Title: Cap
Rating: T (some allusion to mature content though nothing explicit/characters are 19)
Summary: A part of her wanted to let it ring. This would be three weekends in a row. Three weekend of the same, stupid seven word phrase shattering her heart each Sunday night. A person had to have limits, right? But still she answered. Pokeshipping week 2023: Ash's hat (+ Team Rocket supporting the ship). Oneshot.
Note: a little on the bittersweet side, but it will have a happy end so just hang in there!
Sometimes the simplest disguise was also the best.
For years Misty had watched Team Rocket's over the top theatrics and Halloween-esque costumes as they constantly failed at their goal of capturing Pikachu. She'd almost called them today, a number saved in her Rotom phone as "in case of extreme emergency ONLY," but ultimately decided against it since ostentatious outfitting wouldn't work.
Instead she had enlisted the help of the matriarch Ketchum, who at the moment was offering her a closet full of Ash's past traveling outfits. Some were worse for the wear, but his initial traveling outfit, which Misty had no doubt had weathered the most abuse, seemed to be in good shape.
"How do I look?" Misty grinned as she stepped into the kitchen to show Mrs. Ketchum the attempt of disguise she'd put together.
All in all, it wasn't a bad fit, comprised of baggy jeans that she'd rolled at the bottom to make them look deliberately cropped (as at the time he'd worn them Ash had been shorter than her), a plain black Tshirt that she'd knotted in the front to give the appearance of an asymmetric midriff shirt overlaid with the loose blue and white vest. With her hair tucked into a hat or bandanna, anyone on the street would assume she was just a fan girl of the newly crowned pokemon master.
The only giveaway would be her eyes, though she doubted anyone would look too closely given she was traveling to the kickoff of a new tournament in an upcoming region at Ash's request.
"You're sure you didn't want something more recent?" Delia gently guided, noting the look would likely stand out a bit against fans dressed more similarly to his championship attire.
"This fits best," Misty shrugged, knowing part of the draw to this specific outfit had been nostalgia.
Besides, the more recent attire came with a bit of mixed feelings over a changed status that Misty couldn't properly articulate as it waxed and waned with weekend escapes from reality.
And while Ash had gotten bolder with his requests, it also meant the stakes were higher with potential paparazzi intrusion so she couldn't risk slipping up by being distracted by the emotionally entangling newer fit.
"Then you might as well complete the look," Delia encouraged, grabbing Ash's original hat from a curio cabinet in the living room and playfully putting it on Misty's head.
"He's going to be so mad," Misty laughed, remembering a faraway time when Ash had almost lost the cap to an ape pokemon that then became one of the strongholds on his team.
"Good," Delia chuckled knowingly, "sometimes he needs to be reminded of the things he can lose by being gone too long."
And while Misty had suspected that the matriarch knew about the what had happened during the past several months, her spoken supportive sentiment confirmed it.
Four months prior:
It had started accidentally, as most things with Ash did. A bump of angry foreheads that ended in a clumsy first kiss. Still Ash and Misty had leaned into it, trying their shot at a romance that fizzled as fast as it flared given Ash's promise to stay in Pallet only lasted until his itch to travel drove him onward. Misty, on the other hand, remained a permanent fixture in Cerulean City.
"I think maybe we didn't think this through."
Those were the words he'd left her with.
And maybe he didn't. But she had.
She knew this outcome was likely from the start, still neither addressed the fact that while their initial attempt at romance was short lived, it had also felt right.
It was a homecoming in a different sense. Rough edges that fit together without fight or force.
But the call to travel had been stronger.
So when the first PMZ article came through with a salacious story about Ash's supposed secret romance with Serena, so too came a phone call from the champion himself.
"I just wanted to make sure you knew it wasn't true. I never want to hurt you."
And she'd wanted to scream at him: "but then why did you?"
But she didn't, offering him back words much kinder.
"I understand. You're famous now. Drawbacks and perks and all that...I remember when the Cerulean City Sentinel did the same to me once my sister's left. Poor Gary couldn't show his face around here for a month."
And then she'd struck a nerve.
"Good. He doesn't need to spend so much time with you anyway."
It was petulant and childish, but it was the response she needed to challenge his will.
"Well, it gets lonely here sometimes."
And that line had worked. He came to visit the next day, and they backslid into affection that could only be termed as more than friends with sentiments flitting of how "no one else could understand him the way she did," and other such promises broken in daylight.
