Crystal Would Lie
When the bell rang, all of the students clad in their uniforms (white collared shirts, optional ties, optional navy sweaters or blazers, and navy pants or skirts) raced out of the classroom. Gold watched with mild amusement as all of the high schoolers scurried about, in a rush to reach their next class. It was Friday, and he was about half-asleep, but after three periods he had sort of woken up. Not to mention his best friend slapping him every time he almost nodded off, which certainly kept him awake. It was Friday, April twenty-sixth, nearing the blissful end of the year, although there was still quite a bit of school left, which made most students aggravated to no end that their departure from the hellhole called school was delayed further, like standing in an airport for hours on end because of a postponed takeoff.
Gold yawned. The bluenette beside him sent him a sharp, threatening look, so he instantly straightened his slouch, showing her that he was clearly not falling asleep again. He distracted himself from her glare by gazing around the hall, when his eyes landed on a bright poster hanging on a wall ahead. He studied it as they drew closer, and nudged his companion.
"Oi, Cryssy," he caught her attention. "Look at the poster."
Viridian High School Talent Show!
Tuesday, April 30th, 5 PM, School Auditorium
Auditions held after school on Thursday
Tickets on sale all week and at the door
Crystal stared blankly at it, and then glanced over at her (unfortunately) best friend of five years. "Your point?"
Gold scoffed. "My point is that they're having a freaking talent show here. A freaking. Talent show. I mean, Arceus, how lame can they be? It would be more like a talent-less show here, what with the only people who would actually try out or even bother to go being total goobers."
Crystal's glare turned even more deadly. "Your vocabulary sucks and so do you. Maybe if you kept your half-wit oral cavity shut half the freaking time then people wouldn't think you're a total asshole." With those words, Crystal turned on her heal hotly and stormed off.
Gold had seen her that angry a few times before, where she'd radiated anger like it was some kind of perfume that made everyone repel from her. Because being near Crystal when she was truly that pissed was an extremely dangerous thing. The first time he saw her like that was around when he'd initially met her, back when they were in sixth grade and she'd broken up a fight between him and their other friend, Silver, calling them "delinquents". He'd been bugging her to no end in the hallway, because he had heard from Crystal's extremely fine friend, Blue, about Crystal's legendary fury, which Blue had only witnessed once, and that was enough for the azure-eyed brunette to be absolutely terrified of the bluenette. So Gold was following her around in the hallway as she carried her science project—a mini scale model of the Skyarrow Bridge for a test to see if what she built could withstand the makeshift "earthquake" shaking done in the science room—to use in her next class. He was doing everything in his power to irritate her; singing, dancing, telling perverted jokes, but to no avail. Sure she got really annoyed, but he was sure that that wasn't exactly the ferocity he was searching for. He even went as far as to sing show tunes to pester her. He was part of the way through "Be Our Guest"from Beauty and the Beast, when it happened. He was singing brightly, "Beef ragout, cheese soufflé, pie and pudding en flame!" when he shot his arms out to accent his singing, and he knocked the project out of her arms and to the ground, where it was stepped on multiple times by passing students.
Well. That certainly got him exactly what he wanted. Crystal was absolutely livid that he destroyed her perfect project. Gold had expected the pie and pudding to be en flame, but he never expected Crystal to be; a fire truly burned in her eyes when she gave him her most petrifying death glare. He, however, took it in stride, attempting to hide his grin at her rage, and followed her to her science class, explaining to the teacher what had happened. He got detention, and Crystal got an A plus even though her project was destroyed, but it was all worth it to Gold. He wasn't sure exactly why, but he found it hilarious when she was angry, and that it was profoundly entertaining to bother her. That was one of the first instances that Gold knew that he wanted to be around that Crystal girl, and his continuous pestering somehow blossomed into a faulty, but still real friendship.
However, as he stood there in the packed hallway, sixteen years old and still screwing things up, Gold had no clue what had gotten her so freaking fired up that time. Was it something he'd said? He was snapped out of his thoughts when someone cuffed him on the back of the head, muttering, "Such an idiot…"
Gold spun around to see another one of his friends, Silver, standing there and shaking his head. "Silver, my comrade!" Gold greeted the grumpy ginger (as Gold would repeatedly refer to him as over the years). "Did you see all of that?"
"Yes. And you're impossibly stupid," Silver deadpanned.
"Argh!" Gold grunted in frustration. "Why does everyone keep telling me that?!"
