Summary: Ten years after they parted and as a change occurs at the Cerise Laboratory Ash and Goh find their way back to each other.
Warnings: Mild angst, aged-up characters.
Staring up at what it is more familiar for him to call the Cerise Laboratory still, brings it all back. He is ten again. He'd woken up late that day as he'd done on all his best days. He is racing to Professor Oak's Laboratory, being told that a new lab will be opening that day in Vermilion and would he like to come along? There had only been one answer he would ever have given. He'd gone in Professor Oak's car then along with his Mom and Mimey, undeterred by his mother's plans to use the opportunity to go shopping and with mounting excitement as he'd stared out of the window and spotted Pokémon after Pokémon. He hadn't known it at the time, but there was the sense of a new adventure in the air. In Vermilion and by that point full of energy, he'd raced up the steps to the lab, spotted Yamper and received an electric shock as thanks for thinking it cute and for trying to pet it. Inside he'd listened as Professor Cerise had held court and as he'd deduced that a rare Pokémon would be arriving at Vermilion Harbour in twenty minutes. After that he just remembers being on Lugia. Seeing him for the first time...
Ten years. It has been ten years, well more than that due to the fact that it is ten years now since Goh and he had parted. Ash wonders whether either one of them will mention it that day?
He is still aching with nostalgia as he stares up at the lab, stuck in that spot on the warm afternoon as if frozen by a Pokémon move when a figure appears at the top of the steps.
"Ash! I thought I heard someone," Goh says with a soft, wry smile upon his face and although he may be older Ash can still look past the glasses, laboratory coat and tied up long hair and see the boy he'd once known.
"Goh!" Ash turns on a beaming smile, trots up the steps and firmly pulls the other man against him. "Or should I say Professor Goh now?"
"Idiot. You haven't changed," Goh snickers in a fond tone close to his ear. "These are new though." He holds Ash's hand up and frowns down at it.
"Sunspots! Mom said that I have at least one for every journey." He draws back and runs a sheepish hand through his hair, brown eyes glistening in the sun.
Goh can't help but smile in spite of himself, stopping himself from telling Ash that he should have worn suncream-he'd been just as bad after all, he still is for that matter-and tugging him by the hand loosely inside the lab, which holds so much memories for the pair of them.
"Are Chrysa and Ren still here?" Ash asks as he looks around keenly.
"Uh-huh, they agreed to stay," Goh sounds triumphant now but Ash isn't surprised-who would say no to him? He frowns when he remembers that Goh might still see it as if Ash had rejected him all those years prior. He's about to say something, about to explain that, that is not how it was at all, that he'd known they were at different stages of their journeys that's all, when Goh looks over his shoulder at him and asks, "That reminds me-where's Pikachu?"
"He wanted to catch up with the others at Cerise Park. Lucario too," Ash gets out, before he winces a little.
Goh takes a moment to think how nice that will be for Cinderace and all his other Pokémon, before he reassures Ash, "It's still called that," with a quick squeeze of his hand. Ash marvels, not for the first time that Goh can seemingly read and understand his every expression. That must be one of the reasons why he has been able to become a professor at such a young age and he feels that familiar sense of pride again-the one that has been erupting inside him ever since he'd first heard the news. "I wanted the name to stay," Goh adds softly, before he looks away again, but not before Ash has caught the sudden wistful expression that has dropped over his face. Ash realises it then-Goh remembers that it has been ten years too.
In the aftermath of this great discovery he is about to say something, he doesn't know what, when Goh pulls him into the main research room-the room where Goh and he had been assigned so many of their research missions. They'd been so busy exploring the different regions that neither of them had seemed to realise that it would not last forever until the moment had been right on top of them. But then Ash is smiling again because here are Chrysa and Ren. There is an increased amount of Psyduck merchandise on Chrysa's desk-a Pokémon that reminds an increasingly nostalgic Ash of another old friend and there is Francois-
"You're a Magneton now!" Ash exclaims excitedly and the others laugh, whilst Francois buzzes and flips around.
"Yep, you've missed a lot," Goh tells him and Ash is sure for a moment that he detects some hurt in his voice. Yet when he looks at Goh, Goh isn't staring at him to receive it and he looks so cheerful that Ash wonders if he'd just imagined Goh's pain because he himself has been thinking so much about the past that day. He glances at Goh again and when Goh smiles at him in a genuine fashion Ash decides to let it go.
Goh takes him into the room they used to share next.
"It seems so small." Ash stares at the bunk beds, recalling how Goh and he had been woken up one night by Riolu hatching and trying to remember every detail, but all he can think about is the distance between that time and then. It makes him feel sad.
"Right?" Goh agrees, missing or at the very least not acknowledging Ash's mood for once. "Would we even fit into those beds now?"
"I bet we would," Ash is filled with a sudden recklessness and charges forward, clambering into the bottom bunk and trying not to remember how Goh had won the top all those years ago.
"Ash!" Goh protests, though he comes forwards too, rolling his eyes a little when Ash, who has successfully managed to contort himself into that space, props himself up on one elbow and grins up at him.
"Try it Goh please, for old times sake?" Ash gives him his best puppy eyes and Goh, with some mumbling, rids himself of his lab coat, before he climbs up to the top bunk. It feels a bit more of a squeeze than it had done, him having had quite the growth spurt since then, but he still fits. Below him he can hear Ash shifting onto his back and sighing with contentment.
"What's with you?" he asks Ash a little uncertainly. "Does coming back here make you sad or something?" He can't bring himself to ask,'Does seeing me make you sad?' Ash doesn't answer and when Goh hears him snoring a moment later he mutters, "Typical."
----
A little while later in Cerise Park, after they have reunited with their Pokémon and joined Professor Cerise, his wife Talia and their children Parker and Chloe, along with Chrysa and Ren and a few others for the official handover from Professor Cerise to Goh, people are milling around the area with drinks and interacting with all the Pokémon and each other. Chloe, who has agreed to continue to be a Research Fellow when she is not too busy trying to catch all the Eeveelutions, something that she is trying to do to keep her own Eevee happy as it has decided it does not want to evolve but would still like to imitate the others from time to time, joins Goh, holding a drink of her own.
Goh is watching Ash move easily through the crowd. He grabs a bite of food there, a drink here, he chats to so-and-so, admires this Pokémon, that Pokémon. He comes across as utterly charming and Goh wonders if he had just imagined the troubled, sad aura that he had thought he'd sensed around him.
"It must be nice for you to catch up with Ash," Chloe breaks into Goh's thought.
Goh ponders that statement for a moment. "You remember when I was worrying about seeing him again and whether it would be awkward?" Chloe gives him a, 'Duh,'look, which Goh supposes is valid considering he only felt like that yesterday, before her face turns puzzled.
"Did something happen?"
"Not that I know." Goh stares at Ash consideringly again. "I just feel like something's going on with him."
"Did you try and talk to him about it?"
"Yeah, but...he fell asleep!" Goh pulls a face.
"Well," Chloe just about manages to stop herself from rolling her eyes. "Try again then." Goh looks from her to Ash doubtfully and then back at Chloe again. "Goh"- she pushes him towards Ash with one arm-"I swear, it will be worth it. Just try again."
"All right," Goh responds a little uncertainly, before he swallows and marches more confidently towards Ash. After all Goh might not have got exactly what he hoped for from their reunion, which was that after he's rooted and supported Ash from afar-something that he is certain that Ash has done for him too judging by how quickly he'd learnt that Goh was a professor-they would just slip back easily into the kind of relationship that they had, had before and just be Ash and Goh again, but this is still Ash and he is still Goh. Surely if anyone can figure out what is going on with his friend then Goh can?
"Oh hey Goh!" Ash looks around from watching some of his Pokémon playing with Goh's as Goh steps beside him. "It's so nice to see everyone back together again, isn't it?"
"Are we going to talk about it?" Goh asks him in a low tone, ignoring Ash's breezy statement. Ash looks at him in bafflement. "You've been kind of weird today?" Goh risks hurting Ash's feelings.
A cloud scuds over Ash's face and he looks the other way, not sure what to say, not to say...
