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It was the night before the Finals, and Gloria couldn’t sleep.
To be fair, it had been quite a day. No, a week. Today she had battled her way through Bede, Nessa, Bea, and Raihan, all before preparing to face off with Leon...just for Rose to ruin the day.
Gloria could honestly kind of see where Rose was coming from. It was important to pave the way for future generations, but did it really have to take course in just one day?
Her feet still ached from all the running she’d done the night before. Her journey across Galar had been fast-paced, of course—Gloria was following Hop, after all, who ran everywhere at full speed—but it was spread out across weeks of travel. She had trekked the entirety of Wyndon in a day, chasing after one very specific man in sunglasses.
That wasn’t even to mention battling Oleanna, though Dynamaxing at the top of Rose Tower had been an ethereal experience. What Gloria wouldn’t have given to be able to just stay in the Slumbering Weald with Hop for a second to breathe, if nothing else.
Instead, they’d picked up a couple of rusty old weapons and immediately flown to Hammerlocke. Gloria wondered for a brief second if this was what the rest of her life would look like—running toward the next fight, with Hop by her side.
She was already exhausted, but that still didn’t sound so bad.
If she was that exhausted, though, why couldn’t she just go to sleep? Every time she closed her eyes she saw Leon, big, strong, unbeatable Leon, knocked aside like a ragdoll by the force of Eternatus’s failed catch. She saw Hop, brazenly stepping forward to take his brother’s place.
Gloria saw herself, following as always.
They would have lost that battle with Zacian and Zamazenta. They could have died.
Gloria threw herself into a sitting position, taking a deep breath. She needed a break from her thoughts.
Her hotel room was shrouded in light—Gloria hadn’t had the guts to turn them off before bed. She glanced around the room, looking for something to distract herself with.
Her eyes caught on the glamorously fuzzy white robe, the one she had been delighted by a couple of days ago, and she crawled out of bed to throw it over her clothes.
Without thinking, Gloria found her hand grabbing the doorknob and turning it. She would go for a walk, then, she guessed.
She didn’t expect to find someone else already in the hallway, having just passed her door.
“Hop?” she said.
Hop turned around and jumped, apparently startled by the sight of her disembodied head hovering outside the doorway. He was wearing an old T-shirt that looked incredibly soft and a pair of sweatpants. He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.
“Gloria, hi, you gave me a fright,” Hop said before taking a better look at her. His eyes seemed to glow in the hallway’s ambient lighting. “You can’t sleep either, huh?”
Gloria shook her head. “It’s been kind of a long day,” she said lightly. A small laugh caught in the back of her throat.
“Yeah, I know all about that,” he replied. “I was going to make some tea. Do you want to come?”
Gloria closed the door softly behind her as she stepped into the hallway. She watched Hop’s eyes run over her pajamas and her bare feet. He was assessing her, she knew, trying to figure out if she was alright. It had been that kind of day.
“They must have upgraded your room after you won the semifinals,” Hop simply said as she stepped up to him. He caught the sleeve of her robe, rubbing the fabric between his fingers. “My room doesn’t have anything as nice as this.”
Gloria thought about saying he could sleep over any time, like when they were kids, but she stopped herself. She just put a covered hand (the robe’s sleeves were too long) against her cheek and smiled.
Hop stared at her a moment longer before they set off down the hall.
Now they were in a small break room, set aside for the hotel staff. Gloria had wondered how Hop would find a place to make himself some tea, but he had just asked the front desk. The young man working had taken a long look at Hop and Gloria (potentially recognizing them, or at least her) and silently let them into this room, tucked into a corner. It had a kitchenette with a stove, a fridge, and tables scattered throughout.
When Gloria went to put on the kettle, Hop had stopped her with a hand on her wrist.
“What do you think you’re doing?” he asked. “I’m making the tea. You go sit down.”
Gloria had opened her mouth to argue, but something in Hop’s expression made her close it again. She took a seat at one of the tall counters at the center of the room and watched him work.
While Gloria was perfectly fine sitting there in silence, she knew Hop would grow antsy sooner rather than later. So she spoke one of the several questions that had been haunting her that night.
“Do you think I can actually beat Leon?”
Hop didn’t turn around, but she saw his busy hands still for a second to grip the edge of the counter. “If anyone can beat Lee, it’s you,” he said quietly, “but Lee’s never lost a match, so...I don’t know.”
“I’ve never lost a battle either,” Gloria said.
Hop turned around and met her eyes. He knew she was telling the truth, but she could tell this was the first time he’d considered her sharing his brother’s perfect record.
“If anyone can beat Lee, it’s you,” Hop said again. “But honestly, I’m not sure I want you to.”
His words were like a knife in Gloria’s chest; she felt her breath stutter on an exhale.
Of course he was rooting for his brother. Sure, they’d known each other their entire lives, but Gloria wasn’t Hop’s family.
It didn’t matter that she found her gaze lingering on him more and more every time their paths crossed. It didn’t matter that battling him at the semifinals (and beating him) had broken her heart. It really didn’t matter that all Gloria wanted right now was to hold Hop’s hand.
“Because he’s your brother?” she asked.
Hop shook his head. “Because you’d both be in constant danger,” he said. “I mean, look at today if you don’t know what I’m talking about. You were already on the front lines against Rose and Eternatus, and you’re not even the Champion yet!”
