1.
Maps believes she knows what love is when she sees Olive and Kyle together. But when they break up, she is confused. They seemed so happy together, but Maps no longer wanted to unravel that mystery. Colton had been acting weird around her brother lately. She first thought that maybe it was because boys are strange in a variety of ways. But now…
She seeks out Pomeline. The girl is reluctant to answer the 14-year-old, but after a few days of prodding, Maps finally gets an answer.
"Colton has a seri ous crush on Kyle," she says. "It's been going on ever since we formed the Detective Club."
Maps knows Colton as well as she can, for a boy of course, and she knows that he won't be able to keep up the facade for much longer.
She has a new mission now, and she fills Pom in.
Pom agrees after a few careful plans (Maps doesn't really plan to follow it and Pom knows this) and Operation: Get Kyle a Boyfriend begins.
But Maps can barely wait and she does the first part without Pom. She manages to convince Colton to wait for her after class by one of the many storage closets in Gotham Academy. She then runs off to find Kyle, her heart racing. He's talking to some of his tennis friends, but Maps doesn't care. She pulls him away and down the hall. She passes Pom on the way but ignores her and doesn't heed her cries of warning echoing behind her, nor does she pay attention to Kyle's protests.
Maps finds Colton exactly where she left him. She pulls Kyle next to him, yanks open the door of the closet and before they know what's happening, she shoves them in and shuts the door. She can hear them banging on the door and shouts of her name filter out but all she does is slip a listening device under the door and leaves.
Pom finds her a few hours later, yelling at her ("Why? Why did you do it?"). But all she can explain is that she was too eager. Pom seems to deflate ("I hope you know what you did.") and she leaves, an air of heavy silence filling Maps' room after the door shuts. Olive looks at her, confused, but Maps doesn't find the need to tell her. She now has a feeling of guilt in her gut.
When she goes down for breakfast the next morning, both Colton and Kyle are noticeably silent, sending her glances, and both are sitting as far away from each other as they can. Maps doesn't eat. She apologizes to them one at a time (Olive looks so confused) and leaves.
She is surprised to find Pom waiting for her in her room, a computer out and the listening device Maps had put in the closet the day before on her bed. She smiles, and Maps knows she has been forgiven.
"There's still a chance."
And Maps believes her. She wants to. After all, her brother deserves love, and as much as Maps wants to protest, so does Colton (and she believes that they look really cute together) .
2.
Pom is going through her spellbooks. Again.
She wants to find something, anything, that might either help Colton profess his love (definitely not happening) or Kyle to realize that he is in fact crushing on Colton as well. Because Pom knows he is.
It started with Colton's compliments. His praise was hard to come by, so Pom was immediately suspicious. And then she started seeing how Kyle reacted to the praise. It was faint but still present: a tinge of blush staining his cheeks for maybe a millisecond before disappearing.
And then there was that "talk" that both Colton and Kyle insisted was nothing, but Pom suspects otherwise. Because whatever "nothing" was, it didn't make Kyle come out of it smiling like an idiot for days afterward. But it couldn't have been a confession of love or anything, Pom reasons, or they would have gotten together a long time ago. She hasn't heard of any other signs of a crush other than that the two were texting, but she is determined to change that.
Her plan is a matchmaking spell.
She had showed Maps, and the girl was surprisingly unenthusiastic (for Maps, of course), probably against her brother being spelled. But Pom persisted in her efforts and once she understood exactly why Maps was against it, she managed to convince her to jump onboard. The only problem is a small one: casting the spell correctly.
That is an understatement: the spell is a bit more complex than it seems. Too late, Pom realizes that she hasn't specified exactly which Kyle should be going after Colton.
And this simple mistake results in Kyle Herate, a boy who is nice enough, but definitely not Maps' brother, trailing after Colton like a lovesick puppy.
At first, Colton dismisses it and humors his new follower, but after a few weeks, he is starting to get uncomfortable and both Pom and Maps notice. Kyle
(Maps' brother Kyle)
seems a bit off as well, his conversations with Colton become strained and Pom realizes that she needs to stop the spell. But in order to, she needs a hair from the person she cast, and since she barely knows Herate, she can't exactly walk up to him and pluck one of his hairs.
But Maps isn't having any of that.
She conveniently has one of her classes (science!) with the poor boy and takes it upon herself to get close to him. She chooses him for lab partners and everything. And she manages to pretend to bump into him and pulls out a bunch of his hair in the process without him noticing.
And then she quickly becomes distant once more, confusing Herate.
But reputations don't deter Maps. She wants to get Colton and Kyle together (They'll look so cute together!) and as quickly as possible. She already ruined any quickness in developing their relationship when she locked them in the closet together (And it was confirmed in the recordings she made), so she is determined to succeed.
Easier said than done.
Pom lifts the spell and the school, everyone knew about Herate's predicament, is now buzzing with rumors.
Maps and Pom pay them no attention. They have a relationship to save.
3.
Maps steals Kyle's phone to check his texts. She knows that he's in contact with Colton.
She smuggles the phone up to Pom's room and together, they look at his messages. He does have Colton as one of his contacts but they haven't been texting in a few days.
And Maps feels guilty because they stopped around the same time she locked them in the closet.
Pom is scrolling through the conversation.
"Hey, check this out," she screen has mostly discolored bubbles, which means that Colton texts the most out of the two. Kyle's responses are sparse, but enough to keep the conversation going.
And then Maps finds a whole long chain of memes from Colton. Apparently he loves them, and Maps had a pretty good idea why.
