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Roy had been looking for Liko all over the ship. She had promised him that she would do some training with him yesterday, but she was nowhere to be found today.
He looked in Likos room, she wasn’t in there, neither was her Sprigatito. And she wasn’t in any of the other rooms he looked in.
Running out of places to look he knocked on Dots door, unsurprisingly to him she didn’t answer it. But even then something felt off to him. Even if the silence was normal whenever he knocked on this door.
He decided that the best way to try and find Liko was to ask Friede. Fuecoco was dancing around his legs as he walked over to the bridge of the ship.
“Hey Friede, have you seen Liko anywhere?”
The captain turned towards him, they had landed that morning in a forest.
“No, I haven’t seen Liko today. Is something wrong?” Friede raised his eyebrow at the question.
“No, it’s just that we were supposed to do some training.” Roy admitted.
“She’s probably just exploring, she'll be back before you know it.”
Liko had a lot to think about. And by her guess, so did the girl that was walking through the forest with her. Last night was… certainly a strange one, Dot had gone into her room for an unknown reason. Liko didn’t care that much personally, but Dots silence had her worried.
They walked silently through the woods, the sounds of the forest filling the air as Liko occasionally stole glances at Dot. Their expression was unreadable to her.
“Hey so-” Liko decided to break the silence before Dot cut her off
“About last night… I’m… sorry for going into your room.” Dot hung her head as she spoke.
“You don’t have to apologize for that…” Liko said out loud before saying “it was kinda nice…” under her breath.
Dot sighed and sat on a rock, hanging her head down, “I didn’t even have a reason to go in…”
Liko went to sit down next to her on the stone, it was barely big enough for the both of them. “Well… I… didn’t have a reason to ask you to stay…” She could feel her face getting hotter as she partially admitted to wanting her to stay.
The two sat on the rock awkwardly, Liko reached for Dot's hand but the streamer flinched away from her.
Deciding to try and get the subject off of last night, Dot spoke.
“It’s nice out here… why did you ask me to come out here with you?”
“It… felt too awkward to stay on the ship.” Liko answered “And also… I wanted to… be alone with you.” Liko awkwardly answered the last bit, becoming more and more quiet as the words came out of her mouth.
“What was that last bit?”
“NOthing!” Liko panicked a response out, her face a bright red as she physically recoiled from the question.
A small snort could be heard from the streamer. Readjusting herself liko eventually was sitting up straight again, Dot spoke again, “guess we can keep going a bit further.”
“Yeah…” A nervous chuckle escaped Liko as Dot got up and started walking through the woods, Liko following her this time.
The silent trek eventually led to the two standing on a hill, looking over the forest they had just been in.
The soft grass invited them to sit down on it and watch. The forest alive with critters and Pokemon they were both familiar and unfamiliar with.
Dot held her pants tightly as she turned towards Liko, the light radiating off of her face, her eyes sparkling through the light with that same dumb smile.
“So uhh… last night…” Dot started to talk before suddenly choking up on her words. Liko turned to her with a curious, yet patient look.
Dot breathed in, she ran through the question in her head a thousand times before saying it and even then she was still nervous, trying to get it over with, she spoke her mind.
“Do you… like… me?”
“Yes.” Liko said without missing a beat only to backpedal when she realized what she was saying, “I mean of course I do, we're friends!” She tried to course correct but it wasn’t working out as her face turned redder.
Dot shifted closer to Liko, her coat grazing against Likos arm. “Well I mean is there a specific reason why you’re asking me?” Liko said quickly, trying to process what was happening.
“It’s… It’s just…” Dot was trying to find the words but she couldn't. She was in a stasis of trying to talk about her feelings in a watered down tone, she didn’t want to just say it. That would be a stupid idea on every basis.
She stayed like that for a moment, trying to find the words to express herself but she just couldn’t. Every possible answer was either too direct or too vague. She felt herself spiralling mentally until she felt her hands move.
