Champion's childhood friend

|2|Conquer|2|

unedited

There's no way. There's no way. There's no way.
There is no way. There is no way he-
He can't be serious. Cannot cannot cannot!

You examine your friends face, looking for any trace of joking and mischief. But it's full of simple confusion. You bite your lip and slap yourself mentally.

He hasn't heard. He doesn't know about it. But how?!
Doesn't everyone... know?

You let out a small, nervous giggle, unsure of what to do in this situation. It was already bad enough when you were struggling to speak, but now things were getting out of hand, and a little weird. On both sides.

"Nice... Applin?" Hop says, basically asking if you were trying to show it off.

You can almost hear his thoughts questioning what the Leon you're meaning by this. You cringe away from him, imaging how the image of you must be declining in Hop's mind. From friend to rival to... this. The weird girl showing off her frankly completely normal Pokemon.

"You don't know?" You blurt, unable to let all your hard work (your long speech) goto waste.

"I don't know...?" Hop throws back the question.

"You don't know." You laugh nervously again, turning away from him to collect your thoughts.

"Applin... Applin..." You hear hop whispering under his breath, obviously trying to work out what your deal is.

It makes you cringe all the more, but also makes you happy that he's considering you getting hurt by a quick dismissal.

"W-well neverm-" You begin as Hop cuts you off, beaming in joy as he figures something out.

"An Applin! If given to the one you love it is said to keep you together forever!" He's so happy with his detective skills, but you can't praise him as you stand there frozen.

He's figured it out, but has he... y'know... figured it out.

"W-wait..." Hop's posture tenses, and you whirl around to face him.

"I-it's nothing, okay?! I just caught a Applin and wanted to show it to you!" You ramble, "They're a pretty cool pokemon, don't'cha think?! I really like them, haha! And that saying about them, wow, that's amazing! Maybe one day i'll confess to someone like that! Nah I'm way too nervous to do that, but I am the champion I guess! If I've managed to do that then I can do anything! Wait, no, that sounds really bad..."

"Uh... um, (Name)," Hop has an indescribable expression on his face as you meet his eyes, "Is... is this a confession?"

"WhaaAt?!" Your voice is an octave higher than normal and all your gestures exaggerated, "What made you think that?"

"...Is it?"

You bite your lip, deciding not to talk anymore. Everything that could've gone wrong has happened. This was the worst confession in confession history. You'll go down in history, if you ever tell anyone about this. Maybe you'll tell Sonia? Or complain to Leon about his brother?

You sigh, "Yes, it is, but I think I managed to stuff it up!" You run your hand through your hair, "Instead of just straight up tellin' you how I feel, I decide to use an Applin!" You laugh harshly, "I can be champ'n no worries but when it comes ta' feelin's then nope! I'am tha biggest failure!"

You groan, "Look'n see what a mess i'am," a harsh laugh escapes you, "How'm I suppos't be the champion?"

"Well, if battling you has taught me anything..." Hop looks slightly distraught as he speaks, "Is that you won't give up until you succeed..."

You blink slowly, a sad smile tugging at your lips.

"Even if you fail, you'll just try again. You'll come back even more prepared and stronger than before," Hop loses his worried expression, it turning into a confident one as he nods, "Thats the (Name) I know,"

"Somehow you managed to cheer me up while simultaneously changing the conversation topic," you smile at him, "Well, alright. If that's the case, could I get a do over?"

"Uh um sure, yeah, sure, go ahead," Hop's composure shakes.

"Ok!" You can't say this feels normal or that you aren't about to lose your nerve, but somehow Hop has managed to give you the confidence needed. Isn't that ironic?

"Hop, I've kinda always had a thing for you, it just took me a long time to realise," you end up smiling at him, "I'm so glad we grew up together and went on this amazing journey. I could never want a better person to spend my time with. So uh, I'd like to ask if you feel... the same way?"

Hop looks away quickly, a grin forming when he looks back.

"Well, it'd be kind of hard not to, after all we've gone through together,"

You beam at him, but then a new thought strikes you.

Where... do we go from here?
We're only young.

You bite your lip, "I'm so happy! But... i'm not sure what to do now?"

Hop nods furiously, starting to laugh, "Yeah, me either, mate,"

You decide in that moment to stop worrying, just to go along with the flow. Maybe you can't do much now, but you're sure your feelings will never change.

"Okay... So, Hop, would you mind being my personal gym trainer? I'm sure we could implement it,"

"Wait till Leon gets an ear of this! Along with the gym challengers, too,"

You both smile at each other, and as you walk out of the slumbering weald you end up holding hands. Unable to wipe the pure joy off your expressions.

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Let's both do our best to never seperate!