title: smear the lipstick this time
warnings: sexual content! this is rated M. also foot fetish, lol.
notes: got inspired to write this after realising that one of my favorite romcom trops is one person in a relationship suddenly becoming awkwardly and hilariously sexually aware of the other. and i can REALLY see that happening with pokeshipping. (i personally headcannon their first time is way late, like later than all their other friends.)

Misty peered down below, watching the pool glisten and sparkle from the sunlight that streamed in from the windows. It was beautiful, warm mid-afternoon sunlight, the kind that made you want to curl up in bed and plug in your earphones and just be.

She jumped. The water was cool and inviting, and she swam freely for a few minutes, swishing her legs as if they were a mermaid tail, moving gracefully throughout the water.

Then, "Heeeeyyyy!"

Misty turned around, watching Ash plunge into the water right in front of her. He was trying his hardest not to grin with the oxygen device currently in his mouth, as it would probably fall out if he did. Watching Ash trying not to grin was trying to watch the impossible, however, and suddenly Misty was trying not to laugh herself.

Her idiot boyfriend was the best. Sometimes.

"What are you doing here?" Misty folded her hands over her bare stomach, and the action seemed to remind her that she was wearing a rather skimpy swimsuit. She wrapped her hands around herself tighter.

"I'm here to practice my swimming," Ash replied with a half-hearted shrug. "I can't be that good if you had to fish me out of a river."

Misty wanted to laugh again, but she managed to restrain herself. "Finally admitting that I'm better than you, huh?"

"Hey," Ash countered warningly, arms crossed defensively. "I'm gonna leave."

"Oh, no," Misty said. "The Water Master would never turn away an aspiring pupil! Come, my new student, I will guide you." Her tone haughty and teasing, she held out a hand for Ash to take. He rolled his eyes, making sure to scoff loudly before taking it.

It wasn't a big deal or anything. They were sort of lowkey dating for the past few months. Ash had come back to Kanto for the seasonal break, and though it was usually Misty visiting him at Pallet Town, he decided he'd switch things around for once.

"Glide like a mermaid," she told him. Her body moved like a perfectly graphed cosine wave, up and down and up and down again. Though it seemed embarrassing to admit, she looked so serene and graceful.

... For once, anyway, he internally added.

"I think you could experiment with some new swimming styles," Ash said as he swam back to Misty, wading around her in circles.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

"Sorry, wish I could help you out with that, but I can't. I'm supposed to be doing something else right now." Misty's sigh created a bubble that ascended immediately.

"And what is that?" Ash raised an eyebrow.

"It's for a show next week. There's this stupid twirl I have to do underwater that I keep messing up, and it's really pissing me off."

"Hmm." Ash nodded, eyes drifting upward as he seemed to think of something. "Why don't I help ya?"

Misty's eyes widened before she quickly shook her head in incredulity. "There's no way; you couldn't help me. No offense, but you're the one who came here for swimming practice.

"Are you sure I can't help you?" Ash pressed, unperturbed.

Misty paused. "Well, I am supposed to do this with a partner. I haven't practiced it with Daisy yet, so maybe that's my problem..."

"Then there ya go!" Ash said, seemingly proud for helping her come across the solution. Without so much as a warning, he ducked and swam behind her.

"Wait, what are you - " Misty didn't finish. Ash's hands slid around her waist, and suddenly she could feel the warmth of his torso behind her even underwater, making her brain go numb, for a few moments unable to even conjure up words.

She regained her senses eventually as she swatted his hands away, trying to get a grip over herself. This was stupid. What was he doing? And more importantly, why did he do it?

Warily, Misty glanced at him. Ash was blinking innocently, completely oblivious to Misty's panic.

How could he be completely unaffected? It wasn't like Ash was smooth when it came to girls, was he?

Misty thought about it. No, he definitely wasn't. That meant he wasn't doing this on purpose - it was just her stupidly misinterpreting his actions. Mew, of course he wasn't flirting with her or something ridiculous like that - in fact, it was downright embarrassing that she almost assumed he was. She hated the affect he had on her. Oh Mew, Oh Mew, Oh Mew. She was already in panicking mode.

