Bullet POV

I rose with the first rays of sun slipping over the horizon. My sleep had been plagued by an endless barrage of dreams about B.B.; grovyle B.B., human B.B., teasing B.B., serious B.B., B.B. when he was playing with Caterpie and Metapod at Wiscash's Pond, B.B. when he was helping Auntie Kangaskhan do inventory after a storm had trashed her store rooms, B.B. when he had helped me tie my scarf before we set out for Stormy Sea, B.B. when he had whispered in my ear in the ice cave, B.B. when we had slept close enough together that I could feel his heart beat against mine, and B.B. that morning when I had walked in on him dreaming about his lover and…

"Ugh!"

I dropped my head onto the surface of the table with a loud thud. Needless to say, that train of thought had finally convinced me to give up on actually getting a good night's sleep. Convinced that rest was a lost cause, as soon as there was enough natural light to see by trickling through the window, I climbed from the B.B. scented nest, bathed myself, and set to work going through and sorting out everything that we had brought back from Stormy Sea.

These endeavors turned out to be decent but short-lived distractions for my wandering mind. I attempted to further my distraction by fixing myself an excessively elaborate breakfast, and then focusing a little too hard on the flavors of the food. Just as I had finished eating, I heard the tell-tale flap of Pelipper's wings outside. I cleaned up from breakfast, went out to collect the mail, sorted through the new requests, and filed them with the others that we already had for B.B. to review later.

Once that had been done, I decided that it was late enough to head into town. I went by Auntie Kangaskhan's place to store away our treasure cache until B.B. made the decision on what we should do with it, and then I restocked our treasure bag with a standard set of basic supplies for the next time we went out. I stopped by the Kecleon Market and bought a few basic things that were on sale, I had a brief training session at Makuhita Dojo, and I went to see Persian at the bank to deposit the rest of our extra money into our account. Once all of those chores had been done, I returned to the base and sat awhile in the garden, with only the roses for company.

I guess I could have visited with my friends in town or the other members of Team Sureshot who hadn't gone to Stormy Sea, if I wanted to keep my mind off of the dreams I had been having, but somehow, I just didn't feel up to making small talk with anyone, particularly anyone who knew me well enough to recognize that there was something wrong and start asking me about it. What was I gonna do about this? It wasn't like I could keep turning into a total fool every time I thought about him! And I certainly couldn't just start avoiding him for no apparent reason! So… what options did I have left?

I pulled myself to my feet and set out away from the base. It wasn't as if we were taking any jobs today anyway, so there was no reason for me to just hang around at the base all day. I started walking the path out of town, lost in thought, no really paying attention to where I was going, and not really having anywhere in particular to go. I just allowed my mind to wander, not even attempting to keep a handle on my thoughts anymore.

Eventually, I felt the path beneath my feet change and I stopped. I looked around and realized that I had been subconsciously drifting east, and I had just passed onto the bridge that lead across the Rub-A-Dub River. Realizing how close I was to the edge of the Eastern Forest, I was suddenly hit with an overwhelming desire to see B.B.. I took off running at a dead sprint across the bridge and towards the trees.

I didn't know what I was going to say to him. I had no excuse for as to why I was rushing out to the Overgrown Forest to see him on his day off, but none of that mattered to me as I sped through the forest. I had to see B.B.. I needed to be around him. I didn't care how much it hurt me to be beside him and have to lie to him about how I felt! I just felt like, somehow, I would lose my mind if I had to wait until tomorrow to see his face, hear his voice, and feel the confident strength of him standing beside me.

Out of breath and trembling on my tired paws, I burst through the trees into the clearing at the center of Overgrown Forest and fought to catch my breath. I looked up at B.B.'s tree house, and as soon as I regained my voice, I called sheepishly up to the canopy above.

"Hey B.B., are you home? It's me, Bullet."

There was no response. Not even a sound of shuffling inside to indicate that I had just woken B.B. up greeted my call. The only noise at all in the clearing was the continued whisper of the branches stirred by the late morning breeze.

B.B. hadn't bothered to roll up the rope ladder that hung down from his front door, so I decided to climb up and have a peek inside. Once I had entered the small, one room tree house, it was easy to see that B.B. wasn't home. The room was filled with the soft sunlight that was filtering through the skylight in the ceiling, and B.B. was nowhere to be found. The only things in the room were a small, ornately carved, wood table; a few clay pots, most likely filled with water; a basket of apples; two leafy screens leaning against the wall, probably for covering the skylight when the weather was bad; and a hammock that was clearly woven from the living vines that were growing outside, flowing in and out of the small tree house through two small gaps in the walls on each side.

