Work Text:
Sonia weaves through the crew best as she can, just barely ducking underneath camera rigs and all sorts of equipment she isn’t sure the name nor the purpose of. Among the camera and lighting crews Sonia also passes a few models and agents, all dressed up and beautiful.
Trudging along through the halls Sonia feels out of place still in her lab frayed lab coat. But she promised Nessa she would come see her for her commercial recording in the aquarium.
During their conversation about it Nessa insisted on keeping the details secrets, simply saying Sonia would find it fascinating.
Unfortunately though, due to their scheduling differences Sonia had to run out on Hop and make him promise to study the charts in order to even make it on time.
Sonia pouts, she loves being a professor but Gran has been getting on her case more about lab safety attire, especially now that Hop has become her official assistant. On the taxi ride Sonia was at least able to do her hair and make up the best she could but she forgot her change of clothes in her rush.
She didn’t even get to redo her nails.
With a slump and a sigh Sonia resigns herself to her fate, continuing to search for Nessa to no avail. There weren’t any crowds of course, they are doing all this after hours and with respect to the aquatic Pokemon here, but the silence lent itself to an almost mystical eeriness, bending only by the gentle sounds of water swirling around as different fish swim through its currents.
One of her and Nessa’s first dates had been at this very aquarium, Sonia remembers how sweaty her hands got and how she felt so nervous that day she hadn’t even eaten. It wasn’t until Nessa looped her hands around her arm while squealing at a Primarina swimming overhead that Sonia started to relax. Nessa’s head nestled on her shoulder as they sat in that corner, fingers interlocked, watching the Primarina perform for the crowd is a fuzzy memory.
Sonia hardly realizes she’s almost started skipping, during a break maybe she can take Nessa back to that spot again. If she can find her.
“Maybe I should ask one of the workers…” Sonia mumbles to herself, twirling her hair between her finger as she passes a large tank barely catching a glimpse of the tail of a Miltoic at the corner of her eye.
Knock. Knock.
Sonia pauses in her tracks, the thudding sound came from the tank. Nervously she turns, if a Pokemon is acting strangely she should probably let the workers know. But instead of a curious or injured Pokemon looking her way she sees someone else in the tank.
Sonia’s eyes widen as she stares transfixed at the way Nessa sways in the water, her hair flowing in all directions and her...tail swirling with her. Nessa’s eyes twinkle in delight as Sonia stares slack jawed at her girlfriend. Her girlfriend is underwater. Without swimming gear. Her girlfriend is underwater. In a fish tank. Her girlfriend with the most beautiful Miolotic tail and glittering scales.
Nessa flicks her tail and waves her arms, demanding full attention before she points up, Sonia wills her eyes to look away from her to find a landing at the top of the tank with a staircase.
“G-got it! Meet you there.” Nessa sways her fin in delight, blowing an air bubble her way before swiftly swimming up. The rubber soles of Sonia’s shoes squeak in protest as she quickly scampers up the staircase, shuffling past a few workers in her rush. But by the time she makes it to the top Nessa is already waiting, her tail idly swaying behind her as she rest her chin above the railing.
“I beat you.” Nessa teases. Sonia puffs her cheeks in response.
“I didn’t know we were racing, so that doesn’t count.”
“I still win though.” Sonia concedes with a playful roll of her eyes kneeling at the edge of the tank to meet Nessa.
“I have to say though, this is...amazing.” up close Sonia can see the tail is one of those fake ones performers wear pretending to be mermaids for kids. The scales on her torso just help blend and sell the illusion of a real Milotic tail.
“Isn’t it? They let me pick the design.” Nessa runs her hands over the scales on her body. The costume is topped off with various pearls, sea-glass, and coral. Including a modest coral crown.
“I’ll be doing a performance with the other aquarium mermaids next month, that’s what this whole set up is for, plus some practicing to get used to swimming in all this.” Nessa sways the tail for emphasis, making Sonia’s eyebrows stitch together at the slow movement.
“It’s not too heavy is it?” Nessa shrugs.
“Just a bit. But you know me, I am a great swimmer.” Nessa glides along the edge of the tank, towards a set of steps at the far end. Sonia follows, transfixed by the way her tail moves in the water, Nessa is slower than she usually is when she swims but no doubt faster than some of the professional mermaids.
Ever since they were kids Nessa has been unnaturally talented at swimming, being the daughter of a fisherman it wasn’t that big of a surprise.
Nessa’s parents even once told her a story, that her father was actually once a Frillish, but he fell in love with a beautiful woman out by the sea singing and wished with all his heart to be a human so they could be together. And together they had a child both of the sea and land.
It’s an adorable fairy tale but with some truth to it. Nessa’s mother used to tease Nessa by searching her hands and her feet for webs when she came back from long swims and ask if she was her daughter or a fish flopping around her house and wetting the furniture.
Every day she was out there swimming, running home with seaweed tangled in her hair and a bright smile.
Nowadays Nessa doesn’t often have time to swim for fun, and even though this is technically work she looks...happy.
