Nanu couldn't sleep.
Not even with several Alolan Meowth lying on and around him on the chair he was seated on. Instead, the red eyed officer had spent the better part of the past few hours mulling over what had just happened between himself and Guzma. The brief fight was nothing; they'd fought with one another before in the past, though it normally didn't have as much rage as there had been this time around. Nor even an actual spar. It was usually posturing and words with Guzma, and perhaps the occasional shove if the younger man had been close enough to Nanu to do so.
Nanu's gaze lingered on Guzma's slumbering form, before the older officer turned his attention to the Meowth curled up on his lap. With a sigh, he patted it on the head. "Hey, get down."
The Meowth opened an eye, met Nanu's briefly, and then promptly closed it again. The Pokemon appeared to have no intention of moving any time soon.
"I mentioned treats."
A soft, disbelieving hiss emitted from the Meowth.
"Well, all right then, if that's the way it's going to be, I'll move you myself." Nanu told the Pokémon on his lap. Nanu slid his hands underneath the Meowth's soft fur and lifted it off of his lap with ease.
The Meowth protested being moved, but the red eyed officer held the smaller feline firmly, murmuring some comforting sound to it until the Meowth stopped squirming. Running a hand over the Pokémon's back reassuringly, Nanu crossed the station to deposit it onto an empty Pokémon bed. The Meowth, seeing where it was being brought to, let its paws stretch out, anticipating being set down. Nanu couldn't help but smile at that, and as soon as he gently set the Pokémon down, the Meowth yawned widely as it curled up again and promptly went back to sleep.
Nanu envied his Pokémon for being able to fall asleep so quickly. Nanu considered the couch closer to the entrance of the station, before he dismissed it. There would be no sleep for him tonight. He had too many thoughts whirling around, and since many of them involved Guzma, and the punk was sound asleep in the same room as him, Nanu knew there was no way he would get any rest.
It figured.
Nanu hadn't been sleeping well the past few months but that was nothing new. It was just unfortunate that he couldn't just have a Pokémon use sleep powder on him tonight. The sleep might not last for very long, but it would be something. The rain hammering down on the station seemed heavier than usual, and it made Nanu believe that he was going to be stuck with Guzma for at least a day, if not more, until the rain let up. There was no way Nanu was going to let Guzma go off on his own, even with his Pokémon, if the visibility was horrid.
"Maybe the rain will stop tonight." Nanu commented aloud. The few Alolan Meowth that were still awake gave him incredulous looks, as if wondering why he would even think that when it was always raining.
Nanu let out a hollow laugh. He really was tired. And sore. While Guzma may not have made contact with any of his punches, that one elbow to his gut still stung. Nanu absently rubbed the spot through his shirt, before he sighed again, knowing that he would have to be deal with Guzma when the punk woke up. The younger man was obviously injured, not badly, but enough that he hadn't been at his best when he'd started the fight with Nanu.
Nanu frowned to himself, before he went over to his desk that his laptop was on, and dug around in the drawers until he found a roll of bandages. At the very least, he figured he could tape Guzma's ankle. It didn't seem like the punk had broken it, but it would do him some good to have the limb seen to.
Preferably while Guzma was asleep.
Nanu didn't have the energy to take being bitched out at this point. Even if he likely deserved it for what he had done to the younger man. Nanu walked to the end of the bed, though he paused with his hand over the blanket when Golisopod, which had been dozing, let out a long, loud whirl of warning.
"I'm just taping his ankle. That's all." Nanu assured the large bug Pokemon, as he shifted the blanket off of Guzma's legs, exposing sock covered feet. Nanu cracked a small smile at the sight, having already forgotten about the bug patterns, and was careful as he removed the sock off the left foot. Or Nanu made the attempt to do so, anyway.
Apparently, the limb hurt, because Guzma let out a groan in his sleep, scrunching up slightly and tucking the foot back underneath the blanket.
