Baekhyun and Kyungsoo have been backpacking through Sinnoh for four days and this marks the sixth time Kyungsoo has wanted to maul the noisy boy walking next to him.

“I think we should find it if we just walk around these trees...”

“You said that about the last four groups of trees!” Kyungsoo huffs. “Can't we just admit we're lost and call for help? I'd still like to see the Celestic Ruins before the day is done.”

“Ruins can wait!” Baekhyun yells, cheerful despite the fact that they've been already attacked by roughly two dozen wild pokémon since they arrived in Eterna Forest. “Don't you want to see a rare wild Rotom?”

“Yes, but I'm getting tired of walking in circles in a dark forest! In addition, your battle tactic of treating my fleet like hired muscle stopped being funny about four challengers and fifteen wild pokémon ago. Once I run out of potions, you're on your own.”

“But my pokémon are too cute for battle!”

It's always the same thing with Baekhyun, the normal type enthusiast who in his own words 'only wants to catch pokémon that are cute or funny'. So far his fleet consists of Skitty (cute), Igglybuff (even cuter) and Castform (“look, it has balls!”), none of whom are even trained for battle. Kyungsoo's fairly certain Castform's only purpose is to change the weather to Baekhyun's liking.

“Cuteness is no reason to use Graveler as a pokémon shield!” Kyungsoo protests. Just because his pokémon are well-trained and of a strong level, it doesn't mean they're required to be bodyguards to Baekhyun's sad little bunch.

“Graveler can take it, he's a big, tough lump of stone!” Baekhyun retorts in an easy-going tone while trying to figure out if they should take a left or a right next. Kyungsoo fears they're walking in circles – again.

“I don't you think understand how pokémon battles work. Approximately every third pokémon to attack us has been a grass type. Rock and ground types are weak to grass, so my pokémon are taking an unnecessary amount of damage just because yours are incapable in every way.”

Baekhyun makes a soft non-committal sound and walks farther ahead to look around a corner. Kyungsoo has no idea what Baekhyun spots to their left but the boy jumps up like an excited baby pokémon, gesturing for Kyungsoo to come closer.

Looking around the corner, Kyungsoo can see a white picked fence in the distance and behind it, a large house with an even larger yard.

“Look, there it is! On the other side of this tall grass!” Baekhyun exclaims, pointing a finger towards their destination for a moment until he takes a step toward the house.

“Baekhyun, no! Don't step on the tall grass!” is all Kyungsoo has time to shout before yet another wild pokémon appears before them and Baekhyun ducks behind Kyungsoo's back.

Kyungsoo is glad the Budews in Eterna Forest are of a low level.

Entering Old Chateau doesn't improve things for Kyungsoo.

“Baekhyun, that's the seventh Gastly to attack us and we haven't even made it out of the foyer!” Kyungsoo complains, wondering if he should place his pokémon back in their pokéballs when he'll need their help within the next two minutes anyway.

Baekhyun merely shrugs.

“You can go if you're scared, I'll find Rotom by myself,” he hums while approaching the staircase.

“I'm not scared!” Kyungsoo tries to protest. He knows it's not very convincing, however, since he's standing still in one place, avoiding any movement so he won't run into another Gastly.

Baekhyun, on the other hand, has already reached the top of the staircase and is now fast approaching the one of the doors on the second floor. Kyungsoo has a sneaking suspicion Baekhyun had a Repel in his bag all this time but instead of using it when Kyungsoo's pokémon were struggling in Eterna Forest, he decided to save it for Old Chateau.

“I'm going to go check over there, maybe there's signs of Rotom!” Baekhyun hollers before entering the door.

“Baek! Byun Baekhyun! Don't leave me here alone!” Kyungsoo shouts back at him, but Baekhyun has already disappeared into the room.

Being alone in the foyer is a lot more terrifying than being there with Baekhyun. Somehow the corners of the large hall appear to be so much darker and it's tougher to see up to the ceiling to look if there are any pokémon lurking there. Kyungsoo won't admit that he's scared but he considers letting Graveler and Rhyhorn out of their pokéballs just in case. One can never be too sure with haunted old houses.

Still rooted in the same spot, Kyungsoo can feel something watching him. He sees nothing in darkness above him but starts digging through his bag for his glasses just to be sure. There might be something there that Kyungsoo needs to dodge to stay safe.

There is a moment, eerily quiet, right before the darkness calls out to Kyungsoo.

“Hey! Down there!” Kyungsoo hears a warm voice shout from somewhere near the ceiling. “Little one! Are you in need of help?”

