A/N: This was inspired by an adorable PalletShipping doujin called "Your Future" that I found while surfing le internet and I can't stop thinking about. I don't want to rip it off or anything but it got me thinking and now here I am at 1 am, trying to write something.
Song inspiration: Mata Ashita (OHSHC Special ED), Sweet Child O' Mine (Taken by Trees), Kagami no Naka (Ultra Maniac! OP)
Summary: Snapshots of their married lives, and making it through those first few difficult years.
Walk With Me
The Move: Gary
"It sure is big."
"Tell me about it."
The house we'd picked out was a lot bigger than I remembered it to be, especially as it had been about three months since we'd actually bought it. While I thought that the fact it was completely wooden-based would cause problems in the case of a fire, once Ash had his vision fixed on this house, that was it; either we go here or we live at the lab for the rest of our lives.
And it wasn't that I didn't enjoy living in the lab with Grandpa and Tracey - rather, I was concerned that Ash would do something stupid like break a test tube or drop a beaker containing something acidic and end up burning himself.
We'd been married for just over two months and today was the big day we finally moved all of our things into this enormous wooden house and started calling it our home. A funny feeling, to say the least.
As if reading my unsettled thoughts, Ash reached over and grabbed onto my hand, squeezing it tightly and offering me a nervous smile.
"Are you ready?"
With a small nod, I pulled him along and pushed the keys into the lock, fumbling around for a moment before the polished teak door swung open.
The shadowed hallway that greeted us was narrow, with only slithers of pale morning sunshine falling through cracks between closed blue curtains onto the slightly chipped floorboards before us. The corridor was lined with doors and archways into several different rooms, with decking along the back which could be seen through the kitchen window.
There was a pecha berry tree growing in the small garden, and I think that was what Ash liked the best; pecha berries were his favourite food and he'd always liked the idea of gardening, which was what drove me to buying him a wailmer pail for his birthday the previous year. All in all, the house was perfect, but there were still a few unresolved issues, such as where all the boxes of our crap were going to sit around for months on end before we finally got round to unpacking them.
"So, where should we start first?" I asked Ash, releasing his hand as I realised I had been squeezing it the entire time. He flexed it awkwardly as the blood began to flow back again, before answering my question.
"Well, May and Max were planning to drop by some time later to help us unpack," he said casually. I took a few deep breaths to steady my annoyance.
"You invited those two here? The place will be trashed before we're even finished unpacking!"
"Hey, these are my friends you're talking about!" Ash cried, folding his arms huffily. "They were nice enough to offer to help us out, so the least you can do is not kick up a fuss."
As I was about to protest more I heard the thumping of footsteps and shrill yelling. Thus, my headache began.
"Great, they're here," I muttered darkly, allowing myself to reluctantly be led outside by Ash and his vice grip. The girl with the bandana and her younger brother were squabbling over something pointless… but then again, from my past experiences with them (New Year, Ash's birthday party, my birthday party for some god forsaken reason…) that seemed to be the norm for them, so I didn't think anything of it.
"Guys, you're here!" Ash called out happily, running down the driveway to greet them.
"Ash! G-Gary! You two are already here!" May stuttered. She still seemed nervous around me, though that was probably due to the fact I was glaring at them for triggering my headache. She then turned to scowl at her younger brother. "I told you we should've taken the earlier bus."
"You were the one who wanted to stop for cheri berry candy!" the bespectacled boy shrieked, balling up his fists. I was actually shocked that seventeen and fourteen years old respectively they still bickered like a bunch of infants.
"Guys, guys, please break it up," Ash pleaded with them, glancing nervously at me and noting that my patience was quickly running thin. "I don't want you guys to fight…"
May sighed and folded her arms. "…All right then…" She rolled her eyes dramatically. "I just don't see why Max over there has to make such a big deal over everything."
"WHAT?"
And so my torture continued.
The day actually went by pretty quickly once the two kids had learnt to shut their yaps and help out. It was amusing to see how much stuff from his childhood Ash had really kept; his "The Pokemon Adventures" sticker album, the waps we used to collect and trade, his old clefairy doll, our Red and Green action figures.
