Chapter Text
When he opened his eyes next, he was having an IV put in his arm, and one of those little finger clips he couldn’t think of the name of was on his finger. He looked around, then at the nurse and her Blissey, who smiled at him. He flexed his hand for a minute, then sat up- no, that was way too fast. He immediately laid back down, groaning from the effort.
“Am I at the hospital?” he asked wearily, and she nodded. He sighed, frustration evident in his tone, letting his head fall back against the pillows. At least they were soft…
“How are you feeing?” she asked kindly, and he opened his mouth to say ‘I’m okay’ but he immediately closed it. The Blissey would call his bluff- in the nicest way possible, of course, but he’d still feel embarrassed. He pursed his lips.
“Can I be honest? I’d feel better if I was at home.” he grumbled, rubbing his eye with the palm of his hand. “Where… where are my Pokemon?” he asked, clearing his throat. The nurse and her Blissey went in different directions- the nurse returned with his Pokeball belt, and the Blissey returned with a cup. She offered it to him, and he accepted, taking a look inside. Water. He gulped it down greedily, like he’d never had it in his life, nearly choking on it. But, it tasted brilliant. Even if it was only water. He set the cup down, reaching for his belt. He didn’t want to let Charizard out yet- he wouldn’t like the hospital setting. It just felt better having it near him, almost safer in a way. He glanced toward the window, and almost immediately, the Blissey waddled over and opened the curtains. It was still pitch black outside… shit. He put a hand over his face, groaning.
“Fuck- Leon!” he moved his hand away when he heard that voice-
“Oh, Raihan.” he whispered, and almost immediately he was swamped in a hug. He wrapped his arms carefully around Raihan, shoving his face into the crook of his neck and breathing in deep. The smell of Raihan’s 3 in 1 body wash, shampoo and conditioner that Piers always complained about flooded his senses, and almost instantly he was calmed. He felt safe- wait, no. Something was missing. Some one was missing.
“Where’s Piersy? Did- did they not want to come?” he questioned, leaning back from the hug. He knew hospital settings made Piers uncomfortable. He didn’t know why, per se, but it wasn’t his business to know. Hopefully, Piers would tell them the answer to that question later…
“He wanted to stay back at the office. Said he wanted to look around.” Raihan answered, and immediately, Leon’s stomach twisted. He felt like throwing up all over again- wait, no, that wasn’t just a feeling- and just in time, the Blissey handed him a trashcan.
He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, leaving the trashcan on the floor for the Blissey to take. He took another sip of his water with a quiet groan, leaning into Raihan, who had now moved to the left side of Leon’s bed.
“So- did they tell you what’s wrong with you?” Raihan muttered. He started doing that thing that Leon liked- messing and playing around with his fingers while they talked.
“No… just woke up a few minutes ago.” he explained, and Raihan made an ‘ohhh’ sound. They sat in silence for a moment or two, then Raihan cleared his throat. Leon met his eyes.
“Listen, Lee. ‘Fore anything else happens- is there anything you need to get off of your chest? Anything?” he mumbled, voice low. Thankfully, the nurse and Blissey had taken their leave for now. He took a minute, brow furrowing.
“Um- no..? Leon said with a light laugh, shaking his head. He shifted slightly in bed, Raihan’s suspicious eyes on him making him a little nervous. “Wh-Why do you ask?” he returned with a question, and Raihan took a glance at his phone for a moment. He furrowed his brow, and almost out of habit, Leon moved to try and get a look. But he realised what he was doing, and sat back down, folding his fingers together. Raihan made a face at his phone screen.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, and Raihan leaned over, giving him a kiss on the forehead. “Nothin’. Just thinking about how we’re gonna get out of here- no doubt the news channels’re gonna eat this up.” he sighed, and Leon felt sick again. He didn’t even think about the media fallout. Once they caught wind that the current chairman, former champion was in the hospital, they wouldn’t even be able to leave without flashing lights in their faces and shouts of ‘look this way!’, probing questions that got way too personal too fast. The thought made him suck in a breath, but of course, he looked to help his partner.
“I’m sure it’ll be fine. Charizard can help, so can Duraludon. Maybe Obstagoon, too. I-It’ll be okay.” he muttered, and reached out for his belt. He absently ran a hand over Charizard’s pokeball. Everything would be okay.
After a few more moments of comfortable silence, Leon’s expression suddenly brightened. He saw the familiar mop of black and white hair, he could recognize it anywhere. That permanent scowl could brighten up his whole day, and he wasn’t kidding. Raihan glanced up from where he was looking at his phone, and pursed his lips. He glanced between the two, and it seemed as if they were having some sort of telepathic conversation, something that Leon wasn’t allowed to be in on. He gave Raihan’s hand a squeeze out of sheer habit, something of a nervous tick he’d developed ever since they’d grown more comfortable together. It just felt reassuring to know either one of his partners were there for him. They were his stability, his rock.
Speaking of, Piers entered the room, looking at Leon with eyes that made Leon feel sick again. He looked so… worried about him. So concerned for his wellbeing, so… so…
He dry heaved into the trashcan.
Piers took a seat on the bed, thankfully pulling back his hair again. Leon panted into the trashcan, groaning and leaning against his partner.
“If y’ didn’t want to see me, y’ could’ve just said so.” Piers murmured in a hopefully joking tone, and Leon chuckled a little, setting the trashcan down again and taking a slow, steady sip of water. It was relief for his aching throat, and hopefully would soon be relief for his pounding headache. He noticed the look on Piers’s face- of course he did. They looked… conflicted. Were they mad? They seemed mad. Their lips were pursed as they looked at him, brow knitted together in a way that Leon quickly realized was frustration. They opened their mouth, ready to speak- there was a gentle knock at the door before he could. Leon looked over, the door opening to reveal a doctor as he did.