"Maybe because it's true."
Gold chose to ignore that comment. "Well do you know what's got Crys so pissed? I just mentioned that stupid talent show." Silver stared blankly, not giving an answer. Realization slowly dawned on Gold's face. "Oh…oh damn, she's performing isn't she?"
"No shit, Sherlock."
"Crap, I said it was stupid, now she'll hate me. Hey, what is she even doing as an act?" Gold asked curiously. He never saw Crystal as one to perform something, much less do something in front of a crowd. He could see their other, rather spunky and cheerful friend Lyra presenting, but not Crystal really.
Silver shrugged. "No clue. Lyra is in the show too though. Playing her guitar I think." As he finished speaking, the bell rang. He shook his head at Gold. "Nice going, you'll be late, baka."
"Yeah, well so will you!" Silver gave him the ghost of a smirk, an evil glint in his eye, before turning into the classroom they were standing right next to, apparently his next class, as a few other lingering students rushed in after him.
"Oh that cruel bastard…"
Gold had gotten a detention again for being late to class, but he didn't care. He was mostly worried about his own personal problems, that he barely paid any attention in his classes. All day, Crystal refused to talk to him, until once the last bell rang and he followed her to her locker, singing Madonna songs really loudly and, ahem, totally not off-key at all (yeah, right, Gold), and she finally gave in to get him to stop scream-singing. He leaned against the frame of her locker as she violently shoved binders into her backpack.
"So. What are you doing for the talent show?" he asked coolly.
"Not telling," she replied sassily, sticking her tongue out at him for a fraction of a second, not wasting any time. "So you're going to have to come to that 'talent-less' show full of apparent 'goobers' if you wanna figure it out."
"Damn, I really dug my own grave there…" Gold muttered, scratching the back of his head.
"You did."
"Can I at least have a hint?" Gold pleaded.
"Hm…fine," Crystal agreed, slamming her locker shut. She seemed to hesitate before continuing, as if she was worried that he'd guess what she would be doing. "Remember that assignment last year for Birch's class where we had to change the words to a song or a poem to fit our own lives?"
"Yeah," Gold recalled, "I remember. Apparently mine had too much cussing."
Crystal nodded. "Yep, that's the one. Let's just say it has to do something with that."
"What? What does that have to do with anything?" Gold asked hopelessly.
Crystal shrugged. "If you can't figure it out, you'll just have to come to the show. And anyways, why aren't you bothering to go to your locker? Do you want to miss your bus?"
"I got detention for being late."
Crystal shook her head in disbelief, but Gold caught her grin. "Idiot. I'll see ya later." She gave off a little wave, still beaming, as she disappeared through the crowd of students filing calmly (yeah right, more like running barbarically) out of the school.
It was Tuesday, April thirtieth at five o'clock, and Gold was sitting in the auditorium of his school, involuntarily. He would rather do something else, anything else, but he was too curious about what Crystal would be doing to not join Silver in enduring through the long and painful acts until their friends performed. Gold was rather surprised at the turnout of students of their school; he hadn't expected so many people to indulge in watching the show, although he assumed that about half of them were just there to make fun of the others when the show was over.
Gold nearly fell asleep out of boredom in watching the acts—horrible acting, dreadful singing, chaotic bands—but he jolted awake when he heard the names of his two friends called, and Crystal and Lyra trotted onto the stage. He nudged Silver, who hadn't even bothered to watch the first act all of the way through and had been snoring through everything since. Lyra sat on a stood atop the stage, wearing a simple white blouse, a plaid pink skirt, and holding her guitar. Her hair was braided in a single plait down her back, instead of her regular childish pigtails. Gold snickered when he saw out of the corner of his eye as Silver looked in a different direction, presumably disguising a blush.
He swallowed his prepared mocking, though, when his eyes landed upon his best friend of five years. She wore a yellow floral sundress, which was uncomplicated in comparison to the other, fancier dresses that some other girls had adorned themselves with for the occasion. Her hair was let loose from its usual gravity-defying ponytails, and cascaded down her back. He never realized just how wavy it was because she straightened it daily. He heard Silver laugh and knew his face must have been the color of cherries at that point, so he was glad it was dark. What Gold didn't understand was, why seeing her like that made his heart want to leap out of his chest. She was his best friend, he had never felt that awkward seeing her before. Sure, occasionally, in the right light, maybe she was pretty…okay, he admitted to himself on multiple occasions that she had…grown up quite a bit since the sixth grade, but he had always tried to ignore those little feelings plaguing the back of his mind for the sake of their friendship. In that moment, however, they seemed more powerful than ever.
