A/N: HELLO WORLD. BAD NEWS: this summer I was looking forward to updating, but I have to attend summer school to recover some lost credits and attend SAT classes very soon. (Can you say FML? Aha;;) I'll try to update…I really will;; Thank you for your patience! I hope people are satisfied with this update; I have mixed-feelings but honestly couldn't do better at this moment. Please bear with me so I can make it up to all you beautiful readers. OTZ
Extra note: Let me make the attempt to make a proper transition while dealing with a brain fart and trying to regain my thought process how this was going. Oh wait. That's right. I winged this. Fuuuuuuuccc-

oh my gOD THE AMOUNT OF ALERTS AND FAVORITES. I. I CAN'T. THANK YOU.

Disclaimer: It's okay that I'll never own anything. These past several weeks have been all about Euro 2012 and I'm content (but did sob so hideously when Germany lost. BBYS ;~; ). There is so much homo I can't even-

Red, munching slowly on the granola bar left on his bedside, stared blankly at his phone he had tossed on his red beanbag chair earlier. It was an ill feeling forming in the pit of his stomach, uneasy whether his phone would go off at any second to display the number of an unknown caller. For all patience he had given Blue, he wanted to give her the benefit of the doubt she would not be bribed to give that headache his real number. As long as his phone remained quiet he could retreat to his bed, breathe a sigh of relief, and suppress the urge to fake sick to stay home.

What did Green want from him? Red recognized he did not particularly have the best social skills in the world: he hardly smiled, talked too little, nor did he have many friends – not that he was complaining, it would be too much of an emotional baggage to listen to everyone, to remember every birthday as if it were an obligation. Knowing that, he ruled the possibility of Green using him to connect to someone else.

Green had Gold as a friend so he ruled the other possibility he was seeking a companion to have a conversation with. Besides, Red acknowledged, he had plenty of those since Green was the star gem of the school. The final possibility that made his blood boil was Green's less than charming sense of humor: harass the quietest guy, why not? It was perhaps some traditional sport initiation nonsense – Green was athletic, scouted by the clubs, friends with the meat-headed jocks after all.

Losing his appetite for the granola bar, he discarded the item in the waste basket. Red scooped Pikachu from the floor—the little creature was fiddling with a strand of yarn—and brought his friend to his bed, its little feet scurrying to take its position on the pillow.

It absently searched the room, stopped, then proceeded to prod Red's nose with its snout. "I'm okay," Red assured the little brindle mouse; he scratched behind its ear with the tip of his finger. "I'm okay…" he said a little more quietly.

What would it take to be left alone? Red gave a saddening smile to the little mouse drifting to the brink of unconsciousness. He knew Green would be persistent in his crude taunts, and really all he could do was either tolerate it or ignore it.

He finally fell asleep hours later. His phone did not buzz or ring throughout the night.

It was less than an eventful Tuesday morning; at the very least he did not have to find a way to entertain himself for nearly an hour until his first class began. It was the same as usual to enter his class a little early to avoid the people he had to call "friends" from stopping him in the hallway for some time consuming chitchat. It was miracle he was able to swiftly dodge the hounding football players from badgering him to join the team again, in his escape he lamented at the loss of a dollar he fed to the vending machine that was taking its sweet time to uncoil and push the soft drink he waited barely a second for.

After claiming his seat, Green rested his head on his arm and faced the window, watching sleepily as the small visible white dots piled on the window sill. Only a matter of time 'til the snow turns into mounds, Green thought plainly, the area was prone to the worst of winter's wrath. He was feeling rather under the weather to tolerate Gold's antics today, or anybody else for that matter, he would probably even find himself letting Red rest easy without having to succumb to vent his rage in his mind – the school had too many angry people, he definitely did not need another one so close. Groaning, the bell rang its five-minute warning to signal the students to hurry to their homeroom, or start pushing and shoving to arrive to their classes. He narrowed his eyes on the window, hearing mentally and verbally the whiny reluctance of the students filling in at once, usually adding to their obnoxiousness were the few that blasted their music loud enough for the whole class to hear.

