This is my favorite Pokemon pairing...It's shorter than I thought it was.

This is technically a spin-off of my preciousmetal...but you don't have to read the other one to understand this one.

Please enjoy :)

Red sat in his kitchen, a pen in his mouth as he contemplated the report in front of him. While he usually didn't have to deal with such tedious stuff, Professor Oak had needed a quick hand on organizing his notes on the Pokédex.

Red dropped the pen onto his desk and stood with a sigh.

Green walked in, ruffling his brown hair and looking distracted.

Good timing as always, Red thought ruefully.

"Hey, champion, how's it going?" the trainer asked in his usual rather condescending tone, glancing at the report.

"Dismally. Why don't you do this?" he whined. "I'm not good at paperwork."

"Battling isn't all there is to life, Red," Green sighed dramatically, grabbing the report and looking it over.

"It is to me," he retorted brashly. Inwardly, he sighed, aggravated. Except you, of course.

Green flipped through the pages. "You're right, this sucks," he commented and Red opened his mouth to snap back. "But don't worry about it too much, Gramps sucks at this, too."

"But he's a Professor," Red replied, surprised. "There's a lot of paperwork to it."

"He's a Professor because he knows so much about Pokémon from being a trainer," Green explained, stacking Red's report. "And he loved seeing if there's more to it in other forms of raising Pokémon. I'll take these and finish them later."

"Good luck with that," Red rejoined, giving the papers an angry glare.

Green laughed and Red couldn't help but smile in reply; whenever Green was happy with something, it rather contagious, especially since he rarely showed approval for anything. Green twisted Red's cap, earning a protesting yelp, then walked back towards the study.

Red straightened his hat, watching Green leave with a sense of melancholy. He had managed to make it to where he could more or less ignore his feelings when the brunette was around, but it still hurt.

He closed his eyes and rested his cheek on the table. I'm glad Pika is discrete, he thought randomly. Otherwise, Yellow would have been terrified of me the first moment we met, what with her mind-reading abilities.

Pika chose that moment to come back in from outside, sliding around the door and closing it with his tail. He made his way to the table and then sniffed Red's ear. "Piiiika."

Red reached up and scratched him at the base of his skull. "What's up, Pika?"

The electric-type made a disparaging noise and crackled, a spark lighting up one cheek. Then he nuzzled Red's hand and ran off. A moment later, there was a shocked exclamation from the study and Pika came running out again, giggling, with a paper in his mouth. Green soon followed him.

Red laughed hard, holding his stomach, as Green chased Pika around the table. Green finally caught the Pokémon and rescued the paper.

Pika wriggled free and then darted off.

Green and Red laughed about it until their sides hurt. Then Green sat across from Red and dangled the sheaf in front of him. "Your Pikachu is ridiculous," he commented, smirking.

Red smiled. "He knows things," he answered, wondering if Green would understand the hidden meaning: He knew I was lonely.

Green put the papers down on the table and hummed, "Maybe he knows I'm bored."

Red shifted his hat, watching Green smooth out the paper, amused. "If you're bored, how about we do something more interesting?"

"Like what?" Green asked.

"Like…" Red leaned across the table excitedly "…a battle."

Green sighed. "Red, you know full well I can't beat you anymore. I'd rather not make your ego any bigger, thank you."

Red frowned. "Come on now, that's a bit mean."

Green reached over and flicked the visor on his hat. "I'm sorry," he said, but his smile took out the sincerity.

Red waved his hand away like a bothersome fly. "Ohh, go away, stupid Green."

Green chuckled while Red drew circles on the table with his finger, working up his courage.

"Hey, Green, can we talk about something?" Red asked nervously.

Green settled back in his chair. "Sure," he replied.

Red continued to fidget. "What would you do if you liked your friend, but you were almost positive they didn't like you?"

"Wait," Green answered automatically.

"But what if it's unethical for the two of you to be together?" Red asked urgently.

Green tapped his fingers together, watching the table. "I'd still wait it out. Who cares if it's unethical if you truly love the other person?"

