Notes: I started off trying to write a sort-of-sequel to burnt bridges, and it evolved into this... behemoth of 9000+ words. I don't know what to say for myself, so I'll just settle for saying that I hope you find it enjoyable.

Characters/Pairings: Green/Red, Leaf. Post-G/S/C , HG/SS.

Warnings: Cursing.

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon.

melted

And then it was over in a moment of searing heat that overtook the frozen cold of the mountain, leaving nothing but puddles in its wake.

He hadn't known it could rain on Mt. Silver…

—… —

When Green arrives at his apartment after a long day of battling persistent challengers to find the front door slightly ajar, he curses Leaf under his breath. Not calling ahead about an upcoming visit is one thing (and perfectly ordinary, seeing as how it's Leaf), but getting into his apartment, raiding his fridge and then forgetting to lock the door after her is another thing entirely.

It's not even that there's anything of particular value in his apartment. Green's never been the kind of person that forms attachments to material things, and he practically lives at the gym these days, only returning home when he absolutely needs to.

It's just, well… the principle of the matter, damn it.

But then he notices that the door was forced open, and shit, that's a whole different situation altogether.

He fumbles for Eevee's poké ball on his belt, nudging the door forward with his foot cautiously and peering in. The apartment's dark and everything looks to be in order, but Green watched one too many horror movies as a kid, and he knows that a serial killer could be lying in wait for him in the darkness.

Swallowing the lump in his throat, Green makes his way into the apartment, heart pounding so loud he thinks it's about to explode. When the living room turns out to be devoid of serial killers, he half-expects for it to have been Leaf after all. It wouldn't have been unusual for her to have lost the spare key he'd made her.

His brows furrow in annoyance, his sweaty hand clenching around his poké ball. "Leaf! If this is your idea of a joke, it isn't funny at all!"

No response. Green sighs, running a hand through his hair tiredly. He wonders if he could've just forgotten to lock the front door on his rush to get to work. He has been stressed lately, and it's not entirely implausible that he'd just forgotten –

There's a crash coming from the kitchen, and without thinking, Green runs into the kitchen, poké ball ready to fire at the sight of an intruder…

"You picked the wrong apartment to break into, you ba—," his mouth stops working of its own accord, eyes widening at the sight.

Huddled in the corner, red and white hat shielding his eyes from view, is an unmistakable figure, clutching a battered yellow mouse in his arms protectively.

Green can't believe it.

"R-Red…?" he chokes out.

The intruder turns his head to look at him, revealing crimson eyes and jet black hair.

Green drops the poké ball to the floor with a clang and a flash of light.

—…—

They're sitting in the Pokémon Center, waiting for Nurse Joy to finish administering some much needed aid to Red's battered team.

Green's eyes sting in the fluorescent lights of the Center, and he rubs them wearily. He hadn't gotten any sleep the previous night, the usual insomnia driving him to fill out paperwork. Somehow, he had managed to deal with all the challengers the next day in his customary manner, but he had been hoping to get home and sleep it off.

Figures, he thinks bitterly. It's just like Red to turn his best-laid plans on their heads without even trying.

He sneaks a glance at his silent companion out of the corner of his eye. His skin and clothes caked with dirt, swollen purple bags under his red eyes, cuts and bruises across his pale (too pale) face, hair unkempt and wild beneath the hat… he looks like hell, like he'd been thrown around by one of the raging tyranitar that lived in the mountain. He's skinny, too, way too skinny, and Green wonders what Red ate up there, in the wilderness. If he even ate anything at all.

He's about to open his mouth and try to get an explanation out of Red or something, because who shows up at their rival's apartment after two years of nothing with half-dead pokémon anyway, but Nurse Joy shows up, holding a tray lined with Red's battered, old poké balls gingerly.

In his lap, Eevee stands to attention, her anxious eyes immediately focusing on Pikachu's poké ball. "Vui," she mewls in concern, and Green has to hold her back from jumping for it and knocking over the whole tray in the process.

"Your pokémon are going to be fine, young man," Nurse Joy says, expression fierce, "But not only did they sustain serious battle injuries… most of them were severely malnourished, and there were signs of old wounds that were never treated properly and healed incorrectly," the nurse's eyes flash angrily at him, "I don't know what kind of training regimen you had them on, but you won't be putting them back on it. Do you understand?"

Serious injuries. Malnourished. Old wounds that never healed correctly. Green tries to swallow the lump in his throat, which is suddenly dry. Just what had they gone through up there…?

Red nods wordlessly, and takes back his poké balls. When he finishes reattaching them to his belt, he limps his way out the doors and into the night. Eevee, intent on following Pikachu, jumps off Green's lap and runs after Red. Muttering a quick thanks to Nurse Joy, Green follows.

When Green's eyes find them, his rival is halfway down the street despite his limp with Eevee doggedly on his heels. "Red!" he calls.

Red stops, but he doesn't turn around.

Green has never been good at this, much less with Red. He can't remember a time when he ever spoke a kind word to him, and his tongue, accustomed to insults and jeers, feels weighed down with inexperience. He wonders what he should do, and tries to think of what his sister would say in a situation like this. There are so many questions, so many things he wants to know.

But all that comes out is an awkward "where are you staying?", and when Red stays silent and doesn't walk away, Green looks down at Eevee, who regards him with impatient dark eyes that leave him with no alternative.

He sighs; that doesn't mean he has to like it.

"Come on," he says gruffly, and walks past Red, leading the way back to his apartment.

After a few moments, Red follows.

—…—

The next morning, he wonders if he should have let Red take the bed.

