Title: One in Kind
Fandom: Haikyuu!!
Length: 1k
Ship: Shirabu Kenjirou/Ushijima Wakatoshi
Rating: G
Content notes: Alternate Universe - Pokémon Fusion, Birds, Pre-relationship
Authors Notes: For the prompt: Fast or Slow. inspired by that one man in r/s/e who thinks you need like 30 wingull to fly instead of just using HM fly. Fair warning that I treat the plural and singular forms the same in pokemon (1 pikachu, 2 pikachu, 3 pikachu...)
Summary: Shirabu is a pokemon trainer. Ushijima is a man with a house full of birds.



Shirabu sat under a tree, wiping water from his forehead. Rain almost always poured down on the route regardless of the season, and in the summertime, the air thickened with heat and humidity. This was his first time on his pokémon journey, so this was also his first time on the route, and he had no idea if it was always this hot, but he didn't care -- it was hot. Sweat clung to his skin, and the rainwater did nothing to help the stickiness. Shirabu had finished his water bottle hours ago, leaving him thirsty and defenseless.

He released Starmie from its pokéball. "Can you throw some water on me?" Shirabu asked.

Starmie bent one of its limbs and spouted a flood at him, and he shut his eyes closed tight, grimacing at the amount. It splattered everywhere and flattened his hair to the point of being dripping wet. His backpack lied a considerable distance way out of harm.

Shirabu gasped to breathe and wiped his mouth and eyes. "I said throw some water, not drown me."

Starmie beeped and warbled, unable to understand. Shirabu patted it in slow resignation.

It was still hot. The cool overwhelming relief barely lasted a few moments. Shirabu gave up and withdrew lunch from his backpack, watching his Starmie spin and play in the rain.

After some time passed, he returned Starmie to its pokéball and trudged back into the rain to walk again. A river appeared along the bank near him and travelled upward past a bridge, where a waterfall streamed endless water over and over. Shirabu considered jumping in.

One lonely little house stood to the side of the wild overgrown path. Lights shined through the windows, occasionally blocked by blurry shadows. Shirabu assumed the homeowner was used to travelers and trainers from living in the middle of nowhere in the popular path of a rain forest, but he didn't want to go inside.

A window opened. Shirabu stopped walking. A beak stuck out into the air, and then a heap of white feathers belonging to a wingull. The wingull jumped off and flew straight toward Shirabu.

Shirabu ducked to avoid it, but it flew behind him and shoved at his back, followed by a few more wingull. Within a minute Shirabu was surrounded by a swarm of wingull.

The sentient hurricane directed him to the door, pulling at his sleeves and backpack and pushing him from behind. The door closed behind him.

Someone arrived and shooed the wingull away. "Are you alright? I'm sorry, my wingull like to bring in people stuck in the rain."

"I'm fine," Shirabu mumbled. He stared down at his rain-soaked shoes and pants.

"You're...wet," the homeowner said.

Shirabu gave him a mild glare. "I know."

"You didn't bring an umbrella?"

"No."

"You need to buy one sometime." He looked down at Shirabu's hands, and then extended one of his own. "My name's Ushijima Wakatoshi. You can stay here for a bit and dry off if you want."

"Thanks." Shirabu nodded.

Shirabu accepted his help after introducing himself, and he took a quick shower in Ushijima's bathroom. He released Ninetales and Swablu and instructed them to carefully dry his clothes while he was in the shower.

When he came back out and withdrew them, he found the horde of wingull back in the living room, occupying the entire place with wordless chatter and feathers. Some of them perched on the backs of chairs or armrests, or they stood on the floor or the table. A couple sat on Ushijima's shoulders. Only a few flew around the room, but when they landed somewhere, another random amount of wingull took off flying to travel the room.

Shirabu grimaced. "Why do you have so many wingull?"

"To fly." Ushijima scratched under a wingull's head, paying it attention instead of Shirabu. It rewarded him with contented coos.

"What're you talking about? You use an HM to fly," Shirabu said.

Ushijima went quiet. "What?"

"Yeah. You need an HM." Shirabu's mouth twitched as he struggled against a smile or laugh. "Do you really have no idea what an HM is?"

"No," Ushijima said in a small voice.

"How do you...how do you fly then?"

"I thought you needed to gather a lot of bird pokémon and then hang off of them."

Shirabu laughed behind his hand.

Ushijima's eyes flattened. "Stop laughing."

"How many wingull do you even have?"

Ushijima perked up, standing taller. "I have 23. That one over there is Tamaki, that one is Hasumi, this one's Haruto..."

Shirabu stopped laughing. He didn't know how to politely tell Ushijima to stop, and Ushijima went on to name and describe each wingull.

"Do you like bird pokémon?" Shirabu asked to get him to talk about anything other than wingull.

Ushijima nodded. "I don't have any other pokémon. Do you have one?"

Shirabu released his swablu. It greeted Ushijima with a bright chirp.

"Is this your bird pokémon? It's very cute. Hi, Swablu." Ushijima stooped and stroked its head.

He proceeded to fuss and croon over it for an hour. Shirabu had originally meant to brag about his pokémon, but Ushijima ruined the enjoyment of it, making Swablu as fond of him as it was of Shirabu.

"I can't stay here all day," Shirabu interrupted. "I have to get to Fortree City before it gets dark."

"Why don't you stay here for a night, then?" Ushijima asked, still facing Swablu and petting its back.

Swablu turned slightly toward Shirabu, tilting its head to implore Shirabu with its eyes. Shirabu groaned and glanced at the ceiling with his hands on his face for a moment.

"Is there even any room?" Shirabu asked. He eyed the wingull sitting and flying around the room.

"There's enough room. This is just the living room."

Shirabu mumbled and dumped his backpack on the floor next to the couch. He glared at a clump of wingull until they flapped and flitted off the couch, giving him space. He redirected his glare to Swablu, the traitor.