Archive of Our Own

Halloween!

It was that time of year where the leaves on the trees had all turned various shades of orange and yellow. The time when all the sweets and candies in the shops were sold in bags that would feed a small army and cheap Halloween costumes haunted every store that Silver had the misfortune of entering.

Halloween, the night children loved because it gave them an excuse to get free sweets and dress up as their favourite Pokemon, and the night adults loved because it gave them an excuse to get heavily intoxicated. Silver never fell into either of those categories, he would rather die and be reincarnated as his father's Persian than wear a stupid costume, and Silver despised alcohol. He had been around both his father and his team members whilst they were intoxicated too many times for it to have any appeal to him.

Because of this, Halloween never meant anything more to Silver than a day that he couldn't expect the streets to be empty at night. However it came with the silver (haha) lining that he knew the house would be empty for several hours as he knew Lance would be going to a Halloween party for the gym leaders and league members in the evening. The event was strictly 18+, meaning a) Silver couldn't go, and b) there was definitely going to be a lot of alcohol.

Silver was glad he didn't have to go. The thought of being around drunken adults was something he would pass up whenever possible.

Of course, Lance wasn't the only one invited to a Halloween party, but unlike his mentor, Silver had no intentions of leaving the house for the whole night and also unlike his mentor, had no problem ignoring any invitations he received.

That fact only became relevant when around 3 days before the dreaded night, he received a message in the middle of a sparring session at the dragons den. He felt the vibration from the notification however he knew better than to check his phone in the middle of battle. It was only when the two had a quick time out did Silver open his phone, the text was from Ethan, and it read:

Ethan: Hey, you free on Halloween?

Silver quickly glanced around to make sure no one was reading over his shoulder, a natural instinct even when he wasn't sending anything incriminating, he liked his privacy. Fairly certain that the coast was indeed clear, he typed back a response.

Silver: Yes

Truthfully, he wouldn't have minded something to fill his schedule. A late night training session, or even just a walk in the dark with Ethan didn't sound too bad compared to the alternative, staring at the wall for hours with the door locked and listening for the sound of drunken footsteps.

Ethan: Wanna come to a Halloween party with me?

Ah. Silver was slightly disappointed with the suggestion, parties weren't really his thing. All noise and gossip with no way to know what to do. He wasn't exactly the most sociable either, a whole night of fake small talk sounded like his personal hell.

As if sensing his response before he even began to type, Ethan pinged another few messages.

Ethan: Pleeeeaaaaase?
Ethan: You already know everyone that's going (*´◒`*)

Silver: No thanks

He felt ever so slightly guilty for shutting him down so quickly, an emotion he was quite familiar with, unfortunately. Still, he would rather not go to a party where Ethan would inevitably be the most social one there and Silver forced to trail after him like a rockruff while he silently attempted to smile at those Ethan interacted with. It didn't sound fun at all, and doubly so if it was a costume party.

Nonetheless, he couldn't help but feel the tiniest ping of pain in his chest when he read the notifications that followed his message. A pain he sharply repressed.

Ethan: (´；ω；`)
Ethan: Aw, it won't be any fun without you
Ethan: thanks anyways.

Silver shut off his phone after reading the final messages, of course the only one that invited him somewhere was the only person he struggled to say no to. At least it was finally the end of it, as Ethan didn't seem to be typing any more messages.

In hindsight, Silver should have known that it's never the end of it when it comes to Ethan.

---

"Will you be okay on your own? I probably won't be back until late into the night."

"I'm well aware" , Silver thought, but had the common sense to keep his mouth shut and instead just nod silently.

He wasn't aware that it was a costume party, but after seeing the apparel that Lance was preparing to leave the house in, he quickly became even more thankful that he wasn't going.

Lance stood in the hallway leading up to the door, in a similar garment to what he wore to work (cape included),with one major difference. Instead of his usual lack of a hat, he wore a red Gyarados one that enveloped his entire head, with only his face poking out from the creature's mouth. The rest of the "Pokemon's" body was stuffed like a giant plush and connected to the head, it wrapped around his torso with the tail end hanging off his back.

Looking at the stitches, it appeared to be home made, which only added to the overall vibe of it. Silver was never great at eye contact, but with the person that brutally destroyed him in battle several times; witnessed his breakdown upon said defeat and even allowed him to stay in his guest room whilst acting as his mentor, standing in the hallway in a homemade Gyarados Halloween costume, it was impossible to look him in the eye.

"I left money so you can order some food whilst I'm gone." He pulled the second boot on as the plush Gyarados tail swung behind him. "If there's any problems, you have my phone number, I'll come back if you need me."

Silver didn't need the power of future sight to know that he definitely would not be calling Lance under any circumstances. He could handle himself for a few hours on his own. Nonetheless, he nodded slowly, still fidgeting slightly under the older man's gaze.

"Okay, I'll be back soon."

Truthfully, when Silver started staying with the dragon trainer, neither of them really knew how to say goodbye to each other. People usually hugged to say goodbye, but that sounded more like an invasion of personal space than anything so Silver quickly dodged it the first time Lance tried it, before feeling horrible for the rest of the day. Fortunately, he seemed to have enough sense not to try it again because the next few times the two said goodbye, he seemed just as unsure as Silver. Eventually, after trial and error, they settled on a wave, not too invasive but enough to get their point across.

This unspoken agreement just seemed to stick, as it became the norm for the two. As Lance left, with his red tail swinging behind him, he smiled warmly and gave the signature wave, which Silver reciprocated, before swinging the door shut behind him.

It only took a few seconds of standing alone in the doorway for boredom to set in. The overwhelming urge to do something, anything at all that would take his mind off reality for a few hours until the dreaded day was finally over. Usually, cleaning was his go to tactic whenever he wanted to suppress his emotions for a few hours whilst also not feeling like he was wasting time. Lance never endorsed it, but he also never stopped him from doing so either, and Silver had enough guilt over staying in his house, the least he could do was keep it clean.

Unfortunately, that approach seemed to backfire as when he did a quick scout around the house to find something to clean, he was disappointed to find nothing that he could occupy himself with cleaning. Making him probably the only teenager in the world to be upset over a lack of chores to do.

From his spot in the kitchen, he could hear younger children outside the front door, followed by the rustle of candy wrappers as they presumably took a handful of sweets from the bucket, despite the 'take one' sign next to it. If he was honest, Silver was yet to meet a single person, child or adult, who actually followed the signs next to candy bowls. He didn't have the energy to care, however, as long as he didn't have to answer the door for the rest of the night he would be fine.

As the group of giggling children walked away, Silver was about to head back to his room in an attempt to find anything to occupy himself with, when there was a soft knock at the door.

That was unusual, Lance wasn't the type of person to forget his keys or wallet. It was likely a confused trick or treat goer, but even then, Silver had taken care to leave all the lights off and the decorative pumpkin filled with candy at the front door should have been a sign that no one would answer the door.

He was prepared to walk upstairs and pretend that he hadn't heard anything at all, until the person knocked again, louder this time. Silver glared at the door, as though it would somehow penetrate through the wood and tell the person at the other side to leave him alone. It didn't, and the only thing that happened was the person at the other side knocking even louder.

With a sigh, he decided if it was a trick or treater, he could probably get them to go away fairly easily with a handful of sweets.

When he opened the door, he was indeed faced with someone in costume, grinning widely. However that person was definitely not a trick or treater, considering they were the same age as Silver, only slightly shorter. Someone he recognised under the makeup after a few seconds of confused staring.

"...What the fuck?" He couldn't help but say audibly.

"Heeeeey," Ethan smiled somewhat sheepishly as he shifted under Silver's astonished gaze. He didn't let that deter him as he stated with a blunt yet cautious tone "Can I ask a tiny little favour from you?"

Silver didn't even hear what he said properly, too taken aback by how he was dressed to focus on anything else. He wore a pastel yellow skater dress that went just down to his knees, Mary Janes of a similar colour over pastel pink knee high socks. A faux fur cape the same shade of pink as his socks wrapped around his shoulders, thankfully not the same kind of cape that Lance wore, instead, it was the kind that was usually worn with short sleeved dresses and only went down just to his elbows.

Where his usual black mess of a hairstyle would be, instead there was a slightly wavy long pink wig, framing his smiling face, which had whiskers and a black circle in the centre of his nose drawn in what Silver assumed was eyeliner. The cherry on top was the pink fluffy cat ears on top of his head.

"What the fuck..." Silver repeated, wondering if this was a hallucination, or perhaps an elaborate practical joke. However, Nothing happened except Ethan continuing to stand in the doorway, shifting slightly uncomfortably.

"Can I come in?" He asked, Silver somewhat reluctantly moved aside to let him inside, standing at the end of the hallway as Silver shut the door behind him.

"What are you supposed to be?" Silver eyed him up and down once more, only for Ethan to gasp in what Silver assumed was mock offence, but he could never be quite sure with Ethan.

"I'm a skitty!" He pointed to the fluffy pink ears atop his head with a pout, "the ears didn't give it away?"

Silver shook his head as he rested a hand on his hip, he didn't even question why he was in a dress. It was Ethan, and Ethan clearly did not care what others thought of him. Nonetheless, he was still confused as to why Ethan showed up at all.

