Arviana Week

theme of 2024: the way forward A collection of fanworks celebrating the pairing of Arven and Juliana from Pokemon Scarlet and Violet. Arivana Week 2024 - Feb 5th to Sun Feb 11th Home Rules Acknowledgements Join us on Discord! #picnicshipping

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The Perfect Picnic

We are happy to announce the “The Perfect Picnic,” a fanzine dedicated to the pairing of Arven x Juliana, characters from Pokémon Scarlet and Violet. The interest check opens today!

Please check out the link below to give your thoughts on this project and let us know if you'd like to participate!

Arviana Zine Interest Check

Thank you for participating in the interest check for The Perfect Picnic, an Arviana (Arven x Juliana) zine! By answering the below question

[wingsonghalo]

A Jewel by Any Other Name: an Arviana Fanfic-- Chapter 7

HELLO HELLO I CAN'T BELIEVE I MADE IT IN TIME BUT FINALLY THE LAST CHAPTER OF MY FIC FOR @arvianaweek IS COMPLETE!! This epilogue would not have happened without the enormously helpful support and feedback of my friend KC (@forwortuntodawn) from the Arviana server! Thank you so much for talking me through all my muddled ideas, encouraging me to be as cheesy as I want, seeing all my themes and screaming about them, and just generally being the greatest. Big shout-out also to my internet wife @anubis-005 as well, who read this story and gave me live commentary even though she hasn't played the game and only knows what I've told her about it, LOL. I love you so much, Nunu-chan; you're my greatest treasure. 💕 Lastly, thank you so much to everyone who's read this, and to the whole Arviana server for being so wonderful and creative and funny and talented!! I love you guys!! ANYWAY please enjoy this epilogue (featuring scenes from the actual epilogue)!!

Title: A Jewel by Any Other Name Fandom: Pokemon Scarlet and Violet Pairing: Arven/Juliana Rating: Teen Summary:“Just… What do you want me to call you?” He’s not sure why it’s suddenly such a pressing question, but it bothers him now, realizing that his friend is probably the most important relationship in his life and he doesn’t even know his name. Arven’s never had a friend before, and though his feelings for his little buddy keep growing and changing faster than he can keep up with, there are still some key pieces of information he’s missing. Like, y'know, his best friend’s name and gender. Depicts missing scenes from throughout the game, including the DLC and Epilogue! Posted for Arviana Week 2024! Summary for this chapter: Wrapping up, and unwrapping. Wordcount for this chapter: 6,295 Also available on: Ao3 Support me on: Patreon | Ko-fi  Previous chapters: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6

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Chapter 7: My Greatest Treasure

Arven's heart is beating a staccato rhythm in his chest. He swallows, feeling the back of his neck begin to sweat, as they wait at the picnic table covered in the green cloth he'd given her. They’ve set up their picnic near the path to Los Platos, since all their usual study spots are packed full of other students cramming for finals. But besides the food and the reviewing, there’s one other reason they’ve invited Penny and Nemona to this picnic…

“M-Maybe we should just send them a text instead of all this,” he suggests.

Juliana giggles quietly, and nudges his shoulder with her own. "Will you relax?" she tells him affectionately. "It's going to be fine. It's just our friends." Her eyes dart over at the sound of a familiar voice.

"Oyeee! Juliana! Arven!" Nemona bounces up the path south from Mesagoza, waving her arm at them. "Sorry for the wait! Had some trouble getting Penny up this morning, haha!"

Penny trudges up behind her sluggishly, huffing and puffing, her glasses slipping down her nose. "Maybe if—you didn't—call me at—6 AM," she wheezes, and bends over to hold her knees, "when we planned—this picnic—for noon!" She coughs as she struggles to catch her breath, but glares daggers at her exuberant friend, who looks concerned.

"You don't look so good," Nemona says with a slight frown. "Maybe you'd feel better if you'd joined me on that morning jog."

"This is—as much jogging—as I can handle—you madwoman!" Pulling in one more deep breath, Penny lets it out in a whoosh and then straightens again, wiping the sweat from beneath her bicolored bangs. "Anyway! We're here! On a Sunday!" She flings herself onto the picnic bench, sitting across from Arven, and Nemona takes the seat opposite Juliana. "Drinks?" Penny says hopefully, looking desperately at Juliana, who slides her a can of lemonade. Penny cracks it open and begins guzzling it gratefully.

"We're mostly reviewing for Languages today, right?" says Nemona, pulling some textbooks out of her bag. Her eyes light on the picnic basket, and she opens one side of it. "Ooh, I smell fruit in there!"

Penny clunks down her half-drained lemonade and pulls her Eevee backpack onto her lap, starting to retrieve her books as well. "Yeah, the Languages exam is the Monday after tomorrow, so we don't have much time to review for it," she says, finally sounding a bit more composed. She glances at Arven, the ghost of a smirk lifting one corner of her mouth. "Although I guess Arven was getting a head-start on it during our Math review on Friday."

"Haha, how'd he manage that?" laughs Nemona, helping herself to one of the fruit-and-yogurt sandwiches Arven had prepared.

"N-Never mind that," says Arven, frowning at Penny. She's never going to let him forget that, is she? Well, that's fine. There's something more important to discuss, he reminds himself as he exchanges a glance with Juliana. He takes a deep breath. "Guys—"

"Right; let's stay on topic!" That's kind of a strange thing to hear from Nemona, but she seems fired up about the study session, at least. "The language we're doing now is tricky, so I'm glad for the chance to go over it, too."

"Uh, before that, guys?" Arven interjects meekly, but his two friends barely seem to hear him.

"I think I've got the greetings and stuff down," Penny remarks, flipping to the most recent chapter of their textbook, "but can we practice those example conversations where you're comparing two things and saying which you like better?"

"Ooh, right, the part with 'dochira,'" Nemona recalls, pointing at Penny with a snap of her fingers.

"W…" Arven gathers his courage, and screws his eyes shut as he finally bursts out: "Wait! There's something I wanna tell you first!"

Nemona and Penny finally fall silent, their attention focused on him.

His heart rate picks up again, and the words he wants to say get tangled up before they can leave him. "I… Well, I mean, I guess I should say we..." His two friends just stare at him, blinking, so he huffs out a sigh. "Isn't anyone going to question why I'm holding Juliana's hand?!" he exclaims exasperatedly, holding up the hand he's had twined with hers the entire time.

Nemona and Penny just keep staring, their faces blank.

"Um, it's not the first time you've held her hand in front of us, Arven," Penny points out, pulling open a bag of chips she's unearthed from the picnic basket.

"Ah," he replies, having forgotten that. "Well…"

"Oh, we're not supposed to pretend we don't notice this time?" Nemona's looking around at them all, trying to pick up on any cues she’s missed from them.

Penny raises an eyebrow at him between munching her chips. "Are you maybe trying to tell us that you finally grew a pair and made a move on Juli, or…?"

"Hey!" he protests.

"Um, w-we met up the morning I got back from my trip!" Juliana intervenes, her cheeks flushing. "Like, super early in the morning. We talked, and…" Her eyes flit over meet Arven's, a shy smile spreading across her face. "I guess we're together now…?"

"Congrats," says Penny, and then pulls out her phone. "Several people now owe me money." She begins to tap something out on the screen, and then pauses, glancing up at them again. "Wait, who confessed to who first?"

Arven just splutters, mortified, so it's Juliana who answers, albeit with a beet-red face. "He… kind of said it when I was in the middle of trying to say it?"

He pulls an apologetic grimace. "Sorry… I didn't mean to derail you, but I thought you were going to just leave, so…"

She squeezes his hand, waving around her other one dismissively. "No, no, I understand! I-It's fine!"

Penny stares at them for a moment, completely unmoved, thumbs hovering at the ready over her phone. "Okay, if that super simple question has no answer," she goes on, dropping her eyes back down to her Rotom phone, "let's try this one: Who kissed who first?"

"Don't ask us that!" Arven scolds her.

"Me," Juliana squeaks out at the same time. His head whips down to look at her in surprise. "Uh, but actually, maybe him?…" She meets his eyes, questioning. He understands what she's getting at—though she'd surprised him with an accidental kiss at the airport and then sprung one on him when she returned home, he had been the one to initiate their first mutual kiss.

He covers his face with his free hand. "They don't need to know all that!" he tells her, his tone beseeching.

"Y-You're right," she agrees, "sorry!"

Penny sighs and taps away at her phone. "Cool, results inconclusive. Welp, either way, works out well for me."

"Wait, wait, hold on," Nemona finally speaks up, making a halting motion with her hands."You just got together now?" She looks between Arven and Juliana with widened eyes. "I thought you'd been a couple since Juls got back from Kitakami!"

All three of them goggle at her incredulously.

"I mean…!" Nemona's cheeks color slightly. "All those little stickers!" she defends herself, looking around at them all. "And the phone calls, and hand-holding! And he made her that big banquet when she came home!" She furrows her eyebrows, her gaze bouncing between Arven and Juliana. "No…?"

"All that stuff was just him being a simp," says Penny mercilessly, shrugging.

Arven frowns. "What does that mean?"

Juliana pats his hand, looking up at him consolingly. "Oh, don't worry about that…"

"And if that's your biggest evidence, Nemona," their friend plows on despite the interruption, "you're lucky you didn't walk in on their little tickle f—"

"OOOKAY, PENNY," Arven cuts her off, giving her shoe a little kick under the table. "That's enough about that, haha!" Penny narrows her eyes at him and kicks him in the shin with actual force in retaliation. "Ow!"

"But Juli," Nemona says, leaning across the table to pin her friend with an intense gaze, "didn't you tell me that you'd already told him you like him so many times?!"

"N-Nemona!" Jul admonishes her, her face turning pink again as her eyes dart around evasively. When Arven looks at her questioningly, though, she sighs, her shoulders slumping a little. "I did," she admits, "but I'm pretty sure he thought I meant it as a friend…"

His eyes pop open as he lets himself think about that. "Oh, so back then…" ‘You're warm. I like you,’ she'd said, the night they watched the stars. "And that time..." ‘Why are you still talking to me?’ ‘I like you.’ "And that other time..." ‘I like you, and your voice is soothing.’ "And then..." ‘I've gotta do something else to show you I like you best, haha!’ "And—maybe even…?" ‘You're the most important person in my life and I want to share everything with you!’

Arven gapes at her as she sits there and turns several shades of red, squirming in her seat under his gaze. Nevertheless, she nods, staring at the picnic cloth because she's unable to meet his eyes. "Mmhmm," she murmurs weakly.

The smile that spreads across his face feels like flowers spreading their petals to the sun; like finally jumping in bed after a long, weary day; like a cool, refreshing drink from a stream after hours lost in the woods. It's also probably among the sappiest and goofiest expressions he's ever made. "Oh, wow…" he breathes, awestruck.

"GOD, okay, this is unbearable!" Penny bursts out, slamming down the now-drained lemonade can. "Congrats on the death of your singledom; we're so happy for you; you two deserve each other—yada yada, WHATEVER!" She slaps her textbook several times insistently. "Can we please just move on and study now?!"

"But Penny, look how they're looking at each other!" Nemona coos, clasping her hands together beside her cheek. "They're so cuuuute!"

"Speak for yourself!" Penny spits back. "It's like having to watch someone make goo-goo eyes at my sister!" She sticks out her tongue. "Blech!"

Jul has recovered from the embarrassment enough to giggle at this. "Heh, that's kind of sweet, Penny," she teases, and then tilts her head in thought. "Wait, am I the sister in this? I'm the sister, right?"

"I doubt I'm the sister," Arven puts in, crossing his arms and looking sternly at their bespectacled friend, "but I'm kind of disappointed being relegated to just 'someone' in this scenario."

"You're both the sister and you're both ultra-mega annoying and cringe!" Penny erupts, her pale cheeks flushed as she slams her fists on the table. "Now either you all cut it out right now, or I'm getting out of here and studying with Momo and the others instead!"

They all cut it out right now, and have a fairly productive study picnic.

Juliana holds Arven's hand under the table.

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Thanks to the combined efforts of his more academically-inclined friends, Arven manages to pass all his classes with full credits, although he's still got another year ahead of him before he graduates. He's fine with that, though, since it means he'll still be with his friends, who had all passed their finals with flying colors.

Juliana had asked before their exams what he would like as a reward when he passed them, and he'd shyly asked if he might be allowed to visit her house. He'd heard Nemona had already been there before, since they were neighbors, and it had kind of bothered him that she’d beaten him to that particular milestone. Juliana had looked surprised at the request, but had laughed and kissed him on the cheek. "I think that could be arranged," she'd said.

And so, here they are.

He never planned on his first visit to Juliana's home also being a group-hangout, but as is apparently now habit for all of his dangerous and nerve-wracking journeys to confront family, Nemona and Penny have tagged along. He suspects they are getting back at him for monopolizing his little buddy's time so often ("We weren't going to let you hog the chance to visit Juliana," as Penny put it), but really, couldn't they at least have given him this? It's supposed to be his reward!

Despite how bashful she'd been when trying to put her feelings into words, Arven's girlfriend (his girlfriend!!) seems to have adapted rapidly to the new situation (as usual), and now delights once more in finding new ways of flustering him every day. Today she has decided to do this by sitting herself in his lap on her bed, once their friends have left the room to bring drinks from downstairs. Well, it's more like she's sitting bracketed between his legs, like she had during the meteor shower, but he knows the intention behind it is different this time.

"Juliana!" he hisses, eyes darting up to the door of her room. "Penny and Nemona will be coming right back! Do you really want them to see this?!"

"Hmm, maybe," she sings innocently, grabbing one of his hands and tracing hearts on his palm like she had when they were sheltering from the rain in that cave. "Besides, we take up less space like this."

He sighs, but she has a point. Juliana's room, while fairly spacious (and adorable), is not really meant to seat multiple people unless they sit on the floor. "What about your mom?"

The heart-tracing pauses. "I mean, it's not like we're doing anything wrong…" Despite her words, she sounds a little guilty.

"Well, no…" he concedes. When they'd first walked in the door, and all through dinner, it seemed like Nemona and even Penny had managed to carry on a natural conversation with Juliana’s mom, while he sat there and tried to think of what to say, occasionally answering questions from her. He'd at least managed to compliment her cooking, but thus far, at least in his own opinion, he hadn't exactly presented himself well as Juliana's boyfriend. "But I want to make a good first impression on her..."

"You say that like I haven't already talked her ear off about you," Jul points out, leaning back into his chest.

"Aww, little buddy," he says affectionately, "you talked about me?" He can't help wrapping his arms around her.

"’Course I did, mi frijol," she snickers, and leans up to press a peck to his jaw.

"Can't you use one of your nicer nicknames for me now, mi joya?" he murmurs into her ear, smiling with a bit of pride when he sees goosebumps erupt across her skin. She likes his voice, he's discovered, and he's not above using that to his advantage.

"Gross," Penny deadpans upon opening the door, Nemona in tow. "Get a room, you guys."

"This is my room!" Juliana retorts, but Arven has already yelped and let go of her, so she reluctantly relinquishes her place between Arven's knees, sitting beside him on the bed instead, her back against the wall like his.

"What'd I miss?" Nemona chirps, bustling into the room with a tray of drinks sent up by Juliana's mother. "Were they smoochin'?"

"N-No!" Arven's voice cracks almost a full octave in his haste to deny the ludicrous accusation.

"Not yet," Juliana says at the same time, sounding smug. This prompts a simultaneous response of "Awww!" (Nemona) and "Gag me" (Penny).

"Th-Thanks for bringing the drinks!" Arven decides to pivot the conversation, grabbing a glass of water.

"Let us know if you want us to go get some more," Nemona says with an exaggerated wink.

Arven covers his face with his hands, mortified, but Juliana just laughs and says, "No, you're good."

They all talk for a while as they sip their drinks, Nemona leaning back against the largest Skwovet plush Arven's ever seen while Penny sits on the rug going through Juliana's game collection. When a knock sounds from the door, all four heads turn in that direction.

"How's everybody doing?" Juliana's mother, Mirabelle, pokes her head in the room, and Arven sits up straighter, putting some distance between himself and Juliana, who had started to slouch against him again. Ms. Mirabelle looks very much like her daughter—hair the color of chestnut wood (albeit streaked with silver), eyes like warm gingerbread. Her smile is comforting and reassuring the same way Jul's is, too. "Anyone want dessert? I was thinking of bringing up some sweets…"

Penny's face lights up at the prospect of desserts, but Arven stumbles to his feet in a hurry. "N-n-no way! We couldn't possibly ask you for more food!" After that incredible dinner, she's ready to wow them with delicious desserts?! Arven can't help feeling a little intimidated by her culinary skills. He had walked in here feeling put at ease by the woman's kind face and gentle demeanor, but after eating that restaurant-quality dinner, he wonders if maybe this isn't all some elaborate ploy to take him down a peg or two, so he knows once and for all who Juliana's #1 favorite chef is. "We don't mean to be a hustle!" he says, and then realizes what he's blurted, his face heating up. "Hassle, I mean!" he corrects himself frantically. "We don't want to be a hassle!"

Juliana's mother giggles, and even her laugh sounds like her daughter's. "Oh, sweetie, there's no need to stand on ceremony here!" she reminds him. "Just make yourselves at home and relax!"

Relaxing, especially in front of parents, is not Arven's strong suit, but if she's going to stand there and call him "sweetie" like he belongs here, the least he can do is try. "Y-yes, ma'am!" he exclaims, trying not to sound like he's ready to spring into a salute and failing miserably.

"Oh, and Juli—" Ms. Mirabelle makes her way over to her daughter, and holds out an envelope to her. "A letter came for you. It's from... 'Kieran.'" Juliana takes the letter, her eyebrows leaping up to her hairline at the name as she turns it over in her hands. "Do you know a Kieran?"

"Yeah," she responds, looking at the envelope dubiously, her eyes moving over the return address. "Never thought he'd write me, though..."

"My word," her mother says with a warm smile, "you've been making plenty of friends!"

Juliana smiles back, but Arven can tell it's forced from the crease between her eyebrows.

For an instant, a look of worry crosses Ms. Mirabelle's features, and she raises a hand, as if to reach for Juliana's shoulder. But when Arven blinks, she's merely smoothing her apron, a gentle smile on her face once more. She looks around at all of them, her eyes holding Arven's for a moment before moving to Nemona and Penny. "I'll bring those sweets up in just a few," she says, and turns to go downstairs. "I hope you'll all enjoy them!"

"Ooh, I'll come help!" Nemona decides, raising a determined fist and following her down the stairs.

Penny, left alone with Arven and Juliana, moves her gaze from the door to the two of them. Juliana's face stretches into a quick smile at her. Arven puts his hands in his pockets.

"Gah, I want to check out the sweets, too!" Penny decides, bolting out of the room as well.

The room feels almost oppressively quiet with just the two of them. Juliana is still holding onto the mystery letter.

Arven clears his throat. "Your mom sure is nice, Juliana," he tells her, rubbing the back of his neck. "You're real lucky…"

Her eyes crinkle in another smile, this one more natural. "Yeah, I am. Thanks." She looks him over carefully. "She didn't put you on the spot too much, did she? I told her before you guys came to not grill anyone, but I felt like she was asking you way too many questions at dinner…"

"Huh?" He hadn't felt that way at all. "I thought it was a normal amount... I'm just glad I didn't say anything weird."

"I've never brought friends home before," Juliana confesses, looking down at her rug. "Let alone, y'know… anything more." She laughs a little nervously. "She was so excited you were coming I thought she was going to bust out the welcome banners or something."

He laughs at the thought. "Well, I hope I haven't fallen short of her expectations, in that case," he says. "But, uh, Juliana... what about that letter?" He tries to keep a respectful distance and not breathe down her neck about it, but his eyes can't help but be drawn to the unopened envelope in her hands. He can't quite read the return address without getting closer, but it at least looks like it's come from another region, and 'Kieran' is definitely a boy's name, isn't it? "Aren't you gonna at least open it up?…"

"Oh!" Jul jumps and looks down at the envelope like she's completely forgotten about it already, and hastily tears it open, pulling out the paper inside. Her eyes move over the text in silence for a while.

"So who's this Kieran guy?" he finally bursts out, unable to contain his curiosity anymore. "Some friend of yours?" Maybe an old flame from Galar?

She lifts her gaze to him and smiles, nodding. "Yeah! He's my friend from Kitakami and Blueberry Academy! He wants me to come visit!"

"The ogre guy?" he realizes with surprise, and then crosses his arms at the thought of her traipsing off on yet another plane trip away from him to meet up with some other dude whose life she'd changed. "I mean… guess that's good for you and all," he says gruffly, suddenly finding the view from Juliana's window very interesting.

She has the audacity to giggle at him, closing the few steps' distance between them and placing a placating hand on his arm. "He included multiple tickets, so I was going to invite you along, but if you'd rather stay here and not meet 'the ogre guy'…"

"No, I'll go!" he says, changing his tune at once and turning to grab her hand. "Let me come too!"

She smirks at him. "Hmm, I dunno if I'd be able to keep a grumpy boyfriend happy the whole time..."

"I won't be grumpy!" he promises, knowing she's just teasing him but wanting to tell her anyway. "I'll be on my best behavior!"

"You will, huh?" she says, laughing.

"I'll check out all their local ingredients," he says, starting to get excited about the trip already, "and see what kinds of trails they've got… oh, and if they have a festival again, I'll walk you around there!"

Her eyes are sparkling. "Yeah? Like a real date?" she says eagerly, bouncing on the balls of her feet.

"Not just like a real date; it will be one," he corrects her, squeezing her hand.

"What else?" she prompts. "Tell me more!"

Somehow, this has transformed from her teasing him to him listing ideas for their trip abroad, but Arven's not complaining. "I'll make you all your favorite local dishes," he tells her, "and we'll go exploring all the places you told me about. I'll get to see you in your festival clothes for real…" He'd seen a photo, but it wasn't enough. His cheeks grow warm, and he smiles down at her softly as she hangs on his every word. "…And I'll tell you how pretty you look in them."

Her face instantly goes crimson. For all that she loves teasing him, as soon as he offers her any kind of compliment or praise, she still goes to pieces. She could dish it out, but she couldn't ever take it. "N-No I won't," she mutters.

Unfortunately for her, now that he knows how she feels about him and is reasonably sure it's okay to do so, Arven absolutely loves drowning her with compliments. "You definitely will," he insists, holding onto both of her hands now. "You'll be so cute and charming you'll turn every head in the town."

"Stopppp," she moans, thumping her forehead onto his chest to hide her face, but he can hear the smile in her voice.

She's too adorable, so he smooches the top of her head. "Too bad for them," he goes on smugly, "because the one holding hands with the prettiest girl in the world will be me."

"Someone better tell her to be there, then," she jokes, still muffled into his chest.

"Juuuul," he chides her through a smile. "You're going to have to acknowledge how great you are eventually, you know."

"You first," she challenges him.

"C'mon," he coaxes. "Let me see that cute face."

She sighs, but does as he asks, lifting her head and fixing him with a lopsided smile. Her hair has gotten a little messed up from burying it against the fabric, longer strands obscuring one of her eyes.

He brushes her bangs aside. "Oh," he says, tucking her hair behind her ear and cupping her cheek with a smile, "there you are." He lays a kiss on her forehead, but she tugs him down by the back of his head for a real kiss next, muffling his sound of surprise against her lips. He tries not to stumble backward as she leans into him, and anchors himself with one hand on the small of her back.

"You know you're prettier than I am, right?" she murmurs against his mouth. "It's not even a contest."

"Agree to disagree," he says, before capturing her lips again. Her hands push up into his hair, and he shudders at the sensation, the hand on her back moving instead to grip her hip, his arm now wrapped all the way around her. He relishes the little sound she makes as she kisses him harder.

"Uhhhhh," Nemona's voice awkwardly intervenes. Her hand is still on the doorknob as she leans into the room.

Arven springs away from Juliana so fast that he slams his hip into the sharp corner of her desk. One of the stacked books tumbles off it from the impact. He clamps his mouth shut to prevent himself from loosing a curse. Or crying, maybe.

"H-Hey, Nemona, wh—whazzup?!" Jul squeaks, whirling around and grinning as convincingly as possible, hands clasped behind her back.

"Just came to tell you that the desserts are ready, but…" Her cheeks are dusted with red, and she slowly inches backward out of the room again, pulling the door closed with her exit little by little.

"Be right there…!" Arven chokes out, his eyes still stinging from the pain radiating through his hip. He gives Nemona a thumbs-up and a smile that definitely appears more like a pained grimace.

"Cool, see ya then…" says Nemona, returning the thumbs-up but still looking terribly embarrassed, giving them one more whispered "sorry!" before she shuts the door completely.

They both stare at the closed door for a second.

"You okay?" Juliana asks him sympathetically, reaching up to put a hand on his back.

"Mm-mm," he grunts, shaking his head and clutching his hip.

"Wanna go eat some cake?" she says next, stroking his back in a circle as if placating a child who has fallen on the playground.

He just nods, trying not to cry. "Mm-hmm," he whimpers.

The dessert is so delicious that it's almost enough to make up for both his bruised pride and his bruised hip.

