Pokemon Super Mystery Dungeon: Here Comes The Hydroflames

Advice

Two days ago, Expedition Society Headquarters

Ian sat quietly alone in the Crew Room, looking at the holographic image of Fire Island Volcano.

This is a crazy idea... We're just going to walk into Entei's home and ask HIM the questions? That's sounds completely insane! Ian thought to himself as he turned off the hologram, sighed as he leaned back on his chair. The mudfish Pokemon looked outside the window next to him to distract himself, the sun was barely over the horizon as it slowly began to set over the nearby mountains, the faint orange glow slowly dimming as the minutes passed.

What's taking Patience so long?

"Hey there."

Ian turned to see Glaceon, standing by the door as she began walking towards his table.

"What are you doing here all alone?" She asked.

"Patience went out to buy some supplies for us for the expedition to Fire Island Volcano, said there's this Pokemon named Cofagrigus who has a good offer on Reviver Seeds." Ian explained.

"I see." Glaceon said, sitting across from Ian at the table.

"What about you? What are you doing here?"

"Just waiting for Sirwlix to be done preparing dinner, I always come here to have some quiet time to myself, but here you are."

"Well... if it's bothering you I could leave and-"

"No no no! It's fine! I don't mind the company!" Glaceon quickly interrupted. "Especially if it's you..."

"What was that?" Ian asked.

"N-nothing!" The Expedition Society doctor quickly dismissed, her face turning red all of sudden. She tried her best to hide it, but to no avail, the mudfish Pokemon shrugged it off. The two sat in silence for few good minutes, before Glaceon decided to bring up an odd question.

"What is your relationship with Patience?"

"Come again?" Ian asked, caught off guard by the bizarre question.

"D-don't take this wrong way!" Glaceon said, shaking her hands to indicate the misassumption. "I-I'm just curious as to how close the two of you were."

"How close?" The mudfish Pokemon pondered on that question for a brief moment. How close was he to Patience? Sure, it's only been a month since they met, but it with every expedition and adventure, they grew closer not only as partners, but as friends too.

The only question was: HOW close was their bond?

"I'm not exactly sure honestly," Ian replied. "sure me and Patience have been close friends for quite some time now, but sometimes I feel... conflicted with my bond with her."

"You sometimes feel weird around her?"

"Yes, that's exactly how I feel! How did you know?"

"I am a doctor you know?" She snakily replied. To which Ian simply scoffed. "So tell me, describe how exactly this 'weird feeling' is."

"Well... I feel this fuzzy feeling when I'm around Patience sometimes, like whenever she smiles, I can't help but smile too. My heart starts pounding when she speaks to me, all in all she just seems so..." Ian wanted to stop himself from saying what he wanted to say, if he did, Glaceon would immediately catch on and take it the wrong way, but he just couldn't. "...cute." He finished.

Glaceon blinked at the explanation from Ian, a few seconds later she burst into laughter, falling off her chair as she laugh uncontrollably.

"Hey, that's not funny! Ian protested.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" She said, sitting back onto her chair. "It's just that you, Ian, a calm and collected Pokemon even in the most dangerous of times, dodged a Legendary Pokemon's attack to save me, feels insecure about having a crush on someone!"

"A... crush?" Ian repeated, unsure as to how to respond to this. Was it true? All this time? He had been slowly developing a crush of his partner?

Great... just great...

"Do you deny it?" Glaceon asked

"What?"

"Do you deny that you have a crush on Patience?"

"I...uh, I'm not exactly sure to be honest." Ian said, his head hanging low as he looked at the table. "It's just that I want to be with Patience, but not THAT close you know? I don't think I'm ready for something like that just yet."

The fresh snow Pokemon nodded in understanding. She knew where Ian was going with this. He wanted to be close with Patience, but not close enough that it turns into a relationship.

"I understand." Glaceon said. "What you do with that crush is entirely up to you, really. Whether you would drop it, or embrace it."

"Yeah..."

Ian and Glaceon sat in silence once more, unsure as to what to talk about next. They remained silent for what seemed like forever when the Crew Room door opened, and Patience entered the room.

"Ian, let's go dinner's read- oh hey Glaceon! What are you doing here?"

"Oh nothing, just chatting with Ian." Glaceon said, giving the mudfish Pokemon another quick glance before getting off her seat. Patience moving aside as the doctor left the room. Ian soon got off his chair and followed Patience out.

"What were you two talking about?" Patience asked.

"Oh, nothing, I was just asking her for some advice that's all." Ian replied. Glaceon's words still echoed in his head.

"What you do with that crush is entirely up to you."

He wasn't sure what he wanted to do with his crush for Patience just yet. He will worry about that once all of this was over, once they finished their job of apprehending the culprit of the turning-to-stone incidents. He shoved all those thoughts into the back of his mind.

Next stop, Fire Island Volcano.

A/N: Quite the unexpected start to the new year, you might be wondering why I decided to write a flashback instead of continuing with Fire Island Volcano?

Well the truth is that I wanted to start of the year with a slow start, have a little bit of a breather before we get to the intense stuff, and also I wanted to add in some "potential" shipping implications.

With that said, this is Ikcatcher singing off. Here's to a good 2017!