The hospital room was suffocatingly-white, save for a Squirtle plushie on the nightstand near the IV machine. Ash knocked on the wall to make his presence known. Besides the beeping of machines and button-pressing, the room was quiet.

She was laying as still as a breadstick. One of her arms rested on the hospital bed's armrest while her free hand flicked through different channels on the TV remote. The blue hospital sheets looked as dull as she probably felt.

"Hey, Misty!"

"Ash? Pikachu?" She turned her head. He was still standing in the doorway until her smile beckoned him closer. Pikachu hopped off his shoulder to lick the side of Misty's cheek affectionately. Once he had smothered Misty with enough love, Pikachu curled up at the foot of her bed.

"Well, look at you. You finally got your own room, Mist."

Ash gave her a lopsided grin. His stomach had finally untied itself from the earlier knots. She was breathing steadily with color in her cheeks. The strands of messy red hair signaled she had been sleeping earlier. She was fine.

"What are you doing here?" The question sounded more like a thank you. She made the slightest movement to sit up, attempting to lean back into some hard pillows. Since his arrival, she had buried the remote into the sheets. Well, he had her full attention. Ash Ketchum 1, Hospital TV 0!

"Hold on," Ash said, running back to the doorway before he propelled himself forward on a chair with wheels, which a nurse had left out for him. Leaning his face into his hands, he rested his elbows beside Misty's pillow which was near her arm. Essentially, they were really, really close, but it was okay. It was Mist.

She looked great even in a blue-greenish hospital gown.

"Ketchum, again, what are you doing here?"

"Ohh, I was just in the area, so I thought I would come to see you. Bought you something too." Ash smiled. "I bet you're sick of hospital food."

Misty laughed. "Duh!"

He slid the backpack off his shoulder and laid it on the bed. Smushed next to pokeballs and his wallet was a greasy delicacy. Ash had been to the hospital so many times for this mishap or another that he knew how valued some seasoned fast-food could be, a little something to brighten up her dreary day.

Still, shuffling in his bag, he pulled out the two identical fast food bags – one for him and Misty. She watched him from her spot.

"It's okay if you're not hungry," he said while pulling back the lid for a ketchup packet. She hadn't reached over for a fry yet. Maybe he should have brought her breakfast instead?

"Nah, I'm hungry, but I'm really sore. It's not every day you practically get mowed over by a car." She winced, further leaning her head back into the pillow. "My back and shoulders are killing me."

Suddenly, his nuggets and sauce weren't so appetizing. He moved the nuggets and ketchup to her hospital nightstand. Pikachu didn't stir at the whiff of ketchup, but Ash decided against discarding it. An empty glass of water, a cellphone charger, and an empty pill bottle with an unpronounceable name were the only other things there.

He rubbed his knees, feeling restless. "I know, Misty. I'm sorry."

"What are you sorry for? You pushed me out the way the first time," she told him, incredulously.

He hunched his shoulders and buried his head into the bed. The hospital sheets smelled the same as the room, full of disinfectants and flowery smell.

"Yeah, but the second time… That guy was crazy. He did a total figure 8."

Misty let out a heavy sigh. "I know, I know. I hate drunk drivers."

"Tell me, Mist how are you really feeling."

"It hurts, Ash." She shut her eyes tightly, shaking a bit. Her eyebrows furrowed, and she scrunched her mouth before losing the fight. A lone tear fell.

He couldn't say anything.

"It just hurts so much. I'm so sore, and I feel so bad that I could have died and I haven't accomplished anything. I started wondering like who would've even come to my funeral." The tears made her eyelashes lay dark and thickly. Were they always like that?

She sniffled, rubbing her eyes quickly.

"Don't Mist." Before he knew what he was doing, he wiped away the path her tears left with his thumb. The sensation of the callus pad of his thumb sweeping across her soft curved cheek was an unexplainable feeling, somewhere between painful because she was hurt and a protective swell because here, she was so precious and beautiful. Immediately, he pulled his hand back as if it caught fire.

Pikachu's ear twitched as his charade of sleep faltered. Obviously, the electric mouse had no idea what he was going to do either.

Ash coughed.

