Done for FFAnonymous' Anniversary thread, thanks for all the amazing Pokemon fic, you guys!

He grumbled something rude under his breath as he checked his watch. She was twenty freakin' minutes late- and she'd been the one to call him out in the first place! Women, Silver thought to himself in disgust and kicked some snow off the top of a drift as he shoved his hands into his pockets, couldn't live with 'em, couldn't escape from 'em, and couldn't live without 'em for some reason.

"I don't even like Christmas," he muttered to himself. "nothing but stupid, greedy brats wanting gifts and stupid, mushy couples doing romantic things." His knuckles brushed against the simple box in his pocket, something that only made the red headed Trainer scowl all the harder.

To put it simply, he wasn't doing this because he actually wanted to give Lyra anything... except maybe a few working brain cells, she was dumb enough that she could probably use some of his. But if he didn't do it, she'd pitch a fit and bug him over the Pokegear or find him and follow him around whining and telling him that he was never going to be a better person if he just stayed away from people all the time.

Whatever.

As soon as she got here and gave him whatever it was she wanted to, he was out of there.

"Silver!" Lyra sang out, almost out of breath as she raced toward him. The brown haired girl knew her prickly little rival wasn't comfortable setting foot in New Bark Town, even after trying to do the right thing and return his Pokemon back to the Professor, so she'd told him to meet here on the outskirts. Stopping to catch her breath, she rested her hands on her knees and grinned up at him with her big brown eyes sparkling and her cheeks about as rosy as a Pikachu's. "Sorry I'm late, didja have to wait long?"

"Twenty minutes." His eyes narrowed as she straightened up and dusted snow off her shoulders. She'd certainly gotten into the holiday spirit- replacing that stupid oversized hat of hers with an equally stupid looking fuzzy red and white Santa hat. Never mind, he wasn't going to admit the hat made her look kinda cute. "What'd you call me out here for anyway?"

Lyra made a face at him and dug around in her pockets. He was such a spoil sport sometimes, stupid jerk. Oh well, that's why she was gonna have to be the one who taught him how to be nice to people, that way he could make friends better. And I have just the thing too, she thought to herself with a grin as she finally found it and held it tightly in the palm of her hand. "You're such a killjoy sometimes, y'know that?" She asked with a pout and straightened up, holding one hand behind her back.

The look on Silver's face was almost worth it when she demanded her gift first.

"What the hell makes you think I'd even get you anything, stupid?" He retorted, still unable to believe that she'd just... automatically assumed he was going to give her something in return. Seriously, he knew how the holiday worked, and despite having no love for gift giving or receiving or any of that bullshit, had gone ahead and just gotten her something anyway.

Once again, women were completely unreasonable.

"Because you're a jerk with a good heart, now what is it?" Lyra shot back, sauntering just a little bit closer to put him off his guard. It was a pretty mean thing to do, but watching his face turn a little red when she got up in his personal space was totally worth it. Besides, she had to teach him that he needed to be nice to girls if he ever expected to get a girlfriend.

Scowling at her for calling him a jerk, again, Silver practically ripped his hand out of his pocket and shoved the slightly crumpled gift at her. "Here, geez. Find out for yourself." He glowered at something off to the distance, telling himself his cheeks felt hot because he'd been standing out in the cold for that damn long waiting for that stupid girl.

As he'd pretty much expected, Lyra squealed, shoved whatever his gift was back into her pocket, and eagerly tore open her present. "You got me a new pair of wrist bands and new shoelaces for the Pokeathlon?" She looked up at him, surprised that he even knew that she loved competing. How on earth did he know that she'd just snapped her last pair of shoelaces? For that matter, how did he know she'd been looking for a new pair of wristbands too?

Silver eyed her warily. The tone in her voice didn't bode well, or at least, sure as hell didn't sound like it. "Yeah, I did." He watched her study them carefully, the look on her face not one he could decipher easily. "Look, if it's a shitty gift, I'll give you the receipt and you can get something else, alright?" Would she just freakin' say something already? The silence was making him edgy and cranky, and he wound up being a meaner son of a bitch when put in that mood.

So the smile on her face caught him rather off guard, as did the gigantic hug she managed to get him with.

"No way! I'm totally keeping these!" She beamed at him, looking way too freaking happy for the cheap ass gift he'd given her. Maybe she'd taken a few too many hits to the head or something, had brain damage or something like that. Weird fucking girl. Lyra dug around in her pockets again, gripping something and pulling it out. "Now, stretch out your hand and close your eyes."

Part of him wanted to protest and refuse, the rest of him cautioned that he'd done this before- and the results had been so frustrating and stupid, that he might as well just give in now and spare himself the trouble later on down the line. "Fiiiiiine, but hurry it up, I wanna get out of the snow sometime this year." He grumbled and closed his eyes, stretching out one hand as he'd been instructed.

There was a brush of cold fingers against the inside of his wrist, a chime of something delicate and pretty... and kind of peaceful sounding, and he heard her giggle and proudly proclaim that she was done- and he could open his eyes now. Silver frowned, examining the soft, somehow strong feeling silk rope tied around his wrist... complete with a small, pretty silver bell charm that rang whenever he moved.

Lyra was looking pretty damn pleased with herself as her rival and friend- even if he didn't see her as a friend, yet anyway- examined the gift she'd gotten for him. "Merry Christmas Silver, I hope you like it!" She beamed at him as he finally looked up, held his wrist up enough and shook it to make the bell ring and gave her... quite a mean look. Her grin only got wider as she caught the moment he understood exactly what she'd done by giving him a Soothe Bell.

"Lyra."

"Yes?" She asked in a sing-songy voice, trying not to laugh as he gave her what should have been one of the meanest look ever. Where the hell was her camera when she needed it? This was totally priceless!

"Do I look like a fucking Pokemon to you?"

-End-