Author's note (2014): I'm pretty surprised that I wrote something like this. I may be weird, but I'm definitely not a Christmas person. And I'm even more surprised that I like this fic a lot!
This is based on the Pokémon Christmas Bash CD (you may even find some borrowed lyrics), and dedicated for my own precious little poké freak, Kurttu.

Note: I'm not very active here and all my texts are NOT posted in here. To see my full archive, visit retafics .blogspot .com (remove the blanks).

Maybe This Christmas...

"Oh boy, this party sure is crowded!"

Pikachu let out a cheerful 'pi-ka' on Ash's shoulder. Ash looked around the house with a wide smile on his face. There was practically everyone spending time in Ketchum's residence. He saw his mother walking from a guest to guest, serving food and talking in her typical friendly manner. She was sure enjoying the party she had arranged together with professor Oak.

Ash wandered around, greeting the people he already knew and some he hadn't met before; the obvious case was that when professor Oak was arranging this party, there was a lot of Poké people invited, even professionals. Ash was interested in them, of course, but somehow he just didn't want to stay in one place for too long. He felt weird inside – a nice, warm feeling, although it made him overly energetic to stand still for too long. Maybe it was just the happiness of Christmas time that glowed out of everyone here.

Maybe this Christmas...

He shook his head to get rid of the idea that was constantly breaking into his mind. Pikachu turned his head and peeped questioningly.

"Better not to get too high hopes", he said, more to no-one – or himself – than Pikachu.

Misty opened the backdoor and peeked out. "Brock?"

The brunet boy was sitting on the stairs, head down, staring at his shoes that were glimmering from the snow. Misty stepped outside closed the door so the winter cold wouldn't freeze all of the people in the house. "What's wrong? Aren't you having a good time?"

Brock was sitting still. "S-sure, Misty..."

"Then, come back inside and join the party", she suggested.

Brock sighed, still not raising his head. "I will in a second."

Misty stepped a little closer to him, now worried. "Brock, are you... crying...?"

Brock immediately wiped his eyes with his gloves. "No, it's just... cold out here, and I..."

Misty sat down next to him. "And you what?"

They sat there for a while, totally quiet. The music and the bubbling speech could be heard but it felt like the party was somewhere far.

"I miss Pewter City", Brock said with a low, choked voice.

"Where is he?"

Ash felt irritated. There was a certain someone he wanted to see and talk to. Now that they had finally become something like friends – with their usual verbal fights at times, of course – the boy was becoming more and more interesting in Ash's eyes. He had hung around with him for his whole life, and still he was yet getting to know him now. It was crazy. And fascinating.

Not to mention the weird vibes Ash had constantly been getting when he was thinking about what could come up when their trust became deeper. He couldn't actually recognize those vibes; he hadn't felt like that before, and it was still something really familiar.

Or well, there was a theory. He had thought about it like once – it was too odd, to think that he might maybe have a little, just a little crush on another boy. So he had pushed the idea away and forced it to stay off his mind. It was enough that it was a boy he was thinking about – he was also his biggest rival!

"Damn that Gary."

But then there were those weird moments when Ash wasn't too concentrated and his mind started to flow around by itself and give him some absent thoughts. Like, for example, maybe this Christmas I just might...

No.

But still – maybe?

"So, in the end, we're on the same boat", Misty said at the end of their conversation.
"Yeah." Brock smiled a little too.

Without doing a common decision, they both stood up exactly the same time, facing each other. Misty noticed the atmosphere had suddenly become different; more sensitive, a little bit awkward, but not too much. It felt like they had some kind of... connection.

She looked away until Brock gravely whispered: "Thanks, Misty."

She raised his head and looked at Brock. The boy didn't look like his normal strong, confident self. He had opened himself to Misty in a new way. He was so hurtful right now Misty almost felt a bit scared.

Brock leant forward to catch Misty for a hug. It surprised the girl – when had she last hugged Brock? She slowly lifted his hands to take a grip of the boy's back to hug him back.

They stood there for an eternity, holding each other.

"You fit in my arms pretty well", Brock whispered absently.

Misty's heart started to race. "Brock..."

"Uh, I mean..." Brock mumbled and let go of the girl. He didn't have the words – he just gasped for air, trying to say something. But Misty's ocean green eyes were drowning him.

Brock pushed his nervousness away by force and laughed a little when asking: "Why aren't we two going out already?"

Misty smiled. "Because we need each other as best friends. We have to be the ones to take care of Ash."

