He'd been avoiding Gold. As much as he tried to tell himself he wasn't, he knew he was. Gold had called twice in the past two weeks wanting to hang out, but Silver had come up with an excuse both times. He could hear the disappointment behind Gold's voice both times he turned him down, and he hated it, but he honestly wasn't sure how to face him now. Before, he'd wanted to hang out with Gold because he simply enjoyed his company and he wanted to make amends with whom he saw as the greatest victim of his year-long tirade. Now, though, the reason wasn't so simple. He wanted to see him because he hated the idea of not seeing him, because, while he hadn't been paying attention, he'd developed feelings he didn't even know he was capable of.

He'd never even looked at a man before, so absolutely none of this made sense. And it wasn't as if he'd never had the opportunity to be with men. He'd wandered into gay bars by accident before, but he'd never been interested, despite some very attractive men pining for his attention. So what the hell was going on? How could he suddenly be feeling this way about Gold when he'd never felt that way about a man before? It didn't seem possible, and yet...

There was no denying how he'd felt when he looked at Gold, shirtless and fresh out of the shower. And this discovery made so many other things make sense: like why he'd been so nervous when Crystal had implied him and Gold might be a couple. Or when he'd blushed upon seeing Gold changing clothes after he'd pulled him from the water. And that moment, in the hot tub, when he'd found himself staring in Gold's direction and unable to look away. He'd assured the younger man it was nothing, but it sure as hell didn't seem like nothing now. Or what about when the waitress assumed he and Gold were on a date and the thought didn't even phase him? And then there was that moment on the beach, right before Annie had been attacked, when he and Gold had just...looked at each other. Looked? No. Now that he knew about the feelings stirring in his chest, that no longer seemed like mere looking. More like staring longingly.

He sat on his sofa with his head in his hands, unable to fathom how this had happened. How he'd come to feel so strongly so quickly. It wasn't as if he'd been actively seeking this sort of thing. That had never been his intention, but Gold just made it so damned easy. He was kind, considerate, and unwaveringly loyal. He'd never met anyone like him in his whole life, which was why, he assumed, he'd followed him around for almost a year trying to defeat him. Wait... Had it even gone back that far? Had his prolonged campaign against Gold simply been a cover for how he'd actually felt about him? It would make sense. Back then, he wasn't capable of expressing any emotion besides anger, so turning to bullying the person he was attracted to wouldn't have been all that crazy.

All these thoughts were making his head throb, and he leaned back against the couch. "What have you gotten yourself into?"

A loud noise pierced his ears and made his head throb again, and when he turned he found it was his Pokegear ringing. He reached for it and saw "Gold" written in the caller ID. Though he still wasn't sure he was ready to see him, he pushed the answer button anyway and said, "Hey, Gold."

Silver knew immediately that something was wrong when all Gold said back was, "Silver."

His voice...there was absolutely none of his typical optimism behind it. He sounded pained, almost as if he was holding back tears. Silver's mind instantly assumed the worst: Miranda. Had something happened to Miranda?

"What's going on, Gold?" he asked.

He heard Gold take a breath and answer, "Crystal's dad died, some kind of freak hiking accident."

Crystal's dad? He felt a wave of relief crash over him as he realized Miranda was okay, but that was quickly followed by a sickening guilt for being relieved at all. Crystal was Gold's best friend. Silver shouldn't be feeling relief. He should be feeling sad for her, and for Gold. Gold had clearly been close with Crystal's dad, otherwise he wouldn't sound so dejected. But, as he was clearly trying to keep his emotions in check, Silver wasn't going to prod him about it, so he simply asked, "How is she?"

"She's holding it together as best she can under the circumstances," Gold answered. "She wanted me to call and ask if you're coming to the funeral with me and mom."

Gold might have meant for that final sentence to sound like a simple inquiry, but his weakened mental state had obviously stunted his ability to keep his emotions from his voice. His absolutely pitiful tone proved this wasn't an inquiry, it was a plea. Gold either wanted or needed Silver to be there, but he wasn't about to sacrifice his pride and ask outright. And after he had given Gold bullshit excuses the last two times he'd called, Silver couldn't blame him.

