Word Count: 2266
You were running after Leon, following the dirt path while the girl named Gloria ran behind you. Why you were all sprinting was a mystery to you but you wouldn't risk falling behind.
At least, that was the idea until a small bird-like Pokémon suddenly walked into your path. By god's grace you managed to come to a slipping halt in front of the bird, waving your arms in circles to keep your balance and not fall on top of the poor creature.
God wasn't on your side for this bit though and you plummeted forward. By quick thinking, you managed to catch yourself on your hands and knees, using every muscle in your body to stay upright and not squash the Pokémon.
"Y/N, you okay?" You heard Leon call from somewhere above you.
"Yup!" You looked up to see him jog over to you and sent him a closed-eyed smile before moving your head to look under yourself. "Hello!" You called to the little bird who was cowering against your thigh, making it a bit less frightened when it saw your kind face.
You looked up again to see Leon hold his hand out for you. With a quick thanks, you took it and he pulled you up, dusting you off a little once you were back on your feet.
"I feel like I keep helping you off of the ground." Leon chuckled and you flushed in embarrassment, chuckling with him - albeit a little awkwardly.
"Yeah, sorry about that."
"No need to apologise, it's doing no harm." Leon smiled and picked a piece of grass out of your hair. The action accidentally pulled some of your hair out of place and Leon was quick to drop the little grass tuft before gently moving your hair back in place.
The back of his fingers grazed your cheek as he did so, making him halt when he went to pull away.
His features softened as he looked at you. Both of you seemed to stop moving as you just looked at each other. Leon's eyes held kindness and warmth as he looked at you; his hand gently gliding back on your cheek, towards your ear. Slowly, he started gravitating forward, leaning closer while you looked into his eyes, slowly doing the same. He had the faintest hint of a smile on his face while you swallowed nervously, your face starting to burn as you reciprocated the expression.
"Lee!"
The shouting of Hop seemed to make Leon jump a few feet away while you immediately tensed up and awkwardly shuffled to the side, turning away from Leon while putting a hand over your mouth and cheek to try and cool down.
Leon turned back to his brother. "Yes?"
"Are you coming?" Hop seemed completely oblivious of what just almost happened and Leon just nodded in response, making Hop turn around again while dragging Gloria with him.
Leon let out the breath he had been unintentionally holding and turned to you. "Shall we?" He asked and you made a high pitched humming noise in response, still flustered from what happened five seconds ago.
Going to take a step, you saw the small bird Pokémon still at your feet. You bent down and pat the creature on its head. "Take care." You smiled at it before standing up again and walking up to Leon, moving to walk next to him at only a slightly awkward distance away. Neither of you really had the ability to look at each other and you just continued to walk in silence, both lost in thought and staring straight ahead.
- - - -
Postwick was a small little place. But the moment you stepped in, you felt a warm and welcoming feeling. It almost reminded you of home.
Leon noticed your relaxing posture and allowed himself to relax a little bit as well. "Home sweet home." He smiled, a little unsure but you returned it, albeit with a light blush. This caused a wave of relieve to flush through the man, since he feared he had ruined the friendship the two of you had built up.
"Lee! Hurry up would you!?" Hop shouted from a garden to your left and you giggled slightly at the excited boy.
"He surely has energy for days."
"If only." Leon shook his head with a chuckle and you laughed. Just then, the two of you reached the house and you gaped at the size. It was massive!
"This is your house!?" You exclaimed and Leon flinched at your sudden outburst while Hop gleefully bounced over to you.
"Yeah! Big right?" He shouted back just as loud as you.
"Big?! This is twice as big as my house back home!"
Hop smirked when you said that and you immediately got creeped out, seeing as to how similar he looked to his brother in that moment.
You laughed a little awkwardly before taking a big step back and motioning Leon forward. "I'm sure you all had some business, I'll just be over here." You shuffled away to the side, sitting on the wall next to the small battle field and just looked at Leon and the kids, not really wanting to interrupt.
"Right!" Hop seemed to snap out of a daze and remember something. "You promised us a present, Lee! You brought Gloria and me Pokémon, didn't you?" He bounced up and down as he said that and Leon smiled, putting his hands on his hips.
"Right then! The greatest gift from the greatest Champion. It's show time everyone!" Leon called out and you rolled your eyes. It became increasingly clear to you that Leon loved boasting about his position as Champion. Although, in a way, it did make him more endearing.
"Take a good look, you two!" Leon said to the kids before taking out three Pokéballs.
You sat on the edge of your seat out of excitement. Leon noticed and winked at you, making you blush which he luckily couldn't see from that distance, before throwing the three Pokéballs onto the battle field to his right.
They opened up and out came three Pokémon, a fire, water and grass type, who all immediately started playing around.
You gasped and dropped from your seat on the wall to the floor, trying to get a better look at them. This earned you the attention of the bunny-like fire Pokémon in front of you. It ran over, leaving small fires in its wake and ran in circles in front of you. You took out your Pokédex and analysed the creature, holding out your hand towards it in the meantime.
As your Pokédex loaded and registered the data of the Pokémon, the creature you now knew as Scorbunny, grabbed a hold of one of your fingers with its paws and happily bounced up and down, making cute squeaking noises. You could have sworn you heard another, slightly more angry squeak from behind you, but you didn't have time to focus on that since a large blob of water suddenly hit the fire Pokémon on the head.
