#this is a little rough bc i wrote quickly and barely edited

[sad-goomy]

growing pains

so I also immediately latched onto the fun headcanon that Marnie is a Lona kid, and after seeing @aurantia-ignis‘s fanart and @trashyatt‘s fanart I got inspired to write whatever this fluff is

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Gladion never thought he’d settle into domestic life.

Not that the idea of marriage or home life were ever upsetting to him, but it was hard to imagine when his own family was so shattered and he spent so much of his life alone with Null against the world.

Of course, he also didn’t think he’d meet someone like Moon, and then he didn’t think he’d fall in love with her, and then he didn’t think he’d ever propose, and then he didn’t think they’d have children, and then, well...

All that to say that while he still finds time to travel and take on the occasional adventure, there are certain routines he’s grown to like.

One of them is coming home from work to find his daughter finishing up her homework at the dining room table.

She’s there when he opens the door, breezing through the living area to drop off his things as he greets, “Hi Marnie.” He just has a quick glance at her before he’s walking past, intent to change into something far less formal and ask Moon what she wants for dinner.

But then her “hi dad” comes out so much meeker than usual, and she hunches dramatically over her worksheet, her nose just an inch from the table as she keeps her eyes down.

Gladion pauses, immediately noticing the misstep in their little routine. He turns, about to ask what’s wrong, when he realizes that half of her bangs are missing. Immediately his brows furrow, and he asks slowly, “What happened to your hair?”

“Nothing.” It comes out far too quickly and she turns her head slightly away from him.

The dad voice doesn’t come out often, but he figures it’s more than appropriate in this situation. “Marnie...”

Finally, with a sigh of defeat, she puts down her pencil and looks up at him.

She’s wearing one of her favorite sundresses – Lillie got her this one for her birthday – and for the most part, her hair is intact. Except, of course, for the side that’s been shaved, just a little and just enough that it gives him déjà vu.

A life on the run flashes before his eyes, of nights spent alone in a motel room at far too young an age, of a hasty haircut to try and hide himself, to lose himself. The image morphs into a little girl in a sundress, running away from home and lashing out at the world and feeling every bit as scared and angry as he was.

When the silence stretches too long, Marnie fidgets in her seat, pulling her ace card, that iron-clad excuse to get her off the hook. “Mom let me!”

It snaps Gladion out of his thoughts with a hum, and too distracted by the anxiety overtaking him to give a proper response to his daughter, turns and walks towards the master bedroom.

Moon’s in her armchair by the window, the last of the sunset giving her enough light to finish the chapter of the paperback she’s reading. She lifts her eyes off the page when she hears footsteps, and looks up to see her husband’s face in disarray.  

“You saw Marnie’s-”

“Marnie’s hair, yes.” He sighs, going to their closet to set down his briefcase and shrug off his suit jacket. His voice isn’t particularly angry, too marred by the unwanted memories and fear as he asks, “Why on earth did she want to shave it like that?”

Setting down her book, Moon stands from the arm chair, explaining as she walks to him, “She wanted it to look like yours.” He turns, not soothed at all by the answer, and she gives him a soft smile, her hands running along his arms. “She wants to be like her father.”

He frowns, eyes flickering to the side and unseeing. “That’s what I was afraid of.”

Moon rolls her eyes, taking his hands in hers as she huffs a little laugh. “Yes, tapus forbid she wants to save the world and be the head of an organization focused on the welfare of Pokémon.”

“You know what I meant.” His gaze hooks onto hers, and she can still see right through him after all these years. Even if he didn’t speak another word, she’d pick out the unspoken fears. Still, he tells her (because he wants to tell her, feels better when he tells her these things, and he never thought that’d be possible). His voice is barely above a whisper, fractured by the self-doubt.  

“What if she got the worst of me?”

Marnie is a good kid. He knows this, but he still has the nights where he lies awake in bed wondering if he’s really doing this right – if he’s really any better than his mother. There’s a competitive streak growing inside of Marnie, a stubbornness that he knows at least partially comes from him, and it’s not much now but he worries it’ll bloom into something with thorns.

“Then all the amazing things she got from her mom will outweigh them.” Moon pulls him out of the downward spiral with a wink, and he gives a weak laugh. Her face softens out of the mischief, her impish spark replaced with a warm, glowing adoration in her eyes as she lifts a hand to cup his face, thumb running over his cheek gently as she says simply, earnestly, “She’s growing into her own person, who really loves her farther – who's a damn good dad when he isn’t overthinking a haircut.”

He leans his head down and she gets up on her tiptoes to place a kiss on his forehead, the last of his stress melting underneath the touch. “I know I worry too much.”

“Wouldn’t be Gladion if you didn’t.” There’s not a trace of bitterness or judgement in her tone, only the love and acceptance he’s slowly realized he’s worthy of. She steps back, gently tugging on the hand she still holds and smiling when he gives it a squeeze. “Now come on, I’m starving.”

They walk back out to see Marnie still at the dining room table, hands twisted into the hem of her dress and her papers tucked away into her school folder. She looks up quickly when her parents walk into the kitchen and dining room, her eyes searching their faces.

Moon hums at the sight. “You finish your homework, little Mareanie?”

She nods, too preoccupied with catching her dad’s eye to remind her mom that she’s getting too old for that nickname (after all, she’s eight, and that’s practically an adult). Her voice is small, and she lowers her head a touch as she asks, “Are you mad at me?”

In this moment, Gladion doesn’t think he could be mad at her if he tried. He never really was, just worried, and seeing her so concerned makes his heart clench. He’s quick to walk up to her, ruffling her hair with a lopsided smile as he says, “Just upset that your hair looks better than mine.” She giggles, smiling up at him as she fixes her pigtails. He detaches a Pokéball from his belt, holding it out to her. “Silvally’s feeling a little restless. How about you go play with him and your mom’s team before dinner?”

Her eyes light up, always delighted when she gets a chance to pretend to be a trainer, and she snatches the Pokéball from his hand, squealing as she runs off towards the door to the backyard. Moon and Gladion share a look, laughing as she opens the sliding door as quickly as she can, rousing her mother’s Pokémon from their evening nap on the grass.

However, before she steps outside, she turns, running back to wrap her arms around her dad, her eyes squeezed shut and a beam on her lips as she says with all the conviction she inherited from him, “Love you, Dad.”

He loses his voice for a moment, wrapping his arms around her and knowing that just for this moment, all is right with the world. “Love you, too, little Mareanie.”

And Marnie thinks that maybe she isn’t too old for that nickname after all, and Gladion thinks maybe he doesn’t mind this disruption to their routine, and Moon thinks the gene for dramatics definitely comes from the Aether side of the family.

#pokemon fanfic #lonashipping #mahinashipping #gladimoon #gladion x moon #gif #i've just been craving some domestic relationship lona #bc everything else i'm writing has them not together yet lmao #also i love marnie #and love that i've seen so many lona people also loving this little crack headcanon haha #can't wait for canon to immediately burst this but we're just having fun here lads #this is a little rough bc i wrote quickly and barely edited #also have close to no read on marnie's personality so this may be ooc? #i just love the idea that she really looks up to her parents and that's what ends up pushing her to go for galar's champion title #if she ends up evil #well.... #im a marnie apologist #and lol i love the thought of moon and glad catching wind that their daughter's up to no good #and showing up in galar like 'little mareanie have you started an evil team?? you're grounded'