"What are you doing?" she finally brought herself to ask, silently thanking Mew she didn't stutter. Not that he would think anything of it anyway.

"Uh, I'm helping you practice. As a partner. I saw your last performance, so I know how it's supposed ta go."

Misty's face looked genuinely surprised. "Wait, you watched my last performance?"

"Oh, um... yeah. It was just, on... T.V. a while ago, so I watched it."

"Oh, so it just happened to come on? You didn't watch it purposefully?" Misty said disbelievingly, glad she finally had the upper hand.

"Can we get back to your dance routine?" Ash changed the subject rather quickly, and Misty bit back a chuckle.

"Alright," she agreed. "So it's mostly the same routine from the last show, except for the twirl at the end. We're making a story out of it this time."

Ash nodded. "I think I remember some of it. There's um, a part where you have to dip before the twirl, right?" His hands returned to her hips once more.

Again, the shivers. Little sparks of electricity managed to make themselves felt even underwater, and Misty had to bite her lip to keep her cool. His hand slid down her cool skin a bit more, and she squeezed her eyes shut, trying not to flinch.

It was almost.. ticklish. Not the kind of ticklish that your older sister made you feel because she was trying to mess with you, no, this was different. This felt... this felt really really weird.

"So first you do this," Ash said, grabbing one hand and pulling it up. He mimicked the motions he remembered, and Misty had to admit he wasn't doing a terrible job. She let him lead halfway until he forgot the rest, and then she took over. They seemed to get into the groove of it, the fluid movements of dancing underwater and when it came to the final swoop, Ash propelled her to the right and watched Misty twirl effortlessly multiple times. She slowly came to a stop, and she barely remembered to assume her final pose.

"Good job, Misty! You did it!" Ash tried to clap, but the sound was dramatically softened because of the water. He settled for smiling warmly, and Misty just stared, unable to believe that she had just did that. Unable to believe that Ash had just made her do that, and that he was actually somewhat talented in the water.

"Wow," Misty managed to say, shaking her head disbelievingly while she fought back a pleased grin. "That's the first time I've been able to do it."

"You're welcome," Ash teased, reverting back to his usual passive-aggressive demeanor. A comeback rose in Misty's throat, but it died instantly as Ash moved closer to her. His hand rested on her bare shoulder.

Her face froze. She finally realized why it felt so weird. No, this wasn't the tickling that your older sister did, nor was it just plain goosebumps. This was the kind of touch that made her gut stir and everything heat up and this felt good.

And that's when the alarm bells went off.

"I'm getting out," she growled. Misty pushed him away and immediately swam up to the surface, ripping off the inhaler and panting heavily like she had just finished a race. Without waiting for him to surface, she hoisted herself onto the ground and began stomping towards the stairs.

"Hey, wait! Misty!" The sound came gurgled as Ash rushed to the surface, water still in his mouth as he tried to breathe. "Are ya mad?" he called out, hands cupping either side of his mouth.

Misty kept walking, swearing to herself not to look back. Hands trembling at her side(probably from the cold, Misty thought), she managed the walk up the stairs before she went inside her room and slammed the door shut.

A cold shower was what she needed. A nice, cold shower to wash away all of the foreign thoughts cluttering her mind. She washed away all the chlorine with her sisters' branded shampoo, and cleared away all the remaining traces with scented conditioner.

She still didn't feel clean.

Misty shook her head, even rapping her knuckles against it as she tried to clear her mind. After exiting the shower, she quickly dried off and slipped into gym shorts and a t-shirt. She began towel-drying her wet hair as she walked over to the bed, but stumbled and nearly screamed at the sight that greeted her.

Ash was standing there. He was in one of his casual outfits - jeans, t-shirt and old sneakers. He looked like he wanted to say something to her. He began to move, slowly shortening the distance between them. Misty braced herself, brows knotting in weird kind of anxiety at the proximity. Then, his hands closed around her, and his lips were pressing against her neck. She froze, and her heart began pounding in ears. There was no way. This couldn't be real. But the hand that was travelling farther and farther down her back told her otherwise.

