He could hardly tell if it was night or morning when he arrived back in Rustboro. The night covered absolutely everything, making it only harder for Steven, knees almost shaking under his own weight, to find the keys and let himself in. The door fell open and bumped against the wall as the young businessman dropped the handle of his suitcase and stumbled into the condominium while nearly blinding himself by flipping the light switch with his elbow.
Yawning deeply he shut the door and dragged his case to his bedroom. Despite being exhausted, Steven felt a bit excited to be home after over a month abroad recording production constants at multiple headquarters. At least he had only been verifying statistics and not tensely negotiating deals, but the trip had been draining and dull nonetheless. He needed this break.
Steven hardly got through putting away half of the clothes in his suitcase before he gave up and began to undo the buttons on his shirt. He glanced over to the clock on his bedside table. 2:13. It could have been worse. His eyes swept tentatively over to the phone, half expecting a blinking light to burst out of the bottom left corner of the stand—nothing. Steven turned his away, slipping his shoes off and placing them by the closet. What, had he really been anticipating something? He scoffed at himself and shut off the light again. His eyes took to the darkness quickly as he slipped off his socks and tossed them into the hamper.
Really, nothing could have been more satisfying than this—slipping beneath the sheets of his bed and letting the fabric drape over his arms and shoulders, the end tickling his cheek.
Well, perhaps one thing could be. Steven flopped his head over to stare at the clock and phone resting on the bedside table, lips pressing together. Surely he would call soon. There was no real use being so…what, worried? He was being ridiculous. All the same, Steven took a bit longer to fall asleep than he predicted, and ended up waking only a couple hours later out of habit.
`
It wasn't until a day later that Steven got a hold of Wallace, and even still, it wasn't in person.
"Well hello there, stranger," Wallace said lightheartedly. Steven could nearly visualize his lips curl up in a smirk.
"One of us needed to call." Steven replied, cutting back a tone of accusation. Why had that come so suddenly?
Wallace either ignored the implications or didn't hear them, letting out a breathy laugh that prickled Steven's ear. "It's good to hear your voice again."
"Yeah," he sighed. It was fine, at least they were talking now. There was no reason to be upset.
"So, ah, business alright and everything?"
Steven smiled a little. Like Wallace would know anything about it, but it was nice of him to ask. "Just fine. A few minor deviations in production habits but that's to be expected. It's been pretty uneventful, to be frank."
Wallace hummed. Steven didn't expect him to be all too thrilled.
"I have missed you," he ventured.
"Have you?" The other man inquired, half joking.
"Of course not. I only called to remind you not to leave the faucet running while you brush your teeth." Steven retorted. He could hear Wallace's staticky snort over the phone. "But while I'm here, why don't we meet up, hm? Tonight free for you?"
"U-uh well," Wallace faltered and Steven felt the smile plummet from his face. "I've sort of got prior engagements."
Biting the inside of his cheek, Steven took a breath and tried to maintain some sort of control over the pounding pressure building up in his chest. He really shouldn't be as upset as he was but one word was all he could muster. "Oh?" Pathetic.
"Yeah. Winona and I have dinner plans later so...I..." Wallace trailed off but Steven could hear the obvious discomfort in his voice and attributed it to his own intrusion.
"Oh no that's great, brilliant." Steven choked back the disappointment squeezing his throat and hoped that the mediocre phone connection would cover it up. "How is she?"
"Wonderful. We've gotten together a few times lately, so it's been enjoyable."
"Oh, well..." Finish that sentence nicely please. "I'm glad that you've had that opportunity." Half credit for effort.
"Sorry about tonight, though," Wallace replied. Steven could hear him walking around, muffled footsteps on hardwood.
"No, don't be. It's all fine."
"Maybe next time."
Maybe.
"I should let you go then. We'll find time to talk later." Steven dropped the question mark on the last sentence insistently.
"Of course." There was an irritating shuffling noise across the receiver.
"Alright. Good." He hesitated. "I'll see you."
"See you, Steven." Wallace's voice carried an apologetic tone but was sliced short as the phone clattered off.
