A/N: I really am meant to be revising but I just really want to continue with this story, I'm on like a Pokemon high or something and don't worry about not all of the characters being here just yet I mean, they;ll be introduced in time. I include quite a lot of foreshadowing in this :) Please keep the reviews coming, they're a great source of motivation!

Chapter 3: Breakfast

Sad.

It was sad.

Sad how Dawn had to keep reminding herself that she and Ash were truly no longer together, not like it had been 2 years since they broke up or anything, no…

So, she shouldn't be inclined toward staring at Ash every second she got, she shouldn't take secret glances in his direction and most certainly should she not be jealous when he ran faster to hug Misty than he does to the kitchen table at dinner time. Now Dawn really didn't know much about Ash's childhood, but one thing was certain that Ash and Misty were childhood friends and some part of Dawn sincerely hoped that they were just friends. Additionally, on further consideration perhaps she wasn't so much jealous as she was peeved about the fact that Ash had seemed to greet all their friends with equal warmth and happiness.

Excluding her.

Dawn didn't like that; as much as her heart told her to stay away from Ash and avoid another broken heart, her mind kept telling her to get closer to him, after all, they were friends and supposedly a bit more than that once before.

Dawn sighed as she lay in her bed, the clock nearing midnight, no matter how hard she convinced herself, she still hadn't moved on from Ash, I mean his break up line was just so… pathetic. He needed distance and time to travel and Dawn understood that but now, now he was here and they were going to be living under the same roof for 3 years unless she took her mother up on the offer of buying a flat here but she'd be completely out of the loop of the University parties if she lived completely by herself I mean she thought living in a university house would isolate her from the action so Dawn really wasn't keen to live alone.

'Wait, wasn't I thinking about something else… Ash, right!'

The way Dawn saw it, Ash had done his exploring, he's been travelling all his life, he moved to a different town for sixth form and then took a gap year, along with Misty and May and Drew, although they weren't necessarily together for it but either way that means the year advantage the 4 of them had on her is no longer there since she didn't take a gap year; went straight from college to University. But… trailing back to the subject, Ash was now going to here for 3 years, with Dawn, and perhaps in that time Dawn could rekindle what they had –Ash had- lost, because now, Dawn was done with avoiding him.

She went to sleep; happily thinking of how Ash would regret the day he dumped her, not so much in the vengeful sense as in the fact that she wants Ash to realize his mistake. Dawn just knew that they were right for each other, she had had it all figured out for a while: their height matches, their hair colours complement each other and both of them were good looking, they were the most compatible pair ever, she just needed Ash to see that.

"BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!"

"Dawn…" Someone seemed to be calling her name, Dawn acknowledged sleepily, maybe it's Ash, or the mystery musician…

"Dawn!" Ok, it's probably not them, maybe Zoey, was she in her room?

"Aaawwwwh, WHAT?" Dawn replied.

"Switch off your fucking alarm; I can hear it from across the landing, in my room!" Yup, definitely Zoey.

Dawn blinked once, twice and multiple times over before she regained any real consciousness.

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"BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!"

"DAWN!"

This time Dawn was pretty sure everyone in the house was shouting at her… well everyone except Ash, he could sleep through a hurricane.

"Alright, alright, I'm switching it off!" Dawn yelled back as she grappled with her alarm clock struggling to switch it off, 'Dammit, where's the off button?'

After the abysmal search for the off button was found and hit with full force Dawn slumped back into her bed, shielding herself from another tumultuous clamour –although for what she couldn't possibly fathom- with her pillow.

"It's no use, I'm already up and I can't sleep!" Dawn whined to no one in particular as she rose from the bed and grabbed her toothbrush and other toiletries and head to the bathroom to get ready for the day.

Before the summer could fall into the clutches of the autumn, Dawn decided to take advantage of the heat from the sun and wore a flowery dress although she wore a cardigan on top since with British weather you generally shouldn't risk it.

Well, now Dawn was ready, she had no idea what to do, she was ready for the term to start now for all the preparation she had done over the holidays but it wouldn't start till Wednesday and it was only Monday.

Well, she was bored in a house full of people to talk to, so… time to explore!

Exploring in the morning sucks, everyone- almost, as far as Dawn could tell- was in their rooms- unless they left before Dawn woke up- apart from Misty who was on her way out for a run when Dawn went downstairs and Brock who was already up and bent on making breakfast for everyone and Dawn didn't really stop him, Brock's food was delicious.

Dawn had tried to help him but after she, mixed the egg shell into the omelette, burnt the bacon and almost set fire to the toaster as well as the entire kitchen, her time in there was up…

For Life…

Or she would, "face the wrath of my spatula" said Brock, and Dawn wasn't up for any wrath.

So, Dawn was back to square one: bored with nothing to do, she thought of going shopping but she had bought any other necessary things she needed yesterday online, so again, no trip to Ikea and it was only fun to go to the Mall if someone was with her.

Dawn flopped back onto her bed, until she caught sight of her guitar- well the guitar case- in the periphery of her vision.

'Well.'

Dawn strode over to her guitar case and got out her instrument and on her way to her bed, picked up her music sheets, she sat down and tuned her guitar before skimming the sheets once over and started strumming the notes needed. It was a fairly recent piece she had written, it wasn't even written and neither did it have any proper lyrics, just words that popped into her mind when she would play, but until she bothered to put her thoughts into words and ink on paper she would go instrumental for the while and just try to perfect her piece.

