Title: Nest
Rating: PG
Word Count: 4,512
Genre: Friendship, Family, Character Study, Drama, Fluff
Summary: Green/Red/Leaf OT3. Immediately after Green loses the championship to Red, he returns to Pallet Town and the memories of his past.
Author's Notes: For tantei_whispers as part of pokegamefic's summer 2010 fic exchange. Original prompt: "Family. In any form." Thank you to neutralise and Koyuki for their help! Yes, more in-game text, because I am a nerd like that. This is a spiritual (not direct) sequel to Conduit.

No one was home when Green returned to Pallet Town, which was a good thing. He wasn't in a talkative mood.

It was the first time he'd been home since he skipped town over a year ago. Staring at his house made his throat tighten in a way he didn't quite like. He wasn't happy to be here. He was home, and it was exactly as he'd left it, and that saddened him.

The house was empty when he walked inside; the only sound was the soft hum of the refrigerator. The place looked lived-in and was decorated with cheery, familiar colors. He knew everything about this place, every last detail, but he associated none of it with comfort or safety or reassurance. He had spent the last year running as fast as he could from this town, and everywhere he went it had chased him and gained on him until it had taken everything he had and all he was left with was—this.

It wasn't even his house; it was his grandfather's.

He walked upstairs to his room and looked at his bookshelves. There were volumes of magazines and books, Pokémon, Pokémon, Pokémon repeated on every spine. It had been his whole life for as long as he could remember: training, battling, how to raise them and care for them. He used to steal from his grandfather and his sister when he ran out of new things to read. He was always running from house to house with some new book in his hands, banging on Leaf's door to tell her some new fact, or Red's—

His hands clenched into fists.

Green went downstairs again and stared at the living room. The house really was just as he remembered it: same table, same chairs, same TV. Unlike his room, this place was dust-free, but there was still something lonely about it. Usually no one was here.

As a child, Green had spent all of his time outside, but when he did come in, Red and Leaf had followed him. They filled the dead air with bickering as they took off their shoes, and spread their homework on the floor with the TV providing unnecessary background noise. Near the end of the school year, when the days began to lengthen, Daisy was home more and brought them popsicles from the freezer—red, green, and blue for Leaf, since that was her favorite color. Green used to make fun of her for it; he would call her a boy and laugh when she punched him. He'd never stopped, even when they got older and the joke stopped being funny and Leaf's punches really started to hurt.

Green, it seemed, had never been good at knowing when to quit.

He should have given up the day Professor Oak received two rare Pokémon—Pikachu and Eevee—and tried to give Eevee to Red. His grandfather knew that Eevee was Green's favorite Pokémon, and handing it to the kid next door had probably been a sign. But Green had snatched the Poké Ball away before Red or Leaf or anyone else could take it.

His mind flashed back to his final battle, when Pikachu had rained lightning and Eevee had been struck down. He remembered how tiny her body had looked, her fur matted and scorched. Pikachu, exhausted, had dropped to all fours and licked Eevee's cheek, softly apologizing, and the sight had made Green feel sick. He ran forward and snatched his Pokémon away. "Why?" he whispered. "Why did I lose?"

Red had said nothing, even when his rival had punched the stone floor and curled around his Pokémon, whispering to himself. When Green had looked up, his eyes were bright with tears. "...Darn it! You're the new Pokémon League Champion! Although I don't like to admit it."

Red hadn't looked pleased; instead, he'd looked surprised, and a little sad.

—

Green shook his head. That had only been a few hours ago.

He went to the freezer and pulled it open, staring at the green, blue, and red popsicles inside. He took a blue one, feeling vaguely defiant as he did so, and left the house.

—

The summer before they turned eleven, they built a fort on the beach. They used the largest boulder they could find as a starting point and spent weeks collecting driftwood and begging spare supplies from their parents. The construction was slow and meticulous, and they gathered splinters and scraped knees as they went. It took all three of them to lift some of the heavier branches and move them into place, lashing them down with rope and filling in the gaps with clumps of tall grass.

When they were done, they could stand up inside of it. They borrowed a tarp from Red's mother to make the door, and swore to never let anyone else inside unless they knew the password. (It was was "Pokémon," of course.)

The fort was visible from a long way down the shore. Green remembered running down the beach with Leaf and waving at Red, who got out of school earlier than they did. "Pokémon!" they shouted as they ducked inside to sit on the towels their parents had lent them, talking about what starters they'd choose and what kind of trainers they'd be.

"Did you hear?" Green asked, unrolling the most recent edition of The Pallet Sun. "There's a new champion!"

