"Okay, Lunick. You can do this."
The navy haired Ranger stood hunched over his small bathroom countertop, freshly out of the shower he'd taken after clocking off duty for the last time until next year. Now- admittedly, that wasn't saying much, since tonight was New Years Eve. But… it still felt like a chapter of his work was closing, and a new one would open starting tomorrow nonetheless.
This was his personal time to prepare for the evening: it was Ringtown's unofficial turn to host any remnants of a gettogether for off-duty Rangers with nowhere else to go to celebrate. Which meant tonight, he would have home-field advantage. Tonight, he would just take that leap, and wouldn't choke the way he did last year.
Gripping the countertop, he stared at his own reflection in the mirror with a steely, determined look. "You can do this," he repeated, standing up straighter and combing his fingers through his still-damp hair anxiously, in preparation even just to practice. If he wanted to get the question out tonight, he needed to perfect it now, and have had experience saying it aloud a few times before actually verbalizing it where it counted.
"Hey, Solana," Lunick feigned, playing off cooly to his reflection in the mirror, leaning on one hand to try and seem casual about the whole affair. "You know, I can't get Freddie off my back about the whole midnight kiss thing. So insistent, I-" The young man shook his head, breaking character immediately with a groan. "No, that's stupid." He let out a loud huff, giving himself one last glare before shifting his eyes in the mirror's image to the reflection of something much smaller, behind him, sitting atop the bar where he usually hung his towel. "You know, I see you judging me," he chastised, but it was said with much more levity than he'd been giving himself, and he clearly was bluffing about any attempt at being upset about it.
"Mai Mai!" The little Minun seemed to understand his sentiment perfectly, wiggling her large yellow and blue ears with a twitch of her nose in inquisitive judgement.
Lunick pivoted to face her directly now, letting out a long exhale. "Well, I just need to make sure it's perfect, you know?" He sighed, crossing his arms over his chest and leaning back against the sink. "What else am I supposed to do? Say 'Solana, I've been wanting to kiss you for years now and tonight is finally the opportunity for me to do it without stepping over too many boundaries so tomorrow I can just write it off like it was part of the festivities and you won't be weirded out'?"
"Minun!" She nodded her tiny head, apparently having no issue with that rough draft.
Her Ranger partner just shook his head with a breathy laugh in disbelief. "No." Lunick rolled his eyes, turning to pace out of the bathroom so he could start putting on more clothes than just his boxer shorts, anyways. "And you know I need to practice. I tried pulling this last year too, if you remember, and froze up at my chance. I have to be fluid and ready this time."
He huffed as he wrestled on a pair of pants, shaking the towel over his hair one last time before flopping on his back onto his bed. He was stressed, but in the most exhilarating way. "On one hand, I shouldn't get greedy. I mean, I just had like, a month's worth of cheek kisses from her under every stupid sprig of mistletoe." His Pokémon hopped her way across the dorm room to join him on the bed, standing on all fours on his chest for his full attention. Lunick smiled, both from the memory and from the affectionate means from Minun, and ran a hand over her head, flattening her ears back. "But man, do I want the real thing, too. I can hardly take it anymore, Minun. I just know it would be perfect, and I swear… I'll be fine, and never long for more after just this once." It was a bold-faced lie, and he knew it, but he really wanted to make sure he would never take advantage of his best friend if she didn't want the same. But… He couldn't wait any longer. He just desperately wanted this one, single little kiss.
He hadn't even seen her since that morning's pre-shift briefing; he and Solana had split their separate ways then for their respective assigned missions, and when he'd gotten home to Base a short bit ago, she hadn't reported back for the night yet.
Dumping Minun onto the blanket beside him, Lunick sat up, clasping his hands together and breathing out once again to steady himself. "I've just gotta do it, you know?" He clenched his jaw, bracing for the words to come as he forced them out. "I gotta say: 'Solana, is it okay if we have a New Year's Kiss? You know, for the tradition?'"
The question was chased by heavy breathing, and the young man nodded. "Yeah." He pushed his shoulders back to try and instill some confidence, looking his Pokémon in the eyes with determination. "At midnight tonight, I'm doing it. If she says yes, if she wants it too… Tonight, I'm kissing Solana." Hearing himself say it out loud was enough to make him erupt into a guilty childish grin of glee, and cause his cheeks and ears to burn in embarrassment and excitement all at once as he buried his head into his hands.
"Arceus, Minun. I really hope I can do this."
