Chapter 0 - because it's comfortable

“Every time…” Hop says, sounding exhausted. After running into her on the road and challenging her to a battle, and after getting defeated again (though it was rather close), Gloria has set up camp and invited him to stick around for a little while. It’s getting dark, and his Pokemon are worn out from the fight, so she suggests that resting with her and having a good dinner might help them heal up enough, rather than him trying to find his way to the nearest center in the dark.

“Are you still on about that?” she asks teasingly. Dinner has been cleared up, and their Pokemon have already fallen asleep, so now it’s just the two of them, sitting side by side just outside her tent.

“It was a close match, I think!” Hop replies, and she laughs, not because it’s funny, but because it’s true, and he won’t let her hear the end of it.

“Still, you manage to thrash me in the end, every time. One of these days, I’m going to leave you in my dust!” It’s the same stuff he always says, and Gloria can’t help but smile at him. Hop is still Hop, no matter what happens, and that is a comfort. Traveling away from home can be stressful at times, so she’s always happy to see his familiar face. There are times when she wishes that they could just travel together, but since they’re supposed to be rivals, she’s sure that wouldn’t work out.

“If you say so.” He makes himself so easy to tease about this that it’s hard to resist, and soon enough, he’s on another tangent about how he’s going to take her down so that he can face his brother, and that he’s glad she’s so formidable cos it will only make reaching his goal that much more rewarding, and so on and so forth. Hop is always Hop, and Gloria is glad that that one thing will never change.

A lot of things have changed lately, but that comes with the territory of leaving home for the first time, and seeing parts of the world she’s only ever seen on TV. But it isn’t just all the sights, it isn’t the adventure or the gym battles or the other rivals she’s met along the way. There’s a change that comes regarding Hop, though maybe it isn’t a change so much as it is a realization. She’s grown so used to seeing him every single day in Postwick, her best friend and neighbor, that it’s only when her heart skips a beat when she happens to run into him on the road that it begins to dawn on her that, while Hop is always Hop, that might mean something other than what she originally thought.

Which is to say, she might actually be more attracted to her best friend and neighbor than originally planned.

Tonight, the mood is somehow perfect for this, though she can’t explain why, or why she feels so suddenly encouraged to do things differently. They’re both pretty worn out from a long day too, and he’s agreed to set up camp here with her, but hasn’t even attempted to set up his own tent yet, and while he’s sitting next to her, rambling on and on and on , she can’t help but scoot a little closer, and lay her head on his shoulder.

That shuts him up, but only for a moment, and then he’s saying, “Um, Gloria? Are you...getting tired or something?”

“Just wanted to be a little closer,” she says. “I missed you, Hop.”

“Missed me? W-well, you just saw me a couple days ago, but…”

“But we used to see each other every day,” she replies. “And now we don’t, and I didn’t know I’d miss you this much, but I’m always so happy to be with you, even for a little while...”

“Gloria?” He sounds like he’s having a hard time catching his breath, and she lifts her head to meet his gaze.

“Yeah?”

“You’re not saying you fancy me, or anything like that...right? This is just...well, obviously this is just...a rival thing, right?”

“What if that is what I’m saying?” she asks. “What if I was saying a whole lot more than that?”

“You’re not serious, are you?!” He’s so loud and surprised and for a moment, she thinks she’s made a mistake, and that he isn’t happy to hear this at all. But then a huge grin breaks out across his face and he says, “All these years, and you’re just now telling me? Aw, I always wanted to say something, but then, if you didn’t…”

Gloria thinks about telling him that she only recently realized, and thinks about telling him that, if he had confessed sooner, she might have figured it out then, but instead, she leans forward, closing the distance between them so that she can kiss him, and that’s all Hop needs to finally shut up. It’s been a long time coming, and tonight seems the perfect night for it as the two young trainers simultaneously decide to throw caution to the wind, and simply go along with what it is that their bodies want.

Neither of them have ever kissed before, but they both find their way through it together, until Hop has nearly pushed Gloria to the ground. That is when they decide to relocate inside her tent, and she wonders if it was his decision to not put his own up yet that encouraged her to act on her feelings. The idea of it getting too late and him having simply no choice but to share hers…
Well, it looks like that’s going to be happening either way.

