Red and Green, gameverse, though I've changed the timeline a bit (thus making them older.) The concept, universe, and characters of Pokemon are not mine, although this work is.
Ever since they were kids, it seems, fate had them spiraling around each other. Orbiting one another like two moons light years from any other solar system.
Years and years later when Green looks back, it's all too obvious that he feels what he does. There was simply never anyone else. As children, they circled each other in a perpetual swirl of energy and youthful ecstasy. At the beach, in the forest, in their attics, it was always Red and Green.
Green, who was confident and adventurous, who ran into the waves and climbed trees and explored dark places with a flashlight and a grin. Red, who was calm and intuitive, who buried his feet in the sand and dug for roots and sat in the dark for hours on end.
Their childhood is spent running and laughing, never, ever knowing how close they'll come to losing it all.
Boys do boy-like things. Boys rebel and play violent games and pretend to be more macho and tough than they actually are. These boys, however, find that they don't have to pretend so hard when it's just them. When he's alone with Red, Green doesn't bother to raise his voice and make snarky comments. Of course, he still does sometimes, because it's so darn fun. But there are nights when even that falls away, and it's just them and their thoughts.
Among these is one evening that's more special than the others, and it's a week before they leave for their Pokemon journeys. Both boys know what's coming, and they talk about it daily; training and independence and adventures. But they also know that they can't travel together and that they're inevitably going to rival each other. It's natural, they know. And it's the best way to become stronger. Neither could predict that their rivalry will threaten their friendship, but there is still a layer of melancholy in the air as they lay on their backs in Red's backyard, staring at the sky.
"You know," Green begins, glancing over at the other boy, "Sometimes I wonder if it'll be worth it."
Red's eyes are closed and he doesn't stir, but he does answer. "Training?"
Green shakes his head. "Nah. The not being together part. I mean, we're gonna get lonely. Being lonely isn't fun." He sighs, picks at a blade of grass beside him.
"We'll have our Pokemon. And it's not forever," Red smiles, turning his head to face Green. "We can battle all the time. Wait for each other, challenge each other. Race to the Elite Four."
Thinking about that, Green frowns. "Do you think we'll get that far? Through all of the gyms, and the Four? I mean, that's hard. Really hard."
Red shrugs. "I never said it'll be easy. But I'll do it if you do it. And then, we can come back here and it'll be like right now." He grins, which is a rare sight, and Green takes comfort in that. If Red thinks they can make it to the Elite Four, then they will. They have to.
Red rolls onto his back, and then Green does, and they stare up for a while more until Red says, "The beach?" And then they do what they've done countless times before, jump up and quietly sneak out the gate, and then run to the water. Even though the tide is constantly falling and rising, Green imagines that he can see their reflections as they stand in the sand, the waves crashing at their knees.
He will try his hardest, he decides. Try his best at training, and challenging the gyms. He and Red will become legends, and then come home. And then everything will go back to normal.
It's by accident that Green takes the Pokemon that was supposed to be Red's, in a haze of blind confidence. He doesn't realize until a few days later that the Eevee had been reserved for his best friend. By then it's too late to fix.
Of course, it works out for the better, because they each receive the Pokemon that compliments their personality best. Green couldn't imagine having any other Pokemon but Eevee for his starter, and he knows that Red feels the same way about Pikachu. He wonders if all trainers bond with their Pokemon this way. He hopes so, and he believes it until he first encounters Team Rocket. Seeing their Pokemon forced to do bad things makes him sick to his stomach, but altogether closer to his own team.
In addition to his newest friendship, Green discovers just how fun training is. Being away from Red brings out Green's snarkier side more often, until he seems like a different person, almost, but Green doesn't mind. He likes being this new person who intimidates his challengers, because people who are intimidated are easier to beat. He grows as close to his team as he ever was with Red, and that helps abate the loneliness until he doesn't notice it anymore. From falling asleep in the night air to training for hours in caves and forests, Green loves this life.
The changes aren't exclusive to him, either. The first time they battle each other after not seeing the other for more than a month, Green is surprised by how different Red seems. The boy is quieter, barely speaking, and taller. Green wonders how Red communicates with his team without speaking seemingly at all, but he pushes the thought away. He needs his concentration to win, he knows. If anyone poses a challenge to him, it would be the boy with the ruby eyes.
