Guess who suddenly decided to reappear after a year of absence from this fandom? Been sick and stuff. That's partially the problem.

Uh, requests... either way, I'm going to feel bad about the ones I missed a year ago, but I'm wondering if anyone still wants to see them? My schedule for posting fanfiction kind of fell apart, to be honest.

"Hugh!"

Hugh picked up on the first ring, before Nate's mind caught up with the weight of his revelation and before self-doubt set in, while his excitement was still strong and all he needed to continue pushing words out of his mouth.

"Y-yes, Nate?"

"Hugh, I really like you!"

His happy proclamation was met with dead silence, and because all electronics these days had cameras on them as well, Nate wasn't spared from Hugh's open-mouthed gaping either. And that was about when Nate's mind caught up to what he was doing – the horrifying thought of consequences set in first, and refused to leave after doing so.

There were a million ways this could go wrong. He couldn't believe he hadn't thought about any of them first.

"I, um... like you too, Nate," Hugh replied though. Despite the shakiness in the other boy's voice, the way he chuckles nervously and how much it sounds like he's trying to cover up the awkwardness Nate created, Nate cannot help but feel a little bit of hope welling up in his chest. "What brought this on, exactly?"

And then Nate's side of the screen went black, as if Hugh had placed his thumb over the tiny camera on his side or something. The hope Nate had felt died in that instant.

"Well, the ferris wheel in Nimbasa..." Nate replied honestly, and a second later he went back to mentally kicking himself. For some reason, Hugh was already blocking his camera. He was still desperately clinging to hope when he really should have been glad that at least Hugh wasn't angry with him instead.

"Ferris wheel!?"

Hugh nearly dropped his X-transceiver in panic. His thumb slipped as he fumbled with the device, nearly dropping it, and Nate caught a split second panic from the other side of the screen. Hugh's voice and his expression matched perfectly, and, like a fool, he let himself get hopeful once again.

"N-Nate, aren't they having a special on couples at the amusement park right now? What are you trying to imply!?"

The only bigger mistake than calling was allowing himself to keep getting his hopes up. It was obvious he'd made a mistake. Now the only thing left to do was see if he could take it back, ammend what he'd said as quickly as he could.

"Do they? I didn't have anything like that in mind!"

Truthfully, he hadn't known about that. He told Hugh as much, in case it wasn't obvious enough just from the strained tone of his voice.

"But you're at the amusement park right now, and you still didn't notice?" Hugh's tone was dry, perhaps even... disappointed?

'No, Nate,' he told himself firmly. 'No. You just said you were going to stop that.'

"I'm dumb! I get it, okay? You don't need to go reminding me of that-"

"I wasn't saying that at all. You're the only one saying it!"

"Anyway, I-I meant to say that I really like you! Because I do, and... and we just don't see each other as much anymore, but you're still my best friend! The Ferris Wheel reminded me of that."

Hugh sighed – in relief, Nate thought. They hadn't been thinking of the same thing after all, and he really was stupid for even suspecting they might be.

But now he would have been really ashamed to admit that he'd felt more than a little distracted during their last – and probably only – trip to Nimbasa. They'd rode the Ferris Wheel together, and even though Nate had only managed to puzzle his feelings together months later, he'd felt like a genius earlier for "figuring it out". The way Hugh's hand had "accidentally" grazed his leg had done things to him, but now Nate was beginning to realize that it really had been a mere accident. Maybe Hugh hadn't even noticed.

He'd been over-eager and whimful and all-around wrong. And no matter how badly Nate wanted to get something right, there was a reason he would always be known as childish and air-headed amongst even his best friends.

"Look, I'm sor-"

At the same time Nate was resolving to at least end the awkwardness between them, Hugh spoke up.

"What I'm doing isn't exactly unimportant, Nate. I thought you of all people would understand why chasing Team Plasma and the Shadow Triad is so important to me..."

"Oh.
That was all Nate could say, 'Oh'. Hugh did a good job of making him feel guilty without even trying now, though it probably wasn't intentional either. He probably hadn't even noticed yet.

"I promise that I haven't been avoiding you on purpose though, and we still see each other often enough, right?"

Smiling was easy for Nate. It came with practice, and nobody ever noticed if his smile was a little softer than usual, and especially not Hugh, who was admittedly self-absorbed and impulsive and loveable nonetheless.

Just perhaps not for Nate.

"Sorry, I didn't mean it like that. I still want to the Unova champion too and all, and..."

Nate cut himself off there. He didn't know what he wanted to say, didn't even know what he should have said. He wanted the phone call to end now; that was what he knew.

"Later."

His thumb jabbed the button to end the call, and the screen faded to black far too quickly for Nate to catch a glimpse at the surprised look on Hugh's face.

So that was it then.

It really wouldn't work out...

000

Halfway across Unova, Hugh stared at the blank screen on his X-transceiver with an expression to match: a little bit sullen, a little bit disappointed. Certainly, it did not resemble the somewhat positive mood he'd been in moments earlier.

Blank.

The future he'd hoped for with Nate... was it really that blank?

000

Or could they just try again later?

Could this use a better ending? I wonder.