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Steven smiled, as he stared at the TV, a rerun of one of Wallace’s contests playing. He laughed softly to himself as the program cut to commercials. He lightly set down the green aventurine and polishing cloth in his hand, his hands curling into light fists as he brought them to his cheeks, shaking his head happily before bringing his hands down to flap them.
Here he was, Steven Stone, distracted from polishing his crystal collection to watch a rerun of a contest he had already seen in person on his tiny, ancient TV, smiling like an idiot as he thought about their relationship.
Sure, he had fallen hard for them, but he also wasn’t in a rush to change their relationship, he was happy just the way it was. As he saw it, the only thing that would change if they were to get together would be kissing and sex, two things he honestly couldn’t care less about. What was important to him was having Wallace in his life, whatever form that took, as long as he could spend time with them he was more than happy. Plus, they were already a naturally affectionate person, calling him “darling” in one breath and Milotic “my love” in the next, shoving themself into an armchair he was already sitting on instead of the couch. And Steven wouldn't change it for the world.
But as they so often did, his thoughts drifted back to a certain image Brawly had sent him, eight months ago to the day now, the New Years Eve party.
Steven sighed softly to himself as the balcony door shut, dulling the sound of the party happening inside. He loved his friends, and was glad that he decided to host a New Years Eve party in his Rustboro penthouse. He genuinely enjoyed the company of all his colleagues, the elite four becoming his second family in record time. He laughed as he looked in through the window, watching Sidney shotgun one of Phoebe's hard lemonades while the latter cheered and recorded him, he smiled bigger as his eyes met Wallace’s, watching as they made their way over to him.
“Four hours into the party and you’ve only retreated to the balcony, I’m impressed,” they teased.
“Well it's certainly easier to interact when it's friends and not my fathers work colleagues,” Steven retorted, taking another sip of his strawberry champagne, making a mental note to thank Cynthia for the recommendation.
“I suppose you are right, though I am certainly glad I didn’t let Lissi come,”
“She’s sixteen, I’m sure she could handle it,” Steven rolled his eyes goodnaturedly
“She’s only sixteen Steven!”
“You’re just being overprotective, we got up to much worse things younger than her, or have you forgotten?”
“Listen, the book just said they were nontoxic, it said nothing about those mushrooms being hallucinogens,” they sputtered slightly, pouting for dramatic effect when Steven started to laugh.
“I know, I know, but it is funny seeing how flustered that story makes you,”
“You are a menace Steven Stone,”
“I know you are but what am I,” Steven giggled over his stupid retort and the long suffering sigh his friend gave him.
“I cannot believe this, I am talking to a child,” Wallace put a hand to their forehead adding another sigh for the drama while Steven turned into a giggling mess.
“What’s this? Is the great Steven Stone, champion of Hoenn, heir to the Devon Corporation, and the silver haired dreamboat, a giggly drunk?” they teased as Steven disolved further into his laughing fit at the stupid nickname.
Of course, they were playing up their surprise, they had seen Steven drunk numerous times in their 15 years of friendship and knew that, at least around them he was a giggly motherfucker once he finally let loose.
“What about you, captain flirts with everything they see, drunk?”
“That's my liege to you darling,” they shot back.
“You’re right, I apologize your eminence,”
“That’s better, though I think you’re going to have to make it up to me,” they teased, taking a step closer to Steven.
“Oh, and how am I to do that, your majesty,” he mirrored their actions, bringing them even closer.
“I’m not sure,” they paused, bringing a slender finger to their chin as they pretended to think about it, “how about, you give me the pleasure of dancing with the silver haired dreamboat himself,” they raised an eyebrow, holding out their hand.
“You want to waltz, to Lil Nas X?” Steven rolled his eyes, taking their hand nonetheless
“Why not?” they shrugged before tugging them closer.
