This is a special story! I wrote this specifically as a birthday present for one of my best friends, DDillonT44! This all started with a picture of Chessshipping I saw that looked a lot like me and him, and this fic is partially generated around that picture. Without further ado, let's get started! Happy birthday, Dillon!


Hilda sipped her hot chocolate, blissfully alone. The snow falling gently outside filled her with a sense of creativity, causing words to flow through her fingertips and onto her computer screen. She rarely got moments like this, between training with her pokémon and traveling the regions, to just sit and write. It was nice to be draped across a chair at home, accompanied by only her computer and her imagination.

"Are you done yet?"

. . .And her best friend, who asked the same question of her every five minutes.

"The more you interrupt my flow, Hilbert, the more time it's gonna take," she chided, her chocolate eyes never leaving the document screen.

"You've been working forever, though!" Hilbert protested, though he knew perfectly well that it had only been twenty minutes.

She finally dragged her eyes off of what she was typing to look at his own blue eyes that she had always thought held a hint of gray. For some reason, he was situated upside down in the chair across from hers, his brown hair only a couple shades lighter than hers hanging slightly tousled. His hat, like hers, had been long discarded. "Look, I promise that as soon as I finish this paragraph, we'll start the movie." Her fingers flew across her laptop's keyboard once more, only vaguely registering Hilbert rolling off his chair and walking over to her.

"What are you writing about, anyway?" he asked, peering over her shoulder.

Quickly, she closed the document. "No reading until it's done! But if you really wanna know. . ." She tilted her head back to look at him. "It's a story of a girl whose life has just about lost all it's meaning, so she's trying to find herself again. Her best friend helps her in any way he can, too."

"You don't see a lot of platonic male-female relationships in books anymore. Or life, come to think of it."

Hilda nodded. Of course he got it; they were in the kind of situation where all of their friends wanted them to get together romantically. "Exactly. That's why I'm basing them off of us."

His lips parted in a grin. "Good choice. Hey, now that you're not writing, let's start 'Stand By Me!'"

With a sigh, she closed her laptop. She supposed she should be annoyed, but she couldn't suppress her smile. "You did that on purpose, didn't you?"

"No. Maybe." He laughed, slipping the DVD he brought out of his bag. "How do you put this in?"

She raised an eyebrow at him, picking up her hot chocolate and taking another sip. "It's the same system as yours. Are you saying you don't know how to work your own TV?" In retort, he only stuck out his tongue, to which she mirrored his action, adjusting her position in the chair so there was more room. "C'mere. This seat's got the best view."

He waved her off, taking a seat in front of her on the floor. "Nah, I'm fine here."

"At least take a blanket, then." She pulled one of her many off of her, draping it over his head so he couldn't see.

"Hey!" he laughed out, wrestling himself free. She tossed her head back with a laugh as well, turning up the volume and starting the movie.

X-X-X

At around the halfway mark, Hilda found herself busying her hands by playing with his hair. He'd seen this movie so many times, he was speaking many of the lines along with the characters, though his head was tilted back a bit, his fingers combing through the ends of her hair.

"You love this movie a lot, don't you?" she asked, interrupting the movie.

He tilted his head back a bit more, their eyes meeting. "Heck yeah! This is definitely my favorite movie."

As their attention slipped back to the television screen, she nodded. "Good to know," she muttered.

X-X-X

The movie ended quicker than she expected. That, or maybe she had been distracted in her thoughts. "What do you want to do now?" Hilbert inquired, taking the disc out of the DVD player.

"I don't know. . . do you want to just talk?" Hilda suggested with a shrug. "Or we could play truth or dare."

A smirk settled on his face. "I just happened to bring the cards I made for truth or dare, too."

"You actually made cards for this?" she asked in a monotone.

"Well, seeing as how you can never think of a good truth or a dare. . ." He trailed off, dodging the pillow she threw at him. "You have to admit, it was a good idea!"

She sighed. "Yeah, I guess." He had a point, too. "Let's make this interesting. The only time you chicken out of a dare is when you lose the game. The winner gets to tell the loser what to do."

After a moment of thinking, he nodded. "Sounds good. How about we also don't get to choose our truth or dare? Let's let a die decide." He stuck his hand in his bag, pulling one out.

"You came prepared, didn't you?"

No response from him other than tossing the die into the air and catching it. "Odds are truth, evens are dare. Deal?"

"Deal. But I hope you know you're going first." She slid out of her chair and onto the ground, waiting for him to join.

He laughed, setting the two decks of cards out in front of them. "Alright, then." He rolled the die, watching it land on top of a blanket. "Two. I get a dare." He flipped a card from the pile labeled Dares in his messy scrawl. "'Say the alphabet backwards in a British accent.' Can't be too hard."

