Author's Note: Hey everyone, what's up? Guess who's stuck taking nice, difficult classes ALL summer? That's right! It's none other than yours truely! I'm sorry for the EXTREMELY late update. I had to get re-motivated to work on this, and well, ya. Hopefully I'll wrap this fic up pretty soon. Thanks for waiting all this time! - Saberae


Chapter 7

"I don't think we should," Ash replied, averting his gaze. The heat that radiated from his body's excited state had begun to take the form of small beads of sweat. "I mean, that was a close call already, and I'm sure Richie will be down here looking for us any minute now." Ash concluded logically, sitting up on the couch. Gary sat down next to him.

"I hate to admit it, but you've got a good point," Gary sighed, closing his eyes, and lying his head on the back of the couch. They sat in silence.

"We should probably get our shirts back on…" Ash pointed out, leaning forward to search for the lost articles, but before he could make much progress, and arm pulled him back. Gary's hand slid behind Ash, grasping the young teen's far shoulder to pull him a bit closer. "Uh, Gary…"

"Hm?" The elder boy cracked an eye open and peered down at the trainer.

Ash raised his eyebrows in disbelief, "Do you want someone to walk in on us?" the boy inquired.

"Now when did I ever say that?" the researcher smiled, closing his eyes again, exhaling. "Just chill, will ya?"

"We can 'chill' after we're dressed, c'mon," Ash removed Gary's hand from his shoulder with his own, and felt around under the couch in search of the shirts.

"Mmph!," Gary sputtered, pulling his shirt off his face, "did you really have to nail me in the head with it?"

"You probably wouldn't have taken it otherwise…" Ash replied, pulling his shirt on over his head. Gary took in a last glimpse of the younger's torso, but not without the object of his attention noticing. Ash looked away, slightly embarrassed from the whole situation. He was definitely not used to this.

Gary slid his shirt on, but opted out of buttoning it up; it was too hot anyways. Plus, who would want to cover up such a magnificent body. Ash stood a few feet away, eyeing the grandfather clock across the room.

"Want me to read it for you?" Gary teased.

"I know how to read clocks, Gary," Ash retorted.

"Fine, fine. Then why don't you come back over here? We're dressed now, like you wanted." Gary inquired. Ash was hesitant. "Ash?"

"I feel bad about leaving Richie alone for all this time." the young teen replied, off-topic. Gary's eyes narrowed, the subject of Richie caused instant irritation to befall him.

"Weren't you just pissed off at him for earlier?" Gary replied sharply.

"No, I was pissed off at you," Ash replied bluntly.

"Wait, what?" Gary was slightly taken aback. "Are you still mad at me? C'mon, Ashy-boy, I already told you what happened. It wasn't my fault." Gary could hear the whine in his voice.

"Well, ya, I know, but still. Um, here, let me put it this way. I know you very well, er, pretty well. And I would say that you are probably the last person I know who would let someone else take advantage of them," the trainer explained, "So, I don't know what is going on with Richie, but I know that you shouldn't have let it gone that far. You could've prevented it."

"I told you, I stopped the kid as soon as I realized what was going on. It's not like I was sitting there prepared for something like that in case it happened. How could I have known that the little twerp would pounce on me like that?" Gary knew he was talking too much. "Look, Ash. I'm sorry, okay. I didn't mean for whatever that was to happen." he gritted his teeth, "…will you forgive me?" Ash smirked, something he rarely had the opportunity to do, and turned his back to the young scientist, heading towards the stairs.

"I guess I'll consider it, Gary…but I'll need some time to think about this. But you know, at the rate you're going, I'll be bunking with Richie for the night." the trainer snickered under his breath, and began climbing the stairs.

"Whoa, when did you decide that?" Gary clambered out of his position on the couch, awkwardly stumbling in the direction of the stairs. Ash didn't reply. "Ash, I know you can hear me!" he called, walking towards the stairs.

"I know I can hear you too," came the reply.

~~POKÉMON~~

"Richie?" Ash entered Gary's room, glancing about. "Huh, he's not in here…"

"Maybe he jumped out the window?" Gary suggested, following Ash into the room, shrugging off the fact that a guest was obviously missing.

"Ha-ha, Gary. Can you at least pretend to be nice for once…you can be such a jerk sometimes, you know?" Ash huffed, clearly irritated by the comment.

