The half-hearted smile that Finley offers him shatters his heart. He alone couldn't change his mood the way he knew she could once upon a time. And of course she is here, helping like the wonderful, kind, generous, and saintly person she is. Of course she steals his friend's attention the moment she opens her mouth. Of course Finn offers her assistance without a second thought. Of course August is going to be left to deal with his bitter feelings on his own, once again.

Even though his own conscious is screaming at him to not interfere, he interrupts. "Don't worry about it Finn, I can carry it and she can lead the way. I practically forced you to do this with me anyway, no need to push yourself." He forces a smile and he can't tell if his lie is convincing or not. He turns to Ophelia and finds he isn't quite able to meet her eyes. "That is, if you're alright with me lending a hand."

He wants to hate her, and looking at the two teens beside him; the ideal height difference between them, perfectly juxtaposed aesthetics, and a tension that could be easily cut with a knife; he thinks he might. But that would make him a bad person, wouldn't it? To hate someone so good intentioned and unassuming. So instead he hates himself for thinking, even for a moment, that either of them owed him anything. Hates and regrets that he opened his mouth and put himself in the middle when he's known his place was always on the sidelines. He chuckles to himself at the irony of having a crisis at a crisis intervention bake sale.

August's eyes brightened and shot the other trainer a toothy smile at his compliment of Taga. Obviously this was a person of taste, even if their pokemon was distracting his buizel from the task at hand. "I'm glad you noticed,"he laughed,"We're going to take the contest world by storm!" He felt energetic sharing his goal, which he'd only ever told one other person.

"Garbage Baby? That's an interesting name; it suits him somehow though." The Linoone certainly looked fluffy and clean despite his name, but judging by his antics he must be a regular hand full. He glanced between the pokemon now doing some jig and the trainer beside him. "I'm glad he wandered in then, it's nice to talk to some new. What's your name by the way? Are you going to be around the contest scene more often? Maybe we can help each other out! Or if you're not into performing... We could spectate some shows together!" The prospect of making a friend that shared his interests seemed even greater than winning at this point, but August worried he was being a little too forward, but he's never been able to stop his mouth once he got going.

It felt like targeted stabs to his chest the more Finn speculated about Ophelia. He wanted to snap at him to just forget about her, but he knew he had no right. His friend's erratic movements were getting dangerously close to knocking over all their hard work, so with a sigh he placed both his hands on Finley's shoulders to still him. His heart fluttered with the contact but he tried squashing the feeling out.


"You're not stupid Finn. Look... Do you want it to mean something?" Before giving his friend a chance to answer, he continued on, some of his true feelings forced themselves out despite himself, "I- well, I don't like it. She must know how hurt you were and she still has the balls to approach you out of nowhere? Plus, only an idiot would have turned you down in the first place, I mean you're the complete package right?" August felt his face heat up as he realized what he said and did his best to laugh it off. He hoped it was convincingly #nohomo and hated his uncontrollable mouth. He took a deep breath and steadied himself.


"Never mind that... In the end it doesn't matter what I think. Figure out what it is you want from her first, whether that's leaving you the fuck alone or talking things out; I just want you to be happy so I don't have to listen to your obsessive ranting for the next 10 years haha" he unconsciously tightened his grip, "You know I'm here for you no matter what, I'll have your back whatever the case may be."

August watched his brother with amusement as Felix fulfilled his ridiculous command, obviously confused but unquestioning of his outburst. Was he a robot? No feelings, just action. It had to be a strange sense of duty that had his older sibling looking after him, if not love.



He couldn't help but look on with mild awe as Felix swiftly dealt with the pokemon that had happened on their path. Felix was always efficient, to the point, a man who got things done... and August looked up to him, but he really didn't know him at all. The stoic guy never volunteered any information on himself and he didn't really seem interested in learning about August either. So why? Why did he take on his baby brother, that he'd barely known, as his responsibility? The question had been plaguing him off and on for ages now, especially when Felix would come home late from his job, working himself to the bone, just to be able to support the both of them.



