serperiority | [S1 Trip and younger Gold, closed to gold

The warm colours of autumnal leaves and the crisp, cool air of the changing season was similar, but not the same as it was in Unova, but even if it was, without him here, it simply wasn’t going be the same. The festival, too, for all the nostalgia it invoked in him, if it wasn’t going to lead him any closer to Alder or defeating him, it wasn’t something he should concern himself with now. He needed to train.
Things like eating sweets or enjoying the sights and sounds of a festival was for children and had no place on an adult’s world, Trip decided, and walked on.

… even with these thoughts, he still paused, briefly, here and there, to take photographs. The beauty of this season was ephemeral and while he no longer had any place here, he couldn’t ignore it or the way it made him feel, even as pursuing his goal overtook anything else…

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From:

gold_drum

"I don't wanna," Gold mutters stubbornly. He follows Trip, clinging to him, barely even glancing at the surroundings. He wants to sit down somewhere, but he knows if he does, he'll just fall asleep, and Trip doesn't like that. He doesn't want to disappoint Trip! Even if he thinks not doing what Trip told him to might also disappoint Trip, but if that happens then it happens!

Gold's maybe starting to be a little cranky from his lack of sleep. Not to mention everything else that's been going on. The sudden change of environments, the long walk through the cave, constantly trying to figure out how to act around Trip, and taking care of Mycen too... It's all taking a toll on him. Not that Gold really thinks about all of that as being difficult. As far as he's concerned, he's just kind of feeling angry for no real reason. And if he glares at random passersby while clinging to Trip's leg, that's just normal.

From:

serperiority

Oh, boy…

Yeah, that makes sense. Trip could tell the kid was probably cranky and maybe if he were a more affectionate person, he could carry him, but… he’s not.

(That poor, random lady wondering what she did wrong to earn such a harsh glare!)

It’s a lot of talking before they get the chance to go up and see if the room is to their liking!

From:

gold_drum

An ordinary kid would probably be throwing a tantrum or constantly yelling at Trip to hurry up at this point, but Gold wasn't comfortable enough with parental figures, or his relationship with Trip, to do that. So he just stews in his crankiness and keeps glaring at people silently.

It's making Mycen a bit uncomfortable, so the Paraspor decides to climb up and try to crawl into Trip's jacket pocket and sit there. Sorry about the big bug climbing on you, Trip, but Gold's doing nothing to stop it!

From:

serperiority

"G-gah!"

Trip dropped the key he'd just received at the sudden sensation of the crawling Bug type on him. "M-Mycen, down! Get off of me!"

Mycen has a good five seconds to hop down, while Trip yanks off his backpack, before he throws his jacket off!

From:

gold_drum

Gold just stares, kind of surprised, but grabs Mycen off of Trip quickly, and then stares at Trip flatly. Kind of judgemental, but he doesn't say anything. He respects Trip, really, but he's kind of done with everything right now. Quit the shenanigans and bring us to our room, you prissy boy, he doesn't say.

Mycen's a bit shaky, surprised by Trip suddenly moving around like that, so he clings to Gold, making little sad, complain-y chitters. Why wasn't he allowed to climb? And he saw such a good place to hide too! The world is so unfair to little baby bugshrooms.

From:

serperiority

Trip did not like being on the receiving end of such a judgemental look and scowled for a second, before deciding to take the high road, turning sharply with his nose in the air. Yeah, undeniably prissy, but at least he was making some effort at being the mature one here!! Even if he pouted about it.

Lead him to their room, he did, although Trip went to examine the room first to see if it was fitting, more interested in checking out the sort of living room first rather than heading right to either of the two bedrooms.

Conkelderr will set down the bags, too!

From:

gold_drum

Congrats on being more mature than a five-year-old, Trip. Gold follows silently, also pouting.

When they arrive at the room, Gold immediately heads to the first surface he can sleep on, which is probably a couch, sets Mycen down, and lies down with the intent of taking a nap. He seems to have no intention of moving from there.

From:

serperiority

Conkelderr noticed Gold went to sleep on the couch and gave a soft, questioning growl, turning to Trip.

Trip glanced back and realized it too.

“Hey… that isn’t any place to sleep, Gold.”

He approached him with a frown.

There’s a bed, so that’s so unnecessary!