"Hey..." Goh says, softly encouraging him into action through knocking his own hand gently against his. "The future's in the palm of our hands, right?" A grin flutters across Ash's face at the familiar phrase, before it dies instantly.
"It's just," the brown eyed boy looks at him a little desperately now, the playful cries of their oblivious Pokémon filling up the background, "You're not still cross about how we left things, are you?"
Goh looks surprised for a moment, before he shakes his head. "Of course not. Yes, I was upset and all this time I keep thinking of things I want to tell you and finding it really annoying when you're not there"-
"Me too!" Ash enthuses.
"But I know that we both needed to go and do different things. Besides, I would never have made professor if I hadn't continued to grow." Ash looks relieved by this.
"I know we've done a lot without each other, but I've been thinking for a while now-being here, what we did all those years ago, that was the best time for me. Travelling the world, coming back here, it was like having a"-
"Home?" Goh interjects with a quiet meaningfulness because it is like that for him too. That was one of the reasons why, despite his nerves, he'd been determined to accept the offer of taking over the lab.
Ash nods, looking grateful that Goh understands, but then Goh always understands. "Yeah," he says.
"So?" Goh says with an air of cheekiness about him, "What are you going to do about it?" Ash looks stunned. "You've got a problem so how are you going to fix it? You could always be a Research Fellow again?"
"And have you as my boss?" Ash's face relaxes. "Not sure that I want that." To Goh's delight Ash picks him up and half-twirls him around.
"Ash!" Goh hits his shoulders and wriggles about a bit but Ash just laughs because he can tell that Goh doesn't really mind. A few of the Pokémon and humans stop what they are doing to stare at them, but Ash and Goh don't even notice-it might as well just be them. Them as Ash lowers Goh a little and their faces come into close proximity. Them as Ash realises, staring into Goh's eyes, which are the same colour of the sea on the day they'd first met, the full extent of what he feels. Them as Goh's breath wavers in anticipation across Ash's face as he becomes aware of the latter's strange expression.
"What are you up to Ketchum?" Goh asks him suspiciously and Ash reddens, his grip tightening instinctively on Goh as his body does the only thing that makes sense in that moment-he kisses his best friend.
Chloe whoops and cheers, saying something like it's about time. Professor Cerise cautions her. Parker grins and then turns his head away in embarrassment. Talia smiles. Chrysa and Ren exchange happy, carefree glances. And Goh? He just kisses Ash back enthusiastically as their hearts flutter wildly in their chests between them. Home, each heartbeat seems to say, home.
They are ten again, back in Cerise Park, getting to know each other for the first time and the future is in the palm of their hands.
Pairing: Professor Sycamore x Gender Neutral Reader
Summary: You try and win a battle by breaking their bond. But when you see the pink mist beginning to flow down over Garchomp and see Augustine's shocked expression you realise that your priorities had gotten lost.
Warnings: Sexual references, trust issues, hurt/comfort, angst.
Notes: Inspired by the 'Strong Bonds, Can't Lose' episode of Pokémon Horizons and also a bit of an updated twist on my previous fic, 'The Moon Slipped Between Us,' as it is a similar sort of concept.
You'd been so excited for this battle, that was the truth. It had overridden everything-seeing Professor Augustine Sycamore again who you'd known since early adulthood. Overtaken the awkwardness that you might otherwise have noticed in the way that both of you had deliberately avoided mentioning Lysandre. Whilst you hadn't even taken in the way that his eyes were less naive now and the way that they ached with the hardship of life or the fact that just above his dark green scarf-winter had come early that year and the ground was hard beneath both of your feet as you'd stood just outside the boundary of the Tower of Mastery-lay a dark beard scudded with grey that your eyes had never witnessed before and which had made your dear friend look all the more distinguished. You had just been too excited. Your mind too compressed with the thought that you might finally defeat Augustine and his Garchomp in a battle-a feat you had not yet accomplished.
But when you see the pink mist polluting the atmosphere and beginning to flow down over Garchomp, muffling her anxious cry, see Augustine's shocked expression through the haze, you realise that your priorities had gotten lost.
Your Pidgeot, who had trusted you enough to comply with your order to douse the Strong Sphere over Garchomp's head and who is already tired from the battle so far, tosses the remnants of the used capsule aside with his talons and flies smoothly back to you, awaiting his next instructions.
"What are you doing?" comes Augustine's high, frightened voice as he looks between Garchomp and you. "What are you doing to her?" Your stomach tightens. At your hesitation he makes to go determinedly towards his Pokémon.
"Augustine wait!" you cry, lifting a hand as you encourage him to stop for you have just noticed the change in Garchomp's expression and the new cruelty, which stains her lips.
He freezes just in time for Garchomp surges forward, quicker than you have ever seen her move before. She carries out the Dragon Rush move of her own accord and although Pidgeot mostly dodges he lets out an unhappy squawk as the move catches upon his wing and a few feathers flutter down. In an attempt to intimidate he stretches out his remaining ones wide.
Garchomp has barely landed squarely back on the ground, before she issues a Dragon Breath attack. Pidgeot has to abruptly change direction-this time the attack catches on his usually magnificent tail feathers and, with pain etched upon his face, he has to spin rapidly in midair to diminish their spark. This sends up a gust in turn that batters Garchomp and causes her to let out a frustrated roar, before she scratches at her own chest, her talons causing searing red lines to form across her body. You feel scared as you watch her stretch up towards Pidgeot.
"What are you doing mon amie? You will get so tired acting out like that," Augustine says earnestly to his Pokémon, before he looks back to you with a desperate plea about his face. "Whatever you are doing," he begins tremulously, whilst Garchomp lets loose with another Dragon Breath, sending purple light radiating out across the sky, "Whatever you have done, you need to finish it."
You know you are in trouble with him and you wince, before you swallow and nod. "Brave Bird," you command through gritted teeth, aware that it will hurt your Pokémon, but pleading in your mind for Pidgeot to have courage because you have failed him, failed Garchomp and failed Augustine and now it is up to him to try and begin to rectify your mistake.
Loyally Pidgeot charges straight into a Dragon Breath attack and finishes his own one in a state of paralysis, using gravity alone to plummet towards Garchomp. He crashes into her and the impact sends up a small explosion of dirt. Both Augustine and you duck, shielding your heads with your arms and you can hear Augustine cough a little as he straightens to observe the scene.
Things clear enough for you to stand as well and to see that both Pokémon have fainted. You feel gratitude for Pidgeot's sacrifice. Otherwise you would have been unable to subdue Garchomp and reliant on Augustine to remind her of their bond. Having to listen to him talk about so many of their fond memories, to watch him rescuing the situation would have been the final humiliation for you so you are glad that you have avoided it. Glad that you had been able to do that much at least. You recall Pidgeot and then swallow several times as you watch Augustine rushing to Garchomp. He cradles her head against his knees, before he looks up at you accusingly.
"I-I"- words fail you.
"You need to explain what you have done," he tells you, his voice tight with a barely suppressed rage, letting you know that there will be no choice but for you to tell the truth now.
"She will be fine." Augustine harrumphs as if she better be. Trembling a little you reach for your bag, which you'd left on the ground beside you and take out what you think you will need in order to bring Garchomp gradually back to consciousness. Augustine steps warily aside and watches you work, not commenting on your shaking hands like he might once have done. "It was a Strong Sphere. Created by the Exceed company. It's meant to break the bond between a Pokémon and their trainer," you tell him, glancing up at him nervously, Garchomp's head propped up on your shoulder as you treat her.
"Get away from her," Augustine snarls as his Pokémon blinks back into awareness. She makes a confused sound at his tone and at the way you quickly lower her head and scramble away from her. Augustine takes up the position you just had, wrapping his arms partially around Garchomp in a protective fashion. You swallow as your eyes meet.
"She just needs more rest," you try to explain, but it sounds feeble upon your lips.
"To use it on another's Pokémon-it's like something a criminal would do," he says harshly and you flinch because he might as well have just slapped you. "I thought you had outgrown such habits? I wouldn't have stood up for you otherwise."
