[Blue sees all the aborted starts and stops and the radio silence and he already knew, by the time the words left his mouth and the panic set in, that he’d screwed up. He doesn’t need to see Red going catatonic, doesn’t need to see the attempts to communicate and the eventual breakdown of it to know. He knows Red, and he knows himself, the caustic pain he’s capable of inflicting.]
[He should just disappear.]
[He should, but he can’t leave him alone again. He knows what Red does to himself, how he shuts himself off from people when he’s in pain, and he promised he would never leave him to be alone like that ever again. They were supposed to be friends again, and friends never abandoned one another. Except when they had.]
[Blue shouts for Arcanine to return, and the enormous dog perks up wherever he is in the party and bounds through the crowd with his enormous bulk to make way for him (he tries to bark ‘excuse me’ but no one understands him; he growls a grumble and lets it be). Arcanine has seen it all, and he knows when he finds Blue to scoop him up onto his back and ride back home. He remembers by now how to get to the Porters, after taking his trainer home so many times when he drowns his sorrows.]
[When they do get back to De Chima, Blue rolls with a groan off Arcanine’s back before they get to their house, in front of Red’s, and Arcanine whines and tries to tug him along home so he doesn’t do something stupid. But Blue is stubborn and on a mission. He can’t screw this up again. He can’t let Red leave him again. Don’t leave—]
[BANG BANG BANG Blue knocks on the door, then remembers the back door that’s always open where Red’s Pokémon are. He stumbles through the backyard, Arcanine plodding after and whining to the others the situation- they’re at it again, boys- and Blue nearly falls through the door as he swings it open and clutches onto the living room doorframe to find Red curled up on the couch]
[His mouth opens, but for once, he can’t find the words to come out. He just stares, panting and heart racing, eyes red and pleading.]
action;
[He should just disappear.]
[He should, but he can’t leave him alone again. He knows what Red does to himself, how he shuts himself off from people when he’s in pain, and he promised he would never leave him to be alone like that ever again. They were supposed to be friends again, and friends never abandoned one another. Except when they had.]
[Blue shouts for Arcanine to return, and the enormous dog perks up wherever he is in the party and bounds through the crowd with his enormous bulk to make way for him (he tries to bark ‘excuse me’ but no one understands him; he growls a grumble and lets it be). Arcanine has seen it all, and he knows when he finds Blue to scoop him up onto his back and ride back home. He remembers by now how to get to the Porters, after taking his trainer home so many times when he drowns his sorrows.]
[When they do get back to De Chima, Blue rolls with a groan off Arcanine’s back before they get to their house, in front of Red’s, and Arcanine whines and tries to tug him along home so he doesn’t do something stupid. But Blue is stubborn and on a mission. He can’t screw this up again. He can’t let Red leave him again. Don’t leave—]
[BANG BANG BANG Blue knocks on the door, then remembers the back door that’s always open where Red’s Pokémon are. He stumbles through the backyard, Arcanine plodding after and whining to the others the situation- they’re at it again, boys- and Blue nearly falls through the door as he swings it open and clutches onto the living room doorframe to find Red curled up on the couch]
[His mouth opens, but for once, he can’t find the words to come out. He just stares, panting and heart racing, eyes red and pleading.]