Maybe, if Gold won't rouse from just that, he could wrap an arm around his shoulders and help lift him and guide him back to bed? Then, it’d be a lot easier than walking all on his own, he’d be supported…

From:

gold_drum

"I'm sleeping here," Gold grumbles, keeping his eyes tightly closed and turning to his side, facing away from Trip and curling up, stubborn. This tiny ball of anger has no intention of moving from here unless somebody carries him.

From:

serperiority

Then, he could only be carried?

"Honestly, you're so troublesome..."

He went off to a room, seemingly abandoning Gold there (but truthfully, he was just bringing a blanket).

From:

gold_drum

Gold does have a little spike of panic when Trip leaves the room, but he squishes it down and keeps curled up. He trusts Trip. Trip won't leave because he's a little bit troublesome, right?

Mycen decides to sit by and keep watch, just like last time when Gold fell asleep. He got praised and given food for doing that last time, after all, so maybe that'll work this time too!

From:

serperiority

Nope, Gold won’t be abandoned so easily, Trip just needed to bring a blanket.

“Good job, Mycen, but might want to back up a little.”

He shook out the blanket, then lay it over Gold, but tugged back a corner to avoid knocking over or burying Mycen.

After pausing a moment, he decided he could possibly bundle up Gold and carry him like that, even if it’s a lot messier than swathing a baby (which he didn’t know how to do, anyway!), the blanket trailing lopsidedly.

From:

gold_drum

Gold knew it, but it's still a relief when Trip returns. Gold still keeps his eyes closed and pretends to sleep. After Trip puts the blanket on him, he starts to nod off for real, finally comfortable and relaxed enough to sleep. Meanwhile Mycen, relieved from his mission, salutes Trip with a chitter and heads off to explore the room.

When Trip picks Gold up to carry him, a buried instinct every kid is born with flares up, and Gold, half asleep, snuggles closer and throws his arms around Trip's shoulders the best he can, hugging him. Sorry for your touch aversion, Trip, but this kid's touch-starved and that's your problem now.

From:

serperiority

... he's a cute Pokemon, Trip decided silently. For a Bug type, anyway.

The rooms are tasteful, with queen size beds with plenty of pillows (the blanket is, of course, missing from Gold's bed.) The windows are tall and have room to sit and view the city below. There are lace curtains and darker, solid curtains to block out the light. They can drawn and hooked to the side to keep them open. There's a closet and vanity, too. Would Mycen like to explore anything?

Gold seemed more comfortable now, so that was a relief.

Snuggling closer and tying arms around him was. Not so much. Trip briefly froze, but with the blanket adding some distance, at least, and the hug restricted to his shoulders, which he'd already mentally prepared himself to support Gold with earlier... he didn't mind it so much.

"Alright, let's get you to bed..."

From:

gold_drum

Mycen's pretty excited by how much room there is, and how smooth the floor is, so the first thing he does is start scooting along the floor at high speeds ~~like he's little buddy from splatoon 3~~ and having fun with it.

Gold mumbles incoherently in response to Trip, before his body relaxes and his breathing evens, finally falling into a restful sleep.

From:

serperiority

Even if Trip didn't care for the closeness, Gold relaxing, nestled in his arms felt strangely... warm and touching. How much Gold trusted him. Was this really the same boy who tried to steal his wallet just yesterday?

Moreover, was it alright for him to be this moved by it? Would it make him too soft? Would it get in the way of his beating Alder and becoming Champion? He hadn't had any need for friendship, wasn't something like this even more a liability...?

No, Gold was different, similar to the way he was. Caring for another outcast of a monster, whose own mother couldn't love, wouldn't make him any less of a ruthless monster. If he couldn't find a family that would accept Gold, he would have no one else. It had to be Trip to take him in.

... it was just hard to see Gold as anything but an innocent little boy, looking like that.

Trip was going to have to change his pace and make accommodations, at least until Gold can keep up, but in a world where his journey's on hold and his goal's presently out of reach... it was doable. It won't change him, he'd still be a monster, and he'd still only care about his goal, it's just another change of course. Momentary setback. There was no way of knowing when or how he might get back, anyway, or even if they'll both be here for very long.

With that, he turned to go to his own room, passing Mycen by with a simple statement, without making eye contact; "Don't stay up too late—unless you're nocturnal, anyway— and don't make noise. Gold's had a long day."

From:

gold_drum

Unaware of Trip's worries and introspection, Gold sleeps peacefully, possibly for the first time in a while.