You'd barely been able to look at him as he'd spoken-the fury and disappointment had been etched so firmly in his voice-but now you lift your head. There are tears in his eyes just as there are in yours. "I am not a criminal Augustine. I only knew Lysandre-just like you did. I had no idea he would"-
"Non, of course you did not."
"Auggie"-
"Don't call me that." He lowers Garchomp's head-she is still too weak to stand-and gets to his feet. A tear drops to the ground as he does so.
You swallow again, reminded more than ever of how you'd chosen to work with Lysandre before and become part of Team Flare rather than get a job at the Sycamore Laboratory, which had put some distance between Augustine and you. After the Geosenge incident and in good faith Augustine had stood up for you-you hadn't been punished like some of the other members of Team Flare, having both shown and felt remorse and, despite some people's growing reservations-reservations which had been a big part of Augustine quitting the lab further down the line-about what he should and should not have done his word had still counted for something. His word had still helped you. Yet now you can feel his hurt and disappointment and you wonder whether he will ever have a good word to say about you again.
"I-I just wanted to beat you." Tears flow down your cheeks and Augustine deliberately doesn't look at them, but you can tell from the way that his head's tilted that he is listening. "Garchomp and you-I've never been able to win against you and I thought if I could break the bond then"-
"You thought it would be fair to win in this way?" his words slice against the cool air. "To pull the rug from beneath our feet by using such a product on dear Garchomp?"
"I-I"-
"She didn't know what was happening! Neither did I!" he roars, looking directly at you now. You don't know what to say-what you can ever say to make this any better. All you know is that it feels like a long time since you'd felt that hopeful excitement when you'd obtained the Strong Sphere and arranged to meet up with Augustine for another battle. A long time since you believed you could win...but you should know by now-winning isn't something that you do. Knowing that you are feeling sorry for yourself Augustine huffs out a frustrated breath as he stares at you. He recalls Garchomp and though her presence had just been another terrible reminder of what you have done-because how is Augustine ever going to let you forget this?-you miss her immediately. The space between Augustine and you becomes a yawning chasm. A space that you can't ever see closing. You bow your head, avoiding his eyes. He lets out another breath, which mists in front of him. "To break the bond..." His body swings from one side to the other in his anger, before he becomes deadly still and looks at you. "I thought you knew how important the bond is? That I've told you about it enough times. That you'd have enough sense to know that it would not be broken by a foolish product, that it could not be, yet for you to even risk it"-
"I'm sorry!" you tell him. "I just thought"-
"There was no thought," he cuts you off abruptly and you stay silent in your shame, tears still meandering down your face and you doubt that they will ever stop. "You are as reckless as he was." Knowing that he means Lysandre you shake your head. "I should never have vouched for you."
"No!" you cry, moving your head back and for fiercely now.
He contemplates you for a moment. "Do you know why I did? Why I was so disappointed when you went to work for Lysandre before?" Again you shake your head. He scoffs. "I had somehow convinced myself that I loved you."
"What?" Your heart trips over itself.
"Oui, it's true." He looks at you squarely, running a hand back through his wavy, greying hair. "Even today-I was so happy. So able to convince myself that something might finally happen between us." He breaks the eye contact, looking both embarrassed and bitter. "I should have realised that you were always more suited to Lysandre and the way that you have hurt Garchomp and I today only proves it."
"I was never with Lysandre like that." He stares disbelievingly at you. "Once. That was all..." He lets out a knowing breath and nods. "I was jealous...I saw you with...with someone and I-I couldn't handle it." You fight back the memory of seeing him with the person who has always made you feel the most insecure and how much pain that had given you.
"So the blame is all mine?" he says lightly, dangerously.
"No, it is my fault, just like today..."
He closes the gap between you and runs the tip of a gloved, but longing finger down your cheek, whilst you both continue to cry. "I cannot trust you," he practically sobs, his head shielding your own.
"You can," you tell him fiercely. "You can. It has always been you. I know that I am an idiot and that today was beyond stupid, but you can, I swear it, you can trust me."
"You hurt me like no one else," he confesses, before his lips are unforgiving and fierce as they meet with your own for a sticky kiss. You grip at the back of his neck with your own gloved hand, holding him steady as he pushes you up against the wall that surrounds the Tower of Mastery, but exclaiming a little at his bruising desire and wondering where it had all come from-to you it feels as sudden as the pink mist from the Strong Sphere. He draws back from you, just enough for you to feel his soft breaths fanning across your face, whilst your startled ones meet his own. You realise that his scarf must have slipped off at some point or that maybe you'd tugged it free from him, before you grow suddenly still when he buries his head into your shoulder, cursing regarding the scent that is uniquely you and groaning as he thrusts against you. There is no time to remove either of your clothes-this moment having been building for a while between you-and you push against him too, struggling to satisfy your pleasure, before you both shudder as you reach your peaks.
Embarrassed the pair of you keep each other upright-him with his body still pressed against yours and you with your arms around him-before you begin to awkwardly move away from one another, him with much clearing of his throat and you feeling as if you don't have enough oxygen. There is something else as well-
You know you have no right to after what has happened that day but you feel suddenly amused and so, so very happy. Happier than you have felt for a long time.
"I don't know what you are smiling at," he half-glances at you, "I have not forgiven you." He fiddles with his hair, but there is a quirk to his lips and you can tell that he is no longer angry. Your smile can't help but grow at such a thing.
"Maybe love will be enough," you tell him. "Time and love?" Maybe that will be enough to smooth the wavering trust inside him and for him to put his faith in you? He studies you again. Then, his face still burning red from the aftermath of everything, he nods, willing to submit and give it a try.
Summary: Augustine Sycamore accompanies you on a trip to the Oreburgh Mining Museum in Sinnoh. Complicated feelings ensue.
Warnings: Post XY, Minor spoilers for Legends ZA, Angst, Age-Gap Relationship.
Lumiose City, Kalos
The photo on Serena's social media page had been taken in Nimbasa City, Unova, more precisely inside the Musical Theater where her and her three friends had gathered to watch their fifth companion-Tierno-perform alongside the other dancers on stage. There is a further photo later on, which shows a flushed, but pleased Tierno in the centre of the group, his arms around a smiling Serena and Calem with you and Shauna on either side of them, but it is the previous photo, the one that only shows the four watching Tierno, which catches Augustine's attention and that he keeps looking back on because it is the perfect example of the supportive friendship that he'd come to see grow between you all and it makes his heart squeeze painfully inside his chest as he remembers that period of time and all it had involved.
"I'm sure any one of them would be pleased to hear from you," comes Sophie's voice, stirring Augustine out of the fixated stare he'd been giving the photo on his Rotom phone as she leans across to put his tea down upon the coffee table.
"Merci Sophie," Augustine responds to the drink that his friend had given him but not to her comment and Sophie knows that his mind is going back to when they'd all last seen him-
The announcement on the television had been brief and perfunctory, only a sentence before the newsreader had moved on, but shocking enough in its core that Serena and Calem had contacted their friends and arranged to immediately meet outside the Pokémon laboratory.
Augustine remembers how they'd all marched inside and around the partition to where his desk was, Serena in particular demanding if it were true-if he were really resigning.
"Oui," he'd said back then, "I have already done so. The only thing that is left is for me to go." He'd waved a hand to the papers he'd been categorising on his desk-some were to stay, some, the ones that he really couldn't leave behind from his own personal research, were to keep. Calem had started to protest, Serena too, but he'd made a flourishing gesture with his hand in order to quiet them. "You cannot persuade me otherwise," he'd told them.
There had been a mutinous pause, before Tierno had asked rather earnestly, "Is it because of what happened?"
"Of course it is," Serena had answered dismissively for Augustine, before she'd looked at him for reassurance or maybe in the hope that for once in her life she had been wrong.
