In the hills of Pallet Town, shouting could be heard from a trio of boys playing outside.
"No way, he's my boyfriend!"
"No way, he's mine!"
"MINE!"
"MINE!"
"OWWWW GUYS YOU'RE GONNA RIP ME IN HALF IF YOU'RE NOT CAREFUL!" Ash shouted in pain as Gary pulled on his left arm and Paul pulled on his right arm.
"Oh, sorry…" they said at the same time as they let go.
"I'm not the rope in a tug-of-war," Ash muttered as he massaged his shoulders. "And if you don't quit fighting I won't date either one of you!" He stomped off, rubbing one of his shoulders, to his house.
"Oh, hi, honey, are you playing nice with Paul and Gary?" Delia asked.
"They keep fighting over which one of them I like better. Today they nearly dislocated my shoulders," Ash said. He lifted his left arm to pick up the cup of water his mom just put in front of him and nearly screamed in pain it hurt so badly.
"Ash, are you okay?" Delia went into panic mode, rolling up Ash's sleeve to look at his shoulder, poking and prodding to see what his reactions would be.
"OW MOM, STOP!" Ash shouted, tears stinging the corners of his eyes as he realized what happened.
"Let's get you to a doctor," Delia said, a hand on Ash's back to help him stand up.
"Mom, you don't have to worry that much," Ash whined. Delia backed off a bit as they headed towards the car.
"Ash, where ya going?" Gary called when he saw them leave the house.
"To the doctor because you idiots dislocated my shoulder!" Ash shouted, wincing when the pain surged in his shoulder. He stomped off to the car and got in with a little help from Delia.
"We screwed up, didn't we?" Gary asked.
"Don't blame me. It was his left shoulder he was holding," Paul said.
"If you hadn't been pulling too his shoulder would still be fine!" Gary shouted.
"…You're right," Paul said. "We're awful people."
"We should apologize."
"Yep. It's dislocated," the doctor said after examining Ash's shoulder. "How'd this happen, son?"
"Well, there's two boys who are both trying to get me to date them, and they were fighting over me again and they pulled on my arms," Ash explained.
"Well, that'll do it."
A couple of hours and a lot of screaming later, Ash returned to his house with his arm in a sling and a glare on his face.
"Ash!"
He turned around to see Gary and Paul with their hands behind their backs obviously hiding something and apologetic looks on their faces.
"What do you want?"
"Well, Paul and I agree what we did was wrong," Gary said.
"We're sorry," Paul said, and the boys revealed flowers and a box of macarons stretched out towards the injured boy.
"You think you can butter me up after literally pulling my shoulder out of its socket?" Ash asked, a glare on his face.
"We're sorry!" Gary said, surprised the gifts didn't help sway the boy.
"Really, we are," Paul said.
"Did you learn your lesson?" Ash asked.
"Yes," Gary and Paul both said like children who'd been scolded.
"Then I forgive you both!" Ash said, a bright smile on his face.
"Really?" Gary tested.
"Yeah. I can't take both of those with just the one hand, come in and say hi to my mom," Ash said, entering the house. Gary and Paul followed suit, placing the gifts on the coffee table. Ash picked up the flowers and looked at them.
"Oh, how lovely! Flowers for my little boy! Let me get a vase for those," Delia said, turning on the sink and grabbing a vase.
"You really forgive us?" Paul asked.
"Yes, I do. As long as you stop fighting. As for whose boyfriend I am, you're just gonna have to share me," Ash said.
"Who gets him first?" Paul asked.
"Well I do, obviously!" Gary said.
"No, I do!" Paul said.
"GUYS!"