"Alola! Here, I have something nice for you! Sharing makes it that much nicer, too!"
-Hau, Pokémon Masters
The door chime jingles, signaling to Hau that a customer has arrived. He turns around with a big smile. "Alola! Wel–"
Pure shock cuts the greeting short. That long black hair, that elegant posture, those sharp gray eyes – he knows this customer. And it's someone he hasn't seen in a long, long time. "Moon!" he gasps.
Moon smiles. "Hi, Hau."
He drops the mug in his hands and rushes around the counter, tackling Moon in a great big hug. "It's so great to see you, Moon!"
"Hau… Can't…breathe…"
"Oops! Sorry," he says sheepishly. He lets go of her, his hands hovering over her arms for a moment before finally falling back to his sides. It's just so surreal to see her again, let alone in his humble little Tapu Cocoa shop.
"It's good to see you, too," Moon says kindly. "Professor Kukui told me that you'd opened a café here, so I thought I would stop by and say hello."
"Yeah! That's great!" Hau exclaims, grinning from ear to ear. "How long are you visiting?"
Moon's brow furrows in thought for a moment. "Oh – I'm not just visiting Alola," she says. "My sister and I just moved here yesterday. You didn't know?"
Hau scratches his cheek. "Um, no, no one's mentioned it to me," he says. "But, still, that's awesome that you moved to Alola! I really missed you, you know? It's been ages since the last time we saw each other."
"It hasn't been that long, has it?" Moon asks, a hint of amusement in her tone.
He shrugs. "Almost a year."
She blinks once. Twice. "A year? But I only left Alola a few months ago!"
Hau drops his gaze, knitting his fingers together and staring at them. "Well… You and Sun were trapped in Ultra Space for six months. By the time I got the news that you guys had come back, you had already gone back to Sinnoh… I didn't even get the chance to say goodbye."
"Oh," she says quietly. "I… I'm sorry, Hau."
"It's okay! You're here now!" he says, perking back up. No point in dwelling on something in the past that can't be changed. "We have a lot to catch up on! Have a seat – I'll be back in a jiffy!"
"Oh, I don't want to take you away from your business," Moon says, twirling a strand of hair around her finger.
"No worries! You're not a bother at all!" Hau assures her. "My malasada shop's still pretty new, so I don't have a lot of business yet. Guzma can cover for me in the front if any customers come in!"
"Guzma?" Moon repeats incredulously. "Big, bad, boss of Team Skull Guzma? He works for you?"
"Ex-boss of Team Skull," Hau corrects her. "And he's really not that bad once you get to know him! He's the reason I opened up this place, you know."
"He's what? How?"
"I'll explain when I get back," he says. "Sit down and hold tight!"
As Moon sits down at a nearby table, Hau jogs back over to the counter and pokes his head back into the kitchen. "Hey, Guzma! Can you take over in the front for a bit?"
"What're you so busy with, tyke?"
"Moon's back! So I'm gonna chat with her for a bit."
Guzma grunts, but he doesn't protest – that's practically a ringing endorsement coming from him. Hau grins and turns back to the mug he left on the counter, which he fills with piping hot Tapu Cocoa. Then he grabs a honey malasada from the malasada display and heads over to Moon's table with a skip in his step.
"Here you go!" he says, putting the refreshments down in front of Moon.
She glances at Hau in bewilderment. "Um, I didn't order this…"
"No need!" he says cheerfully. "It's on the house!"
"Wha – Hau, you don't need to…"
"You're a friend! I love giving my friends food and drinks on the house."
Moon narrows her eyes. "No offense, Hau, but that's a terrible business model. How would you ever turn a profit at that rate?"
Hau laughs. "You've been spending too much time with Sun! I didn't open up a malasada shop because I wanted to make a profit. I opened it because I wanted to make people smile! And what better way to do that than by serving the most delicious malasadas and Tapu Cocoa you've ever tasted?"
"That's a very high bar. Is it really that good?" Moon says, raising an eyebrow.
"Try it and see!"
