Author's Note: IT'S BEEN MADE TO BE AN ONESHOT! Wow. This took a while. Kind of… I don't know. Anyways. It's finished. :]

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon. Or any barbeque restaurants.

"You're so immature."

"Oh, right. You're a whole lot more mature than me, aren't you?!"

"I am, and thank you for acknowledging it."

"Shuu! I can't stand you sometimes!"

"And here I say that you're just a way to pass time."

"Scratch that! I can't stand you all the time!"

After sending one last annoyed glare, Haruka stalked off to her friends. Shuu watched her form with a smirk. He always had the last word. It made him feel great. He was invincible! Then he turned around and slammed into a tree. Falling on the ground, he glared fiercely at the tree. When did that tree get there? It wasn't there when he was talking with Haruka!

Oh… wait. He had leaned against the tree waiting for her…

Still! What had Shuu ever done to the tree?! …Ah. Shuu nodded, understanding. The tree was jealous of his sexy hair. Smiling, he arrogantly flicked his hair before standing up and walking off.

At this point, no one had yet noticed the card lying down on the slightly ruffled grass…

"Why are you always flying off the handle with Shuu?" Masato asked, although he already knew what his sister would say.

'That boy gets on my nerves!'

"That boy gets on my nerves!"

'Who does he think he is?'

"Who does he think he is?"

'With all that superiority complex, his head will blow up.'

"With all that superiority complex, his head will blow up."

Yep. Masato knew every word.

"Dang it! I'm eleven! He's eleven! We're the same age! What gives him his ego?!"

Oh. An addition.

"How do you know he's eleven?" Satoshi interrupted. Takashi nodded, "Satoshi is right. There's not guarantee. He might be a year older." Both the siblings yet just rolled their eyes. It was plainly obvious how old the chartreuse-haired brat was.

Satoshi just sighed, happy that Haruka was done ranting. "Let's move on, right?" he said. Haruka just grumbled and followed his lead. Masato on the other hand saw an item glint in the sun from where Haruka and Shuu had been earlier. "I'll be right back!" he called out, rushing over to a certain tree and picking up a small ID card, used for getting into contests. His eyes scanned over it, glasses glinting eerily, taking in everything for safekeeping. After storing the information, it started to sink in.

"Shuu… Shuu… SHUU IS—?!"

"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to bump into you, runt." Looking up, Masato saw Harii. Stumbling with the card, in effort to hide it, Harii noticed it and snatched it from the younger boy's hands. "What's this? Oh, it's just Shuu's registration card." Now, Masato didn't particularly care for Shuu, no matter how much his sister did not (or did). However, he did particularly dislike Harii, so Masato deeply hoped that Harii wouldn't notice. "Registered or reregistered this year. Has participated in blah blah blah. Oh, what's this? This is Shuu's age?! No way! You have so got to be kidding me!"

"Masato, what's taking you? Satoshi and Takashi are getting—oh. Hi, Harii."

"Haruka, dear! Your lovely brother and I were just having a chit chat. Have you seen—"

"THERE'S MY CARD!"

All heads turned to face Shuu, who was running straight at them. He acted quicker than anyone could comprehend. The card was back in his hands in a blink. Both Harii and Masato stared at him thoughtfully, but Haruka just went, "What card?"

Letting out a sigh of relief, Shuu flicked his hair, smirking, "An ID card that permits me to go around winning contests. I'm sure you have one too—not that you ever win." Haruka was about to make a remark that expressed just how ticked off she was when Harii draped his arm around her shoulder. The movement halted all current thoughts except 'get it off get it off get it off…'

"Gee, Shuu, why didn't you ever tell us your age? I'm fifteen, and, despite your childish appearance, you could still be my older brother!" Harii said, obviously feigning innocence. The blood seemed to vanish from Shuu's face. "You're fifteen?" Masato asked, "That'd be right then, huh. Shuu really could be his older brother." Haruka wore a confused look as Shuu started pinching himself.

It had to be a dream. Pinch. Pinch. Pinch.

… Ow. Okay, so it wasn't a dream.

No one was supposed to know his age! Especially not after when he confronted the fact that he had fallen head-over-heels for the eleven-year old brunette! They might send something against him like calling him a pedophile! It was her fault she was born late!! Why was he to be blamed?! He wasn't born early! He was perfect.

"Oh, please. Get that smug look off your face."

