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writing-through-the-snow · 12 days ago

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Diodeshipping pet shelter au snippet 2

Since Clemont is forced to fulfill volunteer hours in order to graduate he is forced to spend a portion of his time after school every day volunteering at some lab named Professor Oak’s Ranch against his will. Along the way he becomes friends with Ash, the recent transfer student who got into Lumiose Prep on a track scholarship. Who also turns out to have the hobby of training animals to compete in obedience and agility competitions, and is trying his hardest to befriend the grumpiest, most destructive cat Clemont has ever seen, named Pikachu. This leads to Clemont gaining a group of friends, a new hobby, and maybe even a crush.

____

The shelter has been a complete flurry of activity as the three girls work to update all of the posts on the shelters social media, apparently there was an adoption event coming up and the shelter needs those posts to draw people to it.

And Clemont's school life has definitely gotten better, now that they all had a common interest, he, Ash, and Serena talk a lot more in school. Becoming actual friends.

It's been really nice for Clemont, to actually have close friends. Though he's definitely not as close with Serena as he is Ash.

Ash is just a lot of fun, and when they aren't at school, or the shelter, Clemont finds himself thinking about Ash very frequently. Maybe he'll see a stray animal that he just knows Ash would have lured close to pet it, and be best friends with after just five minutes. Or maybe he’ll see a particular math problem that he knows Ash will ask about the next day, knowing what Ash struggles with in math, and start thinking about how he'd teach it to Ash. Or maybe he'd be working on a new project, and he wouldn't be able to stop a smile blooming to his face as he thinks about what Ash would say about it.

And given that they spend almost every day at the shelter together (Clemont has even started going on his off days, just to help out,) and they've taken to sitting together in classes and lunch, Clemont has had a lot of time to get to know Ash. And he enjoys it.

Not only that, but he enjoys the shelter in general. It's just such an opening place, and he's gotten to know plenty of the animals and people.

He never expected he would start going to the shelter on afternoons he wasn't scheduled, trading his technology for the animals and people. But he's glad for it.

And Serena was nice, he enjoyed her company.

Though, Clemont eyes Ash and Serena from across the room as they talk, Serena's cheeks were completely red as she laughs just a little too hard at a joke Ash makes, aren't they just a little too close?

Clemont shrugs it off. He knows Serena has a crush on Ash, it's the worst kept secret in the school. And literally everyone including Pikachu clocked her crush as soon as she entered the shelter. Everyone except for Ash that is. He's somehow the most oblivious person in the world.

Though he's found that the crush has gotten a lot less amusing as time goes on.

He doesnt get why, it's just a little weird to him. His gut would churn whenever he would see Ash and Serena talking quietly with each other when they got a quiet moment between all of the preparation. He was usually just as busy as everyone else now that he knows the ropes of the shelter, no longer following Ash around as closely. So he does the exact same with Ash and Serena whenever he gets a moment of peace with either of them. So he doesnt get why it's so weird for him to see it with Ash and Serena in particular.

Just something about it makes Clemont feel a little restless, maybe it's the way Serena's eyes light up when she looks at Ash, eyes full of admiration and joy. Maybe it's seeing how she obviously tries to dress up a little for these shelter visits, despite the fact that dressing up doesn't make sense for an animal shelter where youre gonna be active and dealing with slobbery and dirty animals.

It's not like Clemont didn't expect to see that sort of stuff from Serena, but for some reason it just feels… off to him.

He doesn't really get why, so he tries not to focus on it much.

He only really has the time or understanding on what was going on while talking with his little sister, as she watches a cartoon.

He's trying his best to understand what's going on, but the plot is so weirdly complicated that he doesn't get what's going on.

“Okay, I give, what's going on?” Clemont asks, looking at the screen, Bonnie sighs loudly, rolling her eyes and pausing the show.

“Why is she acting like that?” Clemont asks, the main character was acting weird, whenever she saw two of the other characters talking, getting too close she would barge over and think of an excuse to break them up. And she just got really weird whenever one of them expressed interest in the other.

“Okay, so Flora likes Draco,” Bonnie spells out to her older brother, pointing to two of the characters on the screen.

“Okay…” Clemont prompts.

“Draco likes Nanami,” Bonnie continues, “and Nanami used to like Colin, but she's starting to also like Draco.”

“And Colin likes Flora.” Bonnie finishes explaining.

Clemont tilts his head as he looks at the screen, paused as Flora looks uncomfortable and restless as Draco and Nanami get closer.

