Finding a way to help out on the reserve turned out to be a lot harder than Luhan could’ve expected. His injured leg kept him out of most fieldwork, seeing as how limited his movement was with either crutches or a wheelchair. Not to mention Jongdae, Yixing, and Minseok were extremely persistent on making sure he rested properly and not stress himself in order to ensure ‘ideal healing conditions,’ whatever the hell that meant. Of course, there were a few low-effort field jobs he could do, though none were too interesting. Most of it simply entailed watering a bunch of plants, entertaining baby Pokémon who came closer to the ‘hospital,' or using Rapidash to herd the Tauros. Admittedly, herding could actually be some fun—though that could possibly be attributed to the exhilaration of getting to ride Rapidash again—but it was usually a pretty short job, and the complications and preparation for it hardly made it worth it.

            While he could easily ride and guide Rapidash with words and hand gestures alone, getting onto her could be quite hassle with his injured foot. The cast was relatively heavy, and while Luhan could say he was pretty strong from all the sports he played as a kid and all the riding he’s done since he started his Pokémon training, he was far from the buffest guy around, so trying to get his injured leg over his body could get pretty damn tough. Even with her entirely sat down, head bowed and all, it took him more than a few tries to actually get on. Sure, he could swing his left leg over her first and then pull the rest of his body up, but then he risked putting his weight on his right leg and injuring it even further.

            Seeing his struggle, the others had tried to help. Yixing had been quite genuine, even offering to lift him up a little to help him get up, but if he was going to let his pride suffer that. Jongdae… well, Jongdae didn’t really have any good ideas, but he did his best as Luhan’s cheerleader, which had to count for something, he supposed. Minseok, being the little he was, presented him with a pastel pink stepping stool. ‘Jongdae’s old one from when he was still a baby,’ he’d explained, a grin on his face.

            Luhan didn’t talk to him for the rest of the day after that.

            Eventually, though, Jongdae had brought about a much more normal, wooden mini-stool, and that was only slightly demeaning to use on a daily basis. Still, herding took up barely any of his time, and considering how there was practically nothing to do around the area besides work and socialize with the ‘townsfolk,’ Luhan found himself getting bored quite easily. Of course, he never mentioned anything about it, not wanting to worry the people who had already done much for him without asking for anything back but his friendship.

            It turned out he wasn’t as great at hiding it as he thought he was though, because just a week into his stay on the ranch, Yixing was approaching him asking him for help. Confusedly, he agreed, following Yixing as he led them back into the hospital.

            “I’ve been a bit short-handed around here lately, since Jongdae hasn’t been coming around to help, so I figured you could help me out,” he explained.

            “Help out with what?” Luhan questioned, nodding to show he was following along, if only barely. Yixing sighed at this, and Luhan worried he’d misstepped and said something wrong.

            “While reserves like ours are generally pretty remote and hard to find, the Pokémon around here aren’t,” he started, wheeling Luhan through the narrow hallways that seemed impossible to navigate. “Even if they can’t find our exact location, poachers and collectors see that there’s a large distribution of Pokémon in this area, and seeing as we’re far from any organized law enforcement, it’s practically open range for them.” Luhan winced at the information, and Yixing continued, “We often find batches of injured or dead Pokemon within just a couple kilometer radius of this place, so even though we can’t do as much to stop the poaching as we’d like, we do what we can. The injured are brought into me, and I do the best I can to make sure they heal perfectly and stay healthy.”

            “I see…” Luhan muttered, his fists curled up tightly in his lap. Yixing noticed this and sighed.

            “Getting angry will do nothing,” he chastised quickly, keeping his face cool and composed even as Luhan shot a glare at him. “We’ve been trying to get the Cerulean and Celadon City polices on this for a while, but it’s hard without concrete evidence of poaching. One wrong step, and we may be falsely accused of harming the Pokémon.”

            “So you just have to catch one of the poachers, right?! You can—”

            “Luhan hyung. Drop it.” The tone in Yixing’s voice held nothing but finality, enough to stop Luhan dead in his tracks. Before he could decide if he wanted to continue arguing, though, they pulled to a stop, and he watched as Yixing pulled open the door. As he wheeled in, he came face-to-face with a severely bruised Vulpix.

