#thedevilsruby

You were walking with your Eevee, enjoying the warm sunshine and the gentle breeze. Maybe you could wade in a creek nearby, let the water relax your feet.

"Hey, Y/n." A voice cut your thoughts in half. You groaned and turned to see Arlo with that insufferable smirk on his stupid face.

"Go away, Stunky-head." You growled, picking your Eevee up in your arms as she started to growl, ready to defend you at your command.

"Why would I leave when I could simply beat you?" Arlo asked, fist on his hip in a pose that made you want to roll your eyes.

"You never beat me." You replied. "Even your Scizor lost to me." You knew his prized Scizor was his strongest, but you beat it everytime with your Ninetails.

"Maybe fate's different this time!" Arlo barked, getting a pokeball out. "Fight me, Y/n!"

You blinked, then smiled in a way that gave him Butterfree. Stars, he hoped the heat rushing to his cheeks wasn't obvious. "You sound like a Pokebook internet meme. I can't take you seriously."

"I'm serious!" He snapped. "I wanna see if my newest tactic will beat you!"

"No thanks." You said.

Arlo wanted to whine. Battling you was literally the only time he could get close enough to spend time with you. Didn't you see that he only wanted to be around you?

Didn't you want to be around him?

You shrugged, turning around with your Eevee in your arms. "Maybe next time. I just wanna enjoy my day. Later." And with that, you walked off, oblivious to the hurt flashing in his eyes.

Arlo didn't understand. Why didn't you want to spend time with him and get to know him? He was an amazing person, he could spoil you rotten with his credit card anytime you asked, drop important projects to spend time with you (even if it made Boss Giovanni mad).

He would have to try harder he supposed.

The brunette glanced over to the man sitting beside her. Who would've thought she'd be working by his side now, not that she had a choice if she wanted to keep her loved ones safe.

It had been a little over a year since Corsen had left Team Mystic behind and with it, Blanche. Corsen contained the somber frown from forming as she watched Arlo scribble away in an old journal, too focused to notice the brunette eyeing him. Oddly enough he had grown comfortable with the presence of the, what used to be in his own words, pest that she had been back then.

The moments when Arlo would get too focused in his work would remind the brunette of Blanche, and alongside it came the wash of guilt. She could only wonder what they thought of her now. Corsen would give up anything to make them understand.

"Are you going to keep staring?"

Blinking, Corsen turned her eyes up to meet Arlo's who looked at her with a slightly raised brow. Those eyes had changed in the past year. They no longer looked at her with so much revulsion.

"Ah. No, sorry," Corsen looked away embarrassed. "I just got lost in thought."

Arlo hummed putting his pen down.

"You've been quite distracted lately. Giovanni is not going to like that," Arlo said as he crossed his arms over the wooden desk relaxing.

Corsen clenched her jaw at the comment. Of course he wouldn't.

"It's just silly thoughts," Corsen assured turning to look at the leader once more, a smile on her face.

Arlo eyed the brunette silently.

"If I'm being honest, the more I try to understand you the more lost I get," he said bringing a hand up to rest his cheek over his knuckles.

The brunette chuckled. "Why would you try to understand me? Thought you already knew who I was?"

"Back then you were highly annoying. It was irritating seeing you almost everywhere I went," Arlo smirked towards the brunette. "So impulsive, you thought you could dominate the world."

"And I can't dominate the world?" Corsen teased scooting closer towards the red-eyed leader. Just as she expected, Arlo scooted back letting his hand drop down to the desk. Something shifted in his eyes that caused him to look back to the screen in front of him. The smirk vanished as he cleared his throat.

Corsen eyed the man in silence before speaking.

"Can I ask you something?"

Arlo glanced at the brunette, a serious demeanor now on his features. "What is it?"

The brunette huffed with a roll of her eyes. "If you're going to be like this, let's just forget about it." she waved her hand and prepared to stand up but a gloved hand on her wrist stopped her.

"Tell me what is it?" Arlo asked only this time a little softer. Corsen searched his eyes for honesty, if she could find any. Regardless it wasn't worth it to search for something that didn't exist.

Arlo let go of Corsen's wrist as she sat back down. There was a moment of silence before the brunette spoke once more.

