#bustershipping

Noamount of pressing the button could make the elevator doors closefast enough, and Dawn barely remembered to press the button to takeher to the right floor. Leaning her forehead to the wall above thebuttons, she let out a dry sob, still trying to hold back any actualtears. She’d get into the room, curl up in bed, and cry herself tosleep. If Iris showed up before she was asleep, she’d just pretendshe already was.

Thefact she’d left Piplup downstairs was the only flaw she could see inher plans. He was asleep though, and there was no sense making himworry – he worried more about her already than she really felt wasright. Trainers were supposed to take care of their pokemon, not theother way around, no matter how proud and overprotective thosepokemon were.

He’dfind his way back upstairs with Pikachu later, she was sure. Then inthe morning they could pack and-

Thedoor opening to the fourth floor saved her from her train of thoughtand the tears that came with it. Carefully wiping only the tears thathad already managed to spill, Dawn peeked out of the elevator, thendashed down the hall to her room. The rough carpet under her barefeet reminded her that she’d left her shoes at the coat check, andwhile the knowledge that she’d have to retrieve them tomorrow wasjust one more annoyance, she was still glad, because escape wouldhave been much more difficult in them.

Sheheard the heavy clunk of a door bursting open down the hall behindher. It had the unmistakable metal echo of the emergency staircase,and she knew only one person could have taken four flights thatquickly.

“Dawn?!”

Atthe sound of Ash’s voice, she froze, hugging herself in lieu of hermissing partner. “Why did you follow me,” she whispered toherself. He’d looked so happy wrapped up in Iris’s arms. Why had hechased her?

Sheheard him running closer, then his voice again – this time, he’dspotted her. “Dawn!”

Thecoordinator didn’t turn to look at him, didn’t give any indicationshe’d even heard him, even after his footsteps stopped right behindher. “Dawn… Are- are you okay?” He was panting fromrunning up four flights in a suit, and leaned against the wall as hetried to catch his breath. “What’s wrong?”

Dawnnearly laughed from the shock of being asked what, to her, was anincredibly stupid question. Was even Ash honestly thick enough to notknow what was wrong? She took a deep breath, shaking her head. “I’mjust really tired,” she lied, barely hiding a sniffle.

“I’msorry about Iris… I don’t know why she-”

“No,it’s okay. That’s between you guys, I didn’t want to interrupt.”

Thenhis hand reached her shoulder, and any ability to hold back her tearsvanished.

“I’msorry,” she choked. “I think I’m just still jet lagged…I’m so tired…”

Henodded slowly, frowning at her crying but trying his best to believeher. “If you need to sleep, that’s okay. Just don’t run offwithout saying goodnight… you kinda scared me…”

Thelast of the dam broke, and Dawn threw herself against Ash’s chest,clinging to him and sobbing wordlessly. Some of the sounds soundedlike an attempt at “goodnight” but the rest were variationsof “sorry”.

Thenhe tried to hug her in an effort help her calm down, and just assuddenly she let go, standing rigid. “I’m okay,” she triedto assure him. “I just… It’s probably the wine. Really. It wasdumb of me.”

Hegave a weak nod, worry hanging heavy on his face. Dawn was one of thehappiest people he knew, and the whole last two days she had beenmore upset than he’d ever seen her before. Not even her worst losingstreak, or the day he’d left back to Kanto, had been this bad.

Carefullyshe pulled her keycard from her dress’s sash, moving to her door.“I’ll be okay in the morning,” she promised quietly. “Youshould get back to Ir- to the others, before they worry. But thankyou for worrying.” She flashed him a strained smile as the doorclicked open.

Henodded again, managing his own small smile at the sight of hers.“Okay. Goodnight, then?”

Shelowered her head, biting her lip, not pushing the door any further.

Ashsighed, confused and a little frustrated at his friend’s sorrow.“Dawn… you know you can talk to me if something’s wrong,right? I know I’m bad at advice, but I can try to listen…”

Dawnpushed the door open slowly, but she still didn’t look back up athim. She kept close to the door, propping it open with her back andleaving space for him to pass her. He walked in quietly, carefullystepping over Iris’s bag where it rested at the foot of the girls’shared bed, and waited for her.

Shelet the door slip shut and sat down on the edge of the bed, thengently patted the bed beside her, inviting him to take a seat.

“So…what’s wrong?” he asked as he sat, wincing at the bluntness ofhis own voice.

“Look…I just…” she reached up and rubbed her eyes again, then almostautomatically, rubbed them with the back of her thumbs. Ash thoughtthe motion odd, but managed to register what she was doing when hesaw the dark smudge on her hands – a few months of modeling hadalready gotten her into the habit of wiping away her mascara when itran. “I missed you. I missed you every day.”

Thepained expression on her face was too much to bear. Ash reached forher hand, wrapping it around the back of hers, and tried to look herin the eye, but she turned her head away. “I missed you too,”he whispered, surprised at the tearful crack in his own voice.

“Everyday,” she repeated, more insistently. There wasn’t a day thatwent by that I didn’t think of you.“

Henodded slowly, squeezing her hand again, leaning just a littlecloser.

”…WhenI got the chance to come Unova… I knew you were here and… I justgot so excited. I got so excited, but I couldn’t even bear to callyou.“

Ash’sbreath caught, and he barely managed to ask, “W-why?”

“I…Because I knew you had new friends. Because I knew you had friendsbefore me. Because I got scared…” Her fingers curled underhis, digging into her thigh through her dress. “I got soscared… That I didn’t mean as much to you, as you mean to me…”

“Dawn…”He felt his heart sink into his stomach, the desire to hug her tightand make her stop crying filling the emptiness it left behind. Hescooted closer, closing the last inch between their knees.

