AN: Welp, this is my way of increasing morale for all those working hard and writing for the fanfic contest! I decided to make a oneshot (that won't count of course), but yeah, I hope you guys like it and it inspires more people to work on their entries! This story is set after the Kalos League (however, they are definitely older than 10, more mature). I don't know what age, but I guess that awkward, about to hit puberty age... xD

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Kiss to Build a Dream On

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"Have you ever kissed anyone?"

May, for lack of a better word, was in awe. Shocked, really. She never expected Ash - the Ash, king of denseland, to ask a question about kissing.

"C-can you repeat that?" May asked, her cheeks burning from the idea of kissing anyone. Because she was so good at seeing and looking at other's become couples, but hearing Ash talk about romantic couple stuff, like kissing, kind of caught her way off guard. This was so unlike him.

She even gulped, her mouth starting to dry – and she was acting so utterly embarrassed, it was not like her at all. Especially not in front of Ash. She would be the one to tease him for being so dense.

"Have you ever kissed anyone?" Ash repeated, now looking at her. He looked at her without a blush, without a care in the world, like it meant nothing but genuine curiosity - he lived true to his name. He truly was Ash Super Dense Ketchum. So dense. She couldn't understand how Ash could ask something about kissing to her and keep a straight face. She didn't understand how any boy could do that, really - but then again, we're talking about the Ash Ketchum, king of denseness from Densemark.

They were casually laying on Pallet Town grass – green and comforting. It was during the cool night, after May stopped by for a surprise visit to congratulate Ash after almost winning in the Kalos League - she saw it on TV, and wished she could have been there in person.

She stopped by, coming early after the Sinnoh Grande Festival, and was excited to see Ash after such a long time. His mom cooked both their favorites in celebration because they both had gotten so close to winning it all. She apparently got here too early, because she was the only one who was in Pallet at the time (Misty, Brock, and Dawn were sure to arrive tomorrow).

They had reunited their halves of their ribbons, excited to finally be together again.

However, she didn't expect for Ash to change - not this much. She had to admit, he looked more mature and just, different. She couldn't put her finger on it.

But there was definitely a change, and she felt kind of sad that she wasn't there with him to go through those changes.

But it was an – interesting surprise. Ash laid on his back, his hands behind his head and Pikachu sleeping by his side as he went back to looking at the glimmering stars above. She smiled shyly, chuckling nervously as she tries to make words come out of her mouth.

"I... I actually haven't," May admitted, brushing away strands of her brunette tresses. She looked at Ash a little shyly, a little embarrassed, but she looked with new eyes, wondering where he was getting at and – when has Ash been this forward? She grinned, not truly believing it.

A part of her still held old feelings for him, but they were quickly brought down at the idea of Ash being way too dense to realize. But this wasn't that dense Ash, and now she felt old feelings rising up to the surface, like boiling water that was left on the stove for a long time.

She kind of felt like a school girl with a crush during that time, the little bubbles boiling to the top, rising to the point they were spilling passed the point of no return. Sure, Drew used to give her roses, and yeah, it'd make her blush – make her feel special, but this felt different somehow.

"Really?" Ash asked, surprised. "I have, recently," Ash confessed. May's blush left, her face falling. She clenched her jaw and her tongue began moving against her teeth as her eyes grew more serious, more intense - more upset.

"Really?" The tone of her voice was stronger with a tinge of anger, but it was layered with indifference and a sweetness – layered thinly, mind you.

"Yeah, Serena kissed me. You remember I talked about her before, right? You know, who I was traveling with in the Kalos region?" May nodded, remembering. He continued, "For some reason, she kissed me when she was leaving to Hoenn. I don't get it though, like - why?" Ash asked, hoping May would give him the answers. She was better at this kind of stuff after all. May was putting two and two together - Ash truly was the King of Densemark or whatever place she can make up with dense in the name. May chuckled, halfheartedly - with a small amount of anger, but still, she chuckled.

"How can you be that dense?" May asked in between giggles. Ash frowned, watching her. "Ash, you don't understand girls at all."

"Well, that's why I was asking you!" Ash retorted defensively. It was no shocker to anyone who knew Ash that he didn't get them. May rolled her eyes, soon sighing.

