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Silver had still been getting used to his new living arrangements.
Being in an actual house for a change was something that had been hard to adjust to. Sleeping in a bed and not in some random alleyway or even the middle of nowhere still felt unreal, along with the fact that he was actually eating three square meals a day now too.
But the biggest change of all, was the fact that he now had an adult in his life who it surprisingly felt like genuinely cared about him, and even though Silver knew he shouldn't get too attached, he still couldn't help but feel put at ease whenever Lance smiled at him, or whenever he gave that stupid carefree laugh, or even when he made contact with him, something Silver had always hated people doing.
He couldn't understand why it was so different when Lance did it, and that was why he hated it so much.
However, today, instead of feeling strange and out of place, Silver was feeling something entirely different.
Usually he was constantly on edge, always worried someone was gonna sneak up behind him or that some wild aggressive Pokémon would take advantage of his loneliness and try to attack him, but today, instead of his usual paranoia, Silver was feeling bored.
He was laying on Lance's living room couch, doing absolutely nothing but staring up at the ceiling and dissociating as he tried to cope with his newfound restlessness.
After a few minutes of listening to the clock on the wall tick a countless amount of times, Lance had walked in, catching sight of his new roommate—or whatever Silver was to him—laid down mindlessly on the couch, and looked toward him with that dumb look of sympathy he always gave Silver shining in his eyes. “What's up, Kid?”
Silver sighed. “I'm bored.” He immediately admitted, burying his face into a cushion.
Then Lance gave one yet another one of his annoying chuckles, as he sighed, as if he somehow understood him.
“Yeah, I know. There isn't a lot to do today.”
Silver turned his head out of the pillow, now looking up at Lance. “It sucks.” He said plainly.
This time Lance gave one of his smiles, and like always, Silver could feel his worries and frustrations all melting away, as if they were a fire that Lance had just put out.
And like always, he despised it.
Then Lance spoke again.
“You know, I was thinking of going to The Dragon's Den later.”
Silver raised an eyebrow.
Why did Lance want to do that? They only went on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
“Why? It's Saturday.” There was a hint of skepticism in his tone.
Lance took a seat at the other end of the couch. “Not for training. You know how some of the female Dragonite laid eggs last month?”
Silver nodded, remembering Lance telling him that.
Then Lance continued. “Well, they hatched the other day. And Clair mentioned needing a hand.”
Silver wasn't an idiot. He could see where Lance was getting at.
“So you figured you'd drag me along too?”
Lance laughed again, but it was as if he actually found Silver…funny?
That was weird too. Silver wasn't even used to making jokes, especially ones people actually laughed at.
Only if you want to come. I'd never force you to do something you didn't want to, Sweetheart.”
And that was another thing.
The names. All the nice sounding things Lance called him, some of which Silver had never even heard before until meeting him.
He scoffed and glared. “What did I say about calling me that?”
If he was being honest, Silver didn't actually mind the name, and if he was really being honest, he actually kind of liked it. And it seemed like Lance knew that too, judging by the knowing expression on his face.
“My mistake.” He smirked. “But my question remains, are you coming with?”
Silver thought about it.
He did literally have nothing else to do…and he had complained about being bored to Lance barely even two minutes ago, so it seemed kind of wrong to refuse…
He eventually gave in, not without another huff though. “Know what? Sure.”
Lance's smile grew. “Great. Why don't you go get ready, and I'll tell you when it's time to leave?”
Silver sat up, stretching as he nodded. “Fine.”
He went upstairs to his bedroom—though it wasn't really a bedroom yet. It had been Lance's spare bedroom before he'd taken him in, now it was his.
Lance had said they could decorate it, however Silver wanted, but Silver couldn't even remember the last time he'd slept in an actual bed (or if he ever even had) until now, so he had absolutely no idea how he was meant to decorate.
Not that it really mattered to him anyway, in his eyes he was just lucky to have his own room in the first place.
He quickly changed out of the plain shirt and trousers he'd been wearing (old clothes of Lance's he had given him to sleep in) and into his usual clothes, trying not to take too long in case Lance grew sick of waiting and just left him behind. Silver might not have seen him being the type to do so, but it was better safe than sorry.