She'd regarded the sentiments warily, biting back with small quips, but weakened resolve. Like her torch still carried for him, she put herself into the fire knowing it would burn. But for a weekend they were happy with this new normal, and thoroughly entangled in the snares of a burning romance.
Until the week started anew and he left once more.
"I think maybe we didn't think this through."
And he didn't. But she did.
"You never do…" she'd whispered into the coastal breeze as he'd slunk out into the early morning air.
A month later it happened again.
This time over a Regional Enquirer article that was certain he was completely smitten by Dawn given his recent travel to Sinnoh.
He'd returned to Kanto just as the magazine hit her doorstep.
Lily subscribed to all the gossip magazines so there was no shortage of false information barraging her gym doors. Misty could have canceled them, given her sisters were still traveling, and given herself peace of mind, but the tabloids displayed in the lobby kept the onslaught of trainers waiting to battle her occupied as she picked through trainers one by one.
She was unsurprised at Ash's call later that night.
"Can you meet me in Pallet? My mom's out of town and I'm supposed to be house sitting."
She shouldn't have. But she did.
An expert at fishing, but forever on his hook. A bed familiar and messy, but comforting all the same.
And when Mrs. Ketchum returned Sunday afternoon to find the redhead seated at her kitchen table wearing Ash's boxers and a plain black T-shirt, she said nothing on the matter, merely raising an eyebrow at the pair who played it off as an accidental borrowing of clothes.
So Delia offered tea, not judgment.
Still the gym needed tending and Ash's call home had an expiration that was nearing, so they parted ways at the edge of Pallet later that night.
"I think we didn't think this through."
His tone was always sheepish and apologetic and she always said nothing in response. Tears that had tried to escape her the first time didn't even attempt to materialize by the third.
Twice can be accidental; thrice is a habit.
Still she was equally complicit in the routine. His answer hadn't changed, but neither had his call.
Still Misty returned to Cerulean City and both dreaded and longed for the next article.
Three weeks later there was hearsay in a front page article from What?! that featured a photo Iris alongside one of Ash. This was an even harder story to sell given anyone who knew Iris, knew about her and Cilan's longstanding partnership.
Still the phone rang and Misty answered.
"Where are you?"
For all the things she'd fought him on over the years, this was something she was finding impossible to stand against. It was a bruise to her pride to feed her desire, but that hunger drove logic right out the window.
"I'm camping in Viridian forest working with a new team. I'll send you my GPS location. Pikachu is staying in Pallet."
Good. At least he was close so when she closed up the gym for the weekend early on Friday she wouldn't waste too much time in transit.
Later that evening she'd found him in the forest they'd once been lost in. Her main mode of transportation leaned against a nearby tree as the makeshift camp offered a glimmer of privacy from the outside world.
And they were once again lost in a sense. The line of friendship and romance shifting underfoot with all the solidity of loose sand.
"Who do you think they'll pair you with next?" She'd asked, running her fingers through his messy black hair. His brown eyes gazed lovingly at her in the early Saturday morning sunlight that fell in through a ripped seam at the top of the tent.
"Maybe you," he'd whispered back, a glint of humor to his tone.
"Are you going to call and tell me that one also isn't true?"
It was a line delivered more as a challenge than a question.
"I won't lie to you."
He'd said it with a grin, but the question remained unanswered because for all the emotion that their escape from reality boiled down to, he still left her with the same line once the weekend was over.
"I think we didn't think this through."
As she rode off into the 5AM darkness in an effort to get back to the gym before her first challenger of the day, Misty sighed to herself.
"We never do."
She didn't have long to mend her wounded ego before the next article found its way to her door a mere week later. This was an even further stretch given May and Drew's engagement, but Gossip Gible alleged that May and Drew had a fight at a recent competition where Ash happened to be in attendance. The article speculated that Ash was only there to comfort May with a short lived fling while she rebounded.
Never mind the fact that Drew and May were still publicly and happily engaged.
Still, Ash called.
"Now you know this isn't true."
And they'd laughed on the phone as he was correct, she did know. Even though May and Drew were only nineteen, Misty had no doubts their relationship would last.
"I don't suppose you want to come to Hoenn?"
The offer dangled like bait in front of her.
"Are you sure you're thinking this through?" The question she so desperately wished to ask.
But something held her back from asking and ending the what ifs.
"Maybe I could."
