INTERLUDE - THROUGH THEIR EYES

"So I just gotta grab your wrist for ten minutes?" Chase asked, finding it difficult not to stare at Grace like she was a moron. "That's it? Nothing else?"

His friend kept shifting uncomfortably like she'd been condemned to the death penalty, and the glances she kept giving her mother, who stood there cross armed, didn't help. It was Chase's first time seeing one of Grace's parents, and they looked so similar you could have thought they'd been cloned. Yeah, Samantha Pastel was about an inch taller, had blue eyes instead of green, and had more freckles, but other than that, she was like what Chase figured Grace would look like in her forties. Honestly, he was surprised she'd come all the way to Canalave for this, all the way to his Pokemon Center room. He was glad that he hadn't been the one to get to Twinleaf, of all places.

He hadn't even bothered to ask why Grace's mother was here. His friend had made sure to tell him not to ask a million times, nearly beating it into his skull. He rolled forward in his chair and outstretched his arm.

"No need to look like I'm about to torture you," he said.

"Just grab it."

Sheesh, she was annoyed today. Well, he wasn't going to ask any questions; he had a bunch of shit to do because Cecilia wanted to meet him and Louis in Sandgem in around a week, and if he was going to spend parts of a day not hard at work, then he was going to make up for it in the days before. Of course, Cece had told him not to tell Grace, and that she was going to text her to talk things out right afterward.

Things were progressing along quite well with his team, even if they'd had to pivot entirely on the type of moves they used to train. The delay had really helped buy him the time he needed. The Conference was supposed to begin on the fifth of July, now, and already, Roark had been the second to reopen his Gym. More would follow soon enough—hopefully Byron soon.

Chase grabbed Grace's arm, and she immediately shut her eyes, making a weird ass sound that made him want to call her a weirdo. She reopened them a few seconds later with the most disappointed look Chase had ever seen from her. Her lips went flat, and she let out a little 'huh'.

Chase raised an eyebrow. "What's that mean?"

"Nothing. I'm just surprised." She twisted her wrist in his hold a little and hummed again.

"Why are you so fuckin' sweaty?" he asked, ignoring the displeased look in Samantha's eyes when he swore. So what? Get over it, lady. "Is it working? Are you tainting me?"

"Yeah… it's a lot less than I thought, though." She stared intently at his hand with widened eyes. She was seeing something there, so at least Chase knew she wasn't full of shit. "See, mom? I told you it was working, and you made a big deal out of nothing!"

"Then why not do this with your therapist instead of unqualified people?" Samantha foot tapped irritatingly against the ground.

Why was he catching strays? He hadn't asked for any of this.

"Because it works better with her!" Her wrist shook violently in Chase's grasp. "Can you finally stop? I showed you proof, but now you're just moving the goal posts!"

"I'm just worried you might be making a mistake." She shook her head. "I do believe you more now, but this reaction is a lot more different than you had with Maylene." Samantha sighed. "I just want you to be happy."

"Look, it's a new experience for me too. All of this." She stared down at Chase's hand and let out a little laugh. "When Cecilia comes back, we'll—we'll talk. It's all I wanted, but she left, and—and it crushed me. I'm getting better, aren't I? Compared to before?"

"You are."

"I just wish you believed in me—" Grace cut herself off. "Sorry, that sounded kind of guilt trippy. I'm trying to get better with that."

Her mother's eyes softened, and the argument stopped. Arceus help him. Ten minutes was a fucking eternity to hear. That name did activate a few alarms in his head, because—well, no, she wasn't the cause of the break, but she sure as hell had added onto the pile of reasons for it.

He'd tell Cecilia about it when she came back.

—

Three days later.

Denzel's back went through phases now. Sometimes, especially during the early mornings right after he woke up, it hurt so much that it felt like the end of the world, making it impossible to focus on anything else. He literally just had to sit there and endure it. Luckily, the pain was more manageable at other times of the day, and there was no denying that he was getting better. He had walked for the first time a week ago and could manage to move around without a wheelchair when it wasn't morning, even if he was slow about it. His condition was improving, and because of that, his parents had given him a little room to breathe.

They didn't know Grace was going to arrive any minute now. They hadn't seen each other since Justin's funeral, and while they texted a lot—she seemed much happier now than before—they hadn't met in person at all. He had to admit, he missed her. It was odd to spend so little time with her after traveling together for so long, but he got over it by taking it as training for what would happen when she flew to Unova.

Okay, it wasn't that bad. There was no time zone difference, and she was one Teleport away, but he was allowed to be a little dramatic.

Denzel heard footsteps beyond his door, along with two voices. One, he recognized easily. The other—

He didn't have time to think about it. There was a soft knock on the door as Grace called out her name, and he yelled at her to come in. Denzel instinctively felt the need to straighten his back when Maylene Suzuki followed behind her and instantly killed the shitty joke he'd prepared telling Grace that he thought she'd forgotten about him. The two of them were all laughs and giggles as they entered his hospital room—Arceus, it felt weird to see a Gym Leader in casual clothing and outside of their Gym. The closest example Denzel could think of was when you ran into your teacher outside of school, which in Twinleaf had somehow happened less than you would think.

"Nice to meet you—I guess?" Denzel tried. It was his first time actually seeing her in a casual setting. "I'm Denzel Williams. Uh, thinking back, our battle was pretty fun. If you remember it."

"Ew. You're so stiff," Grace complained, wrinkling. "Don't talk to her about work. Relax, okay? She's not going to eat you; she's just a person."

