Chapter Text
It was almost disturbing how much they had clutched the towel in their hand. Rough and red, with the Centiskorch pattern to boot. God, it smelled so much like him. The duality of a man; sweat and the raw scent of some luxury cologne. There were a lot of towels just like this one stored in the locker room just for the Fire Gym Leader to use, yet he seemed to stick to just this one for some reason. Maybe he thought it gave him luck.
The worker holds it up to their nose either way and takes a small and cautious sniff. Because it feels stupid; because they know it’s absolutely ridiculous(and creepy). Maybe that was a good thing. It was always good to dream every once and awhile. Their dream was thinking that they’d be someone, be somebody standing by his side.
It almost hurt, no, it did hurt. It burnt like a nasty flame spat out by a Houndoom, never to heal ever again. Maybe that’s what Kabu was to them. A sickening burn just waiting to fester and ruin them. Yeah. That seemed about right. That’s what it felt like. As they fold up the towel in their rough hands, they turn it over a few times in their palms. It’s comforting, at least somewhat. They scoff before shaking their head, bothered by their actions before turning to exit the room to go and wash the towel Kabu for the next set of matches tomorrow.
“Are you just now leaving?”, they’re shocked out of their skin.
“Yeah, did, did you need something?”, they stammer as they glance to the older man with a sheepish expression.
He points to the towel just as they go to hand it back, “Right, sorry”, they apologize out of habit.
“Thank you”, he speaks before giving them a long stare.
They don’t like it very much because of two things: they feel like a cornered Pokémon beneath his intense gaze. Sweat makes their palms clammy and their mouth runs dry. Kabu gives them a small smile before removing those sharp eyes off of their frame. And suddenly, they remember how to breathe again. When had they been holding their breath? When had they been so anxious in front of their boss like this before? Arceus.
Could you really blame them though?
For a guy his age, he was… built. Despite his small demeanor, he was strong and passionate. More so than most people with the same amount of years under their belts.
“On second thought. You can keep it”, he decides before handing it back.
“I– Thank you, Mr. Kabu, sir”, they say respectfully, but they worry if they sounded too respectful.
They don’t want to kiss his ass or anything– yes they did–, they didn’t want to appear so pathetic in front of someone so… Kabu.
Hands reach out to grasp the towel before drawing back. He chuckles, finding something funny, it’s them isn’t it? What else would it be?
“There isn’t a need to be so nervous, you know”, he reminds them.
Obviously. It takes them a moment to regain their posture before nodding anyways and going to excuse themselves from the area, wanting to be alone with their thoughts. A gentle hand reaches out instead and manages to hold them still. They’re screaming. Internally, at least, they wouldn’t be so daft as to do that out loud.
“I-Is there something that you need from me sir?”, they ask, finding it hard to make eye contact or to come up with something that isn’t “sir” or “mr.”.
“...”
“Nevermind”, he says with that damn smile.
The smile that says he knows something when he doesn’t let on. The smile that makes them feel hot in the neck and strange around the ears. It’s something they aren’t used to: something totally foreign and they hate it. They despise this foolish feeling creeping up their spine and poisoning their heart. Because it isn’t fair.
Because it wouldn’t work.
“Have a good day, Mr. Kabu”, they bid him farewell as he does the same.