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“Shhh!” Silver held a finger up to his mouth, Aibo nodded resolutely as they snuck out of bed, the other pokemon that slept in the room stirred, glancing up to see what the early commotion was, but only Aibo and Weavile followed Silver out of the room. Pibu didn’t even wake, nestled up against Gold’s back; both were ridiculously heavy sleepers.
He shut the door as quietly as he could, not that Gold would wake even if he slammed it. Still, he needed as much time as he could to get this right. It would be one of the hardest things he’d ever been faced with. He wasn’t sure if he was strong enough.
Weavile pulled at his shirt, giving him a single, confident nod, Silver ran his fingers through his dark gray fur. He could trust his pokemon, Weavile had never let him down before, plus he had Aibo. Aibo and Gold did this all the time, there was nothing to be afraid of. That didn’t stop his stomach from turning uncomfortably.
They reached their destination in record time, he somewhat wished it had taken longer, he could put off his trial if only for a few more minutes. Silver looked around, this was a completely new type of battle. One he really wasn’t sure he could handle, he had minimal training, zero natural skill. But he had to try. No. He had to win. This wasn’t for him, this was for Gold.
Gold.
The boy who healed him. The boy who saw Silver’s tattered clothes and soul and took his time to stitch him back together. The boy who held him and let him be vulnerable. The boy who expressed his love over and over again. The boy who sacrificed himself to get revenge for his lost years. The boy who was his whole world.
For Gold he would face any challenge.
Silver opened the cabinet door, his gray eyes scanned the shelf until he saw what he was after, he grabbed it and a few other things before turning back to the counter top. Aibo knew exactly what to do, directing Weavile, pulling things and bringing them to the centralized location.
With a weary sigh he opened the first item, his eyes briefly shut, channeling all of his strength. He could do this, he had faced legendaries, he had come back from the brink of death. He was strong, he was smart, he was skilled.
He could make Gold birthday breakfast in bed.
Taking the measuring cup that Aibo brought him, Silver scooped several heaping cups of the flour into a large mixing bowl. He must have poured from too high because flour splashed back onto his and Weavile’s face covering them in white, Aibo snickered into his large palm but brought over a tea towel. Silver wiped his face, then as best as he could cleaned Weavile’s fur, he may need to give him a bath later, something he knew his lifelong companion would fight tooth and nail.
Aibo was used to cooking with its trainer, often helping Gold make the meals that had Silver finally growing into his proper size. He was eternally grateful for both of them, Gold’s mom too, always welcoming him into her home, never questioning anything about his past, treating him like her own son.
Scanning the recipe he’d printed out in secret yesterday, he grabbed the baking powder, the recipe said two teaspoons.
“What the fuck is a tablespoon?” Weavile cocked his head before scampering off to find spoons. He brought over a large soup spoon, Silver shrugged using the spoon, it was probably right, a tablespoon probably meant one they used at the table. He scooped out a mountain of the white powder dumping it into the flour, but much more carefully so as not to explode like the flour did earlier.
Weavile watched as Aibo scampered off. Shaking his small head, the other pokemon was always trying to get out of work.
“Half a teaspoon of salt?” Silver picked up a canister, he looked between the spoon and the salt, how the hell was he supposed to figure out how much was half? He grimaced, dishing out a bit of the salt onto the spoon, significantly less than the earlier baking powder.
“Aibo, where is the sugar?” Silver spun around looking for Gold’s childhood companion, who had apparently mysteriously disappeared while Silver attempted to figure out how much half of a tablespoon was.
Silver rolled his eyes, sharing a look with Weavile. Lazy bones probably went back to bed, that was fine, they could handle it themselves. He was feeling more confident as he went on, not that the recipe was that hard. This was nothing, he’d had nothing to worry about. Digging through the cabinets, Silver found a glass jar with a black S on it, he smiled triumphantly holding it up to show Weavile, sugar.
“Half a cup of sugar? Weavile get a cup from the cabinet,” Weavile scampered off while Silver read on, after this he needed to add eggs, butter, and milk, easy, and he’d seen chocolate chips in the pantry, he’d add those too, Gold always liked sweets. Cooking was nothing. Maybe he could take over on occasion, give Gold a break, he himself always handled clean up duty, but if cooking was this easy there was no reason he couldn’t take over every once and a while.
