The mastershipping fic was finally made! I just couldn't feel right with it and had to rewrite it which is why it took so long to make. Now I can start proper work on the sequel to Just Maybe – if you haven't read it yet, you should! It's Silver/Giovanni.
Now, for the Silver/Lance goodness!
XxxX
He glared forward, amber eyes watching the speedy creature darting around.
"Dragon rush now!" he yelled, his voice deep and confident. The long, blue dragon under his control charged forward, hitting the black monster with deadly accuracy. With a loud cry it hit the ground, unable to fight any longer. His relieved eyes met wider, paler ones. A red beam enveloped the defeated creature and brought it back to the safety of its Pokéball. The victor returned his own beast and latched it onto his belt, lifting his gaze back to that of his foe, but his eyes were not met. Instead those light, piercing orbs were obscured by the shadow of his long hair. He watched as the child slumped to his knees, eyes locked on the ground, in total defeat. The dragon trainer had expected this type of reaction and he swiftly walked across their battlefield and crouched beside the boy.
"Why?" he whispered, small hands in tight fists on the floor. When he was met with silence he gave a long, sideways glance to the older man. "Lance, why can I not beat you?" he growled, his meek stare becoming a bitter glare.
"You're getting better," he tried to comfort the boy, placing a large hand on his shoulder only to be shrugged off instantaneously.
"Don't give me that," he hissed, gritting his teeth. Lance sighed.
"Silver," he cooed, attempting to calm him, "I am the champion, you can't expect beating me to be easy," he smiled softly.
"Easy?" he spat, turning to face Lance more, "I've been training and trying so hard! And yet…and yet you still don't even break a sweat against me," his sharp tone became weak and quiet.
"I know, but there's still work to be done, and I'll help you to refine your abilities," Lance spoke gently.
"What's the point in beating you if you were the one to teach me?" Silver raised his voice, sitting up straighter. "If I beat you because you taught me how to, then it's not because I'm better than you, is it?" he shouted, Lance wincing at the boy's anger at his kind intentions.
"You'll get better."
"Of course I will," the boy huffed, standing upright and folding his arms across his chest. Lance also stood alongside him, ruffling his red hair playfully. This had become almost a routine, Silver would battle him, he would undoubtedly lose, and then become very upset over his loss. But he would recover from his defeat and he would be fine afterwards, then he would leave for whichever Pokémon centre he was staying at that night.
"Hey Silver, what's up?" a raven haired youth walked alongside Silver, his hands behind his head lazily. Sharp eyes scanned the boy up and down as if wanting something added to the question. "You look like something's bugging you," he sighed, always despairing over his friend's lack of social graces.
"I'm fine," he quickly spoke, looking away.
"Really?" bright eyes watched him carefully, "you seem…tense," for lack of a better word. Silver always seemed tense, but it seemed to be the only apt word. The redhead sighed.
"I battled Lance yesterday," he shoved his hands in his pockets roughly.
"You lost, right?" the other smiled encouragingly.
"Of course I did Gold," he didn't bother to look at the other boy, "I always do."
"You know, it's weird," Gold changed topic before this one could take off in a bad way, like it easily could with Silver. Those pale eyes looked over at him wide in question. "You and Lance, I mean."
"What's so weird about it?" he snorted.
"Well he's so…old and you guys seem to hang out a lot," Gold kept his eyes locked on Silver for a reaction.
"It's hardly 'hanging out'," he grunted, adding the quotation hand gesture. "He's experienced so he's teaching me," beside the stoic boy, his friend struggled to suppress his giggles.
"I'm sure he's plenty experienced enough to teach you a thing or two, Silver," Gold attempted to stifle his laughter and speak in a purr, complete with a wink, but burst into a fit of hysterics after.
"What?" Silver flushed red, almost matching his vivid hair, staring at Gold in shock of what he was suggesting. Gold gasped to try and regain his breath; he'd almost doubled over as he clutched his stomach.
"So you guys aren't like that?" Gold giggled, wiping away a forming tear in the corner of his eye.
"No! Of course not!" the redhead protested, completely shocked by Gold's thoughts. They continued to walk on, calming down from their conversation and starting to go off topic, although Silver couldn't shake it from his mind.
A large blue reptilian creature swiftly sped through the water, over whirlpools, up and down waterfalls, nothing could intimidate the monster. The small boy riding on its back leapt off as they reached dry ground, recalling the large Pokémon into the surprisingly small Pokéball and latching it back onto his belt. He stared into the empty area, walked into the middle of it and sat cross-legged. He rested his head in the palms of his hands, his elbows on his knees as he waited for the dragon tamer.