“I suppose that's reason enough,” Steven smiled softly, though to call what they were doing a waltz would be disrespectful to ballroom dancing, what they were doing was a slow dance through and through, just swaying in place, Steven found himself looking into their eyes, the aching intimacy of the action not uncomfortable when it was with Wallace, their eyes were something he had never found a rival to, with the nearly thousands of crystal samples he had seen none of them had the same depth to them. They were on another plane entirely, a smaragdine waterstone that held the power of the ocean within them. After a moment Steven found himself looking away, his eyes drifting down the others face until he was staring at their lips, a deep red tonight from their lipstick, he didn’t even realize he was leaning in until their lips connected, the refreshing mint from the gum they had been chewing filling his senses as he let himself be engrossed in the sensations, feeling their lithe fingers make their way to his hair while he held onto their waist for dear life. He had never cared much for kissing, but the way Wallace held him, like he was the most precious thing in the world made his heart swell to bursting, as they stayed wrapped up in eachother.
He woke up the next morning to a pounding in his head fully in the throws of a hangover as his nav went off.
Brawly: waterstone.jpg
Get a room >:( /j
Steven felt his heart jump to his throat when he saw the picture. His hopes and fears being confirmed all at once. He really had made out with his best friend in front of the entire Hoenn pokemon league.
Brawly: Don’t worry I’ve sent it to everyone ;)
As far as Steven knew Wallace didn’t even remember it happening, they had never brought it up or acted like it happened. Which made him feel absolutely terrible about it, that he had taken advantage of their flirtatious nature and lowered inhibitions, maybe they did remember it but regretted it. The possibilities were too terrible for him to ever bring it up to them.
Maybe if Steven had a little less to drink that night he would have remembered that Wallace was the designated driver and hadn’t had a drop of alcohol that night.
Steven was broken out of his memories by his phone chiming, the “Dazzling Dizzying Doldrums Defying!” signaling it was a text Lisia.
Lisia: https://www.buzznav.ca/contest-star-wallace-dating-fellow-gym-leader
Lisia:im fucking crying this is so good omfg
My chest hurts omfg im s c r e a m i n g
Steven opened the link, a picture of Wallace and Winona holding hands while sitting across from each other at a restaurant in Mauville, Wallace talking animatedly while Winona looked on with a soft smile, was the first thing he saw as he skimmed the article. Some paparazzi had spotted them on a date and gave buzznav the story.
Steven had… mixed feelings to say the least. He was happy for his friend, oh absolutely. He just thought that they had gotten past their feelings for Winona when they broke up four years ago. And if he was being honest with himself, he was jealous, he knew that if they were dating, Winona would take all of Wallace’s affection that he was privy to.
‘Maybe if you stopped acting like a boy and could just be a normal girl they might like you,’ a treacherous part of his mind spat, one he had been working to quiet for years now.
“Hey man, no. Just. No, we both know that They don’t care that I’m trans,” he emphasized the they, ingraining in his mind that Wallace understood their relationship with gender in a way most others couldn’t.
‘But maybe if you acted like a girl like you’re supposed they would want you over her,’
“Well that’s not true either, again we both know they like men, so me being a man is not a factor,” he replied out loud, taking a deep breath, rationalizing his responses and reminding himself his internalized transphobia was wrong, plain and simple.
“Hi Niko,” He smiled, his little aron rubbing her head against his ankles, he bent down, scratching underneath her chin, and letting her distract him from his venomous thoughts “You wanna go for a walk?” he laughed softly as she perked up, trotting towards the door, looking behind her to make sure she was following, he followed, whistling for his Skarmory, Icari, to come down off her perch on his roof once he had gotten outside, she landed next to him with a thud, chittering and rubbing her head against his face.
“Yes hello to you too, you wanna go out for a bit, I’m just taking Niko down to the cliff,” Icari chittered again before taking off, flying fairly low circling above him and the impatient little pokemon at his feet. The three made the short trek down to the cliffs, Steven sitting on the ledge looking out over the sea while Niko dug around happily, Icari watching over them from above.
He looked out over the water, the tiny waves looking like millions of diamonds in the sun, the walls of Sootopolis in the distance seemingly glowing, the sun bleached cliffs reflecting the light so well one could almost see the tiny rainbows made by the little streams from all the way in Mossdeep.
He didn’t even realize he had started crying until he felt the tears dripping off his chin onto his chest. He let out a shaky breath, shaking his head as he tried to clear his mind, but no matter what his thoughts always led back to them.
“The things you do to me Wallace Thalassa,” he laughed softly to himself, wiping away his tears. He looked over his shoulder at the sound of Icari’s cry, Wallace themself walking towards him, thankfully just out of earshot.