Having no patience for the rowdy underclassmen sitting in the front row singing to the lyrics blaring from his headphones, Green straightened himself on his chair, his arms folded on his chest. "Yo, junior, turn it down or turn it the fuck off!" he spat venomously, drawing attention upon himself.

The junior was stared awkwardly by the students in the class; under the junior's breath he mumbled something inaudibly, finally fishing out his music player to lower the volume. 'Suck my dick, asshole.'

Green lowered his arms, highly tempted but restrained himself from flicking the student the bird; instead he shook his head in disbelief and tipped his chair back slightly to stare directly at the ceiling. He was completely unimpressed by the junior's meek retaliation, unimpressed he was not even getting so much of a fight over his authority.

Senior privileges, along with stellar grades and athletic stardom did have its quir—

His train of thought was cut short from the mid-heart attack of his chair being pushed forward into place; the force, he realized, was from Red's messenger bag trying to squeeze through the narrow passage Green created with the seat. He should have been angrier Red casually sat down nibbling on a croissant but for some unusual reason he felt a little calmer, as if expecting this from him regardless of their familiarity only spanning a day.

Green tossed his arm on the back of Red's chair, grinning at the visible sight of Red's eyebrow twitching despite his expression remaining completely stoic to his advances. "I deserve an apology," he said smoothly, summoning the enthusiasm he discarded in the earlier morning.

Without looking at him, Red bit off a chunk of the croissant, his other hand occupied sorting through the messages his mother sent of Pikachu's well-being, then after a few seconds he swallowed to respond, "No."

Not affronted by Red's unpleasant socializing skills, he pursued the chance to converse. "I deserve an apology for yesterday though! That fake number was uncalled for."

'The fact that you fell for it is perfect in itself,' Red thought to himself, tearing another chunk of his breakfast.

A student walked in the class with a large plant to decorate the room, briefly explaining her duty to do so by the order of the main office with a straight face. The teacher's eyebrows furrowed, making a shooing gesture with her hand she said, "Get that hideous thing out of here!"

Red turned his head to stare at the brunet senior, blinking slowly, his eyes slightly narrowed. 'You heard her. Get out.' It was brief, fleeting moment that startled Green: their eyes were locked now, an indistinguishable flicker in the others' intense hues – it was strange, abnormal, and resentful for obvious reasons considering his passive inward comment just now, but Green would not mind having this moment stretch longer. The retort was brief, easily could have made Red satisfied enough to return his gaze on the blank chalkboard. Was Red seizing the opportunity to analyze him now that he gave Green some direct attention? Give him a little credit despite fully knowing he did not deserve it considering how evidently displeased Red's mood was during his first class and last together?

The moment was short-lived as Red broke eye contact first, and after dusting his hands together he made an attempt to reach for his headphones to block the sound of Green purposely trying to infuriate him in the early morning. It was a casual, fluid movement to have the large buds press on his ears to then continuously pay no heed to the rush of students entering the classroom, he himself clearly waiting for Yellow's arrival. It would be all set but he stiffened when he felt a vice grip around his lanky wrist before his fingertips could even brush the exterior of his headphones.

Red was no longer focused on Green by the time he sought salvation from his iPod, so craning his neck he eyed the hand around his wrist with a hardening glare.

"Has anyone ever told you that you have very kissable lips?" Green confessed sincerely in an honest observation, no suggestive tone lacing his words. He impulsively leaned forward to have a better look, unsure what compelled him to invade Red's personal space bubble.

