A/N: Look I finally updated! Sorry for the huge delay, I had a whole schedule planned for summer, then summer ended up having a BUNCH of weird and not-fanfiction-conductive stuff happening. BUT NOW IT'S NOT SUMMER and I am here with more of this weird little story. Hope you enjoy! And thank you for the favorites and reviews and stuff last time, it means a lot to me.
Oh also, warning for a very very brief mention of animal death if that bothers you (and Silver being Silver about it). Also a character sort of lightly/comedically wishing to get smushed.
"I should take these off, they're filthy," N complained, picking at his mud-laden clothing. His off-white overshirt had taken on the rough texture and color of something one would find in a sewer.
"Do you see anywhere to change around here? Quit complaining." Silver grumbled, his own grimy clothes hanging loosely off of his frame in some places, and sticking all-too-close in others. Sweat pants were never meant to climb this high. "The last thing we need is you getting arrested for public indecency."
"YOU'RE the one who did this, though," N scowled. He stopped on the path to squeegee some more swamp water out of his hair. Silver took this whine-free opportunity to pause and glance down at his Pokegear. According to the map, the field of Pokemon he'd been looking for was about another few hours away. They could probably make it there before noon; but far closer was a hotel, probably filled with laundry facilities, a warm bed, and food.
Silver's internal debate over whether he cared more about battle experience or hygiene was interrupted by the text chirrup of his device. He couldn't help but jump a little, focusing back on it in annoyance. A happy little blinking text envelope twinkled at the corner.
Are you two in Sinnoh safe and sound?
Lance.
Yes. He typed back, struggling on the small built-in keyboard. He didn't use his phone's text service often. It was a curt response, but Lance was lucky. Only two other people had Silver's PokeGear number, and he never bothered to answer texts from them (he didn't have the time to waste texting about day-to-day mundanity or Marills or girls or whatever it was they always bugged him with). Silver had barely hit "send" before his gear beeped at him again.
Okay. Clair says sorry btw.
Silver smashed the Pokegear into his bag so harshly it made N jump, and Silver only felt further annoyance as the treehugger gave him an inquisitive look.
"It's nothing." He snapped, before N even had the chance to ask the question. The taller man simply shrugged in response, giving his hair one last good shake. Rather than complain about the extra flecks of mud, Silver chose to go back to his digital map.
"Hey. We're stopping at a hotel before we head out, okay?"
"Do we have money for that?"
"Yeah, I guess." Silver had managed to get in a few good battles ("Good" meaning good money; battles were rarely satisfying to Silver nowadays unless it was sparring with Lance or...Others).
"We could just find a secluded spot by the river or something and wash our clothes there."
Silver briefly pondered finding a secluded spot by the river with N and taking all their clothes off.
"When hell freezes over."
000
Snarls and knots plagued the carpet underfoot, and the bed covers were thin and yellowed from use, but the place at least looked and smelled clean. Magnezone had also yet to set off any horrible power surges or fires simply by being out of their Pokeball, so that meant the place was a lot more electrically and technologically safe than the last place they'd stayed (that had been a fun thing to explain to the firemen).
Silver took the careful and measured time to lay on the floor and sulk at the ceiling while N took the first shower. Weaville, meanwhile, took the careful time to lay on Silver's stomach and play with his jacket buttons. While he was sure it'd ruin the jacket in minutes, Silver made no motion to stop her as she systematically pulled the buttons apart. She was probably just about as bored as he was.
"Shower's all yours," an all-too-familiar deep voice said from somewhere to Silver's right. He sat up, glowering at the aforementioned Problem. N was standing above him, his hair wet and sticking out in all directions, including on his chest. Silver tried very hard to pretend he had his shirt on. It didn't work. He was sure no one else had ever seen so much green hair on one human being in so many different places.
"I said it's all yours," N repeated, jerking his head over to the bathroom door and brushing past Silver to get his clothes from his backpack.
"It's about time," he grumbled, gently pushing Weaville off of his chest and standing up. The floor was sticky and grimy from where he'd been laying; great, they'd be sure to complain about that come check-out. Silver peeled off his jacket and track pants, kicking the soiled fabric into the corner with a scoff. A mild tingling settled into his neck as he did so, and he froze. Sure enough, craning his head around his shoulder revealed a certain green-haired someone's soulless grey eyes boring into Silver's ass like he was going to suck out its life essence.
"What the hell are you staring at?" Silver snapped, turning around and doing his best to tug the hem of his T-shirt around his bottom half.
N blinked, seeming to come out of a trance. "Oh. No, sorry. My apologies. It's just your boxers."
