Fangs (Leon x Raihan)

Chapter 3

(Sorry for getting this out late, I was really busy) 

That Night

"We're finally here! How long was that?" Leon knocked on the door to the tiny apartment where Sonia lived. "Leon, if you hadn't gone lost sixteen times we'd have been here before dark!" Raihan joked from behind him. He laughed. It was true that he couldn't find Sonia's apartment for the life of him. They lost even more time because Raihan had taken the silly suit off and put on his normal sweatshirt and head wrap. The change didn't make the first few minutes any easier, but eventually they started their friendly chat again. "Hey, remember the one time I lost you in a park and I found you in the grocery store?" Raihan chuckled. Leon was about to say some witty retort when the door opened.

"Hey, Sonia, nice place," Raihan said as he walked through the door. "Jeez, invite yourself in?" Sonia retorted. Leon walked in, sat on the couch, and rubbed his face. Raihan wondered what he was doing, but didn't want to ask. Sonia had no such limitations. "Hey, what's up? You don't usually ignore us, not like Mr. Dragon Tamer here." Leon didn't respond. Raihan's brow furrowed. He wasn't like this. He walked over to Leon and touched his shoulder quickly. The gesture made Leon whip around. "You okay?"

Leon smiled, but it was forced. "Yeah, fine. Do you have something in mind for tonight, Sonia?" "Yeah! I got this new game and I have leftovers if you're hungry," said Sonia. Raihan's eyes sparkled. Leon knew that he was just jumping at the chance to beat them in something else. "Let's play!"

(time skip brought to you by uno the friendship ender; also the game was Mario Kart- Leon mains Mario, Sonia mains Daisy, and Raihan mains Bowser)

After a few rounds of the game and some chatter, Sonia yawned. She assured them that she could keep playing, but stopped after another game. Raihan wasn't tired at all, but it was getting late and he could see that Sonia couldn't stay up much longer. "Why don't we head to bed?" he suggested. Sonia agreed, and so did Leon. Before Sonia left for her bedroom, she grabbed two dusty old sleeping bags and a single blanket. Laying them on the floor, she waved and cheerfully said good night. Raihan climbed into the bigger of the two but it still only came up to his torso. "Better give you the blanket" chuckled Leon. As Raihan took the blanket, he touched Leon's warm hand. "Ah-" he started. Quickly pulling the blanket closer, he settled on the ground with a short "Good night."

Leon knew Raihan wasn't asleep, and Raihan knew that Leon wasn't either. They didn't say anything though. Leon opened his mouth a few times but didn't get words out. Finally, Raihan turned around to face Leon and began to talk. "Do you like Sonia?" Leon didn't know what to say. "Because Hop asked me and maybe you do and I don't- uh- know- I mean not that there's anything wrong with that I don't-"

"Maybe. I really don't know. I'm young and there are still so many possibilities, but she's kinda sweet, even if she does tease me a bit."

Raihan's face fell, even if Leon couldn't see it in the dark.

"Why do you wanna know?"

If you knew why I want to know... "Like I said Hop asked me and I was just wondering. Do you like anyone else?"

"No... I don't think so. There's not a lot of people that would like me back," Leon said.

"Are you kidding? Every girl in the Galar region would give their life savings to date you."

"But I want somebody to like me for me, not because I'm the champion of Galar, you know? There's not many people that know me like you and Sonia do. If I don't get a big head about being undefeated I won't let everyone down when I finally get beaten."

"I like you for you. And anybody that's gonna try and beat you has to go through me first."

"Well that's a huge comfort, I'm sure. Wait- what? You like me?"

"Well yeah. I mean- uh-"

"I mean, obviously as a friend! Love you too!"

Oof. That's a shot to the gut. Raihan didn't say anything for a really long time. So long that Leon actually fell asleep. He's cute, really. Leon rolled over, even closer to him. He's asleep, what would a hug- just a hug, containing absolutely no feelings for him- hurt? Raihan moved a little bit closer. He knew that Leon probably would wake up but he honestly didn't care. One arm first- Raihan was hugging Leon now, facing him. This feels good. If he was awake, I would kiss him-

Leon woke up. "Uh... hi?" Raihan said. Leon said nothing, whether out of shock or just speechlessness, he didn't know. He did get up and grab his cape, prepared to leave. He turned at the last second saying coldly, "Tell Sonia I forgot some important champion stuff I had to do."

Raihan watched him leave, mentally slapping himself in the face for hugging, almost kissing Leon. He didn't know when she had returned but Sonia was behind him. She said nothing for a long while. They stared at the door until Sonia finally got up. "...Raihan? Do you want food or anything? I have curry rice." He nodded. It took another ten minutes for Sonia to come back with three plates of cold curry rice. She passed one to him and kept one for herself. The other went on the table. Raihan ate his curry rice silently for a while, then put down his plate. "Is it obvious?" he said. Sonia replied almost immediately. "To me, yes. Since I've known you guys all my life, I knew something changed." Raihan knew she would say that but it still struck a blow to him. Sonia continued, "You really, yknow, like him, don't you?" He nodded again. As he really felt the emotion he'd been squashing for the past weeks, he knew what was coming. There was no way to stop it this time. The dragon tamer of Galar curled up and cried, even though he would never admit it.

That was... unexpected. Leon stared out the window of the as he was taking it back to Postwick instead of a flying taxi. He would ride his Charizard, but it was tired from a long flight the day before. He arrived in Postwick around dawn, and lingered outside the cottage for almost a minute before knocking. "Yeah?" came the familiar voice of Hop. "Oh, Lee! I thought you had champion stuff today!" Before Leon could say anything Hop pulled him inside. "Mum made waffles before she went off to her job at Rose Tower. C'mon and eat!"