A/N: Thank you all! Not much more to say, so I hope you enjoy this new chapter!

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon or the picture used as cover (though I did edit it).

Days

The day of a new haircut

Cilan

Sunday, January 19th

"And look at that, all done," Cilan said to Pansage, stepping away from the high table his Pokémon stood on. They were in the Pokémon room, and he'd just finished carefully cutting Pansage's sprout.

"Sage…" Pansage said as he inspected his image in the mirror. It wasn't that the cutting had to be careful because it was painful, but more because Pansage was rather taken with his appearance.

"Pa!"

"That spot?" Cilan asked, and then obediently cut away a bit more leaves from the place Pansage pointed at. It had seemed perfectly symmetrical to him, but Pansage was always very precise.

Cilan smiled exasperatedly when Pansage took his time looking in the mirror again, but the grooming session was interrupted when the door that lead to the Gym opened.

"Hey, Cilan," Iris said as she entered, her smile just the slightest bit anxious. "And hello everyone," she greeted the Pokémon that were lounging in the room.

"Ah, good afternoon, Iris," Cilan said, hesitating for a moment before giving her a quick, one-armed hug, keeping the scissors he had been using away from her. Iris hugged him back without a moment's pause, he noted with satisfaction.

"Sorry I'm a bit early," she said, nodding apologetically at Pansage. "It looks like I interrupted your hairdresser appointment."

"Pan, sage-sa," the grass type said, gesturing for Cilan's scissors again.

"I'm sure we'll be done in just a moment, and I'll need to change before we go," Cilan said, and then cut away the leaf Pansage was pointing at. "I can get you something to drink, if you'd like. Or some food, or-"

"Oh no, I'm fine, don't worry. I know how important grooming is to Pansage," Iris said with a smile, and then sat down on one of the chairs. They were old ones from the restaurant, but comfortable enough for the Pokémon to lounge on (or climb on, or chew on the legs) or for him or his brothers to use when they were in the Pokémon room.

"Yeah, Pansage can be very… precise about his grooming," Cilan said with a smile when Pansage still didn't appear satisfied with his new haircut. He carefully cut some more foliage. "But I'll gladly do it, and Nurse Joy is always happy when we give her Pansage's leaves, they use them in some energy medicine."

Iris hummed in response, amused. Cilan glanced at her, and suddenly noted how stiffly she was sitting. And he noticed her clothes; a pair of tight jeans he'd never seen her wear before and a clean, properly ironed blouse, very different from the loose, comfortable clothes he usually saw her in. That was not to say that Iris normally didn't care for her appearance, but practicality was a priority for her.

"You look nice," he said, honestly.

Iris ducked her head and pulled on a strand of hair. "Thanks. I just thought- you know, because we're going to see your parents… I probably didn't leave the best impression…" The last part was said so quietly Cilan barely heard her, but he didn't ask her to repeat herself.

And he couldn't offer her any comforting words, because he knew that his parents weren't Iris's biggest fans right now. Hopefully his own forgiveness would help them in accepting her back in the family, and he wouldn't stand for it if they would be outright angry with her, but he knew he couldn't force their feelings towards Iris to change.

"They will be happy with the news," he said instead. That was also true. His parents were already in their sixties and would absolutely love to have a grandchild, he was sure.

Iris smiled a bit and nodded, and they fell into silence as Cilan finished Pansage's haircut. It had been a relaxing day for him; he'd had no Connoisseur appointments, the Gym had only been open in the morning and he'd had just one battle, and while Chili and Cress were now working in the restaurant, he'd had an afternoon to himself.

Although he doubted if it would be relaxing, going to his parents with Iris. They would be happy about the baby, yes, but he was sure that they would ask questions about their relationship and where they were standing and what was going to happen in the future.

And he himself didn't know the answers to those questions, either.

If one broke off an engagement, took some distance from each other and then came back together, was it friendship or were they back in a relationship? While he had told Chili and Cress they were friends now, he had no clue how Iris thought about it.

