Archive of Our Own

Mt.Silver is shaking.

Red, pausing his training session with Lapras and gesturing at the Water type to remain quiet, listens closely.

There is the rumbling of the ground, the howling of the wind, the screeching of Golbats… And below that, a roaring sound, coming from deeper inside of the caves.

"Pikapi," his Pikachu notes. Lapras hums as well.

Red nods.

A Tyranitar.

An angry one.

They are quite rare around Mt.Silver, but they do come around once every few years for their breeding season, leaving behind buried eggs that'll hatch into Larvitars once spring comes around. Mt.Silver's soil is perfect for the growth of the newborns Ground types.

Tyranitars despise being disturbed during that time - Red made the mistake once during the first few months he was living on the mountain, and he barely escaped alive from the resulting earthquake.

Given where the shakes and the roar seem to be coming from…

"Piiii !"

Yes, it must be the group of juvenile, recently evolved Donphans that has been roaming around the northern part of the mountain's cave system. Those rambuctious Pokémons probably stumbled upon the Tyranitar's nest… And either the battle is still ongoing, or defeating them wasn't enough to satisfy it.

Another ground tremor.

This has been happening for the past two hours already.

There is no sign of the Tyranitar calming down any time soon.

Red might have to go check the commotion himself and defeat the Pokémon to bring back some calm on the mountain. Given Pikachu's annoyed face, his little Electric type knows it too.

The cave they live in has been dug up by Venusaur's vines and Blastoise's canons, and it is relatively secure, but Red isn't keen on seeing how long it takes before the ceiling starts falling on their heads.

Not to mention… Green is supposed to come today.

The area where the Tyranitar is rampaging is certainly too close for comfort to the trail the Viridian Gym Leader will have to take to climb to the summit. Green might be used to strong wild Pokémons and the normal dangers of climbing Mt.Silver, but he cannot be prepared for the collapsing risks brought on by the current events. Or worse yet, for an avalanche that would result from the shaking of the mountainside.

No, Red needs to be the one to take care of the problem.

That is a recurrent theme of his life, having to solve problems caused by others despite not wanting to get involved at first…

But he can't just leave without warning Green, leaving an empty cave for him to find - an empty cave without even the smoldering embers of an extinguished fire to prove his absence was recent, as he has been training outside with Pikachu and Lapras for most of the morning.

Green would not take it well.

It had happened, once.

It was during Green's third, or maybe fourth, time going up on Mt.Silver.

His visits weren't exactly always spaced the same - he has a gym to run, as he likes to remind Red, and duties with the League.

But that time, when he had come up, he had found the cave empty, as Red had been collecting berries a little lower on the mountain.

It had taken Green over an hour of screaming himself hoarse and sending Arcanine and Pidgeot circling around the area to find Red. And then Green had screamed some more, berating him for pulling another disappearing act on him, and really, there was only one person going up this Mew-forsaken place to see him, was it that hard to clear his oh-so-important mountain training schedule to be there to welcome him when that was the case ?!

Red had shrugged - it's not like PokéNavs had signal on Mt.Silver. And his own had died long ago, anyway. The battery of the small electronic device did not appreciate the continuous sub-zero temperatures it was exposed to. It meant there was no way for Green to warn Red of when he was coming.

The young Gym Leader had used that as another argument to try and convince him to go back to civilization with him - but after another refusal, he had instead not stopped grumbling and groaning about his stupid asocial champion rival for the rest of the day.

Then during Green's visit after that one, Red had been forcefully handed a calendar - and with a black marker, Green had circled the date of the next time he planned to go up the mountain with a flourish.

"There ! That way you can finally keep track of time, and stop wandering off when I'm here. And maybe you'll also finally think about going down once you realize how long you've been up there…" Green had grumbled.

Red wasn't sure it would be enough to change his mind.

It wasn't just his distaste for the press that had driven him up Mt.Silver.

There had been a cocktail of emotions, of needing to get away from it all, of refusing to perform some horrible public role he was not cut for, especially given his inability to speak to people had worsened over time, of genuine fear and need to get stronger after what had happened with Mewtwo and the state he had been in…

Still, Red dutifully crossed the calendar's day cases one by one until it was time for the circles to come around.

It had helped, somewhat, to have a way to keep track of the passing time. To remember that while he was all but frozen in time up there, others continued to go on with their lives far below, in Kanto and Johto.

Perhaps, when his name was truly forgotten by nearly everyone, he would finally come down, and start traveling again, meeting new people without having the weight of being the boy that stopped Team Rocket hanging over him.

Perhaps he'd go with Green, follow him to his next trip abroad to see new Pokémons - apparently, despite being Gym Leader, and despite having always vehemently refused to follow in his grandfather's footsteps, he was looking to study abroad in Kalos for a semester or two and pursue a degree in research.

Well, that was just the way Green was.

The first time he had come up Mt.Silver and saw Red, he had tried punching him in the face. And when he hadn't succeeded and had instead lost yet another Pokémon battle, he had yelled at him and said he hoped he'd die from the cold and that no-one would ever come back for his miserable corpse before storming off - and one month later he was back and hauling food, healing items, and a blanket for Red in his bag.

He had dropped them in his cave without any explanation nor apology. Just more nagging.

And now, almost a year later, he was still doing those regular supply runs for him - with less yelling, at least.

That was an improvement.

Red wasn't quite sure what he and Green's relationship was - they clearly weren't rivals anymore, given after the first few times, they rarely battled on Mt.Silver. And he wasn't sure the other would agree to the terms 'friends' either, despite the fact that Red was fairly certain no one would use one of their rare and precious days off every month or so to climb the tallest and most dangerous mountain in the region to drop care packages for a mere acquaintance.

Red has never been good with words, anyway. All that mattered is that out of every possible person to come meet him on Mt.Silver, Green was probably the one whose company he enjoyed the most. Therefore it made sense to try and be polite.

So, he needs to leave a message to Green, to tell him to wait at the cave until he was back.

Ideally, he would have left Charizard, told his Pokémon to get started on the fire while he was at it, and Green would have been in a slightly better mood upon arriving to a toasty warm cave. But he needed the Flying type to go up and down to where the Tyranitar was rampaging, so that was not an option.

He used to have a notepad - another gift from Green, because Red very much hadn't planned on communicating with anyone while on Mt.Silver - but a small… mishap involving Blastoise and a stray Geodude intruding in his cave last week had rendered it useless. He might have an usable page or two left somewhere at the bottom of his bag, but he didn't feel like losing time digging for it and a pen.

He makes a mental note to ask the other for a replacement.

But in the meantime, there must have been a simpler way… Ah !

