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As Gary looks out the window, he just knows Ash is somehow responsible for the sudden outbreak of gaudy Christmas decorations in Pallet Town.
Ash has never understood the concept of ‘less is more,’ especially during the holidays. Gary vividly remembers their childhood Christmases together—Ash always overdecorated the Christmas tree, used too much wrapping paper for his gifts, and stuck an outrageous amount of candy on their gingerbread houses. It’s easy to imagine Ash setting up inflatable snowmen everywhere in town.
Gary—as usual—is right. Sort of.
At the breakfast table, Professor Oak reveals Ash arrived home last night and he’ll be staying in Pallet Town for the winter.
“It’s quite the surprise. It’s been a while since Ash remained in one place for a significant amount of time,” Professor Oak says. “The mayor heard about Ash’s stay and he expects, in his own words, ‘hoards of visitors to descend on our humble little town.’ He wants Pallet Town to fully embrace the Christmas spirit this year.”
“Is Ash really Pallet Town’s main tourist attraction?” Gary asks.
“If we receive hoards of visitors, yes. We might need to rename Pallet into Ash Town.”
Gary makes a face. “I’ll move if that happens.”
“I hear Johto is lovely this time of year.”
“Grandpa.”
Professor Oak laughs. Gary huffs in response—it’s embarrassing how his grandfather easily sees through his empty threats about Ash. Then again, Gary isn’t trying hard to be Ash’s cool and distant best friend right now. Instead, he’s busy cooking more food than needed for two people and he’s already set an extra plate at the table. Everything is perfectly arranged so Ash—who arrives uninvited, but not unexpected a few minutes later—sits down next to Gary for breakfast.
Ash is all smiles and bright eyes, and Gary’s glad he chose to spend this winter in Pallet Town too.
Gary likes Christmas so he gradually warms up to the town’s decorations. He even becomes fond of the nine Stantler statues on the Oak front lawn.
But the obscene amount of mistletoes turn out to be a problem.
Gary values his personal space too much to be caught under a mistletoe so he walks carefully through town. It’s mildly inconvenient to make small detours left and right, but Gary can easily take care of himself. The real problem is Ash and the mistletoes.
Ash isn’t interested in any mistletoe kisses. He made that quite clear when Delia pointed out her restaurant’s mistletoe and he took an over-exaggerated step away from it. Yet Ash always charges head first in everything. He rarely looks where he’s going and—Gary learned this past week—he never looks up. More than once, Ash was dangerously close to being caught underneath a mistletoe. Gary dreads the day when it actually happens: Ash will run away from some poor, confused girl and Gary will be left reeling with second-hand embarrassment.
When the dreaded day finally arrives, Gary can’t keep his mouth shut.
It happens in Pallet Town’s small library: Gary’s here to check out some books and Ash’s here because he’s intent on following Gary today. Gary tries to ignore Ash’s fidgeting—Ash should’ve asked where he was going rather than tag along uninvited. He fully intends to slowly browse the shelves, but then he hears Ash say, “Let me help you with that!”
From the corner of his eye, Gary sees Ash pluck a book from the top shelf and then hand it over to a young woman. That’s all unremarkable—Ash is a naturally a helpful person. But now there’s a mistletoe hanging over Ash’s and the girl’s head, and neither of them moves away. If anything, the girl steps closer to Ash.
The sight causes a sudden ache in Gary’s chest. This isn’t the second-hand embarrassment that he expects to feel. Gary doesn’t stop to think about the unexpected feeling inside him, instead he calls out to Ash.
Ash looks at him right away.
“Let’s battle.”
Ash can never say no to a Pokémon battle. He lets out a loud cheer then rushes to Gary’s side. Ash starts chattering excitedly about their battle—where will it happen, how many Pokemon, can they have lunch after the battle. They’re too loud for the library now. Everyone hushes them, but Gary ignores it because Ash is only looking at him right now. The mistletoe is already forgotten.
Unfortunately, the mayor was right about the hoards of visitors. Word must’ve spread about Ash’s stay because Pallet Town is suddenly very crowded. Most of the visitors just want to battle the world champion. A few visitors, Gary starts to suspect, came here for other reasons.