I was suddenly struck by my exhaustion after two restless nights in a row, and stumbled over towards the hammock, testing the strength of the vines with a firm press. Sure that they would hold, I climbed into the gently rocking hammock, and took a moment to rest my suddenly extremely heavy eyelids. That smell… Oh Arceus! This wasn't a nest that B.B. had slept in a few nights ago; it couldn't have been more than a few hours since B.B. had slept here, and the vines were absolutely saturated with B.B.'s scent! A shudder rippled down my spine and out through my fur as I was suddenly reminded of the feeling of B.B. holding me in his arms while he slept. Surrounded by his scent and his memory, it almost felt as if I was being rocked to sleep in his arms, as I drifted into a light doze.

"B.B…."

B.B. POV

I came tearing around the corner on the path into town, and came to a panting, sweating stop out in front of the team base. I had sprinted all the way here, fueled by my conviction to finally confess my feelings to Bullet, but now that I was here… What in Arceus's name was I supposed to say?! I couldn't just charge in there shouting, "Bullet, I'm gay, and I'm in love with you!" All I could do was stand there, tongue-tied, and thinking that the bright green building with its rose gardens and flag flapping in the breeze had never looked so menacing as it did in this moment. In fact, I couldn't remember any time when I had been this afraid to enter a building since I had been a human attending public school, but this was an entirely different type of fear.

Finally, having given up on my brain having a miraculous recovery and giving me a good plan of action, I walked up the path to the door, hoping that if I spent the afternoon with Bullet, eventually, an opportunity would present itself to tell him. I walked through the base looking for Bullet, since calling didn't seem likely to happen around the lump in my throat. I found that the base had been meticulously cleaned from top to bottom, a written record of everything that we had brought back from Stormy Sea, a reorganized list of all the job requests we had received, a resupplied treasure bag laid out with our badges and wonder map, and a fully stocked larder, but no Bullet, even though his handiwork was everywhere I looked. Did he sleep at all last night? He had gotten so much stuff done around here, and it wasn't even noon, yet!

Since Bullet clearly wasn't here, and he seemed to be determined to not take a day off, I decided to go into town to look for him, thinking he might be there running more errands. Once I had made my way into town, I decided to go to the Kecleon Market. Given their position in the square, the Kecleon brothers were the ones who were most likely to have seen where Bullet went. Plus, with all of the food restocked at the base, it was clear that Bullet had already been to see them at some point this morning.

"Hello! Welcome to the Kecleon Shop! How can I assist you on this fine morning, B.B.?"

"Morning, Kecleon. Sorry, I'm not here to shop today."

"Oh… Well, I expected as much. It did seem rather odd that you would come to shop when Bullet was already here early this morning to buy all your usual merchandise."

"Yeah, about that… I'm kinda looking for Bullet. You wouldn't happen to know where he might be, would you?"

"Hmm… Well, he finished his errands and went back towards your Team Sureshot's base quite some time ago. If he isn't there, then I'm not sure where he could be. He's certainly not anywhere in town, though. Maybe he returned home after he finished his work for the team?"

"Hm, that's not a bad idea. I'll go look for him in the Scorched Plains. Thanks, Kecleon."

"Of course! Come back anytime!"

"Will do. See ya."

With that, I turned away from town and headed west, out along the coast and across the narrow land bridge that connected the volcanic lands to the mainland. I made my way across the blistering Scorched Plains that stretched across the land at the northern base of the volcano, heading for the jagged cliff where I knew Bullet's home was tucked away inside the stone. After a brisk jog across the burning plains, I peeked my head around the narrow crack in the rock, searching for my missing angel.

"Yo Bullet, you home?"

When I was met with no response, I went in and had a look around. A few of the ashes from Bullet's nest had drifted across the floor from some stray wind that had managed to squeeze around the rock; Bullet clearly hadn't slept here for a few days. The shelf of rock where Bullet's supplies were all laid out was covered in a thin layer of undisturbed dust; he hadn't been eating here either. Satisfied that there was no way that Bullet had been home today, I left the small cave behind to search the rest of the plains.

As if Arceus wanted to save me the trouble of searching and just get right to dashing my hopes, as soon as I had taken a few steps away from Bullet's cave, I saw Beau the rapidash, one of my fellow members of Team Sureshot, charging up to me from across the barren landscape.

"What's up, B.B.! I heard that you, Bullet, and Blade just made it back from Stormy Sea late last night. How was it? Did you get a good haul of treasure?"

Ugh… once the topic turned to treasure, Beau would be talking my ear off for hours! Time for a change of subject, "Yeah, we sure did, Beau, but we can go over the specifics at the next group meeting. I'm actually in a bit of a hurry. I'm looking for Bullet. You haven't seen him around the plains today, have you?"

"No. Sorry, man. I haven't seen him since the day before you guys set out for Stormy Sea, and I have been all over this side of the volcano already today, as per usual. If he was hanging around here, I definitely would have seen him, ya know?"

"Yeah… Thanks anyway, Beau. You saved me the trouble of looking myself."

"No prob, boss man! So about that group meeting, when's that gonna be, exactly? I'm super stoked to hear all about the craziness that went down!"

"No worries, Beau. It'll be in the next couple of days. I'll keep you posted."