“Then why is Flora acting like that?” honestly it kinda reminds him of how weird feeling he gets when Ash and Serena get close like how Draco and Nanami were. Maybe Flora just doesn't like seeing all of that weird love stuff shoved in her face.

Bonnie looks at him like he's dumb, “it's because she's jealous of Nanami. Duh.”

Bonnie rolls her eyes and continues playing the show. Honestly he would be a little offended if he wasn't too busy thinking about what Bonnie just said.

Was he jealous? Of what? Of his two friends talking to each other? Even though it's obvious Serena has a crush on Ash and is trying to work up the courage to make a move. And maybe Ash might have a crush back, though Ash is a little hard to read for Clemont.

Is he jealous of that? Is he jealous of Ash for Serena having a crush on him?

That feels weird, and wrong.

He doesn't want to feel that way, isn't that pretty shitty of him to be jealous of his closest friend?

Oh god, does he have a crush on Serena? Clemont feels so wrong for it, and he can't stop the face he makes at the idea.

But it does make sense for why he feels so restless when he sees Serena and Ash too close. It's just weird to feel this way for Serena.

Clemont tries desperately to not think about it, even though he can't stop feeling a little unusual whenever he's around Serena and Ash now. He doesn't want to get in the way even though he, ugh, has a crush on Serena.

And he would feel terrible if he got in the way of Ash and Serena liking each other. But even then, Ash is still Clemont's closest friend. And even though he feels so terrible about having a crush on the girl Ash might like. But his worries tend to fall away quickly whenever it's just him and Ash.

But he can't stop from feeling a little uncomfortable when it's just him and Serena. Is that because of the crush? Or because he feels bad about being jealous? Clemont doesn't know.

Clemont looks up from his blueprints as he notices Ash flop into the seat across from him with a groan.

“What's wrong?” Serena asks, looking at a sullen Ash sitting across from them.

“Im dangerously close to failing chemistry,” Ash groans, “if I do fail I might get kicked off of the track team and thus the school. And mom isn't letting me go to the shelter until I get my chemistry grade up.”

Clemont looks at Ash concerned, “what about the upcoming event? If you can't train the animals what would they do?”

“I'm not sure.” Ash huffs, crossing his arms and putting his face into his arms.

“I could help tutor you!” Serena offers quickly, her cheeks a little red as she looks at Ash.

Clemont frowns, his gut churning again. He can't stop himself from speaking, if only to get the feeling to stop. …and it's better for the shelter too, after all if Ash can’t train the pokemon then they have less of a chance of being adopted.

“Aren't you also not doing very well in chemistry?” Clemont asks, looking over to Serena. He's pretty sure she's teetering on a C herself.

Serena deflates, realizing that Clemont was right.

“Then what about you Clemont, you're super good at it right?” Ash asks, looking at Clemont with wide, pleading eyes, “could you help me?”

Clemont looks away, knowing he can't make a good decision when it comes to those big brown eyes.

But he quickly finds that the little defense he had, not having enough time for his inventions, felt weak at the idea of going to the shelter and not seeing Ash there.

And he agrees.

So just like that, he agreed to tutor his crush’s crush. And his best friend.

But he won't regret it, not when he sees Ash's beaming smile.

They decided to study immediately after school, today Clemont didn't have to volunteer for the shelter, and even though he usually would go anyway, without Ash there Clemont wasn't as excited.

So they head to Clemont's house to study, his father shouldnt be home until later, and Bonnie has her shows running tonight so she should be pretty quiet.

They get to Clemont's empty house and try to get a few hours of studying in, since Bonnie wasn’t home from school yet.

“No Ash, AG isn't gold, it's silver on the periodic table.” Clemont corrects, setting the flash card down into the wrong pile. The pile was much larger than the correct pile. At this point, Clemont has changed into more comfortable clothes then his school uniform, and Ash has abandoned his uniform jacket on Clemont's desk chair. Even as the two have migrated from the desk to Clemont's bed.

Ash groans, flopping onto Clemont's bed and jostling Clemont a little with the movement, as he was also on the bed.

“Hm.” Clemont frowns, trying to figure out how to explain chemistry to Ash without confusing him more. Maybe he could find a song online to do it? But Ash has no sense of rhythm. What would be helpful to a guy whose entire life revolves around animals? Maybe he could get the animals at the shelter to represent parts of the periodic table? But how would he show that in a way Ash could understand.

Clemont huffs, massaging his nose a little. As much as Ash isn't good at chemistry, Clemont is even worse at teaching it to someone.

Maybe Serena should have taught Ash instead. Clemont thinks a little bitterly, she always seems to be so good at the things he's not.

Clemont flops onto the bed as well, lying next to Ash.