“Hello, how’s everyone doing today?” She asked.
“Fine.” Piers muttered, his tone of voice making Leon’s anxiety hike. He cleared his throat, sitting up carefully in the bed. Piers had moved to go sit by Raihan, their brow furrowed and lips pursed in a thin line. Raihan had an arm around him, one hand absently messing with a strand of hair, twirling it around his fingers. Leon wanted so badly to sit between them- not to break them up, of course, but to just… be with them. Be surrounded by them, comforted by them.
“My name is Dr. Nguyen, I’ll be taking care of you today. I’m just going to ask you a few questions so we can get to the bottom of this, okay?”
“Yeah, sounds good.” he muttered.
“When was the last time you slept?”
“Uh- last night.”
“Alright, and how long did you sleep for?” oh man, he couldn’t actually remember. When did he get home last night? One, one thirty in the morning? And he got up at six to get to work today, so five- ish hours? He couldn’t lie his way out of this question, Piers and Raihan would definitely call his bluff.
“Erm- five hours, just about.” he mumbled, watching as she nodded and wrote something down on her clipboard. He swallowed nervously.
“What did you have to eat last?” well, he remembered at about four he had some sushi from the cafeteria, that was pretty good… did the sushi make him sick? No, the chefs were pretty reliable. They wouldn’t serve him anything that was bad. Four was too early to have dinner- six would be better.
“I had some sushi in the cafeteria, it was maybe… six o’clock?” he said, and the doctor nodded.
“And when did you last have anything to drink?” oh, that one was easy.
“Ah- I had a Hydreigon energy at… two, maybe? I can’t really remember what flavor it was. Though- that’s probably not important, in the grand scheme of things-” he laughed to himself, but quickly stopped when he realized he was the only one laughing. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Piers take Raihan’s hand.
“And how many of those did you have? Do you remember?” The Doctor asked, and this question made Leon think for a moment.
Well- he had one when he had that sushi, then a few hours passed, it might’ve been about eight when he got the next one. Then he started drinking a lot more, it really just blended together...
“I-I don’t actually think I know. About-”
“Seven. The full size ones.” Piers interrupted, and Leon’s eyes widened. He had seven of those? It didn’t seem like seven, there- there was no way. Piers had to have miscounted. Doctor Nguyen quirked her brow, looking back towards Leon.
“If that’s true, Leon, that would certainly explain a few things.” She muttered, writing a few more things down on her board before looking up at Leon. “Is it?”
“Y-Yes. It is.” he muttered, voice full of shame. He couldn’t meet the doctor’s eyes, instead looking down at his hands. He lifted up one to bite on his nails, bouncing his leg under the sheets. He wasn’t really paying attention to her when she spoke, and he felt bad for it- but his mind was so cluttered, so many thoughts were going through his head all at once that he couldn’t hope to focus on anything else. Two words did catch his attention, however.
“ Caffeine overdose. ”
He looked up at her at that, swallowing thickly.
“ O-Overdose? ” he repeated, and she nodded.
“In the moments before you met up with your partners- tell me what happened.”
“I… I was finishing up my work, and…” he didn’t want to say exactly what happened- that would only make his partners worry about him. “I… I hallucinated. I think. I saw things. I was really hot and sweaty, and- and I was throwing up. I don’t remember much else.” he admitted with a slight purse of his lips, looking down at his hands again.
“Well- the only thing that I can really prescribe for that is less caffeine. Stop pushing yourself as hard, get adequate amounts of sleep and hydrate well. I hate to say it, but it’s obvious you haven’t been doing any of those things.” she muttered, and he felt his stomach drop.
“I-It is?”
“It is.” Piers and Raihan said in unison, Raihan giving a slight snort afterwards.
“Well- I’ll leave you to get rest. It’s late, after all. We’ll be keeping a close eye on you. I’m assuming your friends are going to stay with you?” she muttered, and Raihan nodded.
“Yes ma’am.”
And with that, she left.
He looked over at Piers, opening his mouth to speak- but he didn’t really know what he could say that would make everything better. Piers was mad at him, he could see it in his face- they were so mad. He couldn’t hold eye contact with him, not after what he did to himself.
“Lee. Look at me.” Piers muttered, and Leon begrudgingly listened, looking up and meeting his partner’s disappointed look. “Why’re you doin’ this to yourself?” they asked him, and he pursed his lips.
“I- I just want to do a good job. I-I want to help people.” he said quietly. “Rose… he put so much aside, focused his entire being on this energy crisis. I-I have so much to do, so much to figure out. I can’t take any breaks.” he explained hoarsely, almost getting frustrated with himself at the mere mention of the scenario he was in. Raihan narrowed his eyes lightly.
“Leon- you can’t help anyone else if you’re overdosing on caffeine. You need to take breaks, take care of yourself. You’ve been basically a zombie every time we’ve seen you.” he scoffed quietly, crossing his arms over his chest and leaning back in his chair.
“He’s right, you know.” Piers grumbled, his narrowed eyes making Leon’s face flush in embarrassment. Piers got up, moving to the other side of Leon’s bed and taking a seat on the bed. “I’m not… mad at you. You jus’ want to help people. That ain’t a bad thing. But it becomes a bad thing when ya don’t take care of yerself. Hear me?” he muttered, reaching out and putting a hand on Leon’s cheek. Leon leaned into the touch, letting out a breath he didn’t know he was holding.
“Y-Yeah. Think so.” he mumbled. Raihan’s arm slid around his shoulders.
“You’re takin a break, hope you know that.” he snorted, and Leon’s eyes shot open.
“Wait- what? I-I can’t take a break, I’ve still got to-”
A stern look from Piers and Raihan combined shut Leon up quickly.
“I-I guess I could take a break.”