Purple Wasn't His Color

A look into Red and Blue as kids.

Timeline: Looong time before any of the Retold stories, including before Red, as Red is technically the first (chronologically speaking).

Setting: Kanto

Notes: Fluff, friends, tiiiny amount of angst, however also some ableism against Red's deafness

Characters: Redmond (Red), Gary (Blue)

Prerequisite Reading: Red (just like the little note at the start of the story, though, as this takes place before that story begins)

Red was quite proud of himself. For one, he had managed to successfully sneak from home—doing that was a lot harder when one couldn't hear how much noise they were or weren't making—and for another, he felt the reason for his secretive departure was more than reasonable. Maybe not to his worrisome mother, but he felt that it was.

Pallet Town was a lot bigger than many gave it credit for. He knew it was still a small town in comparison to others he had heard of, but it still was easy to quickly wind his way out of sight of his home, and a couple rows of homes down, he came across that familiar, picture-perfect home, complete even with a partial white picket fence and almost unnaturally green, lush grass. He passed by some people along the way who stopped to stare and likely whisper to one another about him, but ultimately, he just skirted past them. Oh, he was sure someone would recognize him and report back to his mother before long, but that was alright. He'd nearly finished what he had set out to do, anyway.

Knocking on the door, he was greeted soon after by a young woman with soft, dusky hair. She flitted round, brown eyes at him and then said something Red couldn't put together based on her lip movements. He recognized her as Gary's older sister, Daisy, but he hadn't interacted with her nearly enough to get used to the way she formed words yet. That was the downside of having to basically be a Kecleon and adjusting to every individual person he met by sighting and memorizing the way their mouths moved. It took a while before he could be fairly confident he was sure he knew what the other was saying (knowing this made it quite aggravating whenever someone would get frustrated with him for failing to keep up, especially if they were new to him). Hoping Daisy wouldn't be like that, though, he gave a nervous smile and wave, and then tried to mouth out that he had come to see Gary.

After narrowing eyes at him and saying yet more that he didn't understand, she stepped back and raised her chin toward a staircase leading up the home. He realized after a moment that she must have been hollering for someone—hopefully, Gary, in that case. His prayers were answered when the boy with wild, apricot-colored hair came bounding down the steps, nearly tripping over himself at the last step. He caught himself ungraciously, and rapidly shot something at his sister, before giving Red a slackjawed grin.

"How did you pull this off?" Gary signed with that teasing grin still spread across his face. "Your mother let you walk over here all on your own?"

Red rolled his eyes. "Finally was able to get out without making noise to alert her," he signed back. "But that's not what I'm here for!"

Daisy crossed her arms and glowered at them both. She pointedly tapped Gary on the shoulder and raised a brow at him, saying something.

"Oh, he's fine," Gary told her in response (Red was far more used to his friend's way of formulating words). "I promise." At Daisy's unconvinced scowl, Gary frustratedly crossed his arms and gave her an equally as disapproving glare. "He's deaf, Daisy, don't be dumb. How would he have gotten over here without help? I'm sure his mom's nearby somewhere."

As if admitting defeat, Daisy shrugged and turned around, leaving them alone at last.

"Sorry," Gary immediately apologized as he turned back to Red, rubbing the back of his head. Switching back to signing, he said, "I don't mean to make it sound like you can't go anywhere alone. Daisy was just asking why you were here alone. If I told her that you snuck out, she'd probably freak."

Feeling a twinge of irritation (because while Gary may have not meant anything ill toward him, he knew there were plenty of people in Pallet who truly believed he was as helpless as an infant despite being fourteen), Red just briskly shook his head. "Never mind," he quickly signed back, "I wanted to give you something."

That caught Gary's attention. He tilted his head slightly. "Huh? Like what?" he mouthed curiously.

