A/N: I was shocked and mildly offended by both the amount of Poketalia and the amount of DenIce on this site. Which is, not enough. Here you go, you shippers who are just as thirsty as I am. If you guys dig it, I'd be more than happy to write onto this AU!

"Vaporeon! Give me a hydro pump, go!" Mathias's order was heard clearly over the chaos of battle. His Vaporeon nodded, casting Mathias a quick backwards glance before singing a reply and leaping into action.

"Hey!" Emil protested from the other side of the blacktop battlefield, his brow furrowed in frustration. "Don't you think that's a little harsh?" A hyper-compressed shot of water was heading straight for his beloved honedge, and there was little he could do to protect it.

"Them's the breaks, kid! If ya wanna be a tough trainer, ya gotta push yourself!"

Emil growled, fear for his honedge building in his gut. "Caledscratch!" He called his honedge's name. "Do… something!?"

Alright, so Emil was kind of new to the pokemon trainer scene. That's why he was training with Mathias, a seasoned warrior.

Caledscratch cried out in confusion. The possessed sword held its own sheath out in front of it, attempting to shield itself from the oncoming blast.

Oh no.

Caledscratch braced himself. It was almost painful to watch.

Nooooo, Caledscratch, I'm so sorry.

The blast of water crashed into honedge's sheath, which ended up slamming right into his hilt with a piercing metal clang. Caledscratch's cloth unraveled and the sheath clattered to the pavement a split second before the blade did. it was a one-hit KO.

Emil ran over to his fainted honedge. He fell to his knees beside it, their first battle together, and their first loss. He gathered the sword up and sheathed it with some effort, so that it wouldn't be exposed like it was. Emil sighed, anger boiling for Mathias.

"Wow, I didn't know it would go down so easy." Vaporeon squealed at his feet, twisting around his legs as he walked over.

"What did you expect? I've been with it for a day and a half." Emil growled, containing more seething words. How could he do this to Caledscratch?

"Maybe it wouldn't have fainted if ya'd actually give it orders."

Before Emil could give Mathias a snarky reply, Lukas's quiet voice interrupted. "Maybe it wouldn't have fainted if you stopped being a showoff for once in your life, and actually tried to help Emil like you said you would." Lukas had a hand on Mat's shoulder, his espeon following nonchalantly after him.

Mathias huffed. "Vaporeon and I like to go big or go home. Emil just needs to stop being a big baby. His honedge could actually be useful if he could call commands at it!"

"He needs practice, Mathias. And if you won't give it to him, then I will."

They were talking about Emil as if he wasn't even there. He clutched his KO'd honedge and listened to his older brother bicker with Mathias.

"Um, guys?" He interjected. The other two turned to where he was crouched on the ground with Caledscratch. "We aren't doing anything until we get Caledscratch to the pokemon center."

Lukas nodded, pulling a pokeball off of his belt and tossing it to Emil. He caught the tiny pokeball and it expanded in his hand. The sensation was still unfamiliar to him, but he had the feeling he was going to get used to it.

"Honedge belongs to you now, little brother. You can take it yourself."

If the sense of companionship between him and Caledscratch hadn't settled before then, it certainly settled when Norway acknowledged him as a trainer. "Right, of course."

Emil held the pokeball away from his body and pressed the button in the front. Caledscratch's body turned into red energy, and he disappeared into the ball.

Lukas outstretched his hand to Emil in an offer to help him off of the ground, which he accepted.

"Mathias and I will still go with you, though. Won't we, Mat?" The other man sighed, a smile growing on his face.

"Yes, darling," he groaned sarcastically.

Emil often found it funny, the way the two of them bickered like an old married couple, though he would never say anything about it. Mathias had been in Emil's life for about as long as he could remember, his older brother's childhood friend. They even got their first pokemon together, two eevees from the same breeder. They were brother and sister, or something of the like.

The bizarre thing about pokemon centers was that they never stopped evolving. Even in this old town, where every building was ancient, the shining red pokemon center was a beacon of modern technology. A lot of the older residents thought it was a scourge, but Emil just appreciated the change in scenery. The center not only provided free services to heal your pokemon, but also gave travelers a place to rest their heads, children a safe place to play and interact with pokemon, and older folks a welcome place to catch up on the latest gossip. A lot of people would say that pokemon centers were the blood of the region, and Emil couldn't help but agree as he handed over his only pokeball.