The three of them crowded around the paper, admiring the mysterious adult and his team—"Snorlax," Leaf read, "Blastoise, Rhyperior..."

"When I grow up, I'm going to be the champion," Green declared.

"Me too!" Leaf said. Red nodded.

Green shook his head. "Only one person can be champion," he said.

An awkward silence fell over them.

"So...who's it going to be?" Leaf asked.

"Me," Green replied instantly. Red stared at him, and Green glared back. "What?"

"I know," Leaf said, getting between them before the fight could really start. She flashed them both a winning smile. "We'll tie, and then we'll all be champion. All right?"

Green and Red continued to eye each other until Leaf pushed Red and punched Green's arm. "Stop!" she cried. "No fighting in the fort, remember?"

At that, they both settled back slightly, but Green leaned over the second Leaf turned away. "I'm going to be champion," he hissed at the other boy, "And don't you forget it."

Red didn't reply.

—

As time went on, the fort needed repairs. They spent a great deal of time collecting supplies and filling in the cracks. Leaf was determined to make the fort beautiful—"But you're still a boy," Green reminded her, and laughed when she threw a pillow at him—and began to hang strings of shells and flowers from the ceiling. Professor Oak lent them a battery-powered electric kettle with some trepidation and repeated warnings, and they stayed on the beach until long after sunset, swimming until they grew tired and retreating to their fort to eat. As the stars came out, Leaf told ghost stories, and Red listened with widening eyes while Green tried to disprove her at every turn.

"You're just scared!" Leaf said.

"No, I'm not! I'm not!"

"Boo," Red said quietly from behind him, and Green jumped.

"Scaredy-cat!"

"I am not!"

Leaf crossed her arms. "Fine, then you tell one." And the next day, Green came armed with no less than three carefully memorized ghost stories. Leaf shivered and clung to Red as Green spoke, gesturing with a stick as the story unfolded.

"The girl turned the corner, and then—"

"And then?" Leaf asked, eyes wide.

"Shut up, you're ruining it!" Green snapped. He jammed the end of the stick into the ground and thought hard. Leaf obediently waited, but when the silence stretched too long, she said, "Come on, tell us what happened!"

"Um, and then—"

"You forgot," Red murmured.

"—I didn't!" Green shouted. "I'm just—"

"Leaf!" her father called. "Dinner's ready!"

"I'll finish it tomorrow," Green said hurriedly. Leaf grinned as she stood up, brushing sand from her skirt.

"Yeah. Sure." She ducked out of the fort, leaving Red and Green alone.

"I didn't forget," Green insisted.

Red nodded. "I believe you."

Green stared at him, and then grinned. "You're my best friend," he said on an impulse, since Leaf wasn't around to make fun of him.

"Better than Leaf?"

"No way!" Then he looked at the tarp door and frowned. "Well, only when she's being a girl."

—

"Let's stay here overnight," Green suggested at the end of another long day.

Red sat up at this, and Leaf stared at him. "Why?" the other boy asked.

"I just...think it'll be fun," Green mumbled.

"You can sleep over, if you want," Leaf said, but Green shook his head.

"No, I mean...it won't be the same then. It won't be just us."

He tensed when Red put a hand on his arm. His friend didn't say anything—he just looked at him until his gaze dropped.

"Yeah, I know it's stupid," Green mumbled.

He went home that night, as he did most nights, to an empty house. Working late, Professor Oak's note read. Back in the morning. Underneath it was a note from Daisy: Volunteering late at the Pokémon Center again. Dinner's in the fridge! See you tomorrow!

Green threw the leftovers in the microwave and watched them spin in jerky circles, listening to the house sigh and creak around him. He ate quickly, his spoon clinking in the silence, and then went upstairs.

Ten minutes later, he came back down and went outside.

—

The next morning, Red and Leaf found him in the fort after a panicked Daisy had called their parents. He was shivering with fever. Daisy rushed him home, and Red and Leaf were kept away until he was no longer contagious, so they didn't hear him calling out for them in his sleep, or reaching for hands that weren't there, lost to hallucinations and blind to the crayon card beside his bed. Daisy sat beside him and tried to comfort him, but her hands were too large and he smacked them away, crying for Red, for Leaf. "Pokémon," he cried, "Let me in, Pokémon," until the medicine plunged him into darkness.

When he recovered, he learned that the fort had been destroyed. "It was too dangerous," his grandfather told him. "It was a fire hazard, and you were playing for too long out there!" Seeing the stricken expression on his grandson's face, his tone softened. "You can still go to Leaf and Red's houses whenever you want."