"To another year of giving back to this beautiful region we call home?" Solana repeated the toast that Spenser had given a little over an hour ago verbatim as she and Plusle plopped down directly next to Lunick, asking the question as she passed him another cup of the punch that had been prepared for the evening. It wasn't particularly often that really anyone in their extended friend group drank alcoholic beverages, but tonight was a special occasion, and they were all together, and chose to indulge in it for merriment.
"To another year," Lunick agreed as he tapped the rim of his cup against hers with a lopsided grin, slinging his free arm around her shoulder and taking a sip in sync with her to cheers the moment. The party had begun a short bit ago, and some familiar faces from across the region had since trickled into their hometown Base: Freddie, Percy, Leilani, and even Aria all sat littered across the Ringtown common room area amongst a handful of other Rangers that neither of them talked to that often.
Solana leaned forward to set her drink down on the coffee table after the big gulp, then felt Lunick's familiar arm snake around her waist and drag her back into the couch, practically pulling her to lay down into his lap. And she laughed, grateful he'd at least had the forethought to wait for the open cup to be out of her hands before being needy.
You see: Lunick had always been a particularly affectionate drunk, and while the both of them were probably still tipsy at most, Solana obliged to his silent begging anyways with a bright grin.
"I'm surprised you're not asleep already, Sunshine," he taunted as both electric mice sat poised on either of his shoulders, acting like she had just laid down because she was tired, and entirely not because he'd wanted to hold her.
In reality, it was his eyes that were half lidded out of the two of them- but even then, it was out of a mixture of inebriation and adoration, not sleepiness. Solana snickered while he gently tugged out the hair elastic that had been the only thing holding her lazy updo together, and softly began to run his fingers through her hair on his lap. And while the sentiment was amongst the sweetest she'd ever felt, it didn't stop her from giving a shove to his chest for the jabbing comment. "It's New Year's Eve," she reminded him, scoffing at his playful lack of faith in her ability to stay up late. She almost didn't want to sit up, but had to in order to prove her point, and lingered her hand on his shirt as she shook her head at him with a grin. "I'm gonna be right here, awake, at midnight. Just you wait and see."
Lunick's eyes didn't meet hers for a moment, his hand falling to her jaw as she moved. His mouth fell open- just barely agape. He really seemed like he was about to say something in response to that. But whatever it was, he was hesitating.
He looked up again, right at her. And before he actually spoke, the moment was interrupted by another conversation in the room.
"Oh come on. We ALL know the Grassland Capture Challenge is the easiest of them all in the region."
And Solana simply couldn't sit around without piping in on such an incredulous claim on her record. Leaping to her feet and snatching up her drink, she interjected. "Oh yeah, Percy? And you'd call sitting comfortably on the back of a Lapras difficult?!"
Lunick felt as if she were ripped right out of his arms as he watched her go across the room, mentally beating himself up for having missed yet another chance. He sat frozen in place, guiltily watching Solana toss her hair back over her shoulders before tying it up again in a low bun with Plusle's help, so it was out of her way as she argued with the Summerland native. Only she could make even that so endearing to him.
But it was alright, he did his best to remind himself, as he collected his thoughts and took another long drink from his juice to drown out the insecurities. He still had nearly two hours to get the courage.
The social event went on, and as she went up to the punch bowl to get herself a refill, Solana spotted Aria sitting alone, picking at some of the hors d'oeuvres absently. But while a lot of people may have written it off to her apparent general distaste for any and all company, Solana knew her better than that by this point. And even if she didn't, Aria had also changed a lot since she'd first met her. She'd never openly admit it, but she'd certainly come around.
Sliding in next to the blonde, Solana helped herself to the cracker on her rival's plate that was blatantly being ignored. "Figured you would be at a Fall City party, if I'm being honest," the blue haired girl mused, and smiled coyly at the way her begrudging friend scoffed at her audacity to take something right out from beneath her.
As it turns out, liquor brought out the honesty much more forthcoming in Aria than her usual attitude-laced front. "I don't have anywhere else to go," she admitted, looking over at Solana now, even though she never lifted her head off of the hand in which it rested.
"The people of Fall City love you," the younger Ranger reassured, reaching over and grabbing her wrist that lay on the table. "Which is why I figured that."
She didn't know if it was from the compliment or the booze with the way she could see Aria's face flush, and the typically-snooty girl sat up a little more, turning in her seat to face her conversation partner. "Even if I did have somewhere else to go, I wouldn't have picked it over the people here."
