Disclaimer: If I owned Pokemon, Gary would make more appearances. If I owned Pokemon, Misty and Brock would be back. If I owned Pokemon, Scraggy wouldn't exist. Damn, I really should own Pokemon. But, I don't.

8 years.

8 years of traveling, training, battling, and who-knows-what.

After 8 years, Ash Ketchum has finally become the Pokemon Master.

And, after 8 years, Delia Ketchum can finally have her little boy at home for good. At least for a while.

So… she decides to throw a giant "Huzzah-Ash-is-the-Pokemon-Master" party. A surprise party.

Let's see how it goes:

Leaf was sleeping. Rather well, in fact. She was enjoying herself immensely. At least, much more than she would have if she was awake.

Well… she was sleeping.

That is, until Misty woke her up rather unceremoniously by dumping a glass of cold water on her face.

"Freaking- son of a- blasted- what the-" Leaf sputtered, springing up and wiping her face frantically.

"Sshhhh!" Misty urged, glaring at Leaf, "You can't wake up Ash! No loud noises!"

"Well, you should have thought of that," Leaf grumbled, "Before dumping a freaking cup of water on my head!"she finished in a harsh whisper.

Misty rolled her eyes and dragged Leaf downstairs, again, rather roughly.

Some best friend, Leaf thought savagely, next, she'll be selling my organs on the black market.

Don't give her any ideas!A voice inside her said in alarm.

Oh, right, Leaf thought, settling down for a while before thinking, hey, wait! Misty can't hear this!

The voice snickered meanly, and Leaf questioned her sanity. Once again.

When Leaf and Misty made it downstairs to the living room, Leaf collapsed on the sofa, adopting a permanent death glare that she directed at anyone who walked by her.

"Hey, Red," she heard a voice to her left. She whipped her head to the side to see Gary Oak walking into the room, looking primped and proper as usual. That made her scowl even more. She adjusted her death glare, and then sent it full force at him. He continued talking, apparently not seeing her, "We're going to need you to- HOLY SHIT!"

Now he saw it, Leaf thought smugly. Oh, wait, he's saying something. I should probably tune in.

"-not to wake her up!" Gary was saying to Misty, "She's really not a morning person! Please tell me you were at least gentle about it!" Misty's expression seemed to confirm his suspicions and he groaned loudly, looking pained.

Leaf sighed. "Can someone at least get me some coffee?" Leaf demanded, glaring at the two of them.

Gary looked horrified. "You didn't even give her coffee?" He gasped, before saying, "Don't worry, Leafy, I got you," and hurrying into the kitchen. Leaf groaned at the nickname and sunk into the sofa, waiting for her coffee.

LEAF'S POV

After I was sufficiently caffeinated, I was informed that the reason for my bumpy awakening was because it was Ash's party day. Now, we were all given orders to carry through.

Brock was to pick up the cake, for several reasons. 1, he had ordered the cake and, no matter how much he tried, he couldn't properly give us directions. Like, he's seriously confusing. And, 2, he's the only one with a car.

Misty was to keep Ash preoccupied all morning while we set up. This was because they already had plans. Apparently, they were going down to that river near Viridian City and fishing. Fishing. How boring is that? And I know Ash. He can't take fishing. Sitting still for a long time will not go over well with Ash.

Of course, it's plain to see that it's not fishing Ash likes, but a certain fisher.

Or should I say, a certain Water pokemon trainer?

Or should I say, a certain Cerulean city Gym Leader?

Or should I say…. Misty Waterflower?

Yeah, Ash likes Misty.

Anyways, with the two of them out there, that leaves Gary and me to stay back at Ash's house to help Delia set up the house and greet the guests.

Now, why they chose us to greet the guests, I don't know. I mean, Gary and I are Ash's oldest friends, but I haven't been in touch with him in a while, and neither has Gary. We didn't really know his new friends.

But we managed. Cuz we're awesome.

At least… I am.

I met May, a bright chipper coordinator from Hoenn with brown hair tied up into a bandana, who arrived with her brother Max, a beginner Pokemon trainer who literally seemed to know everything, and Drew, a rival coordinator of May's with an unnatural green hair and a not too secret crush on May.

Then, Dawn, an even more chipper coordinator with a hyper Piplup, came, with Paul, a serious looking trainer, both from Sinnoh, Barry, a smug blonde trainer, and Kenny, a short, exuberant kid who followed Dawn around.

A girl named Solidad walked in by herself, and was immediately ambushed by both May and Drew.

Two girls, Iris and Georgia came in, bickering constantly, followed by an exhausted looking boy with green hair like Drew's, who flamboyantly introduced himself as Cilan, a boy named Stephan, who seemed to find everything fascinating, and a mind-mannered girl named Bianca, apparently all from Unova.

