Steven's stay in Sinnoh ended up being extended and while he didn't want to admit it, it was mainly because of Mt. Coronet. The mountain was apparently the biggest cave Steven had ever been in, he said 'cave' didn't cut it, it was 'marvellous'. The months he'd spent in Sinnoh hadn't been enough for him to explore, so he was staying a little longer.

"If you really want to see him, why don't you go to Sinnoh and participate in their Grand Festival?" Winona said as she spooned ice cream into her mouth.

"I'm sort of waiting for him to return and take his job back."

"Then stop complaining and just wait. If he's coming back then it's just a matter of time. Seriously, Wallace, what is this really about? Are you struggling with being tied to Ever Grande?"

"No."

She waited for him to elaborate, but that didn't seem to be happening. "Help me out here. So, you've got no problems with the champion business? How about…oh, is it the lack of contest stuff you're doing? Have you thought about being a judge?"

"That's a really great idea actually." He smiled, but she could see that whatever he was moping about wouldn't be solved so easily.

She sighed. "Eat your ice cream before it melts."

"Do you want it?" He pushed it towards her.

"Okay, now I know something's definitely up and you, mister, are not getting out of it. I will come to your house and stay there until you tell me. You've already pretty much told me Steven's done or said something, so it's only a matter of time before I squeeze it out of you." She scooped his ice cream into her bowl.

"Forget I ever mentioned anything."

"As if. I can't just forget weeks of you casually mentioning him nearly every time we talk. I mean, I have a theory, sure, but I know you'll say I'm wrong straight off the bat."

He looked at her expectantly.

"Nope, I'm not saying a word."

"But I just gave you my ice cream."

She took a big scoop and shoved it in her mouth, saying nothing.

oo

"Wallace, why is Winona calling to interrogate me?" Steven asked, wondering why he'd ever exchanged numbers with her.

"What?"

"She just rang asking a load of questions and then decided she didn't like my answers and started accusing me of saying or doing something. I don't really know what she's on about."

"Just ignore her. She thinks something's up, but everything's fine."

"Is it?" Steven asked seriously.

"Yeah, and it's not like you're a factor if you're all the way in Sinnoh." That sounded a bit harsh. "I just mean that you haven't done anything and she's just paranoid or something."

"Mm-hm." It didn't sound like Steven was buying it. "And that's why she's trying to ring again? Now I'm starting to think something's up. So, truthfully, is anything wrong? Are you okay?"

"What? I'm fine. You guys need to give me a break. Look, I'm going to hang up and call Winona."

"Alright, but I will be calling you back, Wallace."

He sighed as he cut the call and dialled Winona's number.

"Winona?"

"Oh, hey, Wallace. How's it going?"

"You need to stop calling Steven."

He heard a nervous laugh at the other end. "Oh, you heard about that already? I just wanted to chat."

"He said you started accusing him of things."

"Oh come on, it wasn't like that. I just…okay, maybe I was pushing a little hard, but I'm only trying to help."

"I don't need help. What could I possibly need help with?" Wallace sounded exasperated.

"I didn't want to come right out and say it, but I guess it's going to be that way." He heard her clear her throat. "You have some serious feelings for your friend here and you're not admitting it to anyone. I don't even think you're being honest with yourself. I know you two have a history of losing contact, but you're adults now. He calls you at least once a week, right?"

"Yeah."

"And yet you still say you miss him and can't wait to see him again. Now, we've been friends for a long time. I've never seen you like this about anyone. Even before you reunited at the league you never pined after him like this. I'm also betting that you never said all this stuff about me when I went off on my adventure and we didn't see each other for a while, can you at least confirm that for me?"

"You're right."

"So, that brings me to my theory, which I doubt you'll confirm, but I'm also not entirely sure you'll deny. I guess I want you to go home and think about what I'm saying –"

"Wait, Steven's trying to call."

"Oh my god, Wallace, I'm getting to the serious bit. Wait, wait – tell him to pick up if I call him after. I promise I'll make it short."

Wallace switched to Steven.

"Are things good?"

"Yeah, she's giving me some kind of lecture-stroke-pep talk. Oh, and she said she'll ring you again, but it'll be quick."

"Wallaaaace, I told you to tell her not to call me."

"I know, but if you don't pick up when she does you'll never hear the end of it. Anyway, I better get back to her."

He ended the call. "I'm back."

"Good," she said. "So, as I was saying, my theory. I think you have a crush on Steven. There, I said it." Wallace was speechless at the other end. "No quick outright denial? That's a shame; usually a dead give-away that I'm right…but prolonged silence like this? You're considering it, aren't you?"

Wallace had always been so caught up in his training that he'd never had any kind of romantic relationship. The idea that this longing feeling was love actually made some sense to him. "Okay, I'll think about that. But that's not a yes or a no – I may be a champion among Pokémon, but this kind of thing…I'm on the lowest rung."