Based on the lack of questioning he got, Ethan correctly assumed that Silver hadn't heard why he was there. "Can I ask a tiny, minuscule, microscopic, little favour from you?"

Dread immediately began to settle in Silver's stomach the second he heard those words, any favour from Ethan was immediately a red flag, but whenever said favour was described as 'tiny' he knew he was about to be introduced to a plan so illogical that it would put even the stupidest of team rocket plans to shame.

Taking advantage of Silver's dread filled silence, Ethan continued, "So, you know that Halloween party I'm going to tonight?.." Ethan continued to shift uncomfortably, such a rarity from Ethan that he knew something was up. Ethan was never this hesitant about any of his other suggestions, no matter how ridiculous, so the fact that he was nervous about this one should have been Silver's sign to run away screaming.

However, he simply stood and watched as Ethan fidgeted with the dopiest yet most nervous grin on his face, Silver couldn't take it anymore "Just spit it out for Arceus sake!"

"Ineedyoutocomewithmeasmyboyfriend"

...

What.

Silver blinked once, then twice, then once more for good measure. He wasn't quite sure that he heard that correctly, but considering the vibrant shade of red that Ethan had gone, he was fairly sure he had. However, he clung to the small hope that maybe, just maybe, he heard him incorrectly.

"Say it slower." He ordered.

"I uhh...." Silver wasn't sure how it was possible for Ethan to go even more red, but somehow he managed to as he fumbled with a strand of pink hair. "Need you to come with me... to the party... and..." he cleared his throat "...pretend to be my boyfriend"

Speechless was an understatement.

Silver had no words, at all. If the fact that his mouth opened and closed several times with nothing but half formed croaks of disbelief and the fact that he hadn't blinked in at least 40 seconds said anything. It took him a good minute of mindless staring for his brain to even begin to process what he had said.

Go to a Halloween party.... as Ethan's date?

Ethan's date... no- pretend date. Not that it made the situation any better.

How? What? Why? Where the hell did this even come from? Was Ethan having a stroke? Was this a backwards way of asking him out? What the fuck was even happening?

After a long moment of slightly awkward panicking, Silver returned to his tried and true defence mechanism, anger. Even if it was fake, and even if it was something Lance continually reminded him he needed to stop using it to push people away or hide from vulnerability, his swarm of emotions overcame the echo of his mentor's words in an instant.

"Why on earth would I even consider doing that?" Ethan was no longer the only one in the room who was bright red, as a steady blush crept onto Silvers face, from a mixture of anger, embarrassment and... another feeling that he couldn't quite identify.

He was beginning to wonder why he didn't just slam the door on Ethan as soon as he had opened it, it would have been a lot better to the alternative. The only thing that stopped him from spiralling further was Ethan's voice.

"Please..." He blurted out, Silencing any words of protest that Silver was about to come up with. His tone of voice caught him completely off guard, as it was nothing like what Silver was used to, no laughter or mirth in it at all, just... desperation. As if his next words were a matter of life and death. "Just listen to me."

It was so unexpected, so out of character that Silver couldn't do anything except stand in silence as Ethan took a deep breath in.

"Look, I know this is out of nowhere, but I just really want to go with someone." He diverted his gaze to the ground "You get free food and drinks if you go with a partner, and the candy apples are Jasmine's own recipe. It doesn't have to mean anything, I just want free food and to have a good time."

Ethan sighed heavily "If you don't want to go, I won't force you, just thought it would be nice to go somewhere outside of training." He was finally able to tear his gaze up from the ground in order to flash a weak smile.

...

Silver couldn't believe he was actually considering it, he couldn't believe that somehow Ethan always had the ability to rope him into whatever plan he had come up with. But that was Ethan for you, somehow always dancing the border between cutely oblivious and completely insufferable.

"Alsoooooo..." His previously serious demeanour vanished within less than a millisecond, the devious sparkle that Silver was so used to graced his eyes once more. "You've never been to a Halloween party, right? This could be a good time to introduce you to what a party feels like?"

Whilst half of his mind was still screaming at him not to go and to shove Ethan out the door with no mercy, the kinder half of him seemed to take over for a split second as he asked, "Do I know any of the people there?"

With that, his smile faltered slightly, "I mean, yeah, but it's just for one night, we can always say that we broke up the next day or something..."

Ah.

Strangely, he much would have preferred it if it was a room full of strangers. Even though people told him that he had changed a lot since his journey with Ethan, he still hadn't exactly made amends with some of the people who were likely to be there. He wasn't exactly sure if those who had last seen him when he broke into a highly secure laboratory and mercilessly punched a teenage boy in the face would suddenly be okay with him strolling into a party hand-in-hand with said teenage boy.

It wasn't as though he hadn't tried, he had tried several times to apologise, only for it to be waved off with a shrug and a simple "it's okay, it's all in the past." He knew deep down it wasn't that simple, and they likely only wanted to get rid of him as quickly as possible.

He quickly weighed the pros and cons in his head.

Pros. Free food, get to hang out with Ethan for a whole night.

Cons. Pretending to date Ethan, awkward small talk, likely that alcohol would be involved, have to hang out with Ethan for a whole night.

When he thought about it like that, it seemed very one sided. However, when he was brought back to reality only to see Ethan sliding up to him with his hands clasped in front of him, a nervous grin and a pair of baby doll eyes so big he swore that he felt his attack lower by several stages, he knew he didn't really have a choice.

"Fine."

Just from that one simple word, Ethan's eyes lit up as though Silver had just solved world hunger or climate change. He let out a noise that was entirely indecipherable but was loud enough to make Silver cover his ears. Without a second of hesitation, he found himself being forcibly dragged up the stairs and into the room he had been using as his bedroom.

As he was being dragged along, he noticed a yellow backpack on his back that seemed to have a tuft of purple fur sticking out of a small opening where the zipper wasn't closed properly. As well as a pastel yellow Skitty tail tucked into the waistband of the dress that he hadn't seen before.

He wasn't even out of the door and he already knew it was going to be a hell of a night.

-------------

"I look hideous."

"You look great!" Ethan fussed over him as he stood in front of the full length mirror. Unfortunately, Ethan had 'conveniently' left out the little detail that it was a costume party, and, although Silver was partially to blame for not connecting the dots sooner, it didn't make him any less grumpy about it.

So far, Silver had been adorned in a top of an identical colour to Ethan's dress with matching trousers. Originally, Ethan had procured a long skirt from his bag, the same shade and shape as a lightly coloured daffodil, but after a harsh glare from Silver he quickly put it back in his backpack and procured the pastel trousers instead.

It wasn't too bad, but he just knew that there was more to come, and he was proved right when his companion pulled out a plastic bag, from his place in front of the mirror Silver saw that it contained something dark purple, but he couldn't exactly make out what. His hesitation only increased when he looked back to the mirror and saw Ethan looking between the bag and him with a slightly demonic smile.

"It's never been opened, so don't worry about hygiene." With the bag in hand, he approached Silver and tore open the packaging. He couldn't deny that he was ever so slightly terrified that Ethan had ordered something like a glitter bomb that would explode onto Lance's carpet, or... whatever Ethan could have thought of.

It almost would have been better if it was, as when Silver got a look at what it actually was, his jaw dropped. A deep purple wig that looked to be the same make as Ethan's except a lot shorter. However, that didn't make him feel any better about the situation.

"Why did I agree to this?" He managed to croak out after a good few seconds of watching him brush the wig with his fingers. He took it from Ethan as reluctantly as possible, along with the instruction leaflet on how to put it on properly (which he promptly discarded).

It was a struggle to pull it over his head, and even harder to get it to sit in place. Even with his best efforts, it still ended up looking a bit like a wild Venonat had made a home atop his head, but he could handle that, it wouldn't have been a Halloween costume without him looking at least a bit strange. Perhaps he had overreacted? Wearing a costume wasn't too bad, he wasn't even quite sure why he was opposed to the idea in the first place.

He was sharply reminded why when he felt someone sneak up behind him and sharply clip two additional things to the side of his head. When he looked back in the mirror, he saw that his previously short wig now had two somewhat curly and very voluminous bunches at either side.

After the initial disgust wore off and his shrieks of horror died down, it felt almost nice. It was definitely a high quality wig, nothing like you could buy in a Halloween shop. The fibres were surprisingly soft and at a first glance, someone probably couldn't tell that it was a wig and not his real hair.

"You know what's next~" Ethan's sing song voice echoed around the room, a tone Silver knew to be wary of. Rightfully so, as when he turned back, he saw him with a small container of eyeliner. After seeing the painted on whiskers on his face, it didn't take long to connect the dots.

"...get it over with." He huffed, already resigning himself to his fate. Ethan jumped at the opportunity and pretty much dragged him to sit on the bed, away from the mirror so Silver couldn't see what he was doing.

The small applicator was dipped into the inky liquid then brushed against the side to remove the excess. Silver held out his hand to take it from him but was slightly confused when Ethan pulled it away.

Then he leaned closer.

Silver felt the slight tickle as the brush glided over his cheek, leaving a slightly wobbly black line across the bright red skin. Silver had never applied make up before, let alone have someone else apply it to him, however, that wasn't the thing that made him flush.

Ethan was so close to him, with his tongue sticking out his mouth ever so slightly from his concentration. There was barely an inch between their faces, so close that Silver could feel Ethan's breathing as he drew the second line.

