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This is how it’s been since they were kids, you see:
Red has ideas. He’s quiet, but a visionary; an idealist who believed in the best in people.
Blue has always been more pragmatic and contrarian, all too willing to point out the flaws in Red’s plans and suggest his own.
And Leaf’s always been good at mediating between the two of them, balancing Blue’s cynicism with ideals and Red’s visions with reality. She’s always been better with details and plans, building things from the bottom up. That’s how it’s always been, since their days of playing rescue-the-princess-from-the-dragonite, and that’s how it it is for this, see – Red wanted something big and beautiful, and Blue would shoot it down as impractical, or Blue wanted something outright weird while Red would argue that it didn’t fit with the theme, and so there she finds herself, running back and forth from supplier to supplier, commissioning Pryce to create a Pokeball ice sculpture just big enough to satisfy both of them, ensuring that the fountains were trickling just right and the flowers not too expensive but nice enough to make a statement, and that everyone’s accommodations for the plane taking them to Alola had been in order.
Because – this is their wedding, and she’ll be damned if she lets it go to shit.
And as the date had approached, Red and Blue had distanced themselves from the planning and had gotten more wrapped up in each other, leaving her to pick up the slack, and despite the tiredness and frustration welling up inside her at every flower delivery getting the shade of purple wrong and every late RSVP, she takes a deep breath. This is for them. Her best friends. They’re getting married.
Daisy taps her on the elbow one day, gently reminding Leaf that she hasn’t even bought a dress for herself yet, and Leaf nearly sighs with relief when the older girl hushes her in the middle of planning the party arrangements (“Okay, so you’re going to be on Blue’s side, so that means I have to be on Red’s, and I think Silver is closer to Blue so Ethan will be with Red, I guess – hey, what do you think about Lyra?”) while at a store.
“Look, Leaf,” Daisy says, “I think you need to take a break.”
Arguments are on the tip of Leaf’s tongue – that there’s still so much to be done, that the invites to Sinnoh haven’t been followed up on, that the bridesmaid dresses still have to be picked up, that she still has to call the cake shop back, but she’s known Daisy for almost as long as she’s known Blue, and she knows when the older girl’s tone brooks no argument. So she lets Daisy drive her to the Viridian city mall and half-heartedly helps her pick dresses.
“Purple, yeah?” Daisy says, already running her fingers through the racks and bringing some out. Daisy’s always had good taste, something that had brought her to the top Pokemon Coordinator ranks, and right now she eyes Leaf like she’s one of her champion Pokemon, choosing hues and shapes that she’s sure would flatter her.
“Purple, yeah,” Leaf repeats. Red and Blue hard argued about the color scheme incessantly – Blue had wanted red and Red had wanted blue, and Leaf just sighed and offered purple as a compromise – it will look softer, see, and we can use red, blue, and yellow highlights, too, so everyone wins! They’d looked at her like she’d shown them the secret to life, and had agreed, just like when they were kids.
She thinks about that on her fifth dress, something Daisy had handed to her with a twinkle in her eye – it’s a deep violet floor-length gown, the cut and neckline trendy, and the right balance between comfortable and classy, while still accentuating her curves in a way that makes her look –
Older, she thinks. They’re getting older.
“The Red and Blue,” the florist had sighed dreamily, setting out pots of flowers for Leaf to inspect. She had come at Erika’s recommendation, and Leaf had made the easy trip to Celadon City to look at her prized blooms. She’s young, but she has the telltale connection with her Grass-type companions that Leaf knows strong trainers have. “I can’t believe it. I used to dream of meeting them, and now – flowers for their wedding!” Seemingly snapping out of her daydream, she glances at Leaf. “And you must be so proud that you’re planning their wedding! How’d you get the gig?”
Tight smile, back straight, the way she’s taught herself to handle this line of questioning. “I’m a childhood friend,” Leaf says, like she always does. The truth. She’s known Blue since their first day of elementary school and Red since they were in diapers, crawling about Leaf’s mother’s living room and listening to her tell tales of the world’s creation, of Arceus creating the world and Mew and returning to eternal slumber, only to be woken by –
Well, there were a lot of things that had happened since then.
“My Grandpa’s Professor Oak, and I’m going to be more awesome than he is!” Blue had proclaimed on the first day, when the teachers had asked them to introduce themselves.
