"Okay...never have I ever traveled out of the Galar region," Bede smiled, bouncing stones across the cavern so my Rapidash could float them back. "Good Arceus, you're killing me at this game," I groaned, putting down the third finger I had left.

After we woke up (in a very awkward position we both agreed to never speak of again), and for lack of better things to do, I suggested Never Have I Ever. It usually was something my sister and I played whenever we hadn't talked for a while, to see what the other had been up to.

"Where'd you go?" Bede asked, patting Rapidash when he returned the stone to him. "Kalos," I smiled as he playfully nibbled at Bede's hair, and chuckled when he scowled and waved my partner off. "My family has a summer home there, so we go quite often."

"Nice," he said, letting the stone skip across the cavern again. "Your turn."
"Never have I ever, I don't know, stapled my tongue," I said, thinking of the most absurd thing I could think of. Smiling sheepishly, Bede put a finger down.

"What?!" I gaped. "Why on earth would you do that?!"
"I was two," he countered. "I was two, and the matron wasn't watching me well enough, so I tried to eat a stapler and accidentally pushed down on the top of it." He shrugged like it wasn't a big deal, flinging the rock away with a flick of his wrist. "It hurt like bloody hell, but I only have a tiny scar on my lip."

"Don't you mean your mother?"

Bede visibly stiffened at my comment. "No. I mean a matron," he said slowly, fingering the pebble he was holding. "I....bounced in and out of foster care and orphanages for years until Rose gave me Hatterene. Er, Hatenna, back then. My parents....."

He trailed off, and I waited for him to continue. "Well, let's just say they wouldn't win any 'Parent Of The Year' awards," he said abruptly, before flinging the stone across the cavern and leaning back. "They did some pretty bad stuff. I never knew the details."

"I suppose that's one thing we both can relate to," I sighed, leaning back as well. "My parents aren't exactly the world's greatest either." We both sat in silence for a little while, until Bede tired of it and started our game again. "Let's see. Never have I ever....eaten a malasada."
"You've never eaten a malasada?!"

"No. I haven't. It wasn't on my top priorities list. Should I put it on there?"
"I swear to Arceus, the moment we get out of this cave, we must Teleport to the Appl-tons of Sweets bakery in Wyndon. They have the best pastries in the entire region!"
"Sure, it's a date."

He said in a joking manner, but something about his tone made me flush pink, right down to my ears. After realizing what he'd said, he turned red as well. "Y-you know I...meant it as a joke, right?" he asked nervously.
"Of course I did," I plastered on a smile. "But, seriously; you need to try malasadas. They are the epiphany of the pastry world!"

We went back and forth for hours, with me continually losing rounds and Bede continually triumphing. "Okay..never have I ever snuck out somewhere," Bede laughed, wiping tears from his eyes after I told a quite embarrassing story about getting stuck in a tree for four hours when I grabbed my sister's hand just before she teleported somewhere else.

I froze at the mention of that question. Yes; I had snuck out somewhere before. That night that happened months ago, but still felt like yesterday. It was just after we'd gotten the news that we had officially become gym leaders.

"Avery, come on," Klara whined, bounding ahead of me and urging me to go faster than I already was. Hiking was definitely not my forte. Coupled with the fact that I had been holding this off for months, Klara was especially impatient tonight.

"I'm coming," I groaned, still extremely hesitant to do this. I was still a bit in shock over the news that I'd become an actual Gym Leader; I didn't need that status revoked, especially after I'd worked so hard to get it.

"Well, hurry it up," she snapped, standing at the door to the Tower of Darkness. "We're almost at the tower!" Pushing the doors wide open, they swung on their rusted hinges with an ear-splitting shriek. I tensed, waiting for someone to jump out of the shadows and yell at me, but nothing came. Having no better excuse, I slowly followed Klara into the Tower of Darkness.

"Avery? Hello~? Avery!" I jolted out of my thoughts at the sound of Bede snapping his fingers in front of my face. "Are you okay?" he asked. "You completely spaced out; you were staring at the wall for five minutes straight."