Then there were things from his pokemon journey, such as his hat collection and some of his old jackets and his running shoes and his many badge cases. Considering they were from only five leagues they didn't half take up a lot of space. I mean, two whole boxes for his travelling mementos? Seriously?
The worst part about it was that then his annoying friends were getting teary-eyed and nostalgic about it too, like when May found the ribbon they'd won as a joint effort and spent the next half an hour retelling that story Ash had already told me four times.
Needless to say I was glad when our break point finally rolled around and Ash and May went to start on dinner. For a while I used the time to look through the sticker album and re-reading the postcard I'd sent him after first arriving in Sinnoh and remembering that it actually wasn't that long ago… only seven years ago and it already seemed like we'd made so many more memories.
After a while I noticed the whiny kid's gaze burning holes in the back of my head, so I chose to sit at the kotatsu we'd recently set up and turned to face him.
"What is it?" I asked coolly, eying him up and down. He shrugged.
"Nothing… it's just a bit weird, you know."
"What's weird?" I asked, quirking an eyebrow.
"You and Ash, as a couple." Max pulled a face. "It's just weird cause until the 'wedding' Ash had never acted like he swung that way. You know what I mean?"
"Well, obviously not because I married him. I always knew he batted for the other team. It may not have been obvious to you because you and your sister only hung out with him for a year. I've known him since we were kids. He used to like to cross dress a lot." I snorted at the memory.
"Well it's just that, y'know, don't you guys get a few odd looks when you walk around acting all loved up?" Max pressed on. "I'm not phobing or anything but I'm not dumb. I know people like you get a lot of crap for stuff like that."
I raised my eyebrows. Why was this kid even asking me this stuff? Was he actually curious or just really nosy?
"Uh…?" It took me a few seconds to come up with an appropriate answer. "…Well, I… I don't mind it so much because I can give one of those "I'll kill you" looks and they kind of back off, whereas Ash… gets a little upset." I artfully chose to leave out the time where he spent hours curled up on the couch in the lab muttering "What's wrong with me?" repeatedly as me and Gramps attempted to calm him down.
Max chewed his lower lip thoughtfully. "Just one last question."
I relaxed slightly. "Fire away, detective."
"Do you like the cock?"
At least this one was a question I didn't have to put much thought into.
"Yes, I like the cock. Preferably Ash's."
As Max began to giggle uncontrollably at what he thought was a hilarious answer coming from me, Ash and May entered the room again with a plateful of sandwiches.
I have to say, the sight of Ash in his oversized sweats and a cute cooking apron is a truly adorable sight for my eyes to feast upon.
"We're back-" Ash trailed off as he saw Max collapsing in awkward laughter on the kotatsu and threw me a dirty look. "What have you been telling him?"
"Just what the kid wanted to know," I shrugged as May shoved Max's shoulder in an attempt to shut up him. Ravenous, I grabbed a sandwich and bit into it, relishing the taste. Pidgeotto breast, one of my favourites.
"Hmm…" Ash, unsatisfied with the answer but knowing he wouldn't get any more information off me, chose to change the subject. "Just to let you know, my mom's coming over later to bring over a few home warming gifts and all that. I think Professor Oak, Tracey and Daisy are going to come too."
"Really? Daisy is?" I perked up a little at that; since she and her boyfriend started spending more time together she seemed to acknowledge me less and less; if anything, I was actually surprised she was thinking about showing up at all.
"Yup." A wide grin spread across Ash's face. "We'll spend our first proper meal here as a family! Since-" He shot May an apologetic look. "-this is great food coming from the two of us, but it's more of a snack than a meal. Still, I hope the two of you will be able to join us."
"We can't," May sighed. "I'm really sorry, guys, but Drew needs me back in LaRousse City by tonight because we're meeting up with the mayor about hosting a new contest there next month and I can't miss out on it. As for Max, I suppose he could stay, but-"
"I can talk for myself, you know, sis!" he snapped. Then his anger crumbled, replaced by a look of regret. "But I can't stay, either. I have to keep moving forward to challenge the gyms. I've already gotten three badges, so I'm heading over to Celedon City to challenge the Celedon Gym. I would love to stick around but if I stay too long I'll miss the last bus there for the night and I'll have to wait until tomorrow."