Pansage was looking in the mirror again and Cilan stole a glance in Iris's direction. He felt nerves dance in his stomach, but he knew he needed to bring it up. Communication was key, after all-

"Sage, sage, pa!" Pansage said, giving a satisfied nod to the mirror. Cilan smiled when his oldest Pokémon hugged him gratefully and then jumped off the table.

"Yes, you look very handsome," Cilan heard Iris say while he busied himself with putting the cut leaves in a box. He turned around to look and saw Pansage showing off his new look, first to Iris and then to the other Pokémon.

"He's very peculiar about his appearance," Cilan commented drily.

Iris giggled. "No clue where he got that from…"

Cilan chuckled along before realizing what she meant. He raised an eyebrow in mock indignation. "Hey…"

Iris laughed at his reaction. "Well, you never have a hair out of place."

She smiled apologetically and Cilan sighed in defeat. "I suppose you may have a point… Although…" He glanced down at his clothes, which had leaves and dust on them. "I don't think I look very presentable right now, so I'll go change and freshen up and then we can go."

The mention of leaving had Iris tensing a bit again, but she smiled and nodded. "Sure, I'll wait here with the Pokémon."

"Are you sure you don't want anything to drink? Or to eat? You can also wait in the living room, if you'd rather-"

"I'm fine, Cilan," Iris interrupted, smiling. "Go make yourself presentable again."

"Alright, I'll be just a few minutes."

He hurried up the stairs, grabbed clean clothes from his bedroom and then went into the bathroom to change and to clean his hands and face. He checked his hair in the mirror and supposed that Iris did have a point; not a hair out of place.

He quickly left the bathroom but his step slowed as he walked down the stairs. He still needed to discuss their relationship status before they went to his parents…

When he came downstairs, he saw Iris discussing Pansage's haircut with Pansage and Panpour. Pansage seemed to be showing off and trying to convince Panpour to get a haircut himself, but the water type didn't seem too keen on that. Iris seemed more relaxed than before and he smiled easily.

"I'm ready," he said in greeting and Iris rose from her chair.

She winked at Pansage and said, "Ah, look, now your Trainer is looking handsome, too." Then the smile froze on her face and she looked like a Deerling caught in the headlights. "Uh, I mean…"

"Thank you, Iris," he said, a bit flustered but trying to ease the tension. Obviously their friendship – or whatever it was now – was not back to normal yet.

So perhaps now was the best time to discuss it. "So, Iris... I've been meaning to ask you something."

The tension from before was right back. "Oh?"

"Yes, I…" Suddenly he became aware of the watching eyes of the Pokémon around them. "Ah, perhaps this is best discussed in private." He gestured to the stairs and Iris followed him up to the living room.

Neither of them sat and Cilan tugged at the cuff of his shirt, even if it was already perfectly positioned.

"So what is it?" Iris asked rather abruptly.

"I..." How was he going to say this? What was the best way to explain his thoughts and worries? "I've been wondering about the status of our relationship."

Iris blinked, her defensive stance relaxing a bit, and Cilan ploughed on despite the warmth rising to his cheeks.

"With that I mean that… Wednesday I told Chili and Cress that we were friends. But we never talked about that, specifically." Cilan paused for a breath and to gather his thoughts again. "That is to say, you're my best friend, but before- well, before, we were engaged, and before that we were in a romantic relationship. And I don't want to presume anything, but because we had decided that we should talk more I thought it was best to bring it up."

Iris was looking rather bemused, and Cilan was glad to see that she no longer seemed so anxious. "I apologize for springing this on you now, but it's very likely that my parents will bring it up, so I thought it was best to talk about it now."

"So…" Iris said after a moment of silence. "You want to know where we stand, right?"

"Exactly," he said, relieved that he had gotten his point across.

Iris opened her mouth, but abruptly closed it again. A shadow came over her face and she wrapped her arms around herself. "I wanted to ask you what you wanted, but I suppose… You wanted us to be married, right?"