A boy named Tracey came in, and Gary grinned and gave him a warm handshake. (Apparently Gary knew him because he was Professor Oak's assistant. Go figure.) He was accompanied by a boy named Richie who looked almost exactly like Ash. Gary also appeared to know him, but seemed a bit tense.

A boy carrying a camera walked in and introduced himself as Snap, and he was accompanied by two girls, one hyper looking girl named Melody and another, slightly eccentric girl dressed all in yellow named Casey.

Like that, people eventually filled in, Brock brought the cake, Misty brought the Ash, and SURPRISE!

Classic.

After a while, the party was in full blast. Everyone seemed to be having a great time, and no one seemed like they needed me to do anything, so I just sat on the side with May, Drew, and Dawn. Dawn was pouting about how Paul never asked her to dance so, when he walked by unsuspectingly, she quickly snatched him up and dragged him onto the dance floor.

From the look on his face, he didn't really mind.

Gary then ran up to us, and opened his mouth like he was about to say something, but shut it when Ash and Misty joined us.

After being missing for about twenty minutes.

They both had slight blushes on their faces and seemed to be trying really hard to act casual.

"What's up?" Misty asked nonchalantly, a small smile on her face.

We stared at them for a while, before I turned to Gary and May and said smugly, "Pay up." They grumbled and complained, but pulled out twenty dollars each and handed it to me.

"Um, what?" Ash asked, his eyebrows furrowed.

I paused in my counting of the money and turned to look at him. "You two are together, right?" They both immediately blushed and I smirked.

"You bet on us?" Misty asked indignantly.

"Yup!" I said cheerfully, tucking the money into my purse, "And I bet you'd get together at the party, so I won! May thought it's be after the party, and Gary said that Ash wouldn't do it today at all, because Ash has no balls."

"Wow, thanks Gary," Ash grumbled, as Drew exploded into laughter.

"So, did you have something you wanted to say, Gary?" May asked, trying to get the attention off of her lost bet.

"Oh, yeah," Gary's eyes lit up and he smirked, "Look at Brock."

We all turned to see Brock sitting on the other couch, making out with this girl. I was going to laugh, but May and Drew jumped to their feet, glaring at the pair. Before we could stop them, they stalked over to the couple.

"Solidad!" Drew said, affronted, "What are you doing?"

At the same time, May went, "Brock! What are you doing?"

They broke apart and just stared at the two for a while before Brock said, "Damn. I thought they were old enough for this." Solidad giggled and smiled at him. Drew looked at her, wide eyed.

"Unbelievable," May fumed as they came back to us, "Of all girls, Brock has to nab Solidad."

"How do you think it is for me?" Drew grumbled, "My older almost sister with that perverted psychopath." May turned on him, glaring furiously.

"Hey watch it," She screamed, "Brock is a great guy, and my friend! Don't you dare say anything about him!"

"Well," Drew glared, "You date him then."

"Okay, okay," Misty sighed, "Break it up."

Before anyone could say anything else, Gary suddenly turned to face me, saying, "Oh, right, I came to ask you this," And with that, he smirked confidently, held his hand out, and said, "Would you like to dance with me, mon cheri?"

I blinked. "What?" I asked politely, pretty sure I heard him wrong.

"Just dance with me, mamacita," he winked and my face flooded with color. I gaped at him.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" I demanded, still ignoring his offer.

Gary rolled his eyes and grabbed my hand, rather roughly I might add, and literally dragged me onto the dance floor.

I did NOT feel tingles going up and down my arm when he was holding my hand.

When we got there, I grudgingly noticed that there was a slow song playing and Gary, ever compliant, wrapped an arm around my waist and pulled me so close that my hands were resting awkwardly on his chest, our bodies so unbelievably close.

I did NOT break out in goosebumps when he did this. I did NOT feel like every cell of my body would spontaneously combust. I did NOT feel stereotypically weak at the knees and slightly faint.

Yup. That's right.

See, I never told you about Gary. When we were younger, there was always a fierce rivalry between him and Ash. They would compete when it comes to literally everything. So, I was the third person in the group, and I was, like, the eternal friend. Whenever Ash and Gary were fighting with each other, they could (individually) come to me, and I'd play with them. It was a wonderful setup.

And then, somewhere along the line, I developed this burning crush on Gary Oak.

This really threw a wrench in my setup. Luckily for me, we were on the cusp of starting our Pokemon journeys, and we went our separate ways, me hoping that my crush would dissolve before it evolves into something serious.

Unfortunately for me, it didn't happen. Yup. I've been having a crush on Gary for the past, what, nine years? Which is kind of annoying. It would have been much easier if he didn't act so charming all the time.

Or if he didn't smile that dazzling smile that makes me weak at the knees.

Or if he didn't seem to know so much about me, making me blush a little every time he does something that shows it.