There was nowhere to look as Ethan's concentrated face filled his entire field of vision, nowhere except the wide grey irises of his eyes, glistening from the harsh light of the overhead fixture. Silver held his breath as the brush slid along his cheek once more.

"You know... people usually close their eyes when people do their make-up this close." Ethan paused as he shifted to the left slightly, preparing to do his other cheek. Silver had no idea how or why his face became an even deeper shade of red, but it did. He would have opened his mouth to say something if he didn't have the fear of Ethan messing up and him looking even more ridiculous than he currently did.

Having seen the blush rise on his friend's face, Ethan laughed, thankfully not whilst drawing another whisker. "Don't worry, I don't mind."

Silver had to settle for saying nothing as Ethan leaned even closer to draw the final whisker, taking care to make it as symmetrical as he could. Breathlessly, Silver couldn't help but think that if they had been any closer they would have been practically kissing.

He wasn't sure if it was because of the situation or because of the fact that it was Ethan, but the redness on his face continued to linger even as Ethan finished his makeup with a final black circle on the tip of his nose. His gaze didn't shift from his eyes the entire time.

Even once he was finished, Ethan didn't back off from Silver. It was only then that Silver noticed that his cheeks also had a very slight tint of red to them, although not nearly as much as his own. It almost felt as though everything else in the room disappeared as the two continued to stare into each other's eyes, faces just millimetres apart.

"You have beautiful eyes..." Ethan whispered, so quietly that Silver wasn't even certain he heard it.

He quickly pulled away, as though the heat emanating from Silver's flushed cheeks burnt him, or perhaps just the sudden realisation of how close they were together. The slight afterglow still lingered in the air as their eyes were still locked on each other.

"E-ears!" Ethan stammered slightly, a complete first. However, Silver had little time to question it as he darted across the room to his backpack quickly. A large pair of purple cat ears attached to a headband were fished out of his backpack.

Whatever was left of the moment quickly disappeared, the rest of the room sharply coming back into vision like being woken from a dream, leaving only the memory.

Ethan took advantage of the fact that Silver was still somewhat immobilised on the bed and gently slid the headband on, just in front of the two clip on bunches. Once his brain started working again and his face was no longer the same shade as his hair, it was too late, as Ethan had already adjusted his wig so that it covered the metal part of the headband.

He caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror, and it felt as though there was a stranger staring back at him. Of course, his face still looked like him, but everything else was completely different. It felt strange to see that he was very much still in control of the body he saw in the mirror.

"How do you want to pose your tail?" Ethan held up said tail, a surprisingly and somewhat disturbingly realistic looking Delcatty tail. True to his claims, it seemed to be posable as he bent it from a more curled position into a straighter one.

"How- what-..." Silver watched in disbelief as Ethan played around with it like a clown with a balloon animal. "Where did you even get that?"

"I made it myself." He continued trying to find a good pose as he spoke, as though it was the most casual thing in the world.

"Really?"

"Yep." He settled on a pose that was similar to that of his own tail but slightly less curled. "It's fun, takes the edge off after battling all day."

Silver wasn't going to judge, he was standing in a pair of cat ears with whiskers drawn in eyeliner for Arceus sake. He just found it impressive that Ethan, the same person that he witnessed fall into the lake of rage whilst chasing a rattata that stole his hat, was able to make something that looked as though it was made by a professional.

"We're almost done!" Ethan commented jovially as he pulled out the biggest, fluffiest item of clothing out of his bag as casually as one would retrieve a pair of sunglasses from their bag.

However, he didn't say a word, knowing better after being used as Ethan's dress up doll for the past half hour. The huge lump of fabric was shook out before being held in such a way that he could easily slip his arms into the holes. It took shape as soon as Silver put it on, hanging in such a way that it was just covering his shoulders.

The deep purple faux fur wrapped around his body, staying closed with a single button on the front that was hidden in the mountains of fur. The sleeves were thick enough that his upper arms were already a lot warmer than the rest of his body, despite only having it on a few seconds.

He hoped that the furry wrap shawl was the finishing touch, however one final thing was pressed into his hand. A small charm in the shape of a crescent moon. Ethan also held one in his hands as he stood next to him.

"It wouldn't be a couples costume if we didn't have something to connect the two." He fastened the one in his hand onto his waistband. Silver did the same with his trousers.

"Because the fact it's the same evolutionary line isn't a giveaway." He commented, brushing some of the purple hairs that had gotten into his face away with his fingers. "Are we ready now?"

"Well..." Ethan tapped his cheek thoughtfully. "I do have cat paws, but you can't really pick anything up with them and they're not that great, so I think we are!"

Thank Arceus. He wasn't sure if whatever was left of his dignity could handle any more. Ethan smoothed down his dress with a nervous smile.

"You sure you want to do this? I won't be offended if you say no." He fiddled with the small crescent charm on his dress, rocking ever so slightly back and forth. Silver couldn't help but feel slightly uneasy.

"You were the one that suggested it." Silver attempted to conceal how uncomfortable he really felt. Ethan was the one who pressured him to go, and now he himself seemed like he didn't want to. That was very reassuring for Silver's already fragile nerves.

As if reading his mind, or just reading his facial expression, Ethan smiled softly. "I didn't mean about the party, I meant about the whole... dating thing. You'd be outing yourself to everyone, and I don't even know if you're actually straight or not."

"Are you..?" Silver had no idea how to approach, or even bring up the topic. It was never something either of them discussed before. He knew next to nothing about sexualities or which words were okay to say or ask, so he ended up trailing off into silence.

"Gay?" Ethan raised an eyebrow as he finished the sentence. "Gay isn't a curse word. But to answer your question, I don't think it's much of a secret," gesturing to his outfit, he chuckled slightly.

"Oh." Unsure of how he was supposed to react to the situation, Silver just sat in silence whilst his eyes inspected his outfit. Coming out was supposed to be a big thing but Ethan just said it as though it was nothing? Was Silver supposed to celebrate? Give him a gift? Bake a cake?

"Congratulations?.." he half-whispered tentatively, earning a hearty laugh from Ethan.

"Not the weirdest reaction I've encountered." He shrugged, before turning his attention back to Silver, "What about you? If you're comfortable sharing, that is."

Truthfully, Silver hadn't a fucking clue.

As with Ethan's, he hadn't thought about his own sexuality pretty much at all. Being on the run from the police and the knowledge that his father was still out there somewhere hadn't given him much time for self reflection, at least until his time at the dragons den. However, with training and his future to worry about, especially with his past mistakes, sexuality wasn't exactly at the top of his priorities list

He had never really found anyone attractive in the movie-esc way where time seems to stop and rose petals fall around them as the two meet for the first time. Nor had he come across anyone that he found attractive beyond a simple 'oh, they're cute' (which of course, he never said aloud). Relationships just never occurred to him, so he settled with a shrug.

Ethan nodded and gave a thumbs up, "that's cool, you ready to go then?"

Silver sighed heavily.

"Fine, let's go."

---

It only took around 10 minutes of walking in order to reach the destination that housed the party. Honestly, he was slightly surprised he hadn't heard it from Lance's house, considering the fact that the music was so loud he could hear it without even going inside.

Despite all the curtains being shut, the disco lighting was still very visible from the outside as all shades of blue, pink, green and yellow danced around the curtains. Silver pulled the fluffy shawl even tighter around his body, despite not feeling cold in the slightest.

The pathway leading up to the fairly large house was decorated with jack O' lanterns and fake joltiks. The house itself was covered in cobwebs, even at the highest points of the roof. Ghosts and other such tacky decorations hung from various points around the house.

"Are you absolutely sure you want to do this?" Ethan placed a single hand on the doorknob, which had a small (presumably fake) skull hanging from a piece of cord.

"Yes, Ethan, I'm sure."

The corner of his lips turned to a smile as he looked to Silver briefly. "Don't say I didn't warn you."

The door was opened, and it was like a door to another dimension had opened instead of a door to a party.

Unsurprisingly, Silver had never had the chance to go to a party before, not as a teen nor a child, so he had no point of reference for what a party was supposed to be like. However, even with the knowledge that he didn't know what to expect, he definitely didn't expect anything he saw.

It was like a sonic boom as soon as they opened the door, with the sound no longer muffled the music almost physically knocked him back. He was surprised his ears didn't instantly start bleeding. There was quite a few people visible only from the tiny view that he had from the doorway, but from what he could see they all seemed to be chatting happily amongst each other, paying no mind to how deafening the music was.

Everyone was dressed up, which he should have expected considering the half hour he spent getting dressed up himself. Still, it was a strange feeling to see everyone in such a way, all of them in costume as various Pokemon. At the very least, it made him feel a bit more like he blended in.

However, those things, strange as they were, paled in comparison to the thing that surprised Silver the most.

He hadn't even taken a single step through the doorway when he was sharply blasted with a jet of water.

Directly in the face.

The night was off to a great start.

Thankfully, he wasn't the only one, as when he was able to open his eyes again after wiping some of the water off his face, he saw that Ethan was similarly drenched. Having spotted Silver's astonished and somewhat furious face, he didn't do anything except mouth 'sorry' slightly sheepishly.

"Blue!" Someone shouted over the music from deeper into the house. "Cut it out! They just arrived for Arceus sake."

