Dinner was interesting enough. I'd seen Gladion periodically since we returned to Alola from Kanto, but not as often as we saw Hau. I figured he was busy doing work for Aether, but Hau and him had grown to become pretty close friends, so who knows.

We talked about Gladion's work for Aether, and he asked if I'd had any challengers lately (which, yes, a few here and there but nothing to write home about), and Gladion mentioned how he still needed to hear this duo of Cole and Primie (as I call her).

"Actually, we have a gig coming up later this week," Cole mentioned. "Right on the stage in the mall in Hau'loui's shopping district."

"Ooh, when?" Gladion and Hau both seemed interested.

"It's either Wednesday or Thursday. I'll double check when I get home," Cole said.

"Ooh, I hope it's Wednesday. Thursday is grandpa's birthday. He's turning 60!," Hau said. "I was hoping you all could come for a feast; there will be dancing! Cake and ice cream, too!".

"Ooh, that sounds fun," I spoke up. I'm not sure if this would be the time, but ever since we saw Ash and Gary dancing together the night of their proposal, I've wanted to dance with Cole. Fewer things seemed more romantic than dancing with him.

We began to head out.
"Ooh! Lets take a picture and send it to Lillie," Hau suggested once we made it outside. Having longer arms, I was tasked with taking the actual picture; after a few silly attempts, we finally got a picture in which all four of us looked good, though Gladion wasn't really smiling. Although he'd matured warmed up to us over the years since I met him, he still wasn't the most smiley of people. I promptly sent the picture both Lillie and Hau (separately).

"Thanks for joining us! See you Thursday, I hope!", Hau said.

"Yes! And I'll let you know about the performance once we get back home," Cole responded. With that, we parted ways.

As we were walking, a stream of texts from Lillie came in. First was a trio of "face with hearts for eyes" emojis, followed by a "Hey guys! Wish I was there", followed by a "So are my brother and Hau just friends or….?". I stopped at that last one and showed Cole.

"Thoughts?"

"Hmm…I never thought about it. You know Gladion better than I do, though," Cole said.

"This is true, but…I don't know. If they are, great, but if not, that's fine too, I guess", I concluded, not sure what to think or if it even mattered.

"Heh. Good talk," Cole joked.

"I hope you can make it to this thing on Thursday. Sounds fun," I said, changing the subject.

"True. We'll see about this gig," Cole shrugged.

"Right; I want to go but I don't like missing you two, either," I said, debating.

He laughed. "You don't HAVE to go to all of my gigs, babe. You probably know our songs just as well as Primie and I do at this point. "

"I know I don't have to but I like going to support you. Both of you." By then we were approaching his house.

"I know, and I love that, babe" He leaned over to kiss me. "Anyway, we're here, I can check in just a second," he said as he unlocked and opened the door and promptly grabbed his phone off the charger. He thumbed through the calendar app. "Ooh…yeah, the gig is Thursday."

"Aw, Pidgey poop!", I exclaimed, frustrated. Sensing this, Cole came over and put his arm around me.

"It's ok, babe. Go have fun with your friends; maybe I can stop by after. The gig's at 8, you'll probably still be celebrating by the time we're done". He gave me a kiss on the cheek.

"True; that would be awesome if you could stop by afterward!", I said, excited by the realization.

"Also, 'Pidgey Poop?' That's the best you could come up with?", Cole teased.

"Shut up," I said, laughing. I hit him with a pillow and he began to tickle me and we laughed; this silliness lasted through the next few minutes.

"But really, you're not a Pidgey anymore, love," Cole said once we regrouped.

"I'm…what?", I asked, slightly confused.

"What I mean is…you've grown since I first met you. I've seen you become more confident…as you should be, you're the Champion! And you take my shenanigans like a pro now. It's almost like you've evolved, in a way," he explained.

"Oh…"I blushed. That was some unexpected insight but I appreciated it. Thinking about it, I could see where he was coming from, but I also wondered how much of this growth was thanks to him.

"So…" I began.

"Yeah, you're at least a Pidgeotto now", he said lightheartedly.

"HA! Thanks, Cole" I said. Then the tickle-fighting continued; we play-fought our way through the rest of the night.

Thursday came; we spent the afternoon on the beach. I didn't love spending toooo much time on the beach, as I tended to burn easily. I had recently acquired a special sunblock that supposedly was imbued with a Clefable's magic or something. Either way, it seemed to work well. A perk to being Champion; I'd occasionally get free samples of fancy products like this.

