Often you hear that people have this inner voice inside their head, a coscience that guides their actions… Well, Gold has no idea of what people are talking about, he only feels the need to do somenthing, and he does it, with no thoughts of whatsoever, he fully trusts his instinct. However, one time he had the impression of hearing this inner voice, but he quickly dismissed the thought, now he didn't even rememebr what was it about, so, probabily, it wasn't something important, at least he expected, because that repressed thought was cracking the surface…

It all started when Gold had the bright idea, after a whole day of slacking off, to go to tease a bit Super Serious Gal. He walked inside the laboratory careless of announcing his presence by knocking, but no one pointed it out this time, since Crystal was already busy talking with someone else. Gold noticed right away that her lips where curved in a smile and her soft eyes showed that it was a sincere one, while her voice was more high pitched than usual. In front of her, there was the ever-so-stoic gym leader -and tall- Green.
For some reason, Gold felt a tinge of irritation growling inside. He made his presence known with a "yo!".
Crystal looked a bit taken aback but welcomed him "Hello Gold."
Green just nod to him -like cool guys do- and then returned his attention to the girl and he leaned forward to whisper something, and a light laugh escaped her lips.
"...so send me the results", he said at the end before turning to leave.
"Certainly", replied the girl.
As Green passed by, Gold eyed him with supicious, while Crystal streached her limbs before returning at her desk.
"What's going on between you?" The boy asked as he leaned on the edge of the desk.
"Nothing at all", she answered without even bothering to raise her eyes from the monitor of the computer.
He grabbed the armrests of her office chair and turned it so she was facing him. "You don't fool me, you were flirting with him!"
An annoyed expression appeared on her face, "I wasn't".
"You were acting all shyly, as if you were under the effect of the move attraction, it was quite sickly to be honest… and what was that laugh at the end? What did he said? Was it about me?"
"Why are you so heatred?"
"Because he is a chick magnet! He is the classic stoic and cool guy every girl loses her head for!"
She smiled has if she had a point, "so do you realize that being serious is actually a good thing?
"That's not the point! Besides, being serious is soooooo boring, how can you stand it?"
Crystal sighed and rested the cheek on her palm, "then what's the point?"
"That you're lying, you like him too!"
"Even if admitted it, why would you care?
He almost jumped back, then squinted his eyes and pointed his index finger at her accusingly. "So you like him?"
She moved his finger from her exasperated face, "Gold, stop being so obnoxious, I have to work".
She turned the chair to face the computer. For a moment he seemed at lost, but then he slammed his hand on the desk. "alright, keep your secrets…"
"There is no secret" she said unimpressed, while continuing to type on the keyboard, but he went on talking over her.
"...but then don't come over to me crying when will break your heart".
"Okay".
He left with a plan on mind he was impatient to execute, but he had to wait...

