AN- Sorry for the wait~! First of all, *gives cookies* to Anon, for correctly guessing the two senior boys were Morty and Falkner. As for the other two… there were quite a few good guesses (Ruby as the feminine boy, LAWLS; I didn't even think about them at the time, but Jessie and James do fit both descriptions well… though I'd make James WAY more eccentric), but no one got it right. Remember, the hint was to think of who the people were talking about and where they came from, as in, which region they're from. All four people are Johto gym leaders. The pink-haired girl is Whitney, and the girly boy is Bugsy (this is in reference to the manga, in which when Gold first meets him, he thinks the boy is a girl, and even thinks s/he's cute). Also, school's starting up for me soon, meaning I won't be able to update as much (but I'm not giving the fic up or anything, don't worry). Hope you don't mind! Anyways, on with the chapter!

Disclaimer: I own nothing but your time. No, seriously.

Is Dysfunctional Better?

Gold stared incredulously at the blonde in front of him. In response, she prodded him to take the skateboard once more. He sighed, but snatched the object out of her hands anyway and began to inspect it. After ensuring that it was indeed still in perfect condition, he turned once more to the girl.

"So, what brings you to this part of campus, sophomore?" he drawled.

The girl blushed under his scrutiny. "I-it's Yellow. My name is Yellow."

Gold rolled his eyes. "Okay, what brings you to this part of campus, Yellow?"

The girl literally sat there twiddling her thumbs, refusing to meet his gaze. "Well, I came to bring the skateboard back, but…"

The black-haired boy snorted. "How generous. But is that all you came here for?"

Yellow cringed, knowing where this was going. "Originally, yes, but-"

"Originally?"

The blonde tried to stay calm, but it was hard with him staring at her like that. The boy may have eyes of such an unusual and beautiful color, but when he was angry they gained a somewhat dangerous glint that was seriously unnerving her. "W-well, it's just… your relationship with that girl, Crys-"

"Okay, listen up. I can see that that sweet and innocent attitude of yours is no act and that you're tryin' to help and all, but I don't want it. Sorry, but I don't like it when people pry into my personal life. Especially when it's about Crys and I. So I'd appreciate it if you'd let it be, okay?"

"But…"

Just as Gold's patience was reaching a snapping point, his savior came, clad in a black jacket and dark purple pants, not a holy deity, but his best friend. Walking up to the pair, the redhead spoke in a calm, practically monotonous voice. "As Gold puts it, the two of them have a system."

The black-haired boy grinned up at his friend. "Hey, Silver."

There was a few seconds of silence before the standing boy nudged Gold with his foot, a bit uncomfortable. "Don't just sit there smiling at me, idiot. Tell her about your system."

"Oh, right!" Gold scratched the back of his head sheepishly before turning back to Yellow. "My system. I tried to tell ya earlier, but you wouldn't listen."

The blonde felt a bit of heat rise to her cheeks at the accusation. "T-that can't be true! I heard everything you said!"

"You may have heard everything, but you certainly didn't bother comprehending it all," the boy said flippantly.

Before Yellow could say anything in her defense, Silver interrupted by chiding the other boy. "Stop being difficult and just tell the girl about your stupid system, already."

Gold rolled his eyes exasperatedly. "Yeah, yeah…"

The blonde shot the redheaded boy a grateful look, but it went unnoticed.

"Anyways! The way my system works is like this, Yellow. Normally, it starts out with me doing something Crys doesn't like. She's real high maintenance, see, so the slightest mistake on my part upsets her. Now it wouldn't be so bad if I handled the situation a bit more carefully, I guess, cause I normally give some stupid response to her worries, and that just makes her more upset, and she continues grilling me until I lose my cool. Then we start seriously arguing, which, more often than not, leads to her getting violent and then stalking away. But then later on, she'll come back crying and bawling and saying how she's so sorry, and you can just tell she's been beating herself up about it, 'cause she's actually a good person, it's just that I seem to bring out the aggressive side she tries so hard to pretend she doesn't have. She always looks so horrible and miserable that I can't help but accept her apologies and then we get back together and are happy for a while…" Gold trailed off.

Silver finished the last sentence for him, "They're happy for a while… until the next time the cycle starts."

Yellow blinked. "And… you're truly happy with that?"

The boy in question shrugged. "Sure. It makes things more interesting, really. A normal relationship would be too boring!"

The blonde frowned, trying and failing to understand the way Gold's mind worked. "Still… isn't the way your relationship is now a bit… dysfunctional?"

Golden eyes locked onto her own green flecked amber ones. "Maybe, but I don't have a problem with it, so why should you?"

Yellow was running out of ideas. Could he truly be okay with the way things were? "…And you don't mind the pain?"

"Of course not! I know that all you girls are scared of pain, but I'm a guy. It's like in my job description that I should be able to bear any pain easily." The redhead beside him tried unsuccessfully to cover up a snort. Gold eyed his friend. "What?"

Silver hid a small smile. "…Nothing."

Gold frowned at the boy suspiciously, but said nothing until he'd turned back to Yellow. "So there you have it. It's nice of you to want to help, but your services aren't needed."