            “Oh my g—”

            “A Vulpix’s coat is often considered a luxury, and it pays for quite a heavy price on the black market,” Yixing explained gravely, and Luhan felt his blood boil. The beautiful creature moaned a little as it acknowledged their presence, nuzzling its fur as if attempting to rub at its bruises, to stop its pain. “If you feel uncomfortable at all you don’t have to—”

            “No,” Luhan interrupted before he could even gather his thoughts, but as he looked over at the young fire fox, he knew. He was angry, but he wouldn’t dare let that stop him from helping this poor creature. “I… I’ll help, just tell me what to do.”

            A faint of a smile accompanied Yixing’s nod.

----

            Soon enough, that became how he was spending his time on the ranch—day in and day out, helping Yixing heal the attacked and abused Pokémon until they were better than ever before. There were more than he could ever imagine, workers on the reserve bringing in more every day, but the anger Luhan felt never died down. If anything, it grew with each Pokémon he saw, each bruise he iced, each cut he stitched up, each droplet of blood he wiped up.

            But sometimes, it was easier, less terrifying, less infuriating. Sometimes, it wouldn’t be poaching. Sometimes, it’d just be a Meowth climbing up a tree, getting too scared to climb down, and then slipping off a branch accidentally, or a Duotrio getting its heads tangled after arguing with itself, or a Golbat getting a bad jaw cramp. During those times, Luhan could relax, the pressure on his heart lifting as he made small talk with Yixing.

            In fact, even during the more serious cases, Yixing would try to keep the mood lighthearted—or well, as much as possible. Perhaps it was to help lift the Pokémon’s spirits, or maybe to lift Luhan’s spirit, he wasn’t too sure. They talked about all sorts of things, made jokes, teased each other, enough so that the mood never went too sour. But of course, it wasn’t unavoidable, though Yixing never let a dark atmosphere stop him from working. Really, Yixing was a professional about everything, the man never failing to do anything and everything he could to heal, regardless of whether a smile was on his face. Luhan constantly felt awe when he was in front of the other, seeing how such a seemingly carefree and lighthearted person could be so serious when it came to something he deeply cared about. If anything, it was inspiring, and more than heart-warming.

            And just like that, Luhan found himself warming up to Yixing immediately. Just a week or so into this new job as Doctor’s assistant, he could confidently say that, out of everyone he’d met on the ranch so far, he was closest to Yixing. It wasn’t like he didn’t get along with others, but the townsfolk were more blurry faces and acquaintances than friends, and Jongdae and Minseok just weren’t around enough for Luhan to talk much with them. Minseok was busy running the entire ranch, and Jongdae was… well, no one really knew what was going on with Jongdae, but he was never around except during meals and some random occasions.

            Perhaps Luhan could also chalk up some of his friendship with Yixing to the fact that he could relate to him more. Both them weren’t from Kanto—weren’t even from this country—but had come here to become a Pokémon trainer. Of course, Yixing had changed his mind almost immediately after beginning his journey, realizing that more than becoming a trainer, he wanted to become a healer and a companion to Pokémon. Luhan asked him why he didn’t want to be a breeder, then, but Yixing had just explained that nurturing Pokémon wasn’t his goal; he just wanted to protect them from the dangers they may face. Still, Yixing didn’t really have an answer as to why he wasn’t a practicing nurse, why he stayed on this ranch rather than working at or setting up a Pokémon Center. Instead, he just shrugged, as though he wasn’t too sure why he stayed either.

            ‘What a weird guy,’ he thought to himself as he watched Yixing put away some of his supplies.

            “I’ll be back in a little bit,” he said, Ratata in hand, as Luhan snapped out of his thoughts to listen. “Gonna go bring this guy back to his mom. You good hanging here?”

            “Yeah, I’ll be fine, go on ahead,” Luhan replied, waving shortly as Yixing stepped out of the room and sighing once he was gone.

            He wondered if Yixing would ever leave this place, ever take off and give his help to more than just the reserve. It’s not like the work he did here wasn’t good—it was phenomenal—but he couldn’t help but wonder if that was enough for Yixing. Really, it couldn’t be that rewarding, could it? A cycle of poaching, healing, more poaching, and more healing, with no apparent end. If only he could do something to help stop it, to get the authorities’ attention…

            “Oh, Luhan hyung!”

            The voice pulled him out of his brooding and anger, and he looked up to see Jongdae pulling the door open, barely able to do so while also carrying a large cardboard box with him.