"Don't be afraid to give honedge those orders. You guys are a team now, and he can't do everything on its own," Mathias preached, relaxed on the red couch in the pokemon center. "What's its moveset?"

His arms were stretched out along the back of the couch and his back was sunk into the cushions. He looked to be the polar opposite of Lukas, who sat snugly next to Mathias with his arms crossed and his posture rigid and closed.

"Tackle, swords dance, metal sound, and… and…" God, why couldn't he remember that last move?

Looks like he didn't have to. Mathias finished for him. "Destiny bond. And do you know what destiny bond does?"

Emil shook his head. Mathias was making him feel kinda bad. It was only his first day, sheesh!

"It's a ghost type move that causes the attacking pokemon to faint if honedge does. It's like, a backup plan, in case ya mess up."

Yeah, Emil got it. Destiny bond didn't seem like the best choice, but if he knew honedge wasn't going to make it out anyways, he could go for that one."

"It's only really practical if ya have more than one pokemon, though." He smiled a cocky grin. "Besides, ya wouldn't have been able to outspeed my Vaporeon, but you know how risky hydro pump is. There's always a good chance you could avoid it… maybe ya should start working on Caledscratch's agility?"

Emil nodded, his arms crossed against his chest. He was thankful for Mathias's help, in the few instances where he wasn't being an absolute jackass.

Ding donng.

The bell that sounded told Emil that Caledscratch was healthy and ready to go. He thanked Nurse Joy, took back his pokeball, and turned around to the automatic glass door where Mathias and Lukas were waiting.

Emil let Caledscratch out of the pokeball as he walked through the doors and into the pleasantly warm sunshine outside. His cry was echoey and ghostly, potentially creepy if it had not been so cheerful. Emil couldn't help but smile a little at his companion.

Following Mathias and Lukas led to him being seated at a wooden picnic table in the lively side yard of the pokemon center. This place was very familiar to him, having grown up here and all. There was a blacktop where kids ran about with their pokemon, sometimes having mock battles with the little things. It's not like a six-year-old's skitty dealt a lot of damage. Emil remembered coming down here with Mathias's eevee and whipping some serious ass. Just once. Or twice.

"And most importantly of all," continued Mathias, "you need to have a strong bond with your pokemon!"

Vaporeon chirped in agreement, hopping expertly onto Mathias's shoulders from the surface of the table. She wrapped around the back of his neck, and Emil was actually rather surprised.

"Isn't Vaporeon really heavy?" He asked, a little unsure about getting too close to Caledscratch.

"She's really not," Mathias fed his pokemon a piece of his lunch. "But she is a little too big to be up there." Mathias did nothing but grin as Vaporeon protested his words.

"Oh, shut up, you. You're going to knock everything off of the table with your tail if ya don't come down from there."

Vaporeon sighed in acceptance and leaped away from Mathias, landing squarely on the bench.

Caledscratch hovered, sheathed, near Emil, eyeing Vaporeon suspiciously. Emil was unsure if the honedge knew that Vaporeon didn't mean anything personal when she attacked him earlier. They were going to have to work on that later.

"A strong bond..." he repeated, a little above a whisper. Emil reached a hand out to touch Caledscratch, and it let him run his hand up its sheath. The metal was cold beneath his fingers, and the the ridges proved to be an interesting pattern on his fingertips. The contact was going well until Emil's hand brushed Caledscratch's hilt.

The honedge immediately pulled away from Emil's touch and swatted his wrist with it's cloth arm.

"Ow!" Okay, don't touch his hilt. Mental note taken.

Mathias could be heard laughing, and Lukas could be heard sighing. "Yeah," Mathias started, "Vaporeon doesn't like it when I touch her right behind her ears, see?" He demonstrated, much to vaporeon's dismay. She squealed and shook her head, trying to get away from Mat.

"Oh, stop it ya big baby-" he was cut off by a blast of water hitting him in the face, knocking him backwards and onto the dampened grass.

That didn't look like a very healthy relationship to Emil, but what did he know. Vaporeon and Mat's relationship didn't look like it was too far off from the relationship that man had with Lukas, so maybe that was just how things went? He didn't have any especially close friends, so he didn't have anything to go by. Maybe he and Caledscratch would have a friendship like that some day.