Green was too weak to yell or throw things or do any of the things he wanted to. Instead, he sat as straight as he could, small amidst the sea of pillows and blankets, and stared at his grandfather.

"I'm sorry, but it was for your own good," the professor said. A tear slipped down Green's cheek, and embarrassed, they both turned away from each other. Green scrubbed at his eyes as Oak left the room.

He saw the card, then, on the table, and opened it. Get well soon, it said. Red and Leaf. It didn't say We miss you. It wasn't signed Your friends.

Green crumpled the card in his fist.

—

Green returned to the beach and found Red and Leaf already there.

"No," Leaf was saying, "Not over there! Build the tower over here."

Red started working on the sandcastle wall instead, and Leaf sighed and began to build the tower herself. Her hands dug deeply, coming up caked in dark brown sand that dripped between her outstretched fingers.

Green started to run. Red looked up at the sound of his footsteps, and his eyes widened when he saw his friend's furious expression.

"See?" Leaf said. "You build it like—" Her lecture turned into a scream when Green kicked the half-built tower in her face.

Red shot to his feet, but Green threw him off and continued to stomp the castle flat. The other boy tumbled to the ground as Leaf scraped sand out of her eyes, tears pouring down her cheeks.

"What are you doing?" she shrieked as Red stood again and tried to grab Green's arms. Green yanked free and flung a handful of sand at Red; it splayed across his cap with a dull thud.

"You jerk!" Leaf shouted, standing with her hands balled into fists, her cheeks blazing with color. "We were building that!"

Green aimed a final kick and the last wall exploded outwards. Then he stopped, his breath coming harsh between his teeth.

"Only babies build sand castles," he spat. "That's why I'm better than you—you're stupid and always wasting your time. Me, I'm gonna be Pokémon champion. I don't need you." He took a step towards them both and shoved Red; the other boy took a single step back but went no further, his eyes narrowed in an uncertain glare. Green's lips parted in a savage smile. "I'm better than you," he hissed, "Both of you, and I'm gonna prove it."

He began to turn away.

"Well, if you're going to be like that," Leaf shouted, "don't bother coming back! Me and Red will have lots of fun without you!"

Green lifted his head and began to laugh—too loudly.

"Suits me fine," he growled. "I never liked either of you anyway."

"Green," Red said at last, "what's wrong?"

"He's a huge jerk, that's what's wrong," Leaf snapped.

Green gave her a jeering smile. "Nothing's wrong," he said. "I just got my priorities straight. I'm tired of you two. I don't have time to play with babies anymore."

He stomped up the dunes towards Pallet Town. "Smell you later," he called over his shoulder before he disappeared from sight.

—

For the rest of the year, Green went straight home after school and opened his grandfather's textbooks. From his bedroom window, he could see Red and Leaf playing in Red's backyard, so he usually stayed downstairs, reading and swallowing spoonfuls of soggy cereal until it became too dark to see and the words blurred together. Then he would crawl up to bed, and Pokémon types and training methods would chase him down into his dreams.

Oak and Daisy didn't mention his new behavior, but that was because they saw him as often as usual—rarely, only a few mornings a week, and sometimes evenings as winter drew near. "Why aren't you playing with Leaf and Red?" Daisy asked once when she came home early, and Green gave her a look of such anger that she never mentioned it again.

At school, Red often sought him out. Leaf tagged along, pretending to ignore them while watching out of the corner of her eye.

"What do you want, loser?" Green grumbled.

Red's lips thinned, and he shifted his weight from one foot to the other, but he didn't say anything. Leaf sighed, pointedly stretching and staring up at the sky.

Green's eyes narrowed at the frustration in Red's eyes. "I haven't got all day. Spit it out or I'm leaving."

Red squeezed his eyes shut and ducked his head. Green watched him for another moment, and then stood.

"Come back," Red blurted. Leaf looked over, curious despite herself.

Green smiled. "I'm right here, stupid."

He pushed Red until he moved aside, but he found Leaf standing in his path with her hands on her hips. "He means," she said, talking to him as if he were slow, "that you should come back to the beach and play with us, stupid."

"I'm busy."

"Going home every day? Yeah, sure," she retorted, stepping closer. He tried to move back, but he bumped into Red, and realized he was trapped. "I don't know what your problem is," Leaf continued, "But we—Red misses you, and you should stop being a jerk and tell us what we did wrong!"

Green remembered the crumpled card that hid under his bed.

Get well soon. Red and Leaf.

"Nothing," he snarled. "We're not friends. We were never friends."

