Hello! It is Wednesday and I am back to update this story with the first Ash and Misty themed chapter of 2021. This one combines of course Ash and Misty's relationship but with other things as well to kind of bridge a gap between the things that I usually write, and what I needed to write for this update. It doesn't actually feature Ash and Misty but for the second half, it certainly is filled with not only the love they have for each other but also the inspiration they inadvertantly offered to others, even as young as ten years old. This chapter also features Macey, Tracey and May's eldest child who is also a close musical friend of Justin. I hope you enjoy. Like the title suggests, it follows the theme of "Tracey's Drawings" from PokeShipping Week on Tumblr :)
Ages:
Justin: 28
Macey: 19
Eli: 34
Tracey: 45
Disclaimer: I own the story and the OCs mentioned!
"You two are impossibly childish, I hope you know that." Justin tried to fume as best as he could while trapped on the inside of the glass, his hand pressing up against the identical one as the person on the other side was refusing to set him free.
However, in the same manner that I was trying to look on sternly and encourage the antics to draw to a close but the corner of my mouth was beginning to throb and relinquish, Justin could not stop the light-heartedness from breezing through him, attaching itself to his own lips and his eyebrows too.
Macey herself laughed, her hand faltering on her side of the glass as the round bone of her shoulder pressed up against it too but still managing to keep the older male trapped. In the meantime, Eli breezed past and he was the one to reply to the deep purple haired male's attempt at frustration.
"Says the one trapped in a box like a goldfish." Eli humoured him in a manner that contradicted his jest, his voice like a train-track and eyebrows appearing in this same way too. He then looked away from his boyfriend in the box, putting a cup of tea next to Macey's guitar. "There you are, my love."
If the touch of the nineteen year old girl was growing restless in the moments before, it certainly was when she heard the words from Eli paired with the sight of a cup of tea being placed for her as well as the squeezing sensation around her unoccupied slight shoulder.
Her hand properly sliding off the glass as though rain droplets in the midst of a stormy day had shown it the door, she turned and flashed Eli an enthusiast, ruby red lipped smile. I watched as that expression of hers showed the duality of her nature when the split second following and while she briefly moved away from the glass door, she showed Justin an expression that could lead the panes of glass to run off with its tail between its legs.
Macey's hands were feeling hotness between her palms and the familiar sensation of a mug between them while Eli seated himself again and Justin discovered himself being interacted with despite being cut off.
"You can come out and have your own tea when you finally stop fluffing up my lyrics!" she told the deep purple haired male inside the recording booth who since had two skinny arms hugging around the softness of his grey sweater from the way it did not go unnoticed that his boyfriend had slid the younger female a cup of tea but not him.
From sitting on top of the piano in the studio section of Eli's rented home, my cheeks felt redder and more pouched than normal as I tried to resist my eyes from wandering over to the white ceramic pottery that was being clutched between the hands of the Unovan male.
My attempt was futile. Regardless of being tucked away from the rest of the people in the room and behind a box of glass that really did resemble one of Jordan's fish tanks, Justin had an inquisitive streak coursing through him that did not fail.
His eyes that were known for being very round and animated became the letterboxes that delivered mail to his boyfriend's home and after freeing himself from the headphones that attached him to the monitors and microphones of the recording booth, his chest felt constricted by his own arms all over again.
"You're a changed man are you, Elijah?" Justin proved a point to his boyfriend, his mouth movements doing just as much speaking as his eyes as his lips puckered together. Eli said nothing. I knew that he was unlikely to steal Justin's beverage from him at the best of times and certainly not when it had milk added to it. "Fine." He practically fogged up the recording box with how much air fanned from his nostrils. "You can mind my tea for me while I attempt not to fluff up this song anymore."
And with that, the boa constrictor arms of Justin fell away from his chest and he reached to place his headphones over his ears yet again, no longer breaking the distance with the microphone stand as he was true to his word and prepared to record some more lyrics of the demo record that he and Macey were putting together.
I caught sight of the only girl in the room who, after flashing Justin a look that told him that he better deliver or else, had oceanic eyes wandering in my direction. Once we had shared a bow lipped look together, I decided to hop down from the piano and join Macey by her side instead, feeling wholeheartedly glad I made that decision when I received from rubs from her that were extra warm thanks to the previous holding of her mug of tea.
She spoke to me in a whisper after she pressed the record button from her side of the room and bought the backing track to life with the same gesture. I knew that her quietness wasn't just because there was recording in progress.
"He could never fluff up a song, really." She confessed, my cheeks then practically the same shade as the cherry lipstick applied to her mouth as she stopped pressing up against the glass for good and kneeled down next to me, no mug of tea being clasped at by fingertips so she could properly devote her attention to squishing me. "He's talented."
Macey's hands might have been heavily focused on giving me a cheek massage that almost sent my eyes rolling into the back of my head but her own eyes wandered elsewhere and it became clear who she was speaking to when the deep purple haired male was the subject matter.
Eli had been nonchalantly tracing his finger along the design on the mug but he gathered when he was being conversed with. Sunken yet inquisitive orbs locked in return onto Macey's. Only the slightest of smiles tugged at his lips. In fact, his shoulders just threatened to shrug.
"Quite." Was Eli's only response. But then proving the true nature of what was in his heart, his lips stopped displaying a bow shape and widened wholeheartedly, the stool of the piano which he had sought refuge on then being left on its own. "Even parched, he is certainly something."
