A/N: WHAT IT TOOK LIKE FOREVER TO FINISH WRITING THIS. I HAD SO MUCH TROUBLE. THAT NEVER HAPPENS TO ME WHAT IS THIS FEELING. …Yeah, caps lock abuse aside, this took too long. . And I can bet that only like five people are going to read it, anyway, and none of them are going to review. OH WELL LIFE SUCKS LIKE THAT.

Ethan didn't have many thoughts about Sinnoh so far. It was north, and it was a little colder than Johto, so it wasn't all that special, really. He only passed by one town, which lacked a gym or even a Pokémart. The next town was also small, although it showed more promise. There was a lab in the town, so maybe he could meet the professor there. He might even get a cool starter native to Sinnoh!

Unfortunately, the lab seemed to be empty. "We're closed." Well…he guessed that counted as almost empty. Feeling curious, Ethan stepped forward to find the source of the voice.

"I said we're closed." The owner of the voice made himself clear then, walking toward Ethan with an annoyed look on his face. "…Your hat."

Ethan frowned. "What about my hat?"

"You're wearing it wrong," the boy said. Ethan reached up to touch his hat, but the boy beat him to it and turned it so it faced forward.

"Nah, I just like wearing it like this," Ethan said, spinning it back around.

"It looks unprofessional and childish," the boy said. "…And also stupid."

"And who are you to say the way I wear my hat is stupid?" Ethan asked.

"I'm Lucas, Professor Rowan's assistant," the boy said.

"Well, Lucas Professorrowansassistant, I think your hat looks like a muffin, so you can't say anything," Ethan said.

"It doesn't matter either way. Professor Rowan isn't here, so leave," Lucas said.

Ethan smirked. What a mature-acting and strict boy, this Lucas. Picking on him would be fun. "I think that hangin' with my new pal Lucas will be more fun!" he said. "The name's Ethan, by the way."

"What part of 'we are closed' do you not understand?" Lucas asked.

"The 'closed' part," Ethan said simply.

Lucas glared at him, then walked outside of the lab. Predictably, Ethan followed. Lucas stood staring at him for a few seconds, then pointed in a random direction and said, "Hey, look at that thing."

Ethan looked over, and Lucas ran back into the lab, locking the door behind him. Ethan stared at the door for a while, his head tilted.

After spending the night in the nearby Pokémon Center, Ethan decided that the first thing he'd do the next day is go back to the lab. It was much more crowded today, and Lucas was still there. Ethan waved wildly to him and went toward him. Lucas looked as though he wanted to run away.

Ethan slung his arm around the boy before he got the chance to. "Hey there, Lukie!" he said.

Lucas glared at him, his face a bit red. Ethan wondered if it was in anger or embarrassment. "Don't act so familiar with me," Lucas said.

"Don't be so cold! C'mon, let's go meet your boss!" Ethan said, dragging Lucas through the room.

"Hmm, Lucas, have you made a new friend?" Professor Rowan asked as the two boys entered. Lucas answered, "No." at the same time Ethan answered, "Yep!"

"I'm Ethan, from New Bark Town," Ethan said.

"Oh, I've heard a lot about you from Professor Oak!" Professor Rowan said.

Lucas looked at Ethan in surprise. "You don't know Professor Oak, do you…?" he asked.

"That I do!" Ethan said.

Professor Rowan suddenly clapped his hands together. "Ah, Ethan, why don't you help out Lucas in the field? He can show you how to use a Poké Radar," he said. Lucas shook his head frantically.

"Sounds great!" Ethan said. Lucas felt the urge to bash his head into a wall. "Let's go, buddy!"

The two of them walked out (although is was less walking, more Ethan pulling Lucas along) of the lab, and Ethan looked at Lucas expectantly. "So, where's this field I hear of?" he asked.

"I was supposed to go to Lake Verity alone today," Lucas said. Ethan grinned at him, and Lucas sighed. "Follow me…"

As they walked, Lucas kept trying to stay away from Ethan by speeding up. Ethan decided to match his speed, so they made it to the lake pretty quickly.

"Yeah, this is Lake Verity. Don't touch anything," Lucas said.