It could be a prank by Baekhyun. But it could also be a robber, hiding in the shadows of Old Chateau, looking for people whose pockets and bags are easy to empty. Heck, it could be even be some clever ploy by a Dusclops looking to steal Kyungsoo's soul the moment he peeks up at the pokémon. Kyungsoo realizes all of this, but his need to defend himself trumps irritation, fear and the need to flee.

“Hey, I'm not little!” he yells at the ceiling.

“Sorry,” the voice answers. “Maybe you just look like it from this angle.”

“Well, why don't you come down here and see exactly how big I am!” Kyungsoo taunts the voice. It isn't until the words have already left his mouth that he understands how big of a mistake he may have made. He starts to mumble a nervous “well, I mean, you don't have to or anything” but the voice answers with an “okay” and a loud thud.

A thud coming from the floor.

Where someone has landed and is now standing up straight.

And oh Arceus, if this is what scary is in Sinnoh, Kyungsoo won't mind being spooked for the rest of his vacation.

Roughly six feet from him is a young man, who sort of looks like a sleepy puppy. But like, a really hot sleepy puppy with long legs, broad shoulders and a stunning face.

“Hi,” the young man says. “My name is Jongin. And that guy over there,” he tells Kyungsoo while pointing into the darkness of the ceiling, “is Drifblim.”

Kyungsoo can't see anything in the darkness but he raises his Pokédex toward the direction Jongin pointed in and hears a familiar beep before the mechanical voice introduces Drifblim. Yet another new pokémon sighted. Sort of.

“Hello,” Kyungsoo finally greets Jongin. “I'm Do Kyungsoo from Mauville City, Hoenn. Nice to meet both of you.”

Jongin walks closer and Kyungsoo really just wants to rub himself all over Jongin's beautiful face. But he doesn't. Because that's more like something Baekhyun would do. Not that Kyungsoo would let him. Kyungsoo saw Jongin first – finders, keepers and all that.

“You're far away from Hoenn, Do Kyungsoo,” Jongin says, smiling. “Are you traveling?”

Jongin's smile is dazzling, disarming, dangerous. It makes Kyungsoo want to take a seat next to him and bask in the glory of the handsome stranger. It also makes it difficult for Kyungsoo to find any words to say and yet, somehow, he blurts out perhaps more words than he has spoken to Baekhyun all day.

“Errr... umm... yeah. Traveling. I'm on a vacation, with a friend. Or not really a friend... but not what you may think, we're totally just two single guys traveling together. A single guy vacation, yeah. He's this guy I met a few years ago back in Hoenn, in the Safari Zone. I caught a Phanpy while Baekhyun failed in his quest to capture a Hoothoot but he battled and lost to plenty of Oddish, though, 'cause the place is full of them. Baekhyun, that's his name. He's kind of a pest, really, but I can't shake him off – he's like flypaper – so I agreed to go traveling with him on my vacation. Both of us have always wanted to see Sinnoh, anyways, so it just made sense.” He pauses to take a breath. “So, how about you? What brings you to this creepy haunted house?”

“Drifblim,” Jongin tells him. “He's the one who brings me to most places. These days I think I can almost steer him,” he says, laughing, before continuing: “I come here a lot with my Haunter who's around here somewhere, he seems to enjoy spending time with his own kind. So, whenever I'm not working or floating around with Drifblim, we're all here.”

Jongin smiles brightly at Kyungsoo, making him swoon in silence, and then adds: “It gets less creepy in here after a while, by the way.”

They exchange stories about themselves for a good part of an hour and Kyungsoo learns that Jongin is from the nearby Eterna City, where he works for Rad Rickshaw's Cycle Shop every now and then. Mostly he spends his time floating around with his Drifblim, who he encountered – and caught – as a Drifloon at Valley Windworks on one sunny Friday when he was younger. Later he had to evolve his Drifloon into a Drifblim because a teenage Jongin had become too heavy for a Drifloon to carry. In addition to Haunter and Drifblim, Jongin's fleet includes a Litwick, which he recently got in exchange for a Shuppet in trade with a trainer from the mountain region of Kalos. All in all, Jongin is the perfect ghost type enthusiast. And perfect in every way. Kyungsoo saves all his mental pictures of Jongin fixing bikes in a sleeveless shirt with sweat dripping down his body for later when he's alone in the hotel bathroom.

Kyungsoo's precious moment with Jongin is shattered by Baekhyun, who steps into the foyer from one of the upstairs rooms and announces that he will be checking out one more room for Rotom. “After that we can leave for the Celestic Ruins! But I wanna see Moss Rock on the way!” he calls out while walking through a doorway.

“He's not going to find Rotom, though,” Jongin mentions once Baekhyun is out of sight.

“How can you tell? Did your Haunter scare him off?” Kyungsoo asks, confused.

