Hello :P It is Wednesday and I am back with a new chapter. Like the title suggests, this one features a love triangle and it follows another of the themes from PokeShipping Week on Tumblr. Perhaps unlike some of the other stories/ideas that people may have come up with, my one is of course about the love triangle that plagues Ash and Misty's life. The one with James! It's not something I write about all that much. But I definitely wanted to here. I hope you enjoy :P
Ages:
Ash: 18
Misty: 18
James: 25
I smiled to myself as I followed the raven haired Frontier Brain and the orange haired Cerulean Gym back to the homely and familiar house in Pallet Town. I couldn't help but think that particular view was perfect. It was just so meant to be. And so very right.
However, almost as soon as the three of us turned the corner and arrived on the pathway leading towards the Ketchum family home, it was made clear to me that my opinion wasn't the opinion shared by all. With shoes crunching on the gravel and my paws not making a single noise as we walked, it became very obvious that I was not on the same page as everyone in the world.
The look from the lavender haired male as he leaned up against his own motorbike outside Delia's house with not a helmet lulling on the handlebars was as clear as day. He pushed his long and slightly wavy locks out of his eyes and turned his head at the sound of Ash, Misty and I approaching.
Almost immediately, the couple with their arms loosely but lovingly wrapped around each other stopped in their tracks, coming to a crunchy halt on the gravel pathway. I was encouraged to follow suit a second or two after, blinking and perching my bottom down with a delicate thud on the ground.
Ash and Misty remained close to each other but I could see the orange haired female's hand slip just an inch or so on the jacket clad back of my best friend before she corrected it again. She could still feel the raven haired young man's arm draping around her waist.
But still, he acknowledged the lavender haired male too and he felt his presence even more so. He too stared back. Yet for once, it was the quieter out of the two males and the one who had more reservations about speaking who opened his mouth first.
While Misty's hand was encouraged to stay firm on the young Frontier Brain's shoulder, through narrowed eyes I watched James tilt his head all the more so and then shake it, his long locks cascading about his face. Then, his eyes widened before he communicated a single word of surprise.
"Oh." He uttered plainly at first, still propping his body up against his motorbike before his hands stopped clasping around his own middle and moved behind him, offering himself some extra support by resting on the black, leather seat. Out of the corner of my continually thin eyes, I felt his gaze go mostly to Misty before flickering between her and her boyfriend. His voice continued filling the September air. "You two are together. I've been waiting a while. Misty, I thought we were meeting here."
Instead of looking left at the face of his girlfriend, Ash stared on ahead at the ex-rocketeer even though he wasn't being the one spoken to. And as for Misty, well, her hand wavered on her boyfriend's shoulder all over.
But she managed to remain composed. In fact, she straightened her back and lifted her chin slightly higher than was natural for her. Her hand slid off the raven haired young man's shoulder a second time, but that time it wasn't intentional.
My eyes softened as I looked between Ash and Misty and then they became slits again when I sent my glance towards the lavender haired male. Nevertheless, I managed to hold my own tongue. Misty didn't though.
After a couple of icy seconds passed and she moved a fraction away from Ash for good to shrug and run a hand through her own bangs, she answered the oldest male. She faultlessly looked right back at him, her own raised eyebrow countering his own.
"Well, I didn't ask you to wait. I believe I told you that I would be coming from Professor Oak's lab. I just so happened to run into Ash there." Misty spoke coolly but to go against this, even though I was remaining lingering by the two halves of the young couple, I could sense her very still yet rather firm expression as she looked at James.
The lavender haired male could surely sense the stillness but also rigidness of her face and her words also. He could see and hear it as well.
Moving just one hand away from the black leather seat of his motorbike, he used that same one to brush over the centre part of his locks, his palm flat out against his hair. He tried to nod. But he couldn't hide the irritation taking over his own face and mouth as well though he attempted to conceal it by biting the inside of his cheek for a second.
As I moved forward to be side by side to Ash and Misty rather than directly behind, James spoke again though he could surely sense my presence and then see it as well. Through a temple that was starting to throb, I spied the long and hard look he gave the couple opposite before breaking the brief silence.
"How convenient." James commented and his meadow green studious orbs continued to back and forth between Ash and Misty too even after these words had been uttered. In fact, they only seemed to flicker more as time passed. The two of them had since stopped leaning so close to one and other and their arms had folded over their chest and rested on their hips respectively, but the lavender haired male could as clear as day sense the entwining that was being done in the spiritual sense rather than the physical. He couldn't stop his eyebrow from shooting further upwards at this paired with their mildly dishevelled appearance. "Did you battle or something?"