It accidentally burned your finger it was holding in fright before jumping around, hitting its head on the branch the little grass Pokémon was sitting on, which in term caused a berry of sorts to drop into the pond that the little water Pokémon was in. It quickly jumped out and started crying, making you coo in sympathy before the other two starters comforted it by distracting it.
"Alright, line up everyone!" Leon called out when the timid creature had started smiling again and all three of them excitedly ran down to the middle.
Hop and Gloria looked at each other in excitement and Hop offered Gloria to have the first pick. You didn't really pay attention after that as you got into a crouched down position and held your Pokédex up to the Pokémon that was nearest to you. It turned out to be a Grass type Pokémon called Grookey. It was pretty cute and energetic, reminding you of Hop. Incidentally, Gloria had picked Scorbunny and only a moment later, Grookey was in Hop's arms.
You smiled at the two. They were sure to build a very good bond.
"Hey, Y/N?" You looked up from your staring contest with Hop's back to see Leon with the remaining Pokémon in his arms. Charizard was right behind him, looking intimidating as ever. The little water starter looked up at the man and his Pokémon in awe, seemingly content with its current position. "Would you like Sobble?"
You looked surprised at the sudden offer and got up to your feet, dusting yourself off a bit before smiling a closed-eyed smile at Leon. "That's alright. Besides, I think little Sobble is more than happy with where he is right now." You pointed towards Leon's arms and he looked down to see Sobble snuggle into his hold. A happy chirp suddenly sounded from behind you and you turned around, only to see nothing.
"I guess so." Leon chuckled in response to you. "Would you like to come with me then little one?" He asked the small Pokémon and it made a gleeful noise in confirmation.
"Can I?" You held up your Pokédex and Leon nodded. Sobble sat up, seemingly happy with all the attention he was getting and you smiled, collecting the data in your Pokédex.
"What happened to your finger?" Leon suddenly asked and you looked up at him before looking down to your finger.
"Oh, Scorbunny accidentally singed it a little. It's fine." You waved your hand up and down, as if to demonstrate it.
Sobble made a small squeaking noise and both you and Leon looked at him inquisitively. The water Pokémon motioned to you and Leon grasped your wrist, opening your hand so that it was flat and Sobble could walk onto it. Sobble, happy that his intentions were understood, quickly jumped onto your hand before turning to face your fingers. He took a deep breath before starting to spit the same little water bubbles he was spitting before, soothing the small burning sensation in your finger.
"Aw, thank you Sobble!" You thanked the small Pokémon and it looked at you with a happy expression. Once it figured your finger was well cared for, Sobble looked up to Leon and puffed out its little chest, as if saying 'look how good I am being!'. Leon chuckled and held out his hand, making Sobble hop back over to him.
"Lee! Barbecue time!" Hop suddenly shouted and you looked behind Leon to see the kids and two women stare at the two of you.
Your eyes widened slightly and you waved shyly towards your onlookers. As if an instinct to protect you suddenly flared up within, Charizard sensed your unease and took it upon himself to shield you from all eyes. He quickly snatched you up and ran to the bushes on the side, holding you tight against himself while shielding you with his wings, much like he had done earlier today.
"Ah! Charizard!" Leon called out in exasperation and ran to the dragon who had faced his back to his trainer.
"It's okay!" You called from beneath the Pokémon. As if to emphasise your point, you stuck your hand up, squeezing it past Charizard's wing and neck and into the open air. You made a thumbs up sign before flapping it up and down. "I don't mind."
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah, totally!"
Leon eyed your hand a bit warily but shrugged eventually. "As long as he's careful with your ribs then. But if you want to get out just tell me." He conceded and you giggled a bit, making Charizard rumble happily.
"It's like being held up by a pillow!" You reassured with a laugh, causing all those around to laugh as well.
"Well, dinner's ready, children." You heard one of the women say. "Bring along your Pokémon, and let's all eat! Oh and Charizard, if you want to bring along your human, that is fine too." She then joked and you burst out giggling at the ridiculousness of your situation.
Charizard started taking steps forward and you tapped the fire Pokémon on his neck, hoping that would make him let you go. He got the signal and carefully unwrapped his wings from you before setting you back on your feet. "Thanks." You smiled to Charizard and he seemed happy that you appreciated his efforts.
You looked up to see everyone looking at you again and you grinned a little awkwardly. Charizard tensed up and you quickly walked towards the little group to avoid being engulfed in dragon limbs again.
"Hi! I'm Y/N." You held your hand out towards the two women and they both gladly took it.
"I'm Hop and Leon's mother." The lady in yellow said with a kind smile and you turned to the other woman who had a cute pair of glasses and a bow in her hair.
"I'm Gloria's mother. Charizard seems to have taken a liking to you." She chuckled and you blushed slightly in embarrassment.
"Can't really help it when I don't know why."
"Enough with the talking already, let's eat! Hop jumped in between, causing the women to chuckle while you took a polite step back.
"I uh, can go to Wedgehurst no problem. I wouldn't want to impose." You took another few steps back but was stopped by a hand on your back.
"Nonsense! Let's all enjoy this barbecue together!" Leon exclaimed and Hop and Gloria cheered while the moms went to set everything up.
- - - -
This fic will follow the Storyline of the games but I will deviate sometimes, not copying the dialogue exactly etc. Hope that is ok and that you will enjoy nonetheless! ^^