Selene's glare was burning through him like fire.

"If you keep acting like this, you're going to lose all of us. Hau will be harder to convince, but he'll leave once he sees reason."

Gladion had his mouth glued shut, doing his best to keep as silent as humanly possible. He knew eventually he'd talk, but for now he'd just listen. He'd probably just make things worse by talking.

He hated that Selene was threatening him, but he knew he wasn't a pleasant person to be around. (God knew it had been pointed out to him enough times.) They were all in Selene's house now except for, obviously, Lillie. Her mother had decided to go out for the day and take a rest.

"Look. I know you're not a bad guy on the inside, Gladion. But that doesn't excuse everything you do!" Selene both looked and sounded incredibly frustrated, and the boy instantly knew she'd been holding this back for a long time. "You can't just keep insulting us and telling us we don't matter to you, and then expect us to stick around! Are you insane?"

It seemed his silence was destined to end already.

"I know I'm an unlikable person! I made it that way on purpose, you know. When I say you don't matter to me, you don't. The only reason I'm expecting all of you guys to stick around is because you're all stupid enough to keep sticking around! You still haven't left, and I can't figure out why for the life of me!" Gladion spat. "I don't need any of you, so if you leave, I'll be fine. I lived without anyone for two years, and when you met me, I was surviving, wasn't I?"

"You weren't happy," Elio argued in a hushed voice. "You weren't really living."

"Well, you haven't made me any happier," Gladion said darkly. "You haven't helped at all."

"Yes, we have." Hau gently put a hand on Gladion's shoulder; the blonde flinched away.

"No, you haven't. And don't touch me. I hate being touched."

Refusing to take his hand away, Hau answered, "We've helped. You smiled after a while of hanging out with us, and later, after we found out everything, you said you'd barely ever smiled in the two years after running away from Lusamine."

"I barely ever smile now!" Gladion protested.

"All right, Gladion, I've realized I can't say this any other way." Selene put her hands on her hips, narrowing her eyes accusingly. "We want to be your friends because we think you're actually a really good person. That's all. But if you don't want to appreciate that, you might as well go to hell, because nobody else is ever going to make this offer to you. To others, your personality is crap. This is your one chance. Don't blow it."

Elio nodded, closing his eyes briefly. Hau gulped, anticipating Gladion's answer and presumably expecting the worst.

Gladion had frozen, anger blazing in his eyes. But he let himself open up—because maybe she was right. Maybe his greatest flaw was his fear of other people, his fear of being used.

Was his greatest flaw his fear of making friends?

He'd told himself for years that his fear was reasonable and it made perfect sense, that it would ultimately be the one thing that could protect him from being hurt again, but...

What if it wasn't?

And without thinking, Gladion said the one thing nobody would ever have expected him to say.

"I'm scared."

"What?"

Elio's outburst was so funny that Gladion actually had to fight not to smirk, and Hau had let out a gasp so dramatically loud he ended up coughing afterwards.

Selene bit her lip. "What...what are you scared of? You can tell us. We're...your friends." Her expression sharpened. "Unless, of course, you keep being a moron, in which case—"

"I'm scared because I've never been close to people before, and the few times I have I ended up either losing them or getting used by them," Gladion interrupted. "And I don't want that to happen again, ever."

Selene sighed, seeming to become more sympathetic. "We care about you, no matter how much of an idiot you are. And we don't want that to happen to you again, either. That's why we're trying to be your friends in the first place. Friends can protect you and support you. I'm sure Lillie has told you that."

"She has." Suddenly, Gladion locked up again. "I...don't really want to talk about this anymore."

Selene and Elio exchanged an unsatisfied grimace while Hau simply put an arm around Gladion's shoulders.

"How many times do I have to tell you not to touch me?"

"As many as you want, because I'm not going to stop!" Hau laughed. "We're not going to force you to talk about anything, but I think you should. You know, people who keep things inside for too long end up, like, exploding—mentally, of course. Sharing painful experiences with people you trust can be a good sort of therapy!"

