(no subject)
Title: Breathe Me
Author: bijouiee
Rating: PG
Verse: Game.
Characters: Janine, Falkner
Summary: A late night visit brings up lost feelings, the holding of hands, and the start of something beautiful.
x
.
I need some sleep
I tried counting sheep
But there’s always one I miss
Everyone says you just gotta let it go
Everyone says you just gotta let it go
(Eels, I Need Some Sleep)
.
x
.
Breathe Me
.
x
Somewhere, there is a place where dreams are born - where the weak become strong, where the hated become loved, where the nothing’s becomes everything’s. Somehow, she wants to live there. Somehow, she wants to live there in a house with a white picket fence and a husband to feed and a child to love.
Somewhere, that’s where she’ll live. Somewhere and someday, she’ll find the place and find the man and find everything that she could ever possibly need.
But - wait.
This place . . . what if it is all but a dream to her? Only her subconscious telling her that Heaven really does exist. Only her mind whispering that she still does have a chance at happily-ever-after. What if it is all but a dream to her?
Janine sits quietly on her balcony, twisting a pokéball in her firm, small hands. She really ought to stop wondering but - it’s really addicting. To wonder is to hope and to hope is to wonder. Hope means that maybe, just maybe, there really are such things as the place where dreams are born. Hope means that she really does have a chance.
So wondering is good; quite good, actually.
Janine smiles slightly, fooling herself. But . . . what if wondering really isn’t good? What if it’s quite horrible? It does only leave those dreams in her mind, those faithless, impossible dreams.
But somehow she knows. She knows that wondering can be good and bad, just like everything else. Just like life. Just like the world. Just like him.
She blushes. How on earth did he end up in her thoughts? He’s just another gym leader, another boy, another trainer - another human. Another perfectly flawed human in this perfectly flawed world . . . Janine sighs softly. Perhaps she just had too much coffee earlier.
The stars bend down on her roof. They drip onto her night shirt, bleeding the color of dreams. Her skin tickles the fabric. She looks oddly beautiful tonight. Perhaps it’s the light from the moon or the way her hair scales down her back or perhaps it’s the way love is sitting right beside her, smoking a cigar full of atonement. She looks oddly beautiful tonight.
Then- there is a smashing. A murmuring. A fluttering of wings.
Janine jumps up from her chair and peers down. Falkner. Falkner. Falkner. And a broken streetlamp with a smirking pidgeotto sitting beside it. She laughs lightly. What an odd situation.
He glances up and, surprisingly, he’s blushed ruddy from the core of his face to the bottom of his feet. Sheepish grin and all, he murmurs just loud enough for her ears, “Ah, sorry, Janine. Didn’t mean to wake you if I did.”
The girl finds herself leaning over the rail, grinning, “Oh, Falkner! I can’t believe you. I was this close to finally getting some shut eye . . . how could you do this to me?”
At first, Falkner is stunned, wearing a wide mouth and crooked eyes. Then a second passes and he laughs. The tension lightens.
“What are you doing here, oh wise Johto gym leader?”
He absently picks up a piece of glass and inspects it, frowning. “Why do you think I’m here, Janine?”
She looks away, towards the pillow sitting on her reclining chair. Why would Falkner be in a place like her town at a time like this? Why, why would he be? She bites her lip.
“I don’t have the slightest idea. Why are you here?”
The pidgeotto gives some sort of squawk slash laugh and Janine finds herself puzzled.
“Well,” he taps the glass on the ground with his foot. “I couldn’t sleep and, ah, I figured I’d come visit you?”
Her face couldn’t seem more surprised and her tone turns suspicious.
“It’s almost midnight, Falkner. Were you just coming here to see if you’d find another bed to spend the night in?”
Pause. The bursting of explanation.
“No! Heavens no, Janine. God, no. No, no, no-“
Her face turns pensive, thoughtful.
“Is the thought of being in bed with me really that repulsive?”
She laughs as he promptly removes his foot from his mouth.
“I’m kidding, Falkner. It’s alright. I can’t sleep either . . . why don’t you come up here so we can talk?”
He nods automatically, smiling, grabbing onto his grinning pidgeotto, flying up just to meet Janine’s eye level. The heat starts to curl in between them along with hidden adoration - that too.
