Chapter I: The Move-In

[before_i_sleep]

Miles To Go
By kuruk and outstretched

Chapter I: The Move-In

Leaf says nothing as she slips the jacket from Green's shoulders—thick leather with silk lining, the jacket she got him for his last birthday, the one he never wears—but he can see the smile twitching at the corner of her mouth.

"It's not funny," he says, his tone angrier than he intended, and her smile vanishes. She moves behind him and tugs the sleeves free from where they're tangled around his forearms. Green doesn't help or resist, almost stubborn in his stillness.

"You don't need this, Green," she says. She sets the jacket down on the bed and hugs him from behind, her fingers fanning out against the nice shirt he's wearing. Green bites his lip.

"I can't do this," he finally breathes.

Her fingers find the hem of his shirt and slip under it, tugging it upwards. "Green, he's a friend," she says, pulling until Green sighs and drags the shirt over his head. "It's not an interview."

Green glares at her as she moves to his dresser and pulls out an ordinary white shirt. She hands it to him, and he shrugs it on fiercely, then snags his worn black jacket off the back of his chair and yanks it on. He gets a little tangled on the second arm, but Leaf only watches, letting him figure it out on his own.

When he's finished, she stands in front of him and runs her fingers through his hair. He shakes his head, and her hands go a little awry. "All you have to do is say hello," she tells him.

"I can say that over the phone."

"You look weird with such neat hair, anyway," she says, rumpling it back into its normally messy state.

Green pulls her close suddenly and rests his forehead against hers. He's breathing harder than he should be, but Leaf just pulls back, tapping a finger against his nose.

"Come on," she says. "We're going to be late."

"So let him wait," Green says, dipping in for a kiss. Leaf dodges out of the way just in time, and his lips skid across her cheek.

"Green," she says, and holds his gaze until he drops it. She steps out of the circle of his arms and walks towards the open door.

"He's waiting at the diner," she reminds him. "You don't want me to go alone, do you?"

Green sighs. "Of course not."

She holds out her hand, mutely. Green closes his eyes, inhales deeply through his nose, and takes a step through the threshold.

--

"You can stay with us," Leaf tells Red over dessert a few hours later.

"You can go home," Green snaps.

Leaf threads her fingers through his. "That's what I said."

--

Green learns to skirt around the living room, walking straight through it without calling a greeting from the door like he used to. He takes off his shoes once he gets to their bedroom and refuses to come out until morning.

"You're acting like a child," Leaf tells him.

"He takes up too much room," Green growls.

But the truth is, Red takes up almost no space at all. He could fit his entire life into a closet with room to spare, and he does. Half the stuff in it isn't even his, originally. Leaf gives him towels, blankets, and a pillow with the smiling lie, "From both of us." So it's not the physical that bothers Green; it's the way the air's changed in the apartment, the way he can feel Red's gaze under his skin when he's in the open kitchenette, trying to make dinner.

Green buys take out the next day. Leaf accuses him of trying to make her fat. Red eats everything put in front of him.

"You used to hate that," Green blurts, watching Red lift a piece of broccoli to his mouth with his chopsticks. Leaf looks at him, surprised.

Red takes his time answering, and Green glares at the container of kung pao chicken as the silence stretches. "I got over it," Red says at last.

It's the first thing he's said to Green since he moved in almost three days ago. Leaf counts it as a victory and later tells him she's proud of him. Green kisses her to make her shut up.

--

Green stops dead in the entrance to the living room, squinting at the unexpected light. Red is watching TV at three in the morning, barely inches from the screen with the sound off. It's a recording of an elite four pokémon battle. It's going predictably; Will's psychics are devastating his opposition.

He watches the scene quietly for a moment or two, his hands resting on the back of the couch, before he moves to the kitchenette and slams the faucet on. Red doesn't even jump at the sudden noise, and Green feels vaguely cheated.

He walks over to the couch and flops down on it, careful not to disturb the blanket and pillow that Pikachu is curled up on. He takes a long drink from his glass of water, watching the fight unfold. Red's hands are pressed against the screen, leaving dark handprints on the shifting images. Another one of the challenger's pokémon has fainted.

"She must be from Johto," he murmurs. Green remembers everyone who's won his badge, especially since he can count all of them on both hands.

Red turns to him, curious. He presses his index finger to the screen. "Who is that?"

"Who, Will? He's one of the Elite Four," Green says. Red is staring at him, and he realizes why, suddenly. "You don't know who he is."

Red shakes his head. Green laughs, and takes another long drink.

"Will's the first Elite Four member. He took over maybe two years ago now, after Lorelei retired. Family stuff."

Red doesn't say anything.

"Koga's in the Elite Four now, too. His daughter Janine runs the Fuchsia City Gym. She's pretty good."

Green, tired of holding a one-sided conversation, allows the room to lapse into silence. They watch Will's slowbro deluge the stage in water with an Aqua Pulse, and when it drains enough to allow the camera to see what's happened, the challenger's last pokémon is knocked out.

"I didn't know Koga had a daughter," Red finally says.

Green shifts, his eyes narrowing. "It's amazing what you miss when you're a recluse."

He drains the rest of his glass, glaring at Red's still back. The shirt he's wearing is too big for him; he lost a lot of weight while he was on the mountain. It doesn't fit, Green thinks. Red doesn't fit here, anywhere. "Why'd you come down, anyway?" he bites out.

Red turns at that, his head bowed, until he's in three-quarter profile towards Green. His face is obscured, made strange by the television's harsh light, and the other boy feels prickles race up his arms. Red licks his lips before he lifts his head to meet Green's gaze. The look in his eyes is hollow—empty.

Green hurries to bed after that, but Red's expression stays with him through work the next day. Work is going to keep him overnight, he tells Leaf when he calls her that evening. She kisses him goodnight through the phone line.

Part II