Pairing: Palletshipping

Prompts: a basement, handcuffs, & XTC

Notes: This was a request from my friend. :) If you'd like to request a pairing and some prompts too, do so in a review. It can have as many prompts as you want and/or multiple pairings! This is just for some character interaction practice. And on an additonal note, this does seem a bit off from what I usually do, but I'm willing to give it a try ;-)

only blue

"Ash, I really don't know why you keep insisting on these childish sleepovers."

"Well, number one: I insist because I'm lonely. Number two: ...Well, Mom's going to make curry tonight and it'd be a shame to let it go to waste!"

Gary sighed while holding a telephone up against his ear, contemplating the boy's request. Not only was he his former rival, but he was completely oblivious to the implications behind everything he did. He supposed it didn't matter, though. It was Ash.

"Lonely? Since when are you ever lonely? What about umm, Misty? Or Brock? You're always with them!" Gary reasoned, desperately trying to get out of the raven-haired boy's clutches. He had a strange sensation in the pit of his stomach at the thought of spending time with him tonight, which was definitely not a good thing.

"Yeah, but they've been really busy! Come on, Gary! Please?" Ash pleaded. Gary could almost see his bright brown puppy eyes, he imagined with a smirk.

"Fine. But I call the blue chair in the basement."

Ash paused. "You drive a hard bargain..."

"Well?"

"Okay, deal."

He could hear cheering from the other end of the phone, and Gary rolled his eyes. He really hadn't matured a bit since he'd known him as a kid. They were both very close growing up, but had a rather strong and intense rivalry when they hit puberty, but had finally managed to get back to the close friend relationship again.

Gary stood up and began rummaging throughout his closet to find something good to wear. He paused for a minute.

Remind me why I care about what I wear to his house? It's just Ash, for Mew's sake. I usually go in sweatpants and a t-shirt. What's with the sudden change, self?

He pondered over this while still searching for something. He grabbed a pair of jeans and stepped into them while hopping over to pull on a shirt over his head. Inspecting himself in the mirror, he reached for a comb and attempted to tame the mess that was his hair.

It didn't work out, so he left his spikes alone with resignation and turned off all of the lights in his house, checking the stove, and hastily packing and overnight bag.

The overnight bag was always Gary's biggest pain. He always forgot one of the most important things, so he double-double checked and in his haste of stuffing items into the bag, probably brought several unnecessary things as well. Better over prepared than under prepared?

Locking the house, he hauled it over his shoulder, starting the short walk to the Ketchum household. Ash immediately plagued all of his thoughts.

This feels rather more nerve wracking than it does usually...I don't know, I've known Ash, since forever, this really shouldn't be a problem.

Unless...

Okay, no, Gary. We are not going there. There is no way. Just, no.

This is going to be a harmless sleepover where I entertain said sixteen year old boy until he falls asleep, than I will fall asleep, and then I will wake up, have breakfast, and be on my merry way, maybe even escaping and getting to spend some time with Grandpa. Yes, that sounds nice. And I can forget about A-

His thoughts were promptly interrupted as his forehead made contact with a wooden door. Rubbing his head and praying that the witnesses to this were lacking, he properly rapped his knuckles on the door, heartbeat accelerating.

Chill, heart! It's just Ash!

"Oh, hello!" He was greeted with an ecstatic Delia (as usual) and she ushered him inside, immediately gushing over him as an overly mother should.

"You've lost so much weight! My, my, I knew living on your own wasn't a good idea at this age! You haven't been eating properly at all, have you? We'll just have to fix that tonight..." Delia continued to pester on while Gary only rolled his eyes, allowing himself a small smile at the mother's concerns.

"I think he looks fine, Mom," came a boyish voice from the doorway to the kitchen. Ash stood, an uncharacteristic smirk spread over his face as he crossed his arms and peered almost triumphantly at Gary.

"Thanks for the concern, Ash," Gary easily countered, the smirk rising on his face much out of Ash's league. He couldn't however deny the fact that the tingling feeling in his stomach was growing and he began feeling it all the way in his fingertips.

Ash rolled his eyes, accepting his defeat inwardly (no one could defeat Gary in verbal battles) and walked up to throw his arms around him, anyway, treating him to a heart-melting smile that everyone seemed to love.

It seems I'm certainly no exception. I mean, well! He has a nice smile, is all.

He awkwardly returned the hug all the while savoring the feeling of a certain warmth spreading throughout his body, giving him a certain ecstatic pleasure he was all to familiar too.

"Well, c'mon! Food's ready, so let's dig in!" Ash plopped down in one of the dining chairs, shoving the napkin out of his way and reaching for the utensils.

