While this isn't the first Pokémon fic I wrote, it's the first I actually put out for everyone to see. Stepping into new territory, so to speak ahaha
Anyway, this is a non-game-plot!AU, exploring what could be if they never even knew each other (and that might be why especially Green might seem OOC at first). NamelessShipping aka GreenRed
This might turn into a series of oneshots, though for now it's complete as it is. I hope you enjoy!

When Red came home from school that day, he was surprised to find what he found on his doorstep. Lying there was an Eevee, curled up in a little ball of fluff. For a moment, he just stared in confusion. There weren't any wild Eevee around, where there…? In its sleep, Eevee shifted around, and Red got a glimpse at a collar. So it belonged to someone, and was probably lost. Red made a decision and picked the creature up, taking it inside with him. He'd find the owner and return it.

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He expected Eevee to be anxious and shy. He didn't expect it to take a liking to him and his house so easily. Either it was just that friendly, or there was something about Red. Or maybe it was because his Pikachu was immediately friendly with the Pokémon too. Maybe everything combined. Red watched as the Pokémon played together, and his eyes kept drifting at Eevee's collar. It was a heart pendant attached to a strong, red-coloured ribbon. He wasn't sure, but it looked like it was a locket…? If it was, maybe there was a picture of the owner, or an address, or anything like that. Carefully reaching out, he touched at the pendant. Eevee let him do. It was indeed a locket, and Red opened it.

What he expected was a picture of some old lady or a little girl. What he didn't expect was a picture of a teenage boy his age, beaming as he was holding the Pokémon in his arms. Somehow, Red couldn't stop staring at this little picture. The boy had ginger hair, light brown eyes, and what was visible of his clothes was a green shirt and black top. On the other side of the locket, there was writing that said "Green and Eevee". So Green must be the name of the boy…?

That night, Red couldn't get that face out of his mind. He felt that somehow that face, and that name, were familiar.

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Green was devastated. And there didn't seem to be a reason either - even without parents, just his big sister and grandpa, he had a great family, he was top of his year in school, all the girls admired him (even though he didn't care about girls), boys either thought he was cool or were jealous. They were well off too, grandpa being a world famous researcher and former top trainer, and Daisy the best groomer there is.

However, he didn't have any actual friends, because he wasn't interested in anyone, and no one would care to actually get to know him either. So his time at school was mostly spent acting all cool and tough, when really he just wanted to have someone he could just connect with. And now, to top things off, his beloved pet Eevee had disappeared.

When Daisy had called him to tell the news, he had just prepared to leave home from school; instead of going home, the rest of the day was spent running around town, frantically searching. Needless to say, he had not been able to find it, or even so much as a clue, like people having seen it. Just disappeared without a trace. Grandpa told him it was unlikely, people like that weren't in their town, but Green couldn't help but worry: What if some bad guys had abducted his beloved Eevee? He couldn't stand the mere idea of his only friend being treated badly, being hurt. Daisy promised she'd look around the next morning, and they'd print out "missing" posters to distribute all over town. But that was barely a cheer up.

That night, Green felt more lonely than ever before.

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Nearly a week had passed, with Red trying to find out more about this (cute) Green-boy, and taking care of Eevee in the meantime. Needless to say, he still couldn't get him out of his mind, even during class. By now it wasn't just a quest to return Eevee to its rightful owner, but also a quest to find peace for his mind. There were times where he thought he could see a boy with ginger hair in the hallway, but he shook his head. No way, the boy probably wasn't going to the same school. Things like that only happen in movies and cartoons. And yet, Red couldn't stop thinking about the possibility.

After school, when walking home, Red's head was in the clouds as always, when ironically, a very movie-esque thing happened; a gust of wind blew a poster in his direction, making it hit straight on his face. Red grabbed at it, ready to throw it away, but did a double take when his eyes fell on the headline "missing" and a very familiar looking picture of an Eevee with red-ribbon collar. Red rolled up the poster, and hurried back home as fast as he could.

He didn't bother changing into any other clothes, nor having a snack even though he hadn't had any food since lunchbreak. He prepared a basket to carry Eevee with, and decided to take Pikachu with him too, so that Eevee wouldn't be alone on the way.

He knew the address written on the poster, even though he had never been there. The poster also talked about a possible reward, but he couldn't care less about that; all he wanted to do was bring Eevee back to its home, and hopefully meet that boy too.

When he arrived at the place, however, nerves kicked in. It took a good solid minute of standing in front of the door before he finally rang the bell. The door was opened by a woman. Red was both disappointed and glad that it wasn't the boy, because he wasn't able to speak without sounding like an idiot. "Ah, um, I found the poster, and-"

The woman looked at him, at the poster, and finally at the basket, where Eevee was curled up with Pikachu. She smiled brightly. "You found Eevee! Green will be so happy" she said, opening the door wide and making a motion. "Please come in. Green isn't home yet, so we can wait together."

