raihan kinda had two phases when he was a kid -- before and after he started trying out for Galar’s pokemon league. he doesn’t talk much about his childhood before the league, and doesn’t like to think often of it. he lived alone with his dad, and his dad generally frowned upon a lot of the pokemon championship and things like that. so when raihan proclaimed he wanted to participate in the league challenge, it didn’t go over too well at home.

he left home when he was 9, but didn’t secure a league sponsorship for a while after that. he was pretty much told: come home the champion or don’t come home at all. which, if you just kinda think about all the people participating in the challenge, and the fact he’s a kid with a single trapinch he found and hatched, is pretty much saying: you’re never welcome back. but in a cruel way? as a kid he had a lot of hope that he could do it, and he’d go back home one day and everything with be great and perfect and happy? all he had to do was win the championship !! that’s where a lot of his early zeal for being so successful stemmed from. 

he spent a lot of time alone with just his pokemon -- sort of just lived in a tent in the wild area. he’s still close, now, with a lot of the wild pokemon, and it stems off from the days he spent as a kid with them. really likes to spend time just lying in the sun next to some wild pokemon? it’s relaxing. one of the big ways he tries to wind down.

he’s always been real active, and that’s especially true as a kid. the second pokemon he wanted for his team was a goomy?? struggled to find one. hiked all over the wild area, climbed high up on mountains, just chasing weird rumours to find one?? he really likes to explore !! its one of his favourite activities, and when Comet evolved into flygon and he could fly everywhere, it only got more exciting.

he definitely struggled with some anger problems, when he was kid. bitter, and angry, when he was so close to being champion, but lost that to leon ?? especially since he was still living alone, and on the off-season between league challenges, he didn’t have much of a source of income? it was a real, real hard time for him, the years in between his first loss, and gaining hammerlocke gym. he had to completely change the way he viewed battling, re-evaluate why he wanted to be champion, and just kinda rethink his life?? really hard to do for some young pre-teen. made him really sort of. alone? he relies solely on himself for a lot of things, because he grew up dealing with his own problems. so even now, when he struggles, he just internalizes it. 

it takes a moment for Raihan to notice when Piers starts climbing onto him. he was, as always, reading something on his phone. the first kiss on his cheek certainly manages to finally pull his attention away completely from his phone. “Eh? Piers, whattre you--” but the next kiss placed against his nose cut him off. the expression is replaced with a wide grin. “Sec,” and his eyes dart to his phone again. the screen paused midway through one of leon’s recent exhibition matches, charizard in the middle spewing fire onto the battlefield. “Send that over, wouldya Ro?” 

The rotom beeps in acknowledgement before flying out of Raihan’s hand. Silent never goes well with Raihan. He’s a talkative kinda guy. Full of too much energy. “Said I’d be done in a minute, babe.” his arms wrap around Piers. there’s more kisses, another on his forehead, his other cheek, and Raihan just laughs. 

“Still gotta job to do, yanno? Just cause you’re here don’t mean Hammerlocke gym goes outta business,” but his tone is teasing. The next kiss, which was aimed for his nose, was intercepted by Raihan, catching on his lips instead. Fingers gently wound themselves in the strands of Piers’ hair. “Don’tcha got anything important to do with Spikemuth? The League’s constantly yelling at me if I’m not constantly doin’ shit for Hammerlocke.”

❝ I know it’s midnight, but I want McDonalds. Can we get Mcdonalds? ❞

SPENDING TIME WITH RAIHAN WAS ALWAYS ENJOYABLE IF NOT EXHAUSTING. His brows creased && his lips slightly pulled inward in disgust as his son wiped his mouth with his hand.  ❝ Raihan, please you have a napkin for a reason. You’re a grown man, there’s no need to use your hand. ❞ Despite Kabu’s chiding, there wasn’t any real bite to his words, really just agitation more than anything else. Given Kabu had always been a tidy man, ( it is important to be composed in appearance && in mannerism ) using his hand could have been a silent protest ( well, given he did verbally protest it perhaps it was meant for emphasis ? ) for Kabu’s ceaseless doting. Or, perhaps Raihan just felt comfortable enough around him to be a little more uncouth. That both made Kabu happy && frustrated him endlessly.

Being the most powerful of the gym leaders, it made sense that Raihan was kept to an entirely rigid schedule. Atop that, Raihan had dubbed himself the caretaker of Hammerlocke. That wouldn’t be too bad― after all, caring for their towns was an extension of gym leadership―however, Raihan went above in beyond. The town had been leagues ( Ha-ha ) better off since Raihan had become the caretaker of it, but with how observant Kabu was of his child he was aware it was quite frankly burning him out. Then, with stacking that with the fact that Raihan really didn’t have a strong support unit outside of Kabu, it was creating an unsettling combination… .  this really wasn’t the time for this type of introspection, was it ?

Kabu is snapped from his line of thinking when Raihan suddenly comments on his height. Or perhaps, less suddenly if he had been paying attention instead of thinking about how he could solve every problem Raihan had in his entire life. The joys of parenthood. Given hewasn’t paying attention, his cheeks take on an indignant red as his lips form a solid line thatoozes grumpy. ❝ Raihan, I’m entirely within the normal height of an adult man. You must remember I am not a Galarian native. Giant people aren’t common in my region. ❞ Or blindingly bright eyes. In fact, Kabu was painfully aware that in comparison to his colorful companions he was rather … desaturated. At least it was a bit better than his young adulthood, where he wouldn’t wear any red brighter than a burgundy.

Raihan gets exactly what he was looking for when Kabu’s expression immediately turns grumpy. A curled smile on his face, like the cat that got the cream. Because of course, even though he did say it to make the other the teeniest bit annoyed, the real purpose was just distraction. Oh, how he ever so knew that Kabu had the tendency to constantly try to solve every problem that stumbled its way into Raihan’s path. Sometimes he wondered how different things would be if he hadn’t strolled into Motostoke gym as some snot-nosed 9 year old demanding a battle from the gym leader, with nary a sponsorship in sight, and a single trapinch to his name.

“Dunno Kabs,” he leans back in his seat, meal abandoned for the moment for the sake of looking cool, as his arms raise up and cross behind his head. “Just sayin’. If you were taller, be easier to reach across the table. Longer arms, an’ all that.” The smile shifts into a wide grin. “We could try stretching you out. Grab the arms and legs and pull. I’m sure Kyuu will help me out, yeah? She’s always had a soft spot for any sorta plan I make.” Memories of sneaking cookies out of the kitchen late at night. Ah, good times. Until he got caught ( which only happened like once, anyway ).

Of course, Kabu wasn’t necessarily short. Just look at Milo, for comparison. But anything that made Kabu stop worrying, even for a moment, was worth it in his eyes. “She can take your legs, I’ll get the hands. I’m sure between the two of us we can get you a few inches. Gotta stretch out your old man bones every once in a while yeah?”