"Oh man, this was a bad idea..." Ash said with a nervous sigh.
Leaning against a tree, he looked out to the lake that the Pokémon centre had a great view of. In the moonlight, it sparkled and shimmered, and the stars and the moon reflected on its surface. Ash smiled at this natural sight of beauty. It was one of his traveling rules - enjoy the little things. Traveling rules 1 through 25 included training or winning battles.
Ash had never been one to back down. It was a rare sight to see Ash forfeit anything he ever did in anything, and he always did so with very good reason, such as preventing his Pokémon from being harmed. He had always gone on until the bitter end.
Now however, he was beginning to have second thoughts about what he was doing here. He had arranged to meet Serena here in a few minutes, and he planned to confess to her. He had gone through six regions, fought countless battles, caught multiple Pokémon, been in dangerous situation after dangerous situation, and had nearly died on occasion. That kind of stuff didn't affect him, yet he was afraid of telling a girl that he liked her. He couldn't decide if he was either a dense moron, or didn't have his priorities straight.
He hadn't even brought Pikachu along with him. He was still asleep in Ash room. This has been one of the few times Ash had been tempted to put Pikachu back in his Pokéball, at least for a while, out of concern of what was going to happen here tonight. He knew Pikachu could sense how he felt, and depending on how tonight went, he could sense Ash's pure despair. He knew Pikachu worried about him, just like he worried about Pikachu. Forcing him into his Pokéball might avoid some harsher issues later down the line. But no, he decided he would leave Pikachu alone to sleep. He probably wouldn't forgive Ash if he made him return anyway.
Midnight rapidly approached, but Ash found it was crawling up on him slowly. This was one of the times that time seemed to stretch out for such a long time over such a short period of time. Ten seconds felt like minutes. Ash wasn't new to nerves. He had felt nervous for Gym battles, league matches, tournament battles, and the likes. But that came with a sense of excitement too. This felt more like dread.
"Ash?..."
Ash turned his head quickly, seeing Serena stood there. She had arrived. Her sudden appearance made Ash jump for a second, but when he realised it was her, he calmed down quickly.
"Oh, hey. Serena." Ash replied to her. Though it wasn't the best time to realise, he noticed how cute she was right now. He had no idea what made him notice this now.
"You okay?"
"Yeah. I'm fine. Just... Checking out the view." Ash said, pointing out the view that stood in front of them.
Serena turned to see the sight for herself. She admitted, it was quite the beautiful piece of scenery. The way the water reflected and shimmered the shape of the moon and stars above.
Inside, she was also very nervous about her own plans. She was ready to tell him, but she felt like she knew what this meeting was about to begin with. She wasn't sure if she should make the first move, or if she should wait on Ash, if this even was what the meeting was for. She knew she could be getting excited and expecting nothing, and that she should move first... But the part of her that still feared rejection was still there.
This was everything she ever wanted. Her crush, her love, the chance to be his, to not feel lonely anymore, was right here. The chance was staring her in the face.
"It's a... Pretty view, isn't it?" She nodded in agreement. For some reason, it reminded her of a showcase she once saw. She couldn't remember anything else about the showcase. The performer, the Pokémon they used, how old she was when she saw it, nothing. She only remembered the end result, which was a testament to the lasting effect it had had on her. This view however, was different. It was more beautiful, and she knew that she wouldn't ever forget this sight.
"So..." Ash said, trailing off his words before continuing, "what did you want to talk about?"
"I thought you wanted to talk to me about something?"
"You also said you wanted to talk to me. We both have something to say"
A short awkward silence fell, before Serena spoke up.
"Well, who goes first?"
"Uh... You. You can go first, Serena." He was trying to be polite, but he felt like he had pushed the subject onto her too quickly.
Serena sighed and turned to face Ash. "I... I just wanted to say thanks... For helping me out. With the showcase, and the reassurance... And the hugs..." Serena blushed at that last one. That was one of her favourites. "It just... It means a lot."
Ash smiled lightly, the corners of his lips curving upwards slightly "You know you don't need to thank me. I didn't do it for thanks. I did it... Cause I just wanted to help you out is all. "
Serena felt her chest beat harder. She came close to panicking, but kept her composure. This had to be it. If she didn't do this now, she would never be able to do it. She had to do it. "Ash... I-"
Ash spoke up, quite loudly, lowering his voice towards the end of the sentence "Serena, I need to tell you something. And I need to do it now, while I still have the nerve."
Serena stopped what she was saying instantly, her focus was purely on Ash. "Yeah... Sure, sorry. Go ahead..."
Ash took a deep breath "Serena, I've known you for a long time. A real long time. Since we met at camp, and I'm so happy we met there. And I know you really well. I know what you're like. You're a kind, gentle person. And I like that. I'm glad your my friend."
Serena blushed dark Crimson at this. But Ash hasn't even begun yet.
"Look... The reason I asked you to come here tonight is because... I needed to tell you... Over the past few months, I haven't been able to look at you the same way. There's something different about you. At first I didn't know what... But, then... After a while, it all just added up and came together. You're a smart person, you're nice, you've always put everything into what you do, and you never give up. And I... Admire that. I admire that about you... But it's... More than that now."
Serena didn't interrupt. She simply stood there, her jaw dropped slightly, eyes widened, staring in disbelief that this was actually happening.
