Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“You can, like, tell him you like him now, you know.”

Misty looks away from the TV to raise a skeptical eyebrow at Lily, who blinks at her innocently.

“What? You can! It’s like, totally not embarrassing anymore.” She points to the TV where Ash is excitedly recounting his battle with Leon for probably the hundredth time since his victory. “He’s a World Champion.”

Misty studies Lily for a moment, trying to decipher exactly what she’s talking about, when something finally kind of clicks. “What do mean embarrassing?” she asks suspiciously. Lily shrugs.

“I mean, I totally get why you didn’t tell him before. Total dweeb alert. But he’s kind of cool now, so I say go for it.”

“You think,” Misty begins slowly, in an attempt to keep herself from snapping, “I haven’t told him I like him because I’m embarrassed?”

“I would be,” Lily says with a shrug.

“Lily! That’s not the reason!” Misty cries, holding the bridge of her nose to hopefully hold off her headache. “I don’t want to tell him because he’s my best friend and if he doesn’t like me back, things will be weird!”

Lily hums, pursing her lips in thought. “Really? I guess I’ve never had to, like, worry about anyone not liking me back before.”

Misty rolls her eyes. “I am not having this conversation.”

“Aww, come on, little sister!” she coos, wrapping her arm around Misty’s shoulder. “Go get your man!”

Misty shrugs off her arm, probably a tad more aggressive than entirely necessary, and sends her sister a not exactly kind gesture over her shoulder as she turns the corner, ignoring her affronted gasp with a small, self-satisfied smirk.

And for the record, if she happens to pack up and run off to find Ash the next day, it is totally, completely unrelated.

Chapter Text

“Ash, do you have any idea what time it is?”

Ash winces and looks at the clock on his RotomPhone to do some quick math that he doesn’t quite figure out. “Oops,” he says, and he can practically hear Misty roll her eyes over the phone, but at least she doesn’t hang up. “I always forget about time zones.”

“Where are you guys?” she asks, relatively good naturedly, so Ash assumes he’s forgiven.

“Somewhere in Hoenn.” He looks around at the trees and wilderness around him, like it would actually help him remember. “Near Petalburg I think. I saw a wurmple and it made me think of you.”

“Eww, thanks a lot,” she gags, and Ash can’t help but laugh imagining her face all scrunched up in disgust.

He settles back on his sleeping bag, resting his back against the log he had managed to roll over by the fire to sit on earlier in the evening. Pikachu snores softly next to him and he idly runs his fingers through his fur as he talks. “I’m headed to Alola soon,” he tells her.

“Ooh!” she says, immediately perking up. “What’s going on out there?”

“It’s almost league season, so I have to go defend my title against whoever wins this year.” It’s a weird feeling, already being the champion of a league and not being allowed to enter. “You should come!” he adds casually, like it wasn’t the entire reason for this phone call—inviting Misty to join him.

Misty sighs loudly. “Oh man, I would love to go, trust me, but my sisters… I swear, they nearly got us shut down again the last time I left to see you. They gave away so many badges and didn’t keep up on cleaning…”

“Aw c’mon. It’ll only be a week! The whole Alola gang will be there, you can hang out with Lana! And oh man, wait until you see how big Lei has gotten, he’s huge! Professor Burnet sent my mom a picture.”

Misty groans, which means Ash’s peer pressure is probably working and she’s mad at herself for giving in, which makes Ash grin to himself. “You’re trying to get me fired, aren’t you?” she asks, and Ash laughs loudly.

“If it means you’d be able to travel with me more.”

Misty snorts, and when he listens carefully, he can hear the tap tap tap of her fingers on her computer keyboard. “When is the opening ceremony?” she asks tiredly.

Ash pumps his fist in the air and gives her all the details so she can buy her tickets.

Chapter Text

“Why do girls always take forever to get ready?” Ash moaned, leaning pathetically against the wall next to their Pokemon Center room’s bathroom door, his toothbrush clutched uselessly in his hand.

Standing in front of the mirror, as she had been for the last twenty freaking minutes, Misty scoffed. “Because we actually care about how we look?” she answered snottily.

Ash smirked. “So why don’t you ever actually look good?” he asked, completely expecting the hair brush flying through the door at his head, so he was able to dodge it with a laugh.

