A/N: Inspired by a conversation I had with Zino over the fact we never got to see the girls hanging out during the Unova League, only the guys. Also by the fact several of us kind of fell for Clumseonshipping without expecting to, despite being avid Spokeshippers.
Multishipping ahoy!

Gossip Girl
Lyraeon/Lyra Kamiya

The stadium complex for the Unova league tournament had no shortage of luxuries for the competitors and their companions. Initially, Ash and Cilan had been worried that the split-gender format of most of the amenities might leave Iris lonely for much of the week, but she and Bianca had quickly buddied up. Iris was, of course, too nice to say to any of the guys that it was more for Bianca's benefit than her own, as she was perfectly content getting some alone time in. But Bianca was too sweet of a person for her to genuinely mind spending time with, even if her rambling got to Iris at times.

Tonight was proving to be one of those times. After dinner, the two had decided to go take a bath – talking Bianca out of trying to wash Iris's hair for her had been a debacle in of itself – and hit the hot springs. Bianca had already been knocked out of the running, as had most of their friends, but she'd stayed around to root for Ash and her other friends. Iris secretly suspected that not wanting to face her father had something to do with it too, but after all Bianca's crying over her loss she kept her mouth shut. It wasn't exactly hard to begin with, since the blonde was nearly impossible to get a word in edgewise around.

"I'm still so glad we found Axew so easily," she chirped, changing subjects so abruptly that Iris found herself wondering what they'd been discussing before. Sheepishly she realized she'd been staring at the little dragon splashing at the edge of the hot spring instead of actually listening to Bianca, so she turned to face her with her full attention for a few minutes.

"I'm glad too, though 'easily' might be a stretch," she answered, grimacing a little. Axew had been lost for over five hours, causing them to miss both the afternoon matches and dinner completely, and it was easily the longest she and Axew had been separated since he'd first been given to her.

"You saw the fireworks afterwards, right?" Iris opened her mouth to answer, but as always, Bianca was off on her own tangent before she could start anything resembling a conversation. "They were soooo pretty! Probably the prettiest I've ever seen! They were so loud too though, I think that's the closest I've ever been to fireworks before!"

Iris tilted her head in thought, wondering if they'd seemed particularly loud to her. She couldn't really remember being that close to fireworks either – any such celebrations in the Dragon Village were usually pretty small – but she'd seen and heard Draco Meteor attacks for as long as she could remember, so the noise hadn't bothered her. "I guess they were kind of loud," she shrugged.

"Ohhh but the best part was getting to watch them with Virgil!" Bianca's voice rose to a squeal as she clasped her own cheeks with her hands. "It was just like we were on a date! Oh, he's so handsome... Don't you think?"

"Uh..." Iris blinked, leaning slightly away from the inquisitive girl. She'd been captured in one of her fangirling embraces before, and didn't feel like repeating the experience. For the life of her, she couldn't recall if she'd actually considered Virgil attractive; all of her memories of what he looked like were extremely distracted by how adorable his Eevee was. "I guess he's kind of cute?" she offered.

"Not just kind of," Bianca insisted, leaning closer still, "he's a total hottie."

"Don't worry, I'll take your word for it," she promised, putting her hands up between them.

The blonde sat back in her seat, looking a little disappointed that that was the best she'd gotten from Iris, who in turn was searching desperately for something to say to turn the conversation back toward something more comfortable before Bianca had the chance to start pouting.

"And you two do look cute together," she offered, which perked Bianca up right away.

"You really think so? Eeee, that's so sweet of you!" she squealed, giving the younger girl a suffocatingly tight, but thankfully brief, squeeze. "I'm so glad he's still in the tournament... It makes it hard to know who to root for, since I've been friends with Ash for so much longer, but since he's still here it means I have more time to get to know him!"

"If Ash beats Cameron tomorrow, I've got no doubt they'll be in the fin-"

She was cut off by a shrill shriek from Bianca. "I just realized!"

"Realized... what?" Iris asked, hands tight over her ears.

"Stephan's still here too! How do I decide who to spend time with?!"

"Huh? What does Stephan have to do with anything?"

"He's a cutie too! All those big muscles, and I'll bet he's super-cuddly too, just like my Emboar!"

