Hello everyone! I know I missed Ash's birthday...I have a good reason! I was on a much needed vacation! And I just couldn't get the story done in time. But don't worry, I'm working on it! It'll just be a bit late. In the meantime, I have another one shot to share with you all to tide you over! This one is pure fluff and just cute and casual.
Aiden and Michelle: 4 years old
Daily Preparations
Michelle grimaced as her father roughly pulled her bright red hair back. He wasn't doing it on purpose, and certainly wasn't meaning to hurt her. He didn't even know, in fact. Michelle didn't want to say anything. She was still pretty young, but she worried about upsetting people, especially her father. He was really sweet and loved her so much, and the thought of hurting his feelings made Michelle feel really bad. Besides, all he was trying to do was put her hair in a ponytail. He said he could. Misty had seemed wary, but Ash insisted it was easy.
"I've seen you do it a hundred times," Ash had assured his unsure wife. "I can put Michelle's hair up no problem!"
Ash was usually a very gentle brusher, so Michelle didn't think it would be so bad. As it would turn out, however, Ash seemed to think that when it came to forming the actual ponytail, he needed to pull her hair back as tightly as he could. Which, naturally, was hurting the little girl.
"Almost finished!" Ash crowed, causing Michelle to quietly sigh in relief.
He gave her hair another yank, enough to pull Michelle back as her eyes widened. She felt him wrapping the elastic around her hair, and within a matter of seconds, his hands had released her newly formed ponytail.
"There, all set," Ash breathed. "I think it looks great!"
Michelle got to her feet and scurried over to a nearby mirror, gazing at her reflection. The ponytail her father had made was pulled almost comically high and set too far to the side. If she moved her head a certain way, it would swing right in front of her eye, blocking her vision.
"How's it going in-oh, no. That's not happening."
Ash groaned as Misty walked into the room, Michelle lifting her head up to watch as her mother approached her.
"What's wrong with it?" Ash demanded.
"That's not a practical hairstyle, Ash," Misty sighed. "It's hanging in Michelle's face!"
"I didn't think it was so bad…" Ash grumbled.
Misty looked over her shoulder and smiled at him. "You tried your best. I appreciate it! You just need a little more practice is all."
Ash finally dropped his pout and returned Misty's smile. "Alright. Guess you'll have to give me some more!"
"Gladly," Misty giggled. "Why don't you go check on Aiden for me? I think he might need some help brushing his teeth."
"If by 'help' you mean 'forcing,' then sure," Ash replied wisely, getting to his feet. "That I can do!"
Misty nodded as he left the room, gently pulling the elastic out of Michelle's hair. The little girl's bright red locks fell to her shoulders, the pressure in her head instantly dissipating.
"This was in so tight…" Misty muttered, glancing at the elastic. "Was that ponytail hurting you, Michelle?"
The girl quickly nodded her head, causing her mother to frown. "Why didn't you tell Daddy?"
"I didn't wanna make him feel bad, Mommy," Michelle squeaked.
"It's not hurtful if it's the truth," Misty patiently reminded her daughter.
"I guess," Michelle murmured. "But still…I don't ever wanna make Daddy feel bad!"
"Aw," Misty crooned, kneeling down and pulling Michelle into a hug. "You're such a sweet little girl! Much sweeter than Mommy was…" Misty pulled away and beamed at her pleased looking child. "You really are my little dream, Shelly."
Michelle giggled at her mother's comment, not fully comprehending it. Misty seemed to understand that, and gave Michelle a quick kiss on the forehead before turning the girl around so she could get to work on a new, neater ponytail.
"We have a lot to do today," Misty reminded her daughter, gently brushing the girl's hair. "Right? We have to go to the farmer's market, find some new sneakers for you and Aiden, visit the Pokémon Center-"
"Is Daddy coming?" Michelle interrupted.
Misty smiled sadly at the inquiry. "No, Daddy has to work."
"Oh," Michelle mumbled, frowning.
"Don't worry," Misty promised. "You'll see him tonight! Daddy promised me he'd come home early so we could all have dinner together and play for a bit. Doesn't that sound like fun?"
Michelle nodded her head, resisted slightly by her mother pulling her hair up.
"And I already closed the gym for the day," Misty continued, finishing up Michelle's ponytail and spinning the girl back around. "No one is going to take me away from my babies today!"
Michelle giggled and threw herself onto her mother's lap, gleefully gazing up at the woman.
"Alright, you silly little thing," Misty teased, picking Michelle up by her sides so her crochet trimmed, mint green tank top rose up to reveal her belly button. Once she stood the girl up, Misty pulled down her shirt and continued, "We have to get a move on! Should we go see if Daddy got Aiden to brush his teeth?"
"Yeah!" Michelle laughed wildly, excited by the prospect that her brother might be causing trouble. Misty smirked and stood back up, walking out of Michelle's bedroom as the girl trailed her. They both stopped at the open doorway of the bathroom across the hall, peering in just in time to see Ash wiping at Aiden's face with a dry wash cloth.
"Oh, you succeeded!" Misty crowed.
Ash narrowed his eyes as he glanced over at Misty. "I think it might be easier to cage fight an Ursaring than getting Aiden to brush his teeth."
The young boy grabbed at the wash cloth with his little hands and yanked it away from his face, tilting his head back to look up at his father. "It's not fun brushing teeth, Daddy!"
"Neither is having your teeth rot out of your head," Ash teased, gently poking Aiden's nose.
"Brandon had a tooth fall out, but it wasn't…um…rotteded," Aiden replied, watching as his father placed his small red toothbrush back in its holder.
"Well yeah, it's okay if your tooth falls out naturally," Ash chuckled. "But if it falls out because you didn't care of it, that's not good!"
"Oh, okay," Aiden chirped before taking a flying leap off of his step stool. "Mommy, am I gonna get new sneakers?"
