Equanimity, Chapter 26

Things were going well, mostly.

Gary fell beside her in a sweaty heap, wrapping the blankets up and around his torso while Dawn scooted herself away from him, and scooped her bra up off of the floor and started to dress herself once again. It seemed like such a natural reaction, sitting on the edge of the pokemon centers bed and getting ready to start the day.

What was that, the tenth time this week?

"You know, we should really just consider buying a pack of condoms instead of awkwardly asking Joy for them all the time." suggested Dawn.

"Hey, at least she knows we're practicing safe sex."

"...yeah, but I don't really want people to know we're having sex." It wasn't her being melodramatic or shy—Dawn was none of those things—she simply didn't want other people in her business. Which was odd, coming from her.

"...little late for that." Gary wiggled his eyebrows at her in an oh-so-unattractive way and she looked away from him immediately with a proper shake of her head and eye-rolling chuckle.

"You're not that good."

"Really?" Gary challenged smoothly with a seductive smile. "Everyone in the center heard you."

She didn't look at him, but he practically felt her eyes roll sarcastically. "Did not."

"Does it matter if they did?"

"Well," Dawn thought to herself while crinkling her nose and looking over her shoulder at him. "No, but your ego is getting bigger than your-"

Gary sat up to interrupt her with a nasty glare and she was left snorting and giggling while tugging on her skirt and black tights. Watching her collect her lost clothing from the floor to prepare for the next step of her adventure was bittersweet. Yesterday, she won a very difficult contest, and so her next trip was to Goldenrod City, where she would compete for her fourth ribbon and prepare for the Johto Grand festival in the coming month.

"So you're probably going to leave Ecruteak City then?" Gary asked while she popped her toque onto her blue hair, and tied the rest of it back into a braid.

"Probably, I mean, there's no rest for the wicked and I have a lot to catch up on, you saw Drew—I have to win the festival in time to enter the advanced competitions so I can watch him eat his words."

Gary felt his lips twitch by her obscure reference of needed victory, and he scuttled to the side of his bed, and dangled his feet off. She was quick to dress after the fact, always the first to shower, to keep her hair tidy and her make-up presentable, whereas, Gary wouldn't have minded staying in bed for a few more hours relaxing, and didn't care if he had bed hair. Which was also strange—considering he was usually well groomed. Maybe he wasn't handling the life of mister too well... not that he was, or anything.

Then again, since she was leaving, this was probably the last time he would view her in such a light. Seeing her bare back while she clipped her bra and pulled on a black top over her creamy skin was a sight for sore eyes to begin with, and he hadn't fully wrapped his head around the situation they were pickled. Dawn wanted to have sex with him, but not a relationship. She wanted friendship, but not companionship. She was very clear where her limitations were, and so cuddling and pillow-talk were out of the equation entirely. This included the after-sex glow of basking in each others sweaty glory.

"You're pretty determined, then. You're not going to stop at Top Coordinator?" Which also included acting like none of it happened, and carrying on the conversation they were having hours before.

"No way!" Dawn brushed off, flicking the remaining strands of her hair behind her head while she faced Gary. "I'll reach top coordinator, and then I'm going to go one step further than that—maybe a contest judge or something."

"Really?"

Confused by his sudden interest in her affairs, she crossed her arms. "Yeah, but it's not the destination that matters, it's the journey to get there."

Then he snorted in reply.

"What?" She hissed, eyes narrowed.

"It's just funny. You sound so..." He pursed his lips. "...conceited."

"I'm not conceited. I'm confident, and there's nothing wrong with that."

"Uh-huh."

"You're just mad that you're going to lose your sex-buddy since I'm leaving the city." She challenged him, eyes landing doltishly on his.

Gary hiccuped for a split second, but answered by standing up, and allowing the sheet to fall to the ground. "Nah," he eased, his smooth voice carrying over her skin like cotton. "But I think you're going to be." He whispered into her ear, the warmth of his breath tickled her neck, and threatened to make her knees buckle. Luckily, Dawn had more self control than that, and pushed him back against the bed much to his original delight, and then flicked the light on to blind him.

"Get dressed, someone will see you, and we don't want them to see your noodle!" She shouted with a giggle that made him worm his way back under the sheets in embarrassment and groan loudly.

It wasn't very often that the great Gary Oak actually showed signs of weakness, but when she laughed at him, it was like being stabbed.