"Oh come on." The culprit -Blue- emerged from his hiding spot behind several other guests in costume. "It's only Ethan."

Now they had a better look at him, he was also in costume, although it seemed to have been thrown together at the last minute as it was composed of a pale yellow polo shirt with a blastoise shell pattern hastily drawn on in what looked to be sharpie. He sauntered up to the two with an expression that was half grin and half smirk.

"Sorry about that, couldn't resist." Upon closer inspection, he had a circular piece of cardboard taped to his back which had been painted to look like the back of a shell. The paint had evidently ran in several places but he wore it proudly nonetheless. The 'cannons' on his shoulders looked suspiciously like the cardboard tubes inside paper towels but spray painted a metallic silver.

The actual 'cannons' turned out to be two medium sized water guns that Blue held up with a smile before putting one in each of his oversized pockets. "Welcome to the party you two." He patted them both firmly on the shoulders before turning his attention to Ethan.

"Ethan!" He eyed him up and down then gave a thumbs up, "nice costume dude, you look great in that dress."

"Thanks!" Ethan reciprocated the gesture by inspecting his costume. "Did you wait until the last minute again?"

He shrugged, defeated. "You got me, but this year I knew what I wanted to be from the start so that's an improvement?"

"Yeah, but maybe try make the lines on your costume straight next year?" Blue gasped in mock offence and playfully shoved his shoulder.

Meanwhile, from the sidelines, Silver wanted nothing more than to just disappear on the spot. That person was Blue, the former champion, the second best trainer in the world, and Ethan was playfully teasing him as he stood in the middle of a crowded room wearing a blastoise costume. A cardboard blastoise costume.

Silver briefly wondered how every decision in his life led up to this moment, or if he was actually dreaming, or perhaps he was the one drunk.

Thankfully, Blue was one of the few people that he hadn't encountered during his... less than pleasant 'phase', however, word of his past had undoubtedly gotten to him somehow. This was not the ideal situation to meet him, in fact, the ideal situation would be never meeting him at all.

As though he sensed that Silver was thinking about him, Blue turned his attention to him with the same unwavering smile that he had with Ethan. "You must be Silver?" He extended a hand out to him to offer a handshake.

A handshake... was that weird? He was the one offering a handshake so it was only right for Silver to reciprocate? How were introductions even supposed to go? His only experience with introductions was either shoving them out the way or engaging in a battle immediately without even a 'hello' or 'how are you?' An introduction as simple as a handshake... was something he wasn't used to.

He managed to swallow his hesitation back after only a few seconds of awkwardly standing there, thankfully the buzz of chatter from the rest of the people at the party combined with the obnoxiously loud music prevented there from being an awkward silence.

Slowly, he reached out and clasped his fingers around his outstretched hand, firmly, but not too firm so that he wouldn't hurt him, although he doubted that he could even if he tried since Blue didn't look like a pushover. He gently pulled his hand up and then down to finish the handshake.

"N-nice to meet you," he managed to croak out for the first time ever.

"Nice to meet you too," he slowly pulled his hand away, "I'm Blue, but you probably know that already." The silver painted cannons on his shoulders wobbled slightly as he adjusted his stance to be more relaxed.

"Y-yeah..." his eyes flickered around the room, filled with spinning disco lights and people chatting and dancing amongst themselves. Blue pulled the two of them inside and shut the door behind them.

"Awesome costume, did Ethan pick it out for you?" He asked, only for Silver to look to Ethan slightly pleadingly. However, he didn't say a word and simply left him to do the talking for himself. A rarity, since Ethan never liked keeping his mouth shut for more than a few seconds.

"Yes... he wanted us to match," Silver found himself struggling not to cringe at every single hesitant word that left his mouth, every part of his body was screaming at him to turn around and sprint back to Lance's house and lock all the doors so Ethan couldn't come after him, but the rational part of himself knew he was already in too deep. "N-nice party."

Nice party!? Really? What was he, five?

"Knew it!" He looked from Silver to Ethan and then back to Silver, "Ethan's always talking about you, never thought he had the guts to ask you though, suppose it took him long enough."

Silver didn't need to be a mind reader to know that there was something unspoken that he had completely missed. He was 99% sure that Blue wasn't insinuating that Ethan had always wanted to dress him up as a Delcatty. Actually... nevermind, make that 98%.

His eyes drifted over to Ethan once again, coincidentally, at the time that one of the disco lights hitting his face had turned red to make him look like he had broken out in a full blush. With a ghost of a smile dusting his lips, he finally, FINALLY, took the hint and grabbed his hand.

"Very funny, Blue. How long did it take you to ask out Red again?" His comment earned a friendly middle finger and a roll of his eyes, "We're going to go get candy apples, it was nice seeing you."

Silver would have at least attempted to fight his own battle, but he struggled to focus because of the soft warmth nestled in his palm and interlacing with his fingers. Ethan was holding his hand, and it felt like his brain short circuited.

He was so thankful that the darkened room made it so that no one could see his face, as he has no doubt that he had definitely broken out into a full blush. Ethan was really taking the whole 'couple' thing very seriously. Which would have been a bad thing except Silver couldn't think straight enough to feel anything except a strange cloudiness in his head, along with that feeling that he still couldn't put his finger on.

He managed to get a grip back on reality - or whatever the strange version of reality he was in where colourful lights flashed and music so loud it made his head hurt floated around every corridor - just in time to hear Blue say his signature "Smell ya later" combined with his two fingered salute. Ethan waved back at him politely.

The two ended up walking further into the house, presumably to the room with the speakers judging by how the music got even louder as they approached. Their hands stayed interlocked the entire time as they weaved through the hundreds of party goers that littered the rooms.

By the time they reached their destination, he had managed to control the outbreak of red on his face to an acceptable level. Said destination happened to be the whole reason that Silver had even agreed to show up at all. Candy apples.

Just from a mere glance, Silver knew that they would likely make the entire night slightly more tolerable. Several trays of them sat on a table, each divided by colour and presumably flavour. Some where covered in chocolate and marshmallows whilst others were a sticky looking golden brown, each of which had a variety of patterns and designs in the coating ranging from swirls, to stars, to white chocolate covered ones with eyes painted on to look like ghosts.

A small paper sign also stood on the table next to the delicious looking sweets, it read: "50p each, couples free!". There was no box to put in any money, instead, a girl slightly older than Silver stood behind the counter, which he hadn't seen as the candy apples and the hand still holding his had distracted him.

On closer inspection, the girl behind the counter happened to be Jasmine, the Olivine gym leader and another one of the many people that Silver had made an enemy of. Great, he couldn't even get candy apples without a reminder of his past slapping him across the face.

The two orange barrettes that usually held up her hair into bunches were replaced by ones with oversized magnets, holding her hair up whilst also decorating either side of her head. A plastic screw attached to a headband also sat in her hair, with two more screws painted with silver makeup just below her chin.

The metallic silver fabric of her dress twirled as she waved to the two with a wide smile. Streaking across the front of her dress was an embroidered golden thunderbolt which tied the whole costume together, it was clearly hand stitched, but expertly so, unlike the scruffy cardboard monster they just escaped.

"Hi!" Those lips painted with silver lipstick curved into a smile that looked just as sweet as the display of candied fruit in front of them, "All homemade, feel free to look around."

Silver attempted to open his mouth to initiate the conversation, and possibly apologise for his prior actions before Ethan opened his mouth and immediately shut down anything Silver was planning on saying.

"Wow!" With no regard for the costume he was wearing, he leaned forward to take a deep inhale of the sickly sweet smell, "They look delicious!"

Several hairs from his fluffy ears fell onto the apples he leant over, and when he pulled back Silver saw that he had a dot of caramel on his nose. It overlapped with the black eyeliner dot that he had drawn on previously.

He would have said something there and then if Jasmine didn't take that moment to gasp with her hands up to her face. "Ethan? I didn't recognise you for a second, how've you been?"

Just like that, Ethan slid flawlessly into the conversation as he so often did, "Ah, same old. What about you, how's the gym?"

"Not many challengers this time of year," her manicured hand drifted up to her face as she tilted her head ever so slightly to the side, "but that gives me more time to prepare for the holidays."

Ethan let out a chuckle before his eyes immediately locked back onto the candy apples, slightly glistening in all their glory. "So... what flavour do you like, Silver?"

Slightly taken by surprise by being dragged into the conversation so suddenly, he didn't even register the expression of shock on Jasmine's face. "Silver?"

fuck.

"Yeah, that's me." Still hesitant of how he was supposed to approach any sort of conversation with her, he stood awkwardly for a few seconds with his eyes looking absolutely anywhere except her face.

Although he didn't have much experience with social interaction or social norms at all, his mind kindly reminded him of one of the few experiences that he did have. The wave. Sure, it wasn't a lot, and likely was not how introductions were supposed to go, but Silver had little to no experience to work with, and his silent agreement to use 'the wave' hadn't failed so far.

So he did just that, forcing himself to make eye contact despite every muscle in his body screaming for him to run in the opposite direction. Jasmine slowly brought her hands down from her face.

"I didn't know you two were dating? For how long?" Any trace of shock on her face seemed to melt away like caramel in hot water as she turned her attention to silver. "It's so nice to meet you, Ethan has told me so much about you!"

great. I'm sure he told you about how I first met him by punching him in the gut. Good at first impressions? Yeah right. He probably told you that my dad is a mafia boss too.

