A.N. The prompts for today's story are:

Destiny / "He who controls the present controls the past, and he who controls the past controls the future" - George Orwell

Not many observations to add at the start here. On with the show!

"So, what're you doing today, Chloe?"

"Oh, nothing interesting. Dad wants me to take Parker to Professor Oak's Pokémon Camp. He's about the right age for it."

Goh frowned a little. He was kind of hoping she had more interesting plans, so he could tag along. Vacation time is great, but it can sure be boring, too.

"Why don't we come with you?" Ash suggested, nonetheless. "It'll be fun! We can tell Parker stories about what it's like!"

"Uh, sure. Why, though?"

"Because Goh is bored since we don't have any missions today!"

"H-Hey…" Goh sweatdropped. Must Ash always be so honest?

"That makes sense. He always liked tagging along with me whenever I was doing something fun, back when he had no friends."

Ash laughed in response. "That sounds like him!"

"It-It wasn't like that!" Goh protested. "I was just being generous and allowing Chloe and her friends to bask in my glorious presence, yeah!"

"Sure you were, Goh…"

The sound of a door opening was heard. "Hey, sis, c'mon! What are you waiting for?"

Chloe pointed at the two lads. "Ash and Goh want to join us, Parker. What do you think?"

"What, for Pokémon Camp? Aren't they too old for that?"

"No, no, we just want to kill time, so we were thinking of visiting the place. Maybe I'll see some of my pokémon again, or watch the kids learning how to interact with pokémon for the first time… or just hang out with Professor Oak and chat about the old times." Ash explained.

Goh thought about it. It sounded boring at first, but hearing Ash talk about it, it seemed like it might not be so dull. And hey, if it makes Ash happy, he's happy too!

"Okay, so let's go already!"

"Now, now, Parker", Ash chided. "You shouldn't say it so irritably. You need to yell it real loud, like… Let's goooo!"

Parker looked confused. "O-Okay?"

"You try it now!"

"L-Let's goooo!" Parker shouted.

"Let's gooooo!" Ash repeated once again.

"Pikaaaaaaa!"

"Let's goooo!"

"Eevu-vuiii!"

"Let's goooo!"

"Rukiiiiii!"

Ash cleared his throat. "Alright, I think that's enough."

Some time later, they arrived at the Oak Ranch.

"Alright, go meet some friends and try not to embarrass yourself, okay, Parker?" Chloe advised.

"I wasn't planning to!" The little boy pouted.

"You should be excited, Parker. Many children meet their destinies at the legendary Pokémon Camp! It could happen to you!" Ash declared. "Or maybe you'll just make some random girl fall head over heels for you and not even realize it for three years. Either-or, really."

Goh looked at Ash like what he said baffled him utterly. That was such a bizarrely-specific example…

"You've all done this before, right? Was it fun?" Parker inquired.

"Oh, it was only the most important day of my entire life!" Goh admitted. "I wouldn't be who I am today if I hadn't come here."

Chloe shrugged. "It was alright, I guess. I did end up getting into a fight with this girl over who was the best meower, though. So that wasn't fun."

"I was supposed to show up here when I was six… but I overslept, so I had to try again a year later. But it was great!" Ash reminisced. "Of course, everything's great when you're in a place with so many pokémon!"

"Okay, well, I'm sure I'll enjoy it better than sis did, since I actually like pokémon", Parker teased.

"Hey!" Chloe shouted angrily. "I do like some pokémon! Mostly dog-looking ones… but-"

"See you in the evening, everyone! I'm off to meet my destiny!" He declared before running off, not even bothering to reply to Chloe.

Chloe balled her hands into fists. "I swear, that boy needs to learn a good lesson about respect…"
"Well, Wynaut send him on a first errand?" Ash suggested.

"That's your answer for everything, isn't it?"

Goh didn't reply right away. He was too busy thinking about what Ash had said. "If you were supposed to come here when you were six… Ash, how old are you now, again?"

"Huh? I'm ten, of course", Ash replied.

"Okay, so that was… four years ago. And the one time I went to Pokémon Camp was…" Goh frowned. "Four years ago."

"Something wrong, Goh?" Chloe asked.

"It's… it's nothing", Goh lied. I could have met Ash four years ago, he thought to himself.

