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Raihan is prepared for a lot of things. It’s just how he prefers to operate. It’s why he’s the strongest gym leader in Galar – why so many people say he could easily be champion if only he moves to another region. Raihan himself thinks they give Galar too much credit, or those other regions not enough, but he doesn’t mind the thought. Not at all. After all, he’s proud of what he is. Proud of his strength, proud of his plans, his tactics, most of all his pokémon. He even agrees that he can be champion somewhere else if he wants to. He can also be champion here, even though Leon seems like such an insurmountable obstacle and at least those other champions don’t boast all the time about being undefeated.
Maybe it would be easier somewhere else. Maybe not. If any of this were ever about the championship, maybe he would skip town. Go to Kalos, or Hoenn – it’d be nice to check out old Kabu’s hometown, beat the champion, wear the title for himself like a title makes anyone anything. If this were ever about the championship, maybe he would. Maybe if he were still so young that he thought it was about the championship, he would, but by the time he got the strength to make it matter, he’d already long figured out what’s really important.
Raihan survives by being prepared. He was a boy scout in his time. Always be prepared, and all that. Some opponents like to try to turn his tactics against him. Raihan has a plan for hail just like a plan for a sandstorm. A lot of opponents use almost exclusively types he’s weak too. Ice, Dragon, Fairy, Opal and Melony still smirk wickedly at him when no one else is looking. Raihan has surely gained a healthy fear of women since becoming a gym leader, but typing hasn’t been Raihan’s downfall in battle in a long time. He’s even one of very few gym leaders to use a mixed-type team, despite his reputation (and adoration for) dragon types. A lot of opponents come in expecting to trip him up with something surprising, but even though Raihan hasn’t been doing this nearly as long as some of the others, he’s seen enough that few gym challengers ever truly take him off guard. Even then, Raihan’s got a plan in place.
So, really, it’s not all that earth-shattering for Raihan when that kid, Gloria, beats Leon in what will surely become known as the battle of the century. Or, decade, at least. Or, maybe that whole Eternatus business has it beat out and it’s just the battle of the week. Whatever way, except in the very literal sense, the ground doesn’t shake from Leon’s loss. The world doesn’t end (though it was close for a moment there). Raihan has a plan for this.
He just… never honestly thought he’d need it.
The thing is, a gym leader’s whole job is to boot challengers out of the competition. To thin the herd, as it were. No gym leader is so weak as to legitimately lose to a couple of kids with only their barely-trained starter pokémon. Heck, that one time Milo really went for it, Raihan lost to him. No, they use purposefully weaker teams and careful judgement to determine who’s strong enough to get past them. For a leader with a plan, like Raihan, most of his losses are thrown. That’s why it’s always him fighting Leon in the finals. That’s why it’s been that way for all these years, even though more than a few challengers have gotten all their gym badges since Raihan took over. Raihan lets them win in the gym, because they deserve it, and deserve their time in the spotlight at Wyndon, and they’ve surpassed the carefully curated strength threshold he’s told challengers should have with all eight badges, and then he flattens them in the tournament because he’s the one that’s going to be the next champion.
It is, quite literally, Raihan’s job to dash the dreams of challengers wanting to get to the champion. In a lot of ways, even though he has so many fewer challengers than the other leaders, he’s the most important roadblock for them, if not the most difficult. He determines how many challengers make it to the league. He decides if there’s enough skill for a whole tournament before the gym leaders get involved, or if there’s barely four challengers left for the final stage at Wyndon. The league would probably get upset with him if he just roadblocked all but one – he’s considered it before – or even worse all the challengers. Interest in the challenge would wane if he stops too many from participating. Still, he has to keep enough out to keep the league reasonable.
