(Original DA Post: May 23, 2017)

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There was a knock on the door, and Incinerate and Froaker both looked at it before Froaker got up from his chair to answer it. He opened the door and at the other side stood Blaze.

“Hey Froaker.” He said, looking past him to see his brother who was still laying in his hospital bed.

“Hey Blaze, how was school?” Froaker stepped aside so that Blaze could enter. He did, and Froaker closed the door once he was in the room.

“It was good,” He responded, “Hey, man.” he said to Incinerate.

“Hi.” The red reptile answered.

“How are you feeling?” He asked.

“I have a headache.” Incinerate said, with no emotion. “You didn’t tell anyone what happened, did you?”

“No, I just said you were sick.”

“Okay, good.” Incinerate said.

“Don’t you think it’d be better if people knew what happened before you went back? Everyone’s gonna come up to you and bombard you with questions and stuff.” Froaker told Incinerate.

“I guess.” He thought for a minute. “Yeah, maybe you should’ve told people what happened, way to go.”

Blaze rolled his eyes at his brother, but then showed a small grin, likely what Incinerate was going for.

“Alright, well, you guys hungry? I’ll go get us something to eat from downstairs.” Froaker asked them both. Almost immediately, Incinerate answered “YES!” as he quickly sat up. He looked at them and slouched back into his pillow, “I...haven’t eaten in a while.” He tapped the claws on his pointer fingers together. Froaker looked over to Blaze, “You want somethin’?”

“Sure, I’ll just have whatever you get him.” He responded, sitting down in the chair next to the bed.

“I’ll be back in a little bit.” Froaker said as he exited the room, closing the somewhat heavy door behind him. The room was silent for a few seconds, neither brother really looking at the other besides a glance when looking around the room. Blaze was eventually the one to break the silence, “So…” he started, “Have they told you when you can go home yet?”

“Tomorrow.” the Charmeleon replied. “I still get a little dizzy walking around though. And the lights still give me a headache.”

“Oh. Well that’s good you’re not gonna be stuck in here for another week or something.” Blaze tried to lighten the mood a bit. He could tell his brother wasn’t having a great day.

“Mhm. Hey...did you happen to see Tokage today?” Incinerate cautiously asked. He could already feel his face warm up a little.

“Yeah, why?”

“Oh. Just wondering. Uh...his mom is my nurse, so just didn’t know if he asked you anything or...anything.” Incinerate tapped his claws together again, a little faster that before.

“No, I haven't talked to him in a few days. I can’t believe you guys don’t get along, you like a lot of the same stuff, and you’re both nice, besides to each other. Just seems like you two would be pretty good friends.” Blaze said. He knew this was a bad topic to bring up, especially when Incinerate was running on an empty stomach, but he decided to take the chance and go through with it. Incinerate didn’t say anything for a few seconds. He thought about Blaze’s question, but couldn’t really come up with a solid answer.

“He started it.” He finally said. “I know all you guys are friends with him but the two of us just...don’t get along, i dunno. Maybe if he wasn’t such an ass then I’d consider being his friend.”

Blaze looked him over and shook his head, “Wait. Why did you ask if I’d talked to him about you? Why would you care what he says?” Incinerate’s eye opened wide and he felt his face get even warmer than it was.

“Well, uh...he was in here yesterday, so I was just wondering if he said...anything...or like, asked about me or something...you know what, never mind, forget I even asked.” Incinerate pulled the blanket over him and held it close before turning away from Blaze, who looked at him, confused. He could’ve sworn he saw Incinerate shaking a bit.

“You...okay?” He hesitantly asked.

“Yes.” Incinerate grumbled, turning back onto his back, looking ahead of him. His face was noticeably more of a deep red than his skin. Blaze decided to just drop the subject.

“Anyway, uh…” He wasn’t really sure what to talk about with his brother.

“What did I miss at school?” Incinerate asked, not like he really even cared what he missed, he just wanted to make sure the subject was changed.

“Not much, at least in math. I can give you the notes later.”

“Okay.” He brought his hand to his head, “Ow…” He felt his head pound as the sun became uncovered by a cloud, flooding the room with light through the thin curtains over the window. Blaze watched, feeling bad for his brother, who put his blanket over his face to block the brightness from the sun. “Can you put the blinds down?” He asked. Blaze jumped up, acting quickly so that his brother could be relieved of his headache. He pulled the string hanging next to the window and the thick, white blinds came down over the window, making it considerably darker in the room.

