Archive of Our Own ^beta

day 143 - present

 day 0 

Hop is sure that Bede hates him. 

It’s not that he cares or anything. It’s just that as he’s sitting in the Pokemon Center, idling about and trying to configure a team (for the seventeenth time), it suddenly strikes him that not everybody likes him. Gloria probably likes him enough, as a friend, but he knows Bede has a less than positive opinion of him. Not just of his training, or of his Pokemon, but Bede probably hates him as a whole. He’s loud and overly optimistic and he shoved his arrogance in everyone’s faces. No, it would be no wonder if Bede thinks he’s some kind of super loser. 

You’re the Champion’s little brother, right? I’ll tell you something. Quit while you’re still in the clear. As it is now, it’s only a matter of time before your good big brother’s name gets dragged through the mud by your rubbish battling-

He’d wanted to cry. In fact, he still wants to cry, thinking back on it, and he did cry when telling Gloria about the ordeal. 

And now, he stares at the PC, debating between a Rookidee or a Boltund or a Chewtle or just anything that won’t make him such a massive loser. 

It’s definitely his own fault and not the Pokemon’s, though. There’s really nothing he can do to change it, and yet he’s still here, trying and failing to just choose . 

Lee had always said that he learned something from every battle he was ever in. Hop tries hard to think.

He can’t concentrate, and he feels as if there are eyes on him. It makes sense; he’d been standing at the PC for about fifteen minutes now, and he hadn’t made a single move. There’s obviously going to be people waiting on him.

He’s suddenly overcome with an urgency, and his mind closes up even further. He can’t just stop here. 

He opens up his Rotom Phone. Lee is definitely busy, but Gloria would probably be resting off somewhere in a cafe. What was her number again?

He clumsily dials a slew of numbers and types in the first message that comes to mind. Good type suggestions for a balanced team? already taking my Wooloo into account, of course

He thinks that may have been when it all started.

day 154 - present

day 29

Bede can’t recall every being a crybaby, but Rose said that back when he had first been taken in, he had cried nearly every day.

He was four back then, and he know that logically he should be able to remember, but his brain is a big mess of team buildups and the League Challenge and how to best serve Chairman Rose. So, he can’t ever recall a time he had cried.

Which is why he’s so surprised to find hot tears falling onto his palm as he hides in an alleyway of Stow-On-Side. There’s a gaping hole in his chest, weirdly enough, one he hasn’t ever recalled to feel, either. 

He chokes on nothing, and suddenly wishes that he had a Pokemon or even a human friend that he could lay his shoulder on, cry on, and it’s in this moment that he realizes he’s only ever had Chairman Rose. His Pokemon, his purpose, and his agenda were all handed out to him by that man. 

And yet, Chairman Rose is the one who just took away everything from him.

Or maybe he took it all away from himself. He doesn’t know, but he’s certainly never been this lonely before. 

Is it that he’s never been lonely, or is it that this is the only time he really realizes he’s alone? 

There’s no one he can talk to, and it’d be pathetic to just run after Chairman Rose now. He buries his head in his legs (just like Rose said he did as a kid) and tries to make himself look as small as he can. Stupid. He can’t really make himself smaller. It’s so futile he has to laugh, really. And stupid that he listened to that Oleana lady and tried to to destroy the mural. He should’ve listened to Chairman Rose. He had felt indignant, that the Chairman was mad at him for trying to help, but thinking back, that was the stupidest way he could’ve handled the situation. 

His mind is a symphony of stupid, stupid, stupid . Stupidly, he pulls out his phone. He almost has to laugh. Who is he going to talk to? His only contacts are Chairman Rose and Oleana. They’re the only people he’s every needed to contact. It's so utterly stupid of him. 

Wait. 

There’s a third contact on his Rotom Phone.

It’s an unsaved number, so he has no idea who it is, but through his tear-filled eyes and heavy heart and sudden impulse he presses it and types in the first thing he thinks. I hate everything.

He stares at his phone expectantly, and when no reply appears, he feels like crushing his phone with his hands. 

He’s about to shut it off and mope for the next five minutes when a bright orange text bubble appears on the screen.

