route_1065 | MAKE UP YOUR OWN CATCHY LYRICS

Entry tags:

MAKE UP YOUR OWN CATCHY LYRICS

Who: Kay Faraday and Johan Andersen
Where: Azalea Town
When: Tuesday, August 3, late afternoon/evening-ish
Summary: Kay didn't want her first date to be with a Pokémon kidnapper. Johan is a good friend. Date GET.
Rating: G, most likely!
Log:

Had anyone told Kay Faraday that she'd be going on her first date in a world not her own, she would have laughed.

... Or maybe she would have been intrigued first, and then she would have laughed. But at the moment, Kay wasn't laughing. She was instead waiting outside of Azalea's Pokémart, shoulders for once free of Pokémon after a long talk with them about staying in their balls this time. Just for a little while, she'd promised, and they were more than welcome to stick close to her for her eventual date with 777, but this wasn't him, it was Johan, and for Johan's sake, it was only going to be the two of them.

Plus, she didn't think a date with anyone would go well with a jealous Zubat trying to bite whatever he could reach.

With her limited knowledge of what one was supposed to do/look like on dates, Kay had done her best with the minimal resources she had. Namely, she'd let her hair down, had a minor moment of panic upon realizing that her only other outfit was something reminiscent of a burglar, and had been on the verge of convincing herself that this was Johan and he wouldn't care if she wore a sweatsuit and baseball cap until the inn's owner had taken pity on her and found her a dress to borrow (she missed her regular outfit already).

"Okay," she said aloud, sucking in a breath and doing her best not to fidget. So maybe this was a first date, but at least it was with a friend, and just because she'd never gotten any dating advice except "Not until you're thirty" from both her father and Uncle Badd, that didn't mean she couldn't pull this off! This was practice for a mission! "This'll be easy!"

Or so she hoped.

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"You mean you actually want to find out?" Johan asked inquisitively, pausing for a moment as he processed what she was saying and what she already had said. "No, wait, you plan on finding out already? Just what do you have in mind, Kay?" Though even as he asked that, Johan knew she wouldn't tell him, and truth be told, he wouldn't entirely mind if he didn't. As long as it wasn't those ledges again, he knew there likely wouldn't be any real harm in it, and there wasn't any fun in never taking a risk. Therefore, before she even had a chance to answer him, Johan smiled at her and shook his head. "Aaah, actually, you don't need to tell me. I'm sure I'll see what it is soon enough, right?"

Curious at the looks and various questions and offers the staff gave the two of them, Johan had to give himself and Kay another look. Did they really look like the types that would enjoy a private, candlelit area for themselves and a romantic dinner? Sure, they were both dressed up, but... Despite himself, Johan found himself laughing just a little, for no reason he could particularly pinpoint. If anything, he was at least already having a good time.

"A deadline? You threw together a plan this fast, huh? Good work!" Impressed, Johan leaned over to read the menu, smiling merrily all the while.

He'd been right in that Kay wasn't going to be revealing her newly-concocted plan so readily, and she flashed him an approving smile when he corrected himself before she could even open her mouth. Maybe it had only been two months or so since they'd met, but he already knew her this well... it was a good feeling.

"Thanks!" She paused to scan the menu one final time, then nodded when she found her choice and passed it on to one of the servers, along with a request to prepare the food to go. It was less of a plan and more of an improvisation, because Kay was still making it up as she went, but Johan didn't need to know that-- though she suspected he already did. Dates didn't sound that fun if they were strictly scheduled, anyway. If there was something he wanted to do, it would be just as fun to go along with it, too. But there was really only one thing Kay had firmly in mind for today, and she'd stayed up the past few nights agonizing over it. That would come up soon enough.

"To go?" Johan asked her curiously, though his tone said for him that he didn't expect her to give him an answer, at least not a straight one, just yet. Still, he couldn't help but be curious now! What little knowledge he did have on these things told him that usually you ate in a restaurant, like the various servers were implying that they should do, but Kay was already throwing that out the window for her own style of things.

... Well, that was just like Kay, so he supposed that made sense. There was no one else like her, after all, so why would she have to conform to how regular dates worked?

Before things got too far, though, for at least the sake of... something, maybe clearing the water, Johan thought he should say something.

"Hey, Kay?" Johan paused, then nodded to himself, offering her a smile. "I know this is for the mission and all, and... I guess for me too, a little bit, but let's have a lot of fun tonight, okay?"