At the Ketchum house, Gary frowns as he stares out the living room window. He just finished dropping off some wrapping paper to Delia. It was supposed to be a quick visit, but, as he was preparing to leave, he heard Ash talking to some guy outside. Gary isn’t eavesdropping because he doesn’t care about their conversation. He’s only interested in why the guy is leading Ash to the old tree in the front lawn. Gary’s eyes narrow when he notices a mistletoe on one of the tree’s branches.
That wasn’t there a few minutes ago.
Gary rubs his forehead. Why does this keep happening? An unfortunate pattern recently developed in Pallet Town: someone catches Ash under a mistletoe, and then Gary intervenes before anything happens. This occurs at least once a day. Sometimes twice. On one particularly awful day, three times in a row. Gary is starting to suspect some of the town’s visitors just came here to try to kiss Ash.
He shudders. That thought threatens his understanding of the world. Ash isn’t…attractive. Ash is loud and adventurous, too optimistic and too naive, stubborn and headstrong and so much more, but, above all, Ash is his. He can’t just stand aside while Ash is in trouble. So Gary shoves open the window to shout,
“Hey, Ash!”
Much to Gary’s satisfaction, the guy leaps away from Ash. Ash isn’t so jumpy, but, as always, he’s surprised to see Gary.
“Gary?!” Ash shouts. “What are you doing in my house?”
Gary ignores the question because he’s too busy trying to find a reason to get Ash out of here. He can’t suggest a battle—his Pokémon are still tired from their recent match. And he can’t ask Ash to join him on a quick research expedition—they’ve already observed every Pokemon around Pallet Town. Offer food? No, he’s empty-handed. Insult him? How would that help?
Out of ideas, Gary raises his chin and improvises.
“Do you wanna take a walk with me?”
“Eh? Sure, I guess?”
That sounds more like a question than answer, but Gary isn’t going to nitpick Ash’s vocabulary now.
Gary’s plan works better than expected. Ash follows him down the road, quickly forgetting about the other guy. They’re half way to the market square when Gary realizes he doesn’t know where they’re going. Ash must’ve realized it too because he turns to face Gary.
“So what’s gotten into you? Why do you wanna hang out so much?” Ash asks.
Gary stares straight ahead. He isn’t sure how to answer Ash’s question. He tells himself that he’s stepping in between Ash and the mistletoes because he doesn’t want to see Ash humiliate himself. Sure, Gary still likes to tease Ash once in a while, but that stays between them. This is different because this involves someone else. This involves Ash and a stranger and kissing.
Gary’s chest tightens. That’s the truth of the matter, isn’t it? He’s doing all this because he doesn’t want to see anyone kiss Ash.
Now he can’t admit this truth to Ash. It’s too confusing, too embarrassing. And, most importantly, Gary doesn’t know what to make of it. Ash is still waiting for an answer so Gary shrugs his shoulders as he tries to look cool and unbothered.
“I just wanna spend time with you.”
That’s the wrong thing to say. Ash falls completely silent. Gary’s face warms. Those words sounded less embarrassing in his head. For a second, Gary seriously considers running—er, walking quickly—into the woods to escape this awkwardness, but then Ash lets out a loud laugh. He knocks his shoulder against Gary’s.
“Aw, Gary, I didn’t know you liked me so much!”
“Yeah, I like you. You’re my best friend,” Gary grumbles, pushing Ash away.
“Still!” Ash laughs, leaning heavily against Gary’s side.
They start pushing and shoving each other. Gary fears Ash is trying to hug him and he can’t let that happen. He’s embarrassed himself enough for one day. Their jostling is too much for Pikachu. Pikachu squeaks loudly then jumps off Ash’s shoulder.
What happens next is a blur. Ash stumbles, either from the ice or the recoil of Pikachu’s leap. Gary makes the mistake of leaning against Ash at that moment. Ash tilts sideways and Gary goes with him. They fall down together, a mess of limbs. Gary sputters. There’s snow in places snow shouldn’t be and, somehow, Ash lands on top of him. Gary tries to shove Ash off, but he doesn’t budge. Instead, Ash props himself up on his elbows so they’re face to face. There’s snow in Ash’s hair and a faint blush on his cheeks from the cold. A playful smile graces his soft lips. Gary draws in a sharp breath.
