Hey, y'all. Had this idea pop into my head one day so I decided to start writing it. This will be similar to my other story in that it will be a slowmance between the two main characters. I've never written a slowmance yaoi before, so this will be a challenge for me as well as (hopefully) a fun time.

For what felt like the hundredth time, Silver watched as his Feraligatr fell in battle to Gold's Shiftry. It was no different than every other time they battled. It was as if Gold had built his party specifically to combat Silver's. No matter what new strategy Silver tried, Gold always had a counter. Every weakness Silver tried to exploit, Gold compensated for. Every time Silver thought he had the upper hand, Gold would turn the entire battle on its head within a few moves.

This battle, though, it wasn't like all of the others. He'd lost to Gold more times than he could count, but this loss had come after the lecture Silver had been given by the smug Dragon trainer Lance. When Lance had first made his statements about treating his Pokemon better, Silver had scoffed in his face, but now... He'd seen Gold with his Pokemon. They genuinely loved him. When he was in danger, they protected him. When he released them into battle, they were like extensions of him. Silver didn't have that with his Pokemon. He knew he didn't. They obeyed him, but begrudgingly. And there was no way any of them would put themselves in harm's way to protect him. Why would they?

So the battle ended, just like it always did, and when Silver returned his Feraligatr to its Pokeball, he was silent; none of his usual quips about "beating Gold next time" or "my Pokemon were too weak."

This fact, evidently, wasn't lost on Gold as he approached and asked, "Hey. Are you okay?"

Silver soffed and turned his back, "Don't mock me. You don't give a damn."

He heard Gold sigh and say, "You really are a dick, do you know that?"

Of course he knew that. He'd never claimed to be anything more, so why did Gold feel the need to say it. Was it really that much of a revelation?

Silver shoved his hands into his pockets and answered, "And yet you keep wasting your time with me. Why?"

He heard Gold start to walk in his direction and turned his head in time to see the younger teenager walk right past him, toward the exit of Mahogany town. He stopped after a few feet and said, "Because you're not as bad as you think you are."

He didn't have time to ask Gold what he meant because the black-haired trainer called out his Altaria and was in the sky before Silver could even form the words.

Silver sat, five years later, in Olivine City's only bar with a glass of scotch in his right hand. He could count on one hand the number of times he'd seen Gold during that time. He knew he'd obtained Claire's badge because the old men in the Dragon's Den went on for a good ten minutes about how, at 16, Gold had been the youngest person to ever pass their test. Just one more thing Gold had up on him.

So when the bell at the bar's front door rang and Gold stepped inside, Silver was more than a little bit shocked. They made eye contact for only a fleeting second before Gold moved toward the bar and sat two seats down from Silver. He raised his hand and when the bartender approached, Gold said, "Tequila."

Silver raised his eyebrows at that, and remained silent until the bartender brought Gold his shot glass and filled it. Gold lifted the glass and looked like he was about to take the shot when Silver said, "Didn't peg you for a drinker."

Gold huffed and downed the shot before placing the glass back down. He wound his fingers together and leaned onto the bar, "There's a lot you don't know about me, Silver."

There were a few moments of silence while Gold waited for the bartender to come back around. He asked for one more shot and after the bartender provided it, Silver took a swig of his own drink and said, "Well, I know you never took on the Elite Four. What's up with that? With that team of yours, you could probably sweep them."

Gold drank his second shot and turned the shot glass upside down, indicating he was finished. He kept his eyes facing forward when he answered, "I've been on an extended vacation."

Silver scoffed. A lie, an obvious lie. He shouldn't have been surprised. He wasn't one of Gold's favorite people, and he knew that wasn't likely to change anytime soon. So he turned his attention back to his own drink and said, "You know, you don't have to make up bullshit excuses. You could just tell me to go fuck myself."

Gold shook his head before reaching into his pocket and fishing out enough money to pay and tip the bartender. He placed the cash under the shot glass, turned briefly to Silver and said, "Go fuck yourself."

Gold's words shocked him so much that Silver had to turn his head. Had Gold just...cursed at him? During that brief moment that their eyes met, Silver saw something that made his eyebrows run together. Dark circles ran under both of Gold's eyes, and his cheeks were paler than Olivine's sands. As he turned to leave, he didn't carry himself with the same obnoxious confidence that Silver remembered. His steps were heavy and his shoulders were almost slumped. Once Gold was out of sight, Silver turned back to his drink and stared down into the glass.

He'd never seen Gold like that. He almost looked...broken, like something unthinkable had occurred within the past five years to completely shatter his spirit. But what bothered Silver more was just how bothered he was. He'd grown accustomed to seeing Gold as a goofy, overly-friendly goody-two-shoes who didn't seem to notice how truly great he was at everything he did. The man that had just left the bar, however, was nothing like the one Silver remembered.

He finished off his scotch and copied Gold's actions, leaving his money under the glass and standing from his stool. He headed toward the door and he was about to open it when the large, dark-skinned bouncer standing next to it held out his arm and said, "Hold up, son."

Silver looked up at the man, momentarily shocked by how tall he was. "Yeah?"

The bouncer held out his hand and sitting in his palm was a very familiar Pokegear, one Silver had seen plucked out of Gold's pocket dozens of times. The bouncer pointed his other thumb back toward the bar and said, "I saw you talking with the guy who dropped this. Do you know him?"

Silver knew what the bouncer was about to ask. He wanted him to bring the Pokegear back to Gold. He had no problem doing it, but he knew from Gold's cold reaction to him that the the dark-haired young man wouldn't exactly be thrilled to see him. Still, he was heading in the direction of New Bark Town anyway. It wouldn't hurt to stop by Gold's house and drop off the Pokegear.

So he held out his hand and said, "Yeah. I know where he lives. I can take it back to him."

The bouncer seemed satisfied and handed over the Pokegear. Silver slid it into his pocket and stepped out of the bar and into the night. He turned to head toward his house when footsteps coming from behind him drew his attention. He stopped in his tracks and spun around, only to come face to face with two men. They wore black jeans and black T-shirts with red Rs printed on the sleeves as well as black baseball caps. Two grey pistols were tucked snuggly into holsters on their belts.

The taller of the two men said, "Silver."

Silver had long since stopped being afraid of the Rockets, so he simply huffed and said, "Don't even bother asking. I'm not telling you a damn thing."

He then started walking past one of the Rockets. However, he didn't get far before feeling a palm roughly slam into his chest, temporarily knocking the air from his lungs. He shot a glare into the blue eyes of the Rocket who was holding him back.

The dark-haired man smirked in response and said, "Think carefully, Silver. We've given you several chances to give up the location. If you walk away now, we'll be the last friendly Rockets you see."

Silver wanted to laugh at the man's use of the word "friendly" but he didn't. Instead, he took the Rocket by his wrist, yanked his hand away, and said, "I can live with that."

The Rocket turned to his associate and the other Rocket said, "For how long?"

Silver knew perfectly well what the man was implying, but the threat bounced off like everything else the Rockets had ever said to him because it was empty. He knew perfectly well that they couldn't kill him. Apart from his father, he was the only person alive who had the information they wanted. So he walked away from the two men and called his Crobat, ready to get the trip to New Bark town over with.