The crisp air could fill the spans of the lungs with the scent of pine, breaths of Twinleaf's residents shuddering out in visible clouds at the hints of anticipated snow. With December beginning the following day, the overcast sky had taken to hiding the stars nearly every evening and the trees that were once aflame with reds and oranges were a barren ash gray. Pearl found himself on the couch, lithe legs stretched out on the coffee table as his mother cuddled against him beneath a blanket. The glow of the television illuminated the room, casting lonely shadows to sway on the walls unnoticed.

It had been months since they had returned home and each day had slowly been sucking the fervor out of the blonde. They had hardly been able to see each other, trying to sneak in outings or brief meetings whenever they could, but Diamond being closeted was taking its toll. Their relationship had been lacking in intimacy or contact in general as they hid from his mother and Pearl felt like Diamond was hiding something which only further irritated and exhausted him. The weather wasn't helping his mood any either. Everything being gray and dying brought no comfort and he wished it would just snow, little as the snowfall would be, just to brighten up the place.

At the very least it was nearing Diamond's birthday which would mean he would finally, finally be an adult. Moving in still felt too soon. Pearl had not wanted to rush it to begin with, especially the way things had been lately but with all the free time he had on his hands he had plenty of opportunities to reflect on things. He was characteristically impatient and was ready to just take off with him if it meant they could properly nurture their relationship but it was never something he wanted to risk rushing. Pearl had spent most of his life waiting for Diamond anyway so what was a week or so compared to all those years. They had their whole lives ahead of them together and he wanted to do everything right. Diamond deserved it, he deserved it, too. So he could be patient. He was the epitome of patience at this point he thought even if he didn't show it. Pretty soon he wouldn't have to deal with his mother any longer or at least would be able to come and go as he pleased and they could breathe again.

In the meantime, Pearl made sure that their distance didn't crush them or that every agonizing hour didn't leave his muscles spent with incessant running. They had been calling each other regularly and he did enjoy their conversations. In that regard their relationship was thriving, they could talk for hours about just about anything. After spending two years without him he had learned to savor the sound of his voice and he was confident enough that he could hear it in his boyfriend's voice that he was loved despite all doubts in these tense months. And Diamond had a lot of thoughtful things to say although he had always been more of a listener. Pearl felt more and more intrigued by Diamond's thoughts than he ever had in the past. The calls were something that reminded him of simpler times and reminded him why he had fallen for him in the first place. Perhaps things weren't all as bad as they seemed.

He sighed as they continued watching the movie.

His mother had her legs resting on his, unable to reach the table, and mirrored his sigh. His voice heavy with a melancholic exhaustion had reminded her of her own misadventures in love. His time home had clearly been draining him and if he was truly her son she knew that he didn't belong cooped up in a house with so much world out there, especially without his other half. Her eyes faltered, running her thumb mindlessly over the underside of each finger to feel the bands. No, they weren't those kinds of people.

She did feel for her son, her veins pulsing through his mirrored wound knowing that if only he would march over there and steal him away he would be at last at ease. But she knew better. There were no quick fixes in life and he knew that, too. But it made her heart heavy all the same to see the way he just wanted him but couldn't seem to be able to get to him. She could see herself reflected back through the flickering embers of his once lively eyes and felt lonelier than usual. He may have had his father's eyes but they couldn't have looked more like hers if his irises bled emerald inklings.

The movie had dragged on all the while, neither of them really watching it, and they wondered collectively when it would be over. With a glance at the clock on the cable box his mother let out another sigh.

"What should we eat for dinner?"

"Cereal," he shrugged.

"That's not food," she stretched, sitting up.

"It's good enough for breakfast, why not now?"

"Why are we so lazy today?" She fell back into Pearl, yawning audibly.

He stretched his arm around her, sinking into the couch under the comforting warmth of the blanket. His eyes drowsily blinked, going to bed without food in that moment was the least of what was preoccupying his thoughts. They started dozing off before Pearl shook his head to attention, no longer wishing to sleep as the green numbers registered in his mind.

"When are you going to call Diamond?"

"Soon."

She hummed to herself, their movie ending and commercials now playing. She mindlessly watched them, noting the date for a movie preview before speaking again.

"Can you believe tomorrow is the first?"

"Huh?"

"It's already December tomorrow."

"Shit," he buried his face in his free hand. "It's our anniversary tomorrow."

"What are you going to do?"

"Nothing crazy, it's only eleven months," he explained, looking thoughtfully into space as he schemed. "For the one year one, I'll do something over the top for him."

"Only eleven. That's a long time."

"The past few days have felt like eleven months."

