Work Text:
With all the time Pagogo spent travelling with their new group of friends, there’s one thing that they were glad to discover; Lucius and Rystal’s descendant and their new trainer, Liko, was exactly like their former trainer and her partner.
Pagogo loved this about Liko; it was the thing that aided in awakening it after all, but they also found it a great comfort after waking up after over a hundred years. However, with Liko being a reflection of her great-great-grandparents, this came with the unfortunate discovery that she is hopelessly unaware of people’s feelings; often including her own.
Pagogo shook their head thinking that this situation was happening again. Pagogo could see that the way Liko and Dot looked at each other was the exact same way Rystal and Lucius did. They could see the way the two teens danced around each other to avoid whatever they knew was happening between them in lieu of something Pagogo just didn’t understand.
Pagogo approved of Dot as well, much like how they had approved of Lucius as someone fit for their trainer. Despite the other girl being rough on the outside, Pagogo could tell they had a pure, kind heart; one that beautifully reflected Liko’s own. With this came a trust in Dot that nobody else on the ship had, which led to Dot being the only person outside of Liko’s family and the other Pokemon to hold them without issue.
Though Pagogo was a little worried after being asleep for a little over a year since they used their energy to erase most of the Rakuium in Rakua; everyone on the ship was just a bit older, but there was something off between Liko and Dot, something that made Pagogo very nervous.
They still looked at each other the same way, but it was all anxious instead of the love that was there a year ago. That luckily didn’t last very long, since it seems the ice would break between them again and they would return to this awkward dance around their feelings once more.
Even though Pagogo was glad that their relationship seemed to repair itself from whatever happened while they were absent over that year, they’ve decided that it’s been three fucking years; this shall go on no longer.
Pagogo has had enough of this bullshit. Time to bring out the big guns:
Pagogo’s Ultimate Three Part Master Matchmaking Scheme!
Part one of the plan is already underway: bring Liko’s attention to Dot as much as possible. Pagogo’s idea; have Dot carry them as much as possible. Which was working excellently so far.
When Dot and Liko would go near each other, Pagogo would alternate who they wanted to hold them; not favouring Dot enough to make Liko think that they don’t like Liko anymore, but just enough that their partner was paying attention to the purple haired girl.
Today made the first bit of progress since the start of part one of the plan. The Rising Volteccers were holding a strategy meeting when Pagogo wandered away from Liko’s side while she was unaware and wandered over to Dot; “accidentally” bumping into her leg prompting her to pick Pagogo up.
Once Liko noticed Pagogo’s disappearance, she looked around frantically before making eye contact with Dot, who smiled sheepishly and shrugged with Pagogo in her arms to signify that they were safe. Liko reciprocated the smile and they continued the meeting as usual.
After the meeting, Dot went to hand Pagogo back over to Liko.
“Thanks for grabbing Pagogo, Dot, I really appreciate it” Liko said with a wide smile taking Pagogo who was cooing and reaching out for Liko from Dot’s arms.
“It’s nothing, they ran into my leg while trying to wander off so…” Dot scratched the back of their head nervously, a pink tint dusting her cheeks.
“It seems Pagogo’s growing really fond of you! I don’t think I’ve seen them be this friendly with anyone else, it even gets sad sometimes when they have to come back with me”
“Pago!” Pagogo reached out for Dot again as well, who smiled and took Pagogo’s hand, shaking it playfully. Liko looked down at them and chuckled, “Looks like we’ll have to stay together now, or else we fear the wrath of a sad Pagogo!”
Dot was fully red now, and after a moment, Liko looked over to Dot before realizing what she had just proposed. Now both girls were fully red.
“Ah- Anyways-! It’s late, have a good night, Dot!” Liko managed to stumble out before practically sprinting out of the room with Pagogo.
With part one being a success (although would still need to be continued for maximum effectiveness), Pagogo decided it was time to move onto phase two of the master plan; alone time together.
Pagogo hated to admit it, but they had to drive Gibbeon away from Lucius and Rystal many times for their Ultimate Three Part Master Matchmaking Scheme to work the first time. Luckily, they’re on an airship with private rooms, so getting the pair alone together was going to be much easier than how things played out over 100 years ago.
Pagogo’s plan: draw Liko to Dot’s room or vice versa, and they knew just the plan to do so.
It’s nighttime finally and Pagogo takes this time to sneak away from Liko as she’s getting ready for bed. They made their way down the halls of the Brave Asagi, trying their very best to be sneaky and to not get caught by any other member other than their target when they finally made it to their target's door.
