I realized late last night that I was going to have to finish all these requests for drabbles before I finish my story 'Search'. This, I hope, is not one of those many projects that I began and never finished.

Again, a huge shoutout and thank you to those who reviewed (mochicocoa you requested this one too, so enjoy!) and also those who added various stories to their story alert list. You guys make me want to cry *tears up*

Disclaimer: If I say I don't own Pokemon- again- can I go?

39 – Smile
Green rolls his eyes, Silver calls him clichéd, Red grins goofily, and Blue gushes about how sweet it is; but Gold holds stubbornly to the fact that the first reason why he fell in love with Crystal was her smile.

"Why am I here?" Silver groaned in frustration as he leans against the bark of a hard oak tree. His Johto counterpart, Gold, looked at him from under his black bangs before resuming his blissful nap.

"Blue's the one who dragged us here, why didn't you ask her?" he yawned

Silver threw up his hands, still as impatient as ever despite his sixteen and a half years. "It's Blue. When do I ever get an answer from her?"

"Tell me about it." Green stormed up the hill, a placid and ever silent Red trailing behind him. "Where is she?" he growled at Silver.

Silver, as always, got defensive when the mention of Blue was uttered in Green's annoyed tone. "Why, what do you care?"

"She stole my entire box of gym badges and told me to meet her here at noon if I wanted them back. That's why I care."

Gold sat up; obviously his nap wasn't going to materialize if Silver and Green went on bickering like this. "Why are you here, then?" he asked Red, who had settled on the grass and was absently picking a daisy to pieces.

His senior shrugged, red eyes mellow and relaxed. "I was down here to pick up supplies," he explained, "and ran into Green. No trainers have showed up on Mt. Silver, so I figured I'd tag along…" He looked down, and Gold was reminded with a painful jolt of how cheerful his senior and default leader of the Dex Holders used to be.

Blue chose that exact moment to drop in via her Jigglypuff. "Hello, everyone," she said cheerfully. "It's so nice to see the Johto and Kanto Dex Holders together again…" Her eyes narrowed as she stared at Gold, who gulped audibly. "Where's Crystal? I invited her too."

"Invited, or tricked?" Green asked a little grumpily as he folded his arms.

"Same thing, Green dear," Blue cooed as she threw a picnic basket to Silver who expertly caught it.

"She said she had a lot of work to do. We tried," Silver shrugged.

Blue considered this for a moment before snapping her fingers. "Gold will just have to do without his girlfriend, then." At this, Gold's face flushed a bright red- he still wasn't used to open teasing like that since he had asked Crystal out over a month ago. Blue grinned evilly before continuing, "Anyway, why don't you boys make yourself useful and set up the picnic blanket? Red looks starved."

"Where are my Gym badges?" Green demanded.

"I think that if you returned to your gym right now, you'd find your badges in the same spot where they were this morning," Blue answered lazily as she let out her Pokemon.

Green was fuming inwardly, Gold could tell. The Viridian Gym Leader turned on his heel. "Good to see you again, Gold, Silver, Red," he tossed over his shoulder as coolly as he could. "Blue, don't come within five feet of my gym ever again-"

"Green, dear, how are you going to get into your Gym without your keys?" Blue flopped down onto the newly laid out picnic blanket, dangling a set of silver keys from her finger. Green paused before turning around, his emerald shaded eyes narrowing into slits. Gold unconsciously backed away; he didn't like seeing his senior…angry.

Blue was clearly unfazed. Green stalked over and held out his hand, but the mischievous girl tucked the keys away into her bag. "Not a chance," she said cheerily. "Sit down and have lunch with us, Green, you haven't left your Gym lately. Besides, I'm willing to bet that Red's not the only hungry one here." Red looked up from his second ham sandwich, evidently confused at the random mention of his name.

There was a pause as the Viridian Gym Leader considered it. Eventually, he settled down slowly next to Red and Gold. "Obnoxious woman," Gold just barely made out as Green gritted his teeth and reached for a turkey sandwich.

..

"I must say, Blue, these sandwiches are really good," Gold complimented an hour later, as all five Dex Holders lounged in various positions on the grass (Green was still sitting stiffly upright, but Gold suspected that he rather enjoyed it).

"Thanks, but I didn't make them," Blue answered with a bright smile. "Yellow's uncle did. He said he was sorry Yellow couldn't come; I guess that trip to visit Emerald took longer than usual."

Silver calmly reached for another sandwich. "She's more likely keeping the peace between Emerald and that Hoenn couple," he noted.

"Speaking of couples!" Blue brightened up even more and Gold felt his senses go on the alert. "Gold! How are things between you and Crystal?"