“ThenI got to see you again anyway… Like it was fate.And this whole week has just been… so perfect.” Shaky gaspsbroke her words apart as she tried to keep from outright sobbing, butthe tears were already trickling down her cheeks again. “I keptthinking… tonight I’ll tell him… tonight…every night… and tonight I thought, maybe the wine will help metell him. But you kept looking at her. Like I wasn’t even there…”

Shepulled her hand back from him suddenly, hugging it to her chest withher other hand and letting out a loud sob, her tears back in fullforce.

“Andshe kissed… you kissed… I…”

Herhead jerked back up as a hand rested on hers again, gently squeezingher wrist, and she met his face again with a whimper.

“Imissed you every day, too,” he offered, eyes shimmering withtears of his own. Slowly he let go of her wrist, reaching up to brushhis fingers across her cheek and dry her tears. “Please… Dawn,don’t cry… It hurts to see you crying.”

“Butyou…”

Heinhaled sharply, drawing in his courage, and then closed the gapbetween them, pressing a soft kiss to Dawn’s lips.

—

((It’s been a few minutes since Ash left after Dawn, and more like half an hour since Cilan and Burgundy left. Georgia’s getting bored and has slowly stopped drinking. She’s been watching Iris sitting all alone, and goes over to insult her/make conversation. She eventually drops the bomb that “Cilan and Burgundy clearly aren’t coming back, so my room’s occupied. Can I stay with you?”, and because she’s kind of enjoying the fact Georgia’s actually being nice, she agrees. They round up the pokemon and head back to Iris and Dawn’s room, but can hear Ash and Dawn’s voices inside – and they can tell it’s nothing they really want to interrupt. So they decide they should try to use Ash and Cilan’s room instead…))

Iris was going to spend the rest of her life wondering how exactly this night had ended with her stalking through the halls of a hotel, whispering insults back and forth at her rival.

Of all the possible outcomes she’d expected from finally kissing Ash – well, this hadn’t even come up as a possibility. Some small part of her wanted to cry over it, or at least scream in frustration, but either one would involve losing her cool in front of Georgia, and the less embarrassing option risked waking Axew up in the process.

“Would you hurry up,” Georgia hissed in front of her.

“I’m trying!” she growled, cradling Axew closer to her chest to cover his ears better.

“What’s the matter, your hair weighing you down?”

Iris fumed, her steps growing heavier. She could hear Pikachu sighing behind her, and when she turned back to look, Piplup was nodding off again.

Axew was too far asleep to hold onto her shoulder, and she wasn’t sure how to hold them both easily, but she snapped for Georgia to hold on a second and leaned down to try scooping up the big-headed penguin anyway.

“Is that stupid pokemon falling asleep again?” Georgia complained, storming back over to Iris, who had just managed to figure out how to hold him with just one arm. “Give him here. You can’t carry all of them.”

Piplup was just awake enough to take exception to the insult, and pecked her in the arm.

“Ow! You ungrateful little-”

“Piplup! Don’t make this harder.”

He folded his arms and scowled up at Iris, jabbering a few defiant syllables and earning a sigh from her. He was upset enough to be separated from Dawn, the rest of this was just extra annoyance.

When Axew yawned and snuggled into his mommy more, Pikachu – who had had quite enough of crying babies by now – decided to step in, reasoning with Piplup for a moment. Iris and Georgia watched, frustrated and bewildered, until Piplup finally sighed and held his flippers out to Georgia, though not without eyeing her suspiciously.

“Good, maybe now we can actually get somewhere.” She snatched him from Iris, and the three of them cast each other disgruntled glares, before their odd procession continued back down the hallway. “You better damn well hope the front desk gives you a key.”

“You’re the one who better hope so, because I’d be quite happy to sleep in a tree.”

“Well good. I’ll take the key for myself and you can go do exactly that.”

A few more hushed insults later, they arrived at the front desk, where Iris spent several minutes trying to persuade the lady behind the counter into letting her get a key to the boys’ room. Unfortunately, her name was only on one room: the one she shared with Dawn, currently occupied. She tried several different excuses, ranging from just left the key in the room to switching rooms so they could be with their boyfriends. Finally the clerk shooed her away, telling her that if she needed in that badly and they weren’t answering to any knocks, she could use the phone at the end of the table to call the room.

She decided to do so, even though she knew the room would be empty, in a vague hope Cilan might have returned.

“Maybe they got back to the ballroom by now?” she said hopefully, leaning against the wall just past the desk.

Georgia scoffed and rolled her eyes. “Not likely. They’re totally fucking.”

“W-what?! Ash is too childish to-”

“Okay, so maybe they’re not. Don’t get your panties in a wad. They’re probably only making out.”

Iris gnashed her teeth, pushing off the wall and shouting, “What do you even-”

Georgia put up one gloved finger in front of Iris’s lips, cutting her off, and then pointing at the sleeping dragon in her arms. “Thought you were the one who said we had to be quiet so we ‘didn’t wake the kids’.”

The dragon trainer snorted, and then continued in a harsh whisper. “Stop saying things like that.”

“Why? They’re true. Just because you’re jealous?”

“I’m not-”

“I saw you kiss him.”

“S-so?!”

“I saw him run after her not ten seconds later.”

Iris wrinkled her nose, leaning back against the wall and lowering her head to sulk.