Maylene dragged two chairs close to his bed. "I've heard a lot of cool things about you! I did kind of forgot our battle, though." She inclined her head a little at Grace, who thanked her for the chair. She then sat on hers—backwards, leaning against the backrest. There was this weird thing they both did with their knees, slowly letting them drift toward each other until they swiftly took them away. "I hope that's okay? I go through hundreds and hundreds; it gets a little difficult to remember."

"Oh yeah, that's totally fine; I didn't actually expect you to remember." Denzel had spoken to enough new people that he knew to brush off any awkwardness if he was offered a lifeline. "What does bring you here, actually?"

"The dork and I were hanging out." She nudged her head sideways. Dork? Maylene was a lot less formal than Denzel thought given what he'd heard—wait, why in the world was Grace looking at her like that? "She told me she doublebooked and forgot that she'd planned to go see you, so here I am."

"I didn't doublebook," Grace whined. "I just thought you'd be available at night. You know, like the other days you work?"

"You'll have to forgive me, Grace," Maylene said, tone dripping with playful sarcasm. "I sometimes take my breaks early so I can see you during the day because I like it when the sun shines on your face. It just brightens my day."

"That's not why—" she bit her lip and blushed. "I'll let you win this time, you knave."

"This time? I win every time. I should honestly get a prize for the amount of times I've rolled you," she boasted with an air of smugness around her.

What. The fuck?

Okay, yes, he had said he believed that Grace liked Maylene from what he'd heard about her, but he hadn't expected it to be this blatant. He felt so out of place here and in business that had nothing to do with him that he felt like he had been the one invading their privacy, and they were the ones in his room! The two kept bantering a little bit until Grace apparently remembered he existed and that maybe she shouldn't make fuck eyes at Maylene or flirt when he was literally right there.

"See how fun she is?" Never mind, she didn't have a clue. "That's why I wanted to introduce you! Plus, she told me that it'd be nice to meet one of my friends, at least."

"Erm. Have you—have you told Cece about this?" Denzel had to assume they were dating and that she'd broken up with Cecilia before she left, or something that wouldn't make this horrible. "About you two, I mean."

"Oh, she knows we're hanging out," Grace said. "And I plan to tell her the details when she comes back. I—I know how it might look, but there's nothing going on." The words sounded almost rehearsed.

Could he have misjudged—no, there was just no way. "And Cecilia knows?" he asked again.

"I mean, she's out in the wilderness down south who knows where; I can't keep her updated on every little action I take despite wanting to." Grace bit the inside of her mouth, and her hand tensed on top of her shorts. That had come out a little bitter. "I hope she's doing well; I just wish we could have talked, you know? Or that she would talk to me. But I was toxic to her, and you can't go back in the past. No matter what state she comes back in, I have to tell her. Hiding our friendship would be wrong."

He knew she'd struggled to come to terms with Cece leaving. She'd ranted about it in their texts in those early days, but those had largely stopped after Craig's ceremony. There was a heavy silence that made Denzel want to crawl out of his skin. These were the bane of his existence. Not only did Grace look a little regretful, Maylene's expression, while hard to read, couldn't be described as positive, either.

"Sorry for killing the vibes," Denzel said with a slight, apologetic smile. "So, what's up with you, Grace? Anything I missed?"

He could have pressed for more information about the nature of this weird entangled relationship, but he couldn't.

Not when he couldn't recall seeing Grace this happy in months.

So long as Cece and she spoke, it'd be okay.

—

Two days later.

"Alright, are you ready?" Maylene asked. She was all smiles and could barely contain her excitement. "You didn't peek, right?"

"What? Me? I would never go against the sanctity of surprises." Candice wrapped an arm around Maylene's shoulder and looked right at Gardenia. "I wouldn't say the same about her; she can be devious, as you know."

"Very devious," Maylene added.

Gardenia rolled her eyes, noting to herself that Maylene had gotten a lot more combative lately. Maylene had always been this way, especially with Candice, but she'd rarely goof off like this with Gardenia, especially when she was about to present her brand new battlefield. Gardenia knew how much she'd been thinking about reworking her field, and back in the day she would have been incredibly nervous about her and Candice's opinions. She used to always seek validation from her seniors because of how unsure she was of her own capabilities as a Gym Leader. It was just nice to see her confident and happier, especially after Coronet.

Maylene wormed herself away from Candice's hold—Gardenia somewhat wished her best friend would do that with her as well—and placed her full palm on the double doors leading to her side of the battlefield. "Here goes."

They swung open with some oomph, and Candice sprinted over like a little kid, arms swinging wildly at her side. She hadn't really needed to run because they could already see spires of stone rising high in the air.

The heart of the battlefield resembled a small, ancient city of stone, with narrow alleyways, towering stone pillars, and uneven, cobblestone streets that crisscrossed in tight patterns. The walls were high and imposing, constructed from large weathered gray stones, and they created a labyrinthine effect, limiting visibility and movement for both trainers and Pokemon alike. The ground was uneven, with cracks and small boulders scattered throughout, making it difficult for Pokemon to gain any significant speed or maneuverability. If there were a common theme here Gardenia would describe this with, it was dense and oppressive.

Maylene's fighting types were generally Pokemon who you really didn't want to get close to, or you would just lose nine times out of ten. This was going to make any speedsters who weren't fliers or incredibly agile have to work for their buck to keep away from Maymay's Pokemon who would maneuver easier within the dense towers. Sure, you could destroy them, but that was a lot of dense stone to go through unless you brought some serious firepower, and she'd be able to counter you really well while you were doing so. Most of Maylene's Pokemon knew at least a few rock type moves to counter flying types, so using the shattered stone to their advantage would be easy.