The following week had been unusually calm at the lab and Crystal was able to work undisturbed, but, knowing Gold, she couldn't shake off the thought that something would have happened sometime soon. Then, one day, when she heard footsteps walking in, she draw a deep breath, preparing mentally for another pointless discussion but, when she turned around, in front of there there wasn't who she expected. "Oh, good afternoon Green!"
"Why the surprised face?", he asked, waliking with the hands in the pockets and shook his head lightly to move a lock of hair from his eyes.
"I just thought that… well, it doesn't matter", she smiled at him, "What brings you here?"
He shook his head again. "are you displeased maybe? Were you waiting someone else?"
She rose from the chair and walked toward him, her arms behind her back, emphasizing her breasts.
"...Gold maybe?" He suggested.
"Stop joking…", she whispered placing a hand on his chest, "let's hope he doesn't interrupt us again."
Her hand traveled upward to rest on his shoulder and she closed the distance between their bodies, but Green's hands were suspended at midair on her sided as he stared her lustful eyes as her lips approached his.
Then, suddenly, he pushed her away "s-sorry, I can't!"
"Why?" She asked whinily, "What's the problem, Gold?"
"You see… actually, it's not me, I mean… Wait! How did you just call me?"
She crossed her arms and watched him with a frown. "Did you really thought I wouldn't notice?"
"How?!" The boy exclaimed as a Ditto parted form his head, revealing underneath the Johto dex holder, "the disguise was perfect!"
"He is taller, he doesn't talk like that and he always knocks!"
Gold sighed and looked at the pokemon in his arms. "Sigh, you did you best buddy."
"Is it yours?"
"It's from the daycare."
There was a moment of silence, then Crystal asked: "What were you trying to accomplish?"
"Gosh, it was just a joke! Don't take it all so seriously, there doesn't have to be always a meaning or a second end about everything!"
"If it's about you, yeah, I know, you're not so complicated…"
"Hey!" His protest went unheard.
"...but this is too much even for you," she rose an eyebrow and smirked, "are you jealous?"
"Of you and ?" Gold chuckled "Pfft! Not a chance!"
"Okay, then…"
"It's just strange to see you flirt!"
"I told you I don't flirt with him…" There was another a moment of silence when just stared at each other. "...maybe," she feebly added, "I admit it, he his attractive and makes me a bit nervous, but it's not like I'm actually interested in him."
"I knew I was right! Why aren't you intersted in him? You're both so serious!"
"Not necessarly two similar people go along…"
"And what did he said last time that made you laugh?"
"He suggested to put at the entrance a sign that prohibite the entrance to you and that we should sell it to several place in Johto"
"Rude…"
"Not as much as not knoking…"
Gold smirked, "but damn, seeing you play along before was something out of Earth, then you can flirt after all!"
"Enough for today, I have to work!" her cheeks tinged of red and she tried to guide him toward the door, but he halted.
"Wait…" He muttered thight-lippred and she noticed his gaze was on the ceiling, there was nothing up there and her eyes traveled down his rigid body.
When she noticed the problem she felt a wave of heat in her cheeks and hurriedly looked everywhere else but there.
"Don't make that face", he reprimanded at her irritated and embarassed face, "it is your fault!"
"How am I responsible for that?"
"Hey, you are the one that sqeezed her tits against me"
"In any case, I don't want the professor to find you like this, leave!"
"But I can't go outside like this, girls will think I'm a pervert!"
"Gold, you are a pervert! Just make it go away, thinks of something else!"
"I'ts not that simple! It's not like for you girls that can be excited all the time without anyone noticing"
"Uff… use the bathroom."
As she said it, he flew in the direction of the room while she shouted behind him, "but please, do quickly, don't be noise and clean afterward!"

As he was closed in the bathroom stroking himself, he couldn't help but revive in his mind the previous moments when Crystal was playing along, but in his fantasy, he had his own face and he didn't stop her. As his mind ran wild further, an unpleasing sensation seeped inside him, something oppressing his brain repeating that it felt so wrong. It happened just another time in the past, after he saw her wearing those unusual clothes while he imagined to slip his hands under her salopette and she had the same expression of when he tried to tell her she looked nice in her new outfit. They were just fantasies, but she was a friend and he felt his instinct and thought clash as a voice repeating 'Bad! Bad! Bad!' overlapped the imagins winding in his head, but that was also what made it so fucking exciting at the same time. He blamed Crystal for that, maybe with all the time she scolded him, she succedeed in making him more thoughtfull and the imaginary Crys had to make it up for it… Gosh, how can I face Crys now? He thought, as the dizziness of the orgasm dissipated and swore that it wouldn't have happen again, but his promise would have been more hard to keep than he thought…

At the beginning of July, the dex holders were invited to Hoenn in occasion of Ruby's birthday and Gold got stuck for hours between his two boring firends.
On his left, Silver isolated himself watching replicas of Proteam Omega, at which he commented:"Aren't you embarassed to watch a kid's show in pubblic?"
"Why should I be?"
Gold didn't want to explain him the obvious and just let the conversation die. At his right there was Crystal, typing at a pc. "I can't believe you brought the work even here!"
"I have to regain the time I lost yesterday", she answered rubbign one eye.
"You look tired, what did you do?"
"I went looking for dresses with Blue and Yellow, knowing Ruby, he'd like us to be elegant", she paused to suppress the urge to yawn, "but Blue spend a lot of time watching around and trying different dresses... and then she brought us to the cinema to see a horror movie that kept me awake."
"A day of normal girl's life is too draining for you?"
"That's kinda sexist…", she yawn, "whatever… I don't have time to discuss right now."
She returned to work and his last hope of a fun trip disgregated when, istead of a hostess, a steward served them.
He resigned to watch something, he thought of opting for a horror movie to trigger Crystal and make her revive the nightmares she just had but, after a while, he felt a weight leaning on his shoulder.
"Crys?"
The girl was sound asleep, her expression was so peceful now, rarely he had seen her so exhausted and her warmth against him was actually pleasant, but then a sudden thought stuck his mind. Would she be so peaceful around me knowing what I did not so long ago? She would be utterly disgusted! Of course she would!
He tried to move away, and she mumbled something but didn't woke up, then he made one more mistake: look down at her chest and he remembered its sensation against him and started to sweat and his blood flowed down.
"Silv, switch seat with me!" he shouted.
The boy, who was still absorbed by the crappy tv show, turned to Gold. "Why?"
"I just… I want to be near the window!"
"Now?" Silver lookd outside. "We're almost arrived."
"I'm feeling sick."
Silver glanced him, but asked no questions, leaving him to wonder if he had noticed the real matter.
In that moment, a voice ftrom the speakers, annunced their imminet arrival and intimated to remaind at their seat with the belt fastened.
Irony of fate, once they landed, noticing the sweat on his face, Crystal asked: "Are you feeling sick?"

