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Injuries And Cuddles
"Owww…"
Gary fought not to roll his eyes at the most recent complaint. "I know it hurts, but you have to stop whining about it so much Ash." It wasn't that bad of an injury and, while he sympathized with the pain Ash was undoubtedly in, his boyfriend was truly pushing the limits of his patience today.
"But it hurts," Ash whined for what must have been the seventh time in ten minutes.
This time Gary couldn't help but roll his eyes. All Ash had done was bash his knee into the corner of a lab bench the day before. Sure, he had a bit of a limp and a large purple bruise blooming across his leg, but he'd had worse. They'd both had significantly worse injuries.
A busted knee sucked, especially considering the damper it had put in their camping plans for this week at home in Pallet, but Ash would live. He would likely be totally recovered by the time they left for their upcoming Hoenn trip. Worst case scenario, he would have to borrow Gary's knee brace to get through the first few days of their trip.
"Are you sure it's not broken?" Ash asked, voice uncharacteristically uncertain and nervous.
"Positive," Gary returned easily. They would know for sure if something was broken.
"How can you be so sure?"
"The fact that you're able to bend your knee and put weight on that leg is a pretty good sign."
"But—"
"I've also somehow broken more bones than you and more recently than you," Gary reminded him. "I know what to look for with a broken bone and you don't have any signs of one."
"But it hurts," Ash repeated.
"Well, yeah, it's a nasty bruise. It's gonna hurt."
"But even with the ice on it—"
"You've iced injuries before, Ash," Gary interjected tiredly. "You know how this goes."
"But—"
"Ash. You busted your knee. It hurts and it's gonna probably hurt for the next few days. You'll live."
"You're not helping very much," the trainer pouted.
Gary rolled his eyes again. He had spent most of the day before fetching everything for Ash just so he could keep his leg propped up on a pillow, bringing him fresh ice packs, and helping him alternate between icing his knee and putting a heating pad on it. He'd even made him lunch — and that was saying something, considering how little Gary liked being in the kitchen!
"I've done everything short of magically healing it, Ash. What else do you want me to do?"
"Stay?"
Gary softened at the request but, even if Ash hadn't been bugging him about his hurt knee all morning, he was busy. "I have data analysis I have to do," he reminded him.
"But I thought Professor Ivy said not to worry about it yet?"
She had, but they were leaving for Hoenn in a week and data analysis was the last thing he wanted to do in a tropical region. "I want to get it over with before we leave."
"You have your laptop."
He had a point there, but that meant he was out of excuses and, honestly? Gary just wanted a break from his boyfriend's constant whining. It seemed that was unlikely to happen though. Sure, he could just leave his boyfriend's house and go back to his bedroom at his grandfather's lab but leaving him when he was injured and in pain seemed like a dick move and Gary was determined to not be that type of boyfriend.
"Fine," Gary relented with a reluctant sigh. "But you're gonna have to do something other than whine every ten seconds about your knee hurting," he warned.
"We could watch a movie?" Ash suggested hopefully.
That would probably keep him sufficiently quiet. Gary wouldn't even have to do data analysis to get his break from Ash's whining. "Okay," he agreed, "but I get to pick the movie."
"Only if I get to pick the second movie."
So they were doing a marathon, huh? If Gary didn't know better, he'd think Ash had planned this.
Actually, now that he thought about it… Ash had definitely planned it the night before when he'd realized they wouldn't be able to do the training session they had originally planned for today. It was then that Gary noticed the stack of movies next to the television.
The cheeky little sneak. Gary wasn't sure why he was surprised.
"I should have known you were planning something."
Ash's grin only widened and brightened. "I have to keep up with you, right?"
Gary smiled in turn. "Guess you're right," he returned with a shrug of the shoulders. He sat on the edge of Ash's bed and unnecessarily readjusted the icepack sitting atop his knee. "I'm assuming it's up to me to get the snacks, isn't it?"
"Pikachu can help."
The little guy couldn't do much to help and Ash knew that. Still, Gary resisted the urge to roll his eyes and instead looked to his boyfriend's starter. "C'mon, Pikachu, let's see what we can find in the kitchen," he invited. He could at least carry a fresh ice pack for Ash while Gary handled the snacks and drinks.
The electric type hopped down from his perch next to Ash with an eager chirp and headed straight to the door, where he paused and waited for Gary. Pikachu scampered ahead once Gary joined him at the door and Gary followed at a much more leisurely pace — he was still going to get his break from his boyfriend's whining. He took his time heading down the stairs and into the kitchen, where his boyfriend's mother was hovering over a mixing bowl. A few measuring cups littered the counter, along with a few large jars of ingredients.
"Hello, dear!" she chirped peering over her shoulder as Gary paused in the doorway. "Getting Ash another ice pack already?"
Gary nodded and fought down a laugh as Pikachu took a running leap for the freezer door handle. The little guy missed entirely and instead landed in a heap on the counter, but he bounced right back to his feet and shook out his fur like nothing had happened.
Delia and Gary exchanged an amused glance. "What are you boys up to today?"
"A movie marathon apparently."
"Oh, how fun! You should bring the air popper upstairs, then you boys can make all the popcorn you want!"