Last night, exhaustion had kept him from really processing what condition Red was in. Now, in the early morning light, Green can see that Nurse Joy's assessment didn't just apply to his pokémon.

Pushing back the newfound guilt that claws at the pit of his stomach, he pads into the kitchen to make breakfast and get ready for work. Eevee seems intent on staying with Red, so Green moves her bowl of poké food near the couch where Red is still sleeping, and watches with concern as she ignores it.

When he leaves, he puts a plate of breakfast on the kitchen table with a curt note attached.

Don't you dare leave. –Green

—…—

Surprisingly, Green is anxious to get back home.

Throughout the day, his mind was preoccupied with thoughts of Red, of what had happened to him. Of why on Earth he was back, above all. His preoccupation (and Eevee's absence) was painstakingly apparent throughout the course of the day; many a challenger that he and Eevee would have trounced on one of their worst days claimed an Earth Badge, which irked him. Green has always hated to lose, let it be to Red and Leaf or the occasional challenger.

While opening the door to his apartment after a long day of this, he wonders what exactly it is that Red is doing to him.

Eevee greets him at the door, rubbing against his leg lovingly. "Hey girl," he says, kneeling and giving her an affectionate rub behind the ears, "Today sucked without you."

She whines in apology, and Green smiles despite himself; he can never stay mad at Eevee.

Noticing the conspicuous absence of Red on the couch, Green wonders if he had left. I wouldn't put it past him, he's done it before. Green snorts at the thought; hell, he'd done it for two years.

Making his way into the kitchen, he finds that the breakfast he laid out for Red was gone, the plate devoid of any crumbs. Sardonically, Green puts it in the sink, crumbling up the note and throwing it into the trash angrily.

It figures that Red would do this. He was probably back at Mt. Silver already, intent on killing himself and all of his pokémon. Green knows that Red is reckless and hardheaded, but he never thought that he was stupid, especially after being told about the condition that his stupid training left his team in.

Whatever, Green thinks, making his way to his room. It's not like he's my responsibility. We're not even friends; haven't been for a long time.

Opening the door to his room, Green yawns, intent on actually getting a whole night's sleep this time… and stops cold.

There, curled in the fetal position with Pikachu snoozing soundly against his chest, was Red, still as dirty as he had been the day before. Immediately, the guilt from the previous night is gone at the thought of his soiled sheets and the sheer gall of Red to presume to take his bed. Fuming, Green considers kicking him off the bed (out of his apartment), but a reproachful look from Eevee, who jumps up on the bed and curls protectively at the foot of the bed, shuts him up.

Lips tight with anger, Green storms out of the room.

—…—

The shrill sound of the phone wakes him up with a jolt. Blearily, he looks at the angry red numbers glaring at him from his shabby DVD player, and promptly lets out a string of curses. 3:21 a.m.

"This better be good," he growls into the receiver, palm pressed against his forehead to relieve the nascent headache he finds there.

"Well hello to you too, grouch."

Green groans. "Do you have any idea what time it is?"

"It's afternoon in Sinnoh," Leaf replies blithely.

"Yeah, well, it's three in the morning in Kanto," he snaps.

"Please, as if you were actually sleeping."

Green sighs. If she had called only fifteen minutes earlier, she would have been right. But seeing as how she didn't, and she had, in fact, woken Green up from the first relatively restful sleep he's had in days, he resolves to be mad at her.

"I was," he retorts.

"Oh, sorry then," Leaf says, and Green mumbles something profane about Leaf's virtue (or lack thereof) under his breath. "Golly, Green. I love you too."

"Well? I'm assuming this isn't just a social call, right? Is there something you need to tell me? Do you need anything?" Green says, too weary to put any bite in his words like he'd intended.

"No, no, no. What do you think I am, anyway? Some good-for-nothing moocher?" Green's silence answers the question for him, and Leaf plays indignant. "Well… I never! Here I was, just doing like you told me to and calling before I show up for a visit and you accuse me of these horrid things. And you wonder why I don't listen to you."

Green groans exasperatedly, and Leaf's tone changes. "I really am sorry, Green," she admits sincerely (well, as sincerely as Leaf can get). "I really thought you'd be awake. You know, since you're a workaholic and all. Have you been sleeping well?"

He bites his lip. "No," he admits, "Especially not on this couch."

The mocking lilt returns to Leaf's voice. "The couch?" Leaf whistles in mock sympathy, "What did you do to Eevee to make her that mad at you, hm? Did you catch a new growlithe and use a fire stone on it, or something? I hear eevees get jealous when you use those stones to evolve other pokémon. Especially other bitches."

Remembering how violently Eevee had reacted when Green evolved Arcanine with a fire stone with a shudder, he chooses to maintain his silence on that particular subject. Instead, he considers telling Leaf the truth. Red and Leaf had always been close, closer than Red and Green, anyway. Whenever Leaf visited from whatever exotic locale she was venturing through, she would always devote a day to climbing that godforsaken mountain and visiting Red. Still, he wonders if he should tell her, especially since Red could just get up and leave at any time.

"No, Red is sleeping there…" he says quietly, throwing caution to the wind.

There's a moment of silence over the phone line, so long that Green thinks that the long-distance call might have been dropped, or something. But then, an incredulous scream: "What! Red is with you? You mean he's actually off the mountain?"

Wincing at the ear-shattering pitch of her voice, he explains the situation. How he'd found Red in his kitchen the night before, Nurse Joy's prognosis, and Red's own condition. After he's done, he can practically hear Leaf brimming with concern. "Did he tell you what happened?"

