Important 1.29.2016: I noticed that Ffnet for some reason didn't acknowledge that I uploaded ch. 31 on 1.28.2016, so if you haven't read that yet, read ch. 31 first!
Spitfire, Chapter 32: Someday
When Ash returned to his house, he did not expect to see food waiting for him; and it did nothing to curb his hunger. Hadn't he eaten today? Now that he was thinking about it, breakfast was his last official meal, with a few bites from a extra-ketchup filled hamburger at lunch. Now that everything was taken care of, and his body was loose with relief. Having finally told Serena about his true feelings; regardless of the fact that they hurt her; he felt alleviation for the first time. He couldn't control it, if there was one thing that he had learned since the start of these events, it was that he couldn't help how he felt about Misty.
He loved Misty. He didn't simply like her a lot, and it wasn't a short, fleeting moment. Damn it, he was stuck, and while that idea had initially terrified him; now, he clung to the feeling as if it were his personal drug. Skipping the dinning room and living room entirely, he moved with a skip in his step while Pikachu bound out of Ash's arms at the sound of his pokemon friends playing in the background. Ash couldn't be positive, but most likely the food was being housed in the kitchen, so that was his destination as he rounded the familiar corners of his house, and jumped inside. At the sight before him, his heart danced inside of his chest. It wasn't that she was doing anything magical, she was simply being Misty. She stood hunched over the counter, pulling peppers out of her sandwich and tossing them into the bin beside the counter. Everyone else seemed to take a portion of the two-foot sandwiches cut up on the table and run, but Misty, who hated peppers the most, hung back to peel them off. He chuckled to himself and shut the kitchen door behind him as he entered. Misty didn't seem to hear.
Brock had insisted that it was easier to put peppers on everything instead of making one without, and so Misty agreed to suffer through it. It wasn't the crunch that she disliked, or even the flavor; she found that as she got older she loved sweet peppers, it was the spicy ones she could not stand. Peppers were like spicy sticks of peppery yuckiness, and Misty, whose favorite foods consisted of Italian and French dishes, hated spice; her tongue simply couldn't tolerate it. So, she picked off the red peppers, and the yellow peppers, but left the green ones. Her mouth was turned in a frown while she closed her pepper free sandwich, while thoughts about how things were going between Ash and Serena filled her mind.
Her question was answered quickly by encircling arms around her waist. She squeaked with a short "eek" escaping her lips as she jumped, dropping her sandwich back onto the plate while Ash buried his face into the crook of her neck; hugging her from behind.
"Hi Ash." She mused shortly after, turning several shade of red at the sudden closeness and warmth of his body. When his pounding chest pressed up against her back and it took her a moment to recover her wits. Even still, she didn't know what to do with her arms, so they hung at her sides limp as he inhaled the smell of her perfume; still unable to determine the exact scent.
Having cleared her throat, she pat his arm awkwardly, unsure if she should fall deeper into his warmth, or divide and split.
"How did things go with Serena?" Misty asked, citing to keep her hands on the counter rather than making skin contact. There were still a lot of people running back and forth from the kitchen, and the last thing she wanted to do was draw attention. Frankly, Ash didn't care, but caught onto her vibe and released her. At some point, they would both have to adapt to touching one another, but right now; it seemed like when he touched her she froze; but when she touched him, he froze. There didn't seem to be a happy medium yet, so when Ash had an urge to touch her, or kiss her, or hug her, or laugh with her, he chose to simply act on those feelings out of curiosity.
Chuckling, he rubbed the back of his neck as she spun to face him; back firmly against the counter. She crossed her arms over her yellow vest and he grimaced.
"...About as good as it could have gone, I suppose." He offered while Misty spared a few glanced around the kitchen, looking for said blonde girl. Catching her gaze as he gait back over to the table to grab himself a section of the sandwich, he didn't make eye contact.
"How was she?" Misty asked, suddenly having a loss of appetite, which clearly would not do, because she hadn't eaten since a yogurt at lunch.
"...err..." Ash stammered, scrunching his face up, "She said she needed some time alone." while speaking, he turned to approach the refrigerator taking a greedy bite of his sandwich as he kicked the refrigerator door open with his foot. Misty nodded her head at the hidden talent while he reached in to grab a juice box, looking up at Misty to ask if she wanted one. She shook her head and politely turned it down before sitting up on the counter herself, right beside her food.
"Was she at least okay?" Misty asked worriedly, still feeling an amass of guilt as she kicked her feet and gripped the edge of the counter. Ash didn't reply right away, instead he poked a hole in the travel-box juice and looked up at the dazzling red-head, sipping on the straw.