She pushed him away, nearly hyperventilating.

"I'm... did I do something wrong?" Ash's hand reached to rub his neck sheepishly. "I'm sorry, I guess I just got carried away by how you looked..."

Misty blinked.

What?

She blinked again, but this time he was gone.

She realized that she had imagined the whole thing.

Misty ran out of the room, suddenly filled with the urge to jump in the pool again. Luckily, Ash was nowhere to be found - she wondered if he had decided to head home already. Either way, good, she couldn't quite deal with him right now. Still feeling the aftereffects of her initial panic, she headed over to the kitchen for a glass of water. She gulped it down hastily, setting it down with a loud clink.

"Hey, Misty, would you come over here for a sec?" Daisy's voice echoed from upstairs.

Glad for the distraction, Misty obeyed immediately, ascending the stairs and bursting into Daisy's room, finding her on a chair filing her nails. "Hey, Lil Sis. Will you paint my nails for me?"

"That's like, the one job that you do by yourself," Misty pointed out.

"I'll do yours if you do mine?" Daisy tried.

"...Fine."

Misty laid down on the bed while Daisy pulled out a bottle of nail polish, shaking it before opening it to apply. Misty tried to relax during the process, and it worked for a while.

"So I saw your twirl in the pool earlier today! It was amazing, Misty. You've got the whole performance in the bag!" Daisy gushed, smiling as she took extra care with Misty's pinky toenail.

Misty didn't respond. Way to remind her of that. She pouted and crossed her arms, shifting her torso to the side slightly.

"But really!" Daisy said. "How did you do it so well?"

Misty, determined to shrug it off, turned over on her side while keeping the one leg perched near Daisy. This was a mistake.

Ash was there again. He sat on the chair across from her, looking straight at her with an amused glint in his eyes. The smirk was taunting, and in the strangest ways nearly sensual, and Misty felt something in her stomach sink. She panicked and looked back towards Daisy, who was obliviously gushing on about something.

She looked back at him. Ash brought a finger to his lips.

Shh.

Misty, afraid that Daisy would notice, only nodded timidly.

While Daisy was waiting for her feet to dry, she continued rambling on about something that Misty could barely register at this point, let alone hear. Ash took this opportunity to gently touch them and move them to his lap.

Misty immediately bit her lip, nails gripping her pillow. She released quiet, shuddering breaths, trying to contain herself as she felt his lips faintly fleet along her calves. His thumbs traced small patterns on her ankles, and her face twisted into a look that almost seemed like she was in pain. She felt his jaw against the dip of her foot, and the clean-shaven feeling was shudder-inducing. She felt him kiss her knuckles, and her breath hitched so hard she had to pinch herself not to scream.

She cracked open her eyes. Daisy was looking at her. Her legs were in Daisy's lap, and her feet were rubbing against her face. Daisy's jaw was outstretched as she looked at her with an expression of disgust and bewilderment.

Misty swallowed, frowning as she flushed and looked away.

"I think it would be good if you left now. For your own safety," Misty said.

"Like... I think I agree."

Misty stared at herself in the mirror. Then, she slapped herself.

"Aren't you ashamed of yourself?!" Misty scolded at her reflection. "That was so embarrassing! What is Daisy going to think? Why do you keep thinking these horrible, awful, unspeakable things?"

"He wasn't even here!" Misty nearly yelled, both hands slapping her forehead. "This is all in my head."

It was really late at night. Misty had trouble sleeping earlier, so she gave in and decided to start organizing the gym's paperwork. She'd been meaning to do it a while, and she was all for good distractions at the moment. Her laptop had fallen asleep, so she staring at her own reflection in the monitor. Her eyes were quite droopy, and she felt herself slowly losing consciousness until -

His face appeared in the reflection.

Shit.

Now wide awake, Misty watched as he slowly walked up to her from behind, bending down on his knees. Her hair was down, covering her neck, so he gently brushed it aside. Misty once again clenched her eyes shut, rendered to mere putty in his hands. He pulled her away from the desk, and then they were under the covers of her bed. His hands snaked underneath her t-shirt, caressing her stomach. She breathed in short increments, trying not to feel like she was burning all over, especially when his lips returned to just the right crook of her neck and it felt so good.