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After just a few short days, they're piling onto the plane to Kitakami, Arven accompanying Juliana on a new journey for the first time.

His friends are, at least, kind enough to let him sit with his girlfriend on the plane, though he can definitely still hear Nemona's loud voice a few rows back from where she's seated next to Penny. He spots Penny herself pulling on a pair of large headphones and slouching down in her window seat, staring at her phone as the plane prepares for takeoff. Nemona instead launches into an impassioned (if fairly one-sided) conversation about Pokémon battles with the person across the aisle, irrepressible as always.

"Think she'll be like that the whole way?" Juliana asks him, noticing where Arven's looking.

"She usually passes out right at midnight, but maybe that'll change, what with the timezone difference," he jokes, turning to face the front again. Digging into his vest pocket, he retrieves a slightly crumpled piece of paper and unfolds it, reviewing his trip itinerary again.

"You really didn't have to make that," Jul says, watching him with amusement as she leans her elbow on her armrest.

"I want to make sure we're making the most of this!" he defends himself, eyes scanning the lines he'd written.

Tour Mossui Town. Introduce myself to Kieran (be nice!!).

Check out community center and local shops, inquire about favorite local foods (and their health benefits?) and try out some recipes.

Explore the Apple Hills and have a picnic there with Gala.

See the view from the top of Oni Mountain!

Go to the Crystal Pool (Jul says I've gotta see it).

Take Jul on a festival date. Give her present first!!

"Present?" Jul's voice is curious, and he glances up to see that she's reading over his shoulder. "You have a present for me?"

"Gah!" He jumps, pulling the itinerary to his chest protectively. "Jul! I told you before that this is just for me and not to read it!"

"It seemed more interesting than…" She pulls a hefty magazine halfway out of the compartment on the seat-back in front of her. "AirPaldea SkyMart Quarterly," she reads out before letting the catalog thunk back into place and fixing him with a small smirk. "You wrote a note to yourself to be nice when you meet Kieran? You're adorable."

Arven feels his face heat up, and he sighs, folding the list up and tucking it away again. "Well, I thought having a visual would make it easy to check things off as we go…" he explains, pointedly not addressing her second comment.

"Let's not worry about completing paperwork while we're on vacation," she advises, "but for what it's worth, all your ideas were great."

He shoots her a quick smile. "Thanks."

"Soooo…" She nestles herself against him, wrapping her hands around his arm and looking up at him with the most doe-like, innocent, shimmery eyes she can muster. "You have a gift for me…?"

"Hahhhh…" Arven raises a mental white flag as he heaves a defeated sigh. He is no match for her terrifying persuasive powers. "Yes, I do. And maybe I should give it to you now anyway, in case we don't get to go to a festival after all."

Instantly, Jul springs up, clapping her hands together once eagerly. "Yay!" Her eyes are positively sparkling with excitement. Arven can't help but laugh.

"You're lucky I have it with me for safekeeping, you little minx," he tells her, shaking his head as he pulls out a small flat gift package from the inner pocket of his vest this time. He'd chosen it specially for her from a vendor at the Porto Marinada Market, and had it carefully wrapped up in leafy green paper, since the other gift he'd given her had also been green. It was quite embarrassing almost getting it taken away from him when he went through the metal detector earlier, but luckily he'd managed to clear everything up without her being any the wiser.

Of course, now she'd found out about it early anyway.

Things never do seem to happen in the order he expects, when it comes to his little buddy. He'd even fallen in love before knowing Jul's name, or even that she was a girl.

Looking down at the little package for a moment, he holds it out to her, lifting his eyes to meet hers and smiling. "Here. I saw it and thought of you."

Her eyes seem to dance with anticipation as she smiles back, and she accepts the little parcel into her hands reverently. "I can really open it now?"

"Go ahead," he urges her with a nod.

She grins at him, and then finds the seams in the wrapping, gently pulling at the taped edges—is she planning to even save the paper, he wonders?—before reaching inside to reveal her prize.

She retrieves from the wrapping a flower-shaped hair clip. The flower, pressed and preserved in resin, is deep yellow-orange, with many pointed petals fanning out like a daisy’s, and a round center like a golden coin. On each petal is a streak of dark burgundy that fades into orange at the tip, like a sunset lovingly hand-painted each time.

"Oh wow…" Juliana sounds a little choked up as she traces over the petals with her fingertips. "This flower…!"

"It's… well, I think the scientific name was gazania rigens," he says, adjusting the collar of his shirt nervously. "But people usually call it the Treasure Flower."

"A gazania flower!" she breathes, a delighted smile stretching across her face. "It's so beautiful… I've never seen one with stripes like this!"

"Yeah, well…" He clears his throat. "It's like the color of your eyes." Brown tinged with amber and gold... he'd thought of her immediately, and when he'd found out what it was called, it seemed almost too perfect.

A giddy little laugh bursts out of her at his words, the very same ones she'd said when she surprised him with a flower, and she looks at him with burnt amber eyes full of affection. "I… I don't even know what to say. It's perfect. Thank you."

His face heats up under her passionate gaze, so he looks down at his hands, smiling nevertheless. "S-Sure. Glad you like it."

Juliana hums to herself a little, happily pinning the clip into her hair beside one ear. "How does it look?" she asks him then.

He looks up, but he's struck dumb at the sight of her. She'd cut her hair before they left, having opted to keep it at a shoulder-length bob that flips out a little at the ends. It's a low-maintenance, carefree style that often reminds him of how he'd once thought she was a boy. But with this stunning flower at her temple, bringing out the gold in her irises, with this shy look on her face as she blushes and tucks a strand of hair behind one ear, glancing at him from under long, dark lashes…

"Beautiful," he answers, almost automatically.

Her cheeks flush even darker, but her smile widens, and her eyes dance with joy. She pulls out her Rotom phone, switching it to selfie mode to look at her new gift herself. "Wow, it really is!" she exclaims. "I love it!"

He'd meant that she was beautiful, not the flower, but he smiles at the sight of her so happy regardless. "I'm glad." He retrieves his trip itinerary again, figuring he can cross out at least part of one of his bullet points now.

"Hey, Arven." Her voice makes him look up from the paper.

"Yeah?" He lifts his head, only to find her small fingers on his cheek, turning his face towards her so she can kiss him, tender and sweet. "J-Juliana, we're on a plane!" he says in a whisper, his heart starting up a drum solo in his chest and his face heating up enough to roast marshmallows over.

"Don't care," she says, stroking her thumb over his cheekbone and looking at him in a way that makes his knees weak even though he's sitting. "I like you too much. No, I love you too much."

His face is probably turning a shade so intense they'll have to name a new color after him. "Th-th, uh, y… buh!" is all he's able to stammer out, no part of the intended Thank you, but...! emerging properly.

"Tell me you love me too and I'll be satisfied," she challenges him as she draws closer again, "or else I'm gonna kiss you again."

"I…" How is that supposed to be a threat, he wonders? Still, he should probably avoid causing a scene in public. He swallows, and then ekes it out: "I love you too…"

Juliana immediately goes back on her word and presses another peck to his mouth anyway, but then she does relent, settling in her seat and giggling at Arven's flustered reaction.

"What if they split up our seats?" he chastises her, still feeling like steam could rise from his cheeks as he puts his itinerary away again. "I don't know what kinds of rules they have about PDA on planes!"

"They're not gonna split up our seats, silly," she says, reaching over to hold his hand. Arven sighs, but laces his fingers with hers anyway. They're quiet for a moment before she speaks up again. "I'm really glad you're coming with me, Arven." He glances at her, and realizes she's looking out the window past him, watching the clouds. "It feels like it's going to be a whole new experience, now that you'll be there with me…"

"I'm glad too," he says, eyes moving over her. The flower hair clip sits like a small sun at her ear. "It was kinda lonely, knowing you were out there being so spectacular, shining where I couldn't see you."

"Well, I'll just have to take you with me wherever I go now, then," she reasons. She squeezes his hand, and leans onto his shoulder. "I like shining next to you best, mi tesor."

Arven smiles, and moves his gaze to the endlessly stretching sky outside the window, taking comfort in the presence of the most precious treasure he'll ever find under the stars or sun.

"Yeah," he says softly. "Me too."

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Here is a New Day Red Stripe Treasure Flower!

THANKS AGAIN FOR READING!! I hope I can write something else for this pairing soon 💖💖💖

[mysticalibra1994]

Arviana Week (Day 7)

@arvianaweek

(sorry for the lateness, I wanted to know the best hair color for Juliana)

In Uva Academy, Chairman Geeta and Director Clavell (or "Clive") have decided to let the staff and the students have a month off for the summer (even though Summer Breaks are a part of the school's curriculum) to celebrate Pride!

Arven and Juliana have decided to enjoy their [Free Day] with each other.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

For the record, I know that it's not Pride Month yet. But, in this day and age, it feels like there are people who hate our existence for no reason, no matter how hard we try.

To anyone who's reading this and is afraid to come out... Your feelings matter and your existence is valid. If your family refuses to accept you, you'll always have us as your family.

[mysticalibra1994]

Arviana Week (Day 6)

@arvianaweek

(sorry for the lateness, I had to do a lot of research...)

Okay, so as I was looking at the stars of Cassiopeia, I noticed a couple of small nebulas below the constellation; the Pacman and Dolphin Nebula.

In this [Alternate Universe]... Since Arven's thing was cooking with healthy ingredients, I've figured that his Nebula Task Force is "NGC-281". His outfit resembles the Mediterranean chef's uniform, the Uva Academy logo, and the colors of the Pacman Nebula.

My HC for Juliana was that she never felt right using male pronouns. Her Pokemon team never cared about that, all they cared about was her well-being (also in her past life, she had a deep connection with Pokemon via "Poke-tongue"). With that in mind (and the fact that dolphins share a "collective consciousness", I believe it makes sense for her to be a Nebula Task Force of "SH2-308".

The two would often visit each other at their bases and send messages to each other to lift each other's spirits. They would also make each other's lunches.

[For the accents, I used some of my old nail polish and wooden toothpicks.]

[wingsonghalo]

A Jewel by Any Other Name: an Arviana Fanfic-- Chapter 6

I'M POSTING THIS LATE BECAUSE I QUITE LITERALLY JUST FINISHED ADDING STUFF TO IT AND NOW I'M PANICKED LAKSDLK; Today's @arvianaweek prompts were Canon Divergence, Missing Scenes, and Alternate Universe! My entire fic can be seen as just being Missing Scenes in between all the canon events, so we'll go with that one.

Title: A Jewel by Any Other Name Fandom: Pokemon Scarlet and Violet Pairing: Arven/Juliana Rating: Teen Summary:“Just… What do you want me to call you?” He’s not sure why it’s suddenly such a pressing question, but it bothers him now, realizing that his friend is probably the most important relationship in his life and he doesn’t even know his name. Arven’s never had a friend before, and though his feelings for his little buddy keep growing and changing faster than he can keep up with, there are still some key pieces of information he’s missing. Like, y'know, his best friend’s name and gender. Depicts missing scenes from throughout the game, including the DLC and Epilogue! Posted for Arviana Week 2024! Summary for this chapter: Into the depths, and into the heights. Wordcount for this chapter: 9,030 Also available on: Ao3 Support me on: Patreon | Ko-fi  Previous chapters: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5

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Chapter 6: A Precious Jewel

This month without her, unfortunately, seems to go by about as quickly as a Slowpoke through molasses.

He hears from her occasionally, of course. She sends him texts, photos, and stickers just as before. But she seems quite a bit busier than she was in Kitakami, because the phone calls are not as frequent, and she ends them within a half-hour.

In between all the brief exchanges keeping them connected, though, his mind is filled with thoughts about how they'd parted.

Should something so uncoordinated and accidental even count as his first kiss? It seems like it shouldn't, but since it had been Juliana, he's inclined to pretend otherwise. After all, what if that was his only kiss with her? If he never confesses his feelings, and eventually they grow apart and go their separate ways, at least he will always have the memory of a first kiss with someone he loves.

…As kisses go, however, it had been extremely unsatisfying.

It was more of a bump than a press, and he'd scarcely gotten the chance to really take in any sensation besides 'soft' and 'warm.' Surely a kiss is more than that—every love song and romantic story has led him to believe so, and though he's never been one to entertain these sorts of thoughts, he finds himself desperately curious when it comes to Juliana. He wants to discover if she wears a flavored lip balm. If her lips are smooth or a little chapped. If they would get warmer and warmer the more attention given to them. If they'd feel plush and full between his teeth. If they're as soft when they're kissing his forehead, his nose, his jaw. If she would laugh bashfully between kisses, or say his name, or just make a little sound and pull him closer—

Ahem, he has to stop letting thoughts like this consume him, especially whenever he tries to sleep. It results in the opposite of sleepiness.

Anyway, the point is: though that little mishap had been weird and little else, he wonders if she feels the same way about it. Part of him hopes she stays up thinking about it just as he does; the larger part of him, though, is mortified that the incident ever occurred, and would prefer that both of them erase it from their memories so he can maybe try to make an actual attempt at a first kiss with her.

Either way, neither of them brings it up, thank goodness. There is a certain unspoken awkwardness between them the first time they talk on the phone afterward, but it ebbs away quickly, and soon they are right back to talking about the crazy League Club at Blueberry Academy or the next big recipe Arven wants to try out.

Things with her friend from Kitakami still sound tense, but she at least seems more optimistic about setting things right. "I've gotta be honest and tell him how I feel instead of just letting things happen!" she declares, voice burning with determination. He makes a mental note to take that advice as well, when Juliana returns home.

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He's certainly not expecting a call from her at 1 in the morning one day, about 4 weeks into her trip, but when his phone buzzes next to his bed, it’s her name and picture on the display.

"Nngh… Juliana?" he answers the call, blearily looking at the too-bright screen, which shines like a beacon in his dark dorm room.

"Oh wow, um. Were you sleeping? You sound like you were sleeping," she starts, words rushing together nervously.

"I was, but it's fine," he says, covering a yawn. He'd actually tried to be good and go to bed at a decent time for once, but evidently a full night’s sleep is not in the cards tonight either. "What's up?" he tries to say, but his voice is still too rough from sleep, and it cracks. He clears his throat, embarrassed. "Sorry. Sleepy," he explains, and then tries again: "What's up?"

"Ummm…" Juliana draws out the utterance in a hum before huffing out a small laugh. "Sorry. There's a reason, I swear. Just got distracted because I've never heard you be tired before."

"I guess it is usually you who's falling asleep," he agrees, and yawns again. "I'm not gonna be super good at words right now, sorry."

"Don't be." Her voice is sweet, and a little shy. "I like hearing you like this. Ah, I mean, with no filter! Not—not just waking up!" she hastens to clarify. "Well, the just-woke-up voice is good too, actually, um, really good, but..." She trails off, and then tsks. "Oh, you know what I mean!"

Arven does not, in fact, know what she means, but he at least processes that she likes the way he sounds right now for some reason. "Sure," he lies, a little too groggy to think about it all that much. He rests his head back on his pillow, placing the phone next to it. "Anyway, your reason for calling…?"

"Oh! Gosh, Arven, I'm sorry…" She sounds embarrassed. "It's only 7 in the evening here, and what with all the excitement, I totally forgot it would be so late for you." Arven hears her take a deep breath before finally bursting out: "I called because I wanted to let you know that I'm heading back to Paldea soon—more specifically, to Area Zero."

"What?!" That wakes him right up. He sits bolt upright, all but shouting into his Rotom phone clenched in his fist. "Why?!"

She tells him everything: How that Briar person had gotten permission to research there. How she was looking for the legendary Pokémon Terapagos. How Geeta from the Paldea League had showed up and revealed that they were lacking qualified personnel to explore the Great Crater despite the continued threat to public and ecological safety, and so this special trip had been approved.

Arven stares at his phone, baffled. "I'm confused," he admits. "When did you and your friends from Blueberry Academy become 'qualified personnel'?"

"The 'qualified personnel' is Ms. Briar," Juliana says with a sigh. "The rest of us are just 'qualified' because we're good in a battle, apparently. Even when I had reservations about going, Ms. Geeta insisted since I've already been there."

"So much for it being 'strictly off-limits'," Arven grumbles. Seriously, the League wants to take some unrelated kids down into a huge pit crawling with monsters so dangerous it had left him without a family? "Well, at least you know what to expect down there.”

"About that…" Oh, boy. The trepidation in her voice tells him there is more 'good news' incoming. "Apparently, the Great Crater is way deeper than we think it is." She goes on to explain about Heath's old manuscript and the strange Pokémon it depicts, along with the strange disk Geeta had given her.

"So…" Arven bites his lip. He can tell there is a part of his friend that is excited to explore an uncharted area further, but she must be anxious, too, or she wouldn't be calling him sounding like this. "Why are you telling me all this?" he decides to ask. She has to be aware that he'll be worried sick about her now, on top of the discussion of Area Zero dredging up painful memories. If she'd merely told him she was coming home soon, it would have been less upsetting for both of them, wouldn’t it?

Jul hesitates. "I… I'm not sure," she says after a moment. "I felt like I had to tell you, because of everything that happened down there, but… I also wanted to tell you, because… because it's you."

He scowls, perturbed. "That place isn't me. It was my parents' dream, not mine."

"No, not—I don't mean 'it's you' like you're Area Zero!" she hurries to correct him, and then lets out a breath. "I mean I want to tell you things, no matter what they are, because… you're you."

His eyebrows, which had been furrowed, now drift up blankly. "I'm… me?"

She makes an adorable frustrated sound halfway between a groan and a growl. "Geez… you're the most important person in my life and I want to share everything with you!" she rephrases. "Is that clear enough?"

Oh, he thinks. "Um," he says. His face burns. "Y-Yeah." Actually he has many follow-up questions to that, but he decides not to ask any right now.

Having finally gotten her point across, Jul huffs. "Making me say embarrassing stuff like that, honestly…" Arven, personally, thinks it was more embarrassing when she'd called him 'home' that one time without a moment’s hesitation, but this new declaration has caught him off-guard too. "Anyway, I just wanted to give you that update," she continues. "I guess we're leaving tomorrow, but I won't be back in Paldea proper until afterward. Not sure how long it'll take, but… I'll let you know how things turn out as soon as I can, if that’s all right…?”

He realizes, suddenly, that she's seeking his reassurance. Maybe even his permission, since she clearly feels conflicted about being in that place that had so irrevocably altered his past. "Juliana, it's okay for you to go there if you want," he tells her. "I don't care about that place anymore. I just care that you come out of it again."

There is silence for a few moments. He wonders if he's completely misread things again, but then her voice comes over the line: "How do you know exactly what I need to hear?" Her tone is fond and frustrated all at once.

"I don't," he laughs, relieved she's still here. "I thought I totally screwed up for a second there."

"I seem to be the only one screwing things up when it comes to us," she replies, but her laughter sounds more forced, more self-deprecating.

"Hm?" He brings his knees closer to his chest, resting an arm over them. "What do you mean?"

"Well," she says, voice turning a bit mumbly in her reluctance to explain, "I mean, that thing I failed to give you before…"

"H-Huh?" For the briefest of moments, their disastrous lip-bump flashes through his mind, and the room suddenly feels too hot. In the next second, though, he realizes that she's probably only referring to the souvenir she'd gotten him. "Oh!" He pulls at the collar of his sleep shirt, still feeling much too warm. "Don't worry about that; it'll be just as good when you get home from Unova, right?" He pauses. "Unless it's a food item. Is it a food item?"

She chuckles awkwardly. "Hmm, that's a difficult question, actually…" Arven frowns, his brows knitting in the center of his forehead. What does that mean? "Anyway, your 'souvenir' has changed yet again," she goes on, "but I hope you'll accept it anyway when I give it to you."

"Of course I will," he answers, still a bit confused on how something that may or may not be a food item keeps changing. Has she possibly messed up a cooking experiment so badly that it can no longer be considered food…?

"Well thank you," Jul responds graciously, and then giggles, voice turning slightly mischievous. "Heh… if you say it all formally like that, it sounds like you're accepting a proposal."

"Wh—?!" He's still trying to lock the memory of that failed kiss back up in his brain-cellar, and then she drops a word like proposal unprompted?! As always, she's about three steps ahead of him: When he tries to give her a gift, she already has one for him that's twice as personal and thoughtful. When he needs a friend, she gives him three. When he needs motivation, she's there with a perfect idea. When he finds the courage to ask for a hug, she blows away his expectations with a kiss on the cheek. She's always giving him a mile for every inch he gives her, and Arven can't tell if it means she's as generous as a saint, or just strangely competitive.

Or perhaps she just likes throwing him off. She is the type that teaches her Meowscarada things like Brick Break and Acrobatics just to surprise opponents, after all.

Regardless, he'll never be able to make any progress if he doesn't try to meet her where she is, right?

"W-well," he fires back, trying to bluster past his embarrassment, "wouldn't it be me asking you, if that were the case?"

She sounds delighted that he's engaging (no pun intended) on this, a surprised laugh bubbling out of her. "Aw, don't be so old-fashioned," she chides him. "Girls can ask guys! Besides, you didn't know I was a girl for a while there..." His best friend sounds downright devious now as she points this out.

He rests his forehead on the arm slung over his knees, reeling from the damage to his psyche. "You just had to bring that up, didn't you?"

Being woken up at this hour and then reminded of his past shames is worth it, though, if he gets to hear her laugh like this. He can't help but smile at the sound of it. "Well, I may not have a ring for you, but I am a jewel!" she says, voice bright with humor.

"Mm..." he agrees, though it comes out like a question, since he's not quite sure why she said it like a punchline.

"Because my name is Jul," she eventually clarifies. "Y'know. Juliana."

"Oh!" he exclaims, belatedly hearing the wordplay and kicking himself internally. He'd even thought people were calling his little buddy 'jewel' when they'd first met; how had he forgotten that? He decides to blame his faulty memory on the early hour and the fact that he's somehow jokingly discussing a proposal with his best friend whom he is in love with. "Right, that's true. Um, guess I don't need a ring if I've already got the best Jul?" He cringes at his own words.

She seems to love it, though, giggling as though he hasn't just repackaged her own joke. "The ‘best’ jewel? Has anyone ever said that? Can't you at least say I'm the brightest or prettiest? Like, 'Oh, mi joya, no one sparkles like you do!'"

Arven scrubs his hand through his hair, flustered despite his best efforts to just treat this as silly banter. "Yeesh, give me a break, you little..." he grumbles amid her snickering.

"Hehehe. I'll stop now, sorry," she teases with not a hint of remorse. Even now, she's still pushing him, blurring the boundaries between lighthearted flattery and genuine sentiment. It fills him with that sense of recklessness again, that impatience and frustration he'd felt before with the whole 'Beans' incident, and whenever she hugged him or cuddled him like it was no big deal, and again when she'd told him he could touch her whenever he wanted, and kissed his cheek just to defy his expectations, and so many other times. He feels emboldened—desperate, even—to shake her up like that, too. To give her a taste of her own medicine, and make her understand what he's feeling.

"Anyway, I've given you your update," says his wonderful, infuriating, dazzling, incomprehensible, irreplaceable friend. "So I'll let you get back to bed. Sorry again for waking—"

"No jewel could match your beauty or brilliance," he interrupts, forcing the words out through sheer spiteful willpower, "mi joya."

Juliana clams up like Arven's Cloyster. A victorious smile spreads across his face upon finally rendering her speechless, but his cheeks are also so hot he could probably cook an omelet on them. He stews in his mingled triumph and shame for a few more silent moments, until the satisfaction begins to change into doubt at the prolonged lack of response.

"Juliana?" he finally prompts, and without the gusto of his previous declaration, his voice comes out almost pathetically small and weak.

"Heh," he hears her at last, a tiny exhalation, and oh no, he almost wishes she'd stayed silent after all, because he recognizes what is about to happen next. "Heh… hehe… hahahaha!" The laughter spills out uncontrollably. If he wasn't so used to this by now, he'd almost be offended, but as it is, he's just terribly embarrassed, slowly sliding back into resting position on his bed so he can pull the covers over his head. He's not sure why he's hiding. Juliana can't see him anyway. "You... you really are too much!" Jul wheezes.

Rather than too much, it feels like he is instead not enough whenever she laughs at his attempts to express his feelings, but he supposes it's his own fault this time. All he'd done was try to use words suggested in jest to convey actual sentiment—he really should think of his own heartfelt words if he wants her to take him seriously. "Always happy to entertain," he mumbles from under his bedsheets.

"You sound muffly," Juliana informs him, still giggling. "What, you going through a tunnel?"

Sighing, he pulls his phone under the covers with him. "Nope, just gettin’ a head start digging a hole to bury myself in," he quips halfheartedly.

"Aww," she says, placating. "Well, even if you're buried, I'll surely come dig you up, mi tesor."

A reluctant smile pulls at his mouth at this newest nickname. My treasure. "I guess you are supposed to be on a Treasure Hunt, so digging up buried treasure’d make sense," he notes, settling his head on the pillow more comfortably.

"That's right!" she agrees. "Okay, seriously, I'll let you get back to sleep. Sorry about all that, but... I'm glad I got to talk to you."

