It was two years after the events with the ultra-beasts and rainbow rocket and Faba had slowly managed to climb a little back up in Aether foundation. Cause even after everything that had happened; Lusamine and the new branch chief Wicke couldn't deny the fact that despite all of his whining about having to do grunt tasks, Faba was still one of their more competent workers of the foundation and he might indeed be wasting his talent on dragging boxes around the Aether foundation day and night. Cause however he was a bit of an asshole to the employees of Aether before, he was still one of the most renowned scientists in all of Alola.
He was now content with having gained a spot as the Assistant Branch chief since that position was still open after Wicke had taken his place. And although he had gained this spot by working his ass off day and night, the other employees thought that he had just gotten it cause Lusamine favoured him even after everything that had happened and couldn't care to act the least bit friendly towards him. Faba didn't really care about how his co-workers acted towards him. He didn't expect them to be friendly towards him now that he wasn't branch chief anymore. He never expected him to be friendly towards him at all.
"Faba!" he heard the voice of Wicke call out his name and turned around to meet her "Is there something you need?" he asked and she told him "I've assigned you to train one of the new recruits. We were one man short and I thought it would be ideal for you to show how far you've come since 'all that'. Are you okay with that?" she asked him and however he looked bothered since he wasn't used to doing stuff like this, he wanted to show his best side so Wicke would see he had indeed changed and nodded as he said "Sure, I'll show them the ropes as good as I can!"
Wicke smiled as she said "That's great Faba, can you be at the docks tomorrow morning at 7 sharp? That's when the recruits arrive."
"I'll be there," he told her as he started walking towards his office again to do some more work.
The next morning at 7 sharp, Faba was standing at the docks waiting for the new recruits to arrive. Wicke had told him to try and make a good impression on the new recruit he would be training since they desperately needed these new recruits after so many employees had stopped working for Aether after the ultra-beast events. He had huffed and said that of course he, Assistant Branch chief Faba, would make a good impression on the new recruit. Wicke had sighed and laughed as she patted him on the shoulder and wished him good luck.
Finally, the boat with the new recruits arrived and as Faba was standing in line with the other employees while Wicke explained the most part of the foundation to the newly arrived grunts, he couldn't help but hear the whispers of some employees further down the line "Poor thing that will be paired with Faba." "I'd quit immediately if I had someone like that train me" "Aren't we supposed to get more employees instead of scaring them away?" "Who even chose him to be a trainer?"
He felt a little bit hurt upon hearing this. Sure he wasn't loved and didn't expect to be; but he couldn't help but be a little hurt when everyone in the foundation hated him like this
When Wicke was done explaining, the trainees could start looking for their trainer and start training right away. As Faba noticed a small trainee looking a little lost, he realised he wasn't wearing his nametag and quickly fixed that. The next time she looked up, she noticed the name tag on his lab coat and internally scolded herself for not having seen it the first time she looked around. She hesitantly walked towards him and asked "A-Are you Mister Faba?"
"That's assistant Branch Chief Faba for you. But yes, I am indeed." He told her with a stern look on his face. She bowed down her head in an apology as she muttered a silent sorry but as Faba felt Wicke's eyes burning in his back his told her "Just Faba will be fine too…"
He took her with him deeper into the docks as he explained "As I suppose everyone will be trying to start with the preservation area, I'll show your around the other parts of Aether Paradise first. It will be calmer that way and we'll save the best part for the last."
You agreed quickly as you followed the man deeper into the docks as he started explaining about the boxes on the shelves all along the walls. This was apparentely where they stocked the pokébeans and Pokémon food that came in via the docks of the foundation. You would soon be helping to fill these and help with a lot of other tasks inside of Aether paradise.
The morning passed quickly as Faba showed you around the foundation and gave you info about what you would be doing and how to do so as efficient as possible. He had looked like a stern, arrogant man when you first met him; but as the hours passed and you two got to know each other better, he started to seem like a nice person you'd like hanging out with. He even laughed with one of your jokes earlier. Then, as lunch finally arrived, you asked him "How about we go get lunch together Faba?"