“No! My Haunter wouldn't do that!” Jongin laughs. “But I know from experience that if Rotom was here, he would've started scaring you two in different forms since you arrived. It's very easy to tell if he's home or not.”

“I'm glad I found you instead of Rotom,” Kyungsoo confesses. He can feel heat rising to his cheeks and he turns his face away from Jongin to prevent him from noticing. It's quite dark around them but Kyungsoo fears the bright red color of his face is easy to spot.

“Really?” Jongin asks, obviously excited by what Kyungsoo told him.

Kyungsoo isn't sure whether to admit that he really meant it or to playfully punch Jongin's shoulder in a gesture of manly denial. One look at Jongin's face, however, reveals that the handsome boy already sees the truth written on Kyungsoo's face. Kyungsoo gives him a small nod and is just about to properly confess his crush when Baekhyun bursts out of the room he entered earlier.

“AHHHHHHH!!! SOO! RUN! TO MOSS ROCK! NOWWW! SOOOOOOOO!!!” he shouts between gasps, running towards the entrance. His speed is so impressive he must have gotten an adrenaline boost.

The guilty party reveals itself the moment Baekhyun has exited Old Chateau, when Jongin's Haunter enters the foyer through a wall, guffawing uncontrollably and infecting a few of his friends with laughter, too. Jongin merely smiles and shrugs and Kyungsoo supposes he's used to his pokémon scaring others.

Kyungsoo can't deny that seeing Baekhyun nearly piss his pants in fear was amusing and for a few seconds he wants to laugh along. That is before he realizes he needs to leave with Baekhyun so they can go see the Celestial Ruins just like Kyungsoo wanted.

“So... umm...” Kyungsoo starts, not sure what to say.

Jongin looks at him with his gorgeous, sleepy brown eyes and gives Kyungsoo his sweetest smile.

“I guess your friend wants you to follow him, huh?” Jongin says, fiddling with his fingers.

“Yeah...” Kyungsoo admits, fighting off the urge to grab Jongin's hands.

An awkward silence falls upon them. Kyungsoo knows he can't ask Jongin, a boy he's known for only an hour, to join him on his travels. He also knows he can't ditch Baekhyun in favor of someone he barely knows. But the need to know Jongin better, to spend more time with him, is much stronger than he wants to admit aloud.

“You should come visit Eterna City before you go back to Hoenn,” Jongin suggests and Kyungsoo is sure Jongin shares his hope for seeing each other again. He may have known Jongin for only an hour but the handsome boy doesn't strike him as someone who would offer an invitation without really meaning what he says.

“What if you'll be floating around somewhere with your pokémon when I stop by?” Kyungsoo asks. He lets out a small laugh, for show more than anything so Jongin won't know how badly Kyungsoo wants to make sure they really will meet again before he and Baekhyun have to return to Hoenn. If he's honest with himself, though, he really really really wants to make sure they'll cross paths again soon.

“I won't!” Jongin protests. “I'll definitely stay put while you're in Sinnoh. I'll even get more shifts at the shop so I have a reason to not move around for a while ...I mean, another reason not to move around.”

Jongin sounds shy and Kyungsoo is almost certain he is blushing, but the darkness around them prevents him from confirming it. So, in a rare moment of courage as far as romantic gestures go, he raises a hand to cradle Jongin's cheek and to feel its warmth beneath his palm.

Time seems frozen around them and every part of Kyungsoo feels so electrified he could swear it was the workings of Rotom if he didn't know better. But he does. And so it has to be because he's standing so close to Jongin, touching his face.

“AAAHHHHHHH! SOOOO!”

Baekhyun's shouts from the outdoors cut through the moment Kyungsoo and Jongin are sharing and Kyungsoo is certain he's run into some wild pokémon.

“I'm sorry, I better go before he gets one of his pokémon hurt,” Kyungsoo tells Jongin, letting go of his face. “You see, they're not really trained for--”

“Take this,” Jongin interrupts and places a small block into Kyungsoo's hand. “It's an Old Gateau. I hope it keeps you safe when I can't be there to do that.”

Kyungsoo is touched and he wants to throw his arms around Jongin in thanks but Baekhyun screams again, this time louder and for longer, and Kyungsoo knows he needs to go save his friend. He tucks the Old Gateau in his pocket and says goodbye to Jongin.

When Kyungsoo is at the door of Old Chateau, Jongin shouts after him.

“I will see you again soon, right? You'll come to see me, won't you Kyungsoo?”

Kyungsoo laughs and shouts back. Of course he will.

There is no way Kyungsoo isn't meeting the handsome boy again.

A/N: My very first proper kaisoo fic! Sorry if it's a little lame, I had to rush it a bit so I could post it before the year ends. ^^;;; It's unbetaed, of course, so I'll probably be back at some point to fix typos and other mistakes.