Chapter Text
Snow falls delicately onto an already white sheet blanketing the rocky mountain surface.
It’s beautiful, the silence of the frosted evening leave for a serene atmosphere, only the occasional, harmonic chirping of Pokemon in the distance interrupting it. If Blue were to close his eyes and allow his mind to go blank, he’s sure that he’d be able to forget all his worries.
The harsh nip of sub-zero temperatures and the ache in his feet tell him otherwise.
He’s been walking up the mountain all day, and before that, hiking around the Johto region to get more intel on a particular rumor he overheard on one of his gramps’s phone calls.
A powerful trainer being spotted on top of Mt. Silver that no other trainer could defeat. He’s only been challenged twice, he heard, but both times were absolutely devastating defeats. He’s unstoppable.
There’s only one trainer Blue knows who’s worthy enough to fit that bill.
That’s how he ended up climbing a gigantic mountain at the crack of dawn, and how he’s ended up completely worn out trying to get to the peak. He can’t quite tell how much longer he’s got, but his legs are going to give out soon. He can hardly feel them, with how cold it is, and even during his Pokemon journey he hadn’t done this much walking.
“Hate to bring you into this weather, Arcanine, but I’m gonna need your help.” He says as he shuffles through his bag and takes out his loyal Pokemon’s pokeball. He releases him, and Arcanine is all too enthusiastic to assist.
After being licked furiously and nearly knocked over into the snow, Blue manages to climb onto Arcanine’s back and shove his face and chest fully into his soft, warm mane. He feels himself melt into it instantly, and a sigh of relief escapes him. Even with three layers of jackets and four layers of pants, he can’t compete with his heater of a Pokemon. He truly can’t imagine another human being this high up, let alone leading a life up here. Blue at least knows he’d die up here if he tried to stay for too long.
With that, he pulls himself together and sits straight. He tells Arcanine to continue upwards, and they start in a trot.
It feels like they’re going twice the speed he was previously, and Arcanine isn’t even going that fast. It’s a relief, but at the same time he can feel anxiety bubble it’s way up.
What’s he going to say to Red if he sees him at the summit?
Will he even see him up here, or will it be a dud just like all his other searches?
That last thought makes something burn inside him, and for a second his vision turns red.
How the hell could Red just up and leave everyone like that? It’s been months since anyone’s heard from him, months since he left before anyone else had even woken up. Months since Red left his mom in a state of panic and Blue’s gramps more upset than he’s seen him in a while. His stomach turns, he clenches his fists into Arcanine’s fur.
Arcanine lets out a short bark; not out of pain, but rather to help Blue pull himself together. He apologizes and pets his companions mane to make up for it, which gets his tail wagging.
“This is so stupid.” Blue mumbles to himself. He should really hate Red. He always acts like he does, anyways.
Ever since they were kids he’s picked on him. Poked, prodded, nudged, pushed, stole his stuff, insulted him as much as he could. Anything to get a rise out of the stone-faced kid. It only ever got him in trouble, or in one instance, slapped in the face. That never stopped Blue, though. He acted like it was no big deal, moved on, and came right back to pestering Red.
God, will Red even want anything to do with him?
Probably not, but again, that never stopped Blue.
Which is why it’s weird that it’s bothering him now.
He’s spent a good amount of time looking for the guy, so he supposes it makes sense as to why he feels so nervous. He searched all over Kanto at Red’s mothers plea, and when he came up empty, became absolutely furious.
Even if they were never close, Blue prided himself in being able to read Red fairly well. It was how they were able to communicate during their Pokemon journey, and especially how Blue was able to learn what made Red tick. The fact that his ability was failing him was frustrating at best, especially when he’s being relied on.
He knows Red’s mother doesn’t fault in not being able to find where her son’s hiding, but he could see disappointment painted all over her face. It laced in her eyebrows and wore her eyes down just as it did her sons.
It makes him feel guilty.
But of course, Blue is a busy person. Even after a year and a half, he’s being interviewed and grabbing everyone’s attention left and right for being the (second) youngest champion in Kanto history. With Red’s absence, Blue soaked in the limelight, even taking up the position as a gym leader. And although he doesn’t take his post as seriously as most would like, it still keeps him tied down. He can’t just go scrounging around regions looking for someone who doesn’t even want to be found.
That’s what he told himself as he was locking up the gym to hike up Mt. Silver just the other day.
