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Hau looks smiles as he sits upside down in a chair in Professor Kukui's home, playing a small handheld game that Professor Kukui gave to Hau that he apparently played a lot as a kid. Lei, the small child, sits on Hau's chest and is being held upright by his arm, even as Lei squirms to try and get to Ash.
Hau looks up, looking across the room at his very stressed boyfriend.
He had been called over so that he could watch Lei, as the infant wants nothing more than to be by his brother's side and soak up his attention all the time, and unfortunately Ash has to study a lot to get his Professorship degree.
Which means that when Ash needs to study, and his parents are gone, Hau is brought to entertain little Lei.
Unfortunately, Lei hates Hau.
Even as an infant, Lei despises the fact that Hau takes Lei away from Ash, and takes attention away from Lei by being his boyfriend.
Currently, Lei was less grumpy at Hau and more grumpy at the books Ash was studying out of. Hau can relate.
Considering how swamped Ash has been with studying these days he can't be sleeping as much as he should be, and probably skipping meals if he gets too absorbed in studying.
He gets being a Professor means a lot of studying, and Ash seems to really like his internship at Professor Kukui's lab and enjoys studying pokemon. And academics may not come as easily to Ash as battling, but he still enjoys it. Hau loves listening to Ash as he gets excited talking about all he does at the lab and all the pokemon he's studying. He seems especially interested as he has been studying how pokemon trainers affect pokemon and how a pokemon trainers attitude affects a pokemon's performance. Something Professor Oak just barely scraped upon but was deemed as fact, and no other researcher has studied much about.
Until Ash. Which isn't all that surprising, since for all of Ash's journeys he's been told he's not doing pokemon training correctly, and he proved them wrong once he became world champion. And now he's proving them wrong in a different way.
Hau has always known Ash was brilliant, and now he's just proving it to everyone else.
But Hau doesn't like how much Ash seems to be overworking himself these days. Between his internship, his classes and studying, and dealing with challengers and champion duties, Ash has way too much on his plate.
Which is why, as a part of Alolan’s elite four, he's been training more than ever, so that Ash can deal with less challengers.
But Ash still seems to be overworked.
Ash groans, rubbing at his eyes with a frown.
“I cant think straight.” Ash murmurs, sounding annoyed with himself, Causing both Lei and Hau to frown themselves.
Lei squirms again, slapping at Hau's face to try and get Hau to let go of Lei so he could stumble over to Ash and get his attention.
Hau doesn't let him, but he does open up his mouth to try and get Ash to stop studying and take a break.
"I'm tired just watching you, maybe you should take a break Ash." Hau suggests, Ash grunts but doesn't stop scribbling with his pencil.
Hau pouts at being ignored and shifts so he can sit up on the chair before sliding off and sitting by Ash. Lei reaches out his hands so Ash can pick him up but he is too focused on school work to do so.
Lei whines, wanting his brother's attention just like Hau pouts as Ash ignores him.
"Hello, earth to Ash" Hau pokes at Ash's cheek making him scowl and bat him away.
Hau chuckles softly at Ash's reaction but doesn't back down. Ash can be stubborn when he gets determined like this. He's seen it countless times when Ash would battle, his stubborn determination led to him battling countless people and never giving up when he lost. That stubborn determination gave Ash the will to become the world champion.
But that doesn't mean it doesn't have its downsides, like how when Ash was traveling the only thing on his mind would only ever be pokemon. So tunnel visioned that he couldn't possibly think about doing anything other than pokemon battling. And now that he has achieved that goal, and has latched onto a new one, there's a new problem.
Now Ash just keeps overworking himself. It's a lot easier to remember to take care of yourself when you had to remember to eat or else you have a large likelihood of fainting while traveling, or being forced to stop training as the sun goes down or the weather is stormy.
Both of which are no longer a thing Ash needs to worry about now that he's semi settled down and has access to classwork and study materials 24/7.
It worries Hau, a bit more than he's willing to admit. But he's pretty good at getting Ash distracted. (years of doing it between schooling before Ash left on his journey and when he was staying in Alola for a year before he won the championship. Hau was very good at getting Ash distracted from homework so he could pay attention to Hau.)
And now that Lei was here, their combined Rockruff eyes are super effective!
“Ash!” Hau whines, pressing his cheek into the table to look up at Ash. Ash barely even looks up at him.
“I'm almost done, just a bit more and i'll take a break.” Ash says, not looking up or stopping from scribbling notes. Hau glances at the paper, all about type calculations and math Hau doesn't understand. There's a reason Hau was never in the advanced class in the pokemon school with Mallow, Lana, and Ash.
“You said that an hour ago.” Hau reminds, brushing a lock of curly hair back behind Ash's ear.
“You're gonna burn yourself out.” Lei babbles as Hau says that and Pikachu nods from the table it had been sleeping on.
Ash huffs, biting onto his lip with frustration and general tiredness. Ash opens his mouth to respond before Lei bursts out with baby babble big wide eyes looking at his big brother in impatience as he reaches out for him.
