My Pearlshipping one shots (still on going)

Beautiful

For as long as Ash had known Dawn, she always cared about her appearance. Everything from making sure she didn't have a hair out of place, to keeping out every stain or wrinkle from her outfits. She wouldn't let anyone see her otherwise.

As a kid, he never understood why someone would put so much effort into their appearance. Maybe it was just because he didn't care about it himself. He wasn't sure.

He was a kid at the time, after all. The only think on his mind back then was to catch Pokémon and become a Pokémon master.

Even now, as a teenager, he didn't put much effort into his own appearance. Much to his mother's dismay at times. But now he better understood why others did. A little bit, at least.

But one thing he couldn't wrap his head around was Dawn's new interest in makeup. It was a fairly new thing since they started traveling together again.

Ash supposed it was a normal thing at their age. After all they were teenagers now, and he had seen plenty of other girls with it on. He didn't really care when other girls wore it, but on Dawn he didn't like it.

Not that she was bad at it. In fact, she was great at doing her makeup. She even helped a few friends with their's too. As great as it looked though, it covered up the natural features that he found most beautiful about her.

However, he could never bring himself to say anything. After all, it wasn't like he could just blurt it out without looking suspicious. Besides, he could hold his tongue for a while longer.

At least that's what he thought until now.

You see, after a training session and giving their Pokémon to nurse Joy, they decided to grab a bite to eat. Everything was normal. They ate, talked, offered new ideas for their next training session, and so on.

When they had finished their meal, Dawn took out a small compact mirror to check her around her mouth. It didn't really bother him. She sometimes double checked if she thought it had smeared something after eating.

Until she took out her lipgloss to apply a fresh coat and he was reminded of the makeup ordeal again. He had to say something. He had to know why.

"Hey Dawn?" Ash spoke up.

She looked up from the compact mirror with the gloss paused mid way to her lips.

"Yes?" Dawn asked.

"Why do you always put on all that makeup stuff?" Ash questioned.

Dawn raised an eyebrow at him.

This wasn't the first time he had commented on a change in her appearance. Usually, he didn't seem to notice small changes, like a touch of makeup or a new accessory added for contests. In fact, she didn't think he noticed or really cared when she started to use makeup.

Nonetheless, she decided to give him an answer.

"Because it makes me feel prettier." Dawn replied, obviously.

Thinking it was a good enough answer, she went back to reapplying her lipgloss. Only he wasn't finished.

"But...why?" Ash questioned.

Dawn stopped again and stared at him curiously. What had gotten into him all of the sudden?

"Why do you want to know?" Dawn questioned.

"Because I don't get it. You're already beautiful without all that stuff on your face. So why would you put it on and cover up your real beauty?" Ash argued.