It might've been her imagination, but for a moment it looked like Brock's expression changed a little. Then the boy was acting like himself again. "You're right. Now, let's go inside before we freeze in here."

"Yeah."

"Enjoying the party, Ashy-boy?"

Ash turned around and saw Gary standing there, leaning against the door frame, grinning.

This isn't my heart racing like a maniac, Ash swore in his mind.

"I almost thought you didn't come here", he said nervously, laughing a little.

"Of course I came."

During the small pause Ash's mind gave him a thousand different interpretations of Gary's expression, before the boy continued his sentence.

"I mean, this party is a big one. I had to see it."

"Y-yeah... It's nice to meet this much people at once", Ash said. "Are you having a good time?"

Gary looked around and answered with his usual lazy, a bit arrogant tune. "I guess this is okay."

Then both of them just stared at their toes. Ash desperately tried to come up with something to talk about, but his mind felt like it was full of snow. All blank white and frozen.

"So –" they both started up at the same time.

"Yes?" Ash asked, feeling awkward.

"Are you going to stay here for a whole evening?" Gary asked.

Ash looked at him in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, it would be nice to... get out of here for a while. There's so much people it's tiring me up."

"Umm." Ash glanced at his mother, who was now talking with Nurse Joy at the kitchen door. "Well, mom probably wants me to stay here."

"You don't have to tell her", said Gary. "C'mon, mama's boy."

"I'm hungry. I want to at least eat something first."

Gary sneered. "Sissy."

That was it. Ash looked at Gary with annoyed face, ready to pick up a fight. He was interrupted before he could say a word.

"Hi Ash!"

Ash turned his head to see the orange-haired girl walking towards them. "Oh, hi, Misty."

"Great party, huh?" the girl showed him her friendliest smile. The light flush on her cheeks made Ash somewhat suspicious.

"Yeah", he said, reflexively lifting his hand to pet Pikachu. "We were just going to get something to eat."

They continued the talk for a while, Gary participating in it with just a few words. Suspicion didn't leave Ash. But he had some more important stuff to do, so he couldn't stay there and think about Misty's weirdness.

"Misty, by the way, do you know where Brock is?" he asked – hoping in his mind he could lead the conversation so Misty would go and spend time with Brock, and Ash could continue his unfinished business with Gary.

For a second the girl almost looked like she was going to spill out some drink from his glass. Then she laughed nervously. "A-ha-ha, how would I know? I mean, he's probably somewhere... hunting Officer Jenny or something."

"You're right", Ash mumbled absently. "Well, maybe I'll just have to leave that subject for later and go..."

"Go?" Misty asked curiously. "Where are you going?"

"Uh – nowhere."

"C'mon, Ash, I see right through you. Are you going to go somewhere? With who?"

Ash slowly started to panic. "It's n-nothing! And besides, it wasn't my idea!"

Misty gasped. "There you go, revealing yourself. Well, it isn't my business if you're going to have a secret date with some girl in the neighborhood."

Ash blushed deeply. "I'm not!"

Well, at least that was true.

Misty looked at him sharply. "What a bad boy you are. You should really stay here with us..." She leant closer. "With me, maybe."

Ash looked at Misty in confusion. "W-what are you –"

Then he finally realized what was so weird of Misty. "Are you drunk?"

"N-no, I don't think so", said Misty, giggling. "Or well, I'm not sure. I may be. A little."

"My mom may not like it that you're drinking the wine they meant for the older people", said Ash.

"Mama's boy", Misty sneered.

Ash couldn't believe that two people had already called him that during the same evening.

"C'mon, Ash, we are almost adults", Misty complained. "And I swear I haven't drunk a lot. I'm sure you would drink a little as well if Delia wasn't around. She'd have a heart attack, I know that."

"Uhmm", Ash managed to say as his objection. "Well."

"He's so awfully kind", Misty smirked for Gary.

"An angel", Gary added.

Ash's cheeks turned more and more red. "Shut up, you two."

Misty happened to look up above the point he was standing on with Ash. "By the way..." She turned her gaze back to Ash and gave him a grin. "Did you realize we're standing under the mistletoe?"

"H-huh?" Ash raised his head and saw the plant set on hanging from the ceiling.

Okay, now he really had a reason to panic. A drunken girl was flirting with him – in front of Gary.

He yelled out, turned around and pushed Gary to move towards the backdoor. "Let's go, now!"

"Umm, Brock – Ash just ran out of the house with Gary."

"With Gary?"

"Yeah. Isn't it strange? If they're fighting again –"

Brock just smiled. "I knew it."

