Totally Late Valentines Day Thread [Izumi / Complete]

[Josh Dragomir]

Izumi Yamamura

Oh joy, Singles Awareness Day! And for some reason, instead of sitting at home and playing video games for it like Josh had planned on, by himself, Izumi wanted to meet him here for "Valentines Day" as she called it. Great, right? While Josh understood she wanted to hang out... Why here? Why here in particular? These were questions that the blonde would ponder to himself as he, and his blue scarfed Pikachu, would walk through Tynntill Town, for the first time since that Lilies On The Lake festival they attended not too long ago. He had Izumi's valentines day gift hidden... He just hoped he could keep it hidden long enough.

He took a deep breath as he decided to go take a seat on a bench. Lightning would climb up and sit there beside him, just kind of casually staring into space. He hoped Izumi would meet them soon.

[Izumi Yamamura]

Today was ‘Red Day’, at least according to the culture that Izumi was aware of thanks to her mother. It was a day of giving two kinds of chocolate to the opposite gender; the first one constituted in the ‘obligatory’ part of things; while the second one was for more…personal matters. Knowing that Josh was no longer an ‘obligation’ but a very special person to her, she therefore spent half the night in the Izakaya, trying to toss together some chocolate treats for him. She wasn’t sure if he liked them with cream, vanilla, strawberry, caramel, or nutty fillings—so she’d gone the whole hog and had attempted to create an entire box full of sweets. She’d succeeded on the most part—the only problem was that the nuts tended to stick out of the molds too often; whereas the caramel fillings simply dribbled all over the place. Otherwise, it was a good piece of effort on her part… Well, nothing beats hand-made, hand-crafted chocolates… right? She thought as she was now carrying a hastily-wrapped lump containing several chocolates that she’d crammed into a box and hastily decorated. She wasn’t that good with artistic things (outside of cooking) but otherwise she hoped that he’d appreciate the gift she’d made for him! She was now waiting near one of the benches located near the shopping district of Tyntill; wondering if he would arrive. Out of habit, she then reached for her phone and then dialed his number, before listening to it ring… WORDS 251 TAGS Josh Dragomir NOTES Was it my idea? Lol

MADE BY ★MEULK OF GS & THQ

[Josh Dragomir]

Red Day? Josh tended to call it Singles Awareness Day. I mean, he had never had a Valentine on this day. It was generally just a normal work day for him. No different from any other non holiday. Of course, today he would be spending it with Izumi. Was she his Valentine? Hell, he didn't know. Weren't you supposed to ask for someone to be your Valentine? He didn't know.. But he had gotten the gifts mainly because Izumi was special to him, not for any sort of obligation like he did for... What was left of his family.

As Josh had told Izumi, he was in Tynntill, and had already picked up the earpiece, which was snug on his head and already plugged in, hidden by the hair over his ears, as well as the video call functions of his phone. Just in time for Izumi to call. To her surprise, when she called, a holographic video screen would pull up, showing the face of the blonde, who would wave. "Oh hey" He said, laughing a bit as Lightning would excitedly stare at the screen and try to get in the picture. For them, since Izumi didn't have video call set up, it was just showing their reflections back at them, previewing what Izumi could see. It worked like a charm.

[Izumi Yamamura]

She was surprised that the call had been picked up on the second ring; she knew that Josh loved to mess with her whenever they would call each other. Wondering if there was something strange going on, she then said, “Hello? Oh, hey, there you are! Uhhhh, where the heck are you? I can’t exactly see you in this crowd, you know,” while looking around as furtively as possible, making sure to hold on tight to the paper bag that she was carting around; aforementioned paper bag had the chocolates within it, crammed into a hastily-tossed together box. She knew that the chocolates wouldn’t melt, because she’d already snuck out one of those weird things that helped insulate heat (or cold) and had placed it underneath the box, so no melting chocolate disasters to be had! As Izumi continued to scan the crowd, trying to pick out where the hell he was, she had no idea that the other party already had video calling; since she never bothered to get it for herself anyway. Besides, the technology is too expensive, and who else would get it? Asides from me? She mused to herself as she continued to search for her 'date' through the crowd that was going about their daily business. She then thought to speak up, and continued, “Hey, J, where exactly are you standing at? Can you give me a landmark I should look out for?” while still trying to pick out the tall individual in the crowd that was passing by her. There really were some disadvantages to being short, after all. To be fair, Izumi was just seated on the aforementioned bench; and that the benches were roughly across from the place where ‘her Valentine’ was located. “If you don’t hurry up and get here, someone else is going to sit on the bench,” she continued, slightly worried because the space on her left was completely and totally vacant. She already had half a thought of hitching up her legs and claiming the entire bench that way; but she was wearing a dress and didn’t want to appear so unlady-like when he showed up. If he showed up, that is. WORDS 364 TAGS Josh Dragomir NOTES She has no idea that he his vid-calling. So yeah.

