Work Text:
We could change the whole story of love
Same old play I’m getting tired of
No more acting these predictable roles
Just us living unconditional love
The screaming and chatter are giving Red a headache. There are too many people in this damn living room and he wants to leave. A kid pulls on his leg, he doesn’t even know her name. It’s Daisy’s daughter, or one of her friends’, he’s not really that sure actually. He smooths a thumb over Pikachu’s Poké ball on his belt, thinks about excusing himself and heading outside for a few minutes.
He throws a miserable glance over his shoulder at Blue, who is deep in conversation with his sister. It’s imperceptible, the way Blue is tensed, when he is so good at smoothing over the edges in his expression. The only giveaway is his hand on Red’s knee, flexing ever so slightly, grounding him when he’s stressed.
Red is about to say they actually have to leave in a bit, when Daisy angles herself towards him. “So? What about the two of you? Have you thought about it yet?”
Red furrows his eyebrows at Blue, not sure what it is that is being asked of him. He can guess it’s not good, because Blue suddenly bristles, hair standing wild in his neck. “I already told ya, didn’t I?”
Daisy sighs and leans back, features softening. “I don’t mean to start drama. Also, Blue, brother dearest, I asked Red. I wish you’d let him answer for himself for once.”
Red looks bewildered between the two siblings. He doesn’t want to answer for himself. He has no idea what they’re talking about. What’s wrong with letting Blue run social interference?
Blue grumbles and gets up from his chair. “I think it’s time we leave. You coming?” He looks to Red and instantly his face is gentle again, all sunshine and cloudless sky. Red’s heart flutters.
He nods and follows, no second thoughts. He’s vaguely aware of the indignant look Daisy is giving them, but he’s sure Blue will smooth it over somehow.
A few minutes later they are finally outside, and Red picks his Poké ball from his belt. Pikachu runs free through the flower beds of suburb Pallet Town, squeaking and happy. Red inhales the cool, fresh night air. Blue has grown strangely quiet next to him, so he turns and nudges him. So what was all that about?
“What? Oh, hah.” Blue pulls up his shoulders, scrunching them uncomfortably around his ears, hands in his pockets. “Daise was asking when we were finally gonna tie the knot.”
Red tilts his head, not sure he understands.
“Like. Get married. Settle down.”
Huh.
Red can’t honestly say he’s ever thought about it. He knows it’s something people seem to care an awful lot about, but he’s never quite worked out the intricacies. He turns back to Blue. What did you tell her?
Blue barks a laugh. “That she can go get bent. She knows I’m not into all that nonsense. I mean, do you seriously see me ever settling down and having children? A family?”
Red shakes his head no. Blue is a turbulent wind blowing through the streets of Kanto. It’s hard to imagine him ever stopping. That’s one of the things Red loves about him the most. Even now, so many years after their champion titles, it feels like the two of them are at the top of their game. The Pokémon World Tournament all but reaffirmed that.
Still, as they make their way up Route 1 towards Viridian, Blue keeps slowing to throw curious glances at Red, until Red finally has enough and turns around, stopping with his chest puffed out to block Blue’s path.
Blue walks right into him. “Hey, what—?”
Red looks at him with raised eyebrows. Out with it.
“Huh? Oh.” Blue grows uncharacteristically bashful suddenly, kicking at the ground with the tip of his shoe. “I was just wondering if… Would you want to?”
Red tilts his head.
“Get— married, I mean.”
It’s a strange question, and Red must look absolutely stumped, because Blue quickly over-corrects: “There’s some benefits to it, like financially and with social security and stuff. … All I mean is… We could now, y’know? It’s legal and everything.”
Red frowns. This is all a bit sudden. Before tonight, he barely paid any mind to the idea.
He gives it an honest moment’s thought. He supposes he does see himself spending the rest of his life with Blue. But then he thinks of Daisy and her husband, thinks of his parents before Dad’s death. Children running around and pulling his leg. Having to keep dangerous Pokémon inside their balls at all times so no one gets hurt. And who will care for all his Pokémon if he’s busy raising a human family. He knows many a trainer who has packed it in to start a family, but Red doesn’t want to give any of his Pokémon away. He doesn’t care that theres a whole garden of them behind Oak’s lab. He loves discovering new Pokémon and travelling to far-off places, and he doesn’t want Blue or anyone to get in the way of that.