“You know it’s true, and you know that’s why you don’t want to go in there and interrupt.”

Something about Georgia’s tone made her shift uncomfortably. It wasn’t quite as demeaning as she was used to, and she suspected it was more than just the untold amount of wine in her system, but she didn’t know what it could be. Sympathy, it seemed like.

Before she could fully form the thought of, ‘Maybe she got rejected, too’, she shoved the idea back down and returned to figuring out how to find them some place to sleep.

“I could climb the wall and get in through the window.”

“That sounds like a dumb plan.”

“We could go back into the ballroom and wait for them.”

“You know they’re not coming back out tonight. That goes double for the tasting freaks.”

Iris made a face; she hadn’t particularly wanted to imagine those two going at it. “We could rent another room?”

“I already paid for one room, and I highly doubt you have money on you.”

“…We could walk to the pokemon center and stay there.”

Georgia nodded at Piplup, “I’m not carrying this obnoxious thing all the way there.”

“Well then you come up with an idea, because I’m all out.”

“All out of ideas in that big head of yours, huh?” The dragon buster smirked, shifting her weight to lean against the other wall and thinking for a moment.

“Unless you’re too wasted to-”

“Follow me.”

She turned and headed back down the hall, toward the elevator, and with a quick glance at Pikachu – who looked more exhausted and annoyed than both girls put together – Iris followed her, pokemon in tow.

Their trip up the elevator and down the hall passed in silence, until finally the younger girl asked the obvious question: “Where are we going?”

“Just shut up and wait here. And hold him,” she added, shoving Piplup back into Iris’s arm, though thankfully not roughly enough to wake him.

Before she could object, Georgia had pulled a keycard out from her cleavage, and swiped it through the door.

((She barges into her and Burgundy’s room, where Cilan and Burgundy are either asleep or close to it, and basically grabs her own bag and snatches up Cilan’s pants to take the keycard from it, then throws the pants back in the room as she slams the door behind her. Lots of screaming and fussing throughout the scene.))

—-

Ashhad kissed her.

Dawnwas in such a state of disbelief over this one, simple fact that shehad no idea how to respond.

Ina desperate attempt to buy time to figure things out, she did theonly thing she could think to: she kissed him back. To her relief hedidn’t pull back further than the first inch or two that she followedhim though, giving her a few seconds to think things through.

Exceptthat she couldn’t think any of it through. Instead she was trapped ina short loop of thoughts, none of which were particularly useful;he kissed me, I can feel him breathing, I’m kissing him, my heart ispounding, he kissed me.

Herfingers found Ash’s free hand, squeezing whatever fingers she couldget her hand around. Slowly, carefully, she let her lips slip fromhis – he followed, but only for a second – and her eyes openedagain.

“…Ash,”she whispered, still bewildered. “You-”

“Ididn’t want to kiss her,” he interrupted. “I mean, I thought thatI did, before, and that I liked her, but then you came back and- WellI didn’t have much time to think about it with the tournament andeverything.”

Dawnfound herself laughing, despite the seriousness of the situation andthe slight awkwardness of his admission. Something about his rambling– especially the idea that he’d been more focused on pokemon thangirls – reassured her that this was still the same Ash. He was alittle taller and a little older since they’d separated the betterpart of a year earlier, but overall he was still the same guy she’dfallen for in Sinnoh. She gave his hand another squeeze, and hissmile reappeared hesitantly, bringing hers with it.

“It’sokay,” she whispered, “I’ve been happy just to be around youagain.”

“Yeah,”he answered nervously.

Afew excruciatingly long, silent seconds later, Dawn threw her armsaround Ash’s neck, clinging on tight and letting her face nuzzle intohis neck. It took him a second to respond, but when he did it was bystroking her back slowly, holding her to him. She sniffled, lettingout a nervous giggle and leaning into him.

“I’mhere,” he coaxed, voice still stiff. “I don’t want you to cry anymore.”

“Iknow,” she whimpered back, squeezing him tighter.

Theircheeks rested together for what felt like several minutes, bothseemingly petrified at the idea of forgoing their newfound closenessfor even a second – or, more likely, just unsure of how toprogress. Ash was entirely unaccustomed to hugging anyone human, andless so to kissing anyone at all. Before Iris’s assault earlier inthe night, he could still fit the two, combined, onto one hand. Justthe same, he instinctively felt the need to sway with her lightly,his lips resting against her shoulder softly, somewhere between akiss and an effort to hide his face.

FinallyDawn moved again, pressing a quick kiss to his cheek, then to thecorner of his mouth, waiting there for him to take the next step. Ittook a few seconds for him to respond, but once he did-

Dawnhad never felt herself relax so quickly before, the stress and nervesfading from her and leaving her to melt against him. She suddenlywanted nothing else in the world but to cling to him in relief, andhe seemed glad to oblige. Their lips set together quite simply,tilted just enough to not smoosh their noses, and for a moment theyjust rested that way, casually pressed together, motionless asidefrom shallow breaths. She felt a light tug as Ash started running hisfingers through her hair, brushing it back behind her shoulders, hishands clearly unused to being still for so long, and she answeredwith soft circles on his back to assure him he could continue.

Theirlips remained still, moving only to pull apart occasionally for quietbreaths. Each kiss was a little firmer, but still innocent, thewarmth and softness of another person’s lips still mostly new to bothteens. Iris’s kiss was the only one Ash had any memory of, and it wasa poor example both from how distracted he was during it and from herforceful nature, while Dawn had nothing but a couple joking dareswith her fellow models to use as examples.

