whats gucci despite how infrequent i am im still 100% fucking pokemon trash

s/o to those with the patience of a saint, to those that just finished another semester (soft weeping), and to those that have been really rad reviewing thanks

this is a really short chapter but i didnt want give everything away (even tho i should after like what a year or smth not updating omg)

Biting down on his tongue, Green fiddled with the temperature control dial on the heating lamp, ensuring the warming waves would soothe Red's rodent, who shivered in a coiled ball under a transparent hideaway dome. Upon his further observation, Pikachu would occasionally lift its muzzle to tentatively sniff the air before burying its head in the crook of its plump, fragile body. Fanning his hand an inch from the luminous bulb to check its temperature, he approved of the current setting, and accommodated the portable heating lamp on the screen cover. A minor but tedious sensation of awkwardness caused him to shift his weight on either foot, clearing his throat to soften the tenor of his voice, he offered, "Gramps will be home soon, so um…sit…tight?" Mustering a cough to amend the casual offhanded tone of his comment, he added, "You're gonna be okay."

Making a pensive noise that rumbled in the back of his throat, Green grounded his hands on his hips, shifting his focus from the last-minute, modestly furnished terrarium housing the sickened mouse to the bare gray ceiling, the echoes of slow, padding footsteps and light thumping hops spurred a weary exhalation slumping his shoulders. "Don't know about him though," he admitted, an unwanted but profound uncertainty laced his voice – sparring one last glance at Pikachu nestled in the pellet bedding, the instances of the rodent's prolonged shivering ceased as it fell into a sound, safe sleep. In his ascension up the stairs, he bade the animals in his family's care a goodnight through a two-finger salute, withdrawing his hand he flicked the light switch off, firmly closing the door behind him shut.

The collaborative noise of his pet and abrupt house guest subsided into an uncomfortable silence, Green, despite his former disdain, trekked another flight of stairs to sneak inside his room. His door gave a jarring creak, rousing Gold's attention to lift his focus from his television screen to the monitor, his attentive, curious look melded into an expression of frustration: his eyebrows knit together, his neutral frown deepened to convey his exasperation reflected in his impatient amber orbs. "You!" he bellowed loudly, dramatically he set his controller down to grab the rim of his monitor, shaking it several times to emphasize his moody disposition, "You had me waiting for nearly an hour! Disrespectful, Oak!"

Frantic, Green set a finger on his lips to urge Gold into silence, through a nearly inaudible whisper he hissed, "I was gone for twenty!"

Gold's miffed frown possessed no indication of leveling his voice. "Who are you shushing! I know it ain't me after I've been sitting here, warding off spiders and creepers away from you!"

The noise of a flushing toilet drew the pair into silence, Green looked over his shoulder to witness Eevee chasing his tail in futile circles at the doorway, and when the fox paused for an intake of breath, he yipped cheerfully to encourage the footsteps to approach. Late to both process and act accordingly to push his pet aside to close the door, Red stopped at the entry to scoop the energetic animal off the floor, softly petting the tufts of fur behind Eevee's large ears.

Green smacked his hand to his face in disbelief.

Gold blinked, dumbfounded. "Wow," whistling in a manner mixed with both awe at the revelation and confusion, he returned to his seat, parroting his earlier statement. "Just…Wow."

Red turned his head, his eyebrows gave a small, visible rise to express his surprise. 'Oh, Gold.' Acknowledging the third party's presence, Red became disheartened, the voice of his conscious alerted Green to begrudgingly lower his hand to watch Red bend his knees, 'He…wouldn't like me touching Eevee,' he lowered the whining fox protesting to remain buried in his arms rather than left neglected on the cold touch of the hardwood floors, 'I'm sorry. I can't…I wouldn't want him mad.'

Seeking a roundabout act of benevolence, Green shot a reprimanding scowl at Eevee, "You're way too spoiled to be this noisy!" His thundering footsteps struck an uneasy nerve within Red, the twitch in body as he reflexively retreated a step back remained noticed by Green but unspoken as he clamped Eevee by his narrow, furry body, and shoved the fox busily vocalizing its cheeriness with a loud, nearly screeching squeak in Red's arms. Red's mouth quivered in an attempt to form a single word of gratitude, within seconds of realizing his inability to gather his low, quiet voice, he cleared the lump in his throat and closed his mouth, burying his nose in the fuzzed patches of fur between Eevee's ears, he just nodded slightly instead. Unaccustomed to the gesture, Red clenched his eyelids shut, the enunciation of his mind possessed a shaky, rare stammer. 'Th-Thank you. For Eve-Eevee…and-and-'

Eager to intervene, Gold grinned from ear to ear. "Yo, Red! What's good! Fancy seeing you here, uh, I mean there! Yeah! So…I think I hear my mom callin' me down for grub, so see ya for now." Gold made a last gesture of pretending to hold a mobile device in his hand, imitating the movements of typing and mouthing the words "Text me about this."

Green connected his thumb and index fingers to form a circle, his other fingers relaxed in the air as he sent his friend the approval to brief him about his circumstances while his guest left his formerly occupied space to follow the jittering fox pinpointing him to a different area of the residency by firmly jutting out its muzzle. Rifling through his closet for clean loungewear, he settled on draping a plain black cotton shirt and red—Green could not prevent the quietest chuckle from escaping him—baggy plaid pants over his arm, striding through the hall he made an abrupt halt at his spare closet, presumably left open by his older sibling foraging the endless assortment of curtains and seasonal decorations for her warmer jackets. Plucking a spare towel from the pile, Green descended down the staircase to find Red situated comfortably on the sofa, his warmer countenance brightened the atmosphere compared to his former, despondent mood upon his arrival. Immersed in a boyish play—Eevee would make the attempt to clamp his mouth on Red's wriggling digit, he would withdraw his hand before Eevee could achieve any succession—Green plopped the clothes on the armrests of the reclining chair, he swung the towel in a casual, circular motion, his sharp whistling snapped the teen from his reverie.

