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The sounds of playful grunts and growls were in the air of the training room. Except there wasn’t exactly training going on in the room of Lee’s apartment. Instead it was more of… play fighting.
Hop watched with Raihan in amusement as Lee wrestled with his Charizard, huffing and grunting playfully as he actually managed to pick him up and roll around.
“Wow I knew Leon was stronger now but to be able to pick up Charizard…” Gloria murmured in shock.
Hop chuckled weakly. It was certainly a shock for sure. It really shouldn't be for his case. He had seen his brother catch a Pokémon attack with his bare hands and stop it without even flinching. Being able to wrestle with Charizard without worrying he’d get hurt shouldn't be that big of a stretch… Except, it was still hard to believe it.
His brother was getting even stronger than before it seemed, and now on top of everything else he could talk to and understand Pokémon. If what was happening to anyone else it would probably shock and worry them.
Not his big brother though, Lee seemed to absolutely thrive on these new powers and skills he was gaining. He was taking what would be a crazy situation and spinning it in the best way possible.
Hop chuckled as Dragapault gently nuzzled his head. The Pokémon’s Dreepy’s were happily playing on Hop’s shoulders while they all watched their trainer wrestle with his other Pokémon.
Apparently Dragapault had politely declined because roughhousing with their little ones was not an option for them. Something that Lee understood completely and instead asked for it to stay with Hop. That was an order the Pokémon had taken seriously, curled around him in a protective manner while they watched the chaos in front of them.
The ground thudded hard as Lee once again managed to grab his Charazard and playfully wrestle it to the ground. His brother was absolutely loving this, Charizard meanwhile looked like he was starting to get worn out by his trainer’s endless energy.
“I think we better call it a tie for them or else poor Charizard is going to get too tired out to train.” Raihan chuckled. “Okay Leon! You won! Let him go!”
Hop watched as his brother perked and sat up. “Aw, c’mon I can keep going! Right Charizard?” He beamed to his partner, but as Charizard let out a soft rumble it dimmed. “Ah, okay bud, we’ll stop.” He threw his arms around the beast’s neck and gave it a quick squeeze purring. Charizard rumbled back affectionately and as its trainer got up the Pokémon looked all too pleased to get back to its feet and stretch its wings and neck.
Leon walked past the rest of his team and made sure to give them all their own little affections before he made it to the rest of them.
“I worked up a sweat!” Leon chuckled brightly as Raihan tossed him a towel.
“Wrestling a Charizard I’m sure would do that for you.”
Leon chuckled and as he wiped himself off he looked to his other Pokémon curled near Hop. He gave a trilling croon to it, and it responded in kind, floating higher up as it’s Dreepy’s happily followed it.
Leon let out a series of croons to Dragapault, who trilled and crooned back. Leon then gave out a laugh and nodded with an even brighter smile.
“And what are you two talking about?” Raihan asked with a smirk.
Leon gave him a grin. “Ah y’know… Just how it is to watch over our little ones and how silly they can be.” He explained brightly.
“Little…? Wait…” Hop froze. “Are you talking about ME?!”
Leon laughed lightly and nodded. “And who else would I be talking about?” He lowered his head and nuzzled his nose into Hop’s hair with a purr.
“I’m starting to not like this new power…” Hop grumbled as his brother rubbed his cheek against his head.
“Aw c’mon Hop! This is amazing!” Leon pulled back with sparkling eyes and a smile to match. “I’ve become even closer with my Pokémon being able to talk to them! I bet you that I could help do the same for all of you too!”
Hop blinked at his idea. It wasn’t… a bad one actually. Hop had to admit it would be pretty wicked to be able to talk to his team, to know what they’re saying or what they think.
“I wouldn’t mind being able to talk to my Pokémon better.” Gloria admitted with a smile.
“Yeah, it might even give me an advantage to beat Leon someday.” Raihan teased, though the glow of battle shone in his eyes.
“What’d you say Hopscotch? Wanna try it?” Leon asked as he moved his hands to his hips and gave him a beaming smile.
Hop paused in thought. Everyone else seemed eager and… well, Hop would like to have a closer bond with his Pokémon. Especially make sure none of them had any hard feelings from when he had gone through and swapped many out for different team members every now and then…
“Sure…” He smiled. “Why not!”
