A/N:
As a testament to the horrificness of my last chapter, I'm keeping it up on my profile but taking it out of this specific area. That way, I'll be humbled every time I visit because that chapter was just plain awful – a reminder that there's a fine line between perfect-for-writing exhaustion and actual exhaustion. cx (All in agreement, say "Aye.")
So don't take that last one seriously. This'll be a redo of it, except it's not really a redo, since the setting and circumstances are completely different: Bill's wedding.
Because seriously, TeaShipping is pretty much canon already.
A month before FRLG...
Green was working on something in his room.
He had just finished a make-up essay, since he was still sixteen after all. Being a Gym Leader and one of the saviors of the region wasn't a good excuse to drop out of school in his opinion, unlike most serious Pokémon Trainers. The hologram in his gym could take care of any challengers when Green wasn't available anyway.
As soon as the doorbell alerted him to a visitor, he set his pencil down on his desk and made his way downstairs.
"Bill," he greeted as he opened the door.
"How did you...?" The nicely dressed inventor glanced at the peephole set into the door and sighed. "Never mind. Is Daisy here?"
Green nodded. "Up in her old room." His sister had come by earlier to gather a few last things, since she had moved in with Bill about a month ago. There was something interesting about the way his sister's boyfriend held himself though.
"Planning on asking something?" Green asked quietly, nodding at what was undoubtedly a small box partially hidden behind Bill's back.
He flushed a bit. "Uh, yeah," he admitted.
It was obvious what he was about to do, so Green saved him the embarrassment of hearing it aloud. "Don't worry," he said, opening it further to let him in. "I'm sure she'll say yes."
Bill only nodded in reply, almost overwhelmed by the realization of what he was actually going to do. He took a deep breath, nervously adjusted his tie, and strode past Green like the confident man he definitely wasn't.
Smiling, Green closed the door and watched the inventor's back disappear upstairs before returning to his work. Schoolwork stops for no student.
Pretty soon though, he lost focus as Daisy gasped loudly enough to be heard.
. . .
Three weeks after returning from the Battle Frontier...
Blue hugged Daisy with a grin, albeit gently so she didn't muss up both dresses.
It was the morning of the wedding at Bill's cottage and everyone was looking forward to what was about to happen, even if they were a bit tired from the rehearsal last night.
"You look gorgeous, Daisy!" Blue said, backing off and gesturing at her dress. "Right, Yellow?"
Yellow nodded quickly, smiling. "You really do."
Both Blue and Yellow were also dressed up for the event, seeing as they were both bridesmaids. In fact, Blue was the maid of honor, as seen from her complementing. Crystal was also a bridesmaid, but she was off helping organize and things like that.
Daisy smiled back, looking a good deal more nervous than the other two. "Thanks. But..." She held up the skirt of her dress, which had been serviced with a large helping of fluffiness. "I still feel like this is a bit too much."
"Nonsense!" Blue waved off her worry. "It looks amazing, trust me."
There was a knock at the front door. Yellow reached over to open it when Blue blocked her. "Wait! It could be Bill or one of the other guys." She shuddered in exaggeration. "We can't let one of them see Daisy."
Opening it a crack, she peeked through for a moment before widening it. Crystal was forced to squeeze her way in. Luckily, she hadn't dressed up yet and was still in her typical capturing clothes.
"They're still working on the big stuff," she announced. "We've probably got a couple hours to go until it's time."
Yellow frowned. "I had no idea weddings take this long," she said.
"This isn't really the wedding anyway," Blue pointed out. "It's setting up. The ceremony and vows and stuff are a lot shorter."
Daisy opened her mouth to comment, but a bunch of faint shouting could suddenly be heard coming from outside, where they were gathering up the tents to be moved to the seaside hill for the service.
Crystal sighed. "I have to go again. The guys can never seem to get things done without an accident if Green isn't there." She slipped back out of the room.
There was a pause before Blue moved to snatch up one of the veils, since they hadn't decided on one.
. . .
Over an hour later, they were actually finished.
Crystal, reassured that there wasn't going to be any more trouble by the presence of the best man, had left the hill for the cottage where she could finally dress her part.
Most of the guys were chatting, bored out of their minds now that the actual work was pretty much done.
Despite everything that Crystal had tried, Gold had also reverted to a lounging back position in one of the unused chairs even though he was wearing a tux and he had been specifically told not to muss it up. The only thing he had done right was to not wear his hat and goggles with it.
"And then the kid was like, 'Whoa, you're Gold? The Gold?' And I said back, 'Yeah. Got a problem, kid?'" Gold told a distracted Red, interested Emerald, and bored Silver.
By then, Green gave up on paying attention to them and moved on to watching Ruby and Sapphire. The Hoenn trainers – more specifically, Ruby – had decided to go with them to attend the wedding once they found out about it at the Battle Frontier.
"Pika, you need to hold the cushion like so," Ruby instructed, placing the decorated pillow on the pikachu's head. It didn't look much different from how Pika had been holding it earlier, but maybe it was off-center or something. "Then put your paws here and here. See? Now do your Substitute and try to keep it up the whole walk. Chuchu, Sapph."
Chuchu scurried over from the cottage entrance. She was going to fill the position of flower 'girl', while Pika was going to be the ring bearer. Everyone had agreed that it would be extremely cute.
