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“So… this is it” Ash said, smiling
“It seems that way” Gou replied, nodding “Thank you for the adventure, Ash”
It had been more than just a simple adventure, but Gou would never admit it. Ash Ketchum was his second real friend, and after so many years of spending time just with Koharu, finding this strange, careless, raven-haired boy felt like the best thing it could happen to him.
They were both twelve years old when they met each other, but when Ash told him about his adventures all over the world, it truly felt like he lived a thousand more lifetimes than him
That, of course, made him believe he wasn’t worthy of Ash’s friendship, and one day, during a hiking excursion and after a particular nasty fall that left him unable to walk, he expressed his concerns
“Just leave me here” he said, rubbing his left leg and wincing in pain
For all response, Ash took his slim body and started to carry him on his back
“Don’t say those things” he said sternly, without looking at him
“But I’m just holding you back”
“Why would I leave you here, Gou? Right now, when you need my help”
“Fine, not right now, but maybe after all of this…”
“Don’t. Say. That. Again. I’m not leaving you, Gou. It’s a promise” Ash repeated, emphasizing each word and starting to walk
“It’s the truth tho… You are so athletic, so fast, so strong, you could do many more things without me around”
“We’re research fellows, remember?” the other boy interrupted him
“We have to stay together” he whispered, looking directly to Gou’s eyes
And the way the trainer looked at the boy from Vermillion City, the smile that formed in his lips, the way his eyes shone, it was like he needed something, like he wanted something that only Gou could give him
And Gou really wanted to give him that, he waited for a second, making sure he wasn’t reading Ash in the wrong way. The boy stopped dead in his tracks, still staring at him.
He smiled again, and Gou kissed his lips in one swoop motion, the shock was such that Ash lost balance and they both fell to the ground.
“I’m sorry” Gou whispered, closing his eyes
He felt Ash crawling back to him, cupping his cheeks and frenetically kissing him back, he let go for a second just to whisper
“Don’t be sorry, I want this too, Gou”
Gou felt the pressure of Ash’s entire body against his, and the trainer moved very carefully, trying to avoid touching his injured leg, Gou giggled when the other boy ruffled his hair playfully
“I love the sound of your laughter, Gou…”
“Gou…”
“Gou!”
The researcher opened his eyes, coming out of his fantasy and looked at his crush, still carrying him on his back
“I’m sorry, what did you say?” he asked embarrassed
“We’re research fellows, we have to do these things together, it’s our job”
“Right…” Gou whispered “Our job”
Ash kept walking, and Gou didn’t say another word until they reached the Pokemon Center.
He would never talk about his accelerated pulse, his heavy breathing, his nervous sweating every time Ash smiled at him, or took his hands. I mean, how could he? The boy from Pallet Town was his friend, risking such a special connection with him just because he was in love felt pointless.
He tried to talk about the topic of romance with him more than once, but every single one of his advances just went over Ash’s dense head.
“I love scones so much!” Ash shouted, stuffing his mouth with the Galarian delicacy
“Said the future Champion, to no one’s surprise” Gou commented with a smile
“You realybffffffbfbfbfbfbf?” Ash tried to ask
“Drink, swallow, then talk” his friend ordered, handing him a glass of water
Ash did exactly that (for once) and then questioned:
“You really think I will become the World Champion”
“Of course” Gou replied honestly “You have just as much potential as anyone else, and you have such a strong bond with your Pokemon, not everyone can say that”
“Wow… Thanks Gou”
“No problem”
“I’m glad I have you with me”
“Really?” Gou asked, reaching for Ash’s hand
He gently took him, getting up from his chair and walking towards the other boy, Gou got up too and they stayed looking at each other, for an extremely long time
“You’re my favorite person” Gou said, throwing himself towards Ash’s arm and hugging him tightly
“My favorite, favorite person” he repeated, smiling
Ash simply buried his nose on Gou’s neck, and the boy shuddered as soon as he felt the breath of his crush making contact with his skin
“Is this… okay?” he asked
“I think it is” Ash replied, kissing his cheek “After all, you’re my favorite person too, Gou”
And after that confession, everything else became a blur
“Gou!”
“You were taking off again?” Ash asked, completely breaking his friend’s daydream
“Taking off?” the boy questioned, raising an eyebrow
“Yeah, sometimes you just stay still for too long and it’s like your brain takes off, you just stop paying attention to everything!”