"I-I did?" I asked, voice cracking halfway through my sentence.
"Yes. You did. I asked you if you'd ever snuck out somewhere. Well?"
"Um..." I faltered for a moment, contemplating what I should do. I'd sworn to Klara I'd never tell anyone about that night.

We trudged up the staircases, my anxiety climbing along with the floors as we rose higher and higher into the sky. Until, eventually, we made it to the top. Klara gestured for me to give her a boost so she could open a hatch to the roof.

Grumbling in response, I lifted her up with my psychic abilities. As soon as it was open, the shadowy room was now bathed in the silver light of the moon. Floating myself up after her, we both sat contentedly on the roof of the tower, admiring the view of the island.

"Y'know, after we become real gym leaders in the league and all, we won't be able to see each other as much," Klara commented offhandedly after a half hour of relaxing in the chilling night. "Yes," I agreed. "It'll be odd not seeing you every day."
"And it'll be weird not seeing you," she laughed sadly. "I mean, I know we can call and all that jazz, but we won't really have that sort of time on our hands."

"Right," I agreed, wondering where she was going with this.
"So...I've been thinking. And I think I've got it." Turning to me, she slowly pulled out a silver pocket knife and I immediately scrambled back. "Relax, I'm not going to kill you," she giggled as my heart was beating a mile a minute. "It's for a blood oath."
"A WHAT?!" I screamed, and she laughed at my horrified expression.

"Yes, I have," I murmured without thinking.
"Care to tell me?" Bede asked in response.

"Avery, it's nothing crazy," Klara insisted.
"No, I am putting my foot down on this," I shot back. "I am not cutting myself open for, for....what, exactly?"
"A pact," she replied, kneeling with the blade pressed to the skin of her palm. "Basically, we're just gonna pledge to always stay friends, no matter where we are."

"Couldn't you have been satisfied with friendship bracelets?" I asked.
"Nah," she replied, sliding the blade along her palm and creating a red line in its wake. "Friendship bracelets are dorky. Besides, we all know you wouldn't be caught dead wearing it."
"Well, I might if it means I don't get tetanus," I murmured before sitting beside her.

"Klara and I...we snuck out to climb the Tower of Darkness," I said, feeling very exposed now that my secret was out in the open. "And we...uh, took a blood oath."

"Don't be a baby," Klara warned, and I winced as the metal stung against my skin.
"I-I am not a child," I replied, trying not to watch as Klara deepened the cut. Instantly, red flooded my palm and I felt queasy. "Your face tells me otherwise," she teased. "You ready or what?"
"I suppose."

"Okay. Say the pledge, then let three drops of your blood hit the ground," Klara instructed. Rolling my eyes ever so slightly, I raised my left hand (the one that wasn't bleeding), and recited the oath Klara had written down. "I solemnly swear that I, Avery Daumantas, will take this blood oath and therefore bind myself to the pledge that I will always stay friends with Klara Belladonna."

"No backsies?" Klara added.
"No backsies," I agreed. Steeling myself, I gripped at my palm and tried not to hurl as my blood dribbled onto the tile roof. "Okay, now it's your turn." Klara recited her bit of the oath, then let her blood mix with mine. "It's done," she sighed. "There's no backing out now."
"I don't think I can back out even if I wanted to," I groaned, wrapping my hand in the gauze Klara provided.

"Wow," Bede whistled. "I don't think I'd be able to stomach watching my hand be cut open."
"Sometimes, I really don't know what goes on inside Klara's head," I agreed. "Whenever I think I can predict what she's going to do, she pulls a Guard Switch on me and does something crazy."

"She is quite...spontaneous," Bede agreed. "Do you still have a mark?"
"Yes," I said after a while. "It's why I wear gloves on both hands; I didn't want Master Mustard to find out we'd snuck out of the Dojo."
"Can I....see it?"
"Wha-what?"

"Neverminditwasastupidthoughtanyways," he said really quickly, turning red all over.
"It's fine," I laughed at his bashfulness, growing a bit pink myself. Tugging off my purple leather glove, I examined the white line across the length of my hand.

