The previous night, Gladion had desperately wanted to fall asleep. He had known if he didn't do so he'd be an absolute wreck in the morning. True, he was a workaholic and could do without many of the supposedly necessary hours of sleep, but that didn't mean he was any healthier than any another workaholic, and it didn't mean he never slept.

Now it was morning and Gladion thanked God he'd somehow managed to fall asleep. He was only slightly tired from the hours he'd spent awake the last night, unable to get the feeling of Hau's lips on his off his mind. It was so maddening that at one point he'd almost gotten up just to find Hau and kiss him before he stopped and realized the utter absurdity of that plan.

Gladion was currently sitting around a table with Elio, Selene, and Lillie, the former two smirking while the last simply had a bright smile on her face. He wondered briefly where Hau was before figuring out the most likely reason why his friends looked like that. He narrowed his eyes dangerously.

"Don't tell me you—"

"Hau told us everything!" Lillie interrupted excitedly, her eyes sparkling. Gladion groaned.

"So," Selene said, her smirk growing in haughtiness, "are you and Hau officially dating, or...?"

"I hate all of you, first of all," Gladion growled, making Elio grin and Selene scoff. "And second of all, I have no idea whether we're dating or not. Where is Hau, anyway?"

"He's telling Hala," Elio replied casually. Gladion choked on air.

"What!" Gladion spat, making Selene burst out into laughter. "That little brat can't even ask me before going around telling people we may or may not be dating now?"

"That's Hau for you! You should know this by now, Gladion. This is the type of uncensored enthusiasm that had you ready to explode when you first met him," Selene said, a glint in her eyes.

"I'm aware," Gladion grumbled.

"What made you decide to start dating Hau in the first place?" Elio asked calmly, his arms crossed.

"We're not dating...yet." Gladion sighed. "Although apparently Hau says differently..."

"Ignore the technicalities, Gladion, you guys are dating." Elio frowned.

"The only reason I'm surprised is because I thought you hated him!" Selene snorted.

"I always knew he didn't hate Hau," Lillie chimed in. "He pretended he did, but he never really hated Hau. Right, Gladion?"

"I certainly didn't like him, but I guess I didn't hate him either," Gladion admitted reluctantly. "It all just happened so quickly, I'm...not really sure what's going on."

"Well, we all knew you were gay," Selene pointed out bluntly.

Lillie and Elio raised their hands meekly to signal that, despite Selene's words, they had not.

"How would you know that if I've never had an interest in anyone except Hau?" Gladion demanded, sounding annoyed.

"Well, you never showed any interest in girls, ever, and I just got this vibe from you," Selene said dismissively. "Apparently these two dummies didn't get it, but I did."

"Gladion, come here!"

Everyone turned in the direction of the voice, which was undoubtedly Hau's.

"What is it?" Gladion yelled. Hau was peeking out from the doorway of the room he'd been talking to Hala in.

Hau dangled is Xtransceiver in front of him. Hala was grinning back at them.

"My gramps wants to talk to you!" Hau replied with his trademark million-watt smile.

Gladion stiffened. He hoped that, if Hau was going to tell people about what was going on between them, he'd handle it all himself. Gladion wasn't very good with strangers, especially when it came to discussing matters such as this. He didn't want to talk to a kahuna about this, much less a kahuna that happened to also be Hau's grandfather.

If Hala didn't like him, would he and Hau have to go back to just being friends?

Gladion didn't think he could handle that. If they went back to that now, the blonde would feel as though he was actively being starved.

They were hardly past that point anyway, but Gladion got the feeling he and Hau wouldn't go back.

Gladion ran over to Hau, who passed the Xtransceiver over to him and left the room. He could hear loud chatter and laughter coming from outside the door he'd just closed, and he wished the others could be in this room with him.

"I'm just going to let you know now," Gladion said flatly, holding Hau's Xtransceiver awkwardly in his hand, "that I'm not a social person, and it's quite likely I'm going to be extremely uncomfortable during this conversation and am going to embarrass myself."

Hala let out a laugh as booming as his casual, deep voice, and yet there was something uneasy within it that carried vaguely across the elderly kahuna's expression. Gladion knew a lot of people would not have caught this, though it wasn't entirely impossible to catch. Hala was usually such an easygoing man, though he did recall a story Hau told him where Hala had made him cry because his anger had scared him so much...

(Hau had played this story off with a breezy laugh, but Gladion was already worrying about what was to come.)

"Oh, I don't mind. I've definitely had my fair share of uncomfortable, unnecessarily-embarrassed challengers," Hala answered in a not-quite-assuring voice, his tone lacking some of its usual heartiness. His grin didn't have all its usual vigor. "I just wanted to talk to you about Hau. Actually, I wanted to talk about you and Hau. So you two are...together?"

Gladion flinched. "Yes. I mean, I suppose we are. He didn't get my consent or anything, but if he asks, I'm going to say yes anyway."

He wondered if he should've said more.

He wondered if he shouldn't have said anything at all.

He wondered if Hala was a homophobe.

