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The screams that roared throughout the stadium this time were less terror-filled than three days ago, and the boy walking into the playing field was the reason why.
Well, half the reason, Victor mused to himself. He was looking around the stadium with a small grin and a gentle wave. He hoped his flickering eyes would be seen as trying to make eye contact with as many people as possible to the outside, but he knew what he was looking for. It would be really hard, and he might not even achieve it by the time he reached the center for the second time in one week, but he would always be able to find his end goal no matter what.
Hop.
His long-standing rival since they started this whole journey thing. Since they got their first pokemon, since the first step into the Wild Area, since they each made curry for the first time, since they both steamrolled right through the challenge and eventually fought one another in this very stadium, and especially since Rose decided to preemptively try and end the world, thus causing them to fight side by side against a literal monster of monsters to save the region and everyone in it.
Seeing Hop hold that sword was the initial spark and watching him seamlessly take on the giant demon hand in front of them confirmed it: there was something more between them than just a rivalry.
But Victor wasn’t one to jump into anything. Hop was a good friend, an amazing one, so Victor was totally okay with staying that way. He didn’t want to pressure Hop into anything he didn’t want. Frankly, Hop was a bundle of joy, so as long as Victor got to hang out with him? Then that was fine by him. Really...
Letting out a little ‘oof’, Victor felt his face run right into a large chest. Blinking a few times, Victor looked up into the eyes of Leon, who’s eyebrows were playfully raised in confusion, “Uh, do you want to be on this side of the arena?”
Victor was so lost in his thoughts and visual search for Hop he walked right past his side and all the way directly into Leon. Sweet Arceus.
Turning as red as a Tamato berry, Victor waved Leon off with a nervous chuckle and abruptly turned around so he could go back to his predesignated spot, “Oh, sorry! Sorry, I was just lost in my thoughts. Big day, you know?”
Placing his hands on his hips, Leon took the answer for what it was, “Yeah, I guess so.”
About halfway back to where he needed to be, Victor was keenly aware of the fact that he never saw Hop. The rational part of his mind was, well, being rational. The stadium is filled to the brim, you obviously can’t notice everyone here. But the animalistic one, the one so ready to win and show off his skills to potential suitors was freaking out. He’s not here. He doesn’t want to watch you, why would he? You ruined what little confidence he had.
Yeah, that was the Copperajah in the room, wasn’t it? Totally not the reason Victor wanted to be careful with his feelings at all, the fact that he essentially crushed all of Hop’s hopes and dreams. Hop wanted the win a thousand times more than Victor did, it wouldn’t have mattered to Vic if he just let Hop win. On the other side of the coin, it wouldn’t have been fair to underestimate Hop like that.
But the way Hop looked after that encounter with Bede at the beginning… would have it really mattered if Victor was a little unfair? If it meant his friend got everything he ever wanted and smiled even brighter than the sun because of it?
Stomping his foot down, Victor took a deep breath and turned around on his heel, more determined than ever, grabbing his first pokemon lightly in his fist.
Victor has a battle to win. He’d gotten this far, he can’t throw it all away now. Especially after all the aforementioned melodrama going inside his head. That wouldn’t be fair to Hop.
But if Hop isn’t in the crowd, where else could he be?
---
If the snapping of the tree branch never chased off all the Rookidees, Hop’s face-first groan directly into the dirt surely would have.
Kicking his legs around and pounding his fists into the ground like a small child throwing a tantrum, the best way Hop could describe himself without any kind of black bar appearing over his mouth as a censor would be frustrated. He had just tripped for the fifth time since he got out here and he was just about sick of tasting dirt.
Lifting up his head and placing his chin on his fists, he groaned dramatically, “I know Lee said Shinies were a once in a lifetime thing, but for Arceus’ sake!” Shaking his head, Hop finally stood up after his momentary pity party and wiped the dirt off his pants, or as much of it as he could. Falling over five times builds up a resistant layer, apparently.
Sighing, Hop raised his arms above his head and placed his hands on the back of his neck, making sure to be as quiet as a rock as he continued walking. Maybe if he played it nonchalantly like a cartoon he would have better luck. Squinting his eyes and looking around, he kept looking for that sweet, sweet, shiny green (in more ways than one) of an Applin.
He knows he should be out there supporting Victor, and the last thing the brunette probably wanted for Hop was a broken limb because of stupidity, but…
Hop had to do this, okay? After watching Victor practically beat Rose into a bloody pulp, only to valiantly charge into battle again against a literal monster from the depths of hell and win like it was no big deal-- like this was something every pokemon trainer dealt with at some point-- set something, that was once dormant and quiet, off in Hop’s chest.
He thought his feelings towards their friendship was morphing into something more as the journey went on, and watching Victor take leadership so easily made the sirens in Hop’s brain scream loudly with want want want. Did losing the Championship suck? Yeah, and it’s going to sting for a while, but Hop would be lying if he said he wasn’t somewhat okay with losing after seeing what Victor was truly capable of.
The only way to properly showcase this myriad of feelings was to get what is considered the most heartfelt gift of all: a Shiny Applin just for Victor.
But if Hop didn’t pick up the frickin pace, Vic was going to walk out of that battle without ever seeing him in that stadium, and potentially without a gift or excuse of why Hop wasn’t there. The knowledge of this made the tan-skinned boy pick up the pace and heighten his senses as much as he could, eyes flickering in minor panic.
After a few more minutes of walking, Hop was about to say ‘screw it’ and go back to the arena. That way he could at least support Victor in person, and then he could always come back to find the Shiny some other time.
But right as he turned around a glint of light caught his eye.