"I mean, it obviously means she likes you." May shrugged.

"Like, in the friends-like way, or the like-like way? Because I like all my friends, but I never kissed my friends goodbye before they leave," Ash reasoned, knowing that really wasn't a normal thing to be doing. At least, he didn't think so. May shrugged again, sighing at his ignorance.

"Like-like, obviously. I mean, I'm sure there's a lot of girls that like-liked you, but you just didn't realize it." Ash thought for a moment, thinking of the other surprise kisses he had received in the past – Melody, Bianca or Latias – he never found out, and still wasn't sure to this day.

He soon shrugged, that idea seeming not as important anymore.

May laughed, understanding that this was typical for Ash.

They continued to stay in silence, basking in the crisp air and thinking about their previous adventures, girls, and kissing.

May frowned, feeling like her heart was somewhat sinking, barely floating over the water. Knowing another girl kissed Ash made her feel dejected. She remembered all the things he'd tell her about Serena when they would chat on video calls, knowing her suspicions were most likely true. She didn't know this girl, but it was very clear she had a crush on him.

May frowned, wondering if it mattered, if she had a bit of a thing for Ash first.

She wasn't even first, actually – apparently they knew each other from earlier, from what Ash had said.

She felt even more upset by this fact, not even sure what to do with these feelings that were surfacing up again. She wasn't sure what she was going to do when he made her heart flutter anymore. May sulked a little, moving to her side, away from Ash's view, and bringing her hand to her heart.

"Why haven't you ever kissed anyone? You never like-liked anyone?" Ash asked, turning to her. May sat up a bit, her eyebrow twitching.

"Who do you think I'd like-like?" May found using the term "like-like" ridiculous a bit, but it needed to be said with Ash. It was kind of adorable to her, but at the same time, it kind of wasn't.

"Drew?" Ash asked, shrugging nonchalantly. May shrugged herself.

"I guess I had a small crush on him, especially since he'd give me roses. But nothing major, not enough to kiss him," May reasoned, looking to her side and seeing Pikachu was still slumbering between the two.

"Oh," Ash merely said.

"So you never liked anyone enough to kiss?" Ash asked. May smiled.

"Well, not enough to kiss I guess. But... well, they weren't exactly there to kiss," May rambled, beginning to fiddle with her shoes as she sat up fully and brought her knees to her chest. Her arms wrapped around her legs as her chin rested on her knees.

"Oh," he said thoughtfully.

Silence.

Silence until Ash laughed. "Yeah… See, I've seen Brock fall for girls left and right, but I don't know, I never really cared for that kind of stuff. Like, I don't think I really like anyone enough to ever do that," Ash admitted.

May smiled, both relieved yet disheartened at the same time. She snorted, rolling her eyes.

"Yeah, I know you don't. You're too busy training and battling for that kind of stuff. I definitely get that. But still, you don't feel anything for Serena? I mean, it was really brave of her to do that," May confessed, wondering why she was even saying this – she could be jealous, yet still feel sorry for the poor girl – to fall for a guy who just doesn't get it. May heaved, knowing exactly how that felt. Ash looked over to her and smiled.

"You're right, that was brave, and that was sweet, too, now that you explained it more. But, like I said, I just never really felt that way… like-liked anyone," Ash explained. May nodded, understanding.

"Yeah…" May trailed off, looking down to the swaying blades of grass, her arms tightening around her legs as she wondered what she was supposed to do with this information.

"What's wrong?" Ash asked, a frown etched on his face as he looked at her kind of sad, kind of upset expression. May shook her head.

"It's nothing, Ash."

"May…" Ash tried, but May pouted, soon finding her voice and moving closer to him, poking his chest.

"Look, Ash Ketchum, I get you don't like-like anyone, but you never felt anything for anyone? Really?"

"Yeah, never felt that way. I mean, I guess Serena was the closest. Like when she kissed me, it felt kinda nice. I feel like if I did like someone I could get used to that – kissing. And well… I liked… well…" he paused, scratching his cheek and feeling suddenly bashful as he averted his eyes. "Well I don't know! You got me all confused, May!" May stared incredulously, her eyebrow raising.

