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 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.

In the past three minutes, Johan's smile had gone through an incredible range of emotion, and Kay would have normally remarked on it, thoroughly impressed at that, but she had a certain flush she had to get rid of.

It hadn't been the first time she'd heard something like that, right? Not counting family, and she knew Edgeworth would never have just outright said that he was grateful for her company (though she still maintained that she was good for his nearly-nonexistent sense of fun), but hadn't Crow and Kaito made it clear that they were glad she'd been stuck with them in that tower? So why?

Her eyes flicked briefly down to their joined hands, then up to his face again, and she felt the heat ebb. This hadn't been just for her, but also for him, and if he'd been able to say that much sincerely, that was promising. Above all else, Johan was her friend; she could ignore whatever odd feelings were threatening to stir and focus on just having fun with him right now. That hadn't changed. But first--

Kay moved gingerly, not out of any sense of hesitation but so as not to tear the dress on sharper portions of the roof, and leaned against Johan. They'd been amiably affectionate long enough without any sense of discomfort, so she had no problem doing so now. With her free hand, she pulled the bags over as well, sifting through them to find one of those fancily-cut sandwiches.

"Actually..." Her smile came easily, but her tone was solemn. "Before I forget, there was something I wanted to ask you."

From the looks of it, Johan wasn't the only one who was going through a lot of thought; or was it confusion? Whatever it was, it seemed as though Kay was ready to take a break from it and resume their date, if her choosing to leaning against him and getting the bags over to them was any hint of it. Curiously, though, again something felt... off when Kay pressed herself against him, where was off in itself given how often something like this would happen between the two of them. It wasn't off in a particularly bad way, it was just different.

Watching her remove one of the sandwiches, Johan decided it was just because he hadn't fully gotten used to her change in wardrobe yet and left it at that. Besides, it looked like it was just about time to eat, which, sad as it was, would quickly wash away other curious thoughts from his mind.

Well, except for the ones sparked by her suddenly solemn voice, which made him look down at her, question now in his eyes.

"Yeah?" He moved slightly, so that she could be more comfortable up against him, and continued. "What is it you want to ask, Kay?"

All was quiet for a moment, while Kay studied the sandwich she held without bothering to take a bite out of it. Nerves and the knowledge that it would be hard to start this topic with her mouth full prevented her from doing so. At last, she seemed to have reached some sort of conclusion, and tipped her head up to look at him.

"You know the Yatagarasu was a three-person group, right? Before I came here, I was getting ready to look for other members, because I really couldn't do anything as a vigilante thief... not on my own. I didn't think I'd have to worry about it when I came here, but with Team Rocket happening... it's pretty obvious that the Yatagarasu's first theft is going to be here."

She frowned anxiously, fingers tensing without realizing it. It was rare that Kay was so serious, but the Yatagarasu was one of those subjects that she took very seriously and, after having learned the truth about her predecessor, how her father had been betrayed by someone he'd trusted, she'd been forced to think long and hard about this decision.

"Johan." She looked at her friend firmly. "You wanted to be my partner, but right now, I'm asking you if you also want to be the Yatagarasu. There's a difference, and if you get this involved, it's going to be dangerous. It won't be just about gathering information; we're going to have to risk breaking laws, and you're a pro duelist, right? If you get involved in heists, or whatever it is we end up doing, I don't know if it'll have anything to do with your reputation with the people you know here. I wasn't planning on having you get this involved, to be honest. But I..." Here she swallowed thickly against the lump in her throat. Shih-na's betrayal still stung, and the truth was still a fresh wound that she'd glossed over until now. She should have been wary, she knew she should have been, after everything that had happened, but there was absolutely no shadows in Kay's eyes, no veils of secrecy. "I trust you. I'd trust you with my life, if it came to that. You've been helping me out all this time, but I never once asked you what you wanted, so... I guess I'm asking you..."

From how positively nervous she looked and the almost tangible tension surrounding them, anyone observing might have thought that Kay was about to propose marriage.

"Johan..." She almost bit her lip, but refrained. "Will you become a thief? Will you be one of the legs?"

"I..." Johan was surprised, to say the least. He hadn't expected this date, this practice date, even after the conversation they'd just had, to take such a serious turn - perhaps Kay had been waiting for a good time to ask him this? Regardless, the surprise was clear; such a question, after hearing her talk about it for so long, definitely took him off guard.

He could tell she was serious. She was rarely this serious, but here she was, looking up at him; nervously, anxiously, with no idea what his answer would be - an answer that might change things between them completely. He knew how important the Yatagarasu was to her, he'd be a fool not to.