His grip remained firm, alarming Red in a state of panic to clench his fingers on the hem of his hoodie's sleeve; he proceeded to make desperate tugging motions to pry himself away from Green. 'Stop touching me stop touching me stop touching me-'

Red's leg shot out, the tip of his converse connecting with the base of the flimsy plastic chair to tip it over with all his might, the loud banging noise resonating loudly in the room to turn all heads in their direction. Green groaned from the floor, rubbing the back of his head to alleviate the sting painfully pulsating ,hissing he opened one eye to peek whether Red would be apologizing or even bear a trace of guilt on his normally neutral expression.

Green was too absorbed in his own doing to pay attention to the rapid pleas filtering in the teen's head, too absorbed to have ever felt Red squirming, no, thrashing to escape. He honestly did not bite, he had no disease, no sickness, but Red tried to get away as if his life depended on it.

One green orb witnessed Red clutching his wrist protectively close his chest, his headphones that once neatly rested on his neck was falling more to one side, his chest was rising and falling unevenly, and Red no longer paid attention to Green in particular but rather to those whispering amongst themselves. Mentally they were all judging the odd senior, a mere nobody, for pushing Green off the chair without reason. Or at least they assumed without reason because Red appeared at loss how to deal with all their scrutinizing gazes, the words he wanted to convey formed a lump in his throat – visibly he even cleared his throat, Green noticed.

He could hear the class chattering inwardly, wondering whether he was in one piece or wondering what caused their episode. A few settled back onto their seats to mind their own business, several female juniors neared his table asking him, "Are you okay, Green?"

'Sweetness! Made it!' A voice cheered from the door. The approaching footsteps Green could distinguish immediately stopped, was replaced with a sloppy scramble, then a hand was extended to help Green up. "Green, what happened?" Gold asked a little too loudly, or at least too thunderous for the brunet's liking. Amber eyes leveled with a set of scarlet eyes, an accusatory glint flickering. "What did you do?" he asked Red, heaving Green back onto his feet in the process.

Red shook his head, made a grab for his messenger bag, then rudely pushed through the gathering crowd forming in the back to make a run for the door in a hasty sprint. Yellow was about to form the words of an apology for arriving late to class but she moved aside quick enough for the blur of black and red that rushed past her, her eyebrows knitting together before realization dawned on her face her friend was suddenly leaving the class. "Red! Red!" she attempted to call out to him, her small hands cupping around her mouth. "Come back! Red, what's wrong!"

"What's with him?"

"He's so rude!"

Green not only felt another headache forming from entering the classroom, he also felt worse from the fall to his noggin. Hell, if he knew his day would end up like this he would have convinced his grandfather to help with the livestock or even offer his assistance to Daisy's thesis paper just to stay home. The teacher's voice was nearly droned out, however he did catch something along the lines of "report him if he does not come back."

It may have taken some time to convince his homeroom teacher otherwise, planting all the blame on himself rather than Red for his struggle; he was sentenced to afterschool detention for a class disturbance. Shrugging he returned to his seat, giving his best attempt to avoid looking directly at Yellow sitting in her chair dejectedly, absently fiddling with a star hair clip in her possession, a gnawing sense of fault overwhelming him every time he heard Yellow's downcast exhale throughout class.

Never has he ever been so excited to be distracted in zoology than he was now, although he had to reassure Gold he was perfectly fine, he could not suppress the urge to steal a glance at the closed door in between the lesson's pauses. Green essentially had a whimsical sense of humor: he liked to joke, liked to tease, liked to exaggerate, but never humiliate. His teasing would only stretch into a private conversation; it would never be something he would announce to the whole class to overhear. Five minutes before the bell rang he steadied his gaze on the door, scratched his head with uncertainty etched on his face, and silently wished he would have continued the progression of his earlier mood in the morning when he was initially uninterested of his surroundings.

His first class could have been a lot more uplifting if he did. He would have never come across the scenario where he would be conflicted whether to leave Red alone, throw away his pride to apologize, or pretend as if nothing happened. Justifying his desire to have a silly amount of money felt plenty more relieving than agonizingly fretting with guilt.

