Autumn Fires | A Leafeon x Flareon college fanfic

Chapter 1

(edit: spelling corrections.)

(edit for 16/7/23: changed terminology from school to college and changed a couple words around so that they made more sense)

Aki woke up to the ringing of her alarm. She groggily turned over from her front to check the time; it was 7:30 am. She dragged herself out of bed and began to ready herself for the next week of college that lay ahead of her. She practically dragged herself out of her room to get some breakfast. Once she reached the kitchen, she opened the fridge and realised that she didn't have a lot in there, just a few different berries and a half-used bottle of Moo-Moo Milk.

"Guess I'll have to go to the market after college..." Aki mumbled to herself as she grabbed the few berries that were left, all being Mago Berries, her least favourite. "Something's better than nothing, I guess." Aki grumbled as she mashed the berries into a paste. She dipped her paw into the paste and licked it; it tasted horrible, so she opened her cupboard, grabbed a bag of oats, and added them to her paste, along with a splash of water.

After eating her berry gruel, she went into her bedroom to check the time once again: 7:50 am. She didn't have much time left until she had to start walking to college, so she slunk into the bathroom to freshen up at least a little. She thanked her past self for having taken a shower the night before, so all she had to do was brush her teeth and wash her face before having to leave her home.

She dried her face with her paw as she walked to grab her bag. She looked in the mirror she had in the hallway by the front door as she walked by. "Huh, my leaves look a little more orange than usual..." Aki pondered to herself as she sombrely left her house to walk to college.

As she walked down the path, she stared at the trees; their leaves were already browning. "Well, I might hate having to go to college, but at least it's autumn." Aki said to herself, smiling as she did so.

"Couldn't have put it better myself, Aki." A voice came from behind her; she jumped and spun around. Floating behind her was a Gligar, cackling to himself over her reaction. "Arceus, damn it, Felix! Do you always have to sneak up on me?" Aki groaned, Felix was still cackling to himself. "Of course I do; how else would I surprise my best friend?" He smiled innocently.

Aki had known Felix since she had joined the college. They were alike in a few ways; they both were introverts who loved nature, so they had a close familial—almost sibling-like—bond. Felix was the most mischievous out of both of them, which often ended up in him getting into trouble, and Aki would then have to fix the problem Felix caused by pissing someone off with a prank. She and him did get into trouble among their small group of friends, though.

"Fair, you still don't have to always do it, though." Aki harrumphed as she began to walk off. Felix flew close behind. They soon began to talk about general subjects to pass the time, mainly food related as Aki was still hungry from her less than appetising breakfast. After a short while, they reached the college gates.

"I'll see you at break, Aki. Cya later!" Felix called out to Aki as he flew off into the college. "Yeah, see you then..." Aki called back to him. Now on her own again, she slowly walked through the gates and towards the main building.

While slowly trudging towards the main building, Aki saw a small cluster of Pokémon standing against a group of trees out of the corner of her eye. She couldn't really make out their shapes, but she knew who they were—a small 'gang' of edgelords who thought they were the coolest kids in college and could totally kick anyone's ass. Aki knew that, in reality, other than their leader, they could barely fight.

Before she could enter the main building, she heard someone call to her from the left. Aki sighed; she knew who it was. She looked over to the left and saw the little group of edgelords marching towards her.

As they had moved out of the shadows, she could actually make out what Pokémon were there.

There was a Sneasle, a Croagunk, a Krokorok, and their leader, a Scrafty. "Not got many of your lackeys with you today, huh?" Aki taunted as she looked towards the Scrafty; she saw his eye twitch with rage.

"Well, they hold me back, not that you'd understand that, little miss peaceful." The Scrafty sneered, Aki only smirked slightly. "Oh nooo, you called me a naame; my confidence is broken!" She wept sarcastically; this only pissed off the Scrafty more. Before she could say anything else, Aki heard the click of digits snapping, and before she could react, she was hit by a low kick from the Croagunk. Without skipping a beat, Aki hit the Croagunk with a magical leaf, followed up by a quick attack.

The Croagunk tumbled backwards, causing Aki let a triumphant smirk curl onto her face. "Having other Pokémon fight for you when you know damn well you're capable enough just to do it yourself? Just goes to show how much of a coward you are, Stan!" She grinned impishly as she walked off into the college building. As she walked off, she heard Stan call after her.

"You aren't gonna get away with hitting one of us, leaf face!" He fumed, and Aki turned around, still smirking. "Why not study how to come up with a good insult? You clearly aren't going to study anything else." She sneered, watching Stan's face grow redder with a raging fury. After that, she turned and walked into the main building as the Scrafty shouted and cursed at her.

Still chuckling to herself at how pathetic the little group of edgelords were, she walked slightly more confidently to her tutor room for registration.

Just before she got to the door, Aki saw an irritated-looking Flareon. Aki sighed and went to sit in front of him. "Penny for your thoughts, Rhys?" Aki asked. He looked up, startled by the suddenness of her voice. "Huh? Oh, hey, Aki. It's just Kari being a bitch like usual, getting me down, n' all that."

Aki scoffed slightly. Kari was your stereotypical drama-whore, a Kirlia that slept around with more students than the number of hours a Snorlax could sleep in an entire year.

Aki nudged Rhys' shoulder and smirked. "Don't pay any mind to her bullshit; she'll probably try and sleep with a teacher soon to get her terrible grades up." That made Rhys chuckle. "You're damn right there; I'm willing to bet 5 poké on it that it happens in a month."

