Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It was ten in the morning, the sound of two ballpens was the only thing making background noise in the room. White walls, black decorations, some potted plants, pricey-looking furniture… The two people currently in the room were surrounded by these things, alongside some bookshelves with several books about pokemon myths and some fairy tales, unfinished documents and reports on electricity and any crime that could have happened in the last week, four pokemon resting close to the sofa as they worked and talked. One of them had invited the other for company (although he wouldn’t say it outloud, he could admit it to himself).

“... And, Flareon is the only fully evolved fire-type pokemon known to not be able to learn solar beam.”

“Wait- what? Really?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“...I don’t know. It’s just like that.”

“Huh.”

"Yeah."

"Heh. And here I thought you knew it all."

"Pft. Shut."

And maybe bicker a bit, too.

It was not unusual anymore to see Pasio's Prince pretty much dragging the gym leader around. Ever since the end of the Pokemon Masters League, those two had been seen around together more often. At first Lear had been a bit reluctant to show his interest in keeping his friendship with Cheren, only appearing out of nowhere with Rachel and Sawyer and, in the words of other trainers, kidnapping him. No words said and only claims of needing Cheren for something, never specifing anything.

Nowadays Lear instead came in calmly and started talking rather than just drag the gym leader away, or Cheren would visit the prince. Lear can say they are friends. To himself, Sawyer, Rachel and Cheren (and Hoopa too).

They are. After all, Cheren had confirmed this to him multiple times already when he asked.

But, he will still stutter a bit if someone asks. He was getting better at this friendship-thing though.

"I'm going back to Unova in a few weeks." The sound of a stack of papers dropping against the table cut through the sound of writing.

Lear stopped what he was doing to look at Cheren, currently looking through his papers and organizing them, "... Really?"

"Yeah," the papers were left on the table, all of them lesson plans, "I have to go back to the Trainer's School."

"Huh… In how many weeks exactly?" The prince leaned forward a bit, his forearms resting on the desk.

"Two at most, I've put on hold my duties as a teacher and gym leader for long enough, they even called me back." Cheren let his back rest fully against the sofa, looking and smiling to Lear who sat at his desk right in front of him. "Why do you ask?"

"Cheren. You've called me your friend before I'm curious what my friend is up to. Besides, what if I wanted to make your last two weeks here the greatest memory you'll ever have of Pasio? I would need to know how much time I have for that!" The prince claimed, not quite shouting it, to the gym leader. The prince went back on his seat a bit after seeing the usual soft smile on the teacher change to something more teasing.

"Just say you'll miss me Lear."

"HAH" The prince crossed his arms and lifted his head a bit, "AS IF I WOULD EVER ADMIT THAT OUT LOUD."

"So you're saying you can admit to yourself that you'll miss me?"

"SHUT."

A few seconds of just Cheren's laugh passed before Lear talked again. "... I do want to do something."

"Hm?"

"I mean…" Lear now laid more against the chair, still arms crossed but more relaxed, "... that's what friends do, right? They- They do these special gestures before one of them goes somewhere far, right?"

Cheren's smile went back to being the soft thing the prince knew and had grown used to "You don't have to Lear…"

"But I want to! So…!" Lear stood up and walked a few steps to where Cheren sat, and then sat by his side, "I'll be taking you around for the next two weeks! … If you don't mind, that is."

"I don't," Cheren gave Lear a friendly shove with his shoulder. Some months ago Lear would have frowned at that, but now he just looked at the gym leader, kind of smiling at the gesture. "Thank you."

Chapter Text

Lear had spent the night out with Hoopa at the beach again (it was like a tradition at this point, ever since he was a kid he would play with the mythical pokemon at night, close to the sea and the stars that were reflected on the waters and made it look like he was walking on the sky, free). Pacing around and joining the little mischievous pokemon in its games. His mind was mostly somewhere else, and he thinks now, Hoopa noticed, as it stopped for a moment to get close to him and just look.

"Huh?" Lear stayed still for a moment, alert in case Hoopa decided to play a prank on him (it had happened before, the prince has tried to hone his reflexes to avoid anything falling on his head, or something suddenly being thrown at him, or being pushed. He hasn't succeeded yet).

Hoopa tilted its head to the side, similar to a noctowl, pensative. Then it got a bit closer, patted Lear on the head and smiled

"What's the matter? I'm not in a bad mood," Lear crossed his arms, looking at his small friend thinking if he should or should not get its paw (or hand? What do you call them? He isn't sure) away from his hair.

But it wasn't long until a large amount of water fell right on top of him. Looking up he found one of Hoopa's rings hovering over his head, the other not too far away being lifted from the water. Lear chased Hoopa around the beach after this.

He thinks of it and, well, it did seem like the mythical pokemon had noticed his worry over a certain gym leader leaving in a little less than two weeks. Something it seems the little devil thought was solvable by getting his clothes soaked! He is lucky he didn't catch a cold.

It was… It was weird, thinking of it now. A year back he wouldn't have batted an eye to hearing Cheren say he is about to leave, he doesn't think he would have noticed him at all. He keeps forgetting about what Rachel and Sawyer keep calling his "redemption arc" (He should have recommended them some non-fiction books. During his time away they both had taken up reading with each other three times a week or more. They would extend an offer to him sometimes, which he might need to take next time if only to broaden their selection), and keeps getting surprised whatever Cheren says 'I'm proud of you' (He doesn't show it, never would, but internally he is both surprised by these words and also happy, and embarrassed). Lear thinks of it now and he can't deny (to himself) the bad way he is feeling about it, the small, almost unnoticeable pang on both his chest and stomach that he wishes he knew how to calm down before it becomes something worse, because it feels like it will become worse.

He wouldn't have paid that much attention to Cheren back then. Now he wishes to keep his friend close, to not lose sight of him and keep being able to talk with on an almost daily basis. But he knows he can't stay forever. He wishes for him to stay but Lear knows that would be too selfish, that it wouldn't be nice to him. So he chooses to make the teacher's last days in Pasio a good memory, something to maybe make sure he looks forward the next time he comes. He, too, has duties to attend to, he can’t and won’t ignore that.

(He is surprised again, he is sure that a year ago he wouldn't have thought this way.)

(And with this in his mind, Lear thinks of any of his other new-found friends leaving and– it hurts, a bit.)

Lear walks around Centra City, Cheren right by his side as well as Sawyer, Rachel and Hilbert, who agreed to help him with this thing. The latter's friends (Hilda, Bianca and N if he was not wrong) should be waiting at the accorded place, they are just going to talk today, define what to do and then… then… Then what???

"You really don't have to do anything Lear," The prince heard Cheren say, kind of whispering and getting a bit closer. Hilbert was currently chatting with Sawyer and Rachel, something about a series of comic books the short trainer likes and Lear's retainers were interested in.

Lear hopes those two don't pick anything else from these comics. He's got enough with the "redemption-arc" thing.

"I want to," Lear also got closer, their shoulders bumping and– he chose to ignore the whispers behind him from the three other people, they sounded excited about something, "I really want to."

"But do you know what you're going to do?" Cheren was giving him a soft smile (as always. Lear has gotten used to the sight of it and he feels it would be weird to not see it). If the prince was right, he could say with confidence that the teacher was trying to tell him 'I don't want you to embarrass yourself over this and not knowing what to do'.

He wasn't one hundred percent sure, but it felt like it.

"I can come up with something, even if it ends up being just a fancy reunion or dinner, I will do something for you." Lear watched as Cheren slightly blushed, a bit taken aback at the importance he was giving him. 'He deserves it' the prince thinks, any friend of his deserves special treatment.

The teacher didn’t say anything after that, just remained close and fixed his tie, a habit Lear had noticed he does whenever he got nervous. What’s there to be nervous about? He wasn’t going to think much about that, he knew from experience and from Hilbert, Hilda and Bianca that Cheren did in fact easily fluster. Bianca was once talking about the teacher’s first battle as a gym leader and he had to cut in, sweating a bit and flustered. A shame, since Lear was having some fun listening to what silly things his friend had fret over back then.

“Hey~!!” Bianca’s voice reached their group and the five of them got closer.

It was somewhere in the outer parts of Centra City, closer to the plains and with a good view of the icy area, a giant star was visible somewhere to its right. The group had settled to meet at a cafe, not too crowded due to it being far from the center of the city, but visited enough to keep the business going. There weren’t any other trainers around besides them, something he thanked to whatever deity was out there since that meant he could speak a bit more freely, express himself as he wanted without worrying too much.

They had to get two tables, bring them together and move some chairs. Rachel and Sawyer sat right after Lear took a seat, she at his right and he at his left. Bianca sat next to Sawyer, greeting them and not looking intimidated at all by the taller man like most people seemed to be (it was something normal to see, but really, Sawyer is a big softie). Next to Rachel sat Cheren, they started a small chat that was more Rachel teasing Cheren over something that had happened earlier. Hilbert sat by Cheren’s right, Hilda at Bianca’s left and N sat right in the middle, as usual the green haired guy stayed in between the two younger trainers (Lear wonders if he does it to feel secure, like he does when he walks around with Sawyer and Rachel).

"So… Lear!" Hilbert was leaning an elbow on the table, chin on hand and looking at him, "What have you thought about?"

Lear opened his mouth to speak.

…

His mind was blank.

Hilbert had a shit eating grin.

Why that little…!

"I knew it," The short trainer said. Hilda was snickering and N looked a bit confused at first. The tall trainer looked at Hilbert, then at Lear, and then at Hilbert again, his mouth formed an o, and looked at Lear a bit apologetic to then look back at Hilbert.

"Hilbert, that's not nice," N said, "aren't we here to help come up with something?"

"Yeah but I got this!" Hilbert said, lifting his right arm and showing the black band Lear had given him, "A physical confirmation that I am free to bother him without getting in trouble."

"That's not the reason I gave you that."

"How come I never got one? You also talk to me" Bianca asked, leaning on the table a bit. Her weight made it bend down on her side.

"Aren't we getting off topic?"

"I think he needs to get them done first, Bee-Bel," Hilda said. She was leaning back on her chair, arms crossed on her chest and looking relaxed, her right leg was bouncing up and down quickly. She hopes they all get to battle after this, just a bit.

"But Hilbert got his right away!"

"I think he was prepared in case he came across any of you," Rachel was also leaning on the table now, her hands under the sleeves supporting her head, "He only had one made though."

"I'm still here, you can stop talking about the bands now."

"Lear why don't you use the other band you have right now? You gave one of those to Cheren."

"Excuse me, I'm not giving away this one, I still need one for myself."

"You told me you could get another one done when I asked you if you really were going to give me this permanently."

"It was a decision made on the spot! I'm not going back and taking the band from you Cheren," Lear heard Sawyer snicker, "What are you laughing about?"

"I'm sorry young master but-" he stifled a laugh, "your favoritism is showing."

"My wHAT."

"Ohhhh~ Lear has a soft spot for Cheren~!"

A soft laugh reached the prince, "Please guys, we really should focus on planning."

"Trying to save your prince Cheri?"

"Shut up Hilbert."

"If we may now…" Lear decided to lean back against the chair, arms crossed and one leg over the other, "I don't think you'll want to stay all day here discussing this."

"I honestly could."

"Shut up Hilbert," Said both Cheren and Hilda.

"So, anyone here has any ideas that do not revolve around Cheren and I's friendship?"

"Or we could keep talking about tha–"

"Shut up Hilbert." Said Lear, Rachel, Hilda and Cheren.

"Maybe you could do some kind of fair! Something simple yet fun with some games around, maybe some prices as well!" Bianca said. Lear hummend, not completely convinced by the idea. Rachel and Sawyer got pensative.

"We could…" Sawyer had a hand on his chin, thinking, "... we could do a tournament."

"Oh?"

Rachel murmured, "maybe if we combine the fair and the tournament…"

"We could make the tournament the main event," Lear was grinning, although he did not participate in any event-battles as much (since he was the host in all of them), he liked the idea of holding a small tournament.

"Oh! If you're also going to make minigames make sure they require a lot of thinking because this guy…!" Hilda started, pointing at Cheren, "... likes to think a lot!!"

"Hilda don't point," Cheren kind of frowned, not denying the fact laid on the table by his friend (something that pretty sure all the people there knew and knew very well). One of his hands went to his chin while the other supported the elbow, the 'nerd-is-thinking' pose according to Hilbert, "This reminds me of that one time… Hilbert, Bianca, remember that small fair in Accumula town?"

"Of course I do! I beated your ass there!"

"Hilbert please."

"I do! I was actually thinking of that when I proposed the fair!" Bianca clasped her hands together and smiled.

"OH OH!!" Hilbert shouted, his hands suddenly banging against the table and with the biggest grin on his face, "If we do that you better have your Serperior as your Sync Pair instead of Stoutland, Cheren! I'll bring Samurott too!"

"I don't know Hilbert…"

"Is that a good idea?" Bianca looked at Cheren, head tilted a bit to the side and eyebrows furrowed.

"You have a Serperior?" Lear asked.

"But don't you already have Samurott here?" Hilda looked at Hilbert.

"You must mean your starter?" N said.

Hilbert grinned, "Yeah! You remember them right? Our starters!"

Cheren let out a sigh, "The Samurott Hilbert has now came from an egg laid by his other Samurott," he looked at Lear, "I do have a Serperior, he is currently back in Unova in Professor Juniper's lab helping her out. I wouldn't have a problem asking her to send him but…" Cheren looked back at Hilbert, "You know they banned us from doing all-out battles for a reason right?"

"Yeah, well, we won't be going all out," Hilbert laid back against the chair, "besides, I think some battles would do both of them good Cheri."

"What do you mean they banned you both?" Sawyer looked in between the two trainers, surprise and worry both mixed in his face.

"You mean what you told me about?" Hilda asked Hilbert. Cheren let out another sigh and Bianca let out a nervous giggle.

"You mean like… you two against each other specifically?" Rachel had part of her mouth covered by her sleeve.

"Why did they ban you," Lear finally said.

"We sinked three small islands and destroyed at least ten rock formations in the sea."

"We also caused two rock slides, one forest fire that we were able to put out and almost caused both an avalanche and tsunami."

"What."

Chapter Text

Lear is curious.

He had heard about the problem with Team Plasma four years ago at the Unova Pokemon League, from almost all the involved people. Cheren had personally told him everything from his side of the story when he asked after he heard from multiple people different things. Then, Hilbert had appeared out of nowhere with Hilda and N and they also told him their part of the story (N looked a bit down as he talked that day. He remembers that, Hilda giving the green haired guy a friendly punch on his arm and Hilbert giving him a small, understanding smile).

He had supposed that, in order to defeat the possible countless grunts from the problematic team, defeat N who had with him one of the "twin" dragons and then defeat the real head of the team (Lear thinks, if he ever comes across the man he will give him a piece of his mind in the form of dropping him in the middle of the ocean with Hoopa), they must have needed to both have a strong sense of will and a strong team.

But strong to the point of sinking islands?? Cause rock slides???

Pasio was located somewhere close to a bigger land-form. Close to a series of rock formations and small islands scattered around. Lear had thought initially to locate the artificial island further away from any other land but, with his curiosity now eating him and the need of precaution for this, he was glad Sawyer had convinced him to not go too far away from natural land. It was safer too, in case anything went south in Pasio itself.

Cheren and Hilbert called Professor Juniper that same day, but they had to wait until the next one to receive their partners. Once they had their starters with them, they went to one of the islands, it was more like a big rock that sprouted from the ocean with a flat enough surface on top. Perfect to land on, perfect to battle on. N had done them the favor of bringing them there via legendary dragon ride (He had both Reshiram and Zekrom with him, how lucky), landing on the rocky surface and the rivals let out their pokemon.

Hilbert's Samurott was noticeably bigger than the one he had during the PML, she pretty much reached his height and a bit more but that could also be given to the fact that the trainer was short. Cheren's Serperior was even bigger than his trainer, Lear was sure if the snake-like pokemon straightened up a bit more it would reach Sawyer.

Both starters immediately went to their trainers looking for cuddles. Hilbert was tackled to the ground, it seemed the fall hurt but he was laughing regardless. Cheren received a nuzzle from his and Lear noticed the pokemon's body curling around his trainer in an almost protective manner.

"Alright, whenever you two are ready," N took a step forward, looking at Cheren and Hilbert who nodded and walked further away. Opposite sides and looking at each other. Lear felt two taps on his right shoulder and looked to the side.

"We should start walking to the dragons," Bianca told him, looking at him and back to the two trainers.

"We just got down."

"Dude," Hilda said, "just get on the dragon."

"Alright listen!" N said, as loud as he could, to the two trainers, "the battle ends when one of the pokemon cannot go anymore…or when this rock sinks into the ocean!"

"What."

"...please don't over-work yourselves." N looked a bit worried while shifting his eyes from Hilbert to Cheren.

"We won't!"

"Don't worry N! We're counting on you to catch us if something goes down!!"

"Again, what."

"Shut up and watch."

The green-haired trainer sighed deeply, "why are you guys like this…" took in a deep breath "...Start!!" And ran as fast as he could towards Zekrom.

"Samurott, Aqua tail!"

"Dragon tail!"

"Up we go!" Hilda told Reshiram, and the dragon followed her command. Lear was holding on the dragon's feather-like scales, meanwhile Bianca held onto Hilda's waist. Lear was able to see Zekrom raising up as well with N, Sawyer and Rachel on their back before a flash of blue called his eyes back to the battle.

Samurott had zoomed from one side of the "battlefield" to the other in mere seconds, its tail glowing bright blue and water droplets surrounding it. It came down to meet Serperior's tail, shining orange and purple, holding in place and creating cracks across the ground from the impact force, the rock trembled.

Samurott was bested and was sent flying to the other side of the rock. Upon impact said part fell down to the sea, the pokemon with it.

"... Holy shit."

"I wasn't aware you could curse."

The serpent lowered its tail and held its head high. Hilbert was grinning and Cheren smirking.

"Man, it's been a long time," the short trainer said.

"It sure has…" the teacher sighed.

Hilbert pointed to Cheren, "I'm not losing this in a single move! Samurott, Ice beam!!"

Samurott re-emerged from the sea in a high leap, a loud howl from her as the air around started to turn cold. A light blue beam shot from the pokemon's mouth and hit the rock, immediately going towards where Serperior and Cheren were. The rock was being cutted by the bean.

"Look out!" Cheren shouted. The serpent swiftly avoided the attack, as well as Cheren who moved sideways. The beam passed not many inches away from the gym leader, the cold air made the hairs at the back of his neck stand up but kept his focus on the battle regardless, "Leaf blade!"

"Counter it with Night slash!"

Two vines sprouted from Serperior’s neck, the ends two sharp single-edged swords instead of the rounded ones it would usually have. Samurrot took one of the seamitars out of her left foreleg, this one already surrounded by a dark aura as Serperior quickly approached. Their attacks clashed multiple times and neither pokemon relented. Samurott raised its seamitar high before bringing it down on Serperior, who blocked the attack with his swords crossed, the impact force cracking the floor and breaking it, causing it to start falling down towards the waters. The pokemon kept on their battle as they fell, more clashes were exchanged before Serperior eventually moved back up by using vines growing under his command. Samurott fell back to the sea, she immediately started to swim around the rock at an impressive speed.