"Enjoy mulling it over, I'm off to ring Steven."

"Wait – you're not going to tell him your theory, are you?" Wallace could feel the heat in his cheeks, glad no one was around to see.

"Not exactly, but I want to try and coax some of his feelings out. You know, see if you have a chance. I'll be your wingman."

"Winona, no, I haven't even thought about this, please…"

"Talk to you later, Wallace."

Before he could come up with something else to deter her she was gone.

He placed his Nav on the table and walked into his room, falling onto the bed. As he stared at the ceiling he thought about what Winona had said. Of course he couldn't deny that he really liked Steven, as a friend at least. He looked up to him and enjoyed spending time with him. But that was what all friends did, right? He remembered a dream from a few weeks ago in which they'd were on Mossdeep's shore. It was just like when they were young, but Steven was kissing him and…he remembered the alarm going off just at the right moment. He didn't need to have awkward dreams like that. But it was just a dream, nothing more than the brain coming up with random ideas as usual. For a moment he felt the need to think of other crazy dreams he'd had, but if he didn't tell anyone then he didn't need to justify it.

Moving on then… Steven's personality was pretty attractive he supposed, barring the bit where he goes off and doesn't contact people for various reasons. But when he cares for someone it really shows and it's very sweet. Then again couldn't he say all of this stuff about Winona too? Sure, she was a bit rougher around the edges, but what was it that made Steven different?

Maybe she had this all wrong. Maybe he actually just wanted to be surrounded by his friends constantly. Was he just being selfish?

He broadened his search for answers, thinking about things that were attractive to him. He thought about people he'd passed in the street, at contests and the like, how sometimes he saw a person that made him look twice and wonder what they were like. Sometimes he did that purely based on how they looked on the outside. He guessed he'd never looked at his closest friends like that, mainly because they'd met when he was too young to think about them like that. It's true that Steven's deeper voice had caught his attention when they'd first reunited, but soon it just became his voice, Wallace having forgotten how he used to sound. Now that he thought about it, Steven's voice was smooth and pleasant. No one else sounded quite like him. And then there was the way he held himself in his suits. A good suit could make anyone look good, but Steven rocked the look. His shoulders were perfect for blazers, probably from all the caving he does. Wallace started to wonder what other parts of his body had been refined from all the manual work and nope, nope, no. He knew that he found the male physique attractive and thinking of Steven like this really wasn't going to help him right now.

He pulled a pillow over his face as if that would help block out the thoughts. What would Steven say about any of this? That was a conversation he certainly wasn't ready for.

OooO

Winona was on his case until he finally said, his exact words being, "I may be a little bit attracted to Steven Stone." At which point she bombarded him with questions, mainly pertaining to whether or not he would be asking Steven out on a date; where they would go, what they would do and how long before anything happened.

"Winona, can we not ask questions like that in the middle of a café?"

"Eh, why not? I doubt anyone's actually listening."

"That's not really the point. I'd rather not talk about that in general."

She wagged her eyebrows. "So you have thought about it?"

"What? No!" He quickly brought his tea to his lips in an attempt to hide his red face. It was one time. He'd only ever thought about it once.

"Haha, okay, if you're going to be like that maybe I don't want to know."

"Winona, you're making it worse with all these insinuations. It was totally innocent."

"Totally innocent? You only ever use that word when something's not quite right."

Now if she'd just leave him to die of shame.

"So, I'm just going to go and make a phone call," she said cheerily. "I think Steven will want to hear all about this."

"No no no. Don't say a thing."

"Okay, so you call him and tell him about all these feelings you have for him." Winona wished she had a photo of his face after that suggestion.

"How about I wait until he gets back?"

"And when will that be?"

"Soon."

'Soon' wasn't soon enough for Wallace. Winona was pretty much constantly on his case about what he was going to do when Steven finally did return.

oo

"Wallace? You upstairs?"

Sidney's voice was at the end of his Nav.

"Yes, is this challenger looking to be a decent challenge?" All 5 of them were notified of challengers, but Wallace didn't often get so meet them, so he often left it to Sidney and Phoebe to judge whether he should prepare for a battle.

"Looks like he's going to go all the way," Sidney said.

"Okay, thank you."

He waited for Phoebe to call and sure enough she did. Glacia only called if the challenger failed and Drake needn't say anything but push the button to give the green light.

Wallace was waiting when the man walked in. He appeared to be a fan of hiking by his clothes, his face in the shadow of his wide brimmed hat.

"Hello, Wallace." The voice was all he needed to hear to know it was Steven in front of him. He looked up with a smile, whipping the hat off.

"Steven!" Wallace ran towards him and pulled him into a tight hug.

"So no one gave me away then?"

Wallace shook his head, still holding on to the other as if he might disappear if he let him go.

"Jeez, it's like you haven't heard from me every week or something."