"Let me call a nurse for you." He leaned over Misty, ignoring how quickly his heart was beating, to grab the hospital bed remote and clicked for nurse assistance. What in the world had he been thinking!? Honestly, he knew that weird eye wipe was purely instinctual. The only acknowledgment that he had indeed done that was Misty's soft blush.

By the time a nurse Joy came from down the long hospital corridor, the awkward moment had passed. This nurse Joy wore pink scrubs with a special badge on her chest, showing her seniority. She pushed in a cart with various items.

"Nurse, my friend is feeling really sore, so I think—" Ash started.

Nurse Joy waved him off, giving him a smile.

"No problem. I have been tending to your girlfriend since yesterday. She caught me on the night shift." She shuffled around some items on her cart until she pulled out a medicine bottle only to realize it was empty. "Nice to see you again. I told you sleeping in the lobby chairs would be more comfortable, but I hope that chair served you well."

Ash's eyes widened. Ah, it was the same Nurse Joy he had talked to yesterday. He never could tell the difference between them.

"Good morning," he greeted her, rubbing the back of his neck. He turned his head away from Misty to avoid her gaze.

Nurse Joy moved across the room to the window. "Would you like me to open the curtains a bit. Today is so lovely and sunny, sweetie?" she asked Misty.

"Uh, yes, ma'am," Misty answered, uncharacteristically quiet. "We're just friends."

That revelation surprised Nurse Joy.

"Really? Surely, I thought he was your little boyfriend. He's been waiting outside your hospital door since this morning. Camped outside your door absolutely anxious." The nurse replaced her pillows and wrote some notes on her clipboard. She was amazing, dodging his utter stink-eye. "Put him out of his misery. He only left for a bathroom break and to go to the hospital food court."

"Uh, don't you have some other patients to check on?" Ash asked, frowning. His ears felt hot, so he knew he was blushing.

Sure enough, a patient yelled from across the hall, to ask for a glass of water. The nurse only smirked at him before leisurely walking to fulfill the request.

He crossed his arms. "Dang, she's so nosy that someone's out here dying of thirst. Needs to mind her own business," Ash scoffed and fumed. Finally daring to, he gauged Misty's expression.

Blue eyes were wide in an owl-like style and her cheeks were brushed with pink.

He gulped.

"Ash, you have been waiting all morning?" Misty's voice had a delighted tone to his embarrassment.

As if on terrible cue, the same Nurse Joy re-entered the room. Purposefully, her gaze wouldn't meet his struggling-withering one. She placed some pain meds and a new glass of water on the nightstand.

"More like last night. We managed to turn him away for the night, but he wouldn't take no for an answer this morning. You've got a loyal one, sweetie. Not many young men that—"

Ash coughed. Somehow, he could sense Pikachu snickering.

She didn't finish her thought, but it was too late anyway. "Take those 2 pills every four to five hours while you still feel soreness." The nurse didn't wait to be excused before shuffling off to her next task. Figures, now, she leaves after the damage has been done.

"Ash," Misty asked, all her questions wrapped into his name.

His hand went to the back of his neck. "I..I well, duh, Mist! I had to wait. I'm not like family or anything, so they wouldn't tell me anything. I didn't know if you were fine or half-dead."

"Ash…"

His voice came out unexpectantly hoarse," Misty, I care about you. I don't wanna see anything bad happen to you."

"Ash." Her voice was so sweet and soft and un-Mistylike. He felt his hands get sweaty. There were probably so many wrinkles in his new jeans from rubbing the sweat off. He pulled the brim of his cap down lower.

"Yes?" he asked.

Even softer her voice came, "Thank you, Ash. Besides my sisters, you were the first person to visit me."

He nodded, the memory returning vividly of how he begged to accompany an out-of-it-Misty on the ambulance ride. He had only relented when he saw how badly her sisters, Daisy, in particular, rivaled his own desperation. She had felt like she failed her as a big sister, and he felt he had failed her as a best friend.

Boldly he moved his head forward, his ears and the back of his neck burning. "Misty, you're my best friend. I can't… I can't even bear to see you hurt."

"Hmmm… And?"

"And I wished so badly the car would have hit me instead. I'm used to hospital visits from setting off too many fireworks, running from a horde of Tauros, jumping off a roof into a pool, or wounding up in some type of fun-craziness." He sighed, smiling. "You and Brock are always telling me to stop doing crazy stuff. So, it just hurts that you, the responsible one, got hurt.