Faba was absolutely surprised when she asked him to get lunch together. "Are you entirely sure about that? You might want to choose your fellow trainees over me, since you won't be making any friends hanging out with me…" he admitted. The girl looked stumped "What do you mean with that? You're a nice person, right?"
'How can I ever tell her what I've done in the past. I don't want the only person who's nice to me hating me as well… I guess it's better if she hears it from me at least…' Faba thought before he spoke up "I wasn't always a nice person. You've surely heard about the ultra beast incident that happened two years ago; I was one of the people responsible for unleashing all those beasts over Alola… I didn't know it would happen, but it was still my fault. I was demoted after that but worked my way up again a little. That doesn't change the fact that I've been an complete asshole and caused all that though, and everyone hates me for it… Which is what I deserve."
She looked at him shocked upon hearing all this, which was to be expected "I can ask Wicke to assign someone else for your training if you wouldn't want to work with me after hearing all this if you want to?"
You quickly shook your head and told him "That won't be necessary Faba. I honestly don't mind. That only shows just how much you were able to change in such a short time and that's amazing. So, do you wanna go get something to eat with me now, I'm starving!" you exclaimed and Faba chuckled as he fixed his glasses (you still wondered how he did it) and said "Sure,"
But as the two of you sat down together at a table in the lunch room, you indeed noticed that everyone seemed to avoid the two of you and gave you strange looks. Did they really hate him that much? And as he went to put back your plates, one of the employees that was closer to him in age put out his foot and almost made him trip. That was right-out childish behaviour and you couldn't stand seeing them bully him like that. But as you got up to say something of it, they pulled you down with them and the rest of the trainees that were eating at that table and started saying loud enough for Faba to hear "I'm sorry you have to be stuck with that arrogant brat. We can make sure you don't have to do anything with him ever again if you want to. I'm sure Wicke wouldn't make much of a problem of it."
You wanted to protest but the guy turned your face towards Faba who was paying for your meals "Look at him now, not even a whole day he has someone acting friendly towards him and he's already desperate to keep you pleased so you won't hate him like everyone else. You should just drop him girlie. He's not worth your energy," he told you and you were slowly having enough of all this shit going on in the facility concerning Faba who you found to be a very endearing guy. "I don't need your help guys. Faba is a really nice guy and if you guys want to be childish and not give him another chance while he's trying so hard to redeem himself, you guys are the ones I don't want anything to do with!" you told them off and got up to join Faba again for the rest of your tour.
After a while of walking, Faba said "Thank you for standing up for me against those guys. I really appreciate it, but you shouldn't have done that. They might start to aim their behaviour against you now too…" He sounded genuinely concerned about you but you shook your head "It's okay Faba. Even if they start doing that, I'm used to being bullied; I can handle them."
Faba looked down as he led the two of you to the conservation area to end the tour "It seems like you aren't so great at handling them, are you?" you asked making Faba looked up. As if he was a different person all of a sudden, he put up his arrogant behaviour again and said "What? Me, Branch chief assistant Faba, wouldn't be able to handle a few fussy employees? Sure, I can't have them fired anymore; but I sure as hell won't go down because of them." You sighed at him putting up a defence against you; but then again, you had only met him this morning, you couldn't go expecting him to put his entire trust in you.
Faba typed in the code to the conservation area and when the gates opened and the two of you walked in, you were greeted by a fresh breeze, a lot of sunlight and finally some other colours than white and gold as the multiple colours of the tropical plants filled your eyesight. "Quite a sight to behold, isn't it?" Faba commented. When you turned towards Faba to answer, there was yet another sight to behold: Faba had crouched down to pet a few of the Pokémon that had gathered at his feet while an Pa'U style oricorio was nestling itself on his shoulder. Among the Pokémon at his feet there were a few Espeon and some Slowpoke and a Pokémon that you didn't recognise. It had grey fluffy fur and big round eyes. "Hey, which one is this Pokémon? I haven't seen it before."
Faba looked up to see you pointing at the fluffy Pokémon and said "That's an Espurr, the restraint Pokémon. They're Kalos native and aren't usually found here. But this guy was left by his trainer and couldn't go back to living in the wild cause it was too tame so we're keeping it here."
Another thing that you noticed was "Hey Faba, you kinda seem to attract psychic type Pokémon? Any reason for that?"
