Early in the morning, Green pushes himself into a sitting position and nudges Red awake. As much as it would be nice to keep sleeping, he has definitely overstayed his welcome.
"Hey, sleepyhead," he says quietly. "I have to go, okay?"
Red blinks at him hazily, then rolls over and promptly goes back to sleep. Green stifles a laugh and slides out from under the covers, stretching with a yawn and then heading downstairs. He can shower and eat at his own apartment.
To his surprise, there's someone downstairs. Two someones. Lance is sitting cross-legged on the floor next to some guy with blue hair, petting a small bird-like Pokemon. Green wonders what it is for a brief moment, then shrugs it off.
Blue Hair looks up suddenly, staring directly at Green with curious eyes. Lance looks up as well and starts, half jumping off the floor. The little bird Pokemon chooses that moment to sit on top of Lance's head and Green stifles a snicker.
"Hello," Lance says, a little awkwardly. Blue Hair rolls his eyes, rather affectionately Green notes, and reaches up to remove the little bird from Lance's head, scooping it gently into his arms.
"I didn't see you coming," Lance continues, clearly embarrassed. The little blue bird chirps brightly and flits out of Blue Hair's grasp, fluttering up onto his shoulder.
Green shrugs awkwardly. "You two dating or something?" he asks.
It had been meant as a joke, something to alleviate the tension. He didn't expect Lance to start stuttering, face resembling a tomato.
"Arceus, you are!" he says in realization. Then the idea really hits him. "Wait. You have a boyfriend. You, dragon Zubatman himself?"
Lance glares, eyes smoldering, while Blue Hair's shoulders shake with quiet laughter.
"Yes, we're dating," Blue Hair says eventually, leaning against Lance's shoulder. "There is one thing I'm curious about, though. Dragon Zubatman? Is it because of the cape?"
"Of course," Green says, gesturing. "Have you seen him? Posing all dramatically, cape swinging about. Dragon Zubatman. No other word for it."
Lance scowls at Green. "The cape is not dramatic," he snaps, crossing his arms.
Blue Hair stops laughing and pats Lance's shoulder comfortingly. "I'm sure it's not," he says. "It's just… very goth."
Green bursts out laughing as Lance scowls even more, this time directing his gaze towards Blue Hair.
"I'm sorry," Blue Hair adds, brushing a light kiss over Lance's cheek with a smile. "But it's true."
"Admit it, Lance," Green says, because he's just like that. "It's true."
"Fine," Lance mutters after a bit. "It is… goth. But it has important historical connotations!"
"I know," Blue Hair says soothingly. The little blue Pokemon flies onto Lance's head with a happy chirp and finally Green recognizes it; a Swablu. Probably a gift, since they're not native to Kanto.
"So," he says, "what's your name?"
"Hm?" Blue Hair says. "Oh. I'm Steven. You are… ?"
"Green," Green says. "Nice to meet you, I guess."
Blue Hair AKA Steven nods, smiling slightly, and holds his arms up. Swablu jumps down from Lance's head and cuddles happily into Steven's arms.
"Having fun?" someone says suddenly. Green jumps, spinning around. Agatha is standing there, snickering.
"Arceus, don't do that!" he says, moving aside quickly. Agatha cackles, whacking Green's leg lightly with her cane.
"You youngsters make it so easy," she says, walking down the stairs. "Honestly, Lance. I thought you had more caution than that?"
"You just appeared out of nowhere!" Lance sputters. "Stop using your Gengar to just teleport everywhere."
Agatha laughs, banging her cane on the floor with a thump. "You should see it coming by now, Lance," she says. "Good morning, Steven."
"Good morning," Steven/Blue Hair (Green decides to refer to him as Blue Hair) says lightly, not seeming bothered by Agatha's sudden appearance. "Where's Lorelei?"
"Probably still sleeping," Agatha says with a roll of her eyes. "Even I have more energy than her, I'm thrice her age."
"Okay," Blue Hair says lightly. "Oh-Green, right? Would you mind not telling anyone about this?" He smiles, but Green notes the wariness in his eyes.
"Course I don't mind," he says, grinning. He hopes he doesn't look like a maniac. "I won't tell, don't worry."
"Thank you," Blue Hair says, his smile becoming more genuine. "Lance?"
Lance's face is creased in a scowl, but his eyes soften slightly at Green's words. "Thank you."
"You're welcome, I suppose," Green says, shrugging. Blue Hair seems friendly, but Lance, well…
"Don't be rude," Agatha scolds. "Youngsters. No respect."
Green isn't sure if she's talking to him or Lance, but decides to assume it's Lance. "Well, I gotta go," he says, heading towards the door. "Bye."
"Goodbye!" Agatha says, smirking. What for, Green doesn't know, but it makes him slightly nervous.
Blue Hair waves. "Goodbye! And thank you."
"You're welcome," Green says, then adds quickly as an afterthought, "Tell Red I said goodbye!"
"Lance will," Blue Hair says. Green waves, grinning, and exits the League building.
Pidgeot stretches when Green lets it out, feathers ruffling in the morning breeze. Green strokes Pidgeot's head gently. "Viridian, buddy," he says.
Pidgeot coos softly, and lets Green climb on. A powerful push of its wings and they swoop up into the sky.
