Dedicated to Amethyst AS! Happy Birthday sis! I hope you have an amazing day! Xoxoxoxox

Notes: Dawn is an amazing character, and so is Paul. They deserve all the love.

Description: She kisses him once, because it's all she can do, and maybe, it was all leading up to that anyway.

Rambling

(Paul enters her life as a stranger)

He's the scowling boy with the cold eyes and hateful stare, who sneers at her friends and laughs at her friendship, and lets the words troublesome escape from his lips so very very carelessly she wants to cry (because for all of the names she has ever been given, that one is the worst, because it shows that he will never be willing to see her as anything more than a pest). He remains to her as unknown as a random passerby on the street, as mysterious as the dark expanse beyond an unlit doorway, and as intriguing as an unknown Pokemon lying behind the stalks of a tall grass field.

But Dawn is curious, and Paul Shinji is the first real puzzle she has ever had the pleasure of solving; so she takes it without a moment's hesitation.

.

(And somewhere in the middle, Paul becomes a friend)

.

Dawn loves contests, truly she does; there's nothing quite as fulfilling as the rush one gets on that stage: the crowd, the lights, the pokemon working selflessly for their trainers, working hard to create something beautiful - no, draw-droppingly stunning - just to bring a smile to the face of others. It's a great line of work, and she meets so many amazing people, she doesn't think she could ever be happier.

But sometimes, the whole ordeal can feel absolutely suffocating. It's during these times that Dawn likes to get away. She likes to leave behind the tight dresses that leave indents along her waistline, the wafts of perfume and hairspray that clog in her throat, and the pompous voices of self-centered trainers who aren't there for their pokemon, but rather for the time they get on air.

Dawn enjoys taking a break from time to time, just to remind herself that she's human.

So she leaves.

She spends her time traveling through all of the forests she can find, sleeping peacefully in the comfort of her tent and some nights using the night sky as her only blanket (inevitably she wakes up with tangled nests in her hair, and thanks Arceus no one can see). She climbs trees for bright colored fruit and shares the pieces with her pokemon, laughing especially hard at the face Piplup makes as he takes an extra sour one.

But still, it's not enough - so she keeps moving.

Summer, Spring, Fall, and Winter pass by in a blur, and even then Dawn is still traveling. She scours the many beaches of Sinnoh looking for the prettiest shells to bring home to her mother, and gets enough sand in her clothing to stick for days (sometimes weeks). She hikes up trails Ash and Brock never had a chance to take her on, and takes as many pictures as she can, making sure to send them the goofiest ones she can find. Terrain after terrain, pokemon after pokemon, Dawn lets them engulf her.

And one day, she sees Paul of all people. He's still tall enough to tower over her, and if anything has changed perhaps only his shoulders have broadened, and his hair grown longer, but other than that he's still Paul: dark, saturnine, brooding Paul. She finds him in one of the many caves scattered around Sinnoh's rugged mountain sides, attempting to scavenge the walls for any stones. When she makes her presence known, he almost looks surprised.

"Hello," she greets, her voice barely above a whisper. She bites her lip, and tries to ignore the surge of butterfrees that erupt in her stomach when his dark eyes met her own.

"Oh...it's you," is all he says. His voice is scratchy, no doubt from lack of talking, and Dawns stifles a giggle at the sound.

"So you do remember me? That's nice to know."

"I try not to." He scowls then, and if possible it makes his eyes seem darker. Dawn quite likes the way his lower lip subtly pokes out when he pouts, it's almost cute.

"Do you mind if I join you?"

It takes quite the amount of begging from Dawn, and an even larger amount of time for Paul's patience to wear thin, but eventually they take to exploring the cave together. Dawn happily chirps out conversation, while Paul leads her down the many dips and turns of the cave's interior, sometimes steadying her with the palm of his hand against the small of her back. Most of the time, Paul is silent, but Dawn doesn't quite mind. Paul is Paul; he's always been like this.

After a while though, he asks her why she decided to suddenly start traveling. Dawn shrugs her shoulders. "I guess I just needed to get away for a while," is what she answers.

Paul nods before speaking, "I see." Then, he shoves his hands into his pockets, and mumbles down at the ground. "Just as long as you don't get too carried away. Taking a break is nice and all, but you have people back home waiting for you." He forces his head up, and their eyes meet, the intensity of his gaze making her cheeks blaze red. "Don't forget about them."

She stares at him for a long time, and knows better than to ask about his own family. Instead, she smiles. "Don't worry, I won't. After all, I still remembered you, didn't I?"

She almost doesn't want to go home after that.

.

(And before she knows it, Dawn is falling hard for the boy).

.

One day, long after they've decided to travel together, Paul finds a stone. The twinkle of light catches his eye, and after squeezing his hand through a small hole in the wall, he pulls it out. The treasure isn't an evolution stone, as he was hoping for, but rather like a gem. Dawn likes the color: deep purple, glowing pink under the light of his flame pokemon's fire.

Paul shoves it into her hand. "Keep it," he tells her.

"But Paul, you found it! I can't just-"

"Keep it."

It's the first real gift he has ever given her, and Dawn can't help but feel something swell deep in the pit of her heart.

.

(Falling, falling, falling, falling)

.

They travel to the ends of Sinnoh and back.

They save each other more times than they can count.

They become each other's second half.

But one day...one day they have to leave each other.

And they split up.

.

(But in the end, Dawn supposes, her heart was always going to lead her in his direction)

.

The next time she sees him, it's years later, and he's already leaving for another region. She guesses she should have saw it coming; Sinnoh is large, sure, but not enough to contain a trainer's sense of adventure. (She knows this far too well from Ash). So before he does go (for Mew knows how long; days, weeks, months, years?) she kisses him. It's a quick peck if anything, across the side of his mouth in the indent of his cheek, but she puts her heart and soul into it, hoping that he understands the meaning it conveys. When she pulls away, Paul is stunned.

"If you do have to go," she says, "just know that you have family waiting for you here too. Try not to forget about us, okay?"

Paul turns his head away from hers so she doesn't see his blush. "Troublesome…"

Three weeks later he's on the phone, and he tells her about a contest being held in the town he is staying at.

She leaves the next morning.

.

.

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