Hala sighed deeply, his grin disappearing in an instant. "I don't mind if you and my grandson are together. I'm not that kind of man. I'm more open-minded than that..." He sighed again, quieter this time. Gladion didn't know whether he should feel relieved yet. "It's just that Hau's been talking about you for a long time, and he's let a few things slip that I wanted to...talk to you about."

Gladion felt a knot begin to develop in his stomach.

"What...what is it?"

"Hau raves about you, and I am not a very judgmental man," Hala said. "The more time goes on, the more positive Hau's comments about you seem to get, so I have a lot of faith in you."

The blonde bit the inside of his cheek.

He wished Hala wouldn't put faith in him.

He'd probably just mess everything up.

"But I remember some things Hau told me about you when he wasn't sure about you."

Gladion gulped and his eyes widened. He was begging whatever gods he could that it didn't show as much as he was sure it did.

"Relax, boy," Hala said sternly. It wasn't comforting at all, and Gladion gripped his wrist tightly as his hand began to tremble.

Oh, that. That was another thing he hadn't told anyone about. Only Lillie and his...mother...knew what the cause of his hand's violent trembling was. He hadn't even told Hau.

As irritating as the assumption could be, Gladion was pretty glad most people thought he was doing it on purpose to appear edgy.

Really, it was nerve damage. It didn't affect his hand all the time, but it seemed to affect his hand when he was anxious, and sometimes when he was angry.

Lusamine had been trying to put something together, but Gladion couldn't recall what exactly it was. The only thing he knew with certainty was that it had to do with Ultra Beasts, and that Wicke had accidentally broken a minor part of it. The president of the Aether Foundation had been nearly done with fixing the contraption, hammering in the last few screws.

Then Gladion reached out to touch it, not knowing any better.

Something sparking in her eyes, Lusamine instinctively reached out and smashed his hand with a hammer.

He had to go to a hospital where they made sure his hand was still able to function but couldn't fix the nerve damage his mother had done. He didn't know if the hospital had suspected she'd done something to him.

He guessed Lusamine had paid the hospital to keep quiet if they had.

Trying not to have any reaction to the memory, Gladion reminded himself he was lucky the nerve damage would most likely heal over time. Though it was still bad enough, he remembered it was much, much worse at the beginning.

He usually blocked out the memory entirely when his hand started trembling.

He tried to keep a straight face and focus only on Hau's grandfather.

Realizing that, despite it only having been a few seconds, he'd been silent a moment too long, Gladion said, "I'm sorry, I just...I'm a bit distracted today. I'm better now. What was it that you wanted to, um, talk about?"

"Hau's made me aware that you cuss a lot...I guess I was expecting you to act the same way around adults." Hala chuckled. "That's the minor stuff, though."

Gladion grimaced, considering telling him that he did usually act the same way around adults, but that today was a special occasion.

He opted for keeping his mouth shut instead.

"So, let's get serious here for a moment. Hau told me you were once with a gang, those Team Skull hooligans." Hala frowned. "Is that right?"

This was just great.

How much did Hau tell Hala?

Gladion knew the answer but prayed he was wrong anyway.

"That's correct," Gladion said, absolutely despising the timid tone his voice had taken on. "Uh, but...I'm not with them anymore. I used to be their enforcer, though admittedly most of them didn't like me...the leader liked me, and his admin liked me, but the rest of them didn't."

"Hau's been helping rehabilitate some former members of Team Skull," Hala pointed out, his voice becoming the tiniest bit lighter. "Did you know that?"

Gladion nodded meekly. "Yes. I think he's a better person than I am."

Gladion wished he was joking.

He also hoped Hala couldn't tell that he wasn't.

Hala continued, "I just want to make sure you don't...well, go by those ways anymore. You know what I'm saying. I'm not trying to offend you, but let's be honest. What Team Skull used to do wasn't exactly the most decent stuff."

The teen nodded again, rapidly this time. "Oh, I know. I was...a little out of line. I might still be." He laughed hastily, trying to play the comment off as a joke. Why did he keep saying things he shouldn't be? "But I wouldn't do all those things again. That...wasn't right."

Gladion wanted to curse his luck that he couldn't insert elegance into his words whenever it counted.

"Good. I believe you. And...one more thing," Hala said, his face softening unexpectedly. "Hau told me about your mother..."

"He did?" Gladion blurted out, suddenly wanting to disappear into a hole and die.

"He did. I just want you to know that Hau will always be here for you...if you need him. And so will I. So will all your friends." Hala cleared his throat, sounding slightly out of place. "I'm not very good with things like this, but while Hau looks out for you, look out for Hau. Do you think you can do that?"

"Yes," Gladion said. His voice was barely audible.

Hala rewarded the boy with a smile. "Thank you."

Unfortunately, as Gladion called Hau over to retrieve his Xtransceiver and exchange a few last words with his grandfather, he felt something gnawing at him.

He adored Hau. He never wanted Hau to leave him. That boy made him happier and calmer than he ever was, and yet, also made him crazy.

But how could he ever look after him when he couldn't even look after himself?