Whenshe finally pulled back – their noses still just barely touching,as they were each a little scared of coming apart completely – itwas to let out a quiet sigh and let her grip soften, relaxing tomatch the rest of her.

“Doyou think we could curl up together for a while?” she whisperedsheepishly, glancing at the pillows beside them. She could still feelthe last hints of the wine slowing her brain, and laying down untilit passed seemed like the best idea to her. She’d steal more kisses,too, but she just wanted to bask in the moment and enjoy the factthat she’d finally confessed to him, and that her chance had paidoff. “I just want to lay close to you…”

“Huh?Oh, sure,” Ash answered, taking a few seconds and a glance at thebed to process the request. He started to sit up straight, leaningaway from her, then suddenly seemed to think better of it and leanedto kiss her cheek quickly before actually letting go of her.

Shegave a small giggle, her fingers gliding down his arm to give hishand another squeeze before she scooted apart from him. Her handstayed near him on the bed, as she wasn’t quite ready to let him outof reach, but she pushed herself toward the center of the bed justthe same. When he leaned forward suddenly to pull off his shoes, shereached for him quickly on instinct, but at the first clunk of soleon floor she calmed again. Dawn ran her fingers down his back gentlyto cover for her alarm, though Ash only seemed to notice the lastmotion, glancing back at her finally as he turned to face her.

“Howshould I…?” he asked quietly, cheeks noticeably red, and shecouldn’t help but smile.

“Whatever’scomfortable,” she assured him, scooting back another few inches togive him room.

Hishand brushed past hers again, carrying a slight hesitation, before helaid down and settled his head onto the closest pillow. He shifted afew times, scooting away from the edge of the bed and turningslightly toward Dawn, clearly a little uncomfortable from trying tolay down in formal wear. She smiled as she watched him, giving a softgiggle each time he suddenly moved again after she thought he’dsettled himself.

Finallyhe cast her another nervous glance, and she smoothed the length ofher dress and flopped beside him, an outstretched arm pulling herclose just as she hit the mattress. She gasped, feeling her own blushform as she found herself pressed along his side, her head settlingonto his chest near his shoulder.

Dawnlet one hand rest on his chest, slowly toying across his shirt untilher arm was finally sprawled across him, holding onto him loosely.When his lips grazed her forehead a moment later, she felt her heartrace, and wondered for several seconds if she wasn’t just dreaming. Atilt of her head to press a kiss to his cheek assured her that no,somehow this was real. Somehow she’d managed not only to find Ashagain, but to confess to him and to kiss him. That he felt the same,that he was now holding her tight to him, that she could hear hisheart when she let her head rest on him; all of it was sooverwhelming that she felt lightheaded, even though the wine had allbut worn off.

Theminutes passed in near-silence, their fingers tracing each other’sarms and shoulders, their kisses growing more frequent. Their eyeskept connecting, their lips opening as if to speak some deep, hiddenfeelings, but each time no sound escaped, and instead they eitherfell into each others’ lips again, or Dawn buried her face back intohis chest.

Slowlythe embarrassment faded and kissing became an addiction, with Dawninching her way up so that neither of their necks was so strained.Laughter, soft but joyous, rose between the meeting of their lips,and when she turned to hide her face, she was high enough that it wasinto Ash’s neck. Their actions were still laced with shyness, butinstinct – and on the inside, a sort of frustration at how longthey’d put off  this moment – meant their embrace grew tighter witheach passing minute and that Dawn felt only the slightest surprisewhen she first tasted Ash’s tongue against her lips. The laughterfaded to other, equally soft sounds; little gasps and contained moansthat made each of them blush when they made them themselves but smilewhen they came from the other.

Beforelong, his hands were fastened around her waist, one tangled in thebow accenting her dress. His grip was more than enough to hold herflush to him even without the help of her hands now tangled in hishair. Still he pulled her closer instinctively, dragging hercarefully so she was fully on top of him at a slight diagonal, sothat her legs still straddled one of his.

Sheshifted slightly, trying to find her balance on top of him so thathis arms weren’t the only thing keeping her there, and he let out anunfamiliar groan. A shiver ran through Dawn at the sound, and shegasped involuntarily as his lips pulled away.

Withan embarrassed squeak, she shifted back, dropping one knee back tothe bed for stability and only letting her hips rest on his once shewas sure she was far enough over. She had no experience to go on tobe sure of what she’d just felt, but the position and Ash’sstammering were more than enough evidence.

“Sorry,”she whimpered, hiding her face in his chest shyly.

“It’sokay,” he managed, shifting under her. His voice was strained, butit was clearly from the same sort of self-consciousness she wasfeeling, not anger. “I uh… didn’t think about that.”

Shenodded slightly, unable to look at him properly as her braincontinued to hand her details she hadn’t meant to find out about Ashalready.

“I-I,”she stammered, holding onto his shirt tighter. “That… Thatreminds me though.”

Thecolor seemed to drain from his face, his hold on her tightening outof an apparent fear that she might be thinking of standing up.

“I’mleaving for Johto in four days,” she whispered, her voice crackingworse than his had been. “Do… I mean it doesn’t have to betonight… you don’t even have to answer me tonight… But… Um…”Dawn swallowed audibly, pressing her ear into his chest where shecould hear his heartbeat, and squeezing her eyes shut to find thewill to finish her thought. “Do you think… I could um… havesomething t-to remember you by?”