"That is of course a factor," he'd readily agreed. "I encouraged you after all to go on your journeys, but the fact that I did not pick up on...well, it put you in danger." Augustine's throat had bobbed as the children, though they were not merely children any more of course, not with what they had gone through, had groaned. Serena had claimed loyally that it wasn't his fault and that Lysandre would have probably acted the way he had anyway. "But it is not the only reason." They had all looked at him expectantly at that point, even you who had been perusing your Pokédex discreetly, your head bowed as you'd tried to prevent any attention from going your way-it had reminded him of himself a little, he'd often found it easier to bury himself in the welcome distractions of the Pokémon world rather than confront anything difficult. It had been simpler that way, but it had also let Lysandre...
"Professor?" Shauna had prompted him. She'd looked at him as if he were a puzzle to figure out. Then she'd added hurriedly, "Will you still be a professor now-?"
"You don't need to have a lab in order to be a professor," he'd smiled warmly at her, "Which brings me to my other point-watching all of you has inspired me, has reminded me what I love the most and that is being out in the field. The lab has been helpful as a boost to my research and a place where I can evaluate it I admit, but that is the end process. Everything starts with being out there." He'd pointed generally to where, some way below, they'd all known the bustling street to be. Yet, as passionate as his remarks had been, they'd all looked at him disbelievingly. All doubted that he would have resigned if the event with Lysandre had not happened and he'd seen a crease worry away at your forehead. He'd longed to be able to smooth it out, but of course he hadn't been able to do that. He'd started to say something. Yet, before he had, you'd offered him a tentative smile filled with belief as you'd met his eyes. Offered him some hope. In the present he misses you, misses all of you and longs to immerse himself in all of your lives again, but he does not know if the attention will be wanted or if he even has the right...
"They never judged you. They are some of the only people in this world who wouldn't," Sophie says in the present now and Augustine wonders if that is true as he comes back to the fact that they are in her apartment and it is the weekend and although there are plenty of things that he could be doing out there he doesn't particularly feel like doing any of them. He feels listless and unmotivated. Untethered ever since he'd given up his role as Director of the lab and Sophie knows such a thing. She touches at his hand, before her fingers curl around his, trying to ground him and make him feel safe enough to take this next step. Augustine's eyes spin to find your face on the photo. He remembers your tentative smile and the quiet shelter it had offered him. You, above even the others perhaps, would treat him with empathy, wouldn't you? Hoping that will be the case he goes back to the home screen and as he clicks to make the call Sophie squeezes at his hand and leaves the room.
Nimbasa City, Unova
Your head jerks upright at the sound of the familiar ringtone and it takes you a moment to realize where you are-Tierno's apartment, or more precisely the double bed, which you'd all ended up talking, snacking and falling asleep on top of together post-concert-and another to disengage yourself from the tangled mass of sprawled limbs. You spot that your Rotom phone is partially wedged underneath Shauna's cheek and pull it out, pulling a face at the drool on it, before you wipe it with your pyjama sleeve. That act causes you to take the call inadvertently and your eyes widen at seeing who it is, before the device escapes your grip to hover before you.
"Professor?" you say in slight disbelief, which catches the attention of your friends who all start to wake up.
"Ah, there you are! It is good to see you!" Augustine, who had been calling your name sounds relieved.
"Yes, sorry, it was a bit of a late one," you are apologetic, a little embarrassed to find yourself in your pyjamas in front of him and a little confused at the same time.
"I saw some photos Serena had posted." You are not really surprised by this-Serena spends a lot of her time posting photos. "It looked like a good night?"
"Yes, yes it was," you confirm, wondering why he is ringing you and as Serena crawls across you have more time to ponder over the question as she begins to talk animatedly to the professor. You are not the hero or heroine of this tale. Calem and Serena have those places filled thank you very much and it is them who have spent more time with the professor, so why did he ring you and not them directly? You go further and further away from the screen and closer to the edge of the bed as Calem, Shauna and then Tierno, who goes very red under all the praise the professor is giving him, all talk to Augustine, before Serena takes over again, yet it is mostly just a babble of talk that you are aware of until Serena's slightly pouting face turns to you insistently.
"He wants to talk to you," she tells you as the screen whooshes past her ear and comes to rest before your face.
"Professor?" you feel as if you are back to where things started and none the wiser as to what this is all about.
"Oui," he is warm and effusive, the depth of his Kalosian accent coming to the fore and something about it all makes you clamber off the bed and retreat to the outskirts of the room, seeking more privacy. The Rotom phone follows you. "I wanted to ask what you are doing? The others have all told me what they are," he sounds amused.
"Oh." Again you feel surprised-it is not as if he has never taken an interest in you of course, but you have always been on the periphery of things or so you'd thought in any case and this feels strangely intimate. You swat a piece of stray clothing off the chair that is by the door and sink down on it, facing the screen again. "Well, I'll be going to Sinnoh later on today actually"-
"I am glad that I have caught you then, that is a fair flight"-
"Yes, to Oreburgh..." You tell him now how you intend to go to the mining museum that is there, to look at not only the exhibits in the museum, but to meet with Dr. Kenzo and hear about the research that is being conducted and-"Hopefully see footage from the ecodome, which houses all the Pokémon that have been brought back to life!" you finish with a passionate flourish and you can sense Serena rolling her eyes at you-she has never got your love for Fossil Pokémon, nor your fascination with them-but for a glorious second you don't care and then you do and you find yourself uttering, "Sorry Professor that probably sounds like a silly dream." You wonder if you've taken up too much of his time and how long you'd rambled on for. You cannot know that your words have inspired him.
"Non, I do not think that. Why, I myself have an interest in Fossil Pokémon"-
"You do?" you feel almost breathless with surprise.
"Of course," he says earnestly, "By looking at the past we might be able to figure out why, when Pokémon Mega Evolve, they take the form they do and how they might progress in the future."
"Oh..." You hadn't thought of it in that way before and begin to feel excited.
"Maybe I"-he swallows now-"Maybe I could meet you there? Your trip does sound very fascinating to me." All the thoughts that had begun to race through your head crash into one another and come to a sudden halt at his words. "I mean I do not want to interrupt anything- if you already have plans or wish to meet up with anyone else or"-
"No, I-It was just going to be me, but I-of course you'd be welcome." Serena arches an eyebrow at your stuttering. "More than welcome."
"That is arranged then," Augustine sounds triumphant. "I look forward to seeing you there. Farewell!" he disconnects the call as suddenly as it had happened in the first place and for a moment, as you stare at the screen, which has reverted to the home page, it is with complete shock.
----
You begin to doubt yourself on the plane over. Had the professor misunderstood? Does he expect Serena, Calem and Shauna to be there as well? [You hope he'd remember that Tierno is tied up with work at least.] Will he be disappointed? You think for sure that he will be. Who would be happy with just you being there? You have always probably come across to him as being some kid with a Pokédex. What is so appealing about that when he must have seen dozens of people like that throughout his life?
Yet he shows no disappointment or any surprise when you meet him outside the Oreburgh Mining Museum, telling you how good it is to see you again, extending his arms wide and pecking you on both cheeks, his hands upon your shoulders. You feel oddly hot by the time you step back, probably because of the loud attention that he is giving you, attention that you had not expected or do not feel as if you deserve and you find it hard for a moment to meet his eyes. When you do it is to see that he is looking at you fondly and your eyes dart away from him again. What is going on with you? Is it just that you have not spent much one-on-one time together? Yes, that must be it, you try to convince yourself.
"Shall we go inside?" You nod jerkily in response to Augustine's question.
Thankfully as soon as you meet with Dr. Kenzo, a man with blue eyes, brown hair and in the same kind of lab coat that you have often seen the professor wearing, you forget about how awkward you feel around Augustine and begin to relax and immerse yourself in why you are there in the first place.
Dr. Kenzo starts to give a tour of the museum, pointing out particular exhibits of note or saying where certain ones were discovered and what that tells us about what the area must once have looked like. Now and again the professor says something, but it is really a conversation between Dr. Kenzo and you and you appreciate both how the professor is letting you take the lead and how Dr. Kenzo is treating you like an adult-you are one of course, but people often make the habit of forgetting, especially when you are with someone older than you.