“Sorry….” The boy said, ashamed
“Oh, don’t worry…”
“I think it’s cute” Ash said, winking at him
Gou shook his head
“You think it’s what?” he questioned
“Normal” Ash repeated “It happens to me all the time”
Gou took a sip of his glass of water and remained silent for the rest of the evening.
As time passed by and his friendship with Ash grew, Gou figured out he didn’t want to lose the other boy, so he kept his mouth shut, believing that maybe those weird feelings for his friend would go away.
One day, walking through a dessert looking for an elusive Sandaconda, a sudden sandstorm surprised both of them, and Ash managed to shield his friend from the sand, quickly calling out Dragonite and getting out of there.
“Are you okay, Gou?” Ash asked, once they were safely flying aboard his Pokemon
The other boy managed to nod ever so slightly,rubbing his eyes in the process
“Don’t do that!” his crush chastised him
Ash looked through his backpack and took out a bottle of water. He splashed the liquid over Gou’s face very carefully and the boy opened his eyes
“You okay now?” he asked, that ever-present grin illuminating his face
“I want to kiss you so hard right now” Gou whispered
“Would that help you feel better?” the trainer questioned, oblivious as always
“Yes, yes it would” the researcher replied
“Go on then” the raven haired accepted
Gou took a deep breath and smashed his lips right through his crush’s face, the other boy laughed at the sudden action and laid back, dangerously balancing on Dragonite’s back.
Gou forgot about the situation for a moment and attacked him again. Ash simply smiled, welcoming him with open arms and wrapping his arms around his body.
“You… like this?” the boy from Vermillion City questioned
“Don’t stop, Gou” Ash pleaded, kissing him again
“Gou…”
“Gou!”
“I’m fine Ash… thank you” the other boy responded, wiping the water off his face
A usual fantasy for Gou would involve his family.
During the last three years, he and Ash would go to his house at least once every two or three months, and their parents would always welcomed them with a smile, listen attentively to their stories. His grandma would make cookies and Ash, being Ash, would eat all of them in just a few minutes, apologizing for his behavior once the plate was empty.
Gou’s family would simply smile, and his grandma would go to the kitchen to prepare another batch. Obviously, they liked Ash as much as Gou liked him.
Well, of course not as much, but you get the point.
Once the day was over and they had to return to the institute, Ash would always ask the same question:
“Gou, when will your family come with us to do a research together?”
Gou’s parents laughed at the comment, and her mom explained that their area of expertise was computer science, not field research
“Besides, why would you want us to come with you?” the older man questioned
“Because Gou’s an excellent researcher!” Ash said, causing a blush to appear in his friend’s face “He had to learn all those things from someone, so all of you would be excellent researchers too!”
The family rejected the offer with a smile, and once the two boys were out of the department and before taking the elevator, Ash said:
“I do think you’re smarter than them, though”
“D-don’t s-say th-those things!” Gou stuttered, blushing again
“Smarter and cuter” the boy added, pinching his cheek and causing an even bigger blush
“Shut up” Gou ordered, but Ash didn’t comply
“Make me” he challenged, putting a finger on Gou’s lips
The boy from Vermillion City jumped towards his crush and kissed him as softly as he could, Ash opened his eyes as big as plates and took a step back, breaking the contact.
“Ok, that was… surprising” he admitted, licking his lips
“A good surprise or…”
“An awesome surprise, of course” Ash interrupted “But not enough to keep my mouth shut”
“I can try again” Gou said, feeling brave
“I’d like that” Ash admitted
Gou took Ash by the shoulders and guided him towards his lips again, they spent a few seconds in that position until a voice said:
“Son!”
They turned around, surprised to be discovered by Gou’s parents, smiling at them.
“Son!” his mother repeated
“Son!”
Gou’s blush disappeared from his face and he looked at his mother, the lady approached him and handed him his backpack.
“You almost forgot it” she said, smiling
“Thanks mom” the boy muttered, sadly realizing his fantasy was broken once again
Three years of their lives went by that way. More than a thousand days investigating, capturing Pokemon, swimming in beaches and climbing mountains together.
And of course, more than three years of Gou fantasizing about things that actually, never happened.
“So… this is it” Ash said, smiling
They were in the departure lounge of the Vermillion City Airport, with only five minutes left before Ash’s flight would take the skies towards a new, unknown region.
Gou really wanted to follow him, but why would he do that?
