A/N: Written in ten minutes. Practice.
Fandom: Pokémon
Characters/pairing: Gold, Silver
Genre: Drama
Summary: In a different reality— Gold loses every time.
Rating: T
Cherrygrove is quiet. Around them there are only the tiniest wisps of air, the beaten crumbles of the earth, stomped on. Silver looks at him like he's staring at a piece of gum on the pavement, elastic bowels hugging at the cement.
"Did you expect something more of me?" Gold asks him. His hands are closed.
"No," Silver lies.
The next time they meet it's in Azalea, right before Gold steps inside the magnificent gym. The sight of Silver makes him stop, and of course the other boy notices.
"I hate weak people," he informs him.
"That's nice to know," Gold says, quietly, fingers tightly wrapped around the weight of an unconscious ball. Want he really wants to say is, but does that mean you hate yourself? Silver slips inside Ilex forest and he doesn't look back, but it's not like Gold expected him to. His footsteps are gone and once Gold can no longer hear the leaves crunching, he lets out a breath he doesn't know he was holding, heading for the centre, heading for forgiveness.
"Am I a bad person for letting you win?" he asks. Silver is already out the door; if he hears him, he doesn't show it.
The smell of smoke permeates the air and Gold knows he's never going to get the stink of rotting wood out of his clothes. If he looks up, he can see the orange sky, burning pink at the clouds, but he can't tear his eyes away from the black floor beneath his feet. This time, Silver doesn't even stop to abuse him, doesn't even care to admit his dislike of him. Ignorance is the highest form of hate, Gold thinks, and feels a little proud of himself.
He beats down every Rocket grunt in the way, trudging through the tunnel like it's a walk in the park. but falls to pieces when Silver pulls against him, daring and confident because he knows he's going to win. He doesn't even try to hide it, so Gold doesn't cover the smile on his lips.
"Why are you smiling?" Silver hisses, the colour of his face reddening, like blood on a white floor, and Gold doesn't manage to answer, because he doesn't know.
Gold decides to give up once he reaches the end of victory road, and he doesn't even think about the sweet irony of it all.