In that moment, he finally understands why so many people came to Pallet Town in search of Ash and a mistletoe.
“Let’s go sledding,” Ash says.
Gary simply nods in agreement. He doesn’t trust himself to speak right now with his too-quick beating heart.
Three days before Christmas, Pallet Town returns to its usual winter stillness. The holiday finally called their visitors back home. For the first time in years, Gary will spend Christmas with his grandfather, Ash and Delia. This Christmas will definitely go better than their last holiday get-together, which ended with a brutal snowball fight.
Ash and Gary were terribly competitive ten-years-old, but there isn’t any bad blood between them now. These next few days should be a nice and peaceful.
Unfortunately, Gary’s hopes are dashed when a group of Professor Oak’s students arrive in town with well wishes and pleas for a curve on their final exam. Gary wants to barricade the door, but Professor Oak allows them inside.
“I’ll hear them out. If I don’t, they’ll spend their winter break in agony.”
His grandfather’s gone soft.
So, rather than celebrating a quiet Christmas Eve, Gary is trying to put together a last minute lunch with some cheese, crackers and fruit. He hears Ash chatting happily with their uninvited guests in the dining room. At least one of them is enjoying themselves right now. Gary turns to the fridge—intent on finding some more food to toss on his sad-looking cheese board—and then promptly bumps into one of the students. Gary and the girl apologize to each other, try and fail to sidestep one another. He nearly leaves the kitchen, but then a chorus of ‘Oohs!’ fills the room.
Professor Oak, Delia and the students crowd around the doorway. In the background, Ash whines, “What’s going on? I can’t see!” but no one moves. They’re all staring at the ceiling. Gary looks up.
A mistletoe hangs over his head.
Who put that there?
“This isn’t what I expected,” Professor Oak mumbles.
Gary holds back a sigh. His weeks of carefully evading mistletoes in town turns out to be pointless—he’s finally caught in his own home. Everyone is staring at them, obviously waiting for what’s supposed to happen next. Gary’s too prideful to back down in front of a crowd so he leans forward to get it over with.
“Gary!” Ash screams.
The wild shriek startles everyone in the room. Ash appears out of nowhere and crashes straight into Gary, knocking him back a step.
“We forgot about the thing!” Ash cries.
“What thing?” Gary asks, baffled.
“The thing! The very important thing!” Ash insists, shoving Gary to the doorway. “We have to go! Now!”
It’s impossible to ignore the urgency in Ash’s voice. So Gary lets Ash push him out of the room—partly because Gary is concerned, partly because Ash seems ready to throw Gary over his shoulders. Just before the door shuts behind them, Gary grabs their coats and hears his grandfather say, “It was for their own good. I’m too old to be patient.”
Ash drags Gary all the way to the edge of town. He frantically glances around the area as if he’s searching for something. After they stand in the same place for a while, Gary starts to think Ash just stopped here because they have no where else to go.
“So what’s the big emergency?” Gary asks.
“You promised to buy me food,” Ash says, pointedly looking away from him.
Ash is a terrible liar. Before Gary mentions there’s no place to eat here, Ash marches to the nearest house and bangs on the door. Gary watches in horror as Ash tries to barter with old lady Doris for some food. In the end, Ash manages to secure a bag of roasted chestnuts so Gary has no choice but to hand over a few dollars to Miss Doris. He isn’t sure who’s more confused about what just happened.
Even though food always puts Ash in a good mood, it doesn’t nothing for him this time. Ash angrily munches on the chestnuts as soon as they sit down on a bench. Gary wishes Pikachu was here right now, but the smart little Pokemon stayed in Delia’s arms back home. This silent seething doesn’t suit Ash so Gary decides he’s gotta figure out what’s wrong.
“Are you upset about the mistletoe?” Gary asks, curiously.
It’s a shot in the dark, but Ash started behaving strangely right after Gary got caught under the mistletoe. Ash turns away from Gary, refusing to talk to him. Well, fine. Gary leans back into his seat, crosses his arms against his chest. If Ash wants to be stubborn, he’ll be stubborn too.
