Work Text:
Beach Day Surprise
“Pi, Pikapi!”
“I know we're late, Pikachu!”
Ash scurried around his bedroom in Pallet frantically, attempting to pull on his swimsuit while simultaneously trying to gather what he would need for the day. He threw a towel – whether or not it was clean, he had no idea – and his phone into his bag on top of the pile of protein bars and snacks that littered the bottom of it from his last day out training.
“Pikachu-pi pika.”
Ash shook his head and tugged on a random t-shirt - its cleanliness also unknown. He grabbed his sunglasses and hat and rushed out of the room. “Of course Misty’s gonna be mad, what else is new?”
“Pika pikachu, Pipichu, Pikapi!” Pikachu raced after him, chattering all down the hallway and the stairs.
“I don’t need Gary there to defend me against her!" He burst into the kitchen just as Pikachu hopped up on his shoulder.
His mother gave him a knowing smile from her spot at the kitchen table and held out his water bottle. “Are you sure about that?” she teased.
“Mom, you know he would just help her instead of me,” he replied, grabbing a muffin from the basket on the counter.
She gave a small laugh and passed over a picnic basket. “That he would. Lunch and drinks for everyone,” she explained, nodding to the basket.
Ash gave her a grateful grin and a quick kiss on the cheek. “You’re the best, Mom! I gotta go before I’m even later!”
He raced out of the house with Pikachu barely managing to cling to his hat. He threw out a pokeball as soon as the door was open and Charizard materialized just past the porch, his tail very nearly catching the railing on fire as he roared his grumpy greeting to the world. Ash patted his snout and quickly hopped up on the fire-type's back.
“Sorry, bud, I know you wanna sleep in, but we gotta get to Cerulean like, now!”
Charizard grumbled and snorted, releasing a small stream of smoke from his nostrils but spread his wings and took to the sky regardless.
Flying was Ash’s favorite way to get to Cerulean City. Soaring over the forests and mountains was an exhilaration he would never grow tired of, but they didn’t have time for the scenic route today. Rather than taking their time passing over the Viridian Forest and around Mount Moon, they headed northeast, quickly soaring over the meadows and hills surrounding Pallet, passing over forests before making it to the bay. Charizard swooped low over the Cycling Road, scaring several cyclists on the bridge with a showy burst of flames despite Ash’s scold, before swooping between Celadon and Saffron, and skirting around the edge of Cerulean towards the cape.
Today they were heading to the beach at Cerulean Cape to spend the day with Misty, Tracey, and Chloe, and he was definitely late. Chloe may have seemed an odd addition to their trio but she and Tracey had become friends over the years, brought together by Ash and Gary, as well as her father’s friendship with the professor. They did these beach days as often as they could, often with Brock, Goh, or Gary joining along. Sometimes their friends from other regions tagged along, but today it was just the four of them. Brock was busy, Gary was in Hoenn, and Goh was… actually Ash had no idea where Goh was right now, but he wasn’t in Kanto.
They soon reached the cape and Ash steered Charizard over the parking lot and to the beach. It wasn’t particularly crowded today, which was nice.
A flash of recognizable copper hair caught his eye and Ash patted the side of Charizard's neck. “By the boardwalk, bud.”
Charizard roared his understanding and swooped down on the beach, sending up a spray of sand as he landed. Ash attempted to climb off of his back but caught his foot on the joint of Charizard's wing and he tumbled off with a yelp, landing in a heap in the sand.
A familiar laugh came from the other side of his pokemon and he heard Pikachu’s happy chirp of “Pikachu-Pi!” from his spot atop Charizard.
“Hi, Pikachu!”
Ash spat out a mouthful of sand and clambered to his feet at the sound of Misty’s voice. “Hey, Mist,” he greeted, attempting to sound casual even as he shook sand out of his hair and adjusted his hat.
She took one look at him and laughed. “You overslept again, didn't you?”
“No?” Ash tried.
“Your shirt's on inside out and backwards.”
“Okay, fine, I overslept again!” he exclaimed. “I didn't mean to!” It wasn’t his fault he had slept through three alarms… right?
Misty shook her head with a sigh. “Did you at least bring money to rent a board like I told you to?”
Ash grinned and reached for his pocket… only to remember that his swimsuit didn't have any. Shit. He groaned loudly, realizing that his wallet was still sitting on his desk at home.