"...No." He answered honestly, having heard the echoes of her cries as he trekked back to the house. However, Serena was not just going to lie down and die, she would get better; if not now, eventually. So Ash looked hopeful. "But she will be someday."
Misty's guilt lessened at his words, but it did nothing to ease her sympathy; it also did nothing to stop the frustrating question about where exactly that left them. Returning her gaze to him, she noticed that he pointed at her sandwich.
"Is there something wrong with it?" he asked skeptically, to which Misty shrugged.
"I'm not that hungry." She denied, and it was the truth technically; she wasn't hungry. Her emotions played a huge part on her physic, when she was sad, ice cream and liquor and really anything high in fat and low in benefits were her best friends, and when she was anxious, starvation was her go to gal; mostly because she had a queasy stomach under high stress.
He scoffed, "Have you even eaten today?" He asked while approaching her, eyes narrowed dangerously. Misty pursed her lips and then sucked them in.
"Yes, I had some yogurt at lunch."
Ash's mouth fell open as he stared at her; "Did you turn into a pichu while I wasn't looking?"
She scoffed, apparently missing the memo and shook her head, "What? No? How does that even apply."
Without warning, he grabbed her sandwich off the plate beside her and held it up in her face.
"Then why are you eating like one?!" He laughed, mostly because Misty threw her head back in surprise and nearly fell off the counter top where she sat.
"Damn it, Ash, don't do that." She growled dangerously while moving the pepper-free sandwich away from her face and setting it back down beside her while Ash gulped his down with terrifying speed.
"I'll stop doing it when you eat." He warned her. She rolled her eyes at this, however.
"Don't start on that, I can take care of myself." She growled, though the thought of Serena having faded, she did realize that she should be hungry; but now if she ate, it would be like admitting that Ash was right. So she bit her tongue.
"So," She muttered, crossing her arms over her vest once again as she slid off the counter to stand, "What about us, then?" her cheeks turned red while Ash looked up at her for a moment. His heart began to race again while he pursed his lips, and looked around the room. He winced slightly.
"What about us?" He tired, innocently his mind didn't wrap around the question until the defined look of frustration passed over her face, and a rosy color formed over her cheeks. "Oh..." he added after, the lights coming on behind his eyes.
He shifted his feet awkwardly while Misty's breath stilled in her chest, unsure about where this would go from here; she was worried, though unsure why. She didn't have a reason to be worried, did she? Ash set his juice down, and dusted his hands against his pants gently. Approaching Misty, he removed the dirty gloves from the days previous activities, and placed a hand against the counter at either side of her while laughing nervously under his breath. Misty didn't sway though, she stood tall when his arms brushed against her flesh, and steeled herself.
Ash wasn't entirely sure why he wanted to be so close to her, he coped by saying his body did it naturally; all those pint up teenage hormones he never acted on.
"Can I be honest?" He inquired abruptly
Worried, Misty tried her best to grin, "...sure," She hesitated.
At her words, Ash fidgeted, and gestured with his pointer-finger to the air between them; "Can we just enjoy this for tonight?"
Air escaped Misty's lungs as her mouth fell open quizzically, "This?" she echoed, confused. Ash nodded expectantly.
"As in you and me. No teasing from our friends, no weird, awkward talks, and no strange, paralyzing emotions...just...," He paused, drawing closer to her as he brushed his hand along her cheek, stopping briefly to touch the cut on her lip, "...this." he finished, closing the space between them with his lips.
It was unnatural the things that kissing her did to him; though she couldn't disagree. The sensation of her soft lips, aside from her injury, was an unhealthy addiction. Even though he had only managed to kiss her once, well, twice if he counted the one when she didn't kiss him back, it was a heat he had already familiarized himself with, and craved it at random intervals throughout the day. It was odd, and foreign, and in every respect strange for the pokemon trainer to feel the way that he did; but it wasn't a feeling he couldn't get used to. In fact-as her arms draped nervously around his neck to bring him closer-he wanted to kiss her, and he, Ash frickin' Ketchum, has never wanted physical contact with a girl in his entire life. Without the guilt, and confusion that swaddled him previously, Misty's kiss was fire and her body was the match.
A clear, interrupting cough echoed into the kitchen from the hallway entrance, where a blushing Ash and Misty pulled apart in a daze; not even entirely separating as they turned to face the perpetrator known as Brock. He raised his hands jokingly, as a blush crawled over both of their faces, having been caught during their 'secret love affair'.