"I know everyone has their reasons to be here," she began to say bringing her gaze up to the red-eyed leader. "the base of it all seems to be broken family."

Arlo remained quiet. He silently searched Corsen's face to see where she could possibly go with this.

"But you're different than Cliff or Sierra," Corsen continued, a little cautious on her word choice. She knew Arlo had had everything anyone could possibly want as a child. A loving family, a stable home, and all the love and attention from both parents. One could even say he was a brat for having abandoned everything to join an organization that did more bad than good. Was it because of a tantrum? The loss of his father couldn't have been the cause for such decision. She remembered all those comments he would throw out involving Candela's name and it made her wonder a million things. Whatever might've happened there had to be a good reason for his choice.

"There are times when Cliff and Sierra talk a little about their past, but you..." Corsen stared intently into Arlo's crimson eyes. "You never talk about your past. Why?"

The atmosphere suddenly grew heavy as Arlo closed his eyes with a deep sigh and turned to face away from the brunette.

Corsen waited for an answer despite the suffocating feeling in her chest. The clock on the wall silently ticked time away while the lab remained in silence.

"It's late. You should go get some rest." Arlo said finally breaking the silence. He didn't turn towards the brunette but his voice was deep, and absent of any emotion.

Corsen furrowed her brows, looking up at the clock it didn't even read midnight yet.

"But it's no-"

"I said leave!" Arlo raised his voice threateningly but still didn't turn towards Corsen. The brunette's anger started to slowly rise much like her heartbeat, she had to get her emotions under control before she blew.

"You could've just said you didn't want to!" Corsen retorted as she glared at Arlo. The red-eyed leader turned to glare daggers at the brunette. She once was afraid of that stare. Once.

"But I'm starting to think you're so stuck in your past, so stuck on an emotion, you're willingly hurting yourself." Corsen said as she stood up. She couldn't understand the disappointment she started to feel, it made the brunette furrow her brows at herself.

"You push everyone away and now look at you," Corsen rolled her eyes, now mostly talking out loud towards her own thoughts. "You're so lonely, Arlo."

Corsen shook her head not giving the leader a second glance. She began to make her way towards the exit when a presence behind pushed her up against the wall. It reminded her of the first time this had happened, back then it was much different.

The brunette stared up at Arlo, all of his irritation had vanished.

It was just you and him in this raid. You preferred it that way.

He did too.

"Vulpix, use fire spin!" You called out, pointing your finger at the giant Mega Glalie. Your Vulpix obeyed and blasted a tornado of fire at the ice type pokemon.

"Do you really expect your tiny toy to beat this?" Arlo sneered, watching his own Gigalith use Earthquake.

You mimicked his sneer in a goofy way. "Vulpix isn't a toy!" you remarked. "She's gonna be even better when she evolves into a Ninetails."

"That's what you said when you got that thing." Arlo replied, pointing to you, or rather your shoulder.

You Mudkip was tiny, not ready for battles yet. You knew that and preferred when he stayed by your side or on your shoulder, where he was currently perched.

"Mudkip need more training!" You snapped. "He'll get there!"

"Just like you will one day." He smiled that shit eating smile in that condescending tone.

You reminded yourself to smack his ass hard later for that.

"Be quiet and keep battling!" You retorted, trying to bite back a smile.

While it was true you were Team (Valor/Mystic/Instinct), you couldn't help but love the former Team Valor member, even if he betrayed his team and Candela, one of his only true friends.

When you were alone, truly alone at night, only you saw the soft, loving side of him. The way he held you in his arms, the way he loved you like no other.

In the daylight, you were at each other's throats, especially during battles like this.

In moments like that, he hated you, you hated him. Even if just for show.

You smirked as the Glalie finally fainted after your Charizard took him down with Blast Burn. You smirked at Arlo.

"I think I got there." You said, throwing his words from earlier back in hsi face.

What you weren't expecting was for him to kiss you like his life depended on it. You let out a muffled surprised noise, processing what just happened before closing your eyes and kissing him back.

"I knew you would." He said breathily after breaking the kiss off.

You opened your mouth to reply, but let out a yelp instead when you felt a smack to your ass.

"I went soft on you this time." Arlo said, flipping his ponytail. "But next time, it'll be different. I'll beat you for sure."