Wait…what is she doing? He wondered. Lyra had her guitar, but Crystal was empty-handed. She stepped up to the microphone as Lyra began to strum her guitar, which was an acoustic with another microphone positioned just before the face of the guitar, so it echoed through the auditorium as she expertly changed chords. After the intro, Crystal began to sing.
Gold should have known that was what she was doing, but it still caught him off guard. He slowly realized her clue from Friday; she was singing a song originally by some other singer, but she had changed the words of it, to apply to her own life more, he guessed. He had never really heard Crystal sing before; sure they'd all sang happy birthday all the time, but that wasn't her real voice. Her true voice was beautiful; clear and hitting each pitch precisely, but her voice itself was a thing of indescribable splendor that resounded through his head. Even if it was just her vocals and Lyra's guitar, they didn't need a whole band for the song to sound perfect. He wasn't sure if he could ever forget it. He had goosebumps just listening to her. He paid attention on through the song, catching each and every word as she never wavered, confidence building up and allowing her to stand tall.
"I don't think that passenger's seat He's fallen in love this time, he swears And I could tell you
Has ever looked this good to me
He tells me about his night
And I get lost in his golden eyes
As he runs his fingers through his messy hair
I'm laughing, 'cause I hope he's wrong
And I don't think it ever crossed his mind
That when I kick him it serves him right
But I know all his favorite songs
He makes the best of the worst
He's just so reckless
Born on the twenty-first,"
Gold's eyes widened. His birthday was the twenty-first of July. Could Crystal have been talking about him? It was a song telling how she knew all of these things about a guy she apparently liked, and of course he and Crystal knew each other like the back of their hands and could even anticipate their own comebacks in arguments, but he doubted that she liked him. She must have known someone else with a birthday on the twenty-first of some other month. Or she must have just needed something to rhyme with worst. It couldn't have been him…could it?
"He says all those girls are beautiful
He has metallic eyes
And if you asked me if I love him
I'd lie,"
As Lyra played the interlude, Gold went over the words she'd sung. Over the years, he'd been called an obnoxious flirt, or a pervert by her multiple times, due to his playboy attitude and some girls falling over him. So could it have been a reference to that? But she had said that she loved whoever the song was about. Crystal didn't love him. She sure as hell beat him up enough to know that it wasn't love she felt; he was kicked in the stomach almost daily. Maybe she just wanted to change the song, so she kept the whole "love" part, and didn't know what to change about the guy, so she just described me, Gold thought. It doesn't mean she loves me…
"He struts into the room,"
Damn. Gold really hoped the song wasn't about him. He did not strut! Well…
"Bothers me and I avoid the truth He adds color to black and white I could tell you
That I have fallen for an idiot like him
Doesn't he know that every word he says makes my head spin?
But he's never let nobody see him cry
I won't let nobody see me wishing he was mine
He makes the best of the worst
He's just so reckless
Born on the twenty-first
He says all those girls are beautiful
He has metallic eyes
And if you asked me if I love him
I'd lie
He tells me those jokes that always get old,"
Gold was always a bit of a jokester. He wondered vaguely if Crystal was just purposely dropping hints about him. But why would she do that? And even to say that she was exasperated by his jokes (which she usually was).
"I'm way too serious, that's what I'm told,"
Boy is that the truth, Gold thought, the corners of his mouth turning upwards as he recalled in seventh grade when he had first created the notorious, ever-present nickname of Super Serious Gal for her, when she'd never take a break for studying.
"You're an idiot but I love you,"
She held out the note, and Gold waited, but nothing really came after that in the line. He was certain there was something after that that she may have been leaving out. "I love you" didn't exactly rhyme with "old" or "told", so there had to have been something she was excluding, but why?
"He'd never tell you Yes I could tell you
But he thinks I'm a star
He tries to catch what he already has
And that's my heart
First thought when I wake up
Is he's stupid but beautiful
So I put on my makeup
And I pray for a miracle
He makes the best of the worst
He's just so reckless
How does he make it work?
He tells me I'm beautiful
He has metallic eyes
And if you ask me if I love him
Don't you ask me if I love him
'Cause I'd lie."
