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Gary and Goh were heading to Unova to investigate a lead related to Project Mew, and Ash, as usual, was eager to accompany them. It just so happened that hours before they were supposed to go to the airport, Ash got a call from his old friend, Cilan, who wanted to catch up.
"You're coming to Unova today?!" Cilan shrieked. "Why do you never tell me these things?"
Cilan easily forgave him, and he even offered for all three of them to stay at his house in Striaton City while his two brothers were out of town. Ash gleefully accepted and rushed to tell his friends the good news - that they were going to finally get to meet one of his best friends from the Unova region!
The flight there consisted of Gary and Goh theorizing about what they might find by investigating Genesect and its ancient home, and Ash frequently interrupting to tell stories about Clubsplosion matches, Cilan's phenomenal cooking, and his skillful evaluations. It was happy. They were happy.
When they arrived at Cilan's house, the connoisseur greeted Ash with an excited hug and extended a warm handshake to Goh and Gary. He congratulated Ash on winning the World Coronation Series and gushed over how far he and Iris had come in achieving their goals, while revealing that his restaurant was doing well and that he had finally managed to become an S-Class Connoisseur. Then, Goh and Gary got to properly introduce themselves and tell Cilan a bit about Project Mew and their latest mission to investigate Genesect and the Techno Drives it uses for its most powerful attacks.
"Genesect?" Cilan said. "Say, I remember Team Plasma trying to get their hands on that Pokémon..." He admitted that he couldn't recall much else, and advised them to go to the library and museum in the town over to learn more. He did, however, offer to evaluate everyone's Pokémon, and the verdict was, in a million or so words, that everyone was doing an incredible job raising their Pokémon.
"So what's around here, anyways?" Gary asked after some more chit-chat.
"Ooh, doesn't this place have really good ice cream?" Goh added.
"Oh, you mean Castelia Cones?" Ash asked. "Those are in-"
"Castelia City, right. Forgot what they were called."
"But there's all kinds of cool stuff around Striation City that I can show you guys. Cilan, wanna give us the tour?"
"Me?" Cilan asked, for some reason looking surprised. "Oh no, you all enjoy. I'll get started on dinner."
"Uh, okay. Later," Ash said, heading out and leading Goh and Gary down the city's main street until they reached a cute park with a large fountain and street performers. He excitedly introduced Gary and Goh to Dr. Fennel, who told them about the wonders of Munna's dream mist and help them brainstorm for their Genesect mission. And he got to show them the urban yet forested Dreamyard, where Goh caught a Purrloin and an Audino.
"Whew, smells great in here!" Ash shouted to Cilan as they headed back inside. "Whatchya makin'?"
"Kalosian ratatouille and grilled scallops with a lemon-sage-butter finish," Cilan said. "So, friends, how did you find the city?"
"Not bad" Gary said. "Dr. Fennel had a lot to say."
Cilan laughed. "She always does."
"The Dreamyard was cool," Goh said. "I caught a Purrloin and a-"
"Eek!" Cilan screeched, jostling the pan in his hand and splattering hot oil on his apron.
"You okay?"
"Cilan's never been a big fan of that Pokémon," Ash explained.
"How? It's a cat."
"Let's not go there, please," Cilan begged, his voice shaking with every word.
Dinner was downright phenomenal, everyone agreed. Goh and Gary were eager to learn how Cilan became such a great chef, which Cilan indulged them in before turning his attention to other matters.
"So Ash, you just told me you were bringing some friends," Cilan said, smiling as he set his fork down. "You didn't tell me you were settling down already."
"Oh, no way," Ash said with a chuckle. "Just because I beat Leon doesn't mean I'm done trying to become a Pokémon Master."
Cilan giggled. "Not that. I meant your boyfriends."
"Boyfriends?!" all three exclaimed in unison, staring at each other and then at their host in bewilderment.
"No need to be shy about it," Cilan said, offering an earnest smile. "If I may, you all compliment each other very well."
"What's that mean?" Gary asked.
"Well, Gary, you and Ash grew up in the same town, is that right? Meanwhile, Goh brings a new zest while meshing with you as if you were all inseperable in the first place! The hot-headed, battle-ready Ash balanced out by the more analytical Goh and Gary... It's to say, you're all perfectly whole on your own, but brought together, you bring out tremendous flavors and a beautiful richness in one another!"
