Wheedle (ch 4)

⚠️⚠️Content warning! Please read first!⚠️⚠️

This story involves mpreg (tmpreg, unmentioned.) and vomit mentions, but also dark subject matter, such as mental abuse and more. I don’t want to give away spoilers but I also don’t want anyone to come across content that may be triggering for them, so if there is any chance any dark topics at all might be hard for you, please skip over this story.

This is a bit of a long story, a lot of which has been written when I needed to vent. So please expect a fair amount of angsty and self indulgent dialogue.

———

He didn’t even feel sick on the taxi flight to Rose Tower. He felt well rested and prepared. Or- at least he thought he did, until he stepped out of the taxi and was almost immediately charged by Rose.

“Where have you been?” He bellowed, immediately looming threateningly over Leon. Leon turned his head around to glance at the clock tower that sat in the center of town.

“It’s just barely noon; you told me you’d see me in the afternoon, did you not?” Leon said. “You didn’t tell me specifics.”

“It’s your job to check, Nilson,” Rose growled, and Leon felt himself shrink back.

“But- you… you usually text me the times. I just assumed it wasn’t too important to you when I came, so I came early.”

Rose was still rattled, even as Leon’s voice came out in a meek whimper. Great, where did all of that bravery go that he had built up with Sonia and Raihan? Rose ran his hand shakily through his hair, obviously holding back a worse tantrum than he was already displaying.

“I did text you, Leon,” he groaned. “But your phone is probably dead again.”

Oh. Okay. That’s what that was about. Rose wasn’t worried about the time- no. He’d been trying to stalk Leon all morning. But, of course, it was for naught.

“My phone is charged. And on. And I haven’t received a text from you,” Leon answered honestly. Rose had not attempted to text him and the bluff seeped through his facade like water through cloth.

“Show me, then,” Rose sneered, propping his hands on his waist demandingly. “Show me our text messages.”

“You’re being ridiculous,” Leon grimaced, something in his body locking his arm from moving. All that talk about wanting Rose to see his defiance. “I’m here now, what’s the problem?”

“Don’t take a tone with me. Do as I say.”

“I don’t have to do anything you say!” Leon accidentally snapped, causing Rose to jerk back. “I’m pretty sure our contract never deemed you my father!”

Rose was already turning a pretty shade of maroon around the bridge of his nose. Something that Leon had noticed only happened if he had been drinking the night before. He wasn’t an alcoholic, but Leon had seen it happen enough times to sense the pattern.

“Show me your phone.”

Rose’s voice was a few tones deeper, usually used as a technique to frighten Leon into submission. But this time, it only pissed him off. He stood up straight, digging his hand into his pocket. There was that bravery he had worked himself into. All he needed was a bit of anger to jumpstart it.

Not even bothering to hold his phone in a way that showed off its glorious new sheen, Leon swiped open his last text from Rose before cramming the screen in the man’s face.

‘Leon, don’t forget, tomorrow morning sharp we are to fly to Circhester for a live commercial shoot. Please meet me and Oleana at the Rose Tower parking lot at 10.00 am. Goodnight.’

“There. Satisfied?” Leon muttered. He was milliseconds from pulling his hand away to return his phone to his pocket, when Rose lashed out to envelope Leon’s wrist in a vise grip.

“What on earth?” He said, squinting as he twisted Leon’s arm to glance at the backside of the phone, not paying an ounce of attention to the gasp of pain that came from his subordinate. “What is this?”

“My phone,” Leon grunted, tugging hard at his arm and physically watching the skin around Rose’s fingers turning into red welts. He gave one more hard pull, before his arm was freed from Rose’s powerful hold.

“It’s new?”

“Yes.”

“…Why? What was wrong with your last one?”

“It was out of date. I was due for a new one.”

Rose raised his eyebrow, the turmoil in his chest obviously calming as his breath relaxed.

“Ah. I see now why you haven’t received my text. It’s because your phone is still reconnecting to the service,” he said, as though he had it all figured out. Typical Genius Rose.

