Work Text:
Bonding
Gary fought down a groan as he hauled himself up the faux rock face. His wrist wasn't thrilled with him climbing again but he forced himself on. It wasn't hard to force himself to keep going — not when he had been looking forward to this exact outing for months. Plus, this was one of his favorite hobbies outside of pokemon and he had been deprived of it for over three months while he waited for his wrist to properly heal.
"I'm glad we're finally doing this," Misty said from somewhere to his left, only slightly breathless. She was keeping up incredibly well for someone who had never been climbing before. Granted, she'd had a good instructor show her the basics when she'd first arrived and that had only been aided by her athleticism.
Gary glanced over and shot her a grin. "It took you long enough to ask Tracey out," he teased, reaching for the next hand hold. This trip had been a long time coming. He couldn't remember whose idea the rock climbing gym had been anymore, but he distinctly remembered the catch being that Misty had to ask Tracey out first, and they had been dating for a few months now.
"Hey! We could have done this a lot sooner if someone hadn't broken his wrist." She had a point there, but the injury hadn't been Gary's fault. At least, not entirely. "How did that happen anyway?" Misty continued after a moment, pulling herself up alongside Gary.
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you." The circumstances surrounding the broken wrist were a little outlandish for someone who didn't study rare pokemon, but the break itself was honestly a little embarrassing. It wasn't a story he had elaborated very much on for a reason.
Misty rolled her eyes. "Try me."
Gary hesitated only a moment before shrugging his shoulders as best as he could manage, given their current activity. She had traveled with Ash for years — she had to have some idea of the trouble Ash seemed to attract. "I guess you would already know that Ash is a magnet for trouble, wouldn't you?"
"And that he's a magnet for legendaries. So, c'mon — out with it. How'd you break your wrist?"
"The legendary birds were squabbling," he returned flippantly, as though he were just talking about the constantly-bickering nidorans back at the lab in Pallet and not a powerful trio of legendaries. "I slipped on the ice when we were getting away from Articuno."
"Is that when Ash bruised his ribs?"
"No, that was when we were getting away from Zapdos. He got knocked into a boulder by an attack."
"Geez…" Misty muttered, cursing under her breath as her hand slipped slightly on one of the holds. "What happened with Moltres?" she asked once she had gotten her grip back.
"Almost barbecued Pikachu."
"Poor Pikachu."
"Oh, he got 'em back," Gary assured her. The little guy had gotten off easy, thanks in no small part to his incredible speed. The Thunder attacks he had unleashed on the birds had been their saving grace — even Electivire, strong as he was, hadn't been able to manage the birds on his own.
"I swear the two of you together are a bigger magnet for trouble than Ash was alone, and that's saying something!"
"You haven't even heard about what happened to his tent on that trip." Gary pointed out. Or the sleeping bag, but he wasn't going to mention that. Misty didn't need to know about the zigzagoon that had chewed through it. That trip had been too chaotic to put into words. He'd still had fun, of course, but he could have done without the extra chaos of their gear getting messed up on top of the birds fighting.
"Oh, for crying out loud!" Misty squawked, catching the attention of no less than four nearby climbers. "What happened to the tent? Don't tell me you had Umbreon Shadow Ball another joltik."
"I didn't tell her to do that," Gary returned, rolling his eyes. Why did everyone think he had commanded that attack? It was bad enough that Umbreon had mistaken his startled yelp for actual trouble and embarrassed him by attacking an unsuspecting pokemon, destroying his tent in the pricess. "And no. A rookidee flew into the tent and panicked. Should've seen what it did to the rain fly. Looks like we got Drill Pecked by a swarm of beedrills."
Misty snickered a bit. "Which sounds exactly like something that would happen to Ash."
"It does, doesn't it?" Gary returned conversationally, entirely unbothered by this fact. He was well aware that this was either remarkably brave or incredibly stupid on his part, and Misty was likely going to go with the latter rather than the former.
"And that doesn't bother you?" she asked curiously.
Gary shook his head. "It keeps things interesting," he admitted with a grin. Sure, he got annoyed when it was his equipment getting damaged, but this had been one of his spare tents and it had seen better days. It wasn't going to last much longer anyway. At least he had gotten a story out of its destruction. He felt bad for the panicked rookidee but watching Ash try to get it out of the tent had been one of the funniest things he had seen in a long while.
Misty only shook her head in turn as she reached for the next hand hold and hauled herself up the faux rock face. "So, is insanity a Pallet kids thing, or is it just a prerequisite for dating Ash?"
Gary's laughter echoed off the little alcove they had climbed to. "I think that's just the effect Ash has on people."
"By that logic, I would be insane."
"You traveled with him longer than I have. Why else would you have traveled with him for so long if you aren't a little crazy?"
"Careful, Oak," she warned.
"I didn't say it was a bad thing," Gary defended. "Remember, I'm the one crazy enough to date him."
"At least you admit it."
Gary laughed again. "Hey, I'm nothing if not honest."
"Too honest, if you ask me," she shot back, flashing Gary a grin.
"No such thing — especially not when you're dealing with Ash," he replied airily. "Someone needs to tell him when something is a stupid idea."