This of course was not an attempt at small talk. Even I could admit that it wasn't exactly an interrogation either, but it was certainly something between those two things. James' eyes finally found themselves able to focus just on Misty and at the same time that they did this, his head twitched.
His expression had a very underlying and very subtle display of contempt and it was like he saw right through the two of them. But at the same time, he was putting on an act, and asking words like he didn't have the littlest clue. I didn't like that.
I could feel my paws beginning to dig further against the gravel beneath them and it started to hurt a bit. But I didn't care. My own temple throbbed further as I frowned. Still, before I could take things any further – with my expression or by hissing out sounds or James could even look in my direction and notice my surly expression – the Frontier Brain stepped in.
My expression was encouraged to soften almost as soon as I felt his movements and he took one step forward. I felt air hit my eyes and I looked upwards. If I was in his position then I would have certainly had a few things to say to James! And not just because of his questions.
I was effortlessly impressed by the way that Ash responded to him. Whether he had to try hard or not I actually couldn't tell but either way, soon enough after taking that single step forward; he spoke to the older male. He didn't make his hand push against James' chest. Yet his shoulder moved like he had done exactly this.
"Something like that." Ash uttered the words that were surely in Misty's mind and on the tip of her tongue as well, although surprisingly her bold self hadn't seized the opportunity to say them. James' expression changed when they were spoken by the younger male. Both hands went back behind him, supporting himself as he remained leaning against his motorbike. He looked equal parts collected but with gentle frustration bubbling under the surface as he decided he didn't want to talk to Ash. But Ash wanted to talk to James. Locking his brown eyes onto the chiselled face of the ex-rocketeer, he stated firmly. "I'm going inside to wash up."
Ash spoke right to James and you could almost feel the electricity between the two of them as their eyes locked onto one and other. That sensation and a shiver ran down my spine and it was a bit enjoyable! My eyes stopped narrowing and my mouth grinned and smirked, showing off everything that I wanted to say without having to say anything.
I guessed that the lavender haired male didn't even see it. But it still felt good and natural to show it off. A breathy sound could be heard escaping from James' nostrils in response to the younger male's words but other than that, he didn't say anything. He didn't grow taller either.
Letting out the subtlest throat noise of derision and shaking his head as if he couldn't be bothered to interact with Ash, he looked down at the ground. He looked down at the ground as Ash took that stepped backwards all over again and as he did that, without having to look he reached his hand behind him for Misty to take a hold of and join him.
I knew it was that that caused James to look up all over again. Or rather, it was this that caused his eyes to lock a few metres to the side, where Misty may or may not go on to interlock her fingers with her boyfriend's right in front of him.
Before she could even have a chance to either way, James at last straightened his spine. And a second or two after doing this, he tilted his head all over again in order to address Misty, ignoring Ash's words as best as he could by simply not covering them.
"Misty, can I speak to you before you go inside, please? In private." The ex-rocketeer came out with these words politely enough in hindsight but still, at the present moment they caused my own head to twitch, showing off a very obvious kind of disbelief. I was too busy feeling that action of my own to sense Misty stiffen slightly. And I was too occupied even to notice the way that Ash's gloved fingers wrapped around her wrist as seconds passed and she still hadn't taken hold of his hand. I didn't know it but it was this that caused James to stand even taller – and show off a bit more of a fairer expression too. He looked at the raven haired male after looking so studiously at the orange haired female. "Ash, could I speak to Misty alone?"
Just a simple second of silence befell all of us before his very quick and very level voice could be heard.
"Oh, so now you're being Mr Respectful?" Ash retorted and needless to say these words caused Misty to stiffen once more. She managed to stifle her gasp as her boyfriend's fingers lingered on her wrist. James became a statue uneasily too but this passed a lot sooner. He composed his body while allowing his face to do the hardening, becoming very angular and narrow eyed as he scoffed at Ash. Before he could say anything, my best friend added, asking. "Don't you think it's too late for that?"
The electricity was even more prominent between the two guys then and my eyes flickered as though I was watching a tennis match. However, that time that it happened; it didn't send the same joy coursing down my back and tickling through my veins.