Green never wins, of course, but he always tries his hardest. Perhaps that's why it burns so much.
In retrospect, Green doesn't know exactly where his friendship with Red changes. He can't recall if it's early on, or after his Raticate is injured, or at some other point entirely. It happens, though, and Green becomes so focused on becoming stronger, on being the strongest, that he forgets the finer points of their childhoods. He becomes so focused on beating the one person against whom he cannot win that he forgets the easy banter he used to share with his best friend, and the late nights spent knee-high in the salt water tide dreaming of their futures.
There's a cost to forgetting, and it's that Green tears and demolishes his oldest friendship with harsh words and false bravado.
It doesn't hit him that he's blocked out so much of what made him who he is until they stand across from each other after that last battle. Eevee is unconscious on the floor, and Red watches him with solemn eyes, waiting. In the rush of the moment, Green is speechless. He rushes to his starter and begins to revive her, keen on telling her that he knows she fought her hardest, because he did as well. And then, too soon, the moment is gone, ruined by Gramps and his undying interest in the new Champion, never mind the fact that his own grandson received the same title a mere forty six minutes before.
When Green finally knows what he wants to say, some hours later, he realizes that Red has vanished. Lance tells Green that Red has given up the Champion title, although he doesn't know why. Green, feeling disgusted with himself, doesn't want it back, either. He tells Lance to go fuck himself, knowing it's not his fault, knowing he's going to have to apologize later. It's not even satisfying enough to be worth it, but it's better than leaving his anger undirected.
That night is terrible, spent in some hidden guest bedroom at the Pokemon League, and Green doesn't sleep.
Over the next few weeks, there's a lot of media attention over the fact that the new Champion is gone. Red's mom asks Green if he has any idea where Red went, even though it's obvious that he wouldn't. He screwed up big time, pushing away his best friend in pursuit of overpowering him. What's strength worth, anyway? Green has a team of Pokemon that could take on any other team in the region with ease, and it's still not enough to keep the reporters away. When Green finally decides that he can't take it anymore, he flies to Johto to take some time off. One week in Ecruteak and three days in Olivine, and he's still followed by the press. Frustrated, Green gives up on his vacation decides to just go home.
Home hurts, of course. Green misses the wilderness and he tends to sleep in his backyard, much to Daisy's disapproval. When he first looks at himself in the mirror in his old bedroom, he's sickened. The young teenager in the looking glass does not look like the him he knew, or the him he thought that he knew. That night, his dreams become nightmares of falling through crevices in the earth, enormous faults that spawn at Red's feet as Green tries to make things right again. Over the next few weeks, Green remains as bitter as he's been for the last few years, but for different reasons. He used to hate the boy he couldn't defeat; now he hates himself for being so blind.
Still, no news comes. Each day brings a stabbing sensation like a knife to the heart, until the rhythm is as constant as a hum.
When Green is offered the position as Viridian gym leader, he ignores the letter for a week. And a month. He doesn't accept until Lance arrives at his house in person, begging him to fill the gap in the circuit.
Viridian is so much different than Pallet, but perhaps that's a good thing. The lights are brighter, and the only place Green can find true darkness is in the windowless bathroom in his small apartment. He has no yard so he can't sleep outside, which he has mixed feelings about. There are people everywhere, and the only place he can be alone is at home.
He lives a block or so from the gym, and soon enough the job becomes a routine. Wake up at six, shower, eat. Walk to the gym. Wait for challengers. Close at six, do paperwork for an hour or three, and walk home.
It's dull, because even though the gym receives regular challengers, most of them don't get past the three gym trainers that Green hires. The ones that do surpass the trainers never beat him. It makes Green think about how surprising it must have been that day at the Pokemon League when he and Red both showed up. Red was the last challenger there from Kanto, he knows. Whatever Johto does is the region's own business; Green doesn't bother keeping up with world affairs.
To no one's surprise, Green doesn't make friends. In fact, he does practically nothing at all. Time passes, though he doesn't pay attention to it. He becomes used to his isolation. Daisy calls him on a weekly basis, yes, but that's the extent of his social life. During the day when he's not busy doing ridiculous League paperwork, Green sasses his gym trainers into becoming stronger stronger stronger, because he doesn't want to have to face imbecilic kids.
