A/N: First pokeshipping story on this site. Would really appreciate the reviews to remind me how not dead this fandom is. ;)
Two Days, a pokeshipping fan fiction.
Part One.
It's a humid day, so I'm not sure why the waitress glares at me as I hold the glass up to summon my thirteenth refill of water. This stupid patio barely shields Pikachu and I from the sun. I can feel his tummy growing damp on my shoulder as the minutes progress. A little gross, but I have no room to talk. I'm almost positive that if I remove my hat, a waterfall of sweat will drown my head.
Nothing me and my buddy can't handle, though. We're used to rougher terrain. Honestly I really can't remember the last time I even showered. Judging by the scrunching of the waitress's nose, I think she's also trying to figure that out.
I fumble with the eight page menu in my hand, wondering what half of the terms even mean. "Excuse me." I signal to the waitress again, and her face contorts into one of an angry jigglypuff. "Is there an… English version of this?"
"It is English," she hisses in her fancy Kalos accent.
I frown. "Are there any cheeseburgers?"
"No," she says after a long pause. "There are no cheeseburgers at La Coquille Bleue's, a five star seafood restaurant."
"Dang," I sigh. "Well, can I at least get a seat inside while I figure this out? It's really warm and it's hard to think-"
"No, no, no." she waves a hand at me. "Uh… your mouse is not allowed inside, you see."
I make a face, glancing into the windows of the restaurant, where plenty of cheery people sit with their even cheerier pokemon. Do we really smell that bad?
Before I can respond, a bloom of red hair shines in the glass, and I jump to my feet, pushing the waitress to the side in the process.
"Misty! I'm over here!"
At first she pauses before turning around to face me. And I frown for a moment. Because-well, while it is indeed Misty, she doesn't quite look like Misty.
First of all, her hair is down. Not that I minded, but she rarely leaves it out of its usual ponytail. Second of all, she's wearing a dress. Again, I could care less, but Misty in a dress is such a rarity that sometimes I forget she's actually a girl until I see something like this flowery purple getup in front of me. Third of all-okay, well, this part does still look like Misty because she looks like she's about to kill me. I haven't seen her in, like, a year, but this expression is probably the only reason I'm sure it's really Misty in front of me.
But still, why is she so dressed up? She can't be comfortable in that thing. It's hugging her waist very tightly-wait, what?
"Ash. Ketchum."
I regain focus. Was I spacing?
"Uh, yeah?"
She marches towards the table, but she doesn't take a seat. As she nears, I get a better view of her eyes. They're more fiery than any Charizard tail I've ever seen. But even more interesting-she's wearing make-up. Make-up! I've never seen-
"I thought you were going to pick me up," she says sternly. An odd way to greet me for sure because something like this shouldn't be such a big deal. Maybe walking here in a tight dress made her cranky. Seriously. Can she even breathe in that thing?
The waitress glances quickly between us, as if trying to comprehend something before taking her opportunity to leave. I gulp. WIth no one but Pikachu for a witness, I'm not sure what Misty would do to me.
"I got lost," I reply. "I couldn't find the hotel."
And it was true. Kind of. This city is huge, there's at least twenty hotels here I can't pronounce, or even locate on a map. And for the life of me, I couldn't remember where Misty mentioned she would be staying.
"You could've called to tell me that maybe."
She's right there. I could've called, absolutely. But I also know Misty is smart enough to show up at La Coquille Bleue if I hadn't picked her up by five like I originally planned. So I'm not sure why she sounds as angry. It isn't a big deal; we all still made it here. Or at least I made it here because she still hasn't officially sat down or even smiled. Maybe it would just be Pikachu and I after all.
Her eyes glimpse over at Pikachu, and maybe it was just me, but she looks almost… surprised to see him there. Which made the littlest sense of all. I personally find it weird if there isn't this constant little weight curled up around my neck.
As if on queue, Pikachu bolts into her arms. Whatever strange expression Misty originally had vanishes almost instantly. Her first genuine smile, and I'm kind of mad I'm not the one to cause it. She didn't come all this way to see Pikachu, right?
