Favor For A Friend? 9: Fights
"Stop it." Paul grumbled to his brother who was walking beside him. He had his eyes closed and hands in his pockets as they walked down the dirt road towards their aunt's house. He still felt Reggie's stare. "Stop staring at me already!" Paul yelled looking at him.
"Sorry, I just, I can't believe you actually went through with it. I mean, you actually kissed him." Reggie said.
"You should be the one to know that I WANTED to do it." Paul told him completely perplexed as to why he didn't get that. Did he, or did he not, explain to the breeder that he had feelings for the other trainer?
"It's not actually the fact you kissed him, it's the fact you kissed him in front of everyone else." Reggie told him.
Paul closed his eyes as they continued to walk down the dirt path and explained to his brother. "Unfortunately, that is only way I'd ever be able to kiss him."
Reggie smirked a very Paul-like smirk. "Unless you tell him."
Paul glared at him. "I am not telling him." He told the breeder.
"Why not? What the heck have you got to lose?"
"My dignity." Paul replied. Reggie sighed.
'Oh well, I can't expect a change over night.' The breeder thought.
"Did you tell Gary?" Paul asked. Reggie turned to his brother.
"Tell Gary what?" He questioned.
"That I had feelings for Ash." Paul answered.
"Of course not, why would I tell him?"
He looked at his brother and replied, "So that I wouldn't end up with Ash."
Reggie looked at him like he had two heads. Was his brother crazy? "Why would I want Ash to end up with Gary instead of you? You are my brother you know. Why do you think I wouldn't support you?"
"Because I'm a jerk and I don't deserve someone like Ash." He answered.
Reggie had different thoughts about this statement. On one hand he knew Paul was technically right. On the other, he also knew the reason Paul acted the way he did and knew that the only way for him to get to open up again is for someone to actually to give him a chance and the only kind of person who would is someone like Ash. He sighed. "I think you'd treat Ash just fine. I know you don't want to admit it, but I know you know that having feelings for someone is changing you."
Paul sighed. Reggie was right, he wouldn't want to admit that...at least not out loud. He could easily admit to himself that he knew he was changing...ok, so maybe not EASILY, but he knew on the inside he was. The thing was, he didn't know if he wanted to stop this change. Though, he didn't know if he keep up this 'new Paul.'
When his brother went silent, Reggie knew that he was thinking about the whole situation. Curiosity then struck him. "Why did you suddenly think I told Gary anyways?" He asked turning his head to look at him.
Paul looked at him as well and answered, "Because he knows."
"Wow, guess if he can read you he's pretty smart, especially to be able to decipher that."
"Maybe not." Paul said. Reggie cocked his head in confusion. "I'm pretty sure I'm just getting easier to read."
"And you have a problem with that?" Reggie questioned.
"Of course I have a problem with that!" The mauve haired boy yelled. "I don't want people knowing what I think. That's one reason I don't care to have relationships with people." He admitted.
"Well, you know just because you have a relationship with someone doesn't mean everyone will automatically know what you think. Look at Ash. He has friends everywhere and he's pretty hard to figure out." Reggie explained.
"How do you figure?" Paul inquired.
"You wouldn't be interested if he was easy to understand." Paul sighed. He hated to admit it, but his older brother was right. Gosh, it was annoying how right he's been lately. "Well, we're here." Paul looked up and saw his aunt's house. "Let's get this done." Reggie said.
"Oh the joy." Paul said sarcastically with a frown. Reggie rolled his eyes, grabbed Paul's arm, and dragged him towards the house.
Back at the Harper's house, Laura and Steve, along with Ash's help, had just finished cleaning the kitchen. "Thanks again for helping us, Ash." Laura said. Steve nodded in agreement.
Ash smiled at them. "No problem. Anytime." He told them.
"You sure are helpful a lot." Steve stated.
Ash put his hand behind his head and sheepishly said, "Oh it's fine. I love helping people and doing all I can for someone else."
"And very great quality to have in your personality." Steve said. "I just bet you're doing and helping Paul out a whole bunch. Maybe even with some very big things. I bet you're even helping him out right now."
Panic filled Ash. 'They couldn't have figured out could have they?' He thought frantically. 'I have to make sure they don't have any doubts.' "Well, I don't know how much I'm helping him right now, but I know I'll be here for him whenever he needs my help."
"You are a very good friend...er, boyfriend." Steve said. He wanted to see if he could any signs of deceit out of Ash and right now was the best time without Paul around.
