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The elevator stopped with a loud grinding sound, sending both of the inhabitants into a stumble.
Silver caught himself against the metal railings with grace, but Gold tripped on an untied lace and fell to the floor with a loud thump that echoed in the iron maiden the device had become.
The lights flickered, a dull buzz that cut itself off with each flash.
"What's happenin'..." The boy on the floor mumbled, cheek pressed against the absolutely disease riddled flooring. Silver nudged him with one foot to try and get him to stand up, because even the sight of him with his face under thirty centimetres in proximity to it made his head hurt.
"Elevator's stuck." Silver mumbled, but Gold looked at him as he pried himself off the floor. Silver pulled his PokeGear out of his pocket, but shoved it back in upon seeing the empty data bars. "No service either."
Beneath his breath, the raven-haired boy mumbled "real genius over here."
Silver brushed the comment off, because most of Gold's words were swept away with a dustpan without a second of consideration, but he did note the light attitude that snapped its jaws around the words.
"I'm just answering your question." Not that Silver was particularly looking to start an argument, but this situation was less than ideal on his mind right now.
As if to prove his original statement wrong, Gold slides a hand across the panel of buttons, taking time to push every single button twice over. When they didn't respond–because why would they? But Silver wasn't about to say that outloud–he slammed a fist straight onto the cluttered panel.
The lights flickered again, twice before the bulb let out a horrible whine. It shut off, before a backup light kicked in. A horribly dull, barely functional light, casting the pair in a washed out cold light. Silver would've preferred no light at all, the cool hues hurt his eyes. They always had, but it had gotten worse after the… situation at the Sinjoh Ruins.
"It's stuck." announced Gold, and Silver rolled his eyes.
It was his fault they'd been stuck in the elevator in the first place. 'His' being Gold. Silver took the stairs every time, partially because of situations like this.
What made it even worse was that they'd been separated from their Pokemon, once again the fault of Gold. Silver wouldn't be surprised if this entire situation was his fault, in all honesty.
Usually elevators had a limit on the Pokemon they allowed in, allowing a shoulder or pocket-sized partner to ride in with you while your others were stored in their Poke Balls. This building must've had one too many experiences with a careless elbow bumping the release button of a Snorlax's ball, because there was a poster on the doors, inside the elevator, on the walls outside the elevator, all repeating the notion that no Poke Balls were allowed inside the elevator.
Silver absolutely did not trust the small chute that had been installed in the doors outside, and he had already pivoted to take the stairs, but Gold dragged him by his sleeve and forced him to deposit his team and ride the elevator with him.
It must've been five minutes since the device grinded to a halt, and Silver knew he would've already been at the bottom floor of the building if he took the stairs.
"Imagine we suffocate and die." Gold hummed from where he was sitting, on the floor cross legged. If the floor wasn't so gross, Silver would've taken a seat opposite him. Alas, there was more grime than vinyl, so the redhead perched himself on the handrails that jutted from the walls.
It took him a second to process the other's words, because as much as he knew Gold to spout things like that, it was never that grim. "I'd prefer not to."
Gold shrugged, staring down at his shoe laces that had been tied, untied, then tied again (his second attempt was worse than his first, it almost looked like his hands were shaking). Silver just stared at him with his usual expression, a frown that was trying its hardest not to look like a frown, which in turn made it look more like one than not.
"Yeah but, like, what if we do." His voice was getting quieter, which really shouldn't be happening. He should be yelling, or at the very least, cracking jokes about the situation until Silver hisses at him to stop.
"We won't. You physically can't. There's enough space for air to get in and out."
That doesn't really help quell whatever's gotten into Gold though.
He ducked his head, still focused on his shoes. Though, this time he'd abandoned his now untied left shoe to mess with his other shoe. "What if no one realises we're stuck here?"
Okay this was getting out of hand. But, Silver bit his tongue because it absolutely wouldn't help either of them. "You're being illogical. It's the middle of the day, we're in a busy hotel. Someone's going to realise."
Gold doesn't look at him, he just keeps playing with his shoelaces so Silver hops off the railing, drops into a crouch and bats away his hands. With swift, calculated hand movements, he tied the lace, with the Buneary-ear trick Blue had taught him so many years ago. Gold stayed silent, and Silver didn't even look at him until he tied his other shoe.
When he pulled back, satisfied with his work despite his gloves that worked against him with every fine motor skill-check, he shifted his gaze up to Gold's face and–
He's crying.
Silver was not prepared emotionally, mentally, or even physically for that. Like a Deerling in headlights, he stared. Gold broke eye contact first, turning his whole head away while swiping furiously at his eyes.
"Sorry." He crowed, one step away from being a sob. " 'm being stupid. Ignore me."
Gold pushed one hand forward, and it palms against Silver's shoulder–when did he get so close to the boy?–to push him away.
What was the word… It ended with -phobia, because that was the one Blue had towards birds and this definitely felt like a fear-induced break. It started with 'c', but he also had a more pressing issue at hand.
"We'll be fine." Silver tried, wincing at the end because he was awful at this. Gold noticed too, and he managed the ghost of a smile before his lips wobbled dangerously.
With a shuddering inhale, the boy chokes out "I know."
"Someone will find us."
"I know. Like I said, I'm just being stupid right now. Sorry–"
His hands were wandering dangerously back to his shoelaces, so Silver reached forward and grasped him in a tight hold. Truly, he didn't know why, but it just felt right. It pushed away some of the furrow lines in the bridge of Gold's nose, at least.