"... I... I don't know how to say it..." Ash said, with a hesitant sigh. He knew what he wanted to say, but he couldn't formulate the words or put them in the right order. He was somehow able to forulate complex and unorthodox strategies in the middle of a battle, but unable to put the words 'I like you' into a comprehensible sentence. The thing about it was, Ash didn't want to be as cliche as that. Serena meant more to him than something like that. Though maybe it would have been easier. A million thoughts entered his head at the same time.
A small quiet fell upon them once again, neither of them really knowing what to say, until Serena found the words she needed to tell him.
"... Ash... I wanted to say something to you too... Maybe it'll help you find the right words..." Serena said, joining her hands together, and placing them above her chest, where her heart was located.
"Actually, I've been wanting to tell you for a long time now. A really long time. Years even... The first time I ever met you, you helped me in the forest at camp... In the camp, you were one of my only real friends there, and the only other friends I had there were the ones you helped me make... After I came back to Kalos, I wasn't happy. I hated it back here. And it wasn't how my mother acted that made me sad, or even the forced Ryhorn racing practice that meant I wasn't happy. I could manage that. What made me upset was that... You... You weren't there anymore."
Ash felt his cheeks redden. "Huh?..."
"There were times I didn't even eat, because I felt so horrible, knowing how far apart we were... But when I saw you on TV... That made me begin my journey. To find you... Because I wanted to see you again... Because I'm never happy when I'm not around you!"
Looking closely at Serena, Ash saw tears form in Serena's eyes, tears out of both upset, frustration and nervousness, but she didn't stop talking. She was determined now. This was it. Now or never.
"Ash... I like you, okay?... I really, really like you... Not just as a friend... As in, I don't want you to leave Kalos yet, but when you do, I want to be there, right next to you, by your side, and to stay by your side until the day my life ends! I love you!"
Serena had finally said it. For a moment, she stared at the ground in utter shock, in disbelief at what she had said. She knew how Ash felt, but that didn't make it any easier. In some ways, it made it worse.
Ash stared right at Serena, eyes wide in surprise. He couldn't even believe what he had heard. 'She likes me?... Loves me?...' Of course, he had come here to confess himself, but he hadn't expected her to beat him to it.
"I..." Ash tried to speak, but that was all that came out.
After Serena's blush had calmed, she faced Ash again. His dumbfounded face amused her slightly, and made her giggle a little. "It's okay... I... Know how you feel."
Now it was Ash's turn to blush. "Huh? When the heck did you figure that out?"
"Um... I may have accidentally heard you... Out here last night..." Serena said. This was what worried her. Now what would he think about her? Wouldn't he find her weird, listening to him talk to Pikachu? Wasn't that stalkerish?
"Oh... Ah hah hah hah..." Ash chuckled, relieved by the whole situation. He had been worried she had the wrong idea, that he didn't like her.
Slowly, he walked over to Serena, who was biting her lower lip, looking down to the ground, but her pupils were watching Ash as he walked over. Swiftly, Ash pulled Serena into a warm embrace, holding her tightly in his arms. Serena gasped at his movement, but didn't resist in any way, rather, she welcomed it.
"Every word you heard me say last night was true, Serena. I do like... Love, you." Ash finally confessed. When Serena heard those words, her own heart skipped a couple of beats. "I... Didn't want to just say that though... You deserved a more...whats the word... Poetic?... Confession... I just wanted to show you... You mean more to me than just three words... I wanted it to be a -" Ash would have continued, but he was cut off by Serena tightening her grip on him.
"They're enough... Those three words... They're more than enough..." Ash heard Serena sniffling then, indicating that she was crying. Tears of joy, apparently. "I was... I was so worried that you'd think I was weird, or not like me anymore when I told you I heard you talking last night!"
Ash smiled, and held Serena closer, "Serena... You could crush me a thousand times over, and I'd still love and forgive you. You don't need to worry about something that trivial..."
They stood there for a while. Words just weren't needed now. They were both just happy like this. They silently smiled, ash Ash held Serena in his arms, something both of them had wanted for a long time.
They separated after a while, and Ash looked Serena in the eyes, and she looked back. "Serena... Will you... Stay with me?"
Serena smiled, smugly for a second, raising an eyebrow. "Is this your way of asking me to be your girlfriend?"
Ash smiled back. "Maybe it is."
Serena began tearing up again out of sheer happiness. This was everything she had wanted since meeting him, and now it was happening. She practically tackled him with another massive hug, nearly causing both of them to fall over. "I'll stay with you until the end, Ash!"
Ash grinned and laughed, hugging his new girlfriend. Out of everything he had seen and felt, been through and experienced on his journey, this had to be, by a country mile, the best thing that had happened to him.
And there we have them together at last 3 I just got over a pretty bad breakup recently, to the point we aren't even on speaking terms (in my defence, she's the one who won't talk to me) , but now that I'm over it, I can write all the fluffy crap ^_^ It's awesome! I'll be carrying on with the story for a while, seeing as literally every person who responded said they wanted me to carry it on, so, we're gonna do that. I have no clue when it'll end now, but, I promise you, I will carry on doing this to the best of my ability! I hope you enjoyed, and I'll see you next time! See ya!