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"Wouldn't that be a fire hazard?" That's the only question on Silver's mind as they stop in front of Red's house, and he can't tear his eyes away from the display in front of him that might as well be a ticking timebomb.
The old brakes on Gold's car sequel, making him wince as it's put into park. Seems Gold is still ignoring his advice on getting those looked at. He just hopes that he isn't in the car the day that they fail.
Not a single inch of the house seems to be free of Christmas lights, string upon string hanging from the roof, sides of the house, porch overhang, and even the barren tree out front, making up for the leaves it lacks. It's blinding, and the obnoxious blow-up decorations in the yard do nothing to help it look better. If he had to guess, there was no coordination upon putting them up, and Red simply decided to add more and more lights and decorations until he had run out.
"Nah, I've seen a few of the neighbors put up more than this, and I've never seen a house burn down." Gold takes a glance at the house, the lights reflecting and twinkling in his eyes, before throwing his seatbelt off, and jumping out of the truck. "And besides, you have like, six water types. You can be our Christmas Eve savior if the house goes up in flames. Now c'mon! I wanna go see all the presents we're gonna get!"
His boots haven't made a mark on the snow covered ground before Gold takes off towards the front door. Their bag of presents for their friends hangs from his arm, swinging with each step as he struggles to walk up the driveway. Prints from those that arrived before them disrupt the snow, but with how fast the snow has been falling, they're almost gone, and Gold isn't able to use those as an easy path to the door, resulting in him almost tripping as he runs into one of the smaller yard decorations that got buried beneath the snow.
Warm light coats the yard as the door opens, Red coming out to greet them with his atrocious Christmas sweater. The bright colors on it barely distracted from the tacky image on the front of a cartoon pikachu wearing a Christmas hat, surrounded by gingerbread men, candy canes, and smaller pikachu wearing their own hats. It's similar to the one Gold's wearing, and the one Gold tried to get him to wear to the party tonight. Something he would never put on unless he was forced into it.
"Did you guys get here okay? No trouble or slow downs on the road?" Red asks, holding the door open for Gold as he lugs most of their presents inside. Despite Silver's offer to take a few so he isn't struggling to carry them, he insists that he can get them all, leaving him to grab the last few that he couldn't quite fit onto the dangerously tilted pile.
"Nope!" Gold readjusts his hold on the presents, barely managing to get through the door with them all. "Only slow down was an attempt to get Silv in a Christmas sweater. He was having none of it." He laughs, and one of the presents tumbles from his arms, which Silver is quick to pick up. "Where should we put these?"
They're shown to the tree, which takes advantage of the open ceiling in the living room to stretch up to the ceiling of the second floor. Covered in just as many decoration as the outside of the house, it could easily light up the room by itself, and he can't see how they could have decorated it without a ladder, or pokemon help. He has to crane his head back just to see the top.
A massive pile of presents wraps around the base of the tree, reaching up to the second row of branches due to how many there are. With their presents added, it looks like enough presents for a small village, and it makes his head spin to think that all of those are for the ten of them. Just a year ago, he couldn't have afforded what Gold and him brought for their friends, and the only time he had the hope of being in a room with this many gifts is when he wandered around the mall during Christmas time to get out of the cold for an hour or two.
"When do we get to tear into the presents? I've been waiting for this since last Christmas." Gold's reaches out towards the presents, latching onto the closest one and shaking it as if he would be able to tell what's inside through that simple gesture. "How many are there for me?"
"We're waiting until after dinner, which will be ready in an hour. Green's running a little behind in the kitchen because he wouldn't let me help with cooking," Blue pouts as she comes out from where they know the kitchen is, wearing the same festive red dress she does every year. She wraps an arm around Silver's shoulder when she gets close enough, pressing a kiss to his hair in greeting. "I'd say there's at least one for you in there. But there might be two."
From the direction of the kitchen, they can hear Green shout that dinner is late because Blue tried to help, but she seems to ignore that. She takes the present from Gold's hands, setting it back on the pile with a quiet laugh.