"Don't stop on my account." He whistled with a smirk. At first, they didn't move, frozen in subjective fear as both internally screamed about needing some place else that wasn't full of their friends to 'catch' them at every corner. Ash, who licked his lips greedily, could feel Misty's arms leave his neck and grab Ash's empty juice box. She launched it angrily at Brock's head from across the room, missing only because of Brock's natural reflexes to her nervous tantrums. Still, it scared him the way the box nearly exploded when it smashed against the door; once again reminding both men who the strongest person in the room was.
"Pervert!" Shesquealed angrily, though Ash could only move away from her as she so neatly covered her embarrassment with her short-temper; even though she knew how silly it was to get mad. She wasn't mad, just defensive. Ash was different, when getting caught; he clammed up and wasn't sure what to do with himself.
"I'm just saying it's about time!" Brock yelped while Misty launched another miscellaneous item at his head; he dodged it again, dancing around the kitchen and laughing while Ash took a seat at the table and gnawed gently on his second sandwich piece. Random objects flew over his head as Misty and Brock traded phrases; Brock using words like "kissy kissy" and "cute" and Misty using much more colorful words that Ash blocked out. Though he knew this was just their way of playing, because otherwise, Misty wouldn't have missed, and Brock would have turned the other way and left, embarrassed upon what he stumbled into.
Ash sighed happily while looking up at Brock and Misty, who had stopped throwing things to stare deep into each others eyes, while Misty began the train of threats on his life if he told anyone about what he just saw. While Brock yammered on about how she did a really "nice job helping out", referencing something Ash had no idea about.
Ahh... It was nice to be home, he thought with a cheerful smile that had gone unnoticed.
XOXOXOXOXXOXOXOXOXXOXOOX
Iris and Cilan were wonderful at telling stories... if those stories were at the same time hugely over played, courtesy of Iris, and entirely underplayed by Cilan. Listening to their combined effort of rendition that lead them to being captured on a boat, and thrown off to struggle and survive to Pallet Town, was painful. Cilan had given Ash and Misty a retelling of the story previously, but the way Iris told it was easily grander; talking about the color of the water, the way the evening sun drifted behind the icy clutches of the ocean, and how it filled them with no hope of escape.
If not a little crazy, it was an amazingly interesting story.
Ash and Misty sat beside one another on the couch; though Misty insisted that they sit separately to appear 'normal', Ash defended by saying she was over thinking it, and they used to sit together all the time. What was different now? Misty couldn't make a reasonable argument, so together they sat, with Ash against the arm rest, Misty beside him, and Brock and Dawn beside that. All eyes on Iris, who stood triumphantly at the front of the fireplace, made it easy for split second maneuvers in which Ash's hand would twitch and touch her thigh, or her left wrist; and occasionally her waist if the position was unintentionally, but the more Ash did it, the less she shuddered beneath his touch, and the less nervous he became about the situation. Baby steps.
Serena had returned mid-way through Iris's story, taking a seat on the armrest of the love seat beside May, though she didn't make eye contact with Ash. Whether it was because she knew it would re-open fresh wounds, or because she noticed right away that he was sitting beside Misty so comfortably, when he couldn't do the same for her. Truthfully, a part of Serena was angry, but more of her was sad than anything else.
Realizing that she had gotten carried away, Iris sat down on the rocking chair beside the fireplace, and placed her hands neatly into her lap and grinned embarrassingly.
"So...Yeah, I told my story, what happened with you all yesterday?"
Around the room, faces fell and a strong cord of tension cut through the backs of each trainer before Dawn started to crack up a little.
"The same old stuff." she offered, an idea quickly support by the other cast who took the chance to talk amongst one another at the end of Iris's tale. Tracey, and said purple haired woman both rose again, this time with both of them approaching Ash. Serena sat quietly, hoping to avoid becoming center of attention; but as luck would have her, Iris wasn't the quickest to catch on.
"So the little kid finally has a girlfriend now? How's that working out for you?" Iris asked sweetly, with her hands on her hips. Everyone knew what happened between Serena and Ash; they may not have known it was Misty that Ash was newly interested in but they knew that the former couple were over with. Misty choked, slamming her fist against her chest; as it just so happened before Iris spoke; Ash and Misty were rather close, and unable to stand the pins and needles poking at her side, she stood up and bailed. Leaving a nervous Ash under a watchful Serena.
Iris didn't think Misty was acting strangely; however, Tracey followed the red-head out.