Moon takes a sip of the cocoa and immediately, her eyes widen. She lets out a little noise of pleasure and goes back for a big gulp. A contented grin spreads across her face. "You like it?" Hau asks, mirroring her grin.
"This really is the most delicious hot cocoa I've ever tasted," Moon says.
"Thank you!" Hau beams.
She takes another sip of Tapu Cocoa. "So, how exactly did Guzma of all people inspire you to start a Tapu Cocoa and malasada shop?"
"Well, it all started when I ran into some Team Skull Grunts on Route 2…"
He tells Moon the whole story: how Guzma showed up to help him, treated him to Tapu Cocoa, and expressed his disillusionment with Alola's traditions. Moon is a great listener, and he finds himself telling her more stories, too, like the time he accidentally angered a wild Sandygast by knocking off its shovel while training, and the time that he fought an Ultra Beast with his grandfather and Tapu Fini.
Of course, he doesn't take over the whole conversation! Moon has a lot of stories to tell, too. She tells him about Ultra Space and Sinnoh and her sister and her childhood and poison and pharmaceutics and a ton of other things that Hau never thought he would find interesting, but hearing how passionate Moon is about them makes them sound fascinating. She's really good at explaining things, and Hau learns a lot – not just about her, but about her hobbies, too.
But, eventually, as all good things do, the conversation comes to an end. "I've taken up enough of your time. I should get going," Moon says.
"Aw, okay," Hau says. "It was really nice talking to you! We should do this again sometime."
"Yes, we should," Moon says, giving him a smile that fills his chest with a warm, fluttery feeling. She gets up from her seat.
"Wait! You forgot your malasada!" Hau exclaims, grabbing the pastry and holding it out to her.
"Oh…right," Moon says, eyeing the malasada for a beat too long. "See, I'm – uh, about to meet up with Mallow on Akala Island, and she's going to have all sorts of dishes from the cafeteria for me to try, and I want to leave room for those, you know? So, why don't you have that malasada? I know how much you love them."
Hau lights up. "Well, if you're sure!" he says, taking a huge bite of malasada right away. The sweet flavor of the honey blends together with the dough so well, and he sighs contentedly. "Mmm…malasada."
Moon quirks a smile. "I'll see you soon, Hau."
"Yeah! See you!" he calls as she heads for the door. He would wave, but his hands are still full of malasada. Heart buoyed up by malasada and Moon, Hau thinks his smile could last all day.
The next morning, Sun stops by before the shop has even opened with a delivery of fresh ingredients. "That's one box of flour and one box of cinnamon," he says, putting the boxes on the counter behind Hau. "There's two more boxes outside for you. I'll be back with them in a mo'!"
"Thanks!" Hau grins. "Hey, by the way, Sun, did you hear?"
"Hear what?"
"Moon's moved to Alola!"
"Oh. Yeah, she arrived, like, two days ago," Sun says, waving a hand – like this is just old news to him. Maybe it is. "I helped her move all her stuff into her new house!"
"Oh," Hau says, a twinge of sadness pricking his chest. "How come you never told me?"
Sun scratches his head. "Never crossed my mind. I didn't even know you knew Moon."
"Of course I know her!" Hau exclaims. "We both participated in the Full Force Festival, remember? We watched your battles together!"
He remembers that festival vividly – he only got to fight in one battle, but it was a ton of fun. Watching Moon's merciless battle strategy had been terrifying, so he was a little awestruck seeing the way she turned into such a caring nurse when treating Sun's injuries. And, after the final battle was over, when Tutu had discovered the Sparkling Stone inside Sun's cast and gone to make it into a Z-Ring…
"Excuse me…Hau?" Moon said, tapping him on the shoulder. "Can I ask you something?"
"Sure, go ahead!"
"The island challenge amulet that Sun won… What is it, exactly?"
"Huh!? You don't know!?" Hau gaped at her. "That's the symbol Trainers wear to participate in the island challenge!"
"I… I'm afraid I don't know what that is, either," she said, lowering her gaze. "I'm not from Alola, you see."
"Oh, cool! Where are you from?" he asked.
