I feel like I've been on a roll with writing lately (only took over 4 months of being stuck at home, lol) and have really been getting a lot of stuff done! This is one I actually began a few months ago, when my mind was kind of preoccupied with the whole idea of not being able to leave the house. Of course, I'm not about to write about a pandemic in our happy little imaginary world, so I went with a much more agreeable rain storm instead.

With lots of family fluff thrown in for good measure, of course!

Aiden and Michelle: 4 years old


Stir Crazy

"This storm is crazy! I'm amazed the house hasn't washed away yet."

Michelle, who had been staring out the window and watching the rain fall, whimpered and looked over her shoulder at her father, the little girl's eyes reflecting concern.

"Ash, don't say those kinds of things in front of her!"

The man chuckled and glanced sheepishly at his wife. "I was just kidding!"

"Yeah, but she doesn't know that," Misty reminded him, tossing another newly folded shirt into the laundry basket that sat beside her. "Michelle is sensitive."

Smirking, Ash picked the little girl up beneath her arms and assured her, "Daddy was joking, princess. Our house isn't going anywhere!"

Michelle smiled and gave him as big of a hug as she could manage; her way of letting him know that all was forgiven. While Michelle snuggled with Ash, Misty looked up from the laundry and out the window instead, her brow furrowing. "You're right about one thing, though. This storm really is insane."

"I feel like it's never going to stop raining," Ash groaned, resting his head atop Michelle's.

"Maybe all the water type Pokémon can go swimming outside now," Michelle squeaked, giggling once her mother turned to her and smiled.

"Up and down the street?" Misty asked, earning a nod from her daughter. "I think I'd love to see that!"

"You sure are creative, Shelly!" Ash complimented the girl, whose smile managed to widen.

A sudden yell broke up the sweet moment, followed immediately by Aiden running into the room and tripping over his own two feet, falling flat on his face.

"And you sure are destructive," Misty sighed, kneeling down and picking her son up. "Are you alright, Aiden?"

"Yeah!" The boy laughed. "That was fun!"

"Fun?" Misty repeated with a nervous laugh. "We have very different ideas of fun, little guy."

"I was runnin' from Pikachu," Aiden explained, twisting his body so he could look behind himself. "He runs so fast, Mommy!"

"He does," Misty agreed. "You know Daddy likes his Pokémon to be speedy!"

"And Pikachu's one of the speediest!" Ash chuckled.

"I think maybe I can go faster than Pikachu," Aiden mused, swaying from side-to-side before whipping around to face his father. "What do you think, Daddy?"

"Me?" Ash asked, pointing at himself while Aiden nodded in response. "Well…I think anything is possible if you give it your all! But Pikachu won't let you win so easily, champ."

As if on cue, Pikachu came running into the room, jumping up to playfully headbutt Aiden in the chest. The little boy started to laugh wildly, catching Pikachu in his arms and rubbing his nose against the mouse's head.

"You found me!" Aiden exclaimed. "I tried to hide, but you found me!"

"Pi-ka, pipika!" Pikachu tittered.

Aiden held Pikachu out at arm's length and grinned at the electric type. "Hey, I know! Let's have a race!"

Pikachu blinked and tilted his head. "Chu?"

"Aiden, you know you're not supposed to run in the house," Misty sighed. "That's how you ended up tripping before!"

"Yeah, but I didn't get hurt!" Aiden whined.

"That doesn't mean you won't get hurt the next time," Misty patiently reminded him.

"Nah, I'll be fine!" Aiden refuted, placing Pikachu on the floor. "Come on, we can start right here!"

Michelle, who had been watching her brother from her father's lap, suddenly began to squirm, much to Ash's confusion. It only became clear to him after she accidentally kneed him in the stomach and jumped to the floor herself that she'd been trying to escape from his grasp.

"Man," Ash groaned, clutching his stomach. "Michelle may be sensitive, but her legs sure aren't."

"No, there's some serious power behind those things," Misty snickered.

Standing tall in front of Aiden, Michelle delicately banged her chest and declared, "I wanna race, too!"

"What?!" Misty cried, whipping back around towards the twins. "Michelle, no! I just told your brother; no running in the house!"

"But Mommy!" Michelle whined, balling her little hands into fists. "I can be faster than Aiden and Pikachu! I know I can!"

"Nuh uh, no way!" Aiden argued.

"I can!" Michelle avowed. "Come on, I'll show you!"

"Pi…" Pikachu sighed. He should've known this would lead to trouble. He loved the twins, and he loved playing with them, but when they started to get competitive with one another, all bets were off.

"Guys, seriously, no racing in the house," Misty sternly warned her children. "I don't want anything getting destroyed, I don't want either of you getting hurt…now is not the time to be doing this. Let's wait until we can take this outside, okay?"

Michelle pouted, obviously not content with this idea. "But Daddy said it's never going to stop raining!"

Misty shot her husband a weary look, to which he shrieked, "come on, I didn't mean that either!"

Sighing, Misty turned her attention back onto her daughter and assured her, "it will stop raining eventually, I promise. But for now, we have to do some fun indoor activities that won't end in disaster. Do you two have any ideas?"

"I know!" Aiden cheered. "We can have a race, but we can cover the whole house with pillows and blankets and stuff so nobody gets hurt!"

