"Straighten your back. You're slouching too much." Volkner walked over to Roark, pressing on his back. Roark stiffened up significantly, biting his lip. How his father insisted that he needed Volkner's help was beyond him. Sure, just because he was the first gym leader and he was the last...But other than that, he saw no real reasoning behind it. The blonde haired man walked back over to his side, tossing a Pokeball into the air.

Roark tossed his Pokeball onto the gym ground, calling out his Cranidos. He grinned with confidence, knowing that this was the Pokemon bringing all the newbie trainers to their knees. His smile quickly faded, as Volkner had called out his clearly high level Octillery.

The red-head called the Rock type back into his ball, taking a seat on the floor and removing his hat.

"Let's just take a break for now."

They'd been going at this training for a couple of weeks now, in an attempt to make Roark's Pokemon stronger. There was some significant improvement between Roark's Pokemon, and it was obvious that Volkner's Pokemon enjoyed the exercise. However, Roark still felt defeated every time.

"Volkner?" He asked, softly. Volkner walked over and sat down in front of Roark. His cordovan eyes locked with sapphire eyes. "Do you think I'm improving?"

The blonde laughed, ruffling the red head's hair. "I think you're doing just fine." Roark adjusted his glasses, looking down. His chest had tightened a little. He picked up his hat, trying not to read too much into it. Volkner stood up, taking his Pokeballs with him. "We should probably take these down to the Poke Center, shouldn't we?" Roark stood up after him, giving a slow nod. He gathered up all of the red spheres and followed him to the resting center.

Roark decided to leave them there overnight, returning to his living quarters to rest for the night. He lay on his couch, laying his hat and vest on the ground. He took off his gloves, falling asleep on the small sofa.

A soft warmth to his forehead made him spring up from where he was sleeping. He let out a small gasp as he found Volkner, kneeling by his side.

"V-volkner? What are you doing-" He was cut off by a soft kiss to his forehead. His glasses had been removed while he slept, set onto a nearby coffee table. He didn't remember doing that.

Volkner gave him a small smile, standing up by him. A quick glance made the red head realize that the blonde was holding his hand. His face turned red, and leaned against the arm of his couch.

"Sorry," Volkner murmured, slowly letting go of his hand. Roark shook his head.

"It's fine. But what are you doing here?" The blue-clad man smiled, his sapphire eyes turning up.

"You did a good job today. I wanted to tell you that." The younger man's cheeks turned redder than his hair, and he turned his head to stare at the cushion, so that the person standing in front of him wouldn't notice.

"Thanks," he muttered, almost sounding sour. He heard a chuckle, feeling a hand come up to his neck to pull him back to where he turned away from. Volkner leaned closer to him, painstakingly slow. Roark screwed his eyes shut, his face still deep red. He opened one eye as he only felt a moist warmth on his cheek. Volkner smiled, ruffling Roark's hair again. He turned around, heading for the door.

"I just want to tell you that. I should be on my way now. Gyms don't manage themselves."

Roark's heart skipped a beat, feeling like it could plummet to the floor. Wait, he wanted to yell. To pull him in. He couldn't let him go like this.

"Volkner."

The blonde slowly turned back around to see Roark's slightly pained face. He let out a soft chuckle. "What am I going to do with you?" he murmured, mostly to himself. Walking back over to Roark and letting their eyes meet, he laced his fingers through the tufts of red hair. Slowly, he tilted his head and moved forward so that their lips gently brushed each other. He pulled away almost a little too quickly, seeing Roark's flushed cheeks and his eyes closed for just a split second too long.

"Honestly, what am I going to do with you?" he repeated, touching his forehead to the other man's. "Like this, you're just too cute..." Roark's face was scarlet all the way up to his ears as Volkner moved in for another kiss. This one was more full force, his lips opening to push his tongue past the other's. Roark's arms lifted, shakingly wrapping around Volkner's back. He began to sink into the kiss, leaning back onto the couch. He wore a look of obvious disappointment when Volkner pulled away. He heard a soft chuckle, along with the familiar feeling of those warm fingers ruffling his hair.

"It looks like that's a bit too much excitement for you to handle. We'll get to that another day." Volkner planted a kiss on Roark's cheek, smiling. "It's almost midnight. You should go to sleep. Be bright and early for tomorrow, no? I'll make you breakfast." Roark nodded, catching a glimpse of those sapphire eyes before he rolled over and went to sleep.

A/N: I hope that you liked it. I don't think that I'll be continuing it, because it usually dies whenever I do that. Please R&R? :D