She glanced back up at him, a hint of surprise on her face. "Ah… I came here from the Sinnoh region to deliver a Rotom to Professor Kukui."
"Whoa, Sinnoh?" Hau said, putting his hands on his hips. "That's a long way to travel just to deliver a Pokémon!"
"Well, the Pokémon in question was too weak to be transferred digitally, so I didn't have much choice," Moon said defensively.
Hau grinned. "Well, since you've come all this way, you should stay a while! Alola's an amazing place. There's so much to see and discover!" he exclaimed, throwing his arms out wide. "Hey, maybe I could show you around!"
Moon smiled softly. "Thank you for the offer. That's very kind of you. Maybe I'll take you up on that."
"–Hau! Hello, anybody in there?"
Hau blinks, registering Sun's hand waving in front of his face. "Huh?"
"Oh, there you are. You were totally spaced out there," Sun says, folding his arms. "I was trying to ask you where you wanted me to put these boxes of sugar, but you weren't responding, so I just put them on the counter here."
"Oh, sorry! They'll go in the kitchen, but I can bring them there," Hau says.
"Good. I've got other deliveries to get to, so I'll get out of your way," Sun says with a shrug. "See ya!"
"You're not in the way!" Hau chirps immediately. "Thanks again!"
He waves Sun off and then brings the boxes into the kitchen. However, Guzma immediately tells him to bring them back to the front because his baking dishes are still spread out all over the kitchen, and he doesn't have room for the new shipment of ingredients yet. There's one box that contains a fresh supply of paper goods for the front, so he opens that up and starts unpacking napkins and to-go cups.
The thoughtless task allows his mind to wander; he wonders how much of Alola Moon got to see while she was here. He hadn't gotten the chance to show her around at all – would she be interested in a quick tour of Melemele Island with him? It would be loads of fun. He'll have to remember to ask her about that the next time he sees her.
Whenever that happens to be.
That happens to be to be only a few hours later.
"Hi, again," Moon says. She looks a little frazzled, and she's got a laptop tucked under one arm. "Can I get a Tapu Cocoa? The largest size you've got."
"Of course!" Hau says cheerfully, grabbing a large cocoa cup. "For here? With whipped cream or without?"
"No whipped cream. And here's good," she says, running a hand through her hair. "Uh, as long as you don't mind me staying for a while. I–"
"Of course not!" he replies, realizing a moment too late that he just talked over her. "Er, sorry – you were saying?"
"I need a quiet place to get some work done," she says. "My sister's friends are staying with us while we get settled in, and they're…a little loud. This was the first place I thought of. I'll probably take a couple of hours, so…"
"That's totally fine!" Hau assures her, warmth flooding his chest that his café was the first place that came to her mind. "Sit wherever you'd like – I'll bring your Tapu Cocoa out to you in a jiffy!"
"Wait, wait, don't I have to pay for that?" Moon asks, pulling out her wallet.
"Ah, right," Hau says. He quickly rings up her purchase, and if he only charges her for a medium instead of a large, who's going to know?
Moon heads over to a table in the back corner of the café – which, conveniently, is right next to the counter, so Hau has a great view of her while she works. He makes her Tapu Cocoa and, before he heads over to her table, he grabs a honey malasada as well – just to make up for the one she didn't get to eat yesterday.
"One large Tapu Cocoa and a honey malasada," he announces, putting the items on the table next to Moon's laptop.
She looks at the malasada in bewilderment. "I didn't order that," she says.
"You didn't need to! It's complementary," Hau says, smiling widely. "You didn't get to eat your complementary malasada yesterday, after all!"
"Oh…um, thank you," she says, taking a sip of the Tapu Cocoa.
"What are you working on?" Hau asks curiously.
"A bit of number crunching for Soliera," Moon says. "We've been gathering data about Necrozma's metabolism as well as its photon-absorption rate using different light sources to figure out how to maximize the efficiency of its energy synthesis."
"That's awesome!" he says, only barely understanding what she's talking about. "Well, I'll leave you to it!"