In response, the blonde just stared forlornly at him, as if trying to peer into his soul. He soon grew uncomfortable under her level gaze and chose to look at the grass instead. Oh, look at that! This blade of grass is two centimeters longer than the others!

Yellow's staring didn't let up for quite some time. If he's really okay with it, I should just let it go, but… A few minutes later, she came to a decision and started rummaging around in her bag. Let's see… a pen and a piece of paper is what I need… They've gotta be in here somewhere!

The noise she was making attracted the attention of both boys, and Gold deadpanned, "What the hell are you doing?"

The blonde's face lit up as she finally found what she had been searching for. "Aha! Found them!" That said, she began to write. Gold stood up and attempted to peer over her shoulder to see, but it was unnecessary, as seconds later, she stood up as well and turned around and all but thrust the slip of paper at him, grinning broadly all the while.

Golden eyes scanned the contents of said paper, and he then looked up -or rather, looked down- at the girl, perplexed. "Your number?"

Yellow nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah!"

Gold looked between her and the paper a few times before clearing his throat. "Um, listen, I think you're really nice and all, and I suppose you're also kinda cute, but, whether I seem it or not, I'm loyal to Crys, so-"

At the beginning of his impromptu speech, Yellow had been highly confused, but as he went on, realization had dawned and she began blushing. Hard. "It's not like that!" she shrieked.

The boy stared at her, baffled. "Eh?"

The blonde tried to fight back the blush, but failed. She instead opted to ignore it in the hopes that it would go away. "It's just, I could tell that you really do care about your girlfriend, despite how flippant you were. You said you were fine with the way your relationship with her is, and I accept that… I guess. But, I thought, maybe if one day something changes and you think your relationship isn't working out like you wanted, you can call me and I'll try to help as a mediator of sorts. Or a relationship councilor, if you will. Would you… be okay… with that?" She stopped and tried to catch her breath.

Both boys were looking at her like she had grown a second head. She fidgeted nervously, but didn't retract her offer.

Eventually, Gold came back to life and offered a hesitant reply. "…Okay…?"

Silver stared at his friend through slightly widened eyes, though his face showed no other apparent changes. He was actually quite shocked, though no one but Gold would be able to figure it out, what with his total lack of expression.

Yellow, on the other hand… her face lit up like a Christmas tree. If it was possible her million-watt smile got even brighter. "Great! So, uh…"

Gold was still rooted to the spot, his brain unsuccessfully trying to compute what was happening. "Yeah…"

The blonde's smile grew softer. "It was nice meeting you. The both of you."

"You, too…" Gold muttered. Silver just nodded.

Yellow looked between the two of them for a moment before speaking. "Well then, I'll be off." That said she began to walking, but stopped not one hundred feet away to turn and wave.

The black-haired boy half-heartedly returned the wave, still shell-shocked.

Watching her walk away, Silver turned to his friend. "So… she gave you her number."

Finally snapping out of it, Gold scratched the back of his neck. "Yeah, I guess she did."

"But she said it wasn't like that."

"Yeah. And oddly enough… I believe her."

Silver stared at the boy for a moment before turning to look at where Yellow had been only moments ago. The blonde was already long gone.

Suddenly recalling part of the conversation with the girl, the redhead chuckled softly.

Gold glanced at his friend curiously. "What?"

Silver's eyes shone with mirth. "I distinctly remember you crying when Crystal broke your arm."

Were this an anime, the other boy's eyes would've bugged out. As it is, he was just seriously shocked. "Huh?!"

"And you passed out when she kicked you where it hurts."

Gold practically glowed red from embarrassment. "I most certainly did not!"

Silver chuckled. "You most certainly did. I should know: I was the one lugging you back home. When I walked through your door with you passed out on my back, your mother almost had a heart attack."

"…Shut up!"

Silver laughed at his friend's expense for a few moments, but then turned serious. "Gold… you do know where Crystal has been going lately after your fights…?"

Any semblance of a good mood immediately left the older boy. "…Yeah, I know."

The boys looked to the senior dorms.

AN- Once again, I've cut the chapter a bit (about halfway), meaning what I originally had planned for one chapter has now become three (possibly four). And yet, it's still roughly two thousand words. Can you imagine how long it would've been originally without any chapter cutting? Anyways, I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and constructive criticism really helps, okay? *wink, wink* Also, I've got one question for all y'all. What color are Yellow's eyes, truly? I mean, on book covers, they've been black, amber, and green. Green is my preferred default for her (it's also the one I've seen the most), but I can't help thinking that her eyes are supposed to be amber (because all the other PokeSpe characters have eye colors close to their names). Since I was unsure, I described her eyes as "green flecked amber" this time, but I'd like to hear all of your opinions on the matter. Also, go ahead and take a guess at what Crys is up to (and no, it's NOT cheating… well, not exactly. *hint, hint, wink, wink*). If you're correct, I'll give out… chocolate figurines of the PokeSpe cast! Just tell me which one(s) you want! Till next time~!