Ellie grinned as she leapt onto the hotel bed, bouncing lightly on the soft mattress while Marnie just meekly stood in front of the bed, watching as Ellie kicked her boots into the carpeted floor before patting the spot on the bed next to her.
"More than enough room for two, c'mon, Slowpoke." She teased, Marnie blushing as she fumbled with the hem of her dress before gently pushing her own heeled boots off next to Ellie's as Eevee gently rubbed his head against her Morpeko, who returned the gesture.
Tentatively, the shy punk crawled on the bed next to Ellie, sitting criss-cross next to her as Eevee leaped onto the bed, curling in a ball onto Ellie's lap and falling back asleep.
"You know...I don't know what I'd do without him…" Ellie murmured softly, gently scratching behind Eevee's ear.
"I...have people who try to be my friends...but I just end up pushing them away most of the time." She mumbled idly. She thought to her quite literally shoving Hop away from her on the route towards Wedgehurst...how hurt he looked.
"I don't like being friends with people. People are full of Tauros dung." The silver enigma muttered to...really no one, but Marnie just sat and listened, idly running her hand over her jacket sleeve, flicking her index finger at a spot where the seam had slightly frayed. However, her eyes widened as she saw Morpeko jump from her shoulder, gently landing on Ellie's stomach with a soft plop.
Ellie giggled softly at this, gently snuggling Morpeko, who squeaked softly before she wriggled out of her arms and scurried back into Marnie's lap. Marnie finally moved to lay next to Ellie, the duo watching as their beloved partner Pokemon snoozed in their laps.
"I...I'm not full of Tauros dung, Ellie." Marnie finally muttered sheepishly, her ears flaring red when she realized she said it out loud as Ellie looked over into her eyes. A warm, soft smile formed on Ellie's face as she shifted on her side and slowly wrapped an arm around Marnie, giving her a soft hug.
"I'm glad. The world could use more people like you, Marnie." She whispered softly as Marnie returned the hug, the pair of newfound friends finally dozing off together in each other's arms on Ellie's bed, their Pokemon snoozing next to them.
Marnie was the first to wake up the next morning, gingerly shifting out of Ellie's grasp and realizing she'd draped her jacket over Ellie's beloved Eevee as a blanket before she fell asleep. What she didn't expect was that while Morpeko was out cold next to her, Eevee was the second of the group to wake.
She watched attentively as the adorable normal type let out a soft little yawn before stretching out just like her Liepard, turning his head to see Marnie, confusion forming on his face before he tentatively moved towards the punk, nuzzling his nose against her hand.
Marnie never smiled. She thought smiles were a sign of weakness. But right now, she had a tiny little smile on her face as she let Eevee climb into her lap, gently combing her fingers through Eevee's thick fur.
She'd heard the story about Eevee and Ellie's bond from Hop when they first ran into each other roaming Motostoke. How inseparable Ellie was from Eevee. Hop even told Marnie about the time Eevee tried to hit him with Bite when Hop first met Ellie as kids. She recognized how protective Eevee was of Ellie, and vice versa. She recognized that Ellie truly did love Pokemon.
Morpeko was the next to wake, Marnie gently lifting Eevee out of her lap to feed Morpeko some of her favorite treats. About an hour or so later, Ellie awoke with a loud yawn, stretching out as she opened her eyes to see Marnie sitting on the bed.
"Y-You stayed?" Ellie mumbled groggily, the punk blushing softly.
"I, uh...fell asleep too…" She mumbled, playing with the pendant on her choker. As they gazed in each other's eyes, Eevee jumped in to lick Ellie's face, causing the silver teen to groan.
"Mmph...Eevee, I'm awake! Stop!" She giggled as Eevee persisted, finally grabbing the normal type and tickling his belly, causing Eevee to cry out with joy.
Marnie's heart fluttered watching Ellie play with her pal. 'Arceus, why is she so cute…' She thought to herself, hearing the mixture of Ellie's giggles and Eevee's joyful cries as they playfully tussled on the bed before hearing a loud banging at the door.
"ELLIE! ELLIEEEEEEEEEEE!" Hop shouted at the top of his lungs, threatening to wake up the entire inn. Shocking Ellie, Marnie made the move to answer the door, not really realizing how disheveled she looked as Hop's jaw dropped.
"M-M-M-Marnie!? Wha-...how-...where-...why-..."
Ellie finally approached the door, not paying attention to Hop's shocked look on his face as she looked just as disheveled as Marnie.
"What's up, Hop? What-...oh…" Ellie and Marnie each looked at each other as they appeared to have broken Hop, now just a mess of a wide open mouth and accusatory fingers pointing back and forth at the two girls.
"Did she...did you...when did you two start slee-I...uh, I gotta go! Bye Ellie!" Hop quickly stammered as he saw Marnie glaring at him, sprinting off in the opposite direction as Ellie leaned in the doorway.
"Well, that was awkward." She muttered out in a mixture of frustration and embarrassment, sighing softly as Marnie facepalmed.
"Tell me about it." The punk deadpanned, letting out an annoyed groan as she heard Hop yelling at Leon about her on his Rotom phone in the distance.
"I'll be right back. I'm gonna' go and punch him." The punk muttered as she moved to walk out the door, being stopped by Ellie. Watching the silver enigma as she lifted her leg up to press her bare foot against the other side of the doorframe, causing Marnie to blush.
'She has...really nice legs.' Marnie thought to herself before being snapped out of it by Ellie shaking her head.
"No-no-no, no punching. Hop...he means well, I think. He cares about his friends. But...sometimes he doesn't think straight."
Seeing Marnie's eyebrow raise, she quickly continued. "Okay a lot of times he doesn't think straight...but I think he has good intentions in mind."
Marnie wasn't entirely convinced.