A/N: Team Roster: Jackson (Cinderace), Hudson (Mudsdale), Rosa (Bellossom), Theodore (Corviknight), Rouge (Weavile), Ophelia (Haxorus)

Chapter 23 - Worthy of Love

"Rouge had an unfair advantage anyway," Jackson grumbled as he crossed his arms and kicked at the snow.

Dolly rolled her eyes as she and her team stood in the snowy tundra of Route 10, shivering and dripping wet. As soon as she and Hop arrived at the White Hill station, he had sprinted off, determined to train as hard as he could for the semifinals. So, it was just Dolly and her team to start the trek.

Well, she was hoping they would have started the trek by now. She had tossed them all out of their Poké Balls to talk with them and enthuse with them on what great work they had all done thus far. They all cheered, celebrated, but when Rouge chucked a snowball at the back of Jackson's head, their friendly celebration escalated into war.

The clearing by the train station provided a slew of snowbanks and icy barriers as the six Pokémon and one Trainer chucked snowballs, laughing and mocking one another as they dipped under and around the barrage of flinging snow. Although Dolly was the exact opposite of athletic, she was a force to be reckoned with, as all of the Poké Ball throwing meant she had quite the arm, and excellent aim.

They had to pause for a few minutes when they couldn't find Rosa, as she was buried under a snow pile that Theodore had blown at her. She made herself known by blasting a barrage of petals into the air, along with snow, only for it to fall back onto her with a 'plumph.'

Dolly had to eventually halt their snowball-flinging, as dusk was starting to settle over the route, and she watched as all of her Pokémon - sans her Weavile and Cinderace - were shivering uncontrollably. They all gathered together for a group hug as Jackson heated the air around them.

"I love you all so much," Dolly sighed, nestling against Jackson's heat. "Good work, all of you, I couldn't have made it this far without your hard work. Thank you for how much you've all done for me, for each other, for this team. Thank you for staying with me and fighting with me through all of this. We'll win the semifinals, win the Champion Cup, and we'll finally break the Nuzlocke Curse."

"We love you too," Hudson said as he nuzzled against her hair.

"It's true, my Dolly," Rosa said, though her sentence was muffled from hugging against Jackson's leg for warmth. "You have a lovely heart."

Jackson nudged her and raised his eyebrows.

"What?"

"Say it too," he grinned.

Dolly paused, half a breath escaping her lips. Then, she smiled.

"I… I have a lovely heart."

"You are courageous, my Lady," Theodore said.

Jackson nudged her again with a grin.

"I'm… I'm courageous."

"You're kind," Ophelia said.

Dolly's eyes darted to Jackson, who was still grinning at her.

"...I'm kind…"

"You're thoughtful, too," Hudson added.

When Dolly paused, Jackson nodded again.

"I'm thoughtful."

"I'd say you're pretty headstrong, yeah," Rouge added with a toothy grin.

"I'm… I'm headstrong."

Jackson stared into her eyes again.

"You are worthy of love," he said.

Dolly's heart kicked and her voice caught in her throat. When she glanced around to all of her dear Pokémon encircling her, she couldn't help but feel the tears pricking at her eyes. They tumbled down, and Jackson hugged himself against her.

"I'm… I'm…"

He squeezed her tighter, and she finally let out a laugh, though it sounded a bit like a half-laugh, half-sob as she finally said the words she worked so hard to say.

"I'm worthy of love."

The tears tumbled as she thought that just as much as she was on a journey to break the Nuzlocke Curse, she was also slowly learning how to love herself again. Many long years of hating, of despising, of being disgusted at the girl in the mirror. Those years were in the past.

As soon as that thought crossed Dolly's mind, a new confidence seemed to blaze within her. She could finally say it. She could finally believe it. She loved herself. That strange and foreign concept, that unattainable goal, that little trickle of truth that dwelled in the bottom of her heart, it had finally blossomed after waiting for so long.

