a/n: i wrote this when i was sleep deprived so if there's any mistakes pls tell me i will try to correct them
i just finished moon and i fell in love with the cute emo dork ugh why am i like this idk
anyways yeah this is readerxgladion? i guess? the reader has a kind of personality tho but i kept it vague as was possible
this is basically self-insert lol but hey i hope someone else gets a kick out of it too
enjoy folks
(rated t because of some bad sweary words oooooo naughty)
o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o
"I think... I'll sleep here."
"In the bed that I once shared with my mother when I was small..."
"Just one last time."
The look on her face had been so solemn and sad, you couldn't help the way your heart clenched.
Even after all Lusamine had done, it's clear Lillie still adores her. You don't know why or how, for in your eyes the woman deserves no such love. But you aren't Lillie. And you can't presume to understand her feelings on this matter. After all, your parents have always been relatively normal and kind.
They've definitely never kidnapped you from your friends and then torn open a hole to a new reality with super freaky creatures in it.
Yeah, that just hasn't ever been a part of your life until now.
But, you worry for her. She is one of your best friends after all.
It's strange how things work out. When you met her you never thought any of this could possibly happen. Never mind the Ultra Wormhole and all that, you didn't think you'd even be friends with her. She seemed shady and mysterious. The way she looked so... so clean and pure. It made your spine tingle at the time. And, well, your feelings were kind of correct. But now you understand better.
And Nebby... You wonder if it's going to be alright. If you can really help get it back to normal.
You sigh.
"This moping around isn't going to help anyone." You mumble softly to yourself, pacing back and forth across the balcony. "Least of all me. So why do I always do this? Ugh."
You throw your arms over the side of the rail and slump forward. You hate this place. You've hated it since you first stepped foot in it back when you met Faba. It was just too... clean. Too pure and white. It made you instantly suspicious.
Like when you met Lillie. You should've connected the dots earlier. Maybe you'd have all been spared some pain if you had. If you'd confronted her and gotten her to open up about it all. Maybe then-
"What're you doing up?"
The sudden noise makes you leap about seventy feet into the air, and you're surprised you don't fall over the rails and to a very early demise. You whip around to look at the owner of the voice.
"Whoa. Jumpy much?"
You glare at the blond boy before you, and laugh in a snarky way.
"Ha, ha, Gladion." You hiss. "What're you trying to do, kill me?"
He narrows his eyes and looks away, out to the view you were gazing at before.
"Didn't realise you hadn't heard me. I was hardly sneaking up on you."
You groan. Sometimes you despise your mind and it's ability to lost in itself. It's lead to things like this before. You remember the time Hau came up behind you and grabbed your shoulder when you were reading. One punch and a thousand apologies later, Hau promised to never interrupt you again.
You jump back to reality when Gladion waves a hand in front of your face.
"Shit, you really do drift off, huh?" He snorts, raising an eyebrow.
"Shut up." You snap. "It's been a long day."
You regret the words as soon as they leave your mouth. It may have been long for you, but you can't even imagine what it's been like for him. Having a mother like that... Lillie isn't the only one you're worried for.
"...Sorry."
"What for? You were only being honest."
His bluntness surprises you every time. You're sure it's because the only other person you know who's as blunt as he is, is yourself.
"Yeah. Well. At least I... I didn't have to..." You trail off. Where are you going with this? 'At least I didn't have to watch my own mother disappear into another reality as she berated me?' Those aren't great words to comfort somebody. That's the bluntness showing itself.
"You never answered my question?"
You blink, tilting your head, as he turns towards the railing. He leans against it like you had been doing a few minutes beforehand.
"What're you doing up? It's like, three in the morning. Shouldn't a kid like you be in bed?"
"Oh hardy-fucking-har. I'm only a year younger than you and you know that." He'd made a similar comment once before, when you met. You immediately corrected him. He didn't appreciate it.
He chuckles. The sound is low, and sends a tingle up your spine. But not the dangerous one. Though, this one feels dangerous in it's own way too. Weird.
"Glad to have amused you, asshole." You roll your eyes, and join him in leaning on the railing. "And... I'm awake because I couldn't sleep."
"No?"
You shake your head and sigh. You got maybe an hour, tops, before you had a rude awakening in the form of a nightmare. You dreamt of that... thing. The thing you fought. The thing that was wrong and not meant to be.
So you took a walk. You weren't too far from your room, at least you didn't think so. When you spotted the balcony that led outside, you knew that what you needed most was the fresh, cool air of the night.
"Well, we have that in common."
You look over to him and... well, it's like you're really seeing him for the first time in a while. You notice the slight discolouration under his eyes. The crease in his brow, but he's not angry and you know it. The same worry you hold. And more, probably.
"Gladion."
He looks surprised to hear you say his name. You don't really ever address people directly, so you suppose it makes sense.
"Yeah?" The confusion in his voice is clear, and his eyes flick over to meet yours.
"...Where are your pajamas?"
"I... Wh-What?" Somehow, he looks even more confused than he did before.
"You're not wearing pajamas. Did you even bother trying to sleep?"
His face twists into a look you're very familiar with. Discomfort. He can't even meet your eyes any more.
So, seems like you're right. He didn't even try to get any rest at all.