Her eyes opened, and for a second Dot thought that they were lying to her. Liko was holding them in her hands, she was looking at the streamer in the eyes.
“Whatever you want to say… you can say it.” There was such a warmth in her eyes and smile that caused Dots heart to skip a few beats, and with a deep breath, she spoke.
“I love you…”
She looked away from Liko in fear, in fear of regret, in fear of denial, in fear of rejection, but when she looked back at her.
Her eyes were shining like the most vibrant stars in the sky. And with a surprising speed, she lunged forward towards Dot, and kissed her.
Surprise overtook the recluse as they locked lips for what felt like an eternity, their faces split as they looked at each other in the eyes.
“I love you too.” Liko said as she pulled away from the kiss. “I just… didn’t know how to say it.”
Dot suddenly felt the embrace of Liko as she hugged the girl, it felt like another eternity, but one that the two wished could never end.
After a while of staying like that, the two started going back to the brave Asagai, Liko reached for Dots hand, and this time, she didn’t recoil from her touch.
As the two became visible from the airship a voice could suddenly be heard.“Liko, there you are!” The two heard Roy calling from the Airship, though it seems like he was more transfixed on Liko.
“You promised me that Pokemon battle yesterday and I’ve been waiting for the past 3 hours!”
Oh, that’s why he was looking for Liko.
Liko had a guilty look as she realized she completely forgot about her promise to train. She turned to Dot with a questioning look, silently asking her what she should do.
“I’ll be in my room.” Dot answered, which seemed to be enough for Liko to gather what she should do.
Liko nodded as she went towards the observation deck of the Brave Asagai.
“We aren’t going easy on you!”
“Isn’t this a training match?” Liko said nervously.
“Who cares? We’re starting… now!”
Roy beat Liko in the training match, she was… distracted. Only her distractions were no longer about how to ask Dot out.
That was only a fragment of the distractions that girl caused her in her mind. And by Arceus’s name was she lucky to have her.
Liko was impatient trying to get back to Dot, running in the hallways towards her room. She gave it a knock.
Nothing
She knocked again.
Still nothing.
Now she was worried something had already happened to her, she opened the door and scanned the room.
Nothing seemed particularly out of the ordinary. The room smelled just as nice as it always did, but Dot wasn’t in her room like she said she would.
But then she finally noticed it, her pillows weren’t on her bed anymore, they weren’t in her room at all anymore.
Earlier she was worried, now she was just plain confused.
Whatever, it was late. Curfew was almost about to be enacted and she saw Roy in the corner of her eye walk into his room.
Opening the door to her room she was surprised at where Dots pillows were, they were on her bed.
Confused, Liko closed the door behind her and started inching closer to the pillows. She poked at one of them.
“They’re just pillows, they’re not gonna jump at you.” Liko shot up straight as a board quickly turning towards Dot as the girl gave a mischievous giggle.
Liko gave a nervous chuckle as Dot walked towards her and embraced her with a kissed.
Sprigatito gave the two of them a look before going back to cleaning her paws.
The two broke away from the kiss and looked into each other's eyes for a moment.
“I guess… we should go to bed now.” Liko said, a hint of disappointment in her voice.
Liko settled herself into her bed, having seemingly already forgotten about Dots pillows, before suddenly feeling something moving under the covers and press itself into Liko.
She turned in bed and saw Dot snuggling up to her, a small gasp escaped her mouth. Before she could say anything Dot spoke.
“Don’t even try to act like you don’t want this.”
A nervous chuckle escaped Liko as she let Dot snuggle into her. “You caught me.”
The two's breathing began to sync as they laid quietly, basking in the others warmth.
“I love you… Dottie.” Liko said as she closed her eyes, before she heard Dot snicker and looked at her.
“Sorry it’s a silly nickname.”
“Well you’re my Dottie, silly or not.”
“Oh the moment I think of a pet name for you it’s over.” Dot teased as she fell asleep with the girl she loved.