MADE BY ★MEULK OF GS & THQ

[Josh Dragomir]

"Hey Izumi, you need to get yourself video calling so I can see your pretty face more often" Josh would tease toward Izumi with a cheeky grin. Of course, he would probably see her more often anyways when the house was finished, but hey, there can't be too many times with these two, right? I mean... We have HOW many threads going on right now? 9? 10? More? Who the kark knows? Alas, the blonde haired Trainer would smile at Izumi as he would note the Pikachu stretching his face and making funny faces at the screen to see his reflection behind them, thinking Izumi could see it. "I mean, Lightning's making funny faces at you, you're missing out" He would tease again. It was probably good she didn't have it right now, because knowing Izumi, she would be looking crimson right about now.

"I'm on a bench, Izumi" He said, cracking his neck. He would stand up, and Lightning would climb onto his head to wave around, to act as a beacon for Izumi. "Follow the Pika, Izumi. Follow the Pika!"

[Izumi Yamamura]

Now that Josh had mentioned ‘video calling’, the mere mention of it made her stop cold. She then proceeded to swing up her legs onto the bench, before trying to stall the inevitable as long as possible; and then asked in an ever-so-casual tone, “…are you seriously telling me, that you have video calling on right now?!” before promptly freaking out. Her face had screwed up into this panicky mess; she then heard him mention something about Lightning pulling funny faces in her direction—but of course she couldn’t see it; she didn’t have the optional feature activated for Arceus’ sake! She could only guess where the hell he was; and once he’d mentioned that he was on a bench somewhere, she then stood up and began to look around, just wondering where he was hiding… Initially, she didn’t see anyone; but it appeared that Lightning had plans on their end; once she heard the sound signaling that his Pikachu had perched himself on her head, that’s the only time she was able to pick out where he had seemingly parked himself—and she then quickly grabbed the paper bag that contained her present for him. “Alright, just stay like that, I’ll be right there!” she said, quickly weaving her way through the crowd; trying to make a straight line as possible headed towards the blonde who now had a Pikachu perched on his forehead. “Just give me a few more…” she muttered into the phone, before quickly turning it off; and of course on his end the line would go dead—but that was only because she’d finally made an appearance and had spotted him! “There you are!” she began, quickly breaking out into a dash, before stopping a few paces short from colliding right in front of him. “You beast,” she hissed in his direction; knowing that he’d gotten the very piece of tech that she was trying to avoid, before straightening up and continuing, “…I never thought you’d catch up to the modern times. Uhhh…” she trailed off, quickly hiding the paper bag that she had with her—he wasn’t supposed to see her gift just yet; not now! WORDS 362 TAGS Josh Dragomir NOTES Oh boy, did he just say video calling?!

MADE BY ★MEULK OF GS & THQ

[Josh Dragomir]

He would grin cheekily. "Yeah. I have video calling on right now. You did tell me to get with the times. I got an earpiece, and a video calling upgrade to my phone and everything. It's this sweet ass holographic screen. It's great" He said, laughing a bit. "You should try and get something like this yourself, Miss Get With The Times. I should have gone and gotten this sooner" He would tease. And then soon enough, Izumi would hang up, only for her to come over.

"Oh, I'm a beast am I?" He would tease as Izumi came over, pulling her into a noogie playfully. "You told me to catch up to modern day, Zuzu. I did that, and NOW you're complaining?" He would ask, smirking a bit. Of course, after that, he'd put the phone away.

".... So...." He began, scratching his head, still holding the gift behind his back with his free hand. "Uh... What now?"

