Oliver Niko

“Why didn’t you just ask me yesterday when it was a respectable time?”

“I thought I could figure it out on my own, but I was wrong and so I really, really, really need your help. I promise I’ll make it up to you! I’ll, um, send you three bags of that coffee you like in Lumiose City.”

Gary glances over at Goh, and whispers, “Your daughter does bribes like you do.”

“Tell her she woke me up too, so I should get a bribe as well,” he whispers back.

“I can hear both of you guys,” Lemon says, annoyed. “Are you gonna help me or not?”

“Swap one of those bags of coffee for some Lumosian chocolates and you have a deal.”

Goh grins at him. “You’re the best.”

“Okay, okay, fine. I’m video calling you now, okay?” She doesn’t give him a chance to respond before she’s hung up on him. Ten seconds later, the screen lights up again with a video call; when Gary accepts it, Lemon’s face fills the screen, serious and determined.

“First of all,” Gary says, “what’s the occasion? You do realize there are probably a hundred places you can get five-star quality seafood in Shalour City, right?”

Her cheeks go pink. “W-well, sure, but I don’t want Lime to think I didn’t put in the effort, you know? It’s our first anniversary ever, so…”

It’s so like her—always striving to be the best, no matter what it takes. Everything at one hundred and fifty percent. Especially when it comes to the people she loves.

“If you want to make a romantic gesture,” Gary tells her, “a good meal alone isn’t necessarily gonna cut it.”

Her eyes widen. “It’s not?! Should I go back to the store?! I think I have time... She told me she would be back from her training session at twenty-hundred hours sharp.”

As their daughter frets, turning around to recall her Pokémon and rush out the door, phone in hand—a brown blur on the screen as her hair flies behind her—Goh curls into Gary’s side; when Gary automatically lifts his arm to wrap around his shoulders, he rests his head against his chest and tilts it up to look at Gary’s phone, a fond smiling playing at his lips.

“You could go back to sleep,” Gary murmurs, carding his fingers gently through his husband’s hair. “I don’t mind getting up so you can have some peace and quiet.”

But Goh shakes his head. “I’m awake now. Besides, it’s good to hear from her.”

There was a time when Lemon would call him every day. Just to tell him how her journey was going. She’s older now, though, and preoccupied with other things than reassuring her dad that she is safe and she is happy and she is doing everything she ever dreamed of and more. By Gary’s estimation, she still calls him at least once a week, but he is acutely aware that, even after all these years, Goh has a hard time letting her say good-bye. Even if he knows as well as Gary does that this is how she was always meant to spread her wings.

Once she’s out the door and jogging down the street, she demands, “What else do I need?”

“Well, you got flowers, right?”

“It—it completely slipped my mind!” She comes to a screeching halt; the expression on her face reminds Gary of how Goh looks when he is lost in thought. “Um…let me think… She wouldn’t want roses, but maybe… Ohh, I don’t know. I can’t think!”

“They say peonies are very romantic flowers,” Goh chimes in. “Especially for anniversaries.”

“Really? Wow, that’s perfect, then! Okay, so where’s the nearest flower shop…”

“You know things like this and you’ve never thought to get me flowers for our anniversary?” Gary teases. “How unromantic.”

“Chloe and I used to do Pokémon flower arrangements every year. I learned a few things. I also happen to know that you hate having to water flowers to keep them alive when people gift them to you, and then it just becomes my responsibility. Why put myself through that?”

“It’s the thought that counts, dear.”

Their attention is brought back to Gary’s phone at the sound of a groan from their daughter.

“What’s the matter, Lemon?”

“I don’t know anything about flowers,” she despairs. “What do peonies even look like?!”

“Turn the camera around,” Goh tells her. “I’ll point them out to you.”

She does, and they locate the most colourful of the blooms they can in almost no time at all. Which turns out to be a very good thing, because now Lemon is thinking about all the other things she’s forgotten about:

“And a romantic dinner needs candles, right? That’s what they always do in the movies? And—and I should get treats, right? For her Pokémon? She wouldn’t want me to focus so much on her that we forget about our Pokémon… And…um…and—oh no. I should make dessert, too, shouldn’t I? For us?”

“One thing at a time,” Gary tells her firmly. “Dessert is a good idea, but let’s try to be strategic about this.”

“Right,” she murmurs. “Plan it out. Just like a Pokémon battle.”

Gary barely withholds a snort of laughter at that; Goh is slightly less successful, and earns a glare from Lemon for it.

“Can we focus here, people?” she demands. “I’m running out of time! Papa, what should I make for dessert? It has to be something quick and easy… There’s just no time…!”

If she’d planned a little farther ahead, of course, that wouldn’t be a problem; and Gary has no doubts that she’s been planning this for a good while now, but having a plan and knowing how to execute it are two totally separate things—and that second one has always taken her a lot more practice than the first.

“I’ll brainstorm ideas while you get the things you need from the store for the risotto,” he says. “Fair?”

She’s agreeable to that, and her shopping goes off without a hitch. Despite how busy it clearly is, she is an efficient shopper, finding everything she needs without getting lost even a single time. But by the time they’ve picked up all the ingredients they need for Gary’s risotto recipe, they still haven’t settled on a dessert.

“Well, what does she like?” Gary probes. “Something sweet? Something tart?”

“Um…sweet, maybe?”

“Maybe?”

“I don’t know! The only dessert I’ve ever really seen her eat is when we make s’mores while we’re camping!”

Gary raises an eyebrow at that. “Then why are you asking me what to make for dessert? You clearly already have the perfect idea. I’m sure even if you can’t make a campfire, Victini could help you roast some marshmallows.”

“But…that’s not very romantic, is it?”

“Romance isn’t about doing what’s in the movies, Lemon,” says Goh gently. “It’s about seeing the person you love for exactly who they are, and making them feel loved for it.”

“And,” Gary adds, “to share in things you’ve enjoyed together. If you eat s’mores together that often, then…I bet she already associates you with them. So, that’s something she loves because it ties her to you.”

As they speak, her eyes go wide with realization. Her voice is little more than a whisper when she admits, “I…wasn’t really thinking about it like that.”

“That’s because you’re like your papa.” Goh glances up at him, eyes glimmering teasingly. “Always about the big, dramatic gestures.”

“You’re not really one to talk,” Gary grumbles.

“Maybe so,” he allows. “But the point is, the small things add up to bigger things. Right? So if you want your feelings to reach her, then…you already know better than either of us do exactly how to do that.”

A beat passes, and then her expression shifts again—steely resolve, her characteristic determination.

“Okay,” she says. “But I still need you to stay on the phone and help me cook the risotto, okay?”

Gary glances at the corner of the screen, where the time flashes at him: 01:02. By the time she gets back to the Pokémon Centre and gets to work, there will probably be only five and a half hours before he or Goh needs to get up to open the lab. But one look down at his husband, at the soft smile on his face as he considers their daughter, softens any irritation that tries to coil up into his chest long before it can reach his heart.