Eight, sixteen on a good year. Raihan likes to keep the number derivative, so they don’t have to finagle pairings for the tournament. Sixteen isn’t unreasonable, but by the time Raihan has a say it’s usually decided for him unless he wants to go ahead and let, like, ten through. At that point Raihan says just knock the two worst out and save the trouble at Wyndon. Eight is pretty standard. Most years, Raihan knows who they are by the time they reach Melony. Or, Gordie, now. Raihan knew Gloria would get in by the time she beat Kabu. Her pals, too. Hop (of course Leon’s brother is a powerhouse), Marnie (Raihan would be disappointed with any less from Piers’ sister), Victor (distracted, Raihan notes in his match with Nessa, like his passion is somewhere else, but so overwhelmingly powerful it’s no wonder he makes it to the end), even that Bede kid that Opal took a shine to (Opal likes him… nothing more really needs to be said).
Raihan hasn’t seen a year like this since his own (first) challenge. It’s a good year. Too good, apparently, because Gloria takes Leon’s crown and Raihan is left with a plan he never planned on using. Because it’s his job to beat challengers out of the competition, and because it’s also his job to make sure those beaten challengers don’t lose heart.
Well, technically, that’s not his job. Nothing in his contract says he has to comfort the losers. But Leon would be ever so cross with him if he crushes those kids so bad they give up on pokémon training. It’s antithetical to Leon’s whole dream. And besides, Raihan himself would feel bad. He certainly doesn’t envy Milo’s job. Couldn’t do it nearly as well, either. Only that softie can weed out the newest of the new and not hurt anyone in the process.
Raihan has a plan. He always does. He likes cheering up challengers. He likes that spark in their eyes when they find their vigor again. They always come back stronger than they left and it’s inspiring to Raihan in a way he has never quite been able to capture in words. Watching Hop this year has been a trip and a half, and not just because he’s Leon’s brother. Hop found his way without Raihan intervening, but many more haven’t. There’s a post, sometimes, on Raihan’s accounts. It’s planned. Different every time, personalized, because Raihan is watching every challenger from Milo’s gym to his own, but not overtly so because a guy has to have some mystique and he’d be teased relentlessly if the others found out, but it’s planned and always serves the same purpose. Sometimes, if he’s feeling generous, he posts about specific challengers just when they need it the most. Let them know they’ve caught the eye of the big wig. Gym eight. Strongest gym leader, and he sees them and thinks they’re doing great.
But when Raihan himself beats down a challenger, things are a bit different. A hand offered by the one who pushed you down isn’t kind. Raihan is only condescending to them if he tries that. But there’s no one bigger than him except the champion, and sometimes being told how strong you are by people who have lost to you isn’t really all that inspiring. They don’t understand just how much gym leaders hold back. Especially the earliest ones. Raihan thinks they’re probably more skilled than even he is. Not more powerful, if battle is the judge, but certainly more skilled to fight at a level so far below their own. Young challengers, most just teenagers, some still younger, just don’t understand that yet. They don’t get that Raihan knows how it feels to be beaten down and out of the running for his goal – the same goal they have. They don’t think about Raihan’s ten years of straight losses. They don’t think about how Raihan has been doing this since longer than the youngest of them have been alive (and wow when he realizes that’s starting now, he feels old).
They’re kids, and it’s Raihan’s whole job to tell them no when their whole job is to kick and scream and fight and make him tell them yes. It’s a hard job, but that’s why he took it. He has a plan for it, he knows how to do it, and he’s strong enough to pull it off. If not him, then it’d be someone else. Maybe they’d be worse. Maybe better. If Raihan wants to make it better, though, then it has to be his, because he’s the only one he can make better.
Leon… is not a kid anymore. But the last time he lost a battle, he was. Raihan has a plan for this. He’s had a plan since Leon beat him in the league ten years ago and then went on to beat the champion. He always knew it was possible, so he planned because planning is what he does, but he never thought he’d need this plan.
Maybe that’s why he hesitates so much. In fact, maybe that’s why he still hasn’t beaten the undefeated champion. Once-defeated doesn’t quite have the same ring. Maybe the reason Victor lost to Gloria is why Raihan lost to Leon. He plans for the win but doesn’t expect to ever actually need the plan.
That’s a maybe, but this plan… this is beyond that. If Raihan wasn’t such a creature of habit, this plan would probably have never been made in the first place. He plans for Leon to lose the championship; he just plans that Leon will lose to him. Even if, maybe, he doesn’t really expect it.
