AN - Sorryyy for the wait, guys! Life and obsessive addiction to other fandoms happened. BUT, I'm back, and I actually like this chapter, which is rare (although I tend to like chapters for this fic more than other stories of mine; something about writing as Gold appeals to me and brings out a style I like, I guess). Only thing I don't like is the title, which I just made up on the fly. Meh. I hope you enjoy it, and thanks as always to the loyal fans who keep me going with kind reviews! ^_^

for Trying to Fix the Mess You're In

He lets me in without another word, eyes conveying that he, too, understands the seriousness of the situation.

And me, for all I know that we have to talk about this, it certainly doesn't mean I want to. And damn if I know how to start. So I stall.

I shuffle into the apartment, eyes downcast, and mumble, "Nice place you got here."

He's silent in response, and I stare awkwardly at my shoes. Come on, man, it was a simple compliment; all you have to do is accept it! Can this get any more awkward?

Finally, he replies, "Oh, really? Did you prefer the unpacked boxes littering the room or the paint peeling off the wall more?"

Yes, yes it can. His words are enough to actually make me look, and, wow, yeah, this place is kinda…

"I thought you've lived here for a while?"

I can hear him shifting his weight, and his response has a slight undercurrent of annoyance to it. "In Violet City, yeah. But this particular apartment is new; due to a string of jobs that didn't pay well I wasn't able to afford my old apartment and had to move."

"So… you haven't had time to settle in here, or…" Or fix the place up a little. It's kind of a dump.

"I keep hoping that I come into enough money that I can go back to my old apartment. "

Well, that makes sense. "Blue can't slip you a check to cover what you can't pay? She's rooming with you, after all."

He lets out an irritated sigh. "We already split the rent fifty-fifty. Plus she has a strict no borrowing or lending policy when it comes to money. Now are you going to quit stalling, or are you going to continue wasting our time with these pointless questions?"

I'll give him one thing, this guy doesn't beat around the bush. Straight to the point.

I run my hand through my hair and turn to face him, exhaling nervously. "Okay, okay…"

He crosses his arms and steels his expression. "Well?"

"I…" Oh, god, how do I say it? "…yesterday…" Is blurting it out really the only way? Is it genuinely not possible to ease into this in a manner as subtle and painless as possible?

Silver heaves a sigh and gives me a pointed look. I sort of feel like shrinking under his stare.

Damn, I guess so. I breathe in, and then back out quickly, and start over. "Yesterday, my memory… started to return. My memory of what went down that night. I pretty much remember it all now."

His expression remains solid, though when he speaks, his voice wavers slightly, belying his forced nonchalance. "…Me too. It all came to me last night, in a dream."

I let out the breath I hadn't realized I'd been holding. "…You, too, huh? Well, at least you got it all in one shot over the night. That's gotta be better than getting it in bits and pieces at inopportune times like I have."

He gives me an unsympathetic look. "Not even close. You try dealing with Blue when she knows you had a sex dream. She was giving me these sly, knowing looks all morning, when she wasn't out-and-out teasing me."

I raise an eyebrow at this admission, to which he blushes lightly and looks away. "And how did she know about this, again?"

At this point, he's turning so red I almost expect him to burst into flame. Kind of makes me feel bad for the guy. However, I still want to know, so when he doesn't answer after a minute, I poke him in the shoulder and repeat the question.

He stares holes in his feet and mumbles, "Apparently, I was quite… vocal in my sleep. I woke her up."

I chuckle at that, and almost break into full-out laughter, but stop when I realize—

"Oh shit, you didn't say my name out loud, did you?"

Still pretty red in the face, he glares at me, steely eyes piercing me to the core. "Don't flatter yourself. I'm pretty sure we didn't even know each other's names at that point, anyway."

I roll my eyes. Weak deflection, dude, I mean seriously. I expected better from you. "Yeah, at the time itself, we were nothing more than willing bodies to each other, but you know who I am now. What's to stop your dreaming self from slapping a label on someone you retroactively know? When I remembered, I didn't think of you in the memory as, 'that guy I don't know who I accidentally boinked', I thought of you as Silver."

He stares at me sort of uncomprehendingly, and when I wave a hand in front of his face and he doesn't snap at it (or even look at it), I worry that maybe I said something that temporarily shut his brain down.

I run back over what I said in my head. …Oh. Oh, god… boinked? Really? Fuck, I can't believe I said that…

Silver finally recovers and brings a hand up to his face in a poor attempt to hide the redness in his cheeks. "…I can't believe you said that."

"Ah…" Quick, change the subject! I shift on my feet and squeak, "So where is Blue, anyway?"

I'm almost afraid he'll call me out for stalling again, but he simply crosses his arms and replies, "She went out about an hour ago. I'd guess she probably went to join Yellow and your girlfriend."

I nod and pretend to be highly interested in this train of thought. "That's funny. Yellow said this morning that the reason the two of you weren't coming to join us was because you were staying to unpack." At this, I chance another glance around the room, my gaze sweeping over countless boxes all over the place; some opened and partially unpacked, others still sealed tight.

He clears his throat and plays along, "Yeah. Blue couldn't stand seeing the apartment this way, so she demanded that we clean it up a little. But one-and-a-half boxes in, she got bored and left."

I offer a joking smile and crack, "She is clearly the ideal housewife."

