Eryk sighed softly, wiping the sweat from his brow. He had just finished setting down fresh hay for the ekans, and it was almost time for a break. It still unnerved him how much time had passed between the events that had taken place, nearly a year ago, till now. It also made him slightly uncomfortable at how happy Kas and Cy were doing. They had had an actual wedding a few months ago, and had taken off somewhere for their honeymoon. He didn't really care to remember. He was happy for them. If he remembered correctly, her egg had finally hatched, too, producing a riolu. She'd nearly drowned herself in tears that day.
What unnerved him the most, though, was finding out that he was going to be an uncle. He couldn't really process that information when Cy had told him, however; now that she was almost due, it'd finally hit him. He felt almost envious of their life. They had settled down, something he wasn't sure Kas was capable of doing, but he'd been proven wrong. They were starting a family together, and some part of Eryk wanted that, too. He wanted a family of his own, but he had decided to take things slow with Ana. He loved her, and he wanted to make sure that she wanted the same things, too.
Looking at her now, though, he knew he wanted something more with her. He wanted a family with her. Even though their connection had remained mostly open between them, the bond growing stronger and they, themselves, closer because of it, there were still some things he didn't send to her. Like that feeling of want. He just wasn't sure of himself when he was around her. Even if her disease was gone, she was still so frail to him, and the last thing he wanted to do was hurt her, even by accident. She'd been hurt enough in her life, and he didn't need to add to that.
He sighed softly, pushing himself from his work, and headed towards the place she would be. Once he found her, he smiled softly. That had become easier for him, too: smiling. It no longer felt out of place when he did, and he was getting better at expressing himself. He still had a long way to go, but he was patient enough.
"Ana," he called out, waiting for her to acknowledge him. It wasn't the most conventional of ways to do this, but then again, he wasn't exactly a normal person to begin with. He wasn't even sure if he should. He was going to, anyway. "Do you want to take a break?"
“Sure. Just give me a second to finish up here." She flashed a bright smile at him over her shoulder, then returned her attention to Rufus. The old stoutland was nearly blind at this point, but if anything that only seemed to increase the care which Ana took towards his health. At the moment, she was just brushing him, a rather daunting task considering how much fur he had.
When she finally deemed him finished, she stood up, banishing the brush back to the shed with a thought and brushing herself down with her hands, trying to get as much pokémon hair as possible off her apron. When she was satisfied, she took the apron off and hooked it over one of the pegs in the wall of the shelter building.
“What's up? You haven't brought home another stray, have you?" She was very indulgent of his newfound tendency to catch any pokémon he happened to see around and bring it back to the shelter—she said it was good for the pokémon to have healthy friends around. Whether that was true or not was hard to say. Probably their own teams would have been more than enough for that purpose, but she always found the room for his new additions, regardless.
Eryk snorted softly at her statement. "No, no I have not," he replied, shaking his head. He supposed he could try and not bring back so many strays, but sometimes it was hard. But that wasn't what he wanted to talk to her about. Instead, he glanced around before landing back on her. "I don't think Primeape would appreciate any more friends in his tree," he continued, glancing towards said tree where his pokémon was. He'd evolved not too long ago, actually, and he'd taken to roosting in one of Ana's trees. He wasn't entirely sure why, but it wasn't like it bothered him. If anything, he was partly glad. Primeape could be a handful sometimes.
"I figured it would be a good time to take a break. That, and... I would rather you sit down. There's something I need to talk to you about," he spoke the last few words rather seriously. They were important to him.
She tilted her head at him, and he felt a ripple through the connection they shared, easily identifiable as curiosity. But she seemed willing enough to go along with it, because she nodded easily. “All right. We'll have a seat in the garden, then. I'll make something to drink. Coffee or tea?"
"Tea."
Ana dipped her chin and headed into the kitchen. Given the fact that she used her powers much more liberally now that she was at almost no risk for overexerting herself, the process took almost no time at all save what it took the water to heat, and she could speed that up, too, which she must have, given that she was back not more then three minutes later with their drinks and a plate of oatmeal cookies.
With a soft sigh, Ana sat down across the table from him, a half-smile pulling at her mouth. “Now... what's so important that it couldn't be said while we were working, or wait until dinner?" Not that she seemed to mind the interruption.
He sighed softly, glancing at his cup for a minute. He knew the words he wanted to say, but they were hard to say. He wasn't even sure if he was capable of even projecting the feelings to her, so he didn't. Instead, he remained as calm as he could, though there was a slight tremble in his body. It wasn't detectable, visibly, but he could feel it. He pulled his gaze away from his cup, and stared at her.
