Jasmine’s Gym is a lot hotter in the late afternoon. Maybe it’s the sun beating down on the metal building, creating an enormous oven. That makes sense, but that doesn’t explain why he feels like he’s the only one that’s sweating. Jasmine’s challengers don’t appear any more uncomfortable or sweaty than generally expected of trainers trying for a badge and the rest of the crowd appears entirely unaffected.

  He’s already taken off his purple jacket, leaving him in just a brown shirt, but still he feels uncomfortably warm in the face. Maybe he’s getting ill and he’s a bit feverish because of that? It’d be unfortunate to say the least, but at least that offers some explanation. Though he’s not really in pain or nauseous or tired, so he doesn’t quite feel like that’s it.

  Ultimately, it’s a distraction he tries to ignore to the best of his ability, instead focusing on two things: Jasmine’s matches and Josie’s cheerful presence next to him. The blonde is clearly still high on victory, as Ran catches her smiling nearly every time he looks in her direction throughout the matches. He’d like to be just as cheerful, but between his observation of Jasmine’s matches, with each battle offering a reminder of his foolish arrogance and unpreparedness when he faced her, and the increasingly dominant awareness that this is the first time it’s been just Josie and him since their argument, he’s rather tense.

  Not that Josie seems bothered at all, but then again he got blindsided by her anger the last time as well and it’s not as if they actually properly resolved the kissing situation. Why is he sweating so much?!

  “So, we’ve not discussed our plans post-Olivine yet.” Josie offers suddenly, as the match they’re watching comes to an end with the challenger, a trainer around their own age whose strong and expansive team clearly hints at having a few years of sponsorship behind her already, triumphant.

  “We haven’t,” Ran agrees eagerly, grateful for the familiar subject for just a moment before he grows more hesitant as he immediately mentally runs into the issue of not having beaten Jasmine yet, “I’ve been giving it some thought, but between my own defeat and your challenge today and Grady’s tomorrow, I didn’t feel like bringing it up just yet.”

  Josie hums thoughtfully, “Well, I’ve beaten Jasmine and Grady isn’t here right now, so where’s your head at right now?”

  Ran lets out a heavy breath, shoulders lowering as he meets Josie’s eyes with his own, his doubts about where to go from here outweighing his… awkwardness with Josie for the moment.

  “Between Dig, a better idea of her teambuilding and harder training, I think I could beat Jasmine if I challenged her again in a few weeks’ time, even if she said I shouldn’t.” Ran answers slowly, before trailing off.

  “But?” Josie asks leadingly, clearly not willing to fill in any blanks with her own theories.

  “But I might lose even then. Her fourth pokémon would probably have been a Scizor or a Steelix and both of those are major heavy hitters in their own right. So I’m inclined to move on and circle back to Olivine later in the season.” Ran begrudgingly admits, unhappy to admit that Jasmine might genuinely have his number, at his current level.

  “Well, if you come back for a later badge, she’ll definitely be using both Scizor and Steelix. It’s not as if she’s going to re-use the same team if you come back here for your sixth, seventh or eighth badge.” Josie notes neutrally, seemingly intent on playing devil’s advocate more than actually expressing her own opinion.

  Ran nods in acceptance, not as moody about that prospect as he’d felt when first considering departing Olivine without the Mineral Badge, “I know.”

  “So, what are you going to do about it?” She inquires, clearly interested to hear more.

  “Originally, I was going to head to Ecruteak, swing as far south as I needed to in order to capture a member of the Nidoran-line along the way and then keep going through Mahogany and Blackthorn,” Ran explains first, taking a deep breath before forging on boldly, with a thought that’s crystallized in his mind over the past two days, “Most of that still holds up, with one major change. Right now, I’m thinking rather than sticking to the Routes, I travel directly over land towards Goldenrod, through the wilds. I’d definitely run into a strong Nidoran-line member along the way and then I could use my savings for a few TMs in Goldenrod, before getting back on the normal routes and heading to Ecruteak from there.”

  Josie nods along in understanding as he speaks, looking at him with what has to be uncertainty in her eyes. Or maybe he’s imagining it. But now that he’s already shared the plan, there’s no going back, as he forces himself to continue speaking.

  “And, I figured, if you’re interested, you could come with me. You could have your rematch with Whitney whilst we’re in Goldenrod and then after I take on Morty in Ecruteak, we could go for our sixth and seventh badges together, in Mahogany and Blackthorn.” The words come rushing out of him as nigh-unintelligible word vomit, heart suddenly racing as he makes his offer.