Kay regarded Johan thoughtfully, head tilted just slightly and eyes meeting his-- and she remained that way for nearly ten minutes without saying a word. Any curiosity as to what she had in mind had been responded to with a smile and a shake of her head; he'd see soon enough what she had in mind. But this comment had genuinely surprised her. True enough that the date was practice for her and hopefully helpful for Johan in order to figure out just how he felt about his human friends, but - and maybe it was selfish - she could try to view it as a date for the sake of a date. Those were meant to be fun, right?

"It's me," she said at last, her smile warmer now. "And it's you-- it's us. We'll have fun exactly because of that, and I won't have to steal a single bit of-- oh, good timing!"

Kay gave the frazzled-looking server an appreciative nod as he handed over two bags of food, forking over the money from a hidden pocket in her dress and nodding to Johan to exit.

Once outside, she gave all of the buildings a good scrutinizing stare, making a show of humming under her breath and either nodding or shaking her head in approval or not at what she saw. And when she'd made her decision...

"This one should work just fine... okay, here I go!"

She'd chosen the tallest house with the widest roof and, with eyes sparkling and chin set, Kay passed one of the bags to Johan, clenched the other one in her teeth, and sprang.

... In a fancy dress and dainty sandals, and it was some miracle attributed to an unknown deity that she caught hold of the edge of the roof and dangled, feet scrabbling for some sort of purchase.

The poor house inhabitants had to be wondering just what was going on outside.

Johan had to admit, Kay's silence did surprise him somewhat. She was looking at him and, from the looks of the look she was looking at him with, clearly thinking over his proposition, but she didn't usually take such a lengthy amount of time replying to him-- At least, not when they weren't talking about serious things like their respective pasts and Team Rocket and the like. He wasn't doubting her, of course, it would have taken an immediate negative response to do that, and even then, he was sure Kay would have a reason for a response like that.

He did have to wonder what she was thinking about during all that time, though.

In the end, she didn't give him a negative response of any kind, not that he'd been expecting one, instead she gave him just the opposite, with a caring smile to match. He wasn't sure what she was about to tell him that she wasn't going to steal, but in the end it didn't matter too much to him - she'd given him an answer even better than the one he'd been hoping for, one he'd probably remember somewhere down the line when things got hard and he needed something to smile at.

... There was one thing that caught his attention that he, being a polite, well mannered young man and all, thought he should mention.

"Isn't it the boy that usually pays...?" he asked quietly, almost to himself-- Kay had given him a nod to leave and was already humming to herself and looking at all of the buildings. He'd barely had enough time to catch the bag as she handed it to him (had it dropped it, it would have been what he got for paying more attention to her and not to her; and he was fully aware of how little sense that made) as Kay...

... She wasn't--

Sure, she said she was, but she--

No, wait-- She was.

"Kay!?" Johan cried, nearly dropping the bag for the second time in as many minutes, looking around and seeing if there was a route more suitable or if he should just follow after her and-- Wait, she wasn't even up yet! "... Do you need a hand?"

"Maybe just a boost," Kay replied, or at least that was what she was trying to get across-- it was difficult to form a feasible sentence when there was a white paper bag garbling her words. She was able to pull herself up higher, but not by much, and it was more out of deference to someone else's pretty dress and not lack of athletic ability that she didn't just haul herself up haphazardly. As it was, she just continued to hang there and scramble for footing.

It had been said before that Kay Faraday wasn't your average girl, something her date probably knew, and would be reminded of several times before the date ended, most likely.

"A roost? Hehe, I think you need to get up there first, Kay!" Despite his little, perhaps not that witty, joke, Johan still approached his date to give her the boost she requested, putting the bag on his wrist by wrapping the "handle" around it and reaching out to her dangling feet, calling out to her as he did so. "Are you ready for this, Kay?"

... Of course, he mostly just asked not to surprise he, he had a feeling she was ready as soon as she told him what she needed. At least, that was what Johan was hoping for, because with a deep breath, he hoisted her as high as he could without so much as a pause.

"Up we go!"

Kay might have rolled her eyes, had she not have been holding on for dear life, but there was an audible sigh of relief when her feet touched something more solid than air. Johan's hands, she guessed, a theory proved correct when he called up to her. A few seconds later, she had the lift she needed to clear the rest of the space and land on the roof with a soft thump.

