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“You know… Mr. Cheren and Hilbert are kind of obvious, aren’t they?” Hugh looked up from his 3DS and stared at Nate for a while, trying to see what the teen was implying, or wanted them to do about it. It wasn’t any of his business what their old student teacher and his recently returned best friend were up to.
“Okay, and…?” Hugh prompted, returning to his game. He was almost done with the dungeon and was not about to be distracted by the other boy sitting across from him.
“And we should try getting them together!” Nate exclaimed, causing Hugh to look up long enough to get himself killed by the boss (‘Thank goodness for save points.’ Hugh thought). Hugh hoped that the teen across from him joking, but unfortunately (for whom, Hugh had no idea), Nate’s face was completely serious and without a trace of his usual mischievous behavior.
“It’s not really any of our business.” Hugh stated, hoping that Nate would drop it because, really, this would only end in disaster for everyone involved (especially Hugh if she somehow gets involved).
“It so is! They’ve done so much for us with trying to keep us happy and safe. Don’t you think it’s time for them to get a little bit of happiness?”
“Well yeah but-” Hugh started, but before he could continue Nate sat down next to him and put his arm around Hugh’s shoulders.
“Then it’s settled! ‘Operation: Get Mr. Cheren and Hilbert Together’ is a go!” There was the mischievous look on Nate’s face that Hugh expected. The way Nate’s eyes were shining, however, made Hugh stop himself from finishing his last thought. Maybe this would work out well for everyone in the end, especially for Mr. Cheren and Hilbert.
“I’d better tell Rosa, too, she’ll definitely want to help!”
‘Scratch that. This will definitely only end in disaster for everyone.’ Hugh thought. He ignored his game playing the “Game Over” music too, mainly because it seemed far too appropriate for his situation and Hugh didn’t really want to think of that.
Cheren was quite sure that after the odd awakening he got this morning (a text message from Hugh apologizing for ‘everything that’s going to happen,’ whatever that meant) that today wasn’t going to be a normal day.
What he wasn’t expecting, however, was a basket of roses and chocolates placed on his desk at work with a card signed ‘Anonymous’ with suspiciously familiar handwriting. At least, from a distance, it looked suspiciously familiar. Whoever signed the card took a lot of time and effort into making the handwriting look like it belonged to a certain childhood best friend of his. Satisfied with identifying that the signature was a fake (even though a small part of him was upset about this), he asked one of his co-workers if they’d be willing to help Cheren clean up the flowers and chocolate before his students arrived. Knowing those kids, they’ll tease him mercilessly about it by giggling through the entire class day. Thankfully, the flowers were cleaned up before the children arrived and he was able to go through his lesson on the different geometric shapes without telling his students to pay attention.
The teacher that he was working under, as well, didn’t tease him relentlessly about the flowers and chocolate either. At least, not verbally, he could tell that the red haired man was incredibly amused about the situation.
“It didn’t work!” Nate whined, looking at Rosa with disappointed and sad eyes. Rosa was chewing the bottom of her lip, extremely upset that her plan didn’t work.
“I told you it wouldn’t work…” Hugh mumbled, resting against one of the walls inside the school building.
“Well if someone did a better job at copying Hilbert’s handwriting, maybe it would have worked!” Rosa whispered harshly, turning to glare at the black haired boy. “Never trust a Mega Qwilfish.”
“What was that?!” Hugh yelled, causing several teachers to look outside their doors to see what all the commotion was about. Nate covered Hugh’s mouth before the teen could rant about how “freaking tired he was of that stupid nickname” or “damn that stupid bully who told them that.” Thankfully, Mr. Cheren hadn’t been one of the teachers looking outside of his door to see what was going on, or else the older teen might become suspicious of what they’re doing.
“Huuuuugh! Be quiet, I don’t want ‘Operation: Get Mr. Cheren and Hilbert to Kiss Each Other’ to end before we really get started!” Nate whined, uncovering Hugh’s mouth when the teen finally quieted himself.
“Wasn’t the plan called ‘Operation: Get Mr. Cheren and Hilbert Together?’” Hugh questioned, looking at Rosa for confirmation. The girl just shrugged, although Hugh thought she looked far too innocent while doing so.
“Now what?” Nate asked, looking at Rosa. The young girl brought out her notebook, crossing something off from her list. ‘Most likely our last plan.’ Hugh thought.
