Samuel Oak was sheepish, Daisy was annoyed, Gary was impatient, and Green was nowhere to be found. It was lunchtime during one of the only weekends of the entire year they all had off and Daisy had made sandwiches for everyone, something Gary had sorely missed while he was away researching. He knew for a fact that it was also something that Green missed, despite the fact that he was a few hours away from Pallet and that he had gotten into the bad habit of leaving his gym unattended for days on end.

That being said, it was one of the only weekends a year they could spend together and still get paid – a far more accurate statement for Green Oak, and he wasn't even spending it with his currently irate family. Although it was hardly a new development considering his recent romantic entanglements if one believed the rumours, but a nuisance for his exasperated relatives nonetheless.

"He's at Delia's, isn't he?" Daisy deadpanned, and Oak shot her a cursory warning look.

"It doesn't matter where he is," he replied to his granddaughter evenly. "What matters is that he isn't here with us where he should be."

Gary snorted and reached over the dining table to Daisy's abandoned plate, dragging it towards him.

"Well he was here yesterday," Daisy shot back. "But he took off in the afternoon and he hasn't been back since. Grandpa, he didn't even take any clean underwear," she whispered conspiratorially.

Oak placed a comforting hand on Daisy's shoulder while Gary laughed obnoxiously with a mouthful of sandwich.

"I don't think he's had a need for underwear, Daisy," he snarked at her. Daisy whipped her head around and glared at her youngest brother.

"Don't you dare," she threatened. "Green is a good boy and so is Red. They wouldn't be doing that with all those people at the Ketchum's – Delia would find them in a second."

"Or Mimey would..." Oak trailed off in the background as he wandered off into the kitchen. His grandchildren ignored him.

Gary grinned and shoved the last bite into his mouth.

"Red is quieter than a sleeping metapod and I'm pretty sure the underwear Greem was wearing could be made into a gag or something," Gary said and watched passively as his sister grew redder and redder. "They're teenagers – of course they're going to be fucking."

—

While Misty and Lyra were staring slack jawed at the champion, Delia had walked into the room rubbing a tea towel idly between her hands. She smiled and made her way over to where Misty was standing.

"Misty, sweetheart! I haven't seen you in years!" She exclaimed and brought the younger girl into a tight hug. Misty hugged back on instinct, and briefly smelt sweet roselia perfume before she pulled away. "You've been at your gym, haven't you? I've been hearing wonderful things from Samuel – apparently Cerulean Gym is in the top three gyms in Kanto! I wonder who's to thank for that?" She asked and winked.

Misty laughed and blushed, "Honestly, it's not just me. My sisters bring in a lot of revenue with their shows, and Tracey has been a lifesaver."

Delia giggled, "He was always such a useful young man! So clean, and what a good artist," she said and sighed. "Say, dear, has he been drawing you things? Ooh, maybe he's drawing you! Secretly, he's pining over you! Oh–"

"Delia," Misty interrupted. She could hear Ash choking in the background. "I'm here with Ash today," she said slowly. If she was honest with herself, the blush that bloomed on her cheeks was only partly good acting. "Tracey is just a friend."

"Oh. Oh." Delia said softly, and smiled slyly. "Well, it's lovely to have you here, my dear. Make yourself at home."

"Will do." Misty said as Delia walked over to the base of the stairs. Misty shot a desperate look over her shoulder at Ash who was wearing one similar.

Delia placed one hand on her hip with the other on the banister of the stairs, and smiled indulgently at her firstborn.

"Red honey, what are you doing holed up in that room of yours? I know I said I'd keep it clean for you, but I didn't think you'd be spending all your time there when you come home!" She berated him gently, smiling the only way a mother can. "Why don't you come down and play video games, hmm? Or talk to Misty and Lyra – I'm sure they'd love to get to know you."

At the mention of their names, the girls spun around and raced back to the couch in an attempt to appear nonchalant. Red's gaze moved to them as Delia returned to the kitchen, humming. Ash watched the retreating back of his mother and cringed.

"She's going to be horrible," Fire muttered as he walked back over to the couch and squeezed in between Misty and Lyra. Leaf walked over a second later and chucked him the second controller. She sat down on the floor directly in front of him and started the game again, leaning against her brother's legs.

