My Amour

Is it dumb to not know what a kiss means?

It was another normal day after Pokémon school. Mallow had convinced Ash to get malasadas after school at her parents' shop, as a quick break from all the intense training he'd been doing in preparation for the upcoming league, and so they were walking there together.

All in all, a normal day.

"Hey, Mallow, you're a girl, right?"

Ok, maybe not so normal of a day.

"Uh, yeah, last time I checked." Mallow chuckled nervously. She had no clue where Ash was going with this and by the looks of things, neither did he. His arms were behind his head and he was pretty obviously looking anywhere but at her. Not exactly the picture of calm he was so clearly trying to give off.

"Cool. Cool cool." He said, and they kept walking. Mallow was thoroughly confused. Ash never showed any interest in girls. Ever. He didn't notice Lillie's little crush on him at the beginning of school, and he was the most oblivious guy around when it came to the way girls would stare at him while he battled.

At this point, all the girls at Pokémon school were convinced he was either not interested in girls at all, or just a little bit dense.

"So, what does it mean when a girl kisses you?"

Ok, maybe very dense.

Mallow took a deep breath, collected her thoughts, and spoke.

"What?"

"Well you know, I don't really know who to talk to about this stuff," He said, rubbing the back of his head, "And I guess I'm just really inexperienced. What does it mean from, like, a girl's perspective if you... kiss a guy?"

How was she supposed to answer that? She pondered the question for a minute. "Well I don't know about other girls, but I know that kissing's something I would only do with... well, with someone that I love."

It took Mallow a moment to notice that Ash wasn't beside her anymore. She looked behind her, and a few steps back Ash had stopped moving entirely. All semblance of composure was gone from his form as he just stood there, mouth agape.

"L-l-love?" He sputtered, as a red flush slowly crept up his neck. On the boy's shoulder, Pikachu looked like he was suppressing giggles.

Mallow grinned at his naivety. He really didn't have any experience with girls. Slowly stepping closer, Mallow grinned. "Yeah Ash. Y'know, kissing?" She teased, "It's a thing people usually do when they love each other."

He'd stopped sputtering, and was instead standing in complete silence. His eyes were staring at nothing, almost like he was remembering something. Wait, remembering? No way someone... she had to ask, right? "Ash...did someone kiss you?!"

If possible, he turned even more red. He didn't have to answer, his silence and complete refusal to look Mallow in the eye were enough for her to tell. "No way, who?" She asked, trying to keep the disbelief out of her voice.

"Well she, um- I was- an airport and- there was an escalator and..." He sputtered, slowly backing away from Mallow. Sweat had begun to run down his face, and any trace of the skilled trainer she knew was gone. "I've gotta go... help the professor, bye!" He turned and sprinted fast back the way they came from, ignoring Mallow's shouts for him to come back and explain who the heck had kissed him. He couldn't just say something like that and run off!

~~~

Mallow grumbled a quick hello as she walked through the doors of her parent's shop. Now everything she thought about the blockhead was brought into question. He could actually think about a girl! Just who was she? How was she able to break through Ash's incredibly dense, battle-obsessed brain? Mallow quickly ran through a mental list of every interaction she'd seen Ash have with a girl in Alola, but nothing stuck out as outright romantic. Except maybe...

Mallow opened the door to her bedroom rather forcefully, and raced towards the phone she kept on her nightstand. She had to know. After quickly dialing, she tapped her foot impatiently. Two rings later, a gentle voice picked up the phone.

"H-,Hello?" Her best friends voice breathed through the receiver.

"Lillie! Did you kiss Ash!?" Mallow yelled, maybe a bit too loudly.

"W-What? I already told you, I'm really quite over-" Mallow slammed the receiver down with yet another agonized sound of frustration. So whoever this mystery girl was, she wasn't on the islands. Great. This wasn't bothering Mallow. Not one bit.

She chewed on her thumbnail. All the surety she had before about Ash's lack of love life was gone, and replaced only with mounting confusion. She looked back at her phone, and became sure of only one thing.

She had to talk about this with her friends.