Lance was ready to go by the time he got back downstairs, and thankfully he didn't look annoyed at Silver for taking a while, even though it'd only been five minutes.
“Ready to go, Kiddo?”
He nodded, pulling his bag on, and then they were on their way.
***
The Dragon's Den was almost becoming just as familiar to Silver as Lance's home with how often he was there.
Clair was already there by the time they both arrived, and her eyes immediately turned to Silver upon seeing them.
“You didn't say the brat was coming…”
Instantly, Silver stuck his tongue out, despite Lance's constant reminding him to just: “Ignore it” and, “Be the bigger person.”
Lance shook his head at their banter. “Come on, you're not five year olds”
Silver grumbled. “With her mentality, she may as well be…”
“What's he here for anyway? Dealing with baby dragons and getting hit by thunder waves doesn't exactly seem like his sorta thing.”
Silver flinched at the mention of “thunder waves,” and felt Lance's hand on his shoulder.
“Clair, don't scare him like that.”
Clair scoffed, but Silver could see the guilty look in her eyes.
To say Silver hated having his slight fear of being attacked by a Pokémon mentioned would be an understatement.
Lance had told him time and time again that there was nothing to be ashamed of, and that it wasn't his fault he had had to live in the wild for who even know how long anymore, the fear of being attacked was like second nature to him, but Silver still couldn't help but turn red regardless.
Lance folded his arms across his chest, letting out a huff at Clair's antics.
“Come on, Kid.”
Silver shot one last dirty look towards Clair, before following behind Lance.
***
“I'm scared.”
There was a Dratini no older than a few days sprawled across Silver's lap, and he was physically shaking in fear of accidentally hurting it. (Or being hit by a thunder wave, not that he'd admit it.)
“Don't be, you're doing fine.” Lance assured, hands held out as if he were steadying Silver.
“Why is it on me…?”
It wasn't that he didn't like the Pokémon—he'd never say it aloud because he knew he'd never hear the end of it—but he did find the Dratini adorable.
And that was exactly why he was so scared to hurt it.
Lance smiled at him, though it wasn't a mocking smile or an exasperated one.
It was like he was…proud?
“It must really like you. That's why it trusts you enough to sleep on you. You know, it's hard to get a newborn Dragon's trust that easy.”
Silver blinked.
…What?
The Dratini liked him!?
“...Why would it like me…!?” He asked Lance with suspicion in his eyes.
“A lot of newborn Dragon's tend to have someone they latch onto. Kind of like a comfort person, or a favorite, in a way.”
Lance moved closer to Silver, gently placing a hand on the Dratini that laid sleeping on him, causing Silver to squirm even more.
“...Why me?”
Lance shrugged. “I guess the only one Who'd know that is the Dratini itself.”
Silver's eyes flashed from Lance back to the Pokémon.
“...Can I touch it too?”
He didn't know where the question had come from, but out of nowhere, he'd also wanted to pet it.
Lance was smiling all over again. “Of course you can, Sweetheart. Here, let me show you…”
Silver was so distracted, he forgot to scold Lance for the nickname.
Lance sat directly beside Silver so he could lean over and show him exactly how to care for the Dratini.
Lance extended a hand to Silver, as if asking to take his hand.
Slowly, Silver let him, wondering why Lance holding his mind almost immediately pushed away all his fears and put his mind at ease.
“You need to remember to be gentle, they can be really anxious when they're just hatched, so you don't want to accidentally hurt them.”
Lance guided Silver's hand to the Dratini's head, before resting it on top of it.
“It's best to pet it with your thumb to make sure you don't overwhelm it, though since it already likes you, there's probably not much of a risk of that happening.”
Still a bit nervous, Silver nodded, going to do exactly what Lance said.
If the Dratini really did like him, he wasn't about to mess that up.
He started to pet Dratini's head with his thumb, cautiously as he could as if it were made of glass.
“Good job!” Lance praised, clearly sensing that Silver was still anxious.