The weight of what she was asking him was not beyond him.

Normally, he might have looked behind him to ask his partners' thoughts on it. In fact, almost instinctively, he turned his head slightly in the direction that Ruby would normally be perched, as if she would be there with a positive or negative response to push him in the direction he should go in. Ruby, however, wasn't there. Amethyst Cat-- Sapphire Pegasus-- None of them were there behind him, and his gaze faltered upon remembering that fact in full.

Yes... The weight of what she was asking him was not beyond him, and the fact that this was the first decision he'd perhaps ever had to make all his own since meeting the Gem Beasts made it all the more heavy; all the more important. The things they would do might not be legal, they might even get into some dangerous situations, and...

... Really, the more he thought about it, the more he came closer to his decision, to the realization that perhaps his decision had already been made, he just hadn't been aware of it. As she said, they had been partners this long, and he'd been, much to his surprise, fully prepared to go after her wherever she went, whatever she got into, to fight alongside her. Just as he would have if it had been Juudai, and... he supposed, Kay now as well. He couldn't keep saying "like Juudai" with her anymore, could he? It would be like saying Juudai was like Kay.

His voice quiet, but now as firm and confident as ever, he looked her in the eye and offered the smallest of smiles. "I've been your leg for weeks now, Kay. You just didn't know it yet."

This was perhaps the longest Kay had maintained a rigidly still posture, every part of her poised for-- something. Any sort of reaction that would give her a yes or a no, and she'd been prepared for a negative one, and how she'd have to draw back if that was indeed the answer he went with. But she hadn't said anything else until he'd spoken again; she'd watched him, and observed, and waited, all things Kay didn't usually do without having to be reminded to do so.

When Johan's answer did come, quiet but full of conviction, it took her a good minute or so for it to fully sink in, complete with tiny choking noise. Then, with no idea what she was doing, but running on instinct the entire time (because that was just what she did), the sandwich was dropped back in the bag and she pushed off from her seated position to pull him into a hug. Not for the first time did she wonder if Byrne choosing him as a nest on that first day was truly a coincidence, or if the Murkrow had lived up to his name and had known what would come of it.

"I don't think I'm going to forget anytime soon," she muttered, a true statement if the tightness of her grip was any indication. There were no more doubts in her mind; she'd made the right choice with this one.

When Kay's initial response came in the form of some kind of strangled, choked noise, Johan was just about to ask if she was okay, or at least repeat himself in a louder voice in case she hadn't heard him, or worse, had heard him wrong. That didn't matter though, because shortly after she made the noise, she dropped her sandwich and pulled him down to her and embraced him. This surprised him, at first, but his surprise was gone as quickly as it had come, and he was wrapping his arms around her to return the hug with as much instinct as she had used to start the hug in the first place.

"I'll make sure you don't," Johan informed her, responding to her hug with gusto. She could squeeze him as hard as she could, and even twice that, he still wouldn't mind, and he'd still be hugging her back to boot. ... He paused, though, then with a smile, as if reading her mind's earlier thoughts, added: "When this is all over, I'll have to thank Byrne and tell him the good news, huh?"

The Murkrow was probably going to be smug about this for days, and the thought of it made Kay snicker into Johan's shoulder. She was grateful for that, not having been one hundred percent confident that she would have been able to remain dry-eyed. That stupid lump was still very much present in her throat, but at least her grin had returned when she pulled back (somewhat reluctantly) to retrieve her sandwich.

"If you want him to preen forever, then feel free," she informed him hoarsely. "But before that, we might as well eat all of this before the waiters come after us again to eat inside because it's 'more conducive to a romantic evening' or whatever it was that hostess said." Not that she thought they would, but the thought made her grin wider. She didn't feel like upholding a serious mood for the rest of the date, anyway.

"Maybe I will!" Johan laughed a little at the idea of the Murkrow smugly perching up on his head, and honestly, given what he'd gotten out of the deal, that would only be a small "price" to pay in comparison to everything he'd gained - namely, such an important friend, and all the things he'd learned, about himself and more. These were things he'd never even begun to imagine he'd be finding in this world, in a world without his family...

That would have been a sobering thought, had he not already been considering them, or the lack of them, heavily when he was deciding how to answer Kay's request to join her a few moments earlier; but even now, it still left him wondering things. Luckily, though, there was Kay again, filling the void that they normally filled, and he couldn't help but smile brightly at the idea of the two of them having to run through the entire town to get away from a crazy group of waiters.