XOX

After speaking with Gary, Dawn made an active effort to talk with Nurse Joy about the next step in her mission. She considered participating in the contest in Ecruteak City, but they wouldn't be holding the contest for experienced trainers for another week. It seemed like when she was a kid, she arrived in time for the ever revolving door of contests every time they happened—but lately, she found herself waiting.

"The next one is in Goldenrod City."

"Hey, Brock goes to school near there." Dawn admired sharply while folding the map inward to focus in on the area leading to the city. Piplup snacked on whatever goodies the Joy had given him, and the nurse smiled happily at Dawn.

"And Gary will be going with you?"

Dawn blinked up at her. "Uhh, maybe?" She didn't think much about the question, she assumed that he would not be, his research was all here in Ecruteak City, not in Goldrenrod. She teased him about it, but had never actually considered he might be joining her.

Speak of the devil, Gary turned the corner from the room rentals with a scarf pulled up around a zipped collar and Dawn pursed her lips with a careful chuckle.

"Hey, Gary, what's up with the turtle neck?" She called to him while he flinched physically and glared over his shoulder at her where the nurse slowly took her leave. Piplup was stationed happily on the counter—thankfully for Gary the pokemon wasn't aware of their current affair, otherwise he was sure to have taken a few bubble beams to the face, but he approached her with crass.

"It's in style." He mumbled, grabbing at her scarf to pull it snug against her flesh to hide inconspicuous purple blobs. "Maybe you should try them before your next contest?"

"That's why they made make-up, darling." Dawn brushed him off while pointing to the map.

"I thought route thirty seven through National Park looked like the best route to Goldenrod City; plus, the hospital where Brock is interning at is located just north of the city.."

Gary looked down at her plans with pursed lips, and hands stuffed carelessly into his purple pockets.

"Train might be faster, but I rather enjoy a long walk—besides the next contest isn't for another few weeks, I wouldn't want to rush anything. Plus, I've heard totodiles frequent near the National Park and..."

Gary's eyebrows raised, watching her face light up at the conversation he was so clearly out of tune with, and he cleared his throat.

"That's great, Dawn." Gary chuckled, taking a seat on the stood beside hers. "But why are you telling me this?" because he was not going with her.

Rule one about having sex with sort of friends. When they leave. You let them.

Dawn blinked curiously up at him, innocence placated on her features and a very slight, and more than likely an embarrassed hue painted over her cheeks.

"Well...I just thought you'd want to know...you know... in case you changed your mind?" She asked rather forcefully and Gary answered her question with a rather rude laugh.

Which grew louder until her face of pure resentment was matched with his blurry vision and sniffles to catch his breath.

"I-I'm sorry." He wheezed. "I'm what?"

"There's nothing in Goldenrod City that I want to see—and besides, Gary Oak doesn't travel with people."

"Really?" She challenged and he leaned back with a selfish, egotistic shrug.

"Really, really." Something about his response dug under her skin, he saw it in the way she crinkled her nose and narrowed her eyes, and she felt it under her skin, searing her.

"Hmph." She muttered, then grabbed her map and plans, looked over her shoulder at him, and twisted her hips in a way she knew would bother him.

"Fine then, let's go piplup, looks like we can leave sooner than I expected." her tone was pitched, insulted by his words and Gary leaned forward to watch her with a puzzled expression.

"See you later, Gary." She added with a side of humor in her voice that she had to bury her smirk with, knowing the situation would baffle him. Women didn't walk away from Gary Oak, or at least, that was the mantra he carried.

Pfft, Gary watched her leave without so much as a thank you, no indication that he should follow her... just gone the moment the pokemon center door closed behind her. With the sun now beaming with full force, the glass windows blinded him in the early morning, and he screwed his face up. She wasn't upset in the slightest that he was staying behind—either she was fibbing really well, or—well-heartless came to mind.

Waiting a few moments, knowing Dawn left immediately for the route she mentioned previously, he stalled in his seat.

First of all, ow, rejection stung; but it wasn't as bad as he thought it would be. After all, they weren't really anything after all, just two people making poor decisions with people they were comfortable around. Gary was used to this type of fling—it was a sort of hobby he frequented when he was much too young to be doing such things—but why would Dawn, of all people—be participating.

It wasn't his job to worry, after all, he and Dawn were barely friends...his eyes turned to the door and his feet pumped to the exit before his mind caught up, swearing at himself.

He couldn't let her leave without making sure she would be okay, whether it was some of that nice guy Ash routine rubbing off on him, or that he knew the later would kill him if something happened to Dawn when he was in full status to stop it—besides, who else knew about this?

