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Week 0
One unremarkable afternoon in Mossdeep City, Steven comes across the hatchling on a routine walk. A rustling in the grass catches his attention, and when he parts the tall green blades he finds a small reptile curled up amidst a pile of cracked eggshell. The little creature uncurls and peers up at him: emerald-green eyes, shining like jewels in its small head. Coiled up, it would fit neatly in one palm.
He's intrigued, because he has never seen such a creature before and there are no wild pokémon in Mossdeep. He sends a text to the League group chat asking what to do, immediately hears back from Roxane and Glacia: one of them says to stick around to see if its parents come back, the other, to see if he can do anything to make it more comfortable in the meantime.
Are dragons cold-blooded? Do they need to be warm? What do they eat? Do they need to be taught to fly and swim? For the first time, Steven Stone feels the deadly peril of being a single young man in charge of a child. Overhead, a rumble of thunder. All around him the tall grass is silent, the island a flat expanse beyond; and there are no trees or crevices nearby for pokémon to hide.
Steven sheds his jacket, hurriedly wraps up the tiny reptile, and makes a run for home.
He calls Clair first, hoping the Blackthorn clan's dragon husbandry expertise will extend to this. Over a bad connection they go through the comprehensive list of known dragon pokémon breeds before she concludes that Steven has either discovered a new species, or a baby-form of an existing one. Steven stares at the smooth ridged skin of the creature happily exploring the terrapin tank he now keeps odd rocks in, and says, "I don't think so."
Clair leaves him with some instructions for dragon-caring and a promise to visit in a few months once she is done taking care of matters here.
With no further recourse, he mass emails the Researchers' Network with a photo of the creature and a request for anyone with information to contact him. Several days later, he gets a response from Professor Rowan of Sinnoh. Bit of a long shot, but doesn't that look a bit like the legendary pokémon Rayquaza?
Steven pulls up the picture of the legendary dragon of the Sky Tower, then glances between it and the little creature in the terrapin tank still happily playing with his collection of agate and quartz. Similarities, for sure.
He thinks something very, very strange is taking place.
That evening Steven's Pokegear lights up with a familiar name, the pixelled avatar of an old friend's League ID mugshot flashing on the side of Steven's screen as he reaches for the receiver. "I hear you have picked up a baby legendary dragon?"
"We don't know for sure that's what it is," Steven replies.
"If it walks like a legendary and flies like a legendary—"
"—it's a baby, it's not flying anywhere," Steven replies.
"All right, all right," Wallace says. "I mean that word is beginning to spread, and you know that there are many people with ill intentions who would do anything to get their hands on a pokémon like that."
"For your safety, dear friend. I don't suppose you could get it to the Dragon clans of Johto?"
"Too far to travel," Steven replies. "Besides, Clair said not to take it out of its home region."
"Well, Mossdeep is far too exposed. Did you ever get your Silph Scope back?"
"Nope. Several years ago something had flown in, plucked the item straight out of Silph Co's main lobby, and flown right out, leaving behind only a single feather from a Pelipper's wing. Wallace insists it was a thief; Steven's not sure it wasn't just a pokémon on its yearly migration that saw something shiny.
"Could come here, if you wanted" Wallace offers. "Plenty of room in Sootopolis for a dragon to stretch its wings, and Arceus knows you need a vacation I know you're not going to take otherwise.
"... it's a baby, it has no wings," Steven repeats, ignoring the other thing.
"You know what I mean." He can almost imagine Wallace's smile on the other side of the line.
Week 1
November is always a quiet time at the League, so Steven leaves Ever Grande in the hands of Sidney and Phoebe and tells them to get in touch right away if challengers show up, then packs up a couple bags and the terrapin tank along with some insects and dried fruit for the dragon, then takes the long-distance underwater train to Sootopolis City.
Wallace meets him at the station, coos over the terrapin tank for a few moments before picking up Steven's bags and leading the way to the train. He's already drained the lower level of his gym, he says.
"... you really didn't need to go to that trouble," Steven says. "Although it is getting a little big for this one."
"What, like the esteemed Sky Dragon of Hoenn doesn't deserve the grandest of receptions? The pool is nothing. I've even put up party decor and everything." His hands are laden with bags so he nudges Steven with an elbow. "Missed you too, old friend."
