Gloria has never been so pent-up in her entire life, and there is absolutely nothing she can do about.

Well, there's plenty that she can do about it, but she's made the decision not to do that. If she were to cave now, it would defeat the purpose, and no matter how much she wants to, she has to remain strong. She has to get this out of her system, and this is the only way she knows how.

A few years ago, before she met Hop, she didn't care much about Pokemon battles, nor did she pay much attention to the Pokemon league. It was hard not to hear about the champion, so she knew of him at least vaguely, but none of that particularly interested her. And then she and Hop ended up next door, and lo and behold, the champion was his older brother, and this was something Hop talked about nearly constantly.

So, like it or not, Gloria got roped into watching Leon's matches on TV with Hop from time to time, until she always wanted to watch them with him, and then wanted to rewatch them later, when she was alone. She went from having absolutely no interest in anything to do with the Pokemon league to one very particular, very all-consuming interest in the champion, who also happened to be her best friend and neighbor's older brother.

But when she's watching him on TV, it doesn't feel like she's looking at Hop's brother. Sure, the resemblance is definitely there, both in appearance and mannerism, but since she's never met him in person, never even seen the two of them interact, he just feels like the celebrity everyone else in the region knows him as. And so, it's impossible to stop the crush from developing until it's completely out of her control.

Obviously, she knows that she can never tell Hop about this. Not only would it be way too weird for her to tell him she liked his brother, regardless of who his brother was, she would never want him to think that she hung out with him because of who his brother was, and the fact that she's never met Leon makes it even worse. No, she keeps her crush to herself, allowing herself one poster that she hands in her closet, behind her coats so that she's the only one who gets to see it.

Well, her mother has seen it before too, and teased her a little bit about it, but overall promised not to tell Hop, or his mother, which would probably be just as bad as Hop finding out.

All that is fine and all, but the real problem comes later, when she wakes up in the middle of the night, soaked in sweat and tangled up in her sheets, with her hand shoved down her pajama pants. From that point on, her crush on Leon is far from innocent, and actually watching his matches with Hop becomes difficult, as she struggles to hide exactly what his stupid champion pose does to her.

And then comes the news that Leon is coming to visit and is excited to meet her. He's excited to meet her. Hop has not only told his hot older brother about her, but said brother has expressed an interest in meeting her. Gloria knows that he means that in the most innocent of ways, of course, but that doesn't change the fact that she's soon going to come face to face with the man who's haunted her fantasies and pretty much been her only fixation throughout the entirety of her sexual awakening.

He's her best friend's older brother, and a real, live person, not just someone to watch on a screen and then stay up all night thinking about while she clumsily fingers herself. She has to get that out of her system before they meet, if she wants to have any hope of being friends with him. If she can just forget her crush on him, forget her fantasies, and even forget his celebrity status, if she can just see him as her friend Hop's older brother, then everything will be just fine. They can talk like friends, and she can move on from this, and that will be the end of that.

She decides to quit cold turkey before he comes to visit, and no matter how many nights she struggles to fall asleep, she doesn't cave into her desires even a little bit. Her thighs will clench up against her will and she'll force herself to relax; her mind will wander to Leon and she'll force herself to think about something else; she'll take so many showers that she's sure her mother will confront her over the water bill, in ice cold water to try and cool off the lust, and through all of this, she will forget all about it.

That's the plan, at least, but all it really does is leave her so pent-up that she's constantly on edge, and the sleep deprivation certainly doesn't help with that. She can just barely keep focus during conversations, so Hop, fortunately, hasn't noticed anything weird about her yet. But this is so clearly not out of her system, and she's out of time. Leon is finally coming to visit.

~X~

Gloria barely sleeps the night before, but that's becoming something of a habit. Hop comes to pick her up after what feels like an eternity of waiting, and her mother gives her a playful wink before she leaves, which Gloria pointedly tries to ignore. She really doesn't need her mother to treat this like a joke . This isn't just some innocent childhood crush, after all- this is creepy , and needs to stop.

