There was a knock on the hospital door. She looked up to see her neighbour walk in, waving with one open hand that knocked her shoulder bag, the other arm tucked round holding a bundle close to her chest. It felt like she had waited a long time for this moment, a spark of excitement ignited in her.
"So he's finally here?!" Her neighbour asked eagerly as she hurried over, sparkling eyes setting on her own wrapped up bundle.
"Yes!" She looked down at her newborn son, making sure he hadn't been disturbed by the mothers meeting, and lightly pulled some of his blanket away so her neighbour could see his plump face.
"Oh he looks so cute!" She cooed, and moved her son closer so the pair could compare them "Not like my boy, I don't know where Hop gets his looks from!"
She chuckled "Oh I think Hop looks the most adorable! He looks just like his father does!"
"Ah that doesn't sound much like a compliment!" The two chuckled to each other, but when the baby shifted in her arms, the two quietened down "So have you thought of a name yet?"
She hummed "Well...I was thinking of 'Victor' but..."
"Ooh! I like that! It sounds pretty strong!"
She laughed "Yes, that's why I thought of it. I want him to grow up happy and strong, a name like that should help him grow up nicely".
The mothers looked down at their young sons "Hop and Victor...I like that. I hope these two get along as well as we do".
****
Victor lived in a small rustic cottage on the hill by the woods, Hop lived in an extended house on the main lane, and their houses were no more than a five minute walk apart from each other. Both of their mothers were pregnant with their sons at roughly the same time, and often bumped into each other during their hospital visits with only about a month apart between births, they became close. With all their circumstances, it was no surprise that their sons would become close too.
Their mothers often arranged play dates at their houses once they were big enough, they took countless pictures of the two boys playing and napping together, and Victor's mother had found matching outfits for them to wear so they were often dressed up like dolls. For Victor's mother, it was the best time for her.
Raising a son as a single mother was hard, so she was grateful that Hop's mother, as well as the rest of the family, was so helpful and friendly. They didn't feel like just friends to her, they were a part of her small family as well. Almost every day they were a part of her life; encountering Leon on his way back from school, the play dates in their spacious house, or running into the family at the supermarket, it almost felt like fate was entwining the two families together. She wondered if her son felt the same way too.
Being born a bit more than a month before Victor, Hop grew up a little bit faster than her own son did, even if it was by a small margin. When Hop had started crawling, Victor would watch fascinated, and desperately tried to reach for him. When Hop had begun walking, Victor had tried to pull himself up to follow suit but he was still too young and tumbled back over, crying vehemently until his mother soothed him down. When Hop had started talking and pointed to things he knew the names of, Victor also pointed to them and slurred the words, as if he were learning from Hop. Whatever Hop did, Victor, perhaps instinctively, was always following closely behind. At least, that was what his mother thought.
Even when they grew into small children, Hop was always the one to come to Victor's home, call upon him and drag him out into the nearby fields to look for Pokémon to play with. Hop had grown into a chatty, energetic young boy; there was never a quiet moment with him around. As for her own son, Victor was quieter and subdued, happier to follow Hop's lead than to put himself forward. Though the pair was happy in their little world together, she worried about what would happen when they would have to meet the outside world, and find that at times they couldn't be stuck together like they had been.