The snow was certainly turning into mounds. Unlike the early morning, the snowfall was merely less than a centimeter, as Green stepped outside he could hear the loud crunching noise of his nikes into the less than desirable snow, the temperature steadily lowering as indicated on his phone. He would have been a lot more frustrated with the cold wetness drenching through the fabric of his pants, a scarf would have been nice too, especially a pair of gloves because—after standing outside motionless besides quickly buying a warm cup of sweetened coffee—he was positive his fingers were on their way to becoming numb or frostbitten.

The coffee was not his but it did keep at least one hand warm, as reluctant as he was to this point he waited patiently to see Red outside, perhaps talk to him—for his agenda, Green reminded himself—then call it a day until his final class. It may have taken several minutes when he could have easily spent his time in a nice, albeit loud, toasty cafeteria. Sure enough Red was spotted walking hastily towards the street, headphones on his ears, his hands shoved in his pockets as he looked left and right before crossing.

Green would wonder later whether he was noticed, ignored, or maybe a combination of the both – considering Red he would not be surprised if it did end up being both. Trekking forward from his hiding space Green followed close behind, ever grateful Red would not hear the crunching of his footsteps. The brunet wished he could shoo those meddling citizens casually passing him while he followed Red's trail, he wanted only one sole individual on the streets so he could pry into Red's mind.

…Although his gut told him to mind his own business, he ignored his nagging conscience to quicken his pace.

From what Green could overhear he would admit they were not at all interesting:

'My next allowance could be divided between new food treats for Pikachu, some for mom, a portion for snacks…' His inner voice droned into a lackluster tone. 'Invest in pepper spray…'

Green blinked. Well now.

'Only a day and half and he single-handedly became the most annoying person I ever had the misfortune of speaking with. Who knew the word "agitating" can manifest itself into human form, congrats Green.'

Green gave himself some self-credit he hasn't marched forward to pour a steaming cup of coffee on the normally quiet senior.

In his own little raging fit he failed to notice Red shooting a car's rear view window a glance, it was only until he could listen to the extended groaning had he realized his presence was noticed by Red. The ebony-haired teen hastened his speed through the parking lot to enter the supermarket a block away from the school, regardless of the convoluted turns through the cars, Green could not easily lose the other – Red's stream of inward cursing gave his position away.

'What does he want now? First a nuisance, now a stalker?'

"Keep walking ahead of me and you'll have yourself a stalker!" Green announced loudly when entering the supermarket, disregarding the curious eyebrow quirks he was receiving. It was difficult to maneuver through the aisles with a steaming cup spilling over its contents, though he was laughing earnestly to himself how blatantly Red tried to evade him—oh, he swerved the corner again!

'Ignore him, Red, he might go away…'

"I will point and yell if I have to! Everybody knows who exactly I'm talking to!"

At first he thought the threat would never affect the other teen. Red did stop; he did not chance looking back but sighed as he asked the cashier to bag two dollars' worth of potato wedges. Fully aware his headphones might be insistently pushed down his neck, Red set his headphones comfortably on his collarbone. There was a brief flicker from the potato wedges to Green out of the corner of his eye, subtly warning him to keep his hands to himself.

Green snickered playfully, the glint meeting his eyes. Red rolled his eyes, quietly thanking the cashier for the food, not really waiting or paying attention if Green became side-tracked. If anything that would be a blessing as it would be easier to get away from him. The squeaky footsteps of his wet converse was accompanied by the sound of heavier, nearly jogging it seemed, footsteps approaching rapidly from behind. Before Green would badger him on the return trip to the school, Red slipped his free hand in his pocket, manually fiddling with the screen to select any song on his playlist, when he was done he searched the parking in a small speckle of hope he might be able to hide and ditch Green.

Not like he would be able to execute any desirable plans since he felt his shoulder being gently nudged, fully aware he had to give the brunet the attention he wanted. Red closed his eyes for a few seconds, exhaled exasperatingly through his nose, and reopened his eyes to offer Green a stony, pointed stare.

