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Koharu heard the laughs of her classmates behind her back and ignored them, focusing on her test.
“I’d prefer to date a Dragonite instead of her” one of the boys said, and the girl crumpled the paper in front of her.
“It’d be less dangerous” another one commented, and they both laughed once again
Koharu ignored the scene once more. She was in school to learn, to study, and to advance in life. That’ how things worked since her first day at that place.
She wasn’t there to develop any sort of emotional connection to anyone. But right now, with fourteen years, she questioned that…
“Remember that time the whole class went camping and we mistook her for a Mawile?” the first boy asked
Yeah, Koharu remembered it perfectly, she thought things were going pretty good that night, until someone made that stupid joke and the whole trip got ruined for her.
It wasn’t her fault she didn’t smile often, the only time she could do that naturally was when she was with Yamper, or playing with her little brother.
Her not so little brother, actually. Sota was already 12 years old, and she stopped playing with him so much, fearing that maybe his classmates would mock him for spending so much time with his big sister.
The last thing the little guy needed was someone bullying him in school.
“She doesn’t have a boyfriend, does she?” another boy joined up the conversation, but Koharu knew they were still talking about her
“Who would do such a thing? Have you seen her face? She always looks like a Voltorb about to explode!”
‘You don’t need that, Koharu’ she said to herself. She had a family, a few good friends, and a cute little puppy Pokemon, and she was sure all of them loved and accepted her just as she was.
Still, she was so tired of the whole thing, every single day they would mock her for not having a boyfriend, for being so cold, for acting so distant. They would say no one would accept her if she kept acting like that.
Koharu thought she would eventually find someone, but in the meantime, she didn’t have a boyfriend, and she knew those boys were right. She didn’t want them to be right, though.
“Maybe she’s an alien in disguise” Another boy said, and everyone chuckled at the comment
That was enough. Koharu turned around angrily and said:
“I do have a boyfriend, you know?”
The boys stared at her, surprised by her statement.
“Really?” one of them said “What’s his name?”
A part of Koharu’s brain gave her a red alert, she couldn’t lie like this, and she couldn’t fabricate a boyfriend out of thin air. She decided to ignore that thought and claimed:
“His name is…”
“Oh let me guess, you’re talking about Goh right?” a boy interrupted
She was about to nod when another boy commented:
“That’s impossible! I know the guy and there’s no way he’s into her”
Koharu bit her lip for a second; she had to go with Plan B, as much as she hated it
“His name’s Ash. Ash Ketchum, from Pallet Town”
She was so used to the salute the boy gave to everyone who visited the Institute that she mimicked it perfectly.
“Can we drop by your house to meet him?”
“Why would you want to meet him?” Koharu questioned
“To make sure you’re not lying” the second boy added
‘ABORT THE MISSION. JUST TELL THEM THE TRUTH!’ Koharu’s brain shouted
“Sure, you can come to the institute at six” she said aloud “And then we can all go to the pier or something, so you can see how much he loves me”
“Great! We’ll do that!”
‘DAMN IT’ Koharu’s brain screamed, starting to panic
Ash and Goh were watching together a video of one of Leon’s battles. The boy from Vermillion City really liked those quiet moments where he could be with his crush at such close distance.
He didn’t admitted his feelings for him yet (he wasn’t sure if he was going to do it at some point), but for now, times like these were more than enough for him.
That was, until he felt someone yanked Ash away from him. He looked up, only to see Koharu grabbing the boy by his shirt, a menacing look on her eyes.
“Listen to me Ash; I need you to do something for me”
“Sure” the boy simply replied, smiling
“It will be weird, and hard to do, and I think your stupid brain could screw this up at any moment, but I don’t have any other alternatives”
“What do you need?” the boy questioned, noticing his friend was loosening her grip on his clothes
Koharu finally let him go and admitted:
“I need you to act like my boyfriend”
“What?” Goh intervened
“I just want those boys to shut up, okay?” the girl replied “And I can’t choose you Goh, because everyone knows you, and…”
She stopped, realizing how far things were going
“And now I’ll be forcing you to do something you don’t want to, Ash… I’m sorry…”
She plopped on the couch, right between her friends and commented, covering her face with her hands:
“I’ll just tell them the truth”
“Or I could help you out, like you asked” Ash interrupted
“You would?” the girl questioned helpfully, glancing a little at her friend “And more importantly, you understand what I want you to do? And you are okay with that?”
