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It wasn’t a foreign feeling at all.
Envy, jealousy.
While emotions had always been difficult for him to navigate these were the few Bede channeled and understood the best. Growing up in the orphanage it constantly taught him to be. Seeing others get chosen over him, wondering what made them so worthy? Pushing himself beyond his own limits to show everyone else why he was the one they should envy instead.
This mindset following him far and beyond those days.
Throughout the challenge, about other trainers-- those with families and friends and undeniable support they never had to fight tooth and nail for.
All things he never had.
They were all a reason to make him feel this way.
But right now? It was different.
Because this time he had a family with Miss Opal. This time he’s made a name for himself.
This time he had Gloria.
He should be used to this: the prying eyes, the attention she garners. Her title merely a component. Because beyond her talent and open heart she was also stunning, even more so than she would believe herself. Chocolate hair that looked lovely under the sun she loved, warm eyes reminiscent of honey, full cheeks that dimpled when she really, truly , smiled. And her mind was unmatched-- quick to respond, thoughtful and persistent, always seeking knowledge in whatever piqued her interest.
But the only thing worse than the overzealous fans was the intrusive press and one very specific person.
He tries to calm down. Flexing and relaxing his hands in an imaginary rhythm, leg bouncing, looking anywhere but at the display in front of him.
But how could he? As Gloria sits in front of the interviewer’s camera, the soft smile the region had come to expect out of their calm Champion long gone, and Hop sitting right next to her. His cheeky smiles, his boisterous presence. The indignant prompting of the reporters to ask questions Bede both knew the answers to because Gloria’s mentioned it before:
How much she’s disliked the insinuation between her and Hop.
“Have there ever been sparks between you two?” Absolutely not.
“Would you consider yourselves closer than ever?” No.
Bede knew it all. How their friendship wasn’t as peachy it seemed, how she always felt like she was a second thought to him. Overlooked and underestimated. Where her voice wouldn’t be heard and her successes only seemed like roadblocks to him.
Hop had to reflect, and Gloria had to speak up.
They’d patched it up eventually.
But he and Hop never truly met eye-to-eye. And it’s in that time that Bede formed a bond with Gloria instead. Found comfort, and solidarity, and more than either one of them expected. He gave her the respect she longed for and she gave him the patience and kindness he deserved.
And that’s when he hears it, the final question.
“Is there romance in the air?”
Hop’s arm slinging around her tiny frame carelessly ignoring how Gloria’s gone stiff at his touch. Her eyes wide, and her cheeks heating.
“Does it seem like there is?” he was teasing. Gloria knew this. Bede knew this.
But the media didn’t and it was their fault.
Their haphazard idea to keep their relationship a secret. From the news, from friends. From everyone (save Opal who could detect it from kilometers away). All because they wanted to be selfish, to have something between them without the need for the media to poke their noses in their business. Dates in cafes while incognito, moments to spend together disguised as unofficial matches, teasing matching photos on social media.
It was fun and games until it was too late. They pushed too far.
And Bede just didn’t like Hop.
He wasn’t sure when he got out of his chair. Wasn’t sure when he marched over ignoring the desperate pleas of the set assistants. Wasn’t sure what truly came over him, but he was blind to everything except one thing.
Gloria was his. His. His.
He watches as her eyes widen, his name on her lips quietly, and Bede’s height threatening everyone else with his presence as displeasure is written all over his features.
“The only romantic partner the Champion has chosen is me.”
It’s silent in her apartment.
A location they often sought refuge in. It was homey in the middle of the city. Her ever growing collection of plants filling corners beyond their capabilities.
She always said it was the closest way to feel like she was still in Postwick.
Now it was riddled with tension. Gloria sitting in one corner, knees up to her chest. Distraught. And Bede in the other, still fuming. Reporters and tabloids right downstairs bombarding the doorman to the apartment building no doubt.
And neither of them saying a thing, just waiting for someone to speak. In certain situations it’s something Bede enjoyed about their relationship--that they could just exist within each other’s presence and feel content.
But this quiet was different and reminiscent to the silence he held with Gloria once long ago, before they were even on good terms.
“I don’t regret it.”
He can hear the couch give way to her weight shift in response. His hair shifting as he turns to look at her.
Her eyes don’t meet his. And he can feel those disagreeable feelings steer up their heads inside of him. That he didn’t deserve good things. That he would be bound to ruin everything. That good people would walk out when he would act up.
Was Gloria the same way?
He scoffs, unable to bite back what he knew he couldn’t take back.
“Are you ashamed of me? Is this why you wanted to keep us a sec--”
“Bede, absolutely not!” Gloria never got loud, and even now it could be considered only a slight increase in her volume. But it was desperate. Honest, genuine--things she so desperately tried to show him all the time.
“It’s not that, it’s never been that,” her voice silences his vehement mind. “I..,” she sighs, moving from her position to slide closer to him. Her eyes are soft, but filled with worry, bottom lip slightly pouted out.
Her hand hesitatingly reaches for his.
“Why like that Bede?”
Bede’s exhausted. The emotional weight too much to handle. It’s not like he desired to feel this way, so strongly, too passionately. And as the consequences of his rash actions now dawn on him he just knows things will be changing. The loss of their privacy. The apology he’ll prob have to make.
Heavy sigh that leaves him to fill the space between.
“I don’t like it,” violets focused on her touch, her hand seeking refuge in his. “Sharing you.”
The phrasing felt disgusting in his mouth. But these overwhelming feelings were never meant to be beautiful. Never have been when it came to anything else, and especially now.
Bede clicks his tongue.
“It isn’t the first time. I see the way everyone looks at you. I watch how people touch you. Prod you for information. All while I’m forced to accept the suggestions that you would even entertain the idea of dating someone else, someone like--”
“Someone like Hop?”
Leave it to Gloria to understand all too quickly.
“He didn’t help the situation.”
Hop also wasn’t the first. He’s heard Leon. Raihan. Milo. The occasional Marnie. And never him. As if he wasn’t good enough to be considered. He was never good en-
Delicate hands cup his face, bringing him back to look at her. Only her.
The one person he so desperately didn’t want to lose.
She should be repulsed.
He doesn’t expect her lips on his. The welcoming scent of honey, vanilla, and earth--something so specifically her drawing him in closer. She’s tender and light, caressing for a fraction of a second, barely giving him the chance to react before she’s pulling away just enough to speak to him.
“You have my heart, Bede,” her forehead leaning against his, “and sadly Galar thinks they own me as their Champion, but I am me. Your girlfriend, not anyone else’s.” I just wish,” a soft laugh leaves her, “I just wish we had planned this out.”
And Bede can’t help but to chuckle.
“Unfortunately, I think I’ve confined us to your home for the evening, darling” his hand tucking back stray pieces of her hair behind her ear. “Plenty of time to find resolutions for my hasty decisions.”
Her cheeks grow rosy, pink lips lifting up.
The side of Gloria he doesn’t think he could ever let go of.
“I could think of worse things,” she whispers, “like how I have to share you with every woman in Galar.”
And maybe he didn’t ever have to.
The smirk on his own lips appearing.
“My my, the Champion? Jealous? I thought I’d never see the day.”
And she laughs, melodically. A sound just for him as well.
“Well you won’t have to do that anymore either, Gloria.”