"Shouldn't you share?" he stated first, his shit-eating grin never faltering.

'Shouldn't you go away?' Red challenged, all Green received was silence though.

Chuckling, Green offered the cup good-naturedly. "Here, I got this for you. For, uh…" he trailed off, looking guilty as he scanned the cars in the parking lot distractingly. "What happened…earlier…"

Red's eyebrows hitched, mostly due to his disinterest. Regardless he took the offered cup with his free hand, giving it a curious shake to see if there was anything inside or if Green was being a dick enough to hand him an empty cup. "What happened today?" Red asked patiently.

Then Red began walking again, much to Green's relief because of the stressed awkwardness between them, and it was safe to say they could both act like nothing ever happened. It was a silent troll through the parking lot, neither pursuing the enthusiasm for a conversation—not that he would expect Red to engage any idle chatter to begin with—both minds clear of ill and snarky thoughts – for once it was a nice change Green would not have to rely on his pills to alleviate his headaches. With others they were never quiet, mentally or verbally, never gave him the time of the day to breathe, to collect himself into a state of peace.

It was unnerving with Red however, he never did quite meet someone who could dislike him, nor did he ever meet anyone who could remain perpetually quiet this long. He shook his head as they walked along—Red clearly paid him no regard—reminding himself again he was definitely not here for friendship, he was here bothering some senior he never acknowledged until now for one reason alone: it was his senior year, he had nothing to be scared about the end result of this trifling little bet. His future was secured, he already received several acceptance letters in the mail, and it was not like he would ever see Red again in his life, so in the end he was going to make every effort count until the end of spring.

"I know you don't care," Green began, his focus on the small trail of snow on his shoelaces, one hand distractingly fiddling with his phone tucked in his pocket. "but this might be the only moment where we can act like…" he trailed off, searching the word before continuing. "…Like civilized people, I guess."

Never graced with a response, not like he would expect it from someone that seldom talked, the pair crossed the street, trudging sluggishly through the wet slush of snow under their feet. Although he was not looking directly at Green but rather gazing blankly at the long cord of his headphones, he was listening to every word, his pursed lips did prove he was listening reluctantly however: if he were to slip his headphones on he knew he would never be able to tune Green out, the buds would be repeatedly tugged down until Green said everything that was on his mind.

Green grabbed Red's shoulder, his fingers pressing through the thick fabric of the red hoodie, disregarding how rigid Red became in an instant. It was a quick transition from an impassive expression to appearing genuinely startled: his eyes were wide open rather than half-lidded when he was being inexpressive, his deep frown softening, and his thin eyebrows hiking upwards. Green made no comment to the teen's reaction, instead he inched closer. "I meant what I said earlier. Usually I'm not that honest with people."

The brunet's phone promptly buzzed in pocket.

"Well shit. I forgot about Gold!" he explained vaguely, his face contorting in exasperation as he steadily began recollecting his earlier commitments to eat lunch with the junior. He took off rather quickly but stumbled occasionally from the snow sinking in his every step. There was no room to wait for Red's reaction—or to expect a reaction to be gauged if there was one—but he did catch the sound of something tossed into a waste bin, the spluttering noise of liquid following after the loud clang. And, although nearly blending in with the ambient noises of honking cars and chattering students, the faint sound of music echoing from the large buds of Red's headphones lingered in the air before it died out when Green arrived closer to the school.

A/N: I am the queen of progression aha. /brick'd

(Considering my inexcusable absence, is anyone still interested in this story? 6_9 I would hate to have anyone disappointed ;A;)

BTW. Has anyone ever played the Pokémon Ranger game? Anyone remembers the Go-Rock Quads? HOMIKA IS TOTALLY THEIR LONG-LOST SIBLING.

chapter revised 12/17/14 for grammatical errors