That time, that electricity and that tension went straight to the pit of my stomach and I felt sick. I shook my head. I shook my head with all of my might, agreeing with Ash and looking very far from fondly at James.
I shouldn't have been surprised that it was going to be Misty's time to step in then. Despite her having very noticeable frozen fingers while her boyfriend's hand clasped around just one of her wrists, after some time, she forced herself she be composed. Not that I wanted to admit it back then, but she was probably learning by example from James.
Taking a deep yet silent breath, she took control of herself and she took control of the situation. Unlike when she was a ten year old girl, she understood that she didn't need to use her mouth to get her point across. Sometimes, actions did indeed speak louder than words.
She deemed it appropriate for her hand to return to Ash's shoulder all over again but by sending them to the front rather than the back like the time before. And going one step further, after lingering her fingers on her shoulder for a couple of seconds, she edged them closer to his neck, stroking his skin.
It was the lightest possible touch. But it got a point across to both guys. Ash resisted smirking while James' eyes dropped to the floor all over again and he tried to hide his irritation and dismay by chewing the inside of his cheek.
Somehow, his occasionally naïve and clueless self, understood what his girlfriend's wordless actions meant. He could trust her. She wouldn't be long.
Then his lip quirking up but at the knowing of their synchronicities outside of when they battled side by side, Ash nodded his head just once. I heard Misty breathe out. I felt James' eyes and chin lift all over again. Though unable to fight back his natural instinct and his actions then, my best friend's arm wrapped around his girlfriend all over again and as he did this, he planted a very loving yet very pointed kiss to Misty's cheek.
James forced his gaze to tolerate this view. And because he looked, he heard as well. I did too. I heard the words that came out of Ash's mouth as he added once more before he headed inside.
He gave an amount of time to which he would be absent that followed the defensive kiss that he planted to her cheek. After they stopped being so close to each other and before he finally departed for good, Ash turned over his shoulder to look right at James.
Because James' chin was somehow managing to remain lifted even after the kiss of defensiveness that he had been forced to see, eyes locked onto each other all over again. Competitively, meadow green orbs met those with a brown hue. And then, it faltered much faster than any of the other two times. They both shook their heads and looked away.
Waving a hand before stuffing two of them in his pockets, Ash called to me. Hesitantly I followed after. But after giving James a massive staring myself (for my own benefit and to perhaps make up for my best friend's formerly brief one as well) I decided that if he could trust Misty then I could as well.
I found that a little harder than usual and that caused a hitch towards the back of my throat. But I felt the smile and the very light wave that she gave me before I departed as well. She was still there. Even if she had the influence of the ex-rocketeer yet was oddly more of a threat in my opinion now than when he had that "R" printed upon his chest.
I was rewarded for my trusting nature. Deep in my heart, I did trust her anyway and believed that things would be okay. I of course was loyal to Ash more than anything in the world. So I didn't dream of refusing when as soon as we turned the corner to head inside the house, though he did indeed head on in, he gave me a gesture with his fingers to stay back and keep an eye on things.
My eyes reflected a jet of light almost immediately. His wish was my command. I would be there to keep an eye on things. And I would not hesitate to use my techniques of battle if James acted in any other way than I saw fit!
Unable to allow my glinting eyes to narrow as I was already peeping from behind a fence, I watched him and Misty linger in silence before the two of them finally interacted. I watched and I waited for them to finally look at one and other too.
I was undecided whether it surprised me or not that it was the orange haired female who spoke first. Taking a step forward towards the lavender haired male and his motorbike but lamely so, Misty looked up at him with the same quiet wondering in her eyes that escaped her lips and sounded in the air.
"What did you want to talk to me about?" she questioned monotonously. I read the disappointment and the dismay in James' eyes when she continued her off and slightly chilly demeanour even with her boyfriend no longer around.
Nevertheless, though he was silent as he acknowledged this and tried to come to terms with it, he attempted to encourage his face to be as soft as it usually was when it came to him.
Attempting to ignore the dullness in her voice, he at last moved his body away from his motorbike entirely. He gestured with his hands for Misty to take a seat on it so they could talk.
Missing a beat, she came out with an alternative.
"I'll sit thanks." She told the older male and even if he had managed to swallow the dullness of her own tones, he couldn't do the same thing with the slight hard edge to them then! His forehead frowning and his meadow green orbs wandering for hers only proved how baffling that was.
Misty didn't look at him. She took a step back and then her body twisted just a fraction, intending to turn around and find an alternative place to sit.