“Ready to get back into it-” Clemont starts to ask, turning his head to look at Ash. Only to find him dead asleep.

Clemont can't stop the snort that bubbles in him at seeing Ash so peacefully asleep, they were supposed to be studying.

But Clemont does not move to wake him up, he just can't find the will to. Ash has been stressed lately, he has not directly said it per say, but Clemont can tell. Between their exams at school, competitions in track, and getting the shelter ready for the adoption event, Ash has been more than a little busy. He's been working extra hard at the shelter to get all of the animals trained so they can show off their tricks at the event. Pikachu has even been on its best behavior and letting Ash train it.

But that means Ash has been doing a lot in the past few weeks, maybe a little too much.

So Clemont just lets Ash sleep, instead of waking him to go back to studying. Ash needs a break.

Clemont smiles softly as he sees how relaxed Ash is, practically melting into the bed. Ash is turned onto his side, facing Clemont his hand half opened half way between him and Clemont. Clemont can feel Ash's soft and slow breaths on his cheek. His messy hair falling across his face as his mouth is slightly parted in his sleep. Clemont notices small freckles he normally can't see from any farther back on Ash's face, barring the weird squiggly mark lines on Ash's face.

He wonders what they were, are they just weird freckles? Or a birthmark? Or somehow matching scars?

Clemont nearly reaches out to touch Ash's cheek, just to feel it, but he freezes just before he touches Ash.

That's weird right? Touching his best friend's face while he's asleep.

Isn't staring at his best friend's face really weird too?

Clemont pulls back his hand, tucking it close to his chest.

He's being so weird right? Like this isn't what normal people do when they have best friends?

Clemont can feel his heartbeat against his hand, fluttering and quick. And his face feels warm, like it does when he's embarrassed.

What's going on with him lately?

Clemont turns to face towards the ceiling, still lying on the bed next to Ash. A frown firmly on his face. He adjusts his glasses, having been pressed uncomfortably in his face when he laid on his side.

Clemont chews on his cheek, thinking.

Why'd he have to have a crush on Serena. Of all people.

What changed now? Sure they've gotten a little closer now that the two of them both are pretty passionate about the shelter, but other than that nothing has really changed.

She's always been pretty, but Clemont never really thought it was really a big deal. At first he thought maybe she just wasn't his type. But if he has a crush on her then maybe she is?

She's objectively pretty but he never feels all of that fluttering feeling, butterflies in his stomach, ‘wow’ feeling when it's just him and Serena.

He guesses that while he understands she's objectively pretty, she's not his type of pretty.

Clemont turns his head to look at the still sleeping Ash.

Not as pretty as he's found Ash is, at least.

His face grows warmer at the thought, but it's true. He tries not to think about it much, but Ash is really pretty.

He doesn't know when he realized it, but it was obvious when Clemont thought about it.

His messy hair is the perfect amount of messy to not look completely ridiculous and unkept, but cute enough that Clemont doesnt think he could see Ash with neat hair. And Clemont can feel a warm gooey feeling in his stomach whenever Ash smiles at him, whether it be a brighter than the sun smile, or one of Ash's softer smiles. He's found that it's impossible to not smile back when Ash gives him one of his smiles, especially the softer smiles. The ones where his eyes look so warm and his eyes crinkle, and he almost always tilts his head slightly as he smiles. But he also can't help but smile when Ash gives one of his beaming smiles, especially because it almost always is followed by physical contact of some type. Whether a clap on the shoulder that sometimes knocks Clemont off balanced if Ash is a little too excited. or Ash reaching over to ruffle Clemont's hair, usually making both of them laugh, even if Clemont feels his face growing a little warmer at the embarrassment of his hair being all messed up. Or a half hug, where Ash slings an arm over Clemont's shoulder to pull him tight against him. So close Clemont can feel Ash's wild hair tickling against his neck, no doubt his hair is doing the same against Ash's neck. And their cheeks are practically smashed together.

Clemont doesn't get it.

Why does he feel like this?

He's fairly certain this wasn't just what you felt for a best friend.

Well, he doesn't have anything for comparison but still.

Is he really jealous of Ash? And did he really like Serena?

Because he doesnt think he likes Serena that way, Bonnie tried to explain what love felt like to him. Even though she only knew love from the cartoons and stories she read.

The elated, butterfly feeling has just never been something Clemont has felt with Serena before. But he did feel it constantly with Ash.

And he's certain he did feel jealousy when he saw Serena looking so flustered around Ash, but was it really because he liked Serena?

Clemont glances back at Ash, and suddenly realization clicks.