Weavile produced a large drinking glass, Silver began to pour the crystalline substance from the canister. He poured a bit back into the canister, until the cup was around halfway full, his hand hovered over the bowl with the other ingredients.
“Wait!” Silver froze, he slowly looked to the doorway where Gold’s mother stood, still in her pjs, with a worried look on her face. Aibo clinging to her shoulder. His stomach sank. He had fucked up, hadn’t he?
“Are you about to pour all of that salt into the bowl?”
Frowning, Silver set the cup on the counter, he took a bit on his fingertip pressing it to his tongue. It was certainly salt.
Shit.
How was he supposed to do this? He couldn’t even tell the difference between salt and sugar. He had so desperately wanted to spoil Gold for once, to make him feel the love that he gave to Silver on a daily basis.
He was once again failing, but like everything else, it went back to his ruined childhood. He had never sat in the kitchen with his father learning how to make something as seemingly simple as pancakes, no he was forced to train till he collapsed by a man who in the end, got off without any real consequences. All the while Silver had to live with the consequences of his actions, the lack of a childhood, lack of experience, lack of-
Just one more thing he couldn’t do.
There was movement to his side, he turned to look just as an apron was placed over his head, Gold’s mother gave him a peck on the cheek, something he would have been wildly uncomfortable with only a few years earlier. But like everything else, Gold had worked his way into Silver’s life, gently getting him used to physical affection both from him and his mother.
“You know,” She started, with an air of wistfulness, “I taught Gold how to make pancakes years ago, I’m happy to teach my other son now too.”
A light blush spread over Silver’s cheeks, something that was not missed judging by the pleased look that the older woman wore. She picked the recipe up off the counter reading through it quickly.
“You picked a good one, sweetheart,” She picked up the various containers on the counter already, investigating each, nodding approvingly, “I’m just going to instruct you, you’ll learn better by doing,” She turned to Aibo, “Aibo, please go get me the measuring cups and spoons,” he scampered off, pulling Weavile with him, she turned to Silver, “We’ll start back at the beginning, luckily pancakes come together quickly.”
She pushed aside the bowl full of dry ingredients that Silver had concocted, shame filled his gut, he resisted the urge to tell her just to forget it, he’d already wasted enough. Growing up how he did, there was no such thing as wasting food, he and Blue had to eat whatever they could find, no matter if it tasted good or not. Now that she lived with her real parents, Blue had become a rather picky eater, Silver, however, couldn't shake that habit.
“I’m sorry for wasting so much flour, I’ll pay-”
She cut him off with a wave of her hand, “No waste dear, while the pancakes cook I’ll show you how to turn them into easy treats for your teams,”
Giving him a long stare, she opened her mouth to say something else, then seemingly deciding against it, grabbed a bright pink measuring cup, handing it over to Silver.
“First fill this with flour, you want the flour to be level with the top, use the back end of the knife to get rid of the excess,” She handed Silver a butter knife.
Carefully, as if he were measuring explosives, Silver used the knife to level the flour, he looked over to confirm he had done it correctly, after a reassuring nod, he poured it into the new bowl that Aibo had procured. Learning from his earlier mistake, he poured low, pleased when there was no splashback.
With each step, she patiently explained the process, the difference between the ingredients, the purpose of them, the measuring items, little tricks on how to use them properly. Never once did she seem annoyed, if anything she seemed happy.
It was strange, for most of his life he dreamed of having a family, but always felt in the back of his mind that he wasn’t actually going to get it. He didn’t deserve a family. Yet here he was, making breakfast in bed for his lover, a woman he considers to be a mother showing him how to cook, in a large yet cozy home. It was everything he dreamed of but thought he would never be allowed to have.
“Now to cook them, Aibo already got the pan ready, just take the measuring cup you used for the flour and pour it onto the surface,”
Silver started to reach for the measuring cup but quickly remembered the other item he had wanted to add, something special for the sweetest person in his life. He pulled his hand away, instead turning back towards the pantry, searching until he found the item he wanted. He held it up to Gold’s mother with a triumphant grin.
“Ohhh, good idea!” She squealed, “Just dump a bunch in, he’ll love it,”
Silver did as he was told, then scooped the first batch of pancakes onto the griddle, he watched them carefully, the recipe had mentioned flipping once there were large bubbles. Flipping sounded terrifying, he could ruin all of the work that they’d just put in with a single motion.
