Comment: I thought I had fallen out of Hardenshipping years ago but in the end all it took was cosplaying as a Team Aqua member during a convention and talking about the games for a little while with a friend - boom, I'm right back into it and I hardly had anything else on my mind for the past few days. I'm only regretting that I haven't written this three days ago when the ideas were still fresh.
Slightly inspired by the events of another fanfic called Infamy ( s/9409726/1/Infamy), heavily inspired by a song called "Fall for you" by Secondhand Serenade.
Set in Omega Ruby after the protagonist dealt with Kyogre.
I also have to add that I have never played or watched Pokemon in English so I have no idea how these two actually talk. All I could do was translate and hope for the best.
The white mountains around Sootopolis City were bathed in moonlight, the reflections of the stars glittered in the calm sea. Water and land combined, forming something serene and beautiful - and he, hellbent on realising his plans, had almost ruined a beauty he had been too blind to notice before.
Maxie looked out over the water, the incidents of the day still weighing heavy on his mind. The others might have forgiven him but how could he ever make peace with his own consciousness? Why did he go so far without realising his ideas were utter madness? Had the pain over something that happened more than two decades ago still been so strong that it had completely blinded him?
The scrunching of sand and pebbles behind him interrupted his thoughts. The approaching steps sounded slow, insecure, as if someone who had never been quiet in his entire life now suddenly tried to be sneaky.
"And here I thought you already scurried off to your hiding place", Archie said as soon as he stood next to Maxie. "Almost would've done the same if the little scamp hadn't told me you were still around. Or... rather nodded in the right direction. Not much of a talker after all."
When Maxie kept staring at the water in silence he continued, "And you ain't either apparently." He sighed deeply. "Damn, have we gotten ourselves into a helluva mess. Kinda reminded me of good old times though. We might have grown a lot older but surely not any wiser."
"Why 'we'? I didn't see you running around trying to summon dangerous legendaries", Maxie suddenly snapped at him. He hadn't wanted to raise his voice but just the mention of "good old times" stung like a dagger, ripped open old wounds and let anger flare up. "So why have you kept following me? Why are you always so keen on putting yourself in the same boat?"
"Cause I like boats. And who knows, maybe I could have awoken something stupidly dangerous as well if you hadn't always been at least two steps ahead", Archie shrugged his arms behind his head and tried to sound casual but when he noticed the expression on Maxie's face he seemed to realise that whatever he actually came to say, he just completely blundered it. He turned away, biting his lips. "Fuck, I'm such an idiot", he mumbled.
For a moment an awkward silence lingered between them then it was broken by Archie again. "Can you give me one more chance to start this from the beginning?' he asked, now in a way more serious tone.
"Well, what do you think I'm still standing around waiting for?" Maxie asked. He still sounded slightly annoyed but most of his anger had subsided again. If there was anything to still be angry about it was his loss of composure and that he still reacted so sensible over things that should have been long forgotten and in the past. He now even felt a slight pang of guilt for shouting at Archie. In a way it was a good feeling that he still decided to stick around no matter what happened during the past days.
Archie had taken off his bandana only to now fiddle with it. His hair looked like a mess, probably also would have been even if he hadn't worn anything before. Some things never changed. And the familiarity was hurting - but in a different way than the daggers from before.
"I'm sorry that I failed you - again", he finally said.
Maxie looked at him in surprise but before he could say anything in return the words came pouring like waterfalls and in a bubbling mess.
"I'm so sorry that I failed you over and over again. You might have thought me strong back then but all I was was a fucking weakling depending on the others' opinions and in return hurting you in the worst ways possible. When I finally saw you again after all these years I thought I could help you out of this shit. Yeah, at the beginning I still had a kinda similar goal as you and you kinda became a rival - but during that time I realised that I had fallen for you all over again or maybe I have never even stopped loving you and was only good at pushing these feelings away as long as I didn't see you again... But then during my search for Kyogre I also found out how dangerous these things are in their pimal form. For once I wanted to do something right and save you. But even at that I miserably failed. I can understand if you hate me or want me to stay away but..." By this point he already seemed to struggle to keep his voice steady. "Do you ... do you still remember what I said after all that ... after Groudon was dealt with? That we've got to redo everything from the start and make it right this time and stuff? I didn't just mean our teams ... or the mess we left ... I meant this for us ... and I want it to be real so badly but..." Now his voice actually cracked and for a moment he stood in silence visibly fighting against tears.
And then Maxie reached out and touched his cheek. It had mostly been a reflex, just a moment later he wasn't quite sure anymore why he had even done this. Hadn't the old wounds flared up again before? Hadn't he still been angry? But before he could withdraw Archie had already cought Maxie's hand in his own. He had closed his eyes and kept holding it to his cheek as if right now it was the only thing still giving him strength in this world.
Maxie tried to search his heart but all he found was a weak echo of pain - a pain that had already wanted to heal so many years ago but he had held onto it, made it the fuel of his hate and determination. Today, for the first time in years his broken heart had the chance to repair. He was still hurting but that belonged to the men they had been in the past, not the ones standing at this shore at this very moment.
"Y'know", Archie continued after a while, his voice now sounding much calmer despite his eyes still glinting with suppressed tears, "the young idiot I was back then was too scared or just too dumb to admit his love in public. But this old idiot in front of you isn't giving a shit about peer pressure anymore or hiding his feelings. It might be years too late but I am not afraid to shout it out loud anymore. The entire city can hear it for all I care."
The corners of Maxie's mouth twitched. This image in his head of Archie running screaming through the unassuming nightly town was just too amusing.
"How about something that is less ... startling for the entire city?" he suggested but did nothing to follow his words. Now it was him who suddenly had second thoughts about this public display of affection. Could he really leave everything behind so easily and start this relationship anew? Earlier this night he hadn't even be able to give himself this chance to forgive and restart.
Archie turned around. Only now he noticed the many houses behind them with a perfect view of the sea - and if any of their inhabitants had looked outside during this night they probably also had a perfect view of everything the two had done so far. A smile flashed over his face.
"Oh, I see. Well, if that's okay for you..."
No, he wasn't sure if it was okay. He slightly tensed up when Archie wrapped his arms around him but he also didn't back away or told him to stop.
And then he felt the other's lips on his, so familiar yet new at the same time. He wrapped his arms around Archie's shoulders, let his fingers run through his messy hair and started to relax. Sometimes it wasn't that hard to start anew after all.