Sonia takes her shoes off as she makes it to the steps, shuffling down carefully and sitting on the dry spots where she could be closer to Nessa. She can't help but stare, each scale was individually crafted with all their own iridescent shimmer only amplified by both the reflective water and darkness of the aquarium. Transfixed Sonia reaches her hand down before pausing.
“C-can I?” Nessa laughs a little and nods, adjusting herself to float on her back, exposing her tail in its full glory. Sonia is almost jealous of whoever got to design this tail for Nessa, it fits her perfectly, and is a near accurate reaction of Milotics actual tail. However, they did sacrifice a bit to aesthetic rather than practicality.
Sonia glides her nails over Nessa’s navel where her skin meets the scales, the blending is so seamless it almost feels real. Adventurous Sonia continues to run her nails along the outer scales the water lapping at her fingertips before she dives her hand around Nessa’s hips to feel some more of the scales there.
Nessa lets out a breathy laugh, covering her mouth with her hand.
“You’re teasing.” she sighs wistfully.
Sonia can't help but smile, her eyes gleaming to see Nessa’s flushed face, her hair swirling around the water. She looks like a true siren.
“Sorry, I couldn’t help it. You look beautiful.”
“You did say Milotic suited me best.” Sonia decides she can always find a change of clothes and moves further down the steps, the water tickling just above her ankle and her jeans.
“What can I say? I have an eye for style.”
Nessa adjusts herself, leaning against the lowest step and tilting her head up invitingly. Sonia giggles and leans down, her hair swaying as she does so. Pleased Nessa closes her eyes, waiting.
“But you know you would actually need a lot more blubber.”
“Huh.” Nessa’s eyes snap open, with a raised eyebrow.
“Yeah!” Sonia leans away playfully twirling her finger through a strand of hair, “You’re cute and all but hypothetically speaking you shouldn’t look like that at al-laah!” Sonia squeaks as a treacherous hand pulls her into the water.
“Ness!” Sonia gasps, keeping her head above water but before she could say much else Nessa’s face is inches from hers, she’s pouting with her mouth under the waves. It is terribly cute.
Nessa raises her head out of the water, shaking out her hair a bit.
“Alright then, Professor, what should I look like?” Sonia scampers for a moment, adjusting her glasses.
“Well,” Sonia hums, tilting her head to the side and tapping her chin with a finger “you should be way larger.”
“Really?”
“Mhm.” Sonia mumbles, “You would need a thicker tail to help move your body easier through the water and some extra blubber to keep you warm. Not to mention a larger lung capacity to support you. A blowhole could probably help.”
Nessa snorts out a laugh, the sound echos across the water before she covers her mouth, “A blowhole?!”
Sonia nods in confirmation, trying and failing to hold back her wide smile.
“And you probably wouldn’t have all this hair either, maybe just some fins on your head.” Sonia idly plays with Nessa’s stray hair swaying back and forth in the water.
“That’s a shame, I rather like my hair.” Sonia giggles a bit.
“Well, none of that really matters since mermaids aren’t real.” Nessa hums thoughtfully, then Sonia sees the all too familiar flicker of mischief in her eyes.
“Is that so?”
Slowly Nessa guides Sonia’s hands around her neck, Sonia is only able to get a soft noise of confusion before she is pushed back against the walls of the tank. Being so weightless under water it is easy for Nessa to slide between Sonia’s legs, the rough scales at her hips tug the fabric of Sonia’s pants as her face heats up.
Like this Nessa is just slightly hovering over her, hands against the walls to support herself, and hair cascading down, clinging to Sonia’s shoulders.
Sonia’s mouth hangs open, trying to blink away the water in her eyelashes. Now its Nessa’s turn to lean down, her lips linger just a few inches away from Sonia’s.
“Am I real enough for you now?”
All Sonia could muster the strength to do was nod, trying her best to lean forward to meet Nessa’s lips.
“E-excuse me?”
The pair jolt away from each other, splashing around in a panic before ultimately clinging to each other for support.
On the landing a nervous man stands there, shuffling on his feet, lanyard hanging out of his pocket and in flip-flops.
“Sorry to um...interrupt but we are ready for you…Miss Ness-Nessa ma’am.” the worker mumbles, covering most of his face with a clipboard. In his other hand he holds an air-tube, decorated like a shell.
“R-right!” Nessa scampers, moving her hair out of her face and trying to compose herself.
“Sonia, you can follow Silas to my…” Nessa clears her throat “to my changing room.”
Sonia wants to just sink into the water but nods, letting Nessa guide her over to the steps again. Sonia helps Nessa in turn sit up on the steps to accept the breathing gear from Silas.
Awkwardly Sonia stands off to the side as he explains how to use the tube and basic signs to communicate with the crew during recording.
The walk to Nessa’s changing room wrapped in a towel is agonizing. Silas avoids looking at her and tugs and plays with his lanyard.
“This is uh her room.”
“T-thank you. Silas.”
Safely in the changing room Sonia slinks onto the ground, burying her face into the towel with a groan.