You get to hold a Helix Fossil next and run a finger delicately across and around it. You've seen one before, but will never get over the texture or stop marvelling at the life it used to possess and it is a while before you can let go of it and hand it over to the professor in order so that he can examine it. Your fingers brush as he takes it from you and you feel hot again as his eyes lock with yours.
Augustine clears his throat and averts his eyes quickly to the fossil. He feels unusually absent-minded as he turns it this way and that and attempts to do a good enough impression of taking it in. In reality he is thinking of how his fingers felt as if they might be charred and crumble away at your burning touch. He wonders if his own touch had come across that way to you? He clears his throat, pushing down the inappropriate thought just like he had done when he'd wanted to free you from worry at the lab before and every single time he has noticed how pretty you are. With fumbling fingers he drops the fossil when he hands it back to Dr. Kenzo. Thankfully you intercept-catching it deftly before it can hit the floor.
"It's all right Professor," you tell him with a reassuring smile upon your face, but one that Augustine feels is dazzling to him in that moment, "No harm done." You hand it back to Dr. Kenzo, shooting it a wistful expression as it gets restored to its pride of place in the glass case and Augustine finds himself having to clear his throat again.
Dr. Kenzo looks at him in a sympathetic fashion but Augustine doubts that he knows what he is really struggling with. "I have a sweet that might help with that," the innocent doctor tells him.
"Oh non, non," Augustine waves a blustering hand and feels himself reddening-all the more so when you peer up at him. "I am fine, I promise."
Dr. Kenzo pushes the packet of throat sweets back down in his chest pocket again and nods diligently, before he continues the tour.
Augustine of course had lied and he trails behind you both, hoping that his feelings for you will stop running so rampant inside him because they are not appropriate and he is far from suitable for you, yet he cannot keep enough distance to block out your enthusiastic questioning of Dr. Kenzo or to stop the stirring of his heart as he encourages you of course to be the first inside the room, which houses the footage from the ecodome and you beam up at him. He touches at your back and guides you through, before he can help it. He looks at your expression, so full of life and passion as you stare at the Pokémon on the screens, so full of longing and he can't deny that he'd quite like it if you looked at him in that way.
He is still mulling it all over as the pair of you sit on a bench outside the museum in order to eat your respective packed lunches.
You chatter away quite happily about all that you have seen, showing excitement that you will actually be going inside the mine that afternoon, before there is a sudden pause and Augustine hesitates in taking his next bite of food as he waits for you to go on. "I'm sorry," you breathe raspily, your Kalosian accent reminding Augustine of home in that moment and he lowers his baguette. "You haven't been able to enjoy it as much have you? With you not feeling well?"
"I am fine." He eats the rest of his lunch as if in a stubborn attempt to prove such a thing. Yet you are still looking at him disbelievingly once he's done, your own food barely touched in all your mutual excitement and concern for him. "You should eat," he reminds you and you flush a little. "I need to make a phone call, before we return." He gets up, leaving your warmth behind and heads to stand around the corner at the far side of the museum, seeking more privacy and wanting to be away from your probing stare.
Once there he immediately takes out his Rotom phone from his bag. It hovers before him and he calls Sophie.
She makes a point of obviously checking the time as she takes the call. "I think this might be a new record even for you," she comments.
"Don't." He pulls a face and touches at his forehead with his hand as if he has a headache. "Don't make a joke of it. I should have not come here. It was a mistake."
Sophie manages to look both somewhat sympathetic and as if she'd seen this coming a mile away. "You've always fallen for passion Augustine and you've always treated her differently from the others. It was bound to happen."
"What do you mean?" he asks, feeling anxious that if Sophie has noticed then someone else might have.
Sophie considers for a moment. "You are very loud with the others, but with her you have always been quite serious and careful, respectful of her quest for discovery and knowledge. I think you have always felt her a kindred spirit in truth."
"But she is my student," he reminds Sophie gloomily. "There will always be a separation between us."
"Maybe in your head," she says, "But I doubt anyone else would be much bothered if you were to date her now, considering you have given up the lab." Augustine swallows and shifts his weight uneasily from one foot to the other. Would it really be that straight forward? That uncomplicated? "Why not spend more time with her and see where it leads?" 'Because she will think me a disgusting, old man,' is what he answers in his head, 'And I don't think I could bear that right now. To never discuss anything with her again. To lose contact perhaps with the others as well when she tells them what I am really like.' He lifts his head and looks at the screen when Sophie laughs at his expression, frowning in a defensive fashion back at her. "I think the truth is you are scared Augustine. You are trying to keep the barrier that was once there held up between you because that way you don't have to admit the truth to her or move outside of your comfort zone. But the barrier is not there any more and you don't need to keep yourself in the past. I think you will truly be surprised at how uncomplicated everything is. At how you can move forward and how others will be there, willing to walk that path, alongside you. How she might be if only you can tell her and realize that most of all you deserve love"- she pauses when Augustine's attention goes sharply elsewhere.
"S-Sorry," Sophie hears you say a moment later to Augustine. "I did not mean to interrupt, but they are ready for us to go down the mine if you are willing."
"You need to stop saying that word," Augustine tells you gruffly, before he adds, "Of course I want to." He exchanges a meaningful look with Sophie, before he ends the call. His Rotom phone swoops back inside his bag and he does it back up again, before he strides alongside you to the mine, not noticing your slightly slumped shoulders or more thoughtful demeanour.
----
Back at your hotel that night and feeling restless as you sit on the end of the bed, darkness slowly shrouding you as the sunsets, you'd like to say that you'd taken everything in the mine in. Like to say that you'd questioned Roark, the Gym Leader of the city as well as the operator of the mine, who had shown both you and the professor around as thoroughly as you had Dr. Kenzo in the museum. That you'd taken in the freely offered information-something about the vents around town and poison gas-and studied how the Pokémon help and how much care is given to not damage the habitats of wild Pokémon and how delicately both minerals and fossils are extracted, but you hadn't. You'd been hard pushed to focus on anything ever since you'd overheard a piece of what Sophie had told the professor.
That is why he had been so distracted, had been one of your first thoughts about it. He is not ill, not in the traditional sense anyway, closer to being lovesick than anything else.
You try, as you had done initially, to convince yourself that this is a good thing. That if the professor starts to date someone it will surely help him to recover after the loss of the lab and after everything that had happened with Lysandre and return him to a happier state, which would be a positive thing, wouldn't it? That is what you should want for him and yet...and yet you can't help but feel so miserable by the prospect and you don't understand why you do.
Letting out a groan of frustration you tug your Rotom phone free from your pocket and it hovers up to be level with your face. You call Serena-she might be annoying, but her instincts are normally spot on and you could do with someone like that now.
"Hey! How's the trip going?" she answers brightly, appearing to be close to a forest somewhere going by her background. She rambles on for a moment about what she herself has been up to, before she seems to suddenly realize that something is amiss. She says your name and you pay proper attention to her again, your head lifting up. "You're not talking much. Did something happen? Is the trip not going the way you wanted it to? Is the professor there?" she'd obviously like him to help with your problem if he is.
You hesitate, before you confess what you had heard Sophie telling him.
"Oooh," Serena reacts, sitting down on a rock in front of the forest and appearing thrilled with the gossip.
"Do you think I should have said what I heard?" Serena shakes her head. "Said that I agree with Sophie and that he deserves love?" Serena gives you a strange look, before she turns more thoughtful.
"I wonder who she is. I always thought him and Lysandre, but maybe not...or he could be bi?" she ponders and you don't know why but your chest feels suddenly tight with a restless anxiety and you'd quite like to stop the call or at the very least change the conversation, which is stupid because the whole idea of contacting Serena was to get her help and so far you haven't had that. "Urgh, I need to know!" she screeches suddenly, flailing her fists and causing an eruption of bird Pokémon to flee the trees behind her. She looks over her shoulder and laughs a little guiltily, before she looks back at you. "Give me a mo," she says, before she abruptly ends the call. You stare at the screen for a moment, unable to believe that she has disconnected so suddenly, before you make a sound of frustration, leap off the bed and restlessly pace around the room.
You are on your third tight lap when your Rotom phone buzzes and you hurriedly meet it in the middle as it drifts over to you.
