"You really need to stop being so reckless with yourself, Ash! One of these days you might end up in hospital without being discharged"

Gou was terrified even by his own sentence, he wouldn't be able to cope if that ever happened. Nevertheless, he ought to scold his crush to ensure it wouldn't. 

"Who knows you won't worry yourself to death? Relax! I'll be fine. It's just a scratch"

"'Just a scratch'?"

Ash was grabbed by his older companion so he could see the wound dominating his arm.

"I'll be fine. You know stuff like this happened to me before"

"That concerns me even more"

They were interrupted by a Nurse Joy bursting through the door in a panic.

"We need to evacuate immediately!"

-Earlier-

"Are you sure this is going to work?", Alain asked his friend in worry as he readied Charizard to fly.

"Of course!", Mairin replied, "He'll never see it coming! It's the ultimate love gesture!"

"Just flowers or something would've been enough..."

"It's still a plant. It needs to be extravagant enough to hide the fact that we've been stalking him"

Professor Sycamore handed the other male a bag of seeds as he whispered, "A fellow man of trees...he should hang out with me, Birch and Oak sometime"

-Present-

Ash and Gou sprinted to the main entrance of the hospital, from which they could see a barricade of tall, strong trees. They looked as if they had just sprouted from the ground, seeing as the last time they saw the hospital they didn't recall it seeing them.

"Where did all these Ash trees come from?!"

As patients were being moved to ambulance cars, a flying Pokemon made its way down towards the two. Gou immediately noticed the bag of seeds and the band on the Trainer's arm, making his blood boil.

"You!", he yelled getting his attention, "Did you use Dynamax on those Ash seeds?!"

Alain ignored this random hotheaded stranger and proceeded to approach his crush. Annoyingly, the other blocked his path and seemingly wasn't planning to move.

"What is your problem?"

"I should ask you the same question! You just surrounded a hospital with trees! My, uh, b-boyfriend is getting treated here"

"Well then maybe you should stop wasting both our time and be with him"

"I was until you started walking towards him for no apparent reaso-"

"Alain!"

To Gou's dismay, Ash in fact recognised the other and greeted him with a handshake, which Alain somehow managed to turn into something of a hug.

"What are you doing in Galar?"

"Oh, you know, research with the Professor. Our next destination was a hospital, but, funnily enough, there are Ash trees everywhere"

He needed to play it safe just in case that hothead was in fact Ash's boyfriend, which as well as being heartbreaking, could mean he also didn't approve of the gesture. 

Note to Alain. Stop going to Mairin for advice.

"I don't think I have to ask why you're in hospital. Being yourself, as always", he joked, cracking a chuckle out of Ash.

It wouldn't hurt to rub it in that boy's face that he (somewhat) knew him.

But now for the exciting part.

"So, uh, who's this next to you?"

"Oh! I forgot to introduce you guys. Gou, this is Alain. He's a Kalos Champion and a friend of mine. Alain, this is Gou, I met him when I came here"

"Oh, really? You guys been having fun here?"

"Of course, he's great! Wish I met him earlier..."

Alain frowned. From the looks of it, they really were dating. Nevertheless, he wouldn't let that happen for long and he made it obvious to Gou when he shook his hand. Poor Gou thought his fingers were going to break.

"What are we going to do now? Our stuff is back in the hospital, and it's locked. I don't know my way around here..."

Alain excused himself to make a call as Ash and Gou figured where they'd sleep outside a hospital guarded by a forest for a wall.

"Mairin!", he screeched, "You didn't tell me Ash was at a hospital. I just ruined, like, a thousand people's day, possibly including his. You also failed to mention he has a boyfriend?!"

"Okay, the hospital thing, I'll take. But I never saw any hints that guy was his boyfriend! He sure acts like it but Ash doesn't. Then again, he's so dense he just friendzones everyone..."

"Well it would've at least been helpful to know he existed"

"Calm down. Ash just met him in Galar, right?"

"How do you know tha-...wait...have you been listening to us this whole time?!"

"The Professor taught me how to do it. I need to make sure you don't embarrass yourself out there like the big, gay disaster you are"

"We'll talk about that insult later. What do I do?"

"Clearly, you know him better. That other kid's known him for, what, a month?"

"I mean, that's how long I knew him when he left-"

"Just show off. Talk about stuff only you two know about. Be strong. You're really intimidating when you don't like someone, you know. Use that to your advantage"

"Okay, got it...wait, I'm intimidating?"

"Good luck!"

He cursed under his breath, wishing he had someone at least older to go to. He was pretty sure Mairin, the Professor and Ash were the only people he knew that didn't want to strangle him. And, let's be real, would you go to your boss for advice? So he had to make do with what he had. Sometimes he wondered if Mairin herself would ever end up dating.

"Alain?", Ash called, getting the other's attention, "Think you can call someone?"

"Uh, I—uh...aw geez my service just—out, yeah, uh, looks like we're spending the night here!", he lied.

As usual, in every other situation where Ash's life is The Bachelor, he ended up in the middle between Alain and Gou against a tree. 

"Are you sure you don't need more treatment? Your arm looks pretty bad", Gou whispered gently , eyeing the other subtly, "Alain just doesn't care as much as I do. If he was, he'd be worrying like I am"

"It's 'cause he's used to my recklessness. We saved the world together, remember?"

"Oh, yeah. You told me about that"

And yet Mairin's advice, 'talk about stuff only you two know about', failed once again.

"I'll be okay. You worry about me too much, you know? You're such a great friend"

Ash's last words before he fell asleep forced Gou to hold his breath. On the other side of his crush, he could see the blue-eyed man holding up his phone, showing messages to someone called 'Mairin'.

'A lie for a lie', mouthed Alain.

 Well Mairin never told him to do that. 

Hi guys! Thanks for reading and I apologise for my delay of content as of recent. I am sorry if I disappoint anyone, but I am going on a little break to write a new book. You can still make requests I will note, but might not be done for a while.

Anyways, hope you enjoyed and I'm open for criticism.

Edit:

I just thought this is funny XD