I started this oneshot for a New Year three years ago - and only now managed to finish it, woops! Anyway, I wondered if I should post this right away or tomorrow, but after seeing the terrible lack of Palletshipping I decided to post this immediately, screw the mistakes! 8) (No, sorry for all the possible typos, the more I write the blinder I become) Enjoy some smol Palletship boys and the cuteness!

It was a big splash of colors across the pitch black sky that finally shut Ash up. The little boy's eyes widened and made him resemble a human form of a Magikarp, the sparkler forgotten in his tiny hands. For a moment he could have sworn the firework had resembled a Pokémon, although he couldn't figure out its name, or where he had seen a picture of it. A Staryu? No, Staryu had only four — no, five — appendages…

Another loud bang, followed by a bunch of colors, and this time in a shape of another Pokémon — same Charmander he had in his pajamas. The fire starter lighted the sky for a few seconds, colors reflecting on the fresh snow, before dying down almost as fast as it had sprang to life. Ash gasped sharply as the fading lights fell, excitement possessing every cell in his young body. He jumped up and down, thinking of catching the sparkles in his hands, beamed and fussed at his mother and if she had seen the Pokémon on the sky, too, and if there were going to be more—!

Unfortunately his friend wasn't sharing his excitement as Gary was looking at him rather frustrated, clutching his own sparkler. Ash had made such a hassle over getting to light his sparkler first — Gary finally giving in after a rather heated squabble – and now Ash didn't even seem to be interested anymore. At this rate, they were going to stand here on next New Year, too, the boy thought…

Gary then huffed loudly before poking Ash with his woolly-gloved hand.

"Do you light it or not?" he asked. At first Ash didn't seem to hear, but then turned to stare at him with fluttering, confused eyes.

"Light what?"

Oh for the love of..!

"Your sparkler, dummy! You wanted to be first!"

It took few seconds for his words to sink in, before the raven-haired boy remembered the little stick in his hands, and why they had gathered around the candle in the first place.

"Oh yeah! Yeah, I want!" He quickly shoved the head of the sparkler into the flame – only to retreat in awe as another blast of fireworks filled the sky, the sparkler slipping from the candle. Gary gave out a frustrated growl before boldly stepping next to his friend and setting his own sparkler in the flame of the candle. This, however, quickly shook Ash awake from his trance.

"No, wait—! Gary, I want to be first! You promised!"

"You are too slow", snapped Gary as he tried to keep Ash from pushing his sparkler away. "You are just looking fireworks instead of doing this!"

"No, I don't look anymore, Gary, please lemme—!"

For the second time Gary backed away with a sigh; Ash was only five years old, he told himself, and as the older one he should show good example to him and behave – older were smarter, after all. Or at least that's what his grandfather constantly kept reminding him of…

They both stared at the sparkler with silent excitement; Ash was biting his lower lip in an impatient anticipation, while Gary kept adjusting his eye protectors and waiting for the first sparks to fly. Seconds went by and when the stick showed no signs of life, Ash gave out an annoyed huff and turned to his mother.

"Mommy, it doesn't work!" he cried out. Delia, who had been watching over them for the whole day, smiled gently and swept aside few bangs from her son's face.

"It will, sweetie, you just have to wait for a bit longer. Some sparklers take their time to catch fire."

And not before long the boys' excited shrieks pierced the air as the stick started sparkling with a hissing noise. Ash quickly drew it away from the candle (while Gary hurried to stick his own in) and stared at it with his mouth open in awe; he held it in the air like a magic wand and waggled around, completely dazed by the sparks flying in every direction. It was like a continuous little firework.

Another hissing sound gave away that Gary's sparkler had caught fire, too. At first Ash hardly paid any attention as felt his own excitement increase with every move of his arm, noticing how the sparkler was leaving a faint trail in the air. Yet soon enough he caught a glimpse of his older friend who was swaying the stick with much more controlled strokes, as if this was a part of everyday routine. Gary was forming letters, creating a cycle and then slashing across it, before moving onto others patterns that, at least in his mind, resembled pokémon. Ash eyed him for a moment and then hurried to copy his movements.

