Day 3 – Memories
"You know you're in love when you can't fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams." - Dr. Seuss

Finally, a shorter fic than my usual word count! Thank Arceus! /lh

Anyway, this chapter is based on a very simple idea: It is said Ash feels more comfortable around Goh than his previous companions. But before Ash got to know Goh better, he probably would have been a bit more guarded and keep some things close to the vest, like he usually does.

At what point did Ash realize he didn't have to do that with Goh? What caused him to open up to him? I tried to show one possibility using this story, elements of which had already been posted on the satogou server a long time ago.

Technically speaking, this chapter could be considered Hurt/Comfort, so prepare for lots of sappy content by the end. There are mentions of past trauma on Ash's part (nothing that we haven't seen in canon), but they are very light, as I felt uncomfortable going too in-depth with that sort of thing.

Whenever Goh and Ash would go to bed, Goh was usually the one to fall asleep first.

Not because he was a quick sleeper, mind you – far from it. It was simply because Ash refused to fall asleep unless he was sure his boy was okay.

Besides, he found it comforting to look at Goh's beautiful sleeping face… wait, is that creepy? Ash thinks it might be a little creepy.

Anyway, Ash worried about Goh a lot, and sometimes, even when he did fall asleep, Ash stayed awake for a while longer, just to make sure whatever dreams he was having were good.

It was now 2 AM, and Goh had not fallen asleep.

"Goh? Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just having trouble sleeping."

Goh was not surprised when Ash climbed up to the top bunk and started cuddling with him in response to this. "Here, this will help!" Ash declared. "You know you can tell me anything, right, dear?"

"Of course, uh… honey", Goh replied. The pet names still feel so weird to him, but he'll manage. "Tomorrow I'm going to have a new trial mission, and I'm nervous. So you know, same as usual."

"You'll do great! Don't worry!" Ash reassured him, with a smooch for good measure.

"I don't even know what it'll have me do, though. I mean, remember the mission with the Shiny Volcarona? If that Larvesta hadn't evolved then and there, we could have been stuck doing that mission for weeks!"

"I'm sure whatever it is, we'll get through it together", Ash told him with an air of finality. "Do you want me to read you a bedtime story to calm your nerves?"

"That would be great, actually. I miss when grandma would read one for me every night."

"Good, because I love reading things to you", Ash stated happily. "Oh… wait. I gave them all back to Chloe, didn't I?"

"Don't even think of trying to sneak into her room, Yamper would destroy you", Goh told Ash. "Again."

"Oh well, no use crying over spilled milk! I'll just have to make up a new one!"

"Make it up? Are you sure you're up for that?"

"Don't underestimate me, I can be creative when I wanna!"

"In battles, yes…"

"Just watch, I'll come up with a story so great, you'll be begging to hear more!" Ash insisted. "Ahem. Pay attention, young Goh, for I shall tell you the story of… The Rainbow Hero!"

Goh fell silent, respectfully waiting for Ash to continue. Ash was pleased with his boyfriend's politeness. "Once upon a time, there was a boy named Josh Nabum."

"…Josh… Nabum?"

"Yep! Clever name, isn't it?"

"It sounds a bit familiar-"

"Well, I'm sure it's probably just a coincidence", Ash retorted. "As they say in those PokéStar Studios movies, 'Any similarities to persons real or fictional are purely coincidental'. So continuing on, Josh was a happy kid who wanted nothing more than to become a pokémon master."

Goh sweatdropped. Ash's story was clearly becoming autobiographical, but he decided to humor him by not commenting on it.

"With his trusty partner Jolteon, Josh travelled the lands, meeting many great friends along the way. Like Mindy and Brook in Kanto, Mary and Mick in Hoenn, Aurora in Sinnoh, Eileen and Celsio in Unova…" Ash began to rattle off all of his companion's names, just slightly changed.

In spite of himself, Goh was actually excited now. Ash was telling him about his past adventures! This practically never happened.

Oh, sure, he'd make a random comment here or here about 'oh, this is where I died the second time' and then deflect when asked about it, but that was about it.

