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Gold sighed. Resting his chin on his hand, he struggled to keep his eyes open. Ever since the nursery couple moved, he had been running the place all by himself. Every day he would take new pokémon in and bid some farewell, and every night he would stay up tending to the newly hatched baby pokemon. He was tired, exhausted even. He could take a nap right here and now. He would take a nap right here and now. Just a little rest… he thought, closing his eyes.
The door chimed, and Gold woke with a start. How long had he been asleep?? “Er- Hi, welcome! Do you need me to take care of any pokémon for you?” He said automatically, not bothering to check who had just come in. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes, hoping he didn’t look too crazy as he turned around. Oh, it was- “Crys! Hey! How’s it going?” He said, greeting the blue-haired girl.
“Hey Gold, I’m doing pretty well. I actually need you to take care of two pokémon for me. They’re endangered, and I’m really hoping you’re responsible enough to take care of them and their eggs.” Crys rattled off a list of instructions and whatnot, and Gold decided it would be just fine if he spaced out until she was done. He was startled out of his thoughts by her sudden aggravation. “Gold! Are you even listening?” Gold rolled his eyes. “Don’t worry so much, it'll be fine.”
Crys crossed her arms. “Gold- Can you just… whatever. Here, I’ll write you a list.” She said, her face etched with frustration. Gold bit his lip. He wanted to say something, apologize, maybe, but Crys already looked so tired, and he didn’t want to stress her out more. He could hear the stress in her voice, could see the bags under her eyes that matched his own. He turned around, checking the time. 6:15 PM. Yikes. He had been asleep for a while. “Here.” Came the voice behind him. Gold turned back around, staring at Crys as an uncomfortable silence washed over them.
Crys cleared her throat. “Well, I’ll be back in a few weeks. Bye, Gold.” Gold watched her leave, picking up the pokeballs and the list she had left behind for him. He walked to the back, releasing the two from their pokéballs to adjust to the new environment for a bit. He didn’t even bother reading the list Crystal wrote him, knowing it would probably be fine either way. After feeding the two, Gold walked off to get food for the rest of the pokemon.
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Gold was just starting to doze off… right until he heard crying. He groaned, getting up from his pile of blankets in the corner. He took care not to step on any of the eggs he had previously been cuddling. He fumbled, searching for the light switch, hissing and covering his eyes when he finally found it. “Jus’ a sec’…” He mumbled to nobody in particular.
He hurried to the other room, having Exbo warm up some milk as he walked over. Gold groaned, trying not to fall asleep while feeding the little baby smeargle. Soon, he had calmed it down enough to put it back to sleep, and stumbled back to the eggs, closing his eyes once more and hoping to at least get an hour of actual rest.
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Silver raised an eyebrow, considering what to do with the sight in front of him. Gold was dead asleep, curled up in a nest of blankets and eggs. He should… what should he do? On one hand, he wanted answers- because Gold was usually awake and bothering someone by now, but on the other, Gold hadn’t even stirred as Silver sputtered in confusion at the sight of his rival curled up on the floor. Though, to be fair, that wasn’t exactly surprising.
“Hmmm…” Silver studied Gold’s face, taking in his unusually pale complexion, the dark circles under his eyes, and the way a frown was etched into his face as he slept. The way he looked… It made something twist in Silver’s chest, sharp and painful.
Crouching down, he poked Gold in the shoulder a few times. “C’mon, Gold… Wakey wakey…” No response. Silver tilted his head, moving his hand to cup his rival’s cheek, watching him unconsciously lean into his hand and- wait. That wasn’t what he was here to do. He was here to check on Gold, because Crys asked him to. Not because he cared- he wasn’t quite ready to admit that yet- but because it would be bad if something went wrong and Gold wasn’t there. Yeah, that made sense.
He removed his hand from Gold’s cheek, mouth pressed into a thin line as he considered his current predicament. Gold was acting weird, and this wasn’t the first time. It was… concerning. Silver stood up, running a hand through his hair in frustration.
Gold was here, safe and alive, but something still needed to be done about this. He was clearly overworking himself, but what could Silver do to convince him to rest? The boy was incredibly stubborn, and certainly wouldn’t just listen to him.
He looked back down at Gold, startled to see the shining golden eyes of his rival. “Sliver? What’re you doing here?”
The boy in question took a step back in surprise, mouth going dry at the question. What was his excuse again? “I- Crystal, uh, wanted me to um. Check on you. She was worried. Yeah. That’s why I’m here.” Silver stepped closer, sitting down in front of Gold to get eye level with him. “So, uh… how are you doing?” He asked, cringing at the question as soon as it left his mouth.
Gold raised an eyebrow, snorting. “Just wonderful, what about you? Silver winced. Okay, yeah, that was a dumb question. But it was good to know his friend hadn’t lost his sass. “I’m good, I suppose.” Silver answered.
An awkward silence washed over them. Silver decided to just cut to the chase. Crossing his arms, he narrowed his eyes at Gold. “What’s wrong.” He asked, maybe a bit too harshly. “...Nothing. I dunno what you’re talking about,” Gold muttered, averting his eyes.
“Bullshit.” Silver responded. “Crys said that you were acting weird, and from what I can tell, you are.” Gold stuck his tongue out. “I’m always acting weird. Your point?” He asked, clearly thinking he had won. “Yeah, but not this weird,” came the reply. An argument was starting, and Silver didn’t like it. Gold wouldn’t listen. He never did. Probably never would.
“...You look like shit, Gold.” A scoff from the other boy. “And you look like a roach!” Okay, maybe he should be a little more gentle about his wording. “...Gold, I think you need to rest.” Another scoff. “And I think you’re wrong.” Maybe a little bit harsher? “You’re probably sick!” Gold scoffed once more. “I’m sick?! Look at yourself! You’re practically a ghost, Silver!” Silver took offense to that. He was naturally pale! But he bit back the insult he was about to yell in favor of taking a moment to think.
He was right. Gold wasn’t listening to him. But he had to keep trying. “Gold,” he started gently. “I know you’re exhausted. I know you don’t want to admit you need help… But you’re burning yourself out. It’s not good for you, and it’s not good for the pokemon or the eggs here.”
Gold huffed, suddenly standing up. “I- It’s- I’m fine. You… you don’t need to worry.” Silver grabbed his shoulders. “Well too bad! I am worried! You need to rest! Gold, please… do it for the pokémon… do it for me.” Gold stared at him in shock. “I… It… It’s not that bad, is it?” He asked, voice wavering. He was finally seeing reason. “Yes, it is that bad. You need actual rest, not just… lying on the floor with a bunch of eggs. Please tell me you have an actual bed here somewhere.” Gold nodded before speaking. “I mean, yeah… but it’s too far away from all the pokemon and-”
Silver cut him off. “Gold. Your pokémon will take care of it. I will take care of it.” He raised a hand to his rival’s cheek, feeling braver than he had before. “Let me help you… It’s okay to ask for assistance.” Gold chuckled, bringing his own hand up to touch Silver’s. “Tell that to yourself,” he said. “There’s that smile… now go back to bed, it’s only 10 AM.”
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Later that night, Silver went to check on Gold. Still dead asleep. Good. He was curled up on a small mattress, the room not yet set up. He knelt right beside it, brushing a stray hair out of Gold’s face, contemplating the next move. What should he do about all this? He didn’t know. But what he did know is that he couldn’t let this happen again. He leaned closer to Gold’s face, pressing his lips against the other’s forehead in a soft, tender kiss. As he stood up and left the room, he turned to look at Gold, a small smile tugging at his lips. Oh, how he loved this boy.