So Silver responded, "Yeah. I'll be there. When is it?"

"Tomorrow," Gold answered, "9:00 a.m. at the funeral home in New Bark Town."

Luckily, Silver had the next day off so he didn't have to worry about calling in. So he said, "All right. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Bye."

Gold hung up after that. A cool farewell to be certain. Silver sat the pokegear down and leaned forward, cradling his head in his heads. He couldn't keep doing this. He couldn't keep avoiding Gold. Not only had he resolved to protect Gold from Team Rocket, but, as much as he hated to admit it, he simply didn't want Gold to be gone from his life again. And he decided he wasn't going to let these newfound feelings control him to the point that he would drive Gold away. No matter how hard it might be to continue to see Gold with these feelings intact, he knew it would be much harder to watch the younger man walk away.


Silver arrived at the funeral home at a quarter till 9:00 wearing a pair of black jeans, a black t-shirt, and a black leather jacket, the only remotely nice clothing he owned. He searched through the crowd of black-clad mourners waiting outside until he found Miranda and Gold standing near the front entrance. Miranda wore a plain, spaghetti-strapped black dress with flat black shoes while Gold wore an unbuttoned black blazer with a black button-up shirt and a pair of black pants. Shiny, leather dress shoes adorned his feet. He approached the pair to greet them, and Miranda opened her arms to hug him. When he accepted the hug, she heard him whisper her thanks for him coming, but he wasn't able to focus on her.

Gold's cheeks were completely devoid of color and a hard, cold expression painted his face. Clearly, Gold and Crystal's father had been far closer than Silver realized. It was hardly surprising, though. Crystal was Gold's best friend and he had lost his father young. It would be reasonable to think that, with the lack of a father, Gold might have found a father figure in Crystal's dad. He was about to approach the younger man to speak to him when the mourners suddenly started filing into the funeral home. Being pushed along by the crowd, Silver wasn't able to say anything, so he decided his talk with Gold would have to wait.

He moved along with the crowd until they all made it to the chapel. He followed Gold and Miranda to a pew, where he sat beside Gold. It took several minutes for everyone to find a seat, but when they did, a hymn started playing. Silver saw Crystal, dressed in a long, flowing black dress with embroidered net sleeves, approach the podium that sat right behind the open coffin. Her dad didn't share her hair color, and as Silver looked upon him, he could still see hints of youth in his face. The man couldn't have been any older than 45, which made his death all the more tragic. He'd still had so many years left to spend with his daughter, and now he would never see them.

The hymn quieted and Crystal's voice echoed through a microphone, "Thank you all for coming."

Her voice, much like Gold's had been, was strained and her entire body tense. He could tell that there was a whole dam full of tears welled up behind her eyes and she was trying like hell to hold it back. He didn't know Crystal well, but it was heart wrenching to see the normally smiling, bubbly woman reduced to such a state. The universe was a cruel place, indeed.

As she gave the eulogy, Silver started to hear sniffles and quiet sobs coming from people in the pews. Miranda was among those to start crying, but Gold, he remained just as stoned faced as he had been when Silver had first arrived. Why? Why was he holding back from crying? This was one of the instances that people were not only expected to cry but encouraged to do so. Holding in such sadness wasn't good for anyone, and he especially didn't want to see Gold harmed by this attempt to hold back his emotions.

Crystal's voice started to crack half-way through the speech, but other than that, she delivered the speech flawlessly, never even needing to stop to collect herself. Silver truly admired her willpower. She was far stronger than she looked. Once she was finished, she descended from the podium and began searching around the room, apparently looking for someone. As if reading her mind, Gold stood and shimmied his way out of the pew, heading right in Crystal's direction. Of course. She was looking for her best friend. Who else would she be looking for?

Silver followed, but kept his distance in order to make sure Gold and Crystal had their space. As soon as Gold reached the blue-haired woman, the floodgates holding back her tears seemed to instantly lift, and she collapsed into Gold's arms. They both went to their knees and Gold held her tightly as she released ugly, guttural sobs into his shoulder. Silver expected this might be Gold's breaking point, that he might finally allow himself to cry, but apart from a slight twitch of his left eye, his face remained stoic. This was becoming worrisome.

