Yeah, I'm late. Sorry! Stuff happened, but we're here now! I'm glad everyone liked the last story and I'm sorry that I wasn't able to get the story up on time. But I hope you'll enjoy Day 5's theme regardless. The theme was Sleeping Together, and while everyone went with a slightly more touching approach, Holly and I delved into some humor instead. Enjoy! I own nothing except the story.
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The rain pounded on the window of their Pokémon Center room for the night, acting as a reminder of everything that had transpired just mere hours before for the two Pokémon trainers now laying in their beds. They had gotten lost once more, caught outside in the forest as the brewing storm overhead finally unleashed the tempest it had been holding back for all of a few minutes.

It was a mad dash through the forest to try and find shelter, which they never did find. A backpack full of clothes and supplies was lost, there were scraped knees as the trainers tripped and fell more than once, all the while they were getting poured on by buckets worth of rain every moment.

It was only by sheer luck that they stumbled upon the small town at the edge of the bug-infested forest they'd haplessly wandered into, and it wasn't a pleasant meeting with the Nurse Joy in charge as she scolded them for being caught outside after curfew, coming in and soaking her nice clean floor after her Chansey had worked so hard getting everything spick and span for the next day.

The disgruntled nurse handed them a room key, insisted they get themselves cleaned up and straight to bed, and to be on their way the next morning. She had then turned on her heels with a huff and left without another word. To sum things up, it was an overall miserable night for the two Pokémon trainers...

And yet somehow, Misty Waterflower had never been more giddy in her whole life.

It was so surreal, the night had done everything in its power to ruin everything for her, but she just couldn't bring herself to feel upset about anything that had happened...all because of a five minute conversation she had with her longtime best friend Ash Ketchum, whom she was visiting for a week for a quick tour around Kanto, for old time's sake.

It was during that discussion that feelings had been revealed, as the increasing tension between them over the past few days had suddenly come to a head and led to Ash blurting out everything that was plaguing his mind and heart all in one long, scatterbrained run on sentence. A sentence that when summed up, essentially conveyed a message that she'd been craving to hear ever since she and Ash had become friends.

He liked her.

There was no cliché confession, no formal declaration of his love, it was all just typically Ash in its delivery and she wouldn't have it any other way. She could still feel the warm spark that had entered her heart when she wrapped her arms around Ash, and that spark strengthened into a flame when he wrapped his own arms around her.

And that's when everything went wrong.

Even when she lost most of her clothes in the forest during their escape from the downpour, the smile on her face never left. No amount of water - how ironic, Misty thought - was going to be able to ruin this night for her. Her dream - besides becoming a Water Pokémon Master - had finally come true, and she just couldn't wait until the next day so she could start what she hoped would be a new and improved relationship with Ash.

Which was the cause for her current predicament.

Once they reached the Pokémon Center and finished dealing with the irate Nurse Joy, Ash had unknowingly indulged her in one of her romantic fantasies, offering one of his own t-shirts for her to sleep in. She knew he was just being a nice guy, he was all too aware of the fact that she'd lost her clothes somewhere in the forest, all she had left was a pair of shorts and underwear, and she definitely wasn't going to be seen wearing only a bra. Still, the very idea of wearing one of Ash's shirts to bed made her want to squeal like a little girl, which she almost did when she closed the bathroom door behind her for her shower.

Soon enough she came back out, her shoulder-length hair down and freshly washed after the draining ordeal they'd gone through. Ash and Pikachu were waiting for her, and she couldn't help but smile when she saw the awed expression on Ash's face. It really was adorable, even with his sort of confession, he still had no idea how to react to certain things. Apparently, her wearing his shirt was something he liked without even knowing it, seeing as he was struggling to keep his eyes on her face. When she snapped her fingers in front of his face, he blinked in shock and blushed beet red, hurrying off to the shower and sputtering apologies even after he'd closed the door behind him.

So it was no surprise to the redhead that as soon as Ash came out of the shower, he quickly and somewhat dramatically turned off the room lights, climbed up to the top bunk and uttered a brief goodnight before pulling the covers over himself and going to sleep. This left Misty alone in the dark to reflect on everything that had transpired.

She was happy, there was no doubt about that, in fact she couldn't remember a time when her heart felt so light and free of burden than it did now. But even amidst the swarm of Butterfree in her stomach and the girlish giggling she was desperately trying to suppress, she had also come to the conclusion that Ash's emotional growth wasn't quite ready for another big step forward. He'd already had one by admitting he liked her, and for now that was more than enough...now he needed some reassurance that things weren't going to all of a sudden be even more awkward between them. Then she heard snoring in the bunk above her, and a mischievous smirk spread across her lips as an idea came to her.

What better way to show Ash that they were still best friends than some good old fashioned teasing?

What to do, she wondered to herself, there wasn't exactly a plethora of options to choose from...she briefly considered sneaking into his bed and poking his face until he woke up, but she quickly dismissed it with a roll of her eyes (and a slight blush) that doing so would probably have the opposite effect she was going for. She looked around the room for anything she could use to try and needle at Ash, but their room wasn't exactly stocked with good teasing props. Staring up at the bunk above her for a few moments, she crossed her arms and let out a little disappointed sigh...then her eyes widened as an idea clicked in her mind.

