Nate and Hugh had been friends ever since Nate could remember. Nate also had a huge crush on Hugh for as long as he can remember. Sure, Nate had taken down the Gym Leaders across Unova, taken down the Elite Four from said region, and crushed Team Plasma's dreams, but he couldn't find it in him to ask Hugh out on a date.
However, Nate felt fine not being in a relationship. Two years have passed from the hectic events in his life, but at the same time, he felt like, you know, maybe it is time to date someone. It's just that Nate doesn't really know how to go about asking a person out. It's not like he has bad interpersonal skills; it's more like that hasn't held a really strong connection to anyone in a really long time besides his mom, Rosa, and Hugh.
Nate got over saying the words "hello" and "goodbye" and "good battle." He just wanted to say "hello" to one person for awhile, at the very least. No more "goodbye" for awhile.
Nate called his mother and Rosa to ask for some probably misguided, terrible advice on what he should do.
As the Xtransceiver keeps ringing, Nate just thinks on quitting, but right before he hangs up, they answer, "Yes, Nate," his mother and Rosa respond.
He hesitated before he began to speak, "I'm really confused on what to do."
"Nate, that doesn't make sense when you don't give us some sort of context.," his mother responded with concern floating in her voice.
"I think I know what he means," Rosa commented, "Nate, are you asking us for dating advice?"
Nate blushed and followed up with a shy, "Yes." Rosa and Nate's mom began to squeal in excitement.
"Well, Nate, who is it? Who's the lucky person," his mom asked with great enthusiasm; she knew she wanted Nate to begin dating someone, but like most moms, she was also quite nervous.
Nate began to blush even harder, and his voice weakly came out, "Hugh…"
Rosa and Nate's mom began to smile from ear to ear. Rosa began to speak first, "Oh, Nate, you don't have to be nervous," which caused Nate to be nervous, "Let me rephrase that: if you were scared to tell, us don't worry, we'll support you through and through."
Nate's mom began speak again, "Rosa is telling the truth. Now, Nate, the first thing you got to do is just invite Hugh over to your place. I know you've moved into an apartment in Castelia, and Hugh's living in Nimbasa City, but you guys haven't talk to each other for a long time, if I remember correctly," Nate nodded at the last sentence his mom said, "Just invite him over for a bit. Take the time to come back together. Hugh is probably also thinking about you, he's probably just also waiting for you to call him or something."
Nate nodded and smiled at his mother and Rosa, "I gotta go guys, thanks for the help," and with that, Nate hung up and made another call. His Xtransceiver rang two times and Nate felt some doubt that Hugh would answer. As he was about to hang up, Hugh answered.
Nate tensed up and felt his mouth go dry. Hugh was just looking at Nate and started to talk, "Hey, Nate, are you okay?"
Nate quickly replied with, "Would you like to come over? I live in Castelia City's apartments. Any time would be great, okay, bye." Nate closed his eyes and with his back against his front down, slid down, realizing he was a giant idiot. Why would he tell Hugh to drop by anytime? What if he was taking a shower and Hugh showed up? What would he do? What if he had left his apartment to run an errand and Hugh showed up without Nate knowing? What would he do? Nate's mind was running with "What ifs?"
Nate heard his Xtransceiver ring again and saw it was Hugh. He knew he might as well pick it up, it was the least he could do.
Nate answered the Xtransceiver and Hugh began to speak, "Nate, are you alright," Nate nodded and Hugh then continued, "Okay, how about I come later today? Would five work for you?" Nate looked at the clock on the wall, above his kitchen table, it was 3:10 right now. It gave enough time for Nate to clean up a bit. He nodded and said goodbye to Hugh.
In the hour and fifty minutes Nate had to clean up his apartment, he managed clean up everything in twenty minutes. Nate looked in his fridge and he realized that he didn't have a lot of actual food. He had snacks and lemonade in his fridge. He looked at the clock and decided to go out and buy some food before Hugh could get on Nate about not having food in his fridge.
While Nate was busy in the bustling Castelia City's grocery store, he managed to bump into Rosa.
"Hey, Nate, what are you doing," Rosa asked, but Nate kept walking and turned around and replied, "Buying groceries. I have no food in my fridge." Rosa followed Nate to the cash register.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, there buddy. You gotta stop freaking out when you see me, jeez," Rosa said as Nate took a breath, "So, how did it go?"
Nate looked at Rosa, "Fine. He's coming over around five," Rosa looked down at her Xtransceiver and it read 4:45, "You've got fifteen minutes to get home." Nate nodded, he only lived five minutes away, so he'd be fine.
"I came here so Hugh wouldn't get mad at me for not having food in my fridge. I also needed something to do while I waited for him," Nate payed for his food and headed out. Rosa decided to follow Nate back to his apartment, after she asked him if she could. She helped Nate get his food into his apartment, and he began to reorganize his refrigerator. Rosa sat on his couch, providing some company for Nate as he nervously waited for Hugh to knock on his door.
Rosa looked at her Xtransceiver and she realized she had missed a call from Hugh. She excused herself from the couch, and went to Nate's bathroom to call Hugh back.
"Dude, what the hell, it's like 5:30, why aren't you here," Rosa peaks out of the bathroom, and she can see the disappointment in Nate's face as he watches that stupid show with Watchy Watchog, and she extends her arm out so Hugh can see Nate's upset face.
"Rosa, listen, I just got caught up with something else, I will be there. I'm right outside of Castelia, I just need five more minutes," Hugh panted, he sounded so apologetic, which was very rare of him. Rosa nodded and hung up.
After about another seven minutes, Hugh finally knocked on the door. Rosa got up to answer the door for Nate, who buried his head in-between his knees. Rosa stepped out of the apartment, as she was leaving. She grabbed his Hugh's arm and leaned towards his ear, "If you weren't Nate's best friend, I'd battle you right now, but you are. Be grateful." She walked away with that, and headed back home to her apartment in Driftveil City.
Hugh walked into Nate's apartment and saw him sitting on the couch. He sat down next to him and began to explain himself, "Nate, I'm so sorry. I didn't realize what time it was, and I meant to get on the next subway that goes to Castelia, but something else happened and," Hugh was cut off by Nate getting up and he headed towards the kitchen. He was leaning over his sink, looking outside to see the city's skyline. Nate loved looking at the skyline when he began to feel panicked. He turned around and saw that Hugh was standing as well.
Nate smiled and said, "Hi. Sorry about that. I wasn't feeling well. Sit, you're probably hungry." Hugh looked at him, confused and rightfully so. Nate kept smiling and walked to the fridge and began to prepare some burgers for the two of them.
Hugh sat at the table, looking at Nate. Nate looked like he was in two different worlds, and Hugh spoke up, "Uh, Nate, can we talk about what happened earlier," Nate put down his hamburger and looked straight at Hugh, waiting for his explanation.
Hugh stiffened a bit, "So, what happened was I lost track of time. I know that makes me a terrible friend, but then I tried to hurry down to the subway, and then I wanted to get you something to make up for that, but I couldn't find anything that I thought you would like, and so…" he trailed but Nate stood up again and walked up to Hugh. He stopped and hugged Hugh. He stood up to embrace Nate, as he could hear Nate cry.
"I really thought that you weren't going to come," Nate hiccuped, "And I thought it was my fault." Nate was a crying mess by this point, and Hugh was just holding Nate.
"Nate, I'm really sorry," he apologized as he held Nate's head closer to his chest, "What could I do to make it up?"
"Hugh, I really like you… Would you like to stay for tonight," Nate asked, calming down.
"Nate, I would love to stay the night," Hugh replied and kissed Nate's forehead.