A/N: Whoops, sorry this is late! Got caught up in the holidays XD Thanks so much for the response! Anyway, here's the next chapter, it's a pretty long one, because the brothers just wouldn't shut up :P Enjoy!

To Guest (Chapter 1): Thanks so much :D

To Guest (Chapter 2): Finally an update XD Sorry for the delayed chapter, but this should get better :)

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon or the picture used as cover.

Days

The day when dishes are broken

Cilan

Saturday, November 9th

A loud clatter resounded through the kitchen and Cilan cringed.

That was his fifth time today already, and as the evening progressed it seemed his clumsiness was getting worse. Cilan immediately dropped to his knees, feeling his cheeks burn, and started to gather the pieces of glass.

It was a Saturday evening and thus quite crowded at the Striaton restaurant, but nothing the brothers couldn't handle. Usually, at least.

Cilan would be the first to admit he was distracted, and his brothers had surely noticed as well. He had gotten four orders wrong (relegated to kitchen duty), he had burnt the soup and the potatoes (relegated to dishes duty), and this was the fifth piece of porcelain he had dropped (perhaps he would be fired now, he thought with a wry smile).

Cilan hurried to the bin with the pieces in his hand, and ducked his head when he noticed Chili throwing him a look from the other side of the kitchen. Cilan knew that if it hadn't been so crowded in the restaurant, he would have been interrogated right there and then.

Still, Chili was busy preparing desserts, the evening was coming to an end, and Cilan knew that the interrogation would not be far off. He hurried back to doing the dishes – it was a job all three of them disliked most, but nonetheless it was an important part of the restaurant's workings, and since Cilan had proved himself incapable of doing anything more complicated, he could at least be somewhat useful in this way.

His hands slowed and his thoughts strayed again to things he didn't want to think about, but which occupied his mind nonetheless. It was not before long that Cilan was simply staring off in space, his hands hanging still in the warm dishwater.

Last night Cress, Chili and he had returned home from Kanto, and he had been able to excuse his brooding silence with the jetlag. And since his brothers had been suffering from the very real jetlag, they hadn't been very inclined to ask many questions anyway. Maybe there hadn't even been much cause for questions, because Cilan was pretty sure that neither Chili nor Cress had seen him slipping away with Iris…

Iris…

If Cilan had been a coarser man and if it wouldn't have been so inappropriate for the situation, he would have said he had fucked up.

"Alright, Cilan, you gotta tell us what's wrong."

Chili's words and Cress's hand giving him a soft squeeze on his shoulder pulled him out of his thoughts. This was it, then. Despite the horrendous feeling of Serperior coiling and wringing around in his stomach, there was a tiny bit of relief and calmness settling in his mind.

He extracted his hands from the now lukewarm water and dried them off, before turning to face his brothers. Cress had an expression of gentle patience on his face, but Cilan could see the tension building in Chili, like a coil ready to spring. He would almost smile, if only he didn't feel so miserable.

"Right…" Cilan closed his eyes, trying to collect his thoughts. "I did something stupid." The words didn't even start to describe what happened, and he corrected himself, "I messed up. I ruined…" Cilan swallowed. "I ruined everything."

Cress looked carefully curious, but Chili's curiosity was plain on his face, though his worry was just as obvious. "You still have us," Chili said, while Cress nodded, wordlessly encouraging Cilan to continue.

"I'm in love with Iris."

The words came out as strong as he had wanted and Cilan felt a short burst of satisfaction that he still had some control – Arceus knew he had lost enough control lately.

Cress frowned in confusion, and Chili made a strange sound which could either be a snort, a cough or a laugh.

"Didn't we already know that?" Chili tried to joke, but Cress shot him a glare and the miserable look on Cilan's face caused Chili's smile to quickly fall. "Sorry, just… continue."

Continue, right. If he couldn't tell his brothers, then who would he be able to tell? He needed to tell someone, because keeping this silent was hampering his work, and that was one thing Cilan would not stand for. (And perhaps, deep down, he hoped for words of comfort and advice from his brothers.)