“Let’s see, in that order: Yes, I will help you Koharu, I really understand, and of course I’m okay, I used to do that sort of thing all the time”
“What sort of thing?” the girl inquired
“Being a pretender” Ash replied
“What?” Goh intervened, and Koharu thought for a moment that was the only thing her childhood friend could say today.
“Let’s see, I pretended to be Misty’s boyfriend so her sisters would stop mocking her, I acted as Lillie’s partner so her parents wouldn’t know she was actually dating Mallow, and I was Iris’ companion when she needed to enter a Dragon competition that was supposed to be only for couples”
“And they never found out you were lying?”
“Nope!” Ash replied, still smiling “I just spend some little time with them and her families and at some point, I told the girls I had to keep travelling or something like that, so we break up in friendly terms”
“So you basically lie to people” Goh commented
Ash quickly denied with his head
“I just help my friends, in the end; nothing went wrong, in any case”
“I’m not sure if I can believe that” Koharu suggested, and Goh agreed
“Wait a second” Ash demanded, picking up his phone “Here, look at this”
He showed them a picture of him and Misty surrounded by the girl’s sisters.
“After that, I said I had to go, I kissed her and continued my journey and her sisters stayed with her for a while to console her. Misty called me later and said their attitude towards her changed since then, they are more candid and friendly now”
“Wait, rewind that for a second” Goh interrupted “You said you… kissed her?”
“Yeah! You know; a kiss on the cheek!”
Goh let out a breath of relief, hoping no one noticed, Koharu did, but decided to change the topic.
“What about Lillie?”
Ash searched for another picture, this one showed Lillie, Mallow and their families, all of them smiling.
“Lillie had to explain our little ruse, but as you can see, everything worked out in the end”
“And…”
“You can call Iris and ask her to show you the Trophy for our victory in the competition, assuming you don’t believe me”
“Wow…” Koharu said, unable to understand how that dense, dumb boy was capable of such acting, then immediately added
“Can you do that with me?”
“Of course! That’s what pretended boyfriends are for!”
Goh just stared at his crush, dumbfounded.
Ash asked Koharu for instructions and once they were done talking, he got up and said:
“I need to prepare myself; I’ll be back in a second!”
Koharu smiled at him and nodded, and Ash exited the room.
“That dense idiot is such a gentleman, who would’ve thought?” the girl said, chuckling
“You think this is a good idea?” Goh questioned
“You heard him; he’s done this three times and knowing him, I’m pretty sure he did it more, he just doesn’t want to tell”
“And aren’t you afraid?”
“Of what, exactly?” the girl inquired, raising an eyebrow
“Of… I don’t know… Maybe he’ll act so charming that you may end up falling for him, you know, for real”
“I see” the girl said, with a knowing smile “Don’t worry, I won’t fall in love with him”
She made a pause for a second, only to add
“I’ll leave that privilege only to you, Goh”
“W-what a-are you…?”
“Oh please, you think I haven’t noticed?” the girl said
Just when Goh was about to argue, Ash came back. He was wearing a blue suit and Goh realized he never saw him in that outfit.
“How do I look?” he asked, twirling around
Koharu gave him a little smile and replied:
“Like a perfect pretended boyfriend”
“Well, thank you very much” Ash said
And the smile he gave to Koharu made Goh frown. He wished Ash would smile at him that way…
His thoughts were interrupted by the trainer, who offered his arm to Koharu, asking:
“Shall we get going?”
The girl laughed at his antics and locked arms with him
“You really know how to do this whole pretending boyfriend stuff”
“Years of practice” he confessed and looking at Goh he added “You can come with us to the pier if you want”
The boy denied with his head
“I don’t want to throw you off your game” he said, and Ash laughed at that comment
After all, what was he suppose to say? ‘No Ash, don’t go with her, go with me instead’
Koharu needed help and even though this was basically a big snowball of lies, Goh simply had to accept Ash wanted to help his friend.
