I OWN NOTHING
[set in near-end jhoto league]
Cupcake sized moments
"Hey Brock." Misty nudged her older companion, who seemed to be day-dreaming as he stared out of the pokemon center's window. The two were sitting in the cafeteria, waiting for their friend to finish some 'errands' that he had to attend to. It took him some time though, but he came back.
"Mmm..what's up?" he muttered with a suppressed yawn.
"What's Ash carrying over there?"
Groggily, Brock turned his head to where the red haired girl was pointing. He blinked before Shrugging. "It's just a box.", he said.
The girl rolled her eyes; "Yea, of course it's just a box. What I'm asking you is what do you think that's inside the box!".
Brock seemed to think for a moment; "Maybe today's his birthday, and he got a present from his mom or something."
"You think so?" Misty blinked;"If that's the case, you'd think he would've told us.."
"Told you about what?"
The two turned their attention to their raven haired friend and his yellow companion, the two of them sharing an oblivious expression. In his hands was a semi large, white and pinked striped box with something written in a gorgeous font. For a moment, Misty found herself entranced by the box' pretty design, but she quickly shook it off.
"That box," she said, curious; "What's the deal with it, ketchum?"
Ash's lips stretched into a goofy grin; "Oh, it's nothing!" he replied as he placed the box on the table. Brock and Misty soon caught it- the somewhat delicate smell of something baked, something sweet...something with chocolate.
Misty began to slightly drool; "Doesn't smell like nothing to me!" .
"C'mon Ash, show us!" Brock pressed on, joining the red haired girl with his hungry stare.
Ash's grin grew wider as he and the pokemon on his shoulder, pikachu, exchanged amused looks with each other before showing the desired contents of the box.
Misty stared with aw as she suppressed a 'cute' squeal, and Brock's mouth dropped down, nearly turning into a waterfall. Said sights made Ash more satisfied than ever, and he gave a small fist-bump to the small yellow friend rodent of his.
Inside the box were a dozen of cupcakes, each and every one of them looking unique and different from the other with their design on the top and what not. As if such sight wasn't tempting as it was, new smells seemed to emerge from the pastries, including the sweetness of strawberry jam and some lemon even.
The duo kept staring at the goods filled box like it was a treasure chest until they raised their looks at Ash, who's hands were behind his neck.
"Yea, pretty cool. Right?" he asked.
Misty's aw-struck gaze turned into a smirking one; "Considering you didn't eat any of it the second you grabbed the box, I'm pretty surprised Ash!".
"Hey!"
"Y'know, she has a point." Brock pointed out.
Ash huffed and folded his hands; "Well just so you know, I'm not that big of a glutton that you always make of me, so quit it!".
Brock and Misty let out a giggle, amused from their friend's behavior. "Gee Ash, relax." Misty said, "We were just messin' with you for a bit!". She then reached for the boy's head, snatched his hat, and proceeded to ruffle his hair. Ash yelped in surprise and flailed his hands in protest.
"Can you guys quit it?! you'll hit the cupcakes or drop it or something!" Brock exclaimed as he pulled the box away from the bickering two, who at the sound of the words- 'cupcakes' and 'ruined' ceased fighting and shifted their attention back to the box.
"I gotta say though, those look pretty expensive Ash." Misty admitted; "What's the occasion?".
"It's just me taking after my mom's advice," Ash explained; "I was talking to her the other night about something so she gave me some money and told me that what I should do is buy you guys something that you'd like, so I bought you these cupcakes!"
"That really sounds great that your mom helps you like that, but.." Brock raised an eyebrow; "what problem did you have that made you go and buy cupcakes to us all?".
Ash merely laid back and suddenly became silent. His usual, trademark goofy grin slightly faltered as his eyes seemed to drift away for some reason. "Well, I don't really know how to say this, but..". He paused for another moment, puzzling his two friends who were unsure what goes inside his mind.
"You guys remember how bad last week was, right?" he eventually asked; "With us three having nothing going for us and fighting all the time?"
Misty and Brock frowned and shifted with discomfort at the subject, eventually nodding in response to Ash's question- It was still somewhat hard to forget the events of last week: how they got lost on the map while a sudden storm came from nowhere, how they started to blame each other out of frustration, how they had said some nasty things.
