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“So, if you’re going to try this whole vegetarian thing, then so am I!” Blue concluded. His arm was straight up and out in his typical cheerful salute, resolve shining in his eyes.
Red munched on his falafel. Blue’s speech had been a bit… long, really, but that was to be expected. Most of the other people in the mall food court had stopped staring.
“Can I try that?” Blue suddenly said, shifting. “That’s vegetarian, right? What is it?”
“Falafel.” Red plucked a ball with his chopsticks and offered it to Blue.
“What’s it made of?”
Red shrugged. He was pretty sure it was chickpeas, but Misty once said she made them with sweet potato, and he’d never thought about any further than that.
Blue tentatively nibbled at it, doing what he could to hide any anticipation. They were pretty mild in flavor – Red had ordered them here before and had been disappointed in the lack of spice, so it should likely be okay for his boyfriend. Blue had always been sensitive to unfamiliar tastes and textures, and Red was honestly impressed he even wanted to try changing his diet.
“It’s… not bad.” Blue frowned. “Here, give me that.” He knocked it out of the chopsticks onto his own plate, and unceremoniously fell back into his seat. Eevee lifted her head, curious at the new food on her partner’s plate.
Red scooped some hummus on a pita chip and watched.
“I think it’s chickpeas,” Red offered after a few seconds of nothing.
“I’ve never had chickpeas.”
Red frowned and picked up his phone, quickly searching up some pictures. He slid it across the table.
Blue scrunched his nose. “They’re beans?”
That was news to Red.
“Oh, they look good in this picture. I wonder how they get falafel-ified.” Apparently satisfied, Blue took another nibble. Red grabbed his phone back and searched.
“It’s fried,” he said.
“I thought vegetarian foods were supposed to be healthy.”
Red thought so, too.
But also, they were cheap and tasted good and he hadn’t had any diet-related health issues yet. He’d also only been vegetarian for two months, so really if he was somehow doing this wrong and making things worse, the impacts probably wouldn’t show up yet.
Honestly, Red hadn’t done too much research. The whole vegetarian thing he just ended up reading about after researching some new Pokemon feeds that he’d been asked to sponsor. He’d ultimately turned the contract down; Pokemon Center guidance clearly stated that vegetarian diets were terrible for Growlithe, and Red wasn’t about to promote something potentially damaging. But apparently vegetarian diets were fine for most people, and Misty had been vegetarian for years, so he figured he may as well try it out.
Of course, it was a little rough when he was driving home from Big Bang Burger holding onto his boyfriend’s standard order of a plain cheeseburger and fries and everything smelled impossibly good and the salad he’d had for lunch just didn’t feel like quiet enough, but he’d managed to stay strong so far. Apparently the cravings would eventually go away. At some point. Again, Red hadn’t really looked into that.
If Blue was on board now anyways, he probably wouldn’t be exposed to as much of that anyways. And they both already ate ungodly amounts of tofu as was, so it would probably be fine.
“What’s your favorite food?”
Red blinked, looking back to Blue. He’d managed to eat half of the falafel. That was a good sign.
“Red?”
Red shrugged. He’d never really thought about it. He pretty much ate whatever people put in front of him.
“Oh, come on. What was it that you said in that one interview? Don’t look at me like that. You know which one. The one they dressed Pikachu up for.”
Really, Red’s primary memories of that incident was the hours spent brushing sparkles out of Pikachu’s coat afterwards. Not a fun time. At least it paid well.
“Hold on, I’ll look it up.” Blue grabbed Red’s phone – his own must have died sometime during the four hours he insisted dressing up Red and Eevee – and searched. “You said… mochi. Is mochi vegetarian? Mochi’s vegetarian, right?”
Red nodded.
“Let’s get some!”
And Blue was up and off like a rocket, just like years ago. Eevee stretched and yawned before following, Pikachu reluctantly at her heels.
Red stuffed the remaining half of a falafel in his mouth before cleaning up the table. He wondered how much of their diet would be mochi now.