They face opposite directions as they undress, both feeling a little unsure, but not so much so that either suggests they stop. Hop turns around first, so that when Gloria does, they’re face to face, and she opens her mouth to say something, but she can’t find anything to say. Instead, Hop mumbles, “You’re really beautiful,” in a voice that she can hardly hear.

He kisses her again, and this time, she lets him push her to the ground, until he’s on top of her. She knows what she wants from him but isn’t sure what she’s supposed to do now. There have been nights spent pleasuring herself with no real goal in mind, all those times that she didn’t realize Hop was the one she wanted, but that doesn’t give her the experience necessary for this. There is a long pause after they break the kiss, with her looking up at him, and Hop looking down at her, before he breaks the silence again.

“Don’t want to sound too much like my brother here, but...I’m totally lost,” he confesses, and she can’t help it; she bursts out laughing, and Hop winces. “You don’t have to make fun of me!”

“Hey, you’re the one who made a joke!” she argues. “I really don’t know what to do either. I mean, I know what to do , but I don’t really know…”

“Yeah,” he agrees. “I don’t want to do anything to hurt you, but…”

They remain like that for a long time before they both sit up, and both start laughing. Gloria lays her head on his shoulder again and says, “At least I’m figuring this out with you. I don’t know if I’d ever be this comfortable with someone else.”

“I wouldn’t want you to figure it out with anyone else,” he replies, and her heart feels like it catches in her throat. Hop is still Hop, but then he says things like that , and she realizes just how different her feelings have become, all without her noticing.

“I can maybe...show you what I do?” she suggests, blushing as she says it. Hop looks away, silent for a moment, clearly as flustered as she is.

“M-me too? We could just...do that, if you want?”

They both agree on it, deciding it might be easier to figure out each other’s bodies and habits, likes and dislikes, before they take it further. There’s a silent agreement that this will be far from the last time this happens, and that they will have plenty of time to take things further, rather than going all the way immediately after confessing. Maybe a date should have come first too, but Gloria certainly isn’t complaining.

She pleasures herself first, closing her eyes because she feels awkward having him watch, but as she starts to get into it, that feeling begins to fade. After a moment of letting him see what it is that she does, she guides his hand to where hers was, holding in place for a moment before Hop, stammering a sentence he never quite gets out, starts to finger her, emulating the actions she demonstrated.

And Hop, as it turns out, is a quick study. Soon enough, he’s fit a finger inside of her and she’s unable to stop herself from moaning for him, causing him to stammer again, but this time, he manages to actually say something. “S-so, do you want...is it your turn?”

She doesn’t admit how curious she is, how much she’s wanted to touch him all this time, and how hard it has been to keep from gawking at him. It’s the first time she’s ever been with anyone like this, and again, she’s glad that it’s Hop because, as nervous as she is with him, she hates to imagine how difficult it would be with someone else. All she does is nod, before saying, “I-I think I kind of know what to do, do you just want me to try?” She’s so breathless that it’s hard to speak.

Eyes widening, Hop nods quickly, his hand pausing for a moment before he remembers, and starts back up. Gloria reaches her own hand over, wrapping it around the base of his cock, and Hop hisses, his eyes drifting closed. His movements falter as she begins to move her hand, but he always remembers to pick back up, until she’s working her hand up and down in a steady rhythm, earning low yet frantic moans from her best friend.

His body betrays him quickly, not allowing him much time to enjoy this before her steady strokes become too much for him, and once she picks up a little bit of speed, it’s already all over for him. With a sharp moan, he comes, his hand going still again as he does, until he starts to recover. Gloria waits patiently for that- or at least as patiently as she can, though she does start to grind against his hand after a moment, and that snaps him out of his daze.

It takes him a little while longer to finish her off, but he is persistent to the end, until he has her crying out for him, her body tensing then relaxing with one last, breathy moan. The two of them slump against each other, before Gloria suggests that they lay back down. Hop agrees, completely exhausted now, and she gets out her sleeping bag so that the two of them can wiggle in together. It’s a tight fit, but it’s comfortable, and it’s Hop, and as they fall asleep together, she secretly hopes that it can be like this every night.

Tomorrow, she’s going to ask him if they can travel together, rivalry be damned. 

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