“Yes hello little one,” they smiled, reaching down to pat Niko’s head before sitting down next to Steven. “What's wrong darling?”
“Wha- how-how did you know something was wrong?” Steven sputtered, caught off guard by their observation.
“You only come out to sit here when there’s something bothering you, plus you’re crying,” Then said softly, moving a little closer so they could put their hand over Steven’s.
“Oh, I didn’t realize I was that easy to read,” Steven looked away from them, back out at the water.
“You don’t have to share if you don’t want to, but you know I’m always here for you Steven,” Wallace squeezed his hand gently.
“Yeah, I know, it’s nothing though, just having a rough dysphoria day, that’s all,” It wasn’t entirely a lie
“Ah, understandable, then I vote we should get your mind off of it,” they smiled, standing and holding both hands out to help him up. Steven took them, drinking in every movement, knowing that they might soon become rare.
“So what do you propose we do?”
“Why don’t we go back to your place, put on a cheesy movie and just hang out, you don’t seem in the mood to head over to Lilycove and do some galavanting right now, so I think a nice day in will do you good,”
“You’re right,” Steven smiled, dusting off his pants as he whistled for his pokemon.
“You choose a movie and I’ll make us up some popcorn,” Wallace pressed a kiss to his forehead before walking off into the kitchen.
Steven absentmindedly flicked through the menu on his TV, looking for something that might interest both him and Wallace, eventually settling on some romcom he was pretty sure they had both seen before.
A minute later Wallace came back in, popcorn and some water in their arms. Steven moved the coffee table closer so that they could set them down. Once their snacks were free from immediate spillage they fell back onto the couch beside Steven.
“Well, c’mere,” they smiled, turning so their back was against the armrest, their legs resting on Steven’s lap, holding their arms out. Steven smiled, accepting their offer, wrapping his arms around them and resting his head on their chest as they laid down further, reaching up to the top of the couch to pull a blanket over the two of them.
“Haven’t we seen this before?” Wallace asked as the movie started.
“Yeah but I didn’t feel like looking through, plus she has a cufant,” Steven smiled as the little steel elefant came on screen.
“You and your steel types, sometimes I think you love them more than me,” Wallace teased
“I certainly don’t love steel types as a whole more than you, but you might be equal to Platinum and Aggron since I’ve had them my whole life,” Steven smiled looking over at his two aces, Aggron curled up beside Metagross, Platinum, his head on it’s back as they both slept
“That’s fair, I can’t exactly say you’re not equal to Lizzie and Milotic, though unfortunately for you you have to share human I love the most with Lissi,”
“Well obviously she’s your niece,” Steven paused for a second while the cufant appeared before continuing “Plus you pretty much raised her just as much as your sister and certainly more than her father ever did,”
A peaceful silence fell over them as they watched the movie. Around twenty minutes in Cradilly had come over nudging Steven with his head until he rolled over hugging his head to his chest.
“Remember when we both came out?” Wallace asked softly.
“You mean our failed attempt to murder your grandfather by giving him a heart attack?” Steven joked.
“It wouldn’t have been our fault, it would have just been a by-product, plus he deserves it,” Steven clicked his tongue happily when he felt Wallace’s chest move with their laughter.
“Either way, yes I remember it, why?”
“This scene just reminded me of it, how he didn’t congratulate me on becoming champion or anything, he just called to disown me,” Wallace sighed
“Well he doesn’t matter, I was proud of you, I still am proud of you, Lisia is proud of you, anyone who actually matters can see how amazing you are,” Steven felt his face heating up and hoped it wasn’t too noticeable.
“Thanks darling, what would I do without you?” They smiled down.
“I think the better question is what would I do without you ,”
“I’m sure you would do quite well without me, you just might have left May as champion for longer and had more paperwork when you took it back,”
“Nah, Phoebe would have gotten on my ass if you and Sidney hadn’t already arranged for you to take it after like a week,”
“So nothing would have changed, without you, hmmm,” they paused “Well I probably would have become champion sooner, and be much busier during contest season,” Steven chuckled, they traded championship every few months, letting Steven have more time to travel and go mining in other regions and allowing Wallace to focus on contests during the season.