Nanu paused, before he shifted the blanket again and grabbed Guzma's shin as he carefully pulled the leg back in sight. The sooner he got this over with, the better. Of course, Nanu holding onto the younger man's leg was precisely the moment that Guzma chose to wake up.
"What the hell, old man?" Guzma sleepily grumbled, scrunching his larger body up beneath the blanket again despite the firm hold Nanu had on his left leg. "What are you doing?" Guzma paused, shifting, before his face became a mixture of annoyance and embarrassment, "And what the fuck did you do with my clothes, you sick pervert?"
"You were soaked through. I left your briefs on, if you hadn't noticed." Nanu figured he deserved the glare, reminding him that he hadn't exactly given Guzma the choice of what he could sleep in. "Didn't want you to catch a cold. You'd be more aggravating to deal with injured and sick."
"I'd rather be sick then have you take my clothes off while I'm unconscious, geezer." Guzma tried to free his leg from Nanu's grasp. "You do anythin' else to me in my sleep? Have yourself a little fun?"
"No." Nanu felt appalled by the very thought, before he reminded himself that he also hadn't given Guzma much choice when he'd kissed him hours earlier either. "I'm not that depraved."
"Coulda fooled me." Guzma said sullenly as he rested his head on the pillow. He didn't take his eyes off Nanu's as he added. "And let go of me. Didn't you do enough already?"
That hit Nanu unexpectedly hard, because Guzma was right. Even though Guzma had started the little scuffle between them earlier, Nanu was the one who had taken things too far. And on top of that, the older officer had had the gall to think it'd be a good idea to kiss Guzma, and when the younger man couldn't resist it. Even if it was wrong, right now, Nanu was determined to finish taping Guzma's ankle. Nanu began taping the limb despite the fact that Guzma had hissed an expletive and tried to kick him with his other leg. Nanu stopped the gesture by gently tapping a finger against the top of Guzma's ankle.
Guzma immediately abandoned the kick in favor of hissing in pain and calling Nanu a son of a bitch.
"Did you sprain your ankle when you took a tumble down that ledge?" Nanu asked calmly as he ignored the steady stream of curses Guzma was uttering under his breath. When there was no response, Nanu's gaze rose to meet the younger man's angry one. "Well?"
"Bite me." Guzma bristled, clearly not wanting to have that particular conversation.
"I could, if you wanted me to, but you'd probably kill me." Nanu commented, as he resumed taping Guzma's ankle while mentally chiding himself.
"Perverted old man." Guzma flushed a little as he seemed to realize his choice of words, before he sat up and successfully swatted Nanu's hand away. "Gimme that. I can do it myself."
"Lie back down." Nanu raised a brow as Guzma pried the tape out of his hand with a bit of difficulty. "You don't seem to be doing too well…"
"Obviously. After earlier, you shouldn't be surprised." The younger man tossed the bandage tape at Nanu once he finished with it, though Guzma intentionally bounced it off the officer's chest, where it then fell to the floor and rolled off somewhere under the bed. A Meowth flashed underneath the bed to give chase.
"Besides that." Nanu didn't care that Guzma had thrown the bandages at him. "I meant do you have any other injuries from before?" Nanu frowned at the away Guzma moved so gingerly, and for a moment, wondered if the punk was more hurt then he was letting on.
Guzma kept himself in a seated position as best he could and glared at Nanu, as if daring him to belittle him.
Nanu merely stared, clearly not giving a fuck about the younger man's attempt to intimidate him. The red eyed officer's main concern was whether he needed to get the other man medical attention, or if Guzma just needed to get some more rest.
"What the hell are you looking at?"
"Someone who has either had their ass handed to them or slipped and hurt themselves on those ledges." Nanu said dryly in response.
"I didn't get in a fight, other than with you." Guzma snorted, "And I told ya before, the rocks were slippery." The younger man said nothing more as he shifted and began to try and get out of bed. "And where the hell are my clothes at? They gotta be dry by now. Not gonna hang around here almost naked with you acting all weird and shit."
"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Nanu cautioned, not sure if Guzma should be moving around with the uneven breathing he could now hear. "I'm surprised that you can even sit up."
