Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

Walking side by side, the girls coulden’t help but glance at each other every now and then.

Penny especially had a hard time keeping her eyes off Nemona. She was wearing stylish but casual clothes for their date, and every time Penny would see her out of their school uniform, she coulden’t help but stare. Her outfit was cool. some baggy jeans, a black crop top with short sleeves, and a flannel tied around her waist. It was clear these were also brand clothes since they looked expensive. Not that Penny cared too much about that sort of stuff, but it did make her slightly self-conscious. While she still tried to look a bit extra proper for their date. It was still more or less her usual outfit with a hoodie and shorts combo, but Nemona didn’t seem to mind.

Nemona’s hand then found its way to Penny’s. interwining their fingers together and gave her a warm smile only Nemona could give.

“You look cute today.” She said, and Penny blushed lightly.

“Y-you too.. You look cool.”

“Awe, Thanks! I-” Nemona started, but shortly got interrupted by her Rotom phone going off, and Nemona would hurriedly take it out of her pocket, and once she read the phone recipient of whoever was calling her, her casual smile turned into an annoyed frown and gave no second thoughts to put it on mute before pocketing her phone again.

“Woah, don’t think I've ever seen you annoyed. Not like that at least. You okay?”

“Oh, it’s nothing. Don’t worry about it!” Nemona smiled, but it didn’t quite reach her eyes, and Penny reluctantly let it go despite feeling slightly suspicious of it. 

“Say! What do you feel like doing first? I have a few places I have planned for us.” Nemona continued, and Penny chuckled.  “Well, it would help if you finally told me.” 

“Heh, guess I could do that for you~” Nemona hummed and continued. “So, first I thought we could go to a cute Pokémon café, and get some pastries, it might not be as good as Miss Katy’s, but I know this one that has a bunch of Eevees running around and other cute Pokémon. Then we could go for a movie, I booked the whole theater for the day, so we can go whenever and don’t have to worry about going at a specific time- ”

“Wait, what?”

“- Then I thought we could maybe just, I don't know, take a nice walk together or battle if you l-like. The last bit is a bit open to do whatever we want. I guess going to the arcade could be nice too, and-”

“Wait, wait, stop.PAUSE. “ Penny said, stopping in her tracks and pulled at Nemona to do the same, and Nemona suddenly felt panic. “ I knew putting in battles in the middle of it was a bad idea!! Ok. Think- something else.”

“What’s wrong? Don’t you want to? T-thats ok! We can do something else than battle, it’s not very romantic, ain’t it? Haha a-anyway so maybe instead we could-”

“No!! That’s not it! Roll it back- what do you mean you booked a whole theater??”

“Oh! That? Just like what it sounds like, I made a call to the owner and paid him a fee so we can come watch whatever movie we like!”

“I completely forgot you’re filthy rich for a second there…” Penny laughed awkwardly and then continued, “Nemona, you didn’t have to do that. I mean… Thanks for doing that I suppose, but you don’t have to go out of your way like that for me.”

“Oh.. right, right… Sorry- should I.. uhm cancel?”

“What? No way. While you sillied too hard and went above the stars to book a freaking movie theater for us, I’m still not going to say no to being alone in a movie theater- Just… you know- you don’t have to spend your money on me like that.” Penny smiled and Nemona felt the warmth from it, feeling her heart quicken, and grinned widely back.

“Got it. although- speaking of… Do you think you could help me with that?” Nemona asked as the two started to walk again. Nemona capturing her hand again, and gently swung their hands.

“With what?”

“money stuff- what’s ‘normal’  I guess, Ok sure- I admit, the movie theater I could have figured out by myself if I stopped to think, but sometimes I feel like my experience with money isn’t the most normal…and while it doesn’t happen often, I feel like… it sometimes creates barriers around me and others.”

“Sure, but only if I can call you a princess.”

“Absolutely not.” Nemona huffed with a frown on her face as soon as she had heard the ‘nickname,’ but it just as quickly melted away when she heard Penny snicker.

