1. I LOVE YOU. I AM COMPLETELY AND UTTERLY IN LOVE WITH YOU. PLEASE DON'T GET MARRIED.
"I love you. I'm completely and utterly in love with you. Please don't get married."
Ash gagged. Who talks like this? How long 'til this stupid movie's over, anyway?
He glanced over at Misty. It was all her fault he was watching this mushy junk. Ash had plenty of good movies in his collection, but Misty insisted it was her turn to pick, and she went straight for one of his mom's stupid romances. Her hands were interlaced and supporting her head, and even from his peripheral vision Ash could see the stars in her eyes. Pikachu, sitting in her lap, was just as enamored with the film as she was. Big softie traitor…
"How can you watch this?" Ash complained, gesturing at the TV.
Misty shushed him, but she didn't look over; her eyes stayed glued to the screen.
Ash let out a loud moan. "It's so dumb! And you know it's all fake, right?"
That got a head turn, and a scowl, from her and Pikachu. "You made me watch that cheesy monster movie where a guy turns into a Moltres and smashes up a cardboard city. That's not 'all fake?'"
"Duh! Of course that is. But people can't turn into Legendary Pokemon and run around. People do get married. And when does anyone run up and say something like that at the wedding? You don't do that to someone!"
Misty hit "Pause" on the remote and crossed her arms. "Maybe it's not about whether that would really happen, Ash. Maybe it's about feelings."
"…Huh?"
"I know people don't do this in weddings. But people might want to say it. They might be in love with someone who doesn't love them back, or loves someone else, and feel like telling that someone, even though it's wrong. They can't really do it, so stories like this help them work through those feelings. Don't take it so literally, Ash."
"Pikachu," the Mouse Pokemon added in agreement.
They both turned sharply back toward the screen, and Misty started the film back up again. Ash rolled his eyes. He had no idea what Misty meant. He just knew this movie had gone on too long already.
"I love you. I'm completely and utterly in love with you. Please don't get married."
"Comme ç'est romantique," Serena and Bonnie sighed together. Clemont struggled not to let out a sigh of his own, in frustration. This was the last time he let Bonnie choose the movie.
They'd had the TV room of the Pokemon Center to themselves all evening, so Ash suggested they watch a film. He had some cheesy monster movie in mind, and Clemont had suggested a documentary on how Electric-Types inspired technology through the centuries, but once Bonnie had named this old Kantonese romance, she won Serena's vote, so here they were.
As the scene carried on into melodramatic territory, and as the girls began to tear up, Clemont couldn't keep his mouth shut any longer. "I must say, I find it hard to believe this ever happens at weddings."
Bonnie frowned at him. "Vous êtes trop dense à propos de ces choses pour l'apprécier," she insisted.
"Bonnie, I have told you - speak so we all understand," Clemont gently chided her, glancing over at Ash. It didn't look like he'd heard a word. He was stroking a sleeping Pikachu as he watched the film, a pensive expression on his face.
"Ash?" said Clemont. "Don't you agree?"
The Kantonese boy turned to look at Clemont, a small smile on his face. "Don't take it so literally, Clemont."
Serena was sitting on the other side of Ash on the couch. Clemont saw her turn away from the screen to look at Ash. There was something sad and hurt in her eyes, but Clemont couldn't figure out why that should be. Ash hadn't said anything depressing.
It's this movie, Clemont decided. It's gone on for too long.
2. I'M GOING TO TAKE CARE OF YOU, OK?
Misty lived for days like this.
"Would you mind repeating that, Ash?" she asked in her most disarmingly innocent voice. "I think I still have some water in my ear."
"You know what I said," Ash growled back. He stood at the edge of the pool with his arms crossed and his face scrunched up in a childish pout Misty found adorable. He was also fully clothed and clearly not prepared for his own request.
"No, really, Ash," Misty persisted. She shared a knowing smirk with Pikachu, who'd left his Trainer to rest on her shoulder. "I didn't hear you."
He could do nothing but sigh. "I want you to give me swimming lessons," he said. "Are you gonna do it or not?"
"Oh, don't you worry, Ash," Misty purred as she pulled herself all the way out of the water. "I'm going to take care of you. OK?"
3. COULD YOU BE HAPPY HERE WITH ME?
Whatever else one could say about Ash Ketchum, he knew how to have fun.
How he persuaded Gyarados to let him surf atop the Atrocious Pokemon's back, Misty would never know, but there the goofball was, clinging to a dorsal fin with one hand and laughing fit to burst as Gyarados darted all over the pool. In the other hand, he held a small squirt gun. Pikachu, riding on Milotic's back, had a squirt gun of his own, and he and Ash were firing away at one another.
Misty sat on a folding beach chair a few feet back from the pool, the better to take in the revelry without getting caught in the crossfire. Psyduck snoozed at her side, and Ash's Oshawott kept trying to claim her attention with various seashell tricks. His latest effort would have been an impressive flip if he hadn't caught the shell with his head.
Misty couldn't help but laugh. "Ooh, poor Oshawott," she offered as she pulled the smarting Water-Type into her arms. "Why don't you take it easy and leave the self-inflicted damage to your Trainer?"
"Oshawott," he sighed, and Misty laughed again.
This was the third time this week that Ash had come by with his Pokemon, and the forth week out of the five he'd been home that he'd come to see her. Some girls might scoff at that, but for Ash Ketchum, that was about as regular a visiting schedule as you could hope for. And he seemed to have more fun each time he came by.
And I love seeing him have fun, thought Misty, as she squeezed Oshawott just a little more tightly. So why do I still feel so sad today? Maybe it was the weather; the pool in the Gym may have been cozy, but outside there was freezing rain and gale force winds. Maybe it was that looming date, one week from now, when Ash would return to Alola for Mew knew how long.
Or maybe it was that other worry about his leaving, the one shadowing all the time she spent with him: would you be enjoying yourself so much if you didn't have another journey to look forward to, Ash? It all the adventures and travel stopped, could you be happy here with me?
