That Summer | Raihan x Piers [Pokémon]

Chapter 20 ❀ Cutting Hair ≠ Cutting Ties

Sleeping in the same room had never been so unsettling for Raihan as it was last night. As if their first dispute hadn't made the atmosphere tense enough, once the caramel-skinned young man had returned from outside, Piers seemed to refuse to sleep on the bed at first. It was awkward enough that the two Gym Leaders had to share Raihan's room in the first place, and the spiky-head didn't have it in him to monopolize the bed the taller male was supposed to sleep in.

Raihan, of course — as eager as he may have seemed at the thought of getting to spend time with Piers again, and as naturally touchy as he usually was — refused to sleep on the same mattress until the bitter end. Because doing that would have proven Piers' argument right: That he didn't need to be in a romantic relationship to share the same sleeping space with another person. The ravenet wanted to redeem himself, and so he succeeded in convincing the pale young man that he would sleep on the couch.

Neither of the men had gotten much shut eye, speaking truthfully, so both of them ended up behaving rather sluggishly in the late morning — if one could even consider it to be that time. After all, it was almost noon. When getting ready and as he was adjusting his orange headband, Raihan couldn't help but notice that his hair had grown quite a bit — at least in the areas where it was supposed to be shaved off in order to make the whole undercut-effect more credible.

He hadn't looked in the bed's way even once ever since waking up because he felt very out of place, so he hadn't exactly expected Piers to be the one to get rid of the silence first. "Good mornin'." It was barely louder than a mumble, but still audible to Raihan. That was made quite evident the instant he jerked his head in the direction where the other's voice had come from. "'Morning! Did you... sleep well?"

"I s'ppose. You?" Their interactions were short yet precise, a point also proven by the way Raihan had only nodded in response. Even though they had both tried to, one could still cut the tension with a knife. It was a matter of pride, and Piers felt like it was alright to cast it aside in order to apologize for something he didn't have the right to claim the prior evening. "Oi, listen..."

"I'm sorry for what I said yesterday. I went out of line." The spiky-head swallowed hard after asking for forgiveness, Raihan's turquoise eyes remaining glued on his flustered form and on how he was doing that head-scratch thing again. The taller male felt a bit unfair, forcing Piers to be the only one to apologize, so he mimicked the gesture. "No, it's my fault. I shouldn't have snapped at you like that."

Silence invaded the room after that and the two Gym Leaders exited it as if to make place for it. Despite the fact that no words were exchanged all the way until they reached the reception, their guilt had been silenced and they consequentially felt a bit more at ease. Raihan was the one who took care of checking out properly at the desk, and even though Piers wasn't obligated to, he waited for him to finish.

They waltzed out of the Budew Drop Inn together, pondering whether or not their fellow Gym Leaders had already left or not. No matter the answer, neither of then could ignore the fact that it was time for them to part ways, and Raihan was especially reluctant about it. Just like yesterday evening when he could have offered to fly Piers home, the young man was being filled by a feeling of discomfort.

"I guess this is it. It was... nice catchin' up with you." Despite having debated over and over again in his mind whether he truly should have voiced his genuine opinion or not, Piers went ahead and said it, causing Raihan's heart to warm up, even if only the tiniest bit. If he were to let go of the spiky-head now, only Arceus would know when the two of them would get to see each other again. He was right in front of him, Raihan just knew that he was going to regret letting the other slip out of his reach. Again.

"Will you see me again?" The light brown-skinned man thought he would have stuttered when ultimately coming out with that question, but surprisingly he didn't. His bluntness seemed to have caught Piers off guard as well, because his cyan orbs stared at him in surprise. Raihan could guess that the latter would passively agree if their meeting had no specific purpose, so he quickly blurted out the first thing that came to his mind.