Recalling Lapras, Red walks toward his cave and digs through his pile of firewood, selecting a sturdy tree branch about the length of his arm.

Exiting the cave, he plants it in a small pile of snow, close enough from the entrance to be easily visible.

Then… His hand hesitates over his cap for a second.

No, it could get blown up by the wind too easily. And he really, really dislikes having his face exposed without his cap.

Instead, he shrugs off his vest - the cold has long stopped bothering him - and ties it around the top of the tree branch.

"Pika ?" his trusted partner asks, scrambling to sit on his shoulder to observe his makeshift landmark.

This will tell Green he was here, had to leave for a moment, and is planning on coming back soon.

"Piii…."

Pikachu doesn't seems convinced.

Red shrugs. It'll do.

Green will understand.

He calls forth Charizard, jumps on his back, and lets out a whistle - the fire-type understands the command and takes off, flying toward the disturbance on the mountain.

The red vest tied on the branch sways in the wind after their departure.

"Fuck !" Green curses, stumbling, as another shake sends rocks tumbling down the wall of the cave.

Arcanine is the only reason he's not been getting intimately acquainted with the ground for the past half hour.

"Fucking stupid fuckass shit mountain," he repeats, grabbing the fire-type's fur to steady himself while he waits for the earth shakes - or earthquakes ? It can't be a real earthquake, can it ? Oh Arceus what if it is ?

Is he going to get buried in there - ?

Arcanine lets out a whine. Green must have pulled too hard on her fur.

"Oh sorry, shh, shh, you're okay," he soothes her with a much more gentle pat on her cream-colored head.

The shaking subsides, and Green takes a few cautious steps forward.

What was the thing about aftershocks in case of earthquakes ? Was it within minutes, or a few hours..?

He yelps as a wet nose pushes into his cheek, Arcanine nuzzling his face to pull him out of his thoughts.

"Alright, girl, I get it, I get it. No need to panic over dying in a cave collapse as long as it's not actively happening, so we continue forward to Mister 'I am totally not miserable on this mountain' at the top," he sighs.

Arcanine boofs in agreement.

"You're a better conversationalist than him, you know ? At least you listen to me," he grumbles, kicking a rock as he returns to follow the path he's become familiar with in the past year, "Half of the time he barely even glance at me when I drop him food and stuff. Is it really so hard to show a little gratitude ? To go, 'oh, dear rival of mine, how nice of you to care about me and not let me die of starvation all alone in this horrible place ! You deserve an award for your abnegation !'," Green continues, taking on a falsetto voice at the end.

Not that Red's voice is like that.

Well, actually, he has no fucking idea, he hasn't heard the guy says anything at all in, what ? Six years now ? Maybe more ?

He was always quiet and uncomfortable with speaking to people beside his mother, but Green remember hearing his voice a few times when they were kids. Not so much after he proclaimed them rivals and they started their Pokémon journey.

Not at all after Red got entangled with Team Rocket and had to stop them alone.

Green deflates.

Arcanine gives a curious whine.

"Yeah, I know, it's not his fault, and he never asked for me to keep bothering him, but it's not like I can just… Let him be up there all alone ? Someone has to bring him food from time to time and checks on him, even if he was doing kinda fine all by himself before that, and only I can do it. I mean, Lance knows he's here too, and Lyra as well, but they're both busy with Champions' stuff. And Lance is a Dragon-type trainer, meaning he's not suited to climb the place, given the cold and shit - another proof I'm better than him, by the way, but we already knew that. I might have been Champion for all of thirty-six minutes, but I did beat him."

And then he proceeded to lose to Red, gets berated by his grandfather, and have a temper tantrum right outside of the Hall of Fame.

Green rubs a gloved hand over his cold face.

Yeah, alright.

Maybe the reason he keeps going up this dumb mountain to make sure Red is receiving proper supplies to survive is partly out of guilt.

He remembers the horrified look on his rival's face after seeing Green breaks down crying and spits poisonous words at him after losing the Champion's title.

He was only eleven - but they both were. They both were children, and Red didn't deserve any of that.

Green wouldn't be surprised if one of the reason Red decided to fuck off to Mt.Silver and fake his death was partly because he never wanted to see him again.

Tough luck for him, tho, Green wasn't raised as a quitter.

So when Lyra had told him about the mysterious, strong trainer, hidden away on top of the most inhospitable mountain on the region - if not the world ! - and she had mentioned that damned Pikachu…

It had taken less than two hours for Green to close the Viridian Gym, grab a coat, pack a bag, fly to Route 28 and start climbing.

He knew exactly who he'd find on top of Mt.Silver.

And annoyingly, Red hadn't seemed that surprised to see him either.

"If he won't let us tell his mom where he is, and he won't come down regularly to give signs of life, then he's stuck with me coming to see him," Green scoffs, "Maybe I should tell him that, that could help him change his mind on staying up there. But then again, he could also just seek another fucking deserted and cold and dangerous mountain to hide, and I'd spent months looking for him…"

Arcanine boofs again, as if agreeing with him.

"See ? You're such a intelligent girl. Maybe I should leave you with him for a while, you could talk some sense into him. Arceus knows he listens more to Pokémons than to humans," Green grumbles.

"Shrieeee !"

A Golbat swoops down toward them - but a single Roar from Arcanine sends it away.

"Seriously, what is happening on this damn mountain today ? First the ground keeps shaking, then there are weird noises, and nearly every wild Pokémons we've come across was agitated," he remarks.

Usually, his trip toward the summit is much shorter, as many of the wild Golbat and Onix recognizes him now, and they know they can't win against Arcanine or Gyarados. But today, even while crossing the lake inside the lowest part of the cave with his Water type, he had to fight against the frenzied bats.

Even the Geodudes and Gravelers have been restless, rolling around the tunnels and aggravating the falls of stalactites.

"…Do you think Red is doing okay up there ?" Green mumbles.

Arcanine pushes against his cheek again with another whine.

"It's - it's just that, you know, strongest Champion ever or whatever, even his damn yellow rat would get squished into a pancake if the cave ceiling collapsed !" he rambles, "And what if his Pokémons ended fainting while he was facing all those agitated wild ones ? He'd be stuck, or he'd have to fight bare-handed against Ursarings to get back to the top. He can't win that for sure ! And then none of us would ever know if he needed help because he lives like a goddamn hermit without even a working PokéNav or any way to contact us and - "

Arcanine headbutts him in the back.

"Oof ! What the - What was that for ?!"

Her boof is almost disapproving.

