(Story written by :iconmephis:. =3)

“This is delicious!” exclaimed the smallish orange lizard, his swaying tail bright and flaming as he signified his enjoyment of the meal he was currently having. “Nothing can ever beat Ben’s Burgers.” he stated matter-of-factly with a smile upon his face, looking happily at his furred friend, who seemed to be eating something of the same.

“I suppose so, but I’ve eaten better veggie burgers elsewhere.” Reed replied. The statement confused Charem for a moment before a ‘lightbulb’ clicked on in his head.

“Oh right! You’re a vegetarian. I sort of forgot.” the lizard’s head tilted a bit in confusion as to why he was eating here with him; when he last checked, Reed could have probably eaten cheaper somewhere else. His eyes casually glanced over at the pricing board above the ‘bar’ styled seating arrangement...yep, the price was nearly twice the amount. Guess ‘boca’ wasn’t exactly cheap in this establishment...

“So uhm.” Charem looked back at his large-bellied pal. “You could’ve spoken up you know, I mean...” he gestured to the billboard with a claw. “Vegetarian is quite a bit higher...”

Reed nodded a bit, taking a napkin and brushing some crumbs away from his snout as he looked at his smaller friend. “Well, I could have heard your stomach growl from across town. And last thing we needed was you pouncing someone and then gobbling them up.” a grin flashing across his face, his finger gently poking at the smaller lizard’s belly, causing Charem to giggle. “Anyway, I thought that maybe later on tonight, I could show you one of my favorite places.” he looked off to the side for a moment as if to mull something over. “That is, if you don’t mind vegetarian.”

“I’ve had vegetarian. He wouldn’t stop complaining.” Charem said with a sly smirk, baring a small fang cutely. “But in all honesty, I wouldn’t mind in the slightest. In fact, I think I have had some before...but truth be told, it just wasn’t very filling.”

Reed just smiled and hopped off the squeaky stool. The larger creature curled his tail around his foot, so as not to trip a passing waitress. Charem hopped off his own seat, licking his lips with a large smile on that snout. The friends took their receipts to pay at the register, the eldery looking cashier cracking her gum at their approach.

“Alright then. We’ll meet at the corner of Eight Avenue, outside the electronics store. The one with the big smiley face. I promise you, it’ll be something you won’t forget.” Reed said with a smile, taking his change from the cashier and smiling back at Charem before disappearing across the street among the throngs of people that cluttered the busy sidewalk.

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Eight ‘o’ Clock. Eight loud chimes rang out from the city clock that would have been perfectly audible had they not been drowned out by the hustle and bustle of the loud city, namely the evening traffic of people wishing to go home, shops closing, and people talking, shouting, singing, and for some select few, running around screaming stark naked...(wait what?)...in short, nothing new in this part of the busy neighborhood. Charem paced back and forth, his tailflame casting a glow across his face. For some reason he was wishing he had an overcoat and a fedora... He looked up, seeing a red-furred creature glancing down at him.

“Oh hey, you’re on time.” Reed noted, looking at his watch. The corners of his snout tilted in a smile, the igwulf raised his arm in a gesturing motion to a cafe-sized restaurant off the corner in an alley, the sign gently lit in the darkened side-path. The only light seemed to come from the sign’s dim bulbs and from the large glass window next to the door.

As they entered, the door opened with a stereotypical “dinging” sound from the bells draped across the top near the door. Charem watched as Reed was greeted by the staff with an almost familial welcome, a waiter quickly coming over to seat them both nearest to the front, the seating arrangement being almost ‘tailored’ to Reed’s pudgier size, the seat having been pushed back a bit from the table to allow him to just slide in effortlessly, whereas Charem had to hop up to seat himself.

“Two of…” Reed scratched the underside of his muzzle. “Make that three of the usual.” The waiter nodded, bowed his head and then walked off towards the back and out of view.

“I’ve never seen this place before.” Charem remarked, taking a look around. The shop was, for the lack of a better term, ‘mini’ sized. “It’s... charming.” the Pokemon remarked slowly, having a bit of trouble knowing how to describe the slightly compact surroundings.

“It is a bit small, but trust me, the food is just amazing. I’m lucky to have stumbled across this place coming home from college one night.” Reed grinned as the waiter returned with some glasses of ice water and tea.

Talking and generally enjoying themselves for a few minutes, the pair munched away at the appetizer bread and crackers and sipped at their tea and water. The conversation had an air of joviality as the topics strayed from work- and life-related topics, to silly and fun times... The two were rather entrenched in their memories when the waiter came back with three large bowls of noodles and broth, some green chives floating about on top, as well as numerous other vegetables; the meal had a simple yet passionately-prepared look to it.