Crystal sobbed for at least another whole minute before she shakily pulled away and Gold helped her to her feet. Her face was bright red and caked with tears, clear snot was leaking from her nose, and her eyes were bloodshot. Gold reached into his pocket, drew out several kleenex, and used one of them to wipe the tears from her face. She took the rest from him and started blowing her nose. Silver could not hear them, but he saw their lips moving, and after Crystal seemed to finish talking, she finally noticed him.

She waved Silver over, and he wasn't about to deny her. He stood at Gold's side, and Crystal pulled him into a gentle hug. Once she pulled away, she said, "Thanks for coming. I know you didn't know him, but it means a lot."

Silver knew it was probably only a small comfort, but he placed a hand on her shoulder and answered, "It's no trouble. I'm sorry about your dad."

She nodded and turned around to look at the other mourners. Several of them were hugging each other, some others were sitting alone and crying, and some were simply comforting their loved ones. Silver truly hated funerals. Seeing so many people in so much pain all at once was never an easy thing.

Crystal sniffed and wiped her nose one more time before saying, "I guess I'd better go and see some more people. I'll talk to you guys at the barbecue."

Barbecue? Silver knew, then, who had probably been in charge of the food. Leave it to Miranda to have a barbecue for a funeral.

Thinking of Miranda, of course, made Silver also think of Gold, and he turned toward the younger man, who was looking on after Crystal. Well, there was no one else around talking to him, so Silver figured this was as good a time as any to speak to Gold. However, when he approached and tried to speak to him, Gold held up his hand.

Silver halted in his tracks as Gold said, "Not yet."

Gold then turned and headed back toward Miranda. Not wanting to push him, Silver followed silently, but the longer Gold kept his stoic mask on, the more concerned Silver became.


The chapel emptied out after another half-hour of mourners hugging each other and crying, and everyone headed outside to the barbecue. Although Silver questioned how many people there would actually want to eat. Unlike at Miranda's house, neither she nor Gold were actually doing the cooking. A catering service delivered the sides, and there were three grills side-by-side with three people on them cooking burgers, hot dogs, and bratwurst. The sides ranged from mash potatoes and mac 'n cheese to cole slaw and baked beans. Everything smelled amazing, and Silver couldn't deny he was looking forward to this part.

He stepped into the food line behind Gold, who was still remaining completely silent. Silver wracked his brain, but he simply could not comprehend why Gold was behaving this way. It seemed completely out of character and, frankly, it was disturbing. He kept his eyes trained on the back of Gold's head for most of the time they stood in line, hoping he might eventually see the younger man exhibit some kind of emotion, but it wasn't meant to be. The two of them made their plates and their drinks, and Gold started heading in the direction of the white tables strewn about the yard.

However, he didn't sit at any of them and instead bypassed them completely. Okay, now Silver was very confused. He followed closely behind Gold, and the younger man led him around to the back of the funeral home where Silver noticed a wooden bench sitting next to a concrete path. It was there that Gold finally sat down, but he didn't touch his food. Instead, he put his plate and drink on the ground. Silver figured this was probably where the talk was going to happen, so he followed suit.

Once Silver was seated, Gold leaned forward with his elbows on his knees and said, "Go ahead."

Silver leaned forward in a similar manner and asked, "Why are you holding back? It's not like anyone's gonna judge you for crying at a funeral."

Gold shook his head. "It's not that. I just...don't want to make today about me."

Silver raised an eyebrow. "What are you talking about?"

Gold sighed and looked at the ground. "There's only one funeral home in New Bark Town, so where do you think my dad's ceremony was held?"

Oh... Now it made sense. Gold was thinking about his dad, maybe even mourning his dad, because they were at the same funeral home. Was that truly what was keeping Gold from letting himself cry?

The younger man brought one of his hands up to cover his eyes and said, "It's selfish and stupid. This is Crystal's day. Her dad just died. And here I am sitting here thinking about my own dad, who's been dead for years."