Oh. he doesn't like Serena. At least not like that.

The reason he feels so jealous when Serena looks flustered around Ash was because he liked Ash.

It immediately makes more sense to Clemont than him having a crush on Serena. He laughs as he thinks about how wrong he was.

This is why he sticks to inventions, rather than feelings. He'll leave the feelings to Ash and Bonnie.

Liking Ash makes so much more sense to Clemont. After all, Ash is his best friend. He loves spending time with Ash, be it studying together, working at the shelter, or just hanging out. And when they aren't together Clemont finds that he thinks about Ash all of the time.

Clemont replays Ash's laughter in his mind, finding that he can't stop the smile coming to his face even when he's just thinking about Ash's laughter.

Yeah, he has a crush on Ash.

Clemont can't wipe the smile off his face even as his eyes start to droop against his will. He turns over onto his side, to face Ash again.

He really, really likes his best friend. Clemont acknowledges looking at Ash's hand in between them. With confidence Clemont has never felt before he reaches out and places his hand on top of Ash's. His hand twitches as he does, but it quickly relaxes as Clemont melts into his bed.

He likes his best friend, and it feels so right to Clemont.

____

Clemont doesn't know when he drifts off to sleep, but when he wakes up the setting sun was drifting through his window. He looks around his room to see the still abandoned study materials on his desk and flashcards strewn around his bed. Clemont rubs at his eye, noticing Ash is missing from the room.

Did he go home?

Clemont sleepily stumbles out of his room, his clothes rumpled. He only slept for an hour or so, Bonnie should be home by now. To be honest he's surprised she hasn't broken down his door in demand of her afternoon snack. He should probably get started on that, but as soon as he opens the door he hears Bonnie's loud giggles and a familiar voice talking to her.

Clemont frowns questioningly before he turns the corner to get into the living room and he spots his little sister… and Ash.

Bonnie was currently using Ash as her own personal playground climbing over him as he lets her. He lets her mess with his hair, a plate of what looks like apples sitting nearby. Occasionally Bonnie will dart away from Ash to shovel an apple slice or two into her face before darting back to continue braiding Ash's hair. A cartoon of Bonnie’s was booming in the background, from what Clemont remembers its My Little Ponyta, Friendship is Magic. Bonnie has a beaming smile on her face and Ash smiles at whatever Bonnie is rambling about, adding his two cents here and there.

Clemont blinks, stumbling a few feet closer and drawing Bonnie's attention.

“Clemont! Look at how I did Ash's hair!” Bonnie proudly shows off what she's done to Ash's hair.

Poor Ash had chunks of his hair braided, sticking up in random directions, a few strands here and there pulled back by Bonnie's bright hair clips.

Ash gives him a sheepish grin only adding to how cute he honestly looked. Clemont can't stop the laughter that bubbles up in him. And soon he's doubled over laughing making Bonnie squawk in offense.

“Hey! What are you laughing about!?” Bonnie asks, outraged. Clemont laughs harder, hands on his knees as he wheezes.

When Clemont finally catches his breath he looks up to see Bonnie crossing her arms, very irked and exasperated. Ash is just giving him a grin, not nearly as embarrassed as Clemont would be in this situation.

Bonnie huffs, turning back to her apple slices and chomping on them.

“So I guess the two of you met while I was asleep.” Clemont gives a half grin and Bonnie perks up again nodding.

“Yeah!” Bonnie hops on her toes, Clemont notices Dedenne and Luxray in Ash's lap. Luxray looking more relaxed in Ash's lap then Clemont has ever seen it be with a stranger. Figures. “You didn't tell me you were bringing a friend over,”

“Well, I wasn't expecting him to stay this long.” Clemont shrugs, nudging Ash with his shoulder as he plops down onto the couch next to him.

“Yeah, sorry for falling asleep while we were studying.” Ash sheepishly apologies, scratching the back of his neck.

“It's fine, I know you've been working hard between exams and the shelter.” Clemont shrugs, besides, he fell asleep too.

Clemont glances over at Bonnie, he kind of wished he was there when these two met, but it seems like they hit it off quickly. Like he was sure they would.

Clemont glances at the apple slices Bonnie was eating and tilts his head squinting.

“What are on those apples?” Clemont asks, it looks like they had dark spots.