By the time he caught up with her, she was on her way out of Ecruteak City, the same way—and nearly the same place—during their last incident, and she wore her pack over her shoulder and a confident bob in her step that piplup matched at her side. Humming pierced his ears and he shook his head, utterly confused by her personality.

Maybe it was the researcher inside of him that needed to know; or maybe it was the concerned almost-friend nature of his that made him sigh and step to her side.

"Alright, you win, I'll come with you." he proclaimed, giving her pause.

Genuine concern washed over her face—and he watched, because he waited for that sly smirk reflecting her victory over him—but it never came. Instead, she smiled warmly at him and reached out to pat his head.

"Once you Dawn, you never go dark." There it was.

Gary stared at her, awestruck for the longest time, feeling sweat curl down his neck.

"...that was the worst pun I've ever heard." trying to hide the heartbreak in his voice.

She squealed quietly and slapped him on the back.

"I know, wouldn't Ash be proud?" she replied, followed immediately by Gary holding his face, and swearing under his breath. What was he getting into?

"Also, I heard that the pokemon you're looking for was actually spotted heading in this direction from a trainer yesterday." She added once her back was to him, and Gary's jaw locked.

"If you were wondering why I wanted you to come along." She added innocently, and Gary exhaled and shook his head.

"You could have started with that." he sneered while adjusting his pack for the long walk ahead.

XOX

The walk to Goldrenrod City was full of many detours; while across the world from them Ash and Misty were falling apart, May was on her way here, and Max and Bonnie had finally set sail; they were cramped in the middle of the forest, following trails of pokemon. Against the push of the wind, and the pull of the ground below, the walk was mostly peaceful, though mostly because they both ventured off to their own hobbies time and again.

Gary enjoyed watching pokemon and observing their natural habitat before immediately catching them (some habits die hard) while Dawn enjoyed reading magazines with piplup, trying new contest routines, and training her pokemon. Gary was more into adventuring, Dawn was more interesting in staying at camp.

Upon his return on a particular night, he saw her tossing a baton up and down—the most recent contest in Goldrenrod City would pin her up against former rivals, and would mark one of her last ribbons before being able to enter the grand festival in Johto region—so she had to have the perfect routine to match the one that she and ambipom would be preforming.

When he watched her drop the baton for the millionth time, pick it back up and swear that they would get it the next time, he couldn't help but be reminded of Ash, who while had no talent originally, never gave up. Dawn was different in the sense that she was brimming with unharvested talent; she picked skills up quickly and efficiently; and never seized to impress him. Seeing her struggle now was something like a treat.

"Don't hurt yourself." He chuckled as she first grew distracted, then embarrassed, and the baton she had recently tossed up twirled, then landed flat on her head.

"Ow! See what you made me do, you big jerk!" She hissed, taking a seat on the log while ambipom tried to console his trainer.

"I didn't make you do anything."

"I was just fine before you-"

"I've been standing here for awhile." his words stung her like a beedrill and she slumped into her seat and sighed tiredly.

"I just can't get this move down. We've been practicing for days now."

"Well, what's the point of giving a pokemon something like that, anyways? It almost sounds like you're getting into performer territory." Gary observed while taking a seat on the log opposite of her at their small campsite only a few miles out of Goldrenrod City. By noon tomorrow, they would have arrived at Brock's apartment.

Dawn inhaled. "I'll have you know that preforming came from contests originally." She scolded. "They decided to take the appeal aspect of contests and turn it into it's own show—it's not really my taste, however, since it's missing the clear battle properties of normal contests."

Gary's lips curled inward. "I've never understood the appeal of contests, anyways—if you want to battle, just battle—what's the point of dressing up in frills, too?"

"Because it's more than just battling! It's about having the skill, patience, and devotion to also put on a good show—it's like ballet or ice skating, where every move must be vicious, perfectly timed and eloquent, whereas battling is a lot like a football match—who ever scores first wins."

Gary blinked. "...so... It's like battling—but pretty?"

"Yes!" She said, pumping her fists up and Gary snorted to himself.

"I don't expect you to understand actual entertainment, you're not even a battler anymore!" she hissed, clearly insulted by his dislike of her current dream job.

"I'm not saying it's not entertaining, it's just... it seems like a lot of work for something where it's still about battle performance."

"But it's not just!" She huffed, "You sound just like Paul!" She growled, suddenly very angry when she stormed away from the campsite into the dark, with ambipom sitting close to the fire and watching her quietly.

