5. fall

[badass_tiger]

Comm: fallintofallfestival
Prompt: Any Fandom | Any Characters | “Please don’t scare me like that ever again.”
Word Count: 1.7k
Author/Team: badass_tiger
Title: fall
Fandom/Original: Pokemon: Leon/Raihan
Rating: Gen
Triggers: NA
Summary: He had never realised just how seriously Leon considered the duties he perceived to be his as Galar's champion; had never thought that a silly title weighed on him so much.
ConCrit: Y

After doing what he could for his stadium, Raihan left to see Leon. It was almost midnight by the time he arrived in Wyndon. He waited on the doorstep of Leon's flat for three minutes, the cold seeping deeper into his bones by the second, before Sonia opened the door.

'I'm so sorry for the wait! I had no idea who it could be at this time.'

Raihan mustered up some insouciance through his chattering teeth. 'No problem. A little cold weather doesn't bother me.'

As a matter of fact, hail and cold was the one type of weather he didn't use. He stood leaning against the radiator in the little kitchen until he felt better while Sonia made him a cup of tea. With her coat replaced by a thick cardigan and her hair down, the image of Sonia was perfectly at home in Leon's apartment. Raihan had come here often enough over the years, but he had never bumped into Sonia during that time. He wondered if she visited Leon often.

'You're here to see Leon, right? It's good of you to come all the way; he's sure lucky to have a friend like you.' Sonia chattered as she bustled about. The sound of her cheerful voice was as warming as the radiator. 'Do you have anywhere you're staying for the night?'

'Not yet.'

'There's only one sofa bed, but I'm sure we can work something out. Leon's gotta have a spare duvet somewhere.'

'Are you staying here yourself?'

'I've gotta, don't I? Leon will be up and running off to Wyndon Stadium first thing in the morning if I don't keep an eye on him. It was all I could do to convince him to stay still long enough for a paramedic to look at him!'

'Sounds like him,' Raihan said.

'He's banged up pretty bad. Just covered in cuts and burns. You should see him! Which, I guess, you probably want to do.'

'Yeah. I know he's probably asleep, but I'd like to look in on him for a second, if I can.'

'Fine with me. I'll find some bedding for you in the mean time.'

'Thanks.' Raihan paused, then gave her a sheepish look. 'Sorry for the trouble, by the way.'

'Not at all,' Sonia said, waving away his embarrassment. 'If anything, Leon should be the one apologising. He ruined your stadium, after all!'

What was a stadium to Galar's beloved champion? He finished his tea and went upstairs, but once he got to Leon's bedroom door, he stood outside for almost a minute without moving. Residents of Hammerlocke city who had been outside the stadium when the explosion happened had been seriously injured by the debris. How badly injured would Leon, directly within blast radius, be? If Hop and Victor had been up there too, Leon had probably shielded them himself without a single thought for his own safety. All things considered, he was lucky to be alive.

A heaviness that had settled in Raihan's stomach on the train up to Wyndon, eased somewhat by the walk from the station and Sonia's tea, returned as he opened the door.

Leon looked like he was asleep. It was better than looking like he had fallen unconscious. The covers were pulled up to his neck, but on his face alone, there was a dark bruise above his cheek and several bandages that thinly disguised the cuts underneath. Raihan had touched a hand to his face before he realised what he was doing, and once he had touched him, he couldn't stop himself. He brushed his fingertips over the bruise, and a wince passed over Leon's sleeping face. He moved his hand up to push the hair back from Leon's forehead and uncovered another bandage. Leon's opened his eyes sleepily.

'That hurts, Sonia,' he mumbled.

'That's too bad,' Raihan said. 'Maybe next time you'll think twice about taking a legendary Pokemon head-on by yourself?'

Leon blinked, then his face lit up. 'Hey, Raihan!' He tried to sit up before Raihan forcefully pushed him back.

'Are you trying to kill yourself?'

'Come on, I'm fine!' Leon struggled against him. 'I can't look at you properly lying down. Just help me sit up.'

'What do you need to look at me for?' Raihan said, but he complied. By the time Leon was sitting up against the headboard, he was breathing heavily from the exertion, and Raihan regretted helping him. He said as much.

'I'm fine,' Leon said again. 'And if Hop and Victor are okay, we'll have our championship match tomorrow! Galar might have a new champion soon, you know, so it's going to be an awesome match. Victor caught Eternatus. He's already shown he can do what I can't.'

