Wheedle (ch 1)

 ⚠️⚠️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 chapter touches slightly on the dark topics, but will be tame- which is why I’m making it public. 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.

Chapters will vary in length, just because it depends on where I placed a cut in the text while writing originally.  There are 6 chapters, and will post one a day! For those reading, I hope you enjoy!

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Leon had hoped to be able to hide his pregnancy from Rose for as long as possible. It wasn’t intentional- just a night out with Raihan that had gotten heated in a good way. His hope was to hold the fort until he was a few months in before confronting Rose in person.

But he knew that was wishful thinking, even considering the situation. It had taken all of his might to convince Victor not to sign his life over to Rose after he’d kicked Leon’s ass at the championships. He was much too young to lose every ounce of his freedom. It hurt to let the kid down, after he was so excited to have defeated the long reigning champion, but Victor was understanding, as well as appalled that Leon had a secret hidden under the surface. He was just thankful that Hop had lost to Victor when he did, and realized his worth as a professor trainee instead of a champion. Leon didn’t know how he would ever be able to stomach telling his little brother just how dangerous it was to be under Rose’s iron fist.

He just had to make it a few months in. Hide the morning sickness and newfound anemia, just for a few months. But- much to his chagrin, Oleana was a heat seeking missile to him when it came to his health, and she found him out within the second month.

“Your shirts are a size larger than normal, you’re wearing different shoes, different shorts, denying meals,” she listed off on her fingers, scolding Leon like he was a child, slumped into one of the round spinning chairs in her office. “You know this is something you were legally obligated to tell us the minute you found out.”

“I didn’t know until-“ he attempted to start, but Oleana stomped the heel of her pump ear piercingly loud onto the marble flooring to shut him up. He flinched so hard his shoulders touched his ears.

“You are a terrible liar, Leon,” she snapped, her voice terrifyingly low and even. Leon hated the woman. “Come with me, now. You will be telling President Rose the entire situation.”

Leon tried to weakly fight her hand around his wrist- but he was unsure if she was extremely strong, or he was just weak. The walk through the Macro Cosmos hallways was like a nightmare walk of shame. The massively high ceilings, even fifteen stories up, made him dizzy, even when he wasn’t knocked up. Just the act of focusing on the seam of Oleana’s pantyhose reminded him just how inherently dependent he was on the company.

He knew of the evil that Macro Cosmos was capable of and Leon did everything he was capable of to remain active only as the champion. He had refused to sign the papers enlisting him as a spokesperson for anything but food shops and local, small owned, businesses. But the list of subsidiaries that Rose owned (insurance, freight, cargo, brokerage, living, bank, construction, to name a few) was painfully long and it took a lot of fighting to keep his name out of them. He was only 25, for Arceus’ sake; he didn’t need to sell out what was left of his person.

The look on Rose’s face when Oleana dragged Leon into his office was akin to a confused, yet preemptively disappointed father. That made Leon reasonably angry; Rose always tried to pull the ‘father figure’ role on every one of his workers that he knew didn’t have a father, or at least a guardian, in their life. Even though the kid was a bastard, Leon always felt painfully for Bede. He was thankful he got out when he could. Maybe Leon just had to make a public scene like he did to get the company to shun him. But then again, it was almost as if they pre-wrote every word that came from his mouth. He was too cautious. Too conditioned to act professional in front of a live audience.

A bruise was already forming in the shape of Oleana’s fingers around his arm, and he rubbed the spot tenderly when he finally wriggled from her grip.

“Oleana, Leon. What’s going on?” He asked, standing up and propping the balls of his hands on the edge of his desk.

“It would seem that Leon has something to tell you,” Oleana said with a bite in her voice, her hand on Leon’s shoulder propelling him forward towards the man.

“I…,” Leon swallowed hard, but didn’t pause for too long. He feared Oleana. “I’m pregnant. I was hoping I could-“

“Pregnant? How far along?”

“Two and a half months. I-“

“Two and a half months pregnant… you do know you were supposed to tell us this within the first month of knowing, right, Leon?” Rose cut him off once again, and Leon felt the heat of humiliation in his chest.

“I wasn’t aware I was pregnant until a few days-“

“Leon. I’ve been working with you for 15 years, you think I can’t tell when you’re fibbing?”

