Reprint from my tumblr account. Thought it would be nice to get some more CafeMocha on so here you go. Rated T just for safety.
Wishing
A soft sigh passed through the connoisseur's lips as he wondered aimlessly along a small dirt path within the local park. It was well into the night, probably very early morning by now, and everyone was sound asleep in their beds. Well everyone except for Cilan, otherwise he wouldn't have been out there. The day had been a long and tiring one, a festival of sorts that held numerous games and activities, and while Ash had fallen asleep the moment his head hit the pillow Cilan had no such luck. He lay wide awake for hours occasionally watching his boyfriend's slumbering form before he had had enough and got up, changing out of the bed shorts he chose to wear due to the summer heat into a pair of loose fitting pants and slipping into his shoes before leaving the room they had at the Pokémon Center, and then the center altogether.
The air was still quite warm despite the sun's absence and so the teen had left without a jacket. Cilan liked the air in Kanto. Something about it seemed more… fresher than in his home region. Breathing a heavy sigh the chef kicked a nearby pebble. His original plan was to go out for a little walk in order to tire himself out in hopes that he would at least be able to fall asleep before sunrise. Even by half an hour would be fine. Sure he was feeling fatigued, but in no way did he feel as though he could sleep if he were to go lie down. Cilan blamed it on jetlag. Normally by now he and his siblings would have just started to lock the Striaton City Gym up for the night and made preparations for their own dinner.
Cilan came to an abrupt halt spying a large tree that, upon first look, appeared to have strangely shaped flowers dangling from the branches at the bottom of the path. He recognized that tree from earlier on in the day and smiled softly as he began walking towards it. The dangling flowers were not flowers at all but in fact little slips of paper hanging from the branches, each with a 'wish' from everyone who attended the festival written upon them. Of course, Cilan was rather skeptical over the whole thing to which Ash had seemed surprisingly alarmed to hear.
"Eh? But what's wrong with putting wishes on a tree?" he had asked after handing a slip of paper to the elder boy.
"There's nothing wrong with it at all," responded Cilan. He looked over at the tree, watching a young man hold his toddler up so that the child could hang his wish from one of the branches. "It's just that simply hanging a piece of paper with someone's wish on it on a tree won't automatically make their wish come true. It's impossible."
The raven haired boy chewed at the inside of his lip as he began to scribble something down on his own slip. "Maybe. But it's still fun to do." His brown eyes glanced down at his side where Pikachu was doodling bottles of ketchup on its own paper. "Even Pikachu's doing one!"
Cilan mulled over it and gave a small nod. "Well, I guess you're right. So what are you writing down?"
Ash quickly pressed the paper against his chest. "It's private!" he said in a jokingly defensive way. "But never mind me. What're you putting?"
The connoisseur smirked to himself as he recalled the memory from earlier. He never did find out what Ash wrote down. The native had snuck off and hung it while he wasn't looking. Cilan on the other hand had gone for the typical 'world peace' one even though he knew that would never happened, especially since the tree didn't actually grant wishes. He again came to a stop, this time in front of the tree, and gazed up at it for a moment before reaching up and tilting one of the wishes so that he could see what was written on it.
Well it couldn't hurt to peak could it?
'Please give me more wishes
- Susie'
Really? Couldn't Susie have just gotten more paper to write more wishes on? Cilan glanced over a few more. Many of them were quite pleasant, asking for the same thing he had, for a happy life or a certain desired item. Some were rather upsetting such as the one that said:
'Make Mommy better soon
- Tommy'
And then there were the odd or pointless ones like Susie's. There were even some rather frightful ones.
'Please kill the Rattata that keeps chewing through all our wires!
- Eric'
Cilan was a little disgusted at that one. Surely there must be a way to deal with it without killing the poor thing? He shook his head and looked over another.
'MY WISH IS THAT THE GYM LEADER OF SAFFRON CITY BE TEARED LIMB FROM LIMB AND FED TO THE GROWLITHE!'
Goodness… Cilan really didn't want to mess with whoever wrote that… His chartreus eyes seemed to zone in on a particular one that hung from a branch just slightly taller than he was. He grabbed hold of it and again tilted it so that he could read it.
'My boyfriend and I already have everything we could ever wish for, so my wish is for everyone else to be as happy as we are!
- Ash'
Aw how cut— hold on a second!
Cilan checked the name again.
Ash.
Was that his Ash? It certainly seemed like his handwriting, scraggly but still readable. This was… a lovely wish. The way it was worded was cute, but to mention him and say they have everything they could ever wish for… It really touched the grassy haired male knowing that Ash was happy with where they were.
A gentle smile spread on his lips as he let go of the paper. He'd decided he had done enough reading for the night and so turned on his heel and began heading back to the Pokémon Center, back to the room they managed to bag before all the visitors took them, back to Ash. The boy was still sound asleep when he entered the room and got back under the covers, not bothering to change again. He smiled still as his arms gently encased the raven and pulled him a little closer, being careful not to disturb him. Ash was happy, he knew for certain and that in turn made him happy. He could sleep to that thought and heavy lids eventually slipped shut as he replayed Ash's wish over in his head before finally succumbing to sleep.
Just in time for the sun's rays to bring new light upon the land.
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