[Izumi Yamamura]

Izumi then let out a screech as he then came into view before giving her a rather unceremonious noogie on the head; in retaliation to what she’d said moments before she had made her appearance. “Yes, you’re a beast and I mean it,” she began, trying to wiggle free from his grip and unsuccessfully getting herself tangled even more in his arms. Now that they were together, there was a rather awkward moment of silence that passed between them; before she’d quietly managed to detach herself from the aforementioned noogie and then hid the paper bag behind her. “Well, you see…” she began, feeling a blush creeping up on her face; before her ears began to burn crimson-red! Gah! Girl, what’d you do then, calling him for nothing?! Come on, you already got a chance to confess before, but you were foiled. Are you going to get foiled again?! Get it out, girl! She chastised herself in the back of her mind before she then abruptly turned around, not facing him—because she was trembling at that very moment. Come on, spit it out! Give him the chocolates and declare it in his face! But what are you doing, you’re freezing up again! Don’t tell me it’s going to be like the confession stage with Bunji all over again?! And after he’d already told you to move on? GET A GRIP, GIRL! JUST SUCK IT UP! She continued to scream in the back of her mind; while she was beginning to tremble rather uncontrollably. The hand that was holding the paper bag was beginning to quiver; before she then turned around and faced him again. “J-J-J-J-J-J-Josh,” she began, her voice evidently beginning to quake and break; because her throat suddenly felt very dry. “I-I-I-I…” she began, before falling silent and then hiding her face between her hands; and the bag came to light, swinging silently on her left hand. Come on, come on, come the fuck on girl! Just spit it out! If you can’t say it, just give it to him and make a break for it! Gah, wait a second this isn’t some cheesy high-school romance situation! She continued to screech in the back of her mind as she tried to find the appropriate words in order to be able to express what she was unable to articulate. At the very last second, she then faced the street and then practically took up the paper bag and shoved it in his direction. “T-t-t-t-take this, I… I made it,” she continued, in that rather uncharacteristic stammer, before continuing on, “I… I made it… f-f-f-for you,” and then hoping that his hands were quick enough to catch the present! “I-I-I-I-I made that f-f-for you, b-b-because I…” she continued to hack out, feeling her own throat dry up and suddenly jam; because at this point her face was completely, totally, brutally blushing as red as the inside of a watermelon, no doubt. “I l-l-l-lo…” she continued to get out, before her legs finally kicked in, and she did the only acceptable thing that she could do: turn around and run away! If Josh cared to look inside, there was a letter included with the small gift of handmade chocolates… WORDS 538 TAGS Josh Dragomir NOTES Say hello to tsundere Izumi

MADE BY ★MEULK OF GS & THQ

[Josh Dragomir]

Izumi's attempts to escape the clutches of the terror known as Noogie Time would only result in them getting tangled in one anothers arms. The blonde laughed a bit. Now, how had Izumi gotten them into this mess now? It seemed to be a reoccurring theme between them whenever she tried to do something only to result in a close... Encounter. Once she had detached herself, Josh felt that it was a good time to give her the gift he'd been planning to give her since he came here. "Hey, Izumi, I just wanted to-"

But he was interrupted by Izumi's stammering, and her attempts to say... Something. He would tilt his head, what was she trying to say? Now, let me bring in some backstory here. Its not that he's dense. He just lived in an environment where he didn't really.. Spend his time having much of a chance to feel those sort of things. Josh Dragomir spent his off hours working on the ranch. He spent his primary school time doodling Pokemon, or playing with the stock ones. When he was sent to post secondary to keep him out of Kohaku, he was pushed to study hard as he could, and his adult life was spent, yknow, dealing with mutants. While this did leave to his immense love of Pokemon, and the psychological experience and intelligence that contributed to his battling style, there was one thing that Josh didn't really get to experience much at all. And that was love. He didn't recognize the subtle hints, or the signs that were emanating from Izumi. He wasn't used to them, nor was he capable of picking them up. And if he did have feelings for Izumi... Well, he wouldn't know how to show them as well as he should.

Finally, he would smile as Izumi would... Well, shove the bag in his direction. What was it, milkbags? Well, this wasn't Canada so probably not. But before he could inquire or thank her, or even give his own gift, she would suddenly bolt without warning. "Wait, Izumi what's going on?" He would call after her, confused. "But you didn't let me give you the-"

"Uggh.." He muttered, and started walking after her, with Lightning walking after him. He still held his own gift behind his back, but it was harder to hide it since he was carrying hers too.

