AUTHOR'S NOTE: The song I'll be referencing is 'Hypnotized' by Simon Curtis. If you want to look it up, by all means go for it. I recommend it.

xxxxxx

Ash looked between the other three males in the room, teary eyed and displeased with all the attention being placed on him at once. Wally saw Ash's utterly overwhelmed expression and sighed sadly, giving the culprits an unpleased look. For someone so small, Wally packed a mean glare.

Brendan and Gary glanced at each other briefly, exchanging mutually guilty looks. Their eyes met, their light-colored irises reflecting the same contrition but their faces projecting with different polarities. Brendan looked up to Gary sadly as Gary returned his expression looking down with annoyance.

"Ash, what happened?" Wally asked gently, having only the knowledge that Gary had struck Ash in an attempt to hit Brendan. "What has these two so worked up?"

The fingers he held the ice with trembled, refusing to speak. Wally tried pressing him to talk but Gary held Ash in closer, shooting the green haired teen a warning look.

"He's had enough, leave him alone." Gary barked, becoming anxious as Ash began sniveling. "If he doesn't want to talk you're not making him, I won't let you."

"Something isn't right here and I want to know what it is. Ash, please? What's going on?"

Wrapping his fingers around Ash's arm, Wally pulled him up off the floor away from Gary. Ash timidly allowed him to be pulled away. Gary reached to take Ash back but Wally took Gary's wrist and gently pushed it away as he coaxed Ash to sit on Brendan's bed.

"Brendan, where are your tissues?" Wally asked him, patting Ash's unblemished cheek "I don't have anymore."

"Mine are in my nightstand."

Opening Brendan's drawer, he got the tissues and brought them to Ash. Wally pulled a tissue from the package and used it to dab at Ash's cheek. He carefully wiped around the corners of his eye and brushed away the ice pack to do the other one. Looking over the swelling cheek bone again, he tsk'd.

"Talk to me Ash, I know those tears aren't from getting hit." Wally told him gingerly bringing back his ice pack. "Something's going on?"

"I don't know what to say." He replied, too ashamed to look anyone in the eye. "This is all my fault."

"I know that isn't true. Someone's to blame, and it isn't you. "

Wally shifted his eyes over to the brunettes, knowingly addressing them both.

"Don't be the martyr. What were they fighting about?"

All eyes were on him, Ash could feel them. Brendan, Gary and Wally were waiting for what he'd say, each of them anticipating a different answer. It took Ash a moment, but he spoke.

"Me...they were fighting over me."

"What about you?" Wally asked confused.

"… where I was sleeping."

Wally rolled his tongue around his mouth, contemplating his words carefully. He squeezed Ash's knee, taking another second to gather his words Doing his best to be cautious of Ash's feelings, he breached his question compassionately.

"...Hey... no judgment but, does this go beyond literal sleeping? Are we talking about...actual sleeping arrangements? Or...?"

He didn't want to hear that question, he didn't want to answer it either. Not with Gary in the room. Gary didn't know the extent of Brendan's actions with Ash, he would have preferred to keep it that way. Now wasn't the time for secrets though.

Uncertainty covered Gary's face as he looked back at Ash. He was questioning him silently, taking in to consideration what Wally had implied. Gary looked doubtful but watched Ash. Turning to Brendan, Ash was given a sympathetic look. Brendan easily could have answered Wally's question for him, but Brendan didn't. He left the opportunity to Ash, giving him the option to lie if he so desired.

" Both." Ash confessed as Wally patted his knee. "I've slept with Gary...and Brendan."

Wally's hand stopped moving on Ash's knee, stilling stiffly. Brendan had nothing to say being he already knew of Ash's situation. Wally and Gary were the ones who froze in astonishment. Waiting for someone to speak felt like Russian roulette, the anticipation sickening. Ash could've sworn Gary's voice would have been the first to speak, but he wasn't.

"You and Brendan..?"

"Yes. Me and Brendan..." Ash confirmed for Wally, hearing the poorly concealed hurt in his voice. "If you hate me, I understand."

"Why on earth would I hate you?"

"Because, I know you have feelings for him. You didn't say anything...you didn't have to."

Wally didn't deny Ash's statement. Judging by the unbothered look on Brendan's face, there was no point. Hugging Ash, Wally laughed softly in a bittersweet humor. Chin rested on Wally's small shoulder, Ash met Gary's eyes. They blinked slowly, visibly troubled.