Every few months or so, Green will notice that he's grown taller, or that his face looks subtly different than it did six months prior. He doesn't notice that he has become tall and handsome, attractive and strong. If he wanted it, he could be the celebrity heartthrob of the region. Instead, he spends most of his time in his apartment watching television or reading. He only leaves to train with his Pokemon on Sundays when the gym is closed, staying in the forest from dawn until sunset.
Two years pass, then three years. He's not keeping track, but some things Green can't ignore. His sister's wedding, for example, or when she becomes pregnant.
Four years. Green is an uncle, which frankly is an uncomfortable topic for him. Maybe, he thinks, he'll become closer to his nephew when the kid is old enough to like Pokemon.
Five years. His family starts pushing him to date, maybe, or at least do something other than work. He shrugs off their concerns and tells them that he's happy with his life. He can't quite decide if he's lying.
Six years, and the only interesting thing that happens is his vacation to Hoenn. To him, the region is too uncomfortably tropical. He pities the poor kids who travel through the rainy jungles and dry deserts.
The day comes when Green realizes that almost seven years have passed since he last lay under the sky in Pallet with Red. Looking out the window in Viridian, he can't see the stars, but he knows that they're there. Vaguely he wonders what they would look like, reflected in the water back home. Time passes unnoticed, quietly and unobtrusive to the boy doesn't want to notice it. Red is a forgotten name, a lost color. Only in Green's nightmares does he make regular appearances, silent and foreboding like an angel of death. Which, given the circumstances, he sort of is.
Three months later, the challenger from Johto comes.
If Green had paid attention to the national news he would know that the girl was the strongest trainer Johto had seen in years, perhaps decades. But when she approaches Green on Cinnabar Island, all he sees is a short girl with pigtails. Her smile makes his eyes narrow.
Still, he agrees to challenge her, if only because he's required to. Lyra arrives at his gym two weeks later, her Typhlosion following her like a duckling. Green is unsurprised at her team, common Pokemon with cute nicknames. What takes his sanity by the throat and forces it to its knees is how gracefully and completely she obliterates him.
The feeling is too familiar. He's been beaten since he became gym leader, but not like that. It taints his thoughts. That night, Green's nightmares are especially vivid. When he awakes covered in a cold sweat, all he can think is I'm falling I'm falling I'm falling until his breath stabilizes, and the sounds of the city outside his window invade his brain like a lullaby.
She becomes the new Kanto Champion not long after, setting a new record. Apparently, she's the first to complete both regions' gym circuits and defeat the League after each run.
Nothing changes until Lyra visits again, another few months later. Green is eighteen, wondering if he should quit the gym gig, and mostly agrees to go out to lunch with her because he knows that she has friends who could take his position, if necessary.
Of course, there's an entirely different topic on her mind when they're seated at a tiny café (even though it's too cold to eat outside, really) and left to order their food.
"The old Champion, he was your friend, right? He was your rival until he beat you at the League, and he disappeared?"
Green glances up from his menu for a fraction of a second, before casting his eyes downward again. "You could say that." He says, feeling an echo of the falling. If she knew him any better, as Daisy or Lance did, for instance, she would know not to talk to him about his former rival.
Lyra bites her lip. "I thought that. Have you heard from him, by any chance?"
"Not in years. I'd be surprised if I did."
"Well," She exhales slowly, "Would you want to?"
Green doesn't know how to answer that question, so he doesn't.
Lyra picks up on his emotions, and reaches forward to lower his menu. He stares at her, annoyed. "He's on the mountain," She whispers, pointing to the west. Green's eyes follow, and settle on the highest peak of the range that towers over the city. The information sinks in, before his attention snaps back to her.
"How do you know that?" He asks, suddenly alert. Green sits up in his chair, doesn't comprehend this new emotion. Stabbing in reverse? Falling upwards? It still hurts, but it's different. A different sort of hurt.
The younger trainer shrugs. "I found him. Challenged him. He beat me, just so you know. Didn't say a word. But I recognized the Pikachu. I mean, what other legendarily strong trainer has a Pikachu?" She stops when Green stands abruptly, forgetting in the moment that he'd just been about to order a sandwich. Rather, he begins walking swiftly back to the gym. "Where are you going?" Lyra calls, standing and leaning over a potted plant to watch him shrink further and further away.
She can't hear his answer, but it sounds like the word he calls back to her is simply, "Home."
