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Ash opened his eyes to see Goh extending his arm towards him, always so attentive, so ready to help him in any way he needed.
He was currently laying in the sand Riolu and Pikachu curled up at each side of his body, happy to see their trainer go back to his usual, cheerful mode.
Since the trainer wasn’t moving at all, Goh desisted from his offer and put his arms at each side of his body chastising the trainer:
“Don’t do that again!”
“Don’t fall back against the sand?” Ash chirped
“Well, that too, I hope you realize you got me worried for a second, you little dummy!”
Ash analyzed that word, Misty used to call him that, but her tone was angrier than Goh’s
Iris used the phrase ‘little kid’ so much to the point it was annoying
Bonnie used to say he was such an “oblivious little trainer” whatever the hell that meant
But Goh calling him that? There was such a tone of concern for his well being, of honest worry for his state that Ash couldn’t help but feel guilty for acting in such a stupid way…
“But what I meant” the researcher continued, forcing Ash to pay attention back to him “Is that I hope to never see you down again”
“I don’t think that’s gonna happen, Goh”
“Promise me”
The trainer raised an eyebrow, confused, and Goh knelt in front of him, his eyes piercing through his soul
“Promise me” he repeated, with a coldness that took even Raboot by surprise
“I… p-promise” Ash said, stuttering
“Good” Goh said, and Ash felt relieved when he saw that beautiful smile returning to his face, only to be replace by another frown “I’ll take your word, now, let’s go” he added, extending his arm once more
Like this was a Pokemon battle, Ash saw an opening and took his chance, gently grabbing the other boy’s hand and grasping it tightly, he pulled with all the strength he had and Goh tripped, falling on top of him.
“Like I said…” he whispered to an incredulous Goh “I promise”
“You idiot!” Goh shouted, burying his partner’s back deep in the sand “You did that on purpose!”
Ash laughed, confirming the researcher’s theory and wrapping an arm around his waist, Goh blushed immediately at the action, he tried to break free, but Ash grasp was too strong for him.
“Why don’t we stay here for a while?” Ash asked, looking at the clear sky, the sandstorm long gone
“Doing what?” Goh asked, and Ash laughed at his attitude of rationalizing absolutely everything “What could be doing in a desert that, by the way it’s getting hotter by the second?”
Ash smirked
“We both have a sandboard in our backpacks”
“You don’t have Dragonite, and I don’t have Beedrill”
“You just caught a Flygon”
“Only one Flygon” Goh emphasized
“We could share a sandboard” Ash offered
Goh gulped, embarrassed
After a few minutes of insisting, the researcher finally complied, they tied the sandboard to the tail of his newly captured Flygon and Goh tried to test the balance on the sandboard before moving forward. However, Ash didn’t have time for that, and jumped straight behind Goh, shouting:
“Now Flygon, fly away!”
The Mystic Pokemon obeyed in an instant, and Goh lost his balance, falling back, he was sure he was going to end up rolling around the sand, but a milisecond after, Ash caught him between his arms, steadying him up and shielding him from the sand surrounding his face.
“You’re crazy, Ash Ketchum!”
“You said that you liked that about me, didn’t you?” The trainer screamed
“But this is not a Pokemon battle!”
Ash didn’t reply, and Goh added to himself:
“And there are a lot of things I like about you…”
Ash pretended he didn’t hear that, and asked Flygon to raise the speed, he enjoyed the velocity they were taking, and finally put his head on Goh’s shoulder, the researcher looked at him and the trainer simply gave him one of his famous grins.
“You are so weird” Goh confessed, looking directly at him
“Flygon, stop!” Ash shouted and the dragon obeyed
Goh lost balance and fell face flat on the sand, Flygon flew towards his trainer and got him up, Sobble shot a little Water Gun at his face, washing his eyes, and Raboot made sure to dust off his clothes.
“What was that for?” Goh shouted, angry at the trainer
Ash Ketchum simply stayed there, sitting in the sand
“Why did you suddenly stopped?” Goh demanded
Ash shrugged.