It was almost like using a pen, no matter the trails faded away almost immediately. Ash filled the air with supposed-to-be Charmander and Snorlax, tried to write his own name, pretended it was a bright firefly and ran around with it – oh, he thought he could never get enough.

Thus it was no surprise when the sparkler flamed out, Ash pouted in a brief disappointment and hurried to get another one from his mother, who had promised two for each boy. The darkness on the yard was kept away for another good moment, and when finally the last sparks faded into the air, both children were left with puffy breathing and satisfied smiles.

The fireworks in turn didn't show any signs of dying down, as the bangs and flashes danced over all Pallet Town. Delia and the boys kept watching at them for another while, before something moved in the back of Ash's mind and took a form of a memory about what his mother had said earlier that evening…

"Mommy, can we go to your restoorant ("Restaurant", corrected Gary) now? You promised we can get hot chocolate."

"Of course," smiled Delia, who was sure (with the strong sense of a mother) the boys were starting to feel cold no matter how they tried to hide it. And after of making sure the doors were locked, keys were with them and the boys had their gloves on, they started to make their way down the road. Ash had difficulties keeping up as he kept staring at the fireworks at the sky, but soon enough they passed the bakery and the lights of the restaurant (along with the music and people's voices) came to view.

"Ah! Mrs. Ketchum! Happy New Year!" a deep yet delighted voice cut the air. A man in his fifties, dressed in a thick brown jacket and bright purple scarf, approached them and Ash immediately recognized him as one of the restaurant's regular customers. Bobby, was it—no, Button…?

"Hello, Bernard," greeted Delia as the man reached them. "I'm guessing there haven't been any troubles?"

"Sure not, your little friends have everything going by the book. And happy New Year to you too, laddies!" Bernard grinned down at the boys, wine slightly radiating from his breath. "I see you're takin' care of Professor's boy, too."

"Yes, Professor himself had to unfortunately leave for a work trip, so I'm watching over Gary for few days," Delia explained and tried to keep her tone cheerful. She ruffled Gary's head gently, but the boy didn't seem to be shaken by the conversation. "Though he did send you a card, right?" she continued, thinking of the picture (with pink skiing Lickytung) they had attached on the fridge. "I'm sure he wants nothing but be here with you today."

"Yeah," Gary answered while nipping his gloves, "but he's gonna buy new game for me so it's okay."

Delia smiled, but in the back of her mind she reminded herself to have a little talk with Professor Oak about the limits of spoiling a child…

"Well ain't that great then," snorted Bernard. "A kid can never have enough love. I wouldn't have minded few more toys as a lad, either; my dad took me to shoot Pidgeys on Christmas instead, taught me to stuff them — that exactly wasn't the most thrilling present for a six years old kid…"

Ash had rarely paid any attention to them for a while now as he kept eyeing the people near them. His focus was especially on the two girls few feet away and even if his mom had taught him it wasn't polite to eavesdrop others, it was rather impossible not to pay attention to their loud noises and giggling.

"So, who are you going to kiss at midnight?" one of the girls asked the other. "I don't know yet," came the answer with a shrug. This seemingly didn't satisfy her friend as she huffed dramatically. "What? But you have to kiss someone at New Year, didn't you already have a plan too? Why waste a chance?!"

As the girls kept giggling and arguing Ash's eyes soon dropped to another young couple near them, lost in a moment of kiss. He listened to them wishing "Happy New Year" to each other before sharing another tender moment. Strange...

He even heard one person joking to his friend ("I hope you brought mouth water in case I have to snog with you!") and spotted a pair of older people greeting, crying out wishes before exchanging cheek kisses. Usually Ash hardly thought such things over, but now it seemed there was something else about New Year, something he had missed. And he couldn't just ignore it, gears slowly starting to move in his mind.

Either people had gone crazy, and the kisses had something contagious, or this had something to do with the New Year…

"Mommy," Ash tucked the hem of Delia's jacket, "mommy, why do people kiss at New Year?"

Delia looked a bit confused, before noticing the couple Ash was pointing at. She then gave an understanding smile and crouched down to his eye level.