"Oh well, I try." Ash said sheepishly. "I care a whole lot about him." He told them. At least he didn't have to lie about that.
The front door then opened. "Hey Ashy-boy." Ash, Steve, and Laura looked at the researcher as he walked in. The brunette nodded to the parents out of respect then turned his attention to his friend. "Did you want to train some? You said yesterday that you could some help with a couple of attacks."
"Oh, right!" Ash exclaimed standing up. 'Perfect timing too.' He thought. "Yea, I want your help teaching Infernape and Pikachu a few attacks." He turned to Steve and Laura. "I'm sorry, may I be excused?" He asked politely.
Laura nodded. "Of course." She told him.
Ash and Gary were turning to head to the door when Steve stopped them. "Just a quick question." He said. The two Pallet trainers turned to look at him. "Why can't you train with Paul? After all, you two are dating, right?"
Ash sweatdropped. "Well yea, but like I said before, we may be boyfriends, but we're also rivals. We both want to win the Sinnoh League so we don't train together." He explained to the suspicious father.
"Well, is that fair?" He asked. Ash and Gary looked at one another.
"What do you mean?" Ash questioned.
"Well, with Gary helping you. It kind of doesn't seem fair that you have a bunch of friends to help. I'm just saying." Steve said.
"Oh, well, it's not like I wouldn't help Paul if he wanted me to." Gary said stepping in to save his friend. "I'd be glad to help him if he wanted it. And Ash here doesn't usually train with anyone else, he just wanted some advice on how to teach some new attacks to his Pokemon. Most people who teach their Pokemon attacks they don't learn automatically, get some sort of advice or help. Not all, but most."
"Oh, well, when you put it that way." Laura said trying to end the conversation.
Steve still was trying to figure this thing out. "Yes but-" Laura cut him off.
"You two have fun and see you both later." She said. The two nodded and walked out.
When the door shut, Steve turned to his wife. "Why did you just let them walk out? I was positive I was on to something." He told her.
"Why are you so suspicious? Why can't someone just actually have feelings for our son? Why are you so against that?" She said standing up from the couch and getting angry.
"I'm not against that, I just don't believe it." He told her.
"Why? Why can't you just accept that you were wrong? That we were wrong about him? If someone like Ash has feelings for Paul than we know he has a nicer side and just doesn't like to show it." Laura said.
"That's the problem, Paul lost his 'nice' side years ago. No one has ever been able to break the front he has up and I doubt anyone will." Steve argued. "It's not that I want it, I just...can't believe it until I see it...and I sure as heck haven't seen that front dropped yet. I'd know if it was."
"Maybe he doesn't 'drop' it for everyone. Maybe he cares more about Ash than anyone else and so he only shows himself to Ash. Did you ever think of that?" She countered.
"Yes, that's what I've been making myself think for the past few days. And you may be right, but I think I should be able to make sure." Steve told his wife.
"Not by making Ash feel guilty. That's below immature. We want Ash to like us." She said.
"It may be the only way to get him to talk."
"Look," Laura said. "No matter what you think, I can see Paul cares more about Ash than he shows. And Ash cares a whole heck of a lot for Paul."
"How do you figure?" Steve asked.
She threw up her hands in surrender. "Call it 'I have eyes.' Call it 'mothers' intuition.' Call it whatever you'd like, but I know they do. Now stop being such a jerk."
Steve sighed. "Whatever." He stood up and walked out the front door, slamming it shut. Laura then sighed herself. 'Oh, they better have feelings for each other.' She thought. She also stood and walked out the front door as well. Neither of the parents knew that Dawn and Brock had come in through the back after Gary came and got Ash and overheard everything.
"This isn't good, Brock. They're getting...well, at least Steve's getting suspicious. What do we do?" Dawn said.
"Pip..."
"Not sure, but we have to make sure we tell Ash and Paul about it. They need to act closer than they are to fool them now." Brock said.
Dawn nodded. "What should we say?"
"We'll have to tell them we heard. They'll need to know. Now come on, let's get outside." Brock said walking towards the back door. Dawn followed.
"So, Ashy-boy, what attacks did you want to go over?" Gary asked as they walked towards the forest.
"Well, I really want both Pikachu and Infernape to learn Thunder Punch and Fire Punch." Ash told him. "And I know how to do it, I just thought if they could watch Electivire do it, they'd understand it better."
"Pika, pika!" Pikachu chirped from Ash's shoulder.
"Alright, anything else?"
