Photographs

Pairing: Comashipping (Ash/Paul)
Rating: T
Warning: Slash; not sure about anything yet but be warned though.

Summary: One day, he found himself in his rival's old home, and finding out more about him than he had ever dreamed about. But it was the only way to feel close to him.

Note: First things first. After hearing that Paul plans to go to Kanto for competing in the Battle Frontier, my comashipping radar went crazy and I came up with this idea. So, this is about Paul visiting the Kanto region and doing something pretty odd for him. I think I need to explain that I've changed him a bit for this fanfic, making him a bit more emotional. This makes him OOC-ish, I know, but I thought that his battle against Ash must've changed something inside of him, disregarding any comashippy theories.

So, this is going to be a longer fanfic, not sure about how long though. Just let me know what you think, Chapter Two is on its way to be done pretty soon (maybe even today XD).

Oh, and Tamamushi City is Celadon City, Masara Town is Pallet Town, just in case you don't know. Which no one can blame you for ;)

Thanks for reading!

How the hell did he get stuck in here anyway? Probably, he got lost. And instead of heading north towards Route 2, he walked along Route 1 and ended up here. Yeah, that sounded more like him. Maps have always been a mystery to him and the last time he visited this region was a long, long time ago, so he...

No. Sighing, he closed his eyes and fought the urge of slapping himself. As well as he could fool others, he couldn't fool himself. He wanted to come here, if only to see this town firsthand. And didn't they say curiosity was natural? It was simply him being curious about... about... Darn it! He didn't need to justify himself, definitely not to his own mind!

There was nothing wrong with being in this town, didn't a lot of people come here for the famous professor's residence? Wasn't this place known for its peacefulness, for its good trainers? There's so much history to this place that many people would visit it on their journey through this region. Right? That was why he was her-

"Dear, you also want some lemon cake? I've made some this morning." His eyes opened and he stared at the front door opposite of him. No, he couldn't fool himself. It wasn't just the fact that he came here for this town, but he eventually ended up in this house as well. Which had nothing to do with said touristic things.

Oh, how he wished he was rude enough to just run through that door and out of this town. Mentally, he already was at the end of Route 1, far, far away from this place. Taking a deep breath in, he replied politely, "No, ma'am, just some coffee suffices." He turned around to watch her going back into the kitchen, a wide smile on her face.

Maybe he was here for her. While heading straight for the local professor's laboratory -just to keep up the appearance that he only visited this town for its famous researcher-, he had passed by a small, almost cabin-like house, nothing compared to any of the homes he knew from Sinnoh. A middle-aged woman was watering her flowers, neatly planted alongside the white fence. For whatever reasons, he stopped in his tracks, paralyzed rather by a realization than the woman in that little yard in front of that tiny house. After a few minutes of just standing there and watching, he shook his head and decided to finally drop it and leave this town for ever. Moving forward, he thought how pathetic he was and that he should've never accidentally gotten here. But he didn't get far: a soft voice made him halt, turning around and looking into the motherly smiling face of that woman he had just been watching.

That's how he had gotten here in the first place. She had asked him if he was a traveling trainer looking for a place to crash for the night, and immediately offered him a room for the night. Such a kindhearted and trusting person, and who was he to decline such an offer? Even with the possibility of this being his house. Then, he felt pity for her. She seemed to feel lonely, living here with just her Pokémon and a room that used to be inhabited by her son who was out on his journey miles away from home.

By that time, he was angry with himself. First, he adjourned his training for the Battle Frontier, second, he ended up in a house which apparently was the former home of him, and third, he felt pity for the woman living her all by herself. Him feeling pity! He! When did things become so complicated? Since when would he pause his trainer journeys to be company to some old, lonesome lady? Probably filling that gap in her heart for a little while that her son had left a long time ago.

Since when did he care?

In attempt to regain his composure, he turned around in search for some distraction. It didn't take him so long to find something; just opposite of him was a wall decorated with several framed photographs. He wasn't the nosy type, and normally, he wasn't even curious. Yet, the whole day was strange and so not him that he decisively walked closer to the wall and examined the photos hanging on the wall.