Admittedly, Ash did say he managed to wake up on time and come here a year later, but by that point, young Goh had no interest in leaving the house for anything other than a legendary pokémon.

So the fact remained that, had Ash simply woken up on time, they could have met then. Goh's mind swirled with the potential implications of this.

[Goh's imagination]

"How long are we gonna wait for this irresponsible kid, anyway?" Goh complained.

"I-I'm here! I'm right here!" A squeaky little voice shouted at them.

"Oh, it's Ash! We were worried you wouldn't come at all." Professor Oak told the little boy who'd just arrived. Apparently his name was Ash?

"Yeah, but fortunately Gary managed to wake me up. My alarm clock got broken somehow!"

Goh's face became flushed as he looked at the new arrival and took notice of his frizzy hair and soft features. He's so c-cute…

"Goh? Hey, Earth to Goh?" Chloe said to him, moving her hand over his face. Goh startled and cried "Y-Yeah, what's up?"

Chloe gave him one of her patented Judging Looks™ for a moment, but then she looked at Ash, and then back at him, and just gave him this knowing smile… like she knew something about him that he didn't. What's up with that?

"It's nice to meet you all! I'm Ash Ketchum, from Pallet Town."

Ash, for his part, seemed somehow interested in Goh as well. Even though he said 'it's nice to meet you all', Goh was the one he approached first, offering him a handshake.

Goh turned his head, and said nothing in response. He's trying to be friendly. Well, he'll just have to accept the fact that I don't need any friends!

Ash looked disappointed, but it didn't seem to deter him for long, as he immediately took his place among the rest of the kids.

"Ah, man…" Goh sighed.

"What is it, dear?" Ash asked, concerned for Goh. "Is it that dystonia thing making you feel bad again?"

"Dysphoria, Ash", Goh corrected. "And no, I was just… I was thinking about how cool it would have been if we'd met back then. If you hadn't overslept, I mean."

"Oh… Oh, yeah! It would've been kind of cool." Ash admitted. "But it wouldn't make that much of a difference, would it?"

"Huh? Well, no…"

"You shouldn't get stuck on questions like 'what could've been', Goh", Ash told him. "Just enjoy the present! We're friends now, and that's what matters."

Having said that, Ash started walking in a carefree manner to Professor Oak's farm, no doubt wanting to get reacquainted with all his pokémon.

"…Easy for you to say", Goh muttered behind him.

"I guess it doesn't make a difference to him because he was always happy, even before he met you", Chloe observed.

"Y…Yeah", Goh admitted, though the implications of the comment hurt him more than he wanted to admit.

Because yeah, he was far from happy before he met Ash. He was good at pretending, though… but every time he had to do that, it hurt more and more. He had no idea where he could've ended up if Ash had never come into his life. He didn't want to even consider the possibility.

"If it makes you feel better, maybe it was better for you and Ash to not have met back then", Chloe said. "With the way you were back in the day, you might've gotten off on the wrong foot…"

"I'm sorry, is it 'make fun of Goh for being an introvert' day already? I completely forgot!" Goh snarked.

"…Sorry, I had to wake up early today."

Goh harrumphed, but after a few moments of thought, he had to admit Chloe might not be that far off the mark. Would his younger self really fall head over heels for a stranger like that?

He certainly wasn't the type to say things like 'I accept you as my friend!' back then, after all. And from what his mom told him, Ash was very different when he was little.

[Goh's imagination]

"You're being silly. Mew is just a flying cat!" Ash said in a flippant tone. "I don't see what's so special about it."

"You're wrong; it is special!" Goh yelled at him. "And when I catch it as my very first pokémon, I'll be special, too!"

"Well, mom said everyone is born special in their own way!" Ash shot back. "So there!"

Ash then blew a raspberry at him. Goh was scandalized. "How dare you?!"

Chloe looked confused. How dare he… what? Recite a line from a self-help book? This is getting way too heated. "Professor Oak! Ash and Goh are fightingggg!"

"Oh? What seems to be the problem?" Oak asked, approaching the trio of children.

"Professor! Ash said Mew isn't special, a-and I keep telling him that it is, and he's just being a big meanie!" Goh hurriedly explained.

"He's the one being annoying ranting about Mew!" Ash retorted. "Everybody's tired of it, already."

"But it's important to me!" Goh protested.

