For the ship headcanons, from @cipher-legal-and-ethics-dept -
(you had to pick the ones with the lengthiest answers, huh?)
💕 How did they both realize “oh wait, this is actually love”?
Pretty late into their journey across Sinnoh together. They actually both realise on the same day but at different points---they've spent all afternoon playing in the deep snow at Snowpoint (snowball fights, snow angels, snowmen, all that stuff), and on the way back to their room at the Pokemon center, it begins to snow Diamond Dust. It's the most beautiful thing they've ever seen, Leaf turns to Michael (who's still looking up, captivated by the glittery snow and generally soaking this whole day in), and notices his eyes, and how beautifully they sparkle just as, if not more breathtaking than the snow phenomenon. She was unsure about it before, she had some feelings she was trying to figure out much earlier but now she’s 100% certain of her feelings toward him… but she’s still not sure he feels the same way and this is all still way above her understanding. She also doesn’t want to be weird and jeopardize her friendship with him. She timidly looks away once he notices her and keeps her thoughts to herself. She'll wait for him to confess if he does.
Later that night, they're sleeping in the same room (single beds). Leaf was still holding her phone when she fell asleep, which eventually falls to the floor loud enough to wake Michael up (the brightness also inexplicably blasts up to full. Leaf doesn't even notice and instead turns over in her sleep, putting the cover further over her head). So Michael goes to sort it out and realises Leaf had been looking through photos of them on their journey together, so he takes a moment to flip through a few of them himself and smiling at all these memories together before he decides he shouldn't be snooping anyway, until he notices she'd called this photo album "Adventure With Michael ❤️". When Leaf starts stirring in her sleep again he slams the phone down on the nearby table and yeets himself back into bed, wondering what the hell that could mean and reflecting on his own feelings he's been mulling over for a while. He loves her, he's totally sure of it now actually, but maybe she doesn't feel the same way? a heart emoji doesn't mean anything, right? girls use those all the time, right? (plus, a previous incident between them gives him doubt that she might actually like him that way). He'll just wait for verbal confirmation before he says anything to her.
(neither of them do this for a while lol)
🌹 Who fell harder & who fell first?
ok thankfully this one's shorter lol
Leaf falls harder, but despite the ficlet above saying they both fall at the same time, Michael was the one who's feelings for the other grew first; he just wasn't 100% sure of himself if it was an actual crush or not (the same thing happens to Leaf a bit later too) and it took both of them much longer to fully figure it out.
🌪️ What’s the most chaotic thing they’ve done together on pure impulse?
Illegal motorbike street race with a biker gang. On a scooter.
...It might be funnier if i don't even give any context, actually.
