Work Text:
Time Heals... Eventually
Ash wasn’t sure where his husband was. He’d come home from a morning training session to an empty house, or so it seemed. But Gary wasn’t at the lab and he wasn’t at Delia’s house, and he couldn’t exactly drive anywhere with his injured shoulder. And his keys and shoes were still in their usual spot. There was nowhere else he could possibly be.
He would have seen him in the yard when he came home – not that Gary was venturing outside much these last few painful weeks – and he’d searched every room in the house. Now worry was starting to set in. He didn't need to worry, but he couldn't help it. At least Gary had Pikachu with him wherever he was, though Pikachu's insistence on staying home with Gary said quite a bit about Gary's mood.
Whether or not there was a reason to worry didn't matter if Gary was in one of his moods again.
Heaving a sigh, Ash decided to search the rooms again. He must have overlooked some corner of the house, but Gary was nowhere to be seen on the first floor of the house. Where could he be? Had he been in the bathroom when Ash peeked into their bedroom or something?
He peeked into the spare room and, sure enough, no Gary — though it seemed he had been here recently. The desk lamp was on and his laptop was open, the screen still alit, a still half-full coffee mug next to it. Weird. It was enough odd for him to leave in the middle of something, but to just disappear?
Something was up.
Curious, Ash stepped into the room and approached the desk. Next to the computer was the notebook Gary used to plan their adventures, a pen resting atop the open pages. Ash usually forced himself not to look at whatever plans Gary was up to — he liked the surprises and, more importantly, Gary liked surprising him — but this time…
The notebook was open to a page with Alola written at the top in large letters. Inked doodles of several fish-like pokemon trailed along the border of the page, accented by a tiny marill sketch in the corner. He smiled at Tracey's addition, but it was brief as his eyes strayed to the list of reservations. Nearly every reservation had a line drawn through it: the hotels, the rental car, the dive charters, the excursions… Everything except the flight there.
Ash glanced up at the computer screen. A confirmation window was up, asking 'Are you sure you want to cancel?'
Suddenly it made sense.
Gary had said they would need to decide by the end of the week and Ash had left the decision to him because… Honestly, Gary needed to accept just how bad this injury was. He could argue that it was just bruising all he wanted but that wasn’t how fairy attacks worked. The bruising went straight to the bone: muscle was damaged, nerves were damaged, and Gary's shoulder and back still bore a dark nebula of visible bruises. He could barely use that arm but kept insisting on trying anyways, leaving him in agony on a daily basis.
Ash had known from the moment he saw the injury that their next few adventures would be postponed, that every plan they'd had for the rest of the year had been uprooted, and that his stubborn husband was in for a difficult few months. But Gary had insisted he was fine, that he would be healed in no time. He'd insisted even when they had passed the one month mark with little improvement.
Ash sighed as he looked back at the notebook and the doodles on the page. They were a sure sign his husband had been excited when planning their trip. It was a long one, with long stretches of hiking in the rainforests and up mountains, accented by beachside hotels with surfing and kayaking and snorkeling nearly every day. Everything Gary loved to do. Ash would have preferred a few more pokemon-heavy activities, but they had been through so many competitions and trainings recently that Ash had insisted on Gary planning something entirely for himself.
To have to cancel it all was undoubtedly a harsh blow.
He knew where to find his husband.
Ash left the room and crossed the hall to their bedroom. It had looked empty at first glance but now that Ash knew what was going on, he noticed that the pile of blankets and pillows on the bed were lumpier than usual.
"Gary…"
The pile of blankets shifted and Pikachu crawled out from beneath it. His starter stared up at him with a worried pout, his ears lowered. "Pipichu, Pikapi."
Ash gave him a gentle pat on the head as he sat on the edge of the bed. He rested his hand atop the blankets with a soft sigh. A feeling of deja vu struck him rather suddenly — it seemed like a lifetime ago that they were little kids and Ash was trying to convince his best friend to come out of his hiding spot. He would always crawl out with tear stains on his cheeks and his favorite plush growlithe clutched in his hands, back when he didn't try to hide his feelings. The only other time in their adult life Ash had seen him do this was when he was struggling with the decision to drop out of university.