Bede let out a low whistle. "Someone was a little trigger-happy with the pocket knife," he murmured, gently tracing a finger over the scar. I felt my whole body heat up at his touch, and my heart started to beat faster.

"Wow. And here I thought Klara was relatively normal," Bede chuckled as he scooted away. The moment his hand left mine, I immediately felt inclined to touch him again, just to feel the rush of adrenaline.

"I think you will find, Bede, that no one at the Dojo can be called 'normal'," I smiled, slipping my glove back on. "Though, I must admit, that wasn't all we got up to that night at the tower."
"What do you mean?"

"So...now that we're besties and all that," Klara started slowly, and I immediately dreaded what would come next. "Maybe we should play a little game."
"Okay...." I replied, not-so-subtly scooting away from her in case she kept more than one knife on her person.

"Klara insisted we tell each other one secret. Something we'd never told anybody else."

"It's called Skeletons In The Closet."
"Pass."
"Oh come on! It's not as scary as it sounds!"
"Then why the morbid name?"
"I dunno. Do you wanna play or not?"

"And, of course, like a complete and utter idiot, I accepted after half an hour of her begging and whining."

"Fine. But only if you go first."
"Okay..." Klara took a deep breath and said, "I'm actually related to Piers, the Dark type Gym Leader." She looked up at me with a nervous smile.

"You're lying."
"W-what?"
"Klara, I know you too well. You're a horrific liar."

"I-I'm not lying!"
"Yes, you are! Whenever you're lying, you smile and laugh nervously, you stutter, and you mess with your hair."
"N-no I don't!" she giggled, twirling a lock of her bob around her finger. "Ugh.....fine."

Slowly breathing in and out, she sighed and curled into a ball. "You've gotta promise not to tell a-ny-bo-dy."
"Isn't that the whole point of keeping skeletons in your closet? So nobody can find them?"
"Fair point. Okay." Sighing, she uncurled her knees and murmured her secret.

"I'm ADHD," she whispered. "It means Attention-"
"Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder," I finished. "I know what it means. And, honestly, I've been suspecting it for quite some time."
"You've what?!"
"Klara, it isn't exactly a secret that you're impulsive. And you do happen to have problems with focusing on multiple things at a time."
"Well, I-"

"And you're forgetful, fidget a lot with stuff around you, have an extremely short attention span, get bored easily-"
"Okay, okay, I get it!" she snorted. "It's not exactly a secret that I'm ADHD then, huh?"
"Not really," I chuckled.

"I knew she had ADHD!" Bede exclaimed.
"Yes, it really wasn't that much of a mystery," I smiled. "Hyde was the one who originally diagnosed her, and of course he couldn't keep a secret about one of his father's students from his parents, so he told Miss Honey, and she then told Mustard, and....well, gossip travels fast on a tiny island." Bede chuckled and my grin widened when he smiled at me. "So...what was your secret?"

"Okay, your turn!"
"M-my turn?" I asked nervously.
"Yeah. Your turn," Klara insisted. "Come on, man, you can't expect me to spill the beans and not want somethin' in return!"

"I-it's very personal," I murmured, turning away. And it was. Nobody knew that secret. No one. Not Mustard, not Honey, and especially not my parents; Even Athena had no clue what I was hiding. Klara was the only one who knew.

"Oh, come on, just spill already," Klara shoved me playfully. "I swear, I won't laugh."
"It's....less of a matter of you laughing, and more about you not seeing me as a freak."
"Why would I call you a freak?" Bede asked. "You know, besides the floating Pokeballs orbiting your head."

"It's just...I've never shared something like this before."
"Come, on, you can trust me!"
"It might seem hard to believe, but I won't make fun of you. I swear."
"Are you sure?"
"Of course, dummy! We're friends! Friends don't make fun of each other. Especially their besties."

"O-okay...." I took a deep breath, before turning to face Bede, who was looking expectant and sort of worried. "M-my secret...I've never told anybody except Klara about this, but..." With each word, I moved closer to him until our faces were basically touching. "Avery-"

I cut him off by quickly and suddenly pressing my lips to his."I'm gay."