"Nice to meet you too." He managed to croak out, this time with a lot less hesitation.

Desperate to look anywhere but the girl's slightly dopey and love struck smile as she looked between the two of them, his eyes landed on Ethan's face, the dot of caramel still stuck on his nose.

"You've got caramel on your nose." He commented offhandedly, as though he wasn't looking for any way to escape the conversation. He gestured to his own nose.

"Ah!" Jasmine seemed to notice it just as Silver mentioned it, likely too distracted by the elephant in the room to notice. "I'll get you a wipe."

"No need!" With a simple wink in her direction, his face contorted into something almost monstrous as he stretched his tongue out as far up as he could, desperately trying to grab a lick of the gooey sweetness. Silver wasn't sure if he should have felt disgusted or disappointed.

It took a few seconds of Ethan struggling and Jasmine still searching for a wipe for Silver to take matters into his own hands. Without thinking, he reached forwards to Ethan's face as though he had done it a million times before and gently wiped the caramel off with his thumb.

The two locked eyes again, this time further apart than when Ethan applied his makeup, yet nonetheless he still felt a small flutter in the pit of his stomach as his thumb gently graced over his skin, slightly hot from the heat of the party as the rainbow lights danced across his face.

Somehow, the dot of black eyeliner was still perfectly intact, even from the blast of water from earlier. The whiskers didn't seem to be running either, meaning either Ethan was a wizard, or the eyeliner was waterproof.

However, although Ethan's nose was now caramel free, it presented a new problem that he hadn't foreseen. He had a blob of slightly wet caramel on his thumb.

He definitely wasn't going to lick it off, considering it had been on Ethan's face and likely contained sweat or something similar, and wiping it on his outfit would have ruined the outfit that he had so painstaking endured the process of putting on.

The idea to use the wipe that Jasmine held only occurred to him once his wrist had already been grabbed by someone.

He was given no time to react as his thumb was pulled towards Ethan's face, who traced his tongue up his finger and licked up the caramel like a rockruff with peanut butter. His expression melted as the sweetness spread over his tongue.

what the fuck.

Ethan... just licked his finger

WHAT THE FUCK?!?!?

His heart was pounding, from anger or shock he couldn't tell. Ethan did it so casually that the only indication that it actually happened was the faint layer of saliva that coated his thumb. His mind refused to come up with any words except a string of curses, which he was thankfully able to not say.

If his mind had overheated earlier, then this was like his mind overheating so much that it became hotter than the sun. The only noise able to leave his mouth was a string of half baked sounds that he couldn't decipher, Ethan just licked him .

Blissfully unaware of what was happening in his head, Jasmine clasped her hands and swooned. "You two are so adorable! I'm a bit jealous." She gestured to the array of apples in front of her "Couples free! Pick your favourite!"

Normally, just the mention of the sweetened fruits would have brought him down to earth, but there was absolutely nothing normal about this situation. He wanted to yell at Ethan, to drag him by the ear to somewhere more private so he could berate him without getting weird looks, he wanted to...

Whatever it was, he didn't have a chance to think it through fully as an apple on a stick was pressed into his hand. One covered in a caramel dyed red, with tiny little pokeball sprinkles atop it. Ethan didn't hesitate to take a lick of his own, covered in hardened sugar syrup with a pikachu face painted on in black food dye.

He took a bite slightly hesitantly, teeth crunching into a texture that he knew from eating regular apples, but the caramel caught him off guard. The apple was sweet, but juicy enough to balance out the slightly warm caramel that stuck to his teeth.

In any other situation, he would have marvelled at how the taste was so unexpectedly good for something so simple, just a fruit dipped in a sugary sauce and stabbed with a wooden stick. However, all he could taste on his tongue in that moment was sickly sweet sugar and empty calories.

Still, he had the common decency to at least thank Jasmine before the two were off again, back into the densely packed hallways where the music pounded and people danced recklessly with no regard to the costumes they wore.

He found that, even though his haze was fading, he was still dazed enough to have his hand find its way into Ethan's as they walked. For comfort or out of fear of losing him in the crowd, he couldn't tell.

All he knew was that his head was swarming, and they had only arrived about 20 minutes ago.

--------------

The two floated around the party for a while, with Silver awkwardly attempting to make small talk with those that Ethan conversed with. Despite it being exactly what he feared would happen, he found that introductions were becoming easier and easier as the night progressed, but... even that didn't feel right.

Everyone was too... nice. In theory that should have been a good thing, but Silver couldn't take the off handed reminders of his past which were brushed off by a smile and a laugh. He was horrible, he was horrible to everyone and they had the nerve to stand in front of him and pretend like it was all in the past, as though now he was a perfectly pure saint.

Honestly, he would have much rather have had someone slap him across the face and berate him for his actions, perhaps then the voice inside his head screaming at him about all his mistakes would be quiet for at least a minute.

Yet, at least he could deal with those feelings, just barely. What he couldn't deal with was the overwhelming sensation that everyone else knew something he didn't, and it was driving him nuts.

Whenever Ethan just so happened to mention that they were 'dating', they would always get a reaction along the lines of "Finally!" or "I always knew you two were made for each other". Then they would look between the two with this look that infuriated Silver, as if they could see something that he couldn't, or like they had proposed on the spot.

Silver wasn't dense (he liked to think), he knew something was up. That stupid dopey grin that people got when they looked between the two, made even worse if they happened to be holding hands at the time. It felt as though there was something very obvious that he was missing...

...And it annoyed him to no end

He stood on the outskirts of a group that Ethan was talking to, namely Lyra and Kris. At the very least, the two were people that Silver talked to semi-frequently. He considered them 'friends', in a sense, although the thought of ever saying that word out loud was a step he was nowhere near ready to take.

Out of boredom and unease, he drifted his gaze down to the red cup full of watered down orange juice that he had acquired at some point. The entire room was too stuffy, and the fluffy shawl did him no favours.

"-So that's what I'm saying! Like? Dude! You two are clearly in love but instead you spend 3 and a half seasons doing nothing but pine for each other," Kris stopped her rant for a moment to take a swig of apple juice, "Still love the show, it's just so frustrating sometimes."

Unsurprisingly, he hadn't seen the show that the conversation focused around, leaving him with nothing much to do but stare at his shoes and pretend he was having a lot more fun than he actually was.

Against the music - which had been playing at full volume for at least an hour at that point - Ethan's laugh sounded like heaven, even though he had heard it a million times that night as he fluttered from conversation to conversation. "I know, right?"

"It's not like it's unrealistic though." Lyra swung her legs as she sat on the kitchen counter, "I mean, how long did it take you two to finally hook up?"

Sensing his name had been mentioned, Silver perked up just in time to hear Ethan nervously laugh "Actually, we just started dating yesterday."

Like a scene from a movie, Kris crumpled the plastic cup in her hand, unfortunately it didn't have the dramatic effect that a glass cup would have had, but on the plus side, she didn't have any shards of glass embedded in her hand. Watery apple juice spilt onto the floor and made a large splash onto her homemade Feraligatr dress.

"No way..." Lyra raised an eyebrow as she smiled, as though trying to figure out if Ethan was playing an elaborate joke on them.

Eyeing both their shocked expressions, Silver felt a slightly sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach as he somewhat fearfully asked "what?"

"We both thought you started dating ages ago." Kris discarded the crumpled mess of plastic in her hands before turning her full attention back to the two, "Ethan told us about his crush on you about... a year ago now?"

Lyra entered the conversation as her face shifted from shock to amusement, "We just kinda assumed you started dating around that time, you two act like a married couple half the time anyways." She couldn't restrain another laugh, "I can't believe it took you that long for you two to become a thing."

Suddenly, Several things seemed to click in Silver's mind all at once, and admittedly, he felt like an idiot for not piecing it together earlier.

All those weird looks, the casual dismissal of his past actions, the feeling that they all knew something he didn't... it was all just because of Ethan.

Of course Ethan couldn't keep his mouth shut, he probably told everyone about his supposed 'crush' just so he could unintentionally humiliate Silver even further when the time came to introduce them as a couple. Everyone being practically forced to forgive his prior actions or face the wrath of Ethan and his gaggle of friends. Of course, he was a fool for not seeing it earlier.

Even though in the back of his mind, there was a tiny voice screaming at him that despite Ethan liking pranks and messing with him, he would never go that far to hurt him. But... what other option was there? Either Ethan did like him, and coincidentally only told the people that he knew Silver had a bad past with, or, he thought that telling everyone he had a crush on him would stop them holding his actions against him...

He knew immediately that it couldn't be the former, there was no way that someone like Ethan would be in love with someone like him.

So that meant that the hand holding, their faces so close they could almost feel the electricity from the other person skin, the playful teasing and the caramel on his fingers...

It was all just a lie.

Even though he had gone into this whole agreement with that knowledge at the front of his mind, for some reason... it hurt. It hurt a lot. Even when he agreed with Ethan at the start of the night that the whole relationship was a lie, with no feelings involved, only to save 50p at a candy apple stall.

So then why did Silver feel like he had just been stabbed in the gut?

