Chapter Text
Ivan woke up to his husband peppering kisses over his face. Usually, he woke up before his partner, today seemed a little different. Till clearly chose to wake up earlier this morning, for some unknown reason.
"Mmm good morning Till…" Ivan murmured, turning over to face his husband. "You're up early."
Till brushed a strand of hair away from Ivan's face, an affectionate smile on his lips. "It's your birthday, so I thought maybe one day I'd wake up before you to celebrate properly before our Pokémon wake up."
That was another thing. They were both Pokémon trainers, but in different senses of the word. Till appreciated the battles that came with the job, and Ivan more preferred the studying and taking care of the creatures. He of course, was always there with Till when he had a promotion match to rank up, or if he was not too tired to go to a Battle Zone with him.
And often times, their partner Pokémon would be the ones to wake them up. Ivan's partner, Flareon, most of the time would be found sleeping in the bed, while Till's partner, Greninja, slept hanging upside down in the corner from the ceiling.
But, today, Till had woken up early enough that neither partner was awake to wake them up. So the two men had some alone time, at least for now.
Ivan pressed a kiss to Till's lips. "This is already a great birthday present, you know. Waking up to your face."
"Stop being corny." Till muttered, but pressed his lips back against Ivan's anyways. "You're gonna wake up Flareon with how sappy you're being."
Ivan huffed a sigh against Till's lips before pulling back and cuddling closer to his husband. "Says the person who woke up earlier just to celebrate my birthday.
"…shut up." Till muttered, but let Ivan snuggle closer anyways. He secretly loved the affection, even though he would consistently complain about how clingy his partner was. "Hey. Don't you wanna get up? I got you some gifts."
Ivan hummed incoherently against Till's chest, not moving at all. Till sighed and rubbed his husband's back, trying to coax him to get up. "C'mon… I'll make you pancakes… it is Valentine's Day, after all, and your birthday."
"And because it's my birthday, I order that we stay in bed." Ivan pouted, still refusing to move.
Now Till had to resort to other means, he supposed. He reached just a little over Ivan's body, to where his massive (not to mention fluffy and adorable) Flareon was sleeping. Till poked her a couple times before she stirred, and thankfully got the memo, crawling onto Ivan, then promptly began to lick his face.
Flareon was bigger than average, because of a phenomenon found in Lumiose called "Alpha" Pokémon, meaning that they were bigger than average. Ivan had found this Flareon as an Eevee when he was a child, and had raised it until he found a Fire Stone to evolve it into a Flareon.
And despite Ivan possessing many, many Pokémon, Flareon was, by far, his favourite.
And Ivan couldn't really resist getting up when there was now a rather heavy weight on his chest, combined with Till trying to get him to wake up.
"Okay! Okay! I'm up!" Ivan protested, hoisting Flareon off of him, but he was smiling all the same. "Fine. But I am demanding pancakes."
Till let out a sigh of relief and sat up, then walked over to the corner where his Greninja was sleeping, and gently tapped the frog Pokémon's shoulder (or whatever the equivalent was for him).
The frog jumped down from his post on the ceiling, landing perfectly on the floor below, then without missing a beat, he followed Till towards the kitchen, yawning softly.
Greninja had been a gift from Ivan to Till in the form of an egg, when they had been children. He'd raised Greninja since he was a Froakie, and they had a special bond, just like Ivan had with Flareon.
"Chocolate or regular pancakes? And what kind of berries do you want on them?" Till asked as he poured a bowl of Greninja's favourite Poké-food. He simultaneously poured a bowl of Flareon's favourite kibble, just so that Ivan would have to do as little work as possible because it was his birthday.
Ivan took his sweet time to answer Till, plopping down in one of the chairs at the counter, humming under his breath. "Dunno… I think no chocolate… and lots of Pecha berries on top, please."