"Silver?" a voice suddenly broke the silence of the cave.
"Finally," the boy huffed, standing up and facing Lance as he walked in.
"Another battle? Already?" he asked, surprised that Silver would ask for two battles so close to each other. The boy in front of him shook his head, folding his arms over his chest.
"No, I'd lose again anyway," he muttered, more to himself than to Lance, "I just wanted to…see you," Silver met his eyes briefly, before sharply look away again. "Or whatever." Lance knew Silver wasn't good at social situations, he imagined that his being kidnapped didn't help that. He was only friends with Blue there, he didn't know anything more about his life with the Mask of Ice, however he guessed that he wasn't really friends with the others. Then he met Gold, who he tried to dodge at every opportunity, the same goes for Crystal. They're friends now, but only because their paths forcibly crossed so many times. Lance assumed that Silver wanted to try and be friends with him now, not realising that despite their battles, they were friends, and not just teacher and student or master and servant, as they had been at first when Lance had the boy work for him. Nevertheless, he smiled at the child's sentiment.
"Sure, what do you want to do?" he tried to act casually so that Silver didn't feel so embarrassed.
"I don't know, talk or something I guess," he shrugged and stared intently at the ground, nibbling on his bottom lip in a way that Lance could only describe as cute.
"Okay," the older man nodded, "tell me, how are you getting on with Gold and Crystal?"
"I never really spoke to Crystal a lot," he fidgeted slightly, never having been comfortable with small talk. "I talk to Gold quite a lot though," his mind went back to his and Gold's conversation before. His pale eyes scanned the strong man up and down quickly, coming to rest back on the ground. He'd never felt like that about anybody, so how would he know if he did?
"Good," Lance nodded, placing his hand on Silver's shoulder and leading him towards a more furnished area of the cave. The child didn't try to shake the hand away; instead he was more interested in the weight and warmth of it.
"I think there's someone that I like," Gold shifted his cap a little while he spoke to his uninterested friend. "Do you like anyone, Silver?"
"No," he huffed, giving Gold an obvious look.
"Really? I thought you liked Blue…" he places a finger against his chin in mock thought.
"I like her as in she's like my sister," the redhead watched him carefully, "but not as in…like, like," he emphasised the word, crossing his arms.
"Huh," Gold seemed genuinely surprised, "does that mean she's up for grabs?" That comment quickly earned him a smack round the head.
"Yeah, but not for someone like you," he grunted, sitting back down.
"No fair," Gold whined. He sighed and went back to the previous topic. "So, do you think I should put the moves on her?" he asked, smiling arrogantly. Silver shrugged in response. "Come on, you have to have some thought to share with me!" he flung his arms apart in exasperation.
"I don't see the point," Silver admitted, "in what way is that person going to be different than a friend?" Gold sat up straight, looking dead at him.
"You're being serious?" he asked, confused about how Silver could be so clueless. He nodded in response, a little more hesitant after Gold's outburst. "Well," Gold sat back again, his hands tucked behind his head, hands on the peak of his cap. "Things you do differently with your girlfriend than with your friend," he started as if he were about to give a whole lecture. Silver rolled his eyes and sighed, he shouldn't have asked. "Well, firstly, you kiss your girlfriend – you don't do that with your friends! Then there's the whole having sex thing," he was quickly interrupted by his 'student'.
"Enough Gold!" he shouted almost in self-defence, "I don't need you to go into all that, I get it," he waved his hands at his friend, wanting him to stop. In truth, he didn't understand, not at all, but he was not going to listen to Gold give him 'the talk'.
'Kissing, huh?' Silver thought, 'he made it seem so obvious before.' He looked at Lance as he came to a stop in a more homely area.
"There isn't much in the way of entertainment here," Lance sighed, looking around. He began moving away, looking for something to amuse the boy when he felt a tug on the sleeve of his brown jacket. He spun around to face Silver again.
"Lance," he nervously began, not knowing how to continue. Lance blinked, completely confused.