Red shouldered the worn-out backpack from his back, and deftly opened the front pocket. Retrieving a Poké Ball, he zipped it back up and tossed the bag back over his shoulder. In the palm of his hand was a standard Poké Ball, save for the fact the red half had been painted an almost teal, sea-blue color. The black stripe had also been recolored, as more of a pale gold than black. Almost nervously—why did Red feel so nervous about this?—he rolled it around in his palm. Gary stared and then slowly held his hands out, to which Red dropped it in his grasp. Feeling an almost panicky need to explain himself, Red more flailed than signed, "So, you know those 'dumb' classes they stuck me in? They have us do a lot of art stuff since I guess I'm not"—Red paused and mockingly drew his lips into a sneer—"smart enough to do the everything else, but I remember you saying how you thought the blue on the Great Ball was really ugly, and… uh… they gave us Poké Balls to design in the class and…" Red frowned and paused slightly. "I figured you could use it, you know, once you start traveling… It's still a regular Poké Ball, but, yeah…" Since I know I'll not be allowed to. His lip twitched a little mischievously. Not yet, anyway… I'll find a way. But not yet.

"Whoa, you made this?" Gary mouthed excitedly, examining the Poké Ball in his grip. "It's really nice! I mean, I did think the Great Ball blue was ugly, but I didn't know you really took that to heart." He laughed and clutched the ball in his right hand, holding it out as if he were about to throw it out for battle, and he bent his knees in a poised stance. "And it is nicer than a regular Poké Ball, too. Blue's better than red, anyway," he taunted.

"Oh, really?" Red mouthed back, tensing his muscles, too. "Says who, huh?"

Gary lightly tapped the button on the center of the Poké Ball on Red's forehead, much to his surprise. Snickering to himself as he withdrew his hand, he joked, "Huh, guess you're not a pokémon, after all."

"Alright, that's it," Red cockily signaled at him, and then lunged at him playfully, reaching for the Poké Ball in Gary's grasp. "Give it back," he mouthed, "if you're gonna be like that!"

Easily holding Red back with his knee and free hand, Gary beamed as he held it just out of reach. "Never," he shot back. "Gave it to me, idiot."

Red gave a small hop, ignoring Gary, and his fingers managed to catch the ball in his hand… except his movement destabilized them both and they crashed to the ground in a heap. Grunting at how Gary had inadvertently kneed him in the stomach, Red failed to get up right away. Gary must have been laughing—hard—given the way his stomach convulsed, and he was weakly shoving at Red's shoulders. When he looked up at his friend, he saw the Poké Ball had rolled away and Gary was calling, "Get off me, stupid!"

Yet, suddenly, Gary's demeanor changed. He quit laughing and this time when he shoved Red, he pushed hard, enough to make Red yelp as he was haphazardly tossed to the side and landed unexpectedly on his elbow. Jumping up, Gary composed himself and dusted his clothes, and Red saw why after he finished picking himself up off the floor, too. Gary's sister had reappeared on the stairway and was giving them both a scrutinizing, almost concerned look. Red still couldn't catch what she said, but as he got back up, he saw Gary stammering, "We were just… joking around…"

Daisy shook her head and snapped something else.

In response, Gary just cringed, and nodded slowly. "Okay…"

With that, Daisy turned away, announcing something as she went. Red, starting to feel anxious at having no idea what was going on, turned to Gary and shakily signed at him, "What's wrong?"

"Thanks for the Poké Ball, but you should go," Gary replied with tense hand movements.

"What? Gary, what'd she say?" I just got here! I never get to hang out here!

"Why'd you have to go and do that?" Gary snapped at him abruptly. Red had to read his lips to catch it, too, because Gary had stuffed his hands in his pockets.

"Do what?" Red asked, desperately waving his hands. "I don't understand…"

"You know!" Gary puffed, aggravated. "Put your hands on me! What's wrong with you?"

Stunned, Red just blinked. I… don't know, I just thought we were kidding around…? He was utterly bewildered by Gary's sudden aggression… and hurt. Of course, he knew showing that right then was a dumb idea as Gary would likely just taunt him for it, but he just didn't understand. What could his sister have said to him? Pressing his lips to a thin line and swallowing hard, Red signed slowly, "I don't know… I'll go." Without waiting to see Gary's response, he turned on his heel and scurried out the front door, caught soon after leaving Gary's front yard by his mother.