"Yeah, me too," he says, only a little begrudgingly, as he turns on his side to hold the phone in front of him. "Even if you spent most of this conversation giving me a hard time.” First by getting him all worried about her going on such a dangerous trip, and then by teasing him mercilessly.

"I promise I'll be super nice to you when I come home," she vows solemnly, and then, in a quieter voice: "I really do miss you, Arven. You're really important to me. Sorry I laugh and get so awkward trying to say that."

The floating sensation in his stomach is a little distracting, but he does his best to ignore it. "Miss you too, little buddy," he replies, voice soft and affectionate.

"I wanna see you," says Jul suddenly, like she can’t contain it anymore. "Like, right now. Yesterday, even."

Being swaddled in these dark, warm covers is starting to make him feel drowsy, his head growing foggy as his favorite voice fills the small space. "Mm-hmm," he says. "Wanna see you too."

"Every time something happens here, I just want to run home and tell you all about it, even the little things," she goes on. "And there are so many flowers I've seen here that make me think of you… well, not just flowers, though; everything kinda makes me think of you."

He smiles, holding the phone closer to his chest. "Same here. Always thinking of you."

"Are you getting sleepy?" she asks in a knowing voice.

Arven nods, before realizing she can't see that. "Yup," he says instead. "Soon as I laid down again, it started to hit me."

She pauses a moment. "Want me to keep talking until you fall asleep?"

He blinks slowly at the unexpected offer. The idea fills him with warmth. "Yeah, actually," he tells her. "That sounds nice.”

"Hmm…" Her answering murmur is a sweet, almost singsong hum tinged with amusement. "Okay. I'll just keep talking about stuff that made me think of you. The first thing that comes to mind right now… well, there's this dude in the Elite Four here who likes to cook, but let's just say he needs to expand his flavor profile if he ever wants to hold a candle to you…"

Arven lets his eyelids grow heavier, his blinks grow longer, as the soothing cadence of her voice wraps around him, a perfect lullaby. He starts out reacting to her words once in a while with a 'mm' or a 'hmm', but within minutes, he feels his awareness slipping away as he cradles his phone to his heart.

"Asleep, mi tesor?" he thinks he hears her whisper gently just before his consciousness fades. "Good… Sweet dreams, sweet boy."

He sleeps, and dreams of that night he'd seen a sky of glittering jewels and held the most precious one in his arms.

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It's hard to focus on much of anything the next two days, knowing Juliana's probably in the air, then on Paldean soil, then under it in a huge pit of monsters.

Arven does his best to carry on as normal, attending all his classes, eating all his meals, and struggling to not glue himself to his Rotom phone in case she messages him. He thinks he's doing a pretty good job of keeping his mind off things with studying in the library with Penny on the second day, until she slams her book closed with a huge, exaggerated sigh.

"Whoa," he says, frowning at her in disapproval. "No need to be so forceful."

"Arven," she says as she pushes her glasses up her nose, annoyed, "if you aren't going to actually listen to me, don't ask me to help you review."

"I was listening!" he defends himself.

She looks at him like he's just told her that Lechonks fly. "The last answer you wrote down was 'konnichiwa,'" she deadpans.

"What's so wrong with that?" he says, looking down at his notebook paper. He seems to have spelled it right, even.

"We're reviewing MATH, Arven!" she bursts out, and immediately flushes and lowers her voice when she receives several angry ‘shhhh!’es from the surrounding tables. "Also, your book is upside down!" she continues in a harsh whisper.

Arven glances down. He is indeed holding his mathematics book upside-down. He sheepishly turns it the right way around, feeling his face burn in shame.

"Look," Penny says with another sigh, this one a little more subdued. "You're worried about Juliana, I'm sure. We all are."

Yesterday morning, while she was on the plane, Juliana had messaged Arven to warn him that they’d better not be planning any kind of grand welcome like last time, since she was only coming back from the Great Crater and not from overseas. Arven had passed on the message, along with explaining the new Area Zero mission, because it was the right thing to do for Juliana’s precious friends.

(And also because, on the off-chance Penny or Nemona got news from her first, they would pass it along to him. But mostly because it was the right thing to do. Probably.)

"I know she can't send messages from down there, but I didn't think it would take so long," he admits, setting his book aside and hanging his head.

"She's probably only been back in Paldea since yesterday afternoon," Penny reminds him.

"Then that's a whole night, morning, and afternoon unaccounted for!" He massages his temples and then rests his forehead in his hands. Without the haze of sleepiness hanging over him like it had been during the phone call, he’s had so much more energy to put into imagining horrible scenarios in his head. What if there’s another violent creature down there that no one’s ever seen before? What if something happens to her, but no one can send out a distress signal because the mission is so secretive and there's no phone signal down there? Will he have to wait another day, or a week, or a month, only to get unspeakably awful news—or worse, no news at all? "I just, I mean… that place…" His fingers clench in his hair. "…If people get injured or go missing down there, who would report it? Who even can?"

Penny surprises him by laying a hand on his shoulder reassuringly. "Arven… of course you'd be worried about that. After all, the Professor…" He lifts his head to look at her desperately, and after a moment, Penny's sympathetic look hardens into one of determination. "…What happened to the Professor won't happen again. Juliana's not alone." She squeezes his shoulder. "And neither are you. If worst comes to worst... we've stormed that place once. We can do it again."

He feels a huge weight lifted off him, and lets out a long sigh as he practically slumps in relief. "Yeah… yeah, you're right…"

His friend gives him one more pat between the shoulder-blades. "I know. I always am. It's a curse." With that, she pulls her textbook towards her once more. "And speaking of me always being right, open that book of yours again. If you really want to be able to catch up on credits, you're going to need as much help as you can get, mister."

"Awww," he groans, but privately, he's immensely grateful.

------------------------------------------------------------

"You haven't heard from Juls either, huh?" Nemona asks, sticking her hands in her pockets and looking at him from the corner of her eye. He'd been out for a walk in the evening, trying to get some fresh air, but it turns out that the night air in February is cold and not all that fresh, so it was looking to be a short jaunt until his friend had appeared and rushed over to him.

"Of course I haven't," he says morosely, shivering a little from the chilly wind that whips past them and drawing his coat closer around himself. "If I had, I would have told you guys immediately."

Nemona makes a frustrated sound, stomping her feet in agitation. "Grrr…! How come they didn’t invite me? I want to see what's underneath all those caverns, too!"

“Juliana just got pulled along because she happened to be at Blueberry Academy,” he points out, stifling a lopsided smile at the student council president’s skewed priorities. Leave it to Nemona to be restless because she knew exciting things might be happening without her, not worried over terrifying nightmare scenarios.

"Can't we use those transporter thingies to get down there?!" They've reached the school steps, and Nemona takes them 3 at a time, lunging up them in athletic leaps before turning around to address him. "Or fly down on a Pokémon like last time?”

"We could if we really wanted to get down there, but last I checked, I think they’ve tightened security around there," he says, shaking his head as he makes his way up the stairs as well. "I doubt the League would be too happy to see you there.” Arven knows of several ways to sneak past if he needs to, of course, and Penny could easily breach the security measures as well. But the two of them dodging the authorities to poke around that place somehow feels quite different from the illustrious, promising young Champion Nemona being there. Maybe he’s grown so fond of his loud friend that he doesn’t want to tarnish her good reputation with the Paldea League Chairwoman. (Or maybe he’s simply afraid Nemona isn’t as good at keeping a secret.)

"Well, I don't want to let La Primera down, but still…" Nemona's shoulders slump, and she stands still for a moment, head downcast and green fringe dangling as she thinks, until she realizes Arven's made it past the step she's standing on. "But if you think the League's got security around there, that means they can probably keep an eye on Juli and the others too, right?" she reasons, hopping up the steps again and catching up with him.

He glances over at her in surprise. "Huh… come to think of it, you're right. Or at least, I hope you're right." He’s been so accustomed to thinking of the League as an obstacle that he’s never once considered that maybe, in this one particular circumstance, they might be an asset. He feels the crease between his brows smooth out, and keeps climbing the stairs with a bit more pep in his step.

She grins at him. "That's better! You looked so dismal before that I felt like I would burst into tears just looking at you!"

"Kinda rude telling someone their face makes you wanna cry," he tells her, "but I understand what you mean."

Nemona laughs, and puts on a burst of speed to reach the top step with a sizable lead. "Okay. Now that you feel better..." Turning to face him once more, she leans down, orange eyes glinting as her smile takes on a quality that some would call sinister, but Arven has come to recognize as simply ‘excited.’ "Wanna take your mind off things with a battle?!"

"Hmm..." Arven takes the last three steps in one leap as well, and gives her an answering smile. "Y'know what?” he says. “Yeah. I do."

Nemona cheers, jumping up and down and breaking into a run towards the battlefield in the schoolyard.

Arven, of course, loses handily, but it at least blows away some of his directionless anxiety.

------------------------------------------------------------

It's early the next day when he finally hears from her.

It's so early, in fact, that some would just call it "late."

The sun has not yet touched the horizon, and the night air is frigid, the clouds above threatening snow. But when she messages him with 'i'm coming home now. r u gonna be there waiting for me?', he decides he can’t wait until later to see her, and after sending a quick ‘Be right there’ in reply, he rushes outside to the school gates just as she rides up on the Pokémon he'd given her.

She throws herself into his arms as soon as she dismounts and recalls the beast, laughing when he picks her up and gives her a little spin.

"Heh, I feel like a little kid when you lift me up so easy, geez!" She pats his shoulders, since he's still holding her a few centimeters off the ground. Her laughter makes little white clouds in the cold winter air.

"You are little," he tells her, gently setting her down but keeping his hands on her sides as if to make sure she’s really here, safe and sound. "You really had me worried, y’know, but…” He beams at her, overjoyed. “Welcome home. Again."

Her eyes are sparkling, like they had the night of the meteor shower. She leans forward to wrap her arms around him once more, clinging to him. "I'm home again, mi tesor," she murmurs.

Hearing her say that in person makes his heart feel close to shattering from trying to contain all his emotions. He's too overwhelmed to respond, merely placing a hand on the back of her head to hold her against him.

"So, um," Juliana's voice is a little choked when she steps back, unshed tears shining at the corners of her eyes. "It went well. I, uh, caught Terapagos."

His jaw drops as he lets go of her. "You caught the origin of the Terastal phenomenon," he rephrases, incredulous.

"I mean, there used to be a lot more of them," she deflects with a bashful shrug. "This little guy was just all that was left." She holds up her Rotom phone, displaying Terapagos's picture and information on her PokéDex app while she gives him a brief recap of her adventure.

He stares at the tiny turtle-like creature on the screen in awe as he listens to her, and shakes his head. "You're really something else," he says. "Accomplishing all you did here, then capturing all these infamous Pokémon wherever else you go..." He laughs, the resulting mist drifting into the sky. "You're like the hero out of some fantasy story."

She flushes red, looking away from him as she puts away her phone. "I'm not a hero," she grumbles. "I just happen to be in the right place at the right time pretty often…"

"Well, you're my hero, anyway," he tells her, his smile not faltering even when she playfully shoves him.

"If you're done buttering me up," she says with a lopsided grin, "I'd like to finally give you your 'keepsake,' before someone decides to ship me off to another region again."

***

She leads him to the schoolyard, still frigid and gray in the early pre-dawn light. Arven wasn't sure what to expect when she grabbed his hand and pulled him along, but this does seem like a better place to talk, at least, since there are tables and benches in case they want to sit.

Juliana doesn’t seem inclined to sit at the moment, however. When she drops his hand, she takes a few paces away from him, her back turned. She tilts her head up to the sky for a few moments, then seems to take a deep breath before letting it out and turning to face him again, her fists clenched by her sides. "Okay," she says, her voice a little shaky. It's hard to tell in this light, but she looks a bit pink in the cheeks. "This is what I want to give you." Drawing a PokéBall from her pocket, she tosses it out. "Gala, come out!"

A Pokémon Arven has never seen before emerges: a gigantic red form coated with some kind of sticky, gooey substance. A long, green, serpentine figure tipped with a little crown on the head pops out of it. Arven's eyebrows fly up to his hairline as, when the creature looks around eagerly, four more wyrms poke their heads out of the apple-shaped base.

The Pokémon, whom Jul had called "Gala," spots him and makes an ecstatic sound halfway between a squeak and a hiss as it lunges for him.

"Wah!" he yelps as he steps back, only barely avoiding being smashed into fruitcake as the creature stops short of reaching him, the heads beginning to squabble and snap at each other (Arven can only assume they are arguing over who gets to take a bite of him first). "W-wait…" He takes a closer look at the large draconic Pokémon, who doesn’t make it easy, the many heads thrashing about as they are. Still, it’s enough. "A... Applin?!" he sputters in shock, realizing the crown on the tip of the largest wyrm's head is the very same shape as his little fruity friend.

Gala's heads cease their mutiny and all focus on him, making a familiar gleeful chirp at him as five serpentine heads all crowd around him, butting up against him, nuzzling his arms, and in the largest head's case, licking his cheek.

He laughs in amazement, petting each head in turn. "You got so big! Is that really you?!"

"She's a Hydrapple now," Jul says, laughing a little too as she walks towards them. "She evolved into a Dipplin in Kitakami, and before I knew it, she was evolving again when I was at Blueberry Academy." She strokes one of Gala's necks gently, and the hydra makes a trilling noise like a draconic purr as she relishes in the attention. "You said when you gave her to me that maybe someday, when your mission was over, I could give her back to you. And believe me, she's never let me forget it, have you, girl?" Gala makes a rumbling chirp, bobbing her heads. Juliana giggles, patting the leader head's snout.

"I... I can't believe this is that little Applin," he gets out. "But she seems so fond of you now; are you sure you want to give her back to me?"

"I was always going to give her back to you. Gala knew that too," Jul tells him. Her smile turns a bit wistful, and she drops her gaze to the ground as she keeps stroking the Dragon-type softly. "I, um… I wanted to give her back to you as an Applin, but things didn't turn out that way." She shuffles her feet, her words faltering, but one of Hydrapple's heads nudges her, almost like she's encouraging the Trainer, and Juliana takes another deep breath before going on: "See, in Galar, where I lived before…"

Arven stares, taking in her words curiously. When she glances up at him for a moment, he nods to let her know he's listening, but she shuts her eyes tight like she can't bear to look at him as she turns her face to the side slightly.

"There's… there's this tradition!" Juliana struggles to get out. "With—with Applin. If you give someone an Applin, it's—"

"—like a confession of love," he remembers, finishing the sentence automatically. Juliana's head whips up, her eyes widening in shock as she stares at him, and he jolts, realizing what he's just said. "Ah!" He raises both his hands, waving them around like he's washing windows. "I mean, I got curious before when you mentioned it having some kind of meaning in Galar, so I looked it up! I had no idea back then!" He forces an awkward laugh, his face heating up as he adds, "And of course, I-I'm not saying that's what's happening here!" It's not even the same Pokémon, after all.

Jul has turned to the side so much that all he can see is part of her cheek and her ear, both of which are rosy red in the watery yellow-gray light of dawn. "But, um..." He almost has to strain his ears to hear her quiet voice. "What if… it is, though?…"

Arven blinks, processing that.

This results in failure, so he tries it again.

It is still not making sense. He runs the conversation back in his mind a few times, trying to find some other phrase that her words must be a response to, but every time he only constructs one impossible full sentence when he puts his last statement together with her question:

What if a love confession IS happening here?

His mind goes blank. His mouth drops open slightly, but no words come out. Above, small white flakes begin drifting down on them.

"Gala, come back for a minute," Juliana mutters, head still turned away as she recalls the Dragon Pokémon in a swirl of red light and tucks the PokéBall away again. She draws in yet another deep, shaky breath, squares her shoulders, and turns on her heel to face the opposite direction from him, as if preparing to march off in silence.

"W-Wait!" he blurts, finding his voice again in a panic as his hand darts out to wrap around her wrist. "Don't just walk off! I—I need to wrap my head around this!"

She reluctantly turns back in his direction, but her head is lowered so he can't see her face. Snowflakes fall into her walnut-colored hair and melt away instantly.

"I—I um...!" He's desperate to keep her here, but the truth is that he's having trouble comprehending this. If he's reading things right (he almost never is, he reminds himself), Juliana, the person he's in love with, is…

Confessing her feelings for him.

She raised the Pokémon he gave her with care. She calls him silly nicknames on the phone. She teases him when she knows she can get away with it, but always shies away and laughs when things get too emotional. She's fearless, but can be so timid. Kind, but so harsh with herself. Straightforward, and yet absolutely inscrutable sometimes.

"Juliana, the truth is...!" His stomach is doing flips. His tongue trips over his words, and a choked, slightly hysterical-sounding laugh escapes. "Heh, sorry, um, I don't know if I'm about to laugh, cry, or be sick..."

"You're not helping my confidence here, pal," she grumbles, glancing up at him for a moment before returning her eyes to the ground. In that instant, though, he sees how flushed she is, how she's toeing the ground and fidgeting shyly; how very much she looks like not just the lively, reckless best friend he's fallen for, but also simply like a girl, trying to clumsily put her feelings out there to the guy she likes.

She looks like that for him. Because of him.

He loves her so much it's tearing him apart inside, and if he can't tell her right this second, he is going to explode.

"Juliana," he bursts out at last, tightening his hold on her wrist, "I've been trying to figure out for so long how to tell you that I love you!"

Finally, he gets to see her face again. Her head whips up, cheeks as red as Hydrapple's body, eyes even wider than when he'd finished her sentence earlier. "Wh-What?!"

"Uh, sorry," he says, realizing he'd kind of shouted something embarrassing as he lets her arm go. In the eastern sky, the sun begins to peek over the horizon, dying the atmosphere a hazy gold. "That was kind of sudden; I didn't mean for it to just come out like—"

Her hand suddenly shoots up to clamp over his mouth. "No no wait, hold up!" she halts him frantically. Her eyes move over his face like she's trying to see him through frosted glass. "You... love me?!"

His eyes drop down to her hand briefly as he feels himself blush up to his ears. "Mmmhrmm," he mumbles with a nod.

"Since when?!" she demands.

"Fimshlwss?" he answers, since he is unable to say much more with her hand over his mouth.

"Oh, sorry," says Jul, taking her hand away sheepishly and motioning him to speak.

"I said, since always?" he repeats himself.

Juliana shakes her head, confused. "What does that…?"

He stares at a spot a meter to her left, trying to remember enough to explain when his brain is currently overheating. "Well, I probably realized it around the time you accepted Applin from me in the first place?"

"Wait, wait," Jul stops him again, though this time she just waves a hand around as she holds the other to her forehead. "Didn't you think I was a guy back then?"

"Well... don't see why that should matter..." he mumbles, shoving his hands in his pockets as his cheeks blaze even hotter.

She's clutching her head with both hands now. "So this whole time... I've been flirting with you successfully?"

"Y-You've been flirting with me?!" he bleats, the increasing snowfall stinging against his heated face. All he can recall is a lot of teasing, not flirting.

"Scratch that; so much for it being successful," she revises, her shoulders slumping as she sighs. She kicks a stone near her feet, clasping her hands behind her, and then looks up at him out of the corner of her eye, speaking again hesitantly. "If I started flirting now would you understand, though?…"

He swallows. "I, um… N-Not sure," he stammers. "No experience with... that kind of thing."

"Fair enough," she says. "Me either."

A disbelieving scoff sputters out of him. "Don't be silly. Everyone adores you."

"Well, no one's ever liked me like this before!" she retorts.

"That's impossible," he says immediately. "I mean, you're..." His words trail off into a mumble, too embarrassed to finish his statement.

Juliana tilts her head at him. "What? Speak up."

"I said you're so easy to love!" he does as she tells him before he can think about it, and then he is the one to cover his big dumb mouth.

Her forehead is in her hands again, but even through her fingers he can see how pink she is. "C'mon, Arven, gimme a break… I just said I wanted to flirt with you, and you're beating me to the punch like that?!"

"Sorry," he says, full of chagrin. "Apparently, I don't have a great idea of what constitutes as flirting…" It hadn't been his intention. Has blurting out one's thoughts like that always counted as flirting? If so, he's been doing it for a while now, he supposes. Or maybe they both have?

"All right, y'know what, enough of this," Juliana says with a sigh, flinging her hands away from her face. Drawing herself up to her full (albeit unimposing) height, she closes the two steps' distance between them and looks him right in the eye, standing toe-to-toe with him. "I really suck at just plainly talking about my feelings, but it’s now or never, so here's the truth, as well as I can put it." He watches, perplexed, as she sets her brow in determination and clenches her fists.

"I think you're incredible!" she declares, voice seeming to reverberate through the empty schoolyard under the ever-growing shroud of snow. Behind her, the sun continues to rise, wreathing her head in glowing rays like a halo. "You've been through so much, but never lost your generous, caring heart and your desire to nurture others." She stretches up on her tiptoes to stare even more intently at him, poking an insistent finger into his chest for emphasis as she lists off more positive qualities: "You're super loyal to those you care about, you have godly cooking skills, and your eyes are the prettiest color I've ever seen!" Arven blinks those eyes at her rapidly, trying not to flinch as she keeps jabbing him—it's not that it hurts; it's just that it makes him feel even more like he's being repeatedly shot with Cupid's Arrows if she pokes him in the chest every time she praises him like this.

"You made me feel like what I wanted mattered for the first time, and made me want to be the better person you think I am." Her voice wavers a little at this, her brown eyes dropping to her feet as she withdraws her hands to hang at her sides. "During that meteor shower… that wish I made that I wouldn't tell you about… I wished to be the kind of person who could tell you honestly how I feel."

His mouth drops open in surprise at this revelation, but before he can say anything, Juliana takes a deep breath and speaks again. "You're the greatest treasure I've found here in Paldea!" she confesses forcefully, and screws her eyes shut tight, fists clenched at her chest as she makes one final declaration: "And I don't want to let anyone else have you!!"

With her heartfelt feelings still hanging in the air, suddenly all the bravado whooshes out of her like a punctured balloon as she rounds her shoulders and brings her hands together to tug on the end of her braid, eyes averted to the side. "Unless you want someone else to have you, I guess," she tacks on in a mumble.

Arven's eyes are as wide as saucers as he lets all her words sink in. He feels so lightheaded he's almost afraid he'll float out of his body. "You... you really feel all of that?" he breathes. "For me?"

"I definitely wouldn't have said all that embarrassing stuff if I didn't," she mutters. "But you deserve to hear things like that, so…"

He puts a hand over his mouth again as he feels it start to quiver. His face is probably Cheri berry red. His eyes feel hot, and his vision swims. He doesn't think he can say anything without it coming out as a sob, so he just keeps drinking in the sight of this adorable, precious young woman that loves him, as the snow begins to fall even heavier on them.

Juliana puts a hand over her forehead like she's shielding herself from bright sunlight, even though the snowy sky has turned the early morning sunrise rather dull. "I-If you're not going to say anything, could you at least not stare at me like that?" she begs him. "I feel like I'll die of shame…"

"You're right; I shouldn't just stare," he decides, voice coming out hoarse. "Actions speak louder than words."

He reaches out and pulls her into a hug, arms wrapping her up and holding tight.

She's tense at first, but within seconds he feels her melt into it, holding him in return. She starts to fidget after a while, though, growing restless in his hold. "A-Arven, um…" His name is muffled against his chest.

He loosens up, grinning at her apologetically. "Sorry, did I squeeze too tight? Couldn't help myself."

"N-No, that's not…" She shakes her head, cheeks still pink. There are tiny snowflakes between her eyelashes. Arven realizes she's still holding onto his sleeves, preventing him from letting her go entirely, when her fingers curl in the fabric as her grip tightens. She seems reluctant to meet his eyes. "Um, there's… something else I want to give you," she says timidly. "Besides Hydrapple."

What else could she possibly give him? He feels like he's already gotten the world. "Uh, okay," he says anyway, though. "What is—" His question is silenced by the sensation of warmth pressing against the corner of his mouth, briefly enough that he isn't completely sure what has just happened. "J-Juliana...?!" he stammers as she releases him and steps back. Had that been meant for his cheek, or…?

"Sorry to spring that on you," she says with a nervous laugh, still red up to her ears. "After I said all that, I felt like I had to get it out of my system, heh…"

"W-Wait, um," he protests, his heart just starting to catch up after having skipped several beats. "That… that doesn't seem fair!"

"Fair?" she repeats, raising her eyebrows.

"Well…" Arven fumbles for words, exasperated. "I mean, before, at the airport—"

"Oh god," she groans, burying her face in her hands. "Don't bring that up!"

"—and now again here," he plows on through her interruption, taking a step closer to her, "you never gave me the chance to react!" She’s always doing that, surprising him with some new and wonderful gesture but then dancing away out of his reach before he can reciprocate. She’s trying to avoid being too vulnerable, he realizes, but her vulnerable moments are just another part of her that he loves.

Juliana's shoulders jump in surprise when he grabs her hands, gently pulling them away from her face like she had done in that cave. Her eyes dart around evasively, her flush extending all the way up into her hairline. "S-Sorry about that," she stammers meekly, "but—"

"So can I try, now?"