I silently rejoiced.
"Oh," Ash said, deflated. "Bummer. Some other time, then?"
"Definitely," May said cheerfully. "Next time I'll bring some real snacks rather than just what I had in my pack."
"Yeah, me too," Max agreed.
With nothing else left to say, we left it at that and began to dig into the sandwiches just waiting to be eaten.
Four hours later, the two brats were ready to leave, and strangely, their company had become almost a comfort and it was a little down-heartening to see them go.
Still, our folks would be here any minute and that was a joy in itself.
"We'll come back and visit real soon!" May promised after thanking us for the hospitality.
"I'll come back and visit again too, as soon as I have all my Kanto gym badges!" Max added enthusiastically. He then grinned at me. "And what you told me, I'm going to hold that over your head forever now."
I tutted and shook my head. "Do as you wish, Maxey, I really don't care who you tell about my 'preferences'. In fact, why don't you tell Ash?"
"Huh? Tell me what?" Ash furrowed his brow, eyes widening in child-like confusion. Max ran over to him and stood on tip-toes, whispering into his ear. Ash's eyes widened to the size of saucers and his face flushed to a brilliant red as he turned to face me, royally pissed off.
"Gary, you prick!"
"What? What did he say?" May asked, thoroughly confused herself.
"You'll find out when you're older, sis," Max grinned pompously. She frowned at him but then hurriedly bid her farewell after realising the time and began to run in the direction of the bus stop as Max followed suit, waving at us with a cheeky grin plastered on his face as the two of them faded into the distance.
Ash blushed and fidgeted with the hem of his shirt. "I can't believe you said that," he mumbled in despair, shutting his eyes. "That's so embarrassing!"
"Hey, there's nothing to be embarrassed about if that's the way we feel, right?" I shrugged. "I really don't see what the big deal is. I love you, you love me, we both love cocks. That's all there is to it, ain't that the truth?"
"Ugh, what the heck…" Ash sighed, knowing he wasn't going to get anywhere with me, and chose to sit cross-legged on the doorstep, taking off his house slippers and wiggling his toes in the fine grass either side of the driveway.
"Ah, I feel a lot better now," he said softly, before turning to me with a content smile. Seems like the embarrassment had been quickly forgotten.
"What are you smiling about?" I asked suspiciously. "You're freaking me out, Ashy."
"Just… it's so weird, isn't it?" he asked, giggling. "This is our home, our new home. Where a new chapter of our life as a family begins."
"It is a little strange," I agreed, flopping down to sit beside him. "We'll have the whole house to ourselves."
"We'll be able to arrange it however we feel like," Ash continued, in his own little world. "We can make the garden look nice, and clean up and cook our own dishes… we can buy a computer and a stereo and a video phone and keep in touch with our relatives… the hospital in Viridian is within walking distance too, so you should have no problem getting to work on time."
"Why'd you have to remind me of work?" I groaned, pulled from our wonderful fantasy by the pit of dread that filled me when I realised I had to go back tomorrow morning.
"Sorry," Ash chuckled, "I was trying to point out the positives, but I guess work isn't that much of a plus, huh…?"
"When are you going to find work?" I complained. "What if I suddenly become fatally ill or handicapped and have to quit work, huh? Then who will bring in the dough?"
"I'll find work if that happens," he laughed, "but until then, I'll work on making the house look nice while you go and make sure everybody in Viridian City is healing up nicely. Okay?"
"Sure thing," I said softly, ruffling his hair. He took that as his cue to go all floppy on me and rest his head on his shoulder, like he always did when he was feeling affectionate. He was like a bloody meowth sometimes, I swear.
"This is our home," he whispered, closing his eyes. I smiled and stared out at the pinkening sky before us, spreading out vastly and dappled with thinning clouds.
"Yeah… this is our new home."
"You guys made it!" Ash cried as he ran to give his mother a hug. She returned the gesture, snuggling into his shoulder. I guess now I knew where he got his feline-like affection from.