“Better?” He asked. Incinerate took the blanket down from his face, still holding his head, his eye closed.

“Mhm.” He nodded. Blaze sat down and the two waited for Froaker to return with lunch.

Blaze and Incinerate heard the doorknob turn and the door opened, Froaker walking inside, along with Crus, Slash, and the boys’ grandparents, two older looking Gengar, both of them the usual purple color of other Gengar, unlike Crus. Froaker was carrying a bag from Subway and sat it down on the stand next to Incinerate’s bed.

“Hey champ, how you holdin’ up?” Incinerate’s grandfather, named Xeyal, asked him.

“My head hurts.” Incinerate replied.

“He’s...had a rough couple days.” Froaker told them. It was a bit crowded in the room with everyone in there. Incinerate immediately started digging into his food.

“Well we just wanted to come and see you, see how you’re doing. You poor thing.” The grandmother, named Rose, said.

“Oh. Yeah, I’m better than I was yesterday. I can at least walk a little bit before getting too dizzy.” Incinerate explained with a mouthful of sandwich.

“You’re appetite seems normal still.” joked Slash.

The seven of them talked for a bit as Incinerate and Blaze ate their food. After a while, Xeyal and Rose left, leaving the fire brothers with their father and uncles.

“When can you take the bandages off?” Crus asked.

“I don’t know. Probably when I get an eyepatch.” Incinerate answered.

“Oh, the nurse gave me one for you, but she said to keep the bandages on until you’re home.” Froaker informed him. He opened the drawer of the night stand next to the bed and pulled out a black eyepatch. Incinerate looked at it with a face of disgust.

“Boy, I can’t wait to be called a pirate.” He said sarcastically.

“You won’t be called a pirate.” Froaker assured him. “People probably won’t say anything about it.”

“Yeah, right.” Incinerate mumbled. Froaker rubbed his back to comfort him.

“I know you don’t like it, but it’s what you’re gonna have to do. If people say something about it, just ignore it. After a few days I’m sure it’ll be just like how it was before.”

“Yeah, and if someone’s making fun of you, just tell a teacher and they’ll have it stop.” Crus said, to which Slash and Blaze both agreed. Incinerate still didn’t look too happy about it, however. He started moving to get out of his bed. He sat at the edge and carefully slid off onto his feet, making sure his vision didn’t start spinning.

“Need help?” Froaker offered.

“No. I think.” Incinerate replied. He blinked a few times and took a few steps towards the bathroom door, but started feeling a little dizzy, “Okay, maybe a little.” Froaker got up and stood beside the Charmeleon so that he could use him as a support. He put his arm around his son and Incinerate did the same to his father and the two walked over to the bathroom. Once they were there, Incinerate let go and placed his hand on the door frame, “Alright, I’m good now.” He said as he walked inside. Froaker closed the door and sighed.

“That’s gonna go away, right?” Crus asked.

“Yeah. According to the doctors. So will his headaches.” Froaker stood by the bathroom door for when Incinerate would need help getting back to his bed.

“He must really hate needing help just walking.” Slash wondered.

“He does. He never lets me help him until he’s ready to fall over.” Froaker explained.

“No way he can go to school like that, right?” Blaze asked.

“Not like this, no. I don’t know how fast it’s supposed to get better. It could be gone by tomorrow night, or it could take a couple weeks probably.” They heard the toilet flush and the faucet go on. After about 30 seconds the water turned off and Incinerate opened the door, still keeping his hand on the wall for support.

“I think I’m good.” He said, taking a few slow steps out of the doorway towards his bed again, Froaker staying close by to him just in case. He was able to make it to his bed this time and got back in and under the blanket.

“Maybe you just need to be up for a bit for it to go away.” Froaker suggested.

“Yeah, maybe. Still a little dizzy, but it wasn’t as bad. I just can’t wait to go home.” Incinerate put his head back to his pillow. “It’s boring here.”

“Don’t you have your phone?” Slash asked.

“The light hurts my head too much.” Incinerate replied.

“Oh.” Slash said, looking down at the ground. Incinerate let out a yawn.

“What time is it?” He asked, looking over at Froaker. Froaker looked at his phone.

“Almost eight already.” Incinerate groaned and turned in his bed to get comfortable. He wasn’t used to being this sleepy this early. The nurse said the medicine they were giving him would make him tired, but he didn’t think he’d actually fall asleep from it.

