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After all this time, staring down Mew with a Poké Ball in his hand, Goh should be ecstatic. He should not be thinking about anything other than the soft light of acceptance glimmering in Mew’s eyes. The genuine air of respect and interest that surrounds it as it meets his own sparkling gaze.
But in the reflection of Mew’s eyes, there is Gary. He’s standing two steps behind Goh—a concession. He said just moments ago himself that Goh had earned the catch, fair and square. That Mew reached out to him. Chose him.
It’s not just him, though. They came here together. Every time since the day Project Mew disbanded for good that Goh has had any lead to follow to Mew, Gary has been there to help him follow it. When Goh has questioned the possibility of meeting it again enough times to earn its trust, never mind to catch it, Gary has reminded him in no uncertain terms that as long as he continues to get better and better—to learn more, to connect more, to do all he can to be be a Trainer worthy of Mew—he can achieve all those lofty dreams of his and more. And, he would always add, if Goh gives up, then doesn’t that just mean someone else, someone like Gary, will beat him to it? And wouldn’t he hate that?
By all means, Goh should hold out the Poké Ball. Should let Mew open it and carve out its space within just like he always dreamed. But it is the same emotion that has always driven him to call out to Gary when the path ahead seemed otherwise so lonely beneath the heavy weight of his ideals that compels him now to turn around and reach for Gary’s hand.
“What are you doing?” Gary asks, in annoyance, even as he lets Goh pull him closer. Until he is standing right beside him. “Aren’t you gonna catch it? If you wait too long, it’ll get sick of waiting around for you.”
“It won’t mind,” Goh says confidently, as he guides Gary’s hand to his own—the one still holding the Poké Ball.
Gary lifts his eyes up to Goh’s, understanding blossoming within them. And yet, beneath that, a tremor of confusion.
“Are you sure you really wanna do that?” he asks. The flickering timbre of his voice betrays his insecurity, but Goh tactfully says nothing of it. Even if having the upper hand for once is somewhat satisfying, they’ve come too far together to stoop to such juvenile exchanges now.
It’s been so long in fact that, sometimes, Goh can’t even remember a time before Gary stood starkly within the shadow cast by his goal of catching Mew. Each poke and prod a commitment to Goh’s improvement, and to his own. He has always been there, whether two steps ahead or two steps behind or, just like this, his footsteps in perfect alignment with Goh’s.
At some point, he became certain that those footsteps would never leave him: Somewhere along the way, catching Mew became their goal, rather than his goal.
Now, that goal right in front of them just waiting to be grasped, Goh leverages him with a smile. His voice rings out with the calm sense of clarity that washes over him at the decision.
“I’m sure.”
At last, he softens, and nods. Together, they hold out their hands to offer the Poké Ball out to Mew. Maybe it is just Goh’s imagination, but when it cries out, “Mew!” he swears he feels the approval threaded within it reaching out and winding around them both, tying them together in sobering harmony as it knocks its head against the release to open the Poké Ball and go inside.
The Ball shakes once, twice, three times, and then stills in a flutter of gold. The muffled sounds of their Pokédexes chiming in unison with the announcement of Mew’s registration is drowned out by the hammering of Goh’s heart as he locks gazes with Gary once more. A grin splits his lips, so wide it aches.
“We did it,” he says, redundantly, and Gary laughs, the sound reverbing with the same euphoria that blossoms within Goh’s chest.
Unbridled fondness seeps into his words, too: “You always find a way to keep things interesting, don’t you?”
Goh’s too overjoyed to seek out the insult latent in the statement. He just nods down to the Ball in their hands, and, as he always does, Gary takes the cue; together, they throw it up in the air to reveal Mew.
It floats above their heads in joyous circles, while Goh takes its Ball with his other hand, shrinking it down and putting it in his pocket. Once that is done, Mew drifts down and settles atop Gary’s head, looking down curiously on their hands still pressed together in front of them.
Drawing in a deep breath, Goh shifts the position of his hand, and threads his fingers between Gary’s. Gary doesn’t miss a beat before tightening his hold around Goh’s hand in turn.
“Ready to go home?” he asks.
Goh brings their held hands down between them, then glances gratefully up at Mew. When it meets his eyes, its tail flicks happily above its head.
“Yeah,” he says at last, bumping his and Gary’s shoulders lightly together. “Let’s go home.”
As one, they step forward. With Mew above them, they walk down the path pressed down upon by the pleasant weight of their ambitions together.