"…Okay, fine, his team is strong, he knows Mt.Silver best, and making sure he's got a decently furnished first aid kit in case of injuries is one of the reason I'm going up there. So no need to panic, you're right," he sighs - and double-checks that he actually packed bandages and Full Restores in the bag he's going to leave with Red.

That and an extra blanket, dried Pokéblocks, Tauros jerky, a small bag of rice, powdered milk, cereal bars, a pair of brand new woolen sport socks of the same model that Green himself has been using to keep his feet warm during his last few climbs, batteries for the flashlight he got him last time - who knows when Pikachu would be unavailable or tired ? - and two paper books.

A mystery novel and a non-fiction book on the history of Legendaries in Sinnoh.

Green figured sometimes Red had to take a break from training or… standing menacingly in the snow with his cap pulled low on his face. Or something. Reading had to be a better option than making cave paintings in the walls of his current lodging - Red never had much artistic abilities.

Green had pointed it out when he saw the little stick figures scratched in the stone, vaguely resembling a Pikachu and a Snorlax. He could have sworn something like a pout had appeared on the other's face for a micro-second before turning into his usual blank expression again.

Green felt a little bad about the fact he had used some bullshit excuse of nostalgia to sneak up into Red's childhood room after a dinner with his mother to try to find out what his tastes in literature were. Not only because it had been a bust - the pictures books and comics they read when they were ten years old were not going to interest him at all now - but mostly because he had to keep lying to his mother's face.

Delia had always been very nice to him when they were young, even after Red had disappeared and only Green had come back to Pallet Town. Despite the whispers that he was partly to blame for the situation, she still offered him the same affection.

Green wished he had been less of a little shit all those years ago. Maybe then Red wouldn't have fled, and he wouldn't have to see the spark in Delia's eyes dim as year after year went by without any information on whether her son was alive or not.

But to be fair, he wasn't the only little shit !

His grandfather and the Pallet Town inhabitants tended to remember Red as the quiet, serious little boy focused on Pokémons, but they forgot he also had a wicked streak and how half of the time he and Green got into a fistfight, it wasn't the young Oak who had thrown the first punch !

…Granted, perhaps Green had deserved a good number of those. And perhaps he had fought back as well and given as many bruises as he had received.

"Boys will be boys," his sister and Red's mom had shrugged off, since Red and Green went back to being two peas in a pod on the very next day after every fight.

At least, until they received Pikachu and Eevee, started their journey, and with each battle lost Green had realized the gap between his own abilities and his "rival's" was more of a giant gaping chasm and there was a reason his grandfather was clearly less interest in his progress, and it had grabbed every single self-worth issues he had tried to bury inside of him and exploded into bitterness directed at Red and ruined everything.

And now he bit his lips raw and offered empty platitudes at Delia at least one Thursday per month, because he hadn't even been the one that had found Red, it was some other fourteen years old girl that had also easily beaten him and stopped Team Rocket, and the least he could do to make amends was to respect Red's wishes when it came to not disclosing his whereabouts.

"…Maybe I should go back to therapy," he sighs. It had helped him a lot after the whole League fiasco and the mess he had become after Red's disappearance was confirmed. Helped him properly process his feelings and all that shit, and grieve - well, grieve someone that wasn't dead, but he hadn't known that back then.

Arcanine's boof sounds encouraging this time.

"Wonder if I could bill those sessions to Red. It's partly his fault, after all," he jokes, petting his Fire-type again, and wincing as another shake of the ground makes dust fall on his head.

Despite the disturbance, they keep climbing toward the summit of Mt.Silver.

Toward Red.

By the time Green is at the summit, the mountain has stopped shaking.

Arcanine had gotten tired earlier, so after unstrapping the bags from her back, he recalled her and send out Rhydon instead.

Gyarados would have been better for defeating all the Ground types around the cave, but the Water type couldn't comfortably fight around the constrictive and sometimes frankly claustrophobic tunnels of the upper levels of Mt.Silver.

So he handed the bag to Rhydon, and rubbed his hands together to stave off the cold as he tried to not cave in and bring back his Fire type out while endless amount of Horn Drill and Stomp were needed to get past the agitated Gravelers.

When he finally exits Mt.Silver's cave, the snow is falling abundantly.

Rhydon lets out an annoyed grumble.

"No fan of the cold, eh ? That makes two of us, buddy," Green snorts, and he hoists the bags over his own shoulders while recalling his Pokémon. It's the last stretch before Red's cave ; he can walk ten minutes in the snow alone, even if his back is killing him with all the stuff he put in his luggage.

If only Alakazam's Teleport could be used to deliver packages… But Green would still come up regardless, so really, not much of a point in trying to train him to do so.

Huffing and puffing under the weight on his back, Green trudges through the thick layer of snow that has started to accumulate, toward where Red's home-sweet-cave is located.

It's as he's reaching the entrance that he sees it.

He's not sure, at first, because the snow is whipping his face and greatly reducing the visibility, but there is a flash of red, familiar red, and -

His stomach drops through the floor.

He twists around, taking the last few steps toward the cave, toward -

It's empty.

There's no sign of a struggle, no blood on the floor, but also no Pokémons hanging around, no fresh ashes in the fire pit, and no smell of sweat and embers indicating anyone was here recently. Green spots Red's favorite bag, the one that's a bit threadbare by now, the one he usually use for foraging and sometimes collecting wood, rumpled in a corner.

"Red ?" he calls out, and immediately feels stupid for it.

Anything bigger than a Rattata couldn't hide out of view in that cave.

It's empty.

Okay. Don't panic.

It means nothing.

He drops his bags in the cave and marches back out.

Another ten minutes of battling the howling winds, this time with a few shouts of his rival's name that he might be the only one to hear, and he's back at the entrance of the cave going down Mt.Silver.

"Red ? Red !" he shouts, taking a few steps inside the tunnel.

It means nothing, the idiot is probably busy observing the difference in Geodudes' color depending on what rock they eat, or trying to figure out what species live in the small thicket of pines a bit lower on the mountain by smelling Pokémons' poop, or -

"Red ! Reeeed ! Red, where are - ack !"

A Golbat nearly smacks him in the face, disturbed by his screams.

Cursing, Green waves his arms at it - and thankfully that's enough to send the bat away without further combat.

When the fluttering of the Poison type's wings fade, and so do the echoes of his cries, the only noise that remains in the tunnel is his own panting breath.

It means nothing, it means nothing -

Turning around, he returns to the summit, make loops in the snow, face pointed downward to examine the ground - but the only tracks in the snow are his own footsteps.

It has started snowing recently, it could have just covered any previous trace.

It means nothing !

"If it means nothing, why don't you take a look at it ?", an horrible little voice in the back of his mind whispers. It sounds like himself when he was eleven. He hates it.