Six hours later, Green is standing at the peak of Mt. Silver. He is surprised to see that Lyra was correct; Red was here. But now he isn't.
His things are here, though, and Green enters the cave warily. There's a pile of ashes where countless small fires have burned, and a sleeping bag. Aside from a pile of food wrappers, the cave is empty. Green knows, though, that this is the place. It has to be, so he gathers some wood from outside, calls out Arcanine, and starts a new fire.
Half the night passes, and Green is starting to get pissed, until he hears a vaguely familiar roar outside in the blizzard. When he looks up from his position leaning against his Pokemon, the first thing is sees is Charizard, and the second thing is Red.
The boys stare at each other, silent. The storm rages, but it's as if an emptiness this complete has never existed before. The world contains Red and Green, and nothing else.
The feeling shatters when Green clears his throat. "I, um, heard you were here. From that Champion girl. Lyra. You've been here for the last... six years?"
A flicker of confusion flashes across Red's face, and he stares blankly at his ex-rival. "It's been that long?" He asks, slowly. His voice is different but the same, lower and strained from disuse.
Green opens his mouth, closes it. The idiot would lose track of the time, he thinks, closing his eyes to think for a minute. He listens as Red comes and sits near the fire, settling in with his Pokemon.
Oh, the idiot. "It's a bit cold," Green remarks finally. He watches the fire, thinking that he should probably go get more kindling, but he doesn't really want to. Not when he's finally found Red.
"Maybe," Red says, indifferently. "I can't actually tell anymore."
Green doesn't say anything back, until he bursts out; "Six years!?" His voice cracks, effectively preventing him from saying anything else. Which, in the end, is probably a blessing.
The ruby-eyed boy is silent, and after a while Green sighs and looks up at him. Like the first time they were separated for a long time, the contrasts in their appearances are highlighted to him now. Red is tall but not taller than him, strong but leaner than Green is, pale and ghostlike in a way that Green isn't.
Green looks to Red's feet, waits for the earth to crack. When it doesn't, new warmth fills him. Perhaps not optimistic warmth, but not pessimistic warmth, either.
"Tomorrow, you should come down with me. I live in Viridian, now." Green says. He's ready to argue the issue, but to his surprise Red nods.
"Okay." After that, neither of them speaks, and they both fall asleep on the floor of the cave. For the first time in months, Green's dreams are empty.
When they arrive at Green's apartment the next day, the first thing Red does is take off his shoes. Then, he disappears into Green's bedroom.
Once Green has fed the Pokemon and put everything else into order, he sates his curiosity and peeks into his own bedroom. Red lays above the covers, fast asleep and snoring. Green rolls his eyes and closes the door carefully, going back to the living room to nap until the other boy wakes up.
Red sleeps through the rest of the day, and the night. Green attributes this to the fact that Red probably hasn't slept in a proper bed since who knows when. In the morning when Green is preparing his daily oatmeal, Red pads into the room. To Green's shock, he's sweating.
"Your house is too hot. Make it stop." Red demands. He looks as if he's been thawed out, his hair drenched and his clothes sticking to him with sweat. Still, though, there's a cool determination in his eyes when he addresses Green.
"But it's November," Green objects, glancing up from the stove. "I can't turn off the heat. Besides, it's what, sixty five in here? Go outside."
Red gives Green a look. "And get frostbite? I'm sweating. Turn off the damn heat."
They argue for a few minutes more, but Green gives in after experiencing an unanticipated struggle. Heck, it's his apartment, and it's not like he was the one who went to live in sub-freezing temperatures. Yet Red sleeps comfortably on a bare mattress that night, and Green takes all of the blankets and crafts himself a nest on the couch.
By the end of the month, a new rhythm has been established. Green has negotiated the right turn his thermostat back up, now that Red as acclimated back to normal weather (it helps that it's getting older outside.) Green's bed is his again, too, leaving Red to the sofa.
It takes time, but Red goes to Pallet to visit his mother. Green accompanies him, and witnesses as Red is exposed to literal hours of withheld hugs and relieved tears. At the end of the day Green gets ready to leave, and is stunned when Red comes right along with him. He'd expected him to stay with his mother, although he didn't know quite why. It isn't as if they've discussed it. Green can't place the emotion he feels then, but whatever it is he ignores it, because this life is stable, or as close as he thinks he's going to get. Maybe this life is normal, the new normal, although he isn't entirely used to it yet.
