"'k, you say it's out of character, but you sound pretty excited all of a sudden." noah strains forward and bites the swerve of kyle's shoulder. as trivial recompense, he rubs his cheek against it with soft searching eyes.

"maybe you should be a coordinator instead. you know how top athletes retire from sport and then move on to another? that could be you."

his hands massage the other back, petting him down to the small of it. a little bit of pampering. a little bit of spoiling. noah wonders whether can catch up to all the personal care kyle had missed. if he had missed any, that is. noah's own canon assumes so.

"i could get a bowtie too." noah thinks before slapping the other's back with a trickster's grin. "when do you wanna go? now? later? doesn't matter... but i'm feeling lazy, man. i think you're rubbing off on me."

kyle lopez

noah's thinking plays out conspicuously across his face. he pouts, lips wrinkling as he weighs the options against each other. but the internal debate settles like kyle's body does and as they coalesce on the couch, noah can't help but think about something else.

"yeah, it is."

noah's voice hangs in the air before it disappears, cast away like smoke as he kisses him. his hands push kyle closer to squeeze out any little distance remaining between them. arms snake around the other, smoothly gliding over bare skin.

"just wanna make the most out of the time we got... 'cause," he kisses him again, "i might be a bit busier now."

outside, the mightyena bark among themselves.

kyle lopez

as incessant as kyle's grooming, noah's hair stubbornly shifts back. dark strands of hair, like thick blades of grass, continue to curl back to grace his face.

"it's been busy, yeah," noah's hand trails off the other's back. it dives deep into his shorts before pulling out a badge. "but they were like, 'damn noah how are you so good at everything wow you're so cool you're so hot' and they gave me rustboro gym."

he models the badge in his hand, one that kyle would be familiar with already. it catches the morning light.

"but i have you to thank, man. all that training."

kyle lopez

noah punches kyle's chest playfully at his nonchalance.

the badge settles on the table with a light click. oddly enough, his hand feels empty. despite its inheritance, the forced vacancy takes a part of himself with it. self-worth, perhaps. some prescribed sense of value. quickly, as if seeking some substitute, or returning to what is more important, his hand finds kyle's back once more.

"yeah man," he smiles demurely, eyes softened by tiredness and togetherness. the hug of couch cushions and warm skin brings the portrait together as his cheek nestles into one palm. "'cause i technically got a badge, yeah?" noah recalls an earlier covenant- perhaps made in jest, but one that is now gilded with the heat tickling his cheeks.

"let's go shopping tomorrow."

kyle lopez

the hypothetical serves as an admission of affection. it tickles noah, and sinks deep into his skin. the pink pressed on his face presses on kyle's, their lips joining time and time again like the instinctive pendulum of breath. his eyes close to slow time. yet, it ends all too soon— the spell breaks like glass.

"the day's clear, yeah?" noah cradles kyle closer as if refusing the continual ebb and flow of distance. "then, can i stay the night too?"

noah presses his forehead against the other, lips careful and parallel to kyle's— but he grapples him with his arms. squeezing the air out of him, the gym leader laughs so that his chest beats against the other's: "we can just stay like this, man. unless you got other ideas. you know i always do."

kyle lopez

"you can game and i'll watch. it's a win-win, dude." he senses the imminent shift from the couch and prepares for it.

constracting now, noah does not relinquish his hold. as some slakoth or long-limbed aipom, he remains dangling on an uprooting trunk. kyle moves- and he follows.

his eyes search for kyle's own. they wish to dock. to find the harbour- but the other's gaze is a beacon's beam of light that looks inland rather the sea.

noah doesn't give up. the neck is exposed, and so he teases that soft slope with love bites. not too many. perhaps, it's the morning calm that settles noah down some. the tint of peace that is cast over a day with no real schedule.

he rests his head on kyle's shoulder and speaks candidly, "i love you a lot, man." he exhales. a long release. "and i'll love you more if you can carry me up those stairs."

kyle lopez