"You slept with Brendan?" Gary admonished. " I had just told you I loved you, and you're in his bed under my nose?"

"Take it easy on him-"

"Brendan, just stay the fuck out of this. I'm so sick of you I swear I could strangle you."

Gary pointed at Brendan with a sharp jerk of his hand, holding his forefinger out authoritatively. Brendan backed off, not out of fear, but to prevent Gary's temper from flaring further at poor Ash.

"Ash, get your stuff." He demanded, voice level. "We're leaving."

"Gary-"

"Get. Your. Stuff."

Feeling he had no choice but to obey, Ash began to obey. Wally urged him to stay seated. Again, Gary ordered him up but Wally remained firm. He challended Gary with words of compassion for Ash.

"What right to do you have to tell him what to do?" Wally asked, holding Ash in a tighter hug. "Don't you talk to him like that. Look how upset he is!"

"What are you worried about him for? You should be mad too."

" I'm not mad, and let me tell you why. Never at any point of this was Brendan romantically involved with me. I never told him how I felt, he was never mine. I can't be angry with Ash for something like that. The poor thing."

Ash allowed Wally to shield him, scared to leave accompanied by Gary's wrath. There was no concern of bodily harm, he did not believe Gary would hurt him, but he worried for the tension that would go unresolved. Gary didn't admit to hurt, if they left the tension would only grow. Thankfully, Ash had Wally to bravely be his voice.

" Ash knew how I felt, there's more to this story than either of you know. ." Gary argued, deliberately looking at Ash with discontentment. "I told him I loved him."

"But, did you show it?" Wally shot back, comforting Ash who curled his fingers around his ice pack anxiously as Gary raised his voice. "Because, from what I've seen, you treat him like any other person."

"I can vouch for that." Brendan added "You're mean as hell to him."

"He wasn't this morning."

Wally patted Ash's back, shushing him kindly.

"Don't make excuses for him." Wally chided softly. "He's not nice to you."

It was as if Gary weren't in the room the way Wally said it, and Gary did not take to it well. Done with the intervention he hadn't asked for, he again tried demanding Ash leave with him. Ready to step in, Brendan approached him but Wally interjected.

"If you love him, you're doing a horrible job of showing it. Such a horrible job that, quite honestly put, I'm not comfortable letting him leave here with you right now."

"Don't act like you know what's best for him. You don't know me. He'll be fine."

"You won't even listen to him. He's crying and you're bossing him around. What exactly is going on here? Ash. if this man is your boyfriend I cannot say that I approve."

Ash wiped at his eyes with the back of his hand and Wally stopped him, giving him the tissues instead. Ash dried his eyes and crumpled the tissues in his hand.

"He's not my boyfriend, Wally..."

"Then why all the drama? " Wally asked dubiously." Gary, if Ash isn't yours then you can't act like he is. Pardon my French but get your shit together and leave him alone. If he'd rather be with Brendan that's his business."

Wally didn't say what he had with the intention of making Gary angry, he said it purely out of honesty. The brunette took it far more personally than what was intended and he surprised everyone in the room by agreeing.

"You're right..." He admitted, shoulders slumping somewhat defeatedly.

He straightened himself though and shrugged his shoulders, gesturing to Ash.

"Ash. Do what you want. I'm leaving. "

"Gary?" Ash called out to him as he brushed past Brendan on his way to the door.

"If you want to talk you know where to find me. I won't do it here."

Gary didn't look back at Ash, he opened the door and left. The door shut and they sat in silence. Pikachu jumped to the ground, his body making a thud on the floor as he landed. He bolted from Wally's bed past the green-haired male's feet and he flinched in surprise at the yellow mass running past him. Pikachu ran to the door as it shut, staring sadly.

"Pika..." he whined, touching the wooden surface. "Pikachu..."

Wally glanced back to where Pikachu had run by.

"Was he on my bed?"

"Yeah...sorry about that. Brendan said you wouldn't mind"

"Oh, I don't mind, I just don't know why I didn't notice him there this whole time."

Wally called Pikachu to him and he reluctantly came back. He trotted over and looked up at Wally curiously, ears tipped back on his head. Wally picked him up, Ash panicking. Pikachu didn't shock him, he allowed Wally to hold him. He was hugged and Wally pressed his cheek in to him affectionately.

