Silence filled the small, enclosed area of the Dragon's Den, the space filled substantially by two trainers and their Pokémon. On the left side of the small circle of rocks was a brunette girl with a Meganium at her side, her usual pigtails replaced with a gentle wave of chocolate locks, exposing the fact that she had actually curled her hair that morning in preparation of this silently-arranged meeting. On the right side stood a redheaded male with an irritated Typhlosion at his right, a faint scent of a summer variety of cologne wafting off of him, despite the fact that it was the second month of winter.

Both trainers avoided the other's eyes, choosing to instead stare at their shoes or cast a sneaking glance at their long-time rival before them.

The Meganium let out an impatient snort as his trainer yet again opened her mouth to release even more silence into the room. He honestly didn't understand why she had spent an hour preparing for this. Why bother wearing that fancy new perfume her mother had bought for her mother's personal use and actually tame her hair, just to stand around and stare at the grouchy boy? Couldn't they do that some other time, and without being all dressed up?

The Typhlosion gave his master a hard glare as he yet again let out a growl of frustration. He could tell by the clouding of the redhead's eyes that he was fighting an inner battle as to actually go through with the plan he had so carefully created in the silence of the sacred cavern of dragons. Such a pity that seven hours of the Volcano Pokemon's life were wasted as the teen recited line after line of the speech he had so meticulously planned to use on his brunette rival on him. The Pokémon released a puff of smoke from his nostrils, earning a flinch from the boy and a growl of frustration.

Slowly, both teens closed their eyes, tightened their grips on their secret possessions and thrusted them towards the opposite figure. "J-Just take it!" Their voices merged into a singular stutter of pent-up frustration—although the boy's exclamation was followed by a familiar utterance of 'you stupid girl' in an effort to cushion his pride.

They both froze and snapped their eyes open, only to blink in a dumbfounded silence at their rival's offering. Both teens had held out a box of chocolates, the two containers of treats both shaped like a heart and adorned with a bow—although, the boy's ribbon was sloppy on his box.

They slowly looked up at the other's face and just gave a bewildered cocking of the head and an eyebrow raise. A single, unified thought went through both of their minds at the same time.

They...They actually got me something?

A smile slowly formed on their faces as they exchanged the treats, pleasantly surprised by this sudden change of events. After a quick clearing of the throat, the boy spoke up.

"...Th...Thank you." The words were rough on his tongue, not due to a lack of sincerity but a lack of experience. He honestly didn't expect to get anything from her, not with the way they always taunted each other.

"Thank you for the chocolate, Silver." The girl turned her head away as blood rushed to her cheeks. "I-It means...It means a lot to me." Silver silently thanked Lugia that she had turned her attention to her jealous starter, for his face wasn't exempt from the red signs of embarrassment.

"Mm hmm." The boy just nodded and looked towards his own starter, avoiding the gaze of the girl's protective Meganium—who was now shooting daggers at him from across the enclosure. "Just don't make a big deal about it, Lyra."

Lyra simply let out a small laugh, making her rival smirk at her voice.

Perhaps they both were a little closer to their rival than they thought.


Author's Note: Hello and welcome to Stubborn Jerks with Hearts of Gold, a multi-part drabble based off of my HeartGold!Lyra, who's a bit on the stubborn side. In the HeartGoldHeadcanon!SoulSilverShipping, their relationship is a bit different than bubbly-dates-grumpy. In fact, they can both fall into the grumpy category. I decided to make this as practice for Stubborn!Lyra. I don't know how many I'll make, but I hope you enjoy them!