The trainers kept shouting commands, calling out their pokemon, dodging stray attacks that chopped off more and more of the rock. The place wasn't as stable anymore, and it required both trainers and pokemon to be constantly moving. Lear was expecting for N or Bianca to call out their friends to stop them, but neither did, they watched and kept silent, apparently trusting their friends' instincts.

Hilbert peeled his jacket off, throwing it to the side and somewhere way down after saying he doesn't remember the last time he had to do this much running in a battle. Cheren complained that his shoes were too uncomfortable to run on, took them off and threw them to the side right into the sea.

If they noticed that they just lost those articles of clothing, neither cared. Their eyes stayed on the battle in front.

"I don't think…" Lear kind of whispered, his eyes open wide as plates as he saw Samurott cut off another chunk of rock. Serperior dodged the attack, and so did Cheren. Water droplets falling everywhere around them, "... I don't think I've ever seen them like that."

"Hm?" Hilda hummed, grinning hard and following the movement with her sight. Bianca was too, deep in thought analyzing the movements her friends chose to attack.

"They look serious but also…" Lear tilted his head to the side, "...also look like they are just teasing each other."

Hilbert pointed at Cheren again, shouting something at him that made the gym leader laugh loud and shout something else in return. Hilbert made a dumbfounded expression that quickly changed to amusement.

Bianca looked at him. "Well…"

Cheren shouted “Frenzy Plant!” and the whole rock started to tremble as Serperior made various roots grow from the ground. They tried to hit Samurott multiple times, but she kept dodging and cutting through the roots. Hilbert shouted “Go to the water! The water!!” and so did Samurott.

"...Those two have always been like that. It might look like Cheren is a really good guy, probably the student that followed the rules to a T, but… really he is just like the rest of us," she let out a chuckle, "I wonder if you two would have even gotten along four years ago…"

Lear was about to ask what she meant, when a loud rumble interrupted him.

The rock was falling into the ocean, sinking down. The trainers both stopped on their tracks and looked at each other across their decimated battlefield.

Cheren was the first to react, "N!" He called, "go get Hilbert!!" He called serperior back into the pokeball and started running towards one of the edges, another ball already in his hands.

"Samurott!" Hilbert called his partner back and ran towards another direction, looking out for where the black dragon was at. N made Zekrom get closer to edge, from where Hilbert jumped and landed on the dragon’s back. They flew away from the falling rocks while Sawyer helped Hilbert stay on top of the dragon.

“Help me out!” Cheren threw the second pokeball to the air, letting an Unfezant out and flying close to him. The gym leader ran towards the edge right as it started to fall down and took a leap of faith. Unfezant caught him just as he was about to touch the water and soared, avoiding the falling rocks and going towards where Reshiram was. As soon as they were on top Cheren got off Unfezant and fell right on the dragon’s back, behind Lear who reached to him with one hand to make sure he didn’t fall further down. Hilda said ‘Stop showing off!’ and Bianca laughed.

From the backs of both dragons, the trainers all watched as the place that was being used as a battlefield disappeared under the waters and further. “That must have been because of Frenzy Plant…” Cheren said, one hand reaching behind his head to scratch there and with a sheepish smile, Hilbert was laughing somewhere to the right behind Sawyer, “I think the battle could have lasted longer.”

“That was awesome!” Said Hilbert with a big grin on his face. Lear was able to see N sighing deeply again, worried of his friends and the disasters they could cause. Sawyer and Rachel looked impressed, and a bit scared at the display of power too.

“I’m putting restrictions in the battles if you two are going to use your starters,” Lear turned back to where the rock had been, nothing was left on the surface, “you for example,” Lear turned back to Cheren, “are forbiden of using that attack while on Pasio.”

“I bet I can tone it down, but ok fair.”

“Don’t worry prince!” Hilbert shouted, “we don’t want to sink Pasio to the bottom of the ocean!”

“Unlike that guy Archie,” said Hilda.

“Unlike him!”

“We should check on him now that you mention it,” Sawyer said, his eyes going towards the direction Pasio was at.

“I thought he gave up on that plan after that girl… May was it? Talked to him?” N asked, looking to the retainers and then at Zekrom, “let's go back?”

“We are not sure to be honest,” Rachel shrugged. Hilda also told Reshiram to help them get back to Pasio.

Their conversation stopped while going back, the air around them making it harder to understand what they were saying (and harder to speak too). Lear put the Archie topic aside while his brain worked on the main events of the planned fair and rules, thought of minigames too, maybe quizzes could work? He will need to invest in prizes too, what kind of prizes? Plushies seemed like a good option, maybe he could look for some obscure almost unknown book series or collection figures. For some reason a lot of people like those weird little things, the weirder the better.

“Obscure, unknown collection figures?” Lear heard Cheren say behind him, amusement in his voice.

He was thinking out loud again wasn’t him?

“Well yes,” Lear turned back to him, feeling himself smile at the sight of his friend smiling and stifling his chuckles, “I’ve noticed how a great amount of people seem to get delighted over weird little things,” Cheren raised an eyebrow, “...myself included.”

“What kind of obscure things do you own?”

“I do not own any unfortunately, but…” Lear made a dramatic pause, leaned back a little to get closer to Cheren and whisper, as if they were sharing some gossip no-one should know about, “I once saw a toy of a Spoink in an egg still in a fetus stage, weirdest thing I’ve ever seen.”

He snorted, “I can only imagine…” Cheren raised one of his hand to his chin, pensative, “I once saw what seemed to be action figures from this animated series they used to stream on TV a long time ago,” the gym leader leaned forward and closer to the prince, “the series featured humanoid pokemon as the main characters and the action figures looked terrifying,” he said smiling, “it was like poorly done bootleg merchandising except these were official.”

“How bad?”

“Some of their heads were too big, the eyes weren’t lined and some even were missing legs or arms.”

“No way.”

“I actually have one.”

“Why??”

Cheren shrugged and smiled, “why not? I’ve been thinking of taking it to the School and leaving it on one of the shelves as a decoration.”

“You really like to terrorize your students, don’t you?”

“It’s fun seeing their reactions.”

"Mhm…" Lear just stared at Cheren for a few seconds, "... If you put the humanized-pokemon toy in your class I'm getting myself the spoink-in-egg toy."

"Deal."

They all arrived at midday. Once off the dragons both Hilbert and Cheren noticed their missing pieces of clothing. Hilda laughed at Cheren's uncomfortable expressión at feeling the floor with just his socks on while N and Bianca gave Hilbert a back pat while he whined.

"That was my favorite jacket."

"Hilbert you have like, ten more of those, all identical."

"Yeah but still."

"You'll have to go back to your place before going out to eat."

"I know I know. I'm not sure I have another pair of shoes though."

Lear felt Sawyer and Rachel poke at his back. He looked back at them, "I can't go with him, we have to start preparing the things for the fair, I already have ideas!"

"Nonono, you can send us the ideas through the poryphone and we will deal with it," Sawyer assured him, pushing forward a bit and towards the rest of the group, more specifically towards Cheren.

"Yeah Master Lear we can deal with it, like, we have already done this kind of thing before you can trust us," Rachel was also pushing him forward. Lear kept his feet planted on the ground.

"But-"

"You go enjoy your day with Cheren, didn't you say you wanted to take him around too? It'll be fine. We can do all the planning if you send us the ideas Young Master just go." Lear finally took a step forward and looked back to his retainers, confused and noticing something in them that just told him that one: they were planning something, and two: there was something they weren't telling him.

He let go of it, for now. He could hear them mutter something under their breaths as soon as he turned around but couldn't understand a word of it.

Lear approached Cheren and stood by his side. He looked at him, "... May I accompany you back to your room?"

"You're going to start dragging me around the island now? I thought you would want to go back to your own place to start planning" Cheren told him. Lear looked back to where Rachel and Sawyer were before, they had already left.

"Rachel and Sawyer… asked me to spend the day with you," Lear turned back to his friend, thinking of what he might want, "but there's no problem if you'd rather spend the day alone or with someone else."

"No no, not at all," the gym leader smiled softly at him, "I'd like to spend the day with you Lear."

Somewhere close to them Hilbert whistled and Hilda cheered on. N laid his hands on their heads with a bit of force, shutting them both. Bianca giggled and Cheren fixed his tie.

"You two go do your thing we'll go somewhere else!" Bianca told them, already taking Hilda and N's hands in hers, Hilda took Hilbert's. A habit in between their group that started with her and spreaded to the rest, "If you want to come with us later though just send a message and we'll tell you where we are at!"

"Thank you guys," Cheren told them and Lear just nodded, completely oblivious to their previous actions and the reasons behind them.

They all said their 'goodbye's and 'see you later's and parted ways. Lear was thinking of the shortest path to the place Cheren was staying at without going through many crowds, as to avoid maybe embarrassing him over people seeing him walking shoeless with only socks.

"I wonder if we'll get to battle Steven Stone in that tournament…"

Lear looked at Cheren after hearing say that. The other's eyes were on his feet, seemingly thinking of his battle with Hilbert.

"You didn't get to in the Masters Tournament?"

"No, Sinnoh's Champion, Cynthia, destroyed him and his team before we got the chance," he laughed, "I remember seeing Hilbert trembling from both excitement and fear at her. He has battled her before, back in Unova in Undella Town," his sight returned to the path ahead of them, "He said he won just by luck."

Lear hummed, "She is really strong," and looked in between them at their hands. He didn't notice when he took Cheren's or if it was Cheren who took his. He has gotten used to this habit too, not noticing when they are holding hands and when not anymore. "I don't think I would have won against her," he looked away, "but don't tell anyone I said that."

"Hah, well, I don't think we would have won either," a beat, "... it would have been fun anyways."

"How so?"

"Well," Lear felt Cheren give his hand a light squeeze, turning his head towards their linked hands and turning back to the path again, surprised? "Well… there's a special excitement in having a big challenge ahead. Something that looks so unmovable but you are willing to climb up that wall regardless," Lear had his sight on Cheren, on the slight spark the gym leader had in his eyes.

Bright so bright.

"I think… I think I get it," Lear turned back to the path in time to avoid bumping against a lightpost, "it's like when we went against Bettie and Scottie," he said, memory clear as day. The sudden adrenaline rush in that fight, both teams giving it their all and only one coming on top in the end. The twins had cheered and screamed when they won, Lear had felt absolutely defeated, yet the loss hadn't been that bad. The excitement remained and it rose again when he saw the twin's team battle against Red's.

Those three (the twins and Red) are Lear's wall to climb.

Three stars to reach and surpass.

They arrived at the gym leader's apartament. It wasn’t located in Centra City, rather, it was in one of the few towns closer to the sea. He had told Lear once that he thinks he chose that place out of homesickness.

‘The air in the mountains is different from the air in the sea.’ He said that one time after they had ran into each other at night while Lear was playing with Hoopa at the beach, back in the apartment and looking out at the stars reflected on the water from the balcony.

They are back at that same balcony, it’s midday and Cheren does not have another pair of shoes with him. They are both hungry.

“In my defense, it wasn’t exactly my decision coming to Pasio,” he was chuckling at Lear’s shocked face and questions about why he doesn't have another pair of shoes and 'What kind of person doesn't have at least five different pairs of shoes for every occasion?' “I literally fell into the island,” Cheren’s point made him shut his mouth for a few seconds.

“... Ok fair point.”

“I hold nothing against you for that, just so you know.”

“I know that Cheren, you have told me before,” Lear took out his poryphone, “but thank you for assuring me that again.”

“What are you doing?”

“I’ll ask someone to get you new shoes as fast as they can.”

“You don’t have to Lear.”

“I want to, let me,” the prince sent a message and then started to write to Rachel and Sawyer too. He needs to tell them every single idea he has come up with in the span of three hours for the event.

“Do you want me to order some food or do you want to wait until they bring the shoes?”

Lear’s stomach rumbling answered for him.

“I’ll call for delivery then,” Cheren was holding back a laugh while Lear kept on writing to his retainers red as a tamato berry. “What would you like?”

Lear hummed for a few seconds, pressed send to the message he just wrote to his retainers and looked at Cheren, “I don’t want anything specific.”

“Some curry then?”

“Not too spicy please.”

“Of course.”

“I’ll pay.”

“You don’t have to.”

“Cheren I own this island, I can get the food for free.”

“Right. You still should pay them though.”

"Don't worry I will."

The gym leader walked past him and towards the sofas that were in the room. The apartment was really simple yet very comfortable, only two rooms. One with a bed big and comfortable enough (according to Lear’s standards), some shelves with a few decorations and books about the island, one low table surrounded by three sofas on top of a very fuzzy carpet facing the TV on the wall, a higher table with two chairs and the second room was the bathroom. All the apartments and houses around Pasio were definitely more colorful than his own place in the island (though he would never change the color palette of either his room nor the Battle Villa). Lear remembers that there were also another style of apartments and houses around, more complex and big, but it seemed Cheren prefered the simplicity of this one and its closeness to the sea.

The gym leader sat down on one of the sofas and put his cellphone aside to then lift one of his legs up. Lear got by his side when he saw him brushing dirt off his sock as much as he could, took it off and proceeded to do the same with the other one. Once both were off he threw them to the room’s corner and looked back to his feet. Lear took off his sunglasses.

They both saw as Cheren wiggled his fingers on the carpet’s fur.

“... Your feet are ugly.”

“Shut up, no one asked you.”

They stayed silent for another few seconds seeing his feet.

“... Why are you doing that anyways?”

“... I don’t know? It feels nice, funny.” Lear looked up to Cheren who remained looking at his own feet. He looked calm, the emotion from the battle in the middle of the sea gone or left somewhere in the back of his mind and now he was just… here. Sitting with him and waiting for the food (and shoes) to arrive.

Cheren looked at him, apparently surprised to find Lear already looking at him. Both kept silent for a few more seconds just looking at each other before the gym leader coughed a little and fixed his tie yet again.

“You should try it.”

Lear kept looking at him for a second more before shrugging and taking his shoes off too.

They stayed barefooted even when the food (and shoes) arrived.

Chapter Text

"The shoes are the same, how did you get them to be the same?"

"It wasn't too hard to search for the brand with pictures at hand. Besides, they are not identical. The old ones were really dirty and looked really used."

"Well I haven't had a change of shoes for some time now. Also what the hell, why do you have pictures of my shoes?"

"Ask Rachel and Sawyer I didn't take those pictures."

Lear did take those pictures, they weren't focusing on the shoes alone though.

Both of them had finished their curry (it was a bit spicy, but not to the point of being inconsumable for Lear) and Cheren had chosen to try on the new shoes. They were the same brand, the main difference between these and the others (now somewhere in the sea probably being ripped apart by some kingler) was that these were shiny. Really shiny. The prince was sure they would make a squeaky noise when the gym leader started walking. Though it would eventually disappear; it would be bothersome for as long as it lasts.

Lear noticed Cheren taking out three pokeballs and looking at them, then looked up to the rest of the room and stood up.

"... Are you letting them out?" Lear asked.

"Yeah, do you think they'll have enough space?" Cheren looked back to the prince.

Lear looked around the room, hummed a bit, "there should be enough space in here… it might get a bit crowded."

A chuckle, "well…"

The gym leader let out all three at the same time. As soon as they were out, Stoutland tackled Cheren to the ground and started licking his face. He laughed while he tried to gently stop the dog. Unfezant shaked a bit, his feathers puffing up for a few seconds before going back to normal, the bird's eyes started to scan the room around before approaching its trainer. Serperior occupied the most space out of all of them, its body curling on the floor all around the two remaining sofas and table. The serpent had his eyes closed and opened them slowly, immediately looking at Lear.

"Hey- stop!" Cheren kept laughing and trying to pry Stoutland away, it became difficult once Unfezant decided to help the dog pokemon in bothering their trainer. Lear looked at him briefly before going back to look at Serperior, jumping a bit seeing how the pokemon had gotten closer to him, his head at the same level as his and eyes boring into his soul.

"Uhhh…" The staring contest lasted a few seconds, Lear debating if he should get away from the serpent or keep on his ground. His thoughts stopped when Serperior booped his nose with its own and then turned to his trainer. Two vines sprouted from his neck and with them the pokemon got his other two off their trainer..

He wheezed, "ahh… thank you Serperior," and remained sitting on the carpet. Serperior lowered Stoutland and Unfezant and went to its trainer to nuzzle him, the same way it had back on the rock. "Sorry for calling you back so suddenly. Are you good, bud?" Cheren talked to him softly as he petted it. The pokemon seemed good, if its happy cuddling said anything.

(Lear thinks now, the word soft should come with a picture of Cheren in the dictionary.)

Stoutland and Unfezant were looking at the extra bags of curry they had ordered, both inspecting and looking for a way to open them. Right.

“We could let them eat and then go out,” Lear took out his own pokeball, letting out Donphan who was immediately surrounded by the other three pokemon. The poor guy freezed at the sudden spotlight he was given, looking back at his trainer with wide eyes. The prince tilted his head to the side and gave the pokemon a small smile, to which Donphan answered with a blink. He seemed to calm down at that.

"Seems like a good plan," Cheren said, now getting closer to the bag and opening it up, "I think I could take Serperior around, so he gets used to Pasio."

Lear hummed and Cheren took the packs in which the food came in somewhere out of the carpet. As soon as his shoes touched the floor they made a squeaky sound that made both young men flinch.

“... And also to wear down these shoes a bit.”

“Please.”

[...]

"... Where's Hoopa, by the way."

"Hm… if it's not in the Villa eating all of the donut supply we have then it's somewhere around the island doing its pranks."

"You don't know?"

"Well, I can't exactly keep it in one place and…" Lear hesitated, "... for some reason it feels wrong to keep it around me all the time…"

"It's the same reason you didn't exactly catch it, right?"

"... yeah."

The sky was clear and blue, a few clouds rolling with the wind as they followed the path towards their destination. They had already crossed five star-shaped sculptures, various trees and trainers that were already engaged in a battle or that backed down at the sight of the serpent following them. Holding hands again, they were walking through the grassy fields towards the forest area, somewhere Cheren said he thought Serperior would like.

The serpent was right behind them, trailing and looking around every few seconds. It looked calm and kept his head high and glare sharp towards any trainer that dared look in their way with the glint of battle in their eyes. Whatever it’d be because he understood that it’s trainer was just taking a walk with a friend or was tired from the battle earlier wasn’t something Lear knew. Though he would pretty much like to know why he kept looking at him, not with the sharp, 'I'm asserting dominance' gaze. Just… looking. Assessing him maybe, analyzing.

Lear felt a tug from his hand and turned back to Cheren. He was giving him a small smile.

“Are you ok?”

“Of course!” Lear replied, “why wouldn’t I be?”

“Hm…” Cheren looked back at his partner. Lear followed his gaze in time to see the pokemon flick his tongue out for a second, “don’t worry about Serperior, he is just curious… I think.”

