[Pokémon X&Y] Peer Review

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Title: Peer Review
Fandom: Pokémon X&Y
Pairing: Professor Augustine Sycamore/Lysandre (background)
Rating: G
Summary: "There is no 'we'," Trevor protested. Serena couldn't remember ever seeing his face this scrunched up. "You're the one spying on them."
Notes: Written for the prompt "no heterosexual explanation." I should write about the kids more often, tbh.
AO3 Link: Here.

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"What are you three up to?"

It was a nice, sunny afternoon in Lumiose City. Shauna had declared that they simply had to take this opportunity to go out and enjoy themselves for a little while, as a break from all the training and battling they'd been doing since leaving Vaniville Town. Despite her friend's insistence that she relax and stop worrying so much about the league, Serena had let herself get caught up in a pokémon battle and had arrived late to their meeting spot, at the corner between Estival Avenue and South Boulevard, near that one café Trevor liked.

There, she found three of her friends peering from around the side wall of said café, Shauna with her cheek pressed against the wall, Trevor with his arms crossed and a frown on his face, Tierno seeming mostly bored with what was going on. One of his legs kept twitching, a tell-tale sign that he was growing tired of the situation, whatever it was.

"Hey, Rena," he said, using the nickname they'd compromised on a few weeks prior. The sight of her seemed to raise his spirits somewhat. "Big C's running late."

"I apologize for showing up late myself. There was a trainer with a pokémon I'd never seen before, and I lost track of time."

He shook his head. "S'fine. Shaunee got distracted, anyway."

From where she was still leaning against the wall to peek at whatever it was that had caught her interest, Shauna let out an aggravated huff that made her shoulders heave.

"You're being too loud!" she murmured. "They're going to notice we're here!"

"There is no 'we'," Trevor protested. Serena couldn't remember ever seeing his face this scrunched up. "You're the one spying on them."

Serena contemplated asking who, exactly, they were talking about, before deciding that she'd be better off finding out the answer herself. Leaving Shauna and Trevor to bicker in hushed whispers, she walked up to the wall and stretched her head out just enough to see the street beyond.

For a few seconds, she couldn't figure out what she was looking for, scanning the scattered crowd of South Boulevard. Then, as she was about to relent and inquire as to what she was supposed to see, she spotted them.

Professor Sycamore was standing under one of the trees decorating the main boulevard, wearing a dark blue turtleneck sweater that clung tightly to his thin, wiry frame. Even from all the way across, she could tell that he was grinning widely, his cheeks flushed bright pink. He was looking up at the man who stood beside him in the shade.

It was odd to see Lysandre out and about without his signature jacket, though of course it made more sense to forgo fur and leather in such warm weather. She didn't know him well enough to call it out-of-character, but it did serve to highlight his unusual demeanor.

He was smiling. Not the slight twitch of the lips she was accustomed to, or the put-on smiles he'd sometimes wear in advertisements for the holo-caster. A real smile, almost a grin, that mirrored the professor's own. They were very close, Lysandre's towering figure bent over slightly as if to ensure his full attention was on his companion, the professor's hand rising to pat him on the elbow and then staying there.

Serena only realized that she'd been goggling at them for several minutes when Shauna pushed her to regain her previous spot and join her in gawking.

"What are they doing?" Serena asked, speaking as low as she could.

Shauna muffled a giggle against Serena's shoulder, breathing warm air into the fabric of her top. "What does it look like? They're out on a date."

She pressed her cheek against Serena's arm. A few meters away, Lysandre reached out to pick something off the professor's hair that could have been a leaf or a twig. His fingers lingered over his ear for longer than was certainly necessary. The professor said something that neither of the girls could hear, and Lysandre instantly drew back, his brow furrowed. It was hard to tell from a distance, but Serena couldn't help but think his face looked a little less pale than it usually was.

"Do you really think–" The end of her sentence caught in her throat. She felt herself flush. "Lysandre and the professor?"

As she spoke, the two men began to walk toward them. Her heart beating in her chest, she reflexively began to pull away to hide from view, until it became clear that they were so entranced by each other's presence that they didn't register anything else. The professor's elbow bumped against Lysandre's arm, and Lysandre laughed, a warm, ringing sound that felt so unlike everything she pictured him as that she froze like she'd witnessed something mere mortals were not meant to see.

"There's no way they're not dating," Shauna said. "Or if they're not, there's something really wrong with them."

Serena opened her mouth, in search of a rebuttal, and then closed it when the professor nearly tripped over the cobblestone paving the street, only to be swiftly caught by Lysandre. He held him by the shoulders, leaning forward until the professor's hair brushed his face, and Serena could just barely make out the professor's hurried apologies for his clumsiness. Even once they were once again both standing upright on their feet, Lysandre did not let go of him, keeping one hand firm on the professor's upper back.

"I had no idea," Serena said, at a loss for words. She took a step back, and Shauna followed her after getting one last peek. "I didn't know the professor was interested in men."

Or that Lysandre was interested in people in this way at all, she thought, but decided to keep that to herself.

"He's not," Trevor said. She couldn't remember ever seeing him this mad. "They're just... close friends. Shauna's just making things up."

Shauna rolled her eyes. "You're only saying that because you're jealous!"

Trevor's face took on a shade that was reminiscent of a darumaka, and clashed terribly with his orange-toned hair.

"I'm not jealous!" he all but shouted. "Why would I be jealous?!"

"Trevor's got a crush on the professor," Shauna said, looking at Serena as if to say, it's so obvious.

"No way!" Trevor squeaked. His face was so red Serena couldn't help but feel bad for him. "That's not true! Tierno, tell her it's not true!"

Tierno, who'd been ignoring them to instead focus on rehearsing some new dance moves he'd been practicing, glanced at him long-sufferingly.

"Maybe they're just flirting and nothing'll come out of it?" he tried.

Judging by the way Trevor seemed to deflate all at once, that was clearly the wrong thing to say.

"Hey guys!" a voice called out before any of them could add anything else. "Sorry I'm so late, I was..."

One hand tugging on the strap of his shoulder bag, Calem paused to look them all over, stopping to take in Trevor's reddened cheeks and Shauna's self-satisfied expression. He scratched his right eyebrow with the pinky of his free hand, bumping his cap upward a little in the process.

"Huh," he let out. "Did something happen?"

Serena took a deep breath.

"Why don't we get going?" she said. "We can tell you all about it on the way."