Chapter Text
"You'll still see me from time to time, won't you?" Wyndon had surprisingly fine accommodations for the ex Chairman. While he pled guilty of all charges, he was still given extensive leniency. He was under house arrest, but that meant little to one who lived among such finery. He was to be holed up in one of his penthouses, overlooking the Wyndon skyline and the expanse beyond.
Rose's voice had been soft, but he needn't have bothered. They were alone in his sort of vestibule/antichamber. They'd had a relatively fine evening. Dinner, a sweet dessert wine, soft music to drone out the awkward silence, the unspoken tension in the air. But now they were standing, Rose with a hand on Leon's forearm. His pale green eyes bore into the former Champion. They burned his cheeks, flushed with repressed emotion.
Leon broke away, turning, cape fluttering, light despite its weight on his shoulders. He said nothing as he paced to the door, opened it, and-- admittedly-- fled.
Hammerlock was sunny, but clouds still spattered the blue skies, threatening an overcast night. He sat outside a cafe, completely unaware of the conversation that had died around him. A blurry form made him tense, but he reacted too slowly to avoid it. He jerked back as his nose was flicked. "Leon? Earth to Leon???" An exasperated sigh, "I think we've lost him."
Leon rolled his eyes, "sorry, sorry. I was a bit distracted--" his vision came into focus, instinctually catching Sonia's eyes across the table. They weren't the same shade as his, but just then, the light hitting them as it did-- he looked away quickly. Nessa's pursed expression meant nothing but trouble.
"You sure you're alright? You've been acting odd for awhile now." She stretched, attempting to seem casual as her eyes slipped closed and her posture portrayed the same sass in her voice, "that upset you lost to Hop's friend?" She waved him off, "go battle him for a rematch or something."
Raihan and Sonia laughed. Leon tried, but he could only manage a lopsided smirk. "It isn't that." He tried to sound reassuring, but his voice, what was wrong with him? The whole table stopped, eyeing him with varying degrees of curiosity and concern. His voice had been so small. Arceus blaze it.
Raihan broke the tension by grabbing his phone, having been off to the side, and began scrolling through some social media app. Nessa took the hint and stretched again, then grabbed her drink and began sipping, probably just to give herself something to do. Sonia, however, didn't let up. She scrutinized Leon across the table. "You...called us all here," she began lightly, "just... Wanted to hang out?"
Leon felt his face flush slightly. He knew he was keeping them from important work, Sonia in particular, but... He sighed, steeling himself. He wasn't gonna run from this anymore. "There's something I wanted to tell you lot." This caught their collective attention. Raihan turned his phone aside, Nessa gently set down her drink, Sonia continued to gaze intently at him.
A bubble suddenly formed in Leon's chest. It made him feel sick. His stomach turned itself in knots. He could feel his courage-- if he could have called it that-- fleeing. "I--" he stumbled, he focused hard on his hands, but even thinking about it, the memories came flooding back.
"They'd turn on you, Leon." The chairman, the kind, kind chairman was saying, voice soft, sweet, almost melodic. "If they knew," he gestured at him, lying there, sweaty, belatedly hiding himself beneath the crumpled sheets, but it was no use. In fact, the gesture made the chairman smirk. It wasn't a mean look, but it still scared him. Because that smirk...what usually followed--
"Leon?" Sonia's voice brought him out of it, but those eyes gave him a momentary panic. But they weren't blazing with lust, hard with unrealized cruelty. They were soft, concerned. The wrong shade of green.
He swallowed. Then nearly jumped out of his seat as a weight pressed into his arm. "Whoa! Calm down a bit, mate! What is it?" Raihan had apparently touched, in fact barely grazed his arm to shake him.
"I-- 'm-- sorry." Leon's breath was shaky, looking around. But the place was pretty much deserted. As he'd planned, of course. He shook his head, but realized he was still seeing stars.
"Leon." Nessa snapped. His eyes snapped up to her. She was looking at him intently. "Breathe." She barked, before adding more softly now she had his attention, "slowly." He gasped, then forced himself to slow down. Oh. That was what it was. "What the hell was that?"
