———

-Your POV-

After our victory in Team Rocket's base, we had returned to the apartment we shared and thought that the chaos was finally over. Alas, when you are not only a Pokemon Trainer with connections, but also the main protagonist of a fanfiction, I was thrown for a loop once again when I received a call from Jasmine.

"Hi, is this (Y/N)?" Her sugar-sweet voice can be heard over the call, and I can already picture her gentle smile as she holds her Rotom Phone to her ear.

"Hello, Jasmine!" I greeted eagerly from the apartment's main room. "How are the contests there in Sinnoh? You're a popular coordinator now, right? Congrats, girl!" I praised her, knowing her feats were well-earned.

"I'm worried about you, I'll have you know." I hear her slowly exhale over the phone. "When are you going to get a date? Have you found a good guy yet? Listen, I'm going to come back to Johto really soon. I'll host a party to celebrate my return. And I'll introduce you to some people—"

"W-what?! You don't need to do that!" I hastily insisted, knowing this could only go south if she tried to hook me up with some random dude she met abroad. To soothe her unnecessary concerns, I glanced across the room at Silver who was making dinner, and continued. "In fact... I'll be bringing someone!"

She pauses, as if stunned speechless. "Wait. Wait, wait, wait. Back it up. You've got a boyfriend? Since when?"

"Y-yeah, I... I guess I do. Heh."

That's a lie. I just had someone who'd probably go with me... Who in the world am I going to ask to go to the party with me to pretend to be my boyfriend? Would Silver want to do something so foolish? There's no way he'd accept pretending to go out with me. The idea was ridiculous.

"Please, just don't worry about me, okay?" I tried to steer away from the whole boyfriend — which I lacked — thing.

"That's great to hear. Is it someone I know? A fellow trainer or rival, maybe? What about that kid... With the bizarre gold eyes? Ethan, was it?" I can almost hear Jasmine beaming on the other side of the phone. She continues enthusiastically, without pausing to let me speak. "I'll have to check your guy out. I know how oblivious you can be, so if he's a bad guy it's my job to drive him away, right?"

"Jasmine, you really don't have to—"

"Okay, gotta go! I'm about to go on stage! See you this weekend, (Y/N)!" The click of her hanging up made me sigh.

I spun around on my heel, pocketing my Rotom Phone in the process, and said with a forced smile, "So... I know you're exhausted from Team Rocket, but wanna go to a party with me, Silver?"

He blinks, processing whether or not I was pulling his leg. "... a party? Now?" Silver raised an eyebrow, not convinced.

"Ah, well, it's on Saturday, but yeah." I grinned sheepishly. "So, what d'you say? Please?"

Silver let out a sigh, then reluctantly relented, to my surprise. "Fine." I then gave him the whole rundown of Jasmine's peculiar pushiness toward my having a partner. Fortunately, I got him to agree to pretend to be my date for the evening, as long as I wasn't too touchy and pushed his boundaries.

With that in place, all that was left to do was frantically dig through my stuff to find a suitable dress for the occasion — wait, did I even own a dress? — and the day of the party quickly approached us.

-Silver's POV-

"So~ a little birdy told me you have a thing for my best friend." Jasmine nudged her elbow into my arm and I had to resist the urge to punch her face. "Be honest, what do you think of her?" I'd only been here half an hour at max, and this girl, apparently named Jasmine as she introduced herself, was pestering me nonstop about my relationship with (Y/N).

While the easiest thing to get her to shut up was likely to just feed her what she wanted to hear, I could barely manage to stop myself from glaring at her, never mind engaging in aimless small talk.

"You're roommates, right? Do you like her? Or hate her?" An innocent smile curls the edges of her painted lips. "Have you done anything with her? You know, like... you know." Jasmine wasn't being subtle at all, but I decided to play dumb.

"I'm not really sure what you're asking, but..." I scrambled to find something that wasn't lying to her but wasn't giving anything away either. "I hate her the least...? I, uh, I can't bring myself to hate her, I guess." That was way more awkward than I intended...

"Oh? Is that so?" Jasmine's smirk only widens. "Can I take that as you have some fondness for her? You seem like the type that's in denial anyway... hm. Well, you're dating, right?"

