After You

Red has been stuck in a meeting with The League for more than two hours now. Lance has Diantha on a conference call and they're deep in conversation about budget limitations, inter-regional connections, or whatever else has stricken their fancy this particular week. For some reason, Lance insisted the Elite Four be present for this.

Looking around the room, Red finds solace in the fact that at least Bruno and Karen seem to be just as bored as he is. And just as he's resigning himself to a few more hours of uninteresting — if necessary — politics, leaning against the table and propping his face with his hand, Red's phone rings.

The room goes deathly silent except for the annoying chirping coming out of Red's pocket. Lance stares at him with his eyebrows slightly raised, expression otherwise completely flat, and Red stares back bravely as he pulls the phone out, glancing at the screen.

"Green's sister," he says, looking back up at his colleagues and gesturing towards his still shrilling phone as if his meaning wasn't clear enough. It stops ringing then, only to start up again within a few seconds.

Lance's eyebrows quirk up either. "Don't let us keep you," he says. "It is quite obviously important."

It is also quite obvious that Lance is annoyed with Red ditching the meeting early, but Red is confident that he's allowed. Technically, as the Champion he is the highest-ranking member of the Indigo League, but it has been proven time and time again that the institution is much better off with Lance being in charge. Red usually agrees with his decisions, anyway — as does Green, no matter how loudly he complains. It's a comfortable, working arrangement that all parties involved are content with, so Red knows Lance wouldn't hesitate to keep him if he was truly needed for anything today.

Red pushes himself up and quickly ducks out of the room , nodding at Lance and giving Diantha a quick bow. Closing the door behind himself — ignoring Bruno's look of blatant envy — Red finally picks up the phone.

 

Two hours later, Red and his Charizard land on top of Mt. Silver.

The summit is much the same as when Red left it. Cold, hostile, and quiet except for the ever-present howling wind; covered in snow at all times, regardless of the weather in the lowlands. Once upon a time, Red was content to call this place his home, despite — or maybe because of — its oppressive emptiness and solitude.

Except this time, it's not entirely solitary.

Green is sitting on the far ledge just at the very edge of Red's vision, hair ruffled by the sharp wind. He doesn't look up or turn around at Red's arrival, even though he must have heard him land — Red knows sound carries here from personal experience, after all. No, Green doesn't acknowledge Red's presence at all, too busy staring into the distance instead.

Red's stomach twists. It had been wavering between both relief at having finally found Green after hours of fruitless searching, and worry at what state of mind he's going to find Green in.

After all, it's usually Red who runs here.

He sighs, patting Charizard in gratitude before he calls him back in his Pokeball, and slowly makes his way through the wind and snow towards Green. Each of his crunching footsteps echoes in the silence, as loud as a gunshot.

Green keeps his back turned to Red, and Red approaches him as carefully as he would a wild Pokemon — slowly and keeping a respectable distance. He almost expects Green to charge him with fury or flee in panic, but he does neither; he sits in the bare snow and doesn't acknowledge Red's presence in any way, not even when Red comes to a stop next to him.

He eyes Green, waiting. He doesn't sit or speak. He can be patient.

Green's shoulders are hunched and he's hugging his knees, chin propped up — the perfect picture of a sulking child, and Red purses his lips at the thought to stop himself from smiling. They're both wearing only their casual clothes, a light jacket and jeans, but Green must have been sitting here for a while now, and is probably freezing in the snow. He still hasn't spoken or even moved, and Red actually wonders if he's alive. He frowns, squinting hard.

Green appears to be breathing, and that at least is a relief. Red sighs again for what feels like a hundredth time that day and —

"Stop sighing so much," Green says, voice oddly flat and quiet. "How did you know where to find me?"
Red sucks in a breath, blinking down at Green. "I didn't," he says after a beat of silence. He had no idea Green would be here — he only tried the mountain in a very desperate last attempt at trying to locate him.

Green finally turns to look at him then, eyebrows quirked up, something almost sardonic in his expression.

Red shrugs. "Daisy called me," he admits.

Green snorts, and looks away. "Of course she did. What did she tell you?"

Red shrugs again. Slowly and carefully, he lowers himself down into the snow next to Green, wincing. It's been a long time since he spent any significant amount of time here, and he feels the cold to the marrow of his bones; he's gotten used to their warm, soft sofa and comfortable carpets since his return to civilization. He shifts closer to Green almost unconsciously, until their shoulders are nearly touching. "She said you fought," he says.

Green nods. "Right. Me and Gramps did."