"What were his adventures in Kanto like?"

"Oh, uh…" Ash stopped, thinking of what he should say. "Josh was young then, so he was kind of a brat. It didn't help that he had just had a falling out with his childhood friend and longtime crush, Gavin Orchard."

"G-Gavin Orchard…" Goh chortled, knowing full well who it referred to.

"Fortunately, his friends were there to support him. Brook was a endless fountain of helpful knowledge (and food!), while Mindy hid her affection for Josh under a façade of anger. Not to mention Jolteon, who warmed up to him after he protected it from a flock of Pidgeys, which he had initially assumed were Spearows. But not everything was fun and games…"

Ash stopped for a while, remembering all the bad things that had happened as well. There was a reason he was hesitant to talk about his previous adventures to Goh. But then again, this would only have happened to 'Josh', right?

He took deep breaths, much to Goh's concern, and continued the story. "One day, Josh was invited to a tournament on a secret island, but then it turned out to be a trap. Jumping into the middle of a fight between two legendary pokémon, Josh was…"

"Was…?" Asked Goh, at the edge of his seat.

"Josh was… turned to stone" Ash explained. "The tears of all the pokémon around him brought him back to life, but he never forgot that moment. Sometimes he would wake up in the middle of the night terrified because he couldn't feel his body and thought it was happening again… even so, he carried on like nothing had happened, because he didn't know what else he should do."

Ash looked just about paralyzed himself. "And… that's all for now." He concluded

Goh resisted the urge to say 'that's it? The story barely got started!' and instead put his hand on Ash's shoulder and thanked him for the story. "It was a nice story for your first time coming up with one. I hope I get to hear more of it."

"Thanks", Ash mumbled. "I hope it took your mind off of things."

"I hope so, too", Goh replied, looking at Ash meaningfully. The two boys curled themselves up under the covers and went to sleep.

It became a sort of tradition for them to have Ash narrate more of 'The Tale of The Rainbow Hero' every night for Goh, even if he wasn't having trouble sleeping.

There were definitely some days where Ash just couldn't bring himself to, and that was fine. Sometimes in order to explain these, Ash had to relive some pretty terrible stuff that had happened to him, and Goh was okay with waiting until he was ready. Just the fact that he was willing to now showed a lot of progress.

That being said, most of the stories were pretty normal, as it wasn't every day 'Josh' got involved in an epic battle for the fate of the world. Most of the time he and his friends were just exploring and finding new pokémon.

"And so Eileen convinced Josh to wear a dress in order to help her get back at some arrogant ladies who made fun on her. Because Josh had been cursed to crossdress at least once per region, and it would only be in Kalos that that curse would be broken", Ash narrated, eliciting a few laughs from Goh due to the serious delivery.

"Crossdressing isn't that bad, though!"

"…Josh may or may not still have his wigs and try them on from time to time to feel pretty", Ash admitted.

Ash narrated so many details, Goh wondered how he managed to do all that adventuring in less than a year. He talked about going to places Goh had never even heard of, including ones that Goh could scarcely believe were possible.

"And during his battle with the Ziggurat King Bradley, Josh was possessed by the Emperor of Pokémuria", Ash explained, while frantically searching up synonyms on his phone. "But the Emperor didn't know how to pokémon battle very well, so he ended up making Josh lose! And he was a big meanie!"

Ash smiled as he narrated. Telling these stories as though they happened to someone else gave them a bit of distance, and it allowed him to look back on it all and laugh.

Surprisingly enough, eventually he was getting more scared of telling Goh about all his previous boyfriends and girlfriends than of talking about his various traumas.

"But before she departed for good, Sienna ran up the escalator and planted a soft kiss on Josh's lips. Josh smiled at her and bid her goodbye."

"That's the third girl who kissed Josh by this point", Goh groused. "And one of them was a pokémon!"

"It's not easy for Josh to turn off his natural charisma!" Ash defended… himself? "He has too much love to give!"

"Seems to me Josh and his friends would be happier if he focused his love on just one person", Goh said.

