A/N: We all have a few stories that we've written that are just too short to be considered an actual "story," be it oneshot or no. I have no heart to toss these out, nor do I want to post them, being as short as they are. So, I am piling them all up in here, where they can be read through whenever they wish to be, and not take up my archive space.

A heads up, nothing is consistent. I'll toss a warning label on the chapters that are slash-anything if you want to avoid that. I'll also put up the pairing at the top of the chapter, in case you really strongly dislike one and want to skip over it.

Pairing: Candice/Volkner

"Volkner! Come on, wake up!"

The addressed party blinked sleep lazily out of his eyes. He was asleep? But he didn't remember being in bed or anything...

There was a beach towel under him and under that, some sand. Everything was washed in orange and yellow, and off to his left, the blazing sun was casting its reflection off the ocean's surface as it sank down onto the horizon. He groaned and tucked his face into his arms to block the light.

"No, I said get up! You're going to miss the sunset!" a bubbly voice persisted. Volkner groaned again as a girl that weighed half as much as he did tried to pick him up by curling her arms around his middle and (attempting) to lift him off the sand, her heels dug in on either side of his body. After a few unsuccessful grunts and heaves on her part, she gave up and plopped down into the sand next to him, staring out into the water.

"It's so beautiful," Candice murmured. "If you weren't so stubborn, you'd be able to appreciate it too."

"Maybe you should describe it to me," Volkner replied, his head still tucked into the crook of his elbow. The orange glow was beginning to fade from the sand from the little crack he could see from beneath his arm. Candice sighed deeply and stretched out, her stomach laying across the small of his back, her feet kicking lighting in the air behind her. Her head cradled in her hands, she let out another contented sigh.

"It's warm and comforting," she began. "Like a hug. Only, it's kind of sad, like the person you're hugging is going to be going away. But you know they'll come back again, eventually, so it's not really goodbye," she added. He could hear the soft smile on her lips as she added in the last part, but Volkner still felt his stomach drop like the temperature of oncoming night around them.

"Can't say I know what that feels like, but it sounds nice."

"You don't sound happy, Volkner," she said. When he lifted his head to look at her, the sun was already gone, but the last few of its rays were still peering lightly over the horizon and streaking pinks that turned to purples and dark blues through the clouds. "If it's something I said..."

Her twin braids were hanging limply over her hands, which were still cradling her chin as she propped it up over the sand with her elbows. Her brown eyes cautiously searched through his, just in case she had struck a nerve that would make him suddenly stand to leave, like it often did. However, he didn't seem to be in the leaving mood.

"Because everyone I've ever hugged goodbye I've never seen again," he said at last. She knew he tried to make it sound like he was indifferent, that was how Volkner was. He tried to be stoic and mysterious when emotion was brimming inside him. But she knew he wanted no pity, she never wanted any herself when she felt sad or depressed. Suddenly, his back against her stomach felt unusually hot, even for the humid, June summer they were in. She pushed herself back to a cross-legged sitting position and set her hands in her lap delicately, looking down into the sand instead of at him.

"Oh."

Usually, on their beach trips in the summer like this, Candice took great pleasure in looking at him in just a pair of swimming trunks. The way every muscle moved when he walked, swam, or simply breathed made her heart go aflutter. But now, she felt a little uneasy at even glancing. She almost felt guilty for bringing it up, for not letting him continue his nap until she absolutely had to wake him up, when it was time to leave. She wanted to fix things, but what was there to even say?

"Come on, it's dark. We need to be getting you home in time to open your gym tomorrow," Volkner said, breaking the silence and flattening his palms against the towel, pushing himself to his knees and then stumbling to his feet. She did the same, and was about to kneel to pick up her skirt to walk around decently back in the city when she suddenly felt an idea tingle at the back of her mind. Thank Arceus it was dark, or he'd have seen her blush for sure. Still, she pretended to ignore it, picking up her skirt regardless and slipping it on, the same way he did with his t-shirt.

Their walk over to the ferry was a silent one. Candice, her towel tucked neatly under her arm, seemed to rub too noisily against her bare stomach while the sand kicking up under her feet felt more like it was trying to slow her down. The silence was heavy, but there were no beachgoers at this time to distract them, all having left to go home and be out of the night. The only lights came from the houses that dotted the shoreline, the stars above them, and the ferry in the distance that was set to leave in twenty minutes for Snowpoint. It couldn't have looked farther away to her.

"You're suddenly unusually quiet," Volkner stated, giving her a little playful nudge. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, totally fine!" she fibbed, putting on her brightest smile, though he couldn't see it much in the darkness. "Just a little tired is all. Our days at the beach really wear me out sometimes!"

"You're used to the cold, and heat makes everyone drowsy, so it would have an extra effect on you," he replied. She was happy to see that he was now in good spirits, at least. "Why do you think I fell asleep back there?"

"Maybe you're just lazy and you were up all night with some girl," she teased, playfully returning his nudge. "I mean, there's got to be something exciting for you to do when I'm not here!"

"Yeah, that's me, sleeping with women right and left." He looked down at her and she saw a smile on his face, and it made her more at ease. "Nah, I'm not that type. I'd rather just pursue one girl, preferably not one that's in it for the sexy time."

She wasn't quite sure what to make of that statement, especially when paired with that smile, but her stomach sure did. It was turning backflips inside her the second he said it. "It's good to see that Flint hasn't rubbed off on you in that aspect!"

"Yeah, well, what can I say? I learn from the guy's mistakes," he laughed. He stopped though, at the end of the dock, before his feet could hit the dry old wooden planks that led to the boat. She stopped a few paces ahead of him and turned around when she noticed he wasn't following.

"Volkner?"

"Go on, it's late, and your boat's going to leave soon. I'm going to head back home. I'll see you later, so we can do this again, okay?" He stuck his hands in the pockets of his trunks and turned to head back through the sand towards his house at the other end of the beach. Candice watched him go with a slightly empty feeling.

"Volkner!"

The figure stopped and cast a glance over his shoulder at her. "Yeah?"

"Um," she began. And suddenly, she was at a loss for words. "What about if I hugged you?" She struggled to meet his gaze, though it was hard to even see his steely blue eyes from their distance. "You know..."

"Well," He turned around in the sand and she saw his head tilt a little to his left. "I don't see why – OOF!"

Candice had dropped her towel on the boardwalk and took a running start, jumping into him and wrapping her arms tightly around his neck before she could dissuade herself otherwise. Volkner's towel fell to the sand and they followed shortly after, Candice still clinging tightly to him. Her legs stretched out behind him as she sat in his lap, feeling skin against t-shirt, feeling how comfortingly warm he was in her arms. Slowly, his arms curled around her and he pressed in closer, resting his chin on the top of her head while they sat in the sand.

"So that was sunset," he murmured into her beach-smelling hair. "I think I like it."

"As well you should," she added quietly. He gave a small laugh.

"This doesn't mean you're allowed to disappear now though, okay?" he whispered. She smiled into his neck and gave an extra squeeze before looking up into his face and locking eyes.

"Okay, I promise."

A/N: I don't even ship these two. Not a big fan of the pairing, I just don't see it working. But they fit so perfectly into this situation, so I wasn't about to ignore my muse on this one.

Not bad for someone who's in a writing lapse, eh?