Green rolls his eyes at the absurdity of the question. "It's Red."

"Did you even make time to ask?" Leaf demands.

"Well, no," Green says, "But he's been sleeping and—,"

"That's hardly an excuse!" Leaf interrupts him, "God, Green! Your best friend shows upat your apartment after two years of seclusion, beaten up and despondent and you don't even ask what happened to him?"

He scowls. "He's not my friend."

He hears a groan from the other end of the line. "Oh, please. Just because of your stupid little childhood rivalry—," Leaf begins, but thinks better of it, trailing off with a deep sigh. That argument has been had plenty of times before, and they both know how it will end. "I'm pushing my visit forward. I should be there in a couple of days, at most. Whatever you do, don't let him leave."

"Fine," he says in irritation.

A pause. "Green," Leaf says, voice serious.

"What?" he snaps, suddenly too tired for any of this.

"At least make an effort to find out. He needs us now."

Before he can retort that Red has never needed anything from anyone (except their dreams), Leaf hangs up.

—…—

The next morning is Saturday, which means that Green won't be able to escape to the gym to avoid Red. Cranky from sleep deprivation, he goes through the motions of making breakfast for two, frying eggs and ignoring the feeling of dread in the pit of his stomach that has his insides all twisted into knots.

When he is brewing the coffee, he feels as if he's watched, and turns around. Sure enough, Red is standing in the hall, staring at him in his usual infuriatingly detached manner. Jumping a little in surprise, Green recovers with a scowl. "Has anyone ever told you that you're a real creeper?" he deadpans, glaring at him.

Red doesn't respond, and Green sighs, running a hand through his hair in exasperation. "Just… just sit down, okay? I made breakfast for the two of us."

His guest remains silent, but acquiesces, pulling back a chair and sitting down gingerly. He then proceeds to stare down at his calloused hands. Pulling a plate from the cupboard above the sink, the gym leader scoops the eggs, bacon and pancakes onto a plate, and plops it down in front of Red, who immediately comes to life and begins wolfing down the food with a desperation Green has never seen on anything but a starved pokémon. By the time Green has served his own breakfast and sits down across from Red, the other boy has already finished and is aimlessly staring at his hands again.

"W-wow…" Green says, shock evident in his voice and expression, "I guess you were hungry," he ends lamely. Red maintains his stoic detachment, and Green takes a sip of his bitter coffee. Belatedly, he wonders why Eevee hasn't shown up for her breakfast yet. Tending to her would make things decidedly less tense; he shoots furtive glances at Red while eating his eggs, wondering how in the world Leaf expects him to find out what happened.

"Red," he tries, setting down his fork and looking at the boy. "Look, man. You have me… you have Leaf worried about you, alright? Could you…" he sighs—none of this is coming out right. "What happened to you, Red?"

When Red doesn't respond, Green picks up his fork again, content to be able to honestly tell Leaf that he tried like she asked him to. He didn't even know why he had tried. Red would never confide in him. Hell, he doubts that he'd even confide in Leaf… This entire situation was just ridiculous, really, and if it hadn't been for Eevee and her friendship with that ridiculously overpowered mutant rodent, then Green wouldn't have to deal with any of—

"I lost."

Green blinks once, twice. It had been a murmur, scratchy from disuse and neglect, but they had definitely been words. But the shock of actually having Red speak to him was eclipsed by the words themselves.

I lost.

And Green can't believe them; he refuses to believe them. Red could never lose. He's Red, he's the fucking League Champion. It's impossible. Red is the best.

"You what?" Green repeats stupidly after a moment of shocked silence.

Red looks up at him now and makes eye contact with him, crimson eyes as serious as they always are. "I lost," he repeats.

The silence that follows is long, and Green, who is so adept at talking about anything and everything, suddenly finds himself at a loss for words. He doesn't know how to process this, how to accept a world where Red isn't the best, where Red isn't automatically justified in being able to beat him (just two hours after becoming Champion himself), having taken everything that Green had ever dreamed of—the title, the respect of his grandfather, a final proof that he was better than Red—an assurance that Red would have to notice him. It isn't fair.

"I didn't know you cooked," Red says, breaking Green out of his poisonous thoughts.

He looks down at his food, suddenly not hungry anymore. "Yeah, well… you learn certain things when you live on your own."

Across the table, Red looks away, but Green could swear that he saw a distant flash of understanding in those eyes before they were hidden from him again.

—…—

After Green has cleaned the dishes, Eevee emerges from the bedroom with a limping Pikachu tow. Green sees the patches of yellow fur that have been burned away and a downturned ear that seems to twitch periodically, and knows that the rodent had endured a lot in that battle. When Pikachu pauses, out of breath, Eevee licks his wounds for him, cooing to him all the while. Green is used to Pikachu being proud and strong and unbeatable (like his trainer), so he is surprised that the mouse allows himself to be nursed like this. With a small frown, he gets the poké food and lays it out in Eevee's bowl, which she nudges Pikachu toward. The rodent eats slowly, but gratefully, and Green marvels at how selfless they are with each other, how despite having trainers who despised each other for the greater part of their careers, they still managed to build such a close and loving friendship.

For some reason he can't particularly articulate, Green's stomach twists at the thought.

—…—

"You need to shower," Green tells Red later that day, arms crossed over his chest with disapproval at the state of Red's personal hygiene.

Red, who had been staring at Eevee and Pikachu as they dozed, huddled together on the couch in a mass of brown and yellow, blinks at Green.

"You haven't showered since you got back from the mountain," Green explains impatiently, unnecessarily, "You already soiled my bed sheets, and I'm not having you dirty anything else around here."