Selfish? He really thought it was selfish to be thinking about his own dad at a funeral? Nevermind, his reluctance to cry was definitely in character. Like he always did, he was being completely and utterly selfless. As amazing as it was that Gold cared so much about others, Silver couldn't help but wish he would learn to care more about himself. Watching him torture himself as he'd been doing the whole funeral was nothing short of painful, and he knew he needed to convince Gold to lay down this ridiculous burden.

So he asked, "Do you really think Crystal would be upset if she found out this funeral reminded you of your dad? Hell, she probably expected that."

"I know," Gold answered, "But it's...it's not right. This is John's freaking funeral, and I'm not gonna let myself cry over someone else while he's about to be six feet under."

Gold's sadness was obviously making it impossible for him to think clearly, so Silver told him, "Who says you can't mourn both? Mourning your dad isn't gonna diminish how much you cared about John. And it's not like Crystal or anyone else is going to know who you're mourning unless you tell them."

To Silver's surprise, Gold released a sarcastic laugh. Confused, Silver asked, "What?"

Silver saw Gold's expression finally start to shift. His eyes closed tightly for only a second and then opened again, misted over with tears. His lips curled into a trembling smile and he said, "That sounds like something my dad would have said."

Those words seemed to be his breaking point as the tears he'd been holding back the entire funeral finally started to pour from his eyes. He covered his face with his right hand, clearly trying to keep his face obscured, and Silver couldn't blame him. Crying in front of someone else at all had to be difficult enough. Hoping to ease his pain, if even a little, Silver lay his hand against Gold's back, right below his neck. As much as he hated seeing Gold's tears, it was preferable to him bottling it all up. Silver knew better than most people the consequences of bottled up emotions.

After a few more seconds of Gold sobbing, Silver's attention was piqued when Miranda rounded the corner, evidently knowing about this particular spot. As soon as her eyes fell on Gold, she was in front of him, knelt over with her hands on either side of his face. Their eyes met for only a second before she moved in and hugged him tightly around his neck. Feeling like a third wheel, Silver decided he'd leave and give the mother and son their moment.

However, when he stood, he felt a strong hand grasping his wrist. He looked back and saw Gold looking at him. The younger man's eyes were still overflowing when he choked out, "You...don't have to leave."

Silver wasn't sure what use he was going to be there, but if Gold wanted him to stay, he wasn't going to argue. So he sat back down and waited for Miranda to finish doing what she did best: making Gold feel better. It didn't take long. The woman had a way of reaching into a person and bringing whatever happiness they had to the surface, a quality he was certain Gold had inherited.

By the time Miranda was finished talking to him, Gold had stopped crying. She handed him a few tissues, and kissed him on the forehead before heading back out to the barbecue. Gold did his best to clean his face, and when he was finished it was mostly back to normal, apart from moist eyes and bright red cheeks. Silver, though, he wasn't sure what to say now. What could he say? He was bad at small talk on the best of occasions and this was a damn funeral.

As if reading his mind, Gold was the one who broke the silence and said, "You've been avoiding me."

Silver's chest stung with guilt at the statement, although Gold hadn't said it with an accusatory tone. He was simply stating a fact, and Silver wasn't going to attempt to deny it. Hoping it wouldn't make Gold feel worse, Silver answered, "I have."

Gold leaned forward again. "Why? If you don't want to hang out anymore, you can just say it."

Fuck. Silver thought. He should have known Gold was going to get the wrong idea. Gold was nothing if not an insufferable worry wart. Silver found that out the first time the younger man had come to his house, and again when he'd helped Gold move the bed. So he knew he needed to alleviate those worries quickly and said, "No. It's not that. I swear it's not."

Gold turned his head to look at Silver. "Then what is it? And tell me the truth."

The truth? The whole truth? Silver didn't think Gold understood how impossible that was at this particular moment. Silver had only just started to accept the fact that he was, apparently, developing romantic feelings for the man sitting next to him. He couldn't very well drop that on Gold, especially not now of all times. He wasn't even sure he could tell him if they were sitting in his house alone, and Gold hadn't just been a weeping mess minutes before. It was just...too much. But he could tell him part of the truth and hope that it would suffice.

