Chapter Text
The setting sun’s rays shone onto their small wooden dining table while they ate the meal she cooked. The air hung around them humid and stagnant, it was stifling her. Only sounds of their chopsticks clinking against the smooth porcelain bowls and plates could be heard in the silence. Thoughts meaninglessly race through her head as she thinks about how little time left they have to try and master their ultimate moves. What if Emerald failed at the battle frontier? What if Jirachi couldn't grant their wish? What if she couldn’t master Frenzy Plant before their trip to Hoenn? What if they couldn’t save their seniors, or more importantly, the glue that stuck the trio together? Silver? The what-ifs plague her mind as she feels the last bit of the smooth cold soba noodles slide down her throat. She rises silently, having lost the rest of her appetite at the idea of failure, her eyebrows creased, still deep in thought as she places the porcelain bowl and bamboo chopsticks at the bottom of the sink.
Her loud-mouthed companion commented on her quick meal, before quickly devouring the rest of their meal to place his dirty dishes in the sink as well. Deep within her thoughts, she doesn’t even notice the tall gangly teenage boy calling out to her as she makes her way towards their small living room. Yet she doesn’t even step across the doorway to their living room before being stopped in her tracks by a warm broad chest. A pitched sound squeaks out of her in surprise upon impact as his sharp smouldering gaze studies her. She doesn’t need to look up to feel it but she timidly raised her head as she feels her heart racing within her chest. Wide crystal blue eyes look up to meet molten sunshine as a feeling of heat creeps up from her neck to her face. His eyebrows lowered and pulled closer together as she noticed his jaw clenching slightly and his adam’s apple bobbing up and down. His hands were still dripping with water from dishwashing and he wipes his wet hands against his black Nike shorts, with the same look of concern as before. She tried to steel her wide-eyed slack-jawed expression into a more stern teacher-like glare to little success. He knew he caught her off guard.
“Hey Crys, are you alright?” His roughen sunburnt hand reached up to brush a few stray hairs away from her face gently before it dropped back down, quietly fiddling with the hem of his t-shirt.
She jerked her head quickly, feeling the tension rise in the air while becoming aware of how close she was to him, stiffly taking a couple of steps away from him. Her face felt like it was broiling in the oven, and she's pretty certain it looks like it too. “Yeah, I’m fine.” Her eyes dart away from his, breaking their eye contact as she tries to find something else to look at around that isn’t the boy in front of her.
“I’m just tired, I think I’ll call it a night here.” A quivering foreign voice responded in her stead, almost taking her aback and feeling herself almost lose her footing despite being firmly planted on the floor. The room spun around her uncontrollably as a wave of nausea overtook her. His mouth briefly opened before closing again, seemingly satisfied with her reasoning, but his expression hadn't changed in the slightest, signalling that perhaps he doesn't fully take her word for it. In his moment of hesitation, she took this as an opportunity to dart past him and rush to her room. Even as she quickly snuck a glance back at him, his observant eyes watched her every movement and though the corners of his mouth turn up in his signature cheeky grin, it never reached his golden eyes.
A loud slam is heard as the door shuts behind her. She slowly slid down against the shut door, pressing her back against it before her knees gave out and left her crumpled on the floor. Pressing her hands against her face, she felt the scorching heat pulsating back at a breakneck speed. Sucking in lungfuls of heavy humid air, her eyes fluttered closed as her psyche tries to wrestle the reins of control away from her emotions. The loud roaring waves of blood pounded within her ears, muffling out all other noises as she tries to slow her breathing and by extension, her heart rate.
A soft sigh escaped her mouth when she felt her heartbeats slow down back to normal. Her chest felt heavy as she managed to calm herself down. A strange new feeling sprouted to join the heavy feeling in her chest. This new sensation writhed around uncontrollably as it bubbled within her chest, foaming viciously in an attempt to break free of the interior cavity of her chest. A string of incoherent thoughts formed within her head as she tried to make sense of what was going on with her since this never happened after their encounters before. Attempting to dissect the sensations made her head spin again as she shakily gets up from the wooden floor. Maybe she really is tired, after all, she's done nothing but train like crazy over the last few days and maybe it's finally catching up to her. Placing her hand against the wall for support and balance, she slumps on the edge of her soft bed. Grabbing her glass of lukewarm water on the bedside table, she sips the liquid, letting it moist her parched mouth. The back of her throat prickled uncomfortably after the water was swallowed. Thinking that her throat was just dry, she gulped the rest of the water down to soothe the itch. Heaving the rest of her body onto her bed, fatigue washed over her as her body ached. Eyelids too heavy to keep awake, she gratefully accepted the embrace of sleep.