"You missed Sycamore's party yesterday."
"I got caught up in Kanto. Besides, do I look like in expert in Kalosian?"
Leaf gestured at the waitress and stumbled through an order for another round of some fancy dessert Blue had grown tired of during the last few years. He dug through the crumpled robe by his side and pulled out his pokégear. 3 new messages.
Daisy
I'm so so sorry I couldn't be there but I saw the stream and! I cried! You did it! I'm so proud!
That was the fourth time she'd sent a message like that in the past hour. He really ought to reply, but the next four messages would probably be the same. He'd call her later.
Lance
Please fill out the documents I sent ASAP so I can finalize your departure. Are you still aiming for August? Did you receive the email I forwarded?
He'd been sitting on that one for days now. Lance was probably already pissed, so what's another day?
Gold
congrats bro!
Definitely not worth answering.
"I traveled all the way from Hoenn to celebrate your graduation, my buddy, my pal, and here you ignore me," Leaf said around a mouthful of pastry.
"You just said you came from Kanto," Blue glanced at her from over the drink he'd been nursing for the past half hour.
"I live a busy life," she replied and went back to eating. "No time for partying with professors."
"They study pokemon evolution in that lab. You know how much a party that was."
"You trying to brag? Because it sounds terrible either way." Leaf made a face when Blue kicked her under the table.
Blue turned to stare at the TV hanging a few booths over. A news program droned on about some battle in Unova then switched to a story about a young prodigy kid who graduated with the rest of his class at the university. Blue pursed his lips; he'd had enough of child prodigies for a lifetime.
The table behind them exploded in laughter, breaking Blue from that train of thought. Leaf was complaining about her seat at the ceremony and something about Sycamore confiscating the air horn she brought. She pointed at pictures on her pokégear of Blue on stage, but he couldn't make out anything but a dot amongst a sea of faces. He downed the rest of the drink. Leaf ordered more desserts and forced Blue to eat one. He decided he was still sick of them.
"Got any plans with classmates tonight? I kinda dragged you in here without asking, so you can leave whenever," she said, pointing at him. "I wouldn't be insulted if you ditched me."
"I promised Eevee a basket of berries tonight."
"Seriously?"
"New episode of Detective Pikachu, too."
Leaf narrowed her eyes at Blue as she waved the waitress back over to pay for their food. She kept staring at Blue until they made it out of the restaurant. Eevee popped out of her pokeball and perched on Blue's shoulder. He fed her the leftover pastry and left Leaf to scramble to his side.
"The famous and popular Blue Oak doesn't have plans? Call the paparazzi, we've got a real shocking story over here." Leaf clutched at her face and nearly stumbled over a Furfrou on the sidewalk. Blue ignored her and continued walking toward Sycamore's lab.
"I graduated then sat through dinner with you. I'm exhausted," he said when she finally caught up.
The Lumiose Tower flickered to life as night descended upon the city. Blue held onto Eevee as she nearly fell over backwards trying to see the top. Leaf snapped a few photos and pulled Blue in for a selfie. He winked for the camera. Leaf flipped him off.
"Congrats on graduating. But really, I wanted to know so I could walk you there. I've gotta be back in Hoenn by tomorrow evening, so I need a place to crash before my flight back." The two stopped at the crosswalk as a taxi passed. "You don't have to cry about me leaving, even though I know you're sad to see me go."
"You miss making out with your girlfriend that much? Don't let me stop you."
Leaf punched him in the arm not supporting Eevee, and silence settled over the two as they approached the lab. They passed groups of students and families in the park, some still wearing their caps and others obviously drunk.
The lab's front door was still unlocked, and Blue was immediately accosted by Dexio and Sina. After several minutes worth of Congrats! and You're sure you don't want to stay on as an assistant? Blue finally escaped and hit the elevator button. He tapped the button of the second-to-highest floor and grimaced as Leaf jumped up and down in the elevator. That didn't scare him anymore, he found himself repeating. Leaf refused to stop.
Blue's flat was fairly empty. He'd already packed away his clothes and shipped the rest back to Kanto. His pokémon had finished most of the food in the fridge. The only things left were a calendar and a half empty case of fruit soda he, Leaf, and Red had all loved as kids. Leaf immediately grabbed a can and plopped down on the couch.
