Not much of a plan for this one unfortunately, so it may end up being quite short and messy. I will try to make this one work, but it won't be up to the same standard, at least in my eyes, as the previous few have been. But I still hope you enjoy.
Chapter 27:
Citron Siblings Reunite
At last, the pair reach Mauville City. Bonnie is amazed by the place, and how technological it is. "It's a lot like Lumiose!" she exclaims excitedly. "But, you know, not as impressive." Max can't help but laugh at this. "Well, considering the fact that it was one of the first cities to become completely eco friendly, I'd say it's very impressive" he shoots back playfully. Bonnie laughs along. "Really?" she asks, jokingly. "Well that is impressive. Of course, Lumiose is like 3x bigger than this, so the fact that it's completely eco friendly is more impressive." Max nods along, before saying, "This place has a Trick House."
This puts a stop to their play fighting immediately, as Bonnie suddenly looks very excited. "Really!?" she exclaims. "Where!?" Max laughs, then takes her hand and leads her towards it. Once they get there, they see that there's a bit of a line to enter. Disappointed, the two decide to find somewhere to wait for the line to go down. That's when they hear someone calling out, "So, looks like you finally found a keeper of your own, little sister!" The pair wheel around and spot Clemont and Korrina walking over to them. "Big Brother!" Bonnie exclaims, waving to him. Then, she freezes a bit. "What did you mean by 'I found a keeper'?" At that, Clemont indicates to Bonnie's left. Looking down, both she and Max realise that they're still holding hands. Instantly, the pair spring apart, blushing furiously, while Clemont laughs his head off. When they four of them meet, Bonnie punches her brother for the comment, then hugs him tightly. As she does, Clemont whispers in her ear, "How does your own medicine taste?" Bonnie lets go of him and slaps him again, before moving on to Korrina. As she hugs her, she decides to get a little payback of her own. "So, has my brother asked you to marry him yet?"
Now it was their turn to blush, much to Max and Bonnie's amusement. "It's still a bit soon to be considering that," says Korrina. I mean, we haven't even had our 1 year anniversary yet." Clemont nods in agreement, clearly relieved that Korrina didn't back Bonnie up on that. They move off to a café that Clemont and Korrina were going to visit before they spotted Max and Bonnie. As the 4 of them sit down together, Bonnie takes the time to catch the two of them up on their adventures since they left Petalburg over 3 months ago. In turn, Korrina tells the two of them all about her and Clemont's travels across the region. As it turns out, the pair hadn't come straight here, bit instead spent some time in places like LaRousse and Dewford before coming here. "Aw, so we missed our chance to run into you!" Bonnie complains, before looking at Max. "Why couldn't you have led me straight to Dewford?" she demands. Max gets a bit awkward at this and starts trying to both apologise and excuse himself. "I'm just kidding Max," says Bonnie, laughing. "It was fun to travel with your sister and her boyfriend." Max laughs in agreement, then gets very bashful when Bonnie ruffles his hair playfully. She too quickly becomes embarrassed by this action and retreats quickly.
Clemont and Korrina look at each other and give each other knowing smiles. Korrina glances at the Trick House and sees that the line is no longer quite as long. "Come on Bonnie," she says, standing up, "Why don't we go into the Trick House?" Bonnie nods excitedly, grateful for the distraction. Max goes to stand up too, but Clemont says, "Actually Max, I was hoping to have a word with you." Max suddenly grows very nervous about this. But when he sees Bonnie look like she wants to stay behind, he figures this will be one conversation he doesn't want her to hear. "You go on ahead," he tells her. "I've already done it, so it won't be fair." Bonnie looks doubtful, but thanks to Korrina's encouragement, she agrees to head inside with her.
Once the two girls are gone, Clemont studies Max for a little while, which makes him rather nervous. How long does that Trick House take again?" Max finds himself thinking. Eventually, Clemont speaks. "I just want to know for certain that nothing too dangerous has happened yo you two since you left Petalburg" he says. Max feels a bit relieved by that. "No, not at all," he says. "The only danger that really occured was when I was shot in a river while protecting her, but that's about it." Clemont smiles at this. "So, you really care for her?" he asks. Max looks at him quizzically. "Of course," he replies, "she's my best friend." Clemont can't help but laugh at this. "You know what I meant" he says. When Max doesn't say anything to that, Clemont chuckles. "There's no point hiding it Max, I know how you feel about my sister." Max goes bright red at this, and he begins to stutter. "Don't worry, I'm not mad at you," Clemont reassures. "If anything, I'm glad that Bonnie has found someone of her own." "How did you find out?" Max asks him, something that makes him chuckle again. "Max, I'm her older brother," he says. "Do you honestly think I wouldn't notice something like that?"
