Steven Stone X Male!Reader ~ The Perfect Stone

The Perfect Stone

There was a smudge of ink on your face.

You had never noticed before, in all the times you had looked at the photo. Not until Steven had pointed it out the first time he had seen it, laughing and gushing over how cute you had been at just 12.

The photo had been taken at the parade Professor Sycamore had arranged to celebrate the feats of his two top students - Calem, aged 11, who had captured Lysandre's legendary pokemon and defeated Team Flare, and Serena, aged 10, who had taken on the Elite 4 and Diantha to become the champion of Kalos's Pokemon League. They were in the photo as well, along with Tierno and Trevor and Shauna. And then there was you and the professor. You were happy, grinning widely and happily at the camera, engulfed in your father's arms as he held you tightly to him, his gaze and bright smile focused on you in a way that left you in no doubt that regardless what his students achieved, you would always be his greatest accomplishment.

That morning had been when you had come out of hospital. A full month after Lysandre and Team Flare had activated their secret weapon under Geosenge Town, and you were only just recovering from the injuries you had sustained when you had stupidly charged into their HQ after them. Your father had begged you via holocaster to stay away, but you had gone in anyway, desperate to help in whatever way you could. Calem and Serena had had to go back in and save you when they'd realised you were still inside.

Seven years ago now, that photo had been taken. At seventeen, you had decided to move away from Kalos, take the chance to begin a Pokemon journey over again. Your father had been alarmed by your choice, having been happy with you living and working with him for about four years before then since you had returned home from your journey. But when you had eventually settled on Hoenn as the next place you wanted to visit he had accepted your decision, getting in touch with Professor Birch to arrange for your passage to the region as well as all other arrangements. Wanting to truly make a fresh start, you had gone through the pokemon you had caught while on your journey in Kalos, releasing some, arranging for their care with Sycamore for the rest. All except for [Name], of course. Your first pokemon, a gift from your father, you could never dream of going anywhere without them. Though it had been purely for the company, as you had accepted [starter pokemon] from Professor Birch when you had arrived in Littleroot town and started your journey, [Name] travelling with you but not actually as a part of your team.

And so you had been concerned when you had been approached by two men while you were sat talking to your new [starter pokemon], their demeanours aggressive in a manner that saw the young pokemon hiding behind you in an attempt to escape them, drawing laughs from the two men. Their plans had clearly been to mug you, at the very least, but thankfully they hadn't gotten far enough for you to know exactly what awful things they had planned for you as you returned [starter pokemon] to their pokeball in the hopes that they would be safe.

Mainly because that was the day you had first met Steven Stone.

It had only been a brief meeting, the Hoenn Champion believing himself to be coming to the aid of a young, defenseless new trainer and team in rather desperate need of assistance. Imagine the surprise of him and the attackers when you had retrieved the other pokeball you had on you, releasing [Name] to join your attempted saviour in battle. Though he had laughed in delight when the two of you and your pokemon had managed to send the men running. Introductions had followed, and upon hearing your name Steven realised that he did know you - the events in Geosenge had been big news even as far as Hoenn, and as Champion he apparently had more contact with professors outside of the region than others, mainly because of travelling so much.

You were pretty sure you had fallen in love with him then.

After that you had run into Steven more often than you had believed you would - once or twice quite literally. And then the champion had even started seeking you out at times, and arranging for the two of you to find times to meet up with you. This eventually progressed into him asking you out on a date, and now you were somehow living with him. You had completed your lap of Hoenn - Steven encouraged you frequently to take on the Elite 4 and challenge his title, claiming that you had the ability to beat him if you tried. And yet you had never felt like it was something you particularly wanted nor needed. So you'd allowed him to keep his title, or so he had said with amusement when you had expressed this desire to him.