She finally meets his eyes, gold-flecked burnt amber staring into turquoise. "Huh?!"

He holds her hands more firmly to keep them grounded. He doesn’t want to let her back out of things or hide from him this time. "I… want to try," he says again.

"I…" She bites her lip, which in this moment is so enticing it seems a little unfair. "I did tell you that you can touch me whenever you want," she finally mumbles as she looks away again. "So… if you really want to…"

"I do, um…" His throat bobs nervously. "Really want to."

"Then…" Juliana's eyes drift from the ground, to their hands, and finally up to his face. One of his hands lets hers go, and he reaches shaking fingers towards her flushed face. Her skin is so warm when he finally touches it, the heat spreading from his fingertips into his chest and down into his toes, in stark contrast with the flecks of snow melting on their skin. "Go ahead…?" she finishes in a murmur. He knows she intends the words almost as a challenge, but they're so soft and questioning that they sound more like a request.

He's always been terrible at refusing her requests.

He cups her cheek, turning her face upwards towards him, and Juliana's snowflake-studded eyelashes fall halfway shut, and then completely closed, waiting patiently.

He, on the other hand, can't wait a moment longer.

Hastily, clumsily, he tilts his head and brings his lips down to hers. It starts off as nothing special: soft skin against soft skin. But he knowledge of who is touching him, of what this is, makes lightning travel down his spine and his heart ache for more. He pauses, then tries once again, and shivers when he feels Juliana breathe out a sigh and meet him halfway, their lips molding together less stiffly this time as he finally closes his own eyes, giving himself over to the feeling. She reaches out to grasp his sleeve again, fingers trembling, and he lets her other hand go so he can wrap his arm around her waist, blind and relying on pure sensation to guide him. The hand cupping her cheek pushes up into her hair, soft silky strands sliding between his fingers as he cradles the back of her head. He is lost in the captivating scent of her, coconut and something else sweet and citrusy; lost in the sting of the snow on their cheeks and the heat of her mouth against his; lost in the rhythm of his heart as it surges in his chest. She feels like the comfort and security Arven can barely remember ever experiencing, something at once nostalgic and completely, thrillingly new.

"I think I might've forgotten to say this outright," Juliana murmurs when they draw back, "but in case it wasn't obvious: I love you, too."

Arven blinks rapidly, but Jul's image still swims before him no matter how much he tries to fight the emotion. "Against all odds, I did gather that," he tells her, "but thank you for saying it anyway." He turns his head away slightly, just in case any tears do happen to escape. "Thank you for, uh, a lot of things, actually…” Arceus, he hadn't let her see him cry even after all the events in Area Zero; is he really going to start now?

Juliana isn't going to let him hide from her, though. She reaches up to brush his bangs away from his eyes, and her smile is warm, and so, so sweet. Oh, there you are, he hears in his mind. She moves her hand down to his jaw, and draws him down for another kiss, and another, each one making him surer and surer that his most precious jewel is truly his at last.

================================================

(Yes, he does accept Gala back, LOL.)

Let's hope you can't tell which scenes I just finished 10 minutes before posting this!!

I only have a vague draft of part of an Epilogue for tomorrow, so I'm not sure it'll be done in time, but I truly hope I can get it done!! Until then, thank you so much for reading. I hope you know that I treasure all of you, and you are all gems, precious and unique and brilliant in my eyes. 💖💖💖

[arvianaweek]

Arviana Week Day 7!

Intro Post | Rules

Join us on Discord! (18+) | Tumblr | Twitter

[aestheticitii]

loving you is the easy part (Chapter 1 of 7)

"This—" She hands it to him. "—is a love letter. I wrote it for you, and then I thought you didn't like me so I hid it under the bed and wrote a new one." "So that's a yes?" he asks hopefully, watching her eyebrows disappear under her bangs. Juliana pokes his shoulder. "Well, I didn't write it to hear 'no' again." A nervous laugh escapes his throat. "We probably should talk about that first," he tells her. "Y'know, before we go on a date." "You weren't ready for a relationship, and that's fine," the brunette says, shrugging. "I didn't mean to make you feel bad about it. But now you are, so I expect you to move next Saturday's plans to tomorrow and go out with me." He smiles faintly at her demanding tone. "And then what are we going to do next Sunday?" "We'll go on a date, obviously," she retorts.

Arven and Juliana, through the years. For Arviana Week 2024.

Important Tags: Arven/Juliana, Soulmate-Identifying Timers, POV Alternating, Getting Together

[mysticalibra1994]

Arviana Week (Day 5)

@arvianaweek

(I apologize for being a bit late)

Ever since the small adventure of retrieving the Herba Mysticas for Mabosstiff, Arven couldn't stop celebrating his accomplishments; no matter how small. Mabosstiff showed his gratitude by giving Arven thankful kisses (he hasn't done that in a long time).

Arven hasn't smiled like that in a long time. It felt like forever to him since he'd met someone like Juliana.

This truly is a [dream come true].

[audacious-herbaceous]

My day 6 entry for Arviana Week. I chose the prompt Alternate Universe and drew a scene from the 2nd chapter @carriedreamerxx ‘s fic Serenada de Dracón!

[wingsonghalo]

A Jewel by Any Other Name: an Arviana Fanfic-- Chapter 5

Time for chapter 5!! The prompts are Dream Come True/Happy Ending/Ever After, and again tomorrow's chapter would fit those themes better, but again this fic is being posted for @arvianaweek!

This is probably my least favorite chapter because I feel like not much happens in it (and also I tried to think of a summary for literally over an hour and still only came up with one I hate), but hopefully it still makes you laugh at least, LOL.

Title: A Jewel by Any Other Name Fandom: Pokemon Scarlet and Violet Pairing: Arven/Juliana Rating: Teen Summary: “Just… What do you want me to call you?” He’s not sure why it’s suddenly such a pressing question, but it bothers him now, realizing that his friend is probably the most important relationship in his life and he doesn’t even know his name. Arven’s never had a friend before, and though his feelings for his little buddy keep growing and changing faster than he can keep up with, there are still some key pieces of information he’s missing. Like, y'know, his best friend’s name and gender. Depicts missing scenes from throughout the game, including the DLC and Epilogue! Posted for Arviana Week 2024! Summary for this chapter: (Tickle) fights and (airplane) flights. Wordcount for this chapter: 6,778 Also available on: Ao3 Support me on: Patreon | Ko-fi  Previous chapters: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4

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Chapter 5: A Bird, Set Free

He does his best to sleep, really. He lays in bed, listening to Mabosstiff's snuffly snores from the corner, and stares at his ceiling, willing his brain to enter sleep mode. He tosses and turns, scrolls on his phone (he ends up accidentally just looking through his photos of Juliana, which is not helpful), and even tries reviewing his Battle Studies notes.

No matter what he does, he can't stop replaying that moment in his head.

Her adorable flushed cheeks. Her eyes, filled with resolve. Her hands, clutching at his sleeve as she rocked forward on her toes. Her soft, warm mouth pressing against his face for just an instant.

Juliana had... kissed him, hadn't she? On purpose? With that look of determination on her face, and the fact that she hadn't said ‘whoops, I definitely didn't mean for my mouth to touch you!’ immediately afterward, he has to conclude that it wasn't an accident. He's heard before that such a gesture is a common greeting in other regions, but as far as he knows, Galar isn't one of them, and it didn't seem like a simple goodbye.

She also referred to it as "something else Nemona and Penny didn't get." Does that mean she wouldn't do that for them? Is it a special privilege afforded only to Arven, her very best friend?

Or is it more?

He flings his pillow over his face and groans, his thoughts running circles around each other like Nemona’s and Juliana’s Pawmots had been doing earlier.

If he's reading the situation correctly (which he almost never is), she seems to be expressing feelings for him. Feelings similar to the ones he has for her. But he's never had feelings like this before, so he can't be sure they're actually on the same page. Maybe she feels affection for him, but it hasn't passed the threshold into "romantic" territory yet. Maybe she's unaware or unsure of how she feels. Or, the worst-case scenario, maybe she's figured out how Arven feels and is trying to placate him with holding hands and a cheek-kiss because she doesn't know how to let him down easy.

Crap, that's exactly what she would do, isn't it?! She'd said herself that she has a problem saying 'no' to people. She had even broken down in tears before about how she felt like she had no will of her own. Perhaps what he'd seen in her eyes before she kissed him tonight had not been her gathering her courage, but her bracing herself to do something she found difficult or unpleasant. What if his overwhelming, obvious feelings are putting her in a corner?!

He realizes he's starting to feel a bit lightheaded from the pillow over his face, and sits up in bed, letting the pillow fall into his lap and gasping in air in deep breaths.

Is he really so worked up about this that he’d just almost suffocated himself with a pillow? (Yes, that would seem to be the case.)

Resigning himself to his sleepless fate, Arven throws back his covers, swings his legs over the side of his bed, and hoists himself up, trudging over to his desk and sitting heavily in the chair. If he's going to be up anyway, he supposes he ought to spend the time reviewing for his finals.

He finally passes out in the wee hours of the morning, sprawled across his Language notes.

***

He wakes a whole six hours later to Mabosstiff whining and nudging his hand, which has dropped off the desk and is hanging limply.

"Mmm..." He groans, screwing his eyes closed more tightly against the sunlight trying to rouse him through his eyelids. Mabosstiff, unsatisfied with this reluctant response, decides to do things the hard way and covers his whole hand in drool with a huge lick. "Gah, ugh, Mabosstiff!" he complains, springing upright and shaking off his hand. His Pokémon takes a step back and wags his tail, completely remorseless.

Arven sighs, peeling a piece of lined paper off his cheek as he wipes his drool-sticky hand on his pajama pants. He stretches out his back, which cracks like someone thrice his age after being slumped over his desk for so long, and trudges to his bathroom to get ready for the day.

His phone buzzes twice as he sluggishly brushes his teeth, indicating messages from Nemona. Raising an eyebrow at the notification, he taps the screen.

did u heat????? she's written with the usual too many punctuation marks, and then below that, *hear?????

He doesn't bother responding, knowing that she'll send him another message with the explanation anyway.

Sure enough, a few seconds later, another message pops up:

theyre gonna send juli away again!!!!! to a school in unova!!!!! 😭😞🥺

Arven almost drops his toothbrush in his haste to put it down and snatch up the phone.

What do you mean? he texts back, and just a moment later, the phone begins ringing. He swipes to answer it.

"They announced it in our homeroom this morning!" Nemona shouts in a rush. Arven winces, both from the sudden high volume and from the realization that he's missed his first class. "I don't have much time to explain right now—on my way to Math—but they said she's being sent as an exchange student to Blueberry Academy in Unova! Apparently they've got this whole big underwater facility that uses Tera energy—"

"Nemona," he cuts her off, "why are they announcing this now? She just got back from Kitakami yesterday!"

Nemona makes an uncertain murmur. "I wish I knew. Juli smiled and nodded when Jacq congratulated her on her 'exemplary academic spirit,' but she looked so tired. You didn't keep her up too late canoodling, did you?" she suddenly asks, suspicion darkening her tone.

"Wh—no, of course not!" he sputters. "We just talked! What do you mean by 'canoodle' anyway?!" He shakes his head. "Never mind. Not important. What is important is—where is Juliana right now?"

"Jacq excused her for the day after homeroom since she looked so pale. I think she said she was gonna go take a nap—told me she was still majorly jetlagged."

"Got it. Thanks," he says, and ends the call.

Throwing on a new change of clothes, recalling Mabosstiff, and freshening up as well as he can in a few minutes, he books it out the door and down the hall towards the first year dorms.

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He raps on her door, five rhythmic knocks that sound like the healing machine at a Pokémon Center to let her know who it is, and after a few moments, Juliana opens the door, her messy hair loose around her neck and her eyes tired. She might actually have been about to take a nap, because her shirt is rumpled and loose and hangs much too low in the neck, and her pajama shorts look a little too short and tight for (Arven's) comfort. "I take it Nemona told you?" she says listlessly.

Arven struggles to recall what he was going to say, his eyes moving over her frantically before he decides to focus on her face and nothing else. "Y-Yes," he says when he remembers what words are.

His best friend sighs, and steps aside. "Come on in."

"Er," says Arven nervously. "Are you sure? I... I can wait if you want to, uh…" He gestures vaguely to her outfit.

"Huh?" Jul scrunches up her face, but then looks down at herself. "Oh. Yeah, I guess this is kinda frumpy to receive guests in. Just a sec." She closes the door in his face.

The problem isn't really that Arven is a guest, but that he's a man. But perhaps he's the only one struggling with that. He hopes she wouldn't have answered the door for anyone else in such a state, however.

In less than a minute, Juliana opens the door again. She's pulled a baggy blue hoodie over her sleep top, and some bright multicolored leggings with triangle patterns now cover her under the sleep shorts, which unfortunately still do not hide the alluring shape of her legs. "Better?"

"Sure," he lies, and this time steps into her room.

Jul closes the door and flings herself onto her bed, grabbing an oversized Skwovet plush and hugging it as she hunches into a ball. "You can sit anywhere," she tells him. "Chair, bed, wherever you want."

He takes the chair. "So..." he broaches the subject finally, "You're going to Unova." Even as he says it, he hopes he's misunderstood. He feels like he only just got her back; surely she'll tell him it's all a big mistake and they'll have a good laugh about it.

But it doesn't look like Juliana's ready to laugh. She rests her chin on the plush Skwovet's head. "I guess that's the idea."

His heart clenches. "But why?!" he bursts out. "Didn't they give you the chance to say no?"

She turns her face downward even more, hiding her mouth behind the plush. "Not really... Director Clavell told me it was an extraordinary opportunity. Said he's friends with the director of Blueberry, and that the director requested me specifically." Burying her face in the Skwovet completely, her next words are muffled. "He said, 'One should always take advantage of new challenges like this, don't you think?' and I said, 'Yes, sir.'"

Arven runs a hand through his hair, agitated. He can't deny that he's frustrated and disappointed, but forget how he feels—how does she feel about it? "Do you want to go, at least?”

Her pouting face reappears from its fluffy prison. "Well, I want to see my friends from Kitakami again, and of course I'm curious to see the school they go to and maybe even the rest of Unova, but..."

Forcing a smile, Arven shrugs. "Then no buts. If you want to go, then you should."

Juliana places her plush aside and scoots to the edge of her bed to let her legs dangle over the side, holding onto the bedspread on either side of her hips. "But I'd have to leave in like, five days in order to do the exchange student trip and still make it back here for finals!" she exclaims, leaning forward with her words. "Can I really pull off another month-long trip at this point in the school year?!"

"Probably better than I could, anyway," he answers, since he's still struggling to catch up in his classes.

She groans and flops back on her bed to stare at the ceiling. "I want to go… I'm pretty sure I want to go," she repeats to herself. "But how much of it is that I want to go, and how much of it is that I just feel like they expect me to?"

Arven pauses to consider that.

If he does what his selfish instincts scream at him to do, he could very easily persuade her to stay. Stay and tell him what she wished for, stay and give him whatever she'd been planning to give him, stay and let him finally put into clumsy words what she means to him.

But he finds himself unwilling to be selfish this time, when it comes to her. He'd told her that he wants her around—to eat his food, be his friend, and do whatever she wants to do in Paldea. But if she wants to do things elsewhere, who is he to stop her?

She’d come back to him once already, hadn’t she?

Crossing the room and sitting down next to her on the bed, he looks down at her face. Her brown hair is splayed all around her head, and her perfect eyebrows are furrowed in the middle of her forehead. Her eyes lock onto his, and he sees the questions there. She's looking for him to tell her what she should do, but he knows now that it's not what she needs.

"Why don't we flip it around," he says gently, "and ask instead: If you stayed, how much of it would be because you want to stay, and how much of it would be because we don’t want you to leave?"

The little wrinkle between her brows gets even deeper, and her mouth turns down in a pout. He hasn't told her what she wants to hear. "Do you want me to stay?" she asks more directly.

He surprises both of them by reaching out to smooth the crease in her brow. "I want you to explore everywhere you want, do whatever you feel like doing, see everything your heart desires... and then when you're all done, come back to us."

"You sound like my mom," she accuses him, turning onto her side away from him. Her ear looks kind of pink.

"From what I've heard about your mom, that's a compliment."

"Yeah, it is," she sighs, still sounding annoyed. She picks at the pattern on her bedspread a little. "You wouldn't be mad if I went?"

"Not mad, no," he says, shaking his head.

"But sad, though?"

"Yeah, probably. Devastated, even."

Jul rolls back over, looking up at him again in dismay. "Then...! I don't want you to feel like that!"

"I'd be more devastated, though," he tells her firmly, "if you gave up on something you wanted for my sake."

She frowns again, pressing her mouth into a line, and reaches up, fingertips ghosting over his cheek and moving to brush aside his bangs to see his eyes like she had back then in the Home Ec room. "I guess you don't need me as much as before, huh?" She sounds a little lonely as she begins to let her hand fall away.

He grabs onto her hand and holds it to his face before she can get too far away. "I do need you," he insists. "But I need you happy. You really think I'd be satisfied with just keeping you here like a bird in a cage?" A few months ago, that might have been good enough for him. If he had Juliana, he didn't need anyone else, or so he'd thought.

Now, though... after she opened his eyes to other people who care about him, convinced him to make an effort to be understood by others, assured him that he is more than just the son of a dead Professor... he could never hold back the girl he loves from doing what she wants to do.

Juliana's warm caramel eyes are staring up at him. Her lips are parted in mild surprise. Her lightly-freckled cheeks are rosy.

He abruptly realizes he's still holding her hand to his cheek, and drops it like he's been burned, turning away and clearing his throat loudly. "S-Sorry."

"Don't be," she says in a quiet voice. "You... can touch me whenever you want. I don't mind."

A hot flush spreads across his whole scalp and down his neck. Don't just say that when you're looking up at me on your bed all disheveled like that! he begs her in his mind, but "Y-You shouldn't say that to people..." is all he grumbles out loud.

"I'm not saying it to people," she reasons. "I'm saying it to you."

He ruffles a hand through his hair, still not facing her. "I'm people too, y'know... but whatever. Same here, I suppose..."

"Then..." He hears her sit up, feels her presence next to him, and then registers her arms around him from the back. "I can do this whenever I want?"

"Y-Yeah," he gets out, trying not to let his voice crack. "If you want to." Not if she's all the way in Unova, he doesn't say.

The arms around him don't move, but the next time Jul speaks, she sounds more timid. "And... what about the thing I did last night?"

Another fiery wave of embarrassment (and a little excitement) washes over him. "D-Do whatever you want," he manages to say.

Juliana giggles, after a brief moment of surprise, and her arms move up to slide around his neck. He smells her coconut shampoo, and then briefly sees her hair out of the corner of his eye as she stretches forward from behind him to kiss his cheek again before letting go of him.

He whirls to face her, his face pulsing with heat. "Wh-why?!" is all he's able to blurt out, pressing a palm over the spot she kissed like it's going to leave a mark.

"Well, I'm already allowed to hug my other friends whenever I want," she laughs, her own cheeks pink with mirth, "so I've gotta do something else to show you I like you best, haha!" She'd had to stand on her knees to reach him, he notes to himself—even sitting down, Jul's so much tinier than he is.

Why is he always at the mercy of this little wisp of a girl? She teases him and prods him like it's only a game to her, but all the while he's trying desperately not to let on that it's no game to him. He wants to pull her close to him by the waist. Stop her laughter with his mouth. Show her seriously how very much he likes her best, too.

Instead, he spitefully reaches out and pokes her right below her ribs.

"Your face was totally priceless, hahahAugh!" her laugh turns into something more like a shriek at his sudden poke as she dances away from him.

"Oh?" he says, raising his eyebrows. "That's an interesting reaction. Could it be that you're... ticklish?" He raises his hands and wiggles his fingers threateningly.

"Noooo!" she whines, trying to cover her midsection protectively. "Don't...!"

"But Jul, you said I could touch you," he reminds her smugly, closing in. Finally, his chance to turn the tables! "Don't tell me you forgot already."

"Not like this!" she begs, reaching out to grab his forearms. "Please, I won't be able to control myself. What if I kick you in the face?!"

"I'll just have to be careful then!" he decides, lunging forward to tickle her sides.

"NO—HAHAHA—NOOOO!" she yells, flailing wildly and attempting to squirm away.

"No escape!" he says in a playful villainous voice, dodging her involuntary kick and poking the side of her neck where it meets her shoulder next. "I've got you right where I want you!"

"EEK! HAHAHAHA!" she shrieks and cackles like a crazy woman, weakly hitting his arms in protest until he grabs onto one to stop her, at which point she falls onto her back and curls up like a Tarountula, jabbing her feet at him instead as he targets her stomach next. "DON'T—heeheehee—ARVENNN!"

"Maybe you shouldn't have just—ow—given me free rein!" He does catch her foot in his chest, but it hardly deters him from drumming his fingertips up and down her belly, delighting in the joyful peals of laughter from her and starting to laugh right along with her.

She writhes around trying to dodge him, laughter turning slightly wheezy. "HAHAHA—oh god, sorryyYYEEEHEEHEE!" She attempts to apologize for the unintended foot to the chest, but quickly goes back to just laughing again when he pretends to play her tummy like a keyboard. "NOOO, WAIT—heeheehee!—IT HURTS, I CAN'T TAKE ANYMOOOORE!!"

"What the hell is going on here?!" says a sudden third voice from the doorway. Both tickler and tickle-ee's heads whip up to see Penny standing there, hand still on the door from having flung it open. Her eyes pop open wide behind her glasses at the sight before her: Arven, leaning over a screaming, struggling, and disheveled Juliana, his hands on her torso as her foot presses against his chest, both of them red-faced and out of breath.

"I can explain," he says, springing away from her and holding up a halting hand toward Penny desperately. Juliana, chest still heaving from laughter, sits up.

Penny's rolling up her hoodie sleeves, her teeth bared in a snarl as she stomps towards him. "You better hope you can in the next 5 seconds."

"Ah, well," he starts in a rush, scrambling to his feet, "sh-she said I could touch her whenever I wanted, and I just wanted to get across that she probably shouldn't say something so reckless to a guy so—"

"So that makes it okay for you to force yourself on her?!" Penny's voice is always quiet, but he never thought it getting even quieter would be this terrifying. She looks like a vengeful demon as she advances on him, and though he's not sure how hard of a punch she can throw with her scrawny little gamer arms, he's not keen on finding out if adrenaline would make it hurt anyway.

"Penny, please!" Juliana finally gets the strength back to speak, though still somewhat breathlessly, jumping between them to lower her indignant friend's arms. "He'd never do anything like that to me! He was just tickling me!"

All the unbridled righteous fury drains out of Penny like a deflating soufflé. "Tickling?" she repeats, looking from Arven to Juliana. "But you sounded like you were telling him to stop..."

Jul’s cheeks, still red with exertion, now flush anew with embarrassment. "I mean, I never actually said 'stop' since I was still having fun, but being tickled just kinda…" she mumbles, staring at the floor and twirling a strand of hair around her finger bashfully.

"I-I didn't realize anyone would be able to hear from outside the room," Arven jumps in, and then quickly realizes that that does not help his case. "N-No!" he blurts desperately, spreading his hands like he's trying to calm a rearing Mudsdale, "I mean, I didn't know it would be disruptive o-or give anyone…” He casts around for words. “S-s-strange ideas!"

Penny has now placed her forehead in her hand, utterly exhausted with them. "No, this is on me, clearly. Anyone would know better than to think you were capable of overpowering Juliana."

"Hey," he says, a little offended. He is much bigger than Juliana is; surely he doesn't come across as some kind of featherweight?

Juliana pats his shoulder. "It's a compliment," she assures him gently. "She means you'd never even think of such atrocious behavior." Looking at Penny with meaningfully raised eyebrows, she adds, "Right, Penny?"

"Sure," says Penny unconvincingly. Arven frowns, but doesn't press the matter. "Anyway, you guys would do well to think for a second before you fool around like that." Putting her hands on her hips, she glares at them like a stern older sibling (or so Arven assumes, since he’s never had one of those). "If anyone but me had walked in on you, you'd have gotten expelled before you even had a chance to defend yourselves."

They both hang their heads, acknowledging her point. "Sorry," they say in unison.

Pointing to Juliana, Penny goes on. "You: Arven's right. You can't just tell a guy he can touch you whenever, even if that 'guy'"—she uses finger quotes—"is Arven."

"Hey!" says Arven again, resenting the way she’d said that.

"But...!" Juliana starts, then bites her lip and nods meekly. "Fine..."

Penny moves her admonishing finger over to Arven now. "And you! Tickling? Really? What are you, eight? Grow up and interact with her like the teenagers you are!"

Arven doesn't really want to hear that from a legendarily socially-awkward girl with the world's cutest backpack, but he crosses his arms and huffs out a sigh. "Yeah, okay."

"Anyway, your abysmal attempts at flirting aside"—she ignores both of their stammering and denials—"I heard from Nemona that Juliana's as popular as usual." She takes a seat in Juliana's chair. "Blueberry Academy, huh? Tell me everything."

