gotta love mangaquestshipping!
song inspiration: Glad You Came, by The Wanted
This was flat-out coercion. Except that it really, really wasn't. It was clever and entrapping and well-bargained, but it wasn't coercion. No, there had to be another reason why Crys was sitting on a grassy, slightly-dewy hill in the middle of the night with Gold, of all people, watching his Sunflora and Sudowoodo playing under the moonlight.
And there were plenty of reasons!
For one, research. Obviously. In the middle of an intense study of nocturnal Pokémon, Crys had started wondering about how notoriously daylight-hours Pokémon would handle a switch in their usual schedule. Gold, who was hanging around the lab and spilling coffee all over Green, had volunteered. And Crys, absorbed in her work, had agreed without question.
Which means she was dead surprised to find herself meeting him not in a fenced-in backyard with his two teammates, but in a tiny noodle restaurant.
"What is going on?" she had marveled at him. He took the seat next to her and cracked his wooden chopsticks apart.
"Can't do work on an empty stomach," he explained. "Or at all, in my case." That was something she could agree with, at least.
"I don't think we have time for this," she said, but her protests soon became reluctant as a huge bowl of fresh noodles was set in front of them, along with two smaller red bowls.
"We do," Gold insisted, and as it turned out, he was right.
The night had gone by smoothly and quickly, to her surprise, and they were both laughing when they split the bill and headed back towards New Bark Town for the night. It was only as they settled down on a plaid blanket with the starry dome of the universe overhead that Crys blinked and realized that she had never felt less inclined to send her aggravation in his direction — in fact, she didn't have any aggression to speak of, and it was a pleasant relief.
It made sense, at least, that he was staying here with her. They were his Pokémon, after all. But they were friends after all this time, and even if she wouldn't trust him with her wallet, she knew that her team would be in good hands. She hoped he felt the same way.
"Thanks," she said. The words rang out between them, and she realized anew the peaceful quiet which she had interrupted. Gold? Peaceful? Quiet? Her head felt dizzy, like the world has spun and landed somewhere different, somewhere new — never to be the same. But it was not a bad feeling. Not at all.
"You owe me," was all Gold says, looking back at her with a slanted grin. Maybe he meant it, and maybe he didn't. She didn't find herself minding.
"Sure," she agreed easily.
"Really? Great, I'm cashing in." Crys only had time to snort before Gold reached for her hand slowly. The grin fell off her face, replaced with an open-mouthed surprise. "It's cold out." The words were said so much later that by the time he said them, she had nearly forgotten what he was referring to.
"Yeah," she replied. Her breath fogged up. She did not move her hand. "Gold."
"What?"
"I'm glad you came."
He grins at her from beneath the brim of his tipped-back hat.
"Yeah. Me too."