Wallace loosened his hold and pulled back so he could see Steven's face. "I missed you."

Steven smiled. Of course Wallace didn't expect him to say anything like that back, the only time he'd say that was to his rock collection.

"So, is this the part where you tell me something?" Steven asked, aware that Wallace still had his arms around him.

"Hm? What kind of something?" It was an odd request.

Steven shrugged and gently removed Wallace's arms. "Winona said you had something to tell me when I was back. I couldn't fathom why you couldn't say it over the Nav."

"Did she really?" Clearly she was trying to back him into a corner. He guessed that he might as well just get it over with; he'd spent enough time thinking about it and he didn't want to keep dreaming about something if Steven was never going to reciprocate.

"Well?"

Wallace swooped in and placed a quick kiss on Steven's cheek. "That's what she wanted me to tell you." And now he wanted to run away and hide, but that wouldn't do. If he could stand on stage in front of thousands then he could certainly stand here in front of one man and receive judgement.

"…Right. That, um, said a lot." Confusion was on Steven's face. "So –"

Wallace cupped his face and in a bold move brought their lips together. "Making more sense?"

Steven nodded. "Yeah, definitely. I, er, don't know what to say."

"You don't have to say anything. I just wanted you to know…" the words got caught in his throat. If he actually said them it would make everything so much more real. "I love you." He said it looking straight into Steven's eyes, not breaking the connection however much he wanted to.

Steven put a hand on Wallace's shoulder. "Thank you for being honest. I can't say that I feel the same way, but I guess I've never even thought about you as more than a friend. You know I treasure you and never wanted to destroy our friendship. So, I guess I'm also saying I commend you on being brave enough to step over that line. I wasn't expecting this, so I have to apologise about leaving now. It was only supposed to be a quick pop in to say hello…"

"Oh, it's no problem. I realise I did just kind of throw this on you and right after a long trip." Honestly he was rather relieved. Steven's small ramble showed that they both needed some time to mull over this revelation.

"Yeah, Sinnoh's no quick trip." Steven picked up the hat he'd walked in with. "I'll catch up with you properly later."

Well, that could have gone a lot worse. Five minutes later he was on the phone to Winona.

OooO

The pair of them looked particularly nice when they had dinner at the Ever Grande Hotel. Both of them felt a need to keep up appearances being Champion and soon-to-be-returning Champion.

"We've got a deal with the Pokétch Company which should help them as much as it will us, but that was the boring part of the trip." Steven was recounting his Sinnoh adventure. "They've got lots of different fossils over there that I had to find. They're not easy to get, at least not in Mt. Coronet – another reason why I came back later."

"How is business on this end?"

"It's good. But if you're asking how long until I return here…I'd give it a few weeks. Have you enjoyed your time as Champion?"

"More than I thought I would."

"Maybe you can fill in for me more often then." The look on Steven's face told him he wasn't joking.

"I'd be glad to, but you know, I'll be going back to being a leader. I know Juan enjoys it, but I feel a little bad for roping him back in."

"I didn't mean to make it sound like I'd be asking you to help frequently. I could probably go off without saying a thing for a few days and no one would realise I'd been gone."

Their main courses were brought out and set before them.

"Anyway, I was thinking about, um, what you said when I came back, you know."

Wallace nodded, trying not to appear fazed.

"And I thought, why not! I mean a few dates never hurt anyone, so let's test the waters and see what happens."

Speechless. Absolutely speechless was what Wallace was. He had imagined many different scenarios for how Steven would tackle this subject, but this was definitely not the outcome he had banked on. He put down his cutlery and extended his arm across the table. Steven placed his hand in Wallace's.

"Thank you for this chance."

Steven smiled. "You know I'm expecting you to be really romantic and take me to cute cafes and go on moonlit beach walks."

"Oh? Consider that challenge accepted." Wallace smirked, ideas running through his mind. "Just don't complain when you can't take it. I know exactly how to make you fall for me with one date."

"Is that so?" Steven cocked an eyebrow.

"Oh yes." Wallace bent forward and lowered his voice to a whisper. "I'm going to take you to a cave."

"I'm swooning already, honey."

The pair of them burst out laughing. Wallace couldn't stop smiling for the rest of the evening. It was just so relieving that Steven was willing to go along with this as well as being a great sport.

"So call me when you've got the first date planned, but keep it a surprise."

Wallace scoffed. "As if I was going to let such information slip."

"Winona might tell me if I ask nicely."

"Oh no, she said she'd stay out of the way from now on. Have a safe journey home."

"Aren't you forgetting something?" Steven asked.

Wallace drew a blank. Steven stepped towards him and kissed him lightly. "The game's begun. It wouldn't do to have your date leave without a goodbye kiss."

Oh, that's how it was going to be? Wallace pulled Steven against him as he began to walk away, pressing his lips more firmly against Steven's. "Slow and steady wins the race."