Hear me out… Reader avoiding Guz because they’re so down bad.
He walks in a room, they suddenly have to leave. Maybe bumping the doorway on the way out and they just keep going.
He breathes and they blush.
They hide in ridicules places in an attempt to go unseen.
Maybe they’re in battle and see him and just fully fumble a move or something and they just pretend it never happened.
It just gets progressively worse until maybe team skull corners them and they admit they’re so nervous around Guz and don’t want to loose their friendship with him so they’ve been avoiding him to try and loose their feelings.
Thank you again for your wonderful work. Maybe I can request this for the COD boys later? Hope you’re well. Take your time no rush.
Man, I'm sorry this took forever :') but I hope you like it feedback is welcome. :)
tw: Gender neutral reader, das it I think
Guzma was on his phone looking at what felt like the 20th rejection he got from you in a span of a few weeks. At first he didn’t even notice, he would initiate an offer to spend time with you; a friendly battle, a cup of cocoa, whatever; and you would turn him down, saying you were busy. No biggie, you were the island champion at this point, it makes sense you’d have shit to do.
Then it started feeling personal. He’d see you hanging out with other trainers around the same times you claimed to be busy. He once saw you in a malasada shop with Hau. When he approached to say hi, you mumbled out a quick hello and said you had to go. He met up with you, Gladian and Lillie when you weren’t expecting and you quickly mentioned something you forgot you had to do and left. You didn’t even look him in the eye.
Quite frankly, it was starting to piss Guzma off. He knows he’s not the nicest person ever, and he sure as hell ain’t the best person ever, but he was pretty sure you liked him for a bit, and now you’ve pulled a complete 180. Did you think he wasn’t good enough to be your friend? Did you not want your reputation as champion to be tainted by a degenerate like him?
He turned around and stormed back inside the mansion, barely looking at any of the Grunts as he bee lined to his room.
You sighed and stood up from behind the three Grunts who blocked Guzma’s view of you. “Thanks, guys.”
The silver haired Grunt spoke up. “Yo, I don’t wanna pry or nuthin, but, what’s been your deal with the Boss?”
“Yeah! Word is you hate his guts!” Pink haired Grunt agreed.
“What? No, of course I don’t hate him!”
“Then why you dodgin’ him, yo?? He's been real pissed!”
You hesitate, looking at the ground. “It's stupid… but I definitely don't hate him… I guess I just… I don’t know, he makes me nervous.”
“Oooohhh, I feel that. I was mad scared of the boss at first, but to be for real, he a big softie.”
“Yeeeeahhh! Big ol’ softie!”
“Tell ya what, me and boss were gonna meet up for some trainin’, why dontcha–”
“I can't. I mean, not tonight. I gotta start heading out…”
You start gathering your things to leave but Silver wouldn't let it go.
“Why not, yo?? We've seen you battle the boss and kick ASS! Why so scared now?”
“I don't know… I guess he just got stronger…”
The third Grunt with blue hair finally spoke. “Do you have a crush on him?”
Your eyes snap to Blue and the other two Grunts’ eyes widen and turn to you.
You speak, still side eyeing Blue. “No, I don’t. I just… I don’t.”
“You sure? Cuz you be starin’ at him pretty hard, and you be smilin’ and shit when you think no one’s looking.”
“YOOOOOOOOO, you do have the hots for Boss!”
“Yo, that’s fuckin funny, yo. You duckin and dodgin Boss Man cuz he got you all weak in the knees!”
“Dude, can you shut up! He’s right upstairs!”
“OK, OK. But I don’t know why you think you should hide, pretty sure he likes you, too.”
You give Silver a questioning look before Blue speaks up.
You turn to Blue Grunt eyes wide and they continue. “All that training he’s doing is to impress you. All those fancy malasadas he doesn’t let us touch are for you. And when you’re not here, all he talks about is you.”
You don’t respond, more like you can’t. After all this time, Guzma feels the same way you do?
“Well, not as much anymore. He thinks you hate him now. Y’know, since you’ve been avoiding him.”
“But I don’t hate him! Arceus, I messed this up, I messed all of it up.” You put your face in your hands and feel yourself getting warm.
Silver Grunt speaks up. “Hey wait, wait! It’s OK! Maybe you didn’t! We could like… set yall up? Eh??”
You look up at Silver Grunt. “No. No way. That’ll just make it worse.”
“No it won’t! Y’all both are already crushing hard, so we’re already halfway there!”
“OK, no offence, but I mostly mean, you’ll make it worse.”
“Hey, what the fuck! We will not! We’re practically love experts! Remember them Grunts we set up a while back?”
“That ain’t the point. We can set up a nice little meet cute for y’all to finally fess up to each other. It’ll be easy!”
“No, dude. I’m serious. Please, just drop it.” You sling your bag over your shoulder. “I for real have to head out, but keep this to yourselves, please.”
As soon as the front door to the mansion closes, Silver Grunt turns to the other two. “OK, Operation Big Boss x Champ is a go! Here’s the plan–”
“But they told us to drop it.”
“Weren’t you lookin at em? They got it baaaad for the boss, we’d be doin em a favor!”
“Are you sure we won’t get in trouble?”
“I mean, like, technically, boss ain’t even our boss no more. So we can’t really get in trouble with him.”
“Oh, yeah… OK, so what’s the plan?”
You had to physically stop yourself from sprinting away when you saw Guzma.
