Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Violet City, Johto...

"Eusine, you know it's been, like, years since Suicune was last spotted, right? With no trace of the Pokémon, I'm unable to track down its whereabouts! I can't just make it appear out of thin air!" Crystal pinched the bridge of her nose.

"Well. Yes, I do know that. But since I consider you one of my closest companions, I assumed it wouldn't be much trouble to ask you for help...?" Eusine replied. 

The two trainers were calling each other via video call since their planned meetup had been interrupted by pouring rain.

Crystal looked over at the pile of documents and Pokéballs on the desk to her left. She rubbed her temples and let out a heavy sigh.

"Fine, I'll help you out. Under the condition that-”

“OH, THANK YOU, CRYS! Thank you so much!!” Eusine cried out in joy. He leapt in glee and twirled in circles. The trainer tripped over his cape and fell to the ground with a hard thud.

Crystal rolled her eyes and smiled. Eusine never changed, even after the battle with Arceus five years ago. Speaking of which, she hasn't seen Gold and Silver in a while. 

I wonder how they’re doing. How long has it been since we last met? Maybe I should visit them after this storm passes.

“...Crys? Crystal? Hello? Are you still there?” Eusine’s voice startled Crystal out of her daydream. “You kind of spaced out a bit there. Is everything okay?”

“Yeah… I’m fine. I was just thinking about visiting Gold and Silver again soon. Sorry about that, Eusine.” 

“Don’t fret about it! I was going to ask you if your schedule doesn’t accommodate my request. Are you sure you have enough time to track down Suicune’s location? Knowing you’re Professor Oak’s assistant and all. And the fact that you work at a children’s day care. And also-”

“Eusine, it’s fine, I promise! It’s been a while since I’ve gone out to catch Pokémon, so this will be a good change of pace!” Crystal chuckled.

“Well, okay, then. Thank you so much!! I knew I could count on you!” Eusine winked and waved goodbye to his friend.

“Goodbye!” Crystal waved as well. She ended the video call, drained and exhausted. She sighed and leaned against her rolling chair, thinking about what to do next.

I should probably call Emerald. I’m not sure if he’ll answer since he’s in Kalos and it’s midnight right about now. I can leave him a message so that he can see it in the morning. Yeah, I’ll go do that. I could use a new cup of coffee right about now, too.

Crystal reached out, grabbed her phone, and opened Emerald’s messages. Her mind wandered once again, but this time, it was about the weather. As she finished typing out her text to Emerald, Crystal turned her chair around, grabbed the TV remote, and began flipping through the channels, searching for the weather one specifically.

“ Pro-Team Omega is back! Tune in for four new action-packed episodes every week! Every Saturday at 10:30 p.m.! ” the commercial announced.

That’s the show that Silver watches. Crystal stayed in the channel longer than she needed to, pausing her channel surfing. Didn’t he go to that fan meeting in Kanto a while ago?

BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM

Crystal’s door shook with the impact of someone knocking outside. Almost desperately. The Catcher took time to get her heart to start beating normally again after the heart attack she almost had. 

“Who is it?”

DING DONG DING DONG DING DONG

The doorbell rang with so much urgency that it snapped Crystal out of her confusion and caused her to immediately get up and reach for the door. As she stumbled over her research textbooks and folders, she yelled, “I-I don’t remember ordering pizza. Who is this?”

She took off the ball of napkins covering the peephole and looked outside.

“It’s me, Silver,” the person outside answered. “I hope this isn’t a bad time-”

Silver watched as Crystal fumbled with the locks, and soon enough, the door swung wide open.

“OH MY ARCEUS!? Silver? What are you doing outside right now?” Crystal noticed he was drenched from head to toe. “How did you get caught up in the rain?! Please, come in.” She motioned for him to step inside.

Silver ducked his head under the doorframe and stepped in, leaving puddles of rainwater where he stepped. Crystal grimaced.

“Sorry about the uh… sudden appearance, Crystal.” Silver scratched the back of his neck. “I hope it’s not a bad time-”

“Nononono, it’s not a bad time right now, actually!” It was a very bad time. “I promise. Pinky promise.” Crystal grinned awkwardly.

Silver stayed where he was standing, observing the clutter of important documents and Pokéballs covering the floor of Crystal’s house. He sniffled and wiped his nose with the back of his sleeve.

“Silver… What were you doing outside? I really hope you don’t get sick.” Crystal sat back down on her couch.

“Gold had some family over, and I left in order to make room for them to stay in.” Silver shrugged as he took off his boots. 

Crystal stayed silent for a few seconds, still wide-eyed about the coincidence of Silver arriving at her doorstep while she was thinking about him. No, I wasn’t thinking about him; I was just-

“Is that the cartoon channel?” Silver pointed to the TV, still projecting wacky visuals from overstimulating TV shows. Crystal didn’t like that channel, knowing it was distracting for the kids at the daycare, so she rarely opened it.

“U-Um, yes, it is.” Crystal shifted in her seat.

“Do you mind if I can watch some shows while I get dried off?” Silver asked. 

“No, go ahead.”

Silver sat next to Crystal with a *splorch* as his clothes dampened the sofa. Crystal gave him a side eye as she saw him reach for his jacket pocket and take out a bag of salted walnuts. He stared intently at the screen as he opened the bag and began snacking on his meal.

“Next up, Pro-Team Omega: Chronicles!!” the TV blared.

Crystal’s jaw dropped. Was today…? She glanced at her calendar in her kitchen. Oh Arceus, it's Saturday… She looked over at Silver. A tiny smile began creeping up at the corner of his lips as the theme song began to play. He glanced at Crystal and was surprised to see that she was also looking at him. He immediately shifted his gaze towards the screen again, any hint of a smile disappearing.

She took a second to register what had happened, and she immediately turned away once she realized she had been staring for too long. Curiously, Crystal looked briefly back at Silver and noticed his striking red hair was still drenched in rainwater. 

“Do you want me to get you a towel, Silver?” Crystal asked.

“...That’d be very nice of you.” Silver answered after a few seconds, his eyes still glued to the screen.

Crystal got up and decided to turn on the lights, noticing it had been eerily dark ever since Silver had arrived, the only source of light being the TV. Silver looked up for a second, noticing the change in the environment, but he eventually turned back to the grasp of the hypnotizing TV screen. Crystal leaned against the railing of the stairs, observing his behavior. 

For some reason, he reminds me of the children at the daycare center, as weird as it sounds. Maybe he just wants to focus on his show. Or was it the walnuts? Crystal smiled. Maybe that’s what 3+ years of living with Gold does to a person.

Crystal opened the door to her bedroom and picked up her hair dryer from her desk. She walked towards her closet and grabbed a folded towel that was on one of the shelves. Chumee, Crystal’s Smoochum, and Bonee, her Cubone, were napping on her bed. She giggled as she gave the two a kiss on their foreheads. Crystal went and refilled their snack tray, then left the room, closing the door slightly.

“Here are the towel and hair dryer!” Crystal announced. She triumphantly held the two items up in the air as she walked down the stairs. “Oh.”

Silver wasn’t on the couch anymore. The TV was still playing the show, and the lights had been turned off again. Crystal heard some noises coming from the kitchen. As she peeked from the doorway, she noticed Silver stuffing his face with the party-size bag of lemon chips from the pantry.

They both paused what they were doing and stared at each other, eyes wide open. Those 7 seconds of silence seemed eternal, the only noise in the room being the faint sound of the TV from the living room. Crumbs fell from Silver’s chin. He quickly closed the bag with the clip, shoved it back into the pantry, and wiped his mouth with the back of his glove. His face was getting… red?

“S-sorry, I’m sorry. It’s not what it looks like.” Silver mumbled.

“How long has it been since you’ve eaten?” Crystal walked closer. 

“Uhh…this morning?” Silver gave a weak smile.

She frowned and threw the towel at him, catching him totally off guard and covering his face completely. She crossed her arms as she watched Silver try to get the towel off of him.

“Do you know how important it is to get your three meals a day? Breakfast, lunch, and dinner! Even an occasional brunch sometimes!” Crystal scolded, “Eating less than what you’re supposed to can have harmful effects on your body, such as fatigue, digestive issues, and even hair loss! Hey? Hello? Silver? Earth to Siiilveeeerrr…” She snapped her fingers in front of his face.

His gaze wandered from the TV to Crystal once again. He gulped. 

“You yap a lot.”

“Excuse you?” 

“You… you uh… talk. A lot.” Silver squeaked. 

“Did Gold teach you what ‘yap’ means?” Crystal questioned. 

“N-No… I just… heard him say it a lot. I figured it meant, ‘talk’ or something.”

Crystal tilted her head sideways, arms still crossed. “That tells me all I need to know.”

She spun on her heels, walked towards the outlet next to the sink, and plugged in the hair dryer. She discreetly changed the setting from COOL” to “HOT”.

“Here,” she said, handing the hair dryer to Silver. “Make sure your don't hold it too close or else-”

“Oof, that burns.” Silver winced. He flapped his hand wildly as the other held the hair dryer away from him and towards Crystal. 

“Woah, watch where you're pointing that thing!” she chuckled. 

“Sorry, is there a colder setting on this thing?” Silver asked. “I don't want my hair to get frizzy.”

Crystal smirked and put her hands on her hips. 

“Haha. I see what you did there.” Silver answered monotonously, noticing Crystal’s “funny” prank.

“I have some hair products in my bathroom, if you're interested.” Crystal pointed with her thumb in the direction of the staircase. She glanced at his still-moist clothing. “... And a change of clothes too.”

“Thank you, Crystal.” Silver wiped his nose with his index finger. 

The two Pokédex Holders made their way up the stairs, one behind the other. Silver stared at the photos framed on the wall and noticed how Crystal's photos became older and older as he got closer to the top of the stairs. One caught his eye, though. It was a baby Crystal frowning while being carried by her mom. 

He stopped and looked at how she still had her pigtails and her signature pout, even as a baby. Silver wished he could take a closer look sometime, as he noticed he had to keep up with Crystal's pace. 

“So I have this hair straightener here, and this cream here is for maintaining hair volume, if you're interested in that.” Crystal explained “And this one right here gives your hair the vitamins it needs, and THIS one—”

A loud, stomach growl interrupted Crystal's thorough explanation. 

Silver immediately became pale. He slapped a hand over his mouth. 

“Arceus, I'm so sorry,” he began. 

But to his surprise, Crystal looked at him with sympathy. He was confused as to why she looked at him like that. It made his stomach feel weirder. He then glanced at his reflection on the bathroom mirror and felt embarrassed. Crystal had lent him her spare leggings and her mom's old hoodie for him to wear while his clothes were in the dryer. He felt his face turn beet red again and covered it with his hands. He has never felt like this before. 

“Hey, it's okay. It was rude on my part for not offering you anything to eat after I snapped at you for not eating.” Crystal assured. She put her hand on his shoulder. “How do we feel about eating instant ramen tonight?”

“I love instant ramen…” he whispered in response.

As the pair walked down the stairs, Silver took another glance at Crystal’s baby portrait, but this time she caught him.

“Oh, you were looking at my baby photos, huh?” she asked.

“Yeah, you and your mom look alike.” Silver responded.

Crystal paused for a second. “Do you have any photos from when you were little?”

“...I think I do. Hold on.” Silver whipped out his phone and opened his messages with Blue. He scrolled for a bit until he found the right image. He clicked on the photo and held his phone out to Crystal. “Here it is.”

She stared at the screen, speechless. It was a photograph of Blue and Silver when they were little, and they had unnerving white masks completely covering their faces. Crystal recognized that mask from somewhere and remembered the battle with Ho-Oh and Lugia. Toddler Silver looked small and scared, tightly holding on to Blue’s dress. “I was about… three, four years old?” 

“You were so small…” Crystal observed. “I don’t understand why the Masked Man would exploit you two; that is just horrible.”

Silver froze in his place. His eyebrows furrowed. “I-I u-um. Yeah. Uh. Hey, Crystal?”

She went towards the microwave and took out the two cups of instant ramen. “Yeah?”

“Is it okay if you can call him just Pryce now?” He fidgeted with his gloves. “I’m not comfortable when people mention him using… that name, you know?” 

He couldn’t bear to make eye contact with her. Silver felt embarrassed; he still felt uneasy whenever the man’s name was mentioned. It’s been so many years since that occurred. Blue seems to be moving on with her life now that she’s working with the Interpol in Unova. She seems happy. Why can’t I move on? He looked down at the cup of instant ramen as Crystal set it on the kitchen island, along with a pair of chopsticks.

“I’m sorry about that, Silver. It wasn’t intentional.” Crystal scooched her chair closer to the island. “It’s okay to still have those thoughts, you know? It must have been a horrifying experience for you.”

“It was.” Silver split his chopsticks. “I don’t like to talk about it much.”

Crystal stirred the ramen around with her chopsticks. “Is there anything else you want to let me know that might make you feel uncomfortable?”

“Well, for one,” Silver poked at his meal. “I’d rather be talking about something else right now. If that’s okay.”

“That’s fine by me.” Crystal responded. She drummed her fingers on the marble.

Silver spun his chair around to face the TV. The episode was at its climax. He absentmindedly tried to put the ramen in his mouth but failed, instead touching his cheek. 

“Ouch.” 

“You okay there?” Crystal asked. “It’s still pretty hot right now.”

“I’m okay, thank you.”

An uncomfortable silence was replaced by the TV emitting exaggerated performances of the characters’ dialogue. Crystal tried to pay attention to what was happening, but she couldn’t even grasp the basic plot. Maybe I should have paid attention when the episode first started… 

When the episode ended, Crystal asked the question she had been dreading to ask. She pushed the three curtains on her window to the side. Rain and thunder were all she saw, and she let out a sigh.

“Soooo, Silver.” She held her hands behind her back. “How long do you think it’ll take before you’ll be able to get back to Gold’s house? There’s no sign of the rain stopping anytime soon.”

“I don’t want to bother you too much with my presence. I’m already dried off, and I’m sure my clothes are, too.” He motioned towards the laundry room. “I’ll leave promptly.”

“You can stay if you want!” Crystal blurted out. Silver looked at her and then at the floor. “F-F-For as long as you need to! We can order groceries online.” She waved her arms around wildly, grabbing his attention once again.

“Are you sure, Crystal?” 

“Yes, I’m sure. You’re one of Gold's—you're one of my friends, after all.”

“Really.”

“Yes…?”

“...Thank you.” Silver looked down at the table once again. “But, umm, where will I sleep?”

Shit. I haven’t thought about it yet. My bed is too small for…wait, WHY ARE YOU THINKING ABOUT THAT, CRYS?! 

Crystal’s brain short-circuited, and a blush began to bloom on her cheeks. Silver noticed this and realized what she was thinking.

“Y-You want me to sleep on your bed?—”

“YOU CAN SLEEP ON THE COUCH!!” 

“Ok.”

“...I’ll go get some spare blankets…” Crystal mumbled. She sprinted for the stairs.

Silver slumped back to his chair and eventually laid down on the table. He could hear Crystal stumbling on the stairs as she ran towards the closet. He drifted into a small nap…

“I’m here!! I’m here. Super sorry about that, Silver.” Crystal was carrying a bunch of blankets, which blocked her vision. She didn’t notice that he had fallen asleep until she placed the blankets on the table. “Oh!...Oops,” she whispered.

As Crystal nimbly placed two blankets over Silver, she noticed his hair had gotten stuck in his mouth. 

Yeesh, was his hair always this long? I wonder if he just prefers to keep it long. She tucked the strand of hair behind his ear. I wonder if he’ll let me trim it one day. Wait? How long is he going to stay here? I’m not even sure if Emerald is going to come over.

Crystal groaned and walked to the place where she had left her phone. As she sat down on the sofa and opened her messages, surely enough, there was a new notification from Emerald.

1 new message from Emerald 💚: My flight leaves three days from now. I’ll probably be there by Tuesday or Wednesday. The dirt samples I collected from the Pokémon Village might be able to help you out. See ya soon ✌️

Gosh, I hope Silver doesn’t stay too long, as mean as that sounds. I need to leave room for Emerald to stay in while we do our research. Although it's nice to have company after spending so many months locked up in my house… Crystal took a quick look at Silver again, peacefully sleeping. I’ll think about it tomorrow. 

She went over and patted Silver’s shoulders and readjusted the blankets so that they wouldn’t fall to the floor. Crystal yawned and decided it was time to go to bed. 

As Crystal laid under her bedsheets and made herself comfortable, she began to wonder how she was going to manage to convince Gold to let Silver stay at his place again.

Wait, did Gold even kick him out? Silver didn’t mention that, did he? Did he leave voluntarily? She tossed and turned under her blankets and glanced at the clock. It read 11:46 P.M. How long did that show actually last? I thought it was another 21 minute cartoon.

She stared at her glow-in-the-dark star shaped stickers glued to her ceiling. Crystal decided that was a problem for another day as she felt her eyelids getting heavier.

Hopefully the rain doesn’t stop any time soon.

Chapter Text

Crystal woke up about 10 minutes before her morning alarm. 6:20 a.m.… Are you serious? She groaned and sat up on her bed, rubbing her eyes. She could hear Bonee and Chumee snoring peacefully beside her, and she made sure to not disturb their sleep as she climbed out of bed.

As she made her way down the stairs, Crystal jumped as she saw Silver’s figure asleep over the kitchen island, and remembered last night’s events. Should I wake him up? He seemed to be in a hurry yesterday. I wonder what’s up. As she prepared the coffee for her morning drink, she made a mental note for herself to text Gold about Silver’s situation. Now that I really think about it, why would Silver come to my house in the first place? Doesn’t he have several bunkers scattered around Johto? Crystal sipped on her coffee, leaning on the table.

She glanced down and realized the blankets she had given him the night before they had slipped and fallen to the floor. Silver’s strong, I’m sure he won’t get sick…I hope.

20 minutes later, no sooner, no later, Silver began to stir in his sleep. Crystal had brought her laptop down to the living room by then, figuring she could get some work done for Eusine while Silver slept. She paused her work and cautiously observed him. Suddenly, Silver began coughing and gasping, attempting to say something. Crystal promptly shut her laptop closed.

“Silver? Are you awake?” she asked.

“W-Water…” Silver weakly huffed.

“Pardon, what was that?”

“Water…” he repeated.

“You need to take a seat; you’re breathing a little too hard–”

But it was too late, for Silver had run to the sink and began drinking the water that poured from the faucet. He gasped for air as his knees began to buckle and leaned over the counter. He tiredly looked over at Crystal, with a little desperation.

She hurriedly placed the back of her hands on Silver’s forehead, while tucking his hair behind his ears. “Silver, you’re burning up!”

He could barely stand upright, instead finding the kitchen counter as support. “M-my throat burns…” he managed to whisper.

Crystal opened her laptop and began searching through the Pokémon she had captured. “You’re kidding me!” she exclaimed as she frantically scrolled through the boxes of all of her captured companions.

Silver looked over to her, wondering what had happened. Crystal saw him and sighed, leaning against the couch. “Sorry…I just forgot that I had lent Parasee, my Parasect, to Yellow a few days back.” She scratched the back of her head. “I’m sorry about that, Silver. I can go run and buy some cough medicine, though! It’ll take longer for you to heal though.”

He had managed to stagger to where Crystal was sitting, lay down sideways on the couch a couple of inches away from her. His breathing was shaky and shallow, and all he could do at the moment was stare back at Crystal. He nodded, letting her know that he was okay with waiting for a few days to recover from his ailment.

She walked towards the window and opened the curtains to check the weather outside. The pitter-patter of the raindrops hitting the windows confirmed that the weather was too cold for Crystal to go without with her raincoat. Her phone vibrated, and was surprised to see that Silver had texted her.

1 New Message from Silver: I’ll let my Weavile go with you. He knows which flavor of medicine I like the best. 

Crystal smiled at her screen and nodded at Silver, who was still shivering on the sofa. As she made her way towards the living room and placed all the spare blankets she could find on top of him, Silver reached into his pocket and took out Weavile’s Pokéball.  He placed it on Crystal’s hands, pulling away when his fingers brushed hers.

“Thank you so much, Silver!” Crystal put Weavile’s Pokéball in her tote bag.

To both of the trainer’s surprise, Bonee and Chumee had prepared a warm, dampened towel and a cup of herbal tea for Silver. The two Pokémon waddled towards the sofa, proudly holding their items above their heads. 

“You guys! When did you do this, you two?” Crystal picked up the items from her loving companions as she gave them pats on the head.

Silver gave a weak smile as Crystal delicately placed the warm towel on his forehead, tucking his hair out of the way. He shivered and pulled the blankets over his eyes. 

“Thank you for helping out!” Crystal hugged her Pokémon friends. “Make sure to take care of Silver while I’m out, okay!” The two Pokémon made noises of approval. Bonee saluted while Chumee nodded enthusiastically.

“I’ll be back soon, kay Silver?” 

A shaky thumbs-up emerged from the pile of blankets, making Crystal giggle.

Silver heard the door creak open and close with a slam. He reached for his phone and checked the time, and groaned when he realized that he would fall behind on training with his Pokémon.

As he turned to lay down on his side, he was unexpectedly met with the stare of Bonee and Chumee, curiously watching him. 

Chumee had climbed over Silver’s shoulder, carefully readjusting the cloth over his forehead again.

On the other hand, Bonee chattered incomprehensibly while waving his beloved bone around. He occasionally pointed to the tea on the table and at Silver. He inferred that the Pokémon wanted him to drink the tea, so he sat up and took a sip.

Chamomile… He took another sip, savoring the relief his throat felt as he swallowed. 

“This is really good Chamomile tea, Cubone.” Silver said as he wiped his mouth with his sleeve. The Pokémon stomped its foot and huffed. “Oh, sorry. Bonee, right?” he smiled.

Bonee crossed his arms and turned away, but eventually nodded.

“And thank you for re-adjusting the cloth, Chumee.”

The small Pokémon bashfully turned away and batted her eyelashes. 

Silver carefully placed his foot on the wooden floor, deciding if it was warm enough to step outside of the shelter of the blankets. He shivered and quickly withdrew his leg as it made contact with the cold floor. 

It wouldn’t hurt to stay inside the blankets for a little longer. Besides, the blankets have nice designs. 

Silver traced his hands over the embroidery on one of them. 

This one has ‘April 30, 1988’ stitched on it. Is this Crystal’s birth date? I just realized that I don’t have her birthday in my reminders…let me add that real quick.

He sat up on the sofa and sipped on his tea as he typed in Crystal’s birthday on his reminders. I can’t believe she’s older than me, considering she’s shorter. He chuckled to himself.

“Well, I have about 5 more months until then.” He said to himself out loud. Chumee and Bonee curiously tilted their heads at him.

“Huh? Oh, sorry. I was just looking at Crystal’s birth date that was stitched here, see?” He showed the adornment of the aquamarine blanket to the two Pokémon. “Blue says it's never too early for anything, so I figured I should get an idea of what things Crystal would like, don’t you think?”

The Pokémon nodded eagerly. Silver smiled at the two before another coughing fit began again. Almost immediately, Chumee trotted towards the refrigerator, while Bonee ran to the cupboard and grabbed an empty cup. They carefully held the cup of water as they made their way towards the living room. Silver fished for the left-over bag of walnuts in his pants pocket and gave it to the Pokémon as thanks.

My throat is killing me. It feels as if it's closing every time I swallow or breathe through my nose. His mind wandered towards the events prior to arriving at Crystal’s doorstep…

“Silver, what the FUCK do you think you’re doing?” Gold yelled. He waved his arms in front of his face in an effort to chase away the repugnant odor that was emerging from his kitchen.

Silver stood in front of the oven, mittens on, taking out a flat, wobbly cake from the oven. “Is… something the matter?" The aroma of vanilla flooded the room. Gold gagged a little bit.

“Well of course something’s the matter! I leave the house for two hours and I come back and it smells like the Pillsbury Doughboy’s butthole. You think I’m just gonna sit on my ass and not figure out what happened?!?!” Gold pinched his nose, and turned away from the kitchen in disgust.

“What’s wrong with it though…Isn’t it supposed to smell good?” Silver innocently placed the cake on the counter. “Blue gave me this recipe.”

Gold freezed in his place, and slowly turned his face to where Silver was standing.

“Let me see that recipe.” Gold quickly walked towards Silver’s spot.

“Oh- um- It’s right here.” Gold snatched a sticky note with flower decorations away from Silver

‘9% Butter, 8% Sugar, 10% Eggs, 21% flour, 8% milk, 7% Baking Powder, 38% Vanilla Extract. Bake for 189 minutes.

Enjoy! ♥️’ it read.

“You’re joking, right.”

“N-no? This is what she gave me–”

“Get out.”

“Huh?”

“Silver, get out before I throw up. I'm serious GET OUT.” Gold covered his mouth with his shirt and pointed towards the door. Silver noticed that his roommate’s eyes began swelling with tears. This is pretty bad…

Little by little, the rain grew in intensity and a strong breeze blew through the grass. After a few minutes of pacing in front of Gold’s house, he decided to call Blue. It seems like it was supposed to be a joke, and not an actual cake recipe.

