#6: In the Gray

(Hilda x Rosa)

The credits began to roll, and as the theater stood in excited chatter, Hilda was left breathless, a blush across her face as she took in what she had just watched.

"W-Wow…"

It didn't take the girl long before she found her best friend Rosa in Castelia City, the girl wearing her usual disguise of sunglasses with her hair pulled back into a ponytail instead of her usual buns. As Hilda sat down in front of her, Rosa jumped a bit, then laughed.

"Hilda! You scared the absolute crap out of me," Rosa exclaimed to the grinning girl who sat before her.

"I just got done seeing your new movie, and I had to come find you fast," Hilda said excitedly. "I loved it sooo much!"

Rosa nodded and took a sip of her tea. "Ahh, yeah… I see. I'm glad you liked it."

"I think you've gotten so good as an actor, like-"

Hilda stopped, noticing that Rosa wasn't looking at her anymore. She rested her head on her hand, raising an eyebrow at the girl.

"...You really hate me talking about it, huh?"

"It's just… All that I get to talk about," Rosa said with a sigh. "I miss the normalcy… But I love this work too! I just want someone to be normal with me."

Hilda mentally kicked herself for not realizing this. She had known Rosa for about a year now, ever since they worked together to take down the return of Team Plasma. Ever since then, Rosa decided to focus more and more on her work in Pokestar Studios, and now she was making it big time in Unova, to where she felt the need to hide out. Though Hilda could always find her of course, from how often they hung out with one another.

"Okay, then… Normal!" Hilda took a breath and tried her best to remove her hype over the movie from her head. "Then… Let's hang out, and let's forget alllll about the movie stuff."

Rosa smiled. "That'd be great… I'm only free for today, the next week is totally booked," she groaned.

"Come on then," Hilda said, standing and locking arms with her, pulling her up. "Let's have some fun!"

"Hey! I've gotta pay… Jeez." Rosa pulled out some money, while Hilda tugged at her impatiently, til finally the two girls headed off into the streets of Castelia.

The day was spent doing everything they could together. Shopping, exploring, talking, eating- Just enjoying the sites and the activities of Castelia, despite having already done them so many times before.

As they sat on a bench together near the central park of Castelia, coming down from the high of laughter and fun, they gazed around at the many different people of Unova that passed by.

"I miss this so much," Rosa admitted. "I should've just been a Pokemon trainer.. All the adventure and fun to be had."

"But you're a natural- Whoops," Hilda giggled. "I mean, for real though… You're so good at what you do, and you enjoy it, right?"

Rosa nodded. "But I miss…" She trailed off, looking at Hilda then looking away and motioning to the people around them. "Everything."

Hilda sighed and threw an arm around Rosa, leaning in against her and pointing out at a person who was serving food from a stand a little ways off. He looked happy, and was quite busy with people of all types.

"See, that guy's like you. He's doing his own thing, and making money doing it!" She then pointed to herself. "Me? I just travel around and battle for money. That's not really all it's chalked up to be, ya know."

"The grass is always greener huh," Rosa said with a snort. "I'm just glad to have you around, even if we don't see each other as much."

"Me too." Hilda smiled to the girl, and Rosa's face flushed slightly as she caught her gaze, their eyes locked now.

"H-Hilda?"

"Yeah Rosie?"

"Wanna go out?"

Hilda blinked at the girl, then looked around. "We are out-"

"That's not what I mean," Rosa said, grabbing Hilda's chin and turning her head to look at her. Hilda was surprised by how much Rosa was blushing now. "I… I want to… Be your… G-Girlfriend."

Now it was Hilda's turn, the girl's face flushing pink. "W-What? Me? You?" After Rosa nodded, Hilda suddenly pulled away from the girl, feeling herself growing hot. "A-Are you messing with me?"

"No, I'm not," Rosa said, huffing. "I'm sorry for saying anything, jeez…" She stood and took a step to stamp off, but Hilda caught her by the hand.

"Wait-"

As Rosa spun around, Hilda, who had panicked and jumped up, accidentally toppled her over, the two girls falling into the grass nearby.

"Ow…" Hilda brought herself up a bit, then blushed hard as she saw Rosa beneath her, the girl's dark-blue eyes gazing up at her with an unrecognizable expression within them. Hilda could feel her heart beating faster and faster. "W-Why are you looking at me like that?"