She had her problems, she had her flaws, but she was also kind, caring, clever, brave, and supportive. She was intelligent and diligent, and she gave everything she could to love those around her. Rosa was right - she had a good heart. Even if many thought it was selfish, if many thought it was misguided, she had a good heart. One that was hers, and one that she loved.

She reached up and touched the Pecha berry on her necklace and smiled again.

"I love myself."

At those words, Jackson wrapped his arms around his Trainer even tighter. As she hugged her dear friend, she couldn't help but beam. Every little step she took brought her closer to this secret goal. Every time she had to reframe a thought, every time she let herself eat a nutritious meal, or get enough sleep, or not watch a rubbish talk show about her; each of those moments was another step closer to truly loving herself. Every time she told herself that no, she wasn't an idiot, or no, she wasn't a monster, every time she told herself that it was okay that she made a mistake and could learn from it, every time she accepted a compliment, or every time she smiled at herself in the mirror, every little step helped her truly love herself again.

And here she was, standing in the snow and the gray of Route 10, her dedicated team at her side. Shivering uncontrollably, sure, but her heart was warm.

After a final chorus of cheers and celebration, and quite a bit more shivering, Dolly sent each of her Pokémon back into their Poké Balls as she finally started the trek into Route 10. She let out a contented sigh as she glanced above her to see that dusk was already beginning over the route. Guess she wouldn't make much progress today, but that was fine. She was still shivering from the snowball war, and the cold water had seeped into her loafers and socks... and through the rest of her clothes. Even her jacket was soaking.

After a battle Dolly stopped to check her phone. Wyndon couldn't be too far, right? She didn't really want to catch hypothermia. She noticed a text from Hop from a few minutes before, and had to scroll past a handful of memes before getting to any actual words.

Where u at? ? ?

She tapped out a response.

Just finished my first battle with that doctor guy

A chat bubble appeared immediately after she hit send.

? ? ? He was at the beginning of the route? Are you still at the train station? ? ?

...maybe

Hop sent an emoji of a Pikachu slapping its forehead.

Well I need your help, just keep going and we'll meet in the middle

Dolly sent him a thumbs up and tucked her phone back into her pocket. She trudged through the snow, now a little fearful that her teeth were going to break from how much they were chattering.

Fat snowflakes tumbled through the air and plopped into the banks around her. Route 10 was quite gray, especially as dusk settled, but Dolly didn't mind. It felt like the sound after the last note of an orchestra, right before the audience applauded. It was fulfilling and peaceful.

The farther she traveled, however, the less fulfilling and peaceful the route became. She plodded through the snow, her hair brushing her face just as the snow did, and it didn't take long before she was sufficiently freezing. She couldn't decipher how deep the snow was anymore, thanks to her numb ankles. Why didn't anyone tell her Route 10 was a huge snowdrift? She would have worn actual pants. Her tiny skirt didn't help much either, as it also kept getting whipped around in the wind. Jackson was out from their last battle, walking beside her to help her keep warm, but that didn't keep the cold from stabbing into her nostrils. They continued through Route 10, and after a while Jackson turned to her and rubbed heated paws over her arms.

"So, uh," Jackson started. "Normally people who love themselves, like, take care of themselves and wear actual warm clothes instead of wearing paper."

"I didn't know it was going to be this cold…" Dolly grumbled, though she gratefully leaned into Jackson's warmth.

"Thought that was what the internet was for? Preparing for long journeys and whatever."

"Yeah, well, I was a little distracted before catching the train here, I had to watch Hop's last Gym Challenge match."

His paws halted on her arms.

"What're you still talking to him for?" he growled.

Dolly's brow furrowed, the realization hit her, and she breathed out an awkward laugh. She forgot Jackson still held a vendetta against Hop ever since their fight in Circhester... When would her Pokémon not berate her for talking to tall, dark men?

"He's fine now, Jackson, really. We talked it over and we're all good. I forgave him, he forgave me, we're peachy-keen."