"So nice to see you, Pikachu!" she giggles as I frown. Or maybe she had.
"Pikachupi!"
"What about me?" I complain, and she freezes in their embrace to eye me over. I'm suddenly a little self conscious. I didn't mind the gawking from other customers over my attire. But seeing Misty looking all nice-er, fancy- in a dress… I glance at the dirt on my knuckles and hide them momentarily under the table to wipe at them with a napkin.
"Could you have at least changed?" she snides.
"Why?" I take another chug of my water. "Sorry I don't carry a tuxedo in my backpack."
Pikachu bounces back to my shoulder, probably sensing the earthquake I'm about to cause with my sarcasm, and Misty shut sher eyes tightly, as if concentrating.
"Ash, this is a very nice restaurant. You are wearing jeans. Don't you know anything?"
"Oh," I say, nodding to her. "Is that why you're all dressed up in that… thing?"
Her cheeks flame. "This thing you're referring to is a Lorelei-inspired, Hoenn version original!"
"...I have no idea what that means."
"And I would never expect you to!" she shouts, and I wonder what we're even arguing about at this point. "I swear, you are the only guy on the planet that instead of complimenting a girl's appearance-you-you make her feel ugly!"
Now this is a strange statement. Not only does it sound like she wants me to compliment her for some reason, but it also sounds like she truly thinks she's ugly. And she isn't, not by a long shot, it's just something I've never voiced before for reasons.
I blink, watching her sad lips, wondering why the topic of Misty's appearance is the first thing we're talking about today in the first place.
"I didn't call you ugly," I say. "Or mean to make you feel that way. It's a… nice dress."
It is a nice dress, I repeat to myself, looking at it for what feels like the millionth time. Which is weird since I don't care about outfits. I tear my eyes away in time to see her stammer out a "thanks" and surrender her body to the chair in front of her.
I decide to change the subject since it's not one I'm the best at, and bring forth my best smile.
"It's so good to see you again! It's been, what, a year?"
"Seven months," she replies and then reddens as I eyeball her. "Your birthday."
"Oh yeah," I chuckle. "How's the gym? Must be doing pretty well to allow you to go on a vacation."
She's being kind of fidgety in her seat now-maybe the dress was constricting her airflow. Concerned, I glance to her neck, and observe her chest rise and fall. Wait-wait-maybe don't look there-
"Vacation?" Misty repeats, and I'm back to her face, feeling queasy from what just happened, but also miserably failing at forgetting it. "Ash, I'm only here for two days."
This triggers something inside of me, but what, I'm not sure. Anger? She just got here! Fear? There's not enough time! Sadness? Don't leave yet...
"You flew all the way from Cerulean to be here for two days? Why?"
There's something mysterious about the look in her eyes now. It's like they're-I don't know-shining? I lean a little subconsciously in her direction, but then the waitress returns with another refill for my water.
"Do you know what you'd like to eat?" She turns to Misty. "And, miss, we do offer tables inside if you prefer."
"What?!" I interject, knowing of course that's what MIsty would prefer. She was already threatening to leave the country in two days, so she's not about to leave the table. Not when I have to convince her to stay longer-well, however long I'd be in town anyway.
"Excuse me, she's here with me," I continue. The waitress is shocked somehow and twists again to Misty, whose cheeks are redder than Pikachu's.
"I… apologize," the waitress clears her throat. "I will return with some bread."
And off she goes. Misty continues to let the red travel up her face, and she is averting my eyes at all cost. I lift an eyebrow. "Everything all right?"
She nods quickly. "Mm-hmm."
I smile at her, and even though she still isn't looking at me, she finally returns the favor. "Well, hey," I offer a gentle tone. "Two days or two weeks, we'll make the most of it. I'm still happy to see you."
I realize I've already said that, which makes me feel kind of stupid for some reason. But then Misty's smile stretches so wide it brings a tickly feeling to my chest. I instantly know I've said a good thing, not a stupid one.
"I'm happy to see you, too," she says softly, tucking a strand of hair behind an ear. Very out of character. I glance at Pikachu, who looks just as perplexed-and possibly concerned-as I feel.