Rosa gave a small shrugging motion. "I want to see what you'll do…"

"Right here?" Hilda looked around, but noticed that where they were now, there were trees and fairly tall grass that was blocking them from view. "What do you-" She stopped as she looked down at Rosa again. The girl had basically surrendered herself, laying back without a care, her arms above her head and her eyes closed.

Hilda's mind was blanking on her. She didn't expect anything like this. It was true that she loved what Rosa did, and loved hanging out with her… But did that mean that she liked her in that way? It was definitely a gray area in her mind...

And there was only one way to truly find out.

Hilda leaned down, their chests pushing together softly as her lips met with Rosa's. For a moment, they laid there, kissing gently, before Rosa's tongue suddenly pushed in, greeting Hilda's own as they began to make out deeply and breathlessly, not moving away from each other until their faces were red and they were practically gasping for breath.

"That answers that," Hilda muttered.

"Huh?" Rosa panted, saliva connecting their tongues as she gently licked it up.

"Ohhh nothing," Hilda said with a small giggle. "I think we should get up now."

"But-"

"Look, this is way too nice, and I don't want to get lost in the middle of a park with a bunch of people around," Hilda insisted, slowly standing up and pulling Rosa up by her hand to help her stand.

Rosa looked away, but Hilda threw her arms around her, hugging her tightly.

"Don't you even think that I didn't like that," Hilda whispered. "I'd love to go out with you, Rosa. Don't ever doubt yourself, because you're the person I look up to most, and… I… I… It's hard to say… Those words…"

Rosa, tearing up, nodded and nuzzled her face into Hilda's neck as they hugged. "I know… I know."

That was the beginning for the two who walked different paths. They had now forced their paths to rejoin, and nobody was ever going to stop them now…

One Year Later

"Amazing! Cynthia's Garchomp is wavering on its feet! It isn't looking good for the Sinnoh cha-"

The TV clicked off, and Hilda turned around, seeing Rosa standing there with the remote in-hand. She narrowed her eyes at the girl.

"Hey, I was watching that," Hilda scowled.

Rosa smiled and stuck her tongue out at the girl. "That's a shame, because I thought you might be interested in seeing this new outfit for a role I got the other day."

Hilda raised an eyebrow. "Oh? What kind of outfit?"

"Something about… A girl on a beach, with no memory, fighting to save the world… So you know, barely anything on," Rosa said with a shrug. "It isn't as cool as the superhero costumes, so I'd understand if you-"

Hilda jumped over the couch, and Rosa turned, shrieking as she ran down the hall. "You think you're so cheeky! Then let's see it!"

"Wow, Hilda is such a perv!" Rosa laughed, and the door closed as the two entered the bedroom of their shared apartment.

Outside, the streets of Castelia were bustling, like usual. People living all sorts of walks of life, some alone, some together with the one they loved.

Their story was only one of many. This was especially apparent with the dynamic pair that walked right past Hilda and Rosa's apartment hand-in-hand.

"Roxie, are you hungry yet?"

"I thought you'd never ask," the shorter white-haired girl said with a grin. "But I swear, we are not going to whatever the heck Burgh opened up down the street."

Elesa giggled. "You aren't in the mood for bug meat?"

"Bluegh- Literally never!"

Their conversation faded into the rest of the bustling city's noises, as did the sound of the two girls love up in the apartment above…

But not everyone was so lucky.

Not far off, a girl gazed out at the gentle water in the bay of Castelia. Her blonde hair ruffled a bit in the wind, looking through her red spectacles with a somber feeling about her.

I think Hilda forgot about me… The girl sighed, putting her face into her arms on the railing. I haven't heard from her in forever.

It seemed like everybody was moving on with their lives, while Bianca felt like she was at a dead stop. Ever since meeting and adventuring with Hilda, she could never tell her how much she loved her. And then, something had happened a year ago, and before she knew it, Hilda spent all of her time with another girl.

It's hopeless… I should move away or something, the girl thought..

Then a call rang out on her Xtransceiver, and as she took out the device, she blinked at the name on it, not an unexpected caller, but one that made the gears in her head start to turn...

Maybe there was hope for her after all?

End

Next Story: In Another Life

(May x Gardevoir)