He stood back and crossed his arms over his chest, and immediately Dolly missed the warmth.

"It's going to take quite a bit for me to find him peachy-keen," Jackson replied, the words dripping out from his clenched teeth. "I hated seeing you like that, Dolly, and it was his fault."

"I love myself now though, remember?"

"Yeah but that doesn't mean-"

"Dolls!"

As if on cue Hop appeared over the hill, waving vigorously at them. Immediately Jackson stood between them and puffed out his chest.

"You've barely made any progress, I had to retrace like, every single one of my steps! What have you even been doing this long?" Hop asked as he trotted up to them.

"We, uh… might have had a snowball war."

Hop laughed and shook his head.

"Sounds like fun, but now you're probably freezing, yeah?"

Dolly gave a sheepish shrug.

"Well," Hop continued with a grin. "Now that I'm here, I've got a favor to ask."

She raised an eyebrow.

"Can we sleep together?"

Jackson lunged at Hop's throat and Dolly had to use all of her strength to keep her rabid Cinderace from killing Hop.

"Wait, wait! That came out wrong! I mean with you - on you - in you - no, in your tent! With you in your tent!" Hop yelped as he scrambled away from the furious Cinderace. "No, hold on, that's not what I meant either!"

Dolly tugged Jackson back as he flung fireballs at Hop and shouted obscenities. Dolly was glad she was the only one who could understand him, and also disgruntled at his colorful vocabulary. Where did he even learn all that?

"I just need a place to stay! My tent was torn in half by a Beartic earlier today, that's all I meant!" Hop said, though his reply was muffled from his arms over his face.

Jackson halted in his fireball flinging.

"I just need to crash somewhere for one night, that's all! I already made it halfway through the route, so it shouldn't take me long to make it to Wyndon by tomorrow!"

Jackson glared and bared his fangs, still juggling a fireball between his paws. Hop crossed a finger over his chest.

"I swear. Nothing funny, just need somewhere to sleep and I managed to ask in the literal worst way possible."

Dolly looked between her two best friends, one tossing a fireball around, the other cowering in the snow. She pursed her lips.

"Not sure how happy that'll make Jackson here, as you can tell. He's still pretty upset about what happened in Circhester."

"Just one night, promise, then I'll be out of your hair. And fur."

She sighed and looked between the two again. She'd normally jump at the chance to help him, but it wasn't fair to Jackson after how hard he had been working lately. He could use some restful sleep, and that probably wouldn't happen if Hop were around… And ever since Dolly learned about her particularly grabby sleeping habits, the last thing she wanted was to accidentally wake up latched onto Hop like some Dreepy on a Dragupult… again.

She bit her lip guiltily. She'd have to tell Hop no, that he could stay in the train station. Hop finally stood and brushed the snow off.

"Come on, Dolls, I'll do anything. I'll owe you a favor, whatever you wan-"

Hop froze, and Dolly raised an eyebrow.

"Actually, no," he said quietly. "Maybe I won't."

A sly grin inched onto his face.

"What?" Dolly asked.

"Remember Turffield?"

Well that was literally ages ago. How was she supposed to remember anything that far back?

"Milo's Wooloo?" Hop finished as a grin inched onto his face.

Oh. Yeah okay she did remember that.

Dolly's mouth hung open as Hop stood tall, brushed off the snow, and crossed his arms.

"My face was itchy for days after tending to all of them so they didn't destroy all of Turffield, thanks to you. I think it's high time to cash in that favor you owe me."

Dolly looked to Hop's smug grin, then to Jackson's bared fangs. She slapped her forehead and groaned.

"Fine, but you two better agree to get along for the night."

"What?!" Jackson yelped as he turned to Dolly. "But he's not, he can't-"

"Wicked! Thanks mate, you're the best. Dubwool and I won't cause any trouble, promise."

Hop flashed his signature grin, threw his bag on the ground, and started pulling supplies from it. She gave Jackson an apologetic pat as he grumbled and crossed his arms.

