There were two reactions to any given situation: fight or flight.
It was one of the first things Green was taught in trainer school. When a wild pokemon springs at you, you need to make the split decision between countering it with your own or fleeing to battle another day. He had to sit through a whole lesson of the boring stuff as his teacher highlighted the perks of fighting or fleeing.
Green always saw himself as a fighter. Sequestered in the safety of his own room, a much younger Green would hold his Dragonite figurine (because how could the great Green train anything lower?) and thrust it at his opponent. The opposing figurine (something inferior but still obviously strong, since Green didn't bother with weaklings) would be sent careening into a wall before bouncing onto the floor, defeated. And the younger Green would stand and bask in his victory.
That was child's play, however. In the real world Green never had a dragonite, but began his journey with a small charmander in his arms. The wild pokemon were bigger too — he'd never realized how pidgey pecks hurt and that spearows were bullies in big numbers — and his pokemon had limited health, so Green ended up fleeing more often than he'd like to admit. But he and Charmander still fought when it came down to it, because Green was a fighter at heart.
Or so he thought.
It wasn't until Viridian Forest did he encounter real danger. A life-or-death situation kind of danger, because while pidgeys and spearows hurt a lot they never tried to kill Green. He was trying through to Viridian City when he carelessly stumbled into a beedrill nest. All of a sudden, he was surrounded on all sides by big, angry jerk-bugs.
Fight them, he heard himself whisper. Eevee was too young and untrained to be facing anything, but he had Charmeleon and Pidgeotto attached to his belt. All it took was a couple movements with his arm, a press to the button, a flick of the wrist as he threw. Easy-peasy, he's done it before. Many times, in fact.
Except.
He. Couldn't. Move.
It was like his entirely body had powered down. He couldn't move, couldn't breathe, couldn't think. He could only stare in horror as the beedrills pounced.
There were three reactions to any given situation: fight, flight, or freeze. Green didn't realize this until he woke up in the ER section of the Viridian Pokemon Center, face covered in welts.
After that...incident, Green took it upon himself to cull the instinct out of him, so he'd never act like a sawsbuck in headlights again. It kind of worked; his muscles no longer locked up when he was in serious danger, but the habit never truly went away. He just hoped it wouldn't embarrass him later in his life.
He and Red were sitting on his bed, holding hands. Green had recently been chosen as the Viridian City Gym Leader, something he never realized he wanted until his boyfriend had brought it up to him. It was...great. Amazing, actually, considering the sorry state of his life the past few years. It felt great to be in a position of authority again, to be proud of something he earned by himself.
The new apartment came with the position, and that was where they were sleeping for the night. After sleeping on rock the last couple of years, the mattress and sheets seemed like heaven on earth.
Green wasn't ready to sleep yet, however. He was psyching himself up for the next day, chattering on and on to Red about his plans for the gym's renovations.
His boyfriend was content to listen to him, red eyes drooping slightly. Red had announced his resignation of his Champion title just today. The poor guy was probably too exhausted to reply after braving through a barrage of public meetings and interviews, though he still gave indications that he was listening (the small huffs, the shifting of fingers, the upward twitch of his lips). In a way, Green was talking to calm both their nerves.
He was so occupied with calculating how to spread his budget evenly ("I need to hire some trainers, don't I? That means advertising openings and setting up interview dates.") that he didn't notice Red sidling closer. Their legs were now pressed flush against each other, Red was leaning on his side. Green stopped.
"Uh, Red?" They were dating now, sure, but haven't gone much further than holding hands.
Red put his whole body weight on Green as he, without ceremony, planted a kiss to his lips. It wasn't a quick one either, long and fumbling and sloppy.
Green gaped at him, acutely aware of how his face was heating up. "Red, What the f-"
He felt his throat locking up, and suddenly nothing was coming out anymore. He tried finishing his sentence a couple times before ultimately giving up as his brain shut down. Beep beep, does not compute.
Well, shit.
Red pulled away with a look of bewilderment before the surprise slowly melted into a grin. The smug bastard. Green frowned — or tried to, at least — at Red, though his face probably still resembled a goldeen's. His boyfriend nudged him, and suddenly his limbs were noodles and he was flopping on the bed with a soft thump, his face pressed uncomfortably against the fabric.
Above him, he heard a soft huffing sound that could've only been Red laughing breathily. Green's cheeks were burning now; he closed his eyes and imagined himself sinking into the floor.
A couple seconds later, Green felt something round and cool and decidedly not Red's lips press against his mouth. He opened his eyes to see Red hovering above him, smirking as he jokingly tried to feed him a lum berry. Green's heart skipped a beat when he saw his smile. It was the widest he'd seen in weeks, even if it was at his own expense.
"N-mph-no , I'm not a pokemon. Stop it." His mind was starting to clear up now, so he gently grabbed Red's wrist and maneuvered the lum berry away from him. Red plopped down on the bed next to him, still grinning.
"I know how to shut you up now." he said.
Green groaned, running a hand through his hair. "Great, now you'll never let me live it down."
No response. Green rubbed his face vigorously. "Right. Anyways. So if everything is completed on schedule, we should be ready to open in the next two weeks, trainers or no trainers. I've added three extra days for safety in case the tile shipments arrive a couple days late, or if the electrician reschedul-"
Red's eyes glinted as he leaned in for another kiss, and Green's mind went blank.