He admitted to himself long ago that he’d never be able to confess his deep feelings for the other teenager, and he still needed to catch Mew and keep working for Sakuragi at his Institute.
Following him just to be near him and nothing else would be pointless, it would hurt him too much, so when Ash told him of his plans he simply smiled and accepted the fate.
It was over ad he had to let his crush go…
“It seems that way” Gou replied, nodding “Thank you for the adventure, Ash”
“Thanks to you, Gou” the raven haired replied, shaking his hand “I’m gonna miss you”
Before Gou could reply something, someone started to cry at his side.
“Cin-Cinderace!”
Gou’s evolved Pokemon was hugging Lucario and Intelleon as hard as he could, while Dragonite hugged his back, Pikachu climbed to his large ears and Gengar stayed in his shadow, looking sadly at him.
“He’s gonna miss everyone” Gou confessed
“I know, I wish we could stay for longer, but you know…”
“The adventure never stops; I know” the other boy replied with a nod “New places, new challenges, new goals…”
A woman touched Ash’s shoulders and whispered:
“We’re ready to go, Mr. Ketchum”
Ash nodded, calling back all of his Pokemon to their respective Pokeballs and motioning Pikachu to jump to his shoulder
“Good bye Gou” the boy said, waving at him and turning around
“Please don’t go” Gou said, looking at his crush and kissing him as hard as he could
“Please…” Gou said, looking at his crush and thinking for a moment, maybe for a moment, he could…
“Take care” he completed, realizing he couldn’t say, not even under this circumstances
The Champion nodded and walked away, turning around a corner and disappearing from Gou’s sight. After a few minutes, Gou watched the plane taking off and burst into tears, falling to the floor.
Cinderace rushed to his side, gently picking him up and hugging him, Gou buried his face into his friend’s fur and sobbed loudly.
“He’s gone…” he whispered
“Cin… Cinder” his Pokemon replied, stroking his hair
“I never told him…” he began
“Cinder…” His Pokemon interrupted, in a tone that could only mean “I know”
“I’m such an idiot”
“No you’re not” someone said behind him
Gou turned around and stared at the eavesdropper. Ash Ketchum was there, sitting in the floor of the airport, with his faithful Pikachu by his side.
“Oh great” Gou muttered under his breath “Now I’m hallucinating”
“That’s so offensive” his partner replied
“You… you shouldn’t be here, you should…”
“Be on a plane right now, I know, but the rest of the world can wait for me for a few hours, can it?” Ash commented, approaching the other teen and taking his hands
“Just for a few hours?” Gou asked, sadness evident in his voice
“It depends”
“On what?”
“On how much you like my kisses”
“What do you me…”
Gou never finished the phrase, Ash took one last step towards him and placed a sweet, soft kiss on his lips, the boy took a long breath and decided he didn’t wanted to let him go, he wrapped his arms around his back and stayed in that position for as long as his lungs resisted.
“You didn’t take the plane?” Gou asked, unable to process any emotion at the time
“Seriously, that’s what you want to know?”
Gou nodded
“Remember that time we went hiking and you fell?”
Another nod
“I told you back then I wasn’t going to leave you…”
“I thought you meant…”
Ash quickly kissed his cheek and added
“I’m not leaving, Gou”
“Does the Professor know you are staying?”
“Yep, everyone knows”
“And Renji? And Kikuna?”
“Everyone knows” Ash repeated “Even Cinderace”
The researcher shot an angry look at his Pokemon and the fire type shrugged in response
"Hey" Ash excused him "I had to make sure you felt the same way for me"
"So you tricked me, you make me believe you were leaving, you broke my heart just to..."
"Just to see if I can mend it"
"How do you pretend to do that?" Gou asked playfully
"I could kiss you again, if that helps"
"You will have to do so much more than that"
"I know" Ash admitted "I already talked with my mom about this whole boyfriend thing"
"B-b-boyfriend?" Gou stuttered and Ash laughed at his confused expression
"So, how much do you want me to stay?" the Champion questioned, kissing him again briefly "An hour?"
He pecked his lips
"A day?"
Then his cheek
"A week maybe?"
"For the rest of my life, you idiot" Gou replied, taking his shirt and kissing him with as much strength as he could
The Vermillion City boy was sure this wasn’t a fantasy, this was real.
Ash wasn't going anywhere, at least not without him, he wasn't taking off...
And for once, Gou wasn’t taking off either...