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Victor gazed up at the night sky with a small smile stretched across his lips, in awe of how many stars he could see from here. The moon was shining brighter than he'd ever seen it shine before, and as cheesy as it sounds, Victor thinks it's because Hop's here. The purple haired boy lay quietly beside him, his arms behind his head, eyes occasionally fluttering shut as he too gazed up at the stunning stars. He never failed to light up Victor's world. They'd been friends for so long, and Victor had yet to confess about his crush on the golden-eyed boy. He was far too nervous, what if he was rejected? Victor didn't know if he'd be able to handle that. He never wanted to lose Hop.
After a long day of challenging gyms and training their Pokemon, Victor suggested that they spend the night camping together in the wild area. Hop agreed, and after they set up their tents, they decided to stargaze for a while, to relax and relieve some of the stress from so much battling. They'd let out their Pokemon for a bit too, but most of them had already fallen asleep, it had been a long and tiring day for all of them, after all.
The brown-haired boy was glad he'd suggested camping tonight. The stars were so stunningly bright and beautiful that they almost hurt to look at for too long. Victor felt the same way about Hop's smile, that overwhelmingly adorable, sunshine filled smile of his. It never failed to make Victor smile as well, seeing his best friend happy was Victor's favorite thing in the world, besides Pokemon.
He wondered what would happen when one of them finally beat Leon. If it was Hop, Victor would be proud of him, and congratulate him as many times as possible, celebrate and smile with him. Sure, Victor wants to be champion too, but seeing Hop finally achieve his life-long dream would make Victor a hell of a lot more happy. But.. What if Victor won, what if Victor became champion? Victor had no doubt that Hop would be happy for him, and proud, but he also had no doubt that Hop would be crushed. He may not show it, but Victor knows he'd be heartbroken by his defeat. Should he let him win, if Victor's team gets stronger than his? Even if it would mean Hop would finally succeed, it doesn't seem right. It doesn't seem fair, to himself, Hop, or his team. If it's not a true, fair victory, then it wouldn't truly count as achieving his dream, would it?
Victor was shaken from his overwhelming thoughts by Hop's voice, his eyes opening to glance over at his best friend. He didn't know when he'd closed his eyes, but he must have somewhere in the middle of his future champion crisis.
"Victor, mate! You there? You've had your eyes closed for a while, I thought you must've fallen asleep." Hop chuckled, a fond look in his eyes as he gazed expectantly over at the other boy.
"Oh, sorry, Hop. Yeah, I... Just got carried away thinking about some stuff, must've dozed off for a second. Are you tired yet?" Victor asked, rolling over onto his side, his hair falling slightly in front of his face.
Hop yawned in response, and that was answer enough for the brown-haired boy. Victor laughed quietly and sat up, brushing grass off of his clothing. He was about to stand and make his way over to their tents when he noticed Hop staring at him. "...What? What is it, is there something on my face?"
Without responding, Hop sat up as well and scooted closer to Victor, causing his breath to catch in his throat at their sudden closeness. Victor was about to question his friend once again, when Hop suddenly reached up and took a flower out of Victor's hair. "Heh, sorry mate! You had this stuck in your hair and it was distracting me, thought you'd like me to get it out for ya."
Hop handed the flower to a shocked Victor and stood up, heading over to his tent to get ready for bed. Victor blinked in surprise, staring down at the small purple flower in his hand. "...Oh." It reminded him of Hop's hair. He slipped it into his bag as a slight blush dusted his pale cheeks, before getting to his feet and following Hop to his tent.
Several hours later into the night, and Victor couldn't sleep. Even with his newly caught Eevee curled up next to him, he couldn't shake the strange feeling he had. He kept rolling around in his sleeping bag, restlessly, as hours continued to pass him by and Victor remained with not a single hour of rest.
"Uuughh..." He groaned, accidentally waking his fluffy companion, who opened her eyes and nuzzled closer to her trainer. Victor managed a smile, lifting a hand to stroke her soft fur. A quiet sigh escaped his lips as he stared up at the sky through a hole in his tent which had been poorly patched up with fabric and duck tape. It wasn't his fault a Corviknight decided to peck at his tent while he wasn't looking earlier.