He looked to the Pokémon gathered around him and concluded that it were indeed all psychic Pokémon. He shrugged as he said "No certain reason. But I do feel most comfortable around psychic types. My team is all psychic as well so it might be that."
Faba then continued to show you around the conservation area; he showed where the food was stocked and gave an explanation about how all of their diets varied with their health and other problems they might have and afterwards the two of you just sat down a little amidst the Pokémon since you were done earlier than expected.
When the two of you walked back to the main area where you had to split up to go to your quarters, you said goodbye to which Faba replied "I wish you a good night's rest. We're having a busy day tomorrow," as he started walking towards where you supposed his room was.
This went on for a week. Faba would show you the ropes of what you were going to do and then at the end of the day showed you to your room. As the days passed the two of you grew visibly closer to each other, joking around more often than not which made Wicke smile as she saw Faba happy around you. She hadn't seem him like that since… well, she had actually never seen Faba happy like this.
Weeks passed quickly and you easily got accustomed to working at the Aether paradise. You enjoyed working with the hurt Pokémon to the fullest and truly enjoyed the company of a certain blond man as well. You would be meeting up with Faba to have lunch together but when he didn't show up like usual you started worrying. Maybe he just lost sight of time while working? That was when you remembered that you had agreed on a different meeting spot today. You had completely forgotten! 'I hope Faba doesn't think I don't want to have lunch with him anymore now,' you thought as you hurried to the place you were supposed to be.
Faba looked at his watch for the what must have been fourth time in ten minutes. Did you forgot? Did you have other plans? You would let him know, right? Just when he was about to go grab something quick to eat on his own, he heard someone say "Hey Branch chief assistant Faba," in a teasing manner.
He stopped in his tracks and mumbled 'oh no' under his breath. He turned around to face the three guys standing not so far from him. He recognised the guy that had almost made him trip and badmouthed him to you on your first day and two other employees. "Did you need me?" he asked, trying to subtly get away. "Nothing in particular," the guys said as he walked towards him and the three of them stood around him, leaving Faba trapped in between them and the wall. "We just thought we'd accompany you while you wait for your little girl to show up. If she even does. I can't imagine someone like her actually wanting to meet and eat together with someone like you," he spat and Faba looked down as he said "I'll have to disappoint you; but I have to get going right now. I don't have a lot of time left…" Faba tried to say to get away but it didn't work as the guy who had made him trip earlier grabbed him by the collar and said "We've seen you waiting here for at least ten minutes. A few more won't hurt, will they?" he asked and Faba swallowed hard. How could he get out of this situation.
He tried to say something but before the words could leave his mouth, the guy who had grabbed his collar pushed him into the wall hard. He blinked a few times when his vision blurred a little but didn't get the time to enjoy his clear vision again as one of the other guys snatched his glasses of his face and commented "Look at these glasses though, they look even more ridiculous up close than when you're just wearing them. Don't you think wearing things like this is just asking to have other people laugh at you?" Again before Faba could even think of answering, the guy threw his glasses on the ground and stepped on them.
However Faba couldn't see what was happening, he could hear the glass crack beneath the employee's boot.
Just as quickly as they had showed up, they disappeared again, leaving Faba sinking to his knees on the floor with his broken glasses.
When you found the familiar form of the branch chief assistant sitting on his knees on the floor you called out to him "Faba, I'm sorry to keep you waiting, I was at the wrong spot!"
Then, as you got closer to him, you noticed something wasn't entirely right. You crouched next to him and called out to him again "Faba?"
When he looked up he had a dazed, defeated look in his eyes and you noticed his glasses were gone. Then, a little bit further, you noticed the green shards of glass on the ground next to him and found his crushed glasses "Faba! What happened!? Are you okay?" you asked and you saw he wanted to say he was okay at first, but then shook his head as a few tears slipped out. He tried to hide his face as he didn't want you, or anyone really, see him in this state of defeat and weakness but you stopped him from doing so "Were it those guys from my first day?" you asked and Faba nodded weakly.
As he tried to dry his tears he told you "but it's okay now. I'm fine. I'll just buy some new glasses and I'm good to go. I don't need you pitying on me."