And that sentiment made Solana smile, leaning one of her elbows onto the table. "You know, I like it when you've had a few drinks in you. You let me babble much more in earnest."
Aria rolled her eyes in amusement at the remark, shaking a few curls out of her face as she hunched over the table again to take a swig of her cider. "Drunk words, sober thoughts," she recited, before playfully bumping her shoulder into Solana's. "Don't get used to it. This is a tonight-only exclusive honesty."
"So I only get this side of you once a year?" Solana snickered, reaching over and popping another of Aria's snacks into her own mouth as she bartered with minimal decorum. "Not even a liitttle bit more than that?"
"...And maybe in a life-or-death situation. But you'd better not go around hoping for those."
Both of them laughed in their friendly heart-to-heart, and Solana sat back in her seat, nearly tipping it over. "Arceus." She huffed out loud, staring off into space. "I can't believe it's already been three New Years that I've spent in Fiore. Sometimes I feel like I'm still just a little rookie."
"Trust me, to the rest of us it's been an arduous two and a half years of knowing you." Solana threw a lighthearted punch at her bicep for the immediate snarky remark, and Aria snickered, clearly having been just looking for the hotheaded reaction. "And you are an absolute liar, by the way. You are literally the entire Ranger Union's little golden girl. And it's deserved, with all the things you've managed to accomplish."
The Ringtown Ranger softened at her hard-earned praise, listening as Aria pushed on. "Knowing you, I'd even wager that you've already got some grand plans for resolutions and achievements you want to take on in the coming months. …I'm right, aren't I? So tell me. What is it? What do you want to happen in the new year?"
Solana squirmed a little under the callout, but not uncomfortably so. She didn't answer, but couldn't help but let her eyes subconsciously wander across the room to her best friend. He was playing some card game with Freddie, and maybe winning, because he adamantly slammed down a card into the pile and threw his hands up in the air in some sort of victorious celebration. It was utterly dorky, and she was entirely enamored with it, an involuntary smile curling on her lips as she silently watched.
"...Ohhhh," Aria followed her sightline, a mischievous yet unidentifiable expression crossing her face. "That's what you want to happen in the new year, huh?"
Solana ripped herself back to reality, sitting up a little straighter and blinking as she instinctively opened her mouth to deny the fact, but Aria didn't even give her the chance. She knew she was right. "Ooooo~" the blonde teased, at least lowering her voice so there wasn't anyone who could overhear their private conversation. "Gonna kiss 'im at midnight~?"
The Fall City Ranger made pucker lips at Solana in tease, and the latter scrunched her nose before dropping her head to the table in defeat, losing any will to even try and deny it when she'd been pinpointed so narrowly. For the first time, to someone that wasn't her Plusle, Solana let out a long sigh, before admitting it. "... I wish."
Something in Aria's posture shifted, and she gulped a particularly thick swallow of the thing she'd long assumed airing out as a reality. "…Are you kidding…?" She eventually asked, putting a hand on her rival's back and leering forward a little. Her tone was incredibly soft, and she shook her head, raising an eyebrow in disbelief. "Solana, just look at the way he looks at you." She sounded a little wistful, almost like she spoke from experience. "It's like you're his entire world. The second you step foot into his line of sight, it's as if nothing else matters."
Solana's cheeks were fuming brightly as she went on, so much so that she even noticed Aria's did too, in what was probably just ricocheting and mirroring her own behavior. "... Do you actually think so?"
The blonde Ranger downright snorted at the incredulous question, giving Solana's back two good natured pats before reaching forward and covering the back of the blue haired girl's hand with her own for emphasis of her next point. "I think even after saying all that, it's still an understatement." She peeked up, and then looked back at Solana immediately, a knowing look in her purple eyes. "And he's looking at you like that right now."
Solana slipped her hand out from under Aria's so she could cover her face with it, but failed to conceal the wide, jubilant grin peeking its way out from underneath them.
"Listen, I just…" The blonde huffed, before continuing, ultimately deciding to get this advice off her chest. "You shouldn't leave any regrets in the old year, is all I'll say. There's a lot of things I wish I said, or wished I didn't say, and… I just… Tomorrow can be a fresh start, anyways. Not giving your all in any aspect is just… very out of character for you."
After having made eye contact with Solana, Lunick was quick to finish up his game with Freddie, eager to spend time with her instead. And he came up to the two girls now, wrapping his arms around the midsection of the one he longed to call his own, and dropped his chin onto her shoulder with a wonky grin.
