Hey everyone! I feel like it's been so long since I last added a new one shot, but it hasn't even been two weeks. I've been so busy lately and I guess it just feels like time is flying by!
Either way, I'm excited to share another story with you! It's very sweet and I had a lot of fun writing this one.
Aiden and Michelle: 3 years old
The Super-Secret Slumber Party
When the door to Aiden's bedroom creaked open, so too did his sleepy eyes.
Regardless of his hazy vision, the boy had a pretty good idea of who was coming into his room. Part of it was repetition, sure. But the other part of it, and probably the most dominant one, was the fact that Aiden shared a unique connection with this person. One that no one else could possibly understand.
"Shelly?" Aiden mumbled.
The figure kept shuffling towards him, but affirmed it was her with a soft, "uh huh."
Aiden groaned and rubbed his eyes. "How come you hewe?"
"Lonely," Michelle murmured, still moving closer to her brother until she was leaning against the side of his bed. Once she was only a few inches away from Aiden, he was able to see that she had brought along a stuffed Pichu with her and was clutching the toy in her hands.
Although his eyes were now open, Aiden still wouldn't pick his head up from his pillow. "You don't like you woom?"
"I do," Michelle replied, hugging the Pichu toy against her chest. "But I don't like being alone."
Finally, Aiden picked his head up. "You wanna sleep hewe?"
"Uh huh."
That wasn't much of a surprise, either. This had been happening almost nightly ever since Aiden and Michelle had been split up into different rooms. And even though Michelle had remained in the twins' original room and Aiden had been moved to a new one, the little girl was more upset with having to be in the room alone than anything else. As much as her parents had hoped it wouldn't be the case, it being the same room she'd slept in since she was a newborn meant nothing to her.
"Kay."
With that, Aiden moved over in his bed, making room for his twin sister. She crawled in without hesitation, nestling in beside him and pulling the covers back up. And then the two siblings settled into silence…for all of 30 seconds.
"Denny?"
"Uh huh?"
"You'we my bestest fwiend."
"You'we my bestest fwiend, too."
Giggling, Michelle lifted her stuffed Pichu up from behind the covers, pressing it against Aiden's face and making a kissy sound. Aiden began to laugh as well and wasted no time in twisting around in his bed so he could grab a stuffed Pokémon of his own.
"My Squiwtle and youw Pichu can be bestest fwiends, too!" He cried.
"Okay!" Michelle cheered.
"I tell you what Squiwtle is sayin-, and you tell me what Pichu's sayin-," Aiden continued before waving his stuffed water type over his head and saying in a much more high-pitched voice, "let's have a battle!"
"I like to battle!" Michelle replied in her own cartoonish voice, obviously pretending to be Pichu in the same way Aiden was pretending to be Squirtle.
"Kay, we'we gonna battle now!" Aiden continued, still using his Squirtle voice. "One, two, thwee, go!"
Aiden and Michelle began to crash the stuffed Pichu and Squirtle toys together, making all kinds of sound effects as they did so: explosions, crashes, squeals and cries.
"Okay, the battle's ovew!" Aiden suddenly called, using his regular voice again as he pulled his Squirtle back.
"Who wonded?" Michelle asked, no longer pretending to be Pichu.
"Ummm…it's a tie!" Aiden declared.
"Yay!" Michelle hailed, lowering her Pichu toy and hugging it against her. "Good battle!"
"Yeah!" Aiden agreed. "The bestest!"
Aiden's door suddenly swung open again, but this time, it wasn't someone who really wanted to be there.
"What in the world is going on in here?!"
It was whispered, but there was definitely a sense of urgency behind that question. Aiden and Michelle both turned towards the door, and even through the dark, they could see the unmistakable sight of their mother's bright red hair…and the longer they looked, her stunned expression.
"Hi, Mommy," Aiden greeted innocently.
"What is going on?" Misty repeated, her voice still quiet as she skipped over her son's welcome. "Michelle, why are you in Aiden's room?"
"Sleepover," Michelle murmured.
"Again?" Misty sighed, slumping her shoulders as her daughter nodded.
It had become very apparent to both her and Ash that Michelle did not like being in her own room. What was most confusing to them, however, was that she had initially been all for having a "big girl bedroom." In fact, when they had first suggested it to the twins, Michelle had been the one who was most excited by the idea.