Heseemed distant at the question, or maybe the announcement that hadgone with it. She’d warned him before, on the first day she they’dbeen reunited, that she was only in Unova for a few weeks, but nowshe’d put a time frame on it. “Y-yeah, I can get you whatever youwant,” he whispered just as she was starting to feel suffocated bythe silence. “Maybe a new hair clip?”

Itwas her turn to be silent, momentarily stunned but in retrospectunsurprised that he’d misunderstood the suggestive nature of herquestion. “That’s not what I meant,” she half-laughed.

“Oh.…What, then?”

“I…I was hoping we could… I mean I know we’re only sixteen but… WellI’m not sure when we’d get the chance again…” She sighed quietly,frustrated at how many ways she could come up with to not come outand say what was on her mind. She raised her head, took a deepbreath, and stared him in the eye for a few seconds, trying to ignorethe slight shaking in her arms. “…I want you to be my first,Ash,” she finally said, the words rushing out of her mouth morequickly than she’d intended.

“…Oh,”he answered, his face bypassing its normal tan on its way fromghostly pale to Pecha-berry pink. “Oh.”

Dawnlet out an embarrassed squeak, looking away but not properly hidingher face. “Sorry… that was really sudden.” Her apology wasquiet and sheepish, her chin resting on his chin as she stared at thewall intently. “I… don’t know what came over me. Just pretend Ididn’t-”

“It’sokay,” he assured her, though he still sounded a bit overwhelmed.

“O-okay.”

“Ijust wasn’t expecting you to say something like that…”

Herface grew hotter until she couldn’t help but hide in his chestanymore. “I wasn’t expecting me to either… It’s not the sort ofthing I should have said when we only kissed a few minutes ago.”

“No,it’s okay!” he promised. “It’s… I mean, I’ve liked you for along time,” he admitted, one hand raising to stroke her hairsoftly. “It’s more like… I didn’t expect you to ask for that. Yousurprised me.”

“You’venever thought about it?”

Hisblush darkened, his eyes flitting away from her as his embarrassmentdeepened. “No, I have,” he confessed, “sometimes.” Focused onhis training or not, he was still a teenage boy, and the idea ofbeing with her, along with some of the other girls he knew, hadcrossed his mind. He’d tried not to indulge those fantasies toodeeply, especially after the sheer awkwardness of trying to ask Brockabout it a few years earlier, but the older he got – and the morehe missed Dawn, if he was honest with himself – the harder itbecame to push the ideas aside. “I just hadn’t really put thatmuchthought into it.”

Shenodded softly, her head sinking into him again, and he felt her sighsilently. “I understand. There’s a lot to consider, with somethingthis important.” A few versions of “waitingis fine”repeated in her head, her mind searching for the right wording toassure him, but try as she could she couldn’t squeeze all thedisappointment out of her mental voice. After the last hour, with allthe words and kisses they’d exchanged, there was no doubt in her mindthat she’d be seeing him again, and as soon as possible. There was noreason to rush into things; saving something for next time seemedright. But it was just so hard to push the memory of his heat againsther thigh out of her mind, and the longer the thoughtful silencestretched on, it grew harder still not to shift the few inches itwould take to see if it was still there.

“Therewas one thing…” Ash said finally, interrupting Dawn’s mentalrehearsal. “I always thought my first time would be after some bigtournament victory.”

Shelooked up and raised an eyebrow from her place on his chest, her chinnot quite lifting from him.

“Iknow, I know. I didn’t say I thought about it a lot. Just… when Ido, I usually think of it happening then.”

Shegave a soft giggle and nuzzled into his chest, as much to hide herblush as to show affection. “Yeah, that sounds like you,” shewhispered, her voice growing a little distant.

“Secondis still pretty good,” he added, bending to kiss the top of herhead.

“No,you did really good today!” she enthused, suddenly worried she’dgiven him the wrong impression. “I was really-”

Shehad leaned back up to see his face again, and found herself silencedmid-sentence by the lopsided grin that greeted her there. All ofAsh’s trademark confidence and the most nervousness she’d ever seenfrom him seemed to be battling for control of his expression, and theresult was a smile that pulled at her heart.

“Imean, close enough, right?” His voice grew hoarse as he spoke,causing him to clear his throat. Dawn understood entirely, since shecould suddenly feel the same dryness

Shelicked her lips and leaned closer to kiss him, and he met herhalfway. By the time his head sunk back into the pillow, their lipswere pressed firmly together, sending a nervous shiver down themboth. His arms tightened around her waist as she pressed herself moreclosely to him, gripping his shirt tightly with both hands. Shestraddled him somewhat awkwardly, still not quite ready to feel himagainst her again – or at least, wanting her next contact to bepurposeful.

Itdidn’t take long for their kissing to return to its previousintensity, though there was a new hesitation in their motions; both areluctance to part for breath and a sort of slowness as the newmeaning behind their actions sunk in. Instead of being the end goal,[something about tongue kissing being “it” from a youngperspective ], the bar had been raised. Their exploration of eachothers’ mouths had been reset to the beginning of something new,something far bigger and, hopefully, better.

Ash’shands had taken hold of the bow adorning her dress once more, tenselyfiddling with it as he had no idea where else to put them. Dawn’s hadmanaged to escape the grip on his shirt, but hadn’t traveled furtherthan the nape of his neck, her fingertips ghosting across his skin asher own display of nerves. She could feel his shoulders tighteningbeneath her, his breathing growing stiffer as their kisses grew moreexaggerated.