Incinerate listened to his family talk while he slowly drifted off to sleep. He couldn’t make out what they were saying anymore, and then the noise completely disappeared as his brain started dreaming. The fuzzy image finally cleared and Incinerate found himself in school, sitting in a desk. He recognized the setting as his history class, Blaze in the seat next to him, as well as his other classmates around him where they are normally seated. Like usual, he wasn’t listening to what the teacher was saying. His eyes skimmed the room, looking around at the other Pokemon around him. He noticed Tokage sitting across the room, sitting in his usual desk, with Cefiro behind him. He kept his eye on Tokage, who eventually looked right back at him, keeping the smile he had when he was talking to his Lucario friend.

Incinerate jumped a little when he saw Tokage look at him and quickly changed his line of sight to directly in front of him, only to see Tokage sitting in the chair in front of him as well. In fact, as he looked around the room one more time, Tokage was everywhere he looked. He felt his heart rate increase and started to freak out, insanely confused and...fuzzy feeling?

“Incinerate.” One of the Tokages said. Incinerate just sat there shaking nervously, not entirely sure where the sound came from in the crowd of Grovyle around him.

“Incinerate.” He heard his name again. He felt something push at his shoulder and he jumped in his seat, landing back in his bed. His eye opened wide and he sat up, breathing heavily. He looked around confused at what just happened. He looked at where he was pushed and noticed it was just Froaker shaking him a little to wake him up.

“Hey there, sleepyhead.” He said. Incinerate looked at him without saying anything, just blinking a few times. He rubbed his eye and adjusted to the light in the room. He looked around his hospital room, only to find that he was alone with Froaker.

“What…?” He looked back at the Greninja.

“It’s morning.” Froaker said. Incinerate looked at the window, which was still covered by the blinds, but he could tell it was dark outside. He gave Froaker a look of confusion.

“It’s 6 o clock. The nurse needs to give you your medicine again before you go home.” He explained.

“Oh.” Incinerate put his head back onto his pillow.

“You slept a long time. Good dream?” Froaker chuckled.

“I guess you could say that.” Incinerate said, still a little freaked out. Despite this, he felt his face warm up again. They were interrupted by a knock on the door, followed by Drieza opening the door and entering the room.

“Oh, good, you’re awake!” She smiled at her patient. “Bet you’re ready to get outta here, huh?”

“Mhm.” Incinerate responded. Despite being a Sceptile, Drieza looked strikingly similar to her son, and Incinerate was having trouble seeing anything else.

“Well, you’ll be leaving pretty soon.” She handed him a few pills and a bottle of water. “You’ll just need to take these. They should help with any pain you feel.”

“Thanks.” said Incinerate. He popped the pills into his mouth and took a sip of the water, letting the pills slip down his throat. Once he had taken them all, he got out of bed and made his way over to the bathroom, not needing any help this time. He arrived at the bathroom and closed the door.

Drieza turned to Froaker and handed him a bottle of the same pills that Incinerate just took. “Here, he is going to need to take two of these a day. They should keep most of the pain away until he’s fully recovered.”

“Okay, thank you.” Froaker responded. “When do you think he’d be able to go back to school?”

“I would give him a few more days, especially since it seems like he’s still having trouble with getting dizzy when he walks.”

“Alright. So he’ll be good to go once he comes back out, then?” Froaker asked.

“Yup, he’s all set to go!” She said happily.

Incinerate waited with Drieza around at a different exit to the hospital - one specifically for patients that were leaving - for Froaker to bring the car around. He was happy that he was able to go home. It felt like forever that he’d been in that hospital, despite it only having been a few days. He couldn’t wait to go home and see Makalu again and sleep in his own freaking bed. He looked around the corner - no car yet.

“Thanks for...takin’ care of me and stuff.” Incinerate said.

“Of course, sweetheart. I’m glad you’re doing okay.”

“Yeah.” He saw the car pull up. He walked out with Drieza and he got into the passenger’s seat of the car. “Uh, tell Tokage I said hi.” Wait, why did he just say that?

“I sure will. Take care!” She gave him a little wave. Incinerate closed the car door and Froaker started driving again.

The car ride home started quiet. Incinerate looked out the window, adjusting his glasses so they fit better with the bandages still on his face.

“Something’s on your mind.” Froaker finally spoke up, to which Incinerate gave him a quizzical look.

“What do you mean?” He asked.

“I can tell, something’s on your mind that’s buggin’ you.”

Incinerate looked back out the window, not saying anything, thinking of a way to respond. He decided to finally just say “No.”

Froaker sighed “Maybe if you talk about it, it won’t bother you as much.”