“Pikapi,” Pikachu scolded, shaking his head.

“C’mon, she set herself up for that one.”

Misty blew Pikachu a kiss, then made eye contact with Ash again in the mirror. “Hey, hand me my brush.”

He rolled his eyes, but grabbed it off the floor and handed it over. “If you still needed it, why did you throw it?”

“Because the sink is attached to the wall,” she stated simply. He stuck out his tongue at her in the mirror.

Ash couldn’t say for sure what it was about hanging out with Misty that made him be such a punk, but he would be lying if he said he didn’t enjoy it.

Maybe it was the relief of not having to be Mr. Responsible for a little bit? He had spent so many years after starting his journey with Misty and Brock kind of forced into something like a mentor role that he wasn’t sure he entirely deserved, so often traveling with younger or less experienced trainers that definitely wouldn’t appreciate him being a bit of a smartass at their expense.

Sure, he had his odd tiff with some of his companions every now and then; it wasn’t like he was always perfect and nice to everyone or anything.

But Misty was, well, Misty.

She wasn’t exactly always a sweet angel herself, and with the self confidence that allowed her to literally introduce herself to new people as a ‘world famous beauty’, it’s not like he had to worry about truly hurting her feelings with a little good-natured teasing.

Misty knew she was talented and pretty, and had no problem letting you know it. Usually loudly.

But also, messing with her was fun. He liked to get her all puffed up and annoyed, and could always count on her to give it right back.

He supposed it did kind of make sense when you thought about it. He always did enjoy a challenge.

“I’m ready!” she chirped, gliding out of the bathroom looking exactly the same as always, so he saw no real reason why she was in there for so long.

“About time,” he grumbled, breezing past her.

In the mirror, he saw her make a face at him and disappear behind the wall to find her bag.

Once he was sure she was out of sight, he smiled fondly and began to brush his teeth.

It was good to have her back.

Chapter Text

They were traveling together again. Just like old times.

“If Misty gets back and sees that thing on her sleeping bag, she’s going to kill you.”

Ash waved Brock off, continuing to admire the little joltik that found its way onto Misty’s sleeping bag. “I’ll shoo it off before she gets back.”

Brock raised an eyebrow. “She won’t be long.”

“It’ll be fine,” Ash drawled, still all eyes on the joltik. “She won’t even know. And it’s not like I put it there. It’s not my fault it crawled on her stuff. It chose her.”

Brock sighed, shaking his head and stirring their dinner. “Are you trying to convince me or yourself?” he asked under his breath with a smirk. Ash either didn’t hear or ignored him. Pikachu gave the joltik a little, staticy nuzzle.

Sure enough, barely a few minutes later, a rustle sounded from the woods around the clearing, signaling Misty’s return. Ash pouted, but made to gently wave the joltik from the bag.

It didn’t move.

“What?” he asked himself, giving it another wave. “C’mon buddy, time to go.”

The rustling in the woods got closer, but the joltik stayed where it was.

“Okay, Joltik,” Ash tried again, waving a bit more fanatically with a nervous little chuckle. “Bugs kinda bug Misty, so for your own safety…and mine…let’s go ahead and head off now.”

When the joltik still didn’t move, Ash made panicked eye contact with Brock, who met his gaze right back cockily, as Misty’s light humming started becoming more audible as she got closer.

“Okay, no more messing around,” he announced, finally grabbing the end of Misty’s sleeping bag and shaking it a little. “Let’s get a move on, Joltik.”

When it still didn’t move, and the humming and rustling were just outside of camp, he gulped and shook the sleeping bag a little harder and faster. “Come on!”

“What happened to ‘it’s not like I put it there. It’s not my fault, it chose her’?” Brock asked knowingly in a very poor imitation of Ash’s voice. Ash sent him a glare and continued shaking.

He was still in the middle of shaking the sleeping bag wildly as Misty walked onto the campsite, her hair damp and loose, brushing her shoulders, and a towel thrown over her arm, her green eyes widening as she took in the scene. “Ash!” she gasped. “What are you doing with my stuff?!”

“There’s a joltik on your sleeping bag!” he exclaimed, still shaking it around frantically.