Arcanine’s ears begin to flick around, as if he can make out anything in the stifling silence of the mountain range. He ducks his head then, sniffing heavily at the ground. Barks chirping in short clips out of his mouth subconsciously, and then he’s off. Blue holds onto his mane for dear life, and Arcanine’s howling in joy as he races to whatever’s got his attention.
“I swear if it’s just a Swinub I’ll lose it, Arcanine!” He shouts, mainly out of pure adrenaline.
But it’s not. They’ve reached the summit of the mountain, and there they stop at a cave entrance. He can feel heat emit outside of it before he can actually see any life coming from within. The blinding light of the white layer caking the mountain makes it difficult for his eyes to adjust to the dimly lit cave, but after a moment he spots him.
He blinks dumbfoundedly.
He didn’t actually get his hopes up in seeing Red here.
It seems Red hadn’t been expecting him, either. His eyes are wide, and he’s stopped whatever he had been doing prior to Blue’s arrival. They’re taking each other in, and Blue’s afraid to look away in fear that it’s just an illusion created by his mind to make himself feel better after another failed attempt.
Red looks exactly the same, absolutely nothing seeming to have changed from when Blue last saw him in Pallet Town.
“What’s wrong with you!” He blurts out, and it startles Red into taking a step back. He blinks, still seemingly dazed, then tilts his head as if asking a question.
“Don’t give me that look, just look at you!” Blue making his way off Arcanine’s back, nearly slipping but catches himself at the last second.
He marches right up to Red, then takes off one of his jackets and places it around Reds shoulders. Red is frozen in place, clearly not expecting it, and Blue’s face is burning at his own unexpected action. His hands are placed firmly on Red’s shoulders, and they squeeze slightly when he sees Red grip onto either side of the jacket.
“You’re going to freeze out here, you idiot!” He begins, attempting to power through his fluster. “I didn’t spend so much time looking for you only to see you die of hypothermia, geez. Have you seriously been up here all this time like this?” He scolds, as though he were talking to one of the children coming to challenge him at the gym. “And what if I had come across your corpse instead, because you thought you were too cool for long sleeves! Were you seriously going to leave me emotionally scarred like that?”
At first, Red’s face scrunches up in agitation, obviously not happy at being talked down to. As Blue continues speaking, however, Blue feels the tension leave his shoulders and instead shaking in laughter. It makes Blue blush further, but he can’t help but smile.
“You really are stupid, you know that.” Blue tells him, chuckling a little himself.
Red sticks his tongue out at him, and Blue gives him a playful shove, finally breaking contact.
He can’t remember a time they were ever this friendly towards each other.
“Seriously, keep that. Have you really been up here the entire time you’ve been gone?” Red thinks for a moment, then gives his hand a shake, as to say kind of. “Dressed like that.” A nod. Blue pinches the bridge of his nose. “Nice to see you haven’t changed.”
The sun sets as Blue begins making himself cozy in Red’s little cave.
There’s not much to it, like Red hadn’t even attempted to make it habitable. There’s room for him and his Pokemon to move around, and while Red urges him to release his own Pokemon, Blue can’t help but wonder if everyone will be able to fit. He’s sure Red would love nothing more than to be squished by all twelve of their Pokemon, but Blue would still like to have some breathing space. He keeps out Arcanine, but the rest stay tucked away in their balls, lest the freeze.
A campfire is made near one of the walls, and a log placed as a seat next to it. Red’s the one to build it and sit down, and upon realizing he has company, scoots over and pats the seat next to him as an invitation to join him.
He does, and feels weird about it. His exhausted body doesn’t seem to care about their newly found tolerance toward the other though, as he feels himself slumping forward and closer to the fire.
“I’ve been climbing up this mountain all day.” He tells him. “Do you get off of here at all? That must be awful.” He looks over at Red, who shakes his head no.
“What do you eat, then? There aren’t even any wild Pokemon around here for miles.”
Red gets up, goes to a back part of the cave, and returns with a bowl, some berries and leaves. It makes Blue want to cry.
“Oh my god, no. Hold on.”
He grabs his backpack and takes out some granola bars. He hands one to Red, who looks somewhat offended at the criticism of his diet.
“This is probably the most nutritious thing you’ve had in months. Take it before you stress me out even more.”