“That is true,”
“And who knows maybe Winona and I would be married with two and a half kids and a wh ite picket fence,” Steven felt ice fill his veins as Wallace laughed, he couldn’t believe himself, he was the reason Wallace wasn’t happy…
“Shit! I'm so sorry Walls I totally forgot I have to be in Ever Grande tonight, thank you for cheering me up, and you’re totally free to stay if you want,” Steven quickly made up an excuse, calling his team into their pokeballs as he got up.
“It's no problem love I understand,” Wallace didn’t miss a beat in grabbing his coat for him from the armchair where he tossed it, holding it out for him.
“Thank you, I’ll call you if I have a free minute but I won’t make any promises,” He half smiled before dashing out the door.
Once he was on Skarmory on his way to Ever Grande he let himself exhale. How could he be such a bad friend that he never realized how much of a burden he was on them. He shook his head, while he knew Icari could get them there herself it still wasn’t good to fly distractedly.
He felt numb as he landed, thanking Icari before letting her fly off to her nest nearby, walking through the front door to the living quarters.
“Hey champ! How’s your boyfriend?” Phoebe asked from the couch.
“Not right now Phoebe,” He sighed, normally the jokes about him and Wallace dating didn’t bother him, but he couldn’t handle it now.
“Damn, trouble in paradise huh?”
“Phoebe.” He repeated more sternly this time.
“Okay sorry, shit are you okay?” She asked as Steven walked over to the breakfast bar, pulling out his raspberry vodka, making himself a drink, sputtering as he then used the shot glass he had used to pour another shot, this time shooting it back.
“I am not okay and I’m too sober to talk about my feelings,” He said bluntly, shaking his head as he regretted his choice of not grabbing a chaser.
“Okay yeah that’s not going to work, c’mon we're gonna have a sleepover and do some self care until you relax a little and then you can tell me what's wrong,” She decided, stealing the alcohol from Steven so she could make herself a drink before dragging him up to her room.
Within twenty minutes Steven found himself sitting cross legged on Phoebe's bed, a fuzzy skitty headband keeping his hair out of his face while she applied a facemask to him. A monster high movie playing quietly on the TV.
“So anyways Sidney looks seconds away from physically fighting me, which I would win if he tried by the way. Glacia just looked confused and Walls had their head in their hands just disappointed,”
“That sounds about right for a game night with you people,” Steven teased.
“You say as if last week wasn’t the first you’ve missed since I got here,”
“You got me there,” Steven finally broke a smile.
“Yay! I got you to smile!” She cheered, accidentally spilling some of the mask onto her leg. They both froze looking at the offending glob before looking up at each other, after a beat they both broke down laughing.
“Literally why are we laughing?” Steven wheezed out.
“I don’t know!” Phoebe squeaked, which only made them laugh harder. It took probably five minutes for them to finally calm down.
“Steven,” Phoebe whined “Can I paint your nails? I have a really cool idea,”
“What’s the idea?”
“Okay have you seen the rose quartz trend? I wanna do that but with smokey quartz because then it’ll match your outfit!” She explained, quickly grabbing her pokenav to pull up a reference image.
“Yeah, I really love that actually,” Steven smiled looking at the pictures.
“Yay! I promise I won’t let you down!”
As the top coat was drying and Phoebe was admiring her handiwork Steven took a deep breath, “Wallace said that if I wasn’t in their life they would be married and have kids with Winona by now,” He finally said in a small voice.
“Oh Steven,” Phoebe breathed. “That-wow, I’m sure they were just joking but that doesn’t mean your feelings aren't valid, that’s a shitty thing to say, I’m so sorry,” she rested her hand on his knee, rubbing it with her thumb lightly.
“I know they were joking but it still hurt and-” he paused, choking back a sob “I love them Phoebe,”
“I know,” She said softly, hiding her confusion.
“But they’re with Winona and I’m just a burden to them, and I-I didn’t care if we were dating or not but now I know they’re going to want to be around me less to be with her and I know I’m being selfish because they’re happy but-” he brought a hand to their mouth, looking away as they struggle to stay composed.
“Steven, you’re not being selfish, you can’t help your feelings, did they talk to you beforehand about Winona at all?” that didn’t sound like the Wallace she knew. They were absolutely smitten with Steven, and would never cheat on him.
“N-no, and that’s what hurts the most is they felt they couldn’t tell me about it, I mean I know they’re not obligated to, we’re not dating or anything but, I thought we were best friends,”
And oh-
Oh fuck
Steven doesn’t know he and Wallace are dating .