Misty’s eyes widened, finally spotting the little yellow blob amongst the pink and blue of the fabric as the color drained from her face. “Get it off!” she cried.

“What does it look like I’m doing?!” Ash shot back. “I’m trying!”

“Try harder!” she shrieked, jumping behind Brock.

Brock, still calmly stirring their dinner, grinned. “You know, it was on there for, like, ten minutes before you got back to camp,” he told her.

Misty’s attention immediately whipped back over to Ash. “What?!”

“Traitor!” Ash yelled, still whipping around the sleeping bag to no avail. Finally, he grabbed an empty pokeball from his belt and tossed it into the joltik, catching it in one try.

The trio stared down at the pokeball, laying comically still on the ground in the wake of all the chaotic commotion.

“You caught it?” Misty breathed, in what Ash could only assume was disbelief, rather than awe.

“I guess so,” Ash answered with a shrug. “You’re welcome.”

“I’m welcome?” she gasped. “You did the exact opposite of getting rid of it! You caught it!”

“It’s not on your sleeping bag anymore!”

“It’s worse! Now we’re stuck with it!”

“I could release it!”

“Are you?”

“Well not anymore. Not if you’re gonna be so ungrateful.”

“Ungrateful?! You’re the reason it was there in the first place!”

Brock took a sip of the stew and shared a fond yet exasperated look with Pikachu, who sighed and shrugged his little shoulders.

Some things never change.

Chapter Text

Chapter Text

Chapter Text

“What’s that?”

“Well Ash, it’s called a book,” Misty replied sarcastically, not sparing him even a glance away from the pages. “It’s a bunch of words printed on paper that are bound together to tell a story.”

Ash rolled his eyes and plopped himself down next to her on the log, peaking at the words over her shoulder. “Ha ha. Very funny. What book is it? Anything good?”

She shrugged, scrunching her nose a little. “It’s okay so far. It’s just some cringy romance novel Violet’s been obsessed with for a while. I accidentally ripped one of her sweaters, so she’s making me read it.”

“Oh,” he hummed. “Sounds boring.”

“Meh. I’ve read worse.”

They fell silent again, the slight crinkle of the paper as Misty turned the pages, the only sound puncturing the quiet of the campsite along with Brock’s absentminded humming as he put together their sandwiches for dinner.

Feeling nosy, Ash leaned forward and, much to Misty’s mounting annoyance, tilted the book up to read the blurb on the back of the dust cover. “After a petty argument with her family, Brooke leaves home on her Pokemon journey with a goal to be the best and prove them all wrong once and for all. After a chance and electrifying run-in with the handsome and easygoing Cole, a talented trainer with a big secret and even bigger disposition for getting into trouble, Brooke goes on the adventure of a lifetime, filled with excitement, danger, and even romance. This is one tale you don’t want to miss!” Ash reads aloud. From across the campsite, Brock snorts loudly.

“What’s so funny?” Misty asks suspiciously.

Brock looks up from slicing a tomato to meet her eyes, an amused smirk dancing across his lips. “You’re kidding, right?” he asks with a chuckle. “That doesn’t sound…familiar to you at all?”

“What? No!” she scoffs. “What do you mean familiar?”

“Girl-with-water-adjacent-name leaves home after a fight with her family to prove she’s a good trainer?” he prompts, his eyebrows raised and his grin getting wider by the word. “Electrifying run-in with talented Pokemon trainer Boy-with-fire-adjacent-name, who she will almost certainly fall madly in love with during their adventure? Any of that ring a bell?”

Misty, face a bright, fluorescent red and eyes set in a hard, dangerous glare at Brock, grit her teeth. “No Brock,” she seethed. “Why would any of that sound familiar?”

To his credit, Brock winced, cleared his throat, and laughed nervously, backing away from her subconsciously. “Ahaha, nope, my mistake! No correlation to any real-world sort of thing at all! No idea what I was thinking!” he babbled as Misty continued to stare him down, murderously.

Thankfully, Ash just looked between them in confusion and shrugged at Pikachu, who looked back at him just as bewildered by the entire conversation.

Oh well. He probably wasn’t missing much.

He’d never been good with subtext, anyway.