Ash's lips curled into a wry smile. "Do you want to hear about the person Josh loves the most in all the world, then?"

Goh fidgeted and started playing with his hair. "Well… of course. Romance is an important part of any fictional hero's life."

"Then tomorrow I'll tell you all about them. Sleep well, my scone."

Ash kissed Goh's forehead and went back to his own bunk.

"Goodnight, Ash. Sweet dreams", Goh said from above him.

Ash pulled the sheets over himself and found himself, as usual, excited for the next day. But now, he was actually feeling excited to get to the next night, as well!

The following evening, Ash and Goh put on their pajamas and sat together on the top bunk yet again.

"After all his adventures across Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh, Unova, Kalos, and Alola, Ash happened to visit Vermillion City, the same place where a young, stylish boy named Moh lived."

"…Moh." Goh repeated.

"Moh… Gumption! Because he has a lot of gumption!" Ash decided, after wracking his brain for a while. "Anyway, Moh's greatest ambition is to catch a Victini, because he saw one as a child and never let it go. The day Ash arrived, Moh was waiting for a fateful encounter, but was disappointed to find it was only a Ho-oh. But he leapt for it anyway, because Moh is kind of crazy."

"Ah, hahaha… I wonder what he was planning to do afterward?" Goh commented with some embarrassment.

"Once he was on Ho-oh's back, who did he find there but Josh, having jumped onto Ho-oh as well, for equally difficult to understand reasons? The two boys felt a kinship from the moment they laid eyes on one another. Moh said something weird to Josh, then. He told him 'I accept you as my friend!' like he was bossing Josh around! But Josh didn't care, because Moh had a cute face and two little antennas in his hair, and that was enough for Josh." Ash said, beaming with excitement.

He kept going. "The Ho-oh took them both on a joyride across the city river, flying high and even diving into the water at one point. When it came up, Moh and Josh saw that it had formed a beautiful rainbow."

Ash touched his hand to his heart. "Truly, that was a fated encounter, but not just with Ho-oh. There was something magical about Moh, the way he talked, or the beauty of his eyes, that charmed Josh like no other that had come before. He was amazing. But the most tragic part about him was, Moh didn't even realize how amazing he was. In fact, a lot of the time, he told Josh that he was the amazing one, even though Josh thought he was nothing special!"

"One day, they went from being simply friends to boyfriends. And Josh couldn't have been happier about that", Ash continued. "Moh was kind, caring, and loved his pokémon. And he loved Josh, as well. He was the first person Josh felt comfortable sharing the toughest parts of his journeys with. He didn't have to put a strong face in front of Moh…"

Ash hesitated as he tried to not let his feelings overwhelm him. Goh patiently waited for him to continue, without saying a word. "And one day", Ash said as he approached Goh, "he had the opportunity to tell Moh about all of that. All the feelings Moh gave him, not just feelings of love, but feelings of safety, of having someone who understood him."

Taking Goh into a warm embrace, Ash finished the story. "Because this boy who declared himself his friend as they flew together into a rainbow was more precious to him than anything in the entire world. He was his hero. His Rainbow Hero."

Goh didn't know what to say. He gave Ash a pat on the back, thinking about how, for someone who was usually so poor at words, having to articulate all these complicated thoughts and feelings like this must have been incredibly difficult. "Ash, that was… that was beautiful. Thank you."

Then he processed the last thing Ash had said. "Wait, wait, wait. Moh is the 'rainbow hero' that the story is named after? Not Josh?"

"I know, right?" Ash said, grinning widely. "Isn't that a clever twist?"

"It is, but it's also kind of weird to introduce the titular character only twenty-three chapters in."

"Eh, stranger things have been done. I trust that Moh will be very popular and test well with the focus groups!" Ash replied, winking to the side playfully, all trace of the vulnerability he showed earlier gone.

Though, now that he looked at him, Goh couldn't help but feel Ash seemed… lighter? As though his smile was more genuine now. He was happy for him.

"Well, I know the story from this point on, so I guess there's no need for you to tell me", Goh noted. "Moh and Ash become the best research fellows the world has ever seen, and Moh catches many, many pokémon on his way to Mew."