There was no way he could handle it, at least until he was presented with a spatula larger than the pancake itself,
“I’m a notoriously terrible flipper so Gold bought this for me for mother’s day a while back, it’s big enough to make it easy.” Silver took the spatula with a thankful nod.
Just as she said, flipping with the oversized spatula was easy as could be.
Setting the first finished pancake on the plate felt almost the same as winning a battle, a strange pride filling his chest. A towel was placed over the finished pancake to keep it warm while the others cooked. In the meantime Silver helped prepare the batter for the pokemon treats using his failure from earlier, it was surprisingly easy, much easier than the pancakes. There was no measuring, just throwing random things from the fridge and freezer that were okay for their teams to eat then throwing it all in a pan and sticking it in the oven.
A lightness filled Silver’s chest in the early morning as he laughed with the woman who had without question accepted him into her home. Who welcomed him with open arms and a heart full of love, the woman who was so much like her son that Silver couldn’t help but immediately feel comfortable around her.
His life had been so difficult for so long, he’d spent so much time feeling a deep aching loneliness, but it was all distant memories now. He was loved. Different forms of love filling him up and rebuilding him. Gold, his soulmate, his partner, the man he would marry one day. Gold’s mother, a woman who looked at his ratty clothes and malnourished body and instead of seeing trash she cleaned them, mended them, mended him, even going as far as to secretly mend his relationship with Giovanni.
For several years, in secret, she sent letters and photos to the mob boss, then when she felt that Silver was ready, arranged a meeting. And now, Silver had his father in his life as a constant. Actually, he was over at the house fairly often, more often than he was at his own home, as he and Gold’s mother had struck up a relationship. Apparently Silver and his father shared romantic tastes in addition to their genetic code.
The last pancake was added to the stack, Silver glanced around the kitchen. They had cleaned while they cooked, so they just needed to wash the griddle. Silver went to grab it, but was stopped.
A kiss to his forehead, “Go on now, take the sleepyhead birthday boy his breakfast,”
Silver nodded, grabbing the tray they’d prepared; fresh fruit, the pancakes, coffee, and a single candle, he’d have Exbo carefully light it once he was in Gold’s room.
“Thank you, mom.” Silver muttered, it still felt strange calling her that, but it was a good strange, it felt right.
“I had fun, I’ll see you boys in a few hours,” She added with a wink. Silver turned away before she could see the blush, she and Gold were so open about sex and intimacy. He knew the pair tended to gossip about father and son’s bedroom habits, something he preferred to never have to think about.
Carrying the tray carefully up the stairs, Silver thanked his lucky stars for his natural dexterity. Aibo helpfully opened the door and went to wake up his trainer, the pokemon had it down to a science having been Gold’s living alarm clock for years.
The birthday boy sat up blearily, blinking heavily as Silver sat down next to him, placing the tray of food between them. Gold rubbed his eyes before flashing Silver with a heart stopping grin.
“Happy birthday, Gold.” Silver said, trying to bestow everything the other boy meant to him in the one simple phrase.
Gold laughed, bending down to blow out his candle, he leaned over, pulling Silver into a kiss, mindful of the very sticky food below him. He pulled away, popping a small piece of fruit into his mouth.
“Did you make this yourself?”
Silver shrugged, “Your mom showed me how, but I did the work,” he watched as Gold cut a piece of the pancake taking a bite, the moment of truth, had all of Gold’s mom’s efforts been in vain, Silver watched Gold closely for any indication that the pancake was terrible.
Gold let his eyes flutter shut and a soft moan fell out while he chewed, Silver shook his head fondly. He hadn’t failed afterall.
“It’s amazing, here try some,” Gold held a piece for Silver to take, never breaking eye contact as he placed his mouth over the fork. The fluffy sweetness was delicious, not even slightly disgusting. He had done it, he’d made pancakes.
The pair shared the rest of the breakfast, before Gold pulled Silver back into bed with an utterance of, “it’s my birthday, we’re sleeping in,”
As Gold lay on his chest, his arms wrapped around the familiar frame, Silver allowed himself to drift off, with the strange thought that, while it may have been Gold’s birthday, it felt like it was him who received a present.