this was a request from I_Can_BeA_Hero2

enjoy!

"So, what exactly are we doing here?", Bonnie asked as she scrambled around in the bush, adjusting Clemont's camera around her neck, "This better be good. You can't wake me up at 7am and make me hide behind a bush for nothing"

Serena giggled as she peeked her head above the bush, looking around excitedly, as if she was waiting for someone to arrive.

"I overheard Ash on the phone yesterday. He's got a date with a guy"

"Aw, that must've been soul-crushing for you"

"What? Finding out he has a date?"

"No, that he's gay-"

"He's bisexual--but it doesn't matter. Anyways, what's interesting is that Ash told us he's going to meet a friend. But when he left the phone for a second yesterday, I heard that guy squealing about a date. They both have different ideas! There's no way I'm missing this awkward date"

"You really can be mean sometimes..."

She gasped and pulled Bonnie down so that she wasn't visible, trying to contain herself. Her glaring eyes watched as the other boy who she understood was called 'Gou' arrived. He looked proud of himself, as if he was wearing his best clothes for the occasion, and Serena knew make-up when she saw it. 

Then came Ash, whose wardrobe she was familiar with and was therefore able to identify the randomized choice of clothing. It seemed like he just put on the first thing he saw, and had hardly bothered to run a brush through his hair or even as much as touch his face.

But Gou's sparkling eyes implied something other than disappointment when he saw Ash. Granted, he did look quite good despite not putting any effort into his appearance.

"So, where we going?", Ash asked with a grin, awaiting a response.

Gou was so distracted staring at the other that he was in his own world for a moment.

"Gou...? Helloooo", Ash called, waving a hand in front of Gou.

"Wha--huh? Oh, yeah. Uh...I just picked a small cafe. You might like it, actually..."

"Really? Okay, let's go!"

Serena cackled as she creeped after them, following closely behind but not too obviously, while pulling Bonnie after her by the hair.

"And the fun begins..."

After about five minutes of walking under the sun, Ash enjoying the view of the flowers gleaming under the light and the bright skies, while Gou preferred to enjoy a view of Ash himself, they made it to a small cafe at the corner of a small street, with a soft, colorful sign stuck at the top.

'イチゴカーフェ'

Gou made sure to catch the sight of Ash's eyes brightening when he saw the sign. Serena and Bonnie's eyes rather reflected confusion than admiration.

"What's the sign say?", Serena whispered.

"Like I'd know! I still have trouble reading English!", Bonnie almost screeched.

Gou rubbed the back of his hair, trying to hide his smile and stop his cheeks from going too red.

"...I wanted to pick something theme-y that reminded you of home...and something that was cute, like you..."

"Daisukidesu! I-I mean, I love it! I can already smell the strawberries...", Ash sang playfully as he swayed inside.

Gou followed him, allowing himself to smile for a few seconds as Ash couldn't see him. He loved it when he slipped into his native language. If it wasn't for the racists who were so against him speaking his own language instead of struggling with English, he would've been encouraged to do it more, and people would actually know how smart he was instead of him sounding stupid when he really just didn't have the vocabulary; as if they would bother to learn his language. wink wink, america.

"Huh. Guess it's a Japanese-themed cafe. That's actually pretty sma--what are you doing?"

Bonnie stared at Serena, who was scribbling into a notebook frantically, as if she was studying. Serena caught her eye and shrugged.

"What? I'm gonna need these notes for when I take Ash on dates"

"Oh, good lord..."

Serena and Bonnie had to get their own table in the cafe to watch them from a closer angle. Although Ash and Gou did get a table by the window, they couldn't hear what they were saying, and they needed a closer look at their faces to see if they smiled or blushed.

The waitress came over to take their orders, though she wasn't focusing as much on the orders as she was on the person making them. She could have at least been a little subtle, seeing Gou's clear hopes for a date, if she wanted to flirt with Ash.

"Something doesn't sit right with me...", Bonnie growled before taking another sip of her latte.

"I know, right? That waitress' botox is a disappointment on its own, and her body is in all the wrong proportions. Not to mention the fact that her makeup doesn't even match her skin and hair tone-"

"No, not--I mean, sure, yeah, but maybe the fact that she looks nothing under 35?!"

"Oh, yeah. That, too. That's disgusting. Ash is just barely into his teen years; he even has such a baby face that, combined with his childish self, could convince anyone he was 10. That Gou better protect him. If he can't recognize a date then he certainly won't recognize flirting"

The waitress winked at Ash when she handed him his drink, then slammed Gou's down with no lesser care in the world.

"Ah, look!", Ash squealed adorably as he pushed his drink towards Gou to show him, "This cafe really is nice! There's a heart in my drink!"

Gou made a face that was half-concerned for Ash's denseness and half-annoyed at the waitress. Ash was already not the best student when it came to romance, he didn't need some bored side-character confusing him when he was trying to get him to recognize his feelings.

"Yeah...that's nice"

Gou noticed that for some reason the waitress still had her finger leaning on Ash's drink, tilting it back and forward. When she saw him glaring murderously at her, she remained unfazed, and tipped the drink onto Ash's white shirt.

"Oh! I'm so sorry! I'm a little distracted today...", the waitress apologized sarcastically, trying to pose attractively while doing so, "If you have a change of clothes, you can go get that dirty shirt off in the bathroom..."

"I don't have any", Ash said, smiling to try to lighten the situation.

"I do", Gou offered, pulling a t-shirt hoodie out of his bag, "I brought it with me in case anything happened. It'll be really baggy, and heavy on you, since you're a lot smaller. Is that okay?"