They haven't lived in close quarters since League University days and for a time Steven had worried they wouldn't get along, but seeing Wallace again now it's like nothing has changed at all.
Wallace lives in a one-room apartment about five minutes from the Sootopolis Gym, and has a very comfortable pull-out couch he had offered when Steven first asked about accommodations in the area. Now Steven puts his bags and the terrapin tank in the corner and helps to unfold the couch; the cushion unexpectedly gets very stuck and they spend ten minutes fiddling with the hinges until it slides right.
"Whew, is it always this hard when someone stays over?"
Wallace actually flushes a little bit. "You're the first one I've offered it to."
It hits, really hits Steven then that he's standing in the air-conditioned living room of the best friend he's been a little bit in love with since university days, that he will still never admit it on pain of death for fear of ruining the friendship, and that he is about to suffer unimaginably for the next two months in the best possible way.
Lance also gets back, finally. sorry, he writes. you know how it is, being Champion
To be honest, Steven doesn't. The Johto League, the first established League and still the most well-known one, sees trainers who travel from across the world for a shot at the Indigo Plateau; it is far busier than Ever Grande City ever is. But he lets it slide.
baby legendary, you say? yes, it's happened round these parts before. Karen tells me it's because of how humans have grown to live harmoniously with pokémon. sometimes, the legendary of a region will want to test its champion to determine if they are worthy
Steven frowns, then types out a reply. ...by giving them one of its young to raise...?
not sure tbh. only one legendary is ever sighted at a time, right? when i had bb zapdos here, the power plant went dark for a while, which made me think hmm... have you spotted your sky dragon lately?
He looks at Wallace, who's reading over his shoulder with chin tucked into his neck, and feels rather than sees Wallace shake his head no. Rayquaza sightings are few and far between, even in normal times. No, but that's nothing out of the ordinary, Steven writes back.
Week 2
On Wednesday evenings when the gym closes early Wallace takes Steven into downtown Sootopolis to show him the sights, saying "You'll never go out on your own and I can't let you leave without seeing the city."
They get dinner in a restaurant at the corner of two shopping streets and that spans all three floors of the building; it's a tourist trap, Wallace says, but on the bucket list of Things To See In Sootopolis so they have to go. Paintings of deep-sea pokémon cover the walls, and a 3-D hologram hovers over every table. Theirs is a Relicanth, gently flapping its tail through the air overhead, and it makes Steven remember the prophecy etched in the stone of the Cave of Origin: first is Wailord...
He wonders if the great battle it foretells will ever come to pass.
"So how is work?" Wallace says.
"Same as always," Steven says. Commute to Ever Grande City twice a week to receive challengers, attending conferences in Johto and Sinnoh to speak on training theory and battle mechanics, or the semi-annual meetings of various League Committees... he has never been a people person, and recently it has gotten very tiring.
"Still not your thing, I see."
Steven shrugs. "It's a job."
"You say that like you're one of your dad's office workers who needs the desk job to pay the bills. Most of us are here because we like it, you know. Even at university... I always thought you'd end up on the Frontier track or something, not classic League. Let alone Champion."
"I think you, me and everyone at university knows you'd make the better Champion of us both," Steven says. It's not a touchy subject; there is just more to the job than pure skill and synergy with a pokémon team and everyone in League learns that eventually. "Not that you're doing anything about it."
Wallace leans back in his chair, languid grace like the water he commands, folding his hands over his chest. Overhead, the lights dance over his face and through his hair. "You know why I challenged the League last year, Steven? Because of how miserable it was making you."
"And then you said no to the title and came back here anyway."
"Well, I wasn't ready. But I wanted to give you the out. A League can be without a Champion for up to six months while the title is transferred. Of course, like a damn fool, you didn't take it."
"If I really had left, back then... after six months, would you really have gone there to take my place?"
Wallace smiles at being caught out. "Maybe not. But then that'd be on me, not you, old friend."
Week 3
The little dragon finally grows too big for the terrapin tank. Wallace has collected rocks from all over Sootopolis in varying shapes, sizes and colors and fashioned a little terrarium of the pool, and now he watches contentedly as Steven tips the baby dragon out of the tank and into the pool, where it uncurls happily in the gravel.
