Chapter 4: Registration

I yawned softly, running my fingers through Silver's long hair. Then I groaned softly because I'd woken up out of my bliss. "Awake, Silver?" I asked softly.

"Yes," he replied, sounding perfectly awake, which meant he'd probably been awake for a while.

I smiled and placed a soft kiss on his neck. He squirmed in my arms and finally managed to roll over to face me. I reached down and gripped his nonexistent butt, making him jump, and then I pulled his lower body tight against mine. "Enjoy last time?" I asked teasingly, resting my forehead against his.

He sighed softly. "What do you think?" he asked plainly.

"Mmmm, judging by the way you were screaming my name at the top of your lungs, I'd say you enjoyed it quite thoroughly."

Silver groaned pitifully and hid his face into my shoulder. "Was I really that loud?" he choked out, sounding humiliated.

I chuckled softly. "You were rather loud, but I'm sure no one heard, and, er, if they did," I'm sure half of Viridian heard, "they don't care."

Silver groaned again and I laughed softly. "It was definitely a turn on," I whispered into his ear, gently taking his earlobe in-between my teeth.

He gave a soft little gasp, and then I found myself shoved so hard I ended up on the floor tangled in the quilt. Trust me, our bed is huge, so the quilt is too. I thought I might be lost forever, but I did manage to get out and sit up to see Silver kneeling on the bed, incredibly gorgeously naked, glaring at me. "Not this morning!" he snapped.

"Quit teasing me then!" I cried out pitifully, reaching out longing toward his body.

He flushed and quickly placed a pillow in his lap. I threw myself back on the bed though and stalked toward him. He glared at me. I grinned at him. "I'm going to go take a shower," he said flatly.

I pinned him down immediately. "Not until I'm done with you, you're not."

Silver gave me a look that clearly stated he could do what he wanted. I smiled cockily, knowing not to back down. I kissed him passionately, tossing the pillow covering his body to the side.

Then Silver shoved me off and disappeared into the bathroom. I blinked in confusion. What had just happened?! Had Silver denied me? I groaned. Something was upsetting him most likely. He seemed like he'd been in the mood.

I decided it best not to go after him and instead I put the quilt back on the bed and rearranged the pillows. Then I pulled on a pair of boxers and flopped down on the bed to wait for Silver to get out of the shower.

When the bathroom door opened, I quickly got up and made my way to him. I pulled him into my arms and held him tight. "I love you, Silver." I gently lifted his chin up to make his gaze meet mine. Instead, his eyes flickered to the side. "Look at me," I encouraged, and his eyes reluctantly met mine. "What's wrong?"

He didn't respond. He only dropped his gaze. So, something was wrong. "You'll miss me?" I asked softly.

His eyes flicked to mine, and he pulled out of my arms.

I watched him anxiously. "Silver, I don't have to leave," I chuckled, trying to keep the mood light.

"Gold, I want you to go," he encouraged sincerely.

Then I grinned. "We'll send the league a message. You need to enter the Pokeathlon with me."

"Eh?"

"Well, you're the fastest person I know. Actually, I'm sure you'd do great in it, especially the skill course."

"Eh? No!"

"Why not?"

Silver blinked. "Why?" he rebutted childishly. My lover often acted like a five-year-old.

"Because you won't miss me then, and I might get more meddles if I enter you in the speed competitions…"

"I'm not your pokemon!"

"You know it's a good idea!"

"Is not! Every idea you have is stupid!"

"Then it's agreed. We're going together," I sighed happily, heading toward the shower.

"Nothing is decided!" Silver cried out.

I ignored him and turned to shower on, hoping he hadn't wasted all the hot water. Thankfully, he hadn't, and I had a relaxing shower. Silver wasn't the type to take on the Pokeathlon, but I knew he'd do well, and he would get to be with me. I knew gym leaders could enter because Whitney was entering, though she would still probably be able to get her hours in because her gym was just down the street.

Well, I'd settle it on one matter: if Silver and I could share a room, I'd get him to enter, if not, then I wouldn't make him.

I stepped out of the shower and dried myself off mostly before stepping into our room to dress. Silver was curled up on our bed, reading. I smiled at him sweetly. He was shirtless still. His eyes glanced at me, and then he went back to reading. I sat at the edge of the bed closest to him and ran my hand down his back.

"Have I ever fucked you anywhere but our room?" I asked casually.