Red grabbed fistfuls of Green's shirt as Leaf stared him down, but neither of them could keep him from leaving.

—

Now, Green was a year older, a few Pokémon richer, and one championship poorer.

He stood on the beach with his boots in one hand and the melting popsicle in the other, staring at the old, weathered boulder and feeling a little stupid. The sand under his feet felt like ash, like snow.

"Took you long enough," Leaf said to his right.

He turned to find her walking towards him. "I knew you'd be here," she said when she was close enough to touch his elbow, but instead, she reached out and plucked the popsicle from his unresisting fingers. "Hey, you remembered," she said. "Thanks." She popped it into her mouth before hopping up to sit on the rock.

"There's room for two," she said, patting the stone with her free hand.

"I've got nothing to say to you," he mumbled.

"Pokémon," she said.

"What?"

She gave him a tight smile. "That's the password, right? 'Pokémon.'" His gaze didn't soften. "Come on," she said, jerking her head to motion him closer. "For old times' sake."

Green hesitated, then sat down facing away from her, staring glumly at the ocean.

"Did you miss this place?" she asked between licks. Out of the corner of his eye, Green saw that her tongue was turning blue.

"No."

"Liar."

"Then don't ask stupid questions, loser."

"Seems like there's only one loser around here," she snapped, and he stood immediately, his hands balling into fists. "No, wait, that was—I'm sorry," she said. "...I'm an idiot."

Green stared at her, but refused to sit down again. "You want to talk?" he said. "Talk."

Leaf sighed. "Why'd you leave?"

"Because I wanted to be champion," he replied automatically.

"That's why you became a trainer," she said. "Why did you leave?"

He stared at her. "Because I wanted to be champion," he repeated.

She threw her hands in the air. "Then why did Red follow you?" she asked instead. At his rival's name, Green's expression darkened.

"Beats me."

"Liar."

He tossed his head, looking back and forth before he met her gaze with reluctance. "What do you want me to say?"

"I want you to tell me what you think!"

"I think Red is a stupid, selfish idiot," Green growled. "He just wanted to rub it in my face that he's so much better than me and —"

"Red followed you," Leaf shouted, leaping to her feet, "Because he was worried about you! And if my dad hadn't—I would have followed you too!"

"—Your dad?"

She just stared at him for a moment. "Don't even tell me you don't know," Leaf said. "Don't tell me you didn't notice." Green slowly shook his head, and her lips tightened. "He got lung cancer," she said. "But we caught it too late. He died a month after you and Red left.

"Red wanted to stay," she barreled on, before Green could stammer an apology. "He wanted to stay and help me and my mom, but I told him to go. You know why? Because of you!" Leaf was yelling now, backing him against the rock. "You self-centered jerk, we were worried about you! We had to get your attention. Red went to make you listen. Even if it meant taking your championship." She stopped and panted for breath. Green's look of shock quickly turned into one of suspicion.

"So I'm listening," he said.

Leaf shook her head. "You big dummy," she said, suddenly exhausted. "Red and I would pretend to play in his backyard so that you'd get jealous and come back." She looked down at the melting popsicle and lifted it, a reminder. "When you weren't around, it wasn't fun anymore. It was supposed to be the three of us, always." She looked up at him. "It was great. Why'd you break it up?"

Green didn't reply.

"Why did you stay in the fort by yourself? You could have knocked on our windows. It would have been fun," she said. "We could have made s'mores and brought out blankets. Why didn't you tell us?"

Green stared as the liquid dripped down the popsicle stick and over her fingers to splat on the powdery sand. "I did," he muttered.

Leaf's eyes narrowed as she thought back to that afternoon over a year ago. "...You did," she said with sudden realization. "You did."

Green nodded, feeling like a child.

"You still could have woken us up," she said.

"It was supposed to be the three of us," he echoed bitterly. "Just the three of us. I'm not the one who decided to break us up. You were."

Leaf shook her head. "Green," she said, "You should have told us."

"Why? You did it on purpose," he said. "You didn't care anym—"

"Of course we cared!" she shouted—making him jump—and proved her point by punching him in the arm. "If we didn't care, do you really think Red would have followed you across the whole stupid continent? You—you idiot!"

"...Ow," Green said, staring at her with disbelief. Leaf had gotten a lot stronger since the last time they fought. Evidently she had the same thought, and her lips spread in a vicious grin.

"Not so tough now, are you?" she said. "High and mighty Green, too cool to play with us—!" She lunged and pinned him to the rock before he could dodge. He yelled and tried to break free, but she grabbed him in a headlock and gave him a furious noogie despite pained cries of "Get off!" and "My hair!"