“You think??” The pokemon in question got closer to Lear and licked his tongue out again. The prince jumped a bit at feeling the muscle touch what little of his forehead reached.

The gym leader raised a hand to his chin, “is that or he is thinking if you are someone he should fling you towards the nearest water-body.”

“What.”

Cheren hummed some more, “... no… yeah, he is just curious.”

“Cheren what the hell.”

“He did that once… or twice, four years ago.”

“To one of those team plasma guys?”

“Yes,” he chuckled, “let’s just say he lost his temper fast.”

“Well,” Both trainers were now entering the forest (or one of them, there are various forests, this one just happened to be the closest). The sun was no longer hitting them directly, the trees making a nice, fresh shade around. The leaves moved gently with the wind and let some light pass in between them, “at least they deserve it, I don’t.”

“Don’t worry,” Lear felt Cheren start to swing their hands a bit, backwards and forward, gently, “I wouldn’t let him do that to you,” and he wasn’t looking at him anymore, but he was sure Cheren was smiling softly again. (He is considering paying someone to put his picture in the dictionary, really.)

"And how would you exactly stop a super-strong, angry serperior from launching me into the ocean?"

“Well…” Cheren looked back at Serperior, who was currently directing his piercing look towards a swimmer that had apparently come out of one the ponds around the area. The guy kept staring at the serpent for a few seconds before slowly going back into the water while making bubble sounds. That didn’t stop the pokemon from keeping its gaze on the water, narrowing his eyes while seeing bubbles come to the surface, “...psspsspsspsspss-” Serperior’s gaze immediately softened, he got closer and nuzzled his trainer. “Don’t look at others like that, there's no need.”

“We can always wave trainers off if we are not feeling like battling,” Lear said, looking at the movement Cheren did with his hand while petting his partner, “... unless they are part of Team Break.”

“Unless they are part of Team Break.”

“Or that.. Team Rocket?”

“Did you ever find out how they got here?”

“No I didn’t, they are sneaky bastards and a headache to deal with.” Lear sighs, “I wish I had something like… a radar to know where those evil teams are at.”

Cheren’s eyes went to Lear’s hair for a second, “... I wish too.”
“Like, “ Lear looked up, hearing one complaining voice drowned into others and not surprised to see some masked, elegantly dressed guy terrorizing some trainer along side other masked, not so elegantly dressed people. Four others to be exact, “that for example! Every one or two days I hear something about these guys, either from Sawyer and Rachel or a written report. I really thought it would be over after the PML but NO!” he took out a pokeball from his coat, “Some of them, MANY of them still wander around either trying to convince people to join them or… I don’t know some dumb plan, why do they keep it on I’m not sure,” Lear let out his Donphan, who looked back at it’s trainer before looking to were the team members where at, “I just wish I knew when and where they are so I can deal with the situation faster.” He sighed. A second of silence between the two of them passed. One where Lear had his mouth set in a thin line and his hold on Cheren’s hand tightened slightly, before he got closer to the other and whispered, “sometimes is discouraging you know? Seeing how they keep doing… this?” he gestured in towards the problem in front of them with his free hand.

“But you still put up a fight, try to make things right,” Cheren told him, still holding his hand and walking them closer to where the trouble was, both of their pokemon following close, “and don’t back down from it… and you don’t have to do it alone, not anymore,” Serperior noticed the masked people and raised his head, putting on a regal, intimidating air around himself, “There are still those who have followed you from the very beginning. Those who decided to accept the work you gave them as ‘punishment’ for their actions and decided to stay by your side after completing their set time working. There is Rachel and Sawyer too, you know Hilbert wouldn’t think twice before helping you…” a beat, “... there’s also me.”

Lear huffed “You’ll be leaving soon though.”

“But I wouldn’t mind it if you called me every once and then. Maybe I won’t be able to be here physically to help you with this,” he made a motion with his free hand towards the Team Break members, “but I’m willing to hear out anything you have to say Lear, like now.” They gave one more step and stopped, Cheren giving him a soft smile.

Lear smiled, “... Thank you,” he noticed the gym leader perking up before moving his eyes towards the masked people. He let go of his hand to cross his arms on top of his chest, “Alright, what’s going on here?!”

The Team Break members all turned towards the two of them, the guy they were bothering taking the chance to quickly walk somewhere behind a bunch of trees. Lear could still see them peeking out, curious of the situation.

“Oh great,” the elegantly dressed one said, frowning, “it’s the prince.”

“Should we run?” One of the other team members asked.

Cheren turned to where the trainer was hiding, “what happened?”

The trainer was gripping the tree that they had chosen to use as a hiding spot, “I was just doing my usual training with my poliwhirl when those… those weirdos appeared out of nowhere and insisted that I join their team!” They said, gesturing in the direction of the masked guys, one of them letting out an offended gasp after hearing the word ‘weirdos’. “I told them no and they decided to beat poliwhirl for it!”

The gym leader turned to the prince, “should I send a message to Sawyer and Rachel?”

“I already did,” Lear told him, pocketing his poryphone back into his coat, “thank you though…”

“I’m quite confident today, we might be able to defeat him…” the supposed leader of the group spoke, grinning. The rest of them looked at him, at the serperior right behind both young men, and then right back at him.

“Uhh… I dunno boss… The prince is a rather tough trainer to battle already and–”

“I’m not battling that Serperior!!” one of them shouted, followed by a string of ‘me neither’.

“Cowards.”

“Lear–”

“Hmp! Come on now,” the leader of the group frowned and turned to the rest, “don’t tell me you’re afraid of a first-line gym leader? First one in the lineup? The one beginner trainers face?"

"Hey don't judge him by-!" Lear started but shut up after Cheren laid his hand on his shoulder. The gym leader had a raised eyebrow and was frowning . Serperior let out a hiss.

"Well…"

"But first-line gym leaders are still tough to defeat…"

"Not to mention exactly who this gym leader is."

"It'll be two against five! Come on!" The man shouted. The other four guys looked at eachother a few times before taking out their pokeballs. The leader of the group turned back around to face Lear, Cheren and their pokemon again. Both partners are already in front of their respective trainers and taking a battle stance.

It wasn’t a hard battle. The team break members weren't weak by any means, they managed to keep the battle going for quite some time, one of them had a rather tanky Lairon. It wasn’t that stressful for either trainer, but Serperior seemed to be losing his patience towards the Lairon, who kept laughing (kinda) at him. Neither Cheren nor Lear noticed the moment the serpent curled his tail around a tree and lifted it from the ground, roots and all.

Lear’s eyebrows raised all the way to his hair-line at the sight of the tree being lifted up and then coming down right next to Lairon, who looked wide-eyed at the tree right next to it and then at Serperior, and ran to hide behind its trainer. Donphan stopped his tracks towards another pokemon to stare at the serpent. The rest of the pokemon got further away from him. The Team Break members took a step back.

Lear pointed at the tree still in Serperior’s grip, “that’s not allowed, make him put it back.”

Cheren let out a sigh, and started to make another calling sound to his pokemon, “You’re not in a good mood anymore, are you?” Serperior let out a hiss at the opposing team. The pokemon left the tree back from where he took it, although it looked like it would fall over any second. Lear took the mental note to make some of his staff look this over.

As if on cue, some people from Lear’s staff arrived. One with short, honey-colored hair with an undercut and gray-ish blue eyes, another with navy, spiky short hair and navy eyes and another, taller than the other two, with long brown hair and eyes. The three of them opened their mouths and one pointed at the ‘evil’ team before a loud “THUD” made them change their focus to the now fallen three. Their eyes went to the prince and gym leader, the latter waving at them and the other sighing.

“Master Lear what– HEY!” The navy-haired one started before noticing the Team Break grunts running away. Letting out a Rapidash, a Dusknoir and a Meowstic, the three of them ran after the masked people.

“Donphan! Help them!” The prince shouted, his pokemon immediately going after the evil team as well and getting ahead of them quickly, blocking their path. The leader of the group turned around, a frown on his face as he looked at three trainers behind them. The frown quickly changed to a thin line at the sight of Serperior towering above the trainer’s heads and giving the man a death glare. The rest of the team seemed to notice it as they went still, one of them shaking slightly.

“You better give up!” Shouted Lear.

“Unless you want Serperior to launch you into the sea,” followed Cheren.

The staff had left with the Team Break members after that, the trainer they were bothering with them.

‘You shall escort them to the pokemon center, if needed to the Villa, to make sure their pokemon is checked and healed.’ Lear had said, besides making sure they remember the procedures with the villain members, the three answered with nods and ‘Yes Master Lear.’

They had stayed a few seconds longer though, looking in between the two young men. The prince was about to ask them what they were waiting for before the navy-haired one said ‘Have a nice day you two’ and signaled the others to start moving. Cheren had responded with a ‘Careful on your way back’ and then tugged Lear by the hand two times to resume their walking.

(When did he take his hand again?)

“I wasn’t expecting to see him lose his temper so fast…” The prince looked at the gym leader who was looking at his pokemon. Both Serperior and Donphan (because Lear had decided to let him stay out) were ahead of them now, Donphan wouldn’t stop looking at the side to Serpeior, listening to the hisses the serpent was letting out every now and then.

(The prince thought of maybe giving some treats to his partner when he goes back to his place. Donphan has always been a bit anxious and he is surprised to see him not freaking out at the sight of a really bothered Serperior.)

“Didn’t you say he has lost it before?”

“I did,” They saw Donphan getting a bit closer to Serperior, catching his attention and quickly regretting it, “He has calmed down a lot since then though.”

The group arrived at a small clearing. The sunlight was still fragmented by the leaves, even though the trees were further apart from each other. Serperior got closer to one of the trees and laid down, his body curling a bit on itself. Donphan looked back at Lear and back at the serpent a few times. The prince tilted his head to the side.

“You don’t have to wait for me to tell you you can do something all the time you know?” Donphan blinked one, two times, before slowly approaching the other pokemon. Both trainers followed behind, seeing how Serperior opened an eye at Donphan and the latter stilled for a second.

Cheren let go of Lear’s hand to kneel down next to his partner. He let his hand hover over Serperior’s head until this one raised enough to touch it. Lear watched the two of them until he felt a long, grassy thing hit him slightly on the back. The prince frowned and looked behind to find Serperior’s tail moving one side to the other lazily. Donphan was no longer a statue on the spot.

Lear looked back at the gym leader. He was giving him an apologetic smile. Lear sighed once more.

“I really think he is just curious about you,” Cheren kept petting Serperior’s head slowly. The prince raised an eyebrow at that (not that it was noticeable with the sunglasses), before letting out a small, surprised sound at being brought down by the tail. Lear was able to catch himself before going face first against the grass. He heard Cheren’s laugh while he looked at the offending tail and at Donphan, who was now at his side making sure he was ok.

The prince ended up choosing to sit on the floor (because Serperior was pretty much making sure he didn’t stand up again) and started to scratch his pokemon right on the skin at the beginning of his tusks. Donphan smacked his arm with his snout, Lear let out a huffed laugh at it.

“You’re doing better with them?” Cheren shuffled a bit to sit by the prince’s side.

“Well, they are my pokemon, I figured they deserve the best treatment,” Lead petted the underside of the snout before Donphan decided to look after Serperior. Cheren’s partner looked at Lear’s and flicked his tongue at him. The serpent was noticeably calmer than before, “I think they are doing better in battles because of it too.”

“Of course they do,” the gym leader had a knowing smile on his face. Lear tried to not pout at it, knowing what he meant.

Serperior’s tail smacked him on the side and made him bump against Cheren. The gym leader laughed as Lear frowned at the pokemon, who had a glint of amusement in his eyes that disappeared after he got smacked on the face by a snout.

It was a nice afternoon, Lear thought. Even though there was the reminder of work waiting for him to be done once he returned to the Villa, it was nice. In between the walking, seeing their pokemon playing around some places and their random talks (“...Do you think cereal is soup?” “No???”) the time passed and the sky started to turn orange. They had chosen to go back to Cheren’s place, mostly the prince wanting to accompany the gym leader back to his apartment (“You don’t have to, Lear,” “It’s only right of me to make sure you make it back to your apartment safely, not that I don’t think you wouldn’t make it… I was the one to take you out in the first place”) Serperior was no longer giving glares at other trainers, and seemed rather chatty with Donphan. They had been lucky to not run into many trainers on their way back.

The street lamps were starting to turn on when they got to the sea-side town. Their hands still holding each other and swinging slowly in between them.

“I feel like you’re spoiling me,” the gym leader eyed the bag currently in his grasp, it had one box of six donuts, “I’m not complaining but… somehow it feels wrong.”

“Hey, I’ve told you already, you deserve it,” Lear gave a bite to the donut he had, being careful of the box hanging off his wrist. The prince had ended up buying two boxes, one for Cheren and the other for himself. He thought maybe Hoopa might like some, “since you’re my *ahem* friend.”

“Yeah…” Cheren smiled, “Friend.”

The two of them entered one of the buildings, walked to the end of the corridor and towards the stairs to the next floor. The only sounds besides their footsteps and chatter were their pokemon and the sounds coming from behind some other doors, muted by the walls.

“Anyways,” another bite, he looked ahead to their pokemon now bothering each other, “do you have any request for where we shall head to tomorrow?” he wonders for a moment if Donphan actually likes donuts, he never paid attention to that. He might as well start doing so today.

“I don't think so," Lear looked back in time to see Cheren give him a small grin, "I'll go anywhere you take me."

The prince let out a huffed laugh, "Of course you would…" and took another bite, "... maybe bring your Unfezant with you tomorrow?"

"Are we going somewhere high?"

"Perhaps…" They took a few more steps before stopping in front of the apartment's door, letting go of each other's hands so Cheren could look for his key, "... I'm debating between the cliffs or ice peaks." Lear finished the donut he had and held the bag with his hand. His wrist was starting to hurt a bit.

"I'd say the ice peaks," the gym leader took out his key and proceeded to open the door, "I feel like flying around there would be fun."

"There we shall go next then!" Lear smirked and Cheren let out a light chuckle, the key made a 'click' and the door was unlocked, "I hope your partner is fast."

"You want to race?" Cheren opened the door and made a face.

"Of course! Why do you sound surprised at that…?" Lear looked inside to see Hilbert sitting on one of the sofas, watching TV with some popcorn in his grasp.

"Yo," he said.

Wasn't the door locked…?

"Hilbert," Cheren had his hand on his hip now, "how did you get in?"

The short trainer pointed at the open glass door of the balcony, "be glad I got in and not someone else."

"This is a two story building?" Lear was frowning, "how did you even manage to reach the balcony?"

"I'm a short guy with my short ways, and I know how to climb up walls."

"Of course." Cheren looked back at Lear again, keeping one hand on the doorknob, "So… a flight race?"

"Yes, I thought it might be entertaining," Lear crossed his arms, or kind of did, he still had that bag with him, "I've been meaning to practice more with Staraptor, let's just say Sawyer and Rachel worry a bit too much sometimes."

"You're going to end up eating dust and feathers man!" Both young men heard Hilbert shout from inside the room, and Cheren closed the door almost completely.

"I should have some medical necessities ready tomorrow then."

"No need! I'll be the one to assure we have anything we could need. Remember I'm the one taking you around Cheren."

The gym leader took a few seconds before speaking, "ok, but if there's anything you can't get, just send a message and I'll get it."

"I wouldn't want to make you do a lot for what we're doing."

"It would never be a lot Lear," and there was again that soft, soft smile and expression, and Lear decided to ignore Hilbert peeking through the small opening of the door, "nor a bother to help you."

The prince chuckled, "aren't you persistent?" And somehow, that made the other look a bit brighter, "alright, alright. If I happen to need help I'll tell you, but don't wait for it too much."

"Of course Lear," Cheren opened the door completely to let Serperior pass in. Think of it, Lear had forgotten for a second that their pokemon were still there, "same hour as always?"

"As always, never a second late."

"Always," they saw as Hilbert attempted to greet the serpent pokemon and pass by it toward the two of them before being picked up by one of Serperior's vines and laid on the sofa. Lear felt Cheren's hand brush over his gently, "goodnight, Lear."

"Rest well."

The door closed and only muted sounds filled the sudden silence in the corridor. He looked down at Donphan, who was giving him a wide eyed, kind of unreadable look. It made Lear tilt his head and raise an eyebrow in question.

"What's with the look?"

But Donphan didn't even make a sound or signaled anything, just gave him a smack on his free hand with his snout. Something that felt a lot like a 'I wish you luck' for some reason. His partner looked at the door for a few seconds too before turning towards the stairs to the first floor and looking back at his trainer.

It left Lear a bit confused, but maybe his pokemon was just aware of the race he had challenged Cheren to. The prince turned on his heels and walked towards the stairs.

If he heard a thud from the door behind he didn't notice.

Chapter Text

The prince was doing another mental check on the items he had prepared. Full heals, full restores, ice heals, some aspear, persim and cheri berries… Cheri berries… Cheri…?

Lear muttered under his breath and raised his hand to his forehead, applying some pressure and frowning. He had been feeling dizzy every few minutes ever since he woke up that morning. Perhaps he pushed himself too far last night trying to get as much work done as he could (and he still went out with Hoopa to the beach afterwards. Not like he could complain about it anyways. It was tradition after all.)

“Young Master… are you sure you’re alright?” Sawyer asked, bending down to look at him better, and Rachel giving him a concerned look. Right. They had insisted on accompanying him to his and Cheren’s meeting spot. Sawyer was carrying the small bag he had prepared with all the needed things for today’s outing. He made sure to only acquire the highest quality products for this (or more like he made sure to tell the person he sent to get them to only get the best ones out there) and made everything fit perfectly inside that bag, not a single bit of space wasted.

“For the thousandth time, I'm fine.” The prince lowered his hand and kept walking.

Although he liked to walk through the main streets of the city (making his presence well known and keeping his eyes well open in case any disturbance happened while he was around), Lear had chosen to take a different path that day. He didn’t have his hair styled like normal, opting for a ponytail to keep most of his hair out of his face. He didn’t want too many people to see him in what he thinks of as an informal style. He’d rather have no-one witness him like this, but with the flight race in mind Lear decided to spare himself from having messed up hair later by having it now instead. The backstreets were less busy, there were one or two trainers passing by every once and then, but never many. If anyone tried to take a picture he could tell them off.

“You sure? You were looking like you would run into a pillar any second back at the Villa, Master Lear…” Although Rachel’s voice didn’t show it, she was clearly worried, and maybe amused (how dare she) about him.

“Will you two stop worrying so much?” The three of them stopped close to a small cafe at the outskirts of the city. Lear brushed his hand on the folded black jacket he had on one arm, making sure there were no wrinkles on its surface, “I’m not fragile nor an idiot. If I were truly feeling bad I wouldn’t have come here.”