Mate, are you okay?

Now he actually feels like crushing his phone. Does this stranger think he’s okay? It’s so stupid; he literally just sent a message saying ‘I hate everything’.

So he texts back. No. 

And then, a second later, when his heart aches for human interaction and he can no longer shoulder his pride to wait for a response, he types, My surrogate father essentially just dumped me.

He doesn’t want to give away too many details. He’s made a big name for himself in the Gym Challenge so far, and any further information would reveal his identity. He definitely does not want that for himself, not now, not ever.

He doesn’t have to wait long for a reply. That sucks, mate : [

And, do you wanna talk about it?

He thinks that may have been when it all started.

day 101 - present

day 33

day 106 - present

day 39

day 149 - present

day 45

day 96 - present

day 50

day 97 - present

day 54

day 79

day 80

“Hop’s missing. Can you help us find him?”

Bede is in disbelief that he was one of the people Leon thought to call for the job. “Why me? Don’t you have the other gym leaders and Opal?”

“You’re young, capable, and familiar with a lot of Galar. Please just look. For my sake.”

Bede mulls over his options. The Chairman would want you to help, a familiar voice in his head chastises, and he crushes that thought down because you don’t belong to Chairman Rose anymore. But, if it were his own choice, and not the Chairman’s… 

It’d be the right thing to do. It would show that he’d grown past being a selfish little boy with his head in the clouds. It’s his duty as the future gym leader of Ballonlea. 

“Alright, I’ll search the area around Glimwood Tangle,” he responds, and Leon breaths a sigh of relief. “Thanks,” he says, before he hangs up, and the telltale click and beep sounds as the line goes off. 

Bede snaps his pokeballs around his waist (Opal had given him one of those Pokeball belts, like all the other Gym Leaders had) and heads out.

Glimwood Tangle is just as ambient as every other time he’d come to train. From the corner of his eye, there’s a stray Impish hiding behind a glowing mushroom. A phantump floats curiously from behind a tree. He pays them no mind.

He walks for thirty minutes, and he’s about to give up and tell Leon that his brother is a lost cause when he suddenly-

Oof.

His feet stumble over a tree branch, and when he looks up a second later he realizes that it wasn’t a tree branch at all. It’s an outstretched leg belonging to one Hop.

He groans, because he can, and because someone needs to hear how frustrated he is about this whole situation. “Oh, so this is where you were hiding. Come on. Get up.”

There’s no answer, and he has to admit that now, as much as he is peeved, he is confused. What is Hop, an accomplished trainer endorsed by the Champion, doing out here, hiding in the Glimwood Tangle? It’s unlikely, and it’s the very reason why he nearly declined to search in the first place. 

So he tries again. “Hey, Hop.” There’s no answer, and he’s about to lean down and tell him to get over himself when he notices that Hop’s entire body is trembling, wracked with invisible sobs.

Oh, no. The situation has just made itself one hundred percent more awkward. What is he supposed to do when someone’s crying in front of him? A peer, no less? He curses his lack of social interaction. 

He reaches a hand out, and pulls it back. They’re stuck in a limbo now, Bede oblivious to what to do, and Hop curled up in a dark forest, like he’s trying to shut everything out, to become smaller than what he really is. Belatedly, Bede realizes he’s been in this exact situation before.

What had gotten him out of it? If he can figure that out, maybe he can get Hop to get out and go back to his brother. 

He remembers the texts he’d gotten, from a kind and well-meaning stranger.

His body moves on autopilot. He crouches down next to Hop, just like how he’d imagine his anonymous friend doing with him sometimes, and asks, “Hey. Are you okay?”

Maybe not the most tactful way he could’ve phrased it, but it was a start.

Hop is still crying his silent tears. Bede presses on. “Do you want to talk about it?”

Hop buries himself deeper, pulling his other leg inward.

Bede’s beginning to grow desperate. He begins to just talk . “Well, everybody has bad days, right? But, um. Maybe you could’ve picked a better place to cry than this dump. You just don’t get it. I have to run laps around here every day for my training, you know.”

No response. 

