Archive of Our Own

The wind whipped through Kieran’s hair, having to squint against the current. At least it was pleasantly warm, not at all like flying through some of the colder biomes in the terarium.

“Man it’s so unfair, Miraidon would love this.”

The familiar voice, spoken in an honestly adorably pouty tone from in front of him drew his attention, guiding his Dragonite forwards and level with the other. They were going fast, but still slow enough the wind didn’t cut them off from talking too badly.

“Sorry Flor, I had no idea Unova was so strict about it…” The Kitakamian shouted softly, an apologetic look on his face before he gave a sharper one towards the boy sitting behind Florian. “It’s a shame someone couldn’t tell us sooner.”

He just got a laugh in response, and then a charming smile. Kieran rolled his eyes but couldn’t help the way his lips lifted in kind. “Hey I’m sorry too you know! All of my Pokemon are from Unova so I didn’t know about the law either.”

The chestnut haired boy sighed, leaning back into the pilot of his ride. “I almost wish Lacey hadn’t said anything before we left.”

Kieran snorted, a grin spreading across his face. “What so, ya could get arrested for an unregistered flyin’ metal kaiju?”

“No! That’s I-!” Florian huffed, jostling around a little bit before getting a scolding- albeit half-assed— and an arm around his waist to steady him. “Ya’ll are just flying way too slow, Dragonite are supposed to be fast, Miraidon and I would be flying circles around you lot!”

“Awww, is the poor Champion getting bored?” The white haired boy teased grabbing at the smaller’s cheek and getting pushed away in return.

Suddenly Kieran felt a yellow gaze boring into his own, eyes widening in response. “Hey Kier, how’s your reflexes?”

Kieran’s brow furrowed— his reflexes? Well, strictly speaking they were good, given how often he was having his pokemon- or a particularly excitable Galarian boy jump at him, but what exactly was he getting at? “Drayton—”

“Hey, give this to him for me will ya?” Drayton grasped the side of Florian’s head, turning it around and leaning forwards to meet their lips in a chaste but firm kiss, leaving behind a dazed and flustered Florian.

And then before anyone else could truly register what was happening, before Kieran could even blink, he saw the other Dragonite ascent and then… tilt?

Oh no, no no no.

“Drayton!” Kieran let out an indignant bark, having to let go of Dragonite with his hands in favour of catching the now dislodged Galarian trainer falling rapidly towards him while Drayton finished his aerial twirl, evening out on the other side.

After some quick adjusting Florian ended up sitting squarely infront of Kieran , chest to chest with his legs over Kieran’s thighs, hands now fisting into Kieran’s tank top. He was trembling a little bit, and rightfully so, Kieran thought as he put a steadying hand on his back, the other returning to Dragonite.

“Drayton what the fuck?!”

Before he got an answer though laughter flooded his ears, looking back forwards to find the chestnut haired boy laughing so hard his cheeks had pushed his eyes closed and less than a moment later was he surging upwards, catching the Kitakamian’s lips with his own, letting them linger before pulling away.

“Drayton asked me to give you that.”

A fierce blush spread across Kieran’s face and he let out a sigh, cupping Florian’s cheek now. “You make it really hard to stay mad at him, you know?”

“Aww, don’t I make it hard to stay mad at me too, Kier?” Kieran felt jostled as Drayton piloted his Dragonite lightly into Kieran’s, causing yellow orbs to glare into the yellow now attempting to give him puppy eyes.

“Mhm, sure.” He replied dryly. “And what would’ve happened if I hadn’t’ve caught Florian huh?”

“Hmmmmmmm…” Drayton hummed, leaning back with his hands behind his head, not even bothering to hold on. The show off. “Well, I guess our little trio would’ve become a duo.”

Kieran just sputtered, was he seriously talking like that so casually? No way!

“That or Flygon would have caught him.”

Blinking, the former Champion’s brow furrowed once more, just staring before he spotted Flygon ascend from where it had been previously out of sight down below and level out behind Drayton, getting recalled shortly after. But— wait— When had he let it out??

“C’mon, Humilau City isn’t that far away now and I wanna make sure to get a good lounging spot.” With that Drayton kicked his heels lightly into Dragonite’s hide, speeding up considerably as he got farther and farther away.

“W- HEY! You, inconsiderate— toothpaste haired— ugh!” Kieran shouted despite the grin on his face, feeling Florian giggling in front of him. Everytime he thought Drayton had seriously fucked up he just had to prove him wrong by being two steps ahead of him. He hated it.

It didn’t take long for the two to catch up to the Unovan boy. Kieran liked to believe that it was because his Dragonite was faster, that he had trained it better. He trained more often than Drayton did, but then again Drayton wrestled with his Pokemon. Kieran was pretty sure he’d die if he ever tried to do that with his own dragons. Drayton was probably just going slow.

The rest of the ride passed in silence, going too fast to hear idle chit chat through the wind biting at their faces, and the back of Florian's head— the lucky bastard honestly. It didn’t take long for the salty scent of sea breeze to greet Kieran’s nostrils, signifying the impending arrival at their destination.

Drayton landed hard on the beach with a resounding thud, a circle of sand kicking up around him. For such a typically lazy person he sure liked to throw his strength around while trying to look nonchalant about it. Oh well, it was kind of hot.

Kieran’s face flushed immediately upon that thought entering his head, hoping terribly that Florian didn’t see it while guiding Dragonite down in slow circles, landing it next to Drayton’s own. Helping Florian down first before sliding off himself to join the taller boy and recalling their beasts.

Said taller boy stretched languidly before starting to walk off away from the ocean, hands moving to rest in his pockets. “Alrighty, let’s see what this place has to offer then.”

Florian, down for just about anything, had already set to following behind Drayton like a little lost puppy, bouncing slightly on his heels. “Okay!”

“H-hey, hold up!” Kieran, not to be left behind, quickly occupied Drayton’s other side, wrapping his arms around Drayton’s right to halt him, looking up with a crease between his eyebrows. “I thought you said you wanted to find somewhere to set up before all the good spots got taken.”

“Hmmm…” The former former Champion looked up as if in thought, hand rubbing against his chin. “Did I say that?”

Kieran frowned, brow furrowing further, he did and he knew it too.

“Guess so, I just thought we could grab something cold while it’s not too crowded out… Like… ice cream or something. You know, like a nice biiiiig scoop of chocolate maybe…” 

Drayton grinned down at him and Kieran hated how he perked up at the idea, flushing as he turned to grumble.

A squeak of surprise was drawn from his lips as Drayton used the grip Kieran had on his arm to lift him up just a little bit and over the lip of the wooden boardwalk, the purple haired boy having to take a second to steady and reorientate himself.

The planks creaked as Florian hopped up himself, not that he really needed to, it was by all means just a normal step up from the beach, but Florian liked hopping, Kieran had come to find out— sometimes disastrously so.

“C’mon guys!” Florian chirped, turning to grab Drayton’s free hand and confiscating one of Kieran’s from around Draytons arm, choosing to pull them while walking backwards over being able to see where he was going. “Let’s go find the bestest ice cream place on this boardwalk, and then—” He looked conspiratorially at Kieran, “We can make Drayton pay!”

He was laughing as he let go of their hands and dashed forwards some paces, although never getting too far ahead the other two evening out, now left to walk side by side. 

“Hey, c’mon Flor, that’s not fair, I thought you two were gonna treat me.” Drayton called back prompting a snicker from the Kitakamian boy.

“I don’t think that’s right, you were the one who invited us here after all, I’m with Flor, it’s ice cream on you.” Kieran grinned, increasing his pace just a little bit to tug Drayton along.

“Man… Only ‘cause the two of you were talking about the beach non-stop, I had to stop the record skipping somehow.” Drayton sighed dramatically, his eyes closed as he let himself be guided along.

Unable to stop a bark of a laugh from bubbling up from his throat, Kieran turned around grinning devilishly, “Yeah, and we could’ve all just went to the Coastal Biome and had a picnic like what Flor and I were talkin’ about, but we didn’t. You brought us here.”

“Because you love us!”

Florian’s shout came only moments before the boy absolutely barreled into Drayton, the taller boy barely even stumbling backwards at the impact, laughing out loud as his hand found the shorter’s head. Once Florian had found out Drayton was strong enough to wrestle with dragons it had been all over for him, an unleashing of all of Florian’s unbridled sunshine energy. Kieran had no doubt in his mind that if Florian tried to do that to him they’d end up on the ground, possibly with one or more broken bones between the two of them. Luckily, he was far gentler with Kieran in comparison and they only occasionally ended up on the floor.

“Ha, yeah you got me.” Grinning the dragon tamer pulled Kieran closer to his side as he ruffled the already messied chestnut strands of Florian’s hair. “‘Cause I love you.”

“Now c’mon, the ice cream’ll get cold.” Drayton hummed, turned the one boy around before pushing them both forwards, palms resting on the smalls of their backs.

A half amused snort of disbelief escaped Kieran’s nose, matching Florian’s giggle beside him. “I don’t—? Think that’s how that works.”

“Sure it is.” Grinning as he relaxed his arms just enough to have both boys fall to his sides, placing a hand on each of their shoulders. “Not far now, there’s a great ice cream place just a ways down and then right around the corner, if it’s still there.”

“There you go again.” Kieran scoffed fondly, leaning more heavily into Drayton’s side, taking advantage of the still passive temperature. It was before noon yet, it would just be getting warmer and hugs were less likely to be accepted then.

“There I go again what?” Drayton hummed in response, securing his arm more securely around Kieran’s waist, letting Florian trail away until they were joined only by the hands on his other side, the smaller boy watching his feet, kicking them as he walked, other arm held out slightly for balance, although Kieran was sure he wouldn’t be allowed to fall anyway.

“Secretly bein’ so thoughtful when you put on like you’re all inconsiderate all the time.” Kieran elaborated, giving him a pointed look and an accusatory smile. “I bet you had all this planned out from the beginnin’.”