Green is surprised when his nightmare returns. What's more shocking is that he awakes to see Red standing at the side of the bed. He's looking down at him, concerned.
"You were yelling," Red murmurs, and Green stares at him. He wasn't aware that he talked, or shouted, in his sleep. Then, he rolls over onto his other side and faces the window, because Red why are you here please just let me handle my dreams by myself thank you very much. In the new space, Red sits on the edge of the mattress. Once Green's breathing is less ragged and more stable, Red speaks.
"What was it about?"
Green closes his eyes, and tells himself to be civil. "Just an old nightmare. Nothing new. I haven't dreamt it in a while. I'm surprised it came back."
Red exhales. "So, what was it about?" He asks again, patiently.
Green doesn't answer, but Red stays until he falls asleep. When he wakes up in the morning, Green remembers a new detail from his nightmare; this time, Red shouted when Green fell. He just can't remember what the words were.
The next night, the nightmare comes again. So does Red, and this time he's more blunt when he asks Green; "What was the nightmare about?"
Green, grumpy and embarrassed that this is happening again, turns away. "Nothing. Just go back to bed, Red."
The mattress gives as Red sits. "You were yelling again. Didn't sound like nothing."
"Well, it was."
Neither of them says anything until Green rolls over again and sits up, irritated that Red hasn't left yet. "Okay, dude. What do you want?"
Red stares at him, frowning. "Tell me the dream. I'm not going to leave you alone until you do." I don't doubt it, Green thinks. So he gives in and collapses on his back, giving a rough outline of the nightmare as he stares up at the ceiling.
It's quiet, and each boy remains stranded in his thoughts until Red asks, "How many times have you had that nightmare?"
Green closes his eyes. "Too many times to count. The first time was the night after you beat me at the League."
Red hums, before doing something that breaks Green's composure. He lies down beside him, which forces Green to shift closer to the window on the double-sized bed. When Green stares at him, eyes wide, Red shrugs. "I'm tired, and your couch sucks."
Shaking his head, Green rolls to face the wall but doesn't ask Red to leave, mostly because he can't speak. But, after a few minutes, the sounds of Red's breathing are as comfortable to him as the sounds of the cars outside, if not sweeter.
Red is calmer than Green is, moving throughout the day with ease while Green struggles to contain himself. He snaps at the trainers in his gym, at Daisy over the phone, at Red himself. He grumbles more often, complaining when the toilet paper runs out or when Red leaves out the bag of potato chips. Red takes Green's mood swings in perfect grace, simply offering to make a run to the store or clean up whatever needs tidied. It's infuriating, it's anchoring, and it's Red.
Each night is the same, though, and Red and Green both sleep in the bedroom. Green doesn't think about what that means, what such a thing usually signifies, when it happens. He just listens to their breaths, and wonders if Red is doing the same thing. Always, Red is awake and gone in the morning when Green's alarm goes off.
The nightmares are gone, though Green's dreams are now empty. But even though that source of falling has vanished, he can't help but feel that the sensation isn't completely gone. He doesn't attach the two words together until, about a month later, Daisy outspokenly points it out to him without his even asking.
"You're falling in love, I presume?" She teases, pouring him a cup of tea. "It was bound to happen sooner or later, even if he did go live on that mountain for a while. Relax, I can see it on your face. You know that that sort of thing is okay."
He denies her claims, and Daisy drops the subject quickly, but now the thought is there. That night when it's time to go to bed, Green crawls under the covers without saying a word and he repeats a new mantra in his mind as he tries to succumb to the emptiness of sleep. I am not in love, I am not in love. But in the emptiness is Red, and in Red is the other feeling of falling and falling and falling that never goes away now, even when Green tries his hardest to make it go.
On the morning of the day Green turns nineteen, the other side of the bed is empty as usual. However, he finds a newspaper-wrapped present beside him with his name on it. Inside are two books from a series he'd begun reading, and a note from Red that says; Happy Birthday. Cake comes later, see you tonight.
There's nothing conspicuous about the words, but Green feels his face grow hot nonetheless. Then he groans angrily, and goes to the bathroom to shower.