 “I’m kidding, I remember you hated being called that. I wouldn't actually call you that.”

“meanie…”

Nemona’s phone then rang once again, and just like earlier. Nemona had taken a quick glance, frowned, and put the call on mute. Odd… but alright.

When they had gotten to the Café, Penny had almost immediately hurried over to a bunch of Eevees playing as soon as she had spotted them, patting and taking photos of them, while Nemona stared in awe of her crush being in her element. Not able to do anything but smile endeared as she joined Penny’s side to play with the Eevees, that almost lasted a whole hour before actually sitting down to order something.

“hehe this makes me want to get a eevee evolution myself~” Nemona chuckled, stroking a eevee’s fur that had jumped up in her lap while they were waiting for their pastries.

“Yes!! You totally should!” Penny said, barely a second after Nemona had spoken, and quickly continued to ramble on.

“ I could even help you care for them if you do, I have so many tips, OH- ” Penny said excitedly, and then got an idea. Fishing up her phone from her hoodie. “ A Jolteon probably fits your energy, they like to run, so that would be perfect with you and Pawmot. For whenever you’re working out those fine muscles- They are, however, one of the hardest veevee’s to handle due to some having a bratty temperament, but nothing you coulden’t handle-”

  Penny rambled on as she was showing pictures of Jolteons, but then scrolled through her phone to show pictures of a Flareon instead. “-tho seeing as you already have an electric type as your ace. You probably want more variety, right? So fire could be neat! Super cuddly and warm to hold, which is pretty much how it’s like to hug you, then there’s Espeon-”

“Hey, hey, Penny- whatever you think will fit me the most, I gladly accept, ok? We could even start off by raising it together! You know, since I will need an expert.” Nemona winked with a chuckle, and captured Penny’s hands in hers over the table to stop her from continuing to doom scroll and getting lost in all the hundreds of pictures she had saved on her phone.

Penny’s face flushed a bit as she realized she had rambled on, but the way Nemona looked at her was nothing but endearment, so she didn’t feel too bad about it for once, as long as it was Nemona, she didn’t mind geeking out and Shyly nodded as she composed herself. 

“y-yeah.. sure. If you do decide you want one, I’ll show you a good spot where we can catch one!”  She said, and Nemona grinned.  “Awesome ~ looking forward to it- also…wow that was a lot of entangled compliments you threw me just now.” nemona sheepishly laughed, and Penny felt stunned- not sure what to say about that.

The two stared at each other for a moment, feeling their hearts race from looking into each other's eyes, and when Nemona let go of her hands to instead put her hand flat against Penny’s, a small pink blush spread across their faces from seeing the measurement of their hands against one another.

“You’re hands are so small~ cute.” Nemona grinned. Gently moving their fingertips together side to side while Penny nodded. Trying to think of something to say, but never got the chance to, other than “yours is warm…” since their orders had arrived and their small moment ended.

While they ate and small-talked about their day. Nemona’s phone had gone off at least three times, and when the fourth call started. Penny finally spoke up about it.

“Seriously, what’s with you getting so many calls? Something up?”

Annoyed and glaring at her phone, Nemona snapped her head to Penny and awkwardly laughed.  “Ah, haha. No, no, everything is fine! Don’t worry about it. I'll take care of it later.”

“Nemona…”

“Uhm.. Look, I-” her phone went off again, causing Penny to sigh.

“Isn’t it for the better if you just take that? or turn it off?” Penny said, concerned.

“You sure…?” Nemona asked, glancing at her phone, uncertain, and then at Penny.

“Yeah, better than it going off every 5 minutes.”

“Okay… Sorry- then excuse me for a bit-” Nemona said, flashing Penny an apologetic smile as she stood up with her phone in hand to find a quiet corner to take the mystery call she had been ignoring during the whole date so far.