"She has the whole family around for the first time in god knows how long. Of course she's gonna be off her rocker – this is like, every dream she's ever had for the last five years," she remarked, and looked behind her at their guests before facing the television again, "The whole family plus extras."

"I feel sorry for Mimey," Ash muttered as he stalked towards the stairs – towards the brother he hadn't seen for years.

Misty and Lyra were still slightly awestruck. They watched as Ash drew Red into a brief but clearly meaningful hug – something that obviously meant a lot to both boys. Misty knew, and so did Lyra to a degree, that Ash was a passionate person. He liked life, and people, and affection. He hugged people often out of happiness, or gratitude, or love. As Misty watched him hug his eldest brother, she could almost believe it was all three this time. Ash pulled away from a generally unresponsive Red and patted his back roughly. He whispered something that Misty couldn't hear. Just as quickly as it happened, it was over and he was walking over to the couch to sit down.

Misty blinked and looked away from the awkward champion and tried to forget about it.

"Yo, bro," Fire stage whispered as he delivered a combo attack to the pixelated solrock, "If you wanna do it, you better do it now. I think Mom's almost done with lunch."

Red nodded wordlessly – the first show of comprehension Misty had seen so far – and walked back up the stairs before going into a room. The sound of a door opening and shutting could be heard over the video game.

"He's got jerk senior in there, huh?" Ash asked from his spot next to Leaf and in front of Misty.

Misty stared at the back of his head for moment before slipping her foot down and poking his side with it. From behind him she could see him grin slightly before grabbing her foot and clearly taking it hostage.

"Yep," Leaf replied brusquely. "I told him to go 'round to the lab instead 'cause Oak's cooler with the whole staying the night thing than Ma, but he's doing his hermit thing again – doesn't want to leave his room. I have no clue how he survived on the top of that mountain for so long, all that space and everything." She said and cursed as a lunatone defeated her swampert with a well timed psychic attack.

Fire laughed and she threw her controller over her head onto Fire's lap, hoping that her aim wasn't off. A second later his laughter cut off, followed quickly by a groan of pain.

"Next time," she said cheerfully, "We're playing the Kanto version, okay? Screw Tate and Liza, the Hoenn version is too weird."

"Is the space clear?" A voice whispered from the top of the stairs. Misty twisted herself around to stare at the new person past Fire's thick hair.

If there was any confusion about who this person was, it was quickly eradicated. There was no chance this boy was anyone but Gary Oak's older brother. The same hair and face, the same lilting swagger to their steps, the overly cocky smirk in place. Except this version of Gary currently had his hand around the waist of the other version of Ash. The sight of the two of them – close enough to be copies of Gary and Ash – was enough to make Misty very bewildered.

Red quickly extracted himself from the other boy's grip and pulled him down the stairs and to the door by his wrist. His expression clearly showed that he was uncomfortable, but the Gary clone seemed oblivious to his discomfort.

"Aw, trying to get rid of me that quickly, Red? I wanna talk to your siblings! I haven't seen Ash for what, eight years?"

Ash jumped up from the couch and threw his arms around Gary clone, equally as oblivious to his brother.

Misty watched them catch up with a suspicious eyebrow raised – the situation was just too strange to comprehend. She was completely aware that Ash and Gary had ironed out their differences years ago, sometime after Gary became a full time researcher rather than a full time jerk. But there was still that rivalry there – a hesitance to be fully open with each other due to their past – that dictated most of their actions, as mundane as they were. But the image of Ash hugging the Gary clone was almost as bad as seeing the Gary clone and the Ash clone walk down the stairs together as though they'd been caught doing something they shouldn't.

"Whatcha been up to?" Gary clone asked Ash as they sat down on the second couch. In the interim Leaf had wandered into the kitchen to help her mother with food preparations, Misty assumed. Lyra had managed to get herself a seat in Fire's lap, her legs in Misty's, and the two of them had started a new level of the video game. It looked like they had given up trying to defeat the other twins from Hoenn, since they were now battling a volbeat and illumise team with a bellossom and mightyena.

Red was still standing by the door.