"Wanna bet?"

He ignored her, clearing his throat and speaking in what must have been the worst British accent in Unova. "Z, Y, X, W, V, U, T, S, R, Q, P, O, N, M, L, K, J, I, H, G, F, E, D, C, B, A. Simple enough."

Hilda snorted. "Please. I don't think that qualifies as a British accent. Or any accent."

"Whatever," he shrugged. "It's your turn now."

She rolled her eyes playfully, picking up the die. "This better be good." She tossed it lightly at him, waiting for it to land. "Six. Alright, then." She picked up a dare card. "'Combine two foods that should never go together, and eat a huge bite.' Are you kidding me?"

"Do the dare, Hilda. Unless you want to lose," Hilbert teased, earning her glare.

"You are having way too much fun with this," she grumbled, standing up and heading to the kitchen. Yanking open the door to the fridge, she took out two random items- strawberry jelly and deli ham. "Do I really have to do this?" She called over to Hilbert. All she got in response was a laugh.

With a sigh, she spooned some of the jelly onto the ham. "The things I do to win," she muttered, taking a bite of the ham. "Hm. Actually, that's not that bad," she decided after swallowing, starting to make her way back to the game. "Your dare's been defeated, Hilbert!"

"See? It wasn't so bad." He rolled the die again, this time coming up with a one. "Finally, a truth! Let's see. . . 'What would you do on the perfect first date?'" His hand stroked an imaginary beard on his chin.

Hilda snickered. "This'll be good. Come on, let's hear it."

He sent her a playful glare before answering. "It would probably be a picnic in Pinwheel Forest. That way, we could take a walk after."

"That's actually a pretty good plan." In fact, it was one that she had thought about before. Hadn't she brought that up in front of him before? "My turn now." She rolled the die, turning up a three. "Another dare? 'Tell someone in the group about their most attractive feature in the most flirtatious way possible.'" Her eyes slowly met Hilbert's. "Did you seriously come up with these?"

He grinned. "That's for me to know and you to find out. Although, I don't remember putting that one there. Anyways, do the dare! I'm ready to be flirted with." Indeed, he looked like a four-year-old hopped up on sugar. There was no way that this card was a coincidence. It wasn't even in his handwriting.

"Who was the last person you played this with?"

A moment passed. "I think it was Bianca and Iris. Why?" Her only response was a stare, prompting him to think. "Oh, you mean you think they put these cards in?"

"It would make the most sense. They are the two biggest fans of us getting together." And, as much as she didn't want to, "I'm gonna get this dare over with. You know, your eyes are the most dreamy shade of blue that's ever been invented, and I think I can see into your gorgeous, pure soul just by looking into them." She added some eyelash fluttering to the end before breaking into a grin. "How was that?"

Judging from the faint blush on his cheeks, she thought she did pretty well. "That was impressive. I didn't know you had it in you to flirt." He shrugged, picking up the die and rolling. "Five. Another dare." Picking up another card, he examined it, his face slowly being drained of color. He slammed it down so fast that she couldn't see what was written on it. "I forfeit."

She gave him a light smack on the arm. "Come on! Your dare can't be that bad." Reaching for the card, he smacked her hand away. "Dude, what the hell?"

"You don't want to read it."

"Pretty sure I do. Just give me the card!" She lunged for it, crumpling it slightly in her grasp. Sitting up with a triumphant grin, she smoothed it out and read it. "'Kiss the person to your left. (And yes, Hilbert and Hilda, this card is only used when you two are the only ones playing!)'" She recognized Bianca's writing now.

Hilbert interrupted her mental fuming. "So you win. What do you want me to do?"

After a moment of thinking, she decided. With a wicked grin, she pronounced, "You have to complete a dare for me. No takebacks." He made a hand motion signaling for her to continue. "I dare you to complete the dare on Bianca and Iris' card."

"Are you serious!" He shouted, getting up and pacing the room. "I don't even know how they snuck their cards into my piles, but-"

She stood up, cutting him off with a kiss of her own. "There. Dare completed." Her laugh rang through the room when she saw his wide eyes. "Well? Did you like it?" He nodded, dumbfounded. To her own surprise, she had, too. "Do you. . . want to do it again?" And again, he nodded.

So maybe she's had these feelings buried for a little while. They were all out in the open now, and it appeared that he felt the same.

She had to add this twist to her story.


I, personally, loved writing this. I had a couple of my friends and my sisters check it over as well, and one of my friends said "Oh it's so cute I'M CRYING OMG." So, happy birthday Dillon and anyone else who happens to read this on their birthday! Love ya ;-)