Note: All the characters are aged up. Ash and Misty are each 20 years old.

Tumblr prompt: "Kiss me, quick!"

The League mixer was going pretty good, despite starting off going nowhere fast, just like a sleeping snorlax. Once the music started and everyone who wanted a drink had one, things livened up, from being quiet to being full of conversation. The room was filled with the din of people talking to each other, mainly about Pokemon issues, but Ash could hear the occasional person talking about their days.

The talented trainer was taking a break from having to talk to the gym leaders, one of whom (you know who) was teasing him about how he got his first badges out of pity. More often, they were just worried that he was going to challenge them again and wanted to trick them into giving away their strategy. In reality, he just wanted to ask everyone how they were doing.

So it was a big surprise to hear Erika vehemently telling him not to use fire Pokemon. "What're you talking about?" he asked.

"What do you think I'm talking about?"

"But I like using Charizard."

"You can't use him, it's unfair!"

"I guess he's kinda super powerful, but why wouldn't I use him?"

"Because–ARGH!" She stomped off, leaving Ash behind and feeling very confused.

Unaware that she misunderstood him, Ash shrugged and continued with his game plan. He was just there to have a good time and to meet people, he reminded himself. Dressed in a nice, business-casual suit and jeans combo, he was definitely in the right mindset coming in. But he wished that the other guests had the same courtesy, when they reacted the way Erika did. Speaking of which, he resolved to move on from that and just do what he could.

Most of the guests were actually happy to see him there, though. And there weren't just trainers and gym leaders, either. League officials were in attendance, as were some businessmen, hawking samples of new products, hoping to get some big endorsements. He encountered more of the latter, since they were thrilled to have such a talented young trainer right there to push their products on. Ash wasn't there to meet these businesspeople though, just to connect and network. He was flattered to receive their attention at first, but as time went on and the drinks flowed, it got to be a bit much. Even if Ash hadn't actually had anything to drink.

It's just that after a while, all the businessmen started to blend in together, and he forgot whose cards he'd received, so he needed to step aside and take a break. But he had to navigate through the crowd in the dim light of the ballroom in order to get to a table, until he finally found one.

He sat at the table, a beer in his hand and Pikachu at his side, munching on some new PokeFeed a vendor had brought with for the guests to test before it went on sale to the general public. Ash was content to people watch for now. He'd already met a lot of gym leaders, and was a little tired. Those previously-mentioned discussions on "strategy" had worn him out, when he caught a glimpse of an orange-headed figure in the corner of his right eye coming towards him.

He stood up just in time for Misty to hug him.

Let's take a step back for a moment and see what led up to this. For starters, Misty was there along with Ash, but not with him. She'd gone by herself. She was there to connect with other gym leaders, to see how they were running their gyms, or just to socialize. It's a mixer, after all. She didn't have to stick to a single topic.

She went from person to person, even coming across Erika, who accused Ash of wanting to take advantage of the situation to get something out of her, even though it sounded like he had no idea what she was talking about. "Yeah, that sounds like Ash," she had to say.

"He had no idea what I was talking about?"

"Probably not," Misty said, rolling her eyes and clutching the side of the blue-green business casual dress she'd worn. Erika spent the rest of the short conversation discussing her perfume shop… and apologizing for refusing to allow Ash into the gym after he insulted said perfume shop. Misty accepted her apology on his behalf, while admitting that she too overreacted to his hot-blooded opinions.

But as she was making the rounds, talking to other gym leaders, she couldn't help but feel… slightly uncomfortable. She noticed that there was some guy watching her every chance he could get. She could tell that he was interested in her, and it creeped her out. His name was Mark, and he was a young executive for the company that made the food currently being tested at the mixer, and he was interested in her. The way he watched her, like he thought he was some romantic hero just made him look pathetic. He was handsome, she gave him that, but… his staring was becoming a major turn-off, to put it lightly.

But judging from the way he held himself, he didn't look like a stalker, just a dude who was too nervous to talk to her. That didn't change how much he creeped her out.

So she ignored him. She kept up her rounds, talking to as many gym leaders as she could, trying to get some more ideas on how to run her gym. They were all very good. Most of them acknowledged that the League sadly punished gyms that were too successful; Lt. Surge got his license revoked because of this… and because his strategy was so damn brutal.

But then her luck ran out and she ran into the guy, quite by accident. Scared at first, she tried to back out, but he sprung his trap on her: "Oh, um, hi. I didn't see you there. How have you been?"

