Chapter 2

I made it back to Sunnyshore an hour and a bit later. By then the blackout I'd caused had been rectified, and the city was lit up, bright as ever. I got up to my house, walked in the door and said to myself, 'self, what should I do now?' And you know what self said? Nothing. And nothing is exactly what I did for another hour or two before I decided that it was dark enough to start getting ready to go to sleep.

But I don't feel like sleeping…

I wish I was still in the Underground with Roark…

Though on a more relevant note, showering is what comes before sleeping, according to my schedule. My schedule that I have to follow to the T or else my day gets five kinds of screwed up. And so I went up to my bathroom and began to toss my clothes in an unceremonious heap on the floor. I managed to get down to my boxers before an image swept through my mind. A certain image, that had to do with me and a certain Leader, who appeared to most certainly be in the throws of quite a bit of pleasure. And it is no true surprise, that upon realizing what I was thinking about, I got hard. And to be brutally honest, it kinda' startled me.

I tried for several minutes to banish that thought from my mind and perhaps grant myself the pleasure of a shower that wasn't cold. However my efforts…shall we say…didn't work very well. And as I stepped into the shower, I painfully heaved the tap around and shivered as the water got icy. I tried to rationalize exactly what had provoked such an image. I mean, its not like Roark and I did anything. All we did was talk! Then I was hit square in the face with realization;

I'm in love with Roark.

I'm in love with another man.

I'm in love with Byron's son! Byron's gonna' rip my limbs off if he finds out!

That little train of though put me on edge, and I jumped at the random noises that Luxio was making in the hall, convinced that Byron had gotten into my head and knew somehow that I was lusting after his son, and that I was gonna' wake up soon in a hospital bed being told that I needed my dick replaced…And by God, that is one damn scary thought.

I finished up quickly and managed to make it into my bedroom with all my organs safely intact. I toppled backwards onto my bed, not particularly minding that Luxio was making himself comfortable on my pillow. I still didn't have my little fantasy completely out of my head, and lay awhile wondering why it was my hormones had suddenly decided to go gay. I had felt like this a couple times before towards girls, but never in my life toward a guy. A guy who was the son of one of the most esteemed Leaders on the continent, no less.

It goes without saying that I didn't get a wink of sleep. I wound up leaning against the headboard playing Tetris on my cellphone for an hour, tormenting Luxio for another, and starring into space for one more. Luxio didn't seem sleepy either. On the contrary, he seemed excited to have met another Pokemon with which he could socialize a bit. As you can probably guess, Gym Leaders don't generally mingle with the hodgepodge of trainers that flood their Gyms daily. I am friends with Flint, but he's busy with the Elite Four most of the time, so neither me nor my Pokemon get many playmates, so to speak.

I figured after awhile that I'd go for a walk and clear my head. Its not like I had anything else to do. So I donned a more simplified version of my usual attire and Luxio and I departed. We walked around the city a bit, nodding hello to the scattered few people who happened to be out after midnight, until I decided I'd had enough of the light and made my slow ambling way up past Valor Lake and into Veilstone City.

The city was peacefully quiet, and it was comfortable. I made my way between the buildings on my way towards the south exit, figuring I'd head over to Solaceon Town, but as I passed the Gym, somebody came running out of nowhere and ran straight into me. Both of us wound up flat on our backs from the impact, and I heard the guy muttering pained sounding somethings to himself. His voice was kind of familiar…

"Roark?" I asked dumbly, opening my eyes and seeing his shadowy outline in the gloom.

"Volkner?" he said, sounding surprised, "What are you doing here?"

I got to my feet, extending a hand to Roark and helping him up before dragging him into the glow of a streetlamp.

"I could be asking you the same question." I replied mildly. I got a good look at the kid then. He'd lost his jacket from before, which left him in that black shirt of his, that hugged his form and showed off the subtle muscles. Roark looked a bit guilty, and I went on,

"Shouldn't you be at home with your dad or something?" I asked, just a hint of sarcasm. My tease provoked a half sarcastic, half slightly offended look out of him.

"I'm not a little kid," he shot back, smiling ever so slightly, "I can take care of myself, y'know."