When Red shows no sign of moving, Green sighs and grabs his wrist, dragging him to the small bathroom. Red looks around at it with something approaching interest as Green squeezes past him (it really is that small) and draws back the shower curtain to reveal his modestly-sized, tacky-pink bathtub.

"Here you go. Just use whatever you need," Green tells him, gesturing toward the bottles of shampoo and body wash before making his way to leave.

But the memory of Red's persistent limping assails him, and he bites his lip. He wonders if Red would be able to do this himself… which sounds like a ridiculous question, because Green shouldn't have to help him bathe. Besides, there's no way Green would ever do something as… embarrassing as that.

The image of Eevee unabashedly licking the injured Pikachu's wounds enters his mind, as do Leaf's words: he needs us now. Biting his lip, Green swallows his pride and turns around again, finding Red fingering the hem of his black t-shirt hesitantly.

Fuck, Green thinks. He really does need my help…

He takes a step towards Red and kneels in front of him, hands pushing Red's away and gaining purchase on his shirt. "Let me," Green says. He tries to keep his voice neutral, and at the look of Red's upturned eyebrow, he doesn't think he's succeeded. Nevertheless, he pushes forward, lifting the other boy's shirt over his head and exposing the skin underneath.

Green's eyes widen at the scars that mar the once smooth surface of his rival's abdomen that he remembered from childhood. "Battle scars from the wild pokémon," Red offers in a quiet voice, red eyes turned away.

The gym leader's eyes follow each one—some are newer than others, some more severe. Green's eyes trace one that is particularly long and jagged, where time had already mellowed the once angry red skin to a subdued pink. Without thought, Green extends his hand and touches it, index finger tracing its path from the center of Red's chest to right above his navel. The other boy stiffens at the touch, but does not make any move to stop Green as his finger moves on to others. When Green traces a newer scar, Red jerks back in pain, and their eyes meet.

Suddenly, Green becomes aware of their close proximity. His nostrils are filled with Red's scent (everlasting winter and snow), and if he just leaned a little closer, he could probably hear the steady rhythm of his heartbeat. Red stares unblinkingly at him, but his eyes shine with slight curiosity, as if Green had just evolved into something worthy of a reevaluation.

He wants to run, but remembering Red's condition, he simply breaks eye contact. "You're an idiot," Green snaps, hands busying themselves with untying Red's shoes, which are caked in mud, "All that time up there and you got hurt this much… did you even get any of these treated?"

Red just shrugs and unbuttons his jeans, which Green awkwardly helps him out of by pulling them down his too-skinny legs. Everything about Red is too-skinny, Green thinks.

The other boy's body looks like a patchwork quilt—scars trace the porcelain skin in regular intervals, with dirt and grime covering almost everything else. Scowling, Green leans over the side of the tub to start the water, adjusting the knobs so that it is not too cold or too hot.

Red leaves his tattered boxers on, and Green watches him as he eases himself off the toilet seat and lifts a leg up and over the tub. Green's hands, which are anxious to support the struggling boy in his endeavor, stay restlessly still at his sides; Red needs to keep some of his pride intact, after all.

The former champion shudders as the spray hits him, a small gasp escaping his lips. He turns his face in the direction of the showerhead, eyes closed as the water washes over him. Green watches with satisfaction as layers of dirt and grime are swept along with the current and reaches for his shampoo.

"I guess this would be the first time in a long time that you take a heated bath, huh?" Green says as he pours a generous glob of shampoo onto his hands. Red gives a slight jerk of the head which Green takes as confirmation before starting to work the shampoo into his rival's hair and scalp. Red leans into his touch, giving a hum of satisfaction at the sensation. Green finds himself blushing, cheeks and ear tips burning as the blood rushes to his skin in embarrassment.

His fingers continue lathering for at least a few more minutes, telling himself that there was surely a lot of dirt hidden in those jet black strands.

"Green." He hums in acknowledgement to Red's voice, absorbed in his task. "Thank you."

If Green had been burning before, his skin is now about to erupt with unbearable heat. Face pink as a tomato, he grunts in acknowledgement before gently nudging Red's head back into the spray, watching as the shampoo and dirt run off into the drain. Like a promise of something, Green thinks distantly.

Like a promise.

—…—

Green's clothes are too big for him, but Red wears them anyway since his old, tattered clothes are in the wash. The forest-green t-shirt reaches his rather knobby knees, and Green makes an effort not stare at his legs.

Red's hands are often occupied in either hiking up the too-big boxers up or stroking Pikachu's fur tenderly. Beside him, Green does the same with Eevee.

They sit together on the couch and watch reruns of their favorite cartoons that they used to watch together every Saturday as kids. After a few episodes, Green begins to give telltale yawns, and he observes that Red's unblinking eyes are unusually droopy. He turns off the TV with the remote and stretches, holding the sleeping Eevee close to him when he gets up. "I'm gonna call it a night," Green informs his companion. At Red's nod, Green makes his way to his room. At the sound of padding footsteps behind him, though, he turns to find Red following him, Pikachu cradled in his arms.

"What are you doing?" Green whispers.

Red shrugs and pushes past him toward the room. Green follows after a moment of incredulous shock, incensed that Red is trying to kick him out of his bed again.

By the time Green enters his room, Red is already under the newly washed covers, crimson eyes staring at him questioningly. "This is my bed," Green snaps, "I'm not sleeping on the couch again."