Gardenia allowed herself to digest the sight and figured that this would make Maylene a really tough early Gym to tackle, and one that would get more manageable the later you battled her thanks to having more tools at your disposal to deal with the sheer advantage she'd have on the field. She wouldn't be a walk in the park either, but it would be relatively easier to fight her later on.

"So you made your choice, huh?" Gardenia noted amidst a million compliments from Candice. Months ago, shortly after Maylene's breakdown after her Gym Battle with Grace, Gardenia had called her to ask her to decide what kind of Gym Leader she wanted to be.

There were plenty of options beyond the simple slider between 'easy' or 'tough.' A Gym was a spectrum with plenty of attributes to define it, be it its Leader, arena, Gym Trainers, et cetera, et cetera—and other regions with more complicated processes to actually battle Gym Leaders were even more in-depth. Gosh, Gardenia wished she could turn her Gym into a hedge maze full of puzzles, riddles, and ambushes. She hoped Sinnoh would adopt the Unovan model within her tenure.

"I want to have a reputation." Maylene nodded along. "I mean, it's like you said, right? It's all about consistency. I want to be a consistent pain in the butt and force people to adapt to me," she declared with determination in her voice and a clenched fist.

"Oh, she's in fire!" Candice joked. "On a serious note, though, I really like it! It's probably the most unique Gym design after Wake; I might rework mine before the next Circuit too, whenever I have time. What are the costs like?"

"I've run it for three battles so far as a test run; it's not as bad as you'd think," Maylene said with a hint of embarrassment. Gardenia remembered her talking about some money issues, but she'd never gone into much detail. "You don't have to rebuild it the same every time—in fact, it's better to have variation. Roark's already said he'll lend me some rock types so I don't have to train up some of my own to fix this up, and I caught some a few weeks back down south when I went to look for more fighting types. They were very nice about wanting to work with me for a few months."

Candice's mouth fell open. "What?! That hard-ass lent you something for free?" She crossed her arms and stewed in place for a few seconds. "All I got was that fossil for my birthday…"

"Candice, that was an extremely generous gift," Gardenia sighed, still admiring the towers. "An Amaura costs a lot, and they're only found in Kalos and northern Paldea—"

"I know, I know!" she groaned. "I just wanted to complain about him for fun! This is inspiring, Maymay!" Gardenia noticed Maylene frowning a little at the nickname. "I think we've all been resting on our laurels for too long; we got too comfortable in keeping the way our boring predecessors did it! Except grandma; she was awesome."

"Sofia was pretty great…" Gardenia mumbled. Eterna's old Gym Leader had been exceedingly strict to a fault, but that had been because she'd seen potential in her. She needed to call her one of these days so they could catch up.

Candice shrugged. "Meh. She hated me." They had been co-workers for a year, since Candice had ascended to her position earlier than Gardenia.

"That's probably because you're so unserious," Nia shot back with a wry smile. "I like that about you."

"Look at you, being all flirty. What's with that?" Candice tilted her head.

Hm?

Hm?

Hm?

"It's far from the first time I've complimented you," she said, as calm as she usually was. Deep inside the recesses of her brain, she was having a massive crisis. Candice had never, ever picked up on any signs. "Do you want me to be flirty?" There, simple and easy to back out of. Nia was giving her the opportunity to take this further should she want to.

Candice elbowed Maylene in the arm and nudged her head toward Gardenia. "Heh. She's shitting bricks right now."

"Can you two just date already?" Maylene sighed. "I'm tired of this."

Why in the world would she—Gardenia had never felt such betrayal! For one, she had no idea if Maylene knew how delicate the situation was in Craig's death and the literal years of slow build-up and planning. Two, people didn't just say that out of the blue. What if you ruined things between the two people you were trying to get together?

"That's a pretty good idea." Candice had her hand pensively on her chin, nodding along. "We should go ice fishing and make out in an igloo or something."

"Are—are you serious, Candice?" Nia stuttered.

"Oh, don't worry, we'd release the water types afterward; it's just a secret hobby of mine." It wasn't secret at all. Gardenia had already documented all of Candice's hobbies and color-coded them from the ones she'd be willing to try to the ones she wasn't okay with. Ice fishing was in the orange category, which meant 'only if she really wants to,' which were next to red for 'never do this,' and yellow for 'maybe, depending on my mood.' "Well, it'd probably have to wait; I'm a busy Bidoof these days, as you know. So, Maymay, you've got to tell me about what inspired you to build this sick battlefield. I want to squeeze your brain juices so I can change mine too."

Maylene scratched the back of her head. "It was actually kind of Grace. Well, she didn't actually give me the idea; I've just been thinking about our fight a lot lately and liked the idea of obstructing vision for both the trainer and the Pokemon to see how they'd adapt…"

Gardenia let the explanation fade into the background as she froze in place and tried to make sense of the enigma that was Candice. Even after years of knowing each other, she'd never wholly figured her out, which was part of why she was so into her. Gardenia had been planning to confess for weeks. First, she'd ask her to 'hang out' on something that would actually be a date when they had time off work in Eterna City. First, a drink out at a bar to loosen her nerves up a little, followed by an hour or two at a manga café so they could read some sappy romance thing Candice was into—not because she actually supported the main couple, but because she really liked some side character who Gardenia knew had very little screen time. Then a stroll outside the city to collect some flowers for her personal garden, a round of bowling, and so on and so forth so they each got to do something they were familiar with and liked in turns while the other could partake in the other girl's hobby. They would have spent the entire day together until the sunset, where they'd stroll through the Eterna City Gardens, and when the sun hit the flowers just right in the central plaza, Gardenia would have confessed—

"Nia? You look on edge," Candice so helpfully noticed. "Did me asking you out dazzle you that much?" She pushed herself into a spin before planting a foot on the ground and making a 'V' sign with her fingers in front of her eyes and a shining smile. Gardenia couldn't help but laugh. "There you go; that's better."