Red chose that moment to appear over the sand dunes.

"Red!" she called over Green's shouts. "Help me beat this loser up!"

The new Kanto champion came closer and stared down at the two of them. "You're going to hurt him," he said.

"Nah, he's tough. Right, Green?" she said loudly in his ear, and he groaned.

"Let him go," Red said. Leaf hesitated, then snuck in one last nudge before she released him. Green sat up, clutching at his head and glaring at the boy above him. Red raised a hand in a silent greeting; Green rolled his eyes and flapped a hand in reply, panting. Leaf scooted over on the rock and Red sat down beside her.

Leaf swung her feet, looking up at the clouds. Red bit his lip, studying at his shoes. Green, for his part, was still busy trying to make his brain stop hurting.

"I'm sorry," Red finally said. Green looked up at that, his hand slowly dropping away from his forehead.

"What?"

"He said, he's sorry." Then Leaf sighed. "I'm sorry, too. We didn't mean to make you upset."

"Yeah, well, you did," Green grumbled.

"...Do you want it back?" Red said.

"Do I want what back?"

"The championship." Red looked a little embarrassed, but held his gaze. "I don't want it."

Green gaped at him. "You don't want—"

"I told you," Leaf said, "we just wanted to get your attention."

He stared at Leaf, then at Red, and then flopped back onto the rock with his hands covering his face. "I can't believe this," he said. "I work for this my whole life and you just take it and you don't even— Then why did you always say you wanted to be champion?"

"Because I did," was the reply. "But I don't want to anymore." Red frowned. "It's boring."

Green looked at Red through his fingers, then closed his eyes and gave a loud, muffled scream. The others waited until he lifted his hands from his face.

"You ruined my life," he told them flatly.

"Actually, you did a lot of that on your own," Leaf replied. Red nodded.

"Shut up," he mumbled. "It's too late to go back to being friends, anyway." But his tone was half-hearted.

He blinked when Leaf took his hand in hers.

"We missed you," she said without looking at him. "...We really missed you, you big stupid bully."

Green couldn't say he didn't miss them, because they would hear the lie in his voice—but he couldn't say he missed them either, because he couldn't undo over a year of hurt that quickly. So he opted to say nothing, but he didn't take his hand away, and that seemed to satisfy Leaf. On her other side, she picked Red's hand up, and they just sat there for a while.

—

"So this is where you live now?" Leaf asked, years later, when Green had just taken the gym leader position.

"Yeah," he said. "Just finished moving in a few days ago." He'd hidden the last few boxes in the closet, but he didn't mention that. Leaf would probably find them soon enough.

Green held the door open for her; she grinned at him and walked inside, scanning the apartment. "Nice place you've got here," she said.

"Thanks," he said, locking up behind them. "You want anything to drink?"

"No, I'm good." She dropped her bag on the floor and spread out on his couch with a contented sigh. "Has Red seen this place yet?"

Green shook his head. "He still won't come down," he said, but he wasn't too concerned; he knew Red would see this place one day. "You know, I could use a roommate," he added casually, sitting down in a chair opposite her.

She turned onto her side, towards him. "Yeah? How many bedrooms does this place have?"

"Three."

Leaf gave him a look. Green looked down, rubbing the back of his neck, but didn't elaborate.

"I'll think about it," she said. "And I'll talk to Red."

"You don't have to—"

"Come on, Green, who do you take me for?" she said, smiling. Then she suddenly sat up. "Oh, before I forget!" She dug through her bag and, after a moment, tossed him a small, flat package. "Here. It's a housewarming gift."

Green unwrapped it to find a picture frame with a small, sun-faded photo inside, and took in a sharp breath.

"Well?" she prompted. "Do you like it?"

"...Where did you get this?" he said at last.

"From Red's mom," she said. "It's from when we finished it." When he continued to stare, she prompted, "So? Do you like it?"

"It's—it's great," he said, getting up to give her a hug. "Thanks."

"It's from Red, too," she said with a grin. "You owe him a hug now."

"Right," he said dryly before he looked at the picture again. "We look so small! Were we really that small?"

"It's been a long time," Leaf said, peeking over his shoulder to look at it herself.

"Yeah."

They stood in the middle of Green's new living room and stared at the snapshot of their former lives, before first Pokémon or championships, before the fighting began.

Leaf looked up at him and smiled. "We've really upgraded, haven't we?"

"It's not the same," Green said. "This is a house."

"It's the same thing in the end." She draped an arm over his shoulders. "It's ours."