He took the opportunity to flee to the bathroom as soon as he could, silently cursing under his breath at how he could still hear the pounding music even from behind the locked door. But more than anything, cursing himself under his breath for going along with this stupid plan in the first place.

More than anything, he hated himself for trusting him at all.

-----------

He somehow managed to find refuge after locking himself in the bathroom for around 20 minutes. When he came back, eyeliner still miraculously intact even after all it had endured that night, most of the people were still spread out across the entire house, except now the vast majority of them had pumpkins in their hands.

Each of them seemed to be at least somewhat concentrated on their pumpkin. Considering they all held knives, or at least something sharp, that was probably a good thing.

His discreetly wiped his eyes with his shawl, which was fluffy enough to act as a towel, then walked down the hallway silently hoping the disco lighting disguised how vibrant red his face was.

His mind was acting on autopilot when he accepted the pumpkin from someone in an ariados costume, complete with plastic legs attached to her back and fake webs around the horns on her head. The music was blaring right into his skull, the lights too bright but the room too dark all at the same time.

After a while of wandering around aimlessly, pumpkin in hand, he eventually found somewhere ever so slightly secluded. It wasn't much, but the music was slightly less unbearable and he couldn't see any other people nearby.

He sank down on the floor, littered with candy apple sticks and discarded cups. The pumpkin, thankfully already hollowed out, sat in his lap. Just looking at the plain orange surface, he felt as though it was staring back at him, despite it's lack of a face.

There was a small carving tool located inside that he picked up with a lot less care than he knew better than to do. He didn't hesitate to plunge the tool into the orange flesh as hard as he could, with no rhyme or reason to what shape he was going to make, he just knew that he had to do something, anything.

The tool glided through the pumpkin with a fair bit of resistance, but Silver was too strong to be defeated by a pumpkin. He applied more force until the shape was completely closed, the excess chunk of pumpkin falling inside with a tiny clunk.

Without thinking, he did so again, sinking the sharpened edge through the tough orange skin just like how a Sneasel's claws would. Sawing back and forth faster and faster just so he couldn't give his mind even a second to think, if he did, he likely would have realised that going home was the better option.

"Silver!"

The voice that called his name was barely audible above the pounding music, as well as his pounding headache. Quite possibly the last person on earth that he wanted to see in that moment.

Ethan slid down to sit next to him, however Silver kept his gaze firmly on the pumpkin in his lap. He didn't want to hear whatever apology that someone had put in his mouth.

"Are you alright? You disappeared for quite a while there..."

Despite his voice being laced with concern, Silver would not be won over that easily. If Ethan wanted to hurt him with such an elaborate plan, then he simply wouldn't acknowledge it. Or him. Just look right through him as though he wasn't there at all.

"..."

"Look... I know this might be a little awkward but I just..." He struggled to find the right words before dropping the sentence completely with a heavy sigh.

"..."

"You shouldn't have found out like this..." he tried to make eye contact once again, only for Silver to completely blank him once again, "I didn't want to hurt you."

liar

So now Ethan would just sidle up to him and pretend it never happened? Like all of the planning and meticulous steps he took to hurt Silver in the worst way possible were just a lucky coincidence? As if.

Despite wanting to argue back, he mustered all his willpower to keep silent and continue slicing through the vibrant orange.

"..."

"Can we please talk?"

" No! " he wanted to scream at him, "Just go away!".

None of this was right, the music was too loud, his thoughts were too loud, everything was too loud, too bright, too dark, too incoherent. Nothing made sense, it would have been much easier to stay mad at Ethan if he just didn't say a word, but know he was apologising and everything was wrong.

It felt like he couldn't breathe, the only actions his body performed acting on pure survival instinct. He wasn't even sure what Ethan was saying anymore, only that his entire world was dissolving into a blur of colours and sounds and he-

crrrrrrraaaack

Sharply brought down to earth by a jolt of pain, he looked down to see the tool in his hands had sliced through the entire pumpkin and sliced into his finger, leaving a moderately sized laceration on the side of his index and the top of his palm.

"Silver!" Ethan jumped from concern, watching as several drops of red trickled down the length of his palm. "Ahh! Are you okay? Do I need an ambulance? How many fingers am I holding up?"

Silver at least had the emotional maturity to temporarily pause his silent treatment of Ethan in order to stop himself bleeding onto the floor. However, he really wasn't helping that much, and nor were the ten slightly shaky fingers he held in front of his face.

"I need to leave..." he managed to whisper, just loud enough so that Ethan could hear it (somehow) over the pounding music.

He didn't ask any more questions, nor try to baby or fuss over him at all. He simply grabbed his non injured hand and firmly yet gently led him through the maze like halls and out the front door.

-------------

The first step outside was like heaven. The cool air from the autumn breeze filling his lungs after being trapped in the cramped party. The music was so much quieter from beyond the closed doors, overpowered by a simple rush of wind that threw up autumn leaves everywhere.

Even as Ethan fussed over his wounds and led him by the hand further away from the house. Silver didn't say a word, even when they found a pile of golden brown leaves that they both sank down onto.

"..."

Ethan inspected the cut from different angles, whilst Silver still refused to make eye contact. It was childish, he knew that, but he was furious and he didn't want to open his mouth and give people even more things he said to hold against him.

"Giving me the silent treatment?"

Still nothing, even when the alcoholic wipe passed over the wound Silver used all his energy not to show any degree of pain. He could almost feel Ethan's sad smile boring into him.

He laughed quietly, "I suppose I deserve it."

A firm hand wrapped a bandage around his palm, over and over likely many more times than necessary. That damn sad smile that Silver could see inside his head even with his eyes closed, fucking Ethan, always knowing how to get under his skin and make him feel guilty.

"I can fight my own battles." He whispered quietly. He was the one who didn't pay attention, he was the one that got distracted whilst holding the pumpkin equivalent of a butcher knife. He created the wound, therefore he should be the one to heal it.

Yet, he still sat in the pile of autumn leaves, letting Ethan tend to him like a school nurse, and he still let Ethan talk to him despite the protective part of himself that he needed to fight this battle, that was the whole reason he was mad in the first place.

"I know."

"Then why did you do it?"

Ethan did a double take. "Wait... what?"

"Why did you do all this..." Silver gritted his teeth in an attempt to stop his entire body from shaking violently. "I don't need you to pretend to be in love with me just so I won't be held accountable for my actions."

Ethan's hands froze for a second as he was about to tuck the end of the bandage in to keep it secure, it was always a bad sign whenever Ethan went quiet so Silver didn't hesitate to meet his eye that time.

He looked completely baffled, as though Silver had spoken to him in another language, or it was also possible he had a stroke judging by how little his body was moving.

"Okay... I think somethings gotten lost in translation here." He breathed in deeply, before clasping his hands together, "what do you think happened?"

Now Silver was the one confused, yet he answered nonetheless. "You told people that you had a crush on me." Even just saying the words aloud seemed to hurt, stirring a concoction of fury and heartbreak deep inside, "So they'd have to forgive me for everything I did, or else they'd risk pissing you off. That's the whole reason you even brought me here in the first place."

wait, heartbreak?

He didn't have any time to ponder any of his thoughts as when he looked back to Ethan, he was completely frozen. So still it didn't even seem like he was breathing, or blinking for that matter as he stared deeply into Silver's eyes completely wordlessly for long enough that it made him incredibly uncomfortable.

"..."

"What?" Silver snapped.

"..." He wasn't even completely sure that Ethan could hear him over the sound of the cogs turning in his mind. Wherever Ethan's mind was, it certainly wasn't here and it was freaking Silver out.

"Say something!"

"I'm-..." His expression didnt change at all, staying completely flat and unmoving even as he spoke, "completely speechless. how on earth did you come to that conclusion? What kind of mental gymnastics did you do to come up with that?"

"Huh?"

"Silver." He grabbed him firmly by the shoulders, staring deep into his eyes, "Do you honestly think I would lie to my friends, then not do anything about it for a whole year, then completely out of the blue decide that I would ruin your first ever chance to break out of your shell a bit?"

"B-but-"

"Silver! Listen to me." He shook him almost desperately, the same kind of desperation in his tone that Silver heard when he first appeared on the doorstep. "I don't even have the patience to let my ice cream defrost before eating it, do you seriously think I would wait a whole year just to fuck with you?"

"I..." He tried to gulp down the ball of dread that settled in the pit of his throat. He... didnt seem as though he was lying. Perhaps it was another trick to get him to bring his guard down again?

However, this time, he knew that he was being irrational. Ethan wouldn't do anything to hurt him, he never had, even during the times where he hurt him time after time, without even a hint of a sorry. He had done all that, and Silver had still doubted him.

He really was a terrible person.

"...guess not."

Unfortunately, neither Silver nor his fried brain had the opportunity to put 2 and 2 together as their moment was interrupted by a sudden wave of overly loud music and similarly overly loud teenagers. The two looked up to see the doors of the house open, and, like burst floodgates, several hundred teenagers came pouring out in a stampede like formation.

"...what the hell?" Silver whispered as he watched more and more people leave the house, some carrying the speakers from hell on their shoulders.

"I'm more surprised that that many people were able to fit inside." Thankfully the hand that was injured was not the one that Ethan instinctively reached out to grab, even though he was doubtful that it would even hurt if he did, considering the thickness of the bandages wrapped around it. "You want to follow them?"