And as the deep violet haired male drew his bottom away from the red velvet stool and began craning out towards the glass of the box that Justin was using those impressive vocal chords of his to smash out another demo record.
With a graceful movement of his hand that was only able to be executed in this way because of his heavy focus, he clicked the glass door open and slid the mug of milky tea inside before locking Justin back in again. Eli was none the wiser to the expression that lit his boyfriend up between singing and it was not because passion was running through his veins and he was on cloud nine that he was being trusted to perform lyrics that Macey had intricately concocted the night before.
Instead, Eli's full attention was taken up by the look he received from that same girl once his bottom was seated yet again. All I could do was try not to wince as her nails unintentionally dug into the round of my cheek.
"Traitor." She remarked towards Eli, the oceanic quality of her eyes looking as though they really could drown someone before all that vanished like the tide being washed out and a glittering path towards the seafront being presented instead. "I was going to see if his inability to remember lyrics was going to give his love for a cuppa a run for its money."
Lipstick swiped lips spread apart at the same moment that glittering eyes squeezed shut. Macey was then showing an innocently delighted expression that was a whole lot different from the way that she seemed to switch up on those two boys.
I craned my neck to look at Eli, hoping to share a look but it was to no avail. Apparently all tempers rolled off him like water off a duck's back and rather than focusing on the duality of Macey's nature that he knew all too well, his shoulders bopped up and down in his own grey sweater.
He couldn't stop innocence from attaching itself to and lacing his own vocal chords as well as his expression as his eyes could not refrain from darting in between making contact with the much younger female as well as the silhouette of his boyfriend in the recording booth.
"He remembers the things that matter." He informed Macey with lines creasing at the corners of his eyes and those irises of his then being unable to look at anywhere other than his boyfriend in the recording booth. Surely his heart was constricting like he had those same headphone wires wrapped around his calves as without a guitar to occupy his fingers, those digits of Justin's tucked through a knot in the black wires. "The words of this song are compelling. Lovely work you have done."
Eli's kneecap felt the company of his elbow and in the same instant, his fingers cupped around his chin, speaking words in the direction of Justin but sentences that were no doubt for Macey and Macey only. I wondered that the thoughtful, low levelled drawl of his tone might have caused his sentiment to be swept under the carpet. But I was stood incorrect.
Macey's eyes put the recording studio lights to shame in that moment and she also seemed to forget entirely about giving me a continual fuss and left my side. I couldn't grit my teeth about it for too long if at all because instead, I relished in watching her clumsily but endearingly all the same almost tumble onto the lap of Eli as she actually intended to sit on the piano stool with him instead.
The Unovan male wasn't oblivious to the notion that the word 'really' was sure to escape from Macey's lips in the next few moments. So saving her the trouble of actually uttering them, his eyes creased all the more at her sudden company and started reaffirming his own words to her, the curls of his hair bouncing as he nodded.
Eli continually complimented Macey, highlighting the specific words and phrases of the song that touched him the most and quickly caused her cheeks to flush a similar hue to the ruby red of her painted lips. In the meantime, a look of complete gladness radiating from my own features, I looked away and at nowhere in particular and allowed the low buzz of Eli's voice to be the soundtrack to my own musings.
Closing my eyes, I pictured the fleshing out of the record and imagined how it would sound when it was finally ready to be put out into the word. Yes, the vulnerability of the words that Macey had scribbled onto paper paired with the chiming noises of Justin's guitar were a combination that could not be beat.
Some would say they were an unlikely duo together and perhaps so. But I have to say that it is wonderful to me to observe the unlikeliest of dynamics coming together and crescendo-ing perfectly in the same way that you can add drums to a perfectly delicate little song and it somehow work wonders.
In this instance, I could not help but feel like Macey and her passion were the drums and the occasional introverted nature of Justin was the demure little tune! Regardless, it was a dynamic that I was utterly present for. I should have known that this tale was going to be one of pairings, in the moments that I was in and the past ones that prevailed also.
I would be none the wiser for a tad longer.
The next thing that I remembered were my eyelids springing back open, not because my thoughts had come to an end but because there was a ringing of the doorbell, not only taking me away from my land of pondering but the chattering that was taking place between Eli and Macey was well.
The two of them looked between each other, puzzled, when a sudden new presence was about to make itself known. In spite of the fact that it was his own home that was renting, with a slight knot digging in between the two brows of Eli, he looked through the glass at Justin to see how he should proceed.
Unspoken words and a swift yet subtle gesture of the hand as the deep purple haired sang and harmonised into the microphone to get the backing vocals recorded, reassured the deep violet haired male that him answering the door would not disturb him.
Eli had just enough time to bob his head in response to the unspoken one from his boyfriend. Macey's head was craning around. If the Unovan male wasn't careful then she would rush to answer the door to his own home for him!
Thankfully, he made his way there. Not that the person on the other side was there for him anyway. My ears could not help but prick as soon as inflections of voice could be heard by all. The person on the other side took a step back but their hand waved all the same, beginning with a friendly greeting.
"Hello, how are you?" a man with shorter hair than I had once known him to be sporting but still some length pushed the longer parts of his locks out of the way before continually waving. He could read most people like a book. Apparently strangers were no different. "Oh, I'm Tracey, Macey's Dad. I was on my way to Rifure Village to see some friends of mine but I couldn't not pop in and see the girl too."
