i have no idea what the hell i'm doing

Touya, at most times, adores Nate's upbeat attitude. The sheer energy that the shorter emits is limitless, and it makes Touya feel secure. He can sometimes see his younger self in Nate, back when he first started out his journey, brimming with young wanderlust. Time hardened his demeanor, not entirely, but enough to make him lose his naive ways. He's grateful that Nate counterbalances his seriousness, making his life seem brighter with his positivity.

However, at this very moment, Touya finds himself cursing Nate's enthusiastic self.

"Why do we have to do this?" Touya bemoans.

"Because we have to prove ourselves!" Nate says, reaching his hand towards Touya's belt.

Touya clicks his tongue, slapping Nate's hand. "You're just doing this for an ego trip."

"Why, I never!" Nate gasps, caressing his hand. Seeing Touya roll his eyes at his antics, he chances another attempt.

"C'mon, he's the champion of Kanto! We have to challenge him!"

Touya glares at him. "No, we don't. You're not strong enough to battle a champion. Besides, he has someone with him. They're probably on a date or something; we shouldn't interrupt them."

"But, Touuuuuya," Nate whines, clutching at his jacket. He peers under his visor with his best puppy dog eyes, to which Touya sighs.

"Fine, we'll introduce ourselves. But no battling!"

"Ugh, fine. You're such a party pooper," Nate says, taking Touya's hand into his own and leading him towards the champion and company. As they slowly inch towards the chatting couple, Touya begins to regret his decision.

"Hiya!" Nate chirps, all smiles and sunshine. "I'm Nate, and this here is my boyfriend, Touya!"

The one with the black and yellow hat looks at them, surprised. A closer look at his face tells Touya that he's probably around Nate's age, though his turned frame hints at a more shy demeanor. The other person, the champion, Touya mentally corrects, just stares at them, but the light brown irises tell him nothing but bored emptiness.

"I'm Fire," he says, and well, Touya wasn't sure what he was expecting, but it certainly wasn't the most blandest voice to have ever graced his ears. The boy with the black and yellow hat meekly turns his face away from them, his hand clutching tighter at Fire's elbow.

"I'm Ethan," the boy says, giving a shy wave.

"It's nice to meet you!" Nate practically shouts, and Touya can tell his boisterous nature is putting that Ethan kid on edge. "We've noticed that you aren't from around here. Are you lost by any chance?"

Ethan's eyes widen, giving a slight nod. "Yeah, how'd you know?"

Nate grins. "Well, I'm very good at remembering faces, and I don't recall ever seeing yours around here. And," he points at Fire, "the champion of Kanto, I assume, isn't acquainted with Unova."

Ethan gives a slight laugh, looking up at Fire. "Your reputation precedes you, even in such a faraway region."

Fire doesn't say anything, just looks away furtively with red staining his cheeks. Touya wants to laugh at such antics, but finds himself exhaling a poor excuse of a sigh. He's not sure if Nate notices, but the mood around the other couple shifted, indicated by their shared whispers and the proud gleam in Ethan's dark blue eyes.

He gives Nate's elbow a harsh nudge, leaning over to whisper to him.

"Alright, it's time to leave."

Nate gives a whine. "What? But we haven't even talked that much. . ."

"Look at them," Touya says, vaguely gesturing at the couple, "they're in that romantic mood right now, we shouldn't bother them."

His statements falls on deaf ears, with Nate claiming a pokeball from his bag and holding it up to the couple.

"Have you seen the pokemon here yet? I could show you mine."

At that, Fire's eyes widen in interest, inclining his head to Ethan's. Ethan nods, gesturing for Nate to continue. Touya blinks at their ministrations, awed. At first glance, they seem completely ordinary, but closer inspection suggests a strong bond of trust between the two, one that doesn't require verbal communication.

Touya's not sure if he should be impressed or jealous.

"We'd love to!" Ethan exclaims. "We came here just a while ago, and the only pokemon we've seen were wild. Fire has been itching to battle a trained pokemon."

Touya groans the exact moment Nate cries out, "I can battle you!"

"Don't battle him," Touya pleads, but too little too late. Fire is already gazing at Nate with a determined glint in his light brown eyes. Ethan laughs behind his hand, before taking his place next to Touya.

"We should just let them have their fun," Ethan says with a kind smile that Touya finds himself conceding to.

"Alright, I change my mind. Fire, please kick his ass."

Nate makes a strangled noise. "Traitor! You're supposed to be on my side!"

Touya huffs at him, offended. "As your mentor, I believe this will be a good lesson for you. Confidence will bring you up, but arrogance will bring you down," he says, placing his hand on his chest in a sagely manner.

"You literally just pulled that out of your ass."

Noticing the restless vibe Fire's giving off, Ethan attempts to placate the couple.

"Nate, I'm sure Touya is just cheering you on in his own way. Battle Fire and prove yourself to him, alright?" Ethan says, easing his hands on Nate's tense shoulders.