Sapphire, who was sitting on the grass nearby, rolled her eyes but brought the practice basket over. Ruby hadn't wanted to mess up or lose any of the flowers for the ceremony, so he filled it with bits of colored paper instead.
Pika carefully set down the pillow with the two fake rings on top and concentrated. There was a fwhip sound and a substitute was created. Sub-Pika padded over to Sapphire and took the basket, while weakened real-Pika picked the cushion back up. There weren't any obvious signs of his energy loss, though, and Ruby said so in a pleased voice.
They then rehearsed their parts, sub-Pika walking beside Chuchu to hold the basket as she scattered the colorful bits of paper all over the aisle of white tarp with her tiny paws. Real-Pika followed a few steps behind, holding up the rings and bobbing his tail like Ruby told him to 'maximize his cuteness level.'
Ruby watched with narrowed eyes and a frown, looking for anything that was or could go wrong.
Green soon noticed that Bill was doing pretty much the same thing he was – observing everyone. Of course, Bill was also much more nervous and was lingering by the side facing his cottage while wringing his hands, otherwise like the perfect groom.
"You alright?" he asked, walking over to him.
Bill nodded, looking distracted. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine, Green."
Not quite sure what the best thing to say was for once, Green just remained silent.
. . .
A few more hours and one anti-climactic ceremony later...
Blue flounced over to where Green was talking with Bill's dad.
"Do you mind if I borrow him for a moment?" she said sweetly, taking his arm. "It shouldn't be too long." For once, as polite society dictated, Blue waited for his permission. Besides, he was Bill's father and she just... felt like being nice for once. Yeah.
Bill's dad paused for a moment before smiling. "No problem," he said before turning to Green. "We can talk later. I'd like to hear your theories on Mt. Moon."
"Thanks!" Blue tugged Green away before he could reply with more than a smile back.
She brought him out from under the cover of the large tent, moving away and towards the side facing the sea until she was sure that no one could overhear them without her noticing.
Blue then turned to look at Green and prepared herself.
This time, she would be up-front, no doubts about it. Just straight out there. This was the best time – it was a wedding, more like the perfect time. Hopefully she could manage it.
"Green," she started, a ball of fear roiling around in her stomach.
"What is it this time, Blue?" There was a slightly wry look on his face.
Her heart wanted to abort the operation, but she just shoved its voice out of the way. She was going to do this. She was going to, or she was going to kill herself for being a coward.
Here it comes... Maybe...
"Have you ever been in love with someone?" Blue finally forced out of her mouth – not that it sounded like it, of course.
Green blinked in surprise before recovering. "Saving the regions and being a Gym Leader doesn't exactly give me the time for dating, Blue," he said dryly.
"I know," she said, looking away. Eye contact was currently costing a lot of effort for her. "I... was curious." Blue pasted a smile on her face and forced her eyes to meet Green's.
"After all, we're at a wedding," she continued. "I guess I was wondering if you had thought about, well..." She kept herself from swallowing nervously. "Being in Bill's place eventually."
Green's eyebrows had risen higher with each word. "And you're asking me this to satisfy your 'curiosity'?" he repeated dubiously.
"Ye–..." Blue stopped herself and took a deep breath. This was not saying it plainly. "...No. No, I'm not," she corrected firmly. "That was a lie."
If those eyebrows went any farther, they would disappear into his hair. "So why the personal questions?" Green asked, crossing his arms.
Blue bit her lip. What to say, what to say... For a space of a few seconds that felt like hours to her, she debated on what to do. And she came to a decision – to act like herself.
With a cheerful sigh, she said, "What does it take to get the guy to kiss the girl?" and, reaching with her arm, pulled Green's head down at the same time she tilted her head up.
It should be obvious what happened here.
Green froze as their lips met. Everything suddenly became hilarious to Blue, because this was her first true kiss – being a charming thief didn't mean she had mashed lips to get what she wanted – and her first question proved that this was his too.
But of course, the nice little moment was ruined once Green got over his shock long enough to break contact and remove his head from under Blue's limp grip.
He stepped away, glancing back to make sure no one had seen before shoving his hands into the ever-present pockets in his pants despite the formal wear.
"What was that?" he whispered fiercely, scowling.
"It was a kiss, obviously," Blue shot back, hiding her anxiousness for more of Green's reaction.
There was a tense moment of silence as they stared at each other.
"If you don't mind," he eventually said, "I'll be heading back." Green's voice wasn't exactly friendly.
Blue didn't say anything, determined not to let her emotions show.
He walked off, hiding his own.
And this is why OldRival is tough for me.
It's hard to describe how it is for me, but I guess Green's just never seemed to me like the guy to ever really show the romantic kind of affection to anyone (and seriously, how often do we see him showing any kind of actual affection?) – let's just leave it at that.
I need to stop writing chapters with kisses in them, or it'll always feel like Amnesiac when I finish. :/ And the wedding thing was tough – I actually had to research them to get it right, which I find funny. I knew I was going to get things wrong if I went in too deep, so I skipped the actual ceremony to save me the embarrassment. eue"
Hope you guys liked this one a lot better than the previous one. xnx
~ Melody
