Title: Snow Where to Go
Chapter Title: Monday
Summary: A mysterious force has left a snowstorm spiraling over Kalos which has trapped two Kanto holiday travelers in a series of blustering predicaments. Can they figure out what's causing the storm and restore the balance in time or will the world, and their feelings, hit an extended icy patch? Pokeshipping.
Note: little bit cliche, little bit slowburn.
"I'm sorry Miss, if you'll please join that line over there the airline will help you get re-booked and return your baggage to you," a well-mannered flight attendant authoritatively spoke.
"Are you sure there's no chance of getting out tonight? I have to be back in Kanto by Friday for an audit on my gym and with the storm coming in I'm afraid if I can't get out today I'll be stuck here until…" the disheartened redhead pleaded, opening up her planner and staring dismally at the red marked date and checking it against the weather forecast on her phone, "Sunday?"
"I understand, but there's really nothing I can do. They've ordered a full ground stop. I hope for your sake the storm clears in time," the flight attendant sweetly offered, moving to sidestep the redhead and head towards the staff gate to avoid further questions from guests.
Sighing heavily Misty picked up her carry-on bag and moved to join the slow moving queue of alternate airline accommodations. She was the last person in line so she knew her chances were slim to none in terms of getting re-booked on an early flight and, with the storm predicted to hover over Kalos for the next several days, her vacation was likely to be extended quite some time.
Normally she wouldn't have minded, however she'd already had to reschedule the league audit once due to an emergency repair with the water filtration system for the gym so she was unlikely to incur any favor by having to move it a second time...especially for something as frivolous as a winter getaway.
Her attention was suddenly captured by a flurry of commotion at the gate behind her.
"Did I miss it? I thought boarding started now...Oh Mew, my mom's going to kill me if I managed to miss another flight!" A worried voice exclaimed as the flustered human sprinted up to the empty gate Misty had just walked away from.
The speaker failed to notice the flashing "canceled" sign on the manifest board and continued to lament about his inability to master the timely art of cross-regional air travel.
Misty's ears perked up as she would recognize that voice anywhere, and before she could process it or even stop herself she was calling out to him.
"Hey, Ash, Pikachu, over here!"
She watched his face contort in confusion before his eyes found her at the back of the line across the terminal.
"Misty; what're you doing here?" Ash asked confused as he and Pikachu navigated their way to her.
"Same thing you are – trying to get back to Kanto," Misty avoidantly answered.
Suddenly the solo trip that sounded like such a grand idea two months ago, felt rather embarrassing to admit to, so instead of telling him she came to enjoy the Kalosian food and sights while entertaining ideas of romance with strangers who would sweep her off her feet in front of the Prism Tower, she hid behind snark.
"Why didn't you mention that you were spending some of the holidays in Kalos?" Ash plodded on cluelessly as the line shuffled forward with the duo still comprising the tail end.
"I didn't want to interrupt your holiday plans," Misty shrugged trailing off, "May mentioned you had plans to spend Christmas with Serena so..."
"And Clemont and Bonnie," Ash added, "I know they wouldn't have minded another person joining us especially since I remember how much you love all things Kalosian."
Misty blushed lightly at this. Clearly whatever message Serena had tried to get into Ash's head about a relationship status was falling on deaf ears to the trainer himself.
"Ah, well, I shouldn't have come anyway. This storm is going to have me stuck here through New Year's at this rate…"
"Really?" Ash mused with a forced layer of concern over thinly veiled excitement.
Misty, interpreting his excitement as something to do with getting more time with the demure blonde he'd just left, simply shrugged.
"Sucks because I'm going to get in trouble with the league for missing an audit," Misty muttered.
"Who schedules an audit for the week between Christmas and New Year's anyway?" Ash teased nudging the redhead with a light elbow.
"Me; because I don't have the time to deal with audit's during the regular gym season. That's what I get for earning a decent gym reputation," Misty grumbled irritably.
"Wasn't it you who told me that it's not polite to brag?" Ash chuckled, looping an arm through hers and dragging her up to the now open counter.
She was almost too annoyed at his statement to enjoy the sudden contact which felt akin to a blanket in a snowstorm. The warmth of his touch hadn't faded with the time apart and it caught her by surprise which abruptly ended when the brunette airline agent opened her mouth.
"I apologize for the cancellation and the wait," a polished looking agent spoke from behind the counter, "unfortunately we're under a complete ground stop until Saturday at the earliest."
Accepting her fate as reality Misty simply sighed and stared at the agent, "so where does that leave us?"
"Given your flight was between regions and you had flight insurance, you are owed compensation in the form of a hotel stay and meal vouchers until we can properly re-book you...however with the holiday travel and the storms I'm facing a bit of a problem…" the agent admitted calmly.
"What seems to be the problem?" Ash asked curiously.
"With the unprecedented number of flights being canceled we don't seem to have the hotel capacity we need at our partner hotels. At this point we're asking if guests would be willing to do us a favor and share a room with another traveler until we can secure the proper space...this is a completely voluntary option of course, but we are due to have several more flights canceled this week and I notice that you two seem to be rather friendly…" The airline agent trailed off leaving the silence as space for the duo to make decisions.
"We traveled together for several years, so that's no problem," Ash agreeably answered.
"Miss, are you okay with this as well?" the agent hopefully asked, imperceptibly trying to ascertain whether she could trust the young man's account of their willing status.
"Yeah; if Ash is fine with it, I am too," Misty shrugged directing a question to Ash, "Serena won't have an issue with you sharing a room with me?"