He shakes his head decidedly no.
Blue’s expression loosens up. “Oh, thank god.”
Red smiles, small and relieved. They’re always bickering about one thing or the other, the two of them, but Red relishes living in the quiet comfort that they are so of one mind when it comes to the big things in life. Relationships, careers, Pokémon.
.
Dudunsparce crashes loudly through the window front, taking half the yoshizu screens and some of the tables and chairs with it. People and Pokémon scream as they jump out of the way, a small child cries somewhere.
“ARE YOU GIVING UP YET?!”
Blue’s Kleavor climbs through the broken window, axe-claw raised high and dangerous. The door to the small café flies open a second later and Red comes running out, holding an X Defense and Full Restore. Like hell he’s giving up.
Blue jumps after Kleavor, barely minding the shards on the ground, just as Red has patched up Dudunsparce and is ready to give it a new command. Blue’s eyes are wild and his teeth bared sharp. He’s angry angry.
The argument started somewhere around the time their coffee had arrived. Red was trying to explain to Blue that, no, the books on the high shelf in the living room were in a very specific order, and Blue didn’t look closely enough when he put them back. Blue disagreed, saying that no one could keep up with Red’s enigmatic sorting system (author, year, title, it’s really so obvious).
Red doesn’t know who pulled their Poké ball first.
Dudunsparce uses Protect, just as Kleavor descends with an X-Scissor. The impact causes smoke to billow in all directions, an agonizing screech as Kleavor's claw grinds down on the energy field.
Red grins. He orders Dudunsparce to use Dig and watches as it drills into the cobblestone, disappearing from sight while Kleavor is still regaining its footing.
Kleavor looks dumbly about for a moment, but turns into red energy just as Dudunsparce is coming up: Blue switches into Pidgeot.
"You're being so stubborn right now," he shouts, tapping the keystone chain around his neck. Pidgeot is enveloped in blinding light and grows majestic, long ribbons and tornados of upset air from its massive wings.
Before Red can command a Rock Slide, Dudunsparce is picked up and disappears into the blue sky, as Pidgeot prepares for a Sky Drop.
The owner of the café, a stern lady with an apron, leans against the door with crossed arms. She raises her eyes to where Dudunsparce's silhouette is descending at breakneck speed. "You two will not be welcome at this establishment going forward. I hope you are clear on this."
"Yes, ma'am," say Blue right as Dudunsparce crashes into the ground, K.O.
Red groans. He pulls out the next Poké ball and calls out Pikachu, with her little Z-crystal collar. He assumes the pose and closes his eyes as Pikachu comes alight with the force of ten-thousand lightning watt. Pidgeot is hit with an ear-bursting crash and falls to the ground just like Dudunsparce moments ago.
Kleavor is back out and circles Pikachu dangerously, sharpening its claws with another Swords Dance. It's no use, Red smirking, as Kleavor comes down on his ace Pokémon: Pikachu knows Protect, too.
"Stop with the fucking stalling tactics!" Blue roars. "You're so frustrating!"
Red bares his teeth, grin splitting the world open, and Pikachu jolts forward with her tail glowing, Iron Tail straight on Kleavor's rocky exoskeleton.
Kleavor crashes into the wall across the alley and remains on the ground, motionless.
People and their Pokémon duck out of hiding, the baby stops crying. A man approaches carefully, scratches his chin. "Are the two of you okay? That didn't look healthy."
Red frowns and shoots Blue a look. What is this guy talking about?
"We were just working out a small dispute," Blue explains. Red nods along eagerly.
"You mean this is... normal for you two?" More worried faces in the crowd. Red feels dread flow down his spine.
We're fine, he explains to the best of his abilities, this is just how we argue.
Blue agrees, says, "We were just working it out in battle. We're good now, right?" He smiles, and Red knows the loss is forgiven.
