reve smiles softly at artemis from where he’s laying across the couch. he’s holding artemis’s liepard under his arm, petting it softly.

he’s very content right there, he thinks. he could be there happily for quite a long time, with nothing but the sounds of artemis tapping away on his keyboard and occasional yips and barks of reve’s playing pokémon. he is calm, and resting, and —

artemis isn’t. the fool. he had stopped typing.

reve looks back at artemis, redirecting himself from the blank space his gaze had drifted to, to see artemis signing for help.

“artemis,” he sighs, “tell me you’re not still stuck on that article. you’ve been working on it for ages! you have to be tired by now. come and rest, look. estella is waiting for you.” he grins as he says the last part, petting the liepard again.

he adores artemis, he really does. so much. more than artemis could — that was besides the point.

regardless of how much he adores artemis, though, he truly worries about him — the man could be a true perfectionist, tearing himself apart over his work. it was something reve admired, but still almost wished were not so. artemis deserved to enjoy himself without such worries.

“i mean, i’m not letting him go until you get over here. there are better uses of time than tearing your hair out over an article. for example: cuddling a very sleepy liepard.”

---

@artemis

reve sees artemis’s “traitor”, and rolls his eyes. he doesn’t believe himself to be a traitor in the slightest! the break is necessary, he can see it in the way artemis holds himself. artemis may have originally come over for help with work, but reve would allow that no longer. no, a break would be taken, one way or another. reve will demand it, if he must. even if he’s not great at making demands. he’d figure it out.

breath bated, reve waits for artemis’s answer as he seems to contemplate. the seconds drawing on and on, until...

before he knows it, artemis is standing closer. then, as dramatic as ever, he falls onto the couch. success! artemis down. and comfortable, from the looks of it. reve shifts to sit beside him, apologizing to the liepard as slight adjustments are made. he tries to move so that estella can lay across the two of them — he did mention liepard cuddling in the offer, after all, and estella seems more than happy to do so.

“finally! knew i’d be able to convince you. maybe i should’ve been a persuasive article writer. is that a thing? i think it is. anyways, if not, i could've been the first!"

---

@artemis

reve tries to ignore the glare in favor of petting the liepard. artemis could glare at them all he wanted, they were still the one who won.

he finds himself smiling at the shrug — it had been mostly a joke, but the idea that he could be a writer, but he’s happy that artemis seems to not think it entirely ridiculous. any level of faith shown in him was an honor.

the soft feeling doesn’t last long, though. soon he’s shuddering at the mention of sootopolis. he doesn’t see how it’s particularly relevant to the conversation, but isn’t about to just shrug it off.

rocket taking a city… it didn’t sit right with him. not at all. he felt bad for any league members in the area — it couldn’t be easy. he knows he probably couldn’t handle it.

“...yeah, i heard about it. why?” he’s careful to keep his tone even, he doesn’t want to seem outright hostile. he’s always careful with how he talks about rocket, even if he dislikes them. his dislike is a very private thing.

he remembers seeing the news break, and the sense of disgust that had twisted in his gut at it. a feeling he hated.

he’s incredibly glad to be league.

---

@artemis

reve’s reaction is nothing too outwardly significant. he shrugs in response to artemis’s question, and turns his gaze back to estella, petting him gently. his face is still carefully blank, but that’s not the issue — rather, he can’t bring himself to look at them as he speaks.

“don’t know. i’m not really the one to ask on rocket-related topics, i don’t even really think about them much. guess they’re just good at what they do,” he says. because they’re manipulative assholes, he’s tempted to add, but that would be breaking his appearance of neutrality. as much as he may care about artemis, his thoughts on rocket could not be shared, even with him. not yet, at least. maybe if they got closer, someday.

but for now it would have to wait. last thing he wants is to scare them off. his response had already gotten close to being too much, if it wasn’t already, and he’s tempted to slap his own forehead for a moment.

why did artemis have to bring this up? usually, reve would go out of his way to avoid discussions of rocket. too many of them were too many reminders, and too many risks of having to talk about things he’d rather leave pushed in some corner of his mind for him to unpack some day. or not.

“guess people saw that. people take the side of winners” even if they don’t like them. even if they think they’re monsters. “safest pick, maybe.”

he looks back at artemis, trying to ignore the creeping feeling in his gut when looking him in the eye. he isn’t lying to him, there isn’t a reason to feel guilty. it’s not even like any of the things he’s omitting had anything to do with artemis, he’s completely unaffected by them. what reason would artemis, a civilian, have to care about reve’s views on rocket?

“what do you think?”

---

@artemis

reve shrugs.

“don’t know. even with kanto, people might be seeing rocket taking sootopolis as a sign of growing strength. they could be deciding it’s worth the switch.