“Nope, it's connected just fine. I have been texting back and forth with my brother this morning. Perhaps it’s an issue on your end,” Leon pushed. Rose stared at him for a moment before turning and heading towards the doors into the tower.

“Perhaps.”

Leon let him disappear ahead of him, then hurried into his phone to preemptively block the Macro Cosmos Phone Network number. He already knew that the first thing Rose would do was call and try to re-track his new phone. But, while being positive that he was safe while using an Alolan service plan, he still wouldn’t mind blocking out the annoying spam calls.

Oleana was silent that afternoon around Leon. While she didn’t avoid eye contact, it was obvious she had a thin layer of guilt taping her mouth shut. Probably because of Circhester and/or the way Rose had acted towards him. Either way, it was a pleasant change for her not to be criticizing him the second he walked in.

Rose wasn’t in his office when Leon found Oleana there. After a good fifteen minutes of waiting, even she looked confused as to his whereabouts. Only briefly after the two shared a look, the door to the office swung open so hard it slammed against the frosted glass wall, sounding awfully close to shattering it. Leon heaved a sigh, calming himself for the upcoming storm as Rose stomped his way in, his face redder than earlier, hair a mess, his hands in tight, white knuckled, fists at his sides.

“You fucking lied to me!” he yelled threateningly, pointing his finger down at Leon where he sat. “Stand up. Face me at level when you’re being spoken to!”

Leon obeyed, only because he knew he wouldn’t get far driving the man into the wall more than necessary. He held the bottom of his stomach for balance as he used the arm rest to push himself up to his feet. Oleana followed, standing an equal distance between the two with a look of stock concern on her face. For once, Leon felt safer with her present.

“Where is your phone?” Rose tried him. Leon pulled his phone from his pocket.

“Right here.”

“That is not your phone.”

“It is.”

“It isn’t!” Rose raised his voice so high that it was almost a scream. Usually, Leon would be absolutely terrified of Rose at that state, but… it was honestly kind of… entertaining. He looked like a toddler about to delve into the biggest temper tantrum of its life. “That phone is not in our system!”

Leon didn’t say anything. Rightfully so, there had been no question. Oleana risked dizzying herself with how fast she was glancing between the two of them.

“Where is your phone? The one given to you by Macro Cosmos?”

“Gone.”

“Gone?!” Rose wailed. Scrubbing his hands through his hair. “Well, what have you done with it?!”

“It’s empty! It’s in a box at home. My Rotom is in this phone.”

“I don’t believe you. Oleana, send Leon a text message. I want to see it come through.”

Oh, this was getting good. Leon opened Oleana’s texts to visually receive her ‘testing’ message, forcing Rose to gape at the screen in wild confusion. He slowly looked up at Leon’s face with eyes narrowed so strongly that it made even the baby twist with worry. He planted a soothing hand against the side of his stomach to attempt to calm the tumbling.

“Your provider is Macro Cosmos, is it not?” Rose questioned slowly, and Leon held steady eye contact with him for a moment.

“No.”

Rose fell silent. The anger on his face surpassed the level he’d already been at by landslide, and what made it truly something to be afraid of was his calmness. Leon stepped back, hoping to put distance between him and his boss, but Rose matched him with a step forward.

“I… I don’t see why it matters,” Leon mumbled, moving to tuck his phone into his pocket, but Rose grabbed his bicep with such speed that Leon hardly blinked before his arm was locked in place.

“It matters because Macro Cosmos is my business! You are the face of my company and you have the nerve to-“

“Why won’t you tell me what’s really bothering you about this, Rose?” Leon cut him off, and Rose clamped his mouth shut, baffled. “You’re angry because you can’t track my location anymore, right?”

Rose’s clamped jaw then dropped, shocked speechless. He didn’t have to speak, though, to prove that Leon was correct. Because it was a strong, open handed slap to the side of his head that said it all. Leon stumbled to the ground, falling hard on his ass, the room spinning as his ear rang. He could immediately feel the forming welt across his upper cheekbone; stinging, tender, and numb all at the same time. Oleana gasped, finally stepping forward in front of Rose before he had the chance to advance towards Leon again.