Once a fine sheet of silence settled between cracks and pops of the fire, Gary cleared his throat under the ape pokemon's glare.

"Don't look at me, I didn't do it."

Gary swore under his breath, ambipom stared at him with soft eyes, pleading eyes for the trainer to say something to Dawn, but Gary poked the fire instead. What business of it was his if she was sensitive about the subject of contests? It's not like everyone didn't already know they were sub par to actual battling. They didn't receive the recognition that actual battles did, and for good cause. It was a flawed system—there was no right way to prove that one pokemon was more beautiful or talented because beauty was in the eye of the beholder. A panel of judges couldn't make a cheat sheet for the perfect way to display over seven hundred pokemon—so it was already a bias competition. Look at the match May lost—she won, and was still dubbed the loser because her tactics weren't appealing enough to the audience. Unfortunately, battles sometimes meant taking a risk, and apparently, risks weren't allowed in contests.

Contests still only held a small fanbase for the rest of the world dominated by trainers—most teenagers considered contests 'child's play' and moved on into greener pastures—outside of places like Johto and Hoenn, which had strong, cult followings of the competitions, strong trainers ran out of material to work with once conquering the two regions. Of course, Gary didn't want to tell Dawn that. Being a Top coordinator; more, as she would say, was her dream, or at least, a part of it.

"I know we're not appreciated like battlers, okay?" Dawn hissed, returning to the camp fire and plopped down in front of Gary with a serious expression. "But that's only more of a reason to try harder than battlers—we don't need to be better than them; we just need to be as good." She said, a smile over her lips.

"And once people see that contests can be just as interesting and fun in their own way—I think.. well, it doesn't matter." Dawn mumbled a wide smile on her face that made Gary swallow the lump in his throat.

Whatever it was, maybe the way her deep blue eyes glistened and flickered alongside the fire, or the posture in which she spoke, or the clear confidence that she had in herself, and her goals—but he was moved. It had been years since such raw determination fueled his bones—since he and Ash were kids.

"...Alright." After a time, he smiled. "Then I accept your offer—I'll help you."

"I didn't ask for your help!" She snapped, but Gary already moved across the campsite, to the fallen baton and picked it up with a very graceful—girlish twirl.

Dawn was floored.

"You can twirl batons?"

"I learned when I was training on an island in Hoenn a few years ago." Gary mused, then while flipping the rod between his fingers skillfully, he paused, gripped it, and pointed it at Dawn threateningly.

"If Ash so much as hears a peep about this, I'm going to tell the world about your third nipple and that the rug doesn't match-"

"I do not have a third-!" Dawn hissed, face red. "I won't tell a soul—but—but, just remember I didn't ask for your help!" She shouted, fists closed and standing up to face him. Gary handed her the spare baton and her eyes snapped open. He wondered why he always found the most stubborn women to help.

"You didn't have to." He said before dragging her left of the fire, and beginning his short lesson.

Time and again, he had to remind himself that he did not like Dawn. At least, not like that. He liked Dawn, but he was here for platonic reasons only.

Maybe she didn't need protection, and he knew better than to even hint at the idea, but he worried. After all, girls were more easily taken advantage of.

...right?

"And that's how you twirl a baton." Gary finished his lecture, skillfully catching the thrown baton, without looking so much as where it was going to land—it was as if the object was polarized to him.

"Is there anything you don't know how to do?" Dawn asked offhandedly, joking, mostly, but for once very sincere. She gripped the baton between her fingers, holding it close to her chest while he stood a few feet away from her. Caught off guard by the question, he smiled wryly.

Lots came to mind, but instead: "I'll never tell."

She cracked a smirk. "Didn't think so."

XOX

Brock was more than excited to see the two of them when they arrived at noon the next day.

"Friends!" Brock cheered, grabbing them both into a warm, affectionate hug—one that immediately estranged Gary.

Brock was Dawn's friend. Brock was Ash and Misty's best friend. By default, that made Gary and Brock at least friendly acquaintances, but they were far from braiding each other's hair and swapping girl stories. Besides, Gary didn't like to be touched.

"Huh, you're touching me." Gary groaned, stepping away from Brock by twisting his hands and lurching away quickly. "You two can do the hugging thing, I'ma be over here." he gestured to the chair off to the side from the group and settled into the single one beside the coffee table, and faced a horrible soap opera—something akin to the shows his grandfather watched. Groaning, he flipped through the stations, trying to listen to the sound of the television while the duo behind him rambled through incoherent, incomplete, babble.