"Anything's better than a cold, sticky shirt. Thanks!"

Gou now applauded himself for the opportunity he created to confront the waitress.

When she was about to leave for the bathroom after cleaning up the spillage, Gou stepped harshly on her foot, causing her to stay kneeling on the ground. Gou stood up and towered over her, pulling the scariest face he could. When someone tried to mess with his Ash, mercy was no option.

"Now listen here, awful botox job. I don't know what you're playing at, trying to get with a 14-year-old boy, but whatever divorce you've been through recently is not his problem, or mine. So either be a decent human being, or we'll find another cafe to go to"

The woman, having been shot down and wanting to regain some of her confidence, pursed her lips and scoffed.

"Off you go then"

Ash came out of the bathroom the Gou grabbing his hand and rushing him out of the cafe.

"W-woah, what? Is everything okay?"

"You know, the, the waitress refused to give us a refund for our drink-"

"Oh, well it's fine, I don't really mind-"

"Well I do mind, and it's almost sunset, and you like sunset, so--"

Gou let go of his hand and took a second to look back at his crush. The sleeves of his t-shirt hoodie made it past the elbows of Ash's arms, and was so long on his body that he had to tuck it in. Although he never cared about what he wore, he still looked kind of cute.

Serena and Bonnie had to be careful not to be noticed by them while simultaneously trying not to lose them while running.

"Ah! It's so romantic...", Bonnie sighed.

"W...What is?", asked Serena, out of breath.

"Are you kidding? The classic dating trope! One of them has to change clothes for some reason, and the other lets them borrow their clothes!"

"Oh, please. I would've done the same in Ash's situation. His shirt was soaking"

"Don't ruin this moment"

Ash and Gou walked to a small bridge, placed over a river, with a perfect view of the freezing ocean and the sun setting over the horizon. There were Fletchlings resting on the wall of the opposite side of the bridge, and an Onix sleeping nearby. Splashes of pink and orange glimmered in Ash's eyes, tempting Gou to pull him close and just kiss him already. The warm glow on his soft, smooth skin wasn't helping with that temptation.

He noticed Ash had his trademark curious expression while feeling the surface of the stones on the bridge wall.

"We can sit if you want"

Ash looked at him suddenly, getting excited.

"Really?"

"Yeah. No big deal. Just be careful"

As they climbed onto the wall, Bonnie was readying the camera lens.

"This is it...this is when they kiss!", she whisper-shouted as she pointed the camera at them.

"Ash..."

Ash looked at Gou as he didn't say anything, and kept his lustful gaze. He leaned forward and placed his hands on Ash's shoulders as the shorter boy stayed still, not moving forward or back, and closed his eyes.

"Here it is...!"

They were seconds away from embracing when Bonnie, in her excitement, accidentally clicked the camera. The group of Fletchlings reacted in distress to the flashing light, flapping around frantically and chirping like alarms. Their ruckus awoke the sleeping Onix, who shook and swayed in a rage and quaked the ground. The bridge began to vibrate and crumble.

Gou looked from the Pokemon back to his side to see that Ash had been thrown off the bridge with boulders from the bridge flying after him. The last he saw of Ash was when a boulder punched him into the water.

His heart dropped. He wanted to move, but didn't know what to do. He was going to kiss him, then suddenly he was drowning and freezing to death?

That's when it hit him. Ash was drowning and freezing to death.

When he was able to compose himself and make his way down to the bank, Ash was already washed up on the shore. Either a water-Pokemon had helped him or he had somehow managed to remove a ponderous rock from his already freezing, drowning body. Gou really hoped it was the first option; Ash had gone through enough today, and nothing was going the way he planned.

He stumbled down to the half-awake boy and pulled him into a hug.

"Ash, no...you're so cold. Are you okay? Oh gosh, we don't have any other clothes...you're not bleeding, right?"

Ash was shivering and found it difficult to keep his eyes open, but he still found the strength to slightly grip Gou's shirt to console him.

"Nē...nakanaide ne, daijōbu? Watashi o dakishimenaide kudasai...anata wa kazewohikudeshou..."

He didn't understand directly what Ash was saying, but he knew him well enough to understand.

"I-I don't care if I get a cold...I'll hug you if I want to"

Ash smiled tiredly, resting his head on Gou's chest. Gou didn't mind the gesture, in fact he liked it, and wished he would physically rely on him more.

"You know, Gou...I actually had fun today"

"Y...You did?"

"Yeah. You know, I liked the cafe that felt like home, and the sunset was so pretty, before I almost drowned. But you know what was the best part?"

"...What?"

Ash chuckled weakly, hoisting himself up a bit, using Gou's shoulder for support.

"You know, Gou, I may be dense when it comes to some things, but..."

Was this the moment? Was Ash going to confess instead of him?

No. Instead Ash faced to the side and started laughing.

"Alright, out of the bushes, you guys!"

Serena and Bonnie sheepishly revealed themselves, trying to look sorry while seeing Gou's surprised face. They had a lot of explaining to do.

But before that, they exchanged looks with Gou, that said, 'He didn't kiss you, did he?'.

you know sometimes i feel like my oneshots aren't funny anymore

or they were never funny idk

anyways hope you enjoyed! have a good day/night, take care of yourselves, eat your three meals, treat yourself, sleep, care for your skin and body, and stay safe, ok?

you may have heard but the country i live in just cancelled christmas and no one is allowed to travel out or in, even within the country no one can go anywhere. b johnson really getting on my nerves.

requests always open! :)