Chapter Text
I replay my footsteps on each stepping stone
Trying to find the one where I went wrong
🌸
Goh polishes the egg with a wet cloth as he hums a song he had heard earlier on the radio. He sits with Gary under one of the trees, as Ash does his morning running routine with his Pokemon. Whenever Ash passes them by, he sends a kiss to Goh, which the boy always catches with his free hand. Gary rolls his eyes in annoyance at his friends’ flirting, or maybe he just misses Tokio too much right now.
“We’re gonna be good friends”, Goh whispers to the egg as he gently hugs it to his chest, and Gary smiles at the sight.
“No doubt about it”, Gary chuckles as Goh pets the egg a few times. Ash passes them by again and he blows another kiss, and Goh extends his hand to catch it, but Gary beats him to it.
“Oops, that one’s for me”, Gary winks, and Goh hits him with the elbow. Ash laughs, but sends another kiss to Goh for good measure before he continues his running.
“So, I noticed that Tokio always visits his parents alone. You never go with him?”, Goh glances at Gary, and the boy closes his eyes for a second to think how to deal with that question.
“Let’s just say that they’re not very accepting. Of us, I mean”, Gary weakly says, and Goh looks down.
“Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t–”.
“It’s okay”, Gary interrupts, and if Goh noticed his voice breaking, he didn’t mention it. He really hopes Goh won’t press any further, but he’s mistaken when he asks yet another question.
“Um, do they…know?”, Goh asks, and Gary looks at him, confused, and then lets out a knowing oh when Goh shyly points out at Gary’s ring finger.
Gary’s ring finger is empty, but not for too long. There’s a promise on Tokio’s ring finger in the shape of an engagement ring.
“I’m pretty sure they noticed the ring”, is all Gary offers as he turns his gaze to focus on the Pokemon playing nearby.
Goh only nods his head. He lets the silence take over the awkward conversation instead.
He absentmindedly pets the egg when he feels it shake a little in his hold, so he looks at it, confused.
“What’s wrong?”, Gary asks, glancing at Goh, confused as well.
“I felt it shake a little”, Goh says as he feels the egg shake again. “Do you think it’s–”.
He doesn’t even finish the sentence when the egg is enveloped in the familiar light.
“I think it is”, Gary whispers in awe, and Goh gently puts the hatching egg on the grass instead.
Ash stops his morning running as he runs to them to see what’s going on. He places a soft kiss on Goh's temple as he says I’m glad it’s finally hatching.
Goh nods his head excitedly, and before he can even think of what Pokemon it could possibly be, Eevee sits in front of them, yawning adorably.
“Aww, it’s an Eevee”, Goh says, his eyes sparkling with excitement. “Thank you”, he says, turning his attention to Ash and placing a soft kiss on his cheek.
Eevee just sits there, confused, blinking slowly, and Goh focuses his attention on the freshly hatched Pokemon again, but her eyes lay on Gary, starting to spark in excitement. She jumps on his lap and leans comfortably into his hand to demand some pets. Goh feels a familiar sting in his heart, but he tries to ignore it as he casts his gaze away to not to look at what's happening in front of him. He shouldn’t judge anything based on that, right?
“Oh”, Gary laughs.”I’m not your trainer”, he says as he scoops Eevee into his hands to put her on the grass in front of Goh instead.
Eevee tilts her head in confusion. Goh finally meets her gaze as he gives her a welcoming smile.
“Welcome to the family”, Goh says as he extends his hand to pet her, but Eevee, startled, gets up and scratches his hand instead. Hard. Goh takes his hand away, hissing in pain. Ash quickly comes by his side, asking if he’s okay, and Gary tries to meet his gaze, but Goh avoids it.
Eevee jumps on Gary’s lap again and buries herself further into his embrace. Gary tries to lock his gaze with Goh in apology, but Goh still ignores him. He curls the scratched hand on his lap as he tries not to crumble in front of everyone. He casts his gaze away again so he won’t see how close Eevee is to Gary, and how she sees Gary as her trainer instead of him.
Ash wants to put a comforting hand on his shoulder, but Goh shakes his head, so Ash retreats his hand, but keeps his concerned gaze on Goh.
He doesn’t know what to do, and neither does Gary. Eevee still sits comfortably on Gary’s lap, and with each second, Goh feels more and more upset. He looks down at his scratched hand, trying to ignore how bad it hurts right now. It hurts less than the fact that his own Pokemon hates him anyway.
“Maybe you should try to catch her, Goh? Maybe it could–”, Maybe it could help, Gary tries to say as he wants to get rid of the uncomfortable silence.
Goh still doesn’t meet his gaze, but with a shaking hand, he pulls out the Pokeball and puts it in front of him to see if Eevee wants to be caught by him. But to everyone’s surprise, Eevee gently tosses the ball towards Gary’s direction and sits in front of him, waiting to be caught.
Gary’s eyes widen in shock, Ash looks at Goh terrified, and Goh’s heart breaks. Goh casts his gaze away again, as he feels the familiar wave of anxiety washing over him. He tries to take a deep breath when Grookey jumps on his shoulder, and he points at Goh’s scratched hand to communicate that the wound started to bleed. Goh ignores it. He ignores the bleeding wound. He ignores the sting on his heart.
He closes his eyes so the tears that gathered in there won’t fall.
“Are you hungry?”, Goh asks Grookey, his voice breaking a little, and Ash knows it’s just a matter of time before Goh will crumble and cry.
Grookey shakes his head, but Goh pretends he doesn’t see it. He needs to escape.
🌸
So Goh goes to the Laboratory, ignoring the worried looks Gary and Ash give him.