Silver sends me a light glare, but I can tell he's still making an effort to keep the mood light. "Don't judge her; she just gets this way sometimes. Kind of… flighty. The good thing about Red is that he keeps her grounded. So when she doesn't see him for a while…"

"She goes stir-crazy?" I finish.

Finally, he gives a small smile – it makes my breath catch, and I feel like kicking myself just for feeling that way – and says, "Something like that."

We both share a laugh, and there's this warm, contented feeling bubbling up in my chest. Just for a moment, it feels like everything's going to work out.

Silver straightens and murmurs, "So." I can hear the nervousness in his tone, and just like that, the comfortable atmosphere shatters. "About the… situation. Any ideas?"

I'm still reeling from the mood whiplash, and looking at him with that cute – no, not cute! What am I thinking? – worried look on his face is making me remember things I'd rather forget.

Everything, from the feel of my lips on his – it turns out he's the type that likes to nibble on his partner's lips – to the pressure of myself inside him; it's all running through the back of my head like a bad porno set to infinitely replay. And I… Oh, god, I cannot be getting turned on right now!

I inhale sharply and turn so he can't see me — it's a bit too late for me to hope he didn't see the flush on my face, but I can pray he won't see the erection I'm fighting. "How about you move down to Pallet Town permanently and live there forever so we never have to see each other again? Give it a few weeks, and we can forget about this whole shebang."

"Or, how about you move instead, asshole?" His voice has such a scathing, cutting tone, and oh god there's no way he doesn't know what I'm thinking about right now.

I bit my lip and try to fight the surge of memories pounding – pounding, pounding, I'm going in as deep as I can, and he's just taking it, biting his lip to keep from crying out, digging into my back and sharing his pain with me; I'll definitely have marks tomorrow – around in my brain. "What? It's a valid solution! You only live here half the time, anyway, and you don't like this apartment, so why not get rid of it?"

"What are you, five?" he snarls.

Danger! You have entered into battle with an enemy Boss! Will you Aggress or Abscond?

"I sure hope not; that's make you a pedophile!" Aggress.

He punches me. And, yeah, ok: I kinda deserved it. More than kind of. Not only was my comment ten kinds of stupid, it also makes me out to be a jackass. Maybe I am a jackass. God, I don't even know any more…

He has quite a wicked right hook. It sends me sprawling to the ground — thankfully I don't land of any of the boxes, marked fragile or otherwise — and seeing stars. Silver continues his impressive assault by clambering on top of me and grabbing me by the shoulders, shaking me roughly. He's yelling something hoarsely, but in my dazed state, I'm not catching a single word.

I wait until he's calmed down enough to stop semi-throttling me — and until my head has stopped spinning — to mutter, "…I'm sorry."

He just glares at me, still seething. I almost think I see steam coming from him, and have to choke back a laugh. Then I stop and wonder if maybe my head hit the floor a bit harder than I thought.

I sigh and try to not think about how he's on top of me, and curse myself for failing. I shouldn't be so hyperaware of something like this, dammit! "Look, I shouldn't have said that, okay? I panicked and resorted to my first line of defense, which just so happens to be acting really obnoxious."

It's pretty obvious that he's still angry, but he slowly gets up off of me and even offers a hand to help me get back on my feet. "When you say obnoxious…" he sneers, "…you mean even more than normally, right?"

Rubbing at my head, I let out an apologetic chuckle and look at my feet. "Yeah, something like that."

Silver lets out a puff of breath, and I can almost feel his temper deflating with it. He takes one last stab at an insult with, "You know you're a douche, right?"

I just laugh and reply, "Dude, no one says that anymore. If you're gonna call me names, at least do it right. Try something like 'dick' or 'jackass' instead, okay?"

He lets out a small chuckle, and that smile is back, along with that funny feeling and shit maybe I shouldn't try and get him to smile. "You're kind of proving my point, here."

You Level Up! from defeating the Boss!

I just smile — probably stupidly — at him. His gaze fixes on me, and I squirm a little under the pressure. The gears are churning in his head, and I find that I'm almost dying to know what he's thinking right now while he pins me with that intense stare.

Finally, he takes a shuddered breath and looks away. "I… I may have an idea."

I shrug. "Well, let's hear it. We're wasting daylight here, and the sooner we figure this out, the sooner we can get back to our daily lives."

He glances up at me and catches my eyes, before quickly averting his gaze once more. Is he… blushing? Nah, can't be. He clears his throat and starts, "It's going to sound really weird and stupid, and pretty much the exact opposite of what you'd expect, but just don't freak out, okay? Just listen and bear with me and give me time to explain the logic behind it before you go crazy."

He's rambling, and that has me a bit worried already, along with his line of this being completely the opposite of what I'd expect, but I nod an affirmative anyway. "Okay…"

He stares at me hesitantly, as if looking at a ticking time bomb. Finally, he opens his mouth and says:

"We should have sex."

*Aggress- Basically, attack

*Abscond- Basically, run

AN - Yay Homestuck reference. It's the reason I used the Aggress/Abscond as opposed to simply attack/defend. Anyway. I'm horrible for not updating in forever and then finally updating with a huge CLIFFHANGER. I know, I'm bad. I should totally burn in hell for this, right? But assuming my motivation to write doesn't disappear into thin air in the next few days, I am hoping to whip up another chapter pretty soon, so you won't have to wait long (hopefully). Again, sorry for the long wait in this chapter, and thanks as always for reviews, which do in fact motivate me to write more, even if it doesn't always seem like it. ^_^