  He’s given it ample thought of course, but actually directly making the offer is still terrifying in a way it wasn’t back when they first travelled together. Nor for that matter, when he ended up traveling with Doro. But as he looks at an evidently surprised Josie, only to see her slowly start to smile, he realizes that the circumstances then and now are rather different.

  After all, he just may have a bit of a proper crush on Josie at this point. Or so he thinks, at least. He should call his father later to ask for advice.

  Due to his own racing thoughts and temporary distraction, he almost misses Josie’s response, only his eyes still resting on her face making sure that he tunes back in just in time to catch her words as she agrees.

  “I’d lo- like that!” She agrees enthusiastically, “I’ll need to go to Cianwood at the end, but we’re three months in and we’ve both got four badges sorted already. Getting the other four in seven months should be easy enough even if we do both end up doubling back a fair bit for number eight.”

  “That’s what I figured as well,” Ran confirms with a grin of his own, no longer paying any attention whatsoever to the ongoing battle down below, “Plus, you’ve got Ginger and I’m optimistic that Golbat will be able to carry me for proper flights eventually. Heck, hopefully, by then, he’ll be a Crobat.”

  “You’re not seriously thinking about flying with him, right?” Josie asks in disbelief, “I know he can carry the weight, but where would you even sit? They don’t even make saddles for Golbat or Crobat!”

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  “He’s already flown with me hanging onto his feet!” Ran reminds Josie, only to be met with a frustrated hiss.

  “You’re not hanging off of his feet to travel! You’ll fall to your death!” She orders him with a rapidly rising volume, forcing Ran to hush her before he even gets around to answering.

  Once he does respond, he does so comfortingly, “Obviously, I’m not going to use that to travel any meaningful distance. I’ve got a plan, but it’s not relevant yet and I don’t want to make any sweeping statements before I’ve properly tested just how viable what I’ve got in mind is. I promise to be careful, alright? It’s not even relevant yet.”

  Josie squints at him suspiciously, before finally letting out a low huff, “Fine. I guess that’ll have to do.”

  Ran grins proudly, only to be left a stuttering mess when Josie suddenly grabs his hand with her own.

  “Now pay attention to the matches and don’t bug me with any more suicidal ideas. Honestly.” She instructs him sharply, refusing to meet his eyes.

  He can feel a nuclear blush spreading across his cheeks, only matched by the heat radiating off of Josie’s hand. Not that he minds, of course.

  By the time they get up to leave and meet up with the others once more, two hours later, he doesn’t even feel his heart pounding in his ears anymore. Though when Josie releases his hand as she moves ahead of him and leads the way out of the Gym, his hand does suddenly feel worryingly cold. He definitely needs to call his father.

  Said call takes place that evening, after a dinner that’s mostly spent with all of them trying to calm Grady down as the excitable kid is buzzing with even more energy at the prospect of his match the next day. Once said dinner ends with Grady all but sprinting off, Ran heads back to the pokécenter alongside Doro, before they split up as she heads to her room whilst he turns towards the computers, hoping for a brief call with his father before he’ll head out for his late night training. He’s texted ahead of time to let his father know to expect his call, but it’s still a pleasant surprise to see the man’s face appear on the screen after just a single ring.

  “What’s up?” His father asks immediately, clearly looking to get straight to the point, “You’re not letting the loss at the Gym get to you too much, are you?”

  Ran hesitates for just a moment, not quite sure how to address that and not wanting to get sidetracked, before he finally offers a brief answer “I’m pissed at myself, but I know what I did wrong and I’m working on it. But that’s not why I called.”

  “Good,” His father sighs in relief, “I was worried you were going to say something rash like that you want to give up or that you’re coming home.”

  “What?! Why would I do that!?” Ran asks in disbelief, throwing up his arms in disbelief, only to catch just how ridiculous that looks in the small picture-in-picture of his own webcam, at which point he lowers them once more.

  “You’re a teenager,” His father shrugs, as if that explains anything, “Supposedly you’re emotionally volatile at your age.”

  “Emotionally volatile?” Ran repeats slowly, squinting suspiciously at his father through the screen, “Where’d you get that from, some kind of book? That’s a bit late, don’t you think?”

  His father actually seems flustered for a moment, before waving him off, “Never mind that. Tell me what’s on your mind then.”

  “Well,” Ran starts hesitantly, before finally biting the bullet, “You remember Josie, right?”

