aiko's otter den

The Bear and the Mountain — “And what do you think he saw?” Green’s treks up and down Mt. Silver are both a well-kept secret and all over the news.

“The bear climbed over the mountain, the bear climbed over the mountain…”

Green growled to himself, forcing the sound to be as soft as he dared so the other wouldn’t notice over his own happy little humming. Contrary to popular belief, Red was not a mute or deaf or whatever the media had coined him. No he could talk, he could babble for hours if he really wanted to. Most of the time, he just didn’t. People didn’t understand most of what he said so he didn’t bother to say anything. Funnily enough, that was a lesson learned in scenic Pallet Town, where there were less people than an abandoned building. Ignorance left its mark he guessed, judging by Red’s consistent obsession with nursery rhymes.

“Are you calling me an Ursaring?” he finally asked, as Red likely suspected he would. Red was a crafty guy. If he hadn’t been so, this situation wouldn’t have even come about. Red would not have won, for Green’s Pokemon had been stronger. Red wouldn’t have been frightened by the droves of gossipmongers and challenging twats. The accidents wouldn’t have happened…

Except Green would have likely still become a Gym Leader and Red would still remain the frightening Pokemon Master who surpassed even Lance. So really, the only difference would have been thus: Red would be next to him on a bed in a house instead of out here in the cold, tempering self-control. Tempering his very self into ice.

It had been seven years now. He wasn’t planning on changing his mind by force anymore.

Red’s crystalline ruby gaze caught his, warm and teasing as he hummed on. His Pikachu let out a squeak of amusement at Green’s expression, the loyal partner grinning with little-kid mischief. Old creature or not, it was always a brat in Green’s emerald eyes. The butt of the joke grimaced as the black-haired character finally nodded, lips twitching with a ghostly smile. Green reached over and tugged on a dark-skinned ear, smirking without malice at Red’s innocent yelping. Green saw his Umbreon’s ears twitch at the noise before he curled back up sleepily again. He groaned. Naturally his partner was as much of an ass as he was.

“What makes you think I’m an Ursaring, ya loser?” the Gym Leader barked, turning to pull Red from his standing by the cave entrance. He would visit his former rival more often if the idiot hadn’t made a habit of watching snowstorms. There was nothing to do otherwise. He had pondered if the boy did this on purpose. No, not boy, man. They were eighteen years old. They were eighteen and he still scolded him while Red kept on smiling and humming his songs…

Yet he had a responsibility and Red had a guilt trip.

Things simply weren’t the same anymore.

So why did he keep coming up here?

Red asked him that all the time with his eyes, every single month when he collapsed by a small fire inside a hot spring. Red never breached the subject, akin to the silent agreement to never drag the male down. Somehow, in the midst of the tumultuous reality outside of this cave, in that still shifting world, they wanted to keep something of the past. Even if it was just a tiny treasure, even if it was simply a tiny hope, something private…

Red finally replied: mischief shifting slowly into a faint pout of deep thought. “Because you keep appearing here at the top. I’m here all the time you know,” he commented as Pikachu ran up his leg and dragged him down to sit at Green’s side. “But you keep coming and going. Is there something new here? Is there something here I can’t see?”

“What do you think he saw?’ the rhyme chimed.” What do you think he saw?”

Green remained silent, thinking over the howling wind as his Arcanine lay down beside him, a furry shield over a rapidly arriving blizzard. During this, Red snapped a piece of dead wood that had been part of a box. He threw it onto the fire haphazardly, sparks shooting out and cracking with energy. Green pulled his hands back with a muffled curse. “Jerk,” he grumbled halfheartedly, earning a small giggle. Red was one of the only males he knew who could giggle and make it seem perfectly normal. Such a childlike little sound it was too…

When the silence had been longer than mere moments, the young man sat by his old friend, worry creeping onto his face. Green was usually not silent for this long unless working on a long project… or when he was sleeping. It was certainly too cold in the cave for that at the moment. So he waited a while… for Green to make up his mind. Contrary to the rumors that Green suddenly became a jerk or suddenly decided to become the Gym Leader, he was actually a very slow and deep thinker. He was not impulsive, like Red— as the “tall grass” incident had been— nor was he particularly instinctual. Like, for example, that whole Team Rocket fiasco. Or the fact that he was up here. Or even—

“Well, you’re still here ain’t ya?” Red was cut off from his wild thoughts by his friend’s voice and… by his face. It was pink. Wow, he didn’t see that every day. And there was something clammy on his hand now. Oh wait that was Green’s hand. Well, okay then. Red blinked his confusion and waited for Green’s slow elaboration. “Not much changes… so you’re always here. So why wouldn’t I come back here?”

Oh. Oh.

Now Red’s cheeks burned. “… Thanks.”

“Whatever…”

Despite the fact that the outside air was bitter and the fire was only meager beginnings, it felt like a sauna, a friendly sauna.