Feeling his hand trembles, and for once, not because of the cold, he slowly return toward the entrance of Red's cave. But just a few feet before he reaches it, he turns to the left, and takes a few steps toward what he spotted earlier.

Once he's right in front of it, there's no mistake to be made.

A thick tree branch, planted straight in a mound of snow.

And tied to that pole… a very familiar vest.

Red's vest.

The landmark is crudely made.

Like something a vaguely humanoid Pokémon - a Charizard or a Blastoise, for example - would have done without a trainer's instruction. Or something tied together by a Venusaur's vines.

Green sinks to his knees, uncaring of the snow that immediately soaks through his pants.

A grave.

The wind howls in his face. He thinks it might echoes what he's feeling at the moment, the storm in his brain, the wails in his mind - but he remains quiet, taking shuddering breaths.

He wonders if there was a cap, perched on that tree branch, and the wind blew it away.

He wonders if under that pile of snow, there is also a Pikachu, cold and lifeless, curled in a ball upon his trainer's corpse, that refused to abandon him until the end, or if the rest of Red's team managed to convince the Electric type to follow them away from the cave and the summit.

He wonders if there was ever a chance for it to end differently.

Red might have been the greatest Champion ever, the savior of Kanto, the golden boy prodigy of Pallet Town… But in the end, he was just as human as everyone else.

Just as mortal.

Sure, he might have survived all by himself for over five years up that stupid mountain, but that didn't mean he didn't get injured or sick. The first time Green had seen him on that summit, Red was so thin he had been afraid he'd snap his arm in half if he grabbed him too hard.

That hadn't stopped Green from trying to punch him, and that's when Green had realized Red wasn't just skin and bones but also lean, wiry muscles like an alley Meowth. Red could have pummeled him into the ground and left him to die in the cold. He hadn't, of course, because he had offered a Pokémon battle instead, because he was Red. A battle Green had miserably lost again, to no one's surprise.

But Red wasn't necessarily good at recognizing his own limits either.

After his trip to the Cerulean Caves, he had come back… In a bad shape, from what Green had been told.

He hadn't witnessed it - he was on a trip to the Sevii islands himself, trying to run away from all the pomp and attention that was on him as the shortest standing and youngest Champion of Kanto and could he please give them a few words about the Oaks' legacy in the League challenge or perhaps about Red since the latter never gave any interviews ?

That all felt too much like a farce at his expanse. He kinda understood Red running away to Mt.Silver - but at least he hadn't been gone for years nor cut out everyone from contacting him !

A while ago, Green had tried asking Red what the hell he had been doing in the Cerulean Caves to end with a severe concussion, broken ribs, a broken arm, and all that - was Red just the kind of guy that loved getting himself into dangerous caves just for the hell of it ? - but his rival's face had… turned eerily blank and he had shut down this conversation really fast.

Contrary to popular belief, Red was actually quite good at making himself understood without words. Green had entire conversations with him where he'd babble about this and that and the other only nodded and sometimes grunted at him, and it was still a perfectly understandable dialogue.

Red's quiet was often more telling than words - but this type of quiet had been different.

Not that it mattered much now.

Because Red would remains silent forever.

Just another victim of Mt.Silver's deadly reputation.

Just another trainer lost to the dangers of the wilderness of Kanto.

There's a flash of a Pokéball opening, and Eevee appears to his side and starts mewling at him.

Oh. Poor Eevee. She absolutely hates the cold. In normal circumstances she'd never willingly come out while on Mt.Silver unless they were in the cave, with a roaring fire right in front of them and a few treats laid out to counterbalance the spartan comfort of camping.

Green should move, probably.

Gets to the cave. See what he needs to take to bring back down the mountain with him - some food for the trip back, a few healing items for his team, maybe a personal item or two of Red so he can give it to Delia, so she doesn't have to mourn an empty grave -

He makes a pathetic, shuddering noise.

He blinks as he realizes his sight isn't just blurred because of the snow whipping his face, but also because of the wetness falling from his eyes.

Eevee yells at him. She wants him to get up.

He is too numb to feel much of anything at the moment, but he must be getting dangerously cold by staying there, unmoving, kneeling in the snow.

But he can't leave like that.

He can't leave Red like that.

Alone.

Because Red was all alone when he -

Green scoops the little Normal type in his arms, and buries his face in her fur as he breaks down crying.

It took Red longer than he expected to be done with the Tyranitar - mostly because he also had to defeat half the herd of Donphans so they wouldn't try retaliating and risk aggravating the bigger Ground type again later. And also a few Gravelers and even a Golem who were disturbed by the commotion and whose stomping could have caused further cave collapses. And some Golbats, because Golbats were everywhere and never quite understood how low in the food chain they were, always attacking every single Pokémon they could spot with their poor eyesight.

By then, the snow had started falling heavily, the way it always did on Mt.Silver when a storm wasn't quite there yet but the weather wasn't so mild either that the sun could shine hard enough to pierce the clouds.

A hand firmly gripping his cap so it doesn't get blown away from his head while he fly on Charizard, Red finds himself thinking he's going to enjoy taking a break for the rest of the day, sitting in the relative warmth of his cave and listening to Green's rambles. Maybe they can heat up some of that instant cocoa packets Green has brought back before - Red isn't sure if he has two mugs, but Green must have taken his own thermos for the climb. They can use it for the hot cocoa and wash it with Blastoise's water after.

He's lost in thoughts as Charizard circles back to the summit - and it takes him a moment to realizes there's something out of place in the landscape of Mt.Silver.

A single black spot in the snow.

One that he can barely distinguish as someone lying down through the thick curtain of snow once he focus more on it.

And there's pretty much only one person that can be found on Mt.Silver with a black snow jacket.

One that comes up the mountain once a month, with food and healing items and bright green eyes and spiky light brown hair -

Red's breath hitches in his throat.

His hand clenches on Charizard's neck - and the Fire type waste no time plunging down toward the relatively flat area around Mt.Silver's summit. Red is jumping off his Pokémon's back before he has even properly landed, taking big strides through the snow to reaches his goal.

Once he gets close enough, he hears Eevee's shrill mewling, the sound only adding to his worry.

A few more steps, and he sees it.

Green, slumped down in front of his landmark, snow starting to pile on his shoulders and his hair, Eevee clutched in his arms.

Lips blue.

Not even shivering anymore - barely moving, in fact, despite Eevee's insistent pawing at his coat.

No.

No, no, no - What happened ? Is he injured ?

Why -

Maybe it's because Eevee gives Green a little nudges with her head while she paws at him once more.

Maybe it's because Red makes some noise as he steps closer.