“Chairman Rose, we will talk about this more later… Why don’t me and Leon leave you to catch your breath, hm?” She suggested, gently guiding Rose back effectively with a hand. Rose turned his eyes towards her briefly, before walking around her to sit at his desk. Leon had made his way to his knees, pushing himself up halfway to his feet before taking Oleana’s offered hand. His head spun and ached something awful. He felt queasy, both at the pain, and at the anxiety in his chest that had started to blossom like a cactus the angrier Rose had gotten.

Leon held his breath as Oleana walked him out into the hallway, doing everything in his power not to break down and sob in front of her. She carefully held one of his hands to guide him as he kept his other pressed against his pounding temple. She was being so gentle that Leon couldn’t quite pinpoint whether she was helping him because she was obligated to, or because she was genuinely worried. He would love to believe that someone in that building cared for him. At least a little bit.

“Are you doing alright?” Oleana asked quietly after sitting Leon down in a chair in her own personal office. She reached under the desk to retrieve a bottle of water from the small refrigerator she kept there.

“I’m fine,” Leon said weakly, his voice sounding a lot lower and emotionless than he had intended it to. He was concentrating too hard on holding himself together. Through it all, though, he didn’t regret his decision. Oleana folded herself up properly at her desk seat, planting her elbows on the table and propping her clasped hands under her chin.

“I’ve never seen Rose react that way,” she admitted. “I don’t like it. It’s not like him.”

“He’s only hit me once before,” Leon said, and Oleana's eyes widened at him.

“He has?” She asked, and Leon nodded.

“I was fifteen. I had an outburst; I blamed him for my friends leaving me because he always gave me so much work to do. I never had time to myself. He smacked me upside the head for that one, but I think I kinda deserved it,” Leon explained, trying to force out as small of a laugh as possible past his forming migraine. He leaned back sorely into the cushion of the chair, tucking his hands underneath the base of his stomach.

“You didn’t,” Oleana said, and Leon looked towards her in surprise. “Rose has never considered anything outside of work. It makes sense a child would be upset not being able to see his friends.”

Leon was silenced at her sudden agreeance. As much as he appreciated it, it felt… off for him to accept it at anything but face value. And, luckily for him, he didn’t have to entertain her sympathy when her work phone began to chime, and she turned her chair towards the window to take it privately. If it had been Rose, she would have put him on speaker. So- Leon took a moment to drag his heavy self out of another chair to trudge just into the dark hallway.

After looking this way and that, making sure that he was entirely alone, Leon finally let out the sigh that broke him. He leaned his shoulder hard against the wall, sobbing into his hands as he slowly slid down onto the floor. He was freshly 25; he was an adult. He owned an apartment, received bills in the mail- he had a child on the way, for Arceus’ sake. How come taking a step towards his well deserved privacy was something that ended with him getting the absolute rubbish smacked out of him? He had considered filing a lawsuit against Rose and his company, but… how would contacting the Macro Cosmos Department of Justice work out for him? News flash- it wouldn’t. It wouldn’t work out at all.

He sniveled hard, pulling his sweatshirt collar up to dry his eyes, before using the wall to push himself back up to his feet. As he concentrated on steadying his breaths, his phone buzzed in his pocket. He had a couple of texts; two from Hop, one from Rose.

‘did u know u can still brew tea out of a kettle with a polteageist in it?’

‘prof magnolia just used hers to steep some lapsang. apparently they LIKE it. weird huh?’

‘Leon, I want you and Oleana to meet me in the suite at Wyndon Stadium in 30 minutes. Don’t be late. You have your first Champion’s Cup battle at 16.30.’

Leon sent an honest ‘I was not aware of this fact!’ text, along with a couple of emojis in response to Hop, smiling through the tightness in his cheeks at his little brother’s ability to lighten his spirits no matter what. He sucked in a shaky breath, calming his nerves, then dabbed his eyes with the back of his sleeve, hoping to make them look like he hadn’t been bawling them out of his head. It took an extra sigh to gather the courage to go back into Oleana’s office to alert her of Rose’s summon.