A/N: I Hope you have enjoyed the story so far and I'm starting to question how many chapter this will end up with… It shouldn't be too long I think. Maybe one or two chapters left, depending on how long I want the next chapter to be. ^^;
Warnings; MalexMale relationship. Sexual situations between two males.
Disclaimer; I don't own Pokémon or any of the characters, all I own is my own imagination.
The following day Ash awoke earlier than he would have normally, which he noticed his Pikachu had woken up around the same, it seems that he had slowly worked his way into the sleeping pattern of Pokémon who mostly woke up shortly after the sun came up, though the days on his way back to Pallet town he hadn't even noticed that he was waking up earlier each day.
As Ash got up he decided to take a walk around town with his Pikachu of course, it was pretty early so it would probably be pretty quiet anyways which at the moment was fine with him, he didn't really want people asking about his ears and tail anyways. While walking he thought about yesterday, a lot did happen after all, his mom freaking out, him explaining things to professor Oak, who had no clue when he'd go back to being normal either, then there was Gary. He wondered what his Umbreon had meant by its comment before the battle, maybe it just tried to annoy Gary before the battle or something like that, to the black-haired trainer that seemed to be the only reason he could come up with. He knew Gary wasn't like him and missed being friends when they were younger before they became rivals, though Ash had no real hope of them becoming friends like that again, It was just one wish he had that he didn't see happening.
Letting out a small sigh he continued walking through the town before heading over to professor Oak's place, he decided it was probably a good idea to tell him about how his sleeping pattern had changed without him trying to change it, and he figured Gary would be sleeping so right now would be a good time to go and talk to professor Oak. As Ash entered the lab he stopped, spotting brown hair a bit away though not facing him, The black-haired trainer wasn't sure why he had stopped he had no reason to avoid Gary or anything like that, maybe it was because he knew he really wanted to ask the other about yesterday, though he was almost sure that was a bad idea. The Pokémon master was tempted to leave but decided to speak up instead, it would be way worse if he tried to leave and then was caught leaving by his rival.
"Hey Gary, Is professor Oak up?" Ash said in the most casual tone he could muster, as he pretended to look around for professor Oak to avoid just starring his rival down and having him become curious again. Gary jumped slightly hearing Ash talk out of nowhere; he didn't even hear him come into the lab, let alone the room.
"…You sure are up early, I think he's still sleeping, he is getting old you know." Gary said while turning to face his shorter rival, being older Ash was still a tiny bit shorter than Gary but they were almost the same height now, Gary being around 5'8"- 5'9" and Ash being around 1 inch shorter now that they were both 18.
"Oh… I guess I'll come back later then." Ash said before turning automatically to leave. Gary blinked a few times, not expecting Ash to just try to leave so suddenly like that.
"What's the hurry your mom told you to go straight home or something?" The brown-haired rival said with a chuckle, Ash quickly turned back around to glare at his rival.
"No I just have no reason to wait around when he's sleeping." The black-haired trainer really didn't want to deal with this first thing in the morning, he just knew Gary was going to bug him about something.
"Well since you have nothing better to do and don't just wanna sit around waiting, how about you help me out." The brunette said with a shrug, not noticing how Ash's eyes had widened slightly.
'Did Gary just ask for my help with something?' Ash thought disbelieving to himself for a moment before he realized it could just be Gary's way of bossing him around or something.
"What kind help do you need?" Ash asked with a slightly suspicious tone, the tone made the other laugh a bit before responding.
"Nothing for you to be so suspicious of Ashy boy, it's just feeding the Pokémon out back since it is around their feeding time and gramps isn't up so I should probably get that down. It'd be faster with two people…" Gary paused for a second looking at the cat ears on Ash's head "Or well one person and one part human part Pokémon person."
"Sure! I don't mind, I'll get to see some of my Pokémon as well." Ash said in an excited tone, quickly forgetting any suspicion he had, and even the fact that Gary had called him part human. Gary laughed and led the way towards the back, finding it amusing how child-ish the 18-year-old still was at times. As they went outside they started on the side opposite of Ash's Pokémon, which Gary planned to claimed was because of him wanting to make Ash have to wait to see his Pokémon again, when in reality it would just be easier to end there so his rival could spend some time with his Pokémon after helping him finish.
"Why can't I just see my Pokémon first, you just want them to be hungriest the longest..." Ash said in a tone that had a bit of a pout to it, his cat ears doing down slightly at the same time without the trainer noticing. Though it didn't go unnoticed by his rival who wasn't sure if he should laugh and point it out or if he found it to be oddly cute in some way.
'Oddly cute… damnit, I already decided not to think of Ash that way.' Gary thought to himself shaking his head, forgetting to reply to his rival for a moment.
"If that's not the reason then what is?" The cat eared trainer asked, taking the head shake from the other trainer as a no in response to his earlier question.