Lukas didn't even look away from the salad he was munching on to check on Mathias. "You can't come back inside until you dry off completely."

"Aww, Norge!" Mathias protested with the affectionate nickname. "Can't ya at least get me a towel?" He pushed himself off of the ground, managing a sitting position as he wiped his face with his sleeve.

"I wouldn't hold your breath."

Emil rolled his eyes. His big brother was so cold.

But Mathias never seemed to mind. "Meh, it's a good way to beat the heat I guess." The obnoxious blond hoisted himself back onto the bench and scratched Vaporeon on the top of her head. She squeaked in approval.

Mathias took a bite out of his sandwich. "So Emil, do ya wanna-"

"Don't talk with your mouth full," Lukas interrupted.

Mat seamlessly swallowed the bite he was chewing on. "Do ya wanna have another pokemon battle? I won't use Vaporeon if ya don't want."

Well obviously Emil wanted to have another pokemon battle. But for Caledscratch to face up against Vaporeon again? He shifted his eyes to the sword next to him. He was popping a piece of pokemon food into his mouth using the hand-like cloth coming from his hilt.

He sighed. "Yes, and go ahead and use Vaporeon. Just, can you hold back a little bit? This is training, not a gym battle, Mathias."

The older man scratched the back of his head and gave a lilting laugh. "Yeah, alright. I guess its just been a while since Vaporeon an' me have had a good opponent to flex our muscles for."

Vaporeon gave him a glare that said 'What do you mean, our?'

Meanwhile, Emil was rolling his eyes.

"You two go ahead and battle," Lukas stated, finishing up his salad. "I think I'm going to head home. Espeon and I are going to study."

Oh, no, please don't leave me alone with Mathias. No no no.

Mathias was a little different when Lukas wasn't around. Or rather, Mathias was a little different when he was alone with Emil. It's not that Emil didn't like Mathias, like, really really like him, but some of the things that the older man seemed to suggest felt a little wrong. Especially since he was ninety-nine percent sure Mathias and Lukas were fucking.

"Have fun with Espeon," Emil sighed.

Lukas only hummed in reply, tossing out his trash in the metal bin beside the pokemon center. Espeon soundlessly followed him in the direction of home.

"So how 'bout that battle now?" Mathias snapped him out of his brief trance, where he watched Lukas and Espeon tread away.

Emil shrugged. "Caledscratch, you ready?"

The honedge gave a happy reply that sounded like it would mean 'yeah'.

.

Two hours and an accidental trip to the pokemon center later, honedge and Vaporeon were both pretty tired. Emil didn't know if he could say they were quite exhausted, but what did he know about pokemon? He told Caledscratch how proud he was before it was sucked into the pokeball, as did Mathias with Vaporeon.

"Good job today, kiddo." He bumped his shoulder against Emil's as they walked down the path back home.

Now, Emil couldn't say that he hated the way Mathias sometimes acted. After living with his brother for all his life, and most oftentimes in his shadow, he savored the attention he received from Mathias. It was only natural, right?

Right?

So when all he wanted was for Mathias to stop right there on the dirt path and kiss him passionately, that was completely sane, right?

As always, Mathias did no such thing, and like always, Emil didn't expect him to. It was crazy. No matter how much that crazy blond seemed to flirt with him, it was all games. None of it could be as real as Emil wished it to be.

The pokemon center was far behind them at this point. "So, you hungry?" Mathias asked, if only to break the silence.

"Not really, we just ate."

"Whaat? That was ages ago!" Emil could see his confused blue eyes on me out of the corner of his eye.

"What's your definition of 'ages'?" Emil almost smiled at the noise Mathias made. He always has been pretty eccentric.

"I dunno, like, two hours? C'mon, I just want some chips or something. Stop busting my balls."

Emil rolled his eyes, this time cracking a tiny smile. Hardly visible. Today had been a great day, he made a new friend in Caledscratch and spent the whole day training with Mathias. Well, not the whole day. The sun was still up, so there was still time to do something.

"Oh, wait," he remembered his bag, took it off, and dug around in the front pocket. "here."

From his bag emerged a smaller plastic bag containing pretzels. Mat took the pretzels and munched on one happily, expelling a loud "Thank you!"

