'Who's Drew?' Red frowned at Gary, casually leaning on his shoulder as they watched the woman stalk away, her hands clenched in a similar manner that both had seen Ash Ketchum use when frustrated.
'Possibly the love of her life, though they're both in denial, and Steven seems to be getting in the way too. I need to do some more digging if I want to get to the bottom of that whole situation,' Gary muttered as he pushed the man off, sending him an irritated glance.
Gary Oak didn't let just anyone lean on him, least of all a Ketchum.
'Oh, so it's like you and Leaf? She asked me to come here because she had some emergency. Hearing that you've pretty much disowned her, I see why. In all the years I've known you, I've never seen either of you so irritated before. Just hurry up and kiss and makeup so I can get back to my training,' Red chuckled as he nudged the brunet, his lips breaking into a rare smile as he glanced at Gary.
'Are you kidding me? She deserved everything she got! I've been putting up with her crap attitude for years, but she completely slaughtered May for no reason, especially when she was already down,' Gary scoffed, crossing his arms childishly as he glared at his companion.
To Gary's surprise, the man let out a chuckle, an unlikely action from the usually stoic man.
'What's so funny?' Gary snapped at him, grateful that Ash wasn't there to witness their interaction. If Ash Ketchum had been there, he'd be stunned at both Gary and Red behaving in such an uncharacteristic manner.
'You two, even after all these years I would have thought it was obvious by now. She's jealous, Blue. Just looking at you two in Pallet Town, I could always see that you don't treat Leaf like any other girl you've encountered. You've always treated Leaf different to others, but May is someone you're again treating differently. If what I've witnessed today is how you treat May in public, it's little wonder Leaf lashed out,' Red mused with a small smile, shaking his head gently, though Gary did not appreciate it.
Even if Leaf was jealous (which she shouldn't be because Gary Oak had always made his attraction and affection for the insufferable woman abundantly clear!) it gave Leaf no reason to ever treat anyone like that, least of all May.
Becoming serious, Red continued, 'face it, you've never treated others the way you treat May, and Leaf has never been one to admit her emotions. She won't know you're cousins, just let something slip and she'll behave. Then, you can hurry up and get yourself a proper girlfriend so Daisy will get off my back about you two too. Mew playing with a bucket, you even had me fooled that you and that little brunette were together.'
'Oh, it's that easy, huh?' Gary retorted angrily, hating that people expected him to resolve the situation when Leaf when he'd been the only one to be honest from the very start.
'I should just let slip that May is my cousin and admit my feelings for the fabulous Leaf? Maybe even give her a luvdisc, while I'm at it? If that was the issue, you'd still be up in your hermit cave! We both know that I've been telling Leaf how I feel, unlike you. You can't even tell Yellow how you feel, and it's plain as day that you care for her more than anyone else. If love is so easy, why aren't you with her?' Gary retorted, with another moody glower.
He wasn't in the mood to discuss the situation with Leaf with anyone, least of all Red Ketchum. He was almost as hopeless as his cousin in the love department!
'My relationship with Yellow is different to you and Leaf. We're simply good friends who support each other and do what we need to. As for you two, you're practically together, but keep dancing around it. She flirts with others to get you jealous and vice versa. Unless one of you gives in, you'll both end up miserable,' Red shrugged at Gary, who frowned at the man's words, evidently hearing the truth in his words.
'Well, unlike how you and Yellow get along, Leaf's always belittled me. She's one of the few people who's managed to make me feel completely worthless, especially since she knows exactly which buttons to push. I'm done playing her toxic little games, especially after the way she treated May. I'm out, seriously,' Gary shugged as he recalled his Blastoise.
Hearing this, Red let out a low whistle, arching an eyebrow at Gary in clear surprise.
'Well I'll be… she's really screwed up this time, hasn't she? What did she do?' Red whispered, surprising his childhood friend by actively asking the question.
'May and her family are the only relatives I have outside of Daisy and Gramps. I can't just let someone else belittle her in the way Leaf did, not after how long I've been looking for them. From everything I've heard from Ash and Brendan, May is… I wouldn't say an angel, she's still a human, after all… but she's definitely up there with how naïve she is. She's not the type of person to defend herself, that's one thing I know, and she's definitely not the type to start shit. Leaf had no right ripping into her like she did, especially if you factor in that she would have heard similar stories to what I heard. She was in the wrong,' Gary frowned at the man, who chuckled.
'What's funny?' Gary scowled in anger as Red recalled his own Charizard.
