I rubbed the sleep from my eyes for the 40th time this morning.

After becoming the first Alola champion, I've been wide awake most of the time. The attention has really started to become a burden, and people already want to challenge me for the title.

All of this has started to made me realize my worst fear, and that was growing up.

I was 16 and a half when I first started my journey, now I was 17 going on to 18.

Every single passing day, I get closer to adulthood. I was not ready to start adult-ing.

I know adult-ing is waiting right in front of me to run over to them and jump into its arms. But I was going to piss it off by walking as slowly as humanly possible.

I also watched my friends grow, Hau, Lillie, Gladion and all of the trial captains. Trial captains had to retire when they turned twenty surprisingly.

Hau is going to become Melemele's kahuna after his father retires, whilst Gladion has taken over being the president at the Aether foundation.

I quickly made myself some coffee and moved to the couch, turning on the TV and being greeted with my face on the screen.

Oh no, not this interview. It was so embarrassing!

"Can you tell us a little about your team?" The interviewer asks behind me.

"Oh uh… Well, Chisa is my arcanine and she's… she's big and fluffy."

I turned the TV off immediately after hearing that line. I hate my voice and I hate talking to strangers.

I sipped my coffee, and had it burn in my throat. My thoughts raced, before my train of thought was stopped abruptly by knocking on my door.

"Come in." I said before the door creaked open.

"Sun?" I glanced to the voice, it was Hau.

"Hau!" Excitedly, I got up and rushed to him. "I've been wondering when we'd see eachother again."

"Yeah, with you becoming the champion and I've only ever seen your face in the news." He joked, to which I laughed with him.

"So, what'd you come here for?"

"I just wanted to catch up… And maybe get malasadas?"

"Of course!" I said, grabbing my hat and stepping out the door.

Me and Hau talked about what's been happening recently, and various other things, before an interesting topic came up.

"My granddad has fallen really sick, like really really. He's having trouble breathing because of Strep." He said, a bit solemnly.

I looked at Hau with concern. "Is he going to be alright?"

"Yeah, of course! He can beat anything, this will be no problem." The seemingly optimistic Hau got that glint in his eyes. The glint that says 'I'm trying to be optimistic about this, but what I'm saying isn't going to help at all' I knew it all too well.

"I'm glad." I said. Silence fell between us for the rest of the time before we got to the malasada cafe.

"A big malasada with cream, please." Hau ordered before we sat at our table.

"So, how many people want to battle you now?" Hau asked, sitting down.

"At least ten, one of them being Mallow…" I said, remembering the perky green haired girl.

"That's a lot! Have you tried to battle any of them yet?"

"No, I don't really feel like it."

I heard the door ring but didn't bother to look until a familiar figure walked into the line.

"Hau, is that Gladion?" I asked, leaning to him.

Hau glanced towards the edgy blonde boy.

"Yeah! That is!" He said.

We waited for Gladion to order before calling over to him.

Gladion walked towards us.

"Hey." He said.

"Hey Gladion! How are you doing?" Hau said as he gestured for the blonde boy to sit down.

Gladion reluctantly sat down next to us.

"I've been… Busy. But I have Wicke to handle a lot of things, so I'm visiting Melemele for a while…" He said before sipping his drink.

"Ah, awesome!" Hau said before giving me a look that said 'I have an idea'.

Gladion noticed it too, as he glanced at Hau.

"Why don't we all have a slumber party at Suns house?" He said, grinning.

I didn't mind, but Gladion fidgeted uncomfortably. Hau saw his discomfort and placed his hand on the boys shoulder.

"Come on! It'll be fun." He said.

"Okay… Only since you guys are my… friends…" His voice wavered at the last word.

"Great!"

We finished the malasadas in silence, and quickly rushed out the door.

"So, where to?" Hau asked, putting has arms up and hands behind his head.

We racked our brains for a moment before it clicked.

"We can visit Ilima?" I suggested, remembering he was just in the cavern.

"Alright!" Hau agreed, while Gladion just grunted and stared off into the sea as we headed in the direction of our destination.