"It's not mandatory, but on New Year's Eve, people tend to share kisses with each other. It's said to bring good luck — although you're supposed to do it at the stroke of midnight, so these people here are a bit early…"

Ash stared. Kissing others certainly didn't swing at the top of his list, thus he had a hard time figuring out why others were always all head over heels for it — but it seemed rather important part of New Year's tradition, that much he understood. "So, like, you kiss a people and have good luck", he concluded with a frown, "but who must you kiss?"

"Well, usually it's someone you like, but people have different tastes. Some kiss a friend, some a stranger, and some will kiss their lover—"

"Like you and dad!" Ash beamed, immediately fired up by the thought. "Did you and dad kiss too?"

Delia stiffened, her smile wavering, but she quickly got over it and answered. "Yes, I and dad used to have New Year's kisses, too..."

Ash smiled with a glow of a sun, not detecting the slight sadness in his mother's voice, and with satisfaction turned his attention once again towards the sky where fireworks kept spreading across the air every now and then. Perhaps kisses weren't that bad after all… He could kiss his mother on the cheek, to make sure she was going to have every bit of good luck in the world — yes, that would certainly make her happy.

"Well, I better not keep you here for the whole night," Bernard laughed, lifting his hat as a goodbye. "Take care, Delia, and you little lads…" And with that he was gone. Ash stared at the man's retreating back, mind still wrapped around kisses, until Gary's voice shook him from his thoughts.

"Are we going to the restaurant now?" The older boy had almost lost his hope of the noisy man ever leaving them, the cold starting to bite his toes no matter how hard he tried to hide it. This didn't go unnoticed by Delia, however, who immediately took charge of getting them inside and warm. "Ah, yes, let's go," she said as she took both boys' hands and continued their way along the street.

More fireworks, more greeting people, more kisses… Ash's head kept turning around, with a wish for at least two extra pair of eyes — handy for playing a psychic pokémon, too. Cold long forgotten, he let the smells and the atmosphere fill his senses and excite his young mind as he dragged along with his mother and Gary, who in turn had seemed rather quiet during the walk. Lights, decorations, laughter and yells coming from the restaurant only few feet away; the promise of a hot chocolate and the flavor he could almost taste in his mouth already —

"Well, by my beard, isn't it Delia!"

Another man approached them, and Ash could hear Gary giving out a quiet snarl next to him.

"Hello, Travis…" Delia flashed a warm smile, determined to get rid of the man as quickly and politely as possible. "We were just heading inside for—"

"Ah, yes, quite a fuss around her', eh? Must be golden to own a restaurant at such busy night, eh? I just said to this man named Billy that—"

Gary bit his lip and dropped his gaze at his shoes. At this rate they were indeed never going to get inside, with the people popping up from every bush and corner. Gary had never been rather fond of drunken people — wherever he had visited with his grandfather — and intrusive, pushy drunken persons were certainly at the bottom of his list right next to broccoli and plushies falling under bed at night.

He kicked a hump of snow, feeling Ash's gaze at him. The more he listened to the babbling of the man, the more the irritation was creeping along his nerves; he couldn't help it — why couldn't these people just leave them alone? Just move your feet and walk away, simple. It was always the same with grandfather, Gary thought, as everyone and their namesakes wanted to inevitably shake his hand, tell their life stories and hear of the glorious inventions of the science world over and over again as if they had nothing better to do in their life...

And the more he found himself cursing the intrusive man, the more he thought about his grandfather in turn, and how he wasn't there with him, instead doing work in far away, and —

Whether it was again the sense of mother, or the way Gary's grip tightened in her hand, Delia knew she had to act immediately. Cutting out the man's monologue with a rather strict "Happy New Year" she took hold of the boys again and tucked them towards the door, not slowing down until they were welcomed by the warmth of the cozy restaurant. Ash let out an excited breath, imagining if it'd have felt the same to step into a Charizard's cave — not to forget the hot chocolate he almost tasted already.

