Archive of Our Own ^omega

He had been expecting the call all day, ever since the match had ended. There was plenty that had to be done beforehand so he knew it would likely come in the evening at the absolute earliest- after countless interviews and figuring out just what exactly needed to be done next. Somehow it still felt like a surprise when his Rotom Phone flew up in front of his face, a familiar purple-haired champion’s photo smiling back at him.

Former champion, he reminds himself. That was going to take some getting used to. Raihan taps the screen, accepting the call, voice only. “Yo,” he greets, hoping he sounds as casual as he’s trying to feel.

“Raihan!” the cheerful voice responds from the other line. “Are you free right now?”

The gym leader glances around. He was, in fact, free, having just gotten done with wrapping up his duties for the day. With the season ending everything was winding down, getting ready to move into training for next year, so he’d be having quite a lot of free time going forward. He waves lazily at Aria in place of a more formal goodbye and she waves back. “Got nothing but time now, bruv. Have something in mind?”

“I do!” Leon sounds almost suspiciously okay for someone who has just lost for the first time publicly in more than a decade. Still, if he’s searching for normalcy, Raihan is more than happy to play along. He’s so busy racking his brain for restaurants the other man has liked before that he nearly misses what he says next. “I would like to get astonishingly drunk.”

Raihan is thankful he’s made it out of the gym so no one can see him trip at Leon’s words. “Huh?”

“You know, sloshed. Wankered. Super drunk. So steaming I do something I never would have done otherwise!”

“Have you ever even drank before?” There’s probably a more immediate question he should be asking but it escapes him. Leon had definitely never gone drinking with them before- Rose would never have allowed it, too obsessed with maintaining the pure, family-friendly image.

“Not at the pub!” If Leon noticed Raihan’s surprise, he didn't say anything. Knowing the man, he likely didn’t catch it to begin with. “Usually just by myself when I can sneak it past Rose!”

Well that’s pretty depressing. Raihan doesn’t comment on it. “Uh, yeah, I’m always down for a pub crawl, but are you sure that’s a good idea right now?”

“Who’s gonna stop me?”

He should say no. Leon getting wasted right after losing his title, after nearly being killed by the apocalyptic dragon he had been trying to defeat- it was a recipe for disaster. “Fair point. Where are you right now?”

Leon would have done it anyways, obviously, or at least that’s how Raihan justifies it as he’s flying over to Wyndon on Flygon’s back. Raihan’s just going to keep an eye on the man. Nothing else. Flygon, despite not being a psychic type, seems to pick up on his trainer’s mood and chirrups concernedly. “Nothing else,” he tells the dragon. “Nothing else.”

When he touches down in the main square of Wyndon he finds Leon sitting on a bench and staring at the sky. Before he can even get a word out his rival leaps to his feet, a huge grin across his face. “Hello, Raihan!”

“Uh,” Raihan replies. Normally he’s known for always cutting in with a snappy retort but he has to admit the situation has thrown him. While Leon’s smile is typically blinding, right now it looks more like he’s trying to unhinge his jaw to swallow Raihan whole. “Hey?”

“Where are we going?”

“You have anywhere in mind?” The question comes out automatically.

“I have nowhere in mind because I’ve only gotten to go out with my mates thirteen times over the last fifteen years!”

Raihan manages not to wince. Though Leon had at least been able to be pretty active in their group chat, it was true that he almost never got to actually go out and do anything. Having his suspicions that it wasn’t because of Leon’s own aloof nature (which was a ridiculous assumption, honestly, and Raihan never understood why some of the other leaders could reconcile that concept with how damn friendly the man was 24/7) but instead Rose’s meddling was both reassuring and kind of upsetting. It didn’t undo the years of blaming himself that it had led to, but at least now he knows for sure it wasn’t his fault. “Well, I know Hammerlocke best, so-”

Predictably, Leon has already thrown a Pokéball into the air, climbing onto Charizard’s back without a second though. “To Hammerlocke!” he cries, immediately guiding Charizard in the wrong direction until the Pokémon can turn around and start heading the right one. Raihan sighs, trying not to think about the people staring as he clambers back onto Flygon and follows.

Leon’s eyes are so wide and excited as they walk through Hammerlocke that Raihan eventually has to resort to curling a hand around the man’s wrist so he doesn’t just… wander off. It’s almost like dealing with a child. He had known Rose had a great deal of control over the champion’s life, that had never been a secret, but when they get to the bar and Leon’s looking up at it like he’s never seen a bar before- it hurts.

Focus, Raihan tells himself, shaking his head as if to physically fling the thoughts away. This is for Leon. Focus. The former champion is mostly in his uniform still- the cape is missing, possibly given back to the league for passing onto the new champion. Who will immediately reject it, if the look of mild terror in her eyes when Leon had started to unclasp it is any indication. He focuses, and Leon is gone.

Just into the bar, thankfully, after several seconds of sheer blind panic on Raihan’s end. The bright purple hair is easy to spot leaning over the bar proper. As Raihan makes his way over Leon turns and meets him halfway, holding out a drink for the other man. He sniffs it- a long island iced tea. Leon chugs his, much to Raihan’s mounting horror, and spins back around for a second. The bartender looks like they’re not entirely sure they should give it to him. Leon’s charm wins out in the end, as it always does. 

So this is a breakdown, then.

Raihan successfully stuffs Leon into a booth before he can order another five or ten or however many drinks he seems to be intent on drowning himself in. They’ve been at the bar for a grand total of two minutes. “Leon, mate, you’ve gotta slow down. That thing’s strong.”

Leon, apparently, ignores him. “So how does this work? How long do I keep drinking for?”

Drinking to get drunk- always a bad sign. “Look. You wanna have fun, right?” Leon nods enthusiastically. “Maybe just… let me pace things?” That makes Leon pout. That won’t work on Raihan- okay, it absolutely would, but he refuses to let it do so. “Come on, bruv. You know I know how to party. Trust me.” The thought that Leon picked him just because he’s known to party- not because they’re friends- it stings, so he flashes a toothy grin like it doesn’t. 

“Okay,” Leon relents, and for once the false smile drops off his face. It’s replaced by something much more subdued. “Go ahead!” he laughs. “Show me a good time!”

Raihan immediately strikes the words from his memory. Leon, sweet, oblivious Leon, couldn’t possibly have meant it in that way. “Yes sir,” he shoots back, a cocksure grin across his face. It’s almost startling when Leon mirrors the expression.

No matter how out of his depth Raihan feels, nothing on Arceus’s green earth will stop him from livetweeting it. Notifications off for the night of course, just him photographing the drinks, Leon holding his up and smiling for the camera, typing out look who decided to come play 🤩🤩🤩 and sending it off for the internet to judge. As the night drags on he takes more and more from pub to pub, keeping the drinks flowing. For someone who shouldn’t have much experience, Leon seems remarkably good at holding his liquor. Then again, it’s a bit hard to tell what’s from the booze and what’s just part of his naturally jolly demeanour. Case in point- the karaoke. 

Leon’s really belting it, much to Raihan’s amusement. It’s nice to know there’s something his rival isn’t perfect at. At some point Leon must have decided to stop pretending what this was about if his song choice is any indication. We are the Champions has never sounded quite so off-key and he’s been singing the word aren’t instead or are . The crowd seems to love it. Sonia should get a kick out of it later too, once she’s done scolding Raihan for letting Leon go wild. Performance finished, Leon stumbles back to the table Raihan is perched at. “Didja get it?”

“Filming? Who do you think I am? Course I did.”

“Brilliant!” Leon collapses heavily into a chair. It’s somewhat of a miracle it doesn’t splinter under the weight of all his bulging muscles. Maybe Raihan should ease up on the drinking himself. “Gotta show Hop. He’ll be so proud!”

He most certainly will not be. “Let’s think about that tomorrow, ‘kay?” 

“Yesss,” Leon drawls. “Think tomorrow. Good plan.”

Raihan drums his fingers along the side of his glass. “Mmhmm. So you finally ready to talk, big guy?”

“Tomorrow,” Leon insists, but Raihan shakes his head. “Fiiiiine. It’s just.” Leon leans down onto the table, pillowing his head into his crossed arms. When he speaks it’s a bit muffled. “It’s just so funny, y’know?”

“Yeah?” Raihan prompts.

“Us.” 

That wasn’t the answer he’d expected. It was so bad he hadn’t even thought to dream it up as a worst nightmare. “Us?”

“Y’know. We just.” Leon takes a deep breath. “We were so bloody focused on each other, y’know? Whole lives seemed to revolve around it. Like we were in our own little world. Never even thought for a second that some random person would come and bugger it up.”

Raihan had, truly, come along to help Leon work through his own existential crisis. He had not expected to be flung head-first into his own, far earlier than he had been planning to have it. So he does all he can think of to do- he laughs. Eventually, Leon joins him. 

“What’re you thinkin’?” Leon asks quietly, when it dies down.

“I think we need more drinks.”

Leon cheers.

The last thing Raihan remembers is talking to his Rotom Phone just before he goes over the edge. “Document everything!” he orders it, unsteady on his feet. “You know the drill! Post what you want! I don’t give a flying fuck!” He pointedly ignores the fact that his damn phone looks concerned for him as Leon drags him inside yet another pub for the night.

When he wakes, it’s reluctantly. Raihan opens his eyes and immediately slams them back shut when he realizes his mistake. Trying to get a sense of his surroundings, he slaps his arms up and down what appears to be a bed he’s laying in. Large enough for two, and though the space beside him is empty, it’s faintly warm and has to have been vacated recently. As nice as it sounds, he can’t lay here forever, so he forces his eyes open.

A hotel room, that much is obvious, and it’s one he doesn’t recognize. He’s stayed at what has to be 90% of the hotels in Galar so the fact he can’t place this one is alarming enough to get him sitting up, just in time for the door to the hotel room to click open softly. Leon looks to be trying his hardest to be silent, an effort he quickly abandons when his eyes meet Raihan’s.

He’s wearing Raihan’s shorts.