Moving away from his more recent quiet frustration and disbelief, James noted that her body finally moved and turned away from him, in order to find a relatively comfortable and not wet patch of the gravelled ground.
Stepping in with a composed sigh, the lavender haired male reached and tugged off his leather jacket that was the same colour of the seat of his motorbike, handing it over to the younger person.
At first she tried to resist and I inwardly congratulated her on that! But after James silently but fairly insisted and continued holding it out to her, she accepted it with wordless thanks. Misty placed it down on the ground and her bottom became seated there.
James went back to lulling against his own motorbike but much more stiffly that time. I knew that it wasn't down to the cold of losing his jacket, even though he rubbed his hands along his own arms.
He looked over and down at Misty, occupying his teeth with the inside of his own mouth but not to hide disdain that time around. James looked at her and hoped that she would catch on, at last answering his question that he had put forth a couple of moments prior.
That seemed rather unlikely when, after plonking herself down on top of his leather jacket and absentmindedly picking at a few, sparse blades of grass that were somehow poking through the gravel stones in the nearing autumn months, she didn't look up at the lavender haired male for the longest time.
However, she eventually did, addressing that he had spoken aloud. Misty shrugged uncomfortably. She didn't exactly meet his eye.
"I didn't ask you to wait for me, you know." The orange haired female reminded James of some of her previous words and he looked down at her, almost copying her actions of plucking at strands of grass with her fingers but by plucking at loose threads of the pockets of his vintage jeans. As if she noticed this, she stopped her own gestures immediately. I tilted my head. Misty added, shrugging. "You should've got the message. We shouldn't have been hanging out anyway when we said to each other that we should see each other less."
I expected James' expression to be filled with annoyance because of the way that she uttered one word in particular so much. That word didn't seem to come into the question when it came to him – Jessie and Meowth as well. They were the last people to conform to what was expected of them.
I was stood correct though. Through suspicious eyes but with open ears, it became apparent that I didn't know every little thing.
James did react with a quiet scoff all over and by sliding his hands into his own pockets as his shoulders dropped a little while leaning against his motorbike. But I gathered after not too much time that this wasn't actually down to the one particular word he was hearing from Misty over and over again.
His body straightened as he moved himself a bit away from his motorcycle but then his shoulders drooped all over in a cold manner, looking right at Misty as she managed to look up at him, her fingers no longer curling around and tugging at blades of grass. He saw right through her. A similar light to mine bounced off his eyes. He addressed what she said, far from amused.
"So you bumping into Ash at Professor Oak's wasn't actually a coincidence like you lead me to believe? Truthfully, I really don't remember you telling me that you would be coming from there at all." James began and Misty's eyes were filled with the image of the ground rather than the person opposite her. She let out a sigh, hers much louder than any of his previous ones. He managed to keep looking at her. I suspected that his fists were clenching slightly in his pockets. "You were purposely avoiding me, weren't you?"
Misty caused my eyes to widen by coming out with quick and unhesitant words, her fingers latching onto some very wispy blades of grass and tugging on them, her own fist clenched. This was a lot different to the way that she had looked down. Though she continued looking down as she admitted.
"Yes, okay, fine. I was avoiding you. But it was only because I actually meant it when we said we should keep away from each other as much as possible." responded Misty and I felt a surge of pride rushing from the tips of my toes to the tips of my ears. But that faded away as quickly as it came and then I felt a wash of annoyance. At least she used her head. And speaking of the person who didn't, his jaw started to clench as Misty at last looked at him again and repeated. "You should have got the message."
The ex-rocketeer suddenly stopped standing so tall (even if he was a bit hunched) in front of his own motorbike. Instead, he dropped down towards the crouch and squatted in front of Misty sitting on stop of his leather jacket, one hand on his own knee in his almost Cerulean blue wash jeans and his other hand running through his hair.
He looked back at her, his gaze not faltering but softening with hurt and vulnerability too.
"You're killing me, you do realise that, don't you?" he started and he let out a chuckle that was the furthest from a delighted one than I had ever seen. His eyes briefly shut as he tugged his hair with frustration. Then he looked at Misty again. She couldn't reciprocate so she looked to the side rather than down. "You pull me in and then you push me away. You say yes to spending time with me and then I see you rock up at any time you seem fit but with Ash at your side. You say you need to see me less. But I know you want to see me more."