Red makes a big thumbs-up. The man looks entirely bewildered.
"Please seek therapy," he mutters as he turns away. "At least for the sake of the rest of us."
Red and Blue are left standing in the rubble, turned toward one another. "I'm sorry about the books," Blue says. "I'll be more careful next time." Red nudges him playfully, all is forgiven.
Blue then surveys the ruins they’ve left and sighs with faint wistfulness. “We’re running out of places we’re not banned from.”
.
They're quiet as they get home. Blue puts on a kettle and then they're sitting on the sofa, each absent-mindedly streaking their hands through the fur of the Pokémon in their lap. Pikachu and Sylveon are timid, sensing the tension in the air.
Finally, Blue dares speak. "Was that... bad?"
Red purses his lips, thinks. Not as far as I can tell.
"Right." Sylveon mewls and jumps off the sofa when Blue pulls his knees to his chest. "Just... I guess I never really thought about how it might... look."
Red nods along slowly. The reaction of the people at the café still has him puzzled. Red and Blue always do this: battle things out when it gets heated. If they didn't, they'd get snappy with each other, cruel in small intentional ways that would not be good for either of them. This is just what they do. And they've always done this, from day one. Red has never questioned it once.
Blue sighs. He scooches until he is pressed against Red's side and lets his head fall on his shoulder. Pikachu nuzzles against his hand, a sign of deep empathy. Pikachu and Blue can normally not stand each other.
"Maybe... I don't know."
Red looks at him. He can never tell what it is Blue is thinking when he gets like this, mind going thousand miles an hour, taking inventory of every possible option. It is awe-inspiring but scary at once. Red can't follow Blue to those places, the recesses of his mind.
He puts an arm around Blue's shoulders and pulls him close, smells his hair, presses a soft kiss to his temple, rubs with his thumb against the tenseness in his neck.
After a long time, finally, Blue speaks. "What if it's not good for us?" Real fear in his eyes when he turns. Red's chest hurts at the sight.
Red exhales. He's going to need a notepad to write this down. He gets up and grabs one from the nearest side table. He always keeps them strewn around the house, and pencils, for situations like this. He can use his words just fine, he just prefers this, especially for the difficult talks.
He returns to the sofa and squeezes up against Blue, pressed tightly as he begins scribbling. It takes him a long time to get the words right.
By the time he's done, there's not a lot. He holds the notepad out to Blue, knows that Blue appreciates even just the effort of Red trying to articulate. Blue reads the two sentences on the paper: I don't think it's bad if it works for us. We don't need to do things just because others tell us to.
He scoffs exasperatedly, eyes rimmed red. "Yeah. Maybe." He curls tight against Red, and they spend the rest of the evening on the sofa falling asleep in each other's arms.
There's only them: two rivals who were forged together by a childhood that is difficult to explain, that no one but them can understand. Two lovers against the world.
.
It is a fact of some sort of irony that it should rain on the day of Mr. Fuji's funeral, Blue considers, as they set out on that gray Friday morning, even the sky mourning with an uncomfortable darkness; clouding the skies of Kanto on their flight to Lavender Town.
Mr. Fuji's death is not something that came sudden or unprepared. It was long foreseeable, and the community of the larger region has had considerable time to prepare for it. It is therefore, maybe, Blue thinks, the strangest funeral service he has attended.
Unlike the funeral of his grandmother, or that of his parents, the tears spilled are not in wailing agony, but instead cathartic, an ending to a long and fulfilled life of someone who loved freely and cornucopiously. Blue holds Red's hand as they stand at the grave and say their quiet final goodbyes.
After the service, people linger at the community house, which would lie empty if it weren't for all the caretakers and Pokémon who remain, Fuji's absence filled even now with a palpable sense of calm and belonging. Blue lets his Marowak run around to meet its sibling, the Cubone of Pokémon Tower which was once brutally held hostage by Team Rocket, orphaned to remain with Fuji until the very end.
Blue's grandfather is here, among the many people who have come to pay their respects, and they circle each other awkwardly for a long time before Blue can't bear it any longer and greets him sheepishly.
