Renny: AAAANGST.
Green: Why do you always do this to me?
Renny: Because I can. And besides, it ain't you who's crying this time. Sort of. Whatever. Disclaimer!
Green: Ugh. Renny doesn't own pokemon.
Renny: On with the show!
OOOOOO
Red shifted the box- and was surprised when an old, dusty book fell down near his foot.
It looked kind of heavy, but he knew it wasn't. It was a photo album, and those were rarely if ever heavy.
Already feeling like his heart was being torn apart, he slowly put down the box and picked up the old book.
It was the kind of thing you'd buy from some cheap shop, but it could hold all the memories of one person (or several). Something so simple could hold so much meaning . . .
He sat down and opened up the book to the first page, even though he was reluctant to do so.
His own young, grinning face peered out at him, along with Blue's. They each had an arm around an annoyed-looking Green, who looked like he wanted to be anywhere but in between the two, but Red noticed something his eleven year old self hadn't.
Green was smiling. It was a tiny smile, only noticable if you knew what to look for, but he was still smiling.
oooo
"Smile!" Daisy called.
Half a second later, Red heard a click and was almost blinded by the flash.
He blinked owlishly and stumbled when someone shoved him away.
"Hey!" he snapped, as his vision started to clear up.
Green stopped and looked at him. He didn't look very impressed.
"What's the big idea, huh?" Red went on, crossing his arms. "You didn't have to push me like that!"
"I told you." Green replied quietly. "I didn't want my photo taken."
"Too bad, so sad!" Blue stuck out her tongue. "Get over it, brat."
"I'm not a brat, pesky girl!"
"You wanna say that to my face?"
"I am saying it to your face!"
Red sighed, deciding to not get into this argument. He already clashed with Green enough, he didn't need to get in on his and Blue's disagreements either.
He glanced over at Daisy, who was looking at the picture she'd taken.
"What?" Red asked her.
Green's older sister looked up with a knowing smile. "Oh, nothing." she said happily. "Just, this is the happiest I've ever seen him."
"Happiest?" Red frowned, looking back at the increasingly loud argument. "He's the total opposite of happy."
Daisy just chuckled.
oooo
I really was naive back then, Red sighed.
Looking back, he could easily identify the small things that would tell someone that Green was actually happy.
His tone, for one. He hadn't actually been arguing properly, in fact it had been more like a friendly banter between a couple of really close friends. It had only been Red and Blue's assumption that he'd been arguing just to be difficult or unfriendly.
His eyes, too. Green's eyes would sometimes shine like stars in the night sky, and a lot of times Red mistook that shine for a cruel light. But no, it was the complete opposite, and he was always less snappy whenever his eyes were shining like that.
Too late Red had realised any of this, and now he couldn't even apologise for getting it wrong all these years.
He turned the pages, smiling sadly at each memory- all of them Green's, he noticed- and came across another one he could remember fondly.
It was one of the rare times when Green was actually showing his happiness, and had somehow managed to cover himself entirely in paint.
oooo
"No!" Green wailed, even though he was laughing. "Don't take a picture!"
"Too late, Pink!" Blue cackled, holding up the camera like it was made of gold. "This is gonna stick around forever!"
"And a good thing too," Red added with a snicker. "Cus I don't wanna forget this."
Green was covered almost entirely in the most bright shade of pink paint he'd ever seen. Red had no clue what the boy had been doing before he and Blue had made him jump, but either way, they'd managed to make him drop the whole tin on himself.
"I'll see you do." Green told him, starting to grin.
"Oh, I know that look." Blue said, starting to back away. "He's gonna try something."
"What do you mean, 'try'?" Green wondered, and then started trying to cover them in pink paint as well. "There is no 'try', you'll be pink too!"
oooo
"Red? You still up here?"
Blue came up into the loft, and stopped when she saw the book in Red's hands. She made a small sound, like a sob, and came over to sit next to him.
"I remember that." she said softly, pointing at the picture of a pink Green. Red decided to not mention her wet eyes.
"Yeah." he replied quietly. "He was actually acting his age for once, wasn't he?"
"Pfff, he always acted his age." Blue snorted. "It's just that sometimes he happened to act like an immature brat."
"According to you, he was always one." Red pointed out, with a sad grin.
"Yeah . . ." Blue sighed. "Where'd you find this thing? Daisy thought it got lost."
"It fell off when I was moving that." Red pointed at the box.
Blue grabbed it and dragged it over, peering inside curiously. Her breath caught in her throat painfully.
"What is it?" Red asked, alarmed.
Blue reached in and pulled out a comic book as an answer. Red went silent.
"He . . . he loved these things." Blue whispered. "He liked the movies better, but he still collected the comics . . . didn't he?"
Red nodded. He didn't trust himself to speak.
"Remember that one time I gave him those collectors editions?" Blue smiled. "He was so happy."
"He actually squealed." Red laughed. "Green, of all people, squealed when you gave him rare comic books."
"Don't forget the figures." Blue reminded him, and Red let out a bark of laughter.
"How could I?" he responded, grinning. "His reaction to those was even better!"
oooo
"Happy birthday!" Red exclaimed, when Green finally figured out how to open the present.
" . . . You didn't." Green said, hushed.
For half a second, Red was terrified that he'd gotten something wrong and he'd accidently offended Green.
But then the smaller boy actually launched himself at Red, practically screaming with joy.
