let's give 'em somethin' to talk about

how about love?

Hop's arms are around her as soon as he can reach her, pulling her in for a tight embrace. Gloria wraps her arms around him as well, burying her face against his shoulder and squeezing him to her. Hop has always been so warm and has always smelled so nice, and somehow it is all the more noticeable now. She's missed him so much, and despite earlier nerves, she has no issue with holding him close like this; it just comes naturally.

"What are you doing here?" he asks, his voice low.

"I wanted to surprise you," she replies. "Did it work?"

"I'll say! Did you and Lee plan this behind my back?"

"He planned the whole thing and invited me along, but made me promise not to tell."

"I'm just...I can't believe you're here ," he breathes, and it is only when she hears soft laughter that she even remembers that Hop wasn't alone.

"Aren't you going to introduce me to your girlfriend?" Iris asks. "You haven't stopped talking about her since you got here!"

Hop stiffens, pulling back from the hug to say something, but Leon speaks up first. "Come on, let's leave them alone for a little while. I'm sure they have a lot to get caught up on." He winks as he leads his cousin away, leaving Hop and Gloria alone- mostly- for the first time in a very long time.

"Do you want to go somewhere?" Hop asks. "There are some places around here, not too far...we could hang out for a little while. I'm sure Lee can handle everything else, I mean...that might actually be expecting a lot from him, but he has Iris with him, so he should be fine."

"Yeah, let's...let's go somewhere," Gloria replies. They've spent a lot of time hanging out, but if she isn't mistaken, this is going to be their first date. Hop hasn't called it a date or anything, but if it's the first time they spend time alone together after beginning a relationship, then that makes it a date. She thinks.

"Alright, but, before that..." Hop stands in front of her, staring her down, and she doesn't know what to make of the look on his face. She doesn't know what he's thinking or what he's doing or what she's supposed to be waiting on, but this his hands are on her shoulders, and he's pulling her in again, but this time, she can tell that it isn't just for a hug.

There might be a handful of people, or even less than that, who recognize Gloria amongst the crowd, but she doubts that anyone in this airport cares that much about Galar gossip. It's unlikely that most of the people even know who they are, or the significance of their reunion, or see this as anything more than a couple seeing each other for the first time after a while apart. Certainly, no one thinks it is noteworthy enough to snap a picture or take a video of this couple reuniting.

Nobody here knows that they're witnessing the Galar champion and her former rival and best friend's first kiss.

Gloria has fantasized about kissing Hop a lot lately, though she had no experience to base her fantasies off of. As it turns out, though she could not properly imagine it, she doubts any imagination could ever measure up to the real thing, and if it were up to her, they might never stop. The kiss doesn't last very long, because of location and because they have other places to be, but she is left breathless and ecstatic, wondering it it's possible to have fallen even more in love with Hop.

He holds her hand as they leave, walking side by side until they can get a ride to the nearest town. There isn't much by the airport, but he says that there is a lot to do in town, and he can give her the grand tour of everything. When she asks him if this is where he's staying or working, he grows sheepish and admits that he actually rarely comes out here, so he might be exaggerating a little bit.

"Then we can just figure it out together," she says, causing Hop to grin, which in turn causes her to feel as though her heart might stop.

"I've missed you so much, Gloria. Talking on the phone with you, it doesn't feel like you're that far away, but not getting to see you has been torture! And now that you're here, it only makes me realize just how bad it's really been," he says. "I'm so glad you came."

"I've missed you too. It's not easy, trying to get on without my best friend," she replies, giving his hand a squeeze.

"I wish I'd told you sooner. I wish you'd told me sooner, we could have been doing this all the time!"

"We kind of have been, you know? I don't think that much will change, I mean...we already hung out all the time. Part of why I never realized I liked you was because we were already so close, I didn't feel like anything was missing," she says, though she's told him that part before. She's told him everything, especially about the moment that she realized she was in love with him.

"Well, yeah, but we couldn't always do this." And just like that, he stops in the middle of the street and kisses her again, with no concern for anyone watching. Perhaps later, when the newness has worn off, they'll have some shame regarding how sickeningly romantic they're being in public, but for now, Gloria could not be happier.

After spending so many hours on the phone, one would think they would have run out of things to talk about. After spending so many years as friends, one would think that they wouldn't have anything left to say to each other. The only times they shut up when they're together are when one of them kisses the other, which is fairly frequently, but not frequent enough to keep them silent for long.

Hop still has to work, so Gloria ends up spending some time getting to know his cousin, and spending time doing sightseeing with Leon, who pesters her quite a bit about Hop, until she turns the tables and pesters him about Sonia. There is definitely more going on there than meets the eye.

The last few days of her vacation, Hop manages to get off of work so that they can spend as much time together as possible. It is the most fun that she's ever had with Hop, and that title definitely has some stiff competition. He does stay with her in the hotel during that time, and though she knows Leon won't let hear the end of that on the flight home, she decides that it's a small price to pay.

At the end of it all, it's hard to say goodbye again, but she promises that she'll be waiting back home. "Just as long as you promise to come back," she says, and Hop laughs.

"Still afraid I'll move here and forget all about you? Not a chance! I've got big plans back home, you know. Besides, I could never leave my best friend."

And that's the best part about it all, she thinks. Everything has felt natural with him since she confessed, and their friendship hasn't seriously changed , it's just improved. Through it all, Hop is still her best friend.