Max very much thought that, considering Bonnie had to matchmake him and Korrina together before he finally realised. Obviously, Clemont thinks the same thing, because the next thing he says is, "Actually, don't answer that." Max laughs at this, and even Clemont chuckles lightly. "So, my next question is; when are you going to tell her?" he asks. Max goes red again. "I don't know," he admits. "I've never given it much thought." Clemont raises an eyebrow. "Why not?" he asks. "Because I'm not8 even fully certain if she reciprocates!" he replies. Clemont's jaw drops at this. He knows that he used to be clueless, but surely he wasn't this clueless? Arceus knows that if Korrina and Bonnie were here, both of them would inform him that he was, in fact, that clueless. "Max," he says carefully, "with all due respect, you're denser than me." When Max looks half confused, half offended, Clemont clarifies. "I mean, my sister is clearly head-over-heels for you, and you her. So, why not go for it?" Max shrugs. "We're only 11," he replies. "I think we're a bit too young to be dating." Clemont knows he's using that as an excuse, but he doesn't press the matter. Instead, he changes the topic by asking Max about his notebooks.
Meanwhile, as the two girls make their way through the Trick House, Bonnie is having a crisis of her own. "WhydidIdothatwhydidIdothatwhydidIdothat!?" she asks herself over and over. Korrina gives her a pitiable smile and ruffles her hair. "Why did you do that?" Bonnie asks her. "To show you that you have nothing to worry about," she replies. "You could clearly tell that I did that out of platonic affection, couldn't you?" Bonnie nods. "Well, I'd say that's what Max thought it was that you did. Boys can be quite dense when it comes to this sort of thing." "Like someone else that I know" she thinks to herself. Bonnie sighs, figuring that Korrona is right. "But still, why not let him know how you feel?" Korrina asks. Just the thought of that makes Bonnie blush. "Not a chance!" she replies quickly. "If I do, and he doesn't reciprocate, that could make the rest of our journey very awkward, at best! Besides, we're only 11, don't you think that's a bit early to be considering dating?" Korrona laughs at that. "You didn't seem to have that concern when you were asking people to date Clemont" she replies. "That's different!" Bonnie argues. "He was 15 when I started doing that! 4 years older than I am now."
Korrina raises her hands in a placating gesture. "Fine, fine," she says. "But you will need to eventually either tell him how you feel, or move on from him. Because if you keep this dance going for as long as Clemont and I did, everyone you know will start trying to do what you did for us." The thought of that makes Bonnie incredibly flustered. "But there's no need to rush it either," Korrina continues. "Let it happen naturally. Once you're ready to tell him, tell him. I won't force you to." Bonnie feels relieved by this and nods in gratitude, before continuing with the Trick House. As they do however, Korrina gets one final word in, "Although, I can't guarantee that Clemont won't try anything funny." This comment leaves Bonnie worried about what Clemont and Max are talking about outside, and Bonnie suddenly has the strong urge to finish the Trick House quickly.
The girls eventually make it back out of the House and reunite with the boys. From there, plans are discussed. Bonnie explains that she's going to challenge the gym here in Mauville, then she and Max are setting off so that Max can finally compete in his first contest. "Ah, following in your sister's footsteps I see?" Clemont comments. Max shrugs. "I don't know about that," he replies. "I just wanted to give them a go." "And he wants to shut up a douchebag who insulted his sister!" Bonnie chimes in, earning a small glare from Max. Clemont looks at him. "Is that the only reason why you want to give contests a try?" he asks. Max shakes his head. "I have a rival," he explains. "He and I agreed to compete in contests together. That's my main reason." Clemont accepts this answer. "Perhaps the 2 of us will tag along then," says Korrina, putting one of her hands on Clemont's. "I've been curious about Contests for a while, so it would be nice to get a chance to see one." Bonnie brightens up at this. "Really!?" she exclaims. Clemonts looks at Korrina, then nods. "Sure, I don't see why not" he says. Bonnie cheers at this and hugs her brother, happy that she'll get to travel with him again.
Once that's settled, the couple leads Max and Bonnie to the Pokémon Centre they're staying at, and they pair book themselves a room. That night, as they're going to bed, they think about the conversations they had about their crush on each other. Thinking that Bonnie is asleep, Max looks at her, and contemplates saying it aloud. Then he remembers Iris's story of how Georgia found out about her feelings and decided against it. Luckily for him, Bonnie is also awake, contemplating doing the same thing. But, like him, she decides against it, and the two drift off to sleep.
Sorry about the major Fourthwheelshipping tease in this chapter, but I felt like I should give a reason for why neither of them have said anything to each other yet, aside from nerves of course. I also wanted to give them a chance to talk with their future in-laws (lol) so that's what I did. Anyway, with that, see you on Thursday for Bonnie's Gym battle.