Still, it didn't make Misty feel any better about the whole situation. She honestly felt like a terrible mother for splitting her kids up, especially since Michelle had been spending almost every night in Aiden's room since then.
"Michelle, sweetie, why don't you want to sleep in your room?" Misty asked, walking over to Aiden's bed and taking a seat on its side. Now was probably not the time to have this conversation, considering it was well past midnight, but Misty couldn't help herself. This was a problem she wanted to solve sooner rather than later.
Which was why she was dismayed when Michelle responded with a shrug and a timid, "I dunno."
"You don't know?" Misty reiterated, furrowing her brow. "I think you do. What is it? You can tell me."
Michelle whined softly and hid her face behind her Pichu plush. Aiden watched her silently, but soon turned his eyes onto his mother and supplied, "she's scawed."
"To be in her room by herself?" Misty presumed.
"Uh huh," Aiden murmured. "I pa-tect Shelly."
"Oh, I see," Misty breathed. "Michelle, why do you think being in your room by yourself is so scary? Can you tell me?"
Michelle once again hesitated for a moment, but finally admitted, "cause I'm lonely. And dat's scawy."
Misty bit her lower lip. She figured that was the reason but hearing it directly from Michelle only made it even sadder.
"Well, Shelly, you're never really alone," Misty tried. "You know that Aiden is right next door, and me and Daddy are at the end of the hall! We might all be in our rooms, but we're still in the house all together. The only difference is that we're sleeping! Does that make you feel a little better?"
Slowly, Michelle nodded her head.
"Good, I'm glad," Misty sighed. "So, will you go back in your own room now?"
Michelle made an unsure noise, to which Aiden asked their mother, "can Shelly stay hewe just fow t-night?"
Misty groaned a bit, but quickly decided it wasn't worth the fight. "Alright, but just for tonight. You'll have to go back to your own room tomorrow night, okay, Michelle?"
Once again, Michelle nodded, although this time it was much more confident.
"And I want you two to go to sleep!" Misty further instructed. "No more playing and messing around."
"Kay," Aiden and Michelle chirped simultaneously.
Misty smiled and leaned forward, giving each twin their own kiss. "Good night, you two. Mommy loves you."
"-ove you," the twins returned, once again at the same time.
With that established, Misty got up from the bed and walked out of the room, closing the door behind her. Aiden and Michelle watched their mother go before locking their eyes onto each other, laying perfectly still and staring silently.
"Denny?"
Aiden showed off a giant grin as soon as Michelle whispered his nickname. "Ya?"
"-m not sleepy."
"Me eifer."
"I wish we could play."
"Me too."
Michelle hugged her Pichu toy tighter. "Let's play quiet!"
Aiden's smile somehow managed to widen. "Kay!"
He whipped out his Squirtle plush again, but this time, the twins resumed their playing in a much calmer manner…one that made them sure their mother wouldn't catch them this time. And that appeared to be the key to finally tiring out the kids; before long, the room fell silent and they were both out cold, their Pokémon toys still clutched in their little hands.
Roughly half an hour later, Misty had returned, this time with Ash in tow. The young parents just barely poked their heads into Aiden's room, and were both pleased to see that Aiden and Michelle were fast asleep.
"I know it's not ideal, but at least they're actually sleeping now," Ash whispered to his wife.
"Yeah," she sighed, a small smile playing on her lips as she continued to stare at the slumbering twins. "It's not the worst thing in the world." Growing more serious, however, she quickly added, "But we are going to have to start figuring out how to get Michelle to stay in her own room."
"Sure," Ash agreed cheerfully. "But that sounds like a problem for tomorrow!"
"Technically, it is tomorrow."
"Eh, you know what I mean!"
Misty huffed. "You won't be so jolly when the time for this talk actually rolls around."
"Why, you don't think I can handle the tough conversations?" Ash challenged, raising an eyebrow.
"Considering you usually find a way to sneasel out of them, no," Misty quipped, turning around and walking away from Aiden's bedroom door.
"What?!" Ash exclaimed, shooting up straight. "I do not!"
"Yes, you do," Misty easily replied. "And quit yelling! You're going to wake the twins up!"
"What, you think that I'm – "
"Ash, stop asking questions that you already know the answers to."
I've been writing a lot of the older twins butting heads lately, and even though that's also fun to write, I was really starting to miss out on writing them being friendly with one another. So, this one's just a cute little reminder that they are still best friends, no matter what!
