Twenty-Four Hours
RedGreen romance claim for the lj prompt comm 24hour_themes
SIX AM | tenacity and perseverance, especially with something you have been putting off
The clock reads 6:01 am when Green's pokegear goes off. Red can't help smiling into the pillow when he hears his companion swear and smack at the nightstand in a sleepy attempt to find the source of the offending noise. He's only been 'back' for a couple months now, but he's able to recognize the phone's tune from some song he heard on the radio last week. The disturbance doesn't bother him as he usually awakens before six, but he knows better than to rouse Green at what has been deemed 'ungodly hours.' He loses some of the bedsheets when Green finally bothers to roll over enough, grab his pokegear, and flop back down to the mattress with a groan. Red is turned away from Green, but without looking he knows that Green is rubbing his forehead in irritation.
"Who the…Gramps, for love of – no real human being is up at this hour. For the last time, my name is Green…"
Red considers rolling over but stays put to hide his ever-increasing smile. He doesn't need to in the end; Green returns to his side and buries his face in the back of Red's neck: partly to get closer and partly to relieve his annoyance at why this conversation had to happen at the crack of dawn. Living away almost made Red forget the people in his hometown, their habits, their routines; staying with Green a majority of the time now caught him up on the few people still living there.
To his relief, nothing has changed since his last stay in Pallet Town. It's all he needs to know about it.
"I'm not coming over right now," Green protests into the pokegear. Red feels a sigh breeze over his shoulder, followed by a trail of lazy, warm kisses on his neck. His smile drops and his lips part, back pressing harder against Green's chest. It's terribly distracting, he knows, but Green never complains about distractions until hours after they've already happened.
"Fine, but later on. I don't know when, just later. Noon, sure, why not. Bye." He snaps the pokegear shut and tosses it near the end of the bed, free arm quickly slinking under the sheets and taking hold around Red's chest, a groan muffled against his hair. Red turns to face him, unable to hide his small smile any longer.
"Visiting?"
"Today, yeah." Green looks like a mess: sleepy eyes, ruffled hair, rough, beautiful. "When I feel like it."
Red nods and reaches for the oval necklace around Green's neck; something to distract himself until Green falls back asleep or kisses him harder. Instead, Green continues to speak.
"You should come to Pallet with me. We could–"
Red emerges from the sheets before he finishes, collecting his clothes off the floor in a flash and heading straight towards the bathroom. He hears Green smack a hand against a pillow in frustration.
"So you want me to lie about your whereabouts again? You have to go back there someday. Listen to me, you–"
Red shuts the bathroom door before he can finish. He already knows what the rest of the conversation will be like.
The prospect of sleeping in having been ruined, Green lands in Pallet Town around ten instead of noon as he originally intended. In the short distance between the lab's front door and his grandfather's desk, he yawns twice. Red is long gone, probably for a few days, but he knows better by now than to leave and not expect anyone to drag him back by the ear. Or so Green sincerely hopes.
"You look tired, Green."
"Long night," he replies, which is the truth, for once. He immediately ruins that with a lie to uphold it. "Trainers kept coming in before closing."
"I see. Now, your Pokedex?"
There's not much reason for him to stay once his Pokedex gets his grandfather's latest updates, but there's not much reason for him to go back to Viridian either. He stays for tea at the lab, listening to the Professor's latest news and only mentioning a little bit of his own when necessary. All the tales he gives are sanitized and edited down – gym battles from half-rate trainers, hikes on Cinnabar, his Pokemon's progress, and that's all he has to say, thanks for the tea, see you later.
Of all the people he should visit while here, it's his sister – alone in their big house, but full of amusing stories about trainers coming by for massages. She pours him his second cup of tea and fires away: apparently the newest Champion has been spreading her name around on her work, making Green very happy (something for his sister to do now that he's away) and outrageously annoyed (he'll have to change phone numbers again soon if she keeps giving his out). He gently reminds her with clenched fists for the twentieth time to keep his number private, finishes the tea, and plants a kiss on her cheek before leaving.
His old neighbor catches him just as he's about to call Pidgeot out.
He's sick of tea by now but accepts Red's mother's request to come in for a quick third cup. Admittedly, the tea that she likes to serve is the best and sweetest, but it still tastes sharp and bitter when it goes down his throat. Staring at his own reflection in the cup is the worst part, but he continues to look as a reminder of the terrible man he is – anything to avoid looking at the woman across from him for too long, or else he'll break.
"It's good you're keeping so busy, but just remember not to overwork yourself," she says to him. "You're still young, after all."
"It's not like it's hard work." He shrugs it off and downs as much tea as he can in one gulp. He can't finish it all, as always, and the reflection stays.
"Sorry," he finally says after a long pause. "I haven't–"
"It's fine, Green." Red's mother waves her hand, brushing it off so easily. He can't blame her for being so relaxed; it's the same answer he's given her for the past three years. "We'll find him when he wants to be found. I'm sure that, wherever he is, he's doing okay."
Green pushes aside his unfinished tea and stands. "I have to go. Thanks for the drink."
It takes all his willpower to calmly walk out the door and pretend he doesn't hear what she says as he leaves.
Every time he goes to visit Red's mother, he says to himself, he'll finally drop to his knees and confess. Every time he actually does visit, he puts it off for another day. He orders Pidgeot to fly back to Viridian as fast as he can manage, before he has a chance to change his mind and turn right back around. All he ever wanted in life was Red, only Red, Red all for himself and no one else could share. It's the same as from when they were kids – Green made it unwritten law that no one else was allowed to play with Red, back when they were young and careless and free from responsibilities, because surely all Red needed was Green. The more Red pushed for independence as they grew up, the more Green shoved back to have him for his own.
Years later, having Red suddenly became an entirely different matter.
The apartment is still empty when he returns in the afternoon. It's hard to imagine Red ever being there in the first place – no clothes left behind, no food missing from the fridge, no leftover wrinkles in the sheets on their shared bed. Green manages to shed his jacket and let Eevee out of her pokeball before crashing onto the bed, this morning's disturbance finally taking its toll on his tired eyes.
It's not a problem that Red isn't here to fill up the apartment with him right now. Red will soon return, and the process will repeat itself as it always does. Green will mention going to their old home for the day, and Red will make him promise not to tell anyone where he is, and Green will fall for it every time.
Next time, he promises himself as he drifts off. Next time, for sure.