“You’re not going to be even half as awesome as him if you keep acting like a jerk,” Leaf had shot back, defiant even as a little girl, and the teacher had frowned, but the look on Blue’s face and the sound of Red’s giggles were worth it.
Red’s laughter came easy when they were younger. Leaf never asks why it doesn’t anymore.
“What were they like when they were younger?” the florist asks, her excited voice snapping Leaf out of her recollection. Leaf’s eyes follow her Pokemon in the background, several roselia and bellossom leaving blooms behind. “Were they always so strong and badass?”
Unbidden, a memory comes to her of Red and Blue fighting over crayons, and she bites back a smile. “Nah,” she says, “Things change.”
She makes the mistake of putting Clair and Lance in seats next to each other on the plane and gets a headache trying to sort out Koga and Janine’s latest father-daughter spat – honestly you’d think esteemed trainers would act better on a plane to a wedding – but the food is fine and the flight is bearable and the entire delegation makes it to Alola in one piece.
And – it’s beautiful. Leaf’s been to the finest beaches Hoenn and Unova have to offer, but nothing quite prepares her for the bright sunlight, warm air, and sparkling waters of Alola. She and Daisy take a dozen photographs of the view from their hotel room alone, before going down to the beachfront and joining the grooms-to-be for drinks. The wedding isn’t until tomorrow night, so the guests that came with them on the plane have a full day to enjoy themselves. Daisy assures her that she and Bill will take care of the guests arriving later, urging her to go have fun, and from what Leaf can see Blue seems to have every intention of enjoying the free time. His gyarados is already splashing up a storm in the water while he’s perched on its head, laughing like a maniac.
Red’s lying down on a lounge chair, his pikachu asleep on his stomach and two half-finished glasses of juice on the table next to him. He gives her a half-smile as she sits down on the chair next to his. “Still hate flights?” she asks, tying her hair up in a ponytail.
“That one wasn’t so bad,” he says, turning his gaze back to the water. She chuckles. Red has always preferred the “natural” type of traveling, only taking transport vehicles when necessary. Blue likes to joke that when this whole League star thing blows over, Red could host a wilderness survival show.
Leaf lets her sylveon out of its ball, and it snuggles against her cheek for a while before curling up to rest by her feet. She stretches and closes her eyes for a few minutes, enjoying the sea breeze.
“Thank you,” Red says suddenly, quiet.
She opens her eyes and rolls on her side to face him. He’s staring intensely at Blue, who’s now giving little kids rides on his gyarados, and her heart warms. Other people have accused him of being cold, but she knows he shows affection in his own way.
“For what, the wedding planning?” Everything’s booked to the last detail, organized neatly in the binder in her hotel room, and it’s easy to laugh off the stress she’d gone through in the last two months when her oldest friend is beside her, his voice grateful. “You can thank me if it ends without some sort of international terrorist attack going on somewhere in the world.”
Red does crack a brief smile at that. “Not just, he continues. “You’ve done a lot for us. Always have.”
She smiles despite herself. “Of course,” she says. “You guys take care of the world and I take care of you, right?”
Red frowns and sits up at that. “Leaf, it’s never been like that,” he starts, but then Blue’s by their side, pulling them up. “Guys, the water’s great,” he says, “and I won’t have Leaf spending her well-deserved day off on the sand.”
Red sends her a look that says we’re not done talking about this, but then – Blue’s right. The water’s great. Blue pulls her under and she splashes Red in the face with water, their Pokemon racing up and down the shoreline, the sun warm on her face, and briefly she wishes that every day could be like this.
The truth is, they’ve learned to do just fine without her, really.
Blue was practically a bully by the time the three of them turned eleven, and Leaf had taken Red’s side on whatever fight had started the rift – it was so long ago, she doesn’t even remember. She supposes he was mad at her too, for that, but Red and Leaf ended up sharing the beginning of their Pokemon journey. Even when they parted ways – Leaf to Johto, to study breeding, and Red onwards to the Indigo League – they talked every day.
She was in an inn in Ecruteak City when she got the news – within the span of two weeks, Red had brought down Team Rocket and been declared Champion, displacing none other than Blue. She couldn’t make the trip back to Kanto to congratulate him, having been caught up in a project – but her mother tells her not three months later that Red had vanished.
(Sometimes she wonders what would have happened if she’d returned – perhaps Red would have had someone to lean on while he repaired his friendship with Blue and dealt with the trauma, perhaps he wouldn’t have had to escape to parts unknown, tired and disillusioned–)
You have to bring him back, Red’s mother had said to her and the rest of the empty house. She looks older and lonelier. You can. He trusts you.
