pokeshance

Lance rolled an empty pokéball across the table in front of him and tried not to look <i>that</i> bored. It was his least favorite time of the year: the annual regional gym leader conference. Sure the food was great, and he <i>did</i> get to spend a weekend in the region’s fanciest hotel free of charge, but it never made up for the reason he was there.

“Early as always, eh Lance?”

He looked up as the regional coordinator walked in and clapped him on the shoulder.

“Hey, Coran.” Lance sat up and put on a grin. “You know how these things are. The sooner you start, the sooner you can go home.”

“That’s the spirit!” Coran gave him a thumbs up before he got busy setting up a projector for the day’s presentations. Once he was occupied Lance let himself deflate.

That was his problem with the annual conference. There was nothing for him to <i>do.</i> As the first leader of the Altean region, his main job was just to make sure rookie trainers knew how to command their pokémon team in a battle and could protect themselves on the road between gyms. He couldn’t contribute to these conferences.

It wouldn’t be so bad, he thought to himself, if – Lance was knocked out of his pity party when the door to the conference room opened again and he saw who entered.

“Coran! Remember to bring your little pointer this time?” In walked Shiro, the last member of the Elite Four.

Lance’s empty ball clattered to the floor and he quickly ducked under the table to grab it. He missed what Coran said as he crawled back out, banging his head on the edge of the table as he did so.

“Fuck. Ow.” He grumbled and rubbed the back of his head with a wince.

“Aw man. You beat me again?” Shiro looked back at him from his seat at the front of the room. “And here I was thinking I would be the first one in for once.”

Lance felt his face flush and hoped that it wasn’t as obvious as it felt. “Oh. Uh. Sorry about that.”

“You know I’m just teasing,” Shiro said, a light-hearted smile on his face. He opened his mouth to say something else, but was interrupted by the door to the conference room opening once again. After that, the other gym leaders started to filter in and Lance felt himself fade into the background.

With that, Lance put his chin on his hand and gazed across the room as everyone else chatted and caught up. <i>He</i> was the reason that Lance dreaded these conferences. Shiro the ghost-type trainer. The strongest of the Elite Four. Even with the coordinator technically in charge, everyone looked to him as the leader. His pokémon team was the envy of every trainer in the region, and probably every trainer in the neighboring regions, as well. And to top it all off, he was good-looking <i>and</i> likable.

Lance had no reason to dislike him, but envy had a way of turning all those positive traits into something negative.

“You know if you stare like that, eventually he’s gonna catch you.”

“What?!” Lance sat up and glared at the trainer that sat next to him. Pidge just shrugged and placed a sleeping applin onto the table.

“Your little crush is probably the worst kept secret in the entire league,” she said. “Pretty sure everybody knows but Shiro.”

Lance groaned and rested his head on the table. “I do <i>not</i> have a crush on him. And even if I did, who cares if he knew? He wouldn’t want anything to do with me anyway.”

“You gotta put a little more faith in yourself.” Pidge lowered her voice as Coran moved to the front of the room. “Who knows, maybe you have more in common than you think.”

That only got him rolling his eyes. What could he have in common with <i>Shiro?</i> It turned out he would have just the chance to find out.