Gary Oak will be the death of me.

And now, now he's holding me like this, and I may pass out.

So, when he pulled me closer, I automatically stiffened frostily, looking at him apprehensively with wide eyes.

He chuckled slightly. "Relax, Leaf," he murmured, "I mean, aren't we best friends?"

I sighed and mumbled something like, "I'd never be best friends with you, you tosser."

He laughed and rested his chin on my head, saying, "And that's why I love you, Leaf."

I suddenly stiffened when he said that, and immediately pulling away from him and putting a couple of feet between us. "Leaf-" he started questioningly before I cut him off.

"You-you- you complete bastard, Gary Oak," I fumed, making him blink in surprise, "I can't believe you would do that to me! Nine years! I spent nine years trying to forget you, and you scrap all of it in just five minutes! God dammit!"

I was very pleased with my grand, indignant speech so, to finish it off rather nicely, I stalked away angrily. Rather well, I might add. My only regret was not being able to see Gary's face when I walked away.

Well, I kinda did.

He looked crushed.

Now I felt bad.

Gary found me soon. Much sooner than I expected. Remember when I said he knows me too well? Exactly.

I was sitting on the roof area just outside Ash's room. It's easy to climb there from Ash's window, and I used to go there a lot.

I was there for about five minutes when Gary climbed through and sat down next to me silently.

I know, right? Gary Oak, silent? Something was seriously wrong.

It was a long time before he spoke, "Do you remember, Leaf," he started slowly, "When I told you that you couldn't play basketball with us because sports are for boys and girls should go play with dolls?"

I laughed, remembering. "And I hit you in the solar plexus and went and played basketball with Ash while you just sat there, wheezing?"

Gary smiled softly. "I had a bruise there for months. That's when I learned that you were not someone to be messed with. And that's when I discovered," he cast me a sideways glance, "That I was in love with you."

I swear my heart might have literally stopped when he said that. I opened my mouth and closed it, struggling for words. Gary smirked slightly, looking at me.

"I- um- well," I sputtered, "Y-you- m-m-me-" He laughed.

"And," he continued, his smirk growing, "After you stormed off, Ash and Misty told me to go for it and, after assuring me that you share my sentiments, sent me to find you." My breath hitched as he seemed to move closer to me. "So," he murmured, his eyes focused so only on me, it was unnerving, "I'm going to."

"Going to what?" I managed, watching his move even closer to me.

"Go for it," he said before he closed the distance between us and kissed me.

He kissed me.

Gary freaking Oak kissed me.

And then, as if that wasn't shocking enough, he wrapped one arm around my waist, pulling me even closer than I even thought possible. He brought his other hand up to caress my cheek, and I melted.

He pulled away much sooner than I would have liked, grinning brilliantly.

I don't know how stupid I would have looked, gasping for breath and bright red, but he still pulled me into a hug and planted another kiss on my forehead. I gaped at him. I literally never thought Gary would be this… tender with a girl. We've all seen him flirting ruthlessly with women, and he never seemed like this time.

I pulled myself out of my thoughts and said weakly, "Well, I'm glad we got that sorted out."

He laughed again and pulled me up, saying, "Come on, let's get back to the party."

"I can't believe he kissed you!" May squealed, clapping her hands together. Misty, May, and I were sitting in a corner after Gary and I separated once we reached the party.

"Neither can I," I said calmly, smiling at them.

"So, did he ask you to be his girlfriend?" Misty asked, grinning.

I blinked. "No," I said slowly, "I thought that was a given."

May gasped and, catching sight of Gary somewhere behind me, made her way over to him. "You didn't ask Leaf to be your girlfriend?" She demanded.

Gary blinked, and looked at me. "I thought that was a given," he said unsuspectingly. Misty giggled and I broke out into a wide grin.

"Come on, Oak," I said happily, bounding over to him, "Let's get out of here!"

"Okay," he said with a huge grin, allowing me to grab his hand and drag him out of the house. "So, where are you taking me, Leafy," he smirked as I pulled him along, "I hope we're not going ice skating again. Inflicting self-harm is not big on my list."

I mock glared at him. "That's funny coming from you, you masochist!" I countered.

"Me?" He asked, confused, "How am I a masochist?"

"Well," I smiled sweetly up at him, "You did fall in love with a girl after she punched you in the solar plexus and made you unable to breathe for, what, three whole minutes."

He paused for a second, and then said, "Yeah, I did, didn't I," grinning fondly down at me.

There was something different between us. That's not how our fights usually are, teasing and playful, and that's not how our fights usually end, with a heavy make-out session, but, in the end, we are what we've always been: Gary and Leaf, friends until the end.

Well, I guess Ash was included in that when we made that pact, but that's not really worth mentioning.

Oh, I guess I just mentioned it.

Damn.