And so he'd paid for her plane tickets. In her mind she'd justified it as a trip to see friends and her battle roster was empty for the long weekend anyway as it was still early into a new season.
Hers was powerhouse gym left for near tournament time. At this point only fresh faced trainers who hadn't done their homework accidentally wandered in and just as quickly left in defeat.
That weekend proved to be both a break from their new norm during the day, and par for the course at night. In public, around friends they remained aloof but friendly focusing more on the group of surrounding companions. But in the privacy of Ash's hotel room, the atmosphere was a conduit of charged emotions and entropic escape.
Still, publicly they played their parts well.
"They're running out of people to pair you up with," May grinned, shooting a pointed look at Ash and Misty.
May knew Misty's feelings for the pokemon master still ran as deep as they did in early youth, but Ash was dense. This was May's attempt at being a wing woman, but she was as clumsy and brash as Ash himself, so she had all the subtly of a tauros in a china shop.
"Yeah. At some point they'll learn I don't date," Ash laughed in response, an easy comment to divert the conversation, but May remained fixated, shooting Misty a sympathetic glance.
"I'm really surprised they haven't speculated about the two of you...given that's always seemed more believable than this nonsense with Dawn who literally just signed a lease with Paul. Or me," May laughed flitting her hand about to see her ring sparkle while trying to force Ash to get the hint.
"Misty and I haven't traveled together in a really long time," Ash shrugged nonchalantly.
"You literally bought her plane ticket here," Drew sarcastically pointed out.
"I think the paparazzi ignore me because I don't let them take nice photos of me," Misty added in return.
And truthfully she didn't. After a couple of sideways scandals in Cerulean, she now thoroughly vetted challengers, closed the gym to extraneous bystanders, and, despite her sister's protests, turned down every interview offer.
For most of Ash's past traveling companions they'd been able to use nice contest photos (or Iris's championship photo as the girl was generally pretty and smiling), but all the paparazzi had of Misty were grumpy or trail-weary shots as even her gym headshot was taken with an annual scowl. It made it difficult to sell the story of the two of them together, even if it was far more valid than the rest.
Who in their right mind would think Ash would pick her over a lineup of contest-ready beauty queens?
"Then let's test that theory," May grinned, still egging them into admissions that remained unrecognized.
"How do you propose we do that?" Ash warily asked, knowing May's penchant for self-proclaimed expeditions.
"Just let me dress Misty up, and we'll all go out to dinner tonight. If it looks like we're on a double date and she looks nice, they have to publish something about it, right?" May explained, "you've got the paparazzi buzzing around you all the time anyway, might as well have some fun with them."
"I don't think that's a good idea," Misty reluctantly protested.
Part of her wanted to know what Ash would say when the tabloids featured them, but the other part of her held onto the fear that it would put an end to their situationship.
"Nonsense," May grinned, "just trust me."
The glance shared between the pair was short, but telling as May watched them communicate in an unspoken manner.
"What hotel room are you in? I'm going to stop by mine and grab some outfit options and some makeup and we'll fix you up," May asked putting a finality on the plan.
And Misty gave her the room number which led to Drew and May quirking a brow given they'd met Ash at the same room earlier that morning.
"Ash didn't get you your own room?" Drew asked the obvious question.
And Ash, blundering and clueless answered with a statement more honest than intended:
"Why? It's not like Myst was going to spend any time in her own room anyway."
Still at the end of the weekend, after a double date that surprisingly still hadn't managed to capture the paparazzi's attention, he said the seven words Misty had grown to hate.
"I think we didn't think this through."
And it was obvious he hadn't. That weekend with May pressuring them into dating and goading paparazzi that never appeared, reality hit harder than it previously had.
She almost laughed when the next article appeared four days later, delivered on a gloomy Thursday morning. If she wasn't so frustrated at him, she would have been tempted to call him for a change.
Somehow, despite the double date with her, Kanto Weekly speculated that Ash was secretly dating Brock. Viridian City Officer Jenny even gave an interview where she was sure Brock's over the top romantic theatrics were all an elaborate way to hide his feelings for Ash.
Misty almost didn't answer the phone.
A part of her wanted to let it ring. This would be three weekends in a row. Three weekend of the same, stupid seven word phrase shattering her heart each Sunday night. A person had to have limits, right?
But still she answered.
"Myst…"
"Yeah."
"I'm heading to a new region this weekend. I fly out tomorrow. Can you meet me there?"
