Akihito chewed his lip worriedly as he stared out into the dark night. Thunder rumbled overhead punctuated by near constant flashes of lightening. It was one of the worst storms he had ever seen. Even during the day, it wouldn't be safe to venture out into the maelstrom of wind and rain, at night the visibility had to be nearly zero.

"He'll be fine, kid."

The young doctor looked up to see Suoh leaning against the doorway his newly adopted skitty curled up his arms. The man was a behemoth with an uninterested demeanour that most people found intimidating but he was the biggest softy when it came to Pokemon and Akihito secretly thought it was adorable. He had bonded with his little charge almost immediately and had gruffly informed Akihito earlier that day that he would be keeping little Sakura, as he had named the skitty, for himself.

"He's got a strong team of Pokemon and a strong bond with them, no amount of bad weather will stop him," Suoh continued on. "Don't worry so much."

As reassuring as Akihito found the sentiment, he couldn't help but be worried that Asami was still out in the storm. He was late coming back too and while that's understandable in this weather, it did nothing to ease his mind. His eevee worriedly headbutted his chest and Akihito cuddled his companion closer seeking what comfort he could offer. They were sitting together in a big window in sight of the barn where Asami would most likely enter the lab complex. It's the perfect place to drop off large Pokemon that need to be out of the weather but still out of their pokeball.

"I can't help but worry," Akihito replied with a small sigh. "Fei got back over an hour ago and he said the conditions were dangerous. It will have only gotten worse." He huffed up at the huge ranger when the man chuckled and ruffled his hair. "Anyway, you are still here waiting."

"I promised Kei I'd stay up until everyone got back safely." Suoh pulled up a chair and settled in next to Akihito. "I've known Ryuichi as long as Kei has, this storm is not enough to stop that team."

They sat in silence while Akihito thought over his words. His eevee cuddled up to him after a particularly loud thunder clap and he frowned as he hugged the Pokemon tighter. His worry was mounting higher and higher.

"Are the rumours about him being one of the elite four true?" he asked finally, breaking their silence. Suoh looked him over for a moment and Akihito could feel his gaze assessing him. The man wasn't known for talking much, to people at least, so maybe he should have kept his mouth shut.

"You should be asking him that." There was the slightest hint of rebuke in his tone but it softened as he continued. "Before he retired he was the undefeated champion of this region for five years." Akihito's head whipped around to stare at Suoh in shock. That was a seriously prestigious achievement. "But what do you do when you've achieved everything you've dreamed of?"

Akihito was silent for a moment before replying quietly, "Find a new dream?"

Suoh chuckled. "Something like that. But they are strong, that's why I said don't worry."

The doctor nodded but they both knew that he wasn't about to stop worrying anytime soon. They lapsed back into silence and Akihito released that was the longest conversation he had ever held with Suoh that wasn't about Pokemon.

Finally, after an agonising wait, a shadowed figure moved out from the darkness of the storm.

"Asami!" Akihito leapt to his feet, knocking his eevee to the ground with a startled cry. "Sorry Fuku!" He apologised even as he darted to the door. He must have been forgiven because the Pokemon was right at his heels a moment later.

They burst into the barn just as Asami and his arcanine did. The howling wind swirled through the room disturbing the other Pokemon housed there until the door slammed shut. The ranger and his huge Pokemon were drenched and covered in mud. He had never seen such a majestic pair look so bedraggled before.

"Asami! Are you okay?!" Akihito dashed forward checking for injuries but it was hard to make out anything under the muck.

"We are okay," was the hoarse reply as the man held out a small bundle.

The young man took it without thinking then cried out as he pulled back what must have been Asami's jersey and found a shivering cyndaquil inside. The poor Pokemon sniffled, obviously sick after having been caught in the storm.

"We don't get many fire Pokemon in these parts," Suoh commented. "Must have gotten separated from its family unit."

"We found it trapped under a fallen tree where water was starting to build up. It took a lot longer than I'd hoped to get it free then find our way back home."

"You go get cleaned up and get some rest, I'll take care of Ren," Suoh said gruffly as he reached up to affectionately rub the arcanine's sodden ears. "Let's get you a bath, eh?"

Asami didn't even try to question his long-time friend, instead he began to move slowly towards the building proper.

"Oh!" Akihito hurried to walk beside Asami as he looked him over in concern. "If you give me a second to get a few things, you can use my shower and stay with me? Everyone's staying here tonight as it's not safe to leave in this weather so all the guest beds are taken but I have some room?"