Incinerate still just looked out the window, silent again. He shook a little. “I don’t...know.” He mumbled.

“What was that?” Froaker asked.

Incinerate faced his head forward, but looked down towards his lap, “I don’t know what it is...exactly.”

“But you have some idea?” Froaker asked, to which Incinerate nodded slowly. He nervously shivered a bit and looked like he was trying to speak, but was unable to get any words out.

“Look, Incinerate, you don’t have to say it if you’re not ready.” Froaker told him, not wanting to pressure his son into saying anything he really didn’t want to. However, what Froaker said made Incinerate’s eye widen and he looked at Froaker, mouth hanging open slightly.

They pulled into the driveway and Froaker turned the car off. There were no other cars in the driveway, as Blaze had left for school and Crus and Slash were at work.

The two walked into the house and Froaker sat down on the couch. Incinerate sat down as well, but on the other side of the couch. He still looked nervous, and he slowly rubbed the top of his right hand with his left.

“Can you promise to not get mad?” Incinerate asked.

“Of course, buddy, you can tell me anything.”

Incinerate took a deep breath, “Alright…” He closed his eye tight and his mouth quivered a bit. He sniffled a little. Froaker watched and felt bad that his son was this upset to just talk to him.

“I um…” He started, “I..uh...I think I’m…” He started shaking more, and his eye filled with tears. Froaker put his hand on Incinerate’s back to comfort him a little. Incinerate looked up at his dad but then looked back down. “I...I’m gay.” He sniffed again as more tears rolled down the right side of his face. Froaker moved his arm so that it was around Incinerate and rubbed his arm.

“Incinerate, it’s okay. It’s nothing to be ashamed of. It’s who you are.” Froaker tried his best to comfort his son.

“S-so you’re not mad?” Incinerate asked through his sniffling.

“Of course not. Why would I be mad? I’m happy for you.”

“Well, I’m sure you weren’t hoping for a son...that’s like this.” He didn’t even want to say the word.

“Well, I always said that if any of you guys happened to be, then it would make no difference at all.” Froaker told him. He noticed Incinerate’s tears were slowing down, almost completely stopped. “Besides, I’m bi so I’m okay with the whole subject anyways.”

Incinerate looked at him in shock, “Y-you are??”

“Mhm.” Froaker nodded. “You couldn’t tell?” He asked.

“Well...no. You don’t really seem like you would be...I also kinda thought when you said stuff like that it was a joke.”

“Nah. Not every non-straight guy acts girly. I mean, I knew you were gay since you were little.” Froaker admitted.

“Since I was little!?” Incinerate exclaimed. “Is it that obvious?”

“Probably not. I could just tell. Don’t worry about it though. Just act like yourself.” Froaker said.

Incinerate looked back down at his lap. “Thank you, Froaker. For being so, you know...understanding.”

“Of course, buddy. You’re my son, and I love you. Nothing will ever change that. As long as you’re happy, I’m happy for you. You’ll feel a lot better as you come out to more people.”

“Wait woah woah, I have to tell more people?” Incinerate asked.

“Well, yeah, you probably should. I mean, you can’t go your whole life pretending to be straight, you’ll never be happy that way. Not saying that you have to tell people right away, you do it when you’re ready to do it. But just take it from me, it’s like the biggest weight lifted off your back once it’s done. Trust me, I went through it too.” explained the Greninja.

“I guess. I mean, I do feel like a lot was just lifted off my back. B-but how do I know other people like the rest of the family or my friends will be okay with it? What if they don’t like it? What if they hate it??” Incinerate got more freaked out with every question.

“Relax, Incinerate. It’s gonna be okay. You know Crus and them will be just as okay with it as I am. And if someone you’re friends with all of a sudden doesn’t like you anymore, then they weren’t your friend to begin with.”

“I guess…just...please don’t say anything to anyone yet. I don’t think I’m ready to be...out there.” Incinerate said, his tears no longer present.

“I won’t tell a soul.” Froaker assured him. Incinerate looked up at him and then hugged him.

“Thanks.” The two hugged for a good ten seconds before letting go.

“Feel better?” Froaker asked, smiling.

“Yeah, just still a bit shaky. It feels kinda weird that you know.”

“Give it a day. It’ll feel like nothing happened.” Froaker told him, “So...when did you find out?”

“Uh...well..” Incinerate blushed and tapped his claws together, “There’s this guy that I...sorta like.”

“Oh?”
“And I sorta just...figured it out from there. About two years ago, it started.”

