"Ughh" complained Dawn as the very lopsided braid she had just finished came undone. Why was french braiding so difficult?

She hits her forehead on the vanity desk before looking back at the mirror, wondering if she should just scrap the braid idea and go for another hairstyle when she sees Ash reflecting in the mirror. He has been waiting for her to fix her hair for half an hour now. She feels guilty for it.

"You know I could help you, right?" He asks, trying to hold a laugh. Dawn could be so dramatic at times.

"Do you even know how to braid?" She asks, her voice muffled cause she still has her face planted on the desk.

"Yeah, actually." He gets up from his spot on the bed and moves to stand behind her chair. "I asked Brock to teach me a while ago." He pats her head and she sits back up. Might as well let him try to do what she can't.

"Really? Why?"

"Remember how in the last meeting you needed both Serena and May to somehow get the hairstyle you wanted done?" She shrinks in her seat as he starts pulling her hair in 4 separate strands plus the pretty glittery ribbon that was the kickstarter for Dawn's need for a braid at all. She always chooses the most complicated hairstyles doesn't she? "I thought that if I learned one thing or two I could help you with it. So I asked Brock to teach me some stuff."

"How Brock knows how to braid though? Can't imagine him having long hair." Ash laughs as he remember his older friend rocked a mullet once.

"I think having 4 younger sisters gets you to learn some stuff." He finishes the braiding, and ties the end of the french braid in a not so perfect bow. "There you go!" he looks at her expectantly through the mirror. He tried his best but he had just done this on the fur of Lycanroc until now, so he know he is nowhere near Dawn's level. "What do you think?"

Dawn moves her head to look at the hairstyle from as many angles as she can. "It's amazing! Way better than when I try to do it by myself! It looks so cute." She grabs the braid in her hands to inspect the job. "It's crazy how good you are at learning new things. Now I just need to think of which outfit to wear!"

"You... hadn't thought of anything yet?"

"I... had only the hairstyle figured out.."

"You're staring." Dawn says to her boyfriend that had stopped their pokemon training to look at her, instead of drinking the water he was holding. "Like, more than usual." She jokes. It was not unusual for him to just stare at her, but mid training? Almost worrisome if she's being honest.

"I am?" He finally takes a sip from the bottle. "It's just... That hairstyle really looks good on you." His expression softens as he appreciates how the pulled hair makes the pretty earrings she's wearing shine against her face.

"Are you just appreciating it more because you're the one who did it?" He thinks about it. His stomach does feels funny when he remembers that he helped her achieve this look.

"Maybe."

"Then I guess I should ask you to do my hair more often."

"Yes!" He exclaims. Then stops, thinking about it. "But Brock didn't really taught me much more than braiding." Won't doing the same thing over and over make it less appealing?

"Well, maybe I can teach you other styles." She also grabs a bottle of water and sits next to Ash in the bench. "There's always the internet too. There's this youtube channel that teaches how to do the coolest hairstyles! But I couldn't ever do it on myself because they're too complicated. Maybe you could get them done for me?"

"That sounds fun! What stuff do they teach?" He asks, clearly interested in learning more than just braiding.

"All sorts of stuff! Here, let me show you." She grabs her phone and start to look for the channel she just mentioned.

"Ash please. Turn off the phone." Dawn complains. It's 11:20pm and she got to wake up early the next day and her boyfriend is tapping the next hairstyling video in a row. It's cute how interested in it he is but she wants to sleep.

"Right after this one, I promise." He says as the audio plays, it says something about pompadours.

"You know there's no way in hell you are styling my hair into a pompadour, right?"

"Yup. I'm not watching for you." He says. They stay in silence for a few minutes before her sleep deprived brain connects the dots.

"If you give yourself a pompadour I'm breaking up with you." She threatens, not really meaning it but also... maybe? Just a little.

"It's a sacrifice I'm willing to make." He jokes back.

"GIVE ME THAT PHONE!"