It would have been so perfect.

But maybe this could be fine too.

"So, are we girlfriends now?" Nia asked.

"Sure! Not like there's much that'll change. I guess I have more excuses to hang out at your Gym and leave your closet in shambles."

"Congrats, you two. Now you can stop circling each other, and you can actually enjoy yourselves." Maylene said with a hint of sadness. "Anyway, I better show you two this sick new spreadsheet system I came up with to track the Gym's Pokemon—" her phone rang in her pocket. She picked it up, stared at it for a split-second with the screen angled a little away from them, and any sign of negativity disappeared off her face as if it had never been there. She was obviously trying to contain a grin. "Oh—I gotta pick this up, girls, sorry!"

She hurried back through the double doors so fast that she moved more like a superhuman than a fifteen-year-old girl. Gardenia heard her say, 'How's my favorite dork doing today?' before the door closed behind her.

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

"Wha—did we miss something?" Candice whispered, slowly walking close to Gardenia. The grass type specialist had to take a conscious breath to stop herself from taking a step back. She was so hyper-aware of her… girlfriend now that it was tough to stick too close.

Honestly, it really hadn't sunk in yet. All of that build-up for… this?

"I think we might have?" Nia said, her tone rising near the end. "Her voice is completely different on the phone. Loud and a little higher. There's also, like, genuine joy. Joy, joy, you know what I mean?"

"Yeah. Do you think that's Grace? It must be, right?" Candice squinted at the door as if that would help her see through it. "Should we listen in?"

"Absolutely not."

"Aw."

"We should ask her about it when she comes back instead."

Candice grinned, flashing her very nice teeth. Her canines were so sharp. "You're the best, Nia!" She dashed in and hugged her, making Gardenia freeze in place for a moment before her hands wrapped around her… girlfriend's body. "That feels nice," Candice quietly said. "It's a little different now, actually."

"We should talk more about this. A relationship is complicated… we'll have to disclose it to Cynth and the League, but I'm sure she'll approve. In terms of public perception, it'd be better to hide it until Snowpoint's port is fixed, at least. It'll be important to remain unbiased in decisions having to do with our cities because there could be conflict of interest issues; we might have to recuse ourselves from decision-making entirely to our City Councils when making decisions that have to do with each other's cities—" she stopped for a moment, expecting a joke of some kind, but Candice was actually nodding along and giving Gardenia her full attention. It was reassuring, in a way. "Are you going to remember all of this?"

"I have a really good memory, so yeah."

Gardenia could attest to that. "We should take it slow for now. Breaching the boundary between best friends and girlfriends is dangerous; we should take it one step at a time. Instead of your making out in an igloo idea that would obviously lead to something else, why don't we do this date I had planned for us in like three weeks?" Okay, the truth was, even if Gardenia believed what she was saying, she also didn't want all of that planning to go to waste. "You'll love it. Promise."

"Hm… fine, but if I don't, you owe me something."

"You're just gonna say that you didn't like it anyway—" a laugh from Maylene through the door interrupted her. "We should probably wait to talk about this."

"Agreed." They let go of each other. "She never laughs like that with us."

"Well, she's obviously in love; we know this," Gardenia said. "I just didn't know they were on a 'my favorite dork' basis. That's pretty insane."

"She must have found a way to break up with Cecilia Obel, right?" Candice asked, and when Gardenia just stared at her with a defeated, resigned look, she grimaced. "Legendaries, they're so fucking messy."

"I think we might not know the half of it."

It took another minute for Maylene to come back out, and Candice whispered that it was as if someone had looked up 'happiness' online and put it in the images section. Her eyes were bright, her cheeks flushed with natural warmth, and a wide smile stretched across her face—but that specific kind of smile you made when your cheeks hurt from laughing too much.

"Had some fun in there?" Candice asked, wriggling her eyebrows.

"What?" Maylene asked. Genuinely asked. "Stop being so weird; it was just a phone call."

"With?" Gardenia pressed.

Maylene shuffled uncomfortably, hands flat at her sides. She clearly didn't like where these questions were going. "Grace. Why?"

Candice shrugged. "It just sounded awfully chummy."

"Wha—did you spy on me?!" There was a genuine glint of panic in her eyes, along with anger.

"No!" Nia yelled. "You started to talk before you closed the door."

"What did I say?"

Candice spoke up again. "Your face lit up like the night sky when she called; you called her your favorite dork, and she was seemingly fine with that. It looks like you're more than so-called friends."

"We're not. I wish we were, but we're not, and we never will be." A fist clenched at her side, nails digging into her palm. "I thought I told you to stop talking about that stuff." One didn't have to be Gardenia to tell Maylene was feeling so uncomfortable she wanted to jump out of her skin.

Gardenia sighed. "Maymay, look—if she likes you back, you can just… wait until Cecilia comes back. Stop all of this for a while. Then Grace can talk to her and decide what she really wants."