"What?" Silver barked, looking down to see whatever it was he was sporting that was making N stare so much (and very much NOT briefly worrying he'd worn a gross laundry pair today or something). Just some yellow boxers with little Magnemites on them. They'd been part of a really cheap 5-pack. "Yeah, they're boxers. What about them?"
N shrugged. "The pattern's nice, that's all."
"You know what'd be nice? If you...if...you...got out of the way so I could take a shower," His comeback sort of petered out as soon as it'd started (if you could even call that starting), but N just shrugged and stepped to the side, still holding his shirt in one hand.
From one of the corners of the room, Alakazam caught Silver's eyes and raised a brow. Gengar snickered, sprawled across his lap.
"Shut up," Silver mumbled, grabbing his clothes off the bed and skulking off into the bathroom.
000
N had decided to wear his white overshirt to bed, which would be fine if it didn't dip down into his chest and curve above his navel. He looked like a bad romance novel cover, complete with stray green hairs nestling comfortably in between the fabric. Silver tried not to look at him too much as the two bid each other good night (well, N bid him good night and Silver kind of mumbled into his pillow), Silver taking the bed and N taking a sheet and the floor. Their first hotel visit, Silver had assumed he'd have to fight the spoiled ex-prince for Bed Dibs, but N took the floor without even being told. Silver just wrote it off as him being his usual weird self, and tried to ignore when the boy spent the next few days with a popping and creaking back.
Sleep was slow to come to Silver, as it always was. His mind often raced with battle strategies, anxieties, depression, and half-remembered terrors from his tween years. So he was all the more annoyed when he something flung him back into consciousness only an hour or so later. At first, Silver thought he'd been woken up by the weight of Feraligatr's giant arm slung across his back. His ears perked up at the sounds of someone in distress, though. Distinctly human distress.
"N?"
No response. The sounds continued as though he'd said nothing.
Cautiously, Silver extracted himself from Feraligatr's grasp (earning a loud grunt of annoyance which he ignored) and peeked his head over the end of the mattress, hoping N wasn't injured or sick. It'd be very difficult to get back to sleep if he was dying or something.
Nah. Just having a nightmare or something. What a wuss.
He was a noisy wuss, though. Screwing up his face in annoyance, Silver briefly considered dropping a large pillow down on his face to wake him up. Then N made a particularly pitiful whine and Silver felt a small, reluctant twinge of guilt.
"Hey. Um." He cleared his throat awkwardly. Waited a moment for some sign N was waking up. No luck. "...N. Hey." Straining, he stretched out an arm and poked him on the shoulder. "You."
N's eyes shot open, and he immediately ceased all noise and stared blearily at Silver.
"You were having a nightmare." Silver explained, immediately feeling like an ass as soon as the words left his mouth. Of course N would know he'd just had a nightmare. N simply sat up and nodded, though.
"Mmm." His skin was somehow even paler than usual, and his eyes were a bit wider than Silver would have liked. Pride and apathy fought with what little empathy Silver had built up inside him.
"...you alright?" He finally asked gruffly. He'd ask if N wanted to talk about it, but quite frankly Silver didn't really want to talk about whatever N had nightmares about. A, he didn't really care, and B, there's no way he'd even be able to comfort him anyway. Silver had made some vague attempt to comfort Lyra when one of her grandparents' old Pokemon had died, but that had just ended in him explaining how life wasn't fair especially when you got weak, and Lyra had given him a (probably deserved) black eye.
N didn't answer right away. He brushed a stray lock of green hair out of his eyes instead, focusing on nothing in particular and still looking rather shaken. Finally, in a voice that didn't quite sound like his own, he responded, "I'm fine."
"You sure don't look fine," Silver snapped, his voice coming out a bit harsher than intended. He wasn't entirely sure why he was pushing this, really, and apparently neither did N. He stared at Silver in annoyance, the sleep still not entirely out of his gaze.
"You're right, then, I guess I'm not." He grumbled. "Why do you care?"
Silver felt his temper flare up. "I didn't say I cared, but seeing as your whining woke me up, maybe I want to know why."
This was, quite clearly, the wrong thing to say. N's annoyance turned to quite obvious anger, and even in the dark of the room Silver could make out the color rising on his pale face. "Sorry, then, I'll make sure to keep my EXISTENCE as low-key as possible in the future, then. Apparently I can't even be unconscious without being a horrible bother to you." That said, he jerked his sheets up to his chin and flopped back onto the ground, wide shoulders hunched around his ears, his back to Silver.
"N," Silver sighed in annoyance. What came out next was meant as at least some form of explanation (certainly not an apology), but instead it left his mouth as "You don't have to be so melodramatic."
Yes, Silver was definitely not meant for this whole "comfort" scenario.
