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In the wake of the annual Treasure Hunt, school felt like a breath of fresh air to Juliana. It was a little boring, going back to sitting in classrooms all day instead of running around Paldea, but at the same time the normalcy gave her a chance to relax, something she hadn’t managed to do very often in the last few weeks. The life-changing events in the Great Crater made the calm especially nice.
However, when she sat down to write her report about the “treasure” she had found, she found herself conflicted. Did she talk about her journey to being a Champion, and the exultation she felt from her strength as a trainer getting recognized? Or the terrifying Titan Pokemon she faced on the path to healing both Miraidon and Arven’s injured Mabosstiff? Or the daring raids she performed on the Team Star bases, and the secret history of the group that she revealed in the process? Or perhaps she should describe the incredible dangers of Area Zero and the horrifying truths hiding at its heart? All of it was incredibly valuable to her, and she couldn’t decide what to write. In the end, the day before the deadline arrived, and the document on her computer was still empty. She had to come up with something.
Although she had hesitated for so long, she actually wasn’t completely without ideas. As important as all of those events were to her, the people involved were what made everything so memorable. The heart-pumping battles against Nemona, the satisfaction of working together with Arven to beat Titan Pokemon and obtain Herba Mystica, and the shocking revelations when acting as Penny’s agent to defeat Team Star and save her friends… the three of them were irreplaceable in her heart.
Even then, one of the three stuck with her more than the others: Penny. After each raid, she had come as the “Field Agent” to deliver LP and materials, and although she had been shy and reticent at first, they had started talking bit by bit, and after she defeated her as Cassiopeia, they had talked all night, confiding in each other and getting to know each other even better. Penny had been at her home in Galar for a year, and Juliana had just transferred from Kalos at the start of the school year, so they were both foreign students who didn’t know the others in their year very well. They ended up having many interests in common: both of them loved both shojo and isekai manga and anime, and although they disagreed over whether villainess redemption stories or rags-to-riches stories were better, they still bonded over their shared interests. Penny even confided in her about her struggles as a transgender girl, and Juliana shared her own difficulties fighting homophobia as a pansexual girl who openly liked both boys and girls. Even though she loved Nemona and Arven, Penny still held a special place in her heart… perhaps even more special than she was ready to admit.
After thinking back on her Treasure Hunt for the past week, Juliana had recalled her conversations with Penny more clearly, and she had slowly realized that she liked Penny in a very different way from the way she liked Nemona or Arven. When she saw Nemona, Juliana smiled; when she saw Julia, her face softened. When she greeted Arven, she would wave and call out to him; when she spoke to Penny, she found that her voice was always warm and happy. Penny’s smile made her heart melt; her voice soothed any tension in her body; her subdued mannerisms and pouty expressions and sleepy eyes and… Juliana had to stop herself when she got to this point, since her heart always started beating too fast and she had to calm herself down before she started blushing. Penny just had that kind of effect on her.
In the end, Juliana decided that honesty would be the best policy. Rather than write in general terms about her journey traveling around Paldea, she would write about her friends, the true treasure that she found. To do that properly, though, she had to do something first. Juliana picked her laptop up and tucked it under her arm, and stepped out of her dorm room, heading up the stairs to the STEM dorms. Penny’s room was in the corner of her floor, the room furthest from the stairs, and Juliana felt her heartrate speed up a bit as she walked down the hall toward her door. Taking a deep breath, she reached up and knocked twice on Penny’s door.
“Penny? It’s Juliana. May I come in?” she called out. There came a faint clatter, as if an empty can fell on the floor, and then a rustle, followed by a series of clatters ending in one loud clank , before the door flew open, revealing a slightly flustered Penny.
“A-ana! I um… I wasn’t expecting guests. Come in, please!” Penny whispered bashfully while pulling Juliana in by the hand, shutting the door behind her and letting out a light sigh. Turning toward her friend, Penny pouted and put her hands on her hips, then huffed, “Didn’t I tell you to text me before you come up here? I have to clean up, you know?”
“You just don’t want me to know that you’ve been drinking so much Red Tauros,” Juliana shot back, heading over to Penny’s bed and pulling an empty can of energy drink out from under the frame. Penny squeaked and snatched it from her hand, and Juliana sighed. Standing up, she took the can back and tossed it into Penny’s trash bin, then turned back to her. Reaching down, she took Penny’s hand and said, “You know that you shouldn’t drink so much of that stuff. If you have to go back to Nurse Miriam again this year, she’s going to make you quit it cold turkey, and we both know how hard that will be.”
“I know, I know… I’m working on it. I’ve already cut down from five a day to just four!” Penny said, still pouting.
“Okay! That is progress!” Juliana said, her tone already brighter, “Good job, Penny!” Penny smiled bashfully up at her and gave her hand a grateful squeeze, then let her hand go.