"What is it?" he finally broke the awkward silence between them. Silver finally got his nerve together and stood up on his toes, trying to get up to Lance's height, but failing. The older man leant down, trying to figure out what the boy was attempting to do. Once their faces were at the same level, Silver leant in and gently placed a chaste kiss on Lance's lips. The kiss was short and experimental, just a peck. Silver pulled away quickly, his face feeling hot and his stomach feeling tight. He had hoped that the kiss would make how he felt clear to him, but he felt more turmoil than before. Lance tried to understand what had just happened. Of all the things he thought Silver would do, kissing him was definitely not it. He had previously had thoughts about the boy, he did think Silver was cute, even if he was also stubborn and terrible at handling his own (and other's) emotions. He had to admit that the redhead was attractive, even if he was still just a child.
"Well?" Silver shakily asked, lowering himself back flat on his feet. Lance was still recovering from the shock, and he figured he could blame that for his next action. He leant in towards Silver's face and covered the boy's lips with his own. He could feel the child stiffen at the action, but Lance wasn't surprised, so he continued. He flicked his tongue against Silver's chapped lower lip, he was given entry into the boy's mouth by a flinch more than a conscious move. Lance darted his tongue in and started feeling every surface of the hot cavern, his tongue meeting Silver's in a shy dance, the two twisting and twirling around each other until Lance pulled away at last. His amber eyes taking in every detail of Silver's red flushed face where a hesitant expression was worn.
"Well?" Lance mimicked the boy's earlier reaction, a playful smirk playing on his lips. The child's pale eyes darted around, resting on anything but the man in front of him. He'd never done anything like this before, and couldn't tell if he liked the feeling or not. It was just…odd. Strong hands found their way around his slender middle, pulling his petite frame towards Lance's muscular one. "What brought this on anyway?" he looked down at the small body in his arms and a fond smile on his face. He hadn't ever thought this sort of thing would really happen, but he was glad that it finally had – having spent so much time around the anti-social boy he had developed inevitable feelings towards him, and he could finally admit to himself that he really did like the boy in that way. Silver shifted a little, unsure of how to explain his actions.
"I guess…it was just something that Gold said that made me wonder," he explained, fidgeting with one of the sleeves of his jacket.
"Gold?" the older man repeated, surprised that something that boy said had played on Silver's mind to this extent; ordinarily Silver would say about how much of an idiot Gold was.
"Mm," Silver nodded, finally meeting Lance's eyes with his own, although he looked worried, which concerned Lance. "He joked that there could have been something going on between us because I spend so much time here, so I wondered if there actually was something between us," he spoke hesitantly, part of him not wanting to tell Lance that he'd kissed him without knowing that he liked him. Silver still couldn't work out if he did like Lance or not. How was he supposed to know?
"So…is there?" Lance asked more seriously, dropping the smile a little, but not looking unhappy.
"Do…do you want there to be?" the redhead asked unsurely, completely clueless as to what he was supposed to do. He wasn't sure if he did like Lance like that, he had neutral feelings about the kiss, but there was no reason for him to not like Lance.
"I would like there to be," he replied, taken back a little by the question. He cleared his throat, stood straighter, and braced himself for doing this properly. "Silver," his tone was authoritative, getting Silver's full attention, the fidgeting halting. "Do you want to 'go out' with me?" he made the key words clear with a slightly different tone, so that the boy wouldn't make the oblivious mistake of thinking that Lance merely wanted to go outside with him (Lance thought that it would be the kind of misunderstanding Silver would make). Silver had heard that phrase before and knew what it meant, he was aware of other variations of the phrase such as 'date', but 'go out' was far more commonly used.
"Okay," Silver nodded a little and Lance's previous smile returned – it hadn't been the sure-fire 'yes' he'd been hoping for, but he hadn't really been expecting Silver to agree to it enthusiastically. The child lacked enthusiasm mostly anyway.
Silver left soon after, Lance offered that he stay the night, but the boy had blushed, declined frantically and pretty much ran out of the cave and onto his Feraligatr. The dragon master assumed that as soon as Silver had got back onto dry land, he'd take off on his Murkrow and go to whichever Pokémon centre he was planning to stay at tonight. 'He acted like I'd do something…unsavoury to him if he stayed,' Lance sighed in thought as he stroked along the smooth scales of one of his Dragonairs. 'I'd never hurt him, and I'm sure he knows that! So why would he think I'd pressure him to do something…something like that?' Another heavy sigh left his lips. The elegant creature before him looked at its master with concern, observing his face with large, dark, inhuman eyes before rubbing its own face on Lance's in a loving gesture, a gentle cry nudging the man out of his thoughts.
XxxX
What do you think? In my first version, it took 19 pages to get this far ¬.¬ Which is why I rewrote it, haha!