A/N: Finally, the next chapter! I truly, truly apologize for how long this update took. The entire story was on a Microsoft Word document on my main computer, which crashed a while ago. I'd already finished half of what I had originally planned to be this chapter, and I was so annoyed by losing it even though it hadn't been completely done that I stopped. Once my main computer was up and running again I'd planned to continue the chapter from where I left off, but it's still not back up, and so shortly ago I decided I would simply rewrite this chapter. I didn't want to make you guys wait any longer. I hope it was worth it!

Gladion looked around warily. The blur was slowly fading away from his vision, and he noticed now that, aside from having apparently been laid down on a bed, his friends were surrounding him. They all looked concerned, but Lillie in particular had her eyes wide as could be. She was horrified, and emeralds were obscured by glimmering tears.

The tears slid down the young girl's face and her lip quivered. "Gladion, I'm so sorry that I...!" She took in a small gasp of air. "If I'd known seeing our mother again would do this to you, I would have—!"

Gladion reached up to wipe away his younger sister's tears, grimacing. He hated to see her cry, especially since he had so many vivid memories of both of them crying in response to their mother.

"Don't. Don't cry, Lillie; it's okay. I'm going to be fine." Mustering up all the strength he could, Gladion managed to smile.

This, however, only seemed to make Lillie more furious.

"No, you don't! I'm not a little girl anymore, Gladion! You don't need to tell me things are fine when they're not!" Lillie sniffed loudly. A solemnly-smiling Selene handed her a tissue, of which she wiped her nose with.

Upon hearing this, Gladion realized something: Lillie really wasn't a little girl anymore. It was such a wonderfully shocking revelation that he might have tripped had he not been lying down in the first place.

She'd grown so much, and he hadn't known. She wasn't the same shy, afraid girl she once was. She had bravery, determination in her eyes.

She'd grown this much, and he hadn't been there for her.

Gladion smiled painfully. "Lillie, when...did you become who you are now?"

Lillie blinked slowly in confusion. "What? I'm not really sure what you're talking about..."

"What I mean is that you're right. You're not a little girl anymore. But the last time I saw you before I ran away, you still were." Gladion bit his lip. "So when was it that you became such an impressive sister?"

Lillie blinked again before laughing freely, her laugh washing Gladion's vision in gold. "Oh, Gladion...It certainly wasn't when I ran away. I was still the same. But meeting all of them, especially Selene..." She trailed off, glancing at Selene and Hau on her right, then at Elio on her left.

Gladion smirked at Selene, who smirked back. "I guess I owe you one for helping Lillie become the girl she is now, hmm?"

Selene snickered and waved a dismissive hand at him. "You don't owe me anything. She already had everything within her; I just helped her bring it out. But if you really want to owe me something, then yeah, Gladion, you owe me one."

Suddenly, the blonde's eyes strayed to Hau, who was fidgeting uncomfortably on the side.

Had Hau said he loved him?

Had he said he loved Hau in return?

His mind strayed away from unpleasant thoughts of Lusamine and contrasting pleasant thoughts of Lillie being all grown up.

Hau had really changed things for him, although he'd only met the kid ten months ago. He'd made him realize, at least to an extent, that he meant something to people. And as of late, he'd made him realize that his friends were always there for him.

But the green-haired Trainer had changed something else, too. Something deep inside Gladion that he couldn't put a finger on, despite knowing for sure it was there.

If he were to be honest, he felt closer to Hau than he did any of the rest of them, minus Lillie. Even if Hau was almost insane in his exuberance, being around him brought a peace of mind that Gladion didn't seem to experience around anybody else.

What was his relationship with Hau?

He didn't feel as though they were brothers, but he was certain they were more than friends, and they definitely weren't enemies. What did that leave?

Gladion twitched. That left something, all right...something he was sure they weren't.

He wasn't sure if he wanted them to be, though.

They really needed to talk.

"Gladion, are you listening?!"

The green-eyed boy snapped out of his train of thought, looking up at his pouting sister.

"I said, next time something like this might happen, you have to let me know." Lillie put her hands on her hips. "You can't worry me like that! You have to tell me if you know something bad is going to happen, and I can help it!"

"I just didn't want you to get mad at me and say I wasn't giving Lusamine a chance...I decided I might as well try for you." Gladion chuckled despite the acid curdling in his stomach at saying his mother's name. "I'm sorry too, Lillie."

Lillie huffed, "Not sorry enough!" before contrarily throwing herself onto her brother in a gigantic, completely unnecessary hug. Gladion smiled just the slightest bit and, recognizing the situation was hopeless, gently wrapped his arms around Lillie as well.

Getting distracted again though Lillie was still trapped in his embrace (and vice versa), Gladion's green eyes wandered to Hau. When their eyes met, Hau smiled gently and seemed significantly relaxed that he wasn't freaking out anymore over seeing Lusamine.

Gladion found that he didn't want to worry Hau. He could pretend he hated him all he wanted, but it wouldn't change anything, and as of late it would be about a million times harder to pretend.