She follows Hop to his house, where his own mother tells him that Leon hasn't shown up yet, so Hop decides to drag her all the way to the station to meet him. All the while, her heart pounds, until they arrive at the station, and there, just barely visible in the midst of the thick crowd, is the champion she's spent countless nights masturbating to.

Maybe she can't do this after all.

But it's too late to back out now, and Hop is already introducing the two of them, and her head is swimming as he smiles at her, as Leon smiles at her and introduces himself and says he's heard a lot about her. Her legs are shaking and her mouth is dry as she speaks to him, and she prays that neither of them can tell that she's absolutely losing her mind right now.

She hangs back slightly as they walk back home, and the two brothers make conversation, getting caught up after not seeing each other for a little while. Sometimes Hop and his family will go visit Leon, taking family vacations that she has both wished Hop was allowed to bring a guest on and very grateful that that was never an option, but this is the first time since she's met Hop that Leon has come home. She hates that he is just stupidly hot in person, if not more so.

"You brought us Pokemon, didn't you?" Hop asks when they get back, unable to contain his excitement anymore. He's insisted that Leon will have a present not only for him, but for Gloria as well, and now, Leon admits that it's true, introducing three small Pokemon to them, and telling them that they can each have their pick.

Hop insists that she go first, since he's had his own Wooloo for some time, and Gloria exams the three of them for a moment, grateful to have some sort of distraction. She understands what a gift like this means, and what Hop must have planned, and she understands that she will be dragged into it as well, following along with him as he chases his dream. The gym challenge is beginning again soon, and this visit and these gifts seem a little too well-timed to mean anything else.

So, if she and Hop are going to travel the region and attempt the challenge, she's going to have to put some thought into her decision. Finally, she settles on the Sobble, who looks almost grateful when she selects him. There is a strange fluttering in her stomach whenever she remembers that this is a gift from Leon, and though her selection was a decent distraction for the moment, now she has to turn back around and face him again, and, yup, he's still hot.

~X~

Their families have dinner together, where she hopes to mostly keep to herself and plans to do everything in her power to avoid accidentally staring at Leon while he probably gets caught up with the rest of his family, or whatever. Instead, as soon as she goes off by herself, he comes over to join her, giving her an easy smile that she's sure could stop her heart if she wasn't more on guard.

"So, you and my little brother are gonna be setting off soon, I bet," he says.

"Not like I have much choice," she says, her voice wavering a little bit. "Hop's always dragging me into something."

"That sounds like him!" he replies with a laugh. "Still, this is something pretty big. You have to make sure it's what you really want to do."

"I haven't seen much outside of this town. I think it's about time I get some experience in the world," says Gloria, and that is mostly true. She's also developed an interest in battling as a side effect of being obsessed with the champion and kind of wants to see if any of the knowledge she's picked up second hand translates into real world ability, but there's no way she's going to tell him that.

"Well, I'll be in your corner!" he says. "Just don't tell Hop I said that, or he might get jealous." He winks as he says it and her knees nearly buckle, her breath catching in her throat before she can speak again.

"I...I won't. But, you know, he's planning on overthrowing you, so you might want to watch out."

"He thinks he will, but we'll just see about that. What about you? Are you gonna take me on one day too?" he teases. "I promise I won't make you cry too hard when you do. You're so cute I might even go easy on you."

Now, Gloria is stunned into speechlessness, staring at him with her mouth open, attempting to find something to say. She knows he's just teasing her, that he's messing with her because that's just how he is, or saying that she's cute in a "aw, my little brother's friend is like my little sister," way, and that he isn't genuinely flirting with her. No matter how flirty he may seem , that's just how he is, and has nothing to do with how he sees her.

Still, she finds that she can't speak at all, and is only saved by Hop finally running over to join them, forcing the subject to change. Still, as the conversation continues, she notices Leon's eyes on her from time to time, and has to remind herself that she's just imagining his interest in her because she's so unbelievably pent-up.

That is, until she starts to head home and she feels a hand on her shoulder.

"Hey," Leon says, as she turns around and looks up at him. She's so overwhelmed by the realization that he's actually touching her , that she can barely process what he says next.

"Before you head out, do you want to come up to my room for a little bit?"