He takes Grookey’s bowl and sets it on the floor with earlier prepared food. But Grookey isn’t hungry, it’s not what he wanted to communicate to his trainer. Goh knows Grookey’s not hungry, but he needed a distraction to escape. He felt the urge to leave the park to be with his own thoughts alone. He feels awful, the scratch on his hand hurts like hell. His own freshly hatched Pokemon hates him and prefers someone else as her trainer and– she must've felt that Goh’s a pathetic trainer, didn’t she?
There’s a hand on his shoulder getting him out of his self-hating thoughts. He almost cries on the spot at the familiar soothing feeling. Ash. But it doesn’t help to soothe him, so he bites his lips hard so he won’t start crying.
“I’m okay”, he says, quietly. So quiet that Ash barely registers the words to the question he hasn’t even asked. But he did, and he doesn’t believe Goh in the slightest. Grookey doesn’t look convinced either, because he looks up from the bowl at his trainer with a worried look.
“I don’t think there’s any point in denying that you’re not”, is all Ash replies, tightening his grip at Goh’s shoulder.
Goh doesn’t reply with anything. Ash knows the truth. He knows Goh feels miserable. He knows Goh feels awful. He knows Goh hates himself right now. So he can as well just…
Ash feels Goh’s shoulders shake under his grip. The next thing he registers is a choked sob leaving Goh’s lips, followed by a waterfall of tears falling from his eyes.
And it’s the first, well, maybe the second or third time when Ash doesn’t know what to do. He’s conflicted on whether to comfort Goh or just to let him be and let him have his outburst to himself.
But his thoughts fly through the window when Goh just turns to face Ash as he buries his face in Ash’s shoulder and cries harder than before.
Ash takes the cue as he hugs Goh close to his chest. He doesn’t care that his shirt will be soaked. All he wants right now is to magically turn back in time so the whole thing wouldn’t happen, and Eevee would see Goh first after she hatched instead of Gary.
“What am I doing wrong?”, Goh hiccups, though is muffled by Ash’s shirt, and he’s not sure if the boy heard it.
But Ash has heard it, he’s just not sure what to reply. It’s not like Goh is doing anything wrong right now. Eevee’s just confused and maybe needs some time to understand what’s going on.
Ash sighs to himself as he just moves comforting circles on Goh’s back as the boy still cries into his shoulder. Grookey jumps on the counter as he wants to be close to his trainer to offer some comfort as well. Ash chuckles to himself as he extends one of his hands so Grookey can climb on it and paw worriedly at Goh’s head. This earns a giggle from Goh, though it’s sad and dry.
“Maybe she needs more time to understand who her trainer is”, Ash reassuringly muses, and Goh nods into his shoulder before he pulls away from the hug. He wipes the rest of the tears that are falling from his eyes. Ash is quick to help as he kisses Goh’s wet and teary cheeks. He then threads their hands together as he traces one of his fingers delicately over the scratch on Goh’s hand. The boy hisses at the movement, and some tears prick again in the corner of his eyes from the pain.
I’m sorry, Ash softly whispers before he walks Goh to the sink and carefully puts the hurt hand under the small stream of water to ease the pain a little. Then he puts a small bandage over it, and if Goh notices it’s Eevee patterned, he tries to ignore it as he darts his gaze away.
The scratch under the bandage still hurts, or maybe it’s a scratch on Goh’s heart that hurts more.
“You could use a rest now”, Ash proposes as he drops their intertwined hands, and Goh weakly nods his head as he turns to go to their room.
But before he can go too far, Ash’s voice reaches his ears again. “Oh, you’re not taking Grookey with you?”
Goh hesitates as he turns to face Ash again. Ash gets a bit uneasy under Goh’s gaze. He’s not quite sure what he sees in his teary eyes right now. Sadness? Hatred? Upset? Or everything mixed together?
But Goh weakly smiles, and Grookey immediately jumps on his trainer's arm to take some rest with him.
As Goh leaves the room, Ash heavily sighs. He didn’t imagine the egg hatching going this way.
🌸
“I’m sorry”, Gary apologizes for, Ash doesn’t know for how long, but it’s more than necessary.
Eevee and Gary’s Umbreon sleep under the tree, and Gary observes them bittersweetly. Ash follows his gaze.
“Please, don’t. I know it should go differently, but it’s not your fault”, Ash reassures, and Gary chuckles dryly.
“I know, but I just can’t stop feeling bad about it. Goh was so excited and–”, Gary sighs, not even bothering to voice out his thoughts anymore.
And it all got ruined because of me, Gary wanted to say, he opens his mouth to finish the sentence, but closes it a few seconds later. He shakes his head at his own thoughts, and Ash chuckles, looking at his friend from a corner of his eye.
“It’s really not your fault, Gary”, Ash reassures yet again, and Gary nods his head to his words, chuckling when Chloe’s Sylveon nudges Eevee and Umbreon with her nose to wake them up.
Ah, so Chloe is nearby.
And Chloe is nearby indeed. She joins Gary and Ash and follows their gaze too. She smiles to herself when she says. “I would say that I’m glad the egg has finally hatched, but seeing the circumstances, it’s a little bittersweet”.
“Yeah”, Gary breathes out, and Ash has yet another reassurance at the tip of his tongue when something else leaves his mouth.
“So how did it go?”, Ash aims the question at Chloe, and the girl sighs in defeat.
“Not so good, he’s really…upset”, Chloe admits as he chews at her bottom lip. “So yeah, I actually came here to, um… I don’t think I can do a lot, I think I need you there”.
Ash wordlessly nods his head and Chloe thanks him with a smile. But before he leaves, he glances worriedly at Gary, who plays with a Pokeball that Eevee has tossed to him before so he voices out.
“How about asking dad what he thinks about the whole situation? Maybe he could help us figure it out”, it helps to snap Gary from his thoughts as he absentmindedly nods his head, agreeing with Chloe.
Gary puts the Pokeball in his pocket as he smiles. “Yeah, let’s”.