"You're right about that. I'd hate to waste all of this!" With that said, he followed Kay's example and went after his own sandwich.

"I'm right about a lot of things," she couldn't resist adding, the airy tone to her voice not only dissipating that lump but also making it evident that she was teasing. "You guys just can't admit it that often!" Especially Edgeworth, but for him, it was more a matter of prosecuting pride, or... something like that. He also tended to forget that Kay had saved his life as a child, but she didn't hold that one against him. Really, she didn't hold much against anyone.

"It's good, though!" With a happy smile, she settled back down on the roof with legs stretched out in front of her. Of course, she had to release Johan's hand in order to fully enjoy the sandwich, but it probably needed a break. "I think we were living off berries and jerky for too long."

"Oh yeah? What else are you right about then?" Johan asked her, grinning just a little mischievously at her. It was a familiar pattern for them, but one that was always welcome. His grin widening, he continued after taking a bite of his sandwich. "Maybe it'd be easier to admit if-- Hey, this is good!"

Crossing his legs in front of him, Johan put it down on his lap and chuckled a little. She did have a point about their diets, though there really wasn't anything they could do about that, and him agreeing with her wouldn't do anything for what he had just said, in any case. So he quietly nodded in agreement, taking on another piece of the sandwich.

A nod of agreement was still agreement, and Kay's smile widened and became just a tad smug. Theory proved!

"A lot." She waited until she'd finished her sandwich, building up the suspense (like any good mysterious thief would) and watching the sky to see if she could catch a glimpse of the first star of the evening. It was becoming more purple and blue now, and the weather was finally cooling off, putting her in a sleepily content mood. She wasn't tired, just peaceful. "For example, I was right when I told Crow you'd probably fall off your Tauros a few times. I was right about all of the court things my dad quizzed me about. I was right about the Pink Badger being a girl, but that one was just obvious. I was..." And here Kay paused, then turned her head to smile at her friend. "I was right about you."

"Hey, Opal makes that happen on purpose--!" he quickly interjected, half-playfully and, sadly, half-indignantly. That bull had something against him half of the time, he really did. He also happened to notice Kay's smile growing ever so smugly on him, but he decided he'd let it go this time. Instead he chose to join her in looking up at the sky, watching the colors change to darker ones with each passing moment, a content smile coming to him.

As it did, however, he realized Kay had turned to look at him.

"Right about me?" Well now he was curious, and it showed. "What do you mean?"

"And you're having me ride him back?" she'd quickly retaliated, half-playfully and half... hoping she wouldn't have to endure Crow lecturing her about how she wasn't supposed to have ended up in a hospital.

At Johan's question, Kay reached her arms back to rest on her palms. The breeze played with her hair, tossing strands of it into her face and prompting a faint sigh of annoyance. It really was more manageable in a ponytail.

After another moment, she shrugged lightly. "I knew you'd have a hard time finding your way back to us on your own, so I came after you. I knew you'd risk a lot to protect others, even if you were the one who got hurt. And when I first met you, I got the feeling you'd wind up becoming someone important. That maybe I'd learn something from staying with you. That if I didn't get to know you, I'd probably regret it."

The thief laughed out loud, remembering how she'd very nearly passed this one by without realizing it. "I should have become a psychic! My intuition's pretty good!"

"He's been gentle with the others, I'm sure he will be with you too," came the sheepish reply, complete with a short and sweet hand running through his hair and a light laugh to top it off. Truthfully, Opal had been getting a lot better since they'd first come together, and even though he still did... occasionally throw Johan off of his back, Johan still trusted him just as much as any of his other Pokemon during battle or with the others. He was just an eensy, weensie bit more wary when on him, that was all - who knew, maybe having Kay there would eliminate the problem altogether?

He blinked at the sudden breeze, as well as the sigh it had given Kay, and without thought or warning, he reached out to move the hair that had gotten in Kay's face out of the way. His hand lingered there for a moment, before he grinned at her, mumbling something along the lines of "Not so easy without a ponytail, huh?", before going back to his sandwich like he hadn't done anything at all.

Of course, Johan had to stare at her as she spoke, saying things that even he couldn't have predicted - for obvious reasons - things that had thrown him, or his version of the events, completely off guard when he'd began to feel them and process that he was feeling them to begin with. He couldn't exactly say or show that now, though, and she knew that anyway, so he simply smiled at her, almost mysteriously, and nodded. "Maybe so."

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