Even in the darkness, Green can clearly make out his rival's look that reads "well, don't." Green's indignation only grows when Red turns onto his stomach, face burying into the pillow. Fuck it, Green thinks tiredly, and stomps over to the bed, pulling back the covers and getting in as far as humanly possible from Red. Eevee, roused from her sleep, immediately traipses to the pillow and curls around Green's head.

It's an awkward sleeping arrangement. Despite the conquests he would boast about to Red (to make him jealous, always to make him jealous), Green has never shared a bed with anyone besides Eevee, and doing it now with Red feels far more intimate than he thinks it should. He's tense, body coiled with nervous energy, and he thinks that it'll be another sleepless night for him.

But the room is filled with sounds of even breathing—Eevee's, Pikachu's, and Red's. Green finds himself marveling at how oddly comforting they all sound like that, together, and then he falls into the deepest sleep he's known in a while.

—…—

He wakes up to the sound of stifled giggling. Dazed, he looks up to find a brown-haired girl leaning on the doorframe, hazel eyes dancing in amusement. Green jerks a little in surprise, fully awake now. "Leaf!" he hisses, shooting a glance at Red, who is still sleeping like a rock. "W-what… h-how…" he's spluttering, his cheeks heating in embarrassment. Leaf's giggling only rises in intensity.

"Spare key," she reminds him.

With a scowl, Green gently lifts himself out of bed, careful not to wake its remaining inhabitants. He grabs his robe on his way out, motioning for Leaf to follow. She shuts the door and does so, meeting him in the kitchen. Confusingly, there is light shining through the curtains; had he really slept that long?

Green can't look at her. Leaf notices, but surprisingly doesn't say anything about it. Her eyes, softened with affection and a smidgen of something that closely resembles disappointment, focus on Green's face, then shift to the coffeemaker. "Well? Don't you have any manners? Offer me some coffee."

He mutters a little under his breath about her own lack of manners, but does so, grateful that she hadn't mocked him about the position she'd found him in. Green doesn't know how to feel about anything anymore, and he can't have Leaf prod him about it. Not yet.

They sit down at the table, cradling the warm mugs in their hand. Leaf holds it close to her nose and inhales the smell through her nose, eyes closed with satisfaction. Green regards her with an amused smirk—it's comforting to know that Leaf, at the very least, hasn't changed in her eccentricity.

"You got here quick," Green observes.

Leaf smirks. "I had to sell some of my internal organs to catch the red eye from Jubilife to Saffron, but I was worried that the two of you would tear each other's throats out, but…" she trails off, but the words hang between them.

But you two sure looked cozy together in bed this morning.

"So," Leaf says after taking a small sip of her coffee, which Green had distastefully loaded with cream and sugar, "How's he doing?"

Green considers this while gulping down the burning coffee. "He's well… he's being himself," at Leaf's deadpan look, he adds some more. "He lost."

Leaf blinks, then nods a little. "Makes sense," she says sagely.

"That's it?" Green questions, "It doesn't surprise you?"

The girl shrugs, fingers toying with the brim of her hat. "No one's invincible, Green. Not even Red. It was bound to happen one day…" she regards him curiously, "Who was it?"

Green shrugs. "He didn't say."

"Whoever it was must have beaten you," Leaf points out, "Only people with all eight Kanto gym badges can get in."

Green wracks his mind for the memory of a challenger that could have possessed the skill to beat Red. It's hard; his life as a gym leader has been dull for a while now—the challengers have never been good enough to really challenge him, and he'd gone undefeated for a long while…

Until… Green suddenly remembers a boy of golden eyes and remarkable skill, and a typhlosion whose flames took his pokémon out after a single hit; he had lost the match after a mere five minutes. He remembers thinking that he hadn't fought anyone that skilled since the last time he'd fought Red.

"Gold," Green mumbles, "It had to be that kid… Gold… from Johto."

Leaf gives a snort. "What is it with all these boys named after colors and the Championship?"

—…—

When Red wakes up a half hour later, he regards Leaf with the closest thing to warmth that his eyes can manage. Green's stomach twists with something indefinable as he watches Leaf hug him tight, tears prickling at the corner of her eyes.

"You came back," she says, voice thick with tears, "You came home."

Green grabs his keys and leaves, the lump in his throat making it impossible to breathe in the small, much too crowded apartment.

—…—

Leaf finds him in his gym a few hours later.

He looks up at her from his stack of paperwork and meets her neutral stare.

"I thought you closed the gym on Sundays," Leaf says.

"I had a lot of work to do," Green lies without looking up from his paperwork.

Sighing, Leaf pulls up a chair and sits. "What's wrong?" she asks.

Green isn't sure what it is. He feels unbalanced, as if his world has shifted around him. Maybe it's that all three of them are on the same continent for the same time in years, but Green knows that it isn't that. He's too tired to think of what the real reason is, so he makes a dismissive gesture at Leaf, who sighs again.

"You have to face the truth sometime, Green."

He looks up at her, eyes narrowed. "What 'truth?'"

But Leaf's eyes have taken on a playful glint, and she changes the subject breezily. "That I'm hungry. C'mon, take me to that pizza place I love."

He reminds her that he has work to do, but after she begins whining, he gives in (if only to make her shut up).

—…—

That night, Green walks into his room to find Leaf tangled in the bed sheets beside Red, whose even breathing fills the room. A sour taste fills his mouth, and he is about to leave when Leaf lifts her head and extends her hand to him, shifting further from Red to make room for him.

Green considers saying no, but Leaf has that look in her eye that leaves no room for argument, so he gives in, crawling onto his bed and beneath the sheets.

