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Over the expansive waterfront in the Crimson Mirelands, you see Adaman’s tall stature tower above the horizon. His back faces you as you start to approach. He appears to be deep in thought as he gazes over at the lowering sun over the water. As you get closer to the shore, he hears your step and turns, immediately smiling a little at the sight of you. You’re muddy from surveying and dragging your feet in the dirt, exhausted.
“There’s my wonderful, hard-working partner,” he says, striding towards you.
The adornments on his robes jingle and glimmer in the sun as he walks. You mumble out a greeting in response, just ready to collapse in bed after such a long day.
Adaman laughs at your response and embraces you tightly, “I see you’ve gotten up to a lot today. You always work so hard, let’s go home now. It’s starting to get dark and I have dinner waiting for you back on the settlement,” he presses a kiss to the top of your head as you melt into his embrace.
Too tired for words, you just hum, acknowledging him.
He starts walking back to the Diamond Clan settlement with his arm still wrapped around your shoulder, guiding your weary legs. There’s a comfortable silence between the two of you and your collective warmth fills the nighttime air.
Adaman’s warm body clears the tired fog in your brain and you finally are capable of processing his words to you. “Adaman, how are you always talking about how much work I do, but never acknowledge the fact that you’re literally the leader of the Diamond Clan. What job is bigger than that?”
Adaman smiles, “It took you that long to reply? But, I don’t really see my job as “work” though, if you’re asking. I do what I do not because it’s my job, but simply because I care about my people. They’re my family and I would do this all for them even if I wasn’t in this position”.
“You spend your whole day worrying for others and then come home and do the same for me, doesn’t it ever tire you out?” You ask him earnestly, glancing up into his eyes.
He stops and meets your gaze, “I think you’re forgetting the fact that you’re also my family. It’s never work to me if it’s for you.” He turns his head back in the direction of the warm lights glowing in the distance and continues walking.
You stop walking and force him to stop in his tracks as well, pulling his chin towards yourself and looking him firmly in the eyes. He stands there confused as to why you stopped him. Pressing a soft kiss to his lips, his eyes instantly flutter shut and his hands drop to your lower back.
You pull away from the kiss, just far enough you can still feel his breath on your face and whisper to him, “Almighty Sinnoh, what did I do in my past life to deserve you?”
He opens his eyes and places a chaste kiss on your lips back, “I should be asking Almighty Sinnoh the same thing about you,” you sigh and roll your eyes dramatically.
He grins and squeezes your waist, “Alright, alright, enough messing around. At this rate we’ll never get home, I still have our stew on the stove and I know you need to take your binder off.”
Even during such a tender moment he never stops worrying about you. Adaman’s worry for you must be second nature at this point, your existence never leaving his mind. He always has an internal clock going on in his head, calculating how long you’ve been gone, how long since you last ate and what time you put your binder on, all to ensure that you stay healthy.
The stew’s aroma fills your senses as you enter your shared home. You remove all your muddy clothes and change into some comfier clothes as Adaman goes to check on the stew. At the table, he gently sets a steaming bowl of stew in front of you and sits across from you. You dig in savoring all of the native Diamond Clan ingredients. Even though you had been forcibly stripped from your home, the Diamond Clan had started to feel like home to you over the past year. You immersed yourself in their ways of life, culture and food and the community was happy to welcome you in. The most eager to do so was probably Adaman. After hearing how the Commander kicked you out of Jubilife Village, he was the first to offer you a place to stay and a community to belong to. His offer still stood even after you had been welcomed back to Jubilife. He had always been your biggest supporter and trusted you when nobody else did, which made making your move to his clan permanent an easy decision. Not only did you feel at home with the Diamond Clan, you felt at home with Adaman. Looking down, you realize you’ve finished your bowl while Adaman had still only eaten half of his own because he was too busy amusedly watching you finish yours.
“Have you been staring at me this whole time I’ve been eating?” He quickly looks down and shovels a potato into his mouth. You scoff, “I’m going to go start a bath for us while you finish that. And don’t even think about washing those bowls after because you’ve done enough for me today.” You point accusedly at him in a playful manner as you walk off to start the bath.
Condensation drips down the canvas walls as the hot water fills the tub. You carefully undress and unwrap the bandages around your chest, feeling a sense of deep relief at the ability to breathe in better without your binder. A pair of large, calloused hands gently place themselves on the sensitive skin of your waist and you jump at the sudden feeling.
“Ooh! Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you like that,” Adaman said, laughing slightly and placing his head on your shoulder. “Is the water ready yet? By the way, I washed those dishes you told me not to,” the tremor of his rich voice permeated through your back.
“I can’t believe you,” you said, shaking your head, “also, yes, it’s ready so you should get in while it’s still hot. You stink.” He laughed again and started removing his robes as you got into the tub. Adaman slowly removed his clothes for you to see and wiggled his eyebrows playfully, flexing his muscles.
