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“The point of pancakes is to be sweet! That’s the whole reason you make them!” Ash exclaimed, waving his fork- which had a piece of pancake on it- around in the air as he talked.
“They’re- would you stop waving that around, it’s gonna fly off the fork!” Chloe retorted. “And that’s fine, but if it’s all you eat-”
“It’s not all I eat!” Ash cut her off. He was standing next to the island in the kitchen area of Professor Kukui’s house, eating pancakes with Chloe while Goh stood at the stove making more. They were up early, before Professor Kukui or Professor Burnet woke up, though they would probably still be asleep for a while, since it was the weekend. “We have other things to make all by ourselves. Professor Kukui made sure of that. The point is, now we make something sweet and fun, instead of an actual meal.” He put his fork in his mouth and smiled. “Tasty!”
Chloe rolled her eyes and sighed. She was next to Ash at the island, sitting on a stool instead of standing. “Okay, sure, but you put a giant mound of sugar and syrup on every pancake you eat. That’s not just sweet, that’s how you go into a coma.”
Ash frowned at her and moved so he was standing in front of his plate so she couldn’t see the aforementioned mound of sugar and syrup on his pancake. He leaned against the kitchen island and set his fork down. “Well, maybe you should try it! It’s good!”
“You two are giving me a headache,” Goh muttered, pouring more batter onto the pan on the stove.
Chloe smiled apologetically, not that Goh would see, with how focused on the pancakes he was. “Sorry.”
Ash glanced at him. “Are we actually?”
Goh put the bowl and scoop down on the counter by the stove again. “Not really, but it’s getting there.” He glanced at Chloe. “Actually, could you get me a cup of water?”
“Couldn’t you get one?” Chloe raised an eyebrow. “The sink is right there.”
“I need to watch the pancakes,” Goh replied, turning his gaze back to the pancake in the pan, which obviously did not need to be constantly observed.
“It- you can step away for five seconds,” Chloe said, exasperated, but already moving to grab a cup.
Ash giggled and nudged Goh gently. “Yeah, it’s not like they’ll just randomly blow up if you look away for a bit!”
Goh turned to look at him directly and crossed his arms, even with one hand holding the spatula. “You cannot be talking, you almost set the entire kitchen on fire even with adult supervision last time you used the stove.” He smiled and turned back to the stove. “You’re banned from touching the stove or oven or microwave for a reason.”
Ash’s smile disappeared in no time. “I can use the microwave!”
“Yeah, if someone else is there to make sure you don’t put metal in it and explode the house,” Goh replied, carefully flipping the pancake. It landed perfectly in the middle of the pan, as if he planned it like the perfectionist he was.
“Look, at least he figured out how to use the washing machine,” Chloe said as she handed the now full cup of water to Goh. “Absolute miracle.”
Ash pouted and looked at Pikachu for help. “They’re being mean to me, buddy.” Pikachu looked up from where it was trying to eat Ash’s pancake without him noticing, and made a noise of agreement before immediately getting back to stealing food it shouldn’t be eating directly in front of the person it was stealing from. Ash silently watched it take a piece of pancake, then looked back up at Chloe and Goh. “Pikachu thinks you’re being mean.”
Chloe glanced between Pokemon and trainer. “Pikachu is gonna regret eating that later.”
“Pikachu is strong and understands the joy found in eating a delicious pancake.”
Chloe snorted. “Really.”
Ash nodded adamantly. “Yes! They’re amazing! You don’t get it.” He grabbed his plate of half-eaten pancake and pushed it right in Chloe’s face. “But you could! Try it, it’s sooo good!”
“You and Pikachu ate part of that, absolutely not!” Chloe pushed the plate away. “I can wait until I have my own!”
“Speaking of which!” Goh suddenly piped up, holding up a plate. He flipped the pancake in the pan onto a plate that had another pancake ready, then slid the plate down the kitchen island to Chloe. “Enjoy!”
Chloe smiled. “Thank y-” She cut herself off as she saw Ash conspicuously pushing the butter, brown sugar, and maple syrup towards her plate. He grinned as he shoved yet another bite of pancake into his mouth. She just shook her head, smile still on her face, as she took the items and started preparing her own pancakes.
“No problem,” Goh replied, obviously amused by Ash’s attempts to get someone besides Pikachu to agree with him. “Do you think either of the Professors will want any pancakes?”
Ash, mouth full of pancake, hummed and replied. “I dunno, bu’ y’should ma’e morw!” He grabbed his cup of juice and drank half of it in one go. “I know I’m still hungry. And you need to show Chloe how right I am about the sugar thing.” He picked up his fork again and got another piece of pancake.