"Awesome! I'll see ya later, bro!"

And just like that, the rapidash, who I often thought was using his impressive mane to compensate for lack of a brain, was off and running again. As the flash of his white fur quickly disappeared from my sight, my heart sank with the knowledge that I was completely out of ideas of where to look for Bullet. After so long of searching for him, the resolve that I had had to confess to him when I left Darkness Ridge was starting to wane, and all of my doubts were returning to fill its place. With a heavy sigh, and my heart sitting like a piece of lead inside my chest, I decided that I might as well make my way back home to Overgrown Forest.

It was a long walk home, east up the coast, around the outskirts of town, across the grassy plains, around the spring of the river, and through the familiar forest. By the time that I made it back to the clearing, I had missed lunch, but I didn't really care, my appetite just wasn't there. Deciding that the best way to drown my frustrations was with an afternoon nap, I made the last few leaps that brought me into my tree house's doorway.

As I stepped through the door, my heart stopped dead, my mouth fell open, and my tongue tied itself in a knot. Lying there in my bed, bathed in golden beams of early afternoon sunlight, looking just like the angel he was, was Bullet. I couldn't pull my eyes away from him. From the way the golden sun wove through his beautiful, silken, green fur to the cute little blush that colored his sleeping face, I was absolutely captivated.

"Mmm… B.B.."

I jumped, thinking I had been caught staring, but then I saw Bullet squirm in his sleep and return to his dreaming with a gentle sigh. Bullet… just called my name… in his sleep…

"B.B…. please!"

Oh my Arceus… What in the world was Bullet dreaming about?! Calling my name like that… it couldn't be…

Then suddenly, Bullet's eyelids flickered open, and he stared across the room at me with hazy red eyes.

"Mmm… B.B., why are you way over there? Come back," Bullet reached out his arms towards me, beckoning me to join him in the hammock.

Something in my brain just stopped. My heart had gone into overtime and my self control snapped like a twig. A little voice in the back of my head was saying something about Bullet still being asleep, even though his eyes were open. I didn't care, I just didn't care. Awake or asleep, Bullet was calling for me! Me! He wanted me to come to his side and hold him, and there was no way in hell that I was going to refuse him! How could I, when he looked at me like that, like he wanted me so badly he was about to cry. Was this the look Blade had been talking about? If it was, then it was a good thing I had slept through it, because if I had seen this face then, even with all three of us trapped together in that ice cave, I doubt I would have been able to control myself.

"B.B., please. Come back to me, B.B.. Please!"

I couldn't hold it anymore. My legs carried me clumsily across the room, as if of their own free will. My arms moved of their own accord, too, wrapping around Bullet, pulling him halfway out of the hammock and into my arms as his previously outstretched arms wound themselves around my neck. I looked down in awe at the beautiful, perfect face that was only inches from mine, flushed pink beneath his fur, decorated with brilliant flashes of gold, and adorned with those glorious eyes that were able to be both melted and melting at the same time.

"B.B…."

As I felt Bullet's warm breath wash across my face as he called my name, the last flecks of will power I had been hanging onto died. My claws wove into the soft fur that covered his cheek, and I leaned in and kissed those soft lips that I had dreamed of so many times. My dreams had never done him justice. This real feeling of Bullet's lips pressed against mine was beyond anything I could have ever imagined. Then, oh sweet Arceus, those lips began to move! Bullet was kissing me! Those unbearably hot, unbelievably soft lips were moving against mine, brushing, teasing, pulling lightly. Then, those lips parted and his teeth were nipping at my bottom lip.

I pulled Bullet the rest of the way out of the hammock and into my lap, forcing my tongue through his parted lips and tasting him. Oh he tasted so good! His mouth was even hotter than his lips, and he was sweet, like apples and cinnamon. His tongue jumped out and stroked clumsily along mine, as if encouraging it to play. As if I needed any extra encouragement. I kissed him long and deep, our tongues twisting together, first inside his mouth, then outside as we both gasped for air, refusing to let the kiss end. As we kissed, my claws slid through Bullet's fur, tracing over his angelic face, down his neck, and across his thin shoulders. Bullet was more or less doing the same thing, running his paws over my face, as if determined to memorize every single curve. This moment was perfect, and I never wanted it to end. However, all good things must eventually come to an end.

The kiss finally ended, our lips remaining connected momentarily by a long strand of saliva. Bullet's eyes remained closed for a moment, but when they opened he looked at me with a sad smile before nuzzling his face into the side of my neck.

"Why can't this be real? Why does it always have to be a dream?"

Stealing myself for his reaction, I wrapped bullet in a tight hug, "This is no dream, Bullet."

Bullet pulled back with a puzzled expression on his face.

"This is real."

Those eyes that had still been, up until now, fuzzy with sleep, suddenly cleared and filled with a mix of shock and horror.

Figuring that now was as good a time as any, I took a deep breath and…

"Bullet… I love you."