“Alright, enough about my caffeine intake. What did you come here for?” Penny went and sat down on her bed, pulling her Sylveon into her lap and petting it while looking up at Juliana. Her eyes darted to her laptop, and she smiled knowingly. Pointing at it, she asked, “Computer problems? Let me see.”
Juliana quickly pulled her computer back and shook her head. “Nope. I didn’t come here to use you as IT support, don’t worry. I just wanted… to talk, I guess.”
Penny let her hand drop back into her lap, a slightly surprised expression on her face, but quickly patted the spot next to her on the bed. Juliana plopped down next to her and set her computer down behind them, then let out a long, slow breath. She was silent for a long few seconds, then started speaking, her voice low and uncertain.
“I have to be honest, I’m not really sure where to begin. I’ve thought about this a lot, but the real thing is always harder than you expect, you know?” Juliana laughed weakly, and Penny’s brow furrowed a little.
“Ana. Why do you sound so… Are you mad at me? I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to… Please, if I did something wrong to make you hate me, then just tell me, just don’t stop being my friend.” Penny’s voice wavered more and more with each word, until it faltered completely on the last word, a sob ending her sentence. Sniffling, she looked at Juliana with quivering lips, clearly trying her best to keep calm. Immediately, Juliana’s heart dropped, and she quickly reached out to pull her into a hug.
“No! Oh, absolutely no! I’m not saying that I don’t like you! Penny, I’m sorry for acting all weird, don’t cry… I’m gonna cry too now…” True to her words, Juliana’s voice cracked in the middle of her sentence, and warm tears began rolling down her cheeks. Penny buried her face in Juliana’s shoulder, and she sniffled even more.
“B-but… you said it was hard to say, and that you’ve thought about it for so long… I’ve never had a friend like you, who listened to me and talked to me and understood me like you. I thought - hic - that I said something wrong and you were too nice to tell me! I know I’m not an easy person to be friends with, and I would understand if you didn’t like me anymore.”
Before Penny could start spiraling into self-deprecation, Juliana pulled out of the hug and shushed her, her face wet with tears. Shaking her head, she took a deep breath to calm herself, then spoke as clearly and strongly as she could. “Penny, that is not true. I promise you, you are the best friend ever, and I could never hate you, or even not like you.”
“But-” Penny tried to speak, but Juliana quickly shushed her again, determination in her eyes.
“No but’s, Penny. Let me finish.” Penny nodded silently, but Juliana saw the self-consciousness and embarrassment about crying enter her eyes, so she quickly continued talking. Reaching up, she cupped Penny’s face and made eye contact with her.
“Penny… I know I could never hate you because I love you. I love your sweet voice, and your fluffy hair, and your adorable glasses, and your little pouts, and your bad jokes about TCP and UDP that I still don’t get. I love it when you do your victory dances after fixing a bug in your code. I love the little scrunchy face you do when you eat something sour, and the way you stick your tongue out of your mouth a little bit when you see something you want to eat. Hell, I love your caffeine addiction and how sleepy you get after the caffeine wears off and how pouty you get when you don’t drink any Red Tauros… but, I love it even more when I see how hard you are trying to break the habit. Penny, I will never hate you. I love you too much!”
Penny’s expression changed several times during Juliana’s spiel. At first, she was so shocked that she stopped crying, but the shock soon turned into confusion and disbelief, which faded into embarrassed euphoria. She buried her face in Juliana’s hands, hiding her flushed cheeks with her palms and avoiding eye contact with her, and she laughed weakly when Juliana mentioned her caffeine problem. This time, it was her turn to be quiet for a long moment before talking.
“I guess I have to break the caffeine habit now, huh?” Penny pretended to pout, but then dissolved into a fit of giddy laughter, and Juliana soon followed her. The two girls descended into giggles and sniffles and smiles, and it took them a few minutes to collect themselves enough to think again. This time, Penny again broke the silence.
“Um… I know this sounds silly, but I just want to make sure. Are you sure you’re, um, okay with me? I mean, I’m not really a… a real girl and-”
“Nope, I’m stopping you there,” Juliana interrupted her, a stern expression on her face, “You are a real girl, just as real as me. If anything, you’re even more real than I am, given that you’re a lot more feminine than I am. I don’t look half as good in a skirt as you do. Don’t ever say that you’re not a real girl, okay?”
Penny whimpered a bit in the back of her throat, her eyes welling up with tears again, but nodded obediently. Wiping her tears away with the back of her hand, she looked up at Juliana and quietly murmured, “I think you look really pretty wearing a skirt too…”
Juliana laughed and reached out to hold Penny’s hand again, and Penny took the chance to lace her fingers together with Juliana’s. Juliana began playing with Penny’s fingers, quietly looking down at their joined hands, and tentatively said, “So… what do you say? You don’t have to answer my feelings right away, I know it’s probably a lot. If you want to stay friends, then I’m fine with that.”