"You're the ones who egged me on! I was ready to give up!" Maylene yelled, her voice carrying further due to her ire. That was partly true, but honestly, Gardenia never expected a taken girl to be willing to go so far. She thought Grace would just ignore Maylene for the most part, and there was no way to know Cecilia Obel would just disappear into the wilderness and go no contact. "You two don't—you wouldn't understand!"

It was easy to forget that Maymay was a teen sometimes. The situation might be complicated, but there was no way it was as convoluted as she made it sound.

"We just don't want you to make a mistake," Gardenia said as gently as she could. "And you're right. I apologize for keeping you on this path."

Maylene shook her head almost violently. "I can't. She needs me. I've been helping her with her issues, and she's been getting so much healthier. I just—she's not ready yet. It would crush her."

Gardenia searched deep in Maylene's eyes and saw a partial truth. Her friend wanted this, too, no matter how much she denied it. The Gym Leader walked up to Maylene and clutched her shoulders tightly. "This girl isn't leading you on while her girlfriend is away, is she? Because if she is, I'll have some words—"

"She isn't! God, you're being so weird!" Maylene shook her hands off. "You better not be weird when she goes to your Gym!"

"I won't be." She wouldn't be weird, but she would have questions.

"We're going to tell Cecilia when she comes back, so we're good on that front. And we aren't actually doing anything physical like… kissing, okay? We just hang out and talk on the phone sometimes; it's not a big deal. I talk to her less than I do to both of you!" Maylene groaned. "I'm seeing her again tomorrow so she can show me how she practices the piano. She has an important test coming up."

Gardenia was honestly really proud of Candice for not making a joke about Grace serenading her with music. Instead, they shared a look of acknowledgment at how horrible this was all going to be when it inevitably blew up. They weren't her guardians, just friends. All they could do was give advice and hope she'd take them up on it.

—

One day later.

It was interesting, Maylene thought, to see Grace so focused on something as banal as piano. The Gym Leader tried to search her memories for another moment she'd seen her so profoundly focused, but the only ones that ever came up were the unpleasant ones. One of these instances was the first time they ever met face to face during her Gym Battle. Maylene didn't really remember what she'd thought of Grace at first—before the fight even began, and she'd been walking up on that platform. Memories of before she'd gotten a hold on schedule, job, and life in general were a little blurry.

Then, there were the days and nights where they climbed Coronet together with the fate of the world uncertain, and anything in front of Grace barring them from that goal became an obstacle to be eliminated, and her eyes became sharp with an air of resignation about them. Like this was just what needed to be done. Some nights, the young girl still found it difficult to imagine those days had been real. That it had been her climbing that coffin. She wasn't sure she would have been able to do it as she was today. Coming back from saving the world and seeing a fraction of these beings' power had a way of making you more scared of things, and she actually was doing well in her life, now. Relatively speaking.

Maylene shook her head and shut her eyes at the queasy feeling thinking of Coronet still gave her. Even now, staring in the mountain's direction made her nauseous. It was just so large, so all-encompassing, so impossible to understand—

"Maylene? You okay?" Grace's fingers hovered uncertainly above her electric piano which was actually called keyboard for some dumb reason. The focus on her face melted away—her brows raised a smidge, and her mouth evened out because she stopped biting her tongue or bottom lip. All that remained was worry.

Maylene tried to give her the best smile she could manage, but she knew it wouldn't fool her, so she just gave up halfway anyway. Her mouth just ended up making a weird lip twitch. "Yeah. I'm just thinking about…" Maylene didn't want to sour the mood, nor did she want Grace to recall those memories either, but then her 'friend' would get angry at her. Maylene knew Grace already must have had five retorts ready for when she tried to brush it off. "I was thinking about Coronet."

"Wanna talk about it?" Grace put away her piano for now. They were alone in Maylene's room, so she was just sitting on the mat-covered floor. Well, Maylene was actually lying on her stomach, legs dangling in the air and leaning against her palm as she watched Grace practice piano for some test at her next class. The Gym Leader found it weird, given that she couldn't focus unless she was alone without much noise, but she wouldn't say no to the girl she had a crush on offering to play music for her.

Oh, and she'd come in the cutest fucking overalls. Pale blue denim over a baggy white shirt. They were just normal clothes, but she was so, so adorable in them! Maylene wanted to poke her puffy little flushed cheeks and pamper her so badly…

"You look like, way happier than thirty seconds ago," Grace noted. "What's going on inside your head?" Before Maylene could answer, the blonde groaned. "Ugh, shut up."

"Mesprit again?" Maylene asked.

"Another unneeded comment, yes. They like stirring the pot," she said with a drawn-out sigh. Maylene had noticed that she'd spoken to Mesprit more frequently these days. "Anyway, talk to me, Maymay."

Her heart squeezed at that nickname. Grace didn't use it often—six times, including that night at her house; Maylene had counted—but she managed to utilize it in the best moments to get something out of her. "You're good, you know that?" Maylene sat up.

"The best," she smugly said as the Gym Leader sat next to her. "At least when I'm not trying to learn this partition by heart."

"Partition? What's that mean?"

"Oh, it's like—the score or music sheet." She tapped on the thin piece of paper on her lap, which had been sitting under the piano. "My teacher calls it partition because she's obsessed with Kalosian music terms. I guess it slipped into my language." Her eyes widened slightly, and she gently pushed Maylene's shoulder—Maylene had started wearing clothes with sleeves for this. "Hey! Don't try to avoid the topic!"