Raihan can’t comfort someone he beats down. Milo may have the personality for that, but not Raihan. Raihan honestly can’t figure out how that farm boy does it. That’s why he never truly thought he’d be in any place to comfort Leon. Maybe he never thought Leon would need it. Even now, he’s not quite sure. Leon smiles for the camera – a replay of that very triumphant moment is on the telly this very moment – but even he has to take a moment. A dip of the brim of his hat, hiding in a very un-Leon-like way from the roaring crowd he loves so much. Trembling. Maybe that’s all he needed. Maybe Raihan shouldn’t be here at all.
But Raihan plans for everything, and no matter how surprised he is or how reluctant he is, Leon is, above all, a friend. He hopes. Raihan has a plan, so how can he possibly turn away if there’s even a chance that plan is necessary?
Leon’s gone quiet long enough for sweet Sonia to call Raihan up to complain. It’s not unusual, per se. The two have complained to each other about Leon ignoring them more than their fair share of times, but even though the chat is business as usual Raihan can hear the frown on Sonia’s lips. She’s casual for the sake of it, but both of them know they’re concerned, even though both of them are trying very hard not to be. What other choice does Raihan really have but to go bother his friend? Everyone else is too polite or too shy or not paying attention enough or just not close enough to him to do so.
Sometimes Raihan wonders about that last one himself. How does one get close to someone so blindingly high above them? Raihan’s spent ten years trying. Ten years planning. Leon seems to like him well enough as a rival, but sometimes Raihan doubts a man like Leon can have anything but rivals. His pedestal is only big enough for one person, after all. Or, maybe that’s unfair. To Leon, to Raihan, maybe both. Today, Raihan doubts a lot of things. Most especially, his plan.
And what’s he doing now? Standing outside Leon’s door like an absolute loon as if walking away is an option. Raihan groans loudly and runs his hands down his face with a sigh. Maybe, maybe, maybe. It’s not like him to be this way. Raihan isn’t so morose as this. He doesn’t treat losses, even the biggest loss in a decade, like a silly teenager scared to confess to his crush. He’s not even the one who lost – he has no business getting so serious about it. Well, he did lose, but he’s hardly broken up about that. So why is it that knocking on that door is so scary to him?
He’s Raihan. He has a plan. But having a plan doesn’t always mean he knows what to do. Leon hasn’t lost a battle since the two of them were young and stupid and chasing down pokémon and adventures far too dangerous for them. Why should Raihan know what to do?
Except that he’s a gym leader, and losses are his actual job. He sees it on so many faces every year and he’s responsible for the dousing and reignition of those fires so many times over that he can’t even recall every one of them. Except that he’s known Leon, insofar as anyone can know the undefeated champ, for half their lives and he’s had the distinct pleasure of losing to him for just as long.
Nessa’s known him just as long. Maybe she should be doing this. She’s gym two, she’s better at this than Raihan is. Milo’s known him just about the same amount of time, too, so maybe he’s actually the best option. Or Melony. Or Sonia. Sonia’s known Leon since diapers. Sonia’s known Leon even before Champion Leon.
“Oh,” Raihan groans to himself, “stop waffling and get on with it, you coward.”
He’s an adult. He’s not a dumb kid anymore. And for better or for worse, he’s here. He hopes Leon… well, he just wants Leon to know that. So, he knocks on the door.
As he waits for a response, wondering if he wants one at all, Raihan tries, desperately, to come up with another plan. He has one, of course, but now that he’s here and it’s real and relevant and that damn door has already been knocked it seems kind of… lackluster. Well, it was a plan plotted up by a – sheesh, how old even was he back then? Fourteen? Fifteen? Was he so much like he is now even back at ten? All he really knows is he hasn’t dusted up this plan in too long. Again, he hadn’t thought he’d need it.
It all seems so long ago. Raihan closes his eyes, the last thing in his vision the gently drifting, scattered clouds over Wyndon. Feels to him like there was never a time Leon wasn’t the champion. He remembers it clear as day, he’d never forget the start of his journey or the champion he was so determined to best at the time, nor the time, much later, when he had the honor of beating that same old champion in an exhibition match. And yet, Leon being the champion feels so much a natural thing like the sky being blue or the breeze today being nice.
