“may i ask why you’re in unova? shouldn’t you be back in kanto doing, oh -- i dunno, work? whatever happened to viridian?” there’s a bit of humor to his deadpan words, crossing his arms right over his chest. “aren’t you at all worried that something might happen while you’re away from home? or that your work might pile up?”
her face suddenly feels like it’s on fire , embarrassment and delight are almost intangible between the two. papers that she had spent all - nighters on , later edited by professor sycamore... she never imagined that they’d cross green’s line of sight , let alone that he’d find her thesis interesting enough to actually continue on throughout the essay.
❝ um... jeez... wh... what did you think? ❞ / @championborn
meta abt fire and greens relationship. do it sky. kill me
@championborn help me i accidentally wrote a vague timeline
when green and fire first met, it was through red. pallet town is such a small town, and because fire is younger than pretty much everyone there, it was hard for him to make friends. still, when he went with red to play with his friends, he was loud and boisterous; just as obnoxious as he is now. i don’t think they were super close then, because of their clashing personalities; not to mention, fire was still desperately trying to break free of red’s shadow, even back then.
then his father left and everything changed. fire’s mom was never emotionally stable, but after their father left, she started to really fall apart. fire secluded himself so he could take care of her, even though he was only six or seven at the time. soon after that, green, blue, and red all left to go on their respective journeys. fire was alone with his mother, and when things got rough at home, he would imagine being together with those three to find comfort. it wasn’t as if he was a part of their group or anything, but at least, to an extent, he felt like he could belong there. at the very least, it wasn’t so stressful watching them banter.
green and blue came back home. red became champion. fire was so proud of his brother – for the longest time, he knew red was talented and had dreams; everyone knew that now – he could not be happier that red was able to break free before things got too bad at home. he was so proud that red was able to achieve his dreams. but then days went by, then weeks, then months, and still no word from his big brother. his mother really started to fall apart then. she would cry at seemingly random times and cling to fire, begging him not to leave her, too. it’s only the two of us now, she’d say. and sometimes she would be so angry. angry that her husband left, angry that red was just like him, and she’d yell and scream and cry and throw things while fire could only silently watch.
he started to learn that while his mother wasn’t paying attention, he could sneak out, as long as he wasn’t gone too long. he’d visit blue or green for a while, then make up a silly excuse and leave before anyone could question him. sometimes, he’d leave at late hours of the night because he felt so alone or because he had a nightmare. those times, he’d knock on green’s door in tears. eventually green would grow used to it, quietly ushering him inside while fire cried.
fire gradually divulged everything to green. how all the kids had used him because of red’s strength, or because of red’s new position. how his father left, how his mother broke down. how he missed his big brother. his big brother would be able to fix this if he’d just come home. how he felt so alone. he didn’t have any family. green would listen to him, talk him through his panic attacks and breakdowns, would make him feel like he was worth something.
slowly, fire began to see green as family.
when green took the position as viridian’s gym leader, fire was proud of green, but he was also terrified. terrified that because of his new position, he’d leave fire behind, too. luckily, fire was leaving on his journey soon, so he could distract himself without worrying about it too much. still, it was always in the back of his mind. would green accept him when he came back? would green even remember him?
along with leaf, fire beat green and he could’ve sworn he saw pride in those defeated eyes.
fire became a drifter. he still never found out what he wanted to do, even after his journey. he and leaf never challenged the elite four. they traveled to different regions, and each time green would check up on him, fire was shocked. sure, he spent a lot of time with green when he was a kid, but he didn’t expect green to still care. he was just some kid. he was just red’s little brother.
eventually, fire realized green didn’t see him that way.
still, fire distances himself from green. he wants green to see him as strong. he wants green to be proud of him. he wants green to trust him and he wants to trust green. green may know pretty much everything about him and his life, but that gives him all the more reason to leave him behind. he’s so afraid of green becoming tired of him, or leaving him behind because of his love for red. green is like a big brother to fire, and he doesn’t have much of a track record with those.
so he keeps him at a safe distance, admiring him from afar, wanting to become like him, wanting to be someone that green can be proud of – and most of all, yearning yet again for the big brother that used to be there, but won’t be anymore. however, this time, it is actually of his own doing.