🌸
Ash doesn’t know what sight he expected going to his and Goh’s room, but the sight he sees now is below his expectations.
Goh is facing the wall, but Ash can tell he’s not asleep because of his body shaking from the sobs that Ash clearly hears.
Ash sighs as he comes closer and sits on the edge of the bed. The sobs got quieter now that Goh knows that Ash is in the room, but the tears falling from his eyes don’t stop even if Ash puts delicately a hand over Goh’s back.
Ash could ask a lot of things, but the chance of Goh shutting him down when hearing any of them is 90/100, so he settles on the safest option right now to see how safe he is. “I heard you talked with Chloe”.
Goh weakly nods his head, not uttering any words. He doesn’t trust his voice right now, and besides, maybe Ash will think he is doing okay and leave him alone–
So he lets the silence he appreciates now linger a few seconds longer, when his own sobs betray him.
“Why do I always fail as a trainer?”, he asks instead over sobs, not even bothering to turn and face Ash properly.
“What– No– I don’t think you are–”
Goh doesn’t even let Ash finish his stuttering. “No, I do. Not letting Scorbunny learn any fire type moves, almost leaving Raboot in Hoenn. Pressuring Sobble into a battle he didn’t want to be a part of. Dragging Drizzile from the cave when he didn’t want to leave it. Should I go on? Because the list is longer. I– Eevee must’ve felt how bad of a trainer I am. No wonder she wanted Gary to catch her”, Goh says the last sentence much quieter, and Ash can feel the upset in his voice.
“You bring up a lot from the past, I don’t think–”
Goh cuts him off again. “Oh, you want something fresh? Then how about how I startled Dragonair so badly that it was afraid of being around me. Or how I almost separated Primeape from her kids, or how many times I lost sight of Grookey, I’ve never seen you making such mistakes–”.
Ash frowns and it’s his turn to cut Goh off. “You might want to rethink that”.
“Huh?”, Goh manages to say over a broken sob as he finally turns to face Ash, and Ash doesn’t know if he prefers to stare at Goh’s back or to finally see how his face looks after a whole day of crying.
Ash sighs. “Don’t you remember how even when Riolu wanted to battle up close, I ignored his feelings because I was scared of losing and I wanted to continue battling from a distance? Or how we had to go after Pikachu because it ran away to Pallet Town because I ignored him the whole day? And I told you about my Charizard, right? Goh, I told you a million times, but I guess I will tell you for the 1,000,001st time that nobody’s perfect and everyone makes mistakes. Besides, I don’t see how you would fail with Eevee when she barely hatched and maybe she’s just confused about what's going on”.
Goh blinks a few times, not sure if it’s an attempt to blink the tears away or just to process what Ash has said, but either way, he smiles at Ash, who smiles back right away.
With a gentle movement, Ash brushes off the hair that has fallen on Goh’s forehead and he places a soft kiss there, to which Goh chuckles.
Ash is happy to see that Goh’s mood lifted up a little bit, but he knows there’s a long road before he will truly feel like himself, so Ash takes a deep breath before he proposes.
“Why don’t we go downstairs? I know you haven’t eaten anything in a long time. Eevee has probably woken up already, so we could try to figure out what to do together and–”
“I’m not hungry”, Goh shakes his head, and Ash snorts.
“Yeah, I’m not buying that, but Gary feels bad about the whole thing, so you both could at least talk about it”.
“Gary feels…bad?”, Goh asks quietly, more to himself than to Ash, but Ash hears him just fine.
“Yeah”, Ash whispers before he extends his hand. “So, what do you say?”
Goh hesitates for a moment, but shyly takes Ash’s hand into his own.
“I know you are used to shutting yourself down in self-doubt and hatred alone, but you don’t need to deal with it on your own, you know? I’m here with you all the way”, Ash says, tightening his grip on Goh’s hand, and Goh knows that. He’s heard it a lot of times coming from Ash, but somehow, he can’t stop being taken aback hearing the same words over and over again.
Goh smiles, and Ash finally drags him out of the room, with woken up but still sleepy Grookey running after them.
🌸
“I’m not gonna say, it is a little fascinating in its own way”, Professor Cerises muses, scratching his chin in thought.
“I agree”, Chryssa says, looking at her computer screen, but then turning around to face everyone in the room. “Goh spent a fair amount of time with the egg, so Eevee should be recognizing his voice easily, but somehow, she focuses on who she saw first after hatching”.
“Man, Pokemon never fail to amaze me”, Ash says, looking at Eevee playing with Sylveon, Umbreon, and Grookey. Goh follows his gaze and smiles at the sight. “Come to think of it, it reminds me a little bit of my Riolu. He was confused at first too and even ran away”.
“It was because he didn’t recognize your aura at first, Ashy”, Gary reminds, and Ash sheepishly chuckles. “But it does sound similar to Misty’s Togepi, don’t you think?”
Ash gets deep in thought. “Oh yeah. I remember. We were fighting over who will take care of Togepi, but she fixated on Misty the second she hatched, and no matter what we did, she always chose Misty. It was for the better, though, she took good care of her”.
Goh casts his gaze away, and Ash, seeing how Goh got uneasy, intertwines their hands together.
“It also reminds me of Serena’s Eevee, but with the difference that her Eevee warmed up to her right away, but it took her some time to warm up to other people or Pokemon”.
“I didn’t know that”, Chloe muses. “So what happened? Sylveon’s much more confident now”.
“Eevee evolved. I guess it was the crucial step”, Ash says and squeezes Goh’s hand comfortingly.
“For now I think, maybe Eevee should spend more time with Goh, and you should do some stuff that Eevee will recognize as a sign that you are her trainer. Like, feeding and taking care of her in general”, Ren proposes, and Professor Cerise agrees.