"You need to listen to me more, Ketchum," she huffed for a moment. He could tell she was only pretending to be mad.

"Misty…" He reached out for her shoulder.

His forehead was pressed against hers now. Could she feel the press of heat he was feeling?

With her eyes closed and eyelashes curled gently against her cheeks and the mane of her red hair, she looked more like any princess he had ever seen.

"You know, how your sisters always called you a runt?"

The sweet peacefulness between them almost instantly disappeared. She pulled away from him though their hands were still intertwined.

"You're definitely no runt. You're… you're amazing Misty. You care about people so much, you are really smart, and you are pre..." he gulped. The words were flowing now. He wasn't super dashing or romantic, but it was easy just to say how he felt.

One of the things he had been berating himself about while waiting outside her hospital door was how he had never confessed his feelings. What if there wasn't a next time? He had to tell her now while he had the nerve.

"Misty, I…" He cradled her face into his hands. Both blinked. Misty leaned forward over the bedding rail.

Like a magnet, he drew closer.

Her eyelids began to slowly lower.

Closer … closer…

Ash had never thought about it too deeply, but Misty had a pretty cute nose.

So soft. Closer…

He could literally feel the slight brush of her lips.

OH ARCEUS! Please closer.

He moved his hand only a bit to angle her head to a side. Unlike popular opinion that he was a clueless goofball, he knew he wasn't supposed to pucker his lips. He just needed to slide his mouth over hers. Maybe a physical action would express his feelings better than any words could.

"Hey Misty, we brought you some balloons and WHOA—" Gary, Brock, Tracey, Dawn, and her sisters stood in the doorway. They all shared the same devil-like, knowingly expression. Gift baskets were laid at the entrance of the doorway and the room suddenly felt smaller with so many people.

Ash jerked away from her, and Misty threw herself against the pillows. Their wide-eyed expressions put Espurrs to shame.

Of course, Pikachu chose that moment to leap off the bed.

"Pika! Pika! Pikkkkkkaaa. Pika. Pi. Ka. Pi! Pi ka ka! Pika pika! (*really guys? Of all the times to burst in! He was just about to confirm her feelings! Read the room!)" Was Pikachu lecturing their friends about interrupting? He had never seen his friend so passionate about something besides battling.

"Pikachu, please," Ash mumbled. "The moment is over."

The electric mouse climbed up his shoulder. "Pika pika pika. Piiiiiika. Pikapi. (*Sorry, Ash I know how badly you wanted to tell her.)"

"Guys, what are you doing here?" Misty squeaked.

"Well, it's visiting hours, right? Unless we're interrupting something?" Brock laughed, his eyebrows wiggling suggestively.

"Like ooh, Misty you want us to leave, so like Ash can kiss you? Keep it PG-13, or else they'll move you to the baby floor," Daisy laughed, mercilessly teasing.

"Hey-hey guys. Oh, look at the time. I'm pretty sure visiting hours are over. So, I should be going," Ash stuttered, jumping up from his seat. He had almost tripped over one of the wheels of the rotating chair.

"Wait! What were you gonna say before, Ash?" Misty whined, grabbing the back of his shirt. Her eyes locked onto him. Obviously, she had forgotten her previous shame.

But he couldn't tell her now.

"I forgot."

Her voice went dangerously quiet. "Are you serious, Ash?"

"Yeah, I just forgot, but I will remember later. Promise!"

She whacked him hard with a pillow. Any pain she had was overpowered by her frustration.

"OUT! OUT! NOW! LEAVE!"

Misty threw the rest of her pillows at their visiting friends. Gary ran out laughing so hard he almost crashed into another patient's family, Brock and Dawn ran for cover, and her sisters screeched at her for being so like ungrateful. Ash hadn't realized how hard a hospital pillow to the body could be. Almost knocked Pikachu clean off his shoulder!

Well, next time he would plan better: (1) He would tell Misty his feelings before they kissed, (2) He would visit her without the presence of nosy Nurse Joys, pokemon, and friends, and (3) He might wear a helmet just in case.


I have never been inside a hospital (besides, when I was born lol), so there are bound to be some inaccuracies. Still, I hope you enjoy.