#ciphershipping

Nascour: He worked closely with Ein on the Shadow Pokémon Project. Then they also got close in other ways. You see, Nascour may not be a scientist, but a criminal mastermind is definitely smart enough to understand what's going on, plus Shadow Pokémon became a sort of shared special interest for these two. Not to mention they're lonely and mentally ill men who were, for various reasons, desperate for connection.

Venus: She just had to get involved after seeing her boss babe bestie bang his boy toy. And when Venus wants something, she gets it. Though Ein put up an admirable resistance, far more than any other man has ever managed.

Justy: He has some involvement with Cipher in my verse. The reasons why he ended up talking to Ein were a) Justy's tendency to crush on problematic men and b) his interest in Pokémon Gyms which Ein as a foreigner knows more about. Even though Justy politely declined having any of his Pokémon shadowed when Ein generously offered it, they got along, especially because Justy is sweet and caring in a way that Ein just wasn't getting from Nascour and Venus.

Skrub: He admires men like Ein a lot - the education, status, refined speech, all of that. Ein likes... that Skrub is blonde. For reasons previously alluded to.

(It should be noted that Ein never properly dated any of these people because he's still incredibly attached to Colress and misses him.)

Another for fun idea I have is that Ein ends up having hate sex with Prof. Krane at some point. Which I am aware is a crazy statement to make after I talked about Ein wanting Krane dead less than 24 hours ago, but hey. Who says those things are mutually exclusive. Not on this blog they aren't.

You know, one thing I find just so entertaining in fandom - which is something some people will roll their eyes at, but haters gonna hate - is to take two characters who either canonically despise each other or would absolutely despise each other, get them all riled up and screaming bloody murder and then make them fuck about it.