Phoebe panicked internally, was she going to break it to him? No, that shouldn’t be her. How did he not know?
“Phoebe?” The tiny meek voice cut through her thoughts, right Steven needed her comfort right now.
“Sorry it’s just a bit to process,do you want comfort or solutions right now?”
“I don’t know, solutions I guess? Both?”
“Totally. I get it, you feel betrayed. If I were you I would talk to them about it, not right now obviously because you’re distraught over it but soon okay?” She said softly, pulling him into a hug when he nodded.
“Now, I’m going to go refill our drinks, then we should probably wash these face masks off okay,” She smiled walking out of her room, her facade falling the moment the door closed. “I cannot fucking deal with this alone,”
She stopped at Sidney’s door, adjusting the glasses in her hands so that she could open the door.
“Babe come to the kitchen with me I have tea and also a problem,” Sidney got up without a word following her out.
“Steven and Wallace are dating right?” She asked, leaning against the counter.
“Yeah, they got together at new years,”
“Steven doesn’t know,” Phoebe whispered.
“What?”
“He’s fucking heartbroken because he thinks Winona and Wallace are dating,” Sidney just put his head in his hands for a second before running them through his hair.
“Hold on,” He said pulling out his pokenav
Sidney: yo you and steven are dating right?
Aquatic Prince: Yes, why?
Sidney: im slightly intoxicated and saw the tabloids lmaoo
Aquatic Prince: fair enough
“So they’re definitely dating, we haven’t just been wrong this whole time,”
“Sidney what the fuck do we do?”
“I don’t know!”
“Okay first I need to make sure Steven’s okay because he’s a fucking mess, fuck I was supposed to refil our drinks,” Phoebe’s eyes widened as she looked at the glasses.
“I’ll handle the drinks and bring them to you, you go make sure he’s okay,” he said softly pecking her on the lips before getting to work on the drinks.
“Love you!” she smiled as she left.
“Love you too,”
“I’m back,” Phoebe announced as she got back into her room, seeing Steven staring down forlornly at his pokenav. Walking closer she saw that it was the Buzznav article that he was staring at. “C’mon, that's only going to make you feel worse,” She said, taking the device out of his hands.
“I’m sorry, I should be able to deal with this myself and-”
“Hey, you have absolutely nothing to apologize for, if I didn’t want to be here I would have just let you go to your room and stew in your feelings, okay, it’s good to have someone with you when you're distressed,” she rested a hand on his cheek, gently pulling him into a hug.
“Thank you,” She just held him closer as she felt him start to shake, his fists bunching up the back of her mimikyu sweater.
“Alright, let's get these face masks off,” Phoebe smiled when Steven pulled away, getting up to grab a face towel from her bathroom. Steven nodded silently, drained of energy after crying so much. He sat patiently as she gently scrubbed the clay from his face, slowly blinking his eyes open when she stopped.
“There! Now for some serum,” She said, dripping the thick liquid onto her fingers and spreading it around to warm it up. Steven closed his eyes again, flinching ever so slightly as she made contact with his skin.
After the serum had been applied and Steven felt slightly less hopeless there was a knock at the door.
“Hey, it's me,” Sidney said as Phoebe got up to open the door. “I figured more alcohol maybe wasn’t a good idea so I just got some water and a tea since your throats probably gotta hurt,” He looked over to Steven during the second half of his sentence. “I also brought this,” He added holding out Steven’s weighted togedemaru stim plush. “I debated grabbing your weighted blanket but this one was in the living room and I didn’t think you would be comfortable with me going in your room,”
“Thank you Sidney,” Steven rasped, smiling a little as he hugged the plush to his chest.
“No prob champ, do you want me to stay or do you only have the energy for one person right now?”
“Just one, sorry,” Steven looked down, biting his lip.
“No, worries man, if you can only handle one, you can only handle one,” Sidney smiled, ruffling his hair before turning and leaving, giving Phoebe a quick kiss on the cheek as he walked past her.
