silent judgement,

dyinginferno:

astcism

Green dragged his hand down his face slowly, pulling the magazine along with it to fall onto his lap. He let out a small groan, from both the pain of the beat down and Red’s very accurate assumption of the situation before them.

“Impeccable timing as always, Red ol’ buddy.”

It probably wasn’t a good idea to stand just yet, not until Leaf decided to help Red or leave or just not stand in front of him with those fists of hers. He really wasn’t looking to get knocked down again. Gawd, was she an underground boxer or something, that actually, really, hurt!

“Mind if you could, uh.”

Wow, speechless for once?

it was probably the pain.

Definitely the pain.

He pushed himself up into a better seating position, moving the knocked out clock away from his lap, along with the magazine.

“Start us off, yeah?” 

He jutted a thumb over to Fire. 

“I don’t think that one is anywhere ready to be as much as a trendsetter as you just yet.” 

Leaf hadn’t hit him too, right?

His attention shifted the moment he heard the door jiggle, but who else could have had a copy of his apartment k–

“ … ?!?!”

Wait, Red is actually here right now? For him? It wasn’t even that big of a deal. Truthfully, it was all Green’s fault, and he should have known sending him all those journals of his would get Green interested in looking through and sticking his nose where it didn’t belong.

Actually, rewind. 

How did Green get his keys and how did he get enough copies to supply all of them with one? Leaf is one thing, but enough for even Red to have a copy? Just what was the leauge thinking. Even if they were all friends and all, it didn’t make sense for his door to be an open door to all of them.

Wait.

Don’t tell him that Red masqueraded as someone like him to get the keys.   

Leaf raised her dukes the moment the door swung open.

And then her mouth gasped in surprise and happiness, because it wasn’t every day that a girl got to see one of her childhood buddies. Especially one that she didn’t get to see all the time. It was Red, in the flesh! 

… but what on earth was he doing? Was there supposed to be a party? This wasn’t –

Her smile vanished.

Oh, she knew what was up now!! Green, goddamn Green, thought this was going to be a happy occasion and one to commemorate. Next year he’d plan the same thing again as an anniversary celebration, and Red would go along with it because it was what he did best! 

She glared down at Green, crackling her knuckles as she did.

“Green,” she hissed, “Did you seriously think this was going to go fine? What possessed you? You’re being uncharacteristically –” 

Leaf took a deep breath.

“– idiotic!! A true idiot to every single last spike on your head!!”

She turned to look at Red, who still had his hands in the air as if waiting for some sort of cue to act. Like Leaf and Fire were going to drop everything and cheer with him.

Leaf wanted to pity Red’s poor soul, but someone who blindly went along with Green’s foolish plans probably didn’t deserve her sympathy. Yep. Red was getting none of it this time.

Turning her back on Red so she could take a deep , Leaf said, “Okay, Red. You can stop the act now that I’ve knocked some sense into Green.”

Wait... Wait a second.

Green said to start them off, but Leaf was saying not to do so. He was inclined to follow what Green had told him to, but Leaf was terrifying when she wasn’t listened to properly. From what he could observe, Green seemed to have woken up from his nap, and so did ... Fire?

Why was the guy looking so surprised and disgusted at the same time? Red hummed in thought. He hadn’t a clue.

Maybe everyone was just reacting to the fact that he was supposed to be a surprise. And that whatever he was doing was to cap off the start of the party, so this was normal.

With his hands still in the air, Red nodded at Leaf. He was cutting this out right away.

He walked over to where Green was, and propped the guy up onto his feet. Red was pretty strong despite his frame. All the mountain climbing paid off. Green worked out, yes, but he was also being fed good meals by Leaf’s ma. Was that a little weight he’d put on since the last time Red had met him?

Anyway, they’d rehearsed this. Green probably knew what came next.

Without waiting for a cue, Red took his stance.

“So................. You got published in a magazine. Fire.”

He shifted, looking up at Fire.

Then he pressed his hand to his face again and leaned forward. On the silent count of three, he did what he was told to do.

“Con..................gratulations!”

Green had stressed the important of a loud voice. This was as loud as it got.

Dramatically, he threw his other hand out towards the person next to him.

“Now, take it away ............................................. Green.”

dyinginferno:

astcism

He expected a kick, a playful one like usual, something that he could easily catch, slide back a few steps, and be done with it. 