"Are you trying to summon Pecharunt from Paldea, or something? Nah, I'm kidding of course." Till teased, already starting to grab ingredients from around their kitchen to start with breakfast. "Oh, and that square box in front of you is your first gift. There's more to come, but I thought you might want that one first."
Till looked back as Ivan's eyes lit up, and paused in his stirring of the batter so that he could watch Ivan open his first gift, with a very eager Flareon at his feet, balancing on it's hind legs to try to get a look at what Ivan was getting.
When Ivan opened the box, he was faced with a Pokéball placed in the center. A Love Ball. A rare Pokéball that couldn't be bought from any Pokémon Centers, and one that Ivan had been searching for for years.
Till had only been able to obtain one from one of his competitors in the recent SBC "Super-Tournoi" that he had been invited to, after beating them in a brutally taxing battle for both him and his team of Pokémon.
And, it was fitting for the day, because while it was Ivan's birthday, it was also Valentine's Day, so a Love Ball fit the theme.
"Till… is… is this what I think it is?" Ivan whispered, and his Flareon yipped from beside him, getting tired of jumping up to try and see, simply settling on jumping onto the chair beside Ivan.
The silver-haired trainer nodded. "A Love Ball. Super rare, hard to get. And 100% real. I beat someone during Lady Jacinthe's "Super Tournoi" and she said I could pick whatever prize I wanted from her, so I asked for this for you!"
Ivan looked like he was almost on the verge of tears, and the day had honestly barely even started. Was this really such an important gift to him?
"That's why you didn't want me coming to watch that specific battle in the tournament. You didn't… want to ruin the surprise." Ivan gasped out, smiling so brightly as he examined the rare ball.
"Greninja helped me hide it in the ceiling of the apartment so you wouldn't find it while cleaning, or something." Till admitted with a grin, holding out his hand to his partner Pokémon so he could get a high-five from the webbed-hand of his Greninja.
Ivan laughed wetly and swiped the tears away from his face, then smiled gratefully at Till's Greninja. "Thanks buddy, for not letting me ruin the surprise for myself. And…thank you so much, my love. This means a whole lot to me."
"I'm glad you like it. It's not even the best gift I got you, so buckle up." Till said proudly, then turned to the oven so that he could continue making Ivan's pancakes.
"God, I love you so freaking much." Ivan said, lifting Flareon onto his lap so he could pet her, which made the fire fox extremely happy. So much so that she started purring in his lap.
Till smiled and blew a kiss at his husband. "Love you too."
Once the pancakes were done, Till sat down next to Ivan and Flareon, Greninja joining them in the last chair, just because he could (it had become a routine at this point), and they began to eat.
"These are so good." Ivan moaned around a bite of the food, and Till stifled a laugh.
"Only the best for my husband." Till replied, leaning in to kiss his (human) partner's shoulder. "But hurry up. I do have plans for us for today."
Ivan lit up like a Christmas tree at that and immediately started shovelling food into his mouth like it was the last meal he was ever going to have.
"Am I allowed to know?" Ivan asked excitedly.
"…I'll help you catch any Pokémon you want today. Not that you aren't competent, of course, but you'll have a better chance of catching them if me and my team get them to be knocked out first." Till offered. This was something that Ivan had been asking him to do for ages, but Till had always declined, saying that he needed to save his team's strength for the nightly Battle Zones that he often took part in.
But today, of course, was a special day.
"Really?" Ivan said, lighting up yet again. "You always say no!"
"And I'm saying yes today. Any Wild Zone too." Till grinned, then sat up, took their plates, and placed them into the dishwasher. "Let's go get ready!"
And so Ivan leaped out of his seat and followed Till straightaway.
Ivan had always had a thing for soft, adorable, and cute Pokémon. But his definition of soft and cute and adorable was different than most would assume. He saw even the Pokémon that most would not think "adorable" or "cute" of, at first glance, as some of the sweetest creatures on the planet.
Till loved that about him.
