#Because this idea as a whole is so fricken funny and I’m genuinely surprised no one has done this before

[icymcdoodle]

@scruffyssketchbook’s Max (eevee) and Pikachu (adult man pikachu)

A small comic I did back near the start of the Eevolves comic based off a Discord conversation :3

[johannstutt413]

“Ugh.” Ambriel felt the back of her head. “Doctor, could you help me with my braid? I think it’s crooked.”

“Bring the chair over and I’ll fix it for you,” he agreed, pushing away from his desk. He’d just gotten finished with a batch of combat reports, and he really could use a break…

She sat down in the empty assistant’s chair, pushed it to him with her feet, and turned so he could get to it more easily. “Thanks. It always feels weird when I do it.”

“Really?” He shrugged. “I think it always looks fine.”

“Well, that’s weird. Usually, I don’t do anything with it because, well, it’s not like I’m very busy normally. Even back at my old job, I didn’t have a lot to do.”

The Doctor hadn’t heard much about her old job...hell, he didn’t really know much about her in general. Apparently, she just naturally felt comfortable enough with him to ask for help with her hair. “What’d you do back in Laterano?”

“I patrolled the city, making sure kids weren’t skipping school.” She sighed. “Wasn’t even a fricken’ beat cop, just a glorified hall monitor.”

“Wow. Seems like such a waste, knowing what you’re capable of. There, all done.”

Ambriel checked her pocket. “Damn it, left my mirror in my room. Why don’t you have one in your office?”

“Funny story.” He smirked. “I don’t do a lot outside of work.”

“You don’t? Well that sucks. Don’t have any friends to take you out and do stuff?”

The Doctor shook his head. “It’s not like I have that much work to do, and most of the people here seem to like me well enough, they just don’t come around and ask me to do things.”

“Wow.” She looked at him thoughtfully. “Hmm...I’ve gotta go to the store and get a few things. I’ll see you around, Doctor.”

“I’ll be here.” He watched her leave his office, more than a little envious. If he could walk out like that, even just once in a while...

-

A few weeks later, Ambriel walked in with a tupperware container and a somewhat brighter look on her face. “Hey, Doctor. Brought you something today.”

“Really?” He hadn’t expected any gifts, but if anyone was going to bring him one, it would be her. “What is it?”

“Cake. Made it yesterday, thought you might like some.” She set it on his desk, and sure enough, inside was a thickly-frosted slice of double chocolate cake.

The Doctor reached into his drawer and retrieved a plastic spoon from a box. “You don’t mind if I mess this up a little, do you?”

“Mess it up?” She watched him heat it in a microwave under his desk, then reach into his fridge and pull out a quart container of vanilla ice cream to top it with. “If you’d told me you had ice cream, I would’ve brought the whole thing and eaten it with you.”

“I’ll have to keep that in mind for next time,” he smiled.

Ambriel took a seat in her usual spot; at this point, the extra chair was parked next to the Doctor’s out of habit. “You really should. Hey, when you’re done, you wanna take a break? You didn’t leave for lunch, so you must be getting sick of this office.”

“Sounds great,” he admitted, “but how am I gonna do that? This cake is pretty good, by the way.”

“Thanks. Followed the instructions on a box. Anyway, what do you mean, ‘how?’ You’re the Doctor, aren’t you? Just grab an Operator who can watch your back and keep you company and go for a walk. We- I mean, you- ah, damn it.”

The Doctor smiled. “If you wanted to go walking around the city with me, you could’ve just asked, Ambriel.”

“...Well, you wanna go window-shopping with me, then?”

“Of course.” He grabbed a spoonful of cake and ice cream. “Here, want some?”

She leaned forward and took the bite without taking the spoon from, licking her lips afterwards. “Yeah, that’s the stuff right there. Really should’ve bought some ice cream on that shopping trip...”

“Heh. Alright, let’s go.” The Doctor finished the slice and scoop, closed the spoon in the container, and set it in his fridge before throwing on his jacket. Once that was done, they were off.

They took a shuttle down to Lungmen, which was starting to feel like another extension of Rhodes with how long they’d been hovering over it, and walked through the shopping district making small talk. As casual as they’d been about it in the office, down on the ground, the atmosphere was different; the streets were tight with other customers and couples doing what they were doing, the lanterns were lit even while the sun was casting a warm glow over everything, and the stores seemed to be offering substantially higher discounts on 2-for-1 specials than usual. The Doctor bought a few DVDs and a cake mix, Ambriel got a new phone case and a pair of headphones to match it, and after a couple of hours, they drifted into an ice cream shop and ordered a pair of cones to sit down with. If there was a time to acknowledge what this had turned out to be, well...this was it.

