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Nightmares never worried Silver anymore. They haven't since he was five. Sniffing and shuddering in the ice-cold hallways, as he stumbled through the dark. Separate bedrooms meant no one was there to soothe him back to sleep, but he was still so young and scared . Sneasel's purring wasn't enough to lull him into calmness, not yet at least.
The Masked Man had spotted him, and every night for a week he had the same nightmare, but now his room was locked from the outside.
So now, whenever he woke up caked in sweat and still trembling from the haunting jaws of sleep, Silver would roll over and pretend he didn't care.
Because, if he convinced himself that he didn't care, then the pain would lessen. It always did with time. Maybe it would scar over, or linger just out of sight, but it wouldn't hurt unless he pushed and prodded.
He knew he had nodded off on Gold's couch, post movie-night. His Weavile was sprawled across his chest and stomach, melting into every nook and cranny. Silver knew he couldn't move, lest he evoke her wrath. The clock in the living room ticked, Gold had forgotten to give him a blanket, and the wind sang as it flew through the trees.
Despite the uncomfortable springs pressing at his back, it was nice. Nicer than any of his previous hideouts. But, of course, nice things never last.
This time, the nightmare was loud. Flashes of memories from the Sinjoh Ruins. Yelling and roaring, the sounds of gods being called from beyond to destroy. Thunderous cries of vengeance, of worshipping and praying.
Gold was there, standing in front of Arceus, shouting orders for his Pokemon. One by one, they're knocked aside. Each time, sending him with them.
He was bruised and battered and panting heavily, but he never gave up. He never does. Gold called back a cocky retort, eyes drifting over his shoulder and seeking out the other two trainers. He offered a weary smile.
Then, Arceus lifted a pointed hoof up and drove it directly onto Gold. The blood was golden, like the finest of rings and necklaces . Like the sun itself had been swatted, everything went dark.
Then, Silver woke up. Chest heaving, sweat glueing his hair to his forehead. Weavile gave him a concerned chirp but he couldn't hear her over the sound of his own breath.
He's had nightmares like this before, where the past replayed again and again, ensuring it would forever be trapped in his subconscious. This time was different though, as the events unfurled unnaturally. His nightmares were almost always correct . He would repeat his previous actions, doomed to suffer the consequences,
So when he awoke from the splattered scene, he thought it was real. That he would be standing in the ruins, golden blood sprayed across his front.
The weight on his chest lifts– the physical one, that is –and leaves him alone, breaths counted by the ticking of the clock. A Noctowl outside crowed, and the suffocating darkness was crawling closer and closer.
Tapping pawsteps, like claws against wood, pattered through the house, until it was soon joined by louder, human footsteps. He still didn't hear it.
"Silver?" A familiar voice broke through his flooding mind, and everything finally clicked into place. It was a nightmare, you're alright. He's alright.
"Hey, buddy, you okay?" A hand came to rest on his forearm, and he pried his eyes open. He didn't even realise they were closed.
Gold was crouched in front of the couch, weary eyes creased with concern. Weavile hopped back onto the couch, pressing her face against his own and purring as loud as her small body could.
"I'm fine–Sorry, did I wake you?" Silver mumbled blearily, voice scratchy.
"Weavile did. " Gold responded, before he stood back up, scooped up Silver's outstretched legs and sat down on the couch. "I had nightmares too." He hummed, placing Silver's legs back over his thighs. Silver quickly recoiled, folding his long legs close to him as he sat up.
"It wasn't a nightmare, just a dream. You can go back to bed, sorry she woke you." Silver rebuked, but Gold was not buying his feeble argument.
"Okay, I used to have dreams that made me wake up sweating ." He replied, shooting Silver a look.
"It was nothing, really. " He tried to assure him.
"Well now I'm curious." Gold hummed and occupied himself by grabbing the leftover popcorn from the bowl on the table. Silver's nose wrinkled, but he didn't acknowledge it.
"It was stupid–" Silver stuttered, but he knew keeping it bottled up was a bad idea. "We were at the Sinjoh ruins, and you were facing Arceus…" He trailed off, shuddering as the scenario flashed through his head once again. "It like– It stomped on you, and your blood was golden and–" He cut himself off when he noticed Gold's expression grow amused. "I said it was stupid."
"That sounded cool ." He shrugged, scooting over to close the gap between him and the redhead. "Imagine having gold blood, I'd be rich!"
"It was scary." Silver hung his head, hating the way his eyes pickled. All those years as a child who acted years beyond his age, forced to grow up because that's all he could do, were coming back to bite him now. He shot a quick glance at Gold, expecting his expression to say "Really? You woke me up because you were scared?" , but it was… pitying?
"I had a nightmare about you once." Gold began, shuffling closer again until their arms pressed together. Silver looked at him through his teary eyes, one brow raised.
"It was after we went to the Battle Frontier. I dreamt that the wish worked on everyone but you. You stayed a statue forever."
Silver smiled crookedly, amused at the fact that Gold of all people dreamt about him. It was…sweet. His face flushed slightly.
