We're Growing Up - IgnitionShipping (Flint x Volkner / オデン / デンオ)

Oneshot

*AUTHOR'S NOTE: The homophobia in this piece is based on society in Asia – particularly from what I've learned myself from my own experiences & my motherland – Bangladesh, along with India, The Philippines, Japan & South Korea. Many of the themes of internalized homophobia and fear of the public may not align with western standards of homophobia and LGBTQIA+ acceptance. My headcanons for the characters' races and living habits: Volkner – Half Russian, Half Japanese – grew up in Pokémon's iteration of Japan // Flint – Half Black, Half Japanese – grew up in Pokémon's iteration of Japan. Geography is the Sinnoh region. According to Wikipedia.org: "The Sinnoh region is the setting of the fourth generation of Pokémon games, which encompasses the setting of Pokémon Diamond, Pearl and Platinum. It is based on the northernmost island of Japan, Hokkaido."

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RECOMMENDED LISTENING WHILE READING:

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The younger of the two felt dazed as he awoke from his sleep, feeling the warmth of his...'best friend' besides him. The memories of last night filled his vision & he could still remember every touch, kiss & bite that explored his skin, unapologetically & passionately, just over some eight hours ago. He looked over to his side to see Flint wrapped in half-worn pajamas, sleeping as if there's no sign he would wake up any time soon.

Quietly, he crawled out of the bed, ran to his bathroom & quickly locked the door, now using its large mirror to notice all the bruises & marks left by the first ever experience he had with anyone that was so intimate. He knew that Flint had dated women before, so it wasn't a surprise to him that he knew his way around a body so well. But what was a surprise to him is that any of it happened at all. It was sudden, & in the heat of the moment, both of them had said yes to each other before even thinking about what that means for their friendship. Neither of them were particularly good at planning for the future.

Volkner was baffled & a little frightened. Of what exactly, he wasn't able to pinpoint, but he knew that there was some sort of confusing disgust he felt towards his own self, along with a sudden fear of having broken "rules" that he seemingly didn't know existed until he broke them last night. Volkner was never one to really care about his own emotions, let alone form any deep, inter-personal relationships. He was always busy with engineering & the gym, especially since 2 years ago when that young boy had challenged him to a gym battle, who, with the help of Flint, reignited Volkner's passion for Pokémon battle again. And the way that Flint & Volkner had become friends happened so naturally, so long ago, it was never a relationship that he had to put any effort into. Yet now he was faced with several questions he never thought he'd ask himself until he finally entered his 30s in a few years.

"What...just happened?" the blond man thought to himself while exploring with his delicate fingers the love bites running down his neck to his shoulders, peaking out of his favorite low-neck shirt. He felt the blood rush to his cheeks as several thousand confusing, new emotions flooded his chest, stomach & thoughts. Both good & bad. In a flurry of confusion, he began to wash up for the day to try & calm himself down & make sense of it all, which he was failing to accomplish time & time again. He wished that everything that happened was simply a dream, that Flint not remember anything upon breaking his slumber, that time would reverse itself so that he could have stopped the Volkner from last night from seemingly slipping into a situation that might change his life forever & open up paths that he simply did not know the existence of.