“Morning!” Leon greets, cheerful as ever. Raihan has a headache the size of Rose Tower and the fact that Leon seems like he doesn’t is incredibly irritating. The stupid, perfect man holds up a couple bottles of water and what looks like a packet of painkillers. “Would you catch this if I bunged it to you?”

Instead of a proper response Raihan grunts and collapses back into the pillows. He takes this moment to surreptitiously peek under the covers, letting out a sigh of relief when he sees he’s wearing Leon’s leggings. One point in the ‘drunken shenanigans’ column. Leon, kindly, sets them down on the bedside table, and when Raihan cracks an eye open he sees a soft smile on his rival’s face. He forces himself to put a point into the ‘drunkenly shagged my maybe best mate and long-term crush’ column. He also snakes a hand out, grabbing the items before sucking them back into his nice dark cave beneath the duvet. “I should get us breakfast!” Leon declares.

“Don’t get lost,” Raihan croaks. He doesn’t move again until he hears the hotel room door open and close.

Slowly, he sits up, taking stock of the situation. He runs a hand up and through his dreadlocks, pleased to find he at least managed to pull them out of his signature hairdo and cover them with his unfolded headband before passing out for the night. His jacket is nowhere to be seen. Most importantly, he sees all three of his Pokéballs safely nestled in a holder on the bedside table. A glance to the other side reveals five on Leon’s side, with Charizard presumably on his person as always.

The next thing he checks is his phone. Rotom springs to life, happily informing him that he has 28572 notifications, 147 missed calls, and 83 texts waiting for him. 

Sorting through them all is way too much work so he just reads the top one- RING ME THE SECOND YOU GET THIS YOU SODDING PRICK, from Sonia. It’s probably fine. He can call her later- or at least he intends to, but then his phone is ringing, the professor’s smiling face trying to lull him into a false sense of security. He answers, voice only. “H’lo,” he manages to get out.

“Is Leon alive?!” she screams at him, instead of ‘hello’ back.

“Yyyyyyes,” Raihan answers slowly. He makes himself get out of bed. “Sorry. Hungover.”

“Hungover my arse!” She doesn’t seem interested in lowering her voice anytime soon so he waves to Rotom, who lowers the call volume accordingly. “You two have been missing for 35 hours! Where the hell are you?”

“Bollocks,” Raihan curses. “Uh, so I’m not really sure about that one. It’s a place I’ve never seen before, so somewhere we rarely go? Maybe Spikemuth?” He’s trying to walk it back from how long they’ve been radio silent from. It was about 2 in the morning when he told Rotom to take over, so that’d make it around three in the afternoon the next day at the earliest. His phone is telling him four. Why the hell had Leon mentioned breakfast? Just because they woke up?”

“We tried every last hotel in Galar.”

“Huh.” He peeks out the curtains, finding an unfamiliar city sprawled before him. Lots of tall buildings lined up together. “Might be in Lumiose.”

“ Kalos? ” Sonia screeches. “You got pissed and flew to Kalos? ”

“S’nearby!” Raihan protests. He’s not sure he can take much more of this conversation. “Look, we’re safe, just give me a bit to-”

The door clicks open again, much faster this time. “Raihan, look what I found!” Leon is standing in the doorway- Oh, there’s my hoodie- with Rillaboom behind him, not Charizard. It seems to be carrying a bag of food. More immediately, Leon is cradling some sort of large stuffed animal in his arms, a Pidove of all things.

The plush blinks slowly. Raihan turns to look back out the window, at the sun high in the sky like it’s early afternoon, at the fact that he sure as hell can’t see the Prism Tower anywhere. “Sonia? I think I’m gonna have to ring you back.” He ends the call before she can object.

He turns back towards Leon. “Where did you find that?” Rillaboom closes the door behind them before sitting down on the floor.

“Outside!” Leon says brightly. “They’re everywhere!”

“You brought a wild bird up into the hotel room?” The Pidove looks quite relaxed. Then again, Raihan would probably be feeling pretty relaxed too if he was cradled in those stupid muscular arms- focus. 

The grin falters. “Is that bad?”

“It’s bad if it spooks.” Raihan takes a step forward, immediately spooking the bird. The next five minutes are a blur of feathers and screaming until Raihan manages to wrench the window open, releasing the terrified bird back into the wild. The room is totally trashed by the end of it. “I hope you paid for this,” Raihan mutters.

Leon takes the food from his Pokémon, setting it down on the table before recalling the grass-type. “So what do you remember from last night?”

“Not sure.” Raihan sits down, preferring to ignore the feathers stuck to him for the time being. “Bet I can find out.” Rotom flies up as if summoned and he pulls up the camera roll.

“Where are we?” Leon is pulling the food out of the bag, pushing one of the wrapped items towards Raihan. It ends up being a breakfast burrito.

“Kind of hoping you could tell me that.” There are a lot of photos of what amounts to basically nothing, taken in such dim lighting they didn’t come out right. “Got the room key?”

Leon slides that over as well. A Liepard decorates the front, regal and proud. Raihan winces as his fears are confirmed by the famous emblem. “Uh, Leon?” He waits to continue until golden eyes meet his. “We’re in Unova.”

A wide grin blossoms across Leon’s face. “Unova? That’s bloody brilliant! How’d we get here?”

“We flew,” Raihan answers, not really believing it himself, even though he’s currently looking at the proof on his phone screen.

“Took a plane?”

“On Charizard, ” Raihan corrects. “And Flygon. It rotated.” There are even photos of them clinging to Aegislash as it floats through the air. “We got so drunk we flew to another continent.” 

“That’s tops!” Leon proclaims. “Hop’ll never believe this!”

Raihan manages to eat his breakfast before reality sets in, bringing with it a minor meltdown. “We’re in Unova,” he mutters to himself. “We’re very, very far away from Galar.”

Leon, for his part, seems positively thrilled. “This is exciting! More than I could have dreamed of!”

“You’re happy about this?”

“All I had planned on was a drunken shag! Raihan, we’re in Unova! ”

Raihan’s brain has ground to an absolute halt. A drunken shag? Leon hadn’t made the slightest effort to approach anyone when they were out; if anything he had clung closer and closer to Raihan as the night ran on, if the photos are any indication. Maybe no one had caught his eye? But he had specifically asked Raihan- focus. “I’ll look up flights.”

His rival’s face crumples. “We have to go back?”

“Obviously? We have jobs, you know.”

“You have a job,” Leon mutters, and Raihan feels that one right through his heart.

“...I’ll ring Sonia.” Leon immediately perks up at his words.

Raihan steps out onto the balcony to make the call- he’s not really sure he’s capable of being coherent with Leon beaming at him like that. Sonia picks up on the first ring. “No yelling,” is how he greets her this time.

There’s a beat of silence. “I am perfectly calm,” Sonia assures him, in the tone of voice of someone trying very very hard to be so. 

“So,” Raihan starts.

“So,” she echos.

“Leon is pretty overworked, right?”

“Uh- I mean, yes?” She recovers quickly from the sudden question.

“And we can all agree that he really, really needed a vacation, and there’s nothing really to do after the cup for a solid month anyways, right?”

“Raihan, you-”

“Just answer the question.”

“Yes. Yes, okay?”

“Great. We’re in Unova, we’ll be back in a week.”

The silence lasts so long that Raihan thinks he may have accidentally disconnected at some point, but eventually she replies. “You owe me big time for this one.”

“Course. Thanks, luv.” This time, it’s her who disconnects.

He stays out on the balcony for a while longer, answering texts from his very panicked gym trainers and various others. It’s a good thing he trusts them. Aria promises to look after his Pokémon that are still at the gym, and he promises to tell her everything. He’ll need to bring them back something great to make it up to them.

When he re-enters the room, Leon is sitting on the foot of the bed, projecting his Rotom Phone’s screen onto the wall. It’s honestly a toss-up if he overheard the conversation or is just acting like he has already been allowed to stay, because he’s pulled up a bunch of information on places to see in Unova. Relic Castle is currently displayed so Raihan can’t help but think it’s the latter. “Bought us a week,” Raihan tells him, and Leon smiles so broadly that the gym leader thinks he may go blind.

“There’s so much to do here! There’s a subway where you can battle, a load of forests, this castle here in the desert, ooh! Do you think they’d let us up Dragonspiral Tower? We should see if we can meet Iris! What do you want to do first?”

Raihan looks at Leon, still managing to stretch out his hoodie despite how baggy it is on Raihan himself, and then down at his own disastrous outfit. Loose leggings is never a good look. “We should get clothes before anything else,” he answers flatly.

They do, far too many in Raihan’s opinion, and that’s saying something. A part of him had been hoping that when left to his own devices Leon would dress himself far more reasonably than his champion outfit had suggested, and in a way, he does? The issue is that, even outside of skin-tight leggings and bizarrely short shorts, regular pants can barely contain him. He’s crammed into a pair of dark jeans right now and it’s positively unfair how good they look on him. “How about these?”

“It’s hot out,” Raihan’s traitorous brain offers. “May want to grab some shorts too.”

Those, at least, are more normal. Leon goes for cargo shorts, of all things. Shirts end up being what slows them down the most. The former champion is distracted by an overflowing supply of graphic tees and other tops. One tank top in particular makes his face light up- it’s a bright ruby red, with a Haxorus cut out on the front in the odd shade of yellow-green the Pokémon itself is. “Mate, look!”

Raihan has long since started looking for his own clothes, partly in the interest of self-preservation. His heart can only take so much. Despite this, he still manages to catch the bundle of cloth Leon chucks at him. It reveals itself to be a similar tank top- this one is black, with Hydeigion on the front in blue and purple. Leon just looks so damn excited that he can’t bring himself to say no.

Afterwards, they stop by an ice cream shop to pick up some of the world-famous Casteliacones. People are murmuring around them, not really sure if they’re seeing what they think they are- no sort of trip had ever been announced, after all. May as well confirm it. Raihan takes a selfie with Leon, the other man concentrating very hard on not letting the ice cream drip down the cone while Raihan slings his free arm around the man’s shoulders. Watch out Unova 🦁🐉 , he captions. They’re wearing the matching tanks.

