ash x gladion oneshots

Odd Sleeping Places

A/N- More dad kukui, sorry for having it so much but it's so cuteee

Kukui stretches, feeling his back pop. He's got steaming coffee in his hand, ready to enjoy the beautiful Alolan morning, when he nearly trips over something on the porch.

"Ah - shit!" He curses, hot coffee spilling onto the ground in his effort to keep his balance. What the hell was in the doorway?

He looks down, ready to kick the offending object out of the way, when he realizes it's the kid he's just agreed to house. Ash.

That exuberant kid from Kanto who's only been in Alola for a weekend and a Monday and has already had a full day of school. The kid everyone in his class immediately latched onto.

The kid who is, currently, sleeping outside on the porch.

His pikachu is ruffling its ears, clearly woken up by the noise, and it opens those brown eyes and stares straight at Kukui.

There's something about pokemon, Kukui's noticed, especially ones that aren't his, that feels like they can stare straight into his soul.

It's still staring at him, but it's not moving from its curled-up position next to its trainer. Kukui takes a deep breath, tries to gather his faculties, and nudges the sleeping kid with his foot. "Ash," he says. "I know a bed might be preferable to a couch, but the couch must be more comfortable than the floor."

"Hm?" the kid at his feet hums, finally roused.

"You might want to get up off the floor," Kukui clarifies. Ash sits up. "Oh," he says. "Oh, right, sorry."

This is the second day since Kukui's known the kid, the first time he's slept at the house, and he is already completely flabbergasted. Kukui gets teenagers, alright? That's why he loves being a teacher.

But he's never met a teenager quite like Ash. Even two days into knowing him, Kukui can make that judgement.

Kukui offers his hand and Ash takes it, getting to his feet. His pikachu hops up onto his shoulder, and he reaches his hand up to pet it. "Good mornin', buddy," he says, his voice soft. "Good morning to you too, Professor."

"Good morning," Kukui responds. "Is there a reason you were sleeping on the porch?"

Ash smiles sheepishly. He shrugs the shoulder without a pokemon on it. "Sorry, I probably tripped you, didn't I?"

"I hope I didn't get any coffee on you," Kukui responds, and Ash laughs. "Don't worry about it! It's supposed to wake you up, anyway, right?"

Kukui raises an eyebrow. "That's if you drink it, not if it's spilled on you."

"Well - isn't there the thing where your skin absorbs stuff? It's like - there's a word, um, os - osmo - Asmodeus?"

Kukui laughs, big and loud. "Osmosis," he says. "And no, you can't absorb caffeine through osmosis. Osmosis is, put simply, a way that water can move through cells. But still, good job on understanding the general concept."

Ash chuckles, sheepishly. "I'm not that smart, Professor, you don't need to pretend I am. Thanks anyway."

Now, as a teacher, hearing a student doubting their intelligence is a common thing he encounters, but still one he won't stand for. "I'm sure you're smarter than you realize, Ash. That's something you'll discover in my class. But we're getting off the topic - why were you sleeping outside?"