"It's such a lovely house, isn't it?" she gushed, pouring over the decking and flowerbeds like a spoilt child at Christmas. Ash joined in with her and the two of them frolicked in their gardening paradise as Gramps and Tracey and Daisy parked on the drive in Grandpa's transport jeep.
"Gary! I see you've settled in nicely!" I raced down to greet him as he stepped out of the car.
"You bet," I grinned. "Want to see the inside of the house?"
"Just a second. Lets give time for the other two to get out of the car," he laughed as Tracey and Daisy emerged. I glanced around suspiciously for Daisy's boyfriend.
"Where's the love of your life then, huh?" I asked sourly. Daisy huffed.
"I told him to take a cold shower while I was gone since I know you two obviously have never hit it off. Honestly, I should lock you two in a room and make you get on."
"Knowing Gary, he'll have turned your boyfriend gay by the time the day is done," Ash piped up helpfully as him and Delia joined us. "He has that affect on most people."
That, ladies and gents, is the man I married. Aren't I lucky.
"Thanks for picking on me, Ashy-boy," I complained as Tracey laughed. "What is this, pick on Gary day?"
"You know it," he replied back, smirking. Then, excitedly, he turned to everybody else. "Come on, come on! Lets go and see the rest of the house!"
Obviously we still had quite a bit of unpacking to do, but we'd unpacked most of the important stuff (the coffee maker, the kotatsu, the television set and so on) so already we were at the point of the house being hooked up with all the technology, even if it still felt a little foreign and not quite as homey as I'd hoped.
"I brought a hotpot over since I didn't reckon you two would be up to cooking tonight," Delia grinned, motioning to a large pot sat in the centre of the table. "So far only the stock is in there. Once I heat it up we can start adding the ingredients. Care to help me unpack them, honey?" she asked Ash sweetly, motioning to a plastic bag stocked with food sitting in the corner of the room. Ash knelt down to pick up the plastic bag and began unpacking the ingredients.
"Sliced magikarp, tauros meatballs, chansey egg dumplings, diced tentacool, tamato berries, bitter roots, udon noodles, chesto berries… there's so much here!" he exclaimed. "This is awesome, mom! Thanks!"
"No problem, honey! I picked all your favourites," she said cheerfully, placing the pot on the kotatsu. "It's a divided hotpot so preferences don't clash. In one side I've put tauros stock and in the other there is combusken stock with corn."
"Sweet!" Ash grinned and began adding various ingredients to the tauros stock side, as anybody who knows Ash knows he's a sucker for the flavour. Delia, laughing, motioned for me to join in, so I hesitantly selected some egg dumplings and dropping them into the combusken stock side one by one, wincing each time they splashed. The hot water stung slightly and I reflexively moved back a little; since I was a child and got burnt by one of the taps in my grandfather's lab I've always been wary of hot water, but Ash's mother smiled kindly at me and waited for me to continue adding ingredients.
Recovering, I began to get more adventurous, adding in diced tentacool pieces and udon noodles and slices of magikarp as Gramps and Daisy and Tracey cheered us on, occasionally imputing ideas for what to add next.
Finally, it was done, and our hot pots were ready to eat, with a side dish of sweetened nanab berry sauce.
"Thank you for the food," we chorused, beginning to dig in. I closed my eyes as I practically inhaled my first mouthful, chewing blissfully.
"This is so good," I complimented. Delia beamed and explained in great detail which market stalls from Viridian she bought each food from and which were half-priced and so on. Ash took mental notes as she described in detail where to go, vowing he was going to practise improving his cooking skills and go shopping for some groceries tomorrow.
"So have you two worked out a system yet for how you're going to live together without killing one another?" Daisy asked casually, causing Ash to flinch at the word 'killing'.
I shrugged. "I'm going to work, to keep the money coming in. Ash is going to keep the place looking pretty so the housework doesn't pile up too much. We're going to keep on playing happy families and we'll work everything out as we go along," I said simply. "What else is there to it?"
"Isn't that going to get boring, though?" she pressed on impatiently. "Sooner or later you guys will need a change of scene or you'll just get bored."