The sun has already risen and Green shields his eyes, watching a lone Pokemon fly through the clouds.
Last night's events start to trickle back into his mind and Green blinks. Did Red really fall asleep on top of him?
Did I really fall asleep cuddling Red?
He had, hadn't he? And he'd, well, liked it.
Why? Friends don't fall asleep on top of other friends.
"Not now," he mutters to himself. "Not the time to have an existential romance crisis, dude."
Pidgeot coos curiously, turning its head to blink bright golden eyes at him. Green scratches Pidgeot's feathers absently. "Don't worry," he says.
He had, though. Red was warm and soft and Green knows what the fluttery feeling in his stomach is. He's seen enough romance movies to know.
"Not the time," he murmurs to himself, pressing himself over Pidgeot's back. "Really not the time, Green."
Pidgeot gives him a look but thankfully doesn't say anything. The thought remains determinedly in the back of his mind and Green sighs. It's going to come back to bite him one day, he just knows it.
He heads to his apartment quickly, Pidgeot in tow. Green releases all his Pokemon into the backyard, letting them stretch their legs or other limbs a bit before they have to go to the gym. Sylveon takes one look at him and chirps mischievously, winding a tendril around his arm with a soft hum.
"Sylveon, no," Green says. Despite that, Sylveon winds tendrils around his shoulders and climbs up, settling there with a hum. Green rubs his side (which he's pretty sure is bruised) and then carefully removes Sylveon from his shoulders.
"I have to shower and brush my teeth," he says. "Go play with Arcanine for now, okay?"
Sylveon's ears droop slightly, but then it perks up and gladly bounds towards Arcanine, who opens one eye and rumbles softly. Green heads into his apartment and showers quickly, then brushes his teeth.
It's nearly 8:00, but Green snags some toast anyway, biting into it as he walks outside. He grabs the box of Pokeblocks sitting next to the back door and whistles.
"Pokeblocks, guys?"
His team all look up at the exact same time, and then immediately swarm him. Crawdaunt and Rhyperior push to the front of the crowd, reaching for the box.
"Chill, both of you," Green says. "I'll hand them out and then we'll head to the gym where you'll get some actual food, okay?"
Crawdaunt makes a chattering noise, but thankfully backs off. Green doles out the Pokeblocks and lets them eat for a couple minutes, then heads off to the gym.
"Hello, Leader," Alan says once Green enters. He isn't even looking at Green. Alan is creepy like that.
"You're last," Arabella jokes. He's leaning on Stantler, stroking its neck lazily.
"Yeah, yeah," Green says, rolling his eyes. "Who came first?"
"Me," Arabella says proudly. "I beat Salma by two whole minutes."
"My alarm didn't go off!" Salma complains. "If it wasn't broken, I would have beaten you all."
"Yeah, yeah," Bonita says. "You're just mad because I beat you and you know it."
"You did not beat me!"
"You teleported inside the gym!"
"Yeah, I did! And that means I beat you!"
"Guys, calm down," Green says. "Let's just call it a tie. I guess that means Elan and Ida came third."
"You mean last," Elan says, a little glumly. Ida elbows him.
"Be more optimistic," she says. Azumarill bumps Elan's leg with its tail, making a small frown.
"Anyways," Arabella says, "why were you late today?"
"Yeah, why were you?" Salma says, cottoning on.
Alan's eyes twinkle, something Green considers a little foreboding, and says, "Were you with your friend, by any chance?"
The emphasis on friend, Green thinks sourly, definitely isn't something he likes. "Tha-at doesn't matter," he says, not wanting to think about his relationship with Red. "I'm here now, so let's get moving."
"No, I want to know," Ida says curiously. Azumarill bounces up to Green and whacks his leg with its tail, chirping accusingly. "Who was it, Alan?"
"Don't you dare tell them," Green snaps, bristling. Alan chuckles, leaning against the gym wall.
"Calm down, youngster," he says. "You'll all just have to find out eventually."
"Well, if you're not going to tell us, we'll just have to figure it out ourselves," Bonita says determinedly. "Who has Green been with in the past weeks?"
"He was in Cinnabar, 'visiting someone', I remember," Arabella says.
"And he wasn't there on Sunday," Salma continues, head tilted.
"It was the weekend!" Green protests. "The gym's closed!"
"You weren't at your apartment either," Salma counters.
"... It doesn't matter," Green says eventually. "What matters is, I'm here now and we should get moving before the first wave arrives. And no, I'm not telling you who it is."
He is met with five displeased stares and Green crosses his arms, silently daring them to push further. Stubbornness is 50% of his personality, after all.
"Alright," Arabella sighs eventually. "So, we have Beauty Sarah coming by at 9:30, Expert Juan at 10:00, Ace Trainer Joey at 11:00, Rich Kid Winston at 3:30, and Swimmer Cress at 4:00."
"Great," Green says. "Let's get the day rolling, everyone."
"We'll find out, you know," Elan adds as they head off to their regular positions.
"You can't hide it forever," Ida says.
"That's creepy, you two," Green says, shaking his head. "Don't do that, jeez."
Just a normal day. Another normal day in a series of normal days. Nothing to worry about.