His lips traveled down her neck, reaching the brim of her t-shirt. She had stopped resisting at this point, realizing that it was futile. When he stopped, Misty frantically reached for the clasp of her bra and unhooked it, waiting for Ash to -

Blink. He was gone.

Misty woke up, groaning as she realized her neck was stiff from sleeping in the same position. She could barely remember what had happened last night; her mind was hazy from a long, deep sleep. She sat up, yawning and scratching her leg. Maybe a good night's sleep was all she needed. Yeah, she felt a lot better now. That was just some stupid episode she was having, right?

She thought too soon. He was back, and this time he exited from her bathroom, shirtless from a hot shower with a towel carelessly slung around his neck. Her eyes widened, and she clutched the covers to her chest. She suddenly remembered. She did not want a taunting repeat of what happened last night.

He sat down next to her, raven hair dripping on her bedsheets. His brown eyes were twinkling with that same amused twinkle, and he leaned in, presumably to kiss her. Misty sprung out of bed, hands held out defensively. No, she wasn't going to let this happen. This was ridiculous!

Maybe she just had to ignore him. Yep, that would solve everything. Misty had already showered the night before, so she only had to run to the bathroom to wash her face and get dressed before heading out for the day. She was just tying up her hair and taking care of the finishing touches before she noticed something that made all the color drain from her face.

It was a purple-red mark on the side of her neck, or more commonly known as a hickey.

She wondered if she was imagining that, too.

She went out for coffee later that afternoon to meet up with her friend Sakura. She watched the pigtailed-girl come in through the cafe's double doors, sitting down across from her with a warm but slightly apprehensive smile.

"Hey, Misty," she greeted.

"Sakura, everything alright?" Misty peered at her suspiciously behind her vanilla bean frappe.

Sakura raised an eyebrow. "I'm fine, Misty. It's you that I'm worried about."

"Worried about me, why?" Misty echoed.

Sakura pointed to her neck. Misty's eyes widened as she clutched her scarf. She had taken so much care to conceal it. How could she have found out?

"I know what's going on. Daisy told me everything."

Oh no, oh no, oh no. This could not be happening. Daisy didn't find out, did she? Misty barely knew what was happening to herself; how did Daisy manage to figure it out? Well... there was that one incident, but...!

"You're sick," she said gravely.

Misty's jaw dropped. "Wait, what?"

"I see you wearing that scarf, Misty, when it's nearly seventy degrees outside. Daisy told me that you've been seeing hallucinations lately. I think you've caught something really weird."

"No, no, that's - that's not right," Misty begun, trying to laugh her accusation off. "I'm not... I'm not sick."

Sakura leaned forward ominously. "Are you really, Misty?"

When it came down to it, Misty went to church later on that evening. Sakura and Daisy were right about the hallucinations part - and luckily they didn't know what the hallucinations were about either. She was pretty sure she'd end up killing herself if they did know.

She had to cleanse herself, though. She knew it wasn't necessarily bad that she was thinking about those things - except it was! It was Ash, and she was almost positive that he was nowhere near emotionally mature for that, so thinking about it made it all a hundred times worse because she was emotionally mature for that, and oh this was utter hell.

After paying her visits and cleansing her "sins", Misty came home with a refreshed feeling. She returned to her gym post, battled a challenger and won, and then returned to her room to change for the night. She was in a good mood for the first time in days, presumably because she was sure things had changed this time. Of course, just when Misty always thought she had a handle over things... it turned out she didn't.

When he returned this time, she retreated to the corner of her room. Surely, he couldn't do anything there. She took deep breaths, trying to calm herself, her neck glistening as her throat pulsed with nervousness. She was fine, if she just ignored it, it would go away, he would go away, everything would go away...

"I'm fine," she whispered, pulling up the hem of her shirt and pulling down the hem of her shorts. "This isn't real," she whispered more harshly under gritted teeth, ready to slap herself if needed.

