Red watches the sun dip down the horizon bit by bit, painting the sky and the flowers around him different shades of orange along the way.
For once in what seems like centuries, his brain is wiped blank— the usual battle strategies and thoughts of adrenaline-pumping challenges gone. In fact, he hasn't felt such relaxation and comfort ever since he was cured of his petrifying, along with four of his comrades, one of which currently sitting peacefully by his side, enjoying the peace and quiet while working on her drawing.
The Battler turns to look at Yellow as she leads her pencil across the paper, sketching something he isn't aware of with a soft glint in her chocolate eyes.
It was Yellow who had led him to this secluded meadow, hidden deep inside the Viridian Forest in the first place. Or more accurately put, Red invited himself when he ran into the blonde in Viridian City and, seeing as he had nothing to do, decided to tag along. She had turned a bit pink at that, but he's found that he didn't really mind. Yellow's cute when she's embarrassed.
'Whatcha drawing?' Red asks, his voice more chipper than usual due to his good mood. Yellow raises her head from her drawing and he sees that she's wearing a sheepish look, her fair skin showing tints of blushes at the same time.
'It's nothing, really,' she says, tripping a bit over her own words while avoiding his gaze. 'It's just a rather rough picture of… um, t-the sun!'
Another new thing about Yellow Red's learned today: she's a terrible liar.
'No, seriously, what are you drawing? I'm sure it'll be beautiful. You don't have to tell me though, if it makes you uncomfortable,' Red adds when he sees signs of fidgeting.
'O-oh, no, it's fine. I was sketching you, Red,' Yellow whispers, her voice barely audible and her face beat red. 'It was the first time I saw you so at ease so I decided to draw y-you. Plus, it's a nice change of pace since I don't usually draw people.'
The corners of Red's mouth subconsciously quirk upwards after hearing that. 'Can I see the drawing?'
Yellow shows him but refuses to look at him, her lips quivering. Red gets the feeling that she doesn't often show people her drawings, aside from Blue, who's closest to her out of the Kanto quartet.
Turns out that Yellow was right— it really is just a rough sketch, but he finds it breathtaking, nonetheless. Her drawing skills have dramatically improved since she was ten and Red had accidentally gotten a glimpse of her art back then. She's now learned how to shade, too.
'It's awesome,' Red tells her, sincerely. 'It's like I'm looking into the mirror, only without colours.'
He doesn't know how, but somehow, Yellow's blush deepens.
'It's not that good. I'm certain I've gotten a few things wrong…'
Red looks at the drawing of him again.
'Like not giving me a hat?' He jokes.
Yellow puffs indignantly, all of her previous shyness evaporated all in a sudden.
'You aren't even wearing your hat!'
Red laughs wholeheartedly at that. The absence of his beloved cap today was because Daisy saw the cap yesterday, proclaimed that it looked absolutely filthy, and decided to wash it at her house, saying that she'd give it back to him later. He remembers Green chuckling in the background as he watches his sister mother his best friend.
'True, true. But don't you think that it's a bit unnatural for me not to have one on? I've gotten too accustomed to my cap that it's actually a bit weird without the small weight on my head now.'
Yellow's brows furrow as she ponders for some time, but then asks:
'How about a flower crown? I mean, they're just so many flowers here!' She gestures towards the large varieties of wildflowers, glittering under the lingering, warm sunlight. Her enthusiastic expression and the excited glitter in her eyes reminds Red of the way she had looked at him when she was eight, her eyes as bright as the present, and watching him direct his Pokémon into battle.
Red's small smile turns into a grin.
'Sure,' he says. 'Why not? I haven't made one of those in ages anyways.'
He sets down Yellow's sketching book, looks around him and gently picks out an amber hibiscus.
'There. Now you pick one you want for the crown,' he tells the girl.
Yellow advances into the bunch of flowers and, like Red, delicately plucks out a crimson tulip and presents it to him.
'I made my choice. Next turn's yours.'
The two of them have a fun time picking out flowers, laughing at punny flower jokes and associating the plants to their friends. In a matter of minutes, they've gathered far more than they need. Before them lies a whole bunch of blues and greens, golds, silvers and crystalline ceruleans, rubies, sapphires and emeralds, with the occasional pink or purple in the midst.
Red is amazed how much flowers are blessed with unique colours, and he voices it out.
Yellow simply beams. Throughout the years, she has become more taller, her silky hair longer, and after all the ordeals they've been through, bolder and braver. But Red thinks that, even after everything, her smile is still bright, simply adorable. It is one of the things Red wishes that Yellow would never change about her.
'You'd be amazed at a lot of things in this forest, Red,' she says, gathering a few flowers and slowly tying them with delicate movements. Red, barely having an idea on how to make a flower crown, simply observes her with utmost attention. He watches how her namesake hair is reflected in the fading sunlight; how her ponytail twitches ever so slightly when she turns her head now and then; how her trained fingers loop and bond an azure anemone with a lime daylily, and so on. He watches her on until each flower is no longer a singularity, instead connected to one another in the shape of a wreath.
'Wow, that was fast,' Red comments. 'You must have had a lot of practise to finish the crown this quickly and perfectly.'
Yellow beams a bit shyly at him. 'Thanks,' she says, 'it's just that I sometimes make flower crowns for my Pokémon, so I'm pretty used to making them.' Her eyes turn towards the few flowers that still remained in front of them. 'We've picked too many, haven't we?' She mutters.
'We can make another one,' Red proposes.
'But I don't think there's enough for another…'
He thinks for a bit, then pipes, 'Let's make another accessory! Does a bracelet sound good to you?'
'T-to me? Aren't you gonna wear it?'
'Nah, I already have the flower crown,' Red quips. 'This time, I'll make the bracelet for you in return!'
The dark haired boy soon finds that it is easier said than done. His every attempt to tie the flowers together fails— the knots he makes aren't tight enough and tying stems is a lot harder than doing his shoelaces. One wrong move could easily lead to two squished flowers. So Yellow takes his large, rough hands in her smaller ones and guides him, doing some of the knots and teaching him to do the others until there is only one knot left to tie. Red has the urge to hold her tiny hands and slip his fingers into hers, but resists it, returning his attention to the task at hand. Red holds the hibiscus on one end and the tulip on the other, puts them around the blonde's wrist and finishes the bracelet.
'There,' he whispers. 'I finished my very first flower bracelet!' Red exclaims, looking into Yellow's round eyes, his face flushed with excitement. He doesn't know why he gets excited even over little things like flower crowns and bracelets, but he does. Red always finds something to be excited with. To him, everything is a blessing; everything has something to be happy over. He's learned the lesson from travelling regions and others cohabit with airs of tranquility around them, and often wonders why would someone want to destroy this indescribable, settling warmth in his and people's, even Pokémon's, hearts.
Yellow laughs at his childish delight, her other hand lingering over the flower bracelet, then takes the flower crown settled on her lap and gently places it on Red's hair, careful not to let his spiky hair mess up her handmade gift. Thankfully, the crown manages to rest on his hair without any changes.
Red touches the flowers one by one, trying to remember which flower is which, but then shakes his head and says, 'It's nothing like my cap, but the weight is still comforting.'
Yellow picks up her pencil and sketching book from the ground, her beam never fading.
'It suits you,' she tells him, and returns to her drawing, starting to sketch the outline of the flower crown.
guys I have two tests that I'm doomed to fail tomorrow what am I doing. Have some special fluff because I'm weak for them. Sorry that my writing is (still) very rusty and amateur, and if the characters are OOC. Have (already) forgotten how to write them, not that I was good at writing characters in the first place. Reviews are appreciated and I hope I made your day a bit fluffier! :))