They pushed their way through the metal doggy door and observed the scene in front of them; Dot was still sitting at their computer doing some work while muttering to herself, while Quaxwell, Tinkaton and Gholdengo were hanging out on the other side of the room. Of course, Pagogo got permission from these three to carry out their plan, so they let them be.
Pagogo made their way over to Dot’s legs and looked up at her.
”Pa-go!”
Surprised, Dot yelped and looked down.
”P-Pagogo?! What’re you doing here?” They shouted. Of course, Pagogo could only reply with its famous “Pago” while it leaned onto its hind legs and reached up for Dot.
Dot lifted them onto her lap, “Okay, okay… you can stay for a few minutes while I finish this up, then I gotta get you back to Liko and get ready for bed.”
She texted Liko a quick “Pagogo came to hang out, gonna bring them back when I’m done work” as well as a picture of Pagogo sitting on their lap, then kept to her word and finished her work, rambling quietly to herself as Pagogo sat happily, trilling and cooing at the pretty lights coming off of the computer screen.
Dot let out a big yawn and stretched before scooping Pagogo up again. “Alright, you, let’s get ya back to Liko so I can go to bed”
”Pago-!”
Dot knocked softly on Liko’s door, and it only took a couple seconds for the door to open.
”Thanks for bringing Pagogo back, Dot, I’m sorry they bothered you this late at night…” Liko Sheepishly smiled at Dot who returned the gesture.
“It’s not a problem…” Dot handed Pagogo back over to their partner then fidgeted with their bangs, “it’s been a while since I’ve had a Pokemon small enough to sit on my lap while I worked, kinda missed it”
Liko giggled and brought a hand to fidget with the ends of her hair as well. The pair just looked shyly at each other for a few moments before Dot realized she was staring and started to panic.
”W-well, it’s getting pretty late- I should let you head off to bed now. G-goodnight!” They said before promptly turning and very rigidly walking away.
Liko smiled endearingly as she did so, earning a satisfied grunt from Pagogo. Liko brought her partner into her room and got everyone settled for the night. Pagogo curled up at the end of Liko’s legs, and patiently waited for her to fall asleep; for part two of the plan was still underway!
Once they were sure Liko was fast asleep, they made their move; sneaking out of Liko’s room and making their way back over to the other girls room once more.
Dot was in bed already, drifting off to sleep. Pagogo crawled onto her bed and made their way over close to Dot’s head. They were sleeping on their side, their arms curled up next to their head.
Pagogo crawled underneath Dot’s arms and cuddled up with her. Dot stirred and her eyes cracked open, recoiling her arm as she did so “Pagogo..? What are you doing here? I thought I brought you back to Liko-“
”Pago!” They quietly exclaimed, nuzzling closer to her.
“You wanna stay here with me tonight..?” Dot asked sleepily, earning a nod from the Pokemon beside her.
”Alright… it’s prolly too late to take you back without waking Liko up as well… I’ll shoot her another text so he knows where you are when she wakes up.”
Dot sighed and placed her arm around Pagogo again, earning a happy exclamation from the Pokemon.
Within minutes, both were fast asleep.
Pagogo woke up at some point throughout the night to a very half asleep Liko “sneaking” into Dot’s room. She looked around for a moment before finally spotting Pagogo underneath the covers with Dot. Her face cycled through multiple different emotions before settling on embarrassed defeat.
She trudged her way over to Dot’s bed, “Pagogo, what are you doing here?!” Liko whispered.
“You can’t be sneaking into people’s rooms at night! Especially not-”
Dot stirred a little and Liko immediately went pale. After a few seconds, Dot settled once more and Liko turned back to her Pokemon.
“Come on, Pagogo, I know you’re very particular to Dot right now, but this is a bit much!”
Perhaps Liko was right; or that’s what Liko wanted them to think! This was all going according to plan, but they had to play it up in order for things to pan out. So, with a small grunt of defeat, Pagogo crawled out of Dot’s arms and over to Liko.
Liko scooped them up, but before they could turn to leave, a whine escaped the sleeping girl and a pair of arms wrapped around Liko’s midsection, trapping her there.
Liko felt her heart stop and she suddenly felt like she couldn’t breathe. Heat rose to her face as she processed the situation around her.
“Mmm nooooo stay…” Dot muttered. Liko turned her head slowly, realizing Dot was still fast asleep.