Misty wasn't sure what was worse- Ash telling her that it's no wonder that her sisters had always hated her, or that she told him moments before that he was a failure of a pokemon trainer regardless of how much he would train. Even Brock got mad and spat some grave insults at the two, resulting in an entire day in which neither of the three talk to each other.
Long story short, they eventually reached the closest pokemon centre for a warm shelter and it seemed like everything had calmed down. Since then, they never really did talk about it and just assumed everything was fine. Well, it sure didn't seem that way anymore.
"Anyway, I've been giving it a lot of thought lately and I think that we should do something about this. I mean-" he stopped talking with a small chuckle, "That I should do something about this."
Misty's frown deepened and Brock raised an eyebrow; "Ash, what're you talking about?".
The raven haired boy took a small breath and replied, but once again held his tongue; "I uh- I know that for most the time I act like this huge dumb, Immature jerk who doesn't think when he talks. And when that happens, people around me like you guys get hurt real bad. So I'd really like to say to you two that I-um..I-".
He took another breath, this time deeper and more soothing. For some reason, his stupidity or pride or whatever, it was hard for him. But he could do it-it's just one, simple sentence.
"I'm really glad that I'm traveling with you two, and I wanted to give you a little something in return for putting up with me."
"So there!" he concluded and laid back, taking a breather as if he had just finished a marathon.
Misty and Brock stared at him, eyes wide like they have just witnessed a miracle occurring once in a century. They stared at him, then at the box, then at him again. Their mouths were dry, discarding their ability to response to his words. Only after a few moments of silence did one of them regained their ability to speak.
"So.., this is your way to say 'thank you'?" Misty asked, still bewildered and surprised from her companion's speech.
"Yep!" Ash grinned at them full-heartily. And then added; "And that 'I'm sorry'."
They shared looks with each other, realizing that recent events couldn't be ignored after all. And as such, seeing that even a big ol' dummy like Ashy here could apologize, then there was absolutely no reason for them no to as well.
"Well," the redhead sighed as she laid back, a faint smile crossing her face; "I wouldn't lie and say that I didn't go too far but I did- I'm really sorry you two." she said, "and I really don't know what I would've done without you and Brock."
The words of Misty caught Ash and Brock off guard- the stubborn red head was known for hardly recognizing her mistakes, let alone apologizing for her. She was even considered worse than Ash, and he was as stubborn as a rhyhorn. And yet, here she was- saying that she was wrong and telling them that she was sorry.
"Likewise, Mist." Brock quickly recovered and replied with a nod; "I went out of my way and messed up, so I think it's only fair for me to apologize-" The tanned man paused for a few moments and sniffled. Ash and Misty blinked.
"..Brock?" Ash asked; "are you crying?"
"N-no!" he retorted with a whimper; "I jus-just wanted to say that you guys...you guys are the best that there is!" he exclaimed with tiny tears in his squinty eyes.
Ash and Misty stared at the crying man and snickered from his antics. They thought of how corny this situation has become- moments like these were quite rare, as neither of them were emotionally open or something of the sort. It was undeniable, though, that they both felt the same as him- the trio were lucky enough to meet and travel with each other. And that in itself was a gift of its own.
Eventually, Brock has calmed down along with the laughing duo, and all suddenly felt much better than they did before. However, there was but one question that lingered inside the three's mind.
"So.. " Misty spoke; "What now?".
Ash blinked at her and suddenly beamed, puzzling her and Brock. "What are you talking about?" he asked then motioned towards the cupcake-filled box. "Let's dig in!".
Quickly taking up to his offer, the two, alongside Ash himself, picked pastries to their liking; each with a different style and color and began to eat it as if it was their last cupcake that they could ever eat. What was funny though, was that to most outsiders they were just three teens enjoying a tad too much from nothing but cupcakes. But to Ash, Misty and Brock, it was completely different.
It was a memory- a sweet, heart -warming memory that they would cherish for the rest of their lives.
Well that's that- something short and fluffy about the group's nicer moments. It was nice to write that, but I'd like to write something bigger in the future. Not soon though, I'm still trying to get back in shape after all these months of doing nothing.
Anyway, I'm aware that there is slight OOC and some grammars and weak dialogues, but I'll get better at this [eventually]. So have fun reading it and tell me what you think, cause' I'm all ears!