"Huh? What is it, Brock?"

"Nothing. Boys' stuff."

Misty stared at Brock, feeling irritated, but couldn't make Brock tell her anything more.

Boys' stuff?

Gary let out a loud laughter as soon as they were off the Ketchum's garden. "Jeez, you should've seen your face!"

Ash stopped running and turned to Gary. "Shut up! That was horrible!"

"Was that a first time having a girl flirting with you?" Gary asked, wiping tears of laughter off his eyes.

Ash blushed. "Uh... That was... just so..."

"Scared of girls?" Gary grinned.

"No!" yelled Ash. "Misty was just behaving so weirdly. She wasn't her normal self."

"Well, she had gotten a little courage from the wine", Gary said and laughed again.

Ash stayed quiet, trying to put his scarf better on him. He had only managed to quickly catch his jacket, scarf and cap from the coat rack before running out, followed by Gary.

"So, you do have guts to run away from your mom's party, huh?" Gary gave him a slope smile when they started walking along the snowy road.

"That was an emergency", said Ash. "But I would've come anyway... at some point."

"As I said – scared of girls."

"Won't you shut up already!"

Neither one of them suggested a destination, but somehow they both knew where they were going. Ash panted out when they were finally there – on the highest hill of Pallet Town. They looked down at the town, catching their breaths after the hasty climb.

"Pallet is beautiful when it's dark", Ash said quietly.

"Yeah."

"I've missed this place."

"Me too."

Ash looked at Gary carefully. Had the boy meant this certain spot or the whole town? Because –

"You remember when we were kids and always came here to play?" Gary said.

Ash smiled sadly. "You read my mind."

Then they were silent for a moment, watching at the lights at Ketchum's residence. Delia had put some extra Christmas lights on the roof so the house really stood up on the view.

"When we were here..." Gary bent down to gather some snow on his bare hands, "we use to have awesome snowball fights."

"Are you challenging me?" asked Ash, who had already gotten excited.

"Yep."

Then there was the first snowball, which Ash could barely avoid. He groped some snow and threw it towards Gary, who jumped back and attacked too.

After only a few minutes they both were screaming and laughing like they hadn't ever had such fun. It wasn't the fight itself, it was the feeling. It was like they had returned to the childhood.

Surprisingly, this time the fight ended with Gary being tackled down on his back by Ash, who was pushing him down with his other hand and threatening him with a handful of snow with the other.

"Okay, okay", Gary pacified, "let's cut it off. My hands are probably going to drop off because of the cold."

Ash nodded, out of breath again. "Mine too. Damn, we've gotten old. This is so weird."

"How come?" asked Gary, looking up to Ash.

Suddenly something in Gary's expression was different. Ash blinked for a while before answering: "W-we can't even have snowball fights the old way."

Without it to lead on unwelcomed thoughts because of sitting on top of you, my hands on your chest and my hips against your –

Ash stood up quickly. "Umm. So. I won."

"I guess", Gary sneered, getting up lazily.

"Should we head back now? We're going to become icicles here with these wet clothes and all."

"Sure. Through the woods."

"Woods?" Ash repeated. "But there's dark at winter."

"Scared of girls and darkness?"

The tease worked like it always did. In five minutes they were paddling on the snow between the big spruces, trying to find their old pathways. They had had that habit to climb up to the hill straightly and return using the complicated path through the woods – it was much harder, but that was what made it so fun.

"Aagh, where are you? I can't see a thing!" Ash complained when they had wandered around for a while.

"Just follow me", said Gary, "I think I remember the path."

Ash stared at the darkness closely and recognized Gary's character standing there. "Damn, this forest is so thick..."

"Moron..."

Then Ash felt a tug on his scarf.

"This way."

Ash was pulled forth. He almost lost his balance. "Ouch! Careful –"

"You're completely hopeless! Come here."

Then Ash felt Gary letting go of his scarf and taking a hold on his hand instead.

Ash couldn't help it – he blushed immediately. Thank God it was so dark in there.

They waded through the woods. It took a lot longer than climbing up to the hill, and the darkness slowly started to fade when the town came closer. When they finally made it, their shoes were thoroughly wet because of the snow – but at least Ash's left hand and Gary's right were a little bit warmer. They stopped at the edge of the forest and glanced at each other.

Not until then they finally realized they were still holding hands. They both pulled away in the same time, turning their gazes and tried to act normally – though at least Ash failed with it majorly.

"It's starting to snow", said Gary.

Ash looked up to the sky and noticed the same. Then he tentatively glanced at Gary.