[Izumi Yamamura]

Izumi could feel the flush on her face skyrocketing to alarming levels; mostly because it was caused by her second (or was it the third? She lost track at this point) attempt to confess falling flat on her face. Yes, she’d managed to give him the gift; but her inability to articulate what was on her mind really hurt her chances at that point. No, no, no, no, I don’t want to think about it! You failed, girl! You failed so bad! Why can’t you say it straight?! What happened to all that courage you had a few seconds ago?! She chastised herself as she tore her way through the crowd; eliciting some surprised shrieks and some angry swearing—because she wasn’t watching where she was going. She was now fighting the urge to break down into tears and berate herself even further for being such an idiot, because she was in public and there was no way in hell she was going to humiliate herself by doing that! After all that rehearsing while you were making the chocolate, it would amount to this?! Come on, girl! What happened to your straightforward, bold personality? Are you really melting down into a pile of senseless goo just because he’s being an airhead and acting like a blockhead—a very dense blockhead?! She continued to berate herself in the back of her mind, still shoving her way through the crowd and finally flinging herself onto an empty bench before hiding her face in her hands and bursting into tears—she was unable to restrain herself from crying at this point. Why did this entire day just suddenly have to go all wrong?! If Josh were to look for any sign to follow the runaway raven-haired girl; he’d easily see the path that she’d taken; due to the fact that the crowd was muttering; or otherwise giving him some kind of a dirty, withering look and muttering as well. WORDS 326 TAGS Josh Dragomir NOTES You made her cry...

MADE BY ★MEULK OF GS & THQ

[Josh Dragomir]

Some time would pass after Izumi had managed to find herself an empty bench. The trail of people that she had managed to successfully piss off were an indicator of where she had gone, but she would manage to get a little bit of alone time of sobbing, and crying, and more sobbing. And crying. And tears. And all that jazz. At some point though, Izumi would feel a warm embrace envelop her as an arm found itself wrapped around her shoulder. She would find herself pulled into a tight hug, her head resting against someone's chest. If she would look up, she would see what she might accidentally mistake for a Thor'eal shampoo commercial model, though if she got her head straight, she would see it was Josh, smiling down at her.

He would take a breath, letting her rest her head against him as he would gently run his hand along her hair, casually playing with her hair as he tried to comfort her, cheer her up, somehow. He was concerned about her, and while he was curious as to why she had run off like that, or why she was crying... He would interrogate her later. Right now, she needed him, one way or another. And he would be there for her.

[Izumi Yamamura]

At this point, Izumi wasn’t even sure if pushing forward with the idea of confessing her feelings to him on this particular day would be such a good idea. Not only had she slipped up and bungled big time, she’d also caused quite a scandal, running through the crowd like that and looking like a total mess! But all she could do right now was cry her eyes out; because the heavy feeling within her wouldn’t go away no matter how hard she tried to swallow. Her throat was still feeling rather itchy; but only because it had seized up due to all the nervous tension she’d gone through just moments ago. Keeping her face hidden in her hands, she continued to heave with muffled sobs; that was, until someone appeared on the scene and folded his arms around her! She then dropped her hands from her face and looked up—who was this person that had come and given her a hug? Through the tears she blinked away, she then caught sight of a familiar head of blonde hair glimmering faintly in the light of the afternoon sun; and her mind blacked out—it was Josh! Since she was unable to utter a single word at this point, she just let the taller individual mess around with her hair—who knew if he was going to give her a noogie; but in this case she really needed to calm down. Another wave of fresh tears came pouring out of her eyes; and all she could do was rest her head against his chest; hoping that he didn’t mind his clothes getting wet due to what she was doing at the moment. Now I can’t get the words out anymore… all my courage is gone. Ugh, what horrible timing I got… she chastised to herself in the back of her mind, her hands limp at her sides, unable to move them due to the general state of shock that she was currently in. WORDS 333 TAGS Josh Dragomir NOTES Got to use the feels icons in another manner entirely. Oh joy lol

MADE BY ★MEULK OF GS & THQ

[Josh Dragomir]

Josh had to admit, he was wondering just what had caused Izumi to break down like this, shortly after running away. She had been fine before this. Full of jokes, full of life, and of course, full of tons of snark. But before she could get out what she was trying to say, she had suddenly broken down, run off and he had found her on the bench crying. How had he found her, you might ask? Simple. The trail of pissed off people that she had almost crashed into during her crying fit was basically a breadcrumb trail for Josh to follow, and he had rushed toward it post haste. Lightning would climb off Josh's shoulder to sit on the bench with Izumi and try to give Izumi a big hug despite his small size, and despite the fact he was really only able to hug her side because of it.