He wonders if Leon has felt the breeze today yet.
The door rattles more than Raihan supposes it should, and it swings open as Raihan snaps back to attention. “Raihan?”
There he is. Pretty golden eyes a bit tarnished, Raihan thinks, and luxurious hair a tad greasy, maybe. Hard to tell without feeling it. Raihan is not going to feel it. “Hey there, Lee.”
Raihan tries not to flinch at the hesitation in his voice. Lee? Since when does he call Leon Lee? But he’s halfway through his greeting and realizes calling him “champ” is probably a bad idea and… panics. What a great start he’s off to.
Leon doesn’t seem to mind, at least. Maybe he doesn’t even notice. Maybe he does, and what Raihan sees is the same face the rest of Galar does. The door opens a little further and Leon stands straighter, smiling in the doorway. “What a surprise!” He exclaims. “I wasn’t expecting you today! How’re you doing?”
“Just dandy, dandelion.” Okay. Maybe he really should just call Sonia to do this, instead. He’s not entirely sure he succeeds in hiding his cringe at the words that just escaped his own lips. Should he say more and try to cover up whatever the heck that was, or should he just shut up and hope he doesn’t say something else so phenomenally stupid?
Leon responds with an amused snort before he can decide. “Well, come in.” He says, stepping out of the way. “So, to what do I owe the pleasure of having Hammerlocke’s esteemed gym leader pay me a house call?”
Raihan doesn’t quite understand why that sounds so odd. It’s not like they haven’t joked about their titles before. But regardless he slips past Leon into the house and finds his way directly to the kitchen. He knows it’s inappropriate of him, but it’s the first thing he thinks to do. Because his plan is to make sure Leon is okay, and then to make sure Leon has a champion time, and the first step of that is making sure the man is actually feeding himself. It feels like such an adult thing to do, to open the fridge just to make sure there’s produce (fresh) and a big jug of filtered water that isn’t untouched.
Because it’s such a childish thing to do, to fall so far from one defeat as to neglect himself. Something about this situation is making Raihan feel so much like a child again.
But Leon isn’t doing that. His fridge is reasonably stocked for someone halfway through the week who might eat out a few times before he gets more groceries. Raihan checks the cabinets, too, just to be sure.
“Raihan? What’re you looking for? Or are you just raiding my kitchen?”
Raihan knows it’s inappropriate, what he’s doing. Leon is a full-grown adult. He can take care of himself. He can neglect himself, too, if he really wants to. Raihan isn’t in any position to criticize him. Or to snoop through his pantry like he expects an adult to stop eating because of a single lost battle.
He just… doesn’t know what else to do. Using his words is clearly, for once, not helping. At least the torn-open, rolled up bags and half-empty spice bottles and squeaky-clean pans precariously perched atop each other in a cabinet too small for the lot of them puts Raihan’s heart at ease. At least the taut muscles and easy spring he spies when Leon approaches him calms him a little.
Why is he even this nervous? This isn’t like him. Nothing about this situation should be unnerving him this badly. He shouldn’t be standing here, a grown adult, with his grown adult rival he’s concerned about looking at him with concern because he barges in feeling like a child trying to act like an adult because he’s afraid that a grown adult can’t take care of himself. It’s ridiculous.
“Nothing in particular.” Raihan says, snatching a fruit off the island. “Just looking.” He’s honest, but he waves the fruit like a liar and takes a bite out of it and makes a show of showing his teeth like he’s cheeky and not unreasonably panicked for a friend who’s shown no signs of needing his help.
Leon smirks and shakes his head and it’s so normal that Raihan forgets for a moment that he’s not the champion anymore. “Not that I don’t love seeing you, Raihan,” Leon starts and Raihan jolts and he hates it, “but are you going to tell me what you’re doing here?”