Gloria let out a cheer and Leon bent down giving his head a warm purring nuzzle as he wrapped his arms around him.
‘This should be good, great for my research even!’ Hop tried to convince himself as he accepted the affectionate gesture. ‘This isn’t a bad idea…. right?’
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This was a mistake, a terrible mistake. That was something they were beginning to realize when Leon first spoke with Gloria’s team.
“Oh my… er, Gloria…” Leon looked to her, eyes crinkling as he smiled. He looked to be keeping his laughter down.
“I had no idea you set fire to your curry THAT many times before you became so good at cooking…”
“Huh?!” Gloria yelped, eyes widening. She looked to her Pokémon who all let out numerous sounds of humor and admittedly embarrassment.
“Guys how could you?!” She groaned in dismay.
“You set fire to your curry?” Hop repeated slowly in shock.
“Three hundred fifty times.” Leon nodded.
“It was not that many!” Gloria squeaked, covering her face in horror and embarrassment. She only groaned as Raihan ruffled her hair with a chuckle.
“I guess it’s a good thing I cook the most around here.”
“Don’t you start!” She pounced at him, slapping him lightly with great neck speed that had the man cackling.
Hop watched with his brother at their antics as it fell into her chasing the man around shouting as he continued his teasing.
“……Can you help me fix my cooking too?” Leon asked the Pokémon. “Everything I put out looks like Charizard tried to cook it.”
“Please Lee… no…” Hop grimaced at the memory and Charizard from behind him let out an affronted rumble.
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It seemed Raihan was next after Gloria’s embarrassing mess two days later. The man hadn't stopped teasing her about curry fire and she was getting sick of it. Across the training room Leon was letting out trills and rumbles to Raihan’s Flygon.
After a while, a sudden streak of giggles broke into the air making everyone look to the new Chairman. He looked utterly giddy with amusement and even Flygon was smiling.
“What’s so funny?” Raihan asked curiously.
“You! Raihan! You never told me you tried to take a selfie on Flygon’s back and fell into a sand pit!” Leon giggled as he turned to the man. “The one that Flygon made for it!"
“Wha-?!” Raihan blushed but as he noticed Flygon let out a trill of laugher he made sure to give him a glare. “You little sneak!”
He bolted towards the Pokémon, that let out another trill and flapped away. Leon just laughed even harder, clutching his middle as tears of mirth formed in the corners of his eyes as Raihan chased his Pokémon around the training room.
"You can bet I'm untagging you on those pics I took of us yesterday! You sneak! You little sneak betraying me like this!" Raihan shouted.
While all this chaos happened, Gloria by Hop’s side watched the whole thing with a smirk.
“Revenge is sweet…” She chuckled, clapping her hand with Hop’s.
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Hop had to admit he was a little nervous what would happen when Lee spoke to his team. There was a gleam in his eyes when he told Hop he wanted to talk to Dubwool, and he knew why.
Dubwool, the Pokémon Lee had caught him himself, had been with Hop the longest. If his brother was trying to find any fun stories about him who better than Hop’s first Pokémon. Hop just hoped Wooly didn’t say anything too embarrassing…
“Hop!”
He jumped at his brother’s call. It was sudden and a worried tone to it. Hop’s first instinct that something may be wrong with his older brother. Had something new developed? Was Lee in pain?
Hop bolted from the chair at the dining table he was at and rushed to Leon’s room. As her peered inside he looked his brother over.
Nothing new, no scars or injuries. He DID look rather upset though, and in front of him was… Hop’s Dubwool looking guilty?
“Wooly?” Hop called. His Pokémon perked and gave a bleat, only to dash off looking like it wanted to leave fast.
‘What was that about?’
Hop stiffened as Leon turned and quickly strode right to him .He only stopped when he was in Hop personal space. The man’s brows were knit tight with worry and his mouth was twisted in a frustrated and concerned frown.
“Hop…. Why didn’t you tell me about it?”
Hop blinked. “About… what?” He was lost here.
“About what Challenger Bede had said and how it affected you…”
Hop froze as if ice water had been dunked onto him. The name and the words bringing his mind back to that day and how he had felt.
How… did Lee find out about that? Hop had hoped to desperately keep that from him. His biggest failure, his fault, his shame he brought onto his brother…
“H-how did…?”