It was a half-lie, the three of them knew this. The queen had passed away due to her rather fragile immune system and Lear had ended up with that same trait. He has fallen terribly ill before because of this, but those looking after him had always done their job well. Especially after the queen's death. Even when the training he had been put under was grueling and oftentimes harsh, everyone (including himself) was very careful with this particular trait of his. Nowadays in Pasio only a few people know of this, and he made sure to have good medical contacts and such at his disposal.

He did get feverish from time to time though.

Like what seemed to be happening now.

Which, Arceus please no, he still had a fair to organize. And a teacher to take around to make memorable memories with.

Sawyer and Rachel’s worried gazes reached him, making him feel a tad antsy, “Look, I promise to call if I truly start to feel sick. How about that?” Lear looked at both of them, prepared to hear more of their fretting, “Cheren will be there too, if something happens I’m sure he will take care of me and contact you both.” That seemed to significantly calm them down, their shoulders coming down from previously unnoticed tension.

It was bothersome. When they wouldn’t stop being right behind him with worry in their eyes and asking question after question about how he was taking care of himself. He used to not understand it, but now, after hours at night looking at the sea, catching up with the bottled up thoughts and feelings he ignored for Arceus knows how long, now he did. It was bothersome, but Lear had made a promise to himself to not let them down, nor leave them behind.

It wasn’t exactly easy, but he would try and keep the promise as best as he could.

“And Staraptor will for sure be looking after me as well,” The prince kept brushing wrinkles off the jacket on his arm, counting once more the things he had brought and suddenly feeling an itch at his right, “She is a bit like you two, you know.”

Sawyer snorted “I don’t think so young master.”

“I think…” Rachel giggled, “If anything, I think she is worse than us.”

“Oh don’t remind me. Whenever I take her out she is always making sure not a single hair on my head is sticking out, and also freaks out whenever I trip,” Lear let out a huffed laugh, “I appreciate that, but sometimes it is a bit too much…”

They laughed, and Lear felt himself smile slightly at his now calm retainers. It was better than seeing them worry.

His smile didn’t last long though.

“Hello your majesty~”

Lear went rigid and turned slowly to his right and looked slightly down. Right there, twin hats, an awful sight. “You.” He muttered.

“Just that? That’s no way of greeting your friends, mister. I thought you knew more etiquette than that.” The girl clicked her tongue two times.

“Bettie–” The boy tugged his sister’s sleeve, containing his laughter at his sister’s antics.

“No no, she is right,” The prince cleared his throat, “Good morning, Bettie, Scottie.”

“Oh, you actually admit I’m right!” Bettie had a smug smirk on her face. Her brother seemed torn between joining her in bothering the prince or stopping her. He opted for turning to Rachel and Sawyer. Lear swallowed the rude comment he was about to make.

“Hi you two!” The boy sounded cheerful as always, “Are you guys going somewhere?” Scottie pointed to the bag Sawyer was carrying. Lear counted in his mind the things he had once more and ignored the girl’s curious stare at the jacket on his arm and his hair.

“Not us, just the young master.”

Bettie let out a ‘ohhh’ and pointed at Lear, “Well that explains the hair, you don’t look like a clown today.”

“Excuse me?!”

“No, he still looks like a clown, the sunglasses are still there, Bettie."

"You TWO--"

"Where are you going? Can we go?" Scottie played with his thumbs while he looked at him. Bettie, like her brother, looked like she was hoping for a 'yes'.

"No," their faces went down, "Unfortunately for you two, this is more of a personal hang out between Cheren and I" They lifted their faces up again. Lear scoffed.

"Personal hang out?" Bettie had an eyebrow raised.

"With Cheren?" Scottie had both of them raised, his eyebrows almost disappeared under his cap.

"Yes, a personal hang out with Cheren. Do you not understand that?"

Bettie snickered, "You mean like a date?"

"Well, that term could also work." Lear noticed the expressions his retainers had on their faces. Something between amusement, surprise and nervousness. Lear raised an eyebrow in question, not like they could see it with his sunglasses on, "What's with the faces?" They didn't answer.

"You sure have become reaaaally close friends," Bettie's contained laughter was cut off by her brother lightly punching her shoulder. Her glare towards Scottie was answered with a sheepish smile. He turned towards Lear.

"We see you together almost everyday," Scottie smiled a toothy grin, which- for the love of anything was this kid a walking sun? Lear was going to go blind even with the sunglasses, "It's nice seeing you two around."

"It's cute you mean," Bettie was smiling too. If it wasn't for the fact that the prince knew what kind of devil hid behind that smile he would for sure get the same feeling he got from the boy's, “You two are always holding hands while you walk, it’s cute.”

"I'm going to ignore the 'cute' part," Lear frowned, "I don't see you often?"

"You might not see us, but we see you!"

"Creepy…" Lear heard Sawyer mutter.

“It’s the first time we see you change your hair for your dates tho…” The girl squinted at him, one hand on her chin as if she were thinking something (it was likely the case, and Lear felt himself tense at the possibility of Bettie thinking of ways to bother him about it. It had happened before), “You actually look good with a ponytail.”

“Thank you, I have a good reason for choosing this mess of a style.”

“It looks nice though?” Scottie tilted his head to the side, frowning.

Rachel swayed her hands side to side, “It will end up getting messed up.”

“Why?”

“Wind.”

“Wind??”

“Yes, I’m not telling you anything else.”

“There’s no wind today…” Bettie tilted her head, “So you’re not going out to eat somewhere like most of the time?”

“Do you two really just stalk us all the time?”

“Well,” Scottie scratched his nape, “I never thought of it that way… makes me feel a bit bad about it now.”

“And we will keep doing it.” Bettie said.

“No we won’t.”

“Yes we will Scottie, I don’t want to miss out on an episode of my favorite romcom.”

“What’s a romcom?” Lear asked.

“Wouldn’t you like to know weatherboy?”

Lear frowned and made the closest sound to ‘???’ he could. Sawyer let out an exasperated sigh and Rachel held back a laugh.

“I would like to. That’s why I asked.”

“Too bad, I won’t tell you,” Bettie pointed at the black piece of clothing in his hands, “Say, that jacket, is it for him?"

"Of course it is," the prince scoffed, "With how smart he is he keeps forgetting to get clothes," he crossed his arms (kinda), kept the jacket close to him, secured and warm, "I don't really mind getting him some but honestly…"

"You buy him clothes?"

"Of course, that's what, as you called us, 'close friends' would do for each other right?" Lear puffed out his chest proudly, smirking.

"..."

“... right?”

"Yeah… it sure is," he heard Scottie say and that made him frown with a raised eyebrow.

"Is it not?"

"Don't worry," Bettie had an amused smile on her face, "It totally is," Scottie glared at her.

"Bettie."

"Well would you look at the time!" Bettie looked at her right wrist, to an apparent imaginary watch, "We have a 'personal hang out' of our own to attend to!" Lear glared at her as she took her brother by the shoulders to turn him around, she was giggling, "I hope you have fun today, wherever you go!"

"But Bettie–!"

"And remember we are a~always watching you!" She winked and then proceeded to push Scottie, ignoring whatever he was trying to say.

Lear turned to Rachel and Sawyer “...Is it not something I should do?”

“Well–”

“Like Bettie said,” Rachel waved her sleeves side to side, “Don’t worry about it.”

“It's… a nice thing to do,” Sawyer seemed pensive, “... Maybe you could take him out shopping one of these days?”

“I think I remember some new shops opening soon…” Lear smirked, “I might take your suggestion Sawyer.”

While Sawyer grinned and Rachel gave him some pats on the arm, Lear saw Cheren approaching from the side. The prince turned to properly greet him, half-aware of the small, rather soft smile he had on his face when he waved his hand. Whatever happened that caused Cheren to almost trip before he could return the wave Lear didn’t know.

“Good morning, Lear, Rachel, Sawyer,” Cheren said to the three of them, though the teacher kept his eyes on Lear even when his retainers returned his greeting (he was most likely taking note of his hair. He sure looks weird with the ponytail), “I hope I didn’t keep you waiting for too long.”

Lear made a gesture with his free hand, “Don’t worry about it.”

Cheren turned to Rachel and Sawyer (though Lear noticed his eyes still on him for a few seconds more, did he really look that bad?), “So… are you coming with us?”

“No, no, we were just making sure the young master didn’t have to carry this bag all the way here,” Sawyer fixed said bag on his shoulder. It wasn’t big, and Lear had actually insisted on not needing help with it. That’s when he almost ran into a pillar back at the Villa.

“And also making sure he doesn’t faint on his way here,” Rachel said. Lear glared at her while she just shrugged. Cheren looked at Lear and raised an eyebrow.

“Are you not feeling good, Lear?”

"I am fine, there’s nothing to worry about,” The prince huffed, “I actually hope you slept well so you'll be aware when I win," he smirked and the teacher let out a huffed laugh.

"You wish Lear," he didn't have the sleeves of his dress shirt folded up as always. He was wearing them down to the wrists, buttoned there.

He was aware of the slight change in temperature at the ice peaks it seemed. Lear showed the jacket to him, "I figured you don't have a jacket here, so I got you one."

Cheren took the piece of clothing and put it on. Lear praised himself internally at being right about black and blue suiting his friend the most.

“I still remember how surprised I was when I first went to the Ice peaks,” Cheren fixed the neck of the jacket a bit and played with the fabric, “How did you manage to make it so cold there?”

“That’s a secret,” Sawyer handed Lear the bag he had been carrying all this time. The teacher raised an eyebrow and let out a soft ‘of course’, “... I could explain to you though, if you promise to not divulge anything I show you.”

“Hm… If I promise to not divulge anything will you explain other things too? I’ve been wondering for some time how the island works,” He took out a pokeball, “Do you want to fly there?”

“And tire the pokemon before we race?”

“It might work as a warm up if we don’t go too fast.”

“Well,” Lear took out Staraptor’s pokeball, “Since you insist.”

As soon as both bird pokemon were out they kept their eyes on one another. Staraptor seemed focused on making sure Unfezant didn’t dare to get too close to her trainer, while the latter was more interested in her. Cheren’s partner got a bit too close to Lear’s, and that seemed to provoke Staraptor, causing her to puff up to appear bigger and intimidating. Unfezant locked eyes with her and puffed up as well, letting out a grunt-like sound before batting his wings a few times.

“Please don’t fight each other,” Cheren petted Unfezant’s head a few times, gaining its attention and breaking the tension building up between the bird pokemon. Staraptor turned to Lear and walked around him, inspecting and making sure he was fine. Lear crossed his arms as he let her do her thing.

“Seems like they could end up building some kind of rivalry,” Sawyer was scratching his chin as he eyed Unfezant. Cheren was still petting his head.

“That could, like, make your race more interesting right?” Rachel was looking at Staraptor, who had finished looking at her trainer and was apparently a bit puzzled by his hair (he knew he looked bad, Lear didn’t need her to remind him with that look).

“Or it could complicate things,” Cheren switched to scratching his pokemon under the beak, “For example, it could lead them to overwork themselves in an attempt to prove to the other that they are better.”

“If we are careful that won’t happen,” Lear had to keep Staraptor from trying to get to his head by placing his hand on her beak. Her eyes crossed to look at it, “It shouldn’t be hard.”

“Let's help them have a friendly rivalry instead of an aggressive one,” the teacher looked at the prince, “I’m ready when you are.”

“Let’s get going then.”

Lear ignored Rachel’s whisper to Cheren telling him to please take care of their prince and opted to focus on getting on Staraptor’s back (Sawyer seemed like he wanted to help him get up, but restrained himself). His pokemon partner raised her head proudly once he got a good grip on her back, “We are not going fast yet, alright?” he said, giving its back a few pats while watching Cheren climb to Unfezant’s back as well. Staraptor let out a chirp-like sound in response.

Both bird pokemon exchanged looks, their trainers unaware of the apparent challenge they were giving one another while the two said their ‘see you later’s to the retainers. Lear and Cheren were caught by surprise when both pokemon took flight at an unexpected speed.

Lear was right, his hair was going to get even more messed up.

They soon reached the few clouds that were in the sky, Staraptor and Unfezant both keeping a reasonable speed yet still looking like they were ready to go faster at any second they were told to. Lear looked down to see the lake surrounding Centra City below them. They were taking the most direct path to the Ice peaks, but even then, the distance from where they took off to their destination wasn’t exactly small (and it wasn’t like there were any defined paths when it came to flying, the only thing capable of changing a path taken being weather and all things involved in it).

“Do you have a name for it too?” The prince heard Cheren shout from his side.

He turned his head to face him, “What do you mean?”

“You told me you had a few names for the areas in Pasio right?” Lear noticed him having some difficulties keeping his eyes completely open, it made him slap himself internally for not considering getting him goggles along with the jacket, “Does the lake have a name too?”

“Of course it does!” The prince smiled proudly, “It required one to fit all the grandiosity that Pasio has!”

“Well then?”

“... Neutrono Great Lake.”

“That’s a long name.”

“It sounds good. It doesn’t matter that it is long.”

“I was only commenting, there’s no problem with the name being long,” a beat, “... are the Ice Peaks really called that or do they have a name?”

“They have an actual name,” Lear groaned, “It’s not my problem that people missed the signs around or that someone decided to call it the ‘Ice peaks’ even though there’s like… only one and everyone just followed along.”

“There… there are signs with the names on them?” Cheren was frowning and squinting more than before, he had an awkward smile on his face, almost sheepish.

“Of course!” Lear exclaimed, almost sounding exasperated, “I wasn’t expecting everyone to just know the names of the places out of nowhere, I even expected people to not read the pamphlets around the Center or the information in the poryphones!” he looked back ahead, huffing, “Don’t tell me we placed the signs in hard-to-see places!”

“It might have been that, I honestly don’t remember seeing any when we were collecting the badges, or after that either…” Lear heard Cheren say, “Maybe we could take our time after our race to look out for the signs?”

“Sounds like a good plan, I can’t change their placement myself, but I might as well look for good spots for them,” Lear noticed they now closer icy peak, blue and gleaming a bit despite the clouds that usually formed at the colder region, “Let’s land at the top alright?”

They landed on top of a protruding part of the peak, thick and strong enough to hold them up for as long as they wanted. There were some ruin-like structures protruding from the ice as well, various scratch-like marks on the surface and deep holes with thin diameters (probably from people wanting to reach the top of the peak by climbing it up. Lear makes a mental note to place some cabins close to the base of the peak, as well as assign some of his staff here in case of emergencies).

“So…” Lear turned to Cheren “What’s our path?” he heard him say while having a small smile on his face. A smile that he returned unconsciously.

“I am thinking…” he looked at the area, the high ground they had helped see all of it easily. The path along the scraped sides of a small snow-white hill, the frozen river and lake with a walkable floating path, the few unfrozen and frozen cascades, the space between a fractured mountain making a rather deep cliff, the town in the middle of the region, looking warm and cozy even from the distance, “Let’s have the town be our finish line.” Lear looked down the ice they were currently standing on, a high fall from where they were, “We can do a drop from here and follow the river down to that cliff, then fly along until we reach the town.”

“It sounds rather easy when you say it,” the teacher followed with his eyes the places the prince was pointing out, one hand on his chin and the other brushing along his Unfezant’s feathers, “Though I’m sure it’s not, especially that fractured mountain… have you done this before?”

“I have, a few times, never while racing against anyone,” Lear scratched his Staraptor’s forehead and heard the small purring-like sound she made. It made him smile, “I’m confident of Staraptor’s agility and my own abilities, but I’m… more worried about you.”

“Me?” Cheren looked at him, a bit puzzled, “Why?”

“Can you see well with so much wind going directly into your face? I got you a jacket but I completely forgot about looking for something to protect your eyes,” Lear was frowning now, his hand coming to rest back again on Staraptor’s back and gaining a grunt from her. Cheren chuckled softly, “What?”

“Nothing, sorry just…” he looked back at Unfezant, and the pokemon looked at him, “... you can be really caring sometimes you know?” his hand reached to pet his companion under the beak, the pokemon letting out a chirp, “It’s… a bit endearing.”

Lear huffed, “I’m just doing what I think is the best. I was the one to ask you out and besides being my… friend,” Lear said with some difficulty, “You are also a guest on this island. Every person on Pasio is my responsibility and I don’t want you getting hurt because I forgot something like eye-protection,” he finished and saw Cheren letting out a soft sigh, his smile not quite reaching his eyes. The prince frowned.

“I know, it just catches me off guard sometimes,” Lear watched how his friend closed his eyes, straightened up and took a deep breath turning to look at him, “I’ll be fine, it won’t be the first time I fly around without eye-protection.”

He huffed, “That’s not exactly good, you know?”

Cheren chuckled, “Hilbert and Bianca have told me the same so many times,” he seemed to relax and take another breath. Lear just watched him close his eyes and stay like that for a few seconds.

Outwardly calm.

But… there was something. In that reaction and little movements he did before.

His smile was still small and soft, yet it didn’t reach his eyes.

Was he really calm?

Lear wonders if he should pry.

Cheren opened his eyes again, looking more focused and with a glint of challenge in his eyes. A special spark and confident smile. It made Lear relax a bit, “Shall we?”

The prince looked forward, looked down, and then patted Staraptor two times, “Get me an ice shard,” Staraptor bent down to peck at the ice they were standing on.

She pecked, Once, twice, and she had an ice chunk in her beak. Lear took it and pointed at another protruding ice spike not too far from them, “This ice shard hitting that spike over there is our signal to go.”

“Are you sure you’ll manage to make it hit?” Cheren bent down closer to Unfezant’s back, both hands with a secure grip on the feathers. Strong enough to keep himself attached to his pokemon partner but gentle enough to not hurt him.

“I’ll take that question as a challenge,” Lear kept his eyes on the ice and tried to visualize a certain trainer with a red hat on top of it. He then threw the ice chunk with all his strength.

Both young men kept his eyes on the falling ice, anticipation running through them and waiting. Their pokemon, too, had their eyes wide open, wings ready to open and talons ready to jump.

The sound of ice against ice was heard.

Both trainers shouted, and their pokemon jumped.

The deep fall from their starting point was fast, the cold wind hitting their faces and making one of them put complete trust in his pokemon partner as its trainer kept his eyes closed. Blurred blue, white, and gray passed by their sides at an alarming speed. The pokemon kept their wings closed for a long enough time, quickly opening them up when they were closer to the ground and getting rocketed up again towards the first section of their track.

Lear felt his ears get cold and regretted not bringing himself something like earmuffs (because there was no chance he was going to wear a hat).

The path to the river was full of various rocks, some tall enough to give them some obstacles along the way. The pokemon made their way between them, rising or flying by the sides to dodge them. Lear heard some whistles (maybe four or five) coming from his rival’s direction, each different from the other, along with Unfezant’s own cries in response. He risked a glance to his side to see them smoothly going through the rocky landscape, choosing to just move side to side and on occasions do a more complicated move.

The prince felt himself smirk, almost grin because of what he saw. He looked back ahead and lowered himself a bit to whisper “Let’s not let them outshine us, ok my lady?”

Staraptor let out a shriek, and Lear allowed himself an enthusiastic smile.