If Raihan were ten years younger and dumber he might not. Or he would, because that him is also ten years dumber about appropriate social conduct and probably would have been too naïve to even realize his problem isn’t Leon’s at all. But for heaven’s sake he’s a full-grown adult more than capable of having a serious conversation with his rival. He’s stalled quite enough, and if he doesn’t get it together, Leon will figure out he’s being an absolute weenie about a loss that isn’t even his and if Leon ever lets him hear the end of it Sonia will tell Nessa who will definitely never let him hear the end of it.
“Sonia mentioned you haven’t called in a while.” He says, jumping over the sofa to sit in it, because it’s better to get to the point. “We haven’t talked much, either.” He adds, because he doesn’t want Leon to think he’s just Sonia’s messenger boy.
“Aw.” Leon coos teasingly. “Did you miss me?”
Raihan doesn’t know how to respond to that. Maybe with banter. Maybe if he wasn’t in a state right now, he’d have banter to give. Instead he’s blank. He just looks up to Leon, leaning over the back of the sofa, a little too close because he’s not so far away on that pedestal anymore and Raihan isn’t sure what to do yet with this new perspective on his rival. Friend. Can the once-defeated Leon have friends? Or is he still on a bit too narrow of a stand? “Maybe I did.” Raihan says. “Don’t pretend you didn’t miss me.”
Leon gasps and it’s playful and it’s banter like when they were kids and maybe when they were adults, too. “You got me. How could I not miss my greatest rival? Every moment we’re apart I’m simply longing to see you again.”
He’s so theatrical. Raihan always has loved that. He’s not exactly not a showman himself, after all. Still, Leon needs to stop playing Raihan’s heart this way. Is there such a thing as a “rival zone”? What zone exactly does Raihan want to be in?
At least he knows why he feels like such a kid now. Last time Raihan saw Leon with any more zones than the rival zone was when they were kids. Or maybe all that is just in Raihan’s head and Leon’s never seen it that way from the start. And here Raihan was worried about Leon taking the loss childishly. This is a bit of a hit to his dignity. At least Sonia and Nessa won’t know to tease him about it.
“You okay, Raihan?”
Raihan flinches when Leon jumps to the other side of the couch. Their legs are pressed together and Raihan isn’t sure anymore who’s here to comfort who. “Me?” Raihan scoffs playfully. “Are you okay? Seriously, mate, we know you disappear sometimes, but this is right after… we got worried.”
Leon is quiet for a while, and his tarnished golden eyes glint to reflect dull hardwood flooring. He doesn’t answer, though his silence and looking at the floor and crinkle in his brow and wringing of his cap and… well, there’s a lot that answers for him. Raihan is busy trying to figure out what to do next, and just about has a plan, before Leon apparently decides he’s a grown adult too and he may as well just out and say it. “You know what’s weird?” He asks, innocuously, like they’re friends and this is normal and everything about this hasn’t changed just a couple weeks ago. Maybe it hasn’t. “I’m not sure I remember how not to smile.” Leon leans back and covers his face with his cap, but his exasperated smile peeks out anyway. “Am I allowed to frown now? Am I allowed to…” He sighs. “I don’t know. I don’t know what I want to do, I just want to know if I can, you know? I’ve been champion all my adult life. I grew up being that. I never learned how to not be that. So now… I’m not, like, upset about losing or anything. I don’t think so, anyway. I’m just… a bit lost.”
Oh. That makes sense. Honestly, that’s how Raihan feels, too. It must be worse for Leon. With Raihan, it’s this one relationship. With Leon, it’s his whole life. Raihan feels kind of dumb that Leon puts it into words so easily while he’s over here brooding. “I get it.” Raihan says, because he does, even if just a little. “But, hey, it’s not like being lost is any new thing, right? What do you usually do when you get lost?”
For a moment, Leon looks at him so strangely that Raihan thinks he must have said the wrong thing. It is kind of stupid, what just came out of his mouth, now that he thinks about it. As if either of them mean lost in the sense Leon faces every Tuesday on the way to the supermarket. As if this feeling is so ordinary. Maybe it is. Raihan doesn’t know. He knows it sure feels stupid now.