“But you know, um.” He thinks back to what his partner had said to him, way back when. I mean, I know what it’s like! To feel lower than the low and like I’m never ever a help to anyone.

He had to swallow his pride if he wanted to say that. Saying it meant admitting that… he… 

He opens his mouth. He has to do this. If he wants to make Hop feel well enough to get out and walk out of the forest with him, and if he wants to get over everything he’d built up over the years of neglect and Chairman Rose. “A-”

Hop suddenly shifts, and Bede can feel the words dying on his tongue. And when Hop lifts his head up to meet his face, Bede’s entire body is paralyzed.

His eyes are red, and there are deep, deep bags under them. In short, he looks like he’s replaced sleeping in his schedule for crying.

Hop takes a shivery breath, and Bede is still just crouching there, unaware of what do do.

Hop’s lips quiver, but he finally works up the courage to speak. “Why are you being so nice to me?”

Bede’s brain short-circuits. He says the first thing that comes to mind. “What?”

Hop’s eyes have a wild quality to them; not quite angry, just a deep, deep sadness. “You hate me. You think I’m weak. Why are you doing this?”

Oh.

And in the next second, Bede says something that, in a retrospect, a big mistake.

“Your brother told me to.”

Their conversation doesn’t last long after that. 

day 81

day 82

day 86

"You're distracted," Opal says out of the blue one day.

Bede doesn't think so. He's been focusing on fairy-types twenty-four seven. He wishes the gran would give him some credit.

Opal sighs. "It's because of that Hop boy, isn't it?"

Bede tries to ignore the beating of his heart as a reaction to the too-accurate remark, and instead stalks off.

day 99

day 100

“You need to be more confident in yourself and less reliant on my praise,” Opal chastises.

Bede’s entire face flushes red. “W-what!? Who says I’m reliant on your praise?”

Opal just purses her lips and shakes her head slowly.

day 122

day 121

day 132

day 138

day 166

day 190

day 223

day 225

day 229

day 242

Bede can’t be all alone again. 

When Leon calls him to tell him that Hop has gone missing again, he nearly screams through the phone. Don’t you understand? He wants to yell. I may have just lost my only friend.  

Leon sounds just as worse for wear as he does, though, so he concedes. He’ll look for Hop. Anything to distract him from the yearning and loneliness bubbling up inside of him.

There’s a week until the Championship. He knows he initially came to Wyndon to challenge Gloria in the finals, but there’s no more dedication to that goal. Now, his mind is a mess of thoughts, past texts, future ones he wants to experience.

He finds himself wandering past Rose Tower, a symbol of all he’s lost and gained. He wants to throw up.

Messily, he stumbles his way past the tourists and locals hanging out in front of it. He wants to get out of here as fast as he can.

He walks in long strides for a little while, and he comes to a quiet, secluded edge of the Tower’s plaza. He looks out, and he can see all of Wyndon. 

Even from the bottom of Rose Tower, the sight is vast.

He’s so busy looking at the view, the tremendous city bursting to the core with excitement, that he doesn’t notice the figure sitting on the ground next to him until it clears its throat.

“Ahem.” 

Bede’s head whips over to the source of the sound. It’s Hop. His hands hug his knees protectively, and he’s looking out at the scenery of Wyndon, just like Bede had been doing.

He’s sitting dangerously close to the edge, and Bede’s not sure if moving closer would be a good idea right now. They’re silent for a couple beats, until Hop laughs.

“I’m not going to throw myself off the edge, you know.” 

Bede breathes a sigh of relief. “I knew that.”

“Uh huh.”

There’s a cynical quality to his voice now, something that sounds bitter and harsh. Bede is not sure he likes it; but then again, he’s never really given a second thought to Hop.

He thinks back to their disastrous conversation in the Glimwood Tangle. Should he try something new this time?

Apparently he doesn’t need to, though, because Hop keeps talking. “I’m really useless, you know? Gloria’s going up in the Championship Semifinals next week. And she’ll probably do amazing, too. She’s an incredible trainer.”

Hop’s eyes are still looking somewhere far, far away. “I’ve never beaten her once.”