“You and Sis are a lot alike you know…” He mumbled, glancing down to study the grains of the wooden boardwalk planks as they disappeared under his shoes.

Drayton whistled, drawing Kieran’s attention immediately, and apparently Florian’s, before he realised he wasn’t being addressed and returned to where he had seemingly found a rather long stick and was dragging it across the gaps in the boards to make a clacking noise.

“Interesting move, comparing your boyfriend and your sister. Got some secret feelings for your sister you wanna tell me, Kier?” Drayton was teasing— he was clearly teasing. Even Kieran could tell he was teasing.

But that didn’t stop the Kitakamian boy from sputtering, his face flushing as he immediately launched into defending himself. “I— that’s not— That’s not what I mean, you bozo!”

When all that proved to give him was a hearty laugh he huffed, shoving into Drayton’s side and then crossing his arms, looking away pissily.

“Alright, Alright, what do you mean then?” Drayton’s voice was soft but with a slight raspy rumble to it, his other hand coming up to brush away a stray lock of hair that had escaped Kieran’s hair band.

“Well just that, I dunno.” Kieran relented, sighing before leaning into the touch, watching the boardwalk again. “You an’ Sis, well she always acts so abrasive and headstrong, and you always act so lazy and aloof… it doesn’t feel like either of you care much ‘bout anyone but yourselves if you just look from the surface… but ya both actually think about other people a whole lot more than you let on…”

“Hmm…” Drayton hummed, looking forwards with an unreadable expression on his face, to almost anyone else it would just look carefree, but Kieran knew better.

“And it’s a good thing too.” Kieran added, closing his eyes. “If you ever started ignoring me I’d never forgive you!”

“Oh? Is that so?” The Unovan boy grinned as he leaned closer, face close enough now Kieran could study the ochre in his yellow eyes.

Suddenly Kieran felt a roughness against his chest and a grip on his jacket, feeling himself being tugged away to the side, roughly but not near enough to hurt. It didn’t take him much longer to realise there was a stick poised across his chest, glancing back to see a rather determined and confident looking Florian peaking out from behind him.

“This is a— a uh— a…” Florian trailed off, seemingly unable to think of the word he was trying to land on, face going blank for a moment.

“A ransom?" Kieran offered, whispering back with a grin.

“Yeah, a ransome!” Florian repeated, looking determined again before his brow furrowed shaking his head, “What? No! This is a— a… rescue!”

Pointing the stick more thoroughly towards Drayton the Galarian continued putting on an over extravagant voice. “Back, back dragon! You may be unreasonably hot but you’ll never get fair and equally as hot prince back in your wicked claws so long as I continue to draw breath!”

Florian pushed Kieran behind him, who in turn crooked an eyebrow, a small smirk crossing his lips as he crossed his arms and leaned back against the brick wall behind him.

“Prepare to parish, beast! On guard!” Florian lifted his spare arm up, legs spread apart in a poor mockery of some sword fighting stance he probably saw in a movie or TV show one time, pointing the crookitty stick right towards the dragon tamer, his expression currently a right good mirror of Kieran’s.

Without a word Drayton walked forwards straight at the Kitakamian, completely ignoring Florian’s stick weapon with a smirk on his face. On his way he dipped for only a moment, letting his arm collide with Florian’s stomach, wrapping around before hoisting him rather unceremoniously up onto his shoulder, reaching the reclined Kieran a moment later.

“W-h-hey, Drayton! Put me down!” Florian protested, a vivid pink dusting his cheeks as he tried to break free, his stick clattering to the ground, but it was useless. The Galarian boy eventually let out a whimper, going slack against his captor.

The dragon tamer propped his arm against the wall beside Kieran’s head with a smirk. “Hey there fair and hot prince.”

A thrill ran down Kieran’s spine but miraculously he managed to hold his face and keep his cool— it was always really a fifty fifty with him. “Hey there equally as hot dragon.”

Kieran only saw Drayton starting to lean downwards before the former Champion closed his eyes, tilting his head up, a moment later being rewarded with the expected soft warmth against his lips. Surprisingly, Drayton always seemed to keep up a thin layer of balm on them, favouring ones like rose, or wintergreen, or lavender. 

Apparently he had started doing it thanks to the chill of the Polar Biome, and it had just become a habit after that.

“Guys?” Florian thrashed again, his foot tapping against the wall as he attempted to squirrel around to see. “Hey wait, are you guys kissing?? Hey, no fair! Lemme down, I wanna see! Guysss!!”

Unfortunately for him, Drayton and Kieran were both greedy— and proud— kissers, and as such neither were particularly chomping at the bit to be the first to draw back and although it was chaste, it was fierce. Finally however reality caught up and they had to surface for air.

Kieran licked his lips as his gaze bore into Drayton’s for a moment longer; Lavender, today it seemed.

“Guyyyyyssss!” Florian whined out again, starting to pound his fist into Drayton’s back.

“Alright, alright. No more distractions, I wanna sit down.” The white haired boy turned back on the path, ignoring Florian’s protests completely in favour of hauling him down the boardwalk like a sack of potatoes, a self-pleased smile on his face the entire way down.

Unable to keep from grinning, Kieran trotted up behind the two, trailing just a little bit behind Drayton, watching the smallest among them flail uselessly, his hair falling infront of his face.

“Draytonnnn! Draytonnn! Lemme go! Lemme—!”

Kieran pressed their lips together, only for a moment, still walking forwards. The Galarian’s face flushed immediately at the contact, his eyes going big and wide.

“Hush.” Kieran ordered softly, rubbing his hand over Florian’s cheek, fixing him with a gentle look before moving to file in beside Drayton.

Florian huffed but otherwise remained silent, instead fisting his hands into the fabric of Drayton’s tank top, Kieran could only imagine how indignant his face looked right now.

True to Drayton’s word, it didn’t take them long to reach the turn, the tallest returning Florian to the ground before leading them both around the corner, greeted by a small shop with red and white striped awning, a small wooden railing squaring in a couple of metal tables on either side of the glass door, propped open by a single red brick.

The chilly air within hit Kieran’s face immediately as he crossed the threshold, unable to stop the cold chill that wracked his body.

“Ahhh, sweet sweet air conditioning!” Drayton meanwhile stretched all the way out, quite reminding him of his Incineroar when he was a Litten. He wondered if Florian’s Meowscarada had done the same thing.

The dragon tamer sauntered in, his movements open and airy, like how Kieran would move in one hundred and ten degree weather. It was a stark juxtaposition to Kieran’s own more closed, more stiff movements, hunching his shoulders just a little bit to draw his jacket closer.

It made sense though, Drayton tended to run warm— the boy was like an Arceus damn furnace. More than once had Kieran seen the older boy parade around just fine in the Polar Biome after giving his jacket to the freezing Kitakamian, or a woefully unprepared Galarian whose ‘I’ll be just fine!’ had reassured nobody.

Kieran himself ran cold, his Sis always made fun of him for wearing his jacket even during the unbearably hot and humid Kitakamian summers, but she couldn’t fool him, he knew she was actually just like him, why else would she wear the winter uniform everywhere.

Florian ran warm too, although less than Drayton. He still got cold, but he seemed to be doing just fine in the heat too. Less like a furnace and more like a space heater. But oh, what a joy it was to be snuggled between the two under a mountain of blankets on a cold day. Which happened to be most days for Kieran.

A sudden pressure on his hand snapped Kieran out of his daydream, blinking and looking up to find Florian staring right at him with those big, sparkling honey brown eyes of his, clasping Kieran’s hand in both of his own, tugging on him slightly as he leaned back.

“C’mon, Kier, let’s go sit outside! I wanna make sure we get one of those tables!” He chirped, tugging a little bit harder, but Kieran resisted.

“Huh? But… We still gotta decide what we want…” His brow furrowed, brushing away one of Florian’s hands in favor of just holding the other regularly and tugging him towards where Drayton was at the counter.

“You know Drayton’s just gonna order for us anyway! Plus you’re freezing, c’mon he already knows what we want.” Florian insisted frowning a little before his lips curled back into a smile.

Kieran flushed at the notion, not letting up on his own pressure. “No, he knows whatchu wan’ ‘cause you always order th’ same thing!” He argued, flushing harder when all it served to do was draw a light-hearted jovial laugh from the chestnut haired boy.

“So do you!”

“I— that’s not— That’s not true!” Kieran sputtered before turning around and marching up to Drayton, a huffy look on his face. “I want—”

He had to pause, looking down at the flavours. There were so many… and he could only see half of them— oh… 

“I want cherry vanilla, so there.” Kieran huffed, crossing his arms and closing his eyes as if he had made some big point.

Giggling was the only warning Kieran got before he felt Florian’s hands on his shoulders, peaking over and undoubtedly on his tip toes, the suddenness of it all almost tipping Kieran into the counter. “Well then I want chocolate!” He chirped, his hands finding Kieran’s again before tugging him away more firmly.

“Now c’mon, I want those seats!”

Being tugged backwards, Kieran was able to see Drayton looking at them blankly, blinking before a laugh bubbled up from his throat, “Better listen Kier, our Rockruff’s on a mission. I’ll be out soon.”

Turning back to the staff the white haired boy started his order, idly petting his hand over the shop’s Glaceon that had jumped up on the counter looking for attention.  “Hey there! Sorry about that hahaha. Yeah doing good, yeah, hit me with the triple scoop, macha, chocolate and cherry vanilla thanks. Oh and can we get extra—”

Kieran wasn’t able to hear him clearly anymore once he had been dragged fully out the door, an involuntary chill running down his spine, his skin now feeling frigid against the warm summer air.

“Hmm, which one do you think?”

Turning around completely now he was met with the Galarian boy holding his chin, looking between the two circular ornate metal tables with a crease in his brow. Both of them had four chairs, and were thoroughly shaded thanks to a mixture of the awnings and the strategically planted trees on the boardwalk.