His thoughts were shattered by the voice of the object of his affection. He grimaced, and then turned his head upward wearing an obviously forced grin, "Thank you for returning my ID card. You must've mistaken the date of my birth. Farewell." And, before anyone knew what had happened, he was a glint in the faraway distance.

Awkward silence filled in between the coordinator, the coordinator's younger brother, and the coordinator's cheap 'friend.'

Masato started twiddling his fingers together, and in attempt to break the silence, he started, "Hey, Haruka, did you know that Shuu was—!!"

"Haruka, sweet, I'm going to borrow cute, little Masato for a second, okay?" Harii said, cutting off Masato by covering his mouth in a way that could only be described as a chokehold and running off to the side with him. Haruka stood, so confused at the insanity surrounding her.

"Um. I think I'm going to go back to Satoshi and Takashi. Uh. Hey! Masato, I'm going ahead, alright?" she called out to her brother, not waiting for a response and jogging back to her somewhat normal crowd.

She missed the teary-eyed look that Masato held in desperation to get away from Harii. Said creature started to speak to him, "Look, brat. I'm going to make Shuu suffer from all those times of humiliation, so you better not tell your dear sister about his age. Meet me at the barbeque restaurant in this city for dinner tonight. I'll make sure to bring Shuu, you better make sure to bring Haruka. I don't care how you do it, just get her there."

There was a pause. Guessing that Harii was expecting an answer, Masato nodded. "Good." Harii said, releasing him. "See you tonight!"

Returning to the group, Masato was on the brink of tears. He had been forced to talk with Harii with only two inches separating them. He also had to participate in the downfall of Shuu. And talked with Harii with only two inches in between. He had to mislead his sister and possibly ruin her chances with the guy she was unknowingly crushing on. Two inches.

Major shudder moment.

The others noticed Masato when he came within a couple yards. Feeling the need to explain himself, he started, "So, Harii and I were just, uh, talking about—"

"Today was well-spent, don't you think?"

"Yeah, it was a lot of fun—despite having to face Shuu. Blargh! That guy gets on my nerves."

"Calm down, Haruka. He's gone for now. Calm down."

"Hmph. You aren't the one always being picked on, Satoshi."

Masato stared, his mouth poised just from where he stopped talking. He felt those tears rushing back, as well as a sweat drop. Who had he been kidding—why would they want to hear about what Harii said?

Sighing, he just listened to Satoshi and Haruka chatting, with Takashi interjecting a comment now and then. They walked around a bit, browsing shops and buying what they needed (or thought was "so-cute-I-don't-think-I-could-live-without-it" in Haruka's case).

Soon, evening fell and stomachs were in rage mode.

Groooowl.

"Urk," Satoshi groaned as three sets of eyes turned to him. He looked up, laughing a bit, "Hey, I'm kind of hungry—"

"Yeah, we noticed." Haruka cut him off, grinning. "Where should we go grab a bite?"

Masato opened his mouth, but Takashi spoke before he could get a word in, "I heard the beach is very beautiful in this city. It's on the other side of the town, but we could settle down over there, and I could grill up something."

Quickly, Masato thought back to the map he saw earlier. The barbeque restaurant was nearby the beach. This was good. He could do this.

"Uh."

They turned to look at him.

"Uh, uh… Achoo…?"

Their looks turned puzzled, and with three muttered "bless you"s, they continued walking on.

"Yeah, that sounds good. My stomach really needs some food, and we all know that you cook up the best." Satoshi said happily.

Masato gulped. Come on, Masato, you can do it! You don't want Harii on your case… Come on!

Haruka rolled her eyes, "Geez. You have your mind on food just a little too much. We abuse your cooking skills a lot, don't we, Takashi?" She turned, grinning at him.

There! The perfect opportunity. Go! It was now or never!

"Nah, it's cool. I like cooking anyways—"

"No!" Masato belted out, shutting his eyes. As they turned to look at him again, he continued on, "I think we take advantage of your cooking skills too much. I mean, it must be kind of annoying, right? Never being able to take a break? Well, I heard there was this barbeque restaurant that's near that area. Why not go there?"

Haruka and Satoshi exchanged a look. Takashi stared peculiarly at Masato—Masato had never really cared whether he cooked too much or whatever before.

Masato slowly opened his eyes. Damage was done, let it all fall where it may…

"Well, I guess that's cool, too. So, barbeque?" Satoshi broke the silence.

"Yeah. Fine with me." Takashi and Haruka answered simultaneously, shrugging.