I looked over at Cole basking in the sun's rays; unlike me, he looked at home in the sun, as if he was Solgaleo himself. So radiant. He didn't need special Clefable sunblock. Must be nice, I thought, but I couldn't be too jealous.

Eventually, we headed back to his place, showered, and dressed for our respective events. I had on a floral print shirt and mint-ggreen shorts. Cole, meanwhile, looked ever so dapper in his suit. We made our way outside and walked together until we had to go our separate ways. As we stood on the street corner, Cole grabbed my hands and I turned so we stood face to face.

"Have fun tonight, ok? I will text you as soon as the gig's out," he said, looking into my eyes.

"Good luck tonight," I said, handing him Primarina's Pokeball, but not before giving the ball a quick kiss.

"You be good for Cole, ok? I'll be thinking of you both," I whispered to Primarina's Pokeball. I'd only been apart from her on one other occasion.

"Heh, you're so cute," Cole said. I only blushed a little; I never got sick of hearing him telling me that.

"I hope you can make it to at least some of the festival. It'll be fun but more fun with you, of course", I told him.

"I'll do my best. It's not a long set, I should be done playing by 8:30," he told me.

"Great. Well, good luck, have fun, see you soon!", I said, giving him a kiss on the lips. He kissed me back a couple times before we parted ways.

When I arrived in Iki town, I saw several familiar faces, including Hau, Gladion, my mother, Professor Kukui, Professor Burnet, Ilima Mallow, Kiawe, Lana and Hapu as well Olivia, Acerola and Kahili of the elite four. It was a good crowd.

Hau spotted me immediately and ran out to greet me.

"Aiden! Glad you could make it, friend", he declared.

"Me too! Cole told me he'll try to make it once his gig is done," I informed him.

"Great! I'm sure there will be some food leftover," Hau said as he ushered me to the area in which food was being served. It was a buffet-style set up and included a variety of Alolan delicacies. I filled my plate with a variety of items so that I could try everything. As I perused the eating area for a table, I saw Gladion sitting alone at a table; I immediately headed that way so as to give him some company.

"Where's your boyfriend?", he asked immediately.

"Hello to you too, Gladion", I jibed. "Cole has a gig," I began.

"With your Primarina?" I nodded and he continued. "You mean, you just let him take your Pokemon? That doesn't bother you?"

"Not really. I mean, I'm not used to not having her around, but I trust Cole," I explained. "He should be here later, after the gig anyway."

"I see. Trust….", Gladion seemed to ponder the thought, as if it were a foreign concept. I sat there wordlessly, letting him ponder. It was he who broke the momentary silence.

"What's it like dating a guy?"

I was a bit taken aback. "Um, well, I've never dated a girl so I have nothing to compare it to," I started.

"Heh. Me neither," he said, allowing a momentary smirk.

"But I like it! He makes me happy; he makes me feel safe." I'm not sure why I was being so open with Gladion, but I didn't see any reason not to be.

"Heh. Well that must be nice." I couldn't tell what his intent was behind that remark. I thought back to Lillie's question the other day but before I could ponder too much, I noticed that the whole area went silent as Hala stepped out onto the battling ring where Hau and I had our first battle. It was being used more like a stage on this occasion.

"Hello, all and thank you for coming! I appreciate you coming out to celebrate the 60th anniversary of my birth."

Looking at Hala, I was impressed. 60 years old, almost 4 times my age, and still had as much energy and fire as ever.

"I hope you've gotten enough to eat but if not, there is plenty more," he continued, offering a hearty laugh. As he continued to speak, I glanced at my phone just to check the time. It was just after 8; Cole and Primie would have begun performing by now.

"Anyway, I wanted to keep this short, so enough of that. I now ask Kiawe of Akala Island come to the stage!"

Hala stepped back as Kiawe made his way on stage. He was accompanied by two men with large drums strapped around them, four female dancers, and his two dancing Marowak. The drums began to beat, creating an upbeat rhythm. Kiawe was in the center of the stage and began to dance, and as the volume increased, more people and Pokemon began to dance; first the female dancers, then the Marowak, then some more male and female dancers made their way onto the stage. As they did, the female dancers originally on stage gracefully pulled out four Pokeballs each, bringing out four Oricorio, one with each coloring variation.

