#that's just very deep into the au like 'adopts a child' or 'the larvitar thing happens'

[sleepinglionhearts]

pls I think you for me into roark x steven and it's all my brain has been thinking in the past few days.. mind giving some hcs so I can brainrot some more? :'o

I'm so sorry to answer this so late! I have a large amount of stuff I think about concerning those two so it was difficult to narrow down what to reply with that would make sense hsgdhsgd

I'm sorry about 80% of this is all specific to an AU I want to eventually get around to writing/drawing and has such specific headcanons lol

-their first meeting is not in Sinnoh, but in Hoenn and when they were still pretty young. Byron gets invited to some inter-regional thing, brings his kid, said kid wanders off and runs into yet another bored young trainer and they hang out for a while. They become friends over similar interests, discover they're from different regions, and decide to become pen pals.

-...not that the pen pals thing lasts more than a couple of years or so as Steven is suddenly busier with formal competitive pokemon training and Roark is also facing a little pressure to start considering pokemon raising more seriously.

-much later, years later, Gardenia will tease Roark that the guy he used to write all the time and had his first major crush on turned out to be a regional champion quality trainer. Isn't that so funny?

-they meet again years later when Steven visits Sinnoh for purposes of rock collection and pokemon. Steven finds his way into the Underground and happens upon Roark and... well, Steven doesn't want to admit he kinda forgot Roark but it definitely takes him a minute to remember how exactly it is he knows this man who seems to have recognized him on sight and is being oddly familiar.

-Steven spends the majority of his stay in Sinnoh with Roark, either being toured around the region or just spending time together because WOW do they have A LOT to talk about.

-(Gardenia and Riley* are very amused by this.) *in this AU Riley was found as a small child by Byron and got adopted into the family! Why not! The man is already mysterious and strange, may as well add to that! Also great opportunity to have the weird sibling dynamic going.

-(Wallace is also very amused by this because as Steven's Best Friend he calls frequently to know how his favorite rock nerd is doing on his big trip and oh, wouldn't you know it, that ridiculous man has fallen in love.)

-speaking of having fallen in love they both have their own separate realizations but they don't talk about it, they just get hit by those feelings real hard after Steven has to leave. Cue both best friends yelling at their lovesick idiots about not talking about it.

-they've exchanged contact info properly by now and will text or call one another but there's something special about writing letters to one another... they've also learned that phone calls can sometimes drag on well into the early morning hours with discussions of pokemon, regional myths, and rock/fossil nerd things.

-Roark will eventually go to Hoenn after being convinced by both Riley and Gardenia (with Riley promising to look after the gym in Oreburgh, despite that being a bit of a delicate decision) and he'll get dragged around everywhere by Steven. It is possibly the most fun he's ever had.

-the first one to ask the other out is Steven because he slips up and says "I love you" in a phone call and there is no way they're not discussing that

-their primary pokemon choices are both very nice but both very different... so they have a silly rivalry concerning Tyranitar and Aggron instead

-Roark tries desperately to keep news of his dating Steven secret from Byron as long as possible. This goes on for a surprisingly long time and later becomes a bit of a joke among Roark, Riley, and Gardenia.

-On the other hand, Mr. Stone finds out about his son now dating someone (and a trainer from another region at that!) pretty quickly because Steven is... not great at hiding things like that

-I like to think of Steven on again off again accepting the position of Hoenn pokemon league champion so sometimes he's there for a while to do champion stuff and sometimes he's taken off for Sinnoh for several months, you just never know

-you can take the boys to the coast but they won't swim they'll just sift through the fucking sand looking for rocks while being fussed at by the people they went with who want them to get in the water already damn it

-the first one to go in for a hug is usually Steven. the first one to go in for a kiss is usually Roark.

-Steven very much enjoys traveling and at the times Roark cannot go with him, he sends him SO MANY PHOTOS and mails him little gifts here and there.

This post got long I'm so sorry but I hope that gives you some stuff to think about!! And here, have some art!