Gary hadn't expected such excitement from her but he returned it with a smile as he helped Pikachu retrieve fresh ice for another icepack. "That sounds good," he agreed, though he realized this meant fewer breaks from Ash’s whining.
Oh well. It would be fine.
A few minutes of chatting with Delia later and Gary was headed back upstairs, drinks and snacks loaded into a large mixing bowl and the air popper balanced carefully atop it all. Pikachu scampered ahead holding Ash's fresh ice pack. He hadn't been much help at all but Gary didn't mind as long as he didn't drop anything on the way to Ash's room.
Ash looked up from the training magazine he had been reading with wide eyes when he saw everything in Gary’s arms and started to stand, only to settle back against the pillows on his bed when Gary gave him a level stare.
"You really decided to go all out, huh?" he asked, unable to hide the excitement in his voice.
That voice always brought a smile to Gary's face. "The popcorn machine was your mom's idea," he explained, setting everything down atop Ash's desk.
Ash watched, looking a little too comfortable for Gary's liking, as Gary unloaded all the other snacks from the bowl and plugged up the popcorn popper. He wasn't entirely certain how to use it but he had seen Ash and Delia use it enough times to have the basic idea. Plug it in, push the button, and pour in the kernels, right? Easy enough.
An odd sound made him look up to find Ash hobbling across the room to the desk. "What are you doing?" Gary asked warily, hoping ardently that Ash wouldn't hurt himself again by being on his feet. He was difficult enough with just one injury; they didn't need to add another to the mix.
"Helping."
"I've got it, Ash."
"You have the bowl under the wrong spot," Ash pointed out. "You're gonna get popcorn all over the floor."
Maybe it wasn't as easy as it looked. Gary ushered Ash into the desk chair and leaned against the side of the desk as the trainer set up the machine and turned it on, letting it heat up before carefully pouring in the kernels.
A few minutes later they had a large bowl of fresh popcorn, which Gary set on the bedside table before helping Ash up and wrapping an arm around his waist to guide him back to bed. Perhaps it was overkill for a bashed knee but all it took was one pout from Ash to have Gary giving in and helping out more than was necessary. Maybe that was just part of being a good boyfriend.
With Ash settled in bed and his new ice pack back in place, Gary turned his attention to the stack of movies next to the television. They were all childhood favorites that they had seen dozens of times before, but Gary had already expected that. That was just how their movie nights went. Except this wasn't nighttime and Gary wasn't going to fall asleep halfway through with Ash's warmth at his back and his arms wrapped around him.
That part was actually rather disappointing. They couldn't even cuddle properly with Ash's leg propped up on a pillow. Maybe they could make out during it instead — that was a thing normal couples did, right?
Well, it was a thing they would probably end up doing anyway.
Gary made his movie selection and popped it in the player before making his way back to Ash, remote in hand. He settled at Ash's side and passed him the bowl of popcorn and a can of soda before pressing play on the remote.
"What happened to data analysis?" Ash asked after a moment.
"I'll do it tomorrow," Gary returned dismissively. He'd left his laptop in his bag by the door and he wasn't about to get up and get it now that he was comfortable in Ash's bed with an old favorite starting on the tv. He hadn't wanted to do it that badly anyways, he had just wanted a break from the whining — and it seemed that Ash was done whining now that he had what he wanted.
"You're too far away," Ash whined as the opening credits rolled across the screen.
So much for being done whining. "I'm right next to you!" Gary pointed out.
"Too far," Ash declared again. He reached out and tugged Gary's arm hard enough to pull him from his sitting position to sprawled across his chest.
Gary couldn't exactly complain considering he had been mentally bemoaning the lack of cuddling just a moment prior. "I thought your knee was hurting," he griped regardless.
"My knee, not my chest," Ash returned cheerfully, wrapping his arms about Gary's shoulders. "Stop complaining and enjoy the movie."
Gary gave a snort that was half amused, half derisive. "That's nice, coming from the guy who spent all morning whining so much that I actually wanted to do data analysis."
"I was being that annoying, huh?"
Gary didn't need to see the triumphant grin to know it was there. "Yes," he returned flatly, refusing to give Ash the satisfaction of an irritable response.
"Aww, don't be like that," Ash replied, voice far too cheerful considering the opening scene was now playing. "You know I'm just messing with you. Gotta get you back for Kanto, right?"
Gary huffed out a tiny sigh and let himself relax against his boyfriend. A smile spread across his face despite it — this little game of payback always warmed him from the inside for some reason. It was silly and perhaps a bit childish, but he couldn't bring himself to complain. He owed it to Ash to not complain in any case, given how he had acted back then. The least he could do was take it without complaint.
Besides, the banter was fun and Ash's stupid grin was endearing. Ash could annoy him all he wanted so long as he wore that grin.
He really had it bad for the trainer. But he supposed that was exactly why they were dating, and he was fortunate enough that Ash felt the same. That was why he was here, cuddled against him in the middle of the day, smiling like an idiot despite the injury that had been drawing complaint after complaint from Ash.
Gary supposed he could put up with the whining if it ended like this. What better way to spend a day that was going to be wasted by fetching ice packs and laying around than by cuddling with a movie marathon?