***

"Hmm..." Penny sips the tea Juliana ended up making for the three of them. "Isn't it kind of weird that someone you've never met knows you by name? What, just because you befriended two of his students? Sounds sus to me."

"Penny," Arven hisses harshly, glancing at Juliana, seated next to him on the bed, to gauge her reaction. "Don't say anything unnerving." He's worried Jul might be freaked out if she implies anything like the stalking incident is occurring.

"It's fine, Arven," Juliana placates him with a grateful smile, probably seeing right through him. To Penny, she shrugs. "I think it's weird too, but I did end up talking to that instructor, Ms. Briar, a lot as well—maybe it was her who recommended me to Blueberry's Director." Having tamed her hair into a short braid down one side of her head, she tugs on the half-PokéBall-shaped hair decoration near the end of it in thought. "She said she's a descendant of Heath, that guy that explored Area Zero. And when she whisked my friends back to Blueberry, she said they'd had some kind of development regarding her permissions to go explore the Great Crater?" Arven's eyebrows raise in surprise—this is the first he's heard this information. "I don't know," Juliana concludes with another shrug. "I can't figure out if they're trying to test me, or think I'll be useful, or really are just that 'impressed' with me. But one thing I do know is that I need to have a good long talk with one of my friends. We... didn't part on the best of terms." She lowers her head, looking downcast.

"That one who idolized the ogre," Arven remembers, and Juliana nods.

"Wait, ogre?" Penny repeats, puzzled.

"Oh, right, I never talked about that part with you or Nemona," Jul realizes, and gives her a quick rundown of everything that had happened in Kitakami with the Pokémon from the legends.

"This ogre sounds pretty cool," Penny remarks once the other girl has finished explaining. "Can we see it?"

Jul looks apologetic as she draws a finger around the rim of her teacup. "I want to introduce you guys to her, but she's really shy around new people, so I was planning to do it one person at a time. That's why I didn't bring her out at the picnic yesterday."

Penny nods, no doubt understanding what it's like to be shy around strangers. "No worries then." Pushing her glasses up her nose, she frowns as she switches tracks in the conversation again. "But it's interesting... a descendant of Heath teaching at a school that utilizes the Terastal phenomenon, checking out a small rural place that also just so happens to be connected to that same energy… and then to take an interest in you, who's explored the Great Crater herself..."

"B-But I never told her I've been down there!" Juliana defends herself.

"She saw that Pokémon of yours, though, didn't she?" Penny guesses. "You're always riding around on it, and anyone that familiar with Heath's expedition might draw their own conclusions."

Jul's shoulders slump guiltily. "Oof," she says.

"I'm just saying: beware of anyone whose intentions are questionable," the other girl concludes, taking another sip of tea.

"Is that really anything the former leader of Team Star should be saying to her? Talk about questionable intentions," Arven points out, setting aside his own empty teacup.

"No, I was very much including myself in that," says Penny. "And you. Pretty much the only one who's been straightforward about things right from the start is Nemona."

Arven and Jul both murmur in agreement at that, and as if Penny's words have performed some kind of summoning charm, all three heads turn towards the door when a knock resounds.

Jul springs up to answer it, and Nemona's high-energy voice spills in as soon as the door is open. "Hey, I came over as soon as my classes were done—oh, is it a pajama party? Should I have worn pajamas?"

"I'm the only one in pajamas," Juliana chuckles, stepping aside to let her friend in. "But apparently none of my friends are going to let me sleep today."

***

Nemona, ever the optimist, doesn't seem to buy into Penny's little conspiracy theory. She even laughs when they run it by her. "C'mon, you guys!" She reaches an arm over Juliana's shoulders and gives her a friendly shake. "Maybe they just know a super-special Pokémon Trainer when they see one like I do!"

"'Super special'? Don't you just challenge everyone indiscriminately when you meet them?" Penny asks, deadpan.

The taller girl's grin turns a bit sheepish. "Yeah, well, Juls ended up actually meeting those 'super special' expectations," she reasons. "So maybe someone with a more discerning intuition would recognize that in her right away."

"I appreciate the flattery," Juliana says with a wry smile, "but I really don't think that's it..."

"Well, no matter what, at least you'll be somewhere with a better phone signal, right?" She gives Juliana a gentle punch to the arm. "You'll be able to keep in contact with all of us more consistently, not just Arven."

"I kept in touch with all of you!" Juliana says defensively, looking a bit embarrassed.

"Yeah, by interacting on our social media posts and sending us a weekly update if we were lucky," Penny snorts. "Meanwhile, that guy"—she gestures to Arven with her thumb—"was smiling sappily at his phone every time you sent a cutesy sticker and spent most of his free time pining away and waiting for you to contact him."

"I—I did not!" he says indignantly, his face heating up. "I was spending that time studying, thank you very much!"

"Yeah, studying your message history,” says Penny mercilessly, “and I notice you didn't say anything about the sappy smiles."

"Heh, sappy, pining..." Nemona snickers. "If we needle him any more, he'll just turn into an evergreen tree!"

"Ugh, Nemona," Penny scoffs, wrinkling her nose, "that was like, a My Dad-tier joke."

"Thanks!"

"It was not a compliment."

"Well, I, for one," Juliana interjects, "enjoyed the joke." She pauses. "Spelled 'j-o-a-k,'" she clarifies.

Nemona wheezes. "Of course! What are friends fir?"

"Oh god, make it stop," Penny groans, forehead resting in her palm.

"Now, guys," Arven says in a firm tone, and as all eyes are drawn to him, he cracks a smile and continues: "we need to con-cedar Penny's feelings here."

Juliana and Nemona erupt into uproarious laughter as Penny calls him a traitor and throws a pencil from Juliana's desk at him.

"Ow," he complains through his laughter, "that's going to leave a spruce!"

"You're all dead to me," Penny tells them melodramatically.

"Penny, we all know your bark is worse than your bite," Jul ribs her.

"Aw, screw you, Juliana."

"Don't you mean—" Nemona snorts before she can continue, "screw yew?"

"That one doesn't work as well because they sound the same," Jul points out, "but I appreciate the effort to branch out into different trees."

"I'm glad you thought of another one," Arven agrees with a nod. "I was stumped."

"You wood have thought of one eventually!" Nemona encourages him.

Penny's still clutching her head in pain. "I can't believe you guys."

"Be-leaf," corrects Arven, and the three of them dissolve into giggles again. By the time the laughter winds down, he's almost forgotten that the whole thing started because they were making fun of him. Almost.

"Well, it's been good while it lasted," their unamused (punamused?) friend says with a sigh as she gets to her feet, "but unfortunately I can never speak to any of you again."

"Aww, you're gonna let me go to Unova after telling me that?" Juliana guilts her, sticking out her lower lip.

Penny rolls her eyes, her pale cheeks coloring slightly. "No," she says reluctantly. "But seriously, next time you guys decide to get punny, let me leave first. Don't," she says immediately, pointing at Arven, "make a joke about my saying 'leave' just now."

He holds up his hands in surrender. "Hadn't even occurred to me," he lies. She squints at him suspiciously.

"When do you leave for Unova, anyway?" Nemona asks.

Juliana's hands twitch into fists in her lap. Arven feels the impulse to hold her hand, but quickly dismisses the notion—he can't do that when the others are here, can he? "Less than a week," she finally answers. "If I do it now, I should be back by the second week of February, which would give me just enough time to cram for the finals here in the beginning of March."

Penny shakes her head, looking sympathetic. "Man, you are one seriously dedicated student. I think I'd just repeat a year if it was me…"

"Juli can handle it," Nemona says confidently, placing a hand on Juliana's head and patting her. "There hasn't been a challenge yet she hasn't risen to."

The smile Jul gives her is complicated—she looks grateful, but pained, too.

He casts aside his embarrassment and uncurls one of her fists to hold her hand, like she’d done for him back in that cave what feels like ages ago. If Nemona gets to touch her casually, so should he, right? "We believe in you," he tells Juliana, "but it's okay even if things don't work out. Just try your best."

Her smile smooths out a little, and she twines her fingers with his. "Yeah," she says. "Okay. I will." Looking around at all three of them, she beams. "Thanks, guys. I'll... I'll tell Director Clavell tomorrow that I'm officially accepting Blueberry Academy's invitation."

Nemona pumps her fist and whoops. Penny nods. Arven squeezes Jul's hand.

"Now all of you, get out already!" Juliana bursts out suddenly. "I still haven't gotten to take a nap!"

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The next few days pass in a whirl, with Juliana making her preparations to travel to Unova (she visits her mother at home in that time as well) and classes continuing as usual for the others.

Arven does get to meet Ogerpon, the day after their little group hang-out in Jul's room. The ogre is exactly as Juliana described, shy and sweet. When Arven first sees her, she hides behind Juliana's legs like a small child behind their parent, but within an hour's time (and after some food he prepares especially for her), she's already treating him like a friend. Jul notes that Ogerpon has warmed up to Arven much faster than she had to her friend from Kitakami, which he tries not to be too obviously smug about.

"I think she likes you because she can tell how much I trust and like you," Jul reasons.

"I think she likes me because I fed her," Arven counters, looking down at the Pokémon as she hops and dances around his legs in his dorm kitchen. "Right, Ogerpon?"

"Poni!" the little orange-and-green Pokémon cries excitedly, tugging at his pants leg with a big starry-eyed grin as he finishes peeling and cutting up a tangerine next to the sink.

Arven places another plate, loaded with a rice ball and some sliced fruit, down on the table, and Ogerpon exclaims with glee and eagerly (ogrely?) digs in.

"See?" he says to Jul with a raised eyebrow.

"My thing could still be true," she insists with a frown. "But I guess this is pretty much how you first won me over."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When Juliana's plane leaves for Unova, it's 5 in the morning, freezing cold, and still dark outside.

Penny wasn’t able to make the early wake-up time on a Saturday, and Nemona is away at her family home for the weekend for some kind of fancy party, so their farewells have already been exchanged. Thus, Arven is the only one here to see her off. He probably should be a little less secretly pleased about it.

"At least this flight's only 8 hours," he says as he checks the departure and arrival times on the displays. They're sitting in the waiting area near her gate. A mother and her young son snooze on the bench behind them, while a few seats down in their row he spots a little girl nervously clutching onto her Espurr in her lap. Arven can't tell whether the Pokémon is being squeezed too hard, or if it just always looks that petrified.

Jul hides her yawn behind her sleeve, flipping through one of the ancient magazines from one of the tables. "Yeah," she answers his comment. "It'll be a breeze..." She tries turning a few more pages, but eventually sighs and sets it aside, focusing her attention fully on him instead. "Listen, I didn't know how to broach this subject, and maybe you forgot about it and I'm worrying over nothing, but..." He waits, concerned, as she waffles on her next words, avoiding his eyes. "I know I didn't get a chance to give you... anything I said I would," she finally gets out, glancing up at him apologetically.

He blinks at her. "You were worried about that? Don't be. You've got a lot on your plate." Sure, thoughts about that stuff sometimes keep him up at night, but that's more of a 'him' problem.

Her hand reaches over the armrest to touch his, a little uncertainly. "I'm... I'm saving your souvenir," she explains. "And my wish. For... a better time. It'll be worth it!" she insists confidently, but her voice is timid again as she looks away. "I hope..."

Smiling to put her at ease, he holds her hand. "No idea what you're nervous about, but of course any souvenir from you is worth waiting for. The wish, though... you did say you'd tell me when you got home," he reminds her. "You really can't just tell me now?"

She shakes her head vigorously, her cheeks coloring. "Nope. Definitely not."

He wonders if it's something personal, something that would take a long time to explain. Wanting to reassure her, he squeezes her hand. "Hey, whatever it is, you can tell me when you feel ready, and I promise I'll accept it."

Jul just gives him a wry smile, but before she can say anything else, the intercom dings and a smooth voice announces: "Flight AP907 to Mistralton, now boarding at Gate B24."

The little girl with her Espurr hops to her feet, as does the mother with her son and an elderly man with an Audino. Arven reluctantly lets Jul's hand go when they stand up, too.

Juliana extends the handle on her luggage and adjusts her coat. "Well," she says, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "Guess this is it..."

"Yeah," he says, a little awkward. "Safe travels, little buddy."

"Oh, come here already," she says with a laugh, and flings her arms around him one more time. He holds her tight, trying to memorize the feeling of her in his arms, until a few moments later when she begins to withdraw. She stops him before he can step back entirely, though, tugging on the front of his vest and saying something near his ear that is drowned out by the second call for her flight.

"What?" He turns his head to face her, hoping to read her lips if he can't hear her.

He shouldn't have moved, though, because now instead of reading her lips, he's feeling them.

With his own.

It doesn't last long enough to be a kiss. It's barely even a touch. But it's warm and soft and they're both launching themselves a meter apart in alarm a millisecond later.

"God, s-sorry!" she stammers, face beet-red as she covers her mouth with both hands. "I-I just, I mean, your cheek was there, but then you—!"

His face feels like it's going to catch fire any second. "Nonono, i-it's fine, I'm sorry!" his apology overlaps hers as he waves his hands frantically. "I couldn't hear you, and—"

"—it was just a little good-bye thing—"

"—so I was just trying to ask what you said—"

"—totally an accident—"

"—absolutely, completely unintended—"

"Sorry!" they both finish.

"Uh, I-I'm... gonna go to Unova now!" she squeaks, glancing around self-consciously at a few onlookers who have started to hide giggles behind their hands.

"Right," he gets out, clearing his throat. "Um. Fly safely."

"I'm not flying the plane," she reminds him as she starts to drag her luggage, "but thanks! Talk to you soon!"

"Okay!" he says, raising an awkward hand to wave at her as she walks backwards towards her gate. "B-Bye!"

Her face is still pink all the way to her hairline, but she laughs and waves, smiling at him fondly. "Be home before you know it!" With that, she finally disappears out of sight into the terminal.

"I sure hope so," he murmurs as he lowers his arm, already missing her.

===============================================

Sorry about all that DLC exposition lkdfjlk.

Also sorry I didn't let Penny say fuck. I had her burst into the room with "What the FUCK is going on here?!" for the longest time but I changed it at the last second LMAO. I hope all the nonsense and tree puns made up for it a little.

See you again tomorrow, and thank you for reading! 💖

[arvianaweek]

Arviana Week Day 6!

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[wingsonghalo]

A Jewel by Any Other Name: an Arviana Fanfic-- Chapter 4

Today's @arvianaweek prompts are Dream, Future, and Past, but this chapter kind of only invokes Past a little bit, haha.

Title: A Jewel by Any Other Name Fandom: Pokemon Scarlet and Violet Pairing: Arven/Juliana Rating: Teen Summary: "Just… What do you want me to call you?” He’s not sure why it’s suddenly such a pressing question, but it bothers him now, realizing that his friend is probably the most important relationship in his life and he doesn’t even know his name. Arven’s never had a friend before, and though his feelings for his little buddy keep growing and changing faster than he can keep up with, there are still some key pieces of information he’s missing. Like, y'know, his best friend’s name and gender. Depicts missing scenes from throughout the game, including the DLC and Epilogue! Posted for Arviana Week 2024! Summary for this chapter: Far from home, and far from perfect. Wordcount for this chapter: 8,616 Also available on: Ao3 Support me on: Patreon | Ko-fi  Previous chapters: 1 | 2 | 3

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Chapter 4: Little Star

Thus far, the advice Arven has received is this:

-Be clearer about how important Juliana is to him.

-Fight her.

-Where words fail, communicate with actions.

-Kiss her.

Somehow, only half of those pieces of advice feel actionable in any way, but even if he wanted to do something grand for her to show her how important she is, he's forced to put those plans on hold for right now.

On top of her battle prowess and good grades, Juliana also seems to be blessed with a superhuman amount of luck, because she's chosen by lottery to visit some place in the East called Kitakami for a school trip. Arven is happy for her, of course, but quite sad for himself. She's only been gone a week, but Arven isn't sure how he's supposed to last the remaining 4 until she comes home.

He's in his room, his mind wandering while he attempts to review his History notes at his desk and Mabosstiff attempts to tear apart his chew toy in the corner, when his phone buzzes.

He flings down his pencil in relief, hitting the button to accept the call in a flash before he even checks the Caller ID. "Hello?"

"Arven!" Juliana's voice is all sunshine, and Arven feels it seeping into him like a flower that's been trapped in the basement. A Himalayan Blue poppy, maybe even.

"Juliana?!" He hadn't been expecting a call—she's just been keeping in touch with short messages and stickers up until now.

She giggles. "Do you miss me yet?"

"Come on, you know I do," he grumbles, a little embarrassed that she's making him admit it right off the bat. "How's Kitakami?"

"It's... rural!" she says with a bit of an odd hesitation. "There's like, one Pokémon Center here. And it's pretty hard to get a Wi-Fi signal."

"Sounds like Nemona and Penny would struggle there, then," he points out. Mabosstiff, who has perked up his ears at the sound of her voice and wandered over with his tail wagging, interjects with a polite boof. "Mabosstiff says hello."

"Hello, good boy!" Juliana coos. "Have you been keeping your Trainer out of trouble?"

Arven's not sure if Mabosstiff just loves hearing Jul's voice, or if he actually understands everything she's saying, because he bends his chest to the ground and woofs again like he's actually answering. "Should I just put him on the line for you?" Arven jokes.

His buddy laughs again. "As much as I'd love that, I don't know how long this signal will hold, so tell him I'll talk to him all he wants when I get home. For now, I wanted to hear your voice."

Arven's heart skips a beat. "Y-Yeah?" he stammers, the voice Juliana wants to hear accidentally emerging about an octave higher than usual. He clears his throat. "That's, er, I'm happy to hear that." He's wanted to hear her voice, too, so much that he's been resorting to listening to old voicemails once in a while when he needs a morale boost.

"Are you studying for History?" she asks, moving the conversation along. "Nemona says there's an exam coming up next month."

Oh. She's been keeping in touch with the others too, it would seem. His giddiness deflates a bit, but he instantly feels like a jerk for being disappointed. Why wouldn't she want to talk to all her friends? He can’t just monopolize her like that! "Um, yeah," he answers her. "I was trying to do the review stuff when you called, actually. 'Trying' being the key word."

"Ooh, maybe I should let you get back to it, then."

"No!" he hurries to say, desperation clear in his tone. "Let's talk longer!"

"Hmm, on one hand, I don't want to encourage shirking your homework," she says, "but on the other hand, I'm bored and homesick, so okay."

"You're homesick?" he repeats, a little concerned. "Maybe you should call your mother?" She could, after all, do that, unlike him.

"Sorry, that wasn't entirely honest," she clarifies. "I'm keeping in touch with my Mom just fine. I meant that I'm homesick for the Academy—more specifically, you."

His heart skips again, but he tries to play it off and keep talking through it. "Wouldn't that just be missing me, then? You only say you're homesick when you miss home, don't you?"

"You are home," she says, like it’s the most obvious thing in the world.

At this point, his heart feels like it's tripping down the stairs. "Ah," is all he's able to choke out.

"I was kind of expecting more of a reaction than that, but I'll take it," says Jul. "Anyway, History. Should be a lot easier now that you did all that reading about Area Zero and what the Professor was researching, right?"

"I suppose that's true," Arven admits, flipping through his notebook until he reaches the pages he'd made while investigating that dusty old book from the lighthouse. He'd been so frantic when he made these notes, the scrawled lettering heavy and distraught. He'd been alone in his quest to save his partner, desperate for anyone both kind enough to listen to him and gullible enough to believe in fairy tales.

It turned out that believing in fairy tales had been the correct course of action, but boy, is he ever lucky that he'd found someone willing to go along with him. Even in looking at the notes he'd made back then, the untidy writing appears to have become more stable after she'd joined his quest.

"Arven?" Her voice is a little worried. "Sorry if mentioning the Professor upset you..."

"Oh! No, it's not that," he hurries to reassure her. "I was just reflecting back on how much you've helped me."

"What, with studying?"

"No—well, yes," he concedes, "but I meant, with everything. If you hadn't believed in me and helped me with all the stuff with the Titan Pokémon, I think I would have just given up on ever getting any answers. I would have felt powerless, and just accepted that life sucks and no one cares. But... you cared." Mabosstiff rests his chin on Arven's knee, looking up at him beseechingly, and Arven cracks a smile, placing his hand on his buddy's head. "I dunno if I've ever properly thanked you for that. You... kind of saved me," he concludes.

Jul is quiet for a moment, but before he can worry that the call has dropped, she responds: "I didn't do anything that amazing." Her voice is subdued in a way he's not used to hearing. "You saved yourself, Arven, because you've always been capable of it. But," she adds, tone becoming warmer, "if I played a part in helping you recognize your own power, I would be very happy."

While her sentiment is kind, there's something about her reply that bothers him. It's the same sort of frustrated feeling he'd gotten when they'd watched the meteor shower—like she just can't accept the idea that she's more than someone who exists to solve problems. "Jul, you did so much more than that," he tells her. "You were the first person to actually enjoy my cooking. You treated me like a friend. You inspired me to care about other people when no one else could."

"I'm sure anyone could have—" she starts, but Arven doesn't let her finish.

"Why do you not want to be special?" he cuts her off, anxiety making him grip his phone so tightly his knuckles are white. He’s a little surprised at himself, having the nerve to take this tone with her, but it feels like a question he needs to ask.

"Because I'm not!" she fires back.

Arven falls silent, baffled, so she continues. "I just do what people tell me to do; haven't you ever noticed that? I took on the Gyms because Nemona wanted me to. I disbanded Team Star because Cassiopeia needed me to. I passed all my classes because my teachers were counting on me. And I..." Her voice falters, and when she speaks again, she sounds choked. "...I joined your quest because you asked me to. It wasn't because I'm noble, or a good person, or could just sense how much you needed my help. It was because…” She pauses, but Arven just waits for her to continue, stunned. “…because I wondered if it would be interesting. Because I was empty."

The line crackles, but Arven can't tell whether it's because she's moving the phone around or because the signal is weak.

“Juli—” He starts to say her name, but she isn’t quite finished yet.

"I'm the kind of person who's desperate for people to want her around, and gets scared she'll be thrown out when they're done with her. It's pathetic, isn't it?” Arven winces at the sound of the laugh she forces at that, at the derision she’s directing at herself. “There’s nothing to me; I’ve got no will of my own.” She draws in a shaky breath, and then lets it out slowly. “Is that really the kind of person you should be saying 'saved' you?” she finishes, almost challengingly.

He lets her words—probably the most she's ever spoken to him at once—sink in, emotions he can't identify swirling in his gut. His leg bounces, his foot tapping against the floor. The hand gripping his phone is shaking slightly. Mabosstiff lifts his head, worry evident in the lift of his giant eyebrows.

"Do you really think all that is going to change how I think of you?" he finally says once he finds the words, trying to keep control of his voice. "Everyone wants to be wanted; that's not unusual. Honestly, I'm kind of glad you only went along with me because you were curious at first, because this whole time I've been kind of worried that you were too trusting and altruistic not to get taken advantage of." He'd thought Jul was kind of a maniac when the other student agreed to help him before Arven had even explained what he was trying to do. So she'd just been looking for something to do back then. It made more sense to him now, but…

"Jul, why would you say all that like you're trying to talk me out of admiring you?" He finally puts his finger on what he's feeling: Irritation. Hurt.

"I'm not worth admiring!" she argues. "I'm only nice to everyone so they rely on me and treat me well!"

"Everyone does that!" he fires back, starting to raise his voice. "No one's nice all the time just because!"

He hears a sniffle, and immediately feels like he's had the air punched out of him. Has he just made her cry?! "Little buddy?" he says, softer. "Hey, I'm sorry; I didn't mean to yell—"

"It's fine," she says, her voice thick, and crap, she's definitely crying, isn't she? "It makes sense you'd be mad—"

"No, no, listen," Arven says, trying to sound as soothing as possible, "I'm not mad at you. I'm mad for you." Wait, that sounds like a love confession. "I-I mean, on your behalf! At myself!" he corrects himself. "I can't believe you've been feeling like that, and I didn't even notice. Some best friend I am."

"You still want to be best friends?” she says with another sniffle. “Even after I said I only helped you because I was curious?”

"Jul,” he says, a little exasperated. “It may have started out that way, but can you honestly say that was still the case the first time you saw Mabosstiff? Were you just lying when you told me you'd do whatever it took to help him?"

"No," she says hesitantly, "I wasn't, but…"

"How about whenever you called me just to say you missed me? Or helped me study, or watched me cook? How about that time you saw a flower and thought to give it to me? Was that just because you were bored?"

"No…"

"Was it 'just out of curiosity' when you went down to Area Zero with me and helped me face everything I was afraid to face alone?!"

"No!" She sounds horrified. "Of course not!"

"Well all right then," he says, satisfied. "There is more to you. Whatever your motivations when we met, it sounds like you actually care about me now. That's good enough for me." He nods to himself. "I meant what I said before: You're stuck with me."

"Arven," she says on the edge of a sob, and his heart wrenches at the emotion in it. "When I come home, I want to tell you something."

"Wh—is it something scary?!" he presses her. "Are you safe? Does it have to wait?"

"I need to tell you in person," she insists. "It's... what I wished on that star. The one I wouldn't tell you about. But yes, I'm safe."