Ash can’t stay quiet for too long, especially around Gary. After a painfully silent moment, Ash cries out,
“I can’t believe you got caught under a mistletoe! You’re supposed to be smarter than that, Gary!”
Gary bristles at Ash’s insult. “It happened once. You got caught a bunch of times.”
“Nuh-uh. No one’s kissed me.”
Ash looks far too proud of himself right now, as if it takes talent to dodge mistletoes. Gary scoffs.
“Yeah, that’s because I stopped everyone from kissing you.”
Ash and Gary both freeze when Gary’s carefully guarded secret finally slips out. He never intended for Ash to know about that because he never wanted to see Ash’s reaction. Judging by Ash’s wide-eyed stare, he’s torn between shock and disbelief.
“Really? Why would…do you…” Ash pauses. A flash of realization crosses his face, then his eyes narrow slightly. “Are you jealous people wanna kiss me, not you?”
“No,” Gary replies, instantly.
He once considered that possibility, sometime between the third and fourth mistletoe incidents. Maybe he kept intervening because there was some lingering competitive jealousy from their rivalry days. Back then, he couldn’t stand the idea of losing to Ash in anything. But he hasn’t had those feelings in a long time, he doesn’t feel that way now.
Eventually he understood he doesn’t want to see a stranger to kiss Ash. That isn’t competitive jealousy; it’s just jealousy. Gary wants to kiss Ash himself.
Oh.
The revelation strikes Gary like an arrow through the heart. He should’ve realized this sooner; he should’ve put the puzzles pieces together when Ash made his heart pound in his chest. He’s in love with his best friend.
Gary takes a stuttering breath. A part of him wants to walk away—he’s never been good at affection or honesty. But then he looks at Ash’s face. Ash stares at Gary like Gary is a word that he’s never seen before. Ash is trying hard to understand him because, for some reason, Ash always wants to know everything about him.
He can be honest with Ash.
“I want to kiss you,” Gary confesses.
Ash’s cheeks flush pink, and Gary suddenly remembers they’re only together right now because Ash dragged him away from a mistletoe. That’s enough to encourage Gary to push forward with his feelings.
“And I think you want to kiss me too.”
Ash stares into Gary’s eyes, stubborn and bold even though he’s blushing bright red now. “Yeah, maybe I wanna kiss you too.”
“Maybe?”
Ash grasps Gary’s hand then stands. For a second, Gary expects Ash to drag him through town again but they only take a few steps towards a nearby tree. On one of the branches, there’s a little green plant decorated with a red ribbon. Ash stops under the mistletoe. Gary raises his eyebrow when Ash doesn’t move towards him.
Ash huffs. “Aren’t you going to kiss me?”
A smile tugs at the corner of Gary’s lips. He doesn’t need to be told twice. Gary cups Ash’s cheek, then kisses him. Ash’s lips are as soft as Gary expected; his hands are gentle as they trail up Gary’s arms. Ash grips Gary’s shoulders, presses himself flush against Gary’s chest, and, with that, Gary forgets about everything around them. All that matters is Ash, soft and warm, in his arms.
Gary isn’t sure how long they kiss each other, but they’re both flushed and breathless when they finally part. Ash doesn’t step away from him. Instead, in a rough voice, he says,
“Kiss me again.”
“Wow,” Gary whispers, amused. “You really like kissing me.”
Ash shoves Gary’s shoulder. “No! I mean, yeah! I mean, you owe me a lot of kisses, don’t you?”
Gary laughs, then presses a quick kiss to Ash’s lips. As much as he wants to kiss Ash again and again, the winter’s cold winds remind him that they’ve been outside for too long. Professor Oak and Delia are probably wondering what happened to them.
“We have a mistletoe back home. You can collect your kisses there,” Gary suggests.
“Alright. But we gotta move it somewhere else. I don’t wanna see anyone else trying to kiss you.”
Gary agrees. They walk home, hand-in-hand and, along the way, they stop at one or two mistletoes. For the first time this winter, Gary is grateful for all the mistletoes in Pallet Town.