Steven set the phone back on the holder and fell back into his chair, his eyebrows crinkled in frustration. That had been awfully...unfavorable. To say the least.
And yet he couldn't quite pick out what it was he felt twisting inside his chest. Some sort of disgustingly thick amalgam of annoyance and apprehension and resentment and fear...no. He refused to believe it was jealousy. His fingernails dragged nervously across the chair's fabric. There was no justification for this. He had only been home a couple days, and of course Wallace would have made plans if he didn't know that Steven was back home and rested. Why was it such a big deal?
He was becoming impatient with himself and how easily this all came, how he couldn't help feeling some sort of anxiety lurk at the base of his throat at the idea of being alone. All that time away and this is where it had brought him-stuck behind a desk with absolutely no sense of being wanted back home whatsoever.
Steven huffed and pushed himself up from his seat. This was pitiful. He shouldn't be reliant on Wallace to enjoy himself, right? Certainly not.
And so Steven found himself once again picking meticulously at the earth's crust from the inside in search of a direction.
`
No matter the topic of conversation Wallace could not for goodness sake rid himself of a determined haze of guilt floating in his head. All through dinner his tongue twisted behind his teeth in throbbing uneasiness.
He felt bad. Five weeks with hardly a word from him and here he was finally back home and Wallace had completely rejected him.
It's not even like his was the first time that Steven had been away for an extended period. Just a couple weeks before his last trip he has been sent away for nearly a month and a half dealing with some sort of financial report in another department. And Wallace needed someone. Winona had been sympathetic and kind, but it wasn't quite the same. Granted, the two had become pleasantly closer and went out regularly doing various shenanigans, whatever quelled their boredom and whatever it happened to be.
But Wallace missed him. He always did. Even if he were joined at the hip with Winona he would still feel it. Wallace spent days taking advantage of late night television and long aching showers but nothing helped.
Yet here he was.
Winona looked him over and gave him a gentle smile. She knew her presence was only a placeholder though she couldn't help but try and be just a bit more. Or at least make the corners of Wallace's eyes crinkle just slightly like they used to.
`
Four or five days later and Steven was over at his house in Mossdeep, either because he hoped being somewhat closer to Sootopolis might make him more optimistic or because he simply liked torture himself. Whatever the case, he knew he was spending too much time in Shoal Cave picking desperately at its walls in hopes of finding something to lift his spirits, to make him feel temporarily accomplished. He tried to rearrange the tracks in his mind and direct them to this, only this, and nothing else.
Steven stared unblinkingly at the cave wall, carving just carefully around a bit of calcite.
When he was packing he worked to place a firm mental blockade around Wallace, caging his image in a case of denial and anger. Because if Wallace wanted to see him then he would have said so. And he didn't, so that was that. No amount of irrational resentment would fix that but it was all he could do just to keep himself from drowning in pitiful loneliness. He hated himself for being resentful towards Winona as well. It wasn't her fault that Wallace had been acting the way he was, but a creature in his mind told him that it was just so he could shift the blame over to someone that wasn't him. It took him hours to convince himself that it was useless to try and pin her as the culprit.
And it was twenty minutes before Steven blinked and realized that he was carving right into the calcite crystal. He threw his chisel onto the ground and growled through clenched teeth.
Well, he had tried. Steven retrieved his tools with loose fingers and tossed them back into his satchel before slinging it over his shoulder. The trek up out of the cave seemed much longer than the trip down and, unfortunately, gave him time to reprimand himself a thousand times over before reaching land again, the sun smothering against his skin.
Breathily heavily through his nose, he kept his eyes determinedly on the ground as walked. Only by mere coincidence did he happen to glance upward and catch a streak of blue waver about a hundred feet away. Steven felt something congeal in his windpipe and nearly choked. He couldn't tell if he was surprisingly elated or wrought with fear. Perhaps both. Yes both seemed about right.
He only took a couple tentative steps more before Wallace noticed him and smiled meekly, his left hand stroking the base of his neck.
"I wasn't sure if you'd be here." He said once Steven caught up and the two made the last turn towards the house.