... again, i don’t know, though. i don’t really get told these things.”

at artemis’s question about rocket, reve shudders a bit. “hope not. kind of a scary thought, right? i mean, they already know things we don’t, like who exactly they even are. don’t really need them having more hidden information.” he thinks it’s a fairly neutral response. or, at least, he hopes it is.

“...fair enough though. rather you don’t get caught up in it too,” reve sighs. “deserve to stay away from… all that. seems messy.” reve thinks for a moment about the possibility of artemis being involved with all of it. fighting for the league (obviously), going up against rocket… if it weren’t for all of the dangers, it’d be attractive. but as things stood, that wasn’t the case. reve knew he wouldn’t be able to find it very attractive if he had to spend all of his time worrying after artemis’s safety. yeah, that wouldn’t be great for either of them. it isn’t worth the risk to artemis, and not worth the worry for reve. artemis is better off staying safely out of the reach of any of it. he’s attractive enough already, as a normal, safe civilian.

reve takes a moment to observe him. he’s also neutral, difficult to read. reve wishes that wasn’t the case — he’s still wondering why artemis had to even bring it up, and why they ignored his question earlier.

“pretty sure you know about just as much as i do. do you suspect anything… like. about rocket? hidden knowledge, plans?”

---

@artemis

reve sighs. “...kind of an awful thought. yeah. maybe.”

he waits a moment, considering. “i hate that we don’t know. rocket could be anyone, anywhere. if you’re right, maybe others feel the same way. just leaning into the fear. can’t even really blame them. it’s kind of scary, don’t you think?” apparent neutrality is becoming more difficult to maintain, and that’s also scary to them.

they consider artemis close. he’s his dearest friend in hoenn. but they aren’t sure if they’re close enough to purposefully let him know what he really thinks of rocket. he doesn’t know why, but fear runs through him at the thought. maybe it's the idea of letting someone get intimate enough to know his worst tragedy. his weakest point.

he should trust artemis more, really. he’s his best friend. they care for each other. and artemis has no reason to care what reve thinks of rocket — that much, reve trusts entirely.

he doesn't want to consider the lack of trust in his best friend. that was something to bring up in therapy, if he ever got it. his thoughts shift back to the anonymity of rocket. he hates the thought of it. rocket being perfectly hidden away, kept from the knowledge of the public. for a moment he wonders if it’d be worth it, to side with rocket for safety from their hidden numbers.

no. definitely not. not after what they did to…

he has to stop himself at that, electing to do more constructive things with his thoughts. like consider how adorable the pokémon sitting close to him is. he smiles at estella, a bit tensely. just a little creature.

he keeps speaking, though. “that sucks. considering my guess isn’t any good.” he doesn’t know why, but he had hoped artemis could have more information. know something they didn’t, something that could help. but again, in order for him to have that, he’d have to be caught up in everything — something he could never hope artemis to be.

“maybe we should start covering rocket stories,” he almost jokes. almost. he intends it as one, but after he says it, he isn’t certain it’s entirely a joke — part of him thinks that perhaps, it would be his chance to do something about everything they’ve done to — to the world. “i snap the photos, you write the words to accompany them. we could figure them out together, i think. we’re a good team. who knows, maybe we’d even figure out who they are.” maybe they’re getting a bit carried away, but they can’t help it.

the thought of him and artemis working together, bringing down rocket, one article at a time… it’s lovely.

---

@artemis

reve tries to sink back further into the couch.

“mmgh. maybe? i do want to try, someday maybe. could be fun.” reve is thinking about it now. artemis doesn’t seem the most enthusiastic, which is slightly discouraging, but reve is sure he could convince him to come around. the possibility…

an image comes to mind.

artemis sitting at his computer, writing an article. reve is there, going through photos, deciding which would be the best to accompany, writing the captions. them discussing for hours what each move by rocket could mean, doing work to warn the public of the insidious organization.

his heart warms, and he can’t help but lean a little closer to his beautiful friend.

“could be useful.”

then artemis signs again, and reve deflates. they don’t seem to believe it could possibly have any effect — which is fair, reve supposes, the likelihood of two journalists being able to contribute anything is low. but it isn’t zero, and reve can’t help but still hope artemis would give more consideration to it.

“i don’t know. they might, they might not. maybe they won’t even realize we’re looking into them, if we’re good enough.” he hurries in an attempt to justify his thoughts. “i mean, who’s going to suspect two random reporters, right? especially when one of them is artemis chary. if you write the articles anonymously... no one would suspect you of aiding rocket, warning the public, because it would be too ridiculous. you're too famous to be involved. could be able to use your regular self against them.”

reve hesitates. “i know it's not likely, but. could make a difference. we could make a difference.”

maybe he's pleading a bit too hard, now. he needs to tone it down, probably, he's getting too passionate, too carried away. he can't let them know exactly how deep his hatred of rocket runs. not yet.

---

@artemis