"How was the flight?" I ask awkwardly before it gets too quiet.
She turns a page of the menu. "Oh, just fine."
Fine? That was it?
"Misty." she lifts her head, and I clear my throat before continuing, "You... you're acting funny."
She reddens again. "And you are acting completely normal!" She says this in some kind of loud whisper, as if accusing me of something-which she wasn't. I don't think so anyways. Shouldn't I be acting completely normal?
"Uh, yeah, so?"
She throws a hand to her forehead, appearing exhausted. "Never mind! I'll just-I'll be better! Just give me some time to process this-"
"Better? I didn't mean it negatively." I cock my head at her. "But I totally get it. The menu barely made any sense to me either-it's a lot to take in. There's no need to get so flustered over it, though. The waitress at least seems to like you and will probably help you with it."
She blinks. "What did you say?"
"The waitress." I motion to the inside. "She can explain-"
"No. Ash."
There is so much blinking going on as she continues to stare.
"Are… are we not... " she begins to stutter. "This isn't what I thought this was, was it?"
"Thought what was what?"
She's blushing now. As if she's embarrassed. And I'm so, so confused.
"Oh my God," she whispers. "Why in the world would I ever think that you…" she trails off and starts to grab her belongings in a rush. I realize she's trying to leave and immediately panic.
"Whoa, whoa, you just got here! Where are you going?"
"I just-I have to go." she's still blushing like mad as she rises from her seat. But then on impulse, I grab her hand to drag her back. Her eyes meet mine, and she's terrified. Or some other expression I can't name.
"Please stay," I say, and she looks like she's going to cry or something. I brace myself for a tear or two to escape from her eyes, but it doesn't happen. Her eyes are sparkling-but not from tears?
"Ash," she whispers, and then she squeezes my hand.
Simple, right? Wrong. Let me tell you something about this hand squeeze. It's like Pikachu has thundershocked me from the inside or something. I'm a little dizzy and taken aback from it, and now painfully aware of how close I brought Misty's face towards mine when I originally grabbed her.
Everything inside of me is squirming, buzzing, frying, and like-I don't know-dying?-and there's so much warmth in my cheeks-am I blushing?
"Uh." Now it's my turn to blink, and not wanting to pass out from whatever I'm experiencing, I drop her hand. It falls to her side in slow motion, and I gaze at it in wonder. "Misty… What's going on?"
It's an honest question, but she looks at me like I've asked something horrible. My stomach decides to perform some more acrobats I didn't know it could do.
"Ash, why did you invite me here?"
She answers my question with a question. It's not helpful. It makes me really question my sanity actually, as now I'm coming up with a lot of jumbly sentences I don't know how to form.
They come out of my mouth something like this: "Well, I, uh, I knew you always wanted to go to Kalos. You like French things. And then-well, that pilot owed me a favor, and he agreed he'd fly you here. And this restaurant has received good reviews, so I figured-"
"So, you figured that you just wanted to fly me here? Of all people?"
She sounds suspicious of me. I feel woozy. Maybe I'm dehydrated. But I've downed fourteen glasses of water.
"Well, yeah, it's Kalos, and you like French things, and-"
"When you called me, you said…." she pauses. "On the phone, you asked…"
She doesn't finish for some reason, so I try to help.
"I asked if you wanted to go out sometime." I shrug as I say it, and she becomes so, so red. I don't understand.
"Ash… do you even hear yourself?"
"...I'm sorry, Misty, I still don't-"
She huffs to stop whatever jibberish I'm about to say, and she's looking very voltrob-like with her redness at this point, which might mean she's about to explode.
"You. Are. UNBELIEVABLE!"
She does explode, but more like a lightning storm as she stomps away, each shoe hitting the pavement with such force I'm surprised it doesn't crack. Had I done something wrong? The only thing I could think of was that maybe she wanted to keep holding my hand, because I was ashamedly still kind of thinking about that hand squeezing feeling-so maybe I shouldn't have let it go, because then she'd still at least be here-
"I'm assuming you won't be ordering then?"
The waitress pops back up, smirking. I glare at her, take another swig of my water, and take off.
"Misty! Wait up!"