Regardless of the cause, something must catches Green's attention, and he turns his head with a shuddering breath.

Red is horrified to see the tear tracks on his cheeks have started freezing, rendering the skin below raw and chapped. More tears escape his eyes as he blinks - and suddenly Green's face is twisting in an expression of pure rage.

"Y-you - You fucking - f-fucking b-bastard !" he chokes out, a cloud of white coming out of his mouth, "Is that - is t-that f-funny to you ? H-huh ?!"

Red doesn't understand.

"T-t-that's just a - just a s-sick game for y-you, hah ? You d-don't - y-you don't c-care about a-a-anyone else at a-all !"

Green readies his fist, stumbling as he tries to stand up - and Red steps forward, catching him before he can falls face first in the snow.

Eevee hisses at him.

"I-I h-hate y-you…" Green mutters, voice raw.

…It hurts.

The other boy has said those words many time before, but Red knows he's never truly meant it, except for two times.

Back at the League, six years ago.

And today.

He thought they were making progress toward repairing their friendship, or whatever they might call it.

But now, he has no idea why that progress has been lost.

Green lets out another shivering sob.

He's so cold against his chest.

That's wrong.

Red is the cold one. Green is always nagging him to wear gloves or a scarf, yelping whenever their hands or arms accidentally brush together and his warm skin get subjected to what he calls 'Dark type level of cold'.

Okay. Green can be mad at him all he wants once he's no longer at risk of getting frostbite.

Maneuvering so that one of Green's arm gets slung over his shoulder, ignoring Eevee's protests of being forced out of her trainer's arms, and said trainer's protests at being manhandled, Red drags the other toward his cave.

Charizard precedes them, not even waiting for a command from Red to ignite the last few branches left in the fire pit. Leaving Green seated close to it and Eevee back to snuggling in his lap, Red grabs more logs from his storage area to feed the fire.

The flames climb higher, the air slowly but surely turning warmer in the cave. Charizard's own body heat helps as well.

Red digs into his pile of clothes, finding the towels Green has forced him to accept months priors.

He's never been so thankful for these before.

He hands the first one, and Green snatches from his hand without waiting, immediately starting to rub Eevee dry despite his shaking arms. The little Normal type protests a little at the beginning, but she lets out a relieved mewl as most of the cold moisture is sucked out of her fur.

Eevees aren't made to survive in high humidity, low temperature weather.

Nor are Pikachus, truth to be told, but Red's partner is as close to the average Pikachu as Red himself is to an average human at this point.

Once Eevee is deemed dry enough, Green drops the now wet towel to the ground - or perhaps it escapes his hands. Red isn't sure.

He hands him the second one, and he receives no thanks, only another murderous glare, but Green grabs it regardless and tries to pat down his own hair - with significantly less success, his movements much more jerky now.

Red itches to just help, but clearly Green is still mad at him and won't let him approach, much less touch him, and so he remains standing and tending to the fire.

The second towel doesn't drop to the ground, instead hanging from the other boy's shoulders once he's done with it. His light brown hair is now half limp, completely different from its usual gelled spikes.

Green starts violently shivering soon after.

That's a good sign. It means his body is fighting against the hypothermia.

A flash of a Pokéball opening, and Arcanine, worried about her trainer's state, tries pushing her big head in his face -

Green hisses and recoils.

Arcanine makes a pained whine.

Red tuts at the Fire type, gesturing at the fire, then Arcanine, then at snow and Green.

Applying direct heat to the skin of someone suffering from hypothermia will not help warm them up ; it'll only injure them further, by causing local burns.

Charizard huffs to emphasize his words.

"Ask him how he knows that."

A lot of the things Red learned about hypothermia, frostbite, and how to treat them was trial and error.

And pain.

Arcanine lets out another whine as she realizes she can't cuddle to her trainer to warm him up like usual, instead retreating to lay down a few steps behind, positioning her body between Green and the cave's entrance to block most of the cold draft.

Red pats her nose as she lays her head on her paws. Such a good girl.

"D-d-don't you d-d-dare indoctrinate my P-Pokémons in your hare-brained s-schemes," Green snaps.

Red stares and try to understand what he did to piss off his friend like that.

"Y-y-you have n-n-no idea what you d-d-did wrong, h-h-huh ?" Green scowls, "T-t-t-typical Red, a-a-always so s-s-s-selfish."

That's the anger speaking.

Red knows this.

Still, he frowns, annoyed.

How is he supposed to apologize if the other won't tell him what he did wrong ?

"F-f-f-forget it…"

Eevee gives him an annoyed gruff as well - usually, Pikachu would lift her spirits in seconds, but -

Where's Pikachu ?

Red startles, looking around for his Pokémon. He was behind him a moment ago, when they entered the cave, so where…

There's a muffled trill coming from outside.

Pikachu soon returns, jumping over Arcanine's body, dragging his vest between his teeth. He drops the garment soaked in snow and spit at Red's feet.

"Pika. Piii !" the Electric type scolds.

Which could roughly be translated to something like "Wow, dude. I told you so ! You're such a moron."

Red blinks, still not understanding the link between his vest and Green's state, and raises an eyebrow. What does his vest have to do with any of this ?

"Pi-ka-pi," the Electric type repeats, slowly.

A tomb ?

What -

Oh.

"Chuuu !"

"Yeah. You fucked up big time."

No wonder Green reacted so… badly.

Frantically, Red signs - pinching gesture in front of his forehead, then lowering his hand down his face while making a shallow bow, again and again, hoping the other will understand -

"S-s-s-shut up. Don't say you're s-s-s-sorry, you're n-n-not," Green rebukes, still glaring at him.

Red stills.

Blinks.

"W-w-what ? It's not like you're t-t-the only guy that use Kanto Sign Language," Green huffs, but he seems a bit embarrassed, "I've p-p-practiced in the last few years."

Something warm and happy unfurls in Red's stomach.

Truth to be told, he rarely bothered with using sign language himself - his Pokémons understand him just fine, and not many beside his mom or Prof. Oak know enough signs to hold a conversation anyway.

Green did, when they were kids.

Red didn't think the other would still remember, after all this time they spend apart.

He signs 'sorry' one more time, trying to show that it is genuine. That he didn't mean to worry Green like that. That he wasn't playing with his feelings.

Green purses his lips and says nothing - there are still tear tracks on his face.

He was crying over Red. Over him being dead.

It's both so surreal, but also so easy to accept.

Green cares about him - and his care was repaid with such a callous deed ?

No wonder Eevee is still growling at him, despite Pikachu doing his best to plead his trainer's case to her.