The wild pokemon were now background noise compared to his swimming thoughts. He knew that if he didn't get at least some kind of answers now, the question would continue to gnaw away at him through another sleepless night.

"Hey. Why'd you take me in? I..." he tried not to sound accusatory and awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck, "I can't even tell if you actually like having me around."



Immediately embarrassed by his insecurity and anxious about his choice of words, he started rambling on, "Of course, I'm really extremely and eternally grateful for everything you have done for me, and regardless of your reasons, you're a good person Felix but I... I... nevermind, that was out of nowhere right? Just forget about it." He was sure his tumultuous emotions must be giving his robotic brother whiplash.

August's attention was glued to Taga. His buizel was giving his all for this routine and he was keeping an eye out for any last minute adjustments they could make or any mistakes that needed to be corrected. Despite his enthusiasm, he was nervous. He noticed a linoone practicing along side his buizel, bopping around like it was the most natural thing in the world. He hoped Taga was shining just as much.



(“I-I don’t k-know if t-this is g-going ok…?”)



His concentration broke for a moment. The trainer next to him seemed even more nervous than he did, and that eased his anxiety a little. "Don't worry so much," he awkwardly patted his back, "I think your pokemon there is a natural born star."

August set down the latest load of pastries and wiped away the sweat that had beaded across his forehead. This bake sale meant a lot to him, suicide prevention and crisis intervention for LGBT+ youths was undeniably something he felt was worth a day of manual labor and salesmanship. He knew what it was like to feel alone and unwanted, and if there was anything he could do to help others who were in similar situations, well, he had to do his part. Seeing the booths come together and the many volunteers bustling around raised his spirits.



Or, at least, they raised his spirits a smidge. There was just one wet blanket dampening his mood.



He really shouldn't have forced Finley to join him as a volunteer today. The price seemed small, completely insignificant, at the time. His friend's only condition for offering his assistance was that August had to hear him out and let him rant as much as he wanted to He initially didn't mind of course, he loved hearing Finley talk and always wanted to be a shoulder for him to lean on, but if he'd have known the day's exposé would star Ophelia he would have dragged along someone else.



He thought Finley was over her and that he was over Finley. The twinge in his heart whenever Finley's tone got a bit hopeful told him otherwise. Goddamnit, why did she have to show up out of nowhere. He could have stayed blissfully ignorant to his feelings and how truly one-sided they are. Why couldn't he just let go already?

He bit back a groan and forced a smile as Finley started up his rambling again. Was he even going to help at this point?

The hand on his shoulder briefly stopped the whirring of his mind. Was this it? Was this the moment of acknowledgement he was hoping for?

("Your shoelace. It's untied.")

August blinked slowly, face slack with disbelief. The hope that the brief moment of warmth built up withered away in his stomach. After a pause he burst out nearly hysterical laughter. His brother was simply a hopeless idiot it seemed. He brought a hand to his face, barely covering his wry smile. A bittersweet feeling raced through him. Felix, as attentive and aware as he was, could not read a room. He shouldn't have expected anything more from him.



Keeping his hand over his face, he kicked out his foot, hitting Felix in the shin and rested it there. "Tie it for me then."

Despite being bundled up in an excessive amount of layers, August felt the chill seeping into his bones. It didn't stop him from rambling on, voice muffled by his thick scarf. He talked about clubs he wanted to join and the latest fashion he'd seen hosts wearing. He wondered aloud if his buizel, Taga, could learn to play guitar or what his Flygon, Pilot, might look like in a bomber jacket. He thought he might be talking too much when the cold air started to burn the top of his mouth but... He couldn't help it, he was nervous.

He'd accepted Felix was never much of a talker but he was starting to wonder if his silent nods were all he was ever going to get from him. It was, after all, the anniversary of his disownment, coming out, and of Felix taking him in, but here they were. Just another walk. And despite willing himself to keep going, his ramblings sputtered to a stop.

I doubt he even thinks of today as anything special but would a hug or something be too much to ask? 

An image of the brothers hugging popped into his mind and August reflexively scrunched up his nose. Nevermind, Felix would probably spontaneously combust from the awkwardness.