“Oh Ash made them for me!” Bonnie squeaks, bouncing on her toes as she shoves one of the slices in Clemont's face. He pulls back, not particularly wanting to be slapped in the face with an apple slice. He reaches up to grab the apple slice, adjusting his glasses as he looks at it. Instead of being cut into the eighths like Clemont usually does for Bonnie, it was cut straight through the middle, a bit of peanut butter on it and used to give chocolate chips something to hold onto. The chocolate chips were used to make two little eyes on the slice, with the peanut butter being neatly placed to create a little mouth and whiskers. Two little pieces of apple cut into ears and attached using more peanut butter. The apple slice was a little mouse.

Clemont smiles at the apple slice, looking up at Ash impressed. No wonder Bonnie seems to like Ash so much.

“Isn't it so cute!?” Bonnie asks loudly, eyes practically sparkling.

“It is,” Clemont agrees, handing it back to Bonnie so she can bite into it and turning to Ash, “you made that? How?”

“My mom taught me when I started being left home alone when she had to work late nights, so that when I made them I would think of her.” Ash explains and Clemont thinks that's really cute. Thinking of a young Ash, watching carefully as his mom taught him to make animal looking apple slices. A young Ash that had just as much enthusiasm for animals as he does now, and just as caring.

Clemont leans over Bonnie to get a better look at the apple slices to find a couple other animals on her plate. There were of course plenty of mouse slices, which makes sense considering Bonnie's favorite animals were mice. But from what Clemont could see there was a cat, with spots to look like Luxray and Pikachu, a dog, and a bird. All decorated to look cute and with attached apple slices for the ears and for the bird, wings.

“I don't think I could eat one of those, they look too cute,” Clemont grins at Ash.

“It took my mom two years to get me to eat one of those, because I would burst into tears every time she gave me one to eat.” Ash chuckles and Clemont snorts. Somehow Clemont can see that clearly.

“I think Ash's snacks beat out yours Clemont.” Bonnie says with a snarky grin.

Clemont snorts, rolling his eyes, “then I guess Ash better come here after school every day just to personally make you a snack.”

“You would!?” Bonnie shrieks excitedly, whipping her head to ash, Clemont shakes his head with a laugh.

“I was joking, I'm sure Ash has better things to do than to come here after school everyday.” Clemont shuts down before Bonnie gets too excited.

Ash tsks, shaking his head, “I don't know, I think Luxray here would miss me too much to not visit every once and a while.”

Ash gestures to the very comfortable Luxray in his lap, who was purring. It took Clemont weeks for Luxray to get comfortable with him, of course Ash managed to do it in less than an afternoon.

“Oh yeah, what's Pikachu gonna do if it knows you've been seeing other cats?” Clemont snarkily grins and Ash blinks, his face draining of color.

“Pikachu is going to kill me.” Ash realizes.

“And you were getting so far with it, all that progress down the drain.” Clemont tsks, shaking his head disappointedly.

Ash groans, leaning back on the couch.

“My Little Ponyta is back on!” Bonnie squeals, hopping back onto the couch in between Clemont and Ash.

“So which ones your favorite Ponyta Ash?” Bonnie asks, Ash smiles softly down at her and hums, like he was genuinely thinking it over.

“I like Flamesky,” Ash says, “I like how she takes care of all the animals.”

Bonnie hums, nodding. Before looking at Clemont with narrowed eyes, Clemont raises an eyebrow, trying to figure out why she's looking at him like that.

“What about Ember Glimmer? What do you think about her?” Bonnie asks, Clemont tilts his head. That's not Bonnie's favorite Ponyta, her favorite is Blazeflash, the tomboy one. Ember Glimmer was the main character and a bookish type. Why would she ask specifically about Ember Glimmer?

“I think she's really smart, and interesting to watch.” Ash actually sounds genuine. Clemont wonders how many episodes Ash has been forced to watch with Bonnie.

Though Clemont can't help but be glad Ash is tolerating Bonnie's antics, even going along with her. Watching the show at least enough to know that Flamesky takes care of animals, and the Ember Glimmer is a bookworm. And letting Bonnie mess with his hair, some of the braids are starting to come loose, but Ash hasn't made a move to take out any of the barretts in his hair.

He cares a lot about his sister, and he knows she can be a bit much at times. But he's glad her enthusiasm doesn't bother Ash, like he's sure it would have if Ash was any other person at school.

Clemont doesn't bother to hide his staring at Ash, as Ash is too busy entertaining Bonnie and watching the cartoon to look over at Clemont.

He was incredibly relieved Ash and Bonnie got along, he expected it but he wasn't expecting it so quickly. He thought either Bonnie would be a tad protective of Clemont, after all he's never brought a friend home before. Or she would embarrass Clemont and Ash would feel uncomfortable. Or the two of them would be best of friends. One thirds shot.