Gary knew baby pokemon that spoke clearer.

He did not understand how Dawn could so easily flip her mood—one second she was beating herself up, and the next she was as enthusiastic and determined to press forward as she always was. It was the same trait that she shared with Ash, never giving up in sight of a great challenge—lucky for her, she had Gary and Brock around to ramble her emotions to, and that gave him some solace when he finally managed to focus in on the match he changed the station to.

A marshtomp fighting a bayleef. A very familiar marshtomp and a blue haired trainer—was that Max?

Gary turned the sound of the match up, earning the curiosity of his companions from their conversation.

"Hey, is that Max?" Dawn asked, pointing at the small figure who shouted out commands to his pokemon with some skill. Honestly, Gary winced. He was rough around the edges—and seemed to take too long on decisions, which were rounding the battle out to a clean victory for bayleef.

"...he isn't very good." Dawn let slip while Brock swat her lightly on the head.

"We don't say that about our friends, we cheer them on!" Brock scolded while Dawn stuck her tongue out at him, rubbing underneath her cap while Gary crossed his arms.

They weren't wrong, Max was getting slaughtered. Either because he froze, or because he called out bad attacks in defense. He knew this was a re-run because of the added announcement, plus, anything happening in Kalos had to be a rerun because of timezones.

"Looks like the Hoenn native is struggling against Kalos native, champ!" The announcer spoke loudly through his microphone while the camera zoomed into a very angry and aggressive cheering May Maple, who sat beside Misty, who sat beside Ash, who was beside Clemont, and then Serena. For their own reasons, they each looked greatly disturbed—lucky for them it could be chalked up to the battle below.

"Even the champion showed up to watch his old friend battle—it's a shame it's such a mess!" The announcer added.

"How can they announce that on television?" Dawn grumbled, knowing well how rude they were being. Gary shrugged.

"That's TV for you." he muttered nonchalant.

"Ohhh! And another bad turn for marshtomp! What will Max do next? Find out after the break!"

The screen then flashed to a scene of two reporters staring into a camera, while seating in front of a red wall, talking about the newest events world wide.

"I forgot that these things aren't live." Dawn laughed, and Brock nodded.

"It's weird being twelve hours a head, that's for sure. I never know when to call them."

Gary listened to their conversation go back and forth for a few minutes before refocusing on the television announcers report. The usual, scandals with stronger trainers—most of them made up—which events were happening around the region, what crimes were committed and then...

"Rumors have spread of the prestige Team Rocket grunts fleeing the region as the largest crime syndicate known to Kanto and Johto region dissipate by the handfuls." Gary blinked inching forward to listen more carefully, when Dawn's elbow crashed into the back of his head by accident.

"Oh, I slipped!" she gasped, patting him. "I'm so sorry, are you okay." She asked while he glared up at her and then back at the television to release a sigh. They already switched the news again and this time to-

"Hey, is that you?" Brock questioned while leaning over the couch to get a better look. No doubt, it was Gary, wristbands and purple pants and all standing beside Misty and her sister, Daisy. The title "is he back at it again?" flew up on the screen while the announcers had a good laugh.

"Maybe that's why the champ was so uncomfortable at the tournament? His girlfriend's been spotted more with his rival than-" Gary clicked off the screen before their annoying, pompous television personalities could insanely grow on his nerves. His fists were clenched so tight, he could have crushed the remote in on hand, and ripped a hole in Brock's pleather couch. He hated that they snapped pictures, and made stories up on the fly—like they weren't even real people.

No one said anything.

"I'm not sure I'm okay with them knowing this much about my life." Gary hissed, first of all, he knew how uncomfortable it was to be chased around—being Samuel Oak's grandson, he was no stranger to magazines and news outlets—hell, he had his own fanbase for years—but the way they found any excuse to stir up old news to create unwarranted, unwanted and most definitely unnecessary drama for he and his old friends made his blood boil.

"I'm pretty sure that's classified as slander!" the last drop of his voice launched the remote onto the floor where it cracked and splintered into several different pieces. Brock withheld his screech that pressed against his lips in favor of Gary's unusual rage.

"This is what's wrong with the world! Everyone wants to be in everyone's god damn business!" He screamed, turning to look at both Brock and Dawn who were petrified on the spot.

Gary flicked his thumb over his lip and then brushed passed them.

