Another fic today, it's a record, haha! Pretty short and not an M, my goodness! I'm too excited; I needed to burn this energy somehow. However Christmas Eve always feels like the longest day ever, so of course this whole thing only took me about an hour to write. Time! Make it go fast!

XxxX

Pale eyes stayed fixed on bright golden ones, staring in confusion. After blinking a few more times, those pale eyes strayed up to the green plant in the hand of his friend above his head. The dark haired boy puckered his lips and shook the leafy plant above his hat in emphasis.

"I refuse," the redhead stated simply, crossing his arms over his chest and turning away from his friend.

"You can't refuse, its mistletoe," he pointed out, sticking out his tongue.

"It's also not Christmas yet," the boy continued to object. He would not be reduced to such acts on command. The raven haired youth sighed and put the plant back on the table, since he hadn't got around to putting it up anywhere yet.

"I'll just have to get you tomorrow then," he grinned. His friend, no – his best friend, sighed and sat on the sofa, his Sneasel jumping happily onto his lap. Gold had invited Silver to his house for Christmas, since he didn't know where his father was anymore, not that he wanted to be with him, of course. Gold knew that his Mum was going to be away until Christmas afternoon, since she was seeing her husband, Gold's father, who was always kept away from home by his work. The rare occasions when the man returned were always moments savoured by all of his family.

"Is there anything you want to do?" the redhead broke the thoughtful silence between them. He'd invaded on Gold's normal holiday routines, he supposed, so he should at least offer to help with whatever they were. Unfortunately Silver had never experienced a real Christmas that he could remember, so he didn't have any idea what these aforementioned 'routines' could be.

"I don't think so, everything seems to be going well," the optimistic boy beamed; glad to have someone to be with while his Mum was away. He could guess that Silver probably thought himself a burden, but Gold didn't think that at all – he'd just be bored and lonely if Silver wasn't there! But even Gold had noticed that his friend seemed troubled, like there was something wrong that he didn't want to bring up. He was always reasonably quiet and grumpy, but today he seemed like he was deeper in thought than anything else. "Are you okay?" he finally asked, sitting next to Silver, giving Sneasel a welcome head rub. Pale eyes widened and stared in surprise of the question, Gold rarely noticed when something was wrong with anyone unless it was obvious with tears or the like.

"I'm fine," he shrugged the question off hurriedly. It was partially true; there was nothing particularly wrong with him. He wasn't hurt and he wasn't ill (unlike many others at this time of the year). However there was something bothering him, it was Christmas Eve, December twenty-fourth…his birthday. He wasn't about to suggest that Gold had forgotten the event since Silver hadn't told him, but he still felt like something was wrong with that. He was at a crossroads about whether to tell his friend or not – he sort of wanted some acknowledgement of finally knowing his real birthday and how old he really was (a fact that had been absent before), but he didn't want Gold to feel bad about not being prepared to celebrate it or anything like that. Would Gold be angry if he didn't tell him though? The redhead sighed, looking into his Pokémon's content, purple eyes.

"Really, because you're acting weirder than usual," Gold wasn't best known for his sensitivity. "Come on, there's something you're not telling me," he urged, almost desperate to know what was bugging his friend.

"Fine," Silver muttered, he might as well get this over with, and otherwise Gold would be insufferable. Well, more than he usually found the boy. "See for yourself," he huffed, pulling out a small white envelope and shoving it towards Gold. Bright eyes scanned the envelope, seeing the name Silver on one side, then flipping it over and seeing 'don't open until the twenty-fourth' written on the back. Since it had already been open, Gold lifted the loose flap and pulled out the thick card inside. He thought for a moment that it could have been an early Christmas card, but when he turned it around he saw the words 'Happy birthday' in large, colourful balloon lettering. He glanced at Silver for a moment before opening the card. Inside the card would have been completely blank, but instead scrawled inside was 'To Silver, if you didn't already know, then today is your birthday. So, happy birthday.' Then the word 'love' was originally written, but it was crossed out and replaced with 'from' and it was signed 'Dad'. Gold blinked at this a few times. Giovanni had sent Silver a birthday card, unsure if his son would even know if it was his birthday. How did Giovanni know where Silver was in order to send this? He knew Silver had no clue where his father was.