He did make a mental note to ask for Ash’s help in the future, maybe he could convince him to go to a fake date with him, too!
But just when he was about to suggest that, Goh blinked back to reality, noticing neither Koharu nor his crush were there anymore…
He rushed to the window and saw them leaving, Pikachu perched on the boy left shoulder, Koharu holding a barking Yamper, both humans laughing at each other´s antics
In that moment, Koharu’s classmates appeared and Goh looked away, not able to keep witnessing that charade…
The boy turned around and fell to the floor, realizing his childhood friend and his crush looked like a real cute couple and closed his eyes, trying to fix his mind in any other thing except that dumb, reckless, lying boy…
The echo of laughter woke Goh up, and the first thing he noticed was that night has fallen around him; he looked outside the window and saw them
He immediately frowned
“Your hair is full of oil! Yuck!” Koharu complained, ruffling Ash’s hair “You shouldn’t have eaten so much hot dogs!”
“Hey! Don’t treat me like that!” Ash countered “You were the one who said it was fine”
“Guys, there’s no need to make a scene” A third person, which Goh recognized as one of Koharu’s classmates, intervened
“You keep out of this, Kaito” Ash ordered, and the boy shut his mouth instantly
“Don’t tell my friends to shut up!” Koharu shouted
“You tell them that all the time!” Ash said, opening his arms in an excessive manner and pointing to a boy next to Kaito
“Because they are my friends, you barely know them!”
“Your friends… Your friends…” Ash commented, exasperated “You’ve been defending your friends all day long!”
“And you’ve been attacking and complaining about them all day long! If you can’t tolerate them then… then…”
Koharu doubted for a second, so Ash pressed
“Then what?”
“Then we shouldn’t date anymore!” she screamed, at the top of her lungs
“Are you… breaking up with me?” Ash asked, his eyes filling with tears
“Guys” the silent boy interrupted “You shouldn’t take this so far just for…”
“It’s not just that, Takeshi” Koharu said “I can’t be with someone who doesn’t respect my friends. I know you think I’m cold and distant but…”
“But you really care about us” Kaito completed
Koharu simply nodded
“Fine!” Ash shouted “Do what you want! I don’t even care!” he added, stomping away towards Sakuragi Park
“Wow. What an asshole” Kaito simply said
Koharu nodded
“Sorry for treating you so bad in the past, Koharu” Takeshi apologized
“It’s okay”
“No, it wasn’t, we never knew you cared so much”
“You know that now”
“Everyone should know you’re not a cold-hearted monster” Kaito commented
Koharu smiled at them and the group said their goodbyes. When Koharu entered the lab, Goh took a magazine, pretending to be occupied on something else.
None of them said anything, until Ash walked into the room a few minutes later. He locked eyes with Koharu and they both started to laugh.
“Well done Koharu!” Ash commented, giving the girl a high-five
“I could hear you shouting from here” Goh hissed “What happened with ‘breaking up in friendly terms’?”
“It was better to do it this way, so Koharu could look better”
The mentioned girl yawned and patted Ash in the back
“Thank you for that”
“Anytime you need”
She directed her gaze at Goh, realizing the boy had his eyes fixed on her; she took her time to twirl Ash’s hair a few times and commented.
“I have to go back home now, but just so you know, I had a wonderful pretended time with you”
“So did I, good night Koharu”
“Good night, Ash” she commented, walking away, the smile never leaving her face
Goh simply hissed again, Ash looked at him with a curious expression, but none of them said a word.
Sun was rising on the horizon when Goh couldn’t hold it anymore and said
“Ash…”
The boy below him rubbed his eyes, awakening lazily
“Yeah?”
“I need your…” Goh doubted for a second, trying to find the exact word “services”
“My what now?”
“That thing you did with Koharu” Goh muttered “I want that too”
“Oh…”
Goh smiled to himself, imagining a thousand possible places he could go with his pretended boyfriend
“I can’t do it, sorry”
The researcher realized that was not a good time for a petition, so he apologized
“Sorry, it’ll probably better if I ask for your help after lunch”
“What I meant is I can’t do it”
“Not today?…”
“Not… ever”
Goh’s heart crushed, but he insisted
“Why not?”