She hugged him tightly and then, firmly gripping his shoulders, held him at arm's length to pointedly mouth, "Just what did you think you were doing sneaking off like that? Redmond, we've been over this!"

To that, Red's shoulders just sagged. He hated that full name. He wanted to be called Red, as many famous pokémon trainers went by nicknames to the general public, and he was going to be a trainer one day. Every time she spelled out his full name, it made him feel as if she didn't believe that… and on some degree, he knew she didn't. Beaten by that and by Gary's confusing reaction, Red just signed, "Sorry. I wanted to see Gary for something. I want to go home now, though."

She looked as if she had intended to launch into another reprimand, but at his last few words, she confusedly frowned. "You… want to go home?"

"Yes," he mouthed back lazily. "Please."

Her expression changed to something more sympathetic, and she hugged him again, loosening her hold. He leaned back into her hold. Even if it hurt for her to not believe in him at times, it was true that she was always there when nobody else was, and he was so, so grateful for that.

It would have been a lonely, lonely existence without her.

"Why'd you have to go and say that to me?" Gary demanded as he stormed up the stairs after his sister. "Daisy!"

"Well, don't wrestle guys on the floor and I won't have to!" she retorted from behind her closed bedroom door.

"I told you we were just joking around!" he snarled, frustratedly grabbing the doorknob to twist it. It refused to budge. "Open your stupid door!"

"No! Leave me alone, Gary." After a pause, she shot back, "And like I said before, boys don't joke around with each other by wrestling on top of each other on the floor! At least not laughing and giggling like you two were!"

Gary floundered for a second. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Gary, leave me alone!"

"No! You started it!" He hated it when she was this stubborn!

"Gary, I said to leave me alone!" she repeated, more harshly.

"And I said no," Gary taunted back. "You're not Mom, so—"

The door flew open and she stomped a foot. "Damn it, Gary! I know I'm not Mom!" she spat. "But she's not exactly here right now, is she? You'd better be glad it was me who caught that and not one of them!"

"Why's that? I don't know anything about them, so I have no idea," Gary bristled. His parents were still in his life; they came home every weekend or so. But he practically never spoke to them. They might as well have been strangers to him.

Daisy slammed her door shut after vanishing inside again. Gary groaned in frustration and kicked at the base of it. She could be so awful! "I hate you," he shot after her, even though he knew that silence would be her only answer.

Reaching into his pocket, Gary retrieved the hand-painted Poké Ball, and shuffled off toward his own bedroom. It was small and in sheer disarray—without anyone to tell him to clean it aside from Daisy, who he ignored regularly, he had no motivation to do anything to fix the clothes running over from his dresser into the floor nor the magazines and comic books tossed about the room—and he flopped down on his unmade bed, whose fitted sheet had started to come away from the mattress. He rolled the blue Poké Ball in his palm and then, dropping his arm to the bed, sighed loudly.

Daisy's initial warning on the stairs that 'boys didn't play like that' had brought back a whole slew of emotions from over the years of people constantly seeming to give him hardship for being friends with Red. He had been mocked relentlessly for learning sign language when he didn't need it, mocked relentlessly for hanging out with him at school whenever possible since Red was in a set of classes different from everyone else, and now, apparently just joking around was unacceptable. He felt bad for having lashed out at Red, but he was just so frustrated!

It didn't feel wrong to him to want to talk to or hang out or joke with his friend. It hurt and confused him so much as to why so many seemed intent on making him feel awful for it… At least he really did like the Poké Ball. His announcement that he found the color blue on the standard Great Ball had come after a discussion in which Red had said he wanted to be called 'Red' as a trainer (as opposed to his real name of Redmond). That had led Gary to say his favorite color was blue, and the conversation had snowballed from there.

Gary hadn't thought of a trainer name yet… but part of him really liked the thought of calling himself Blue in the same vein as Redmond's 'Red.' Yet, he grimaced.

I just hope I don't get mocked for that, too…