Series: Pokemon Special (Adventures)
Ship: Preciousmetalshipping (Gold X Silver)
Rating: Mature
Story Summary: When Gold's mother decides to go on vacation, she leaves the house in Gold's care as a way of preparing him for life as a responsible young adult. Quickly bored with the task at hand, he convinces Silver to assist him during his time alone and things take a rather interesting turn.
The inconvenient presence of tension could be felt between Gold and Silver during the entire episode of Proteam Omega. It existed mostly on Silver's side of the spectrum, but it was still a problem for Gold, who wanted so badly to get an answer out of his friend. Much to his displeasure, he had to sit in silence until the credits rolled before asking his question again. The suspense was killing him.
"So, how about it? Wanna stay over for, like, a few months? It'll be fun, I swear!" Gold made his best effort to sound as convincing as possible, but something within him knew Silver wasn't going to cave in so easily. That guy was too much of a 'lone ranger' to suddenly set his freelancing aside for an extended stay at a former-rival's house. It pained Gold to think he'd possibly be getting nowhere with all of this, but the egg-hatching extraordinaire wasn't exactly the type to quit after a failure or two. He was always prepared for a good challenge.
As the show's credits finally met their conclusion, Silver slowly turned to Gold with a perturbed expression plastered onto his face. He clearly didn't enjoy sitting through a highly-anticipated event after having a load of pressure dumped on him without warning. To say the least, Gold's rash proposal was horribly timed and poorly executed; it was almost shocking to him that he managed to put off acknowledging it until now. That was precisely because Gold wasn't the kind of person that had patience for anything. Much to his misfortune, Silver knew that from experience. He could tell by the look in the young man's eyes that he was practically dying inside from the wait.
It was gross.
"Come on. The show's over," stated Gold, confirming the already-confirmed. "Please say 'yes' and stick around with me."
Silver crossed his arms and gave the most direct answer he could muster up. "No."
Within that moment, Gold's whole world seemed to shatter and reassemble itself all at once. "Damn, it! You're bustin' my balls, man! Just give this a shot. It won't kill you to switch up your routine once and a while, you know!"
"You're right," replied Silver.
Gold froze. "I am?"
"Yeah... no. I'm heading out. Bye."
"Oh." Well, that was it. Gold tried. If Silver was set in his ways, there wasn't much more he could do. He had to sit back and watch helplessly as his stubborn, cold friend left him alone to wallow in his unrelenting boredom that would undoubtedly grow as the days progressed. House-sitting suddenly seemed like a very bad idea and he was pretty sure he wanted to abandon his duties by now. Forget responsibility. Sure, he had his pokemon as company and they were more than enough, but he needed human interaction, too. More specifically, he needed interaction with Silver. He was still very far from discovering the real reason why, but he didn't care. That was just how the ship sailed.
The dark-haired egg-hatcher was abruptly jerked away from his thoughts as a loud noise erupted out of nowhere. It was dangerously similar to thunder, and it was followed closely by the familiar pitter-patter of rain. Was this the beginning of a storm?
Cool.
"Woah, there, Delilah. I didn't know we were going to have some funky weather today. That's pretty whack, don't ya think?" Asked Gold, his amber eyes lighting up as a pang of hope shot through him. "I guess that means... you have to chill here, my dude. Sit back down and watch some low-budget movies with me."
Silver looked unaffected. "I can handle the rain. I'm not some weak little child like you."
"Hey, not nice! I can endure some wild shit, bud. You don't even know." Gold crossed his arms. "I'm just proposing an idea that's far more preferable than getting rained on in the cold. Sheesh. It's not exactly summer anymore, you know."
"It doesn't even sound that bad," the red-head pointed out. It was just a little rain and some light thundering, right? Easy. Silver could handle anything life threw at him. After all, he had been through plenty of worse situations.
"Yeah, well..."
BEEEEEEEEEP!
Gold paused, blatantly interrupted by an alarm-like sound that emitted from the television. In all honesty, it occured with impeccable timing because, sure enough, Gold was about to embarass himself with a bad comeback. Maybe fate was on his side today. It was either that or dumb luck. "What the flop is this, now?" He asked, relieved to change the subject.
Cutting into the middle of their petty squabble, a New's Flash popped up on the flat screen that was displayed before the two young men and their attention was suddenly brought to an emergency weather forecast. The man who was supplying the information quickly informed all viewers that storms were approaching and that they were estimated to persist for several hours up to a few days.
"To all of you who reside in the rural parts of Johto, please remain indoors until the rugged weather subsides. Reports say there is a chance of flooding amongst the other obstructions that have already been established," warned the man, clad in a suit and tie that gave away the vibes of an official who preactically existed to be taken seriously.
Gold couldn't contain his excitement. "OHHHHHH! In your FACE!" He exclaimed, sticking his tongue out at Silver's blank expression. Upon realizing that his outburst obviously wasn't appreciated, he straightened his posture and casually glanced over his shoulder at nothing. "I mean, whatever. Go ahead, buddy. Have fun swimming."
What a dumbass.