'I never thought I'd hear the day where you'd start preaching about the importance of family,' Red mused as he clasped the man's shoulder, a look resembling pride entering his voice.
'Says the man who hasn't seen his in years because he's too busy training. Tell me, are you going to get back to Mount Silver any time soon?' Gary retorted bitterly, scowling in irritation at the man.
'At least I don't shirk my responsibilities. Are you going back to being the gym leader for Giovanni's old gym? I hear Viridian City is looking forward to your return,' Red retorted as quickly, arching an eyebrow at Gary as they headed to the higher floors.
'Last time I checked, Agatha was doing just fine without me, and if you don't scarper back up there, Yellow isn't going to be healing the pokémon all by herself on Mount Silver for long. She's an attractive lady, you know? Besides, I'm actively looking into my future, unlike you and your brooding Tauros act on an isolated mountain. I don't have a lot keeping me here, I can go up there and show Yellow a real man, if you like?' Gary responded with a drawl, trying to bite back a smirk, knowing that he had pushed Red's buttons by the dark glare he sent Gary.
'You? A real man? You're a child, at best who has no concept of responsibility or commitment. We'll see how you react when Leaf finds a real man who won't shirk responsibility,' Red responded back with an angry glare which should have left Gary feeling uncomfortable, given the man's strength.
Rather than follow the logic which most of his acquaintances would have and remaining silent, Gary bit back an arrogant snort, irritated by the very insinuation that Red was making.
'What? Are you going to show her Ash? From my understanding, you don't seem to know many real men, or anyone really since you're such a recluse!' Gary retorted flippantly as they entered the hallway, seeing Leaf and Misty talking in a corner of the room, neither of them looking particularly pleased.
Rather than respond, Red placed his hands in his pockets, glaring daggers at Gary, who chuckled.
'Red!' Leaf grinned before extrapolating herself from her discussion with Misty and sauntering towards them, her walk accentuating her curves in a sultry manner that would have once made Gary stare, though now, he averted his gaze.
Without visibly moving his lips, Red muttered, 'just you wait, she'll be coming in for a kiss. Don't get too jealous, Blue.'
With a chuckle, Gary watched as Leaf gave the other man an affectionate greeting, giving him a tight hug.
'Well, Red, I'm going to go call Yellow now. Have fun without me. I'll send you a postcard from Mount Silver, though I dare say you've seen them all,' Gary chuckled as he sauntered away from the duo, ignoring the pang he felt in his chest as he did his best to ignore how he felt.
He didn't need to turn around to know that both Leaf and Red were glaring daggers in his back.
A/N:
Hi everyone! Poor Red and Leaf are both going through it cause Gary's in a mood hehe
Just letting you know I'm in the process of setting up a Pat (r) eon account (thanks to Fanfic for blocking the actual word!).
I'm spending a tonne of time writing at the moment and uploading as much as I can (which is a bit annoying after losing both my ORAS and Ranger games that I was using for reference but that's just my life haha). Don't worry, there's no pressure to support me on there, the pokémon fics will still be uploaded on here. It's more as a means of me to get my authentic works out there to you (starting with general fiction but I do have some fantasy ones too. I'll be starting to upload them from Sunday/Monday, depending on where you are in the world and depending on some teething issues I've encountered with technology), but I'm not going to lie, I could use a bit of help in the money department since I'm not working like three different jobs now heh
In saying that, I'm still super grateful for anyone who reads anything I've written. If you want to support me in other ways, please know that I appreciate anyone who reviews my work, favorites and follows it/me. Just sharing my work with people makes me happy and, I wrote this in Mount Chimney Catastrophe, but writing these fictions really brought the spark back into my life :D
Thank you so much!
Also, one last thing, I'll be adding a note to Champion's Appeal, but that was a standalone one shot. Sorry for any confusion hahaha
Can you imagine this version of May having the guts to ask Steven to marry her? In front of everyone? Especially Drew? Man, I pity Drew hahaha But all he'd have to do is hand her a rose and she'd probably forget Steven is there, poor Steven hahaha
So far, the only stories linked to May's Belated Journey is May, Gym Leader. I want to write one more arc but won't be doing anything with that until I've got more of a plot with both of these stories. Although... hahhaa I jest, I jest. I might ask some tips on the Pat eon on where that journey should happen (and start saving for whatever game I'll need for the interactive map, lore and random NPCs)
I had honestly no idea how much lore I was learning for my stories until I was trying to write it again. And without my games it was a struggle
But yeah, sorry this author's note is so long, and like always, thank you so much for any of your support!