The amourshipping watties... maybe I should do it x)

Btw, go give them a follow if you aren't already. AmourshippingWatties

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~Ash's POV~

"Because I like you."

Serena stared at me, loss for words. My eyes widened, and I quickly covered my mouth with both hands.

Crap, what the hell?! I didn't mean to say that, I swear it was only in my head. But my thoughts somehow left my mind and went through my mouth.

I took a step back, face already bright red. Why did I say that?!

"Y-you mean you like me in... that way?" Serena stuttered.

"N-no! W-what I meant was," I scratched my head as I spoke. "I like you as a friend! There's nothing wrong with looking out for a friend!"

Really? That was the only thing I could think of? Friends? Stupid.

"O-oh..." She looked to the floor, before looking back up at me. It was shown on her face that she didn't quite believe me. "S-so you didn't mean the other way...?"

I rapidly shook my head. "N-no of course not! That'd be crazy, hahaha..." She had a disapproving, yet confused expression on her face, probably as to why I was acting so flustered at the moment. That caused me to become even more nervous than before, immediately making an excuse to leave the room. "W-well then, Gary needed me to get something, so I better not keep him waiting! Uh, b-bye!"

"W-wait, Ash!" She attempted to stop me, but was too late.

I had already left the room and closed the door behind me. I leaned on the wall and wiped my forehead. I looked down to the floor.

Why didn't I just tell her the truth about how I really felt? I wasn't planning to from the start, but it was like my mind acted on its own earlier, and made me say I liked her. But I chickened out... losing that one chance I had. I clenched my fist.

I'm such an idiot.

I left the top floor and made my way back to Gary and the others. I had a slight frown on my face, still very pissed at myself.

As I walked to the living room, I noticed Clemont and Bonnie had returned. Plus, Dawn's entire group was over as well. I didn't bother to ask what they were doing here. Everyone watched me as I sat down back in my seat, wondering why I looked so depressed.

"Here," I took my phone out and tossed it at Gary, before sighing and leaning back on the couch. "Sorry if I took awhile."

"You look pale, did something happen?" Miette asked out of concern.

"No."

Gary coughed. "Are you sure? Nothing, happened, at all?"

I raised my eyebrow and started to feel suspicious. "No, nothing happened..."

He shrugged, before mumbling, "Fine then."

"A-anyways," I pointed to my phone in his hand. "You said you had something to show me?"

"Oh, on second thought, I don't need it anymore." He threw it back, as I took my hands out to catch it.

Misty turned over to Gary. "Then what was the point of asking him to go get it if you weren't going to use it anyways?"

He shrugged. "Whatever."

Miette, who seemed to figure out what Gary was doing, decided to approach him about it. "Was this all part of some sort of plan, or something?"

He crossed his arms. "Maybe."

"I-I'm confused..." I said, having caught interest in their conversation. "What plan?"

"You see Ash, Gary here purposely asked you to get your phone just so you could go see Serena again." Miette replied.

All Gary did was avoid eye contact with me as I felt the urge to throw a bus at him. If only he hadn't sent me up there, I wouldn't have had my confession fail with Serena.

"You little-" I shot up from my seat and threw myself at him.

"Agh, o-ow!" Gary attempted to release himself from my grip. "Get off me!"

Misty grabbed me by the collar, lifting me up from him and tossing me to the side. I landed hard on my bum as I afterwards gave Misty a glare. "What the hell? You can't just throw people around like that!"

"Well, you can't go tackling people." Misty replied with a sigh.

I frowned as I got up and rubbed my bottom, still in pain from the fall. I knew she was a violent person, but I had no idea she had the strength to lift someone up with just one hand.

"Why did you end up attacking Gary like that anyways? I know it was because he made you go up there, but what's wrong with seeing Serena?" Drew asked.

"It's because he likes her!" Bonnie giggled.

"Bonnie!" Clemont glared.

"Okay, let's be serious. What really happened?" Dawn asked.

"I don't want to talk about it."

Gary, who was still on the ground from when I pushed him earlier, crossed his arms before speaking. "So, something did happen. The way you are saying you don't wanna talk about it tells me something bad happened."

"Well Gary, this is your fault! Because you made me go up there, she almost found out about my crush on her!" I looked to the floor and pouted. "Or at least... I hope she didn't find out..."

Dawn clasped her hands together. "You almost confessed?! Oh my arceus, why didn't you just go for it? You know how long I've been waiting for you two to get together?!"

Miette nodded. "I am with her, you should've just told her how you felt."

"You really think I could've told her? As much as I wanted to tell her, we all know she still likes Calem. She would've turned me down if I told her the truth." I replied, starting to feel upset just thinking about it.

"You mean to tell me I almost got you to confess?! I only sent you up there to go see her, but I didn't think it'd go that far! Man, I am amazing!" Gary praised himself.

Paul sighed and thumped the back of his head. "You are as dense as ever."