The majority of them showed a little dark-haired boy, some including his mother, others with the professor or some other kids. A weak smile crept onto his lips, when he noticed the little boy smiling the broadest smile on every photo. On each photo, his smile had such an intensity that insouciance and cheerfulness even reached the observer. Admittedly, that hadn't changed a bit. Whenever he'd used to be around him, he had felt so much lighter, so much calmer. So much... happier. And that, for some reason, made him feel good about coming to this place.

Unfortunately, on the other hand, this only confirmed that this indeed was his house, and that the room the woman had offered him had to be his room. How perfect, another sleepless night...

In order to not really slap himself, he continued his examination on the photographs lined up on the wall. There was one that in particular caught his attention, so much that he leaned in closer to have a better view. It again showed the little dark-haired boy, wearing what regarding the other photos seemed to be his favorite shirt, but a less cheerful yet more honest smile adorning his lips. Next to him and tightly clinging onto him, was another boy, at least at the same age if not a year older. His hair was an auburn-ish color and probably even more chaotic than the other boy's. Contrary to that, the smile on the brown-haired boy was rather weak and halfhearted.

Wondering who this boy could be, he leaned back a bit and fell deep in thought, so that he didn't hear the approaching steps coming from the kitchen. Naturally, he jumped when the woman behind him spoke, the longing clear in her otherwise calm voice. "That photo was taken on a day trip to Tamamushi City. It was a great experience for the two of them to spend the whole day in the Department store. You know, growing up in Masara, nearly anything can amaze you. So that day must've been such a great day to them, that they would even weeks later recall the memories." She paused to breathe in and out, then she walked past him and took down the photo she was talking about. Holding it firmly in her hands like it was the most valuable treasure she owned, she moved closer to him so they could both look at it while she kept on telling about her son.

Pointing at the dark-haired boy, "That's my son, Satoshi. He was always so cheerful, never failed at making one smile, no matter how depressed you were feeling." She seemed to be lost in memory as she fell silent and just stared at the motionless picture of her son. Luckily, she quickly snapped out of it and moved her index finger to the boy next to her son. "This, this is Shigeru, his best friend. First, they didn't really get along and I thought that since Shigeru only stayed in Masara for the weekends, they didn't have enough time to get to know each other. His grandfather, Ookido-Hakase, and I would let them play together every weekend, we might have forced them to become friends but back then, we felt like our plan was justified. You know, neither Shigeru nor Satoshi were quite outgoing, both of them had no friends and so we thought that maybe they could become friends. But it didn't quite work out. Not until Shigeru moved to his grandfather full-time. That's when the two of them bonded and became the best of friends." Brushing away some tears, she continued, "You hardly ever saw them separated. That's why everybody was surprised at the sudden change of Shigeru. One day, Shigeru stopped coming over, stopped reacting to Satoshi's calls and attempted to push him out of his life. That's when they became rivals, and unlike everybody's expectations, they set out on their journeys separated from each other."

Feeling a bit moved by the honesty of her, he raised a hand and hesitantly stroked her back. He wanted to hear a lot more, it kind of felt good to listen to her talking about her son. Encouraging her to go on with her story, he asked, "So, are they still rivals?"

She shook her head. "No, no. The last time I spoke to Shigeru he told me that they've worked it out and that they're friends again. But the distance doesn't make it easy for them to grow close again. You see, my son's hardly ever at home, and Shigeru is often forced to stay at one location because of his researches. I guess they haven't seen each other in months." Another wave of tears threaded to fall down her cheeks and she placed the photo back, turning to him, "So, Shinji, dear, you wanna have a cup of coffee with me then?"

There was no way of fighting it anymore, this woman had warmed up his heart and made him feel as comfortable and good that only a mother could. No wonder her son was the way he knew him; with such a caring and loving mother, how could you become any different? Smiling for the first time in years, he replied, "I'd love to."