Chapter Text
“Hey Shiro!” Shiro looked up from his book to see Lance and Keith standing under the tree he was in. “It looks like there aren’t many trainers. Did you want to come get lunch with us?”
“That’s ok. I’ve actually got someone coming.”
“Seriously? Who?” Lance asked.
“It’s not that guy again is it? What’s his name, Matt?” Keith said.
“Haven’t you kicked his ass, like for a whole week?” Lance questioned.
“Technically, I didn’t do anything. It was Lurantis.” Shiro reminded when talking about the totem Pokémon for his trial.
He, Lance and Keith were trial captains for the grass, water and fire trials respectively on Akala Island. Trail goers passed through the Lush Jungle daily to complete his task to be able to create the potion that would summon Lurantis. A lot of the time, Lurantis’ power would beat trial goers and keep them away for months or longer before they came back for another shot. Matt it seemed, was different.
Son of the famous professor who was researching Ultra beasts with Professor Burnet, Matt was a trial goer in place of his sister who moved to Kalos to attend university there when she got an early acceptance letter. That didn’t mean he wasn’t serious about it. He’d seen the bond Matt had with his Pokémon, the despair he would cry at the slightest hit, but when they pushed through and defeated any ally Pokémon Lurantis called, he’d be so proud of them. Unfortunately, it seemed despite how much he believed in his team, they weren’t strong enough to beat Lurantis. Matt had been coming back every day though to try and beat her. Shiro had seen determined, but this was different. He would come with different combos in terms of teams to try but he never got close.
“I’ve never seen anyone so eager to get their ass handed to them by a bug.” Lance said.
“Lance, your trial Pokémon is a fish.” Keith pointed out.
“Not like a lizard is any better.”
“Leave Salazzle out of this!”
“Then don’t go insulting Wishiwahi!”
“Guys keep your voice down. You don’t want to go agitating the Pokémon.” Shiro said, silencing the two trial captains. “You two go ahead. I’ve got the mixture already made for when he gets here.”
“Ok. We’ll grab you a malasada.” Lance said, turning to leave, shooting Keith rude remarks in a softer tone, Keith replying in the same low tone.
Shiro shook his head, going back to his book and letting the sounds of the jungle and its inhabitants wash over him. before he knew it, he was interrupted by the very familiar sounds of a certain professor’s son coming to retake his trail, again.
He closed his book and dropped to the floor, picking up the container that held the mixture that would bring Lurantis.
“Matt.” Shiro greeted.
“I hope you have the grass Z-crystal Shiro. This time I’m beating that oversized and way to powerful Pokémon.” Matt said, looking sure of himself that made Shiro a little less guilty about having to knock him down.
“Careful Matt, you’re in her domain now. Insulting her is not going to help you.” Shiro warned as he opened the container, the potent scent escaping. “I really hope you’re better prepared this time.” He said as Lurantis appeared behind Matt, scaring him.
He watched Matt send out his Torracat. With a fire starter, Matt should be able to have no issue in getting the upper hand over Lurantis, even when he pulled Torracat out after giving Lurantis a lot of damage. But it seemed to be the ally Pokémon that gave him the most trouble, not to mention Lurantis’ famed Solar Blade.
Matt was close this time though. Lurantis was dealing with burns from the team of fire types she’s battled but a sudden Solar Blade knocked Torracat out for the count. With no more Pokémon, Shiro stepped between Matt and Lurnatis.
“Easy girl, it’s over.” The aura faded away from her as she stood still so Shiro could treat her burns. Once the cures were on, she took off into the trees, leaving Shiro and Matt alone. Shiro saw Matt looking upset down at the pokeball Torracat sat in.
“We were so close. I was so sure he could hang on a bit longer. I thought I had more than enough revives and potions this time.”
“Trail Pokémon are still wild Pokémon. Their fighting style changes with every battle.” Matt still pouted, making Shiro sigh. “Come on, let’s go get your Pokémon healed. I haven’t eaten, I’ll treat you.”
“Can we go to the hotel?” Matt asked, already brightening.
“Being a Trail Captain doesn’t pay that much. Don’t go ordering the most expensive thing.”
This had become their normal the past week. Shiro would walk Matt to the closest PokeCentre and then because Matt was incredibly lazy, they’d either use his Tauros, Stoutland or Charizard to take them to wherever they’d eat that day unless it was a short distance away. It had only meant to be a one time thing but hanging out with Matt was fun.
“So how’s your sister?” Shiro asked as they waited for Nurse Joy to get to his Pokémon.