"Fuck you, old man. I'm tougher than you think." Guzma snapped, his anger rising again. And to prove Nanu wrong, Guzma shoved the blankets aside, and made as if to swing his legs to one side to get out of bed. The punk ignored his Golisopod's concerned click from the other side of the bed, and Persian's low growl of being disturbed from its nap.
Nanu still didn't know if Guzma were just sore or if he was injured, so he didn't want the younger man to be moving around so much. At least not until he could have a quick conversation, without insults.
Guzma grunted as Nanu unceremoniously shoved him back down onto the bed and tossed the blankets back over him. With a grumble of irritation, Guzma immediately made as if to get back up, getting the blankets down to his waist before Nanu set his hand on his chest and gently urged the punk to lie back down. The younger man laughed like he thought Nanu was being stupid, and shoved his hands at the older officer's, Guzma clearly thinking he could dislodge the hand and be on his way.
Nanu's arm didn't budge, and those red eyes merely looked disinterested, as if Nanu couldn't be bothered to do much more to prevent Guzma from hurting himself.
"See? You're in no shape to be moving around right now. As much as I'd rather have you go back to Po Town, I guess you'll be staying here until the rain lets up and somebody can come get you." Nanu informed Guzma, even though he knew there would be vehement protest over the idea, and for good reason.
Nanu was proven correct.
"Like hell I'm gonna stay here with you." Guzma grabbed Nanu's forearm with both hands, straining to remove the officer's hand from his chest. Guzma must have realized by now that he didn't have the strength to resist, but that didn't mean he was going to lie down without a fight. "Who knows what you'd do to me if I stay any longer. 'Sides, it seems you misplaced the handcuffs you had on me before, so might as well get out of here before you find them again."
"I don't think you understand the position you're in." Nanu commented, not caring that Guzma was still trying to remove his hand from his chest. Nanu didn't want to chance having Guzma hurt himself on his way back to Po Town, so for now, Persian having brought him here was a good thing. Unfortunately, Nanu hadn't trended carefully enough, and he wanted to tell Guzma that he planned to go on a nightly patrol since there was going to be no sleep for him tonight.
"I understand perfectly fine, old man. You're gonna arrest me, and your boy Guzma here ain't gonna stick around for that to happen." Guzma froze when Nanu was suddenly on the bed, and the officer had his hands on either side of Guzma's shoulders instead of his chest. Guzma pressed himself against the bed, anger lighting in his eyes before he sneered at Nanu. "You get off on this? Gonna kiss me again and move things along? Already mostly naked, you know." Guzma's sneer deepened. "Gonna take me and make me like it, old man?"
"I already told you, I'm not that depraved." Nanu said calmly. From where his hands were resting lightly next to the younger man's shoulders, Nanu could all but feel the way Guzma's heart was hammering, and he wasn't sure if that meant Guzma expected him to tear what little clothes he had left and have his way with him, or move away and give him space. The very idea of raping the punk repulsed Nanu, and even the mere fact that Guzma was suggesting that he'd do such a thing made him a little angry. But it wasn't like Nanu hadn't prevented the idea from coming to mind, considering he'd damn near choked the punk out then kissed him senseless, and all when Guzma could do nothing to stop him.
"You say that, but I bet you want some of this, don't you?" Guzma's sneer hadn't lessened, and in fact, he seemed to be all but preparing himself for the inevitable. "I can't fight right now. I know I can't. You know I can't. So what's stopping ya, huh? You were fine earlier when you took my clothes off. What stopped you then?"
"I told you I didn't want you to get sick." Nanu's voice was monotone. He didn't know what to say that would convince Guzma he wasn't going to do what the younger man was insinuating he might. Nanu wondered if he should have left the station sooner.
"Sure, and that's why you're practically straddlin' me and holding me down." Guzma narrowed his eyes. "If you aren't gonna do anything, then leave me the fuck alone."