"Um, well, actually," Ash said with a blush. "Since I know that Paul and I will battle in the league, since there's like no doubt, and since Electivire knows the attack...I wanted to see if you could help me teach Pikachu Feint. It would come in handy when I battle Paul and his Electabuzz."
"Sure, no problem. But it's a hard move to get down. It'll take work." The researcher told him.
"I know." Ash replied.
"Well then," Gary said as they entered a clearing. "Shall we get started?" He asked. Ash nodded and threw a Pokeball in the air.
A few hours later, Pikachu and Infernape had Thunder Punch and Fire Punch down pretty well. Pikachu had also made some great progress with Feint and so now the Pokemon and trainers were sitting under a tree resting. "So," Gary started. Ash looked at him. "How was it?" He asked with a smirk.
Ash's eyes shifted back and forth confused. "How was what?"
"The kiss, what else?" Ash's eyes widened and red rose to his cheeks.
"It, it was a kiss. Nothing special." He told the researcher turning his head to hide his embarrassment.
"Oh really? Well it seemed to me that you really enjoyed it. The first one when you woke up this morning as well."
"I was just embarrassed. You try kissing your rival and not want to crawl in a hole and die." Ash said with red covering his face.
Gary shook his head. "Right, so, you can honestly say you had no desire for that to happen and didn't enjoy it?" Ash turned his head away again without giving an answer. "Yea that's what I thought." He said with a smile. Then his face got serious. "Ash?" The raven haired trainer noticed the change in his voice so looked at him. "Please, please be careful."
Ash cocked his head in confusion. "What do you mean?"
"With Paul. I know there's some chemistry between you two, you'd have to be an idiot not to see it, but I don't trust him." He told his best friend.
"Why not?" Ash asked.
"I don't know, maybe because of his history with you? He's been a jerk. I don't trust him. And I know you're just trying to help but I'm afraid he may end up hurting you." Gary replied.
"So you're saying I should still help him and try and get him to trust me without trusting him?" Ash asked irritated.
"Well not particularly in those words..."
"Gary, the only way I'm going to get Paul to open up is if I do trust him...and I do." Ash told him.
"How? After all he's done..."
"It doesn't matter, I can see past that." Ash said.
"Maybe you shouldn't." Gary told him.
"So you're saying I shouldn't give him a second chance?" An annoyed Ash questioned.
"Well I...maybe not just right out of the blue...you know, make him earn it." Gary said.
Ash scowled at his friend. "I didn't make you." He said crossing his arms. Emerald eyes widened in surprise at the comment. "Look Gary, Paul may have been a jerk to me, but it's not like you have any room to talk. You were just a sadistic to me as he was. You never treated your Pokemon like he does, but you also didn't have any reasons. At least, you never gave them to me. Paul on the other hand, does. And he opened up just enough to tell me. He trusted me, Gary. It's much more than you did."
"Look, you're right, I don't have room to talk, ok? And I didn't give you a reason either; I didn't open up to you and I did push you away. For that, I apologize. I can't turn back time and stop myself from doing that. I wanted to, I've always wanted to, but I can't change the past. All I can do is help you and be your friend now. And I'm not telling you not to trust him. I can't tell you that, that's just a part of who you are. You have that natural trusting ability, something most people don't have. I'm just telling you be careful, alright? I care a lot about you, you're my best friend, and I just don't want you to get hurt. You've been hurt before because of me specifically and I don't want you to go through that again. Please, just please promise me you'll be careful? I can tell you like him, and I'm not going to stand in the way and try to make you stop having those feelings, I just want to protect you is all." When Gary was done explaining, he squeezed Ash's hands, and the younger boy sighed.
"I know, I know, and I'm grateful, I really am, the fact you're willing to help me out so much means a lot, I just...panicked. Or something...I don't know...it's just weird. Anytime I hear someone talking bad about Paul, I just, wanna punch them in the face...sorry." Ash said.
"In the face, huh? Remind me never to speak bad about him again, you may just do it." He joked. Ash corner smiled. "And I'm pretty sure the reason are those feelings you're having about him." Gary said. Ash nodded. "Look, just try and slow down. I know this whole situation is weird and I know that you volunteered for it, but if you don't think about what you're doing, you're going to end up hurt. And I just don't want to see that happen."
"I know, and thanks. I just don't know how to make myself 'slow down.'" Ash said.