It's a text from the professor and you frown unhappily at it. Meet in the lobby in ten for dinner? it reads.
You consider your situation for a moment. Oui. I might be a little late-expecting a call from Serena!
You get a thumbs-up in response.
Serena rings you back in the next moment and your brow furrows at the strange expression, which is on her face. She looks all shiny and weird, but not as if she is upset about something-rather like she is excited and hopeful. Still, "Is everything all right?" you ask, stuck for anything else to say.
"Will you be seeing the professor again tonight?" she questions and there seems to be a forced casualness there, which makes you lift your eyebrows.
"Um, yeah, we're meeting in a few minutes to go for dinner," you tell her, wondering how this is at all relevant.
"Wow, that's great. I better not keep you for too long then. Make sure you wear something nice, eh?"
Still not getting it you stare at her, but she just offers you a wink. "Did-Did you ring Sophie to ask about-?" you manage to force out, even though the topic is a bit of a sore one for you, but much to your irritation she says something about how she has to go and hangs up abruptly. Again. You curse her and wish that you'd never rung. What help did you manage to get from her apart from some weird advice to wear something nice? What use will that be?
Scowling you check the time and wriggle into something that's a bit smarter and which you suppose, at a push, you could call nice or at the very least suitable for dinner anyway. You grab your slightly worn bag and head down to the lobby.
The professor is already waiting there and seeing him-he might not have had Serena's input into his outfit, but he looks dapper in his white suit with blue shirt-relaxes you a little, even though you do feel a slight tenderness as you look at him because of what you'd overheard before.
"Sorry I'm late," you greet him and he just snorts at the familiar word and moves in to peck you on the cheek.
"I thought we banned that word, no?" He kisses your skin lightly, before he moves his head back and assesses you. "You look nice." Your heart lifts for one moment at the praise, before it sinks back down again as you remember Serena and how confusing her behaviour had been. That leads you to thinking about why you had rung her in the first place and what you had overheard again and you don't pay much attention as the professor leads you out of the hotel or as you find a restaurant down the street and end up taking a table outside, the professor helping you into your chair.
You only come back to yourself when, as you are meant to be perusing the menu, he asks, "Is everything all right ma chère?" Feeling a little dizzy you look up at him. His own menu has been put to one side and he is staring at you with some concern about his face. Behind him a child tries to attract the attention of a Psyduck, which has taken up residence in one of the restaurant's many fountains, a rubber ring, which looks like a doughnut around its middle. The professor gently clears his throat and you look back at him. "Earlier I had to save you from those Pokémon trainers who wanted to battle"-you remember a burning hot sensation of his hand being wrapped around your wrist in the mine and him guiding you away to safety-"And just now you hardly reacted when I commented about how fun it is that some of the meals have been catered to remind people of the mining heritage here-the Old Amber meal with its roast potatoes and vegetables for instance."
"Yes, very funny," you say in a slightly harried voice, which only makes the professor's face fall and you curse yourself inside your head. Why can't you just pretend that you are all right in a better fashion? Why do you have to be so obvious?
"Are you merely tired?" he seems determined to get to the bottom of things. "You did not say much when we were down the mine. You did enjoy it?"
You nod your head. "Sorry."
"Non." His hand reaches for yours and you flinch slightly, before you settle into the touch. 'We will have none of that,' his expression says firmly when you look at him. It is time for the truth.
You withdraw your hand and clear your throat a little. The professor looks anxious-you can't know that he's worried that he's overstepped by touching you. Your face falls to the white tablecloth for a moment as you try and figure out what you want to say. "I-I didn't mean to, but I overheard some of what Sophie said to you before."
"Ah." Augustine straightens and looks tense. Out of your sight his hands fidget together on his lap.
"Oui, and I-I should have said"-you look at him-"Well, maybe I should have said, it is none of my business." You don't notice Augustine looking puzzled. "But I think you should go for it. You-You deserve to be happy and who-whoever this woman is I am sure she will make you so."
Augustine bites at his lip to temper down some of his amusement for a moment and you don't get why he looks such a way. "She already has," he tells you and your insides churn with a mixed pain and pleasure, before confusion reigns supreme when he adds bravely, "With what she has just told me."
"I-I don't understand." Your entire body feels frozen and like you can hardly breathe.
Augustine's warm yet gentle smile tentatively grows. His hand finds yours again and he runs his thumb across it. "Then let me explain-you came here to learn more about treasure, oui? The things that are precious to you?" You nod dumbly, only able to focus on his words and touch as if nothing else exists. "Well, I realized, spending today with you"-he reddens significantly now-"That I had already found mine and I could ignore her no longer." His face moves closer. Your heart jerks frantically inside your chest as if it is attached to a piece of string that is being yanked all over the place. His hand is gripping yours, very tightly as his lips part and you feel his breath-minty fresh-blowing across your skin for one pure moment, before his mouth comes to settle down upon yours. You realize with a startling clarity why Serena had told you to wear something nice, before no more coherent thoughts enter your mind. There is only your lips moving against each other's and your hand curling insistently into his hair and keeping him pressed close when he attempts to move away in order to check that everything is all right. He laughs and so do you, joyfully, before you kiss some more, ignoring the fact that you have not ordered any food and that Augustine will surely not be able to hold that position for much longer as it is not a comfortable one, only focused on each other and the moment that you are creating, which will be trapped in time forever like one of the fossils you so adore.
Augustine played goalie at school because he was too clumsy to be on the pitch with the ball initially and although he worked hard even now he still has criticism for not being clean enough with his actions and needs to constantly work to keep up with his teammates.
As part of his work he practiced with Garchomp in goal but Garchomp is too shy and not built for goal. Augustine used Wartortle instead and asked Bulbasaur to throw the ball in with Vine Whip. His skills improved with the assistance of his Pokémon and he will forever be grateful to them.
He was able to become one of the top forwards for Kalos because of their help and one of the youngest.
The emblem of the Kalos football team is Xerneas’s face and horns. Their nickname is, ‘Les Bleus.’
Augustine likes to read up about the latest discoveries in the Pokémon world and is particularly fascinated with the concept of Mega Evolution, likening it to the personal development that he has to go through as a football player.
Augustine wears Garchomp’s Mega Evolution stone around his neck like a lucky charm. [He found the stone on an early morning walk one day when he was feeling down during the team’s travels and it cheered him up.]
The World Cup is in Unova and in the training camp he builds different Lego figures of Pokémon, which become what Augustine imagines their Mega Evolved forms might look like. He is quite creative, but also nervous since he missed the last World Cup due to injury and feels there is a lot riding on his performance this time.
Sophie, who is a physiotherapist for the team, acts as a bit of a counsellor for him.
helloe i am back after so many months! i am here to request a sycamore x reader wherein sycamore takes care of a mentally exhausted/burnt out reader (tooooootally not self indulgent)
you can get your creative juices flowing with this one. have fun and keep up the good work !!! 🥰
Thanks so much for the request! It gave me the perfect excuse to not only write about Sycamore-one of my top characters to write about if not my top one right now-again, but it also gave me the perfect opportunity to combine your idea with one of mine that had been brewing.
Consequently this fic is also inspired by President Macron interrupting a speaker on stage at a summit.
I really hope you enjoy it and that it offers you some comfort with what you are going through. :)
Augustine Sycamore's fingers cannot help but fidget and his brain cannot help but whir anxiously, his thoughts rotating like the blade of a wind turbine, every possible consequence of what he desires to do next coming to him.
