Human Too
Lee!Leon, Ler!Ash and Pikachu
Based off that one scene in Meeting Up With the Monarch.
Or Leon being a little touch starved.
***
Ash thought for a moment about what Leon had just said. Battling may be training, but so is playing. To me, they're one and the same.
It did, now that the boy thought about it, make sense. Hadn't he just seen how different a person Leon was away from the battlefield? The Leon on the battlefield was confident and a little arrogant but still a good sport; Leon out here training was still confident but bright and playful. Prone to laughter, one might say. Although, Ash thought with a smirk curving his lips, that may just be because of the wooloo herd earlier and he's still sensitive.
As if he's more ticklish than he lets on.
Pointing in a vague direction behind Leon, Ash called with mock worry. "Hey, what's that?"
Leon turned so fast that his hair almost whipped him in the face. Taking the opportunity (and hoping he wouldn't regret it), Ash reached out and brushed his fingers against the champion's side.
"WhOA-" Leon made a noise that sounded vaguely like a wobboffet that needed the Heimlich maneuver. Yet, to Ash's great surprise, he didn't pull away from the sensation. Not completely, anyways.
Leon sighed.
"Clever." His tone was dry but his eyes sparkled with a boyish kind of happiness. He allowed himself a smile. "I should've seen it coming, really."
"Seen what coming?" Ash asked with passable innocence. "There was a bit of wooloo wool on your t-shirt."
He got a long, knowing look for that. "Of course there was."
By now, Ash was forming a bit of a theory. Leon - unbeatable Leon - was beaten by a certain touch. Ticklish touch. And, more than that, he enjoyed it. Where Ash and Pikachu had playfully tried to playfully shove the wooloo away, Leon had simply laid back and let them tickle him.
His laugh is different away from the pitch too, Ash realised. Indeed it was. It was softer, boyish, borderline giggly when he was touched in a particular place or way or even if he found something funny.
"Leon, can I ask you something?"
Something in Ash's slightly hesitant tone must have given something away for Leon looked away from the dreepy feeding from his hand and his brow furrowed slightly. "What is it?" he asked, more gentle than Ash would expect from a champion, much less the World Monarch.
"How old are you?"
Barely noticeably, Leon's eyes widened. "Twenty two. What makes you ask that?"
"It's just..." Ash fumbled for the right phrasing. "It's like you're two different people. In battle, you're calm and serious and mature but here, you're..."
"Mildly childish?" Leon supplied with a smile.
Ash nodded, quiet for once.
"Hey, there's no need to be ashamed," Leon's hand provided a reassuring weight on his shoulder. "You wouldn't be the first to notice that."
The boy looked up but Leon seemed not to notice.
"I agree," He went on, "On the pitch, I guess the world expects a certain demeanour from me. But out here," he raised a hand and gestured to the Wild Area around them, "I can be me again. I can be a kid." His voice wavered a bit.
Pikachu seemed to decide that 'sad' wasn't a good look on Leon. He jumped from Ash's lap and snuggled right against Leon's ribs. Exactly where the wooloo had been nuzzling earlier.
Leon let out a bark of laughter. He made no move to push Pikachu away.
"O-Oh, God above! Hahaha!" He squealed as the little mouse shoved his snoot into his ribs.
"Pika!" Pikachu mumbled happily as if completely clueless as to how sensitive Leon still was.
Ash giggled and pushed the man over.
"H-Hey, what was that for?!" Leon spluttered between warm laughs.
Ash smirked. "Just wanna try something."
"Do I dare ask what?" Leon asked with mock resignation.
Ash grinned and wiggled his fingers against the champion's side with a teasing "Tickle tickle!"
"Sod off!" Leon shouted and pushed lightly against Ash's shoulder. He could have easily pushed and Pikachu both away from him. Told that enough was enough and to stop it.
But he didn't.
He let them tease his worst spots - sides, stomach and the backs of his knees - and near shrieked when they got too close for comfort. Ash, taken aback, couldn't help but laugh with him.
After what felt like an hour but was probably about two minutes, they let Leon breathe. His cheeks were flushed and his eyes sparkled with unadulterated joy.
"Thank you."