He wanted to thank the younger boy, but he didn't know how, and even if he just tried saying it out loud, he wouldn't be able to find the right words.

When Lillie released him, Hau spoke.

"Gladion, can I talk to you for a second?"

Elio and Lillie turned to the green-haired Trainer in surprise while Selene simply snorted as if she'd known this was going to happen all along.

Gladion frowned as though the idea displeased him, but he could already guess his expression wasn't as convincing as it once might have been.

"Sure. Why don't the rest of you get out?"

"How polite," Elio grumbled as he slipped out of the room with Lillie. Selene remained for a second before rolling her eyes and saying, "See you later, loser!" and following her brother and girlfriend.

Gladion propped himself up using the pillow he'd been lying on. He felt much more comfortable when Hau didn't appear to tower over him. It made him feel inferior. Their eyes connected again.

"What is it?"

Hau sighed a little, a different type of concern than before igniting in his eyes. His eyes, Gladion noticed, were quite pretty, with a depth he thought his own lacked. Most people loved light-colored eyes, but Gladion thought they were unappealing because they were shallower—at least, in his opinion. Hau's eyes were darker.

He scowled, realizing he was spending a bit too long dwelling on Hau's eyes, and turned his attention to the boy's words instead.

"Oh, it's not that important. So if you don't want to talk about it, you don't have to—obviously. You don't have to talk about anything you don't want to. But I just needed to know what we're...what we're doing, I guess."

Gladion was simultaneously relieved and put on edge that Hau wanted to talk about the exact same thing he'd been thinking of mentioning.

And yet he still pretended he didn't know what he was talking about.

"What do you mean?" Gladion frowned tightly. "We're friends now. We've established that...as much as it annoys me to say it. I don't know what you're trying to say."

"Yes, you do." Hau slipped his hand into Gladion's, intertwining their fingers.

Gladion knew it would probably be best for him to separate their hands, but unfortunately, he found himself liking the contact more than he preferred to think about.

He closed his green eyes briefly before opening his mouth. "Yes, I do. Are you searching for me to say something, Hau? Because I have absolutely no idea what I'm supposed to say."

"You're not supposed to say anything," Hau shot back, sounding almost angry. "I want you to tell me what you want this relationship to be."

"We're friends," Gladion snapped equally as angrily, not knowing what point he was trying to make.

Did he want them to be more than friends?

What was "more than friends" in the first place?

"I told you I loved you." Hau narrowed his eyes. "And you said you loved me too."

"You just said that because I was falling off the edge," Gladion retorted. "That means whatever you said—whatever we both said—doesn't mean anything."

Realizing his statement might actually have been true made Gladion's heart drop.

Had Hau only said that because he was on the verge of madness?

Did it mean anything at all?

Because he'd certainly meant it when he answered he loved Hau as well.

"Not just," Hau replied, his voice softening. But he was gripping the blonde's hand harder now, and his eyes (very pretty) were staring fiercely into Gladion's. "I meant it. I meant every word of it. I wouldn't say something like that if I didn't mean it."

"But we're friends."

Gladion found himself hoping that wasn't all they were.

What did he want them to be?

"Not just," Hau repeated, his voice so quiet it was a whisper.

Gladion hated it—really, really hated it—but at that moment, a wave of euphoria washed over him and he swore he would float away, out of the world and into heaven.

(He wasn't sure if he believed in heaven, but he could at least guess how ending up there would make you feel.)

(And he was fairly certain it felt the way he did right then.)

"Maybe you didn't mean what you said back there," Hau continued, his barely-audible voice somehow still overflowing with a fiery boldness, "but I did, so I'm going to ask you: what do you want us to be?"

Gladion looked away. "I meant what I said."

"Because I know what I want us to be," Hau said, so absorbed in doubt that it seemed he hadn't heard the older boy, "but I'm not moving on without you."

Beginning to tremble almost violently, Gladion gritted his teeth, his eyes fixing on everything, anything but Hau.

What did he want them to be?

He didn't know how to put it into words, but he knew this:

Being friends wasn't enough.

So that's what he said.

"Being friends isn't enough."

As Hau leaned in far closer than was necessary to simply speak to his friend, Gladion realized he wasn't the only one trembling.

Also, if the green-haired child kept it up, Gladion's hand would be left with bruises.

"What do you want us to be?" Hau repeated the same line from before. Gladion could feel his cool breath against his face.

"I don't know what I want," Gladion answered, wishing at that moment he could afford to be something other than honest.

"Is this what you want?"

And as Hau pressed his lips against Gladion's, the emerald-eyed teen felt a sensation he'd never felt before, a sensation that felt like a wildfire mixed with the euphoria from before mixed with an almost unbearable longing.

Hau hadn't just completely invaded Gladion's personal space; he'd also broken an invisible barrier between them.

And Gladion liked it.

He liked it a lot.

So as Hau pulled back, still only inches from the other's face and both of them breathless, Gladion once again said the truth.

"Yes."