Charem nosed down at his bowl and sniffed it. ‘Nope, no meat in here.’ he thought silently, looking up at his furry friend who had already parted his chopsticks and started to dig in hungrily. The lizard looked to the side of his bowl and found a pair of chopsticks for himself. Frowning a little, he fumbled for a few moments, awkwardly getting his three-digit paws around the sticks, his fingers not very used to handling chopsticks at all...when something shiny and pointed came into his field of view. Looking at it, it was a fork, being held by Reed who was winking at him with a large smile on his face. Blushing, the Charmeleon took the utensil and poked at the noodles, wrapping them around a bit before sticking the bunch into his snout.

Charem stopped to think about what he had just tasted, but the thoughts that he would use to describe it just wouldn’t come. It was beyond what he’d expect from veggies, let along from just some boiled vegetables and some noodles...dare he say...

“Well, looks like you’re enjoying it.” Reed’s voice broke through, causing Charem to blink himself back into the present and look at Reed, who slurped down another string of noodles of his own. The reptile looked down at his bowl and quickly observed it was already nearly empty, just a few small, stray noodles floating in a small puddle of soup!

“I... I wow, this is amazing!” the Pokemon said with a grin, his tailflame lighting up even more brightly in approval. He wanted more! But in no way was he going to be rude to his host, his eyes merely straying to the third, untouched bowl. This simple act wasn’t missed by the igwulf, who looked up at Charem with a knowing smile.

“We’ll share.” Reed said decisively as he finished his own bowl, pushing the two emptied bowls off to one side and drawing the third bowl between them. Charem opened his mouth to say something but was cut off by Reed holding up his paw. “I said, we’ll share.” The igwulf repeated firmly yet kindly, “And don’t worry about splitting it evenly. The best way to enjoy this is to just go ahead and just immerse yourself in it. Close your eyes and just enjoy the flavors as they mix in your mouth.”

Nodding eagerly at these words of wisdom, Charem rolled a forkful of those delicious noodles and placed it in his maw, his eyes closed, body gently shivering at the pleasureful flavors swirling against his taste buds. Merrily the lizard stuffed forkful after forkful of noodles into his maw, slurping up the strings of food loudly--he remembered hearing from someone somewhere that it was rude in Asian culture not to do so, after all! As he reflected on this, the Pokemon continued to slurp up a rather pesky and long noodle string, when his nose suddenly bumped into something...fuzzy! His eyes snapping open in confusion, only to find out it was the red nose of Reed he had collided, who looked back at him with equal surprise. Reed’s deep eyes easily reflected the red blush that developed on Charem’s orange face. What felt like a minute passed between the both of them, until the noodle broke in the middle under its own soggy weight, the limp noodle hanging like thin yellow tongues from each of their maws before being sucked in tandem past their lips.

“...Well...” Reed spoke softly after they had quietly finished their meal, looking at his dear friend meaningfully. “I told you it was something you wouldn’t forget.”

“O-okay, you were right.” Charem nodded in shy agreement, reclining against the seat and rubbing his rounded belly. His head leaned slowly to the right, the Pokemon resting his horn on Reed’s offered shoulder before both letting out a happy little sigh, giving each other a tender reciprocal belly rub. “It's a beautiful night...'specially if I get to see it from this angle. Long as it's this comfy, I think I could be a regular here...”

---

There are so many ways this artwork is awesome... <3

:iconneifaren: drew this under my master :iconguan:'s directions. Guan put a lot of love into fleshing me and :iconemusal:/Reed (that's the adorable red fellow, one of my best friends, of course!) out in this picture, and nei did a wonderful job emulating what Guan explained. ^__^ Me and Reed weren't at all involved in the creation of this; Guan wanted it to be a surprise, and what a surprise indeed! ^^

In a way, this picture is more representative of my and Reed's real-life selves... Sure, it uses our characters, but... Reed's vegetarian habits are something he practices irl, and does so quite wisely and for the benefit of his body. My ineptitude in using chopsticks, is a trait of my own from real life; I have always sucked with them, and always have to defeatedly ask for a fork. Or skewer the food with my patented chopstick stabbing technique. xD

The adorable noodle-nosebump is, of course, stolen right from the Disney movie Lady and the Tramp. xD Guan is somewhat corny like that, but I love him anyways. <3 giggle!

Of course, it'd be a disservice not to address neifaren's awesome skill with this image. <=3 While her digital works are wonderful as well, there's something to be said for art in the traditional medium, and her cozy and comfortable linework couples wonderfully with the textured, bright colors that she used. n..n The scene itself is done perfectly too, which lots of little details here and there that enhance the picture manyfold. ^^ I can tell just by looking at this that a lot of love was put into the creation of this wonderful picture.

So...what more can I say? ^^ Besides...Guan, Neifaren. Thank you guys for cooking this very-meaningful adorableness up. <3 This is such a wonderful portrayal of my and Reed's relationship, and it make me smile at every glance. ...As for you, audience, I hope you enjoy the picture as well. n..n