Somehow, I resisted the urge of peeking around the doorway when I quickly gathered who was on the other side because, true to Tracey's words, I knew he would be headed one of the towns in Kanto further over in order to see Ash and Misty. Instead, I lingered with Macey until she finally stopped her bottom from bedding down into the red plush of the velvet beneath her. To tell you the truth, I thought Eli might have even invited Tracey in without asking his daughter, that was how long she hesitated moving away from me.
"Killing two birds with one stone, are we? Or spying on your daughter because you don't trust her leaving Galar for five minutes?" Macey finally moved to the doorway to greet her father and the voice that she heard coming from him. I was then glad I stayed put. I could properly see the way that in spite of her purposeful, dry humour, her shoulder still lingered behind Eli's and she did not move in front of him.
Hearing these accusatory words, Tracey mimicked his voice falling low to the ground and Eli discovered his eyes to be widening all the more than usual and this was not due to his own bout of humour.
Fortunately, the father of Macey was not offended. He took a step closer to the doorway and in the process, both the people on the inside of the house.
"Do you blame me? I had to come and see if Urban Town was still in one piece." Tracey retorted, resisting going the whole hog in teasing his daughter and folding his arms over his chest and instead proclaimed a truce, tugging his backpack further onto his shoulders and his arms breaking the distance from each other instead. "Come here, Mace. Let me see you."
And with that, though I get the feeling that Eli had picked up on Macey lingering close to him for his fingertips brushed her shoulder initially, he did move out of the way so father and daughter could see each other properly and the distanced arms of Tracey could be used to embrace.
No one could deny the revolving of eyes that was portrayed by Macey but then they fluttered shut, darting towards her father and offering him a tight, albeit brief hug. Even when they drew away from each other and the end of the hold being put forth by daughter rather than father, Tracey's hand lingered between Macey's shoulder blades that he was not ready to give up on their closeness.
I chose this as the moment to allow my presence to be known. Justin out of the corner of my eye and in the recording booth slinking his headphones away from his ears to gauge what was going on, my head poked around the doorway.
I was glad when Tracey had something else to focus on rather than dwelling on the fact that Macey had shrugged his touch away from him and proceeded to head back into the studio, acting like she was the one who needed to get vocal recordings down.
"Pikachu?" was all the brown haired male uttered at first, one strap of his backpack falling away from his shoulder and a loose, long strand of hair plinking down across his forehead. He rid himself of this with a single shake. Soon enough, a smile stretched his mouth open wide. "I should have known that you were here. Misty told me that you like to hang wherever music is being made."
My cheeks started to feel my own heartbeat in them but thankfully, they did not grow any more intense in colour. Although I managed to focus on inviting Tracey into the home of Eli when I figured that he would be fine with it, my mind was elsewhere. And it wasn't dwelling on the fact that it was foolish not to ask Macey if she was okay with her father being there.
The presence of Tracey and all my good friends from earlier on in my life always gave me the same exact feeling within my soul. When I didn't see them as much as I once did, it always brought me right back to when we were first meeting and learning all about each other and most importantly, sharing adventures together.
In my mind, I was a younger Pokémon again. And my body couldn't help but believe I was too, trotting back into the studio and elated when Tracey followed. Eli took me aback by speaking up as well and if I could have gotten any higher, then I surely would've floated up towards the ceiling as if I was rubber filled with helium.
"Oh, you know Misty, do you?" Eli invited himself into the small talk that Tracey and I had since been having, bringing the subject back to the one that had been spoken on the outside of the rented property. "A talented music maker herself." Forgoing overthinking that he had taken charge of the conversation, Eli instead focused on naturally smiling at the words he was saying. Tracey had since turned his attention to him. "I'm Eli and Misty's is my niece."
Tracey turned his head back towards me when I told him that his backpack looked heavy. He nodded in agreement and the backpack became discarded on the carpet, seeking refuge and company alongside Macey's guitar. She looked as though she wanted her lips to disappear when she pressed them in such a line but to no avail.
Down onto his knees Tracey had gone as he placed his backpack down. This gave him time to not only listen to Eli's words and nod towards him as an initial greeting since they had exchanged names but also give him a bit of a study. Kind and reserved in his nature, he also was the type to speak his mind.
Blunt threatened to come up against blunter when Tracey spoke the words that popped into his head almost as soon as he reached his full height again, looking down at Eli.
"Misty's your niece?" he repeated the words that had been spoken to him. Eli forwent nodding and as a response, the corner of his eye briefly switched. Tracey felt one of his feet moving behind the other. "How does that work exactly?"
In that moment, Tracey was giving Eli a run for his money with the round quality of his eyes. And while Macey wordlessly leaned up against the glass of the recording booth door but this time not to playfully keep Justin in, Eli misinterpreted what was being spoken and started to explain.
I had since hopped back on the piano to continually observe. Between you and me, I was always waiting for my greeting and proper rub from Tracey.
"Oh, well she is not exactly my niece. Her father is my cousin but he is like my brother so she has always called me her uncle." He started to explain, all of his fingers stretching outwards and entwining while his head shook, becoming quite animated as he gladly told. And then it dawned on him. That wasn't what was bewildering Tracey so. "Oh." He needed to try again. "It's a long story. Ask Misty."
