[PKMN] Maxie X Reader: Almost Traumatic

    As you sketched furiously, marking the page with your skill, you heard footsteps through your scratching as someone came up behind you. Finishing the sketch, you put your pencil down and sighed with a smile, leaning back casually. You knew who was behind you. It could only be, and quite obviously was, the man the same fascination of land as you did.

    “Hey Maxie. What’s up?” You greeted, feeling the familiar warmth radiating off him and onto your back from the common gesture he made to look over your shoulder and peek at your work.

    “Nothing much. Just curious on the piece you’re working on that’s keeping you from dinner.” He mused, leaning further over your shoulder to view your desk.

    “Dinner’s ready? Ah shoot. I lost track of the time again…” You admitted sheepishly. “Sorry about that! But I think you may like the product of my hold up. Take a look.” You added, moving your papers and tools aside to slide him your most recent work.

    Maxie took the offered page to look at, and when he did so, his eyes widened in amazement at the sketch you had produced. You had turned in your chair to view his reaction, and became quite pleased when you saw it.

    “Isn’t that cool or what? That was my mental image of what Primal Groudon would look like. I gave it a sketch the moment I thought of it.” You explained proudly.

    “Cool? Perhaps phenomenal is a better word. Your art never ceases to amaze me _______. Just like your maps; not a single detail ever missed.” He praised, smirking at the sketch.

    Your face tinted pink at the praising, and you began to sheepishly brush it off like you always did. “Ah, come on! There’s loads more artists out there. I’m not as great as some.”

    “But you’re better than many.” Maxie finished, placing the sketch back on your desk. “Come on. Your dinner is getting cold.” He followed up, gesturing to the door with a sideways glance.

    You sighed in defeat with a smile and stood up from your desk. “Alright. Let’s go then.”

    As you and Maxie walked out of your room, a thought came to Maxie’s mind as you went, and he couldn’t help but offer it.

    “Hey _______, do you figure your hand itches to draw more tonight?” He inquired, glancing to his side at you.

    “Tch, only every night.” You chuckled, flexing your good drawing hand. “Sadly, I need sleep though. Can’t exist in this world without sleep, can I?”

    “True. But let’s say tonight you stay up late, and I let you sleep in tomorrow morning…” He began.

    “What are you getting at…?” You questioned, eyes narrowing at his vagueness.

    He smirked at how antsy you were getting to hear. “Well, you know how you always wanted to get close to the inside of Mt. Chimney, maybe find some secret passages, map out a new area…” He hinted.

    “Oh my Arceus are you going to take me to the volcano’s crater?!” You asked excitedly, eyes lighting up.

    Maxie nodded in response, making you almost burst with joy.

    “Yes! Thank you so much Maxie!” You squealed, instinctively grabbing Maxie and hugging him.

    Maxie stiffened for a moment, but relaxed eventually and let out a dry chuckle. “You’re welcome _______.” He said, straightening his glasses.

    “Ah, sorry about that… excitement. Kinda takes me over nowadays!” You laughed quietly, backing up from him with a slight blush.

    One would have been able to say Maxie was blushing as well, but his outfit being so damn red reflected the colour off it and onto his face so well that you could barely tell.

    With a nod signalling it was alright, you and Maxie proceeded into the dining hall where most of the grunts were still eating. Upon entering, you were immediately called out to by a group of grunts you always hung out with, slapping their table with excitement.

    “Well, it looks like I’m being beckoned. See you after dinner?” You asked.

    “Indeed.” He confirmed with a nod.

    You smiled in response and began to jog towards the group calling you, but you paused and turned back for a moment.

    “Oi Maxie. For being such a hardboiled grumpy guy, you sure are freakin sweet.” You commented. “Thanks!” You added, quickly dashing off to the table and leaping in between two grunts as you began to start conversing.

    Maxie stood there for a moment, face flushing slightly more than last time as he watched you. He then cleared his throat, shook his head, and put on his usual tough and unamused look as he marched over to his usual seat, looking high and mighty.

    “You’re welcome, _______.” He mumbled under his breath, supressing the smile that wanted to show up at the sight of making you happy.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

    Once dinner was finally over, everything was gathered and washed quickly before you slipped away to grab your best pencils and a fresh large sketchbook you hadn’t used for maps yet. Once you had those, you swiftly used a warp pad that lead to the entrance of the hideout, and waited for Maxie. It didn’t take long for him to show up there shortly after you did, equipped with a couple pokéballs just in case.

    “Ready?” He asked.