Well, now he's going to stew in his questions for the rest of the month, but he supposes if she's safe, he can't complain too much. "Okay..."

His begrudging resignation must have been too obvious, because she bursts into a laugh, her voice sounding a little more like normal. "I'm sorry. After that conversation, it probably sounds like I'm waiting to give you bad news. But... it might be the opposite, if things line up."

That clarifies nothing, but he's grateful for the reassurance anyway. "Well, that's good, I guess," he sighs, deciding to table that for when he needs something to fret over before he sleeps. "Jul," he says next, "you know you mean a lot to us, right? Nemona, Penny, and me. I know you've changed all of us for the better." She makes an uncertain noise, so he continues, a bit louder: "You have. I've even talked to them about it."

"Okay," she says meekly, still not sounding sure if she believes him.

"So don't say you're not worth admiring. Don’t say there’s nothing to you, or that you’re empty. You're strong, and cool... I'm really proud to call you my best friend, you know."

"Ugh, okay, I get it! I'm proud to be your best friend too, geez!" Apparently, Juliana is the kind of person that can't accept being heaped with praise. Arven may be biased, but he finds this adorable. He should have barraged her with compliments months ago. "Well, thanks. I don't know about all that flattery just now, but… I think when I called, I wanted you to tell me to hurry home. That way, I could just make some excuse to everyone here and do what you asked. But if you really believe I can… ‘help people change,’ or whatever you said… I think there's someone here who might need my help for a little bit."

He lifts his eyebrows, trying not to let his curiosity make him sound desperate. "A new friend?" He picks up his pencil again, just to have something to do with his hands.

"Yeah," she says. "He's sort of the lonely type. People don't really try to understand him." She chuckles. "Kinda reminds me of you, now that I think of it that way."

Arven's not sure he likes how fond her voice becomes as she talks about whoever this new guy is. "J-Just remember that no one needs you more than your best bud," he grouses as he spins his pencil on his free hand, "so no extending your trip!"

"Wouldn't dream of it, mi frijol," she murmurs. Arven’s pencil goes flying out of his grip, his face filling with heat, and Mabosstiff tilts his head at the sudden fumble. "I'll come home to you as soon as I can."

"Well." He clears his throat, trying not to let his voice squeak. "Good, then."

"Y'know, you've changed me, too," says Juliana softly. "I've never been able to talk to someone about... all that stuff before. I didn't think it mattered." Arven hears what she doesn't say: I didn't think I mattered. "But you made things matter to me, so if I get more selfish from now on, I'm blaming you for encouraging me, okay?" Mabosstiff, who had evidently decided to fetch his pencil, helpfully deposits the prize in Arven’s lap, now covered in slobber. Arven scratches behind his ears gratefully anyway, since the gesture was nice.

"Please do be more selfish," he agrees, grabbing some sanitizer and a paper towel for his pencil. "The only thing I've heard you demand for yourself is for me to make you more food." It's something of a point of pride for him, really.

"Well, I'll do that when I come home, too," she laughs. There's a brief pause, but this one is comfortable and warm. He hears her yawn, a familiar sound that is also comfortable to him now.

"What time is it there?" he asks, suddenly remembering the time difference.

"'Bout 2:30," she says.

"Juliana!" he says, standing up at his desk in alarm. "Why are you still talking to me?!"

"I like you," she justifies herself.

"W-Well," he blusters, all the indignation washing away to be replaced with flustered happiness, "that's... hardly a good reason..."

"It's the perfect reason, actually. And hey, you're supposed to say you like me too."

"I like you too," he responds perfunctorily. "Now go to sleep."

"Awwww..." Jul sighs. "Fine. I'm gonna call again next week, though. You better tell me how the History stuff goes."

"Ask Nemona how it goes," he advises, turning his notes back to the relevant review section. "She'll have better news for you." Hadn't she talked to Nemona about it earlier anyway?

"Sorry, pal, but you're the only one I'm calling with a time difference this huge. Nemona's always asleep by the time I wake up and vice versa."

"Oh," he says. "Wait, I'm the only one you called?"

"Yeah. What, does that bother you?"

"No, no," he says, unable to stop his grin from spreading ear to ear. "Not at all. Kind of unfair to the others, if I'm being honest, though."

"I can hear you smiling, you goofball." Another yawn. "Okay, okay. I'll go to bed like a good girl, now that I got to hear your voice. Give Mabosstiff some pets from me, and you keep at that homework, okay?"

"Only because you asked," he replies, delivering the promised pets to his Pokémon. "Good night, little buddy. I l… look forward to hearing from you." He catches himself before he accidentally blurts out something that is becoming increasingly more difficult not to say.

"G'night, Arven," she says, and then, right before the line cuts out: "Thank you."

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They talk on the phone a few more times after that, but mostly keep in contact with texts and the occasional photo. Juliana likes sending cute stickers—Charcadets flexing with the text "Fired up!" on a good day, sad little Rockruffs that say "That's ruff..." when things aren't going so well for one of them, sleepy Komalas when she goes to bed, and more. Once, Arven is brave enough to send a sticker of a Skwovet holding a big pink heart-shaped Pecha berry, and she reacts by sending back a rainbow of heart emojis.

"Is that Jul?!" Nemona says from over his shoulder when he gets a notification from Juliana one day. She's somehow roped him into eating with her at the cafeteria for once. She sits next to him and sets down her lunch tray in a rush. "I haven't heard from her in like a week! Lemme ask her something real quick!"

"Yeah, it's Juliana, but—hey!" Arven swipes at the empty air when Nemona snatches his phone away. "D-Don't look at that!" He's not sure why, but his message history with Juliana being filled with cutesy stickers and ‘I miss you’s feels like something he should hide.

Nemona's staring at the screen, but she quickly gives the phone back to him, looking sheepish. "Sorry," she says. "Didn't mean to see anything private…"

"Don't just take people's phones and look at their conversations!" he scolds her, holding the phone protectively to his chest. "But whatever, it's fine. What message did you want me to give—" He pauses when he actually sees what Juliana has sent.

It's an animated sticker of a Tandemaus, one of the small white creatures nuzzling the other on the cheek. There is no message beneath it. It's undoubtedly a cute image, but...

"This is just a sticker, Nemona," he says with a raised eyebrow, almost disappointed that it hadn't been anything worth hiding.

"Well, I accidentally saw the message before the sticker, too," the student council president admits, poking awkwardly at her potato tortilla with her fork.

Arven, perplexed, scrolls up to see what the last message had been. It's his own text bubble, reading I still want you. Two more weeks. Let's both hang in there.

His face prickles with heat, and he glances up at his friend. "Th-That's taken out of context!" he says frantically. "It was to reassure her!"

Nemona holds up both hands, as if in surrender, and waves them around a little. "Hey, it's okay, you don't need to explain what goes on between—"

"N-No, please do let me explain!" he interrupts, the heat spreading up into his scalp. He lowers his voice as he glances around, hoping he isn't drawing stares from the other students. "She was feeling like she'd no longer be needed after the whole Titan Pokémon thing and our… ‘Field Trip’”—he adds finger quotes so she knows what he’s referring to without tipping off any potential eavesdroppers about the forbidden foray into the Great Crater—“so I was just letting her know that I still want her around!"

"Ohhh, okay..." Nemona nods, and munches carefully on her tortilla. The delicate way she cuts things up with a fork and knife and daintily dabs at her mouth after bites is one of the only ways anyone would know that she was raised rich. "But responding to that with a Tandemaus sticker is pretty couple-y still, don’tcha think?" she asks once she's dabbed away any imaginary crumbs. "Tandemaus is the couple Pokémon, after all."

"She just sent it because it's cute," Arven deflects, but before he can put away his phone, it buzzes again. He glances at the screen.

i want u too. wait for me <333

There are Vivillons fluttering around in his stomach. He can't help the goofy smile that spreads across his face.

"I dunno, that seems pretty couple-y to me," Nemona remarks, craning her neck to see the phone.

"Would you stop reading my messages?!"

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"I'm scared I really messed up, Arven."

He's been traveling around a bit, revisiting places he'd skipped over when he'd been so desperate on his mission, and is just starting to make camp when she calls. Apparently, she's gotten drawn into some kind of conflict over in Kitakami regarding an infamous ogre from a legend and a withdrawn boy who admires it. He’s mostly managing to follow along with her story, but at this ominous statement, he stops her.

"How did you mess up?" he asks, in between laying out his three-person tent (some of his Pokémon like to stay out of their Balls overnight). "From what it sounds like, you were only doing what they told you to."

"And that's the problem!" she bursts out, and then sighs. "I knew we shouldn't have kept it a secret from him. But there was just no time to correct the misunderstanding while we were getting all the masks back, and the next thing I knew, Ogerpon was challenging me to a battle and Carmine was telling me to throw a Ball. Now I have a super cute new Pokémon—and I love her, of course; can't wait to introduce you to her—but... I think I really hurt my friend. I mean, I basically took away his dream, you know? I'm kind of afraid he'll never speak to me again. It’s already been a week since I saw him."

His knee-jerk reaction is to say, That's all right; you only need this boy to speak to you, but that is neither very helpful nor very healthy, so he considers his words as his Toedscruel helps him assemble the tent poles, lifting up the fiberglass tubes to Arven's hand with his stretchy tentacles. "You say you took away your friend's dream, but that Pokémon challenged you to a battle, didn't it? Not your friend?"

"Well, yeah..." She sounds reluctant to acknowledge this. He holds the phone between his shoulder and ear as he runs the tent poles through the sleeves."But that was mostly because I'd spent more time with Ogerpon. She felt more comfortable around me. My friend did a lot for her behind the scenes, though, and had been wanting to meet her his whole life."

Making short work of the other pole with Toedscruel's help, he pulls a peg through one of the corner loops and uses a rock to hammer it into the ground. "But it was you who was by her side and helped her get everything back," he says, walking around the tent to do the same to the second corner. On the other side of the tent, Toedscruel mimics his actions. "Of course she trusted you more. Why should you have to feel guilty for forming a bond with that Pokémon?"

"I don't know..."

After all the pegs are secured, he steps back and surveys his and Toedscruel's work. The mushroom-like Pokémon is surprisingly handy at things like this, despite not having any hands. He nods to his Pokémon gratefully, and Toedscruel gives him a little tentacle-salute back. "Juliana," he says into the phone. "What is it that you wanted at that time? Did you want to catch that Pokémon?"

She doesn't answer for a few moments, but eventually a hesitant "Yes..." reaches his ears. Toescruel shyly inches closer to Arven, fidgeting with his two front tentacles in anticipation. Arven smiles, amused at how human-like his Pokémon's mannerisms can be.

"If you wanted to catch that Pokémon, and the Pokémon wanted it too, then it doesn't matter what anyone else thinks," he reasons, giving Toedscruel a little dried-meat treat from his pack. Toedscruel holds it and eagerly chows down, looking as happy as a sentient mushroom creature can.

Jul sighs, but this one sounds relieved rather than troubled. "Okay. You're right. And Ogerpon's so sweet; you'll love her. I really am so glad I befriended her. I just... I was supposed to be his friend. He needed me to be his friend."

"You can't fix everyone's problems," he reminds her as he recalls his Pokémon. "And if you're really meant to be friends, he'll come around, right?"

"Yeah. I hope so,” she says, before putting on a lighter tone. “So, I'm guessing from the sounds I was hearing that you were setting up a tent while talking to me?"

"Wha—How would you know that just from the sounds?!" he demands. Juliana laughs. "You're right, though... the sun's just starting to go down, but I wanted to get it set up early." He unzips the tent door, laying down his pack just inside and starting to pull out his lantern, camp stove, ingredients, and cookware.

"I'm jealous," Jul says, a bit mopey. "I want to eat your food..."

"I haven't even made any yet. And are they not feeding you over there?"

"They are, but not as well as you do," she laments. "I'm wasting away..."

"I knew it," he quips as he screws the fuel canister to the stove and sets it on the ground, "you only keep me around for my cooking."

"How rude. That's only like 47% of the reason."

"I could more easily write that off as a joke if you didn't give such a specific percentage..."

His friend giggles. "Seriously, though. I miss you like crazy. Not just your cooking."

Arven tries to control his sappy grin, turning the fuel adjustment knob and pushing the igniter until a small blue flame appears. "Well... right back at you."

"We're on our way home tomorrow, by the way," she suddenly drops with no preamble.

"What?!" he squawks, almost dropping his skillet before he can set it above the flame. "Tomorrow?! I thought you still had another 5 days!"

"I thought so too, but apparently everything we were meant to accomplish with the school trip got done, the instructor from Blueberry went back there with my friends, and the Festival of Masks is over, so... I guess I'm coming home to you early."

"That's... that's fantastic!" He can't keep the smile off his face. Excitement and nervousness spark in his belly in equal measure. Will she still tell him what she wished for on that meteor, even coming home early? Has her hair grown longer like it appears in the pictures he's seen? "When does the plane arrive?" he asks, trying not to sound overly eager.

"Hmm, it's like an 18-hour flight, so... I know we're leaving at 9AM in the morning on the bus, and we should be boarding the plane by 12:30..." She thinks for a while. "I guess around 8:30 or so at night the day after tomorrow? I dunno; time conversion stuff is hard."

"And...” He has a sneaking suspicion all of a sudden. “What time is it there now, again?"

"If I tell you, you'll scold me."

Arven sighs, starting to pour oil in the pan. It sizzles enticingly. "That means you should already be asleep then, huh."

"Probably,” she admits. “I'll go to bed as soon as I hang up, I promise. But first, I just wanted to let you know... I have something for you, when I come home."

"Oh?" he prompts her, adding some sliced onions and peppers and sprinkling them with salt.

"It's something different than it was supposed to be," she says mysteriously, "but I hope you'll still accept it."

"Huh?" He frowns, poking his vegetables on the skillet with his tongs. "Uh... I don't know what you're talking about, but if you got me a souvenir or something, of course I'll accept it. And thanks for thinking of me." Oh no, should he have gotten her something, too? Maybe he could still make a Welcome Home feast? But then, maybe he should give her something she could keep instead. But why would she want a souvenir from home? Then again, Jul wasn't originally from Paldea, so maybe—

"I'm so glad I had you on this trip," her affectionate voice interrupts his increasingly frenzied thoughts. "Even though I'll be jetlagged and exhausted when I get home, if I see you there when I get off the plane, I know I'll feel all better."

"You think they'll let me meet you at the airport?" he wonders. He adds a bratwurst to the sliced vegetables. The sizzling in the pan turns into hissing, with the occasional sharp pop.

"Hmm, not sure. They didn't let anyone go with us when we left because we departed from Paldea at like, 4 in the morning, but I bet if you ask Director Clavell he'll let you." She chuckles. "Of course, be ready for Nemona and Penny to get wind of this and tag along, too, if he allows it."

"Hmm..." He knows it's selfish, but he doesn't really want to share Juliana right away when she comes home. She'd said she was coming home to him, after all, hadn't she?

"You want me all to yourself when I get off the plane, don't you?" she teases knowingly.

"Wh—no!" he denies unconvincingly, and is immediately punished for his lie when the bratwurst spits some hot oil onto his fingers when he turns the meat over with the tongs. "Ow! …Okay, maybe."

"I kinda want you all to myself, too," she tells him in an amused mock-whisper (Arven almost knocks the skillet off the camp stove), but then returns to her normal tone. "But if they end up coming along, that's fine." A wistful sigh. "I'm going to give all of you the biggest hugs."

Arven makes a note to himself to secure two hugs from her, then. As the best friend, that makes sense, right? "I'll ask Clavell. Don't worry about a thing, little buddy."

"Arven," she says, and he'll never be over how his name sounds in her voice, especially when she sounds sleepy like that, "can you tell me one more time that you want me around?"

He wants so much more than that. But he can oblige her request. "I want you around, Juliana," he declares almost automatically. "To eat my food, to be my friend, and to do everything you want to do here in Paldea."

"You're too good to me." She makes a sleepy murmur, and Arven hears shuffling, as if she's settling in for the night. "Now that I've heard that, I can sleep."

"Why do you need me to say that before you sleep?" he chuckles, stirring his vegetables a little.

"Because I like you," she says easily, "and your voice is soothing."

His laugh turns more awkward as his tongs almost slip from his hand and his ears burn at the now-familiar phrase that nevertheless always manages to make his heartbeat stutter. "G-Geez, bud. Enough joking around. Go to sleep, now."

"Okayyyy," she says in a childish pout. "'Night, starshine."

Starshine... it's a charming endearment, bringing to mind all the tiny glittering jewels they'd seen in the sky that night, the ones he'd seen reflected in her eyes... "See you soon, estrellita," he answers, voice soft and tender, before ending the call and setting his phone aside.

It takes him a few minutes of sitting there, preparing his dinner, idly turning his bratwurst a few times, before he realizes he'd called her a pet name completely by accident.

"Crap!" He almost drops the tongs once more, and scrambles to pick up his phone again, opening the messaging app to send—an apology? An explanation? A ‘just kidding!’? He's not sure, but he can't just call her a cutesy pet name like that out of nowhere!

She's already sent him a text, though, and his mouth drops open when he reads it.

pretty smooth, not even letting me react to that, mi cielo. <333 beats "little buddy" and "beans" anyway! lol. good night.

Mi cielo. My sky. He'd called her "little star" and she'd called him her sky.

He clutches his heart, intensely grateful Nemona is not here to point out how "couple-y" she thinks this is, nor Penny to pretend to gag at it.

Before the day after tomorrow, he thinks as he finishes cooking his dinner, he'd better prepare himself to control these feelings before they completely overtake him.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Her hair is longer, wrestled into a puffy ponytail on the side of her head. There are dark circles like bruises beneath her tired eyes. She's changed into loose, casual clothes for the long plane ride, which hang off her small frame haphazardly. Her shoulders are a little slumped with exhaustion.

Still, Juliana shines like a starry sky to him as she emerges from the disembarking line.

"JULI!" Nemona is the first to cry out her name, beating Arven to the punch, but when Juliana's head whips up at the sound of her friend's voice, it's Arven's eyes she finds first.

Jul straightens, her eyes lighting up when they lock onto him, her face quickly going from wan and tight to excited and cheerful. She waves to her three friends vigorously, almost matching the energy with which Nemona is jumping up and down and waving her arms like a crazy person.

"You're gonna smack someone if you windmill your arms like that in a crowded place, Nemona," Penny warns their exuberant friend.

"She's coming up to the front!" Nemona proclaims, utterly ignoring the warning and flinging her arm into Arven's shoulder in her frenzied waving.

"Ow," he complains, but he can't really fault her for being excited. The three of them make their way through the crowd of people and Pokémon, turning and twisting and excusing themselves until—

A small, warm, familiar weight crashes into him, almost knocking him back with the force of the impact. Arven's arms come up to hold her tightly, giving her a squeeze and lifting her off the ground for a moment.

"I'm back," Juliana murmurs into his chest, her hands clutching at his back.

His preparations hadn't been enough. He feels himself being overtaken by emotions already. "Welcome home," he returns, letting his eyes fall closed as he rests his cheek on her head and breathes in her presence and the faint scent of coconut.

They stay in their little bubble of reunion bliss for a few moments, until Nemona's barely-existent patience runs out. "Okay, you've had her long enough; my turn now!" she declares, pulling her out of Arven's arms and giving Juliana a bone-cracking bear-hug.

"Nemona, oww!" Juliana gripes, but she's laughing and squeezing the student council president back almost as hard. "I missed you too, but if you want me to be able to stand, be more gentle!"

"Glad to have you back," Penny says, watching the proceedings with what is, for her, a blindingly wide beam, but for anyone else would appear as merely a quiet closed-mouth smile.

"You're not escaping without a hug, Penny," Juliana threatens, pouncing on her when Nemona finally lets her go.

"Ugh, fine..." Even though she's rolling her eyes, Penny looks quite pleased as she wraps one arm loosely around Jul's back, patting her twice.

"All right, with that out of the way, let's get my stuff from baggage claim," Jul moves them along, gesturing grandiosely to the passengers currently shuffling along the baggage carousels. "I want to collapse into bed already."

"After a Welcome Home battle, maybe?" Nemona says hopefully.

"No."

"After a Welcome Home feast, I think you mean," Arven supplies.

"Now, that," says Juliana, leading the way to baggage claim, "I could handle."

***

The four of them (plus The Lizard, who had been let out of its PokéBall long enough to snarf down a special sandwich) enjoy some of Arven's food in the schoolyard. It's quite a nice spread of all of Juliana's favorites, if Arven says so himself—sweet and tangy fruit sandwiches, spicy seasoned meat and vegetable skewers, crispy croquettes stuffed with salty jamón ham and fluffy potatoes, and finally some creamy rice pudding.

Juliana's Pawmot frolics with Nemona's, the two yellow-orange rodents tumbling and rolling together and chasing one another around. Clover the Meowscarada sticks close with Mabosstiff, the two of them having formed a close bond despite the whole cat-and-dog stereotype—the magician amuses Arven's partner with various tricks, making pieces of food disappear and reappear in puffs of floral-smelling smoke as Nemona's Quaquaval provides dance accompaniment. Penny's reticent and standoffish Umbreon cautiously touches noses with Jul's Espeon, and now an hour later the two of them seem like good friends, curled up together beneath the picnic table. Even Arven's temperamental Scovillain seems more mellow around Juliana's Clodsire, though he does have to recall the hot-headed Pokémon before he can challenge her playful Palafin to a fight. There is much conversation and laughter, and Juliana eats three whole plates of food, but Arven can tell she's getting more tired by the minute.

When she yawns for the third time in as many minutes, her head beginning to drop onto Arven's shoulder, Penny turns to Nemona pointedly.

"Hey Nemona, didn't you say you were going to help me with the latest math assignment?" she prompts the student council president. Umbreon, hearing Penny's tone, perks up one ear and opens his eyes, yawning and then emerging from under the table to stretch.

Nemona just looks baffled, having been interrupted in the middle of a story about that League woman she calls La Primera. "Huh?" she says, eyebrows drawn downward. "But you're even better at math than I a—" Penny nudges her with her elbow and gestures with her eyes towards Jul's nodding head. "—aaaaanticipated!" she saves it at the last second, discreetly rubbing the place Penny had jabbed her. "But you've still got a ways to go, so we should get crackin’!"

"Juliana," Arven rouses his little buddy with a tap on the shoulder.

"Whazat?" Jul blurts out, straightening up again as her eyes snap open. "You're goin'?" Arven almost laughs at her apparent ability to recall words she's heard in a semi-conscious state. Espeon joins her new friend out in the open and sits next to the other Eeveelution, tilting her head at the proceedings as her large violet eyes move from her Trainer to Umbreon's curiously.

"It's like 11," says Penny. "Still early for a night owl like me, but Nemona's already stayed up past her bedtime, so if I want her help I'd better get it before she passes out." Her Umbreon gives Juliana's Espeon one more friendly nose-kiss before Penny recalls him.

"Haha, yep!" Nemona brings her hands together in an excitable clap, looking very much like someone not on the verge of passing out. "We better skedaddle! C'mon, guys!" Pawmot and Quaquaval give their farewells before being recalled as well. With that, Penny and Nemona get to their feet and start clearing away their paper plates and cups, tossing them in the nearby trash receptacles.

"Aww..." Jul sounds a little disappointed, but Arven suspects the listlessness in her voice is mostly from fatigue. Meowscarada helpfully waves her paw and gives her cape a flourishing sweep, somehow making some of the trash drop directly into the bins. Her Trainer strokes her cheek fluff gratefully, making the feline magician smile and purr, leaning into the touch. "You'll come hang out with me tomorrow, right?" Jul says to the other two.

Nemona smiles, reaching out to ruffle Juliana's hair. "'Course I will, Champ! You owe me so many battles!"

"Noooo," Juliana moans, weakly batting away the other Champion's hand and putting on a pleading face. "Lemme rest tomorrow...! I can't make strategic decisions while I'm jetlagged, and my team’s worn out, too!"

"Hehe, I'm just kidding!" Nemona assures her. Arven is not convinced that she was, but it appears to be enough for Juliana, who stands up to hug her friend. The taller girl beams when she steps back, hanging onto her shoulders to give them a little encouraging pat. "But seriously, rest up, Juls. We're so glad to have you back with us."

Penny steps up for one more hug next. "Welcome home, Juliana," she says warmly. "School wasn't the same without you."

"Aww, Penny!" Juliana squeezes her before letting her go. Arven has risen to his feet as well, making Mabosstiff raise his head curiously and haul himself to his paws. "Thanks for all this, guys," Juliana says, looking around at them all. "I’m… really lucky to have such kind and generous friends."

Penny shrugs bashfully, tucking a strand of two-toned hair behind her ear as she adjusts her Eevee backpack’s fluffy shoulder straps. "He's the one who made all this stuff," she says, jabbing her thumb at Arven. "Nemona and I just got in the way."

"We got the tablecloth and plates and drinks!" Nemona defends herself, a hand on one hip.

"Yeah, because he sent us out for that stuff when we kept distracting him,” Penny retorts. “He's just too polite to say we were a pain in the butt."