Both trainers reached the river almost at the same time. Unfezant came out from underneath an arc while Staraptor flew above it, some of the snow on top flying aside and falling down from the force and speed they were flying at. The prince looked down and found Cheren already looking at him from below. The teacher seemed surprised by the sudden eye contact, and laughed not even a second after. Lear let out a chuckle.

Various trainers and their pokemon partners that were by the area looked up in amazement and surprise at the sight of two bird pokemon flying past. Some of them were trying to guess who the trainers on the pokemon’s back were while others recognized them as soon as they saw them. Lear had been in the lead so far, yet he noticed Cheren getting closer and closer. Unfezant had risen from their previous low position and was at almost the same height as Staraptor now.

Lear turned to his rival, “Are you ok?”

“I am!” Cheren shouted, “I said it before, it’s not the first time I’ve done this without protection!”

“You are honestly insane sometimes you know?!” Lear shouted back, “From everything I’ve heard from Hilbert to what you have told me, and you question me!”

“What has Hilbert told you?!” He had a nervous smile on his face, the prince smirked.

“Oh you know,” and he looked back ahead, they were fast approaching the fractured mountain, “Just a bit of how you were four years ago.”

“Lear.”

“Yes Cheren?”

“... You won’t tell me what he told you if I ask you.”

“No, I won’t.”

A beat, and Lear could swear that he heard Cheren say ‘I’m going to bonk him.’

It made him let out a loud laugh that he tried to cover with a hand.

The trainers entered the cliff, finding some ice spikes in the middle rising from the bottom, going from a deep blue to an almost transparent white the higher they were. There were some bridge-like frozen paths along the cliff as well. Lear could hear Cheren whistling and Unfezant’s cries again.

“Alright my lady,” Lear whispered to Staraptor, “Show me what you’re made of.”

His pokemon partner shrieked once more and picked up speed. Lear kept himself lowered on Staraptor’s back to avoid hitting any of the ice around while she waved her way across. Flying by the sides of some of the spikes, then going up above one of bridges and then swooping down. Lear barely looked anywhere other than ahead of them, making sure to look out for obstacles to warn Staraptor about. The little he saw made him want to come back later. It seemed like a nice play to hang around, maybe to calm down.

He noticed Cheren and his Unfezant had gotten ahead of them, by a mere few meters, but they still had managed. He saw them dodging every spike at an alarming speed. Lear’s eyes opened wide when he saw Unfezant give a light yet powerful buck upwards to throw Cheren above one of the bridges, and Lear felt his mouth open slightly when he saw his rival fall back down right on Unfezant’s back.

He then had an incredulous smile, “SHOWOFF!” he screamed, and Cheren’s laughter from ahead of him made him smile more.

“Come on Staraptor!” Lear said, a bit more happy and playfully than he intended. Staraptor huffed at her trainer’s excitement, but seemed content nonetheless.

(It didn’t matter that he said it that way)

(There was no one but them around)

(Everything was good)

The rivals flew out the middle of the cliff at a high speed. Both of them close and fighting for the lead. The town was right ahead and fast approaching with the speed they were going at. The “entrance” and their finish line, a path burrowed under the snow, not very visible and with even more snow to the sides.

Lear looked to his side to look at his friend.

His smile was reaching his eyes.

He felt himself smile too.

A few trainers standing by looked up at the sound of the call of two bird pokemon. Covering up and holding their things when two figures went past the entrance, wind picking up by the speed they were going at.

The pokemon started to slow down, bit by bit yet never coming close to the ground. Their trainers raised up and looked at eachother. Equally excited faces pointed at one another.

Their pokemon seemed to huff at their reactions, and then look at each other a bit surprised.

“We won!” Lear exclaimed.

“By far, we reached the entrance first.”

“Not a chance.”

Their partners kept flying until they reached a snowy hill not too far from the town, landing on top and letting their trainers get off. Unfezant and Staraptor just looked at each other and back at their trainers multiple times, neither really used to seeing them like that, yet still amused.

“How would you be able to tell you got there first if you were looking ahead and not at the side all the time?!”

“I’m asking the same thing to you. There’s just no way for us to know.”

“Hmp!” Lear huffed, he was still smiling though, “We should go back and ask anyone who was there.”

“Why does it surprise me that you suggest that?” Cheren had a hand on his chin and a raised eyebrow. Lear really wanted to erase the confident smile he had on, but at the same time he wished to never see it falter.

“I refuse to let this end up in a draw!” He pointed at his friend, and turned to Staraptor to get back on her back.

“Of course,” Cheren turned to Unfezant, “I wouldn’t want that either.”

Lear had to stop his movements to look down at the snow, suddenly feeling the surface really unstable.

“Lear?” Cheren looked at him, Lear grabbed his shoulder to keep him from moving, “What’s wrong?”

“The snow.”

“The–?” The surface shifted slightly down, “Oh.”

“Well isn’t this a problem,” Lear looked at Staraptor. She seemed to be close to panic over not knowing what to do.

“We could try and move further into the hill,” Cheren kept a hand on Unfezant, equally nervous as Lear’s pokemon, “not too fast of course.”

“It seems like a good option, but–”

They didn’t get the chance to even move.

"AH-"

Both young men let out surprised yells at the shift on the surface, their pokemon making squeak-like sounds along them. The snow under their feet gave away to gravity and started to fall down by their added weight. They didn't fall for long and didn't end up too buried under the white, cold blanket that had formed though.

Lear felt cold from the snow, but warm from the hand that had looked for his when they fell. It's hold was careful, gentle yet secure when a cheerful, happy laugh came from Cheren.

"Don't laugh at this!" Lear squeezed the hand and tried to pull his companion closer. The laugh only doubled, "It could have ended up being worse!" His free hand went to his forehead.

"S-Sorry! Sorry..." The prince felt the other's shoulder bump his after the gym leader had gotten closer. They were both still laying on the snow, "I just... I wasn't really expecting that," he could feel the other shaking from suppressed laughter and occasional chuckles.

"Yeah, well me neither," Lear turned his head to look at his companion, finding him with a glowing smile. Eyes closed with small wrinkles on his skin at the corners and everything. The prince felt himself smile at it.

Staraptor and Unfezant were somewhere nearby. He knew because of the sound of feathers rustling and shaking and the new bits of snow suddenly falling on them.

"HEY-!"

"Careful-!!"

The bird pokemon immediately shuffled closer to their trainers. Their eyes curious and full of concern. Staraptor bent down to get some snow out of her trainer's face and hair with her beak, gently. The prince patted her forehead a few times before gently prying her away. Unfezant unfolded one of his wings and wiped some of the snow off them.

"I'm fine my lady, no need to fret over me," Lear told his pokemon. Staraptor urged them both to sit up using her beak, Unfezant nuzzled his trainer as soon as he was sitting up right.

Cheren let out a sigh, “Are you sure you don’t want to call it a draw?” his pokemon was making a cooing sound while receiving some pets from his trainer.

“Over my dead body,” Lear pointed at the teacher, pretending to be offended. The latter just pushed the finger aside in a playful manner. The prince let out a chuckle.

(Everything was good.)

[...]

It ended up in a draw.

Lear refused to believe it. So he kept asking everyone over and over not caring if others saw his probably very messed up hair (which was probably still full snow like his friend’s). Yet, every person they asked had told them the same. Cheren had to pull him aside so he could calm down.

A few hand squeezes and a promise to do another race someday was enough to keep him from going out again to keep asking people. That and hunger.

They had gone into one of the cabins the island’s staff used, the prince asking one of them to bring them something nice to eat and getting an enthusiastic response. The guy seemed awfully happy to see them there for whatever reason.

“Do you want to go look for the signs after eating?” Lear asked, taking off his coat and leaving it with Cheren’s jacket on a hanger. He had to carefully look over the fluff to make sure all the snow was off it.

“It seems like a good plan,” His friend was currently sitting by the table in the room, a cup of tea on top of it and another one of coffee close by, “Do you know where they are located?”

“I remember most of them,” Lear undid his ponytail (more than it was already undone) and ran his hand through his hair, “I can always ask Rachel and Sawyer through message if needed.”

Cheren hummed and Lear kept fixing his hair, walking over to the table and sitting down. He took a sip from his coffee before going back to trying to get his hair right, the hairband left on his right wrist like a bracelet.

“It looks soft,” Lear heard Cheren say and looked at him. The teacher had his face towards him yet his eyes looked somewhere else to the side, he was drinking his tea.

“What looks soft?”

“...” He left the cup back on the table and looked back at him a bit hesitant, “Your hair, I’ve been thinking about that all morning.”

“Well, I make sure to put a good amount of time and effort into taking care of my hair,” Lear smiled proudly, “It’s good to know that all of that pays off.”

Cheren rested his head on one of his hands, he had a smile on his face, small and looking rather fragile. It sure does” Lear didn’t notice that though, “It looks good.”

The prince finished fixing his hair and tying it up again. He felt the teacher’s stare on him while he took another sip of his coffee. “You should wear it down more often,” he heard him say.

“Fat chance,” Lear answered, “As much as I’m proud of how it looks, I’m sure it would just get messed up. Besides,” he placed the cup back on the table, “I don’t think it looks as good as how I usually style it,” (jokes on you Bettie, he does not look like a clown.)

Cheren kept looking at him a few seconds more while Lear kept his eyes on his cup. The ticking of a clock in the room being the only sound, besides the various voices coming from outside.

“... I could try sometime though,” Lear said, out of nowhere and unsure why he would be ok with the idea. He looked at Cheren and saw he had perked up at his words. Lear smiled, “It’s… less elegant than what I usually go with, but I guess gracing my subjects with what you think is a good-looking style is not that bad of an idea.”

The teacher huffed out a laugh.

And the prince, satisfied with that reaction (for some reason), smiled.

Chapter Text

Yesterday was a wonderful, good day.

Lear is recalling all they did with Cheren after the race. The staff member he sent off to get them food got them a rather delicious dish, Lear would have not expected anything less. After they finished eating they headed back out and looked around the town for a bit, the prince showing that yes, there were signs with the name of the place around. There were four in the town, each one located in one of the paths that head out and in. Not a lot of people refer to the towns by their names though, and they couldn't help but wonder why. They are the places where the signs are the most visible (Lear is relieved that at least people know Centra City's name). They went through some local stores after that.

They then took off again on their pokemon's backs after Lear got Cheren some gloves since he noticed the latter constantly rubbing his hands.. The teacher didn't accept his offer to buy him some goggles under the pretext that he would look funny (which is not true. He would look awesome in some proper flight get-up, the prince thinks.) They flew around the place, the trainers around looking up once more to see the silhouettes of the bird pokemon from below. The pair looked for the black and red signs, finding one and once more wondering how in Arceus' name people do not notice them, they make a lot of contrast against the snowy white landscape. They joked around the fact for the reminder of their search, each time the comments becoming more and more ridiculous. (Lear is not really used to joking around like that, but he has noticed recently that, when he is around Cheren, it becomes easy to relax and just say things for the sake of saying them, for the sake of a good laugh.)

The prince tries to recall what exactly happened after that. He isn't sure why, but they started a small snowball fight that escalated a bit due to their competitive sides coming to light. Maybe it was because Cheren had said something that half offended him, which resulted into him throwing a bunch of snow at his face, which resulted into the teacher trying to throw snow back at him (and failing because of all the "training" Lear has done to try and dodge Hoopa's pranks). They might have used a bit more force than necessary to throw the balls, but they never hurt each other. It had gone to the point where both of them just dropped a big amount of snow on top of the other's head at the same time and started laughing about it. They had been laughing during all of it.

Lear had managed to forget for a great majority of the day that he had almost passed out on his desk in the morning, was running on coffee and the meatballs they ate for lunch, and that he still hadn't finished reviewing the papers he left on his desk. The papers being what he was trying to do at the moment. Emphasis on "trying to".

He had returned by night after accompanying Cheren back to his apartment, finding Hilbert in there with the addition of Bianca, wishing the teacher good night. The two of them agreed to arrange their next "date" through messages. (Hilbert and Bianca got awfully giddy when he said that). Lear had passed out on his bed face down after taking off his coat. He is regretting his choice of laying down for a bit because now he had what seemed to be the beginnings of a cold, possibly due to the fact that he didn't take off his snow drenched clothes when he collapsed on his bed. A dreadful thing to be having at the moment. Even Hoopa seemed worried.

The prince was now in his office, a room located in the Battle Villa far from the halls where the battles took place. It was in one of the upper floors and with big windows that gave him a good view of what he calls his kingdom, his land of rising stars.

The usually open curtains that let the light enter the room were drawn back, blocking most of the light but not letting the office be in complete darkness. It was enough light to read, to try and work and do exactly what Lear was not doing. Instead, the prince had opened one of the bottom drawers of his desk (the one with paper strips and full of paper stars both perfect and not), and had started to make more and more paper stars (a small craft his mother had taught him years ago). He was frowning slightly, no sunglasses on his face, as he folded another and felt his nose still weird from the supposed cold.

He couldn't work with the beginnings of a fever setting in nor with the weird feeling of tiredness in his body. He had only gotten three or five pages done. They were nothing too complicated, just the usual things that have already gone through specialized sectors in his staff before making it to his desk for complete approval. Others were simple reports on island security, with the sightings of evil teams along with the appearances of legendaries that end up poofing into thin air both being there. There were maybe one or two that came from his homeland and then some requests from people on Pasio. (He hopes Emmet and Ingo have not sent another request for a railway. He likes their enthusiasm but it's a bit too much sometimes. They are working on the project he swears.)

The prince is finishing another star when Hoopa suddenly appears in the room again. It had gone out a few hours ago when he woke up and Lear wondered if it did it because it knew he wasn't in the mood for any pranks and decided to go cause mischief somewhere else.

"What did you do this time?" Lear didn't look up, he started making another star after letting the one he just made fall into the drawer.

He heard the happy, softer than usual chirps Hoopa made, followed by the feeling of the mythical pokemon coming to rest on his head. Lear relaxed a bit at the added weight and continued to fold paper stars. He could hear the mythical pokemon letting out happy chirps and humming. The sounds came together to form the tune of a song that the prince knew well. A song that, even out of tune, radiated a certain comfort. It was one of the last things he had from his mother, besides a picture and the paper stars.

A happy memory of running around the garden back in his homeland came to his mind. Playing with Rachel and Sawyer and hearing his mother close by. She was always singing that song and hummed it when they finished playing. Lear resting his head on her lap while she rearranged his hair as she hummed.

Those were brighter days.

Lear is sure Hoopa learned the song from him, from how much he tends to quietly sing it while working. He finds himself singing it now too, another paper star done in his hands, this one better than the last.

The wine red star stays on top of his desk instead of falling into the drawer to join the others. The prince leaves it on top of his paperwork to then reach for a marine blue stripe. It's when he has the new star in his hands that he remembers he never messaged Cheren as they accorded. Lear winces internally.

The prince sighs as he reaches for his poryphone to send a message. The paper star is still in his hand, carefully held to not be damaged. He navigates and types with just one hand.

Someone knocks at the door as he writes the message. The prince closes the drawer once he sends the message. Hoopa gets off his head to fly around the room while Lear reaches for his sunglasses and makes it look like he's been working until now when he says "Yes? Who is it?"

"Master Lear?" He hears Sawyer's voice from the other side of the door.

"We brought you some tea and snacks!" Rachel's voice comes next. The prince relaxes.

"About time you two came!" His retainers take the words spoken as permission to enter. Lear stands up from his desk, slowly and carefully, and makes his way to the low coffee table that was in the room. He can see Rachel reaching to make sure he doesn't trip while Sawyer places down a silver tray. The smell of roselia berry tea reached him, "I'm fine, I'm fine…" he assured his retainers who were looking at him with worry in their eyes.. He took a seat at the bigger sofa by the table and took a cup of tea. He doesn't have it in him to tell Rachel nor Sawyer to stop looking at him like that.

"So…" Sawyer cuts a piece of the pecha pie that he brought for him, "I'm guessing you are not going out today, Young master."

Lear sighed, "you'd be guessing right," Hoopa approached the table to snatch itself a donut from the tray, letting out a happy chirp after taking a bite. Rachel hummed.

"So you're not seeing Cheri today," she said.

"Unfortunately," the pie tastes perfect, Lear thought, "I will have to think of a way to make it up to him."

Sawyer and Rachel exchanged looks.

"Master Lear…" one started.

"I don't think you need to 'make it up to him'..." the other finished.

"I want to," Lear took a sip from his tea. Usually he would just pour two spoons of sugar but he guessed his current mood deserved a boost of four, "I think he deserves it and I want to," he said. Both of his retainers had unreadable expressions at that last statement.

Lear looked at Sawyer, "don't say anything about favoritism."

"I wasn't going to!"

"You did think about it, didn't you?" Rachel giggled and Sawyer let out a long, long sigh.

"... you thought about it too Rachel."

"Whaaaat? Pffft," she waved her hands multiple times, "no way."

"You did, I know it, I know that face."

"Hmm? Which one?"

"The one that you're making right now Rach."

"I don't know what you're talking about~."

Lear kept watching his two retainers as they talked, Sawyer insisting that Rachel has a special smile for when she is up to something (she does), while she responds that if she does have a face like that he shouldn't be pointing it out because he has one too (he does). Lear opted to just keep eating and drinking what they brought as he heard them, Hoopa having gone to rest by his side while still eating donuts.

"... I could take him to the underwater cave…" Lear murmured, loud enough for Rachel and Sawyer to stop their bickering and look at him.

"You haven't taken him there yet?" One of them asked.

"No, it didn't cross my mind before," Lear took a donut out of the tray before Hoopa could snatch all of them for itself, "it might be a good place to spend some time with him," he took a bite, Rachel and Sawyer kept silent until he finished munching on the donut and swallowed it, "maybe we could eat there, or... hmp... I don't know."

"I would have thought you'd have taken him there already," Rachel said, one sleeved hand coming to her chin.

"I haven't, not there or the garden."

"I thought you had taken him everywhere in Pasio, young master," Sawyer said.

"It didn't cross my mind before," Lear hums, "they are not… the cave is not a really interesting place, if you ask me," he leaned back on the sofa, one of his hands going to pet Hoopa's head, who had dozed off on his lap, "it's only the place from where we get the sync stones from, but besides that there’s nothing there to see."

"Well young master," Sawyer crossed his arms, smiling a bit, "if you allow me to express my opinion."

"Go ahead."

"I think he would appreciate it," came the simple phrase while Rachel nodded.

"More than appreciate it," Rachel chimed in, "he would love it."

Sawyer sends a look to Rachel before looking back to Lear, "we believe he appreciates your outings and… honestly anything you do for him, Young Master."

Lear frowned slightly, one eyebrow raised under the sunglasses, "what makes you think so?"

The other two just exchanged looks while grinning.

"It's just a hunch."

[...]

After some bickering (“Your favoritism truly shows Master Lear,” “Shut up.”) and updates on different things happening in Pasio, Lear went back to his desk. The two paper stars remained on top of it as he worked on the papers (there was, indeed, a letter from home, and ten more requests from Ingo and Emmet for the railway. They are about to surpass N’s one hundred ones for the ferris wheel.)