“Why am I not surprised?” she sighed. She turned towards the boardwalk, cupped her hands around her mouth and called, “he forgot his wallet!”
Ash peered past her to see Chloe coming down the wooden steps to the sand. She rolled her eyes but looked utterly unsurprised. “His loss,” she replied, shrugging her shoulders.
Did they always have to do this? “Hey –”
“Oh, Tracey's here!” Ash's protest was cut off by Misty pushing past him to head towards the stairs.
“Rude!” he called at her back. She ignored him so Ash turned back to Chloe. “I thought Tracey stayed in Cerulean last night?”
She smiled and shook her head. “He had to stop in Pallet this morning.”
“Oh.” Then why didn't he pick him up? Or call him, or something? Oh well, it didn’t matter that much. “So, what’re we doing today?” he asked unnecessarily.
“Well, Misty’s going to be surfing and since you didn’t bring anything with you, I guess you’ll be stuck on the beach with me and Tracey.”
There were worse things to spend the day doing, but he couldn’t help but be disappointed with himself. Surfing with Misty was always fun and the experience was only made better when his other partner in crime joined them. He tried not to feel too disappointed and to focus on what Chloe was saying – something about Misty and Tracey and plans later?
One of Pikachu’s ears twitched against the side of Ash’s head – the only warning he had before his starter gave an excited cry and hopped off his shoulder to scamper across the sand. Tracey must have brought an extra pokemon with him. Probably that seel Tracey had caught at Seafoam Island with Misty a few months back. Pikachu was especially fond of her.
He resisted the urge to look and instead tried to focus on Chloe, until Tracey and Misty walked past him, each carrying a surfboard. He paused. Misty fetching her board while greeting her partner was entirely expected, but Tracey didn’t surf. Well… He tried to, occasionally. Misty hadn’t given up on teaching him yet and that had to count for something. Either way, he didn’t have his own board and the board he was carrying was too nice to be a rental.
Wait a minute. Ash knew that board.
He jumped when a pair of arms wrapped around his shoulders from behind.
“Hey, Ashy-boy,” an achingly familiar voice murmured next to his ear.
A grin split his face. “Gary!” He spun in his boyfriend’s arms, unable to stop himself from immediately pressing an excited kiss to his lips.
He should have known that this would be yet another one of his insufferable boyfriend’s surprises. He was forever showing up when Ash least expected him, showing up in Pallet days before he was expected and appearing at events and get-togethers like this when he was supposed to be in a totally different region.
Not that Ash minded the surprises. He certainly wasn’t surprised when Gary readily returned the kiss, soaking up Ash's affection as eagerly as ever. For a moment, it was just them and the hurried movement of their lips until they were reminded of their public location by Misty’s voice.
“Don’t get too excited,” she called to Gary as she spread a picnic blanket out over the sand for their group. Much to Ash’s disappointment, Gary pulled away to look over at her curiously. “He overslept and forgot his wallet.”
Gary shook his head as he turned back to Ash. “You oversleeping idiot.” His smile was amused, but Ash was sure he was at least a little annoyed.
Ash ducked his head, embarrassed by his own scatterbrained tendencies. “I didn’t mean to,” he mumbled.
“Didn’t I say we should bring your spare board?” Tracey’s voice came from much closer than expected and Ash nearly jumped out of his skin when his friend appeared at his side.
Gary spared him a glance. “Yeah, you were right,” he sighed and Ash cringed a bit as he heard a touch of disappointment slip through. It disappeared quickly, fading back into amusement when Gary returned his gaze to Ash. “Sucks to be you,” he said, lips quirking into an irritating little smirk. “Have fun watching, I guess.”
Ash ignored Tracey and Misty’s amused snorts.
“It’d be more fun if you were wearing a wetsuit,” he said pointedly, looking his boyfriend up and down. Not that he didn’t look good in board shorts and a rash guard, but he knew the water would be cold. Misty had already pulled on hers - it was a thin one, but still. Cerulean’s water was cold, even in early summer like it was right now.
Gary rolled his eyes and made a retching sound. “I don’t need one.”
“Saying that’s gonna bite you in the ass one day,” Ash warned him.
“That’s why I’ve got you to warm me up after.”
He had a point there. Not a great one, but a point nonetheless. One of Ash’s favorite things about Gary surfing was helping him warm up afterwards, but that really only went so far. “That’ll be real helpful when you end up in the hospital with hypothermia.”