"It is good to see you," says Gramps in that careful tone he uses these days whenever he is trying to be extra civil for Blue's sake. As if now — all these years later — sudden reparations are something that Blue would want or have any use for.
"Right," Blue says. "Red didn't want to come alone." He motions to Red, who is talking to a Pokémon Ranger, an old personal friend of Fuji's. Scientists, trainers, Pokémon from all over: they all have gathered here. Even now, with the Pokémon Tower gravesite relocated and the absence of Fuji, things seem to run themselves. Tradition continues, the community remains. Fuji had no blood relatives of his own, but the love comes in the shape of many friends who have become family over the years. It makes Blue thoughtful.
"How's the lab?" he says to his grandfather for the sake of saying anything at all. There is no love here, only trepidation. Blue is an adult, and now it is up to the two of them to see eye to eye even with all the uncomfortable history hanging in the air between them.
"It goes, it goes," Gramps says, and the conversation is already over before it ever really began. They have nothing to say to each other. And yet, in this small community house, Blue feels that their differences don't matter so much.
"I'll be outside to have a smoke," Blue says.
Gramps for a moment gives him a disapproving look, already half wants to say something, before considering otherwise. "I will join you," he decides timidly.
They stand outside under the roofed entrance, Blue in his funeral suit, Gramps in his lab coat. He offers his grandfather a cigarette without comment, and then they stand, a close-to-companianable silence.
"I've been thinking," Blue says, working up to something he is only just articulating to himself as he is speaking. "Maybe there's still a chance that Red and I might settle down. Y'know. Have a family. All this." He motions around, at the building, the general atmosphere.
His grandfather watches him closely, carefully restrained in his own emotions, like Blue can't take it after all this time to hear him speak his mind openly. "If that is what you two think is right."
Blue doesn't know what Gramps actually thinks of his relationship with Red. They've never had that particular conversation, Blue has never sat his grandfather down to formally come out to him. He can still infer a lot, read it in the ways Gramps does not talk about certain things.
Red joins them after a while, quietly tugs himself into Blue's space, seeking comfort, even with the cigarette smell clinging to Blue's suit jacket. "I've been thinking," Blue repeats to him, and Gramps excuses himself politely, giving the two of them space for that conversation.
Red listens as Blue gives his reasoning: how his fears held him back, how the thought of a family was too painful after his parents died, how he didn't want to end up like his sister. Red is a good listener, better than people realize. He actively engages, holds eye contact, takes everything Blue tells him seriously.
By the time Blue has finished speaking, the rain has become a mild drizzle, the soft pattering on the roofs of Lavender Town a disarmingly soothing atmosphere. Red looks at him for a long time, thinking. Blue gives him that space. He doesn't need an answer now, he only looked to speak his mind, after the day has brought forth all these revelations Blue didn't know were pent up inside of him.
Finally, Red gets out his phone. Opens the notes app. Types. For a long time, he is quiet, dip between the eyebrows and fingers clumsy. Then he turns his phone around for Blue to read, one simple sentence written out plainly:
You wouldn't survive it.
Blue exhales softly. A grin curls around his cheeks, and then he's laughing, hoarsely and light, all the tension flowing out of him. "You're right," he tells Red. Red is always right.
What is it with him always clinging to things he knows he can't have, Blue asks himself. Is this day not the prime example that they can have all the things they want without committing themselves to those institutions that seek to take their freedoms?
There is no spouse, no children claiming inheritance. Fuji lived his life solitary. By all prognoses he should have died lonely and forgotten. Yet here they all are. Even Blue, who has spoken to the man twice in his life, is moved by the turnout, all the people who have come to participate in the sendoff of a life well lived. It’s clear who will stay the night, who will be back tomorrow, who will keep the light on, all roles sorted.
Red is right. They can do whatever the hell they want.
.
Mt. Silver is actually quite nice this time of year if you bring a real jacket. Red knows better now than all those years ago, so he did. He stands at the precipice, looking across the cliffs cascading down towards the Indigo Plateau, out over the skylines of Kanto.
