Rocks aren't the same

James waited in front of the hotelroom, scanning the hallway impatiently. After nearly two minutes, the door clicked open and he quickly stepped in. He grinned at the man behind the door and jumped forward to embrace him, but was surprised to hear the other shriek "Wait!" followed by a hiss of pain.

James pulled back in alarm. "What? What's the matter?" He watched the green-haired man, dressed in his black shirt and pants, waggle to the bed stiffly and lie down before he got an answer.

"I guess I should have called, but I'm feeling pretty bad. I got attacked on the job today." Butch said in a very gruff voice.

James went to sit down on the bed and looked at him in concern. He was a little paler than usual, but aside from that looked okay. "What happened? Did you go to the doctor?"

Butch nodded. "Nurse said it was fine. I just need to rest a few days. Some trainer's Steelix used Rock Tomb on me."

The blue-haired man grimaced slightly to show his sympathy. "Can I- Can I see?" He asked after a moment of silence.

Butch faced him again and James thought he looked very tired. For the first time he actually felt sorry for the higher ranked agent.

"Sure. But you'll have to help me up."

With a frown Butch sat upright, James' arm supporting him, and took off his shirt. He lied back on the bed and let James see the bruises covering his chest, belly and left arm.

The younger boy looked at them and back at Butch' uncomfortable face. James had had far worse bruises than that over every inch of his body, so he wasn't shocked to see this. He wondered if maybe Butch was exaggerating how hurt he was.

"And you said he used Rock Tomb?" James asked, taking off his gloves. The resting man grunted in affirmation, but his eyes shot open when he felt fingers gently tracing the blue marks.

"They don't look like Rock type injuries to me. More like someone punched you repeatedly." The level-B agent remarked quietly.

"D-don't touch 'em." Butch mumbled.

James took his hands away. "Does it hurt that bad?"

"Of course it does!" The older boy snapped. James cringed but remained silent, not wanting to upset the man any further, until Butch sighed and spoke again.

"You're right. It wasn't Rock Tomb… Cassidy and I were training our Pokémon and her Sableye accidently attacked me."

"You didn't need to lie about that. I get attacked by my own Pokémon all the time. They can be pretty vicious, too."

"Yeah but… you never complain about the pain. It hurts so much I can hardly move." Butch muttered.

The blue-haired Rockt agent smiled a little. He supposed he was tougher than Butch when it came to receiving a beating. His pain threshold was quite high from all the times he'd been sent blasting off. But he realized this wasn't the time to gloat, so he took pity on him.

"Have you put ice on it yet?"

"Yeah, it's on the nightstand."

James took off his boots, straddled Butch's legs and placed the ice packs back on his lover's bruises.

"Hold still." He said while the other winced pathetically. He called Chimecho out of its Pokéball and asked him to do Heal Bell. The pain immediately lessened and Butch smiled blissfully.

"Haa, I like your new Pokémon a lot." He commented. James settled against the green-haired boy's unharmed right arm and marveled when Butch held him close.

"Me too."