Ash was in an excellent mood for the rest of the trip to San Francisco despite his messed up sleep schedule and the fact that he had to continue dressing suspiciously whenever he took Flora out to do anything. He had gotten what he thought was impossible.
Not entirely but that didn't matter. Ruby still didn't say she loved him using those exact words but he was too happy to be nitpicky about the details.
She was willing to be in a romantic relationship with him and that was more than he had ever dared hope for. He truly thought he would be forced to stay by her side as her friend for the rest of his life, taking whatever tiny scraps of affection he could get.
Now he could hold her hand, play with her hair, cuddle her to sleep, and kiss her whenever he wanted. Well, almost whenever he wanted. She refused to kiss him in front of Flora but that wasn't the end of the world. The little fairy didn't seem to have caught on to what changed yet.