Snickering through his teeth, Kieran tightened his hand on Florian’s. “They’re both the same, you goober. Let’s sit at this one.” He suggested anyway, knowing Florian would be at it for hours if everyone let him.

Letting go of his hand Kieran moved to sit with his back towards the water, allowing Florian the spot near the wall across from him. He closed his eyes, his jacket protecting his elbows from indentations as he rested them on the table, cupping his cheeks with his hands and just— breathed.

A soft breeze had kicked up since they had went into the building, and it felt nice running through his thick strands, alleviating some of the natural extra heat he earned from having black hair where it wasn’t purple. The scent of the ocean was pleasant, not overly strong as it hit his nose, somewhere in the distance it smelt like oil, and potatoes. Maybe he could suggest getting fries later for lunch. He didn’t have them often really but they were good, especially with cheese. 

He found himself almost dozing off, the warmth, the breeze, the sound of the waves lapping gently across the sand, of the Wingull cawing in the distance proved to be quite the lullaby. 

The sound of glass clinking against metal startled him up, looking with wide eyes as Drayton slid in between the two of them, setting a rather large glass sundae dish on the table and pulling away from being suspiciously close to Florian’s face.

“Hey there sleeping beauty, ready for some ice cream?” Drayton smirked, holding out a spoon in his direction, but Kieran was too busy staring at the ice cream.

“Wowzers, those scoops are so big!” He blurted out staring at the oversized portions, “Ya sure you only got three scoops?”

“Mmmmhm.” Drayton hummed in response, looking rather proud of himself, setting the spoon infront of the still stunned Kieran and opting to hand one to Florian instead. “Like I said, best place on the boardwalk.”

Vaguely he registered Florian chortling and quiping something or another back at Drayton, but he was too busy staring at the dessert to focus on that right now, already starting to salivate a little bit at the promise of the sweat treat, it looked so rich and creamy too, already starting to melt just a little bit in the heat and piled high with whipped cream.

He could even smell it, the chocolatey scent overpowering anything else in the area, he could practically taste it— and that’s when he realised he didn’t get chocolate.

He got the cherry vanilla.

Kieran stared for a while before going to slowly pick up the spoon Drayton had given him, not quite aware of the eyes on him or how silent the others were being.

“Everything okay?” Drayton drawled, leaning back in his seat.

“Uh- yeah, everything’s fine.” Kieran started a little bit, finally taking a spoonful of the flavour he had requested, drawing it up and into his mouth.

Strictly speaking it was good. Really good actually, he had to wonder if they used fresh cherries, and they had to have made it in shop. But…

“Do you want mine?”

Kieran’s eyes darted up to greet the honeyed brown ones looking at him now, the owner of which relaxed and perching his cheek on his palm, meanwhile the tallest of them had started on eating at his own green coloured dessert.

“N-no.” Kieran stammered, even as his gaze flicked towards the coveted flavour in the bowl. “I mean, you ordered it for you an’ all. This— this is fine.”

He tried to put on a smile but he must’ve put on some sort of face instead as Florian insisted again. “I don’t mind none, really. You take the chocolate, cherry vanilla is a good flavour.”

“But—”

“I don’t like plain chocolate much anyway.” Florian interjected again, but it made Kieran’s brow furrow.

“Now, hold on— but why did you—”

Kieran was interrupted mid sentence by the feeling of metal invading his mouth, closing it instinctively only for his mouth to get flooded by the distinct and deliciously familiar taste of processed cacao and sugar. His eyes fluttered closed and only half of a delighted moan escaped his mouth before he remembered himself, lids snapping back open to find Drayton at the other end of the spoon.

“Oh, oh, me next!” Chirping up, the Galarian boy closed his eyes, holding his mouth wide open in Drayton’s general direction, looking something akin to a newly hatched Vullaby. The guileless trust Florian was giving was almost enough to stop Kieran’s belly aching— almost, leaning back in his chair, chewing lightly on the spoon still lodged in his mouth, caught halfway between a smile and a frown.

“Man…” Drayton sighed loudly, closing his eyes lightly fluttering back open a moment later as he moved to grab the first spoon Kieran had since abandoned on the table. “You two really aren’t giving the Drayster a break are you? This was supposed to be a nice relaxing little trip and you two are making me do all the work…”

Even as he complained the Unova gathered a dollop of the ice cream meant for Kieran, bringing with it a rather ‘healthy’ portion of fluffy whipped cream and spooning it into the awaiting boy’s gob.

The sound of Florian’s delight joined the clanking of metal as Kieran lightly bit on his own spoon, finally pulling it out of his mouth and reaching towards the chocolate.

“Okay fine.” He huffed, they were really twisting his rubber arm here. “But… if you don’t like plain chocolate very much why’dja get it?”

“Because I love you.” Florian hummed a reply as he took the spoon from Drayton, starting to dig into the white and red scoop himself.

“And because you always get the same thing.”

Kieran inhaled sharply a kind of choked noise around the spoon before he looked to the side, brow furrowed and cheeks flushed. “I—”

He couldn’t really argue that point anymore though, could he? With a sigh he relented. “Thank you… Sorry I made you pick up my mistake…” He kept himself from adding ‘again’.

Florian snorted in response as if it was the most silly thing in the world he was apologising. “Hey, it’s really not that big of a deal. Cherry Vanilla used to be my favourite anyway so it works out.”

“Yeah, but you couldn’t get your Mint Cho—”

For the second time he was interrupted by a mouthful of spoon and ice cream, this time a hint of macha joining the chocolate. Not a taste he particularly enjoyed, but there wasn’t enough of it to really matter.

“Eat it before it melts, babe.” Drayton gave a lazy smile, withdrawing his utensil to use himself again. “Wouldn’t want to waste ice cream this good, right?”

With a huff Kieran slid back in his seat, crossing his arm over his lap finally giving in completely and eating in a grumpy silence.

“It really is good ice cream, isn’t it?” Florian let out another delighted hum, turning his attention fully towards Drayton. “How did you find this place anyway, Dray? Don’t try and say you researched it, I know you better than that~”

“Heh, guilty.” Drayton gave a closed eye smile, leaving his spoon in the dish in favor of leaning back in his chair, the front legs lifting off the ground as he posed his hands behind his head. “Grandpa used to bring me and Iris out here a lot during the summer.”

Kieran sputtered for a moment, sitting up fully now. “Wowzers… Somehow I always forget your cousins with the region’s Champion.”

“Heheh, yup!” the legs of the metal chair made a thud as Drayton descended back forwards, poking once again at his dessert. “It’s been a while since we’ve all come out here together though.”

“Oh.” Sobering a little, Kieran deflated just a tad, he couldn’t help but be curious but Drayton’s expression made him hesitant to ask, the almost somber look on his face one that he didn’t wear often. Glancing over he could see a curiosity mirroring his own swirling in Florian’s honey-brown depths.

“Yeah, ever since Iris’s dad—” Drayton halted himself, yellow gaze darting up to where people were starting to wander onto the board walk, some of them filtering into the ice cream parlour in lou of the rising temperatures.

“Anyway, enough about that old stuff. As much as I’d like to sit around here all day I think I’d much rather sit around on the sand instead, so hurry and finish eating yeah?” Drayton gave another lazy smile, taking one last bite, polishing his portion off and leaving his spoon in the bowl in favour of giving a large languid stretch.

“Okay!” Florian chirped before practically inhaling the rest of his, leaving Kieran wondering if he even tasted it.

Kieran on the other hand took his bites much more slowly, he actually wanted to savour his treat.

“So, what’s the plans?” Florian asked, making idle chit chat while they waited. Everyone knew he would be down with just about anything without question anyway.

“Mmm, nothing but spending the rest of the day relaxing on the beach.” Letting out a yawn Drayton leaned forwards on his arms in an all too familiar position.

“Hope you weren’t expecting to do anything else with Drayton planning.” Kieran grinned, spooning the last bit into his mouth. “Alright, done.”

“Mmmmn, I…” Florian shuffled a little bit, before standing up. “I need to use the bathroom before we go.”

Kieran blinked up, sharing a glance at Drayton before back up at the Galarian boy. “Do you want one of us to come with you?” He spoke softly, studying for the smallest’s reaction.

“O-oh um…” Flushing, Florian looked behind him, glancing in through the windows. “No, there’s um… there’s not many people so…”

“I’ll be back.” The chestnut haired boy dipped his head before scurrying off inside.

The remaining two shared another glance before Drayton stood up proper. “Well while he’s in there, think you could help the Drayster out and help me put this on?”

Rummaging around in the small drawstring bag he brought along he tossed a small metal cylinder towards Kieran before unceremoniously pulling his white tank over his head, shoving it into his bag.

Kieran fumbled with the can for a moment, barely catching it, looking up once it was finally secure. Bad idea it turned out, his face immediately flushing. Now, none of the trio were particularly muscular. But of them all Drayton was probably the healthiest— ironic given his layabout attitude, but Kieran reckoned it all came from the whole— wrestling with dragons thing. It was probably also where the various scars littering his body had come from. Kieran couldn’t even imagine as he traced the ridges and lines with his eyes.

Clearly Drayton had caught him staring, stretching again with his arms above his head. “What’s wrong, Kier? Don’t wanna let me burn do you?”

Kieran cursed under his breath turning his head away quickly and grumbling as he inspected what had actually been tossed into his hands before scoffing. “The spray on stuff? Really?”

“Mhm, it’s so much more convenient don’t you think?” 

“Lazy bastard…” Kieran scoffed again as Drayton turned around, giving the can a good shake before removing the cap. The can hissed as Kieran pressed his finger down on it, a light dusting of sunscreen-y mist flying out as he waved it to coat Drayton’s back and neck and arms. “K, turn ‘round.”

“Aw, is someone disappointed?” The white haired boy teased as he turned back towards Kieran. “You can still rub it in if you want.”