            “Ah, let me help you with that,” he offered, immediately wheeling over to the boy to take the box while ignoring the boy’s protests. Setting it down on the nearby table, he turned to smile at Jongdae in greeting. “Hey, long time no see.” Jongdae chuckled sheepishly at that, scratching the back of his head a little as he nodded.

            “Sorry ‘bout that, I’ve been out a lot lately,” he said, and Luhan rolled his eyes.

            “Yeah, I noticed. What’s got you so busy, anyway?”

            “Just some stuff.” The answer was vague, but Jongdae didn’t seem like he wanted to expand on that, so Luhan just shrugged it off and didn’t press.

            “What’s in the box?” he asked instead, gesturing to the surprisingly heavy box by his side.

            “Just some equipment for Yixing hyung. Nothing too big, just some replacement tools and stuff like that.”

            “Ah, you just missed him, but if you stick around for like 10 minutes or so, he should be back,” Luhan explained, noting internally how the other stiffened up a little bit at that.

            “N-nah, that’s alright, I should head out. Tell Yixing hyung I said hi, though.” He furrowed his eyebrows in confusion at that—Jongdae rarely missed a chance to talk with Yixing, regardless of how busy he was. In the time he’d been here, he’d immediately seen how the pair were practically best friends, always trailing after each other.

            “You sure? It won’t take long.”

            “I should really get going, I have stuff to do…”

            “Like what?” Luhan shot back. He was getting too involved, too nosy. He realized that. But something wasn’t adding up with Jongdae, and even if he didn’t see the kid as often anymore, he still considered Jongdae to be a good friend at this point. Hell, he was the first person Luhan had seen upon waking up, and that had to count for something, didn’t it?

            “Just s-stuff—look I really gotta go so I’ll talk to you later okay? And if you don’t mind just don’ttalktoYixinghyungaboutthisoranythingokaysorrybye.” Luhan blinked as Jongdae rushed his words, and he was glad that, in spite of his injury, his instincts were sharp and his reflexes were quick as the boy moved to take off. Immediately, he leaned forward, grabbing Jongdae by the wrist just as the boy turned to walk out. And that was when he noticed the bruises. “—”

            “What happened?” Luhan cut in immediately, loosening his grip enough for it to not hurt Jongdae, but enough to guide the over to a chair and make him sit down. The boy did so silently, refusing to look up at Luhan but knowing he had no way of getting out of this.

            “…Promise me something,” he demanded first, and Luhan nodded slowly. “Don’t tell anyone about this. Especially not Minseok hyung or Yixing hyung.”

            “I promise,” he agreed quickly. He could ask why Jongdae was so intent on it, but he had a feeling he was going to find out right about now.

----

            “You what?!”

            Jongdae winced at the sudden yell, lightly smacking Luhan on the shoulder in response.

            “Can you not burst my eardrums, thanks,” he deadpanned, and Luhan wasn’t sure if he wanted to smack him, scream even more, or laugh. In the end, he just settled for a frustrated groan.

            “Jongdae, how could you think that’d be a good idea?” he asked, more rhetorically than anything. Exasperated, he shook his head and ruffled his hair a bit, sighing when Jongdae refused to meet his eyes. “Look, I understand wanting to do something, but these are poachers we’re talking about. How could you think approaching them would end well?”

            “I wasn’t planning on approaching them, though!” Jongdae argued back weakly, rubbing his shoulder guiltily as he finally brought his head up to look at Luhan in the eye. “I just thought that… you know, if I could get them caught on video, have proof on-hand, that the Rangers in the area would be willing to get involved and stop them. I didn’t plan on getting involved, but… that poor Nidoran…” Luhan sighed once more, but nodded. He understood how Jongdae must have felt, to witness such cruelty first-hand. Still…

            “But Jongdae, you don’t even have any Pokemon,” he continued patiently. He hated having to be the one to shut Jongdae down in this situation, but it didn’t seem like there was anyone that could right now besides him. “Just running in and covering Nidoran with your body wasn’t going to do much, now was it?”

            “…No…” Jongdae muttered, and Luhan leaned in to pat his shoulder gently.

            “So? Is that Nidoran okay?”

            “I… I think so? I made it leave while I kept the poachers busy, and I didn’t get the chance to go find it afterwards.” Jongdae pouted at this, and Luhan couldn’t help but chuckle..