But he was glad it worked out this way, that the two seem to enjoy eachothers company, and Clemont can slot in with them perfectly.

The banter felt perfectly natural, and Clemont could see thanksgiving, or even christmas morning with Ash in their little family perfectly. Ash and Clemont would be sitting next to each other, maybe a little too close for just being best friends. Sharing a chair or even just being close while sitting on the floor, their shoulders jostling each other with every movement. Bonnie would be close by, excitedly filling the room with her chatter, Ash responding back and forth, with Clemont occasionally adding a comment or two here and there. But most content to let Ash and Bonnie fill in the silence. Never feeling like he has to awkwardly continue the conversation or fill in the gaps.

He bets his father would like Ash's kindness and enthusiasm. And Clemont bets his father would love to have Ash over for dinner, his first friend. Even if his father didn't know about Clemont's… feelings, for Ash. Even as weird as thinking that is, it still feels right.

Everything with Ash feels right. The way Ash so naturally fits in with his family, some of the most important people to Clemont.

Clemont feels so warm when he sees how comfortable it was. He would love for this to go on forever.

Bonnie squeaks as she rushes out of the room, “I gotta show you my new stuffed animals!”

“You know how dad feels about running in the house.” Clemont calls after her, shaking his head when Bonnie just pops around the corner to blow a raspberry at him and continuing to run.

He looks back at Ash, sharing a smile with him only to stare a few beats longer than normal.

“Got something on my face?” Ash tilts his head and Clemont shakes his head.

“Just admiring that beautiful hair style.” he grins, and Ash nods seriously.

“I know, I look great,” he agrees and Clemont laughs.

He looks over at Ash, his smile softening.

“You look very pretty, Ash.” Clemont says genuinely, though Ash doesn't take him seriously.

“Thank you, I know,” Ash says very confidently.

Clemont smiles at Ash, pulling his legs up onto the couch to wrap his arms around. The two of them just pause, for a long second, staring intently at each other.

Clemont doesn't know what it means, or why. But he doesn't care to question, just enjoying the moment. Before Bonnie comes barreling back into the room and the moment is broken. As Ash's attention shifts back to Bonnie as Bonnie excitedly shows Ash her stuffed animals.

They end up being on the couch as they watch My Little Ponyta, stuffed animals placed on the couch to watch with them, the apple slices slowly running out. Bonnie shifts from rambling about My Little Ponyta to animals, with Ash sharing stories about the animals at the shelter. And eventually back to Bonnie's other favorite cartoon Legend of Flora. Apparently the love polygon was resolved, with, plot twist, Nanami and Flora liking each other and starting to date.

Clemont didn't see it coming, but he also doesn't tend to watch the show much.

Eventually though, Ash checks his phone and realizes the time.

“I should get going before mom gets home from work.” Ash says, making both Clemont and Bonnie pout. Ash looks at them and laughs, shaking his head.

“The two of you are so similar!” he chuckles, making both Clemont and Bonnie blink.

They've never been described as similar before.

“Really?” they both question.

Ash shrugs standing up, “sure. You both have the same passion for the things you like, and it's pretty obvious how much you care about each other.”

“I don't think we've ever been called similar before.” Clemont says, standing up as Ash collects his stuff to walk him to the door. Bonnie shakes her head, a calculating look on her face as she looks between Ash and Clemont.

Clemont eyes her, a frown on his face. She's gonna do something, isn't she?

Ash pops out of Clemont's room, his backpack over his shoulders and ready to leave.

“It's been nice coming here,” Ash says genuinely, tilting his head to smile softly at Clemont.

“Yeah, we should do it again soon. At least until your chemistry grade is brought up.” Clemont agrees, trying to will his stomach to not turn to mush as he looks at Ash's smile.

Bonnie narrows her eyes at Clemont.

Clemont leads Ash to the door before Bonnie pops in front of Clemont to stare at Ash with narrowed eyes. Ash blinks down at her.

“You and my big brother are friends, right? Like best friends?” oh god where is she going with this.

“Yeah?” Ash nods, looking up at Clemont questioningly. Clemont has no idea where she's going with this either.

“Good.” Bonnie nods, “then listen up!”

“Clemont is the best big brother, but he's not that strong!” Bonnie please don't do this, Clemont silently pleads.

“So you've gotta be strong for him!” Bonnie declares, Clemont feels his face growing warm and feeling mortified, “you gotta stand up for him when he wont! You gotta be interested in what he likes, even if you think it's weird! And you gotta keep him company when me and papa can't!”

“Bonnie…” Clemont whines but both Ash and Bonnie pay no attention to it.