"Yes, well, good timing." Steven replied. He was half truthful.
The rest of the way was concluded in a tense silence and when they finally reached the house Steven unlocked the door to let them both inside.
Tea. Tea would be good, right? Wallace watched as the other man dropped his satchel on the floor and fumbled a bit through the cabinets before placing a couple cups and a teapot shakily on the countertop. Sighing lightly, Wallace took the teapot from Steven's hand and flicked the tap on. Steven looked up at him, a bit startled.
"Just let me," Wallace muttered. He didn't sound irritated, but Steven felt a gust of hesitant anxiety that drew him away from the counter and dejectedly into a chair in the corner of the kitchen table.
He couldn't figure it out. There was no way to pinpoint what was flitting around in his head and driving him absolutely insane. Here he was with Wallace who was inside his house for the first time in months making him tea and yet he didn't even think of saying 'thank you.' He should be happy, shouldn't he? No. Apparently not. Instead he felt betrayed and unwanted, and even with this man just ten feet away still felt like he was buried deep underground.
Wallace placed the tray on the table, making Steven blink with a bit of a start. He handed him a cup and took one for himself, dropping into a nearby chair.
Steven brought the cup to his lips and drew it away. "Jasmine?"
"You looked tense," Wallace shrugged, taking a delicate sip. 'Tense' hardly covered it. "Did you want honey?"
"No, no, it's fine." It is absolutely not fine being asked if I would like my own honey from my own cabinet you-Steven stopped himself and took a gulp from the cup, scalding his tongue.
A moment passed and Wallace quirked an eyebrow up at Steven.
"What?" He asked. You know very well what.
"You know very well what." The blue-haired man replied, giving him a looked that wavered between sincere concern and annoyance.
Steven heaved a sigh. "Look I'm very tired from my trip, alright? And I've just come back from hours in Shoal Cave and I'm about to ready to collapse, so don't-"
"That's not it," Wallace snapped. "What, you're so tired still that you offered to go out with me nearly every day last week? And now you're off spending goodness knows how many hours trapped in some cave?"
"Well who was it who turned me down nearly every day last week?" Steven lashed. Oh that was terribly short sighted.
"I...had plans," Wallace's sharpness faltered as he took a moment reorganize his thoughts. He, for one, was amazed at his own aggressive lucidity. "Is that really what this is all about? Are you...?"
Steven met Wallace's eyes to a second and pulled away. How much more shameful could this be? He was acting like a child and it was humiliating.
"Wallace, you and Winona have obviously gotten very comfortable with each other while I've been gone and the last thing I would want to do is trespass on your engagements. Of course I'd like to spend some time with you while I am here but ultimately it must be a cooperative agreement, and if you're unwilling then-"
"Steven, please," Wallace placed a hand on Steven's knee, silencing him. "Understand that the only reason I've been spending time with Winona is because, well, to be perfectly sincere, I felt that you'd completely cast me off. I mean, out of the last four months you've been here for, what, hardly two weeks? Think about how I've been!"
He sank back in his chair and brought both hands up to cover his face. Wallace groaned and spoke into his palms, "I'm sorry that was out of line. I know you can't help it and it's your responsibility to go on these trips now and then but..."
"I could have tried harder," Steven protested. "I could have asked to get out of them. I didn't have to go, but did, and I put the management of the company before your happiness."
"Steven-"
"But I did go and now look where it's got us. When I came back I thought I could finally return to someone, but I didn't hear a word, and every attempt I made was blown away." Steven was nearly spitting at him, the frustration inside him hardly diminishing a bit.
"I didn't do it to hurt you." Wallace dropped his hands from his face, head hanging from his neck. "I was trying to delude myself into not getting attached, or else when you left again I knew I would break."
Steven took a breath and held it for a moment, trying to calm himself. Wallace squinted down at the floor.
"You lied didn't you?" He asked eventually. "About having plans last week?"
The other sighed.
"And I abandoned you." Steven looked up as he heard Wallace give a small laugh.
"Look at us," he said smiling weakly. "We are ridiculous."