            “Well, I’m sure it’s fine now, probably went back to its family. After all, it was just a baby, so the best place for it to be when it’s hurt is home.” Luhan paused for a minute. “Just like you.”

            “Hyuuuung!” Jongdae whined, and the smile on Luhan’s face quickly faded as a thought came to mind.

            “How bad are your wounds?”

            “H-huh?” Jongdae looked surprised at the sudden change of tone, taking a minute to register the question. “Oh… they’re not that bad. They kinda got tired of kicking me around after a couple minutes and left.”

            “Hm…” Luhan thought for a moment, before wheeling himself over to a cabinet nearby, ignoring Jongdae’s noise of confusion. “Take your shirt off, I’ll check them.”

            “H-hyung!” Jongdae was stammering indignantly, a flush reaching his face as Luhan came back over to him with a first aid kit and a few ice packs in hand. “That’s not necessary, o-okay—”

            “Don’t be a brat and just do what I say,” Luhan snapped, rolling his eyes when Jongdae pouted. Still, he complied, removing his shirt slowly and letting Luhan examine his injuries.

            The bruises were mostly centered around his arms, which was good; Jongdae must’ve covered himself with his limbs to protect his torso. Still, they weren’t looking too good, many of them starting to settle into a deep purple color. Luhan inwardly scolded him for not realizing something was off immediately—really, who wore long sleeves in the middle of summer? Shaking his head, he focused his attention onto the task in front of him. There weren’t too many cuts or tears in Jongdae’s skin, thankfully, so Luhan started with those.

            “Ow!” Jongdae whined as the antiseptic was applied to his cuts.

            “Stay still,” Luhan grumbled, ignoring the boy’s indignant protesting. Eventually, he finished his job, making sure to bandage everything well before moving onto the bruises. They were splotched all over Jongdae’s forearms, he noted with a frown. He quietly worked to rub at all of them, lightly pressing his thumbs into the skin and circling his fingers around to help encourage blood flow. He only stopped when he heard Jongdae hiss quietly.

            “Sorry, does it hurt too much?” he asked, immediately pulling his hands away when Jongdae shrugged.

            “Not a lot, just stings a bit, I guess,” he replied, bringing his hand up to run lightly up and down his arms. Luhan hummed in acknowledgement, handing him the ice packs he had brought along with him.

            “Take these and ice your bruises—do the ones that hurt the most first,” he ordered, and Jongdae nodded, accepting the packs with a quick thanks as he reached over and grabbed his shirt.

            “I should go before Yixing hyung comes back,” he said after he finished getting his shirt on, and Luhan sighed.

            “Y’know, it’d be much better if you just were open with them and told them.” Jongdae looked away at that, twiddling his thumbs in his lap.

            “I can’t. They have enough to worry about already, they don’t need to fuss over me even more. Especially… especially Minseok hyung, he shouldn’t have to worry over me any more than he already does. He already does so much to keep the ranch up, to keep things running smoothly, but still he always feels guilty about not doing more. I don’t wanna add to that.”

            Luhan was surprised at the sudden thoughtful statement from Jongdae, but as he thought about it, it made sense. He didn’t know the details of when their parents passed away or anything like that, but he assumed Minseok was at least partially responsible for raising his younger brother. Between that and taking over the reserve, it made sense that Minseok would constantly be busy. Though, it didn’t seem like he was someone who would ever complain about it—if anything, he’d ask if there was anything more that he could do. It was just the kind of person he was.

            “Promise me, Jongdae,” he spoke up finally, and the other raised his head with a confused look on his face. “Promise me you won’t go snooping around alone again.”

            “…So I can go so long as I’m not alone? If you come with me?” Wait, what, —

            “N-No, that’s not what I mea—hey, get back here!” Too late. Jongdae was immediately dashing away, only stopping once he was already at the door and turning around to shot Luhan a cheeky grin.

            “Let’s work hard together, hyung!” With that and not a single word more, Jongdae was off, and Luhan was suddenly wondering why he bothered ever getting involved. Sighing exasperatedly, he leaned back in his wheelchair, tilting his head back as he stared at the ceiling and thought.

            Maybe he’d tell Minseok after all.

i was gonna add in a xiuhan scene at the end but this chapter was getting way too long as it is so enjoy the little domesticity + angst for now lol
also sorry for any formatting/typo issues this time around i may or may not have written this chapter in like 2 hours whoops