But the more he petted and caressed the sleeping Pokémon, the less fearful he felt.
In fact, Silver was starting to forget about all of his previous worries, and was instead completely focused on taking care of the little sleeping creature.
“...It's so cute…” He mumbled.
“What was that, Kiddo?”
“Nothing. Shut up.”
Lance chuckled, putting a hand on his shoulder.
After a little while, the Dratini slowly started to wake up.
Silver froze, wondering if he had accidentally woken it up and started to internally panic all over again.
“It's okay! It's just waking up…”
Dratini’s eyes slowly opened, and immediately, it was looking at Silver with bright, shiny eyes.
“...”
Silver could feel his chest tightening.
“I've never seen a hatchling this friendly…”
Silver scoffed. “Yeah right, you're just saying that to make me feel good.”
There was no way that The Champion Dragon Tamer Lance had never seen a Dratini like this before.
But Lance shook his head. “I'm really not, I'm serious, Silv. This Dratini really does like you.”
Dratini let out a small, pleased sounding cry, before snuggling up against Silver, as if trying to prove Lance's point.
“See? It's like it's completely infatuated with you.”
Lance had another one of those prideful looking smiles on his face that Silver could never understand.
Silver ran a finger against Dratini's gills.
It was strange to think that just a few months ago, Silver couldn't have cared less about taking care of or bonding with his Pokémon, and now here he was, pretty much at the mercy of a baby Dratini.
“I've barely even had to help you, it's like you already knew exactly what to do.”
Silver gave him a look of confusion.
Hadn't Lance literally held his hand the whole time he was learning how to pet it?
Almost as if he could read his thoughts, Lance added; “Kid, I let go of your hand right as you got the hang of petting it.”
“You what!?”
Lance laughed as Silver's eyes narrowed.
“Hey, don't give me that look. You did just fine and you know it.”
Silver huffed.
But he knew Lance wasn't exactly wrong. He had surprised himself by how well he'd taken care of the Dratini.
He felt Lance's grip on his shoulder soften.
“You know…I could tell the Master to keep it for you until it's ready to be caught.”
For a very, very split second, Silver's eyes lit up.
But then he went right back to his typical, “quiet and brooding” look.
“...Really?”
“Of course. We can keep visiting it every time we're here, and once it's grown enough, you can catch it.”
“...”
Silver scooped the Dratini up into his arms.
“...I'd like that…” He admitted.
“I figured you would.” Lance gave his back a pat.
“...Why can't I catch it now?”
Silver wasn't acting bratty. It was a genuine question.
Thankfully, Lance seemed to understand.
“Well you see, newly hatched Dratini are really dependent, and don't like being separated from their mothers. That's why it's better to let them adjust for a few weeks or so. So they can grow less dependent and ready to go with trainers like you.”
“Huh…”
Silver didn't know why, but he always felt weirdly fascinated whenever Lance explained something about Dragon type Pokémon to him.
“So when its had enough time, then you can catch it, alright?”
“Yeah…” Silver nodded, almost enthusiastically.
“Alright.” Lance slowly stood up, groaning a little from how long he'd been sitting. (Silver had to resist the urge to make an old person joke.)
“Come on, it's getting late, and it's supposed to rain tonight.” Once again, he was reaching a hand out to Silver, who begrudgingly put the Dratini down with the exact same caution he'd used with picking it up in the first place.
The Dratini itself looked sad to see him go as well.
“Aw, don't worry. You'll both see each other again soon.” Lance spoke up. “Let's go, Silver.”
So Silver gave one last wave to the Dratini, before walking back to the surface of the Dragon's Den with Lance.
He could still hardly believe how much the Pokémon had liked him, but something about it had felt so…nice.
He liked it when Pokémon liked him.
…Especially after how he had treated them in the past.
And as he left the Dragon’s Den with Lance, for one of the first times ever, Silver was actually starting to feel proud of himself too.
Like most other times, Silver would rather be swallowed whole by the ground than admit it, but Lance had been right.
He really did have to treat Pokémon with love and respect.
Because it made him feel a lot better, and a lot less lost when he did.