"W-What?" Serena blushed. Had she heard him correctly? Ash was looking straight at her. Eye to eye; his smile ear to ear. Bonnie was happily dancing in corner, pumping her tiny fists in the air, and winking at Serena out of the corner of her eye. Clemont was smiling, holding back laughter on the whole situation.
"I asked," Ash paused, cleared his throat and took a breath, "if you wanted to go the Pokémon festival with me."
"Y-yeah I, I heard that part. B-but the other part...?" She looked at Ash hopefully with those ocean blue eyes.
Bonnie shrieked, unable to contain her joy, as she bounced up and down on the tips of her toes. "He asked," she did her best to imitate Ash, "if you and I could go 'together.'" Bonnie managed to put just enough emphasis on the word so that everyone but Ash realized its significance, then gleefully laughed, raising her tiny hands in the air between her, Ash and Serena in a tiny victory celebration. "You are 'going out' with him like you wanted." she whispered and nudged Serena, who blushed heavily. Clemont clamped his hand over her mouth and didn't let her finish her sentence, but Ash had heard it.
Clemont sighed, telling his sister "how many times do I have to tell you not to do that?" Serena blushed something fierce, as Bonnie cackled with glee.
"So...are we all going as friends?" Serena finally asked to break the tension. "Sounds fun!" she finished.
"Uh...no." Ash responded slowly but quietly, as he took her hand in his slowly.
"W-What?" Serena squeaked. Her face instantly heated up and touches of pink dotted her cheeks, feeling both embarrassed, and guilty. She was thinking she didn't understand what Ash meant.
"Actually I was thinking, that we could go." Ash said, with emphasis on the word 'we,' and pointed to himself and Serena.
"Y-you mean, j-just us? Just you and me?" Serena breathed. She had been waiting for Ash to take an interest, and this was more than unusual for Ash. He seemed to be put off, even downright nervous.
Ash confirmed her question with an answer. "Yes. Just us." Again with the emphasis on we and us. What was with him today?
He wasn't overly excited, but he had an interested glint in his eyes, something that Serena could've sworn was not there before. She couldn't remember when there wasn't a light in his eyes, but she could never remember when this kind of light had shown in his eyes before today. She was always comforted by his eyes. They were warm and safe, just like his personality. She loved them just as much as she loved him.
"Serena?" It was Ash again, interrupting her thoughts. "Everything alright?" Serena realized she had blanked out and apologized. "Yeah, sorry for spacing out. I just can't wait to go with you to the Pokémon festival. It sounds great!"
Ash had begun to ramble on about why the Pokemon festival was so great and its origin story and why it was important for both himself and Serena to go to. It would help Ash in battle, and it would help along Serena's goal of ultimately becoming Kalos Queen, but more importantly, it was time spent together with Serena-
Ash stopped dead in his tracks, realizing what he had just said. He was thinking out loud and he didn't even know it, lost in a dream like state for a moment, caught himself, but it was too late for Serena not to hear it. Serena, who had been off in her dream world, realized what he had said. She was taken by surprise, completely off guard.
"W-W-WHAT?" Serena stammered, flushing a bright pink.
"Uh...yeah." Ash said. "It's important for us to spend time together, right? We spend time as a group all the time, but I rarely ever get to something fun with just you!"
"Y-you w-want to spend time w-with j-just me?" Serena stuttered, full blush appearing on her cheeks, which she tried to hide from Ash.
"Yeah! Of course I do! It'll be fun to go as a couple… of friends to this festival!"
To Serena she had just heard Ash use the word couple, when referring to the two of them. She gasped.
What Ash hasn't told Serena was that this was a couples night at the Pokemon festival. He really wanted to go, because it would help him with his training and her with her preforming, but he didn't have a partner for the evening, so Serena was the logical choice. And he was trying to make it painfully obvious why he wanted to go. It was for her, after all. Again Ash had spoken the last part aloud, without meaning to.
Serena flushed bright pink, "you wanted to go the festival...for me? To help me out in my contest preparations?" She marveled at him. He was so caring and such a brilliant person.
"Uh..." Ash mumbled, looking down at his shoes.
"So cute!" Shrieked Bonnie.
"Bonnie! I told you a million times not to do that!" Clemont sternly told his younger sister.
Serena could sense he was uncomfortable.
"S...so why are just you inviting me, Ash?"
"Actually, Serena, the reason I invited you is because it's couples night at the Pokemon festival." Ash finally sighed, face full flush. He was sweating, and had to mop his brow with his hat. Serena was full on ruby red now, her heart racing at 1000 beats per minute, it felt like.
"Y-you want u...us to go...as a c-couple?" She stuttered out, clutching her blue ribbon on her chest.
"Yeah. I mean, if you want to. I think it would be really nice if we went together." Ash said, lowering his voice so it was barely audible to Bonnie and Clemont. Serena's eyes went wide with shocked elation.
"Serena," Ash paused. He got down on one knee, and a huge smile appeared on his face.
"A-Ash? W-What are you...uh...d-doing?" Serena blushed an even deeper red if that was possible. He laughed at himself displaying the knightly gesture of affection. He took her hands in his, and said "Serena, will you do me the honor of being my date for the Pokemon festival?"