Silver Grunt had asked you to meet him at the beach for a battle, but they were nowhere to be seen. The only person there was Guzma, and he definitely noticed you flinch when he saw you from a distance.
You kept walking towards him, and he just watches you. You feel a flush of heat fill your face when you meet his gaze, so you quickly put your head down. Arceus, you forgot how intense that steely glare is.
“The fuck are you doin here?” You stop in your tracks at the sound of Guzma’s voice and damn near trip over absolutely nothing. He flinches when you wobble, but stays where he is.
“Um… Silver wanted to battle… thought they’d be here.”
He squints at you, emphasizing his already pronounced glare. “That’s real strange since Pinkie invited me here to battle.”
“Oh… well maybe–” You cut yourself off as you begin to connect the dots. Silver and Pinkie, but they’re nowhere to be found. Those bastards.
You glance back up at Guzma who’s waiting for you to finish. He quirks an eyebrow at you.
“I guess, they uh, had a mix up or something…”
Guzma takes out his phone. “Ain’t no mix up, Pinkie texted me straight up ‘yo boss, let’s battle’.”
“...Maybe they’re running late.”
“Well, call Silver and find out.” As Guzma instructs you, he’s calling Pinkie. Suddenly an obnoxious ringtone sounds from a bush a little off shore, followed by a half whispered, half shouted ‘shit’.
You too watch the bush as it continues ringing, yell whispering and wobbling.
Finally the ringing stops and Guzma here’s Pinkie’s voice through the phone. “Uhhh, hey boss!”
“Pinkie, what the fuck’s goin on?”
“What nothin, I um…” More whispering from the bush, and then Pinkie continues but they’re voice is obnoxiously scratchy. “I caught a cold.”
“Yeah, *cough*, real bad. Drowsy and snivelly and all that.”
Guzma says nothing, but he looks less angry, just more like an exhausted parent as he stares at the bush.
“Yeah, so like, maybe you and Y/N can battle since I can’t–”
“How’d you know Y/N was here?”
The bush starts yelling again, and soundly Pinkie’s sore throat is cured.
“Shit, I mean, I just figured… y’all battle sometimes so—”
Guzma removes the phone from his ear and yells “GET OUT OF THE DAMN BUSH!”
The bush stops moving and slowly Silver, Pinkie and Blue’s heads emerge from it.
“Git your asses over here.” Guzma points to the ground in front of him.
They shuffle forward, keeping their heads down.
“What the hell are y’all doing?”
Pinkie was the first to speak up. “It was Silver’s idea.”
“You said we wouldn’t get in trouble!”
“We wouldn’t have if you didn’t fuck us up!”
“I did not fuck us up! You said–”
The Grunts stop and eye Guzma.
“Answer the damn question!”
Silver starts fidgeting with their hands. “Well…we know you’ve liked… missed Y/N…”
Guzma’s eyes widen, he quickly looks at you before quickly looking away.
“...so like… we wanted to find a way for y’all to… like hang out.”
Guzma looks between the Grunts and you. “So y’all pulled this whole elaborate ruse just to get me and Y/N to hang out?”
Silver and Pinkie don’t respond, heads still down. Blue’s just spacing out.
Guzma’s eyes snap to yours. Now it was your turn to look at the ground. You take a deep breath to steady your voice. “Please don’t be mad at them… they only did this because…”
You trail off to the point your voice is barely audible. Everyone’s staring at you.
You take another deep breath. “...because I told them I like you…”
Everyone looks surprised, especially Guzma, and his face is flushed red.
He tries to maintain some kind of authority despite being flustered. “Whatchu mean, you mean like…like like??”
You nod your head, completely avoiding eye contact with him.
Guzma’s mouth gapes in realization. You don’t hate him!
A grin slowly spreads over his face and he chuckles. “Well, well, well.” He saunters over. “All this time I thought you was sick of me. Turns out ya boi was just gettin ya all red in the face. All hot and bothered, that right?”
You cover your face which now feels unbearably hot and your voice goes up a pitch. “Arceus, Guzma…”
Guzma laughs. “Lookitcha, can barely stand me sweet talkin ya, how am I supposed to take you out if you can’t even look at me?”
You remove your hands and gape at Guzma. “Out? Like… a date???”
“Of course I mean I frickin date, man. That is, uh…” Guzma’s confidence falters a bit, his eyes finding the ground. “... that is, if you… want to.”
“Y-Yeah! Yes! I would love to!”
“YESSSS!” You jump as Silver yells, you were so engrossed in your confession that you forgot you had an audience. “THE PLAN WORKED! UP TOP!”
You can’t help but laugh as you watch the Grunts celebrate. They seem happier than you and Guzma were that you guys got together.
“Hold up, you bozos.” The Grunts stop their rejoice abruptly. “Y’all still aren’t in the clear. Y’all still tricked us into comin down here, and no one gets away with foolin the Boss.
The Grunts look scared again before you decide to step in. “Maybe you should cut ‘em some slack just this once. Yeah they set us up, but I feel like we kinda owe them now.”
They look up at Guzma with what can only be described as rockruff eyes. Guzma rolls has eyes but he’s smirking anyway.
“Fine, y’all are off the hook this time.” The Grunts smile at him. “Now git outta here before I change my mind, me and this cutie got a date to plan.”
Pinkie giggles as you cover your face again. “THANKS, BOSS!”
Blue finally speaks. “I hope they don’t break up like those other grunts did.”
