Silver trudged his way through the snow, wrapping his red scarf tighter around himself. The wool gloves and thick coat he wore didn't really seem to help him, even if he had spent a fortune on it. He didn't think snow in Violet City could be so merciless, like it was just trying to knock him out. That would happen, wouldn't it?

Umbrella-less, he avoided incoming hail, trying desperately to reach Violet City's Pokémon Centre. With the snow so thick, and the blizzard so blinding, it was hard to see where he was going. He slewed forwards, but tripped – slapping face-first into a bulge of snow.

He growled, his face chilling, and managed to his feet. Chunks of slush matted his hair.

"Some birthday…" he muttered, wiping his face. December twenty-fourth, and here he was – desperately heading for some form of shelter. He knew he shouldn't have risked going to the Mart, but he needed supplies, and he didn't want to wait until the storm let up, when just about every trainer in the city had the same thought. That required human interaction – ugh.

Finally, he reached the Pokémon Centre, dripping wet. The lobby embraced him in warmth and a faintly clinical scent, which at least smelt less damp than frost and ice. Trainers were dotted around, also tightly wrapped in winter gear, busy giving Christmas presents to one another. Silver was, rather thankfully, completely ignored. Regaining his pride, he treaded to the front desk where Nurse Joy was tending to an ill Pachirisu.

"One room, please." He didn't dare to look her in the eye. The Pachirisu whined slowly.

"Give me a moment." Nurse Joy replied, clearly up to her knees in work, despite the looming holiday. Her hair was frazzled and her eyes bloodshot with overwork. She turned around to find a room key, he hoped, and the Pachirisu began to cry.

She'd only freakin' turned around. Silver wouldn't ever bother with a weak Pokémon like that. He clenched his fists.

"Shut up."

The Pachirisu continued.

A voice, his own, sprang into his mind with angelic innocence. Patience, Silver, is a virtue.

He scoffed inwardly. Too bad I don't have it.

Nurse Joy turned back to him – the Pachirisu stopped crying, and snuggled closer to Nurse Joy. She gave him a sympathetic look. "I'm afraid there are no rooms left. Would you mind sharing?"

"Yeah, fine," he replied. He just wanted to get away fast.

She smiled. "All right, I'll fetch you a key."

Luckily, she made the smart decision to take the Pokémon with her. Good thing, or Silver might have punched it quiet.

He sighed. The snowstorm had pretty much prevented him for at least doing a usual training routine. He'd been stuck in Violet City all day, even though he'd wanted to get to Goldenrod by tomorrow. He didn't have anyone to talk too, or celebrate with – heck, did anyone even know it was his birthday? Today couldn't get any worse, he thought.

Apparently, it could.

He heard a huge uproar of laughter behind him, from a familiar voice, and spun on his heel. It was Ethan, with his family of Pokémon, along with his friend Crystal. They'd inhabited the circle of cushioned stools by the front of the lobby, hunched together as a group. They must've been returning home for Christmas. Obviously, they'd been telling each other jokes, or something funny.

"Okay, okay," Ethan said. Though he was blocked by his numerous Pokémon, Silver could just imagine him grinning. "What the Brock say when I defeated his Onix?"

"I don't know," said Crystal. "What did Brock say when you defeated his Onix?"

"Gee," Ethan said. "That was… Onix-spected."

Crystal guffawed. Ethan's Marill cracked up too, cheerily bouncing its tail around. The rest of their Pokémon did too.

Ethan was popular, had many friends, and Pokémon, and had a loving family at home waiting for him. Crystal was Elm's assistant, and hailed for her catching expertise. Silver? A lone boy with no relations, whom nobody took notice of, and nobody liked.

Except one.

That girl. Lyra. He'd met her a couple of times – the first outside of Elm's lab, the day he stole his Totodile. Despite the brackish hostility he'd always shown her, she was always kind to him. And the many times they'd met afterwards. But why had she always been so nice? Neither Ethan nor Crystal had shown him the same type of patience Lyra had.

Lyra was the only human being he could tolerate a little more than usual, though he'd never admit to it. In that second, he wished she could be here, to deliver bad Pokémon puns and cheery laughs.

He snapped back into reality when Nurse Joy jingled a key. Nope, Lyra wasn't here. She was probably already in New Bark Town for Christmas. He swayed around, took the key, and bowed slightly.

"Merry Christmas!" Nurse Joy said happily.

"Mmm," Silver replied. He glanced at his room number.

Thirteen. Thank Arceus he wasn't superstitious.