"Now, now, Goh. You need to learn that not everyone has the same interests or gets excited about the same things as you. Just give Ash some space." Oak suggested. "…But I have to agree, Mew is indeed a very special pokémon!" Then, as though assuming the issue was resolved with just these few short words, he ran off to watch over some other kids.

"HAH!" Goh yelled really loudly. "See? The great Professor Oak agrees with me!"

"…Fine, you win this round", Ash grumpily acknowledged. "But I still think it's just a floating cat!"

"You say 'just' a floating cat, like it's not the most totally amazing thing you've ever heard. I bet you don't even know what a cat is!"

"Do you?"

Goh then decided to change tacks, not wanting to admit he really didn't know what a cat was. Some subspecies of Meowth, maybe? "Chloe, back me up here! Mew is cool, right?"

"Why are you asking me?" Chloe replied. "I don't care. It's just a pokémon!"

Silence fell through the area. "…Just a pokémon." Goh repeated incredulously.

"JUST a pokémon? What, do you not like pokémon, or something?"

"…They're overrated", Chloe huffed.

Goh and Ash both gasped. "How could you say something like that?! Pokémon are amazing!" They said in unison.

Then they looked at each other, both surprised and weirded out. Perhaps they did have some common ground, after all.

Goh was enjoying this little thought experiment of his.

"Personally, I think no matter what, Ash and me would have worked things out in the end. We always do." He eventually replied to Chloe.

"But you're still happy with the way things turned out here, right?" She asked him.

Goh found himself unable to reply right away. He wasn't sure. Yeah, Ash always made him feel great, but by the time they met one another, Goh was already an insecure mess. That sort of thing is not easy to heal.

"I… I feel like I wish we did meet earlier. Ash could have helped me in a lot of situations", Goh admitted.

[Goh's imagination]

"I can't believed he just left me hanging like that", Goh sobbed in his room.

There was a knock on his door. "Hey, Goh… It's me", Ash's voice said. "Can I come in?"

"No!" Goh shouted. I can't let him see me like this…

"Your parents told me you were sad, so I brought mom's best homemade cookies!"

Groaning, Goh fought a losing battle inside of himself about whether to take the bribe or not. "…Can I have some?"

"That's what I was implying, silly!" Ash replied, and didn't even wait for an answer before barging in.

"I-I didn't say yes yet!" Goh complained (though of course he would've said yes if Ash had let him. Delia's cookies are great.)

It took only one look at his face for Ash's expression to change to one of pity. "Oh, Goh… what happened to you?"

"Don't look at me like that, okay? I'm fine!" Goh yelled at him, sounding very angry. "That stupid look of pity in everyone's faces… I hate it!"

"It's okay, Goh. I'm not judging. I'm a cry-baby, too!"

"I'M NOT A CRYBABYYYYYY!" Goh shrieked, despite the fact he was clearly crying still.

Ash didn't say anything for a while and let Goh eat the cookies while crying profusely. "I…I met a friend on a trip yesterday, or… someone I thought was a friend. But I guess they didn't like me. It figures. Even I don't like me."

"What happened?"

"We promised to meet back up the next day, but he wasn't there! He lied to me!"

"You don't know that… maybe he just… got sick?" Ash suggested.

"Yeah, right", Goh said, sniffling. "I know he just didn't want to see me. No one does. They're just polite about it."

"Is that how you think I am?" Ash questioned.

Goh looked at him sadly. "…You're just going to leave someday, too. We could barely stand each other when we first met, after all."

"But I came all this way to see you just to cheer you up!"

"I know, I know! It's just…" Goh buried his face in his arms. "I don't want to… get the wrong idea from that. If it turns out you don't care about me, and I thought you did, I'll be hurt. I don't want to get hurt."

"But if the people around you do care about you, and you convince yourself that they don't so you don't 'get hurt'… then you're never gonna appreciate all the love that people have for you!" Ash explained.

Goh dried his tears for a second. "…You okay, Ash? You almost sounded deep for a second there, haha…"

"See, you're already feeling better!" Ash remarked, clapping at him and smiling.

Goh still kept shedding more tears, but not all of them sad. "I love you, Ash."

"…Huh?" Ash intoned. "Did you just say you love me?"