Red rolls his eyes and takes it from him, opening the wrapping and taking a bite. Blue can tell he’s trying to hide how hungry he is, so he doesn’t say anything as Red shoves it down and hands him a second. The first item on his list to bring for next time is absolutely food. Something hot, if he can manage.
He blinks. Does he seriously think he’s going to come back to this frozen hell? Or that Red wouldn’t come back down after this first visit? That was the hope, at least, that Red would want to return with him. He’s at least hungry enough, it’s just a matter of how much pride he’ll be able to swallow to follow Blue back down.
That’s a matter for the morning, though. For now, all Blue wants to do is eat and relax. And by that, he means eat and brag about himself.
He tells Red about how he’s taken over the gym in Viridian, about how popular he is and about how his research with gramps is coming along, about how he gets invites to fancy battle arenas and still gets interviewed.
He absolutely omits how just about everyone, no matter where he goes, asks him about Red. As if he’s supposed to be keeping tabs on the guy.
Red nods along with a small but genuine smile. It makes Blue’s heart do flips, and he can’t help but continue talking.
It’s like that for a while. They’re cozied up next to the fire, Red’s Pokemon snuggled around them with the addition to Blue’s Arcanine. Blue chatting idly, Red nodding, laughing, making a face when he hears something he finds strange. It’s nice. They’ve never been like this before, and Blue finds himself wanting more moments like this.
“You’re really hard to find, you know.” He finally admits, which adjusts Reds focus on him. “I never expected you to be here of all places. Any reason why?”
Red opens his mouth, as if he’s going to speak, and through the exhaustion that’s had itself curled around him for so long, Blue feels a rush. He watches Red try to say something, anything, but after a moment, Red scrunches his eyebrows, closes his mouth and shakes his head. As if he can’t bring himself to say anything. He’s not disappointed, surprisingly. He hasn’t heard Red talk since they were about four.
He turns back to his backpack and rummages around. He pulls out a plain notebook and a pen. “Here,” he says and offers it to Red. “I know you’re not one for talking, thought this would make things easier.”
Red’s eyes shimmer in what Blue likes to think is gratitude, then the look all but vanishes and is replaced with an irritated one.
Blue shrugs. “I thought you’d talk, didn’t want to interrupt you trying.” Red takes the notebook.
It takes a minute, but Blue finds himself incredibly patient with waiting for Red’s response. He watches as Red scritches away on the paper, his face scrunched up in concentration, his tongue poking out just slightly as he writes down some complicated kanji or something. He doesn’t actually realize he’s been staring until Red looks over at him quizzically. Blue blushes and drops his gaze. He hears Red give an airy laugh and feels the notebook nudge against his shoulder. He looks back over at it and takes it.
I didn’t like the attention. It freaked me out.
“I figured that was it. You always shut yourself in your room whenever you thought a camera was around.”
Red looks even more tired than Blue feels.
“Still…” Blue pauses for a moment, trying to figure how to word what he wants to say. “You really freaked everyone out with how you just left. Your mom was a mess for a while. I still have to reassure her sometimes that you haven’t been eaten by a wild Ursaring.” He laughs, but it lacks any humor.
Red grimaces, then reaches back for the notebook. Blue obliges.
Sorry.
Blue snorts, which seems to throw Red off.
“I’m not the one you should be apologizing to.” Red frowns, and Blue feels panic seize up in him. Wrong answer. “I know you’re strong enough to take care of yourself, after all.” He says nonchalantly, “you’re my rival after all. Maybe if you could come back with me and tell that your mom, it’d make up for it though.”
Red’s frown deepens and he shakes his head. He grabs the notebook back.
I don’t want to go back down.
“Why not?”
Red struggles with this one. He scratches out entire sentences, rewrites, scratches it out, flips the page, repeat. Blue puts his hand on his shoulder and he freezes up.
“You don’t have to tell me right now. I won’t make you come back down, I just wanted to see you more than anything.” Concern laces through his words, and his eyes scan Red’s face for any kind of reaction.
Red relaxes, which in turn makes Blue relax. He nods, then gives the notebook back to Blue, not seeming to want to write anything more. Blue gives him a reassuring smile, and Red gives him a tired one back.
“It’s late.” He declares, getting up to stretch. “I’ve been up way too long, and you look like you could use some rest too.” He offers his hand out to Red, who gladly takes it.