hop x short delinquent trainer? like hop is only half intimidated cause of how short she is
Hello yes I love Hop so much?? Thank you for this absolutely blessed request <3
I uh. I might have gotten carried away with this request, lol. It’s basically a small fic. I had a really cute song in the background as I wrote this, so it ended up going from scary to cute, but hey! I’m real proud of this one. Hope you all love it as much as I do <3
Tw: Blood, blood mention, violence, fights, cuts, tending to wounds, implied gang situations, implied underground
There were reasons why Hop admired many of the people in his life, most notably Lee. For Lee, it was that despite his caring and carefree nature, he was strong and compassionate. Headstrong in some regards, goofy in others. But he was a leader, striking and heroic to many. In his ten years as Champion, he was a defender, a protector, and a friend to all.
Hop admired that.
When he met you, he was taken aback. You didn’t smile, nor did you give up your death glare. Lee was strong, yes, but his strength was warm, like a nice day in the sun. You? You had aspects of people that he admired, but you were still very... different. The brains of Sonia, the strength of Leon, the determination of Marnie and the straightforward thoughts of Bede. And yet, with all of those, you were cold.
Instead of Lee’s warmth, your strength was like being submerged into a freezing cold river. You were never afraid to speak your mind, and you didn’t need your Pokemon to beat the shit out of someone. Your fists could do the talking for you. Even without Pokemon, no one could beat you. People were scared of you wherever you went, which Hop found slightly amusing because you were an entire head shorter than him.
And Hop admired that.
Because of this, he decided that he wanted to understand what you were all about. It was a slow process, one that involved a lot of threats and glares in his direction. But no matter the bumps and bruises he got from you, he still stuck by your side. It was only after the first couple fights did he realize just how strong you were. You nearly beat someone half to death for touching you wrong, and as he watched from the sidelines, he could see that feral rage in you. That’s when he really started to get anxious around you.
You seemed to notice. Suddenly, all those death glares that you had sent his way just became really confused glances. Your threats became shallow, and you refused to go through with them. Hop had to stop a couple of times when you tried to make some jokes, but because of your nature they fell flat. He still laughed, partly to make you feel better, and partly because the shyness in your posture was so out of character for you. It was...
Cute.
It was when Hop accidentally got caught up in one of your fights that he really saw your true colors. He was tired of people slinging insults at you. And so he threw some back. It was natural, almost. He didn’t realize how protective he had been getting over you. Maybe it was your height, or the fact that he was seriously starting to crush on you. But he did it, and ended up getting a pretty nasty cut on his arm from the opposing Fraxure from it.
Hop, having grown up in a fairly uneventful household and area, didn’t realize how things worked in your world. People were out to do damage, to prove a point and to gain dominance. Hop also didn’t realize that you were a big deal in that scene. So when he got hurt, he watched as you finally pulled out your Pokemon for this fight. Your Sylveon jumped into the fray, absolutely decimating the other team, while two other strange Pokemon stood over him.
Two dog-like Pokemon, one with a dark blue coat and rocks coming out of it’s mane, the other with a light purple coat and eight long, flowing tails. The perpetrators ended up running with their tail between their legs, as well as blood down their temple, but you didn’t care. You ran right up to Hop and dragged him off the wild area.
The two Pokemon weren’t in the region, you had explained. A Lycanroc and Alolan Ninetails from Alola. But after that initial explanation, you went quiet. You took Hop’s arm, sitting him down by the campfire, and got to work. Your blue coated Sylveon occasionally would help with her ribbons, and also giving occasional healing. It was enough to stem the bleeding and at least close up the wound enough for a bandage. The entire time, you both were very quiet, with only the crackling of the fire beside you on this dark night to give a conversation.
And you looked so sad.
Every time Hop winced, you looked pained and ended up muttering a small sorry, one that was barely audible. This must have happened often with you, since you already had all of the supplies at the ready. You managed to clean off the crimson from his arm, stop the bloodflow, and he just looked you over as you wrapped the bandage around his arm.
He’d never seen you with another emotion besides anger. And now this sadness and guilt in your eyes, was it for him? He winced again as you tightly wrapped the bandage, which almost seemed to make you wince yourself.
“Sorry...”
“Stop it,” he finally said.
You stopped mid wrap and looked at him, almost broken.
“You don’t need to keep saying sorry. I did this to myself.”
“But--”
“No. Not buts. I started it this time, so stop it.”
You shifted slightly, looking down at the ground. “Y...You’re okay... right?”
That tiny question, the one that he could barely hear over the crackling fire, is what made his heart soar. You were worried for him. He could hear it not only in the question, but your quivering voice. He watched as you started to sniffle, and your shoulders started to shake. So he pulled you in for a hug. For once, you didn’t fight.
Your crying was very silent, so much so that he could barely even hear your sobs. And yet you clung to him like your life depended on it. He found his hand rubbing your back, and reassuring you that he was okay. Part of him was still intimidated by your strength, but he had to remind himself that you were human too.
“W-Why...” you got out, nose pressed against the soft fluff of his jacket. Hop stopped. “W-Why are you... s-so nice to me?”
He sighed. “Well, it was mostly cause I liked your strength at first... But then I get interested in what was driving you. You’re so powerful, and yet, you’ve yet to go and do the gym challenge. Everyone was so scared of you, and so I wanted to see what was going on.” Hop sighed again, not really knowing what to expect out of his next sentence. “A-And... and then you got cute.”
Your body tensed up, and your grip tightened on his jacket. He continued on. “I started seeing your real self little by little, and it was... really nice. I started to enjoy being around you and... color me crazy, but I consider you a friend.”
“A... friend...?”
“Yeah.”
“...I’ve never had a friend before...” you whispered.
Hop held you closer. “You have one now.” Even though I think I might like you more, he thought to himself. “Besides, I should be thanking you. After all, you’re the one that saved me back there.”
“You shouldn’t get caught up in my battles.”
“And are you going to stop me?”
“Hoooooppp,” you whined, groaning against him. He laughed, knowing that the answer was clearly no.
You pulled back, wiping the tears from your eyes and taking his arm again. To break any sadness in your eyes, he ended up starting to tell you stories. It was a gift to hear you laugh and to see you smile. This terrifying, tiny girl who had the capacity to kill another human being, enjoyed his presence so much that she wanted to protect him.
Over the next month or so, you started to change, little by little. Your jokes had more punch to them. You started to experiment with your style, and instead of dark blacks and greys, you started to put more color in. You two went out and ended up camping together sometimes in the wild area. You didn’t get in as many fights.
Maybe it was that you didn’t need to be so defensive anymore. You had someone to help and support you. But really, in Hop’s mind, this was ten million times more terrifying, because he knew where you kept all of your knives in your dresses. You really took cute but deadly to a whole new level. Hop idly wondered one night with you curled up against his chest if either of you really understood how close you were growing. He also wondered how much it would take to get you to battle Lee.
That would be an extremely interesting battle.