Chapter Text

Chapter Text

Chapter Text

Fireworks

The sun, which had been setting earlier and earlier every evening, was just sinking below the distant mountains when the fireworks began lighting up the sky at the Summer’s End festival down by the Pallet Town coast.

Brock was inside helping Ash’s mom clean up after dinner, so it was just Ash, Misty, Pikachu, and Togepi out on the patio, enjoying the show.

Their mindless conversation petered out as the fireworks began, lulling them into a comfortable, easy silence.

“You know,” Ash began casually after a bit, “Gary and I almost set that tree on fire with a firework once.”

Misty’s face broke into a grin. “No,” she gasped, delighted. “What happened? And also, who in their right mind would give you two explosives?”

“Gary stole them from Professor Oak, obviously,” Ash chuckled, and stretched out his arm to point to a barely noticeable, bare, dark patch of bark on the big maple tree next to his house. “There used to be a branch right there. We had a swing tied to it and everything. Well, Gary snagged a bottle rocket or something from the Professor’s stash and we decided it would be a good idea to, you know, try it out.”

“Oh no, Ash,” Misty said, biting her lip in anticipation.

Ash just grinned. “He had his family’s growlithe, the same arcanine he still has now, by the way, use a little flame thrower on the wick.” He paused to laugh at his younger self again, shaking his head. “We were like, eight years old, so we had enough common sense to not aim at the house, but, well…”

He trailed off, cringing playfully at Misty who gasped in disbelief and amusement. “You forgot about the tree.”

“We forgot about the tree.”

It was something they did from time to time while traveling; reminiscing and telling stories of their childhoods, and for a while, Ash had actually been self-conscious. Misty and Brock both grew up in cities, in their families gyms, surrounded by pokemon and battling and excitement. What could Ash, who grew up in nowhere, Pallet Town, possibly share compared to them?

He brought it up to Brock one day after Misty had told them a story about dumping bubble bath into the main battlefield two days before an inspection when she was four years old, but he just raised an eyebrow and smiled down at him wryly. “Ash, have Misty or I ever looked bored during one of your childhood stories?” he asked.

“No,” Ash admitted.

Brock hummed. “Because we’re not. Especially Misty, she’s always thrilled to hear about the stupid and ridiculous things you got up to as a little kid.”

Ash shrugged, feeling just a bit shy at the idea. “I don’t know why,” he murmured.

“Maybe because it’s not so much the content of the story that she cares about as much as it’s the fact that it’s you, and she wants to learn and hear more about you,” Brock had explained, like it was that simple. And even though Ash seriously doubted that was it, he had to admit, Misty was always excited for him to share the antidotes of his past.

Exactly like she was now, her eyes sparkling with the reflection of fireworks and glee at his tale of almost-arson. For some reason, he always enjoyed making Misty laugh the most.

“What’s so funny, you two?” came Brock’s voice as he patio door slid open, Brock and his mom joining them with a tray holding hot apple cider. Misty give them a gigantic grin.

“Ash was telling me about the time he nearly set the whole yard on fire,” she chirped in excited exaggeration. Ash’s mom sighed.

“Which time?” she asked, tiredly.

Somehow, Misty’s grin got even wider as she bounced in her seat, prodding her into sharing more stories.

Ash just sat back and enjoyed the show, the fireworks forgotten.

Stargazing

The Indigo League’s Gym Renovation initiative had been a resounding success, in Misty’s humble opinion.

Not only did it give all the gyms much-needed facelifts, but the whole thing had created a bunch of jobs for citizens in the cities, and really did a lot to boost the region’s economy. Misty and her sisters were even able to save some money in their monthly utility bills by upgrading some of their heat and electricity to solar.

But if Misty was completely honest, her favorite part of the renovation was the addition of the beautiful glass ceiling she had chosen to complete the gym’s new look.

It wasn’t the same as when she was traveling of course, but she loved that she was able to climb up to the high-dive platform, lay down on her back, look up through the windows, and gaze at the stars.

It would bring her mind, as most romantic things did, to Ash and their days traveling together. To that sweet hour or so after they put out the campfire and before they’d fall asleep; when they would snuggle into their sleeping bags and talk about everything and nothing all at once.