"I wasn't!" Maylene yelled. "I swear!"

Two piercing green eyes squinted at her. "I'll believe you," Grace huffed before her shoulder touched Maylene's. And stayed there. "Therapy not going okay? How's your new guy? That guy with the fake-sounding name."

"Doctor Jack Jones isn't that bad!"

"I'm not saying it's bad or making fun of him; I'd never make fun of a name. I'm just saying that it sounded fake when you told me."

Maylene snorted before pausing, fingers tapping her leg. Grace's hand trembled and moved less than an inch toward hers but stayed put like always. "I mean, it's going," Maylene said. "I talk a lot most days, and he always gives me things to think about before our next session; it's very helpful. It's just tough to… put everything behind me. I get reminded of Coronet by the most random stuff; you wouldn't believe it."

"Oh, no, I believe you," Grace said with a saddened look. There was a short quiet where Maylene could only hear herself breathing. Things were just so… comfortable with her. "Want to lay on my lap?"

"...sure." Her voice was so small at times like these. "Only for a little while, though. I don't want to disturb your studying."

Grace made a little pout. "That didn't sound very enthusiastic."

"Oh, my bad." Sarcasm dripped out of Maylene's tone, and she cleared her throat in the most exaggerated manner possible with a fist in front of her mouth. "May I have the privilege of lying my head on my lady's lap?" she asked in the most terrible of Galarian accents.

"What in the world was that?" Grace laughed—and Maylene loved to hear that sound. It was part of the reason why she tried to be so silly with her. "Do that again?"

Maylene took a deep breath, bracing herself before she placed her head on Grace's thighs. She could feel their warmth even through her clothes, a gentle sensation that made her heartbeat slow and made Maylene want to close her eyes and drift off to sleep.

"Only if you ask nicely," Maylene said.

"Maylene, can you please—actually, wait." The blonde grabbed her phone from a pocket, tapped her code, and clumsily hovered the camera over Maylene's face. "Could you please do that silly accent again? Please?"

Well, there was no way she could say no to those eyes, and this was harmless. "What if I did this and sang along to your piano thing?" It was difficult not to cringe at her own awful accent, but luckily no Galarians were nearby to take offense. "Oh, God, this is awful, innit?" The 'innit' made Grace break into laughter again, and Maylene felt her face flush. "I'm done!" she hastily declared in her normal voice.

"I was just starting to get immersed. I could almost imagine the streets of Motostoke—the smell, the sights, the sound of humming machinery—" she giggled. "It was really horrid, but in the best way."

"You're taking after me too much; your banter's getting better." Maylene was smiling so hard her mouth hurt. "One day, my little Grace will be all trained and ready to go toe-to-toe with the best in the nation."

Grace blushed—Maylene could see it so clearly. Grace's golden hair fell down toward her face, framing her flushed cheeks like a delicate curtain. The strands caught the light, glinting softly as they swayed with every subtle movement. "I'm already learning from the best." Her hand absentmindedly ran through Maylene's hair for a few seconds before her digits froze. There wasn't even any panic, just a subtle acknowledgment that they'd gone too far, followed by a needing stare, and finally, the removal of her hand. "Sorry."

Maylene swallowed. That had felt so good. "It's okay."

Things were a little awkward after that. How could Maylene stay on her lap after a breach of protocol? There were more and more of these every time they hung out; it was impossible to avoid. Here was the thing: Maylene was in love with Grace, and by now, she was pretty certain that she at least had a thing for her, too. There was just no way she would be doing all of this without feeling at least a spark. There had just been so many signals sent her way, and a lot of the time, it was Grace who went further than needed.

And it hurt to think about. Because there was just no way it was going to go anywhere. And she'd resigned to this since she realized her feelings—maybe even since further than that. Cecilia was going to come home, and sooner rather than later, according to what Grace had heard from Chase Karlson, and that would be that.

"Feeling down again?" Grace asked. "My lap's still available."

Maylene's jaw clenched. She could be so unknowingly cruel sometimes, and none of it was only her fault. "I'm fine." She lay back on her stomach. "Do your piano thing, you're—" so cute when you focus, "you better get a better grade than Jess. I don't want her to show you up again; I'll be rooting for you."

There was a little disappointed look on her face, and Maylene allowed herself to see if it would pass or devolve into catastrophizing. To her relief, Grace recovered rather quickly and grabbed her electric keyboard. She was steadily improving these days, even if Maylene still struggled to make her take therapy seriously.

Grace took a deep, consistent breath, and the focus came again. It was odd to see her stare down a piano like she wanted to murder it twice over. Fingers completely still; eyes narrow, intense, and barely blinking; her entire body seemed coiled, like a predator ready to strike. And it was so weird, because she wasn't even getting ready for an important battle or anything. She was just practicing the damn piano for a test worth ten percent of her grade!

Yet, her heart throbbed. A weird part of Maylene wanted Grace to look at her like that.

Then, she struck. Each note she landed was like a command, firm yet flowing, as if she were drawing the music out from the piano. Maylene mostly just listened, but she snuck in a video that she'd look at later. Her camera roll had started to be half Grace, half other things. She was just really photogenic, and Maylene liked to take silly pictures of people living in the moment without any time for them to try to adjust their faces with fake smiles or other expressions. Sometimes, she'd change her background to whatever picture of Grace she'd taken at the time. Right now, it was her running on a treadmill, her ponytail flowing behind her and sweat glistening on her skin.