Letting in a sharp breath the bridge of Kieran’s nose raised. If his face was getting this red in the shade he stood no chance in the sun. “I could spray this in your eyes, you know.” He grumbled, desperately trying to cover up how flustered he was getting.

“Man that’s harsh… Don’t want me looking at you?” He was still wearing the same smirk, taking the can once Kieran had finished spraying him.

“You want me to help?” The dragon tamer added slightly more seriously. “If you want I can stuff your jacket and tank in the bag too if you don’t wanna keep them on.”

“Um…” Kieran blinked, moving to chew on his thumbnail, knocking his fist into his thigh. Did he want to? He was wearing swim trunks, just like the others but he wasn’t too sure he wanted to go deep enough in the water to need his clothes not to get wet.

His eyes flicked up, roaming over Drayton’s chest again before giving a determined nod. “Y-yeah, please.”

“I can fit my jacket in my bag, but if you wouldn’t mind taking my top…” He slid out of his jacket, sliding around his waist bag to store it away first before slipping the bright red tank top and handing it towards the taller.

If he wasn’t already still flushed he would be now, glancing away roughly, suddenly feeling self continuous as he felt Drayton’s eyes on him. He wasn’t as large as Drayton was. He was honestly kind of scrawny, although he was doing better than in his days as Champion. Honestly he had tried a few times to put on muscle but it just never seemed to work for him, maybe he just wasn’t putting his heart into it. Now that wasn’t to say he wasn’t strong; he could carry his Hydrapple up the stairs on days that it didn’t want to cooperate and go back in his ball, even if it was a little bit of a struggle. He would hope so after spending his childhood climbing trees and rocks and scaling the mountain and helping lug around baskets of apples. It’s just that whatever muscle he did have was hidden stubbornly under the cover of his skin.

“Hey.” Kieran felt a sudden pressure on his chin, forcing his gaze up. “I can’t spray you if you’re looking down like that, it could get in your eyes.”

Kieran studied the yellow orbs boring into his own, the grip on his chin not letting up.

Don’t hide.

The real message swirling in those eyes and laced behind those words. 

It wasn’t until Kieran gave a small, sharp nod that Drayton released his hold, shaking up the can again. “Alright, arms up.”

Kieran flinched as the cold spray hit his front, barely managing to keep himself from recoiling.

“You okay?” Drayton asked as he finished, looking up curiously as he waited for Kieran to turn around.

“Cold…”

Turning his back towards Drayton he let out another shiver, closing his eyes tightly in response to the mist.

“Guyyys, I’m back! I got some water for—”

“Oh.” 

Kieran willed his eyes to open, being greeted with a slackjawed Florian with his arms grasp around three condensation covered bottles of fresh water.

The Galarian just stared for a good while and Kieran could see his honey-brown eyes darting back and forth, unsure where to settle them. The other two stayed silent, maybe rather indulging in the obvious attention and admiration.

Finally he snorted, a grin crossing his face. “The spray on kind? Really?”

“Man, you too?” Kieran could only imagine the way Drayton’s shoulders must’ve been slumping with the tone of his voice, lowering his arms and turning once he heard the spraying stop.

“You joinin’ us?” The purple haired boy pivoted, turning towards Florian with a gentle smile.

In response Florian trotted up to the table, setting the waters down. “‘Course I am!” It wasn’t even a second later he was tearing his shirt over his head just as unceremoniously as Drayton had, stretching out a little with the clothing still draped around his wrists before shedding it completely and setting it on the table. 

He had just as much confidence as Drayton, although he wore it differently. It was a bit like the difference between a Kantonian Ninetales and a Alolan Ninetales if Kieran had to compare it to anything. One of them knew he was hot shit and didn’t care what anyone else thought, the other one simply had confidence in himself and wasn’t bothered by what anyone else thought.

Florian had every right to it though, at least Kieran thought, and he’d be damned if he caught anyone else thinking differently. He was far less muscular than Drayton— even Kieran probably had more than he did, but he was less slender than Kieran. His stomach fluffed out just a bit in a way that reminded him of the Rockruffs the boy was often compared to. It was delightfully soft and huggable, and how blessed it was that Florian didn’t mind it being squished. Honestly the whole boy was. Soft and huggable, lacking any of the hard plains Drayton had, or the sharp angles Kieran himself possessed.

“Your turn.” The can of sunscreen appeared in Kieran’s vision for just a moment before it was dropped, the Kitakamian barely reacting in time to catch it.

“Huh, what?”

“I just sprayed, your turn now.” Drayton elaborated, sitting back down with a calf over his thigh as he waited.

Kieran rolled his eyes but didn’t argue, turning back to the other boy, catching him trying to pretend like he hadn’t been staring at his shoulder blades. “Alright, arms up, Sunshine.”

“Okay!” immediately the Galarian boy raised his arms, closing his eyes with a heart melting smile on his face.

Giving the can a shake, Kieran started about misting Florian, the smaller in turn giving a small shiver, not nearly as big a reaction as Kieran had. “Turn.”

“Oh, do we need to take the dish in?” Florian asked over his shoulder once he was properly facing away.

“Nah, we’re good. They collect the dishes and stuff here.” Drayton yawned as he stood up again, grabbing one of the waters from the table and taking a swig of it. “Thanks for the water, by the way.”

“‘Course I—” Turning around the boy paused, his brow furrowing as he scanned the table, arm raised. “Hey where did… where’d my shirt go?”

“Hmm? Dunno.” Drayton hummed, “I don’t think you need it anyway.”

Letting out a fond exasperated sigh, Kieran rolled his eyes again, he had seen the dragon tamer depositing the shirt into his bag out of the corner of his eye while Florian’s back was turned.

“Huh…” Florian blinked, staring a moment longer before the smile returned to his face. “Oh well! C’mon, let’s go!”

“You’re so carefree Florian…” grabbing his water in addition to the one Florian had left forgotten he filtered out behind him, Drayton trailing not far behind as they started off towards the beach.

“Hmm… yeah I guess I am.” Florian hummed, kicking his legs a little bit. “But why wouldn’t I be? I have you two!”

When he turned back and smiled, the sunlight caught in his hair, casting a golden halo through the brown strands.

“Besides, what could go wrong? I’m like the hero of a story, that’s what you said right?” The bright smile turned into an impish grin before devolving into a bright giggle.

Kieran flushed at the same time feeling a hand on his shoulder. “This’s the first I’m hearing about this, when’d you say that Kier? If he’s the hero then what’d that make you?”

The villain.

Kieran thought bitterly, looking down. It felt heavy on his heart, no longer bitter at the Galarian boy, instead directing the feelings completely inward. He acted so horribly before, actively got in Florian’s way… how could Florian thought of him as anything else when he had said that back then?

“The treasure!”

Before he could think, Kieran found himself stumbling backwards, arms instinctively wrapping around to catch the warm body that had been flung at it.

“The treasure?...” Kieran whispered breathlessly, staring at the boy in his arms.

“Mhm!” Florian stepped back leaving Kieran missing the warmth before the boy took one of his hands, his other held with his palm upturned towards Drayton, waiting for the taller boy to take it. “You two are both my greatest treasures, and it was worth every bit of the journey to find you.”

“Heh, glad you think so.” Drayton smiled in return, but Kieran was still looking forwards with wide eyes.

“R-really?” he murmured before looking down again. “Not… not the villain?”

“Not every story has a villain, Kier… And you were never one in mine.” Florian smiled and Kieran felt like crying.

The emotional whiplash was something else when the boy suddenly started beaming, “C’mon! I wanna get to the beach already!” And with that he was already reeling around and bounding off.

“Hey.” Before Kieran could follow he felt a pressure on his cheeks, forcing his head up and to the side to see Drayton staring at him with an eerily serious look, if only for the fact it was a rare sight. “Don’t forget, if we didn’t want you here we wouldn’t have invited you.”

To punctuate his point the white haired boy leaned forwards claiming Kieran’s lips fiercely enough the shorter ended up staggering to steady himself, his back bent slightly at the shoulder blades and eyes wide. Chocolate and lavender was an unusual but not unwelcome combination.

As quickly as it happened it ended and golden gazes returned their lock. “If having past mistakes makes you a bad guy, then we’d all be villains. Me and Flor included. Remember to give yourself some grace too, yeah?”

Kieran was wordless for a good time, the sound of waves and the occasional passing group’s chatter or footsteps on the boardwalk filling the air between them. Finally a bark of a laugh escaped Kieran’s mouth, breathless and warm before more and more followed, a smile gracing his lips. 

“You two are gonna be the death of me…” The Kitakamian murmured before pulling out of Drayton’s hand, making a brushing gesture with his own before walking to follow Florian.

“In a good way or a bad way?” Drayton drawled, smirking as he fell into step beside Kieran, hands held behind his head as they walked.

“Mmm… That has yet to be seen.” Returning the smirk, Kieran looked down, his expression turning into something light as he added softly to himself. “Good, I think.”

“Hey, Flor, you okay?”

The question drew Kieran’s attention, eyes turning up quickly to see Florian standing, posed on the edge of the boardwalk, staring with his hands at his sides out at the beach, a certain tension to his stance.

Looking a little beyond, Kieran noticed that the beach had gotten crowded since they first arrived, dotted with visitors looking to have a dip in the water, or a layabout on the sand.

Without thinking Kieran stepped forwards, placing a hand on Florian’s shoulder, causing the Galarian’s gaze to avert for only a second before returning to the sprawling people covered sand. “Hey.”

When he didn’t get a response he tried again, his grip tightening on Florian’s shoulder, “Hey, look at me.”

Finally the boy did, eyes big and wide and wet, sort of like a sawsbuck caught in the headlights of a car.

“Hey, we can—” He glanced around Florian at Drayton before continuing. “We can leave, if you want to.”

Florian shook his head furiously, his eyes closing tightly for the moment before he was looking back up at Kieran through his lashes again, lips pursed together tightly.