"Because I decided it was best for you to have to see your Pokémon again, Ashy boy." Gary said with a wink, which was accompanied by the smirk he knew Ash probably hated.
"Whatever let's just get this over with…" Ash said in a mumble as he started pulling out the food for the Pokémon they were closest too, trying his best to ignore his rival for the most part. Said Rival shook his head at himself as he started to feed the Pokémon the food Ash had taken out, he really didn't know why Ash started to hate his smirk so much it was the one he used most around the other. He had started to use it when he had any thoughts he should be having or when he wasn't feeling as confident as he usually was, which happened a lot more than he'd like to admit, though it was only really around Ash. They continue making their way through feeding the Pokémon, with hardly any words exchanged besides the occasional "Did you feed the -?" and a response of yes and no. They both became used to the silence and keeping out of each others way, not really wanting to be the first to start actually conversation and Ash still not being happy at his rival's earlier behavior.
The only problem came when they were Seventy-five percent done with the feeding, as they were both feeding the Pokémon near each other, a Growlithe decided to bark at Ash, probably taking him for a Pokémon for a split moment since it only barked twice before stopping and looking a bit confused. But that bark caused Ash to jump back and trip over a Geodude, taking his rival down with him, who was also a bit surprised by the sudden barking. The cat eared trainer blinked and looked around confusedly, his ears more flat against his head in an automatic defense against the danger they might have been in, rubbing the back of his head nervously ash spoke once noticed the position he got them into.
"Heh, Sorry about that… It caught me off guard." Gary stared up at his rival, just blinking at him in response which was unlike Gary, since he was given the perfect opportunity to bug his long term rival. At the silence Ash's nervous looked turned to one that looked a bit concerned.
"Are you alright? Did you hit your head or something?" Ash's voice was full of concern as he leaned in closer to his rival, trying to see if he could see any type of head injury on the other, forgetting that the first thing he should of done would be to get off of his rival then check if he was okay, but being concerned made him forget that at that moment.
"Y-Yeah I'm fine… " Gary stuttered a bit, but who wouldn't having a person with cat ears blinking at you cutely before getting concerned about you, as they leaned in closer, their lips getting closer to yours with a cute look on their face… This proximity really wasn't helping Gary's thoughts from thinking that his rival was cute, he looked to the side hoping the shorter male would catch the hint and get off of him.
"Are you sure? You are looking a bit flushed…" Ash said as his hand moved to the side of his rivals face in order to get the other to face him which was the reason Gary looked 'flushed' as the other had stated. The brunette stared at the cat eared trainers face before his focus went to the smaller lips of his rival, he started to wonder what they'd taste like, if he wasn't in such close proximity to the other he might have been able to get a hold of his thoughts by now and steered them in a much safer direction.
"Yeah..." Gary said in a voice that seemed slightly dazed as his focus was still placed on his rivals unknowing lips, Gary started to move upwards closing the distance between him and his rival. But before they made any form of contact, Ash's eyes widened and small sound of surprise was let out and out of shock and maybe some fear at being so close to the other male, he quickly moved back before getting off his rival and looking away.
"…A-Anyways since you're okay, we should feed the rest of the Pokémon." Ash said in a rushed tone, though at the corner of his eyes he was watching the other, still a tiny bit worried of the others well-being.
"Right…" Gary said in a more calm tone than Ash had been able to, as he also got up from the ground. Now that they weren't as close his composure had come back for the most part, though his mind was racing about what had just happened… 'Did I really just try to kiss my rival?' He thought to himself as he looked towards Ash, which caused to pause and stare for a moment to make sure he'd seen right. His rival face had turned completely red from the looks of it and even though he was turned away Gary was still able to notice, if it had been someone else they probably wouldn't have noticed something like that, but Gary he always noticed changes in people especially when it was with his rival. He couldn't help himself with what he said next, bugging his rival did come naturally to him and before he could think of how it would go he had already began speaking.
"Why are you so red, Ashy boy?" Gary said in a smug tone, a smirk coming to his face automatically at the same time. The tone caused Ash to quickly turn to face his rival glaring, though his face was still slightly red from earlier.
"Y-You're the one who got all close and stuff! It seemed you were going to... " Ash coughed at the end, unable to complete his sentence before looking stubbornly to the side, trying to control how heated his face felt. Gary stared in silence for a moment not sure what to say before his awesome logic came in to hand with a perfect way to deal with what Ash had said.
"Hah, you thought I was gonna kiss you? Yeah right, I was just doing it to bug you. You are soo easy to mess with." Gary said with a laugh at the end, shaking his head at the same time to complete what he had just said.