“Well, now we turn to plan B!” Rosa exclaimed, grabbing both boys’ arms and dragging them out of the school.
“What’s plan B?”
“You’ll see!” Rosa said as they trio approached the home shared by Hilbert and Hilda.
Cheren had started to wonder after that incident this morning if perhaps Hugh’s text message to him was wrongly sent to him, or if the teen was trying to warn him about the flowers and chocolate. He was starting to lean more towards the idea that Hugh hadn’t meant to send him that text, and it perhaps was meant for Nate, given how much Hugh tried to look out for Nate every day. Cheren understood Hugh well when it came to that, since he deals with Hilbert and Bianca on a daily basis, but Cheren was less loud about expressing his concerns compared to Hugh.
However, if Hugh hadn’t meant to send that text to Cheren, Cheren figured by now that the teen would apologize for accidentally sending it to him. Unless the younger black haired boy was busy keeping Rosa and Nate out of trouble, then he could understand the delay.
That still didn’t keep him from feeling on edge the entire day, like something bad was going to-
“Hey Cheren!” a familiar female voice yelled out to him. He turned around to see Hilda standing by the entrance to the Pokémon Center waving at him. “Get over here for a second! I have a surprise for you!”
“Alright then…” Cheren said, although he felt very wary about going near Hilda whenever she said she had a surprise for someone. Those surprises tended to be either bad or good depending on Hilda’s mood that day, and usually involved his arm hurting from Hilda punching him. “Is there something you wanted to show me?”
“Yup!” Hilda answered, grinning at Cheren with a mischievous look in her eyes. ‘Oh yeah, this is going to involve my arm hurting for a couple of days again. Hopefully none of my students try hanging off of my arm any time this week.’ Cheren thought.
“Then what is it…?” Cheren asked warily.
“This!” Hilda answered, raising her fist in the air. Before Cheren could ask what she was about to do, Hilda’s fist collided with his head rather than his arm like he suddenly wished that it had. “Mission accomplished. Better call Bianca to see how her end of things is going…” Cheren heard Hilda say before closing his eyes.
‘Damn her, why does she have to hit so hard?’ Cheren thought before getting the feeling of fainting into blackness.
“So how’s your end of things going Bianca?” Hilda asked, talking to the perky blonde-haired girl through her Xtransciever.
“Things are going well for me! I was able to lock your brother in his room like you said.” Bianca answered, although Hilda couldn’t help but notice that the girl looked like she felt guilty.
“Now’s not the time to feel guilty, Bianca! It’s about time someone finally got these two together. It was getting painful to see them dancing around each other for this long.” Hilda said, looking down at Cheren. She heard Bianca make a noise of confirmation, which definitely made Hilda feel better about knocking out one of her best friends. She lifted Cheren and slung him over one of her shoulders, looking back down at her Xtransciever to see Bianca talking to Rosa in the background. She really did like the way that girl thought, since the girl ran to her house and told her and Bianca about this “Operation: Get Mr. Cheren and Hilbert Together/ to Kiss Each Other” that Nate came up with.
(She could also vaguely see Hugh in the background facepalming and Hilda held back the urge to laugh at that.)
Hilda was quite sure that everything was going to work out well. It had to after all, or else they’d all be doomed to having to deal with the tension between Cheren and Hilbert forever.
Feeling her confidence about the plan renewed, Hilda said goodbye to Bianca and started walking back towards her house on the other side of town, ignoring the confused stares that she and Cheren attracted.
When Cheren started coming to, he vaguely noticed that his head was resting against something hard and made of wood? Cheren could also vaguely smell something delicious near him, and he registered the sounds of… something. He wasn’t quite sure yet.
(“Guys, I think Cheren’s started to wake up!” Nate whispered, alerting his partners-in-crime.
“Alright guys, we need to get out of here!” Rosa ordered, heading towards the door of Hilbert and Hilda’s home.
“This is only going to end in disaster.” Hugh mumbled, looking guiltily at Cheren. Rosa grabbed Hugh’s arm and dragged him towards the door and towards Nate.
“Thanks for putting up with Rosa’s crazy plan for me.” Nate said, smiling brightly at him. Hugh blushed a little and looked away, mumbling something about how he “didn’t do it for Nate or Rosa, but to make Mr. Cheren and Hilbert happy like Nate had said earlier.” Rosa rolled her eyes at the comment.
