World – Manga
Characters –Norman, Birch, Ruby, Sapphire
Pairings – RubySapphire, slight.
Genres – Family, Humour, Romance
Warning – ¾ crackish, and a not-so-small joke on Ruby.
Note(s) – (Request #1) Okay, I sortof cheated with this request. I was requested by Akumugan to write something that Ruby and Sapphire do everyday. Which was hard to come up, but then I came across the stunning revelation that their names match. So I proceeded to assume (to my advantage) that Ruby and Sapphire probably think/wonder why the hell do they have matching names every single day.

And here's why.

Name Change

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It starts with a casual phone call which branches out into a thickening plot between two expecting fathers. Norman, who remains deliciously sceptical about the whole idea, and Birch, who means only to elicit a hearty laugh and to come up with a worthy name for the precious daughter who is to come in the September of that faithful year. The two men exchange general formalities and conversational questions, Norman is fatigued by Johto's beaming sun and Birch is excited in Hoenn's mellowing wind. The bustling night is inviting outside the window of an apartment in Goldenrod, whereas in Littleroot, the darkening evening beyond the glazed glass of a lab is silent, ushering everything to slumber.

"So your daughter's due soon, isn't she?" he asks.

"Yes, yes. Well, we hope for a daughter," the other replies breezily over the phone.

"What'll you name her?" the important question is posed.

"It really depends, doesn't it? We're thinking about a name that will reflect her," came the reply.

"Well, mine'll be Sapphire – definitely, since my wife's got the bluest eyes, you know that? We've decided we'll name our kid that, regardless of whatever she may look like," Birch chuckles from his end of the phone line. "She'll be stunning, though. I can feel it," he adds, his tone already developing into one that sounds incredibly fatherly, even through the minor bouts of static attacking their conversation.

"Then, perhaps we'll call our girl Ruby. We've been considering that," Norman suggests, the hint of humour thin and rare in his rumbling voice.

"Excellent! Won't that be great? Their names will coincide and then they can be the best of friends! … And aren't you intending to move over here soon?" the Pokémon researcher is swift in his response, his voice earnest and hopeful and promising.

Norman smiles in spite of himself as he shakes his head. Not that Birch can see.

"We'll see, Birch. And really now, I don't think everything will work out that well," the skilled trainer replies, never really the optimist.

.

.

But as he cradles a new, sprouting life in his shivering arms, he instantly knows that Ruby is the name that he needs to bestow upon this wailing child. Nevermind the small technicality of gender, it doesn't matter at all now. He hushes the small boy and exchanges a loving gaze with a wife that has gone through too much pain and blood and sweat. They share a brief second of silence, he holds the baby between his chin and her resting shoulder, and they realise that it was all worth it. Norman kisses her cheek, then above his brow. He leans into the chalk white mattress of the hospital bed so that his wife can get a better view of the young one.

The baby's adjusting eyes crack open warily, a transfixing combination of crimson red and strength and curiosity and everything Norman could ask for in a son. He is nothing but a precious, yawning gem that is crying to be polished.

.

.

"Hey!" the female calls loudly as she hangs off a cluster of vines that intertwine prettily across the rocky walls of the cavern.

The boy raises his head from the magazine he is skimming through, planting his hand on the text-filled page before regarding the chestnut haired girl with a dismissive look. His eyes stare out accusingly from above the rims of his fashionable spectacles as he mumbles a whispered mixture of 'That looks dangerous.' and 'Yes, cave girl slash barbarian?'.

Sapphire grins manically, much like a Cheshire cat. She leaps down from her mid-air suspension and lands near the boy's sitting form. She inches towards him and he recognizes that evil glint almost instinctively.

"Oh come on, not this again," he grumbles crossly.

"But really, ain't it funny that you've got a girly name?" Sapphire guffaws noisily, one hand taking its place over her stomach. She leans back and falls into a sea of cushioning pokédolls.

"Excuse me, but who elected you as the Queen of Names?" the red-eyed male challenges his friend, snapping the magazine shut and tossing it off to one unknown corner of the secret base. The girl closes her mouth to suppress the mocking laughter, but her shoulders continue to shake and her eyes are lilting with amusement.

"For all you know, maybe I've made Ruby a more masculine name, and not the other way around!" the boy proclaimed fabulously, one hand perching on his chin.

"Right, right. Maybe that was your dad's intention all along," Sapphire humours him with a slap on the back. As he wheezes breathlessly, she finally succeeds in overcoming her fit of laughter.

"This is just another reason for me to dislike that old man," Ruby grunts.

"Y'know, but our names do match. So does that mean anything?" the girl asks absent-mindedly, her cheeks turning one volume more pinkish.

"I hope not," Ruby shudders dramatically, tactfully ignoring her blushing as the collar of his shirt grows hot. They speak not of the scalding question that is lacing the tips of their tongues because they're teenagers and, of course, love isn't supposed to be this easy. And neither is admitting that they actually like the fact that their names go so well together. Maybe they'll thank their fathers profusely one day –

but not really.

The two spend the rest of the day arguing over the weather and other unimportant topics.

.

.

"Where's Sapphire?" Norman asks politely as he settles down with a mug of warm coffee.

"She's at her secret base today," the professor informs the gym leader, taking a spot on a stool next to his friend. Birch barely glances at the other male, his eyes glued to the greenish substance in the test tube he is taking a delicate hold of.

"Funny, I distinctly remember Ruby mentioning something about a base this morning too," Norman tells with fond remembrance, a knowing smirk playing across his wizened face.

He nearly sees the test tube crack under the care of the professor. But Birch ultimately fights back the urge to become destructive. He seems too gobsmacked to express his alarm, his eyes widening considerably as he steps off the chair to place the test tube into a holder on his workbench.

"Didn't you want our kids to be best friends, Birch?" the father teases jokingly.

The professor frowns indignantly at Norman; he rests his elbows on the workbench as his eyes wander over to the window that gives him an unobstructed view of the forest. He almost suspects it to explode and combust rapidly. Birch feels childish and paranoid for his reaction to the information, but the guilt soon passes as the nightmarish thought of Sapphire spending time with a Norman's kid threatens to nip and swallow his fatherly sanity whole.

He conjures up the worst case scenario, of a time when he will have to relinquish his adorable daughter to the weird boy with the weird hat and weird speech pattern. If they get married – he'll be related to Norman. He can't decide if that's a cause for wine-toasting celebration or a petty reason to go back out of Littleroot and get mauled by the strangely inviting Mightyena all over again.

"… That was when I thought that Ruby was a name for a girl," he mutters sullenly, sticking his tongue out.

.

.

end.