"He's so cute, what a sweetheart. I was gonna ask to hold him at Breakfast but he was all cuddled with Gary." Wally pulled Pikachu away from his face and handed him back to Ash. "By the way, for what it's worth, I think Gary cares about you. I don't think he knows how to show it."

Brendan, who had been watching on in silence, walked over to his bed where the other two males were sitting. He sat on the other side of Ash, sandwiching him between Wally and himself.

"Aint that that truth." Brendan remarked, putting his arm around Ash's shoulder now that Wally had his hands in his lap.

Wally looked at Brendan, turning his light blue eyes away a bit bashfully knowing that his secret was out.

"...But, as I was saying. Don't let me influence you, I said some harsh things to Gary but I was scared for you. If he's mistreating you don't let him do that."

"Gary was just upset. He can be an asshole but he's not a monster." Ash mumbled, hugging Pikachu close as he tapped at his trainer's chest for attention. "I should go talk to him. I'm not ready to...not right now. I don't know what to say. I'm so bummed. "

Brendan enveloped Ash in a hug and Wally averted his eyes politely. Ash returned the hug less enthusiastically, pulling away a little as Pikachu squirmed between their chests. The mouse Pokemon hopped out of Ash's arms in to Wally's arms, not enjoying being pressed between two bodies so tightly. Wally scratched Pikachu's back with a small smile, then glanced back at Ash and Brendan.

"Cheer up, Ash. You two are up tomorrow. I look forward to watching. "

"I'm not as excited about it anymore..." Ash confessed, pulling away from Brendan"I'm all stressed out. I'm going to wake up tomorrow all knotted and what not, just watch. All because of this."

Wally stood up suddenly, making Ash and Brendan snap their heads up. With Pikachu in his arms, he hopped up and down excitedly, suggesting a night out.

"It's Saturday! Let's go back to the club, I know the DJ and she said Saturday is the best night to go!" he exclaimed, stopping his flamboyant hopping when Pikachu squirmed with startled squeaks. "And I know a bartender there, he's working tonight I can get you guys drinks again."

"Wally, I don't know if I'm up for that-" Ash protested

"Come on, you need to loosen up before your match tomorrow. You can't go out there all wound up and stuff." Reasoned Wally. "Let's go, right now. It'll be fun."

Convincing Ash and Brendan to forgo putting on their vests, jackets and or hats due to knowing how warm the club atmosphere would be on a busy night, he chucked off his own sweater. Wally dragged a reluctant Ash out of the room, Brendan following behind with his hands casually rested in his pants pockets. Ash looked back at Brendan worriedly. Brendan just winked a blue at him.

"We're gonna have soooo much fun at the club downtown!" Wally exclaimed unusually loud as they entered the hallway. "Right Ash?"

"...are we?"

"Yes. We are." Wally punctuated loudly again, Ash shifting his eyes side to side unsurely. "So much fun. At the club. ...Downtown!"

Brendan presumed Wally was up to something but chose not to spoil it by asking. Trusting that whatever his friend was up to would be well intentioned, he raised his brows.

"Wally, shush! People might hear you." Ash worried, looking around at the doors in the hallway. "Keep your voice down..."

Being tugged off again, Brendan snickered as Ash was pulled by a teen smaller than he was. They walked past what was technically Ash's room and Ash glanced at it worriedly while passing.

"WE'RE GONNA GET FUCKED UP!"

"Wally!"

xxxxx

Leaving Pikachu at the Day Care on their way downstairs, they left the resort. Outside was only just beginning to turn with nightfall. Wally let go of Ash and walked ahead of him and Brendan, leading the way to the club like a professional. Brendan noticed and laughed at Wally's expense.

"Wally's our personal tour guide." Hejoked. "If you wanna see the sights he'll show you... as long as you're over five foot eight with a dick."

"And top." Wally cracked back completely serious.

"Pfft."

Ash wasn't quite as surprised at Wally's promiscuous personality as he probably should have been. After his little story at Breakfast, he knew better than to assume he was a saint...but looking at Wally's petite stature and cute face was very misleading. He was hardly five foot five and had soft innocent facial features, his baby doll eyes were hard to imagine smoldered with alcohol and sexual energy. It was still hard for him to believe Wally was more involved in the club scene than Brendan was.

