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Rika felt so tired and irritated.
They had spent the entire day sitting in a damn chair waiting for any kid to walk through the door for the interview. Unfortunately for them, none of the children had been able to answer even the most basic questions—what did they teach at that academy!?—and they had to fail all of them.
And what did they win? Nothing but tiredness, bad mood and back pain.
When they and Geeta arrived at their house, Rika didn't even speak, they just lay on the couch, looking at the wall with a bored expression, they didn't even look at their wife, no matter how hard she tried to talk to them.
Even at dinner they couldn't say a word, they didn't miss Geeta's empathetic gaze.
The Elite Four trainer felt bad about that, but they couldn't help it, talking seemed so complicated.
So here there they were, tired, lying on one of the sofas in the living room, looking with a dead expression at the wall of the house.
Moments later they felt a weight next to them, obviously, it was Geeta, both their reddish eyes and her indigo eyes met.
"Oh, precious..." They loved that nickname, it made them feel good, it gave them a feeling that they were safe, next to the person they loved, "I'm sorry if I couldn't help you all day, I was busy but ...I don't think that's an excuse."
They wanted to tell her that it was okay, that it wasn't her fault, but they still couldn't speak, their tongue felt so heavy, so they decided to try moving towards Geeta, using their arms for support, but they felt heavy too and they ended up falling face down on the couch.
"No, Rika, no, please don't force yourself, come here, love," Geeta took her partner into her arms and cradled them in her chest, something they accepted immediately, hugging their wife gently.
Their mind felt so... Light, feeling Geeta's heartbeat made their stress reduce, they began to make small whimpers as they tried to get comfortable without moving their head from her chest.
"...Rika, have you slipped?" The champion asked, recognizing the clingy behavior they were having, she felt them nod.
Geeta looked at Whiscash's clock on the wall, it was approaching 9:00 pm, it was too late for Rika, in this state of mind, to still be awake.
The Top champion stood up from the couch with Rika in her arms, earning more whimpers from them when they were moved unexpectedly.
"Shhh, shh, I know, baby, forgive me, let me grab you a bottle and then you can go to sleep, okay?"
They didn't respond verbally, obviously, but they did respond with an action, placing their arms around Geeta's neck, their head still on her chest, it looked uncomfortable but they didn't care, they just wanted to keep hearing the heartbeats.
A decade into being married to Rika, and likewise, almost a decade into being their caregiver when they were regressing, Geeta knew what they like and knew how to do it.
The first thing was to take an old bottle with Wooper drawings, just and only that bottle, if she tried any other Rika would reject it, once she tried to feed them with a different one, from a package she had bought, but they had cried until she offered them that same milk in that same Wooper bottle.
(She had given the other bottles to Nemona, upon discovering that she and Champion Juliana shared a relationship equal to that of her and Rika, she found that curious, but she was happy for them.)
The second thing was to fill that bottle with Moomoo milk using only one hand. Years ago she would have spilled everything on the table, but now it was so easy that even she was surprised.
The third thing was to heat the bottle for five minutes, not a minute more nor a minute less, Rika was a very fussy baby, she had realized, and she had learned this with trial and error, or as she called it, trial or tears.
While she waited, Rika complained again, this time a little louder, but Geeta could still hear that tired tone.
"Shh... It's almost ready, precious, remember, mama has memorized the time this takes," she giggled, it was true, she had been counting the time for so many years with the stopwatch on her Smartrotom that she stopped needing it over time.
And lastly, she had to take an oven mitt to take that same bottle and carry it safely to the nursery, that way she would prevent her and Rika from getting burned... She had learned that in the hard way.
Avoiding falling from the stairs, she headed to the nursery of the house, although the room was only Rika's, the rocking chair that was in it was hers, although she only used it to feed them.
She sat down and directed the bottle to Rika's lips, who accepted it happily. Slowly pushing the chair back and forth and humming an old paldean song that her own mother had taught her so long ago, both enjoy each other's company as if there was nothing else in the world.
Rika's reddish eyes began to close slowly until they finally fell asleep, the sweet taste of milk, in addition to the soft melody was a very effective combination, they seemed like a Dragonite facing an Ice Beam.
Taking the bottle from the Elite Four trainer's lips, Geeta got up from the rocking chair with her sleepy baby and headed to the crib, gently placing them in it, wrapping them in a Digglet blanket and giving them a Turtwig plushie.
She gave a tired smile when she watched Rika sleep so peacefully, she thanked Arceus as she remembered tomorrow was Saturday.