Hop curls in tighter on himself. “And this entire grand journey I’ve been having. I keep going on and on about becoming the new legend, or whatever silly analogy like that.” He scoffs. “But all I’ve ever done is get in people’s way. I haven’t done a single useful thing.”

Bede wants to interject. He’s just not sure what he’d say.

“I can’t talk to Gloria. She’ll just say I’m silly and that I’m her greatest rival. But if I haven’t even beaten her… then what’s the point? I don’t want to chase her forever.”

This all sounds so familiar.

“I can’t talk to Leon, either. Not on my life. I can’t distract my big brother with these negative thoughts. And if people see him talking to me, a horrible trainer, his reputation will be ruined, too.”

Bede can’t put his finger on it.

“And organizing this whole search party for me… That is what he’s doing, right? It’s so unnecessary.”

“I could disappear completely, and no one would even think about it.”

Bede can’t hold his tongue any longer. “What happened?”

Hop gives him a confused look. “What?”

“You’re usually brimming with confidence, aren’t you? Why would you go into hiding like this, unless someone said something? You’re a capable and accomplished trainer. You’ve made it to the semifinals. You’re Leons-”

He gulps, and realizes that mentioning Leon might not be the smartest move at this moment. He can feel Hop’s eyes boring into him. After a minute of unbearable silence (Bede can feel himself sweating; it’s extremely uncomfortable), Hop speaks.

“You’ve gotten a lot nicer. Less prideful.”

Not what he had expected.

Hop closes his eyes. Bede thinks he almost looks peaceful now. “Sorry for dumping all this stuff onto you.”

Bede’s response is automatic. It’s the same response he always gave to Dande. “You don’t have to say sorry. Anytime.”

Hop still looks discontented. Bede thinks back to the Glimwood Tangle, and all the things he didn’t say. 

He says them.

I know what it’s like to feel like I’m the lowest of the low. That nobody cares about me. That I’m weak. I’ve thought that for a lot of my life, and even when I thought i was saved by my knight in shining armor, I still felt inadequate. It wasn’t real, and I was always trying to prove myself. 

Everyone grows past it when they have someone by their side, helping them and cheering them on.

You’re not alone. The worst feeling in the world is the feeling that there’s no one out there for you, and it’s just you amidst a sea of strangers. But I feel just as you do, and you can always talk to me. 

The words flow out of him naturally, like he was born to say them, and he realizes the impact Dande has had on his life over the past eight months. He’s grown into someone kinder, someone less lonely, and someone less willing to guard himself forever and ever and more willing to give himself to the world.

He’s almost forgotten that Dande hasn’t talked to him in weeks. And when he remembers, he looks at Hop’s figure next to him, just as lonely and sad as he is, and thinks that maybe the world brings like and like together.

So he sits, and Hop is sitting, and they sit together in silence at the edge of the world, peering across the expanse as the sun sets and despite the clouds the stars still rise up to shine above them. It’s all so much, and they soak it up knowing they can’t get enough of it.

And in that moment, Bede thinks the world has never been so big. 

day 243

day 250

It’s the Championship Semifinals. And not a day too late.

Bede nearly jumps out of his seat with nervous energy. Gloria had to win this. But then, guiltily, he remembers Dande. Who should he root for? His best friend, or his pride?

He almost smacks himself when he has that thought. Shouldn’t it be obvious?

So he cheers as the remaining four people walk out into the harsh spotlight of the stadium.

He scans over the people present. Gloria is there, obviously, and so is that punk girl who’s been making the news. Pier’s sibling, is she not? And then there’s a trainer he’s never seen before, a girl, and lastly, Hop.

He’s a little surprised that he’s there, actually, after their debacle a week ago, but Hop seems just as happy as ever, basking in the attention the stands are throwing at him. 

Bede knows that out of these four, one of them is Dande.

He pours over his choices. Gloria can’t be it. She’s always training or exercising off somewhere, and he doubts she’d have as much time to text him. Marnie might be it, but choosing Dande as a username? She’d be more likely to pick something closer to her, like Morpeko. The girl he’s never seen before… it could be her, but he’d always been pretty sure Dande was a guy.

And then, Hop. Butterfrees explode in Bede’s stomach when this possibility pops up in his mind. He hadn't even imagined it.There’s no way it’s him. 