“Bianca you can go with them. I’m gonna unlock my brother’s door now.” Hilda said, looking over at the blonde-haired girl.
“Alright, but be careful. He can be just as strong as you when he wants to be.” Bianca warned, opening the door for the trio of friends and herself. She smiled when she heard Hilda snort, most likely because the girl didn’t believe her.)
Cheren decided to try lifting his head off of the solid surface, and when he successfully did (because ow did Hilda’s punches hurt, whatever possessed the girl to hit him in the head was beyond his understanding right now), he felt the compulsive need to check to see if his glasses were still on his face. When he didn’t feel them there, he suddenly felt a little ridiculous, since earlier this morning, he decided to put his contacts in instead. His vision, however, still felt a little bit blurry.
He sharply turned around when he heard two different sets of feet running down… stairs? Yes stairs. He briefly saw a flash of long, brown hair (probably Hilda, his mind supplied) before the figure ran out the door and sound of something locking into place was heard. He also saw a very familiar figure panting as he rested against the door.
“Ugh dammit… what the heck is going on?” Hilbert panted out, banging once against the front door. He tried unlocking it and opening it for himself, only for Hilbert to have a hard time opening the door.
‘Hilda’s most likely pulling the doorknob towards herself.’ Cheren thought. It was the only explanation he could think of, given that it was a definite fact that Hilda was stronger that Hilbert (and most other people they knew) and door don’t behave like that.
“Cheren?” Hilbert asked, looking over at the older black haired teen. Cheren nodded and rubbed his head, suddenly feeling the pain from before flare up again. “Are you okay?”
“No, I’m not.” Cheren answered. “Your sister hit me in the head.”
“Oh… sorry about that. Sometimes I wonder if she remembers her own strength.” Hilbert apologized, even though it wasn’t the brown haired boy’s fault. Cheren supposed he would feel guilty too if his sister had the ability to knock a person out with a single punch too. Before Cheren could ask anything else, he saw Hilbert weakly kick the door and come towards him and the table. He noticed that Hilbert seemed to blush for a second before sitting across from Cheren.
“What do you seem embarrassed about?” Cheren bluntly asked, genuinely confused about what the teen could possibly feel embarrassed about right now. Was there something wrong with the way Cheren looked? He certainly hoped not, but you never know with Hilda and how he could have been brought over to her and Hilbert’s house.
“You don’t notice all this… food in front of us?” Hilbert asked back, looking away from Cheren and the table. Cheren blinked a couple of times before noticing that Hilbert was right. There was a lot of food in front of them, almost like it was a dinner da-
No. Not right now, he couldn’t think that right now. Their friends for whatever reason had kidnapped him and Hilbert (and suddenly Hugh’s text from this morning made perfect sense) and this wasn’t the time for Cheren to be thinking about past fantasies he’s had about Hilbert and him going out on dates ever since the young man returned from his study abroad trip to Europe and Cheren had realized that his feelings towards Hilbert weren’t so platonic after all.
Cheren also noticed the flower petals surrounding the part of the table that had been set (?) for the two of them. He decided not to point them out to spare Hilbert of any further embarrassment, although he had a feeling that the young man noticed. Cheren decided, at that moment, to break the awkward atmosphere that seemed to surround the two of them, and cleared his throat, which gained Hilbert’s attention.
“Well then, perhaps we shouldn’t let this food go to waste?” Cheren suggested, and gave a tiny sigh of relief when Hilbert nodded in agreement.
The dinner was mainly silent, with the exception of either Cheren or Hilbert asking for the other to pass them something they couldn’t reach. It thankfully wasn’t as awkward as before, but the silence wasn’t making Cheren feel very well. Perhaps Hilbert didn’t like him after all, and instead did like that odd green-haired man Hilbert told him about that he met in Europe-
“This is… kind of nice, actually.” Hilbert said, looking at Cheren. He was still blushing, but only a little bit. He was smiling too, which made Cheren feel less nervous. “I kind of always hoped that-” Hilbert started before cutting himself off, seeming to realize what he almost let slip. Cheren could tell that Hilbert hoped that he didn’t notice, but unfortunately, for him, Cheren did and didn’t want to let it go. Not after a whole semester of hoping that Hilbert was safe and coming to terms with his own feelings.