"No I don't, actually." Ash mumbled while scratching his cheek. Serena's heart stopped. At that comment, where so many of his friends could hear him, it was official now, if it hadn't been before. "It was a misunderstanding." He added, pouring the salt into Serena's wound who folded her arms upsettingly. Iris blushed, embarrassed.
"Oh, that's rough." Iris laughed, "That makes sense though, I don't know who would date a kid like you." She joked as the color drained from Ash's face, he wanted to correct her; but instead he opted for the traditional,
"I am not a kid!" he yelled back, puffing up his cheeks as Misty poked her head into the living room interrupting the argument.
"Ash, Tracey needs to talk to you." She grumbled, having completely recovered from Iris's previous comment, her arms were crossed. Ash looked at Misty with surprise and rose from his seat to follow her out. He swore, if this was another event of drama, he wished to opt out now... he thought bitterly, feeling a frown tug at his lips. When he left, Iris took Ash's seat, and chatted briefly with Brock while May tried her best to cheer Serena up who was unable to remove her eyes from the door at which Ash left.
"What's up Tracey?" Ash asked with crossed arms once they were out of ear-shot of the rest of the group. Misty leaned against the wall behind Ash; so he had to question what the conversation would be about.
"I had a favor to ask, and I asked Misty here to mediate because she already knows about it..." Tracey mumbled nervously. Ash nodded.
"Go for it."
"Well...you see, when I first arrived here, I had planned to make an announcement...but after yesterday's events I sort of...forgot to cancel." He stammered nervously, rubbing his fingers together. Misty watched him when an abrasive irritation and kicked off the wall to approach the two males.
"Tracey forgot to tell my sister that his plans were off, and so she's currently planning a huge party for said announcement and can no longer un-send invitations." Misty glowered hastily; Ash's eyebrows rose.
"Plans for what?"
Tracey scratched his head, "Well..." his eyes drifted around the room, recalling what Misty had said yesterday about Ash's mental stability, but Ash had seemed to recover as of late—so he hoped it wouldn't send Ash into an implosion.
"I'm engaged." he said flatly, a tinge of pink rising to his cheeks.
Ash stared at him dumbfounded, "Engaged in what?"
Simultaneously, Misty and Tracey smacked their foreheads, Misty recovering the fastest knocked Ash on the shoulder very gently; "Like holy matrimony!" She whisper-yelled, and then crossed her arms, "You know, getting married." She hissed as an after thought, looking away from Ash.
It took a few moments of Ash staring at Tracey for the lights to come on and his mouth fell into a sharp 'o' shape as he pumped his fist up in half-elation, half-confusion. "You're engaged! Like the big one. Since when? Aren't you a little young?"
Misty couldn't help herself, she chuckled as she watched the lights turn on in his mind, covering her mouth with her fingers.
Tracey rubbed the back of his head, "I'm twenty-one Ash... I think I'm old enough to get married." Tracey scowled slightly "And we've been for awhile now... we've just been struggling when and how to tell our friends. We thought that here would be the best place to tell everyone, since we're all together for once."
Ash looked around for a few moments, behind him, around the corner in the living room and in the kitchen and narrowed an eye at him. "When you say we...?" Ash asked, while quirking an eyebrow. Not understanding, Tracey looked at Misty as if indicating her sister Daisy but Ash wasn't as quick to the punch. In turn, the thought of Tracey and Misty, if only for a brief second, knocked the wind out of Ash who looked at the flabbergasted female accusingly for a moment. He had to stifle a snort; even Ash knew that could never happen.
"Not me!" She yelped turning several shades of red and embarrassingly swatting his hat off his head to hit him with it, "My sister, Daisy!" She corrected while Ash protected his head by flailing his arms around, smiling up at her sweetly and taking her wrists into his hands to calm her down.
"Wow..." Tracey said skeptically, whistling out as he watched the exchange, "So this finally happened." He said matter-of-fact, having noticed the turn of reactions and definite defensive maneuvers from Misty, who was trying too hard to cover up her new found relationship with Ash. Tracey grinned, ready to make further comments.
"Shut up or you'll be walking down the isle with a limp." Misty warned him still red from embarrassment as a flash of anger shot through her eyes. She lopsidedly placed Ash's hat back onto the grinning boy, and he beamed at her, thinking maybe she took his request to keep it just between them a little too seriously; but he understood, it was weird for him, too. Ash just wasn't as physical about it.