So Leaf had trained, challenged the League and had spent countless hours at the Battle Tower growing stronger.
“You could be a gym leader,” Lance had mused, after she’d entered the Hall of Fame. “You have the same spirit as–”
“I’ve heard,” Leaf had interrupted sharply. “But – maybe not for a while. Let me know if you have any job vacancies, though.”
She’d studied, too, but never quite stopped looking – until one day she’d gotten a call from Ethan, one of Elm’s protégés – I know where he is, the boy had said conspiratorially. Leaf met with Blue for the first time in two years in a trendy café in Viridian City to tell him about it, and Blue had hugged her tightly, apologies falling out of his mouth, and Leaf had forgiven him instantly.
Let me know how it goes, okay? he’d said when they parted.
In the end, Leaf climbed a mountain to find her oldest friend at the top, quiet, tired, and disillusioned. The League glorifies strength and bonds with Pokemon but let Team Rocket grow under their noses, he’d eventually told her, let Giovanni be gym leader – I can’t be a part of that.
You can change it, she’d urged him. You of all people can. But he’d turned away from her, to her heartbreak, and she’d hugged him and kissed him on the cheek before descending.
In the end, Red’s mother was wrong – it wasn’t Leaf who got Red to come down from the mountain.
She’s never asked what Blue said or did to convince him. It feels private and secret, and they’ve never gave any indication of letting her know, but Red returned to being Champion and Blue returned to being Viridian Gym Leader, and the friendship between the three of them picked right up where it had left off. Some years later Red and Blue flew to Unova to take part in a global competition, and returned holding hands and blushing when she’d picked them up at the airport, and that was that.
For all that Leaf’s visualized the ceremony several times during the planning stages, she’s not quite ready for seeing Red and Blue walk down the aisles towards each other, both looking handsomer than she’s ever seen them, and she feels tears welling up in her eyes. Next to her, Daisy squeezes her hand. “You did good,” she whispers, glancing around the hall, and – she’s right. It’s beautiful – fairy lights, large bunches of flowers, that goddamn ice sculpture they had wanted. She’d had some castform outside to ensure that the weather is beautiful, and knows that the gentle breeze they’re feeling is her pidgeot’s doing. The ceremony is a blur, if she’s really honest, she’s sure she breaks into tears at some point like several of their close friends, and before she knows it they’ve said their awful vows and have been declared married, their starters crowing delightedly in the back.
And seeing Red's windswept hair, his flushed face as Blue slides the ring on his finger, the laughter in Blue's eyes as they kiss -- that makes it all worth it.
Come late afternoon, the entire party moves to the beachfront for the reception, as meticulously organized as the ceremony itself. Standing off to the side observing the seating arrangements, Leaf watches Daisy and Bill, who’ve taken up hosting duty, bring up various speakers onto the stage to talk about the newlyweds, and –
Strong arms wind around her waist and she almost yells before she hears Blue’s voice in her ear. “Relax, princess, it’s just me.”
“Blue Oak!” she hisses, but she’s grinning, turning around to face him. Blue doesn’t let go of her, pulling her closer.
“This has been the best fucking day of my life,” he says into her hair, and she wants to tear him a new one for messing it up, but – it’s Blue. “And I have you to thank for it, Leaf.”
“It wasn’t just me,” she replies, stubborn. “Your sister helped a lot, and Red’s mom, and the professor–”
He pulls away. “That’s not what I mean,” he says, his face serious. He’s so handsome today, she thinks, and maybe ten years ago she would have blushed, but all she feels now is a rush of pride. “I honestly, sincerely, would not be the person I am today if I hadn’t met both you and Red. It’s the same for him, too – you keep us both in check, and–” he looks away, obviously embarrassed. “We both love you so much, okay? Don’t ever doubt that.”
“I never did,” Leaf says, warm.
Bill’s voice rings through the room, calling up the maid of honor for her speech, to loud applause. She turns to Blue, who grins and he hugs her tightly again. “Knock ‘em dead.”
“Your last duty of the night,” Daisy says, giving her a hug which Leaf reciprocates. She makes her way to the stage.