"Looks like it's having a good time," Steven says. "Also, is that real quartz?"
"No idea." Wallace shrugs. "You're the rock guy, you tell me."
Most of the Sootopolis Gym trainers have been by to visit the new addition to the family, and the baby dragon has made friends with a number of Barboach, Sealeo, Luvdisc, as well as the lone Milotic in the gym. "Oh, that one's mine," Wallace had said when he dropped in with food, just as Steven had been fretting about being left with someone's pokémon after the gym had cleared out for the day. "He usually hangs in the pool overnight, but... you know, occupied."
Steven snaps a photo and sends it to the League chat, where it instantly gets a flurry of heart reactions. Falkner asks if it's flying yet, and Janine is building a timelapse growth chart out of the photos.
Week 4
Like the rest of his wired-and-unable-to-unplug generation, Steven still checks his League e-mail twice a day, and gives Sidney and Phoebe the down-and-dirty on the sordid nightlife in Sootopolis City.
Which is to say he sends them pictures of the interior of Wallace's apartment and the basement of the Sootopolis Gym.
sooooooo jealous, boss, Phoebe writes in the chat titled 'E4', followed by a string of incomprehensible emoji. Say hi to the bf for me~
"... it's just teasing," Steven says, acutely aware that Wallace is reading over his shoulder. "The more I correct her the more she lays it on."
Wallace just grabs the phone out of his hand, types back This is the bf, hi too~, hits send, and tosses the phone back. "So play along and maybe she'll drop it."
"This, Steven, is called a bar. And we're not leaving here until we get you laid."
"Wallace, you can't be serious."
"Or at least point out someone you like. I can't believe you've been out of school for three years and haven't dated anybody. I know Pokemon training is important to you, but surely being Champion has to count for something..."
"... just don't have time," Steven says tiredly.
"Or are you waiting for somebody?" Something lurches in Steven's chest and it must have shown in his face, because Wallace's face goes surprised, then gleeful. " I'm right, aren't I? Who is it? Phoebe? Sidney? Or Clair? You've been talking to her so much lately I wouldn't be surprised if you grew feelings."
"Nothing of the sort," Steven says, and waves to the bartender to deflect further questioning. "You're going to have to order for me."
Wallace's grin, if possible, grows even wider. "You got it."
Two hours, and far too many drinks later:
"Where would you go, Steven? If you could?"
"Anywhere," Steven replies. "I want to see everything. The highest mountain, the deepest abyss. The most glorious battles of Leagues all over the world. A pokémon no one else in the world has ever seen..."
"Mm," Wallace says with a wistful smile. "That's the Steven Stone I know. I thought, for a while, that I'd lost him."
"I don't know what you're talking about. Aren't I just me?" Steven says. He's not sure what's in this drink, but it's purple and sweet and really quite nice. "What about you? Where would you go?"
"Hm? I think you know that already," Wallace says. "Hoenn has always been enough for me. Being Champion's my only dream. And precisely because it's so important to me, I want to get it right."
"Mm. You know, I have full confidence you'll be good at it," Steven says solemnly. "Also, did anyone ever tell you that you have really pretty eyes?"
"A terrible lightweight," Wallace sighs. "I should have guessed. Thanks for the compliment, and I think you're beautiful too."
It's late, and the bar has mostly emptied. The bartender is stacking chairs on the table and only a few clusters of people remain, in various stages of inebriation. The feeling of Wallace's hand checking his temperature is really nice, and why don't they do this all the time?
He's not quite sure if he said that last part out loud. Wallace is looking at him with this exasperatedly fond look and he says, "Let's talk about it again when you're sober, all right?"
Week 5
The dragon gets out.
No one quite knows how it manages to slither out of the enclosure, through the gym, out the doors, across the moat around the gym and through fifteen city blocks to the park. Steven and Wallace spend two hours hunting around before finding it beneath an Oran berry plot, munching on the bountiful fallen fruit.
"Soon it's going to learn to fly," Wallace says, "and then we'll never find it again." He gathers the green coils into his arms, which is getting more difficult now that it has more than doubled in size.