“So you do like him.” Froaker shot him a smile.

“Wait, what? Who are you thinking of.” Incinerate asked, puzzled at how Froaker basically knew all his secrets without him even saying anything.

Froaker chuckled, “Tokage.” Incinerate blushed even more.

“Uh...well...yes.” He admitted. “How do you know all this already?”

“Well that one was pretty obvious.” Froaker smiled.

“What do you mean?”

“Every time he gets mentioned, you blush and shy away from the conversation, especially recently.”

“...Well, when I see him...I don’t know I just...I’ve never felt that way before, about anyone. I mean, he’s a jerk to me all the time, but I don’t...care?” Incinerate was confusing himself even more.

“Don’t worry, these kind of things are complicated. It’s confusing for everyone.” Froaker said.

“So how do I make it go away?”

“Make what go away?” Froaker asked.

“The feelings.”

“What’s the rush? You don’t even know if he’s gay or not.”

“There’s no way in hell he’s gay. I’ve seen how he acts and stuff. He’s straight for sure. He’s had girlfriends.” Incinerate said.

“Doesn’t mean he’s straight. You don’t seem gay from the way you act. You could’ve gotten a girlfriend.” Froaker tried to convince him.

“Yeah but what are the odds that we’re both like that? Or even if he was...that he would even like me back?”

“Didn’t you say he came to visit you in the hospital?” Froaker asked.

“...yeah…”
“And you said he bought you a Cinnabon, your favorite food?” Incinerate’s face was as red as can be.

“...uh huh…”

“Doesn’t sound like something someone who hates you would do.”

“Maybe he was just apologizing for being a jerk?” Incinerate wasn’t buying it.

“Just saying, you never know.” Froaker told him. Incinerate sat and thought for a minute, then shook his head.

“My head hurts.” He said, resting his head back on the couch. “I don’t really wanna think about the whole thing right now.” He scratched around where his eye used to be. “Can I take these off now?”

“Oh, yeah. Here, I’ll help ya. Hold still.” Froaker looked around for where the end of the bandages were. Once he found it, he started unraveling the cloth and eventually it was all off, and he removed the pad that was placed over Incinerate’s socket.

“How bad does it look?” Incinerate asked. The area where he was injured was scarred and bruised, and honestly, kinda gross looking.

“It looks...painful.” Froaker tried to avoid using a word that would upset Incinerate.

“It is. Where’s the eyepatch?” the Charmeleon asked.

“Oh, I left it in the car. I’ll get it.” Froaker got up from the couch and walked out the door. Less than a minute later, he walked back through the door with a bag containing the black eyepatch and Incinerate’s medicine. He pulled the eyepatch out of the bag and handed it to Incinerate and sat back down on the couch. Incinerate took the eyepatch from Froaker and looked at it before attempting to put it on his head. He had to put it over the horn on the top of his head before he was able to get it to stay on. The band was elastic like a rubber band, so it fit just right on him. He covered his empty eye socket with the black patch and adjusted it to where it was centered and also comfortable. He looked at Froaker with a frown on his face.

“You don’t like it.” Froaker knew.

“No, I don’t. I feel like I’m wearing part of a Halloween costume.” He pointed to the patch.

“You don’t look like you are.”

“Really?”

“No, you look fine. I think you just need to give it some time. Go look in the mirror.” Froaker got up from the couch, followed by Incinerate. They both walked over to the bathroom and Froaker turned the light on as Incinerate stepped inside and faced the mirror. He looked at his reflection, focusing mainly on the eyepatch. He gave a slight face of disgust.

“I dunno. I guess it’s not...awful.” He admitted, although he still didn’t think it looked good. “It’s just another thing that’s not normal about me.”

“What do you mean?” Froaker asked.

“There’s this, this,” He pointed behind him to the blue flame on his tail, “and then...you know…” He still didn’t want to say it again.

“First of all, ‘that’ is normal. The blue flame was hereditary, and this was a freak accident. Sure, the flame and the eye are...different, but different doesn’t necessarily mean you’re not normal.” Froaker told his son, but Incinerate didn’t look convinced. He sighed and put his hand on his son’s shoulder. “It’s gonna be fine, buddy. It’s gonna feel different for a little while, but soon I’m sure you’ll forget it’s even there.”

“Mhm.” Incinerate replied. He felt his stomach grumbling. “Hey, can we eat? Just realized I never got breakfast back at the hospital.”
Froaker smiled, “Sure, bud.”

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Oh shit.

Think I might just leave it at that.