"Laugh all you want," Wally quipped, not embarrassed at all. " I'm used to being poked fun at."

"You're used to being poked, period."

Wally glanced back to retort but stopped upon seeing Ash's stunned face.

"You let him tease you like that?"

"He's not wrong." Wally explained, used to Brendan's jesting. " Besides, I can take it."

Brendan smirked as Wally looked his way.

" Clearly." he snorted.

"I chose a hell of a best friend." Wally sighed, waving off Brendan's well intentioned teasing. "Anyways, how well can you dance Ash?"

" Eh..."

They walked past shops as their front lights turned on. Ash answered Wally modestly, not really sure how to gauge his own skills. Brendan butted in and rebuked Ash's answer, having danced with him before.

"He'd being shy or something. He can dance." Brendan informed Wally. "I danced with him last night. Got that drink you gave me in to him and he loosened up pretty good"

"If I know Lisia she'll be spinning some really good stuff tonight, I'll have the bartender fix you something strong. "

As promised, when they got to the club Wally made a beeline for the bar with Brendan. Leaving Ash to wait along one of the walls, they pushed through the crowds of people. Ash fiddled with the hem of his black shirt, pulling and bending the fabric nervously as the booming music rattled him. He could feel the bass like a second heartbeat, the overpowering rhythm steadier than the actual pulse in his chest.

There were far more people than the night before. Everything was louder and more nerve wracking with the anxiety he'd entered the club with. Avoiding eye contact with people, he remained a passive wallflower. Trapping himself in his thoughts he looked down to the floor and blocked out as much as he could..until two sets of shoes appeared in his vision.

"You lonely?" A deep tenor asked him over the loud music.

The two men on the couch from his previous club outing were standing in front of him. Ash wasn't sure who had asked him the question and looked between the tall man with straight chin length purple hair and a shorter, far more slender blonde teen. The blonde's hair was done up voluminously and he leaned in to the other, smiling flirtatiously at Ash who didn't speak.

"Don't you remember us?"

The blonde asked, his voice far more boyish than the other voice Ash had heard. He now knew the purple haired man had addressed him seconds earlier.

"Paul here caught you staring at us last night. Surely you remember us?"

Ash nodded his head, remembering the two. They'd walked up on him without warning, the approach too strong for Ash's taste. He felt his breath hitch at the decidedly sexual way the two were looking over him. He subconsciously tried taking a step back, effectively planting himself on the wall.

"I think he's shy." the blonde remarked to the man now known to be 'Paul', then returned his attention to Ash. "Where's your boyfriend, Babe? "

"I don't have one..."

He realized the blonde was probably referring to Brendan.

"The brunette?"

"He's a friend..."

The blonde's face lit up with intrigue. He leaned his head to rest on Paul's arm, tracing a finger over his own sternum suggestively.

"Want to be our friend too?"

In to the rescue came Wally and Brendan. Wally held two cups of some blue-green colorful beverage as Brendan held only one. Brendan sipped from his as he walked, quirking a brow at Ash who looked like he was being cornered. Wally sauntered up and lifted a finger off one glass in greeting, wedging himself past the tall purpled haired man .

"Now, I know you two aren't out ass fishing again." Wally scolded teasingly, handing Ash a drink. "We leave this guy here for a minute to fetch the poison and you're honing in on him? Naughty"

"Maybe you should have stuck around last night and we wouldn't be back at it. You swam off on us." The blonde replied, pinching Wally's shirt. "Got you all comfy in Paul's lap for a nice talk and you leave us, going on about being too blasted...We would have taken care of you."

"Oh please, Barry. That is not what you and Paul had planned."

Barry bit his tongue cheekily at Wally and bumped his hip In to Paul's leg.

"I guess our new friend wasn't that drunk, Paul."

"Guess not."

Wally stepped away from Barry's pinching fingers and put his arm through Ash's as the raven-haired man took a sip of his drink. He pursed his mouth at the noticeably stronger cocktail and took the glass away from his lips. Looking at the cup of vibrant green elixir, he scrunched his face incrediously at Wally.

"What is this?" he croaked. "It's strong."

"That is what the bartender likes to call 'The battery'." Barry answered for Wally, smirking at the choice of drink. " That's alcohol, soda, energy drink and it's not for first timers. What do you have up your sleeve, Wally?