It’s close, but they manage to make it back to the hotel room before it goes viral.

Iris contacts them , in the end. They’re cleaning up the hotel room themselves when she calls Leon, who steps out onto the balcony to take the call. Raihan takes that time to take the ‘after’ photo for his post. All things considered, he’s a bit proud of how well they fixed it up. this is y u don’t bring wild birds up into ur hotel room… yes we fixed it and yes we paid the damages xx . As Leon talks outside, he scrolls lazily through his feed, until he gets a text.

It’s Piers. one bed? is all it says. Raihan frowns. He had made sure to frame the photos so you couldn’t actually see that there was only one bed, but of course Piers knew anyways.

look Leon bought the room and we were both absolutely pissed

gross is all Piers replies with, and Raihan snorts.

Leon finishes up his call. “Get this, Rai! She does have time and wants to meet at Dragonspiral Tower! ”

Raihan wills his brain to move past the fact that Leon used his childhood nickname for the first time in more than a decade and is moderately successful in doing so. “Dragonspiral Tower, huh? When we going?”

“Two days from now! We can head up through route 4 and stop by Relic Castle on the way to Nimbasa! Did you know there’s a ferris wheel there?”

“There’s a ferris wheel in Wyndon,” Raihan points out. 

Apparently that was the wrong thing to say, because Leon frowns. “It’s different.”

Raihan shrugs. “Are we gonna spend another night here or head up to Nimbasa now?”

Leon shakes his head. “We should head up tomorrow. Besides, we still have loads to see here!”

They both pause. “Like the battle subway?”

“Like the battle subway. Oh, we should probably wear our uniforms, yeah?”

Raihan is opening his mouth to say obviously yeah when he looks back at Leon where the man is peering off into a corner, where he knows the former champion’s uniform is bundled up. He looks… resigned, like he hates the idea but knows he has to do it. “Eh,” Raihan says instead. “Sod it.”

It’s worth the smile it brings.

There are already cameras camped out, which is especially notable since they never actually said they’d be going here. Maybe they’re just that predictable. They’re swarmed as expected, pushing through the sea of reporters with ease.

“What’s the reason for the sudden trip to Unova?”

“Leon, how do you feel about being dethroned after so long?”

“Will we be seeing any weather tactics from you today, Raihan?”

Leon actually answers the last one. “Of course!” he grins. “Wouldn’t be Raihan otherwise!”

Raihan shoots his rival a look- he knows full well he only has the three dragons on him. But Leon just keeps talking. “Hope you guys are ready to see us work together for once!”

It’s surprising when Leon sets them up for doubles, but even that doesn’t compare to the shock he experiences when Leon leads with Ryhyperior and uses sandstorm. It’s exhilarating, truthfully. Though he specializes in double battles he’s forgotten what it’s like to fight alongside a second trainer, especially someone he knows as well as Leon. They fight like they’ve been doing it their whole lives and easily make it through the entire challenge.

By the end of it, Raihan is so knackered he doesn’t even think twice about falling asleep next to Leon.

He doesn’t think about it when he wakes up either, something that’s made easier by the fact that Leon has risen far earlier than him, leaving the bed empty. Raihan rolls to his front and stretches with a yawn.

Blinking wearily, he looks around the room until he finally locates Leon, sitting at the table and watching him an expression so utterly fond. He can’t bring himself to process that so he narrows his eyes instead. “Got something to say?”

“You yawn like a Purrloin,” Leon says softly, and when Raihan shoots him a confused look he demonstrates. He yawns widely, in a way that pulls back his lips and shows his teeth, eyes half-lidded. “It’s cute.”

“Yeah, course it’s cute when you do it,” Raihan mutters before he can wake up enough to regain control of his impulses. 

Leon’s smile softens further, then solidifies into something more determined. “Get up! Eat so we can go!”

Of course he already got them breakfast. Again. He’d make a great hus- focus. Raihan rolls out of bed a bit more literally than he had intended to. 

They check out of the hotel without any fuss and then they’re on their way to Relic Castle. Raihan’s got his gym uniform on, fully done up including his hair. They’re going somewhere with essentially a permanent sandstorm so it’d be foolish not to wear the clothes specifically designed to protect him from harsh weather. Leon’s not so lucky- he’s just got shorts and a t-shirt with a Trapinch on it. That would have been what Raihan was focused on if the other man hadn’t also put his hair back in a ponytail. He had always wondered how the hell Leon still managed to see during their fights with his hair whipping back and forth. Apparently, he hadn’t. In a rare display of foresight, Leon waits to release Charizard until after they’ve left the city- and press- behind. Raihan is supposed to be looking at the map but instead he’s watching as the man gently scratches the Pokémon’s snout, cooing to it like it’s a baby. “Softy,” Raihan murmurs.

At the entrance to the Desert Resort there’s a stand with a woman selling goggles. Leon waxes poetic about how Raihan lives and breathes the sandstorm, can bend it to his very will, while Raihan buys two pairs. “As a sandstorm expert,” he says, handing Leon a pair, “I am very qualified to tell you just how much sand in your eyes smarts.” Leon takes the pair and puts it on with a cheeky grin.

Most people would likely find it hard to walk with the harsh winds and sand whipping around. Raihan has no issues. Leon, however, may be used to the storm itself, but he has some difficulty traversing the actual sand. He doesn’t have the experience training in an actual desert that Raihan does. Despite his handicap, he still manages to pick up another wild Pokémon. “Hey, Raihan!” he calls out. “Look! It’s you!”

Flygon helpfully points Raihan in the right direction, as visibility is limited in the storm. Leon has a Scraggy in his arms, this time. He’s made the joke before, long ago, when they were still kids. The resemblance isn’t particularly strong but it does have loose clothing of its own and a crest sticking up like spikes of hair.

Two can play at that game. “I guess this’d be you, huh?” There’s a Darumaka dancing nearby, bright red and smiling broadly. Raihan doesn’t have whatever weird fairy tale princess powers Leon seems to have that let him get away with just picking up random wild Pokémon without getting his fingers bit off so he leaves it in the sand and gestures towards it instead.

“Oh! A Darumaka! I’ve always wanted to see the original breed in the wild!” Leon sets the lizard back down gently, making his way over to the fire type as quickly as possible. He had swapped out Charizard for Aegislash before entering the desert proper, and it floats behind him silently. No matter what happens he’ll always be a Pokémon maniac.

Eventually they reach the castle itself, where Leon repeats the same song and dance when he sees the Yamask inside. “Raihan! I’ve heard rumors there’s a Volcarona somewhere in the ruins! Let’s go find it!” He takes a single step before Raihan catches him by the collar.

“Bruv, even I’d get lost here. Lay off it.”

Leon hangs his head. “I getcha. Fine.”

Raihan feels a little bad, but it’s better than Leon suffocating in a sand pit so he calls it a win.

It’s nice in the castle- quiet. They spend a lot of time there, watching their Pokémon explore the area, sitting in a companionable silence. When they emerge the sun is starting to set. Leaving feels easier than entering had, and they emerge out of Join Avenue and into Nimbasa covered in sand. Instead of letting them get to a hotel first to clean up Raihan finds himself dragged straight to the ferris wheel. “Two tickets, please!” Leon asks the ride attendant. The teenager sells them the tickets with wide eyes. They must look awful, hair flying every which way and filled with sand. Before he can even think to protest Raihan has been shoved inside a carriage and the ride is slowly moving.

The carriage is a bit cramped for his long legs so Raihan has to prop them up on the footrest opposite the bench, bent at the knee. Odd that there’s only seats on one side of the carriage. He thought Leon would be looking outside and taking in the sights, and while he is looking off to the side, he looks lost in thought. 

Distract him, Raihan tells himself. “So? How’s it measure up compared to the one in Wyndon?”

“I hate Wyndon,” Leon replies abruptly.

Raihan has always considered himself something of an expert at breezing past an uncomfortable situation, so he keeps going. “Gonna move somewhere else?”

“I still have to work there,” comes the soft answer. 

Considering how keenly aware Leon is of the fact that he is no longer champion, it can’t possibly be a slip of the tongue. Raihan does not press the matter; Leon will tell him when he’s ready. “Could always live somewhere else and commute. Move back home to Postwick.”

“I could move to Hammerlocke.”

“You could move to Hammerlocke,” Raihan agrees carefully. He could move anywhere.

Leon sighs. He shifts position, laying his head on Raihan’s shoulder, something that makes the gym leader freeze in place. “Thanks, Rai. For humoring me.”

“Hey, I’m not gonna turn down a vacation.”

“I mean it.”

Raihan lets himself relax back against the carriage. It’s incredible how right this feels, how perfectly Leon fits beside him. “I’m here for you,” he murmurs. “Always will be.”

Leon smiles up at him, open and honest. It’d be so easy to just lean forwards, close the distance and- focus.

The ride ends. Leon straightens up, stretching his arms high above his head. “Let’s go to the hotel.”

Raihan nods, trying to obliterate that request from his memory permanently. 

Again, Leon pays for the room, another suite with a single large bed. Must have been out of rooms with two. Their luggage awaits them, Leon having had it sent over before they even left Castelia. His phone is beeping incessantly so Raihan checks it while Leon is using the bathroom. Ton of notifications, which he clears, and a bunch of texts. Most from Sonia, just an endless repeating series of question marks, and one from Piers- gross.

He’ll figure it out in the morning.

In what he is beginning to recognize as a pattern, Raihan wakes up to find Leon has been up for hours already and appears to have gotten them breakfast. Raihan doesn’t really feel like getting up just this second so he sticks an arm out and drags his phone into bed with him. More texts from Sonia, same as before. There’s a noticeable gap where she must have gone to sleep before resuming her assault in the morning. His phone buzzes and another one arrives. WHAT he texts her.

The response is immediate. Hold on, did you not know?

know wut

Mysteriously, he never gets a reply.