It's a normal day in the gym, despite the fact that the trainers present him with a gift card to some new restaurant in town before they close up at five thirty that afternoon. He thanks them as he locks the doors, and then departs on the walk home.
Green arrives to an empty apartment. Red has been down from the mountain for a little over two months, now, and he comes and goes as he pleases. Still, the guy has a schedule, and he's usually home before Green. Everything is as Green left it that morning, which leads him to believe that Red hasn't been taken or anything, although the idea in itself is preposterous. Since Pikachu goes with him everywhere, Green knows that he shouldn't worry. He does anyway.
At seven precisely, Green hears the muted jingle of keys unlocking the door. When he looks up from his spot at the couch, Red smiles at him.
"Happy Birthday, in person. Sorry I'm late. I had to buy a cake." He says, as an explanation. He takes off his shoes, brings the box from the bakery and sets it on the coffee table.
Green shrugs. "Thanks. Did you get chocolate?" He asks, knowing that Red knows that it's his favorite.
"Triple chocolate." Red confirms, and immediately Green gets up off the couch to go get plates, knives, and forks from the kitchen, instantly won over by the idea of three times more chocolate than usual.
It's an exquisite birthday, spent eating the cake for dinner (which is delicious) and watching bad action movies on TV until two in the morning. Just as two friends should spend a birthday, although Green isn't quite so sure of what they are anymore. Red is asleep by the time the last film ends, and Green wakes him up by nudging him with his elbow, and finally sticking a finger in his ear. Predictably, Red startles, and Green laughs.
Soon, their lives begin to change. They grow together slowly, but now Green notices the passing of time, because there are so many moments to notice. Each time Red's hand finds a place to settle nearer to Green's, or when Green wakes up in the night and stares at Red's face until he falls asleep again, he notices. They still have days where Green snaps and becomes angry, and others where Red hardly speaks at all and just gives Green moody looks. More falling, too, although it slows down quite a bit and Green finds that he's actually quite comfortable with what he slowly accepts is happening.
Green notices that his life revolves around Red's, and he's okay with that. He likes it, actually, because living has meaning again. In the light from the window at three in the morning, Red's skin glows like the moon. Red is delicate, Red is steady, Red is the only color Green can see when he closes his eyes at night.
Green is surprised when he learns that Red left because he was afraid of the same things Green had been, back then. Failure, and disappointment. Mostly, though, that he'd lost his best friend.
They're lying in bed on their backs, staring up at the dark grey ceiling. It's summer and it's hot, too hot to sleep, so they're up and talking even though it's nearly three in the morning. "So you… left?" Green asks, turning his head to look at the dark-haired boy. Or young man, it seems. They're so noticeably older, even in their perpetual youth. But a shadow of the ten year-old Red still remains in him, and Green knows that the same is true of him.
Red glances at him and frowns, before staring upwards again. "I didn't want to upset you by staying. We cleared the League and beat the Four, but nothing was normal, you know? It was all wrong."
It's Green's fault, he knows that. He drove Red away out of his own jealously and stupidity. But… "It's normal now, though. This is what we were waiting for. This is what we fought for," Green says, taking a deep breath. Reaching under the covers, he finds Red's hand, and takes it firmly in his own. It isn't so terrifying, not as terrifying as he'd thought it would be. That in itself is a reassurance. "Even if you did win every battle. How'd you get so strong, anyway?"
Red stares at him like he's an idiot, but squeezes his hand. "I did it for you. So we could reach the end. Wasn't that what it was always for?"
The universe falls into place, the air relaxes around them. Even if the past isn't forgotten, at least it's over. And at least it's now. A grin creeps onto Green's face, and he takes in Red, noticing every little detail about him from his messy bed hair to his gentle eyes to the sweat beading on his brow. They have years and years, the thought of which fills Green with a bottomless joy. For once, it doesn't surprise him that this is exactly what he wants.
He knows that Red feels the same way, too, because he's known it for months now. Why else would they be laying here, together again after so many years of isolation?
"Yeah, I guess it was." Green says, still grinning. It was always for Red, always for them. Mere seconds pass before lips crush into his, and Green pulls the smaller-but-not-weaker boy closer to him. Red breaks the kiss and for a moment they stare at each other, feverishly and explosively exultant because holy mother of god this is what they both want, and both need, before pressing even closer into the sheets. Red tastes like chocolate, the planets have collided, and Green is floating.