"Don't worry, I've got enough party left in me to finish this."
Blue still stood in the kitchen, staring at the calendar pinned to the fridge. He hadn't marked the days off in two weeks, but today's date was circled in red and black ink. Finally done was written in black, and two squares over read flight 10 am . He took his time crossing the days out but hesitated marking off that day's square. He set the pen down and fell onto the couch beside Leaf. Eevee jumped up and yawned before spreading herself the length of the cushion between them.
"Today's May 14th," Blue started. Leaf looked away from the cartoon on TV and huffed, waiting for him to elaborate.
"And tomorrow's the 15th. Funny how time works."
Blue flicked at his pokégear's screen. 1 new message. Lance's. He wasn't even going to give him the satisfaction of opening the text.
Leaf grabbed the device from him and studied the screen. Blue made to fight her for it, but Eevee's glare told him she'd rather not be disturbed.
"Heard you were quitting your gym when I stopped in Pallet. It's about time." She tossed the gear back to him. "I mean, you haven't really been the leader in three years."
"Hey, I was more than enough leader over break! Solved a year's worth of problems in a month."
"Okay, okay, maybe you were there sometimes during your first few breaks, and maybe you did something. Maybe. But after that you were on Mt. Silver at least half the time."
"Less than half."
"Every chance you had you visited Red." She pointed a finger at his chest and took a swig from her drink. Blue rolled his eyes.
Leaf threw her pillow at Blue, but it missed and landed on Eevee. Unlike Blue, she had never faced Eevee's wrath and didn't care to disturb her. Blue knew she wouldn't ever hurt Leaf, anyway.
"Today would've been eight years," Blue said as he moved the pillow from Eevee's back.
Leaf stopped playing with the can's tab and glanced at Blue, trying to gauge his expression. He was grimacing at a frayed string on the pillow.
She counted backwards in her head. Pokemon journey when they were eleven, champions when they were twelve, then a year later Red was gone, and now…
Yeah, that was about right.
"Time flies when you're having fun," Blue said before snatching the remote away from Leaf's side of the couch. An announcer promised Detective Pikachu would be back shortly, and the screen lit up with some ad for the berry farms outside of the city. A vague memory of a botched research mission surfaced, but he pushed it back down. He still passed the assignment.
"They never gave an exact day that he vanished. It wasn't exactly out of character for Red."
"It was the last day I saw him." Blue shrugged.
"He'll still be on Mt. Silver when you get back to Kanto. He's not gonna vanish again." Leaf held strong against the look Blue gave her. "We found him - what? - over a year ago now, and he hasn't moved."
"That's the fucking problem."
"Well, it's his fucking problem. Red'll come down on his own terms."
"Dumbass didn't even act interested when I said I was finishing school."
Leaf hummed. She pulled a tattered note from her pocket.
"I stopped in Kanto."
"It's almost like that's the eighth time you've mentioned it."
"I was dropping research off from Hoenn at Professor Oak's." Blue snorted and mumbled something but let Leaf continue. "And of course he asked me to bring supplies to Red."
"Of course. Bet he took credit for your work, too."
"He hasn't contacted you, I'm guessing."
"He hasn't said two words to me since last October. Went back home for the winter holiday and he stayed locked in his lab the entire time." Blue pulled at the string, fraying it further. "Bet he doesn't even realize I'm done with school."
Leaf shifted in her seat. Blue hadn't been the best at keeping contact with her this past semester, but she could tell there was some effort put into their biweekly video chats. She couldn't imagine going months without hearing from him, but it didn't surprise her that the professor wasn't bothered.
"I'm sorry."
"Don't." He shot her a glare out of the corner of his eye. Leaf left it at that.
"Anyway, Red was fine. He gave me this note, and told me to give it to you after the ceremony. I kinda forgot 'til you brought him up." She handed the paper to Blue, who sneered and held it out like a used tissue. He made no move to actually read it until Leaf went to grab it back. Reluctantly, he unfolded it.
Blue,
Leaf brought a letter from Lance - apparently you received the same one? Are you going?
She made me write this in the hopes that you might actually read it.
Red
"What's it say?" Leaf succeeded in snatching the paper away. Blue glared a hole through her forehead as she read it. "Hmm, he did tell me about winter break, so this is better than nothing."