“Yeah, I don’t think there’s any biological factor that’s causing that. I think Eevee is just confused and she needs some time to understand who her trainer is”, the professor smiles at Goh, and the boy tries to be as optimistic as everyone in the room is.
Ash feels that Goh is still uneasy, so he opens his lips to reassure him some more, but Gary beats him to it by putting a comforting hand on Goh’s shoulder. Ash lets them have that moment to themselves as he squeezes Goh’s hand before dropping the hold and going to talk to Chloe and the rest.
“I’ll do everything I can to help too”, Gary says, and Goh turns to face him. They finally lock eyes for the first time since Eevee hatched in the morning and all Goh can see is sincerity in Gary’s gaze. “I’m not upset with how you reacted if you’re wondering. In fact, I would act the same if the Pokemon that hatched from my egg would prefer someone else over me”.
“None of us could predict something like that happening”, Goh quietly says as he looks down at his lap. “Still, I’m sorry”.
“I’m sorry too”, Gary apologizes, and Goh meets his eyes again before he smiles warmly.
“It’s not your fault”.
“It’s not yours either”, Gary states before both boys share a laugh. “But yeah, we still need to figure it out”, he says as he looks over Eevee and Goh follows his gaze.
“Did you come up with something?”
“It’s not like I came up with something, but I want– well, need to test something else…I need to go back to my apartment. Bre, let’s go”, Gary says, locking his eyes with Eevee’s, and the Pokemon runs to him excitedly. Goh casts his gaze away, before he even notices Gary’s Umbreon standing in between Gary and Eevee so the Pokemon can understand she’s supposed to stay here.
Gary gently pushes Eevee away from him as he tries to explain. “Please, you need to understand that I’m not your trainer, Goh is”, he says, pointing at Goh, and Eevee tilts her head in confusion.
Goh would argue over that. He still hasn’t caught Eevee yet, and seemingly, Eevee doesn’t want him as her trainer– Goh’s eyes widen when he remembers Betty’s words from their first therapy session. Have you ever considered that you can’t force someone to stay in your life? You can’t force someone to stay if they would like to leave instead.
Goh bites his lips as he looks back at Gary and Eevee again before he utters quietly. “Maybe you should catch her instead”.
Gary almost chokes on air, and Goh can feel Ash’s piercing look on him right now. He clenches his fist on his lap.
“She seems to prefer you over me since the first second she hatched. Maybe it’ll be for the best”, Goh says. He tries to keep his voice steady so it won’t break and give away that he wants to cry, but his own tears betray him seconds later as they start to fall. Ash sits next to Goh on the couch and hugs him with one of his arms, his head dropping to Ash’s shoulder right away.
Eevee tilts her head in confusion, but she comes closer to Goh a little bit, seeing that he’s crying. Gary watches Goh’s outburst sadly, before he pulls out the Pokeball from earlier from his pocket to put it on the table. Eevee eyes the ball curiously and then gives it a little sniff.
“Well, tough, cause I won’t be the one doing that. Goh, I worked with many Pokemon before, and I know she’s just confused and needs more time to warm up to you”, is all Gary says before he says his goodbyes and reminds Goh that he will be coming tomorrow.
As Gary starts walking towards the front door, Goh exhales a shaky breath before he closes his eyes. He doesn’t need to see Eevee running after him again, he doesn’t need to see her jump on his shoulder and lean into his touch comfortably.
The door front closes, and Goh doesn't have the courage to open his eyes. He sits like that for at least a few minutes when he feels a familiar arm tightening his grip around him.
“Guess she understood a little bit of it”, Ash chuckles to his ear, and he finally opens his eyes to reveal Eevee still sitting in front of them, licking her own paw, before she joins Grookey and Pikachu to play together again.
Chloe sits next to him as she puts a hand on his free shoulder to offer some comfort as well, her own Sylveon coming closer as well and intertwining one of her feelers with Goh’s hand.
“It’s gonna be a long road, but you both will get there. It’s a good start”, she states as she watches the Pokemon playing.
Goh follows her gaze before he gives her a weak smile. He whispers a soft thank you and Chloe offers him her own smile as a reply.
🌸
Goh wakes up to the other side being empty, but still warm. Ash’s familiar scent still lingers somehow on it, so Goh just rolls onto his stomach to lay on Ash’s side instead. And ah, he feels so comfortable that he could fall asleep again, but his eyes slowly open as he realizes there are a bunch of Pokemon waiting to be fed.
So he slowly drags himself off the bed downstairs. Ash is nowhere to be seen, but he’s not surprised that there’s a sandwich prepared waiting for him. Pikachu is munching his own food eagerly, but Grookey and Eevee’s bowls are empty. Grookey looks somewhat jealous of Pikachu, and Goh chuckles to himself at the sight.
“I’m sorry. I figured you should be the one to feed them today, but I started to feed the Pokemon in the park”, Ash says, coming back to the room as he places a soft kiss on Goh’s lips. Eevee tilts her head in confusion, but Pikachu says something to her, to which she excitedly jumps.
“Sometimes I wonder what they’re talking about”, Ash muses, taking his Pokeballs from the counter.
“Yeah, wish we could have a Meowth that can talk too as a translator”, Goh laughs, filling the two empty bowls with the food. “I’m sorry you two had to wait”, he says, petting Grookey in apology. Goh moves his hand to pet Eevee too, but he hesitates as he remembers what happened yesterday, so he retreats his hand.
Ash glances at him worriedly, but Goh shakes his head. “It’s okay. Are you training today?”, Goh asks, pointing at the Pokeballs in his hand.
“Yeah, would you like to watch?”, Ash winks, and Goh tilts his head.
“Would you like me to watch?”, Goh asks teasingly, and he knows Ash is mere seconds away from closing the distance between them.
“Always”, Ash breathes out, and maybe, maybe Goh is the one who wants to close the distance between them.