Sometimes, when she was feeling particularly brave, she would allow herself a long look or two in Ash’s direction when she knew he couldn’t see her to catch her in the act.

To this day, she’d yet to find a sight as beautiful as a sleepy-eyed Ash Ketchum, bathed in moonlight.

She missed it so much sometimes, her heart ached, and on nights like those, she’d find herself here on the high dive, looking at the stars and wondering if Ash was out there somewhere looking at them too.

With a heavy sigh that turned into a yawn, she rubbed her eyes and stood back up; she had to be up early in the morning to open the gym for challengers and it was getting late.

With one last longing look at the stars, she blew a kiss through the window and climbed down the ladder.

It was time for bed.

Chapter Text

Cooking Disaster

“Why did you call me for this again?”

Misty glares down at her Rotom Phone, like Ash can actually see her, and then rolls her eyes at herself. “Moral support,” she bites out.

He laughs, loud and jovial, wherever it is he is located in the world at the moment, and for once, she’s happy he isn’t here right now to see the disaster she’s created.

It was supposed to be stew. Brock had given her the recipe, albeit with a good bit of skepticism when she had asked for it, apparently for good reason.

The stew is solid, first of all. Hard and lumpy and absolutely the wrong color, and Misty had called Ash the moment she saw it because he always made her feel better, despite the fact he was usually the cause of her less-than-pleasant feelings in the first place.

“I don’t understand what I did wrong,” she cries, slamming Brock’s recipe card onto the counter and reading it over for the hundredth time. “I followed the directions exactly.”

“Are you sure about that?” he asks like a know-it-all little punk, the smirk evident in his voice. “Because you said that about your last attempt at making stew and then you almost immediately poisoned yourself.”

“I did not almost poison myself,” she scoffs, poking the stew with a wooden spoon. It wiggles. “It just had a flavor too advanced for my underdeveloped palette.”

Ash snorts. “Sure, you just keep telling yourself that.”

Misty scowls at the phone. “Why did I think it was a good idea to call you, again?” she grumbles.

“No clue,” Ash answers honestly, and she can just hear him grinning. “You know there was no way I was going to be nice.”

“Momentary lapse in judgement.” She pokes the stew again and something bubbles and releases a little plume of steam. She gags.

“You should send me a picture,” Ash chirps, “I wanna see this thing.”

She rolls her eyes, and despite herself, she does inwardly admit that letting him make fun of her actually did make her feel better.

Damnit, she has it bad.

“Goodbye Ash,” she says simply, hanging up as he laughs loudly on the other end of the phone.

She immediately receives a picture from Ash of him and Pikachu pouting and making growlithe eyes, asking again to see the stew. What a loser.

She snaps a picture and texts it to him without a second thought.

Handkerchief

“You still have this?”

Ash looks up from stacking firewood to see Misty, her eyes wide, holding up her old handkerchief. It must have fallen out of his bag.

The colors had faded quite a bit over time, and one of the corners was beginning to fray. There was a small hole near one of the edges, and it had a few stains here and there, but other than that, it was perfectly useable.

He feels a sudden spike of anxiety to be caught still obviously caring for it for some reason, so he shrugs in an effort to look aloof. “Yeah, why? You want it back?”

“No,” she snaps back quickly. “I’m just surprised you haven’t lost it or destroyed it by now or something. You don’t exactly have the best track record with my belongings.”

Ash rolls his eyes at the little dig and returns to his firewood. “The bike was an exception, your lure and handkerchief are safe and sound, thank you very much.”

Misty hums, but she’s still standing there, holding the handkerchief delicately in her hands. Briefly, her eyes flick to his backpack, and Ash wonders if she is wondering where her old lure is stashed away. She had seen him toss Cilan’s haphazardly back inside when they were done fishing. “You never did pay me back for the bike,” she says instead.

Ash groans. “You got it back!” he cries, on script, and Misty clicks her tongue, following right along with her lines.

“Yeah, from Nurse Joy! You had nothing to do with it! If anything you owe her now!”

They bicker into the evening, just like old times, and it warms Ash’s heart more than he would ever admit.

He manages to snatch the handkerchief back at some point, and Misty does him the courtesy of not commenting when he folds it up nicely and tucks it safely back into the front pocket of his backpack.