After they reached the hotel where they were staying, Gold was able to cool down with a cold drink and, with Silver in the same room, it was easy to not give in to temtation, but Gold's resolution was yet to seriously falter that night…
He met her again in the elevator, he was already in when she told him to hold the door and she walked as fast as the heels allowed her.
"Don't you usually use the stairs?" The boy asked.
"Usually... but I'm not used to high shoes."
He looked down to see a pair of white heels and, from there, his eyes travelled up her bare legs, till they reached the edge of her sky blue dress. It looked light and soft, but it tightened around her waist and, from her stomach, there was a vertical split that reached a band around the neck, brushed by long starry earrings. She had also glossy lips, however, the most surprising thing was that her hair was down.
Gold felt his head spin for a moment, but he wasn't the only one staring based on what she said shortly after. "Gold you buttoned your shirt wrong."
He looked down to ascertain it, she was right and he started to button up correctly, but the buttons were too small for his shaky fingers. She noticed it and approached him, "let me help."
While she helped him, his whole body was rigid but his mind was already fantasizing of a different scenario in which they were stuck in the elevator, and it started with her lowering on her knees... but, wait a moment, what if she is doing this on purpose? He thought, maybe she wasn't at all that innocent proper girl he thought she was, after all, the last time she was aware it was him the one she was touching… Does she expect me to make a move?
He rose his hand, but just then she stepped back and it was both an agony and a relief and he didn't realized he was still staring her until, maybe aware of his gaze, tried to close the split in the dress with a hand.
"I don't think this fits me", she eventually said, "but Blue convinced me to buy it."
"You look great", he said, with unintentional muffled voice.
She became red and moved a lock of hair behing her ear, "thanks."
After a moment of awkward silence she asked: "Where's Silver?"
"He went haead with Blue."
Then the silence totally sink in and it was even worse. It was most embarassing trip on the elevator he ever had and, when tha doors finally opened, he rushed out.
Ruby's party room was full of flashy decoration, even the food was more for decoration rather than for eating: there were fruit sculptures and the dishes were served to be visually appealing and barely filled his stomach, but there was alcohol and karaoke to divert his mind from Crystal and, the more he drank, the more the party seemed enjoyable. The worst moment of the party was when he had to answer to Green asking why some girls went to him complaining that he didn't call them back.

When the moment came to reunite with the other Johto dex holders to walk back to the hotel, he was silent pretending it was tireness' fault. However, when they reached the elevator, he lied, "I feel like I could puke if i go inside there."
He sighed, resigned to walk two floor on shaky legs but, when there was only one flight of stairs to go, he saw the girl sitting on the steps.
Damn… he mentally cursed.
When she saw him, she rose on her feet keeping down the hem of the dress "Gold, why are you avoiding me?"
"What? Avoiding you?" He retorted with a forced chuckle, "you drank?"
"You litterally ran out the elevator", she started to walking down the steps, " and at the party Silver asked me if something happened between us and I don't believe that you preferred to take the stairs now…"
"You're doing it since that time with the ditto", she stopped few steps above him, "has something happened inside that bathroom?"
"Ahh come on, you know what… I don't think you're interested in the details", he replied sarcastically, but he was sweating. Why have you to be so damn smart?!
"Is it my fault?"
Gold was dumbfounded, he was used at her scolding him for everything, hearing her blaming something that included him, was something new.
She draw a deep breath before speaking again, "you know, when you asked me about Green the first time, I thought you liked me, and so I provoked you to see your reaction."
Her words didn't helped the confusion in his head. "Wait… Why? In the elevator too?"
"'Cause I like you, but I never thought you'd like... a 'super serious gal'."
"Wow… and I thought you could only like a 'super serious guy'", he chuckled and she did the same. "And there was a voice in my head telling me that we're just friend"
"Then…" she gulped, "does it mean that you…"
"I was really jealous of Green, because all girls like him and it really bothered me that you did as well", he said, not sure where he was heading, "but I was going crazy after what you did in the lab and after seeing you wearing this dress… It's not something that happens with any girl", he gulped. "I guess… I like you."
The voice in his head was completely gone and the confusion as well watching her smiling sofly at him. She descended the steps that separated them, but, on the last steps, he heard a crack and she would have fallen if Gold wasn't there to catch her.
Holding herself with an arm around his neck, she checked her shoe. "The heel broke…"
"You really need more practice with heels, you walk like a psyduck", he teased her, but offered her his hand to help her to walk down the way to their rooms
She took his hand, but glared at him, "heels are useless anyway."

