Author's Notes: I apologize for the really – really – long hiatus. I… Almost forgot about this story because I haven't been using the computer at all. I'll do my best to keep updating now. And again, beware of OOC-ness.

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In Progress Chapter 3: Take My Hand

Riley groaned, rolling over onto his stomach to avoid the rays of sun shining through his window in an attempt to stay in bed. It proved useless, however, since he fell off the bed and landed on the floor with a thud.

He groaned again, still sprawled on the floor with the blankets tangled around his limbs. Lucario came rushing in to check on him, surprised to see his trainer on the floor.

Knock knock.

Riley sat up immediately, staring at Lucario then out the door of his bedroom. Someone knocked on the front door again.

"Coming, coming," he said, voice still a little groggy. He slept rather late last night because the chocolate parfait he had eaten kept him up.

Maybe I shouldn't eat sweets at night…

The bluenette untangled himself from the blanket and made his way out his room. Lucario followed after him as he made his way to the front door.

Knockknocknockknockknock.

A frown made its way to Riley's face. "All right, all right!" He threw open the door, a glare on his handsome features.

"What do you-"

A snicker.

Riley squinted, rubbing his eyes. The irritation on his features soon disappeared when he realized who it was standing in his front door. "V-Volkner?"

Volkner burst out laughing, saying something about how ridiculous Riley looked in between breaths.

"Stop it, Volkner," Riley grumbled, his face flushing a bit.

"Sorry," the blonde replied as he calmed down – though there was still a smile on his lips. "I just came to check on you."

"Why?" Riley asked. He stepped aside to let the taller into the house.

"You do remember we were supposed to meet in the gym, right? And it's lunch time already." Volkner stepped in, closing the door behind him with his foot. I was worried…

"It's not like you to be late, Riley."

"Well it's that damn parfait that kept me up 'til the early hours of the morning."

Volkan chuckled. "So you blame the parfait now?"

"No!"

"All right, all right. Why don't you fix up so we can eat and go to the gym?"

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"I didn't know you had such an appetite."

Riley glared at the blonde, putting his hat back on his head as they walked out of the restaurant. "I didn't eat breakfast, all right? It's natural to be hungry."

Volkan shrugged.

The two continued walking on the solar panels of the city in silence. Only their footsteps and chatter of the town could be heard. On occasion, they'd hear a trainer exclaiming that he finally made it to the far-off town of Sunyshore.

"There are a lot of trainers coming," Riley stated, seeing a bunch of them entering the town. "You're going to have a busy day. Maybe I should just visit some other time, Volkner."

The bluenette was about to turn around and make his way back to his house when Volkner suddenly reached for his hand.

"No."

"Hm?"

"I want you to stay."

"… Oh… But won't I be getting in the way? I might distract you."

"I don't mind as long as you're the distraction," Volkner replied, already pulling Riley along with him towards the gym.

What?

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Riley sat down right next to the platform Volkan was standing at as he waited for trainers to make it through the rotating bridges. He always thought Volkan was more of a fire pokemon type. But he wasn't that surprised to find that he was found of the electric type.

Volkner had four different pokemon. And Riley noticed that not many trainers had managed to see all four. Most were defeated after two or three pokemon. And true to what Volkner had been saying to him not too long ago, not many trainers put up a good fight.

After the – Oh, I lost count – trainer, Volkner sat down on the platform as well and leaned back on the wall.

"Tired?"

The blonde nodded. "You have no idea."

Riley moved closer, their arms brushing against each other for a moment. "Maybe it's time to call it a day."

"Perhaps it is…" Volkner stood up and brushed himself off. He turned around and held a hand out for Riley. "Come on, let's go to the beach."

Riley took the offered hand before he was hauled up to his feet, bumping into the blonde in front of him. He muttered an apology before he walked right beside Volkner as they made their way out of the gym.

The bluenette looked down, wondering if the man beside him realized he was still holding his hand.

Seemed like he didn't. They managed to make it to the beach without letting go of each other's hand. Riley noticed that Volkner's hands were cold.

Are they always cold…?

"Volkner?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you feel cold?"

Volkner shook his head. "Not really. Why do you ask?"

"It's just… Your hand is cold."

"A-ah…" Volkner immediately let go of his hand and tucked it into his pants pocket. "Sorry…"

"It's okay." Riley replied. He looked at Volkner, studying his face. "Maybe you've been stressing yourself lately. Do you have sleeping problems? Are you depressed?"

"… I don't know."

"You're lying." The bluenette stated plainly. "I can see it in your face. You're lying."

"It's nothing you should worry yourself abo-" Volkner was cut off when Riley suddenly wrapped his arms around him.

"See? You're cold. You look rather pale. You're shaking. And you're tense. You stress yourself too much, Volkner. Maybe you should take a break from the gym for at least a day."

"Riley…"

"Come home with me, I'll cook us something. I won't take no for an answer."

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Volkner sat down awkwardly on the couch in Riley's living room. The bluenette had disappeared behind the kitchen doors to cook them a quick dinner.

What was that feeling in his chest when Riley hugged him? His heart was beating so fast and so loudly he was sure Riley could have heard it… Now that he thought about it, he was feeling the same swelling feeling in his chest when he visited Riley at noon.

The blonde groaned, cradling his head in between his hands.

"Are you okay? Does your head ache? Do you want an aspirin?" Riley asked, coming out of the kitchen with two bowls of soup.

Volkner righted himself and turned his head to look at the other man. "… I'm fine. Just… Thinking."

"You think too much," the bluenette pointed out. He walked over to the table and placed the two bowls there before turning around and heading back to the kitchen.

Volkner followed him into the kitchen, wondering if he could help out. "Do you need help?"

Riley smiled and handed him a plate of what looked like a seafood kebabs. "Here, you can put this at the table."

Volkner nodded and brought the plate out. Riley came out of the kitchen soon after, bringing with him two plates with a cup of fried rice.

"Volkner… You are going to take a break tomorrow, right?"

"Maybe…"

"Let's go somewhere tomorrow."

"Where?"

Riley winked, sitting himself down on one end of the table. "That's a secret. You'll have to take that break or you won't know where I'm going."

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That was… Long. Well… I hope you enjoyed it. Sort of… Yeah.