      With that, you nodded and the two of you set off for the cable car and got there in no time, quickly riding it up the mountain to the top. You were practically bouncing as you rose higher and higher, and when the cable car stopped, you nearly screamed with excitement as you ran out, following the path up even higher, forcing Maxie to have to run and chase after you to keep up.

    Stumbling over the rocky terrain, Maxie ran out to a cliff that hung over the mouth of the volcano, displaying the long drop downwards into the magnificent glowing lava below. You of course, were standing right at its edge, looking down into the pit of lava with great fascination.

    “Amazing, isn’t it?” He spoke up, catching your attention.

    “Hell yes it is! I’ve never taken the time to come up here because of other work related things. This place looks awesome at nigh too!” You commented, the glow of the lava lighting up your face.

    Maxie just smiled slightly and watched you whip out your sketchbook and begin to draw the inner crater of the volcano from the cliff you stood on, down to the searing lava below you.

    “Wow. This crater is extremely deep! If my estimation is correct, just going on visual judgement… if something were to fall from here, it would take approximately fifteen seconds for it to hit the lava, Depending on the weight of the object of course.” You inquired aloud, leaning over the edge slightly to get a better look.

    Upon hearing your words, Maxie took a wide flat rock that was lying next to him, and kicked the large object over the edge and watched it drop, counting mentally as it did so. Once it splashed into the molten fire below, he stood up straight again, looking impressed.

    “Eighteen seconds. I knew I was right about your smarts when I got you to join.” He commented.

    “Jeez, knock it off! You don’t praise people! It’s weeeiiird!” You emphasized, blushing from embarrassment as you tried to brush off another compliment with a smile that was failed to be hidden.

    Maxie scoffed in response and let you go back to your mapping. He knew you appreciated the compliment; you just had no proper way of responding to it without getting all flustered. As he stood off to the side and watched, he thought about another reason why he was here. One that had to do with why he was acting so nice in front of you, and why he enjoyed getting you to smile the way you were. Such a monotone grumpy man like him, did in fact have a heart.

    “Hey _______...” Maxie then said, clearing his throat after a moment. “I have a second reason for bringing you here.”

    “Hm? You do? And what would that be?” You asked curiously, turning around to face him.

    “I, uh… wanted to tell you something…” He tried with a frown, face flushing again as he began to act almost the complete opposite of himself, the red of his face now becoming far more visible, even against the light of the lava.

    You gazed at him for a moment before you caught on, giving him a slightly shocked look as your cheeks turned pink. “Oh my Arceus. Maxie, are you trying to say-“

    Your question towards his supposed confession was cut short by a loud cracking sound, and the ground shifting slightly under your feet. You looked down quickly, and saw the large between you and Maxie. Your expression turned to fear as you tried to step forward, but the moment you set your foot down, the ground gave way and that piece of the cliff fell, as it was thinner than you thought, taking you down with it.

    “_______!!” Maxie screamed suddenly in shock, the cliff breaking off too fast for him to react quickly enough as he lunged over the edge trying to reach you.

    “MAXIE!!” You screamed in almost unison with him, plummeting through the air towards the lava below.

    His heart stopped. It most definitely stopped for a moment. Watching you fall to your death made every function in his body shut down. You were going to die, and it would traumatize him for the rest of his life. But, there was one bit of him that remembered something, and refused to let that trauma happen.

    “Fifteen seconds…”

    “Crobat! Get down there!” He yelled suddenly, smacking one of his pokéballs against the ground and releasing Crobat. “You have ten seconds! GO!” He yelled again, almost crying from panic as he pointed down into the volcano.

    Crobat nodded and flew off without hesitation, dive bombing down the crater of the volcano at incredible speeds to catch up with your falling form.

    You though, only inched closer and closer to the boiling pit of lava below you, and tears formed in your eyes as you cried for your life. Just as you thought you were going to hit the lava, you felt something else beneath you first, and your movement halted. Slowly opening your eyes, you gasped quietly as you looked down and into the lava mere meters away from you. A tear rolled off your cheek and dropped into the lava below, sizzling when it made contact, and you whimpered in response, thinking only of the fate you had nearly met.

    Slowly, Crobat hauled you back up from the hot crater, you still stricken with fear as you shook violently, clinging to its back. It took all its effort and power to carry you up the crater, ensuring there was no chance you would drop as it flapped its wings as hard as it could, lifting you out.