"G-Gold!" Silver yelled in dismay. He hated to constantly be bugged for sex, but even if I wasn't in the mood, it was fun to annoy him—especially if he gave in and I got an unexpected surprise. I also needed to get him to agree to enter with me. It was the whole three birds with one stone; wait…the saying was two birds—but the point still stands.

I gave him a cheeky smile. "I was just curious. I haven't, have I?"

Silver decided to ignore me. I sighed. "I'm going to do that soon. We'll probably get thrown out of the Pokeathlon when I have you screaming my name at night," I purred seductively, running a hand down Silver's hip.

He shivered and tried to keep ignoring me. I pushed myself on top of him, wrapping my arms around his middle, my face buried into his back. "Silver, why can't you see how much I want to be with you? Won't you please enter with me?"

Silver sighed softly. "I just don't like those kinds of competitions."

"You'll kick ass," I offered with a grin.

"It's not that. It's just… ugh, I don't like using my pokemon for anything besides battle. Plus, there are all those idiots. I put up with them enough at the gym. I just don't want to go."

"Won't you miss me?" I asked curiously.

"I'm fine, Gold."

"After two weeks though…"

"I'm fine," Silver snapped, shoving me off.

I sighed. "But I'll miss you," I offered softly. "I'm not going to leave if I can't see you for two months."

Silver stiffened a little and sent me a look. "Go, Gold." Would he really not miss me? No, after two weeks he'd been miserable. It affected his sleep, his battling, his eating… I didn't want to be the cause of it.

"You can't make me," I sniffed defiantly.

Silver sighed softly. "Do I have to be there for the two months? I'd rather be there on and off."

I beamed. "I'm sure you can, come on, let's go see!"

Silver sighed softly and stood.

We ate breakfast and took off for Goldenrod, to the Pokeathlon. There was a decent sized crowd outside, but it wasn't as large as I'd thought.

I sauntered up to the registration desk, a few of the staff recognizing me. Everyone recognized Silver. He was decked up today, actually. He had on a high collared jacket, almost like his usual jacket except the collar was a bit higher and outlined in the usual red. It didn't have the designs around the pockets, though. Only on the cuffs and down where the zipper was. It was almost more uniform like, and it really showed off how wiry he was. He also had on a pair of jeans that hugged his strong but lean legs. I was behaving myself and not touching him. His outfit almost reminded me of a picture of a gym leader from Hoenn named Norman, except Silver was so much smaller and his outfit was crisper.

The females were swooning over him, but none dared approach because Silver had a "stay away from me" aura to him. He stood behind me, arms folded across his chest, the wind ruffling his hair. He looked like a postcard, I thought playfully.

"How can I help you, Gold?" the rather gorgeous lady behind the table chuckled.

"I wanted to know about entering this competition. It's two months long I heard from Whitney. That's a really long time away from home."

"It is," the woman agreed. "It's only for those extremely dedicated to the Pokeathlon. It's actually only six weeks long, though. It's three weeks, a two weeklong break, and then three more weeks."

I raised an eyebrow. That wasn't too bad. I glanced back at Silver, but he didn't let his face give away any of his emotions or thoughts. Three weeks was still a long time.

"Alright, but can you not sign up for the full two months and instead only compete every once in a while?"

The woman frowned slightly. "I'm not sure. I can call up Magnus and ask, though."

I gave a nod. "That'd be great."

She beamed and pulled out a cell. I glanced back over at Silver and went over to him. "How's three weeks sound?"

Silver lowered his eyes. "Gold, it's fine. Why are you so worried?"

I sighed and reached out, running my fingers through his long red locks. We were pretty much of height with each other, and we ended up resting our foreheads together. "Because I love you, Silver. Three weeks is a long time to be away from you."

"Gold!"

Both of us pulled away in surprise as Magnus came stomping out, arms held open. He was such a huge man. He grinned at Silver too, but Silver only inclined his head in acknowledgement.

"What can I help you with?"

"Well, I want to enter the Pokeathlon, of course. It's just that, my, uh, boyfriend and I aren't really comfortable being away from each other so long."

He glanced at Silver in slight surprise before his eyes returned to me. He gave a nod. "I understand that. He can still visit you, or better yet, he could enter as well."

"Silver is the gym leader of Viridian."