"Fine." Nanu seemed to realize that yes, he was in fact just about straddling Guzma, as well as preventing the other man from resisting what he might choose to do with him. Nanu didn't like it and straightened up.
"You move slow as hell." Guzma pointed out. "And you better not stop me from leavin'. I just got some bumps and bruises. I can travel just fine." Guzma held up an arm to fend Persian off when the dark furred Pokémon inched closer. "And you stay back. Don't go licking me again."
Persian squeezed its eyes shut and purred a little as it rubbed its face against Guzma's hand.
"Damn cat." Guzma scowled, even if he didn't dissuade the Pokémon.
"Just know that if you do get up and go fall in the downpour out there that Persian will likely just drag you back." Nanu was too tired to argue much more than that. Better to let Guzma do as he pleased, and hope the younger man would tire out and the older officer could just get him back into bed. And then leave him to sleep in the station as Nanu himself went about his duties as an Alolan cop that night.
"You moving any time soon, old man?" Guzma leveled a glare at Nanu, though his whole body was taut, as if he still expected Nanu to try and do something to him.
"I am." Nanu shifted to one side, and in the process, pulled something in his side that made his breath hitch, and his body freeze up. Shit. Nanu grimaced, trying to figure out what he had just done to his own body, when another spasm went through his back this time, which made him lose his balance and collapse with a grimace.
Right on top of Guzma.
"The hell? Get off of me!" Guzma snarled, even if there was a thread of panic mixed in with the anger.
Nanu tried to move, but he ended up just wincing because of that damn kink in his side that stole his breath and made it hard to suck a breath back in. But it put him off balance enough that Guzma, even in his weakened state, was able to take advantage of. Nanu grunted in pain when Guzma's knee caught in him the gut, followed by a punch that clipped one shoulder. It threw Nanu further off balance, and that was when Guzma gathered up enough energy to shove the older officer off of the bed with an inarticulate snarl. Nanu hit the floor, hands barely managing to catch himself but not fast enough to prevent his head from hitting the floor. The sudden contact made Nanu's body give out on him and he went limp.
"Why the hell didn't you catch yourself?"
Nanu closed his eyes, head spinning and unable to piece together the fact the Guzma was shifting around on the bed now, and Persian was letting out a low growl.
"Hey, old man?"
Nanu winced when a hand gripped his shoulder and gave it a firm shake.
"You're just fucking with me, right? I didn't hit you that hard."
From overheard, there was a low, concerned meow from Persian, and a few inaudible curses from Guzma.
"Shit. You seriously have your own body give out on you like that?"
Nanu was worn out, and made no outward response to the sensation of someone picking him up. Maybe Guzma would leave him outside in the rain. That would be rather fitting, as Nanu had planned to let himself get soaked to the bone as he patrolled that night.
"Nanu?"
The officer felt himself being set down on something…soft? It felt like it might be one of his couches. Nanu felt himself drifting. His head hurt from where it had hit the floor, and the sensation of several small, warm bodies clued Nanu into the fact that several Meowth were going to be using his soon to be unconscious body for a bed. Nanu didn't fight the exhaustion that swept him into an almost welcome sleep. Unfortunately, it didn't prevent the thought of having fucked up by falling on top of Guzma unintentionally, and figured that the punk would be well within his right to beat the shit out of him in his sleep.
-x-x-x-
"Hey, officer Nanu?"
"Sis, is he dead?"
"Did the boss beat him up?"
"Move aside, you dummies."
Nanu's brow furrowed at all of the voices speaking up at once, and when he opened his eyes, he found a couple of Team Skull punks peering down at him, along with Plumeria, who looked as if she hadn't walked through a rainstorm as the others had.
"You're awake." Plumeria said matter of fact. "What happened? Guzma said you passed out."
Nanu was lying on one of the couches, as he had thought before he'd fallen unconscious. The Meowth weren't on him, however, and that allowed Nanu to carefully sit up. With a frown, the red eyed officer wondered why Guzma had said he'd passed out, instead of Guzma saying he had thrown Nanu to the floor. Nanu looked around at the punks and Plumeria, before he spotted Guzma behind the rest of them, dressed in his clothes again, and actively avoiding his eyes.