Deciding that he should at least do something productive with his time, Victor stretched and sat up, carefully taking his hat out of his Eevee's little paws and tugging it onto his head. "Sleep well, you little fluff ball. I'll be back soon." Victor smiled, gently booping Eevee's nose and chuckling when she opened her eyes to playfully glare at him.
Finally outside, Victor took a deep breath of the cold night air in an attempt to calm his nerves, his eyes scanning the surrounding area for anything interesting. He shivered, rubbing his arms with his hands, the chilling breeze of the night too much for his thin red shirt. He huffed and made his way over to a small puddle on the ground, staring down at his reflection with tired eyes. He wouldn't do well at all in battles tomorrow if he didn't get any sleep...
"Victor! VICTOR? HEY, VICTOR?"
Victor turned around so fast that he accidentally slipped in the puddle, going tumbling to the ground with a shout of distress. "Ow..." He bit his lip in pain, his hands hovering over a painful cut on his forehead. Had he hit his head on a rock or something? And why on earth was Hop shouting so loud, why was he even awake? Victor was sure he'd been quiet when he left his tent, there's no way he's the reason Hop is awake.
"Oh, there you are, I've been looking for you-!" Hop stopped in his tracks, gasping as he finally noticed that Victor was hurt. "Mate! What happened, are you alright?" He crouched down to get a better look at his friend, a worried expression on his face. Victor chuckled fondly at the other boy's worried expression, wiping some blood off of his forehead. "Yeah, I'm alright. You scared me, though, and I ended up slipping in a puddle. What are you even doing up right now?"
Hop's expression changed from worried to guilty, the purple-haired boy glancing to the side. "I, uh... I couldn't sleep that well. I was gonna see if you were still up. I guess you were, haha! But I'm sorry I scared you mate, I really didn't mean to. How about we go get that cut fixed up? I've got some band-aids in my bag!" He looked back at Victor, a wide smile stretching across his face.
There's no way Victor could resist that smile.
"Sure."
Inside Hop's Tent
"Aaaand, there we go! All better!" Hop exclaimed, grinning proudly at the pink Skitty band-aid on Victor's forehead.
Victor giggled at his best friend's enthusiasm over a band-aid, his pale cheeks tinting slightly pink. "Thanks, Hop. But... If I may ask, why do you have pink Skitty band-aids?"
Hop rolled his eyes playfully at Victor's teasing tone, turning around and rummaging through his bag. "My mum packed those for me, they were the only ones I had. Besides, I know you think it's cute too. Cute Pokemon have always been your thing, mate."
"Okay, okay, it's cute. I admit it." Victor laughed, yawning immediately afterwards. "Ugh, I really need more sleep if I'm gonna do some more training in the morning..." He pouted, leaning back and collapsing onto Hop's sleeping bag. "Hey, how is your sleeping bag more comfortable than mine? They're the same brand... Unfair!" Victor complained dramatically, throwing a rolled up sock at the back of Hop's head and bursting into quiet laughter when the golden-eyed boy paused what he was doing to glare 'menacingly' at Victor. He ended up looking like an annoyed Wooloo, which Victor thought was pretty fitting.
"Don't make me hit you with my pillow again!" Hop said, sticking his tongue out at the brown-haired boy who was currently laughing so hard it sounded like he was dying.
"Oh noooo, whatever would I do if you hit me with your pillow!" Victor dramatically draped his arm across his forehead, a wide, bright smile on his face.
Hop couldn't help but laugh, pushing his bag to the side and scooting closer to his friend before flopping down beside him, his arms folded behind his head for the second time that night. He yawned, staring up at the top of his tent, unaware of the love-struck look Victor was currently giving him.
"We should probably try and get some rest, yeah? We really do need some sleep if we're gonna be at all productive tomorrow." Hop glanced expectantly over to Victor only to notice him quickly look away, as if he were caught doing something he shouldn't. (Like gazing lovingly at your probably straight best friend and wishing you could kiss him.)