His newfound focus on his work makes him ignore anything else happening around him. Hoopa’s never ending fast-floating from one corner of the room to another. The two trainers on the back of their pokemon (a Charizard and Pidgeot probably) passing by the window behind him. His poryphone vibrating when it received a new message.

The pages had lessened, and he had soon found it to be midday. The prince dreaded a bit walking through the Villa’s halls while he felt some sort of dizziness from the light fever that had settled in. But (well…) there wasn’t any other choice, he is sure Rachel and Sawyer would try to drag him outside the office anyways (staying in a closeted space is not exactly good or something like that).
Lear stretched his hands upwards and stood up, took the two paper stars left on the desk in his hand and stored them in his inner coat pocket, Hoopa came to an abrupt stop from its fast-floating around the room and got closer to the prince. Two knocks came from the door when he took his poryphone and saw the message he had received, stopping for a moment before asking.

"Cheren?" Lear looked up at the door in time for it to open slightly. Through the gap, the aforementioned trainer is peeking. He has a tiny smile, yet his eyebrows tell that he is worried.

"May I come in?" He asks, still just peering through the gap until the prince nods. He then opens the door and takes a step in.

"Sorry," Lear starts, "I didn't see your message until just now."

Cheren lets out a simple "oh", his eyebrows raising for a second before going back to the small knit they had been forming. "I hope I didn't interrupt you."

"Don't worry," Lear walks towards the other and stops one or two steps away from him. "I was actually going to have lunch now…"

"Is that so?" The teacher tilted his head to the side, "can I accompany you?"

"I told you I’m sick… kind of," The prince crossed his arms over his chest, "you'll end up getting sick too."

"Well… maybe but," although his eyebrows were frowning and his eyes were lit with worry, his smile remained soft, "I'd like to give you some company anyways."

“Cheren, I said I was going to take you around the island and I cannot do that if you fall ill. Worse if it is my own fault!”

“I won’t get sick I promise.”

"..." Lear kept his eyes on his friend some more, expression unreadable under the sunglasses, "... you won't listen no matter what I tell you, will you?"

Cheren laughs and Lear lets out a sigh.

“You are the smartest, most stubborn idiot I know."

"Right back at you Lear," the teacher chuckles and the prince grumbles.

"Follow me then," the teacher's frown disappears from his face and he nods, his eyes relaxing. Lear smirks at that and raises his hand to open the door, "How has your day been?"

"Quiet," the other tells him, going back out the room after Lear "there isn't a lot going on today."

"I was told so," they start to walk side by side at a slow pace and, unsurprisingly, they hold hands three steps away from the office, "it's ok though, soon there will be something happening," Lear says confidently.

Cheren's chuckle reaches his ears, "how is that going by the way?" Lear feels the other's hand give his a light squeeze, as well as the small movement his tumb did on the back of his hand, "I hope you haven't been stressing yourself too much over it."

"Why would I be?" The prince keeps his usual smile on, thinking of the progress done in the planification. His hand tightens its hold for a moment, hoping that the person his gesture (the fair, the tournament) is directed to will like it.

Lear looks to his side and Cheren's eyes open slightly at being caught already staring. The teacher seems to be about to say something, probably apologize, but stops at the huff of laughter the prince lets out. He smiles and looks back to the path ahead, there's a slight pink hue on his cheeks and Lear's own smile softens at the sight of it.

He is completely, one hundred percent sure he will like it. That and anything else. Maybe.

(Maybe Rachel and Sawyer were right.)

Behind them, Hoopa has a happy grin from their interaction. The mythical pokemon gets ahead of them and makes its way towards the kitchen.

The Villa is one of the biggest buildings in Pasio, along the main Stadium. It was built keeping in mind the battles, pokemon sizes, how much destruction they could cause, multiple halls for when others are having repairs. The dining halls, the balconies and the rooms for resting. It was a big project. Besides working as a battle complex, the Villa also worked as the main center of operations for its island, as that was its first purpose. (Lear remembers when they first thought of the idea, making a battle complex was no easy task).

The other rooms were used by staff members, along with dining halls, kitchens, storage rooms, offices, and even his own room. These areas are divided by an area filled with greeneries. (You could consider the Villa two separate buildings, so maybe calling it one of the biggest buildings would be a mistake.)

Lear used to eat by himself in a separate room, sometimes having the company of Rachel and Sawyer, before the end of the PML. He still does (more often than not), yet there are days where he decides to eat with the staff members (he graces them with his presence). From those days, he has come to know some of the staff better (he never really paid much importance to them before). There's Marie, for example, one of the "redeemed" Team Break members that had been doing community work and that decided to join them after they were done. A tall woman with long brown hair, she usually has it braided.

She happens to be the one to greet them first when they enter the room, standing by a table with all the food and with a plate in her hand, smiling when he opens the door to the dining room and brightening up when she notices his companion.

"Good…" she looks at the clock in the room for a second, "... Good afternoon Master Lear! Gym Leader Cheren!" The rest of the people in the room turn to notice his and Cheren's presence in the room, some of them saying their greetings while others just wave. They had already started to eat. "Has your morning been good, young master?"

"All has been good so far, thank you for asking," he says, approaching the table she stood next to with Cheren by his side, he waves his hand at the staff member. Lear takes a look at the room, looking for two faces that he does not see anywhere, "Sawyer and Rachel already finished?"

"Ten minutes ago! They said they wanted to go around the island to get some ideas and make sure everything is in order," Marie tells him, (and Lear has the feeling they must have said something more, something along the lines of "we'll trust the Young Master will know when to eat", because of course they would.) "Are you two eating with us?"

"That's the plan if… uh," Lear looks at his side, at Cheren, who is looking at the food ready to be served in different pots and turns around when the prince tugs his hand, "if you don't mind eating here?"

"Oh It's good," the teacher's eyes wander back to the food, "I think I'm interested in trying some of these."

"Feel free to!" Marie hands Lear two plates that he thanks her for, and then she continues to put some more food on her own plate before walking to the main table.

"Haven't seen this before?" He handed a plate to his friend.

"I don't think so," Cheren took the plate, "what is that yellow rice with… meat? Is it jerky?"

"You should try it, try anything actually," the prince spotted a salad with lettuce, boiled eggs and croutons and started to serve himself, "I'll let you know the chefs here make some of the best food in Pasio."

"Of course," the teacher chuckled, "I'll take your word for it."

Lear spend some good five minutes explaining to Cheren some of the cooking, his hands making fast gestures, saying dumb jokes of some of the names between the two. Some of the staff members that were eating when they arrived had already left when they got to the table. Others stayed, chatting among them and laughing in hushed tones, gossiping. They looked at the prince and the teacher as they took their seats and got closer, grins on their faces. Marie sighed somewhere in the background, Lear got mentally ready to hear their tittle-tattle.

“So, visiting our prince while he’s sick?” One of them (Kay, if Lear isn’t wrong (which of course he isn’t, how would he be)) asked Cheren, having a grin on his face and half lidded eyes, teasing. The teacher raised an eyebrow at him, frowning and gulping down the food he had been eating. Lear frowned at the question asked.

He had pretended he was ok when he was walking from his room to his office and from his office to this room, “How do you know I’m unwell?” and maybe it was pointless to ask, he had the feeling he knew the answer. Cheren coughed a bit at his side and Lear moved to pat him in the back with one of his hands.

“Miss Rachel and Mister Sawyer mentioned it,” another one of them (Roxanne, they are one of the most respectful out of all of the staff. Why are they in the circle too?).

“Of course.”

“It’s an unannounced visit, kind of,” Cheren said, one hand covering his mouth and looking at the staff members.

Lear looked at his friend, his hand still on the other’s back, “no it isn’t, you did send me a message, I just didn’t read it.”

“That’s why I’m saying ‘kind of’,” Cheren looked at him with a sheepish smile.

“You could have given me a call too,” He told him, and it seemed his dear friend didn’t think of that alternative.

“I bet you would have come anyways even if you didn’t say anything,” Another one (Javier, he is more of a troublemaker to be honest, Lear is not surprised to see him here) tells him, a smirk on his face. “And I bet our boss would have let you come in anyways too,” the teacher frowned, and the prince noticed the slight pink hue that started to appear on his cheeks.

“Did you finish cleaning up the mess your smeargle made today Javier?” Lear asked, and the staff member jolted up.

“How do you know that Master Lear?”

“Rachel and Sawyer told me.”

The guy made a ‘tsk’ sound and excused himself out of the room. The rest of his coworkers started to silently laugh, and Lear was sure one of them muttered something about him being protective (of what exactly he isn’t sure). Cheren sighed and gave him a friendly nudge with his elbow that he huffed at.

“They only said it was a mess, never mentioned the scale of it,” Lear said, cutting a piece of meat to eat it, “so I’m guessing by his reaction it's bad.”

“It’s terrible!” Soleil, another staff member, exclaimed, her hands slamming on the table and making some of her coworkers jump. Lear huffed a laugh and Cheren grinned. Marie finally got closer to the group, smiling at the other woman, “I mean, I understand they did it to make those guys get away, but still!!”

“They knocked over various flower pots and painted some walls," Marie sighed, “He tried to make us clean his work while he lazed around.”

“That's really bad behavior,” Cheren commented, eating some of the rice with jerky .

“For a member of my staff, certainly,” Lear grumbled, stabbing the salad in his plate with his fork.

“Sawyer did catch him at it and gave him a scolding,” Kay piqued in, “and then Rachel walked by and doubled it!”

“And, and…!” Soleil exclaimed again, “Master Lear, I'm sure you already know, but I'm not sure if YOU know, Cheren!” The teacher tilted his head to the side as he hummed in question, the woman grinned, “Rachel is, like, so scary when she gets angry and serious! And she was so, so much of both today!!”

Roxanne chuckled, “It was hilarious to watch.”

The staff members then went into detail of all the things Javier got called by the purple haired retainer, as well as how Sawyer had to drag her out of the room, or at least tried to. As they recalled the antics that followed, Lear noticed Cheren chuckle quietly, one hand covering his mouth trying to hide the smile he had, crinkles forming at the corner of his eyes from it.

The fever had been making him feel a bit dizzy all this time, it made him wonder if the feeling of floating was a result of it too.

He didn’t notice the small, soft smile that had formed on his own face.

(The staff members did, but none of them commented on it.)

[...]

Hoopa hadn’t appeared again, so Lear guessed the little devil went somewhere to cause mischief.

When they got back to the office Cheren tried to convince him to rest. Lear insisted that he had very little left to go through that day and that if he left it for later the papers would only multiply like the subway master's requests in the last week.

“... they are at their ninety ninth request.”

“That many already?”

“Think it’s two people writing them this time.”

“I bet next time there will be thirty requests on your desk.”

“That’s too little, it’ll be fifty.”

The Prince was back in his office, back to the papers on his desk. He was reading a request from that kid from Johto (Ethan? Gold? Lear isn’t sure anymore) for some kind of flight race event around the island as he talked with Cheren. The teacher was on the sofa right in front of the desk, half laying on it while reading one of the books from the shelves in the room. He chose the one about flower meanings and plant symbolism this time.

“Which one are you at right now?”

“Tulips,” Cheren hummed, “the purple ones would fit you, they mean ‘nobility’ and ‘royalty’.”

“They can also mean ‘rebirth’ and ‘spring’,” Lear looked up from the paper, left aside for consideration. It was the last one, “I’ve read that book many times.”

The teacher raised an eyebrow at him, “out of curiosity?”

“Boredom,” the prince said, “I think the black tulips would fit you.”

“For the meaning?” Cheren looked back to the book, his eyes scanning the page he was at.

“More for the color but… yes, I think the meaning fits you too.”

“‘Power’, ‘strength’ and… ‘supreme elegance’?” He turned his head to Lear, both eyebrows raised.

“They are not really black, now that I think about it,” The prince stood up and walked to the sofa. Cheren moved to make space for the prince to sit down, yet he stayed up, “It’s more like a really dark, really deep purple.”

“You’ve seen them yourself?”

“We have some here in the Villa,” Lear said, thinking back to what Rachel and Sawyer said, “there’s… there’s a garden, on this side of the building.”

“One besides the one that separates the battle complex from this side?”

"Besides the one," Lear crossed his arms and puffed out his chest, trying to look confident even when being nervous, "it's a personal garden, only Sawyer, Rachel and I have access to it."

"Personal."

"Yes," he looked down for a second, debating whether or not to tell him what was in his mind, "I'll let you know the flora there is more similar to the one found in the garden we have back at my home."

"The… The same one you grew up in when you were younger?" Cheren's eyes softened a bit. 'The same one you told me about when telling me about your mother?' Was what he didn't ask, Lear knows.

(That was one very long night at the beach. Both sitting on the sand close to each other and Cheren listening to his every word. Every memory that came to him about his mother, most of them being the ones in the garden.)

(The teacher's hand had been on his the whole time Lear was staring at the sea. At the stars reflected on it, distorted by the waves.)

"The same one," the prince looked at his friend, (a year ago, the look the teacher was giving him would have bothered him, would have made him exclaim how he didn't need anyone's pity.) "... Do you… do you want to see it?"

Cheren blinked twice, "are you sure?"

Lear huffed, head tilted to the side, "I wouldn't ask unless I was, idiot."

"Sorry just…" he chuckled, one hand covering his mouth again ('Why do you have to cover it?' The prince thought), "I wanted to be certain. You said it yourself," he lowered his hand to smile at Lear, "it's personal."

"Well," the prince placed his hands on his waist, "consider it a privilege then."

The teacher laughed, soft and once more covering his mouth. Lear smiled at it (ignoring the small pang of annoyance at the hand covering his smile), "Shall we?" He said.

"Right now?"

"Yes, I finished the papers and there's nothing left for me to do lest someone calls me… unless you have something else to do."

"I don't," Cheren stood up, book in hand closed and left under his left arm, "I thought to stay here all afternoon if you allowed me,” he walked around the sofa to leave the book in its place.

"You are allowed, although I still think you shouldn't be spending too much time beside me even if it is a light fever."

“I won’t leave your side,” the teacher walked back to him, “you know that.”

“Yeah I know,” Lear took Cheren’s hand, smirking, “you will follow me everywhere I take you to and all that.”

The other grinned with a dust of pink on his cheeks, and when the prince tugged his hand the teacher followed.

Lear’s office was on the third floor of that building, meant to have a good view of the city below from his makeshift throne (that red wheeled office chair was really comfortable). The garden, their (Rachel, Sawyer and his) garden, was on the first floor. A small, secluded area without a roof, one corner with walls and another one without them. It was particularly beautiful at sunset, with the gentle glow of the lamps above their heads and the sunset’s light passing through the plants and their leaves. There were at least three types of trees (without counting the three different colors of flowers for one of them), ten non-flowering plants and at least twenty flowering ones, besides a few berry bushes that Sawyer had insisted on planting.

At the moment one of the kinds of trees were in bloom, their white flowers a calm sight. The amaryllis the prince had taken care of for the last year had finally bloomed, their petals forming that six-point star shape that he likes.

“Amaryllis?”

“Yes,” the two young men were kneeling before the flowers. Lear made a hand gesture towards the other ones planted close by, “you also have the hibiscus right there and the bird-of-paradise over there."

"They make an interesting mix," Cheren looked at the flowers, one of his hands still holding the prince's, "do you know their meanings?"

"You should have brought the book."

"I guessed you wouldn't have liked to take the book out of the office to a, you know, place where it could get damaged."

"It wouldn't have, not in your hands," the prince stood up and with him did the teacher, "...thank you for your consideration though."

"As always, so… you know the meanings?"

The prince smirked, "the flowers usually change their meanings depending on the region, so for Pasio I chose their meanings myself."

"Of course."

Lear did a wave with his hand towards Cheren, "Oh shush, you," he gestured to the amaryllis, "this one can mean 'pride' just as much as they can mean 'to sparkle'," he pointed at the bird-of-paradise, both white and yellow ones, " 'to break free', is not really different to saying 'freedom', which is one of their meanings, but I like how mine sounds better," the teacher chuckled and the prince smiled, gesturing to the hibiscus, "in my homeland, they mean 'modesty', so I've chosen that along 'passion'."

He looked around, "are those the tulips?"

"They are," Lear allowed Cheren to pull him by the hand towards the flowers. Along with them, bellflowers and something that looked like a narcissus, but Lear knows that wasn't it.

They kneeled once more and the teacher hummed, "... you're right, they are not really black."

"As far as I know," Lear did a vague gesture with his free hand, "getting a truly black tulip is a hard task, the closest people get is these dark colored ones."

"How do you know about all of this?"

"Boredom made me follow your advice of doing things for the sake of doing them," Lear looked at the flowers, "just a bit of boredom, being trapped in my room at night and suddenly thinking about the book about flower symbolism which, by the way, the term is floriography."

"But that just encapsulates the meaning of flowers," Cheren looked at him, free hand under his chin, "and the book also talks about other plants that… don't have flowers."

"... well," Lear looked at the white flowers whose name he still didn't remember (it's not narcissus… what was it?), "perhaps you are right."

"Perhaps?"

"Ok yes, you are right."

The teacher chuckled (again with his hand covering his mouth, why does he do that?), and looked at the purple bell-shaped flowers, "you know about those?"

"I do," Lear grinned, confident, "those are bellflowers, also less known as campanula, they can mean 'gratitude', as well as 'support' and 'constancy'."

"I see," Cheren hummed some more, "and those?" He asked, referring to the not-narcissus.

"I'm… not sure what flower they are."

The teacher looked at the prince, "really?"

"They look like narcissus but…" Lear placed his hand under his chin, his fingers covering his mouth and drumming them on his lip, thinking, "they are not, I'm sure of it."

Cheren turned his head back to the flowers, "well… regardless of what flower it is," Lear turned his head to see his friend smiling (as soft as always), "this bunch here is nice, the colors look pretty together."

The prince kept his eyes for a few more seconds on his friend, "it is…" and then looked down and to the black tulips, to the bellflowers and then the not-narcissus. His eyes then trailed somewhere to the side, towards another patch of flowers that were close to Sawyer's berries.

He thought back to what he and Rachel had told him, “say…” the prince’s eyes went back to the flowers in front of him.

“Hm?”

“... Do you like this place?” Lear asked, almost sighing. Still not looking at his friend.

“I do…” Cheren looked at Lear, eyebrows raised and mouth set in a small inverted v-shape. The prince felt the other’s thumb make a slow circular motion on the back of his hand, “it's nice, calmer than most places I've been to in Pasio and…"

Lear looked at Cheren, finding him with his eyes on their hands with a small smile. He found himself expectant of whatever the other was going to say, noting the way his cheeks turned a soft pink and and the way his free hand fidgeted with his tie.

(And the prince noticed how oddly patient he could be when it came to him. He is sure that, to anyone else, he would have snapped and demanded that they spit out whatever they had to say.)

(Maybe it was his way of being thankful towards his friend. For being so patient himself with him before.)

