Title: One Fake Date
Warnings: This fic is crack on a stick. This is meant to be taken lightly, though the characters will be very much in character.
Disclaimer: Don't own Pokemon, neither the cliche of fake dating.
Notes: Saddle up for a good romantic comedy. The chapters will be short and sweet, and hopefully none too many.
Thanks to: OFFAFA tumblr for inspiration.

.&.

1.— You're in Trouble Now

Normally, Misty wouldn't be stuck sitting in the old pathetic excuse for an office that resided in the Cerulean City gym, and doing paperwork at that. Unfortunately, every single one of her sisters were gone as of today (including Tracey), and she was stuck with taking up challenges and filling out all of the nonsense paperwork.

I really do need an assistant or something...

She sighed and slammed her forehead to the desk.

"Ringringring! Ringringring! Phonecall, phonecall!"

Misty sat back up in resignation to pull out her cellphone. She frowned at her screen, which displayed the glowing words: "unknown number." Hopefully it wouldn't be another stupid marketing call...

"Hello?" Misty answered.

"Uh... um... hi. I-I'm speaking to-to Misty, right?"

Misty raised an eyebrow at the strange, oddly familiar voice. Interest now present, she stood from her desk to sit on the ledge.

"Yes. Who is this?"

"It's... um. Georgio. Do you... remember me?"

Georgio, Georgio... Oh yeah!

She remembered the boy who had come to challenge her last month. She also remembered the humiliation she had suffered under his, Casey, and Psyduck's (figurative) hands.

"Yeah..." she replied dubiously, already feeling the heat invade her face at the memory.

"Oh okay, good. I'm outside the gym right now, mind if I come in?"

"No problem..."

She hung up before giving the phone a strange look. Why in the world did he feel the need to call her beforehand? And what was he doing here in the first place?

Oh, Mew, I hope he doesn't end up challenging me again...

A few moments later, she heard the doors to the gym pool creak open. She exited her office and indeed, found Georgio, the one and only she had faced in battle mere weeks ago.

The first thing she noticed was that he looked... nice.

Georgio donned a button-up and dark jeans, with his hair cut stylishly. What threw the entire image off was the way he kept nervously fidgeting with his fingers and biting his lip.

"Hi, Georgio." Misty, realizing he wasn't about to talk anytime soon, spoke first. "It's been a while."

"Y-Yeah," he replied, starting a nervous laugh. It trailed off into an awkward silence.

Misty glanced around, suddenly feeling awkward herself. "Um, so... do you... need something?"

"No!" he hastily said. Then backtracking, "I mean, yes... but... er, let me explain... last time, I..."

Oh no.

Georgio's reason for visiting suddenly became very, very clear.

"Look, Georgio, I... really appreciate the gesture, but -"

"Wait," Georgio cut in firmly. Misty glanced up, surprised, and was forced to gaze in awe as he seemed to finally gather himself. "Let me speak. Things have changed, since last time... for me, at least. And I don't know if that's the same for you, but I really just... want you to reconsider."

"You know my answer already, Georgio," Misty told him, brow crinkling sympathetically. "I've just... been really busy at the gym..."

"I could become your assistant! And I... that way, we could be together all the time! You wouldn't have to cut time out of your schedule or anything like that!"

Damn. He really thought this out.

Misty cringed, realizing she was cornered. She racked her mind for a possible excuse, realizing that Georgio wasn't going to let go easily.

"Is there a reason you wouldn't consider me? Is it because of how I look? Or how I -"

"No, none of that!" Misty shook her head at Georgio's ridiculous musings. "It's just that... well..."

At that moment, something seemed to click in Georgio's mind. Blue eyes widened, he fixed his gaze on Misty's panicked face. "Is there someone else?"

At that point, denial wasn't an option.

"I guess so..." Misty dropped her gaze to the floor and felt the blood rise to her cheeks at the thought of her "someone else."

Georgio nodded sympathetically. "It's okay, Misty, I totally understand. Unrequited love, right? It's a pain. I guess... we're alike, in that way..."

And suddenly, Misty heard the hope return to his voice.

Oh no, no, no, no, no!

"No, it's not like that!" Misty quickly defended, waving her hands in denial.

There was a moment of silence as Georgio simply stared at her. Misty's cheeks were puffed up indignantly, and what she said only seemed to hit her a moment later.