When he weighed the options in his head, the answer was very one sided. Either a) go home and feel terrible for the rest of the night. Or b) at least try to take his mind off things for a few more hours.

"Let's go."

------------------------------

Mistake.

He was amazed, no, baffled, completely astonished, shocked, aghast and all that times 100 at the fact that somehow, SOMEHOW, after all that had happened that night, this was somehow the worst decision he made.

He should have known something was up when the sound of the autumn breeze turned to the very familiar sound of drunken adults. Voices that were powerful but clearly misguided and unstable as they went from shouting to booming laughter in milliseconds. Somehow, Silver hadn't put together the pieces of the puzzle until it was too late.

Having trailed behind the crowd in order to avoid the blaring speakers for a few precious minutes, everyone else had already gone inside by the time they arrived at the front door, nowhere near as elaborately decorated as the house they had just left.

Completely disregarding the slight voice in the back of his head telling him just to go home, he opened the front door and held it open for Ethan, who curtsied semi sarcastically.

The first thing that he noticed when he entered the door was that the person with the speakers seemed to have FINALLY got the hint as the music was still loud, but no longer so loud that Silver couldn't hear himself think.

However, that was where his praises ended as a familiar smell immediately greeted his nostrils, and it didn't take him long to find out the source of said smell. The first thing he saw when he turned to look down the hall was a table with a bowl of diluted fruit juice with a nearly empty bottle of vodka next to it.

From only the few minutes that the gang of teenagers had been at the party, it seemed as though the majority of them, including Blue and Kris, had already filled their red plastic cups with the spiked punch.

"...so much for adults only" Ethan commented, not having picked up on how uncomfortable Silver was, nor that his grip around his hand tightened as if he was worried he would try to run off and leave him at the first opportunity.

He couldn't find the words to respond as he looked around the hallway, the people he had seen happily dancing and chatting mere minutes ago now stumbling around and laughing loudly. Another thing on the long list of reasons that he hated alcohol was the effects were near instant. It only took a few sips for the people he previously recognised as good hearted people transformed into shouting and vomiting messes with only a few sips.

Desperate to run, escape, or do anything to get away from the stumbling messes that littered the hallways, he walked past the table covered with alcohol and further into the house. Which he didn't take long to realise was another mistake.

The living room was full of adults, namely gym leaders and league members all either lounged across the couches or huddled in groups whilst talking. They all wore costumes, some with a lot more effort put into them than others.

Somehow, that tiny detail is what caused Silver to click.

A costume party for all the adult gym leaders... the same one that Lance was going to.

fuck

His eyes scanned around the room, immediately landing on a man with a glass of whiskey in his hand, huddled together and laughing with some of his fellow elite four members. The man in a homemade shiny Gyarados costume.

fuck.

In his hand was a half full glass of whiskey.

---

It was another one of those days. The days where his father brought around some of his men for a 'gathering' as he called it. This usually meant that Silver would do his best to stay out of sight, unless he was needed for any reason.

He never liked his father's men, always so loud and fragile. The wrong word could easily set them off, accompanied by the symphony of shattering glass, which Silver was always given the task of cleaning up.

Not that he minded.

"Silver!" he was able to hear his name from across the house, no matter if his father whispered it or screamed it, the latter more common during these 'gatherings'.

Even the sound of his breathing seemed too loud as he descended the stairs, down into the ground floor which was littered with people Silver had never seen. They all wore the same uniform however, always with the big red 'R' in the centre of their shirts and the glasses of a deep yellow liquid in their hands.

"Ayy, It's the mini boss." A man's hand that he didn't know ruffled through his hair as he walked past, the touch so harsh from a man who looked just as harsh. He could smell the unpleasant odour of cigarette smoke and alcohol on his clothes as he leaned closer, "here to stop your old man from overdosing?"

He didnt know what that word even meant, but he had heard it several times and never exactly had the urge to ask. He was able to wriggle out of his grasp, hearing the low pitched laughter behind him like nails on a chalkboard.

He got to the kitchen where he knew his father always refuged, on a seat by the window with a crystal glass in his hand half full with whiskey and ice, rattling around as he swirled the glass. The bottle of said whiskey was empty by his feet.

"Ah, Silver." He knew just from those two words, incoherent almost to the point of indecipherability that the bottle by his feet was likely a result of him alone. His grin like that of the Persian that lay asleep at his feet, "Come give your father a hug."

He swallowed, uneasy. He had been in this situation too many times to even feign naivety, but, locking himself in his room never helped either, knowing that he was simply covering his ears instead of facing it headfirst.

Hesitantly, he inched forwards into his father's outstretched arms. The fabric of his suit was scratch and unkempt, stubble that scratched at the side of his cheek as the arms around him held onto him tightly. The closest thing to physical affection that his father had ever done.

"My Silver..." he whispered, in a tone somewhere between happy and predatory, "where would you be without me?"

Again, he didn't respond, feeling like he couldn't - no - shouldn't breathe. His eyes were pressed closed, silently hoping he would open them and be tucked under the covers in his bedroom again, with no noise at all coming from downstairs.

"You're so tense..." he slid a rough hand up and down his back, making Silver use all his energy not to shiver in disgust at the contact. "Are you scared of me?"

Yes. He was. He very much was. Scared enough that he knew to shake his head.

"You shouldn't be scared of your own father." He pulled him further into his lap, "after all, I chose to keep you here. I could have left you, you know? I could have left you just like your mother did. But I didn't."

Internally, he wanted to scream. He wanted to tell him to shut up over and over again. He wanted to run away back to the safety of his room, where he would be at least somewhat safe. He just wanted to be anywhere but there.

"And yet you still despise me." He said in a low growl, "after everything I've done for you, you're still as stubborn and defective as the day you were born."

Please... stop.

"Are you crying again?" The moisture underneath his eyes was forcefully wiped away by a rough thumb across his face. "Pathetic as always..."

Silver didn't cry.

Silver didn't cry anymore

Silver hated alcohol

Silver hated himself

---

He realised that he was staring much too late as the plush Gyarados tail swung around as the two made eye contact.

"S-Silver!" Lance walked over to him with his arms open, a grin on his face that was a lot more dopier than usual. Some of the whiskey in his hand spilled onto the ground as he rapidly approached him.

Silver held his breath, took a step back and stayed silent.

Thankfully, he didn't feel the familiar sensation of arms wrapping around him like ekans poised to kill. When he cracked his eyes open, he saw that Ethan had intercepted the much larger and more intimidating man by sticking his arm out to stop him getting too close.

He seemed to take the hint, but it became clear after only around two seconds of looking into his eyes that he was severely out of it. He was visibly struggling to stay balanced and each of his words mixed into the next until it was just a mess of sound.

His eyes drifted between Silver, then to Ethan, then back to Silver. He thrust a shaky finger in their direction with the determination of a man who did not fear Arceus "See! I told you he had a girlfriend already, takes after me..."

Perhaps sensing that he was about to fall over, Koga appeared by his side to support him. He also had a slightly drunken look in his eyes, but Silver knew immediately from seeing him that he could handle his liquor, the same steely harshness in his eyes.

"Ethan's a boy," he corrected, only for Silver to have his blood run cold. Koga just unknowingly outed him to his mentor.... When they weren't even dating. And Silver didn't even know if he was actually LGBT or not.

As if the night couldn't get any fucking worse.

Acting on survival instinct, flashback memories and sheer terror, Silver couldn't stop his entire body from trembling at the sight. His mentor, the person he looked up to and admired the most, the person so sturdy and strong that nothing in the world could phase him... like this. Drunkenly smiling in an intoxicated daze.

Just like his father...

Koga forcibly took the glass out of his hand before he inevitably dropped it on the floor and it shattered everywhere, like the symphony of shattering glass

whiskey in a crystal glass

"Dad... please stop. You're drunk..." the words spilled from Silver's shaky lips like a crack in a waterfall. Why was everything going wrong. This wasn't right.

"Hell yeah, told you he had a boyfriend!" He punched the air before Koga began to forcibly drag him away, hopefully to a bed. "That's my son!"

That's my son

Silver felt his face grow hot, the sensation of suffocating crawling it's way back up his throat like a parasite.

He didn't pay attention to anything or anyone that he pushed aside as he ran straight out the front door, over the roads without looking either direction, and kept running as though it would make all his pain go away.

It didn't. It never did.

Silver didn't cry

Silver hated himself

---------------------

Sobbing alone in the woods in a Delcatty costume... how dignified he must have looked.

Everything hurt so much, something that was just supposed to be a stupid Halloween party was more like a nightmare, and there was no way he was waking up any time soon. Why? Was this his retribution for his past actions?

Or was this just another reminder that he was still his fathers son...

That bastard.

It was too late for trick or treat goers to be out anymore, so he wasn't even comforted by the sound of life. Just the breeze, the vibrant autumn leaves that he could only see in black and white because of how dark it was.

He didnt know how far he ran, or if he would find a way home that night. Perhaps he could run away again? He had already ran away from one dad, why not do it again? Living out in the woods wasn't too bad. Apart from the bugs... and the cold... and the lack of beds.

His thoughts were interrupted by a hand reaching out to him, a pack of tissues sitting in their outstretched palm. In any other situation, he would have batted them away and attempted to wipe his tears as fast as he could, but he was crying in the woods in a Delcatty costume for Arceus sakes, there was no point in being stubborn.