As the Oricorio came out, the crowd sprang to their feet (those who weren't already standing or dancing), and an uproar of cheering filled the area. One by one, all of the guests began dancing in the crowd. It wasn't long before Had found Gladion and I and grabbed each of us by the hand and we all began to dance as well.

It was quite the spectacle; several people and Pokemon, all dancing to the beat of the drums. I looked to the stage; Kiawe was so fierce, so graceful. I could never hope to match his elegance on stage but I didn't feel awkward. I was having fun with my friends; that's what counted in that moment.

Eventually, I was getting tired and needed to take a break. It was 8:40 and Cole hadn't texted me yet. I was trying not to worry and was thankful for the distraction. I got up to grab something to drink when I ran into Mallow and Acerola.

"Aiden! Good to see you, friend," Mallow said, ever pleasant and cheerful. "Are you having a good time?"

"I am," I said, not completely untruthfully. I was having a good time, despite worrying about Cole. "I just needed to take a break; I'm not used to all this dancing."

"I hear that," Acerola chimed in with a goofy grin. "I might as well have two left feet!". All three of us laughed.

"Still, it's nice to see everyone come together for no purpose other than to celebrate and be merry," said Mallow. I nodded in agreement when I saw that my phone had lit up.

It was Cole. "Hey babe, I'm sorry. I'll be over soon," read the text. I felt relieved.

"Well, Aiden, I think we're ready to go back and join the other trial captains in our little dance circle. Would you care to join us?", Mallow offered.

"I'll wait a little longer, if that's ok," I told him. I didn't want to dance again until Cole was with me.

"Suit yourself," said Acerola. "You'll know where to find us!". It was true; all of the present trial captains, Kiawe aside, had formed a little dancing circle in the crowd. The group of them were hard to miss.

It wasn't long before Cole showed up; his tie was undone slightly and he draped his coat over his shoulder but he still looked dapper as ever. I ran out to greet him.

"Hey babe," I said, hugging him. "How was the gig?"

"Twas fine", he said, giving me Primarina's poke ball back. "Wish you could have been there, though."

"Is everything ok? Did something go wrong?". I noticed he seemed a bit distressed.

"Well, Patrick was there."

"Patrick, your ex? From Kalos?". My eyes widened a bit. I trusted Cole but why on earth would his ex be in Alola?

"Yeah…he's here on family vacation and apparently just happened to be in the mall, but I have reason to believe he knew I'd be there," Cole said, sounding uneasy. "It was a strange coincidence at best".

"Did he…", I began, not entirely sure what to say or think.

"Nothing happened, babe. He stopped me as I was heading out; I almost didn't recognize him since he was dressed like a normal person instead of a Team Flare grunt," Cole said.

"I see." This was all a little weird. I'd never dated anybody before Cole. Cole told me he dated a guy when he still lived in Kalos but they broke up after a few months because the guy was really adamant about the two of them joining Team Flare together and Cole refused.

"Anyway, enough of that. How's the party?", he asked, ready to change the subject.

"It's been fun!" I followed him as he began to pile some food onto a plate; he hadn't eaten before or after the gig and was quite famished. "But it's better now that you're here." I sighed.

We sat down at a table. I didn't really mind that Cole saw his ex, necessarily. I trust Cole. But then I couldn't relate to the "having an ex" thing and it was weird, thinking about someone else loving Cole. It didn't bother me, per se, but it wasn't my favorite thing to think about.

"Mm, this is delicious!" Cole said in between bites of food, which helped me snap out of my mini-funk. I looked across the table to Cole. This is now. His ex is in the past. In the past he shall stay. I am in Cole's present, and he in mine.

"Do you want to dance?" I asked him, seizing the moment. Cole's eyes widened a bit for a split second before his face reformed into a bit of a smirk. "It will be my honor, babe," he said, offering me his hand.

Hand in hand we made our way into the crowd. We began to groove to the rhythm of the drums. We were having fun with it, flailing our arms about, shuffling our feet, laughing as we went. He grabbed my hands and twirled me around a little bit; I smiled and I laughed.

Maybe we would talk more about his run-in with his ex tomorrow; maybe we wouldn't. It didn't matter. All that mattered was this moment: Dancing in the moonlight with Cole, surrounded by friends, having just eaten some great food. Nothing else mattered.