“I just, I don't know why they wouldn’t have talked to me about it. I guess unless they know I like them and didn’t want to hurt me, but I’m aro, and they know that so why would they...oh my Rayquaza, the new years party, dammit, I knew that was a mistake, fuck, they probably feel so awkward about it, and thats why they never brought it up, they probably feel like I took advantage of them oh Rayquaza. They probably have wanted to get back with Winnona for so long but never did because of me, fuck I’m such a terrible friend, and I didnt even notice,” Steven rambled, gradually getting more and more panicked as he spiraled.
“Steven,” Phoebe rested her hand on his, where it had migrated up to his hair, both to ground him and to keep him from pulling at it. “Take a deep breath with me okay? In, out. In, out. There you go.” She smiled as his rapid breathing subsided into a much calmer, if not a little shaky pattern. “Now let’s work through this rationally okay? Fact one, we don’t even know for sure if Wallace and Winona even are dating,” (well she did, but that was a whole other problem) “Two, Buzznav is a famously unreliable source, remember that story they did last year about you and Lissi,”
Steven visibly recoiled at the memory, shaking his head aggressively as if it would clear it from his mind “Don’t remind me,”
“Exactly, secondly, assuming they are dating and assuming everything you said is true, that is still Wallace’s choice to not tell you and to postpone a relationship for your sake, you didn’t ask them to, so it is not your fault, and again that's a big if,”
“I guess you’re right but still…”
“You are allowed to feel what you’re feeling Steven, but that doesn’t mean you should assign guilt to yourself,”
Steven nodded, taking a deep breath, Phoebe was right.
“Infact, let's do some fact checking ourselves,” she smile pulling out her nav
GhostQueen: Hey bestie, just wanted to make sure you and walls didnt actually get back together before i start clowning on this buzz article lmao
GrAcEfUlLy: Nah theyre too masc for me lmao
GhostQueen: valid !! like i said just wanted to double check before i put on my clown wig ajkgfkjn
“There, see, they’re not even dating so you have nothing to worry about,” Steven exhaled, the tension visibly melting from his body.
“Thank you Phoe, you have no idea how much this means to me,”
“Don’t sweat it champ, no, let’s watch Haunted and you can suffer with me fangirling over Porter,” she smiled as she drew another laugh from him.
“Or do you remember the first time we were drinking, I think it was your birthday?” Steven said.
“You mean when Drake-”
“Yes,” Steven smiled
“Oh my Rayquaza I was screaming laughing,”
Steven hummed to himself softly as he dropped a small handful of frozen raspberries into his glass, adding in a slice of lemon and lime in after it, with the peels removed of course. Drake paused as he walked past, the ex champion picking up his bottle of vodka, raspberry as always, examining it before looking back to the current champion's glass.
“Aint this pretty fuckin’ fruity?” He asked.
Steven just paused, blinking once or twice, keeping a deadpan expression as he replied, “Drake, I’m pretty fuckin’ fruity,” he cracked a small smile as Phoebe and Sidney started laughing, which only got louder at Drake’s sputtering
“Tha-thats not what I-”
“I know Drake, don’t worry about it,” Steven waved his hand, taking his now made drink over to the living room.
“I think that’s a top contender for my favourite thing anyone has ever said,” Phoebe said, laughing as quietly as she could, her bright smile barely visible in the darkness.
“I’m glad I could make the list,” Steven smiled before pausing, his fist coming up to cover his yawn instinctively.
“It's getting late, and I can tell you’re exhausted, we should go to sleep,” She reached over to pull the blanket more over them. Steven nodded, wordlessly closing his eyes, falling asleep in minutes.
Phoebe sighed, rolling over and grabbing her nav, turning the brightness down so as to not disturb Steven.
GhostQueen: Hey walls, I know its late but your comment about being married to win really hurt steven i know you probably meant it as a joke but hes a wreck rn. Ik you didnt mean to hurt him so i thought i should tell you so ur able to apologize <3
With that she turned off her nav, letting sleep take her.
Four days later Steven was back at his home in Mossdeep, sitting on the couch signing page after page of paperwork. Niko curled up beside him snoring softly. He looked up at the knock at the door. His eyebrows scrunching together, he wasn’t expecting anyone, he scratched Niko’s head as he got up, causing her to stir slightly before going back to sleep.
“Afternoon my love, I hope I’m not interrupting anything,” Wallace smiled as he opened the door.
“Wallace, uh no you’re not interrupting come on in, to what do I owe this pleasant surprise?”