Gary laughed. “I wear them when I need to,” he replied, waving him off.
“You're not trying to talk him into wearing a wetsuit, are you?” Misty’s voice interrupted them, calling across the sand. “Because you know he's not gonna listen, right?”
“Hey, I listen better than he does!”
“Not by much,” Chloe countered from her spot on the blanket.
Gary shot her a mild glare but otherwise ignored the response.
After a few minutes of applying sunscreen and chatting about something other than Ash’s inability to follow instructions or Gary’s stubborn refusal to listen, Gary and Misty headed out into the water. While they were paddling out into the waves, Ash and Pikachu decided to walk along the shore while Tracey and Chloe sat on the blanket. Tracey’s sketchbook was already open, pencil moving across the page as he and Chloe talked about something to do with her studies.
He could never follow along with those conversations, so he and Pikachu wandered, collecting sea shells and checking out the tide pools for any critters – a few anemone and sea stars, a few small fish, but nothing bigger and no pokemon. Ash didn’t entirely mind. It would have been nice to see some water types but he got to do one of his favorite things: watch Gary surf. He had never gotten a straight answer from Gary on where he had learned to surf, but he’d been doing it for years, he was good at it, and he had done it in all corners of the globe. That, combined with Gary’s athletic build and the way that rashguard clung to his skin, made him fun to watch.
Ash couldn’t help but be a little annoyed with himself for leaving his wallet at home. If he hadn’t overslept and raced out of the house this morning, he would be out there on the water too, getting to surf with his boyfriend and best friend. But instead he was stuck watching from the shore, which wasn't awful, but definitely wasn’t preferable.
A movement on the water caught his eye and he turned in time to see Gary and Misty paddling in to catch a building wave. A proud grin spread across Ash’s face as he watched his boyfriend pop up on his board with a practiced motion that Ash knew was harder than it looked. Gary made it look easy. Granted, so did Misty, but Ash was far more interested in his boyfriend.
Ash smiled, though it was a bit sad. He really wanted to be out there too. He never seemed to be able to get his fill of surfing with Gary, no matter how many they went together – which was nowhere near enough in either of their opinions, partly due to Ash not having his own board, partly due to bad luck with water conditions.
That was okay. They had a trip to a subtropical region coming up soon and there were at least three days of surfing planned, though since Gary was in charge of the itinerary, there were probably more opportunities spread throughout the trip. For now, Ash would just have to make the best out of this trip and eagerly look ahead to their next.
And maybe consider getting his own surfboard so this didn’t keep happening.
He and Pikachu still enjoyed themselves on the beach. They explored the tide pools, collected a small pile of nice seashells, built a massive sandcastle with Tracey’s azumarill and Chloe’s eevee, and spent plenty of time watching his boyfriend. It was fun, but Ash couldn’t wait until lunch time came so he could spend some time with his boyfriend rather than just watching from afar.
He especially couldn't wait until they were done for the day and he got to participate in his favorite part of Gary surfing: helping him warm up afterwards. Too stubborn to wear a wetsuit unless he absolutely had to, Gary would rather shiver his ass off than squeeze it into one, but Ash was perfectly content to help him warm up after. Especially after he’d spent all morning trying to pretend he wasn’t eye-fucking his boyfriend from his spot in the sand.
When Gary and Misty emerged from the water for lunch, Ash couldn’t help but roll his eyes when he saw the shivers already wracking his boyfriend’s body as they carried their surfboards up the beach to their spot. And people thought he was the reckless one.
That idiot was going to start wearing a wetsuit whether he liked it or not after this. He was going to give himself hypothermia one of these days if he didn't.
But first Ash was going to have some fun.
He grabbed a sun-warmed towel and waited until Gary had dropped his board in the sand before pouncing on him as soon as he was close enough, throwing the towel over him and pulling him into a tight hug. “Gotcha!” he cried, laughing as his boyfriend yelped loudly and squirmed in his little towel prison. “Look guys, I caught a wild Gary!”
“Good luck getting him to listen to you,” Tracey commented, laughing as Ash began rubbing Gary with the towel, as though he were drying off a fluffy pokemon.
“Ash!” Gary tried to duck out of Ash's hold, but Ash caught him and tightened his hold. “Get off!”
“Are you sure you can handle one at that level?” Misty teased.