"No, why would she? You and I have shared plenty of rooms at pokemon centers before," Ash cluelessly replied before the airline agent handed them hotel information, vouchers for a shuttle, and directions to the carousel to pick up their checked bags.
Misty simply quirked a brow at the agent who seemingly understood her unspoken concerns.
"Thank you; the airline will give you some bonus miles as an appreciation of your willingness to help us out during this storm," the brunette agent smiled warmly as the duo walked off toward baggage claim.
"Oh Mew, I think the lady at the front desk made an incorrect assumption…" Misty sighed as she pushed open the door to the hotel room they'd been offered for their troubles after taking a short shuttle bus ride to a boutique hotel in the center of Lumiose City.
"What do you mean," Ash puzzled before taking stock of the room and trailing off with a flat "huh," of his own in response, noticing the single king bed instead of the two twin beds they'd been expecting.
"I'm going to call the front desk and see if there's anything they can do," Misty ignored Ash's response before grabbing the hotel phone off the side table.
Ash and Pikachu merely shrugged at each other as they took stock of the decorated hotel room...it was Kalosian for sure, but there was something about it that seemed a bit extra that Ash didn't quite understand until he heard Misty speaking to hotel reception.
"Is there any way that we could get a different room?" Misty hopefully asked sitting down on the duvet cover as she spoke, "there seems to be a bit of a mix up."
Misty sighed as the person on the other end of the line explained that this was the last room they'd had available and apologized for any inconvenience this would cause.
"It's just a little unfortunate given this appears to be your honeymoon suite…" Misty mumbled in embarrassment before being reassured that while it was indeed the honeymoon suite, it was also the nicest room the hotel had and included the balcony with the nicest view of the Prism Tower.
Ash balked finally noticing all the flowery and heart based décor that graced the room that he'd chalked it up to Kalos design.
"Oh...Okay...I understand," Misty sighed before replacing the receiver in it's cradle and directing her attention to the tanned young man who was staring out the sliding door window at the falling snow.
"What'd you get us into this time, Ketchum?" Misty teased in an effort to lighten the mood sauntering up beside him.
Ash grinned in response, silently thankful that after all this time she could still handle their wayward adventures without the initial shouting matches they'd engaged in, in youth.
"At least this room will have plenty of Kalos charm for you, Myst," Ash grinned pulling the girl by the arm out onto the snow dusted patio, "and look, we do have a really decent view of the Prism Tower."
Everything was fine.
Everything was fine...until it wasn't.
That's what the redheaded gym leader kept repeating to herself as they navigated the remainder of the day without any wayward catastrophes.
It was like falling back into an old habit, strange, yet familiar in a nuanced way that made things easier than they otherwise would be.
The only challenge to that familiarity came at nightfall.
"It's like sitting on a couch together," Ash argued as Misty tried to banish him to the floor for a late night movie.
She knew he would fall asleep in the bed, and despite the king size of the bed in question she was well aware of his penchant for sleepily cuddling.
He'd always been that way with her. Brock used to joke that Ash's subconscious was smarter than he was when Misty would lament about her unrequited feelings, but now that they were past the preteen awkward phase and into their late teens she found the sleeping situation carried a new weight.
"Fine, but only if you agree to build a wall of pillows down the middle," Misty relented, caving to the futility of the situation.
"Then how am I supposed to talk to you about the movie?" Ash playfully inquired tossing a stray pillow at the redhead.
"Are you actually trying to sleep with me or something?" Misty shot back. The direct edge to her tone debased the trainer who had been enjoying boundary pushing and wasn't expecting getting called out in such a quick manner.
"No; you're my best friend. That would just be…weird," Ash awkwardly grumbled sitting on his half of the bed.
The tensile nature of the air highlighted a few of the changes that had occurred in their friendship with the passed time. Historically she would have also reacted with a similar blushing frustration, but now she was perfectly content to control the situation and leave him spiraling and asking himself why he felt so desperate to get a rise out of her...
Or if he actually wanted what he was pushing her towards with his taunts.
"Thought so," Misty retorted, hitting play on the movie and settling in. She wished she hadn't left Azurill with Daisy back in Cerulean as reconnecting with Ash again made her miss Togepie who had readily alleviated some of the awkwardness with a chirpy distraction, but it didn't take long before she glanced over and noticed the trainer had fallen victim to sleep before the movie's introduction was even done.
The tornado that was his personality stilled in sleep and made her heart flutter. This was a side of him she knew few people actually got to see, an honor reserved for traveling companions and family, but seeing him this way made her feel like despite the time and distance they were still the same fumbling kids meant to tackle the world together.
She just hoped tomorrow could be more of the same.
Maybe missed flights and caught feelings weren't the worst things to happen.
Getting back to EOC soon. Work has been crushing my soul lately (we're usually in slow season around the holidays so I was anticipating having time to write during work), but competency at your job only rewards you with more work, so I've been "gifted" the tasks someone failed at for the past 4 months which now need to be completed in the next 2 weeks...lucky me. That being said, my mental capacity has been at an all time low when I get home which means writing proper endings isn't going to happen until this is managed.
I have 4 of 6 (or 7; haven't decided if we'll take it to "Sunday") chapters pre-written for this story and am hopeful to get back to tie up all my other unfinished works after a small hiatus, but in the meantime, I figured I could post something. Just, unfortunately, not something on the stories I'd promised.
Sorry for always being a chaotic energy. I still think you'll like this story even if it wasn't my intended plan for the next few weeks.
Reviews, favs, and follows are always appreciated.
-FWFT