“Hi,” Leaf says into the microphone, wincing at the reverb. She scans the audience. Misty and Erika give her encouraging smiles from the second row, and she smiles back at them. “You guys might know who I am, but for those who don’t, I’ve known Red and Blue my entire life. I can’t even remember a time where they weren’t in it. There were certainly times when our friendship had its downs–” she sees Professor Oak chuckle – “But we went to elementary together, we started our Pokemon journeys together, and somehow, we survived to here.” Scattered laughter. “In the years I’ve known them, they’ve grown a lot, apart and together.” She thinks of them, aged fifteen, hands firmly clasped together explaining that Red was back; remembers the way Red’s face had fallen when Blue announced he was studying in Kalos for a year; remembers how they’d glowed when announcing their engagement.
“If you – if you asked me when Red and Blue fell in love, I don’t think I could give you an answer,” she continues. “Maybe it was just the natural progression of knowing each other for so long. Maybe it was just fate that these two brilliant, brave, good-hearted people would spend nearly their entire lives together.” She turns to where they’re seated – Blue is obviously tearing up, holding Red’s hand for dear life, and Red is almost smiling.
“And they are, aren’t they? They’ve done so much for all of us – trainers and non-trainers alike – and will continue to do so. It’s only right that they continue to do good for each other and push each other to greater heights, too.” She inhales, raises her flute of champagne. “To Red and Blue, the best trainers I know and the best friends I have – congratulations!”
Two days later, she’s packing the last of her scarves into her carryon when she hears a knock at the door.
“I was joking when I said you guys had to take me to the airport,” Leaf states when she sees Blue and Red in the doorway, looking especially sheepish. “Sleep in. Enjoy your honeymoon. The Ride Tauros and I will be fine.”
“Actually, that’s not it,” Red mumbles. He’s not wearing his hat, and his hair is ridiculously flat. “I mean, we’re still going to take you to the airport, but–”
“We have something to tell you,” says Blue.
“If it’s undying declarations of love and how no friend will ever match my level of awesomeness – you hit your quota at the reception,” she says, teasing.
They smile obligingly, but it doesn’t quite reach their eyes, and Leaf picks up on the tension in the room near-instantly. “What’s up?”
“You know how you booked that return flight for us in a week?” Blue says. “We, uh – we don’t need it. Won’t need it, rather. Yet.”
“What,” she says, flat. She looks between the two of them, and understanding dawns on her. “…You’re staying.”
Red and Blue look at each other, then at her. “Not for long,” Red starts, his hands in the placating gesture he uses when Blue and Leaf start glaring at each other. “It’s just – they’re thinking of putting up a Pokemon League in Alola, and they want our input.”
“Gramps talked to us about it,” Blue adds. “We won’t really have that big of a hand in planning it – we’re leaving that to the locals – but we’ll be around for consultations, and we’ll just be overseeing the whole thing, really.”
Leaf opens her mouth, but Red cuts in before she can, as if he and Blue had run this through with each other before telling her. “We won’t even be alone,” he says. “Or – well, we will, but Cynthia is staying too, since Dawn’s pretty much officially the Champion now. Some other people – a friend of Brendan and May’s, Grimsley from Unova…”
She’s at a loss for words, thinking of Red’s mother, begging her to bring her son back from the mountain; she thinks of Oak speaking fondly of Blue, missing him when he was studying abroad. “The League – Blue, the Viridian gym!”
Red chuckles weakly. “Pretty sure Lance is used to subbing in – I think he’s logged more hours as the Champion than I have. Or maybe Ethan will want to try it out.”
“And as for the gym – Lance also said you might be interested in holding a position?” Blue’s looking at her now. “E-even if you aren’t, there are tons of trainers whom I think would be a good fit, but you were really the first name that came up…”
She’s torn between slapping him and bursting into tears, and it must show on her face, because Red takes a step towards her. “Leaf,” he says, his tone wheedling in the way she recognizes. “Leaf, we’re sorry we didn’t tell you earlier. That’s what this is about, isn’t it?”
“It was a really recent thing,” Blue adds. “Gramps offered it to us three weeks ago. And you were so busy with the wedding planning, that we–”
Leaf takes a deep breath and wills herself to stay calm, to look at the bigger picture. Because that’s another thing they had in common, wasn’t it? Always collected in the face of bigger problems, always willing to do what was required of them in the end – and now the League requires her brilliant best friends to live halfway around the world in the interest of pursuing greater relationships between humans and Pokemon, and she only finds out when they’re already there.
