Chapter Text
The last time he comes to visit injured like this, it isn't a physical injury but instead an emotional one.
A few days late, after the previous incident Sabi had swung by her tent giving her thanks in the form of a homemade art project which was a woven basket. She placed it next to the bunk beds in her room and made sure none of her Pokemon pawed at it or used it as a scratching post. She also got a heartfelt letter from Mai and although not as heartfelt as Mai's was, a thank you letter from Melli. The next time she had met up to chat with Palina she ended up being joined by Iscan who gave his sincere thanks as well, Arezu also extended her thanks in a free haircut of her liking which she politely declined.
Thanks to ensuring the safety of the rival clan's leader when she really didn't have to were strongly extended which in some way led the two clans to build a semi-stable foundation in their newly kindled friendship. And that's not even mentioning how she and Mai have been gossiping lately on the weekends, especially about her brother and his leadership as well, she'd gotten some pointers and tips though from the older girl mind you.
Gossip over potatoes mochi has become her favorite past time she can't even lie about that.
It's not until weeks later, two and a half but that's not an exact point of reference. It's that amount of time later where she had just gotten her shoes to do a nightly check in on the people in her clan when the door is suddenly kicked open and in walks in a familiar blue-robed figure.
"Wha- How did you?!" She can hardly get out a word until he uses the heel of his foot he shuts the door behind him, there's a bag thrown over his shoulder and a smile that doesn't quite reach his eyes. With how many times he's stayed here he might as well move in here at this point. "Sabi brought me here," He places a hand on his hip as he talks. "can I stay here for a bit? Just a few nights, till further notice," She had noticed looking back on this, he didn't elaborate much about it after that, those were the only details he seemed willing to give. It seemed like the wound was still fresh at the time, festering under his skin with a seething rage.
"Why do you even need to stay here in the first place?!"
"Well..." With now gritted teeth he looked away, scratching his chin. For once in her life, she thinks she's actually seen him... Genuinely hurt, or was it uncomfortable? Whatever it was it was new and it was worrying her. Yet her worry aside, Adaman shook his head and turned on his heels with a dejected expression. "You know what, I'll just find another place to stay, it's nothing, it's fine," Yet somehow she thinks it's the exact opposite.
"Wait, no-" Her body surges forward, grabbing tightly at his wrist to tug him further into the house. "Y... You can stay, I don't mind I'm just... Surprised..."
Now, his once tensed shoulders relaxed and he hummed, wearing an oddly tiring smirk on his face which no longer held its usual joyfulness or smugness which she never thought she'd ever miss. That didn't matter, it didn't, all that mattered is that whenever he did smirk at her he was either happy or smug but now he wasn't, not by a long shot at least. "It better be that instead of pity,"
Forcing herself to smile, she nodded while clasping her hands over each other at the same time. "It is, you trust me right?"
He just shrugs his smile growing yet it didn't reach his eyes like it used to. "Not fully but better some than none right?"
Irida nodded at him. "I'm fine with that,"
He clapped a hand on her shoulder and let out a hollow laugh, she had the feeling he didn't seem keen on elaborating on what happened yet she had one thing she needed to check on before they proceeded.
"You're not injured... Are you?" He shakes his head, lightly laughing with a small 'no' and Irida considers that a win. She's started to associate him with the smell of blood. It seemed like he read her mind because as he passed by her to throw his bag on the bottom bunk he nudged her shoulder grinning down at her. "Don't worry, I plan to be non-accident-prone for the rest of time!" It managed to get a giggle at of her which made him chuckle in return and she nudged him back feigning an angry glare up at him.
"You better not or else I'll get Mai on you!" She giggled to herself a fair bit after that, shutting her eyes as she rocked a bit back and forth on herself until she didn't notice any laughter from the other man. Slowly but surely her laughter lessened as she peered up at the other man and upon seeing his expression her laughter devolved into awkward chuckling at best until it grew quiet.
Adaman looked genuinely hurt- uncomfortable?- at the mention of her, like a wounded animal somewhat, and that's not even mentioning how he refused to look at her as well. Did something happen to her? Is that why he's here? But wouldn't he want to be with her? Irida opened her mouth to say something but stopped herself.
If he did then he didn't mention it for a reason. She never talked about her mother after she left so if something happened to Mai then he wouldn't so she wouldn't push it. She looked away from him, silently kicking herself as she felt a pit in her stomach. And we were just starting to get along too, she thought, scowling at herself, damn it, I messed it up again, I guess that isn't much of a surprise though knowing me.
Quietly she excused herself to go do the nightly check-up of her clan's people, taking her time giving the other time to simmer down if needed she came back to a sight that really shouldn't have had as much as of an effect on her as it did.