“Now,” her voice wilts out of her mouth. “Why did you really come here, Falkner?”
Pause. She grins masterfully at him.
“You wanna keep on betting who has the better father?”
Falkner resists the urge to smack his forehead. Really, how clueless can a girl be?
“Janine, Janine, Janine . . . you know I don’t gamble. And you also know I don’t want to talk about my father right now either -“
“Oh, really?”
“Really.”
Silence. He reads her unreadable features. She clinks her bones against the rail. They stare at each other.
Two perfectly flawed humans. Two wonderful people. A man, a woman. This could be the start of a beautiful relationship. This could be the start of everything.
“Janine.”
God, it sounds so soft, his voice. Drifting and wafting into her ears like the aroma of freshly baked pie, she goes almost as close as she can get. Life is edged in between them.
“Falkner.”
And then - the silence. The way everything feels romantic all of a sudden is so odd, so peculiar. Why is Janine’s heart pounding so fiercely? Why are her hands becoming sweaty, her vision becoming inky? Is this the after effects of training all day?
Or something else?
“Janine . . . I came here because I wanted to ask you something.”
She bites her lip.
“What is it?”
His eyebrows tug over his eyes, the smile becoming poker faced.
“Will you . . . ah, will you-“
And then he stops talking. Almost suddenly, almost gradually, almost in the blink of an eye. And then, quietly, his hands stretch towards her, shaky in the starry sky. His aches, his pains, his flaws. Pure beauty; pure, dastardly flawed beauty. Janine reaches out, hesitates.
She understands what is happening, opens her mouth, closes it, opens it again:
“You won’t hurt me, will you? Because if you . . . well, you know I have poison type pokémon, right?”
Falkner laughs nervously, scratching the back of his head.
“I c-couldn’t hurt you, Janine. I am an honorable person - I could never.”
He shakes his head and offers his hands again. His soul sitting in palms, edging onto off-white veins that boil with quick blood. Janine nods and, for the first time ever, she trusts a boy (man) fully.
In the twilight breath, her hands click into his and things have never felt so right.
Author: bijouiee
Rating: PG
Verse: Game.
Characters: Janine, Falkner
Summary: A late night visit brings up lost feelings, the holding of hands, and the start of something beautiful.
x
.
I need some sleep
I tried counting sheep
But there’s always one I miss
Everyone says you just gotta let it go
Everyone says you just gotta let it go
(Eels, I Need Some Sleep)
.
x
.
Breathe Me
.
x
Somewhere, there is a place where dreams are born - where the weak become strong, where the hated become loved, where the nothing’s becomes everything’s. Somehow, she wants to live there. Somehow, she wants to live there in a house with a white picket fence and a husband to feed and a child to love.
Somewhere, that’s where she’ll live. Somewhere and someday, she’ll find the place and find the man and find everything that she could ever possibly need.
But - wait.
This place . . . what if it is all but a dream to her? Only her subconscious telling her that Heaven really does exist. Only her mind whispering that she still does have a chance at happily-ever-after. What if it is all but a dream to her?
Janine sits quietly on her balcony, twisting a pokéball in her firm, small hands. She really ought to stop wondering but - it’s really addicting. To wonder is to hope and to hope is to wonder. Hope means that maybe, just maybe, there really are such things as the place where dreams are born. Hope means that she really does have a chance.
So wondering is good; quite good, actually.
Janine smiles slightly, fooling herself. But . . . what if wondering really isn’t good? What if it’s quite horrible? It does only leave those dreams in her mind, those faithless, impossible dreams.
But somehow she knows. She knows that wondering can be good and bad, just like everything else. Just like life. Just like the world. Just like him.
She blushes. How on earth did he end up in her thoughts? He’s just another gym leader, another boy, another trainer - another human. Another perfectly flawed human in this perfectly flawed world . . . Janine sighs softly. Perhaps she just had too much coffee earlier.
The stars bend down on her roof. They drip onto her night shirt, bleeding the color of dreams. Her skin tickles the fabric. She looks oddly beautiful tonight. Perhaps it’s the light from the moon or the way her hair scales down her back or perhaps it’s the way love is sitting right beside her, smoking a cigar full of atonement. She looks oddly beautiful tonight.