Sheknew, from things she had heard and from some instinct inside her,how things were supposed to go. She knew what she wanted, could seeit in her mind, but she had no idea how to communicate it to him oreven if her expectations were realistic or not. Images from athousand movies filled her, of girls with their heads thrown back askisses were traced along their neck and chest, and thoughts of howthe gentle wetness of his lips would feel along hers followed. As itbecame clear – not that she couldn’t have guessed already – thatAsh had either not seen the same to mimic, or else had no intentionof doing so, she felt herself grow an odd sort of frustrated andstarted plotting how to take things into her own hands.

Sheslipped away from his lips, letting her own slide along his cheek tokeep close, and pressed a kiss to his jaw, beneath his ear. He gave aslight laugh at the touch, squeezing her more tightly, so sherepeated it. Much to her frustration, he outright laughed, as thoughthe kiss tickled, and so she gave a softly defeated sigh and buriedher face into his neck instead, nuzzling him quietly.

Hishands finally slipped away from the bow, slipping up her back andrubbing along her spine firmly, then on up into her hair, playinglightly at her ponytail. When his head turned to kiss against hercheek, she found herself smiling again, giving a softer sigh thistime and raising her head to look at him again.

Hefigured out the idea of kissing her neck quickly after that, thoughshe found herself giving quiet giggles at it as well, the sensationsomewhere between amazing and ticklish as his lips traveled the softof her neck.

Thenhe lapped softly inside the kisses, his tongue firmer and moredeliberate against her skin than his lips could manage, and she wasgone, her face flushed pink and lips open in a series of moans shecouldn’t stop if she tried.

Itwas then that she found herself brushing against him again, half onpurpose and half as a result of his guidance. His hands had tracedback down her back to her hips, each motion venturing a littlefurther onto the curve of her rear with a guilty hesitance, his legsbending a little further with each motion until he was pressed to herin a clothed mimic of their intentions.

IDKLOL FUCK IT

((allof the foreplay and the first half of the sex occur with her on hislap, with his pants only partway removed. I want her panties to comeoff in some dramatic way but I’m not sure how. I also know I have touse the word “sloppy” to describe Ash’s attempts at fondling, andthat Dawn has to be at least a little surprised at how good theattention to her breasts feel.))

Dawnyelped in surprise as she suddenly felt herself lifted off the bed.Her tired legs gladly unfolded from beneath her, her arms tightaround Ash’s neck still in search of stability. He had her with bothhands, and while she was sure he was strong, the idea of being heldup by his grip on her butt alone was a little nerve-wracking.

Shelet out another startled cry as he leaned forward, tilting her back,and she clung tighter to him still. The bed wasn’t far behind her,but panic outweighed logic, and a panicked shout of his name fellfrom her lips as they descended a little faster than she wascomfortable with.

“Ash!”

Therewas a soft thump as they landed on the bed, followed by a rough,unrestrained gasp as the impact rocked their still-connected hipstogether, pushing him deeper into her than their previous positionhad allowed. For a few seconds Dawn was so caught up in the pleasurethat her grip on him finally loosened, her back arching under him insearch of the same fullness on his next stroke. Her legs were foldedto her sides, knees bent and hooked over his arms now that he’d letgo of her rear in search of a section of bed to lean on. The samedepth that made her back arch seemed to momentarily rob him of whatlittle restraint he had, and he pounded into her with a lengthygroan.

“S-sorry,”he managed as he regained control of his hips, stilling himself andleaning in toward her face. “I got a little carried away…”

“Youwouldn’t be you any other way,” she teased, brushing his his cheekwith her thumb. She lifted her head slightly for a kiss, and he mether halfway, pushing her right back down as he pressed his lips intohers.

Shejust smiled.

—-

(god why did I think writing smut involving ash was a good idea what is my soul doing)

—

((Iris andGeorgia get back to the boys’ room. They get the pokemon tucked inand argue over who’s taking which side of the bed. Iris winds uphaving to borrow clothes from Georgia since hers are in the otherroom still. Finally, they get the lights out.))

The room fellquiet once Georgia turned out the last bedside lamp, the quiet snoresfrom the pokemon in the corner the only noise. Iris closed her eyes,pulling the covers over her face slightly and willing herself tosleep. The sooner she was asleep, the sooner morning would come, andthis embarrassing day full of disobedient pokemon and botchedconfessions could be over at last. Best of all, she could get back toher friends, instead of being trapped sharing a room full of theboys’ things with a girl that couldn’t make up her mind if she hatedher or wanted to cheer her on.

Georgia’s voicesuddenly rose from the other side of the bed, slurred but deliberate.“Do you love him?”

“What kind of aquestion is that?”

“Just trying tomake conversation.”

Iris snorted.“Well make a different one.”

“You’re reallypissy for a sober person.”

“You talk a lotfor a drunkard.”

“Least I’m nottoo much of a pussy to drink.”

Iris jerkedupright, clicking the bedside light back on so she could glare at hertaunter properly. “What the hell is your problem with me, anyway?”

“You usedragons.”

“Yeah, so?”

“They’renaturally powerful. It’s cheating.”

“You’re justjealous.”

There was anuncanny silence from Georgia, and then, “Yeah. But not of that.”

“…What,then?”

“Tomorrow, youtwo will still be able to talk to each other. Probably.”

“What’s tha-”Iris stopped herself midway through the thought, understandingGeorgia a little faster than she wished she would have. Lying backdown, she stared at the ceiling quietly for a moment, then finallywhispered, “…Oh.”

“Eh, I’m overit now. Kind of.”