“Shit… I didn’t think it would get crowded so quickly…” Drayton mumbled to himself before stepping out onto the sand, glancing over his shoulder. “C’mon… Follow me, alright?”

Kieran squinted, studying the dragon tamer’s face and gleaming nothing from it. “You sure?” He asked, a skeptic tone lacing his voice.

“Trust me?”

Hesitating for only a moment he nodded, turning back towards Florian and taking both of his hands. “Just focus on me alrigh’?”

Florian gave a small tentative nod before stepping out onto the beach behind him.

It was a little awkward walking half backwards through the crowd, but he managed with Drayton making sure to go slow so he didn’t lose him, having to bark at Florian to pay attention and look at him occasionally, forbidding Florian’s gaze to wonder. “Hey! Look at me.”

Generally speaking, Kieran was fine in a crowd. It was the actual talking part that tended to spike his anxiety, able to ignore and tone out the riff raff pretty well— was it dissociating? Maybe.

They had eventually found out Florian was the opposite of that. It was a wonder he had managed to keep it secret for so long, but it seemed like having a crowd watch him battle was different than actually being in one and somehow nowhere they went had ever had quite enough people to pull the trigger on it.

“Hey, hey! Eyes on me, Florian.”

They had found out the hard way one time in Nimbasa, the bus there was fine. It was relatively quiet in the theme park at the time, none of them had known it was because Elisa had been actively having a show.

“Not far yet.” Drayton called back, the crowd of people was starting to get thinner.

Florian had dipped off to the bathroom outside the showroom. Neither Drayton or Kieran thought anything of it when people started filing in and out of the bathroom, a large line forming as the people bottle necked during the break in the show. Drayton had been showing Kieran some video or another on his phone.

It wasn’t until the crowd cleared and Florian still wasn’t out that they started to worry.

Kieran could still remember the sound of Florian crying silently bouncing off of the white tile walls, of the way his shoulder ached and the door slammed against the stall as he forced it open to find Florian huddled on top of the toilet seat trembling with his knees drawn up.

He had wanted to be mad that Florian didn’t tell them sooner, that he didn’t confide in them. But how could’ve he been? With the way his knees had turned red from gripping them too tightly, or the way his cheeks had been stained with rarely seen tears.

Kieran felt his shoes getting damp, looking down he noticed they were passing through some kind of— not quite river deposit, it didn’t go far enough for that, but it hit up against the rocks so it was impossible to avoid. It felt warm and gross through his socks but he focused his vision back on Florian, trying to encourage him to keep eye contact.

“Okay, we're here.” Drayton walked up, placing a hand on Florian’s shoulder— he was trembling like a leaf. “You good?”

Florian gave a small nod before the taller pulled him into a close hug.

Kieran took the chance to look around, gone were the shops of the boardwalk, although he could still see them in the distance from where they had come from. It looked more… residential, if he had to place it, but all the pathways were elevated high off the ground, made of wood that creaked a little as the waves hit them, high enough up he could walk under them if he wanted to— Drayton might need to hunch though.

“Hey, are we allowed to be here?” He asked tentatively, still inspecting the landscape. There was one group of people, some ways off deeper in the tangle of wooden walkways and houses, but other than that it seemed bare.

“Hm? Yeah, we’re good.” The dragon tamer replied as he pulled away from Florian, one hand still stoking against his head. “The beach is open to everyone, it's just that most people assume it’s closed off unless you live here.”

“Anyway, we’re here now and I have got to lay down.” Slinging the drawstring bag to the sand he flopped down dramatically, taking his footwear off and setting them to the side before laying back against the sand, hands behind his head and eyes closed like a meowth laying in the sun.

Florian frowned, deflating a little bit. “You’re not coming with us?”

“No.” Drayton gave a jovial laugh, prying an eye open to fix a yellow eye on the pouting boy. “Watching you is gonna be exhausting enough. Nah, I’ll just make sure our stuff doesn’t wander off.”

“Our stuff can’t wander off, it doesn’t have legs!” Florian argued before Kieran put a hand on his shoulder, feeling the warmth of it under his palm.

“C’mon Flor, I wanna see iffin you can really swim as fast as you were braggin’ ‘bout yesterday.” Kieran grinned, dropping his bag beside the lounging Unovan and slipping out of his shoes, happy to get out of the soggy footwear.

Almost immediately Florian perked back up, the familiar sparkle returning to his eyes. “Yeah! ‘Course I can, you’re on!”

“Last one to the water is a rotten exeggcute!”

Kieran couldn’t help but grin in kind, bouncing on his heels a little bit before chasing after him. “Florian, shoes!”

Florian almost tripped a handful of times in an attempt to kick off his shoes and run at the same time, the footwear littering the beach as he finally splashed into the water, droplets kicking up around his ankles.

“I win, I win!” He chirped, flashing a cheeky grin at his competitor.

“You had a head start!” Kieran combated, kicking up the water with his foot, causing the Galarian to retreat behind his arms.

“Yeah whatever, I still got here first!”

The waves lapped at Kieran’s shins as he watched Florian wade farther and farther out before flopping onto his back. Part of him wanted to join, he had gotten far better at swimming in the past few months with plenty of insistence from the boy currently drifting farther and farther away. But that was in the Terarium, not the open waters of the Unovan ocean.

Maybe later, for now he contented himself on lowering to the water, sitting where the waves didn’t quite meet his knees as he rested his arms on them, looking out into the sprawling blue blanket of water before him.

If he looked close enough he thought he could see a group of Luvdisc in the distance, Luvdisc lived in Unova right? They certainly lived in the Terarium. Kieran wondered what other kinds of Pokemon lived out here, recalling when he and Drayton had had an argument about what colour Basculin was. In his defence, he had never seen one without a white stripe before! Apparently the ones out here didn’t evolve either. Maybe he’d get to see one, or two he had heard they came in red and in blue. Briefly he wondered which would be better in a battle. Surely the white-striped variation of his homeland, it could evolve after all, so that had to make it better by default. Unless the other two had better abilities, he guessed. Come to think of it what ability did Basculegion even—

“Ah!”

Kieran let out a yelp as he felt something impact the side of his body, sending him tumbling into the shallow water. He didn’t need to look up to tell what, or rather who had done it.

“F-Florian, what was that for?!” Kieran barked, his brow furrowing as he pushed himself at least partially out of the water, as much as having a boy sized weight on top of him would allow anyway. His hair was soaked now, more strands than he would like escaping the yellow headband turned hair tie.

Florian just giggled in response, the noise filling the otherwise silent beach, no doubt reveling in the annoyance painting Kieran’s face. “You looked like you were thinking about things too much again.”

“You didn’t hafta jump on me!” Kieran huffed, giving Florian the side eye. “Now I’m all soaked.”

“Maybe I like seeing you wet.” The Galarian boy flashed a downright nasty look and Kieran could feel his face heating up immediately.

“F-Florian!” He hissed, pushing the smaller boy’s face away. “Get off of me, you dummy!”

Barking out an impish laugh Florian relented, retreating further off down the beach, turning some paces down and sticking his tongue out cheekishly.

“Florian, you!” An unwitting grin spread across the Kitakamian’s face, surging up to give chase, quickly eating up the distance between them, catching Florian by his shoulder and wrestling him into the deeper water.

The chestnut haired boy got swallowed up by the waves, surfacing a moment later in a fit of coughing and laughter. “H-hey, no fair!”

“Plenty fair if I’m playing by your rules.” Kieran’s grin only lasted until he felt a hand wrapped round his ankle, no time to react as he was swiftly pulled off balance, landing squarely on his butt a splash of water cascading up around him.

It only took a moment for Florian to launch atop him again, peppering his face with kisses like an over excited Yamper, leaving Kieran with only his arms to defend himself with.

“F-Florian, quit it! Enough! Enough!” Kieran snorted, speaking through his laughs, trying and failing to quell the onslaught.

A sudden lack of movement caused Kieran to blink, looking up curiously to see Florian’s gaze locked on something behind him, following it to find that at some point Drayton had gotten up, standing ankle deep in the waves and looking far out over the ocean, a thoughtful look on his face, the light breeze ruffling through his hair and waist-cape.

And then the weight had been lifted, eyes going wide as Florian pushed himself up and into a barrel towards the dragon tamer, a shout leaving his lungs as he pounced at the taller boy, only to be held back by a hand on his chest no matter how hard he pushed back.

“Drayton!” Florian shouted with a grin, hands reaching out in an attempt to grab. “I will get to see you dripping! This is not a threat!! It is a promise!!!”

Drayton gave a full belly laugh, the low sound resonating throughout the area. “I didn’t take you for someone who would make a promise they couldn’t keep, Flor.”

“That’s—!” A squeak was drawn from Florian before he could finish his thought, Drayton pivoting the smaller boy to the side, the hand previously keeping him as bay now latched onto his upper arm, the other swooping to grab around his knee before lifting and twirling at the same time, letting go once the circle had been completed and tossing the boy into the ocean like a throwing hammer, leaving him spinning as he landed with a splash.

Kieran could only stare wide eyed at the spot the Galarian had disappeared under, still reclined from being knocked down earlier. Just as he was starting to get worried Florian resurfaced, laughing just like he had before, running eagerly back over to Drayton with the biggest brightest smile on his face and a sparkle in his eye.

“Again! Drayton do it again, please!” Florian chirped, wrapping his arms around Drayton’s left, tugging on it lightly.

The white haired boy rubbed the back of his head, letting out a sigh. “You’re really determined to give me a work out today huh? Look, I’m just here to relax and take in the eye candy.”

Drayton’s implication seemed to miss Florian, simply frowning at the denial. It didn’t miss Kieran though, unable to keep the red spreading across his face one more, letting out a tut.

“Okay…” Florian sighed, loosening his grip on Drayton’s arms right before another surprised squeak as Drayton held on tightly, flinging him once more into the waters, coaxing out a delighted scream that got swallowed up by the waves.