Ah, that day had been so much fun, even if it was hard to focus because Grace had been looking down at her tummy half the time. Maylene didn't mind, though. She'd known that was the reaction her outfit would bring this time around, and she could have refused to wear it. Grace had worn something pretty revealing too—

The Gym Leader was snapped out of her thoughts by a groan and the end of the music.

"Fuck." Grace sighed, and her fingers tensed. "Arceus, I had it." She stared down the partition like it had hurt her personally.

"Did you mess up?" Maylene asked. "I couldn't tell."

"Yeah, I mistimed a note. I'll go again."

She went again, and again, and again, but she kept getting stuck at that same spot to the point where she was starting to get seriously frustrated with herself.

"You want to take a break?" Maylene asked.

Grace nodded. "My fingers are kind of tired. I wish I had Jess', she can just practice all day. Must be all that Alolan food her dad makes her."

"Hey, I'd never get tired either." Maylene wriggled her fingers in the air, and Grace averted her eyes for whatever reason. "I do wonder, though, why do you stop when you make one mistake? The last forty minutes I've seen you practice here, you've never made it past that spot. How close is it to the end?"

"I just—I have to get it right. It's about halfway."

Arceus, that was a long song. The class must have been an intense one. "But you run the risk of getting a lot less practice than needed."

Grace paused, wanting to fight back, but then she relented with a sigh and sagging shoulders. "I guess it's true that I haven't really done any work on the second half. And if I mess up during the actual test, I'll just have to continue."

"See?"

"It just feels wrong if things don't go perfectly, but I guess I should treat this like a battle. Things are going to go south eventually. No plan survives contact with the enemy." She nodded along to herself as if what she'd posited wasn't ludicrous. That was part of what made her so loveable.

"You're such a dummy," Maylene softly spoke.

Grace beamed like a little Lillipup at the name. "I'd really like to get full marks, though. Ms. Arden said the top five scorers by the end of the course can get referrals to her contacts and stuff, and she knows people in Unova."

"Damn. Kalos and Unova? She's pretty well-connected." Not that Maylene knew anything about the world of classical music, anyway. "Why don't I try and play you a little serenade while you cool off?"

"Maylene, you're going to play something really bad."

"Psht. Me? No way." She waved a hand dismissively. "Pass it to me."

She was horrible. Her playing was an abomination that had no right to be called music. In fact, it was so bad that Grace didn't even have it in her to shit-talk her. The weird part was that logically, her dexterity meant that she should have been good at piano, but it didn't matter when she had no idea what she was doing.

At least it made her laugh; that was always fun. Seeing Grace happier and better equipped to face her eighth Gym, the Conference, and Unova every day was worth everything in the world.

Eventually, their hour and a half came to a close. Maylene struggled to imagine the next time they were going to meet up. It would be at her Gym again, but this time, they were finally going to practice for fifteen minutes. Fifteen. That was such a long time, yet ten was too and it felt like it went by in a flash every time. It had been so long since the last time they practiced, and Grace had been really unsatisfied by the two times she'd done it with Chase. They had planned to watch some other movie, this time recommended by Grace, but Maylene wasn't sure they'd be able to wait until the end of their assigned time together this time.

There was just nothing to say about it, she'd told Maylene. It's just unpleasant, and it feels transactional. It's so weird with him, but I love it with you. It's special. Her mother staring at her so judgingly didn't help, along with the questions that followed.

Needless to say, Maylene was incredibly nervous, especially when there was one special request she wanted to make. She'd wanted to send it over text originally, but that would have felt… wrong. It needed to be face-to-face. So with Grace ready to leave her bedroom with her piano safely inside its case and strapped around her shoulder, Maylene garnered every bit of courage she could scrape within herself and called out.

"Grace, I have something to ask." She fiddled with her fingers, and her eyes constantly alternated between her feet and Grace. "And it's going to sound weird."

Grace blinked at her, all innocently. "I'm pretty sure nothing you could do or ask would weird me out."

"No, this is really weird. Like, I'm weirded out at myself just thinking about it."

"Now I'm curious," she said, leaning slightly in.

Maylene couldn't help but look at her lips. They were so plump—gah, focus! "Okay." She took a deep breath and continued. "So I've already said I've forgiven you for our Gym Battle, but you still struggle with that notion, right? Like you still feel like you have to atone even after all this time. And even after we've gotten so close."

Grace deflated. "Hmhm," was all she could muster.

"I feel like—like you need closure of some kind. And to be honest, I've thought about it a lot, and I think this might be the only way for you." For weeks, Maylene had wracked her mind trying to figure out a way to make Grace reach peace, and it had taken knowing her to figure out that the key to that lay in symbolism. "I think that—that it'd be good to talk about that day in more detail and what our thoughts about it are. And what we were thinking before, during, and after that day as best as we can remember." Maylene's voice turned into a near-inaudible whisper. "And maybe we should both wear what we were wearing that day, too. You know, so it's proper—"

"Wha—" the words died in Grace's throat.

"It's super weird right?" Maylene quickly said, accompanied by a nervous laugh. "I'm sorry, forget I ever brought it up—"

"No!" Grace yelled. "No, I—I was surprised, that's all. To be honest, I think it's a really good idea." Her foot kicked air, and she began looking away as well. "I don't really remember what I was wearing, to be honest. I've done my best not to think about it. Like, I thought about what it did to you, how horrible that was, and how I needed to apologize, but I wanted to avoid the actual battle as much as possible. I can look at the video—"

Words spilled out of Maylene's mouth immediately. "You were wearing that dark pleated skirt you have with those thick winter tights and a gray cotton sweater that was a little too big for you. You had your old white sneakers on because I'm pretty sure those are your most comfortable shoes, your hair was down like today, and you had your Poketch Watch on your right wrist."