And with that, Eli's fingers departed being entwined with each other and Tracey started to feel the pointing of an index finger in the middle of his chest. He looked down at it. He processed what was being said. But then he shrugged. With friends like Ash and Misty, he was used to a bit of weirdness! So he would indeed ask.
And that 'w' word being the operative, in the next couple of seconds, Eli felt fingers wrapping around that pointer finger of his that he felt had taken a chance by poking at Tracey. Apparently he hadn't gone far enough!
Macey's father shook Eli's fingers and then smiled nonchalantly as his eyes scanned the remainder of the room.
"Nice to meet you anyway, Eli." He spoke politely but meaningfully too, causing me to nod my head as I waited on top of the piano. I had to instead be satisfied with watching Tracey's eyes scan around the room before he finally noticed Justin in the recording studio with discarded headphones and arms folded back over his chest again as he misread Macey lingering against the door. "What exactly is he doing in there? That's Justin, right?"
In his peripheral vision as he looked over at indeed Justin and Justin knew he was being spoken about so he raised one of his crossed arms in order to wave, he could gather that the deep purple haired male being locked away in there had everything to do with his daughter.
That might have been the case for the first time around but it wasn't there and then! Nevertheless, Tracey mirrored Justin's stance but in quite a parental manner as he looked over at his daughter. She may have been slouching against the glass and inadvertently there but she knew when she was to answer her father.
I went on to watch, though, as someone else answered instead. Maybe he was trying to make light of a situation that he didn't fully know but was starting to wonder.
"He is in there until he can sing Maisie's words properly." He explained, his eyes naturally like the vinyl records that hung on various corners of the walls and a smile quirking at his lips. He felt his own arms tucking over the soft grey wool of his sweater. "Quite a kind reprimand, I believe."
Most of the time when Eli spoke any words at all, Macey's cherry lips were sure to grow fuller before they spread apart and accompanied the lightness taking over her eyes. However, in that moment, she wished that he hadn't said anything.
Granted, she didn't exactly want to be the one to say anything either. But she just knew her dad would take things the wrong way. He was harder on her since she had grown a lot harder on him.
Tracey's arms may have faltered and untucked away from folding over his chest but it was clear the kind of things he was going to say when he looked over at his daughter. He couldn't have appeared further from menacing because that was not his nature at all. Instead, he looked disappointedly which always cut a far greater wound.
"Macey, why would you do that to someone who has invited you to record in his own studio?" he couldn't help but question, that fatherly tone and choice of words making my belly feel like it was a pit fall despite the great friend of mine that they were escaping from. "It's just silly."
Justin didn't make matters worse by the fact that he too finally unwrapped his folded arms from his slim chest and pretended to beg to be let out of the glass box. He probably didn't hear the words were being said, nor did his further proximity allow him to pick up on the intricacies of the dynamic that Eli and I were able to inspect.
Fortunately, Macey didn't pick up on what Justin was doing. Yet regardless, her cheeks stung from the inside out and she allowed this quality to decorate her words as she retorted.
"Dad, why would you tell me off during my work hours?" she questioned, the inside of her throat slowly burning up but appearing pretty collected from an outsider point of view. "It's just unprofessional." She added.
If Tracey had been on the inside of the glass like Justin had been then the exhale that he let out in those moments would have fogged up and caused condensation to the point of no return. I thought that this unspoken gesture would do all of the talking. But again, I was stood correct.
I never really knew for that man to be someone who had to get the last word. But it was one of those moments where I was reminded that I would never know the full spectrum of who a person was and who a person could be.
"Don't be snippy." Tracey warned Macey, however, all gusto that escaped from him had been used up on his exhale. Then, he was longing to rub his temples and even duck his head at the way that he and his daughter's relationship were coming across to both Justin and Eli.
Sure, that was how their dynamic was during those moments of their lives. But despite the sheer impossibility of it all, Tracey somehow wanted the subtleties to be known. How things hadn't always been that way. And why things ended up the way they were.
From sat on top of the piano and realising that a squishing from Tracey as a greeting was quicker and quicker being erased from being on the menu, I noticed the way that a lump bobbed up and down in Macey's throat and she prepared to open her mouth to say something. But then, instead of saying something with gusto in return, she turned to Eli. And she forced a smile, eyes glossy as though she was a china doll.
"Will you take me to the kitchen and show me how you make one of your special teas?" she asked him, peeling manicured nails stretching out towards Eli and her fingers waggling as a gesture of premature gratitude though her next words could lead one to think differently. "I'm feeling a bit jittery."
I knew I wasn't mistaken when I believed I saw Tracey's chest move inwards as though a balloon had just popped and deflated inside of him. But for a couple of moments, instead of focusing on that, I saw the way that, although it would have been natural for Eli to speak the words 'of course, my love' or words to that effect, he alternatively decided to utter nothing of the kind.
In fact, he chose to not speak a single syllable. He went on to allow his actions to do the talking. Lifting his bottom back up from perching on the piano stool, he didn't hesitate to clasp Macey's shabby, slightly cold yet gentle fingers all the same and lead her to the kitchen where he would indeed gladly grant her wishes.
As they walked through the doorway from the studio and living area of the rented one level property and into the kitchen, Macey not only felt her hands clasped by Eli's but she felt another of his hands squeezing her shoulder too.
That was an apology, I felt, for choosing his words poorly and leading to the interaction with her father.
