Pairings: Flareshipping (Gary/Lance)
Warnings: Shonen-ai, attempted suicide
Author's Note: Not much to say about this - I really was only going to have ten, but then I felt bad... I find these things way too amusing. Just in case you wanted to know.
Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon. This is evidenced by the complete lack of aging in the anime. That just drives me nuts.
1. The first time Lance kissed Gary was moments after Gary had announced that he was officially eighteen years old - a legal adult. It was night, in the middle of the forest. Arcanine had started a fire for them and they were planning an attack on a Rocket Base the next day. Gary wasn't quite sure why he made the declaration, but he doesn't regret it. How could he?
2. The second kiss didn't come until months later and was almost as surreal as the first. This time they actually were attacking a base, though this one belonged to Team Aqua. Gary, to this day, doesn't know what spurred Lance to do it. Truth of the matter was that, confronted with a Gary who held a challenge in his eyes, Lance couldn't think of anything else to do.
3. The third time Lance kissed Gary, the kiss itself wasn't all that important, but the cause was. After over a year of knowing him only by his middle name - Shigeru - Lance was simply overjoyed to finally be trusted with the rest of his name.
4. The fourth kiss was the first initiated by Gary and came directly after the third. It wasn't until after this kiss that Lance asked Gary to be his boyfriend. Gary heaved a sigh, rolled his eyes, and asked why, exactly, Lance felt the need to ruin the moment by asking such an obvious question. Lance laughed.
5. The fifth kiss was the first - and only - to be seen by someone else. Koga never told anybody what he had seen - not even the parties involved. He knows they would thank him for keeping his mouth shut, but he doesn't need thanks. Not when he noticed the softness in Lance's eyes. Eyes that were still hard enough to terrify the average man - but it was the first time Koga had seen Lance relax even that much.
6. The sixth kiss turns into something more and neither of them notice when Umbreon switches his poké ball with Dragonite's. The first time Lance calls Dragonite out for a battle and gets Umbreon instead nearly gives him a heart attack - mainly because Karen looks furious and seems to be checking her poké balls. When she confirms that her Umbreon is safely on her belt, the silence in the room is deafening.
7. The seventh kiss is the closest Lance gets to an apology for the incident and Lance can't help but think it's more than enough.
8. The eighth kiss comes about due to the fact that Lance can't think of any other way to calm Gary down. Lance is furious and he doesn't try to deny it. Gary is well aware of his faults and his failures - Lance just doesn't feel that anyone, not Ash Ketchum or Samuel Oak or Agatha, has the right to remind Gary of the fact that, in his mind, he is just not good enough.
9. The ninth kiss is actually followed up by a thank you and an I'm sorry. Lance just makes Gary promise not to do it again. After three years Lance is twenty five and Gary is twenty but Lance really doesn't think he can survive with out Gary, not now that Lance knows what it feels like to be around him. Gary agrees - no more suicide attempts.
10. The promise turns out to be pretty pointless as, not even two weeks later, there is an attack on the Indigo Plateau. Lance survives the attack but dies hours later in the hospital. Lance is okay with that though, because Gary managed to get there in time to kiss him one last time. Then Gary decides that, hell, he's broken promises to everybody else that was important to him - Ash, his grandfather, his sister - so it really wasn't fair that his boyfriend, who might just be the only person he ever really loved should be left out.
11. The first kiss comes again fifty years later. They are in the middle of a forest, sitting around a fire. The former - and soon to be - dragon master is fourteen and kisses his former - and soon to be - boyfriend, who is now thirteen. There is something right about it. Eevee and Dratini catch each other's eyes and grin. Humans might not remember their past lives, but Pokémon do. They plot to switch their poké balls.