He comes here sometimes to think. It’s different now: he leaves Blue a note, explaining, and there is no one left behind who worries, no one who gets hurt by Red’s restless movements.
Red looks and he thinks and he watches the sunrise and remembers Mr. Fuji. He remembers Mewtwo, Cerulean Cave, what an ordeal that was. He remembers a few years ago, and then again last week, both times when he descended into Rock Tunnel to check on the local Kangaskhan population.
Could he ever settle down? When he thinks about it, nervous tingling fills his legs, like a thousand tiny Durant crawling over him, making his muscles tense and spasm. He doesn’t like that feeling. He doesn’t like imagining sitting at home for fourty years, quietly toiling away at some desk job, wearing suits and ties and briefcases and whatever it is that respectable men do. He knows his father did, before all the circumstances leading up to his death, but Red just can’t see himself there.
But maybe that’s the point. Maybe he doesn’t have to.
A flock of Skarmory circles up above, and he feels their metallic wingflaps resonate in the air. Somewhere down the hill, a Piloswine has just emerged from its cave and is now whetting its tusks on a treestump. An Ursaring nearby growls quietly as it climbs into a Beedrill nest for honey.
How is Red to leave all this behind? When this place, these creatures, have made him feel more at home than any ‘civilized’ place ever has?
He loves training out here, he loves capturing new companions, he loves doing it all the world over, as long as he doesn’t have to sit around the same place for too long. Does that make him the problem?
But Blue doesn’t mind.
That is the crux of it all. Blue has never minded, if anything has actively encouraged him, since day one, to explore any nook and cranny of this world, who has delighted in pushing him forward, even in teasing play, prodding each other who could do it faster, who could go farther, experience this life to its most fullest.
Pikachu comes out of her ball to nuzzle at Red’s palm, and he quietly lets her, fully gives himself over to the world and nature and Pokémon. He doesn’t have to cage himself in, and now he is old enough to embrace that.
.
Red has been nursing his diet coke for a good hour when Misty says the sentence that changes the trajectory of the evening. He doesn't often tag along with Blue when he goes out with his gym leader friends, but he felt companionable tonight and this dive bar tucked away in the backstreets of Vermillion is cozy enough to make it pleasant.
The others are all several beers in — and Sabrina insisted on getting shots — so other than Erika, who is sitting across from Red with her flowery mocktail, the rest are approaching proper drunkness at rapid speed. Brock is holding his own the best, with his handsomely flushed cheeks and glimmer in his eye, while Misty has just been getting more and more antsy, prickling Blue with scandalizing questions for the sake of gossip.
"There's nothing to tell, really," Blue recounts the story of how he found out Lance had proposed to a businesswoman from Hoenn. "He just showed me the ring he picked out and that's how I found out he was seeing anyone at all. I mean, we haven't really heard of Lance dating, right?"
They all shake their heads in unison. "I think it's sweet," Erika comments softly. "He deserves someone nice after dealing with us for so many years." The group of gym leaders laugh. Red quietly agrees with her sentiment. Even including him, their collective has given Lance enough grief for a lifetime. Half the reason he had to deal with Blue for so long is because Red refused the champion title and fled to Mt. Silver after their Hall of Fame debuts. It's nice to think that Lance can find some peace.
"Either way, before any of you ask, I already had to tell my sister to buzz off about it the other week," Blue continues. Sabrina arches an eyebrow. Brock and Misty exchange glances.
"I don't think any of us were asking," Brock says carefully.
"Yeah," Misty agrees, visibly mindful of her words. "We all know that marriage isn't something that's on the table for you two. You never would want to marry, Blue, and that's okay."
Even as she says it, she must realize the mistake of her words. She hiccups and flushes, covering her mouth with one manicured hand.
Sabrina sighs. "Here we go."
Before Red even looks, he already knows Blue has begun working himself into a rage. By the time he does, Blue's eyebrows have pulled together in a complicated fashion. "Is that—? Are you saying—? Is that a challenge?!"
"No!" go four gym leader voices in unison. Erika holds up her hands in panic, Brock has grabbed Blue's shoulders, perhaps to soothe him, perhaps to keep him in his seat.