“How was I supposed to know that the recipe you sent was a joke?! Gold kicked me out of the house!! And it’s raining! My emergency bunkers are probably flooded by now, Blue!!”

Silver pulled his phone away from his ear as Blue’s cackle blasted through the speakers. “Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry!! I had no idea you’d actually follow up with it!!” Blue’s wheezes could still be heard through the line. “Umm… about your housing situation, aren’t you friends with Crystal? Why don’t you stay with her?” 

“I don’t really talk to her. It would be weird if I just appeared on her doorstep.”

“Silver, buddy. There's a thunderstorm from what I’m seeing from my weather app. If you stay one more minute outside then you’re gonna get a fever!! Or worse, pneumonia.”

Silver sighed. “I can’t just walk up to a girl’s house–”

“Ah ah ah! Crystal’s house. Don’t you keep in touch with anyone else besides Gold?”

Silence.

“Eh, I figured. That’s okay, though. I’m sure she’d let you stay for a bit considering it’s pouring over there in Johto.” 

“Are you sure?” Silver covered his cough with his sleeve.

“See, you’re already getting sick!! Of course I’m sure! Now go find shelter BEFORE YOU GET SICK!! NOW GO!!”

Blue immediately hung up, leaving Silver alone under the storm. Reluctantly, he reached for his Honchkrow’s pocket, and called him out. He began to head towards Violet City…

Silver’s thoughts were interrupted by his phone notification chime. He opened his messages, and was surprised to see that Crystal had texted him.

1 New Message from Crystal: We got the medicine!! We’re heading home right now :) 

Silver sighed and buried himself deeper inside the blankets. Then, his phone vibrated again, and opened his messages to see that Crystal had sent a photo. It was a selfie of her and his Weavile smiling and carrying the medicine in a plastic bag. Was Weavile winking…? He stared at the photo…and clicked download. With a bubbly sound effect, the image appeared in Silver’s gallery. After a few more taps and clicks, he set the photo as his new lockscreen, replacing the one he used to have of Viridian City in the foggy morning.

“We’re baaaack!!” Crystal announced. Weavile happily scurried from the front door towards the living room, jumping over the couch and landing on Silver’s shoulder. He grunted as the force of the impact knocked some of the air out of him, and he began to cough again.

Crystal sat next to Silver as she took the medicine out of the bag and began reading through the instructions. He lifted Weavile off of his shoulder and placed him on his lap as he began to sit up. Something colorful inside the paper bag had caught his eye, and he reached his hand inside the bag to take a closer look. In his hands was a playing card with the words “Let me know if you find any more evidence -Eusine :) ” written in red marker.

“You still keep in touch with Eusine?” Silver asked before coughing once more. Crystal chuckled as she readjusted the comforter below Silver’s back. “Yes, we do meet up occasionally.” 

She shook the medicine bottle and urged Silver to sit up straight in his seat. Weavile purred as Silver began patting his head. “He recently asked me about a…um. Pretty big favor recently, haha.” Silver raised his eyebrow.

“Yeah…I might have lied to you yesterday when I said there wasn’t anything going on.” Crystal sighed as her shoulders dropped.

“It’s okay, Crystal. What did he ask you?” His sentence was cut off by another series of raspy hacking.

Chumee waddled from the kitchen carrying a spoon for Silver. She passed it to her trainer as she was rewarded with a snack.

“Well…I’m sure it’s not a big deal, but he did…kind of ask me to track down Suicune’s location once again.” Crystal drew back, waiting for the impending reprimand from Silver. All she got was a puzzled expression from him. “And…possibly capture Suicune as well.”

“What?!” Silver exclaimed before covering his mouth with his sleeve in order to shield her from his cough.

“B-B-But I don’t think it's going to take up most of my spare time! …I hope.” Her voice began to waver. Weavile’s hand steadied her arm as she was about to spill the medicine from the bottle. 

“...What do you mean you- mmpgh!–” Silver’s sentence was interrupted by Crystal quickly spoon-feeding him the medicine.

“Look, I’m sorry I lied to you, but I didn’t want you to leave  while it was still raining yesterday! Although, it’s partially my fault for getting you sick by letting you sleep in my kitchen...”

Silver swallowed the medicine as relief washed over his throat. 

“And I know I should have let you know yesterday about my big project but I assure you I can handle it! I’ve tracked down Pokémon for other trainers before, including for Senior Blue!”

“Really? What Pokémon did she want?” 

“It was a long time ago. I think it was before we met.” Crystal explained. “I received an anonymous request from a trainer to track down the three Legendary Birds from the Kanto region!”

“I didn’t know that. I was also wondering how my sis got a hold of those Pokémon back in the battle at Ilex Forest.”

“Yeah! It was an easy job since all I had to do was pinpoint their location, and Blue handled the rest! I didn’t know the request was from her until after we had defeated the Masked… I mean– Pryce.” She cleared her throat.

Silver paused for a bit before speaking again. “Well I’m glad you were willing to help her out even though you didn’t know it was for her. But wouldn’t it be dangerous to accept requests from strangers? What if they’ll use it for evil?”

“Oh, don’t worry. My mom made sure to have a discussion with me about the dangers of accepting requests from people I don’t know, so it’s all good!” she grinned as she repositioned the warm cloth on Silver’s forehead again.

“That’s good.”

An awkward atmosphere filled the room, with only Weavile’s audible purring replacing the silence between the two trainers.

“How is—” Silver started.

“Do you need–” Crystal interrupted.

“Oh, sorry go ahe–”

“N-no, you can–”

“I’m sorry, you can go first.”

Crystal exhaled and smiled apologetically. “I was going to ask if you wanted me to warm up the towel again. Do you still have a headache, Silver?”

“Not anymore. Thank you for asking, Crystal.” Silver gave Weavile a few more pats before returning his companion to his Pokéball, since he had fallen asleep. “I was going to ask how is your mom doing nowadays?”

“She’s doing great! My mom’s been traveling to Sinnoh in order to catch the cute Pokémon that are native to that region.” she smiled. Crystal took the empty cup and the dirty spoon and headed towards the kitchen. Silver’s gaze lingered for a while until the clutter of empty Pokéballs on the floor caught his attention.

“Crystal?”

“What’s up?”

“Is there a way where I can assist you with Eusine’s request on capturing Suicune? I know how to make sturdy, hand-made Pokéballs and I want to be able to help you out in some way while I stay here with you.” Silver appealed.

“Really?! That’d be so much help!” Crystal squealed. “I didn’t know you could make hand-made Pokéballs! My mom always buys me some from the places she travels to.”

“I can teach you as well, if you’d let me.” Silver rubbed his nose with his finger.

“I’d love to learn from you!” Crystal clapped her hands together as she walked towards the living room.

“One more thing as well.” Silver asked as he hid his face under the various blankets. He felt the embarrassment creep up towards his cheeks and would rather die than let Crystal see. “Do you mind calling Gold so that he can get my clothes from his house?” a muffled voice requested from under the blankets.

“W-wait, is it okay if I ask why? I thought you were going to leave as soon as…you felt better.”

“Well, I said I wanted to help you with your mission, right?”

“Y-yes, you did…” She thought about it, and then responded. “I’ll go call him right now.” Crystal grabbed her phone from her back pocket and began dialing Gold’s number. Silver peeked from under the blankets as the clicking of the keyboard from Crystal’s phone could be heard. I thought Crystal had Gold’s number saved. I figured they talked frequently. The ringer sound played for a bit before someone picked up the line.

“Oh, hello Miss!” Crystal asked. Silver tapped her on the arm and mouthed if she could turn on the speaker.

“Hello, Crystal! It’s been a while! How are you?” Gold’s mom answered through the speaker.

“I’m doing okay ma’am! Is Gold in the house by any chance? I wanted to ask him about something.”

“Oh! I think he’s still asleep, but I’ll go wake him up for you!” she cheerfully answered. Silver and Crystal exchanged knowing glances.

“That’s so Gold.” Silver mouthed as he rolled his eyes. Crystal slapped her hand over her mouth in order to hide her snicker.

“Huh? Oh, hey, Crys. ‘Sup.” Gold’s voice vibrated through the speaker.

“Good morning, Gold. It’s been a while. How are you?”

“Fine before you woke me up. Couldn’t you have waited, I dunno, three more hours? It’s 8 a.m. in the morning, for Arceus’ sake!”

Her voice grew more irritated with every second that passed by. “I was going to ask you if you have Silver’s clothes at his house, by any chance.” she responded with a forced smile on her face.

“...And you’re asking me this because???”

“Because Silver is–” her sentence was cut off by Silver putting his hands over her mouth. She looked over at him and saw that he was rapidly shaking his head with terror in his eyes.

“...Hello? Are you still there, Crys?”

“U-Um, sorry about that, Gold. My line was cut off. I was going to ask that because…” she looked over at Silver, who was mouthing ‘Blue’. “Blue…yeah, Blue had asked for them because she was going to fix them up! Mhm!”

“You’re a terrible liar, Serious Gal.” Gold giggled in a girlish manner. “Silver I know you’re there, shitass. MY KITCHEN STILL SMELLS LIKE VANILLA YOU STUPID–” Crystal covered the speaker with her hand. “Silver, what’s that about?” she whispered.

“It’s nothing, just ask if we can pick them up.” he whispered back. Crystal sighed and uncovered the speaker.

“AND I DON’T EVEN KNOW HOW LONG THIS SMELL IS GOING TO LAST—”

“GOLD, SHUT UP.” Crystal screamed into the speaker, startling Silver. “We’ll be there in 5 minutes.” she shouted as she promptly ended the call. 

“W-wait, we?!” Silver asked, taking off the cloth from his forehead.

“Well, yeah. They’re your clothes, right?” Crystal looked back at Silver from over her shoulder.

“Yeah, I suppose so.” Silver slowly stood up from the couch and shivered in the cold. He walked towards the laundry room and grabbed his clothes from the dryer.

Crystal opened the window and set one palm outside. The clouds were still dark and gloomy, but no rain had fallen since Crystal had returned from the Pokémon Center.

“It’s not raining, but let’s make sure you’re all bundled up in order to prevent a throat infection.” she said as she walked towards the drawers in her desk. She pulled out a navy blue scarf her mom had knitted for her 17th birthday, right after she had returned home from the battle with Arceus and Team Rocket. Crystal threw the scarf over Silver’s neck, catching him off guard. She hooked her arm under his and began pulling him towards the door.

“Now let’s go!”

“C-Crystal, I still need to change into my regular clothes.”

“Oh! Right.”

Crystal furiously knocked on Gold’s front door as Silver stood beside her, nervously fidgeting with his gloves.

“Open up, Gold! I know you’re in there!” she shouted.

Moments later, Gold’s mom opened the door and merrily greeted her guests. She gave both of them a bone-crushing hug before pulling away excitedly.

“Hello kids! Gold is in his room if you guys want to step in and chat with him!” she beamed.

“Thank you, missus.” Crystal acknowledged as she bowed and stepped inside. Silver followed right after, swiftly bowing as well.

“Thank you for having us here ma’am.” Silver bowed to Gold’s mother. “...And I hope the mess I caused yesterday isn’t causing much harm.”

“Oh, you don’t have to worry about it, Silvy! I’m doing just fine, see?” She took off the clothespin from her nose. “You two should use these, as well. The stench hasn’t quite left our house just yet.” she grinned as she gave Silver and Crystal their clothespins.

“Thank you very much, ma’am.” Silver responded, avoiding eye contact. 

He ushered Crystal past the kitchen, which was covered in makeshift caution tape that looked like it had been printed from the library. When the two trainers stood before the door to Gold’s room, Crystal took a step back and urged Silver to open the door himself. He swallowed nervously. Before he could knock against the door, Gold called out to them both.

“Your bags are in the hallway, Silv.” he shouted from inside the room. “You're welcome.”

Crystal rolled up her sleeves and clenched her fists. “Oh that little–” Silver prevented her from kicking down the door as he placed his arm in front of her.

He then picked up his luggage from the floor and called out his Honchkrow, requesting assistance on carrying the bags. Crystal sighed and headed out with Silver, deciding to deal with Gold another day.

While walking through Route 30, Crystal tried to figure out what had happened in the kitchen that had caused Silver to get kicked out from Gold’s house. She looked over at Silver, who was staring blankly ahead, while patting his Honchkrow that was flying above.

“Hey Silver, what happened yesterday that made Gold so angry at you?”

“Do you really want to know?” Silver saw that Crystal was not going to let this go, and sighed. “Fine, but you better not laugh, okay?” She nodded rapidly. 

He took a deep breath. “I may or may not have contaminated Gold’s house with the stench of vanilla extract while following one of Blue’s cake recipes.” He began to walk faster as he covered his face with her scarf. Crystal’s pace slowed, and when she noticed that she was being left behind, she quickly catched up to him and walked in front of him.

“I mean– That does sound pretty bad, but that’s no reason to kick your roommate out! That was wrong on Gold’s part!”

“You think so?” he averted his line of sight away from Crystal, shamefaced.

“Well, duh! Besides, you don’t have to deal with that jerk anymore.” she laughed as she grabbed the handles of one of Silver’s duffle bags. “Let me carry that for you.” 

The pair reached Violet City, and entered Crystal’s home. Silver pushed away the blankets and placed his bags on the couch. Crystal noticed this and intervened.

“Oh! You don’t need to do that! I’ve decided on the way here that you can sleep in my mom’s room.”

“Why didn’t you tell me before, then?” Silver chuckled, as he carried his belongings once again.

“Well, I was going to tell you yesterday, but you had fallen asleep already when I remembered.” she bashfully answered. “Besides, my mom’s going to be traveling abroad for the next month or so, so you’re all good! We can deal with room assignments when she gets home.” she answered as she playfully winked.

Silver stood in the same place, taken aback by Crystal’s bold plans. “Well alright then.” he said as he jogged towards the stairs.

Crystal failed to notice her buzzing phone she had neglected on the first floor due to spending the entire day remodeling her mom’s room, while also enjoying Silver’s company. As the day flew by, neither of them seemed to notice Crystal’s phone had been blowing up with notifications from Emerald.

19 new notifications from Emerald 💚: Hey!! Where are you?? My flight has been rescheduled to today!! I’m coming home on Monday!! Tomorrow. Are you there, sis?

Chapter Text

“Thank you for flying Latios Airlines! We hope you enjoy your stay here at Goldenrod City, Johto! The time is currently 7:34 a.m, and the temperature is a chilly 6ºC. See you soon!!” The flight attendant cheerfully announced through the speakers, as everyone on the plane began waking up. Emerald groggily shifted his sleeping mask off of one eye, adjusting to the blinding lights that flooded the cabin. As he stretched and yawned, he reached for his pocket and texted Crystal that he had arrived in Johto, and would be soon heading for Violet City.

While grabbing his backpack from the overhead container with the help of his Sceptile, his phone vibrated, and Emerald cursed under his breath when he realized he had no reception, and his message wasn’t able to reach Crystal. 

As he walked past the terminals, Emerald walked towards the nearest submarine sandwich kiosk and asked for his order. Crystal’s whereabouts still worried him, and Emerald couldn’t help but continue checking his phone to see if he had caught any signal.

“Crys: Last active yesterday” The screen stared back. How come she hasn’t been answering my messages? I’ve sent her so many and she hasn’t looked at a single one! 

“Would you like some mayonnaise packets, sir?” The cashier asked patiently.

“No thanks.” Emerald responded. He threw a pocketful of coins at the man and promptly walked away with his Magikarp sub. She’s gonna have a lot of explaining to do.

Around the same time, Crystal hurriedly began packing all of the necessary toys she would take to the Pokémon Academy in her tote bag. Silver was awake and aware of her situation, but laid still on the bed, too tired to get up. Crystal groaned as she raced around the house, searching for the remaining objects she had meant to take.

Arrghhh!! Where did I put those picture books! I must have misplaced them when I was reorganizing my mom’s room with Silver yesterday!! The clock read 7:54. Crystal groaned and flumped down on the stairs, covering her face with her hands.

Crystal looked up as she heard the wooden boards creak as Silver began walking downstairs, 3 picture books in hand. “I’m guessing you’re looking for these.” he said while yawning. “They were under the bed–” He was interrupted by Crystal’s sudden embrace.

“Thank you so much, Silver! How did you know I needed these?” she beamed back at him.

“W-Well you were talking about it yesterday…” he replied as he rubbed his eyes. Before he could return the hug, Crystal let go and darted down to the entrance, and took her apron from the coat hanger by the door.

“I’ll have to return the favor to you once I’m back from work! I completely forgot I had volunteer hours at the Pokémon Academy today! I’ll be back soon!” she quickly waved as she closed the door. The locks jingled for a few moments before settling down, leaving Silver alone in Crystal’s house once again.

He yawned once more and adjusted Crystal’s scarf over his neck. Although Silver had recovered from his dry throat, the fever lingered, and it had made him more lethargic than ever. As he traced his hands over the wooden railing while trudging up the stairs, he noticed that his phone had begun to vibrate. Silver managed to stumble into his room, closing all of the curtains and turning off all of the lights after tossing his phone on the bed as exhaustion began taking over his body. While cocooning himself in the blankets, Silver decided to open the messages once again, and felt guilty when he realized they were from his beloved sister, Blue. 

3 New Messages from Blue: Hey Silver!! How are you doing? You didn’t get sick did you?

Surely she wouldn’t mind if I told her that I did get sick, right?

You: I’m doing okay, just got a light cough and fever yesterday but I’m recovering 👍

1 New Message from Blue: Call. Right now.

He sighed and lay down on the bed, pinching the bridge of his nose as his phone began to ring. Silver answered the call and put the speaker at a safe distance from his ear.

“SILVER?! What happened?? Are you okay? Do you need me to come over? How long did you stay out in the rain two days ago?”

“I’m fine. Cry-... I got some medicine yesterday and I feel better.”

“Oh, so you’re at Crystal’s house! And she got you medicine, I assume.” she responded with a hint of a tease in her voice.

“Yes.” he admitted. “It didn’t go as bad as I thought it would, except for the part where I caught a cold.”

“But you’re okay now, right? Crystal’s taking good care of you, huh?” she snickered. 

Silver groaned and placed his arm over his eyes.“...She’s not home right now, but yes, she did buy the medicine along with Weavile.” 

“Okay okay, I’ll let you off the hook with this one. But I’ll keep my eye on you!”

“Thank you, sis.”

The morning seemed to fly by as both trainers chattered away about any topic that seemed to come up. Silver learned that Blue has been constantly changing names and appearances in order to prevent her citizen identity from being associated with the International Police. And Blue had learned that Silver had taken Crystal’s mom’s room as his own while he recovered from his cold. 

The exchange in conversation made Silver remember when they were both young children. Wandering the regions, conversing about their lives before Pryce had stolen their childhood, under the comfort of the stars scattered in the night sky. It made Silver feel a warmth in his heart, and made him cherish Blue even more, who he already considered a sibling and someone to trust. 

All of a sudden, the rattling of the doorknob downstairs made Silver snap out of his reminiscing and freeze in his place. He could hear as the door creaked open, and heavy footsteps shook the entire house. Many objects fell and crashed on the floor, as the intruder continued scouring through the house. 

“I’ll call you later, Blue. I think someone’s trying to break in.” he whispered as he ended the call.

Silver reached into his sweatpant’s pocket to call out his Kingdra, but his hand did not reach anything. He hid under his blankets and emptied his pocket, only to see that it was empty, due to it being his pajamas. 

Downstairs, a snoozing Emerald was being carried by Sceptile, as the Pokémon tried his best to prevent his tail from knocking over more of Crystal’s stuff. Silver grimaced as he heard more objects fall to the floor, while Sceptile hastily approached the staircase, in order to prevent more damage to Crystal’s belongings. 

He peeked out from under the blankets and saw that the “burglar” hadn’t come upstairs yet. He looked to his left and observed that his jacket and Pokéballs were still on the other side of the room, on top of the dresser. Noticing that he still had some time before the invader reached his room, Silver jumped out of the bed and grabbed his belongings, and in a split second, he retreated to the safety of the blankets. 

The sound of Emerald returning Sceptile to his Pokéball echoed through the dim hallway, making Silver shudder. Emerald put his arms up and stretched, letting out a shockingly loud yawn. Silver gulped and gripped Kingdra’s and Gyarados’ Pokéballs, and tensed his muscles. 

“Crystal?” A familiar voice called. “Are you home?” The door to Crystal’s room scraped open, and gradually closed with a high pitched squeak and click. 

Have I heard that voice before? Who is that? Silver shifted under the bedsheets, anticipating the worst case scenario. It could be a Pokémon smuggler that wants to steal all of Crystal’s Pokémon! Do they know about Suicune? They might catch Suicune with Crystal’s information! Memories of kidnapping Professor Elm’s Totodile flashed into Silver’s mind, and he subconsciously placed a finger over Feraligatr’s Pokéball.

Then, the moment came. The door opened, and light from the hallway entered the shadowy bedroom. Which Pokémon should I choose? From what I heard downstairs it seems like the intruder might be big in size, considering how many things were knocked over, but I shouldn’t call out a Pokémon that’s too big. Gyarados would break the walls of this room. Maybe I should go with Weavile? Light steps approached the bed, and Silver could swear he had a heart attack when he felt the weight of another person on the other side of the bed. 

Holyshitholyshitholyshitholyshitholyshitholyshitholyshitholy–

“Crystal, why didn’t you tell me you were chilling in your mom’s room?” Emerald chuckled. “It’s rude to not let me know where you’ve been for like, two days.” he rolled over, inches away from where Silver was at. He laid as still as a rock, holding his breath and sweating bullets. 

Emerald turned to Silver’s side and hugged his arm. One thing led to the next. Silver panicked and reflexively called out Kingdra. At least, that’s who he thought he called out. Gyarados’ cry was cut off by the narrow walls of the room restricting his movement. Silver yelped as Gyarados’ body pushed him against the ceiling, knocking the wind out of him. Emerald was fully awake now, too, fighting instinct about to take place before Gyarados’ tail pressed him against the wall. 

“What are you doing here?!” Emerald called out. He reflexively smacked his arms on Gyarados’ scales, making the Pokémon flail even more as it became more agitated.

“I thought someone was breaking in!” Silver shouted. He gritted his teeth as his Pokémon thrashed about, becoming a little restless being in a cramped room.

“Me? Breaking in?” Emerald scoffed. “I should be saying that to you! What are you doing in Crys’ mom’s room, you weirdo?”

“I was sleeping, obviously! Why did you come here unannounced?” Silver hissed. He tried to reach over to Gyarados’ Pokéball that had fallen onto the bed. “Did Crystal know you were coming?”

“I’ve been trying to tell Crys since yesterday, but she wouldn’t answer my messages!” Emerald glared at him with suspicion.

“Crystal’s been taking care of me because I’m sick!!” Silver waved Crystal’s scarf at Emerald.

“You don’t…sound sick to me.” Emerald grunted out as Gyarados continued to squirm. “But I can tell you’re saying the truth, since you’re not calling her ‘Crys’.” Emerald stuck his tongue out at him. Silver rolled his eyes with a scowl in return.

“I’ve been recovering .” he shot back.

Gyarados’ roar pierced through the room as the Pokémon wriggled, desperate to escape the tiny space. Bits of debris fluttered from the ceiling, and the walls of the room groaned as Gyarados continued to move about. Emerald grunted as he used his teeth to tear one of the several dirt pellets from his shirt, and launched it near the Pokémon. As if by magic, the Pokémon had managed to calm down and eventually relaxed on the floor. Emerald and Silver were released from the grasp, both panting as they fell on the floor. Silver walked towards Gyarados and patted his head; eventually returning him to his designated Pokéball once the Pokémon had lightened up.

“I haven’t seen a Gyarados with that color before.” Emerald dusted the excess dirt from his sleeves and readjusted his collar. “Pretty shade of red.”

“Yeah, Team Rocket’s experiments had caused this one to grow uncontrollably strong, so I had to stop it somehow.” Silver explained. Emerald had stopped in his tracks and started to stare at him quizzically. “What? What’s wrong?”

“Are you still in your pajamas at 10 a.m. in the morning ?” Emerald responded as he continued to analyze his clothes. 

“What?! What’s wrong with them?” Silver looked down at his sweatpants and black t-shirt. “This is a completely normal outfit for Monday mornings.” he huffed.

“Whatever.” Emerald jumped off of the bed. “Where is Crystal anyway?”

“She went to work at the Academy,” he replied nonchalantly. “You should probably let her know you’ve arrived in person.”

“You’re probably right.” Emerald replied, walking out the door of the room. The wooden door fell forwards to the hallway as Emerald grasped the doorknob, and the doorframe was severely damaged due to Gyarados’ rampage. More debris began to sprinkle from the ceiling as Emerald climbed over the door and Silver slid out of bed.

“Um, let’s make sure to not bring this up until the time is right.” Silver scratched the back of his head.

“I agree.” Emerald sighed.