Silver couldn't believe he still put up with this guy. Gold must really want him to stay if he's willing to make this much of a fool of himself. Unusually enough, this isn't the only occasion where this sort of occurence had taken place. There were countless other times that Silver could recall where Gold had put what little dignity he had left on the line for the sake of spending time with him. Perhaps Silver should just cut him some slack... He couldn't keep watching the screwball embarrass himself for much longer, even if it was slightly humorous ('slightly' being the key word here). "Fine. You got me," he mumbled, finally letting his former-rival win. It was hard watching him struggle.
Wait. What?
"Are you serious?" questioned Gold, completely engulfed in confusion at Silver's abrupt change-of-heart. "You're going to stay?"
The red-head nodded. "Don't piss yourself. I'm only staying until the mess outside clears up. Then, I'll be on my way."
There was a brief moment of silence.
"Suuuure." Gold, instantaneously empowered by his amazing charisma and persuasion-skills, smirked, his cockiness refueled. "Once you discover how comfortable it is here, you'll never want to go back to living in the wild."
Silver scrunched up his nose. "You make it sound like I'm primitive. It's nothing like that and you know it, jerk."
"Yeah, I'm just yankin' your balls. So, whatcha wanna do?"
"Hmm..." Nothing came to Silver's mind other than the fact that he was a tad famished, thanks to Gold who scarfed down nearly everything he had brought into the room before the new episode of Proteam Omega began. The thought of taking a hot shower didn't sound half bad, either. If he had to stay here, he needed to take full advantage of all household privileges before he hit the road. He'd be stupid not to. "I suppose something to eat couldn't hurt... I want real food, though, not junk this time."
At first, Gold wanted to defend his mother's pie, but he quickly abandoned that idea because, yeah, pie was technically considered junk-food. His mom wasn't exactly a nutritionist in the kitchen, either. Because of that, he thanked Arceus for his high metabolism on a daily basis. "Ohhh. High maintenance, now, are we?" He teased.
"It's your fault," Silver retaliated, taking no blame whatsoever. "You're the one who begged me to stay here. You can at least make this worth my time." The ghost of a smirk crossed his face, but it quickly faded when Gold remained unaffected.
"It's totally cool, Silv. I can make a mean spaghetti," the egg-hatcher replied, now faced with the challenge of impressing Silver with his knowledge of cooking. He didn't exactly have any first-hand experience in the field of spaghetti-making, but it couldn't be that hard, right? He watched his mom cook it just the night before. He wasn't exactly paying attention to what she was saying the entire time, but he could kind of remember the steps. No problemo!
It would be a lie to say Silver wasn't a little shocked to hear those words come out of Gold's big mouth. He couldn't cook. There was no way in hell. "I didn't say I wanted to be poisoned."
"I'm serious! Give a man some faith!" The hatcher knew he could do it. He could feel it in his bones. He was geared up and ready to go like a pro! "If your not satisfied, I will sleep on the couch and you can have my bed tonight."
"Ew. I'd rather sleep in the rain."
Gold frowned. "Okay. You call the shots, then."
Silver pondered for a second. He wanted to set the bars high, but he didn't want to make Gold suffer too much. He wasn't heartless; he just didn't take any shit. "If your spaghetti sucks, you have to make up for it... and you can't cry like a little bitch when I decide to resume my traveling."
Damn. Gold didn't like the sound of that, but a deal's a deal, right? "Okay, but I won't screw it up. I'm using my mom's secret recipe! It's 100% edible, I promise."
"Fine. Suit yourself. I'm going to take a shower in the meantime. I'm sure you don't care that I... make myself at home." Silver grimaced as he spoke, like the words coming out of his mouth tasted as bad as he expected Gold's spaghetti to.
"It's all good," Gold assured. Before they parted ways, he said one last thing. "You can go grab a change of clothes in my room. They're clean, I promise. Mom did laundry before she left."
Silver almost shot the idea down, but he knew Gold's mother always kept things like clothes and dishes clean for the most part, despite having a son like Gold. If anything, he figured he'd scope the inventory and settle with something he rarely ever saw his friend wearing... just until he washed the clothes he owned. "Okay. I better not find anything gross in your room."
"You probably will," replied the hatcher, remembering the unidentified sandwich that had been sitting on his dresser for two weeks. After that, it was time to get to work. He was going to put together a slammin' dinner and it was going to blow Silver's lid, for sure!
Once Gold was ready to make some magic in the kitchen, all of the confidence he seemed to accumulate began to slowly trickle away as he became aware of the arsenal of cooking-instruments his mother owned. Stored neatly in every drawer, there were copious amounts of familiar and unfamiliar utensils; pots, pans, and small appliances filled the cabinets and, to be honest, he couldn't even pin a name on most of them, let alone figure out their purpose. Gold had no idea where to begin with all of these. Thinking back, he tired to remember the exact procedure his mom carried out that last time she cooked spaghetti for him, but all he could remember was getting yelled at for eating a raw noodle before they had a chance to be boiled.
Then, it hit him.
How could he possibly forget? The first step was boiling the noodles! Of course!