"Hey, he started it!"
Leaf cocked an eyebrow. Blue pouted. He wanted to say he remembered every fight they'd had in detail to prove it to Leaf, but truthfully he'd been trying to forget. He vaguely remembered hiking up the mountain at the first of the year just before he was set to return to Kalos. Red was in a bad mood about a snowstorm, and Blue was in a bad mood about Professor Oak ignoring him for the entirety of winter break. Typical stuff. He guessed the fight was about dragging Red back to town. Probably.
"I'd love to argue about how wrong you are, but I do have a flight to catch in a couple hours. Gotta catch some z's, bro"
"Unbelievable," Blue muttered.
"Not really," Leaf said as she stretched and pulled a blanket over her head. "Thanks for offering me the couch. I'm glad I could stop by without you killing me."
"There's still time."
"Congrats, Blue. I'm proud of you." She pulled him in for a hug but punched his chest when he pulled away. "You should call me more often, though. I had to get your grad details from Daisy."
Blue gave her a lopsided smile and forced her to turn off the TV. He grabbed the empty soda can from the table and walked into the kitchen, where it struck him that he left his graduation robes in the restaurant. He hadn't even bothered to look for his cap after throwing it. One less thing to pack.
Blue ran a hand through his hair and threw Red's letter in the box labeled 'kitchen.' He had no idea what Lance's letter was about, but if it was that important, Lance could tell it to him face-to-face when he got back in Kanto. He threw the rest of the counter junk in with it while Leaf yelled at him to shut up, people are trying to sleep here . And that was the last of it. The whole of the last four years of his life was neatly packed away, ready to be shipped right back to Kanto.
He wasn't looking forward to that at all.
He wasn't looking forward to Lance being pissed about being ignored, or to Daisy's worrying, or to dealing with the gym for at least another two months. He really didn't want to deal with Gramps forgetting about his graduation. He especially didn't want to see Red or that stupid mountain.
Eevee squeaked at his side and pulled at his pants. Blue scooped her up and walked the few feet to his bedroom.
"It's 8:30," he mumbled, setting her down on his bed. "I'm not ancient like Gramps. It's way too damn early for sleep."
Eevee ignored him and curled up in his blankets. After a few moments of silence, she looked over her tail at him then shut her eyes.
"Sure. Be an old lady." Blue turned to walk back into the living room but stopped in the doorway. He couldn't even watch Detective Pikachu with Leaf there.
He fell onto the bed and was out in five minutes.
The next couple days passed bizarrely easily. He expected to feel torn up about leaving Lumiose and the rest of Kalos behind, but it never hit him. The taxi drivers still tried to hit him when he crossed the streets, the woman in front of him at the cafe still bought the last macarons for which he'd been waiting all morning, and the tourists stopping by the Lumiose Tower still asked him to take their photos. Nothing in the city paused long enough for him to say goodbye. Everything would go on without him.
Everything except Sycamore, Dexio, and Sina. The latter two barely let him out of their sight, and the drive to the airport was too loud for Sycamore's tiny car. They spent too long reminiscing about the time Sycamore taught Blue how to drive. It'd been on a backcountry road beyond the vineyards, but someone still got photos of him wrecking the car into a berry plot. Daisy called him after seeing the photos online and chastised him for a week. Blue had to issue a statement saying that it was an accident, that he knew how to drive now and wouldn't be a danger. Daisy had laughed.
At the airport, Dexio and Sina cried behind ridiculous sunglasses that Blue openly admitted to being jealous of, prompting Dexio to give him his. Blue made a big show of accepting the gift, earning him annoyed stares from airport staff. Sycamore's theatrics earned even more angry looks, and Blue seriously considered standing under a hand dryer to dry off the professor's tears.
The three left Blue alone to deal with the wait for his flight. Everything passed without a hitch, and he soon found himself watching the Kanto coastline grow ever closer as the woman in the aisle seat snored away.
hello! this fic was originally posted in 2019, but because I'm finishing it now, I've decided to add it to this old, unused account. this was originally on ao3 under the same username and title. it was initially written after I finished let's go, eevee! and includes some elements, namely Red is beaten by Elaine. I play fast and loose with game canon/timelines. that about sums it up...thanks for reading!