And Red stiffened.

Green's whistling ebbed in low, withering chords. He peered into his hand, the subject of Red's intense fixation, realization dawning over him: the pettiness after the outcome of their track race. A quelled frustration still retained a lingering, bittersweet animosity that churned his stomach recalling the event, but his exasperation manifested in the form of an initiative he aimed to seize:

'Calm down, calm down, calm down,' Red recited in a panic mantra, protectively and instinctively gripping the fennec fox tighter, 'calm down, Red, it's just a towel, it's just a towel, calm down.'

Red forced his eyes shut, his panic intensifying in uncommon, desperate shouts. 'Don't kick me out, not when Pikachu's sick! Not when my-'

The towel cascaded gently over his dampened black hair, the gentle ministrations lowered his rigid shoulders to fall slowly, the distress marring his face lessened into an expression of blank confusion, his eyelashes fluttered opened, nervously, cautiously, and a set of thumbs pressed down on the ridge of his jawline to tilt his head up. "Red," the composed demeanor roused a slow blink, the long black eyelashes collected the tiniest drops of water trickling down on the orbits of his eyes produced from the long black strands matted against his cheeks, "calm down."

Green gently pried his fingers from the bony juncture of Red's jawline and neck, offering a victorious snicker, he ruffled the towel against the tangled locks playfully rough, but not enough to jostle another momentary flit of panic. "And look at that, I'm touching you and it hasn't bothered you yet! You can thank the greatest person in the world later," releasing his grip, Green pointed over his shoulder in the direction of the kitchen, "'cause I'm gonna make some famous Oak renowned hot chocolate."

Red, despite himself, rolled his eyes, 'I'll remember to thank your grandfather.'

Green, accepting the jibe to his ego, was unfazed to pursue his pointless quip, "You know, I'll crush your aspirations now: we have no Oak-brand hot chocolate. You're getting some nasty, gritty knock-off brand chocolate that's been sitting in the pantry for three thousand years."

Green ventured into the basement throughout a series of fifteen and thirty minute intervals: half an hour to restore light on the snoozing mouse, the other fifteen to switch the lamp off to prevent the possibility of a heat stroke. Without fail, Red would grow relentless, debating with himself whether he should ask about the wellbeing of Pikachu or, out of courtesy, offer his remaining confidence to Green's caretaking capabilities,

or resort to an approach to breach the topic through begging in order to accompany him into the basement, much to Green's surprise when he heard the thought formulated.

However, Red reluctantly kept his peace, and Green received a positive confirmation over his family's arrival that would occur within the timespan of an hour. Keeping their estimated time of return as a secret, Green occupied his spare time to prepare a meal for his family while Red napped on the recliner chair—the sofa was in process of drying from the large body-shaped wetspots. After a change of outfits, Green instructed Red to sleep on a different seat—shrugging at the taste of the broth, Green disregarded his working station momentarily to return to the closet in the second level, spotting the braided ends of the item he was searching for, he yanked a thick knitted blanket buried under a heap of filled bins and heavier equipment.

He reasoned with himself, as he retreated to the first floor to set the blanket over Red's slumbering form, he was acting in a manner that both his grandfather and Daisy raised him – he nearly snorted at the prospect of trying to succumb to such an excuse. Pleasing his own mood, Green trekked into the kitchen to finish his preparations, and within the next hour the echoing complaints began at the opening creak of the front door: Daisy raised concerns over the "unreasonably snowy day" while the eldest Oak laughed good-naturedly.

Then it flew over his head he had yet to explain about the guest in the house residing in his living room.

"Stranger danger!" she shrieked, "Green! Green! Are you okay?"

Red shot up from his slumber, his bleary eyes frantically searching the source of the outburst.

"Thanks for breaking the sound barrier, sis, don't know what I'd without ya," Green casually retorted as he joined his family, he threw a rag over his shoulder and crossed his arms. "Daisy, gramps, maybe you remember Red, from school? Well, before we get into the 'why's and 'what were you thinking,' I'm not, contrary to belief, a complete prick. Long story short and then I swear I'll explain the rest, his pet mouse means a lot to him like Eevee does to me and said pet mouse is downstairs feeling really sick. I have absolutely no idea what's wrong and," exhaling sharply, he directed his sibling and grandfather a defeated grimace, "…I need your help."

He was met with a familiar choking silence after the pair exchanged looks, but both of them gave a tired, warm smile to the youngest Oak.

"Don't worry," Daisy beamed, she glanced over her shoulder and regarded Red with a confident thumbs-up, "we'll do everything we can."

Red was radiating a hopeful vibe. 'Thank you,' shifting his gaze from the elder Oaks, he met eye contact with Green steadily observing him through astonished, emerald irises: the ends of Red's lips upturned at the corners, his elated smile was gentle, humble, and serene. Red quirked his head to the side, his fingers clenched the fabric of the blanket tucked in his fists, and he directed him the sincerest gratitude that was never said.

'Thank you, Green.'

gimmie friend codes message me them y/y

so i wanted to set a happier undertone to this after everything in the prev chapters and also bc its the 25th today so yeah a bit of cheer goes a long way for this. im gonna go recover so i can get the hang of characterization bc wow wtf what i doing before and now but at least currently its an excuse lmfao (yo psst anybody like billdip from gravity falls bc ill be on ao3 under a different name where all my fucked up stuff goes ye)

happy holidays!