It was weird.Having a real conversation with her rival, instead of trading insultscontinuously, was somewhere between uncomfortable and relieving,except that she didn’t know how sympathetic to be. “…What was helike?” she offered, a little more comfortable with talking than shewas with a night devoid of pre-bed slumber.

“She wasreally beautiful… and a strong trainer, way stronger than I was. Wegrew up together. I thought that, maybe if I got strong enough todefeat her, she’d finally like me back.”

The words hungheavy on Iris, and suddenly she wished she hadn’t asked, because nowshe just felt like she’d said everything wrong she possibly could,and for the first time in her interactions with Georgia, she actuallyfelt a little bad about it. “…Oh.”

“Don’t worryabout it.”

“…Did shetrain dragons too?”

“…Yeah. Shehad a Hydreigon. It was amazing to watch.”

Iris felt alittle smile flicker at her lips, from the idea of having a majesticHydreigon under her command. The things she could do… why, she’dprobably be champion by now… Her eyes closed, and she imagined Axewas a full grown Haxorus, taking down opponents with tusks the size ofher head.

“…but notlittle babies like yours.”

Iris knew she wasbeing baited from the pause between the sentences, but she rolled toher left side to scowl at Georgia in the lamplight anyway. “He’sgotten way stronger, plus now I have Dragon-”

“He doesn’tcount. You have nothing to do with how strong he is.”

She pouted, butdidn’t argue. She knew it was true, no matter how much she wished shecould have something to do with his power. He wouldn’t even listen toher for her to direct his strategy. “…Well, not yet I don’t,”she conceded.

There was silencefor several seconds, and then Georgia let out a long, drawn out sigh.“Enough of this depressing shit. I don’t like talking about thepast.”

Iris only hadtime to laugh lightly before her rival turned to face her, smirking,her still-glassy eyes shining, and asked, “Wanna make out?”

Her eyes flaredwide, shocked at the proposition. “Whaaaat?”

“I want to kissyou so damn bad.”

“…You’redrunk.”

“That doesn’tchange the fact you’re pretty cute.”

“But- Wait,wha-”

“And righthere.”

Iris felt ashiver go through her from the hungry glint in Georgia’s eyes, butinstead of making her want to run, the feeling settled in between herlegs and stayed there. “…What are you trying to say?”

“We got jilted,we should get even.” A cockeyed grin formed on the dragon buster’sface, and Iris found herself transfixed.

“I’m not surehow that’s getting even. I don’t think Ash will care who I-”

“It doesn’tmatter what he thinks.”

Iris blinked,feeling her heart skip a beat as Georgia scooted just a hair closer,her eyes seeming to pierce right through her.

“He didn’t wantyou. I do. Whose opinion matters now?”

She tried toprotest, finding her mouth oddly dry. “But you’re-”

“Drunk. Yeah.It tends to make people censor themselves less, among other things.”She rolled her eyes, coming another few inches closer, until Irisbegan to doubt there had been a whole king size bed between them tobegin with. “So how about it? Because you look so kissable rightnow. Even with your stupid hairdo.”

Different partsof Iris’s mind were processing this proposition in different ways.Was Georgia flirting with her? Was she challenging her? Was she justdrunk and horny? Regardless, she was staring her down with apredatory smirk, and far less of Iris’s mind was objecting to theidea than she felt was appropriate.

As Georgia lickedher lips, she countered with her own sideways grin. “I’ll try it,”she announced, despite still being unsure of herself, “but I won’tpromise you’ll be good enough for me to-”

She was on her,lips pressed to hers and hand sliding its way up her neck, tooquickly for Iris to believe she’d even listened to her answer. Aflash of fear snapped through her, but was shoved away just asquickly as the need to defeat her rival overcame her. Finally asituation where there would be no arguments over who had really beenthe victor had arisen. Georgia would have no excuses about Iris’slips being the wrong type or about her hands fighting on their own,not under her command. The victory would be hers and hers alone.

She didn’t knowquite where to put her hands though, and for the first kiss her bodyremained frozen, her lips doing all the work as they battled withGeorgia’s. She was surprised to find her face drifting after thedragon buster’s when she pulled away, determined to grab back at herlips, and barely re-opened her eyes in time to see the devilish glintin the older girl’s face.

“Wellwell… Not bad, for someone so childish,” she taunted.

Her lips hadreturned before Iris could respond, and she let out a note ofsurprise before returning the kiss once more. This time there wasmore ferocity and passion still than the first, and Iris quicklyfound herself lapping and sucking at the tongue that had forced itsway inside her mouth. She pushed back against the invading tongue, atthe same time grabbing for Georgia’s sides and pulling her closer.

Their bodiespressed flush to one another, her arms fastening around the bare skinof the older girl’s waist and holding them stomach to stomach astheir flurry of kisses continued. Iris found herself surprised by thesmooth curve of the spine under her palms - at first because Georgiawas so much warmer than her type preferences would have suggested,and then because of the shock that she had touched her so easily,even knowing her torso was covered by only a bra.

She tried herbest to ignore the heat that pulsed through her at the thought oftheir bodies pressed so close together, even after Georgia’s touch ather neck made it intensify. Then the older girl pulled from her lips,tracing the path her fingers had taken with her tongue, pushing herhair back to expose more skin to play across.

By the time shelet out a groan against the dragon trainer’s ear, Iris was over herhead in denial, and she clutched at Georgia’s back desperately. Ifshe had any remaining embarrassment at the fact she was touching herrival’s bare skin, she didn’t let on. Instead, she stuck out hertongue, making an impressive effort to find any part of Georgia’sneck and face to lick at herself, still determined not to be bestedjust because their lips were now separated.