"Come along," Delia led them behind the counter and to the backrooms. Helping the boys out of their winter clothing (or more like picking up the pieces Ash threw on the floor in his excitement) she not before long made their way back to the dining hall, trying to keep the small boys close to herself and out of under others' feet. They settled down on the more peaceful part of the counter, workers around them busy with serving the happy, noisy and enthusiastic customers as both pies and beer flowed from the kitchen.

As Delia turned to ask one of her colleagues for three cups of hot chocolate, the little boys focused their attention on the bubbly hall. Ash was drumming his hands against the counter, his chipper spirit easily affected by the joyful atmosphere; Gary in turn seemed still rather quiet, nor was his dislike for drunken people faded anywhere. But he had to admit that they didn't feel that bad now that the boys were — besides people focusing their attention to each other — surrounded by the cozy restaurant and laughter.

"I'm gonna stay up all night!" Ash happily huffed next to him. "Yeah, right," Gary snorted. "You fall over after one cup of chocolate, lazybum."

"Am not!" Ash argued. "I'm gonna stay up til mornin'! You — you are a lazybum!"

Gary merely pouted and turned his eyes away. "Whatever," he grunted. He wasn't up for arguing with Ash again, and definitely not up for any lectures Delia might then give them. He just wanted to be left alone, just like his parents and grandpa had left him.

Soon Ash's delighted yells pierced the air as Delia brought the cups of chocolate and served them for each boy. "Be careful now, they're hot," she warned as Ash hurried to grab his cup. "I know, I know," the small boy frowned before blowing eagerly on the chocolate. Gary followed the example and carefully blew on his own, before taking a small sip. He had to admit, the hot drink lifted his spirits quite a bit and even if he felt still gloomy, the whole ordeal didn't seem so unpleasant anymore.

They listened to the customers around and the noises of fireworks outside, drinking the chocolates and when Ash eventually managed to spill some onto his shirt, Gary even gave a small laugh. Even if watching Delia try to clean Ash's shirt reminded him how much he missed his own mother, and how lucky kid Ash was.

Sometimes, the world felt rather unfair...

It was half an hour and another cup of hot chocolate later that the packs of people started moving outside, ready to greet the new year with only ten minutes remaining till midnight. Delia ushered the little boys, who had been munching gingersnaps, to get dressed again, and after making sure both children had their woolly socks on and no need for bathroom, they followed others outside. Feeling the cold air against cheeks once more, it drove away any drowsiness that Ash had felt inside. He hopped up and down besides Delia and Gary, eager for the last big show of fireworks and whatever pokémon they might form. He hoped he'd see a Blastoise — no, a Charizard! Or perhaps the pokémon Gary had in his pajamas, an Arce... Arcana, no, Arcanio — well, whatever that big dog pokémon was called.

A few minutes of buzzed, excited waiting and then, finally, the first marvelous fireworks flew up into the sky and exploded into giant bursts of colors and loud bangs. Followed immediately by more, they made the earlier single shots seem rather tame. To Ash's joy few of the big ones were pokémon indeed, as they formed patterns of Poliwag, Rhydon and others the little boy couldn't name. He jumped up and down, cried out in delight and clapped his hands together — it was all way better than he had expected. Next to himself Ash could hear Delia laughing happily.

Few of the people around were counting, seconds going down one by one until the clock struck midnight and the group burst into cheers and wished happy New Year to everyone around. People who had stayed indoors were toasting their drinks and admiring the fireworks behind the windows as the colorful blasts lit up the small yet lively Pallet Town. Some were exchanging kisses while others shook hands, and few pokémon had gathered among their trainers to enjoy the enormous fireworks. Like every year, it was a lively, joyful moment.

Gary however didn't feel like sharing the excitement of others. Even as beautiful and big the fireworks were, they didn't have him jump in joy and cheer his throat sore. They didn't cover up the fact his grandpa wasn't there with him, but instead had chosen his work. Like before. It had been so expected that Gary felt hurt and angry even at himself, for not demanding more fiercely the professor to stay and make this time different. So he watched them silently, biting his muffler in thought with his hands inside pockets and recognizing from the patterns the pokémon grandpa had in his lab. To his own pride, Gary could name all of them.