"What do you mean? You're starting to like her - Serena?" May demanded, moving closer to his face, eyeing him suspiciously.

"No, it's not that!" Ash yelped, surprised to feel embarrassed by how close May was to him. It felt like she was close to kissing him, too.

But May wasn't like that, it looked like. She just stared angrily. She had moved so she was sitting up on her knees and her hands were on her hips. She leaned in closer to him, almost hovering over his face.

"Then what is it?" she asked, her eyebrows furrowing in confusion.

"It's… it's nothing," Ash tried, fixing his hat and scooting a bit away and feeling extremely embarrassed now. May stopped for a moment, before giggling – goodness, she was acting so weird now. This was not like her at all, so she tried her best to let that feeling go and smile. The only sounds heard were the chirping pidgey and May's giggle. The only thing Ash noticed was how May's smile seemed to illuminate in the moonlight night.

It was a comforting atmosphere, and Ash could feel his heart pounding against his chest, not entirely sure why.

"You really are maturing, huh?" May teased, scooting back herself, her knees feeling the soft, yet cold grass on her skin. Ash chuckled nervously, scratching the back of his head. There was an expanse of silence between the two as Ash tried to figure out all these weird feelings, and while May debated over a decision.

"Hey, Ash. Did you mean it? You think it's brave that someone can kiss the person they like-like? You think it's sweet?" May asked.

Ash nodded even though May was too busy looking up to the blanket of darkness, dotted with shimmering stars above.

"I definitely wouldn't be thinking about kissing now if Serena hadn't done it. So I guess that kind of works?" Ash guessed, still feeling clueless about it all. "Still don't know if I like her like that," he added, looking up to the sky himself. May laughed, a wide grin spreading across her features. Her face began to heat, finally coming to a decision.

"Good," May said, crawling to where Ash was laying down, her arms now on either side of his face. May's face was close to Ash's again, this time, moving closer, her eyes closing. Ash just laid there, curious and waiting.

He wondered if she was going to kiss him this time.

With that thought, he just stood there, half surprised, half anticipating this kiss.

May smirked, giggling, before pulling back a bit.

"You aren't moving away."

"I-I," Ash stuttered, but soon turned his head, feeling embarrassed again.

"Answer me this: you liked getting kissed, didn't you?" she asked. He mumbled something she couldn't hear. "What was that?" she asked, her voice playful, her eyes aware of his heated face. And she had thought it was fun to tease Ash when he was completely dense. But this awkward, kind of get it, kind of don't Ash was so much better to tease!

"It felt nice, I mean. I won't deny that," Ash admitted, averting his gaze. May continued to laugh, making Ash wonder why. May winked.

"Hey, Ash?" May whispered, making Ash turn to face her. His eyes went wide, May's head falling closer to his until their lips met.

It wasn't a quick kiss, either.

Their lips met for a good minute.

It took that long for Ash to even process what was happening – he just knew her lips felt soft and smooth, and he liked the way they felt against his own.

He felt his heart pounding wildly, his eyes still wide open and confused as to what he was supposed to be doing in a situation like this.

May pulled back, smiling with the deepest blush running across her cheeks. She was still playful, her mind working overdrive. She winked.

"Hey, I bet this one felt nicer, yeah?" She continued to giggle, moving away, as far away as possible after doing that. She was unable to stop giggling.

She missed her lips pressed against his already, but she had a feeling that she was going to be able to be doing that again very soon.

She inwardly smirked, looking back to see Ash had sat up, watching her with a bashful, stunned expression – she could still see the red hue painted across his cheeks. His hat had fallen off his head, but Ash seemed to be too dazed to even notice.

Melody, Bianca, Latias, Serena, whoever – May didn't have to be Ash's "first" kiss.

She didn't have to be Ash's first kiss, but you best believe that May will be his last.

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AN: Someone guess why I titled my fic this, lulz… xD I'm interested to see what y'all think. Regardless, hope you liked it! Also, I know the last lines were cliche and cheesy, but like, I guess I'll change it when I think of something better. xD PLEASE JOIN THE ADVANCERS AND CHECKOUT THE FANFIC CONTEST! WE ALREADY HAVE GREAT ENTRIES UP!