"Victini."

"Yes, that one. I'll probably catch that one myself one day. Actually, how come Josh didn't tell Moh he had met Victini before?"

"It wasn't important at the time?" Ash tried to explain.

"I mean, I would feel it was important if I was him", Goh remarked. "I mean, imagine if you knew where Mew lived and you neglected to tell me after all this time…"

"Uh, hahaha… funny story…" Ash mumbled. "Remember when I was telling the part of the story where Josh, Brook, Mary and Mick were in Hoenn, and they met a Zeraora and a Marshadow?"

"Yeah, the one with the Tree of Inception", Goh said, narrowing his eyes. "Why, is there something about that I should know?"

"Yeah, um… you know how these are based on my adventures? Well, when it happened to me, the Marshadow was actually Mew, so… we could go there if you want?" Ash explained, rubbing his head and looking like a child found with its hand in the cookie jar.

Goh looked at him with a frustrated expression. "Oh, Ash. Why do you always forget to tell me really important things?"

"It just doesn't cross my mind, I'm sorry!" Ash replied apologetically.

"It's alright." Goh leaned back into his pillow and prepared himself to sleep. "Actually, can I tell you a secret, too?"

"Yeah?"

"That first night, when I couldn't sleep, it wasn't because of the trial mission", Goh said conspiratorially. "It was because I was too excited to spend more time with you the next day. When you started talking to me, I said I was worried to get you to act all mushy and 'helpful boyfriend'-y just because I didn't want to wait for tomorrow to hang out."

"Oooooh!" Ash exclaimed. "You manipulative little… and to think I was actually concerned!", He complained, though there was zero anger behind it.

"Hey, I'm stronger than you give me credit for, yeah? Most of the time…" Goh commented, saying the last line in a self-deprecating voice. "Then other times, I balk at the slightest chance of danger, but I'm getting better!"

"Cuz of little ol' me supporting you", Ash teased.

"Yep. And… I hope I've been helping you out, too, Ash. Even if I was only listening to you talk."

"It did help. Thank you." Ash kissed Goh and climbed back to his own bunk. "Sweet dreams. Don't stay up late on my account, this time!"

"Same to you!"

As Ash returned to his proper place in the bottom part of the bunk (much to his eternal chagrin), he felt warm and fuzzy inside.

Over the course of the last few weeks where he created this fictionalized version of his adventures to tell Goh, a part of Ash was always afraid Goh would never believe all these things happened to him. And that was true at first – like how he didn't believe him about Meowth being able to talk, for example.

But he was wrong. At some point, that had changed. When he looked at the way Goh was paying attention to him talking, he knew that he believed him wholeheartedly. And more importantly, he didn't judge him for any of the things he had done or said.

There was no need to keep up that mask of confidence or cockiness around Goh, especially since Goh himself did the same thing, and wouldn't judge him for having insecurities that he hid from others. Ash recalled how this all had started as his way of making Goh feel better, and how ironic it was that it ended up becoming the other way around. Goh was always surprising him in the most unexpected ways.

Then again, after all those times Ash helped Goh be strong, strong like he knew he could be if he believed in himself, it only made sense that Goh would one day help Ash become stronger, right?

Ash went to sleep very easily this time, no longer afraid of his own memories.

A.N. I hope I haven't written Ash too out-of-character. In my defense, it can be very easy to read him as someone who overcompensates for the frankly dire stuff that has happened to him over what in-universe is a very short timespan by acting excessively cheerful.

Maybe Ash is one of those kids who is afraid that he'll be letting his friends down if he isn't being strong for their sake. That's the sort of vibe he gives off sometimes.

Also, just to clarify, Ash came up with the 'twist' last-minute, since he came up with the name for the story on the spot (much like every aspect of it that wasn't from real life). Rainbow Hero was his 'Chosen One' title from the first AU movie, but he probably doesn't know that here.

…Unless? O_O

Tomorrow, hopefully, I'll release the chapter corresponding to Day 4: Fairytale!