There's ZERO canon evidence in ANY version of canon for it

and like... you wanna give Gary/Blue/Green/whatever the fuck his name is an angsty "abusive caregivers" backstory?

HIS PARENTS ARE RIGHT THERE

I've seen multiple fics where the parents are the abusive ones and that's the REASON he's living with his grandpa

and like my personal headcanon is "they're dead" but "they're abusers" works too

you get to have your tragic backstory WITHOUT turning a beloved character that wouldn't hurt a fly into an abuser

it's win-win

also the "all old people are queerphobes" cliche is tired can we retire it please

so many shipping fics generating artificial conflict by suddenly making him a homophobe out of nowhere

"oh he lets his 10/11-year-old grandson out into the world on his own with only a Pokemon to protect him" SO DOES EVERY SINGLE OTHER PARENT IN THE ENTIRE CANON. If it's abusive/neglectful when he does it, then it's abusive/negectful when they do it too, don't single him out on this

like that's just one of the conceits of Pokemon you have to accept, that 10-year-olds in this universe ARE responsible enough for this kind of thing, or it all falls apart

like you can have all the "all pokemon trainers are adults" AU's all you want, but in canon, 10 year olds are responsible