So inside his gloomy thoughts he was, that he hadn't noticed Ash quietly staring him. After eagerly wishing his mother a happy new year Ash had then turned to Gary for the same thing, but when the response had been rather tame he had against all odds calmed down and instead shifted his focus to Gary next to him. Ash had never been known for being exactly most aware of other's feelings, but his loved ones having a bad time, that wasn't something to go unnoticed by him either. While Delia admired the fireworks, Ash stood still and studied the quiet figure next to him. Gary had been acting gloomy all evening, he had noticed, and even if Ash's wasn't exactly sure why, he at least knew he didn't want to leave Gary sulk alone. That's wasn't something for a friend to do, he concluded to himself. He didn't want Gary to feel sad or lonely. Gary deserved to be happy as well — he deserved all the good luck in the world.

So without further thinking the small boy took a few steps forward and leaned to gently kiss Gary on the cheek. Gary's reaction was mix of shock and surprise; his eyes widened and he quickly took a step back, turning to his friend with a dumbfound look. For a few seconds he watched Ash as if the other had grown another head.

"Wha — why did you do that?!" he then questioned. Ash frowned, he didn't understand what Gary was after. He obviously had wanted to cheer him up, give him good luck just like mom had advised. "It's a New Year kiss!" he huffed to explain. "It'll give you good luck."

"But you kissed me!"

"Duh! Of course. I said it's a kiss—"

"But we're both boys!" Gary furrowed his brows when Ash clearly didn't seem to understand the matter at hand. "Boys can't kiss each other! Only boys and girls kiss."

"What, why not? Who said that?" Ash demanded, looking less and less satisfied. This certainly wasn't having the result he'd hoped for. Why did the other have to make everything always so complicated?

"Well, only boys and girls kiss on television," Gary explained. "And in books too. So… It's not okay."

"That's stupid," Ash pouted, not understanding the reasoning behind Gary's logic at all. But as he had seemingly upset Gary, he wasn't going to fight over the matter. "I'm sorry," he then muttered. "I just wanted to make you happy. Mommy said people kiss at New Year to give others good luck, and I wanna give you good luck too."

Gary looked rather taken aback, his mouth slightly open yet no words coming out. He hadn't expected Ash to try cheer him up, honestly he hadn't expected Ash to even notice at all. And yet he had somehow helped Gary forget his loneliness for a quick second. "Okay…" the boy lamely responded to his hands as he nipped his gloves. "It's just weird..."

Ash nodded and turned away, directing his eyes up at the fireworks again. He felt Delia move behind him, as if she didn't know whether to interfere or not. Truth to be told she had noticed the boys debating, but had decided to act only in case a fight ensued. Ash kept watching the colors above, even if the excitement from earlier was gone. Feeling bad for not being able to cheer Gary up, and apparently upsetting him more as well, he thought the New Year didn't seem as fun and magical anymore. Gary's sadness hovered over him like a heavy weight and enjoying the party while his friend didn't, that didn't seem right. Ash had wanted to have fun together, like before — forever, he silently wished.

As the fireworks went on he felt Gary hesitantly move beside him, fidgeting forth and back, then taking a step — and the next thing Ash knew was touch of something warm and moist against his cheek as Gary leaned to give him a kiss. It was quick, tender and rather sloppy, and ended before Ash had fully even registered what had occurred. Gary quickly drew back and kept his eyes at his hands, feeling both nervous and proud at the same time as he refused to meet Ash's gaze.

Ash blinked, his mind utterly confused by this act of contradiction. But before he could gather his focus he heard Gary give a warm response.

"Happy New Year."

They were silent for a few seconds before Ash grinned in delight and eagerly wished his best friend a happy New Year as well. They spent the rest of the fireworks quietly admiring them side by side, both glowing with poorly contained happiness.

And fifteen years later, as Ash wrapped his hands around Gary's neck while the other embraced his waist and leaned down to bring him closer — as they happily dived into a kiss all while the others around them were counting seconds to midnight — Ash thought to himself that yes, perhaps New Year kisses weren't bad after all...

Happy New Year 2016 to all of you! I wish this year will be better for everyone :3