*January 14th, 2554

~ Ryu

I groaned on the floor in pain after trying some physical therapy exercises. My doctor said if I keep them up I can walking more easily as soon as 6 months.

It varies on the Pokémon though and can last as long as 10 months to a year.

I hated feeling like this and not being able to walk frustrated me.

"Master Ryu?"

"URGH, what Shiftree?"

"Miss Evelyn is here to see you."

"she's here early. Thank you, Shiftree."

"Do you need help getting back into your wheelchair?"

"Yes actually."

Shiftree brought the chair over and helped me into it. I sighed in relief leaning back into the wheelchair just as Evelyn entered the gym.

"Evelyn! Ahem- Hi. Is everyone else on their way?"

"Yeah Sylveon texted me that he and Eevee are coming."

Shiftree bowed before exiting to give us privacy.

I hoped Evelyn didn't see me in pain.

"How are you feeling?"

"Fine. Just doing more exercises."

I said trying to wipe some of the sweat off my forehead.

"Is that a new shirt?"

"Yeah, my old clothes don't fit anymore and Lucario's have a lot of growth spurts."

'Growth spurts?' Really Ryu? That's what you talk about? This is Evelyn you're talking to, so why can't I get my words straight?

I clenched my paw tightly on my chair trying to hide their trembling.

Evelyn walked over to me and surprised me by holding one of my paws.

"Evelyn?"

"You're such a liar. You've been overdoing your workouts again haven't you? How do you expect to get better if you keep overdoing it? You're even trembling."

Of course she knows. I'm doing a shit job at hiding it and she can see right through me. My cursed paw would not stop trembling.

Might as well tell the truth. I'm worrying her.

"It's frustrating that I still can't walk yet. It hurts that I can't do anything about it. I overdo it as a stress reliever. I'm only making it worse aren't I?"

"Ryu."

She placed her paw on my face, it provided me a small sense of comfort.

"You can work out that's fine. Just put your health over mobility first. Okay?"

"Yeah...Yeah...You're right. I'll try to be more careful from now on."

I said as I placed my other paw over hers, remembering our no hugging or kissing deal and respecting her space. We made eye contact and I smiled up at her making her blush.

"Err, Eevee and Sylveon should be coming soon. Let's go wait for them."

"Oh okay..."

I said pulling away feeling a little sad on the inside as I rolled my chair to the entrance, Evelyn helping me going down the stairs.

I smiled as Eevee and Sylveon entered, forgetting my earlier feelings and now felt joy and relief.

I missed them both a lot.

"Hey comrade. How have you been?"

We hugged briefly I nearly laughed at the new height difference.

"Steadily recovering. I heard you got featured on a magazine?"

"Yes he did. And guess what?"

"What?"

Eevee smugly pulled out something from her purse and showed it to us. It was a magazine. Sylveon was posing with a paw on his face donning a serious expression.

We all turned to Sylveon and his face was bright red.

"Aww babe why are you getting all flustered?"

"Because it's you looking at a picture of me. And now all my friends to. My college friends would not stop teasing me about it."

"Well I still think you look great. Very dapper."

"thank you darling..."

Sylveon muttered to Eevee as he cleared his throat flushing an even brighter red.

"How about I go order some pizza?"

"Sure go ahead. Make sure you get 1/3 meat, 1/3 supreme, and 1/3 pepperoni."

Usually we get 1/2 pepperoni and 1/2 supreme because the Vee's like regular and me and Evelyn prefer supreme, but I wanted to make it a little fun this time.

"Got it."

I blushed as Evelyn gave me a look before heading to the dining room to order our food. I turned back to Eevee and Sylveon to see them smiling smugly at me.

"What?"

"So how is it working out for the two of you?"

"Agh, shut up! It's not like that between us! at least for now. She wants us to take it slow and I feel like any progress we made is second to none."

"Did she ask you to make a compromise?"

"Yeah. How did you know?"

"Me and Eevee did the same before we started dating. It honestly makes it harder to oblige and you just want to spend more time together."

Eevee smiled as if she remembered something happy going on between them. Sylveon smiled at her and playfully nudged her. I ship it.

But Sylveon was right. It was hard to follow through with a relationship compromise.

"Yeah it does. Why is she doing it though, aside from personal space?"

Sylveon and Eevee gave each other a surprised look before turning back to me.

"Ryu she's not doing it for personal space. That's a lame excuse. She's testing you."

"What?"

"Testing you to see how much of an effort you're willing to respect her wishes yes, but she also wants to see how much you care about her. Especially after Fennekin. Can you honestly blame her?"

I looked down at the ground feeling guilty. Arceus was I both an ass and an idiot back then. Now that the threat of my own demons can't hurt her, I don't have to worry about being with her anymore.

I owned up to my mistake of being with someone I hardly liked, but I'm still not doing enough to show her how much she means to me.

"I see. So what should I do?"

"Put effort in letting her know that you want to be with her. And only her. You do want to date her don't you?"

"Of course I do."

"Then prove it to her."

"Now?"

"Or whenever you're ready."

"O-okay."

The dining room opened and I sucked a breath.

"I ordered the pizza guys. It'll be here in about 20 minutes."

"Thank you, you're the best Evelyn."

Evelyn flushed at my comment before rolling her eyes. Eevee muttered an 'ooh.' And Sylveon subtlety gave me a thumbs up.

"Whatever. Anyways are we doing an action movie marathon or what?"

"You bet! I'll go make some popcorn."

My parents bought a new screen so the family can now watch movies in the ballroom. We all laid on the floor and put on the latest Normal but Furious 20th movie.

After 3 hours the girls had fallen asleep and Eevee was cuddling her boyfriend and Evelyn was still holding my paw.

I couldn't be happier.