Chapter Text
Victor had a crush. A big one. It's not like he couldn't handle it, though. He was really good at pushing stuff down, therefore, really good at handling things like crushes. He didn't necessarily believe that pushing your emotions down was a healthy or good thing to do, however, it was easy. It was easy to push his feelings for his best friend down. It was easy to ignore the butterflies he got when his friend so much as talked to him. He was good at it. He was good at handling this crush.
That was, until he wasn't. Over the course of the three years he's had this crush, it has only gotten stronger. Much stronger. When you're in love with, and constantly around, the human equivalent of the sun, you don't just lose feelings for them. Somehow, they're just so perfect that every smile, every hug, every battle, every small gesture of affection, everything they do is just enough to make you fall for them even more.
The crush was getting too strong to withstand, and Victor felt like he was going to explode if he didn't tell someone about this. He couldn't go to his mother, he didn't want to risk her telling Hop's mom, and Hop's mom telling Hop. He definitely couldn't tell Hop, he would die before telling Hop anything about this, if he lost his best friend because he was dumb enough to catch feelings for him, that would be the end.
That's when he got the wonderful idea to go to Gloria. She's always been at least decent at helping him with his problems before, this shouldn't be much different.
"Glori!" Victor sped into his room, slamming to door shut behind him. His sister flinched, but nodded as a way of telling him to go on, "Can you keep a secret?"
That made Gloria quirk her brow and tilt her head to the side.
"Yeah..?" She was curious as to what this secret might be, she and her brother usually shared everything, "What is it?"
Victor took a moment before speaking. He was obviously nervous about telling her. How was she gonna react? Probably not badly, but Victor was prone to overthinking just about anything and everything.
"I think I'm in love with Hop," his sister showed absolutely no reaction to that, instead, she hesitated for a moment before letting out a soft giggle.
"Did you just realize that?" she continued giggling and Victor couldn't help but get embarrassed.
"No! I've known for years! You could tell?" his voice got more panicked as he went on.
Any embarrassment he had turned into utter panic and fear. If she could tell, could Hop tell? Could his mom tell? Who all knew about his crush? Why didn't any of them talk to him about it?
Gloria must've noticed her brother growing more and more visibly upset, because she walked up to him and patted his back, hoping to calm him down even a little bit.
"Hop... isn't that smart," she started, sighing, "he probably can't tell." her words sort of calmed him down, but he wasn't fully convinced, and he probably couldn't be.
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Talking to Gloria definitely relieved him of at least a little stress. It made him feel a lot better. So much better, in fact, that every following day, he ranted for hours on end about his feelings for his best friend. While Gloria was eager to listen, and help, the first few days, when hours of her schedule were used up because of Victor's crush, it got a bit annoying.
"Why can't you just tell Hop instead of me?" Gloria didn't think she could actually stand hearing the same thing one more time.
"You know I can't do that! What if he hates me? Or thinks I'm weird!" he went on to list every possible bad outcome that could happen if he confessed to Hop.
"For Arceus' sake, it's Hop! I don't think he could hate you if he tried," she slumped in her chair.
After that, the two remained mostly silent. There wasn't really much left to say, after all. It's not like Gloria would let Victor rant to her again after this. Victor didn't know anyone else he could possibly go to besides Hop himself, and that was definitely not happening. He couldn't lose his best friend. Confessing to him was just too risky. But, part of him did want to confess. Part of him yearned to get this stupid crush off of his chest, no matter the outcome. Sure, he didn't want Hop to reject him, and he definitely didn't want Hop to dislike him, but if that's how it goes, then he can't really change it.
Gloria did have a point, though. Hop was his best friend, and he was Hop's best friend. He probably wouldn't hate Victor just for having a crush on him. Hop was nice like that, it was one of the many things Victor liked about him.
"I think I'm gonna tell Hop," Victor watched his sister shoot up with excitement, "..maybe." he then watched as she slumped back down.
He knew his sister wanted more than anything for him to confess, but he was still absolutely paralyzed by the terrifying thought of losing his best friend. Hop was perfect. He's the best person Victor has ever met. He seriously does not want to give that all up. He can't lose his friend because of something so stupid.
"Listen. If you don't tell him by the end of this week, I'll murder you," his sister rudely interrupted his inner monologue with her threat, "or I'll just tell him for you, that would work."
She grinned. She knew this put Victor in an impossible position. She knew he had absolutely no choice but to confess now, and she was loving it.
"Fine," Victor groaned. Looks like he was gonna have to tell Hop, and soon.