Confused, Raihan sits up, the comforter still resting around his shoulder. He looks back at Leon, eyes narrowed in suspicion, met with the absolutely picture of innocence. “Morning!” He greets the gym leader with a wave.

It’s unfair how perfect the other man looks, not a strand of hair out of place. He’s seriously considering setting an early alarm to catch the man waking up rumpled but he’s not entirely sure what he’d do if he instead discovered that Leon just looks like this straight out of bed. Find a way to mess him up, pro- Focus.

Raihan slithers out of bed and drags his unwilling failure of a body towards the table and what looks like a very delicious meal. “Hop’s started working for Sonia!” Leon tells him excitedly.

“Mmrph?” Raihan tries to engage the conversation, but there’s too much food in his mouth for him to do so effectively.

“Yeah! He says he finally found what he wants to do.”

This time Raihan makes sure to swallow before speaking. “How are you feeling about that? He always said his dream was to be like you, didn’t he?”

“Happy,” Leon answers, confident enough that Raihan can believe him. “Yeah, he always wanted to follow me and he’s always been my biggest fan, but a part of me always wondered if he wanted to be a trainer because he wanted to to be a trainer or just because it’s what I did, yanno?”

Hop is not Leon’s biggest fan, Raihan has seen literal shrines to the man, but he’s not entirely sure if Leon isn’t counting the maniacs or straight up doesn’t know they exist. “He’s just as mad about Pokémon as you are.”

“Of course!” Leon declares. “And don’t get me wrong- he’s a right powerful trainer. But he always got a little too worried about figuring out the best strategy, always trying to use his favorites instead of balancing the team. Made him have a crisis, in the end. Researcher is perfect for him, innit?”

“You calling your brother soft?” Leon has a point, though. Plenty of people try to become trainers without realizing the level of work that goes into it, the degree of planning it takes. Even gym leaders, who focused on a single type, had to build teams around covering their weaknesses. “Lee, you use your favorites. Your favorite just happens to be Charizard instead of Wooloo.”

“I also have about twenty Pokémon I rotate out of my team accordingly,” Leon points out, “and that’s a load of work. If you’re not totally mad about it, it won’t work out.”

“Fair enough.” Raihan himself has a substantial amount of weather-related Pokémon back at his gym, and that’s not even getting into the dragon types he helps breed for conservation efforts. “He seem happy about it?”

“Dead chuffed,” Leon grins back at him. “Usually don’t see him that happy unless he’s watching me beat your arse.”

Raihan flicks a piece of toast at Leon, who dodges it and laughs. “When are we leaving for Icirrus?”

“Whenever. As much as I wanna see Chargestone Cave, we should just fly straight there.”

“Could always double back.”

“Or we can just come back to Unova again later!”

Saying anything to the contrary feels like a battle Raihan has already lost.

Figuring out a way to load both the luggage and themselves onto their flying Pokémon turns out to be something of a challenge. Leon eventually suggests they divvy up the duties- Flygon is larger but Charizard is far too proud to agree to be a pack mule, so they end up having to strap their bags to Flygon and ride Charizard together. There is entirely too little room for Raihan’s comfort. He’s not too nervous to let himself die, though, so he wraps his arms around Leon tightly and very carefully does not think about it the entire flight over.

It’s actually a pretty quick flight; walking to Icirrus from Castelia is a long journey, but flying is a much straighter shot. Raihan’s legs have cramped up from how tense he was the whole trip so the first thing he does when stepping off the pseudo-dragon is immediately collapse. Leon rushes over to help him up with a worried look on his face. “It’s just a bit of a squeeze,” Raihan insists. “Legs fell asleep. Be fine in a sec.”

Leon spins to face his Charizard, hands on his hips like a scolding parent. “You’re carrying the bags next time!” Charizard snorts and turns it’s head up. “Look at him!”

A distraction thankfully arrives in the form of Flygon touching town, hurrying over to Raihan and chittering. With his Pokémon’s help he is able to stand, ignoring the pain in his limbs.

They’re early, obviously, and drop everything off where they’re staying before exploring the small town. Leon seems drawn to the shrine in the center of town and the small swamp surrounding it. “Raihan, look what I found!”

He’s already learning to be worried when he hears those words and sure enough, Leon has what appears to be a Stunfisk flopped across his arms when Raihan turns to look at him. “A native Stunfisk! These ones don’t have teeth and they seem much more friendly! It’s smiling!”

“It’s sneering , and they don’t have teeth because they’re electric types and like to shock people for fun.”

Leon opens his arms a split second before the fish crackles with electricity, dropping it harmlessly back into the swamp. “Aw, whoops! Thanks for looking out for me, mate!”

Raihan is two seconds away from telling Leon to stop picking up random wild Pokémon but he can’t bring himself to do so. Not when it makes him look so damn happy. 

It was an unspoken assumption that they would meet Iris at the tower, so when, some time later, he turns around and comes face to face with the Unovan champion herself, Raihan jumps about a foot into the air. “Hi!” she says cheerfully. It’s like a smaller Leon.

Iris became champion at a very young age- almost as young as Leon, in fact. Even though she’s had the position for a while now she still couldn’t be any older than 16. Alarmingly, she seems every bit as relentlessly cheerful as Leon is, the kind of thing that makes Raihan want to crawl under the shrine and be done with it. “Iris!” Leon is waving from where he’s up to his knees in the mud of the swamp. “It’s good to finally meet you!” It does make sense that they’ve spoken before, both being champions and all. Well, formerly, in Leon’s case. Raihan is already starting to feel like a third wheel.

Except Iris pivots and faces Raihan, bouncing up and down with excitement. “Raihan! Can I see your Pokémon? Do you have them with you? Is Duraludon here?”

“Uh,” Raihan replies. “I’ve got my dragons with me, yeah.” Are her eyes sparkling? “Here?” She’s nodding furiously, so he pulls his balls off the holster, releasing Flygon, Goodra and Duraludon all at once.

Iris makes a beeline for the steel-type, looking up and down it with excitement. He’s so distracted that he doesn’t notice Leon joining them until the man tries to casually lean on Raihan’s shoulder from behind. It doesn’t really work considering Raihan has a solid twenty centimeters on the other man, ending with Leon moving to his side and leaning against that instead. “I have dragons too, you know.”

“You’re famous!” Iris tells the Duraludon, who seems as shocked by the sudden attention as Raihan is. “And look at you! So well cared for. I bet you’re happy!” The dragon makes a creaking noise Raihan has come to learn means it’s pleased. “Yup! All of you are! And don’t think I forgot about you!” She lavishes all three Pokémon with equal attention.

“She’s as dragon-mad as you are, mate,” Leon sighs.

“Here I was thinking she’s got your sunny disposition.”

“Our daughter,” Leon ponders, and Raihan chokes. 

Iris comes to his rescue. “Come on, let’s go see the tower!”

The entrance has been sealed again, ever since the mess with Kyurem, but an entrance remains at the top. “Some of the stairs have crumbled away entirely,” Iris tells them, once they’ve landed. “This big hole is the only way in, now.”

Leon is already looking at the stairs. “How far down can we go?”

She thinks for a moment. “This is the seventh, and the stairs between the fourth and fifth floors are the highest broken ones. Shouldn’t go down there, though. It’s pretty much a Pokémon sanctuary at this point.”

Even years later, it still feels like the room has a certain kind of… energy. “So it happened here, huh? Awakening the legendary dragons.” Leon walks to the center of the room, turning to look out the massive hole in the wall they entered from. He throws a grin over his shoulder at Raihan. “Think we’ll awaken anything ourselves?”

Raihan answers with a crooked grin. “Pretty sure they’re both spoken for, mate.”

“They are!” Iris chimes in. “Both Zekrom and Resharim are in safe hands. And…” She trails off.

Leon gets a look on his face like he’s about to suggest something idiotic, so Raihan cuts him off before we can do so. “No way we’re going to Giant Chasm. This is a vacation, not a suicide mission.”

“It’s empty! Kyurem’s not there anymore!”

“Actually…” Iris bites her lip, and both men look at her in surprise. “I know you guys won’t spread this, okay? It’s top secret.”

“You can’t mean…”

Slowly, Iris nods. “It’s gone back to sleep, and the Swords of Justice are watching it. Kyurem was… we couldn’t catch it, in the end. We tried, but it-”

“Shite,” Raihan cuts in. Both of them know where this is going. Leon has tensed up, a hand rubbing absently at his hips, where Raihan knows the worst of his scars from the Pokéball Eternatus broke out of exploding lies. His body is littered with them, truthfully, though many are tiny and rapidly fading. The ugly gash running across his left hip will probably be with him for life. “If anything happens again, just dial us up. I’m sure his Aegislash can show Kyurem a thing or two.”

Iris smiles, relaxing, but then it sharpens as she looks back to Leon. “Maybe I should see if you’re cut out for the job first.”

The tension flows out of Leon almost instantly. “You saying what I think you’re saying?”

“It’d be fun to fight you both!”

“Naw, mate,” Raihan sighs. “I got half my team with me. You two go at it and I’ll watch.”

“Ooh! Ooh! Can we do something?” Iris is rocking back and forth on the balls of her feet. “This is unofficial, so it’s fine!”

“Of course!” Leon agrees immediately despite having no idea what he’s being asked.

“Is there a ball type we all have one of? You too, Raihan!”

Everyone looks down at their balls- the three of them all have a single Pokémon caught in a friend ball. Iris instructs them to pull them out and put them all in the center. “Close your eyes!” She does so as well. There is the noise of metal clacking noise as she presumably shuffles them up. “Okay, Raihan, you pick first, got it? No cheating!”

He grabs one, and then Iris nabs another. Leon picks up the last.

The two other trainers nod at each other and Raihan moves to the edge of the room, finding a flat piece of rubble to sit on to watch the fight. This had been inevitable.

Hop will be livid that he missed it .

Raihan considers filming it but it’s nice like this, having a private battle. It’s close, too, them trading Pokémon and staying even. Neither of them has gotten to the mystery friend ball yet. He’s not filming it, but he can at least take a photo, right? What he sends Sonia has him barely visible in the bottom corner, the battle between Archeops and Aegislash raging in the background. Don’t tell Hop x is what he sends.