"Thankyouthankyouthankyou!" Green yelled. "You have no idea how much this means to me!"
"And here I thought those comics I got were the best thing ever." Blue commented, raising an eyebrow.
Green glanced at her, momentarily distracted.
"Don't worry, I love those too." he told her. "It's just that this is more awesome. No, wait, they're all awesome. I don't think I can choose."
"I'm glad you like it so much!" Red sighed in pure relief. "It took ages for me to find one you might not have . . ."
Green pulled back and grinned at him.
"I've been looking for this one for ages." he informed Red, holding up the Captain America figure. "I've already got Iron Man and some of the others, but for some reason Captain America was never anywhere I looked."
"And the comics?" Blue pressed.
"I'm pretty sure they're some of the ones that basically no one else has." Green assured her. "Thanks, both of you. Really!"
oooo
"I still remember that one time you gave him a Black Widow figure." Blue giggled. "And Gold said she was just a supporting character-"
"-and Green actually launched into a ten-minute speech about how important she was!" Red completed. "Didn't he say something like 'your spine is a supporting structure in your body, let's see how well you do without it'?"
"Oh my god, the look on Gold's face when he said that!" Blue cried. "I think that was actually the most words Green had ever said, and no one knew what to say or how to react when he'd finished."
"Except Yellow." Red pointed out. "Didn't she agree with him and then start going on about Hawkeye?"
"Hah, more like every Marvel character she and Green liked." Blue huffed. "Didn't Sapphire once try to tell them that Bruce Banner was useless and the Hulk was his only good feature?"
"You never say that to a Marvel fan, nevermind those two." Red grinned.
They both heard footsteps and went silent, wondering who it could be. Then Yellow herself appeared, and froze when she saw the book in Red's lap.
"Y-you . . . found it." she whispered in awe.
"Yellow . . ." Red began, but she'd already rushed over and had plonked herself in front of them.
Yellow took the book from him like it made from the most delicate of materials, and ran her fingers down the edges.
"I never thought we'd ever see this again." she whispered. "Where was it?"
"There." Red pointed.
"That's . . . where he said it was." Yellow said, slowly. "But I forgot . . ."
"We all forgot." Blue sighed. "I guess after the accident, this photo album wasn't the first thing on our minds, huh?"
"But now we've got it back." Red said, standing up. The girls looked at him. "Come on! We're all here, and we've finally found the book- may as well go and visit, right? Why should we remember if Green's not here to remember with us?"
"Yeah!" Yellow exclaimed, brightening instantly. "He's right!"
"You two are such children." Blue said, smiling despite herself. "Come on, I think we'll avoid any idiots if we go now."
oooo
Red set down the blanket and started to set up the picnic. Sure, it was a bit silly, but this was the kind of thing the four of them used to do together.
Blue and Yellow sat down once he was done and set the photo album down in the middle of the blanket, open on the last page.
That page showed a single picture, with Red, Blue, Yellow and Green all together. They were all grinning- even Green, whose grin was small but joyful. It was symbolic, and helped to keep a happy atmosphere.
"So," Red began. "We're back. And guess what?"
"We finally found your book!" Blue broke in, earning a glare from Red. "Took us ages and Red just sort of stumbled across it, but we've got it, finally."
Yellow giggled quietly and picked up a small sandwich.
"We've found a lot of memories we'd almost forgotten." she said. "I hope you don't mind, but I think we'll keep this- because it'll remind us forever, even when we're old."
"You little shit." Blue suddenly huffed. "When we die, we'll all be old and wrinkly- and you'll be young forever! That's not fair, Green."
"Blue, be nice." Red chuckled. "He's stubborn, he would have been young even if he had died of old age."
"True." Blue muttered. "But he's still a shit."
"Maybe we'll all be the same!" Yellow suggested happily. "He won't have to hang around with a bunch of old ghosts!"
"You hope." Blue told her. "I don't wanna lose any of my epic skills!"
They sat there for over an hour, looking through the album once more- showing it off and speaking aloud about their memories and the stories (sometimes funny, sometimes sad, some even angry) that came with them.
Once the food was gone and they'd gone through the book, Red started to pack up the picnic. Blue decided to help because she was in a nice mood, but Yellow didn't.
She reached into her bag and pulled out an old, worn pair of action figures- Hawkeye and Black Widow.
"We spent hours talking about these two, didn't we?" she whispered. "Your favourite was always Iron Man, but you loved the Black Widow just as much. And because my favourite was Hawkeye . . . well, it was just fate that we got along so well. You were the big brother I never had- and the twin Blue wishes she had. And I'm sorry you never got to tell Red, but I'll always keep your secret if you want me to. So, here. These are both yours now."
She set down the two figures in front of the tombstone, and placed a small glass box over them- just to protect them from the elements.
"See you next time, Green." Yellow said, turning back to her friends and speaking over her shoulder. "We'll never forget you- I promise."
She turned around, and never noticed the boy that sat next to the Black Widow and Hawkeye figures.
He watched his friends, older than him now, and smiled.
OOOOOO
Renny: This is by far the saddest thing I've written. I almost cried writing the ending.
Green: *huddled in a corner*
Renny: Are you . . . crying?
Green: SHUT UP I'M- yes . . . it's just so sad!
Renny: Awww c'mere! *hugs* I'll cut this off now, we both need a good cry. Read and review!