The electric motor of the golf cart groans as Gladion accelerates down the cobble stone pathway of Aether Paradise's massive, outdoor garden.

My hair twists in the warm, sea breeze. I pull it behind my ears so I can get a better look at Gladion. Sitting in the passenger seat next to him gives me a fuzzy feeling inside.

He notices my excitement and smiles. The apples of my cheeks perk up as he places his arm across the back of the bench seat. I scoot closer until I can feel the warmth of his leg against mine.

Feeling bolder than ever, I place my hand on his upper thigh. A faint pink color fills his cheeks. He looks at me from the corner of his eye, inhaling sharply.

We slow, coming to a stop, as we happen upon a gardener.

"Stay here," he says as he hops down from the cart.

He catches the gardener just as he is about to jump in the driver's seat of a utility jeep. He converses with the man, I strain to hear the conversation, but they are too far away. He helps the man gather up a few tools from the back of the jeep, to my surprise they start loading them into the back of the golf cart.

"We're switching to the jeep," Gladion snickers. A mischievous grin grows on his face as he watches me head to the passenger door, locking the door with the remote as I reach for the door handle.

"Your hilarious," I groan sarcastically.

"You're driving," he says, tossing the keys my way.

"I told you that I can't drive, right?"

"That's why I'm going to teach you."

"Seriously?"

Saffron City was so crowded that I never bothered to learn, but maybe it will be useful now that I'm living in Alola. Still, the thought of driving makes me very nervous.

"For once there's something I can teach you. Please don't ruin this for me."

After a rough, lurchy start, I find myself finally getting the hang of it. I may have squished a few fancy rose bushes in the process, but overall, the damage was minimal.

Gladion snickers as I make a rather awkward and wide turn into the modest sized airway. He really seems to be enjoying himself for once. The sound of his laughter warms my heart, he really seems to be opening up to me.

A loud whining noise fills the airway as a shiny white helicopter starts up. Three Aether employees load it with kennels and a large duffle bag before boarding. I cover my ears as it blows over us, the chopping of the blades is unbearably loud.

Gladion chuckles at me from the passenger seat.

"I'll teach you how to fly one of those next!" he shouts, trying to compete with the noisy aircraft.

"Teach me? You mean you can fly one of those!"

"Of course! The puddle jumper is pretty fun to fly too!"

"Pull around to the back of the building, I've got something else to show you."

________________

"This place is really special to me," Gladion explains as we near a large set of glass doors at the end of the hallway.

"I always hid away in here to get away from all of the...the well, you know."

He types a password into the keypad and the doors slide open, the humidity dampens my skin as we enter the dark terrarium.

"Why is it so d-" the synthetic sky turns to daylight at the sound of my voice, "Woah! Did it just-"

"Yup. It's voice activated."

The foliage of the trees rustle in the breeze and the artificial sun beats down on my skin. It seems so real. I can't believe it's all synthetic! I reach out and touch the bark of a nearby tree, it feels just like a real tree.

"I can't believe this is fake," I say, tracing the cracks in the bark."

"The tree is real," he chuckles.

"Oh...How big is this place?"

"Big enough to have a small lake."

"So, can you like, I don't know, make it less hot in here?" I ask.

"Any kind of weather you could wish for."

"Can you make it snow?"

"Your wish is my command."

He leads me down a dirt path to a small shack.

"So, what is the point of this place?" I ask as we enter the tiny building.

"It's a tool we use to integrate Pokemon from our rescue program back to the wild. This is the final step before release," he explains, hovering over the computer. Next, he opens a small closet and pulls out two matching white jackets.

"There should be gloves and a hat in the pockets," he says as he helps me into the coat.

"Close your eyes," he says, blocking my path to the door.

I humor him, closing them tightly. A chilly breeze hits my face as he opens the door.

I'm blinded by the whiteness of the snow-covered landscape. He offers me his mitten covered hand as we step out into winter. Our feet crunch as he leads me through the fresh, fluffy, snow towards the frozen lake. I can't contain my excitement.