Irida watched with heated cheeks as he let his hair down, cascading down his shoulders like a river, it had a slight wave to it thanks to being put up so long but was pretty nonetheless. She watched as he fluffed it up, running his hands through it and she wouldn't deny wanting to run her hands through it and see if it was as silky as it looked. She hadn't noticed how long she was staring until he was staring her directly in the eyes quirking a brow at her with a now bigger smirk.
"Like what you see?" He tossed his hair over his shoulder giving her a wink that made her face flush even brighter. "I can see why you've been constantly asking me to strip now but I don't mind, I don't blame you."
This time Irida is sure she's as red as the blood currently running through her veins. "A-Adaman!" For someone who's bled in front of her which is akin to showing the weakness them as leaders, aren't supposed to show he sure had lost all common sense with it. Maybe he hit his head a little too hard.
"You still gotta court me first though~" Irida just glared at him, frowning deeply. "Oh yeah, when you strip I'm gonna take that jacket and suffocate you with it."
"Irida that's a crime,"
"Your worth getting exiled for,"
"Oh! How flattering, I'm flattered to see that I'm worth risking your life over."
"It's not a compliment, sleep with one eye open tonight," The other clan leader just winked at her, and at that moment she started to regret letting him stay the night, not for too long, she never did that feeling of annoyance always being replaced by a lighter fleeting feeling. She ignored both of those feelings often, no point in mulling on something since it was fleeting for a reason.
No reason to think about it, nope, not at all.
So she doesn't not at all, nope not once, not while Adaman's running a hand through his hair, nor while he occasionally laughs at a joke she makes or whenever he takes a sip of the soup she made that night, not at all. That'd be wrong to assume so, completely so! She does not think about it whatsoever and has no idea what you're talking about!
She doesn't think about it when she wishes him a good night and when she's settling back into bed and she'd not thinking about it now. She has better things to worry about like the conversation she's having with the supposed man right now. It seems as if he couldn't get any sleep as well.
"You know about Mai... Right?" Just like beforehand, he gets straight to the point, not wasting any time at all.
"Your older sister? Yeah, she came to get you that one time, remember?"
"Yeah yeah... You're right,"
"...Did something happen to her?" Irida was praying to Mighty Palkia that nothing did.
"...No... I..." She heard him sigh as he shifted, the sheets ruffling in response. "It's stupid, this whole thing is stupid being here was a stupid decision,"
As careful as she could she stripped the blankets off the top of her and folded them off to the side. She rolled to the other side of the bed, the edge mind you, peeking over to see the other clan leader, she saw him with his back facing her, curled up a smidgen while he faced the wall. "I don't think it's stupid,"
"You wouldn't feel that way if you heard it,"
"Then tell me,"' She folded her arms on top of each other and laid her head on them. "I'll tell you if I think it's stupid or not,"
"Mai..." He hesitated, "Mai lied to me," then after that, he paused before running a hand through his hair with a huff. "and that's not to say she hasn't lied to me before because she has but it's what she lied about that made me so upset."
"What'd she lie to you about?"
He paused before flopping on his side eyes shut closed with a frustrated groan. "It's just so stupid! The more I think about it the more stupid it is yet the more aggravated I get!"
"As I said, I don't think it's stupid if it's getting you this mad,"
"But it is, i-"
"Tell. Me. Adaman."
He was silent, eyes flickering up at her, meeting each other before looking away, he sighed, flopping on his side, and remained silent.
"Well? Are you-"
"Mai's been dating someone for a month and a half and she didn't tell me, I found out by accident. Melli of all people told me and it was just to get back at her."
Irida is shocked into silence. "...Oh..."
"She's not dating Melli- thank Mighty Sinnoh- because if she was I can't handle it, instead she's dating- guess who?!- Akari, Hisu's very own savior along with the very reason I left in the first place. Can my life get any more weird and complicated?!"
Then somehow, someway she's shocked into even more silence than before.
"That's... That's a lot,"
"Tell me about it," He moves around, the sheets moving with him to stare up at the bunk above him. "it's like life's trying to hurt me this time, some big scheme to make me suffer that's what it is and I'm suffering cuz' of it. I'm in hell and I hate it."
There's silence, so much silence because once again that's a lot to think about. The person who you could possibly say played a role in traumatizing you starts dating your older sister, and it's a lot to handle and she's just got the gist of it. But from what she's heard from her conversations with Mai, or gossip as the older girl put it she cared for Adaman, a lot. It didn't take her prodding her about what she did as a leader to know what. But Adaman wasn't around for that, nor any of the two's prior interactions before that.
If only there was a way to transfer memories but there wasn't, sadly.
"I don't think Mai would try to hurt you, she loves you and she cares for you too."