“Your biggest fan here seems to agree with me.” Hau snorts, picking Lei up to deposit him into Ash's lap. Ash leans back, holding up his brother who squeals at finally being with his big brother. Ash smiles, patting Lei's chubby cheeks as his small hands reach up to tangle in Ash's shirt. Ash runs a hand through Lei's slightly less curly hair to press a kiss to his forehead making Lei giggle at the attention.
Ashs shoulders seem less tense than before, his entire expression softening as he plays with Lei.
Hau reaches out and intertwines his hand with Ash's, Ash looks up at Hau with a smile before leaning onto Hau's shoulder. Hau shifts to a more comfortable position and puts his chin on the top of Ash's head, feeling Ash relax against him.
“I think you should take a break.” Hau suggests, Ash breathes in deeply before sighing, conceding to Hau's point.
“I probably should.” Ash agrees, and Hau smiles in victory. Ash may be stubborn, but Hau certainly knows how to work past that.
“Good,” Hau grins, shifting to stand up with Ash's hand still intertwined with his own. Ash stumbles up, still holding Lei with his free arm.
Ash gives him a curious glance and Hau just gives Ash a bright grin.
He leads Ash out of the house, planning on grabbing dinner and malasadas after, he knows for a fact Ash didn't eat lunch. Their shoulders bump together as they walk down the path towards Hau'oli city. Hau fills the conversations on challengers that came to the league hoping for a battle with the champion, only to get defeated by Hau. Since the Alola league is so young, and they technically don't have a badge system up (although Ash and Professor Kukui were working on setting up gyms around the region, Lana and Mallow are going through the process. They might become two of the first gym leaders in Alola if they go through all of the qualifications. They were talking about each gym needing a small trial to go through, like the grand trials. Their goal is to incorporate Alola traditions while also keeping the league and the grand trials as separate as can be.) which means as long as you go through victory road you can battle the elite four and champion, to this day no one has beaten Ash, and a large majority didn't even make it to Hau. Technically Hau isn't actually part of the elite four, as well as the other three filling in for the elite four, as the only concrete position right now is the champion, Ash. Hau doesn't mind filling in until Professor Kukui and Ash work in a system for the elite four, after all, if it can make Ash's job easier Hau would do anything.
Soon enough though the elite four should be chosen, and Hau would end up giving up his position (or would be given it permanently, it's undecided at this point.) but for now Hau is trying to make the stress of being world champion, Alola's first champion, and a soon to be Professor, much easier.
“You wouldn't believe some of the teams these challengers will bring, one guy just brought an entire team of Rattata. All Alolan except for one which was Kantonian. I have no idea what he has trying to do.” Hau grins as Ash bursts into laughter, making Lei giggle.
“At least he's being creative, that makes battling so interesting.” Ash's eyes twinkle happily, seeming much more relaxed now that he was away from his books.
“Yeah!” Hau smiles, more so at seeing Ash so happy.
They eventually make it to where they were going to eat for the night, Ania’s kitchen. Mallow's restaurant was a frequent for them. It's a frequent for everyone since it's one of the most popular restaurants on Melemele island. But they stopped going when they had dates, especially as teens. Mallow and Ash's other classmates and friends just couldn't give up the opportunity to tease the two.
Now they go on dates to other restaurants, much to Mallows pouting.
But that doesn't mean they don't go to show their support, and to hang out in general with their friends.
When they walk in they see that it's generally unbusy, pretty standard with how low the sun was and how in a few minutes it'll be dark out. They take a seat where they usually sit as Ash starts to talk about the three Caterpie that managed to get into the vents of the lab, only to evolve and now a bunch of the interns are trying to figure out how to deconstruct the supply vents to get the Metapod out.
Ash gets pretty far into the story before Mallow rushes over to take their orders, they both barely needed to take a look at the menu before they told Mallow to make whatever she felt like experimenting with that day. It's what they did often, as long as it wasn't busy, letting Mallow experiment and them get good food they couldn't get anywhere else. Baring the kids menu for Lei who got the berry salad.
They probably should've gotten a kids seat for Lei, but he refused to let Ash put him down as long as he could sit content on Ash's lap.
It's cute how much adoration Lei has for his big brother, he practically wouldn't calm down for anything when he was a few months old unless he was watching Ash battle or being cuddled by Ash.
He glares anytime Hau steals the attention away from Lei, but at least he doesn't actively cry when Hau enters the house anymore.
When Mallow comes back with their drinks she grins at the three.
“Distracting Ash from homework again Hau? This is why Professor Kukui thinks you're a bad influence.” Mallow teases and Ash laughs while Hau pouts. Professor Kukui joking that he was a bad influence has been a running joke since they were kids, with Hau usually getting the two into trouble, and Ash getting them out of it. Even though Ash got them into trouble just as much as Hau did.
It probably didn't help that Hau did constantly distract Ash away from homework and studying while they were kids.