Tracey relaxed a little, having realized that whatever was bothering Ash was truly fixed now; "Anyways Ash, I wanted to ask if you would be okay with me announcing it tonight even though its kind of your celebration party. We sort of have a party coming up, and like I said earlier, Daisy sent out invitations this morning to the rest of our families like we had planned since I never got back to her..." he pleaded.
Ash blinked up at him for a moment, and then glanced at Misty, and then back at Tracey. In truth, he felt a little weird about it. His friends were getting married. To Misty's sister, no less! On what planet were they grown up enough for that? But the look on Tracey's face made him squint his eyes. Ash was no expert, as he would remind himself and anyone who asked a million times; but the look in Tracey's eyes when he talked about his situation made Ash smile. It was Ash's party, but these were his friends, and what was more important to Ash?
Grinning, Ash replied, "No, I don't mind if you 'announce' it. But if you're asking me, you're marrying into crazy." Ash laughed, having forgotten that Misty stood beside him with an irritable scowl and twitching eyebrow.
"I'm not the only one," Tracey tossed aloud while draping a protective arm around Ash who didn't have time to question the older man's words. Misty followed them close behind as they walked back into the living room where Ash cleared his throat to get everyone's attention.
"So, I know I should have done this sooner, but we all know how I don't like to brag..." He announced, getting a scoff from both Gary, and Paul. Ash put his hands together happily and smiled at each of his friends looking back at him—even those who were a little upset with him, and those who were devastated, as well as at Pikachu, eevee and piplup who sat together eating left overs by the window.
"But thank you all for coming here and celebrating my first victory. It means a lot to me that all of my closest friends would travel regions to support me, deal with all the drama of the last 48 hours, and still manage to stick together and have a good time. I hope that someday I am able to return the favor for each of you." He smiled, feeling a little nervous with all eyes on him, so he looked at Tracey, and grabbed the taller man by the shoulder, and gently brought him forward.
"Without you guys, I know I wouldn't be where I am now; and so I am eternally grateful for the chance to have met and traveled with all of you," his eyes landed on Serena's, who smiled bitter-sweet at Ash and slowly looked away.
"But unfortunately, life doesn't stop when you ditch me, so; I'm not very good at ending speeches; but Tracey has an announcement." With that, Ash backed away from Tracey, giving him a short push of encouragement as Tracey stepped toward the center of the room. Tracey smiled oddly at everyone who he had come to know from the many times they stopped through Pallet Town to visit Ash, or someone like Ash. Some he knew well, such as Gary, Brock, May, and Max; others he knew from expeditions, such Drew and Dawn; and others he knew hardly at all; but over the course of the party, had managed to share a great deal of moments with; primarily including Clemont, and very briefly, Cilan.
A slight blush formed over Tracey's cheeks as he opened his mouth; "I'm getting married." he said flatly, and after a very short moment of deafening silence, the room erupted with roars—the loudest from Delia who clapped her hands together happily and pranced over to hug Tracey.
Drowned out by the noise, Ash scrunched his face up; "I think my mom has adopted everyone." Ash mumbled, getting a laugh from Misty.
"I think so," She paused as she snickered, "That was a pretty good speech; I'm impressed."
"Then maybe I shouldn't tell you that I ripped it off from a guy at a battling awards show." Ash added, grinning as he watched the girls first, aside from Brock and Cilan, congratulate Tracey and demand to hear the engagement story; as well as the time and place of the ceremony.
When the intimate story began, Ash's hand twitched beside Misty's, who listened with a great deal of humor at the mentioning of her sister. Apparently, the story started with how Tracey had asked Daisy out on a date after she and Misty had gotten into a fight over which color to repaint the interior of the gym. Daisy wanted a pink interior, but Misty insisted that blue was a better color; and anyone who knew Daisy, understood that she could be a little bit of a drama queen. As Tracey talked, Ash found less focus from what he said, and rather how he said it. While Ash would never understated how someone could love one of Misty's older, air-headed sisters, every time Tracey mentioned the blonde his eyes would light up and his voice would pitch only the slightest. The very same thing that Serena had apparently noticed about Ash.
Distracted suddenly by Misty's giggling fit during the story, he wondered if at some point in his life, he would be in Tracey's shoes, telling some rendition of a sickly romantic, engagement story. Using the same inflictions, and having the same, dopey look in his eyes. Ash inhaled suddenly, the cold air knocking some sense back into him as he unconsciously laced his fingers around Misty's. He stared at her, waiting for approval as she glanced down at their hands briefly, and then looked up at him with that simple, sweet smile. Ash's heart skipped a beat when she squeezed just a little tighter, for once, it didn't matter to him if other people saw or not. Misty was his.