A few moments passed before either of them spoke again. It was Mathias, with a mouth full of pretzel. "I can't believe ya have your very own pokemon now."

Emil imagined what Lukas would say to him right now… something like, 'close your mouth when you chew', but Emil didn't mind it too much. And he didn't want to sound like his brother.

"Mmhmm."

"It's like, you're all grown up."

"Mhmh. I'd say seventeen was grown up, yes." Emil considered himself an adult… though still six years Mathias's junior.

"Ya make all of your own decisions now."

Mathias probably thought that Emil couldn't see him when he bit his lip. What was that man getting at? It was starting to make Emil nervous.

His heart thudded in his chest, frightened of where Mathias was going. He couldn't possibly know what Emil was thinking? What if he could read his mind?

Emil cast Mathias a confused, careful glance. "Mhmm," he mumbled.

Mathias looked away, popping another pretzel into his mouth and gazing up at the sky. "I'm just saying. You can do whatever you want now. No one's going to tell you what to do."

His eyes lingered for a little while longer before he finally looked away. "Yeah."

Surely he misunderstood.

"So is there anything ya have in mind…?" Mathias continued.

"It's starting to sound more like you have something in mind, Mathias." Of course he was only jesting.

Mathias's eyes lit up with his usual liveliness and festivity. "Well, let's just say, theoretically-"

Emil threw his head away, looking across the sparsely-wooded area on his left. He tried not to smile. "You have got to be kidding me."

"No, nonono, hear me out."

Emil's heart was beating with such a cacophony that he thought that Mathias would surely hear it. Or maybe it was just the blood pounding through his ears. He waited for Mat to go on.

"What if- in theory, I totally want to bang you."

This could not be happening right now. Digest those butterflies. Go along with it. "Theoretically."

"Yap, what would stop you if I started coming onto you?"

Emil's stomach boiled anxiously. "Mathias, you always come onto me."

"Nooooo, I mean something a little more like this?" He didn't even stop walking as he leaned down and pecked Emil's cheek with a kiss.

Red flared on Emil's face. Oh my god. He's seen Mathias do that before, but not on him. He never imagined Mathias giving him a little kiss. Well, not realistically, anyways. Emil moved his hand slowly to the spot that Mathias kissed. He could feel the blond's smug aura next to him.

"I guess... I wouldn't do anything." He didn't dare look over at him. What if they made eye contact.

"So, you'd be cool with this, too?" Mathias stopped on the path, gripping Emil's wrist snuggly.

He couldn't help himself, their eyes met and there was nothing Emil could do about it.

"What are you-"

His question was in vain, for it was answered before he could be bothered to finish up those syllables.

It was answered by calloused fingers on his jaw and experienced lips on his. The kiss was brief and gentle, but it turned Emil into a wide-eyed blushing baby. Mathias pulled away and dropped his fingers, and Emil covered his mouth with both hands and backed away from Mat.

It was only a tiny kiss, if you could even call it that, but it was too fast for Emil.

He struggled to regain his composure while Mathias stared with a face-splitting grin from a few feet away.

Finally, he was able to mutter "I suppose it wouldn't be completely unwelcome." through his hands.

He dropped his hands slowly. reminding himself to move his feet or they'd never get home. Disbelief was still in his heart, but he told himself to bring that boil down to a sweet simmer. Mathias was just being crazy as usual.

"So then ya definitely wouldn't object to this." This time he was a little more subtle, a little more Emil's pace. He wrapped his rough fingers around the delicate fingers of Emil, intertwining them so that their palms were together and his digits fell naturally between Emil's knuckles. It was almost as if they were designed to link together like this… maybe they were.

Emil's blushing face looked up at Mathias, this time not afraid of meeting the soft gaze, his typical smile still there, but warmer than Emil remembered.

Wow, this was really cheesy. When Mathias gently bumped Emil's shoulder, his lungs collapsed. His heart throbbed. His stomach flipped. His cheeks flared. It was over, there was no hiding how he felt about Mathias now.

He bumped Mat's shoulder back, hiding a tiny smile and squeezing the older man's hand lightly.

"No," he sighed happily, "I wouldn't."

A/N: Thanks! And please review, guys. It helps out a lot!