Crap, why am I crying?

You wipe away your tears.

I shouldn't be crying. It isn't worth it. He's not worth it.

You close your eyes. More tears stream down your face.

It's not him, I don't care about him. It's me... I'm weak. It's too much for me to handle.

"Stop crying, (Y/N)" You tell yourself.

You stand up from your seat.

I can go back to school. Rusturf Tunnel is not far from here.

Determined, you leave the Pokémon Center.

•••

The husband looks at the small white house.

Is my kid okay? He wonders.

"What are you looking at, darling?" His wife asks, as she returns from the Poké Mart.

"Just wondering..."

"You're thinking about our baby, aren't you?"

He shrugs, trying to shake it off.

"We're both worried, but we need to go. We can't be seen around here."

He shakes his head, wiping off his tears.

"You're right. Let's go. Lilycove is pretty far from here."

•••

"You just missed her" Nurse Joy informs.

Steven sighs, running his hands through his hair.

"Thank you anyway, Nurse Joy" He smiles at her before leaving.

Arceus damn it.

Steven unclips a Poké Ball from his belt.

"Skarmory, please come out" He says, releasing his Steel type partner. "Can you look around for (Y/N)?"

Skarmory nods and flies away. Steven sighs again.

Stupid.

He decides to look around route 117, since it leads to route 116 then Rustboro City. Steven figured she would be here.

And he was right.

"Skarmory, come back!" He points out the Poké Ball at the sky, returning his bird Pokémon. "(Y/N), wait up!"

He sprints towards you.

"Wait!"

You don't bother looking back at him, nor answering his appeals.

Keep walking.

"If you don't stop walking, I will ask Metang to use Giga Impact on you!" Steven yells.

You smirk.

"Try me."

Steven frowns, confused at your lack of fear. For him, it was weird. When you were little, you were afraid of Cascoon and Silcoon. He always made fun of you because of that.

"What is wrong with you?!"

"At the moment, you are. I missed the bus because of you, I have a gigantic bruise because of you, and now I have to go through Rusturf Tunnel because of you" You growl in response.

"Can't say I'm sorry about that..."

"And I thought you couldn't be worse" You sigh. "Let's go, Kirlia."

You release Kirlia from her Luxury Ball. Steven smirks.

"You want to battle?"

"No, idiot, I want her to stay between us to prevent me from hitting you in the head with a rock."

"You're so sweet, (Y/N). I'm so lucky to have you" He mocks, rolling his eyes.

You close your eyes, asking for patience. Kirlia glares at Steven.

As you reach Verdanturf, you're tempted to just go home and rest, but you didn't want to get in trouble for ditching class, so you just suck your pride and head to Rusturf Tunnel. Steven follows.

"Keep your eyes open, Kirlia" You tell the Pokémon. She nods.

You spray on a repel before stepping inside the cave. Steven does the same.

"This is scary" He mumbles.

"It is" You agree. Steven searches for a flashlight on his bag.

You trip onto something.

"Ouch!" You cry, as you land on your bum. Steven turns around to look at you. "Arceus damn it, Steven! You just blinded me."

"And you are a brat" He offers you his hand.

"I'm still nicer to be around" You mumble, wiping your skirt. "Give me the flashlight, I need to see what's going on here."

He hands you the flashlight. You light the way, soon realizing what you tripped on.

"Oh, no... We're stuck here."

"What do you mean?"

You return the flashlight.

"There are huge rocks blocking the way. We'll need Rock Smash to get out of here, unless you know how to swim."

"You know I don't..."

You smile at the memory of small Steven crying at the beach.

Steven grabs something from his blazer.

"Eh, I guess it's time..." He shrugs.

"For what?"

"For my third gym badge" He answers simply, heading out the cave. You and Kirlia follow him.

"Wait. How in the world do you have the Stone and the Knuckle Badge?" You ask, running after Steven.

"I was bored at Devon, so I decided to challenge the gym."

You roll your eyes.

"I imagine how hard it is to be you..." You mock.

Steven stops walking and turns around to look at you. His eyes are dead yet again.

"Really? You want to go there?"

You cross your arms.

"My life is a living hell right now and I don't see you feeling bad for me. Why should I feel bad for you?" You shrug.

Wow, I really am a horrible person.

"Fair enough. You don't have to throw that at me to get my sympathy back, it won't work."

But he's definitely worse.

"You're just a ray of sunshine, eh?"

Steven shrugs again.

"I have my moments."

You follow him back to Mauville. Steven is thinking about strategies, since Steel type moves aren't very effective against Electric type Pokémon. He's very focused, so you didn't bother him with questions.

Before he walks into the gym, you grab his arm.

"Steven, wait... Why are you doing this for me?" You ask.

He closes his steel blue eyes. You didn't know, but he was hesitating.

"I'm not doing this for you" He shakes off of your grip.

You play with your hair.

"Why did I expect you to be nice?"

You walk away, disappointed but not exactly surprised.

•••
Final A/N

I hope no one is used to regular updates, because I'll probably stop them after this chapter. I have one more chapter ready, but then I got stuck and can't seem to write anymore. I don't know what is happening with my brain right now...

(P.S.: can you tell how excited I was for USUM news on yesterday's Nintendo Direct?)

As always... Luv, Angel.