Penny only managed to catch her answer on her way with a “abuelo, hi…”

Making Penny more curious, and from the way Nemona was pacing and hugging herself with one arm away in the corner, only increased that curiosity. She looked visibly uncomfortable, and for a moment, Penny thought of intercepting her phone call through her own to listen in to understand what the hell was going on, but quickly shook those intrusive thoughts away. 

 She shouldn't do such things anymore.

Instead, she quietly watched her crush while finishing eating her sundae and petting Eevees. 

Nemona’s pacing went from hugging herself to rubbing her temple and fiddling with her bangs to dragging a hand through her hair, and worst of it all, there was no familiar spark in her eyes, and it felt almost unsettling to see her like that. 

But by the time Nemona returned, she mustered up a smile.

“Hi ~ sorry for taking so long.”

“Are you alright…?” Penny pressed, starting to feel worried under her annoyance that their date kept getting interrupted by all the calls.

“What? Of course I am! Why wouldn't I be?” Nemona smiled, but it was clear that something was bothering her. Her smile didn't quite match her eyes, and she looked straight up nervous.

“...Okay” Penny said quietly. She didn't want to press further on it just yet.

“You do know you can talk to me if something is bothering you, right?” Penny added after a short while.

“I know, I like talking to you.” Nemona gave her one of those smiles yet again, and while it felt nice to hear, her looking like she was at her limit, didn't sit right with her.

“Are you finished? How about we take that walk, then a quick battle? I could use some fresh air right now.” Nemona said, having not even finished her chocolate cake, but Penny nodded and stood up. “Sure, should we take that with us?”  Penny nodded to the half-eaten cake, but Nemona shook her head. “nah, I lost my appetite.”

“Just what happened with that phone ca-”

“Enough about that! Let’s just go have fun! It's nothing to worry about.” Nemona said and dragged Penny with her, waving and thanking the staff on her way out with a smile.

Their date continued, and while Nemona seemed a bit more withdrawn and lost in thought compared to earlier, her mood slowly returned after they had had their battle, and the two excitedly talked about which movie they should watch and which ones were popular right now. Penny had suggested the new superhero movie that had come out recently. That she had been wanting to watch, and the moment Penny had mentioned Dianthia was starring in it, Nemona had immediately said yes at the mention of the champion from Kalos.

And Penny had giggled with a small smirk, Nemona had fallen right into her trap to watch this movie that she had specifically been wanting to watch with Nemona ever since she had heard  Dianthia would star in it.

However… not even twenty minutes into the movie had passed until Nemona’s phone went off again, this time on vibration. Drawing both girls' attention to it, Nemona stared at the screen for a moment and then at Penny. With a look that Penny could only describe as a sad rockruff, and as if she were asking permission to take it. Conflicted but not wanting any more disturbances, Penny sighed and waved her off to go take the phone call.

Nemona shot her a quick smile, then hurried out of the theater.

(“What's so important that this keeps happening… why won’t she just turn off her phone? Or just tell me what’s going on. Not to speak of, she seems stressed out by it.”)  Penny thought and let out a sigh, and the longer Nemona took. The less interested in the movie she became.

Sure, she loved this saga of movies that had been going on for a while and followed them, but she had in truth to be told. Been more excited about this one than any other because she had been certain that Nemona would be on board and maybe get her into the genre. Due to Dianthia being part of it, but if Nemona wasn’t even going to be there and basically watch the movie by herself anyway, there wasn’t much of a point to it. Was there?

Another 10 minutes passed, and with a final sigh. Penny decided to finally get up from her seat, passing all the empty seats that normally would have been completely filled on any other day.

When she got out to the lobby, Penny started to look around to see if Nemona was there, but the champion-ranked girl was nowhere to be found, and only the cashier remained in the lobby.

“Your girlfriend is outside.” They said when the two had accidentally made eye contact.
It must have been obvious that she was looking for Nemona. Penny nodded and mumbled a low “thanks…”  and then headed directly outside, and sure enough. She found her crush- and not ‘girlfriend’ as the staff had misunderstood, right outside.