She played and surprisingly Ash wasn't the first thought that poepped into her mind, nor was it University but rather it was the mystery musician she had heard yesterday, she doubted it was Brock or Paul, Paul especially, that guy didn't know how to appreciate animals or even respect humans, so understanding and playing music was a long shot for him. She was beginning to wonder if there was someone else in the house that Dawn didn't know of, but, that was unlikely.

Dawn wasn't concentrating on her music enough and kept hitting the wrong note so she concluded that she heard the music from one of the neighbouring houses or something… or she was just really tired and music was inherently in her blood.

"Ah, just in time!" Brock laughed.

"Well, I could smell your food from a mile away, can't wait to dig in." Misty chirped, "Just gonna wash up, upstairs."

Just as Misty was on her way upstairs she bumped into, "ASH! Watch wear you're going will you, I'm all sweaty."

Ash still looked like he was in a daze, no doubt only coming downstairs having smelt breakfast, "Uuh.. sorry, Mist and hey, sweaty or not you still smell AMAZING, like of bacon and…"

"Ash, that's the breakfast!" Misty chided, flicking Ash on his nose.

"Ouch," Ash whined, rubbing his nose like the innocent child he was and Misty felt her heart melt a little, "what was that for, I still complimented you, sort of."

Misty shook her head as she went on her way upstairs, "You'll never change Ash Ketchum,

Now scram or I'll get my mallet out."

Everyone was in the kitchen by now, eating breakfast, a very nice breakfast at that and since Dawn went downstairs before misty, she was able to snag a seat next to Ash, which she was initially pleased about until she realized Ash loses all sense of who's with him when he tucks in to his food, so any conversation was ruled out except for a muffled greeting.

Dawn had finished her breakfast by now but didn't really want to leave the hub of the room and when she looked around to make conversation, she noticed that not everyone was here after all, "Hey guys, where's Paul?"

"Why d'you have to mention him so early in the morning Dawn?" Zoey asked tetchily.

"He went out to train his horse probably, he's always training," Brock interlude.

"Train, more like beat up," Zoey scoffed.

"I'm sure he doesn't beat Azai," Dawn suddenly turning defensive, although why she didn't completely understand.

"Azai?" Drew looked at Dawn with confusion.

"Arjee yz guz jurz," Ash tried to explain that Azai is Paul's horse but it just failed.

"Ash, how many times, swallow first," Misty scolded.

"What Ash was trying to say is that Azai is Paul's horse, Arabian I think." Brock explained.

"What the name…?" Misty asked.

"The breed," Dawn clarified.

"Speaking of the devil," Ash interrupted, having finally finished his meal after the third plate.

"What?" Paul asked, looking suspiciously around the room.

"Nothing, were you out training Azai?" Dawn inquired.

"I don't see why any of you need to bother with what I do but if you must now then yes I was out training him because I for one understand the essence of time." With that Paul went upstairs, probably to wash up, he looked pretty muddy, he had obviously been up very early.

"I'll make a fresh plate of breakfast for you Paul," Brock called out.

"Just send it up!" Paul yelled back.

"Who does he think he is?" May asked, "why can't he get it himself."

"It's alright, I had promised Reggie I'd look after him," Brock justified.

"No Brock you've got work of your own to do, how about I make him breakfast," Dawn offered.

"Uhhh, I don't think we need a replay of this morning Dawn," Brock smiled reassuringly.

"Ok, well, I'll take it up for him, in the mean time I can help clean up, I'm too bored anyway," Dawn suggested and Brock nodded in agreement.

"Well, I think I might make like Paul and go train Pikachu," Ash rose to his feet and pulled up his trousers, apparently a sure sign to say I'm gonna get to work now, "Wanna come Misty?"

"Yup, it's been a while since I rode Kasumi, might as well join you," Misty and Ash swiftly left together before Dawn could get a word in about joining them though she knew little about training horses or endurance riding for that matter.

"OH MY-!"

"Fuck- Don't you know how to knock?"

Currently a startled Dawn had her eyes shut as tight as possible although not before witnessing a half-naked Paul in a single towel wrapped around his cute little butt, who- Dawn couldn't help but notice- was still quite wet from his recent shower with water droplets hanging from his wet hair onto his nicely toned abs.

'Oh those beautiful, mauve locks and, wow, that 6 pack and- oh my god, why am I drooling? Pull yourself together woman!'

"Uuuuh, Paul, have you changed yet?' Dawn cautiously asked.

"Just hand me the tray," A now fully clothed Paul held out his hand and when he didn't receive his breakfast, he snapped, "Open your eyes first troublesome!"

Dawn opened her eyes to see an irked Paul looking straight at her.

'Well.'

"First say please, " Dawn insisted.

"It's my breakfast therefore I don't need to say please," Paul snatched the tray from Dawn, feeling appeased and slightly smug with her startled expression.

Dawn wasn't gonna let him get away so easily, "At least say thank you?"

Paul breathed in hard, "Thank You, happy? Now can I please have my breakfast in peace?"

Dawn- feeling satisfied- smiled, "yes, you may."

A/N: Sooooo, hope you liked it now I named Paul's horse Azai for a special reason for the future and if you do your research you'll probably have a good guess, Please please pleeeeeaaase Review and tell me if it's confusing or anything or if anyone's OOC or anything, even if it's just a little bit because I hate that. Also I put the link to Dawn's dress in my profile, I know it's not really needed but I love to anyway.

P.S. Please review with any ideas you might have for the story, Thanks xxx