"About time it did, actually," Steven says, remembering the growth charts Clair had sent over. The dragon should fly sometime in the next week, be fully independent within a month.
That evening, Steven carries it in a large crate to the island in the middle of the lake. He's never tried transporting it in a Pokeball; he's not sure a legendary pokémon should ever see the inside of one, and Wallace had listened to him explain and said he'd have done the same. Now Wallace gets to his knees in front of the crate, gently coaxing the dragon out. "Would you like to try? Flying, I mean."
The dragon rises a little way into the air, shining scales undulating in the moonlight, but after a fashion, it slithers back into place at their feet. "Not quite yet," Steven says, and places one hand on its head, scales cold and smooth to the touch.
"Not quite yet," Wallace echoes. "Sitting tight, just like a certain other someone who refuses to fly the coop. Do you know what birds do to their chicks when they're big enough to fly?"
"No, what?"
"They shove them straight out of the nests. Stone cold. You should drop by Fortree in late spring sometime and Winona can show you."
Steven doesn't look up, still patting the not-so-baby-any-more dragon gently. "I don't think our young legendary here is quite comparable to a lazy baby Swablu, do you?"
"You got me," Wallace says quietly. "So, Steven. Why did you stay at the League, after last March?"
"I have a duty," Steven says. "You said yourself that you're not ready to take over the League yet."
"So you're just keeping the seat warm for me? Oh, Steven, always so generous. Think of yourself for a change, won't you? There's a whole world out there to see and you'll never be twenty-five again." He turns his face to the clear night sky; tonight the moon is visible, half cut off by the crater rim, and its light falls clear and cold into his eyes. "I've been talking to my mentor for a while about giving the gym back to him."
"Master Juan? He's back in town?" Steven remembers the man from his one demonstration battle at the League University; a veritable maestro, his command of his element powerful and beautiful. Remembers Wallace's pure and abject admiration, how he had begged the man to take him as a disciple that same day, and how Master Juan had agreed.
Wallace himself is very different now, Steven realizes. Years leading the Sootopolis Gym have let him grow into that same image of confidence and elegance. "Yep," Wallace says. "Said he's had enough of wandering and wants to settle down."
"Hm," Steven says, already working out the musical chairs of League succession in his head.
Wallace cracks a smile. "Glad I seem to have gotten you thinking."
Week 6
Once a trainer, always a trainer, and six weeks in terrible thought finally occurs to Steven. He now knows far too much about the care, feeding and housing of baby legendaries, but does the dragon need to be taught to fight? When it goes free, will it need to defend itself from harm?
Wallace puts both hands on his shoulders. "Steven, calm down. Ecology 101, wild pokemon learn a limited set of their full movepool all on their own."
"Also ecology 101, none of the usual rules apply to legendaries," Steven replies immediately
"I am remembering in vivid and excruciating detail how you beat me to first place in the year," Wallace replies. "You're lucky you're cute. All right, then, let's take the baby out and try a few things."
The Sootopolis gym pool is a vat of smoking ash and the training shoal of Luvdisc lie unconscious in the bottom.
"Don't provoke the baby, got it," Wallace says in awe. "Also I'll have to move the gym downstairs for a couple weeks while we fix this. Hope you like taking pictures with challengers, little one."
Clair also replies to the video within a minute: Looks like Hyper Beam. You got yourself a Lv90 at least.
Wallace reads off his screen. "This little guy?" he says with incredulity. It's staring up at them with beady black eyes and he tentatively reaches out and pats. It headbutts its hand.
"Cute," Steven observes, and Wallace shoots him a wry smile.
Week 7
"There's a tournament in Alola in March," Steven says, scrolling through his newsfeed. "Full room and board and they're even throwing in a tour of the four islands for free if you make it past quals. Wish I could go."
"Why not?"
"Duty calls," Steven says. "That's the busy League season and not sure I can get the time off."
Wallace stops in the middle of picking up a coffee cup. Turns, kicks his long legs up on the coffee table and leans over to put a finger on Steven's lips. "I know why you're still here, in both the 'here in Sootopolis' sense and the... abstract, Hoenn League sense of the word. But tell me, Steven, once and for all. Do you want to go."