"What... what do you want to do, Ana?" he asked her. "About your future," he clarified. It was important to know what she wanted to do, and where she wanted to be, because he wanted to help her get there. "I know the shelter is important to you, but I also remember telling me that you wanted to be a professor, at one time. Do you still want to do something like that?" he continued. If she did, then he would support her in any way he could. Whether it was emotional support, financial support, or some other kind.
Ana took a sip from her teacup, setting it back down gently on the surface of the table and curling her hands around the warm ceramic. She smiled; it was a little rueful, honestly. “I think I'm still getting used to the idea of having a future," she said softly. “For most of my life I thought I had maybe twenty years to live in, and now here I am at twenty-two with a whole life ahead of me." She sighed, glancing down at the tea in her cup and swirling it gently.
“I considered it. Going back to school for that, I mean. But... the more I thought about leaving all of this, the more I realized I didn't want to leave everything I have here. I love running the shelter—I get to help pokémon and people. And... I love being here, where my friends are. Auntie Miranda's been talking about buying an apartment here, you know. If she does, then... all the people I love the most will be in one place." She shook her head. “I think, now, that I could learn to make friends anywhere. I'm not as shy as I used to be, thanks to everyone. But..."
Ana pursed her lips. “But this is my home."
He took everything she said, allowing the information to process before he sighed softly. He kept his gaze on her, and didn't remove it. He was studying her face. She looked sincere in her words, and he knew she was. "And this will always be your home. That doesn't mean, however, that you can't still chase after your dream. Even if you decide to do something else, I just want you to know that," he paused, swallowing a little thickly. This was suddenly a lot harder to say. He wasn't entirely sure, and he felt, strangely, embarrassed. He didn't bother hiding that, though, and let the emotion float through their connection.
"I just want you to know that I want to be a part of that future," he finally said, glancing away from her. He didn't think he was capable of being embarrassed, but there it was. The feeling was strange on him, and it made him feel lighter. "But... only if you'd have me. I don't think... I know that there is no other person I'd rather spend the rest of my life with, other than you. You are my future, Anastasia Asher, and... I was hoping I could be yours," he was staring at his cup when he said that. He wondered if this was how Cy felt sometimes.
He could hear the soft scrape of her chair legs on the patio. A couple moments later, she was beside him, a gentle hand on either side of his face, urging him to look at her. She was smiling at him—a small, soft one that brightened her eyes.
“You silly man," she said, tracing her soft fingers from his temples down to his jaw. “You brave, wonderful fool." Ana huffed, a light breath caught halfway to a laugh, and leaned down to touch her forehead to his.
“I hope I've never made you feel like that was in doubt. Of course you're part of my future. For as long as you can stand it. Why else would I let you move into my house? It's not home without you, anymore." She pulled her bottom lip between her teeth for a moment, smiling strangely. “In fact... it's been that way for longer than you think. And I can prove it to you."
He raised a brow in her direction. It's been that way for a while? He must be losing his ability to be perceptive if he hadn't noticed that. He smiled softly at her, though. "How so?" he was slightly curious as to what she meant.
Ana cleared her throat. She looked almost a little bit embarrassed now, but not so much that it stained her face red. “Scoot," she said, sitting so that she could share his chair with him; given the size of it, she was mostly just sitting on his leg.
“So, um... remember when we went to Crystal's wedding? While we were there, I had Kas take me to the artist that does all of his tattoos. I... figured out one that I wanted, you see." It explained the bandages she'd been wearing in the days after, at least; probably to protect from premature exposure to saltwater. That had been before everything. Before her capture, before their flight from Team Rocket and their mission to bring the organization down. Certainly before this last year.
The neck of her shirt was fairly wide, sitting closer to her shoulders than her throat; it didn't take much effort for her to shrug it lower on one side. Doing so revealed that she did, indeed, have a tattoo, on the back of her left shoulder. It was artfully-done; the colors were rich blue, indigo, violet, and just a hint of black at the edges. But even despite the stylistic touches, it was clearly a larkspur flower. A small cluster of them, in fact, etched on Ana's fair skin.
She turned her head so she was looking at him out of the corner of her eye over the same shoulder. “I know... I know it was part of the plan, now, but... it's still the first gift you ever gave me. I um... I think of it as the moment everything changed, you know. Not the moment I fell in love, but... the moment I stepped onto the path that got me there."
He remembered that day. It was more than that, though. It was also the day he learned, or somewhat learned, how to be more social. He smiled just faintly, and lifted his hand to trace the image before leaning forward and placing a soft kiss there. "Of course you'd get something like that," he whispered softly, chuckling just as soft. His head leaned against her shoulder, and he simply kept it there.
"Then... I am glad that I get to be a part of your future," he certainly wasn't going to regret it. Not after everything they've been through together. "You are the best thing that has ever happened to me. I love you, Anastasia."
“I love you, too, Eryk."
RPG