Right next to her lure.

Puberty

Ash had spent the last almost eleven months training up on top of Mount Silver like some sort of pokemon obsessed hermit.

After holding tight on to his Alola League championship title for three strong years, his fourth and most recent league battle against Gladion had been way too close for comfort.

Thankfully Pikachu came through in the end and they won, but it was close, and a few days after the battle, Ash announced his newest, harebrained idea: spend the next year training atop Mount Silver, and come back down just in time for the next Manalo Conference, stronger than ever.

Apparently he’d heard about something similar in Pokemon Friend Magazine or a podcast or something, Misty wasn’t sure, but he was determined.

They literally all told him he was nuts, but when Ash got his mind set on something, there was no stopping him. So in the end, off he went for nearly a year.

But he was finally back.

According to the electronic sign, his train was about three minutes away, and Misty and Brock were waiting for him on the platform, chomping at the bit to gather him up and whisk him back to Pallet. He would hang out at home for a few weeks, become a civilized member of society once again, and then head to Alola for the League Conference and hopefully keep hold of his Champion title. His mom had insisted she stay home and make his welcome home dinner, so Misty and Brock were sent to fetch him, which they were more than happy to do.

Finally, they spotted the train in the distance, and Misty’s heart skipped a beat in excitement.

Sure, she was used to going long periods of time without seeing Ash in person, but usually they at least got to talk on the phone or through PokeGear. This time however, his camp on Mount Silver had been so remote and removed, the only correspondence they had from him was a handwritten letter skribbled on notebook paper, literally delivered by a carrier pidove once every few months to assure them he was still alive.

Once the train pulled into the station, the doors slid open, and the passengers began pouring out in one big mass. Brock shielded his eyes with his hand as he surveyed the crowd, Misty next to him on her tip toes, doing the same.

She scanned the platform, looking for the yellow of Pikachu’s fur, the red of a baseball cap or the blue of a jacket, anything that might belong to—

“Misty, Brock!”

They both spun to the direction of the voice, which sounded both achingly familiar and yet somehow not, and came face to face with Ash and Pikachu, both grinning ear to ear.

Brock immediately pulled Ash into a handshake-turned-hug, laughing loudly, but Misty was struck on the spot, her mouth going dry.

Ash had changed.

Along with the expected shaggy hair and dirty clothes, he was taller, still not as tall as Misty, but only shorter by a centimeter or two. His shoulders had broadened a bit, his shirt looking just a bit snug around the chest and sleeves where it was once baggy. His jaw was slightly sharper and ever so noticeably more angular, and when he laughed and greeted Brock, his voice had taken on a new, deeper pitch.

Ash had grown up over the last year, and Misty’s palms itched looking at him.

He turned to her next, giving her a quick hug that left her embarrassingly breathless. Thankfully, Pikachu hopped into her arms for a hug right after, and she jumped on the excuse to direct her attention away from Ash’s collar bones, which were suddenly very interesting.

(Misty kind of wanted to bite them, she was scandalized to realize.)

“How was Mount Silver, man?” Brock asked, blissfully unaffected by the change in Ash’s appearance. She was even just starting to entertain the idea that it was all in her head; some absence makes the heart grow fonder kind of thing, when he added a subtle and amused, “You look great!”

Ash made a face and looked down at himself with an unfairly charming chuckle. “Great?” he asked. “I dunno about that; I haven’t slept in a real bed or had a hot shower in months!” he laughed again, giving Misty the chills.

‘He doesn’t know,’ she realized, as they boarded the shuttle to Pallet Town. ‘He doesn’t realize he’s grown up and become so…so…’

Her thoughts trailed off as Ash slid into the seat next to her and gave her that megawatt smile. Her heart skipped a beat.

‘Dreamy.’ she realized, a little bit in horror. She’d always found him cute, but now Ash was dreamy.

She was in trouble.

Chapter Text

Celebrating

Ash was avoiding her.

He had been the one to invite her. Hell, he had paid for her plane ticket! And yet here Misty was, all dressed up, sitting by her lonesome, no Ash or Pikachu in sight.