When the teacher looked back up (smile soft, as always) Lear felt a dizziness come to him again, making him wonder if his fever was suddenly getting worse, “I… I truly appreciate that you brought me here."

"Well," Lear found himself unable to look up to the other's face, his free hand playing with the fabric of his black dress shirt on his thigh. "That's… that's good to know."

The other tilted his head to the side, frowning slightly. Yes, he knows that reaction is very unlike him thank you very much, "Why do you ask?"

"..." Lear sighed, "I'm aware that this is not the most exciting place in all of Pasio," He glanced at the bellflowers, "so… I wasn't sure if bringing you here was a good idea at all."

"Lear…"

"But," he turned his body to face Cheren, still kneeling beside him, still holding his hand, "I should take more in count what you told me about following me everywhere."

The teacher chuckled and sighed, "maybe you should, because… you know," he gave his hand a squeeze, "anywhere with you is an interesting place."

The prince huffed, quite aware that he was flustered, he side glanced and caught the white petals of the not-narcissus, “... the same goes for you.”

Cheren hummed in question. Lear looked back at his friend, “... I would also follow you anywhere,” when the teacher’s eyebrows went up Lear felt his hands have a small tingle, “and-!” with the need of doing something with his hands, his free one went into the inner pocket of his coat, finding the paper stars he had made before and taking them out, “-let this be a reminder of that!” He brought up the hand that was in his hand before letting the red star fall into it, the blue one staying in the middle of his palm when he opened it.

It was an action made without thinking. Lear wanted to slap himself for doing these things.

Cheren looked at the small stars in their hands, his eyes still big and eyebrows raised, “Lear, there is… there is no need for a physical reminder of that,” and the prince noted how his talking was slightly more hurried than usual.

“Cheren,” Lear sighed, “just… think of it like the band!”

“The…?” the other’s free hand went to the red band (Lear’s band) he was wearing on top of his dress shirt, on his right arm.

“Yes!” Lear signaled to it with the star still in his hand, “the band!”

They stared at each other, both wide eyed. The prince noticed how Cheren’s eyebrows twitch down for a second, blinking and suddenly starting to giggle.

Then the giggle turned into a light-hearted laugh.

And Lear felt something akin to a stomach ache from it.

Out of all things.

“Don’t laugh!” He shouted at him, and that just made the laugh double, “Cheren!”

“S-Sorry, sorry…!” but the laughter just kept on going, and Lear just stared at him. He had his eyes closed and everything (and his hand wasn’t covering his mouth this time).

Lear just stared, kind of annoyed at the sudden sickness he felt from being laughed at. But regardless of it, he found it easy to give a half smile at his friend.

Maybe he could take him to the cave too.

Chapter Text

"When I said there was something happening soon," Lear said, hiding from the homicidal ice cream dispenser machine behind a bench with Cheren, "I didn't mean this!"

It all started yesterday. Probably.

The two of them had stayed in Lear's garden for the remainder of the afternoon, the prince calling for Rachel and Sawyer once they came back to accompany them. His retainers had brought some snacks, tea, and coffee with them to spend the time, all of it placed on top of a black round steel table by the corner of the garden. They chatted, and Lear felt like the apparent illness he had in the morning had faded away (it was one of those times where he just needed to take things slowly, perhaps).

Sawyer and Rachel seemed happy to see Cheren there (maybe it was because Lear had listened to their thoughts about bringing the teacher there? It was a good guess), asking him what brought him to the Villa and what he thought of the garden. The prince couldn't help but smile at his friend's positive answers (and the smile he had, he wasn't covering it up with his hand, that was nice). The retainers talked about how everything was going, the stands for the fair and other things being placed, the few Team Break grunts they’d found around (Sawyer said he thought he had seen other ones from different evil teams. They might need to look into it later). They mentioned the few fights they were challenged to, and both him and Cheren jumped into asking them how they went. Hoopa appeared at some point to steal some donuts from the tray, and sat down on Lear's lap to eat.

And now, hours later, Lear remembers something Rachel mentioned.

"I think I saw Volkner and Flint talking with Hilbert."

And he wonders now, how did that go over his head. It was a big, flaring red flag in terms of island safety. It’s not that he thinks the Sinnoh gym leader is an idiot, but he is! He knows by now how much of a menace he can be. Add to the mix Flint and Hilbert and you might just get the place to explode! (Well, maybe he is exaggerating a bit, but still!) How did that go over his head?

(He knows how. He was too focused on how silly Cheren looked at the moment, he had some of the icing from the cake his retainers had brought on the side of his mouth. He was debating between telling him or not but his face gave away his amusement, a clear smile that he tried to contain. The teacher noticed his expression and cleaned it up. A bit embarrassed? Maybe, Lear had chuckled when he cleaned it up.)

With Rachel's comment ignored, he accompanied the teacher to the Villa's entrance, said goodbye and made a bee-line to his room and bed. Feeling as if he had a small golden glow inside from the time spent with his friend.

He slept so peacefully… for what would happen the next day.

He woke up that day to Hoopa dropping a pillow on his face, giggling over it. He threw the pillow back to his pokemon friend, groaned when he noticed his other pokemon in the room too (no doubt Hoopa's doing) and got out of bed.

Staraptor had followed him around as he got ready, handing him the things he needed as he went around the room. Hair brush, socks, shoes, all gently held in her beak. Krookodile too, followed him around handing him other things, guided by Hoopa and joining in its antics (those two are a pair he had to be constantly checking on). Donphan was the only one following him silently and not really doing much, just giving him a few pats with his snout and receiving pats in return from the prince, his company appreciated.

Once he was sitting in front of his dresser's mirror with only his usual coat and sunglasses left and waiting to be put on he took out his poryphone. He was feeling better than yesterday, way better. There's some dizziness left, but he knows by now that he would be fine today as long as he didn't push himself too much.

Donphan was right by his side with his snout on his lap receiving pats when he started to text Cheren, Staraptor somewhere behind scolding Krookodile and Hoopa for playing around with the pillows on the prince's bed. A simple "Good morning, are you up for a stroll today?" is what he sent and left his phone on top of the dresser, going for some eye shadow (he wears the sunglasses all day, but that doesn't mean he can't go on and use makeup if he so wishes to.)

He heard a happy 'ping!' From the device once he had finished one of his eyes. "Good morning!" The message read, "I am, though… Are you good to go out today?" Lear scoffed, not out of annoyance but rather fondly. Cheren was always looking out for everyone's well being after all, it was… it was endearing.

"I am!" The prince wrote next, "I wouldn't be proposing a date if I wasn't," and sent it. He moved to the other eye, not aware of the bubble icon of the other person writing a response appearing and disappearing multiple times on his screen.

Once he closed the small eyeshadow jar he was using he looked back to his poryphone's screen. "Well," the other's message started, "if you're up to it then sure!" Along with a smiley face, "same hour as always?"

"As always," Lear wrote back, "Shall I meet you at your apartment? We could walk around town."

The prince stood up, Donphan moved aside to let the prince go retrieve this coat from a hanger nearby. The shrieking from Staraptor being buried under pillows and Krookodile and Hoopa's laughter stopped once they noticed the prince reaching for his sunglasses, poryphone in hand.

Cheren's message read, "If you wish, I think I saw a few new establishments, we could go take a look around," and then another one, "so you can do an inspection yourself too, and grace them with your presence as you like to say," Lear can almost see the smirk on the other's face writing that. He huffed in amusement and was about to reply until the other sent a sticker.

A picture of a buff Gengar with the phrase "Let's do it!" written below.

That got a cackle out of the prince that he quickly quieted down to uncontrollable chuckles. Hoopa hovered over his shoulder, curious of what had gotten that reaction out of him. He replied with a keysmash and another awful sticker, a buff Clefairy with the same phrase below.

(Un-princely-like of him, sure.)

(But it was Cheren.)

(So it was fine.)

Once Donphan, Krookodile and Staraptor were in their pokeballs and stored in an inner pocket of his coat he went out his room, Hoopa behind him.

He greeted the staff he encountered as he went, many of them wishing him a nice day. He greeted Sawyer and Rachel, to whom he informed about where he was going. They both wished him good luck as they saw him off (luck for what?).

Once outside, Hoopa took out one of its rings to open a portal. It did a small little bow for Lear to go before him, something the prince chuckled at and gave a small "thank you" to, following his friend's game. It left him right outside the building the teacher stayed at, the light blue walls with the white columns that stick out of the building, never completely, only half-way. The window and door frames are a woody color, the roof tiles a similar hue, the plants that grew on the walls, and Hilbert climbing the wall to the balcony of Cheren's place, all greeted his eyes at once.

Lear blinked twice then sighed.

"Hey!" The prince shouted, making the short trainer squeak and lose his grip. He fell on top of some of the plants growing right by the walls of the building, "there's a door, you know?" Hoopa was giggling at his side.

"Ugh…" Hilbert stumbled to get out of the mess of leaves he fell on, scratching the back of his head and looking for his hat (Lear started to chant in his mind 'don't find it, don't find it'), "C'mon dude you ruined my surprise attack."

"Don't 'dude' me."

The other turned his head while still searching for his cap, a finger childishly pointing at the prince, "I'll call you whatever I'd like."

"Please, don't start an argument," came a voice from somewhere above them. Cheren was leaning over the railing of the balcony and looked genuinely concerned, "Hilbert, are you ok? You need to stop climbing to places."

"Never," the short trainer answered, finding his hat (Lear cursed internally) and putting it back on.

Cheren sighed from his place on the balcony, eyes closing in resignation. He sighed once more when he opened his eyes again and looked at Lear, smiling softly at him (and making the prince feel dizzy for some reason, perhaps he wasn't as good as he initially thought), "Hey," his tone was soft when the teacher leaned forward on the railing and supported his elbow on it and his head on his hand. He looked soft… and radiant, too.

The prince let out a huff and a small smile, suddenly feeling like he had a bunch of sugar running in his veins. Weird, he hasn't eaten anything yet. "Hi," he answered, cringing internally at how not-prince-like and shy that sounded, wondering what was it with him today.

Somewhere in the background, Hilbert and Hoopa made an 'ooh~' sound. Neither Cheren nor Lear paid attention to it.

"I'll be down there in a second."

"Take all the time you need!" He shouted with one hand up pointed at the sky, the other one on his waist.

The teacher grinned and went back inside. A bark could be heard from where he stood as well as some meowing. That made Lear raise an eyebrow.

"So…" Hilbert got to Lear's side, "stealing him again, prince?" The short trainer was smirking.

"I'm not 'stealing' him," Lear frowned, lowering his gaze from the balcony and looking at the guy he unfortunately also calls a friend (internally), "we already talked about this."

"Uh-huh," the other stuffed his hands in the pockets of his jacket, tilting his head to the side a bit, "right, you're kidnapping him."

"Hilbert."

The trainer chuckled, "calm down, don't frown! You know I'm only messing with you."

"No, I don't."

"Ok, ok," Hilbert raised his hands, "I'll stop."

"Good," Lear crossed his arms, "I really don't see what's so funny about that joke, anyways."

"Eh…" the other scratched the back of his head, "I guess it’s more of an inside joke than anything."

Lear raised an eyebrow under the sunglasses, not noticeable but the fact that he kept facing Hilbert should have been enough for him to understand that he'd like to hear the shorter trainer elaborate.

Hilbert doesn't do that. Instead, he looks up to the balcony again, "I'm glad you actually asked him out," and he smiles, more gentle than other times.

Lear raised the other eyebrow, surprised and also curious about what he meant, when the front door to the building opened.

Cheren walked out with Serperior behind him, the serpent lowering its head to pass through the door. He greeted them once more with a wave of his hand.

"I wasn't expecting you to come by?" The teacher said, looking at Hilbert with his arms crossed and a raised eyebrow. The short trainer grinned.

"I wasn't expecting you two to go out today," he tilted his head to the side a bit, "I wanted to invite you somewhere but I guess Lear beat me to it."

The prince raised an eyebrow, and Cheren tilted his head to the side slightly. "Invite me where?"

Hilbert hummed, looking to the side before looking back at them and grinning. It wasn't any kind of grin, it was the kind of grin that made Lear raise his alert and be on guard. It was a 'I'm planning something that might end in disaster' kind of grin. "... I think I'll keep it a surprise. Anyways, have fun you two!"

He ran away before either of the other two could ask him more about whatever he was planning. Lear and Cheren stood a few seconds there, watching their (unfortunately, in Lear's case) friend go further away, turn a corner and disappear from sight. The prince started to debate internally about giving him chase.

A hand took his and Lear looked to his side. Cheren was looking at him with a kind smile.

The thought went away.

Lear huffed and smiled in return, "Have you eaten breakfast yet?"

"I haven't."

"Allow me to honor you with a meal, then?" Lear tilted his body forwards and made a gesture with his hand, as if showing the way through a door to the other. Or offering his hand, which was pointless to do since they were already holding each others'.

Cheren chuckled, free hand covering his mouth, "Of course." Lear moved his free hand as again, making an arc outwards with it signaling the path ahead of them, making Cheren chuckle some more and mutter a 'you seem in a good mood today' with a smile, his cheeks slightly pink.

Somewhere in the background, Serperior and Hoopa rolled their eyes. They locked eyes noticing each other, and, if the happy chirps meant something, they started talking.

Lear led Cheren as this one told him about his latest dream, starting as a simple dream about him going on a stroll with Stoutland and ending with the rage of Hilbert who had become the overlord of castelia cones and had banished everyone to the land of pinap berries for a year. Just the normal kind of dreams he tends to hear from the teacher. He followed his story as they walked in search of a place to eat at, both noticing the stands being built around, banners being hung and general work going on in the area.

Oh, right. Because the fair was going to take place there. Maybe they should try to take a path that stays further from the work for the event, Lear thought.

They ended up in one of the recently opened establishments. A small building, a café, by the edge of the cliff facing off the ocean, it had a more natural aesthetic mixed with a few sea decorations like shells and pearls. Simple but fancy enough to fulfill Lear's requirements, and the menú seemed good enough for his standards. They even offered food for pokemon.

Once they ordered at the wooden counter (and gave the person behind it a good scare if their shouted "Prince Lear?!" was anything to go by) they walked to the back of the café. It had some round steel tables, the view of the ocean right behind a railing, some shade from a wooden roof covered in vines and enough space for all their pokemon to be out. Both trainers watched their companions interact between them. Staraptor and Unfezant engaged in a new staring contest, both trying to look bigger via puffing their feathers, Unfezant going as far using the two feathers that stood out his mask. Stoutland and Krookodile chased each other around, Lear shouted to them to not mess anything up, Cheren just chuckled at their shenanigans. Donphan stayed close to Serperior, who just curled its tail around the other pokemon, Donphan stilled for a moment before calming down. And Hoopa went with…

"Liepard?" Lear blurted out as soon as he noticed. The feline pokemon looked around, sniffed Hoopa, swatted at it in a playful manner to then approach its trainer. It went straight into headbutting Cheren gently on his side, made a "mreow" sound and went into a full purring mode. The teacher patted its head.

"Yep," he switched to scratching Liepard's chin, Hoopa approached, "he's been staying at the Trainer's School's garden." Liepard switched his attention to Hoopa, who drove the feline pokemon back with the others. "After I dropped in Pasio I called back to my trainers to ask them if they could check on him every once and then." Two waiters came from the inside of the building, one bringing the food for the pair and the other for the pokemon, they all swarmed this last one. "After some time here I called again to ask if one of them could get him to the greenhouse. I doubt being left alone at home would do him any good, in the garden there's some other pokemon he's familiar with," he gave a kind ‘thank you’ to the person giving them their food, “I thought it might be a good idea to have Liepard here with me.”

"I see… say,” Lear started, interrupting himself for a moment to thank the waiters, “...what is it like?”

“What is it like what?”

“The Trainer’s School.” He took a bite from the vanilla and oran berry cake slice he ordered, savoring its sweet flavor. “I don’t think I’ve asked before..?”

Cheren shrugged, tasting the drink he had ordered. It was a milk based one from what Lear understood, with a pretty gradient going from lavender to white, “I’m not sure, but,” he took another sip, “it’s pretty calm most of the time, there are three other teachers that help with the classes.” He took a bite from his sandwich. “... Bianca and Hilbert keep saying that I’m the favorite, but I think it’s only because I’m also the gym leader.” Lear made a face at his friend for talking with his mouth full, Cheren just chuckled and swallowed. “I believe Aster, the one that gives some basics about the behavior of different species and things to take in count, is the favorite.”

Lear stared at the teacher, silent for a few little seconds. With his elbow on the table (something that would have gotten him an earful from his teachers, but they are not here to tell him anything), a hand supporting his head as this tilted to the side, spoon idly playing around with a piece of cake on his plate. He saw his friend close his eyes as he took another bite of his sandwich, and the prince saw the eyelashes touch his cheeks and blinked. “You should be the favorite, though.”

“Huh?” Cheren made a questioning sound, mouth full and a small dot of ketchup on his cheek.

He looked silly.

"You should be the favorite, I said," Lear pointed at the teacher with the spoon he had been eating his cake with. He took the cup of coffee he asked for in his other hand, he took a sip from it.

Cheren raised an eyebrow at him, almost incredulous of the statement. The prince noted the slight pink on his cheeks too. "Lear–"

Lear put his cup down, still pointing at his friend with the utensil. "You are one of the best trainers I know, probably one of the strongest," he interrupted him. "Level-headed, smart, always looking out for others." He made a circular motion with the spoon. "You are also kind," then he said under his breath, 'too kind at times,' looking at the side to where the pokemon where eating, and tapping his chin with the spoon. "Really gentle, with a clear sight of what you want and what the right thing is, really soft, and…" He raised the utensil up and closed his eyes, about to make a statement. "I honestly think you're good looking, so I don't see a reason why you wouldn't be the favorite teacher."

Lear frowned once he opened his eyes again, seeing Cheren with furrowed eyebrows, showing something like worry and insecurity. His mouth was set in a thin line and his cheeks were slightly pink.

"What?" Lear asked, "I'm right."

His left hand raised in a fist as he cleared his throat, covering his mouth for a moment before lowering it and revealing a small smile, "If you say so."

"I am right."

"Mhm." The teacher took a long sip from his drink, eyes closed and smiling, still with that soft pink on his cheeks. A soft breeze came from the ocean, Cheren's hair swayed slightly in it, making him look a lot more gentle than usual. "I believe you, Lear," he said, after lowering his drink and half-opening his eyes again. His sight was set on the middle of the table.

(He really is good looking, Lear thought.)

"... Did I ever tell you about the time a challenger with all the badges came into the gym?" Lear had been idly munching on a spoon of cake when Cheren said that, after a few seconds of not uncomfortable silence but certainly some kind of silence (comfortable, but with an edge of something he can't quite think a word for). The prince perked up at the question.

"I don't think you have, no?" He frowned. "All the badges? Isn't Aspertia City's Gym the first one in the line up?"

