[Traveling with Tallie has been an eye opening experience, all be told. A lot of this has been a journey to satisfy his own curiosity at traveling the world around, but Calem knows more than anyone that it can't last. He enjoys the moments while he can, but he knows they'll have to part at some point. And yet...it doesn't make the moments he has with her any less enjoyable; Tallie may be blunt and she may be a little brusque, but it's what Calem likes about her. She's an interesting contrast to the air he tries to produce, and it is something he's grown to appreciate.
...It's something he's grown to consider very important to him, but Calem? Acknowledging his own feelings? Absolutely not going to happen. After everything that happened with Serena, he refused to do such a thing again, and no matter how much he adores Tallie, he can't do this to her. He can't do this to himself; her life is fleeting and she deserves to have a life unbound to his eternal, immortal one, but...
They're getting closer to the city, and their still traveling when Calem feels the kiss on his cheek, and he stops cold when he feels it. Gorebyss has gone off to beat up some Pokemon and thankfully can't see the shade of pink that Calem's face has taken, and he feels himself flush and realizes he can't evade this anymore. He...doesn't hate it.
But--]
Tallie? [It comes out surprised, delicate--some of that boyishness creeping into his tone from an era he long thought he had outgrown.] What is...you...I...
...I didn't expect this. [He wants to kiss her back. The thought enters unbidden in his head, and he shouldn't, he--he touches his cheek, carefully, surprised, but...] You...like me...?
ACCEPTS YOU IN MY OPEN ARMS
...It's something he's grown to consider very important to him, but Calem? Acknowledging his own feelings? Absolutely not going to happen. After everything that happened with Serena, he refused to do such a thing again, and no matter how much he adores Tallie, he can't do this to her. He can't do this to himself; her life is fleeting and she deserves to have a life unbound to his eternal, immortal one, but...
They're getting closer to the city, and their still traveling when Calem feels the kiss on his cheek, and he stops cold when he feels it. Gorebyss has gone off to beat up some Pokemon and thankfully can't see the shade of pink that Calem's face has taken, and he feels himself flush and realizes he can't evade this anymore. He...doesn't hate it.
But--]
Tallie? [It comes out surprised, delicate--some of that boyishness creeping into his tone from an era he long thought he had outgrown.] What is...you...I...
...I didn't expect this. [He wants to kiss her back. The thought enters unbidden in his head, and he shouldn't, he--he touches his cheek, carefully, surprised, but...] You...like me...?