"Ooh, there's an island!" Ethan said, immediately calling out his Feraligatr and surfing into the lake.

"Hey, get back here!" Lucas yelled after him. Ethan ignored him, going farther out into the water. Lucas grumbled to himself and called out his Bibarel.

Lucas chased after Ethan, catching up surprisingly fast. He then realized that Ethan was waiting up ahead for him. "Get back to shore right now!" he said as he approached.

Ethan put his hand on his chin, pretending to look thoughtful. "Hmm…no," he said. Lucas didn't get the chance to demand again, as Ethan grabbed his arm and pulled him into the water.

"What the hell did you do that for?" Lucas asked, scowling and trying to climb back on Bibarel.

"Thought you might need a bath," Ethan said. He laughed, then surfed back to the shore. Lucas followed, his teeth chattering.

"N-N-Now I'm cold, j-jeez…" Lucas said, glaring at him.

"Aw, I'm sorry," Ethan said. Lucas was entirely certain that he was not sorry. "Here, I'll warm you up."

"How do you expect to-" Lucas stopped mid-sentence when Ethan suddenly wrapped his arm around him. Lucas shoved him off, blushing so much that he probably did get a lot less cold. "That's not how you're supposed to make people warm!"

"It's not?" Ethan asked.

"It's not!" Lucas said. "I'm going home."

Fortunately for Lucas, the next day was Saturday. Not being at work, there was no way he'd see Ethan again. Especially not in Jubilife City, the highest populated city in Sinnoh.

"…And then I just kind of used earthquake the whole time. I don't think he's ever been in a faster battle," Dawn said as they passed the Jubilife TV station. "But enough about that, how have you been?"

"I've been better," Lucas sighed. "This annoying guy from Johto bugged me at work yesterday."

"Ah, really? That doesn't sound too good," Dawn said. She glanced at her Pokégear and frowned. "Shoot, I've got to go meet Barry for a battle. Tell me later?"

"Sure, that's fine. Bye, Dawn," Lucas said. As the girl left, Lucas continued walking toward Route 218. He looked out at the water for a bit before he heard a familiar voice.

"Hey Lucas, what'cha doin'?" Lucas flinched and turned around, seeing Ethan heading toward him.

"What do you want?" Lucas asked, trying to ignore the blush creeping up his face.

"Who, me? I was just planning on doing some fishing," Ethan said. He pulled out a Super Rod and showed it to Lucas.

"Fine, do your fishing, then," Lucas said. Ethan shrugged and walked over to the water, sitting down and casting his line.

Lucas sat a few feet away from him, occasionally glancing toward the line. A few times, a Pokémon would tug on Ethan's line, only to escape a few seconds later. "…You're not doing it right," Lucas said.

"Oh, I'm not?" Ethan asked. Lucas shook his head. "Show me, then."

Grumbling to himself, Lucas walked over and took Ethan's fishing rod. He cast the line out again and sat down. "You're not doing anything different than me," Ethan pointed out.

"Just wait!" Lucas said. Sure enough, there was a tug on the line. Lucas reeled it in and pulled out a Magikarp. After tossing it back, he handed the rod back to Ethan. "There, you try."

Ethan shrugged and gave a second attempt to catch a Pokémon, but it wasn't any better than the first try. "Ugh, I'll show you again," Lucas said.

Waiting for a bite took a lot longer the second time. Lucas was beginning to doze off when there was a powerful tug on his line. Caught off guard, he was nearly pulled into the water. Ethan quickly grabbed Lucas, saving the boy but sending the fishing rod flying into the water.

"Well, that was close," Ethan said. "Are you okay?"

"Y-Yeah, I think so…" Lucas said. He then jumped away from Ethan, having noticed their now close proximity. "Thanks but now I have to go," he said quickly, running off before he'd even finished the sentence.

Lucas tried to have a better day off that Sunday, but that didn't seem to be an option. Seconds after sitting down with his drink at Starpiece Coffee, the annoying boy walked into the shop. Lucas tried to look discreet, but Ethan noticed him and sat across from him.