"At the party... we danced..." He remembered that part of the evening quite clearly; Iris laughing, the slower and the faster dances, sweat beading on his forehead from the exertion, the drinks- The alcohol had been stronger than he was used to, though it had been not merciful enough to make him forget everything. "We ended up in my hotel room." And Cilan dearly hoped he didn't have to elaborate further than that.

Chili seemed to have to fight himself to keep his mouth shut, while Cress pressed his lips together and then asked carefully, "Why would that be a bad thing?"

Cilan smiled without any humor. "She was gone in the morning."

His chest felt tight and he took a shuddering breath, and Cress squeezed his shoulder. That did it and Cilan burst out, "I did it all wrong! I shouldn't have- We shouldn't have- We're friends, we're best friends, we've always been, and I- I ruined it all-"

He choked on his words and Cress took this chance to interrupt. "Cilan, Iris is a smart, strong and capable girl, I doubt she was unaware of what she was doing. This was not just your doing."

"Don't- don't take it the wrong way, Cilan," Chili added, looking at his usually calm brother with a worried eye, "But perhaps it's not as bad as it seems. She might have had to catch her plane, or gotten an urgent call, or, or something..." Chili trailed off, uncertain.

"Or she was just as confused as you are and ran," Cress offered, and Cilan found himself slightly reassured, but only slightly.

"You should talk to her," Chili said, straight to the point as always. Cilan almost cringed at that harsh truth – he had already concluded that himself, but a small part of him had hoped that his brothers would have had a magical solution. Cilan usually had no problem with vocalizing his feelings, albeit sometimes in a flowery and roundabout way, but he felt completely inadequate when he thought about having to face Iris.

"I know," Cilan said weakly. Cress was halfway through an encouraging nod when Chili pushed him aside and put himself in front of Cilan.

"Listen, Cilan," he said forcefully, "I know it's tough right now, but you really have to talk to her. This isn't the kind of problem that goes away if you keep ignoring it-"

"What problems do?" Cress couldn't help but wonder.

"My laundry," Chili said with a sideways glance at the blue-haired brother (Cress pulled a face), before turning back to Cilan. "But anyway, as I was saying, you have to do something, otherwise it'll keep growing and growing until, BAM! It explodes."

Both Cilan and Cress had startled at Chili's sound effect, and the youngest of the trio looked rather smug for a moment. Cress shook his head with a smile and Cilan felt the corners of his mouth twitch upwards. Chili beamed and grabbed Cilan's shoulder, Cress immediately following his example.

Chili's gaze softened and his voice lowered. "You can do this, Cilan."

"Yes, you can," Cress said, sounding absolutely confident.

Cilan smiled weakly and put his hands over his brothers' hands. While the fear roiling in his stomach was far from gone, he felt significantly better.

"Thank you-" and whatever else he had wanted to say was smothered as Chili pulled him and Cress in a hug.

A/N: Thanks a lot for reading! I'll try to have the next chapter up as soon as possible! Please let me know what you thought about it, both good and bad are welcome :)

Thank you!

Recommendations:

Pokémon: Weather the Storm by anjumstar. FFN. Usually I'm not so much for OC's, but this is an interesting and funny (and finished) story about Ash and Misty's daughter, going back in time to prevent her father's death and à la Back to the Future, she has to get her parents together as well, so loads of PokeShipping, too!

Pokémon: Operation Crossdress by pyr0technic. FFN. A hilarious but sadly still incomplete story about Dawn disguising herself as a boy (her brother) to help him and his band – only she never knew she had a brother, and all the other members of the band are male. So, like I said, hilarious :P

Hey Arnold: Angela On The Couch by Aiyta. FFN. A finished story about an adult Helga starting to work as a child psychologist, at the very same school as Arnold teaches. It doesn't help that her charge reminds her very much of herself. Very good story!

If you have any recommendations, please let me know!