"Ah, is that alright…? I don't want to be a bother…" Red said shyly. Inwardly though, he was delighted at the thought of getting to meet Green for sure.

"Of course!" The woman replied, "I know Green would love meeting the person who brought back his friend." She led the way to what looked to be the living room, and motioned at the couch. "Please make yourself at home, I'll prepare some tea and cookies in the meantime."

The wait was spent with smalltalk. The woman, who introduced herself as Daisy, had this power of drawing you right into conversation without it being awkward, and she listened with interest. Somehow, Red ended up telling half his livestory (and he really hoped he wasn't obvious about how he had fallen in love with Daisy's brother just from looking at his picture in Eevee's collar).

He really hoped Green would show up soon.

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As with every day during that week after school, Green walked all over town, trying to find Eevee. Of course, as with every other day, to no avail. Daisy hadn't called either, so he had to resign to this being another lonely night, and another next day of feeling down (in school, he was sure he had heard people whisper about him being heartbroken or something. He was, though for different reasons than what they thought). Arriving home, he took out his keys (the Eevee-keychain making him more sad), opened the door and as he stepped in called out: "I'm home."

He could've sworn he heard voices, one unknown voice next to Daisy's, but the talking died down. Odd. Sighing, he took off his shoes. In that moment Daisy appeared at the living room door. "Green! We've been waiting for you. There's a surprise for you!" she said.

"I hope you're not tricking me into some weird tea party with random ladies again" Green said. He really couldn't think of anything else that her 'surprise' would be. "You know I'm not interested in girls."

Daisy giggled, the way she always did when she knew something. "Oh, it's nothing like that. Well, we do have tea, but that's not it. Just come join us!" She walked back into the living room.

Sighing again, Green followed. There was indeed a guest, but it wasn't some random lady, nor some random young girl. No, it was a teenage boy, with brown hair, brown eyes, wearing a red cap backwards on his head, and possibly the cutest face with the sweetest smile. Green could only stare. The boy looked up, and their eyes met, and for what felt like a long moment, they were just staring at each other (Green wasn't sure if he imagined the faint blush on the boy's face; he also hoped he wasn't blushing himself). Green somehow felt like he had seen the boy before.

Finally, he blinked his gaze away and walked to one of the remaining armchairs (sitting on the sofa next to the boy would feel like too much), dropping his schoolbag next to it. He was about to say something, when he heard something. Looking for the source, his eyes fell on a basket on the glasstable - with a sleeping Pikachu, and… "Eevee…!" Eevee's ears perked up, and when it noticed its trainer, jumped from the basket and onto his lap. Green picked it up, holding it up to his face beaming happily. "I was scared I'd never see you again…!" He turned his eyes to the boy on the couch again. "Did you find it…?"

The boy nodded. "About a week ago, it was sleeping on my doorstep when i got back from school, so I decided to take it in until I could find who it belongs with" he explained. "Then today on my way home I found the poster, so I went here right away." In the meantime, Pikachu had left the basket as well to sit on the boy's shoulder, playing with its green scarf.

"On your doorstep…? I wonder how…" Green mumbled, then spoke louder again. "Anyway, I'm glad it was someone like you who found my Eevee. I was really worried some bad guys were at work, because Eevee usually doesn't stray away." He was so focussed on Eevee and the boy, he didn't really register when Daisy excused herself and left the room.

"I'm glad I found it too, even though I kinda have the feeling it was the other way around" he laughed a little. "I'm Red, by the way! It's nice to meet you, Green."

"Yeah, nice to meet ya." Green was about to ask how he knew his name, then he remembered it was probably on the poster, and because of Daisy. Speaking of the poster… "Ah, what can I do to thank you? On the poster, the reward is left vague, but…"

Red interrupted him. "Oh, no, no, I don't need a reward at all! Well, not really."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, um, this may sound weird, but… would you like to go on a date with me?" He asked, before nervously rambling on. "I mean, it doesn't have to be a 'date', just hanging out would be fine, but, um, yeah. That's what I would like as my reward, if it's okay."

Green replied without thinking. "Sure, a date sounds fine." He smiled at Red's relieved smile. They sat in silence for a while, though it wasn't an awkward silence. Green was thinking over something, and slowly spoke up again. "Say… are you by any chance going to the local academy?"

"Huh? Uh, yeah" Red answered.

"So that's why… I'm going there too, you know."

"So it wasn't just my imagination!" Red blurted out. When Green blinked at him, he blushed and quickly said something else. "I mean, that's cool! That way we could hang out more easily, ahah."

"Yeah, seems like it" Green said. He was glad.

He had lost his beloved Eevee, and when he found it again, by chance, he also found his partner for the future.