Goh laughed and turned back around to the stove. “Alright, fine!” He started on the next pancake. He had a good, like, three pancakes left in that bowl of batter before he’d have to mix more.
Chloe spread some butter on her pancakes, then put an actual normal amount of maple syrup and less than a spoonful of brown sugar on them. Like a normal person. Unlike someone here. She noticed Ash’s sigh of disappointment when she didn’t put the freakish amount of sugar on her pancakes, and ignored him.
...She couldn’t lie, though, she was curious as to why he was so insistent on how good that mountain of sugar was, and if he was right at all, so…
After a moment of hesitation, Chloe cut one of her pancakes in half and begrudgingly soaked it in maple syrup and coated it in brown sugar.
“Yesss!!!” Ash cheered, literally pumping his fist in the air, as if this was the best thing to ever happen to him. Pikachu, little mouth still full of stolen pancake, made a sound that also sounded like an excited cheer. Was it really that big of a deal??
Chloe glanced at Ash and raised an eyebrow. “Calm down, would you?” She finally took a hesitant bite of the monstrosity in front of her. She took her sweet time chewing and tasting the bite, then slowly took a long sip of milk. She reveled in the annoyed look Ash was obviously giving her, anxiously awaiting her reaction. Another good ten seconds passed as she wiped her mouth with a napkin and tapped her chin before she finally said, “Well. It’s not as bad as I thought it’d be.”
Ash immediately grinned. “So it’s good, right? You agree!”
“Not what I said,” Chloe muttered, finishing off that section of pancake so she could actually enjoy the normal part of her breakfast. “It’s okay, but I’d never eat an entire pancake like that, let alone however many you’re about to eat, you- you...gluttonous freeloader.”
Ash’s jaw dropped and he slapped the table. “Hey! Rude!”
“Professor Kukui said it, not me!” Chloe said, covering her smile by taking another bite of pancake. She swallowed, then continued. “Not my fault all you do is eat.”
“Excuse you, I do way more!” Ash retorted. “Like, just yesterday, I-”
Chloe glanced at him, tilting her head in curiosity. He cut himself off before he even said anything, and Chloe was surprised he didn’t slap his hand over his mouth. As if she didn’t know what he was about to say.
“I, uhhhmmm-” Ash looked around, avoiding eye contact as he clearly struggled to find some other explanation for what he was doing yesterday besides whatever weird magical girl main character stuff he was actually doing. “I trained with my Pokemon, which takes a lot of- oh, what are they called? The, um, the…” He looked as though he actually completely forgot what he was talking about as he was trying to come up with whatever word he’d forgotten.
“The….. what?” Chloe asked.
“The- the stuff!” Ash snapped his fingers as he failed to remember the right word. “That you get from food! That helps you do stuff!”
Chloe frowned and narrowed her eyes. “...energy?”
“No, like, the cool word for that.”
“The. The cool word for… energy?”
Ash nodded vigorously. “Yeah!! Like, the science-y word for the energy you get from food.” He shook his head. “I know I know it, but I forgot it.” He turned to Goh and called out, “Hey, Goh! D’you have an idea?”
Chloe turned to look at Goh, too. He was leaning over the stove, clearly once again putting too much concentration into something as simple as making pancakes. He didn’t respond to Ash, and didn’t even look like he had heard Ash speak at all. “Goh!” Chloe repeated, a bit louder than Ash. She hoped they weren’t bothering the professors with the shouting, but at this point, she didn’t think they would even get that mad if Ash flooded the bathroom again..
Goh once again didn’t respond, but this time did move. It wasn’t in response to Chloe and Ash, though. He just readied the spatula he was holding with far more focus than what was called for, looking like he was about to flip the pancake in the pan.
Chloe frowned and tilted her head, getting a little annoyed. Surely he wasn’t that distracted by some pancakes of all things. But he wouldn’t just ignore them for pancakes. Of all things. She slid off the stool she was sitting on and walked around the kitchen island. “Goh?” She repeated, again, reaching out and tapping him on the shoulder.
Apparently, he really hadn’t noticed them calling for him, because he jumped in surprise when she tapped him, letting out a high-pitched squeak. Also, she just so happened to tap his shoulder as he was starting to flip the pancake, so when he jumped, he also completely messed up the pancake. It only flipped halfway before it fell off the spatula and folded onto itself in the pan.
Chloe stared at the pancake. “Oh. Oops. Sorry.” She looked back up at Goh, who was also staring at the pancake, mouth slightly open. Did she really scare him that bad?? She laughed somewhat awkwardly, glancing between him and the pancake. “Wow, you were that focused on the pancake, and still messed it up. You can probably salvage it though.”