They sat in further silence, his mother flipping through the channels while he tried to figure out something to do. It had been far too long since he had really had Diamond all to himself, even longer since they had shared a bed which had him even more edgy. To indulge his fingers with the feel of his skin felt like tempting a man with water in a desert, oblivious to how his dehydrated taste buds would rise to the occasion until the moment the image registers in his mind. This could be just the excuse they needed to rekindle the passion in their relationship. He figured he could cook a nice dinner and then they could do… well, other things. Like watch a movie or… just other things. He had to do something special but nothing that he couldn't top a month from now. Yes, everything had to be perfect.

He felt hopeful about what the day could be and the things they could do but as his mother yawned he remembered that he didn't live by himself just yet. His racy thoughts of him whisking Diamond off into some sort of sensual fantasy were abruptly stopped as he regained the consciousness of the head of golden curls resting against his shoulder. He wet his lips, drumming his fingers on his thigh through the folds in the blanket noiselessly.

"Mom…"

"Yes, dear?"

She continued watching the television, oblivious to the way Pearl began to physically display his embarrassment and discomfort as he mulled over what he wanted to say. His face burned and his heart raced, no faster than he wanted to in order to run off the nervous energy. He knew he would reconsider after being out in the brisk air for even a moment but the muscles in his legs tensed readily nonetheless.

"Pearl what is it, sweetie?" She furrowed her brows some at the pause, still watching the show.

"So tomorrow…"

"Yes?" She sat up and looked over at him quizzically.

"Um, do you think that, uh," he shrugged meekly, gesturing vaguely with his hands. "Well, maybe you could give me and Dia some- you know, alone time for a while. I-I mean, you could come back! It's your house but… just for a bit."

His mother's eyebrows arched in disbelief, and while she tried to fight her smile she was genuinely surprised that she had lived to see a day where her son would make such a request. Her lips wordlessly twitched for a few moments, amused by her son's shyness though she genuinely considered his request.

"Well," she laughed some "I think I can do you one better."

"Like what?"

"I will give you all the 'alone time' you want and I will go out battling for the day," he went to speak but she held up a hand to continue. "And I will stay out for the night as well if you do something for me."

He narrowed his eyes at her suspiciously, "Alright…?"

"You have to go shopping with me the day after."

"Mom," he groaned, head falling back on the spine of the couch.

"Come on!" She pouted, her voice hinting an impatient whine. "You have put it off all these months since you got back even though you haven't been doing anything all day."

"So? What are we even going to go buy?"

"Some clothes and… well, I don't know. Get Diamond something for his birthday, it's in a few days right?"

Pearl held his eyes shut for a moment. She was right. In that case, he supposed it wouldn't be the end of the world to humor her for a day of shopping if it meant he finally got his boyfriend to himself for the entire night. What's the worst that could happen?

"Fine," he looked over at her, nodding his head thoughtfully. "We'll go shopping. It'll be fun… or something."

She smiled wildly, her dimple a prominent presence in her cheek as she clasped her hands together happily. He smiled back, feeling relaxed for a moment before being hit by a rush of energy that he now needed to plan a romantic evening in a matter of hours. He quickly got up, readjusting the blanket around his mother before rushing up the stairs, remembering halfway up that his mother always told him not to run in the house and adjusted his stride accordingly.

He entered his room, a few of his pokemon lounging on his bed or sitting in front of the television comfortably. Chahiko landed on his shoulder as he shut the door behind him, chirping obediently as Pearl situated his hands on his hips.

"Come on, you lazy oafs! We have work to do!"

Rayhiko sat up from its place on the bed, piercing eyes staring intently at the blonde. Chimhiko, however, continued to watch the television, ignoring Pearl to everyone's annoyance. Pearl and Chahiko shared a mirrored look of agitation as they glared down at the infernape, rolling their eyes as Pearl seated himself next to his luxray. He ran his fingers through the tuft mane of the regal animal, a sound somewhere in its throat like a kind of purring vibrated his hand gently. He turned to watch Chimhiko waiting to see if he would give him his attention as requested only to be denied.

"Chimhiko, get over here!"

With a sigh the infernape turned the television off, sitting on the bed next to Pearl.

"Thanks. Alright, boys, tomorrow Dia and I have an anniversary."

The three pokemon collectively made positive sounds, becoming excitedly chatty though Pearl himself couldn't understand what they were saying to him if even anything.

"Dia! Diamond!" Chahiko exclaimed, mimicking Pearl's voice.

"Exactly," he moved the chatot from his shoulder to his hand to avoid any other loud exclamations in his ear. "So we have to do something special since we don't get to see him very much anymore."

Everyone looked sad for a moment, Pearl thudding a determined fist against his thigh shortly after.

"So what should we do? Ideas?"

