An introspective look at Penny
Penny’d had a crush on Nemona as long as she could remember. But they were so sure Nemona would never give them the time of day, Nemona was, quite literally, the cutest girl Penny had ever seen. Penny had been so sure Nemona didn’t know she existed. So why had Nemona defended them from the Team Star bullies?
Penny may have created the whole of Team Star by choosing the leaders, but she truly couldn’t be more a of an absentee father for them. They had started bullying her more and more, Florian was supposed to be the solution to that. Turns out he’s more of a deadbeat simp than Penny could ever be, at least they weren’t always mooning over Nemona like he was.
All he’d seemed to care about when she had fist called him as Cassiopeia was this guy named Arven. Which was a huge liability, especially when he seemed to only want to travel with him. Florian had even yelled at Nemona because she offered to travel with him.
Penny noticed it then, the whispers and giggles following Nemona. The rumors and bullying, Penny couldn’t understand how Nemona didn’t notice. Maybe she did and she’s just really good at pretending. Kids will pick apart the smallest thing they didn’t like about you, you had to be strong, Penny learned that the hard way.
By the time Penny had moved to Uva academy she had already socially transitioned, but people still made fun of her. Penny always wished she could’ve been strong like Nemona was. Nemona didn’t have to move schools because of bullying, Nemona didn’t get called slurs at every corner, and Nemona’s pronouns were always respected.
When Penny decided to call Nemona as Cassiopeia they were so sure Nemona wouldn’t give them the time of day. But Nemona had, Nemona had been so nice. Penny couldn’t believe it, she had even come up with a cute nickname for them, Cass.
Now, walking through the hotel door Penny was panicking. Nemona was standing right there, bouncing a little on her heels. Penny fought to keep the blush from their face, they nodded at the bellhop and he handed her the Penthouse key.
When Penny was younger she learned the lesson of a lifetime: If you carry yourself like you own the place and have the money to back it up, people will fall head over heels for you. Penny may not have been rich, but they could act like they were. And some mildly illegal hacking could make them look rich too.
They took the elevator with Nemona, standing as far away from her as they possibly could.
“Hey,” Nemona looked a bit apologetic, “If you don’t want to travel with me you don’t have to force yourself.”
Penny blinked, “What do you mean?”
“Well, uh, I don’t know, sorry,” Nemona giggled awkwardly, “Don’t worry about it, okay?”
Penny stood, a little confused, Nemona was so cool, why would they ever not like her, “I’m not uncomfortable, I’m just not used to traveling with people.”
Nemona gasped a little, “Really, Oh. My. Arceus! Do you like the gym challenge? Do you have your treasure picked out? Do you want to paint your nails with me?”
Penny was even more taken aback by the sudden onslaught of questions, she ended up just nodding along with whatever Nemona was saying. She could feel her face heating up when Nemona gabbed their arm and pulled them from the elevator. Penny hadn’t even noticed that it reached their floor.
Anticipating Nemona to get bored of them not responding Penny went along with everything she said. Painting their nails the same as Nemona’s; watching some stupid Rom-Com, the guy in it was a professional Ponyta and Rapidash rider, Penny found out that those were Nemona’s favorite Pokémon; Nemona also insisted on the two of them having a “sleepover”. They were sharing a room so it was a sleepover either way.
Penny laid back, Nemona was still talking about something, Penny felt bad for tuning her out but it was force of habit. Without realizing, they began to doze off in Nemona’s bed, in an instant she was out like a light.