Shoot, I almost forgot about the cover story. "Uh... yeah. We are."

She thinks about that, her eyes following (Y/N) from where she stood at the snack bar across the room, drooling over sweets. "Have you made any progress with her?" Jasmine suddenly asks.

"What do you mean?" I almost didn't want clarification.

"Like, have you even kissed yet?" She asks, impatiently tapping her feet as she returns her narrowed gaze to me. She really was nosey, but I had to stand it. Just a few more hours, then it's over.

"No, of course not." I scoffed.

That was the wrong move, clearly, seeing as Jasmine's eyes lit up in response to my answer. "Alrighty then! I'll make sure you get somewhere by the end of this party, I promise. It can't be that hard, right? You stay here, I'm going to go talk to her."

Then, she was gone, her ash brown pigtails bobbing as she strode across the room with a scheming grin.

While I couldn't deny that, yes, I did occasionally have the urge to protect her, and that I was most certainly indebted to her for her companionship and aid against Team Rocket... ugh. Why was this so hard?

I thought that it was clear when you loved someone, but I couldn't wrap my head around it all.

What if all I felt was friendship? What if I realized later that I didn't love her? How would she react if I confessed? What if she already had her eye on someone else? What if I'm rejected? What if I messed up any chance between us? What if I made a fool of myself? What if I bring her down with my past? What if... what if I couldn't be the boyfriend that she deserves?

Before I knew it, my thoughts spiraled out of control, and Jasmine had disappeared into the crowd before I could hunt her down and stop her from pushing the boulder down the hillside.

There was nothing I could do now to tread lightly and hope I wouldn't screw anything up too badly, even though that seemed inevitable at this point.

By the end of the night, I hadn't seen either of the girls, and I had thought that I was in the clear, until everyone had cleared out and were leaving — either in vehicles or on rideable Pokemon — and (Y/N) tapped my shoulder.

"Where have you been?" I asked, frowning slightly, but then froze when I saw her.

(Y/N) had arrived at the party wearing a simple dress, something plain that she found at the bottom of her closet, likely. I hadn't thought twice about it, seeing as I wasn't partially picky about what other people were wearing, but now, she wore a shimmering strapless silk gown that swept to the floor and glittered in the moonlight. Dang it, I think my heart skipped a beat.

"Sorry." She smiled warmly up at me, and I realized that the reason her face glowed was the makeup that was carefully applied to highlight the best features of her face, likely by that Jasmine girl.

"You..." The words died in my mouth, or rather, I couldn't find any that could properly describe how I felt. Heck, even I didn't know how to feel. All I knew was that I wanted to kiss her. So bad.

(Y/N) fridges with her hair, which was also done up in a fancy style. She was gorgeous. Absolutely gorgeous. "Do you like it?" She asks, her voice softer than before, almost a little embarrassed.

"I like you."

The words fell out of my mouth so naturally, and the fact that I didn't mean to say it all turned my hair the same crimson shade of my hair. I was freaking out so much that I didn't even see her reaction to what I said before I felt her lips on mine, and the whirlwind that was my brain froze.

I'd never kissed anyone before. What was I supposed to do? Where was I supposed to put my hands? When does it stop? How do I respond? I couldn't focus on anything except for the feel of her gentle, hesitant kiss.

Just then, she leaned back, silent. Her eyes met mine, and both of us were at a loss for words.

"I like you too." (Y/N) murmured, and I pulled her into a close hug, never wanting to let go.

"Can we... do that again?" I whispered, bracing for my own fears to come true. But all she did was lean in once more, and I was in my very own happily ever after.

———

Author's Note:

Before anyone asks, yes, I know I've been gone a while. School and life got in the way, and motivation went out the window at the drop of a hat.

Alas! I have returned. Kind of.

Originally, I wanted this fanfiction to last a bit longer but, as I stated in Your Tragic Smile, I'm no longer into edge lords.

But I read through the Gold, Silver, & Crystal Pokemon Adventures manga recently to refresh myself on the Johto region to deliver the last remaining bits of this story's plotline.

Thanks for bearing with me,
Lillian

Word count: 1725 words

———