“I promise I'll take care of Clemont,” Ash agrees, leaning down to be the same height as Bonnie, “at least as long as he lets me,” Ash says, peeking up at Clemont with a half smile.

Clemont smiles a little back, even though he still feels a little embarrassed.

Bonnie stares at Ash for a long moment, as if to assess if Ash is being genuine. And to his credit, Ash does look genuine. When Bonnie seems to decide that that's good enough for her, she beams brightly before running off to continue watching cartoons.

Clemont watches her run off as Ash stands back up, and he turns back to Clemont.

“I'm sorry about-” Clemont tries to say before Ash cuts her off.

“I found another similarity.” Ash says, a soft smile on his face.

“Oh?” Clemont blinks, wondering what Ash could have seen out of that mess.

“Your smiles,” Ash points to his own, “they're both super cute.”

Clemont freezes, anything he was going to say completely fleeing his mind as he processes what Ash just said.

“Ah.” is all Clemont can say, Ash grins at him one last time, before waving as he turns and leaves the house.

“See you tomorrow Clemont!” Ash says cheerfully, and walks down the street, even though by now it was dark out.

“Bye Ash.” Clemont finally manages to say, even though by that point Ash had disappeared from sight.

His cheeks are bright red and he can't help but smile like a fool.

Apparently his smile was cute. Ash thought his smile was cute.

He doesn't even bother to hide his goofy smile as he walks back into the living room, plopping back onto the couch next to Bonnie. He doesn't even notice Bonnie staring at him with calculating eyes.

Bonnie changed the channel to watch the next episode of Legend of Flora, but Clemont doesn't pay it much attention. Just putting his elbow on the arm rest and hiding his smile in his hand.

He lets the cartoon fill the silence of the room, Bonnie for once deciding to stay silent. Luxray yawns from its spot on the couch and climbs over Bonnie's lap to lie on Clemont's lap now that Ash is gone.

Clemont softly scratches Luxray behind the ear, before he feels his phone buzz in his pockets.

He pulls it out to see a text from Serena. Clemont tries not to grimace at the idea of talking to Serena. Now that he knows he doesn't have a crush or Serena but Ash, he doesn't know if it'll feel awkward around her.

He hopes it's not, even though he's sure he'll have to sit through a rant or two from Serena about how much she likes Ash. Reminding him of how little of a chance he actually has with Ash.

Because while Serena is certainly the most obvious with her crush, she's far from the only person in school who likes Ash.

Clemont can't blame them, afterall Ash is funny, charming, and quite pretty. At the surface level that would be enough to make someone fall. Even though Clemont fell for Ash's compassion and enthusiasm for everything he did.

Still, Clemont gets why someone would have a crush on Ash. Believe him.

He figures he's fine with just being Ash's best friend. because when half of the school has a crush on Ash, why would he go for Clemont?

He checks the message from Serena and is relieved when he finds that it isn't about Ash. Instead she texts excitedly about how they finally figured out a photo to put online for Pikachu.

Pikachu has been less than cooperative at the photoshoots to update the social media for the upcoming adoption event. No matter how much Ash and the girls try, Pikachu refuses to sit down for a single photo. And when they do, Pikachu is either blurry, or glaring so viciously that it would scare off anyone who would want to adopt it.

They need a somewhat decent picture for Pikachu before the adoption event, Pikachu just needs to cooperate a little.

He raises an eyebrow and responds back. How'd you get Pikachu to cooperate if Ash wasn't there?

Serena responds back quickly. we didn't, we just found a photo from one of our shoots that we think would be good.

Then she follows it up with a photo. When it loads Clemont blinks at it.

Pikachu was standing on Ash's shoulders, Ash smiling brightly at Pikachu. Clemont remembers this, this was when Pikachu managed to finish the obstacle course for the first time and Ash was so incredibly proud. Pikachu in the photo was looking downright fond at Ash and was more relaxed then Clemont has seen from Pikachu when it's anywhere other than by Ash's side.

Clemont smiles at the photo, and he saves it before he could even think about what he's doing.

“Whatcha looking at?” Bonnie asks, leaning over to look at Clemont's phone. He lets her see the photo and she shifts to look at Clemont with narrowed eyes. Clemont raises an eyebrow at her, what's with the look?

Bonnie turns back to her cartoons and Clemont shrugs, turning back to his phone. They stay like that until Luxray perks up and Clemont hears the lock on the front door start to jiggle. He puts his phone away (which shifted from texting Serena to Ash, Ash complaining about not getting to see the shelter animals. Pikachu has probably rioted by now.) as Bonnie leaps to her feet, running up to the door to hug their dad as soon as he makes it through the door.