The bed is much too small for the three of them. Leaf's arm lies over his chest and Green's leg finds the warmth of Red's. He feels unbearably hot and claustrophobic, wedged between the two of them like this.

But somehow—impossibly—he falls asleep after fifteen minutes.

—…—

He wakes the next morning to an empty bed. Blinking to get the sleep of his eyes, he wonders if last night—if the past two days—had been a dream. But then he remembers that it's Monday and that he needs to get to work, and gets out of bed, realizing that he's late. He dresses quickly, heading to get some breakfast before heading off to the gym.

The voices (well, voice) coming from the kitchen stop him, though. Quietly, he pauses by the doorway to the kitchen to listen in.

"Have you called your mom yet?" Leaf is saying, "She's been worried about you."

At Red's lack of response, Green frowns. The jerk… can't even call his own mother…

"Have you even visited Pallet Town since you came back?" more silence, but Leaf persists. "How about since you started training on Mt. Silver? It's been two years, Red."

"No." Red finally says.

He can imagine Leaf's indignant glare at the response. "Your mother hasn't known where you've been for the better part of three years, Red. She started thinking you were dead! You told us not to tell her, and we didn't because, well, she's your mother, but don't you think that she deserves to know that you're alive?"

Green listens closely for Red's answer, and when it comes, it isn't what he expects at all. "I'm not."

There's the sound of a resounding smack, and Leaf's voice is deathly quiet. "Don't you dare say that. You're not dead. Don't you even say… after two years of worrying us… of us thinking that maybe you'd died up there without anyone knowing… don't you dare—,"

Green has heard enough. He makes his way to the door, forgoing the breakfast—he's lost his appetite, anyway.

—…—

Red isn't there when he gets home, but Leaf is. He decides not to let Eevee out of her poké ball just yet; he really isn't looking forward to dealing with her reaction to Pikachu's sudden disappearance.

"I-is… is he…?" he begins, hating how weak his voice sounds.

Leaf shakes her head tiredly. "He just went for a walk… I sent my Chatot after him. She'd tell me if he tried to leave."

With a tired (relieved) sigh, Green collapses onto the couch beside her. "I… I don't…" he begins, but the words get caught in his throat.

"I know." Leaf tells him, and she puts his hand on his knee, squeezing it reassuringly.

After a moment, he puts his hand over hers.

"You heard our conversation this morning, then?" Leaf asks. When Green nods, her grip on his knee tightens considerably. "He shut down after that. I couldn't get anything else out of him, though I was too pissed off at him to really try."

Green is lost. He's come to realize that he can't hate Red anymore, and that, most terrifying of all, maybe he never did. Sure, the old issues are still there. The resentment and bitterness he still harbors toward Red for stealing all he ever wanted from him still festers in his heart, but Green is beginning to doubt if it's for the reasons he thinks they are.

For years, he had put his entire being into being better than Red, into making himself run so far ahead of him that it would be all the other boy could do to chase him. But soon, it had become the exact opposite. Red was so much better from the very first battle (Eevee, the better pokémon his grandfather had been saving for Red, beaten by that untamed rodent; Red's wide-eyed stare of disbelief at his victory, his grandfather's usual disappointment) and it had been all he could do to snap something insulting at Red and run out of the lab in disgrace. When they were kids, the three of them promised to travel together, but when he lost, Green had felt too inadequate, and he had striven to become good enough so that Red would have look at him in awe.

He never did, and then Red had disappeared, and for two years, Green didn't know who he was without him there to chase after.

He had settled into this life out of necessity, and despite the fact that it was something to be proud of, something that had finally earned him the respect of others, he had felt out of place.

But now they're both back in his life—the two people that possess the largest parts of his being.

It's odd, Green thinks, to find the two pieces he'd been missing back again. He's been so used to functioning as an incomplete being that now, when presented with wholeness, it feels heavy and cumbersome. It scares him, especially Red, always Red, who is more than the nothing Green convinced himself he was (Red is everything).

"You should talk to him," Leaf says, "He seems to be opening up to you more and more…"

Green pulls his hand away abruptly and goes about preparing Eevee's dinner. It's too much, he thinks. Why do they always ask for more than he can give?

—…—

The next morning, he leaves Leaf asleep in bed and finds Red standing at the window, staring at the street below. In the early morning light, Red looks ethereal and beautiful, and Green watches him in awe for a moment, then makes his way over and lays a hand on his shoulder hesitantly. Red stiffens under his touch, but after Green leaves it there for a few moments, he relaxes again.

"Let's go for a walk," Green whispers, and Red rolls his shoulders in a shrug. Whatever you want.

It's chilly out, and Green grabs a jacket and pants for Red, who pulls them on wordlessly. They walk out of the building and onto the streets of Viridian, which haven't begun waking yet. They stroll in silence for a while, and before long Green notices that they've arrived at his gym. Reaching for his keys, he unlocks the door.

Red looks around—the last time he saw it, Green hadn't made as many alterations. The spin tiles on the floor are new, and the old Rocket paraphernalia that had littered the gym the last time Red had been there is gone now.

Green walks out onto the ring and gestures for Red to follow. "I want to battle you," Green blurts, and Red stares at him, hesitating. "If I win, you let me take you home to Pallet. If I lose… I stop asking questions and let you go and do whatever you want. It's a rule," he reminds him. "When two trainers' eyes meet, they have to battle."

The other boy nods and makes his way to the challenger's box. They face each other down and grab for their poké balls, falling into the familiar rhythm they're accustomed to easily. It's comforting, after wandering through this unfamiliar territory for days, to finally get back to something they know. Green is smiling, honestly smiling, for the first time in a long time, and he can make out a twitch of Red's lips across the ring. He smiles even wider at the sight.