"Don't worry about it, now be gone with your bad selves. Ash needs to drink more before he can even handle you two. Shoo, maybe we'll catch up with you in a bit."

Off the voyeurist pair went, back in to the sea of bodies. Barry clung to Paul's arm and gave the trio an over the shoulder salute as they left. Brendan looked on after them and shook his head, drinking the same drink both Wally and Ash had.

"Those two are prowlers."

"Brendan, the word you're looking for is ' opportunistic." Wally corrected.

"Wally, the word you're looking for is 'horny'. "

Deeming himself Ash's chaperone, Brendan drank with Ash and Wally. As their glasses emptied, Ash found himself feeling less and less anxious. Buzzing, euphoric feelings clouded over the smog which consumed his thoughts and the dread was replaced with hyper sensory.

"Ash looks like he's ready to let go." Wally observed as Ash's tension ease, his body assimilating with the beat.

Nudging Brendan mischievously, he nodded towards the dance floor.

"Let's finish these and get over there."

xxxxx

The booming music sounded amazing, the bass pounding through him pleasantly. Ash danced with Brendan and Wally, their movements fluid. Intoxication had surfaced in all of them, giving a pleasurable hum to their breathes. Brendan behind him and Wally in front, Ash didn't object as two pelvises bumped his from either side.

The strobe lights made him dizzy so he closed his eyes. The beat of the music pulsed behind his eyelids as color from the strobe lights still reached his irises. Colors flashed and moved across his vision and he felt hands slipping down his body to his waist. His eyes flew open and Wally was no longer in front of him. His head of green hair disappeared in to the crowd.

Through the haze of body's moving against one another, hot and sticky, he spotted a set of green eyes brighter than the lights flashing around him. Brendan's hand splayed out over his stomach, the skin becoming moist with sweat under his shirt. The music blared with a new track, the melody and lyrics hypnotizing as he looked back at the green eyes far off in the distance.

Arriving just in time
Who's dying to be mine
Let me survey the scene

Good fight, now keep it clean

Caught up In the atmosphere around him, Ash kept moving. Gary's eyes bore in to him, watching him dance against Brendan. Ash looked back at him, free of the tension that once pulled on him between the two.

How will this evening go
Two lips to crack the code
Then now above them all
I hear the silence call

No fear, Ash let his lips part as he breathed in heavily, Brendan's body impossibly hot against his back. His mouth open, words Gary could not hear spilling from it with a swipe of his tongue across straight white teeth.

It's a melodic, erotic, hypnotic kind of dance
The way the music controls you and the touch of your hand
Mesmerized by your eyes and the way you move
We can dance all night to this hypnotic groove

The display was outright taunting as Ash contorted his mouth to pleasured shapes. Fingers on his stomach had moved lower, cupping him through his jeans. Gary's eyes sliced him open warningly, but still, he couldn't stop moving.

So soon he caught my eye
Now lingers up your thighs
To you I gravitate
Can't help but to delay

Ash could hear the silent warning ringing in his mind and somewhere in his smoldered psyche he wanted Gary's hands on him too. But right then, Brendan's felt amazing. Like magnets to his skin they touched him.

Keep moving if you dare
Surviving, almost there
That cool that's on your lips
I'll break it with my hips

Pleasure sparked in his groin at Brendan's heavy petting. He could feel himself being pleasured and Gary watched, unsettlingly passive. Gary sent him another warning, sexual vibes hitting Ash aggressively. Ash's face was flush from sensation, his mouth open just so, no longer moving.

It's a melodic, erotic, hypnotic kind of dance
The way the music controls you and the touch of your hand
Mesmerized by your eyes and the way you move
We can dance all night to this hypnotic groove

Five fingers were held up, and Ash stared at them.

It's your melodic, erotic, hypnotic hold on me.
Captivated by your sexuality
Yeah, don't back up now, feel the rhythm of two
We can go all night to this hypnotic groove

Once by one the fingers ticked off, the digits curling down in to Gary's palm starting with his thumb.

Entranced now by your eyes you've got me...

Hypnotized

Hypnotized

Hypnotized

Hypnotized

Hypnotized

Ash was too absorbed in Gary's stare to see his index finger complete the countdown.

xxxxx