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The hospital is hauntingly empty at this hour. His steps are a murmur against the polished marble floor, resonating through the wide corridor he walks in. Gladion is but a presence in the vacant white place, not much different from Aether Paradise but so much more sanitized and too silent to his liking.
Gladion has never liked hospitals. Even when he was a kid and had to take his vaccines and any medicines necessary, hospitals always put a knot in his stomach. Too many doctors and too many possibilities for things to go wrong.
But as far as he knows, nothing has gone wrong tonight, and as he sees Moon at the end of the hallway, standing before the glass, he is relieved to know everything is fine.
She picks up the noise of his steps. "There you are. I thought you wouldn't make it here tonight."
Gladion's steps come to a halt by her side. She turns again to look at the room behind the glass, all painted in white and blue. "Things got busy in Aether Paradise. I was in a meeting when Hau called me."
She nods, for she believes him when he says that. As much as Gladion loves Lillie and he would have liked to be here for the birth of his niece, he had only been able to rush out of Aether an hour ago. So when he arrived at the hospital, he had been told Lillie was resting and that only a friend of hers remained– that friend being Moon, of course.
Her arms are closed and her back appears to be tense. She must be tired, he assumes. "Lillie knows you were busy. She will be happy to see you tomorrow."
"I will still apologize. I'm not particularly happy about missing such a milestone in my sister's life."
Moon chuckles under her breath, as if not to disturb the sacramental silence in the corridor. "It was a pretty messy situation. Lillie wouldn't stop screaming but when it was over, she started crying when she saw the baby. Hau almost passed out seeing so much blood, but he was another big crybaby, let me tell you." Moon points at a spot in the neonatal unit, where a little baby with orange clothes sleeps. "It's that little bundle there. A girl."
Gladion tries to squint to make more out of the baby, but he can only see her tanned skin and round feet. Considering Lillie and Hau's genes, she will for sure be cute. "Did they settle on a name?"
"They have thrown some suggestions here and there, but Lillie was in no state to talk about that. I think they talked about names at some point, and Hau told me they would settle with Kala, maybe."
The President takes a pause. Mouthes the name, as if seeing how it rolls off his lips. She observes him from the corner of her eyes, smiling, seeing the satisfaction in his features. Just as much as it's a great day for Lillie, it is also for Gladion.
"That's a nice name." Moon hums in agreement, her eyes still watching the room absent-mindedly. "Did you get to hold her?"
"Just for a while. I'm not clumsy but… I was also sort of crying my eyes out. I was scared of dropping her."
Gladion chuckles, hands in his pockets. He is still wearing his white long coat with the Aether pin. He has probably not had time to change into his usual black one. "I wouldn't want to be the baby, then. Hopefully, you don't drop your child when you have one."
Such statement elicits a confused pause out of her, who turns to him in blunt askance. "What do you mean?"
He stares back at her with twice the puzzlement. Gladion isn't sure what there is to explain, and gulps as he looks for the right words to say. "Well, I figure you will have a baby someday, won't you?"
Which doesn't come from his want to have children. And it definitely doesn't come from his want to have kids with her, if the future ever grants him the possibility to be with her. It's not like he has been subtle about his affections, so he guesses that she must know how he feels. And considering they are very much tiptoeing around not-so-platonic flirting lately, he wants to think his feelings are reciprocated.
That being said, Moon is a bit dense. Clever, but very oblivious. He is aware that love is not a priority in her life – nor is it in his – but she is oblivious of it to a fault. She has a lot to do with the League under her belt, and if he recalls correctly, she will be going to Kalos in a few weeks.
Moon is a busy woman. Much like him. But he might be a bit more lenient in the love department than she is. Or at least, that's what she is making herself appear to be.
The pause has stretched itself enough for him to think she has no answer to his question, but she suddenly speaks with a sigh.
"It has never been in my mind to have kids, and I don't think I'm family material at all." She shrugs, appearing nonchalant until her eyes flicker to the room through the glass and her eyes soften, betraying an inner need, or insecurity, he's not sure. "Besides… it's not like…"
She trails off into an incomprehensible murmur he can't hear. "What was that?"
Moon's shoulders tense, and so does her jaw as she clenches her jaw in frustration. Standing beside him, she turns her face so he can't see her expression– or, so she can't see his. She crosses her arms. "It's not like I will have anyone to create a family with."
Something falls down his stomach and right through his whole being at how forlorn her voice is, quiet and inhibited. Moon is not one to look this small and this insecure about anything, because everyone is used to seeing her win and conquer everything she wants in the battlefield– hell, she had taken down all higher-ups of Aether Paradise all those years ago, as well as Rainbow Rocket Team way back.
It had never occurred to him that Moon also had small insecurities like these. It almost makes her humbler, even more human than before.
Maybe it's not an insecurity per se but she seems withdrawn enough by her own words for him to worry, so he takes a cautionary step closer to her. "Why would you say that?"
Her body stiffens, taking notice of his sudden proximity, but she doesn't complain. "I'm… very busy. And everyone is moving on and getting a family of their own. At this point, I don't think I will get one either."
A chuckle. "Moon, you are 25."