"Then we'll figure it out when it happens, simple as," I replied back tiredly. "I don't see what the big deal is, sis. Why are you nagging us?"
"I'm not nagging the both of you, I'm nagging you cause you're my little bro and it's my job to make you miserable," she shot back without hesitation.
"Now, now," Gramps said warily, coming between the two of us. "No need for the two of you to fight…"
"And now, ladies and gentlemen, you have witnessed the great conflict between the Oak family," Tracey commented, using his hot pot ladle as a presenter's microphone. I flicked a piece of chesto berry at him to shut him up.
"Uhm… thank you for being here tonight, everybody…" We all turned to look at Ash, who was staring at his hands, which were resting in his lap. When he spoke next, his voice was small. "Thank you for being here to feel our new home with us and to see it and smell it and taste it… thank you for being here for somebody like me…"
A tear fell into his bowl of hot pot with a quiet splash. His face flushed as his eyes began to water and he rubbed his eyes quickly, hurriedly apologising. "Oh, I… why am I…? I'm sorry…"
I reached over to squeeze his hand tightly and he smiled at me, wiping his eyes.
"We're all family, Ash," his mother said softly with a warm smile on her face. "Though we're not all related by blood… though not all of us are around often… we're still all family. We're… we're happy to be here." She then burst into tears just like her son, and us Oaks - and Tracey - watched in disbelief as the two of them hugged and sobbed and mumbled incomprehensible things to one another.
"Oh, boy…"
"Thank you for coming," Ash said, bowing his head slightly as we said our goodbyes.
"It was a wonderful evening," Tracey replied back with an easygoing smile. "Take care now, you two."
"Don't get up to anything inappropriate, little bro," Daisy grinned mischievously before climbing back into the jeep. I rolled my eyes.
"This was a… heart warming, unforgettable evening," Gramps offered, obviously referring to the Ketchum family's dramatic performance. I chuckled.
"Yep."
"I'm going to miss you, honey," Mrs Ketchum sniffled with a watery smile, giving her son a hug. Ash, red-eyed, nodded and nuzzled into her shoulder, his own petite frame trembling.
"Me too, Mom," he mumbled.
Then, with one last stunning performance, the two went their separate ways and the jeep disappeared into the distance. Ash rubbed his sore eyes awkwardly and sighed.
"Well, this is it," he said, trying to appear cheerful. "The start of our new lives."
"Yeah… and you're crying," I teased, ruffling his hair. "Lighten up, will you? This is supposed to be a happy time, you know!"
"I know that," he scowled. "Stop making fun of me. I'm just… emotional."
"Emotional?" I laughed. Crossly, he stormed into the house, me following close behind. He went to sit down on the couch so I took a seat beside him, beginning to kiss his neck. He squirmed at my touch and tried to shy away, so I grabbed him by the hips and sat him down on my lap, wrapping my arms around his waist so he couldn't escape.
"Your sister told you not to do anything dirty," Ash sulked as I continued to lay soft kisses trailing down his left arm.
"Ah, but Ashy, in case you haven't noticed, my sister isn't here right now," I pointed out. "So I am clearly off the hook."
"But…" He squirmed uncomfortably, craning his neck around to try and frown at me disapprovingly, so I pushed him down on the couch so I was lying on top of him and pressed my lips against his, biting down on his lower lip so hard I began to draw blood. He whimpered and fought back for a few moments, before finally giving in and sinking deep into the kiss. When I finally let go to intake some air he was panting uncontrollably, face flushed an awkward pink.
"You're a jerk, you know that?" he mumbled with tears in his eyes.
"Yeah," I agreed, laughing, "I am a jerk, aren't I?"
We lay huddled up on the couch that night, hugging and touching and simply being until we fell into a soft dream.
This was our new life, and I was loving it.
A/N: Wow, this is the longest thing I've written in a while. It's also the first PalletShipping fic I've ever written, so please review to let me know what you think! This is obviously going to be multi-chaptered but I'm not entirely sure when I'll update again… most likely when inspiration strikes again.
It is now 4 am and I'm TIRED. So imma hop into my bed now and rest my aching brain. See you guys later!