A Rose By Any Other Color

"a rose by any other color" - part two

Disclaimer - Of course, I don't own anything! I'm just your average shipaholic klepto!

Author - Warlordess

Notes - Inspired by the most prominent scene reoccurring between May and Drew in the anime and back for its unplanned second installment! Lol. Let's see how much farther I can carry this plot...

Chapter one can be read .

OoOoO

Title - "A Rose By Any Other Color" / part two

Summary - ... Would not have nearly the same effect on them. Either of them. What the heck has Ash gotten himself into? Pokeshipping!

OoOoO

He's fuming with bewilderment and annoyance even as he traipses into the Cerulean City Pokemon Center twenty minutes after thrusting a bouquet of roses into his best friend's unprepared arms.

He should be over this by now, he knows he should, and it's not like he'd been aware of what such gestures were supposed to mean. He'd just been copying what he'd seen someone else do to show gratitude towards someone else('s Pokemon)!

But no matter how many times he tells himself it had all been innocent and well-intentioned, he knows that there's some small part of him that's suddenly expecting change... and that's the part of him that's left confused and frustrated; because he shouldn't want change to take place at all, should he? He shouldn't even be conscious of what that potential change was!

"Can I help you, young man?" asks the Nurse Joy standing a foot or two before him, pausing to greet him in between shuffling her paperwork around the front desk.

"Oh, uh, I dropped my Pokemon off here last night. My name's Ash Ketchum," he replies distractedly, unable to make eye contact out of sheer embarrassment over a matter that had literally nothing to do with her, he knows and internally admonishing himself over it.

"One moment, Mr. Ketchum," she nods, taking her seat once more and typing his name into the computer database. A few seconds later, she looks up again with a slightly more familiar smile, "Oh, yes, here you are! Your Pokemon have been out back playing with the others who are waiting to get picked up by their trainers! I'll go get them for you now! Just one minute, alright?"

"Yeah, thanks for your help," he says and watches her go for a second, her partner Chansey left behind to stare him down with a professionally friendly grin.

"Chansey chaaanse!" she croons at him with pep and he smiles but turns on his heel to take in the surrounding lobby, glancing at the four or five trainers lounging and watching television or else snacking and waiting for their own Pokemon to finish their check-ups.

And then he spots the PCs against the wall to his right, stares at them a few seconds, and begins walking purposefully over to one before he can stop himself.

The reason he'd gotten into this very mess was because he hadn't bothered checking out the detail and facts to avoid it... so it would be better to be absolutely certain, especially now, right?

Thinking of Misty back at the gym with her silly dozen of roses wrapped together just so with a length of twine, he takes a seat and types the meaning of roses into the search bar, clicks enter, and waits to see what will come up.

Surely there's nothing left to learn. Misty had told him just thirty minutes ago exactly what roses were supposed to mean. How can the internet's definition amount to anything different, right?

And certainly, the first thing to pop up says 'a red rose is an unmistakable expression of love.'

Don't panic! he shouts internally, loudly clearing his throat and discreetly glancing around the lobby once more while trying to ease the onsetting flush to his neck and cheeks. Misty had said as much before... but he hadn't known about any of this so he was in the clear, wasn't he?