Kieran relaxed against his elbows as he watched the scene on repeat, quite reminding him of that video Drayton had shown him once of a Rattata who kept asking to be tossed onto its trainer’s bed. The sound of the younger’s joy filling the air along with occasional banter.

It had to be getting further and further past noon, Kieran noted as he looked not quite at the sun. The ice cream had been well and good and all, but it was hardly filling, even with such a large portion. His mind flicked back to his earlier thoughts and the smell of the food on the boardwalk.

With a reluctant sigh of effort he pushed himself up from the sand and water, wading over to Drayton and tugging on his cap for attention while Florian was still recovering from the most recent throw.

“Hm?”

“Hey, I’ll be back ina li’l bit.”

“Okay.” Drayton agreed but the question was clear on his face.

“Just down to the boardwalk, I won’t be long.”

After a moment’s hesitation Drayton nodded, a small smile crossing his lips. “Alright.”

Before Kieran had gotten too far away, securing his waist bag but opting to leave his shoes behind he turned to see Florian once again charging towards Drayton, this time catching the distracted boy off guard enough to hug his sopping wet body around him, the taller stumbling backwards.

“Okay, okay, enough.” He heard Drayton’s voice distantly as he lifted the smaller up, sitting on his hands so they were face to face. “You really don’t run out of energy, do you?”

“Sometimes.” Florian hummed in response, resting his forearms on Drayton’s shoulders.

“Lair.”

Florian snickered, and Kieran couldn’t help but to smile fondly as Drayton silenced it with his lips.

Finally he turned away completely, making his way towards the boardwalk.

It was wild, really. Months ago he would have been seething seeing Florian paying so much attention to Drayton, or Drayton to Florian. He wasn’t exactly sure when it happened, but the jealousy had eventually ebbed. That wasn’t to say it wasn’t there at all, more so on some days than others. But he supposed he didn’t mind sharing if it meant he got to have both of them too.

It didn’t take his nose long to track down the stall he had smelt earlier, a small hut selling various fried finger foods, it took him even less time to order, apparently having missed the lunch rush— either that or they were just extremely efficient with getting the food out. They were even nice enough to give him a bag, and a carrying holder for the drinks. All paid, he gave a thanks before turning back to navigate back through the crowded beach, although it seemed to have started thinning out since earlier.

Upon arriving back at the secluded part of the beach he couldn't help but smile, seeing Drayton sprawled out on the sand, presumably dozing off with Kieran’s tank top draped over his face. Looking out into the ocean for his other however, that smile quickly turned to a frown when he saw Florian balancing haphazardly on a cropping of rough, crookity ocean rocks, hopping from one to another, arms flailing as he caught his balance, almost falling over.

A flash of irritation flicked through his mind at Drayton’s carelessness before he quelled it with a deep inhale. Florian could do what he wanted, it wasn’t up to Drayton to keep an eye on him— and it wasn’t up to Kieran either, even if he was going to anyway. The boy was just so accident prone… remembering just last week he had come back to the dorms with a huge gash on his leg he got trying to get a better look at a nesting Vullaby after deciding it was a great idea to try and climb a tree while it was storming in the Savannah Biome.

Upon exhale he moved to sit by the lightly snoring Unovan boy. He knew how to get him for not paying attention.

“Florian, food!” He shouted, drawing the smaller boy’s attention and holding up the brown paper bag.

It had exactly the desired effect, Drayton startling up right and wide eyed. “Hey man, not cool…” He huffed, rubbing the back of his head.

“Hm? Getting food for everyone isn’t cool?” Kieran replied with a raised eyebrow, foraging around in the bag and finally pulling out a plastic container of fries and a fork, holding it out towards the white harried boy.

Well, it wasn’t exactly just fries. It was fries, and cheese sauce, and some kind of ground meat, and jalapenos. A nasty, saucy, wet, mushy combination that he knew and hated that Drayton adored.

“Kieran! Food!” The familiar Galarian voice was accented by a tremendous splash, Kieran looking over just in time to see the boy rapidly approaching their location through the water.

“Wow, you do listen to what I like!” Drayton teased, taking the offered container and prying it open.

“Yeah, unfortunately.” Kieran gave a fond scoff, returning the tease. Rummaging through the bag further he pulled out another container, more fries, also smothered in cheese, however in place of the other topics was a thin sheet of crispy bits of bacon.

Kieran held it up tall above his head, shaking it a little bit and putting on a voice usually reserved only for overly cute pet Pokemon. “Florian! Florian, come here boy, food! Food time Flori!”

Florian skidded to a halt beside Kieran, half falling half sliding onto his butt at a perfectly diagonal angle before evening himself out, inadvertently sitting seiza style as an indignant pout crossed his face. “I’m not a Rockruff, dummy.”

“That’s debatable.” Drayton smirked, shoving a forkful of slop into his gob and drawing a snicker from Kieran.

“Here.” Humming Kieran passed the container to Florian, watching his frown fade.

“Wow! Thank you, it looks tasty!” Florian exclaimed, eagerly taking the offering and popping the lid open, not caring one bit about the cheese as he grabbed a fry.

“It had better, he slaved over a hot stove for hours making it.”

Kieran rolled his eyes, grabbing the last of the containers. “Whatever, bozo.”

It was the simplest one, just fries. He was able to ask for a couple of strips of bacon on the side, along with requesting the cheese in a smaller plastic cup, grabbing one of the potato snacks and dipping it in the sauce.

“Mmmm!” Florian’s hum of delight came from beside him, drawing his attention, “The chips don’t just look tasty, they taste tasty too!”

“I’m glad you like it.” Popping the fry into his mouth Kieran’s eyes widened, “Oh yeah, I almost forgot, I grabbed us some drinks too, they were sellin’ lemonade an’ it looked really good so— well here.”

Kieran grabbed the drink carrier, letting everyone grab a cup before taking his own, sipping on it lightly.

The taste that flooded his mouth was delightful, sweet but not overly so— for him it could have been sweeter, but he knew not everyone had as big a sweet tooth as he did. It even had a small bit of pulp here and there, so it had to be fresh, probably.

Predictably Florian was the first to finish. Drayton might not chew much either, but he still took his time with it, it was a wonder the smaller boy didn’t choke. It took him just as long to bound back into the water, floating on his back with a smile on his face.

It was probably about another hour by the time Kieran was done with his, forty five minutes if he was being generous, between savoring the bites and conversing with Drayton.

With a stretch he stood up, gathering up the trash. “I’ll be back.”

“Alright, I think I saw a bin not too far that way.”

“Thanks.”

Upon his return Kieran found Drayton already dozing again, Florian keeping himself occupied, who knows how, in the water. He seemed to be having fun, so whatever.

With a sigh Kieran laid back against the sand, pose somewhat mirroring Drayton’s as he just stared up at the sky. It was peaceful, and the light breeze felt good against the warmth of the sun. Kieran inhaled, the salty air tickling his nose as he closed his eyes, just being.

It was rare he could relax like this, one stray thought or another unraveling one after another like an infinite ball of yarn left in the care of a Liepard. 

He’d go back to the water again in a little while, for now this felt nice.

Kieran’s eyes fluttered open when he felt a sudden damp weight on his armpit, blinking rapidly in confusion as he tried to gain his bearings. The blue sky was now slowly tinging a pinkish orange, previously white and fluffy clouds a light yellow colour as they floated above.

Closing his eyes tightly to clear the fog he glanced down at the weight, finding a still dripping Florian nestled up to his side, lids settling heavy over his eyes.

With sloppy movements he rested a hand on the Galarian’s back, turning his head to the other side, finding Drayton sitting up, arms resting on his knees as he gazed out into the ocean, an almost somber look on his face.

“Drayton?” Kieran mumbled, his brow furrowing, still trying to fight off the drowsiness.

The dragon tamer perked, looking over almost like he had been caught off guard for a moment before smiling, turning back towards the ocean. “Oh, hey there sleeping beauty.”

Kieran tutted, adjusting Florian so he could sit up proper, the sleeping boy not stirring an inch as he was moved.

He studied Drayton’s face curiously a moment longer, the silence stretching between them.

“You okay?” He finally broke the silence, a tentatively spoken question.

“Yeah, I was just thinking.” Drayton, hummed, his gaze staying fixed on the water, grabbing a nearby bit of debris and hucking it towards the ocean.

“See all that out there?”

Kieran turned his head curiously, shifting his gaze from Drayton out towards the ocean, squinting a little, it was hard to tell but it sort of looked like there was something red out there, lots of little somethings.

“It’s easier to tell at night but those’re all Staryu out there.”

Kieran’s eyes widened, all of those were Staryu? He hadn’t actually gotten to see one up close before, he would have never imagined they stayed together in such big groups though. “Wowzers…”

“Yeah, I know right?” Drayton gave a lopsided grin, but it left as quickly as it came, the taller boy leaning back on his palms. “They reminded me of the sky, all out there, blinking and twinkling like stars… I always wanted one when I was younger, almost managed to catch one too.”

“Apparently they’re ‘not an acceptable Pokemon for a dragon tamer’ though.” Drayton sighed, closing his eyes and tilting his head back towards the sky. “I still haven’t tried to catch one again. Pretty silly, isn’t it.”

Kieran studied Drayton’s face again before turning back out to the ocean, the sound of the waves crashing against the shore and the soft rustling of the wind the only noise as the silence stretched between them. “No, I don’t think it’s silly…”

“Hm…” Drayton hummed, not moving otherwise as he allowed the silence to linger on.

At some point Kieran had started idly petting across Florian’s hair, his eyes scanning the shoreline as it continued to get darker. That’s when he spotted something near the outcropping of rocks Florian had been climbing on earlier, his heart thudding at the realisation.

Quickly, but carefully he shuffled Florian off of him and onto the sand, digging around in his waist bag until he found what he was looking for.

“Kieran?” Drayton asked, dumbfounded by the sudden movements, but Kieran was already off.

