Interior, Exterior
A weird little ficlet by Otte
Yellow loved flowers. This came as no surprise to anybody that knew her well, or at all. She had a vast knowledge of flowers native to Kanto, and those in regions she'd never even visited, and it didn't surprise Blue that first time she ever came to the other girl's home in Viridian City, she found the girl in the garden. She was stooped low, in dirty jeans and her trademark hat, digging away at the ground, pausing to delicately touch the petals of the flowers and inhale the sweet scent.
For a second, Blue leaned on the gate, smiling at the simple joy on her friend's face. Even after all these years, Yellow still looked like a boy, a cute and effeminate boy, but a boy nonetheless. She had never bloomed into a woman, and she had never quite discarded that hat. It was funny, the hat was a complete mis-buy on Blue's part – she looked quite ridiculous in, it was overly huge and hideous on her. However, it was hard to imagine Yellow without it. Without it, she seemed almost incomplete.
Yellow stood up straight and wiped the sweat off her forehead, stepping back to admire the bed of indigo flowers she had just planted, placing her hands on her narrow hips as a smile of triumph grew on her face.
"Yeah!" she said enthusiastically, to nobody in particular, and Blue had to chuckle. The other girl jumped and nearly dropped her spade in alarm, wheeling around to see Blue leisurely leaning on her fence. Blue took it upon herself to unhook the clasp on the other side and wander in.
"You've certainly got a talent for gardening," she commented. Yellow's face was clouded with a delicate shade of pink, and Blue chuckled again, taking another look around the garden. She wasn't lying – if this was all her own work, it was certainly impressive. Sunflowers and vines climbed tall against the pale side of the house, lilies and roses flanked the sides of the garden fence, surrounded by so many other flowers Blue didn't have the knowledge to name, their colours blending and matching perfectly. The grass was trimmed neat, and there wasn't a weed in sight.
It was a paradise of vibrant colour, all crammed into this tiny garden, all brought to life by the blushing, fidgeting girl before her.
"Th-thanks Blue," she said, smiling awkwardly, "Dad used to help out a bit."
Blue nodded sadly, not pressing the subject any further.
"Red told me you'd went home, thought you might like a little company from your favourite gal-pal," she said with a wink and a grin, as she cupped a large nearby flower with her slim fingers, surprised at how soft it was. She'd never been a huge nature fan; she was more a girl for the big cities, ones with nice hotels, paved roads, huge, magnificent buildings and, though she'd long dropped this little habit of hers, full of suckers willing to buy her crap. This little piece of nature, however, had been made civilised and beautiful.
"Would you like to come in for some tea?" Yellow asked, then jumped as Blue burst into loud, raucous laughter.
"Wh-what? What?" she stammered. Blue shook her head, brushing her thick fringe back into place with a finger.
"Nothing, just the last time I heard that line, it was one of Gold's terrible pick-up lines," she explained gently, an amused half-smile on her face. Yellow blinked as realisation dawned on her, and she giggled softly, shaking her head. Her ponytail was coming loose from under her hat, and she tucked it back under with a swift, mechanical-looking movement.
Blue had to wonder if that was just reaction at this point. She frowned a little. Blue couldn't help but worry that somehow she'd managed to get Yellow stuck into this act of being a boy. Yellow seemed like the type who would take a promise to the extremes. Unless she was just more comfortable being seen as a boy, rather than the cute girl she was.
Blue didn't understand her sometimes.
"He does seem to like you a lot," she said, as she opened the backdoor and held it open for Blue. She shook her head and clicked her tongue at Yellow's naïveté.
"Sweetie, the boy's a little pervert. "Like" doesn't enter into it," she said with a sigh, "I would love the kind of sweet, innocent relationship you and Red share. Ah, it's just not for me, is it?"
She chuckled as Yellow went dark red, and began stammering things such as "it's not like that" and "Blue, please". Blue shot her a smug, knowing smile as she strolled into her home. If the garden was a paradise, the inside of the house was a shock to the system – there was none of the prettiness she'd expected. She walked into the house half-expecting it to be Yellow's tribute to everything that was cute. The sole cute thing was Chuchu napping on the sofa. Other than that, it was very dull, composed of browns and blacks, and had a strong, musty scent about it. It was the type of house she expected old people to live in, ones with about twelve Meowth, who rarely, if ever, cleaned.
She made no comment as Yellow cheerfully boiled the kettle, not noticing Blue's surprise at her surroundings. The TV in the lounge was buzzing cheerlessly, a storm of static enveloping the screen, and there were cups scattered on the coffee table, as well as a few suspicious-looking bottles.
Red hadn't said anything about the house itself, but then again, Red was too much of a nice guy to say anything bad about anybody's home, especially Yellow's. It was, however, a strong point of concern for Blue. Such a cheerful girl living in such a cheerless place!
Yellow still didn't seem to notice, and darted around the lounge and kitchen, clearing away cups and bottles, moving with such a speed that Blue knew that this was another habit. She gathered up all the mess too quickly, went straight to places Blue wouldn't think of checking. Blue's frown deepened.