The crowd clapped when the final note rang out, but Gold found himself sitting in the same spot, staring at the stage, paralyzed until the end of the talent show. When it finally drew to a close, he found out that Lyra and Crystal hadn't placed, the winners of the first, second, and third place prizes all being bands or solo singers, but he thought they didn't hold a candle to Crystal's singing. When everyone left the auditorium to greet their friends or family who had performed, milling around in the hallways and giving out flowers, Silver and Gold met up with Crystal and Lyra.
"Good job, guys." Gold was almost certain it had come out as a stutter, and that he was blushing madly again at seeing Crystal.
Silver rolled his eyes. "Yeah, what he said."
"Silver!" Lyra wailed. "You're such a big meanie!"
Silver just grunted in response, as Lyra launched into moaning complaints about him.
Gold didn't know what cruel spirit possessed him to do so, but as his two other friends were enveloped in the chaos of the halls and not paying attention, he took hold of Crystal's hand and began dragging her out of the front doors of the school. "Gold, what are you—?" she started, but couldn't seem to finish her question as he burst through the doors and led her outside of the school, over to where the outer courtyard was and to a large, looming oak tree. The stars glittering in the cloudless, dark blue night sky and the bright, shining moon were enough to illuminate their path and for him to see Crystal when he turned to face her. In that instant, he almost wished he hadn't dragged her out there; the moonlight playing off of her features made her even more beautiful, and made his throat even drier.
"I-I," he stuttered out, "I thought you were really good…I mean, I've never heard you sing before…"
Crystal tensed slightly at the awkward atmosphere. "Thanks…"
"I got your clue," he said. "That you changed the song. But," he decided to address the matter he was most curious about before jumping into the rest, "the third verse seemed to be a bit altered."
Crystal nodded. "I changed it. I didn't want to sing what the last line of it really was in front of everyone…but I can sing it for you now…" She blushed lightly.
Gold grinned as she started up, not meeting his gaze and instead closing her eyes as she began to sing without music. It seemed almost like right then, under the picturesque night sky beneath an oak tree, with everything else dead silent and no one but them around, Crystal sounded even better than she had onstage, if that was possible. Maybe it was because she put her heart and soul into singing, and it was just for him to hear.
"He tells me those jokes that always get old
I'm way too serious, that's what I'm told
You're an idiot, but I love you, Gold."
Gold stared at her, wide-eyed. So it was true that everything she said in the song, about how stupid he was and how he made her felt whenever he talked about other girls, but that she really loved him, was about him. Was about Gold all along, and she had been having such feelings that she needed to express it in some way, and actually had the guts to, unlike Gold.
When Crystal dared to open her eyes again, she blushed at how much Gold had leaned in. She took a step back, but she ran into the tree. "G-Gold…" she stuttered. He didn't have his trademark smirk or even a stupid grin on, like she would have expected if he was going to make fun of her for confession. She had been debating for weeks whether or not she should sing the song she changed for him, and she'd finally had the courage to, so she didn't want to be rejected. But Gold's expression was serious, his amber eyes that she loved so much were sincere as he lifted his chin to cup her cheek, leaning closer to her still until their noses were touching, their breath mingling, both of them blushing madly. She was certain that if he wasn't holding her, if she didn't have something as stable as a tree behind her, she would melt. Gold himself was still nervous to lean the way he did, but he knew that if she had the bravery to go up in front of everyone and sing, indirectly confessing until later when she had underneath the shade of the tree, he could do this.
Gold closed the gap between the two of them, pressing his lips against hers. He could feel her tense, but then relax and throw her arms around his neck, pulling him closer as he snaked his arms around her waist. It was a simple kiss, nothing tongue-tying, but filled with so much love over the amount of years of longing they'd spent together. They broke apart only when they were convinced that their lungs would burst and stared at each other, grinning as they caught their breath.
"You know something?" Gold asked quietly, as if he wanted no one else to ever hear those words, meant just for her.
"What?" Crystal responded, gazing up at him, her words barely above a whisper.
"I love you. And that's not a lie."
The End
Explanations of the lyrics=
"He's fallen in love this time he swears":
This is referencing to Gold's playboy attitude, how he always flirts with girls, and he's saying that he's fallen in love with one of them after he dates one of them, but then they just end up breaking up, as he's a flirt. So, while it never works out, he keeps swearing that he loves the girl he's with at the moment. Crystal is laughing because each time she's hoping he's not in love.