"Just focus on breathing." Though Blue had done well to hide her fear from the rest of the world, Silver had always known. She tried to hide it from him too, confessing one night that she didn't want to 'burden' him with the responsibility of her happiness, but he stayed by her side regardless. He'd picked up some lessons from her for things like this, and up until this point had used them for the sparing moments he'd woken up clawing at his face, as if the mask was still there.
To emphasise his words, Silver took a deep inhale and gestured for Gold to follow. He held it for a few seconds, before exhaling through the mouth. Gold managed a few breaths, though they could hardly be called deep. Each one tapered off faster, until he was shallowly gasping for breaths.
Silver's never encountered this before. So, he does what Blue's done for him several times. He reaches forward and gathers all the scattered pieces of Gold into his arms.
To say the boy dissolved in his hold was to exaggerate, but it felt like that. He went limp, scaring Silver enough that he jostled him a little to make sure he was still conscious. Gold let out a pathetic whimper, which was enough for him.
"F–Fuck. I'm sorry." He mumbled into Silver's chest, fists balling the front of his jacket. "This is stupid. I'm being stupid."
Silver didn't say anything beyond a disapproving tut, choosing to focus his attention on threading a hand–though not before pulling his gloves off, because that's what Blue did, and tugging off Gold's cap and goggles–through the boy's hair. Shit, if Gold was set-off by tight spaces, then this hug probably wasn't helping. But he couldn't just stop, because Gold seemed all too comfortable in his arms.
"It's not stupid." He hummed as he pulled Gold closer into him, to the point where he was practically sitting on his lap. He risked several diseases by sitting on the floor, so he better feel better. "It's a natural reaction to situations like this."
Gold scoffed, though it sounded more like a cough. "It's never been this bad before. I've always been like this, and it was manageable until the thing in the Ilex forest and–" He cut himself off with a shaking inhale. "I don't want to vanish and be forgotten."
It was hard to believe Gold's words, that this fear has always been there, because Gold always seemed so unbothered. He didn't care about things like this. He dialed Silver's number and expressed surprise that he was alive, right before announcing he was going toe-to-toe with God.
He donned a replica suit and dared challenge a man wielding a literal sword to free his friends–friend? He wasn't sure how close Gold was with the Kanto Dexholders–from being petrified. He jumped head first into a time vortex and was frozen at the bottom of the Lake of Rage and battled so many legendaries and still managed to walk away alive.
Silver never understood the phrase 'walk a mile in their shoes', because he was already wearing shoes that he knew fit. He was poor at empathising, poor at sympathy and comfort, but he shut his eyes and tried to bring him back to that moment years and years ago, when they had slipped through time's hold, into a world untouched by human hands.
Gold pressed a feather into his and Crys's hands, thanked them for their time, and sent them away.
The stream they occupied for that moment was vast, but it was oh so suffocating. The pressures of external bubbles, the bodies of their past selves that pushed and prodded, trying to account for the fact of co-existence, of time spiralling and spiralling down.
"I could never forget you." Silver mumbled as he squeezed the boy tighter. "For better or worse, I still don't know–" That made Gold bark out a laugh. "but what I do know is that you're pretty memorable."
A horrible scraping noise from outside made Gold duck his head down further into Silver's chest, but the gnarled scream of metal gave way to a collection of voices, and a measured knock on the roof of the elevator. Gold pulled back quickly so he could scrub the tears and snot–gross– from his face, though his eyes were puffed and red, making it obvious that he'd been crying.
Silver wrapped a hand firmly around one of Gold's, who squeezed back with a mellow, but genuine, smile.
"We'll open the roof panel and have you two climb out if that's possible!" A voice called from above, likely belonging to a fireman.
"Okay." Silver called back, because it was clear Gold didn't trust his voice not to break.
"Sorry about that." Gold muttered, looking down sheepishly. Or, well, he probably looked sheepish, but the lights flickered off moments before he could really get a read on his expression.
A creak from above gave way to a groan, as a hatch was pried open to reveal the torchlight–and the bleed of the outside lighting–and a concerned, but relieved expression.
Silver untangled his hand from Gold's and instead weaved his hands together, offering Gold a step he could use to reach the opening of the hatch first.
The boy took the offer with poorly disguised urgency, and with Silver's help, clambered out through the hatch. He did, however, turn back and reach his hand out for Silver to take.
He couldn't actually reach it, and the fireman pulled out a sturdy piece of rope for him to climb instead, but the offer was there all the same.
The top of the elevator was almost level with the mechanical doors leaning to the second floor, so the pair was able to clamber out onto a much more open floor.
"We're taking the stairs from now on." Gold grumbled as he wobbled on gelatinous legs, eventually landing on a plush bench nearby. Silver followed him, and didn't wait before slumping down next to him, not caring that they were pressed against each other.
One of the firefighters lingered nearby, but Gold gave them a weary thumbs up to confirm they were both fine.
"That could've been avoided if we took them in the first place."
Gold let out a whine as he tipped his head back to look at the roof. "How long were we in there?"
Silver slipped his PokeGear out and shot a glance at the light up display on the exterior.
"Fifteen minutes."
"I wouldn't survive a plane crash." Gold lamented, and Silver nodded in agreement. Mostly agreeing on the grounds of Gold not surviving, but Silver also had little faith in his own survival.
"We'd starve before the first day was over."