I hugged my legs to my chest, the cold skin against my warm hands making me tremble more. I was too embarrassed to even approach my sleeping Pokémon.

Thank Arceus Blue had listened to me when I asked her if I could stay here alone.

I couldn't describe the wrenching pain that had torn through me, and as it began to slowly fade I was left with a colossal humiliation. Everything had just started to fall into place but I was the one who changed that. I'd interrupted their Pokémon battle when I could have just watched, then eventually fainted like a weakling.

A short knock on the door made me uncomfortably look up, waiting for the voice.

"Yellow? Can I come inside?"

Wincing, I replied, "If you want."

My cheeks burnt and my eyes refused to move from the downwards sight of my bare feet whilst Red walked into the room. I couldn't bear to look at him, I felt like such a fool.

"How are you feeling?" I felt his weight shift as the boy sat beside me.

I should call him a man, but that would only make the level of awkwardness plateau.

"I'm okay." I quickly looked at him, then averted my gaze again.

"You sure about that? It looks like you have a fever."

Before I could muster up the strength to evacuate the house, Red leaned towards me and curiously placed a hand to my forehead. It felt like all the heat in my body had rushed to my face, in contrast, his hand was refreshing and cool.

I looked up and met his eyes, his hand still set on my face, "I'm fine Red. Just mortified."

I crossed my legs and continued to waft an aura of discomfort as he moved to a more appropriate distance.

"It's all right you know, you can't help feeling that pain. Besides, it was really cool when you healed Poli."

It was still too hard to maintain eye contact with him, but I smiled at his attempt to reassure me, "Thank you."

We sat like that for a few minutes, Red leaning against the wall on the end of the bed with me safely facing him, in peaceful silence.

Why was he here?

"I've never felt like that before." I finally murmured to him, breaking the lukewarm ice. "It's horrible."

"I can imagine," Red nodded his head, "it's like you're synchronised to Pokémon when they suffer."

"Yeah," I sighed in exhaustion, "this is all so unfamiliar.

"We haven't exactly helped with that," Red scratched the back of his neck awkwardly, "I'm really sorry about that."

I didn't want to say that it was okay. It wasn't.

"What have all the other temporary recruits been like?"

He met my eyes with a frown, "The opposite of you. Overconfident and self-entitled kids who don't probe into information; they see K-Z as a stepping stone for future careers and never invest anything into their work."

"All of them?"

"Well some more than others, I know it doesn't excuse our attitude but it genuinely became tiring. We were accustomed to temporary recruits and became detached." Red looked down at his hands and murmured, "Apart from one person."

The girl Crystal told me about.

Raw betrayal was etched into his face as his eyes refused to meet mine. "I've been acting like an ass to you because the last girl at K-Z screwed me up."

"I'm a completely different person Red." I softly spoke as he met my eyes with guilt.

"I know, and it's selfish preservation, but I just didn't want any stranger to get the chance to do what she did."

"What did she do?" I shuffled to sit beside him as curiosity blinded my logic.

Red shook his head, "It's just a mess, don't worry."

It wasn't like my ability with Pokémon, but I could sense that he was weighed down my the past.

"Maybe if you talk about her, the situation will untangle itself; it can put things into perspective." The proximity between us had become comforting and suddenly, it felt like I had known Red all my life.

He smiled at me with a small but satisfying expression full of appreciation. "Her name was Rose, I met her at a battle tournament in November last year and from then on, everything became a hurricane. We were really close and she used to hang out at our K-Z unit a lot, then eventually decided to try for recruit in February."

I nodded attentively as Red held his head in his hands with a frustrated frown, "Now that it's over, I realise how toxic our relationship was. Rose was full of life and had a sharp wit that bluntly pulled me to her. She also had a twisted power dynamic, taking the reigns of the relationship because I'm on the easygoing side."

"What kind of things would she do?"

"Small, irritating things. She'd sign me up for social events I had no interest in, force me into the company of her rough friends and then casually insult me for the sake of humor. When we were alone it wasn't as bad, but she'd still drag me away from work that was essential to me. "

"It must have been worse when she joined K-Z." He smiled and shook his head at my words.

"Actually, Rose seemed to get stuck into the case we had, but it was mutually exclusive to our relationship."

Red crossed his legs and I felt the rough denim of his jeans against my knee.

"I remember this one time when she completely turned into a different person on Valentines day. She was so mad that I didn't want to go to a party and when I asked her why my preferences were invalid, she blew."

"What did she do?" I bit my lip anxiously and watched his face spark a bitter memory.

"To cut it short, the case we were on involved a medicine company that had been underpaying its labourers and failing to provide welfare benefits. We were in the midst of organising an undercover investigation when the CEO got tipped off. Rose tipped us off to 'News Flash', a media outlet you shouldn't ever speak to, Yellow."

"How did you know it was her?"

"The amateur writer was the same boy who she cheated on me with."

Arceus, that must have been so painful and the expression on his face consolidated what I assumed.

"Red, that must have felt terrible," I widened my eyes in shock, "I'm so sorry you had to experience that."

"It's alright," He smiled, "I think I came out of the situation knowing myself a whole lot better."

I nodded and then blushed as he continued to stare at my face, "what?"

"I'm sorry I've been an asshole, I don't think you're like Rose at all."

"That's a relief." I murmured, "Do you know where she is now?"

