Pokémon Ultra Sun 2 (GladionXReader)

Chapter 7

          

"So where's Lillie?" Gladion asked, effectively stopping my banter with Hau.

"Aether Paradise," Hau said before I could. "We weren't expecting to meet up with her today, though."

I looked at Hau and moved his arm off my shoulder. "Though, with what happened with Team Sun and Gladion being back, maybe we should stop by and talk to her," she said. "We might need to go after Team Sun now after the stunt they pulled."

"Stunt?" Hau asked.

"The challenger after Gladion, the masked one?" I asked. "Did she come by you?"

"Of course she did. She wouldn't have been able to open the warp gate if she hadn't," Hau said. "Why?"

"She was a member of Team Sun."

"WHAT!?" Hau shouted.

I flinched back from his shout. "Volume," I hissed. "Yeah, she was Team Sun."

Hau sat back in his seat and just stared for a really long time. Gladion reached over and snapped his fingers in the other man's face, causing Hau to finally blink and say something.

"Damn it," he cursed. "I'm so sorry..."

"No. You don't need to apologize. She fooled all of the Elite Four," I said and put a hand on his arm lightly. "Gladion and I didn't even know who she was until she revealed herself."

Hau looked down. "I still should have known. There's not a trainer in Alola that has a team of only Alolan Pokémon."

"Hau," I said firmly. "Don't beat yourself up over this, really. It's not the end of the world. I beat her so whatever she thought she would accomplish failed. It just means that we have to go after them now. Before they try it again."

"All right..." Hau said. "Let's go get Lillie then."

"We'll use my boat at the pier," Gladion said and I looked up at him.

I gave him a smile and nodded. "All right."

"Let me just get some malasadas first," Hau said, sounding dejected.

"Same old, Hau," I said and rolled my eyes with a small smile. "Meet us at the pier, then."

Hau let me out of the booth and Gladion stood up. The two of us left Hau to order his favorite treat while we walked to the docks. It didn't take long to get there and when we arrived, I sat down at the end of the pier, looking out at the horizon. I felt Gladion walk up and stand behind me.

I leaned back on my hands and leaned my head back to look at him. His hood was up again and he looked down at me.

"Sit," I said. "You look like a creeper standing behind a defenseless woman on the docks."

"Where's the defenseless woman?" Gladion asked, but still sat down next to me.

I gave him a wounded look. "Gee, thanks," I said and sat up.

Gladion only shook his head before turning to look at the horizon, too. We sat like that, in a companionable, comfortable silence, for some time. It was nice, I had to admit. I haven't ever really had the chance to just sit with someone close to me and thing. Hau was almost always talking and I didn't see Lillie enough to actually sit with her and not talk.

But then Gladion spoke.

"So... you and Hau?" He said.

His voice was neutral and if I hadn't known any better, I would have thought he didn't care. I turned and looked at him to see he wasn't looking at me. I raised an eyebrow.

"Why do you ask?"

He looked at me then. "Just wondering," he said and gave me a half shrug.

I shook my head. "No. Hau just likes messing with me," I said.

"Oh," Gladion said and I almost thought I saw relief in his eyes. "I see."

The corners of my lips quirked up just a bit and I turned to look at the horizon again. "Why are you just wondering?" I said.

"Just curious," he said. "I'd have thought you'd have had a boyfriend by now."

"You mean in the ten years you've been gone?" I saw him nod out of the corner of my eyes. "Well... I haven't stayed single if that's what you think."

His eyes widened a faction of an inch. "So... you do have a boyfriend?"

I turned and looked at him again and shook my head. "No. Why do you care so much about that, though? You're like my Charizard."

Gladion opened his mouth to answer, but did get the chance when were heard Hau shout.

"Gladion! _____!" He said and we both turned to look at him. He was running up with an armful of malasadas and a grin on his face. "Let's get going!"

I giggled a bit and shook my head. "Same old Hau."

Gladion quirked an awkward little smile of his own and nodded. "Yeah, same old Hau."

*     *     *

The boat ride to Aether Paradise was mostly silent, except for the roar of the boats engines. Hau was happily eating his malasadas in the hull of the ship. Gladion was steering and I was standing at the front, the wind whipping through my hair. Gladion didn't pester me any more about if I had a boyfriend or not and I didn't want to distract him while he was driving to ask about why he was so curious.

I couldn't help but feel a little hopeful as to why he could have been asking. In my experience, people didn't get hung up about whether you were seeing someone unless they were interested. I found myself smiling when I thought that Gladion might have feelings for me. But then I remembered that he had been gone for ten years. A lot could have happened.

He could have left someone in another region, or even decided that, while he was gone, he wasn't interested in me. I remember Lillie mentioning to me that before Gladion left, he was in his room, trying to write out a suitable note for me to give with Silvally. I remember her laughing when she recalled that he almost wrote "Love, Gladion" before crumpling the ball of paper up and throwing it across the room. We made jokes that he didn't know how to end a letter to a friend, because honestly? He probably didn't really have friends when he was running with Team Skull.

I was so lost in thought that I didn't notice that we docked at Aether Paradise. Gladion had to walk up behind me and put a hand on my shoulder before I finally returned to my senses. I blinked a few times.

"We're here," he said.

"Oh, right, yeah," I replied and shook the thoughts from my head.

"You okay?"

I nodded. "Yeah, I was just thinking."

"About?"

"Tell ya later," I said.

Gladion nodded and his arm slid off my shoulder, down my arm and finally moved to his pocket after it passed my elbow. I mentally cursed Alola's nice weather because it meant that I ran around in sleeveless shirts and shorts so I could still feel the path his hand took, gooseflesh rising on my skin.

"Let's go then," he said and walked off the boat.

I followed behind him. He got on the docks first and offered up a hand to me, like a gentleman. I took it and walked down the rickety platform onto dry land. Hau was standing behind him looking at the two of us.

"Ready to go find Lillie?" He said.

Gladion and I nodded. "If I know her, she's probably in the mansion or the lab," Gladion said.

"Mansion," Hau said. "It's lunch time, so she'll be eating. We should check there first."

"Then lead the way Sir Know-It-All," I said and jokingly saluted.

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