In the outskirts of Violet City, the Pokémon Academy was being taken care of by Crystal and her Pokémon. Her Xatu and Arcanine were playing with the children while she supervised them from the porch. Crystal had brought her laptop with her in order to work during whatever free time she had, and wanted to get some progress done before Eusine asked her about Suicune. The cheerful laughter of the children warmed her heart, and gave her even more motivation to continue to track the legendary Pokémon’s location. 

“Cryssss” one of the children whined as he tugged her lab coat sleeve. “There’s something creepy near the forest.”

Crystal immediately stood up and picked up the little boy. “Is that so? Can you point to where it is?” The toddler pointed towards the direction of the other kids, who seemed to be surrounding something. “Okay, let’s go.”

She shimmied out of her lab coat and took off her skirt, preparing to release her Pokémon companions at the possible threat. The boy timidly stayed behind Crystal and gripped her shorts. Crystal noticed that the shadowy figure was smaller than she anticipated. It could be a person. Should I deal with them directly? 

“Stay back, okay?” she asked with a warm smile and ruffled his hair. 

“Okay.” The boy cheerfully ran behind Xatee.

The kids who were near the edge of the forest screeched when they saw Crystal and all ran to join the boy who had hidden behind the tall bird Pokémon. Archy, Crystal’s Arcanine, growled and stealthily crouched alongside Crystal.

“Who’s there?” Crystal shouted. More squeals emerged from behind the trees, as they knew they were about to see something really cool, like Crystal kicking someone. “Hello?” she yelled, crouching towards the ground. The soft moss tickled her knees, and the cloudy weather made it difficult for Crystal to look further into the dense woods.

“It’s me, Crys.”

Suddenly, Archy barked and jumped over the bushes, headed straight into the forest. Crystal shrieked and instinctively kicked into the rustling bushes, unaware of who she was about to strike.

 “AAUGHH–” Emerald groaned, falling to his knees. It wasn’t until Crystal had opened her eyes that she saw who the mysterious person in the shrub was.

“OH MY GOSH, I’m so sorry, Em!” Crystal apologized. The children ran in circles, giggling as they observed the scene. “Are you okay?” She crouched down and put an arm around his shoulder and helped him get up.

Archy happily returned from the depths of the forests, carrying Silver by the back of his t-shirt. The Pokémon dropped Silver in front of Crystal, and gleefully wagged his tail. 

“Silver?!” Crystal blurted. “You’re supposed to rest! What are you doing here?”

“Well, I was going to let you know that Emerald was here, but he got ahead of me.” He glared at the short boy.

“Sorr-ee, mister.” Emerald nagged. “You have got to check your phone more often, Crys.”

Crystal stood in her place, completely dumbfounded. “I thought you were coming back Wednesday? Today is Monday!”

“Ruby managed to arrange an earlier flight for me.” Emerald cleared his throat, looking away from her. 

Crystal tilted her head and raised an eyebrow. “Wait, Ruby did that–” 

“I sent some messages yesterday to give you a heads up,” he quickly interrupted. “But I didn’t know you weren’t available at the time.”

She rapidly blinked, and then the realization dawned on her. “Ohhhhhh, that makes sooo much more sense now.” she laughed nervously. “I was busy fixing my mom’s room so that Silver could stay comfortably, I didn’t even have time to check on my phone. I’m so sorry Emerald!”

Emerald glanced at Silver, who was shifting awkwardly where he was standing. “I’m assuming you’re here to help find Suicune.” Silver commented.

“Bingo.” Emerald snapped his fingers. 

The playful laughter of the children at the Academy interrupted the trainer’s conversation; some even began to climb on top of Silver as he tried to keep his balance. Crystal urged Emerald and Silver to provide assistance in taking care of them before her shift ended. Earl Dervish arrived at the Academy a few minutes later, whirling around as he received greetings from all of the children. The trio performed all sorts of errands such as feeding the orphans, preparing food, and entertaining them. Soon enough, the shadows across the forest began to stretch, and the sunset turned the clouds into a stunning purple hue. Crystal’s shift had ended.

Back at Crystal’s house, the three trainers decided to order takeout from a local fast food place. Silver typically didn’t eat “junk food”, but he found himself eating lots of microwaved food as of late, when he used to live at Gold’s house of course. Crystal, on the other hand, preferred to take time to prepare the food herself, always finding recipes online to try out every weekend. Her current dish at the moment was oven baked lasagna. As for Emerald, he ate wherever Ruby decided to take him while they traveled, but of course he wasn't going to admit that to Crystal of all people.

“How are we feeling about seafood?” Crystal asked as she took out her phone to look at the restaurants nearby. 

“Well, I’ve been interested in having some seafood lately so that would be nice.” Emerald responded, putting his hands behind his head, leaning back against the chair.

“Oh! That’s great! I have some coupons for a seafood restaurant in my room!” Crystal stood up from the kitchen island, leaving Silver and Emerald behind. Both of them exchanged panicked looks, completely forgetting their scuffle in the upstairs bedroom earlier that day.

“N-no!” Silver gasped. Crystal turned around to check if she had misheard anything.

“Hm? What was that?” 

“Maybe you shouldn’t go upstairs— Ow!” Emerald jabbed his elbow into Silver’s ribs before he could say anything more.

“What Silver tried to say is, we should get some Kantonian cuisine!” he grinned. “I heard one restaurant around here has discounts on Mondays.”

Crystal suspiciously looked at the boys’ expressions, but she couldn’t decipher what they were trying to communicate with their glances. She eventually caved in, but made a mental note to herself to check upstairs later on. 

“Why would you say it like that?” Emerald whisper-shouted. “I don’t want Crystal to get mad at us!”

Silver narrowed his eyes in response. “Well if you keep it up she will.” 

Emerald angrily lunged towards Silver and began tugging on his hair, and Silver retaliated by pushing his face away with his hands. Chumee and Bonee anxiously watched from the kitchen counter as their brawl began to catch the attention of Crystal, who was busy ordering the food on her phone. Crystal shot a warning glare towards the boys who were about to start taking out their Pokémon. They immediately tore themselves off of each other, only for them to whisper insults at each other as soon as Crystal turned away.

“Idiot.” Silver muttered.

“I heard that, tomato-head.”

“Tomato-head?!” 

“Boys…” Crystal warned.

“He said it first!!” Emerald protested, slamming his fist on the table. Silver crossed his arms and innocently whistled.

After a few seconds of silence, Silver whispered in a low voice. “I’m not the one who’s not taller than their starter Pokémon.”

“You aren’t either, dipshit!”

“Emerald! Language!” Crystal yelled. The latter slumped into his seat and began to mutter things about Silver to himself. Silver, on the other hand, stood up straighter in his seat, a triumphant smile creeping along the sides of his lips.

They bicker like little kids. Crystal sighed and hung up the phone. She glanced upstairs and was about to walk towards them but Emerald interrupted her train of thought.

“By the way,” Emerald said, digging something out from his pockets. “I brought these for you in case you might need them for catching Suicune.”

“Oh? What is it, Em?” 

“Catch.” He threw three tiny bags of dirt at Crystal, and she reflexively caught them. They were labeled ‘TIN TOWER’, ‘ECRUTEAK’, and ‘PKMN VILLAGE’ in permanent marker. Crystal grinned as she observed the different samples of soil inside the bags, and looked up at her dear friend. “Thank you! These will be very useful…if I manage to find where Suicune is.” she sighed as she sat back down in between Silver and Emerald.

“Progress not looking well?” Silver asked. Emerald looked at him with disappointment and shook his head.

“Well, no, not really if I’m being honest with myself. Suicune always seems to be on the move, and there isn’t any place where he’s stationary! Within Johto, I mean.” Crystal replied as she smoothed the wrinkles on her skirt.

“Maybe the soil from the Pokémon Village will help out.” Emerald pointed out. “When I went there with Ruby, we saw lots of legendaries, like Mewtwo!” 

“Mewtwo was there?” Silver asked. 

“Uhuh! I wouldn’t doubt it if any other legendaries wouldn’t hang out there, as well. It’s practically isolated from civilization. Who wouldn’t want to stay there if you were a legendary Pokémon?”

“That should help a lot more, then!” Crystal beamed.

Emerald’s phone began to ring, and he excused himself from the room. “Sorry guys, Sapphire’s calling me. She was going to pick me up today after I had dropped off the dirt sample to you, Crys.” he stood up promptly and walked outside to Crystal’s backyard, leaving Silver and Crystal alone, sitting next to each other.

“Catching Suicune will be easy with Emerald’s dirt samples, it seems.” Silver commented. “I’ve seen his talent in action and it works pretty well.”

“Really? What Pokémon did you see him catch?” Crystal responded, curiously turning towards Silver.

“W-well, he didn’t really ‘catch’ one…” 

“What do you mean?” Crystal tilted her head to the side.

“Um…” he grimaced, knowing very well Crystal was not going to let him off the hook on this secret as well. “He calmed down my Gyarados when it was out of control.”

“Is that what you guys were arguing about earlier?” She blinked at him.

“S…Sorta?” he leaned backwards, away from Crystal’s captivating gaze.

“I-I’ll tell you later.” he stammered as Emerald closed the door to the backyard and began to walk towards the kitchen.

“Sapphire’s picking me up in about 5 minutes. I’d like to help you out more Crys but I promised Sapphire I’d hang out with her once I returned from Kalos. Sorry!” Emerald clapped his hands together and shamefully looked at Crystal. “And I wish I could eat Kantonian food with you guys as well. Maybe another time?”

Crystal laughed and nodded “Of course, Em. Anytime you’re free.”

“You’re pretty cool too, Silver.” Emerald extended his hand to shake Silver’s.

“You too.” The boys chuckled and shook their hands. 

Emerald waved goodbye as Sapphire descended from the sky on her Tropius, right outside Crystal’s house. The Conqueror waved at the two trainers through the window, and signaled to her Pokémon to take flight, whisking both of them away.

“Seems like you and Emerald are getting along well now. I wonder what happened?” Crystal giggled as she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. 

“If i tell you, will you promise you won’t get mad?” Silver asked.

“Is it as bad as what you told me yesterday?”

“About that…” Silver broke his eye contact with her.

Crystal remembered the reminder she had made for herself earlier on. Check upstairs. Check upstairs now. She darted towards the stairs. Surprised, Silver chased after her and grabbed her arm before she could climb up the stairs.

“What happened upstairs?” Crystal asked. She looked down at Silver’s hand firmly gripping her wrist. 

“N-nothing.” Silver stuttered.

“Let me see.” 

Crystal wriggled out of Silver’s grasp and made it to the hallway in front of the staircase. She gasped as she saw that the fallen door from Silver’s room lay diagonally, leaning against the wall across from the doorframe. Silver groaned as he caught up with Crystal and saw her peeking into the room. The bedsheets were sprinkled with dust and bits from the ceiling above. By some miracle, the walls stayed intact, and continued to support the room and keep it from collapsing. Both stayed speechless, observing and taking in what they were seeing. Crystal’s ringtone could be heard from downstairs, which snapped the two out of their daze.

“You can explain it to me on the way.” Crystal groaned as she motioned for Silver to follow her down the stairs.

Silver did his best to avoid fidgeting with his hands as he explained what had happened that morning to Crystal, who put an effort to maintain her composure. He wasn’t sure if Crystal was going to laugh at the absurdity of the situation or scold him for making a mess of what would be his room not even a day after they had cleaned it up together. But as he recalled the events, he observed that Crystal’s expressions fluctuated as he continued to explain what had happened. At one point, the hint of a smile began to brew on her lips, which led to a chortle from her a few moments later when he explained how Gyarados surprised both Emerald and himself.

By the time the pair had arrived at the restaurant, Silver hoped that Crystal would have forgiven him by now, but he still decided to open the door for her in case she was still irritated. 

“Order for Crystal, is it?” the cashier asked. He held out the brown bag out towards Crystal. “One bowl of stewed beef brisket, one plate of fried tofu with shrimp, and a bowl of red bean soup for dessert.”

“Perfect! Thank you so much.” Crystal smiled and plucked the receipt from the counter. Silver offered to carry the bag and received a grateful nod and smile from Crystal.

The door to the restaurant opened and closed with a soft “thump”, and the lingering sound of the jingle bells could be heard long after both of them had walked away from the restaurant. The aftermath of the storm could still be felt as a cold breeze swept through Cherrygrove City.

“Man, I should’ve brought my lab coat, I had no idea it would still be this cold!” Crystal shivered. She rubbed the sides of her arms with her hands, and then blew into them. Suddenly, she felt warmth envelop her upper body, as Silver placed his jacket over her shoulders. Astonished, she turned to look at him, but Silver turned his head to the side, as if he was afraid to meet Crystal’s radiant eyes.

“Th-thank you…” she managed to whisper.

“Don’t mention it.” he responded, still looking at the ocean just outside of the city.

The ocean’s gentle wind filled the comfortable silence between the two trainers as they continued to walk side by side. Crystal was admittedly surprised. I don’t think I’ve seen Silver be so considerate ever since he helped me out after I was defeated by Team Rocket Executive Ariana… I know we haven’t talked as often after the battle was over, but I’m glad he still considers me a friend after so long.

“Hey…Crys?” his voice interrupted her thoughts.

“Yes?” she responded, wide-eyed.

“I’m sorry about today…you know, with my room and everything.” He began to play with his black gloves. “But I want you to focus on your research for Suicune, so I’ll clean up the debris in my room. I caused it, after all.” This time, he made sure to face Crystal directly.

She blinked a few times, and remembered she still had responsibilities at home. “Thank you so much, Silver. Don’t work too much, okay? I know you’re still recovering from that cold of yours.” she pointed at the scarf Silver was wearing. Crystal herself was surprised when she noticed Silver was still wearing her scarf. Seems like he’s surprised, too. Is that a blush I see?

“I’ll be okay.” he chuckled.

They enjoyed the pleasant tranquility for the remainder of their walk towards Violet City.

Chapter Text

The concept of virtual meetings wasn’t foreign to Crys. In fact, she had been discussing with several professors from foreign regions in order to bolster her research ever since she had started working with Professor Oak. It should be natural for her to deal with Professors who spoke different languages than the one she spoke, especially because it would extend her connections to important researchers across the world. 

But in the case of the Kalos Professor, Dr. Sycamore, she found herself at a dead end. She had zero experience with the French language, and in a panic, she had ordered a tiny French to Japanese dictionary from the vast Goldenrod City airport. Crystal sighed in relief as her computer notified her that the dictionary would arrive at her doorstep via Pokémon delivery just five minutes before her meeting with Professor Sycamore was scheduled to start. 

“Good morning, Crys.” Silver’s voice echoed from the top of the staircase.

“Good morning!!” she responded, with a hint of drowsiness and tiredness in her voice. 

The doorbell rang, and Crystal hurriedly trotted towards the front door to receive her package. Silver took what was left over from the dinner of the night before and microwaved his breakfast. 

“What’s that for?” he asked as he observed Crystal thank the delivery Noctowl and take the dictionary from its packaging. 

“It’s a French to Japanese dictionary! I have a meeting with Professor Sycamore from Kalos in a few minutes.” She showed off the sleek cover of the thick book, and flipped through the pages.

“Sycamore? I’ve heard Blue mention him a few times before. I think he wrote an article on evolution.”

“Yeah!! I’m asking him more about the Pokémon Village today.” Crystal responded, stirring her coffee in the process. “Although I must admit, this is my first time trying to understand and speak French…I’ll let you know how it goes.”

“Hm… I wouldn’t want to disturb your virtual meeting with the Professor.” Silver took a bite out of the microwaved beef brisket. “I’ll collect apricorns on Route 36, then.” 

“Sounds great! I’ll join once the meeting is over, if that’s okay.”

Silver nodded, putting on his jacket and gloves as he headed for the entrance.

Seems like he’s back to his stoic self. I’m glad he isn’t sick anymore. 

Now, to deal with the meeting. Crystal thought that by at least flipping through the pages and reading the words would familiarize her with the basics of the language, but in reality, she had no idea where to start. Some of these words were impossible for Crystal to even imagine how they would be pronounced. Unfortunately, that would be an issue she would have to deal with during the meeting, as her laptop rang from the incoming call of Professor Sycamore. Reluctantly, she pressed the answer button after double checking that her background would not come off as too messy. 

“B-Bonjour. Bonjour professour.” If there was any moment in her life where Crystal wanted to disappear the most, it would have been that day. 

The professor continued to grin and patiently waited for her to continue. She saw how uncomplaining and understanding the professor was with her broken French, and felt the embarrassment flood her face.

Ignoring his gaze, Crystal flipped through the pages of the dictionary before stopping on the terms she wanted to say. “J’espere…bien?” 

“I’m doing good, Crystal, thank you for asking. I apologize if this comes off as rude, but you don’t need to speak in French for me! I should have clarified that earlier, I’m so sorry!”

For a moment, she thanked Arceus neither Silver nor Gold were here to witness the most humiliating moment of her life.

“Professor…I’m so so sorry.” she sank into her chair, hiding her burning face with her hands. She wanted to laugh and cry at the same time, but with the Kalos Professor on her computer screen, all she could do was melt further and further under the desk and onto the floor.

“Crystal, there’s no need to apologize!! I promise you this isn’t the first time this has happened.” Professor Sycamore assured. Although there wasn’t much he could do behind a computer screen.

After she recovered, Crystal took out her notebook and pen, prepared to write down any useful information that the Professor might share. Within the limited time frame the two Pokémon experts exchanged their known knowledge about the whereabouts of Suicune. 

Even with the rough start, the meeting turned out to be very productive for the both of them, since Crystal had gained new information on Suicune’s preferred resting places, and Professor Sycamore on the origins of the Legendary Pokémon, thanks to Crystal’s first-hand experience with it. 

Crystal was proud of the person she had become, and although important people such as Professor Sycamore and others have praised her, it was the first time she had taken a look back at her life and realized how fortunate she was in her working experience. 

“You’re very lucky to have those experiences with so many legendary Pokémon at such a young age.” Sycamore brought up. “It was only until a few months ago where I first met Zygarde in person, and not through radar detections. I don’t know what I’d do to meet other legendary Pokémon, let alone Suicune and Arceus in person at your age. It was a very thrilling experience.” he rubbed his arms in an attempt to get rid of his goosebumps.

Crystal hadn’t thought of it that way. “I don’t like to brag, but most of those experiences were during very stressful events regarding Team Rocket. I wish there were another time to properly be near them without the worry of world domination or the end of the world.” 

The Professor chortled at Crystal’s rather unaware comment. “I’ve only shared what I know about the Pokémon Village, but I’m certainly delighted to have been able to give out some clues for your pursuit of Suicune.”

“Thank you for your time, Professor Sycamore.” she bowed. “My fellow colleague Green sends X and Y his regards.”

“I will definitely let them know! And say hi to Professor Oak, too. It’s been awhile.”

The sound of Silver’s Weavile scratching at the front surged into the room. Crystal flinched and quickly ended the call before Silver could enter the house and appear into frame. 

Tossing his gloves on the kitchen counter, Silver grunted, “I’d forgotten how tedious it was to collect so many apricorns.  My hands and fingers are a little roughed up, but I think I’ll be okay.” 

“Oh my gosh, are you okay?” Crystal stood up from her desk and quickly rested beside Silver on the couch. She lifted his fingers in her palm and closely inspected them. Surely enough, they were bruised and covered with thorns. Some dried blood could be seen under his fingernails. 

“I promise I’ll be okay…” he muttered, glancing away.

Crystal sucked air between her teeth and sighed. “That looks really painful. I’ll get the first aid kit from the closet.”

Silver distracted himself from the aching pain in his hands by swiftly changing the topic. “Is Yellow back from her camping trip? I thought she would give you back your Parasect when she returned.” The dull throbbing and numbness he felt would not leave, so he bit the inside of his cheek as a way to cope.

“No unfortunately, but she messaged me during my meeting saying she’ll be returning in about two days, which is great news!” Crystal popped open the bottle of rubbing alcohol and dipped it onto a cotton ball. “I have some Pokémon I’ve been wanting to give her as well. Now, this might sting just a teensy bit.”

Silver closed his eyes and braced himself, but to his surprise, Crystal’s gentleness with the soaked cotton ball barely made him feel any sort of pain. She tactfully avoided the places in his hands that were splintered, but thoroughly cleaned the other places that were dirty and bruised.

“See, it wasn’t that bad.” she smiled, her gaze completely concentrated into the injuries his hands had. “Now, let's hope that the tweezers won’t hurt as much.”

He rapidly nodded, and felt a little nervousness as Crystal took the tweezers from the makeshift first aid kit. Pull yourself together!! There’s no way you’re nervous over some thorns! You’ve survived through worse. He tried to psych himself up by maintaining a constant breathing pattern, but it seemed to disconcentrate Crystal. She glanced up at him and furrowed her eyebrows in concern, returning the tweezers into the little bag.

“Are you doing okay, Silver? I can get ice if you want.” 

“No, it's fine. It’s not hurting anymore so maybe it won’t hurt if you- OW!!” Crystal plucked a singular thorn from under Silver’s thumb. “H-how was…your meeting- OUCH!!” 

Crystal paused and left her hands hovering over Silver’s fingers. He noticed her change in demeanor and noticed that her eyes were becoming shiny. “I-It was okay…” Crystal fidgeted with the tweezers, unsure of what to do next, and she turned away from Silver’s face. 

“Sorry… I didn’t mean to make you feel-”

“No! It’s completely okay…it’s just…the dictionary that I bought turned out to be completely useless. Professor Sycamore is bilingual!” She laughed. It wasn’t an authentic laugh, Silver noticed, as she wiped her cheek with her sleeve. “It was really embarrassing…”

With his fingers still bloodied, he reached into his pocket and gave Crystal his handkerchief. As soon as she brought it to her face, she began to sniffle and cry. They were sobs mixed with laughter, as an attempt to regain her collectedness she had in her grasp just a few moments ago. Silver reached out and patted her shoulder with the palm of his hand, and avoided touching her with his bruised fingers.

“Uhh…” Silver frantically looked at Weavile, who was awkwardly watching the scene from the kitchen counter. Weavile shrugged his shoulders and shuffled away, looking for snacks along with Bonee and Chumee. “I’m sure you left a good impression on him. You were prepared and eager to cooperate.”

“Really…” she sniffled. “For some reason I can’t help but feel incompetent and unprofessional…”

“Maybe it’s because you forgot to drink coffee this morning. I noticed it on the kitchen island a few minutes ago.” he pointed out as he leaned back against the couch. 

Crystal giggled and wiped her eyes with her sleeve. “I’m sorry…I forgot to bandage your fingers, but I don’t think you’ll need them for splinters, right?”

“Yeah, don’t sweat it. You had a rough morning. Besides,” he emptied out his pants pockets and spread out all of the apricorns he had collected, neatly organizing them by color on the coffee table. “We can forget about it by making traditional Pokéballs.”

Crystal giggled and lightly punched Silver’s shoulder. “But what about your hands, silly?”

“All healed up.” he responded, ripping off the stem from a red apricorn. 

Crystal followed up by similarly taking the stem off of a blue apricorn, with some noticeable difficulty. “You sure? These are pretty tough.”

“Well, yeah, these were the only ones that I could find, since all of the Pokémon took the softened, spoiled apricorns for hibernation. The sturdy, ripe ones are left alone, which is perfect for us since they are favorable for making Pokéballs.” Silver flipped out his switchblade, and cut out a circle on the top of the apricorn. “Of course, I had to dig a little deeper within the bushes in order to grab them.”

“You know…” Crystal observed Silver’s handling of the apricorn with his switchblade. “A kitchen knife might be more effective.” 

“Really? When I learned how to make them from Kurt, he told me a small blade would be easier to handle in the Pokéball making progress.” Silver looked a little defeated, putting his switchblade back in his pocket as Crystal handed him the knife.

“I try to sharpen it every two weeks, so it should be functional to some extent!” She picked up the apricorn she had begun working on, and struggled to scoop out the contents from the stem. “Am I supposed to hollow it out all the way?”

Silver leaned in closer as Crystal gave him her apricorn. By gently squeezing the fruit, he determined whether or not Crystal had dug to the shell of the apricorn. “It’s still a little heavy, let’s try cutting it in half in order to carve it out more.” 

“Oh, I thought that was going to be until later.” Crystal commented. “How will we be able to cut it in half..?”

Silver took Crystal’s hand, and led him to the door to her back yard. “With Weavile’s help, of course.”

“I-Is that so?” she murmured, slightly looking downwards. His grip on her hand was strong and firm; she could notice his determination to get the Pokéballs finished. She noted that his skin was surprisingly soft, as Silver led her outside of the gate, near the forest.

“Weavile, use Night Slash.” Silver commanded. Weavile eagerly scurried from the kitchen and used the move, as his trainer tossed an apricorn in the air. Crystal yelped as the breeze from the attack nearly scuffed her cheek.

The apricorn momentarily hovered in the air before falling to the ground, and upon Silver’s closer inspection, the fruit hadn’t been completely cut in half, with only a tiny wedge holding the two halves together. 

“That apricorn is really sturdy! Not even Weavile could cut right through it…” Crystal observed, kneeling down next to Silver. “How are we going to make sure it won’t tear apart?”