“How long?” is what she finally says, and looks up to Blue and Red’s obvious relief. Because if the two of them are here, presenting a united front to her, how can she be anything else but rational?
“A year or two, tops,” Blue answers. His hair is messy and obviously uncombed, and she feels the sad urge to fix it for him.
“I’ll take the Gym,” she says finally. “But two years tops, okay? I don’t want to clean up your messes my whole life, Oak.”
“Wouldn’t dream of it.”
She turns to Red. “And dear Red – talk to your mother, okay?”
She thinks he actually chuckles at that, nodding. “Will do this time, I promise.”
Leaf inhales and swallows, trying to bite down the growing sadness. “And – whatever you guys are doing here – you have to make it worth it, okay? Churn out the strongest trainers Alola’s ever seen.”
She doesn’t have to say it. She knows they will.
A little over a year later, she’s handing a badge to a blonde girl with an accent that rings familiar.
“Are you Alolan?” Leaf asks, and she knows she’s hit the nail on her head when Lillie’s head snaps up.
“I am,” she says, her voice pretty and lilting. “I lived there for a while until recently.”
Leaf can wager how recently – Red and Blue had been vague, but had updated her on the happenings as best as they could. “I hope you’re adjusting fine, then,” she says conversationally.
“Everything’s much faster-paced!” Lillie says. “And the Kanto League is nothing like the one in Alola, from what I’ve heard.”
“How’s that coming along, by the way?” Leaf asks, because she can’t help it.
Lillie visibly brightens. “My friend was recently declared Alola Champion,” she says. “My friend’s done so much for me, really, and I’m challenging the Kanto League so when we meet again we’ll be on more equal footing.”
Leaf just smiles at her. She can relate to that, she thinks. “Safe travels, then, Lillie. I know you’ll go far.”
She watches Lillie leave, then exhales, recalling her Venusaur. It’s been a tiring day, and she tells her assistant trainers that that’s the last challenger for today. She turns out the lights in the challenge room and packs up her bag. She like the grind of being a leader, enjoys teaching new trainers lessons and knocking down prideful ones a peg or two, and the public likes her – she’s more approachable than Blue, but can pack a punch just as large. But it gets repetitive and the days get long; part of her understands why Blue was willing to give the gig up. They’re all wanderers at heart, the three of them, never ones to be cooped up in one place for too long. She herself has taken time off to visit other regions, take breeding lessons, participate in contests – there’s so much to accomplish, and so little time.
Leaf gets a HoloCaster message from her mother as she exits the Pokemon Center. Hi, sweetheart, her mother’s holographic form says. We’re still on for dinner tonight, right? She smiles, despite herself. Her mother has been getting more sentimental lately, even though her apartment in Viridian is in a very safe neighborhood and it’s not far from Pallet. Leaf knows Viridian Forest like the back of her hand from a childhood spent exploring it, and her trusty pidgeot has always been there to fly her home.
Her mother is waiting for her when she alights. “Mom,” she says, engulfing her into a hug.
Her mother pulls away quickly. “You’ll want to come inside, dear,” she says, tugging on Leaf’s wrist insistently, and she barely has time to recall her Pidgeot before her mother opens the front door and –
“Leaf,” Blue says, already rising to his feet.
“Hi, Leaf,” says Red.
Leaf blinks, taking in the scene before her. Red’s taller and bulkier, his skin tanner than she’s ever seen it, and is that – stubble? He’s staring at her like he’s evaluating her reaction, waiting to decide what to do next. Blue is broader, too, with messier hair; his skin is flushed with the telltale red undercurrent of someone who didn’t tan very well, and the thought makes her laugh.
Blue seems to catch this and laughs alongside her, loud and boyish like she remembers, and even Red chuckles a little, before she’s running and launching herself at them. Red catches her easily, and pulls his husband into their hug as well, Blue’s arms going around her waist.
“You came back,” she whispers.
“Couldn’t leave you alone for too long, princess,” says Blue, who yowls when Leaf elbows him.
“We came home,” Red rumbles in her hair.
They stay for dinner – of course they do – swapping stories of the past year. Leaf tells them of a particularly abhorrent trainer who’d come in every day of the week armed with several Muk. Red spills soup on himself in the middle of a dramatization of Professor Kukui wrestling an Incineroar, Blue egging them on like when they were kids, and Leaf laughs louder than she has in a very long time.
Yeah, some things never change.