You shook your head and told him "Faba, I'm not pitying you but this is going too far. What if you seriously get hurt one day; I also reckon that this isn't good for your mental health Faba. I can see you're close to your breaking point. I only want the best for you Faba! I want you to be happy!" you told him and as he looked up and into your eyes, you threw your arms around his neck and leaned in to kiss him.
When Faba felt your lips on him he was shocked. How did it get to this? Did you actually love him? It couldn't be, right? No one would ever be able to love someone like him. Only when she pulled back she seemed to have realised what she had done and apologised to him for doing that so suddenly "I don't really mind you know? I'm just a bit shocked that you would want to do that with someone like me…"
"Look Faba, your self-esteem has gotten so low since all this bullying. I can tell; cause sometimes in a glimpse of a moment I can see who you really are in your eyes. I can see the true Faba filled with self confidence wanting to get better than he already is. But you shouldn't think so lowly of yourself now just because those guys all say you are worthless and deserve nothing more than this. Cause you do deserve more than this! You deserve to have that sparkle in your eyes all the time! You deserve to be happy and feel good all the time! So please stop telling yourself that you're so worthless and deserve nothing better than this all the time. It hurts to see you hurting like this and I wish I could do more for you. But right now, you just have to believe a little in yourself. I know it might be hard for you to believe you're worth more now because of the mindset you gained thanks to the continuous bullying over the past years. But I want to help you get rid of that mindset and think positive about yourself again. Because you deserve it!"
Faba looked at you as if you had just told him something unbelievable and he asked "Do you… Do you mean all that?"
"Of course I do Faba! I love you, I just want you to be happy…"
the blond man smiled weakly at you as he got up and said "Thank you. I'll try my best. If you'll excuse me now, I gotta get my spare glasses and go back to work. I'm sorry we weren't able to get lunch together…"
"That's okay Faba," you told him "We'll get lunch another time. I just hope you're feeling a little bit better now…"
You felt a hand on you shoulder and when you looked up you saw Faba facing you with a smile so pure, you had never seen him like this. And with the white background and bright lights on his light blond hair and his deep blue eyes, he looked like an angel "I'm feeling fine. I'll be on my way now. See you tomorrow!" he said as he walked off in the direction of his quarters and you were left behind stunned.
The next day you were scheduled for the yearly check-up of the Pokémon in the preservation area with Faba. But as you had been waiting for about half an hour and he still hadn't shown up, you were starting to worry. Faba was never late, and after what happened yesterday…
You then suddenly saw Wicke passing by and you called out to her "Wicke! Do you know where Faba is? We were supposed to check up the Pokémon of the preservation area," you explained and Wicke looked questioning "Did no one tell you?" she asked but then widened her eyes in surprise as she realised "I'm so sorry. I was the one who should've let you know… Faba called in sick today."
You were surprised "Faba called in sick?"
"I know right. Sounds unbelievable," then she leaned closer towards you and whispered into your ear "But seeing what happened yesterday it might be because of that…" she told you. "You saw what happened yesterday?" you asked her, feeling bad all over again as you recalled just what happened yesterday. "Through video only. I happened to spot it when I was quickly going through the tapes yesterday evening to make sure everything went smoothly. I was deeply shocked by it. I know the employees couldn't stand Faba, but I had no idea it was this bad. He didn't really call in sick either, but I forced him to take a day off so he could rest a bit. We talked a bit last night and I've sent the involved employees to Lusamine to be taken care of; she will think of a fitting punishment for the three of them. Even if Faba has been an asshole to all of them when he was still Branch chief, this went way too far."
You looked at her with a smile; happy that Faba still had a person like this to rely on. Wicke felt like a mom to all of you but she had also seemed like a bit of a safe haven for Faba to turn to when he would admit that he needed a person like that.
"I also happened to see what happened after. I'm really happy for the two of you," she told you with a smile "So I kinda gave you the afternoon off. You should go check on him to see how he's doing. I'm sure he could use your company. He's sunk pretty deep last night when we talked…"
"Thank you Wicke. You're the best!" you said as you went in for a hug but then realised you were at work and quickly stopped. But Wicke had seen what you were trying to do and didn't give a single shit so she still wrapped her arms around you and pulled you into her soft chest."