Asami nodded tiredly and gave his agreement. Quickly, mindful of the rangers exhausted and dirty state, Akihito gathered some supplies for his sick fire Pokemon and left a note for Tao in the morning. All set, he let his eevee lead the way up to the third floor where his small room was. The room was part of his position as the Pokemon doctor and rehabilitator and he found it much easier to have less travel to work. It also meant that he could bring some of his smaller charges with him to stay in his room if they needed to be checked on during the night.

"Here we are!" Akihito announced as he pushed open the door and flicked on the lights. "Let me get you a towel."

After showing Asami how to use the shower and assuring him to help himself to anything in the shower, he set about cleaning up the cyndaquil. The Pokemon most likely just had a cold from what he could tell so rest and warmth were the best things for him. Thankfully he always had a spare fireproof blanket handy just for situations like this. He tucked the Pokemon up in his spare Pokemon bed before turning to his own bed with a frown.

"All right you lot, come on. I'm lending my bed to Asami tonight and he doesn't need you all hogging the blankets!"

Akihito's words were met by six completely indifferent skittys making his bed their home once again and his eevee curled up in his favourite spot at the end of the bed looking mulish. Grumbling under his breath, he began to pull some extra blankets down for him to sleep on the floor when Asami emerged from the shower.

The ranger only had a towel around his waist and a smaller one in hand that he was using to towel off his hair. Akihito opened his mouth to see how the man was feeling but was stopped in his tracks by the sight of glistening muscles. It was far too late in the evening for his brain to process the sight and still remain functional. Especially since it hadn't occurred to him that Asami wouldn't have any clean clothing.

Blushing to the roots of his hair, Akihito scrabbled around while trying not to trip himself up on the extra bedding.

"Uhm, so! I'm just going to move this lot," he shot a stern look at the Pokemon invading his bed but received the same response as last time, "then you can have my bed? I can take the floor."

"Nonsense," Asami said and was that a hint of amusement he caught in his voice? "I'm not going to put you out. There's plenty of room for us to share."

Akihito turned to gape at the man as he brought up his hand to display a pokeball. "But-!"

"Do you mind if Rei stays out?" the ranger interrupted. "She doesn't like being away for too long."

"Oh, that's fine. Fuku's like that too."

Asami nodded as he let out his umbreon companion from her pokeball. Akihito watched as she looked about the room in apparent surprise before hopping up beside Fuku. The eevee shuffled out of his spot willingly for the first time that Akihito had ever seen and allowed the umbreon to settle with him.

"I think we should take our cue from our Pokemon, don't you think?"

Asami moved to place the wet towels back in the bathroom before walking out completely at ease in all his naked glory. Akihito's words failed him once again and he stood flailing slightly as a naked Asami climbed into his bed.

"You aren't sleeping like that, are you?" he questioned and Akihito woodenly went to his draws to pull out his pyjamas.

As he slipped into the bathroom to get changed, he could hear Asami conversing with the skittys and their answering grumbling yowls as he disturbed them to make room in the bed. He caught a glimpse of his reflection in the mirror and wondered if his face had ever been so red.

Holy shit, the man was hot as hell.

And he was in his bed.

He was also utterly shameless.

After realising that he couldn't stay in the bathroom all night, he shuffled back into his bedroom and flicked off the lights. A small space had been made for him next to Asami and he crawled in. He jumped when Asami spoke into the darkness.

"The cyndaquil will be okay?"

"Yeah, I think it's just a cold but I left a note for Tao to double check him in the morning if I don't wake up in time."

Asami hummed in response and after that they lapsed into silence. It didn't take long for Asami's breathing to even out and Akihito found that his nerves couldn't over take his exhaustion. Sleep took him soon after.

VF

Tao knocked softly on Akihito's door before carefully letting himself in. The young Pokemon doctors had an agreement that they were allowed in each other's rooms whenever and Akihito had left him a note to check on his sick cyndaquil Asami had brought back in the night. Seeing as Akihito had been up so late, he didn't want to disturb him if he was still sleeping.

He paused in the threshold of the room, his eyes taking in an unusual sight.

The eevee and the skitty's he had expected to see on his friend's bed but not the umbreon. Nor had he expected to see Asami's face relaxed with sleep with a tuft of blonde hair visible under his chin. There was only one person shaped lump on the bed and with how close they were together, they had to be almost intertwined. Their Pokemon mirrored their position at their feet, the eevee and umbreon curled up together with the six skitty's taking up the remaining space on the double bed.

Lips twitching up with a grin, Tao pulled out his phone and quickly snapped off a picture. Quietly he inched further into the room as he put his phone away until he reached the small sick fire Pokemon he had been told about. He scooped the sniffling cyndaquil up and left as quietly as possible.

He didn't want to disturb the lovebirds, after all.