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Red has always known Green was afraid of the dark. And ghosts.
One time, when they were probably eight years old, their friends decided to play a game in the middle of the forest at night. Red can’t remember the details, but he knows it was a challenge of sorts – something to see who was the bravest among them.
Green tried to protest, saying that he had a curfew, but the peer pressure eventually got to him and he reluctantly agreed. Red didn’t really have anything to do back home but sleep, and his mother wasn’t the strictest of people, so he decided to stay for a bit and join.
That, and the way Green was clinging unto his shirt made him stay.
They drew lots for who was going to pair with whom and surprisingly, Red ended up being paired with someone other than Green. Green ends up being paired to a pretty blonde girl Red had a crush on.
He felt a little jealous, but shrugged it off. Crushes never last anyway.
Ten minutes later after the game starts, Green’s partner comes to him distraught and panicked, saying that she’s lost him. Red reassures her that no, Green didn’t get kidnapped by pokemon and yes, he’ll go look for him and bring him back.
He stops her from coming along to look, knowing that Green hates showing other people how vulnerable he is.
He traces the path they went through and looks for a particularly large bush. He finds Green there, hugging himself with a Wurmple poking his thigh. He crouches down to his height and taps him on the shoulder, startling the brunet.
“Red?” Green whispers shakily, eyes squinted in the darkness. Red ignores the tears streaming down his face out of courtesy. “H-How did you—“
“Brittany told me she lost you halfway.” Is Red’s blunt reply. He nods behind him, “Everyone’s worried.”
Green stays quiet, looking hesitant. “Tell-Tell them I’m fine.”
Red nods and stands up, Green hops to his feet and tugs his hand. “Don’t just leave me here!” He exclaims, scared. Red frowns, looking back at the voices calling for the both of them, and then back at Green.
Despite the dark, he can see how swollen Green’s eyes had gotten. That would be a problem for Green’s popular boy image. He didn’t have any tissues on him to wipe the tears, so he does the next best thing.
Green yelps when a cap is forcefully tucked on to his head. He doesn’t get to say anything back as he’s dragged back into the group, Red keeping the cap down to cover his face.
Their friends don’t say anything when they come back. And when they tried to jokingly take a peek at Green’s face, they’re stopped with a glare.
They’re thirteen when some kids decided to play a prank on him and release a Haunter somewhere around the house. Right as Green decided to stay over.
He doesn’t know it right away, instead, it’s his mom that approaches him with the kindest smile on her face, beckoning him to her.
“Honey. I think you might want to check on Green.” She whispers to him, as if there’s anyone else that could hear her. “I saw a Haunter floating around and you know how he is with ghost types.”
Red blinks. “We don’t have a Haunter.”
Her smile doesn’t waver. “I know.”
It takes Red only seconds to shoot up the stairs. He shoos the Haunter away with the bribe of berries and finds Green curled up inside his closet with Pikachu nosing him worriedly. The yellow pokemon startles when the closet opens, tail standing up and growling menacingly, ready to fight. He calms down when he realizes it’s just Red.
Red picks him up and offers a short nuzzle before ushering him away to play with a panicked Eevee downstairs.
“Green.” He calls.
There’s no verbal response other than soft sniffling and sobbing.
He sighs, scratching his head in exasperation. He doesn’t even know who else, apart from his and Green’s relatives, know that Green is terrified of ghosts. Green liked to act a little cockier than others, so he can’t say that he didn’t deserve this. His friend has always needed an ego check.
But he is very ready to sick his Pikachu on whoever was at fault.
With a roll of his shoulders, he picks Green off the floor with little effort and deposits him on the bed. Green flinches at the initial touch, but relaxes and slumps on to him. The brunet’s hands cling to his arms shakily, and Red can feel how cold and sweaty they are. He decides not to comment and instead focuses on comforting him with reassuring touches.
Green peels himself away and manages to croaks out a small ‘thank you’ to him, complete with a peck to his cheeks.
Red made a mental note to not ever mention this to a sober, non-scared Green.
After spending a few more hours of cooling down in Red’s room, Green sports a permanent blush throughout his stay. His mom found it adorable and decided to take some photos as discreetly as possible.
“I’ll send these to Daisy.” She remarks, smiling down at her phone. She turns back to Red with the same smile, “Would you like one?”
Red doesn’t reply. But he gets one sent to him anyway.
And he makes it his wallpaper.