"I need some air." he muttered during his retreat, leaving Brock and Dawn to watch. Once the door slammed shut, they looked to one another worriedly.

"He took that a little harder than usual." Brock observed. "Anything weird happen on your way here?"

The way the question rolled of his lips, so careful and smooth, Dawn knew he was fishing for gossip. He urged Dawn to spill the gritty, dirty details of whatever secret that she was so easily hiding, and had it been anyone's secret but her own, she might have cracked. After all, Brock was one of her best friends—she told him—and Ash—everything.

"Not that I know of! We've just been trying to uncover secrets about the new legendary pokemon he's searching for, and practicing my routines." Dawn hummed while skipping past a befuddled Brock, and directly into the kitchen where she made herself at home to his chips, salsa, and whatever else she felt like having.

XOX

Gary didn't return to the small apartment until dinner was being prepared, almost six hours after leaving. Since then, they had somehow managed to flour the entire kitchen, cover Brock head to toe in flour, and burn what should have been the perfect chocolate cake. It was Dawn's fault, of course, she wanted to try her hand at taking Brock on in Super Smash Pokemon, and they lost track of time. Gary slipped in without a word while they yammered.

"I think it's ruined Brock."

"Nothing a little frosting can't fix!"

"Mm! Chocolate!"

Why did this bother him so much? He asked himself the millionth time. Gary should have taken refuge and solace in the fact that his greatest rival, friend, and possibly best friend in the world, was having a hay day in the Kalos region—but something about the scenario rubbed him the wrong way. How dirty and obsessive the news media was—and how quick they were to toss poor Ash under. Not even Ash, toss Misty under the bus. They wouldn't deflate Ash's reputation, after all, he was a hero, Misty was portrayed by the media as some home-wrecking nitwit, what did they care about her reputation?

Furthermore, why did he care so much? He helped her, helped Ash, did his good deeds, and was supposed to be helping Dawn.

Gary didn't have problems, he had everyone else's problems!

"If you keep thinking so hard, your head will start sizzling." Dawn joked after calling out for him several times. Gary looked up at her, in her blue apron standing beside Brock who dusted off his hands.

"You wanna help out?"

He scoffed. "No thanks."

As he was leaving the kitchen, he heard Brock mutter under his breath about how much of a stick in the mud Gary was, and it only persuaded his fists to close tighter. He was not a stick in the mud. He was barely a jerk anymore! Just look at all the favors he was throwing out to everyone! He didn't like cooking—or baking or... or... Gary slumped against the long couch and folded his arms.

He wasn't Ash, and he was tired of the comparison. Not that he, Gary Oak, grandchild of professor Oak should have ever been overshadowed by the young farm boy-Ketchum, but he was. And Everyone loved to remind him of that. Even the friends he had were Ash's friends, first!

Gary cracked a smirk at his own selfishness. What a way to be. After all, who wouldn't want to be Gary. He was smart, cunning, and most importantly, handsome. Yet, not for the first time, he felt so lack luster and sub par.

He blamed Dawn. He was fine until she showed up.

XOX

Later that night, after the festivities of attempting to bake came to a smoldering end, Dawn joined Gary in the living room, where he would sleep respectfully on the floor, and she would sleep on the couch covered with sheets and blankets. After all, it was the polite thing to do.

While they set up camp in Brock's living room—since his apartment only had one bed room—Dawn tried to make small talk with the otherwise cranky Gary.

"Max isn't a very good trainer, is he?" Dawn asked while fluffing her pillow up and tossing it against the arm rest. He suspected that she wanted to call several times, but refrained from doing so. Gary exhaled, and nodded quietly. They both already took care of their hygiene needs—Dawn's hair was damp from a long shower that would more than likely rack up Brock's utility bill.

"You shouldn't go to bed with your hair wet." he tried, though Dawn brushed him off while sitting and placing her hands in her lap.

"I wonder why, though. He's always seemed fine until it comes to the big battles—you know?"

"Maybe he gets stage fright like May?" Gary deduced, rolling over in his sleeping bag to seek a more comfortable position facing away from the woman.

"That could be possible... but May doesn't really get stage fright its..." Dawn petered off, realizing Gary wasn't listening. "Ash and Misty did seem a little distant though, didn't they?"

"You know how to news makes people out to be." Gary grumbled quietly, surprisingly still sticking up for Ash and Misty, even though he knew that Dawn wasn't intentionally putting them down.

Dawn paused for a long time before saying: "Thanks for turning that off, though."