Mycen pauses when he hears Trip, looking up at him, then continues sliding around, but slower this time. Eventually, he, too, looks for a place to sleep, which turns out to be under Gold's bed. Mycen, too, takes a moment to muse on his change of lifestyle, and ends up deciding it's pretty cool and he has good food, which will help him grow up into a fine mushroom one day in the future. Then he curls up and goes to sleep.

From:

serperiority

The next day, Trip will be up early, as always, to train his Serperior.

Mycen’s a good and loyal lookout, but until he’s grown up enough and become more reliable, Trip will keep another lookout. Gold won’t wake to Lampent hanging around, this time, and even Trip could tell Frillish’s unpleasant sneers aren’t a welcome morning sight for anyone… Conkelderr’s been relieved of his task yesterday, but (unfortunately for Gold) Serperior’s too busy training… today’s lookout (and reassurance Trip hasn’t abandoned Gold) is Vanillite!

Who is doing her very best not to draw too near sleeping Gold or wake him, because she’s constantly scattering snowflakes and frosting over surfaces she’s near!

From:

gold_drum

Mycen wakes up with a start. It's cold? It's cold! He must hurry and eat as much as he can before it's time to hibernate for winter! Mycen's scrambling wakes up Gold, who blinks, burrowing into his blankets. Why is it so cold? He looks around, wondering for a moment where he is, before spotting Vanillite.

"...That's a fucking ice cream cone," Gold mumbles in disbelief. Slowly, he starts remembering. Right, he's with Trip, and this is the hotel. Now that he's more awake and less irritated, he's able to appreciate the fancy, big room. Was this really a bedroom just for him? It was too grand, too nice. It was more fit for Trip.

Since it's cold, Gold brings the blanket with him, and it trails behind him as he climbs down from the bed and heads to the other room, where Mycen is trying to get into Trip's bag. Gold goes to help him out, opening the bag, and finding the food stash. He takes out another tin of Pokemon food and opens it for Mycen, and then spots the sandwich he got from Trip when they first met. He takes it out, takes a moment to stare at it, sitting on the sofa, and remembering everything that happened back then, and everything that happened since. He'd never have imagined he'd be somewhere like this just one day later.

~~a soft pastel flashback scene of Trip throwing the food on the ground and calling Gold a dirty thief goes here~~

Gold smiles to himself, then opens the package and starts eating the sandwich.

From:

serperiority

Somewhere outside, Trip felt a sense of worry grip his heart and decided to finish up for the morning so he could go check on Vanillite. Vanillite went through the same harsh training as the others, but it was also the one he doted upon...

Vanillite, meanwhile, blinked at the unfamiliar word and tilted her head.

When Gold ventured out to have his sandwich, Vanillite floated happily after him.

"Vani, vani!"

From:

gold_drum

"Quit following me around, it's cold!" Gold snaps at Vanillite, burrowing deeper into his blankets. He's trying to have a heart-warming ~~recap episode~~ introspective moment here!

Seems like Gold just has a hard time liking any of Trip's Pokemon, unfortunately.

Meanwhile, Mycen's just shoveling food into his mouth at high speeds next to Gold.

From:

serperiority

Vanillite did not like being snapped at, looked shocked, then started to bawl.

Great going, Gold.

From:

gold_drum

Gold stares, shocked. He kind of bluescreens for a moment, not knowing what he should do here. Mycen panics too, making little upset chittering noises.

What does somebody do when someone starts wailing out loud? Well, Gold's first instinct is, unfortunately, to copy the person he's spent the most time around: His mother.

"Quit fucking crying, you brat!!" he screams. "Nobody cares if you're sad! You're just tiring yourself out!"

From:

serperiority

That… was the worst possible thing for Trip to hear, returning to the room.

Trip loved his Vanillite, even if he tried to distance himself from his Pokemon and even his own emotions, he couldn’t take anyone hurting Vanillite’s feelings, much less screaming filth at her and making her cry…!

In a blind fury, he stormed in and did something he would regret immediately after: he raised his hand to slap Gold.

From:

gold_drum

When Gold realizes Trip entered, he immediately notices the shift in his mood. He knows what's coming, even if he doesn't understand why. So when Trip storms towards him, Gold flinches and curls up into himself before Trip's even raised his hand, bracing for a hit. The empty sandwich wrapper falls from his hands and onto the floor.