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The Sweetest Betrayal
In hindsight, Ash really shouldn't have been surprised that Gary and Pikachu got along so well. After all, Gary had been helping care for many of the pokemon in Professor Oak's Lab before they left on their journeys. Gary would have certainly known Pikachu - he knew all of the pokemon on the ranch, even the ones he wasn't supposed to work with.
As for Pikachu, the electric mouse had never shown any dislike towards Gary, not even when their rivalry was at its worst. Still, Ash found it surprising every time Pikachu greeted Gary with a particularly cheerful cry, leapt into Gary’s arms from across the room, nuzzled Gary’s cheek, or did any of the things that were normally reserved for his most favorite people of all. Ash wasn’t jealous in the slightest. If anything, he was thrilled with the relationship between his two partners - even when it took an unexpected turn.
It started innocently enough with Pikachu crawling back and forth across their shoulders when they were together. Sometimes he would catch Pikachu curled up in Gary’s lap while the researcher read or worked on his laptop. It didn't seem much different from the pokemon’s relationship with Ash’s other friends and traveling companions… until Pikachu began choosing Gary over Ash.
– – –
“Pikachu!” Ash stared at his starter, baffled after he knocked the potion out of his hand for the third time. “C’mon, you know you’ll feel better. What’s the problem?”
The yellow mouse in question turned his head away. “Chuuu.”
He was pouting. “Buddy, you won the battle. I don’t know why you’re upset.” Pikachu only had the equivalent of a few scrapes - nothing that would make him act like this .
“Piii…”
Ash sighed, still utterly confused. “What’s wrong, buddy?” he tried again.
Pikachu turned his head to look at the other side of the battlefield, where Umbreon was having a special balm massaged into her paws - speed was one of her biggest strengths and so Gary took extra special care of her paws after battles. She had already been given a berry and had her potion rubbed into her coat. Pikachu, on the other hand, had eaten his berry sullenly and refused the potion over and over.
“Pipichu…”
“What about Gary, bud?” This really didn’t make sense.
Across the field, Umbreon gave Gary’s cheek a quick lick and Pikachu’s ears drooped further. Suddenly Ash was quite sure what the problem was.
“You want Gary to do it, don’t you?” Pikachu shot him a guilty look, but Ash just chuckled. “You could’ve just said so.” He looked up as Gary and Umbreon started to head their way and caught his partner’s eye with an amused smile.
Ash didn’t really mind. He already knew how good Gary was with his hands, so he couldn’t blame his starter for wanting another one of Gary’s massages. He also didn’t want Pikachu getting too spoiled, but as he watched Pikachu’s expression turn blissful while Gary thoroughly massaged the potion into his fur and fussed over the mouse’s little paws, he decided that maybe being spoiled wasn’t such a bad thing… as long as he got a massage later on as well. He had won the battle, after all.
– – –
The house was silent when Ash entered it. Odd, especially for this time of the afternoon. Gary usually worked on data analysis and write ups on his laptop in the afternoons when they were home and Ash knew he couldn’t focus when there was silence around him. Anywhere else and Gary would use his ear buds, but here at home? Ash had grown used to coming home to hearing music blasting out of the tiny laptop speakers.
A quiet house was just weird. Where were their pokemon? Pikachu, too stubborn and comfortable to leave Gary’s lap, had stayed home this afternoon, and Umbreon and Arcanine should be around too.
Ash tossed his keys on the table by the door and kicked off his shoes
"Hey, where's all the noise?" He called as he walked through the hallway and into their living room. "Gary?"
Thoroughly bewildered, he wandered from one room to the next, wondering where everyone was. Finally, just as he was starting to grow worried, he spied a splash of orange outside the kitchen window. Arcanine was napping out in the sunshine and if Arcanine was there, then that meant Gary was nearby.
Ash smiled as he stepped out onto the back porch and looked over their yard. The weather was nice today - pleasantly warm with a slight breeze. Perfect for a nap outside. Past Arcanine was an area shaded by a large tree and curled at the base of that tree was Umbreon. A hammock stretched between two other nearby trees and in that hammock he spied his two partners.
Pikachu was curled up on Gary’s chest, sleeping soundly. Gary’s hand was resting on the little pokemon’s back, fingers near his ears as though he had drifted off while giving Pikachu his favorite scratches behind the ears.
Ash grinned at the sight and nodded to himself. “Good call,” he murmured, sitting down next to Arcanine. He folded his arms behind his head and leaned back against the fire dog, comfortable enough to fall into his own nap quickly.
– – –
Pikachu had been tense in Ash’s lap for the last four hours and Ash wasn’t in much better shape. Their nerves had been wracked for days with how sick Gary had been and sitting in a hospital waiting room hadn’t helped in the slightest. Who knew an appendix could cause so much trouble?
"Mr. Ketchum?"
His heart jumped into his throat. It had been maybe twenty minutes since the last update - news this soon couldn’t be good, right?
But the nurse was smiling. "They’re just finishing up. Everything went just fine. He'll be in recovery while the anesthesia wears off and then you'll be able to see him."
Ash breathed a sigh of relief.
"Pipichu?"
He tried hard to smile at his pokemon, but his exhaustion made it difficult. "Yeah, Pikachu, Gary’s gonna be okay," he said, rubbing behind Pikachu’s ears the way Gary usually did. His pokemon relaxed a bit. "We just have to wait a little longer."