"Incredibly." Steven paused. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean for you to have to do that. I just speculated that I had been...replaced." Steven caught a glimpse of Wallace's eyes widen for a split second before he pricked himself up.
Wallace sat upright and took Steven's hand in both of his, giving the man a firm look. "Look, we've both had a say in this matter. We know what we did. But let's get one thing very well straightened out. I could spend twenty years locked in a dungeon with Winona without getting closer to her than I am with you. I never want you to feel insecure about this. Not ever. I won't allow that anymore, and I'm sorry I've already done so once."
He unfolded Steven's hand and gently kissed the crease at the top of his palm.
"I'm sorry I didn't trust you." Steven tilted his head to the side.
"Suppose I can forgive you." Wallace smiled.
Was that really it? All of these pent up antagonisms for a week, or rather several months, and this was how it ended? Hardly a fight, a sappy spilling of emotions befit for a soap. Was it possible for him to let go of it all that quickly?
"Wallace, I don't-" Steven's sentence flew right back into his mouth as Wallace leaned forward and pressed his lips firmly against his.
Well that did explain something.
Steven returned the kiss and almost immediately Wallace parted his lips and drew him in, sucking hungrily and placing a hand on Steven's thigh to balance himself. Already out of his chair, Wallace pushed almost desperately into the other man, smiling with relief.
Wallace's aggressiveness nearly pitched Steven out of his seat and it took all he could muster to keep from falling backward while still acting on his sudden desire. He sighed as Wallace broke away and began kissing his cheek, jaw, ear, drawing his tongue across his neck and leaving a wet trail down the side if throat. It took Steven a moment to regain awareness of his surroundings, and between strained breaths he finally managed a word.
"B-bed," he huffed. It was almost comical how little vocabulary remained in his head underneath the pounding release of countless hormones and endorphins and who knew what else.
Steven had no idea, and he was much too happy to care.
`
After stumbling blindly through the hallway and a quick detour to the bathroom drawers the two made it to Steven's bedroom with flushed faces.
Steven sat himself on the edge of the bed and began to anxiously undo the buttons on his shirt until Wallace stopped him.
"No, let me," he smirked as he slipped out of his violet jeans and tossed them aside.
He undid the rest of the buttons and slid his hands down Steven's arms, pushing the dress shirt down onto the bed. Steven reached up and kissed him lightly before leaning back and allowing Wallace access to his incredibly restrictive pants. Wallace's smile widened a bit as he felt the pressure against the zipper and took no time unlocking Steven's belt, whipping it out from under him and dropping it aside. He carefully undid the button and zipper and pulled the fabric down as Steven arched his hips to let the pants slide down to the floor.
Steven pushed himself back onto the bed as Wallace climbed over him, anchoring a kiss onto his lips. He trailed his knuckles over the man's chest, stopping to press his forefinger against Steven's nipple. Steven brought his arms up and curled his fingers in Wallace's hair, still amazed by its fine softness. It was stunning.
Wallace broke from the kiss and dragged his lips down Steven's neck and chest, breathing gently on the fine hairs, prickling from arousal. His fingers played with the strap of his shorts.
Steven's eyelids fluttered as he laid his head back and felt Wallace bite tenderly on the skin of his stomach, his hands still embedded in the hair of his partner. Clearly he had been waiting for this, Steven thought. Wallace was usually more patient with him. Never agonizingly slow, but not so fast as to become jumbled and sloppy; still, it was obvious that Wallace wanted him quite badly, not that Steven minded. His shorts had already been yanked off and tossed on the floor anyhow.
He groaned lightly as Wallace's chest grazed the tip of his erection. Steven opened his eyes as he felt the tufts hair drift away from his fingers and glanced down at Wallace pulling off his own boxers furiously.
"Blasted things," he muttered as he shook them off his ankle and repositioned his hands on Steven's hips, thumbs pressing into the muscle just inside them, massaging a bit.
And it was then that Steven decided something. He quickly sat up, bringing his knees in and pressing his hands into the bed. Steven rolled his hips upwards and pressed his length fully against his partner's. Wallace yelped in surprise, and released Steven's hips to stabilize himself on the mattress, giving Steven the chance to clasp Wallace's side and bring him down into the bed.