"You were right…" Gary’s muffled voice came from beneath the pile of blankets.
"I'm sorry," Ash replied. He wished he had been wrong when he'd told Gary that they would probably have to reschedule their upcoming trips. "I know you were looking forward to that trip."
That was a massive understatement, but so was Ash’s apology.
"We can always go next year…"
He sounded so dejected when he said it that Ash couldn't help but feel even worse. Pikachu cooed sadly and patted the blanket comfortingly.
"We can," Ash agreed, "but that doesn't mean you can't be upset about it."
The only reply he received was a muffled sigh — he had buried his face in a pillow, which couldn't have been good.
"You're allowed to be upset, y'know," he pressed but silence was the only response he received.
Fair enough. Ash stayed next to his husband, giving him a moment to himself while he tried to figure out a way to get him out from his little nest.
"Do you want me to finish up in there for you?" he asked after a moment. The blanket shifted in what might have been a nod, but he couldn't be sure. Ash bit back a laugh and smoothed his hand over what he was sure was Gary's calf. "I can't see you, babe," he reminded him.
There was a pause, long enough that Ash wondered if he would have to try again, before the blankets shifted again and Gary poked his head out. His hair was down and messy, and it looked as though he was still wearing the shirt he had slept in, but there was no sign of tears — a good thing considering the pain levels mixed with how frustrated Gary had been growing with the slow recovery time.
He did, however, look absolutely exhausted. The constant pain was draining, he'd said and Ash had seen the evidence first hand day in and day out ever since Gary had arrived home from Kalos three weeks early.
"You don't have to," Gary said, voice unusually quiet. Another sign of just how much this was all affecting him.
"That's not what I asked," Ash pointed out and Gary was quiet once more. "It's just pushing a button, I can do that for you if you don't want to get out of bed."
Another long moment of silence passed between the couple before Gary finally gave a single nod. Ash saw the wince that immediately followed but drew no attention to it. They could reapply the ointment that had been helping with the bruising as soon as Ash was done, and some pain meds probably wouldn't hurt either.
He leaned down to press a gentle kiss to his husband's cheek before standing. "I'll be back in a minute, alright?"
Gary nodded, looking absolutely miserable. Best to make this quick, Ash figured — he didn't want to leave Gary alone to stew in his misery. Pikachu could only do so much to help.
Quickly making his way across the hall and into the spare room, he hesitated only briefly before clicking yes on the screen. Another window popped up, confirming that the flight had been cancelled, and Ash let out a sigh. He had been looking forward to that trip too.
Maybe they could go next year for their anniversary. Ash had plenty of connections still, after all. He was sure he could plan something.
But, for now, he had an injured and upset husband to tend to and cheer up.
He ducked back into their bedroom and made a detour into the en-suite bathroom. Easily finding the orange bottle of pain meds, he called over his shoulder, "Did you take your second dose yet, babe?" He opened the bottle and shook out a pill preemptively, certain he already knew the answer.
Sure enough, a sigh came from the direction of their bed. "No…"
Exactly as Ash had expected. "Is there a reason?" he asked mildly as he filled the glass that sat on the counter with water from the tap.
"I didn't feel like getting out of bed."
Understandable, he supposed, but this stubbornness was what was dragging this out longer than it needed to go on. But Ash wasn't sure how to say that without making it worse. Maybe it was time to ask the professor to talk some sense into Gary. Tracey had already tried and that had failed every time.
Ash stepped back in to the bedroom and returned to the edge of the bed, passing Gary the pill and the water. He obediently sat up and knocked it back before groaning and lying back against the pillows. Ash tried not to wince sympathetically when he saw the flicker of pain appear on Gary's face. Moving too fast again, as always.
He waited until he was settled before reaching out and gently tousling Gary's already-messy hair with what he hoped was a reassuring smile. "It's gonna heal, Gary. You just need to rest."