“I see one, Drayton! Over there, I’ll catch it and then you can finally have your Staryu!” A grin spread across his face as he ran towards it, Pokeball in hand. It was so perfect, the perfect gift and he was gonna be the one to give it to him.

“K-Kieran, hold up!” Drayton shot up, standing with an unusual quickness. “It’s too dark, don’t—”

The warning came just a little bit too late, a sharp pain running up his leg as he jabbed his toes into a rugged sea rock, knocking him clear off balance as he stumbled forwards, only to land hard on his ankle, a yelp tearing from his throat, reeling around and falling harshly on his side, the pain in his toes quickly forgotten in lieu of the new one throbbing through his ankle.

He was able to twist around to sit, tears forming in his eyes as he held his ankle, but he wouldn’t let himself cry. The toes on his other foot were roughed up and bleeding, but it didn’t look too bad, and compared to the left, didn’t hurt as badly either.

“S-shit.” Drayton was by his side in seconds, kneeling down with a hand at his back. “Kieran, you okay?”

“Y-yeah I’m fine I—” The Kitakamian shuffled, trying to push himself up only to let out a hiss of pain as he faltered, falling back down.

“Sure, and I’m Champion Leon of the Galar Region…” Drayton murmured under his breath, his hand running lightly across where Kieran’s ankle was quickly swelling. “Hold on.”

The taller boy hoisted Kieran up, being mindful of his injury, adjusting so Kieran could wrap his arms around his neck, encouraging him to do the same with his legs to his hips.

Drayton let out a tch, clearly in thought.

“S-sorry…” Kieran murmured, pressing his face against Drayton’s collar in an attempt to hide away.

“Don’t be.” With a kiss to the temple Drayton turned around. “C’mon, let's get Florian, we’re probably not getting back tonight between the two of you.”

“Florian?” Drayton asked, nudging the slumbering boy with his foot, getting returned with radio silence even as his chest still rose and fell. The white haired boy sighed, “Go figure…”

“Is he okay?” Kieran asked, peering down at the heavy body, if not for his breathing he might think he was dead.

“I don’t think I saw him get out of the water a single time while you were asleep.” Drayton let out another sigh, nudging Florian harder with his foot. “What am I gonna do with you two?...”

“Florian.” Another nudge. “Florian, wake up.”

Finally, finally the boy groaned, moving his hands over his face, groaning again.

“Soreeeee…” He murmured, laying front down on the sand now.

“I know, c’mon though, we need to get going. Hey, don’t go back to sleep on me!”

Florian let out a third groan, stumbling to his feet before he hissed, bending to grab at his calves, eyes closing instinctively as he let out a whimper.

Drayton looked on, brow furrowing helplessly at the pained boy. Finally he let out a sigh.

“You know when you said we were gonna be the death of you earlier?” Drayton asked, yellow eyes darting to Kieran.

“Y-yeah?” Kieran nodded, wide eyed as he looked between Drayton and Florian.

“Think I’m gonna steal that line.”

“Alright Flor, come here, legs ‘round my waist now.” Drayton turned, bending at the knees slightly while still keeping a hold on Kieran.

Whether Florian was just too tired to protest, or if he wouldn’t have protested in the first place Kieran was unsure, but after a few tries and some awkward adjusting Florian clambered up onto Drayton’s back, one of the taller’s arms tucked under Florian’s leg and the other under Kieran’s butt.

“Alright.” Drayton let out an exhale. “Okay, here we go.”

“Sorry…” Kieran apologised again as Drayton started trudging off in a different direction from the boardwalk, ducking under one of the wooden walkways.

“Say that again and I’ll drop you.”

“Y-yeah, okay.” Kieran squeaked, glancing around Drayton’s shoulder. “What about our shoes?”

“We’ll pick them up tomorrow, they should be fine there.”

“What if someone takes them?”

“Then I guess we get new shoes.” Drayton flashed him a smile before directing his gaze back forwards, a set look on his face as he trudged up a set of wooden stairs, focusing on keeping his balance.

Kieran didn’t peep up again, too focused on taking in the surroundings. The buildings were wooden, and looked somewhat rustic, but they were clearly designed that way, big and extravagant for the most part. Even the smaller ones were about the size of his own home in Kitakami, and that was considered a luxury one in itself.

“Rotom.” Drayton’s voice sounded strained as he called upon his phone, halting in front of one of the many wooden doors. “Call Grandpa.”

Kieran could hear the call sound, the buzzing of the ring, even as Drayton had directed his Rotom to float next to his ear, and then silence.

“Rotom, call Grandpa.”

More ringing, and then finally a voice Kieran couldn’t quite understand.

“Hey.”

“Yeah, I know, sorry.”

“Sorry.”

“Look, can I have the code to the Humilau house for this month?”

“No that’s—”

“I’m not—”

“I know.”

“I know there’s classes tomorrow that’s not—”

“Grandpa! Listen, one of my friends is hurt!”

Drayton’s voice cracked and Kieran flinched, he had never heard the boy’s voice crack before, even once.

“So, please…”

“O-okay, got it. Thank you.”

“Yeah, love you too…”

“See you later.”

Drayton let out a stuttering breath as his Rotom Phone returned to his swimming trunks, closing his eyes for a good moment before plastering on that familiar lazy smile. “Hey, Kier. Could you press the numbers on the door for me?”

“Y-yeah, yeah I can.” Kieran nodded, twisting in conjunction with Drayton turning to the side slightly to be able to input the relayed code, the handle beeping as the motorized lock twisted and finally clicked, allowing Kieran to twist the handle and Drayton to kick the door open.

The inside of the house rather matched the outside, wooden with plenty of seaside decor, just like he imagined a vacation house would look like, opening up into a living room with a large crochet rug occupying the floor, two recliners, a love seat, a couch and a rocking chair all arranged around a small glass coffee table and pointed towards a wall mounted tv hanging above the mantle of a fire place.

It all looked pretty impersonal, save for the pictures littering the walls and free surfaces. He recognised three of the figures immediately, if only for the hair colour of the two younger. Pictures of Drayton and Iris when they were obviously much, much younger, along with what was presumably other members of their family.

As he looked around, carried further into the building, Drayton kicking the door closed behind them, he thought how cute some of the pictures were, noticing one of them of the ice cream parlor Drayton had taken them too, a somehow too energetic looking Drayton dueling spoons with an equally young looking Iris, a man he recognised to be Drayden smiling behind them.

Another of the two chasing after each other on the beach. Of them both passed out in front of the fireplace… A solo photo of Iris with a Haxorus. Another picture of them both together, each of them holding onto a Basculin with big bright smiles, they looked a little older in that one, Drayden standing behind them, a hand on each of their shoulders. Another picture of Iris, and another picture of her…

Kieran’s brow furrowed as he studied the wall, Drayton carrying them both further into the living room. Finally his eyes landed on another photo with the boy in it, but it only caused a strange feeling to wash over him. It must’ve been only a few years ago the picture had been taken, at the ice cream parlor again. At first he thought it had just been another picture of Iris, standing front and center making a peace sign at the camera, but a little bit behind her was the white haired boy, sitting at the table resting his head on his arms, fingers also splayed in a V, barely. It was almost as bad as when Kieran had tried to do it the first time Florian and he had met.

The room felt a lot colder than when they had entered, feeling Drayton leaning backwards, slowly lowering the slumbering Galarian onto the couch before walking over to deposit Kieran onto the loveseat.

Kieran hissed as he tried to move his ankle, he had almost forgotten about it.

“You okay?” Drayton asked quietly, locking their yellow eyes together.

“Yeah, just. Forgot ‘bout it for a sec I guess.”

“Hm…” Drayton hummed, letting his eyes linger a hearts beat longer before standing, “We need to get some ice on that… Gimme a sec.”

On his way to, presumably the kitchen, the dragon tamer flipped a switch, causing Kieran to shield his eyes at the sudden light. “D-damn it Dray, warn me before you blind me next time!”

A laugh came from the other room. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

Soon he had returned, kneeling down in front of Kieran before taking his ankle in his hands, pressing down on it and drawing a pained gasp from the purple haired boy.

“Ow ow ow—”

“Okay, I don’t think it’s broken.” Evaluation over he placed a cloth over the swell, presumably containing a bag of ice if the way it crinkled and the sudden cold on Kieran’s ankle were any indication. “Hopefully you just twisted it and it's not sprained.”

Drayton pulled out the second cloth he had gotten, slightly damp and warm, gently running it against the toes on Kieran’s other foot in an attempt to remove any lingering debris.

“Sorry, for runnin’ off like that…” He apologised again as Drayton stood up, fixing him with some sort of gaze.

Kieran let out a soft chuckle at the expression before grinning. “Hey, ‘s not like ya can drop me anymore.”

The look turned into a smile as the dragon tamer shook his head. “Guess not.”

Drayton turned, navigating towards a slotted door on the far wall. “And hey. Never apologise for caring, okay?”

A moment later a creak echoed through the otherwise silent room, Drayton reaching into what Kieran imagined to be a closet, turning around arms full of a trio of throw blankets. Walking by the couch he took one of the blankets, tossing it over Florian’s almost alarmingly still form, brushing a stray lock of hair out of his face, gaze lingering only a moment before he stood again, handing the second throw to Kieran, cozying down into the spot next to him on the love seat and covering himself with the last.

Kieran recognised it to be the same one he had been draped with in one of the pictures.

“I can help you with the blanket if you want.” Drayton offered, pulling out his Rotom Phone.

“No, I think I’ve got it.” Kieran shook his head, tossing it haphazardly over his legs, somehow working out.

“Good, cause I really didn’t wanna get up again.” Letting out a chuckle, the older boy smiled lazily. “So any ideas for dinner?”

“Dinner?” Kieran blinked, he hadn’t even thought about it but now that he was his stomach let out a low rumble, cheeks flushing in response.

“Yeah, dinner.” Drayton smirked, cocking an eyebrow in Kieran’s direction before back at the phone. “No way I’m walking anymore tonight so I’m just gonna order something in.”