“Ooh!” Meyer says as he's immediately tackled by Bonnie, but he returns the hug easily, like he does everyday.

Clemont gives a small wave from over the couch and his dad smiles back. Clemont turns back to his phone when he feels it buzz, Ash responding to the joke Clemont made.

“How was school?” Meyer asks.

before Bonnie can burst out with enthusiasm Clemont calls out “it was good!” knowing that if he didnt Bonnie would talk over him.

“It was so good!” Bonnie says excitedly, “the teacher picked me to read my story out loud, and I saw a bird during math, and-”

Clemont tunes out the rest of Bonnie's rant, but keeps his fond smile as Bonnie excitedly retells her day.

“Oh! And Clemont brought a friend over!” Bonnie says excitedly, making Clemont look up again.

“He's really fun! He watched cartoons with me, and told me stories about animals he's seen, and made me apple snacks!” Bonnie cheers, bouncing on her toes.

“Really, a friend?” Meyer asks, looking up at Clemont.

Clemont nods, and oh god is his dad tearing up?

“I'm so proud!” Meyer sobs, reaching over the couch to bring Clemont in for a bone crushing hug.

“Dad!” Clemont whines, “it's not a big deal!”

“Of course it's a big deal!” Meyer insists, hugging Clemont tighter, “my baby has a friend!”

“Dad…” Clemont whines, though he can't keep a smile off his face, even as his father sobs.

“Hey dad…?” Clemont and Meyer hear Bonnie start, and Meyer pulls back from hugging Clemont to look at his youngest.

“Can boys like other boys? Like a boy liking a girl?” Bonnie asks innocently, Clemont can't help the choke and jerk of the shoulders as Bonnie asks that. He can barely stop the embarrassed squeak that tries to escape his lips.

How did she know!? Was he that obvious?

Meyer slowly blinks, looking closely at Clemont's reaction before turning back to Bonnie.

“Well, yes. Some boys like other boys instead of girls. And that's perfectly fine.” Clemont can't look near his father, his face flaming red, embarrassed.

“Why?” Meyer asks, “did something happen today?” He asks, more in Clemont's direction then Bonnie, even though his oldest is looking firmly in the opposite direction.

“Flora and Nanami in my show Legend of Flora started to date. And I was wondering if the opposite could happen.” Bonnie shrugs, and Clemont can't help the sigh of relief. She didn't know.

Bonnie walks off, content with the world. Like she didn't just nearly give Clemont a heart attack.

She leaves Clemont and Meyer there, Clemont just wants to curl up into a ball.

Meyer and Clemont just stay still for a few seconds, before Meyer awkwardly pats Clemont's shoulder.

“You know… if you or Bonnie ever decided you were gay that's fine right?” his dad says, quite awkwardly.

“Okay!” Clemont says, standing up abruptly.

“Thanks dad, I've got homework!” he says as he races out of the room and into his own. Leaving his dad there to make dinner.

He crashes onto his bed as soon as he gets into his room, not caring for the flash cards still scattered on the bed that he crushes. Instead he just groans into a pillow, his face burning red from embarrassment.

Great. So his dad probably knows about his little realization. And Bonnie probably also does, even if she hasn't quite fully connected all of the dots. She will soon.

“Ugh!” Clemont groans. Why is he like this?

Clemont looks up, pouting. Only to catch a glimpse of a navy blue jacket that definitely wasn't his. Because his navy blue jacket that was a part of his school uniform was currently hung up on the hook on the back of his door, for him to grab when he leaves for school in the morning. And this one was on the back of his desk chair. Sitting there innocently.

Ash must've forgotten his jacket, as he abandoned it pretty early into their studying. Clemont reaches out to grab it off his chair, moving to fold it so he could bring it back to Ash tomorrow.

He runs his hand over the shoulders of Ash's jacket, smiling at the claw shaped holes left by, no doubt, Pikachu. As Pikachu is the only animal allowed on Ash's shoulders. A couple of the birds have tried, from what Clemont has seen, but Pikachu chases them off quickly. Ashs shoulders are Pikachu's property and it refuses to share.

Clemont notices himself smiling like a goof, and he groans, burying his face into Ash's jacket.

Yeah, he definitely likes Ash.

Him and like half of the school.

Fuck.

#pokemon #ash ketchum #diodeshipping #pikachu #pokemon clemont #clemont #pokemon bonnie #modern au #pet shelter au #fanfiction #fanfic #you know for a scientist clemont does sure come to a bunch of incorrect conclusions huh

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