Work Text:
Practice Run
Waking up in your backyard might not have sounded like the start to an ideal spring day to most people, but Gary Oak wasn’t most people and neither was his husband. He also wasn't just lying on the ground in the middle of his backyard – he was in a tent, on top of an inflatable mattress with warm blankets and extra pillows. The rain fly of the tent had been left off, leaving only a piece of mesh between him and the sky, which was streaked with pinks and oranges as the sun slowly rose.
It was beautiful – which was why he was waking up outside in the first place. Pallet’s late spring weather was perfect for camping and they needed to try out the gear before they took it into the field next week. Plus there had been a meteor shower and three other planets were visible in the night sky. What better time to test out their new camping gear?
But as Gary became fully aware of his surroundings, he realized that Ash wasn’t in the tent. Pikachu was still snuggled up against his chest and Umbreon was curled up by his feet so the trainer couldn’t be far… And then he smelled it: coffee.
The entry to the tent opened as he sat up and Ash crawled in, two steaming mugs carefully balanced in one hand. He passed one to Gary and sat down next to him with a contented sigh while Pikachu crawled sleepily into his lap. “This is gonna be the best summer ever,” he declared.
Gary yawned in response and took a small sip from his coffee. He nodded as he rested his head against Ash’s shoulder and closed his eyes. As much as he agreed with that sentiment, he wasn’t awake enough for conversation just yet. He was looking forward to this next adventure just as much as Ash was – a journey through Kanto, redoing the gyms as adults, traveling in his old Jeep like they had before university? That very much sounded like the best summer to him as well.
“The stove still works,” Ash continued, “so I was thinking of going in the house and getting stuff to make pancakes out here. What d’you think?”
Right, testing the gear was the reason they had done this. Everything had been packed into the Jeep like it would be for their trip and he had even parked the car in the yard so they could figure out the best way to set up camp.
Gary nodded against Ash’s shoulder, too comfortable to even consider getting up to follow him whenever he did that. His husband was already full of energy, which honestly didn’t surprise Gary in the slightest, but he needed to finish his coffee before he could formulate a proper response. Ash had been like this ever since Gary had told him about the plans for the summer: excitable, eager, and nothing short of loving and encouraging. Gary hoped the sleepy nuzzle to Ash’s shoulder showed him even the tiniest bit of the appreciation he felt for that.
But Ash kept talking. “We still need to test out the outdoor lights and put the cover on the tent, and you had wanted to see if the bigger cooler would fit… Oh, and we should—”
Gary clapped a hand over his mouth and snuggled closer, hoping Ash would get the picture. Fortunately, he fell quiet and Gary replied with one tired word: “Sunrise.” His hand dropped away from Ash’s mouth and the trainer took it in his hand instead.
“Yeah,” he murmured and dipped his head to press a soft kiss to Gary’s hair. “Good call.”
A comfortable silence fell between them as the sun rose higher and the sounds of the wild bird pokemon filled the air. It was peaceful out here on the edge of Pallet Town… Peaceful enough that Gary felt his eyes closing once more, drifting off in this warm little bubble of comfortable bliss.
“Woah!” Ash’s voice roused him as he took the coffee mug from Gary’s hands and shifted away from him. “You almost lost your coffee, babe,” he chuckled. “Get some more sleep while I make breakfast, alright?”
He really couldn’t argue with that, especially not with the way Ash gently pushed him back against the pillows and pressed a soft kiss to his forehead. Plus Ash making breakfast meant he was going to get breakfast in bed. Gary would have been eagerly looking forward to that if sleep hadn’t dragged him right back under before Ash had even left the tent.
Sure enough, Gary woke again to a sweet smell and blinked awake to see his husband holding out a plate piled high with fresh pancakes. In Ash’s other hand was a fresh mug of steaming coffee, which Gary reached for first.
Ash gave him an amused smile and waited until he had taken a deep sip of his coffee before speaking. “I was able to get the bigger cooler to fit in the back of the Jeep,” he said, quieter and calmer than he had spoken earlier. “And I figured out the hammock setup.”
Gary blinked at him as he took the plate from Ash. His husband had done that and made breakfast? That should have taken a while to do. “How long did I sleep?” he asked warily. They still had quite a bit of work to get done today and the lost time was a real concern.
“About an hour and a half,” Ash replied, settling on the mattress with his own plate of food. “Don’t worry, we have plenty of time to get everything done. We don't leave until next week."
"We still need to finalize the plans," Gary returned. Nevermind that he already knew every last detail of the plans — Ash had been so excited this time around that he couldn't help but divulge the plans. Everything had been checked and double-checked, but he felt a need re-check it all just in case. He didn't want anything going wrong.
"What's to finalize?" Ash asked. "We're hitting all the Kanto gyms; we already know where they are."
"I need to double check the camping permits," Gary returned, poking at his food with his fork. And their bag of training supplies, which they had forgotten to add yesterday. They would have to figure out a good, easy to reach, spot for it in the Jeep, but they were quickly running out of those.
"You've already done that."
"But—"
"You're not nervous, are you?" Ash interrupted.
Gary scoffed and rolled his eyes. "I beat you all the time, what's there to be nervous about with a competition?"
"The fact that there's other people."