"The line up order it's more of a recommendation," Cheren said after swallowing another bite of his sandwich, "most trainers follow the line up but others that, for example, live too far from the Gym's location might instead try to challenge the closest one." He leaned his head on one of his hands while holding his sandwich in the other, his eyes looking up with a grin on his face. "It's possible for the gyms to adapt to a trainer's level if the trainer decides to ask for it, there are those who like to simply take a challenge, though."

Lear kept watching him as the teacher talked. "The trainer I'm talking about, his name is Roger, he decided to train at the gym for some time after he challenged me, came into the Trainer's School the same day I had planned a special training with my gym trainers," he chuckled, "I had my original team, the one that I had with me the first time I went to the League, and well, the guy came in bragging about having all previous seven badges before mine, he kind of tried to insult the gym too by saying something around the lines of 'saving the easiest one for last'."

The prince huffed, "Sounds like an idiot."

Cheren chuckled. "He had a big ego, but a well kept team." He rested his elbows on the table, his hands coming together with laced fingers. "He gave a good fight too, even with my original team."

"You didn't battle him with the gym team?" Lear had leaned back on the chair. Cake gone and cup almost empty now, one arm stretched out to hold it and the other resting on one of his knees. His eyebrows went up.

The teacher smiled gently. "The gym team is made with the thought of teaching trainers that are just starting their journeys the basics." He closed his eyes (and Lear noted how gentle yet confident and powerful he looked like that, smiling and not looking at anything, his body leaning forward and supporting his weight on his elbows on the table, his fingers subtly stretching momentarily). "What's there left to learn once you have already studied the basics and applied them in predetermined situations?"

Lear let out a surprised, pleased huff of laughter. Cheren's calm smile widened a bit at the sound of it and opened his eyes again. "Alder once told me that, while it is a requisite, no one really forces you to always use the gym team." He unlaced his fingers and stretched out a hand to take his drink. "Like with the line up, there are exceptions to the rule… Roger was asking for a challenge anyways." He took a sip. Lear wanted to smile like a madman, but he settled for a small smirk.

As the prince made a gesture towards one of the waiters to pay and heard the sounds of their pokemon interacting, he asked, "...Did you clean the floor with him?"

Cheren only looked at him with a short laugh and a grin.

Lear grinned back at him in what he hoped showed his amusement and delight in response.

(He really should be the favorite teacher, he has to be).

[...]

Then, they walked around the streets again. This time making sure to avoid the building sites.

It was just a simple stroll, with their two pokemon following close behind. They fell into easy conversation; what was the latest gossip going around Pasio, controversial theories that one or the other read right before going to sleep, the new cursed toy figure they had seen, light teasing between the two, etc etc. Sometimes they would enter a store when something caught their eyes from the windows, or when they noticed the store was new. They would leave from those sharing whispers and inside jokes.

In one of the stores they made a stop from walking, bought themselves and their pokemon a snack, and kept talking. Lear found it hard to contain his laughter and keep all the food from spilling by accident because of a joke Cheren had told. He saw his friend chuckle at the prince's struggle and felt his hand on his back, moving slowly up and down trying to help him calm down. Lear managed to pass all his food and tell a joke back, right as the teacher was drinking something and saw him spill a bit from an uncontained snort and then quickly cover his mouth with a hand. Cheren was shaking from laughter and looked at him with a kind of amused, kind of offended, kind of embarrassed expression. Lear took a handkerchief from an inside breast pocket of his coat and handed it to his friend while laughing, brushing his knuckles on the other's arm as he lowered his hand.

They went back to their stroll as if nothing had happened.

(It was weird, Lear thinks. Some months ago, he had been so used to always talking about his achievements, the thing that had irritated him lately, and Cheren had just sat there so patiently and listened, sometimes getting in his own input on the topic or teasing him lightly. He seemed happy just listening, content indulging Lear and letting him just speak out all his mind and hearing him complain of anything and everything, past or present.)

(But now, Lear looks at him as he talks about an Eevee plush with its head clearly upside down. He looks at him as he smiles and does his best to describe it with hand gestures and sees him glow with a smile when Lear chuckles at the absurdity of the mental image.)

(Lear sees him so much brighter now, sharing these rather normal and easy conversations and moments, these inside jokes, and what he knows others call banter, both of them talking and talking and talking. All while holding hands.)

(He will miss him. So much.)

Cheren had been in the middle of a rant about the reasons why one of Galar's companies, DENSOKU, wasn't going to have any success with their new shoes for pokemon because of the clear defects in the designs, when the disaster of the week happened.

It was almost a year ago when they first made that joke. Pasio always had at least one event that caused some disaster on the island. Cheren had mentioned it in one of the first times Lear 'kidnapped' him (as Hilbert likes to call their first outings) and Lear had huffed in annoyance. He didn't like the implications of mischief happening so often on his island. It had soon become an inside joke between them, with both young men making a ranking of sorts over the best done one. It helped appeace his annoyance to most of them.

The weekly disaster started with the high pitched scream that both Cheren and Lear recognized as Hilbert's. The kind of one that, as the teacher liked to say, was less of a "I'm scared" scream and more of a "I'm very screwed but having the time of my life" scream.

Hoopa let out a surprised chirp, Serperior a curious hum, and the prince a heavy sigh as he was pulled forward by the hand by a very wary, very worried Cheren. The closer they got to the more clear the sounds of some commotion and what could be a machine malfunctioning became.

And, as they walked closer, they saw more spilled ice cream, as if someone had started a food battle in the middle of the street with no consideration for the people that would have to clean up later. Lear was trying to not step on any of the puddles forming on the floor, Cheren didn't seem to care much about it (and those are the new shoes he got him, aren't they?).

They rounded a corner and had to immediately duck down from three castelia cones flying their way.

It was… what was probably a modified ice cream dispenser, throwing castelia cones everywhere and at anyone. The area surrounding it an absolute mess of piles and piles of ice cream, both half melted or completely so. Lear felt his left eye twitch in irritation as he watched Barry, Hilda and some other trainers throwing anything they could at the machine, Hilbert running from one place to another with a big grin guiding people in the area to safety and a pile of ice cream completely covering up who the prince was sure was a passed out Volkner and Flint. Hilbert ran closer to them and hid behind one of the benches in the area, right in front of them. As soon as the short trainer's eyes found the pair's he smiled sheepishly.

"Hilbert," Cheren said, arms crossed and frowning, "is this the 'surprise' you mentioned earlier?"

"Look, Volkner miscalculated-"

"Just Volkner?" Lear raised an eyebrow.

"Ok I did too, but," Hilbert said (Lear is sure he heard Cheren whisper a small 'Of course') and patted the floor beside him, "I wouldn't recommend that you two stay standing up like that, not without cover."

"Psh." Lear snapped his fingers and Hoopa flew to float beside him. "This is easy to solve, just watch thi-"

And then a castelia cone hit Hoopa square in the face.

And then Lear, Cheren and Hilbert watched the mythical pokemon be flung a few feet away from the sheer force at which the ice cream was thrown.

And watched Serperior hide not too far from where Hoopa had landed unconscious on the floor, the serpent hating the cold just as much as its trainer.

And then, more castelia cones flew in their direction.

That was how they ended up in their current situation. Both the prince and the teacher ran from bench to bench looking for cover and a weak spot in the machine. Lear was going to end up asking Looker to stop his current work with the investigations on the evil teams to have him keep an eye on Volkner, really. The prince wouldn't be surprised if one day the gym leader made the whole island explode.

…Maybe he could ask Looker to keep an eye on Hilbert too.

"I really, really didn't mean this," Lear said, inching closer to Cheren when two castelia cones splatted beside him. "This is something, just not what I meant."

"I know, Lear." Cheren leaned on him, and the prince felt him take his hand again. "Don't think about it too hard."

"It's difficult when there's–" Lear peeked from his spot towards the machine, raising his head a bit to do so and lowering it right back down as a castelia cone flew above him. "... When there's a stupid ice cream machine out for blood!"

Cheren let out a sigh and looked to the upper corner of their hiding spot, covered in ice cream, "well, for one–" A castelia cone flew by the side of his face, making him retreat back down and wipe his face with his free hand to get the little ice cream that had gotten on his cheek. "I think this is amusing."

"I don't see you smiling, Cheri."

"I'm not right now, but," he let out a snort with the smallest hint of a smile on his face, still contorted by what was probably exasperation towards the teacher's best friend, but a smile nonetheless. "Think about it, where else would you see a homicidal ice cream machine?"

Lear frowned, eyes half lidded behind the sunglasses. "Definitely not Sinnoh."

The prince heard another snort and felt a tug on his hand. He followed behind the teacher as they ran towards another cover, getting their shoes and clothes a bit filthy by the ice cream flying by. A worthy sacrifice, thinks Lear as he sees Barry and Hilda take the machine getting distracted by them to get other people out of the area. They let go of each other's hands to take cover behind the pillars of a nearbybuilding.

When Lear looks at his side he finds Cheren already looking at him, a smile with contained laughter (it made him pause, it made him feel the same dizziness as earlier that morning, he tried to think why–) "You'd be surprised by what I've heard."

The prince takes a few seconds to remember what they were talking about before running to the pillars, and when he does remember he smirks.

"You better tell me the gossip later."

Cheren puts his hand half covering his mouth, the same gesture he always does when he laughs (Lear feels the dizziness intensify a little, a tiny bit, there is some feeling in his stomach–). Lear takes a peek behind the pillar he is hiding at, Hilda and Barry's pokemon are going at full speed towards the machine, which is getting way too close to their hiding spot for comfort. He gasps.

His instinct calls to keep his friend safe, running to the other pillar and grabbing him by the wrist. He twirled them once, with Cheren now in front of him and the pillar at his back, and tugged the gym leader into an embrace and kneeled down.

There was a loud 'crash', an explosion of sorts, and then there were liters upon liters of ice cream flooding the area. Lear could feel the cold from the cream through his clothes (they were ruined by this point. He needs to put Volkner and Hilbert under house arrest).

Lear moved, looking first behind the pillar and noticing Hilda and Barry approaching the remains of the machine with some metal chairs (oh Arceus-), he noticed Hilbert peeking from behind a tree and Volkner and Flint rising from under a pile of ice cream, looking nauseous and dazed. The prince scoffed and then turned to the guy in his arms. He had Cheren's head below his chin, one hand on his hair and the other around his shoulders. He could feel the other's hands on his chest, palms open and his breath steady. He could not see his face.

The prince moved his hands to his friend's shoulder's and removed him from himself, the teacher's hands stayed on his chest. Lear frowned at Cheren when he noticed the surprised look on his face and slightly pink cheeks.

"Are you ok?" Lear squeezed the other's shoulders once, and Cheren blinked once, twice, before nodding. Lear noticed the few stray dark hairs sticking out his head and moved one of his hands to fix them as gently as he could. "You sure?"

"Yeah," Cheren said, almost like a whisper, nodding once more. Lear took hold of his elbows.

"Hey are you two fin-?" Hilbert stopped right by their side, eyes going wide at them and then snorting loudly, "Your suit is so messed up now, Lear-"

"Shut it, Hilbert," the prince stood up, tugging Cheren along with him and letting him go. He looked down at himself and noticed the awful, certainly sticky stains now covering the sides of his coat and groaned, pointing at the shorter trainer, "this is your fault."

"Not completely, I mean…" Hilbert turned around and the prince followed his eyes to look at Volkner. The gym leader was shaking his head full of ice cream and laughing at Hilda and Barry, who probably were scolding him… or asking him to make a better, more challenging machine (Arceus, please no-).

Lear scoffed, considering going there to give the electric-type specialist a piece of his mind. He looked back at Cheren to say something and stopped for a second, seeing his friend still with rosy cheeks, looking down at his hands with the thumb from his left hand stroking the palm of his right.

Hilbert broke the teacher from the daze he seemed to be in by elbowing him. Cheren looked down at the shorter trainer's smirk and frowned, the color of his cheeks intensifying. Hilbert looked at Lear, "I'll be right here with our favorite teacher and gym leader," Cheren raised an eyebrow. "You can deal with me later. Just go get Volkner's ass."

The prince huffed, "What a crude way of talking."

"I've heard you screaming curses before, Le–"

"OK, OK," Lear crossed his arms at the shorter trainer who just laughed. The prince then looked at Cheren. "Wait for me?"

The teacher perked up, not smiling or frowning, just… looking at him. "Of course."

Lear nodded and turned around, "VOLKNER. START RUNNING," he shouted.

…

"You are down bad for him," said Hilbert, smiling at the electric-type gym leader's jump at seeing the prince approaching.

Cheren sighed, eyes on Lear's back.

"I know."

[...]

"...so," Cheren started, standing beside Lear on the beach, the waves catching their bare feet and part of their legs every once and then. "Where would you put today's situation in our ranking of situations?"

"Somewhere in the top 15 maybe," answered Lear, looking up at the sky and the lazy movement of the clouds on the orange sky. The sun had started to set a few minutes ago.

"It should be higher."

Lear splashed some water towards the teacher who just giggled at the act. "No, it shouldn't. One of my coats is ruined because of it."

Cheren splashed some water right back at the prince, done with less force than he had. "I'm pretty sure you have multiple of the same, though?"

"Still."

The two friends stood side by side, hand in hand, watching their pokemon play in the water. Their happy cries reached their ears and further settled the relaxed mood they had been having for a while now.

"The incident ruined my plans for today! I wanted to take you to a new restaurant for lunch."

"Well…" The teacher kicked an incoming wave, his hand tightening its grip on Lear's to keep him from following the wave's path. "If we hadn't been forced to go back to your place to clean up, I don't think we would have tried Sawyer's pie."

"Ah… well," Lear leaned towards Cheren when another wave threatened to pull him with it. "I guess you're right in that, if we hadn't gone to my manor for lunch Rachel would have never offered us some slices." He tried to ignore the weird, warm feeling from the bare skin on skin contact from their hands, he had pocketed his gloves after Hoopa dropped them there out of nowhere. "The little pastries Sawyer makes don't tend to last long, everyone at the manor likes them."

"It doesn't surprise me, they are really good." Another wave passes by that manages to pull Lear off balance. He doesn't fall into the lazy waves on the shore though, Cheren manages to catch his shoulder with his free hand and pull him up straight with the hand holding his. It's awfully warm, when Lear ends up with one of his hands on the teacher's arm to regain his balance and ends up close (the contrast with the freshness of the water rolling over their legs makes him want to get closer, get comfortable there, it's such a weird thought to have–). "Careful," Cheren grins at him, "you already ruined your coat with ice cream, don't ruin the rest of your clothes with sea water."

"How funny you are," Lear scoffs and Cheren laughs (his eyes close and from this close he can see the faint little crinkles forming at the edges of his eyes. His hand, the one that had been holding the prince's shoulder, comes up to cover his mouth and Lear wants so badly to swat it away–)

"What's that?," Lear watches as Cheren opens his eyes again and focuses on something behind him. The prince turns around and spots a little spark in the water, one that glows with different colors all at once. Guessing that that is what his friend had seen (and guessing right of course), he walks towards it, the teacher following behind with their hands still linked, and he reaches down for the little spark in the water.

"A sync stone," he states, showing it to Cheren and placing it gently into his hand. He sees his friend showing curiosity in his eyes, the soft rainbow light of the stone reflecting into them. “It must have detached from any nearby clusters,” He stares as the gym leader turns the gem around in his fingers and finally lifts it up so the sun is behind it from his eyes, the multicolored lights of it shining on his face. (He feels the need to say something, to maybe stroke the back of his friend's hand with his thumb, maybe bring it close to his face so he can–)

"I don't think I've ever seen one outside of a poryphone," Cheren whispers, lowering the stone and letting it rest in his palm. “I always forget Pasio was built right on top of where you find these things,” the smile on his face is gentle and Lear can't help but try to imitate it.

"I know a place where you can see them in the rough easily," the prince says, remembering the suggestions made by Sawyer and Rachel, their reassurance, and Lear's own earlier thought of taking his dear friend to the cave, "it's a pretty one, certainly worth visiting and admiring before you leave."

(He feels a little pang in his chest.)

(He mentally shakes the feeling off.)

"Really?" Cheren turns back at him, the light from the sun is hitting him and the little gem in the perfect way. (Lear feels that his smile could illuminate them both even after the sun sets).

“Mhm.” The prince tilts his head slightly to the side. (The angle was perfect for a picture, it made Lear wonder if the teacher would let him take one…) “It’s… a long walk through some tunnels and maybe not the most comfortable place to rest at, but! I believe that with my guidance and your brain we can manage.”

“How come I’ve never heard of that place?”

“It’s not open to the public,” Lear feels another wave wash over their legs and decides to guide them both out of the waters, “Professor Bellis requested having access to an area where she could observe the sync stones as they are and extract them if she ever needed to.” Professor Bellis was constantly sending him updates regarding her work and whenever she extracts a stone. It was a restricted area for very obvious reasons but the prince doesn’t think Cheren would take advantage of the occasion to steal a stone. The gym leader was not that stupid (he really wasn’t stupid at all).

Cheren sits down on the sand and drags Lear with him, “guess it makes sense to not have it open to the public,” the teacher crosses his legs and allows the hand holding the stone to rest on them. After some consideration Cheren reaches towards Lear to hand him the little gem. The sun had already settled but there’s still a little light coming from the sync stone, enough to illuminate them both (enough to draw the prince’s attention towards Cheren’s eyes rather than the stone). “Can you imagine the amount of people who would try to steal these?”

His friend’s eyes widened slightly at the hand pushing back his. Lear closed Cheren’s fingers over the stone with his free hand and lowered it, still holding onto it after a few seconds had passed. "It would have been an awful thing to deal with, it's a good thing that there are people… trustworthy enough that are guarding the entrances."

Underneath his hand, Lear could feel the other's thumbing the stone slowly, it was– it was warm. Alarmingly warm. It made the prince retreat his hand and put it back on the sand. His own eyes tearing away from Cheren to look anywhere in front of him.

(In his mind, he wondered if his friend's cheeks had darkened a bit or if it was just his imagination. He also panicked at the feeling of his own getting warm, as warm as his hand actually.)

(What was wrong with him? Really.)

"Are… are you sure I can keep it?"

"Psht." Lear glanced at the teacher, eyes half lidded and frowning (for some reason, he was glad he had chosen to keep his sunglasses on even after Hoopa had dropped them in the water), "I saw the look in your eyes earlier, besides." The prince straightened up, "I.. uh," and went back down, his back leaning forward and his head looking down. "... I trust you."

(Has he ever stated it outloud? It was nerve wracking to do so.)

(He hadn't thought of how dangerous it was to actually show someone outside of Sawyer, Rachel, the professor and those guards the entrance to the cave.)

(He hadn't thought of how scary it could be— the idea of him being able to say with one hundred percent certainty he could trust Cheren.)

(It was as scary as it was reassuring.)

(Lear looks back again at his friend, and he is now sure his cheeks have darkened slightly. It made him look… soft.)

(It was… He was someone he could trust. One hundred percent. Maybe even a bit more.)

(A thousand percent sure.)