For a while, neither of them said anything. Silver could feel the heavy, awkward atmosphere between them spreading out and filling the entire room. A few of his Pokemon had been stirred awake by their little tiff, and were currently making things even more uncomfortable by blatant staring at the duo. N remained on his side and sulking; Silver had flopped back onto the bed and was currently trying to will the ceiling to collapse on him with his mind. No dice.
But finally, as his eyes wandered over to his spectating Pokemon on the side of the room, a thought occurred to him.
"So, uh, do you know, uh, Gengar?" Silver squawked out, cracking the silence in some alien voice far more conversational than his own (and about three octaves higher). He didn't move from his spot on the bed, but N slowly lifted his head to stare at him incredulously.
"...your Gengar, or the Pokemon in general?" He asked, in a tone that implied Silver had just asked the stupidest question possible of another living being. Silver bristled.
"MY Gengar, okay, and answer the fucking- ugh, y'know what, never mind, just, Gengar-" His Pokemon was by his side in an instant before he'd even finished the sentence. He'd been sleeping like the dead mere moments ago; Silver had a horrible feeling he'd been faking it and had heard not only the spat, but the whole awkward conversation. He tried to ignore this feeling, for the sake of his dignity and pretending all his Pokemon didn't know how uncomfortable N made him.
"Um, if you want. He can. Y'know." Silver said, making vague hand gestures from N to Gengar. The duo stared at him: N looking both annoyed and confused, and Gengar wearing its usual Cheshire grin with a hint of extra amusement at his owner's floundering.
"What are you talking-" N started, but he was interrupted as Gengar placed a hand on his arm. He went off on a tangent of noises and sounds Silver of course couldn't understand, but quite obviously, N did. The older man's expression went from mild annoyance and confusion to one of understanding, which made Silver very nervous.
"What are you telling him?!" Silver snapped at his Gengar. The purple ghost chose to very pointedly turn away from his owner, staring instead at N, expectantly. Rather than answer for either of them, N placed a hand between Gengar's ears, scratching lightly.
A soft, gentle smile played across his face, the annoyance and stress seeming to melt away. And as Silver looked at the way his smile crinkled the corners of his eyes, it felt as thought something was tugged very hard simultaneously in his throat, stomach, and ass area. Or maybe, more accurately, it felt more like someone was tossing his stomach off the top of the Pokemon Radio Tower. Rather than try to ponder what the sudden feeling and anatomical horror meant, he chose to desperately ignore it and hope N didn't look at him too hard, as the room suddenly gotten very warm.
"He didn't say anything incriminating, if you're wondering," N finally said, turning to smile at Silver instead. "He simply offered to consume any more nightmares that may come my way. I assume that's what you were trying to explain?"
"Uh." Silver answered very eloquently. He desperately hoped it was too dark for N to see his face, even though he had seen N flush with anger just minutes ago. Maybe N's freaky Pokemon powers had some sort of trade-off where his night vision was shittier or something.
N didn't seem too concerned with getting an answer. He very gently grabbed Gengar in his arms, placing his chin on its head affectionately (Gengar's stubby arms flailed in an attempt to return the affectionate embrace, but to no avail). "It's a kind offer, but perhaps a bit much. But who knows? I'll gladly take some company, however." He yawned, rolling over.
Silver waited for him to say anything else, but nothing seemed to be coming. His Pokemon seemed to have gone back to their slumber, and N and Gengar were sprawled rather comfortably across the hotel floor. Finally, Silver saw fit to flop back on to the mattress, just happening to wriggle his way back onto Feraligatr's arm, certainly not seeking some sort of comfort, no.
The feeling of his guts spontaneously having a synchronized freak-out wasn't one entirely foreign to him. It had happened before, with someone Silver didn't even have the energy to think about right now, and in N's case it had happened at least two times he could recall before. Once when he and N had first decided to tolerate each other's existence, and N had made some comment about how good Silver was listening to his family problems (Silver had responded with something along the lines of "whatever", if he recalled correctly). The second had been when Clair had been making some sort of rude comment to him- he couldn't even remember what, now- and N had chosen to stand up for him, despite getting along far better with the Dragon Gym Leader. Silver couldn't make heads or tails of what N even was, really, and it irritated him beyond belief.
Only slightly more irritating was the never-ending question of why someone like N would choose to hang out with someone like him on a twenty-four hour basis, when even friends from his past hadn't been up to that task.
But there was no way he was finding that out anytime soon; certainly not tonight. As Silver finally closed his eyes he heard N mumbling something to Gengar that vaguely sounded like thanks. He pulled the sheets over his legs.
"And thank you, Silver."
Silver's last thought before slept took over was once again praying for the ceiling to spontaneously smash him.