"I do appreciate you getting the drinks and plates," Arven chimes in with a wry smile, neither confirming nor denying this (absolutely true) allegation.

Juliana laughs. "Well, it was still something you all planned together, so I definitely feel special!" She grins at them, reaching down to stroke Espeon's head when the Psychic-type winds around her legs and wraps her tail around her.

"You are special," Arven reminds her. Jul just looks at the ground with a quiet smile when the others nod and make noises of agreement.

"Okay, we're going now!" Nemona announces, taking a few steps back while still facing them and waving. "Penny and I've got stuff to do! Just you and Arven now, Juli! Alone! 'Cause we're gonna study!"

Penny starts dragging Nemona away by the back of her shirt. "Stop being so obvious," she growls out the side of her mouth.

"Sorry, sorry," Nemona laughs, but she gives them one more wave as they vanish from sight around the corner.

For a moment, the two of them stand in silence, watching the spot where their friends disappeared. Arven, feeling the back of his neck start to sweat, wishes his other friends had at least discussed this little plan of theirs with him beforehand. Are they trying to be considerate of him? Is he so obvious about his pathetic pining that his two equally-single friends are taking pity on him? Are they completely oblivious to how much pressure this places on him in this moment? Or is he just thinking about himself too much when really it’s for Juliana—perhaps he was supposed to have made an excuse to leave as well so that she would just go to bed?

"You don't have stuff to study for, too?" Juliana says eventually as if she's read his mind, turning to face him with raised eyebrows and a smirk.

"No," he says immediately, and then, shoulders drooping slightly, "well, yes, I guess I do… but I cleared my schedule today, for, uh, this." He gestures at the table where they'd eaten their feast.

"Mm," she says with a nod. "That was very gallant of you."

"I dunno about that," he says awkwardly, scratching the back of his head, "but I figured since I don't have a souvenir for you, this was the next best thing."

She laughs, sitting down at the picnic table again, though this time she’s facing away from it on the bench seat. "Why would you have a souvenir for me? I was the one traveling!"

"Well, you said you had something to give me," he reasons, sitting next to her. "I felt bad I didn't have anything in return."

She gives him a lopsided, fond smile, like he’s ridiculous in an endearing way, and then takes out her PokéBalls from her bag. "Come on back, Clematis. Saffron. Hemlock. Larkspur. Clover," she recalls her Espeon, Pawmot, Clodsire, Palafin, and finally Meowscarada in turn. Arven takes the opportunity to recall Mabosstiff as well after Juliana's given him one more scratch behind the ears.

Truly alone now, she speaks up again. "About that thing I have for you..." She lets her head rest on his shoulder, this time by choice and not involuntarily. "Sorry, but would you mind if I gave it to you later?"

He tries to give her a puzzled look, but that proves difficult, as not only is it quite dark despite the school's safety lights, but also she's currently using his shoulder as a pillow. "Of course I don't mind. I'm just happy you were thinking of me at all."

Something small and soft touches his hand, and Arven jolts a bit before realizing it's her pinkie. Slowly, shyly, she curls her little finger around his. Even this tiny point of contact sends off sparks through his veins. "All the time," she says in a quiet voice. "I never stopped thinking of you."

Arven covers her whole hand with his. "Me either." The night air seems to swallow up their words, and they’re left with only the sounds of nighttime wildlife, the chilly whistle of the wind, and the thumping of Arven’s heartbeat in his ears.

Jul turns her hand over under his, small fingers lacing between his. For a while, they just sit there quietly, relishing in being able to feel one another’s presence again. Though his heart is racing, this feeling of sitting with her, holding her hand, is relaxing, too. He’s always surprised at the range of emotions that arise from contact with her—depending on when and where they touch, it can make him feel anxious or reassured; shy or bold; helpless or invincible; restless or content. Maybe other people are used to embracing their families or holding hands with their friends or caressing their lovers, but for Arven, everything is for the first time. It would probably sound pitiable to anyone else—to have gone his whole life without knowing such sensations—but he finds himself almost glad to get to discover these feelings through her. After all, he's never before had another person he wanted to touch like this, nor anyone he wanted to be touched by.

"I should probably get to bed," she mumbles, sounding half-asleep already, "before I pass out on you again."

He smiles, glad to have spent even a few extra moments alone with her. "Probably," he agrees.

Together they rise from the picnic table, and make their way towards the door to the dormitory building. Neither of them has let go of the other's hand.

"Hey, um," he breaks the silence before they can separate down their respective halls. He keeps his hold on her hand, and she looks back at him curiously. "Can I... er." He pulls at the bottom of his vest zipper nervously. How to ask for this? "It's just, before you said good night to Nemona and Penny…" Shuffling his feet a little, he finally gets the words out: "You gave them two hugs today, and I've only gotten one. As your best friend, that hardly seems fair."

She looks up at him in surprise for a moment before bursting out laughing, finally letting go of his hand to clutch her stomach. "Not fair, he says!" she wheezes.

"I know it's silly," he grumbles, feeling his face grow warm with chagrin, "but you don't need to laugh..."

Juliana keeps giggling, but wraps her arms around him anyway. "Yes I do,” she retorts. “If I don't laugh I'll just get embarrassed..."

He hugs her back, leaning down to envelope her shoulders. "Hugging me is embarrassing?" He doesn't mean the words to come out sounding so pouty, but…

"Nope," she answers cryptically, sighing in bliss at the warm embrace. He puts aside his questions for now, and just enjoys the moment.

Satisfied now that he has gotten his two hugs, he begins to pull away, but Juliana tugs on his arm, keeping him close. He looks down at her, wondering if she's forgotten something. "Juliana?"

"Lean down again for a sec," she instructs him, eyes searching him intently. He furrows his eyebrows, but does as she asks. Is she going to fix his messy hair? Or worse, has he had something on his face this whole time?

But she doesn't fix his hair, or wipe his face. What she does is gaze at him for a few seconds, her face slowly coloring. She swallows, brows set in determination. She stands on her tiptoes.

And she presses her soft lips to his cheek.

She's yards away from him before he can even process what has just happened. "There; now you got something else Nemona and Penny didn't get!" she laughs, cheeks rosy. "G'night, Arven! See you tomorrow!" She gives him a cheery wave, and ducks around the corner to the first-year dorm hall.

Arven stands frozen, still half-leaned over like an unbalanced scarecrow, and slowly brings his hand close to his face.

The January air had been cold. Even indoors, he still feels the chill in his bones, the sting of the dry air against his face.

But, he thinks as his fingers cover the place she'd touched, this cheek feels nothing but warmth.

================================================

When I first started writing this fic, I wasn't sure what kind of character Jul was. Then this chapter came along and she made herself known to me--she's a player character, of course: always feeling pulled along by circumstances outside her control, as if she has no will of her own; constantly afraid that if she is no longer useful, everyone will forget about her. I don't address it in the story, but Paldea is not the first new home she's moved to--she's been moving around pretty frequently since she was little, never really able to form bonds that lasted after she left the area. In my heart, I think she's a Kalos girl, LOL. As a result of never being in one place long enough to form lasting friendships, she is extremely friendly to everyone at first, but tends to pull back when people get too close as she assumes nothing is permanent. Her attachments to her 3 friends in Paldea are a first for her.

If you're interested, Juliana's Pokemon are all named after plants or flowers, and the colors and meanings also usually correspond.

Clover- Female Meowscarada: Obviously clovers stand for luck and happiness. Saffron- Male Pawmot: Youth, childlike wonder, and the renewal of life--appropriate for a defibrillator Pokemon, LOL. Rose- Tinkaton: Admiration, happiness, family. Also a subtle reference from me to another pink girl with a giant hammer and the surname Rose, LOL Larkspur- Male Palafin: Larkspur's scientific name is Delphinium, coming from a word meaning "dolphin." Blue larkspur symbolizes dignity, grace, and respectability. Hemlock- Male Clodsire: Drawing more from the color and nature of the plant than the meaning this time-- hemlock is a highly poisonous, swamp-dwelling brown plant. Clematis- Female Espeon: A purple flower symbolizing mental strength, intelligence, acuity, and ingenuity.

She has others, too, but those are the ones mentioned most in the story so far, haha.

See you again tomorrow, and as always, drop a comment if you get the chance! 💖

[mysticalibra1994]

Arviana Week (Day 4)

@arvianaweek

Day 4: Past

In the [Past]... Juliana was born and raised in Galar. There, she was bullied by the other kids for using she/her pronouns and preferring to be not deadnamed.

Arven's mother never came back and his father seemed "off" (he looked, sounded, and acted like him, but something was off).

Despite being from different regions, they were never asked to go through what they went through.

[arvianaweek]

Arviana Week Day 5!

Intro Post | Rules

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[wingsonghalo]

A Jewel by Any Other Name: an Arviana Fanfic-- Chapter 3

It's that time again (I said, as if the time I post these was in any way consistent)!! Today's prompts are Goodbye, Pining, and Reunion, and honestly all three would suit tomorrow's chapter WAY better since that's exactly what happens in them, but it's not like I can post the chapters out of order, so you just get some good ol' Pining in this one for today's @arvianaweek offering!

(Also, if you missed it, this is your reminder to go look at YamYams' art from the last chapter and tell them how talented they are.)

I absolutely adore Nemona and Penny and I hope that is abundantly clear in this chapter (and every chapter they're in) hehe 💚🧡💖💙

Title: A Jewel by Any Other Name Fandom: Pokemon Scarlet and Violet Pairing: Arven/Juliana Rating: Teen (occasional language, verbal references to sex later although none happens) Summary: “Just… What do you want me to call you?” He’s not sure why it’s suddenly such a pressing question, but it bothers him now, realizing that his friend is probably the most important relationship in his life and he doesn’t even know his name. Arven’s never had a friend before, and though his feelings for his little buddy keep growing and changing faster than he can keep up with, there are still some key pieces of information he’s missing. Like, y'know, his best friend’s name and gender. Depicts missing scenes from throughout the game, including the DLC and Epilogue! Posted for Arviana Week 2024! Summary for this chapter: Under the stars, and under advisement. Wordcount (for this chapter): 8,299 Also available on: Ao3 Support me on: Patreon | Ko-fi  Previous chapters: 1 | 2 ===============================================

A Jewel by Any Other Name

Chapter 3: Everything Wished For

Arven is no longer sure how to interact with his best friend.

Well, he hadn't been great at it in the first place, but now that he knows Juliana is a girl, he's even more insecure about it. Is it okay to be so needy with a girl's time? How much of what he's said in the past is even more questionable than it had been before? Was this why the groups of girls had always glared at him when he'd tried to "rescue" his little buddy from them before? At best he'd probably come off like an overprotective big brother or a doting parent. At worst, he might have seemed to others like a controlling boyfriend trying to dictate who she could spend time with and when.

He always has to cover his face to hide the rampant blush whenever this thought strikes him. Juliana's boyfriend?! Get real. No one would ever think that about him... Not when she's practically a school celebrity, known by everyone, and he's just some nondescript schmuck whose only unique characteristics are being related to a renowned professor and carrying a larger-than-average backpack.

Juliana sure doesn't seem to mind being seen with a nondescript schmuck, though. If anything, she's only made more of an effort to spend time with him ever since he'd, y'know, accidentally seen one of her undergarments. She seems to have no qualms with leaning against him, taking his hand even when there's no chance they'll get separated, and even hugging his arm. She's introduced him to the student council girl, Nemona (re-introduced, actually, since he had at least been somewhat familiar with the notorious battle fanatic), as "my best friend" without even a hint of shame, though she did jokingly give him the additional moniker of "my personal chef." Nemona seems a lot easier to handle when Juliana is around, but he still finds her limitless energy and obsessive battle-lust a bit draining.

He has to admit that having other people he can tentatively call "friend" is kind of nice, but he prefers having Juliana all to himself, as he does this afternoon.

Unfortunately, he's not doing anything particularly fun with her at the moment.

"I'm hopeless," he groans, resting his forehead on the desk. They're in the library, and Juliana has graciously come here with him to help him study for his upcoming language test. Ever since he's been on this quest to find the Herba Mystica, he's somewhat fallen behind in class. With only one of the legendary plants left to find now, he's trying to at least pretend he cares about his studies.

"No you're not," she refutes his negativity. "You're going to kick this test's butt, and then we're gonna celebrate."

Arven turns his head sideways, one cheek still on the desk, so he can lift an eyebrow at her. "And what're we going to do for this celebration?"

"Well, what would motivate you?" she asks.

"You," he answers without thinking, since it's been her who's been encouraging him this entire time.

"You want me for a reward? How forward of you," she says with a growing smirk.

He springs up in his seat, face instantly filling with the heat of the sun. "I—! I didn't mean it like that!" (The suggestion was not without merit, however.)

"I mean, I'll do my best to be a good reward," she continues, delighting in teasing him. She clasps her hands below her chin and flutters her eyelashes. "What would you have me do, sir?"

He covers his mouth with the back of his hand to stop his internal scream from becoming external, but he suspects this does little to hide his glowing red face. "J-Juliana! We're in the library!" he whispers harshly, though the reprimand is more out of desperation for her to stop messing with him than out of an actual regard for their fellow students.

She snickers behind her hand, her own cheeks pink with mirth. "All right, all right, sorry."

"Geez... how did I ever think you were kind of quiet when we first met?" Arven sighs, trying to calm his rapidly-beating heart. He busies his hands by unnecessarily re-stacking his study materials.

"Guess you weren’t watching me closely enough." Resting her cheek in one hand, she moves her eyes over him, a playful smile still lifting one corner of her mouth. "How about if you pass your test, we go somewhere special together? Just you and me."

Arven blinks, glancing at her again. "Somewhere special?"

"Yeah," she says with a nod. Her eyes drift to the ceiling as she thinks about it, a smile that looks almost wistful crossing her features. "Like... a restaurant. Or stargazing, maybe."

He stares, and lets himself contemplate it. Juliana and him, sitting at a candlelit table. Juliana and him, staring up at the diamond-speckled night sky, huddled close together on a blanket to fend off the evening chill. "Uh..."

"Too weird?" There's a tinge of embarrassment in her voice when she locks eyes with him again, a bit of regret in the lift of her eyebrows. "Sorry; we don't have to do anything like—"

"I'd love that," he hurries to say before she can take anything back. "I-I want to do that. With... with you." His voice had kind of ended up a choked murmur at the end there, so he clears his throat, pretending to pull out a worksheet he'd been using earlier.

For a moment, out of the corner of his eye, he thinks he sees Juliana's face color and her eyes widen, but when he actually looks at her, she's simply smiling brightly at him. "Okie-doke then," she says. "It's a date. But!" Juliana holds up a stern finger, cutting off Arven's flustered sputterings at her wording. "You have to actually pass first!"

"Awwww," he groans, all the energy whooshing out of him again as he slumps. "It's no use, little buddy. My brain wasn't made to hold anything but recipes."

"That's a heck of a thing for the son of a professor to say," she points out with a wry smile.

"Yeah well," he grumbles, "I'm barely that anyway." He stares down at the worksheet, but can't make much sense of the words printed there. It's like they're in another... oh, wait. They are in another language. Arven's brain hurts, and he's not smart enough to be related to anyone with a PhD, and he's never going to get to do date-like activities with Juliana at this rate.

A soft weight falls on his head, and he jumps a little, but when he looks up, he just finds Juliana gazing at him fondly, her arm extended.

She's petting him. Like he's a fussy Fidough.

Arven, embarrassingly, does not hate it.

He feels kind of the opposite about it, in fact.

"I know you'll do your best," she tells him. "I believe in you, Arven. You're smarter than you think you are." Her touch is soothing, and though he knows he should scoff and tell her to cut it out, he finds his eyes falling closed, melting into the sensation. He wants to touch her, too. Run his fingers through her hair, which has grown down to her chin by now. Feel the heat of her freckled cheeks against his palms. Wrap her up in his arms and keep her comfortable, kind warmth forever.

Arceus, he is so screwed.

The contact lasts only a few seconds, but Arven still feels a wave of intense loneliness when she draws her hand away. How long has he been craving a comforting touch like that one? And even more than that, how much has he been longing for her to offer it to him?

"Okay," he says, a new fire of determination burning in his heart. "I'm gonna pass this thing."

"Good boy," she praises him, and even though it still seems like something she should be saying to a puppy, he doesn't mind it at all from Juliana.

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Arven passes that thing.

Somehow, after much tedious studying, late night reviews, and kind encouragement from his best friend, he pulls through with an 83%. That's even better than passing, really. It's almost excelling. It's the kind of score that he might brag about to his parents, if he had parents to brag to.

He doesn't feel the lack of support as keenly, though, not when Juliana is here.

They'd decided to go stargazing as his reward, as there happened to be a meteor shower this weekend. They had made some sandwiches together and let their Pokémon out to play (sans Mabosstiff, who could not handle the winter chill in his current state), but as the sun went down and the stars came out, they recalled their Pokémon companions and began to prepare for the main event.

"What is this meteor shower called again?" Arven asks as Juliana finishes spreading out the last blanket. It's fleecy and pink and covered in hearts and flowers, and it looks very warm.

"The Geminids," Juliana replies, and takes the hot chocolate Arven hands her with a murmur of thanks. The December air had been quite brisk earlier in the day, but now it is inching towards ‘frigid.’ "It happens every year around this time, apparently."

"We're lucky there's not a lot of clouds," he notes, squinting up at the stars beginning to wink overhead.

"Well now that you've said that, we'll probably get another out-of-season rainstorm and have to hide in a cave again."

"Ugh, don't even speak that possibility into existence!" Arven scolds her, but Juliana just laughs, plopping down on the blanket and patting the space next to her.

Arven sits, pouring some hot chocolate for himself from his thermos, but evidently the spot he has chosen does not meet her standards, because she keeps motioning him over. He scoots a little bit closer.

Jul frowns, looking almost offended. "What, are you afraid I'm going to bite you or something? Get over here."

"Well, I-I didn't want to crowd you or make you uncomfortable," he mumbles, sheepish.

"If you want to make me comfortable, sit with me," she insists. "It's cold."

Arven sits as close as he can, his heart beating in double-time as his shoulder bumps against hers. "Um... does that help?" The question feels a bit lame. As far as he knows, heat is not transferred well through the shoulder.

"Spread your knees," she instructs as she puts down her cup, and wow, that is not a sentence he thought he would be hearing today.

"Uh, what?"

"Spread 'em!"

He does. Juliana shuffles in front of him and rises up to her knees while facing him, and Arven almost drops his cup of cocoa in alarm. Her hands are on his shoulders. What is happening? The dim lighting of their lantern is not enough to read her expression well. He feels strangely warm. Time seems to slow down as he watches his friend's pretty face get closer and closer and—

She flings another blanket over his shoulders, and then turns around while still bracketed by his bent knees, plopping herself back down on the ground and holding the corners of the new blanket like a Swadloon. They are now sharing a blanket, Juliana huddled close with her back facing his chest.

"Ahhh," she sighs blissfully, and leans her head back onto his chest. "That's better."

"Gh," is all he can manage at this time, overwhelmed by the sudden proximity. His heart rate picks up again. He feels every point of contact between them like a current from an electric fence. Juliana's soft scent surrounds him in this little blanket cocoon, but it’s impossible to let it soothe him as it usually would. What if she hears his heart pounding? What if he smells bad?!

"Arven, relax," she tells him, and oh god he can feel the vibration from her voice thrumming through him. "Pretty sure I've met Sudowoodo less rigid than you are right now." She twists a bit, which Arven wishes she wouldn't do because it makes her shoulder slide against his chest and he doesn't know how much more touching he can take, but he sees the concern on her face. "Is this weird for you? Do you not like cuddling?"

"N-No, I..." He doesn't dislike this. He's just afraid that if he's allowed to have this right now, he'll want it all the time. He'll want Juliana, in all the ways he's forbidden himself to want her. "I've never cuddled before," he says instead, since that's just as honest.

"Oh," she says, her eyes searching him. "Am I freaking you out, then? I can just sit next to you if you'd rather...?"

Lose this feeling, after only just discovering it? He can't let that happen. He wraps an arm around her waist hastily, pulling her against him to prevent her from leaving. It's a selfish, instinctual move, like a child jealously guarding their favorite toy from being snatched away. "This is fine," he asserts, though he’s not sure if he’s trying to convince her or himself.

She must be colder than he realized, because he thinks he feels her shiver. "Okay," she says with a quiet smile, seeming pleased. She turns again to face the same direction as he is.

They turn their attention to the sky, but Arven's head is full of only Juliana, of her comforting scent and warm weight and how it had felt when, for one brief, fevered moment, she had had her hands on his shoulders as she closed in, as if she was about to...

He shakes his head to clear it of the ridiculous idea, but it keeps coming back insistently when he thinks he is rid of it, like an annoying song on the radio, or Nemona asking for a battle.

Jul evidently has no difficulty being this close to him, because she seems to be acting completely normally. Arven thinks he might have even vaguely heard her humming the past minute or so while he was mentally spiraling. Currently, though, she is checking the time on her phone, and her gasp brings Arven's scattered thoughts back into focus. "It's gonna start now," she says, her tone hushed and excited. She stretches forward (Arven is forced to bend forward along with her because of the blanket) to turn off their lantern.

Arven looks up again just in time to see the first meteor, a tiny streak of diamond dust in the onyx sky.

"Did you see it?!" Arven isn't sure why she's whispering. There's no one else around, and meteors are hardly things that can be startled away. But even still, he feels compelled to respond in kind, taken by the breathtaking sight.

"Yeah," he murmurs back in awe as more bright trails begin racing overhead. He sets down his empty cup, tilting his head back to fill his entire vision with the sky. Jul rests back against him, occasionally gasping and pointing to particularly spectacular displays.

"Whoa, look at that one!" she says, and "Oh my gosh, that one was so bright!" and "Arven, look, over there!"

"I'm looking, I'm looking," he chuckles, smiling so wide it kind of hurts. He gets the feeling this is just as much a reward for Juliana as it is for him, and the thought of her enjoying this time she spends with him makes his heart overflow with light.

"You think there's a limit to how many of these we can wish on?" she says after a while without much conversation.

Arven hums thoughtfully. He hadn't considered that, mostly because it feels like several wishes are coming true right now anyway. "I guess the only way to find out is to wish on them."

Juliana clasps her hands together for a moment as a shooting star streaks down toward the horizon. "That one was for Mabosstiff to make a full recovery," she informs him.

There is a squeezing sensation in his chest. "Thank you," he chokes out. Seeing another fireball in the sky, he closes his eyes and makes a wish of his own. "That one was for you to have a successful Treasure Hunt."

"Wish granted. I already have more treasure than I know what to do with," she laughs. "Okay, then that one's for you to pass all your tests for the rest of the year."

"I'll need all the help I can get."

They continue like this for a while, some of the wishes being silly ("I wish for Nemona to take it down a notch and go five minutes without challenging someone to a battle" from Juliana, and "I wish for all of our sandwiches to be delicious" from Arven), some being unexpectedly heartfelt ("I wish for the Professor to come home," Juliana prays fervently, to which Arven can only give her shoulder a grateful squeeze), and some being so mundane that they probably don’t need to wish on them ("I wish for my little buddy to get 8 hours of sleep every day next week," he jokes when Jul yawns, and laughs when she twists to give his arm a playful shove).

By the time their wishes wind down, the silence uninterrupted for longer and longer stretches of time, Arven notices more of Juliana's weight resting against him. Somehow, he's been roped into holding the blanket now, so his hands are now resting on her shoulders, the blanket draped around them like a cloak. Jul points to another brilliant meteor, putting her hands together and making another wish.

"What was that one for?" he prompts her when no explanation follows, wondering if she really is getting tired.

She scoots back an inch or two, her entire back now nestled against him. Arven tries not to squirm. "Not telling," she says playfully.

"What?! Why not?" She could hardly invoke the Birthday Wish Rule now, after they'd made so many wishes out loud.

"Not telling that either."

"Well now you're just making me more curious," he complains.

"Maybe that's the idea," Jul returns mysteriously, but before Arven can press her on that, she's speaking again, and this time her voice sounds pensive, hesitant. "Hey, Arven... we've tracked down the last Titan, right?"

He stares at the top of her head, since he can't see anything else in their current position. "Uh, yeah, as far as I know. It should be around Casseroya Lake, if everything I've heard is true."

"I see..." She ducks her head a little, fidgeting with the blanket beneath her, but doesn't say anything else.

He frowns, perplexed at the sudden shift in mood. "Why? Rumors about this one spooking you?" He knows this is unlikely. For better or worse, Jul is the most fearless person he knows.

"No, not at all!" she hurries to say, proving him correct. "We're going to get that Herba Mystica and help Mabosstiff for sure!" A smile tugs at the corners of Arven's mouth at his friend's determination, but when she goes on, worry is lingering in her words once more. "Just... promise me it won't be the last adventure for us."

He can only blink, blindsided. "Huh?" Where on Earth had she gotten that notion?

"I just..." She's picking at the blanket beneath them fretfully now, shifting her shoes back and forth as she chooses her words. "I know you recruited me for this whole thing because I'm useful in a battle. But once Mabosstiff's all better, you won't need me anymore, and... I guess I just don't like the idea of that."