And speaking of her father, Justin tactfully waited until both his musical friend and his boyfriend were out of sight before he started unlocking the glass of the door of the recording booth. Maybe he had heard all of the words spoken between them after all. Or maybe he could understand it not through words but through stances and things that had not been instead.
When he had finally been let out, unlike a caged animal, he responded with politeness and made a beeline for his guitar, picking it up by the neck as if he had actually been a caged prisoner and he was reunited with his love. The politeness of his demeanour prevailed, giving Tracey glances ever so often and a dimple of greeting being spoken between them.
Eventually, Tracey got that message. Forcing himself to move on from the moments that he had shared with his daughter that weren't the kind of memories that he often cherished, his hand moved upwards in a similar wave to which he had done on the other side of the door.
"So you are Justin. You wouldn't be anybody else." He spoke to the deep purple haired male to which belonged the name that was uttered. His lips continually pressed together in an easy-going manner. As if he longed to be near the presence of his other half although he had left, he seated himself down on the piano stool. "You're too kind for welcoming my girl like this. I'm sure she's learning a lot from you."
While Tracey spoke and lingered, not finding himself a place to be seated for the time being or being offered one, Justin nestled against the print in which Eli had left and lifted the curve of his guitar against his thigh and began absentmindedly plucking at strings.
He listened to the words that had been spoken, it was true. But he waited until a good few licks of his guitar string for him to respond. And when he did, he did not address any of the points.
Instead, his dimple appeared yet again and stronger, a crescent moon making itself known right next to the curve of his mouth. Justin moved one hand away from his guitar and stretched it towards Tracey so his previously waving hand could be occupied with something else.
"I remember you, Tracey, man." Justin said with a nod, allowing his palm to touch against his for a second or two but no longer, then drawing back and resuming being on the fretboard of his guitar, the other one plucking at strings. "There isn't an Ash and Misty party without you and you always draw up the invites of Delia's Fourth of July parties."
It was fascinating how someone could know so much but also act as if they knew so little, their nose instead scrunching up and hair growing untucked from behind an ear as they primarily focused on playing guitar while they conversed.
Inside I wondered if Tracey found it off-putting or he found it a breath of fresh air in a strange sort of way. To this day, I am no closer to knowing the truth. I only understand that he accepted it, regardless of which way he felt about it.
Tracey took a couple of moments before he replied in response, perhaps swept up by the melody and forgetting they were having an actual conversation. But the more that he reminisced on the words that were being put forth, the more that he couldn't help but find it natural to be conversing in that way.
They were just two guys who had spent fleeting time together and were connected because of who they knew. Ash. Misty. Delia. Macey. Or Maisie, as Justin called her.
Two guys with a lot in common but hardly more than a greeting and pleasantries exchanged together at a time.
That moment could be the turning point. If it was meant to be that way, of course.
"Oh, Ash and Misty parties are ones that I'll be damned if I miss but these days I don't miss them and I'm still damned. You know-" Tracey started. The briefest of glances between Justin and he as he briefly broke concentration of tugging at strings told him that he did know so he didn't need to properly go down that road. Air escaped from Tracey's nostrils. "Sometimes I wonder if Macey will ever look at me the same." Apparently he had to go there. And he had to go elsewhere too. "Misty tells me that your children deal with it pretty fine. How?"
It would have made more sense if Justin's hands had grown rigid and plucked at the wrong string, causing a terrible sound to ring out. But the truth is that he was able to play perfectly, it was just his actions other than his hands and his expressions on his face that went along with how he was truly feeling.
He wanted to choke. He was aware of the air stinging his eyes as they widened and he wondered where to look, not expecting someone like Macey's dad to start talking to him about that sort of thing.
"I don't… I mean, they-" Justin was smart enough to choose his words carefully. With digits slowing down upon strings and eyebrows drawing together in an act of companionship, he didn't expect their conversation to go there but still didn't shun it either. "I don't know, dude." It was his turn to feel oxygen that he did not need escaping from his nose. "They're young. Young and wonderful enough to take things how they are rather than how they wish they could be. But luck is a huge part in it."
In unison to all five of Justin's fingers taking their turns in plucking all six strings of his guitar thoughtfully, Tracey's head bobbed up and down in the same manner. As his own fingers ran through the scruff that was starting to cheek refuge on his face, it was his turn to feel as though it was baffling that this subject had been broached with the younger male.
But he had started it. So he needed to finish it. Or moreover, he needed to continue it.
I think that there was part of him that felt bad for bringing it up. He would be able to read as much as anybody how happy Justin and Eli were together and he could hear about it from anybody too. I supposed that he needed the reassurance. That things would be okay in the end. That he wasn't a monster. He just put his happiness first for once. It didn't mean that he ever put his children's happiness second.
"It's been years." Tracey couldn't help but say and from the eyelashes that grooved around on Justin's face, even he mustn't garnered the way that yes, time was supposed to heal all wounds. But if wounds hadn't healed then evidently there hadn't been enough time. "Feels longer because Macey refuses to speak about it. I don't think-"
Justin suddenly thought about that new, good friend of his in the kitchen with his boyfriend and needing a tea to calm her nerves at the unexpected presence. But it wasn't just that that made him blurt out.