“Apologies, Sir,” Leon sighed, his voice barely a whisper, holding his tongue until Rose gave him enough of a pause to continue. “I was hoping that I could retire. I’d like to spend time at home for a while, then start a family with my partner.”

“Retire?” Rose exclaimed with a sudden burst of laughter. “Oh, heavens, no! Do you have any idea how beneficial your pregnancy could be to my company? The champion’s pregnancy; we could finally start a collaborative event with Circhester’s Maternity shop. Rose tower, Champion Leon, pregnancy wear based off of your own wardrobe, and my logo? What an opportunity!”

Leon felt his heart sink into his stomach, swirling around with his baby and his nausea. And it only sunk further when Oleana added on to his rambling.

“Imagine the press publicity as well, Sir. Everyone is going to want to know how he is fairing. Die hard fans can subscribe to updates on the baby. We can sell merchandise- signed postcards, posters, banners, magazines- of ultrasound photographs.” She added, a gleam in her eye. “Imagine how many more challengers will join the gym challenge so they can say they fought the champion while he was pregnant?”

A burst of maternal anger exploded into Leon’s head, and he grit down hard on his teeth. He would rather be caught dead than sell his unborn child off to Macro Cosmos.

“Or, I can abort, and none of this will have to happen,” he muttered, and Oleana’s sharp nails pierced his clavicle as she grabbed him suddenly. He gave a short whimper in pain. Olean enjoyed harming him like that.

“You can just forget about that suggestion immediately, Leon,” she snarled under her breath as Rose’s face fell. He was absolutely oblivious.

“You would really consider terminating the pregnancy?” He asked, a very real sounding disappointment in his voice, and Leon sighed and hung his head.

“No, sir… I just don’t want to sell my kid out before it’s even had the chance to form into a baby.”

“Don’t think of it like that, son. I only have your best interests in mind. Try not to let your hormones sway your speech like that. Be especially cautious during interviews,” Rose said, folding his arms in front of him. “I will call to have a taxi fly you back to Hammerlocke. Would you like to be dropped off at your apartment?”

“No,” Leon said in defeat. “I’ll walk from the gym. I need the fresh air.”

“Understood. Try to get a good night's sleep when you arrive. You have an early morning at the power plant tomorrow at seven. Oleana has set up an interview with the press on Macro Cosmos Energy.”

Leon didn’t respond, but let Oleana once again lead him out of Rose’s office and down the elevator. Oleana’s silent presence was formidable, and he wished that Rose would just let him walk alone in the building. But his sense of direction…

As soon as Oleana entrusted him to be on his own as he clambered into a corviknight taxi, Leon gave a heavy sigh of relief. Finally alone, and able to pull his phone from his bag to text Raihan.

‘Taxi-ing back to Hammerlocke. You going to meet me outside?’ He sent, and Raihan began typing back instantly.

‘Already waiting outside. U know Rose’s personal taxi goes at like a million mph. Got ur barf bag ready?’ Raihan replied, following his words with a couple cry-laughing pikachu emojis. He joked, but Leon didn’t personally think his sudden spike in motion sickness was very funny. Sometimes even standing up too fast made his stomach roll. Thankfully, he didn’t have to use the bag. It was dark enough outside that he couldn’t see the scenery dizzily flying by.

Upon landing and spotting Raihan waiting, perched up against the bridge column, Leon turned his phone off. He knew that Rose and Oleana had tapped into the location services, and he also knew that turning his cell phone off rendered him safe from their eyes for the night. Raihan had recently offered him his gym apprentice, Sebastian’s, help bricking his phone so that Macro Cosmos couldn't access it. But, he had to deny, knowing that Oleana would suspect him. He would eventually turn it back on before going to bed- that way, his excuse, that his phone died on his way home, was much more believable.

“Hey, Lee,” Raihan called, as soon as the Taxi had lifted out of sight. He tugged Leon closer to him by the edges of his jacket hood, gently placing a kiss on the side of his cheek. “Fancy a bite to eat?”

“As much as I can,” Leon said, groaning and rubbing a hand over his stomach. He was starving- but they were still figuring out what he could, and couldn’t, keep down. “I have something to talk to you about, too.”

Leon knew he couldn’t keep the nerves from his voice, when Raihan looked at him with concern.