The table was once again silent, with all three guests unsure what to make of Cilan's conglomeration of cooking-related words.
"Well, you're wrong!" Goh sputtered.
"Pardon?"
"...We're not together, Cilan," Ash said, trying to soften the harshness of Goh's declaration.
"Besides, there's three of us," Goh added. "How can we all be dating?"
Cilan paused as he assessed where his guests were coming from. "It seems my initial evaluation was a bit presumptuous. I apologize. But, three people - or more - can absolutely date. Have you heard of polyamory?"
"Polyamory?" Ash repeated. "Like, Poliwrath, Politoed, Poliamory?"
"Not quite," Cilan said, explaining a bit about how there are different types of polyamorous relationships, and how they can work just as well as monogamous relationships. "Trust, communication, love. All vital ingredients in any relationship!"
"That's nice, but we're all just friends," Gary said.
"We're friends?" Goh asked, raising his eyebrows at Gary.
"Fair point."
"Well, in that case, it seems you make the best of friends," Cilan said. He rushed to apologize and change the subject, but the three boys kept exchanging nervous glances the rest of the time they were at the table.
"Your rooms are upstairs," Cilan said as he took everyone's plates. "I did arrange for my brothers' rooms, as well as the guest room, to be available, but feel free to arrange yourselves how you see fit."
The boys thanked Cilan for his hospitality and went upstairs to check out the rooms, but there was an awkward air between them that they couldn't quite ignore. As they entered Chili's room, which Gary promptly called dibs on, Ash pulled the door half-shut and let out a sigh.
"Hey, sorry about Cilan before," Ash whispered. "He means well, but, I'll be honest, that evaluation time wasn't one of his best, right?"
Goh and Gary shot each other a glance before breathing a sigh of relief and agreeing with Ash. "He really thinks I would date you?" Goh said, pointing at Gary. "Or-or you?!"
"He hasn't even known us a day," Gary said. "He's just making stuff up."
They all awkwardly chuckled and bid each other goodnight, and Ash and Goh went to set up in their rooms. But sleep didn't come easy for them, as they were all still wound up from Cilan's talk. It was the strangest thing - they all agreed that Cilan was being ridiculous, so what was there to be upset about?
As if Ash didn't adore Gary and Goh more than anyone he had ever met, as if he couldn't figure out why he couldn't stop thinking about them so darn much when they were away from each other.
As if Gary hadn't tried to get over Ash a million times by now, as if it hadn't occurred to him that Goh might be his salvation after all.
And, as if Goh hadn't fallen in love with Ash the day they met, as if he wasn't starting to feel similarly excited to spend time with his fellow researcher in Project Mew.
Goh jumped out of bed and left his room, but he had no idea what to do from there. Knock on Ash's door, or Gary's? Probably Ash's, but knowing him, the idiot probably wouldn't reciprocate anyway. So he paced the hallway a little longer until he heard a door creak open behind him and saw Gary looking at him strangely.
"Gary? What are you doing out here?"
"Depends. What are you doing?"
Goh felt himself panic as Gary stalked towards him. "I... I should go back to..."
"Goh," Gary said, placing a hand on Goh's shoulder. "You here for Ash?"
"Yeah," he blurted, turning to face Gary. "Well, not entirely..."
The boys locked eyes with each other, realizing they were after the same thing(s), when they heard a door slam and saw Ash emerge from Cilan's room.
"What's going on?" Ash asked. When neither of them gave him an answer besides staring at him shell-shocked with burning red faces, he sighed and continued. "Thinking about what Cilan said, too?"
They both nodded. Then, without words, the three boys raced for the nearest room and locked the door behind them.
They woke up the next morning in each other's arms, amazed that the whole thing wasn't a weird dream mist hallucination. As they were about to head out for the Project Mew mission, Cilan apologized for his unprompted evaluation from last night.
"Actually," Ash said, grinning as he put his arms around his now-boyfriends, "you were right."
"Is that so?" Cilan said, his eyes going wide in delight. "That's wonderful, Ash! Congratulations."
The boys thanked Cilan and made their way towards Genesect's homeland, and as Ash held Goh and Gary's hands, he realized he never should've doubted Cilan's S-Class Conneisseur skills after all.