"What are you-" Wallace grunted while Steven climbed over him, a smile developing on his lips. He pressed himself against Wallace again, harder this time and causing an indulgent moan to escape from his throat. Steven lowered his face close to Wallace's.
"Just let me," he said quietly and smirked a bit to himself. Wallace moved his head up and parted his lips expecting a kiss, but Steven pulled away and dove into his exposed neck, suckling gently. Wallace hummed in approval and lifted his hips against Steven once again.
If he was truly this desperate then it was the least Steven could do. It also calmed an itching vengeance that was still present in Steven's head, and so he decided to kill a couple birds.
He gnawed on the side of Wallace's neck, leaving sure to leave a creamy pink mark with his incisors in the soft skin just an inch above the edge of his collarbones. Impatient, Wallace took hold of Steven's sides and held him intently, bucking his hips and grinding aggressively. Steven was determined to compensate for his own excessiveness earlier and raised himself away, earning him an exasperate whine from Wallace who dropped his hips back onto the bed.
"Damn it Steven," he huffed, letting go of the man's sides and giving him a weak scowl.
"All you have to do is tell me," Steven cooed.
Wallace groaned. "For god's sake. What, you want me to ask you to fuck me? Alright, fuck me."
Steven let out a breathy laugh and Wallace's eyebrow quirked up.
"Don't be an idiot," he growled and pulled Steven's head down and kissed him hard. Steven felt him smile a little, the subtle stretch of his lips. He lowered himself back down and let Wallace continue to thrust against him.
As Steven returned the pressure he could feel Wallace convulse eagerly. He slid himself back down and took Wallace's erection in his hand as he reached over to the bedside table for the lube. Pressing his thumb on his head and earning a moan from Wallace, Steven took the lube in his hand and warmed it in his fingers. Wallace looked down at him and sighed, relieved.
"Do you realize how long it's been?" Wallace brought his knees up shakily while Steven placed himself between them.
"Are you insinuating that it's my fault?" He asked almost threateningly, though his grin betrayed him.
The other man scoffed, rolling his eyes. "Just trying to be reminiscent."
"Of us doing this?" Steven half laughed.
"Oh just get on with it then!" Wallace nudged Steven with his foot, trying to land somewhere between impatience and playfulness.
Steven obeyed more because of his own aching than Wallace's-if his lower half weren't so desperately raised he wouldn't have minded aggravating Wallace a bit more, but that clearly wasn't the case. Still rubbing him slowly, Steven traced Wallace's opening gently, smiling a bit at the strained noises coming from the pillow. He carefully entered with one finger, pulsing in and out. Wallace steadied his breathing with his hands massaging deeply into the sides of his head above his ears, finger tense.
"Alright?" Steven asked quietly, preparing to insert his middle finger.
Wallace nodded and exhaled a sigh through his nose. Steven pressed another finger in, stretching with care with his other hand still occupying Wallace's erection teasingly.
Eventually Steven was able to prepare him and by that time the other man nearly bit a hole through his bottom lip, teeth poking out anxiously. White playing on heated pink. Steven pulled his finger out and positioned himself, his own shaft pressing up almost painfully. He eased in, rocking his hips forward as Wallace caught a small whine at the back of his throat. Steven felt a shiver of relief rise through his torso, welling in his chest and streaming down his arms, raising bumps of goose flesh.
Wallace's lower back quirked upward in anticipation as Steven withdrew and pushed in again. He found a steady rhythm and adjusted the angle of his hips in search for-
"A-aah!"
A cry wrenched itself from Wallace's throat as Steven pressed into his prostate. His hands slammed down into the bedsheets, making crinkly depressions on either side as he heaved a sigh, feeling a rapid warmth scatter itself through his lower half and settling into the sides of his hips. Steven, stunningly more stimulated, pushed more vigorously into his partner and had to bend his body over closer in order to penetrate him fully. All parts of him explored, all sanctuaries filled. He could feel tension compact in his body, vibrating as if it were alive, climbing up to his shoulders and the base of his neck.