He heads back to the counter, where he has a couple of customers waiting to give their order. He serves them quickly and then goes back to watching Moon work. She plays with her hair a lot, he notices – twirling a few stray strands around her finger while she's lost in thought, which happens fairly often. She also doesn't smile much, so he always makes sure to wear an extra-wide grin whenever she glances over at him. It always earns him a small smile back.
Because he's busy serving customers, he doesn't see Moon leave. He just glances up at some point and realizes that her table is empty. He's a little disappointed that he didn't get to say goodbye, but he comes over to clean off her table and finds that she's left a rather generous tip – enough to cover the cost of the free malasada and then some. It's very kind of her – but it does defeat the purpose of giving her a malasada for free.
Well, he'll just have to give her another complementary malasada the next time she comes round.
Moon returns every day for the rest of the week – never at the same time, but always ordering a Tapu Cocoa and staying to work for a couple of hours. Hau continues to give her a free malasada every time – she'll need more than just a Tapu Cocoa to keep her energy up, working that much, after all – and she continues to leave him a generous tip when she leaves. It's a new normal that Hau will happily adjust to, even if he winds up being a little distracted whenever she's here.
On Friday, she arrives much later than usual – to the point that Hau had been wondering if she was even going to come at all. But she turns up eventually, and it's the same order as usual. However, this time, she's still hard at work when closing time arrives. Hau doesn't want to disturb her, engrossed in her work as she is, so he takes care of everything that he needs to do to shut down the shop that he can do without disturbing her.
But, of course, Guzma eventually comes out of the kitchen, and he notices Moon sitting at the table right away. "Hey…you're that doctor chick, ain'cha? What're you doin' here?"
Moon startles, looking away from her computer to look at Guzma. "I'm a pharmacist, not a doctor," she corrects him.
"Same difference," Guzma says. "And ya didn't answer my question. It's closin' time, and I'm gettin' outta here. So you'd better skedaddle too."
"Huh? Is it that late?" she asks, glancing back at her computer screen. She lets out a little yelp. "Hau, you should have said something! I'm sorry, I didn't mean to get in you guys' way," she says, scrambling to gather her things.
"Don't worry about it! You're not in the way," Hau assures her. "I'm almost done closing things up for the night, so why don't we walk home together?"
"O-oh, that's…" Moon's cheeks turn pink. "Um, I'd like that, but…I live on Akala Island. If you're going back to Iki Town, then…we'll be going opposite ways."
Akala Island? That's a long way to come for Tapu Cocoa every day. Surely there are closer malasada shops than his. Does she really like my malasadas that much? A giddy smile spreads across his face.
"I can walk you to the marina, then!" he exclaims.
"Well…alright," she says, giving Hau her usual small smile in return.
Moon finishes packing up her things while Hau and Guzma finish cleaning up the café. They all leave at the same time; Hau waves goodbye to Guzma, and he and Moon head towards the marina together.
"So, how's that number-crunching coming along?" Hau asks, folding his hands behind his head.
Moon blinks. "Huh? Oh, Necrozma's data? I finished that days ago."
"Well, that's good! What were you working on today, then?"
"Oh, you know…stuff," she says, waving a hand. "Soliera wanted to get a skin sample from me to see how the composition of our skin compares to the skin of the people of Ultra Megalopolis. The pigment difference is obvious, but she hypothesizes that there are other differences too. She wanted to get the sample and run the analysis today, so…"
"So that's why you came later than usual today," he finishes. She nods. "Still, that's cool! You're getting to help real scientists with their research!"
"Hau, I am a real scientist."
He laughs sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head. "Well…you know what I mean."
"Participating in scientific studies to expand the body of scientific knowledge is pretty cool," Moon agrees. She pauses for a moment. "Have you ever had the opportunity to do something like that, Hau?"
"Oh, yeah! When I was a little kid, I used to help Professor Kukui with his Pokémon research," he says.
"Really? That's hard to imagine…"
"Yeah! I was like his unofficial assistant. Mostly it was pretty harmless stuff, like setting up targets for Pokémon to hit with their attacks. But he also taught me how to catch Pokémon one time so I could help him catch and evolve a Slowpoke!"