"You don't know that,"
"I do, when you were asleep she told me,"
"Everyone in your clan is close, like a big family or something but as she said it doesn't change the fact your her little brother and she cares for you the most out of everyone there. She believes in you, she believes that you know what you're doing but at the same time, she's worried about you."
"If something were to happen to you I'm not sure what she'd do but stepping down as a warden is a definite idea. If she didn't care about you then she wouldn't have come down here immediately after Sabi told her, and even if she did she certainly wouldn't have stayed."
He doesn't respond to her after that, but Irida swears she hears something so she strains herself to hear only to hear... Sniffling?!
"Are... Are you crying?!"
"Shut the fuck up," It's followed by another sniffle as he buries his face in his pillow and that's when she takes it as her cue to climb down and sit by him a gentle hand placed on his shoulder. She doesn't hug him but instead settles with just being there for him instead, knowing that if it were her she'd want the same time. Time passed and she moved to rub circles on his back until her hand found its way twirling a strand or two around it. It was as soft as it looked, huh...
"You really can't keep your hands off me, huh?" It's muffled and a little nasally but it has its desired affected, snapping her out of it and Irida could feel the heat rising in her cheeks. In a grand melodramatic gesture, she turns away from pouting with her arms folded over her chest, she heard him laugh and it only made her cheeks grow hotter.
"I hate you,"
"No you don't, stop lying to yourself,"
"I do, I hate you, I..." Then it hit her, it hit her all of it... A blank expression crossed her face as she stared far off, and slowly shook her head. "I don't hate you...?"
"I hate that I don't hate you..."
"See, I told you you don't hate me, you should listen to me more often."
"I... I don't hate you..."
"Yeah, we've already established that,"
"But I do hate you at the same time,"
"Okay, now were backtracking, great, fantastic,"
"I hate the way you... You make me feel,"
"Wha... What?"
"I hate the way you make me feel, the way you make me feel things..."
Silence, pure dead silence.
"I hate this weird feeling I have around you but I know it's a good feeling is the thing..."
"You're... You're joking right?" Anger comes over, frustration bubbling over like how water bubbles over the pot.
"Of course, you wouldn't believe me! You never believe me! If I told you right now that I love you, would you even believe me?"
"Huh..."
"'Huh'? 'Huh'?! Is that seriously all you have to say?!"
"This is an unexpected development,"
"Us getting along was an unexpected development so are you really surprised?"
"No, it's not that,"
"Then what is it?"
"I'm getting to it!" He oddly enough sighed at her impatience and shook his head. "As I was saying this was an unexpected development, the same day I figure out my sister has been dating someone behind my back I technically start dating someone behind her back? I..." Shaking his head once more, he placed a head on his forehead with a look of bewilderment. "This is too confusing, I'm going to sleep,"
As he sits back in bed, hair forming a halo around him and she takes that as her signal to leave and beelines it for the ladder, climbing up its rungs making haste. She flits the blanket over herself and settles back into bed snuggly. But the thing was Adaman was not a man to go down easy, or appease really. He needed closure, especially since time was a consistent variable in his life, his beliefs so she really should have seen this.
"Hey," Adaman repeats, "Hey,"
"Hey Irida,"
"Hey,"
"Hey."
"What? I thought you were going to sleep," She sharply asks and she can hear the slight snarkiness in his voice making her immediately regret her choices.
"You have to tell my sister you want to court me now,"
"Oh my Mighty Palkia shut the fuck up and go to sleep,"
She hears him snicker followed by the shifting of sheets. "What are you going to do if I don't?"
"You're not going to sleep here, that's one thing for sure,"
"You can't, not any more not after what you just said."
"I can still kick you out, you know that right?"
"No you can't," She hears a light laugh leave his chest far different from the ones she heard before and it makes her heart strangely flutter. The sheets shift as she hears him exiting from him and standing up on his two feet, leaning against the top of the bunk looking up at her with an impish look on his face. "You can't get rid of me now,
"I can and it's called go to sleep or I'm bringing you back to your sister,"
"You have to tell Commander Kamado to, oh your in for hell,"
"Go to sleep or I'm sicing my Glaceon on you with no remorse." In the dark, she can faintly see him roll his eyes and then not see him anymore as he drops down accompanied by the shifting of sheets. "Fine fine, I'm going to sleep,"
With a blissful sigh, she snuggles deeper into her sheets a small smile growing on her lips until it's rudely interrupted. "You still have to tell them~" Which is when she grabs a small pillow and throws it at him from on top of the bunk and with a surprised sound followed by muttering he gets her message and goes to sleep soon enough.
As it turns out getting injured can bring people together in the strangest of ways, though personally, she wouldn't really recommend it.
Maybe she should try it next, and that is where Irida decides to sleep on it and wakes up the next day with her heart and shoulders a little lighter than before.