And then he fall back from their currently position, which, of course, happened to be a rather high dune. Goh rushed to his side and extended his arm towards him, ad instead of grabbing it, Ash simply stared at his face, tumbling down the dune, laughing wholeheartedly during the whole thing.
“Idiot” Goh said, picking up the sandboard and making his way down as carefully as he could
When Goh finally made his way down, he faced Ash, asking for an explanation once again, but the boy from Pallet Town kept staring at him.
“Is there something on my face?”
“No…”
“Then would you stop staring at me like that?” Goh said, blushing and rubbing his arm nervously “Is making me… uncomfortable”
“Oh sorry” Ash said, sadly looking away
“I just want to know what’s on your mind”
“I was just thinking…”
“About?”
Ash closed his eyes, remembering
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He didn’t have to go back in time for too long, just yesterday morning was enough…
“One, two, one, two!”
He was running along Pikachu and Riolu, trying to train them, to get them ready for their next battle, to overcome his failure in the battle against Bea and…
“Hey!” Goh shouted, panting and catching up with them
After quickly explaining what his problem was, Goh simply said:
“Well then, I’ll help you!”
“Thank you!” Ash replied, looking at him
And for a moment, he stared at Goh, wondering why he was looking at him like that, questioning himself if he already done that before, thinking about how nice it made him feel to have someone like the Vermillion City boy at his side…
However, as soon as they started running again, and his Rotomphone announced he had a battle challenge, Ash forgot about Goh…
Maybe they had lost a battle earlier that morning, but Ash wasn’t going to surrender that easily, he and Riolu were ready for a new challenge, when a voice interrupted his thoughts
“Hang in there…”
That was obviously Goh, looking at him with Raboot and Pikachu by his side holding his backpack like it was the most precious object in the world, looking at him with those deep, blue eyes, like he was saying something, something he couldn’t decipher yet…
“Battle, start!” the Rotomdrone shouted, and Ash had to look away from Goh…
“I’ve dropped from the Super-Class back to the Normal-Class…” Ash said after the battle was over, wondering what the hell he was doing wrong, Pikachu patted his arm supportively, whispering some comfort into him.
And when he looked up, he saw him
“Ash…” Goh muttered, and the trainer could see the worry the sadness, even the disappointment in his eyes
The trainer was unable to hold his head up for longer and looked down again, escaping the gaze of such a special boy…
“Get it together, Ash!” Goh shouted when they and their Pokemon were standing in front of the sandstorm “We’re just about to go investigating!”
The boy from Pallet Town focused on Goh’s angry voice and looked up, noticing his frowned eyelashes.
“Right… Sorry…” he excused himself, not entirely willing to go with the plan
And then, he heard the song coming from the sandstorm, such a strange melody coming from the whirlpool made him think about something, and he expressed it aloud:
“It kinda feels like it’s calling for…”
He was about to say “me” but a pair of blue eyes crossed his mind in that instant and he let out a
“…us”
“I can kinda understand why some people went inside” Goh said, also fascinated by the sandstorm’s song
Ash’s hand turn into a fist and he looked at Goh, proposing:
“Let’s go check it out!”
Goh immediately reacted
“There’s the Ash I know!”
And for a split second, the trainer got lost in the seas that were Goh’s immense, blue eyes…
And into the storm they walked, both boys protecting their faces from the strong winds, each of them, tightly clutching their Pokemon to prevent them from flying away, they walked and walked for several minutes, and Ash looked at his side, trying to check how Goh was doing.
He was fine, thank Arceus, but his eyes were covered by the goggles he was wearing, and Ash stopped for a moment to consider that there was something special, not only about Goh, but about the way his eyes shone…
When the sandstorm subsided and they took their goggles off, Goh took a long look at the trainer and Ash realized another thing, it wasn’t only Goh’s eyes that were special; it was also the way he looked at him.