"Well, at least the effort will be there." Gary joked making the raven haired boy laugh. "So, shall we practice some more?" Ash nodded and the two stood up and walked back in the middle of the clearing.
Back at the house, Paul and Reggie had gotten back hours before when they all had lunch. The group talked for a while and then Steve and Laura gone inside to clean up the kitchen and house while the teens had stayed outside. Brock and Dawn had just finished telling Reggie and Paul about what they had heard that morning. "I'm just warning you, you and Ash need to act closer than you have. If you want to remain here, that is." Brock said.
Paul nodded. "Yea, will do. Thanks for the warning." He turned to his brother. "And I told you it was always Dad who was the suspicious one." Reggie shrugged. Paul stood up and was about to walk inside when Reggie's voice stopped him.
"Where you going?" He asked.
Paul arched his eyebrow. "The bathroom, nosy one." He grumbled and turned and walked inside.
"He's not in a very good mood, is he?" Dawn asked.
"He won't be until this whole thing blows over." Reggie said with a shake of his head. "Let's just hope we can fool my parents for the next three days." Brock and Dawn nodded.
When Paul was finished with his 'business,' he was going to go back outside when he overheard his parents talking in the kitchen. "So, you do find it's weird for Ash to spend so much alone time with Gary?" Laura questioned.
"Of course, though I think this whole thing is odd." Steve said. Paul sighed. This was not good. He walked back outside to the table.
"What's wrong?" Reggie asked noticing the look on his face.
"Now not only is Dad suspicious, Mom seems to think that Ash is 'cheating' on me with Gary." Paul told the three.
Their eyes widened. "No way, impossible." Brock said. Paul nodded with a frown.
"Too bad, Ashy-boy!" The four turned to see Gary jump the fence wearing a smirk, Ash about ten feet away.
"That's totally unfair, Gary! You got a head start!" Ash exclaimed as he also jumped the fence, Pikachu right behind him.
"Sorry I knew when to start, loser." He joked. Ash scowled and tackled him, landing on top of him while he was on his back. Reggie, Dawn, and Brock sweatdropped while Paul shot death glares at the brunette.
"Well, at least I can get why Mom thinks that." Reggie said. Brock and Dawn nodded as they watched as Ash and Gary rolled around on the ground laughing and throwing each other fake insults. Paul seriously wanted to kill the researcher at the moment. He was getting pretty close too.
"Are they fighting?" The four turned to see Laura and Steve walking up to them, concern on Laura's face.
"No, they're just playing." Brock said.
"Playing?" Steve asked.
"Yea, they're weird." Dawn said sheepishly.
Steve and Laura looked at one another with suspicious looks. Paul inwardly groaned. He had to do something about this. Ash and Gary finally quit playing around and walked up to the others.
"Hey guys." Ash greeted happily.
"Ash." Steve said with a nod.
"How'd your training go?" Brock asked.
"Great, Gary helped us get some new attacks down. They will most definitely be useful in the Sinnoh League." Ash told them.
"That's good." Reggie said.
"Yes, very." Paul said between clenched teeth.
"So, we were thinking of grilling tonight, how does that sound to everybody?" Laura asked.
"Sounds good, Mom." Reggie said. Dawn and Gary nodded.
"I'll gladly help." Brock added.
"Alright, then we'll all eat that tonight." Steve said.
"Actually, Mom, Dad," Everyone turned to look at Paul. "Ash and I were planning on a date tonight. Since the two of us haven't had barely anytime alone, we wanted to spend the rest of the day together." Paul told them with a smirk. 'That'll show the stupid researcher...' He thought.
Everyone looked surprised. But Ash forced a nod. "Yea, we were hoping you wouldn't mind." Ash quickly lied.
"Of course not!" Laura exclaimed happily. She thought that was adorable.
"Yea, it's fine with us." Steve said.
"Cool." Paul said. He turned to his boyfriend. "You ready to go now?" He asked.
"Sure." Ash said with a nod. He turned to Gary, took Pikachu off his shoulder, and handed the mouse to the brunette. "Take care of Pikachu, Gary." This surprised everyone, even Paul.
"You're not going to take Pikachu?" Laura asked.
"Nope." Ash replied. He took Paul's hand in his own. "We wanted to spend the day completely alone." He said with a smile.
"Well alright. See you two later tonight. And have fun." Steve told them. The two nodded and Paul led Ash out of the backyard.
"Well I hope they have fun." Laura said.
"Those two, alone with each other? Oh yea, they'll have fun." Reggie said with a knowing smirk.