Leon blinked, getting a hold of himself. "I... think that was me panicking," he said absently.
She and Raihan shared a look, then the latter spoke up, "okay. Now you've got to tell us what's going on." He took a breath. "Maybe not, you know, right this second, but..."
"Leon, what happened?" Sonia's voice wasn't particularly loud, but she was so firm Raihan stopped in his tracks
Leon looked at her. Into those eyes. Those not-wrong colored eyes. Then he came back. Came back entirely. He looked at her, saw her completely for the first time since they'd all sat down. She was firm, but not pressing. Gentle, but honest, too. She wouldn't. She wouldn't and Raihan and Nessa wouldn't. They wouldn't be disgusted, well, not with him .
But are you sure Rose's voice seemed to ask him.
But he shook it off. He couldn't keep doing this. Not now. He couldn't keep being scared of that man.
His eyes never left hers. But Sonia saw that fear cross his face again. She was about to ask when he spoke. His words couldn't have shocked her more. "I have been too afraid to say anything, but I can't not say anything anymore." He never stopped looking at her, but his face contorted in that fear again. "Chairman Rose and I... We've been...he hasn't in awhile, but he used to... How he said he chose me, he..."
"Leon?"
He finally looked away. She looked at the other two, caught them sharing another look, this time fearful, too.
"I didn't-- I didn't think I could refuse--"
"Leon..." Raihan felt numb. Shock and horror flooding him, freezing him.
"And he said I couldn't tell-- that no one would-- that you lot would--"
It was Nessa's turn to be stern. "Never." The three of them looked to her, Leon especially looking lost. "I don't know what he said to you, but we're friends now, right?"
Raihan's and Sonia's answers were immediate. "Right."
She nodded. "So whatever happened, whatever is going to happen and needs to happen, we're with ya."
Leon just closed his eyes. He seemed so lost, so inconsolable. His voice was barely a whisper. "Please don't tell anyone yet. I'm...not ready to come out about it yet."
Again, they shared a glance. Raihan pressed again, this time not attempting to touch him. "Leon? What..."
Seven words. Seven, quiet words.
"He took advantage of me, back then."
Sonia had been afraid Nessa blowing up would have only worsened Leon's state, but luckily she kept composure. Her voice was shaky, her hands, clenched into fists were shaky. "Leon, I..." He looked at her in fear. She swallowed, then sighed. "I won't say anything," she promised. "But..." She suddenly swore. Violently. A long, incoherent strain of profanity that made not just Leon shrink back. "It makes me want to hurt the bastard!"
Leon threw a hand up, "no but that's the thing, he--"
The three of them looked at him, stunned. He stopped short.
Raihan shook his head, emotions visibly tangled up under his skin, "Leon, you're not...gonna try to defend him are you?!"
Leon actually bristled. "Listen, what he did was bad. Obviously. But..." He looked around at them fearfully, "not... Not everything--"
"Leon--" Sonia.
"Let me explain!" Leon snapped. The table went silent, Leon's face heating up as he added, "and I'm-- I'm not innocent either--"
The table exploded. Nessa in particular "Leon, you are the victim in all of this! You--"
"It's not that simple!" Leon tried to argue back. But he was overrun. Eventually, he sat back. Half glaring at all of them, he played his last card. It was dirty. It hurt. But he felt cornered. "So are you all gonna blab 'for' me, then?"
Nessa bristled, Raihan shrunk a bit, but Sonia stayed stock still. "No," Sonia replied, voice quavering just a bit. "Of course not, Leon. But--"
"Good," he said, getting up, "thank you." He was being rude and he knew it, but-- but-- okay well he couldn't justify it but he was upset. He went up and covered the bill-- the whole bill instead of splitting it evenly like they usually did, just to piss them all off-- and left without another glance at them.
Had he looked, he would have seen three sets of upset, but surprisingly understanding eyes. It was for the best he didn't. He didn't need to be any more set off, just now.