With his face up towards the sky, lightened by the street lamp, and with the snow slowly falling around him – Gary looked mesmeric.

"Gary..."

At the same second the other boy turned his head to look at Ash, he realized he didn't have anything to say.

"What?" Gary asked.

"Uh – I don't know."

"Oh?"

Ash was waiting for an irritating grin from Gary, but the boy's face was calm and... somehow soft.

And so, they just stared at each other under the streetlight and the falling snow. Ash couldn't decide if his heart was bumping rapidly or skipping beats.

"We've begun to get along pretty well", Gary finally said.

"Yeah."

Gary smirked. "Do you still hate me?"

"N-no", Ash muttered. "Not really. Or, kind of."

"What do you mean?" Gary took one step closer.

Ash turned his head and tried to say something, anything, but his voice was getting lost. "Well, I still consider you as my rival, and..."

Ash fell silent.

Then the earlier thought of his came up again. Maybe this Christmas...

"In the other hand I kind of like you", he mumbled.

Gary sneered. "Tell me something I don't know."

Ash looked up at Gary, shocked. "What – have you –"

"You're pretty easy to read, Ashy-boy", said Gary. "Even now you have a pretty clear blush on your face, you know?"

Ash felt embarrassed. "Ngh."

"It's kind of amusing how you act just normally towards me until you remember you've gotten a crush on me and start to panic."

"I haven't gotten a crush", Ash denied. "I just –"

"You just happen to like me?" Gary asked, taking the last step towards Ash until he was almost against him.

Ash couldn't even nod. He was totally frozen – literally, as well, but now it spread into his mind as well.

Why did Gary have to have that irritating, but undeniably attractive little smirk on his face? And just why did Gary have to lean his body against his, sending those warm waves all over him?

Before thinking what he was doing, Ash stood up on his tiptoes, brought his cold hands up on Gary's cheeks and pulled the boy against his lips.

Gary answered the kiss slowly, almost lazily. Ash felt his head starting to spin immediately, no, it was his whole body – he couldn't decide if he wanted to keep kissing like this, gently, or deepen the kiss so it'd become more passionate.

So he pulled back. "I – uh..."

Gary smiled a little. "So I was right."

"Shut up", Ash said.

Gary kissed him again.

The welcoming wasn't too warm.

"Where have you two been?" Delia asked warningly.

Ash grinned sheepishly to his mother. "We were just walking around."
"And you've got your clothes all soaked! What did you do, have some snowball fights again?"

The boys burst into laughter. "Well, yeah."

"You burdensome kids", Delia shook his head. "Now hurry up and change your clothes, both of you. You're going to get pneumonia."

When the door of Ash's room was closed after them, Ash turned around to face Gary and sighed. "Jeez, mom is so overprotective."

"Borrow me some clothes", Gary demanded. "She's right, we're so going to catch a cold."

"No we aren't, if we warm up properly", Ash said.

So, after changing, they were sitting on Ash's bed, wrapped in the same blanket and both having a cup of hot chocolate in their hands, staring at the TV in front of them.

"I'm starting to feel my fingertips", Gary said.

"I know the feeling. I just remembered I have toes", Ash added.

Then they just watched the TV quietly, drinking the chocolate as if they hadn't had anything to drink for ages. The party was still going on downstairs, but they wanted to stay away at least for a moment.

When Gary was finished, he replaced his cup with Ash's hand under the blanket.

Ash turned his head to look at him. "You know, I thought you'd laugh at me."

"Why the heck would I do that?" Gary smirked. "I think you're cute when you're trying to deny the obvious facts."

Ash looked at him in confusion. "You called me cute. That's gross."

"Well, I'm sorry, you slowpoke."

"That's better", Ash laughed.

After a while they totally forgot the TV. It was just them alone, the growing warmness and their inexperienced but enthusiastic lips.

"This is really helpful to get our blood running faster", Gary uttered a laughter. "It's getting warm."

Ash giggled. "Yeah, yeah. That's a pretty poor excuse."

"Don't you start arguing with me, pinhead."

"Just watch me, twat."

"What do you mean I shouldn't go and bother them? They were just going to change. They should already be here."

"Misty, just forget them. I think they don't need us."

"But what if –"

"Misty."

"Brock, is there something I'm not aware of? Recently I've often felt like you and Ash are keeping secrets from me."

"I think he's going to tell you when the time comes. Just don't go upstairs right now."

"Why?!"

"Because."

"By the way, Ashy-boy... Merry Christmas."

"You too, jerk."