So he does, and he melts into the kiss as Ash pulls him closer, and Goh doesn’t want to pull away, even if Gary comes into the room and clears his throat to announce he’s already here.
“In front of the children?”, he teases, and Goh feels the urge to kick him out, but the teasing atmosphere fades as soon as Eevee runs to jump on Gary’s shoulder to sit there comfortingly with a happy and excitedly exclaimed Vee!.
Goh’s heart breaks and he tries to focus on something else. He tries to ignore the sting on his heart, the sting of the scratch that still hurts under the bandage. Luckily for him, Grookey has finished his food as well, so he jumps on his familiar favorite place on Goh’s forearm, and it helps to ground him. He pets Grookey a few times as Gary finally speaks.
“Not much progress, huh?”, Gary mumbles mostly to himself, but Goh hears him and nods his head sadly. The tears are already pricking in his eyes, but none of them thankfully fall down.
His head is ringing and he feels his breathing getting shallow. He absentmindedly searches for the necklace under his shirt to ground himself. It does help a little as he finally hears Ash talking to Gary. At least she accepted the food that Goh gave her and she fell asleep next to Grookey and Pikachu in our bed.
He closes his eyes. The rest of the words are getting blurry, his head is spinning as the ringing gets louder. He tries to breathe as he grounds on Grookey’s familiar presence on his forearm. He wants to open his eyes, as he feels like he’s about to pass out from the anxiety, when he remembers that he doesn’t want to be met with the sight of Eevee being close to Gary sitting on his shoulder and–
He snaps his eyes open anyway when he feels a familiar hand on his shoulder bringing him to reality. Instead, he’s met with brown, concerned eyes looking at him.
“Are you okay? I was calling your name but you weren’t responding”, Ash asks, and Goh shakes his head.
“I um, I think I was having a– anyway, no, I- I think I need to go outside for a bit. I still need to feed the rest of the Pokemon though–”.
He still clenches the necklace in his hand, and worried Grookey climbs from his forearm to sit on his shoulder instead.
“Maybe you could give Eevee a little tour around the park. I’ll be right behind ya”, Gary smiles, and Goh hesitates for a moment, but nods his head.
Ash squeezes Goh’s shoulder one more time, before he drops the hold as he reminds him that he’s gonna do some training, and Goh leaves with Gary to give Eevee the tour around the park.
And it’s mostly Grookey who gives Eevee the tour around the park, with Goh and Gary following closely behind.
Goh looks at his feet as he’s walking, and Gary sighs when he sees how miserable his friend is. Goh doesn’t even notice Gary walking three steps faster than him, only to stand in front of him and Goh bumps into the steady figure of his friend.
“At least I got your attention”, Gary laughs, and Goh tilts his head when Gary, five seconds later, gets serious.
“I know you live on your past mistakes, but do you realize that you’re making yet another mistake right now?”
“What do you mean?”, Goh asks, and Gary isn’t sure if he hears upset in his friend’s voice or he’s offended.
“Look at her”, Gary says, looking at Eevee, and Goh follows his gaze. “How is she supposed to get closer to you when you’re avoiding bonding with her?”
Goh casts his gaze away. Gary’s right, he knows it.
“I know you’re afraid, but…it’s not going forward, Goh. You’re stuck in the same place. You need to start bonding with her, even if you start with taking silly steps”.
Goh nods his head, even if he still doesn’t meet Gary’s gaze. He knows that the boy is looking at him anyway. He feels his piercing look all over him.
But Gary takes a risky move as he comes closer to Goh and moves Goh’s chin up with his finger so their eyes can meet.
“That’s better”, Gary chuckles, and Goh even if he feels vulnerable right now looking straight into Gary’s eyes, he still sees sincerity in there. The kind of sincerity that he would never expect to see a few years ago when they first met. Or maybe the sincerity was always there, but Goh was too stubborn to see.
Somehow, Goh forgets how to breathe for a second, but Gary just smiles and tilts his head. “You know, I can come here everyday and help you, but I can’t do your job. You should be the one spending most of the time with her”.
Goh knows that, and he tries, but somehow, whenever he tries to be close to Eevee, he gets blocked and starts to panic.
Goh holds the gaze, but bites his lips when his eyes start to fill with tears. Gary doesn’t look away, he holds the gaze as well as he reassures. “You can let it out, I won’t judge”.
So Goh cries, his head dropping onto Gary’s shoulder and his tears soaking his shirt. Grookey and Eevee stop playing together as they worriedly come closer to see what’s going on. Pikachu yells something in alarm from afar as he comes running as well, Ash following his Pokemon behind.
“Did something happen?”, Ash asks with familiar concern in his voice. Goh’s sobs get louder without any particular reason, and Ash puts a hand on his back to apply some grounding pressure.
“I think he’s been keeping a lot to himself”, Gary states, and Goh lets out a shaky exhale as he pulls away, feeling a bit embarrassed by his sudden outburst.
But neither Ash or Gary judge him, and he’s grateful for that.
“Feeling better?”, Gary asks, still concerned but Goh nods his head wordlessly as he wipes the rest of the tears from his eyes.
Ash kisses Goh’s temple a few times, which earns a small chuckle from the boy, and Gary smiles, seeing that his mood has lifted up a little bit.
“Thank you”, Goh finally says, his voice still broken from crying, so he clears his throat in an attempt to fix it before he speaks again. “For everything, I mean”.
“Course”, Gary smiles before his Rotom Phone interrupts the moment. “I, um, should get going, I promised Tokio to pick him up from the airport, but call me if you need anything”, Gary says, still looking over his phone, then putting it back into his pocket.
Eevee comes closer to paw at Gary’s leg. He kneels at her level as he pets her goodbye. “I’m sure I’ll be back soon”. Eevee leans comfortably into his touch, but leaves to sit next to Grookey, somewhat closer to Goh too than before, when Gary retreats his hand.