"Your timing's perfect, Kazuki, because I've been trying to get her off my back for half an hour now so I can get another drink," Aria lied through her teeth, pushing her chair back and getting up with a quiet laugh to herself. "She's your responsibility now. I've more than done my time Solana-sitting."
The girl in question gave her blonde friend a pointed glare, and she just shot a wink back in return. Lunick gave her a tiny wave goodbye, before gingerly pulling any flyaway hairs off of Solana's neck, taking it upon himself to nuzzle his face into the crook of it affectionately. The intimate, gentle touch was enough to send a shiver down her spine as she covered his hands around her waist with her own, turning her head to look at him best she could right now while simultaneously thankful he couldn't see the amount of heat her cheeks were giving off. "Hey, I… Would you want to come with me while I get some fresh air…? I really… I really want to ask you something."
He practically straightened like a pin, uncoordinatedly grabbing her hands with both of his and pulling her to her feet in excitement at remembering. "I do too!" He exclaimed it a little too loudly, and cleared his throat immediately after while sheepishly releasing his hold a little so he wasn't gripping her so tightly. "I mean, I uh… I have to ask you something too, anyways…!"
Solana hadn't flinched at his outcry at all. Whereas he'd been loosening his hold on her to give her an out, she instead knit their fingers through the spaces of one another's, and leaned forward a little with a pleased smile on her lips. "Perfect," she whispered, and dropped to just holding one of his hands as she whistled for Plusle and Minun to join at their heels and began to drag him toward the door.
"Where are you guys going…?" Murph asked upon being passed on their beeline out of the common room, but the question fell onto deaf ears. Regardless, he still called out in warning after them, even if it wasn't going to be heeded. "Just don't forget…! It's almost midni-!"
But the doors to the lobby of the Base had already slid shut, the two Top Rangers and their respective Partner Pokémon long gone.
"Okay, okay…!" Lunick stumbled out the door after her, a giddy snicker bubbling off of his lips as he practically crashed into her. "I am in no shape to go on one of your little fun runs right now, Sweetheart."
Solana was giggling too, and reached up to sweep his bangs out of his face. Even if it went horribly, there was a real chance of the both of them having a fuzzy memory of the events of tonight. She was sure she could blame any weird behavior on the oddities of the night anyways, and was feeling particularly bold after both the liquid courage and pep talk, and so she let her free hand's thumb skim his lips lovingly on her way to dropping it from his hair. "Let's go to the river in Lyra, then," she suggested, before immediately carting him off to the north of town before he could even agree. But it didn't matter: he would have followed her anywhere. He always would, even beyond just tonight.
The two of them weaved through the few houses that scattered across town, making a hastened break for the forest they both knew so well. It was the place their friendship had even started, after all. It was only proper that it be the place for something more to begin again, too.
Laughing nearly the whole way there, the pair all but tripped over themselves as they made it to the isolated riverbank. It was at least a place of certain privacy: there was no way anyone would interrupt them here, not with the parties all happening within town itself. A few Mudkip were their only otherwise company, but they most definitely kept to themselves, burrowing down deeper into the wet soil until only the fins on their heads were visible.
"You know, most people's idea of fresh air is just outside," Lunick patronized, his eyes glued to her. There was something absolutely breathtaking to him about the way the moonlight reflected off the water and cast over her, and Aria was right. There was nothing else more important to him in the world. Stepping forward, he gingerly waltzed right into her personal space, his arms finding themselves at home when wrapped around her in a warm embrace. "Not a whole hike."
"I wanted to be alone with you," she said so plainly, as if it really were that easy all this time. The way she could express such a thing so effortlessly nearly contorted Lunick's lungs within his chest, and it was amplified by the way it was paired with her arms stretching over his shoulders, her hands knitting together beyond the nape of his neck. If he had the go-ahead, he swore he would have just kissed her right then and there. But he still hadn't even so much as asked, so he had to restrain the urge to do so.
Little did he know, she felt much of the same. Leering in to where she was so close that the breath off of her words brushed along his face, she stared up at him with half-lidded eyes. "I needed to talk to you," she practically whispered, even though it was only the two of them out here, alone.
Lunick swallowed hard, trying so desperately not to get mesmerized in the way her crimson eyes practically shimmered as she stared at him. At him. Part of himself wanted to be pinched just to make sure he wasn't fantasizing all of this, but the stiff night air was at war with the blush on his cheeks, and that was enough to quietly confirm it was real. "I…" He raised one of his hands to press flat against her upper back, before nodding the tiniest bit. He didn't end the sentence, because he knew if he spoke again, the two words that followed would have been two he hadn't dared to admit, even if they'd been true for 2 years now.
