Hinata & Nishinoya, Pokemon AU
People always underestimated them.
It was because they were small, and young-looking, and Hinata hated it, he couldn’t stand being treated like a child just because of his size. But then he’d met Nishinoya, and Nishinoya was a genius -- so Hinata was learning to temper his indignant reactions and follow his senpai’s lead. Nishinoya was even smaller (to Hinata’s barely-contained glee) and he’d mastered the “I am just a new wide-eyed trainer who couldn’t possibly beat anyone in a battle wow I’m such an easy target” persona. Hinata wasn’t nearly as good at it yet, but getting better with every trainer they conned.
And what a beautiful con it was.
They’d find older, cocky trainers and bait them in with a gamble, the promise of money or food and pride for winning from the disadvantaged side of a two-against-one battle setup. And they’d start slow, Hinata would send out his Murkrow and Noya would send Voltorb, and they’d let it look like they were being beaten, act all dismayed and overwhelmed until Hinata’s favourite part, until he was bouncing on his toes and about to explode from excitement and they recalled their Pokémon and sent out Blaziken and Aggron and decimated their competition and ran off with their prizes.
Sometimes their angry marks tried to chase them down, but, well, they’d never met a trainer or Pokémon yet that could outrun Luxray, and Hinata liked to slow their progress and mess with them by sending Sandslash to trip them up with strategically-placed potholes or tree branches.
It was great. Good fun, good money, good training for their Pokémon (Karasu and Rolling Thunder had mischievous streaks longer than Hinata’s -- almost as long as Nishinoya’s -- and they loved faking out their opponents just as much as their trainers did. Blaziken and Aggron, for their parts, just liked to win).
Someday, Sugawara had said (with a grin that showed he only half meant it), they were going to get their butts kicked and regret everything. Nishinoya had just laughed and patted Hinata heavily on the back and proclaimed that they were far too good to let such a thing happen.
Unlike his friends, Suga knew when to quit. So he’d just shook his head indulgently and seen them off with a grin and a reminder and packs full of food that had been quickly augmented by the first cocksure trainer Hinata and Noya had happened to pass on the trail.
Hinata took the warning a bit more seriously. But it hadn’t happened yet, and as they rode away on Luxray from the last battle, laughing until their sides hurt, he figured that even when the time came and someone tripped them up in their own hustle… well. It would still be worth it.