Realizing what he'd just blurted out by accident, Goh's entire head became red, and he replied, "O-Oh, I actually said that I love… Youash! Yeah, Youash is a transfer student in our class…"

"Oohhh! Kind of weird to just say that out of nowhere, but I guess we need to think about the people we love most when we're feeling bad", Ash speculated.

"Y-Yep!" Goh agreed, thankful for Ash's leap of logic.

"I hope I can meet this Youash fellow someday!"

"Ohyoucantactuallyhesgoingtomoveawayagainsoon", Goh quickly explained.

"Whuh? But why?" Ash questioned, making a pouty face.

"His parents are very busy!"

[Goh's imagination]

Goh wasn't sure if he liked how pathetic he was making this mental fantasy version of his younger self be. It was probably accurate, but still!

"…Goh, Ash isn't your therapist. You know that, right?" Chloe pointed out.

"I know, I know", Goh sighed. "But… he's kind of like one, yeah? Just a very dumb one. Like one of those Manic Fairy-Type Dream Guys in the movies."

"I get it, you wish Ash was there to help give you confidence and self-belief and all the stuff he gives you now. Isn't it enough that you got there eventually?"

"I mean… yes and no?" Goh replied. "Sure, things are going great for me now, but I couldn't have done any of it without Ash…"

That makes him feel horrible to say. It's like saying he'd be an invalid with no accomplishments to his name if Ash hadn't crossed his path. But that's how Goh feels, sometimes.

Goh shakes his head. No, he's not that bad! Sure, maybe he would've never caught Scorbunny or any of his other pokémon, but he'd still be a research fellow and done cool things without Ash. Just, you know, not as many cool things.

"You know what, nevermind. You're right, I can't keep things about the way things could've gone. My past may have left me with a lot of mental baggage, but that doesn't mean I can't have a great life in spite of that!"

"That's the spirit!" Chloe replied encouragingly.

Besides, even if they did become friends, there would still be parts of his life Ash wouldn't be able to save him from. Even if he was always great at emotional support.

[Goh's imagination]

"I'm never going back there again", Goh says, staring his parents straight in the eyes.

"Goh, sweetie, are you sure you won't reconsider…?" His mother asks hesitantly. "Your education is very important."

"No, I'm certain. Everyone there's just holding me back, anyway." He tells them.

"It's fine. I'll work something out with them", His dad promises his mother, and that seems to settle the issue.

Goh breathes a sigh of relief. He couldn't be more glad he doesn't have to go to school anymore. He always gets humiliated there, somehow. At first it was fine because Chloe would stand up for him, but that just meant the bullies would wait until she wasn't around.

It's not gonna be a problem, he tells himself. After all, he's a genius! He doesn't need school anyway! Why would he want to go back?

All that ever happens there is he gets called teachers' pet for knowing all the answers, when they're not calling him 'girly boy'. He hates it. But today was the last straw. He can't go there anymore. Because… well, he can't! That's all.

Goh hurries along to his room, where he feels safe. He's going to wait until his parents are asleep, and then he's going to sneak out…

…And then he's going to call Ash and ask if he wants to play. He always does, and never asks any questions about what he's doing up so late, which is convenient. He wonders what he'd do if he didn't have Ash to hang out with in times like these.

Probably exploring some abandoned buildings, maybe. He liked doing that, too. But he's starting to appreciate the idea of seeking out company when he's feeling sad. One of the lessons Ash taught him…

Yeah, things would've been better… but not that much better. Some things about Goh just can't change.

"Hey guys, I'm back", Goh heard Ash say as he snapped out of his brief daydream.

"Did you manage to catch up with your pokémon?" Chloe inquired.

"Yeah! They're such good boys, all of them. Even the girls!"

Goh laughed slightly at that, because it was such an Ash thing to say. "I guess all we have to do is wait for Parker now, huh?"

"Yep. Hey, Goh… you still thinking about all that… stuff?" Ash asked him.

"Hmm. Not really. At first I was sad because of all the time we could have had together… but then I realized that the time we share now is just as special."

"Told you!" Ash said with a smile. "Don't feel bad about lost opportunities, Goh."

Ash moved closer to give him a hug. Goh let him.

"Thanks, Ash. Sorry I'm such a 'glass half empty' kind of guy."

"Don't worry about it, my scone", Ash replied, rubbing his cheek against Goh's.