It's the same thing they've been pushing back and forth over the last seven weeks, finally come to a head. Steven has more in common with rocks than just the color of his hair; he is someone with inertia. Once set on a path, he will keep walking down it until a force is applied in a different direction.
And as he had quickly discovered at the League U, his best friend rather is a force of nature.
"... I do," Steven says, and a weight does lift from his chest then. "But are you ready?"
"I think I've been ready for a long time," Wallace replies. "I was just waiting for you to say it."
A minute passes.
"Speaking of revelations," Wallace says, "Can we have that conversation again? The one where you said my eyes were pretty?"
Steven splutters. "I said what?"
"You may have been a little bit inebriated. Should I forget it happened?"
"— wait, no," Steven replies, flushing so hard he can feel the heat radiating from his ears. "I mean, I do think so." That doesn't count as a confession, right? "I just don't really remember it."
Wallace raises one elegant eyebrow. "Then do you remember me saying I think you're beautiful too?"
Steven's acutely aware of how close their faces are right now.
"Winona, I so hope to god you're right," Wallace says to nothing in particular, and then kisses him.
The momentum sends Steven toppling backwards until his shoulders are flush against the back of the couch, and Wallace follows him down, lips soft against his, tongue scraping softly across the seam of Steven's mouth until Steven parts his lips. Steven kisses back, and doesn't remember to breathe until the need for oxygen sends the world spinning around him. Still dizzy with it Steven thinks that Sootopolis is sometimes called the city of dreams, but he has never expected this one to come true.
Wallace pulls back, face flushed and grinning from ear to ear. "I've wanted to do that since that day you stood up in the Type Theory 101 lecture and recited the damage formula from memory. With modifiers. Or maybe just since the first time I saw you."
"... I like the first one better," Steven says, breathlessly.
"Love you too," Wallace says, and kisses him again. "So, I have to ask, is the boyfriends joke for real now?"
Steven's still smiling so hard his face hurts, dizzy with affection. "Might as well."
The next day Steven gets a flood of notifications while feeding the baby dragon and finds out that Wallace has changed their social media relationship status. Most of the comments are variations on 'About time'.
"We've been dating all this time and I didn't know," Steven says, aghast.
"We've been married," Wallace says. "Got a house and a kid—" he tilts his head in the direction of the dragon— "and a couch and everything. Don't worry. I didn't get it either until Volkner rubbed my face in it." A pause. "I just hope that when I finally take the job in Ever Grande no one's going to think it's nepotism."
"Nobody who's seen you battle could think that," Steven says, and kisses him again.
Week 8
Eight weeks in Sootopolis, the old year is ending. Everyone in the city is gathered at the central lake beneath the circle of the night sky, waiting for the fireworks to start.
Wallace has fished out his old collection of HMs and taught his Gyarados to fly, and now Steven holds on to him for dear life as the two dragons rise into the sky, one blue and one green. Rayquaza, now fully grown and properly identifiable, opens its mouth in a roar; circles once in the sky, then flies into the distance and vanishes from view.
Steven stops the video recording and uploads it to the League group chat. "I should be going too," he says, still looking at the point in the sky where the dragon had been. "Think I've imposed on you and your couch long enough."
"So soon?" Wallace says. "Why, I'd almost think you were sick of my company."
"I could never," Steven replies, far too sincerely. "But my vacation is running out. Unless you'd like to do something about that."
"I do, in fact. I formally accepted the position yesterday, in fact. Who knew, the link doesn't expire."
Far below, the fireworks begin and the cheers of the city ring out into the night. Steven looks down at the crater where Sootopolis lies, and smiles. "So eager to put your boyfriend out of a job."
"Only because I know he has greener pastures and needs an excuse. Also, I'm going with you to Alola, just so you know."
"... six months while the title is transferred," Steven remembers. In the distance, Ever Grande glitters like a jewel in the ocean. "But come by the League between now and then. There's tons of things I have to show you how to do first."
"Oh no," Wallace says contentedly. "I'll have to learn to do paperwork."
"My turn to host this time," Steven says. "Don't have a couch, though."
"Somehow," Wallace replies with a decidedly thoughtful smile, "I think we'll cope all right."