He sounds tired, and Red watches Green out of the corner of his eyes. He stays quiet, however; he respects Green's apparent need for silence, already feeling like an intruder. If Green had wanted company, he would have sought him out himself, but Daisy's call had been so urgent and panicked that any concern for Green's privacy didn't even cross Red's mind.

But mostly, Red doesn't say anything because he's so rarely put in a position where he's the one who has to fill up Green's empty spaces.

He doesn't say anything because he simply doesn't know what to say.

Green and his grandfather fight on a regular basis, and Green has gotten remarkably skilled at tuning the professor out. His common reactions to being pissed off are shouting nonsense at no one in particular, and an increase in challengers that run from the Viridian Gym screaming. It's unlike him to react so intensely and petulantly.

Red's hands itch with the need to reach out and soothe whatever damage Green has been dealt.

"Ah, what the hell," Green says, before Red gathers the courage to speak, and tilts his head back. "You're probably gonna hear about it sooner or later anyway, because no one in my goddamn family knows when to shut up."

Red suppresses a smile; he wants to say something about the irony of that statement, coming from Green of all people, but —

"I told them I was thinking of asking you to marry me."

Silence.

Red turns to Green so abruptly it almost gives him a whiplash. He stares at him with wide eyes, jaw hanging open, mind blank.

Everything is quiet around them except the wind.

"Made you speechless, didn't I?" Green says wryly, still looking somewhere past the horizon. For a brief moment, there's a spark in his expression again, a look of mischief, but his grin soon turns humorless again. He drops his chin back against his knees. "Let's just say the old man wasn't too happy about it."

Red takes a few careful breaths. "I don't care what he thinks," he says in the end, his voice a bit rough.

"It's pathetic, but I do," Green replies. "I think that Daisy was just happy we didn't break up or something, but — yeah. Gramps is worried that I… traumatized you into a relationship, apparently."

"I'm not traumatized," Red says.

"You could try telling him that, then, cause he doesn't believe me." Raising his voice, Green barks out, "It's fucking ridiculous! He keeps acting like I have the monopoly on being the world's worst person. What about you, huh? You're not exactly blameless in all this."

"This?" Red asks.

"This whole shitty mountain business! It's not like I told you to hole yourself up and not talk to anyone for years." Green turns to scowl at Red. "I know you can talk, but when I tell Gramps it's just him you don't want to talk to, he gets offended." Green scoffs and Red prepares himself for another tirade, but all of Green's indignant anger seems to have left him.

They both fall silent for a while.

Green is so visibly upset, and there must be something that Red could say to make him feel better. It's usually what Green does for him when he's in a funk — he talks and talks until Red can't even think about what troubled him in the first place, but all Red has to offer is his silence and his company.

Except, this time there's a question on Red's mind, and so Red clears his throat and asks. "Do you want to marry me?"

"Well, yeah," Green says. "I even got a ring and everything. I mean — it's pretty clear at this point that we're stuck together, don't you think?"

Red holds out his open hand and watches Green fish through his pocket for a moment before he leans over and drops the ring in Red's palm. It feels almost hot against his skin, retaining some of Green's body heat from where it's been pressed against his thigh. It's a painful contrast to the freezing air around them, and Red hurriedly slips the silver band onto his finger to keep it warm.

Next to him, Green exhales hard as if he's been holding his breath. "And we're engaged," he announces, as if Red didn't know. He leans back against his hand and angles his whole body towards Red. "I'm not really sure which one of us proposed."

"I asked," Red tells him, "and you said yes."

Green's eyes narrow and his nose scrunches up, and before Red knows it, Green has pushed him over into the snow. "Dick," he snaps at him. "You just have to beat me at everything, don't you? And people think I traumatized you!" Green jumps to his feet then, scowling at Red from above. "See if I help you get up."

Red holds out his hand towards Green and the ring glistens in the sun like a jewel, despite it being a plain, silver band. Green glances at Red's hand and stares at it for a moment, blinking a few times owlishly before he meets Red's eyes and reaches out to grab his hand, yanking Red to his feet.

"My pants are all wet," Green says. They're standing chest to chest, hands still intertwined. "And I think I'm at least mildly hypothermic. I hate this place. Let's get out of here."

He tugs at Red's hand gently, and they walk together through the snow, careful. Red has no idea where they're headed; he doubts Green intends to walk all the way back to Viridian City, but even if he did, it wouldn't matter; Red would follow after him anyway, just like he always has, and would consider himself lucky for doing so.

He looks down at their joined hands. The ring is a foreign weight against his fingers, but combined with the familiar warmth of Green's skin on his, it feels oddly comforting, like it belongs there. Red could probably get used to it.

"I can't believe you lived here for three years," Green mutters under his breath.

The funniest thing is, neither can Red.