"I… Really should have rehearsed this," she puffed out on an exhale, and it made Lunick laugh softly at the irony of it. Which in turn made her smile, too, because she always found his to be contagious. "You… You know how everyone always… You know how people always assume we're a couple?" Her fingers were anxiously twirling themselves in hair, but it was not her own. And every time her skin grazed against the shell of his ear, he took a tiny sharp inhale. "Err- like… dating?"
His lips parted ever so slightly, Lunick blinked a few times, frozen. He barely forced out a downright miniscule nodding motion for her to continue, breath all but completely stopped as he listened to something he never thought he'd hear.
"I've… I've always kinda liked it." She broke eye contact now, and suddenly the nervousness was clear all over her face. "I hope it doesn't make you uncomfortable, but… But I secretly wish it were true, and I-, Guiltily, I…" The shorter girl closed her eyes, bracing herself with all the strength and confidence she had left, and it made her all the more beautiful to him, the way she took what she wanted and refused to hold back. "I always have. And I just needed you to know that. To not leave that unsaid, before the new year comes."
He was silent for a moment, but not because he wanted to be. Believe me, every neuron in his whole body was itching, dying to react, but he was too stunned to move. "Solana…" He barely managed to get out, and she looked at him once more, with all the care in the world in her eyes.
"Don't be afraid that you'll hurt my feelings," she began, and it was honest. And that finally shook him into motion.
"Solana, I've been wishing it were true since the Go-Rock Squad days," he confessed, taking a shuttered breath as she grappled one of her hands to cup his jaw, uncoordinated and woozy in awe through the movement. But it was also so real. There was shouting in the distance- or perhaps, it simply felt that way, with all the voices of such long, slow yearning screaming all at once in their heads. "For years, for years Solana, I've been dreaming it were real. Hell, I've spent all night trying to figure out the best way to ask if you'd be my New Years' kiss, and I wanted to ask last year, too, but just couldn't get the words out."
Her fingers dug a little into his skin as she held onto him for dear life, after his words were so dizzying. Tears pricked at the waterducts of her eyes, and instead of saying anything else, she just tugged him forward, pressing her lips to his in an electrifying, desperate kiss that felt like everything they'd done in the last two and a half years together all at once.
It was absolutely breathtaking for them both. It felt like a million explosions happening all at the same time, like a crowd was cheering and the sky was alight in a wide array of colors. Until they both realized it was, and tore away from one another just far enough to look up, and see the fireworks that careened across the night sky in celebration of the holiday reaching its golden moment. It was a feeling that neither could ever forget; awash in colors and light and jubilance and felt practically magic, all in one another's arms.
Lunick only looked at the fireworks for a split second, much more interested in the view of the girl beside him, anyways. The wind just barely blew hair into her face as she stared in awe, and it was more stunning than anything the New Years' Celebration could even possibly try to beat.
He shuddered as he lifted one of his hands to cup her cheek in return, shaking his head a little in disbelief. "How… How did you know it was midnight…?" Deep down, he knew the truth, but still wanted to give her one last out. One last exit, before opening this pandora's box. Because he'd lied. He'd lied bad to Minun earlier. Once he was given the consent to kiss her, it's all he would ever want to do, over and over again until his final breath.
Solana smiled up at him, and her eyes said it all. She had been pining all this time just the same, just as intensely, and felt like she was on top of the world, too. And her simple answer was enough to confirm it: "I didn't."
He lunged forward then to kiss her again, and she threw her arms around him and laughed into it as the colorful explosions surrounded them, both in the sky and in their chests. Everything had changed, and yet, it was the same as it always was. And adorably, as the cheering Pokémon, Plusle and Minun did just that in utter glee that their humans had finally realized the other felt the same way.
The kiss lasted far longer than the first, conversing everything they'd held unsaid over all that time together. When they finally drew back, it was only enough to press their foreheads together, breathless and hopelessly enamored beyond anything else.
"New resolution," Lunick huffed, rubbing his thumb over her cheek and flickering his eyes all over her face as he tried to take it in. "Do that again, a lot more in the new year."
Solana grinned devilishly, her hands falling to rest on the front of his chest. "I think I can help keep you on track for that one," she agreed, and burrowed herself against him, peppering kisses along his shoulder and neck as if nothing else mattered.
And quite honestly? It didn't. Not when they had each other.
