm around her, she could feel her breath against the back of her neck, her hair moving in time with her breathing. They had slept in close quarters before, but this was different. Her knees were pressed against the back of her legs, becoming aware of it when she went to stretch.

It felt wrong leaving, at least until she woke up.

At the sense of the other woman stirring, Fennel pulled her limbs off of her to stretch as well. “Mmm...you’re still here. So it wasn’t a lucid dream,” the dream scientist purred, eyes still closed, probably still mostly asleep and unaware that she had said it out loud.

There were questions Aurea wanted to ask her later about that.

#my fics #scientificshipping #professor juniper #fennel #pokemon fic #pokemon fanfic #pokemon yuri #femslash #pokemon fanfiction

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