Blue glares at Red. "My friends are impossible, Red," he whines, making a big production of the fact. "They really think we wouldn't manage getting married."
"That's not what I meant, Blue—"
"No one is saying—"
Red sighs and smiles into his drink. He should have seen this coming. Ever since the funeral, Blue has quietly been working himself up about this. Even though Red told him his honest thoughts, that Blue would not be able to live with it, he could tell that Blue started brooding over the matter.
.
Blue is quiet on the flight home. Contemplative. He sits in the front on Charizard's back, squeezed between its neck and Red for safety. When they land, he slides off and takes a moment to steady himself, letting the beers and the sake (and a second shot) settle before he shakes his head, eyes going clearer again.
Red unlocks the apartment door and heads in first, always aware that Blue's eyes have begun trailing up his back. And indeed, by the time they make it to the living room, Blue's arms have wrapped themselves around Red's torso and are pulling him in close.
"We should get married," he slurs into the back of Red's shirt.
Red chuckles to himself and twists around in Blue's arms so they're face to face. Blue looks so pretty in the dim lights of their apartment. Red grabs him by the cheeks and rubs gentle circles into his jawline with his thumbs. How would it work? he asks in gazes, asking Blue to grant him access into that labyrinthine mind world of his.
Blue smiles sleepily. "We don't tell anyone. I know a guy in Saffron City who still owes me from a botched legal case about an old Rocket contraption in the gym who could officiate. It wouldn't get to the press, it won't get to our families. And then we run away together."
Red frowns. To where?
Blue shrugs with one shoulder. "Iunno. I hear Alola is nice this time of year... I mean it's nice pretty much always. This guy Kukui who came to the gym a while ago? He's the professor there. Wants to build a Pokémon League. And he said he's looking for strong trainers to head a battle facility there. There's no way he'll turn us down. We'd have a stable income and we can stay as long as we want. New region, new Pokémon. I think Gramps has a cousin there who could help us move. How's that sound?"
Red is already smitten by the time Blue gets to the end of the paragraph. He imagines the mountains, the ocean, the tropical climate. He could take Lapras for swims and go on long hikes. They could even take all their Pokémon if they find a nice wild area for them to roam. He looks back into Blue's eyes. They're iridescent and perfect.
Red leans in and kisses him.
Blue grins against his lips. "I just thought," he says once they break apart, suddenly serious, "that all this is never going to be us." He is talking about his sister, about settling down and kids. "I want to see the world and keep travelling and battling until my legs give out. I want to do that with you. I don't care if it's not— traditional, or whatever. As long as you're there, I don't care what we do."
Red cocks an eyebrow inquisitively. So why get married at all?
Blue sputters, bending over in his arms from laughter. "Because I've been wrecking my brain over this for ages. The older I get, the more I realize that I can never escape what happened to me. You know, my parents, the commitment issues. My grandfather.” He gives Red a meaningful look. “But I think… now that I’m older, I feel like I have more control over it. If getting married is what freaks me out so much, why not just do it? Why not make it our own thing? If Misty says I can’t do it—”
Red nudges Blue gently. I’m sure Misty didn’t mean all that.
“I don’t care!” Blue’s grin cracks from ear to ear. “I don’t care. I just want to prove them wrong. All of them. We’ll get married and then once we’re tired of it we’ll get divorced, and we’ll show them that it’s all on our terms. No one gets to tell us anything anymore.”
Red’s head is spinning. He feels the familiar tingle under his skin, the onset of one of Blue’s ideas that will completely shift the course of their lives for the next few years. It’s like staying in the same hotel room at the PWT, it’s like moving in together in the apartment above the gym after one month of dating. It’s like telling the entire world that it can go screw itself because there really is no wrong way to live your life. It’s frantic, chaotic, erratic. It’s everything Red loves about Blue. Constantly pushing boundaries, constantly pushing each other to be better. Getting married to spite everyone.
Red leans in and presses another kiss to Blue’s lips, hard and wanting.
They’re going to Alola.