Red knows the other won't accept his apology so readily. That is understandable.

"F-f-fucker. Forget about therapy, t-that ain't going to help as long as y-y-you are you," Green scoffs, bitterness evident in his voice.

Red winces.

Yes, his own feelings are a bit hurt at those words.

But given Red already took the Champion title and his grandfather's attention from Green - the second quite unwillingly - it's not surprising the other developed some sort of trauma.

Something like abandonment issues.

Which would explains why he was so worried when he couldn't find Red the last time, why he always jolts awake and twists around until his eyes land on Red when he dozes off during his visits on Mt.Silver, why he keeps Eevee so close to him whenever they meet, as if he's worried Red would take her away too, as if he's afraid he's not enough and she'd rather follow any random strong trainer than stay with him -

It's a good thing Green went to see a therapist. Red certainly can't help with those feelings.

He's never been good at human relationships. And he has no idea what to do when these problems stem from his very existence.

Green is still shaking from the cold.

Okay. That is something Red can fix.

He cares too.

Actions speaks louder than words.

He'll make it up to Green, one way or another.

Green is still muttering curses as Red putters around his cave, going to the corner that has been designated as the sleeping area if the sleeping bag and blanket are any indications.

The fact that his sole blanket wasn't piled on the sleeping bag but rather twisted in a sort of nest to the side, one that would be the right size for a Pokémon to use, is both infuriating and unsurprising.

Hence why Green got him a second blanket.

But right now he's too busy shivering and being angry to bother and try unpacking said blanket from the bag that has been abandoned somewhere near the entrance of the cave.

Ugh. He hopes the food inside hasn't gotten wet too.

Red picks up the blanket, shaking it and dislodging both cave dust and short yellow hairs from it, and walks back to Green to drape it over his shoulders. Green relents and lets him with a grumble, exchanging it for the towel he used to dry his hair.

Eevee still growls at Red when he gets closer, but Pikachu is now cuddling to her side to warm her up, so she's less likely to jumps in and bites the other trainer.

Little traitor.

Green loves her.

Red throws the towel away without a care, kneels in front of him, frowning at his still shivering form, before giving a tug to the blanket and then to his pants.

What ?

Green stares blankly as Red repeats the motion, tugging at the blanket, then his wet pants, then pointing to the fire -

Ah.

"D-dry the clothes ?"

A nod.

"F-f-fine," he mutters, because he's still mad, but Red is making sense, and he can't stay mad at him if he dies from easily preventable frostbite.

He struggles with his belt and his jacket's zipper for a little, but he sure won't let Red help him with any of it. Bastard can keep staring at him with big wet eyes like a pathetic little Growlithe - he's not allowed to touch him at all for now.

If he does, Green isn't sure he won't try sucker-punching him in the face.

Or break down crying. Again.

Neither are ideal outcomes.

A few more wiggles, and Green is left in his underwear, rolling himself in the blanket like a Kakuna in its cocoon, and Red lay down his snow-soaked clothes on the rocks passing for benches and cupboards on the other side of the fire pit. His jacket even gets tossed on Charizard's back - and the Fire type only has the time to raise his head and let out a little plume of smoke before Red berates him - or as much as one can berate without pronouncing a single word - and then he lays back down and lets himself be used as a glorified dryer.

Red soon returns to his side and firmly rubs his arms and back through the blanket to help his blood circulates and warms him up. Green is still feeling closer to an Ice type than to an human at the moment, but the effort is appreciated nonetheless.

He wishes he could cuddle to Arcanine, but given how the simple contact of her snout almost burnt him badly earlier, it's better to wait for that.

Once he can feels his toes again, as proven by the fact he can wiggles them, Green lets one of his arm out of the blanket to shoo Red away.

Still mad ! Not stopping that any time soon despite being thankful for the help ! Nu-huh !

Red huffs, Green sneers, and they remains locked in a glaring match for a long minute.

Green feels victorious when he isn't the first one to avert his eyes.

And then Red starts stripping.

Green squeaks.

"W-w-w-w-what are you d-d-d-doing ?!" he stutters, voice way more high-pitched than usual.

Unperturbed, Red finishes removing his black t-shirt, and then raise an eyebrow as he wrings it out - water drips from it steadily.

Right.

The idiot was walking around in a fucking t-shirt and jeans in a blizzard. It makes sense that his clothes would be soaked too. Red seems so immune to the cold that Green hadn't even considered this could bother him.

"C-c-can you even catch f-f-frosbite at a-a-all ?" he grumbles.

Life is unfair ; how come Red gets to be both the better trainer and nearly immune to the weather ? A single guy shouldn't get all the perks of life. He should have a few more flaws. Just being unable to talk isn't enough to counterbalance the rest of him - especially when it makes him even more 'cool' and 'mysterious' according to numerous press articles !

Red shrugs and keeps wringing out his shirt before laying it down to dry next to Green's clothes.

Green tries to not stare.

But, it's - Well…

Green isn't sure when, exactly, it happened, but sometimes during the past year, instead of having to look down to see Red's face when he was talking to him, Green now has to look up. Only a little for now, but he has a feeling this height difference is going to get more obvious.

And now that he's being brought actual human food regularly and not surviving only on berries and raw Pidgey meat or whatever, Red's ribs aren't so clearly showing through his skin anymore. He's starting to fill up. And he's got muscles.

It's pathetic, but Green feels bitter about it.

When they were small, Red was always the tiniest one, the more delicate-looking guy, the one that got mistaken as a girl a few times with his round baby face and his longish hair.

Green thought that he could have that, at least. Even if he couldn't be the Champion, the best trainer, Professor Oak's favorite, he could at least be the bigger one physically.

But now it looks like Red is going to become one hell of a Machamp of a man.

Unfair.

But seething about his eternal inferiority complex isn't going to change shit about how Green's life is.

He pointedly looks to the side as Red's jeans join his shirt.

"Urgh. Hurry and g-g-get changed," he grumbles, burrowing further in his blanket. He's having an horrible case of pins and needles in his fingers. He knows it means they're still attached to his body and working and that it's a good sign, but it's an awful sensation nonetheless.

Pikachu lets out an annoyed trill and Green looks up to see Red throwing more wood in the fire… while still in his underwear.

"D-dude ? C-c-clothes ?" Green questions, "Or are you t-t-trying to become a Pokémon a-a-and run around naked on the m-m-mountain ?"

Red throws him a dry stare.

Green blinks.

"W-w-wait. This isn't… Y-y-you have more than one s-s-set of clothes. R-right ?"

Red keeps staring.

