Title: Engagement
Author: Shadow/Phantomness
Pairing: Championshipping (Lance x Red)
Fandom: Pokémon
Theme: #10, Engage
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: Pokemon belongs to Nintendo and Shogakukan Comics. This non-profit, non-copyright infringing fanfiction belongs to me under international copyright laws and taking it is plagiarism. Thank you. *Phantomness bows*

Notes: <> for telepathy, ** for thoughts, italics if a pokemon talks

Warnings: Shonen-ai

When he wakes up, it’s not in his own bed. The walls are blue and not cream, there’s a lavish tapestry depicting various dragons ornamenting the wall, and the closet is open and full of fancy clothes he’d never wear. The bed is soft, but it’s definitely not his, the sheets are sleek black silk and not cotton patterned with cute dancing pokemon, and when he moves, it doesn’t send an avalanche of stuffed dolls falling to the floor. He never expected this to happen. Sure, they were both sad and lonely and stressed and getting drunk was probably a bad idea with a capital B, but somehow between the cheap beer and the angst and the fact that misery loved company, they wound up in bed together and yes, it was rough at first but he got used to it quickly. Now, he’s not sure how he feels.

He stares at the other occupant of the bed, feeling somewhat shy and unsure. Lance’s face looks different when he sleeps, the harsh planes and angles suddenly soft and almost vulnerable. Red remembers that last night his eyes were like that too, gentle gold that made him sad. Red just didn’t want Lance to feel alone, so he kissed him. Then Lance kissed back and things just took off from there.

He feels Lance shift, and he’s scared to move. Lance blinks the sleep from his eyes, and Red waits. He’s almost positively sure Lance will throw him out and demand to know how this happened, but Lance puts his arms around him and kisses him, almost timidly.

“I’m sorry.”

“What?” Of all the things Red expected, that wasn’t it.

“I took advantage of you…”

Oh no. No, no, no. Red shakes his head. “It wasn’t your fault.”

“You’re not mad?”

Mad? For going through with the most bloody awesome sex he’s ever had? “No.” Red says firmly.

Lance hesitates. “I don’t make a habit of doing this, you know.”

“I don’t either, Dragon Master.” Red tells him. Then, “It doesn’t have to mean anything if you don’t want it to, Lance. We could just forget that this ever happened…”

For a minute, he feels as though his words are being judged, weighed, and then Lance chuckles. “You and I both know we don’t want that.”

Red agrees. Maybe it’s the sex, maybe not, but he feels a sense of rightness in all of this, in staying with Lance and making this a relationship that will work. Lance slides out of bed, and Red follows, and they shower together luxuriously, and then Lance makes pancakes for them.

When Red wakes up the next morning, he finds something on his finger, a thin band of silver, and he wonders why. It’s almost too romantic, except Lance doesn’t do romance, so it must mean something – something important.

He doesn’t take it off, and he smiles, and that makes Lance… feel better. And it’s almost like a promise, that this isn’t a one-night stand, and things just might work out.

Red smiles.

End Fic

Completed 9/10/07

Whee! ^^ And when I paste back my formatting is perfectly normal single-space. Yay! ^^

Lance: Interesting

Red: *Hugs Lance*