"Yes, you are," Misty confirmed, smirking when she saw Ash's stunned face.
"How come I can't keep mine?" Aiden asked, tilting his head.
"Because they have holes in them," Misty explained. "Remember your toe started sticking out of one?"
Aiden laughed at the memory. "Uh huh! That was funny!"
"Yeah, hilarious," Misty snickered. "Come on, let's go downstairs and get ready to head out."
Aiden squeezed past her and started chasing after Michelle, who shrieked loudly and started to run herself. Misty sighed tiredly and whipped around, watching the two over her shoulder. "Don't run down the stairs! I don't want either of you falling and getting hurt!"
Ash chuckled and strode up to Misty, playfully winking at her. "They'll be fine! They run down those stairs without a problem all the time."
"That doesn't mean I want them to do it!" Misty groaned. "All it takes is one slip…"
"Might as well trail them then," Ash replied, shuffling sideways to pass Misty. "I'm probably running late at this point."
"You're going to tell me they're not used to that by now?" Misty quipped, walking back into the hallway.
"They are," Ash refuted. "But I at least try my best to be on time after a weekend. Then I just look really lazy."
The young couple made their way down the stairs, which Aiden and Michelle had already managed to do without incident. They were both playing with Pikachu and Vaporeon, chasing the Pokemon all over the living room. Pikachu would jump up on the couch and run across it, one of the twins running after him until he hopped off. Vaporeon, on the other hand, would crouch down and take a flying leap as soon as one of the kids got close enough, repeating this from wherever she landed last.
"Whoa, lots of energy in here," Ash whistled. "Hey, Pikachu!"
The yellow mouse stopped in his tracks, ears perking as he glanced up at his trainer. "Pikapi!"
"I hate to interrupt playtime, but we're going to be later for work," Ash sighed.
Pikachu nodded understandingly, giving both Aiden and Michelle a quick lick on their shins before scurrying over to Ash. They both whined in disapointment, causing their father to frown.
"I'm really sorry, guys," Ash apologized. "I know how much fun you were having! But you can play again once Pikachu and I come home tonight."
Neither twin seemed placated with that arrangement. Ash still felt guilty for breaking up the game, even though he really didn't have a choice. Misty, however, was keen to her husband's feelings, and quickly stepped in.
"Don't worry, we have to get going too!" Misty reassured the pouty kids. "And the quicker we get all of our errands done, the sooner we can go to the bakery and get some cookies!"
That perked the twins up. With high pitched giggles, the two of them bustled towards the front door, grabbing a hold of their shoes and dropping to the floor in order to put them on.
"You sure know how to get them to cooperate," Ash laughed.
"It's easy enough to figure out," Misty calmly replied, although she was sporting a rather boastful smirk. "They're your children, so a good way to get to their hearts or their heads is through their stomachs."
"Really?" Ash sounded incredulous. "Even Michelle? Who eats like a Pidgey?"
"She may be a dainty eater, but she's still a kid," Misty giggled. "She can't turn down things like sweets!"
"Mommy, I'm gonna wear these!"
Misty turned her head and grimaced as soon as she saw that Aiden was holding up his ratty blue and black sneakers.
"No, Aiden, those are destroyed, you can't wear them," Misty groaned. "That's why we're going to get you new ones."
"But I like them," Aiden droned.
"I know you do, but they're falling apart," Misty reasoned with him. "Give me those. You'll just wear sandals for now."
Frowning, Aiden trudged over to his mother and reluctantly handed over the worn sneakers. Misty thanked him before he headed back towards the front door, and then held up the sneakers to examine them. They were, just as Misty had said, completely trashed: dirty and covered in holes. The bottom of one sneaker was even beginning to tear away from the rest of the shoe.
"I feel like I have to buy Aiden a new pair of sneakers every three months," Misty grumbled. "I can't tell if it's because they're making these things flimsier, or if he's just that rough on them."
"Probably a combination of both," Ash chuckled, rubbing underneath Pikachu's chin. "I went through a lot of sneakers as a kid too, but not nearly as many as Aiden does."
Before either Ash or Misty could process it, the twins had managed to pull their sandals on, and both were reaching up for the doorknob, trying to pull the door open.
"Alright, looks like you're both raring to go!" Ash remarked, regaining Aiden and Michelle's attention and earning big grins from the two of them. "Guess we can all walk out together."
"Sounds good to me!" Misty chirped. "Vaporeon, you want to come with us?"
The water type mewled and slinked over to her trainer, rubbing against the gym leader's legs.
"I'll take that as a yes," Misty giggled.
Ash reached forward and unlocked the front door, pulling his hand back as Aiden quickly grabbed for the doorknob and began twisting it open.
"I got it!" Aiden called as the door swung open. He and Michelle both ran outside, bolting down the walkway as they overflowed with excitement.
Misty exhaled and she tilted her head back. "I have a feeling this is going to be a long day."
"Yeah, but you got it," Ash replied. "I believe in you!"
Misty scoffed, but still showed off a smile. "Alright, you'd better get going. Or else Goodshow will have your head."
Instead of firing back with his own comment, Ash bent down and gave Misty a kiss. Once they separated, he looked towards the twins and called, "you two behave for Mommy, alright?"
They nodded excitedly, causing Ash to laugh. "Great! See you guys later!"
"Later," Misty replied, watching as Ash walked towards the car. She then moved closer to the twins, who were standing hand-in-hand and chattering away to one another. "You guys ready to get some stuff done?"
"Yeah!" They both cheered.
"Good energy!" Misty complimented, placing her hands on her hips. "Let's see how long that lasts…"
I was mostly fixated on the idea of Ash trying to do Michelle's hair, but then I just kept adding onto it. I love writing the day-to-day stuff!