Red bit his lip for a minute, then asked hesitantly, "What if you can't wait? If it hurts seeing the other person every day and knowing they don't know, and wondering if they'll be okay with it, feeling insanely jealous every time they talk to someone potentially good for a relationship that's not you?"

Green drummed his fingers on the tabletop now, looking at Red through emerald eyes. Red couldn't match his gaze and looked away. Green finally rejoined, "I don't know. Trust your instincts, I suppose. You have pretty good instincts for a trainer, so why not for every day life?"

Red made a face. "Battling is straightforward," he mumbled. "Strategies all have a similar element to them. But life…there's always something totally unrelated, unprecedented."

Green smirked at him. "You look at things in bizarre ways," he commented.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Red asked, pretending to be insulted.

"You're weird!" Green answered and they both laughed.

When they stopped, Red stared at the table. He could feel Green's gaze on him, but he couldn't get himself to look up.

Green finally broke the awkward silence by saying, "I wish you would trust me."

Red's stomach dropped and he felt like his nerves had frozen. What did Green mean by that? He decided to ask him up front. "What do you mean?"

Green tapped his fingers on table impatiently, but he was still looking at Red. "I won't hurt you," he said after a thoughtful period of silence.

Red's head shot up and he stared at Green. Those emerald eyes were full of hidden emotion that the champion couldn't read. "You might if you know the truth," Red finally choked out warily.

Green sighed, exasperated, and sat back in his chair. "Red, you're good at hiding a lot of things. But you are not good at hiding when something is really bothering you. And it's always around me. What did I do?"

Red removed his cap and ran a hand through his black hair, at a loss. He didn't know how to reply without letting his secret go. But if Green said he wouldn't hurt Red, maybe it wouldn't be so bad…right? "You didn't do anything," he muttered. "It's me. I'm weird."

Green hummed. "Yes. So…Adding up everything we just discussed…Do you like me?"

Red's face turned the same crimson as his eyes. "I…h-how did you figure that?" he stammered, intensely embarrassed. He felt Green start reading towards him, then pull back.

Green sighed. "Like I said, adding up past experiences and our conversation just now. Answer the question."

Red whispered, "Yes."

There was a horrible, blood-chilling silence. Red felt like running away—except that they were in his house, so he would have to come back eventually. Maybe he could go back to Mt. Silver, yes, that would do the trick…

Green stood, making the thick knob of fear sink into Red's stomach. He walked around the table as Red's eyes closed, hunching as he tried to shrink, sure he was going to be punched or something.

He was not expecting Green to hug him.

Red shivered violently and, voice thin with fear and surprise, he murmured, "What are you doing?"

"Not hurting you," Green retorted quietly, forehead on Red's shoulder.

Red gulped and replied, "No. But…do you like me?" Instantly, he felt tense again.

Green squeezed him a little. "Maybe," he whispered in Red's ear, making the champion shiver. "If I say yes, what will you do?"

"I...I don't know," Red murmured. "Be very happy, I guess."

Green snorted in amusement. "What about this?" he asked. Then he turned Red to the side and kissed him lightly. Red felt like his insides had been emptied and replaced with something sparkly and strange…like sparklers. He pressed back into the kiss until Green pulled away, smiling slightly, and tugged on a piece of Red's hair. "Is that okay with you?" the trainer asked lightly.

Red felt rather floaty. "Very," he answered and grinned. "So why didn't you do this to begin with, rather than the roundabout way?"

"I didn't know if it was safe," Green explained, sitting on the table and playing with Red's hand. "I wasn't sure. Then you started giving those transparent questions, then you turned so red…I figured it was mutual."

Red snorted. "Alright, smarty pants, I give. Now what?"

Green rubbed his thumbs over Red's hand and the champion shivered a little. "Dunno," the gym leader replied. "Go on, I guess. We'll be fine, a gym leader and the Pokémon League Champion." He threw Red another grin. "I think it'll turn out very interesting."

Red stood and kissed Green again, thinking that this would be very interesting indeed.

Please critique, I need all the advice I can get so I can perfect my writing and publish something one day.

Also, comment on whether you would like this to be longer than one-shot. I'm working on other longer ones, but I hit a block on them. I'll put them up eventually.

Read and review, and thanks!