Dubwool too? Dolly let out a sigh. Often when Dolly was camping, the tent was roomy, with plenty of space for her, her Cinderace, her bag, and one other Pokémon if they wanted to spend the night out of a Poké Ball.

However, this was not one of those situations. As they set up Dolly's tent, she realized that, although there was normally plenty of room, the tent wasn't as accepting of two Trainers and their belongings, a four-foot-seven Cinderace, and a massive fuzzy Dubwool. Despite their cramped conditions, Dolly wasn't intending to let her best mate freeze to death so close to the Championship Cup. So, she grimaced and moved to the side of the tent.

She fondly remembered when Jackson would snuggle against her head on her pillow, but ever since he evolved apparently he was too cool for that now. So, she couldn't get too close to him, and there was no way on earth she would move any closer to Hop's side. As they pulled out belongings and blankets, Dolly let out a huff.

"Can't you put Dubwool in a Poké Ball? No offence mate, but he's huge."

Hop gasped and covered Dubwool's ears.

"I could never even consider it! Dubwool will never again leave my side for the rest of my life! I can't even dream of falling asleep without that soft wool next to me," Hop said as he gave Dubwool a kiss on the forehead, who bleated happily in return.

"Fine," she grumbled. "But you both better stay over on your side."

The last thing she wanted was a smug Rouge assuming the worst, or another lecture from an appalled Theodore... Or Hop burnt to a crisp by the morning.

~later~

Dolly was about to extinguish the fire in her lantern. She had prepped as much as she could so they could quickly be on their way to Wyndon in the morning. Jackson, Dubwool, and Hop were already snoozing away, and Dolly let out a chuckle. She was surprised that Jackson didn't make her sleep on the opposite side of the tent from Hop, as he instead took the spot closest to the tent wall for himself. She remembered back to how Dubwool mentioned they might block the wintery cold from their Trainers if she and Hop slept in the middle between them.

So discreetly selfless, Dolly thought as she gazed at her Cinderace. She chuckled to herself and closed the clasp on her bag. What an odd Pokémon. She didn't even want to imagine what she would be like without his friendship... Probably wearing her regular clothes, actually.

Although it had dried slightly from their snowball war, her other shirt was soaking again thanks to her overprotective Cinderace. Jackson had shoved her into the snow when Hop stood too close to ask her a question as they set up her tent. She didn't want to wear her sandy Challenger's uniform, since she hadn't washed it since battling Raihan, and it wasn't like her Shuckle tank would provide much warmth. Even her jacket was soaking. When she was arguing with Jackson about it, Hop chucked something at her face, and she was fully ready to argue with him too, only to pause when she realized what he chucked at her. The soft fabric in her hands was none other than one of his extra shirts - and as soon as she realized it, the heat flared in her cheeks.

Hop had shrugged and said he was simply tired of listening to them argue. She tried to hand it back, but Jackson was also tired of arguing, so he made Hop stand outside their tent while she pulled on a dry pair of leggings and slipped his shirt on. Then, he had come back in, stared at her for a few seconds, was about to say something, only to stop when Jackson growled at him again.

Dolly fiddled with her blanket and bit back a yawn. She set her head down on her pillow and tried to be discreet when she brought the soft shirt fabric up to her nose. It smelled just like him.

She reached to click off the fire from the lantern, but her head turned when she heard a sharp intake of breath. Hop was facing her now, eyebrows furrowed, eyes squeezing shut. He was rubbing a spot on his chest.

"Hop?" she whispered.

His eyes slowly opened, and Dolly set herself up on her elbows.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

"Uh, yeah, I'm fine," he replied, though he wasn't very discreet when he tried to hold back a grimace.

"No you're not. What's wrong?"

"Nothing," he muttered as he stared at the floor of the tent.

He jerked his hand away from the spot on his chest, and Dolly's eyes widened.

"That Beartic got you, didn't it?"