“Wooly told me…” Leon answered without hesitation. His brows pinched more. “Although, that is something that YOU should have told me about…” He narrowed his eyes sternly. “So why didn’t you?”
Hop flinched at the accusation. “I-it wasn't anything…”
Leon crossed his arms. “That isn’t what you’re Pokémon said…” He paused. “Hop don’t lie… especially don’t lie to ME of all people!” Hop winced at the hurt in his voice and eyes.
“I…”
“Haven't I always, ALWAYS told you, that if something is bothering you or making you upset you can come to me?”
“Well…”
“Because if something’s upsetting you I want to know about it and help you! To comfort you!”
“Um…”
“I want to be there for you Hop! But…” His voice lowered to a murmur, his hurt still ringing as loud as his voice had been before. “How can I if you keep things from me…?”
Hop couldn’t stand it. As much as he didn't want to admit his failures seeing his brother hurt like this was worse.
“I-I didn’t think I deserved to go to you!” He cried out.
“W-what?!” Leon jerked back as if he had been slapped and he stared at Hop with wide eyes. “Hop what do you…?”
“My whole journey… my whole Gym Challenge… I was struggling…” Hop bent his head down and stared to the floor. “Even with all the knowledge I had, all the passion in my heart I couldn’t keep up. I couldn’t beat all the Gyms one try like you or Gloria. Heck I couldn’t even beat Gloria!”
He clenched his fists. “I was falling behind, I was nothing like how you were when you did your Gym Challenge…”
He couldn’t see his older brother’s face, but he could hear his soft voice speak up. “Hop… you aren't me though…”
He bristled in irritation. “I KNOW that!” He shouted. “I know! Everyone expects me to be as good as you though! Everyone! Our family! Chairman Rose! Everyone in Galar!”
Hop moved his hands to his ears, as if to block Bede’s words that were starting to hit him all over again. “When I lost to Bede… and he told me how I was a failure to you… I… I knew he was right… I was making you look bad… I was ruining your reputation… I…”
His voice broke off and he felt his eyes burn with tears. He clenched them shut and shook his head. “I thought I didn’t deserve to be anywhere near you… I thought that you… If I messed up anymore that you wouldn’t…” He let out a shaky breath. “I thought I’d lose you and you wouldn’t want me around… So… I ran when I saw you at Hammerlocke… I ran because I didn’t deserve to have you as a brother…”
“… Hop…” Leon’s whisper was drenched in sorrow and Hop grunted in surprise as he was suddenly squeezed tight to his brother’s chest in a massive hug.
The emotions that had begun to resurface had almost made him push his brother away. Then Hop felt how tight the hug was, which they always were but this one also felt almost… scared… like he was afraid Hop was going to leave if he gave an inch.
Hop timidly wrapped his arms around his brother as well as he could with the other’s thicker arm’s in the way. He managed to at least press his face against his brother’s chest well enough. The action made the embrace become even tighter, and while Hop wheezed a little from it he hoped more than anything he was comforting him.
After a few minutes of the embrace his brother let out a shaky sigh and slowly shifted him around, pulling him back. His hands kept a strong hold of his shoulders as Leon’s wet eyes burning into Hop’s.
“I never, ever want to hear you even think that you don’t deserve me as a brother. I don’t even want you to humor the idea do you hear me?” Leon muttered sternly. “Not only that, but the idea that you were a failure, or you have to be me or ruining my reputation…” His voice became bitter and his eyes became cold, but something in Hop told him that look was not for him. Rather, towards those who pushed it in the very first place.
Leon’s hands moved to grasp Hop’s face to force him to look him in the eye as he tried to turn away. The older’s eyes burned with so much intensity and passion that Hop nearly fell back. Those eyes were the ones that burned when he was in a fierce battle. Perhaps he was with one now, with Hop’s own emotions…
“You are not me, and I’m so glad you aren’t.” Leon went on. Hop’s eyes widened.
“R-really…?” He murmured in shock and disbelief. His brother was… glad?
“Yes, because you are you and who you are is amazingly and utterly brilliant Hop.” Leon went on, his voice turning warm. “You know more about Pokémon than I ever did, than I even do now. You’re so resilient, I know you feel ashamed that you lost but you know what you kept going! You still, keep going! When I lost I…” Leon’s voice died down and Hop was surprised to see almost… fear in his eyes.