The morning passed way to slowly, but as you were on your way to Faba's room with some food for the two of you, your anxiety started growing more and more. Even after all that had happened, you feared he wouldn't want to see you or would push you away. You had experienced depression from really close by when you went through it a few years ago and knew what it could do to people… But you never gave up and didn't chicken out as you knocked on his door.
When you didn't get an answer from inside the room, you decided to feel is the door was locked which it wasn't and you softly entered the surprisingly dark room. The blinds were shut and the only light in the room was provided from the door you had just entered through. You felt the wall for a light switch and when you had found it, you were greeted by a bright and white room, just like all the other rooms in Aether. The room had a little kitchen, a small dining and sitting area and 2 more doors, which you suspected lead to a bedroom and a bathroom. The only thing that you noticed was different than the other rooms in Aether was that instead of all the accessories and details of the room being gold, there was a lot more green in this room. Well, you figured green was his favourite colour after all.
You decided to check the two doors and they indeed led to a bathroom and a bedroom. When you had opened the door to the bedroom you noticed the man's tender form underneath the blankets and when you turned on the lights the form moved a little and Faba sat upright in his bed looking dazed and tired from just waking up. His hair was a mess just like his goatee and you noticed the white coat thrown on the floor not far from a pair of ridiculously high boots as you noticed Faba was only wearing a bright green turtleneck and a pair of white pants. His arm reached over to the nightstand where he picked up a simple pair of Green rimmed glasses. Those glasses seemed so bland compared to his over the top bean shaped glasses and it was so 'not Faba' but this look suited him as well. He said your name questioningly, as if he was not sure why you would come visit him.
"I came to check on how you were feeling Faba. I also brought some lunch if you would want to eat. As if timed, Faba's stomach started growling as soon as you started talking about lunch and he slowly got up "I'd love to have lunch with you."
Faba followed you back to the big room and as you set your stuff down on the table, Faba walked into the small kitchen and got to mugs from the overhead cabinet "Would you like some coffee? Tea perhaps?" he asked and noticed he was acting strangely normal. Maybe the sleeping got him back on track a little. "I'd like some tea. Do I need to help with something?"
"I'll be fine. Thanks for asking though," he responded as he continued making the drinks. You noticed how tidy and well organised everything in his room was and you couldn't help but think that this was exactly how you had expected Faba's room to be.
As the two of you ate in silence, you could feel the awkwardness growing and you pondered if it had been a bad idea to come over anyway. That was until Faba said "Thank you for coming over. I'm really happy you're here. It made my day a little better again. I don't know what it is, I've always been able to keep everything in and keep myself strong; but after what happened yesterday, everything seems to have crumbled. I'm feeling pretty okay now, but I've been feeling so bad for the past day…"
"Sometimes, it's only one event that's needed to trigger a mental breakdown Faba," you told him as you started cleaning up "There's nothing you can do about it and it doesn't make you weak just because you feel a little weak in those moments. It's what makes you human and you'll come out stronger than before."
You moved over to the sitting area and as you sat down on the couch with Faba, you looked at him and although the moment was pretty intimate and you could've easily gone in for a kiss again, there was only one question swirling around in your mind "Faba, are you okay?"
On the cue of the question, tears lined up in his eyes again and he tried to look away from you. You however had enough of Faba trying to appear strong in front of you and pulled him in for a hug saying "It's okay Faba. You can trust me. You can show your weakness in front of me. I won't judge you for it."
His body started shaking from the sobs emitting from his body and you rubbed his back as he let it all out. Soon though, as the sobs slowly died out, Faba seemed to have fallen asleep again and you just let him rest with his head against you. 'Poor guy, he must've been so mentally exhausted,' you thought as you ran your hand through his soft hair and felt your eyelids get a bit heavy as well.
When Wicke hadn't seen or heard anything from either you or Faba, she decided to go check it out herself; but as she opened the door and saw the two of you sleeping on the couch together, she couldn't help but feel immensely happy. 'I'm so glad Faba finally found someone he can fully trust. He really does deserve nothing less than this…'