Chapter Text
Leon’s fingers were shaking when he grabbed another Pokedollar, the familiar LED glow of the vending machine making him squint. He turned off most of the lights in his office, the white light giving him a headache. He only had his desk lamp on so he could see, which was a nice warm hue that didn’t hurt his eyes as much. His fingers fumbled with the money, trying to flip it over so the machine would accept it. Thankfully, it did, and he pressed ‘A6’, the motion almost familiar to him. Out came a can of Hydreigon Energy- a popular energy drink he was quite fond of- which he snatched up greedily. He headed down the hall, struggling to open the can- his eyes narrowed, he pursed his lips and finally, the tab pierced through. He hurried down the hall, making a list in his head of the things he had to do. The very important, chairman-y things that he definitely could name off of the top of his head without looking at his whiteboard. He sighed quietly- he couldn’t remember. His head was a little fuzzy, he had done a lot of work recently- but that was fine. He was fine- there was just so much work to be done. Since Rose’s firing, he was now chairman, which was great! He enjoyed it quite a lot! He was very thankful for this opportunity, and he honestly thought he couldn’t be a better fit for the job. He had everything under control, he- he didn’t need help, it was just- it was a little overwhelming at first, that was all. He got a handle on everything rather quickly, actually!
When he first entered Rose’s office, it was a bloody mess- papers stacked as high as the ceiling, filing cabinets stuffed full, a chalkboard meant for writing ideas down absolutely covered in nonsensical drabble- it seemed he was entirely enveloped in paranoia due to the nonexistent ‘energy crisis’. It completely enveloped the man, and Leon couldn’t help but worry about his state of mind. Hopefully now, he was getting some form of help. Of course, Leon cleaned out the entire office by himself, and it now looked much better- but there were still stacks of forms he had to fill out that Rose completely ignored. Things like financial aid requests from Spikemuth, advertising opportunities that he of course agreed to, requests for new tourist attractions in Ballonlea, a new hatchery in the wild area for lost eggs- it was a mess. He sat down at his desk, pushing an empty can into the trash- for some odd reason, he twitched when he heard the can clink against all of the others. He didn’t let it distract him, he had work to do. He tipped a bit of the fizzy drink back, then set the can down.
He opened up his laptop again, squinting as the bright light hit his eyes. He pinched the bridge of his nose, reaching into the drawers of his desk and pulling out those fancy blue-light glasses Raihan bought for him. He felt a little bad for complaining about it so much, but then again- the glasses really did help. He looked at the screen, and just so happened to look at the time. It was two in the morning?
His eyes widened, and he slammed his laptop shut. He couldn’t believe it, he fucking forgot- he promised Raihan and Piers he’d be back by at least one thirty, and- and he forgot! He was such a scatterbrain, he’d become so enveloped in his work. He could see their faces right now, Piers’s tired eyes narrowing at him, Raihan’s lips turning into a very rare frown. It almost made him sick with guilt. He hurriedly shoved his laptop and a few papers into his bag, grabbing his energy drink and heading towards the doors. He took a look at his phone, and his heart dropped. He had so many missed calls from both Raihan and Piers, and so many texts. They were probably so worried- no, so angry. He didn’t have time to read them, too wrapped up in his thoughts to properly process their words. This had been a problem for way too long. He’d spend all of his time at the office, come home to their worried faces, kiss each of them and crash in bed. He could barely register anything at that point, but he did hear their worried whispers about him.
He hated it.
He didn’t want to make them feel bad, he hated being such a nuisance. It wasn’t his fault, just- everything was a little too much right now. Too many thoughts, too many things happening all at once. He could handle it just fine, he just needed a bit of time and space. But it was fine- he had dealt with this in the past, he knew what he was doing. It just- it required hard work, and perseverance, and plenty of energy. He paused for a moment, snapping out of his thoughts- he forgot to turn his desk lamp off. He sighed shakily, turning around and looking back at his desk.
“Leon.” he heard a familiar voice say, and he felt a lump form in his throat.
“R-Rose?” he croaked out, seeing the previous chairman sitting in his chair, feet up on the desk. His hands were folded over his stomach, piercing green eyes locked on Leon. “How- you’re supposed to be-”
“I’m very disappointed, Leon.” he said, and that made Leon feel like he was eleven all over again. Standing in front of Rose’s desk after a less than stellar match. Wait- no, no, Rose never did the scolding. He would just pat his back and say ‘maybe next time, okay?’. No, it was Oleana that did the scolding. As he thought this, Rose’s form shimmered, fading away like some sort of vision, like one a Mismagius would use. Now he saw Oleana standing beside the desk, her arms crossed over her chest. Leon backed up a step, feeling his breathing start to pick up. When did he get so out of breath? He hadn’t moved anywhere, he was just frozen in place. He stared up at Oleana, and she stared back- when did she get that tall, was she always that tall? He squeezed his eyes shut, putting a hand against his forehead. What was happening to him, why did he feel like this? His head felt light, and he was- holy shit he was so sweaty . It was like he had a fever, or something. He opened his eyes, and Oleana was gone. There was someone standing there, but he couldn’t quite make out their face. They were shifting rapidly, faces and bodies he thought he recognized, but as soon as he put a name to a face they morphed again. They were Nessa, then they were Kabu, then they were Hop. Their form was fuzzy, almost muffled in a sense. He blinked hard once more, and they were gone, small wisps of shadow in their place.
He had to get out of here.