"Thanks," she called down, once she'd set the bag down, and scooted back to give him room to attempt the same. "You're a lot stronger than you look!" Or she was lighter than she'd thought, but she hadn't felt any sort of strain coming from him.

"No problem!" Johan called back up to her, putting his free hand on his hip and looking up towards the general area so he could contemplate where he'd have to jump now while he thought about her second comment a little bit. Truthfully, it had taken little effort on his part to lift her up, but did that mean he looked weak? That had never really crossed his mind before - he thought he looked like... well, like himself, but if he was something that he didn't look like...

... He was starting to confuse himself. Shaking his head, Johan just started taking some steps back, calling up a "Am I? Thank you!" as he did so, readying himself for his own running leap. When he deemed it a good a time as any, he nodded and--

"Here I come!"

She obligingly eased herself back yet again, quite certain she wouldn't want to be greeted by a flying Johan tackle this time. Not that that hadn't happened before, but Kay still had to be mindful of what she was wearing. Semi-mindful, anyway, because if she'd been entirely mindful, she wouldn't have been on someone's roof in the first place. But this was much better, and she looked rather proud of herself for having made this date an unusual one from the very beginning. And no Pokémon involved, either. They were doing pretty well so far.

His own feet now dangling in the air, Johan found himself hanging onto the same rooftop where Kay was stationed, quickly finding himself regretting the fact that he hadn't put the food somewhere else (like in his mouth) before taking the leap. Tied to his hand might be safe for now, but chances are he might lose it during the process of pulling himself up. Sighing, he looked up.

"Hey, Kay? Could you get the bag off of me? I, ah, forgot to move it... Ehehe," On the other hand, he was still having fun though, even if he was inches from falling off of someone's roof. Well, that was Kay for you.

"Roger that!" she chirped, and this time Kay moved forward and leaned closer to liberate the bag from his wrist. To her credit, she didn't laugh, but there was a tell-tale twitch of her lips that indicated that was only because she could have rigid self-control when she so desired. Typical Johan to jump into a situation without always thinking things through completely.

... Kind of like her, come to think of it.

"Can you pull yourself up?" she asked curiously, unable to resist ruffling his hair as he hung there. He couldn't duck away from her hands like this, after all!

"Thanks!" Johan told her, breathing a sigh of relief as he felt the food get taken from him. He'd have hated if he'd have dropped the food that she'd gone and paid for because he hadn't put thought into his jump. Luckily, though, he had Kay with him, so that wouldn't be an issue.

"Hmmm? Yeah, that shouldn't be a-- Hey!" Johan did his best to tilt his head back when Kay's hands suddenly came into contact with his head-- Just what did she want by doing that? Not fully getting it, Johan gave her a grin, though he wasn't sure if she could even see it from where he was, and hoisted himself all the way up. "Miss me?"

Considering the last time she'd missed him, their reunion had consisted of more or less leaping into his arms like some scene from a sappy romance film, Kay thought she did pretty well at maintaining a straight face. Possibly because she'd just entered Teasing Mode.

"Nope, absolutely not." With a look of supreme innocence, she laced her fingers together and stretched her arms over her head. This was deliberate, as was her closing her eyes and sniffing haughtily. "I don't make a habit out of missing people, sorry. I didn't even know you were gone!"

Ironic, since she'd been very worried the first time, and had since admitted to herself that Johan, initially a total stranger and willing travel companion, had become someone very important to her. Maybe that was why she'd been so bothered by the thought of them only being this close because of the creatures they trained and viewed as partners. But that was Johan's issue to work through. All she could do was wait.

"You don't make habits out of missing people? Not even me?" Though Johan's voice came out hurt, offended, even tearful, with a face to match; he was only teasing her. He knew better than to think she was being serious, especially given how... emotional their reunion had been when they had been able to meet up again. Of course, that wouldn't be stopping him from responding to her teasing, especially not when she'd started it like that and all.

In the back of Johan's mind, Johan knew that he should probably start thinking about his own mission, not just Kay's or having fun. But the prospect of having fun and assisting her ultimately pushed back his own plight even further back, and he had to wonder, before it was gone completely, if being able to enjoy his time with her without his other partners was doing exactly what he needed to do anyway?

... Aaaah, he was losing focus!!