The pair of Eeveelutions laughed in unison. Aki's smirk widened: "Well, I'll bet 5 poké that it's within two months then." Rhys stuck out his paw. "Ready to lose 5 poké, Aki?" Aki put her paw against Rhys', still smirking confidently. "You mean you're ready to lose 5 pokés, Rhys?" The two eeveelutions shook on it and walked into class just before the teacher began the registration.

As they walked over to their respective tables, Aki realised her heart was beating faster than normal; she had become used to the feeling, which always flared up while around Rhys. Ever since she first saw him on her first day, she had been crushing on him, and the feeling only amplified the more she kept it to herself.

She was so distracted by her thoughts that she didn't realise that Mr. Hudson had called her name.

"Aki, m'dear, are you alright? It's not like you to take this long to respond." Mr. Hudson asked. The old Quagsire looked at her with a face of concern. "Huh? O-oh, yeah, I'm fine, Mr. Hudson; I just didn't sleep well, so I'm not all there today." Aki mumbled to try and give the illusion that she was actually tired.

"Alright, try and get some more sleep tonight then, m'dear." Mr. Hudson smiled, then continued on with the registration. Aki sighed in relief that her ruse had worked.

"Alright then, darlings, you've all got gym class first, as per usual." Mr. Hudson smiled, and almost the whole of the class groaned collectively and shuffled out of the room, leaving only Rhys, Aki, and Mr. Hudson.

"Rhys, could you wait outside? I'd like to talk to Aki about something." Mr. Hudson then began to walk over to Aki's desk. "Can do, Mr. H; see you outside, Aki." With that, Rhys walked out the door. Aki waved and watched him leave, as did Mr. Hudson.

Mr. Hudson then squatted down to be on eye level with Aki. He spoke softly to her, just in case someone would hear: "Listen, m'dear, I know you're young and your hormones are still developing, but you've got to put love and crushes on the sidelines during college hours. That's not to say you shouldn't follow that desire, but try to focus more on classes than Rhys."

Aki started turning bright red but managed to keep herself mostly composed. "I- I'll try, Mr. Hudson." Mr. Hudson simply smiled. "I've told you that you don't need to be so formal while we talk, m'dear. You can just call me Hercules, you know." Aki smiled back: "I know, it's just showing you the respect you deserve." Aki then got up out of her chair and walked out of the classroom.

She was still a little flustered by Mr. Hudson's confrontation about her feelings, but when she walked out of the classroom, she managed to make herself look more calm and tired.

Rhys was sitting at the door. His ears flicked as he heard the subtle squeak of the door's hinges. He looked up at her; his shiny hazel eyes met hers and made her blush slightly. "Hey, Aki, what was it Mr. Hudson wanted to talk to you about?"

Aki stammered for a moment, trying to think of an excuse while scratching at her neck. "Oh, uh... i-it was homework from another class I forgot to turn in a while ago. I left it on my bedside table and forgot to put it back in my bag when I finished it."

"Fair enough, I don't see why Mr. H would only want you in the room while he takes it, though." Rhys thought aloud with a hint of suspicion in his voice. Aki tried to conceal her nervousness by chuckling. "Y-you know how weird Mr. Hudson can be; maybe he didn't want you to see my answers to it in case you didn't do it too."

"Eh, fair enough." Rhys shrugged. "L-let's hurry to gym and get it over with!" Aki stuttered. Rhys noticed and almost instantly called it out. "It ain't like you to get flustered in a while, Aki. What exactly did Mr. H say?"

This made Aki more flustered, causing a subtle red tone to slowly creep across her muzzle. "I a-already told you, Rhys, homework." Rhys just looked at her with a smug smile. "Why would homework get you all embarrassed and such? Did Mr. H call you out on something?"

Aki's face kept getting redder; soon, her face would be more red than Rhys' glossy fur. "N-no! He didn't!" She retorted, Rhys only tittered to himself. "You know, I heard a little about what Mr. H said—something about hormones and putting aside crushes for assigned work—so, who's the guy?"

"H-how could you even hear him? He was practically whispering!" Aki's heart was racing. How much had he actually heard? Had he heard Mr. Hudson mention him? "I have surprisingly good hearing; that's probably why." He shrugged.

"Didn't you hear him s-say who the person was?" Aki mumbled, trying to hide her face. "Nah, I toned out after I heard him talk about crushes—just being respectful, y'know. So, I'll ask again, who is he?" He pushed, nudging her with his elbow. Aki didn't answer him and began to walk off. Rhys followed and kept questioning Aki about her crush, making her more and more flustered.

"Rhys, if you keep questioning me, I'll turn you into a decorative rug." Aki growled; this only made him burst out laughing to the point it brought him to tears. "You know, you're pretty cute when you're flustered, Aki." Rhys smiled once he had stopped laughing.

Aki's heart began to race. She tried to suppress the smile that was beginning to curl on her face, but Rhys didn't seem to notice, thankfully.

The two walked in silence until they reached the gym.

"Well, I'm guessing you'll be staying out here until you chill out a little. See you in class." Rhys said before walking before the gym doors, not waiting for Aki's answer.

She sat there for a couple minutes, her mind and heart still racing. Did Rhys really tone out Mr. Hudson? Did he see her smile when he said she looked cute when she was flustered?

After a couple minutes of trying to suppress her thoughts, she had fully composed herself. She then took in a deep breath and walked into the gymnasium.