"That's really interesting," Moon says. "But what happened? Why did you stop?"
"Well…my gramps found out," Hau says, smile fading. "He got really mad…like, really, really mad. He started yelling at the professor about being reckless and irresponsible and putting me in danger. I'd never seen him that angry before… It was a little scary, to tell you the truth."
"I'm sorry," Moon says, brow knitting in concern.
"It's alright! Gramps apologized afterwards, too," Hau says, recovering a little of his smile. "He was just worried about me. And he's always had high expectations of Professor Kukui, being his former student and all."
"It sounds like you and your grandfather are very close," she observes.
"Yeah, we are!" He tilts his head. "Is that strange to you?"
She shrugs. "I'm not particularly close with any of my family, aside from my father and my sister. My mother is always traveling for work, so she's not around very often."
"Oh, I get that," Hau says. "My dad's not around much, either. He really hated just being known as the son of the kahuna, I think, so he works out in Hoenn now."
"Does that ever bother you? Being known as the kahuna's grandson, I mean."
"No way! My gramps is awesome, and I'm proud to be related to him!" he exclaims, bouncing on the balls of his feet. "Really, it just means that people compare him and me a lot, and they expect me to become the next kahuna."
"Do you want to?" she asks.
"Nah," Hau says nonchalantly. "But I used to."
"R-really? But I thought you weren't that serious about Pokémon battles?"
"Believe it or not, I was pretty competitive as a little kid. I wanted to become the strongest Trainer ever, beat my gramps in a serious battle, and then be named the new kahuna of Melemele Island!"
"Oh, is that how it works?" Moon asks with a smirk.
"Of course not! I didn't understand at the time what it meant that kahunas had to be chosen by the tapu," Hau says. "Now, I'm perfectly content running my malasada shop. I just want to make everyone smile, and what better way to do that than with a delicious malasada and a cup of piping hot Tapu Cocoa?"
"I think you're doing a great job," Moon says, and Hau beams.
She comes to a stop, and it takes Hau a moment to realize why. "Whoa, are we at the marina already? That was too fast!"
"It was," Moon agrees. "But we can chat some more tomorrow night, right?"
Hau cocks his head. "Tomorrow night? Why?"
"I – at the party," Moon says, brow furrowing. "You'll be there, right?"
"Erm…" He scratches his cheek. "What party?"
Moon's eyes grow rounder than a malasada. "You – you really don't know?" she asks. "The trial captains are throwing a party tomorrow night to celebrate me moving back to Alola. I thought for sure you would've been invited!"
"Well, no one ever told me about it," Hau says, shrugging sheepishly. "So I guess I wasn't."
Moon's face scrunches up in the way it does whenever she's thinking hard about something. Then she looks at Hau, determination blazing in her eyes. "You are now," she declares. "It's a party for me, so I get to invite whoever I want. And I – I want you to be there." She adds on the last bit a little more quietly.
"I'd love to be there!" Hau grins. "But, um…where is it, exactly?"
The party, as it turns out, is being held at Moon's house. Word about the party had spread a lot further than just the trial captains, and with such a huge guest list, Moon's house is apparently the only place big enough to fit everyone comfortably. (Just how big is Moon's house, anyways?) Since Hau has no idea where Moon's house even is, they arrange to have Hau meet Moon at the ferry terminal on Akala Island so she can show him the way. With their plan secured, Hau waves goodbye to Moon and heads for home with a skip in his step.
As he walks home, though, Hau can't help but wonder how it is that word about the party spread so much and yet he never heard a single letter of it. Why didn't the trial captains think to invite him? Did they just forget? It's been a while since he last talked to any of them – since Mallow helped him work on recipes for the café – so that might be it. It's nothing personal.
In the end, he still gets to go – and he gets to spend more time with Moon. So really, it can only be a good thing. Tomorrow is going to be amazing!
A/N: Fun fact that I learned while researching for this fic: in Hawaii, the day before Ash Wednesday is called Malasada Day because there's a tradition there of baking tons of malasadas to use up all the butter and sugar in the house in preparation for Lent. I bet Hau would really enjoy Malasada Day.