Josh would run his fingers through her hair, just trying to cheer her up, comfort her, make her happy. He didn't mind her relaxing against him, or even his clothes being soaked with her tears. He could iron it out later. He would let out a sigh and run a hand along her back, stroking along it, just trying to help her relax. "It's okay..." He whispered. "I'm here now... You don't have to cry anymore, Izumi..." He would speak softly.

"Hey... You kind of left before I could give you this..." He would add softly as he would pick up the gifts he had left nearby the bench when he went to comfort Izumi. He was surprised that nobody had the gall to steal them for a quick buck considering the assholeishness of many people. Regardless, he would smile before handing them to her. A box of chocolates, and a bouquet of roses. Not the most original gift, but he'd braved the extremely crowded shops at 2 AM when Izumi was sleeping to get them. It had been a warzone in there, he recalled, people were trying to get those discounts candies and chocolates and flowers ASAP and spend as little as possible. Josh didn't care much about spending when it was for Izumi, but the shop he went to in particular was known for it's incredible quality. That was why he had gone, not the price, he had tried to get the best quality he could. Unfortunately, some of the flowers had gotten destroyed on his way out by rowdy customers, and some of the flowers in the bouquet, while trying to blend in, said roses looked freshly picked. By the looks of it, realizing that he no longer had the amount he originally bought, Josh had gone hunting for them on his own to make sure that the bouquet was complete. It wasn't a perfect bouquet, but he had worked hard to make it as right as possible for Izumi's sake.

[Izumi Yamamura]

Now that she’d recovered her wits somewhat; Izumi heard Josh whispering sweet nothings into her ear—or was it an apology of some sort? Oh, if you only knew… she thought to herself as she continued to sniffle in his embrace, hiccupping a few times as she took several deep breaths (and inadvertently inhaling the scent of his cologne as well) in order to calm herself down. She then looked up at him, her face a regal mess, as he then reached for something and then presented it to her. Sure, the flowers may have looked a bit on the rumpled side; and the box of chocolates looked like it had been through the wringer, but the important thing was that the gesture itself counted. “Y-you s-shouldn’t have,” she finally managed to get out some minutes later, before raising her right hand in order to wipe her face with the sleeve of the jacket that she had on. “I-I mean, have you tried the chocolates I… I shoved your way? I-I made them myself, took me half the night t-to get them all molded and d-decorated… I hope it’s alright,” she finished before searching her pockets for some tissue paper that she could use in order to blow her nose. She was a righteous mess at the moment; but there was nothing else to it—her wellspring of courage had tapped out and she was back to the incoherent mess that she’d been for the longest time. WORDS 247 TAGS Josh Dragomir NOTES She is a hot mess right now orz

MADE BY ★MEULK OF GS & THQ

[Josh Dragomir]

Josh didn't seem to mind Izumi's blubbering into his shirt. He just wanted to be there for her, that was all that he cared about at that very moment. While the reason why she was crying and had become a hysterical wreck like she had; was still a mystery, he was sure that he would find out in time. Thus, he didn't interrogate her just yet. Maybe in a bit, he thought.

When Izumi responded to his gift, he smiled a bit sheepishly. "Sorry they're not in the best shape... I wanted the best quality stuff for you, but so did hundreds of other people. I went early in the morning, but it was crowded as all hell. It was black friday all over again. I managed to get chocolates and flowers, but I got shoved over by some rowdy customers on my way out, and then a few of them decided to snatch a few of the roses. The reason some of them look different is because I went and hunted down a few new roses myself. No way in hell was I going to give you an incomplete bouquet" he explained. "I wanted to do something special for someone just as special, I wouldn't settle for anything less then the best I could do" he would add. "Admittedly, its... Not as glamorous as, yknow, spending the night making them myself. My cooking skills are rather small. But... I tried my best, because you're worth it" he said softly, biting his lip nervously. He felt like he could have done so much better, somehow...

He would shake his head to her question. "Didn't have time. Had to go after you when you ran off"