Letting out a breath of relief, Masato glanced at the first few stars of the night appearing. Success.

Meanwhile, Shuu looked up at those same stars from across the town. He pondered on leaving this town or staying for one more day.

Clink.

"Oh my god, would you look at that? We were handcuffed together! What horrible person could do this?!"

Oh, god, no.

Shuu turned his head a little, facing Harii displaying a surprised façade. He lowered his gaze, and saw the key to the handcuffs that were currently around his right hand and Harii's left.

"Uh, Harii—"

"Oh, gosh! It's you, Shuu! What are you doing here?"

Letting out a groan, he ignored Harii's comment and went on, "Isn't that the key in your—"

"No." A flick of the hand sent the key flying into space that would have put Team Rocket to shame.

"…"

"So, I was going to go to this barbeque place. Wanna come along?"

"…"

"Okay! Let's go!"

Twenty minutes later, Shuu found himself sitting at a restaurant, sipping water, ignoring whatever was being blabbed from Harii's mouth. There was no point in listening to such useless talk. Not to mention that it was uninteresting as well.

Harii quieted down for a minute before, which made Shuu look over at him. Following Harii's silent gaze, he saw Haruka and her friends enter the restaurant. Happiness washed over him, hidden well with a smirk. The smug look Harii wore totally went over Shuu's head.

"Hey! Over here!" Harii shouted out to them. Masato's gaze turned to them first. Then, Takashi, Satoshi, and, finally, Haruka. She looked at Harii, let out a soft groan, and then shifted her eyes, noticing Shuu, which brightened her up quite a bit.

Masato dragged them all to the table, all semi-resisting. They reached the table, and a pause spread itself comfortably across the table.

"Er, sit across from us, hm?" Harii asked, breaking the silence. "Such a coincidence that we're all meeting here for dinner, hm?" Cue Shuu's wary glance. "So, what shall we talk about?"

There was silence for a second. Then, Haruka started, "Oh, there's a contest next week at—"

"So, you're eleven, right, Haruka?"

She looked a little startled at Harii's interruption. "Erm… yes, I am eleven. Why do you ask?"

Harii merely grinned at everyone's shocked expression. Shuu's panicked and terrified one pleased him the most. "Well, I was just comparing everyone's age, you know? For example, although you're eleven, and I'm fifteen, we still hang out with each other."

Haruka nodded hesitantly. Shuu blurt out, "I'm kind of hungry! Shouldn't we order?"

"You read my mind, man! Waiter! Waiter—!"

"This restaurant only serves barbeque, so they just serve according to the number of guests. If we want more, we'll have to order after the first batch, which hasn't even come out yet, is done with." Harii explained, annoyed at the fact that Shuu actually got everyone's attention away. Except for Masato's. Speaking of Masato… "Back to what I was saying before—Masato isn't even old enough to get his own pokemon, right?" Masato shifted his eyes in agreement. "Right. Also, just how long has it been since you've gotten your first pokemon, Shuu?"

Everyone's eyes turned to look at Shuu. As most of them didn't know that much about him anyhow, curiosity brimmed over. Masato was the only one who didn't stare at the poor boy who was current sweating bullets. Instead, he gazed at the table guiltily.

"I got my first pokemon the same time as everyone else does—at age ten." Shuu smoothly voiced, flicking his hair.

Harii's eyes filled with delight, "Tsk, tsk! I didn't ask what age you were, I asked how long ago. Come on, Shuu, why don't you tell us?"

After a couple seconds of Shuu's awkward fidgeting, Satoshi spoke, "I would expect it to have been at least a year ago, huh?"

"Yeah, you would expect so." Shuu replied with some more fidgeting.

Takashi piped up, "What do you mean by that?"

Fidget. Fidget. Silence.

"Hey, guys, I've got a good idea! How about we don't give Shuu the third-degree?" Haruka spoke, chuckling. Shuu didn't think he'd ever been so grateful to her before. Then she smiled at him and his brain process proceeded to melt.

Harii shook his head, smirking, "Well, it was just that I found a particular little fact about Shuu that I found rather interesting, you know? Shuu, dearie—"

Five shudders around the table.

"—you wouldn't mind if I told them, right?"

Shuu started, "In fact, I totally—"

Haruka tilted her head slightly, looking at him with genuine interest.

"Er…" he finished intelligently.