'So you are trying to kill yourself,' Raihan wanted to say. The words were on the tip of his tongue. But something in Leon's voice, something in his eyes, stopped him, and he registered Leon's final sentence.

'I didn't think you were the type to be scared of the day you get beaten,' Raihan said. No one had ever called him the sensitive type.

'I'm not,' Leon said with surprise.

Something else, then. He can do what I can't.

'Eternatus is the name of the legendary Pokemon? What was that thing anyway?'

'Yeah. It looks like - like Chairman Rose had been keeping it in the Energy Plant and feeding it Dynamax energy from Wishing Stars. Sonia and Professor Magnolia think that it arrived to Galar in ancient times and that's what caused Power Spots to be created.'

'The source of Dynamax, huh?'

Leon nodded. There was a certain cloudiness in his eyes when he mentioned Rose, but it quickly cleared away. So not that, either.

'So Victor caught Eternatus? Did you try to catch it yourself?'

Silence stretched between them, thick and uncomfortable.

'Jealous that someone else caught a brand new Pokemon before you did?' Raihan tried. Leon laughed.

'Yeah,' he said, but he was lying.

'I give up. What are you so upset about?'

'I'm not upset,' Leon said immediately, then stopped. He furrowed his brow and looked away. Raihan waited.

'I'm a pretty rubbish champion, right? I can't even step up when Galar needs me,' Leon said at length.

'You did step up. You were the first to charge over there when it happened.'

'But I couldn't do anything.'

Leon didn't raise his voice, but the bitterness in his words was so alien that Raihan flinched.

'It's not your duty to save everyone, is it? Being a champion doesn't mean being a hero.'

'People are always saying that I'm the greatest champion Galar's ever had. But I'm not. I was useless where it counted,' Leon said as if he hadn't heard him. 'I had to be saved by my little brother instead. Hop's the one who had the brains to go to the Slumbering Weald and call for Zacian and Zamazenta to beat Eternatus.'

'There you go, then,' Raihan said, seizing the opportunity to get a word in. 'There was no way you could've caught Eternatus yourself. It's not your fault.'

'If I'd stopped to think instead of - and Hop and Victor got hurt too - if I'd just - if I'd been stronger -'

It was so unlike Leon to be so full of doubt that it was almost frightening to listen to him. Raihan wanted to slap him, or shake him, but he would probably cause serious injury if he did. All he could do was put a gentle hand on Leon's uninjured cheek. It somehow had the intended effect of startling Leon into falling silent and looking at him.

'Shut up, idiot,' Raihan said. He wanted to say that he had never realised just how seriously Leon considered the duties he perceived to be his as Galar's champion, that he had never thought that a silly title weighed on him so much. He wanted to say that, even if it was a champion's duty to be a hero, it didn't mean that he had to bear it alone. He wanted to say that he was more than a champion to him. But he wasn't good with words, and could only say, 'When you were up there, and I saw the explosion, I thought you might have died.' Leon's eyes widened as if he hadn't realised that there were people who would be upset if he got hurt. 'If you're not too busy being heroic, could you promise not to scare me like that again?'

'Right.' Leon chuckled. 'My bad. I'll try.'

'Not good enough. Promise.'

'Okay, okay. I promise.'

'Better.' Raihan kissed him, softly and carefully. It wasn't enough, but he would probably hurt Leon if he pressed him in the slightest. He sighed. 'You're such an idiot. You don't have to get mad at yourself because you couldn't do everything for once. I'd hate you way more if you got yourself killed.'

'I get it.' Leon covered Raihan's hand with his own and leaned into the touch. 'I'm sorry. And thanks.' He kissed Raihan's palm. 'Are you staying the night?'

'I think so. Miss Clever Clogs said she'd get me a duvet. I'm not going to sleep in here with you,' he said when Leon opened his mouth. 'Did you forget that I move in my sleep? You'll wake up with more cuts than you went to bed with.'

'Fine,' Leon said reluctantly. 'But stay here until the championship match if you don't have anything you need to do in Hammerlocke. It's going to be a match you won't want to miss, I promise.'

'I've definitely got to hang around to make sure he doesn't beat you before I do,' Raihan said, and Leon grinned. 'But not tomorrow. I'll tie you up if you try to go anywhere tomorrow.'

Leon raised an eyebrow. 'Kinky.'

'You wish. Go back to sleep if you're done feeling sorry for yourself.'

'Stay until I'm asleep?'

'You're such a baby,' Raihan snorted, but he did.