“Well, with the apricorn stem I saved, we can take it apart into strings and sew a hinge so that the two halves are held together.” he said in a matter-of-fact way. He took the torn stem from his pocket and began to pull it apart, revealing the strands of the fruit that were hidden underneath the skin.

“You sure know a lot about Pokéball making!!” Crystal praised, completely in awe of Silver’s skillful maneuver with the stem. “And I won’t need a needle of some sort?”

“Nope, as long as you keep the stem fibers in one continuous strand.” he leaned his hands near Crystal’s gaze, demonstrating how his fingers braided the stem fibers into a sturdy wire. “Can you try finishing the wire for me?” he asked as he placed the string on her hands.

“O-Oh, thank you! Let’s see if I got the hang of it.” she nervously laughed. Taking the stem fibers with both hands, Crystal nervously fumbled with the strings, often confusing the order of the steps to make the braid. At one point, she groaned in frustration as the braid was becoming rapidly undone. Silver quickly placed his hands over Crystal’s, swiftly correcting her hand positioning.

“Make sure to keep one hand on the other completed end of the braid, so that the fibers remain taut. It’ll be easier to braid with one hand than two, surprisingly.”

“I-I see…” Crystal adjusted to Silver’s hands guiding her own and resumed her braiding process. To her dismay, the process she had managed to get done was inverted as she used her wrist to wipe the sweat from her eyebrow.

“Are you doing okay, Crys? I know we’ve been crouching for a while but…”

“O-Oh!! I’m really sorry about that. To be honest, I kind of forgot we were sitting together in the garden” she laughed. “It would be better to work indoors, on second thought.”

Silver chuckled, “I didn’t want to disconcentrate you, so I assumed you wanted to stay out here.”

“N-No, it’s okay!” Crystal replied, wiping off the moist dirt that had accumulated on her knees. “It’s getting pretty chilly outside.”

Silver stood up next to her and observed the clouds that lingered above. “These clouds look like rain clouds, but they seem more gray.” Weavile tugged on Silver’s pant leg, pointing at the clouds up above. “It might snow in a few days.”

“Well,” Crystal rested her hand on Silver’s shoulder, startling him a bit. “Good thing you brought those apricorns! We’ll have plenty of time to build the perfect one for Suicune.”

“Let’s see if you can finish braiding this hinge first, before we get too ahead of ourselves.” he chuckled as he walked towards the door.

“This is my first time doing this, you know!” she protested, following closely behind him.

“Bonee!! Chumee!! What happened to the new bag of Pokémon snacks I had bought last week?” Crystal threw the empty bag of snacks in front of them. The two small Pokémon simultaneously pointed at Weavile, who was dozing off on Crystal’s couch, occasionally scratching his belly. “Silver, do you have anything to say in regards to your Pokémon being accused of theft?”

No answer.

“Silver? Where are you?” Crystal spotted him busily clacking away on her laptop. “Hey, whatcha doin’?” She leaned in closer from behind his shoulder. “Pro-Team Omega…Internet Forum?”

“Oh, sorry, are you going to use it? You can have it. I wasn’t doing anything too important…”

“No, I’m just wondering if you’re aware two of my Pokémon are accusing your Weavile of eating all of the snacks I bought last Thursday.” she huffed.

“Wait, what?” Silver asked, spinning around on the office chair to face Crystal. “Urghh that Weavile…”

“I’m not accusing Weavile of eating the Pokémon snacks.” she responded, making Silver relax a little bit. “Do you know if he did anything?” Crystal questioned, crossing her arms.

“Not that I know of…” he responded, avoiding eye contact.

A small burp resonated from the kitchen. Chumee smacked Bonee with her arm as the latter grinned in an effort to stay casual and unsuspecting, which… didn’t fool Crystal. Mostly because Chumee had forgotten to wipe stray crumbs on her face, and because Bonee had grown a belly.

“Why would you accuse Weavile you guys?” Crystal groaned, placing her fingers on her temple. “I want you to apologize to Weavile right now. And you two better mean it, got it?” she pointed towards the snoozing Pokémon, still laying on the couch.

Bonee and Chumee reluctantly waddled to where Weavile was sitting comfortably. The two Pokémon scuffled as they argued over who would be the one to apologize first, before Crystal’s angry hum alarmed them, making Chumee the one to wake up Weavile and apologize.

With a few of Chumee’s shoves, Weavile did end up waking up, with a very loud and evident burp. Weavile nervously chuckled, slowly sliding down from the couch in an effort to possibly escape Crystal’s growing wrath as she began to put two and two together. Silver hid behind the office chair and slowly turned towards the laptop on the desk, too scared to even make eye contact with the Pokémon or Crystal. 

Crystal angrily prowled towards where Silver was hiding, and roughly tugged on his sleeve, pulling him up. “We’re getting groceries. Let’s go.”

As soon as Crystal and Silver were outside on the front porch, she slammed the door behind them and took out a pen and sticky note from within her lab coat. Quickly jotting down some items to get from the supermarket, the grocery list was ready in about 15 seconds.

“Let’s go on Honchkrow to Goldenrod City.” Silver offered, taking out the Pokéball for the designated Pokémon. Crystal exhaled through her nostrils, taking Silver’s hand as he helped her go on top of Honchkrow.

“Here. Repeat to me what the list says so that I can see if I’m forgetting something.” she shoved the tiny paper at Silver’s chest. He fumbled with the tiny note as he struggled to read the tiny handwriting. 

“Silver, are you farsighted?” Crystal questioned. “You might need reading glasses if that’s the case.” she playfully teased.

Silver grumbled in return. “Yes…that’s not our concern right now, Crys.”

“C’mon read the list out loud!”

“Uhh…two gallons of 2% fat free milk, a Sawsbuck brand bag of coffee beans, one King sized bag of Fan Club brand Pokémon snacks, and…”

“And?”

“Three packets of Octillery brand ramen noodles.” Silver quickly whispered. 

That definitely was not part of the contents of the list.

Crystal audibly sighed, tightening her grip on Silver’s shoulders. “Fine, but only this once.” She could only imagine the giant grin plastered on Silver’s face.

After a few minutes of Silver’s Honchkrow carrying the both of them through the skies of Johto, both trainers felt the need to bring up a conversation topic for the remainder of the flight.

“Hey Crys-” Silver began to ask.

“Silver, I was wondering if-”

“Oh, sorry, you can go first.”

“No, it’s okay! I interrupted you, after all.” she laughed.

“I wanted to apologize once again for the incident with Emerald a few days ago. I’ve spent some time the last few days reapplying the plaster so that the ceiling would look as good as new. I didn’t mean for any of that to happen.” he answered, his posture slightly falling.

Crystal’s laughter rang from behind Silver’s shoulders, and he felt a little tickle as she leaned in closer to his ear so that he could hear her better. “I’m actually kind of glad things like, you know, you moving in and Emerald coming over have happened, despite how mad I get sometimes.” she giggled. “To be honest, ever since I moved my workplace from Professor Oak’s lab to my own home, I’ve been feeling very isolated from people and other Pokémon that aren’t my own. My mom isn’t as home as often and since I’ve completed the Johto Pokédex about ten years ago, most of the research that I do is from home.”

“I see.” Silver replied. “I’m glad the whole chaos with me moving in with you hasn’t caused much of a hassle.”

“You’d be surprised!” Crystal giggled again. “It’s nice to have a change of pace, but I guess that’s mostly because you’ve offered to help me with making Pokéballs and finding Suicune’s location.”

Honckrow cried out to its trainer that Goldenrod City was just below them, and began his descent. “Easy, Honchkrow. Be careful of other traveling trainers in the sky.” Silver assured, patting the Pokémon’s feathery back. Silver helped Crystal get down from Honchkrow’s back, and there stood the vast Goldenrod Supermarket right in front of them.

“Let’s split up so we can find the items faster.” Silver suggested. “I’ll take the instant ramen noodles and the milk, and you take the rest.”

“Sounds great! I’ll meet you here in a bit!” Crystal responded as she pushed a shopping cart with her.

Silver called out Weavile out of his Pokéball as he returned Honchkrow to his own. “To be honest Weavile,” Silver whispered to his companion. “I didn’t want Crystal to know that this is my first time in a supermarket.”

Weavile reassured his trainer by patting Silver on the back of the leg with his claws, and chattered sounds of encouragement. Not that he would understand them, anyway, but it's the thought that counts. With a deep breath in, Silver walked inside of the supermarket as the automatic doors greeted him with a jingle.

“I’m not sure what I was expecting, but I guess it wasn’t so many people crowded together in one place.” he muttered to himself as he wiggled his way through the crowd towards the shopping carts. “I better get things fast.”

Weavile was already one step ahead of him, as he was already standing in front of the dairy section, waving towards Silver from where he was standing.

“Did Crys say one or two gallons of milk?” he wondered. Weavile, of course, did not answer, as he was enjoying the view of the refrigerators from the child seat. 

“Young lady, I’m trying to get through.” An older woman quipped. 

Silver looked around him, wondering if he was the ‘young lady’ the older woman was referring to. “Me?” he asked, pointing to himself. 

“Yes, you! I'm trying to reach the frozen yogurt section behind you.”

“S-Sorry…” he apologized, awkwardly scooting the cart to the side of the hallway. 

Weavile carried both gallons from one of the fridges and contentedly placed them in the cart.

“Do those say 2% fat free, Weavile?” Silver asked, examining the label on one of the milk containers. His Pokémon squealed in approval. Silver took the sticky note from his chest and Weavile ticked off “MILK 2% FAT FREE” from the list with his claw. “One down, one more to go.”

Meanwhile, Crystal was having more difficulty searching for her designated items. 

“Sorry missy, but an oil spill in Vermillion Harbor stranded the cargo ship containing the stuff you’re looking for.”

“You’re serious!!” Crystal exclaimed. “I almost forgot the Pokémon snacks are exported from Kanto…” 

“Unless you find a way to get to Kanto, you’re gonna have to be willing to wait for the oil spill to clear up so that our cargo ships can pass through.”

Find a way to get to Kanto… I’ve been meaning to receive Parasee from Yellow for a few days now. This will be a great opportunity then! I can catch two Pokémon with one Pokéball if me and Silver travel to Kanto for a bit!

“Uhh, you alright, missy? You’ve been muttering to yourself for a while now…”

“Oh, I’m sorry about that. Thank you for your help by the way!!” Crystal waved to the worker as she pulled her cart in a U-turn. “As long as I can buy some Sawsbuck Coffee I’ll be okay. For now, I have to find Silver and tell him what’s up.”

After quickly scanning through the aisles, Crystal expectedly found Silver gawking at the boundless section of the instant ramen segment.

“Hard to decide which flavor, huh?” she said as she stood next to him. 

It took a few moments for Silver to recover before he could respond to Crystal’s statement. “Y-Yeah. Gold only bought the fried Magikarp flavor…” he gingerly touched one of the packages. “Who would’ve thought they would have bizarre flavors such as…” he picked up one of the packets from the shelf. “…Tauros Beef.”

“Earth to Silver…” she waved her hands in front of his unblinking eyes. “I have bad news and good news.”

“Tell me the bad news first.” he said absentmindedly as he dropped 9 packets of the Tauros Beef flavored instant ramen into his shopping cart.

“There was an oil spill in Vermillion City, which means the cargo ships containing the Pokémon snacks from Kanto are stranded.” she grimaced.

“…And the good news?” 

“We’re going to Kanto!!” Crystal sang as she did some jazz hands. “I’ve been meaning to receive Parasee from Yellow for a while now, so the trip will be of good use!”

Silver stood in place, slowly turning towards Crystal. “In Viridian City?”

“Yes!!” Crystal noticed a battle behind his steely gaze, and stepped closer. “Is everything alright?” 

“Uhh…I’m not sure if I’m willing to go to Kanto…” 

“Why not??” Crystal winced in her mind. I hope that didn’t sound too whiny. Could this be about his dad…?

“Tomorrow is Friday, and I don’t want to miss the second episode of the Pro-Team Omega special.”

“Well… if we buy the Pokémon snacks in time tomorrow, we can make it in time to Yellow’s house so that you can watch your episode!!”

Silver hummed as he planned out the entire day in his mind. We would have to start packing today, and head out by train tonight… How long would the trip to Vermilion City be by foot? I need to look at a map of Kanto again, it’s been a while since…

An embarrassing memory of him celebrating his birthday with his dad and the rest of the Team Rocket executives flashed through his mind. It was his eighteenth birthday, and he had received an invite from none other than the boss of Team Rocket to celebrate Silver becoming an adult. He quickly pushed the memory away from his train of thought.

 “Okay,” he responded, finally caving in to Crystal’s plans once more. “But we’re only going there to get the snacks, and visit Yellow.”

“Then what are we waiting for? Let’s start packing!!” Crystal cheered. She attempted to hook her arm with his, but the sudden crash between both of their shopping carts startled them. “Oops. Sorry Weavile…”

The Pokémon simply crossed his arms and turned away from Crystal. “Be nice, Weavile…” Silver sternly said.

“We should’ve used one cart, on second thought.” Crystal sighed. 

Chapter Text

The rest of the evening before Crystal and Silver headed out for the Goldenrod City station was spent bringing all sorts of clothes and other goods to their suitcases. Deciding what things would be packed or not was the most difficult part, especially for Silver. He insisted on bringing his personal HDMI capturer in order to discuss the newest Pro-Team Omega episode on his forum, but Crystal had to shoot down that idea since their packing space was already limited from the start. Silver also had to put a halt to Crystal’s packing process, as she had been struggling to fit her entire personal computer so that she could find the whereabouts of Suicune’s location on the go. They were only planning on staying in Kanto for two days maximum, anyway, so it wouldn’t be necessary.

Because both trainers were preoccupied with preparing their bags for their trip to Kanto that very night, Bonee, Chumee, and Weavile were (temporarily) excused from their punishment for eating a week’s worth of Pokémon snacks in two days. Silver had to admit that he took a bite or two of the snacks that Weavile offered him, just out of burning curiosity, but of course that would be one of the several things he would not admit to Crystal any time soon. 

“It tasted like a mix of Pecha berries and Oran berries.” he thought to himself as he tugged the zipper of his duffel bag closed.

“Okay.” Crystal sighed, resting her hands on her hips. “The train leaves towards Saffron City in approximately an hour, so we should make sure we have everything ready to go.”

Silver wiped the sweat from his forehead as he set his duffel bag he carried from upstairs next to Crystal’s lavender suitcase. “Wanna do one last double check?”

“Sure. Two t-shirts?” 

“Check.” Silver replied, collapsing on the couch.

“Two pairs of pants?” Crystal asked, placing her personal fanny pack on the coffee table, in front of the couch. “A pair of pajamas?”

“Check and check.” Silver replied, putting on his signature jacket. 

Crystal paused for a second, observing how Silver pushed the sleeves of his beloved jacket up to his elbows. “U-Uh…Where was I?” She mentally berated herself. “ You’re better than this, Crys!!” she thought to herself.

“You stopped at the pajamas.” Silver responded, analyzing the foreign expression on Crystal’s face.

“R-Right!!” Crystal slapped her face, trying to drain away the blush that had flooded her face. “Pajamas?”

“...I already said check.” Silver tilted his head and crossed his arms. “I didn’t happen to pass on my cold to you, did I?”

“I-I’m not so sure myself…” Crystal murmured, covering her face with her hands. “I think that’s everything, regardless.”

“Let’s get going then.” Silver replied, taking his stuff out the front door. Crystal followed closely behind, just after making sure her house would be secured with all the locks she had installed.

The fresh, minty aroma of the forests surrounding Violet City combined with the soft luminosity of the street lamps provided a cozy and snug environment for a stroll. 

“It’s a shame we’re in a hurry.” Silver thought to himself. “I would like to see the landscape of this small town after it finishes snowing.” 

He looked behind him and slightly frowned as he saw Crystal taking photos of the atmosphere around them with her cellphone. “Hurry, Crys. We don’t have much time.”

“I’m coming!!” Crystal sighed, trotting next to Silver. “Before we left, I remembered to take Xatee from the storage system, so now I have a method of transportation.” she explained as she called out the psychic bird from her Pokéball.

Silver took out Honchkrow from his Pokéball as well, and both the trainers took flight, headed towards the big city once again. 

The sting of the freezing, late autumnal winds no longer affected Crystal, as she remembered to bring a warm coat on her trip. Completely lost in thought, her mind kept wandering back to when Silver gave her his jacket to wear as they were walking near Cherrygrove City. “Surely he acts like that with others, like with Gold. There certainly isn’t anything different about his behavior with others and me.”

She quickly pushed those thoughts away before they could increasingly spiral as soon as she gained focus again.

The faint glow of the Magnet Train Station of Goldenrod City soon glimmered over the horizon after a few minutes of soaring in between the clouds. As both trainers loomed closer over the landscape, a large crowd of people could be seen rapidly forming at one of the platforms. And by unlucky circumstances, that crowd just happened to be blocking the platform Crystal and Silver were supposed to board.

Descending from their Pokémon, both trainers noticed that it was difficult to walk. Incredibly difficult. Many people were shoving and quarreling with one another as they all simultaneously tried to approach the end of the platform. 

“What are these people waiting for?!” Crystal groaned, as she became sandwiched between the horde. Suddenly, she realized she had lost sight of Silver. Stretching her head over the crowd in an attempt to escape suffocation, she began calling his name through the multitude. “Silver!? Where did you go?!” Surely enough, a red tuft of hair stood out from the others, and Crystal immediately identified its owner. Shoving her way through the crowd, albeit she received many negative reactions, she finally caught up to him, out of breath. She reached out and grabbed his shoulder. “Silver! Are you okay? Do you know what’s going on?” Crystal panted.

Silver turned around, with lots of excitement behind his voice and expression. “I heard that Red might arrive from Saffron City at any moment now!” 

He HAS to be joking. There’s no way. “Oh, is that so?” Crystal sarcastically acknowledged through gritted teeth.

And then, the high pitched screech of the arriving Magnet Train’s brakes drowned out the commotion of the excited crowd. The doors of the train slid open with a sharp hiss, as small amounts of fog spilled from the floor of the interior of the train car. Before the mob could jostle their way into the train car, multiple men in suits prevented anyone from entering the car. Right behind them tufts of dark, black hair poked out from inside of the train, and the entire crowd held its breath as Red hopped off of the train car.

“IT’S RED!!! THE BATTLER HIMSELF!!!” someone cheered. Whistles and whoops nearly deafened Crystal, who had a difficult time even seeing Red at all. “IT’S REALLY HIM!!!” Silver gasped. He excitedly shook his hands in an attempt to get rid of his nerves. All Crystal could do was stare in disbelief. “We literally saw him during last year’s Dexholder reunion…”

“Whoops! ‘Scuse me! I see a couple of friends over there. Coming through!” Red’s charismatic and iconic voice was nearing towards…Crystal and Silver’s direction?! “Hey guys!!” he waved, quickly running towards them as his guards opened a path for him to walk through.

“Hey Red!” Crystal smiled back, before Red’s crushing embrace surrounded both her and Silver.

“R-Red!” Silver stammered. He hadn’t even managed to process what had happened after Red’s bone-crushing hug. His casual affection threw the both of them off, considering he’s a top tier celebrity at the moment. “C-Can I…getanotherautographpleasepleaseplease?”

“Silver!” Crystal growled, glaring at Silver. Red could only giggle at the sight of his usually apathetic junior turning into a mumbling mess because of his arrival. “What brings you here, mighty and powerful champ?”

“Well, that’s the thing. I can’t say.” Red laughed. “I have to head to Goldenrod Radio Station soon, but I’ll catch you guys later?” he squeaked. His bodyguards were struggling to hold on the frenzied crowd, further pushing the Dexholders at each other at an uncomfortable position.

“Of course. It’s always nice seeing you again, Red.” Crystal smiled.

“Are you recording lines for an upcoming movie?” Silver hurriedly asked before the famous trainer was out of sight. His eyes were practically shining with anticipation. Red, caught off guard with his surprisingly accurate question, shied away with a small wink, as his bodyguards whisked him away from the scene. 

“Bye folks!” Red yelled before the horde of fans erupted into another round of cheers and applause.

Crystal was left with having to drag a jaw-dropped Silver towards an arriving train car before his head could explode from excitement. 

“I knew it!! The forum’s predictions were correct!! There is gonna be a new movie after the 4 episode specials!” Silver celebrated, placing his and Crystal’s luggage on the containers above their seats. 

“Could have never guessed.” Crystal yawned, making herself comfortable with the reclinable seats. “It’s pretty late, so I’m gonna get some shut eye.” she murmured, placing her eye mask lazily over her face. 

“Night.” Silver replied, placing Crystal’s fanny pack under her seat so that she could sleep without anything in the way. 

“G’night.” she whispered after a second yawn.

“Welcome aboard fellow passengers of the Kanto-Johto Magnet Train!” a voice exclaimed through the speaker. “The time is currently 11:49 p.m. and we expect to arrive at Saffron City at 4:30 a.m! We hope you enjoy your trip!” A jingle and click later, the announcement ended.

Although Crystal had taken the window seat, Silver didn’t mind at all, as he had another thing occupied on his mind. Updating the forum. Fishing his phone from his pocket he was ready to open the forum website again until he was painfully greeted by a no signal screen. Before Silver was going to shove his phone back into his pocket, a notification he had received before losing the signal had caught his eye.

“Hello, son. How have you been? I am here to inform you that as your father, I formally request your approval into becoming the next Team Rocket heir. We cordially–” Silver turned off the screen, not bothering with the rest of the message. A blush of embarrassment creeped up from behind his neck as his mind wandered back to his 18th birthday party, at the Team Rocket Headquarters.

Standing in front of the Team Rocket Headquarters in the Sevii Islands, Silver wasn’t sure of what to expect from his father. Carefully unfolding the crinkled piece of paper, he reread the password an undercover Team Rocket member had handed to him a few weeks prior. It also contained the location of the base within Five Island, but he inferred this wasn’t the only HQ building belonging to Team Rocket.

After some shaky breaths to calm his nerves, he extended his finger to press on the doorbell…

A tiny camera zipped from an opening above and whizzed in front of Silver’s face, nearly making him jump.

“Oh, it’s Silver!! The boss’s son.” A voice filtered by the speaker exclaimed. “Carr!! Open the gates!”

A few grumbles could be heard in the background before the mechanical groan of the doors welcomed Silver to a dark, metallic corridor. Silver began sauntering through the hall, doing his best to not make much noise as his echoing footsteps reverberated from the walls. Remaining skeptical of Team Rocket, he brought out Kingdra in case of the event of an ambush. 

Kingdra cried out to its trainer as the distant echoes of heels clacking against the floor neared towards his location. He palmed the Pokéballs attached to his belt, prepared for any unseen threats he may not be aware of, but was immediately confused when he saw Team Rocket Executive Ariana excitedly approach him. 

“Lord Silver!!” she exclaimed enthusiastically. “Happy Birthday, old sport!” she cackled, almost tackling him with a hug.

Gasping for air, Silver concluded she was too aggressively affectionate for his liking, and wasn’t sure if the embrace had some malicious intent behind it or if she was just really, really glad to see him. He picked the latter. Peeking over her shoulder, he noticed Team Rocket Executive Proton, observing the scene from a safe distance.

“Congratulations on your special day.” Proton acknowledged, slightly bowing. “Allow us to escort you to the place of celebration.” 

“Uhm, sure? Thank you.” was all Silver could manage to say before the two Executives dragged him further inside the base.

The corridors, although slightly cold and unwelcoming, had several streamers and balloons decorated throughout, which gave Silver a tiny bit of comfort, knowing there were at least some people who put this much effort for his 18th birthday. He was occasionally congratulated by low rank Team Rocket members who happened to pass by, right before scurrying to their offices. Although admittingly flattered, Silver couldn’t help but shake off the tiny bit of suspicion he felt due to this unnatural amount of hospitality coming from an organization like Team Rocket. He did the mistake of shaking it off as another of his dad’s attempts to reconnect with his son.

Ariana and Proton then stopped in their tracks when the three of them reached a large, wooden door that stood out from the others. Silver looked back at the two, asking for approval to do…something? He wasn’t sure what he was supposed to do, after all. In return, both executives grinned and gave him thumbs-up, but noticeably not saying anything. 

No light seemed to come from the gaps between the two doors, so Silver decided to carefully grab the door knob and gently open the door… A pitch black room welcomed him. Two couches and a glass table was all he could see due to the dim lighting from the corridor. Squinting didn’t seem to help either, and he stepped inside to get a better look at the place, before a snort and a suppressed laugh interrupted his investigation.

“ Cut it out! ” someone whisper-yelled. The person laughing continued to giggle, unable to control themselves as Silver heard the sound of someone smacking the floor. Or the person laughing getting hit. He couldn’t really tell.

“Is this some sort of stupid prank?” Silver asked, fumbling to search for the light switch. 

“Boss, did you say the signal already?” 

“I whistled ten seconds ago, dimwit, but that’s not important now.” The lights suddenly flickered on, slightly blinding Silver as he adjusted to the light in the room.