James' voice dipped and quietened down towards the end of his sentences. I didn't know if I was thankful that I heard them or not. They made my eyes narrow so much that the world was just a slit around me. I felt all kinds of things. But even then I knew that I had to channel that adrenaline into listening.
Misty had continually begun shaking her head through James' sentences as if she didn't want to hear them at all. She kept doing that for a second or two after he had stopped, and bit her lip too.
But then she somehow to fill her gaze with him again. And she managed to respond promptly, hurt in her own eyes but a different kind compared to the lavender haired male.
"Ash is my boyfriend, James. It's normal to feel joined at the hip and it to appear that way to others." Misty defended and I partially wished that her voice would have rose a bit more for the sake of my best friend. But it didn't. And I wasn't too mad about it.
James did start to look quite a bit mad. He his head moved from side to side and grew a bit vinegary. And then, very unusually for him, he answered extremely promptly as well. He appeared to look right at Misty all the more and he seemed to lean closer to her. But he didn't move an inch.
His hand gripped on his own knee and his fingers stopped tousling in his own hair as he replied.
"And I'm meant to be your friend." James came back with steady eyes. I was taken aback by the fact that it was these words that caused Misty to exhaustedly shake her head and almost wrap her arms around it as she clutched it.
The lavender haired male at first merely watched as Misty shut her eyes and officially couldn't look at him. Nevertheless, she had of course heard his words and countered back to what he had put forth, her head shaking all the more and her voice wavering in the same way.
"Don't do this to me." She began and at once, not only did my stomach leap but my heart did as well. And then I was left feeling greatly dismayed when this protective jolt within me was for the wrong reasons. I didn't need to shield Misty. She was shielding herself. But from feeling things that she did not want to feel. The words that floated out of her next which were muffled to her as she partially covered her own ears with a feeble hand. "We don't act like just friends when we're together and that is why we must give each other space until we can act right."
It was James' turn to look down at the ground but only after a loud gulping noise erupted from his throat. His jaw and his cheekbones that had previously been rather clenched became decorated by a pink hue. But he tried to shake it away. It wasn't the time. It wasn't the time at all.
That moment wasn't the right one to be reminded such things or feel giddy about them. He could sense what was coming long before any of the words were said between the two of them.
James' lips appeared fuller. His chest moved inwardly and outwardly. Misty continued looking away and shielding her head in the same way that she was figuratively shielding her heart. Not that the lavender haired male really knew it. To him, she was just seizing control.
He was having the rug tugged out from underneath his feet. Arguably, it was the correct thing to have done to him. But that didn't mean it didn't hurt any less.
A quiet sigh from Misty was the only thing that could be heard in the minutes that passed. She started to move her hands away from her head, wrapping them over her chest instead to keep warm as if she was the one no longer with a jacket.
James stopped squatting on the pathway leading to the Ketchum household and sat on top of one of his own legs on the ground, no matter how cold it was. He didn't know what to say. He didn't know what to say at all. It was true that he often didn't exactly feel the need to fill silences with pointless words but that moment was such a heavy one that he almost agonised to say something – anything.
His eyes flickered. His mind did too. Yet in the subtlest of ways. He looked at the face of Misty. He looked at the being of Misty, even though she could not look at him. He was then struck with all kinds of things. Memories floated through his minds. Motives as well. He licked his lips, thinking a bit more to himself.
Very consciously shuffling as he sat on top of his own right leg, he spoke and attempted to get his own point across.
"I don't want to keep away from you because of a few things that sometimes happen between us that feel uncontrollable… And I know you don't want that either." James began and almost immediately albeit slowly, Misty shook her head as if she was utterly denying the way that the older male was reading her. However to prove otherwise even if it didn't register with the two of them, they both lifted their own arms at the same time and adjusted their hair. I supposed they had a connection whatever it was. James's brow twitched softly as he pondered. "That makes me think that there's something very undeniable here. And we should, in fact, be with each other all the more."
After the lavender haired male stated his words – he got them across plainly enough without too much force or seizing of moments at all – he edged his body a little closer to Misty's as the two of them sat down. He shuffled towards her, still looking right at her.
And to this day I do not know whether it was his words then or his actions soon after that caused the orange haired female to falter all over. Still, that time as she faltered and twitched, it seemed as though she was laughing. It appeared as though she was trying to chuckle all feelings away with disbelief as her hand moved to the side of her head.
She screwed her face up before retorting.