At the same time, they throw them, and in twin flashes of light, the battle begins.

—…—

Red's pokémon are fully healed from the injuries they sustained on Mt. Silver, and after a few minutes of familiar taunting from Green, Red begins battling with his usual intensity. It has been so long since Green has observed Red battle, and he finds himself marveling at the elegance of it.

Red does not shout commands at his pokémon like Green does. Instead, he communicates with them through subtle gestures. A stomp of the foot means a flamethrower from Charizard; a sweeping arm gesture means a rapid spin from Blastoise as he avoids Exeggutor's egg bomb. When they were rivals, Green remembers the frustration he felt at Red's confidence and his inability to decipher any of the seemingly deliberate code.

But now, after watching Red battle for a few minutes, he begins to understand. For the first time, Green can counter Red's seemingly indomitable strategy. He watches as Red's eyes widen at the realization that Green is more than holding his own against him, and then his face hardens and he steps it up, attacks growing in intensity.

After a half hour of battling, they are both drenched in sweat and down to their last pokémon. Eevee and Pikachu face each other down, but Green's eyes are on Red, watching for any subtle movements. When Red's foot inches forward, Green shots at Eevee to dodge just as Pikachu launches a thunderbolt at her. The electricity does not score a direct hit, but does hit her all the same, sending her skidding across the floor with a squeal.

And… there! Red pulls down the brim of his hat, and Pikachu begins charging, engulfed in a blinding current of electricity. Red is going for the endgame now with that volt tackle, hoping to catch Eevee while she was still reeling from the damage of the thunderbolt. Green bites his lip, knowing that it's all or nothing.

"Eevee! Jump!" he yells, and Eevee recovers from her skidding, jumping just in time to avoid the deadly attack.

Red's eyes are wide in shock and focused on Eevee.

Now!

"Shadow Ball!" Green screams.

The swirling dark orb hits Pikachu dead-on, and the battlefield explodes as the two energies collide. As the light begins to fade, Green bites his lip, knowing that Eevee had been way too close to Pikachu to escape unscathed from that explosion.

Eevee is still standing, breathing hard. A few feet away, Pikachu is too, similarly out of breath. Green's eyes are on Red, who remains motionless, staring at Pikachu intently. Red moves, hand stretching, and Pikachu starts forward.

Green opens his mouth to yell for Eevee to dodge, but his eyes widen as Pikachu stumbles and falls to the floor.

The match is over.

Eevee takes a few steps backwards, then turns to Green, eyes large and disbelieving. But Green is staring at Red, who has pulled the brim of his cap down to cover his eyes. Suddenly, he thinks that this was a bad idea, that maybe forcing Red into a battle that he could lose would just do more to exacerbate his issues.

Green had always imagined that when (if) he ever beat Red, it would be a spectacular affair. He'd anticipated being filled with so much righteous joy that he'd jump for joy and never let the other boy live it down. Ironically, now that it's actually become a reality, Green finds himself more worried than jubilant.

The other boy makes his way across the battlefield and picks Pikachu up, holding the mouse close and reaching for a seldom-used poké ball at his belt. He returns Pikachu to it wordlessly, then lifts his head to regard Green curiously, the same look as before making its presence known in his eyes, except stronger and more pronounced.

"Congratulations," Red says.

They hang a makeshift sign on the door of the gym that says: "Gone to Pallet Town".

—…—

Red's mother starts crying when she sees him, clutching him as if she never plans to let him go again. He doesn't hug her back, but he does bury his face into the crook of her neck. Green wonders if things are finally getting better, and he finds himself hoping for it more than anything.

He leaves them alone so that they can have some mother-son time, or whatever it is that parents and their kids have, and Green sees his grandfather, looking at the scene with what appear to be tears in his eyes. Green has never seen his grandfather cry, and he doesn't intend to. He tries to avoid him, but Oak notices and follows him, cornering him at the door to his old house.

"Gramps…" Green says, not sure what to expect.

"Green," Oak says, voice unsure, "You… you found and brought Red home?"

He nods. "Y-yeah…"

Oak nods back at him and puts his old, weathered hands on his shoulders. "Thank you, Green. You don't know how much this means to her…" Oak clears his throat, and Green feels decidedly uncomfortable when his grandfather's eyes fill with tears again. "I'm proud of you, Green."

Green can only stare in shock; it is the first time his grandfather has ever said those words to him. He nods dumbly, unsure of how to respond to that, unaccustomed to his grandfather's approval, let alone his pride.

When Oak invites him over to the lab for tea and promises to show him some of the new data he'd collected from the other regions, Green decides that even though it's far from being okay, it's on its way to getting there.

—…—

Leaf is decidedly ecstatic when Green tells her that the reason that Red didn't come back with him was that he was staying the night at his mother's in Pallet Town. So ecstatic, in fact, that she offers to treat him to dinner. Granted, it's nothing but a shabby diner joint, but Green is so shocked by the unprecedented offer that he takes her up on it.

They sit across from each other at the booth. Green eats a burger and fries and Leaf, who had claimed to not have enough money for two, steals a fry or two every few minutes. Green can't seem to muster up the negative energy to care.

"You're a miracle worker, you know," Leaf says, beaming from ear to ear as she reaches across the table and nabs another fry. Green rolls his eyes. "I'm serious. It's like you melted the whole freaking blizzard to get to him."

Green finds himself blushing, and he tries to hide it with his napkin, blotting at his lips. But Leaf notices, and smirks. "And you claim you aren't friends, huh?"