A raging sandstorm was around them, and before several cries for help broke his fantasy, Ash thought that Goh’s eyes were the completely opposite of the environment they were currently in.
Goh’s eyes were calm, kind, sweet even…
The wild Vibrava launched a powerful supersonic attack against Ash and his group, and the trainer covered his ears, flinching in pain.
For a split second, Goh did the same, and his left eye opened for a second as he launched another Pokeball against the wild creature.
The researcher wasn’t exactly looking at Ash but Ash looked at him and he noticed his determination, his will to catch the Pokemon, and he also saw the pain reflected in his pupils.
Ash silently decided that he never wanted to see that again…
A few seconds later and thanks to Raboot’s timely intervention, Vibrava was finally caught, Ash put an arm over his friend’s shoulder, and he anxiously awaited Goh to look at him, he really wanted to see those beautiful eyes close, closer than it was possible.
But Flygon decided to ruin his chances.
Pikachu obeyed his trainer’s command and launched a powerful thunderbolt against Flygon, but the Mystic Pokemon received the blast, not even reacting to it.
“Ash!” Goh shouted “Flygon is a ground type! Electric moves won’t affect it!”
The trainer looked at his friend and gulped, his eyes reflected something unusual, and anyone would say he was angry at the trainer, but Ash knew better, he realized Goh was disappointed of him.
“Oh, Of course!” Ash said, scratching his head absentmindedly “What am I doing?”
He glanced at his friend for a split second, Goh’s eyes were practically shouting: ‘Yes, what are you doing?’
“Pikachu, get back!” Ash finally shouted, promising himself he’d make Goh proud.
This time, he and his team wouldn’t fail him…
Raboot dodged the Draco Meteor…
He closed the distance between him and the wild Flygon…
He used the Draco Meteors as footing to jump towards his opponent…
And he finally gave one swiftly kick to one of the giant rocks, turning it into an ember and sending Flygon down, attacking him with a barrage of fire projectiles…
All of that under Goh’s precise, swift, exact commands…
Ash Ketchum could only conclude he really loved that tactic…
After the battle was over, Goh was standing, towering practically, over Ash, his blue eyes invading his face, his heart, his freaking soul.
“I learned this from you…” he said, smiling with that unbelievably cute smile
How to be that awesome? Did he really teach him that?
“No matter how crazy you have to be” he continued “You never stop striving for victory”
The sandstorm finally stopped completely, and the skies shone as blue as Goh’s eyes when the boy added:
“I figured this was the kind of thing you’d normally do”
The way Ash’s heart started to beat after the researcher said that, completely confirmed all the feelings he had for the blue-eyed boy…
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“Ash!” Goh insisted once more “Would you just tell me what are you…”
“I’m thinking about you!” Ash said, taking Goh’s hand in one swoop motion
Goh’s brain suddenly shutdown and he stared at his crush, clueless
“I can’t stop thinking about the things you did today, the way you acted, the looks you gave me…”
“W-w-what ab-about them?” Goh stuttered
“I really liked them” Ash confirmed, and Goh felt his knees wobble, losing balance for a moment, Ash rushed and held his body, embracing him as softly as he could, without parting his eyes from his face.
“Don’t look at me like that”
“I can’t help it”
“I told you, it makes me uncomfortable”
“You’ll have to get use to it”
“I can… find a way to stop you” Goh challenged
“Really” Ash said, rising an eyebrow “How exactly do you pretend to…”
Goh cut him off, closing the distance between their faces and kissing his lips with a mix of anxiety and fear… fear of rejection, of loss, of…
The way Ash held him, deepening the kiss, proved to him that wasn’t going to happen, and they finally broke the kiss, under the attentive and shock gaze of their Pokemon, even Flygon, not fully knowing those two humans, was surprised by the event.
“This is bad” Ash suddenly said
“You… didn’t like it?” Goh questioned, his eyes tearing up a little
Ash denied with his head before commenting
“Now there’s no way I can stop thinking about you…”
And before Goh could say something else, Ash’s lips were over his once more…