Okay, maybe she wasn’t alone, alone. Ash’s old local friends from the Pokemon School were all there as well, milling around, dancing, snacking on hors d'oeuvres and sipping on champagne. Lana had insisted she join them at their table, and she had even danced with Kiawe and Mallow for a while after dinner.

The professors and Lei were also there, it had been Lei’s first Manalo Conference appearance, and even though he lost in the first round of the single battles, his parents were so proud, they had been showing him off to everyone all night, much to the kid’s embarrassment.

But yet no Champion in sight.

She knew he was there. She’d seen him bee-bopping around the banquet hall throughout the night, just not anywhere near her, apparently.

She didn’t think he was upset at her or anything. He’d grinned and waved at her after his battle with Hau, who had won the League this year. Their battle had been close, but Ash managed to win it and keep his title for the tenth year in a row. A decade of being the Alola Champion. The whole reason this party was happening at all.

He had been rushed off to talk with the press, so she went back to her hotel to get ready, naively assuming Ash had any interest in spending some time with her during the celebration after insisting she be there.

She was just polishing off her third flute of champagne when a yellow flash out of the corner of her eye caught her attention. She perked up for a moment and scanned the room to try to catch it again, when a soft, familiar whisper filled her ear.

“Meet me outside in five?” Ash asked, sending an embarrassing little shiver up her spine, but by the time she spun around to face him, he had made his way back into the crowd.

Ash’s back was to her as he casually leaned against the balcony railing, backdropped by the twinkling, tropical, Alola night sky, Pikachu mysteriously missing. Someone had apparently convinced him to put on some nice clothes and forced a comb through his messy hair earlier in the evening, but he had managed to scruff himself back up since then, probably doing something stupid and noble and Ash-like.

He was beautiful.

“I’m not avoiding you,” he told her without turning around.

Misty raised a skeptical eyebrow. “Oh yeah? Could’ve fooled me.”

He turned around finally at that and gave her a crooked little smile. “I’m glad you’re here, Mist.”

Her heart did that stupid thing it always did when he called her that damn nickname, but she joined him at the railing and looked out into the ocean. “You gave me no choice, Ash,” she reminded him. He chuckled at that, but it sounded hollow. “You okay?” she asked. He shrugged.

“Yeah. I mean, I think so. It’s just been a weird day.” He sighed. “I thought this was going to be it,” he admitted, quietly.

Misty blinked in surprise. “It? What do you mean? Like, your last year as Champion?”

Ash nodded, a wry smile on his lips. “Hau did amazing, but Gladion almost had me last year. If he wasn’t challenging the Hoenn League right now, I think he would have taken me out once and for all.”

She studied his profile, looking for a sign in his expression to figure out how he felt about that, but he was intentionally, very carefully neutral.

At her silence, he sighed heavily again. “I love Alola. You know I do. This place is my home away from home. But it’s, you know, still not home like Kanto is home.” He paused for a moment, and ran his hand through his hair before turning to face her again and smirking. “I know Lance is planning to separate the Kanto and Johto Leagues, finally. There will be a whole new batch of Elite 4 positions opening up, and from what I’ve heard, you’re on the short list for one of them.”

“How did you hear about that?” Misty balked. “Lance said that information hasn’t left the Indigo League yet!”

“I have my ways,” Ash said with a grin, and Misty rolled her eyes. Lance was such a blabbermouth. “Lance is going to stick with Johto. You’ll need a new Kanto Champion, too.”

Misty perked up at that, realizing what Ash was getting at with a traitorous little flicker of hope in her stomach. “You want to compete to be the Kanto Champion?”

Ash shrugged a little shyly. “I mean, that had kinda been the idea. I’m not sure I have it in me to be Champion of both Kanto and Alola though. I’m not as young as I used to be.”

“Ash, you’re twenty-two,” Misty reminded him with a snort.

“Exactly! ” he laughed, but his expression quickly turned just a bit somber. “I guess I was just ready to, you know, have an excuse to spend more time at home… Around my favorite people.”

It was hard to tell in the dark, but she was pretty sure he was blushing. She tried not to think too much about that. “Favorite people, huh?” she prompted, bumping into his shoulder.