"No problem." Though he wasn't quite sure why that mattered to either of them. They knew that Ash and Misty's relationship was going to be a walking, breaking hurricane when it started—that didn't mean the news needed to highlight every variation of the storm.

"You know, Gary. You're smarter than you look."

Gary rolled his eyes. "I am Oak's grandson."

"But I mean-" Dawn huffed, he was so hard to compliment. "don't things like that get under your skin? Accusing you of being the Mister?"

"What?" Gary blinked up at her, looking quite a few years younger with his blurry eyes. "Nah, I've been called that my whole life, even if the title wasn't necessarily true. I'm sure Ash told you about the cheerleaders."

"...Yeah he did." She mumbled while slipping from the couch, and onto her knees on the floor beside Gary who let out a strangled noise at her knees against his back. "You don't think I am?"

His head snapped around, he should have known this was coming. "Dawn..." he sighed. "No, you're not."

"But what would you call it then?"

Choosing his words carefully, Gary smacked his lips. "Sexually proactive."

A grin cracked on her face, but didn't quite reach her eyes. "That makes it sound like a sport."

"In some countries, I'm sure that it is." Gary laughed under his breath, turning over with the belief that the conversation was now over, and Dawn would go immediately back to her happy-go-lucky self.

"But you said I shouldn't, either." She hummed, "You know, before..." Well, apparently Gary wasn't going to get any sleep tonight after all.

"Listen, Dawn, I said that because you shouldn't be doing things with people you don't know or trust."

"Well I know you."

"That's different."

"How is that different?" She asked timidly, eyebrows furrowed and a very apparent frown over her pink lips. Gary sighed once more, this time sitting up.

"It's different, because we know that it's-" his eyes darted around the room, looking for Brock's prying eyes. "-safe to have sex with me."

"...so emotions don't factor in at all."

Gary hung his head back. "Dawn..." he groaned. What do you want from me? He whined inwardly. "I don't know, okay? You were the one that said you wanted to. I didn't pressure you into it."

"...How come?"

"Because I don't pressure girls for sex."

"But I'm not just any girl."

"Okay." Gary nodded. "I don't ask my friends for sex." he corrected, but that still wasn't the answer Dawn was pinning for—whatever she was.

"I asked you for sex—actually, I kind of pressured you."

Groaning again, Gary sat up to face her and watch her eyes for the hidden message she was so desperately wanting him to unravel.

"You didn't pressure me."

"So you wanted to?"

Gary winced, shaking his head. Her eyes were misleading, glazed over and emotionless; her body, which vibrated every so often was the only indication he had to that she was actually disturbed by what they were talking about.

"Yes, I wanted to, is that what you want to hear?" He asked, eyebrows narrowed and eyes blinking—it wasn't the truth, but at this point, he was just trying to figure out what was going on in her head.

"So I was easy then?"

Throwing his arms up in frustration, he brought them back down to grab her shoulders. "Dawn, you can't be easy. You've only had sex with me-" Gary wanted to retract the statement the moment it left his lips because the clear disdain that flooded her emotionless gaze made his heart ache.

"Oh."

Then she was looking down at her fists clenched against her pink robe, and her bottom lip sucked into her mouth while she refused to look at him.

"Is that why you and Paul...?" She flinched again. "...oh." he added again, each vowel hitting her like a heavy weight.

"But, still, that's..." He sighed, glad to know it was at least something he could relate to. "Dawn, you're not being stupid."

"But I am." She said quietly. "I know I shouldn't think this way, but ever since it happened, I've felt so..guilty. Since leaving Pallet Town I was convinced I liked Paul until everything was said and done—and now." She bit down on her lip, recalling the countless conversations that they had—sometimes, the countless times he ignored her, and she flipped out on him over it. "Well...afterwards I kind of realized how much of a jerk he was."

Gary laughed, he couldn't help himself while she glared at him. "No kiddin'? A blind person could have told you that."

"Well, he's not—he's not always bad." Dawn insisted and Gary raised his eyebrows, challenging that statement.

"Name one good thing he has done for you."

Dawn gnawed the inside of her cheek in thought, wracking her mind for a good enough answer.

"One time, he... well, we traveled together for awhile and he put up with me."

Gary deadpanned her. Eyes blinking every so often to indicate the high level of unimpressed he was. Realizing Gary wasn't going to crack and agree with her sentiments, her eyes finally danced around, and fell to the floor.