"I'm okay, Mark," she replied, mentally cursing herself for trapping herself by societal expectations.

"That's good to hear! I've been doing

"That's nice," she said, trying to hide her nervous disinterest. "I'm sorry, I'm really busy."

"Come on, everyone's busy!"

"Oh, I'm sorry, but I have to find my boyfriend." Crap!

"Boyfriend? You have a boyfriend?" He looked devastated. "Who is he?"

Double crap! "Ash Ketchum!" she blurted out. "He's here with me right now. Hold on, I have to find him!" She pulled up her dress and quickly walked away, mentally cursing her heels, until she found Ash, sitting off by himself with Pikachu at his side. She couldn't believe her luck when Ash stood up in all his handsome, suit-wearing glory—Triple crap, I really am attracted to him!

Oh, well. She didn't have a choice, and flung herself at Ash, throwing her arms around his neck and saying, "There you are, honey, I've been looking all over for you!"

"Misty!?" Ash sputtered, blushing voltorb-red, trying to ignore Pikachu's snickering reaction. His heart rate rapidly increased and he nervously put his arms around her body to hold her tightly. Did she know I wanted to ask her out? He thought. Probably not.

He didn't have much time to process what was going on, because she let go of his neck, then grabbed his lower jaw. "Kiss me, quick," she ordered.

"Huh?"

"Are you still that dense? Kiss me! Oh heck, I'll do it myself!"

He didn't get a word in edgewise, because she pulled him into her, pressing her lips against his. At first his eyes widened and his heart beat rapidly, but he felt himself returning said kiss. Hugging her tighter, he opened his mouth to stick his tongue in, which she eagerly accepted.

Then it ended. Ash could see some brown-haired moron out of the corner of his eye, which meant that Misty could see him, too, making her end the kiss right there. "Sorry, he just kisses really well," she said. "Mark, this is my boyfriend, Ash Ketchum!" She made Ash wrap her arm around her shoulders.

"Boyfriend!?" Misty elbowed his ribs. "Uh, yeah, I'm her boyfriend alright!" They both smiled, but nervously looked at each other.

"Oh, I think I've heard of you," said the brown-haired man. "My name's Mark. I see your Pikachu likes my company's food. I didn't know you were dating him."

"We are?"

"Yes, we are," she interrupted. "We haven't really told anyone, yet, because we wanted to keep it private, right?"

"What do you—" She elbowed him again. "Yeah, really private, so private… that we just haven't updated our TrainerBook statuses yet!"

"Well, I guess I don't blame one of the League's top trainers to want to keep things private. How did you two meet, anyway?"

"We traveled as kids," said Misty. "I kinda developed a crush on him." This was news to Ash, and he had to fight the reflex to look surprised.

"I was surprised to find that out," he said.

"So as you can see, I'm in a nice, stable relationship," she told Mark. "Sorry."

Mark didn't say anything else. He just sighed in defeat, nodded and began to turn away. "Sorry for the misunderstanding," he said. "But please, enjoy the free samples of our new PokeFeed. If you want, I can send you a free sample."

"That sounds nice," she said, waving him off. She was relieved when he finally walked back into the crowd.

Misty sighed in relief and collapsed in the chair closest to her, which would have been several feet away, had Ash not seen her about to collapse. "What a relief!" she breathed.

"I didn't know we were dating!" Ash said, sitting down in the seat next to her.

"We're not," she answered. "Unless you want to?"

"Why'd you do that, though?"

"Because I'm not interested in that guy. And the only way I could get him off my back was if I made it look like I had a boyfriend. Sorry for using you like that, by the way."

"Oh. Well, I did like the kiss."

"Thanks," she said, blushing and turning away. "Sorry about teasing you earlier."

"It's okay, I know you like to do that," he said. Unsure if now was the right time to ask her out, Ash mentally wrestled with the idea. Would he be a bad person for doing that right after this incident? Would she appreciate it?

His questions were inadvertently answered when he turned to her and noticed that she was staring at him, also bright red in the face. "Listen, um," she said, "If you're not busy next Friday… do you want to go out? On an actual date?'

Ash's heart leapt. "Yeah, sounds great!"

"Good," she said, leaning forward and lightly kissing his cheek, causing him to blush deeper.

What the hell, he thought to himself as he turned towards her and kissed her lips. She quietly giggled and kissed back. It wasn't the way either of them thought this relationship would start, but knowing how things had gone before, it wasn't the most surprising thing about it.

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