"Old injuries acting up on me." Nanu said in response to Plumeria's question. "It's nothing. Just happens more often than I'd like." Nanu met Plumeria's eyes. "You here to take your boss back? He took a tumble down those rocky ledges."
"Yeah, he said as much." Plumeria gave a quick glance to the side before she dropped her voice so that only Nanu could hear her. "He probably didn't tell you, but he slipped and fell because he was helping a Wimpod."
Nanu should have known. It made sense, seeing how much Guzma loved bug Pokémon, though the officer hadn't realized that that kind of Pokémon could get to those ledges.
"We're taking Guzma back with us to Po Town." Plumeria added, this time louder, so everyone in the room could hear her.
"Do what you want." Nanu said wearily as he closed his eyes. Some peace and quiet would be very welcome right now, as his head was feeling very tender from where it had hit the floor. Nanu heard the door open and close, and figured that he was alone once more until someone none too gently kicked his shin. Nanu started and opened his eyes, raising his head to meet Guzma's.
"Don't get too comfortable." Guzma's usual confidence was back full swing, and the younger man's unfriendly gaze bored into Nanu's. "Once I'm feeling back to normal, I'm gonna come back here and beat you down."
"Shut the door on your way out." Nanu said in response as he promptly shut his eyes again.
"Don't go dyin' on me before I get a chance to beat you down, old man." A pause. "And fix those kinks in yer body so they don't do you in first."
"No promises on that. I don't usually have control over my body when it locks up on me like that." Nanu didn't hear Guzma move. "Is that all? You were in a hurry to leave earlier, weren't you?" Nanu heard a low curse, some footsteps, and the sound of the door to the station slamming shut. Nanu smiled to himself. Finally, silence.
"The hell are you smirking for, geezer?"
Nanu started again, displeased with himself for not realizing that he wasn't alone. But the older officer had no time to react, because he suddenly found himself with Guzma on his lap, the younger man straddling him as Guzma's hands gripped his shoulders. Nanu regained his composure and gave the punk a disinterested stare.
"Why aren't you gone yet?" Nanu didn't like the way Guzma was looking at him, though mainly because there almost appeared to be concern in the other man's eyes. "I'm not going to be dropping dead anytime soon, if that's what you wanted to know. I'm sure I'll be around for you to take a swing at later."
"I figured that. I just didn't want you to be smug and have the last word, is all." Guzma said, hesitating before he leaned over and roughly pressed his lips to Nanu's.
Nanu supposed he should have seen this coming, though why Guzma was suddenly kissing him when before he wanted to kick the officer's ass for stripping him of his clothes was a mystery. Did Guzma want to be kissed, or was he just getting back at him for what Nanu had done earlier, as the punk seemed to be implying? Nanu grimaced when Guzma nipped his lower lip roughly, and growled something into the kiss. Nanu sighed, though he hadn't intended for Guzma to take advantage of it and slip his tongue in, mirroring the way Nanu had kissed the punk hours before.
"Nothing to say, old man?" Guzma breathed into the kiss, before he gripped Nanu's shoulders even tighter.
Nanu hesitated for a moment, not sure if Guzma actually wanted him to do anything, before he gave in and reached up for Guzma's hair, only to have the punk stop him with one larger hand smacking his hand away. Nanu held back a grimace when Guzma's hand went back to his shoulders to the point it was almost painful. Nanu paused again, before he lightly brushed his hands along Guzma's side, in what amounted to an unasked question, since he wasn't going to be forming words any time soon. Nanu still didn't know if Guzma was thinking clearly or if the punk was just trying to get back at him.
Guzma mumbled something into the kiss he held Nanu locked in, but did nothing to dissuade the officer, as one hand moved from the officer's shoulder to rest against the back of his neck.
Nanu slowly ran his hands along Guzma's sides beneath the jacket while wondering when Guzma would break the kiss and heap abuse on him for being a pervert or whatever terms the younger man chose to use.