"I guess you wouldn't mind if I... left then?" Johan asked woefully, giving Kay his best kicked puppy look, having not dropped his little act a bit.

That wasn't fair. More than one part of her mind noted that it wasn't fair and that he was totally doing this to her on purpose, but Kay's first reaction had been to... fall for it. She couldn't help it! Whenever Johan pulled that expression, she felt as though she'd punted an army of puppies off a cliff! ... Or an army of Wooper, considering Flapper could also pull off that look remarkably well.

Kay's stricken expression was absolutely real, though, and she grabbed Johan's hand before she even realized that he'd been kidding. Once it did sink in, she grumbled under her breath, but didn't relinquish his hand. It'd serve him right if she didn't let go for the rest of the night!

"If you want to," she replied loftily-- something that might have worked better if she hadn't just had that momentary lapse of composure, and so it had more than a hint of sulkiness to it. "Maybe I'll call up 777 and see if he wants to keep me company instead."

For a moment, Johan felt guilt. Not just a little guilt either, and not even a medium amount; though he'd built up a career on, in part, having a poker face, so it didn't show as well. Still, he'd be damned if he said he didn't immediately regret teasing her for a moment. Thankfully, or at least; thankfully for their little game, she resumed her move before he could interrupt it as she had, or else his poker face might not have lasted.

But she hadn't let go of his hand yet, something he couldn't help but note as he slowly started to smile at her offer to call up 777.

"That just makes things easier for me. If you won't know I'm gone, when he gets here, you won't be able to stop me when I come out to beat the information out of him!" A... rather violent thing to come out of Johan, to say the least, though "beating" something out of anyone, from a duelist, usually meant doing so via, well, a duel, but that might not be something Kay would be able to pick up on as well. "Then we can get back to this without having to worry about him afterwards."

The thought of the usually amiable duelist beating anyone made her stare at him skeptically, though she wasn't as surprised as she would have been if Juudai hadn't told her about Johan punching him. But he'd also said that Johan resorting to violence was an extreme rarity, something Kay could see easily. Knowing him, he probably meant beating via duel or Pokémon battle, though; she decided this a few minutes later.

The skepticism returned at that time, in the form of another grumble. "I'm not worried about him, you know." It was both truthful and an attempt at bravado; Kay wasn't worried about dealing with 777 if he tried anything. On the contrary, she had two perfectly capable fists, and two shoulder guardians who wouldn't let him get very far if he tried anything ranging from perversion to Pokénapping attempts. She was, however, still very much concerned about how a date with a kidnapper and Team Rocket member was going to go and whether she'd be able to learn anything. She didn't know if she could trust him to keep his word, but Kay couldn't let any opportunity pass her by. She had to trust 777 with that much, at least, until he betrayed that trust. She'd learn at least one thing, and that was better than nothing.

"And no beating," she added belatedly. "You'll have to leave it all up to me this time!"

Though Johan did indeed mean through means other than violence, he knew that there was always the chance he himself would need to get his hands dirty - ironically, the most likely reason for that ever happening would be his usual methods of "beating" others, his partners of various monster species, becoming hurt or captured or something else to the like. There were other exceptions, there were always exceptions, but ultimately, Johan really didn't want to get "down and dirty" with anyone like that. ... He wouldn't, however, change how he spoke.

"I know you're not worried about him..." Johan paused. He'd really meant that, had 777 not been an issue, they could continue without having to think of the mission but... had 777 not been an issue, then would they even be having a date? Blinking, a perplexed look crossed Johan and his mind began to wander to places better left unmentioned, but needless to say, his move was over, as was the game, most likely. He was only confusing himself now.

"You'll have to leave it all up to me this time!"

"A-Ah!" Johan shook his head when Kay spoke again, then nodded while grinning a rather sheepish grin at her, which soon turned more honest. "I know that. We had this talk already, didn't we? As much as I don't like it, it's all up to you."

Kay blinked at him curiously, wondering what he'd been thinking. Not that it was unusual for Johan to lapse into thought, but during a talk about 777? He'd looked baffled about something, too, but something told her it was better not to come out and ask what was on his mind. If there was something he wanted to say, he'd just say it.

So she only nodded at him in response, giving his hand a squeeze and then indicating the food. A subject change was needed; she'd be doing this date with 777, regardless of whether she or Johan liked it or not. "I know most people eat in restaurants on dates, but I like the air of high places. And..." She nudged Johan and pointed straight ahead now, where the sun was dipping into the horizon and painting the sky in bold strokes of crimson, orange, yellow, and faint blues and purples. "The view's not bad, either!"