Misty groaned and rubbed her temples. "No…no racing."

"Aw, not even if we make it safe?" Aiden whined.

Ash couldn't help but to chuckle. "Buddy, it would take forever to set all of that up!"

"Yeah, that's the problem…" Misty muttered sarcastically, side eyeing him.

"Well, if we're not going to be having races in the house, then I've got a great idea!" Ash suggested.

Before anyone could ask what his idea was, Ash climbed all the way up on the couch and began jumping up and down. Aiden and Michelle's jaws dropped, clearly amused by their father's antics, but their mother, whose eyes had widened to a near comical size, was anything but.

"Ash…" Misty warned.

"Misty…" Ash replied in the same tone, causing the kids to burst out into laughter.

The gym leader sighed and rolled her eyes. "Sometimes I think you're more trouble than you're worth."

"You wanna get rid of me?" Ash asked teasingly, a smirk gracing his face.

"Mommy, don't do it!" Michelle cried frantically, running up to her mother and grabbing onto her legs. "Don't get rid of Daddy!"

Misty shook her head and looked back up at Ash from their daughter. "You don't learn your lesson, do you?"

Ash ceased his bouncing in order to cross his arms. "Shelly, how did you turn out so sweet and innocent when Mommy and I are so sarcastic?"

Michelle shrugged. "I dunno."

Misty smirked. "Do you know what 'sarcastic' means, sweetheart?"

"No," Michelle quickly replied, rubbing her cheek against Misty's knee.

"That's what I am!" Aiden cried enthusiastically. "I'm like you and Daddy!"

Misty giggled. "You're sarcastic too?"

"Yep!" Aiden chirped.

"Do you know what that means?" Ash asked with a chuckle.

"No," Aiden answered, causing both of his parents to burst out laughing.

"You two are so funny!" Misty exclaimed, beaming at her children. "You always know how to make Daddy and I laugh."

"Guess what else is funny!" Aiden squealed, not giving anyone time to answer before he scurried over to the couch and climbed up onto it himself, jumping up and down like his father had before.

Misty made a noise of disagreement. "I don't think that's quite as funny, little guy."

Michelle's eyes suddenly began to sparkle, and she followed in her brother's footsteps, joining him on the couch in order to bounce on it.

"Michelle, you too?" Misty groaned.

"It's fun!" Michelle giggled.

Misty sighed and slumped her shoulders. "How do I always end up outnumbered?"

"Come on, Mist, you know that's not true!" Ash reassured his wife. "They gang up on me with you a whole bunch, too! Just depends on the day."

"Pi-ka," Pikachu agreed, nodding his head.

Misty smirked and picked up the mouse Pokémon, holding him against her. "Guess today's just not my day, huh?"

"It could be," Ash teased, wiggling his eyebrows. "All you have to do is get on the couch and jump with us!"

"I'm not going to jump on the couch!" Misty cried, her voice exasperated. "I don't think you realize how many things could go wrong with that."

"No, I do," Ash refuted. "I just ignore them!"

"That figures," Misty muttered.

"Mommy, jump with us!" Aiden pleaded.

"Yeah, we'll be careful!" Michelle added.

Misty looked highly unsure. She loved making her children happy, but at the same time, she knew jumping on the couch was a bad idea, and it wasn't setting a very good example for them, either. Ash, of course, was all about fun and didn't much care about either of those things. It often made Misty wonder if she was just a bit too protective…or uptight. Looking over her shoulder, Misty gazed out the window and saw the rain still lashing against it, with no sign of slowing down.

"Well…I guess if we're really going to be stuck in here for a while…" Misty mused with a small smile. She walked over to the couch and placed Pikachu down by the fascinated twins before climbing up onto the couch herself, causing their expressions to instead turn to ones of delight.

Ash, for what it was worth, didn't have much of a different reaction from their children, and looked positively thrilled with the turn of events. "I knew you'd join in eventually!"

"Oh, you did, did you?" Misty laughed.

"Yeah, -cause I know my Mist!" Ash chuckled, resuming his bouncing.

Aiden and Michelle both laughed wildly as they rolled around the couch, unable to get up because of Ash's jumping. Pikachu soon joined in on the fray as well, tittering as he got thrown around. Misty couldn't help but to smile at the trio, and forgetting all of her previous doubts, began jumping up and down herself. This only got the twins and Pikachu laughing even harder, which in turn caused Ash and Misty to start as well.

After quite a bit of jumping and pouncing and pulling one another down, Aiden, Michelle, and Pikachu had all fallen asleep, and Ash and Misty found themselves considerably worn out as well. They had slumped down on the couch, the sleeping children and Pikachu sandwiched in between them.

"That worked better than…anything else ever has," Misty admitted, lazily lolling her head until it was resting on Ash's shoulder.

"Sometimes you've gotta take the slightly more dangerous approach," Ash chuckled.

"You're so insane," Misty muttered, though the smile on her face deceived her.

"Maybe," Ash hummed. After a long beat of silence, he managed to perk up a bit as he asked, "Hey, when they wake up, do you think we can let 'em have that race with Pikachu? You know, since you're okay with a little bit of risk now, I'd actually like to see who wins that."

Misty glanced up with a raised eyebrow. "Now you're just pushing your luck, Ketchum."