He didn't respond, and instead turned away from her again. She crawled to him, turned him back by his shoulder, but when he let out a grunt her hand shot back.

"Hop!"

"Fine, yes, it did. I'm fine though, Dolls, really. It's just a scratch."

"Yeah right. You're also the person who broke his arm three summers ago and said he only needed 'to ice it for a day then he'd be good.'"

"Well what do you want me to do about it? It's the middle of the night in the middle of nowhere."

"Let me help," she whispered as she gently reached toward him again. Her fingers lightly brushed over his shirt. "I've got bandages and disinfectant in my bag."

He looked to the ceiling of the tent for a second.

"Seriously," Dolly continued. "You know how many times I've been injured recently. A Pokémon Center nurse gave me some cream that works wonders, you'll feel better in no time."

Hop heaved out a sigh.

"Fine."

He slowly lifted himself up as Dolly smiled.

"After all the times you've patched me up it's the least I could do."

Hop rolled his eyes and gingerly shook off his jacket while Dolly opened her bag again and pushed around until she found the disinfectant and bandage roll. If it was on his chest, she might need quite a bit of it, if it was to go all the way around his chest and maybe around his shoulder, too. She turned back to him, supplies in hand. It seemed his cheeks were a bit darker as he cautiously glanced at her in the yellow glow of the lantern light.

"What're you waiting for? I won't let you bleed out on my watch."

Hop looked to the floor of the tent again. What was he being so bashful for? It wasn't like this would take long. She just had to slab some cream on, wrap it up, then they could finally get some shut eye.

Hop's eyes flicked to hers, then down to the floor of the tent as he carefully lifted his shirt. He peeled it off, careful of his injury, and as he sat there, shirt on the floor, hair a bit tousled, it dawned on Dolly why he may be embarrassed.

Ah. Yes. Right.

She couldn't stop her eyes from flitting over his bare chest, shoulders, arms, taking in what she had felt through his shirt so many times. Rouge's teasing in Circhester about his muscles replayed in her head, but that was back in Circhester, during that festival, where he was shirtless then too, and it didn't seem to be a problem. But then again, there were a bunch of other people around. The setting there wasn't quite as dark or as warm or as… ahem...

Intimate.

When he looked to the side, cheeks tingeing darker, she cleared her throat and crawled toward him. The lantern fire flickered, and the platinum sheen of her hair seemed to glint in the light as it swayed when she inched closer. She trailed her fingers over the haphazard bandage that was there before, and spots of red peeked from underneath it. Her eyebrows furrowed.

"Geez Hop, this looks like it hurts… who put this bandage on? This wrapping job sucks."

"Well it's not like I could do it well," he huffed as he crossed his arms. "And Rillaboom tried to help, but his hands were too big to tie the knots well, and no other Pokémon on my team has opposable thumbs."

"Well it's a good thing Doctor Dolly is here to help," she joked. She quietly stood and stepped around to his back and untied the pitiful knot that was there before. The bandages fell, Dolly unraveled the rest, then knelt in front of him again.

Her cheeks grew warm as well as she tried to not stare at his bare shoulders, chest, abdomen. She grimaced when her eyes landed on the gouge from the Beartic. Her lower lip stuck out as her fingers hovered beside it.

"Poor thing, this looks painful," she whispered, gingerly wiping the dried blood away with a dampened cloth. "And Jackson attacking you like that earlier probably didn't help."

"Tuck that lip back," Hop laughed quietly. "It looks worse than it is. I'm not some baby."

"I know, but you don't have to pretend to be tough around me, Hop," she replied. "You're allowed to be hurt, too."

When he didn't respond, she glanced up to his face. The lantern fire was now glinting in the glassy sheen of his eyes, and his brows pulled together.

"...Hop?"