“Happy birthday Silver!!” Giovanni, and the rest of the Team Rocket Executives exclaimed, completely out of sync with each other. A few seconds later, a confetti popper launched colorful paper, covering Silver as the rest of the pieces fluttered to the carpet. It reeked of last minute preparations.

The sudden feeling of a weight against his shoulders startled Silver from his thoughts. Tensed shoulders relaxed as he realized Crystal simply slumped towards his side in her sleep. Her snoring hinted she probably wouldn’t wake up any time soon, not that he didn’t mind at all. Crystal shifted in her sleep as she made herself comfortable against Silver’s right shoulder, and that’s when he noticed she was clutching the same aquamarine blanket she had given him when he was sick.

Despite not directly saying it to Crystal, Silver worried about her work habits and her schedule, especially with this new passion project of hers. Even if it had barely been a week of him moving in to her house, it was enough time to observe how much Crystal overworked and kept herself up late at night all for the sake of research. He always knew ever since he met her how much of a determined, hard-working person she was, but seeing it up close prompted him to be concerned about her more often.

“You’ve got to take it easy sometimes.” Silver muttered as he gently placed the blanket over her. “I worry a lot.” 

He stared back at Crystal’s sleeping figure, and he could’ve sworn for a moment the ghost of a smile appearing on her face for a fraction of a second. Slightly paranoid that she might’ve been awake to hear his embarrassing monologue, he delicately lifted her eye mask with his thumb, just to calm his nerves. 

“Thank goodness her eyes were closed.” Silver thought as he sighed in relief. “I have no idea what I would have done if her eyes —” Crystal stirred slightly in her sleep, mumbling work-related words with no correlation to each other. Silver winced and pretended to sleep, but after a few seconds, he opened his eyes and saw that Crystal was still asleep. Still against his shoulder. Still with her eye mask on her forehead.

Silver felt the heat rising in his face, and the sweat in his palms became evident with every second that passed by looking at her face. Had he felt this feeling before? This sensation?

“I’ve experienced these exact symptoms before when I encountered Entei in the Pokémon League.” he thought to himself. “Could it be that a similarly powerful Pokémon could be nearby?” 

He whipped his head around, looking across the aisle for any hints of the source of the heat. No fire type Pokémon in sight. He continued to think, what could be the cause of his condition? And then he remembered a conversation he had with Blue back when he was little.

“Silver, there will come a time when a very special girl in your life will make you fall in love!” her voice sounded as teasing as ever. He recalled how he stated he would never fall in love, which made Blue cackle. “Trust me, when the time comes, you’ll know.”  

“No, that can’t be it. Crys is my roommate. I shouldn’t even be thinking about that in the first place. I offered to stay at her place strictly to help her out with Suicune.” He glanced back at Crystal, and saw her cheeks were dusted with a delicate blush. “I need to get rid of these intrusive thoughts immediately. Maybe I should sleep as well.” He observed how her windswept bangs framed her face flawlessly. “How much longer until we reach Saffron City?” Her lips—

He abruptly rose from his seat, startling Crys from her sleep as she groggily looked around in confusion. “Sorry, I needed to go to the bathroom.” Silver muttered while dashing across the aisle. 

Crystal continued rubbing her eyes in order to wake herself up, not realizing Silver had left a few moments before. She touched her eye mask that was sitting comfortably on her forehead.

“How did…” Crystal touched the soft fabric of the mask. “When did I push this away from my eyes..?” 

“Hey, I’m back.” Silver swiftly took his seat next to Crystal, startling her. “You can go back to sleep now, Crys.” he placed his hand over his mouth, as if to pretend he was pondering about something.

“D-Do you want to share the blanket?” Crystal sputtered. Maybe she really was sick?

“Sure.” Silver whispered, inching a bit closer to her. Crystal threw the blanket over both of them, and awkwardly tucked a stray hair strand behind her ear as the blanket slowly floated down. With their faces flushed, both trainers froze in their place, deathly afraid to make any sort of movement. All Crystal could do was glance downwards, and her gaze caught the embroidery written in gold fabric. “April 30, 1988.”

“Are we going to find Suicune before my birthday…? It’s been a few years since I’ve spent it outside of home.” She stole a quick glance from Silver. “Would he be willing to stay?” Silver stayed in place, focused on breathing as slowly as possible, and keeping his eyes closed. She leaned against his shoulder, and reached out and placed her hand on top of his. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed that Silver’s eyes had widened, and realized that he was hiding face with his hand in order to avoid his blush from being visible.

“Good night, Silv.” Crystal hummed contentedly. Silver observed how her breaths became more relaxed after she had placed her eye mask again, with the train’s movements lulling her to sleep.

“Good night, Crys.” he murmured. Feeling the drowsiness win over his body, he rested his head on top of Crystal’s and let his fatigue take him into a dream.

Chapter Text

“Crystal!” a voice called out. It echoed and reverberated from wherever Crystal found herself to be. Come to think of it, where was she? Crystal looked around her and took in the landscape. Nothing but seemingly endless grassy hills in every direction. Woolly clouds floated above, decorating the iridic environment. 

“Crystal!!” the voice continued to whisper. She whipped her head in all directions, frustration building up as she couldn’t find the source of the voice. “Who’s calling me?” Crystal yelled back, scanning through the long blades of grass for a glimpse of anything. And then, she felt it. She noticed how goosebumps had begun to form on her arms and legs as she felt a mysterious, chilly breeze blow from behind. She noticed how the air had turned colder and foggier. And in her peripheral vision, she saw it.

Suicune ambled from behind Crystal, and stood in front of her; piercing, icy blue eyes staring back into her own. It looked as ethereal as she had remembered it to be, when Crystal encountered it for the first time several years ago. She shivered as she remembered how her first instinct had been to capture the legendary Pokémon. “Suicune…” she whispered, her breath almost as quiet as the rustling of the grass.

“Crystal, wake up.”

“Huh?”

Silver lightly shook her shoulders, yanking Crystal away from her mysterious dream. She snorted and snapped her eyes open, hitting her head on the seat in front of her in the process. Her vision was completely dark and she was worried the bump had damaged her eyesight somehow. “Silver? Where are you??” she reached out with her hands, trying to find his touch.

Silver gently lifted up her eye mask from her face, and she winced, adjusting to the harsh illumination of the train car. “You okay? No nightmares or anything?” he furrowed his brows.

“N-No! I’m all good, thank you. Are we in Saffron City?” Crystal began rubbing her forehead with her index and middle finger. “I want some coffee…” she grumbled, remembering how she forgot to drink some the night before.

“Yeah, the train is about to stop in a few minutes. We can get some coffee after we get off.” he began reaching for something in his jacket pocket, as Crystal folded her blanket back into her bag.

“Ooh, and maybe we can get some frozen yogurt for breakfast! I know a good….store….” Crystal’s words fell apart as she felt Silver wipe her mouth with his handkerchief. His personal handkerchief. He wiped precisely at the corner of her mouth…was he wiping off her drool? The thought of drooling in her sleep while leaning against Silver made her want to crawl into a ditch and stay there forever. She had long given up on trying to hide her flushed cheeks. 

“You okay?” he asked. Arceus, his morning voice wasn’t helping at all with Crystal’s efforts to regain her train of thought. Any sort of logic had been thrown out of the window long before. 

“Yeah,” she barely managed to get the words out as she swallowed a lump she didn’t know she had in her throat. “W-we should get going…” Crystal mumbled, slinging her backpack over her shoulder.

“Right..” Silver gathered his stuff and prepared to leave the train with Crys. She wasn’t completely sure if Silver was aware of the awkwardness of the situation, or if he was just as sleepy as she was.

As the train completely halted, other passengers wasted no time in getting their belongings and flooding the hallways in an effort to be the first ones to leave, giving Silver and Crystal no room to escape the aisle that they had found themselves trapped in. Seeing an opportunity to slip in, Silver gripped Crystal’s hand and pulled her to a small open spot in the horde of people. 

“I don’t want to leave you behind in a crowd like last time.” he muttered as he looked away from Crystal’s surprised, but pleased face. She squeezed his hand back, and gripped tightly to one of the sleeves of his jacket. Both trainers were glad neither of them could feel their sweaty palms through the fabric of Silver’s gloves.

With a few pushes, “excuse me’s”, and shoves, they had finally managed to step foot on the Magnet Train’s Saffron City station. Despite it being four in the morning, many people were already waiting on the platform for the train. Before they could be crushed by the incoming crowd, the two trainers squeezed their way out before they could get smothered by the multitude of people.

Catching their breaths, Silver decided to order some coffee for Crystal as she sat down on a bench and reviewed a map of Kanto from the station. She smiled gratefully as Silver handed her the cup of coffee, lending her his handkerchief to protect her from burning her hands. “Did you get yourself anything?” she asked, sipping and blowing on the top of the cup.

“Yeah, I bought a sandwich to snack on while we head to Vermillion.” He leaned over and looked at the map Crystal was studying. “Only 5 minutes to Vermillion City using our Pokémon, but we’d have to cross the sea to make it to Viridian…” he scratched his head. “What do you wanna do, Crys?”

Crystal hummed and continued to sip on her coffee to properly wake herself up. “It’ll be easier to go to Vermillion and grab all of the necessities we need and head to Viridian afterwards to rest for a little while.” she lifted up her sleeves and checked her watch. “Our train doesn’t leave until 6 p.m. so we’ll have plenty of time to do everything by then!”

“Sounds great, Crys. Let’s get going then.” Silver stretched on the bench and called out Honchkrow from his Pokéball. Crystal chugged the rest of the coffee and tossed the empty cup in a nearby trash can. 

As a chilly breeze of wind passed through the station, Crystal rubbed her legs, the only part of her body that wasn’t protected from the cold. She blew into her hands and continued rubbing her legs, but it wouldn’t stop her from forming goosebumps. Silver observed this, and offered her a hand to stand up. “We won’t do much walking, so you’ll be okay.” Crystal smoothed the folds and wrinkles on her yellow skirt and took Silver’s hand, letting him help hoist her up from the seat. “Thank you, Silver. I should have worn more appropriate clothing for late autumn weather…” she whispered as she called out Xatee.

“Don’t worry about it, it’ll get warmer during the day.” he politely smiled as he jumped on top of Honchkrow.

Vermillion City and its harbor came into view as Crystal and Silver landed on top of a lighthouse. Several colors of blue painted the beautiful ocean nearby, but a noticeable black stain floated on one section of the harbor. “The oil spill…” Crystal whispered. 

“Hey is that… Yellow ?” Silver squinted. 

“No way, where?” Crystal leaned over the railing of the lighthouse. Seeing as she was close to losing her balance, Silver gently pulled her back. She sheepishly smiled in return.

“Look, the floating Butterfree over there is holding up a person.” he pointed downwards towards the oil spill, and sure enough, Yellow was there, floating above the disaster.

“What’s she doing here?!” Crystal exclaimed. “Let’s go down there!! I’m having a little bit of trouble…um…holding down my skirt with the wind, anyways.” 

Silver coughed and after a pause, helped Crystal sit on top of Honchkrow behind him. “Hold on tight.”

Honchkrow dived from the lighthouse, and before making contact with the ground, he spread his wings and glided towards Yellow and her Butterfree, Kitty.

“Yellow!!” Silver called out. Yellow remained motionless, and Kitty hovered over the same space, seemingly not noticing the presence of the two trainers.

“Wait, Silver!! She’s concentrating on something right now.” Silver nodded and ordered Honchkrow to halt.

Upon closer inspection, Yellow seemed to be holding on to her fishing rod, but instead of regular string, it seemed that a large fishing net was attached to it instead. 

“Over there!” Crystal pointed to a floating object near the borders of the oil spill. It also happened to be attached to the net Yellow was holding. 

“Is that a Pokéball?” Silver asked, stunned over how expansive Yellow’s psychic powers had become.

“It surrounded the entire oil spill!! Did Yellow control the trajectory of the Pokéball all by herself..?” Crystal gasped. 

“Kitty, start going up!” Yellow shouted suddenly. Her eyes were closed before, but now, they’re wide open with her gaze focused straight ahead. Her irises glowed a deep, dark shade of green, different from her usually hazel colored eyes. Yellow kept her arms straight out as Kitty hoisted her upwards. Significant strain was shown on her face as she struggled to keep her arms upright.

“Is she cleaning up the oil spill…?” Crystal wondered. “Should we help her, Silver?”

“No, she’s rescuing the Pokémon who were contaminated by the oil spill!” Silver exclaimed, observing how the net had begun to wriggle and squirm.

“Now that I’m looking at it, Kitty isn’t using her strength to carry the net, that’s all of Yellow’s powers doing the work!!” Crystal covered her mouth with her hand, in awe of the strength her Senior was capable of. Silver nodded in agreement.

Suddenly, the roar of an angered Pokémon startled all three trainers, including Yellow, who’s psychic strength faltered for a small amount of time. The angry Dragonite cried out to its Dratini children who were being rescued by Yellow inside of the net.

“Silver!! Crystal!! That Dragonite thinks I’m kidnapping her children!! Take care of her while I lead these Pokémon to safety!” Yellow shouted as Kitty began flying towards the shore.

“On it!!” Silver and Crystal shouted in sync. 

Silver called out Kingdra and Crystal kicked Xatee’s Pokéball towards the Dragonite. 

“Xatee, use Psychic!” Crystal shouted as the Pokéball hurled at the furious Pokémon. The psychic bird suddenly launched from the Pokéball and landed a direct hit at the Dragonite. As the large Pokémon stumbled back in pain, Silver saw his opportunity.

“Kingdra, use Twister!!” he ordered. The Pokémon swiftly swam behind the Dragonite and further cornered the agitated Pokémon as it staggered forwards. Dragonite recovered quickly, and used Dragon Claw, but instead of aiming for Kingdra or Xatee, the Pokémon angrily lunged towards Honchkrow, where Silver and Crystal were still sitting.

“Honchkrow, fly up!!” Silver shouted. “Crystal, hold on!!” he carried Crystal in his arms from where she was sitting, much to her surprise, and jumped off of his Pokémon.

The Dragonite missed both Honchkrow and Silver and Crystal, who narrowly escaped her wrath, for now. 

“Xatee!!” Silver called out to Crystal’s Pokémon, and it rapidly picked up Crystal before she would have splashed into the ocean. Silver on the other hand, plugged his nose and fell into the water. Kingdra swam towards where Silver had landed, and helped him sit on top of her.

“Silver!! Are you okay?!” Crystal exclaimed. 

“Yeah!!” he shouted back, wiping his chin. “Honchkrow, use Wing Attack!!”

Before Honchkrow could land his attack, the sky seemed to rip apart as large masses of energy fell at the Dragonite, injuring it further. 

“Future Sight.” he whispered, marveling at the scene, and at Xatee’s strength. Silver looked up at Crystal, who was taking out one of her handmade Pokéballs from her pocket. She chose a Heavy Ball. 

Crystal balanced the Heavy Ball on her right foot, even bouncing it a little bit like a soccer ball but Silver scoffed knowing she was just showing off. Then, Crystal’s faced scrunched in concentration as she kicked the ball upwards, and launched a powerful kick at the Pokéball. In almost a split second, the Heavy Ball hit the Dragonite in between its eyes, and the large Pokémon was dragged inside the ball. 

Momentarily, the Pokéball floated in mid air as the Dragonite struggled to break free, but after three attempts, the Pokémon was caught. Crystal’s face relaxed as she floated down to retrieve her newly caught Pokémon. All Silver could do was stare with his jaw wide open.

“How did you manage to figure out Dragonite’s energy point?” he asked as Kingdra swam towards Crystal. That was a secret Kurt had taught him long before. 

She giggled in response. “Lucky guess?” 

He couldn’t believe her.

“Yellow! Crystal! Silver! Fellow Pokédex Holders! I’d like to express my gratitude for saving Vermillion Harbor once again.” Lieutenant Surge heartily shook the hands of all three trainers, a little too aggressively, they all thought. “I’d like to spoil y’all with free packets of Pokémon Snacks, on the house!” he laughed.

“Oh no, there's no need Lieutenant––” Yellow began, before being interrupted by Crystal.

“I’ll take 3 King sized packets if that’s okay!!” she beamed. 

“Well aren’t you enthusiastic!! Haha, that’s okay, I’m trying to find a way to get rid of these extra goods that accumulated due to the spill.” Lt. Surge cackled.

“Umm, Crys,” Silver subtly whispered. “Exactly how are we going to take these back to Violet City?”

Lt. Surge narrowed his eyes on Silver. “With the help of Sabrina’s Pokémon, of course! She offered her Pokémon’s teletransportation powers to aid with delayed deliveries.” 

“Oh wow!! That’s so sweet of her!!” Yellow smiled.

“You’re her student, huh? No wonder you’re able to handle that much power now, little girl! Much improvement from long ago.” Lt. Surge patted Yellow’s shoulder.

“Wait, Sabrina is your tutor?” Crystal gasped. “That’s amazing!!”

“It’s impressive how far you can control your telekinesis now, Yellow.” Silver acknowledged. “Do you still have your sleeping side effects?”

“Yup! I still get sleepy, but I only use energy drinks for emergencies like these, when I need my psychic powers the most.” Yellow giggled in response. She took out an energy drink from her pocket and chugged the rest in one go. “It helps calm me down.” she said with an almost crazed expression.

“...Ah.” Silver responded, raising an eyebrow. Crystal naively smiled, proud of Yellow’s psychic development.

“Hey, I have an idea! Let’s all go to my Uncle Wilton’s house!” Yellow exclaimed, getting a hold of Crystal’s and Silver’s hands. “Let’s go through one of the Pokémon’s psychic portals!”

“That sounds like a great idea, I’ll be able to catch the second episode of ProTeam Omega: Chronicles just fine!” Silver ecstatically mentioned.

“Oh! Before I forget, here’s a level 79 Dragonite by the way.” Crystal dropped the Pokéball into Lt. Surge’s hands,to his shock. “Make sure to reunite her with her Dratini children!!!” she smiled.

“Whuh- what- HUH?!!??” Lt. Surge exclaimed, hoping for an explanation, but all three Pokédex Holders seemed to have been dragged out by Yellow already once he looked up again.

“Uncle Wilton, I’m hooome!!~” Yellow cheered as she swung open the door of her shared house.

“Pardon the intrusion,” Crystal bowed. “We’re friends of Yellow.” She kicked the back of Silver’s calf, which made him swiftly bow right after.

“Crystal and Silver!! It’s so nice to meet you guys in person! Yellow’s told me so much about you two." He dragged a cooler with several beverages behind him. “Want a beer?”

“Umm, I’ll pass for now, but thank you so much for the offer, Mr. Wilton.” she smiled warmly at him, noticing how strikingly similar he looked to Yellow.

“I’ll take one.” Silver remarked, to Crystal’s astonishment.

“Uncle Wilton, check out all this money I got from freelancing!” Yellow seemed to glow as she emptied her pockets and all the coins noisily fell to the floor. Wilton, with his eyeballs almost popping out of his skull, bent down and proceeded to pick up the majority of the coins before his niece ushered him to the kitchen table to start on her tale.

Yellow lengthily explained how Crystal and Silver had encountered her during the rescue operation for the aquatic Pokémon, and how they managed to save the day. Crystal was sitting down on the couch next to Silver, keeping an eye on how much he drank. Silver seemed to space out, but upon Crystal’s closer inspection, he was keeping an eye on the grandfather clock in one secluded corner of the living room. He seemed hypnotized by it, but in reality, he was just waiting for the clock to strike 10 o’clock. 

“Kanto’s about 3 hours ahead of Johto, which means they should air the episode any time now.” Silver continued to stare intently at the clock, ignoring how his words slurred and combined with each other. 

“And then, Crystal and Silver teleported some Pokémon Snacks back home!!” Yellow pointed towards the couch. 

Crystal shyly waved her hand in front of her. “Oh, it wasn’t that hard to handle. I’m glad everything turned out fine in the end.”

“Crystal’s so cool!! With a few kicks she and Silver managed to get some snacks for their Pokémon back home!” Yellow mused.

“Oh, so you two are living together!” Fisherman Wilton leaned over the table, resting his chin on top of his hands.

“Y-Yeah!” Crystal beamed. “Come to think of it, today marks a week since you moved in, Silv!”

Silver hummed, taking another sip from the can. “Once again, thank you for letting me stay, Crys.” he responded timidly.

“Nicknames!! What a cute couple.” Wilton knowingly raised an eyebrow. “Ah, that takes me back. Reminds me of when I was so young.” he jokingly pulled out a tissue and dabbed at his eyes.

This comment caused Crystal to freeze in her place, and Silver to start coughing on his drink. “C-...COUPLE?!?” They both yelled at the same time. 

“C-Couple?! Me? Silver…? ….Nononono that’s not–”

“I’m sorry but that is not the case here.”

“I–. We’re just roommates!!”

“Yeah, roommates!!”

“Alright, alright, alright!!” Wilton reeled back as he saw the two Pokédex Holders angrily approach him. “You know I was just kidding, right?”

Crystal huffed and stormed back to the couch, her face beet red. Silver just glared at Wilton before quickly following Crystal’s path. He was blushing too. 

Uncle Wilton laughed and turned to Yellow to see what she thought of the situation, but saw she was slumped over the table, sleeping like a rock. He carried her in his arms and left her peacefully sleeping in the safety of her bedroom. Chuchu, her Pikachu, had been waiting on her bed and gratefully chirped at the return of her trainer.

“My apologies for causing this much trouble with our visit.” Crystal spoke up, twiddling her thumbs. “Thank you for having us over.” She stood up and tugged on Silver’s sleeve, encouraging him to get up as well.

“It’s no big deal, Yellow always knocks out when the effects of the energy drinks run out.” he shook both Crystal and Silver’s hand, leaving both of them holding hands when he let go. They quickly pulled away their hands and blushed when they noticed this. “Safe travels, you two.” he waved and grinned at the two Pokédex Holders as they smiled back gratefully.

Yellow’s new Pokémon, Abra, effortlessly teletransported Crystal and an inebriated Silver to the front porch of her home in Violet City. Even though Silver had missed the second episode’s airing in Kanto, there were still a few minutes to spare before the clock hit 10:30 in Johto’s timezone. Crystal was making popcorn in the kitchen while Silver drunkenly explained the plot of the first season, the movie, and the first special episode to her before they watched the second episode together. 

“So, like, the evil villain called the Demon Brioche was defeated by Commander Venusaur’s backup plan, despite the entire team not knowing their initial plan was going to fail!! In the movie adaptation though, they use the same initial plan twice , but that was because there was a different directory than the series.” Silver leaned back on the couch, and downed the last of what remained inside the beer can. “The Chronicle episodes are part of a separate timeline, I’m pretty sure. It’s a storyline I haven’t seen befooree….” he slurred.

Crystal carried the freshly made bowl of popcorn to the couch. “Hm, no wonder I didn’t understand the first episode. But I’m guessing you didn’t, either.” She set the bowl on the coffee table. “Maybe it’s an origin story.” she joked as the episode began.

Silver paused his rambling and stared at Crystal. “You know… you may be on to something.” 

Crystal met Silver’s stare, with fascination. “You think so?”

“...Yeah.” he tore his gaze away from Crystal and continued to watch the episode. 

Crystal wasn’t sure if it was her mind playing tricks on her, but she swore she saw Silver’s cheeks redden when he looked at her.

RING RING RING!!!

Crystal’s phone began to ring and vibrate, jumping all over the place on the table where she had left it. She reluctantly got up from the couch to check who was calling her, and choked on her breath when she saw Eusine’s photo pop up on her screen.

“Sorry, I have to take this call outside.” Crystal mumbled as she scurried towards the front porch. 

Silver turned on the HDMI capture to record the episode, and tiptoed to the front door, pressing his ear against the wooden barrier. 

“Hello, Eusine! It’s been a while.” Although he couldn’t see her, Silver was sure she was doing her best to maintain a cheerful smile on her face.

“Good evening, Crystal!! How are things going so far?” Eusine’s unwavering eccentricness could still be heard through the filter of the phone speaker.

“O-Oh, well, um, I’ve been doing my best to find Suicune, but…” Crystal’s voice began to falter.

“You know that’s not what I meant, silly! How are things in life going? A little birdie told me you have a new roommate.~” he teased. 

“Oh!” A pause. “Yeah, Silver’s been living with me for the past week. I don’t mind his company.”

Silver sighed in relief, pleased to hear he wasn’t a burden to Crystal.

“Crystal?” Eusine asked, his voice slightly more serious.

“Mhm?”

“Don’t push yourself too hard, okay?”

“I won’t.”

The call was over. Crystal seemed to stay in place, and Silver debated over whether he should walk outside with her or wait for her to go inside when she was ready. He picked the first option.

The door creaked open as Silver ducked under the door frame the same way he had done when first entering Crystal’s house. Crystal wiped her eyes and looked up at him, probably wondering why he followed her outside if he had to guess.

“You’re doing a good job.” he managed to say. If it weren’t for the almost complete silence between them, Crystal would have missed what he said.

She didn’t bother wiping off the other tear that fell down her cheek as she smiled up at Silver. 