He didn't waste time and hurried down the corridor, avoiding another batch of jolly trainers. Room 13 seemed relatively quiet in comparison, which was at least soothing. Hopefully his roommate wouldn't be as rowdy as the crowd out here.

He thrust the metal into the keyhole, which opened with a loud creek. The room was small, with a bunk bed, a single wardrobe and desk, and a door to the bathroom. The window to the outside world had its curtains drawn. The bottom bunk had been disturbed, with the contents of a travel bag spilt over the duvet.

The shower was going, Silver could hear. And muffled singing. Just typical. Now he had to do the awkward thing and make sure they knew he was there… lest he wait for a horrid surprise.

He dumped his backpack on the floor, and closed the door. He felt like he could fall asleep, but it would probably be better if he greeted his roommate.

"Hey," he called. "Nurse Joy didn't have any rooms left, so I'm in here. Don't parade around naked." For my sake, Silver thought.

The shower stopped. The singing stopped. Only the quiet howl of the outside could be heard. Silver heard a creak from the bathroom, and the door cracked open.

Before he had anytime to think, a girl with soft, brown hair wrapped in a towel, appeared from the door. Luckily, she also had a towel enveloped around her body too.

She screamed, and slammed the door to the bathroom shut tight. He leapt from his chair. In seconds, she reopened it ever so slightly, and peered through the crack.

"Oh my Arceus, Silver. It's just you." She let out a sigh of relief. "You really gave me a fright!"

That was the thing he had least intended to do, though it was better this than learning the hard way that there was another person. "Sorry," he mumbled, the word foreign on his tongue.

Lyra didn't move from behind the door. "Erm… what are you doing here?"

"No rooms left."

"Oh." She smiled. "Well, why didn't you knock?" She shut the door, Silver presumed, to change into clothes.

He kicked off his shoes. "I announced my presence so that you wouldn't get a fright," he retorted.

"I was in the shower!" Lyra shouted. "Nothing will ever not be frightening when I hear weird noises in the shower!" She had a point.

He could have thrown a comeback, but he became suddenly aware about how cold he was. He shivered, the cold settling into his skin. Furrowing his eyebrows, he searched in his bag for something else to wear, though everything else in his bag wasn't dry either. He pulled out a messy pair of jeans and clean t-shirt.

Lyra emerged from the bathroom. She was back in her usual clothing – the red shirt, the overalls, the long socks. Without her balloon hat making her look half her age, Silver realised she was actually rather pretty. Bold eyes, plump lips.

She blinked, running fingers through her wet hair. "They're not dry," she said.

He was staring. He flicked his gaze to the wall behind her, embarrassed he was caught doing something so stupid as staring at a girl. "What?"

Lyra jerked her elbow to his clothes. "They're not dry."

"Yeah," Silver said. "It's wet outside."

She cocked an eyebrow in a teasing fashion. "Oh, I hadn't noticed!"

Silver wasn't sure how to react. When he stared at her, stone-faced, she just giggled.

"Well, if you want to shower, you can, while the water's still hot. If you want, I can run your clothes down to the dryer in the public laundry room?"

What do you want in return? The question immediately jumped into Silver's mind. But she didn't look like she wanted anything in return. It was just… kindness.

"Oh, er," he began. "Yeah… thanks."

She beamed, pulling on her shoes. "No problem! I need to dry my hair anyway!"

She left with his clothes and a towel around her shoulders. Sometimes – actually, all the time – Lyra baffled him. But it was a nice baffled. Already missing her voice, Silver traipsed into the bathroom to clean.

=#=#=#=

An hour later, Silver was fresh and clean, and finally had removed the chunks of snow from his hair. The mood in the Pokémon Centre had died down, and the noises outside his room were more careful and quiet. People were finally beginning to fall asleep.

Except for Lyra.

She was now fussing with the hair straighteners in the bathroom. For some reason, her hair had a natural flip to it, which she was now trying to smooth out. She'd agreed to take the top bunk as the lighter person of the two of them, and had moved all of her clutter elsewhere. Silver had already stowed away his things, and he was about ready to sleep. He wrapped himself with the duvet and sat up, curiously watching the girl.

"Ok, for the fifth time now, please go straight!" She dragged the straighteners through her hair. The lock became straight.

"Yes! I finally—" Flip.

Lyra threw her free arm up. "Ugh! Stupid hair!" She cried.

Silver had to stifle his laugh. She looked comical when angry. And pretty.