"Yet you go along with his stupid ideas."
She had a point there, but Gary went along with even the stupidest ideas for a reason. "Mostly to save his ass. He'd be dead five times over if I didn't."
"I'm half-convinced he's immortal at this point."
"Only because someone's been there to save his ass every time," Gary pointed out.
"Okay, you do have a point there." Misty admitted, though she sounded a little too serious for comfort.
"Why do I have a feeling there are more stories about him almost getting killed?"
"This is Ash we're talking about. Everyone who's traveled with him probably has at least five stories where his ass got saved by a pokemon or by one of us."
That was more than Gary had expected, though he tried not to let his wariness show. Apparently his quiet gave him away.
"Why do I get the feeling I've stumbled into displeased boyfriend territory?" Misty asked.
She was surprisingly good at reading him, though he'd already been aware of this fact for months. "It's not displeased, it's anxious," Gary corrected her. "There's a difference."
"It's not happy either way. Don't act like you don't have your own stories of you doing crazy things."
"I'm nowhere near the magnet for trouble that Ash is," Gary pointed out.
"No, but that's because no one is," Misty retorted. "You still go searching for dangerous pokemon just as much as he does."
That was just part of researching pokemon. "You're starting to sound like my grandfather," he replied, a small sigh escaping him. "Actually, no," he decided after a pause. "You sound like Tracey."
"Good. I'd take sounding like either of them than either of you any day. At least they have the sense not go running into danger."
Gary laughed outright at that. "I've literally seen Tracey jump on an aerodactyl mid-flight. Don't try saying your boyfriend is always the voice of reason." Not to mention the stories he'd heard about his grandfather from his training days.
Apparently impulsivity around dangerous pokemon was genetic, though he personally thought he had inherited a little more intuition from his mother. It was a thought his grandfather had agreed with — albeit reluctantly and in the middle of a lecture following the broken wrist incident.
"And he's still got more survival instinct than you and Ash combined."
"Oh, enough harping on me about it," Gary retorted, rolling his eyes. "Can't we just make fun of Ash and Tracey instead? You traveled with him long enough — I know you've got stories."
"You're the one that grew up with him — I'm sure you've got even better ones," Misty shot back, the grin clear in her voice.
"I have better blackmail stories, I bet you have better adventure stories."
"Did Ash or Tracey ever tell you our legendary bird story?"
Gary rolled his eyes. "I've heard that one so many times from Tracey. I know you have better stories than that."
"How about our Mew encounter?"
Gary's hand nearly slipped off its hold. "Yeah, we've talked about that one," he replied, attempting to sound casual despite his heart having skipped a beat.
Apparently he was failing at it. "Sounds like Ash told you a little more than you wanted to hear, huh?" Misty asked, though her voice sounded rather sympathetic.
"Well, yeah, you know how tactful Ash is." He hesitated, pausing as he reached for another hold. Fuck it, it was just Misty. Tracey and Delia trusted her, and that was good enough for him. "Doesn't help that I had my own experience with Mewtwo."
"Did you?"
"Mmhmm," Gary hummed a bit distractedly as he pulled himself further along the wall. Maybe he'd be able to ignore the way his heart always pounded at the mention of that pokemon if he focused on climbing. "Remember the Viridian gym?" He tried not to, personally — even if it had sparked the whole journey that had led to switching to his research career.
"Shit — really?" It sounded as though her hand had slipped as well.
He glanced back to check on her and nodded when he saw that she had successfully grabbed the next hold. "That's where my migraines come from," he explained, trying to ignore how hollow his voice sounded when he said it. The damn things sucked the absolute life out of him when they popped up, but, as he understood it, Misty understood a thing or two about periodic debilitating pain.
"Really?" she repeated, though she didn't sound disbelieving at all. He'd had a feeling that would be the case with her.
"Psychic and fairy attacks affect the nervous system," he explained, slipping easily into the scientist role. It made it easier to deal with. "Things like chronic migraines are really common after taking a strong attack. Ash is lucky he doesn't get them too."
"It's a shame you have to deal with them. It sounds like they're a nightmare."
"I had those afterwards too." It was amazing how easily that particular detail had slipped out.
Few people knew about the nightmares, but he felt at ease around Misty. She was easy to get along with and had just the right amount of snark to be fun to talk to. She was blunt and honest, but kind and caring enough to have captured Tracey's heart. They actually had quite a bit in common.
"Well, yeah," Misty said as though it were obvious. "You were a kid and that had to be terrifying."
"You weren't much older when you guys had your encounter," Gary pointed out.
"Maybe, but we at least had each other there. You just had a few useless cheerleaders."
Gary cringed at the mention of them. "I try not to think about them too much, to be honest."
"Why is that?" Misty asked curiously.
"I'm not exactly proud of the person I was back then." Ash had moved on and all but forgotten about those days, but Gary's ten-year-old self still haunted him. Thinking about what a cocky little shit he had been back then was far more humiliating than being found unconscious in the Viridian Gym by Ash and his friends. But he couldn't exactly go back in time and change who he was.