"It can, but it probably won't be," Gladion grumbled. "And besides, you wouldn't understand. I mean, you're not even human. You're not scared of anything; you're too happy."

Hau grinned. "Well, maybe you're right. Maybe I wouldn't get it. I didn't go through what you went through, and I should probably be glad about that. But I'm scared of things. Everyone is scared of something."

"Here's what we're going to do."

Everyone jolted before turning to face Elio, the source of the voice, in surprise.

"We are going to exchange some of our greatest fears, and you can't opt out of it. Believe me, once we all start doing it, it'll feel less weird."

"Fine," Selene said mirthlessly, seeming to have no particular opinion about her brother's statement but deciding it would be for the best. Hau nodded, smiling.

"I'll go first, I guess, since I had the idea," Elio said, frowning. "I'm not afraid of much—"

"That's because you're stupid," Selene chimed in.

"No. I'm not afraid of much, but one of the major fears I do have is kind of stupid, and you're going to all promise not to laugh." Elio was dead serious.

"No promises!" Selene jeered. Gladion rolled his eyes but ended up nodding. Hau did the same, but without rolling his eyes.

"I'm afraid I'm never going to get a girlfriend."

Hau practically choked himself trying not to laugh. Selene didn't bother with any such attempts and let her laughter come out of her mouth in a loud, taunting bark.

"That isn't funny. It's just the way you worded it that's dumb," Gladion pointed out halfheartedly. "You're afraid of loneliness is what you meant to say, and that isn't funny at all, because I know what that feels like."

"Thank you!" Elio said emphatically while glowering at Hau and Selene, who both wore matching I-just-laughed-so-hard-and-think-I-might-start-again grins.

"Well, to hell with that. Let's focus on some real fears here," Selene said with a smirk.

"Loneliness is a real—"

"Shut up, Gladion. Okay, so my greatest fear is pretty much that something bad will happen to Lillie." Selene folded her arms across her chest. "I don't want anything bad to happen to Lillie ever again. I mean, I know things are bound to come in her way, but I'm going to protect her as best I can."

"As much as I hate the fact that you and my sister are a thing," Gladion said slowly, "I do like that you always vow to protect her. So keep doing that, Selene, because if you let anything bad happen to Lillie, I will literally rip your throat out."

Elio rolled his eyes and sighed, clearly displeased with the way his game was going, though Selene only let out a spurt of laughter.

"Did you just compliment me?" Selene took on a mockingly shocked expression. "Well isn't that the sweetest thing I've ever heard! I wish you would compliment me more often. Hearing such uniquely-formed compliments makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside."

Gladion slapped her in the arm. Selene slapped back. For several minutes Elio's game turned into an all-out two-person contest of slap exchanges until Hau interrupted, laughing lightheartedly.

"All right, all right, we get it! You two are best friends forever! I guess it's my turn, huh?"

Gladion hit the girl one more time before turning his attention to Hau. He didn't let his scowl escape his face, anyhow.

"Besides losing any of you guys, I guess I'm scared I'll never be enough for my grandpa." Hau smiled sadly. "I've been trying to become the best Trainer I can, and I'm never going to give up. Grandpa says I'm enough, but I don't know whether to believe him or not. No matter what, I don't think I'll ever be as amazing a Pokémon Trainer as any of you."

Everyone was silent for a moment before Elio said, "You're a great Trainer, Hau. We didn't know you were afraid of that."

"Yeah, I try not to let it show too much. But hey, you're my best friends, right? Might as well let you know what's going on inside my head. Nobody really knows, not even me." Hau turned his head so that he was looking directly at Gladion. "See? It doesn't matter who you are. Everybody's afraid of something. Will you try being friends with us now?"

Selene snorted. "Hau, you're never going to get him to be friends with us by just—"

Gladion cut her off promptly, staring back at Hau with an even, confident gaze.

How did he let it get to this?

This was probably a mistake...However.

"Sure."