Work Text:
It was an insanely hot day and of course, the air conditioning in the Brave Olivine has stopped working properly. Everyone was practically dying from the heat but Roy really wanted to battle and train with Liko, and Liko was a little bad at expressing her wants.
Roy was in a tanktop and shorts, enjoying the nice warm weather. Liko however was suffering in her jacket. She was sweating like crazy. It was suffocating. But she really didn’t want to take off her top. Her reasons were…something she didn’t like to talk about. So she suffered through it.
The training they did was tough but Liko made it through just barely. Soon, as they finished up their battle, Dot came by to bring them some iced tea for them so they could take a break.
“Hey, guys, I brought some tea,” They told them as she walked onto the battle arena. They were also wearing a tanktop and shorts.
Roy hurriedly walked over and grabbed some tea. He loved cold drinks on hot days. He sipped on it happily.
“Woah, this is great tea, dot!” He thanked her. She blushed and mumbled a small thank you.
Liko grabbed a tea for herself and drank it, also thanking her friend. She thought Dot looked so cool in that tank top and kind of cute. It made her kind of jealous that she could just wear things like that without worrying about being judged.
As they sat on the court and socialized and drank tea, Dot realized that Liko was really sweating. It was worrisome. What if her crush friend, was overheating? Could she have heatstroke? It was concerning Dot a lot. She was known to be a worrier but was always extra concerned about Liko.
“Liko, why don’t you take off your jacket? I know your sleeves are medium length, but that still must be hot…” They told them.
“I-...I’m fine, really,” Liko lied. She was honestly dying but anything to hide… whatever. She already caused her friends to worry a lot, she didn’t need them to worry more.
“No, you’re not. I can see you’re sweating a lot and you’re starting to sway…” She pointed out.
“Can we please just drop this?” The Sprigatito lover stressed.
“I don’t want you to get heatstroke, just take it off, please,” Dot practically begged.
While they “fought” Quaxly snuck up behind Liko. It suddenly pulled off her jacket and a ton of scars on her biceps were revealed. Everyone’s jaws dropped in shock and worry. Immediately, Liko blushed and pulled her jacket back on.
“I’m gonna…go, I’ll let you two talk,” Roy said, getting up and leaving.
Once the door was closed and they were alone, Dot scooted towards her friend. Liko seemed to try and pull away but let Dot take her jacket off again.
“Oh my god, that’s… I had no idea,” Dot said worriedly. Suddenly, out of nowhere, she embraced her in a big hug. She didn’t know that she struggled with this stuff. They really didn’t want her to use that way of coping. She’s heard from online friends how damaging it was.
It was nice getting a hug from Dot. After all those times she felt alone with no one to depend on, it made her feel good and comforted. She always feels scared and nervous about everything she does.so getting any amount of reassurance was bliss. She hadn’t even realized she started crying until Dot started whispering sweet nothings into her ear.
“It’s okay to cry, you’re alright,” They said.
She was just so thankful that she didn’t freak out like everyone else did. Her parents, while being supportive, tended to get really stressed and freaked out and made her feel really bad about doing it. When her peers saw them, they’d act like she was crazy and needed to be locked away. But Dot… Dot was calm, and comforting. Not overwhelming and didn’t treat her wrong. They were so kind to her.
“Sorry… I got kind of emotional, huh?” Liko sniffled.
“That’s fine. I get emotional when tough subjects are brought up too, you don’t need to apologize” They assured her. Liko smiled a little.
“Thanks, Dot…” She looked down, knowing what was going to come up next. There was a soft silence before Dot spoke up.
“Do you um… do you still do it?” They asked.
Liko knew she was going to ask that but it was still hard to answer. She knew she hadn’t been feeling too many urges lately, but it was still undecided whether she’d completely stopped or not.
“I…I don’t know. I haven’t acted on any urges in a while, but I still get the urge,” Liko explained.
Dot frowned. She wanted to make sure she wouldn’t hurt herself. She was always so worried about her. Even just watching her battle Roy made her anxious.
“I don’t care what i’m doing, or if i’m recording a video, whenever you get this urge again, please come to my room. We can sit and I can help calm you down. Roy and the other’s can be a little overwhelming.” Dot held her hand. She did it both to reassure and comfort her, and because she’s always wondered how her hand felt in hers.
Sprigatito jumped into Liko’s lap, sensing its trainer was feeling down. Liko pet it, trying to calm herself down. A lot of the reasons she did do it was because of guilt and stress. She’d get so stressed out over interacting with others in the past and now recently she’d been getting urges due to feeling guilt. She was the reason the Explorers were after them and putting her friends in danger.
“Hey guys! I fixed the AC!” Orla called out to them.
Dot helped her get her jacket back on and gave her one last hug for good measures.
“Come on, let’s head inside. You can help me with my Nidothing video,” Dot smiled, helping her up.
They walked back inside together, holding hands. Liko found it very comforting and squeezed her hand as she walked with her head in the crook of Dot’s neck. They curled up in Dot’s bed and started to brainstorm more Pokemon video ideas. They were growing closer, and hopefully would be more than just friends.