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“Ow!” Liko hissed, quickly followed by the sound of a sewing needle clattering on her desk. She motioned her hand to directly underneath her lamp to try and see her hand better in the darkness to check for any bleeding, and was frustrated to be met with a drop of blood welling up from her fingertip.
Before she could get up to find something to clean the blood with, a groggy “...Liko?” echoed out from the side of her dorm with the bunk bed, and despite knowing the only other person in the room, she squeaked in surprise anyway.
“Oh! I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you up-” Liko hurriedly responded just a little too loudly, while making even more of a clatter as she shoved her sewing materials somewhere not reached by the light of the lamp. However, it was too late, and her roommate Ann was already lifting herself out from her blankets and rubbing her bleary eyes awake.
“It’s past curfew,” Ann stated simply, vaguely in Liko’s direction, still unable to see anything. “What are you doing at this hour? Actually, what time even is it..?”
“It’s… um…” Liko felt awkward, but there was no reason to lie to her friend, she reasoned. “It’s one in the morning.”
Ann startled out of her groggy state instantly, eyes snapping open and adjusting to the darkness of the room. “1:00 AM?? Oh man, Liko, that’s so unlike you,” she spoke with an air of excitement. Liko wanted to hide in the corner but she couldn’t stop Ann from now being interested in her activities. “Breaking curfew huh? What’cha doing over there?” she asked, kicking her feet over the bed and stepping over to their shared desk as quietly as possible.
Liko flushed with embarrassment and she just hoped Ann, who was now in her personal space, could not see her face. “Well, I…” She swallowed her words.
“Come on, you can’t expect me not to wonder what Ms. Goody Two Shoes could possibly be doing at 1:00 AM!” Ann’s words were pushy but her tone so genuine that Liko could only sigh with resignation and re-open her mouth.
“I’m sewing a plushie. For Dot,” she stammered, and even in the darkness, Liko could practically see Ann’s face light up like a Dachsbun’s Dazzling Gleam as she gasped.
“Ooohh!! Wait, Liko, that’s so cute!! I want to see!!”
Liko was sure her face must be Tamato Berry red at this point, but at the same time, she was relieved to have admitted something so silly to her friend and not have her react with judgement. Well, of course Ann would never shame her - Ann was the only person who knew about her relationship with Dot! But it was still a new feeling to be able to talk about her feelings for the girl, or Arceus forbid the goofy relationship stuff she was doing that she was still so unsure of and stumbling through like some sort of child. At least, that’s how it always felt to her.
“Okay, fine, but you have to keep it a total secret,” Liko whispered.
Ann lowered her volume in return. “Of course, you’re always safe with me!” She patted her chest as if to emphasize her heart.
Liko cracked a smile. “Alright.” She adjusted the lamp to be a little brighter, illuminating more of the desk, and dragged over the stuff she had shoved to the side. Thankfully she didn’t appear to have torn anything in the process of hiding it earlier.
Ann used every ounce of willpower in her body to not bounce up and down at the sight. In Liko’s hands was a totally unfinished Quaxly plushie, unstuffed with the obviously handmade pattern only half completed at most, but recognizable all the same. “Likooo!! That’s so so so cute, oh my gosh,” she exclaimed, lightly flapping her hands by her face.
The soothing feeling Liko had felt quickly melted back into embarrassment. “Really? It’s so… Awkward. Misshapen?”
“Noooooooo,” Ann whined, throwing her arms around Liko’s shoulder and hugging her just a bit. “You’re crazy if you think it’s awkward. It’s adorable!”
Liko leaned into her friend despite herself. “Adorably awkward, maybe,” she mumbled, unable to fully take the compliment. “But, uh,” she stammered, “Thank you. Dot always talks about missing him back at home, so I thought…”
“Thought you should get her a reminder to hold every night, right??” Ann finished her sentence for her. Liko practically choked.
“No!! I mean- well- if she wants to, but she can do whatever she wants with it, I don’t expect her to do anything like that, and-”
“She totally will. She’ll love it,” Ann affirmed.
Liko wanted to protest more, but all she could do without getting into a completely unnecessary argument with Ann was accept the praise. If she was being honest with herself, it did make her really happy to imagine Dot holding the plush she made. Too happy, even. In fact, she was melting into her own hands and muffling a flustered whine. “You really think so?” Her question was still muffled by her palms, making Ann laugh, which she also covered with her hand as to be quieter.
“Of course I do. Now show me how you made this thing because I’m curious,” Ann continued.
Liko slowly took her face out of her hands and reached for the sewing needle again. “Well…”
—
About a week later, the Quaxly plushie that Liko had been sacrificing her sleep for was complete, and thankfully Ann managed to not only keep it a secret from everyone else, but also Dot herself. All that was left was to present her the thing, and the plan was simple - she was going to hide it in her bookbag, take it all the way to the end of classes for the day, and then give it to Dot after their shared science class in the side hallway leading to the bathrooms so that she could immediately take it back to her own dorm during their period of free time before dinner and hide it somewhere for safekeeping. Liko used to not be very good at sneaking around, but at this point she was relatively calm sliding the plush into her bag and keeping it on her person all day. It wasn’t the first time she had carried something around that she shouldn’t have all day, and it certainly would not be the last.