What he got was his back slamming against the wall and that stupid, plastic clock falling from its place in the ceiling onto his head as he attempted to recover. Seeing stars would have been a nice thing compared to how his stomach felt. At least she didn’t get him in the ribs. He needed that a little more. 

And he coughed, just in time to get hit in the face with the magazine.

It wasn’t blood that spilled, but he was thankful that he hadn’t eaten yet.

Still, the magazine was the last straw. The last bit that rendered him completely speechless for once in his god-damned life. He was lucky in that regard, anything thing he would have said would be likely purposefully anger her.

Green was completely innocent here! 

His intentions were entirely pure! There was nothing here that he’d lied about. It was just Leaf and all of her — Leafness — overreacting to every little thing. Come on, anyone would be thrilled to know they ended up in a magazine like that. It’s like modeling without the pay and the work but with all the fame!

At the very least, she could spare Fire’s feelings.

The poor guy, today (or yesterday?) was the big debut and his only copy of the magazine was beyond repair.  

As soon as he was let go, Fire could feel the air rush back into his lungs. Oh, sweet as it was, he knew he had to move away from the duo as quickly as he could. His room might not be salvageable, but he certainly was. He backed up against the wall behind Leaf, which was probably the safest place at the moment.

There wasn’t an inch of sympathy he held for Green’s treatment. Even he’d seen that was coming from a mile away, and there was no stopping a rampaging taurus like Leaf can be sometimes.

Hopefully, she’d stop soon.

Maybe it was due to how long she’d held him in her grip or his sheer inability to deal with these situations or maybe even both – either way, he felt very tired. His eyes were heavy, and he found himself leaning against the couch, still sitting on the floor. 

He closed his eyes.  

Maybe when he woke up again, he’d find it was all just a dream. He’d fallen into some pit of water and wake up in a hospital or in bed. All fine. Maybe the magazine wasn’t even a thing. Maybe he was still in the middle of a battle, dazed and lost by a pokemon’s attack. 

Leaf wasn’t even fazed by Green’s eventual response to her display of violence. As far as she knew, he deserved every single second of pain that he was going through. It was her own brand of justice, served piping-hot and just right. Fire had disappeared from view - probably behind her, huh? - but perhaps, it was for the better.

She knew where to direct her anger at. It wasn’t Fire’s fault that her face was all over a magazine with regionwide circulation. And as far as Kanto publications were concerned, they often made their way onto Johto shelves as well. That alone was something Green could never hope to atone for.

Had he even asked her permission?! No.

Had he asked Fire? Probably, but did he ever ask Fire which pieces were okay to publish and which weren’t? No. Green probably just scooped a couple of sketchbooks up into his arms and picked the single piece that Fire put most of his heart into creating.

A picture of her and Charizard mid-battle with her messy hair – ARGH!!! Just thinking of it again renewed Leaf’s anger.

She took a deep breath before she lost it again.

Any more kicks, and Green would probably need a hospital. Right now, he could suffer as he was.

“Green. The next time you pull a stunt like this, you’re going down harder than you did today. And I’ll make good on that promise, you hear me.”

No more exclamation marks.

Leaf wasn’t joking this time.

Red was good at many things.

Like pokémon training, pokémon battling, not getting in people’s way, doing as people told him to ... amongst others.

But there was one thing he was never good at, and that was doing the right thing at the right time.

Just yesterday, Fire had made his art debut in an art magazine of some sorts, and Green wanted to celebrate the occasion by reuniting the Route Raiders in Unova. That sounded like a great plan, and Red looked forward to seeing everyone in the flesh. Especially Leaf -- she was as elusive as wind. She came and went as she pleased, but that was how she was.

Green had handed him three things then: The keys to Fire’s apartment, a good amount of money, and reusable shopping bags for when he bought food and drink for the party.

Now, he had spent the money getting fried chicken, pizza, soda, and some sort of sparkling white grape juice that looked like champagne. He swapped the shopping bags all onto one hand, and turned the key to the apartment.

It was all quiet from the outside, so Red figured the big reveal wasn’t done yet.

He stepped into the apartment, and closed the door behind him with a soft click.

Oh hey, everyone was there already.

Leaf was just standing there with her fists clenched like always. Fire was napping. And Green was napping too, with a magazine over his face and his hand on his stomach. Maybe he passed out from hunger. 

Oops, was he late? That figures. He did get caught up at the pizza place due to a mixed-up order even though he’d ordered it prior to getting there.

Apologetically, he dropped the shopping bags and tossed his hands in the air in some sort of celebration.

“Guys ............................... party time!”