Told Hop xx is what he gets back, and he can’t help but laugh. 

Leon’s Haxorus has managed to overwhelm Iris’s Hydreigon, leaving her with only two more Pokémon. He’s expecting her to bring out her own Haxorus- her ace- and it looks like she is going for it, for a moment, but then her hand moves farther and lands on the friend ball. Taking a deep breath, she throws the ball, a Lapras materializing in a flash of light. “Yaaaay!” she cheers. “I got Lappy!”

For a Pokémon that normally lives in water the Lapras is surprisingly nimble, landing a blizzard and taking out Haxorus. Leon is down to two as well and both of them are a pretty poor matchup. Charizard has the best chance of beating the water-type, ironically, but he’ll need it for her Haxorus. Rillaboom can, at the very least, weaken it so he can send Charizard in to finish it off. Leon seems to be thinking the same thing because what he ends up throwing out is his own friend ball. 

Raihan’s friend ball, it turns out, as Duraludon is what materializes in the end. It assumes a battle stance before pausing, looking between Raihan and the battle in confusion. “Bollocks,” Raihan mutters. This would normally be a great matchup- if Raihan had been fighting, at least. Duraludon is notoriously difficult to control to the point that even his gym trainers refuse to work with it.

Naturally, Leon doesn’t even hesitate, calling out orders like he’s used this Pokémon his entire life. And Duraludon listens. 

Raihan watches the rest of the match with his mouth hanging open in shock. Lapras goes down, then his precious ace because of course every Haxorus in the world has to know earthquake. What it comes down to, in the end, is Iris risking it on the inaccurate guillotine, anything else leaving the possibility of Charizard staying up. It doesn’t land and that’s all the lead Leon needs to clinch the match.

“Yeah!” he whoops, high fiving Charizard. “Nice one, buddy!”

“Aw, man.” Iris sinks down to her knees. “I almost had you.” She doesn’t look upset by the loss.

“I remain undefeated!” Leon proclaims, doing his signature pose. Then he frowns. “One-defeated?”

“Oh, Arceus,” Raihan mutters. “That should be your new tagline. Leon the one-beatable.”

“We could have had a champion time, a month ago!”

At least he’s confident enough to be making fun of the situation. That’s progress. Iris looks incredibly amused by it all. 

Once their teams are healed up, Leon goes to explore the lower levels of the tower- quietly, he promises, and escorted by Iris’s Haxorus. Part of Raihan wants to go with him but Iris seems eager to talk dragons and Raihan… he’s never really had someone to talk about this with. Particularly the really specialized stuff.

“So what are your thoughts on the theory that Deino are actually native to Galar?”

“Utter rubbish. The population is well established at this point but it’s still a lakefront area. Why would they have evolved away from using eyesight to navigate if they lived by a sodding lake? Someone must have brought them over from the caves of Unova a long time ago.”

“I agree! How about why they have eyes again once they finish evolving?”

Raihan shrugs. “Bit out of my area of expertise, but I imagine you need to be able to see to fly. It ain’t a bat.”

“Some people are saying the other forms have eyes too, under all that hair.”

“Yeah, but when are you gonna be able to look under it? Poor things are terrified if you go near their heads. If anyone tries to flip their fur up I’ll beat their arse myself.”

Iris nods. Before she can respond, a noise from the stairs catches her attention. “Oh! They’re back!”

It really just sounded like a growl to Raihan. It doesn’t make her insight any less accurate, Leon and Haxorus soon appearing at the top of the stairs. “Rai! There’s a room that’s just circles!”

Nothing about that description makes sense, so he turns to Iris for clarification. “It’s rings, sort of like a tree stump, all connected by bridges.”

Satisfied, Raihan looks back up and catches a flash of something he’s not entirely sure is actually there. Leon looks… upset? It turns back into a cheerful smile so quickly that it could have been imaginary in the first place. “I think your Haxorus hates me!”

It does look incredibly stressed out. Iris looks at it expectantly and it makes a rumbling noise. “Aw, Bloody doesn’t hate you! She just made me promise to never ask her to lead you around again is all.”

Raihan’s first thought is that Leon somehow managed to defeat a Pokémon with nothing other than his impossibly poor sense of direction. The second thought he says aloud. “Hold on. Can you speak to them?”

“Yup! Only dragons, though!” Iris jumps up to her feet like she hadn’t just admitted to something unbelievable. “Let’s all exchange phone numbers! I like talking to you guys!”

There it is again- a flash of some sour emotion across Leon’s face. But then they’re all trading numbers and parting ways for the night and everything seems normal. 

Icirrus is too small to have a hotel so they’re staying in a bed and breakfast. It’s nice, but there must not have been much to choose from since they’ve ended up with a single bed yet again. The property is quaint, the lodgings in a separate building from the owner’s own house. It’s closer to renting a cottage than anything else.

As is his nightly ritual, Raihan is catching up on his phone before going to bed. Iris had texted him almost immediately, just a hello at first. But then her most recent message makes him pause.

Rai Rai, I have to admit something to you 🤫

Yeah? he sends back, mind racing to figure out what she could possibly be talking about.

I cheated! I made sure Leon would get Duraludon for the fight~ 🤭

Does it count as cheating if you actually give your opponent an advantage because of it? ??? y?

Donny told me a lot~ I wanted to test something! They were so in sync~ I was right~~~

Donny? He thinks his Duraludon might flatten him if he tries calling it that. That explains nothing

You can figure it out! Good luck 😘

oi r u srs

💖💖💗💖💖😚

It doesn’t look like he’ll be getting anything else out of the champion at this rate. He puts his phone on the bedside table and lays down to go to sleep.

The fight must have tired Leon out because for once, Raihan actually wakes up first, and promptly wishes he hadn’t.

It’s not that he doesn’t like the situation he’s woken up in. Quite the opposite, in fact. There is more than enough room on the bed for two people but that hasn’t stopped Leon rolling over and cuddling up to Raihan in the night, draping an arm over the man’s torso. He’s currently snoring faintly into his shoulder.

Raihan wants nothing less in the entire world than to move but he also really has to take a piss.

His first attempt at extricating himself as delicately as possible is him trying to slide down and under the curve of Leon’s arm, except it actually tightens as he goes and the end result is Leon very gently strangling him. It fails further when the man in question wakes up. He blinks blearily, mumbling nonsense mixed with actual words, among which are ‘where are you going’ and ‘no’.

“Bog,” Raihan whispers, and Leon grunts and retracts his arm. Raihan can’t look behind him or he really will never make it to the toilet in time.

When he emerges Leon is sitting up in bed, typing something out on his Rotom Phone. He looks wide awake, which is unfair, and though his hair is sticking out at odd angles it makes him look soft and cute instead of horrifying like Raihan does in the mornings, which is even more unfair. “Morning!” he says cheerily, glancing up from his phone.

When Raihan replies it comes out closer to ‘mrrng’ but Leon seems to get the idea. The other man finally seems to finish on his phone, setting it to the side and gesturing to the vacated bathroom. “You done?” Raihan nods slowly and Leon is up and sliding past him in mere moments.

Raihan flops back onto the bed. Going back to sleep probably isn’t an option and he hears the shower start up, so he has some time to kill. “Rotom,” he mumbles, “open blog.”

The phone springs to life, hovering in front of his face, displaying the requested webpage. He found it purely by accident quite some time ago. A hobbyist blog, but whoever is behind it has some of the keenest insight into matches he’s ever seen. They’re obviously based in Galar though they do analyze big matches from abroad as well. Maybe they’ll have the championship match up by now?

There is a new post, but it’s far too short to be an analysis. I’ll do the championship match soon, I promise! Went on a bit of a vacation. In the meantime, what’s everyone’s thoughts on the outcome of the match? Wild to think Leon isn’t the champion anymore, innit?

Raihan replies- it’s a pseudonym, obviously. Having trouble adjusting to the fact that the new Charizard is gonna be a Cramorant. She wasn’t even using the starter Leon gave her! He hits send, and Leon’s phone dings.

Huh. He glances over, then scrolls back up to the post. It was posted just a few minutes ago. He looks back over to Leon’s phone and promptly discards the idea as ludicrous. “Rotom, tell me to stop being a git.”

“You’re a kind and intelligent man who I trust to make the best possible decision!” Rotom tells him instead and Raihan buries his face in the pillow. Sometimes he seriously considers swapping out his shiny phone just so he can get one where the Rotom wasn’t bred to be as nice as humanly possible.

Today is a traveling day, mostly. They decided to head to Undella Town on foot, or at least see how close to it they can get before they have to fly the rest of the way to the resort town. It’ll be nice to take it easy and see some of the sights Unova has to offer.

Ironically, the first thing that really catches Leon’s attention isn’t the vast marsh or crowded forests, but a bridge. Even Raihan has to admit Tubeline Bridge is impressive, a striking steel bridge that looks like it could shoulder the weight of the entire world. “Wow, Raihan! Look at this! We don’t have anything like this in Galar!”

A subway car races by below them, causing a racket. “That’s the battle subway, innit?”

“Different car than we took. I think it’s the singles?”

“Can you imagine trying this in Galar? Some prat would dynamax the second it passed a power spot and the whole thing would go tits up.”

Leon laughs and then sombers. He walks to the edge of the bridge, leaning on the railing and looking out at the cities in the distance. Raihan follows. “Hey, Rai. Can I talk to you about something?”

“Course.”

“I want to talk about Eternatus.”

It’s close, but Raihan is able to hide his surprise at how suddenly Leon seems willing to talk. “It wasn’t your fault. No one blames you.”

“I could have stopped it earlier,” Leon says softly. He’s looking down at the water. “Guess I never thought he’d actually go through with it.”

Raihan stiffens. “How much did you know?”

“Not much. Not for a long time. By the time he got me involved he had- it was already down there.”

“Why didn’t you say something?”