As a dare, they entered a haunted house when they were seventeen.
Green being the prideful man that he is, accepted the challenge immediately. Red was just forced to tag along, because he was part of the bet of course. Not for any other reason.
He also belatedly realizes that these people were the same ones who probably released that Haunter in his house. He takes note of that and remembers to deal with it later.
So here he is, with a shivering Green hugging him as a Gastly floats above in confusion.
Luckily, the pokemon seemed more worried about Green’s well-being than scaring him, judging from the way it’s hovering around them with a frown. The bad thing is that it’s hovering around them and agitating Green more.
Red sighs and digs out a berry, offering it to the pokemon with a quiet whisper. The Gastly accepts hesitantly, but nods in thanks before finally phasing away.
Red rubs Green’s back in comforting circles, “It’s gone.” He says to his ear.
Green slowly pulls himself away, face fresh with tears. “Damnit.” He whispers, looking frustrated.
Red cocks his head to the side curiously, “Do you want me to call it back?”
“No!” He screams, fingers tightening on Red’s shoulders. “What makes you think that?!”
Red shrugs.
Green looks down ashamed. Red keeps his focus on the flush of Green’s neck and not his lips when he swipes a tongue to wet it, “I just thought, you know. That I’ve grown out of this phase. I mean, who even gets scared of ghost types?”
“Kids.” Red replies bluntly.
“You’re not helping.” Green glares at him. Red just thinks he looks like a hissing kitten.
“It’s nice though.” Red starts to say, trying his hand at comforting words. “To keep some of your youth.”
Green groans, “I should’ve known you’re the worst person to open up about this.”
Red is about to ask why, when a chair clatters down to the floor behind them. Green squawks in alarm and dives back into Red’s embrace, arms clinging to his back. Red wonders how far the blush on his neck goes down, but resists the urge to pull Green's collar down.
“At least you talk now.” Red murmurs, raising one hand to run it through Green’s unruly hair. “Before you’d only cry.”
Green pinches him painfully on the arm, but he continues.
“You look cute when you cry.”
Green full-on punches him on the side this time.
They’re twenty-one now and Green’s crying again.
Mimikyu makes a sad noise as it fidgets on the floor.
Red isn’t surprised to find Green huddled inside the sheets of the bed, face red and eyes shining with tears as Mimikyu looks up at him in worry.
“Sorry.” Red says first to Mikmikyu, ignoring the glare Green sends him. “He doesn’t like ghosts.”
Mimikyu deflates.
“No but--!” Green interjects, surprising both him and the small pokemon on the floor. He wilts when Mimikyu turns to look at him, but he urges himself on. “I don’t hate you, Mimikyu.”
Mimikyu chirps and starts to crawl over, making Green flinch in panic. Before it could though, Red picks it up with a small smile. “Maybe not now little guy.” He says as gently as possible. He looks back at Green and sure enough, he’s hiding inside the sheets again.
Red sighs and looks back at Mimikyu, holding up a pokeball at it, letting it decide whether or not it wanted to stay out for a little longer. Mimikyu seemed happy enough with getting Green’s approval and pushes the button on its own.
He settles the pokeball on the nightstand, and approaches the shivering mass on the be cautiously.
“He’s back in his ball.” He says, sitting on the edge of then bed. Green pokes his head out of the blanket, nervous.
“Was Mimikyu okay?” He murmurs, wiping away the wetness in his eyes. “I was even the one who caught him and I’m acting like this…” Green sits up properly, trying to compose himself from his earlier outburst.
Red shrugs, “He seemed fine to know you didn’t hate him.”
Green nods, relieved. “That’s good.”
Red stares at Green’s red ears and reaches out to pinch them, Green makes a noise of confusion but doesn’t protest as he kneads gently. His blush just grows stronger.
“You know.” Red hums nonchalantly, feeling mischievous. “For someone who hates ghost types, they seem to like you a lot.”
Green stiffens, a wide look of horror plastered on his face.
“They—They do?”
“Yeah. I remember seeing one creep behind you in one of the photos we took—“
Right on cue, Green launches himself into his embrace.
“Don’t joke about that!!” He exclaims, clinging to Red’s neck. Whoops, Red thinks as he consoles him, he’s crying again. “Delete that photo at once!”
Red pulls him closer, kissing his neck softly.
“I will.”
As much as he hated seeing Green upset. He’s really cute when he’s scared.