Vanitas × Noé

Pokémon AU

I would not recommend this if you aren't familiar with pokémon because this fic is almost entirely a pokémon battle.
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Noé had been excited to get to a pokémon centre. He really had been. He and Vanitas had been camping outside for a long time and he was looking forward to staying overnight in the warm pokémon centre and maybe talking to some other trainers. It was late when they had arrived and Noé was prepared to fall asleep immediately. But, as luck would have it, Jeanne was there.

Now, Noé didn't dislike Jeanne. In fact, he rather enjoyed her company. But things always tended to get bothersome when she showed up. It was mostly Vanitas who was to blame really. From the first time they'd met Vanitas had taken to challenging her every time they crossed paths. Vanitas always lost because Jeanne was a serious trainer and Vanitas himself preferred researching pokémon to battling with them. Yet he always felt the inexplicable need to coerce her into fighting him.

When the boys entered the pokémon centre Jeanne had her back to the door and was kneeling down beside her mawile. Noé noticed her immediately but said nothing, determined not to draw attention to her. Unfortunately, Vanitas wasn't as unobservant as Noé hoped. As soon as Vanitas saw Jeanne he made a beeline for her, already calling out his challenge. She looked just as tired as Noé but she seemed resigned to Vanitas's attention. Their relationship had gotten better over the course of all their battles so they were almost friends.

"Are you serious?" Jeanne said, putting her mawile back in its pokéball and walking towards them.

"Of course! Let's go right now to the battlefield outside!" Vanitas grinned.

"I'm too tired right now, can we please do this tomorrow? I just battled Olympia today."

"Ohoho! Your 7th badge? Every time we meet you've gotten better and better."

"And yet you never get better at all," Jeanne replied dryly.

"Ah, I know you're just being cold because you're exhausted. I'll see you tomorrow, m'kaaaay?"

Jeanne sighed, "Goodnight Vanitas. Goodnight Noé."

"Why are you always fighting Jeanne?" Noé asked once she was out of sight.

"She'll just ignore me otherwise. Even if I always lose it's good experience for her pokémon that she can't pass up. Besides, it's fun. Why don't you ever battle her? You are trying to be a pokémon master."

"I don't want to bother her since she's always battling you. It would be exhausting to always go against us one after the other."

"You're too considerate. In tournaments you guys have to battle one person after another."

"Yeah, but she only humours you by accepting your challenges. She's not in the mood for a real battle."

"Whatever. One day you'll have to stop running from her."

"I'm not running."

"Sure," Vanitas hummed.

Noé gave up, knowing that Vanitas wouldn't concede the point. It was usually best to just ignore Vanitas when he was being annoying. The two of them went to bed not long after, Noé falling asleep almost immediately. Pokémon centres were great for travelling trainers, they tended to have large rooms filled with bunk beds for anyone who needed to rest there. They often got quite rowdy with so many kids and teenagers stopping by and sleeping in such close proximity but thankfully this particular centre was somewhat isolated and there were very few people staying the night. The moment Noé flopped down onto the bed he just wanted to melt into it and not get up for a week. Regrettably, he found himself awakening much earlier than a week later.