She finds one that reads, I love my girlfriend even if she's a Gemini. In fact, there is a whole slew of 'love my girlfriend' memes, and for a moment, Maps wonders if he actually has or had a girlfriend. Kyle seems to have thought the same because there is a pause in his messages until about after 20 of those type memes, where he continues the conversation.
Maps understands that perhaps their relationship as friends runs deeper than she realizes, and she can tell that Pom knows the same. The only problem is taking this further.
So she texts Colton – on Kyle's phone. She agrees with Pom: make it a love confession and see his is no starts to worry, thinking that maybe they went too far, when Kyle's phone buzzes. Colton has responded, I think you may have the wrong number. Maps exchanges a look with Pom. There is no way he would say that to Kyle. And he most likely knows that this is Kyle's number.
"Are you sure he has a crush on Kyle?" Maps asks.
"Positive."
But now, even Pom isn't so sure.
Colton had never mistaken Kyle for anyone else, ever. So why now? Was it because of the up-and-coming confession that Colton refused to believe? Or did he know that Maps and Pom were behind this?Maps feels lost. What to do now? She feels guilty now, for possibly ruining their perfectly platonic relationship except–
No.
Colton has a crush on Kyle.
It can't be wrong.
Pom is always right (most of the time anyways) and she said she got a confession from him that he did like Kyle.
Pom can't be wrong.
Maps can't be wrong.
They still can make it happen, even if they have to do it the hard way.
4.
One option, Pom suggests, is to let it work itself out on its own. Colton will eventually tell Kyle. But Maps doesn't want to wait that long. She spends hours staring at a blank notebook, scrounging her brain for ideas. Nothing comes up.
5.
Maps and Pom decide to be subtler (they know it won't work).
During Thanksgiving, Maps manages to get permission from her parents to stay at Gotham Academy for the week. She drags Kyle along.
Colton doesn't go home for the holidays because of his family issues so Pom and Maps need to make sure that Kyle stays as well. And this is perfect (but their plans never work if they're subtle).
They set the table, the special one outside in the quad. They make sure Colton and Kyle sit next to each other. As they watch throughout dinner, the boys' hands brush more than once. The contact always results in both Colton and Kyle blushing and pulling their hand away.
Dinner ends uneventfully (except when Colton told a joke and Maps laughed so hard that milk squirted out of her nose and ended up all over Kyle. Colton had grinned at her antics and Maps felt accomplished) and Pom feels a bit underachieved. But they have gained something: knowledge.
Because now Maps and Pom know: Kyle and Colton both have some feeling for each other so there is a better chance in relationship success.
+1.
The winter holidays are here, which means most of the students leave for the break. Maps and the rest of the Detective Club stay, however, which allows her and Pom to is their last chance, and if this fails, Maps plans to come clean with them.
Pom agrees.
The Detective Club is sitting in one of the many rooms that are fortunate enough to have a fireplace. (They have heaters, but Maps thinks it may be according to aesthetic). Colton manages to light the fire and they lounge in the welcome heat, drinking hot is reading a book. Kyle is staring at the fire without blinking. Colton is on his phone, most likely defending his Pokemon gyms (the ones in school campus range – he runs them all).
And Maps and Pom are bent over a notebook, planning their last six of Operation: Get Kyle a Boyfriend is a go.
Pom stands. "I gotta go to the bathroom," she says.
No one looks up, but Olive nods slightly in acknowledgement. Pom leaves the room.
Maps is sitting in between Colton and Kyle. Olive is on the other side of the room. Out of the corner of her eye, she sees Pom coming back into the room using the other door, carrying something behind her back. She nods once, and Maps stands, and moves back to where Olive sits.
Pom pulls mistletoe out of her bag and sticks it over Colton. No one notices – takes a deep breath and lets loose a laugh that is loud enough for Olive to jump in surprise, her book falling onto the floor.
Kyle and Colton look up, startled."Mistletoe," is all Maps can say. She is laughing too hard. Maybe it's not convincing enough, but both Colton and Kyle look uncomfortable. They both follow Maps' pointing finger to where Pom stands, dangling it over Colton's head.
Colton blushes a deep red, glaring at Pom, but Pom only grins and waggles the fingers of her free hand at looks a bit bashful as well. But they're both caught. Kyle is the closest to Colton, not counting Pom, so-
"Sorry," Colton says quickly. He looks slightly peeved and nervous at the same time, and Maps and Pom both realize he's about to confess. "I have a crush on you," he says finally. "I've had it since I met you, and it still hasn't changed, and I understand if you don't feel the same way because-"
Kyle doesn't let him finish. He just kisses Colton to shut him up.
It works.
When they pull apart, the room is silent except for the fire crackling merrily away.
Then Maps cheers. "Finally!" she says.
Both boys are red, but both are grinning. Olive is smiling, Pom has one of those triumphant looks on her face, and honestly, Maps is so happy that they found love in each other that she's jumping up and down.
And then Olive gets up, and shooes Maps and Pom out into the hallway, following them, and closing the door with a soft click.
The two boys are left to their own thoughts (and each other) while the fire sparks brightly, as if recognizing what just transpired within the room.
"So, you're okay with this?" Colton asks.
"I guess if you told me a few month ago, I wouldn't have felt the same way," Kyle says after a while. "But I truly love you, Colton Rivera, and I wouldn't want this any other way."
Colton just smiles and leans against him. And the fire warms them both, right down to their core.