~Guzma X Listener SFW: Not Quite Like the Stories~ {Patreon Exclusive}

An exploration into how you came to love Guzma

Contains: Fanfic Style Narration, Confessions, Kissing

I was thinking about trying a new style and I did it! So compared to my normal way of making audios, where it's the character speaking directly to the listener, this audio is more like a fanfic style narration with some voice acting in it, and I liked how it turned out! I just wanted to tell a more complete story I think to my other confessions where it's more guided on what's going on. If everyone likes it enough, maybe I'll do more in this style, but regardless, I hope you all enjoy!

~Audio Transcript Below~

It started off as a rivalry, as so many stories go. On your journey, he was the opposition for so long, and to be perfectly frank, it was annoying, at first. His grunts getting in the way at what felt like every turn, making things vastly more difficult for you. Then you actually met him for the first time, battled him for the first time, and it was......you don't want to say, underwhelming, but.....he was different.

He wasn't quite what you expected, (not in looks, he looks exactly like you thought he would), but he wasn't the big bad villain that you expected him to be. His name was Guzma and he....he was just.....a person.....a guy who was just fighting for....well.....fighting for those who were outcasts.....like him......misguided and angry for being mistreated for no reason.

You kept meeting up, he kept getting in your way, and you kept beating him.....and instead of the normal triumph of beating an opponent with your Pokémon...something about it just felt.....sour....wrong.....like he was trying so hard for a cause that he believed in, and [you] were the one getting in his way. Almost like you were the bad guy. And while maybe on the outside he was just as boisterous, just as fired up about 'next time'. You could see in his eyes that something......something was wrong...

Then it all came to a head. Your intuition was right. Guzma wasn't the bad guy.....well......not the main bad guy. Manipulated by Lusamine to do her dirty work, just so he could survive in the world. Then you all got sucked into that other dimension and you saw him just.....broken.....and it kind of broke you too. The once lively Team Skull boss accepting his fate and just......giving up.

So you kept going, not only to save Alola from a megalomaniac......but to save the both of you as well.

And you did it. You actually did it. You saved everyone, and when you stepped out of the portal and back into the world you knew, Guzma looked at you in an entirely different way than he had ever before. Like he was truly seeing you for the first time, and it stirred something in your gut that you weren't entirely prepared for.

You almost half expected nothing to come of it. Expected to just move on.....but.....you couldn't. Guzma disbanded Team Skull.....something he cared about so much but also was tainted......and you couldn't help but feel for him. He and his grunts had never really done you any harm, and so, you reached out.

He was surprised, no doubt, when after everything he helped cause, you were kind to him. He tried to reject it at first, thinking it was some sort of trap, but you were persistent, remembering that if circumstances were different, you could have just as easily walked down the path that he did.

So, little by little, with enough compassion, he started to open up, and you started to see the man behind the gruff exterior. He was still rather brash, but more in a natural no-nonsense way, something that you found weirdly.....charming.

The more you spent time together, the more and more you opened up to one another, and the more you found out about each  other's pasts......likes and dislikes.....dreams....ambitions......

For a while, he didn't seem to really have any.

"The last time I had an ambition, the whole world almost got destroyed" he had said.

"But it didn't," you replied.

"Thanks to you." he commented softly. "Why you're....my friend.....I have no idea."

You explained that while yes, he had done bad things, he was someone who had been manipulated. An outcast that was just trying to carve his space into the world, and he was taken advantage of. Lusamine had lied to him. You told him that you believed that deep down, under all the gruff exterior, that there was a man inside, who was good.

And then, once again, as so many of the stories occur. It happened all at once, and yet, not at all. The understanding that you liked Guzma more than just a friend. So entirely unexpected that it gave you whiplash.

You were spending time together and he looked at you, and the moment could have been taken right out of a movie. Backlit by sunset, he smiled at you, and it felt like everything moved in slow motion.

"You're the greatest person I've ever met." He said.

And a thought crossed your mind. How you wouldn't mind spending the rest of your life like this.

Almost immediately, a welling of emotion so strong you could feel the burn of it in your cheeks swelled forth, so powerful it felt like it would overtake you and pull you out to sea.

You were in love with Guzma.

This knowledge brimming in your mind and your heart...... a realization that it's almost always been this way......nearly the entire time you've known the man. You love him, you love him, you love him.

But another age-old question still permeates your thoughts.

"Would he love me back?"