He cleared his throat and said, "I've just been...dealing with some shit, and I needed to be alone. It has nothing to do with me not wanting to hang out."

Gold's eyes narrowed, and Silver almost felt like the younger man was staring right through him when he asked, "Is that really all it was?"

Dammit. He knew. Gold knew he wasn't telling him the whole truth. But in spite of that, Silver knew he wasn't going to be able to tell him everything, at least not yet. So he looked Gold right in the eyes and said, "That's all it was."

He could tell Gold didn't entirely believe him, but the younger man didn't push the matter further and simply asked, "Can I help?"

Yes, he wanted to say. He could help by saying that he felt the same way Silver did, but Silver knew that was far from likely. There was no way someone as good as Gold would ever have feelings for a person like him. Silver grinned and said, "No, I don't think so."

Gold sighed and leaned back in the bench. "All right, but next time you "need to be alone" just tell me. Don't make up some stupid excuse."

Now that was a request Silver could definitely follow, so he answered, "Fair enough."

Gold fell silent after that, and Silver didn't try to make him talk anymore. The younger man probably had a lot on his mind, and Silver knew better than most how soothing silence can be when your mind is screaming at you. The two remained sitting on that bench until Miranda called out to them that it was time to leave for the burial.


The burial ceremony was short since most people had already said what they wanted to say. The only thing that slowed it was Crystal standing in front of the coffin for too long and needing to be led away by Gold and Miranda. It wasn't until that very moment that the realization hit him: there had been no wife of the deceased. Crystal either never had a mother (like him) or her mother had died. That meant she was orphaned, and since he hadn't seen any brothers or sisters either, it also meant that she seemed to have no one. There were aunts and uncles, of course, and cousins and grandparents, but no immediate family to speak of. That explained why she'd went running into Gold's arms first and why Gold and Miranda were the ones currently leading her away from the cemetery.

Silver stayed behind the trio, not wanting to interfere, but Gold glanced back more than once, as if checking to see if he was still there. It pained Silver that Gold felt the need to check, but after he'd spent the past two weeks avoiding him, he supposed it was to be expected. They reached a black car, presumably Crystal's, and Crystal turned to Gold. She wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly. Silver saw her whisper something in Gold's ear, but he couldn't hear what was said.

Afterwards, Crystal walked around the car to sit in the passenger's seat, and that was when Gold mumbled to Silver, "Can I come over?"

Silver was somewhat surprised at the request. He'd figured Gold would want to spend the rest of the day with Crystal. But if Gold wanted to come to his house, Silver wasn't going to turn him down so he answered, "Of course."

Gold then turned to Miranda, who hugged him before saying, "Are you gonna be okay, honey?"

Gold nodded before kissing her on the cheek. "Drive safe, Mom."

She smiled at him, and then turned to Silver. He expected her to hug him too, but instead she stood on her tip toes and planted a gentle kiss on his cheek. She then threw him a quick grin and climbed into the driver's seat of the car. The engine started, and she drove away, leaving Gold and Silver to call thier flying Pokemon and fly to Olivine.

Gold was silent the entire trip, which Silver found disconcerting. There had to have been a reason Gold asked to come over, and Silver couldn't help but think he was going to find out the reason as soon as Gold decided to start speaking. After they landed at his front door, Silver unlocked it and let Gold go in first. The younger man went straight to the couch and sat down, staring straight ahead at the black TV screen with his elbows on his knees. Silver closed the door behind them both and joined Gold on the couch, intensely curious to know what the younger man was thinking about so hard.

It took Gold a few moments to finally get up the nerve he needed to speak, but when he did, he stated, "I never told you what first made me afraid of the water."

It was true. Gold had never even given Silver a hint as to what caused it, apart from his mini panic attack when Silver had touched him while his head was under the water. He had to admit that he'd always wondered what the root of the fear was, but he'd never seen fit to push the issue. Nor was he planning on pushing it now.

"I wasn't going to ask," Silver said. "And you don't have to tell me if you don't want to."

"I know," Gold answered.