Misty pulled herself out from Lyra's legs and walked over to him hesitantly. She prided herself in being a friendly person – to most people, her mind corrected – but that didn't mean it was easy for her. She experienced the same sort of anxiety anyone else did when meeting a new person. Except, perhaps, for the Ketchums: a bond was created between her and Ash almost immediately after their first meeting when he destroyed her bike, Delia had treated Misty as her own daughter the moment she met her, and from the small amount of time she had spent around Fire and Leaf they were the same – warm, friendly, accepting. Misty was the same but just with a little less enthusiasm. She was beginning to think the Ketchums were the exception – if one didn't count Red, that is.

She could feel a knot form in her stomach as she approached the eldest brother. He looked awkward and unsure, whether it be from his whatever-he-is Gary clone and little brother speaking or from Misty's own presence, she wasn't sure.

"Hi," she said brightly with a – regrettably forced – smile on her face. "Red, right? Well, duh. Of course you're Red – everyone knows who you are!" He winced. "Oh, t-that's not a bad thing! I mean, you did so much good all those years ago with Team Rocket!" He started to turn away, but she was in this now. She couldn't stop now, so she scrambled to think of something to say to keep him there. This was Ash's family – she was going to at least try.

"I remember being pretty young living in Cerulean when all these Rocket members showed up at the gym," she said quietly.

Red stopped but didn't turn around.

"My dad was a police officer at the time and he was called out to a robbery, so it was just Mama and my sisters there. Mama was the gym leader then, so it was up to her to defend us. She had a pretty strong vaporeon, but most of her pokémon were weak from battle. They, ah–"

She paused, and could swear she felt Ash's gaze on the back of her neck as she talked. She didn't dare turn around though.

She swallowed and continued, "Anyway, Daddy came home later and told all of us about a really brave trainer who helped a civilian get something back from Team Rocket. He said his name was Red." She could see that he was listening, despite his blank expression, so she continued with a smile. "So when Daddy pointed you out on the tv during the league championships, I rooted for you! My sisters had a thing for Lance and thought he was going to win, so it was pretty cool to rub it in their faces when you did."

She was aware that Lyra and Fire were still pretty engrossed in their game, and Leaf was still out of the room, but Ash and Gary clone were staring at the two of them intently. Misty felt her face heat up with embarrassment. She smiled awkwardly, and was about to go back to the couch when she was stopped. Red's hand was around her wrist holding her, gently but firmly.

Misty raised her head and looked at him questioningly. Red ducked his head but didn't let go of her.

"Your mother's vaporeon," he said quietly, so quietly that Misty almost missed it. Surely the others did. "What happened?"

She stood there gaping like a goldeen for a few seconds before her brain kicked in.

"Oh, uh," she bit her lip and spoke just as quietly as he did. "They stole it. Mama retired the next day."

Red nodded solemnly and let go of her. Ignoring the curious gazes of the people in the room, he walked over to Gary clone and grabbed his upper arm, pulling him to his feet.

"Wha– huh? Where're we goin'?" He asked, bewildered. Ash shot Misty a questioning look and she looked away.

Red and Gary clone were at the door, almost having escaped, when a gasp came from the other side of the room.

"Green Oak as I live and breathe!" Delia exclaimed, dropping the whisk she had in her hand. "I haven't seen you for eight years!" She made her way quickly across the room to embrace the boy.

Misty quickly got out of her way as she came barrelling in to hug the boy – Green, her mind supplied. She was beginning to think that Delia and Mrs. Oak had to have been friends when they were pregnant.

Delia furrowed her eyebrows through her smile as she pulled back, "Green, honey, your shirt is on backwards."

Green's eyes went dangerously wide as he scrambled back from her. Everyone's heads in the room swivelled towards the two of them, besides Red who simply looked put out.

"Uh, yeah – I was a little, uh, preoccupied this morning! Y'know, with Daisy and Gary and Gramps being around, it's a little too much to handle!" He exclaimed as he held his hands up in front of him as though it was protect him. "I was just leaving!" He finished, and spun around to escape.

Delia frowned, "Didn't you just get here?"

Green turned around slowly and shook his head. He threw a desperate glance towards Red but the boy stayed silent.

