Deception - Gladion x Reader. [UNDER CO.]

Beach Day

Reader's POV

"Y/n? Y/n...?" The calls of my name gradually increased in volume as a hand gently attempted to shake me awake, continuing until I gained the strength to open my eyes just a little. Even half asleep, I felt as though I recognised the voice — it was soft and musical, a voice that brought me peace — and sure enough, once my somewhat vision cleared up I was able to match a face to it; it was Lillie.

"Hmm?" I mumbled, rubbing my eyes before sitting up and stretching until I felt a couple of my bones click. Glancing around revealed that I was in the living room rather than my bedroom and although I was confused for a moment, I soon remembered that I'd woken up early and after surfing through some channels on TV and finding nothing interesting, had decided to take a catch a little extra sleep on the sofa.

"Come on, wake up!" I recognised the second voice immediately without even laying eyes on the person; it was Hau. The energy and excitement sparking through it was something only he possessed.

"Why? What's going on? Where are we going?"

I heard a quiet scoff and glanced behind my friends to see someone I didn't expect — Gladion stood there, frowning as usual with his arms crossed over his chest. "You ask way too many questions."

Lillie glared at him, then closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "You two are constantly fighting, so I spoke to Hau and we came up with a plan. We're going to spend a fun day together, you two will get to know each other better and, fingers crossed, actually become friends."

"Okay..." I trailed off, unsure how else to react. I liked the idea of hanging out with Lillie and Hau, but as for the rest of the idea, I'm pretty sure I felt the same as Gladion; it seemed as though neither of us was particularly thrilled by the thought of acting friendly with each other. It would be nice for everyone to be friends so there would be no more silly arguments or awkward moments, but from what I knew about Gladion so far, I wasn't sure if that was what I wanted. "But where are we going?"

"We're all going to the beach!" The two people who were actually excited about the trip stepped apart to reveal bags filled to the brim with essential beach day materials; towels, snacks and of course, sun cream. My eyes were also drawn to something close by in Lillie's hand, as she was holding a rather large white umbrella that was decorated with lace, just like her dress. It was very pretty, even closed. "Hau and I both have our swimming costumes on under our clothes, and so does Gladion..." She shot her brother a look, then turned back to me and shrugged. "Or so he says."

Gladion simply rolled his eyes in response, and the look of disrespect Hau gave him made me laugh. "Alright, great. So, should I grab my stuff and then we'll head out?"

Stretching once more, I pushed myself to my feet and rounded the back of the sofa to head to my room, but before I made it to the bottom of the stairs, Lillie grabbed my wrist and pulled me back. "Hold on, not so fast! While we were on our way here, I looked out at the ocean and thought that even though we were all wearing our swimming costumes, you might not actually have one, and so..." She bent down and rummaged around in her bag, picking up and dropping a few things before pulling out a bikini in my favourite colour. "Just in case, I stopped in the clothes store and grabbed you one."

"Oh, wow..."

"I know! It's great, right?"

Lillie held it out to me and once it was in my hands, I carefully looked it over. "Yeah... yeah, it's great..."

"What's up?" I glanced up at Hau to see him frowning, looking just as worried as Lillie did.

"It's not that I don't like it! I love it! It's just... I'm more of a one-piece swimsuit kinda person..." I looked at the bikini again and bit my lip. "I've never really worn a bikini before."

"Really?" Lillie seemed surprisingly shocked, yet also sympathetic to my situation. Behind her, though, her brother wore an odd expression; to me, it was surprise mixed with interest along with a little — and this was just a guess — but it looked like denial. I had no idea how to put any of those together to figure out what he was thinking.

All of a sudden, my mum popped her head out from the kitchen and looked at me with a huge smile. "Sweetie, you'd look great in a bikini. Now go get changed, grab your things, and go have a fun day at the beach!" She quickly disappeared again, which left me standing in front of my friends with no real option other than following her orders.

After giving Lillie a grateful smile, I hurried upstairs into my room and got undressed, putting the bikini on before slipping a pair of distressed denim shorts and a white vest with a Pokéball graphic on over the top. The perfect bag for a beach trip was conveniently sitting in the corner of my room which made me glad I still hadn't quite found a place for everything yet. I grabbed it and searched my room for everything else I'd need, filling the bag up with a towel, sun cream, and underwear, along with a few other things. I took the opportunity to freshen up a little in the bathroom, then made my way back downstairs.

When I stepped foot back into the living room, Hau looked as though he was about to burst with excitement, so it was no surprise when he grabbed his bag and began bouncing up and down on the spot. "Let's go, guys!"

Lillie and I laughed, and as we all slowly trailed out of the house, I was surprised to see even a slight smile on Gladion's face.