Sonia hates whenever she gets like this. It's been three years since she and Nessa started dating, yet they’ve kept it a secret from pretty much everyone except those closest to them.
Leon didn’t even know about them until after he became Chairman, and that of course led to a thousand questions from him.
For the past decade Sonia has done her best to be out of the public eye, but as of late thanks to her taking on the mantle of Professor and publishing her books, more and more people have had their eyes on her.
The all too familiar gossiping magazines came back to haunt her. As recent as last week she spotted a magazine where someone had apparently snapped a photo of her and Leon walking down the street together smiling and laughing with speculation of “childhood sweethearts reunited.”
A groan slips past her lips and a bad taste lingers in her mouth. Quickly she shakes her head.
“No time for that!”
Sonia shoots back up, shrugging off her lap coat and kicking off her shoes and socks. On Nessa’s chair is a bag with her name on it.
Sonia smiles happily at it, of course Nessa came prepared for her.
In record time Sonia finishes drying off and redoing her makeup and hair before rushing back out to the tanks.
As Sonia shuffles in, the crew calls for silence before action. The other aquarium mermaids are phenomenal, they all spin and dance with various Pokemon swimming alongside them. In the end Nessa descends from above, flanked by Luvdisc.
They do a few alternative takes and miscellaneous shots, a few breathing breaks in between where Nessa waves to Sonia and chats with the other mermaids, they all surround her giggling and smiling, some helping adjust her costume and others fixing each other's hair.
Over an hour of recording later, it's a wrap.
As the crew claps and cheers and the director thanks everyone Sonia decides to wander away, after shoots like this Nessa usually needs to stick around to talk to the directors and crew, or at the very least exchange pleasantries.
Before she knows it Sonia finds herself back at the bench she and Nessa sat at on their date all those years ago.
Sonia swings her feet back and forth on the bench, taking in the peaceful silence. If she listens close enough she could still hear the echoing conversation of the crew deeper in the halls but here she could allow herself a moment of peace.
Despite it though, Sonia cant help her mind drifting away from the calm.
Back then, when she and Leon started becoming big names in the Pokemon Challenge, Rose tried to push for them to be “King and Queen.” At the time Sonia didn’t understand why the notion left such a deep pit in her stomach.
To make matters worse, magazines and articles were pushing that narrative too. Called it puppy love when they went out camping together and referred to them as boyfriend and girlfriend even though they weren’t dating.
It got to a point she dreaded being seen with Leon at all.
On a certain level she figured she should fall in love with her best friend, she should have feelings for him that are more romantic, that is how it always went in storybooks. Yet it only serve as a source of dread.
The realization had scared her, she felt guilty for not wanting to be at Leon’s side anymore. So at her first excuse she just ran.
Staring at the overhead tube counting and logging all the Pokemon, when a familiar Primarina floats in, but this time accompanied by another, slightly larger Primarina.
A smile creeps onto her face. She had read an article about those two, they are the aquariums first lesbian pair of Primarinas.
They nuzzle each other as they spin in the water together, cooing in delight. Unbothered by their sea of audiences.
“Hey.” Sonia looks back down, Nessa stands there, towel wrapped around her shoulders and finally changed out of her mermaid costume. Sonia might’ve gotten a little too used to the tail and finds herself mourning them.
“Hi.” Sonia whispers.
They both stare at each other before erupting in laughter, both of them turning a bit red.
As their laughter dies down Nessa settles next to Sonia on the bench in the settling down aquarium things feel peaceful again.
“I’m sorry, I should’ve been more careful. I had a talk with Silas. He won’t say anything.” Nessa apologizes, fiddling with her fingers.
Above them a pair of Primarina slow their dance, as a pup joins in, happily copying their movements and yipping in delight.
Sonia fiddles with the sleeves of the jacket Nessa lent her. It still smells like her. Sonia smiles, leaning her head on Nessa’s shoulder.
“You know...these days I don’t mind the idea much anymore.” Nessa perks but doesn’t say anything, so Sonia continues.
“I don’t like people assuming things about me, especially when they are wrong. But this...this is real.” When Sonia looks to Nessa she finds her face contorted in worry, eyes trying to scan her carefully.
Sonia kisses between Nessa’s eyebrows to banish the worried wrinkle there.
“Are you sure?” Sonia nods at Nessa.
“I don’t want to make a huge big deal out of it but...I think I’m okay with more people knowing that I love you.”
Nessa smiles and pressed her forehead to Sonia’s rubbing their noses together.
“Does this mean you will come see my parents? As my girlfriend this time?”
Sonia’s heart skips a beat but she nods. It’s only fair. Gran found out about them, so it's about time Nessa’s parents got to know too.
Though she does her best to act casual Sonia sees the way Nessa lights up, and shuffles happily in her seat.
Down the hallway they can hear footsteps approaching, closer and closer. Even as they hear their voices calling out a greeting to Nessa, Sonia interlocks her fingers with Nessa’s, raising their hands up together and placing a kiss on each one of Nessa’s knuckles.
Before turning back to greet the people approaching them.