Leaf chose this opportune moment to wander out of the kitchen.

"He just came over to invite us all 'round to the lab for dinner tonight. Real sweet of him, I know, but he can't stay." She said brusquely as she walked over to him. She grabbed his collar and opened the door, throwing him out. "You owe me," she whispered to him under her breath.

Green could only nod furiously as the door was slammed in his face. Leaf turned around to face the room and smiled.

"Let's get back to lunch, Ma. I think the potatoes are almost ready."

Delia blinked in a daze but followed her daughter back into the kitchen. The rest of the room let out a relieved sigh. It was silent for a few seconds after that. Misty and Red were resolutely not looking at each other, Ash and Fire appeared disgusted, and Lyra was clearly feeling extremely awkward.

"Uhm," she said hesitantly. "I think I'm gonna go take a nap with your brother! Call me when lunch is ready!" Lyra exclaimed and rushed out of the room, narrowly missing kneeling on Fire's junk as she got up.

At that, the room began to move again. Red shot Misty a peculiar look as he passed her and walked up the stairs back to his room – Misty followed his form the entire way, still not entirely sure what to make of him.

With Red out of the room, she felt as though she could breathe again.

"Hey, Misty. Have you ever been to Hoenn?"

—

Green tried to sneak back into the lab without anyone noticing. In hindsight, he should have remembered what family he belonged to. With the exception of the professor's bouts of amnesia and inability to differentiate between genders, the Oaks were as sharp as the stinger on a beedrill.

He was specifically sneaking in through the backdoor that connected to the kitchen when Daisy burst into the room.

"And where have you been?" She asked, her hands were on her hips and a frown was on her face. "You missed dinner last night, not to mention breakfast and lunch today. You better have a good reason to skipping out on us! Gary said you've been over at the Ketchums gallivanting about with Red, but I said 'no, Gary, don't think of your brother like that – he's a good boy, I bet he has a good reason for missing family time', so you better not let me down." She paused and furrowed her brows. "Why is your shirt on backwards?"

Green blinked slowly and attempted to work through his sister's quick words.

"Now, I've only just woken up like fifteen minutes ago," he said. Daisy winced. "My reasons for being at the Ketchums were this: I wanted to create some happy, safe memories between me and Red because the last time we spent the night together my balls almost froze off."

Daisy and Green turned their heads as Gary started laughing in the living room, followed by the Professor's befuddled questioning.

Daisy sighed and turned back to Green. "I really didn't need to know that. You could have been more delicate."

"Sorry for offending your sensibilities," he said wryly as he wandered over and opened the fridge. He pulled out a plate holding sandwiches with a sticky note attached clearly reading 'for the asshole' – and assumed it was his – before turning back to her. "But if I'd put it 'delicately' you would have pried anyway. Then I would have really offended you." He finished with a grin and made his way into the living room. Daisy was hot on his heels.

"I would not!" She retorted indignantly once he was sitting down in front of the tv, Gary at his left. Professor Oak was reading a newspaper in the old, raggedy armchair next to them. "I respect your personal space – you're a gym leader now, and while I'm not happy that you don't come home as often as you could, I understand that you're not a little boy anymore. You can go and have your–your trysts with whoever you wish. I just," she paused and bit her lip. "I just wished that you'd spend as much time with us as you do with the Ketchums."

"I don't." Daisy threw Gary a dark look but he continued on regardless. "And he's not spending quality family time with the Ketchums, Dais. He's bumping uglies with Red every chance he can get. Pretty disgusting really – I'm barely keeping myself from moving knowing he hasn't had a shower since yesterday morning."

"I'm actually trying to forget this entire encounter now. Thanks, Gary." Daisy huffed and sat in the other armchair in the room. "Did you even say hello to Delia? I think she misses having kids around at her place – she told me that she can't wait for grandchildren."

Green almost choked on a bite of his sandwich. "Grandkids?! I doubt that'll happen for a while."

Daisy frowned and leant forward. "And why is that? I wanna be an aunt, Green! You're the only one in a stable relationship."