    With some last few swift and hard flaps, Crobat made it back up to the thicker and more stable part of the cliff and collapse from pure exhaustion with you onto the rock, you rolling off its back to relieve it of your weight and grip into the dirt to let yourself know that you were back, and you weren’t dead.

    “_______!” Maxie called, running over and dropping to the ground next to you. “Are you alright?! Hurt? Anything?!”

    You looked up with fear struck eyes, tears pooling in them rapidly as you clenched the dirt. “I-I-…” You stammered with a shaky voice. “I was so scared!” You then blurted out suddenly, launching your shaken form at him and gripping him tightly as you let more tears fall freely.

    He quickly and gladly took you into his arms, hugging you tightly as he pulled you a little further away from the edge. Briefly, he held out a pokéball and thanked Crobat before returning it back to its ball for a well-earned healing and poképuff later.

    “I-I thought U was going to die! I thought… I should have watched the cliff! I-I almost got melted!” You stuttered out quickly, pulling yourself into him further for comfort as you reached around and gripped the clothing at his back tightly.

    “But you didn’t. You’re fine now. I made sure you didn’t.” Maxie reassured, rubbing your back gently.

    “I- T-thank you. If it wasn’t for you and Crobat, I would’ve…” You thanked, whimpering to finish your sentence as you buried your face into his shoulder.

    “_______, you technically also saved yourself. If your estimate for how long it took for something to reach the bottom was incorrect, I wouldn’t have been able to send Crobat down in time.” He reminded you.

    “But you still carried out the action. If you didn’t I’d be DEAD!” You repeated.

    “Why do you think I did it? If I didn’t and you fell, I wouldn’t have been able to carry on my life without the person I was trying to tell I love mere seconds before I got to.” He told you, gripping you tighter as he did so.

    Hearing that, you paused for a moment and held back your tears, allowing a small blush to come to your face. “So that was what you were going to say.” You mumbled.

    “It was, but before I could, the edge of the cliff cracked, and you fell.”

    You couldn’t find words at the moment, and instead gripped at him tighter, that small blush from before coming back to your face as your heart rate increased slightly. You felt so stupid, but at the same time, the incident wasn’t your fault, and you were granted another chance at life thanks to Maxie.

    “I’m… I’m glad you were here. Jeez… I can’t believe that happened. That was terrible timing too.” You scoffed silently.

    “Yeah. That was… almost traumatic.” Maxie nodded.

    “… Almost traumatic?!” You repeated, pulling your head back to look at him, slightly appalled. “I was just damn near boiled alive. I think that’s pretty traumatic.”

    “True… But you’re one of the strongest people in Team Magma. I know this is something you can easily recover from. The tone in your voice tells me so.” Maxie told you. “But, for me, if you did hit, that would have been the end of me. I would have never wanted to set foot near land or volcano ever again, because I would think of you. I might have even become one on the water instead and stuck things out with Archie. That’s why I say almost traumatic.” He added with explanation.

    You paused and stared at him for a moment before letting out a tension breaking small bit of laughter, lightening the fear you felt and pushing it away.

    “Wow! Okay, I guess you’re right there! Imagining you avoiding land and living out on the water… Just no!” You laughed. “That would be too messed up.”

    “Messed up? How?” He questioned, curious as to why a reaction to traumatic thing like that would be messed up.

    “Because, that’s not the Maxie I came to know and fell in love with.” You said simply with a smile. “Because I love you just the way you are now, you land loving freak.”

    With that final sweet smile, you were done with the anger and fear you felt moments ago, and you then leaned into Maxie, gently pressing your lips to his, further reinforcing your statement, and acknowledging the words he tried to say before as well.

    Maxie’s eyes widened for a moment, not expecting you to do that a t first, but then relaxed after the slight initial shock had passed, it was a sense of relief for him, as you finally laughed again, and actually returned his feelings that he was trying to get across. He readjusted his grip on you quickly and held you close as he returned your kiss, closing his eyes as he did so.

    You stayed like this for a moment at the edge of the glowing crater of the volcano, one of your hands coming up and slightly messing with his neatly kept hair in the back. When you finally decided to part, you gave him a confident smile that he was happy to see.

    “Well, if this is the case, then I won’t e changing any time too soon, since you return my feelings so strongly.” Maxie said, returning your smile.

    “Good thing it was almost traumatic then, right?” You joked lightheartedly.

    “Good thing indeed.” He agreed, hugging you once more. “I’m so glad you’re alive…” He added with a mumble.

    You chuckled lightly and returned the affectionate squeeze, holding onto him like he was your only reason to live. “So am I.”