Suddenly tears began to fall. He bit his lip, trying to hold them back, but more escaped as he sniffled. A breath left her lips as she watched her best friend sitting there in the lantern light. Her hand instinctively shot to him, she delicately wrapped her arms around him, and lowered his head onto her chest. He cried quietly into her shirt as she stroked through his hair. Dolly wasn't sure how long they sat like that, but it really didn't matter. She just wished she could wrap her entire body around him, to hold him together, so he wouldn't look so broken like that. She wanted to protect him with her entire essence like he had for her so many times.

"It's just been so hard," he whispered into her shirt. "All of it. What Bede said and switching up my team so much, all that with you and Raihan, even the stupid Beartic today… and mainly… It's been so hard growing up and not having Lee there for me. I feel like I only know the person on the screen, the Champion Leon, and not my big brother. I know he's always busy since he's the Champion, but I just wish… I just wish I knew him better, and I wish he wanted to know me better."

Tears pricked her eyes as she hugged him against her.

"I just thought that if I…" Hop continued. "If I could become a strong Trainer, if I got to the Championship match, if I could beat him, he would be proud of me. And then he'd finally care about me and he would stay."

"What do you mean?"

He sniveled into her shirt again.

"Whenever he would come home, he would never stay long," Hop said. "Then as I got older he came to visit less and less… I just figured it was because I wasn't good enough or strong enough or interesting enough,"

"Oh, Hop," Dolly sighed as she pulled him closer. "That wasn't your fault, not at all, and he does care about you. You're his favorite person in the world, whenever I'm with him he talks about you."

Another stretch of silence filled the tent, only to be broken when Hop sniffled again.

"And then with you too," Hop said. "When we fought in Circhester and you just… left…"

Hop let out another sob and curled against her.

"I just thought, 'Oh great, I ruined another relationship by being total rubbish.' And after Spikemuth when you told me to leave you alone, I just felt so… helpless. Like it felt the same as how I felt with Lee, like no matter what I did I couldn't get you to come back and stay,"

Dolly wiped the tears from her own eyes.

"Is that why you kept asking me to stay after that Perrserker?"

Hop nodded against her chest. Dolly gently combed through his hair and shook her head.

"I'm so sorry, Hop, I had no idea. I never meant to make you feel abandoned like that."

He sniffed again and nodded.

"It's okay, you didn't know. Really it was just that one time. And it just makes me wonder…" he continued. "Would beating Lee and being Champion even fix anything? If I beat him, then I'll become just as busy as he was, and maybe I wouldn't have time for him, and he wouldn't have time for me. It's been so confusing lately…"

He slowly sat up, and Dolly rested a hand on his cheek.

"I mean I love Pokémon and I want to be around them but…" Hop said quietly. "What if I don't actually want to be the Champion?"

He looked so forlorn, with his slumped shoulders and pink, puffy eyes. Dolly wiped a tear off his cheek with her thumb.

"What do you mean?" she asked. "I thought that was your life goal?"

Hop seemed to look far into the distance as he answered.

"I just… I don't know, Dolls. I mean it's all of that with Lee, but I'm also confused with what I want in life. I love being with Pokémon and I think I'm good at understanding them, but I don't feel that fire in my body that you and Lee talk about so much."

He sighed again and his shoulders drooped.

"I enjoy it, sure, and I'm getting better at battling, but I don't know if… if it's my passion. I thought I would have felt it by now, that fire that you two always talk about but… I just don't."

Dolly watched as his eyes seemed to gaze beyond her, into miles and memories she had never seen.

"I'm this close, so I'll see it through, but I'm just not as sure as I once was. If I'm not the Champion, I don't know what I'll do because I've never thought about anything else until now."

Dolly sighed, watching her forlorn friend look to the ground again. She would do absolutely anything to never see that despair on his face. She held his head against her again.

"I'm so sorry, Hop. You said that about Leon back in Circhester, and even in Stow-on-Side, but I'm sorry I didn't know how much this was weighing on you. I'm sorry both Leon and I haven't paid attention to your feelings… I know I've been so wrapped up in my own."

He nodded against her chest and sniffled again.

"You're here now, and that's what matters."

Her brows furrowed and she hugged him tighter.