This task finished, Yellow dipped into a cupboard and fetched out two cute, mismatching teacups, one painted with little Pikachu and Pichu, the other bearing the design of Clefairy and Wigglytuff. She filled them both, and set the pink cup before Blue, smiling warmly at her all the way.
"Thanks," she said, accepting the tea and drinking it with a smile. She didn't question how Yellow knew that she drank it black, and she smiled a little into her cup as she saw Yellow practically drowning hers in cream and sugar.
She could feel the uneven texture of the pokemon design beneath her fingers, and noticed the slight unevenness that they were painted with. There was something familiarly childish and clumsy about them.
"You painted these didn't you?" she said after some time, as Yellow sat down across from her, gripping her own cup. Again, Yellow went a little pink and nodded.
"They're good," she continued, "You always were the little artist of our gang, weren't you?"
She chuckled as she remembered the amateur "pokedex" Yellow used to keep, and Yellow laughed shyly.
"Art and flowers, hm. You are a lot more feminine than we'd be lead to believe," she mused, resting her chin on her wrist and observing Yellow thoughtfully, then chuckled again, "Hoho, I suppose even I act more masculine than you a lot of time! How ironic!"
She laughed loudly at her own joke, but then fell silent in surprise as Yellow shushed and hissed at her with sudden, uncharacteristic petulance to be quiet. She raised her eyebrows at her, and Yellow suddenly took a great interest in her own hands.
"I'd appreciate it if you kept your voice down, Blue, please. Grandma's sleeping," she said slowly, her voice barely above a whisper. There was something terse and angry in her voice that didn't belong. It sounded as though her voice had been suddenly stretched, and was growing taut where it was threatening to break.
For once, Blue couldn't read her expression, and Yellow was the type of girl who wore her heart on her sleeve. She was sincere and innocent. All the same, she supposed sadly, everybody had something hidden.
She sighed. She just thought that Yellow of all people could be somebody who was open and simple to be around, free of the complications that made the lives of their other friends so muddled and confusing.
All the same, Blue nodded and sipped her tea in silence, her eyes sliding to the window to stare at the bright and cheerful exterior again.
"I'm sorry," Yellow said softly, "Just, please, I don't want to wake her up. Mum will be home soon."
There was something about the way these sentences connected that unsettled Blue greatly, so she swallowed and nodded, taking another sip of her tea. It wasn't often that Blue was lost for words, or that she became less than her noisy, cheeky self, but this stumped her.
On the sofa, Chuchu woke up with a yawn, and quickly darted over to Yellow, crawled into her lap. Yellow smiled and scratched the Pikachu behind the ear.
"We'll all have to go out sometime, when you have a day. I'll call up my little brother, who'll inevitably have that little pervert follow him all the way, and Red and Green! I suppose that strange couple from Hoenn can tag along if they want," she said, and Yellow's face brightened somewhat at the prospect. It wasn't often that any of them behaved like normal teenagers.
Between all the time they spent thwarting insane schemes, saving the world from imminent destruction, and being child prodigies in Pokemon, there wasn't much time for, say, a simple day at the beach.
Undoubtedly Green and Red would still want to battle or train there. She couldn't help but roll her eyes – they were both idiots, with complete and utter one-track-minds. She wondered if they were capable of thinking about anything but battling sometimes.
"That sounds like a lot of fun," Yellow said noncommittally, "I-I'll try my best!"
Blue drained the rest of her cup, and stood up. Yellow gathered up Chuchu in her arms and did the same.
"Thank you for the tea, but I should go," Blue said, smiling. Yellow nodded, standing and scratching Chuchu's ear, looking into the garden again. Blue stepped from around the table and stood observing her quietly. The other girl tensed visibly, looking at her expectantly. Blue thought of what she might say. Her instinct was to confront Yellow about this place, about the beautiful garden and harrowing interior, about the family she said so little about, but that little seemed to bubble and froth with something stranger and darker underneath.
She could tell it wasn't the time, nor was it her place. Instead she stepped forward and wrapped her arms around the smaller girl, bringing her into an awkward hug, Chuchu squirming between them as Yellow freed one arm to return the embrace.
"I'll call you later!" Blue said brightly as she pulled away. Yellow's head was down, that weird, opaque expression on her face again.
She stepped out the back door into the bright and glorious garden, and spared one look back at Yellow, who was smiling again, warm and bright and everything she should be. She looked out-of-place, as though she had been superimposed onto the background.
"It was nice talking to you, Blue," she said. Blue found that now, she could somewhat read between what Yellow was saying, and what she meant. The difference was narrow, hard to notice, but not it was distinctly there, and Blue felt she understood something that was invisible and intangible to everything but the pair.
"Yeah," she said, grinning, "You too."
She let herself out the gate, and with her sly fingers, plucked a flower to take away with her.
Author's Notes:
Uh, yeah. I realise that may have been a bit weird. I just wanted to write some friendship fic between the two, and Green, Red and Yellow's pasts are kinda an enigma, something I really wanted to try and decipher for myself. Thanks for reading!