Gossip

“Can we have a timeout real quick?”

“What?”

Okay, you might have phrased that one wrong. But she seriously needs to know about this.

“I meant our fight,” you backpedal. You lock your phone and place it down on the table. “Can we put a hold to that for like, five minutes?”

Sakura opens her mouth to answer, but stops. Eyes squinted, jaw dropped, head tilted—It’s the quintessential example of a look that is confused as fuck. You have to admit it looks adorable on her though.

“Why, exactly, are we putting our argument on hold?” she asks, setting her phone down near yours. “It’s not like you didn’t start it in the first place.”

“I don’t even know why you’re angry at me.”

“You know why.” She crosses her arms and leans back into her chair. “We just talked about it.”

“Is this about the Pokemon thing?” You can’t stop your head from tilting in confusion. She was angry about that? The simplest—arguably hardest—choice ever in the history of video games, and she’s angry that you have a different opinion because–

“You’re pissed at me because I think Piplup is the best starter?”

“Because it’s Chimchar!” she hisses, then glances around to make sure she didn’t make too much noise, considering that you two decided to study for the exam at the college library. Which you two are definitely not doing right now. “It’s legitimately one of the only good fire types in the game!”

“Then get a Ponyta instead. Or a Houndour,” you counter, grabbing your tablet inside your  bag. “Those are pretty good replacements.”

“That’s only two,” she insists, before grabbing the tablet from your hands to open up one of the exam prep documents Chaewon sent you before immediately locking it and setting it down with your phones to focus on the more immediate issue at hand.

“You can swap Piplup with so many others, like Gyarados or a Buizel. You can even get a Riolu for free if you want a Steel type because of Lucario. Or evolve an Eevee to a Vaporeon—and what does Chimchar get?” 

“Babe. Saki, seriously–” you reach for her hand, brushing your thumb along her smooth skin. “It’s one Pokemon. What’s the problem here–”

“The problem is that you haven’t tried other starters yet.”  

“Hey, I tried a Turtwig run once.”

“But not Chimchar?” She shakes her head, letting out a chuckle in disbelief. “Budew is more than enough to replace Turtwig because it becomes a Roserade, so why not Chimchar?”

“Because we get Riolu for free.” 

“Then you’d have two Steel types with Empoleon!” Her shout causes heads to turn, the chair screeching as she stands before immediately sitting right back down.

“Gallade would be a better option at that point.”

“What the hell is a Gallade?”

She visibly recoils—baffled, aghast, offended at the fact that you don’t know about this singular character out of one hundred something in total of them. You didn’t live and breathe about them, just played enough to know most of them in that particular generation.

“You’re joking.” You can feel her finger twitch underneath your hand.

“We are so not fighting about another Pokemon right now.” You can barely keep up with the Chimchar propaganda she’s pushing you towards, and adding one more to the mix will seriously send you to uncharted territory.

“Too late.” Her hands are already moving to open your tablet. “You’re learning about it instead of marketing.” 

“Okay, wait, hold on.” You hold out your hands in surrender. “If I make a Chimchar save right now, can we put this on hold?”

She blinks, the glint in her eyes weighing whether or not you were bluffing. “I make the save on your game?”

“Whatever you want babe. I’ll even get Glade–”

“Gallade.”

“Him, her, I’ll put ‘em on my team.” She’s already opened up the emulator on your tablet. ”Anything to get this done and over with.”

“Then you’d have two Fighting types,” she comments, fast-forwarding through the dialogue. “You’d be better off getting a Sneasel for Weavile.”

“How do you know all this…” you can’t even phrase it as a question at this point. Watch her do the tutorial battle with the monkey, and spam attacks to end the first fight. “Did you min-max your team or something?”

“Did a few challenge runs on it,” she answers, saving the game and locking the device before giving you a grin, happy to have convinced you to play her way. “I might have gotten a bit obsessed.”

“Is that why you haven’t been eating well recently?”

“I’ve been eating.” You raise an eyebrow. “I have!”

“Okay, so maybe I’ve been skipping lunch and dinner on occasion…” you raise both brows.

“Fine.” She sighs. “Yes. Happy now?”

“Of course not.” Concern seeps through your voice. “Need I remind you that food is a basic human need?”

“You’re starting to sound like Professor Bae,” she chuckles, lips turning into a smirk. “Are you gonna tell me to stay hydrated too?” 

“Saki.” you sigh. “Please eat.”

Her features soften, realizing how serious the conversation has gotten. 

“I know.” Her thumb absently brushes the edges of the tablet. “You know how much I get into videogames sometimes.”

“Too much,” you chuckle. “It’s how we met. And how we got together too, when I think about it.”

“You were such a sore loser back then.” She rolls her eyes. “You still are.”

“And I keep telling you that it’s because I’m stubborn.” You rest your chin on your hand. “Not a loser.”

“How many times did you lose last time we played?” She giggles. “Was it nine?”

“Seven,” you deadpan, leaning back to shake your head at her reminiscing about your last gaming session. “Because you kept spamming your guns. Fuck you for that, by the way.”

“Just don’t get hit by the bullets.” She chuckles, placing the tablet back down on the table.

“It’s not a shooter, Saki. We were playing Injustice.” You shake your head. “But seriously, please try to eat this time.”