Silver wasn’t sure if it was his emotions or the alcohol in his system taking control of his brain, but the hug he gave Crystal surprised both of them. Crystal’s mind raced with mixed feelings. Guilt? Happiness? What was this sensation she felt in her heart? His hug felt so genuine and comforting, it almost surprised her. She almost laughed at the thought of hugging Silver not feeling like hugging a rock.

Silver, almost regretting his actions, was about to pull away until Crystal returned the hug in a way that almost made him melt on the spot.

Her hug alone told Silver that she was grateful for his advice and company, and he hoped he would return his gratitude to her in the future.

The first snowflakes of the year fluttered towards the ground, and the ProTeam Omega: Chronicles episode continued to play, but the trainers did not notice, or seem to care if they did.

Chapter Text

Silver would prefer to spend his Monday mornings training his Pokémon under Lance, and strolling through Viridian Forest, but today, he was accompanying Crystal to a café to meet up with Eusine. If he promised he would be staying at Crystal’s house to help her with her work, then this would be one of the opportunities where he can demonstrate how much he wanted to assist her. Even so, 7:30 a.m. was an outrageously early time to meet up at a café in Goldenrod City.

The chalkboard menu at the entrance seemed to spill from so many options to choose from, but Silver decided to play it safe and order a hot chocolate. Perfect for the first week of December, he would tell Crystal later with a milk mustache on his face.

“I think I’ll just stick with a black coffee, for now.” Crystal yawned, dropping some spare coins in the tipping jar.

Silver continued to sip the remaining whipped cream of the hot chocolate, while scanning the interior of the café. Eusine wasn’t hard to spot, unsurprisingly due to his extravagant cape, and he was comfortably lounging in a discreet corner of the building, with lots of large plants seated on the window to his side. He seemed to be flipping through a binder with lots of pages; perhaps of information on Suicune.

As Crystal and Silver approached him, he immediately closed the binder shut and greeted them with too much energy for 7 in the morning.

“Crystal!! My dear friend, how have you been? And what a surprise! Silver is here too!!” he gushed. Eusine gulped down almost half of his mysteriously neon blue glass of…some sort of drink, and continued to talk. “This binder here is one of my most treasured possessions, besides the Clear Bell.”

He flipped the binder to face Crystal and Silver’s direction and began to describe each page with excruciating and almost concerning detail. “About ten years ago, Suicune was reportedly spotted in Johto by 9 people, 7 of them being Gym Leaders, not counting one former Gym Leader, in less than one week.”

“Does he have a job?” Silver whispered to Crystal. She kicked his shin under the table in return, with an unwavering grin plastered on her face. He did his best to suppress a yelp, and distracted himself by sipping on the rest of his hot chocolate.

“But for the past 9 years, Suicune has only been spotted 4 times! This isn’t a mere coincidence, fellow comrades, there has to be some sort of external factor that could have influenced this odd behavior!” Eusine clenched his fist, and chugged the rest of his glass.

“It’s refreshing to know that your enthusiasm for Suicune hasn’t wavered after all of this time.” Crystal smiled, continuing to drink from her coffee cup.

“How did you find out about Suicune?” Silver asked. Eusine, taken aback by his very specific question, falteringly chuckled and cleared his throat.

“There's an oddly personal reason behind it all. I haven’t really told anyone other than Morty during one of our * ahem* escapades but…I know you didn’t mean any harm by asking.”

“Wait, Morty?—” Crystal asked before being cut off by Eusine’s impassioned speech. Silver innocently blinked, not catching what Eusine had just hinted at.

“My grandfather, a very kind man, would take care of me during most of my childhood, and would tell me all sorts of extraordinary tales about the legendary Pokémon of Johto.” he smiled during his reverie. “He encountered Suicune once, when he was about the age of you two. All his life, he had been waiting to encounter the legend once more, but it couldn’t be.”

Eusine quickly rescued the situation, noticing how hesitant Crystal and Silver were to respond. “Alas, this dream of mine has been passed down unto my own lifetime, and I just hope to encounter it properly one last time, for my grandfather’s sake.”

“That was very touching, Eusine. Thank you for sharing this with us.” Crystal rapidly dabbed the corners of her eyes with a napkin. 

“I will do my best to assist Crys in finding Suicune.” Silver nodded, giving a comforting smile to the emotional man on the other side of the table.

“My deepest gratitude, trainers.” Eusine excused himself from the table, bowed and waved his cape, and jumped out of the open window, leaving Crystal and Silver to pay the check. Not that the drinks were expensive, but they were still slightly disappointed.

“I mean, he’s like twice our age.” Crystal sighed, swiping her credit card on the terminal.

“I knew those Suicune sketches wouldn’t be enough given the price he sold them for.” Silver shrugged his shoulders.

“Hey Silver? Can you help me pick one book from these boxes for the children at the Academy?” Crystal blew the dust away that was sitting on top of the cardboard boxes as she set it on the coffee table. Silver turned from the work desk and quizzically looked at the contents of the box.

“What’s this?” He flipped through one of the picture books. “Cinderella?”

Crystal tilted her head. “Rags to riches? Clock strikes at midnight? You know, Cinderella ?”

Silver continued flipping through the pages of the illustrated book, tracing his hands over the watercolor drawings. “How did the Rattata turn into Rapidash?” he asked, facing the book towards Crystal.

“Well, I’m not the person you should be asking. You should consult Cinderella’s fairy godmother about that.” she smiled. He continued to stare. That was when Crystal realized: Silver wasn’t familiar with the fairy tale.

“Uhh…how about this one: ‘Sleeping Beauty’!” She placed the worn book on his hands. “It’s pretty used, and the spine might need some fixing, but it’s still in great condition!”

“Hm.” Weavile jumped on top of Silver’s shoulder and took a peek at the book as well. “Why are we picking out books for the Academy?”

“Well, me and the Director have been discussing this for a while, and we want to organize a play for the children to enjoy during the holiday seasons!” She placed some books from the cardboard box into her tote bag. “I just wanted to see which ones people were the most familiar with.”

“I see.” Silver responded, busily scanning the contents of the book. “I like this one so far.”

Crystal opened the front door, and quickly buttoned up her coat as the chilly air spilled into the house. Silver hesitantly followed her out, his head still buried in the book. Weavile jumped from Silver’s shoulder to Crystal’s, chattering and chirping as she rubbed his chin.

Violet Town was decorated with snowfall from the day before. Lamp posts and mailboxes were sprinkled with snowflakes and slush, pine trees were adorned with glittering snow, preparing the town for a wonderful holiday season. The Pokémon Academy wasn’t so far from Crystal’s house, so she usually went walking, but because of the unusually cold weather, she wore a winter coat. She encouraged Silver to do the same, but they didn’t find anything his size in her mom’s closet, so he just wore his regular jacket.

“Hey…Crystal? Do you know what this is?” Silver lifted the book and pointed towards a particular illustration on the page. 

The prince and the princess were both locked into a kiss, and lots of drawn hearts surrounded the scene. Obviously, it would be expected to be shown in a children’s book, but Crystal couldn’t stop the deep blush from appearing on her cheeks. Silver raised an eyebrow.

“W-Well! Uhm.” Crystal managed to sputter. “A kiss. Th-They’re kissing.”

“I thought he was feeding her food to wake her up.” Silver frowned at the illustration.

“I’m sorry, WHAT?”

“Yeah, like wild Murkrow do.” he shrugged. “What’s the difference between that and kissing?”

“Well…” she started. “The Prince and the Princess care about each other very much…and that’s something you do with people you’re…very close to…” her voice was barely a whisper by the end of her explanation.

“Are we close?” Silver asked, with a hint of hesitance behind his usually stoic voice.

“As friends…I’d say we are.” Somehow, she managed to suppress her blush. “Kissing is something…people that are more than friends do…”

“What?”

“Welcome Crystal!! And Silver, as well!” The Director greeted both of them with a handshake and a twirl. “The kids are inside for today, it’s a little too cold for them.” he guided them both inside the lounge, past the kitchen.

What could she mean by more than friends? Like best friends? Are we not best friends? Silver’s thoughts raced inside his mind a mile a minute. I should ask Blue later. He looked over at Crystal who was already tying two pigtails in a ponytail and putting on her apron. He really couldn’t figure out what she was thinking, or why her face turned red very often.

At the sight of them, all the children cheered and flocked over towards the two trainers. “Crystal!!! Silver!!!”

“Are we gonna have a big wedding?”

“I wanna be the flower girl!!”

“Does he hold your hand?”

“Is Crystal mean to you?”

“Hey Director…what’s the meaning of all this?” Crystal huffed as she carried two of the children that had surrounded her.

“Dating rumors are natural for children to spread whenever someone of the opposite gender is mentioned.” he coughed. “The rumors may have been fueled even more ever since they learned you two have been living together. I am assuming it is for research purposes, yes?”

“Director!!!!” she stomped her foot. “ No, it is not like that and you know it.”

“Well, okay. But that’s not stopping the rumors…” he teased in a sing-songy voice as he twirled away. 

Crystal just sighed. He was right. If they further denied the “rumors” it would only fuel their questioning even more.

“Ow. Ow. Ow ow ow OW HEY WATCH IT!!!” Silver cried out as the much older kids began tackling him and pulling his hair.

“Silver, talk to them in a gentler tone.” She placed a hand on his shoulder and warmly smiled at him, but he could see there was irritation behind that facade.

“It’s not nice to pull people’s hair…kids.” Silver sighed as he placed the boy who had climbed on his back to the ground. 

The older kids began mocking his words before being glared at by Crystal. “He is right, you know. You wouldn’t want someone pulling on your hair as well, would you?” She placed her hands on her hips.

“Let's tell them about the Christmas play we plan on doing. It should calm them down, hopefully.” he smiled back at her. 

“You’re right, thank you.” She whistled and caught the attention of all of the boisterous children in the room. “Good morning, Academy. I hope everyone had a good night’s sleep! Me, Silver, and the Director will be making a huge announcement about what’s going to happen this Christmas!”

All the kids had sat on the rug and were paying full attention to Crystal’s enthusiastic voice and demeanor. Silver almost envied her. With just a flick of the wrist she could garner the attention of a room of kids that were seemingly uncontrollable just a few moments ago. 

“We will be doing a play for you all!! The staff here at the Academy will ensure it is an experience you all will never forget!” The group of children erupted into cheers and applause as talk about the upcoming play began to echo throughout the living room. 

“Excellent job, Crystal. Thank you for reading this announcement!” The Director twirled and shook Crystal’s hand. Silver patted her back.

“Crystal and Silver should be the prince and princess from the story!” one of the older kids shouted from behind the crowd of sitting children.

Both of them couldn’t stop the blush creeping up from under their cheeks upon the contact.

The rest of the younger kids squealed and clapped their hands, and began the dreaded chant Crystal had prayed the kids would never bring up. 

“Crystal and Silver, sitting on a tree! K-I-S-S-I-N-G!!!” the chorus began.

“We’re roommates!! ” Both of them shouted at the same time, which intensified the mocking, smooching noises the younger kids made. 

Crystal glanced at Silver, and she noticed it was a huge mistake. He was furiously blushing, his fists clenched, and then he looked at her. 

“Loooook, they’re both blushing!” a kid jeered. And just like that, the room control fell out of Crystal’s grasp.

“All right, children. Head to the crafts rooms while Crystal and Silver prepare lunch.” The director ushered the horde into a separate room, which left Crystal and Silver standing next to each other awkwardly.

Roommates. Just roommates. They repeated these thoughts in their minds almost like a prayer. The relentless teasing of the toddlers and children had made them self conscious of how they thought of the other. Just roommates. We’re just living together for work. 

They both found themselves preparing lunch in the kitchen together that afternoon, afraid to bring up any sort of conversation. 

“Can you pass the radishes, please?” Silver pointed towards the bowl residing next to Crystal's cutting board.

“Sure!” She placed it on his hands…and they both flinched as their fingers touched.

The bowl of radishes tumbled to the floor. 

“Oh my Arceus, I'm so sorry—” Crystal muttered as she kneeled down to pick up what had fallen.

Silver kneeled down to help as well, but accidentally smacked his forehead with Crystal's.

“Ow!”

“S-Sorry, about that, Crys.” Silver rubbed the growing red spot on his forehead. “Are you okay?”

“I'm fine…” she sighed, placing the bowl of radishes back on the counter.

They both prepared the meals for the children in silence.

The two trainers walked back home under the light snowfall, with no idea on how to start their conversation. What would they even talk about after those comments made about them? Crystal decided to bring this up.

“Hey…so, sorry about how awkward things got back at the announcement.” Crystal began kicking an icy rock in front of her, watching as it rolled in front of them. “They were just teasing, I'm sure they didn't have any harmful intent.” she sighed, the fog from her breath trailing behind her.

“It's..fine? I suppose…” Silver coughed, not expecting her to directly address the situation. “I haven't really had anyone other than Blue tease me about these sorts of things. You know…” he scratched the back of his head. “Of us courting each other.”

Crystal fumbled with her house keys and opened the locks to her house. “But how did you not know about…kissing?” she turned her face away to hide the redness blossoming on her cheeks.

Silver simply shrugged his shoulders in response. “Never heard about it.” He ducked his head under the doorframe.

“I see.” Crystal kicked off her winter boots and collapsed on the couch. Silver mindfully sat next to her at an appropriate distance.

“How much significance is there to kissing?” he asked.

“There are a lot of meanings…” Crystal started. She began to pet Bonee who had settled himself on her lap, waiting for more headpats from his trainer. “Family can kiss each other, to show they love and care for each other. On the cheek, forehead, nose, for example.”

“But the prince and princess in the story were kissing on the mouth. They aren't family, either.”

“That is because…kissing on the lips means they were courting each other…”

“Oh… oh. ” Silver began to nervously fidget with the fingers of his gloves. “...Is that what..”

“The children were talking about?” Crystal leaned back on the couch. And painfully sighed. “Yes…”

“Huh. That's weird.” Silver crossed his arms. “Why were they talking about us on a tree and kissing?”

“Because they think we're dating.” Crystal pinched the bridge of her nose.

“I know that, but why on a tree of all places?”

“You've got a point there…”

Both Crystal and Silver remained sitting on the couch, reflecting on what had happened throughout the day. Eventually, Bonee got bored once he saw that Crystal had spaced out and would not pat him anymore, so he jumped off the couch and retreated towards her bedroom. A clock on the kitchen wall could be heard ticking…

“Crystal, do roommates kiss each other?” Silver suddenly asked.

All the color suddenly rushed to her face as she properly realized what her roommate had just asked her. Silver noticed this.

“N-No! Not like…on the mouth but…somewhere else, like on the cheek! You told me people do it to show that they care so…”

“I’m not sure… I haven’t kissed anyone before…” Crystal hugged a pillow that was nearby.

A few beats of silence passed as they both shuffled in their seats, afraid to make eye contact. And all of a sudden, with no warning prior, the house began to shake as a powerful whirring noise could be heard approaching from outside. Silver grabbed on to the armrest of the couch, nervous about what was going on. Crystal on the other hand…

“There’s no way…” she groaned. She quickly got up and walked towards the window, peeking through the closed blinds, and sure enough, her mom’s customized Azumarill helicopter had landed on her front yard.

“Is that your mom?” Silver gasped. “Did you let her know I’m staying in her room?!” 

Crystal’s face paled with horror. “Hide!! I’ll try to find a way to explain it to her! She’s gonna be so mad…” she began pushing Silver up the stairs, and nudged him to hide inside her mom’s closet in the bedroom.

“Crys, honey, I’m home~!” Mirei called out as she and her Azumarill hopped off of the helicopter. “I got some cute accessories from Sinnoh you might like!!” 

“Mom!! Welcome back!” Crystal ran up and hugged her mom. And petted her Azumarill of course. 

“Well you’re being enthusiastic today. Is there something you’re hiding or what?” she joked, letting out a laugh. 

“I- Uh–. N-No!” she stuttered. 

“Tsk tsk. Crystal, you are my daughter. You’ve never been good at lying, I know something’s up but you don’t want to tell me. Is it a boy or what?” she cackled, skipping ahead and walking inside. Crystal did not follow; she couldn’t. 

It’s not a boy, definitely not in that way…But it still is a boy…

Mirei halted and suddenly gasped. She swiveled on her heels to face Crystal, whose face was plastered with the most obvious look of shock. “Oh my Arceus, it’s a boy isn’t it?! After so many years of dreaming, my little Crys has finally grown up!!” She began to clap her hands and jump up and down.

“Mom, what are you talking about?” 

“Well, tell me everything? How did you two meet, who talked first, does he treat you well, EVERYTHING!!” Mirei propped her arms up on the coffee table and rested her face on her hands, eager for Crystal to share anything. 

“I’m not dating anyone, Mom.” Crystal facepalmed and rubbed her eyes.

“WHAT?!!” she suddenly shot up from the couch and began shaking her hands. “Don’t tell me he’s being complicated about these sorts of things. Who is he and where can I deal with that brat?”

“Mom listen it’s not like–”

“I’ll go get my trusty baseball bat from my room.” she huffed, making her way up the stairs with her fists grasping her frilly skirt.

“Wait, mom, a baseball bat?! Are you serious?!” Crystal tugged on her mom’s pastel cardigan sleeves, but Mirei was stronger. “WAIT, UPSTAIRS?!?!”

But it was too late, the extravagant woman had already burst through the door, which had startled Silver who was already dozing off inside of the walk-in closet. Mirei had stopped in her tracks once she saw the laundry basket filled with foreign clothing that definitely was not her own. A Pro-Team Omega poster was asymmetrically hung up on the wall, next to the nightstand, where a Second Generation Pokédex rested, charging. Weavile was curled up on the bed, asleep, but woke up when Mirei had walked in. “Hey Crystal…has your boyfriend been staying in my room?” 

“N-No and yes.” Crystal stopped under the doorframe. “No, as in Silver is not my boyfriend, and yes, he has been living here to help me with a current capturing commission.” 

For some reason, Silver felt his stomach unease after he had heard what Crystal had said through the door. I am not her friend? What could she mean by saying we are not friends…? Does she mean that we’re more than… He slapped his face with his hands, trying to drain the blush from his cheeks. He hated this feeling; Silver had been experiencing it more often ever since he had moved in with Crystal. It made him feel pitiable.

“Well, where is he?” she placed her arms on her fists, and began tapping her foot. “And how much progress do you have on this commission so far? Don’t tell me both of you have been getting distracted while leaving this poor, poor customer without their desired Pokémon!?”

“I’m here.” Silver opened the door, which made Mirei shriek and jump. 

“NO way, oh my Arceus!! Waitwaitwaitwait, let me guess your name. Hrmmm…” she sauntered around Silver in a circle, inspecting him up and down. “Gold, is it?” she snapped her fingers, as if she had cracked the code to ancient hieroglyphs at the Ruins of Alph, but couldn’t contain her laughter. “I’m just messing around, boy, I know you’re Silver!!”

Silver felt a weird pang in his chest. “Nice to meet you, Mrs…”

“No need for formalities! You can call me Mirei.” she vigorously shook his hand. Her overly decorated acrylic nails dug into his skin, and Silver had no way to tell if she was intentionally hurting him, or if she was actually happy to meet him.

“Mom, are you planning on staying for the night? We don’t have an extra room…” Crystal asked, leaning on the doorframe. 

“Oh yeah, I’ll be staying for tonight. I’ll leave tomorrow though. Just gotta refill my helicopter’s gas tank.” She looked over at Silver who was nervously shifting in place. “Oh and, I’ll be sleeping on the couch if you want! I don’t really mind.” Mirei chirped as she made a peace sign and winked at Silver.

“No, it’s fine…Mirei. I can move my stuff downstairs, it’s fine–” he was silenced by Mirei’s finger being placed over his mouth, shushing him.

“Tsk tsk tsk. I may dress ‘immaturely’. as my daughter may describe sometimes, but I am grown enough to know that no guest of mine will be sleeping on a couch!! Crystal?” she wiggled her finger at Crystal, and she promptly walked to her mother’s side. “Sneaky rascal, why did you neglect to bring up that you have an inflatable mattress under your bed?”

“I-I do?” Crystal questioned. She really had no idea she had one there.

“I got it for you two Christmases ago! Don’t tell me you forgot already…” Mirei sighed. “Have you even opened it out of the packaging?”

“I didn’t even know I had one!!”

“Liar liar, pants on fire , Crystal. Excuses are lame. You two will work together and make some progress on that commission tonight , you hear me?”

“Yes ma’am.” both Silver and Crystal sighed.

It was bound to happen. Crystal knew that at some point, her mom would return home occasionally from her travels, bring some presents from a faraway region, complain about her “tacky” lab coat, drink some sake, and depart after a few days, but she had completely forgotten all about that possibility once Silver came into the picture.

Have I really been distracted by all of this hassle due to Silver moving in? He got settled in two weeks ago, I have no idea why it’s still messing up my work schedule so much!! Crystal placed her head in her hands and groaned. I just need more coffee…

Silver then placed a hand on her shoulder, making her jump.

“Hey! Don’t scare me like that.” she pleaded as she placed a hand over her chest.

“Sorry! I just noticed that you’ve been spacing out, and you rested your elbow on the letter K on your keyboard…” he scratched his head. “There's three rows filled with the letter K on the official document.”

“Oh man, I didn’t even notice.” Crystal groaned as she leaned back on the comforters on her bed. Silver sat cross-legged on the chair in front of her vanity desk, which had been tweaked into an improvised work desk.

“Has there been anything occupying your mind lately? You seem more distracted than usual.” Silver swiveled the chair around to face Crystal on her bed.

She wanted to say it was him she was thinking of. That Silver had miraculously turned into one of Crystal’s main concerns or priorities. But why? He had already recovered from his cold long ago, and he was turning 22 in just a few weeks. He could take care of himself, clearly. He’d survived through so much… and yet…

“It’s just a small migraine, don’t worry about it.” she beamed back.

“I just want to make sure you’re doing okay.” Silver kindly returned the smile with a bit of concern in his tone of voice.

3 consecutive thuds could be heard from the room adjacent to Crystal’s. “Get back to work, kiddos! No more dilly dallying!! You wouldn’t want to work during the holiday seasons would you? Chop chop!” Mirei yelled from her bedroom.

They both sighed. It would be a very, very long night of work for both of them.

Chapter Text

And it was a very long night indeed, at least for Silver. It was unclear if it was Mirei constantly yelling through the thin walls of the house telling both Crystal and Silver to focus on the project, or the fact that the third Pro-Team Omega special episode would air the following day that gave the two trainers the motivation they needed to receive some anonymous tips from a foreign trainer on Suicune’s approximate location. Crystal decided that that would be enough research for today, so they suggested they both head to bed.

That was an hour ago, and long after Crystal had fallen asleep, Silver still found himself unable to fall asleep. He felt very guilty thinking about this, but he couldn’t help but admire his roommate’s bedroom. Frankly, it was the first time he’d been there ever since he moved in; from the printed photographs of her family and friends on the mini bulletin board perched on her desk, to the glow-in-the-dark stars and planets pasted on the ceiling, everything just screamed Crystal.

An embarrassing memory from a few years back began to escape the back of his mind and involuntarily invade his train of thought.

Back at Team Rocket’s headquarters in the Sevii Islands, the impromptu birthday celebration dedicated to Silver’s 18th birthday proved to be awkward for everyone despite the few days of preparations the workers at Team Rocket had. Ariana noticed the lack of conversation between her boss and the would-be heir to the throne, and decided to take matters into her own hands.

“So, Silver!” she began. Her smirk faltered as she noticed Silver groan, but continued as she saw he was paying attention. “Anything new going on in your life? Like you know, girls–”

“No.” was the response from Silver.

“Well, um…how are things with that friend of yours, that pigtailed girl, what was her name?” Ariana tapped her lips with her fingers, thinking deeply about it, or at least pretending to. “Christine? No, Crystal, was it?”

“Why would you want to know, you nearly killed her!” Silver growled, crushing the red plastic cup filled with fruit punch. Giovanni noticed how upset his son had become at the mention of the event, and shot a glare at the Executive. Her confident smirk did not back down, as she now saw a reason to tease him.

“I noticed how… how should I put this, close you two were when you came to her rescue.” Ariana snapped open her fan and began to hide her playful expression as she fanned herself.

“What are you implying?” Silver hissed through gritted teeth, a tinge of red blossoming on his cheeks.

“Well, I’m just wondering, how are things between you two after that touching conversation?” she gushed.

Silver leaned back against the couch, running his hand through his hair. “Well I have no idea what you want me to tell you.” he sighed. “I mean, we do have some sleepovers along with Gold, and we all hang out at the Goldenrod Mall sometimes. I guess you could say all three of us have been hanging out more than before.”

A dissatisfied sigh could be heard from Ariana as she stood up to get more fruit punch from the table. 

“Silver…my son, I’m glad you’ve been ‘hanging out’ with your friends more often, despite their…hatred towards our organizations and its goals.”

For some reason, a conversation he had with Crystal a few years back replayed in his mind during that moment.