“… I never lost before… so when it finally happened for a while I… didn’t know what to do…” He grimaced but after a moment it softened to pondering. “… You know it was you talking to me that actually inspired me to create the Battle Tower after I lost against Gloria…”
“It was?” Hop blinked wildly.
Leon smiled again and nodded. “Yeah, you telling me that this wasn’t the end for me. It was a whole new chapter in my legendary journey of Leon… I realized that you were right, it wasn’t the end and I could find a new way to have my dream for Galar become real.”
Leon’s thumbs rubbed his cheeks and his smile and voice became so warm, and filled to the brim with love.
“You did that Hop. Not me, not anyone else, you helped me. Even now with all of this happening, my connection to Eternatus, you’re still helping me. You’re still there for me, and even for Gloria and Raihan too… Hop you’re amazing. You’re absolutely amazing and I am so, so proud of you and who you are…”
Hop’s eyes widened, his heart feeling warm by the adoration in those words… Even if there was a small part of him that felt like he didn’t deserve them.
Leon seemed to notice he was thinking the same thing, because his hold tightened and his face became stern.
“I. Love You.” Leon told him firmly. “Nothing is ever going to make me stop you hear me? I don’t care if you were the worst trainer of all time, or if you mess up terribly. I will never, ever stop loving you.”
Hop blinked in shock. Did… he really mean that?
Leon pulled him back into his embrace and hugged him tight. “The fact you thought I ever would I…” His arms tightened as he choked. “… I’m so sorry Hoppy…”
Hop flinched with guilt. “I… think it’s more on how I think than you act Lee…” He murmured softly. “I meant what I said before, you always try to be there for me and show you care it’s just… Sometime’s my brain… has a hard time agreeing…”
Leon’s hug tightened and a heartbroken whine escaped the man’s chest.
“Then that’s something you and I will work on together.” The man murmured after a moment. His hand gently rubbed the back of Hop's head. “That’s something we can heal together…”
“Huh?” Hop struggled to look up at his brother while his face was pressed into his chest but he still tried. “Lee… you don't have to…”
“I want to.” Leon stated firmly. “No matter what you say I want to and I’m going to.” He held him tighter as he curled around him more. “Your mind may be stubborn to deny what I’m saying, but I’m even more so. I can make even a Tauros jealous with how stubborn I can be Hoppy.” He let out a chuckle. “That was what Master Mustard has said about me more than once.”
“He’s not wrong.” Hop giggled, his heart feeling lighter. Purrs erupted from Leon’s chest as he snuggled Hop tighter to him.
“That’s it… THAT’S what I love to hear…” Leon hummed happily with his purrs. He nuzzled his hair before tucking Hop deep under his chin as he cuddled him snug. “How you sound, how you feel, that’s what we’re going to keep working toward to happen a lot more often for you.”
Hop blinked his eyes rapidly as he felt them wet again. He didn’t know what to say, a part of him thought it was best to push Leon shouldn't do this. Not when he has his own problems. Except Lee was right he was stubborn, he wouldn’t stop until he got what he wanted. So, Hop could only say the other thing on his mind.
“I love you Lee…” He murmured into his chest.
Leon purred even louder and Hop was squeezed even tighter as lips pressed against his head.
“I love you too Hop… I love you so much…” He murmured with fierce passion.
A flash of blinding light has Hop clench his eyes shut. As it dims down he warily opens them, only for them to widen because his brother was wearing a whole other outfit now.
The memory of the armor that had surrounded his brother before echoed the real thing he was seeing now. Despite that Hop being very much squished into it the armor was giving, curling around him as he was pressed into it as if it was trying not to harm him. Maybe even protect him.
He faintly saw the jagged like wings over his brother’s shoulders curl around him to add to the embrace, or maybe even hide him away in it. They were certainly thick enough to.
Even if Hop couldn’t see his brothers face, he's sure the crown that was on his head was there too.
His brother had transformed… For real this time!
“L-Lee you-!”
Leon cut him off with a content sigh blending with his purrs as he snuggled Hop more to him. He didn’t even seem to notice what had happened, or was too happy to even care if he did.
Hop blinked, but mentally shrugged. He supposed this was one thing they could talk and worry about later. If Lee was happy then it was fine… Besides Hop was just as comfy as his brother was right now.
They’d figure this, and everything else out, together…