No answer. At least, just for long enough that Cillian Quinn might consider kicking down the door for real.

Then it would creak open, just a crack, one large blue eye peering out at him.

Not Chu-e, but Prince, the Gardevoir looking vaguely relieved. The poor pokemon looked haggard even if the house was in pristine condition. Surprisingly. Worryingly.

He'd point Gavin down the hallway towards Chu-e's room.

Where Gavin would find his counterpart in the dark, sitting not on his bed but on the floor, only the faintest slivers of light peeking through the window. A purple and gold craft box with the lid off, a few yellowing papers laying in front of him. His phone was on the desk and not even flashing; completely dead.

He does, in fact, consider kicking down the door.

I can pay him for the damages; I just need to know if he's OK.

A deep, steadying breath is taken before the door opens to reveal a haggard-looking Gardevoir that Gavin nevertheless recognizes.

"Prince. Hey."

He offers a grateful nod when he's directed down the hall and finds his best friend in one of the most upsetting scenes he could've imagined. How different he was from the silly, light-hearted idiot who'd licked a rock for the sake of a joke.

"What are you doing sitting in the dark like a fuckin' vampire?"

But there's a straining note of worry in an otherwise teasing tone. Gavin would flick the light switch if he could find it before sitting cross-legged in front of Chu-e Choi.

"What's up?"

He gestures at the craft box, a silent question.

Much like the vampire Cillian Quinn accused him of being, when the light was flicked on he winced. He glanced up at Gavin and thought about scowling or making some joke but his heart just wasn't in it.

Chu-e was... well, he was normally very clean and neat. He liked to shower and take care of himself after so many years on the streets. But, today, Gavin would find that his hair was lanky and greasy, skin splotched and a few patches of acne trying to pop up. His clothes were wrinkled and dirty, too. Deep bags under his eyes and skin paler than normal.

"Just reading." Soft and empty. A slightly gaudy wedding ring was being worried between his fingers.

Chu-e was hiding the papers from Gavin so he could look if he liked. It was all wedding memorabilia. Specifically, Chu-e's.

Unfortunately for them both, Gavin's not the best at comfort.

Or being subtle.

"When's the last time you showered, man? No, fuck that. When's the last time you ate?"

He clearly wasn't taking care of himself.

Noticing the faded wedding memorabilia and the old wedding ring, he guesses, "Arthur?"

A name he knows, even if he'd never known the man himself.

Chu-e doesn't know so he doesn't answer. His stomach clenches around nothing but hunger is just a part of him now. It's easy to ignore.

"Our anniversary wasn't that long ago. I was so busy with Sootopolis that I forgot."

A paper is moved aside, showing Cillian Quinn a picture of Chu-e and the mysterious Arthur. He's taller than Chu-e, many people were, lanky and white hair. They're leaned together at a small later. This was before Chu-e was sick, he's still got muscle, and the way they smile shows that maybe neither of them were used to doing it.

Gavin's brow lifts as his gaze falls upon a familiar figure.

"I recognize him. We never met, though."

Gavin had been a nobody back then, a small fish lost in the ocean that was Hoenn during Silas' attempted takeover.

It's equally strange to see Chu-e Choi how Gavin remembers him from the Kanto days, healthy and muscular and full of life that Rocket would soon rob from him. It hurts to reconcile the image of his frail, suffering friend with that of what he could have been.

"What happened?"

Where was Arthur now?

---

bingo prompt 1/4 - nostalgia

"I don't know. I just know he died." The picture is picked up, Chu-e rubbing his thumbs over the edges as he stares into it, eyes somewhere else.

"He died sometime after I 'went missing'." A small sigh before he puts the picture back down. "I came back to Hoenn to find him. I didn't know he was gone till I got back."

And what a difference that would have been. If he had known Arthur was dead... would he had bothered with Hoenn at all? Or would he have lived out his days in Kalos?

Cillian Quinn

"Ah."

He never quite knows what to say, in dealing with loss, yet — he thinks he's understanding more, as of late. She wasn't dead, but the finality of it all certainly left him feeling bereaved.

"That's — a shitty way to find out."

He reaches out and rests a hand on Chu-e Choi's arm, a quiet comfort.

"I came back to an empty house and I was dying. I was too chicken shit to reach out to my family, so I was all alone."

Chu-e's voice was getting thick, a wobble in his tone.

"Sometimes I wonder if I only went back to Rocket because I was lonely."

A sniffle, a tear down his cheek, which was wiped on the back of his hand. Chu-e doesn't move Cillian Quinn's own, the touch comforting in it's weight.

Ah, fuck.

Once, Gavin might've found himself disgusted by the waver in Chu-e Choi's tone or the wet glimmer of his gaze. Now, his discomfort is more rooted in uncertainty than disdain. He's never been the best with emotions. Not even his own.

But Chu-e is his best friend, so he has to try.

His hand remains, squeezing slightly.

"Doesn't matter why you came back, man. All that matters is you're here." Chu-e's done a lot of good for Rocket, Gavin thinks. Slowly, steadily, they're steering the organization away from the demons of their past. "You're not alone anymore."

He thinks of the Soiree, of the crippling emptiness he'd felt in the throes of a nightmare, and thinks he understands to a degree.

Chu-e sniffles again, his cheeks taking on a rosy hue as they color with his tears. His eyes are wiped again but it doesn't stop the steady drip that starts down his cheeks.

"Errie is gone too, Gav." Is what he manages to get out, voice tight and high. "What if I got them killed? What if it's my... my...." And he breaks, curling in on himself slightly, raising his hands to hide the worst of the tears. It all comes crashing down. He never cried like this for Arthur. He never even cried like this for himself. For his lost pokemon. For his lost life. For what little he had clawed for being taken from him again, due to sickness.

Something has shattered inside of Chu-e Choi.

Cillian Quinn (Eris Halla mention)

Rapidly things go from bad to worse.

"No," Gavin insists, firm but not cold. "None of that, man; she's a kid, kids do stupid shit like this."

He'd made his fair share of dumb mistakes as a kid but when he'd run off, he'd not had a parent worried sick about him. They'd always made him find his own way back and punished him for the inconvenience. Did Eris Halla know how lucky she was to have Chu-e Choi?

Desperate to comfort, Gavin thinks of how Tempest Quinn holds him close whenever he's upset and wraps an arm around his friend's likely trembling shoulders, loose to give Chu-e the option of pulling away if it wasn't what he needed.

"We'll find her," he insists, "or someone will, and they'll bring her back, all right?"

And if they didn't, Rocket would make them.