Come to think of it… Red's jeans have been looking a little short around his ankles. His black t-shirt is such a basic one Green is not sure when he bought it, but next to his ratty cap, it looks clean. But surely Red hasn't been wearing the same clothes for years ?

"…R-r-right ?"

His hobo rival shrugs.

Green curses. Alright, he's adding 'new clothes' to the shopping list for his next trip to Mt.Silver. As for the size… Well, given Green wears medium size shirts and pants, he's going to grab something in large size. Might as well make sure Red can fit in his clothes for a while, and so Green won't have to keep buying shit every other months until his rival's growth spurts are done.

"I have a-a-another blanket in my b-b-bag," he says, because he's annoyed and Red might be a superhuman, but he's not about to let the other walks around a cave on top of Mt.Silver in just boxers.

The fact that his gaze is straying a bit too much on those long, toned, pale - very pale, wow, Red's skin is almost milky white - legs totally isn't another reason why he would rather have the other covered up.

Red lights up at that, jogging to his discarded bag, and digging through it.

The food and bandages and so on gets carefully set aside as he unfolds the other blanket - at least nothing looks too crushed. And Green supposes Charizard or Arcanine can helps re-dry the rice if it got a bit wet.

Red has to have an iron stomach by now ; surely this won't cause him any digestion problems.

And if it does, well… Too bad for him. If he wasn't busy acting like a cryptic Legendary Pokémon on top of this dumb mountain, he'd not have to risk diarrhea by eating rice that went through every possible temperature and wetness state out of order.

Green makes a mental note to brings a couple digestive medicine packets next time anyway.

Just in case.

Red drapes the blanket around himself, but then he seems to contemplates something, gaze returning to Green's shivering form under his own blanket.

And then he's marching toward him, stopping short of touching him, and gives one tug at his blanket before rubbing his hands together with a pointed look.

…No, surely, Green is misunderstanding.

Red rubs his palms together again, still with a pointed stare trained on his face.

Green blushes.

Skin to skin contact.

Of course.

Simplest and most efficient way to help warm up someone suffering from hypothermia when you have limited resources.

And Red is nothing if not efficient.

"T-t-t-that isn't going to work ! Y-you're always cold to the touch," he protests. His stutter isn't just because of the temperature anymore.

Red rolls his eyes.

He points at Pikachu and Eevee, still cuddling for warmth and obviously very happy about it.

"T-t-they have fur ! W-w-we don't ! I-it's not the same !" Green denies vehemently.

"Veeeee !" his own partner retorts, lifting her nose from yellow fur, and Green has never felt so betrayed before in his life.

Pikachu's answering trill feels mocking. He never liked that electric rat, anyway.

With a nod toward the Pokémons, as if to say, 'See, even they agree' Red forcefully pulls Green's blanket away despite his protests, sitting down behind him and and pulling both blankets over their bodies again before the cold air can makes Green's skin rise in goosebumps.

Green holds very, very still as Red plasters his entire chest against his back.

Inside his mind, there's an uninterrupted stream of screams, of 'oh fuck oh shit oh fuck' on repeat, and also a stray thought of wanting to turn around and bury his head against Red collarbones, but he's going to ignore that. Forever.

The worst part ?

Red was right. Green does feel warmer that way, even if Red's hands are still so damn cold when they return to rub at Green's fingers until the feeling of pins and needles subsides, and when they splays over his waist after that. He splutters a little when Red hooks his chin over his shoulder and rests his head there, because at this point this really feels more like cuddling than just warming up.

But between that and the air of the cave getting to a comfortable, civilized, not-a-damn-cave temperature level, courtesy of Charizard and Arcanine's efforts, his shivering soon reduces.

This is… nice.

In this position, he can feel more than he can hear the "thump thump thump" of Red's heartbeat.

A reminder that he's here. That he's fine.

That he's alive.

Once he inevitably has to leave, and specifically leave the other behind, he's going to miss it.

To miss him.

"Red, I - Can you… W-will you ever get down the mountain ?" he can't help but ask once more.

He asked that question a lot, at first, when he found Red's hideout on Mt.Silver.

Less, after it became clear his rival's answer wouldn't change.

But this time, he gets a hum.

Green jolts.

That's different from the usual firm negative grunt he'd get as a reply.

It almost sounds like "I'll think about it."

He shouldn't get his hopes up, but…

"You don't - you don't even have to g-get back to Pallet Town, you know ? I mean, you gotta go see your mom, that's important, but after… We've both kinda outgrown the place. I can understand it'd feel suffocating. You could come crash at my place in Viridian City while you figure out what you want - the couch isn't great, b-but it'd still beat having to sleep on rocks in a cave," he babbles.

Another hum.

"Or you could go and travel out for a while too. I t-told you about me planning to go to Kalos soon, right ? Dunno if that'd be your style, but there are a lot of exotic Pokémon there and in the adjacent regions. And less people that'd recognize you so far away. I mean, the best would be to ditch the hat and keep Pikachu in his ball, if you really wanted to go incognito, but…"

The Electric type lifts his head from Eevee's fur to let out an indignant shriek at the suggestion, and Red himself gives a displeased grunt - whether it is about his Pokémon or his cap is anyone's guess. He is peculiar about both.

"Or there this World's championship thingy the League is looking to set up in Unova, and I'm sure these guys would love to have a Champion like you participating in the show. Lots of super strong trainers and Pokémons there for sure," Green continues, hoping to find a good enough reason to finally convince Red to get down this stupid mountain and rejoin society.

Red gives another hum, and his fingers tighten around his waist as if to say something.

He likely wishes for Green to shut up.

The latter knows he's annoying when he starts rambling. But then again, Red has never minded much that he talked enough for two. It helped take the attention away from his own muteness.

Still, Green takes a deep breath and quieten, focusing on the crackle of the fire, their Pokémons breathing, and the weight of Red against his back.

The calm lasts for a grand total of three minutes.

And then Green's hand snakes out of the blankets, grabs Red's cap, and throws it away.

Red yelps.

Pikachu untangles himself from Eevee for long enough to go fetch it, trying to bring it back -

"No ! If your trainer wants to acts like an overgrown Ekans that just learned Wrap, fine, but get that damn cap away from me ! The wet fabric is scratchy and the brim is digging in my cheek," Green grumbles, making a shooing motion at Pikachu.

The Electric type glances at Red, and the latter gives a reluctant nod.

It's probably better to dry his cap off his head and closer to the fire, anyway, if he wants it to not lose its shape too much… But he still doesn't like having his face exposed.

Pikachu chirps and puts down his cap near Green's jacket, on Charizard's neck - and the Fire type rolls his eyes but accepts his additional duty.

Eevee mewls, and Pikachu waste no time before returning to cuddle her.

