Chapter Two! And here I thought this would never come to be. But whenever I open my mailbox, there's an e-mail or three saying that someone has favorited this story. I beseech you, those of you who marked this story as one of your favorites: please leave a review! I really like hearing from you all, and I'm glad everyone likes this story so much. I'll do my best to keep it up, okay? ^_^ Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon, nor do I own the song that appears midway through. Ken Sugimori owns Pokemon, and Disney owns "Hellfire" from The Hunchback of Notre Dame.

Something was wrong.

Gary sat stiffly on the couch, hands wrapped around a mug of steaming cocoa. His grandfather and Tracy had gone back to the lab, claiming that they couldn't leave the pokemon alone any longer. Dawn and Brock were sitting with him on the couch, chatting about the best way to make Poffins, while Delia had retired to her bedroom after cautioning them not to stay up too late and insisting that Gary stay the night.

Ash hadn't shown himself since the mistletoe incident. He had retired to his room, complaining of a stomach ache.

'Bull,' Gary thought, staring down at his dull reflection in the brown liquid, broken up by gooey islands of white marshmallows. 'He's still feeling weird about the kiss. Was that really his first?' Gary had a hard time believing that. Ever since Ash had started his journey, he'd been traveling with a girl who'd had an obvious crush on him. First it was Misty, then that May girl he'd been told about, and now Dawn. All three, from everything he'd seen -- or, in May's case, heard -- obviously fancied themselves in love with Ash. Then again, Ash was notoriously oblivious when it came to anything other than pokemon training. 'Even then, he can still be a bit dense,' Gary thought with a small smile. 'Still, I can't believe none of these girls have stolen a kiss from him yet. There was that incident with Latias he told me about...' That didn't count in Gary's eyes, though. In the form of a human or not, Latias was still a pokemon, when all was said and done. Ash himself hadn't even seemed all that phased, once he'd gotten over the initial surprise.

'So what's going on now?' he wondered, brows knitting together. He gave a small internal sigh and stood, setting his mug down on the table. 'I guess I'd better find out.'

"What's wrong, Gary?" Brock asked.

"Oh...I'm just a bit tired," Gary replied nonchalantly. "I think I'm going to turn in. I'm sleeping in Ash's room, right?"

Brock nodded. "Yeah, I'm in the guest room and Dawn is going to be in Mrs. Ketchum's room." Dawn giggled.

"Have fu-un in there!"

Gary barely restrained himself from rolling his eyes, instead giving a pleasant smile and making his way out of the living room, turning in the direction of Ash's room.

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The pale ceiling began to swim, and amber eyes slowly blinked, clearing the vision. They were the only muscles Ash had used since he'd retreated to his room and laid on his bed, his hands behind his head. Even his breathing was barely perceptible.

'What's wrong with me...?' he wondered glumly, letting a sigh burst from his lips. 'Bah...I need some music.' With a herculean effort, he groaned and turned over onto his stomach. His arm flopped out, catching his CD player/radio on the top. His finger gently pushed down on the 'play' button. After a few encouraging whirrs that started the CD back up from where it was, music began to play.

Like fire,

Hellfire,

This fire in my skin,

This burning,

Desire,

Is turning me to sin...

CLICK

Ash groaned softly -- it had to be the CD of Disney songs Dawn had given him as a present. He didn't even have any idea how it had gotten in there in the first place. Even worse was the song that had started playing.

Why was he so hot? He felt like his insides were no longer there, replaced by a fire only barely kept in check by the barrier of his skin. He could almost feel the flames licking at the undersides of his skin, and clenched his fists and eyes, groaning. It was bad enough to make him want to strip down and go roll around in the snow, just so he could try and cool off, but he had a dim suspicion that the snow would just melt around him from the heat. 'But oh, this is getting unbearable! It's so hot...why is it so hot? Gary...why...why do you make me feel like I'm on fire? It...it hurts...I think...but it feels...good?'

A soft knock came at his door.

"Come in."

The door opened quietly, and Gary poked his head in. "Hey Ash."

Ash winced into his pillow. "Hey Gary."

Gary slipped in, shutting the door behind him. "Hey, are you okay?"

"Yeah Gary," Ash replied in the same monotone voice. "I'm perfectly fine."

Gary sighed. "Come on, Ash, you're not fooling me. Is this about the mistletoe?"

No response.

Gary sighed. "Look, Ash...if you didn't want to do it --" He was cut off by a low mumble coming from Ash's general direction. "Pardon?"

"I...did wanna..."

Gary's eyebrows merged with his hairline. "You did?" Gary himself was amazed at how hard he had to work in order to keep his voice steady.

Ash curled up on his bed, an ashamed look reminiscent of a kicked Poochyena etched onto his face. "I...yeah...but..."