"Maisie writes. Maisie doesn't really talk. She creates. And she unloads in that way." Justin shrugged and as his shoulders bobbed closer to his neck, I saw the way that his throat was flushing. And no sooner had I noticed that, he was actually putting his guitar down. And he blurted out again. "What actually is in your backpack, Tracey? Are you taking something to Ash and Misty?"
I don't think that he actually meant to change the subject but from his point of view, there was part of him that needed to direct the conversation elsewhere. Maybe in time he would want to divert it back. Maybe in time he would have better things to say. Maybe if he had been asked to discuss that subject matter.
But the truth was that his friend was in the kitchen and there were no words that he believed that he could say that would make things better. He believed in the healing power of time. And like I did too, that it wasn't a miracle healing process and that no matter how many pages of the calendar were turned, there would always be those moments that crept up on you and took you by surprise.
In the same way that we still wince when someone traces along a part of our body decorating a scar and we shudder as though we just have been cut for the first time. Wounds can reopen at any time. They need patience, understanding and the ignoring of the seconds that have passed to truly dissolve.
Tracey threatened to swallow. Tracey threatened to swallow hard. But then once Justin had momentarily rid himself of his guitar and he had started gesturing towards his backpack, he also felt the casual, pale hand of the younger male resting on his shoulder.
This gesture did not exactly bring him peace. But it encouraged clarity towards him. Sometimes you could learn the most and you could heal the most by doing other things. You could get more answers than you ever knew possible by letting your conversations wander elsewhere.
And so, Tracey gave into this possibility as he hoped of it too. He went over to and collected his backpack before he settled on the ground to it, feeling Justin's eyes dropping downwards immediately and naturally wide irises becoming bigger than ever as curiosity hitched in his throat.
A shaking motion of the head and longer parts of slicked back hair practically gluing themselves to the rest of the strands, he explained. His hands were cupped as though he was cradling crown jewels.
"I did a portrait of Ash and Misty for their upcoming anniversary." He explained and immediately, Justin's head bobbed up and down, his hands seeking refuge in his lap as it was no longer occupied by the company of his guitar or Tracey's shoulder either. "And I found some old drawings that I did of them too. I thought they might like them."
Looking back as I reminisce on this tale, I still have the same exact thoughts as I experienced when I was perched on that piano and all of them effortlessly come flooding back.
It's funny how during times of his life, Justin was known as a restrained sort of fellow who held back. He held back from his actions, his thoughts and feelings and certainly his true opinions. I hoped that that in itself, without saying much at all, would offer comfort for Tracey if he had many memories of Justin when he was a teenaged boy.
Nothing was ever the same for all that long. People who vowed to themselves that they would always be stuck not only unstick their feet from the ground but they begin to fly. People to bury themselves down, down and down rise like a phoenix. Anything is possible. You just have to endure.
Tracey's hand was only just unzipping his backpack and in truth, he was going to ask Justin casually if he was interested in seeing. His hand only just had time to begin to reach into the backpack when he had a sudden perverse reaction from the younger male.
"They're a great couple, don't you think?" he began, his kneecap starting to feel the company of his own elbow and his fingers entirely wrapping around his prominent chin. He elaborated before Tracey's rounded orbs could search for his. Immediately, I knew. "Ash and Misty. They've been the same ever since I've known them. Maybe the only true constant in my life."
Justin's mouth stretched wide, teeth appearing and his knees started to grow restless though they didn't shove away the contact of his elbow. They just started to swivel left to right as I focused more on the expression that caused Tracey's eyebrows to shoot towards his hairline.
But then he realised the words that were being said. And he could not help but agree with them.
"They've been the same ever since I've known them." He agreed with Justin, having to take his hand back out from the depths of his back in order to unzip his backpack a little more in order for the canvases to be given more room to spring into the world. "And old married couple since day one." Justin had enough smiles for us all though we would soon all be sharing the same look. "You would not believe."
The deep purple haired male would soon believe. Though there was hardly a bone in his body that did not believe – for he had heard anecdote after anecdote from person after person – there would be a whole other layer painted in his mind of the couple that he admired thanks to the poignantly hand sketched drawings that Tracey had created over the years.
I couldn't help but wait with baited breath as I looked onwards, knowing that I would soon be faced with the perhaps as young as ten year old versions of my very best friends and the tenderness of their relationship that started as just friends.
'Just friends' is such a funny term in the best of times but it certainly is when it comes to the pair that is Ash and Misty. Once upon a time, they were more than happy to just be exactly that. And I for one wholly believe that that is why they ended up staying together longer than any couple that I knew, just the two of them.
Their relationship and their love together possessed layer upon layer. But the basis of the two of them was friendship. They adored each other. Their core was complete adoration and despair! And it was perfect in my opinion.
"Damn, I've definitely heard about these stories before but I have never seen them." Justin brought me away from my thoughts. It was then that I realised I was missing the opportunity to take a trip back down wonderful memory lane! However at first, I wanted to look at the faces of the two people and guess what memory they were looking down upon. "I'm glad I don't do that to them with my music."
Of course, I should not have been surprised when I too looked down at the canvas that had been handed over to Justin. Instead of focusing on how painstakingly beautiful the artwork was and how long it mustn't taken, he couldn't help but be in awe of what was captured as if it had been a simple photograph.
That was credit in itself to what Tracey was able to do with a pencil and his careful eye. Justin breathed out and did not push away the smile that took over his lips, not running a finger over the artwork but inwardly wanting nothing more than to do that. Wanting nothing more than a bit of that magic to rub off on him.