It's a lovely scene, friends gathered around a Christmas tree, spending time together before those of them with families go home for the actual holiday tomorrow. The smell of dinner wafts through the air, hints of the swinub ham that Green's cooking and Yellow's popular desserts standing out among the others. Chatter coming from the room down the hall tells him where Crystal and their juniors are, a common occurrence for their gatherings.
With each sentence spoke, Silver finds himself taking a step back, until he's leaning against the wall, watching the three in front of him trade friendly jabs back and forth. His hand falls to his pocket, and in the brief moment where no one is looking at him, he lets the facade fall for a moment, only for it to snap back into place when Blue glances back at him. There's no use in bringing down everyone else's mood, or ruining their night simply because he's not in a good mood and doesn't want to be here.
It doesn't take long before he's being dragged into the game room by Gold, where the sound of heated conversations and laughter can be heard from the hallway. The routine is familiar, and he allows Gold to sit him down for a card game with Crystal, Sapphire, and Emerald. He only knows the rules of the game because he's played with Gold before, but it's easy enough to play, even with his terrible card skills.
The hour until dinner passes quickly, with others switching out between rounds, and Gold winning each one. Silver loses all his cards within the first few minutes of each round, but he doesn't let anyone know that he does it on purpose, and allows them to blame his bad luck. He meets laughter with smiles that don't feel genuine, and only responds to questions aimed directly at him.
No one seems to notice how little he engages with them. He's not sure whether that hurts more or less than someone noticing and trying to get him to tell them what's wrong. Or maybe they do notice, and don't ask simply to keep from ruining the cheerful mood everyone else has. He doesn't think too hard about it.
Dinner passes in the same manner. Conversations flow around the table as plates are filled, laughter hangs in the air, and plans for the new year becomes a popular topic throughout the evening. Not a single moment is left silent, and any other year, or if this were any other gathering, there's no place Silver would rather be.
It's something he never imagined he would have, eating dinner surrounded by a group of friends that he wouldn't trade for anything, having more food on his plate than he could eat, or knows what to do with, and knowing there's a pile of presents to be opened later, several of which are for him. Younger him would have thought it was a lie if he had been told this was his future. But tonight, the laughter feel suffocating, there's too many conversations going on at once, and he feels trapped between Gold and Blue, like there's no room at the table for him, despite there being enough room to seat ten more people.
By the time dinner is over, and plates have been piled in the kitchen to be washed later, once presents have been opened, he's more than ready to leave. While everyone piles into the living room to gather around the Christmas tree, he slips away from the group. Their voices get quieter with each step, until he's sliding the door to the backyard shut behind him, and the only reminder of the party going on inside is the warm amber glow that spills onto the deck.
Snow crunches beneath his boots as he makes his way towards the edge of the deck, and he tries his best to ignore the cold nipping at his cheeks, and the snowflakes falling on his hair. It's freezing compared to the warmth in the house, and he almost turns around to go back inside. With how big the house is, there has to be at least one room that he can hide in. But he's already out here, and if everyone is ready to open presents, they could already be looking for him. The chances that anyone looks outside is low, giving him more time before he has to go back and get through the rest of the night.
As he clears off a spot to sit, while knowing that it won't do anything to keep snow and ice water from seeping into his pants, he empties his pockets. There's nothing in them aside from a card, and as he opens it, he leans forward, trying to block the snow from falling on the paper.
He shouldn't have brought it. Shouldn't have opened it today, or be opening it again. He's already read the message inside enough times to know what it says, but he can't stop himself from running his thumb over the text, rereading it for the tenth time.
The sound of the door sliding open behind him puts an end to the brief peace he got from the cold winter night. He should have known it wouldn't last long.
"Hey, we're getting ready to open presents, why are you out here?" Gold asks, and the footsteps that follow tell him that he's not going to get any more solitude.
"It got too hot inside, and I wanted to come sit out here for a minute. I'll be back in soon." He snaps the card shut, covering it as best as he can with his hands. It doesn't cover it completely, but with the lack of lighting, hopefully it hides it enough for Gold to not notice until he gets an opportunity to slide it back into his pocket.