"Um…" Gold blinked rapidly. He usually enjoyed boasting about the girls he dated, but Crystal was…different. Something about her made him want to smile like a goofy idiot and keep every single thing he liked about her to himself, like that would keep her away from the rest of the world. "She's… fine, I guess?" he hedged. "What do you possibly want to know?"

Wrong question, he realized belatedly as Blue's grin spread even wider. "Tell me everything," she said excitedly, grabbing his hands- Gold saw Green's momentary double blink and Silver's hand spasm as his protective instincts kicked in. Red, as he usually did these days, simply watched with amusement.

"Tell me what you like most about her," Blue was squealing now as Gold tuned back in. "Her hair? Her earrings-"

"Not everyone is as superficial as you are, Blue."

"Oh, hush up, Green." Blue returned her attention to the blushing Johto boy. "Oh look at that! You're blushing! How cute!"

Gold dropped his head into his hands. "Do I have to?" he mumbled, his usual confidence and bravado gone to pieces. Somehow that always happened to him whenever Crystal was mentioned.

"Yes!" Blue was bouncing up and down. "I can tell you every single thing I like about Green-"

"Please don't."

"Yeah, Gold, just tell us so I don't have to listen to that," Silver muttered as Green and Blue launched into another argument.

Gold gave it thought as his two seniors picked up the verbal insults. What did he like best about Crystal? She was kind… but that wasn't the first thing he had been attracted to. Her legs? No, Gold decided, that wasn't what he liked best- sure, the physical aspect of her had been nice, but he wasn't shallow like that (okay, maybe a little). He considered her eyes- the way they sparkled reminded him of tiny crystals that had been blessed by the kiss of moonlight.

No, it wasn't the eyes. Gold thought about Crystal as a whole. She was smart, but sometimes he hated that about her. The way his hand fit into hers? Gold considered it, but reasoned that it was a consequence, not the reason why he liked Crystal. Her laugh?

And then it struck Gold. "Her smile," he said aloud, his chin resting on his hand, and both Blue and Green stopped bickering to look at him.

"Sorry?" Blue asked. "I didn't hear that."

"Her smile," Gold said, his confidence slowly growing back as he began to realize why the answer felt so right to him. "Crystal's, I mean. It's what I like best." He ran his fingers through his messy black hair. "Something about it makes me feel like the world is a better place when she's around."

I sound like a complete mushy idiot.

Silver, as Gold expected, snorted. "You're so clichéd."

Green, on the other hand, rolled his eyes. "I've heard that one somewhere before," he muttered, but Gold could have sworn that the corners of his mouth twitched with amusement.

Red, befitting his newly-found silent status, simply smiled wider and didn't say anything, but Blue's reaction took the cake. "Gold! That's so cute!" she gushed. "Her smile? Really?"

Gold nodded, not trusting his mouth to come up with any more Hallmark moments.

Blue clapped her hands together gleefully. "That's so cuuuute!" she squealed. "Silver, stop shaking your head. You should find a girlfriend too, you know."

"Like that's ever going to happen."

Gold regained some verbal footing. "Yeah, Silver," he said teasingly. "We should get you a girlfriend sometime soon. I hear Olivine City has plenty of cute girls."

Silver threw a bottle at the boy with goggles, who dodged neatly and stuck his tongue out at the redhead. "Spoilsport," Gold said teasingly. "You should really consider cutting your hair, maybe people would then see that you're a guy- OW!"

Red watched the two boys engage in a mock fight before looking at his two best friends. "They haven't changed," he noted in that husky tone of his.

…

At eight o clock that evening, Gold felt his Pokegear vibrating. He excused himself from the dining table- well not so much excused as rushed upstairs and leaving a confused mother behind- and hooked up his phone to the video screen hanging on his wall.

A familiar face framed by blue upturned ponytails smiled at him. "Hey," she said, her tone soothing him like waves soothed the shore. "What's up?"

"Nothing much. Just a kidnapping by Blue, which you already knew about." Gold grabbed a chair and sat down. "How's Ecruteak?"

"Morbidly fascinating. Did you know Morty has places marked on his map that tell him where ghost Pokemon converge during the full moon?"

As she launched into a whole explanation about ghost Pokemon and their activities during eclipses and full moons and waning, Gold found his eyes resting on the framed picture of him and Crystal on his desk. In the picture, they were holding up intertwining fingers, and she was positively beaming- you couldn't see anything of the rest of her body except her cheerful, smiling face.

Gold was pretty sure that that was how he would always remember her, and if anyone asked again what he liked best about her- it would be the same stubborn answer over and over.

And that, Gold reflected, was just the way he liked Crystal.

Oh man, I'm not sure how I liked the ending… Beginnings and endings are always tough for me.

As always, reviews will be greatly appreciated! It makes me feel loved :]