He hurried to the elevator, shaking fingers pressing the ‘ground floor’ option. He tapped his foot anxiously, looking around as the numbers slowly ticked down. He blinked, seeing something out of the corner of his eye. Someone was here, someone was going to get him- No, no, it was just his reflection in the infinite mirror. Now that he was looking at himself- Arceus above, he looked horrible. His hair was up in a messy ponytail, it used to be nice and neat. His face was pale, and he had huge bags under his eyes. He touched his face slowly, eyes widening in horror when the skin he touched peeled away, revealing nothing underneath. He closed his eyes, cramming the palms of his hands into his eyes. He crouched down, a low, groaning noise coming from his throat. He inhaled deeply, trying to regulate his breathing, but it didn’t work. If anything, with the realization he was hyperventilating, it got worse. Everything felt light, but in the worst way possible. Now that he was focusing on his body, he registered a growing feeling in the pit of his stomach. He suddenly felt so sick , he felt like he could throw up. God, what was wrong with him?
It was probably just exhaustion, or something.
It was late, he was tired, that was it .
Yeah.
He just needed to get home and go to sleep. Eat something, maybe he could ask Piers to make some dirty curry fries- oh, his stomach was growling at the thought. Or- or was it bubbling? It didn’t matter. He would give himself a day off tomorrow, spend it with Raihan and Piers- it’d been a while since they were all together, ever since Leon became the new chairman. It was just a lot of ‘miss you’ texts and late night cuddles when everyone was too exhausted to think. Soft touches in the mornings, just before his alarm went off and he’d have to face the world without them. Little mumbles of ‘I love you’ when neither of them could hear him and respond. But= no, he couldn’t take a day off, more work would pile up… oh, he’d just work until it was done, and then take all the time he could off afterwards. He’d give himself two whole weeks off, go on plenty of dates with Raihan and Piers- they could go somewhere nice and sunny, like Alola. He could hear Piers’s complaining now- maybe Unova would be a better fit for him, or Kanto. Thinking about his partners made his head light- but as he did, his train of thought went to a dark place. What would they say when they saw him like this, disheveled and panicky and at his absolute worst .
He hurried out into the darkened lobby, gripping the strap of his laptop bag. Thankfully, no one was around to see him like this. He breathed a sigh of relief, pushing open the large glass doors-
“Lee!” he heard Raihan’s voice chime, and his entire body jerked in surprise. He looked up from the ground, taking a moment to smile when he saw his partners walking towards him. Oh man, he felt so lightheaded. He misstepped, almost falling but catching himself at the last minute.
“Arceus alive, Leon- ya look like shit.” he heard Piers say, which pulled a quiet laugh from Leon. He dug his fingers into the aluminum of his can to try and stop their shaking. He swallowed down a lump in his throat, trying to think of something to say. Something witty, something that would get the attention away from him. Raihan got there first.
“He’s right, Lee. You don’t look so good.” he muttered worriedly, which made Leon wince. That was the one thing he hated doing- he hated making others worry about him. He wanted to help people, make their day better. Not weigh them down with his own personal state. He quickly tried to remedy the situation, giving a big, (hopefully convincing) smile.
“I’m fine, I just spent a little too long at the office. It was just a long day. I feel better now that I can see you guys, though. I-I missed you.” he reassured, looking past the two of them for the Corvicab they took here. He just wanted to get home and lay down, he didn’t feel good enough to chat at the moment. That could come when they were all at home together. Piers raised an eyebrow at Leon, and Leon met his eye with a smile. “I’m okay. I promise.” he said, reaching out and taking Piers’s hand, folding their fingers together and running his thumb over their knuckle.
As if someone out there was playing a cruel, cruel trick on Leon, this was the moment he felt the absolute worst. He put a hand over his mouth as bile rose through his throat, and immediately ran to the grass, falling on his hands and knees and throwing up. A hand was placed on his back, which scared him a little, while another pulled his hair back as he upheaved the contents of his stomach. His head was light and heavy at the same time, he was sweating so bad, what was wrong with him?
“Fucking- Leon, what’s the matter?” Raihan asked, nearly shouting at this point. No, he wasn’t shouting, everything was just so loud.
“I-I don’t know .” Leon croaked out when he could breathe, and he noticed that he was crying, now. He felt so lightheaded, he needed to lay down, he needed- he needed-
“Rai, call for an ambulance- Lee, it’s okay.” Piers tried to soothe, and normally it would’ve worked- but Leon just felt so bad, he wanted to crawl out of his fucking skin. The soft touch on his back made his skin prickle. He was breathing heavily, eyes squeezed shut. He felt a hand press against his forehead and a swear immediately followed.
“I’m sorry, I-” he whimpered, feeling guilt overwhelm him on top of everything else. He didn’t want to worry them and make them feel bad because of how bad he was feeling- he wished they never came, that he could’ve dealt with this on his own. He tried to move away from Piers and get to his feet, but his legs were as wobbly as a newly hatched Girafarig’s. He fell forward again onto his palms, and they were definitely scuffed up by now. He sucked in a breath. Piers put a hand on his back again, and they said something, but Leon couldn’t register it, he didn’t understand. He blinked heavily, feeling another wave of nausea. Wait, no, he already threw up again- it was there on the ground in front of him. He felt so disoriented, one minute he was on his hands and knees, the next he saw red and white lights, and the next he was being put onto a stretcher. Everything felt so far away, all of his senses were muffled and muddied. Like he was underwater, and everything happening around him was on the surface. He winced as a flashlight was shone into his eyes, closing them and pursing his lips. He still felt so sick, he just wanted to go to sleep. He wanted to go home, and get in bed, and cuddle. But- wait, he couldn’t get to sleep without Raihan and Piers, where were they? He tried to say something call out for them, but his mouth felt like it was filled with cotton- god, he felt so bad. He would just rest his eyes for a minute, that’s it.