"When I kick him it serves him right":
I didn't exactly talk very much about Crystal kicking, but if you have any knowledge of her Pokespe character, she kicks the pokeballs to catch Pokemon. Yes, I'm aware that most of you know that, I'm just clearing that up because I didn't really mention the whole kicking thing as it is an AU.
"But I know all his favorite songs":
This is another Pokespe one I didn't go into detail on; when Gold is always talking about DJ Mary and stuff in the actual GSC arc, and how he listens to the radio and such. This is originally from the lyrics of Taylor Swift, as some parts of the song are.
"He makes the best of the worst":
This is talking about how in Pokespe, even in the battle with the Masked Man, Gold always managed to make the most out of a bad situation and win the fight against Pryce. A bit vague, but hey, it rhymes with twenty-first!
"He says all those girls are beautiful":
Yes. Gold is a flirt and a pervert; I think everyone has established that. This is a bit of Cryssy being jealous I suppose, as if during their friendship he would always mention how pretty other girls were, and she'd be upset because he noticed them and not her (or so she thought).
"And if you asked me if I love him, I'd lie":
Because if you asked Capturer Crystal of Pokespe if she was in love with Breeder Gold, I bet she would lie XP (also from the original lyrics, I just wanted to say that though...)
"He struts into the room":
I can imagine Gold strutting...
"He adds color to black and white, but he's never let nobody see him cry":
Uh, a bit of a reference to BW maybe? Or that in the manga, it's all black and white? Or that his name is Gold which is somewhat of a color? (I know it's a metallic, but hey, if you look in a 64 pack of Crayola crayons, I bet you could find a gold in there somewhere) Oh and I checked so I'm pretty sure he doesn't cry in the manga at all. This was an original line, but I felt like it spoke. Like, here's all these bad things going on, with battles and danger, and yet Gold for the most part is always grinning or being a pervert and such and so forth. He always stays strong. In the mangas, Blue cries (or at least gets teary), Yellow cries (a lot...), Crystal cries, Sapphire, Ruby, I believe Dia too...but never Gold.
"He tells me those jokes that always get old":
Gold is a flirt, and I bet he'd tell jokes. Like, mostly perverted ones I'd imagine. He's a bit of a prankster, no?
"I'm way too serious, that's what I'm told":
Gold calls her Super Serious Gal for Bill's sake!
"He'd never tell you, but he thinks I'm a star":
Crystal has star earrings, and keeps stars on her Pokemon.
"So I put on my makeup and pray for a miracle":
This is an original line. I was going to change "makeup" to "lab coat" but it wouldn't rhyme with "wake up" then, and I didn't talk much about her job working for Oak.
"Don't you ask me if I love him, 'cause I'd lie":
She would. You know she would lie. Because she loves him. MANGAQUEST~! MANGAQUEST~!
Author's Note:
Happy birthday to Crystal! It's her birthday, and I figured everyone would do birthday fics, so I wanted to do this. A bit random, and I was going to mention that it's her birthday, but I decided not to. I also decided that she and Lyra shouldn't win, because that would just be stereotypical and whatnot. Sorry, I know it sucks 'cause I tried to write really fast. I wrote this all on Sunday and waited to post it today. I wanted it to mainly be about the song and the Mangaquest goodness, so I made it a high school AU and yeah. Also, sorry I haven't updated in a while (like 2 whole weeks! Maybe even 3! I dunno!) but I was lazy, and then I got sick and I figured all of y'all didn't want a sick girl plaguing the site (get it? Plaguing!) Also I have exams :( darn! Sucks for me. Also, maybe that was one reason I cursed so much in this fic…? If you guys think it should be rated higher just tell me and I'll change it. I thought T would be okay.
ALSO I'm on Youtube (same username) and I posted the song "Crystal Would Lie" on my account. I recorded myself singing it to the karaoke version and then pitched it so that nobody had to hear my horrible voice, so it won't be as angelic as I described it, but hey, it's on there. Just so that the world can see how the syllables would work out and not be confused.
Also…now I can't sing the song "I'd Lie" without accidentally singing this version I wrote -.-"
Rant over! Thanks so much for reading, you guys are the BEST!
-Silvia!
P.S. Again, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO OUR FAVORITE CAPTURER, CRYSTAL. LET US ALL HOPE GOLD DOESN'T SCREW TODAY UP AND MAKE YOUR CAKE EXPLODE OR SOMETHING.
Disclaimer: I do not own Pokespe, nor do I own "I'd Lie" by Taylor Swift, nor is anything in this story copyrighted to me, nor do I own ANYTHING!