"What should we do now?" "I dunno, kiss?"

Nimbasa City Gate

Cheren tapped his foot impatiently as he waited for Derek at the city gate with Professor Juniper. Why does it take him so long to do anything?

"So, Cheren," Juniper asked, attempting to fill the silence, "How's your joureny coming along?"

"It's coming along fine. I have become a stronger trainer, alongside Bianca and Derek, and I feel like I'm well on my way to become Champion, if Derek doesn't first," Cheren replied, crossing his arms and scowling at even the mention of fucking Derek.

He and Cheren have had the longest lasting rivalry ever since they were kids, with Bianca being the one to keep them from strangling each other. He felt like he could finally get away from his dumbass when he moved away to Hoenn, all that was left was strained goodbyes and "call me when you get there"s (which, he didn't, typical).

But he came back - he always comes back - as the undefeated Hoenn champion and ten times more pretentious and annoying. How much he hated his stupid personality, and his stupid voice, and his stupid face with those stupidly pretty eyes and-

"Hello, Derek!" Professor Juniper exclaimed, waving as Derek walked into the gate, chatting away with the Pokeballs on his belt as played Flappy Bird on his phone, like usual. Did he ever pay attention to his surroundings?

"Hey guys. Sorry, had to go revive a fossil. By the way, Christmas is back," Derek said, turning off his phone and putting it in his pocket. Oh yeah, he paid attention when Professor Juniper was around, the simp.

"Excuse me-?" Cheren asked, before Juniper interrupted him.

"Elesa called and was asking me all about Electric-type Pokemon and I thought about you guys," she said as Derek joined Cheren's side, the two sharing a side-glance glare at the other. "So, that's why I wanted to see you. Ta-da! Freebies for you!" The Professor exclaimed, shoving a handful of Ultra balls into both of their arms.

"Wow! Christmas is back!" Derek exclaimed, shoving the balls in his bag unceremoniously while Cheren stared at the items in his hands. Did she just...have these on her person? Did she buy them? What was going on?!

As Cheren opened his mouth to ask, she was gone. He sighed, placing the balls in his bag and turning to face Derek. His lifelong enemy who was chatting away random nonsense to the Pokemon in his Pokeballs, with that dumb grin on his face. He seemed...a lot more tolerable when he was like this. "So, Derek, what should we do now?" He asked.

"I dunno, kiss?" Derek asked, turning his head to look at Cheren with a smirk. Cheren never heard such determination in such a joking manner, but Derek's eyes didn't have any form of humor. Just pure seriousness and a glimer of the hatred that always seemed to burn in his direction.

He felt his throat tighten as his face errupted with heat. What was going on with him? He was supposed to hate this guy, he did hate this guy! Then why did kissing him sound so...nice?

Before Derek could get another word out, Cheren walked away, hands shoved in his pocket as he tried to seem as composed as possible.

"Okay, bye CHEREN! Leaving me here with my UNKISSED LIPS, I guess!" Derek shouted behind him, causing Cheren to pick up his pace.

He was going to need a minute to figure out his thoughts.

-Bonus-
Derek scoffed as he started making his way out of the gate, "Typical Cheren, always a pussy."

"Wait, so now we're trying to kiss Cheren? Like, what's going on?" Mal piped up from her ball, causing the rest of the team to add in their own questions and agreements.

"Guys, guys!" Derek exclaimed, stopping just short of the exit to the gate. "Guys, guys, guys. I don't like Cheren, but sometimes you just wanna....ya know," he said as he stepped outside of the gate and into Nimbasa City, as his friends kept pestering him with questions.

"When you hate someone so much, you just look at their lips and you're just like God! Ya know?" Joe's voice cut through the crowd, acting as Derek's saving grace once more.

"Okay, Okay, I get it now," Gabi said, convinced by Joe's explanation.

"Thank you, Gabi!" Derek exclaimed with a grin as he shook his head and laughed, walking into Nimbasa with a light feeling in his chest.

He was never going to forget Cheren's face at the city gate, though. That he was hanging over Cheren's head for the rest of his life.