"Stable? They see each other every six months when Green can be bothered to drag his sorry ass up that mountain – and that's usually only to fuck," Gary snarked as he flicked through television channels. He settled on a rerun of Regions of Our Love. At that, Daisy got up and left the room in a huff, heading towards the kitchen again.

"Language," Oak drawled from his own chair without putting down the newspaper. "And change the channel, I don't like this season."

Gary sighed and swapped it to a live battle from the Vermillion gym.

Green sighed and slouched into Gary, much to the dismay of the younger brother. "I wish I had your job, Gary. I hate being stuck in the gym – I wanna travel and see the world and be able to visit Red more often. You went to Kalos recently, didn't you? Bet it's nice there. Nice and warm."

Gary pushed his brother off of him and into the floor. "Hell yeah it was nice there – lots of pretty Kalosian girls, too. You know the champion is that famous actress, uh, y'know – she was in that Girl with the Dragonite Tattoo movie – short, dark hair, total babe."

Green pointed a finger at him and thought for a few seconds. "...Diantha!"

Gary grinned and nodded, "Yeah, yeah. That's her! She's good friends with Professor Sycamore so we met up one day and had coffee at this café. She was cool."

Daisy hummed as she re-entered the room with two mugs, "She's a model and a novice breeder, too. She specialises in a specific species of synchronistic ralts. I could take or leave her movies, though." She said as she stepped over Green's form on the floor and handed a mug over to Oak. She sat back down in her chair and sipped. "Too complicated for me."

Green frowned as he finished the last bite of his sandwich and motioned to Daisy's, "Hey, why didn't you get me some coffee?"

Daisy raised an eyebrow. "It's tea. You don't like tea. And get off the floor."

He shrugged. "I would've liked the option." He said, but got up regardless. "Speaking of..."

Daisy moaned, "What have you done?"

"I didn't do anything, it was that harpy Bl–Leaf. She volunteered us to host dinner here tonight!"

"What do you mean volunteered us?" She asked scathingly as she stood and started to pace. Her abandoned mug was quickly stolen by Green. "I think you mean, 'sorry, Daisy. I accidentally said you would cook for ten people tonight – whoops!' How close am I?"

Green shrugged and took a big gulp before she snatched it back from him. "Not really close. Leaf did volunteer us – eh, you – but she did it to get me out of the house. But Delia noticed my shirt." He said and plucked the offending item, its tag sticking out and scratching his throat. "It was gonna go ass up pretty quickly after that. Oh, and it's more like twelve people – at least."

Daisy rubbed a hand down her face with her free hand and shook her head. "You idiot."

"Hey!"

Daisy marched into the kitchen and came back with a plastic card. "Grandpa, we're going out to get groceries – using the lab card is okay, right?" Oak looked up, confused, but Daisy continued on without pause. "Gary, you're coming with me. I need someone to carry the bags."

Gary looked at her warily. "Can we take the Ferrari?"

Daisy nodded.

"Sweet! I'm in," he said and ran upstairs to get the keys.

Daisy gave Green a biting look as she got her purse and shoes. "Clean up the place a little while we're gone, or go and help Grandpa at the lab," she said derisively as Gary bounded down the stairs again. The two of them were almost out the front door when she turned back around. "Oh, and take a shower. You smell disgusting."

—

Lunch was an awkward affair.

Misty and Ash sat beside each other, with Fire and Leaf opposite them. A begrudging Red sat at the end of the table, with a space open at the top of the table for Delia. There were spaces left empty next to Misty and Fire for their other two sleeping guests.

"Should I go and wake them up?" Ash asked his mother hesitantly. He was clearly asking out of courtesy, and Misty couldn't blame him. Having a 'nap' could very well be a code for something a lot different. She knew that every time Lily was off to meet one of her boyfriends she'd say she was 'going for a walk' and would inevitably end up coming home at two in the afternoon the next day wearing the same dress.

"No, no, dear. They travelled quite a long way from Johto – they only arrived this morning, actually. The darlings were so tired. I'm surprised Lyra managed to stay up at all!" Delia replied, smiling. "Oh! I'll be back in a second – I think I missed a dish!"