Nate harrumphs, facing towards Fire with his back to Touya. Digging through his bag, he fishes out a pokeball and tosses it forward, a bright light settling on the ground and vanishing to reveal his trusty samurott.

Fire smiles slightly and throws his own pokeball, which releases his trademark pikachu.

"I guess I'll be the referee then," Touya says, moving to the center of both trainers' positions. Raising his hand, he brings it down parallel to the ground. With a shout, the battle begins.

Nate collapses on the ground, letting out a defeated sigh. He returns his fainted pokemon to its respective ball before acknowledging the winner of the match.

"Guess they don't call you champion for nothing, huh?" he says sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head with his palm.

Fire smiles, calling back his blastoise. "Ex-champion, actually."

"Really?!" Nate exclaims, standing abruptly at such a statement, which surprises Touya, who was about to reach out his hand to help Nate up.

"Yeah," Fire says, walking over to Ethan and placing a hand on his shoulder, "he beat me."

Ethan blushes, stammering. "I mean, well, it wasn't an official match, so I'm not really sure if it counts - "

He's cut off by Fire chastely kissing his cheek, making him even redder.

"No need to be modest," Fire says, wrapping his arm around Ethan's waist and pulling him flush to his side. "Beating the champions of both Johto and Kanto is no easy task."

Ethan buries his face in his hands, flustered by the blatant affection Fire is giving him.

Nate gapes, "So you're the champion of Kanto and Johto?! Dude that's awesome!"

Ethan's fingers separate slightly, his dark blue eyes peering through the slit.

"Well, only Kanto, since my friend Lyra defeated me after I got the Johto title," he says, voice muffled by his hands.

"Still!" Nate insists, taking Ethan's hands into his own. "That's awesome."

"Hey," Touya interrupts, lightly slapping the back of Nate's head, "you're dating an ex-champion, so why are you so impressed?"

Nate lets go of Ethan's hands, in favor of swerving around and settling his hands on Touya's hips.

"Hmmm?" He gives Touya a smug smile under his visor, "are you jealoooous?"

Touya clicks his tongue, crossing his arms over his chest. "Of course not," he huffs, but it fails to lessen the lecherous leer he's given.

"Don't worry, Touya," Nate chirps, "my eyes are for your ass only!" He pronounces his statement by moving his hand from Touya's hips into his pant's back pockets and squeezes.

Touya yelps, red settling all over his face. He takes off his hat and covers his face with it, resulting in Nate loudly whining.

"Let me see your beautiful face!"

"DIE!"

"Aww, you don't mean that!"

Ethan giggles at their antics, turning to Fire with a smile. "We should probably leave them be, yeah?"

Fire nods. "Let's go back."

Ethan turns to the couple, shouting, "We're leaving now! See you!" However, the statement remains ignored, with Nate kissing the exposed skin of Touya's neck and Touya desperately trying to hide his red face.

As they begin their trek back, Fire takes Ethan's hand into his own before admitting, "Unovans are kind of weird. . ."

Ethan just laughs, which is promptly followed by Nate's yelp in the distance.

.

.

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extra

"That's what happens when you embarrass your senior; you get a slap on the face," Rosa says, a bit too smugly, in Nate's honest opinion, as she lies back, her chestnut pigtails fanning out behind her. Touko sits beside her, laughing.

"Don't be too mean to the poor boy. He's being punished right now, no need to add more injury to his wounds."

Rosa snickers behind her hand, to which Nate replies with a cushion being thrown at her face. Catching the pillow mid-flight, she raises her arm to throw it and is surprised by Touko's hand at her wrist. Poking fun at Nate is her job as his best friend, but she'd rather not deal with an admonishing girlfriend.

Rosa huffs, setting the pillow down, and is rewarded by Touko kissing her cheek. With widened eyes, she allows a smirk to grace her features before she boasts, "It's alright! At least I can touch my senior's ass, unlike some people!"

Making sure that Nate could see, she reaches down Touko's back with a flirty hand before cupping her girlfriend's backside.

Touko squeaks, slapping Rosa's hand away. Though, Rosa doesn't mind, seeing as the damage has been done. Nate whines, shoving his face into the couch's armrest.

"TOUUUUUUYA!"

"SHUT UP! I'M TRYING TO SLEEP!" Touya hollers from down the hall.

Touko lets out a sigh. "This is why trainers from other regions don't want to talk to us."

headcanon that nate is a nice person on the outside but is actually a horny bastard and touya has to suffer a lot. also, rosa is very friendly and sweet but loves embarrassing nate, with her hot girlfriend touko berating her from the sidelines. poor touko has to deal with all their bullshit.

aside from my nonsense, this didn't turn out to be as shippy as i wanted it to be, but at least it's a start? hopefully i can get my lazy ass to make more in the future. . .