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Juliana stretched and yawned, the artificial sea breeze of the terrarium blowing her hair around her face. She was enjoying taking some time to relax after the crazy events of her return trip to Area Zero. Ever since her arrival at Blueberry Academy she had been working and training non-stop. Seeing Kieran again and being asked to not only join the league club, but to beat it…it was all so much to deal with. To top it off, upon her entry to Blueberry she had determined to train a new team, the members chosen with double battling in mind. The learning curve took her a few weeks to really get the hang of before she could even think about challenging any of the elite four.
And now, finally, she and her Pokémon were enjoying a day off. They finished class for the day and set up a picnic site and giant blanket on the sand of the Coastal Biome. She released her whole team to wander the beach. Arcanine and Ting-Lu were busy tossing a giant beach ball back and forth. Hatterene was splashing around in the ocean. Miradon and Ogerpon opted to stay with her on the giant blanket, Miradon sheltering with her under the giant umbrella while Ogerpon napped in the sun. Meanwhile her Jumpluff did what it usually did and just floated around the site on the wind. She leaned back, propping her weight on her sleeping Miradon, her phone floating before her as she watched a video.
This was how Keiran found her, curled up with her weird dragon pokemon, giggling softly to whatever was playing on her rotom. He was really hesitant to go over and break her peace. After all, she deserved it. He steeled himself and took a deep breath, before strolling over, hands in his pockets. Attempting to seem natural and nonchalant.
“Hey.”
Juliana’s bright eyes moved from her phone up to the voice in front of her, before widening.
“Keiran!” She said with a grin.
“What’s up?”
“Umm, you know. Just around. Saw you sitting her and thought I would say hi.”
“That’s great. We’re just relaxing. I thought I would give everyone some time to play.”
Keiran scanned the area, seeing her team romping around all over the beach. His eyes turned back to her, realizing Ogerpon had woken up and was now sidled right up next to Juliana. The poor pokemon trembled and clutched her shoulder. Keiran frowned.
“Ah, anyways, I’ll leave you guys alone.”
He started to turn around, but Juliana’s voice made him freeze.
“Wait! Keiran, don't leave!"
He spun around slowly at that, feeling at a loss.
"Uh, but she's... not comfortable with me around." He stated, shrugging a shoulder, and trying his best to keep his expression neutral.
It stung more than he cared to admit that the Ogre he loved so dearly in his youth wanted nothing to do with him.
"Please sit with us, Keiran. Its not you, Ponny has a lot of anxiety around everyone."
Ogerpon was still hiding her face behind Juliana’s shoulder. However, Juliana was staring up at him with such a soft and welcoming look. And truth be told, Keiran didn't want to go. He hesitantly approached and sat down under the umbrella where Juliana was gesturing to. His hand came up to absently play with a strand of hair hanging from his ponytail.
" S-so umm..." He started, not sure what to do or say next.
"I've been working with her on trust. She's probably always going to be skittish around people, but it’s important for her to learn that there are lots of kind, welcoming humans."
Juliana turned her attention from Keiran to Ogerpon, lightly stroking her forehead.
"Ponny, this is Keiran. You met him before. He's from Kitakami and one of your biggest fans. He's also a really dear friend of mine. You have nothing to worry about with him around."
Ogerpon chirped up at her, seeming to be taking in her words. Juliana nodded down at her encouragingly and Ogerpon turned to face Keiran. He could still sense some trepidation from the Pokémon but he took a deep breath and gave her a smile, hoping to set her at ease. She chirped at him questioningly and Keiran smiled wider.
"H-hey. I dunno if you remember me. I had a bit of a growth spurt since the last time. I'm Keiran."
She quirked her head at him, and Juliana giggled at the sight. She watched on for the next couple of minutes, observing how Keiran put her at ease enough to pet her head. After a few more minutes, Ogerpon relaxed and settled down in front of Keiran, showing off the shiny rock she had been carrying around all day. Juliana relaxed and pulled out her Rotom phone again to resume her video, a Let’s Play by a popular gaming streamer.
"Is that Mackawire's newest video?" Keiran suddenly asked, his voice full of surprise.
"Yeah, I've been following his playthrough of the new Seven Nights at Sammy's game."
His eyes lit up at that.
"What, seriously?"
Juliana paused the video and examined his shocked expression.
"Yeah, I'm a huge fan."
"S-so am I. I've been playing ever since the first one."
"I started playing around the sixth game, I think? I don't have a console though for this new one, so I have to live vicariously through Mackawire."
Keiran grinned widely at her.
"I've been doing the same, I only have a super old laptop to play games."
They both laughed, Juliana scooting closer to him.
"Do you wanna watch together?"
Keiran sucked in a breath and nodded. Juliana adjusted the screen to be between them and slid in even closer until they were shoulder to shoulder. Keiran’s heart started racing at the contact and just before he could start overthinking it, Ogerpon shifted, also interested in the video. She moved herself back and settled comfortably right in Keiran’s lap. He gasped and Juliana gave him a victorious smile.
"I told you she was fine. She just needed to see your calm energy."
He wasn't sure how to respond and before he could decide, Juliana pressed play on the video. For the next forty minutes they watched in suspense, making comments to each other here and there. Occasionally a jump scare had them flinching, Juliana gasping and clutching his arm.
"Are you scared?" Keiran laughed, giving her a sideways glance.
"Shut up Kiki. Don't pretend like that one didn't make you jump too." she huffed, bumping her shoulder into his.
"Don't worry, I'm here for you." He teased, grinning widely at her.
She stuck her tongue out at him and then turned back to the video. By the end of the Let’s Play they were deep in discussion, theorizing what the hidden clues meant and how they tied into the videogame timeline. Before they knew it, the sun was setting in the terrarium and Juliana’s Pokémon had all shifted to resting around them.
" I... I suppose it’s getting late."
Keiran sighed, looking up at the sky and then down at a sleeping Ogerpon still cuddled into his lap. His chest warmed at the sight. Only last month he had been so deep in his feelings of loneliness and inadequacy over losing Ogerpon to Juliana. He never could have imagined getting to be friends with the sweet Pokémon.
"She really likes you. She can sense how much you love her."
Keiran shifted his gaze over to Juliana.
"Y-you think?" He stuttered, pulling at his hair again.
"Yeah definitely. I haven't gotten her to let her guard down like that with anyone but me yet."
They both paused and stared down at the sleeping Pokémon.
"Keiran, look. I... I never had a chance to apologize to you properly. The way everything went down-"
"N-no, Julie. You don't-"
"Yes, I do. Ultimately, me being a bad friend to you was the catalyst for everything else. I went along with Carmine's and your grandfather’s plan even though I knew in my heart it was wrong. That you deserved to know the truth. And for that dishonesty, I am sorry. From the bottom of my heart."
Keiran was speechless at the sincerity in her expression. Truth be told, this still nagged in his mind no matter how small and inconsequential it all seemed now.
"I forgive you." He said simply, boldly reaching down to squeeze her hand.
"Good." She said in relief with watery eyes.
"Let's do this again, when the next one drops. I've never had a f- friend into SNAS before." Keiran offered, smiling shyly. Juliana bounced with excitement and nodded enthusiastically.
"Me either! When it comes out, I'll wait to watch it with you!"
"Promise?" He said quietly holding his pinky out to her.
She immediately reached out and hooked her pinky with his.
"I promise."
He helped her pack up after that so they could go about their evening. Keiran headed off to dinner to meet up with his overeager sister and Juliana went to the Library to work on a report.
From then on, every time a new video was uploaded, they went out of their way to meet up and watch it together, reveling in the resurgence of their precious friendship.