"Vic?" Hop nudged him with his elbow, "You alright?"
"Y-Yeah, let's... Let's get some rest." Victor laughed nervously, trying to hide his very obviously blushing face. He rolled off of Hop's sleeping bag, curling up on the floor of the tent.
Hop raised an eyebrow in response to Victor curling up on the floor. "Mate, are you really going to sleep on the floor? You're gonna get cold, it's chilly tonight! Do ya want me to go get your sleeping bag from your tent?" Hop offered.
Victor thought for a moment before speaking. "Uh... If you wouldn't mind?" He didn't want to make Hop go get his sleeping bag, but he was so tired his body didn't want to move anymore.
"Sure thing." Hop crawled over to the tent entrance, lifting a hand to unzip it.
He opened it, ready to be his best friend's hero and go retrieve his sleeping bag, when he realized with a gasp that it was raining. Not too heavily yet, but Hop really didn't want to risk getting his only set of pajama's wet. "Uh, mate? It's raining..."
Victor groaned loudly from behind him, and Hop zipped the tent back up with a guilty sigh. "Sorry... Uh..." Hop bit his lip in thought, trying to figure out a way to solve this issue. He didn't want Victor to get cold...
"Oh! Why don't we just share my sleeping bag? It's pretty big! I promise I won't snore!" He laughed, trying to catch a glance of Victor's expression. He hoped the idea wasn't strange to his best friend, he didn't want him to be weirded out. But he had to admit, he wondered what cuddling Victor would be like. Not that he wanted to cuddle him or anything, no, not at all. Definitely not. No homo here. None at all.
Victor's cheeks flushed pink as he imagined being warm and cozy in Hop's arms, it'd be a blessing from Arceus if that really happened. It was certainly tempting.
"Ah, uhm..." Heck, why not? Why would he pass on an opportunity to sleep so close to his crush? "...Okay. Sure. If you promise you won't snore!"
"I won't! Promise." Hop grinned, making his way back over to his sleeping bag. He unzipped it and got inside, making sure to leave enough room for Victor as he did so. "Cmon, mate! We need as much sleep as we can get if we're gonna beat those gyms tomorrow!"
"I know, I know." Victor mumbled, sitting up and turning around, hoping Hop couldn't see how red his cheeks were in the darkness of the tent. There was a lantern on, but it didn't do much since it was off in the corner.
He crawled closer to the sleeping bag, his heart rate speeding up with anxiety as he got closer to Hop. What if he snored? Victor would die of embarrassment if he accidentally woke Hop up during the one chance he had to sleep next to him.
Carefully, Victor got into the sleeping bag, his heart pounding in his chest. This is fine. Everything's fine. Hop, his crush, is right next to him, but it's fine. He just needs to fall asleep, fall asleep, fall asleep, fall... asleep...
"..Vic?" Hop whispered.
...Wow, he fell asleep fast. He really must've been exhausted. "Oh." Hop laughed quietly, gazing fondly at Victor's relaxed expression. How was his hair so cute? How was his face so cute? How on earth is ANYONE this cute? Hop mentally scolded himself for having a gay crisis over his best friend, he really did need to get to sleep if he wanted to train to become champion in the morning. Every little bit of training helps.
He suddenly had an idea, but he wasn't quite sure if it was the smartest one. What if Victor woke up? Would he be upset? Angry? Weirded out?
"...Please don't wake up, Vic." Hop whispered as quietly as possible, scooting closer to the brown-haired boy and very, very carefully wrapping his arms around him. He stayed as still as a statue while waiting to see if he was still asleep, and after a minute or two of waiting he figured he was safe. Sighing in relief, Hop relaxed his body, cuddling closer to his friend. It shouldn't surprise him, how much warmer Victor is compared to a simple sleeping bag, but it does. And it's so much better.
"Goodnight, mate." Hop mumbled, a tired smile stretching across his face as he rested his chin on the top of Victor's head.
The next morning, the two boys continued on their journey as if the cuddling hadn't happened. And if Hop had ended up secretly kissing Victor's forehead before he fell asleep, he didn't need to know.