Goh didn’t say anything. In the blink of an eye, the surprised expression on his face twisted into a much more annoyed, almost angry expression as he turned to look at her. He looked… genuinely really mad, like Chloe had ruined his entire day, instead of just one single pancake. “Would you shut up?”
“Wh- excuse you??” Chloe exclaimed before she could stop herself. What in the world was that for?? She glanced at Ash, who looked just as surprised, if not more, then turned her attention back to Goh. “Um, are you alright? We were just trying to get your attention, but you weren’t responding!”
“Yeah, of course I’m fine,” Goh replied- no, snapped- as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. “Or at least, I was, before you absolutely ruined my pancake.” He sounded so… judgy!
“Do- do you hear yourself right now? It’s a pancake!” Chloe said, frankly baffled. What was his problem?? Where did this come from?? Why was he randomly like this all of a sudden?? They were just having a nice, normal conversation!
Goh’s glare softened a little bit, turning into what looked like confusion. He glanced at the pancake, then at Ash, then finally back at Chloe. He almost looked like he regretted what he said. “I-” He started to say something, but quickly cut himself off, bit his lip, and turned back to the pan. “Whatever. You shouldn’t have bothered me when I was clearly, um.” His grip on the spatula visibly tightened. “Focused.” He straightened out the pancake and started preparing to start the next pancake.
Chloe’s shoulders fell. She could do nothing but stare at him, incredibly confused. Why did he-? “Goh, what-”
“Can you drop it?” Goh cut her off. He didn’t even look up at her.
What was she supposed to do in response to that? She looked at Ash, who, as was typical for him, didn’t get into an argument that didn’t really involve him when he had nothing to add. He looked confused, glancing between the two of them while awkwardly sipping his juice. Pikachu, meanwhile, was completely unbothered, licking Ash’s plate without a care in the world. After a few moments of standing there, not knowing what to do, Chloe finally gave up and returned to where she was sitting.
As soon as she sit down, Ash leaned over and started to whisper, “Why did he-”
“I have no clue!” Chloe whispered back, not even waiting for Ash to finish his question. He wasn’t very good at whispering, anyways. She checked, but it didn’t seem like Goh had noticed them. Who knew making pancakes made him completely unaware of his surroundings? “I don’t know why he would get that worked up over something as small as that.”
“That’s what I was thinking.” Ash nodded. He tilted his head. “Maybe there’s somethin’ else going on with him?”
Chloe considered that idea. “Are you aware of anything up with him?”
Ash thought for a few moments, then shook his head. “No, not really. Have you?”
She thought about it, and almost shook her head, too, but then she stopped herself. Had she? She supposed that Goh hadn’t exactly… well, nothing had exactly been normal since they got to Alola. Maybe something about his, um, part-time job was bothering him. She was the only person who he could really talk to about that, so maybe she should ask if he wanted to. “I mean, I haven’t, really, but… I can ask him about it.”
Ash nodded again and hummed. “Sounds like a good idea. It kinda seemed like he was lying about somethin’.” He suddenly frowned and finally picked up Pikachu so it would stop trying to desperately lick his sugar-coated plate as if it didn’t have a bowl full of food for itself. “Buddy. You have your own food.”
Chloe blinked. Lying about something? She looked at Goh, trying to remember everything he had said. She… she guessed that he acted weirdly secretive about why he was so focused. Was that it? Ugh, why did Ash have to be so randomly perceptive? It was like, half the time, he didn’t know how to navigate a conversation like a normal person, but the other half of the time, he knew exactly when and why someone was not telling the whole truth about something. And she had known Goh for years, when Ash just met him, like, a couple months ago!
She sighed. Whatever. She’d have to get Goh to actually talk to her. She was not about to let this spiral way out of control because of some stupid misunderstanding. She just wished she could understand why Goh was suddenly acting so… out-of-character.
“Would you shut up?”
Goh’s head hurt. Ugh, his head hurt, his stomach hurt, his cheek hurt where those Aether Foundation grunts had gotten him- when was that, a couple weeks ago? He didn’t remember- and this was only making it all so much worse.
Chloe’s reaction wasn’t helping. She looked absolutely shocked, with her mouth open and eyebrows way up on her face. “Wh- excuse you??” She exclaimed, as if Goh had said something awful. “Um, are you alright? We were just trying to get your attention, but you weren’t responding!”
What, as if he had an obligation to respond every time they wanted his attention? He had more important things to do. Like make sure he wasn’t going to throw up on the pancakes that he was making for them. Entitled, much? “Yeah, of course I’m fine,” Goh replied. “Or at least, I was, before you absolutely ruined my pancake.”
“Do- do you hear yourself right now? It’s a pancake!” Chloe shouted.