“She’s got an internship with the local professor there. She’s even working with Green, you know the second youngest Champion in the Kanto?”
“That’s pretty impressive.”
“Yeah. She said that she heard that his grandfather though is a complete ass. Wouldn’t really give his grandson the time of the day and focused on the other Champion, Red. You ask me, he’s the reason Red ran up the mountain.” Matt sighed. “My sister’s having the best time at university and I’m still stuck here until I can beat that oversized bug.”
“Hey, be nice.”
Matt pouted more. He looked cute. Shiro blinked at himself. Those thoughts had been popping into his head with the more they’d been hanging out. The idea of being in a relationship with a trainer was risky. It wasn’t just traveling around the region, it was traveling to different islands and for all he knew, after they finished the trials completely they might want to try other Pokémon leagues.
“Matthew Holt?” Nurse Joy called, Matt’s stickered pokeballs resting in the carrying try. “Your Pokémon are ready.”
“Thank you. Hey, is it ok if I stop at the PokeMart?”
“I can head over to the hotel restaurant and get us a table. Maybe if you don’t take too long I’ll offer you advice on how to defeat Lurantis.”
Matt perked up. “I’ll be really quick! Don’t move!” he said, rushing over to the other side of the PokeCenter where the Mart was located, making Shiro laugh at him.
“You and your boyfriend are very cute.” Nurse Joy told him, a pleasant smile on her face.
Shiro felt his face get hot. “Oh, no, he’s not my boyfriend. He’s a trial goer who hasn’t defeated my trail yet.”
“Oh,” Nurse said, looking slightly embarrassed, “I assumed since you always walk him over to the Centre and take him for something to eat after that you were dating him.”
“Oh, no. Nothing like that.”
He’d only really know Matt for about a week, but he was already having such feelings towards him. This wasn’t normal. Then again, he knew Keith and Lance had feelings for each other, they just couldn’t stop arguing long enough to go for it. Worrying about feelings could wait for another day.
Shiro took a bit out of the malasada Keith got for him. Lance had a small group of trial goers unable to get past his trail, though it was mostly them not being able to find the Wishiwahi they needed to find before going against the Totem Wishiwahi. Because of such, Keith and Shiro were free of any trial goers until they got through. But Shiro had been rather lonely. Matt hadn’t come back for another attempt at the trial. He was disappointed but it was less about Matt coming for the trial and more about him not coming to see him.
“Keith, can I ask you something?”
“Hmm?”
“How did you know you like Lance?”
Keith chocked on his malasada. “What? I don’t like Lance.”
“Sure and my preferred type of Pokémon are dark types. Maybe if you two could stop arguing every time you meet up, you could actually tell each other how you feel. Now answer my question.”
Keith stuttered a lot before letting out a groan. “ok fine, I have a crush on him.”
“Do you want me to pretend to be surprised?” Shiro asked.
“Shut up. For your information, I figured out I like Lance when even when I was pissed at him, I wanted to be around him, even if it was something simple as getting something to eat.”
“How long do you think it took for you to like him?”
Keith shrugged. “I don’t know. A few weeks. Being the only Trial Captains on the island, we spend a lot of time together. Why are you asking this?”
Shiro looked down at his malasada as he tried to organize his thoughts. “I only really Matt a week ago, but being around him, it’s fun. I’ve never felt an obligation to go to the PokeCenter with other trial goers but I just offered when he first lost. Then when he kept coming back, I offered to get dinner with him. Last time I saw him, we got dinner at the hotel’s restaurant.”
“Food there is expensive. We only go if the Professor will pay for us. Damn, you must really like him.”
“But isn’t it weird? I’ve only known him for a week. Shouldn’t I know him for longer?”
Keith shrugged. “My mom only really knew my dad for like 2 weeks before she decided she was in love with him. Love at first sight is a thing you know. You feel like you’ve really bonded with him, right? I guess once the connection is there, the feelings will grow. As much as we can classify everything about Pokémon and how our feelings with them can react to them, we can’t exactly do the same for humans. Trust me, people have tried and it tends to blow up in their faces.”
Shiro thought about Keith’s words. He had bonded with Matt. For some reason, watching him try his trial was different than any other trial goers he’d met in his Trail Captain career. He had felt the need, the desire to get to know him more and as he did, he wanted to keep knowing more, to keep spending time with him. with Matt not coming by anymore, it was hard to even decide if what he was feeling was real or not.
“Relationships aren’t easy, are they?”
“Why do you think I haven’t said anything to Lance yet?” Keith asked.