"Not need you anymore? Are you kidding me?" It's almost laughable. Arven would write it off as a joke if Jul didn't sound so serious about it. "We're hanging out right now and it's got nothing to do with the Herba Mystica," he points out.

"Well, the quest isn't over yet," she reasons in a mumble. "Right now I'm still useful."

He's gobsmacked. Hearing such an insecure thing from her—confident, reckless, optimistic, carefree Juliana—is flipping everything he thought he knew about her on its head once again. It’s the sort of thing he, Arven, an outcast with a penchant for pessimism, would contemplate, not a bright, sunny girl like her. "Juliana," he starts, his tone too soft to be exasperated but too firm to simply soothe, "you're my best friend." She's so much more than that, really, but it's all he knows how to say at the moment. "I'm always going to need you, battles or no." Trying to add a little levity, he concludes: "You're stuck with me, okay?"

Juliana is quiet for a few seconds, but then rapidly turns around in his hold, standing on her knees. He feels her arms wrap around his back, her cheek press into his chest. Arven squawks at the sudden movement, releasing his grip on the blanket he's been holding around them, but retains just enough of his mental faculties to return the embrace. His thoughts race. Why does she seem so vulnerable right now? Why is she hugging him like she needs him to anchor her?

Juliana draws back, but remains close. At this proximity, he can see her face even in the dim light. There's a soft smile lifting her cheeks, and little stars sparkling in her pupil-dark eyes. "I'm always going to need you, too," she whispers.

Arven swallows, his mouth suddenly dry. There's a pull between them he doesn't quite understand, gravity seeming to draw them closer. Jul's hand is on his shoulder again. His heart is in his throat, and he scarcely dares to breathe, lest he break whatever spell they're under.

Juliana is the one to move first, however, her head falling forward to bump against his collar bone as she stifles a yawn. "Shorry," she mumbles. Sitting back down again, she nudges up to him to rest her cheek on him like a baby bird seeking warmth.

"Buddy?" His voice sounds weak after... whatever that was, so he clears his throat and tries again. "Er... getting sleepy?" He draws the fallen blanket around them again.

Juliana murmurs appreciatively at the newly-reinstated blanket cocoon. "Mm. Sorry I said some weird stuff."

"It wasn't weird; just... unexpected," he assures her. He wishes he'd known sooner that she had those sorts of worries too, honestly. It made him feel a little less crazy. What did not make him feel less crazy was the way Jul was rubbing her cheek on him. What was she, a Pikachu? It would explain why he was feeling electricity coursing through him with every touch, anyway. "Um... little buddy? Why...?" He trails off, not really sure how to finish the question.

"You're warm," she drawls, by way of insufficient explanation. "I like you."

Arven freezes, his heart tripping out of rhythm. "U-Uh..." Even if she said it because she's half-asleep, he has a feeling he's going to have those three little words playing on a loop in the back of his mind whenever he tries to sleep. "Maybe we should go back into town? Find a real place for you to sleep?"

"This's good," she says, her slow blinks becoming slower until at last her lids flutter closed and stay that way. "'Night, Arven..." She falls quiet, her breathing evening out and a smile still stuck on her face.

Arven believed that falling asleep in less than 5 minutes was a gift granted only to babies and Pokémon, but apparently Jul is a champion at it. He sighs as he watches her face, a bit frustrated, but mostly achingly, pathetically, heartbreakingly in love with the girl in his arms. He adjusts his hold on her, leaning back a bit more to cradle her against him more comfortably, and stares up at the meteor shower, shooting stars still racing above, though less frequently.

"What… am I supposed to do now?…" he wonders aloud. Alas, the stars do not answer him.

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"She fell asleep on me," he says with a sigh the next day, after Nemona had pestered him enough to get him to talk about it. When he'd showed up at her room, complaining about classes, she'd very quickly caught on that that wasn't all he wanted to vent about, and so he'd ended up spilling the story of how he'd gone stargazing with Juliana, to which Nemona had eagerly pressed him on how it turned out.

Nemona's eyebrows shoot up, and she glances over at him from where she's sitting on her bed, playing with her Pawmot's front paw-pads as the Pokémon snoozes. "Like, she got tired halfway through?"

"Well, yes," he admits, resting his arms and chin on the top of Nemona's desk chair as he sits in it backward. "But also literally. She yawned, snuggled up to me like a Sprigatito, and fell asleep."

"Awww!" Nemona coos, clasping her hands together with a grin. "But that sounds like a good thing, right? She's comfortable with you!"

"I guess..." He taps his foot on the floor, still feeling agitated. It's truly a testament to how much all this has been bothering him, for him to seek guidance from the one-track-minded student council president. He still doesn't gel very well with her personality, to be honest, but his opinion on her has softened considerably since they'd hung out as a group of three.

"So what happened then? Did you just spend the night like that?" she prompts him, scratching Pawmot's belly. The yellow-orange Pokémon's leg twitches in his sleep.

"I stayed like that until I had to go to the bathroom. Which was like 2 hours later."

Nemona bends double laughing. "Oh, wow! 2 hours! I'd never last that long!"

Indeed, Arven has a hard time imagining Nemona sitting still for 2 hours under any circumstance. "She was still groggy when I had to wake her, but I managed to get her back to the dorms and all. Anyway, never mind that!" He curls his hands around the sides of the chair back, gripping tightly. "Before she fell asleep, she said something that really bothers me!" Nemona just tilts her head at him encouragingly, so he goes on: "'After the Titan quest is done, you won't need me anymore.' That's what she said." He ducks his head, even the memory making him a bit melancholy. "Why would she ever think I just want her around for that?..."

"Hmmm..." Nemona hums in thought, stroking Pawmot like he's a large pillow. "Maybe you haven't been clear enough about how you feel, so she doesn't get that she's more important to you than the whole Titan thing?"

Arven stares blankly at Nemona’s rug, contemplating that. Is that true? Has he made the same mistake as before, getting close to her without establishing the most basic information? And, even sadder, is he actually getting actionable advice from Nemona? His cheeks prickle with heat, a bit ashamed. "I'm... not good at talking about feelings," he says evasively. If he were to tell Juliana how he feels, wouldn't that mean telling her he loves her? Or can he get away with simply expressing that she gives him purpose and confidence, that she makes him feel like he can let the world in again because she is the most beautiful part of it, that she is everything he could ever wish for on a thousand shooting stars?

Okay, so he probably can't tell her how he feels without coming on too strongly.

"Why don't you battle her?"

Nemona's voice breaks him out of his reverie, and he returns his attention to her. "Huh?"

"Whenever I don't know how to express how I feel," Nemona imparts sagely, amber eyes sparkling, "I like to throw myself into a good battle! Clears my head right up!" She looks downright proud of this choice piece of advice.

Arven stares at her, deadpan. "So you're saying I should just go up to Juliana," he says slowly, "and fight her."

"Yeah!" says the battle maniac with an energetic thumbs-up. "You can learn a lot about someone from their battle style!"

That's true, Arven thinks. It is, after all, how he's come to understand that Nemona is a little unhinged. Her heart is in the right place, though, so he just smiles wryly. "Only you would suggest something like that, Nemona."

"Aw, thanks, pal!" she says with a grin.

"Wasn't a compliment, but you're welcome.”

“Listen, jokes aside, Jul never made me feel bad about connecting to people through battles. I never thought anyone would understand, until she came along,” Nemona elaborates, resting her chin in her braced hand. “I’m sure you’re aware of this, but sometimes I tend to… overwhelm people when I get excited about a new challenge.” Understatement of the year, really, but he’s surprised she’s done this much reflecting on it. She looks a little wistful, petting her Pokémon’s fluffy orange fur in soothing strokes with her free hand. “Juliana never complained, no matter how many battles I threw at her. She accepted me as her friend, just like that. And then she actually rose through the ranks and became the rival I was looking for all along!” She lifts her orange eyes to him once more with a broad smile. “No matter what you’ve gotta say to Jul, or how you wanna say it, I think she’ll listen and understand. She’s super great at it!”

Arven can only look at her in surprise, sinking into silent thought, but he straightens up in the chair when he notices Nemona checking the time on her phone and hopping off the bed. "Going somewhere?"

"Promised someone I'd meet 'em in the schoolyard for a battle at 5!" she says, gently nudging her Pawmot awake. The yellow Pokémon's mouth stretches in a squeaky yawn as he sits up, rubbing his sleepy eyes with one paw. He hops off the bed too, chittering at his Trainer, and Nemona smiles and scratches him behind one ear before returning him to his PokéBall. "Good luck with everything, Arven," Nemona tells him, grabbing her bag from the floor in a rush. "I've got some feelings to work out too! Byeeee!"

With one more cheerful wave, Nemona whooshes out the door like a hurricane.

"Should you really just leave me in your room?" Arven asks the empty air, but he can't help but smile as gets up to leave as well.

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Arven does end up battling Juliana, at the lighthouse where they first crossed paths, not long after they find the last Herba Mystica. That deadbeat Professor had the nerve to ask his little buddy for favors, but couldn't be bothered to have a real conversation with him? It leaves a sour taste in his mouth, but he's doing his best to work things out Nemona-style.

It's a tough fight, both of them trading knockouts until Arven is down to just Mabosstiff and Jul is down to only Meowscarada and Tinkaton, who had taken quite a nasty bit of damage from Scovillain's Fire Blast. Arven can tell his little buddy's holding back against Mabosstiff, still worried for him since it hasn't been long since he'd been so weak and defenseless. But thanks to her (and those special herbs), Arven's partner is fighting fit and eager to make up for lost time.

Even at his best, though, and despite a well-timed Fire Fang, Mabosstiff still falls to her flawless attacks, his Dark-type Terastallization shattering as he slumps to the ground.

Juliana gasps, rushing over before her Meowscarada's glittering flower-shaped Terastal jewel has even faded away. "Mabosstiff!" she cries out, sliding into a kneeling position next to him. "Are you okay?!"

Arven's buddy gives a reassuring rrroof, his tail swishing the ground. Arven smiles and crouches down next to his Pokémon as well, giving Mabosstiff a scratch behind the ears. "He's fine. He got just what he wanted all this time—a battle with you. Right, bud?" Mabosstiff woofs in agreement, making him laugh as he digs through his pack to find some Potions. Juliana's face still looks fretful as he sprays the dog Pokémon's wounds, and her Meowscarada is standing a respectful distance away, her front paws nervously grooming the flower petals around her neck as she observes them.

In no time at all, Mabosstiff is back on his feet, tail wagging joyfully as he bounds up to Meowscarada and runs a circle around her. The cat Pokémon looks confused by the enthusiasm, but a bit pleased by the attention too, her mouth lifting in a toothy smile.

"He's thanking her for the battle," Arven says with a grin as he watches, but his attention is drawn back to Juliana when he hears her sniffle. To his surprise, there are tears streaming down her face, her cheeks rosy with emotion. "Whoa, hey! What's with the tears?!"

"I'm... so glad he's not hurt," she blubbers, wiping one eye. "He spent so long in that state, a-and then when Clover landed that last attack, I was afraid that...!"

Arven's pulling her into his arms before he can think about it, overcome with affection for her. "I already told you that he can take it, little buddy. You and your Pokémon could never hurt him like that monster from the Crater."

She just holds onto his arm, squeezing it tight as she collects herself. "Right," she says after a moment, pulling away just enough to lock her eyes on him. "So." She takes a deep breath, and lets it out in a whoosh. "I'm prepared. Mabosstiff's prepared. You know what this means, then."

His squishy, fuzzy feelings of love give way to grim determination as he grasps her meaning. He'd managed to battle her like Nemona suggested, but right now they don't have time to hash out his more delicate emotions.

"Yeah," Arven says with a solemn nod. "I guess we're going back there. To Area Zero."

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Well, to put it lightly, things are different since their little trip to the Great Crater of Paldea.

For one thing, he has zero parents, as opposed to maybe the vague idea of one parent. For another, he has a whole heap of identity issues to work through. Some unresolved resentment towards an environmentally (or temporally?)-displaced beast who had actually been a fellow victim of violence and abandonment, also. Oh, and can't forget the long-buried need for parental approval and acceptance that had resurfaced, but would now forever go unfulfilled.

But putting those things aside, another thing he'd left Area Zero with was a third person who he could call "friend." Though he'd initially been suspicious of her when he'd heard she was a hacker who had been the secret big boss of Team Star, Penny turns out to be a reliable, if somewhat tactless, companion. She tells it like it is, which Arven appreciates, but is not afraid to hurt you in the process, which he appreciates less. He feels something of a kinship with her as a fellow introvert, however.

It's this connection that inspires him to open up a little about what's on his mind one day, a few weeks after their little forbidden field trip. She's bound to understand struggling to express feelings a little better than someone outgoing like Nemona, right?

"It feels like I got our relationship off on the wrong foot," he starts, jumping a little as Penny's Sylveon hops up next to him on the bed. The pink-and-white Pokémon purrs at him and places her front paws on his leg, begging him with her big blue eyes for scritches. He gives in, gliding his hand around her cheek and rubbing underneath her chin. Sylveon closes her eyes in bliss.

"That's true," Penny responds to his words, not turning around from her gaming setup, which dyes the whole dimly-lit room a ghostly blue. It looks like she has some kind of MMO up, but Arven doesn't know enough about them to ask about it. "You did keep calling me a pipsqueak and all."

"No, not you and me," he says, awkwardly patting Sylveon's head as she decides to curl up in his lap despite being a little too large for it. "Me and Juliana."

"Oh, of course," Penny drawls, and Arven can almost hear her eyes rolling. "I should have known you'd come here just to talk about Juliana."

"Wh-Why would you assume that?" he questions, defensive. Leafeon, who had been sprawled out behind him on the bed, has now padded up to him and laid her head in the crook of his arm, wanting in on the petting. He obliges.

"I mean, just from the way you seem so possessive of her and hang on her every word, I'm getting the feeling you're majorly down bad for her. Am I wrong?"

"Huh?! Seriously, what does that even mea—ouch!" he interrupts his own question with a cry of pain. Jolteon has approached from his other side, and unfortunately, his prickly, electrically-charged fur isn't as conducive for snuggling. He pets the Electric-type's head gingerly anyway, because he can't take those baby-doll eyes. The static only hurts a little.

"It means you like her so much that it's sad for you and everyone who has to watch," Penny explains with no trace of sympathy in her voice.

"Hey!" he says, offended, but he can't really refute her words. Flareon is the next to join the cuddle pile, winding around his legs on the floor. He carefully reaches down to stroke the fluff between his ears, trying not to disturb Sylveon in his lap.

"So what's the problem here?" Penny prompts him, clacking away at her keyboard and not even sparing him a glance. "From everything I've seen, you guys are inseparable. Two peas in a pod, your weird possessiveness notwithstanding."

"I'm not possessive!" he retorts lamely, but shakes his head, refusing to be pulled off on a tangent. "Anyway, the problem is that I kind of..."

He falls silent, suddenly embarrassed to bring up what he'd come here to talk about. Penny’s definitely going to make him feel like a fool about it, isn't she? He briefly contemplates leaving, but then Vaporeon rubs up against his leg, nudging Flareon aside a bit to demand pets as well. He can hardly flee the premises with all these Veevees crowding him, so his options are to let Penny deride him for the idiot he is, or shut up while he's ahead.

"I can't help you if you just stop talking, Arven," Penny sighs then, though, and he realizes that despite her attitude, she's still trying to be supportive.

"I..." He screws his eyes shut, and forces the words out: "I kind of spent the first 2 and a half months of our friendship thinking she was a guy!"

Silence ensues, broken only by the faint music and sound effects from Penny's MMO and the occasional clicking of a mouse. "So?" she says at length.

"'SO'?!" he echoes indignantly. He'd been afraid of her mockery, but he’s not sure how to handle indifference. "What do you mean, so?! I didn't even know her full name! I just called her 'little buddy' all the time so I wouldn't have to ask!"

Penny makes a sound like a wince, sucking air through her teeth. "Okay, well, you should stop calling her 'little buddy' all the time," she tells him. "You're basically friendzoning her constantly with that."

"Oh no," he groans, dismayed, and then, after a pause, "What's 'friendzoning'?"

This actually gets him an over-the-shoulder look, like he's so helplessly inept that she needs to confirm it with her own eyes. She returns her attention to her game, but not before heaving a long-suffering sigh. "It means you're reinforcing the idea that you and she will only ever be friends. Putting her in the friend-only zone." Arven blinks, surprised at the helpful explanation, but before he can respond, she goes on, her keyboard clacking rhythmically once more. "Anyway... most of my friends didn't know my name or gender either for a long time, y'know. Didn't even know what I looked like. Never stopped us from getting close, though, since we bonded over shared experience. Crappy experience, sure, but it brought us together."

"Hmm..." Arven contemplates that. He hadn't known she'd experienced something like that, but now that he lets it sink in, it does seem to match up with what he's heard—that the mysterious big boss of Team Star was unknown to all, even the Squad leaders. He feels somewhat blessed that at least he's been able to talk to his friend face-to-face and even touch her from the very start, unlike the reclusive, faceless Boss who had closed themselves off to the outside world. "What changed?" he finds himself asking, curious. "When was just bonding over shared experiences not enough anymore?"

Penny doesn't answer for a while, and Arven becomes nervous that he's probed a little too deeply or poked a sore spot, but she finally speaks again, voice subdued. "I guess... when I started being more concerned about their futures than my past. Or something like that." She hunches her shoulders a little, looking very small silhouetted against the bright monitors. "I wanted them to stop being held down by what we'd been through. To help them move away from it. Away from me."

"You make it sound like you had to give them all up and get left in the dirt," he points out.

He's taken aback when he hears her chuckle. "That was the idea," she admits, "until Juliana got involved."

He nods, absentmindedly stroking Leafeon's ears. So Juliana had dragged them both out of their lonely prisons into the sunlight, it would seem. "Let me guess: she kept treating you like you were already friends until you had no choice to concede, right?"

"Bingo," Penny agrees, and Arven can hear the rare affection in her voice. "Her and that sloppy lizard of hers. No sense of personal space, that one." It’s kind of rich for her to say that, when her own Pokémon are currently surrounding him like a fluffy straitjacket. "But hey," she brings them back on track, "you're not here to talk about me. Besides that whole gender hangup thing, what's stopping you from riding off into the sunset with her astride the aforementioned sloppy lizard?"

His cheeks flush. "It's not that simple," he grumbles. "I mean, to start with, what am I even bringing to the table here?"

"Um, aren't you the picnic guy?" Penny deadpans. "Bringing stuff to the table is kind of your thing."

"You know that's not what I mean! Ugh, forget that part." He sighs, putting aside the matter of his fragile self-esteem. Talking about such an issue with Penny probably won't get him anywhere anyway, as they share a certain level of insecurity. He hesitates, trying to find the right words to describe his other doubts. "I know she... cares about our friendship. A lot. But what if I spent so much time at the beginning treating her like just some guy who was useful that I permanently... what was it called? Friendzoned her?" Sylveon wraps a ribbon-like feeler around his arm and makes a cute chirrup sound at him—perhaps she senses his frustration. Arven pets her silky fur gratefully, and the pink Pokémon purrs and rests her chin on her paws again. "What can I do to change that dynamic now, after all that wasted time?"

"Well, one: as we've discussed, you can stop calling her your little buddy," says Penny bluntly. "It's kinda cringe."

"Jul likes it!" he defends himself weakly. "She told me so..." She'd said that she didn't care for it at first, and only liked it because he was the only one who called her that, but Arven leaves that part out.

"That so? Huh." Penny shrugs. "Well, different strokes for different folks. Okay, next, maybe stop harping on how you messed up before? Didn't we just get done talking about how that almost screwed me over in my situation?" Arven stares at the back of her bicolored head. Though her tone is harsher than he would like, she makes some good points. "Lastly, if you consider all that time getting to know her without any pressure 'wasted,' you're an idiot," she concludes.

He winces. Okay, so maybe his word choice hadn't been the greatest. Those memories were anything but a waste. It just felt like he'd had to get halfway across a game board before realizing that actually he'd been playing with the wrong piece the whole time and had to start over. He rests his chin in his hand, thinking. "You're right," he decides.

"Brave of you to admit it."

"But I'm no good at talking about all this stuff! I mean, I wouldn't be here if I was!" Umbreon, the most stand-offish and fickle of Penny's Veevees, finally takes the opportunity to approach the bed, so he reaches his other hand down for the black Pokémon to sniff. He does, and then butts against Arven's palm. Arven cracks a smile, petting Umbreon's sleek head. "How can I let her know I want things to change, moving forward?" he asks, almost more to himself than to his friend.

"Well, actions speak louder than words," Penny suggests, pausing her game for a moment to take a sip of radioactive-blue liquid Arven can't identify. "Maybe you can get your message across in ways other than words. I dunno, hold her hand or something."

"Uh..." His hand stills until Umbreon stands on his toes to butt into his palm again, prompting him to keep petting him. "I've... already done that. Several times."

"Oh," says Penny, mildly surprised. "Maybe give her a gift that'll make her think of you, then?"

The memories of the picnic blanket and of pressing Applin's PokéBall into her hand flash through his mind. "I've done that, too."

"Hold her when she's sad or scared?" Penny challenges, throwing a glance over her shoulder at him.

"That's," he says meekly, "also already happened, actually."

She actually turns around in her chair to look at him incredulously. "God, is there anything you haven’t done? Please tell me you haven't slept together before establishing feelings, at least."

"Wh—Just what are you implying, young lady?!" he admonishes, face burning all the way to his ears. "I'll have you know that while she may have fallen asleep, I was awake the whole time!"

Penny has taken her glasses off, massaging the bridge of her nose. She looks like this conversation is aging her by the minute. "I'm afraid to ask you to elaborate, but judging by how new you seem to all this, I'm assuming nothing intimate happened and you're just painfully unaware of how awful that sounded."

"Inti—?!" He flaps his mouth at her, his face so flushed he can feel his pulse in it. "W-We watched the meteor shower!" he blurts, desperate to correct any misunderstanding. "We shared a blanket! It was late at night, she was tired from helping me study so much, she fell asleep cuddled up against me! That's it!"

She pops her glasses back on and looks at him with narrow-eyed disgust, like he's something stuck to her shoe. "That's so cute I’m gonna hurl."

"Why do you seem more grossed out by that than whatever you were imagining earlier?!"

"Look, all I'm saying is, if you guys were in a dating sim, you apparently would have checked off all the event CGs except one." Penny turns back to face her monitors, hands returning to her keyboard and mouse.

Arven has no idea what some of those words mean, but gathers that there's still one thing he hasn't done yet to get his feelings across without words. "And... what would the last one be?"

"A kiss, obviously."

"K…!" He swallows the rest of the word, unable to repeat it. He wants to tell her that that would be crazy. Him? Kiss Juliana? His brain had already entered catastrophic meltdown when he believed for even a second, unconsciously, that she was within smooching range. If he froze up like a statue when her face was too close to his even by accident, how in the world would he be able to do it on purpose?

Still... what if he had closed that tiny distance then? What if he'd given in to that gravitational pull? Maybe held her chin gently with his thumb and forefinger. Her lips would part in surprise, her big curious eyes slowly falling closed as he tilted his head—

"No, no, no, no!" He shakes his head vigorously, clamping his hands over his eyes like it will help block out the image only he can see in his head. "I absolutely can't do that! She trusts me! I'd be taking advantage of her vulnerability!"

"Dude, are we talking about the same person?" Penny scoffs. "You've seen what a beast she can be—she even keeps Nemona in check. Jul's hardly what I'd call 'vulnerable.'"

"She can be," he insists, recalling how scared she'd been of an enemy she couldn't see; how frightened she was to hurt Mabosstiff. He pats Vaporeon's head to appease him, since the Water-type had been pawing at his leg. "It just... takes a lot to shake that blithe spirit, that's all..."

"Well, I guess she only shows that side of herself to you, then," she says. "Congrats: you're special." Arven ponders that as he gives Umbreon chin-scratches next. "Also, watch out for Umbreon," Penny advises offhand. "He's a love-biter."

As if on cue, Umbreon chomps down on Arven's finger.

Arven leaves Penny's room some time later with lots of multicolored Pokémon fur on his pants, some new teeth marks on his finger, and an unbearable amount of questions on his mind.

==============================================

Thank you for reading, and see you all again tomorrow!! 💖💖💖

[mysticalibra1994]

Arviana Week (Day 3)

@arvianaweek

Day 3: Pining

After calling it a day at Uva Academy, a well-rested Juliana got a call from Arven; He was asking for a double-check on the locations of the Titan Pokemon.

During each stop at each location, it was Arven's idea to commemorate their accomplishment by making Sandwiches (each flavor will depend on the location of where the Herba Mysticas used to be.

As they were getting the ingredients ready, Arven just looked at her. Wondering how he got so lucky to have a friend (or maybe more than that...) willing to put the Treasure Hunt on pause to help him out. He didn't even mention Mabosstiff or his condition until later! He's [Pining] at not just her, but her kind "never-giving-up" personality...

[arvianaweek]

Arviana Week Day 4!

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