Misty raised her foot and slowly lifted the mattress, quickly bringing it back down which prompted Ash to snort a little as his rest was disturbed before going back to sleep. The redhead giggled quietly at that. Oh yeah, this would work out just fine. Holding back her laughter, Misty again shoved her foot up into the mattress, feeling by the weight above her that she was lifting his lower back into the air, then she quickly dropped it again and this time she heard Ash gasp before giving a sleepy response.

"Misty?"

She quickly turned over onto her stomach and shoved her face into her pillow just in case he leaned over the railing to get a look at her, she wanted so badly to burst into laughter but she knew he wasn't quite to the point where she wanted him to be. "Hold it in Misty, hold it in!" God the urge to laugh was almost unbearable, but somehow she managed to keep her composure, and soon enough she heard Ash reposition himself and try to get back to sleep.

Not on her watch.

Slowly flipping back onto her back so as not to make any noise, she again lifted her foot and pushed up on the mattress, this time a little higher than before and she snickered when she heard Pikachu stirring before Ash did.

"Pikachupi?"

"Misty wt'r you doing?"

She quickly withdrew her foot and closed her eyes, trying to act like she was asleep to the best of her ability but the temptation to burst into laughter was only growing stronger...especially when Ash called her bluff.

"Misty I know you're not asleep, what's the big idea?"

Misty refused to move. "Smirk and it's over," she thought to herself. "I just need one more chance before I own up to it."

The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end as she sensed Ash leaning over the top bunk to give her a scrutinizing glare, but eventually she heard the mattress above her shift again as Ash laid back down. "Some things never change." she heard him grumble.

Perfect. The redhead finally allowed herself to beam brightly as she raised her foot once more, this time swiftly lifting the mattress and inadvertently causing Pikachu to bounce a few inches up into the air.

"Misty!"

This time she didn't even bother trying to hide, instead just looking him in the eye with an impish grin. "What?"

"Why are you shoving your foot into my back?! We're trying to sleep here!"

She didn't flinch and looked at him with a completely straight face. "And I'm just trying to do my nightly aerobics, I don't stay in this kinda shape by eating hamburgers every day ya know, maybe you should lay off of those things for a while, I'm getting more of a workout than I thought I would."

"Nightly...aerobics..." he sneered at her. "Since when?!"

"Since a while ago," Misty pouted at him. "You wouldn't want me to get all flabby would you?"

"I-" Ash quickly bit his tongue and slammed back onto the mattress, staring up at the ceiling with his arms crossed and a blush across his face. "Never mind," he growled. "Just get it over with so we can go to sleep."

"If you say so!" Misty giggled and continued lifting the mattress up and down, while the whole time Ash just waited with his finger tapping on his arm. "Oh yeah, I'm feelin' the burn! My glutes'll thank me for this later!"

"If you say so."

"Don't worry Ash," the redhead giggled. "Just 100 more reps and I'll be done."

"Wh-Misty! 100?!"

"99, 98, 97..."

"I can't believe this, you're being ridiculous!"

"You're being uncooperative, the longer you complain, the longer it takes for me to finish."

"Pikapi, pika pika Pikachupi pika."

"What?! No I'm not gonna just let her finish, I'm tired and I wanna go to sleep! She doesn't even need the exercise!"

"Aww, you're so sweet Ash." she giggled again when she heard Ash sputter in embarrassment and slam his back into the mattress. "Alright, where was I?"

"I just want you to know, you're nuts."

"Love you too Ash." she smiled when there was no response, judging by his attitude, the perfect balance had been attained. "Now then, 94, 93, 92-"

"I'm gonna come down there and make you stop."

"Pikapi..."

"You can't make me do anything, never have and you never will!"

"Pikachupi!"

"All I wanna do is sleep, is that so wrong?"

"No, it most certainly is not!" Both Ash and Misty blanched in horror, as Nurse Joy was standing there with a very grumpy look on her face. "You've caused nothing but trouble since you arrived, now be quiet and let the rest of the Pokémon Center get some sleep!"

The door was slammed and the room was again shrouded in total darkness. "Well..." Misty sweat-dropped, "Looks like I'm done then."

Ash just sighed and leaned over the railing, giving his best friend a tired and exasperated smile. "Goodnight Misty...and...thanks."

Misty gasped a little and then relinquished a smile of her own. "Figured it out huh?"

"Yeah, I think I needed that too."

"Glad I could help." she nodded once and pulled the covers over her, snuggling into her pillow before looking up at Ash again. "We'll figure this out Ash, no matter what. It can only go up from here."

"You're right."

"Of course I'm right." she smirked at him before her expression turned warm. "We'll talk in the morning. For now, let's get some sleep."

Ash sighed in relief. "Finally."

Misty watched as Ash disappeared from over the railing and the mattress above her shifted once more, showing that Ash had laid back down and was now getting cozy. "Goodnight Ashy..." she whispered as her eyes fluttered closed. "Sweet dreams." The redhead smiled warmly, and as she drifted off, she dreamed of a time when she and Ash would be able to move past the need to have these types of reassurances...a time when they might even be able to cuddle close on stormy nights like tonight...hopefully, not too far into the future.
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A/N: Hope you enjoyed that, it was one of the more fun stories I got to write. Now if you'll excuse me, gotta prepare the next one!