Goh’s head suddenly pulsed with pain, and he furrowed his eyebrows. She… she wasn’t really wrong. He shouldn’t be getting so… so annoyed about this. Mew, what was wrong with him? “I-” He bit his lip and turned back to the pan. His stomach hurt. “Whatever. You shouldn’t have bothered me when I was clearly, um.” Trying not to throw up. He gripped the spatula tighter. “Focused.”
His head ached in a way he’d never felt before, even when he was seven and stayed up until three in the morning staring at his computer researching Mew for hours. It felt like his head was full of poison, melting his brain until it slid down his throat and into his stomach, drop by drop. It took all of his focus to straighten out the pancake in the pan instead of throwing up right onto the hot stove.
“Goh, what-” Came Chloe’s voice, cutting through his thoughts like a spear to his brain.
“Can you drop it?” Goh managed to get out before she could say anything else. He could barely even think. Chloe stared at him for a bit longer. It was like every second she didn’t look away, Goh’s head was hit with another stab of pain.
H e could hear Chloe and Ash whispering behind him. He couldn’t bring himself to try to listen in, or even care in the first place. He just focused on the pancakes, trying his hardest not to vomit on them. Why did his head have to hurt so much? And his stomach? And that stupid sc ratch on his cheek- it had been long enough, shouldn’t it be fine by now? Well- sure, it had been so bad he’d pretty much almost bled out trying to get back to the house, but… it’d been long enough!!
Goh finished up his own pancake, put it on a plate, and put the plate on the kitchen island. He turned the stove off, put the now empty bowl of batter in the sink, and washed his hands. He put butter, syrup, and sugar on his pancake, then took it to the couch and set it on the coffee table. He took his phone out and scrolled through a few social media sites while starting to eat. He didn’t feel like he was in his own body. He couldn’t even taste his pancake. His head hurt.
He could feel Chloe and Ash’s gazes stuck on him the entire time. It only made him feel even more sick.
“Hey, Goh?”
Goh looked up from his phone to see Chloe standing in front of him, looking down at him with what seemed like concern. written on her face. He frowned. “Yeah?”
Chloe frowned too. “Do you… um, can we talk?”
Goh raised an eyebrow and glanced around, but no one was even home at the moment. The Professors had finally gotten up about an hour and a half ago, and left with Ash to go shopping maybe five minutes ago. Goh hadn’t wanted to go, and Chloe had said she would stay back, too. “Um. Sure? What about?”
Chloe sat down next to him on the couch. Eevee, who was also finally up for the day, jumped up onto her lap and nudged at her hand until she started scratching its head. Goh turned his phone off and set it beside him on the couch.
“...what was that about, earlier this morning?” Chloe finally asked, somewhat awkwardly. “I mean, you acted so weird. Are you feeling okay?”
There it was. He was a little surprised it took her and Ash this long to bring it up, but he guessed Chloe just wanted to wait until they were alone together. Ugh, he didn’t know what to say. How did he even start to explain? Did he want to explain? She was expecting an answer. He didn’t have one. “Yeah, I’m fine. I just-” He hesitated. He just what. “ I guess I was in a bad mood.” Understatement. He hated this.
Chloe smiled, like it was funny. She looked almost relieved. “Oh, yeah, I get that. I’m sorry if we made you upset.”
Goh stared at her for a moment. “Oh. It’s fine. It just- my- my stomach was hurting, and I was kinda distracted, so… I guess…” He glanced away. His head hurt. “It’s fine.”
“If you’re sure!” Chloe nodded. Her smile became a little more tense, and she glanced away before looking back at him. “Look, um… is this- are you sure nothing is bothering you? Like, something-”
“No,” Goh cut her off, “no, it’s…” He forced a laugh; he hoped it sounded convincing. He couldn’t tell from her reaction. “I guess I just woke up weird today, y’know?”
Chloe’s smile didn’t disappear, but it… changed. Goh couldn’t tell how exactly it changed, but she still looked worried. It… it made him annoyed. His stomach hurt. “If… if you’re sure.” She sounded hesitant. He couldn’t help but notice how she glanced at his cheek. His head hurt.
She looked like she had something else to say, but she didn’t say anything. She looked away for a minute or so, clearly conflicted, smile falling from her face, then picked up Eevee and stood up. “Thanks for talking with me,” she said, as if he had said anything worth either of their time. “Let me know if you need anything,” she said, as if he had given her any reason to want to help.
He smiled. It made him want to throw up. “Thank you,” he said, as if she had done anything deserving of his thanks.
She smiled. It made him want to scream. “It’s no problem,” she said, as if that was the truth.
Mew, his head hurt.