Which gives him an idea for another way to hide his face…

Red buries his face in Green's neck, ignoring the other's splutters.

"Y-your nose is so fucking cold, oh my Arceus, are you sure you're not an Ice type human ?!"

He snorts.

Green is still a bit colder than usual, but he's slowly returning to his normal warmth, and hugging him is… nice.

Red hadn't realized how starved he was for human contact until Green had started regularly coming up the mountain to see him.

Oh, he has his Pokémons, of course, and he loves them, and they're much better company than a lot of people on most day… But it's just not the same.

There is a difference between hugging a Pokémon, and hugging another human being.

Red isn't sure what it is exactly ; but in this instant, he is reminded that he hasn't touched anyone else like that in over six years. The last time was probably the hug he got from his mother after returning from Indigo Plateau.

And feeling the way Green is breathing helps him remember that the other is here. And fine.

And alive.

When he saw him laying down in the snow earlier, he truly feared…

Mt.Silver is brutal.

Red knows it.

He has found corpses in the caves on multiple occasions.

Trainers that overestimated themselves and their Pokémons' strength.

To think Green could have become another casualty of the wilderness if Red hadn't returned in time…

Better not to dwell on it.

Or this might join the roster of his regular nightmares. A shame, given the ones about Mewtwo and Giovanni were finally starting to lessen in frequency. But Red has a feeling he's going to see the lifeless, cold face of his childhood friend laying in the snow the next time he closes his eyes while alone in his cave.

Especially given he knows for a fact that, if Green had died on Mt.Silver today, it would have been entirely his fault.

Red's hands tighten around Green's waist, and he buries his face further in his neck.

"Ack, seriously ! What is up with you now, leeching off me like that ? Are you actually catching a cold ? Serve you right for walking around in a t-shirt in those temperatures, dumbass !" Green yaps.

He can't see it, but Red rolls his eyes.

The cold actually kills bacteria. Red hasn't been sick once since coming to live on Mt.Silver.

Mmmh. His immune system might have a hard time adapting back when he gets down the mountain.

Oh well. He'll cross that bridge when he gets to it.

Because he has finally decided.

Red will get down Mt.Silver.

Maybe not tomorrow. Nor next week. But before the end of the year for sure.

And the reason is simply Green.

Oh, he wants to travel, and he's genuinely curious about what this Unovan tournament could brings up in terms of strong opponents and rare Pokémons - but most importantly, he wants to experience these things with Green.

He wants to battle him and feel the same spark he did when they were ten and Eevee and Pikachu barely knew how to Tackle and Scratch each other.

He wants to see Green's infuriating smirk, unimpeded by the cold or some misplaced sense of guilt Mt.Silver always seems to bring up in him.

Red has wished Green would stay longer up on the mountain with him.

He doesn't want that anymore.

Not when it puts him in danger ; not when it's so obvious how much he hates the place.

How much he fears it.

How he fears what can happen to Red, all alone up there.

And now Red is going to fear what can happen to Green when he's coming up the mountain too.

Perhaps he can start slow.

Goes down to the Pokémon Center to wait for Green here the next time he visits.

Red almost wants to ask Green to not climb up the mountain again after today. It would give him another incentive to leave this place.

But that would be useless.

Green isn't the kind of person that'd let a near-death experience stops him. If anything, it's just going to motivate him to climb even faster during his next trip.

Red and Green are alike on that point.

Even if they get knocked down, they get back up and fight with all they've got.

That's why they were perfect as each other's rivals back when they started their journey.

And maybe they still are.

…But maybe Pikachu and Eevee will enjoy more laid-back outings in the future, rather than jumping straight into battle the moment their eyes meet. The two little fluff balls seems very happy to simply be cuddling together.

Maybe he and Green should take their Pokémons as example. They've reconciled much faster than their humans - and even if Pikachu is still a little grouchy in Green's presence, and Eevee growls at him when she decides Red's actions are a slight toward her trainer, the both of them have gotten accustomed to spending time with two humans by now.

All of Red's Pokémons are actually very fond of Green, but he doesn't know if that's because of the food the latter brings up on the mountain, or if they just genuinely enjoy his presence. It's not like the true reason matters much. Red's team has been very clear they'd rather he follows Green back down the mountain than stays here at the top, especially since Lyra beat him.

Red thinks they'll like the idea of staying with Green in Viridian City.

Red himself feels hesitant about it ; the trainers going to the Gym are bound to recognize him, and the city in which Giovanni was most active will put a lot of attention on him, as the boy who defeated Team Rocket.

But then again, he'd have Green with him.

Green who can talks enough for two and make sure the paparazzi don't get close enough to bother him too much. Green who understands him with a glance and can easily translate his actions into words for others who might try interacting with him. Green who can tell Lance to his face how much of an annoying bastard he is.

Red thinks it very loudly every time the (Ex ?) League Champion talks to him, but he's not sure the older man picks up on it most times.

Yes. The more he thinks about it, the more he enjoys the idea of traveling around with Green.

Perhaps they could finally repair their friendship, and return to being close like how they were, a long time ago, before their Pokémon journey started.

Perhaps it could even turn stronger after all they've been through.

Red needs to give Green a proper apology. Or to apologize again and again, until the other is fed up enough that he'll accept it.

After that he will learn how to fit in Green's normal life.

How to not disrupt his day-to-day routine.

How to makes it better, somehow, by being part of it.

Yes. That sounds like a plan.

"I - Uhm, I'm pretty much defrosted by now. If you want to… To get away or something, you can," Green hesitantly calls.

His face is turned away, but the tip of his ears are red.

Red smiles in the crook of Green's shoulder.

He makes a hum of denial and wraps his arms more securely around the other.

"Ba-dump ba-dump ba-dump" goes Green's heart against his chest at the motion.

Just a smidge faster than it should be.

"…Or I guess you could stay like that. If you really want. I guess I'm not entirely opposed to it either," Green mutters as he shifts his grip on the blankets so they don't risk slipping around their shoulders.

Outside, the winds is still howling.

Arcanine yawns, stretching out and shuffling further away in the cave now that her body heat isn't needed as much. Charizard has fallen asleep, Green's coat and his cap still resting atop him, not quite dry yet.

Pikachu gives him a glance before burying his face in Eevee's neck fluff, and soon little snores are coming from the Electric type - both Green and Eevee laughs at that.

Red smiles.

Yeah. This is nice.

They will stay like that, huddled together under the blankets, until the storm outside subsides.

When the morning comes, announced by a Fearow's cry, Eevee and Pikachu, as well as their trainers, are still cuddling together, even though the cold in the cave has long abated.