Of course. Well, I suppose you can't really expect Ash to change. It's Ash.

"Indeed," Delia said, while serving generous proportions of potatoes and meat and vegetables on Gary's plate.

"Whoa, Ms. Ketchum, there's no way I can eat all of this!" Gary immediately protested at the rather monstrous pile on his plate that was food(delicious, nonetheless).

She only hummed, pretending not to hear him, helping herself as well as she picked up her plate and headed to the living room to watch television, leaving the boys to dine alone.

"No arguing with her. Besides, it's not even fair, she gave me half of what she gave you!" Ash protested, downing the contents on his plate almost instantly, reaching to help himself to seconds.

I bet in a matter of ten more minutes he'll be helping himself to fourths.

"Well, I just can't help if the female population simply adores me, can I?"

Ash paused momentarily to glare while slurping in what looked liked pasta - I didn't know she made pasta! - but continued eating.

However, it had set a sort of awkward tension. The mere mention of anything that had to do with relationships and females always made them act like this.

I guess the only thing that will clear the tension is if I do something about it...

"Why, do you have a girlfriend?" Ash asked casually, his eating pace suddenly slowed by several miles per hour.

Props for Ash for never failing to make something a hundred times awkward than it is.

Gary swallowed the food in his throat carefully before answering, "No...how about you?"

Ash looked momentarily very surprised. At the fact that Gary hadn't retorted with a snide remark, or at the fact that he thought that he of all people had a girlfriend. Ash may have been cute in a boyish way, but his cluelessness had a rather repelling affect to any semi-intelligent girl.

"Oh, psh, yeah," Ash said, chewing away on what remotely resembled...meatballs?

Gary was surprised. Trying to sound nonchalant, he asked, "Really? You mean Misty?"

Ash merely shook his head and laughed. "What? No, I was kidding! Misty's my best friend, nothing more. She had a crush on me when we were little, but we worked it out."

"Oh."

Oh, good. Wait? Good!? Ugh, I really shouldn't care who Ash goes out with. It's his life, Gary...and there I go, having a conversation with myself in my thoughts again. Why do I always do this? I might be schizophrenic or something.

While Gary panicked over this eternal dilemma, Ash casually ate, completely oblivious as per usual.

"Well, I'm done. What about you?" Ash stood and dropped his plate in the sink before glancing at Gary, whose food was only half-finished.

"Gee, you actually finished? I thought you still had a tenth helping in you!" Gary commented, sticking his fork in the suddenly unappealing mashed potatoes. He felt extremely full.

"Hey, if you're nice, I'll tell Mom that you finished it!" Ash grinned and winked (which made Gary feel like a rock had just plummeted into his stomach) and dumped the rest of his food into the trash, stowing the plate away in the kitchen sink.

"Thanks. What would I ever do without you?" Gary smiled for a short moment before Ash took his hand in his and dragged him down the stairs to his basement, at which point Ash let go of his hand and jumped onto the blue chair.

Before Gary could even get over the shock of his tingling hand at the sudden contact, he glared. "I thought you said I could have the blue chair this time!"

"And? I say a lot of things, Gary." A cheshire cat grin on Ash.

Gary glared daggers and knives and guns and other explosives at the raven-haired trainer.

"I will sit on you." Gary threateningly planted his hands on his hips, hovering over the boy, who made no move to move away or respond.

"Do it."

Well, I didn't see that coming. I...don't really want to do it, but I don't have a choice, do I? Besides, I really want that chair. He'll probably move after I sit on him, anyway. I'm probably a good twenty pounds heavier than him because of my height.

So Gary did the deed and plunked himself right down on the other boy's denim jean clad lap, defiantly crossing his arms in victory. "Well?"

Ash pretended to check his nails. "You could sit on me all day and I wouldn't move."

Feeling the heat rush to his face, Gary immediately leaped off and dejectedly moved to the other red chair. "Well, you can forget about that!"

Just the thought of me sitting in his lap...ugh, it makes me stomach feel weird. In a bad way, of course! Definitely...a bad way.

Ash burst out into a boyish laugh while he reached for the remote and flicked the TV on, already bringing out the bags of popcorn he reserved specially for their sleepovers.

"We just ate!"

"Your point?"

"Touche," Gary said as he reached for the other popcorn bag.

They sat in a comfortable silence for the first ten minutes of the movie before Gary's jeans felt very uncomfortably rough and itchy. "Hey, mind if I change real quick upstairs?"

Ash glanced at him curiously. "You're gonna lug your bag up upstairs, and then upstairs again all the way to my room to change? You should just do it here."