"Maybe back in Hoenn? I'm not sure, but the further away the better."

I glanced at the Chansey clock on the wall, it had just hit five.

"Can we start over?"

I fell into his hopeful crimson eyes and mindlessly nodded, "I'd like that."

As Red silently looked down at me, I blinked back up at him in fear of looking away. Compared to mine, his skin already looked tanned from the sun, it glowed. His dark hair fell messily downwards and a strong instinct made me want to brush it away neatly. It was cute, though.

I suddenly felt a rush of self-consciousness as silly paranoias intruded. My hair was still messy from the entire fainting experience. The dryness from the heat had made my lips look chapped too. In Blue's outfit, I now felt the need to cover myself in a long blanket. To top my horror, I was sure my top wasn't balanced so Red probably had a view of a strap I'd rather have kept hidden.

Now would be a good time for Arceus to swallow me up.

To my surprise, the pleasant sound of his deep voice laughing eased my worries.

"What's so funny?" I smiled at his humour, it was lovely to have such a natural conversation.

"You look at me like I'm about to kill, trust me Yellow I won't hurt you."

I flushed in embarrassment, "I know, sorry."

"Also, stop apologising, it's a little annoying."

"Sorry." I automatically responded, then met his eyes and giggled. "Oops."

In one swift motion that knocked my senses away, Red turned and wrapped an arm around my shoulder; pulling me to him.

My head just about reached his shoulder in the hug and I prayed to Arceus his eyes were closed like mine. It was completely platonic yet the light sound of his breathing was enough to make me melt. His body was warm and comforting, but there was also a hint of tension I couldn't ignore.

"Thanks for hearing me out." Red murmured as we detached, quickly stepping up and shifting towards the door.

I watched him move, too numbed to really put an effort into replying. Red looked completely unfazed compared to my flustered face, but that didn't stop him from turning back to me before walking out of the door.

"It's hard to intimidate you Yellow, you're just like a pikachu."

"I'm not that small..." I trailed off, entwining my fingers as an effort to not look at him.

"I meant that you're cute."

*

"I can't believe you Green, you're not royalty!" Blue slapped the boy's face as he criticised her battling style.

At least he hadn't heard of mine.

Red and I, who had been working on the couch, looked up in curiosity at her outburst. Green simply remained seated, a little stunned at the force Blue had used to make his right cheek pink. The sound still rippled through the large room.

"You did not just touch me." He gritted his teeth, slowly standing up and towering over Blue.

Blue stomped her foot down, refusing to move away from the inch of space between them, "Someone has to regularly pop your obnoxious bubble."

"Obnoxious?" Green spluttered in offence, "Coming from the girl who uses people as toys?"

Green caught Blue's arm before she could hit him again, then the two remained frozen on the spot. In a swift motion, Green released his grip and grabbed her hand, pulling Blue with him towards the set of rooms

They continued to argue as I heard a room door slam shut, then looked back at Red, "What was that?"

"A hurricane." I sympathetically smiled at ChuChu, who had just woken up.

"That is what I call fireworks." Red stood up groggily, "Let me see if they're okay."

I nodded my head and began to think back to the Pokémon so far. Wartortle. Chameleon. Spearow.

Uncle had told me to try acting like the perpetrator, what would Vespiquen, Gothitelle and Gardevoir think of the girls?

"Arceus!" I swung my head and looked up at Red, whose face was burning with embarrassment as he scowled. "Come on, we're getting out of here."

He fumbled around in his pocket before quickly unlocking the door and looking back at me, "Coming?"

Whilst Pika followed his trainer, ChuChu and I exchanged confused eye contact. I didn't want to argue with that sort of sudden anger.

Nodding, I closed my laptop and then stood up, "It's cold though, let me grab a jacket."

I scurried towards my room and was about to enter when a warm pair of hands pressed against my ears.

Shrieking, I swerved around, "Red! What are you doing?"

For a brief moment I could feel his body behind mine, but then he steered me back to the door and finally gave my hearing relief.

"Don't go in there, idiot."

"Why?" I looked at him in offence as he switched off the passage light.

"You can wear this." He passed me a grey hoodie that was draped over the arm of the sofa.

I held up the massive garment in confusion, "What's going on?"

Red sighed and grabbed my hand, forcefully pulling me out of the house as my Pikachu followed suit, "Unless you want to hear your team members make babies, come out."

The door slammed shut behind us and I preoccupied myself with wearing the baggy hoodie, processing his words.

What the Arceus? They were arguing a few minutes ago. I didn't even know the two were dating.

Gross, I didn't need that image in my head.

Red was already walking towards some chairs that were planted from the morning, but as I ran to catch up with him in curiosity I gasped "Look up!"

Night had spilled a deep navy ink over the sky. There were hundreds of illuminating stars that glimmered like glitter above us. Together, they looked mystical. Whilst the cold wind whipped my face, I smiled and continued gazing at all the different sizes of silver dots.

"Let me see better!" ChuChu patted my leg and I chuckled, lifting her up.

I hugged her warm body to me as we both stared upwards at the shining darkness.

Things had to get better.

A/N:
Exam season is over! It feels so good to do things without feeling guilty. So this chapter, and many that follow, came out a bit longer than I intended. I'm really sorry there aren't more regular time shifts in this plot, most things are happening in consecutive days.

Anyway, hope you enjoy!
Baii x