"Other people who aren't as strong of trainers as you," Gary pointed out.
"Other people means pressure. You haven't exactly been a fan of that since university."
Gary fell quiet at that and finally took a bite of the pancakes Ash had made, purely to give himself an excuse not to respond. They were as delicious and fluffy as the ones Delia had made growing up and he savored the bite until it was gone.
"Maybe I'm being a little more thorough than we need to be," he relented. But it wasn't nerves.
It couldn't be nerves. This was just the Indigo League. He hadn't even been nervous of that back when he was ten, and that was before Ash was a world-renowned trainer against whom Gary had an impressive win-loss ratio.
He just wanted this redo of their first journeys to go well. It was more of his perfectionist nature than any nerves.
"It's a big trip," Ash reasoned, shrugging his shoulders. "There's nothing wrong with being thorough. It's just been a while since I've seen you this thorough and there's usually a reason behind it."
Ash had always been able to read him, and his gentle pressing meant he saw something. Gary took another bite of his breakfast to buy some time. He chewed thoughtfully and swallowed it down before explaining, "I just want everything to go well."
"Everything's gonna be fine, Gary. We're going to places we've been plenty of times and we won't be far from the cities so if anything happens to the car, we can get it fixed."
"I'm not even worried about that," Gary admitted. "We've talked about redoing Kanto since before we started dating. I don't want to fuck it up just because we forgot something small."
"This isn't the type of trip to get fucked up over something small," Ash pointed out. "It's a journey, remember? A journey isn't a journey if something doesn't go wrong. It's kinda part of the whole thing."
That certainly sounded like an Ash way to look at things. Still, the words soothed some restless, anxious part of Gary's mind, reminding him that it really would be fine.
He forced a smile at his husband and reached for another bite of pancakes. "Alright," he agreed. "I'll stop worrying so much."
Ash grinned. "Good," he declared, "because what you should be worried about is the battle we're gonna have today."
"Who said anything about a battle?"
"I did." Ash's grin widened as Gary took another bite of his breakfast. "Loser has to do the dishes."
Gary waited until he had swallowed his most recent bite before laughing. "Why is it always the dishes with you?"
"Because. Now, when are we gonna battle?"
"Can't I finish breakfast and wake up a little bit?" Gary complained, though he was more amused by Ash’s sudden insistence on a battle than he was annoyed.
"Nope. You're tired and distracted, and I'm gonna take advantage of that. Your winning streak is coming to an end today!"
Gary sincerely doubted that, especially considering the fact that he had gotten an extra hour of sleep. "If you say so," he returned with a shrug.
"You know you're gonna lose to me again sooner or later."
Well, that was obvious. Winning streaks always came to an end sooner or later, even for him. But he doubted it would end today. "Yeah, in the finals at the Plateau," Gary retorted.
"You have it planned?" Ash wrinkled his nose and gave Gary a distinctly unimpressed look.
"There's no way we're not both getting to the finals, Ash."
"But you have losing to me planned?"
"I'm not doing this to become a champion, and it's not planned. It's just anticipated."
"That's the same as planned," Ash pointed out.
"It's not."
"How?"
"Planning means going in with the intention of losing. Anticipating is knowing that you're gonna give me a hell of a battle because you want to defend your title."
Ash still didn't look entirely convinced. "Just don't lose to me on purpose," he sighed after a moment.
"Would I do that?" Gary asked pointedly.
"I honestly never know with you. I thought you'd never want to formally train again and here we are, about to redo the Kanto gyms."
"I'm not losing on purpose," Gary returned stubbornly. "You know me better than that."
Ash only laughed and leaned over to press a kiss to his cheek. "I know," he assured him, taking the now empty breakfast plate from his hands. "I'm just picking on you. I have to take the chance when you give it to me, y'know."
"Mmhmm," Gary hummed his agreement. "Rivals to the end, right?" he asked with a smile.
"Right!" Ash's grin turned mischievous. "Speaking of rivals, what d'you say about that battle?"
Gary rolled his eyes and reached for the fresh mug of coffee Ash had brought in with breakfast. "That eager to lose to me again, huh?" He wouldn't want it any other way, but Ash was trying to push his buttons with a challenge this early and Gary wasn't about to let that bait go untouched. The reward that would follow a won battle was too good to resist — and he wasn't thinking about Ash doing the dishes.
"I'm gonna beat you this time!"
"Keep telling yourself that."
"I am!"
"You say that every time," Gary pointed out with a casual sip of his coffee.
"And it's true sometimes!"
Gary snickered as he took another sip. "Sometimes," he echoed. "See? Even you know that you're not gonna win."
Ash groaned loudly and flopped dramatically back on the air mattress. "Gary!" he complained loudly, only to draw another snicker from his husband.
He was starting to actually get annoyed and Gary couldn't have that. "Alright, alright," he conceded, unable to help the grin that spread across his face. "We'll battle when I'm done with my coffee. Two on two sound good?"
Ash sat up at that, face instantly splitting into a broad grin. "Sounds good!" he cheered.
Always so excitable. Gary couldn't complain. Even if he hadn't planned for a battle this morning, what better way finish up this little practice run of their second Kanto journey than with a battle?
It sounded perfect to him.