Professor Kukui didn't actually think Hau was a bad influence, in fact Hau has always been very welcome into the family, but the joke was still tossed around from time to time.
“Life is too short to spend it constantly studying.” Hau says, that’s been his motto since he was a kid. He would much rather go out and interact with pokemon rather than focus on the technical aspect. Ash had been much the same way, but still found interest in the technical, even if he didn't always end up understanding it.
“And how's this little one?” Mallow asks, leaning over to pat Lei's head. Lei looks at her grumpily, nuzzling closer to Ash with puffed out cheeks.
“Same as ever I see.” Mallow sweat drops. Lei doesn't like anyone besides his brother and his parents. His brother is definitely his favorite person.
Hau snorts, “well at least i'm not the only person he hates.”
“He doesn't hate you,” Ash corrects, Hau looks down at the scowling baby in Ash's lap and decides Ash is definitely wrong.
Mallow snorts, not saying anything against Ash but the two could see Lei’s dislike towards Hau.
Mallow walks away leaving behind some paper and crayons for Lei, which Ash helps Lei play with and make sure he doesnt eat any of the crayons. Hau smiles and watches Ash and Lei, mostly Ash. Ash seemed much happier and much more relaxed now, and Hau was glad for it.
The tension in his shoulders had long since bled out, and his eyebags seemed lighter already. Hau wished the table wasn't in the way so he could kiss Ash silly. But unfortunately it was, so Hau had to wait.
Much to his annoyance.
But the food, and later the malasadas long since made up for it. Especially when a bit of the vanilla filling in Ash's malasada got onto his cheek, and Hau could lean over to wipe it off. Ash smiled at him brightly, with his cheek still held in Hau's hand. The vanilla filling in Ash's malasada tasted good to Hau.
By the time they left for the Professor's home, Lei was asleep against Ash's chest. Very occasionally opening his eyes to nuzzle closer to Ash. Ash also seemed very sleepy, Hau decided to stay over at the Professors until Ash fell asleep. At the very least to make sure Ash doesn't try to go back to studying.
The Professors aren't back by the time they do, but Hau already knew they were having a late night at their prospective labs. As they enter the quiet house Hau leads Ash away to his bedroom, not letting him even pack up his study materials, he'll do it when Ash falls asleep. Ash makes a whine of protest but his quickly shutting eyes contradict it. Instead Ash lets himself be led to bed, lying down with Lei still supported in his arms. Hau lies next to Ash, making sure he falls asleep before he leaves.
Ash curls in bed, resting his head on top of Hau's chest as his breath quickly evens out.
Hau smiles, running his hand through Ash's hair. He leans his head down to press a kiss to Ash's forehead snorting at how even in his sleep Lei makes a protesting babble. Hau runs his thumb over Ash's knuckles, and stares down in near awe at the best person he's ever met. Ash is just so great, from his determination, to his kindness, to his love. There's so much about Ash that Hau loves. And even when there's things that aren't the best in Ash, like his recklessness, or his lack of self care, Hau will always be there to balance him out.
When Hau is sure Ash is asleep he shifts to start to wiggle himself out from under Ash, to go clean up the study materials and head home himself. But when Ash whines, and reaches up to grip Hau's shirt tightly he loses any will he had to leave.
Especially not when Ash looks up at him tiredly, and very cutely, to mumble up at Hau.
“You need a break too. You've been working hard lately.” Ash mumbles, before nuzzling closer to his chest and tightening his grip on Hau's shirt.
Hau melts, unable to find any will to leave anymore. He has been working pretty hard to make sure no challenger can get past him, not as hard as Ash has recently, of course, but still pretty hard. He and his pokemon tend to be pretty tired these days.
But it's all worth it if at the end of the day he can come to the Professor's house and see Ash's smiling face.
Hau huffs, shifting to a more comfortable position so he could hold Ash in his arms more securely. Ash is tucked into Hau's chest, wrapping his arms around Hau's waist while Hau places his chin on the top of Ash's head, wrapping his own arms around Ash's chest. Lei is in between the two, spread across the two, his head on Hau's stomach and his legs on Ash's.
Hau presses a kiss to Ash's forehead, and Ash relaxes further into the bed and Hau's arms.
Late in the night when the Professors come home they find an abandoned pile of study materials, and the three in their cuddle pile. Hau blinks tiredly at Professor Burnet and Professor Kukui as they enter the room, searching for their sons.
Ash and Lei are both fast asleep, and Hau isn't that far behind. It's not that much of a surprise that Professor Kukui simply bundles Lei into his arms, Lei making a whining noise at being taken away from his brother before Kukui shushes him with expertise. Burnet leans over to press her own kiss to Ash's temple before ruffling Hau's hair making him sleepily mumble something that was supposed to sound somewhat like a goodnight. But ended up sounding more like Lei.
The Professors leave, going to put Lei back into his own bed.
Hau nuzzles closer to Ash, enjoying the warmth Ash emitted, before closing his eyes and falling back asleep.