Leon’s hands on the railing tighten and he looks up. He’s smiling, but looks on the verge of tears. “Rose built my entire image. The goofy, lovable ditz of a champion. Who the fuck would believe my word over the chairman’s?”

The words make Raihan flinch. He suddenly feels the crushing weight of guilt for all the times he’s thought of Leon as just that. “Leon-”

His eyes are back on the water. “But I didn’t even try. Raihan, I- I didn’t even try. ”

Raihan is truly at a loss for words. What can you even say to make someone feel better in this situation? He does the only thing he can think of- speaks honestly. “I would have believed you.”

Leon laughs, hollow. “I wonder, sometimes. The wolves- they needed two people. I never could have done it by myself, no matter what Rose thought. If he hadn’t kept me so isolated maybe it could have been- us.” His voice breaks on the last word.

Before he even makes the conscious decision to do so Raihan is pulling Leon into his arms, turning him into his chest, where he can feel the dampness of tears start to seep into his shirt. “It wasn’t your fault,” Raihan insists. “Mate, you did everything in your power to stop it. Nearly died because of it.”

“I’ve been an awful friend.” It’s muffled but Raihan still feels that one like a punch to the gut.

“You had a busy job. Everyone understands.”

“No, I-” Leon pushes himself away, rubbing the tears from his eyes. “I want. I need you to know, okay?”

A cold, creeping dread starts setting in. “Know what? ”

“That I- I wanted to. Every time all of you would make plans it killed me that I couldn’t go because I wasn’t busy. Rose just wouldn’t let me. ”

“What?” Raihan’s hands ball into fists. “You wanna run that one by me again?”

Leon turns away, handing moving to his left hip to rub at the scar. “I had two phones. One Rose gave me and one he didn’t know about. Every so often he’d find the second one, get rid of it, and punish me.”

There had been unexpected holes in Leon’s activity in the chat. Every time they ended he’d give them some story about how he had a bunch of sudden work and it really just ate up his time and he was so sorry about the unexplained silences. “He didn’t even want you talking to us?”

His rival shakes his head. “He tried to tell me you were all beneath me. That I was way above your level. Started some pretty nasty rows.”

“Why didn’t you just tell me? ” Raihan’s aware he’s starting to raise his voice but he can’t stop the anger building inside of him.

Leon looks back over to him. “Why? So you could come confront him and get fired? ”

That makes Raihan flinch, because Leon is absolutely right. He’d even been making plans in his head to go ‘talk’ to Rose in jail the second they landed back in Galar. “I just- the thought that all this time you’ve been alone like that and I couldn’t do anything about it. I can’t stand it.” 

“Rai,” Leon says softly. They’re facing each other again. “It’s different, now. I’m not telling you because I want you to feel bad or do something about it. Maybe I could have tried harder. I just- wanted you to know. I wanted to be with you, I really did. You’re the closest person to me. Always have been. I’m sorry, Raihan.”

Again, Raihan pulls Leon into his arms. It’s gentler this time. Leon is the perfect height for Raihan to rest his chin on the top of the shorter man’s head. “Don’t let Hop hear you say that,” he murmurs. He can feel Leon laughing against his chest.

When he pulls away, Leon looks- happy probably isn’t the most accurate word. He looks like a weight has been lifted off his shoulders. “No hard feelings?” he asks, surprisingly timid.

“Towards you? Nowt. Towards Rose…?”

Leon frowns playfully. “Do I need to tell the prison to take you off the list of approved visitors?”

“Naw, mate. I promise I’ll behave.” He grins wickedly. “Probably.”

“Thanks for listening,” Leon smiles. “Now let’s go! Opelucid City is just ahead!”

“You’re not gonna drag me through all four floors of Shopping Mall Nine first?”

Leon flushes, and that sure is going to be burned into Raihan’s brain for the rest of his life. “Are you ever gonna let me live that down? I’d never gone clothes shopping before!”

“Yeah, yeah,” Raihan laughs. “Let’s go.”

His rival wraps a hand around his arm and tugs him along. Raihan enjoys it for a second before remembering that Leon is effectively the one guiding them now and quickly takes over himself. In the end, they make it as far as Village Bridge before they have to fly the remaining distance to Undella.

Undella Town is a beach resort and Raihan is faintly alarmed that Leon had the foresight to buy a swimsuit. To buy both of them a swimsuit. At least they're normal, Leon with shorts in red and gold and a pair of navy and orange for Raihan. Leon doesn't let them both outside (of yet another quaint little cottage with a single bed ) until they're absolutely slathered in sunscreen. "Sunburns wouldn't be a champion time!"

Only Raihan thought to buy sunglasses. Leon is playing in the sand with his Charizard, while Raihan is relaxing in a chair under an umbrella, Flygon stretched lazily beside him. It's a beautiful sight, the sparkling sea and vast beaches, the water Pokémon peeking their heads above the waves, Arceus Leon is shredded- focus.

He checks his phone to distract himself. Several conversations have started in the comments of his favorite blog. What do you guys think about the finisher? Dynamax Cramorant, and a shiny to boot? Sure looks a lot like a Charizard…

Raihan snorts and starts typing out a reply to the stranger. I don't think it was meant to be mocking, if that's what you're getting at. It was a solid matchup against Charizard and, more importantly, a hell of a photo op. Girl's a natural.

"Rai!" Leon calls out, and the gym leader hits post and looks up from his phone. "Come here! Help us build a sand castle."

All they seem to have accomplished so far is making giant mounds of sand. "Looks more like sand domes to me." He gets up and casually walks over to join them. 

"Yeah, you gotta make a big pile of it then start carving out the castle. I think."

Raihan shrugs. "So what am I doing?"

"Accents!" Leon turns to Charizard. "Make a big pile for us, okay?" The Pokémon lets out a roar of approval. "There's loads of shells and stuff all over the beach. Let's gather as much of it as we can."

They depart to do just that. As they collect things, they talk. "I want to go to White Forest next, if you don't mind. Check out White Treehollow."

Ever since they talked on the bridge, Leon has been more subdued. He's still cheerful and positive but to a lesser degree- almost like he's finally dropped the exaggerated caricature he's been living for the past fifteen years. "Still a battle maniac, eh?"

But Leon shakes his head. "I'm actually looking for… ideas."

"Ideas?"

"Yeah, uh." Leon scratches the back of his neck sheepishly. "Rose wants me to take over Rose Tower and become the new chairman."

Raihan stops dead in his tracks. "He what?" 

Leon falls into a squat like all the energy has been sucked out of him and Raihan follows. "That's where I was right before I called you. I met with him." 

"You told him to piss off, right? Is Macro Cosmos even going to exist anymore?"

"He made it very clear that I could accept any part of his offer and leave the rest behind."

"And do you?" Raihan cocks his head, peering at Leon. "Want any of it."

A smile slowly starts to blossom across Leon’s face. "Every region has some version of a Battle Tower, you know. Galar is the only one who doesn't."

"Battle maniac," Raihan repeats. Leon laughs.

"And you aren't?"

One finger presses against Leon's shoulder. "Battle," Raihan sing-songs, pressing forwards until Leon loses his balance and falls onto the sand. "Maniac."

He probably should have known better than to try messing with Leon because the other man's response is to pick Raihan up like he weighs nothing and throw him into the ocean.

Charizard has gathered a crowd by the time they return, mostly because he enlisted Flygon's help and together they've created a pile of sand at least two and a half meters tall. "Brilliant!" Leon cries. People are taking photos now. "Great job, guys!"

Would this be a bad time to tell Leon that beach sand is actually pretty terrible for making sand castles? 

They all manage to create a vaguely tube-like structure. Leon is staring at the sticks of driftwood intensely, organizing them by size, until he finally sticks them all along the sides of the structure. The largest, spikiest shell they managed to find gets placed on top. It looks vaguely like… "Mate. Is that my gym?"

Leon stands back, wiping away some of the excess sand on his shorts. "Oh, good! If you can tell what it is that counts for something, right?"

With a goal in mind the two men work together to finish their masterpiece. "This is harder than I thought it'd be," Leon mutters, blowing his hair out of his face for what feels like the hundredth time.

"C'mere bruv," Raihan sighs. He turns Leon away from him and gathers up his hair, tying it up into a high ponytail. "Better?"

When he turns back, Leon looks way too happy for a man who just got his hair pulled back into a really shite ponytail. "Thanks, Rai!" And then he thinks for a second. "Wait. What'd you tie it back with?"

"...seaweed."

Leon brings a hand back to feel the rubbery kelp holding his hair back and he laughs so honestly that it takes every ounce of Raihan’s willpower not to kiss him right then and there.

Every photo the take that day is stupid, though Raihan's personal favorite is one of him posing in front of the finished sand castle, brandishing a Pokéball menacingly. Hammerlocke Gym, now accepting challengers! he captions it. He's seriously considering getting it framed.

Leon, in White Treehollow, is impressive. It feels a bit unfair to call him that- like Raihan has expected him to be scatterbrained and foolish, which was untrue. He had expected Leon to handle everything flawlessly and the man still managed to exceed his expectations.

The former champion is unerringly professional, no small feat for a man wearing a pink shirt emblazoned with an Emolga and a comical amount of hearts. The woman leading the tour looks to be about two seconds away from selling Leon the entire institute if he asked.

"Making all of it equal is the hardest part," she explains to him. "Every institute seems to have their own way of doing it. You may have noticed the Battle Subway judges the challenger's Pokémon beforehand and has them equip specially designed power limiting items as needed. Here, we instead have ten floors that steadily increase in difficulty to try to provide as much of a challenge as possible."

"So this one is much more complex than the subway."

"It's a different sort of challenge. Places like the Battle Subway really put your tactical skills to the test, and places like ours test the trainer's ability to adapt to ever-changing circumstances."

"I see! What is the process for screening applicants for work at the facility itself? How do you get the Pokémon? Do they bring their own?"

Raihan is a little ashamed to admit that he starts turning the conversation out around here. Instead he just watches Leon, the way he speaks so confidently, holds himself like he has the attention of the entire room. He certainly has Raihan's. Even in that stupid shirt he looks amazing, the way it pulls across his broad shoulders and curves around his biceps, the way the fabric strains against his frankly enormous tits- focus.

