Hey guys! Thanks for all the subscriptions, reviews, and encouraging messages that you constantly leave for me :) you don't know how encouraging those are. Sorry that this update is so late, but life's been sorta hectic lately. So, hopefully you enjoy this chapter :) Mangaquest often doesn't get enough love from me!
Disclaimer: I own nothing but my life... even then that's not true.
7 – Chocolate
"Happy Valentine's Day?" a sheepish Gold offers, holding the box of chocolates up to Crystal's eyes- the girl glares at him and stalks off, fuming at the fact that he thinks he's forgotten Valentine's Day and not her birthday.
"Gold?"
The black haired boy groaned and pulled the pillow over his head. "Go away, Mom. It's only seven thirty in the morning."
"Actually," his mother corrected, yanking off the pillow and his blankets, "it's eleven thirty in the morning, and I believe you should have been up two and a half hours ago?"
"But it's-"
"I don't care if it's summer or if it's the middle of winter," his mother scolded. "Get up!"
Swinging his legs off the mattress and struggling to push himself up from the soft comfort of his bed, Gold scowled as he tried to sit up. "Come on Mom. Cut me some slack. I did tons of work last night."
"Gold, dear, watching Explotaro running around and dangling bacon in front of its face does not count as work."
"But I ran, too!" Gold pulled his legs up as his feet hit the cold morning floor. "And why is the floor so cold at eleven thirty in the morning?"
"It feels just fine." His mother began rearranging the items near Gold's bedside. "You sure have a lot of pictures of Crystal, Gold."
"Mom. She's my girlfriend. What do you expect?" Something kept reminding Gold that he was forgetting something, but he couldn't quite put a finger on it. He chalked it up to early morning hallucinations- who got up before noon, anyway?
"Speaking of Crystal, are you meeting her today?" His mom absently tugged at the curtains by Gold's window. Gold hurried over to where she was and began steering her towards the door; he certainly didn't want her finding the remnants of the broken jar that Ataro had accidentally shattered yesterday. "Er, yes, of course Mom," he fibbed as he nudged his door open with his foot. "I think I smell something burning, you should check that out."
"Oh, that might be the omelets burning! I should go check on those." Gold's mother rushed off, and Gold heaved a sigh of relief.
His stomach rumbled, though, clearly unpleased with the barren situation it found itself in. Gold thoughtfully reached for his cue stick near his bedroom door. "Hmm," he mused, "Maybe having omelets for lunch doesn't sound like such a bad idea…"
…
"What are you doing here?" Silver's tone was about as enthusiastic as a piece of wood, and not for the first time, Gold wondered why the redhead wasn't best friends with Green. Both of them should enjoy each other's silence, he figured, but then again one could only take silence before they completely went insane.
Gold was just beginning to wonder if Green was secretly insane, when Silver threw his chess piece at Gold. "Wake up," he said in response to Gold's angry glare. "Seriously though. What are you doing here?"
"Okay, I get it. You want me to leave so you can get back to your date with Soul." Gold tipped his hat to the girl sitting opposite Silver. "Honestly, Soul, what do you see in him?"
"Get out," Silver snapped, "and go find Crystal. Shouldn't you be with her today, anyway?"
Gold tilted his head. "Why should I? I saw her yesterday anyway."
Silver gaped at him- well, as much as someone with a permanent scowl could gape. "What do you mean, why should you? It's her special day today!"
"I never thought that the words special day would come out of your mouth," Gold commented wryly, and almost got nailed in the head again by another chess piece. "SOUL! Can't you control him for a bit?"
"No, I'm enjoying this a bit too much," Soul commented, her upturned pigtails waving in the breeze conjured by the air conditioning system. "And also, once we get back to this game I win by default since he just threw his queen at you."
"Get out, Gold," Silver said flatly. "Go find Crystal." And somehow he reached over and slammed the door of the Pokemon Center's room in Gold's face.
"That's real nice of you!" Gold shouted futilely at the closed doors. "Oh, hello Nurse Joy," he added lamely as the redheaded nurse walked by, frowning at him. "Sorry about the noise. Silver's being a-"
"Gold, please don't use that sort of language," Nurse Joy admonished. "There are children around here!"
"They're responsible enough to have Growlithes as pets… I think they can handle a bit of rough language," Gold pointed out, even as Nurse Joy began steering him out of the Center. "I mean, they're what, twelve? They can- Okay, I guess I just got kicked out," he said to no one in particular as Nurse Joy pushed him out into the bright, glaring Johto sunshine. He scowled and pushed his hands into his pockets. "It's fine," he muttered viciously, glaring at the glass double doors. "I liked your sisters better, anyway."
"Gold?" And the black haired boy looked up to see Crystal running up towards him. "Did I just see you get kicked out of the Pokemon Center?"
"I didn't get kicked out," Gold countered as coolly as possible. "I got… er… escorted out."