The younger man went silent for another few moments, as if gathering his thoughts. During that silence, Silver saw his facial expressions go through several phases. From doubt, to frustration, and eventually to a sort of calm. As soon as his expression held steady, Gold said, "You remember how I told you my dad was in the military?"

"Yeah," Silver answered. "I assumed he died overseas."

Gold scoffed. "If only it were that simple."

He let his head hang and went on, "He came back from his last tour overseas with an honorable discharge. Turns out he'd had a massive PTSD episode and nearly got his entire unit killed. It wasn't all bad, though. He went to a therapist for a while and had the condition under control, for the most part."

For the most part? Silver guessed that was the key phrase, and he didn't like where the story was headed. He kept silent, though, and decided he would say nothing until Gold was finished.

"One night," Gold said, "I think I was 6, and he was giving me a bath. Everything was fine, peaceful even. And then mom dropped a cookie sheet. I heard the boom from all the way upstairs, and so did my dad. I didn't think anything of it, and then...my head was under the water."

Silver's eyes went wide at that point, and he had to resist saying, 'You're shitting me.' Silver had guessed that someone had tried to drown Gold at some point. Otherwise, why would he react to being touched while underwater the way he did? But never did Silver imagine it was Gold's dad who'd tried to drown him. No wonder he never talked about it before. This was the sort of thing that would have driven most people to be lost in a bottle for the rest of their lives.

Gold wasn't finished, though. He exhaled heavily and carried on, "Luckily, Mom is smart. She figured the sound might have sounded close enough to a gunshot to trigger Dad, so she grabbed the shotgun and ran upstairs. She found him holding me under the water and beamed him over the head with the gun's handle. I never blacked out, but she had to call 911 for Dad."

He swallowed, and Silver could see his expression starting to shift to massive discomfort, which told him that Gold hadn't even reached the worst part yet. And that was frightening.

After another short pause, Gold said, "The Sheriff showed up at the hospital when Dad woke up. He and Mom told Dad what happened, and the Sheriff told Dad the only way he could avoid arresting him was if he agreed to admit himself for psychiatric evaluation. Of course, Dad agreed, but..."

He trailed off temporarily, and Silver didn't like the look that appeared on his face in that moment. It was a far more grave, and far more tortured expression than he'd ever seen on Gold's face before.

"Mom," Gold said, "She tried to explain to me that Dad was sick, that he was "hurting inside" from what happened in the war and that he hadn't been himself. But I was just too damn young. I didn't get it. So when she took me to visit him in the hospital, and he tried to give me a hug, I... I fucking backed away from him."

That was when Silver saw it, the misty tears glazing over Gold's eyes. The younger man's lips trembled and his fists clenched tightly when he stuttered out, "I-I saw it in his eyes. I didn't understand it then, but...as soon as I backed away, something inside of him shattered. I know it did because the next day, we got a call from the hospital."

Silver was sure his heart was pounding hard and fast enough that his every breath shook. No. Don't let Gold say it...

"Dad had gotten ahold of a shard of broken mirror," Gold said, "They'd tried to save him, but...well, you can guess the rest."

Yes. He could definitely guess. Not that he wanted to. This story was already terrible enough without Silver using his imagination. Silver had done a lot of speculation about what had happened to Gold's father, about what had caused Gold's fear of the water. But this...this was so far outside the scope of what he'd imagine that it was unbelievable. And it only served to show Silver just how iron-willed Gold and his mother truly were. Gold's strength had never been in doubt (nor had Miranda's for that matter), but this... nevermind getting lost in a bottle. Most people wouldn't have even survived what Gold went through. It explained his utter fearlessness in the face of any kind of danger, his constant desire to see the good in everyone, and his undying loyalty to those he cared about. It just pained Silver that Gold's strength had to come from such an awful place.

Silver saw Gold's whole body tense up, and tears started to leak from his eyes when he choked out, "I just can't help thinking that if...if I hadn't backed away... my dad might still be alive."

