the reminder of why he's so tired as sam feeling a bit more weighted. namely, his eyelids. but knox approaches and leans on the counter and sam leans back a bit to keep eye level with knox.

then, he smiles. defeated, and with his eyes, he agrees to knox' demands. because in his own way, knox had asked nicely.

"you're getting the counter messy."

knox prescott

"well, that's just another thing you don't have to concern yourself with," he says, but his frown is gone at sam's obvious forfeiture. so he gathers his empty plate and turns and does his very best job cleaning the dishes, drying them, and putting them away, and he thinks this is so fucking domestic

and also thinks, well, that's terrifying. 

he wipes up the counter last. his movements are slow, eyes focused on the towel, and he says, "you actually going to sleep or do i need to stand guard outside your door? 'n not let you out."

samuel carter

☉

sam watched as knox cleaned. he was thankful. he showed as much with a fond smile, but eventually his eyes landed to his phone. he had it out and was rescheduling everything for the day. he sent the news article of what had happened that was already published by people who really don't ever sleep and then knox was finished and looking at him with scolding eyes.

"alright," his hands raised in surrender. "yes, i will sleep."

scooting off of the chair, he stood, every inch of him was sore. he winced, rolling his shoulders back in an attempt to try and stretch. it hurt, his body hurt, it was beginning to dry oddly.

"i'm going to soak in the bath first... so my skin doesn't dry out." then he'd likely apply some burn relief from the first aid kits he had. "and i'll have to go to the store and get some burn relief. then i'll sleep."

sounded reasonable to his dense self.

knox prescott

don't worry, sam. there'll still be plenty of dead and dying people by the time you wake up. the world can miss him for the next twelve hours. if what he says is true, then they at least owe him that. all that and more, but knox doesn't mind picking up the slack for the general public. 

he rolls his eyes and leaves the wet dishes by the side of the sink. the sponge gets tossed in it as well and he's left with nothing for his hands to do.

so he takes the easy way out and he says, "no, you shower and i'll get the burn relief. at the store. are there stores near here? on here?"

samuel carter

☉

sam watches as knox seems to pitch some kind of fit about having to go out and do something because sam can't do it himself.

no, perhaps the fit is more that sam was going to go do it and didn't ask knox to do it for him. it felt... wrong asking somebody to run errands for him. he was the one always running errands for others!

the world was upside down and sam was realizing it wasn't just because he thought the boy across from him was pretty. it was because he'd had a hell of a time with groudon and he hadn't properly categorized the event in his thick skull.

reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a bit of money and handed it to knox. he had no idea the implication of what he was doing. he didn't know knox well enough.

"there is a premier ball in my office, top drawer of the desk. it holds my secondary gardevoir. she can teleport you to the store, and back when you're finished."

knox prescott

oh. right. he'll go down the same way he came up. the thought is dizzying. as nice as the gardevoir had been at the base of the mountain, he can't say he's actually ever teleported before. and he certainly wasn't planning on doing it the one last time (except, if this was going to become a regular thing, he'd have to get damn used to it).

"top drawer in your office," he repeats. he places both of his hands steadily on sam's shoulders and dramatically holds his breath as though he's about to say some real shit.

and then he laughs and says, "try not to miss me too much," and swaggers away. he doesn't look back because he doesn't really know how, and that's okay. 

in the office, pari and isla have nestled up together on his couch. he leaves them be and quietly goes around the desk, opens up the drawer and picks up the premier ball.

and he's struck suddenly. because a gardevoir, a gardevoir that can teleport this distance would be worth a fucking fortune. he'd be able to pay summer back. he'd be able to clear some of the stain from his record. he'd be able to take part in the family fucking business. 

and all he'd have to sacrifice is sam. 

he drops the ball and talks quietly to the pokemon that emerges. and then he takes her hands and they disappear. pari and isla snore on - their tails and their ears occasionally twitch. once, pari moves and isla's cheeks puff with static. and the room is warm and cozy, and otherwise empty.

and then it's not. knox returns with a bag in hand and thanks the gardevoir. when she's returned, he looks down at the ball in his hand, fingers bone-white and tense, and he thinks about this empty room and his empty self and tells himself that this makes him a good person.

doing this small act - because he's selfish and he's a fuck-up and if it were anyone else he'd steal the silver platter in a heartbeat - makes him good. 

he goes off to find sam.

samuel carter

☉

the hands on his shoulder had been a comfort. even more the flirtatious parting words of knox. once he was out of sight, sam's smile falls.

he is alone in the silence of the mountain. that used to feel like home. but suddenly he notices, it's empty; void.

where is the laughter? where is the smile? why does he miss them?

with great effort he heads to the bathroom. he gets his absol to help him. she helps him to get the water started and to be used as support as he lowers himself in. his houndooms are back from their morning control, entering through the doors that nyx can open by herself and hades has yet to understand.

cerberus, the mightyena, stumbles on her own two feet but manages to get inside as well.

they all find sam and are immediately worried. he's relaxing in the tub, allowing his skin to soak in the remedies of his body. cerberus grows bored and goes back out to the mountain, hades follows her and nips at her heels. but hecate his absol and nyx remain. absol lays with her head resting on sam's hand, the houndoom perks up at the sound of somebody else.

a low growl, but sam snaps his fingers, then winces. it hurt, his hands are sore. or soft? how long had he dozed off in the tub?

he grunts, getting out and letting the water drain. he takes a quick shower to rinse off.

it is nyx who prances out first to get an eye on the boy who entered. knox is not familiar to her, but he smells of sam, and of the gardevoir, which means he's to be trust-- well, to an extent. she sits at the bathroom door, which is open, with the shower steaming through the open door.