“For windowshopping, we got a pretty good haul, wouldn’t you say?” He began after trimming down the scoop atop his cone to a conversational level.

“Yeah, I’d say so.” She, on the other hand, had simply bitten the whole thing into submission and was taking her time with the cone, eating it with a chiral motion all the way down. After a short lull, she sighed. “I wonder if the Operators really see me as some kind of killing machine.”

The Doctor furrowed his brow. “Why would they think that?”

“I was bored - you know how I get when I’m not doing a mission - and I went out to the balcony to watch the clouds pass under us, and you would’ve thought I brought my rifle with me and was eyeing some birds that were passing overhead. That sort of thing’s way too messy for me. All that blood raining down on me? No thank you.”

“That’s ridiculous.” He shook his head. “You take care of targets out in the field, but that’s sniping work, not stabbing a guy with your gun barrel like...some people.”

Ambriel smirked. “You mean Executor? That guy’s got it out for me, and I have no idea why! I pay my fricken’ taxes on time, and he still gets on me, asking if I’m ‘fulfilling my obligations’ like I’m some post-grad who crawled in off the street! I swear, it’s things like that that made me leave Laterano in the first place...not that I’d ever leave RI.”

“Really? Even if there were twenty more people like him crawling up and down your neck?”

“Okay, maybe then, but another five or ten I’d probably put up with.” She smiled. “You guys have given me a lot of practical benefits, working for you, and I don’t want to give up my pay grade or my other privileges.”

The Doctor smiled back. “Other privileges, huh? Is that what you call it?”

“I’m just saying, you treat me like I wanna be treated.” Ambriel was down to a nub, so she sucked the remaining ice cream out before popping it into her mouth. “Hope I’m returning the favor, Doctor.”

“Are you kidding? I don’t know how I’d get through the day without you talking to me. The cake was a really nice touch. ‘s why I want to return the favor tomorrow.”

That genuinely surprised her. “What, you’re gonna make that cake?”

“I was thinking you and I could watch some movies at my place. We’ll have cake, ice cream, and this bottle of amaretto I got a while back from my welcome-back party.”

“Huh...I mean, that sounds awesome, but...heh, I shouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth.” She touched the braid on the back of her head, reminding herself who this was to her. “Yeah, I’ll come over tomorrow after work. Call me if I’m not there by 5, alright?”

He nodded. “That’s a promise, then.”

“Yeah...It’s a date.” Perhaps without meaning to, that comment reminded them that, in fact, this had also been a date that neither of them had acknowledged; as the Doctor finished his ice cream cone, Ambriel pretended to check her mirror, and the two of them temporarily disassociated from what was happening...because while neither party would openly admit it, they wouldn’t mind spending more time together like this, and hopefully tomorrow would make things more clear. Or, at least, less awkward.

-

The next day, Ambriel didn’t stop by the Doctor’s office, which worried him; she’d been in his office at least twice a day since he’d braided her hair the first time, so...He called her to check in, and once that was solved, he relaxed. She’d finally had something to do today, she said, so she hadn’t had a chance to come in, but she said she’d be at his place by 5, and a promise was a promise. Or, he supposed, a date was a date. This was a date, no doubt about that. Wait, was his place even clean?

If anyone needed the Doctor for the rest of that work day, the note on his door told them he was busy elsewhere, which...wasn’t entirely a lie. Several hours of cleaning left his place looking good enough for guests, and by the time that was done, he needed to freshen up before starting the cake. Once he was put together, and the cake was baking, the Doctor settled down to catch his breath...and the next thing he knew, there was a knock on his door. He walked with a nervousness he’d never felt but had certainly scene portrayed on TV, and with one more hapless breath, he opened the door. “Good eveni- holy shit.”

“What?” Ambriel gave him a rather tsun glare as he marveled at her attire - hoodie half-zipped with a thin T-shirt underneath, skirt coming halfway down her thighs, long socks capped with a pair of sneakers. “You’re looking at me like you don’t see me every day, Doctor.”

“I don’t see you dressed like this everyday,” he managed as the capacity for communication left his brain along with a sizable fraction of his blood.

She blushed fiercely at that. “I guess not, but...let me inside, will you? It’s cold out here, and I can smell that cake.”

“Right, the cake! Come on in, it should be just about-” Ding! “-it’s done. Make yourself comfortable on the couch. Can I get you anything?”

“Maybe some of that amaretto when your hands are free...Wow, you keep a tight ship, huh? A lot cleaner than my place right now.”