He smirked. “Yeah. My mom, Brock Tracy… Gary.” He drawled, and she bit back her smile to glare at him, unimpressed, until he finally cracked with a long, loud laugh. “And you, of course!”

“That’s what I thought,” she said haughtily, and after a beat, they both broke into giddy laughter. Once they finally settled down, Misty sighed, and summoning up her courage, she leaned over to rest her head on his shoulder, feeling him tense up at the motion. She forced herself not to think too much about that, either. “It’ll take Lance a while to get everything sorted out, you know. It might not be until next year.”

She felt him hum in acknowledgment more than she heard it, her heart speeding up as she felt his arm drape around her shoulders, and his head gently falling into a rest against her’s.

“Yeah,” he agreed, his voice just barely above a whisper. “I’ve already waited this long. What’s one more year?”

Fankids

Misty bites her lip, giving the gym another nervous glance over her shoulder as it disappears behind the horizon. Next to her, Ash smiles sympathetically, bumping his shoulder lightly against hers.

“She’s gonna be fine, Mist,” he tells her, but her frown only deepens.

“Are you sure your mom can’t watch her instead?” she asks miserably, which actually does make Ash laugh out loud, to her annoyance.

“Like I told ya, she’s going out of town.” He catches Misty looking back at the gym again, and sighs. “She’s in good hands. Your sisters are going to be fine. They raised you, didn’t they?”

Misty blanches. “Yeah, and look how messed up I am,” she says miserably.

He smirks. “You said it, not me.”

At least that earns him the barest hint of a grin as she whacks him lightly in the arm. “Oh shut up. If our daughter gets eaten by a magikarp, it will be your fault.”

Ash laughs, wrapping his arm around her and pulling her close. “Deal.”

Chapter Text

“Okay,” Ash laughed, wrapping up his phone call, his grin reaching from ear to ear. “I’ll let you get your beauty sleep,” he teased. “I know you need all the help you can get.”

“Ha ha, very funny, Ash Ketchum,” Misty scoffed back, but it was obvious she was smirking along with him. “I’ll talk to you next month? If your tiny brain can remember something that far away, at least?”

“You know it. Besides, if I forget, you probably just need to yell, you’re loud enough I’ll be able to hear you wherever in the world I am.” She laughed at loud at that one and fondly called him a jerk. “Bye, Misty!” he sang, hanging up the Rotom Phone and giving it, and the girl previously on the other end of it, a soft smile. He really did look forward to his monthly phone calls with her.

Looking up from his phone, he caught the curious gazes of Goh and Chloe, each looking at him with a mixture in confusion and concern.

“What?” he asked.

“Didn’t you say you were calling one of your best friends?” Chloe questioned.

Ash blinked in surprise. “Yeah?”

Goh and Chloe shared a look. “So, why were you being so… mean?” Goh asked.

“Mean?” Ash’s eyes widened. Had he been mean to Misty? He didn’t think he was. Well, he told her she needed beauty sleep and called her loud, but that wasn’t mean, that was just teasing. Misty said he had a small brain and called him a jerk; that was what they did. “Oh, I guess I can see how that sounded, but I promise! Teasing each other is just—”

He cut himself off.

Just what, exactly?

‘Just how we show affection’? his brain supplied him, traitorously, as all of the little comments he and Misty had received over the years came flooding to the front of his mind.

“They say when two people fight, they really care about each other.”

“What’s that saying? You always hurt the one you love?”

“They’re not mature enough to admit it, but they really like each other.” “You know what, it’s exactly the same thing as you and Ash.”

Ash felt himself flush at the memories and cleared his throat.

“—Just how Misty and me are,” he finished his previous thought, weakly.

Goh and Chloe exchanged another look, but this time, Chloe had a small, knowing smirk on her face that just made Ash’s cheeks redden even deeper. He narrowed his eyes at her suspiciously.

“Oooh,” she drawled with a grin. “Okay, I get it.”

“Get what?” Goh asked. But Chloe just giggled and returned to whatever she was doing.

“There’s nothing to get!” Ash insisted, clearly flushing at this point, but she ignored him with a jaunty little hum of acknowledgement.

“What are you guys talking about?” Goh asked, but Ash just shook his head and pulled his hat farther in front of his face, pathetically.

Great, he thought miserably. Just great.

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