“I kind of always hoped so too.” Cheren admitted, feeling nervous at the confession he just gave. It was up to Hilbert now to understand what Cheren was implying by that statement, and judging by the blush that spread across Hilbert’s face, the young man did. Now the metaphorical ball was in Hilbert’s court, and it was up to the younger man to accept or reject Cheren’s feelings.
(Cheren would understand though. It sounded like that odd green-haired man had Hilbert infatuated with him, even if they only did know each other for about 13 weeks.)
“I’m happy to hear that.” Hilbert whispered, and Cheren stared at Hilbert, trying to see if the brown haired boy was lying to him or not. All he saw, however, was Hilbert looking down at the table embarrassed. He also had that signature pout of his that he shared with his sister, but was so uniquely his at the same time. “N-Now let’s finish eating and yell at my sister, Bianca, and that trio of trouble makers later about this, okay?”
Cheren allowed a small smile to grace his face, and returned to eating his food, knowing that Hilbert knew that he agreed wholeheartedly.
It was nice, Cheren thought, getting to have a dinner date with Hilbert, even if it was through the oddest circumstances.
“Yesssssssssss! ‘Operation: Get Mr. Cheren and Hilbert Together’ was a success! Good work team!” Rosa yelled, putting her binoculars away and jumping down from a nearby tree.
“But ‘Operation: Get Mr. Cheren and Hilbert to Kiss Each Other’ failed…” Nate said, looking slightly crestfallen. Hugh patted the young man on the back, trying to comfort his best friends.
“At least it didn’t end in disaster like a certain young man thought it would.” Rosa chirped, smirking at Hugh. Hugh just stuck his tongue out at the girl in response.
“Finally, we don’t have to deal with any more awkward tension between my little brother and Cheren!” Hilda cheered, swinging Bianca around near her front porch. Bianca laughed, also quite pleased that two of her childhood friends were going to find happiness with each other.
“So… Nate and Hugh? What do you think?” Hilbert asked, peeking outside of the window and looking straight at the two young men nearby.
“They’re quite obvious.” Cheren bluntly answered, picking up some of the dishes and heading towards the kitchen.
“I know right? Maybe they need a little bit of help in the right direction…” Hilbert said, walking towards the kitchen as well with a mischievous smile on his face. Cheren couldn’t see it right now, but he knew it was there.
“Perhaps,” Cheren agreed, placing the dishes in the sink to be cleaned later. “Do you want to ask Rosa for help, or should we get your sister to lock them in a closet together and wait for them to confess?”
“Hmm… I kind of like both ideas. I guess it just depends on how vengeful I’m feeling right now.” Hilbert answered, tapping his finger against his chin.
Rolling his eyes, Cheren walked over to Hilbert and gave him a light peck on the cheek, causing the younger man’s face to get a little pink.
“Okay, okay. I can take a hint. Wanna watch a movie and cuddle for a bit on the couch?” Hilbert asked, face still slightly pink from Cheren’s unexpected kiss on the cheek.
“That sounds wonderful.” Cheren agreed, walking towards the living room. “We’re not, however, watching any of those horror movies you picked up from Europe. Or any romantic comedies.”
“Well then, take all the fun out of a movie date why don’t you, Mr. Cheren?”
“You know I don’t like either genre.” Cheren said, glaring slightly at Hilbert. The brown haired boy just shrugged and gave Cheren his own kiss on the cheek, then giggled when he saw Cheren’s face tint pink as well. “Just pick out a movie.”
“So romantic.”
Cheren snorted, but Hilbert didn’t have to turn around to know that the black haired boy was giving one of those fond smiles that Hilbert knew were reserved for just him.
Maybe he wouldn’t get revenge on Nate, Hugh, Rosa, his sister, and Bianca after all. After all, this whole plan of theirs could have ended badly, but thankfully, it didn’t. Maybe he’d video message N later about finally getting to go on a date with Cheren, seeing how the older man helped him realize his feelings when Hilbert noticed that he sometimes felt weird about being separated from Cheren for as long as he had.
It seemed like that 13 weeks spent in Europe did both of them some good, seeing as it helped them both come to terms with their own not-so-platonic feelings for each other. He wasn’t going to be leaving again anytime soon, not when he had a great new boyfriend to spend time with now, and the best group of friends to hang out with since they went through all this trouble to get them together.