You might be angry with him, that is what he cannot help but think and that is the reason he is still sat there, undecided, bound by his last ties of restraint, rather than storming the stage. Embarassed too-he would not wish to make you feel such an emotion and something inside him crumples now like the wrapper of the biscuit that he'd had with his milky tea before he'd entered the conference hall in Lilycove. The biscuit had been shaped like a Slakoth, he remembers, possibly in an encouragement for anyone who ate it to try and relax. He should have given one to you he thinks, before he shakes his head free of such useless ideas, his dark hair brushing against the collar of his blue shirt as he does such a thing and tries to focus on the present. You do not need a biscuit. You are on stage with your band of female researchers, trying to tell the world about why they should care about climate change and how you have concluded that its very real effects are in fact making Pokémon who Mega Evolve less strong, Pokémon in their normal forms weaker and that in turn is making the combined strength of Pokémon and their human partners less and less able just on bond alone to deal with all the challenges that lie ahead. It is very interesting even though you don't seem able to display the information in your usual charismatic way-relying a lot on the screen behind you. Augustine feels a twinge of worry about you again. Although he has picked your brain numerous times about the topic before, being very interested in anything that involves Mega Evolution himself, he does think that the people who have never heard it should be listening. Not talking in little groups or on their Rotom Phones as they are doing. Irritation churns through him like a rising tide as he looks around at them all-you have given so much of yourself to prepare for this day, the very least people can do is give you the courtesy of listening, to show you some respect, but they seem to have greater priorities.
He stands. His greatest friend Sophie, who is also invaluable to him back in the lab at Kalos, makes a sound of surprise and attempts to grab at his sleeve and pull him back into his seat. It is the way that your words falter and your eyes find his, however, that makes Augustine freeze.
A cool burst of air comes from nowhere, passes him and he remembers the previous night-he'd been so excited to see you. He hadn't had much chance to in previous months-from your launch base of the Pokémon lab in Littleroot Town you'd been travelling across many of the different regions, trying to prove a pattern for your hypothesis. He'd last seen you during your stop in Kalos, which, for the sake of your relationship, you'd tried to draw out for as long as possible and Augustine remembers that time as a golden one, full of sweet, tender kisses. There'd been phone calls after that, but they had been increasingly short, with you making, what he has since realized, excuses in order to not give him an inkling of the toll everything has been taking on you. When he'd hugged you last night, as soon as he'd seen you in the museum where the conference is being held and before he'd properly even looked at you and then pulled back again, he'd been shocked. Your face had been more drawn than what he'd remembered it being and your eyes devoid of their usual vitality. You looked like you'd been crying and even your attempt at a brave smile for him had not been able to decieve him for any longer. Without hesitation he'd wrapped his arms around you and rested his chin against the top of your head.
"It will be all right now," he'd told you as he'd squeezed you. He had been determined to make it so. You'd let out a gurgle against him and he'd held on to you for as long as he'd been able to-no one, aside from Sophie, knows about your relationship and that is another reason why, in the present, he is reluctant to storm the stage, he does not want rumours spreading, does not want to do anything to hurt or upset you, not when you are already feeling so vulnerable.
You'd given him another brave smile as you'd drawn apart from one another and the rest of the evening with you had been a bit more normal, aside from you being quieter as you'd eaten with each other-this had only stopped when you'd put on a smile for anyone who'd come over to talk to either of you-and when you had, had to disappear to have a meeting with your team. He'd missed you then, his body and mind greedy for your presence after months of absence, but he'd understood that as senior researcher the night before a big presentation there would always be a need for you to go off and smooth out any last minute problems. He'd longed then, just for a moment and as much as he enjoys his work, for a time when there might be less pressure on you both, when you might be able to be beside him every day and night.
With a sigh he'd left the dirty crockery from the pair of you behind and headed for his room at Cove Lily Motel, suddenly not interested in the socializing and drinking that would be taking place between all those attending the conference if there was no chance of at least glimpsing you in between it all and possibly brushing his hand against yours at the most as you'd passed and feeling a shot of electricity that would have done as much for him as if he'd had coffee.
After an hour or so where he'd grumbled to himself about the basic facilities-something that would usually have been enough for him but suddenly had not been-and absentmindedly flicked restlessly around the TV channels whilst he'd lounged on the hard bed there had suddenly come a shy knock on the door. He'd welcomed it and sprung up immediately. He'd pulled you in by your wrist as soon as he'd seen you there and you'd smiled, dropped the bags that you'd brought with you and happily indulged in a few kisses with him against the shut door, before you'd softly pushed him away from you. You'd smiled apologetically at his questioning glance and then carried on with your preparation for the morning, going back and for between the bags, putting papers here and there, booting up your laptop and checking the contents of your USB stick. Augustine had allowed you the space to do this, had retreated to the bed, had watched you intently as you'd fluttered around like an overgrown Vivillon and had not even pretended to be doing anything else when you'd felt his eyes on you and had looked at him, he'd just met your own with a cool stare, but when, after he'd already gotten ready for bed you had shut down your laptop with a tired kind of nod and then made to check on all your papers and start the entire cycle all over again he'd gotten up cat-like from the bed and swiftly stalked over there, preventing your hand from unzipping one of your bags again.
"Non," he'd told you sternly.
"I just need to check-I'm struggling to get my thoughts in order. I'm tired I guess. I need to make sure I have everything to review in the morning, before the presentation." You'd met his eyes with your own unfocused ones.
"You are struggling because you are more than tired-you are dead on your feet," he'd huffed. You'd opened your mouth to protest."I am sure you are well prepared by now and it is too late if you are not." You'd scowled at him, before you'd looked guilty when a yawn had overcome you a moment later. He'd smiled at you tenderly, before he'd nodded at the bathroom. Reluctantly you'd gathered up your toiletries and gone there.
He'd watched lazily from the bed as you'd emerged a few minutes later and changed into your pyjamas, recording every tantalizing sight of your flesh with his eyes, his body stirring pleasantly and when you'd come to join him he'd swatted your hand away as you'd made to reach for the laptop that you'd left on the bedside cabinet.
"But I need to put it away!" you'd protested with half a laugh.
"Tomorrow," he'd purred. "It can be done then." He'd given your wrist a light tug and, consenting, you'd finally allowed yourself to be drawn into the bed. You'd pulled the duvet over you with your free hand and let out a breath as you'd come to partially rest against Augustine's covered chest. You'd played with one of the buttons on his pyjama top and become aware of the increase in both of your heart beats as he'd met your lips for a passionate open-mouthed kiss, which had slowly morphed into a series of smaller, but no less meaningful kisses, the spark still there between you.
At somepoint your hand had stilled and you'd pulled away to rest your head against his chest instead. Augustine had observed you fall asleep a few moments later, completely overcome with exhaustion and had ceased to stroke at your hair, worried that he might disturb you if he continued. It had not been long before sleep had carried him away as well and at somepoint in the night your bodies must have turned towards each other for that is how he had woken up that morning, with you being the first thing he'd seen.
"I'm sorry," you'd murmured when you'd opened bleary eyes just minutes later and looked as if you hadn't had much sleep. His eyebrow had lifted questioningly. "I can't have been great company last night...maybe I will be better later on? I just feel so tired at the moment..."
"I think you have been that way for some time," he'd murmured. It had not been in an unkind way but you'd taken it in that manner.
"I'm sorry," you'd repeated more insistently. He'd pressed a finger to your lips.
"I don't need an apology. I just wish you had been honest. Honest about wearing this exhaustion for so long. I would have understood. I might even have been able to help." He'd let go of you and had sat up. You'd begged for forgiveness by nuzzling against him and the pair of you had leant back against the headboard. He'd begun to run his fingers soothingly through your hair, before he'd noticed that you'd gone all quiet and thoughtful again. "What is it?" he'd prompted. "Tell me what is on your mind? Be honest now."
"It's just"-you'd peered up at him anxiously-"What if the work I've done isn't good enough? What if people think it's stupid? Too obvious?" He'd drawn a little away from you so that he'd been able to look at you properly. "I-I've spent so much time on it, time I could have spent with you, friends, family, what if-?" He'd caught your hand as you'd lifted it to swipe away some of the fresh tears that had fallen and held it firmly with his own. He'd bent his head and kissed it, before he'd looked at you levelly again.
"They won't think it's stupid." You'd looked at him full of hope and as if you'd wanted to believe in his words. "I don't think it's stupid."
"But you"- You'd looked down rather bashfully then as if to say he would say that.
