ALTERNATE ENDING/CONFESSION
He's got no idea why, but he sorts of flips out – in an effort, to keep his nerve.
"Gosh, Misty I just want you to listen for once because you know you like to talk a lot! And you always have to have a comeback or whatever. Just listen and don't interrupt!"
Her eye twitched, and he could see her mouth ready to fire back a retort.
"But I've been meaning to tell you this for a long time now." He took her hands into his slightly sweating ones. "Not that it took you getting hit by a car for me to realize this, because I have always known, but I care about you, Misty. A lot. So much."
Even though her mouth stayed at a level frown, some of the annoyance visibly diffused from her face. Sighing, she answered him calmly, "I know that, Ash. Just that the fact you're here lets me know that."
Ash squeezed her hand and gave her the most serious gaze he could muster, which wasn't a lot, to be honest. Still, hopefully, his expression spoke better than his jumbled-up words. "Mist, I… I love spending time with you."
Her expression softened.
"I like going by your house and hanging out with you in the Cerulean gym foyer, talking and texting on the phone all night about nonsense and memes, and sharing pokemon battle strategies and—" He swallowed, giving her hand yet another squeeze. Arceus, hurry up and tell her. Don't cut off her circulation.
"Yeah, Ash," Misty said, not really affirming anything more so spurring him on. She tilted her head adorably, and the strands of hair not tucked behind her ear grazed her left shoulder. Her voice was sweet now like she knew what he was hinting at.
"I like you, Misty."
She blinked. He had her fully blushing now.
Momentarily, he closed his eyes. "I've been visiting you almost every day now at your gym, trying to build up the courage to tell you. And it pisses me off and scares me that—the car accident could've been even worse, and maybe I never would have had a chance to tell you."
There.
Ash made the move to release her hands, but, to his surprise, Misty pulled them back toward her.
"What do you mean, Ash?" she asked innocently.
For a moment, he just lets the sound of machine beeping fill the room. Letting his gaze drift downward, he noticed Pikachu's tail twitching. His little electric friend was getting restless with his sleeping ruse. Obviously, both Misty and he was waiting for his confession.
"I can't be romantic or whatever, so all I can do is tell you what I feel. I don't want anyone to hurt you, and I like just being around you. I like that you're my favorite person. I like that no matter how many times we argue that we are drawn to each other like magnets."
"Oh, Ash," she whispered. The softness of her voice was so unusual but so was his outpouring of word-vomit. Still, the ease of just saying how he truly felt … felt natural and good. He's thankful that he improvised his speech much like how he did with everything else in life.
"I just wanted my heart to feel better," Ash paused. He's not deep enough to be able to express well the mixture of anxiety and excitement that telling her these things has on his body. "I like you. I have fee—"
Ash looked her directly in the eye, determined. He. can. do. this.
"-I… I… I wanna hold you and protect you." He let go of her hands. "I know. It's obvious you can take care of yourself. You've been doing it all these years with your sisters bagging on you all the time and the crazy adventures we got into as kids. Mist, you remember what your sisters used to call you, right?"
He hated seeing her wince, but he asked for a reason. She doesn't try to grab his hand again either.
"A runt," she mumbled.
"Well, Misty you're no runt to me. You're so precious."
Ash didn't know what was quicker his heartbeat, or how quickly Misty pressed her forehead against his.
A small, quivering smile replaced her shadowy gloom of remembering childhood taunts. "Say it again, Ketchum, and it better not be a lie," she ordered, somewhere between a command and a request.
He guessed, "You're precious?"
"And before that…" She giggled.
"I… I like you?" He felt like he was on stupid mode. Misty was going to have to press the right buttons to get the right response. He felt clueless as to what part she wanted to hear again.
"After that." Her expression was so hopeful now. Their hands were still intertwined. His heartbeat went faster than it probably should. Pikachu shamefully watched with bated breath. Finally, Ash realized it. She wanted him to finish that sentence.
"Misty, I … I have feeli—"
"HEY, ASH AND MISTY!" A chorus of voices yelled out.
"guYYYYS! What are you doing here," Misty shrieked, completely caught off guard. 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.
Gary smirked, setting his get-well gift of a vase of flowers on the windowsill. "Ohhh, are we interrupting?"
Ash let go of her hands as if they were burning coals. His ears felt red-hot, which was a sure sign he was blushing as deeply as Misty.
"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, Ash?" Misty whined, grabbing the back of his shirt. Her eyes locked onto him.
He couldn't possibly tell her now.
"I, I was gonna say I have feelings that—a feeling that you will be better in no time. Bye Misty!" he stammered out, gently shaking off her hand. He speed-walked out of the room in an embarrassed dash, leaving Pikachu to catch up and his nuggets still by her bedside. Ash tried his hardest not to meet any of their friends' gazes. He had lost his nerve with all those people in the room. He wasn't hoping for Misty to return his feelings, even though the smallest part of him thought she might, but he needed to tell her privately.
"Like wrong way, Ashy!" He heard Daisy so lovingly call out behind him. In his haste to get away, he had entered the hospital room next to Misty's. There, he had stumbled in on a nurse giving a patient, an older man, a bath. The same Nurse Joy from earlier continued washing the man's arm, never lifting her gaze.
"So-sorry!" he squeaked, backing up. Pikachu, from running to catch up to him, slid into the back of his legs.
"Y'all, are pretty loud in there," Nurse Joy said.
He groaned. "How much did you hear?"
"All of it," The man and the nurse replied.
Ash grimaced into his hands before he awkwardly made his exit. He tapped at the buttons for the elevator way too many times to pretend he wasn't flustered. How had the day ended like this? His life felt like such a goofy sitcom and not the good kind either.
"Poor kid," the man wheezed. "He done lost his nerve that he didn't even realize she feels the same."
"I tried to help him," the nurse laughed.
Ash could hear them while he waited for the elevator to open, but what could he do. The moment was gone. Next time, he would plan better and make sure to confess outside of a hospital!
Which was your favorite ending- the original or this one?