Liko slowly sat down on the bed and her grip on Pagogo tightened. She then proceeded to sit there; unmoving and barely breathing, for an hour and a half before her body succumbed to exhaustion and she gave in and laid down next to Dot; drifting slowly to sleep.
Dot woke up the next morning curled up against something very warm. She hadn’t even opened her eyes, but they were drawn to the temptation of sleep once more by this alluring and comforting scent. They pulled whatever this comfort was closer and sighed into it before they felt it move.
They were now suddenly very awake.
Dot’s eyes shot open to find themself curled up into Liko’s back.
How did she get here!?
Why is she here!?
Many questions rattled around through her brain, fogged up by the embarrassment of realizing, since Liko wasn’t in a very particularly comfortable position and considering Dot’s right arm was pinned underneath her, that Dot grabbed her in their sleep.
She must have come by to get Pagogo at some point…
She resisted the urge to groan in embarrassment in lieu of soaking in the feeling of Liko in her arms; she was still asleep after all. Was she feigning ignorance for their own self indulgence; sure, but at the same time, they were going to let her go as soon as she woke up.
Dot wrapped her left arm around Liko once more, pulling herself closer to the other girl, closing her eyes and hoping that maybe some more comforting sleep would come her way once more.
Unfortunately, it didn’t take very long for Liko to stir back awake. Dot kept her eyes closed and decided that to avoid any awkwardness first thing in the morning, she’d let Liko think that she was still asleep. She’d tell her the truth later.
Dot felt Liko’s heart start to race as her breathing started to quicken. Liko sat up and Dot let her arm fall away from her, holding back the urge to protest as Liko’s warmth left her side.
Holding her breath, Liko looked back at Dot, who appeared to be still sleeping. She let out a relieved sigh as she looked around for her troublesome Pokemon once more.
Pagogo sat on the edge of the bed waiting for something to happen. They saw Dot wake up, why is she pretending to sleep again?
“Pago?”
Liko stood up from Dot’s bed, she looked down at her sleeping crush and pulled the blankets over her before gently grabbing Pagogo from the end of the bed and leaving silently.
Pagogo didn’t know what went wrong! Last time that was all it took for part three of the plan to come naturally. Perhaps they had executed it wrong this time? Well, they wouldn’t put it past themself; as similar to Rystal and Lucius the two of them may be, they still have their differences so it was bound to go differently.
Or perhaps these two were so stubborn that they needed to execute part three of the plan themself since CLEARLY these girls were not doing it.
So it shall be.
As Pagogo went to leave Liko’s room once more, Liko caught them and lifted them to be face to face with her.
”Pagogo, you cannot go back to Dot’s room right now. I’m so serious, I can’t look her in the eye right now; I think I’d burst into flames if I have to see her-! GAH I cannot believe I slept beside her last night! I could’ve just carefully moved her hands- WHY DIDN’T I DO THAT??”
“Pago-?” Pagogo tilted their head curiously. Liko clearly liked being there, why didn’t she just stay there longer?
Although, they thought as they looked up at Liko; perhaps they did go a bit far. Pagogo could feel the stress radiating off of their trainer; Liko looked like she was about to burst into tears. Pagogo was trying to help make her happy, but instead it was only making her sad instead.
Perhaps it’s time to put a stop to this plan.
Liko shut herself in her room for three days after that fiasco. She’s never done that before; not after devastating losses, not even after Friede disappeared.
The crew could tell something was wrong, especially Dot. Clearly she had read the whole… thing that’s been going on between them wrong. They absolutely crossed a line by accidentally holding Liko hostage in their bed. Even worse, they pretended they didn’t know it happened. Arceus! They were horrible!
And now they’ve been visiting Liko’s room, bringing her meals and talking to her through the door just like she used to do for them all that time ago.
And now she’s here, bringing her dinner once more. It’s 9:30pm, so there’s a chance she might not even be awake by now anyways. Nevertheless, Dot took a deep breath and knocked on Liko’s door.
“Hey Liko… I brought you dinner.” Dot waited for a moment before leaning against her door, sliding down to the floor. “I know Roy came by earlier and you said you weren’t hungry but… you’ve barely eaten anything over the past couple days and I’m worried about you…”
…
No response.
…
So she tried exactly what Liko had done for Dot in the past. She sat in front of Liko’s door and started talking to her about everything she could think of; from Gurumin video ideas to the shenanigans of the Pokemon on the ship.