I smiled a bit, and caught myself halfway through rolling my eyes, though it didn't go unseen,

"What, you don't believe me?" Roark said, crossing his arms, his tone faintly challenging. I put my hands up in defense,

"No, no, of course not." I say, but he doesn't look convinced, I go on despite that, "Anyway, I thought it was a nice evening, so I decided to take a walk and try and get my head on straight. I've been thinking a lot lately, y'know?"

"What about?" Roark asked, relaxing just a litle. He had to ask, didn't he? It's not like I can just tell him what I was thinking about. Given my shower experience, if I said anything even remotely close to that, the kid'd run off scared. And I'm no good at lying. But its not like I have a choice!

"What about? Uh…well…I was thinking about…um…Gym Battles! Right, that's it, Gym Battles. Exciting ones, against kick-ass trainers." I paused and inwardly kicked myself at such an obvious fib, "There's been a lot of crummy battles lately, I'm waiting for a real' good one to come along."

I stopped when I realized Roark was staring at me. I hesitated before his chocolaty brown eyes met my electric blue ones. And they just stayed like that. I was startled to find myself being pushed forward towards my little crush, realizing that my Luxio and Roark's Cranidos were behind us, inching us forward. Those little devils…matchmaker is such an unlikely role for Pokemon, I never thought it possible until now. The two let up when Roark and I were barely inches apart. His face had turned a bright tomato red (a color that I deeply love now), and I'm sure I didn't look much better. I found myself—against my sane judgment—moving forward to catch Roark up in a kiss, and perhaps have that kiss evolve into something…a bit more intimate if you catch my drift. But that sane judgment appeared again and I stopped myself mere millimeters from my target.

I can't believe myself sometimes. He's just a kid! A minor! And I'm taking advantage of him! I'm legal, of course, barely, but I am. But I shouldn't be trying to make out with Roark. I wonder sometimes where my brain goes…

I quickly pull back and mumble some deeply embarrassed apology before turning to make my shameful escape. Before I can even get two steps, I feel Roark grabbing my arm and pulling me back. I turned around and tried and make an excuse for what I'd almost just done, but couldn't get the words out. Roark had flung his arms around my neck, catching me up in a deep, passionate kiss. I didn't think after that, I just acted, turning full around and wrapping my arms around his waist, letting myself melt into the kiss. I could feel the bliss running down my body, and boy did it feel good.

I slid my tongue across his lips, begging to enter. I could tell Roark was hesitant, barely opening his mouth. I knew I could fix it, though, and I slipped a hand down and squeezed his ass. Roark gasped, jumping a bit, and I thrust my tongue into his mouth, exploring it, and finding that he tasted like cherries.

We went on like that for…I don't even know how long. And we didn't care if anybody saw us. It wasn't like there was anyone else out this time of night. However air became something of a problem after awhile and we both had to pull back a bit and breathe. When I opened my eyes again, Roark's face was that cute tomato red blush again, and I smiled at him, cupping a hand under his chin and stroking his cheek with my thumb. He glanced up at me, his eyes looking guilty and awkward. He mumbled something I didn't quite catch before turning to leave. I caught him by the arm and drew him into an embrace from behind,

"You're not going back to Oreburgh, are you?" I whispered, and he shivered, "Its such a long walk…why don't you just come back to Sunnyshore with me?" Inwardly I prayed to whatever deity who bothered to listen that he'd say yes.

"O-okay…" he stammered, "I-I guess…it wouldn't h-hurt…" he looked so small and embarrassed that I was barely able to suppress my inner rapist. I hugged him closer,

"You nervous about that make out?" I asked softly, and got a nod in response. Softly, I slid my fingers over his stomach, kissing down his neck softly. I was glad when he melted under me, "How bout' now?"

"Little better…" he said softly, a pleased sounding noise escaping him at my touch. I managed to get my hand to the hem of his pants before he began to wriggle uncomfortably in my arms.

"Sorry," I said softly, not really meaning it, "Sunnyshore's this way," I took him by the hand and led him back down the path towards my city, "You can call your Gym when we get there, let em' know you'll be late tomorrow, or whatever."

All I got out of him was a nod.