“As long as Team Rocket is around, they’ll never be able to study, or play, or grow up in safety. I have to do something to help put a stop to Team Rocket! That’s my decision.” 

“I…I spend time with them because…they know what is best for the future, and I want to make sure that is possible, even if it means a future without Team Rocket.” Silver explained. “I’ve fought alongside them to combat evil, and…I wouldn’t exchange them for anything in the world.”

“Silver,” Executive Proton began to say. “A position in Team Rocket could mean a comfortable and safe lifestyle for you.”

“So this is what this is all about.” he had thought to himself at that moment.

“I’ve decided that a world without Team Rocket would mean that everyone could have a shot at having a comfortable and safe lifestyle.”

Slow clapping could be heard from the door to the room. A Team Rocket grunt was the one at the door. “What a formidable speech! I’m really impressed. Now let's get out of here.” the grunt winked, and took off their costume, revealing themselves to be Blue, the Evolver, in the flesh.

“An infiltrator!!” Ariana exclaimed.

“Sis!” Silver exclaimed, quickly running to her side.

“Blue…” Giovanni growled as he called out his Beedrill. 

“Kadabra, use Teleport, would you, sweetie?” Her Pokémon quickly obeyed, whisking the two siblings away from the headquarters that had suddenly turned against Silver despite the party they had thrown.

Silver opened his eyes and noticed he was back in his room at Gold’s house. Blue had her hands on her hips, examining every corner of his room. “Oh this is niiiice.” she complimented, looking at the mountain of printed photos of Silver with Gold and Crystal on different occasions. She picked up a photo, one of the trio having fun at the amusement parks at Violet City.

“Aw, this is so cute!!” she cooed.

“That was two years ago,” he snatched the photo from her hands and set it back on his desk, along with the others. “We haven’t gone there in a while.”

“Oh…why?” she questioned, plopping down on his bed. 

“I’m not sure what happened, but Crystal and Gold haven’t been getting along recently.” he sighed, taking a seat next to her.

“Come to think of it. How often has Crystal asked you two to help out at the Academy?” 

“Not often. She asks me for help more than Gold though. I’ve noticed she’s been asking me less frequently though.”

“Ohh, maybe she’s avoiding you ‘cause she likes youuuuuuuuu~” Blue playfully teased, poking his shoulders.

“Okay, where did you get that from?” Silver dragged his hands over his face.

“Hey, are you blushing?” she tugged his hands away from his face, but he resisted pulling back as well.

“I assure you that I am not.”

“AWWW, Silver’s got a little CRUSH!!!~~” she yelled at the top of her lungs, definitely intending for Gold to hear.

And it did work, since Silver could hear footsteps approaching as Gold ran to his room.

“He’s whAT?!” Gold huffed, out of breath as he leaned on the doorframe to Silver’s borrowed room.

“Blue here is accusing me of wanting to start a courtship with Crystal.” he groaned.

“Translation, please?” Gold whispered to Blue.

“He’s desperately trying to deny that he likes Crystal but by doing so he basically confirmed he does actually like her.”

Gold snorted, and slapped a hand over his mouth. “Crystal, really? That Super Serious Gal?!”

“No…No it’s nOT true!” his voice cracked in embarrassment.

“It’s nOT it’s nOt true, did you hear that, Blue?” Gold mocked.

“Okay it’s not funny anymore, knock it off.” Blue scoffed as she smacked him on his back.

Silver woke up sitting straight up in the inflatable mattress, out of breath, and in a cold sweat. He wasn’t sure why his dream fused with a memory suddenly ended when his friends were talking about Crystal, but he wasn’t willing to think about it any longer. He had begun to recognize why the weird fluttering in his chest occurred and Silver was more than willing to prevent it from happening further. 

“Oh, look! He’s awake! Crys, he’s awake now!!” Mirei peeked into her daughter’s room from the hallway and excitedly ran down the stairs.

The realization hit him like a ton of bricks. Silver was still in Crystal’s room. How long had he been asleep for? He sat up and folded away the mattress back under Crystal’s bed, and quickly escaped his roommate’s territory despite stumbling over laundry baskets and plush Pokémon. Silver glanced at his reflection on the full length mirror that hung on the door to Crystal’s room.

Hair sticking out in all directions, with a few tangles around the tips. Eye bags were very prevalent; Silver rubbed his eyes as soon as he noticed this. He blushed as he saw his sleeping shirt was barely covering his elbow, so he tugged it up again. Mismatching socks as well, but thankfully his sweatpants were 2 sizes too big for him so they covered them for the most part. He sighed and opened the door to head towards the kitchen regardless; he couldn’t avoid breakfast even if he wanted to because of his appearance.

Mirei was ravaging through a stack of pancakes, continuously pouring chocolate syrup every time she had broken through a layer. Crys was happily flipping pancakes on the stove, humming to the songs that played on the tiny blue radio that sat next to the window.

“Oh, ifs Filver!” Mirei exclaimed in between bites. She swallowed and urged Silver to sit next to her as Crystal set a stack of pancakes on Silver’s plate.

“Morning Silv!” Crystal smiled. “Hopefully you like the pancakes I made this morning.”

“I’m sorry for waking up late, I didn’t want you making breakfast all alone…” he sighed, poking at the pancakes with his fork.

“Stop fussing or I’ll take some from your plate, too!” Mirei huffed. “My daughter made these, you better be grateful!”

“Yes ma’am!” Silver cautiously picked off a piece of the pancake from the top and took a bite… “This is good!” he hummed as he continued to bore through the first layer of the pancake tower.

“Chocolate, or Caramel?” Crystal handed the two syrup flavors in front of Silver. 

“Caramel, please.” he bashfully smiled.

“I didn’t know you were a ‘Caramel syrup on their pancakes’ type of guy.” Mirei observed, already washing the remains of her breakfast that were left in the plate on the sink.

“I dunno, I don’t think it adds much. The pancakes were already good on their own.”

Mirei wiggled her eyebrows and playfully jabbed her elbow into her daughter’s side. “Mom, cut it out.” Crystal hissed. 

Silver happily continued to tear through the pancake tower. “For some reason, it has the faint taste of Oran berries. It’s very obscure though, and I like that. Not too obvious.”

“You noticed!” Crystal sat down in front of Silver in the kitchen island. “I thought Mom was gonna say something but she was too busy drowning her stack of pancakes with the diabetes in a bottle.” 

“Well, I, wh–” Mirei crossed her arms and pouted. “That’s not fair! If you had told me they had Oran berries I wouldn’t have put so much chocolate syrup on them.”

“But you always put chocolate syrup on your pancakes.”

Chumee approached Mirei with the leftover Oran berry pancake batter, and Bonee exclaimed from the kitchen counter, pointing to the waffle maker that sat in the corner.

“You may have won this battle, Crys but–”

“‘You’ll win the war?’ Very funny, ha ha.” she responded back, while also taking a piece from Silver’s pile of pancakes.

Crystal relished in the few peaceful moments she’s had ever since taking Eusine’s commission, but Silver interrupted her reverie. 

“So, the anonymous tip revealed a sighting in Blackthorn City. What can we do about that?” Silver wiped his mouth as he placed his empty plate on the sink.

“I’ll just call Eusine to tell him where the approximate location is.” She stretched in her chair and yawned. “We have to worry about that play we’re going to be participating in next week.”

“Sounds like you kiddos have a lot of work to do, huh?” Mirei rested her chin on her hands as she sat across Crystal and Silver.

“It pays the bills.” Crystal shrugged her shoulders. “Fortunately Professor Oak doesn’t leave much work for me and Senior Green to do during the holidays. There’s not much research that is able to be done due to the majority of Pokémon going into hibernation, anyway.” 

“Well that’s good…” Mirei analyzed both trainers carefully before standing up and grabbing her overly decorated backpack from her room. 

“You’re leaving already, Mom?” Crystal turned around to face her mom who had been going up the stairs.

“I know, honey. I’ll be back by Christmas, fortunately! Just gotta run some quick errands in Hoenn. It’s warmer over there, and it won’t harm my helicopter’s engine as much as it does here. ‘Cause y’know, no snow.” the woman giggled. She approached Silver with a stride full of purpose.

“Take care of my daughter, ‘kay? You’re a good guy.” she bent over to see Silver eye to eye, and playfully tousled his hair. Silver was too embarrassed to make eye contact.

“Mom..? What was that about?” Crystal creased her eyebrows as she saw Silver avoid her gaze and swallow out of nervousness.

“Nothing! I was just telling Silver that I approve.” Mirei skipped towards the front door and plucked her helicopter keys from her pocket.

“Approve of what?!” Crystal caught up with her mom at the front door. Silver stayed behind, rotating his chair to look at the mother and daughter exchanging words.

“Chicken butt.” Mirei burst into a fit of giggles. “Nothing, nothing, I’m just saving you some time for later!”

“What??” Crystal groaned. “I don’t get you sometimes.”

Mirei placed her hands on her hips before tugging her daughter into an embrace. “I don’t get how you don’t get things sometimes, silly!” Mirei continued to hug her daughter despite her muffled complaints, but eventually reciprocated after a few moments.

“I love you, Mom.” Crystal waved goodbye to her mom, who had cheerfully climbed onto her helicopter. Mirei’s Azumarill waved bye from the small passenger window as well. Silver found the courage to put on his slippers and stand next to Crystal despite the freezing temperatures of December mornings and waved goodbye to Mirei as well.

“Right back at you, Crys.” the woman winked and turned on the engine of the helicopter. 

The blades slowly rotated before picking up speed, and before they knew it, the large blue Azumarill helicopter transformed into a tiny speck in the sky as it soared away into the gray morning. The trees belonging to the neighbors continued to sway despite the absence of the wind, but eventually died down. Crystal was more than ready to head back inside, but Silver reached out and held her wrist, as if he knew what she was planning to do. She decided to stay outside for a little moment longer. Their fingers intertwined as they held hands, and swung them back and forth. 

“Because it’s really cold outside, and no one likes cold hands. It’s to preserve warmth, of course. Besides, it’s stuff friends do.” 

“Your mom’s really nice.” Silver smiled, still looking towards the direction the helicopter had headed towards. “Hopefully she does make it in time for Christmas.”

“I hope so too.” she exhaled, watching the fog escape her lips. “Maybe she’ll get you something for your birthday on the 24th.” She didn’t need to face Silver to see his reaction as she felt the pattern in the hand swinging had slightly delayed.

“You remember my birthday?” Silver’s breath hitched, and he internally kicked himself for his mortifyingly flustered response.

Crystal gave a half-suppressed laugh in return. “It’s embarrassing to say out loud, but I was going to give you a present without telling you.” She looked down at her feet and her face reddened. “That is, if you’re staying for Christmas.”

“Of course I will!” Silver said, a little too enthusiastically he’d later recall. “I-I mean, if you were planning on giving me a present, I will do my best to find one for you too.” He turned around to face Crystal, who was still staring at the dirt sprinkled with snow.

“Will it be a surprise too?” It was now Crystal’s turn to stand face to face with Silver. She took a step back and blushed when she noticed that they were standing a little too close, she’d later recall.

“Of course,” he smiled. 

They both stood there for a while, laughing and smiling despite their socks becoming soggy due to the slush they were standing on. 

The night before the play was to be presented in the Pokémon Academy happened to be on the same day the 3rd episode of the Pro-Team Omega mini-season was going to air, and Silver couldn’t be any more excited. All that morning, he had spent his time reviewing his lines for his role as the Sleeping Beauty (the kids had voted for this, and both him and Crystal knew it was impossible for them to go against what the audience wanted) and perfecting the cardboard tiara he had made while Crystal worked on her cardboard sword. She was to be the knight in shining armor in the story.

As soon as the sun had set over the horizon, however, Silver dropped all of his craft supplies and began to prepare bucketfuls of microwave popcorn, not before receiving reprimands from Crystal, who was still working on the Pokémon’s costumes.

“Hey, get back here! Feraligatr and Xatee still need costumes for their roles as the Villainess and the Dragon!!” she huffed as she saw Silver comfortably settle on the couch. Crystal creeped up behind him and lightly tugged on his earlobe. “Those costumes aren’t going to make themselves. Your Pokémon still needs some wings!”

“Ouch, that hurts!” Silver reached a hand towards his ear, but Crystal swiftly released her grip. “That’s an insult to Feraligatr. He looks similar to a dragon already.” he patted the empty space beside him, inviting Crystal to take a small break and watch the show as well.

“Well…fine.” 

Crystal gave in and grabbed a blanket that had been previously tossed over the mountains of binders that had piled up in her living room. A few weeks beforehand, she would have felt mortified over having people see the conditions that she lived in, but for some reason, Silver hadn’t spoken a word about it. Her cheeks tinted as she settled next to Silver with the blanket lazily placed over them.

“Do you have your lines memorized already?” Crystal asked, while tossing popcorn into her mouth. 

“For the most part, yeah. But I can just make some up on the spot. I already know how the story is gonna go.” he shrugged, dousing his bowl of popcorn with a bit of hot sauce.

Crystal chuckled a little bit. “And you don’t mind wearing a dress and a cardboard tiara for about 20 minutes?”

“Don’t even mention it.” Silver dragged his hands over his face. “I’m sure Bonee, Chumee, and Weavile will steal the show, though.”

The three Pokémon were assigned to be Sleeping Beauty’s fairy godmothers.

“You’re right…” she yawned, slightly leaning against Silver’s shoulder.

“Look who the sleepy one is now.” 

“Um, excuse me?” Crystal whipped her head around.

“Nothing…” Silver pretended to pay attention to the episode.

Crystal’s eye twitched before she pounced on top of Silver, prepared to sink her fingers in his hair, but his lightning-fast reflexes caught her, and unfortunately for her, his upper body strength overpowered hers. For a moment, it was a battle of physical strength between the two, both of them grunting as they tried to topple each other over, before Crystal lifted both of her feet onto the couch and found a favorable position to squat in order to counter Silver’s strength.

“So you’re completely confident in having memorized all of your lines, huh?” Crystal taunted as she trapped Silver on top of the couch.

“Well…there is one part…” he whispered, his voice barely audible.

“Huh?” Crystal tilted her head.

“Nothing.” he immediately averted his gaze away from Crystal’s puzzled complexion, oozing with curiosity as she became confused at his flustered response.

“No, wait, tell me! I want to know!” she grabbed the collar of Silver’s jacket and tugged him towards her face, their noses touching.

His eyes widened with shock as he pulled back, blushing. “It’s…um…”

“Well, we should start practicing anyway. Even if it's for a kid’s play, it’s important to make sure we don’t mess up and stay in character.”

“Crystal…”

“I’ve already practiced the choreographed fight scene with your Feraligatr, and the other stuff…” she began to hesitate as she suddenly remembered the only part both of them haven’t practiced with each other at all. “...and you know…the rescue scene…and…”

“The…”

“Kiss scene.” they both murmured. Crystal suddenly became aware of their position which was exactly like the one that was described in the story; the Sleeping Beauty, laying down on the bed with the Prince on top of her, ready to kiss her and break her curse. She began to blush as well.

“We should start practicing anyway.” Crystal’s previous statement now turned into another embarrassing memory she would definitely be thinking about before bed.

Silver nervously swallowed the lump in his throat and winced his eyes closed. “One on the cheek will suffice.”

Crystal relaxed the grip she had on Silver’s collar, and steadied herself on top of Silver by placing her arms on the couch cushions.

Silver patiently waited, eyes still closed, but visibly nervous as he tried not to make a lot of movement by breathing. His hands strictly stayed close to his sides, clinging and wrinkling his jacket as he anticipated what was going to happen next.

Crystal was sure her face couldn’t get any hotter until he noticed how flustered and shy Silver had become. She couldn’t believe what she was doing when she carefully leaned towards Silver’s cheek and…

As soon as Crystal’s lips made contact with his skin, she instantly pulled away as if she had burned herself, and placed her hand on top of her mouth, almost in disbelief. Silver, not noticing he had tensed up until now, finally relaxed as soon as he felt the curiously pleasant sensation on his left cheek. The feeling lingered as he gingerly placed his fingers over the spot where Crystal had kissed him, eyes still closed. 

Crystal suddenly yelped as she became aware that she was straddling Silver’s lap, and stumbled off the sofa at lightning speed. “W-Well, at least we have all of our lines down,” she stammered, smoothing the wrinkles of her skirt. “I-I…I hope everything goes well tomorrow.”

“S-Same here…” Silver whispered as he sat up on the sofa, reaching for the remote to turn off the long-forgotten episode that had been playing.

For a moment, Crystal was unsure of where to sit, so she sat on the floor at first, then stood up and sat next to Silver on the sofa but began to blush in embarrassment while recalling what she had done a few moments before. Silver kept his eyes looking straight ahead towards the empty TV screen, afraid to make any movement at all as he held his breath. He felt the cushion next to him sink as Crystal sat cross legged next to him, nervously fidgeting with her bangs. He internally cursed as he felt the temperature rise in his face again.

RING RING RING!!

The sudden noise startled both Crystal and Silver from their trances. Crystal immediately rushed towards the kitchen where she had left her phone and picked up the call. Silver in the meantime placed a hand over his chest; a futile attempt to get his heart to stop beating so fast. He looked over his shoulder and saw Crystal pacing in the kitchen with an unprecedented look of concern etched on her face.

“Yes, Director. I see. Okay. I understand.” Crystal spoke into the phone.

Silver couldn’t make out what the situation was based on the vague phrases he heard from his roommate. When Crystal hung up, he placed his hand on her back and tucked her bangs behind her ear.

“It seems like the weather is only going to get worse from here. The Director suggested we get to the Academy right now before the snowstorm settles on this side of Johto.” she explained, setting her phone inside her lab coat pocket. “I can carry the costumes just fine. Make sure to bring the other stuff too.”

“I’ll take care of the cardboard weapons and backdrops.” Silver offered, headed towards the corner of the living room where the plastic bags containing the items were stored.

Crystal looped the bag with the costumes under her arm and handed Silver his jacket as she wrapped her scarf comfortably around her neck. Silver opened the door for Crystal and ensured all locks were set in place as they both headed outside into the chilling weather.

“We didn’t forget anything, did we?” Crystal yelled over the roaring snowstorm. She couldn’t really tell where Silver was until he hooked his arm with hers and steadied her footing.

“Only our Christmas presents, but that isn’t until two days.” he replied, having difficulty treading through the knee-deep slush.

“Wait, we have to go back! I had your birthday present ready!” Crystal turned around sharply and almost lost balance before Silver caught her arm and gripped her by the shoulders.

“It’s okay, I don’t mind celebrating it a day late. What’s most important is that the kids have fun, okay?” Silver began tugging Crystal’s hand towards the direction of the Academy. “It’s a good thing we’re going right now instead of later. Honchkrow can still fly in this weather.”

The bird Pokémon was called out and easily took flight. Honchkrow grabbed both bags with its talons, and Silver hopped on its back and extended a hand towards Crystal, who had begun to shiver in the freezing temperatures.

She whispered a thank you as she clasped Silver’s hand and hoisted herself up to sit in front of him for more warmth. Silver rested his chin on top of Crystal’s shoulder and enveloped his arms around her waist. It took a second for Crystal to realize that it was because he needed balance in order to stay on top of Honchkrow.

Or so she thought.

Honchkrow’s sudden landing on the roof of the Academy startled the kids inside for a bit, but after the Director had passed out their early Christmas presents to everyone, the children seemed to be more excited and relaxed as the clock grew nearer to midnight. On rare occasions such as Christmas Eve, the Director allowed the kids to stay up late for the annual holiday play.

“But I figured now that you two are here, it wouldn’t hurt to start the play early, so I hope both of you are okay with this unprecedented change,” the Director whispered to both trainers after calling them aside. “It seems like we’ll have to cut down on electricity use tomorrow due to the storm, so right now would be the best time to perform.”

“I see no reason to oppose, Director. Me and Silver are both ready to fulfill our roles.” Crystal huffed, placing a fist to her chest. Silver hesitantly imitated her confident gesture.

“Places everyone,” Silver whispered as he called out Weavile and Feraligatr. “We’ll all do great.” he encouraged them, petting them slightly before slipping on his princess costume.

Crystal couldn’t help but giggle at the oddly sweet gesture, and admired Silver’s dedication to bring entertainment to the children. Her expression soured as she recalled the last time Silver and Gold agreed to participate, or should she say, not participate in the play, which ended in a disaster. The years after that, she would have to come up with the stories, costumes, and dialogues weeks prior in order to satisfy the overly critical audience of children.

Focusing back on reality, Crystal rejoiced when she noticed Chumee, Bonee, and Weavile’s outstanding performance as the Sleeping Beauty’s fairy godmothers, and despite their bickering which was most definitely off script, the children seemed to enjoy it as they cackled and chuckled in the dimly lit audience. Crystal was relieved to see that Silver was right for the most part, that the three Pokémon would steal the show, oh but how wrong was he.

The moment Silver stumbled into the makeshift stage with a frilly princess costume and a cardboard crown over his head, the children fell silent at first, confused that Silver actually listened to their pleas of having him be the Sleeping Beauty. It wasn’t until he squeaked in a high pitched voice “Oh dear.” that the children erupted into laughter once more.

Silver stood frozen on the stage, with his eyes wide open with fear and his hands wired to his sides. Had he forgotten his lines? Or was he ridden with stage fright? Crystal hurriedly flipped through the script, looking at what Silver’s next line would be. When she looked up at him, he was already looking in her direction waiting for her aid. She mouthed ‘dance’ at him, and in a moment of relief he began to rehearse his solitary dance as he remembered what part came next. 

The Director clicked ‘play’ on the speaker, and calming orchestral music filled the living room as Silver waltzed with Weavile— I mean, the fairy godmothers. Crystal stood next to the Director, admiring the hard work that was paying off as the three Pokémon and Silver perfectly performed the dance, until she realized with a yelp that her role as the Prince was about to start.

Silver visibly began to get nervous as the dance continued without Crystal, but chuckled again as Crystal dashed onto the stage with the Prince’s cape, boots, and sword on her side. She swooped into the scene from behind the cardboard trees and comfortably rested her right hand on Silver’s shoulder as the other grasped his gloved hand. Both Silver and herself were surprised at how seamlessly she integrated herself into the dance that they almost lost footing during the waltz.

“H-Have I met you before…?” Silver spoke with awe in his voice, which prompted knowing giggles from the audience.

“I’m positive that we have,” Crystal twirled Silver around and caught him in her arms, adjusting his cardboard tiara as he struggled to balance himself on the borrowed heels. “The look in your eyes is strikingly familiar…”

Silver gulped and attempted to regain his high pitched princess voice once again. “W-Well…u-uh…” he closed his eyes and grimaced as he tried to recall what his next line was. Opening his eyes and being met with Crystal’s dazzling gaze that was rapidly turning irritated didn’t help with his nervousness at all. “U-Um…”

“Ahem,” Crystal emphasized. “I must say, I feel like I’ve met you somewhere before.”

He rapidly cleared his throat as he snapped out of his daze. “Oh, right! I don’t think we have.” 

Xatee suddenly tore down the paper background and picked Silver up with its psychic powers, taking him off stage, which prompted lots of squeals and yells from the audience.

“Help me! Help me!” Silver screeched above the noises from the children. 

“I’ll save you!” Crystal announced, drawing her cardboard sword from her belt, causing some kids to clap their hands and cheer. Before her sword could come in contact with the bird, Xatee teleported off the stage and replaced herself with Feraligatr, who roared ferociously as Silver fell into the Pokémon’s arms.

Crystal raised her sword to fight the ‘dragon’ and cued her shocked expression as Silver pretended to grow drowsy and lay asleep on the bed prop.

Feraligatr flexed his claws and showed off his fangs, seemingly preparing to battle with the Prince, but as soon as Crystal’s cardboard sword came in contact with the Pokémon’s head, he theatrically stumbled back, crying in faked pain and ‘perished’. The crowd of children erupted into cheers and whoops as Crystal faced the audience and bowed. The kids continued to shout words of praise and admiration, and some even threw small flowers on the stage, but the play wasn’t over yet, as Silver patiently laid with his eyes closed on the makeshift bed.

“Now for the most difficult part.” Crystal muttered as she turned away from the audience. Wiping away the sweat on her hands with her cape, she slowly made her way towards Silver’s laying figure and knelt down…

Silver internally cursed once again as he couldn’t prevent himself from covering the blush that had fully blossomed on his cheeks. His eyebrows threatened to form a frown, but he bit the inside of the cheek to keep them in place. He was supposed to be the Sleeping Beauty, not the Sleeping Grouch. He winced and stiffened as he heard the Prince take her place next to him.

Crystal was visibly tense. Wiping her hands on the cape for what seemed to be the fourth time that night, she reassured herself mentally as she prepared for the riskiest part of the play. Carefully placing her bangs behind her ears, she began to lean in and close her eyes, making sure that filtering any distracting noise from the audience was her priority.

Silver slowly opened one eye…and quickly winced it shut as he saw how close Crystal was, and she seemed to be startled as well as they made eye contact for that split second.