Keeping it to yourself is hard of course, as any secret is to keep, but you would rather keep it a secret and continue to spend time with him, watch him grow as a person, than jeopardize any of that with feelings.

But now you're here..... and Guzma has had an incredibly difficult day. Sleep full of nightmares and nothing in the waking world going right. As much as you've tried to comfort him, nothing seems to break him out of the dull melancholy that's fallen over him, like he's stuck, and you want nothing more than for him to know that he's loved.

Confessions don't ever come at the most opportune moments, not like they do in the movies.

So it just comes out. You can't hold it in anymore. "I love you." All in a rush, almost one entire word, like if you had the time to think about it, it wouldn't come out at all.

He stares, and you almost brush it off as a joke, but he grabs one of your hands. "Do you?" He asks, so small and unsure, you know you can't say anything but the truth.

So you confirm, and say it again.

He swallows, and a wet laugh comes out of him as he turns his head slightly, using his free hand to wipe his eyes and apologizing under his breath.

For a heart wrenching second you think he's apologizing because he doesn't feel the same way, but then he sniffs and nods his head sharply, and you know what it means, and your heart almost feels too big for your ribcage, your own breath caught in your lungs.

"I didn't want to scare away one of the only people who sees me for me....." he murmurs after a few long seconds, and you just barely resist the urge to wipe his eyes yourself as fresh tears leak from them. As much as you want to soothe, you know that he needs to get this out.

Choked, again almost afraid of the repercussions, he says quietly. "I love you too."

Both of his hands end up cradled in yours and you take a moment to, in another spontaneous expression of love, kiss his rough knuckles gently.

Guzma laughs again, far less wet and heart wrenching but still disbelieving.

"How I ever managed to meet someone like you.....and fall in love.....and have it be reciprocated......I'll never know......I've never done nothing to deserve this." The last part of his sentence peters off, looking downcast as if he can't actually believe your words, or that any of this was really happening in the first place.

You grip his hands in yours so he won't pull away. You don't quite have enough time or even the words in your mind at the exact moment to describe the breadth and width of the reasons you care for and love him, so what comes out of your mouth is. "You're you."

A huff of a laugh leaves his nose, and a small, delicate smile tugs at the sides of his mouth, his eyes refocusing on you. While still partially wry looking, you see the same adoration that you know is reflected in your own eyes. It isn't a mistake. You aren't mistaken, you tell him, before he can even open his mouth to argue.

"You're allowed to have good things, to be happy. Whether or not you think you deserve them."

A brittle laugh escapes him, and it tugs at your heart. "You almost make me feel like I can believe that......You've made me feel like I can believe a lot of things I never could before."

"You've trusted me before, and it's worked out." You point out with a slightly brittle laugh of your own, trying to make more light of the situation which should by all intents and purposes be joyous. "I'm asking you to put that trust in me again."

He's silent for a long moment, and you find yourself rubbing your thumbs across the tops of his hands. He opens his mouth several times and closes it again, searching for the words he wants to say. Then, he lets out another huffed laugh through his nose. His shoulders sag, and he looks you in the eyes, smile strengthened, if only a little. "How can I say anything but, Ok?"

Once again, the sheer emotion that overtakes you moves your body before your brain can comprehend, and you take his face in your hands and press your lips together, eyes squeezed shut. He stiffens for just a fraction of a moment, but then all but melts into you, a small whimper as he reaches his own hands up to cradle your face.

It's just a dry pressing together, the kiss, but you can't help but feel it's the best kiss you've ever had. Maybe it's the lovesickness talking, but you don't care. You don't care.

You pull away finally, opening your eyes to look at him, about to apologize for your overzealousness, but he beats you to speaking.

"Again?" He asks, voice cracking, and it breaks your heart to hear, like he can't imagine this is real, that he gets to have this, experience this love with you. And so you do as he asked. Without another word you kiss him, promising yourself that you'll kiss him as many times as it takes for him to believe it.

You repeat that promise out loud to him as you finally pull apart, and tell him again how much you do love him.

His smile is more confident as he sniffs and replies in a louder voice than before, like he actually believes. "I love you too."

Your stomach jumps, such a good swoop and so giddy and you can't help the smile that breaks out onto your face.

You peck at his lips and say "I love you" again.

His smile widens, catching onto the little game. He leans forward and pecks you on the lips, the first kiss he's initiated since your mutual confession, and your cheeks hurt from the strength of your smile. "I love you too." he says.

"I love you too."