The same cheerful demeanor, issues with self-esteem, they go missing at the same times-

He forces himself not to think further. 

The Semifinals go on, and Gloria wins against Marnie. He sends a quick text to Dande. How’re you holding up?

He can’t wait for a response, though, because the next match starts almost immediately. 

Hop and the other girl walk out onto the field, and Bede’s heart has never pounded harder. 

The battle barely lasts five minutes. Hop’s Wooloo Double-Edges the other girl’s entire team, and he wonders how Hop could have ever doubted himself. 

But… then this means… 

Did Dande win or lose? He’s not sure which answer would please him more.

Amidst the wild cheering and confetti, he pulls out his Rotom Phone. There’s a cold sweat all over his body. 

On his phone, there’s one bright orange message, one that permanently burns itself into his brain.

Just won the Semifinals round, mate! I guess you know who I am now, huh?

Hop. Hop. Hop.

And a laughter bubbles up in him. Of course it’s the guy he bullied. Of course it’s the guy who hates him.

But then, a different kind of laugher rises. He doesn’t think any differently of Dande, he doesn’t hate him now, he isn’t annoyed by him any more than he was in their talks at the dead of night. It doesn’t matter who Dande is in real life, because he’s Dande, and he’s Bede’s best friend, and he’s known this all along so why was he so nervous?

It’s an exhilarating match. Hop’s pokemon go down, one by one, as Gloria’s team is whittled, too. On Hop’s last pokemon, he Dynamaxes, and the sight of his Rillaboom, towering over everyone in the stadium, is enough to make the biggest smile break out on Bede’s face. A stray leaf from the Dynamax hits him, and he laughs, wild and joyous. 

And when Rillaboom falls and the stadium shakes, the entire crowd roars, and Bede thinks he has never cheered so loud.

day 251

The stadium is so loud. Bede can hear cheers for Gloria, for the Gym Leaders, and for Leon. There are no cheers for him - none yet.

He doesn’t know why he hasn’t texted Dande (should he still call him Dande?) about being in the Finals yet. Maybe he wants to tell him who he is in person. Or maybe he wants to focus on this one match with Gloria, without turmoil.

Then, tonight, as a winner, he can go and meet Hop. Or he can go as a prideful loser, one who has finally gotten himself out of the hellhole that is training for the next Fairy-Type Gym Leader.

He thinks that this is what he was working for, what he was putting all his energy to, fighting Gloria and reclaiming everything he’d lost, showing off his growth and his pride. 

And yet, he really could not stop thinking about Hop. It was so ridiculous. 

He steels himself. No matter how much he thinks about Hop, one truth will remain. This is for himself, and he’ll win for himself. 

He thinks back to his life, foggy memories and clear ones, old ones and new ones, happy ones and sad ones. He thinks back to his times at the orphanage, where he was the laughing stock of the playground. He thinks back to working for Rose, and the undying need to prove himself and the self-loathing that stuck to him like a magnet. He thinks back to first meeting Hop, that one fateful day, when he learned how to be kind.

He takes a deep breath. His life doesn’t culminate to this moment, but his rebirth does.

One. Two. Three.

Bede takes his first step out to the stadium.

It feels lighter than it ever has.

Bede gets beaten horribly, obviously.

After he loses, he’s ready to quit Fairy-Type training forever. Good riddance, he thinks, but there’s also a deep sense of sadness and longing when he thinks about it.

Maybe he shouldn’t have set the stakes to that. 

But then he realizes the entire crowd is cheering for him, screaming his name, telling him Go, Bede! Don’t quit! Keep training!

We want to see you be the greatest Fairy-Type Gym Leader the Galar region has ever seen! Opal’s successor!

His heart feels light, and he thinks for the first time in his life that pure, untainted pride, pride that doesn’t come out of someone else’s defeat, rises in his chest. Pride for himself. 

He smiles, and in his loudest voice, he announces, “Well, I suppose I have no choice, then! I’ll be the greatest Fairy-Type trainer this region has ever had!”

Gloria’s face is still flushed from the battle, and she smiles.