He replayed the thought in his mind. And pretty, he'd thought. He sunk deeper into the duvet and ripped his gaze to the wall, a thousand nopes repeating over and over in his mind.

"Oh, I give up. I just want to go to bed!" Lyra said. Silver glanced towards her again – she unplugged the straighteners and tossed them onto the counter. Then she began to furiously squeeze the last remains of her toothpaste onto her toothbrush, and brush with speed.

"So, a wittle bird told meh it's your birfday today!" She turned to him.

Oh, yeah. Silver had nearly forgotten. And he'd definitely forgotten that Lyra knew.

"Yeah," he said, sitting back up.

Lyra spat the toothpaste into the sink, and squealed, "Happy birthday!" A big grin had on plastered her face, with traces of mint edging her lips.

The last thing he expected her to do was hug him. A blush spread across his face, as quick as a Potion healing a Pokémon. He sat straight up in bed, totally shocked, unsure what to do. His hands hung uneasily underneath the duvet, which, for some reason, he didn't want around him anymore.

"You're supposed to hug back, and go, thanks!" she said with a laugh, patting him on the back. He still didn't know what to do, so she let go. The blush continued to sit on his face. He wanted to shoo it away, but he couldn't, knowing Lyra's eyes were on him.

She giggled. "You're blushing."

Silver hid his face behind his hair. If Arceus had any mercy, he would stop him from looking like a complete moron.

She spoke again, this time with a whisper. "You look kinda' cute when you blush."

Silver's eye shot upwards to Lyra, widened. She was blushing now, redder than his hair, probably having realised what she'd said, and refused to meet his gaze. Did he just hear right? She thought he was cute? For moments, he just inhaled the sight of her, like an affectionate puppy.

A warmth spread through him, despite the cold.

"Well… it's late, isn't it? Let's go to sleep."

Silver nodded, still too stunned to say anything. The fact that anyone found him remotely cute was astonishing, considering he'd be told his default face was rather 'murderous'.

Lyra didn't seem to want to dwell on it. She fanned herself, though she was just pushing cold air around, and switched the light off. Instantly, they fell to darkness, and it took moments for Silver to adjust. He just saw Lyra's feet disappear as she climbed the ladder.

"Night night, Silver," she murmured.

"Night," he whispered. He lay back down, trying not to let the image of Lyra hugging him overrun his mind, and the words cute replay over and over. His head hit the pillow, and he stared at the mattress above him, which occasionally twitched in parallel to Lyra's movements.

He shivered. Kyra had actually cared enough to remember his birthday and compliment him. Perhaps today wasn't so bad, after all. He shut his eyes, allowing himself to smile, to drift off to sleep.

And he did. Until a voice stirred him from slumber.

"Silver? Silver, are you awake?"

Lyra's voice cooed. Silver reopened his eyes. It was still dark, and he couldn't have fallen asleep for very long. He spoke, though his voice came out croaky and slurred.

"Nnn. Yeah?"

"I'm freezing," she murmured. "It's cold."

The duvets were thin. Silver wound his around himself more, more conscious of the chilly draft from under the door.

"What do you want me to do about it?" He hadn't intended to sound so harsh, but he had just woken up. Though, to Lyra, which wasn't so bad.

There was silence, until quietly Lyra asked, "Can I come in with you?"

Reality woke him way up. Silver could feel a blush bridle his cheeks.

"N-no! Don't be ridiculous!"

The bed started to sway. Lyra climbed down the ladder.

"Please, it's cold," she said. She jumped to a landing, and turned to face him. Even in darkness, he could make out her funky pyjamas, her smooth hair, her big, curious eyes. They were easy to melt into, her gaze.

Silver grit his teeth, trying to stop himself from imploding with embarrassment. "Fine. B-but not for long!"

She smiled, and jumped in beside him. The duvet, though a single, wrapped around her just as well. He could feel her skin against his, her warmth against hers. She snuggled up close to Silver, and it took every fibre in Silver's body to resist coddling her back. This was just an effort to stay warm, and nothing else.

Her shivering stopped. "Much better," she breathed.

Though he'd never admit it, Silver felt better, too.

There was silence for a while.

"Merry Christmas, Silver."

All was quiet.

"Merry Christmas… Lyra."

Fin.

=#=#=#=#=#=#=

Hahah! My first fanfiction, pub'd in 2009. It's 2016 now, and I just cringe so hard reading over it, so I've done an edit (Jan 2016). Hope you enjoy it!

~ GwA