"Hey, Montgomery...?"
He had, somewhat untypically of him, not realised that he'd had company until that point. Inwardly growling, he crossed his arms and looked to where the voice had come from, then frowned. What could Stephan want?
"Can't you see I was thinking?" he announced haughtily, annoyed at himself for not noticing. His rival's presence had made him wary. Stephan looked thoughtful for a moment, looking up at the sky for a moment before smiling sheepishly.
"Yeah, but what was I supposed to do? I wanted to talk to you, so..."
"Get on with it, then." He didn't really like that he always acted this way, but he didn't like being disturbed. Stephan made him want to both talk and never say anything, a confusing predicament really.
Luckily for him, Stephan was easy going. Most other people wouldn't have bothered unless it was urgent, but Stephan seemed to either not care, or make time for other people. Too nice, really: perhaps that was why everyone got his name wrong.
"I wondered why you like fighting types so much! I mean, you've got Throh, and that's it isn't it? You don't look like the kind of guy who likes fighting types to me..." Stephan spoke haltingly, and several times Montgomery had to bite his tongue to prevent himself from snapping at the other trainer. When the red-haired trainer finished, peering quizzically at Montgomery, he found he couldn't hold that gaze. Battling was so much easier than talking.
Sweeping a lock of hair out of his face dramatically, he watched the skies over Unova darken as he answered.
"Tactically speaking, a fighting type is a good choice. They have few weaknesses and many strengths. Most are adept at battling in the wild and versed in well-grounded training rituals, so statisically they are the quickest to train. They learn a variety of moves to cover the weaknesses they do have, and their attacking strength is superior compared to other typings." He took a breath, colouring as he realised that he'd lectured. He hated doing that! "But I have other pokemon," he finished, somewhat stupidly. Stephan had, of course, hit upon the fact that he tended to use only Throh, in an attempt at perfecting their battling style and power. He'd been neglecting his other pokemon, telling himself that he would get around to using them if he needed to. Only now, after having been beaten at the Clubsplosion, was he truly thinking he needed to vary his pokemon and bring them all up to Throh's level: he was beginning to think that one day, he wouldn't be able to use Throh and then he'd be stuck.
It made him want to both frown and smile to think Stephan had caused this revolution in thought within him. Before, he'd always been so sure, and now...
"Well, I guess so... They are pretty good when you put it like that!" Stephan exclaimed, imitating a punch into the air in front of him, something Montgomery suspected was so he could be doing something with his hands. "But I bet you didn't choose Throh, did you? He was your starter, wasn't he?"
Without thinking, he nodded, opening his mouth to explain how he'd met his partner, then closed it. He didn't tell that tale to anyone, so why had he been so close to telling Stephan, anyway? He didn't usually trust people, not until he'd known them years in most cases, and still he kept things back.
So why was he trusting Stephan so much?
"There's no story. I found him, and captured him to train. Nothing interesting." Despite his words, he felt Stephan move closer. He promised himself he wouldn't say a thing to anyone, about playing with the Throh as a replacement for friends he'd never had.
"Aww, but you two are so close! You're like, I dunno..." Stephan scratched his head thoughtfully. "Brothers or something. There has to be something good, most pokemon aren't close to their trainers like that. You're so in tune!"
Montgomery risked a look at the other trainer, and found Stephan smiling widely up at him, eyes imploringly wide, obviously eager to hear the story. He blinked, his throat closing in the shock that this person, his very own rival, did not appear to hate him. He had trouble breaking the gaze, heat rising in his cheeks. A very deep part of him whispered that he liked this proximity, and worse, he couldn't deny it. He just couldn't tell if it was Stephan himself, or just the fact that Stephan was the first one to really try and be friends, aside from family.
"We- Another time," he managed to croak, completely unelegantly. "I really ought to be going." Yet despite his words, he didn't move, continuing to watch Stephan closely.
"But that's such a shame! We should battle some other time then, see if your other pokemon are up to fighting my Sawk, and, we could... I dunno... have dinner?" Stephan's voice had gone from a normal volume to almost a whisper, and Montgomery was finding it hard to breath. His eyes kept flicking from the other trainer's eyes to his lips. The desire had hit him quite suddenly, and with the loneliness he'd been feeling recently and the self-doubt from his loss, he was too close to Stephan to try and fight it. He knew he wasn't like most of the other males he knew, but he had also thought he would never meet anyone he liked, not enough to want to be close to them. Hell, he hadn't barely thought that much of Stephan until now, but he hadn't the power to move away. Instead, he found himself moving closer.
"Sounds good..." he murmured, registering that he hadn't answered Stephan's question. He wondered if the other trainer was having as much of an inner conflict as he was.
Stephan grinned sort-of shyly, either oblivious to or not caring about how close their faces were. Either way, it gave Montgomery a stupid kind of hope: should he do something idiotic, Stephan would hopefully forgive him, or not care. Not that he was planning anything, but...
"That's the first time you agreed straight away!" he whispered. Montgomery hadn't the energy to argue. He wet his lips nervously, a question bubbling up from the depths of his brain.
Was he going to ruin this possible friendship?
Why, yes he was.
He pressed his lips to Stephan's.
It wasn't that he wasn't thinking, he was just more occupied with thinking about closing his eyes, keeping himself steady and the feelings that would take him a lifetime to decipher than about consequences and reactions.
Stephan had gasped, but he didn't take advantage as firstly, he did not truly know how, and secondly, the logical part of him was in favour of not embarrassing himself further. If that was even possible.
He pulled away quickly and turned, his face a bright scarlet and unwilling to see just how Stephan was reacting. He already wanted to kick his own face in, how could he have done that? He stood, mumbling a sorry and a goodbye, before beginning to scuttle off to his lodgings, where he would be able to kick his face in in privacy. He didn't even get more than ten metres away before a voice pierced into his spiralling thoughts.
"M-my offer still stands!"
Confused, he looked back, finding Stephan about as red as he was, but smiling hopefully. Internally, Montgomery sighed with relief, nodding with a small smile of his own, then continuing on his way.
His relationships were never simple, but then he supposed that might get boring.
Why write popular pairing when you can write ones no one reads! /smack'd
They will be out of character as I've watched a princely total of one episode that they were in, and Montgomery was barely in that. But hey! Hope you enjoyed it, rejoice in rare pairs!