  His father stares at him silently for a few seconds, before letting out an aggrieved sigh, “I specifically recall telling you that you’d be better off keeping things friendly if you were going to be traveling together.”

  “W- I haven’t even said anything yet!” Ran objects, feeling his face get hot again.

  “Please, I don’t need a book, or any other help for that matter, to recognize a teenager with a crush. Between the voice, the expression and the way you’re offended, I know I’m right.” His father declares confidently, arms crossing in front of his chest in obvious satisfaction.

  Ran quietly considers that for a moment, before hesitantly speaking up once more, “Alright, so I may have a crush on Josie. Now what do I do next?”

  “Now you tell me if there’s been any signs, or if she’s done or said anything confusing and then we’ll go from there. Just give me a second here.” His father huffs warily, before leaving his seat and disappearing out of the camera’s view for a minute.

  When his father returns, Ran isn’t amused to see the man holding a large can of something alcoholic.

  “Really? This isn’t your evening’s entertainment!” He objects with no small irritation, only for his father to wave him off once more.

  “First of all, I can do whatever I want in my own home,” His father tells him sharply, gaze severe for a moment, only to soften when Ran shrinks back in his seat, cowed by the brief show of his father’s ire, “Second, it’s not for entertainment. But if I remember myself at that age, you’re about to say some very foolish things. So I’m going to have a drink, to make sure that I can see the humor in your situation, rather than getting annoyed by it, alright?”

  “Alright.” Ran mutters mulishly, stung by the reprimand.

  “Alright,” His father reaffirms, with a nod, before gesturing with his free hand invitingly as he reiterates what he knows of the situation, “So, you and Josie split up in Goldenrod after traveling together for a while and you met up again in Olivine, where you’ve now been spending time together every day, along with Doro and the other kid.”

  “Grady,” Ran clarifies first, pleasantly that his father at least remembered Doro’s name, “And yeah, that’s right.”

  “Alright, so you’ve now realized that you like Josie as more than just as a friend. Has she given you any signs, or has she acted differently than normal around you?” His father asks, immediately forcing Ran to make a difficult decision.

  Just how honest does he want to be against his own dad?

  “Why does that matter?” He asks, playing for time as he considers the pros and cons of giving his father a full overview of his interactions with Josie, “Can’t you just tell me what a guy is supposed to do in a situation like this?”

  “Sure I can,” His father states easily, “Grow a pair.”

  Ran merely glares at the screen, his father offering an unapologetic shrug in return, “Either you give me a decent idea of what we’re working with, or that’s the advice you’re getting. Suck it up.”

  “Ugh, fine,” Ran accepts begrudgingly, “When we split up in Goldenrod, she kissed me goodbye. Oh and a few days ago, we had a fight because my texts weren’t enthusiastic enough and because I brought Doro with me.”

  His father looks at him silently for a few long seconds, before, rather than speaking, taking a very long pull from his can. Only once that’s done, does he look at the camera once more.

  “Okay, so she likes you. I’m going to focus on that part,” His father declares tiredly, “Ran, if you like her, tell her so. Ask her for a private moment, or wait for one to arise naturally if you prefer, and then you tell her that you like her and that you’d like to kiss her, if she’s alright with that.”

  “What, that’s it?” Ran asks in disbelief, staring at his father, waiting for the second head he’s surely about to grow to appear.

  “Well, what were you expecting?” His father asks, not concealing his annoyance.

  “I don’t know,” Ran throws up his hands once more, “Shouldn’t I do something romantic? Get her flowers or something? I can’t just ask her if I can kiss her, right?”

  His father nods confidently, “That’s precisely what you’re going to do. She clearly likes you and, seeing as she’s kissed you once already, the ship on the teenage hormones and the risk of making things awkward has clearly sailed already. So you just look her in the eye and tell her that you like her and that you’d really like to kiss her if that’s alright with her. Girls like confidence and they like a man who respects them. She may mock you for asking afterwards, but consider this: She’s already done the spontaneous romantic kiss and that didn’t get you anywhere.”

  “I guess that’s true.” Ran mutters slowly.

  “You bet your ass it is. Now, go and do whatever it is you’ve still got planned tonight, before I ask you about this kiss in Goldenrod I’m only now hearing about.” His father tells him, before he grins slyly.

  “Uhh, right. Goodnight!” Ran hurriedly says his goodbye, before ending the call, resolving to go and train rather than further overthink their conversation. The idea of telling Josie that he’d like to kiss her is one that can percolate in the background for now.