He felt his heart drop. "Yes." He wasn't sure if he still wanted that now, though. Or maybe he would've been happy if all this hadn't happened, and maybe not, but there was no sense in thinking about what ifs. "…and what do you want?"

Iris had been about to say something but his question stopped her. After a long pause she finally said, quietly, "I was very happy when we were in a romantic relationship…" She looked back at him and quickly added, "But I totally understand if you don't want that, if you just want to be friends, or, well- what do you want?"

He considered the question for some moments. If they got back to a romantic relationship, were they rushing it? Could he handle it after all that happened?

But that hadn't been the question.

"I do want… I'm in love with you, Iris," he said, hoping the words didn't sound as heavy as they felt. "I do want a relationship, but… I'm afraid with after all that happened… I mean…" He swallowed, not wanting to say the words but knowing that it was for the best. "I… I feel like I can't trust you completely. Not yet. I'm sorry."

He knew that would painful to hear, and Iris shrunk in on herself. It felt like his heart had fallen to his feet and for a moment he lost track of what he had wanted to say.

"I'm sorry," he repeated instead.

"I understand, it's-"

"I wasn't done yet," Cilan interrupted her before he lost the courage to finish. Iris looked up in surprise, and he hurried along, "I mean, sorry to interrupt, but I wasn't done yet." His cheeks were burning.

Iris nodded slowly, silently urging him on.

"I wanted to say… The way we started our romantic relationship isn't exactly very common. Of course there are couples who go from friends to being in a romantic relationship, maybe even quite a lot- but that isn't my point." He shook his head, stopping himself from getting side-tracked. "I mean that there are many people who don't know each other well who start dating and so get to know and trust each other. And… and that's what I want to propose."

Again, Iris nodded slowly, and Cilan took that as his cue to elaborate.

"We are friends, of course, but maybe we could… go on dates? Do things together so that we get to know each other better?" He smiled doubtfully, uncertain if he had gotten his thoughts across well enough.

"So… you're asking me if I'd like to go on dates with you?"

"Yes."

"So… for our relationship, we'd be in a romantic relationship, boyfriend and girlfriend, right?"

"Yes… but it'd be more in the beginning stages, I suppose," he said. Did that make sense? "Like we're still trying to figure out if a romantic relationship works for us." Cilan shifted uneasily from one foot to another, watching Iris think.

But only for a moment, because her answer came quickly. "Alright." She nodded with a smile and repeated, "Alright."

"Are you sure?" he asked. She'd made the decision so fast, and he didn't think he could handle it if she ran out on him again-

"I'm absolutely sure," Iris said, taking a step closer to him. She was smiling, but her brown eyes were serious. "I'd like to date you, Cilan. Really like it." A pause. "I'd love it."

Her smile had gotten a bit uncertain, but the look in her eyes was steadfast and Cilan breathed out, feeling a smile take over his face.

"Alright. Good. That's good. That's agreed, then," he said. He stepped towards her and the next moment he was holding her in his arms, hugging her tight and smiling wide.

She mumbled something in his chest.

"I'm sorry, what did you say?" Cilan asked.

Iris pulled back a bit and smiled shakily. "I said 'my nerves are shot.' The conversation with your parents can't be that bad now." She laughed a bit and Cilan grinned, feeling a bit giddy with what had happened.

"It will be alright," he said, and now he felt certain in uttering the words of comfort. "We'll be alright."

A/N: Thank you for reading! Sorry for skipping out on another reveal situation, but damn it, Iris and Cilan just have too many unresolved issues and they wouldn't go into a difficult conversation with Cilan's parents before having talked about it, especially not with their agreement of communication. So now we have this. To be honest, the reveal wasn't in my first draft, either, but I had thought of adding it, but the chapter just got too long (again). But I hope it was worth it! Please let me know what you thought about it! And don't forget to vote in my poll!

Thank you!

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Star Wars: The Family Tree by frodogenic. FFN. A long one-shot about Luke and Darth Vader getting stuck in a tree… which leads to awkward conversations and maybe some slight family fluff. Funny and heartwarming!

Recommendations are welcome!