"Pi, pipichu!" Pikachu trilled, crawling onto his chest, where Ash knew he would stubbornly stay if tasked with keeping Gary in bed.
"I'm tired of resting," Gary retorted, rolling his eyes.
"You're tired, period," Ash pointed out.
"Pi!"
"You said it yourself: the pain is exhausting. Maybe it's time to just treat it like a migraine and spend some time in bed for once."
Gary's eyes narrowed and Ash wondered what he had said. "That's what I'm doing."
"No, you're hiding out in bed because you're upset," Ash argued. "I know you."
"Does it matter if I'm in bed either way?"
He had a point there. "I guess not," Ash relented with a tired sigh. He played idly with Gary's hair for a moment before remembering that there was something that usually went along with the pain meds. "Are you ready for me to put the ointment on, or do you want a few minutes?"
Gary groaned but fortunately gave no protest. "Might as well get it over with." Pikachu reluctantly climbed off of him and he slowly sat up, reaching for the hem of the t-shirt he was wearing only for Ash to catch his hands.
"I've got it," the trainer reminded him.
They did this every day, always the same way. Gary always wanted to do it himself, despite how much pain it caused, despite the fact that he wasn't supposed to move his arm like that, despite having a very willing husband directly next to him. Stubborn.
Ash lifted the hem of the shirt, raising one side enough for Gary to maneuver his uninjured arm out of before carefully moving it over his head and sliding it off his injured arm. The winces and tiny pained noises that came from him nearly broke Ash's heart every time but he stayed quiet as he tossed the shirt aside. It was all a reminder that this was no ordinary injury. Gary never let an injury keep him down: he had finished out a trip in the field with a broken wrist, he had pushed through migraines in the field, he had spent a month hiking in Hoenn two weeks after having his appendix removed, and he didn't even flinch whenever he needed stitches. He was honestly tougher than Ash and Ash had no problem admitting it.
But this… Not only had this been literal inches from killing his husband only two years into their marriage, but this had kept Gary confined to the house two — something Ash hadn't thought was possible.
He gave Gary a moment to catch his breath, pressing feather-light kisses to his uninjured shoulder. "Be right back," he murmured with one last kiss to the side of his neck.
Taking longer than was necessary to retrieve the tube of ointment from the bathroom counter, Ash took his time returning to the bed. This was the part they both dreaded, though for very different reasons. For Gary, it meant the pain of pressure on the web of bruises across the front and back of his shoulder. For Ash, it meant facing the fact that he'd very nearly ended up in the same boat as his mother.
Pikachu had crawled into Gary's lap when he returned, Gary's fingers idly stroking the fur behind his ears. His husband didn't look up as Ash crossed the room. He hadn't looked him in the eye a single one of the times he had applied the treatment. Ash supposed he would probably feel similarly were he the one returning home from the field with a debilitating new injury after missing death by inches.
He had to steel himself when he sat back down on the edge of the bed. The bruises had faded from the black and deep indigo they had started as into a sickly greenish yellow with pockets of purple interspersed, but the pain when he touched them hadn't seemed to lessen much at all.
Ash took a breath and opened the tube, squeezing some of the vibrantly purple ointment onto his fingers. "Ready?"
"Yeah…"
Ash pressed his fingers to Gary's shoulder as gently as he could, pretending as best as possible that he hadn't heard the pained hiss that escaped him. After two months of doing this every day, Ash knew exactly how lightly to touch, exactly how much of the ointment to use and exactly where to rub it in… But that didn't make it any easier.
A quiet fell between them for a long while as Ash methodically worked it into his skin, until…
"I think Tracey and my grandfather are right."
They tended to be right where Gary was concerned, but there were a dozen things they could be right about, though Ash hoped it was one thing in particular. "What about?" he asked, squeezing some more of the ointment into his hand.
Gary was quiet for a moment before… "Physical therapy."
Finally.