Gold craned his head away from the other and yawned loudly. If Silver wasn't used to being yawned out of a conversation from him, he'd be offended. But, alas, it was Gold, so he couldn't find the will to be mad.
"I'm probably going back to bed." He muttered, scrubbing at his eyes. Silver felt a sudden jolt of panic as the boy stood up, and the panic made him reach forward and grab Gold by the wrist. It was a moment of weakness, one that could only slip past in his tired, still flighty state.
Gold looked at him with a confused expression, and Silver quickly dropped his grasp. His face must've been glowing red at this point, highlighted by the ray of moonlight sneaking past the curtains.
"Can you–" He began, bunching his hands in the hem of his shirt. Spit it out.
"Can I…?" Gold dragged the "I" out.
Silver stumbled over his words, before they finally tumbled out. "I–I don't want to be alone. Can you stay?" He sounded like a needy kid. Silver decided that he needed to be put down like a sick animal.
Gold let out a chuckle, and Silver was ready to play his words off as a poorly worded joke. But, to his surprise, Gold grabbed Silver's hand and hauled him up to his feet, startling his Weavile. Silver fumbled to hold her with his free arm as she clawed desperately at his shirt, but Gold paid no mind as he led the boy to his bedroom.
"You can stay in my room, the couch is way too small."
"Are you–" He floundered. "Are you sure?"
Gold looked over his shoulder, and it reminded him for just a second of his dream. His grip tightened, and Gold instinctively squeezed back.
"I'm not sleeping on the chair for you." He stuck his tongue out. "It's way more comfortable in my bed."
Silver has seen his room, he knows that it was only a twin bed, but his heart was singing and he didn't want to dull it right now. Tender and sore, like an open wound, he needed something to patch him up.
Gold led him to his bed, haphazardly pulled the blankets down and crawled to one side of the bed. Silver, with as much grace as he could, set Weavile down on the foot of the bed and sat gingerly the furthest he could from Gold.
Gold, noticing his awkwardness, rolled his eyes and grabbed him by the waist, dragging him close like a teddy bear. Silver squawked like a Murkrow and clawed desperately to free himself, even looking to his Weavile for help. She gave him a half-hearted blink before turning her head away, betrayal sullying her every movement. Traitor.
"Quit squirming." Gold grumbled. " 'm trying to sleep."
Silver's honestly not sure what he was expecting, but it certainly should've been this. There was barely enough room on the bed, and Gold would do anything to embarrass him, even in the privacy of just them.
He'd be lying if he said he wasn't comfortable right now though. When he finally relaxed, he practically melted into the touch. It's been a while since he's been hugged, when he thought about it (which wasn't often).
Slowly, he shuffled around until he'd made enough room to turn over, now facing Gold. The boy, half asleep (oh, how Silver envied his ability to fall asleep so fast), creaked an eye open to look at him. Silver made sure he didn't see how soft his face looked by burying his face into the other's chest.
It was only then did the tears truly start, as the weight of the world crumbled and groaned above his shoulders. Gold pulled him even closer, one hand slowly patting his hair soothingly. Once they started, Silver found he couldn't stop them. It had been building up for so long that he expected he'd explode in a burning fireball of torment.
This was better. Much better than that. Because Gold, his first true friend and the one he trusted the most (right after Blue, but that was a given) was right beside him. Gold, who never stopped following him, even if it meant getting tangled up in the nightmare that was his past.
"Thank you." He mumbled, voice cracking. " 'm glad you thought I stole your backpack."
A beat passed, and Silver felt his throat grow dry as the next words tumbled from his mouth.
"I–I love you."
The word love burnt his throat, scraping at the skin and tearing his tongue up. He regretted the words as soon as they were spoken. Not because he didn't mean them, because he did mean them, but it was something that he tried to keep under lock and key.
Gold chuckled, reverberating in his chest, and carefully brought Silver's face back to look at him in the eyes. Silver, who was blushing strongly and wanted nothing more than to melt into a puddle and vanish. He was blushing too, and his lips were pulled into a smile-bordering-grin.
"Sorry–" He began, already planning an escape route should things go awry. He was choking on his words at this point, strangling and stuttering. "I– I mean–... I-"
Gold cut him off by pulling his head towards him and awkwardly guiding his lips to his own.
The kiss wasn't long by any means, but it felt like years to Silver. This was the part in the movie when fireworks were launched, when the viewers would cheer and the music would crescendo.
There were no fireworks though, the only light was from the soft moon glowing and the only noise was the snoring from his Weavile and the soft gasp Silver let out.
His cheeks were still wet with tears, but his shaking had stopped and the next noise he made was a giggle that bubbled and popped in his chest. He buried his face back into Gold's chest, trying to hide his furious blushing. Gold laughed and pressed his face into the crook between Silver's neck and shoulder.
"Are you feeling any better?" He mumbled, voice muffled.
"I had a nightmare about this." Silver whispered, but Gold could hear the smile on his lips.
"Must've been terrifying ." Gold quipped back, bringing his hand back to stroking Silver's hair. The boy leaned into the touch, and allowed his eyes to flutter closed.
And when he fell asleep once more, the nightmare was squashed by a mountain of warmth.