Shiro walked into the PokeCenter, his aim the PokeMart. One of the Paras had gotten scared by one of its friends and let out a huge burst of static electricity, leaving 3 of his Pokémon he had let out paralyzed. Of course, it was just his luck that he had completely forgotten to replenish his potions and cures. He was almost at the front desk when he heard his name called from a voice he hadn’t heard in over 3 weeks.
“Shiro!”
Matt. It was Matt. In different clothes, but still Matt.
“Matt? Where’ve you been?”
“I was training my Pokémon. I needed to come up with better strategies and help them learn different moves so I could beat Lurantis. I wanted to call but I was sure you’d have a lot of trial goers.” Matt said, looking apologetic and shy.
“A fair few. Lance kept them for a while searching for Wishiwahi.”
“Oh yeah, I remember realising I had to essentially follow Lance to get to the next pool. I felt like such an idiot no knowing where to go at first.”
“Yeah, I think Lance enjoys making them go insane. Are you heading over?”
“Soon. I need to get the ingredients again. My dad said he’d save me the trouble and send me things. I’m just waiting to pick it up.”
“Alright, I’ll see you there.”
As Shiro walked to the front desk of the PokeMart and placed his order, his mind still reeled from seeing Matt. His stomach had fluttered like Butterfrees were having a party in there. If Matt won today, he’d be moving on to battle their kahuna and then on to the next island. The idea of not ever seeing Matt again, that really hurt. But he had his job to do.
Matt still hadn’t received his package by the time Shiro left, so he sent a message to Lance and Keith to come and perform the usual deal to get Lurantis over. They arrived, still arguing with each other over, actually, Shiro had given up keeping track. He hoped when they eventually confessed that they would at least calm the arguments down.
“So Matt’s back?” Lance asked, tossing his bottle of water around.
“Yeah, and it felt like Butterfrees were flying around my stomach. It might be safe to say I do have feelings for him.”
“But if he wins this time,” Keith started.
“He’ll essentially be heading for the next island. I know that shouldn’t mean anything but a lot of trial goers end up trying out official Pokémon leagues. It would be a boat ride away anymore, it would be an entire plan ride away.”
“I think you should go for it anyway. I mean, I’ve never really seen you feel this way about anyone. Would it really be that bad to give him a try?” Lance said.
Lance wasn’t wrong. Shiro was focusing on all the bad parts of why dating a trainer wouldn’t work, not the looking at the fact that they had the technology to talk with each other if that’s what Matt wanted. And who was to say Professor Kukui wouldn’t be able to create Alola’s own league.
“I’m here! Sorry, the Delibird heard my dad give him the wrong name and went a completely different way.” Matt said, running into the Jungle and stopping in front of the laid out blanket and bowl.
“No problem. You know the routine.”
They watched Matt create the mixture and draw Lurantis out but he didn’t seem to be scared this time. He seemed ready. He sent out Incineroar and started the battle. This time, Matt seemed to be ready for the Solar Blades Lurantis attacked him with. Before the Captains knew it, Lurantis had been knocked out, leaving only the ally Pokémon. With a Fire Fang, the ally was defeated, leaving Matt the victor.
“Yes! Finally! I did it!” Matt turned to face the group, a bright smile on his face. “Did you see?”
“Congrats.” Shiro said, smiling back at Matt. He’d seen Matt smile but this one, he didn’t want to risk losing it. He’d invite Matt to come back after he finishes his trial, ask him then. “Now come here. I have a Grassium Z-crystal with your name on it.”
“Oh wait, before that. I need to ask you something. I promised myself I would when I finally beat Lurantis. Shiro, did you want to go out sometime.”
“Huh?” Shiro asked, ignoring Lance bursting into laughter. “What?”
“I know why only really knew each other properly for a week but I haven’t really felt like this to anyone ever, so I thought I should at least give it a try. I mean, after I battle the kahuna, I don’t have to leave for the island just yet. I’m still waiting for the Professor to come get me, but he got dragged into some research with his wife so it won’t be for a while. We could use that time to give this a trial run, if you want?”
“Um, yeah, sure. I’d love to.”
“OMG, I can’t believe this. And here you were worrying about whether or not to tell him.” Lance giggled.
“Oh, really?” Matt asked, a smirk on his face, “I’d love to hear about this.”
“Ok, just for that, I’m not going out with you until you defeat the kahuna and I hear she is swarmed at her shop.”
“What? Seriously? Shiro come on.” Matt whined and pouted. There it was, that thing that got him. Shiro was going to enjoy this now, even if it didn’t work. He was going to have fun with this moment.