"Like your Emboar?" Iris asked, cringing, though Bianca didn't seem to notice.

"Plus he's just plain a nice guy and he's got a good fighting spirit. You can't beat a guy who's passionate about things."

"I'll take your word for it..."

"I guess the best thing to do would be to root for Virgil during his battles, and spend the rest of the time trying to cheer Stephan up over losing to Ash."

"I'm not sure he's too upset over th-"

"Oh my goodness! What... What if the reason Stephan hasn't left yet, is because he wants to spend more time around me?"

Iris shifted uncomfortably, wondering if all teenage girls spent this much time thinking about guys, and she too would some day be sentenced to such a fate, or if Bianca had just read too many fairy tales as a girl. "I really think it was just to root on Ash and the others," she muttered. She didn't even bother trying to speak at a level Bianca could hear; by now she'd faced the fact that Bianca hadn't been listening since before they arrived at the hot spring, if not earlier.

"I know that's probably why but what if? Like if that was just his excuse?" When the only response was a skeptical eyebrow, she sighed dramatically, slumping lower until her chin was below the water and blowing a few bubbles to hide her pout.

"You don't get it because you already have two cute guys to hang around with all the time," she accused after a good minute of silence between them. Iris was immediately grateful that she hadn't apologized yet, casting the older girl another confused glare.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"I mean that you could have your pick of either of them whenever you want! It's harder for someone like me. When I try to talk to guys I just get all tongue tied. With you, there's two cuties right there! You're so lucky."

Iris's nose wrinkled further. "I think you're confused..."

"What? No I'm not! Okay maybe I'm too old to think Ash is cute, but you're not," she insisted, sitting back up. "And Cilan is just dreamy."

"Ash is a total kid and Cilan is a complete weirdo. Besides, both of them have plenty of other girls waiting in line, so even if I were interested – which I'm not – I'd have to fight them off first."

"Oooo, romantic rivals." Bianca's eyes lit up like a kid in a candy store.

It was Iris's turn to sink lower into the water, leaving only enough of a gap to breathe and quietly glare at her friend as she wandered into another tangent. She silently wished for the power to breathe underwater so she could escape the inevitable tangent entirely, and quickly pretended to focus on where Axew was toddling on the opposite edge of the tub so she'd have an excuse to only half pay attention.

"That's why it's so hard to choose between Stephan and Virgil," Bianca lamented. "What if there's another girl out there somewhere who wants one of them? If I go for one of them, and it doesn't work out, the other might get taken in the mean time! I mean, what if one of them asked you out?"

It was hard for Iris not to laugh. "That's okay. You can have both of them."

Bianca giggled, clapping her hands a little. "That's right, you already have boys of your own to worry about, silly me."

Iris cast her another glare, groaning dramatically.

"But both of them... Oh! You think maybe they'd want to travel with me? You know, like you do with Ash and Cilan?"

"How should I know? I guess it's worth asking though."

"You're right, it couldn't hurt..." She gave another dreamy sigh, leaning back against the side of the tub and cupping her cheeks in her hands again. "I don't know what I'd do if they both said yes, though. If just one said yes, then it'd be obvious he liked me... But if they both said yes..."

For a few seconds the blonde seemed to get lost in a daze, her eyes distant and sparkling, her breathing seemingly locked into "slowly in" mode. Then, in timing Iris barely anticipated, she gave a giddy shriek, kicking her feet and wiggling in her seat. "Ahhhh I just couldn't take it! I'd feel like the heroine of an anime! Two dashing young men at my side at all times..." She gave another squeal, this time rolling over and gripping the side of the spring to give herself plenty of space to squirm in, leaving Iris helpless to do much but shield herself from the splashing.

"How do you even do it, Iris?" she demanded once she'd calmed down enough to sit back down, though she was still wiggling in place. "Like what did you do when they both said yes?"

"I still think you're interpreting my situation completely wrong... And at any rate, Ash is the one who asked both of us, I didn't ask anyone to travel with me. Cilan and I are both following Ash, not them following me."

Bianca's mouth fell open in a slight gawk for several seconds, her expression slowly changing from confusion, to shock, to scandal, to sheer gossipy giddiness.

"Cilan's gay?!"