Gold was unable to hold back a sob after that, and that was Silver's breaking point. He would listen to Gold tell his story. He would hear his sorrows. But he'd be damned if he was going to let Gold blame himself for what happened to his father. Silver's body reacted to that resolve, and he reached for Gold. His left arm slipped around Gold's shoulder and pulled him in, allowing his head to rest in the crook of his neck.

Silver could feel Gold's hot breaths against the his skin and his tears seep into his shirt as he said, "Shut up. You were a child. There was no way you could have understood what was happening. None of it is on you, so you get that shit out of your head or I swear I'll knock it out for you."

Gold either didn't want to say anything after that or couldn't because he just continued to sob silently for a length of time Silver didn't bother keeping track of. Gold had just trusted him with an impossibly tragic part of his life, and the younger man could damn well cry as long as he wanted to. He did eventually finish, however, and when he did, he pulled away and started wiping his nose with his sleeve. Like it was the most natural thing in the world, Silver reached one of his hands up to wipe the tears off of one half of Gold's face.

It was only when the younger man gave him an utterly baffled look that Silver realized what he'd just done and swiftly yanked his hand away. What...the hell had he just done? More importantly, why had his body seemed to react before his mind had even registered anything? He knew his cheeks were red because they were absolutely on fire when he averted his eyes and stared intently at the floor, determined to avoid explaining what he'd just done. Mostly because he wasn't sure if he could.

Gold didn't seem eager to ask any questions, though, and said, "I'm sorry."

Gold apologizing for things he probably didn't need to be apologizing for? Now that Silver could handle. Anything to get his mind off of what had just happened.

The redhead jumped on the opportunity and said, "For what?"

Gold leaned back against the couch and crossed his arms. "You said you were dealing with some shit and I just piled on a whole bunch of my shit."

Silver chuckled and shook his head. "One of these days I'll convince you to stop apologizing for everything."

This seemed like the perfect time to grab a drink, so Silver stood and went to the kitchen. He pulled a bottle of tequila and two shot glasses out of the cabinet before returning to the living room where Gold was still sitting in the same spot. Silver sat next to Gold, a little closer than before, and poured them both a shot.

He handed Gold his glass and said, "I think you've earned this."

Gold grinned and accepted the glass before gently banging it against Silver's. They downed the shots at the same time, and when Gold sat his glass down on the table he laughed lightly.

Silver poured them each another shot and asked, "What's funny?"

Gold picked up his glass after Silver was finished and answered, "I was just thinking about how many things I've done because of my dad. I kept learning how to shoot guns because he started teaching me. I became a Pokemon trainer because he'd always wanted to be one. I picked Cyndaquil because fire was his favorite type. And I drink Tequila because it was his favorite drink."

Now that Silver knew how young Gold was when his father died, it was surprising to him that his father had tried to teach him anything about guns. The lessons had to have started when he was four or five years old, which is awfully young to be handling guns. Not that Silver had any room to talk. Giovanni never once tried to keep guns away from him, so...

Hoping to brighten the mood, Silver clinked their glasses together again and said, "Could be worse. You could have inherited my dad's shit."

They both laughed at that and downed their second shot. Gold sat his glass down for the second time and asked, "Is it okay if I stay over?"

Well, that was a first. Not that Silver was complaining or anything. He hadn't really wanted to let Gold fly home by himself anyway, so he answered, "Yeah. You can take the bed if you want. I can sleep on the couch."

Gold scoffed. "Don't be stupid. I'm not taking your bed."

Yeah, he hadn't figured Gold would agree to take the bed, but he'd felt compelled to offer anyway. Perhaps the younger man was rubbing off on him more than he'd realized. But the fact that Gold wanted to stay over gave Silver a fun idea.

He reached into the end table and pulled out the two Wii remotes and said, "Well, if you're staying over, I say we get shit faced and see how badly we can suck at this game."

For the first time since they'd gotten back from the funeral, Silver saw Gold's doofy grin, and the younger man took one of the remotes as he said, "You're on."

While Silver turned on the system, Gold poured them each another shot, and Silver couldn't stop a proper smile from forming on his own lips. Despite everything, this day had resolved itself well, and as the two of them fired up the first race track, Silver felt calmer than he had in a good long while.