"Ugh… I didn't sign up for this", Chloe remarked, looking woozy. "I'm going to go check on Parker now, okay?"

The boys didn't reply, nor she wait for them to do so. She knows what they're like when they get like this.

Goh smiled at Ash gently. "I'm glad I met you. When you're by my side, it feels like I'm in paradise."

"Oh, you heartbreaker, I bet you say that to all the guys" Ash joked, making a goofy face at his boyfriend.

"No, I mean it, Ash. You make me feel hopeful when I'm feeling hopeless, and happy when I'm feeling miserable. No one else has been able to do that."

"Hmm", Ash intoned. "No wonder you felt so bad about us not meeting sooner."

Goh nods at him. Ash leans in closer. "But I'll promise you this… since you missed out on all these years you could have had with me… I'm gonna spend every second making up for it! I won't rest until I make you the happiest man on this earth, Goh!"

Goh chuckled at his boyfriend's exhuberant declaration. "Heh. You don't have to do that. You make me happy enough as it is."

"No, but I want to, though", Ash told him with a slightly pouty face. "I think it'll be fun."

"Then you're already doing a great job!" Goh told him while smiling and blushing very hard.

"Awww, honey", Ash replied in a teasing-sounding tone, and then started rubbing his and Goh's cheeks together again, like they were two tiny puppies.

Parker and Chloe came back right at that moment. Parker tried to address them first. "Hey, guys… Camp's over, so can we head back home?"

"A-Already?" Goh looked startled. "But it felt like we've spent so little time here…"

"You were zoned out for most of that time, though", Chloe pointed out.

Was he? Hmm. Maybe those fantasies of his took a lot more time than he'd realized. "Time flies while I'm thinking about Ash, I guess!" He commented sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head in a nervous way.

Ash approached Parker, crouching so they'd be at eye level. "So, did you find your destiny today, like I said?"

"Not really", Parker replied. "There was this one other kid, though…"

"Oooh, oooh!" Ash exclaimed cheerfully. "Tell us all about it! Did you bandage a wound they had? Did you find a legendary pokémon together? Share the deets!"

"Don't… don't say it like that", Parker replied, scandalized.

"What? What's wrong with saying deets?" Ash questioned.

"Ash, don't embarrass my little brother. You're supposed to embarrass my other, bigger brother, remember?", Chloe said, giving Goh a slightly playful smirk.

"Oh, I'm not embarrassed by him anymore! ...Mostly."

"Mostly? What times are you embarrassed by me, then?"

"Well, when you say 'deets', for one thing", Goh responded.

"…Oh, fine! I'll never say it again!" Ash yelled, throwing his hands up in the air. "You try to be current just once in your life…"

But it was obvious no real anger was in his words. Ash and Goh both went right back to cracking jokes and fawning at one another, as they headed back to Vermillion and the Cerise household.

"So in the end, I guess not everyone finds their destiny on their trip to Pokémon Camp, huh…" Parked mused.

"I guess not." Ash agreed. Then he gave Goh yet another loving glance. "Sometimes you find it on the back of a Lugia."

"Eh?"

"Just a little injoke, don't worry about it", Goh insisted. But he had to agree with Ash there.

It didn't matter when or how they first met, whether it was four years ago, one year ago, a month, whatever. When they were together, even the briefest of moments contained a lifetime of adoration.

A.N. I think Goh does sometimes see Ash as a replacement therapist, or at least as a mental crutch. Ash changed him so much, if he knew that he could've easily met him when he was younger, he would think about all the ways his life would've gone better.

Of course, unlike an actual therapist, Goh never tells anyone what's wrong, but Ash usually can suss it out easily enough, so it evens out. As for whether Goh's idea of how it would've gone is anywhere close to the truth, I'd say him and Ash could've easily soured on one another if they'd met back then. They were very different as kids, Ash was ruder and Goh was genuinely confident (at least that's how it seemed to me) instead of faking confidence to not worry people.

The title might seem familiar. That's because it's a song from Destiny Deoxys. You can see some lyrical similarities in the ending there. I also wanted to have Goh talk about the future to tie it to the fic's quote, but it'd have gotten too crammed. Talking about destiny made more sense, and was better for narrative cohesion.

Anyway, see y'all next time.