"It's still a bit late," Moon insists, crossing her arms even tighter. "And I don't think I'll ever find a partner to do that with"
Gladion hears her murmur something like 'Not with the man I want, at least' but he chooses to save himself from overthinking what that could mean. His green eyes take in her disheveled hair, the pale light bathing over her and how she stares at the room almost in longing. As if she actually wanted a family just like him.
Without thinking, he reaches out to tuck a strand of her hair into place, causing her to turn slowly as if he was calling for her. "I'm single, too, you know. And you don't see me being so negative about it."
If she takes offense for the jab she doesn't say, but her expression turns a bit sour nonetheless. "I always assumed you would be too busy to even think about kids."
Gladion arches an eyebrow. "Doesn't it fit me to want children?"
"It's not about whether it fits you or not, I just always see you worrying about work more than anything else." A pause. "Well, other than Lillie, I guess."
The blond regards her with skepticism. "I have many more priorities than Lillie and work, you know."
His green eyes stare at her intently, meaningfully, and she stares back with blinking eyes full of wonder and mild confusion, holding her breath until she seems to catch on and sharply inhales with widening eyes. When she turns again, Moon has a small smile on her face and is staring at anything but him.
He would be proud of embarrassing her this much if it weren't for the serious topic at hand.
"It hasn't really crossed my mind either, having children," Gladion continues, eyes turning to the neonatal unit behind the glass again. "But I wouldn't mind having a pair. Maybe a girl and a boy."
Moon smirks and eyes him playfully. "You would spoil them rotten, knowing you."
"Says the girl who bought Mallow's daughter a sack full of candies."
"They were sugar-free! And very tasty. I couldn't help myself when I came back from Johto."
Gladion remembers that day very clearly. It was during the kid's birthday that Moon came back from a business trip to Johto, and she had presents. Mallow's kid, Belly, had only been two years old and could barely chew, but that had not prevented Moon from giving her a sack half her stature full of varieties of candies from the region.
It's very likely Mallow had been the one to eat them all in the end – because the captain admitted they were delicious – but Moon beamed at the child's joy at such a present.
Smiling at her fondly, he wonders if she would be the same with a child of her own, showering the kid with presents and smiles and all sorts of love.
He wonders if she would be the same with a child of their own.
"Hey," Moon turns to him, head tilted. "Let's make a deal. If we are still single when we are, say, 28 years old, let's get married and have a baby."
Gladion expects her to be surprised or maybe pissed off at his uncanny offer, but she is surprisingly amused by his antics. "That's ridiculous." Moon, however, seems to give it some thought. "And so soon! Why only three years?"
"As you said, you feel like it's too late already. I'm just showing you it is never too late." Gladion speaks seriously, no jokes on his side. "And I wouldn't want to keep you waiting until you are 80 and wrinkling."
That had been a joke, and it makes her giggle as expected. "Do you think you will find someone in three years?"
"It's only a safeguard. And you haven't accepted yet."
He says it as if she is his last choice, even though she is anything but that. And they talk about it as if it is a friendly request, no matter the seriousness in his offer. As if it's platonic, as if the thought of getting married and having children didn't send thrills down their backs.
Moon keeps herself silent for what seems like minutes but is only a few seconds where he grows restless, waiting.
"If we're having a girl," Moon hypothesizes, earning his attention, "we're calling her Leilani."
Gladion gives the name a try, mouthing it and smiling as he nods. "Okay."
"And if it's a boy," the Champion pauses, mulling over her choice of words, "we're calling him John."
That name strikes a resemblance in his memory, making him turn to her further in questioning, finding her smiling at him softly, hands behind her back. "John?"
"It wasn't my first choice," Moon breathes. "I thought that calling him after your father would be nice, but I also thought that maybe you wouldn't want to be reminded of him either, so I chose a middle ground."
She speaks at a quicker pace like she's unwinding something that she has been mulling over for a long while. It dawns on Gladion that she has put thought into this, and it warms his heart to know she is so considerate even when this deal is supposed to be just a platonic thing that neither would need to stick to.
He gazes at her gently, a subtle smile itching at his lips as he turns to the glass again. "Alright. John it is."
In the way she huffs and puffs her chest, Moon looks proud of herself and very satisfied with the outcome. "Good. I'll be calling it a day, then, I'm exhausted." She stretches her arms as she ambles away from him. A satisfying crack comes out of her back. "Don't forget our deal, President. I will definitely remember it."
Gladion chuckles to himself, watching her turn and wave at him as she begins to walk away. "No need for concern. Trust me, I won't forget."
She nods, her beanie bobbing up and down, humming in approval.
"But you know, Gladion," she calls as she is leaving, turning her head to look at him over her shoulder. "If you wanted to ask me out on a date, there are way less complicated ways to do it instead of using deals like these."
Notion dawns on him. Drips down his head in subtle realization, his own eyes widening before he crosses his own arms and looks at the nursery again, a complacent smile of his own showing up.
"I'll definitely take that into account."
The pact, in the end, is useless. And they need a bit more than three years for their plan to come to a blissful conclusion after 4 years of relationship.
Moon has a baby at age 29 with a crying Gladion at age 30.
And they name him John.