A little longer turned out to be another hour but soon enough Ash and Pikachu were able to see Gary. His boyfriend looked better than he had the last few days, but was still pale from illness and clearly too groggy from medication to do anything other than sleep. Nonetheless, it was a relief just walking through the doorway to the hospital room-
"Pikachu!" Ash hissed, trying to catch his pokemon in his arms as he lept off his shoulder and onto the hospital bed.
But Pikachu was more concerned about getting closer to Gary than listening to Ash. He turned to Ash with a warning sparking from his cheeks before walking further up the bed to curl up close to Gary's side, his fur just barely touching Gary’s fingertips.
Sensing a lost cause, Ash sighed and approached the bed. "Just be careful."
Gary’s eyes fluttered open at the sound of Ash’s voice and the feeling of the pokemon curling up against him. His lips curved into the tiniest, sleepiest smile and his fingers brushed against Pikachu’s fur.
Relief filled him and Ash smiled as well. He reached out to run a hand through Gary’s hair and pressed a gentle kiss to his forehead.
"Everything’s okay, just rest now,” he soothed preemptively, knowing that even sick and exhausted, his boyfriend would be worried about his pokemon.
Gary nodded drowsily and his eyes slid shut again. Ash breathed another sigh of relief and sank into the chair next to the bed. Pikachu wouldn't let anything happen to their beloved Gary - everything would be okay.
– – –
A scene of minor chaos greeted Ash when he entered the kitchen after his day of training. Ingredients were spread across counters, dishes were piled in the sink, flour was scattered everywhere, and a timer was beeping loudly.
"Pikapi!" Pikachu waved from his perch on Gary’s shoulder. He had been climbing back and forth across his shoulders for a while, if the little flour paw prints all over his clothes were anything to go by.
"Wow!" he laughed. "What are you two up to this time?"
Gary stood from his position kneeling in front of the oven and Ash had to fight not to laugh at what a mess he was. There must have been a flour explosion because he was covered in it.
"It's Umbreon’s hatch day so we're making a cake."
It was only now that Ash noticed the sleeping canine under the table. There were some spots of flour on her dark coat but it looked like she had missed most of the flour explosion… That was probably the reason she was under there in the first place. He would have to be sure to give her some love once all this baking chaos was over.
"Picked the wrong day to wear black, huh?" Ash asked his flour-covered boyfriend, stepping forward to press a quick kiss to his lips.
Gary looked down and laughed. "Yeah, you missed all the fun," he replied, turning off the timer and setting a new one. "I let Pikachu turn on the mixer."
So it had been a flour explosion.
Ash was disappointed he'd missed it - he would have paid good money to see the look on Gary’s face when it happened.
"You could’ve asked my mom for help, you know," he pointed out, leaning against the counter regardless of the mess.
"And miss out on causing mayhem with this little guy? Not a chance." Pikachu squealed in agreement, nuzzling Gary’s cheek and somehow leaving even more flour on him. Gary’s resulting laugh brought a smile to Ash’s face.
Even if Ash had missed Pikachu’s familiar weight on his shoulder today, coming home to this was worth it. Regardless of the mess they'd be cleaning later on, coming home to see that his two partners had a good time and were happy was all that mattered… which was a good thing because Ash had a feeling it would be happening a lot more often.
A certain box weighing down his pocket meant that Gary and Pikachu would have plenty of time together.
– – –
It was the first morning of their honeymoon when Ash awoke to a strange, insistent sort of tap that landed on him in a different spot every time. Through the heavy fog of sleep, he slowly became aware of hushed laughter and a quiet voice. There was another little tap on the blanket and Ash heard his starter’s cheerful chatter and the scampering of little paws on the wooden floor of their suite in Alola.
There was another tap on the blanket and a tiny clatter as something small and hard landed on the floor.
“Yeah, you can have that one… Go ahead, try again.”
There was another quiet clatter and more skittering across the floor.
Gary laughed softly. “Now I know you’re doing that on purpose.” Pikachu chittered back at him and Gary laughed again. “Don’t you sass me. I said you could have it.”
Ash opened his eyes just long enough to see his two partners on the floor together. A sleepy smile tugged at his lips as his eyes fluttered shut again, his body clinging to the warm comfort of sleep.
His eyes snapped open again at the next tap - this one to his shoulder.
“Ha! Forty-three!”
“Pipichu!”
“Of which Pikachu threw four.”
“Pika!”
“Yes, you threw thirteen, buddy, but only four actually hit him.” Gary reached out with a smile that was reserved for his favorite pokemon and gave Pikachu a placating scratch behind the ears.
“Chaa…”
Ash yawned widely “What’re you two up to?”
“We were trying to see how many jellybeans we could hit you with before you woke up.”
Ash gave another yawn, far too tired to even wonder where Gary and Pikachu had found jellybeans. "That's a lotta jellybeans…" he murmured drowsily as his eyes slid shut - only to snap open when something hit him right between the eyes.
"Forty-four."
Ash chuckled sleepily and groped around on the bed until he found a jellybean and quickly popped it in his mouth. He had a feeling they would be finding candy in the bed for their entire stay but couldn't find it in him to complain. How could he complain when Gary and Pikachu were being adorable together?
How could he possibly complain when they were always this adorable together? And now he got to spend the rest of his life with it.