“Rotom, what time is it?” Moon asks as she looks towards the glass walls. The snow was falling hard.

“11:30PMZZT”

“And I’m assuming there’s a challenger taking on the Elite 4 right now?”

“Yes Maamzz”

Moon walks back to her chair and clicks a button on the armrest. “Hey, Elite 4, once you’re down with the challenger please feel free to go home. The snow is picking up and I want you all home safely.”

“Sure!”

“Got it.”

“Thank you!”

“He’s in the final room so we’ll all be departing soon.”

Moon sits down in her chair horizontally allowing her head to rest on one armrest but her feet to drape over the sides of the chair.

“You know at a certain point waiting around becomes kinda boring” she mutters to herself as she throws her Pokeballs.

She turns her head and watches all her Pokemon walk around except for Silvally who instead walks up to its trainer and places its head on her stomach. Moon slowly starts to pet her Pokemon as she continues to wait.

Challenger Approaching.

Moon bolts up much to Silvally’s complaint. “Sorry” she whispers as she pats her clothes and combs her fingers through her hair. Silvally gives her a look of confusion.

“Don’t give me that look. A champion has to look presentable.”

Moon stares at the entrance until she sees the familiar shade of blonde appear at the top of the stairs.

“Gladion! You’re here!” she stands up and skips towards the boy. She stops in front of him with the smile on her face slowly fading at his lack of reaction.

“What’s wrong?” A pout graces her face. Gladion stares at Moon for a second before speaking up.

“Do I really need to battle the Elite 4 just to come up here?”

“Well, if you want to battle then, yes. And even if you aren’t...then probably still yes” Moon says matter of factly. “Are you not here to battle?”

Gladion shakes his head. “Not this time.”

“Are you here to hangout with the most wonderful person ever?” Moon says with a laugh, but when Gladion only blushes in response Moon cuts herself off short.

“Dear Arceus you’re not fighting back. Are you dying? Are you sick? IS THE WORLD ENDING?” Moon reaches out to touch Gladion’s forehead which started burning up on contact. He quickly, but gently, grabs her wrists and pulls it down. “Tsk. I am not dying.” He rolls his eyes.

“I heard there was going to be a snowstorm up on Mt. Lanakila so I wanted to check up on you to make sure you would get home safely.”

“Awww, you do care” Moon grins.

‘I need to make sure my rival doesn’t get stuck out in the snow.”

Moon clicks her tongue. “Well, I would’ve gone home sooner if I wasn’t waiting for a challenger, but since you’re here now we might as well walk down together, right?”

Gladion shrugs in response as he descends the steps. Moon follows after calling in all her Pokemon, but when they walk into the Elite 4 chambers everything is pitch dark.

“Moon, are the lights usually off?”

“Not when there’s people still inside...”

Moon makes her way through the dark and heads towards the League entrance doors. She pulls and the doors refuse to budge. “Uh oh…”

“What is it?”

“Rotom...what’s the current weather report…”

“10 Degrees Fahrenheitzzzz. 100% chance of heavy snow. Winds at 30 miles per hour.”

Moon lets out a sigh as she begins walking back upstairs.

“So what? Are we stuck?” Gladion asks slightly irritatedly.

“I think the snow blew the downstairs generator...and these doors work with said generator. Upstairs should still be okay though.” Moon keeps walking until she realizes Gladion isn’t following.

“C’mon grumpy pants. I’m prepared for situations like these.”

Moon places Gladion in her chair and leaves him alone for a while.

When she returns she has a tall pile of blankets and pillows in her arms.

Gladion crosses his arms and scoffs. “This is what you call being prepared?”

Moon drops the stuff in front of him. “I am prepared to make bad situations better!”

“Why do you even have all this bed stuff here?”

“I sleep here sometimes” Moon laughs as she begins to create a blanket fort around Gladion.

“Do you need help?”

Moon shakes her head “Nope!”

“You sure?”

“Yes”

“Really?”

Moon throws a pillow at Gladion in response. She didn’t expect for it to hit him in the face.

“Oops” Moon mutters as she sheepishly looks at him from behind another pillow. Gladion glares at her, pillow in hand, until he tilts his head up and smirks. He throws the pillow (although gently) back at her.

“HEY!” Moon begins throwing more pillows and Gladion does the same.

“YOU STARTED IT!”

“DOESN’T MEAN YOU HAVE TO CONTINUE IT!”

Eventually their pillows explode and feathers went everywhere. Moon looks over to Gladion and starts laughing at the collection of white feathers stuck in his hair. Gladion smiles as he reaches over and plucks out a feather out of her hair.

“The feathers match your little red chicken hat”

Moon sticks out her tongue, but the two of them once again fall into the rhythm at laughing at their own antics.

After some clean up Gladion and Moon release their Pokemon and let them basically have a sleepover of their own. The two of them settle into the blanket fort.

“How often do you actually stay here?”

“A couple times a week” Moon shrugs.

“Why don’t you go home?”

“Ehh...sometimes it’s late, sometimes it’s cold, but I always have to be here early in the morning”

“Tsk. You should close earlier and it’s cold cause you’re  always up here at the top of a mountain without a sweater!”

“Your way of showing concern is always so snippy, huh Gladion?” Moon says softly as she stares at her Silvally playing with Gladion’s.

“I worry about you, okay?”

Moon lets his words sink in. “oh--thank you…”

VRMMM. A hum could be heard from downstairs. Gladion’s eyes widen “is that…”

“The generator!” Moon screams as she runs downstairs to check. Gladion waits a couple seconds before she comes running back up.

“We can go now!”

Moon calls back all her Pokemon and waits for Gladion to catch up.

“Aren’t we going to clean up?”

Moon shakes her head. “It’s a task for tomorrow unless you want to risk getting stuck again.”

When the two of them are finally outside snow was still falling. Moon was looking up to the sky enraptured by the gentle white specks. Gladion, however, was stuck focusing on her.

“Are you heading back to Aether now?” Moon turns to face him not expecting to catch him looking at her.

“Yeah”

Moon pulls out her ride pager and Gladion does the same, but when their Charizards arrive and Moon gets on hers Gladion stops her from leaving.

“Moon, Wait!”

“Hmm?”

“I originally came by to give you something”

Moon tilts her head as Gladion pulls out a small box out of his bag.

“Happy Valentine’s Day.”

And with that Gladion gives her a genuine smile and a quick wave before getting on his Charizard and leaving.

Moon sits there in complete shock while staring at the small red box.

"Charizard let's go home" she mutters as she places the box safely in her bag.

Once Moon gets back home she collapses into her bed. Meowth climbs on to join her.

She pulls the box out and opens it up to see a small silver chained necklace with a crescent moon pendant.

Moon squeals out loud as she puts it on.

"Huh, maybe Lillie was right. Guess I'll have to ask him to find out though huh Meowth?"

"Meowwwwww"

read from the beginning on AO3 ⟲