"Erg..." Gary held the back of his head, holding in the pain.

"Again with the Calem thing..." Miette growled upon hearing his name. "Serena needs to get her shīt together and realize Calem is no good for her."

Clemont cleared his throat. "Language." He then motioned to Bonnie, who was staring at Miette.

"Oh," She sweat dropped. "Sorry."

Barry placed his hand underneath his chin and leaned against it. "That sucks. So what now, Ash?"

Bonnie got up from her seat. "Go make Ash confess again, of course!"

Clemont sighed. "Bonnie, didn't you hear that Serena already likes Calem?"

"Huh?" She tilted her head. "But she doesn't really do, right? She's only acting like this because she thinks she still likes him, when she really doesn't. Who wouldn't feel like that when they see the person they thought they loved again? She's just confused."

We all stared at Bonnie in shock as she explained to us what Serena was feeling. How does a girl of her age figure something like that out?!

"O-okay then...." Iris sweat dropped. "Where did those words come from, exactly...?"

"Well, she knows a lot more than her older brother does." Misty smirked.

Clemont slouched his shoulders and groaned. Kenny laughed at him before patting his back.

"I'll go check on her later. I believe some girl on girl talk would help her." Dawn said.

"That's good. Her best friend will be much more help to her than Ash." Misty motioned towards me.

I frowned. "Hey, I cheered her up multiple times, so I don't know what you mean."

"Well, even though I approved of you two, that still doesn't change the fact you are a pervert, and I don't feel very comfortable with you going up there all the time."

I face palmed. "I thought we were done with the pervert thing."

"Misty never changes." May sweat dropped.

Dawn giggled. "You can say that again."

The topic we were just on soon finished, and everyone went on with their own conversations. I on the other hand, was staring into space as I realized something.

I shared a room with Serena, so that meant I had to eventually go back in there with her again. There was no way I could survive being there after what happened. And I guarantee she would ask me about earlier, no doubt about it. Well, crap.

I took a deep breath. We had two more days left in Kanto. I can do this, two days is nothing. Then I could go back to sleeping alone again.

"Oh hey," Gary said as he scrolled through his phone. "Did you know th-"

"Didn't you say your phone was dead?" I asked, wondering why it was somehow working perfectly fine now.

"I faked my phone was dead so you could go upstairs to get yours. All part of the plan, remember?"

I sighed. "Great, just great."

"Continuing," Gary held out his phone towards me. "Look, you're all over the news!"

"What?!" I shouted. "Again?!"

He nodded and looked back at his phone. A smug grin formed on his face as he read further into the article.

I gulped. "Your face expression tells me this is not good."

"There are pictures of you and Serena again, just taken recently. Or more specifically, the first day we got to Kanto."

"Oh no... Not this again..."

He smirked and read the heading out loud to us. "Kalos Queen, Serena Yvonne and Ash Ketchum seen together numerous times during a vacation getaway!"

"This is not good..." I cried. "I don't want to go through this again!"

"These pictures though..." Gary's eyes widened. "Looks like you were having some fun."

"What? Pass me that!" I grabbed the phone from his hand. I stared at the screen for awhile as my face went pale. The pictures were indeed from the first day, when I pulled Serena into the water with me after she pushed me in. There were even some pictures where my face was bright red.

Gary began laughing, and wiped a supposedly fake tear from his eye. "This is great, wait til Serena finds out!"

I groaned as I felt my soul leave my body. Not only will I have to deal with all this teasing from my friends, but I would also have crazy, idiotic fangirls and fanboys of Serena approaching me from now on.

"Aw, these pictures are adorable! You two are hugging!" Dawn squealed as she swiped through all the photos.

"Uwaah! Kawaii!" Bonnie said as she looked at the pictures herself from Clemont's phone.

I looked to my side. The window was right there. I could easily throw myself out of it and stop all of this. While I was actually considering jumping out, the doorbell rang.

Gary waved at me. "Hey Ashy, get the door would ya? It could be Brock!" He then went back to examining each picture one by one and laughing.

I sighed. Well, at least I get to get out of this room. I stomped through the halls of the cottage as my thoughts began swirling my mind.

How are there paparazzi here? These cottages are in a private area, only meant for the contest winners. Unless they are pros at sneaking, there was no way they could've got in here.

And, is Serena also well known around Kanto to have these paparazzi following her? I thought she was only popular in the Kalos region, but I guess I was wrong?

Well then. Remind me to keep the windows to our room shut to avoid any misleading images. Serena and I were sharing a room after all, and to have them snap a picture of the two of us in the same room... Oh no.

I pulled the door open, thinking it was Brock. Before I could say hello, I realized it wasn't Brock at all.

"Calem...." I mumbled.

"Hello to you too."

I squeezed the doorknob. "What do you want?"

"Well Ash," He placed his hands into his pocket before giving me smirk. "I got a text from Serena. She wanted me to come see her."