“See ya”, Gary waves goodbye, and Eevee stands up as she wiggles her tail left and right.
Gary leaves, Eevee stays. Goh exhales a shaky breath of relief, and Ash intertwines their hands together to offer some comfort.
🌸
The rest of Ash’s training turns into fun playing where most of the Pokemon are participating. Even Eevee joins, and Ash thinks it’s a good opportunity for her to bond with Goh’s Pokemon. Goh himself hasn’t joined, but he lays underneath a nearby tree as he watches the Pokemon playing together, laughing from time to time when Pikachu hits the ball harder on purpose so it will hit Ash in the face.
Eevee has already become good friends with Grookey and Pikachu. She also got quickly attached to Cinderace, and Goh feels his heart ache again on how much he’s missing right now. He knows he could join and play with them too instead of drowning in self-pity. He looks at his scratched hand that is still bandaged as he bites his lips. Gary is right. How is Eevee gonna become closer to him when instead of bonding with her, he’s almost crying over how miserable he is?
He holds the necklace under his shirt with a shaking hand, with tears gathering in his eyes, but he blinks quickly a few times to get rid of them. He looks at the cloudy sky to calm himself down. The sun is still shining beautifully, reflecting in his teary eyes as he admires it. He plays with the necklace in his hand as it becomes harder for him to breathe with every second. He abruptly sits up as he tries to take a few deep breaths. He delicately touches the grass with his free hand and plays with it in another attempt to ground himself, when suddenly, there’s a cold bottle of water prodding at his hand, and it helps to snap him out of his anxiety.
“It’s so hot today, isn’t it? I think you should drink something. I don’t think you realized you’re not in the shade anymore”, Ash says as he puts his own cap on Goh’s head. The cap finally blocks the sun, and it’s just now when Goh realizes he feels hot indeed. He is sweaty, and the feeling of cold water in his hand helps to refresh him a little. “Are you feeling okay? You look like you’re burning up”.
Goh takes a sip of the water as he nods. “I think it’s too hot for me to be outside right now. I think I’ll go back to the Laboratory. Maybe I’ll take a nap. But you can keep playing if you’d like”, he adds as he carefully stands so he won’t get dizzy. He wants to give Ash his cap back when the boy shakes his head.
“Nah, don’t take it off. You look really good in it”, Ash winks, and Goh doesn’t know if he feels hot from the sun or from his furious blushing anymore.
Maybe he needs to pour the cold water over his head instead.
🌸
Goh wakes up from his nap to rain pouring and a thunderstorm getting close. He rubs the rest of the sleep from his eyes as he gets up and goes downstairs. Ash and the Pokemon are still playing together from what he hears, so he looks through the window to observe them for a moment. They all look so content playing and having so much fun together, but the rain is so heavy and he doesn’t want any of them to get sick, so–
“Ash, get the little ones inside, I don’t want them to get sick”, Goh yells as he opens the window. Ash gives him a quick nod and smiles at the Pokemon, who are sulking that Goh has ended their fun.
“Don’t be so sad, we can play later”, Ash reminds as he takes the Pokemon inside. Goh already prepares bowls full of food for them, and Pikachu and Grookey start to eat eagerly, but Eevee carefully sniffs her bowl and just lays beside it, not even eating anything.
Goh looks at her with a sad gaze, and Ash hugs him from behind, but he pushes him away.
“You’re too cold from the rain”, Goh states and Ash pouts.
“I can tell you’re upset. I’m sorry I kept them that long in the rain”, Ash apologizes, but Goh shakes his head.
“That’s not it”, Goh truthfully says. He loves the rain too, but– he gets startled again by a sudden lightning strike, and Ash teases.
“Just afraid, huh?”
Goh shyly nods his head and Ash makes another attempt to hug Goh. This time, the boy accepts his embrace, so Ash kisses him atop of his head.
“How about another nap? We can take that one together”.
“Sure”, Goh smiles as he sees that Grookey and Pikachu have already fallen asleep on the floor together, Cinderace finally runs to the Laboratory too to eat something as well, so Ash drags him towards their room.
Goh stops in his tracks for a second to take another worried glance at Eevee, who still hasn’t touched her food at all.
“Maybe she’s just not hungry”, Ash muses and Goh nods his head, unconvinced.
His thoughts fly through the window when he’s tightly secured in Ash’s arms, as they both fall asleep to the sound of rain and the thunderstorm.
🌸
Goh wakes up again, but this time, he’s not sure what has woken him up. The rain still falls, and the thunderstorm is still going on outside, but the mysterious scratching on the door is still somehow hearable throughout all of it. He successfully entangles himself from Ash without waking the boy up to see what’s going on. Ash must’ve locked the door on instinct, otherwise someone who’s scratching on the door would just come in already.
So Goh unlocks the door as he still rubs his eyes to reveal Grookey sitting beside it and trying to get in.
“I’m sorry, you can come in”, Goh says, his voice still sleepy. He’s ready to come back to bed, but Grookey, instead of coming in, just runs off downstairs, and Goh is as confused as he was before.
He does follow his Pokemon downstairs, because Grookey never just runs off without any reason.
Goh notices Grookey running off to the dining room, and he sits next to Eevee as he paws at her. Goh kneels next to them as he looks at her with concern. She still hasn’t touched her food, and she’s shivering from the cold. But Goh delicately touches her body, and it’s the total opposite of cold, it’s really hot instead.
“Shit”, Goh mumbles to himself. Grookey tilts his head, and Goh chuckles. “I think she got sick, but good job, Grookey. Thank you for letting me know”, Goh smiles and pets Grookey a few times as a reward.