Ash had to force himself to not sound too excited when he asked, "Yeah?" Gary gave a tense nod but stayed quiet. "I'm sure it'll help it heal faster."
"I know it will," Gary admitted quietly. "I just hoped it would heal on its own."
That sounded unusual for his pragmatic husband. Even more odd was the lack of recognition of how much the injury had healed. It wasn’t much but that was what Gary had stubbornly clung to for the last two months, pointing out every tiny difference.
"Sometimes injuries just need more time," Ash pointed out, gently smoothing his hands over the bruises with more of the ointment. "Remember when Tracey sprained his ankle a few years ago and it took him months to heal?"
"It still acts up sometimes too…" Gary heaved a sigh, looking more down than ever. "I was just hoping it wouldn't be like that, that I would somehow get lucky. I know it's stupid…"
"It's not stupid, Gary." Overly optimistic maybe, considering the injury, which was also odd because that was usually Ash’s thing. Gary was usually the realistic half of the couple.
"Unrealistic then."
He had been unrealistic about the severity the whole time.
"Pikapi!"
Gary tensed beneath his hands and Ash realized that he had said that aloud. He cringed — he had been trying not to make it worse and here he was, screwing it up.
But then Gary relaxed, letting his breath out in another sigh. "I know," he groaned.
Ash wasn't quite sure what to say in response, but that didn't lessen his relief in the slightest. "I didn't mean to say that," he admitted apologetically.
"Doesn't make it any less true. I knew how bad fairy attacks are, I knew how bad the injury was… I just didn't want to believe it."
Now he really sounded upset. Ash sighed and lifted his hands from Gary's shoulders, wrapping them around his waist and resting his forehead against his uninjured shoulder.
"Don't be hard on yourself," he chastised gently. "You're allowed to screw up on occasion, y'know."
"Gee, thanks."
Ash could just about hear the eye roll. "Hey, don't be like that. We both know what you were thinking and you know it won't do any good."
Gary sighed again. "You're right," he relented after a moment. This time he at least sounded a little more like himself. There was an edge of determination to his voice. Pikachu's ears perked and Ash couldn't help but smile at the sound of it. He still sounded exhausted and a little upset, but Ash would take the improvement.
Ash pressed a kiss to the shoulder in front of him and tightened his hold just a little bit. "It happens on occasion," he teased.
That earned him a tiny laugh but Gary stayed quiet otherwise. A moment passed before Ash unwound his arms from about Gary's waist and set about finishing up with the ointment. He finished rubbing it in silently, thinking all the while. He had wished the whole time that there was more he could do to help with the recovery but it seemed all they could do was wait it out. But as he thought he realized there was something he could do.
Finished, he dropped his hands from Gary's shoulder and waited for his husband's sigh of relief before wrapping his arms around his waist again, leaning forward to press a kiss to his cheek. "I have an idea."
"Hmm?"
"You're always the one planning our trips and everything… Why don't you let me handle everything with physical therapy? I'll make all the appointments, all you have to do is show up and do what the doctors say."
Gary was quiet for a long moment, long enough that Ash wondered if he was actually going to find a way to argue it. But then, a single nod.
"I'd like that," Gary said softly.
Immensely grateful that he had opted to not argue the offer, Ash pressed another kiss to his cheek. "We'll get you fixed up," he promised. "We'll plan the exact same Alola trip next year and whenever you're healed enough for it, we're going to any region you want."
"Any region, huh?"
Ash could hear the smile in his voice and gave him yet another kiss. "Any region, for however long you want."
"Even if it's hot and swampy?"
He'd had a feeling it would be that region. "As long as you're healed enough for what you want to do there."
Kayaking and surfing would have to wait a while, but if that was what it took to motivate him to stop being in such denial over the severity of the injury, then Ash was fine with it. Besides, they had gone to so many regions for so many competitions for Ash recently that Gary deserved an extra trip all his own. Especially after being cooped up inside for so long.
Now all he had to do was stop being stubborn and give himself time to heal. He would get there sooner or later, and Ash would be there by his side every step of the way.