Lungs stretching against his ribs Steven thrusted in faster and watched as Wallace tense and his abdominals constrict beneath his skin as strained gasps whispered behind his lips. Steven rolled his hips as far as he could go, skimming on the edge. Wallace felt his rising urgency and bucked his hips up just as Steven pushed forward. With a strained cry bursting from his throat, Steven came into him as a wave of euphoria streamlined through his center. He felt the central nerves in his vertebrae burst.
He rocked his hips a little as he eased out of Wallace, his lips parted and eyelids drooping tenderly over his pupils. Steven breathed deeply and sighed, overwhelmed with satisfaction and glanced over to the man still splayed out in from of him who was desperately tensed.
"Steven..." Wallace whined as impassioned frustration and desire welled up and crashed against the inside of his chest. He dug the heels of his hands into the mattress and arched his pelvis, his erection pressing upwards almost painfully. Steven, still dissolving in his stupor, bent down and stroked Wallace's thigh reassuringly. He dipped his tongue against the pre-cum on his head and Wallace let out an exasperated moan. Wallace's eyes rolled back as he felt Steven take him in, warm lips and breath around sensitive skin ready to break.
Steven sucked gently, quite sure that it wouldn't take much more as he felt the muscles his Wallace's leg contract again. His forehead glinting with the sheen of perspiration, hair matter by the pillow and whipped every which way over the curve of his head with one strand sticking to his cheek. Squinting eyes looked down at Steven imploringly, and Steven took Wallace as far into his mouth as he could, as if completely possessed by that watery blueness. As his tongue pressed firmly against Wallace's length he felt the body underneath him jerk. Steven scraped his teeth delicately over his skin, lips trailing with a lazy softness that made Wallace burn maddeningly, and just as Steven stopped to suckle on his head a stream of frothy white ejected into his mouth. Wallace moaned with relief, feeling a hot river of ecstasy overflow from inside of his ribs dribbling down his torso. His fingertips curled into the bedsheets, dimpling them.
Steven wiped his tongue across the corners of his mouth as he shakily dragged himself to the top of the bed and nearly collapsed face down onto Wallace, having just enough control to land right beside them. The two filled their lungs generously, ribcages rising and shrinking beneath glistening skin. Muscles tentatively relaxing. Eyelids daring to fall.
Steven cupped his hand around Wallace's jaw and turned his head for a kiss. He tasted the sea.
`
After a few moments passed they recovered their respiratory rhythms and lay calmly underneath the sheet, chilled by their wetness. Steven glanced over.
"So is this all you wanted? This is what you missed?" He asked with slight rasp, fingers buried once again in his partner's hair, still soft.
"Well this isn't all I missed," Wallace smiled wearily. "Don't think the only reason I came here was for sex, alright? I really was concerned."
"Mhmm say what you like," Steven said, tugging at Wallace's hair.
"Things just happened to...work out nicely," Wallace chuckled and shifted onto his side to bring his forehead against Steven's. He nuzzled him, muffled whispers rising from the fabric of the pillow covers and fading quietly in the air just above their ears.
"It's your fault."
"Oh, fabulous job making this sound like a bad thing."
"You know what I mean."
"What?" Wallace's smile drifted from his face as he pulled away. Steven looked at him with hesitant annoyance bubbling behind his pupils. He sighed.
"I'm still sorry," Wallace muttered, his gaze dropping down. "It was selfish and spiteful, and I shouldn't have done it."
Steven draped his arm over Wallace's side, stroked the deep ravine of his back with his fingers. "I'm sorry for not being here."
Wallace lifted his arm over the sheet and wrapped it around Steven's shoulder to pull him closer. Skin to skin. He felt his warmth, the rise and fall of his chest, twitching joints, a dipping eyelash. Small things to keep locked tightly in the crease of his palm. A few feet away they heard the tick of the clock changing hour, like a menacing footstep in a hallway drawing them back to reality. Wallace tightened, his face in Steven's hair, Steven's cheek against the front of his neck, breathing.
"Stay."
"I will. Though a 'please' would have been nice."