But then Leon barks, and he’s laughing, raucously, like Raihan is a comedian, even though he kind of feels like a joke with Leon laughing at him like this. He’s manhandled when Leon throws his arm over his shoulders like he’s physically dragging Raihan into whatever he finds so funny. Raihan laughs a little, anyway. Leon’s laughter is pretty infectious, though Raihan knows his own laughter is more self-conscious.
“I know what I want to do now.” Leon says with impressive finality. He’s already jumped to his feet.
“Oh?” Raihan asks, wincing when Leon slaps his own face a bit rougher than he needs to for a pep-up.
“Yeah.” Leon turns to him, grinning, and Raihan smiles back. “I want to go home.”
“Oh?” Raihan asks again. He feels silly, because he feels like he should know, after so many years, what his rival-friend is thinking. But this man just continues to be an enigma. As ever.
“Yeah!” He chirps, as if that answers anything. “You’re coming with me!”
Raihan should probably protest. Postwick isn’t exactly close to Wyndon, or even Hammerlocke, and he’s just Leon’s rival, and now that Leon’s not the undefeated champion anymore he’s not totally sure he’s even that, and it’s not like he hasn’t met Leon’s mum, or grandmum, or grandad, or brother, or… well, it’s not like he doesn’t know the town and the people who know Leon, but he just feels like there should be a “but”. But he doesn’t bother protesting. There isn’t a “but”. Raihan just lets Leon pull him to his feet and says, “Okay,” because he doesn’t know what else to say.
Leon is a whirlwind like he always is, and Raihan is caught up in it so quickly that even with all his plans he finds himself somewhere he never planned for. First, they’re booking a flying taxi, then they’re knocking down Leon’s mum’s door, then they’re in Leon’s childhood room and Leon’s cradling a collection of hats like they’re his children, and then all of a sudden it’s the next day and Raihan has no idea why he’s even here, and it’s the day after that and Raihan’s plan is so off-script and he still has no idea if Leon is really okay or if he’s just pretending Raihan is a camera or if Raihan has never been much more than a camera to him. He’s at least aware of his rotom-phone doing what it does best. He probably looks terrible in those pictures. Not that this is something he’d post. Yet, anyway. At least he’ll be able to look at them later and maybe figure out what on earth is happening. Or maybe that’s just too much to ask when so much has changed, and a little confusion is good for all of them.
“I’m just glad I got to go to Hop’s, you know? I remember right before I set off on my journey, Sonia and I were battling and mum was cooking and Sonia beat me because I kept getting distracted by the smell.” Leon snickers, replacing his cap with another childhood one, and then stopping to adjust the snaps on the back. “Hop was just a baby at mine, and honestly I don’t think I really noticed him because I was so excited to start my challenge, but thinking back now I’m really glad he was there, even if he was too young to remember it. I got so busy after becoming champion that I barely ever got to come home for family barbecue after that.” He lays back dropping his adjusted cap on his face rather than head as he hits the pillows. “I really miss that, and now I’m not champion I can come whenever I want. And even better, you’re here, too!”
Leon sits up again suddenly, beaming so brightly Raihan isn’t sure he’s not a pokémon changing the weather. A Sunny Day is nothing compared to the luster of those pretty golden eyes and the gleam of his toothy, lopsided, endearing, imperfectly perfect grin.
And wow, Raihan is a little dazzled by that. That’s fair. He’s always been a little dazzled by Leon. “So, you had family barbecues before both of you set out? These are, like, special events, then?” Raihan probes because he can, and it’s like opening up Leon’s fridge but much more exciting because he’s relieved that Leon is ostensibly alright but now he’s also learning more about the man he’s known for half his life now. And maybe learning more about him makes him seem just a tiny bit more reachable, even if he isn’t on that tall, narrow pedestal anymore.
“Eh, sort of?” Leon throws his hands in the air in an undignified shrug. “It’s special then, and it’s special because it’s family, but really mum has them all the time just whenever she feels like it.”
Raihan nods and can’t help but probe more. “And it’s alright to bring me to a family barbecue?”