"I mean... there's someone else, yes, but we're... already dating, y'see! That's why I... can't accept your offer." Misty exhaled a huge sigh of relief, realizing that she had finally found the perfect excuse.

Georgio, meanwhile, seemed let down - but he seemed to accept her answer.

"Alright, I can respect that. He's... a lucky man."

A lucky man... Haven't I heard those exact words before?

"Yeah..." Misty trailed off, suddenly feeling rather uncomfortable with the lie she had told. This was beginning to sound more and more like a bad idea...

"Can I ask who it is?" Georgio smiled half-heartedly. Misty almost admired the way he smiled so bravely in the face of rejection.

Unfortunately, she had another dilemma.

What am I supposed to say!? I can't sound too suspicious, or everything I did up to this point will be a waste!

And then, the Cerulean Gym's PC went off.

"Ringringring! Ringringring! Phonecall, phonecall!"

Thank everything that is holy and above.

"Gotta take that call real quick, if you don't mind!" Misty managed a brief sheepish smile before hightailing over to the screen and answering the call. Casey's smiling face flashed on the screen, giving Misty quite the surprise.

First Georgio, now Casey... I'm getting a strange sense of Deja Vu.

"Hey there, Misty!" Casey's blue pigtails swayed as waved energetically with a bright grin. "It's so great to see ya!"

Misty smiled warmly. "Yeah, hi Casey! How've you been?"

Casey rolled her eyes. "Yeah, fine, fine. We saw each other last month! I didn't call you to catch up or anything ridiculous like that."

"Gee, how foolish of me to think so," Misty replied flatly, aiming a glare at the camera.

Casey seemed oblivious to the glare. Instead, her bright grin morphed into a slightly more devilish one. "So, I was on my journey and all, right? And I ran into Tracey!"

"Tracey?" Misty repeated. That was odd. Tracey hadn't been at the gym for days, saying Professor Oak had assigned him to some sort of... oh.

Of course. Probably off studying Johto pokemon or something.

"So anyway," Casey continued impatiently, "We caught up and stuff at the Pokemon Center, and guess what he tells me! You and Ashy-boy had a little something going on!"

Misty held back the yelp that rose to her throat at Casey's loud declaration. "Casey, shush! That's not true!"

"Heh, sure it isn't!" Casey smirked confidently, crossing her arms across her chest. "He told me the whole thing. What was that chick's name again? Melanie?"

"Casey." Misty growled under gritted teeth, glare growing exponentially more murderous. "Shut. It."

And yet again, Misty's obvious murderous rage went unnoticed by Casey. Instead, she seemed to notice something else behind Misty.

"Say, who is that awkwardly lurking behind us for the past five minutes anyway?" Casey wondered, pointing to a spot behind Misty's head. She whirled around to face none other than a sheepish looking Georgio, who sprung back at the attention.

"Ah, s-sorry! I was just a little curious..." he defended whilst scratching his head.

Misty glared her most murderous glare, feeling herself boil with anger. How could he eavesdrop when - when they were talking about -

"So this... 'Ashy-boy' is who you're dating, Misty?" Georgio questioned innocently.

Casey started laughing in utter disbelief, jaw wide open as she looked back and forth to Misty and Georgio. "I can't believe it! So it is true, you guys are dating!"

"Yeah, that's why she had such a hard time letting me down," Georgio piped up. He seemed somewhat relieved, now that there was a real reason for his rejection. Casey was only further excited by more news from Georgio.

"Ooh, this is so exciting! You know what the best part is? Ash just finished the Hoenn league, so he's on his way back to the Kanto region like me! We could all go on a double date or something?"

"That sounds great!" Georgio managed a weak smile, not exactly sure how he felt about Casey's proposition, but feeling too polite to refuse it.

And suddenly, there was a the loud sound of a door slamming shut.

Casey jumped; startled. "What was that!?" she demanded to know.

Georgio turned behind him, realizing that no one was there.

"Oh, haha... Misty just left. I wonder if something was wrong?" His expression turned thoughtful, and he suddenly got the feeling that he was missing something really important.

Casey waved it off, however.

"Ah, who cares! She's probably just excited to see her boyfriend. So, which restaurant should I book reservations for?"