"And I always will be, promise. If you don't become Champion, then I'll do whatever I can to help you find that passion. Because I know how it feels to not have it, and how fulfilling it is to finally find it, and I want that for you."

They sat there a little longer, and Dolly rubbed his back until Hop's breathing finally softened. After a while, he heaved a deep sigh, and lifted his head. His puffy eyes gazed at her in the lantern light, and a soft smile spread across his lips.

"Thank you, Dolls. Really."

She smiled and reached her hand up to cup his face. Her fingers lightly stroked through the hair by his ear, and her thumb grazed over his cheekbone.

"I love you, Hop. Thank you for trusting me and thank you for telling me all of this. I'll do whatever it takes for you to find that passion too."

His eyes widened.

"...What did you say?"

"I said 'thanks for telling me all that.'"

"No, before that."

"'Thanks for trusting me'?"

"Before that."

Dolly's brows furrowed and she dropped her hand.

"Uh, something about passion?"

"You… you said you loved me."

Hm. Shit. She did, didn't she.

"W-well I do, you're my best friend. Of course I… um… of course I love you."

His brows pulled together.

"…Friend." Hop repeated. "Right."

Dolly's response rose in her throat, only to be pushed down again when she swallowed. The lantern light beside them cast a warm orangish glow around them, and although it softened everything else in the tent, it seemed to sharpen the glint of gold in Hop's eyes.

Half of her would have given anything to know what he was thinking, when he looked at her like that. The other half of her wanted him to turn around and not look at her like that at all, and the other other half of her just, like, really wanted to hug him again.

Dolly forced her response back out.

"Now, let's get you patched up, shall we?" she chirped as she reached for the supplies again. "Can't have you getting an infection or anything."

She gingerly uncapped the disinfectant, spread some over her fingers, and reached towards him. It was like she was resisting the pull of a magnet when she hesitated an inch away. Hop leaned towards her, her fingertips whispered over his skin, and the temperature in the tent rose a few degrees.

She could feel him watching her as her fingers quivered over his chest. Hop sat patiently, still watching her, and he leaned towards her another inch every minute. Her hands moved swiftly over his soft skin, and Dolly tried to focus on her work instead of how he felt under her hands. When her arm started to ache, Dolly shuffled closer, settled herself between his knees, and the temperature in the tent rose a few degrees.

It was like she was sitting a foot too close to the hearth, and his heat radiated around her. Hop was always warmer than most, and Dolly was always colder than most, though that equilibrium shifted every time she touched him. She tried to steady herself, but when his heart thrummed beneath her hands, she paused and glanced up. She pursed her lips, that heat crept onto her cheeks, and her eyes darted away.

"Hop, stop staring at me," she finally grumbled out. "You're making me feel weird about touching your chest this much."

The pull of the magnet intensified, the hearth blazed hotter, and the temperature in the tent rose a few degrees when Hop breathed his response.

"You're so beautiful."

She froze in her reach for the bandage roll.

"Q-quit teasing," she muttered, though her stumbling words and stumbling fingers betrayed the assurance in her demand.

"I'm not."

And the temperature in the tent rose a few more degrees.

Dolly asked Hop to hold the end of the bandage roll against his chest so she could properly wrap it around. He did, though his fingers slid over her wrist, over her hand, against her palm, between her fingers, until he held the bandage still.

Though his eyes were locked on hers, it was like his gaze was boring into every inch of her skin. That heat burned in her face, burned in her throat, burned in her body, as she leaned over him to wrap the bandage around him, and suddenly his breath was hot on her neck. Her heart was pounding, her nerves electrified, as his lips scarcely grazed the air over her skin, barely hovered beneath her jaw. He breathed out again, and she could almost feel how her pupils dilated.

Dolly paused.

Was it getting hot in there? She was feeling pretty hot. Was the fire in her lantern too hot? That must be it. Perhaps it had a lower setting. Maybe a colder fire setting. Really just something less… hot.