“Y-yes, I understand, but I- ….no- that is not it- Of course I care, today is just a really bad time, if I could just- I’m sorry. I meant to say, it’s an inconvenient time for me, I’m-”  Nemona corrected her way of speaking, but then went silent again, and whoever she was speaking with seemed to have constantly interrupted her and not let her finish saying what she wanted. 

She silently listened to the caller for a moment, but then, from her side view, she finally noticed Penny and quickly turned around.

“Nemo…” Penny mumbled her nickname.

“I have to go now, apologies- bye.” Nemona hastily said and immediately hung up.
knowing well she would get in trouble for that.

“Penny! I am sooo sorry, I knew I should have just ignored the call, but I-uhm- uhm well…” Nemona fumbled to come up with something to say but found none and fell silent as she tried to process what to say.

“...you don't have to tell me if you don’t want to”

“But I-” Nemona started, but Penny’s heavy sigh interrupted her.

“Let’s just go home, yeah?” Penny said, and this time, it was Penny’s turn to muster up a smile that didn’t reach her eyes.

“What about the movie…?” Nemona asked, trying to take Penny's hands into hers, but before she could. Penny shoved them into her hoodie's pocket and looked away as she started to walk off.

“You missed some key parts, so it’s not really worth continuing now. You will just be confused.”

“Oh… okay? We could always restart it!  I’m sure it's fine.”

“Nah, I’m actually a bit tired, so if you don’t mind, I'd rather go back to the academy.”

“....” Nemona fell quiet and slowly trailed behind Penny. Still unsure what to say.

The silence was deafening and uncomfortable, and Nemona could tell by Penny’s cold demeanour that she was mad; she understood why, too. She was honestly mad herself. 

This wasn’t how their first date was supposed to go. It was frustrating and heartbreaking.

She hated disappointing Penny and her own inability to express herself freely. 

“Penny? Let’s stop for a moment.” She tried, but Penny barely spared her a glance, and seeing Penny’s back turned to her made Nemona feel her heart clench in pain.

“It’s fine, you don’t have to explain yourself to me.”

“No, I think I do.”

“....”

Penny gave no answer, and Nemona slowly felt she was losing her, and exhaled, and then ran in front of Penny to stop her.

“Penny, Stop.”

“I told you- It’s fine.”

“It’s not fine!” Nemona raised her voice, taking Penny back, and finally looked Nemona in the eye for a quick second, and Nemona could see the hurt and disappointment in her eyes that she was trying so desperately to hide.

“Sorry- “ Nemona lowered her voice and started again.

“Look, I talk okay? I want to…” Nemona said, her hand gently holding Penny’s arm while the shorter looked away. processing the whole situation.

“I’m really, really, trying hard not to be mad at you right now…”

“I know…I’m sorry.”

Penny sighed as she took her hands from her pockets and gently took Nemona’s in hers.

“No... I’m sorry. I shouldn't be mad. Whatever those phone calls were, they’re clearly important, and something about it, is bothering you, and I don’t want to pry or make you feel like you have to tell me if you’re uncomfortable talking about it. Just because you tell me about other things, doesn't mean you have to tell me everything.” Penny mumbled, her head low, feeling a conflicting emotion of hurt, selfishness, and yet an understanding that she should still respect Nemona's privacy. But damn it, it was hard to control the disappointing feeling of their date being interrupted so much and missing the movie she had been looking forward it.

Nemona, however, would lift her hand to Penny’s soft cheek and tilt her head up so she could look into her eyes. “You’re more important to me.”

Penny’s cheeks grew warm hearing that, her eyes kept to the ground, and when Nemona suddenly leaned in, Penny felt panic and quickly covered her mouth as her blush grew.

“w-w-wait, we’re in public- what if someone sees??”

“Huh? What’s the problem? I didn’t know we were a secret…?” Nemona pouted, gently prying Penny’s hand away from her mouth.

“We’re not… but all rumours-”

“Already think we’re dating and true…and they've seen us kiss on the cheek plenty, this should be expected.” Nemona continued to pout but didn't press further and instead waited for Penny to make the next move, and then the girl let out a frustrated sigh and pulled Nemona with her behind a tree.