"Mind if I join you?" Gold doesn't wait for an answer before clearing the spot next to him and joining him on the edge of the deck, their legs knocking together with how close they sit.
He shuffles the card further away from Gold, fingers scraping against the rough glitter on the front. Gold probably won't leave until he says he's ready to go back in, or someone else finds them and drags them inside. It's unlikely he gets out of this without Gold noticing that he's hiding something.
"Is everything okay?" Gold barely waits until he's sat down before talking again, asking the question that Silver has been waiting for someone to ask. "You've been acting weird today."
Now that someone has asked, he's not sure whether it's a question he wanted to hear. He lets out a sigh in response, shifting to put a little more distance between them. It makes the card slide down his lap, almost falling to the ground below, and he mentally curses as he catches it. No way to hide that from Gold.
"What's that?" Before he gets a chance to respond, Gold's reaching over to take it from him, tearing it out of his grip. "Is this that letter that was in the mail for you this morning? What was in it?"
As soon as he turns it over to read the front, he freezes, fingers pausing halfway through opening it. The large, brightly-colored text, unmissable to anyone who takes even one glance at it, gives away exactly what kind of card it is. Silver's fingers twitch against his leg, a protest building on his lips as he debates whether snatching it back is worth potentially damaging it.
"Who sent you a birthday card?" Gold asks, brow raising in confusion as he flips the cover open. His eyes begin to scan the text, and Silver doesn't have to look to know what it says; he's already memorized every word.
Underneath the usual printed text that comes inside every birthday card, is a short, sweeter than he would have expected, handwritten note from his father. An apology for missing so many birthdays, for allowing his childhood to turn out the way it did, and for going back to Team Rocket, splitting their family further apart. The signature at the bottom, confirming that the card is from his father, at some point had 'love,' written above it, but that had been crossed out sometime before it was given to him with dark lines that had given him trouble in figuring out what had been covered, replaced with a simple 'from'. A date joined the signature, likely added in case he didn't open the card on the day he got it, telling him what day his birthday is.
Something that no one else ever has to question, but he's only now learning the answer to.
"Wait, it's your birthday today?" Gold drops the card so fast that it almost falls from his lap, and Silver instinctively darts forward to catch it. "Why didn't you say anything? We could've pushed this back a few days to celebrate."
Making sure Gold isn't about to throw his first birthday card into the snow below them, ruining it beyond repair, he sits back, shrugging in response to the question. "I only found out today. And I didn't want to try and change plans last minute. I know everyone was looking forward this."
If he had said anything, he would have ruined the night. Either the plans were changed upon him saying something, disappointing everyone when the night became all about him instead of the holiday some of them had been waiting all year for, or everyone chose to ignore the new information. He doubts Blue or Gold would have let that happen. Just as Gold's about to do now that he knows.
That's why he wasn't planning to say anything for a couple of months. Waiting two, maybe three months to mention that he finally knows when his birthday is would guarantee that no one insists on throwing a last minute party since the day was still close, but gave plenty of time to change plans around for next year.
"No one would have minded. You could even say something now, it's not too late. Plans can easily be changed." Gold's arm wraps around his shoulders, tugging him over to lean against his side. "If you want a cake, I even know of a store near here that I think is still open until midnight."
He shakes his head. "I don't need anything, and I didn't mean for anyone to find out tonight."
"You don't want to celebrate your birthday with everyone?" The disappointed tone in Gold's voice is audible, and understandable. He sees a problem with not celebrating birthdays, always making it a goal to throw a party even bigger than the one the previous year for his own birthday. "Oh, did you just wanna wait a week or two? Let all the holiday stuff die down?"
This time, the shake of his head also includes a sigh. "I was going to wait until next year." A breeze blows by them, making him shiver, and Gold's arm around him tighten, rubbing up and down his arm to try and keep him warm. "I've already missed sixteen birthdays, I don't mind missing another one."