Dolly was still a little woozy when she sat back, and it was like the heat of his breath was locked onto her neck. She tried to rub it off on her shoulder, only for her hair to stick. Hop was leaning closer, and his shoulders and his chest and his arms and his hands heated the space around them, fueled the incessantly rising temperature in her cheeks. His eyes flit from her eyes to her mouth when she smoothed down the ridges of the wrapping, and then again when her fingers grazed over his lean muscle. When she pulled strands of her hair from her neck, his hooded gaze dragged down from her eyes, to her lips, to her neck, to the hemline of his shirt lying loose on her chest.

Her distracted hands slipped and grazed low on his back, and when her fingers slid over the dimples near the base of his spine, Hop started breathing harder. The fire between them was palpable when her hand curved along his side to feel along the fringe of the wrapping, and it flared hotter when Hop let slip a soft moan. When she met his gaze again, his eyebrows were furrowed, his pupils were dilated, and there was a hunger in his eyes that she had never seen before.

The temperature in the tent rose a few degrees.

Dolly glanced down, turned her head, and strands of platinum hair wafted around her face like a curtain. It was like time had stopped when Hop traced along her jaw, along her cheekbone, to tuck the strands of hair behind her ear. When her eyes met his again, he wet his lips.

With each beat of her heart, her eyes flicked from hooded eyes and his mouth, and Dolly swallowed hard when his fingers brushed over her legs. His hands slowly, painstakingly slowly, trailed up her thighs, up her hips, to hold her waist, and he gently pulled her towards him. The path his fingers made burned her skin, and her hands trembled against his chest until he pulled them up and guided them over his shoulders. Again, her fingers pushed into the lines of muscle on his back, and the remainder of the bandage roll was strewn on the floor as Dolly hesitantly curled a hand into his hair.

Dolly struggled to keep her eyes open when he leaned another inch closer. It was an inch every second, it was another degree that flared from his fingerprints, from his gaze, when his eyes flitted to hers, then down to her lips again. She was drawn to him, and he to her, as they sat only a few inches away. His eyelids lowered as he leaned another inch closer.

Inch by inch.

Degree by degree.

The temperature in the tent was rising, as was the temperature that flared in her veins. She could hardly control it as his thumb brushed over her lips, and the tension within her was spiking when he tilted her chin up.

Another inch closer.

Another degree hotter.

She gazed through her eyelashes to see his eyes closed and his lips slightly parted.

Yeah wow it was definitely hot in there maybe if she didn't sit right next to this darn lantern that would help.

Dolly stood and stepped around him. After a tense few seconds, Hop breathed out a sigh, and he rubbed at his face as she tied the final knot in the back. She watched his shoulders move as he adjusted, feeling for himself the security of the wrapping.

"Done. Now it doesn't suck," she said as she wiped her hands on her leggings. Hm yeah she was sweating a lot, it sure was hot in there. Darn lantern.

She stepped around him again and started tidying up the mess she made, though she pursed her lips when she still met Hop's eyes every time she looked up.

"What?" she laughed as her shoulders slumped. He really needed to stop looking at her like that, she was already on the verge of a heat stroke.

"Dolls…" he breathed. "I want… C-can I..."

After a tense pause, he heaved out the rest of the breath he was holding.

"I mean... yeah this wrapping is a lot better now."

"Well the bar was pretty low," she said as she bundled the old bandages into a ball. "Now let's get some sleep, we've got some big days coming up. You should drink some water, too, it's a billion degrees in here."

As Dolly motioned to toss the bundle to the side of the tent, Hop leaned toward her again. He stared into her eyes for a second, cupped her face, and gently pressed his lips to her cheek. His eyelashes tickled her skin as his kiss lingered.

"I love you too, Dolls," he said quietly. His lips were still grazing her skin as he whispered. "Thank you for taking care of me."

After a moment, and then a moment after that, Dolly squeaked out a 'you betcha' and finally clicked off the lantern.