Chloe laughed as she watched Ash struggle to keep Gary in his arms as the researcher flailed beneath the towel. “I don’t think that pokeball’s going to hold him.”
Gary emerged from the towel, hair wild and cheeks pink, but laughing heartily. He shot Ash a glare but there was no heat behind it – there couldn’t be with the way he was laughing. That was another one of Ash’s favorite parts of Gary surfing: how relaxed and carefree he could be afterwards, with laughter falling so easily from his lips. He loved this side of him.
He pulled the towel tighter around his shoulders and reached out, giving the brim of Ash’s hat a retaliatory flick and sending it toppling off of his head.
“Hey!” Ash squawked, quickly catching it and shoving it back onto his head. “No poffins for you!”
Gary's grin morphed into a smirk. “I can think of something I'd rather have.”
“Oh, I'm sure you can,” Misty chirped mischievously. She and Gary both grinned at Tracey’s sigh.
They really did love tormenting him. But it was all in good fun. Chloe fixed Ash and Gary with an unimpressed look and gave Tracey a sympathetic pat on the shoulder.
Choosing to ignore Chloe's look, Ash walked over to the picnic basket his mother had packed. He assumed either Misty or Tracey had filled her in on Gary being there because there were five sandwiches wrapped in parchment paper with their initials written on it and a sticker holding the parchment closed. One of them had a G and a noctowl sticker on it – Ash passed it over and saw the way Gary’s eyes lit up at it, though he tried to hide his smile. Ash noticed and smiled as well. It was his mother’s nickname for him with his late nights and nocturnal ways. Ash distributed the other sandwiches, snacks, and drinks before sitting next to Gary and immediately pressing a quick kiss to his cheek.
Lunch wasn’t as long a break from the cold water for Misty and Gary as Ash would have liked and they were back on their boards in no time, much to his – and Pikachu’s – displeasure. Still, he couldn’t fault his boyfriend for his own inability to get up on time or show up prepared so he dealt with it for another few hours until they returned to shore again.
Misty was laughing as she and Gary headed up the beach this time. “Someone has regrets,” she sang, shooting Ash a pointed look. Ash only grinned at the sight of his once again shivering boyfriend.
“Someone should have worn a wetsuit,” Chloe sang back, giving Gary a grin of her own and laughing at the glare he gave her in return. “You're not very intimidating when you look like a drowned rattata.”
“No, but he is cute,” Ash interjected. He waited until Gary had set down his board before wrapping another towel around his shoulders with a quick kiss on the lips. There was a slight dusting of pink across Gary’s cheeks and that only made Ash’s grin all the wider.
Anyone who didn’t know Gary well would think he looked miserable with his arms crossed tightly over his chest, hair plastered to his face as trembled visibly, but Ash knew better. He could see the smile in his eyes. They didn’t linger terribly long on the beach – Misty was starting to get cold even with her wetsuit, and that meant it was definitely time to head back to Misty’s place to warm up and change before they went for dinner.
They paused on the boardwalk while Tracey and Chloe perused their options for dinner on their phones with Misty peering over their shoulders and chattering about the options. For once, Ash didn't care about the options. Misty was the picky one of the group, he would be able to find food wherever they ended up at. For now, he was far more interested in finally catching up with his boyfriend.
Ash pulled himself up on the boardwalk railing and sat, gesturing for Gary to join him. He grinned when his boyfriend reached him and reached out to cup his face, pulling him in for a kiss that Gary eagerly reciprocated until –
“Get a room, you two.”
They pulled apart, laughing a bit even as Gary shot Chloe a quick glare. Misty and Tracey looked over at them, Misty with a sly grin, Tracey with an unimpressed and thoroughly unsurprised look.
“We're gonna need to figure this out quick, Tracey, before they get too carried away,” Misty said, her grin still firmly in place.
Gary turned and leaned lazily back against Ash. “You two could do with getting carried away on occasion too, you know,” he retorted, smirking at the blush that spread across Tracey’s face at that.
“We do, just not in public, unlike you two,” Misty replied.
Tracey’s face turned an even deeper shade of pink and Ash decided to take pity on him, even though he was more than used to dealing with Misty and Gary’s crap. He wrapped his arms around Gary’s shoulders and pulled him back against his chest. “Leave him be,” he murmured in Gary’s ear, delighting in the shudder that he knew wasn't just from being cold and wet from the water.
“You're no fun,” Gary complained.
“I'll make it up to you.”