"i'll be out in a second. i lost track of time."

his absol, hecate, stays within the bathroom. she holds a towel in her mouth for sam, who thanks her and takes it, quickly drying most of himself off and wrapping it around his waist. his legs aren't burnt, mostly just his neck and arms. his face had managed to keep shaded by his infernape.

he makes his way out, a bit red, a bit raw, and tender. a pet to nyx' head calms her and he smiles when he sees knox. he doesn't realize the weight of his smile, the relief in his shoulders.

"this is nyx," he gives the houndoom a pet. "and hecate."

the absol coos at her introduction before moving toward sam's bedroom, opening the door with the small pull he'd installed for her. she's insistent he rest.

knox prescott

it doesn't take him very long to find sam. granted, he'd let his jolteon out of her ball so she could help sniff out where his living quarters were. as soon as he hears the growling when he approaches the door, however, he soothes rai's prickles and puts her back in her ball. 

he nudges open the door and peers inside. the lights are dim because the main one is spilling from under a cracked bathroom door. he looks at the bed - he can't help himself - and allows his brain one (1) short fantasy. and then tells himself that patience is a virtue and wants to smack himself for it. 

all the while the houndoom watches. he's familiar with canid pokemon, given the three close cousins hidden on his person, so he knows better than to look the thing in its terrifying, red eyes. or make any sudden movements. 

he just stands there awkwardly, feeling like he's five-years-ago-knox - full of hormones and still unsure of how to act around other men (or girls, when that was still a thing). there's a nice feeling of naivety to it, but for the most part he hates it. 

so he's relieved when the door opens and then he's instantly devastated because there's that voice again going: 

kiss him kiss him kiss him kiss him kisshimkisshim.

he forces a smile and holds out the bag with his necessities, almost as a way of putting something between them. something to fill the space.

"hello, hecate. and nyx." he crouches down and extends a closed fist to them. he has a feeling if he pisses them off, it won't be like pari and isla's tantrums.

samuel carter

☉

hecate gives the fist extended a rub, with her whole body. which is more of a feline move than a canine move, but she gives it none the less. then she's tapping her talons on the floor before pouncing up on the bed and laying on her portion, which has its own specific blanket.

nyx, however, regards him for a moment before her tail starts to thump on the floor.

"no licking." sam had taken the bag and looked through the contents.

nyx does not lick. instead, she moves forward with excitement and whines, flipping onto her stomach and begging for pets.

hecate straight eye rolls, cause this bitch.

"last thing we need is for you to need burn relief for the rest of your life." sam mentions to knox. "thank you, for getting these."

knox prescott

the pair really do remind him of his eeveelutions, albeit a tad scarier. but he supposes that the type synergy of all three could be terrifying, especially when they play tussle. knox has spent quite a fortune on specially-made shoes with rubber soles after blacking out one too many times on a slick floor with an agitated jolteon.

he complies and scratches her belly. and when her tail starts thumping against the ground, he goes in with both. and then his idea of yeah, it's similar goes down the drain when he thinks he mishears sam. 

"hah, yeah - wait, what?" he has the urge to fall backwards, but instead he just takes one of his hands away, suddenly terrified that the hound won't like getting her pets taken away.

"you don't have to thank me," he says, looking up, "but you're welcome." he bites his lip. 

he needs rest. like, really, he needs to sleep. 

you should leave. he wants you to leave. 

kiss him kiss him kiss him kiss him - 

"i should get going. don't want to overstay my welcome and all that. can i do anything else for you, before i go?" 

samuel carter

☉

sam takes the lotion from the bag and sets it out, rotating it so the label and the tabel he's set it on are aligned properly. then the burn relief, he makes sure it sits perfectly as well.

then he looks to knox and begins folding the bag like a psychopath. he sets it down, also properly lined.

"you've done more than enough." nyx stands and shakes her coat, brushing past the two to catch up with cerberus and hades. "i'm not sure how to thank you..."

tipping him felt strange, so he decided against offering that.

"you can stay for as long as you like, on the mountain. i'm going to have hecate lock the place up for me after i get all of this applied."

he motions toward the lotion and burn relief.

knox prescott

he dares slow his scratchings. and then he dares to stop altogether. and, thankfully, the houndoom only whines before giving up on him. still, he scoots just a bit closer to sam as a type of body hostage because surely she wouldn't burn her own master. the guy trying to step into the room and take him away (just a little bit)? yeah, no, fuck that guy.

but then she heads off to do whatever it is sam has her do and he gets off the ground, if only so he can sit by sam on the bed.

"i actually - ah, have work stuff. and then party planning. or i'd stay. really." but he doesn't think he would, really, because that really would be like high school. two rooms over with a girl under his arm, where he'd snuck in after her parents went to bed, while he fantasized about her godsdamn brother in the next room over. 

he reaches for the burn relief, looks down at it, and then says, "you had some burns on your back... can i help?"

samuel carter

☉

he feels guilty that knox whats to help him again. he feels guilty but also... relieved. more relieved than guilty. it's selfish, he knows, but he agrees.

"i'd like that."

what the fuck just came out of his mouth?! to show he's not panicking at his own words, he turns his open back toward knox. the tattoos have lest blistering, being scar tissue more than the rest of his flesh, but it's still evident. the burns are just severe sunburns, only the tops of his arms and the very top of the back of his neck, just below his hairline, are blistering.

"i am definitely going to make it to the party for you after today."

he isn't stupid, he knows there's something between them. something unspoken, something that's causing the hair on his arms to stand straight up when he thinks about knox rubbing burn relief on his burns.

perhaps he's focusing on that instead of how it will hurt to have the burns touched. perhaps that's too rationalized and really he just likes knox and he's not sure what to do about it.

his eyes are open, staring at the bed, looking at his red hands gripping the towel on his lap.

knox prescott