"Uh huh, sure you did," Crystal grinned. "What did you do this time? Fry the electric generator again?"
"All I did was yell at Silver, apparently," Gold shrugged. "And use some pretty choice language." He raised his hands in an I have no idea why gesture. "All I said was-"
"Gold!" Crystal ejaculated when she heard the word. "That's awful! You shouldn't have said the word in there anyway, there are kids around!" She gently pinched Gold's nose. "And you shouldn't have said it today of all days…"
"Why?" Gold asked. "What's today? Why does everyone keep saying today is special?"
Crystal blinked at him. "You're kidding, right?" she asked in disbelief.
"No… not really…" Gold said, confusion written all over his expression.
Crystal stared at him, then turned on her heel and began to stalk away. "Forget about it," she tossed back to Gold.
Uh oh. Gold scampered after his visibly fuming girlfriend. "Forget what?" he wanted to know. "Crys, why are you mad at me?"
"I said, forget about it."
Double uh oh. Gold knew that tone. It was the "I'm really mad at you so I'm emphasizing practically every word to let you know that I'm really, absolutely, positively mad at you and you're not getting out of this easy" tone. He'd only heard Crystal use it twice. The first time, Silver had had to buy Crystal breakfast, lunch and dinner for an entire month; the second time, Emerald had had to appease Crystal by reorganizing all the filing cabinets in her room. Gold frankly doubted that Emerald had ever been so organized in his entire life. "Crystal," he appealed to the blue haired Dex Holder, "what's wrong?"
"NOTHING," Crystal said loudly.
Triple uh oh. Once Crystal combined the word 'nothing' with that freakishly scary tone, Gold knew the jig was up. "Okay," he said nervously, still following Crystal. "If you say so."
"I do say so." Crystal rounded the corner, and Gold could swear that he got a windchill from Crystal's cold shoulder. "Go away, Gold. I'm busy."
"Okay-"
"Now!"
Gold scuttled away before Crystal could say anymore. "Girls," he muttered. "I don't understand them anymore."
…
"Well, you're screwed," Silver said dryly, taking a sip from the steaming hot mug of chamomile tea. "And trust me when I say you are. I've been on the receiving end of her temper."
"But I didn't do anything," Gold complained.
"That's precisely my point."
"You didn't make a point," Gold said acidly.
Silver lifted a shoulder. "Whatever, Gold. You really don't know what today is?"
"No. I don't. What is it? Labor Day? Fourth of July?"
"It's the end of April, Gold," Soul pointed out.
"Easter, then. OH!" Gold sat up straighter in his chair. "I know! I forgot to get her those chocolate bunnies she liked!"
"Easter was a couple weeks ago," Silver said flatly.
"Oh." Gold slumped in his chair. "Then no. I don't know what today is."
Soul opened her mouth to say something, but Silver slapped his hand over it. "Don't," he warned, ignoring her startled "mmmff". "He needs to learn his lesson."
"What lesson? Why doesn't anyone tell me anything around here?" Gold tugged at his short hair in mock frustration.
"I'll give you a hint," Silver said. "Today is a special day. One that girls would prefer you remember, no matter how busy or how out of money you are."
"Our anniversary?" Gold asked hopefully.
Silver face-palmed.
"Okay, so not our anniversary." Gold frowned. "Soul…" he appealed to Silver's (hopefully) better half, but she shook her head.
Silver and Soul waited in expectation as Gold racked his brains, deep in thought as he tried to figure out the meaning of his intricate puzzle. "OH!" he burst out. "I KNOW WHAT IT IS!"
"And it's…" Silver prompted.
"Valentine's Day, of course! I'll go get those chocolates now!" And Gold rushed out of the coffee shop, leaving his tea untouched and a stunned Silver and Soul behind.
"Shouldn't we stop him?" Soul asked at last.
Silver sighed and took another sip. "There's really no point. He was going to kill himself anyway no matter what."
…
Knock. Knock. Knock.
Crystal swiveled in her chair. "Who is it?" she yelled.
"Me?" Gold's voice filtered through the door.
Crystal rubbed her eyes. "What do you want, Gold? I'm working."
"Today of all days, you're working?"
Crystal rolled her eyes as she made her way to the door. "Yes, Gold, I'm working. Considering how I have no plans today since my boyfriend forgot what day it was…"
She swung the door open to find Gold standing there, arms laden with boxes of chocolate. His golden eyes peered over the top of the box, accompanied by a sheepish expression on his face. "Sorry for forgetting."
"Forgetting what?" Crystal asked.
"Um, Valentine's Day?" Gold offered.
"Try again, Gold." And Crystal let the door slam shut in Gold's face. "Honestly," she muttered as she stalked back to her desk. "You'd think he care enough to remember my birthday."
Poor Gold! Haha. I couldn't resist. This sounds like something he would do. As always, reviews are greatly appreciated!