There it comes. The accelerated heartbeat. Goddammit, it's just pants!

"Uh...okay," he said intelligently. Making sure not to make eye contact with Ash at all, he carefully slipped out of his jeans and stepped into his soft pajama pants, sighing in relaxation.

Ah, much better. He settled back into his chair while zipping up his bag, not aware of Ash's intent gaze at him at all.

"Hey, what have you got in there, anyway?"

Gary blinked. "Um...some stuff, I guess." To make it a point, he stuck a hand in the zipper and brought out the first two items he could find, which ended up being a toothbrush and...handcuffs?

"Uh, yeah, some stuff is right. What's with the handcuffs, huh?" Ash began eyeing them with an unmistakable curiosity, which made Gary apprehensive.

"I...don't know, I was kind of packing stuff in a rush and - "

"Ooh! They're just like the movie kind!"

"Hey, give 'em back!"

Ash quickly fastened one of them around his rist. "Cool! Look at me Gary, I'm arrested! Meheheheheh." His copper eyes were pointed towards Gary, who only sighed in exasperation at the thought of playing along with his act.

"C'mon, you're supposed to be the cop!" Ash said, frowning at his friend's old fart-ness. He took to fastening the other end of the handcuff's to Gary's wrist. "See! Now you're the cop!"

"Alright, fun's over, take 'em off," Gary said hastily, not liking the idea of the situation at the moment. Or liking it, but refusing to let himself to like it. Yes, that was it.

"I don't know how! You're the one with the keys!" Ash explained, gesturing the the overnight bag, which unfortunately for Gary was lacking keys.

"You idiot, the keys are at...home!"

Ash facepalmed.

Gary sighed. "Fine, I guess we can go get them now."

He tried to get up from the couch, but Ash's weight held him down. "Nah, don't worry about it. We can do it tomorrow. I'm too tired."

Gary didn't know what to make of his response. He awkwardly shifted foot to foot before settling back down in his seat, somewhat grudgingly so. Being in this situation put him on the edge somehow. The feeling of being so close made him feel jittery and tense.

...However, he would be lying if he said he didn't like it.

He'd be damned if anyone other than himself knew that, though.

"Ugh, so what's even going on in this movie?" Ash groaned, rubbing his eyes. Gary glanced at the television to see mindless zombies cornering a damsel in distress in a corner of a haunted mansion. Ah, unoriginal movies. Never disappointing.

"You didn't even pay a bit of attention? Typical Ashy-boy," Gary said, laughing at the boy's expense when he caught his glare at being called "Ashy-boy."

"Well, sorry that you distracted me...Gare-bear."

It was Ash's turn to chortle as Gary cringed at the less than godly name. What are we, a couple? Well, even if we are...the thought of these nicknames only make me want to vomit. Hold on, where did that thought come from? Ugh. Okay, stopping this train of thought immediately. I don't like this.

"Hello?"

..Oh no, don't even think about bringing up the 'd' word! And by that I mean denial! Nothing else!

"Uh, Gary?"

Who am I kidding.

"Gare-bear?"

Gary was forced out of his temporary inner conversation. "Ew, what? Don't call me that!"

"Well, if you're done being all out of it, I wanted to ask you...what exactly are they doing in that movie?" Ash pointed a tan finger towards the glowing screen in the dark, where the scene had shifted to a party where several teens were huddled over, laughing and kissing.

Gary's eyes widened in realization as he caught a flash of the pills. Oh. Does he not know? "It's um...a drug."

"A drug? What kind of drug?"

So he's oblivious in plenty more ways than one. Only this time, it's for his own good. "It's...it's ecstasy, and...just never mind, forget it. You don't need to know anything about it."

Gary's response only further piqued Ash's curiosity. "What? C'mon, now you have to tell me!"

He sighed in exasperation. "It's a drug that you really don't want to get involved with. There are plenty of other ways you can find happiness."

Ash's face was very flat for a while, but he suddenly lightened and laid his hand over the brunette's. "Yeah, like you."

Gary couldn't help but color instantly but held his ground and stood still, holding eye contact.

"Well...yeah," he blurted stupidly.

Ash smirked at his response, suddenly catching sight of the boy's soft cheek. It was probably one of the worst ideas he had ever had, but...he leaned in and touched his lips quickly to the spot before standing, gesturing to the sleeping bags. "C'mon. The movie sucked anyway. Let's get some sleep."

Gary could only gape for a minute as he was dragged along by the raven-haired boy, frowning slightly as he realized one thing...

Ash definitely was not as oblivious as he let on.