"O—oh. You remember it." She slapped her forehead. "Wait, of course, it had such an effect on you. I'm sorry."

"It's okay. And I'll just be wearing my Gym Leader outfit." Words came easy now that Grace had agreed. "Oh, I guess it might be too hot outside; you can change when you get here. In the showers downstairs, or whatever."

"That sounds good." She gave herself a few seconds to think, eyes looking at the ceiling. "Yep, that sounds good," she repeated. "Emi has a decent amount of those clothes, but I should be able to get them from her easily."

Maylene raised an eyebrow. "She has your clothes?"

"Hmhm. We used to move around a lot while she was pretty stationary, so she kind of carried all of our clothes for a decent bit. Mostly, I just forgot to ask her for them back. I could have put them all at my dad's and my mom's by now."

"Ohhh," Maylene said, long and drawn out. "Yeah, I guess traveling with a million clothes is tough. You don't really think about this stuff when you don't participate in the Circuit."

"Now, who's the dummy?"

Maylene reached out to smooth the wrinkles from Grace's overalls she'd gotten while sitting, making her freeze up like a Deerling. "Don't try to turn that nickname back on me; I know you enjoy it way too much." She finished fixing up Grace's outfit and played with a strand of her hair. "You looked really good today, by the way."

"Wh—whu—" She was obviously too tongue-tied to say anything. "Thanks you."

Maylene chuckled. "Thanks you? Come on, try again."

"I—I mean thank you." Grace audibly gulped, and Maylene could tell she was looking at her lips. "See you next time?"

She let go of her hair and smiled. "Yep. Kadabra should be waiting for you outside." They had gotten good at letting the psychics know when and where Grace would need to be Teleported ahead of time.

Maylene guided Grace out of her bedroom and through her living quarters. For a moment, she thought about escorting her all the way out, but Grace knew her way around by now, and lingering too long might overextend their assigned time together. Maylene knew Grace enough to know that it was important to still be punctual and not be sloppy, or she would see it as a sign to start depending on her further. She needed people to keep her centered because she had no self-control. Or at least far less self-control than Maylene did.

"Um. Can I hug you?"

Case in point. She turned toward Maylene with that pleading look in her eyes, as if a refusal would utterly crush her. The 'yes' nearly flew out of Maylene's mouth like it would have been a prayer finally answered, but she bit her tongue, and her foot began to bounce on the floor.

"It'd kind of be a breach of contract, but like, if I'm the one hugging you over your clothes, our skin won't touch." Her pleading look turned almost rapacious, as if she wanted to jump Maylene's bones. "I just want to feel you. Because it's been so long since we've hugged, and I kind of miss it." They hadn't since Grace and Cecilia had come to her Gym to help her out with Oscar. "And you know, it'd be good for you too—"

"That's probably a bad idea," Maylene interrupted her, because she knew Grace would end up cornering her with words. Her restraint was already fraying as is. "I'd like to, don't get me wrong," she added as Grace's face fell. "I just think that—" Maylene really didn't want to say it out loud. "You get it, right?"

"I get it," she sighed, clearly disappointed. "Don't work too late?"

"No promises."

"You've got to take care of yourself," Grace said. "You're lucky I can't check in on you outside of our texting hours."

"You'd just use it as an excuse to chat," Maylene teased. "The last time, you just used it to complain about Ramon being annoying at that lunch." Grace had gone with Ramon a few days ago to train, since she'd been looking for a training partner and that Marley girl was giving her the slip. She had gotten pretty trashed, but she didn't really mind.

"Well, yeah! He doesn't know when to turn off his sarcasm setting! It was just getting mildly annoying when he kept shit-talking my Turtonator and making him angry for getting destroyed by his Delibird. You're way better at banter than he is."

"Grace, I could call you anything, and you'd probably like it." Maylene smirked when a retort didn't immediately come to shut her down.

"Not everything. Just most things," she finally said. Just then, she leaned in a little, her body spry and full of expectation. She wanted to be called something mean.

"You could at least hide how eager you are."

"Just say it."

Maylene snorted. "You're so such a weirdo."

"Hmhm." Grace closed her eyes, taking the words in.

"And you're my favorite idiot."

"Am I?"

She was so close now. Their knuckles and fingers grazed against each other, each point of contact lit aflame by the unspoken tension that crackled between them. Maylene contained the urge to cup her face and do something else, because while she was certain it would lead to what she wanted in the moment, it'd blow up in both of their faces. She couldn't do it.

So she played it off with a joke. "I'm actually serious—like sometimes, I wonder how you got this far."

It had the desired effect, drawing a little laugh and making Grace aware of how close she was so she would take a step back.

"Oh, and also, I would totally not use checking in on you at work as an excuse," she countered in that sweet voice she used when she wanted something. "I'd just check in on you occasionally, like once or twice throughout the day. It was just an idea, though; I wasn't actually serious."

"Uhuh. I believe you," Maylene lied. "You better get going; we don't want Kadabra to be angry."

"See you next time?" Grace asked, almost a question that Maylene thought was meant to ask, are you okay with this? Can we keep going?

She was, and they could. "See you next time."

Maylene fondly rubbed her fingers where she'd been touched. She wanted to cry, to call out her name and tell her everything she felt.

It'd probably be the last time they would see each other like this.