Mark.

"It's very nice to meet you, ma'am." Lee took Mrs. Rose's hand in both of his, shaking it and smiling warmly.

I leaned against the doorway, standing behind him. The kids sat at a table in the kitchen, besides Volkner, who stood and leaned against it with a half-scowl.

Mrs. Rose smiled back at Lee. "I want to thank you, young man," She thanked him. "Team Galactic has been sniffing around for weeks, but that boy was the first to do anything as drastic as attacking."

I snorted back a laugh. "What'd that punk say when you brought him to the authorities?" I asked.

No answer. Lee's arms stiffened, and fell to his sides. He turned half-around, with a guilty look on his face.

Miniature Surge gasped. "Oh, no."

"Lee!" Lucian moaned in disappointment. "You didn't."

Lee sighed. "...Sorry."

I couldn't believe that idiot. I reached out in front of me, popping him hard in the back of the head.

"You idiot!" I reprimanded him. "What the hell, how could you-?"

When I hit Lee, he'd cried out and practically doubled over. He covered the back of his head, with both his hands, groaning.

Riley stood up from the table. "Lee!"

I'll bet the color drained out of my face when I realized what happened. "...Oh my God. You hit your head back when I shoved you, didn't you?"

Lee groaned again, standing up straight. "Geez, you lummox..." He muttered. "Look, I scared Saturn real good, so what does it matter?" He glared hard at me. "I was worried about you, anyway, so don't give me any lip!"

That shut up the kitchen real fast. We held our breath in anticipation.

Finally, Cynthia went to the fridge, saying, "Let me get some ice for your head!"

Lee nodded, smiling again. Cynthia's grandmother took the empty seat at the table, and Cynthia filled a ziploc bag with ice and handed it to Lee. He nodded, muttering a thank you.

"If you didn't turn him in," Riley asked, "what did you do?" The way he hung on every word Lee said was disgusting.

Gingerly, Lee pressed the ice pack to his head, wincing again in pain. "...Gah." He shook his head. "Well, I let'im go...he was just your age. I scared the boy stiff, anyway; yelled at him, shook him, y'know." He chuckled. "Man, Blaziken and Fallon, the way they tag teamed Toxicroak was beautiful. Would have made a helluva combination."

Like a stupid schoolgirl, Lucian hid a snicker behind his hand. "You're honestly comparing it to a pokemon contest, Lee?"

Ooh, girl. The glare Lee sent over his shoulder made it look like he was the son of Hades. A ghastly gray aura eminated off him as he snarled out, "What about it, Lucie."

Lucian actually, physically trembled. "N-nothing. Perfectly fine."

I chortled. Literally nobody understands how much Lee loved pokemon contests besides those of us stupid enough to associate with him.

The small temper tantrum passed, and Lee gave a thin-lipped smile. "Thank you." The gray shading around his body faded.

We chatted idly around the kitchen, about how the trek from Veilstone was. Lucian listened in wide-eyed horror as Volkner brooded about their run-in with Team Galactic.

"They were-were really going to chase you off of a cliff?" He asked. "For talking back?"

"How rude!" Mrs. Rose interjected.

Lee laughed, switching hands on the icepack. "Thank God I got yelled at for smoking," He murmured. "Speaking of, anyone mind if I step outside and light one?"

No one answered his question, so Lee set the ice pack on the table and stepped quietly in to the living room to get to his laptop bag. I followed; after the day we had, not to mention turning my arm into one of those tomato pin-cushion sewing things, I definitely needed it.

As we headed outside, he handed me the lighter and my pack; he had one lit and between his lips before we were off the front porch.

"What happened to 'cutting back'?" I asked teasingly, lighting mine. "Didn't Daisy tell you t-"

"Shut it." Lee inhaled a sharp drag, then pulled out the cigarette and exhaled slowly, and winced. "Gah..."

Apologize, you idiot! I didn't take it as deeply as he did. "How's your head?" Wisps of smoke billowed from my lips as I spoke.

His soft, gray eyes didn't meet mine. "...'s fine," He murmured sheepishly.

I rolled my eyes. "Cut the crap," I complained. "Did I really shove you so hard? I didn't mean to. I just-"

"Why did you?" Lee grumbled. "You got hurt, too, you idiot! And it...why?"

His face was flushed a light pink. Lee was embarrassed about being concerned.

I laughed. "You have the constitution of a daffodil," I teased. "At least one of us can take a hit."

"Shuddup, you jackoff!" He blushed even pinker. If an eighteen year old could be cute, Lee was it. "Don't forget, I've saved your ass, too, so it's not like I owe you anythin'."

"Pffft." Done, I dropped my cigarette butt to the grass and ground it out under my heel. "I could squeeze a favor out without saving a damsel in distress."

"Hey!"

Before Lee could kill me, Lucian rushed out the front door, a lavender shoulder bag over his shoulder.

"Be seeing you guys later," He greeted us with a hurried smile. "I'm heading home to visit my own family. See you at the Pokemon Contest, Lee!"

Awkwardly, Lee raised his right hand. "Uh, bye?" He called after Lucian, who didn't seem to even hear him.

Dee.

At the Pokemon Center.

That Night.

"Oh my God, you guys, Mark has really hot shoulders."

I rolled my eyes as we walked into our room at the Pokemon Center. "Oh my God, Tess, would you get over him?" I teased, imitating her tone.

We ate dinner at Cynthia's house(crowded, I know), but denied when Mrs. Rose offered to let us stay the night.

The thought of rooming with that annoyingly preppy blonde? Gross.

It was the first time it was only us three girls, so Tess was free to gush over her crush on Mark. I couldn't really see what she did; yeah, he was tall and dark-skinned, but was also a total meathead.

Tess fell back on her back, holding a pillow. "You guys don't understand. He's just...really hot."

"He's also really gay," Astro reminded her. "Not 100% on what gay is, but I know he doesn't like girls."

She attempted to make a mean face at him, but Tess is as mean as a bunny rabbit. So, she threw the pillow at him.

"Shut up!" She squeaked. God, my sister was blushing. Her crush was actually embarrassing.

I kicked off my hiking boots and socks, and we all got changed for bed. Amber sat on her bed, pulling Astro into her lap.

"Why do you think he's hot?" She asked Tess, a teasing grin on her face.

Tess laid out on her bed, in between mine and Amber's, staring at the ceiling. She was still a little pink in the cheeks.

"Well...y'know," She answered vaguely.

I shook my head, pulling my hair out of its high ponytail. "We don't." The ends of my hair brushed by my face.

Tess sighed. "Well..." She closed her eyes. "He has the prettiest green eyes I've ever seen-prettier than Aaron's! And he has amazing shoulder muscles, like, oh my God. And he was nice enough to save Lee from that Poison Sting attack! He's so...thoughtful..."

This was getting more ridiculous by the minute, but I didn't dare laugh at Tess. Only a real jerk would do that.

"...And he has the biggest case of yaoi hands ever." She blushed even harder.

Amber and Astro both spluttered out laughs, and I snickered a little.

"What hands?" Amber chortled.

Tess sat up, and whispered in her ear what yaoi hands are. Amber raised an eyebrow. "But what's...?" Tess told her that, too, and Amber blushed as red as her hair. Her jaw dropped.

"Tesserae!" Amber laughed. "How do you know what that is?"

"Astro told me." She had the same tone as our mother's boyfriend's son, when he told on me about things.

Shaking her her, Amber thumped the side of Astro's head. "Ow! What'd I do?!"

"I really need to stop letting you watch unsupervised TV."

AOF: A chapter about crushes without Riley/Amber being shoved at you? Le gasp.