“It’s a bit nostalgic, isn’t it?” Dot said with a sigh, “Although I’m the one sitting outside your door now…” they chuckled a little bit, trying to make light of the situation.
…
No response.
…
Dot felt tears prick at the corners of her eyes. They didn’t know how Liko didn’t give up on them, they felt devastatingly lonely talking to her like this; knowing she was right there, but wouldn’t talk to her.
They pulled out a piece of paper from their pocket; a very messy drawing of the two of them on the battle deck looking up at a meteor shower. They’d been planning on asking Liko to watch the meteor shower with them for days, but chickened out every time.
Dot scooted away from the door to get ready to slide the paper under Liko’s door, but was met with a Pokemon barreling through the doggy door at the bottom of the regular door.
Pagogo leapt into Dot’s arms with a happy “Pago!”
Dot had a better idea now.
Liko sat against the door on the inside of her room. She was crying; she could hear the pain in Dot’s voice in her last sentence, and guilt flooded through her.
Before she could realize how to stop them, Pagogo burst through the doggy door. Despite stopping their plan, Liko holding herself in her room wasn’t helping her either; enough was enough.
Pagogo re-entered her room with a note tied around their neck. Hesitantly, Liko took it gently and opened it. She cried harder, but she knew what she wanted to do now.
She let herself calm down before getting herself dressed and presentable again. Then she headed straight for the battle deck.
Dot was laying back on the battle deck staring up at the sky, making the same wish as each meteor fell: I wish I could see her face again. I wish I could just make everything better. I wish I could tell her how much I love her.
Dot could hear footsteps as a figure approached her from behind. She didn’t feel like looking, it wasn’t going to be Liko anyways.
“Can I join you..?” a small voice said. Dot spun around and came face to face with Liko, Pagogo following slowly behind her.
She didn’t even wait for an answer before sitting down next to them. Dot settled back down to lying on the floor of the battle deck, hands behind their head gazing back up at the sky. Shortly after, Liko joined them as well.
They both laid there, unmoving and silent, neither of them knew for how long, until Pagogo crawled up in between the space between the two girls. They got eye level with them before they turned and nuzzled their head against Dot, prompting them to give them some head pats.
Liko’s heart skipped a beat when Dot looked in her direction. She knew now was the time.
“Pagogo’s really growing fond of you, Dot…”
Dot chuckled, “Yeah… not sure where that came from all of the sudden”
“I don’t think it was a sudden as you think it was”
“You think so?”
Liko nodded. She looked up at the sky, to the hundreds of falling meteors and prayed that she had the courage to go through with this. Then, she rolled onto her side facing Dot. Her face felt warm, but she could see through the dim light that Dot was also flushed, eyes widened with surprise as Liko’s eyes pierced their own.
“Y’know, Pagogo’s not the only one who has grown fond of you…” she said before immediately realizing how stupid that probably sounded. There’s no going back now.
Dot’s eyes softened after processing what Liko just said before rolling over to meet face to face with her.
“Oh yeah..? Who else?”
Liko felt like her heart was going to beat out of her chest. She felt that nervousness return as her mouth went dry, nevertheless she prevailed.
“Well, if you’re looking for someone in particular…” she stuttered out, “I happen to be very fond of you…”
Neither of the two teens realized how the other was slowly leaning closer to one another; nor did they realize the small turtle that had started this conversation was no longer in between them.
They stared into each other's eyes for what felt like an eternity before something pushed the back of Liko’s head forward; her lips colliding with Dot’s.
The kiss lasted only a few seconds before Liko broke away in panic, flipping over to see Pagogo standing there, looking very proud of themself.
Liko fell back to the ground, her face ablaze, attempting to hide behind her hands. She attempted to say something like an apology for the sudden kiss, but it just came out as a jumbled mess of sounds.
Her panic was disrupted by a pair of soft hands pulling her own away from her face. She screwed her eyes shut in fear for what she was going to see when she opened them; until those soft hands made their way up to her cheeks, gently cupping them as if they could break like porcelain.
Before she knew it, a pair of lips met hers once more. Liko softly gasped before melting into the kiss. When Dot finally pulled away, they put their forehead against hers. Liko’s eyes fluttered open and she gazed into this sea of violet that was the most beautiful thing to her.
“Well, it just so happens that I’m very fond of you too…” they said before Liko could kiss them once more.
Behind them, Pagogo huffed victoriously.
It’s about damn time!
They hope they never have to do this ever again.