"I am not biased," he'd said with such tenderness that it had got you to look back at him. "Anyone who listens today will be able to tell that you care and should be behind your mission. I truly believe that. Will it get people to change their behaviour? I cannot say." You'd lowered your eyes and bitten at your lip. That of course was a problematic point for you-you'd been driven by the want to get people to recognize that halting climate change was in their own interest and Augustine's heart had gone out to you again as he'd seen how much you were dedicated to the cause. "I hope it will," he'd finished and you'd looked at him fondly, before you'd leant against him again and dropped your head down upon his shoulder.
You'd slumbered there until he'd had to usher you into action.
All of that is why Augustine is feeling particularly protective and mad at the rude behaviour of those people who choose to talk or look at things on their phones rather than listen to you in the present-he knows that if your tiredness won the fight in that moment you would keel over right on the stage and he can't let that be the only reason people pay attention.
He finds himself moving forwards regardless of what people might think or even what you might. He prises the microphone gently from your fingers, eyeing your expression, which tells him that you are struggling to make sense of things. He swivels around to face the audience. He can see that Sophie is on her feet and looking worried, but he does not intend to make a scene, just to say what he needs to.
"I don't know how many of you have noticed"-they have certainly become aware of his interruption-"But there are a team of very talented researchers up here trying to give a presentation on what they have been working on for many years." He looks around at the audience. "They have done us the honour of collecting all the information, processing the data and presenting it here. I for one would like to hear it and I am sure that many of you would as well, so let's aim for a better silence and try and treat them as we would like to be treated if we were the ones on this stage, shall we?" Augustine's eyes sweep around the hall yet again. Once he is satisfied that, for now at least, everyone is behaving themselves, he turns back to you. "I am sorry ma belle," he says under his breath and away from the microphone, which he passes back to you, "But I just had to. I could not bear the rudeness." He meets your eyes, expecting an embarrassed kind of confusion to be on your face perhaps, but instead you are wearing a blazing kind of expression that he finds hard to decipher. He does not believe it to be anger and feels a slight hope. Then you drop the microphone, which twangs with noise as it hits the floor, grab him instead and kiss him hard, so much so that he actually staggers back a little, but thankfully not off the stage.
Behind him he is aware of people gasping, taking photos, video and of Sophie no doubt folding into her chair and putting her head into her hands, before his mind goes blissfully blank and can only focus on the way you are kissing him-with your entire heart and soul. Tentatively he cups at your cheeks and kisses you back, unaware of anything until he feels a very insistent tugging on his arm, pulling him away from you. Both dazed you separate and he becomes aware that it is Sophie who is there. Looking very much as if she won't condone any discussion in that moment she leads you both backstage. The coward that he is he lets you go first, noticing that you look a little surly and defensive as you do so.
"This is so typical of the both of you!" Sophie turns on the pair of you. "It is one thing for you to interrupt"-she glowers at him-"But quite another for you to reveal your relationship at such an inappropiate time"-
"It doesn't matter," you declare, your voice as hard as steel and your words seem to reverberate around Augustine who begins to feel a slight sense of panic. Sophie too looks surprised for you are usually polite and get on well with her.
"So you are happy are you?" she takes offence. "That all anyone will be talking about now is not the presentation that you have worked so hard on but the fact that you are together? What do you think everyone in Littleroot Town will think? What do you think your parents will? Won't they believe that you have thrown all your hard work away?"
You look stung and Augustine's hand flutters helplessly by his side-he does not want the pair of you to fight and yet he doesn't seem able to do anything to prevent it. "I don't care," you say, your voice thick with unshed tears. "I just want the bloody thing to be over with. It makes no difference to me anymore." Augustine and Sophie exchange a concerned glance at your words. "It's not like anyone was listening"-
"Of course they were," Sophie sounds astonished. "Don't be such a"- she falters and Augustine winces.
"A what? A child?" You look at her fiercely for a moment as if daring her to say more, before you stalk off.
"Where are you going?" Sophie calls after you.
"To get my laptop," you grumble, leaving them both with an unpleasant taste in their mouths.
"What is going on with her?" Sophie rounds on Augustine who lifts his hands up to defend himself. "If I got upset and packed everything in every time people haven't taken me seriously"-
"I"-
"That is not the passionate woman who I have met before." Sophie points, her Kalosian accent thickening. "That is a shell."
"I-I think she is just tired"-
"That is more than just tiredness," Sophie hisses at him. "How could you not have noticed that things have gotten so bad?
"I"-
"She needs help Augustine. She needs time off. Proper time off. Maybe you should go away with each other? I can handle things at the lab for a time and notify the rest of her team from Littleroot about her absence."
Augustine's shoulders slump a little, before he nods. "Oui, I think that might be for the best. Doing something different might get her je ne sais quoi back again." Sophie looks at him as if to say it better.
He goes off to find you, but you have already retrieved your laptop and are nowhere in sight. Pushing down the surging panic that he feels he moves swiftly, looking around for you all the time.
Finally he finds you back in his room at the motel.
"The receptionist gave me the spare key," you explain but Augustine doesn't care about that now. Not when your eyes are red-rimmed. Not when you are sitting on the bed packing. You scoot over a little and he sits down beside you. For a moment you don't say anything. "That was a disaster wasn't it?"
"It could have gone better," he ventures, scratching at the stubble on his chin and you look at him, feeling grateful that he is not attempting to sugarcoat it.
"I better head back to Littleroot. Explain myself." You gesture to the packing.
"I am sure Professor Birch will be understanding."
You make a scoffing noise. "Understanding that I messed up the one big opportunity he gave me? He will confine me to the lab if he has any sense." You look regretful, but Augustine senses that like himself you know Birch wouldn't really do such a thing, being such a lover of the outdoors himself.
"I just meant that I am sure he will understand what it is like to care so much about something that it ends up going pear-shaped in spite of your best efforts. Maybe even because of them."
"So I should not care?" You look at him with a kind of desperate heat now.
"Care yes. Run yourself ragged over it no"-
"You are a fine one talking. The amount of times that Sophie says you fall asleep at your desk and complain of a bad back the next day"-
"That is not"-
"We can't all be discovering Zygarde Cubes at a ridiculous young age Augustine! Some of us can't be anyone's protégé. We just have to struggle and if that means getting tired because of it then"- you blurt out, before you look regretful when you see his changing expression. "I-I did not mean"-
"Yes you did." He gets up and takes a couple of steps forwards to create some distance between the two of you. He takes one deep breath and then another. You stand up. He can feel your hand reaching uncertainly towards his back, but in the end you do not touch him and he does not know whether to feel relieved or disappointed by the fact. "I did not find the Zygarde Cube because I was anyone's protégé"-
"I know. I'm sorry."
"I found it through my own hard work. You can call it a lucky accident if you like, but"-
"I would never. I just"-
"I have struggled too." He turns and meets your eyes firmly.
"I know you have." You look deeply apologetic.
"You might wish that you had my career sometimes, but I am sure that when it comes down to it you would not have wanted to go through what I have." Knowing that he is referring to the whole mess with Lysandre you shake your head. "I would appreciate it if you would stop pushing me away. I am on your side ma belle." He takes your hand lightly so that only the tips of your fingers rest against the top of his.
You draw your hand away and sink back down on the bed again, your eyes full of tears. "I am a mess," you announce to no one in particular anxiously.
He studies you for a moment. "You understand that this is not normal? Not a normal amount of tiredness?" You nod and he lets out a small breath of relief. "Sophie thinks you should go on holiday. That we both should. Together."
"And what do you think?"
"I think it might be helpful. That doing different things might make the things you would normally like enjoyable to you again."
"But-?" you ask him tentatively.
"I think this is something that only you can do alone. I can support you, but I can't be your cure. It would not be healthy for either of us in the long-term. Does that make sense?" You nod, feeling that if you had not pushed him away he might have been keener on the idea and regretting your actions all the more. "I will always be here for you." He draws you up into his arms and you take solace from his comforting presence for the few moments that you have left together, already wanting to be reunited again and this time hopefully in better circumstances.
Wish people would look forward to the new series of Harry Potter without personally attacking the old cast. Both versions weren't/won't be perfect, but both casts and crew did/are working hard to bring those books to life and should be respected. ❤️
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