Focusing got him into this, though. He checks his phone instead. The blog owner- Inteleon- replied to his contribution to the discussion re: the Cramorant finisher. I agree with Cinderace! Most people write off Cramorant as a joke but she's proven it can be a serious threat in the right hands. 

Cinderace had been an obvious choice of a username, considering the theme. Raihan types out a reply. When it twatted Charizard with that Arrokuda I swear I saw my life flash before my eyes and I wasn't even there. Scary stuff.

When he hits post, Leon's phone chimes. Mental, Raihan tells himself. The idea is absolutely mental.

Leon seems extraordinarily pleased with the visit to White Treehollow. "I've got some great ideas now!"

They're sitting at a table eating lunch. White Forest is a beautiful town- tucked into a clearing in the dense forest, the sunlight falling in in beams, wild Pokémon running to and fro. "Gonna share with the class?"

"Rose spent a lot of time developing a power-limiting field to try and contain Eternatus. It worked, flawlessly- just not against things like that."

"All they'd have to do was step inside the tower and everything would be evened out."

Leon nods. "Exactly! I want to make it even more accessible, too. Not everyone can afford to spend the time or money required to build up a strong team of their own. It could offer rental teams for no extra charge."

"You gonna design all those yourself?"

"Seems a bit unfair if I'm also the boss, doesn't it? I was hoping that…" He trails off. "Maybe I could get the gym leaders to help. If they're willing."

None of us blame you , Raihan thinks. Instead he says "Let me take care of it. You'll never win a match again."

Leon pretends to look insulted. "You wound me! No, there needs to be loads of different playstyles. You can make one." He holds up a finger. "It can be a doubles team."

The team is already forming in Raihan's head. As committed as he is to weather strategies, he can't quite let go of dragons, so he knows he can push rain in particular much further. Nessa would probably love to help. "Not gonna spoil anything but you might want to make sure whatever outfit you come up with is waterproof."

"Don't get ahead of yourself! I still haven't even run this by the league."

"Won't have to run it by anyone if you're the chairman."

"I don't think I want to be," Leon murmurs. "A former champion might not be a good fit after all. Look where it got Rose."

"Bruv, I doubt you're gonna be coming up with a scheme to end the world like he did."

But Leon shakes his head. "When you're champion… everything is grand. It's all dramatic battles and protecting the entire region. I don't think that mindset ever really goes away."

Raihan speaks slowly, carefully. "You're… not upset with him, are you? For anything."

"I'm furious," Leon smiles. "He nearly destroyed the entire Galar region. But I'm also… sympathetic." The other man pushes his food away and leans back in his chair, staring up at the treetops. "He wasn't much older than I was when he became Champion himself, you know. He didn't have anyone to guide him like he did for me. Just tossed in the deep end and told to figure out how to swim on his own. Really messed him up. He told me, once, that when someone finally beat him all he could feel was relief. It was over."

Raihan can't bring himself to forgive Rose, especially not after what Leon told him on Tubeline Bridge. But Leon knew the man better than almost anyone else and Raihan knows he was something of a father figure. He stays silent and lets Leon continue. 

"He swore he wouldn't let that happen the next time a kid won the position and along I came. It got twisted, went way too far, but it was never done out of malice. Am I wrong, Raihan?" He looks back down, meets Raihan's gaze. He looks apologetic. "Rose nearly killed everyone because he couldn't look past his own pride. But I still can't bring myself to hate him."

"There's no easy answer to a question like that, Lee." Raihan leans forward. "But I can tell you how I feel." He takes a deep breath, ordering his thoughts. "Nothing's... ever that cut and dry. Just because he did some horrific things it doesn't mean that the rest of his life never happened. If you can condemn his actions while still looking past to see why he did what he did it doesn't make you wrong- it makes you empathetic."

Leon smiles, small but powerful. "Thank you, Raihan. I guess I've never said this out loud," and his hand is reaching across the table, covering Raihan's own, "but you know that I love you, right?"

Raihan blacks out for a solid five seconds. When it ends and he opens his mouth the cruel mockery of language that comes out is "Love friend?"

For his part, Leon just looks confused. "Like mates, do you mean? Obviously not?"

It feels like Raihan's brain is melting out his ears. "You're… in love with me?" Leon is staring at him like it should have been the most obvious thing in the world. "I. I didn't notice?"

"Are you serious?" Leon blanches. "Rai, we've been sharing a bed this entire vacation ."

"I thought they were sold out of doubles!"

"We bought matching clothes."

"Can you blame me for not knowing how to parse out your fashion sense?"

"I had us ride a ferris wheel exclusively for couples. "

Raihan's head is in his hands. "I'm daft."

"Utterly daft," Leon agrees. Both of them are blushing furiously. "So this whole time… you didn't remember?"

"Remember what." Raihan knows he has to ask.

"The ride over. I confessed. Arceus, I guess your response was pretty off now that I'm thinking about it. I was just so excited! Did I cock this up?" Leon looks more panicked than Raihan has ever seen him be, even when Eternatus was released.

"Let's just leave this bit out when we tell our grandchildren how we got together."

Leon's face lights up.  "So you-"

"Yes," Raihan interrupts. "Yes. Obviously. Yes."

"Now I need to make sure, going forwards! Would you have even noticed if I hadn't spelled it out like that?"

"My brain has gotten good at selectively  ignoring some of the things you do around me."

That makes Leon’s eyes narrow. "Why?"

Well, he'd pry the truth out of him sooner or later. "Because I couldn't think of any reason someone like you would like someone like me. You're all perfect in every way and I'm some failure who can't even beat you in a Pokémon battle. I post slutty photos online because they get the most likes. You spent a weekend visiting every single patient in a children's hospital.

"Raihan," Leon says, kindly. "I made us get so wankered that we woke up in Unova ."

"Told you I got good at filtering."

"Well if you're not going to appreciate your good points…" Leon puffs up, throwing his shoulders back and sitting up straight.

"Oh no," is all Raihan manages to get out before Leon launches into a very detailed rundown of all of what he considers to be Raihan’s good points. 

It lasts three hours and is immediately ruined when the last thing Leon says is "so where can I find all these slutty photos you've been posting?"

That night, before bed, Raihan texts Iris. so is the thing u were talking about how me and Leon have been in love with each other our entire lives and never noticed until it got to the point where even our pokemon noticed and he can effortlessly control all of my pokemon like they were his own

All he gets back is 🤐

When he lays down in bed, he's finally facing Leon. They fall asleep in each other's arms.

It’s their last day in Unova and as much as Leon wants to see some of the more well-known sights, the press have gotten a bit too persistent. When they cross the breathtaking skyarrow bridge they barely have time to admire it.

“Are they still behind us?” Leon pants, running.

Raihan glances back. “Haven’t made it to the bridge yet. If we’re lucky we can cross it before they notice where we went.”

“This bridge is so amazing!” Leon whines. “I wanted to see if you could climb it.”

“You what? ” Nevermind, he can work that one out later. They’re reaching the loop and still remain blessedly free of pursuers. “Right outside the bridge is Pinwheel Forest. We can duck in there.”

They get some odd looks when they come tearing through the toll building, but hopefully they’re moving too quickly for anyone to consider following them. 

Pinwheel Forest is gigantic, though much of it is far too dense to be considered accessible. There’s a well-marked path through the safe parts and trails leading off said beaten path. Raihan grabs Leon’s wrist and pulls him down one of the trails that doesn’t show a lot of use. As they’re running, his rival- no, wait, he should be calling him something else now, shouldn’t he?- his boyfriend rotates his wrist and tugs his hand back until Raihan’s holding that instead. When he glances back the man, despite their predicament, looks happy.

And that’s when Raihan runs into a tree.

Leon, at least, digs his heels into the ground and manages to halt his momentum instead of slamming into Raihan’s back. “Rai!” He takes a few quick steps around to his front. “Are you okay?”

It seems that Raihan took the brunt of the impact with the side of his face instead of the front, which is good in the sense that he managed not to break his nose. “Cock!” he hisses. “Stupid cunting tree! Fuck! ” He feels along the side of his face. Just scrapes and a bruised ego. “Yes,” he continues, all at once utterly calm. “I am entirely okay. Never been better.”

Naturally, this is when a very angry Whirlipede drops out of the tree and perfectly onto his lap. Leon reacts immediately, smoothly kicking the Pokémon away from them with perfect footballer form. It arcs away beautifully.

From the direction it landed, they both hear a steadily increasing rustling sound. “Hey, Leon,” Raihan asks. “How fast can those things move?”

Leon pulls Raihan onto his feet and then higher, throwing him over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. “Sixty miles per hour.” And then they’re running again.

Letting Leon lead them is an awful idea, but having every bone in his body shattered upon impact with a sixty kilogram poisonous tire is even more so. “What’s that in kilometers?”

“I don’t know!” Leon calls back. “Fast! I think?”

Stupid Unova and their stupid system of measurement. It could be rolling at them at a snail’s pace for all he knows. “I don’t see it following us?” On cue, something tears through the forest floor, slamming into a tree far too close to them for comfort. “Nevermind! It’s following us!” He thinks for a moment it may have regretted the collision and will turn and leave them alone now, except it’s rotating towards them and slowly starting to spin. “It can’t corner! It’s using the trees to change trajectory!”

“Serpentine, got it!”

If the circumstances were different, Raihan may have been impressed by how well Leon manages to weave in between all of the trees. Maybe a time when they weren’t being chased by some sort of hell donut. It’s ping-ponging off of trees behind them, every time Raihan thinks it may have fallen behind quickly shattered by it slamming into a tree they were in front of seconds before. “It’s not giving up, mate!”

“I’m trying to find a clearing!” 

Raihan is struck in the face by bark splintering off a nearby tree on impact and hopes to Arceus Leon finds one soon. At least if he dies here he’ll do so without regrets.