Letting go of his hand, I take off running, the chill air stabs my cheeks like a thousand tiny needles. I come to a large tree with low hanging branches. Grabbing ahold of one, I shake it, sending sparkling snowflakes showering to the ground.

He gazes softly at me from a few feet away, I have never seen him this relaxed before. I reach down and take a large lump of snow in my hands, its wet and sticky, so I form it into a perfectly round ball.

Gladion hasn't left his spot, so I playfully toss the snowball at him, to my surprise it hits him square in the face. My hand goes straight to my mouth, I didn't think it would actually hit him!

He wipes the snow from his face, and shoots me a devilish look. Without thinking, I take off running. I let out a scream as a big, wet snowball hits the back of my neck and rolls down into my jacket.

I stop dead in my tracks.

Gladion laughs uncontrollably behind me. Slowly, I turn to face him. His cheeks and nose are a wonderful rose shade from the cold. His eyes study me playfully. I take off towards him, running as fast as I can.

"Shit!" he exclaims when he realizes I want revenge.

I grab the sleeve of his jacket as I slip in the wet snow and fall hard, flat on my back.

"Uuh... Are you okay?" he asks, offering a hand to help me back to my feet.

"I'm fine," I mutter before pulling him to the ground next to me.

We lay in the snow, staring up at the hazy, grey sky. I give him a little shove to get his attention, to my surprise he grabs my wrist and pins it to the ground. My body is set ablaze as he climbs on top of me and seductively pins my other hand against the ground. I tremor as he lowers his face to mine, his breath freezes in the air, streaming out of his nose like smoke.

"Ready to warm up?" he whispers.

________________

The warm light from the flames dance across Gladion's face as he takes a sip of cocoa. The peaceful crackling of the logs in the fire place fill the silence between our words.

"How do I know Nanu..." he says, pausing to think a bit, "I met him for the first time a few days after I left home. He booked me down at the station after somebody caught me stealing clothes. I was underage, so I thought for sure he would force me to return home."

"I don't know if you were living here at that time, but it was a big deal, me running away. I was on every milk carton, posted on every bulletin board, they even did a story on the news. Luckily, he cared enough to ask where all my bruises came from. Instead of booking me, he bought me a box of hair dye and new clothes. I just recently stopped dying it, it seems as though people have finally forgotten about me."

"He really cares, doesn't he?"

"He might have a cold exterior, but he's got a bigger heart than anyone else I know. He's a good man and a good cop, not to mention one hell of a Kahuna. He doesn't get enough credit in my opinion, but I don't think he wants it to be honest."

"He seems to think pretty highly of you Gladion."

Gladion runs his fingers over his Z bracelet, "Yeah, I don't know why. I've been nothing but a thorn in his side since we met!"

Gladion lets out a huff of a laugh, "He told me he wants you on the force."

"Seriously?" I laugh, "That surprises me. So how did you end up working for Team Skull anyway?"

Gladion groans as he nervously rubs his forehead.

"We don't have to talk about it right now if you don't want to," I say, trying to take the pressure off him.

"No, it's okay. Just not my proudest accomplishment, obviously. My first run in with Team Skull is not something I remember fondly. A group of them beat the piss out of me when I wouldn't hand over Null."

"One of them recognized me, her name was Plumeria. She initially wanted to turn me in and collect the reward money, but I begged her not to. She started letting me do small tasks for her to earn money and things kinda escalated from there."

"I never officially joined them, I refused to, but eventually they grew to respect me. I thought it would make me stronger, but all it did was make me hate myself even more than I already do."

The tone of his voice sends a shiver down my spine. I feel so helpless, I know nothing I can say could change his opinion of himself. I can tell he isn't joking. A worry seed plants itself deep in my chest. I reach out and run my thumb across the top of his heavily scarred hand. I try to find words, but I fail.

The door creaks open and Lillie peeks her head in the room.

"Sorry. Um, Gladion, is the Moon flute still apart of Daddy's collection?"

"Yes, it is. Why?"

"Pack your bags...were going to Poni Island tonight."

Warning! Smut ahead.