Midnight Coffee

Chapter 3

Surprise lol,

My apologies for posting 2 chapters then dipping. I've been really busy recently and got into such a slump, but I never leave a story unfinished! So we carry on.

Couple of notes: Yeah, I am making some characters that I like into sort-of-villains in this story. Somebody's gotta be one for the drama, right? Two: Drama is what I'm aiming for in this story. Angst, more angst, and drama. I understand that's not everyone's cup of tea so just making that known now.

In the morning, I wake up first. Half asleep I sit up, stretching my arms and glancing over at Ash, squinting in the morning light. He looks so peaceful sleeping, his arm slung over Pikachu, that I push myself out of bed slowly, not wanting it to creak and wake him up. I head into the bathroom and look in the mirror at my messy hair.

After a quick shower and brushing my teeth, I step out into the room, and Ash is just pulling a shirt over his head. He ruffles his hair, not caring that it's messy, and turns to me. "Morning."

"Morning," I say, smiling. "Are you coming down for breakfast?"

"Obviously," he says, gesturing for Pikachu to come. Pikachu jumps up onto my shoulder instead of Ash's, and I scratch behind his ear as we head out. In the corridor, Chloe is coming out of her room too, yawning. She has her hair down for once, and it looks nice.

The three of us head down to the kitchen and help ourselves to cereal. Of course, Serena's there too, and steals Ash's attention the moment we enter. Chloe sits with me instead, talking about how Dawn was mumbling about poffins in her sleep. Pretty soon, the room is full, with the entire Alolan gang coming down together and swamping Ash with attention just like Serena. Overwhelmed, Chloe drags me out to the gardens, where we walk around for a while until we end up sitting on the edge of the fountain while she smears sunscreen all over herself.

"I wish I didn't burn so easily," she grumbles. "Oh, Dawn said after we left last night, Serena gave this whole speech about how, if some of us end up 'getting together' while we're here, we have to be safe. She kept deliberately glaring at May."

"Why?"

Chloe blinks up at me, pausing with her sunscreen half rubbed into her leg. "You're kidding, right?"

"What?" I ask, genuinely confused.

"I mean, May has a huge crush on Ash. I think the two of them are in some sort of unofficial competition for him or something. I don't think Serena knew until recently, or she wouldn't have invited us all here."

"That's... Weird," I say, feeling my stomach knot.

"Tell me about it. Dawn's been acting weird too."

"Dawn doesn't like Ash that way. She told me."

Chloe gives me a strange look that I can't decipher. "You asked her?"

I shrug. "She just told me. What about you, anyway? Anyone here you're interested in?" I ask. As far as I know, Chloe's lovelife has been nonexistent. I don't think that's because she's uninterested in romance, but more because she's always been so busy. Now we have all the time in the world, though.

She clears her throat, focusing on her leg rather than me. "Uh... No. Don't think so," she says, strangely awkward. "You?"

"No," I say quickly. "Arceus, no."

She laughs, sitting up and stretching her legs out. The temperature has steadily been climbing all morning, and now it's so warm that I'm almost tempted to climb into the fountain behind us.