Chapter Text
Dawn looked at the various boxes that were just outside of the home they had just gotten within Eterna City. It was a small condo, but it fit their needs quite well. The two had been spending a few years now at her mother's home, and while she didn't mind, she did want to find something nicer eventually. She saved on the side, and thanks to champion payouts and sponsor deals (no wonder Cynthia seemed to be living so luxuriously, Dawn thought the first time it had happened), the two were finally able to get their own place, which they now looked at.
...But of course, the problem now was getting everything into their new place.
"Still can't believe what they were charging to put the stuff in the house," Dawn said as the two stood outside, looking at all the things they had to bring in, unpack, the works. They had hired a moving company that utilized Machoke to help bring their things there, but it was an extra fee to actually put everything inside and all that. "It's for convenience, sure, but man. An extra 300,000 Poke for that?" She scoffed, a bit frustrated at how things had turned out. It wasn't super expensive or anything, but with her already paying for them to help move things out, it felt a bit excessive. "If I didn't know any better, I'd think they were overcharging because I'm the champion."
Irida giggled a bit. "It does seem a bit much. But perhaps it'll make the experience that much nicer, being able to set up our new home." She let out a content sigh, as a happy smile formed on her face. Irida was practically beaming now. " Our new home, together, where I'll live with the love of my life..." Dawn looked over and simply gave her girlfriend a kiss on the cheek.
"You're cute when you're all romantic like that, Irida." She was giving off a similar emotion to Irida's, very happy at how things had turned out. "But I guess you're right." Dawn put her hands behind her head, looking in the window of the currently vacant home, giving Irida's words some thought. "It'll be kinda nice for it to be a place that we set up, and we won't have to worry about moving stuff around all too much, since like...we'll know where we want things and all that."
Irida nodded in response. "Mmhm. It shouldn't take too long, right? We didn't have too much, but we'll have to set up all the furniture and everything..." Irida's expression turned to one of mild concern, as she seemed deep in thought. "Perhaps this might take us longer than expected. Not that it's a big deal, of course, but..."
"Hey, we'll be okay." Dawn put her hand onto Irida's back, giving it a gentle rub and seeing her girlfriend's expression change. It always made her happy to see Irida's smile, and she knew she could worry about situations such as this. "Might take a bit, but it'll just make the end result that much better, yeah?"
"Besides, what's the worst that could happen?"
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"...Okay, on three." Irida was grabbing one side of the queen-sized mattress, which was taken from Dawn's old room. Dawn was on the other side, ready to pick it up. This wouldn't be too hard, she imagined. It'll suck, but carrying stuff has never been too bad. Mom had me do it a bunch when I was younger and she wanted to move stuff around. Not too bad.
"Got it."
"One...two...three!" Irida confidently lifted up her side of the mattress, and Dawn-
Oh FUCK
This thing was heavier than she remembered. Fucking hell, it was heavier than she remembered. She was a lot weaker than she remembered. She was able to lift it, but it was not very easy and it did not feel great.
Dawn's memory quickly shifted back to many years ago, when she was being told side effects that may occur when she was starting HRT by her doctor.
"...Now, after a certain point, you might notice your body losing some muscle mass. It'll make you a bit weaker in terms of physical strength, but that's just part of the process. It won't affect things in any major way, but it might make certain things a lot trickier to carry... "
"Son of a..." Dawn grunted out as she tried to not give either her legs or back out. She was grabbing it, she was lifting it, but neither of these processes were very easy.
"Oh goodness, are you okay, Dawn?" Irida said, poking her head out to see what Dawn was struggling with. She looked very concerned.
"No--yeah, I'm...fine, just...gotta get this over with. Heavier--than I thought." She said, her face strained from the weight of the object she was carrying.
Just gotta get this inside and up the stairs. Just gotta get it up the stairs and it's easy. Please be easy.
"Okay, but don't force yourself to do more than you need to. If you need a breather, let me know, and we can set it down so you can breathe." Irida's expression was still one of worry. "You sure you'll be okay?"
"Yup. Positive. Now let's...get this over with before my legs give out." Dawn's voice was strained as well, and the two began to move. Thankfully, Irida was the one moving backwards up the stairs.
After some very exhausting maneuvering up the stairs and through the hallway to their room, the mattress was finally in the room, sitting in the middle as the only thing inside. Dawn let out a huge, exhausted puff of air she didn't realize she was holding in, and Irida walked over to check up on her, with Dawn flopping onto the ground in defeat. "Are you alright, Dawn? Goodness, that looked like it took a lot out of you. Do you need water?" She helped Dawn back up, worry written all over her face.
"...How was that so easy for you?????" She looked at Irida with a bit of an exasperated expression. That had been effortless for her, and Dawn was just struggling the entire time.
"Well, Gaeric's lessons included a lot of physical training. You wouldn't believe the lessons he had me endure, sometimes."
...Oh, right. Dawn had forgotten about that. Irida had some muscle to her, sure, but Dawn never really noticed it most times. But it did make sense, given Gaeric's incredible physical strength, that Irida wouldn't be far off.
"...Fuckin' hell..." She said, laughing a little. "That...that makes sense. Hey, do you mind if I...take a breather? That...took a lot out of me." Dawn's breath was heavy with exhaustion, and her arms already felt a bit sore. And that was one of the first things, too...
"That's quite alright, we're in no hurry." Irida laughed a little. "I feel bad, but this is kind of funny..."
Dawn rolled her eyes, but her smile gave away her amusement at the whole situation. It was kind of funny, even if just one mattress took the wind out of her this quickly. "Yeah yeah, sorry we all can't have training with someone who was probably able to outrun a Rapidash..." Dawn said in a very joking tone. The two laughed it off for a bit, being a good way to de-stress.