"Whatever! It's not like I would want to be kissed by a jerk like you anyways." Ash said angrily before he moved back to the Pokémon food, and continued with feeding the Pokémon. The rest of the feeding was silent, Gary didn't even comment after Ash's comment, maybe because it actually stung more than he would have expected, not that he was gonna let Ash know that. The rest of the feeding went by pretty fast but slow at the same time but their was no further problems besides from the obvious silence between the two of them. Once they arrived at Ash's Pokémon, was when the silence was finally broken though it was only because the Pokémon master was conversing with his Pokémon and with his ability to completely understand his Pokémon it went even better for Ash, though Gary was completely left out at that point, only understanding half of the conversation. He decided to just put food out for Ash's Pokémon while the other trainer caught up with his Pokémon. After Gary had finished with the food he waited a bit before deciding to tell Ash that they should head back into the lab.
"We should head back to the lab now, I think it's around the time gramps gets up and I'm sure your Pokémon should eat since they are a bit too distracted with you here to think of eating." Gary said in a tone that really didn't express anything, it lacked any emotion, since he had sat quietly by himself for a while now.
"Ohh Okay.. See you guys! I'll be sure to come back and visit you!" Ash said in a cheerful tone to his Pokémon before waving as he followed Gary's lead back to the lab. When getting back to the lab Ash seen that Gary was correct around the time professor Oak woke up, they got back to him making himself some coffee, After saying good morning Ash waited a bit for professor Oak to be more awake before talking to him which took around a half hour.
"So I came over to tell you of some of the new side effects I've noticed with myself." The black-haired trainer said while sitting down on the couch that was across from professor Oak chair that he was sitting in with his second cup of coffee.
"Oh, well let me know what you have noticed… Hold on." professor Oak got up for a moment before returning with his notebook, that he'd written what Ash had told him earlier. Right as was about to continue, Gary sat down on the opposite side of the couch as him.
"Gary do you really have to come listen in?" Ash said with a slight annoyed tone, he thought that his rival would have left shortly after he started his conversation with professor Oak, but it seemed that he was wrong.
"I'm just curious really… Just pretend I'm not here." The brunette said with a shrug before leaning back more into the couch, looking more relaxed than anything.
"Whatever…" Ash turned away from Gary and looked back to professor Oak. "Anyways I think my sleeping pattern is changing without my consent to me waking up early in the morning around when the sun comes up… And also" Ash coughed a bit before continuing.
"I was almost tempted to play with some yarn yesterday and this tail I have is pretty sensitive, that I'm not even able to lay on it at all, and I think my hearing has gotten better too." Ash said this while counting his fingers, trying to make sure he hadn't forgotten any details. "Oh my mom also said that it almost seemed like I was going to start purring yesterday when she was petting my ears… Who knew my mom liked cats." He finished with a shrug, before turning to professor Oak to confirm if he'd gotten what he'd said.
"I see… I'll let Bill know later today and see if he has anything to say about it… " Professor Oak said with a nod before getting up and heading towards the door almost confusing Ash for a moment. "For now I have to go out for supplies.. Gary you can watch the lab while I'm gone right?"
"Got it gramps!" Gary said before the door was shut and professor Oak was gone.
"Well… I'm going to go then." Ash said while nervously rubbing the back of his head, first the odd moment with Gary earlier and for some reason revealing the side effects he was happening with him had him feeling a bit awkward, as he started to get up from the couch.
"Wait a sec.. I'm curious about something." Gary said grabbing Ash's wrist slightly, not trying to stop him with it, more trying to get the attention of the other by that action.
"…About what?" Ash said as he stopped moving, instead turning to face his rival while he waited to hear what the other had been curious about.
"Your tail, I did know you had a tail yet, I didn't even see it." Gary said as his head tilted to the side slightly, Ash sighed to himself a bit as he listened to what the other was curious about before taking a step back facing Gary still. He reluctantly put his hand down the back of his pants gently pulling out his black tail with the brown tip and turning around to show Gary, of course his tail wouldn't be out in the open that would be weird with Ash's jeans it's not like he was gonna make a tail hole in them or anything like that.
"It suits you actually." Gary said in a quiet tone, though his hand was already reaching out as Ash turned his head to look behind him at his rival. Ash's reaction was too slow, as he failed to move his tail out of the way of Gary's intruding hand.
"…It's really soft, just like the ears huh?" Gary said more to himself than to the males who's tail he was touching, his hand gently stroking the others tail as he spoke.
"Nyah… Ugh s-stop touching it okay." Ash said as a small blush formed on his face as he pushed Gary's hand off of his tail, before taking a step away. "I'm going now." Ash said as he quickly left, you could have sworn he ran but really it was just some really fast walking and rushing. Gary stared at the now blank spot of where his rival had been before a light pink color came to his cheeks, really what was he thinking touching Ash's tail after learning it was sensitive and that noise he made, it was just too much… Okay maybe he wanted to get a reaction from his rival but that wasn't what he was expecting, ever since he'd seen Ash with those ears it was just so hard to control himself completely, maybe he had a thing for cats? If so this was going to awful until the experiment effects disappeared, he should have never agreed to help out with the lab for the next two weeks.