"But I don't like him," Gary was stubborn, sometimes too stubborn for his own good. "I don't understand why I have to…"

"Because he's my friend, and I like him," came the reasoning. Gary stifled a sigh of agitation. "Maybe he's in the guest room," Ash said more or less to himself heading out of the room. "That Gary, why does he always have to be so difficult?" The elder boy failed to follow.

"Ugh…" Gary flopped onto his bead facedown. "How can he be so intent on Richie after all that's happened tonight? I mean, I can barely think about anything else at this point." the teen sighed, and rolled over onto his back. "I can't believe I'm getting jealous about this…" he draped an arm over his eyes to block out the light. "And now I'm talking to myself out loud again. You're really keeping it together, Gary…"

~~POKÉMON~~

"Richie…?" Ash began, stepping around the corner and through the threshold of the guest room.

"Oh, hey Ash," Richie cleared his throat. He was in the midst of messing with some things on the dresser.

"Uh, hey. I wasn't sure where you had gone, and I just wanted to check on you…" Ash began, glad to have finally found his friend, safe and secure.

"Oh, what did you need to check on?" Richie inquired, having moved to rummage through a bag in the corner of the room.

"Just to make sure everything was alright, I guess," Ash stumbled through his thoughts.

"Why wouldn't everything be alright?" the smaller boy turned towards Ash, after finishing whatever he was fumbling with.

"Well, I dunno…" Ash was definitely feeling awkward at this point. "I guess if Gary noticed that I had walked in on them, Richie would have too."

"Is it about earlier?" Richie asked, a look of pain coming over his formerly chipper demeanor.

"Um, I suppose so…" Ash muttered, sitting on the edge of the bed, looking down at the floor. He wasn't really sure how he was supposed to handle this. Richie made his way over and sat next to him on the bed.

"It wasn't what you thought it was," Richie began, staring at the floor as well.

"What do you mean?" Ash questioned, not daring to move his gaze.

"Exactly what I said; you're probably thinking that I have some sort of feelings for Gary, right?" Richie began; he was being very open about this.

"…I guess so," came the hesitant response.

"Well, that's not really the case…" Richie continued. "You see, I did what I did not because I had feelings for Gary…"

"Then, why did you?" the trainer was getting more confused by the minute.

"You see…" the shorter boy hesitated, trying to search for the words. "It was for you."

"For me?" Ash was definitely confused now. "I don't really think I understand."

"I was afraid, for you." Richie explained, turning to face Ash for the first time in the conversation. "It's because I didn't want you to get hurt by him." the younger boy placed his hand on top of the other's. Ash flinched slightly at the contact. Richie's hand was warm, and trembling slightly.

"Him?" Ash's throat was dry, and the word hardly made it out above a whisper.

"You know who I'm talking about," Richie stated, closing his fingers around Ash's hand. "I tried something that I thought would lead him away from you. You know, distract him, or something."

"But why?" the trainer inquired, he could feel the heat in his face.

"Because, Ash," Richie leaned towards the other boy, "I want you for myself."

Ash's eyes widened at the statement, and continued to do so when Richie's mouth came into contact with his own. It was warm, like his hands. The elder trainer was paralyzed, more by shock than by anything else, his mind was blank. "What's going on…why is Richie doing this? What should I do?"

Richie pushed Ash gently back onto the bed, and proceeded to creep over him, the contact between them not once forfeited. Bringing a hand to the elder's face, Richie broke free for a breath, and brushed the hair out of Ash's eyes, and smiled.

"R-Richie, what are you doing, I don't-"

"Don't what?" Richie cut him off. "It's not like you have a girlfriend or anything…or boyfriend for that matter." Technically, Richie was right, but Ash wasn't too thrilled with the way he was making rounds, despite them being forced on him.

"I just don't feel comfortable with this, we're just friends after all," Ash replied, moving to get up.

"Oh, and I suppose that you and Gary are just friends too?" Richie retorted.

"Well…yaa" Ash glanced around nervously.

"Then you always have you friends stick their tongues down your throat?" Ash went red.

"He better not." came the stern, anger strewn, answer from the direction of the door. Gary stood at the entrance to the room, balled fists, clenched teeth, and a flame burning in his eyes. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"


Author's Note: And there you have it! Another chapter complete! I'm trying to get back into writing this, so forgive me if anything seems a bit rough, I'll work out any kinks in my writing soon enough. Anyways, I'll begin writing the next chapter ASAP, thanks for reading! - Saberae