Say That You Need Me - Hop x Gloria

Galarian New Year's!

A/N - Thank you all sooooooo much for getting us to over 100 reads! I'll try to update more often for you lovely people, I just have to manage my time better. Happy New Year, and thanks for reading the first published chapter in 2021!!!

Anyways, without further ado, here's your Galarian New Year's special!

~This is set a year before all the events happening now, so Hop and Gloria can both be in the same place. This doesn't really affect the main story, but I think it's going to be fun :)~

Galarian New Years - A week-long event to celebrate the end of a year, offering prayers to Calyrex and Arceus, and spending time with loved ones. It was Gloria's favorite time of the year. The one guaranteed time of year she could have a whole week off with no interruptions. Not a single one.

Gloria grabbed her trusty leather bag and a suitcase as she walked to her bedroom. This year, she was spending the whole holiday week at Hop and Leon's house. Normally she'd just pop in on the last couple of days, but this year they convinced her to stay the whole week. She placed boots, a jacket, a couple pairs of jeans, and various shirts into her bag along with toiletries and a couple small things she thought she might need. Gloria opted to wear dark clothing for the journey, to blend in better, and grabbed a pair of sunglasses just in case. Smiling, she collected her pokemon and headed to the elevators.

---

"Champion! Champion look over here! Smile for the camera, Champ!"

The desk staff gave her an apologetic smile because they knew after the past 4 (almost 5) years of her living here, she took her vacation time very seriously. Gloria pulled her hood up and donned her sunglasses, even though she was indoors, knowing they couldn't keep an eye on her forever. The same word over and over again - champion. Can't I have the chance to be a kid on holiday?  she thought as she tried to get to the monorail station, attempting to drown out their calls when she heard something -no, someone- else.

"Gloria!"

Gloria perked up, removing her sunglasses and hood to look around the area when she spotted him - the purple-haired professor's assistant with his trusty Dubwool. When their eyes met, he smiled widely and waved. Filled with new-found confidence, she spoke up, "Excuse me, while I love and appreciate each and every one of you, I have places to be. It's New Year's, people. Start acting like it."

There was a collective giggle as the crowd calmed and let her pass through, some more reluctantly than others. Once they cleared off, she ran up to Hop and gave him a suffocating hug.

"You should've told me you were coming," Gloria said, a bit muffled by the fabric of his lab jacket. "That would've ruined the surprise factor, don't you think?" he smiled, giving her one last squeeze before letting go. "Ready for the best week of your year?"

"Ready as I'll ever be!" she joked, and they jogged to the train station.

---

The day was spent traveling, picking up food and drinks on the way to Postwick, and just enjoying each other's company. Once they arrived at Hop's house, Gloria felt something she hadn't felt in a long while - peace. Sure, she had great happy days, bad days, and in-between days, but peace was hard to come by in her line of work. Something she hadn't realized she lacked until she had it again.

"Raihan, don't you think you should come down off the roof? Your lunch is going cold," Hop's mum yelled up at the dragon-type gym leader, plate in hand. Leon's long purple mane swayed in the wind while he hung halfway out his window, trying to figure out how his friend got up there in the first place.

"Lunch? Ma'am, that's all the convincing I need!" he laughed as he slid down the side of the roof, jumping onto the shed before landing lightly on the ground. He waved at Hop and Gloria as he took the plate and dashed inside. Mrs. Dande turned and smiled, running over to hug them both.