15. comfort iii

[badass_tiger]

Comm: fallintofallfestival
Prompt: Any/Any/Kiss it better
Word Count: 1.3k
Author/Team: badass_tiger
Title: comfort iii
Fandom/Original: Pokemon (Leon/Raihan)
Rating: Gen
Triggers: NA
Summary: The next morning, Leon is bleeding.
ConCrit: Y

When Raihan awoke the next morning, Leon was still asleep. This was unusual. Leon was usually up at sunrise, or some other similarly ungodly hour. All the better if he could get a full 8 hours' for once, Raihan thought. But Leon was awake by the time he came out of the bathroom after brushing his teeth.

'Morning. Sleep well?'

'Morning,' Leon said, a smile flickering over his face. He made to get up, then winced.

'I knew you were pushing it yesterday,' Raihan sighed. He strode over to the side of the bed to help Leon up. He was horrified when he pulled off the sheets to find blood on it.

'Sorry,' Leon said meekly.

'You goddamn idiot.'

He called room service to get a first-aid kit delivered, then helped Leon to get up and into the bathroom while they waited. Leon groaned and complained as Raihan held his arm and stood him up from the bed, but Raihan took it as a good sign. He wouldn't be talking so much if he was in serious pain.

'You're a pain in my arse,' Raihan said. He kicked out the step underneath the bathroom sink and gently deposited Leon onto it. 'Do you ever think about yourself? You're not the only one who's going through it when you get hurt. You're being a nuisance to everyone else too.'

'I know. I'm really sorry.' Leon was suddenly downcast, and Raihan registered that he had spoken more harshly than he intended to. Before he could apologise, however, the doorbell rang, and he went to meet the attendant who had brought the first-aid kit. When he came back, Leon had his shirt halfway over his head and was struggling to pull it off. Raihan could see the half-healed gash starting from below his ribcage and curved up to his side that had opened up slightly to leak blood. Leon's shirt was still partly sticking to it. His stomach turned at the sight.

'Stop that, you moron.' Raihan went over and took hold of the shirt in his hands. 'Relax before you open up your side and bleed to death all over this nice bathroom.'

Leon loosened his arms and Raihan slowly peeled the garment off. By the time the bloodied shirt was on the bathroom floor, Leon was covered in sweat, his breathing heavy.

'Good thing I won't need that anymore, now that I'm not champion,' Leon said in an attempt to be flippant.

'I have no idea how you're not dead yet,' Raihan answered flatly. Leon deflated like a punctured balloon and fell silent.

For a few moments, Raihan was too angry, and unnerved by the sight of flesh, to break the thick silence as he cleaned the wound. When he accidentally pressed down too hard and Leon let out a hiss of pain, however, he relented long enough to say, 'Sorry.'

'Not your fault.'

'That's right. Take full responsibility for what you've done.'

The look Leon gave him was so pathetic that he was moved to say, 'Alright, don't pout. I'm just worried about you.'

'I know. Sorry I messed up the bed.'

'It's fine. It's not mine.'

The wound must have opened during the night, as it had pretty much stopped bleeding by then. The amount of blood on the sheets and around the gash wasn't too much anyway, so Raihan did his best to clean it before bandaging him up.

'You'd better go to the hospital right away to get it checked out just in case,' he said. Leon pulled a face.

'Do I have to?'

'I guess not if you're fine with bleeding all over the sheets again tonight. And this time, it'll be your sheets, so you'll have to clean them yourself.'

'Fine,' Leon sighed.

Raihan covered the gash in copious amounts of gauze that he then stuck in place with medical tape. It was a delicate job because it was far from the only area on Leon's torso that was injured, and he had to be careful to avoid sticking tape on any of the other minor cuts that littered his body.

'I can't believe you went ahead with the Championship Match while you were like this,' he said. 'You must have some kind of death wish or something.'

Uncharacteristically, Leon made no reply. Raihan looked up at him and noticed he was watching his hands as he held gauze and tape in place.

'I'm not angry, idiot,' he said, giving Leon's face a punctuating tap with a finger. Leon started as if he hadn't realised he'd been staring. 'I'm just worried about you. It'd be a shame if you died before I can beat you, you know?'

'Yeah.' Some of the tension drained from Leon's face and he smiled. 'I'm really sorry. I didn't - I didn't think you'd be worried about me.'

'It's not just me. You're Galar's superstar. A lot of people would be upset if something happened to you.'

Raihan got up, grimacing as his knees voiced their protest at being pressed against the tiled floor for the past ten minutes. As he washed his hands at the sink, Leon said, 'I know, but you're the most important one.'

He ducked his head so Leon wouldn't see the grin involuntarily spreading across his face reflected in the mirror. When he had fought it back, he turned around and kneeled down again to inspect his work. It looked clean, and there was no blood seeping through the gauze, which was the most anyone could say about his patchwork job. He reached out to smooth back a corner that was beginning to droop, and was startled when Leon covered his hand with his own. He looked up inquisitively. Leon was looking at him with all the tenderness that he, Raihan, felt for him.

'Thanks,' Leon said, 'for taking care of me.'

'You'd do the same for me,' he shrugged.

'Yeah, but you wouldn't be as much of a baby as I've been,' Leon said, and Raihan laughed.

'Don't worry about it. I'll baby you as much as you want.'

Even though he was kneeling and Leon was sitting, he didn't have to reach up far to kiss him. He realised, as their lips touched, that this was what he had been wanting to do, in the back of his mind, ever since last night. Leon leaned into him, kissing him back softly.

Raihan pulled away and said, 'Come on, to the hospital with you. I'll take you.' He pulled away their hands, still locked over Leon's side, to press a quick kiss to the bandage. 'That'll keep you til we get there.'

Leon laughed. 'Thanks. I don't have anything to wear, though.'

'I'll give you a shirt. Might be a bit big, but tough luck. You can go back to your place and get changed after you see a doctor.'

'You'll come with me?' Leon said quickly. He rolled his eyes.

'Yeah, yeah. I won't leave you til I have to go back to Hammerlocke. That good enough for you?'

'No, but I'll take it for now.'

'Good. And you better call your kid brother before he starts worrying that you got lost trying to find your way to breakfast.'

'You know, Raihan, I never thought you were the responsible type in a relationship,' Leon said, looking quite happy.

'I'm not. You're just so irresponsible, anyone would look responsible next to you.'

Raihan took his hand and helped him to his feet even though he didn't need it anymore. As he had so many times over the past few days, Leon squeezed his hand as if he was loathe to let him go. But just like every other time they had held hands in the past, it wouldn't be the last. He had nothing to worry about.