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Red never considered himself to be the nostalgic type.
Many of the battles won across his adventures throughout the regions were thanks to his meticulous thinking and calculating strategies. Of course, he believed in the strength his Pokémon gave him and vice versa due to their strong bond, but at the end of the day it never stopped being about logic.
And yet, as he stood in front of the Viridian City Gym, there was something about this old building that tugged at his heartstrings.
He couldn't help but reminisce on the beginning of his journey—when he'd traveled across Kanto far and wide challenging the strongest of trainers—among them the leader of Team Rocket himself, Giovanni.
It was actually amazing how little had changed since the Gym transferred ownership to Blue.
His boyfriend didn't see the need to remove any of the regulations Giovanni had set up in the past, since they were surprisingly efficient and helped the Gym thrive in the city. Blue only gave his own spin by adding little things here and there that made the place unmistakably his.
After taking in the sight one final time, Red let out a sigh as he made his way into the building. The double doors opened up automatically and he was instantly greeted with the sight of hustle and bustle of other trainers, all talking amongst themselves about all things Pokémon. It put a small smile on his face.
As he approached the front desk, the woman standing behind it immediately took notice of his presence, causing her to turn to him with a smile of her own. “Welcome, Champion Red! I assume you're here to see Gym Leader Blue?”
Red nodded in response. The woman however gave him an apologetic look while fidgeting with some papers. “Well, unfortunately I must say he's not here at the moment. Everyone is actually waiting for him to return to get a chance to battle.”
Red's brows furrowed in confusion at that. Why would Blue ask him to come if he wasn't even gonna be here? As if reading his thoughts, the woman gave him another smile as she put the sheets of paper away in a cabinet. “He asked me to tell you that he'd be waiting for you on Route 22. I apologize for the inconvenience, but would you be so kind as to bring him back as soon as possible? Slacking off on his duties as Gym Leader isn't setting a very good example…”
At the request, the raven could only sigh and nod as he turned to take his leave. This guy would be the death of him one of these days.
It wasn't like the path to Route 22 was far by any means—only a couple of steps west from the city in fact.
As soon as the teen set foot on the familiar terrain, an exasperated groan resonated from the tall grass.
“Why do you guys keep popping up?!”
Lo and behold, there stood Blue in all his glory, scratching at the back of his neck in annoyance at what appeared to be a wild Rattata. The purple Pokémon let out a squeak that seemed to be his battle cry, completely adamant in continuing with the fight, regardless of what the human had to say.
Accepting his fate, the brunet let out a sigh as he prepared to command his companion. “Alrighty then, guess tenth time's the charm, huh Squirtle?”
It was only then that Red noticed the smaller than average Squirtle accompanying Blue, its tail perked up and fiery eyes shining with passion. A mere Bubble attack was all it took to knock the mouse down.
“Yes! We did it! You're getting the hang of those move sets, little guy!” Blue turned to his Pokémon in praise while Squirtle cooed in return, pleased with the compliments it was getting.
Red decided to finally make himself known with a slow clap, having to hold back the snort threatening to make its way past his lips at the way Blue jumped. Once he turned and saw who it was, his expressions changed into that of feign annoyance. “What the heck, Red!? Where did you come from!?”
The raven rolled his eyes as he gestured behind him, then proceeded to move his hands in what others might consider as nonsense, but Blue understood as Red's way to communicate. “Viridian City? You asked me to come over, remember?”
“Yeah, but there's no need to be all sneaky about it.” The brunet approached him with his Pokémon following close behind. A small blush dusted his cheeks the closer he got. “How… much did you see?”
“Enough.” Red smirked in the way he knew got under Blue's skin. He used his index and middle finger to rub at his chin. “You were cute.”
If he wasn't blushing before, Blue was definitely burning now, averting his gaze to the ground in a way that no one else got to see. Only Red. “S-Shut up! Who describes a battle as ‘cute’? It's not my fault this place is swarming with Rattatas, otherwise I would've left a long time ago!”
Red could only roll his eyes at the comment. They both knew this area was highly populated with the lavender colored mice Pokémon, so if he didn't want to run into them, he should've just avoided the route altogether.
Which suddenly reminded him of the woman waiting for them back at the Gym. “Why are you even out here? People are waiting for you back at the Gym.”
At that, Blue finally seemed to regain some of his confidence, because he turned toward the Pokémon who was accompanying him proudly with a smirk. “It's the whole reason I called you. I stumbled upon this little guy on an expedition, but haven't been able to get him to evolve no matter how much training we do. Figured two heads might be better than one at solving this!”
Red laid eyes upon the small Squirtle, who returned the gaze with a smile as he shook off the droplets of water from his previous battle. He couldn't help but be reminded of their starter Pokémon—a Charmander and Squirtle—fighting against and alongside each other through thick and thin no matter the odds.
“What? Getting nostalgic?”
The raven was brought back to reality by Blue's voice, who had already made his way towards him and even linked their pinkies together in the closest thing to hand holding that Red was willing to do. That charming smile that shone like the sun was sent his way, and all Red could think of was how lucky he was. “C'mon! I've got a few theories I wanna crack with you once we get back!”
As they walked side by side on the same path their younger selves took all those years ago, Red couldn't help but smile as he looked at the road ahead.
Maybe reminiscing wasn't so bad every once in a while.