"How did he know where you were?" was the boy's first question as he stuffed the card back into the envelope and handed it back to the redhead, letting him hide it back in his pocket. Silver was homeless, he didn't always stay at Gold's. Most of the time he'd stay in Pokémon centres, but he moved around a lot, so how could Giovanni have known which one he was staying in when it was sent?

"Someone gave it to one of the Nurses in Azalea, she then called round to the other Pokémon centres to see where I was staying and tell me to go and pick it up," he explained, "Giovanni didn't hand it to the Nurse himself, otherwise she would have recognised him I guess."

"That makes sense," Gold spoke more to himself than to Silver. "So it's your birthday today, huh?" He confirmed, now understanding why Silver seemed so off today.

"Apparently so," the redhead nodded, not sure where to go from there.

"I don't have anything to celebrate it with though," Gold admitted, wanting to celebrate Silver's first known birthday.

"It's fine, I didn't expect you too," Silver smiled slightly, looking up at Gold.

"I've got to do something for your birthday though!" he insisted, racking his brain for a possibility.

"Really Gold, it isn't necessary," Silver continued trying to shrug off this whole thing as he returned Sneasel to his Pokéball and stood.

"I know!" the sitting boy announced, leaping to his feet, his face inches away from Silver's stunned one.

"What are you doing?" Silver questioned, slightly panicked by the close proximity of their faces.

"Surprise," he whispered, closing the gap between their lips. Gold's hands loosely held Silver's jacket to prevent him from jumping back, but the redhead was so shocked by his friend's confidence that he couldn't even consider moving. After a few moments of this, Silver began to realise exactly what was going on, and pushed back a little against Gold's lips before separating them.

"That was quite a surprise," Silver whispered, pale eyes wide and uncertain of how to take that kiss.

"Did you…did you like it?" the dark haired boy was suddenly nervous. What if that action had ruined something between them? What if Silver didn't feel that way about him? He couldn't pinpoint when he'd first realised that he liked Silver in a way more than friends, but he just knew that he thought Silver was the most beautiful person he'd ever met. Beautiful and strong and dependable.

"I…I guess," Silver stuttered, his face reddening rapidly.

"I…I like you. I like you a lot," Gold admitted, taking Silver's gently trembling hands in his own, slightly clammy ones. Pale eyes met bright ones as he thought about how he really felt about Gold. He felt like Gold was someone he was happy to fight alongside, even though the boy's cheerful nature irked him to no end, there was something about him that made everything seem like it was going to be alright. Like nothing could hurt him, or at least nothing could get away with it. Something like that…something like that was exactly what the redhead needed. He gave a small, shy nod, tearing his eyes away from Gold's and onto the floor between them.

"I…I like you too," he whispered, curling his fingers around Gold's hands, looking back up to see Gold's carefree grin.

"Happy birthday Silver," he spoke softly, kissing Silver again gently on the lips. He knew that he'd have to take things slow with the boy, that Silver had issues opening up to people, and that wasn't going to change anytime soon, but for now he was happy that Silver was with him right now, and they were going to celebrate Christmas together…'together', Gold's grin widened at that thought.

"Thanks," Silver whispered against Gold's lips as they separated. It was the best birthday present he could have asked for really, as long as Gold was with him he felt a little safer, a little warmer. Now there was one thing he could be certain of, that this Christmas was going to be the best one yet. It would raise the bar for future events, and even if nothing else could reach these standards, then that would be just fine, as long as Gold was there, loudly complaining by his side.

XxxX

Some more fluff for you all, did you enjoy it? Leave me a review so that I can spend some time reading and replying to them! I need things to do! Merry Christmas!