-Far and Wide by WILDES-
Chapter 10. Reflect
"Disgusting," Nemona made fake gagging noises. "You'd rather spend your time with this guy than me? Your best friend?"
Arven had given up the battle of who was Juliana's very best friend, deciding that being her boyfriend was more than enough to fill the void in his heart.
They were having a large picnic on the beach overlooking Nemona's backyard, celebrating the next day's tournament, which had been pioneered by Nemona.
"It's not that I'd rather spend time with him!" Juliana blushed. "He distracts me!"
"Hey!" Arven glared playfully. "I'm right here."
Nemona stuck a hand up and sighed melodramatically, "Face it, lover boy. You've got nothing on me."
Juliana scooted over beside him. "You're my favorite distraction by the way," she murmured in his ear. Then she captured his lips in a kiss that quickly became heated.
"Please." Penny cleared her throat. "No PDA while we're eating."
Juliana grinned and scooted away, leaving Arven in a daze.
"So, I hope you're all excited about tomorrow's tournament!" Nemona clapped her hands together. "I can't believe it's really happening!"
"Speaking of the competition…" Penny pulled out a box from her Eevee backpack and handed it to Juliana. "You can use this tomorrow. Arven, Nemona, and I pitched in to get it for you."
Juliana opened the box and pulled out a pair of sunglasses.
"They're from Kalos," Nemona piped in with untamed enthusiasm.
Penny nodded and explained. "They have special lenses that will neutralize the glow in your eyes when you use your tera orb."
"I can use my tera orb again?!" Her mouth fell open. Nemona squealed in affirmation, and Juliana's eyes filled with moisture. "Thank you so much." She slid them on and struck a pose. "How do I look?"
"Gorgeous!" Nemona crooned.
"Very nice," Penny agreed.
"Beautiful, like you always do," Arven leaned in and pressed a chaste kiss to her lips, pleased when her cheeks flushed.
Juliana leaned in to return the kiss, but Penny stuck her hand between them in a karate chopping motion. "Don't even think about it."
Nemona pumped her fist, ignoring the drama. "You're going to knock 'em dead in tomorrow's tournament, Juliana!"
"Hey, we've been training too!" Arven reminded her, but Nemona waved her hand as if his words were an afterthought.
"Maybe we'll get paired together," Juliana bit her lip mischievously.
Nemona's cheerful expression melted into a suspicious glare. "If you go easy on Arven, I'm grounding you from all boyfriend activities for a month."
"You can't do that!" Juliana cried.
"Don't test me, bestie." A manically crazed glint crept into Nemona's grin, and Arven gulped.
"I've been getting stronger too," Arven folded his arms and hmphed. "I won't go down that easily."
–
True to his word, Arven didn't go down easily, proving to be more of a fight than both her 2nd and 3rd round opponents. It did something to her, seeing him battle with such prowess, and she kept thinking about it all afternoon.
Juliana stood in the entrance hall, having just been congratulated by Nemona on winning the entire tournament, and again she felt the fever pitch brewing inside of her.
She went up to Arven's dorm room, trying not to rush, and knocked on the door as casually as she could muster.
He opened the door, startled but pleased to see her. His vest was off, and his tie had been loosened, and Juliana felt a wave of heat wash over her body.
"Can I come in?" Maybe there was a little too much desperation in her voice, but she didn't care.
"Yeah, of course." He grinned brightly, and Juliana slipped inside.
She locked the door and gently pushed against his chest until he was up against the bathroom door. Then she tugged on his tie, pulling him in a deep kiss.
Arven pulled back after a minute, a huge smile on his face. "It's nice to see you too."
"I've been wanting to do that since we battled each other," Juliana blushed. "You were really great out there."
"Thanks." A blush rose in his cheeks. "I was about to head to the cafeteria," he motioned toward the door. "Wanna come with me?"
Juliana distracted him by brushing her lips against his neck, but before anything else could happen, her roto phone began to ring.
She almost tripped and stumbled back toward a bag of onions, but Arven caught her in his arms.
'V. Are you there?' It was Professor Jacq.
The roto phone bobbed around in front of them, and she groaned, perturbed that the moment had been cut short. "Hi, Professor," she said through gritted teeth. "I was just heading down to lunch…"
Arven found the entire exchange hilarious. He grabbed her hand, and they went down to the cafeteria while Professor Jacq prattled on, telling her about wild pokemon from tera raids injuring students. Then he asked her to help, and with resignation thick in her voice, she agreed.
"You'll be amazing out there," Arven said once they'd sat down at the lunch table, and a small smile found its way onto her lips.
"Thanks," she said with a sigh, poking her salad with a fork. "I've been thinking about our battle today," Juliana grinned at Arven. "I liked battling you, a lot." She flushed with heat, briefly thinking about making out with him against another wall. But pushing the thought aside, she went on, "But… I think I like battling by your side a lot more."
He let out a long sigh of relief. "Oh, thank goodness you feel that way. Nemona keeps asking me to battle her now that she knows I've been training."
The thought of Nemona chasing Arven around, begging him for a pokemon battle made her chuckle with glee, but after a bit more playful banter about pokemon battling, the conversation soon took a more serious turn.
Arven knew he wasn't as serious a pokemon trainer as herself or Nemona, and he admitted that he wanted to find his true calling. And that meant finding out more about his father.
Juliana looked tenderly into his eyes. "Whatever you choose to do, I'll be by your side."
He squeezed her hand, and she felt her heart warm. If there was anything Juliana loved more than becoming stronger with her pokemon, it was Arven, and she promised herself in that moment that she'd always do whatever she could to help him find happiness.
–
Arven spent the next several days researching the late Professor Turo. Up until this year he'd tried to avoid everything to do with him, but now he poured through books, records, and every bit of lab research he could find about him.
He was in his homeroom class one night when Juliana found him. He'd finally begun to realize what he wanted to do with his life, and he quickly led Juliana to his dorm room to tell her the news.
Arven prefaced by recalling the accident he'd had with Mabosstiff and how helpless he'd felt when he wasn't able to help him.
Juliana sat down on his bed, listening patiently, but he was still nervous.
"I'm really glad that I was able to find all the Herba Mystica together with you." He sat on the bed beside her. "But there's got to be other people who are still suffering the same way I was back then, worrying about their pokemon that are sick or hurt…"
Arven took a deep breath.
"So… So I, uh…" He paused, hesitating. Arven knew Juliana would support him, but for some reason he still felt anxious. "Don't laugh, OK? …I've decided that I'm gonna become a cook!"
A smile burst on Juliana's face, and he felt a small surge of confidence as he continued.
"I'm going to make super healthy food, bursting full of stuff pokemon need to feel great!"
Juliana surprised him by wrapping her arms around him in a tight embrace. "I'll be behind you all the way!"
Arven took her in his arms, feeling like he might never let go. Juliana was his best friend and the love of his life. He didn't know what he'd done to deserve so much happiness, but he'd spend the rest of his life doing whatever he could to help Juliana find that happiness too.
–
The End!
Thanks for going on this silly little journey with me. Isn't Arven such a sweetheart in the games? HE'S SO PURE! WE DON'T DESERVE HIS GOODNESS! ;-; hehe, anyway, thanks for reading.
And thanks for being here. …I don't mean here reading. I mean alive. Here. On this chaotic carbon heap of a planet. Thanks for being alive. I appreciate you. -V