Leon laughs and laughs and laughs and Raihan doesn’t know whether to be flattered or offended but then Leon wipes the corners of his pretty golden eyes and says, “Oh, it’s never been strictly family. Sonia came all the time, and her grandma, too. Practically all of Postwick is invited, and a fair few from Wedgehurst, too, if they can make it. Besides, you’re my best friend. You’re practically family anyway.”
Oh. Oh. Wow. That really hurts, deep in Raihan’s chest, in the best way Raihan has ever felt pain in his life. “Best friend” Leon calls him. “Practically family.” Raihan can’t breathe all of a sudden because he’s been such a stupid kid worrying about what this untouchable rival is to him, what he is to Leon, and all along Leon hasn’t even thought twice about that. While Raihan thought Leon’s loss turns their relationship upside down, Leon thought their relationship was one of the constants and that… that makes Raihan so damn happy.
“Wha- hey, Raihan?!” Leon sounds alarmed, and Raihan knows it’s because he’s doing something stupid. Maybe not a bad stupid. “Hey! What’s wrong? Did I say something? Did I do something? Oh, man, please don’t-”
“Damn it, man, you can’t just say things like that!” Raihan exclaims, unthinking, with no plan as to where this is going to go. He must be red as a freaking tamato berry or worse and he’s a grown man crying in his best friend’s childhood bedroom like a freaking weenie because that friend said something stupid and sappy like that they’re best friends and family and Raihan grabs Leon and pulls him too close to watch his stupid, embarrassing display.
“What? What’d I say? Raihan?”
Raihan laughs. “I love you too, Lee.”
“I- wha-? L-love? I mean, I- I do lo- I mean- wait- I-”
“Shut up and hug me back, man, this is getting awkward.”
There’s a lot more hesitation on Leon’s part, but eventually his shock and confusion morphs into laughter, and Raihan laughs along too because it’s funny just how ridiculous he’s been, how ridiculous they both are, really, and Raihan feels strong arms wrap around him and he knows they’ll both be fine and together and that Leon stepping down from that pedestal Raihan’s got a crick in his neck from looking up at doesn’t mean he won’t see Leon at all and that actually it’s nice to see him from the same level for once in so, so long in all his beautiful, beautiful detail. It’s nice to be able to finally touch him again. Raihan had forgotten what this feels like. And maybe this whole once-defeated thing is alright, even if it doesn’t really roll of the tongue like Leon’s old title.
“Boys!” Raihan jumps when Leon’s mum calls out to them, and he separates from Leon like he’s a teenager caught in his first kiss. But she’s not even in the room, she’s calling from downstairs, so only Leon sees the ugly, happy tears Raihan is quick to wipe away. “Come help me set up the barbecue!”
Raihan half expects nosy, troublesome little brothers to barge in and rat him out but he remembers Hop is with Sonia in Wedgehurst and won’t be by until the barbecue is in full swing and he laughs a little in relief that this embarrassing little moment of his is only seen by the only person he doesn’t really mind seeing it. Hop would probably be alright. He’s a cool kid. But Raihan is still Raihan. Gym eight. The man with a plan. Dragon master. He has an image and he can’t let some kid ruin that because he’s a weenie sometimes, too.
“Coming!” Leon yells, before waiting expectantly, patiently, for Raihan to move first.
Raihan makes sure he’s as put-together as he can be and then stands and offers his hand to pull Leon to his feet, too. They race down the stairs like kids and argue over who helps Leon’s mum the most and bicker over whose barbecue tastes better (even though they both know Leon’s mum wins that one) and greet Hop and Sonia and old Professor Magnolia like old friends and like family and it’s more than Raihan expects. More than he can ask for.
And with great food and greater company, Raihan still knows a lot of things are changing around him. New champion, old champion, there’ll need to be a new head of the league before next season, too, with Rose gone. He knows a lot of things are staying the same, too. Old champion, he’ll have to touch up his team for gym eight standards and touch up more for the new champion (and the old champion). He’s got his friends, he’s got his pokémon, he’s got Leon, he’s got the world.
For a while, he felt a bit out of his depth, but now Raihan is prepared. He’s ready, and he’s looking forward to what comes next.