“No! I mean, yes! I mean… oh, whatever!” Penny stumbled frantically over her words, then gave up and just threw her arms around Juliana, hugging her tightly. After a couple seconds, she let go of her, blushing, and said, “I’ve had a crush on you ever since you stood up to those Team Star kids in front of the school. After a year away from school, I was immediately confronted with the changed version of the group that I made, and I was terrified that my old friends all changed too, and that there was nothing left of the people I remembered. Right when I was about to run away and go back home, though, a pretty girl got in front of me and beat the bullies away, the way I always wished someone would do two years ago. And then, that beautiful girl agreed to help me fix my own mess that I left behind, and then she agreed to be my friend, and now… I’m sorry, I’m just overwhelmed. Ana… no, Juliana, I love you too. I love you so much , it’s not even funny!”
Penny dove back into Juliana’s chest, hugging her as tightly as she could. Of course, Penny wasn’t very strong, so it wasn’t that tight, but it was more than enough to convey the sentiment. Juliana wrapped her own arms around Penny’s narrow shoulders and hugged her back, a giddy heat filling her chest as the reality of the situation hit her. She restrained a cry of delight, instead opting to just hug her new girlfriend even tighter.
The two girls stayed like this for a few more seconds before Penny had to pull her face away from Juliana’s shirt to breathe. They switched to just holding hands, and Penny finally remembered that Juliana brought her computer with her.
“Ana, you never explained why you brought your computer. It wasn’t just for moral support while you confessed, was it?” Penny glanced behind Juliana at her laptop, and Juliana laughed.
“No, my love, of course not!” Juliana said, smiling affectionately at Penny, “I just haven’t written my essay about the treasure I found during this year’s Treasure Hunt yet. Thing is, I wanted to write about Nemona and Arven and, most importantly, you, so I had to come down and finish the job before I started writing. I mean, you’re definitely my most precious treasure, but I can’t write the essay without confessing my feelings first!”
Penny’s jaw dropped, and she let out a laugh of disbelief. Swatting Juliana’s arm, she pouted and said accusingly, “So you only confessed because you have to write an essay? If it weren’t for that, how long would I have had to wait?!”
“Uh… I mean, I’m a little dumb, so I didn’t really sort out my feelings until a couple days ago. I’m sorry, Penny,” she said, rubbing the back of her head bashfully. Penny sighed dramatically, then hugged Juliana’s arm, wrapping her arms around her elbow and leaning lightly against her.
“You’re lucky I love you so much, or else I would be quite cross with you. Well, better late than never, I suppose.” Penny pretended to turn away pompously, but soon returned to cuddling with Juliana’s arm.
“Hm. Well, I’m still late, so I suppose I should make up for lost time…” Juliana shifted her arm a bit, pulling it out of Penny’s hold, and then turned her whole body to face her. Reaching up, she cupped her chin and tilted her face up toward her own. Leaning in half an inch, she glanced down at Penny’s mouth, then smiled a little. “May I?”
Penny barely managed to nod, her eyes wide with excitement and her lips slightly parted, and they both closed their eyes as they leaned in, their mouths meeting in a soft, chaste kiss. It was light and tentative, befitting a first kiss between two young lovers, but the warmth and love infused in the gesture was as intense as a wedding kiss, and for the two girls, it might as well have been, given how lightheaded they felt afterward. Penny subconsciously kept her eyes closed and leaned in for another kiss, but Juliana had already pulled away, breathing slightly heavily. Laughing a little, she gave Penny a quick peck on the lips, then pulled away fully.
“Little by little, Penny. Too much kissing, and I think I might get addicted right off the bat… or have a heart attack from how many beats it’s skipping,” Juliana said, taking Penny’s hand and placing it on her chest. Indeed, her rapid heartbeat could be felt on her sternum, and Penny nodded, still in a daze.
“Okay. Little by little. I can do that… Ana, what should I do if I’m already addicted to your kisses, though? I don’t really want to go to Nurse Miriam, or else she will tell me to quit cold turkey, right?” Juliana laughed again and shook her head.
“Well, we can’t have that! I suppose I’ll have to work with you on fixing that problem right?”
“Mhm. First things first, though, I need more kisses, or else I will get cranky. I think we will have a long road ahead of us, won’t we?”
“You’re right, this will be a long process. Let’s get started, shall we?”
Juliana tackled Penny onto the bed, laying down on her side and pulling Penny in nice and close, and as she leaned in to kiss Penny once again, she idly wondered if Professor Jacq would give her an extension on her essay…