As they approached their rooms, he quivered in anticipation but he had yet to find out if she was on the same page as him, he wasn't unsure if he should have walked away to the room he shared with Silver or wait her invitation to enter with her. Arrived in front of her door, he let go of her and she rummaged throught her purse for the key without looking at him.
He noticed her figers trembling. "Are you nervous?"
"No, it's…" she stattered and the key fell from her fingers.
He picked up the key, anticipating her and handeled it back to her.
"Don't force yourself to do something you don't feel like", that said, he kissed her on the cheek and turned around to walk to his rooma, but she grabbed his sleeve.
"Wait…", she raise her gaze to look him in the eyes, "...Do you want to enter?"
Once inside, he closed the door while she reached the bed to take off the heels and the earrings, then he joined her side.
To break the tension, he decided to speak: "before you asked me what happened in the bathroom… Well, to be honest, I was thinking of you and, after that, I felt dirty to even be with you."
She stood in silent for a moment with her jaw contracted, then she smiled. "Do you rememeber when you said that girls can be aroused without no one noticing?" She licked her lips, "In that moment I was."
They looked each other before leaning forward to seal their lips together. As the kiss deepened and their confidence grew, Gold rose his hand to cup her cheek and brush her hair behind her ear while her hand rested on his thigh. Eventually, they had to break apart, but Gold, reluctantly to back away, kept his head low on her shoulder, panting on her neck and brushing her skin lightly with the lips and she softly moaned while her hand sneaked in his black hair.
After recovering enough air, he was back to her lips but this time he held her tightly in his arms, but one of his hand soon left her waist to crawl upward. His thumb grazed her breast and, obtaining only moaning from her, he proceeded to fully squeeze it, first through the fabric, then he slipped his hand under it. She wailed against his lips and, even though he loved that dress it was too tight for his hand and he comanded in her ear: "turn around."
She did as he said and, understanding his intention, gathered her hairs to one side to allow him to lower the zip of the dress, then he slide it off her arms. He took a moment to embrace her tendely from behind and she leanead against him. For some instant they just stood like that, then she turned her head and he reached her lips, then she fell on the matress dragging him along. He positioned himself better, with his legs on both of her sides and took a moment to admire her naked bust before descending down to take her sensisitve skin into his mouth. Under him, Crystal writhed and buried her nails in his skin moaning. Gold's hands reached the small of her back and lifted her from the matress to slide the dress down her legs. When he was back on top of her, her hands reached up to unbutton his shirt and, when she was done, he tossed it on the floor, in doing that movement, he realized how constrictive his pants had become but, before getting rid of them too, he wanted to be sure of her intentions.
"Crys, do you really want to…?"
She smiled and cupping his cheeks, she brought him down to her to kiss one more time to give him her consent, before he pulled out from the shoe a condom.
"Do you always keep those there?" She asked while he, sitted at the edge of the bed, threw away the footwears.
"I need to always be prepared for any situation", he answered taking off the pants too and the underwear to follow.
Crystal reached his side, asking herself if he needed any help, even if she never helped anyone putting a protection on, but, watching him doing it, it was evident he was doing fine by himself and that he wasn't unexperienced like her.
He saw something in her expression that made him ask: "Is something wrong?"
"Is…" She gulped, "It's just that I'm not experienced and if you don't like it..."
He interrupted her with a kiss. "The first time is never how you imagine it, don't worry, but there will be many other times."
She seemed reassured at his words and they kiss again falling back on the bed and they made love until dawn came.

Extra

At the first light of the new day, Gold sneaked inside his room to pack his stuffs to depart from Hoenn, but, to his surprise, Silver was already awake and with dark circles around the eyes.
"Whoa! Haven't you sleep at all?"
The red haired boy glared at him like a Serperior watch a Zangoose. "No, thanks to you."
Gold gulped. "You… heard?"
"Everything"
"Even when we did…"
"Yes."
"...and when Crys did..."
"I said: every. Damn. Thing!"
The embarassement quickly left Gold as he started to brag. "Then you have to admit I made a good job, you may have learned a thing or two, cherry-boy!"
Silver snorted and tried to hide his head under the pillow, but it was useless.