Gloria leaned forward against the counter, crossing her arms. “You were there, too, ya know!”
“I was following you!” Hop was almost shouting. “And it’s not like I was even of any use. It was like I was only there to watch you and Lee battle.”
Gloria gently rested her forehead on the counter’s cool marble surface. She heard herself laughing ruefully.
“What’s so funny?” Hop asked. She could hear a smile forming in his voice, despite how serious they both were a second ago.
“I thought I was following you!” she said, looking back up at him. Hop was holding his elbows tight to his chest. His face looked a little painted, but he was laughing, too. “God, Hop, we both could have died.”
Hop doubled over with laughter. Gloria propped her chin up with her hand and watched him.
The kettle started whistling, startling them both.
They were quiet as Hop finished preparing their cups. Gloria didn’t have to tell him how much sugar and milk to add—Hop did it instinctively.
When he put the cup in front of her, Gloria wrapped her hands around it for warmth. She knew better to take a sip now, but she watched Hop try to down some immediately and wince.
“It’s really good,” he said through the pain. Gloria laughed aloud.
She tapped her knuckles against Hop’s hand. “Earlier, you said ‘yet’,” she said.
“What?”
“You said I wasn’t champion yet. So you think I can really beat Leon?”
Hop grinned, shook his head in disbelief, and took an agonizingly slow sip of coffee (she watched his Adam’s apple move with it) before responding.
“I guess you got me, huh?” he finally said. “Yeah, I think you can beat him. Hell, I know you can beat him.”
“I can’t believe he still wants to have the match tomorrow, after everything that happened today.” Gloria took her first sip of tea and almost moaned at the pleasure of it. It had been a long while since she’d had good tea.
“Well, that’s Lee,” Hop said, shrugging. “Always on to the next thing.”
“What’s next for you, Hop?” Gloria found herself asking. She realized she really couldn’t anticipate his answer, which was a new feeling for her when it came to Hop. They used to be able to read each other’s minds.
“Aw, cmon, Glo, you know I don’t think that far ahead,” he deadpanned. “All I know is tomorrow I’ll be cheering on my best mate, along with the rest of Galar.”
Gloria looked into his eyes and realized they really did seem to glow, kind of like a lighthouse. It was all too easy to lean in, toward that welcoming heat.
Hop took another long sip of his tea, effectively interrupting her almost incredibly awkward display. Gloria followed his lead, and they sat in silence, finishing their drinks.
“Guess we should probably be getting back, huh?” Hop said once their cups were empty. He gathered them up and walked over to the sink, turning his back to her.
Gloria stood from her chair and dusted herself off, even though there was not a speck of dirt in sight. A habit she picked up from the road, she guessed.
Gloria was content to watch the muscles of Hop’s back shift as he washed their cups, humming quietly to himself. When he turned off the sink and reached for a towel, he seemed surprised to see her still standing there.
Gloria gave him a bright smile, which he returned. And when Hop offered her his arm, she didn’t hesitate to take it.
All too soon, they were back at the door of her room. Hop didn’t meet her eyes as he let their intertwined arms drop.
“Thank you for the tea,” Gloria said earnestly. He nodded, still staring at his socks.
Hop gave her an uncharacteristically small wave and started back toward his room.
“Wait.” Gloria winced at the sound of her voice, too loud in the stoic hotel hallway. Hop turned around. His gold eyes looked huge, and his hands were buried in the pockets of his sweatpants.
“Will you stay? With me? Please?”
Gloria felt truly pathetic, but if he said yes, she knew it would be worth it. It would be worth being vulnerable a thousand times over.
Hop nodded silently, almost as if he couldn’t speak. Gloria opened the door to her room and stood aside to let him follow behind her.
As quickly as he had left, the Hop she knew was back, and he raced over to flop onto her bed. It bounced him several inches in the air.
“I knew your room had to be way better than mine, but this is insane!”
Gloria knew that realistically she should go brush her teeth again, and maybe use the bathroom, and loads of other tasks she usually completed before bed.
But as she watched Hop burrow into the sheets, already disheveled from where she tried to go to sleep hours ago, and pat the spot next to him, she couldn’t resist.
She crawled into the massive bed beside him after dropping her nice robe onto the carpet. Hop’s hand brushed her cheek as he reached over her to turn off the bedside lamp.
Gloria hardly gave him time to settle back into the pillows before she buried her face into his chest, arms wrapped around him, tight.
Hop laughed breathlessly.
“Is this okay?” she asked, worried and already pulling back.
Hop’s hand tangled in the hair at the back of her head, preventing Gloria from moving any further away. He put his other arm under her head like a pillow.
“It’s more than okay.”
Gloria woke up once, in the earliest hours of the morning, to find Hop had shifted onto his back and she was practically on top of him, one of her legs hooked over his. It was incredibly warm, but she was the most comfortable she’d ever been.
Gloria still couldn’t stop herself from raising up to look at Hop’s sleeping face, shaded in the soft sunlight glow framed by the curtains she hadn’t shut last night. Part of her wondered why she had ever let herself fall in love with her best mate. The other half couldn’t believe it had taken her this long. Hop’s breaths were deep and peaceful, and more than enough to lull her back to sleep.