Bede has never experienced a happier loss.

The happiness doesn’t last long before it turns to confusion and fear.

Rose has just announced… what, the arrival of the Darkest Day? 

Is this what he brought about? With his Wishing Stars?

He runs out of the stadium. He has to stop this problem he has caused.

The catastrophe… The Darkest Day…. Rose’s power plant. That’s where Leon had announced he would be headed. Hammerlocke is also being evacuated, so that would definitely be the right place to go.

No flying taxi in their right mind would take him, but he bribes one of the braver ones with the spare change Opal had given him (Opal’s spare change equivated itself to… a lot). 

When he lands, he makes his way down to the power plant, as fast as he can.

Only to find Rose defeated, by the hands of the same person who defeated him. 

Bede can’t even exact any kind of vengeance, or righteous vengeance. 

He feels hollow, and angry. In fact, this Darkest Day has awakened a sense of anger and inferiority he hasn’t felt since he was Rose’s protege, only this time the anger is directed at Rose. 

He wants to yell. You used me! You used me and now the entire region of Galar, the entire world is in danger. 

I’m just a kid. I didn’t want this.

And he didn’t even seem upset, to be beaten. Rose just stood, there, a smile on his face, as calm as ever. 

“Go on,” he says. “I won’t stop you. But there’s nothing else for you to do here.”

And the anger piles up inside Bede, up and up, and he wants to obliterate Chairman Rose but he can’t when the entire region’s at stake and the Chairman has already been obliterated.

A knowing look in Chairman Rose’s eyes is directed at him. “Your friends are up there, you know. And so is the Champion. You ought to help.”

I have no friends, Bede nearly cries. Only you, there was only ever you! And you abandoned me!

And then Bede’s head spins. He’d grown past this. 

A face lights up in his mind, and a name. He has both now, the real ones, and the owner of that face and name is currently fighting for the sake of Galar on the rooftop of this very same power plant.

And what was he doing, spending time worrying over this man?

He looks straight forward, and meets Rose’s eyes. His hair is disheveled, and his eyes have lost their human tint. His tie is loose around his neck, and his suit crinkled. It’s an unnatural look on him.

Really, he looks incredibly pathetic.

Rose is still staring back at him. 

Bede gathers enough strength to shoot Rose one last glance, one last message filled with all the sorrow and anger and emptiness he’d felt under his hand.

And then he turns around and runs. He never looks back.

When Bede gets to the roof, there’s a skeletal monster charging up a ball of pink light. Hop moves to shield Gloria. 

There isn’t even enough time for Bede to scream.

In the end, two dogs are what saved them. Two sword and shield bearing, fighting dogs. Bede’s brain can’t process it.

He has to thank them. Without them, Hop wouldn’t be alive. 

But in the aftermath, when sparks of pink light fly over from the remnants of Eternatus, he doesn’t remember to thank them at. All he can recall is desperately shaking Hop’s unmoving body as tears stream down his eyes and his heart squeezing itself and mumbling and mumbling and mumbling, over and over again. 

Hop, please wake up.

I’m Stella. 

I love you.

Hop looks up at Rose Tower. So much has changed since he first climbed to the top with Gloria. Now, the tower just makes him scared, angry, and a little bit upset.

He still can’t fathom why Stella would possibly want to meet him here. 

He walks along the light crowd. He’s really not sure who to look for. A fairy-type trainer who likes chamomile and knows Latin? Those aren’t entirely distinguishing traits. 

In the corner of his eye, he spots a white-haired trainer in the regular Fairy Gym attire. Hop pulls out his phone. 

Do you see me? 

The fairy-type trainer in the corner of his eye suddenly goes to fish something out of his pocket.

He pulls out a Rotom Phone.

He looks up, lazily scouring the area, and he and Bede lock eyes. 

The trainer flashes a quick, sad smile, and goes back down to his phone. He types for a time, and then Hop’s phone suddenly buzzes. 

There’s one message. Yeah. 

Hop’s heart stops. He looks up at his phone, and Bede is still standing there, staring at him, as if waiting for an invitation.

Hop takes one step. And then another, and another.

Bede is looking more and more uncertain by the second.