Goh sighs. He needs to do something quick. Eevee mumbles something in her sleep due to the high fever, so Goh carefully picks her up to lay her on the couch instead. He puts a wet cloth on her forehead to ease the fever. Eevee stirs in her sleep, but doesn’t wake up, and Goh carefully uses another wet cloth in an attempt to get rid of the unnecessary body heat. But Eevee shivers more, and Goh retreats his hand as he sighs in defeat.
“I know you’re hot, but you shiver from the cold, and I’m not sure what to do”, Goh whispers, and Eevee stirs in her sleep again at the sound of his voice. “Maybe I should call Professor? Grookey, could you bring me my Rotom Phone?”
“Grookey!”, Grookey exclaims as he runs upstairs and, in the nick of time, comes back with Goh’s Rotom phone in his mouth, but drops it a few steps before he’s fully back in the dining room, and Goh apologizes to Rotom for the fall.
“Well, that’s just great. There’s no signal due to thunderstorms, our nearest Pokemon Centre is out of power, they’re sending many sick and injured Pokemon to another one”, Goh says disappointed before he sighs. “Guess I just need to take care of you myself”, Goh says, turning his attention back to Eevee. She’s still shivering, and Goh, without thinking, covers her tightly with a blanket. Grookey curls next to her to make her warmer as well.
Goh chuckles at the sight, but gets up to look through the cupboards for some medicine he could give to Eevee. He breathes out in relief when he thankfully finds something that could help. He mashes the medicine with some Sitrus berries before he kneels next to Eevee again, with a spoon of the medicine in his hand. He gently shakes her to wake up, and she slowly opens her eyes, not fully knowing what’s going on.
“I know you’re feeling unwell, but when you take this, you’ll feel better”, Goh says softly, and Eevee tilts her head. She sniffs the medicine on the spoon before she leans back.
“Yeah, it’s probably awful, but I promise you’ll feel a little bit better after eating this”, Goh locks his gaze with Eevee, and she sniffs the medicine one more time, being uncertain again. Grookey comes to the rescue as he sniffs the medicine too and gives it a little lick.
“Ah, Grookey, you shouldn’t take it when you’re not sick”, Goh reminds, but Grookey jumps a few times on the couch, seemingly liking how the medicine tastes, and Goh chuckles, focusing on Eevee again.
“Please, Eevee. I need you to trust me with it”, Goh pleads, and Eevee tilts her head again, but seeing that Grookey liked the medicine, she takes a closer look at it again.
“Vee?”
“Yeah, it will help you feel better”.
She hesitates for a moment before she slowly eats the medicine from the spoon. It makes her sneeze afterwards, and Goh laughs at it, but he takes a tissue to wipe the snort that hangs from her little nose.
“You should drink some water too”, Goh says, taking the water bottle closer to her so she can take a few sips of it.
Grookey curls next to Eevee again so they can share body heat, and Goh hesitates before he puts a hand atop of Eevee to pet her with slow, comforting moves. Eevee looks up at him with tiredness, but also somehow filled with admiration. She leans forward to lick at Goh’s almost healed wound from her scratch, and Goh smiles at her.
“You know, if you’re not feeling well tomorrow, I promise I will take you to the Pokemon Centre”, Goh promises as he still pets Eevee. The shivering stopped at least, and Goh felt her body relax a little. He takes his other hand to her forehead, and he breathes out in relief when it’s less hot than before.
Eevee slowly blinks as she almost falls asleep under Goh’s steady moving hand, but he takes it away to Eevee’s dismay to cover his own yawn, before he decides to scoop Eevee into his arms and lay down to take some rest himself. Grookey stirs in his sleep, but doesn’t wake up, and Eevee feels herself relax more and more in Goh’s comforting hold, so she buries herself further into his embrace as the sleep takes over her too.
🌸
Ash wakes up to a half empty bed. He moves his hand on Goh’s side, but it’s too cold, and Ash groans as he gets out of the bed to navigate his partner’s whereabouts. Pikachu – still sleepy and confused, wakes up too and follows his trainer downstairs.
The rain and thunderstorms stopped long ago, and Ash can feel the sun shining through the windows. The weather already seems promising, so maybe he can train later, and maybe also make up for yesterday and play some more with Goh’s Pokemon today?
He stretches his arms as he asks. “Are you hungry, buddy?”
“Pika!”, Pikachu exclaims excitedly, being more awake now.
“I wonder where Goh is”, Ash ponders as he and Pikachu check the main room of the Laboratory first.
It’s still pretty early, so neither Professor Cerise, nor Chryssa or Ren, arrived yet. The whole place is so quiet, and Ash thinks that maybe Goh is already in the park feeding the Pokemon when he passes the couch and stops in his tracks. His eyes soften at the sight as he comes closer to the couch and sits carefully on it. Goh stirs in his sleep at the movement, but doesn’t wake up, so Ash takes the fallen blanket from the floor to cover Goh with it again. He places a soft kiss on the boy’s temple. He knows he should’ve woken Goh up because sleeping a whole night on the couch in the same position can’t be comfortable, but Goh looks so content surrounded by Eevee and Grookey, and now joined Pikachu, that he would feel guilty interrupting the precious moment.
“Hey, is anyone already awake?”, Chloe yells, walking through the door, and Ash turns around to quiet her down by putting a finger on his lips. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to”, she whispers, coming closer too.
“But what happened? That’s such progress”, Chloe quietly asks, and Ash shrugs.
“I’m not sure, I woke up not long ago and found them like this”, Ash says, equally quiet, and Chloe smiles.
“Gary needs to see this”, she quietly giggles, and Ash takes Goh’s Rotom phone from the counter and video calls Gary.
“Goh, I swear it’s barely 7 a.m–”, Gary sleepily says as he rubs his eyes, but Ash cuts him off.
“Shh, it’s me. Take a look at this”, Ash whispers as he turns the phone and he hears Gary’s chuckle.