Then the bedlurched and, just as suddenly as their first kiss had occurred, theredhead was halfway on top of Iris, her elbows pinning both of thegirls’ shoulders down and one knee between her legs. Her tongue wasstill drunkenly journeying across her neck, no pattern or purpose inits licks, and Iris began to squirm both from the sensation and fromthe frustration of being held down so suddenly.

“No fair!”she squeaked. The complaint was almost a shout, but then sheremembered their three pokemon charges asleep in the corner - themere idea that they weren’t alone in the room seemed so distant,somehow - and she managed to contain her voice. Georgia didn’tacknowledge her beyond a sigh of enjoyment, and so Iris began togrowl, her nails digging into the older girl’s back as she tried tograb her attention.

“What’s yourproblem,” she sighed finally, looking up from somewhere nearIris’s left ear. She looked like she was halfway across the country,mentally, and the lazy way she wiped her mouth on her wrist onlyemphasized the point.

The younger girlfrowned, suddenly unsure of what exactly her problem was. She feltlike her lips were supposed to be far more occupied than they wereright now, though, and that seemed like a good place to start. “Howam I supposed to kiss you back when your face is so far away.”

“I dunno,”she answered with a shrug. “You figure something out.”

Iris tried to askwhat that was supposed to mean, but the tongue was already workingits way up the tendon leading from her collarbone to her jaw, and theinvoluntary moan the sensation caused cut off any words for severalseconds. Her hands shifted, reaching up to squeeze Georgia’sshoulders instead as she bit her lip to hold back the moan from thenext lick.

The thigh betweenher legs had already been pressed very firmly to her hips, but as hernails trailed down the dragon buster’s back, Iris felt like it pushedin more firmly, rocking almost rhythmically against her…

She couldn’t helpbut whimper as her hips rose to meet the rubbing, even as she willedthem to still again and wished the heat in her stomach to findsomewhere else to go. The sensation was definitely familiar to her,but the fact it was Georgia now eliciting it from her…

“You’re socute,” came the older girl’s playful taunt, her teeth justbarely grazing the corner of Iris’s jaw on her way to her lips,“trying so hard to hold back.”

“I’m not-”

Iris gasped asthe next grind into her was clearly deliberate, her hands squeezingGeogia’s shoulders so roughly that she was sure her nails would leavemarks. For a moment she lay there, teeth clenched, looking for wordsto react with, willing the rest of her to stay still. Her rival waspoised over her, her weight pressed to her all over so she could feelthe shape of her breasts against her own relatively flat chest, theedge of her ribs against her stomach, and even her rise and fall everso slightly with each breath…

“If yourmouth can’t reach, use your hands,” Georgia mused before kissingher once more. It took a second for Iris to respond and kiss her back- her heart was pounding in her ears, deafening her and makingthinking difficult.

Finally she foundcontrol of her lips and tongue again, licking and sucking atGeorgia’s mouth for all she was worth and bringing her legs up to digher heels into the bed. She could feel a grin forming against herlips and she matched it, rocking her hips up a couple times until herown thigh was pressed between Georgia’s.

The instant shefelt the dragon buster’s moan against her lips, Iris struck, pushingoff the bed with all her strength to roll the heavier girl off of herand push herself atop her in the same motion. She knew there would benothing stopping her from just rolling them back, but she wanted toprove she still had that much fight in her. If this was going to gofarther than just the making out that Georgia had suggested, Iris wasnot about to lay back and just take it.

“Thanks forthe suggestion, but I prefer using my mouth,” she whispered,tracing a long lick across the redhead’s cheek before claiming herlips. A sense of satisfaction that this time, she’d been the one toinitiate the kiss washed through her, and in her gloating she barelynoticed the hands tracing their way up her arms. It was only oncethey coaxed the strap off one shoulder and trailed further, toyingalong her collar bone, that Iris finally pulled away from her rival’slips.

“Use it,then,” Georgia challenged, smirking up at her. “Don’t mindme, I’m just having a look around…”

“You look withyour-” A groan cut off Iris’s objection, mostly born of frustrationwith the futility of even objecting to Georgia anymore, but partiallyspurred by a swift jerk of her captive’s thigh between hers. “Ow,”she hissed, baring her teeth.

“Is there aproblem?”

Iris sneered,leaning back down to brush her lips across her rival’s neck. “You’llhave a problem soon enough,” she muttered, rubbing a series of firmkisses toward her bra line. To her surprise, Georgia responded quitevocally, moaning longingly at the attention.

((more makingout, Iris starts groping, winds up sitting on her knees besideGeorgia with one hand fingering her))

-

There had been a hand on her thigh forthe past few minutes. Iris paid no attention to it, except when itsqueezed too tightly and told her she was doing something right, butnow it had traveled too far up to ignore. She bit her lip, fidgetingas Georgia’s fingers ran along the line of her panties, the toes ofone foot curling to squeeze the other. This was just a test, just adistraction, she was sure of it, and for right now she had toconcentrate on keeping her fingers-

Georgia’s hand shifted an inch, sinkinginto Iris’s slit through her panties, and she moaned so loud she wasscared their neighbors could hear.

“That was way too easy,” Georgiataunted, her free hand still lazily kneading her own breast.

“Y-you just caught me off guard,”Iris insisted, finding a section of the wall to glare at.

(sfdaslnadsm;sonfdls what goes hre)

—

“Get stronger, okay?”

“What?”

“Get stronger. Learn to controlthat damn dragonite of yours. And I’ll train, too.”

“…okay?”