They’re standing face to face, finally, and Bede is biting his lips. His eyes cloud over for a second, and he tries to speak. “Look, I-”

And Hop lops him into a great big hug.

They stand like that for a while, just holding on to each other, because at some point Bede’s hands wrap around him, too, and then he’s crying and Hop’s crying too, and-

Neither of them can believe it, but it’s happening. 

So they rest in the moment.

“Why did you pull a stunt like that?"

Hop flinches from the sudden noise, and he almost pulls back from the hug before Bede squeezes him, stronger than ever.

“Back there with Eternatus- You could’ve died! But you had to jump in front of that beam for Gloria like- like some kind of stupid idiot!”

Hop is shrinking under his words, but Bede keeps going.

“Why are you so selfless all the time? Why do you always put yourself at a lower level than other people? Don’t you understand that we all care about you?” 

Bede falls limp, and Hop tries to catch him in his grasp.

There are still tears streaming down Bede’s face. His voice falls quiet, and it wavers when he speaks. “What if you really had died? What if we’d never met?”

Hop tries to pat Bede’s back comfortingly before he realizes that there are hot tears falling from his eyes, too. Bede takes in a deep breath. 

"I... I'm sorry. I don't know where that came from."

Hop still can't find it in himself to speak. 

Bede closes his eyes." I… think I should answer your question first.”

Hop nods.

Bede’s voice quivers. “I, uh, do like you. I like you a lot. It doesn’t matter to me if you’re Dande or Hop. You’ll always be my best friend to me.”

Bede looks down. “And, uh, I totally get it if you don’t want to hang out with me anymore. I know I’ve said a lot of mean things to you, that one time we met for a battle, and… if you’d let me, I’ll spend my whole life making it up to you.”

And Hop laughs.

It rings across the entire plaza. It’s as pure and clear as the bell on a Wooloo, and Bede can’t help but stare in surprise.

When Hop’s laughter begins to die down, he opens his mouth. "I've waited for forever for you to say my real name. For me to be out of my brother's shadow."

Bede blushes, and Hop continues. “But, you know... I… I know you. People say mean things when they’re in bad places, and I can’t say I’m not upset, but…”

He flashes Bede the most brilliant smile Bede has ever seen- no, not even that, it’s the most brilliant smile the world has seen. “You’re my best friend, too. I’d gladly let you spend ten lifetimes making it up to me.” 

His face turns a bit more serious. “And I won’t jump. Seriously. So you don’t have to look so on-edge.”

Bede just stares, and then, he huffs. “I guess I’ve been a fool, then.”

Hop claps his back. “We’re both fools! The biggest losers the world has ever seen, remember?”

Bede chuckles. “The world’s two biggest losers meet under a tower that’s only ever brought pain for either of them.”

Hop shakes his head. “No, Bede. I think I understand why you chose this tower as the place now.”

Bede looks intrigued. “Why?”

“It’s what brought us both together, right! A tower of mistakes that married the world’s two biggest losers.”

Bede is stunned into silence. Hop is still smiling. “And I’m not just saying that, either!”

He looks up. “I think I’m genuinely happy!”

Laughter begins to bubble up in Bede. Tears, too. He begins to laugh, and Hop’s laughter follows. And now they’re both laughing, and the sound of it rings across and over the plaza and into all of Wyndon. It’s clear and light and beautiful, and filled with all the pain and sweat and tears they’d worked themselves to the bone for.

The world is so big, and they managed to find each other. 

And Bede thinks, I’m genuinely happy, too.

And Hop thinks, I’m glad.

They stare over the Wyndon sunset, together. In this snapshot of life, they feel at peace. 

day ??? 

Before Hop leaves, he turns to Bede.

I have a friend like you, he says. They’re stubborn and rude, but at heart they’re the kindest, most caring person I’ve ever met. 

And Bede, in his sleepiness, whispers back, I have a friend just like you, too. He’s funny and kind and patient, and childish though he tries to grow up to fast. I admire him more than anyone. 

Hop looks into Bede’s eyes, his body still with sadness and anticipation. And his name?

Dande, Bede replies.

Stella, Hop mumbles.