Then- there is a smashing. A murmuring. A fluttering of wings.
Janine jumps up from her chair and peers down. Falkner. Falkner. Falkner. And a broken streetlamp with a smirking pidgeotto sitting beside it. She laughs lightly. What an odd situation.
He glances up and, surprisingly, he’s blushed ruddy from the core of his face to the bottom of his feet. Sheepish grin and all, he murmurs just loud enough for her ears, “Ah, sorry, Janine. Didn’t mean to wake you if I did.”
The girl finds herself leaning over the rail, grinning, “Oh, Falkner! I can’t believe you. I was this close to finally getting some shut eye . . . how could you do this to me?”
At first, Falkner is stunned, wearing a wide mouth and crooked eyes. Then a second passes and he laughs. The tension lightens.
“What are you doing here, oh wise Johto gym leader?”
He absently picks up a piece of glass and inspects it, frowning. “Why do you think I’m here, Janine?”
She looks away, towards the pillow sitting on her reclining chair. Why would Falkner be in a place like her town at a time like this? Why, why would he be? She bites her lip.
“I don’t have the slightest idea. Why are you here?”
The pidgeotto gives some sort of squawk slash laugh and Janine finds herself puzzled.
“Well,” he taps the glass on the ground with his foot. “I couldn’t sleep and, ah, I figured I’d come visit you?”
Her face couldn’t seem more surprised and her tone turns suspicious.
“It’s almost midnight, Falkner. Were you just coming here to see if you’d find another bed to spend the night in?”
Pause. The bursting of explanation.
“No! Heavens no, Janine. God, no. No, no, no-“
Her face turns pensive, thoughtful.
“Is the thought of being in bed with me really that repulsive?”
She laughs as he promptly removes his foot from his mouth.
“I’m kidding, Falkner. It’s alright. I can’t sleep either . . . why don’t you come up here so we can talk?”
He nods automatically, smiling, grabbing onto his grinning pidgeotto, flying up just to meet Janine’s eye level. The heat starts to curl in between them along with hidden adoration - that too.
“Now,” her voice wilts out of her mouth. “Why did you really come here, Falkner?”
Pause. She grins masterfully at him.
“You wanna keep on betting who has the better father?”
Falkner resists the urge to smack his forehead. Really, how clueless can a girl be?
“Janine, Janine, Janine . . . you know I don’t gamble. And you also know I don’t want to talk about my father right now either -“
“Oh, really?”
“Really.”
Silence. He reads her unreadable features. She clinks her bones against the rail. They stare at each other.
Two perfectly flawed humans. Two wonderful people. A man, a woman. This could be the start of a beautiful relationship. This could be the start of everything.
“Janine.”
God, it sounds so soft, his voice. Drifting and wafting into her ears like the aroma of freshly baked pie, she goes almost as close as she can get. Life is edged in between them.
“Falkner.”
And then - the silence. The way everything feels romantic all of a sudden is so odd, so peculiar. Why is Janine’s heart pounding so fiercely? Why are her hands becoming sweaty, her vision becoming inky? Is this the after effects of training all day?
Or something else?
“Janine . . . I came here because I wanted to ask you something.”
She bites her lip.
“What is it?”
His eyebrows tug over his eyes, the smile becoming poker faced.
“Will you . . . ah, will you-“
And then he stops talking. Almost suddenly, almost gradually, almost in the blink of an eye. And then, quietly, his hands stretch towards her, shaky in the starry sky. His aches, his pains, his flaws. Pure beauty; pure, dastardly flawed beauty. Janine reaches out, hesitates.
She understands what is happening, opens her mouth, closes it, opens it again:
“You won’t hurt me, will you? Because if you . . . well, you know I have poison type pokémon, right?”
Falkner laughs nervously, scratching the back of his head.
“I c-couldn’t hurt you, Janine. I am an honorable person - I could never.”
He shakes his head and offers his hands again. His soul sitting in palms, edging onto off-white veins that boil with quick blood. Janine nods and, for the first time ever, she trusts a boy (man) fully.
In the twilight breath, her hands click into his and things have never felt so right.