“Is… complicated”
Ash really wanted to leave that conversation behind, but Goh wasn’t going to allow that. The researcher popped his head from above and directed his sight at the trainer
“Why not?” he repeated
“I told you is complicated, it’s not like I can do this with everyone”
“I see… You’re basically saying you’re not going to help me because you’re not my friend”
“Don’t take it like that!”
“How do you pretend me to take it, then?” Goh said, raising his voice
“I just can’t do it. I never did it with anyone…”
“You’re a homophobic, then!”
“What? No! Would you let me finish before assuming the worst about me?”
“Then just go ahead and say it! Why don’t you want to pretend to be my boyfriend? You don’t want to be my friend? You don’t appreciate me that much? Or do you…”
“I CAN’T BE A PRETENDER WITH SOMEONE I’M IN LOVE WITH!!!” Ash finally said, exploding
Goh lost balance and fell directly to the floor; Ash got out of his bed and kneeled at his side
Goh recovered from the fall and rubbed his nose, noticing he was bleeding a little, Ash approached a hand towards his face, but the researcher took a step back
“Don’t come any closer, Ash Ketchum”
“Goh…”
“You think this is a game?” the other boy complained, getting up “You think you can lie to me about something so serious?”
“I’m not lying”
Goh fought back the tears and sadly commented
“You’ve been doing that since yesterday, why should I believe you?”
“Because I’m telling you the truth!” Ash said, trying to hug his crush
Goh slipped away and denied with his head, so Ash added
“You’re smart, and brave, and very athletic, even if you think otherwise, you’re always ready to ride along with my crazy ideas and you praise me, far too much than what I deserve…”
“That’s not true” Goh admitted, scratching his cheek “You do deserve all the praise”
“I always have fun when you’re around, and there’s nothing pretended about that”
“You’ve been on so many fake dates already” Goh hypothesized “You’re just confused about the true meaning of…”
“I’m not confused” Ash complained, taking Goh’s hand and placing it softly on his chest “Not about this”
Goh noticed how fast Ash’s heart was beating and gulped, perhaps he judged him too quickly; still, he wasn’t going to let his guard down.
“I’m gonna need more than that”
“I can’t say anything more… Not without knowing how you feel about me first”
Goh let go of Ash’s hands and stared at him, dumbfounded
“Why do you want to know what I feel?”
Ash Ketchum chuckled at that response
“Do I have to say it again?”
Goh, knowing very well what he was talking about, nodded
“Maybe…”
Ash repeated the gesture
“Fine… I care about what you feel, because I love you Goh, and I can’t pretend to be with you, not when I want to be with you, you know, for real”
“Oh… You do have a way with words…”
“That was Koharu’s speech” Ash admitted, embarrassed
“Wait… She knows?” Goh panicked
Another nod was all the response the researcher got
“And… What did she say about me?”
“Nothing. She simply pushed me to admit how I feel about you and then she said, and I quote, ‘hope for the best, you dumbhead’”
“Oh…”
And after that, both boys fell into a really uncomfortable silence. A few minutes later and unable to wait anymore, Ash whispered:
“Are you going to say something or…?”
Goh frowned and took his crush’s hand, pulling him towards his body; he quickly embraced him and kissed him, right on the lips. He closed his eyes and remained in that position for as long as he could, wishing that moment would last forever, praying that Ash wouldn’t run away.
But finally, he was forced to let him go. He looked down and intertwined his hands, whispering:
“So… I… I…”
Before he could say something else, Ash kissed him again, he stepped away and commented:
“Your kisses feel better than Koharu’s”
Goh’s face lost all color; he opened his eyes as big as plates and punched his boyfriend in the arm who laughed at his reaction.
“She told you to tell me that, didn’t she?” the researcher questioned
“She said your reaction was going to be priceless! And she was right!”
The other boy looked away, and Ash put a hand under his chin
“Oh don’t be like that; you’re going to enjoy me for much more time than anyone else”
Goh smiled and kissed Ash on the cheek, concluding
“I hope you’re right…”