"Right. So, I thought it was quite fascinating that Shuu, although he has quite young appearances…"

Masato shut his eyes. Why did his sister have to render Shuu speechless?! If only Shuu could stop Harii… Of course, Masato didn't want to get himself deeper in this mess…

"…that while I'm fifteen, he could be my older brother…"

An "OH MY GOD!" followed quickly by "Satoshi, that's rude!" and then a "BUT, TAKASHI!" and, most importantly, Haruka's widened eyes snapped Shuu out of his stupor.

"The truth is that Shuu is actually—"

"Noooooo!"

Three heads turned to face Masato and Shuu who had simultaneously cried out. The two glanced at each other. This time, Shuu felt a surge of gratefulness to the younger sibling. He had helped Shuu stop this madness. The secret he swore to keep away from his Haruka… "His Haruka"? He meant "Haruka"… although "his Haruka" had a nice ring to it—

"Shuu's actually eighteen."

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…I hate you, Harii."

Shuu's single statement released total chaos.

"Holy—! Shuu is eighteen! EIGHTEEN!"

"SATOSHI!"

"Sorry, Shuu. I tried to stop him…"

"Masato, you knew??"

"Saw his registration card."

"Harii, how did you know??"

"Same. Isn't that freaky?"

"Yeah!"

It was about time that he hightailed out of there, Shuu thought. He attempted to move away, but the cold restraint on his right wrist stopped him. He buried his head in his left hand, not able to face this—not to mention Haruka's reaction. She hadn't said anything yet, which was a bad sign. He knew this would happen. This is always what happened when you fall in love with someone seven years younger than you. Everyone gets disgusted, especially the object of your affection. You get branded as a pedophile and then get your butt booted to jail. Even if it was love… even if it was true love.

"It's not freaky."

Shuu's head snapped up. He stared at Haruka was sneakily avoiding eye contact.

Satoshi practically shouted, "Are you kidding me, Haruka? He's freaking eighteen! Eighteen! He's legal!"

"Yeah, I heard Harii. So, what?" Haruka leveled a glare at Satoshi. "He's eighteen. Does that matter? I don't see the issue here."

Harii internally seethed. The one person's opinion that matters the most was going against his plot. He urged on, "Well, he's hanging out with us young ones. Not to mention that he's in love with you."

Shuu's mouth hit the table. His mouth seemed wide enough to swallow a whole head. Just when he thought things couldn't get worse, Harii just had to put everything out there on a silver platter for Haruka's hatred to dine off.

"I-I… h-h-he's…"

"Don't we all like hanging out with him as well? Age really doesn't matter that much if our friendships are strong enough, I think." Haruka cut off Shuu's stammer-fest.

Harii rebutted angrily, "He loves you! He's a pedophile!"

"Shuu isn't a pedophile! He's perfect!" Haruka blurted out in rage.

Blinks filled the entire restaurant. Everyone was staring at them, and only now did they realize. As Haruka slowly turned red from her slip-up, Shuu processed her words. He was perfect. No, he wasn't perfect. He wasn't perfect at all. He was an eighteen-year old pokemon coordinator who fell in love with his eleven-year old rival. There was nothing "perfect" about that.

But the girl in front of him thought he was perfect.

Hell, he loved this girl more than anything.

"W-whoops. S-sorry… d-di-didn't meant t-t-to say that. I think I'll ex-excuse myself n-now." Haruka stammered, getting up to leave.

"Wait, Haruka!" Shuu stood up, and promptly fell as he used more force to try and break the restraint on his wrist.

She turned, rushing over to him to help him up. As she asked whether he was alright, if he was hurt anywhere, did he think he twisted something…

"Haruka—I'm eighteen. You're just eleven. But… I've fallen in love with you. I love you. I love you so much. I don't know what to do."

She leveled her eyes with his, searching for anything to give her any doubt. Finding none, she slowly whispered back, "Didn't I just say this? You're perfect. I don't want you to do anything. Just love me… because I'm in love with you, too."

The other three people who currently stared at them, seated at the booth, disappeared from their thoughts as well as the one guy who was knocked out due to hitting his head on the grill as Shuu had violently moved around. It was hard to tell who moved first, but Haruka's arms ended up around him, and Shuu awkwardly hugged her back. If they weren't off in their own little world, they would've heard the collective awws that filled the restaurant.

Haruka whispered once more into his ear, wearing a slight smirk, "The only thing is that I'm still growing, while your height will pretty much stay the same, hm?"

Shuu chuckled, "Don't ruin the moment, my love."

Please tell me what you think, flames and all!