"You shouldn't have to." Even without looking, he can see the frown on Gold's face. "Hold on, I'll be right back."
Once he hands the card back, he's gone before Silver can question where he's going, disappearing back into the house without another word. With the warmth that Gold brought gone, the cold sets in more insistently, making him regret the decision to come outside for some quiet. The wood from the deck has started digging into his legs from how long he's been sitting here, and his fingers burn from the cold, even after he shoves them into his pockets to try and stay warm.
There's probably an empty room upstairs that he could sit it, but there's a high chance that someone will notice him if he tries to sneak up to one. Gold hopefully shouldn't be too long.
"Here we go." Gold's voice cuts through the heavy silence of the winter night. When he turns, Gold's back is to him, hiding something from him. "Close your eyes," he orders, and Silver rolls his eyes, but complies. "I know it's not much, but I got what I could."
Before he can sigh, and tell Gold that he doesn't want or need anything, the boards next to him shift with the telltale sign of Gold sitting back down. "I said I didn't need—" He opens his eyes to see a cupcake in Gold's hands.
It's one that Yellow made, with red and white colored icing coating the top in a festive design, ruined only by the sole candle that Gold must have hastily stuck in the top. The flame burns gently, flickering like it's about to go out despite Gold's best efforts to shield it from the wind and snow.
"I don't think Yellow will notice a cupcake missing, she made more than enough," Gold says, shifting until he could hold it out to him. "And this is for an important cause."
He can only watch the flame that illuminates the small space between them as Gold begins to sing the classic song he's heard sung to the others dozens of times over the years. It's off-tune and extremely childish, with Gold adding his own touch at the end, just like he always does, but something that he never imagined would be done for him. He can't stop the smile that tugs at his lips.
"Okay, I know you're new to this, but this is the point where you blow out the candle," Gold says after he finishes the song, a quiet laugh slipping to the air as Silver continues to stare, not moving forward to copy what he's only ever seen others do.
That's enough to shock him into moving again, closing the distance between them to blow out the flame. Smoke rises into the air as Gold passes him the treat so he can clap, like this is more exciting than it actually is. He's unsure whether the heat the flashes across his cheeks is due to the cold, or the way Gold looks at him, a soft sparkle in his eyes that matches the smile he gives.
"Sorry, I don't have any non-Christmas presents, but we can head to the mall next week, you can pick out whatever you'd like and we'll go wherever you want for dinner, my treat. Hopefully the holiday crowds have died down by then."
"I told you that's not necessary." He breaks the cupcake in half, watching the icing drip onto his fingers as he hands one half to Gold. It's starting to get too cold, slipping underneath his clothes to bite at his arms and legs. His fingers have started going numb, and he knows that it will only be a few more minutes until Gold realizes and drags him back inside to warm up.
"Well, you can't stop me." It's takes a bit of pushing to get Gold to take the cupcake half, but he eventually does, shoving most of it into his mouth in one bite. "And if you refuse to pick something out, I'll just do it for you."
He sighs around a mouthful of cupcake, feeling frosting cling to the corners of his mouth. There's no use in arguing any further. Gold's too stubborn to back-down once he's set his mind on something like this.
Gold's arm wraps back around his shoulders as they finish eating, pulling him into his side. It's probably time for them to head inside. Between the freezing cold, the snow they're covered in that will certainly make a mess once they step into the house, and the knowledge that everyone is waiting on them to start opening presents, they've been outside for long enough.
But the night is peaceful, without Gold breaking it with the chatter he typically can't go a minute without. The cold bites, but Gold's warmth chases it away, and the snow is almost what he'd call beautiful, silencing the world for just a moment under the heavy layer of white. A warm light casts through the door behind them, shining off each snowflake that flutters towards the ground.
It's not how he ever would have imagined spending his first birthday party. In all his dreams, there was a party as extravagant as the ones Blue always threw for their friends, even if he would have preferred a quiet gathering with no one but them. Next year, he'll look forward to what his friends plan once they know, but for today, this is nice, and still better than any other year.