The table was already packed to the brim with food courtesy of Delia's cooking. Misty looked at the array of food with wide eyes. Ever since her parents had left to travel the world on the St. Anne the food at the Cerulean gym had been scarce at best, although neither her mother nor her father had been very attentive parents beforehand. Daisy, Lily, and Violet were all equally hopeless at cooking and Misty only knew what little she had learned from Brock during their travels. It turned out that Tracey was a godsend in multiple ways – he could cook tasty, if simple, meals that managed to satisfy the four sisters. Although Misty often missed Brock's cooking she was more than happy with the new arrangement and increased his salary because of it.

Misty looked around the table at the silent Ketchums and briefly thought them spoilt. Delia's cooking was a gift.

Leaf was the only one of Delia's children who had the ability not to burn whatever she cooked, so she had helped minutely. Knowing this, Misty spoke up in hopes of dispelling the awkward atmosphere.

"It looks really delicious, Leaf. I can't wait to dig in!"

Leaf smiled and opened her mouth to reply when Fire laughed loudly.

"Leaf did jack shit. She set the table and from the looks of it diced an onion," he retorted.

Leaf glared at him with telltale red rimmed eyes. "At least I don't burn toast."

"Your toast is as black as your shrivelled old heart. Don't lie, Leaf, it's unbecoming of you."

"At least I've tried to improve my cooking skills – you've always been shit in the kitchen."

"Well–so have you!"

Leaf came up short. "...you don't know that," she said quietly and bit her lip. The room went silent, and Misty looked around at everyone, confused. Red looked tense, Ash looked worried, and Fire looked remorseful.

"Sorry," he murmured back and looked down at his empty plate. His hand rose to his head as though to pull a hat down, but stuttered when he realised it was hanging up on the coat rack along with four others.

"Well, the table set up is lovely," Misty stuttered awkwardly, apologetic that it was her question that started it. Leaf sent her a tiny smile and thanked her.

Delia chose that moment to enter the room again, holding three new dishes in her hands. Misty jumped up to grab two bowls from her arms, with the ulterior motive to dispel the every growing awkward silence.

Oblivious to the tension in the room, Delia surveyed the dining table with her hands on her hips. With a happy sigh she finally sat down at the head of the table.

Only then did she notice that no one was moving. Misty looked down at her lap with wide eyes as Delia's stare grew sharp.

"Now," she said. "I don't know what's happening but all I want is a nice lunch with my family. So, eat and be happy." She said firmly and began filling up her plate. Slowly, everyone else did the same and soon the conversation was flowing a bit more smoothly.

Misty shot a questioning look in Ash's direction when everyone was distracted by a story Fire was telling Red about a particular battle. The boy saw her look but pointedly ignored her. Misty glared at him for a second, confused. Clearly there was more to Ash's family than she initially thought.

"So there I was – down only to Lapras against this girl's empoleon," Fire said to Red, although the other boy was looking quite intently at his plate. It looked almost like he wasn't even listening. "It was pretty close, 'cause we were just firing water attacks at each other. I was waiting for the second she used a steel attack on Lapras – steels vs. ice is pretty basic stuff, y'know? But she never did! I managed to corner Empoleon with a body slam and won the match. She was pretty pissy with me after that. People should be better losers."

"You're a horrible loser," Ash snarked through a mouthful of food. "You cried last time Leaf beat you."

"Hey! That was one on one, and she cheated!" Leaf raised eyebrow. "Don't look at me like that – you chose Blastoise against Charizard. Of course I was going to lose."

"You just told us a story where your ice type overcame a steel type," she said sardonically. "Not to mention that a trainer's true worth is based in the love and trust they have in the pokémon, not type match ups."

"Shut up, Leaf." Fire grumbled and shovelled more food into his mouth.

Reminded of his pokémon, Ash looked over his shoulder at the three pikachu in the corner eating out of bowls. Each bowl was named – one with Pika, one with Chuchu, and the third with simply Pikachu. Misty noticed he wasn't eating and turned around as well.

"You're the only one not to name your pikachu. That doesn't really surprise me." She said and Delia giggled.

Ash glared as Fire noticed they were talking about the pikachu. "Mine's the best, y'know. Her name's Chuchu. Red's is Pika."