"I can't tell you how many times they would fall asleep against each other like that. Because of Jigglypuff and because, well, they are them." Tracey told Justin and then another scribbled memory was handed over to him. I was too absorbed with looking at the first one to promptly move onto the second.
I remembered each and every moment as if it was yesterday. And in the same breath, it felt like a lifetime ago. I was, however, left with the lifelong knowledge and the everlasting comfort that the more things changed the more they stayed the same. Things that were meant to be would be. And memories that were treasured by two could be treasured by all.
The next sketch so sublimely captured by Tracey portrayed an entirely different side of their relationship but yet another one that had been undeniable since the beginning. In this one, their brows couldn't be closer to each other and their eyes were glinting as their mouths were practically being tugged upwards by a fish hook.
They were battling. They were battling against each other and funnily enough, I cannot for the life of me remember who ended up winning. But I remember the feeling and I hold near to me the chill of electricity that always transpired when they went head to head.
"You could so easily do a present day version of this one." Justin stopped pouring in awe over the moment that Tracey had captured with his pencils and his canvas on that day and that time, could not resist reaching his thumb out and touching the lines just slightly. His musings ended my thoughts and took me to someplace else. "It would be the exact same. Their eyes. The competition."
Tracey nodded his head, letting out the quietest of 'mm' noises. Maybe Justin had given him an idea. Maybe he had not. Maybe he felt as though he could never capture that dynamic of theirs as purely as he had done when they were so much younger than they all were at that point.
Though he had captured one for their upcoming anniversary, perhaps in his heart he needed the freshest of eyes that he had once had to capture a blossoming and unfolding relationship. If he had told Justin of such then he would have certainly been reassured. But he didn't even whisper of this. Maybe he and Macey weren't so unalike after all.
"I think the last one might be the most them. Though they all are, I would hope." It was Tracey's turn to encourage me away from my thoughts when I had only just gotten used to Justin doing the same thing. As for that deep purple haired male, he would still be glad to look at the previous one for a little while longer.
However, when a third canvas was plonked upon his lap and he was given the opportunity to take his pick of which he could continue pouring his attention over, naturally, it was one that he had not seen before that was the most irresistible to him.
In some ways, he felt as though he had seen it because he had seen those looks before in the flesh and he had been in the midst of that couple practically since he had been born. And not only that, but his admiration for the two of them together had led him to seeking moments within his own relationships that were mirrors of what had been shown to him.
I couldn't resist the urge of jumping from the top of the piano at last and seeking refuge on the shoulders of Tracey and in that second, I wasn't fussed about getting attention from him at all. I just wanted to look. I just wanted to feel.
In that moment, all three of us were unified.
This drawing of Tracey's easily encouraged air out of ones throat. It was Ash and Misty at their finest. It appeared as though Misty had her legs drawn to her chest and she was scribbling in a notebook of her own. Meanwhile Ash, a couple of metres or so away, was utterly none the wiser and playing with me, a look of innocent goofiness lacing his young expression.
Misty's own expression was nothing but concentration but within her knotted brows, a yearning that Justin knew all too well.
I knew immediately that that etching was my favourite. And not because I was included. But for reasons that Justin would be able to express a whole lot better than me.
"That's just it, isn't it?" Justin quietly mused once he finally concocted the most worthwhile words that he believed that he could say but at the same time, speaking valiantly and thoughtlessly from his own heart too. "It was there from the beginning. No expectations. Just love. Regardless of whether it was reciprocated."
More slowly than I had ever seen anybody do, Tracey nodded his head. I guessed that it was hard for him to look down at creations that he had bought to life himself and utter all kinds of introspective things but it was also impossible not to do from the way that the people that he had captured with his pencils not only were so very larger than life but their dynamic was art without him having to portray it as such at all.
His work might as well have been three dimensional from the way that it captured my best friends so. There were parts of me that wanted to weep. But there were other, bigger parts of me that swallowed instead and just sat with the sensations. I had always been in the midst of the greatest story. A great love story, yes. But the most wonderful story. Their story was love itself. So that word did not need to be added to make it seem unique. They made it as such.
"This is just who they are." Tracey encouraged himself to be able to admit, ignoring the fact that he was reaching across Justin and fanning out his own artwork across the bony legs of the younger male. If he honed his mind correctly, he could kid himself that they really were just photographs and he was merely lucky enough to be behind the lens. "Layer upon layer. Alteration after alteration. They grew together each step of the way rather than apart. How rare is that?"
The words 'rare indeed' could be read upon the lips of Justin. But then instead of actually saying these words for a great many people to hear – even Macey and Eli in the kitchen – he moved onto other things.
Bounding upwards in a manner that I would learn to be enthusiasm, he encouraged the artworks to be on the lap of their creator – of course Tracey – before he was able to speak.
In some way, he needed that little bit of distance to see things with more clarity and speak from the heart himself.
"They've always loved each other for who they were, who they had been and who they would go on to be. Encouraging growth as a natural thing. Not stifling and moulding it." Justin agreed. Thank goodness he and Tracey were around to put my thoughts then into actual words. "Maybe that's why I've ended up so lucky after a great many tries." He confessed. And for the first time, the undivided attention was for him instead. "They taught me how to just let things be. And if love was there once then it would always be. No matter where things turn. Or how hairy things get. It can return."