While Till of course, loved his team of Pokémon, he picked them out and trained them to be powerful. Ivan, picked them and caught them to study, but also to fill out his Pokédex. They were polar opposites, and yet they were painfully in love with each other.
While Ivan's team of Pokémon weren't exactly weak, per se, he was scared to use them to fight in Wild Zones in case they got hurt. So today was a great day for Ivan, because Till, and his team, were not afraid to fight any wild creature.
"Where do you want to go first?" Till asked as they stood outside their apartment complex, looking out over the Vert Sector of Lumiose City. "I'll take you wherever you want. Even Wild Zone 17, if there are some mons you really want there."
Ivan hummed under his breath and looked down to his partner, Flareon. "What do you think, Flareon? Which one should we go to?"
Ivan promptly pulled out his Rotom Phone and showed it to the fox, letting her see the Wild Zones. She tapped on the Wild Zone labelled 18, and yipped happily. So Zone 18 it was.
"Zone 18 it is!" Ivan chirped, bouncing on the balls of his feet. It was rather adorable, honestly, seeing a grown man get excited over these things, and Till was happy that Ivan was happy. "That's actually amazing, because I've been wanting to catch a Fennekin for ages."
Till knew that. Ivan had been desperately trying to catch a Fennekin in that zone for ages, but he had never been successful, as the Fennekins were very skittish and ran away quickly.
"Then let's go, shall we?" Till said, pulling out the Pokéball belonging to his Lucario, just so she could tag along with them. It was also a precaution, just in case any Pokémon decided to sneak up on them while they navigated the Wild Zone, because Lucario could sense things with it's aura power, things that normal humans couldn't.
Lucario was also fast, so that was a bonus.
Ivan wrapped an arm around Till and excitedly started dragging him towards the flying taxi that was situated on the side of the road. "Hey! Can we get on!"
The operator smiled and waved the two men and their Pokémon over, letting them into the high-tech vehicle. "Where to, boys?"
"The Pokécenter near Zone 18, please." Till asked, lifting his ball cap from his eyes, and the operator immediately recognized him.
"Hey, you're Till, right? The young man who beat me in a Battle Zone a few days ago."
Till was surprised that the man remembered, but shrugged. "I'm just trying to get my Challenger's Ticket for the next rank, is all."
"You're a formidable trainer that's for sure." praised the man.
Ivan interjected with a soft giggle. "I know, isn't my husband just the strongest ever?"
Till brushed him off with an affectionate smirk. "Yeah, yeah, no need to butter me up like that."
He was that good, though. He was currently at Rank B in the Z-A Royale, and was almost at enough battle points to get a Challenger's Ticket for his next promotion match. He was considered, already, one of the top trainers in Lumiose City.
"Husband? This your guys' Valentine's excursion, then?" asked the driver as they sped above Lumiose towards the Wild Zone.
"And his birthday excursion." Till replied.
"That's so sweet!" chirped the driver as they landed just outside the Pokécenter. "Well, have a good day, folks!"
Ivan, Till, and the two Pokémon they had out of their balls to travel with them exited the flying taxi and looked around the area they were now in.
"Oh my goodness, I'm so excited ahh!" Ivan squealed, tugging on Till's arm like a child, despite being both older and taller than Till.
"I know you are darling. So let's get going, shall we?" Till said, taking Ivan's hand and intertwining their fingers. "We gotta go around the back because the Fennekin are on the roof, right? Sorry, you know more about mon locations than I do."
Ivan nodded. "Yep! You can find Fennekin, Swablu, and Altaria on the roof during the day, and instead of Swablu and Altaria at night, Noibat and Noivern!"
Ivan was so well versed in Pokémon studies to the point where you could ask him anything about a specific Pokémon and he'd be able to answer. On their recent vacation to Hoenn over the winter holidays, the professor there had been thoroughly impressed by his knowledge.
"Alright. Lead the way, darling." Till said, letting Ivan and his Flareon help navigate the back alleys toward one of the entrances to Wild Zone 18.