"Ash?"

Golden brown eyes slowly swiveled over to meet Gary's raven black. "What?"

Gary gave a small smile, coming over to Ash's bed and sitting next to him, placing a hand gently on his leg. "You wanna know the truth? I wanted to kiss you, too."

Ash's expression instantaneously switched from shame and defeat to something between badly confused and pure elation. "You...did?"

"Mm-hm," Gary nodded. "And you want to know something else?"

"What?"

Gary's smile morphed into a smirk and he reached over, pressing down the 'play' button on Ash's CD player/radio once again. As the song started up once more, he leaned in close and whispered, "I'd like to do it again, too. Will you let me, Ash?"

"But...we're both guys." Ash replied, sitting up and clutching his pillow in front of him. "We shouldn't be --"

"Ash, do you know how many times I've been on my grandfather's ranch, helping him out with the pokemon, only to stumble across two...er...breeding?" Gary interrupted, raising an eyebrow. "More times than I can count. And do you know what else? About half the time, it's two male or two female pokemon." Gary smiled gently. "It's perfectly natural, Ashy-boy. It's not 'wrong' or 'unnatural' -- it's love. What 'shouldn't be' is a need to justify it."

Ash's gaze turned away, looking down slightly as he hugged his pillow tighter. "But...I've never..."

"You think I have? Trust me, Ashy-boy, this is a shot out of left field for me, too." A comforting hand rested itself on Ash's shoulder; the dark-haired trainer flinched, but made no attempt to remove Gary's hand. "Think about it, Ash. Have you ever found yourself liking a girl?"

"Sure I like girls, Gary," Ash replied innocently, looking up at him. "There's Misty, and May, and Dawn...and Anabel, Angie --"

"You're missing my point, Ash." Gary said, taking Ash's chin in his hand and gently forcing the other trainer to look him in the eye. "Did you ever think you were in love with those girls?"

Ash paused, the look of shame creeping back onto his face. "N-no..." he finally admitted.

Gary put on another reassuring smile. "Ash, I'm not trying to reprimand you," he explained calmly. "I'm trying to make you see that this is okay."

Ash sighed, turning away; Gary let him go. "What will everyone say?" he muttered glumly.

Here, Gary could see Ash's concern. "Well...I don't know," he replied bluntly. "Grandpa will probably be okay...I think he's had his suspicions about me for a while, now," Gary admitted. "Tracy, I really don't think will care either way. I can't speak for Brock, Dawn, or your mother, though," he cautioned. "How do you think they'll react?"

Ash remained silent for a long time. "I...I think Brock would be ok," he finally said. "I dunno about my mom. Dawn..." He sighed. "Dawn would become our biggest fangirl."

Gary chuckled. 'Maybe I'm finally getting through to him,' he thought. "I'd have to agree with you there. But don't you see, Ash? All the people who really matter to us...they probably won't care. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that they'd all support us, no matter what."

"But Gary...I have my career as a trainer to think of, and you have yours as a researcher," Ash protested.

"What about them?" Gary asked. "There's nothing to stop you from becoming a Master if you're gay, nor me from becoming a Pokemon Professor like my grandfather." He gave a tired sigh, slumping slightly. "Ash, this can only be a good thing. Why can't you see that?"

"I'm just..." Ash sighed in reply. "I'm just not ready for a relationship, Gary. I don't know anything about being in one -- especially one with another guy."

"I'll make a deal with you then, Ash," Gary said, placing his hand once more on Ash's shoulder. "I won't say any more about this to you, I'll back off about it, until New Year's. If you decide that you want to accept this, then give me your New Year's kiss at midnight. If you decide against it..." His smile drooped slightly; it was still there, but significantly more downcast. "Then I won't press it. But the offer will always be open. Does that sound fair?"

'A kiss at midnight...on New Year's...ah, Gary, why did you have to put all the pressure of this on me? Why couldn't you just make the decisions like you always do?' "I...I guess so," Ash muttered before turning to look Gary straight in the eye. "But if I decide no..."

"Then I won't bring up the matter again," Gary finished solemnly, nodding. "We have a deal, then?" he asked, extending his hand.

Ash took it firmly. "We have a deal."

Somewhere in the house, a clock chimed midnight, and Gary sighed, dropping his hand from Ash's grip. "We should probably go to sleep."

"Yeah..."

Swiftly, before Ash could react, Gary swooped in and gently kissed his cheek. "Goodnight, Ashy-boy. Pleasant dreams."

Ash's hand clapped to his face, which was quickly becoming a shade of red similar to that it had been under the mistletoe. "Gary! You promised!"

"Relax, Ashy-boy. That'll be the only one." 'Until New Year's that is...well, hopefully.'

Thank you all for reading! Please, I'd really like to hear your feedback on this!