They sat in pensive silence, Chimhiko being the first to move as it went over to Pearl's messenger bag and began fishing through it. It produced a map, now wrinkled from being yanked out from the bottom and a Figy berry that it began to eat as it handed to map over to Pearl. He shook his head, looking over the map before setting it aside. The fire ape then offered the half eaten berry which he also declined.

"I think I'd rather stay home but I like the food idea. We need to get creative though…"

Pearl tried to think of everything he and Diamond had practiced cooking but barely remembered the recipes to most of the dishes after going so long without really cooking for himself. He wondered if he could find a recipe online or steal one of his mother's.

He kept thinking, eyes staring off into space while his pokemon took to their own musings. Rayhiko was still attentive but thinking himself while Chimhiko found itself rummaging through Pearl's bag curiously. Pearl ignored the noises that escaped the clashing contents of his bag, biting his lip as he tried to think of a plan. The bird pokemon in his palm eyed the fire pokemon skeptically as it brought the bag onto the bed for ease of access, turning its attention to its owner who was lost in thought. He looked out the window, the bedroom's reflection the only thing that could be made out against the darkness outside and the chatot found it odd that Pearl had yet to make his usual phone call as had become the custom in the months they had returned home.

The bird pokemon brought its beak to nibble at his master's poketch, smooth tongue flicking against the textured fabric in rapid succession as it slipped from its hold. When that failed to get Pearl's attention, he began to bite harder, leaving a small indent but to no avail. Growing impatient the bird pokemon started beating its wings and squawking raucously startling everyone including Chimhiko who dropped the messenger bag onto the floor, spilling its contents across the floor.

"Ack! What is it?" Pearl rubbed his temple, the loudness of his Chatter nearly enough to cause a headache. "Ugh, Chimhiko…"

"Diamond! Hello?" The bird mimicked the blonde's voice still flapping its wings for attention as Pearl got on the floor to clean the mess.

"Diamond hello?" He looked at his poketch. "Shit, I usually would have called him like an hour ago."

Chahiko chirped sassily, nesting itself on the bed comfortably in Pearl's spot.

"Thanks," he rolled his eyes, continuing to return things to his bag. As the last of the contents were returned he found a piece of paper had been crushed under a Repel aerosol. "What's this…? Hey, it looks like mail stationary."

Chimhiko reached out for it, Pearl releasing it as he returned his bag to the foot of his bed. He stood in front of his bed, the greater portion of it being occupied by his team, arms crossed as he watched his infernape look at the colored paper thoughtfully.

Pearl snapped his fingers, looking to his chatot who appeared to be resting.

"Aw, you're not falling asleep on me are you, buddy?"

Chahiko peeked an eye open skeptically, reclosing it shortly after.

"Oh-ho no you don't," he bent down to be eye level with him. "You're going to deliver a letter to Dia for me in a minute, ok?"

Really? The bird pokemon had a look of discontent as Pearl patted it on the head before turning to go to his desk.

"Yes, we're those people who actually send mail now. Come on, it'll be cute."

He dug through his drawer at his desk, pulling out a pen and paper. He situated the pen's cap in his mouth thoughtfully as he tried to figure out something to write. The blue lines stared back at him like jail bars to the words that otherwise escaped him, his lack of inspiration reading as impatience on his face.

I guess writing his name on it is a start... "Dear… Diamond…"

He tapped the pen on the desk as he stared down the two lonely words sprawled across the top line. Leaning back in his chair he looked over at his pokemon that were all watching him intently from across the room.

"Guys stop, that's creepy. But listen, should this be a cute, sappy letter or should it be racy?"

His pokemon looked amongst themselves, laughing thereafter.

"You guys are jerks. I'm a writer… kinda, and this letter is going to be fan-fucking-tastic, ok?"

With newfound fervor he took to writing, the pen scratching his attempt at elegant loops across the page. Words flowed out of him, the pen the floodgate between his racing thoughts and coherent sentences that they translated to. In no time he was scribing his name and fishing out an envelope for it.

He approached his chatot smugly, envelope waving from between his fingers.

"I'll see you when you get back."

Did you guys miss me?

I am so sorry for the delay, no surprise I've had alot going on in my life good and bad but I have good news, I have 3 other chapters done so I will be posting once a week for the next couple weeks for you guys!

Anyway, as you guys have probably been noticing their relationship is starting to feel the strain of a handful of stressors, a few of which are pretty common for a teenage relationship like that. The real question is going to be how are they going to overcome these obstacles and how is their relationship going to evolve from here. Only time will tell. Other than that alot of the next cluster of chapters are reminiscent of early chapters and going back to my recurring motif of home being a timeless place and a place of new beginnings so you can interpret that as you please~

As always thank you for your continued feedback in my absence, I have responded to all of your private messages and as many comments as were possible. I love you all dearly and it truly means the world to me to have you all support my works.

See you next week!

Baci XXX
Miss Salina