She was actually a lot more concerned about returning the sewing materials and stuffing she had stolen from the art classroom’s massive closet. She had tried not to take too much in the first place as to not raise suspicion, but in the end she had taken a little too much, and besides, she wanted to return the sewing needle since she would not put it past a particularly hawk-eyed staff member to notice the sharp object in the trash where it didn’t belong. However, all of those worries ended up being for nothing because her teacher never so much as looked at Liko heading into the closet, likely because Liko was always going in there for some art project or another. The only issue ended up being Dot giving her a weird look when she came back to their table empty-handed, and Liko had quietly and anxiously assured her that it would make sense after their next class. Dot hadn’t even been expecting anything notable, so she was taken aback by Liko’s flustered behavior, but she had shrugged it off and said “alright,” and Liko had breathed a sigh of relief, putting everything off for another hour or so like planned.
Science class came and went uneventfully (thankfully, since her teacher Spinel seemed to love to antagonize her specifically), and it was time. Liko dragged Dot to the hallway containing the bathrooms to give her the gift. Dot was confused by why they were going to the hallway that they knew didn’t have cameras, but she trusted Liko and let Liko weave her through their classmates by the arm.
“What is this about?” Dot asked once they got there, a little nervous. “Is this something about Sprigatito again?”
“Huh? Oh, no, I still have food stashed away for her, don’t worry,” Liko answered, nervousness lining her voice as well as she started digging through her bag, reaching blindly under her various textbooks and assignments. It was probably imperceptible to anyone else as she tried to keep herself together, but Dot could clearly hear the waver, and it only made her more concerned.
“Liko, if there’s something going on, you can tell me-” Dot began, but Liko interrupted her with an “ah!” of relief as her hand touched felt, and she carefully began sliding the gift out from her bag. After one more quick glance into the connecting hallway beside them to ensure no one was looking at them, Liko fully pulled the Quaxly plush forward. The instant she saw the head of it poke out from the bag, Dot’s eyes went impossibly wide, and her mouth closed shut.
Liko filled in the stunned silence. “I made this. For you,” she mumbled in a whispery tone, leaning closer to Dot while handing it to her so that the gift and the little note that came with it was even further hidden between the two of them. Her hands tremored slightly but she couldn’t help smiling when their newfound closeness allowed Liko to more clearly see the sparkle in Dot’s eyes, through her hair. She almost forgot that her heart was pounding in her chest as she watched Dot carefully take the doll, so uncharacteristically gently as if she would break it otherwise, and then hide it into her sweater vest, conveniently letting her press it against her chest. It all happened so quickly, as did all of the exchanges that happened between them in this hallway, but Dot couldn’t help slowing just a little to run her fingers over the gift, still speechless for a long moment.
“I… Thank you,” Dot breathed, her usual confidence around Liko melting away into the emotions welling up as tears in her eyes. “How did you…?”
Liko smiled nervously and pressed her fingers together in front of her, reminiscing over how she managed to make the stuffed Pokémon. “I took supplies from the art closet and um, worked on sewing after curfew. It took a little over a week because I’m not very good at sewing.”
Dot was visibly flabbergasted. “Not good at sewing? Liko, he’s adorable, I… I really cannot thank you enough. I can’t believe…” She trailed off, unable to find the words she wanted to say. Her eyes flitted to Liko’s lips which were unbearably close due to their whispered conversation and she wished that she could express how she felt about the gift by kissing them, but she knew that even this hallway was too open for something like that. Her heart burned desperately, but she would have to give her a kiss of thanks when she dragged Liko to her dorm to put the plush away, safe where no one could see it or question it, or them. In fact, it was about now she remembered that they needed to get moving, and she couldn’t stand here holding the Quaxly forever lest someone saw them, so she begrudgingly removed it from her chest and hurriedly slipped it into her own bag. “Come back to my room with me,” she abruptly continued, grabbing Liko’s sleeve and tugging.
Liko wasn’t expecting to actually go back to Dot’s dorm with her, and she stumbled a little as Dot dragged her. “Huh? Wait, Dot-” she stuttered, awkwardly trying to secure her bag better on her shoulder.
Dot just turned to look at her with an expression of seriousness that Liko was all too familiar with by now, and she swallowed whatever she was going to say and let Dot pull her away. They made the trip wordlessly as Liko focused on not toppling over from the force of her pounding heart. She was overjoyed that Dot liked the gift, but it was hard to think about it as she anticipated being able to be alone with her girlfriend again. The plush was a secret, and so were the kisses they would share as a “thank you.”
—
The next day, Liko was surprised to see Dot much more awake than usual at breakfast, not quite chipper but not dragging her feet and shoving her head into her arms for a little extra sleep at the dining table. She was even relieved to see her girlfriend eat just a little more than usual and she happily let Dot take a pastry off her plate. When she asked what had happened, Dot smiled, leaned in to Liko’s ear, and said that it was easier to sleep with Quaxly in her arms again. Liko turned so red she thought she might fall over, and the only one who noticed other than Dot herself was Ann, who erupted into knowing giggles. Though, Ann only knew about the plush, and realizing this made Liko touch her fingers to her lips with embarrassment, to which Dot gave her an even more knowing smirk. It was going to be a long, but good, day.