The owner of said hand knelt down next to him with a smile that he could feel without even looking. His hand overlapped with the bandage on his own, delicately clasping him as though he would break if treated too roughly.

"You called Lance dad..." Ethan wasted no time in dancing around the issue, "that's progress."

"It's not." He shut him down immediately.

He could feel Ethan wanted to know more, but he had the common sense not to ask, at least he wasn't completely hopeless. However, at the same time, it would be the first time he had ever told anyone about his father. He much preferred to keep those memories in the back of his mind where he was adamant he would never see them again.

He should have known better than that.

Subconsciously, he found himself beginning to open his mouth, yet only a few indistinct sounds came out initially, as if he was the one drunk. He didn't know why, why he was confiding in someone for the first time ever, or why he felt like he suddenly lost the ability to talk.

"It's okay, take your time." He stroked his hand with his thumb and Silver struggled to try and form a sentence without looking like an idiot.

Slowly, almost painfully slowly by his standards, he began to talk. About all the things he remembered, about all the words he remembered. Even though his tears had pretty much stopped by the time Ethan arrived, he found that a whole new batch managed to form the more he talked.

He didn't get to say everything, but he told Ethan everything that mattered. Which, was more than enough in his opinion. Ethan didn't need to know the details about every shard of glass he picked up, or every cut and scar on his fingers from said cleanup.

Gently, Ethan's hand slid up from his arm and onto his shoulder, "Thank you."

Silver looked away and wiped the remainder of his tears away with a fresh tissue, "for what?"

"Talking to me." He smiled at him, so earnestly and kindly that Silver had no idea how he had pushed him away for so long. "Would you mind a hug, or is that too far?"

He didn't respond to that, instead hesitantly wrapping his arms around Ethan's back. The gesture was reciprocated, firmly, but not at all in the same way that his father did. It didn't feel like he was suffocating, instead it felt...

Nice.

It would take a lot of getting used to, but he would admit that he preferred the kind of hug that didn't make him feel like he was dying, and it seemed Ethan was good at that.

"..."

They stayed that way for a while, arms wordlessly interlocked whilst the dead leaves flutter in the background like a scene from a tacky romance movie. Nonetheless, they stayed that way for around five minutes before Silver pulled away.

"So..." Silver finally built up the courage to ask the question eating at him, well, the second question. "If you didn't tell people you had a crush, why did they all... act like that?"

"You mean... why did they treat you nicely?"

He nodded wordlessly.

"Because people can change," he pointed out as though it was the most casual thing in the world, the hand still on his back rubbed up and down, "everyone at the party knows that you're not the same person you used to be, and that's good! You're the new and improved Silver."

He couldn't deny the small pull at the corner of his lips at that joke, but it still didn't make much sense, "b-but I was horrible to everyone, I shouldn't be forgiven that easily."

"Well," he gently poked his nose "I think you should, and everyone else seems to think so too, so that's 1/245, you lose."

"Oh."

He couldn't find any other words to say, the answer was such a simple one, too simple. Normally he would have argued, but Ethan's tone left no room for argument and when he tried to open his mouth, he was instantly shut down by that golden smile.

"Wait..." the cogs began to turn inside his head, "so then why did you tell everyone that you had a crush on me?"

"..."

The silence said a thousand words in only a few seconds, and he couldn't believe that he didn't realise it earlier.

"Because I do." He smiled once again, slightly sadder than before. "But I don't want to put any pressure on you, if you don't feel the same, I'm more than happy just staying friends."

"Oh..."

So... thats what that feeling was. The butterflies in his stomach, the blushing, flustered hand holding, the thought of kissing when the two brought their faces close together... That was... love? Or maybe not love just yet, but the spark of something he wasn't familiar with, but knew he wanted to try.

Without thinking, he planted a tiny peck on Ethan's left cheek, face red as a tomato as he did so.

He never thought that a costume party would turn out like this.

--------------------------

The cherry on top of the cake was the walk back to the house, as they peered through the window to see how the party was doing without them and saw several drunken teenagers and adults (including Lance) trying and miserably failing to do the cha cha slide whilst heavily intoxicated.

The two stood at the window fascinated for a few moments, like watching monkeys at a zoo, before the two of them locked eyes simultaneously.

They couldn't help but laugh, despite the circumstances, at least it meant that they had the house to themselves for the night.

-------------------------

The light from the sunrise shone into Silver's bedroom, dappled by his blinds. He tried to seek warmth and escape the harsh awakening by hiding under the covers.

Apparently he wasn't the only one, as when he came around a little bit more he realised that he was entangled with Etha- his boyfriend. That word felt strange to think about, but he had little time to fully think it over as he realised that the two fell asleep embraced, thankfully both with clothes on.

However, it was funny to see how tangled both their wigs had gotten during the night, resembling matted fur more than hair. Gently, he scooped the wig (and subsequently, ears) off his head and chucked them across his room before doing the same for his own.

"Hey..." Ethan said groggily, having woken up as Silver pulled his hands away from around his body, "can we make the moon charms into necklaces?"!

Taken aback how that was the very first thing he said, without even a moment to properly wake up, he half smiled in his sleepy dazed way. "We only started dating yesterday..."

"I know..." he stretched out and yawned, his nose wrinkling and distorting the painted on whiskers, which somehow still hadn't come off. "I just don't want to forget yesterday."

"Ethan, I don't think either of us will ever forget yesterday." He rolled his eyes, but managed to crawl his way out of bed nonetheless.

"Yeah... you're right."

The rest of the morning was fairly uneventful, the same routine that Silver was used to, brush his hair and teeth, get dressed, have breakfast. Yet, having someone by his side to do it with was a feeling he didn't recognise, and he'd be lying if he said he didn't like it.

Breakfast wasn't anything special, just two bowls of cereal which they both ate whilst idly chatting back and forth about the previous night.

Since he didn't bring any change of clothes with him, as he didn't anticipate staying the night, or, really anything that happened that evening, Silver mended him an older pair of clothes that he could wear to go home in. Despite his protests, he would not let Ethan walk home wearing a dress stained with caramel, spilled alcohol, candy apple sticks stuck to the skirt and fruit juice stains.

Once the food was finished and the dishes washed, Silver went to lead Ethan out the door.

"It's been fun, hasn't it?" He asked.

Silver nodded, now that he was in a more stable frame of mind, he was able to make much more coherent choices. However, that didn't stop Ethan's dumb lovestruck smile from making his heart beat just that little bit faster.

This time, Ethan was the one who leaned in closer, lips just about to graze his cheek...

Until Silver heard the doorknob turn.

Acting out of pure panic, he opened the nearest cupboard door and shoved Ethan in as hard as he could, before slamming the door shut behind him. Just in the nick of time too, as the door opened to reveal a very disheveled looking Lance, who clutched his head.

It was only when he waved to the older man that he remembered he still hadn't washed off the makeup from yesterday... whoops.

"Hey Silver." He breathed a yawn that turned into a smile "Have a nice time at the party?"

"Y-yeah..." Silver averted his gaze to the ground as he locked the door behind him.

"..."

It only took a few seconds of awkwardly standing there for Lance to take action.

"Alright, I'm not going to beat around the bush here, I think the two of us need to talk." He said, using the 'stern father' tone that always scared Silver a little bit.

"First off, I know I was a bit... out of it yesterday," he rubbed the back of his neck "I've... talked to some of the gym leaders about your father before... and I just want to let you know that I never want to make you feel like that, ever."

"If you ever feel unsafe around me, please tell me." He knelt down so he was at eye level with Silver and could easily put his hands on his shoulders. "If you feel uncomfortable with being around me or anyone else when they're drunk, just let me know and I'll sort it out."

"I... don't like alcohol."

He chuckled weakly, "I thought as much."

"I know you called me dad, but..." he seemed to avert his eyes to the ground for a split second before placing them back on Silver "I don't think it was really for the best reason."

you don't say

"If you don't want to call me dad, that's fine with me." He smiled gently at the fragile looking young boy in front of him, "but I think of you as a... son, and I'll take care of you no matter what."

I think of you as a son

Was he dreaming, hallucinating? Was this a dream or was Arceus trying to make up for the shit that went down the previous night, whatever it was, Silver didn't know what to feel.

He didn't know exactly why he lunged forward and pulled him into an embrace, but he did, and he didn't feel any regrets about it at all. His hugs were more firm than Ethan's, more protective, what a hug from a father was supposed to feel like, even with the lingering smells of the party still on his clothes.

He hadn't felt that happy in a long time.

But of course, Ethan, the moment killer that he was, just had to open his big mouth.

"Oh my ARCEUS!" He yelled from inside the closet "Just get the adoption papers already!"

Perplexed, Lance walked over to the closet and opened it to find a slightly sheepish looking Ethan standing there with a smile. Behind him, Silver wanted to melt into the ground and die.

"Are you Silver's boyfriend?"

"..."

Of course. The universe couldn't let him off that easy after all.

"Yes...?"

"Do you want to stay for dinner?"

Ethan gasped with his hands to his face "Our first date? Yes! Yes! I can't wait,"

Silver was as red as his hair as the two laughed at his embarrassed face. Those two would be the death of him.

(In the nicest way possible)