“That’s never a good sign,” he said. “All right?”

“Eh… not really,” Leon dragged on as Raihan led them both to a nearby restaurant. It was a rather fancy restaurant, one with nice dim lighting. Great for eating slightly under the radar.

“Oleana found me out, today,” he sighed once they got comfy at a booth. “I hadn’t even done anything obvious to get her attention. She just brought it up because she noticed my change in clothing.”

“Really? That woman is terrifying,” Raihan grumbled, propping his chin in his hands to stare at Leon.

“I got in trouble for not telling them at the beginning, even though I tried to convince them I didn’t find out until recently. They know me too well.”

“So, what did you say?”

“I asked if I could retire. I want to retire, live my life on my own, grow a family… Our family. As far as I’m concerned, they at least still don’t know about us,” Leon said, trying to force a snigger into his voice. Raihan smiled back.

“It’s funny, Oleana asked me recently to strengthen our relationship when not working. She said it would look better for the press if we weren’t such distant rivals,” he said.

Leon was relieved to hear that- while also distraught. He didn’t want to have to hide having a relationship with Raihan, romantic or not, from the company. But he knew that Oleana would have Raihan’s freedom in a heartbeat if she found out.

“What did Rose say?” Raihan dared ask, pausing to thank the server for dropping off a few drinks. Leon already missed sharing a glass of brandy with him. Iced tea would have to do.

“He wants to market off of my pregnancy,” Leon said. “Posters, T-shirt’s, brand deals with baby companies, what have you.”

Raihan tensed, his face changing from purely concerned to angered.

“He’s going to make you and our baby a walking advertisement?”

“Even more so than I usually am. I won’t be surprised if he wants to custom a new shawl for me with an ultrasound pasted front and center.”

“Everything that comes from that man’s mouth is the spitting definition of a spearow in a coal mine,” Raihan growled. “Absolutely questionable. He’s got no sympathy.”

“I’ll keep at it,” Leon said tiredly. “I can’t spend my entire life as a slave to his company.”

“Your contract was set to end when you lost in the championship. But since Victor refused to sign the papers on live television, everyone acts like the battle never happened.”

That’s because… ‘someone’ had started the rumor that Victor had battled on borrowed Pokemon. Leon felt absolutely devastated that Victor had to endure the press asking him if the rumors were true- and he owed the kid for the rest of his life when he explained to the camera that Leon had lost because he was ill. Victor had said he didn’t count it as a win if Leon wasn’t battling at tip top shape.

Even if Victor refusing the champion role earned Leon more years on his contract… he’d rather that for himself than Arceus-knows-what for Victor. The kid was only 15; Leon was 10 when Rose pounced on him like a pyroar to a young blitzle, but even if he’d been his current age when he became champion, he’d still be too young. He couldn’t let Victor get involved.

“Once you can get out, I’ll get out too. We’ll move to Freezington and never have to deal with Rose again,” Raihan said, batting his eyes dreamily. “Besides, I know how much you love the cold.”

“At least someone understands me,” Leon jested, reaching a hand across the table to take a hold of Raihan’s. “Even though they had their big break, it’s still not a popular town. Good people, though.”

Raihan agreed, and they both sat in silence, enjoying each other’s company. Though maybe it was the hormones, but the longer Raihan stared longingly back at Leon, Leon felt… guilty. They’d been friends since their early childhood, and Leon hated that Raihan had gotten sucked into working for Rose along with him. Thankfully, Raihan had had no contracts to sign besides a rule book for battling. The gym leaders could, and did, leave whenever they wanted.

To both Leon and Raihan’s relief, Leon was able to enjoy a meal, and keep it down long enough to even digest. The walk back from the restaurant to Leon’s apartment was bittersweet, and Leon forced himself into Raihan’s arms before they departed for the night. He had an early morning- or else he would have begged Raihan to come inside.

He plugged his phone in and turned it back on as he settled into bed, waiting with a grain of salt for his service to reconnect and his nightly reminder text from Rose to light up his phone screen.

‘Don’t forget; 7.00 sharp! Oleana and I shall be waiting for you in the Hammerlocke gym hall for an interview. It will begin at 7.15. It is not a gym challenge interview, so please wear something nice. Goodnight.’