“What a precious sight. Such great news. I’m glad they’re finally becoming closer”, Gary truthfully says as he covers his own yawn. “You owe me a coffee”.
“Sorry for waking you up, prince”, Ash teasingly whispers, and Gary rolls his eyes. “But deal, I’ll make you one when you’ll come later”.
Gary chuckles again before the bottle on the counter catches his attention. “What’s that bottle on the counter, Ash?”, Gary frowns seriously, and Ash takes a closer look at the bottle that Chloe now holds in her hands.
“Oh, I think it’s some kind of medicine for Pokemon”.
“Wake Goh up, I have a feeling Eevee has gotten sick, and she might still not be fully recovered and should be treated at Pokemon Centre”, Gary says, before hanging up.
Ash sighs because he really doesn’t want to interrupt Goh’s deep slumber, but he delicately shakes him to wake him up. “Hey, baby, wake up”.
Goh stirs at the familiar voice, before he slowly opens his eyes and blinks a few times to get rid of the blurry vision.
“It’s morning already”, Ash quietly whispers as Goh carefully sits down and winces at the neck pain.
“Is Eevee okay?”, Ash asks with concern, and Goh turns his attention to the Pokemon laying beside him. He quickly reaches to touch on her forehead, and he sighs in relief as it’s not hot anymore.
“She got sick and I gave her some medicine. I fell asleep here while taking care of her”.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t want her to get sick–”, Ash apologizes and Goh shakes his head.
“It’s okay, not your fault”, Goh says before placing a gentle kiss on Ash’s lips. “I probably should take her to the Pokemon Centre, but it was closed because of the outrage yesterday”, Goh says, scooping the sleeping Eevee carefully in his arms.
“Well, we can check if the Pokemon Centre is open again then”, Ash suggests, glancing at the resting Grookey. Chloe filled his bowl with food already, so he should be fine. Pikachu already jumped on his shoulder to accompany them on their little trip.
Goh blinks a few times. “Didn’t you want to train today?”
“Yeah, I can do that later. Eevee’s health is more important”, Ash says without any hesitation in his voice, and Goh smiles at him.
“Thank you”, Goh whispers, before he connects his lips with Ash’s in a quick, but soft kiss.
🌸
“I’m glad it wasn’t as serious as it looked”, Gary says, relieved when they all go back from the Pokemon Centre to the Laboratory.
Eevee is riding on Umbreon’s back and enjoying herself, and Goh chuckles at the sight.
He looks down at his feet as he walks and gets deep in thought. He’s…surely closer to Eevee than he was before, and she looks more comfortable in his company, but still…
Goh stops in his tracks. “Gary?”
Gary stops and turns around to look at Goh, brows frowning.
“I think Eevee should be the one to decide which one of us she wants to have as a trainer”, Goh says, as he finally looks up at Gary. “Your intentions are good, and I know what you mean. It was my egg, but I’m not gonna argue with Eevee’s wishes if she’d rather be caught by you”.
Gary blinks a few times before he closes his eyes in understanding. “You’re right. Then, let her choose”, Gary says, before he pulls out one of his empty Pokeballs, and Goh does the same.
Ash comes closer to Goh, putting a hand on his shoulder to offer some needed comfort, and Goh exhales a shaky breath.
“Goh?”, Gary asks, and the aforementioned boy glances at him. “No matter who she chooses, no hard feelings?”
Goh casts his gaze away before he takes a few deep breaths. He feels the weight of the necklace on his chest with each breath. As he exhales for the last time, he finally utters. “No hard feelings”. Although, the words sit uncomfortably on his tongue.
“Eevee? It’s up to you”, Gary says, and Eevee tilts her head, but she sits in front of two Pokeballs, and Goh closes his eyes on instinct to not to see which Pokeball she chooses.
Goh’s hand starts to shake and he grips tighter on the Pokeball Ash’s hand tightens on Goh’s shoulder as well. He hears an excited Vee! and Goh peeks with one eye, and he opens them completely when he sees that Eevee has gone in one of the Pokeballs already.
But which one did she–
Eevee has been registered to your Pokedex.
Oh.
He looks at his Pokeball with disbelief written on his face when he hears Gary smirk. “It’s settled, then. Saw it coming”.
“Huh? How did you–”
“She understood who her real trainer is last night”, is all Gary replies, and Goh raises his brow at him.
“You weren’t there–”.
“Well, yeah, but I know you must’ve taken good care of her, and please don’t deny it. You always take good care of any Pokemon”.
Goh bites the quip back because he knows it’s impossible to fight with Gary, so instead, he offers him a kind smile.
“Shall we go? I think someone’s starving”, Gary says, glancing at Ash, and the boy lets out a sheepish chuckle.
“Yeah, let’s go”, Goh says, and Pikachu is the first one to start running down the road, with Ash immediately running after him, yelling an I’ll be the first one.
Goh laughs, but asks. “Should we take that challenge?”
Umbreon runs on her own, and Gary sighs before he says. “I guess we have no choice. Ah, Bre, wait for me!”.
Goh laughs again, but he doesn’t take that challenge. He doesn’t run after them. Instead, he releases Eevee from her Pokeball, and she jumps into his arms, nuzzling into his chest before she looks at him with big, black eyes.
Goh smiles as he starts walking towards the direction Ash and Gary had run, holding Eevee in his arms. “Would you mind if I called you Vee?”
“Vee?”
“Yeah, Vee”.
“Vee, vee!”, she excitedly exclaims as Goh smiles at her warmly.
“We’re gonna be good friends, Vee”, Goh says as he looks at Eevee with soft eyes, before he hugs her close to his chest, and Eevee leans further into her trainer’s comfortable embrace.
🌸
I've been the archer, I've been the prey
Screaming, who could ever leave me, darling
But who could stay?