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"...Okay, so now you have to grab the washer, put that in the bolt that's poking out when you put the side in, grab a nut, and then fasten that in. Then after that, we'll need to so something with the clips at the bottom... I think?"
"Not the easiest instructions to describe, huh..."
And then came the actual building of the furniture. Dawn and Irida were sitting on the ground, poking around and trying to figure out how to put a simple couch together. Dawn had put her hair into a ponytail so that it wouldn't get in the way, something which Irida thought was rather cute.
Dawn threw her head back a little, groaning in slight frustration. "Arceus above, you'd think the way they design this stuff they're trying to make it impossible to build."
Irida frowned a bit, wishing things were going a bit easier so she wouldn't have to see Dawn struggle like this, even if it was just a little. They weren't having the worst time ever, but she felt bad that she wasn't really able to help much. Putting things together like this had never been something she was particularly good at, both in Hisui and in the current day Sinnoh.
"...Ah, it's alright, Irida." Dawn looked over and grinned. "I'm no good at this stuff either, clearly. We do it once and then we don't have to again." Dawn's smile and compassion always warmed Irida's heart, and this time was no different. Even the smallest of worries felt blasted away whenever Dawn looked at her like that. "I mean, unless we buy more furniture, but...hey, maybe we'll be better at it by then?"
Irida nodded. "Hopefully, if these instructions don't get any less confusing to figure out. You wouldn't think something so simple would be so complicated to put together, but I suppose there's more nuance to it than it seems." She looked the instructions over again out of curiosity. There weren't many steps, but there was a lot more than expected to do, and the instructions weren't...terribly clear at making things obvious.
But at the very least, they hadn't broken or lost anything yet. Irida had made sure of that - almost a little too worried at the mere prospect when Dawn mentioned it might be annoying if that happened.
"Yeah, guess so. It's kind of interesting in a way, but I think I'm too confused to appreciate it properly." She chuckled a little, amused by the situation. "Maybe we can do so later when we're cuddling on it."
Irida began to think about that. "That'll be lovely...goodness, what a motivator to finish this thing." She tilted her head slightly, enjoying the thought of the two being able to enjoy one another's embrace on it. "I love you, Dawn..."
"I love you too, my sweetheart." Dawn leaned over and gave Irida a peck on the cheek, smiling happily. "...Do you know where that screw went? I gotta get these clips in..."
"Ah, right!" Irida snapped out of her (rather lovely) daydream, looking around and finding the object Dawn was looking for, handing it to her.
These little moments weren't anything special, but it was nice to spend them with Dawn. It made them feel that much more wonderful, even if it was something like this.
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And as the two worked on unpacking, building, and moving things, the sky had turned dark. Time seemed to fly by as the two were figuring out where things would go, getting things set up, and taking breaks to enjoy the other's company (and to allow a very, very exhausted Dawn to take a long breather any time the two moved something remotely heavy, which Irida found some enjoyment in despite feeling guilty), but eventually, they had most basic things set up - the bed, the couch, the table, and a few basic utilities such as the oven. It'd likely take them a few more days to get everything truly in place, and there were still some boxes to sort out, but they were at least making progress.
Dawn slumped onto the couch besides Irida, absolutely exhausted. Her biceps were incredibly sore, her entire body felt like it was overheating, and her hair was frizzy and messy. She put a pizza box onto the counter. "This is going to be the absolute worst thing I put into my body but oh my god we've earned it. " She laughed a bit, still exhausted from the dresser that they had moved upstairs into their room. It was her old one from her mother's home, but with how goddamn heavy it was, Dawn almost wished she bought a new one.
"Yes, it has been quite a day, hasn't it?" Irida looked somewhat similar to Dawn, what with sweat and frizzy hair, but she looked a bit more composed in comparison. That training really seemed to help her, and the way Irida had effortlessly been showcasing her strength (even if it wasn't in a major way) had been kind of hot .
Reminder - get Irida to arm wrestle Buck next time you see him. That'd be pretty funny.
Dawn snickered to herself a little just thinking about that. Maybe she'd have to plan that sooner than later.
"Well, it does feel pretty nice knowing that we put this place together, at least." Dawn opened the box, from a local place called Torchic's. It was the gooiest cheese pizza she had ever seen.
"But now, let's take it easy." Dawn thought about what was ahead, now that they had moved in. There was a lot left to do, and it was kind of overwhelming to think about. "Tomorrow's another day of unpacking and all that other stuff...then we gotta look for a washer and dryer, and-"
Irida interrupted Dawn with a kiss on the lips, which surprised her a bit, but she eased into it after a second. "I'm the one that does all that foresight, not you. We'll worry about it tomorrow, okay?"
Dawn smiled. Her girlfriend was very, very sweet. "Yeah, guess you're right. Thanks, Irida." She snuggled up close to her love, feeling a bit better already. "It'll be hard, but we'll do it together."
"And there's nobody in the world, nobody in the whole universe, that I'd rather do it with, than you, Dawn, the love of my life." She nuzzled into Dawn as well, the two very content. This was the start of something wonderful for the two of them, and even though they still had things to do, it was a brand new chapter.
"Oh, yeah, we still have to get that AC installed, too."
Irida nodded, and she looked like she was thinking about it. "Yes, I did notice it was quite warm in here..."
"... Warm? Irida, it's cold in here."
"Oh, let me live, Dawn!" She pouted a bit, which caused Dawn to laugh. "You always make fun of me for that..."
"Well, it's cute, so I can't help it." Dawn gave Irida a quick kiss on the cheek.
Though it was a brand new chapter, things never really changed, it seemed.