Aha! An Applin in the shadows! It thought it could sneak away from Hop the slippery little--
Without thinking, Hop started full force sprinting towards the ‘mon. Maybe it was Shiny, maybe it wasn’t, but after the last three Applins that immediately ran without Hop being able to see what their colors were, he may have been a little desperate to at least get his hands on another one. Why wasn’t he trying to battle it? Who knows, all he knew was that he needed to grab it before it was too late.
However, it seemed like Arceus never answered the trainer’s calls, as in the middle of his panic, Hop never saw the man who keeps track of numbers nowadays anyway branch and kicked his foot right into the loop, successfully flinging the jacket-wearing trainer forward, only his face didn’t stop him when he hit the ground this time.
Nope, he continued rolling like an overrated Golem right into the nearest tree, face smacking it with his arms stretched out beyond it and everything. With a weak groan, Hop slowly fell onto his back with his arms still out in front of him. When he hit the ground, he slowly brought his hands to rest on his face in shame.
Bringing his arms down to let his hands rest at his hips, he heard the faint noise of something hopping closer and closer, only to stop about a foot or so away from his ear. Slowly letting his head fall to the side, letting his cheek rest on the ground, Hop examined the tiny Applin that wobbled its way closer to the human.
Good news: it was Shiny! Horray!
Bad news: the only reason it wasn’t running away was that it was staring at Hop with pity in its leafy eyes.
A sigh reverberated throughout the leaves.
Hop will take whatever he can get at this point.
“Hey buddy, wanna help me out?”
---
The blood rushing around in Victor’s ears showed no sign of slowing down, especially since it was constantly happening for at least ten minutes now. The ringing was subtle, and Victor was able to ignore it due to one simple fact.
He won.
He was the goddamn Champion of the Galar Region.
Leon did the ceremonial hand raise in the middle of the stadium and everything!
Now Leon was out here with him, answering the media questions and showing his face off to the world as much as he could. Here he is, world, get a good look at him!
But… something felt off. There was a piece missing here, and Victor blamed the adrenaline for not letting him figure it out.
“--ld you say luck was on your side at all? Or was it completely hard-work driven determination that allowed you the win?”
Shaking himself out of his thoughts, Victor looked back at the woman asking the question, “Oh! Well, maybe a little bit of luck? Or maybe not, considering there was none of that in the arena, after all, having that would’ve been the only way for Leon to beat me.” A rough elbow into his side and a few snickers from the crowd told Victor he said the right thing, “Um… I guess I would have to say it wasn’t just all me. I never would have made it this far if it weren’t for…”
Victor’s gaze slowly drifted to beyond the reporters. Quietly but surely, Victor stared out into the distance for seemingly no reason.
Leon gulped nervously. Had the events of the past few days finally made Victor snap or something? “Uh, buddy, what’s--”
Suddenly, Victor pushed through the mics to get to the back of the group of reporters, leaving Leon to sputter and try and replicate the movement so he could follow the kid. He took a little longer than Victor, but eventually, the ex-Champion made his way out to where Victor was, who was somehow still absentmindedly staring out into the distance.
This was getting weirder and weirder by the second, “Hey, little dude, what on Earth are you-- oh.”
Finally following Victor’s line of sight, Leon saw what exactly caught the new Champion’s gaze in the first place.
His younger brother, Hop (Lee was wondering where he was during the whole shebang), was standing square;y in the middle of the lobby looking rather… dirty? Literally? Why in the world was he covered in dirt, and what was he holding in his--
His brother had a green Applin in his hands.
Double oh.
Victor took another step forward, hesitant to break what must have been an illusion in front of him.
Hop nervously laughed and began carefully, “Soooooo I know you’re probably upset I missed your battle, and you have every right to be! I would be pissed too if my best friend didn’t show up to the highlight of my life, but…” Hop let out a sigh: it was a mix between worry at being rejected and acceptance that they finally made it this far, “I wanted to give you something special, you know? Because you’re special, and you deserve nice things, things maybe nicer than m--”
Halfway through that grand monologue, Victor started moving without thinking. Right before Hop could go back down the self-deprecation train, Victor closed both the physical and emotional gap between them by roughly grabbing Hop by the front of his jacket and pulling him in for a kiss.
Eyes wide for only a second, Hop eventually closed his just like Victor and leaned into the heartfelt moment. Only a little bit, though, he didn’t want to crush the Applin still resting in his hands, which seemed to not care about its surroundings at the moment.
Breaking out of the kiss, the two boys were blushing like crazy, cheeks red from several things. It didn’t take long for Hop to go back to his cheeky ways, “So, Vic, do you like the gift I got for you? Maybe we should start calling you Viiiictory-- oooh! Maybe Tory for short? I’m sure your mom would love it.” The eyebrow waggle was back in full force, and Victor only saw one way to respond.
Victor brought his hands around the Applin for a just a second, only to lower them even more to gently grasp Hop’s in a loving hold, “Yeah, Hop, I love the gift. It’s perfect.”
Hop let out a sigh of relief, before tensing up at Victor’s hands tightening their hold. He couldn’t stop the nervous gulp that left him at seeing his now-boyfriend’s eyebrows twitch.
“But I swear to Arceus if you call me “Victory” ever again, I’m dying your jacket an ugly shade of orange. You know the one.”
Hop could only respond with indignant squawking.
A few feet away, after watching the exchange go down, Leon just shook his head. May these boys never change.
---
Years down the line, it would only seem fitting for Hop to watch his husband fight with a green Flapple, a green Appletun right next to the new professor cheering just as loud.
It just seemed fitting.