"Look, there's no point. If I try I'm just gonna... well. Yeah. You know."
"Do I know? You haven't told me."
He huffs, and turns his head away. It reminds you of a petulant child. One that's been caught in the middle of something they don't wish to admit.
"Now who's the kid?" You snicker. His face turns slightly pink. You snicker more. He gets more pink. This goes on for a good ten seconds, until he turns his head back to you, and looks straight in your eyes.
You freeze. They're usually pretty piercing, but even more so in the dead of night with no one else around. Your breath stops short in your throat.
"I haven't had a good night's sleep in over two years. I hardly think I'll start now."
Your heart does the clench-y thing it did with Lillie. It's the same, but different. You're not good at emotions. This is weird and he's weird and you don't know why but you want to cry a little bit.
"Uh... I..."
He's still staring right at you. No, it's more like through you. Like he can't really bring himself to acknowledge you're there. That this is happening. You realise it's probably because he feels unable to talk about things like this. When did he last open up to someone?
When did you?
You swallow down your nervousness, and shift a little closer. This seems to cause some sort of reaction in him. He jolts out of his trance, and both of you notice how hard his grip on the rail is. He lets go of it and stands up.
"Gladion I'm-"
"I don't need your pity." His voice is quiet, but there is a rage behind it. And a sadness. It trembles when he speaks again. "Just... Just stop trying to analyse me, okay? I don't need a psychiatrist." He turns around, leaving you facing his back.
"Gladion I wasn't trying to-"
"Especially not one who's a kid like you." His voice is not jokey like before. More cold and harsh. He's closing himself off. You know it, because you do it too.
But that also means you know how to stop it.
You flick the back of his left ear, hitting the piercings which sting your finger a bit, but you barely notice.
He yelps, not expecting it all. You can't help but laugh. You've never heard him make a sound like that before.
He turns around faster than a bullet, and that look of confusion is back. Along with some anger and annoyance and maybe a little bit of embarrassment.
"What the hell was that for?!"
You laugh harder. You can feel your gut starting to hurt, but it's worth it. The expression on his face is fucking priceless. You wish you had your Rotom Dex with you, so you could take a snap of it.
"You're really fucking weird, you know that?"
His statement makes you laugh harder, and you have to clutch your stomach.
The tension begins to melt away as you continue laughing. His green eyes soften, the muscles that were once tensed begin to relax and you even see a small quirk on his lip. He's holding back a smile.
After a moment, you manage to compose yourself, minus some small giggles.
"...You done?" He asks, trying to feign a look of irritation. It doesn't quite work, what with the gentle look in his eyes still being there.
"Yeeeep." You drawl, smirking slightly.
You remember the last time you tried to shut yourself off, and then Hau fell over and started laughing his ass off. You couldn't help but join in. You figured it might work for tall dark and edgy over here.
Whilst he hardly bust a gut, at least he didn't look ready to bolt.
Suddenly, you hear a voice. Gladion appears to hear it too, and before you can say anything, he grabs your arm and drags you back inside the building. The voice draws closer. You both start running. He's still holding onto you.
Once or twice you almost slip over, due to your slippers probably not being the best footwear for sprinting down extremely well-polished hallways. You have to stifle the laughter that wants to bubble up again.
The two of you slow down as you draw near to the staff's residential quarters. He lets out a sigh of relief, and his grip on your arm lessens, but he doesn't let go.
"Why'd you run?" You whisper, hoping to stay quiet enough so that you don't wake anyone.
He shrugs. "I don't trust everyone here. Not yet, anyways. Plenty of people still loyal to her."
"Oh. Right. Fair enough. But why take me?"
He sends you a look you don't know how to interpret. The spine tingly thing happens again.
"You'd prefer I left you? In your pajamas? With no pokémon?"
"Uh. I guess not?"
He rolls his eyes, and leads you to the door of the room you were assigned.
"Here. Go to bed, kid. You need to rest if you're gonna help my sister out."
"Still not a kid." You narrow your eyes, and then smile. "But yeah, I guess you're right."
Again, he doesn't let go of your arm.
You look down to it, and back up to him. He follows your eyes. His own widen. He practically leaps away from you, and stares at his hand as if it's a foreign object he doesn't quite know what to do with. The sight puzzles you. And gives you this weird feeling again.
Why do emotions have to be so complicated?
"Gladion?"
He jumps again, and you're not sure what that expression is, but you like it. You think. He stares at you questioningly.
"Thanks for being a good friend."
Even in the dark hallway, you can see his face flare up. Pale skin flushes pink, and he crosses his arms over his chest, turning his side to you and refusing to look at your face.
"I'm not your friend."
You laugh softly.
"Of course not. Goodnight, not-friend."
You open the door, and let it close behind you with a faint swoosh noise.
Walking over to the bed, you slump onto it, and pull the pillow close to your chest. You curl up around it like you're a sandshrew, and let out a noise that can only be described as a 'whine-giggle'. You're one hundred percent sure no human nor pokémon has ever made such a noise before.
As the adrenaline wears off, exhaustion takes it's place. All the emotions that you've been through seem to have taken their toll.
And as you drift off to sleep, the face of a certain blond boy refuses to leave your mind.
Emotions are so weird. But maybe that's okay.