Magnus raised an eyebrow. "Ah, yes, you've been the gym leader there for a while now. I remember now. Well, some leaders have already discussed with the league. You can be away from the gym, but you still have to offer gym battles here when you're not competing."

"But what if he doesn't exactly want to be here the whole time, instead he only competes every once in a while?"

Magnus rubbed the back of his head. "Unfortunately, that's not allowed. You have to take the plunge. All the participants have to stay on pokeathlon grounds for the full three weeks and they have a minimum of events they must sign up for, and it's a large minimum. Trainers entering are going to be pushed to the edge. That's part of the challenge."

"Could Silver visit me?"

Magnus nodded. "He's not allowed to stay the night though."

"If I were to enter, could Gold and I share a room?" Silver spoke up.

Magnus scratched the back of his head. "Unfortunately, the rooming assignment is random. Only four girls or four guys can share a room, so no heterosexual couples are going to be allowed to share a room. There's a chance you two could end up sharing a room, but it's very slim. The names are all scrambled and then a room is assigned to four guys or girls. It's also part of the competition. A lot of couples are entering, but they'll be competing as well. We're going to try and separate them so they're sort of temporarily off couple mode so they can honestly compete."

I glanced back at Silver.

He bit his bottom lip but nodded. I sighed softly. "Thanks, Magnus."

He offered me a grin. "I wish you two luck, whatever you decided to do. I'd love to have another gym leader compete."

We both gave a nod, and Magnus left us.

"I'm not entering," I stated.

Silver looked at me in confusion. "Why not?"

I sighed. "Well, that's a really long time."

"I'll visit you," Silver offered.

I wrapped an arm around his waist, pulling him against me. "Silver, as much I don't want to point it out and risk being called crude, we're not going to able to have sex or sleep together."

Silver sighed. "We've gone longer than three weeks, Gold. We're not going to die. I'll just pretend I'm mad at you or something," he said, a bit of a playful shimmer in his eyes.

I snorted. "Actually, I don't think we've lasted any longer than two weeks, and that's because we were separated or putting up with a screaming child."

Our hands tangled together, and our foreheads rested against each other. Silver's eyes were so beautiful. I gently kissed him, pulling him close.

Once we broke our kiss, Silver nuzzled into my neck. "Sign up," he encouraged.

"Alright. Visit me every day, okay?"

He sighed. We pulled away from each other, suddenly aware at all of the people gawking at us. Silver flushed scarlet and went back to his arms folded stance. I waved my arms at them. "Oh, come on! Never seen two people kiss? Go away, nothing to see here." Always the girls!

We made our way over to the sign-up deck. "So, uh, do I need to write my name in blood?" I asked curiously.

The lady chuckled. "No, just pen. Magnus expects more than half of the trainers to drop out before the end, anyway."

I jotted my name down. "So, how much is this?"

"It's actually free if you stick with the program. You have to make a thousand-dollar deposit, though. If you drop out, the money goes to the competition. If you finish, then you get the money back, along with some very shiny metals, hopefully. The completion is going to be shown all over the TV, too."

I raised an eyebrow. "A thousand dollars? Wow."

She gave a nod. "It's a lot of money, though you are receiving a room and meals for six weeks. It's mostly incentive to stay in the marathon, though."

Silver reached into his pocket and removed his wallet, retrieving his card. He handed it to the woman. She gave it a swipe and handing him back his card along with a receipt.

"So, that's everything?" I asked curiously.

She nodded. "The next two days we will continue registration. The third day we'll assign rooms and get all the paper work we need from all the competitors. On the fourth, all of the competitors will begin showing up and moving into their rooms. On the fifth, the competition starts, though the first day will probably be a getting settled day."

"Sounds great. Well, I'm off."

"Good luck," she offered.

I nodded and Silver and I made our way to central park.

"So," I said awkwardly as we walked.

Silver remained silent.

"We have three days, and sort of a fourth…"

Silver still didn't respond. I sighed. We really didn't have anything to say for ourselves. I couldn't feel an upset aura from Silver, though. So, he wasn't upset. I think he might have been a bit disheartened, though.

I looked around to make sure we were alone, and then I pulled him into me, folding him into my arms. "I love you, Silver."

He sighed softly. "I love you too, Gold."

I shivered. "We can do this."

"Yeah," he agreed.

I smiled faintly and Silver and I headed home.

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AN: Such drama queens.