"It's okay," she said again, trying to calm herself. She stood up, realizing that there was no more sign of him. She glanced at the time. She had been sitting there for quite some time; it was already ten o'clock. Misty realized she was still in her gym clothes and started to change out of them, but found herself hesitating. She shook her head, deciding maybe some more privacy would help her.

But once she entered her closet, he pounced again. He cornered her against the wall, and she was appalled by how it felt so real. The hand running down her arm felt so real, it felt like the worn, calloused hand she'd held and known for years. It felt like him. It smelled like him.

He kissed her forehead, he kissed her cheeks, he kissed her nose, but she wouldn't let him kiss her lips. She was still cringing, eyes clenched shut with that same anxious expression as he continued to fumble around her in the dark, hands bumping against her lower back.

"Misty," he breathed, the kisses now trailing her stomach.

She inhaled sharply.

It had come to the point where she found herself fretting even when he wasn't there. She found herself biting her lip in her office trying to do paperwork, and shifting foot to foot during challenger battles. It was off-season, though, so she didn't even have many people around at the gym. It was just her and her sisters, and her sisters were usually out the entire day. This left Misty to herself, alone to fret around nervously and lose her mind because of its own stupid thoughts. It was quite self-destructive.

Misty decided, though, that eventually, she had to confront it. She had to confront... whatever was bothering her, or it would never go away. She would be stuck with these embarrassing thoughts for the rest of her life. She would die alone, forever having these stupid visions.

Christ.

Misty headed into the bathroom to wash her face, ready to take a shower before heading to head. She had exhausted herself just worrying that day, so she was honestly too blank-minded to predict any of the repercussions from what she was about to do. She turned on the water before starting to unbutton her top. She opened the shower curtain a bit with the other hand to check if the water was hot yet -

Her eyes met his. Her eyes travelled downwards, and she gulped and quickly looked away. He wouldn't let her go that easy, however. With one arm, he dragged her in.

"My clothes are getting wet," she grumbled, at this point used to her mind's insanity.

"You have a dryer, don't you?" he started kissing her neck again, easily shrugging off the already buttoned down top off of Misty's arms. It was more slippery trying to maneuver their way in the cramped shower, but Misty found that she simply didn't care anymore. She was the one pressing his hands against her breasts. Her other hand was inching past his lower back. She wanted a reaction out of him. It couldn't just be her suffering.

He didn't give in, though. He snaked a hand underneath her bra, making Misty's breath hitch. He pulled it up and over her head for easier access, and later pressed her against the shower wall. The water was raining on his head now, and he acted as a shield to Misty, who was shivering even though it was only hot water. The look in his eyes was almost unreadable, but she knew what it was.

"Go slow," Misty warned.

Truthfully, she was scared - but she was anxious. She knew she wanted it, she was sure of that, but it was still scary. She barely registered what was happening until she felt him slowly entering her, and all her thoughts froze. It felt so good that her vision blurred in the next instant; her thoughts disoriented and she could only focus on that pleasurable feeling between her legs, trying to take it all in. As she had told him, he went slow, but somehow it only made the experience more desirable. It was a toxic euphoria that clouded her mind the faster he went.

"Is this okay?" he managed to ask her between a sharp inhale.

"Yes," she replied, voice barely above a whisper.

And then, it was over.

He left, and Misty sank to the floor, hugging her bare shoulders like she was in some kind of drunken haze. That was the definition of a hallucination. There was no way in the world a first time with Ash Ketchum would even go that well, what was she thinking, why was this happening, what just happened?

But this time was different. She wasn't afraid. She felt satisfied. Was this what she had been so afraid of all this time?

The reality was that Ash Ketchum was her boyfriend. This fantasy couldn't be too difficult to attain, would it be?

Ash came back to visit the next week. It was such an easy conversation that Misty almost wanted to kick her past self in the ass for not thinking of it earlier. They were on the couch, and he kept glancing at the window for some strange reason, and Misty was watching a really awkward make-out scene on the television.

"Hey," she said, capturing his attention.

Ash jumped, then looked at her. "What?"

"Do you... do you want to, like..."

The reply was so quick she thought she imagined it.

"Yes."