"W-we're not…" Green says unconvincingly.

Leaf smiles sadly. "You're right, you're not. You care a lot more about him than friends do. You always have."

Green stares at her in shock, and Leaf quirks a sardonic eyebrow at him. "Don't even think of telling me that I'm being ridiculous. You honestly think I didn't see right through your bullying act all those years ago? What other reason could you have had to start hating and beating up your best friend? You hated him because you loved him, and you were scared."

"I… no." Green chokes out, "He took everything from me… I could never…"

Leaf rolls her eyes. "Really?" she hums, "He only did all that so that you would look at him. I swear, the two of you are too stupid to see what you've done to yourselves for each other."

He pales at the truth of her argument, and the implications that come with it. Leaf takes the opportunity to reach across the table and take the rest of his food.

—…—

Green stays up all night mulling over his feelings for Red. Half of him is scared that Red will disappear again, but at eight the front door opens and he's standing there, red eyes finding Green instantly. They regard each other silently for a few moments before Red makes his way over to the couch and takes a seat beside Green.

"That battle… were you holding back?"

Red shakes his head. "No," he replies, "But when Eevee dodged the volt tackle, I realized that I wanted to lose."

He looks at him oddly. "Why?"

Red shrugs, and that's the end of that. They sit in silence for a while before Red speaks up again. "I didn't know what to do when I lost," Red confides. The rest of it goes unsaid, but Green understands: What am I without the title? Without the mountain?

Without thinking, Green grabs Red's hand. The other boy looks down at them, and then at Green. "You're still the best," Green says, and he means it, "Just because Gold beat you that one time means nothing. Everything you did, you did by yourself. Gold… he has his friends," Green remembers the scowling red-haired boy and the cheery girl in overalls that followed Gold into the gym that day, remembers thinking that he used to want that for the three of them when he was a kid. "Besides, I think you were holding back. You wanted to lose, even then."

The other doesn't confirm Green's hypothesis, but he doesn't deny it either. Green's hand is still resting on top of Red's, and Leaf's words run through his head again and again, dizzying him.

"Red, I…" he tries.

"Then maybe it's time I stopped climbing alone," Red says.

"I forgive you. And I'm sorry. For everything."

Red regards him with those damned eyes of his, and suddenly Green is leaning in, pressing his lips to Red's, which taste of snow. When he pulls away, Red is still staring at him, expression unchanged.

"W-was… that okay?" Green asks hesitantly. Red shrugs. He tries again, "Did you like it?" Red shrugs again, and Green looks away, anger bubbling in his chest. "Do you ever actually know how you feel about anything—,"

The feeling of Red's hand on his cheek quiets him, and when it turns Green back around to face him, he's the one who leans in and presses their lips together. The kiss still tastes of snow, but this time Green thinks there's something that tastes like hope mixed in.

It isn't fixed; too many years of shared animosity and twisted emotions ensured that it probably would never be fixed, never be the perfect thing it would have been if they had never fought. But when Red pulls away and his eyes shine with something new and undecipherable, he thinks that he's okay with that.

"But I could learn to," Red says, and Green smiles, leaning in to kiss him again.

—…—

Leaf takes all the credit when she finds out about them, and Green blushes in mortification as she tells Red the things she'd told Green in the restaurant. Red, as always, is unaffected, but there is an odd quirk at the corner of his upturned lips, almost as if he was amused by it all.

They spend a few more days together in the claustrophobic, stuffy apartment, watching old cartoons and laughing like old friends should. Eventually, Leaf announces that she will be leaving the next day, and Green is almost relieved.

When she is boarding the ship to Hoenn at Vermillion Harbor, she embraces them both and kisses them on the cheek. "It looks like you didn't need me after all," she tells Green almost sadly.

Green rolls his eyes. "I didn't," he lies, because they could never admit to needing each other. "But be sure to visit more often…"

Because they were children together, Leaf can see past Green's lie, and she smiles at him. She takes both boys' hands in hers, linking them together.

In the background, the ship blares its horn. It's almost time for her to go, and she pulls them both to her and hugs them tightly in relief. Green finds himself hugging her back, and Red's arm halfheartedly wraps around them both, fingers splayed so that they're touching the smalls of both their backs.

"Maybe one day, you two can join me out there. We can have that adventure we dreamt about as kids. Together, this time."

And Green still has the gym, and Red needs to settle for a while before he starts to fly again, but they agree.

One day, they will.

—…—

It's still an odd feeling, lying in bed together.

Green has to take care not to push Red off the bed (or Eevee and Pikachu, who sleep at their feet). "Red?"

He receives a hum in reply.

"I…" he can't yet, but Red understands. He shifts closer to him and Green buries his head into the nape of Red's neck so that he is exhaling and inhaling into his hair. Their battles have left them both scarred, the brutality of their attacks weathering away their original shapes until they almost couldn't recognize themselves, but somehow, Green finds that they fit together seamlessly, and he realizes then that he doesn't regret any of it, not if it means having this.

As his world begins to fade to black, Green realizes that Red has stopped smelling like snow. Instead, his hair smells like Green's shampoo and the crisp Pallet Town air that Green remembers from his childhood. The realization brings a soft smile to his lips.

He falls asleep in the lazy warmth.

A/N: I really enjoyed writing this piece. It was definitely a journey, and I hoped I portrayed them in the light they deserve. Personally, I prefer it when Red + Green + Leaf stories end rather angsty and unfulfilled, but this just came out. It's nice to hope sometimes.

Thanks go out to the readers. Your reviews are always appreciated!

I hope you enjoyed it!