"I like her flower," she said, referring to the little red flower tucked behind Chuchu's ear. If realising that she was being talked about Chuchu looked up from her bowl and squeaked happily before returning to her meal. Misty smiled. "She's adorable."

"Too little," Leaf grumbled.

"Huh?"

"They're too little to battle with," she clarified. "I'd feel bad sending them into battle."

Fire rolled his eyes. "You had a jigglypuff for ages before you evolved her – didn't you ever feel bad about battling with her?"

"Nope. Jigglypuff was a travel only pokémon."

Misty scrunched up her face. "How do you travel... oh!" She exclaimed. "Duh, I see – as a travelling partner."

Leaf gave a grin that took up her whole face. "You'd think so."

Misty furrowed her eyebrows, and went to ask what she meant when Delia piped up.

"Red!" She exclaimed. "How's Vee? I haven't seen him for so long. He was such a good companion. I loved those nights when you were home – Vee could curl up in my lap at night and fall straight to sleep, the dear."

Misty was surprised that she was addressing her eldest with a question – from what she had seen of him, he was rue to speak in front of people he didn't know – like her – if he was even willing to speak at lengths at all. But Delia had asked him a question that required more than a motion of his head. She snuck a look towards Red curiously, and was immensely surprised to see a smile on his face.

"He's great!" He exclaimed, sending Misty reeling. "I think he should've been a glaceon, he loves the snow on Mt. Silver so much – I always catch him running around and playing around in it. He's so funny," he said quickly, as though he couldn't get the words out fast enough. "But there's no Ice Rock in Kanto, so I guess there would've been no chance of it happening. There's one in Sinnoh, but that's ages away. I hear glaceons are pretty common overseas in western regions since there are more weird rocks there. Anyway, you wanna see him? I have him right here."

Misty watched, barely containing her confusion as Red pulled a pokéball from his waist and throwing it violently – in the house no less. The ball ricocheted off of a cabinet – causing everyone else in the room to wince – and into the middle of the room where an espeon appeared. The pokémon looked momentarily confused about the surroundings before jumping up onto his owners lap.

"I haven't introduced him to Gary's umbreon yet – I was wondering if I should? I don't have a lot of experience with eevees and its evolutions and I'm worried that they're competitive around others of their own species. I mean, Vee's been a vaporeon, and a jolteon, and a flareon, but he's never been around other eevee evolutions. Well, apart from Green's eevee but she totally doesn't count."

Misty could see Leaf and Fire across from her pointedly avoiding looking at Red, while Ash was extremely focused on shovelling more food into his mouth. She looked at Delia and was surprised at the mother's expression of pain.

"Red, honey," she said, her voice brittle. "Why don't you have some more food? You've barely touched it."

Red shrugged and lifted Vee off of his lap and onto the floor. "I think I'm gonna go for a bike ride. I haven't been on one of those for a while! Maybe I'll go and see if the professor needs help with dinner – I'm sure Leaf surprised him with her offer!" He exclaimed and laughed as he ran around the house gathering his stuff.

Once his hat was on his head he waved at his silent family and took off out the door, Vee and Pika hot on his heels. The door slammed behind him.

The silence that overtook the room was stifling, but Misty was too nervous to break it. The siblings went back to their meal quietly but Delia got up sharply.

"Excuse me," she murmured softly before retreating upstairs. A door could faintly be heard clicking shut.

Fire let out a sigh and dropped his fork loudly. "Fuck me."

"He hasn't done that in a while, has he?" Leaf asked as she pushed her plate away from herself.

"I dunno," Ash muttered. "I've barely seen him for the past eight years. You guys know more about him than I do."

Fire shook his head and rubbed his eyes wearily. "It's been a while. I don't know what he's like on that mountain, but he's always... always quiet when I go to visit him." The words were forced out, as though it pained him to say it.

Leaf bit her lip before getting up to begin clearing the table. Plates of food were left over. "I think I prefer the quiet Red. At least you know what he'll do when he's quiet," she muttered as she stacked dishes. Despite her confusion and shock, Misty stared to help out too and eventually so did Ash. But Fire stayed still.

"The quiet Red is the worst Red," Fire mumbled after a while, eyes downcast. "The quiet Red isn't my brother."