Instead, Guzma's breath hitched at the touch, and he seemed to lean in closer to Nanu, as if wanting more, the hand against the nape of Nanu's neck pulling the officer closer.
Nanu stopped what he was doing, abruptly jerking his hands away as he hastily broke away from the kiss. No. He couldn't do this. Guzma was sending him too many mixed signals, and Nanu didn't want things to go any further until he knew for certain that Guzma wasn't yanking his chain. Or getting back at him for earlier. The older officer didn't want to regret anything more when it came to Guzma, and before the younger man could even get a chance to say anything, Nanu upended him onto the couch. Nanu hastily rose before Guzma could do anything more than curse in what sounded like surprise. The red eyed officer made it to the front door, and exited the station, heedless of the rain pouring down as he addressed the other Team Skull punks loitering outside the station.
"Hey. Go get your boss and get back to Po Town, all of you."
The grunts hastily moved to obey Nanu, which amused the older officer, though Nanu pointedly avoided Guzma's gaze as the punk emerged from the station with his lackeys. Nanu remained where he was until Guzma and the others were out of sight. Nanu stared at the walls that enclosed Po Town from the rest of the world, before he turned and entered the station again. Nanu locked the door behind him before he leaned against the door with a drawn out sigh, looking around the now quiet station. A bigger Pokémon pressing against his legs made Nanu look down.
Persian.
With a bag of ice.
"What a mess." Nanu muttered to himself, not taking the offered ice for his head. It didn't occur to him where it might have come from. Nanu honestly had no idea what to do about Guzma's sudden interest in him. Mainly because Nanu didn't know if the interest was genuine, or if Guzma merely wanted to get a form of revenge for the older officer taking advantage of his weakened state earlier and kissing the younger man.
Nanu sank to the floor as he gathered two Meowth that had wandered close enough into his arms.
"You lot enjoy sleeping on me?" Nanu rested his head against them, and let the Meowth press their faces against his cheeks. Nanu stilled when he felt Persian press against his side, and cold soon followed on his head.
Persian was holding the bag of ice on his head for him.
Nanu shifted his body slightly to press against his Pokémon, and half smiled when his Pokémon growled something around the bag in its mouth. Before Nanu knew it, he was guided across the station, to Persian's Pokémon bed. Nanu let his Pokémon curl up next to him to begin to groom him while one of the Meowth held the bag of ice to the sore spot on his head.
"I'll be all right." Nanu assured the Pokémon around him.
Persian pressed itself closer, its round head tilting as it let out a chuff of uncertainty before it pressed its cheek to Nanu's and purred. Other Meowth joined the Persian and all the purring and soft fur against him made Nanu cover his eyes with an arm as he let out a humorless laugh. The kahuna of Ula'Ula island, and an Alolan cop, had been reduced to a sorry older man being comforted by his Pokémon.
Nanu really was getting too old for this, if he had been too slow to prevent an injury that could have easily been avoided years ago. Nanu sighed and wrapped an arm around Persian, face pressed against the dark fur as the purring ramped up. Nanu was also too worn out to deal with Guzma and the red eyed officer could only hope that they could steer clear of one another for the time being.
Nanu needed some time to think, and he felt that Guzma did too.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x
A/N: (some notes I wrote over on Ao3 that should be relevant here):
1.) Initial chapters where Guzma is the Team Skull leader (shorter timeline-likely to ch 6/7 before time skip-Nanu and Guzma trying to figure one another out)
2.) Guzma is no longer the leader of Team Skull (disbanded it) and the story line becomes a mash up of post game in Sun/Moon, and some of the climax of Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon, but with differences.
My hope is that since my job appears to be more stable (in that I don't have to think about looking for another job any time soon), that I can work on typing in the evenings when I'm up to it, and perhaps start to post again on the weekends, depending on motivation and the annoying 'am I in the mood to stare at the screen for x amount of time today after staring at screen for x amount of time at work.'