As soon as they were out of the general view, Penny pulled nemona down to her height, crashing her lips against hers. causing the champion’s eyes to widen in shock, her face flushing red, but she would quickly respond to it by cupping her face. It felt nice, and Penny taking charge more set her poor heart aflame.

But soon, Nemona would stop and had to pull away and cover her face with the back of her hand. “h-hold on, that was pretty a-aggressive- I think my heart might just say kaboom if you continue doing something like that… ”

“Sorry…” Penny mumbled. her face equally red as Nemonas's, unsure what had come over her and looked away.  “n-no don't be- I was just surprised, was that uhm.. like, pent up frustration?”

“I uh… maybe, probably…” Penny muttered and looked away, guilty with a blush, and Nemona couldn't help but to laugh and hug her tight, kissing her cheek firmly and then her lips again, finding it endearing to find a new side of Penny she didn't know about.

“I’m sorry for ruining our date…” Nemona said, nuzzling her nose against the top of Penny's head while having her in her arms.

“You didn't ruin anything… whoever kept bothering you did, and even then I wouldn't say it’s ruined…”

“but-”

“No. not accepting it. And besides, I uh.. shouldn't have gotten mad, I’m sorry.” 

“Agree to just say it was a very rocky date…?”

“Sure… but it doesn’t have to be over yet, guess…”

“I thought you said you wanted to go back to the academy because you were tired?”

“I uhm… lied. I just wanted to escape to cope…” Penny shamefully admitted, and Nemona cocked her head to the side, trying to understand, then half laughed, rubbing her nose against her cheek this time. 

“I guess we both have our own stupid ways to avoid uncomfortable feelings.”

“I guess so… “ Penny mumbled and then glanced at Nemona. “So, uh… do you want to talk about those phone calls?”

“Hmm…I'd rather continue the date and not let our first date end so uh.. sad haha.”

“That’s fair… but-”

“I promise I will tell you. I want to tell you, it’s just…” Nemona paused, feeling uncertain for a moment, but then shook her head. No, she trusted Penny with this.

“It’s my family… And it’s hard for me to talk too much about them, and I'd rather honestly not think about them at all when I’m with you. So, another time, alright? I promise I will tell you what this was about, among other things, I promised to tell you.” Nemona spoke, finding Penny's hands to give them a gentle kiss, and Penny nodded.

“Okay. I understand.” Penny exhaled and looked up at Nemona with a gentle smile, and finished it off by tiptoeing to kiss her lips again.

“So… what do you want to do now? We could always go and find those Eevees you were talking about, or maybe another battle? Arcade?” Nemona asked, but then her phone went off, and the two girls exchanged a look. 

Nemona showed the ID of the caller with a strained smile, while Penny frowned.

“It seems, it’s father this time, haha…” Nemona said, and then for the first time, completely turned off her phone and gave her a smile. “There- no more disturbances, now there’s just you and I.”  Nemona said, hoping that she wouldn't get in more trouble than she probably already was. But… She knew better. But she decided she would not think of that right now. Right now, what mattered was her and Penny.

“Let’s go back and watch a different movie” Penny said, wrapping herself around Nemona’s arm possessively.

“Eh? I thought you didn't want to start over?”

“I don’t, we can watch it another time.”

“sooo, what do you have in mind?”

“Let’s watch a horror movie...”

“Wait, hold on- don’t you hate horror movies? You sure about this?”

I do, it’s honestly just an excuse to hold onto you more.” Penny said bluntly, causing Nemona to wholeheartedly laugh. “Oh, yeah? You counting on me to keep you safe from ghosts and curses alike? “

“Exactly. You make me feel safe. from people, ghosts, or hulking Pokémon charging at me rudely.”

“heheh. I have done that, haven’t I?” Nemona grinned widely, finding the shorter girl adorable in how she had grappled herself around her arm and happy their date wasn’t a total failure and could get right back on track.