The cavern smelled of moss and a bit floral. We saw the pink haired boy sitting on a rock looking at his phone.

"Oh hello, are you a cha-" He cut off, seeing me and Hau.

"Wow, if it isn't Hau and Sun!" He said, clasping his hands together. "How are you?" He said.

Ilima was 19, yet he looked so older then us.

"I'm great, but I'm super busy." I said.

"Ah, yes. That's right, you're the new champion! It only feels like yesterday that you beat my trial. Congratulations." He said with a warm smile.

"Ilima, I have a question." Hau asked. Ilima turned to him.

"What are you gonna do when you have to retire from being a trial captain?"

That struck Ilima silent. I could see many conflicting emotions run across his face but he quickly grinned again.

"I'll think about that when the time comes." He almost mumbled.

… What was I going to do other than be the champion? Surely, if someone beat me in a battle then I'd have to do something else…

We spoke with Ilima for a while, about nothing interesting. But then he brought up someone…

"So… Have you guys seen Lana lately?" He asked, like he was waiting for a good time to ask.

"Hm… No, why?" Hau asked Ilima, to which Ilima just shook his head.

"Just curious." He said, looking the other way.

My gaze wandered and I saw Gladion just sitting, playing with his hair. I noticed that he didn't really have much to say other than an opinion here and then.

"Gladion, you're awfully quiet." Hau said, probably seeing my staring at him.

"Okay." He said, crossing his arms. For a moment, irritation flashed in Hau's eyes.

After some talking, we left Ilima and it was 4:34 pm.

"Should we head to your house, Sun?" Hau asked and I nodded while Gladion stared off into the distance.

We arrived to my apartment shortly and Hau stretched as he walked through the door and Gladion followed behind him.

"So, what should we do? Watch a movie?" I asked.

"Are you asking to netflix and chill, with two people?" Hau laughed. I didn't laugh back.

We watched a movie. Gladion nitpicked at it while Hau just argued with him. They were always arguing all the goddamn time…

"Can I take a shower…" Gladion asked, meekly.

"Of course." I said, to which Gladion got up and started walking towards the bathroom.

As we heard the shower turn on, I glanced at Hau.

"Ugh, he's so difficult." Hau said.

"Give him a bit… I know that sometimes he can be really nice. Remember that one time when we were trying to save Cosmog?" I asked Hau.

"Well yeah, but why does he have to keep doing that… Just being so angry and edgy all the time."

I was confused at that too, but I just assumed it was how Gladion was.

"Maybe he's scared." I suggested. Hau shrugged.

"Dude, I have an interesting question." He said.

Oh no.

"Do you think his hair is really like that? Or is it styled?"

That was a great question.

"If he styles it, does that mean Lusamine and Lillie also get it to look like... That?" I asked.

"If so, what would they look like with normal hair?"

Me and Hau were stuck in ponder-land, before the shower turned off.

"I can hear you two..." Gladion growled, before opening the door.

Okay, listen. I'm straight, but you got me there.

The part of the blondes hair that covered his eye wasn't squared. It was poofy and spiky and swept to the side. Hau and I simply stared in awe.

"Yeah, it's styled, so what?" Gladion hissed before sitting next to us on the couch.

Hau took out his ponytail and let it fall out. "We should play a game." He suggested.

"Like...?" Gladion said.

What Hau said earlier lingered in my mind. Gladion had certainly become more open since the save Nebby ordeal but he still acts exactly the same.

We played a game of never have I ever and went to bed.

Author's Note

Hello! I've never uploaded a fanfiction to anything before, so I'm just hoping for the best right now.

Also, I've been debating on whether I should call Sun, Sun or Elio? I don't know what people prefer because I haven't seen many people call him Elio but it seems more proper.

Also, next chapter is going to packed with angst (if you can spot the foreshadowing than, I love you) and other things you can expect is a Christmas cabin, new characters (specifically from other regions) and Sun and someone else gets kidnapped. I have plenty of plans for this story!

Until next time!