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A sleepover is being held in the Boonchuy household. It is dark out, 8pm, streetlights shine through the house's window blinds just barely. A soft purr and quiet buzz fill the bedroom.
Staring down at the bright screen illuminating them, two girls and a cat are huddled close together under a blanket, playing Pokémon Soul Silver on a 3DS xl.
"Ooo.... pick Chikorita!"
"Chikorita?" Marcy turned to look at Anne. "But Chikorita is the weakest of the three.. It will make our playthrough wayyy harder! The first two gyms are super effective against grass!! Actually, fun fact, out of any starter Pokémon Meganium has one of the lowest base stats." She explained.
"Oh." Anne paused, glancing towards the ceiling and then beaming at her friend. "But.. It's cute!"
Marcy looked back at her DS and to Anne again. "Hmm... Yeah, I guess you're right!"
And so, she chose Chikorita.
"What should we name her?" She asks.
"How about.." The other girl squinted at the tiny bouncing sprite, taking in it's appearance. "...Pear! Cuz she looks like a pear." She looked awfully proud of herself with that one, Domino rubbing her hand and licking it.
Marcy could go on to explain why really there were so many possible options, and well, when Chikorita evolves it doesn't even really look like a pear anymore. It's appearance changes to be more dinosaur like with flowers. But Anne's smiling face convinced her to otherwise.
"Pear it is!"
-
Soft clicks of button presses and whispers fill the space under the blanket. Hours of grinding to higher levels, Anne repeatedly talking to the Pokémon following them, having to retry Sprout Tower, but eventually they get around to beating the first gym.
"That sheep is so cute!! We need to catch it!!"
"That's Mareep. It's an electric type! And yeah I was gonna anyway. Faulkner is a flying type gym leader, which is weak against electric."
"We should have our whole team be Mareeps! And Pear! Let's do that!!"
They were exhausted. Staying up playing video games until 12am does numbers to a 9 year old.
"C'mon!.." Anne muttered as she stood from their pile of pillows and blankets sprawled across the floor, wobbling with the weight of her cat in her arms. Marcy let out a yawn getting up and collapsed on the bed, quickly making her way against the wall.
They had a routine, Marcy always on the side towards the wall, Anne next to her, with Domino usually finding herself most comfortable near the foot of her bed or on the pile of blankets on the floor.
After getting comfortable Anne pulls up their blanket. They exchange their goodnights and start to doze off.
Marcy stares at the wall as usual, taking in its specific details she's noticed after all her visits. She feels more at home here then with her own family, she thinks.
"Hey Anne?" Marcy mutters after however long.
"Hm?"
Marcy stares at her friends' back. "When did you know you.. You were a girl?"
Anne rolls over to Marcy, blinking. "I dunno. I kinda just always did. 'Boy' never felt right."
Marcy tightens her grip on the blanket, before continuing.
"Do you think someone could be both.. or neither? Or something else?"
Anne's eyes widen as she thinks. "I never really thought about that." A pause before a smile. "But I think someone who was would be pretty awesome."
Marcy giggled. "Yeah, me too." She smiles back.
They just stare at each other for a moment, warm and genuine. Marcy feels so glad, so happy to have Anne. Even if she had to go back to her parents after every visit. She knew that she'd always have her.
Anne pulls her into a hug, which she returns. Closing her eyes and smiling into her shoulder.
"Can we play more Pokémon tomorrow?" Anne whispers.
Marcy lets out a small laugh, "Of course.. We can't leave Pear and all our Mareeps can we?!"
More laughs slowly fade into silence.
"G'nite Anne.."
"Night.."
The bed is cozy and warm, thoughts of electric sheep and dinosaur pears fill their minds, and the two couldn't be happier.