Johan was glad for the change in subject, especially since he was barely still attached to the one at hand as it was, his mind still wondering about things that he really didn't understand-- Of course, until the change took place, that is, at which point his attention was quickly diverted upwards and any thoughts of dates or 777 were quickly washed from his mind.

"This is..." he managed to murmur, a broad, radiant smile forming on his face as he spoke, his eyes beginning to sparkle. Not bad? Not bad? Was she kidding? This was amazing! Stupendous, even! It wasn't often they got to look at views like this, with all the training and busy traveling, and although it wasn't quite a rainbow... "This is fantastic!"

For someone so ebullient and prone to wild and crazy antics, Kay had been known to be the master of understatements at times... this being one of them. The look on Johan's face said it better than anything she could have stated, anyway. Now there was a smile, and it made her own light up her face in return.

"I did a good job, right?" It was spoken teasingly, but she didn't glance at him, her eyes still focused on the horizon and her entire posture losing any sort of tension she might have had. They really had been working hard, and Ilex Forest was too dark for them to have appreciated any real sights of nature, even if they'd taken it easier. "Even for all of the shiny gems out there, or valuables..." And that was admitting a lot, but it had been awhile since she'd felt this wholly content... maybe the first time since she'd arrived in this world. She'd used to do this back home as a child, perched high on either her father's or Uncle Badd's shoulders and staring at the sky in wonder. She'd always loved heights-- they made her feel that much closer to flying in that sky. "There's nothing more beautiful than this."

"I'd say you did above and beyond," Johan informed her honestly, his own eyes looking towards the same place as hers. It wasn't often that he had gotten to see views like this, even (or perhaps especially) back home, where he was either in a school in the middle of a frozen wasteland or dueling in various cities and tournaments. The closest things he usually got were either on breaks or the various, and admittedly still quite spectacular, field spells that would come up from time to time. But even he knew that those didn't compare to this. To the real thing.

Collecting his thoughts from earlier, Johan nodded to himself and turned to Kay.

"I know this is only for a mission, and I know it's because I was closest and we were together and all, because I'm sure other people offered, but--" He paused, recollecting his thoughts so he could stop fumbling over his words, which was rather unlike him, come to think of it. "I'm glad I'm here with you."

"Huh?" There could have been a plethora of intelligent things that Kay could have said just then, but she rarely stopped to think before she opened her mouth, and that had been the first thing to come to mind. She tore her gaze away from the sunset, almost guiltily, and looked at Johan with wide green eyes, then blinked. And blinked again.

And, much to her horror, for one of the first times in her life, she felt her cheeks heating up. There was no reason for that, because it was just as Johan had said. This was because of the date offer, and it was meant for practice and her own peace of mind before she had to give her first one away to a kidnapper. He'd been the closest, and he'd been willing to help. It was because of all of that. And yet--

"Those aren't the only reasons," and there went her traitor of her mouth again. "And I know you volunteered just to help me out, so I wouldn't have to deal with that guy being my first, but I'm really glad you're here with me, too."

Johan found himself staring back at her, his own set of green eyes meeting her wide ones for a moment, then stopping as the urge to blink came, which then came again shortly after. Then, despite himself, he started grinning, perhaps even grinning stupidly, for no particular reason whatsoever. Though wouldn't anyone grin like that after hearing what she said?

That stupid grin of his fading into a stupid smile (Johan, for the life of him, wasn't sure what made it "stupid", especially when that was a word he rarely used anyway, but this one really felt like it), he noticed something else-- Namely, her face. Not that he hadn't noticed it before, it would have been hard not to notice her face after knowing her for this long, and harder still after she'd gone and changed hairstyles on him this evening, but something was... different about it now. He couldn't quite put his finger on it, but whatever it was, and there was definitely something, it just added fuel (stupid fuel?) to his expression.

In any case, what really hit home, and finally took the "stupid" out of Johan's smile, was what she said to him; the look on his face moving back in the direction that it was in when he'd first caught sight of what Kay had brought him up here to see. There were a variety of reasons for that, he was sure, but they didn't need to be gone through at just this moment.

So, as odd as he was sure it was to be doing it, and all of this, and not even speaking, he just smiled at her.

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