It was a moment to be sure. The past etchings of Ash and Misty completely obvious to not only the people who were inspecting every detail of the parts that would always make up the entire picture of them but oblivious to the way that they would inspire the stories of so many people just by being and loving in the only way that they know how.
The drawings weren't looking at anybody. But Justin was then looking at them. Tracey was looking at Justin. And I was looking at Tracey. And then a switch happened. The deep purple haired male could sense the bobbing motion of a throat and the way that Tracey had paused. He knew that he had realised.
Things with Macey could return to normal. Unconditional between father and daughter had been there at the beginning and, just like the way that energy could not be created or destroyed and simply blissfully lived, love would be the exact same way as well.
If they let things go and let things be and took each day as it came to them, they would be just dandy. A part of growing up was seeing the people that you looked at a certain way your whole life in a different light and falling in love with the parts that you never knew were there before.
Yes, a tough lesson to be sure. But a worthwhile one. Another one was the comfortability with vulnerability. Perhaps an even tougher one. Yes, Tracey showed this when Justin and his eyes locked and he chose to see the beauty in the rawness of the younger male rather than inspecting it within himself.
"They… They really inspire you, don't they?" These were the only words that Tracey could muster. And they weren't the type that was able to inspire change because change did not need to happen. They were the kind to inspire honesty. That was a lesson that, yes, Ash and Misty had been a part of teaching to Justin.
Since he no longer had canvases spreading across his legs despite the fact that what was bestowed upon him still took up every corner of his mind, those limbs of his stretched outwards in front of him at the same moment that he exhaled.
Justin did not hold back a nod. Though it was his turn to have eyes appearing glossy under the studio lighting as though he was a porcelain doll and his cheeks felt aflame not due to the sweater and the weather creeping closer to spring rather than being held back in winter, he did not deny what he was feeling.
"Of course they do." He began and as time went on, it would become clear that he was out of words. Eloquent and put together sentences he could think of when it came to a couple that were a blueprint for how he longed to love, but since then all had run dry. At least his honesty hadn't. "I'm sure I don't know half of what they've been through. But they make me believe in love. Because no matter what, for them, it's always prevailed."
Tracey drew back for just a moment. I watched as, with his own work conveying people that he held almost dearer than he held anybody else, he drew his face backwards and thoughts clearly danced through his mind.
He was not thinking how poignantly Justin spoke and together with Macey, they were no doubt going to create work of their own that was truly impeccable. In fact, for a rare few seconds in his life, he was not thinking of one or any of his children at all!
As Tracey granted himself clarity, he knew he needed to put it forward to Justin and so he changed the course of things in his own way. After it was spoken and Justin had a chance to think it through, his immediate reaction was to, in a flattered manner all the same, shake his head.
"But they're for Ash and Misty." Justin responded with rounding irises and a level of hope catching at his voice that he tried to ignore when Tracey suggested that he keep one of the drawings to look back on. "I couldn't take a single one away from them." Justin tried to insist. Tracey didn't draw back that time. In fact, he didn't move. He let things go. He let things be. And Justin started to change his mind! "Well… Maybe one could stay here. Just for a little bit."
The deep purple haired male relinquished. I didn't need to look at him to know which one had been taken away from the others and with a quick couple of movements to find his song writing book, the recreation of Misty writing a song to an oblivious Ash was pasted in between the pages of every etching and musing that Justin had had of his own.
Maybe that drawing and that moment of the two of them captured by Tracey reminded Justin of himself. The focused and heartfelt yet yearning songwriter while people around him were clueless. Or they tried so hard to pin down his songs and crack the codes within them all that they ended up far more clueless than if they had never bothered to try at all!
Whatever it was, there was a part of Justin that needed that artwork there. Not just for a little bit. But forever.
Because it was true. They reminded him that love was out there. That things that had been could come back if it was meant to be. That love didn't have to be heavy and cause the tightest pain between the eyes let alone yank at heartstrings. It could be as peaceful as leaning up against someone to sleep. It could be as playful as getting in a battle. It could be as fumbling and clueless as fathoming out your emotions.
It could be anything you liked at all. The drawing and the canvas was up to you. Just like Tracey portrayed. Just like Tracey would learn too.
That's the thing about Ash and Misty, you see. They inspire a multitude of people without even trying. They inspire me more than they will ever know. They are the reason for everything after all. They were the beginning. At the beginning there was their love. There would never be an end to it. Like galaxies going on until infinity, their legacy will be never ending. Just like their devotion to each other.
Boundless. Limitless. Treasured. My best friends are these things. To each other. And to me too.
The End.
There you go! Thanks so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed :) This was a fun opportunity to me to feature Justin and Eli in their more settled life as they make things work between them as well as the youthful love of Ash and Misty. And of course, what is going on between Macey and Tracey too! Understandably, here is no longer with May in this chapter. He actually dates Misty's sister, Daisy, once again for a couple of years. Like I mentioned before, this chapter serves as a purpose so I can maybe tackle some of these subjects and more Macey in the future! And of course, the wonderful relationship of Ash and Misty that is still going strong in the anime to this day! :D The interesting thing to mention before I head off is that Justin calls Tracey's daughter "Maisie". That is her stage name. I'm sure I really will end up featuring her again :P Thanks again and I will be back again on Wednesday for another Ash x Misty chapter so see you then!
Amy signing out :)