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Serena clears her throat to keep from holding her breath, trying to keep steady. "Ready?"
Ash feels both her eyes and Clemonts train on him as he nods. "Ready."
Serena clicks the timed button on the top of their borrowed camera before hurrying back to her place. They're arranged for their first proper family portrait on the stairs to their porch, with Ash and Clemont sitting on the top step and Serena sitting cross-legged on the one right below them, her legs draped across the lower stairs in a deliberate attempt to be more "elegant".
This is the fourth time they've taken the picture, since Ash ruined the previous three by sneezing, looking off at a Combee, and letting his hair get "too tussled by the wind" in that order. Bonnie isn't even making as much trouble as he seems to be, and she's been reaching up from the stair she shares with Serena to mess with Clemont's nice outfit every time Serena looks at Ash.
He can't complain, though. It's always nice to know someone cares enough to fuss about you, and he knows how important this is to Serena. It'll be their first holiday card since they set out together for the second time, embarking on a shared life rather than a journey. And what kind of holiday card would it be if Kalos' champion doesn't look nice in it?
He makes sure to smile and does his absolute best not to blink at the bright flash. He gives it a moment, just in case, and doesn't let himself rest until Serena gets back up to check the photo.
He knows from the instant smile blooming across her face that it was worth it, tipping over to rest his head on Clemont's shoulder with a soft sigh. "She sure is something, isn't she?"
"She's your something!" Bonnie reminds him, reaching up to tap his nose before hurrying off to Serena.
"How does she have a favorite who isn't me?" Clemont asks, but Ash doesn't need to answer. He's asked it dozens of times over their years together, and has gone from conceding that both of them perfectly understand her choice for Serena over them to not even needing to acknowledge it. They love her. How could they ever question someone else's love for her?
Another flash, this time startling them both. Clemont's delayed reaction time kicks in about half a second after the camera clicks with a second photo.
Serena stares lovingly down at the candid photo of her lovers cuddled up together on their stair, her heart soaring higher than a Talonflame. "Just a new photo for my PC background, don't worry."
Both of them groan in unison, making all sorts of remarks about how they weren't ready and how Clemont feels so awkward under a camera lense, but she ignores it all. They look so them in the photo. She got what she wanted with the portrait: a lovely portrayal of Kalos social royalty-- the champion, the Queen, the gym leader. But this is a perfect capture of the Ash and Clemont only she gets to see.
She takes the camera off of their equally borrowed tripod and starts getting everything ready for photo development and return, never wavering in her smile.
Until Bonnie tries running up the stairs, of course, at which all three of them snap into the parent mode they've mutually developed since setting out together. Bonnie is returned safely to the ground with a grumble, and Clemont lets Ash settle back against him.
He draws an arm around Ash, his eyes drifting off to Serena. Watching her work, a flutter in his heart. A hope for the future, brought to the front of his mind by their shared protection of Bonnie. But he pushes it aside. Children can wait until later. They still have boxes to unpack, after all!