Gold made no haste as he pulled the top off the container his mom dedicated to dry pasta storage. There, he uncovered the remainder of the spaghetti noodles that had yet to be cooked. They must have been left over from the bulk-pack that was purchased during the family's most recent grocery store trip. Much to Gold's benefit, there appeared to be more than enough of them, so he and Silver would be having a complete meal with possible leftovers. Nice.
That was exactly what he was hoping for.
"Alright, let's get this show on the road," the young man said, casting a quick glance at his shelled companion- the egg- as it sat undisturbed in the baby-seat that Gold used as a child. The fact that such a thing still existed in this household was a mystery to him, but it suited his egg just fine. Therefore, he had no need to further question it's presence.
He pulled a large pot out of the drying-rack that sat on the counter and turned on the sink to fill it up with water. After doing so, he sat it on the stove and casually dumped the noodles in it, mentally telling himself that he was on the right track. As he carried out those simple tasks, he noticed that the water-level had risen to the brim of the pot, but that was okay, right? Gold figured it would just boil out slower, which had to be beneficial. Too much water was better than not enough, and with that in mind, he knew he was going about this correctly. Silver was going to eat the heck out of this food when he was finished!
Hooray for positive thinking!
Now, it was time to decide the temperature-setting on the stove. "What do you think I should put this on, Eggy?" Gold asked, looking over his shoulder at the egg.
In all seriousness, the dark-haired young man didn't actually expect a response, so he answered for the egg, putting a hand over his mouth before raising his voice to a higher pitch. "I don't know, Big Daddy. How 'bout you crank that junk up?"
"Good idea, bud!" exclaimed Gold in his normal voice, turning the knob on the stove until it couldn't turn any more. "You know, we should start a cooking-show," he said to the egg, grabbing a fork to stir around the stiff pasta. "It'll be called 'Johto Grub, Starring: Gold and The Great Eggsby.' What do you think, my dude?"
"Don't put that kind of pressure on me," Gold answered again for his egg using that same high-octave tone. He chuckled to himself afterward.
"Sorry, man. It was just a thought," he assured, shifting back to his default voice for good. While the noodles softened, he needed to prepare the sauce. That seemed to give light to a small issue. Was there even any spaghetti sauce he could use?
Gold told himself not to panic as he raced to the pantry and opened it up, revealing a plethora of canned goods, ranging from various soups to vegetables, fruit, and more. He let his eyes scan over the selection, sliding a few cans around until he discovered what looked like his best option. "Crushed tomatoes... I suppose this'll have to do. That's basically what spaghetti sauce is, right?" He looked at the egg, not bothering to do a voice-over for it this time. "Hah... Who am I kidding? Of course that's what spaghetti sauce is. I just need to find something to season it with."
Continuing his search within then pantry, he dug deeper to find a couple of spices that his mother used on a regular basis. The first one that caught his attention was chili powder, which was obviously for chili and not pasta-dishes, so that one was ruled out instantly. The second two, however, seemed like they would complement each other well. They were: garlic salt and oregano. Popping the tops off of both tubes containing said flavor-enhancers, Gold gave them a quick sniff and decided within that moment that they certainly made the cut. He also scooped up a container of dehydrated onions to kick it up a notch. Because Gold had exquisite taste in food, he just knew that specific blend would birth a mind-blowing sauce.
He sure felt like a master chef right now.
Without bothering to check on the noodles as they continued to do their thing, Gold retrieved a small pan to dump his sauce-ingredients in. He proceeded to dig around in the drawer beside the stove until he discovered a ladle that he could mix them together with. "Cool. Big spoon. Say, I bet you're glad I'm not making omelettes; am I right, Eggy?" Gold laughed, shooting a wink at his egg-friend. Within seconds after that, he heard a suspicious sizzling-noise and was shocked to see that the water he had filled up in the boiling-pot was bubbling over the top. Shit! Wasn't it supposed to evaporate or something? After all, he put in on the highest heat-setting.
What was going on? This kind of crap didn't happen to master chefs!
Shoving his prized sauce-mixture aside, the egg-hatcher grabbed onto the pot's stainless-steel handles, forgetting all about how he needed some form of heat-protection for such a task. "MOTHERFUCKER!" Scalding-hot and weighed down by at least one full pound of pasta, let alone far too much water, said pot slammed right back onto the hot stove as Gold's attention shifted to the abrupt burning of his hands. He yelled loud enough for Silver to hear him all the way from the house's second floor. "SON OF A BITCH!"
With the intention of grabbing the decorative towels that were hanging above the sink, he spun around frantically, making matters even worse as his elbow collided with the pan that contained his sauce. It fell directly to the floor with a loud 'clang' and the flustered young man didn't even want to process what just occured. Usually confident in all situations, Gold could safely say that he was about to flip out completely, especially because everything was going so well before this. Time was wearing thin and, before long, Silver was going to be expecting a finished meal. What was he going to do, now?
"Ahh, shit.." Gold's hands hurt like mad and he had to figure out a solution to this mess before it was too late.
His plan was quickly becoming a natural disaster that the storm outside couldn't even compare to.
