Letters to You (RedxBlue)

Letter 8: -Red

Red's next letter can't come soon enough as far as Blue's concerned. He's come to depend on the distraction.

Blue, It reads.

Maybe your Umbreon would like to meet my Espeon? Thanks for reminding me of him. I've switched out Lapras for Espeon while we travel inland.

I have no plans to go home. I'm still working on the national dex, and I've barely made a dent, but, yes, home is in Kanto. Small world, I guess. I'm 26. How old are you?

Blue feels like his bottom jaw has just unhinged itself from his top jaw. This man hasn't seen his own mother in 16 years and seemingly doesn't care. Blue begins to worry about how much his own letters matter and whether they'll continue to be answered.

What are you studying that's better than pokémon? I can't picture it.

This again. Blue lets it go practically as soon as he's read it. The sooner Red lets it go, too, the better. He doesn't need to be continually reminded of his failed career as a pokémon trainer.

Verdanturf is better. The air is fresh, and the small town is surrounded by nature. The wild pokémon seem happy here. A couple from the town got caught in the cave-in of a nearby tunnel. What?! I helped dig the husband out, and they were so glad to see one another. Blue repeats himself in his mind, What?! Are you seeing anyone? And then he transitions to that?! Blue is left reeling, but the letter is just too interesting to stop there.

Pikachu read your letter to me this morning. He's kind of a character. He has an attitude like you because, even though he definitely can't read, he bluffed that he could. You should've seen him. It was adorable. How does Pikachu survive your casual mood swings? Blue wonders, exasperated.

There are apparently a few pokémon I can only get in these parts by breeding, so we'll stick around for a bit. Say hi to Umbreon for me. What other pokémon do you have? What kind of pokémon can you catch in the Galar region?

-Red

Well, at least Blue doesn't have to memorize a new address, so there's that. A bit stunned and a bit exasperated, he tosses the letter aside onto the kitchen counter while he tries to fully process what he's just read.

Does Red care about him? Like, he doesn't have to care a lot—they're just pen pals. But to not see his own mother in 16 years. Either there's more to the story, or Red tosses people aside easily. Blue presses his lips together tightly. He wants a little more than he should to matter to Red. This is honestly one of his more functional relationships at the moment.

Blue's water starts to boil just then, so he returns his attention to his dinner. Once he's got the situation under control again, he turns back to the letter, so he can put it away for safekeeping until he has time to write a response. When he does, he notices that there's something written on the back of the letter because he managed to flip it over when he tossed it aside.

Blue's face floods with heat. It's a pokégear number. Red wants him to call? Maybe Red does care. But what the fuck is Blue supposed to say?! Over the pokégear?! Doesn't everyone text these days?! Oh, that's an idea. Blue could text. Maybe Red expects him to text. Yes, of course, that must be it. Blue practically sprints to his bedroom, rips his pokégear off his desk, and hurries back to the kitchen. He types the number in as the recipient of a new text message and then taps out the most generic small-talking bullshit he can think of. Blue shuts his eyes tight before he can second guess his approach to death and presses send.

Hey. What's up? The screen reads. Blue shakes his head at himself. He's really honestly lost faith in his ability to carry out successful human interactions since he started college. The worst part is that Yellow would totally fucking agree with him over it, too.

He spends a full five minutes actually staring at the screen in between checking the stove like a desperate asshole. He needs a friend dammit. Leaf never sticks around. Kris will chat with him but never visits. Yellow is a non-starter for obvious reasons. And Blue just hasn't been the best at befriending his classmates. He's been so swamped with schoolwork that he's given up on humanity and the outside world, and it's started to show. He used to be considered outgoing and popular for fuck's sake.

Blue finally convinces himself to put the pokégear down long enough to finish cooking his own damn sad as fuck single person without friends dinner. His pokégear buzzes on the counter, and he comes running right back to it, but then it keeps buzzing and Blue stops. Fuck, he's getting a call. Blue picks his pokégear up slowly like it might bite him, and, sure enough, it's Red's number that's calling him. Double fuck.

Blue accepts the call as slowly as he can without missing it altogether and brings the receiver up to his ear. He waits anxiously for Red to speak first.

"Hello?" a female voice on the end of the line greets.

Blue pulls his pokégear back to double-check the number on the screen, but, no, it's definitely the number Red scribbled on the back of his letter. Wait...Did he even write that there for Blue? Blue puts the pokégear back up to his ear to keep listening for a bit in case the situation has somehow miraculously changed.

"Hi? Red?" the girl questions, "Who's calling?"

Blue hangs up as fast as he can before Red's girlfriend on the other end of the line can figure out exactly how creepy he is. Shit, Red totally accidentally mailed him his girlfriend's pokégear number, which means he might want it back, but hopefully he has it saved in his contacts. Yeah, wait, he must—she's his girlfriend. And also, this means that Red has a pokégear and hasn't given Blue his number because Blue is reading way too much into things, and he needs to stop. Normal people don't write to strangers through a pen pal agency hoping to turn their love life and/or friendship situation around. Red is probably just doing this because he's bored, which means that Blue is doing this for all of the wrong reasons, because he's completely, 100% more invested in this than Red is. He admits it, okay? He's invested. He likes reading Red's letters for fuck's sake. He honestly thinks the asshole is kind of funny and unique, and it's amazing that he puts up with Blue and hasn't told him that he's a freak yet. He actually wrote Smell you later, asshole. Those are words that he legitimately wrote to another human being, even though he already has real-life experience of how that catchphrase went over in his childhood. Blue needs help dammit. He needs it. And Red has a girlfriend and that's normal, and he needs to get over it. If he plays this cool, maybe Red will at least keep writing to him. He is not about to give this up at this stage in his senior year. He is maybe a month away from a full-blown mental breakdown without sufficient human interaction, and he needs this.

So, yeah, he'll just write a letter likeeverything's totally cool because it is anyways, and if he keeps tellinghimself that enough, maybe it'll actually start to feel as true as it mustlogically be.