Thread Of Fate - Postwickshipping

Chapter 4

Hop woke up and opened up his eyes. He stared right at the sleeping face of his best friend. Her face was pale, and she had a frown on her face. As if she was having an very unpleasant dream. Hop gave himself a few seconds to wake up. He shook his head a bit and sat up. He tucked a strand of hair, which was laying on her mouth, slowly behind her ear. The young boy couldn't help himself and started to hover above her.
Are you stupid? He asked himself. It's too reckless. When she would wake up, he would probably be kicked out of the bed. But he just... couldn't resist. He lowered his face close to hers. Her pink lips looked soft and round. Hop wanted to taste them. Their lips nearly touched, until he suddenly felt two arms being wrapped around him. Although she was still asleep, she started to press him on top op her for a tight hug. Hop got hot. He felt as is steam could erupt from his face anytime now, his heart pounding loudly in his chest. He started to breathe heavily.

"A...are you trying to kill me or somethin'..." He whispered shyly.

Gloria let out a soft groan, and slowly blinked her eyes a couple of times. She was awake. Hop tried to break free of the position he was in but Gloria was holding him too hard. She was staring straight into his eyes, clearly not fully awake.

"Eh...I... Hop..." She stammered. She was clearly confused.

Hop said nothing and looked away. She was too cute when she was like this. His heart could barely handle it.

Suddenly Gloria turned beet red and loosened her arms. Hop took the opportunity to get off of his best friend. He sat down at the other side of the bed, his arm scratching the back of his head. Gloria sat up across of him.

"I'm sorry!" Hop apologized while bowing his head.

Gloria shook her head. "Don't worry. I..." She turned away and started to whisper nervously, "it's not as if I didn't like it."

The two of them got out of bed and started the day as they usually did when sleeping over. They had some breakfast and got dressed. While Gloria was watering her mother's plants Hop was feeding their Pokémon. After awhile, they both left towards Wedgehurst station. In the train, they were sitting across of each other. Gloria was looking out of the window, but Hop was looking at her. He hitted his cheeks twice. He almost kissed her twice, in two days! The two of them finally arrived at the fault of Hamerlocke, where Raihan was waiting on them. He put his hand in the air.

"Over here Champ'! Hop!"

Gloria and Hop smiled brightly and waved. They ran towards him.

"Thanks for making time today!" Gloria said cheerfully.

Raihan shook his head with a big grin. "No worries. I'll show you to the ancient library but I'll have to go after that."

They both followed Raihan into the vault. The trio entered the library after taking many stairs down. The room was covered with books, letters and paintings.

"I'll leave you two to it. Since you're two the heroes of Galar, you don't need permission the enter the vaults." Raihan closed the door behind him.

Hop glared at Gloria, and grabbed a pair of glasses out of his bag. He put them on and jokingly asked her:
"I sure do look handsome now, don't I? "

Gloria smiled kindly. "You look even more mature now!"

Hop turned red once again. He didn't expect such an honest answer.

"Let's get to work."

The two of them were scanning around the library for hours. They both picked out a bunch of books and scripts about the two ancient heroes. They laughed and had fun, before they even knew it it started to get dark outside. The two of them packed theirbstuff and walked back out. They would come back every single day for the next week, until they've found something useful. They both got on the train back to Wedgehurt. Once they arrived back in Wedgehurst Hop suddenly got all excited. They were standing in front on the train station.

"Hang on a moment, I'll grab something to drink for us. Stay put!" Hop told Gloria.

She nodded and stayed where she was at. Hop was going to stay at her place again tonight. He was planning to do so until Gloria's mum came back home from her trip. He pushed some coins into the vending machine and picked out Gloria's favorite drink. Hop was planning to confess his love to her one of these days. It would become obvious to her anyways, with the amount of times he tried to kiss her. He looked at the can of icetea. An indirect kiss... The young boy walked back towards Gloria.

"And... You just turned 16 right?"

"What does that have to do with anything?"

Hop looked at the place where Gloria was standing. A tall, blonde man was standing in front of her, talking to her with a suspicious smirk on his face. Gloria had her arms crossed and was looking pissed. The stranger started to scan the young girls body as he took a step closer to her. Gloria's hair wasn't as short as it used to be, it was a tad longer than her shoulders now. The stranger grabbed a lock of her hair and played with it.

"What the hell do you think you're doing, let go of me in an instand!" She demanded.

Hop sprang forwards. The stranger was about to put his hands on her lips, but Hop was quicker. He pulled Gloria close to his chest with his arm wrapped around her shoulder.

"You shouldn't mess with somebody else's girl. " Hop said in a low voice.

A crowd was forming around them and they were all whispering things. A few of them grabbed their phones and tried to take a picture.
"It's the champion and challenger Hop!"
"The two heroes! "
"Did he just say that the champion is his girl?"

The man had disappeared in the still growing crowd. Hop slapped his forehead. He'd really done it this time.

You shouldn't mess with someone else's girl! These words kept ringing in his head. He let go of Gloria's shoulder, and grabbed her hand instead.
"It really isn't like that!" She told the crowd. She was flustered and tried her best to keep her cool.
"Hop's my best friend, he was just protecting me! Right Hop?"

Hop nodded, and the crowd started to fall apart. Hop's my best friend. But oh, how much he longed to be more than that. A couple of people asked if they could get an autograph from both of them, some even wanted a picture together. It didn't take long until the two of them were alone again. They walked back to Postwick together.

They walked past Hop's house. "Hey Hop..." Gloria said as she stopped walking. She looked away. "Thank you, you really helped me."

Hop turned around to her and smiled. He always felt like he was less than his best friend. He always lost every battle they had, she was always better at everything. She was stronger and more popular. When Gloria defeated her in the semi finales it crushed his confidence completely, yet he couldn't help but be proud of her.

They both where chilling in Gloria's bedroom. Hop was watching TV and Gloria was busy on her rotomphone.
"I have a meeting with Oleana and Leon tomorrow, in Motostoke at 11' o clock." She sounded a bit down and looked at Hop.

"I'll come to the library straight after!" She added.

Hop joined her on her bed and sat down right next to her. He smiled at her amd pulled her hair playfully. "It can't be helped, right? Champion duties are important too."

Gloria nodded and put her head on Hop's shoulder. They stayed like this for a long time without a single care in the world.