Despite her ailing heart, she still said yes. A new region meant new pokemon and hopefully there were some new water pokemon she could add to her team to mix up this season's roster. In her head she justified it as a strategic business move.
In her heart she knew she still would have gone even if it was in the buggiest forest.
"Hey Myst…"
"Yeah."
"The League was pretty specific about not wanting anything overshadowing the news of the new tournament. You're going to have to travel in disguise."
"Then why even bring me there," she wanted to ask, but like her, she figured Ash was running on emotion more than logic.
"Okay," she'd affirmed, but then surprised herself, "but Ash, this time if I leave...I leave for good."
And so she'd enlisted Delia's help with her disguise.
Misty caught a few curious stares at the airport as she gave the gate agent her passport, but otherwise, with the hat obscuring her face she readied for the weekend ahead.
She mentally made a note to thank Mrs. Ketchum for the disguise as it helped her blend in seamlessly with the rest of the pokemon champion fans in the new region. Even better, it debased Ash to the point of near speechlessness when he first saw her.
"You look better in my clothes than I do…"
And she'd laughed at him as he pulled her into the hotel room with eager arms. Between kisses she'd teased him about his supposed secret relationship with Brock, and their guards dropped with the easy banter.
The weekend went by without fanfare; he'd attended the required events while she'd explored the new region capturing a few new pokemon for her team. While the press swarmed the events he attended, the hotel wouldn't let them inside, so their time remained exclusively theirs.
Misty was largely unknown to this region, and her disguise misguided even the best national reporters, but as she and Ash stepped out of the hotel to head to the airport for a return flight to Kanto, they caught the attention of a trailing trio who knew better.
"What are you three doing here?" Ash grumbled as their Rocket outfits betrayed any sense of subtlety.
"You should be tankin' us, not yellin' at us," Meowth explained, "seein' as we's been the reason you keep bringin' the twerpette to things."
Ash and Misty exchanged a clueless glance that allowed the trio space to elaborate.
"Who do you think keeps selling the newspapers all those silly articles about your potential romance with your other past traveling companions?" James alluded.
"Why would you do that?" Ash asked curiously.
Team Rocket had followed him around for nearly the entirety of his journey. They, better than anyone, had to know he wasn't in some sort of secret romance with Brock, or May, or anyone else…
"To give you privacy, of course," Jessie exasperated, "After the first time, we noticed it gave you an excuse to visit the twerpette. Besides, from the very moment we caught you lovebirds in our little cage it was obvious that you both had feelings you weren't dealing with."
"Um...thanks I guess?" Ash mumbled in confusion.
Team Rocket had done nice things in the past, but this had all the telltale markers of some of their more elaborate plots, except without giant metallic machinery.
"Besides, being a paparazzo pays better than the Rocket organization...who knew all this lying could have such a big payday? It's a shame we followed you around for free before this…" James laughed, "but since we helped you out so much, maybe you can help us out…"
"What do you want?" Misty asked incredulously. Knowing the trio it could be something astronomically insane, or extremely basic.
"Look, otha' paparazzi are goin' to be followin' you around now since these stories sell, and you've gotten less discrete with your romance, so just let us be the ones to get that first announcement. After all these years and all that help don't ya think we at least gets to be the ones to share it with the tabloids?" Meowth offered.
Ash shot a questioning look at Misty who merely shrugged in response.
"The news will come out anyway...at least this gives you some control over it," James bargained.
"Okay," Ash agreed reluctantly, "but you wait until after this weekend to share it. The League was very specific about how nothing overshadows the new region articles."
"Cross our hearts."
And so they'd agreed to step off the path with Team Rocket and allow them to stage and pose the photo that would be sure to have a large paparazzi payday.
A week later, when the article finally showed up at Misty's door in several of the different gossip magazines Lily subscribed to, Misty could only smile at the cover.
"Pokemon Master finally lands childhood sweetheart – is there anything he can't do?"
Instead of a phone call, a knock at her front door captured her attention. Team Rocket, it seems, had taken extra measures to ensure Ash knew when the article would drop.
"I think…" he'd started and she felt her heart drop, "I'm an idiot for not realizing how much I need you in my life."
"Tell me something I don't know," she laughed, taking his hand and dragging him in for a kiss.
I think this might be my favorite thing I've written for the AAML 2023 week collection.
Let me know what you think – favs and comments are always appreciated! :)
- FWFT