Crystal sharply inhaled and braced herself for the kiss as she suddenly leaned in…and kissed Silver. The children began to squeal and scream, but it wasn’t out of excitement. Crystal opened her eyes, and while wiping her lips, was puzzled to see that her vision was dark. 

“Suspend the play!” The Director yelled over the panicked crowd. “The power has gone out!”

“Silver!” she began feeling for Silver’s face in the dark, trying to find where he was. “Are you okay?”

To be frank, he wasn’t. He kept touching the place his lips had felt some sort of pressure right when the lights had gone out, but it didn’t make any sense. Wasn’t Crystal supposed to kiss him on the cheek? Unless…

“Silver!” she grabbed his face as soon as she got a hold of it.

“I-I’m okay!” he quickly sat up and swatted Crystal’s hands from his face, in fear that she would feel the heat burning through his skin.

“Good to know.” she sighed. “Is everybody okay? Everyone get the flashlights!” she announced, but many of the kids had begun to cry as the Academy remained without power. “Xatee, use your psychic powers to create some light.” 

“She didn’t notice.” Silver thought to himself, not knowing if he was glad or slightly disappointed.

The Pokémon obeyed her orders, and the Xatu’s psychic energy created glowing stars that attracted the attention of the scared kids and calmed the cries of the distressed ones.

Silver felt the hands of one of the younger children tug at his dress, and he picked the tearful boy up as he wiped away his tears. “You’re okay, see? Nothing bad is going to happen.” he picked up a stuffed animal that had been left on the floor, and used it to entertain the boy who had begun to smile and giggle.

Crystal in the meantime called out Archee, her Arcanine, to create embers in order to get the fireplace going. No power meant there was no heater either, and the entire Academy was beginning to feel the chill from the snowstorm outside. After sufficiently fueling the fire, Arcanine curled up and settled itself on the floor while surrounded by many children seeking its warmth.

“How long do you think this is going to last?” asked Silver, who placed the yawning boy in his arms comfortably on top of Archee, lulling him to sleep. “Do we have enough firewood to last the entire night?”

“There’s some in the shack outside. I’ll go get some after everyone’s fallen asleep.” she smiled back, grateful for his concern. “Don’t worry about it though, I can—”

“No, it’s too dangerous outside. I don’t want you getting sick. I’ll go.” Silver shrugged the dress off and headed towards the coat rack in the front door.

“Hey, wait a second. You just recovered from a cold. I’ve done this before, I can handle it again.” she caught his arm before he could turn the knob open. “I don’t want to put you through that trouble, especially since you’re volunteering.” she pleaded, her gaze cutting deep into Silver’s own.

He sighed. Silver had no clue how Crystal managed to change his mind about any possible subject in the span of less than a month, and he was scared to find out why. A part of him has a lingering suspicion on what it could be, especially during the times Crystal would stare at him for a moment too long, or when their fingers would accidentally brush against each other and both of them would flinch and awkwardly giggle at the interaction. Obviously, he had put tremendous effort into burying these confusing thoughts that would sometimes threaten to turn themselves into words, but after he was sure Crystal had accidentally kissed his lips, his brain had begun to short circuit and not function properly like it used to.

The fire had been properly set up for the rest of the night, and after the Director concluded that investigating the power lines outside would be too risky during the night, he bid the trainers goodnight as he retreated into his bedroom, leaving Crystal and Silver to take care of the sleeping children.

Crystal discreetly wiped her nose with her sleeve as Silver unlocked a bottle of wine from the top of the cupboard in the kitchen, but he noticed this and immediately became concerned. He asked her how many tissues she would need with such urgency that it made her heart flutter.

 As she let the beverage influence her thoughts, she thought back on the month she had spent with Silver. She concluded that she was very confused about his behavior. Sometimes, he was isolated and cold, but that was mostly around the beginning when he had just moved in. She wasn’t sure if it was just her brain mixing up Silver’s personality prior to moving in with her and the personality that she had begun to like together, but something about it made her heartbeats feel irregular and her face feel as if it was on fire. She looked over at him as she took another sip and saw that he was lost in his thoughts too. Crystal wondered if he was thinking about the same thing.

“Happy birthday, Silv.” she blurted after suddenly realizing that it was past midnight. Crystal glanced at him from her peripheral vision as she pretended to take another sip. His expression softened and melted into a smile.

“Thank you,” he nodded. “It doesn’t feel any different though.”

“Hmm…” Crystal sighed drowsily. It was at this point that Silver noticed that she was heavily under the influence. His theory was confirmed as she stretched her arms over her head and leaned against Silver’s shoulder, her arms wrapping around his neck. “I forgot your birthday present at home…Sorry about that.” she slurred.

“It’s okay, you can give it to me on Christmas tomorrow. It would still count.” Under normal circumstances, Silver would swiftly but gently pry her arms off of him, but despite his anxiousness with such proximity, he let her be. He couldn’t deny that he was getting a little tipsy as well as he worked his way down his cup.

“But I wanna give it to you now.” she pouted. “Can I give you something else, then?” Crystal eagerly looked up at him, waiting for a response, but all she got was a confused look.

“Of course.”

Crystal leaned in close enough to touch Silver’s nose, and closed her eyes. Silver blinked for a few seconds, confused as to where she was going to bring the replacement present from. Crystal still kept her eyes closed, and puckered her lips, anticipating Silver’s response. 

“This feels wrong.” Silver thought. “This is very wrong. We’re both drunk, and she’ll regret this later if I lean in and…” he rapidly shook his head, and despite every single part of him screaming at him to give into his darkest temptations, he gently gripped her shoulders and pushed her away.

“I’ll go lock this up in the cupboard again.” Crystal almost automatically responded as she stood up from where they were sitting, leaving a confused Silver to sit alone as he finished his drink. By the time she had come back, he had fallen asleep. She had to admit that she was getting drowsy as well, but the events of that day kept racing in her mind. 

Did she…like Silver?

A tear slipped from Crystal’s eye as she concluded that she, in fact, had begun to fall for her roommate; the one thing she vowed to not do the moment he moved in with her. Swiping her tears and her feelings away, Crystal decided that it was best to not continue to act on her feelings anymore, as it would further complicate their tasks together. She didn’t cry anymore after that, but she did sniffle herself to sleep as she leaned against Silver’s shoulder, and began to drift into a dream.

Chapter Text

On Christmas Eve, Crystal woke up with an unsettling feeling in her stomach. She would consider herself rather inexperienced with drinking, only making sure to take a small amount if she was ever offered any, but as she stumbled over furniture and made it in time to heave the small dinner she had over the toilet, Crystal was certain this was what people would call having a “hangover”. She wasn’t surprised in the slightest at this outcome, but what surprised her was the sight of Silver slumped next to the bowl as well as she raised her head.

“You too, huh?” Crystal snorted before she felt another wave of nausea overwhelm her.

“Yeah, but I think I’m okay now.” Silver sighed as he leaned over and rubbed her back.

The water from the faucet continued to hiss as Silver and Crystal awkwardly stood next to each other. It reminded them of how little room there was in the bathroom in the first place. The sound of the water hitting the ceramic pierced Crystal’s eardrums, and the headache she had developed multiplied the discomfort from the noise. Silver didn’t seem to be faring any better, as she saw his reflection on the mirror attempt to rub away the grogginess in his eyes, and Crystal felt a little pang of guilt in her chest.

“Sorry I made you get a hangover on your birthday.” she sighed as she rinsed her face with her hands on the sink.

Her reflection stared back at her with a pale face, tangled hair, and droopy eyelids. Silver’s reflection came into the frame of the mirror as he placed his hand over her shoulder.

“That’s okay. I’ve grown more tolerant of this.” He pressed his lips into a straight line as Crystal softly laughed.

Crystal’s gaze suddenly shifted to her wristwatch, and her hands flew to her face in shock as she began pacing around the small bathroom. “Oh my Arceus, what about the kids?!” she gasped. “I didn’t even notice it’s so late, a-and…who fixed the electricity?! Argh!!”

“Oh, about that. Senior Green is outside with Charizard trying to thaw the breaker panel. Silver scratched Weavile’s chin as he jumped on his shoulder. “He’s been here for about twenty min––??!”

Crystal quickly slapped her hand over his mouth, making Silver forget what he was going to say for a second before his train of thought started again. He could hear Crystal’s gears turning at maximum capacity as she placed her other hand over her mouth, deep in thought. For a second, Silver felt the preface of a blush creeping on his face, but he bit the inside of his cheek to fight it down. The only sound that could be heard inside of the tiny restroom was Weavile’s quiet purring and Crystal’s footsteps squeaking on the tiles of the floor as she shifted her standing position in front of Silver.

“We should go thank him.” Crystal blurted out after a moment or two.

Silver gently pushed her hand from her mouth, and felt a shiver run up his back as her fingers brushed past his lips. Crystal did not notice.

“Sure––”

“What will he think, though? We’re both slightly hungover and our duty was to take care of the kids!! Will he tell the Professor?!” Crystal quickly spun on her heel and began to pace the small bathroom once again.

“Crystal…”

“Will I have my job taken away for irresponsibility?! What will the rest of the Dexholders think?!”

“Listen, nothing is going to happen––”

“I’m an absolute failure.” she sighed.

“He wouldn’t mind at all. My Pokémon and the Director are the ones supervising the kids, and the majority of them haven’t woken up yet, so it’s okay.” Silver placed both of his hands on Crystal’s shoulders, and gave them a reassuring squeeze. “Let’s go outside, shall we?”

Crystal couldn’t help but smile as Silver helped her out of the bathroom, and placed an arm around her shoulder as they both stumbled out of the small room. The first few steps after waking up from a night of too much drinking were always painful, and with every step she took, Crystal was reminded of the reason why she had planned to drink less, as shocks of discomfort shot from her feet to her head.

Silver noticed this, and despite not being well off himself, scooped Crystal off her feet, and carried her in his arms. Was it his own headache not permitting him to think clearly? Was Silver still drunk? Was it something instinctive? Neither trainer wouldn’t know, at least, not at that moment. They would deal with the emotional consequences after they achieved full sobriety.

Crystal simply sighed in relief and leaned closer to Silver’s chest and watched as his breath hitched and color flew to his face, even though she was being carried like a princess by Silver. He gently set her down as they reached the front door, and all Crystal could do was mouth a thank you, unsure if Silver even saw it at all, but the crimson tint on his cheeks was an amusing sight to see.

Green’s billowing cape contrasted starkly against the heavy snowfall of Christmas Eve. As he knelt in front of the breaker panel, Charizard provided shelter with his wings, and illuminated his trainer’s workspace with his tail flame. As soon as Crystal and Silver’s crunchy footsteps approached him, Green promptly stood up, shook off the frost that had accumulated on his shoulders, and walked towards them.

“Crystal, Merry Christmas Eve.” Green firmly shook her hand and nodded. Crystal felt guilty as she blushed; there was something very methodical about his mannerisms that reminded her of someone, but she couldn’t quite put her finger on it. Green then turned and placed all his attention on Silver.

“And you.” Green narrowed his vision and looked like he was almost going to glare at the poor boy, who had begun to tremble under the Gym Leader’s observance.

Silver gulped as the seconds passed and Green wouldn’t say anything, so he shakily extended his arm, quietly pleading for his handshake too. The Viridian City Gym Leader breathed; neither Crystal nor Silver could tell if it was a sarcastic scoff or sniffle, and took Silver’s hand.

To everyone’s surprise, Green dragged Silver into a hug and lightly ruffled his hair. “Happy birthday to you, Silver! You’re almost catching up to the Kanto Dexholders, huh?” he grinned.

Out of breath, and surprised, Silver responded, “Y-Yeah! I-I…umm…thanks.” Green pulled away from the brief embrace and continued to smile wider, and it seemed genuine, which was rare for a person like him. “Thank you, Green. For the birthday wishes…” Silver bashfully scratched the back of his head.

“And for fixing the electricity at the Academy as well.” Crystal smiled. “I’ve run out of words to express my gratitude for all of the work you and Professor Oak have done to sustain this wonderful place.”

“It really is no big deal, seriously.” Green waved his hand away. Crystal felt a bit annoyed as she realized all she was doing was feeding his already enormous ego. Silver didn’t seem to mind, apparently.

“Would you like to come inside for something to eat or drink, perhaps?” Silver queried.

“Are you kidding? It’s your birthday! I should be the one treating you to a drink or something.” Green chuckled. “But…I can’t, unfortunately. Gym Leaders only have the day off tomorrow, which is some “B” and “S” if you ask me.”

“That sounds horrible! Hopefully there aren’t too many trainers around this time.” Crystal remarked.

Green did scoff this time. “Oh, believe me. There are going to be a BUNCH of trainers who are willing to beat the toughest Gym Leader in Kanto as a Christmas present for whoever cares.” Crystal and Silver just smiled back and nodded. “I don’t mean to toot my own horn but… I kind of have to be there to teach them how often Christmas miracles happen.”

“We understand how that must feel like.” Crystal sighed sympathetically and pressed her lips into a taut line. Silver looked at her quizzically. Did they?

“Well, thanks for having me anyway, and save me a slice of cake, will you Silver?” he requested, and smirked back as he saw Silver rapidly nod.

Green pressed his hands together in a plea before effortlessly somersaulting on top of Charizard, and taking off at what someone could mistake as the speed of sound. The trees and gates nearby shook with the amount of force Charizard used to soar into the sky, and both Crystal and Silver found themselves leaning on each other for balance.

“That guy will always be a show off, huh?” Crystal chuckled. “Guess that childish part of him never left.”

“I don’t think it’s him being a show off, Green just knows what he’s made of, that’s all.” Silver looked off towards the path Green took in the sky. “Shall we go home?” he asked as he clasped Crystal’s hand on his own.

“We shall.” she giggled, and let Silver drag her to her own house.

The fun conversations Crystal found herself participating with Silver had become more frequent. They didn’t always have to be about Suicune, and that’s what she had started to like about their interactions. They always made Crystal forget about whatever issue was bothering her in the back of her mind, and for a moment, she felt she could truly relax with Silver when they were together. Both of them happened to be in the middle of one of those random discussions, until Silver freezed in his tracks, just as they were about to walk inside the vicinity of Crystal’s house.

The familiar beeps emanating from their pockets sounded for the first time in what Crystal felt was like forever. And akin to her memory, the beeps increased in volume and frequency.

Silver promptly let go of her hand, which confused her.

“Gold is at our front door.” he whispered.

Two things surprised Crystal from Silver’s statement. First of all, why did she feel funny when Silver referred to her house as theirs? I mean, sure, they had been living together for a while but…what were the implications of him referring to the house as theirs…? And…Gold?! She looked over his shoulder and sure enough, there he was. In his pajamas, of course, and visibly shivering as he pressed the doorbell. The Pokédexes homing function never lied, after all. He seemed to be holding a white plastic bag, with something inside it. What could possibly be inside that bag?!

“Maybe he wants to wish you a happy birthday.” Crystal laughed, trying to calm her nerves. “There’s no way he could still be mad about last month, right?”

“That shouldn’t be an issue.” Silver responded, still not looking back at Crystal. Noticing this, she tentatively reached out to get a hold of his wrist, but he already walked ahead of her, with the intent of talking to Gold.

For a second, Crystal lagged behind, until she made up her mind and jogged behind Silver.

“Gold.” Silver reached out and placed his hand on Gold’s shoulder, which made him jump.

“Yo! Silver!!! Happy birthday man!!” The two boys embraced each other in a hug that neither Silver nor Gold had prepared for. Crystal shuffled the snow in front of her with her boots, hoping nothing problematic would arise out of their impromptu reunion. She sighed with relief as he observed how Silver’s expression slowly thawed into a smile.

“Thanks, Gold.” Silver patted his back and chuckled.

“So, what brings you here?” Crystal asked, placing her hands behind her back. Both Silver and Gold had stopped talking to look at her, and in that moment she wondered if her tone of voice was too high or if she was too loud in volume.

“Oh! Sorry, hey Crys.” Gold rubbed his nose and dug into the plastic bag he had brought with him. “I just uh…After a while, I kind of realized Silver would be living with you from now on so…I brought some stuff he forgot back at my house with me.” He brought out a plastic box that had a collection of ProTeam Omega action figures, still intact in their wrapping.

Silver’s eyes went wide and instinctively reached out for them, flexing his fingers like a small child. Gold naturally handed it to him.

Crystal discreetly cleared her throat. “I guess, we haven’t discussed that properly huh.” It was obvious she wasn’t expecting to have this conversation now. “Hey, um. I’m really sorry about how we treated you when we last visited… Hopefully it’s all cool now? Why don’t you come in?” Crystal asked as she opened the door for Gold and Silver.

Silver made himself comfortable on the couch in the living room, hugged the box of action figures really tightly, and closed his eyes. Gold followed closely behind and slumped down on his side of the couch. As Crystal expected, he placed his feet on the coffee table without taking his shoes out first, but that was a problem she was willing to deal with later. Crystal sat across from them on a stool that contained old binders filled to the brim with paperwork, and she set those aside for the occasion.

Gold began talking first. “Crystal, before you apologize again, I just wanted to let you know that I’m sorry too.” He took his feet off of the table and leaned forward, making sure to look at Crystal directly. “I did act pretty rude, y’know, staying shut in my room and all.”

“It’s fine, I was about to kick your door down.” she chuckled, in an attempt to lighten the suddenly tense mood.

“Gold, I’m sorry too.” Silver announced. Both Crystal and Gold turned to look at their friend. “I shouldn’t have just…left like that. After ruining your kitchen…I just… I’m sorry.” Silver sighed and buried his face in his hands.

“Hey, no. This isn’t your fault…” Gold leaned over and quickly began rubbing Silver’s back. At this action, his breathing seemed to relax just a bit. Crystal uncomfortably shifted in her seat.

“I should have taken accountability over the damage I did.” Silver slumped in his seat, clearly guilty.

“Silver, listen—” Gold began, before being cut off by Crystal.

“Let’s not…argue about this right now.” she interjected, standing up from her seat. “It’s Silver’s birthday after all. We should celebrate it instead.”

“Crystal…” Silver murmured.

“She’s right.” Gold slapped his hands on his knees and quickly stood up, startling Crystal. “Let’s go order some takeout, or prepare something good to eat. If…that’s okay with you, Crys?”

“Of course…” Crystal smiled, and like magic, the room seemed to become lively once again.

The group of Johto Dexholders participated in conviviality which would make any outsider think they did this every day, but Crystal knows very well this was the first time in years where the three of them had a proper dinner with each other. Several sets of card games were splayed across the coffee table, and the usually desolate living room was filled with laughter that greatly accented the holiday spirit, and Silver’s birthday.

The last time they had spent this much time with each other in high spirits was when Crystal had invited the two boys to help out for a previous Christmas play held for the kids. The aftermath of that event was something Crystal kept pushed away in the back of her mind, and she was willing to continue doing that for the rest of the day.

Though it seemed Gold read her mind when he caught her lost in her thoughts alone in the kitchen. Silver was in the living room, taking a nap on the couch, and Gold wasn’t ready to fall asleep just yet.

“Whatcha thinkin’ about?” he chirped as he peeked over her shoulder. The bowl of ice cream sat in Crystal’s hands, as she idly stood in front of the kitchen counter.

“Gold… don’t startle me like that again.” Crystal pointed the ice cream scooper at him threateningly.

“I was just wondering why our wonderful host wasn’t present to join us in our nap time.” he sighed. “It would be incomplete without you…” Gold’s sentence was cut off by Crystal delivering a warning kick to Gold’s shin.

“Get to the point, Gold.” she narrowed her eyes, but he could tell there was no malevolence behind them.

“Look…I know Silver’s been living with you for a while––”

“Next week marks a month since he moved in.” she quickly clarified.

“For a few weeks, then… I just want to clarify if Silver’s going to move back or stay with you after…you two complete Eusine’s task.” Gold winced as he noticed Crystal visibly tense at the mention of the commission.

“I…l-look it’s…it’s a little complicated…” Crystal began fidgeting with her skirt. “I’ve been avoiding the topic with Silver…a-and I don’t know…” her voice began to crack.

“Crys, hey. It’s okay.” he grabbed both of her shoulders and slightly shook her. “Are you overthinking things again?”

Crystal continued to avoid eye contact. “It’s like, so weird because…haha, at first I was nervous about having someone move in, but it feels different after he’s been here a while.” she hiccuped as wiped her nose with her sleeve. “He volunteers at the Academy and helps me out with my research…I kind of? Don’t want him to leave anymore? But at the same time I don’t want to force him to stay because I know he’s been living with you for a longer time and—”

“You’re rambling again.” Gold shook his head.

This time Crystal did look up at him, and he noticed that her eyes were moist with tears.

“I didn’t even need to hear the rest of it to know what you need to do.” Gold sighed. “You taught Silver and me to communicate whenever we need clarification on things, yes?”

“Yes…”

“And you emphasize that it’s important to communicate with each other…yes?”

“Yes.” Crystal sighed.

“And, you make sure communication is your top priority––”

“I get the point, Gold.” she looked down at her feet once again, but broke into a fit of giggles.

“Then I don’t need to spell it out for you, do I.” he finally let his hands go and released his grip on Crystal’s shoulders.

Silver had already woken up from his power nap by the time Crystal and Gold returned with the ice cream bowls. Crystal’s worry about the possibility of Silver somehow listening in on their conversation was thrown out the window as he intently stared at the TV screen.

The group of Johto Dexholders made themselves comfortable in the rustic living room and enjoyed their time together to the fullest. Silver opened the birthday present from Crystal amidst whoops and cheers from his closest friends.

He gently took off his gloves to feel the fabric inside of the bag. As Silver pulled the bag away, a simple, yet classy, navy blue scarf fell into his arms. Silver’s name was embroidered in cursive writing on a corner of the scarf, to match the rest of his branded accessories. He felt like he was about to cry.

“Crystal…you didn’t have to…” Silver began.

“No, I didn’t. I needed to get it for you. As a thank you gift for everything you’ve done.” Crystal smiled warmly.

Gold muffled his squeal by placing his hands over his mouth.

“There’s something else in the box, too.” Crystal pointed out.

Picking up the bag from the carpeted floor, Silver reached inside and gasped as he took out a brand new set of pajamas. The boys stared in amazement as Silver spread out the pajamas over himself and saw that they were covered in Pro Team Omega characters. Crystal looked satisfied and proud of her choice in a birthday gift.

It was too many emotions for Silver to handle at the moment. He rarely cried. Let alone in front of people, despite Crystal and Gold being people he would die for. He hasn’t told them that yet, so he wasn’t sure if crying was okay, but before his mind could decide, tears began streaming down his cheeks, and his breath fragmented into shuddering hiccups as he tried to hide his emotions.

Gold and Crystal immediately scrambled to where Silver was kneeling and embraced him in a big hug. Gold began to rub his back and Crystal whispered small sentences of encouragement as she placed his bangs behind his ears. Silver’s sobs lessened in volume, but his eyes were still squeezed shut from the embarrassment.

Silver then turned towards Crystal and hugged her completely. Gold smirked, and took it as his sign to leave. Crystal shot him a panicked look that seemed as if she was saying ‘help me I don’t know what to do’, but Gold continued to slowly walk away from the living room, and towards the front door. Crystal made a mental reminder to herself to kick Gold in the gut the next time she saw him.

As soon as the front door closed, Crystal noticed that her phone had begun to buzz, indicating a new text message from Gold. She peeked over Silver’s shoulder and noticed it was from Gold.

“u WANT bro.” it read. What?

Feeling Silver’s tears soaking through her shirt distracted her from figuring out what Gold was suggesting, and she turned her full attention to him, wiping away his tears and brushing his bangs away from his face.

“Is this okay?” Silver mumbled, afraid to look at Crystal with his vision blurred with overflowing tears. She noticed that his lower lip trembled slightly as he refrained from pouting.

“Of course it is, Silv.” she replied with a soothing voice, and swiped a stray tear away with her thumb. Silver slightly reddened.

They were now directly facing each other. Crystal continued to bore into Silver’s soul with her stare. He wanted to break eye contact, but Silver always found his vision flickering back to the girl in front of him.

Silver’s sharpened features of discomfort soon softened into shyness as Crystal’s gentle smile grew, inches away from his own face.

“You deserve these presents, Silver. Not only because you’re a great assistant and company,” Crystal paused to laugh quietly, “but because you are also one of the most important people in my life, and I hope you continue to stay with me.”

Blood immediately shot up to Silver’s face. He couldn’t hide it, even if he tried. Now that Silver was right in front of her, it was impossible for Crystal to not notice either. Her own blush began to bloom in her cheeks as she processed what she had just said.

Before Crystal could correct herself, Silver cleared his throat.

“I will stay with you, Crys.” Silver whispered, just loud enough for Crystal to hear. She didn’t even realize she was still cradling Silver’s face in her hands when he raised his hand and placed it on top of hers. She wondered if Silver could hear how fast her heart was beating through her hand.

“...I probably shouldn’t have, but I overheard you and Gold.” Silver lowered his gaze once again. “But, even if you didn’t plan to, I’m glad you told me you want me to stay. And I will, Crys. Through thick and thin.” he smiled.