"Fair enough," Misty returned easily, pulling herself up next to him. It was impressive how easily she was keeping up. "So? What's the story behind the cheerleaders?" She shot him a mischevious grin when she said it and Gary shook his head in turn.
He forced down a groan and instead reached for another hand hold and pulled himself along. "They were a squad in Viridian that had connections to the school I went to… Let's just say everyone at the school treating me like royalty went right to my head."
"Were the cheerleaders your idea?"
"Fuck no," he replied resolutely, cringing again as he said it.
Misty's laugh was instantaneous. "No? Whose idea was it then?"
"I honestly don't remember. Grandpa didn't want me all alone so that's why I had a driver. All I remember is wanting to go by myself and being told no."
"You must have been thrilled with that."
"I didn't mind it that much at the time.," he admitted. "Like I said, they treated me like royalty. What could be better for a spoiled brat than a personal cheering squad?"
"Must've been nice, not having to walk anywhere, staying in hotels… I remember being a little jealous of that."
"Admitting to jealousy, huh? Honestly, I would've killed to be like you guys, traveling with friends, having all sorts of crazy adventures…"
"Getting lost on an almost daily basis, getting rained on, dealing with bugs…"
"Having actual friends." That had also slipped out.
Misty paused at that but Gary kept climbing. "I guess that does make a difference, doesn't it?"
"I'd say so."
"Didn't you have friends at school?"
"Not real friends, and only one of them became trainer when me and Ash did."
"Really?" She sounded surprised but Gary didn't exactly understand why. She'd seen what a spoiled little shit he was back then — did she really think real friends were a thing for someone like that?
"That's the thing about being treated like royalty just because of who raises you — people say they want to be friends, but they really just want to be treated like royalty too."
"That sucks," Misty replied bluntly, to which Gary could only nod. "Well, at least you have real friends now," she pointed out.
"I mean, I'd had Ash back then. I could've stopped being an asshole any time and we would've been friends again, but…" He shook the thoughts away. He'd thought of what could have been many times over the years, but that didn't exactly help matters.
"Eh, you were ten," Misty pointed out, waving a hand dismissively. "We all do stupid things when we're young — and you've got Ash now."
Gary couldn't help but smile at that. He most certainly did have Ash now, and the mere thought of his boyfriend filled him with warmth. Even better than dating Ash though, was the fact that he had more than just Ash as a friend. Thanks to his boyfriend, he had a handful of close friends. If he was lucky, the girl he was climbing with would soon be counted among them. Based on how easily she brushed off his childhood behavior, it seemed likely.
"Thanks."
"Don't thank me. It's true. We're all idiots at ten… except me."
Gary laughed. "I dunno, you traveled with Ash when you were ten."
"That's because he destroyed my bike!"
Several nearby climbers looked over at that but Gary only laughed again. "He has a habit of doing that."
"Oh? Did the little shit do that to you too?"
"He didn't destroy it," Gary returned, still laughing. "He just fell in a creek with it. Broke the chain and gave it a flat tire. Nothing that couldn't be fixed."
Misty sighed and Gary glanced over in time to see her shake her head. At least she looked amused. "That sounds like Ash."
They started the climb back down the wall as Gary also shook his head in amusement. "The only thing that would make it sound more like Ash would be if it involved a pokemon somehow." He paused to make sure that Misty was able to maneuver back down the wall. The movement was similar to climbing up, but not being able to see the holds below sometimes made it more difficult.
Fortunately Misty seemed to be doing just fine. "Did it?" she asked with a little laugh.
"No, that's one of the few stories that doesn't involve pokemon."
"I need to hear more of these stories."
Gary grinned. "We've got all day," he reminded her.
"Well, tell me more!"
Gary gave another laugh as he thought briefly about what story to share next. There were so many from their childhood that involved Ash doing something stupid or a pokemon doing something to him — or both. By the time they finished climbing down the faux rock face, they had each shared another few stories at the trainer's expense.
It was an enjoyable way to pass the time and Gary had to admit that a trip to the rock climbing gyn had never been so fun.
"Well, we've climbed the largest wall, should we try another one, or should we go get some lunch?" Misty asked once they were back on the ground.
Gary helped her unclip her harness from the rope as he thought it over. He'd been enjoying climbing again, and having someone with him had been more enjoyable than he thought. Still, his healing wrist was sore and the physical activity was building up an appetite. Probably best to call it quits here and get some food.
"Any ideas for food?" he asked. He wasn't picky in the slightest and there were plenty of places nearby.
"Y'know, I've been craving some good ramen. Know any ramen places?"
"There's a really good one over by the museum." Gary would know, considering the number of times he had visited Pewter's natural history museum.
"Perfect!" Misty exclaimed. "Let's do that!"
They went their separate ways to the locker rooms to change and grab their belongings before meeting back up in the lobby. The stories continued as soon as they were back together and they continued all the way to Gary's car and to the restaurant they had decided on.
Gary was pleased with how the day had gone. Rock climbing, plus lunch, with his boyfriend's best friend and his best friend's girlfriend made for an excellent day. It would only be made better by the dinner that would be waiting for them at Delia's house, along with their respective boyfriends, his grandfather, and of course, Delia herself.
All in all, it was an excellent day off.