"Heya Lucas!" Ethan said. Lucas sipped his coffee, trying to pretend he didn't notice Ethan. Ethan frowned and grabbed Lucas' chin from across the table. Lucas blushed slightly and continued to fail at ignoring him. "I said hey, dude."

"…Hey, Ethan," Lucas said.

Ethan smiled in triumph, but he didn't let go of Lucas' chin. "So what'cha drinking?" he asked.

"Coffee," Lucas said bluntly. "And let go of me."

"Is it good?" Ethan asked. "Can I try some?"

"What? No! Get your own coffee!" Lucas said.

"But then I'd have to get up there and order and crap. That's too much work," Ethan said. He moved in suddenly toward Lucas' face, causing Lucas to jerk backwards and almost fall out of his chair.

"Wh-what are you doing?" Lucas asked.

"I'm just messin' with ya," Ethan said, laughing. "You should have seen your face."

"…Don't do that," Lucas mumbled.

Ethan spent the rest of his time watching Lucas finish his coffee (something Lucas found extremely annoying and unnerving). He followed Lucas after he stood up and left the café.

"Why do you have to follow me? Don't you have somewhere else to be?" Lucas asked.

"Not really, no," Ethan said. "Besides, I kinda want to know what that coffee tasted like."

Lucas was about to point out that he could just buy coffee again, but Ethan grabbed his arm and kissed him lightly. "Yep, tasted coffee alright!" he said as he ran off.

"Y-You're not supposed to taste coffee like that!" Lucas yelled after him.

Since Lucas failed to demonstrate the Poké Radar properly the previous Friday, Professor Rowan "suggested" that they go back again and try. Lucas glared silently at Ethan for a good five minutes before Ethan spoke up. "So…Poké Radar?"

"Yeah, whatever," Lucas grumbled, taking the Poké Radar out of his bag. "So you turn it on and look for Pokémon…"

Lucas pressed a button on the device, and some tall grass nearby began to rustle. Ethan stared at the grass blankly. "…Well? Go get the Pokémon!" Lucas said.

"Ohhh, gotcha," Ethan said. He started toward the rustling grass, but a Starly came out and pecked his shoe before he made it. The grass stopped rustling.

"You did it wrong!" Lucas said. "If you get attacked by a Pokémon before you get there, then you have to start over."

"Okay, okay, just let me retry it," Ethan said.

Lucas shook his head. "You can't. You have to recharge it after," he said. He tossed the Poké Radar at Ethan. "Walk around, I'm not doing it because you screwed up."

Ethan shrugged and started walking. The Starly, however, pecked at his shoe determinedly. Ethan tried to shake it off, but he ended up tripping over it and crashing into Lucas, both of them falling down. "Jeez, you even walk wrong," Lucas grumbled.

"You're keep saying that I do things wrong," Ethan said. "But how about I show you something I can do right?"

Before Lucas could ask him to elaborate, he found himself sitting against a tree with one of Ethan's hands on his waist and the other on his cheek. His face was much too close as well. "I'm really good at this, you know…" Ethan said before closing the gap between their lips.

Lucas was surprised, of course. It was unexpected, very unprofessional, and probably unsanitary, too. The thing that surprised him most was that he didn't mind much as much as he thought it might. "H-Hey, we were working…" he mumbled, trying to move away. Ethan didn't let him go, pulling him back. "St-stop..."

"Why?" Ethan asked.

"I…I…because…" Lucas said.

Ethan moved his lips down toward Lucas' ear. "You don't make very good arguments," he murmured. He kissed at Lucas' neck, causing him to shudder and make some incoherent sounds.

A beeping sound came from Lucas' wrist. Lucas glanced at his Pokétch. "Uhh…well…we're supposed to head back now…" he said.

"What are you talking about?" Ethan asked, taking Lucas' Pokétch and flinging it to the side. "I didn't hear anything~"

A/N: He will never get enough once he gets a little touch~ If Ethan had it his way you know he'd make Lucas say "Ooooooh~" /IDEK please don't kill me

Y'know I've never seen a ship name for EthanxLucas. I think I'ma call it Backwardsmuffinshipping from now on. Yup. /shotshotshot