The Doctor chuckled to himself as he pulled the cake out of the oven. “Normally it’s more lived-in, I promise. You don’t mind if it’s not frosted, do you? I have a tub of the stuff, but it’ll just melt into the cake right now.”

“Hell, just bring it all in here together and we’ll mix it ourselves. Boy, it’s hot in here.” By this point, she’d claimed the middle cushion and slipped off her hoodie entirely, watching him with her sniper’s eyes.

“Well, the oven has been on for a while now.” He brought the entire cake, a tub of frosting, a half-gallon of ice cream, two bowls and spoons, the bottle of amaretto and two cups (no wine glasses) into the room on a tray and set everything down on a coffee table in front of them. Everything in place, he grabbed the remote, turned on the TV, and grabbed the stack of DVDs he’d gotten the other day. “Alright, what do we want to watch first?”

Ambriel vaguely remembered the movies he’d bought. “How about the one about the princess and the wanderer from a far-away land? That sounds like the right way to start.”

“Alright, He Came to Victoria, now playing.”

“‘Now playing?’ We’re not in a theatre, are we?” Once the Doctor sat down, she pulled the coffee table closer with her feet and dished each of them a slice of cake with frosting and ice cream, and he poured them each a cup of wine. “You know, somehow, the fact you don’t have wine glasses makes me appreciate this more.”

He swirled his absurdly sweet serving together before taking his first bite. “Really?”

“I dunno, I guess it makes me feel more special; it’s like, you put in the effort to do all of this for me, but since I’m the only one you treat like this, it’s not all polished like you host for people all the time. That make any sense?”

“I think so.” As the Doctor looked over at her, a crucial question came to mind. “Hey, talking during movies - dealbreaker or expected way to enjoy them?”

She smiled. “In a theatre it’s bad, but at home it’s necessary.”

“Good, because I’m not going to be able to watch this seriously.”

“Oh, me neither,” she agreed. “That’s part of the fun with these movies - they’re so unrealistic. I mean, it’s not like the man of your dreams is just going to show up in your life magically one day, you know?”

He thought back to the first day he realized he was falling for her. “Really?”

“No way. Doctor, do you believe in love at first sight and all that?”

“I don’t,” he replied, “but I do think sometimes the right person does just kind of...show up, you know?”

Ambriel looked at him. “From my experience, it takes time to figure that sort of thing out, though. The crazy part is that the couples always seem to know when they see someone that they’re the one, but that’s not how it works...even if it only takes a couple of weeks, you still have to lay the groundwork, you know?”

“Definitely...” The Doctor looked back at her before pausing the movie. “Do we mind if I just skip to the good part?”

“Eh, go ahead.” She turned back to the TV, but he didn’t press ‘play...’ and then she realized he hadn’t meant the movie, and she turned back to look at him.

He smiled nervously. “Ambriel, when was the first time you fell in love? I’d tell you my story, but frankly, I don’t remember it.”

“Um...well, stop me if you’ve heard this before, but it started when I finally passed the last of this stupid series of tests they had me do to prove I know how to use my rifle.” Ambriel shook her head. “I mean, honestly, you’d think I’d just gotten her yesterday, the way they treated me.”

“Heh.” They both knew who she was talking about, but he wanted to hear it all anyway.

She set her bowl on the coffee table and finished the rest of her cup before scooting closer - not next to him, just closer. “The pay was better than in Laterano, and they said I’d have plenty of chances to go into the field, but even then, I had a lot of downtime on my hands, and I didn’t know what to do with it. I heard there was a spot on base with this guy who had a free chair in his office and wouldn’t mind the company, so I dropped by his office and, I mean, I’d never tell him this, but it felt more like home than Laterano had.”

“...That’s sweeter than anything in front of us right now.” He hadn’t meant to say that out loud. “Where do you find someone that lucky?”

“He’s sitting next to me right now, obviously.” Ambriel closed the rest of the distance between them and set her head on his shoulder and an arm around his back, looking up at him with what’d be best described as a serene expression.

The Doctor looked back at her. “You’ve got some chocolate on your lips, Amy.”

“Oh, do I?” She broke into a mischievous grin. “I know what to do about that.”

“So do I.” So saying, he leaned in for a kiss, and after a split second’s thought about messing with him, Ambriel returned the favor.

With their love now ratified with a fudge-sealed kiss, the Doctor turned the movie back on, and over the course of two and a half movies, they finished the cake, the ice cream, the frosting, and the wine before falling into sugar comas on the couch. The next morning, he called in sick for the both of them, and they spent the day in the same spot, finishing the rest of the movies he’d bought and suffering from their poor impulse control together. All in all, for a second date, both of them could imagine better…but neither of them could picture it with anyone else.