The trees open up, finally, and Leon has Charizard out in seconds. “Where’s it coming from?” The Pokémon sniffs, points it’s head towards the forest, and roars. Leon leaps out of the way just as the Whirlipede comes screaming past, toppling both of them to the ground.

Whirlipede turns towards them and tenses up, ready to attack, but Charizard steps between them and really puts his back into the roar this time, flames licking out of the corners of his mouth. The bug freezes and then rotates, casually rolling out of the clearing like it hadn’t been trying to turn them into roadkill for the past however long this had been going on for. Ten minutes? An hour? Raihan finds he’s having difficulty putting thoughts together right now. He flops his head back into the forest floor. “We’re alive.”

“Can you imagine? If we both survived the Darkest Day only to get taken out by the true strongest poison-type. That thing would have sent Eternatus itself running.” Leon also collapses down, which is bad, because Raihan is suddenly incredibly aware of how they’ve landed.

Raihan is flat on his back with Leon on top, head resting just above his belly button. The gym leader’s legs are akimbo, Leon slotted nicely in between. He’s not the only one who’s noticed, based on the way Leon crosses his arms and rests his chin over them, a suspicious gleam in his eye-

And Charizard picks his trainer up by the collar of his shirt, sniffing at him to ensure that he is unharmed. “Oi!” Leon cries, limbs thrashing. “Put me down!”

It makes an extremely amusing scene, one Raihan is sure to document with his (thankfully unharmed) Rotom Phone. He sends it to Sonia who will hopefully also show it to Hop. nearly got killed by a Whirlipede xx

Raihan gets to his feet by himself, taking in their surroundings. Any trail they may have been following is a distant memory. “So, where are we?”

“Pinwheel Forest,” Leon answers, feet back on the ground.

“Lost, then,” Raihan clarifies. Leon flashes him a thumbs up. “Hold on, let me just use the gps-”

“No service!” Rotom is cheerfully informing him. “Tracking failed!” Sure enough, his text failed to send.

Getting lost in a forest wasn’t exactly their plan for the day. “Uh,” Raihan says, constructively. “Bollocks.”

Leon pulls out his own phone. “Rotom, you have a map of Pinwheel Forest, right?” The phone flashes ‘yes’. “We just have to find a landmark so we can place ourselves on it.”

He says it so confidently that Raihan gets the feeling he’s done this many, many times. “How many maps do you have stored on that phone of yours, mate?”

“All of them!”

Focus, Raihan tells himself. “Hand it over.” 

Once he has Leon’s phone, Rahan projects the map onto the ground. “So we’re in one of the denser parts, obviously. Rotom, if we found one of these landmarks, would you be able to guide us out of here from it?” 

“Of course!” Rotom chirps. “There are many hidden grottos in the forest. Finding one before night falls should be an easy task!”

“Alright.” Raihan waves the map away and the phone flies back to Leon. “Guess we should pick a direction and start walking.”

Most of their Pokémon are far too large to traverse the dense forest. Aegislash, while being impressively large, is also mostly two-dimensional and joins them on their journey. It’s easy to see how someone could get lost in a place like this- well, lost the normal way. Every tree looks nearly identical.

It’s a bit of a surprise when Leon is the one that finds it. “Raihan, look what I found!” he calls out, and Raihan reflexively tenses.

What Leon found isn’t a Pokémon but a passageway, the trees around it connected together to form almost a tunnel. “Gotta be something,” Raihan murmurs, and they duck inside.

It leads to a beautiful clearing, a meadow full of flowers filling the open area, sun shining down from a break in the treeline. The area feels so soothing and calm. “Wow,” Leon whispers. It feels like anything too loud would shatter the magic. “This place is beautiful.”

Even his phone is quiet. “Rumination Field,” it tells them.

“Oh?” Raihan remembers that on the map; it’s not very far from the road, just well-hidden. “Guess we ran in a circle.”

“I’d like to stay, but… feels like we shouldn’t.”

The feeling isn’t really something Raihan can pinpoint. “It feels like this is a place a human shouldn’t be.”

“Calculating route… follow me!” Rotom flies into the air, drifting off back out of the clearing. Aegislash calmly follows.

Before they leave, Leon turns back towards the meadow. “Thank you,” he whispers. “We just needed to find our way. Whatever is here- thank you.”

A high pitched cry rings out across the meadow, stuttered and piercing. It sends a shiver of fear down Raihan’s spine.

Without another word, they follow Rotom back to the main road.

Airports are always a bit of a nightmare. 

They're trying to be incognito. It's difficult, what with Leon's bright purple hair and Raihan being, as Leon puts it, a massive sodding tree. Raihan's issue can be solved by sitting down while Leon’s… well, he pointed out his distinctive hair and all it got him was Leon stealing his hoodie again and hiding it beneath that. It might actually have been the least incognito thing he could have done short of climbing on top of a table and announcing their presence to the world.

At the very least their efforts make it obvious that they don't want to be approached and the press can't exactly make it through airport security. They're left in relative peace, something that turns out to be a double-edged sword as it means Leon has plenty of time to tease Raihan. He's attempting, futilely, to send it right back. "Do I need to get you one of these special made?" As he speaks, he pulls at the fabric of the hoodie.

"This one's fine." Leon is shooting him a sly grin.

"You'll stretch it out, luv."

"Yeah? With my bulging muscles?"

"You're built like a brick shithouse."

Leon looks proud. "Why, thank you for noticing!"

"Humble you're not," Raihan mutters.

"Oh? Are we picking on each other now? You're taller than your Duraludon. Is that why you're all hunched over when you fight?" Leon mimics Raihan's battle stance, claws and all. "Cuz it'd look less imposing if you towered over it?"

Arceus, that's cute. "That's part of my brand, I'll have you know."

"What's your brand? Feral?"

"Don't try and tell me you're not into it."

"I'm into it," Leon grudgingly admits. For a moment, he's silent. "I still want to help Gloria. Even if I'm not chairman."

Raihan pauses. "Does she need help? She took you out with a Cramorant."

It makes Leon laugh, the kind of laughter that shakes your whole body. "Unless you're suggesting her solution to dealing with sponsors should be to kill them, she'll need some kind of guidance."

"How do you feel about that? The Cramorant thing." As confident as he is in his own opinion of the matter, he's never actually asked Leon how he felt about it.

"I don't think it was meant to be mocking, if that's what you're getting at." Leon keeps talking but Raihan’s eyebrows have shot up into his hairline. "It- why are you looking at me like that?"

"You're Inteleon," Raihan blurts out. 

Leon freezes and then flushes. "You're Cinderace," he says slowly. "I just quoted you to yourself. Arceus."

A crooked, shite-eating grin grows on Raihan’s face because if there's one thing Inteleon is known for other than keen analysis, it's being a massive Raihan fanboy. "Oh?" He starts in on it, Leon quickly covering his face with his hands. "What was it you said about me? 'A genius born once in a generation?'"

"Sod off," Leon mumbles. "How'd you even find it? Looking up your own name one day?"

"Naw, people would talk about it in the comments of my posts sometimes." Leon being behind it did explain the erratic posting habits- he probably had to sneak the posts in with his second phone when he had the free time. "You really idolized me, didn't you?"

"You outright told me you thought I was too perfect for you," Leon points out. "Guess we're both guilty of it." He finally drops his hands away from his face and sighs, tipping his head back against the back of the chair. "We were so caught up in the versions of each other we created that we forgot we're both just… humans."

That really does sum it up, doesn't it? "That's too profound for right now. Come on, flight'll be boarding soon. We gotta take a farewell selfie." They lean closer but suddenly, Raihan frowns. "You're wearing my hoodie, luv."

"Yeah?" Leon's brow furrows in confusion.

"Bit suspicious, innit?"

Leon's face drops. "You want to hide it?"

"No," Raihan hastily amends. "I just don't want to cause a shitstorm before we're even back in Galar." Leon kind of looks like he's going to physically attack anyone that tries to take the hoodie away from him, including Raihan himself. He shrugs. If anyone points it out he'll just say they needed to hide Leon's hair. "Photo time, Rotom." The phone whirs to life to float in front of them, already knowing exactly what to do. "Smile for the camera."

Briefly, they maintain a friendly pose, grinning up at the camera together. Very briefly because Leon promptly turns to face Raihan and plants a quick kiss on his lips.

Raihan would like to say he reacted well but in reality he starts sputtering, which makes Leon start laughing. "You better hope there's a good one in there," he grumbles, beckoning Rotom closer so he can flip through the photos.

The first one is what he intended but the rest show what happened in a slide show; Leon with a conspiratorial grin on his face, Leon leaning over, Raihan's eyes wide with shock where his face can be seen beyond Leon blocking the camera. The last one has him looking very flustered while Leon looks like the Purrloin who got the cream.

Overhead, their flight is called to board. He flips quickly back to the first photo. "Caption: See you next time, Unova! "

"Rai, come on. We gotta go." Leon has all three of their bags in his hands. Their luggage was light enough to take as carry-ons, one bag for each of them and a third stuffed full of souvenirs. At least half that bag must be for Sonia and Hop alone.

"Yeah, Lee, one sec." He glances at the sample post Rotom has created for him. "Looks good. Post."

Leon is already halfway across the room. Raihan quickly pockets his phone and hurries after him. 

All throughout boarding his phone dings and rumbles at him nonstop. Must have forgotten to mute notifications. It's not until they're sitting comfortably in first class that he fishes out his phone to check them while Leon is busy talking to the flight attendant. 

He has a steadily increasing number of missed calls but only one person has thought to try texting yet. It's Piers. 

It says gross.

"Rotom," Raihan sats slowly. "Can you pull up that post I just made?"

"Right away!"

He looks at it dumbly. "Hey, Lee?"

"Hm?" Leon shakes hands with the flight attendant and they depart. "What's up?"

"You know how I said I didn't want to cause a shitstorm before we even landed?"

Leon looks like he's fighting back laughter. "You accidentally posted all of the photos?"

"I accidentally posted all of the photos," Raihan admits.

He thinks there's a very real chance that Leon might laugh the whole flight back to Galar.