“I simply wanted to spend some time with my favourite person,” Wallace stepped forward, pulling him into a hug.
“Huh, but Lisia is in Lilycove right now is she not?” Steven teased.
“Yes, but I thought we discussed you two share that title,” Wallace kissed the top of his head before taking a deep breath, his face turning sombre. “Steven, I need to apologize, what I said the other day about me and Winona being married wasn't okay, It doesn’t matter that it was a joke because I hurt you. You have never made me unhappy, or made me wish I was with someone else, and I shouldn’t even joke about things like that,”
Wallace had turned their head slightly, staring at the wall just beside Steven, their whole body stiff as they waited for his reaction.
“W-wait what, Walls you don’t have to apologize it was a joke,” Steven stuttered, “It doesn’t matter anyways,”
“Of course it does Steven,”
“How about we agree to disagree, I forgive you,” Steven smiled, taking a step forward to hug them. Squeezing them tighter when he felt the tension melt from their body.
“I got you something,” Wallace turned to rummage in their purse, pulling out a box, wrapped in shimmery cobalt wrapping paper.
“You shouldn’t have,” Steven shook his head in endearment as he took the package, slightly surprised at the weight, he transferred it into one hand so that he could carefully unwrap it, revealing a plain cardboard box underneath. Excitement welled up inside him as he peeled the tape off of the box, opening the flaps and reaching in, feeling the unmistakable icy touch of a crystal.
He carefully pulled it out, tossing the box onto the couch behind him so he could better observe the rose quartz in his hand, turning it over carefully to observe the gorgeous marbling, before taking a look at the shape it was carved into.
“Is this..?” he trailed off, his knowledge of Galarian pokemon admittedly sparse.
“An applin, there’s an old Galarian wives tale that says if you confess using an applin, or give one to a lover then you’ll be together forever. But given that neither of us train grass or dragon pokemon I thought it cruel to import one when you would appreciate this more,” Wallace smiled at the pure glee in his eyes.
Steven was speechless, staring at the little applin in his hand, after a moment he gently set it down, as soon as it was safe he stimmed happily. There was no way this could possibly be a misunderstanding, Wallace wouldn’t get him a crystal without looking into its symbolism, plus they spelt out the lore of the applin shape. They were confessing. He broke into happy giggles, his hands coming up to his mouth as he continued to stim with his legs.
Wallace felt their face sting from how large they were smiling, watching their boyfriend express his happiness from their gift, after probably a minute Steven threw himself into their arms.
“Can I kiss you?” Wallace asked softly, as Steven looked up at them.
“Yeah,” Steven breathed, his eyes fluttering shut as he stood up on his toes.
It was even better than the New Years party but much shorter as within fifteen seconds they were both smiling too big to be able to kiss.
After a minute Steven took a step back, still in their embrace, but with some distance. “Wait but you know I’m ace right? I mean I know you know I’m ace but I just want to make sure you’re okay with that moving forward, I’ll probably be a while before I’m okay with sex, if I ever am and I just want to make sure,” He rambled.
“Of course I am dear, I waited eight months just to be able to kiss you again, I would happily go the rest of my life without sex if it means you’re comfortable and happy,”
“Wait, you remember New Years?”
“Darling what do you-of course I remember, why would I not have?”
“I spent the last eight months worried that you didn’t remember it and I took advantage of you, or that you regretted it!”
“Steven what why would I- first of all love I was dd’ing, second of all why on earth would I regret it?”
“Well you acted like it never happened,”
“How in Rayquaza’s name did I possibly act like it didn’t happen?”
“Well you never brought it up..” Steven deflated, realizing maybe he had over thought it.
“Steven, did-did you not know we were dating?” Wallace asked in a small voice.
“WHAT?”
“Oh my Rayquaza.. Nope no that’s on me, I never made it explicit,” Wallace conceded as he tried not to laugh.
“WHAT you’re telling me I’ve been silently pining for like a year, and for three quarters of the time WE WERE ALREADY DATING?” Steven started to laugh, in slight hysterics as the absurdity of the situation washed over him.
“Well then I suppose we have some lost time to make up for,” Wallace smiled, wrapping their arms around Steven and pulling them both down onto the couch, settling them in so they were cuddled up together. “We never did finish that movie, the one with the cufant,”