“Mmm,” Gary hummed, leaning further back into Ash’s hold. “You'd better.”
Grinning at the casual confidence, Ash buried his face against the side of Gary’s throat, pressing a trail of humid kisses along the collar of the rashguard clinging to his skin. He couldn’t wait to peel it off and warm the flesh beneath with his hands until Gary begged for more. Gary begging for more was always the end goal. It was his payback for being such a pain in the ass all the time.
But Gary was shivering more than usual, Ash noticed, and he trembled like a leaf against him. That could be a problem. Ash held him closer, breath warm against his neck in an attempt to warm him more. He hoped Gary’s stubborn refusal to wear a wetsuit wasn’t about to derail his favorite part of watching Gary surf.
“Hey,” he said gently, waiting until Gary turned his attention to him. “You okay?”
Gary nodded, flashing him a quick grin despite the shivers wracking his body. “Nothing a hot shower can't fix.”
“And where are we having this hot shower?” Ash asked curiously. Pallet was a good drive away and they didn’t have their own place yet. But Gary had shown up four days earlier than Ash had been expecting him back from his most recent trip in Hoenn, so it stood to reason that he had planned things out. He always did.
Sure enough, Gary flashed him another quick grin. “I got us a hotel room for the rest of the week.”
“Really?”
“Just us,” Gary confirmed.
“Nice!” A harsh shudder wracked Gary’s form and Ash tightened his hold even more, pressing another kiss to his neck. “Want to go now?”
“Yes. I’m fucking freezing.”
Ash laughed and pressed a quick kiss to his cheek for good measure before hopping down from the railing. He saw the shiver that ran through Gary the instant his arms moved from about his shoulders and shot him an apologetic smile. “Let’s get you warmed up.”
Gary nodded, looking so relieved that Ash couldn't help but laugh.
“We’re gonna go now,” Ash announced to the group. “Since someone is too stubborn to wear a fucking wetsuit,” he added, narrowing his eyes at his boyfriend, who only grinned in return. Stubborn pain.
Misty gave them a lopsided smile, clearly well aware of what would come between now and when they all met up again for dinner. Gary had probably told her the whole plan while they were out on the water. She'd probably been in on it the whole time. “And I’m sure he’s just too exhausted to possibly get out of those cold, wet board shorts all on his own, huh?”
“Don’t encourage them,” came a tired groan from beside Ash.
Gary grinned. “We don’t need encouragement, Tracey.”
The airy reply was punctuated by a shiver that drew glares from all three of their friends.
“Go warm up!”
“Go, you idiots!”
“How are you two still alive?”
They left their friends with an eye roll and a laugh, Gary leading them to where he had parked. Apparently he had spent the night at the hotel and made the trip to Pallet with Tracey that morning to pick up his car and board. Tracey was always helping him with these little surprises, and Ash was actually impressed with this one… and annoyed that they hadn’t bothered to pick him up that morning. Or bring Gary’s spare board for him. Oh well, his boyfriend was here now and they would be spending the next four days in Cerulean by themselves.
As they made their way to the car, Ash was hit with the realization that he wasn’t remotely prepared to spend four days in a hotel in Cerulean with his boyfriend. He hadn’t even been prepared for the beach and that had been planned! He froze, his easy smile faltering. “Uh… Gary?”
But Gary already knew what the worry was. “Your mom packed you a bag,” he explained, shooting him a knowing smile. “Don’t worry, I planned ahead.”
Ash grinned, wondering why exactly he had even worried to begin with. His boyfriend always thought out all the details with these surprises. It was always impressive when Gary sprung them on him – they were planned out with such attention to detail with so many people in on it every single time – and this was no exception.
Appreciation for his partner swelled within him and he couldn’t help but wrap an arm around Gary’s waist and press a quick kiss to his cheek. “I love you,” he chirped happily.
“I love you too,” Gary replied, voice quiet as he caught Ash’s eye with a soft smile that soon quirked into a smirk. “Even if you’re an oversleeping idiot.”
Ash huffed a laugh and rolled his eyes, but couldn’t wipe the grin from his face if he tried. His boyfriend was an insufferable pain in the ass, but he was his insufferable pain, and Ash loved him all the more for it. The teasing was just another way to show affection after all.
As for these surprises…
Ash would never grow tired of them. He knew that each and every one of them was a crystal clear I love you spoken in the most sincere way Gary knew to say it.