Once in the tub, he pulled you close to his chest and you could feel his muscles against your back. You fell into his warm touch and both of you sat in a comfortable silence enjoying one another’s company and the warmth of the room.
“Can I touch you, my love?” he asks. You nod against his chest in response, the warmth starting to lull you back into a state of fatigue. Adaman started to gently feel up your skin and chest, making your eyes fall to a comfortable closed position. He notices some small purple bruising near your rib cage and presses his thumb to your bruises, concerned. You flinch at the sudden contact with your bruises and Adaman immediately pulls his hand back.
“Shit, are you okay?” he worries.
“Yeah, yeah, I’m good, don’t worry I just wasn’t expecting it,” you reply quickly.
“Why didn’t you tell me you had gotten hurt on your survey? We could have gotten something for you-,” he goes on.
“No, Adaman, really I’m okay. I didn’t get injured during my survey,” you say in hopes of easing his concerns.
His shoulders release the tension they were holding onto and for a moment, he goes quiet.
“How did you get hurt then?” he asks, turning you to face his worrisome eyes.
You don’t answer and avoid his gaze. “Don’t tell me…..Is it from your binder?” he asks again.
You stay silent. Adaman takes your cheek in his hand, caressing it and turning your face to face him. You meet his big brown eyes and something inside you gives, falling into his chest. He embraces you, careful to avoid the bruising on your ribs. Adaman rubs your back as you sniffle and shed a few tears. “Oh, baby…” he murmurs, repeating the same phrase to himself softer each time until he falls silent. You both go quiet as he continues to rub your back for a few minutes until he breaks the silence.
“Sorry, if I’ve been overbearing trying to take care of you,” he doesn’t wait for your answer, “I only worry because I love you so much. I know firsthand the toll binding can take on your body and just overall how difficult it is to be trans. I was trying to make sure you didn’t have to experience the same pain I did. I realize now that my efforts were being counteractive and I’m sorry.”
You let the silence hit the air and the constant motion of Adaman’s hands against your spine calm your senses. You sit up in his lap and he takes your face into both of his hands, caressing your cheeks so gently like always with his thumbs. Adaman always treated you like your skin was made of fragile glass and always asked for your consent before he touched you in any way. Without exception, everyday, you could feel the love in Adaman’s touch and care for you. The others in the Diamond Clan saw it too and they appreciated your presence in his life. He had always been hyperfocused on his work since becoming leader at such a young age, and he never took time for himself. Adaman had always felt like he had to be beyond perfect at his job to prove his worthiness for the position. He often felt unworthy of his title since it was usually passed down to the first son and he was trans. Nobody ever doubted his leadership, but he wanted to ensure that he never could give them a reason to either.
He had been through a lot at a young age and the wear could be felt on his fingertips and seen under his eyes. You leaned in to press a soft kiss to his lips and kissed him all over his face. He beamed under your touch.
“I understand why you worry so much, Adaman, it’s okay really. I’ve just been feeling a bit dysphoric lately that’s all,” you placed your hands on his cheeks, so you were both holding one another and tilted down to give him another kiss.
“I love you a lot, Adaman. You’ve done so much for me this entire time I’ve been here and I can never repay you for it.” He just continued smiling shyly and dropped his hands so he could break your gaze and look at the floor.
The realization that the bathwater had turned lukewarm broke both of you out of your tender moment. “Ah, I guess we better get to the whole bathing portion of this bath,” he said, preparing the soap between his hands to lather your hair in.
“Wait, Adaman,” you say, looking him in the eye and taking the soap from his hands, “Let me.”
You coat your hands in suds and massage it through his long, faded hair. He leans his back on the edge of the bath with his eyes shut, humming in appreciation as you carefully wash his hair. Despite many dyes, Adaman’s hair was still soft against your fingers as they cascaded through it. You rinse out his hair, pushing it out of his face and moving to his body.
“You always take care of me, but when was the last time you let me take care of you?” you retort as you graze over his skin.
He opens his mouth to defend himself but you cut him off, “I like taking care of you too, silly…You deserve it”.
Only the splashing of the water fills the air as you continue to apply suds to your lover’s abdomen. You place extra care and attention on the scars on his chest. He catches you gazing at them with your hand stopped mid-scrub and gently places his large hand on top of your own. You match his view and he smiles at you, “It gets easier, I promise.. And I’ll be here with you the entire way,” he says and plants a kiss on your knuckle.
You both finish washing up before the water gets cold and Adaman convinces you to let him treat your bruises. You lay on your shared bed, your chest bare as Adaman applies an herbal remedy you aren’t familiar with. He tells you about what he’s applying, the ingredients and how you make it. Adaman knew a lot about traditional Diamond Clan remedies because he always wanted to feel as prepared as possible when it came to being able to take care of his people. And now, it’s coming in handy for taking care of you because you often get injured on your surveys. You knew how to take care of your own injuries, but Adaman always insisted on helping and said that the Diamond Clan medicine was better for you long term anyway. He finishes your treatment and kisses each bandaged bruise, handing you your jinbei. As you tie your jinbei, Adaman gets into bed next to you.
