Connecting Heartstrings | Gladion

>>Chapter 17<<

Gladion was outside the Pokémon School training. He took out Sneasel and started shouting orders. He was focused on his training; his only desire was to grow stronger next to his Pokémon. While shouting orders he caught a glimpse of (Y/N)'s hair on the corner of his eye. He turned to look around and noticed (Y/N) talking with Ilima. They both sat down on a bench a few meters away from him. He could not hear what they were saying but he could see (Y/N) was laughing.

Gladion turned his head away forcefully and tried to focus on his training. Sneasel could sense something was wrong and looked at its trainer, worried, but Gladion continued shouting orders as if nothing were wrong. Sneasel ignored the feeling in its gut and obeyed Gladion's commands.

Gladion wanted to pretend he didn't care but he caught himself staring at (Y/N) more often than not. It's not like it was any of his business but something about Ilima was bothering him. Maybe (Y/N) was in danger. He was too close. Whatever it was, it made Gladion's insides twist and turn in disgust. He did not care where the anger came from and he would most definitely not listen to reason. He just felt like breaking stuff.

Sneasel was exhausted but Gladion didn't seem to stop. Fueled by his anger, he kept ordering poor Sneasel around, trying to focus on his training. Gladion turned to look at (Y/N) once more and saw Ilima was way too close to (Y/N). He didn't even think twice before telling Sneasel where to direct its next attack.

(Y/N) was talking to Ilima about the different regions they both knew. They were having a peaceful conversation and she was learning a lot about Kalos, while she also taught Ilima a bit about Galar. Everything was going fine until she looked up and a shard of ice passed right in front of her eyes, right between Ilima and herself, and found its target on the ground in front of them. With her heart beating fast, she turned to look at where the attack came from, thinking maybe someone training accidentally sent their attack the wrong way but all she found was Gladion glaring daggers at them. (Y/N) then grew angry at Gladion. Why on earth did he attack her?

Gladion turned to look at (Y/N) and his eyes softened. Then he noticed she was angry. He looked at the ice shard on the ground and then back at Sneasel, who looked up at him and just shrugged. What did he do? (Y/N) was walking towards him.

— "Why the frick did you pick me as your target?!" — (Y/N) shouted while pointing at the spot where she was sitting moments ago. Gladion turned to look at the bench and saw Ilima was smirking. Gladion completely ignored (Y/N) and regaining his anger, he started walking towards Ilima. (Y/N) took notice of this and ran past Gladion and stood between the two guys.

— "(Y/N). Move."

— "No, Gladion, what the heck are you doing?" — (Y/N) responded while crossing her arms, not letting Gladion walk any closer to her friend. In all honesty, (Y/N) was afraid he was gonna punch Ilima in the face and she didn't even know why. Gladion's gaze was set on Ilima, not even paying attention to (Y/N) who was inches away from him.

— "You don't even realise what his intentions are, do you?" — Gladion said without breaking his staring contest with Ilima. This caught (Y/N) off-guard.

— "What do you mean?" — She asked Gladion, who apparently knew something she didn't.

— "Ask him why he was sitting so close to you."

— "Close to me? He wasn't close to me...was he?" — (Y/N) was confused as to what Gladion meant.

Ilima was just talking to her like they always did. Nothing out of the ordinary. She frowned and turned around to look at Ilima. When their eyes met, Ilima blushed and looked down.

— "See, he doesn't see you as a friend, (Y/N)." — Gladion tried to reason with her and Ilima glared at him.

— "Shut up." — (Y/N) replied. She didn't care, it's not like having feelings was a bad thing, but she wanted to hear it from Ilima. — "Ilima?"

— "I'm sorry (Y/N), I didn't mean to betray your trust or anything. It just happened." — Ilima replied looking at (Y/N) straight in the eye. He did like her, but he would never take advantage of her. Ilima knew it wasn't mutual and he respected that, but he still wanted to remain close to her, get to know her, and be there for her. It's the only thing he could do.

(Y/N) was at war with herself. She couldn't believe she didn't notice it before, and she didn't want to hurt her best friend, but she didn't feel the same way about him. And on that note, why would that be any of Gladion's business? Why did he care so much? He seemed way too upset about it. Did he think Ilima would do something to her? She was about to speak up when she noticed the two boys bickering.

— "She deserves better than you." — Gladion said, angering the ever-so-peaceful Ilima

— "What, like you?" — Ilima retorted.

Gladion jumped forward to punch him but was stopped by (Y/N).

— "Say that to my face!" — Gladion screamed in anger.

— "Enough both of you!" — (Y/N) screamed and threw a pokéball in front of her.

Corviknight came out of its pokéball, its red eyes staring at the two fighting boys.

— "I'm so sorry about this Ilima, I would've liked to hear this from you and not from Gladion though." — Ilima looked at the floor. — "And you," — (Y/N) said while looking at Gladion— "What the hell is wrong with you? You don't own me." — Now it was Gladion's turned to look down. His anger finally boiled down and he realised he had just made a scene out of jealousy and possibly messed things up beyond repair.

(Y/N) got on top of Corviknight and before either of the boys could say anything, she took off.

...

(Y/N)'s phone rang. It was a text from Gladion. (Y/N) looked at the screen and read the message:

"I know you probably don't want to see me but my mom's hosting a party at Aether Paradise this weekend and I'd love it if you came. We really need to talk."

(Y/N) took this as an opportunity to get her father's project back. No one would notice her absence during a party. She didn't reply to Gladion's message, but she had already made her mind up about going.

She was still confused as to why Gladion had acted that way. Not like he knew what she felt for him but (Y/N) was sure it would never be reciprocated, so what was all that "being jealous of Ilima crap" for?

A/N: I felt like some drama was necessary lol, I promise I'll update soon