“Hmm… well, what’s good around here then?”

“Seafood.” Drayton responded without looking up. “Super fresh after all. There’s a lot of it… There’s this (Italian) place that does this shrimp scampi, and scallop alfredo— I think they have a seafood pizza too. Plenty of places with fried fish… Sushi…”

“But not real sushi.” Kieran interjected with a grin of his own, coaxing a bark of a laugh from the other.

“No, not real sushi.”

Kieran hummed for a moment, eyes studying the overly generic seaside decor, noticing a rather garish dhelmise shaped clock on the wall that might’ve looked good in any room other than this one.

“I think we should get sushi.” He mused after a while, gaze flicking back to Drayton.

“Really?” Drayton hummed, crooking his eyebrow.

“Mhm…” Kieran smiled softly, looking towards the couch now. “Florian loves not real sushi. Might be th’ only way we can wake him up.”

Kieran giggled, returning his eyes once more to meet Drayton’s. “And we can always try that (Italian) place next time we come here.”

“Next time?” The dragon tamer blinked, seemingly a more sincere question than his last.

“Yeah?” Kieran grinned, talking like it was the most obvious thing in the world. “And I’m gonna ask Florian to take lots and lots of pictures, you know how he gets whenever he gets the camera app out.”

A moment of blank silence passed before Drayton let out a hearty laugh. “Yeah, who could forget…”

“Hmm… I think you’ve had sushi— not real sushi— with Florian more times than I have, what kinda stuff does he normally like.”

“Everything.” Kieran laughed trying to lean in a little bit closer to see. “He tends to favour stuff with salmon I think, oh, and crab and avocado. I’m more ofa yellowtail person myself, squid is good too though.”

“I see.” Drayton hummed, scrolling with his finger through the options, occasionally asking for Kieran’s input.

“What kind do you like then?” Kieran asked curiously, looking up through his lashes.

“Hmm… I don’t get it a lot, but probably eel I guess. Shrimp and scallop too, if I’m remembering right.”

“Makes sense.”

“Oh?”

“Just does.” Kieran hummed, snuggling against Drayton’s shoulder.

“Alllright! Order’s all placed now all we gotta do is sit back and wait.” Drayton stretched out with a yawn, wrapping an arm around the purple haired boy who snickered in response.

“Your favourite.”

“Guilty, as, charged.” Rumbling, Drayton leaned his head back over the couch and closed his eyes.

Kieran let his mind wander, trying not to let it linger too long on the phone call from earlier, training his eyes on Florian’s sleeping form when he failed to do so.

A rasp on the door caught his attention some time later, turning towards it. “Drayton…”

“Yeah, yeah I’ve got it.” Drayton groaned as he shoved himself up. As easy going as he put on, even he was probably starting to feel all of the day’s activities.

Soon he returned, the crinkling of the white bag with a yellow smiley face on it greeting Kieran’s ears as he put it down on the coffee table, clearing it of its decorations and starting to lay out the food in its place.

“Alright… I think that’s all split up then. Can you reach?”

“Yeah I can manage.”

“Chopsticks?”

“No, a fork.” Kieran replied dryly, getting only a chuckle in response as Drayton handed him a pair of wooden chopsticks.

“So how do you suggest we wake up Mr. Rip Van Winkle over there?”

Kieran scoffed in response, a smile crossing his face. “Firstly, I have no idea who that is, and secondly, what gives? Not gonna call him sleepin’ beauty?”

“Nope, just you, sweetheart.” The suave look just prompted an eye roll and a tut as Kieran snapped the chopsticks, sub-consciously using them to gesture with.

“Try wavin’ a piece in front of his nose, maybe that’ll wake him up.”

“Ha! Like a Rockruff and a stick of beef jerky. Worth a try.” Drayton attempted to pick up a piece of salmon nigiri from the box a couple of times with his chopsticks, eventually giving up and pinching it between his fingers instead, moving it back and forth infront of this boy’s schnoze.

“Florriiiaaaannnnnnnn, sushiiiiiiiiiii~”

Said boy grumbled slightly, but the only movement came with his head rolling to the side.

“Hm.” The tallest among them grew a grin on his face and immediately Kieran’s brow furrowed in nervous response, he knew that look.

In a move that surprised Kieran Drayton reached out, grabbing Florian’s chin and using his index and middle fingers to pry his mouth open— not that it was a challenge of any kind, pressing the sushi salmon side down against the boy’s tongue.

“Drayton!” Kieran barked in disbelief.

“What? I’m just letting him taste.” Drayton soothed silkily as if Kieran was being the weird one right now.

“Drayton he could ch—”

Another grumble escaped the Galarian’s mouth before it closed, slicing through the nigiri in an odd half, honey-brown orbs fluttering half open as he chewed. “Sushi…”

Kieran let out a defeated sigh, burying his face in his hands.

“And he comes too! See, I told you it would work!” Drayton’s cheery smile was a start juxtaposition to how anxious Kieran had been feeling just moments prior.

“Please don’t do that again.”

Florian sat up slowly, blinking unevenly as he tried to figure out what was going on. “Where are we?” He asked groggily, looking around.

“Not important.” Drayton replied quickly, standing up.

“Okay…” Florian mumbled, rubbing at his eye.

Florian blinked again, looking down at the table now. “Sushi…”

“Sure is, if there’s anything you don’t like, blame Kieran.”

“Hey!” The huffed response prompted a laugh of its own, the entire lot of it seemingly going right over the sleepy boy’s head.

“Go ahead and eat up, we’re staying here tonight.” Drayton started picking at his own food with his fingers now, popping a piece of a roll into his mouth.

Florian blinked up at Drayton, tilting his head curiously, brow furrowed as much as he could muster.

“Yeah, just don’t feel like flying all the way back right now you know?”

“I, uh, tripped and twisted my ankle or somethin’…”

Florian’s eyes went wide at that, “Are…”

He let out a stuttering breath. “Okay?” Shaking his head he tried one more time. “Are you okay, Kieran?” 

His voice came out a low and rough mumble, not quite opening his mouth all the way, but the sediment was appreciated anyway.

“Yeah, I’m alright. Drayton put some ice on it.” In truth, it was still throbbing, but far less than it had been, so Kieran considered that a win.

Contented enough, Florian started eating the offered food, somehow still better than Drayton at using his chopsticks even in his tired state. Humming in delight more often than normal.

It didn’t seem like anyone was up much for idle chit chat, eating in silence for the most part.

Sighing, Drayton placed his now empty container on the table, glancing up between the two.

“Alright… So, we’ve got two options, we can either sleep out here on the totally convenient and already set up couched, or there’s a bed we can—”

“Beddd.”

“The bed.”

“Why did I even ask?” Drayton sighed more dramatically, standing up.

“Why did you even ask?” Kieran teased, unable to keep the smile on his face as he looked up.

“Hey, it’d still be easier on me to leave you out here you know.”

“You wouldn’t.” Grinning, Kieran lowered his eyelids confidence shining through above all else right now.

“Florian, do you think you can walk?” Drayton asked, turning his attention to the smallest.

Florian yawned, standing up on shaky legs. “Course I can walk… I got two legs an all…” His movements were stiff as he stumbled off towards the hallway, clearly still sore from swimming for who knows how many hours.

Not two paces into the hallway did he stumble, slamming up against the wall with a loud resounding thud, followed by a faint snoring sound as Florian slid halfway down the surface, his cheek smooshed against it.

“Figures.” Running his fingers through his hair with an equally fond and exasperated tone walking up to the fallen boy. “C’mhere you.”

With some difficulty he hoisted Florian up in all of his dead-weighted glory, walking him into a room further into the back, reamerging a little bit later empty handed.

“Alright, your turn.”

Kieran hesitated, looking away towards the window for a second and then back up. “Can, you just lend me your hand, or something?”

“Huh, why?” Drayton’s brow furrowed, studying Kieran’s face.

“I wanna walk by myself.”

“Well, I don’t want you to.”

Yellow met yellow in an impromptu staring contest, until finally one spoke.

“Please.”

With a sigh Kieran relented, looking away. “Fine.”

It didn’t take long for Drayton to hook his arm under Kieran’s leg and under his back with a smile, making sure to bring along the ice pack.

It was too dark to see much, but the room smelled like too much pine and sandalwood as Kieran was brought in. Florian was already sound asleep on the bed face down on the pillow, one arm hanging haphazardly off the bed.

“I didn’t leave him like that, I promise.”

Kieran just snorted as he was laid across the other side, he could believe it, but he was starting to get too tired to keep up much of a conversation.

Wordlessly Drayton moved to some unseen closet, drawing out some spare pillows and using them to prop up Kieran’s foot before sliding into the middle of the bed himself.

“A middle kinda day huh?” Kieran mumbled, lids already starting to droop.

“Middle kinda day…” Drayton murmured into the pillow before turning around to his back, allowing Kieran to snuggle into the crook of his armpit.

“Deserved.” Kieran yawned, throwing his arm over Drayton’s chest, able to feel the side of Florian’s back on the other side.

“Heh.”

“G’night…” The Kitakamian turned his head up expectantly, barely able to keep his own eyes open but getting the gentle albeit lazy kiss he was hoping for.

“Goodnight Kier.”

Kieran blinked, vaguely registering Drayton’s head lolling to the other side, a moment, a second soft goodnight and the movement of a hand and the rustling of hair, but it all faded into darkness as Kieran failed to keep his eyes open, not that he was trying particularly hard.

The hurt ankle sucked, but as the rest of the day filtered through Kieran’s head, he decided it was hardly enough to put a damper on it. One of the best days he had had in a while.

Drayton smells like charcoal… and cedarwood... The thought idly crossed Kieran’s mind, hand twitching and then grabbing reflexively against the smaller boy at the other side. The last cognitive thought before Kieran drifted fully into the kind of deep and peaceful slumber that only a truly delightful and exhausting day can bring.