“I love you.”
You get under the covers and immediately pull yourself into him. Your legs entangle with his and he cradles your back in his palms. You rest your head in the crook of his neck and play with his hair. Both of you start to get quiet as the warmth of each other makes you sleepy. You breathe in his scent, a mixture of herbs and earthy aromas. Since living with him, you’ve also started to smell like he does. It was pleasant, it made you feel as if you truly belonged with him here.
“You smell so nice, Adaman,” you mumbled into his neck, taking in another long inhale.
“Yeah? It’s probably from the herbal medicine I gave you. You probably smell like me, too then,” he added as he came closer to get a hint of your own scent.
He hummed in satisfaction, “You do. You smell like my childhood.”
You smiled at his remark, “It’s almost as if I’ve always lived here in the Diamond Clan.”
“You fit in perfectly with us here. Everyone loves having you here, too.”
He went quiet for a second before he whispered, “...Do you ever miss home? Or wish you could go back?”
You shifted under his embrace, “I mean- of course I do. I wish I could see my parents and my friends again back home… I wish you could have met my parents too and seen my world. It’s so different from here. I do love being here and being with you, though… I just think about them sometimes and wonder what my life would have been like if I had never fallen through that space time rift.”
Adaman pecked your shoulder, “I understand, I wish I could have seen your life, too. I’m glad it was you at least that fell through the space-time rift.”
You nodded slightly, “Yeah, I’m really grateful to Sinnoh that I was able to meet you here. I wouldn’t change that for the world. I might miss home, but you’re also my home.”
Adaman pulled you in a little tighter to his chest, “You’re mine, too.”
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“Tell me something about your past life..”
You hummed in deep thought about what to mention to him. A lot of details he probably wouldn’t be able to grasp. He knows to some extent already what your life was like in the future, like the fact you lived with Pokemon as partners and didn’t see them as enemies. He often asked for you to tell him things and everytime he resembled a child in amazement about it all. You think he asks you in order to give you the opportunity to share and remember your home because he’s always showing you his own, but he gets lost in the wonder of picturing your past life.
“Back in my time, it was actually kind of common to see trans people like us,” his ears perked in interest.
You laughed at his reaction, your shoulders shuttering against him, “Yeah, it was quite normal. It was pretty accepted and many people understood what being trans meant. There were a lot of resources and help from others so you didn’t have to struggle on your own.”
Adaman sat in amazement at what you told him, imagining a world like that. He had always had to figure out everything for himself, with nobody to reference from. He’d been lucky though, the Diamond Clan loved him a lot and accepted him easily when he was a child. They had noticed his positive change in demeanor after coming out. They didn’t understand exactly, but they knew they just wanted him to be happy and be able to enjoy life.
“But,” you continued, “that also meant a lot of people were more hateful and open about it, too.”
Adaman ran his fingers through your hair as he listened, “Did you ever experience anyone like that yourself, in your time?”
“Yeah.. Kind of often, unfortunately.”
Adaman’s hands stopped moving for a second.
“I mean, it’s okay, we all occasionally had our run-ins with those kinds of people. It was just another obstacle we had to overcome. I know it wasn’t easy for you here either to be trans.” You felt his Adam's apple shift against you as he thought of how to reply.
“I won’t say that it was, but I’m lucky to have a lot of loving people around me. They had never seen someone like us before me, but they’ve always been very open and understanding towards me. Before I was born, there was a prophecy from Dialga that I, my parent’s first born, would be different from other children. Even without such prophecy, I have no doubt they would still treat me in the same manner they do now. It was hard to figure out what exactly was different about me, though, since I had nobody to relate my feelings to.” You shifted your body so you could feel the scars on his chest under his robe against your fingertips.
“When did you have this done?” you asked him.
“When I became an adult. The Diamond Clan always holds a coming of age ceremony and they felt it should specially be included in the ceremony for me. They felt I was ready and they wanted me to be able to live my life to its fullest potential as Dialga intended. Our clan physician performed it for me,” he explained.
“That’s also when I got this cool tattoo on my shoulder,” he turned and pulled down his robe so you could see. It was a complex system of geometric patterns upon his right shoulder.
‘Oh! I had always wondered when you had gotten that,” you exclaimed.
“Everyone in the Diamond Clan has one like this. The patterns are unique to our individual families,” he told you.
“Maybe one day you’ll get one, too, if we decide to sacrament our partnership in the eyes of Dialga.”
“Would I get your family’s?”
“If you wish,” he answered, looking you sweetly in the eye.
“I would, someday.”
<3