"Never mind, I don't know why I even told you."

"Because I'm the relationship master?"

"Oh please." Dawn huffed, rolling her teary eyes, it was already unfamiliar enough talking about her problems with someone else—especially a problem that wasn't about pokemon. Not that it was a problem, Dawn added hastily.

"Seriously, though." Gary exhaled. "So long as you're safe, and smart you're not a misses" he decided on matching her term of mister. "You're just like any other human with certain needs after a certain age. Sleeping with Paul and realizing it wasn't what you wanted does not make you the bad person. So stop being stupid."

"But it was..." She was so quiet, he barely heard her. He was something that she wanted. In some way... a little bit. Thought she couldn't place a finger on why. A part of her wanted to hurt Paul as much as he had her—but he hadn't really done anything wrong.

Now it was Dawn's turn to look up at him, eyes blinking, drying the tears that began to pool while watching his face.

"I'm not-" She huffed, but then grinned at him and nodded. "Thank you." She mumbled quickly, blinking at him in that special way that he was growing so familiar with.

"Right now?" he asked, overly aware of their surroundings when she leaned forward and started kissing him. Hands on his cheeks innocently, she raked her fingers through the soft auburn strands that danced above his shoulders while he, too leaned in. She was like kissing spring, a soft delicate woman until the switch in her head flipped, and the innocent raking turned into hair pulling, and he was on his back on the couch.

"Whoa, Dawn." he grunted at the minor separation before their lips danced once more and his eyes blurred then buzzed shut.

He didn't like Dawn, but he liked the way her fingers snapped the buttons on his shirt. He didn't like Dawn, but he liked the way her lips trickled one kiss at a time from his mouth, to his chin, to to nip of his neck. And he knew that he didn't like Dawn, but he liked the way her body, so slim and light fit his like a puzzle.

He swore that he didn't like Dawn.

Not even a little.

Not the way she chuckled at his unmanly shudders—or the way she poked his ego. He didn't like Dawn, because she was overly kind and rational—unlike a certain specific woman he couldn't quite imagine when Dawn sat so carelessly on his lap. She was different—and he certainly didn't like how she was a gossip, or the way she spent six hours on her hair. Or how she never gave up. Or how she insisted there was "no need to worry" even in the worst situations.

He...

He did not.

Yet he kissed her back anyways, and she reciprocated affectionately, and he swore to himself

"Hey, I was thinking that tomorrow we could watch some-" Brock rounded the corner, and while Gary heard him immediately, they were mid-way switching positions with Dawn's hand too far south for comfort and their lips a weaved mess.

"Oh my arceus! NOT ON MY COUCH." He shouted, deafening the two while they jumped away from one another in sheer panic. Dawn pat her clothes down and shuddered under Brock's glare, face as bright as a tomato.
"He was helping me put my back in!" Dawn responded appropriately and Gary slapped his face, and carefully tugged a pillow into his lap. Because that was a great excuse!

Brock stared wide eyed, or as wide as he could with his jaw hung open. "I knew it! And I trusted you in my living room! Do you have no self control!?"

That was it, no more for Gary. He was tapping out—and now that Brock knew about it, there was no way Dawn would continue. While she was an amazing woman—that he did not like—she also cared a lot about what her friends thought, and based on Brock's reaction—mostly panicking about the cleanliness of his couch, this was not going to be in Gary's favor.

Not that he wanted it to be. This was just to protect Dawn. Now that the skitty was out of the bag—he was safe again. Dawn would go back to pretending nothing happened, Brock would lecture them, and she would be over this little tiff she was in—especially after their conversation.

After all, she didn't like him.

And he didn't like her.

So there was no reason to continue this charade they were playing. But then when she moved to console Brock who was shouting about 'cleaning the sheets' her hand brushed his knee and the shudder that ran down his spine brought his chin to his chest with a heavy sigh.

Oh no.

Author's Note:

I haven't written a Dawn chapter for a reason, but she'll get her moment to shine here soon.

Idk why, but I really enjoyed writing this chapter. I laughed so much. (Gary may or may not be one of my fav characters -leaves-) MAYBE IT'S BECAUSE CHAPTERS 24 and 25 KILLED ME. -flees-

I... don't actually want to say much -about- this chapter unless someone asks me because it has -a lot- of themes and touchy subject matter in regards to Dawn and Gary's peculiar situation. There's not a lot I want to say, unless someone says something. So...er... lemme know?

I love all your support. Thank you. (:

NINT