"Don't for a single second act like you don't have a wife and you would give her up." Misty pointed out and even though she focused right on him and her eyebrow rose, her eyelashes twitched like she wasn't exactly prepared for what was going to come out of him next. Or ready.
But she decided that she had to own it because she had blurted out words. She had to own it when despite the fact that James pondered and paused for a good few seconds, his own eyes on Misty as possibilities danced through his mind, he soon looked away and had an expression that the younger female could read like a book.
Regardless that knew this inevitable response, her eyes flickered all the same and she looked away too. I believe that it was this that caused James to look up again soon after. No matter how much they believed that they knew each other or stated each other's thoughts and intentions which they believed, they were obviously painfully out of sync also.
James' expression had spoken volumes. But still, words tumbled out of his mouth that contradicted the honesty of his face. Or rather, they evened it out.
"Are you asking me to?" he asked prosaically for a question that was filled with such gravity. And although he of course knew the answer without having to hear the first syllable, his own gaze flickered and it told me everything that I needed to know when I was finally ready to learn it.
A lengthy pause and a lengthy silence happened after the two unlikely pair looked down at the very bare grass of the pathway gravel. And then no sooner as I had put my paw on that same ground and intended to stand a little closer to them both, not hiding so much anymore, Misty's response came.
James looked up as soon as the first sound was heard and he was ready to listen, though he sensed all from the get go.
"No. I would never dream of leaving Ash either. He's always there for me. Being his girlfriend is something I am lucky to be. And I would like to be a good one." The orange haired female told the lavender haired male somehow more honestly than she had ever spoken to anyone. Even so, towards the end of her sentences, her eyes fell back towards the ground all over again and lightly fluttered her eyes shut.
Maybe it was this that caused James to feel differently. He of course he could sense everything well and truly – he was not an idiot – but if he felt things deserved to be spoken then he would absolutely do so.
Puckering his own lips nonchalantly before biting on them, he thought a little bit to himself. But he didn't think too much. I supposed he was feeling. Redness started to travel from his chest to his neck as he pointed out and tried not to fly off the handle.
"So I just lead you astray? And with me it's just… empty?" questioned James and even back then I couldn't help but think that was awfully brave of him. It was surely going to be a long drop from the top! I listened out, my paws still clenched on the ground. Despite the fact that Misty returned his look, her blank tilted expression cut right through him and informed him already. "The Beechwood Diner trips? Motorbike adventures? Milkshakes? Sitting with your parents…? That's all…"
James didn't even conclude his sentences with the words that he had initially stated to Misty. And it wasn't because of her sigh cutting him off either. It wasn't the noise that came from her, head snapping to him and her own eyebrow losing slight control as she warned him not to bring the sensitive subject of her parents into it – that caused him to trail off.
"It's misplaced." Misty corrected and almost as soon as this word escaped from her lips, James avoided looking at her but he still nodded his head. With eyebrows dancing on his face though in the least merry way, his head moved. Maybe it was alright that he did this. Maybe it was this that led him to be able to hear her adding just one more time. Perhaps we were rewarded by our ability to let the little things go. Though of course, in our hearts, they felt very big and very heavy indeed. "Why must it be given a name anyway? Why can't it just be simply what it was? Even though it shouldn't be anymore."
James had avoided her gaze up until that point. As the words that he had sensed coming from the moment that he first leaned against his motorbike and waited for her to meet him finally floated through his ears – even though he knew that their fiery and passionate selves would have a few more conclusive moments that would rip things apart for good – he took that moment in time to finally look up again.
It wasn't because he wanted to look at her and see anything in particular. It wasn't because he wanted to look at her and look for a beacon of hope in their dynamic that shouldn't have been the way that it was. It wasn't because he wanted to look at her at all for he really didn't. But he knew that he had to.
He sensed her beginning to wriggle and figured that she was to soon lift herself up from sitting upon his leather jacket. As he wondered whether they could ever be alone together again, he decided to nip it in the bud. He decided to do this with heat he had somehow suppressed previously.
With the same quickness as he had dropped down, he stood up to his full height and it encouraged Misty to allow her eyes to travel up his body and wander to his face with a silent swallow.
All over again, James' hand found his own hair. He shrugged and he sighed. His lips merged together. He knew not to go against the wishes of a strong one. Even if it was secretly killing him. And it was completely concealed it all by uttering words of shielding attempt.
"Your affections are misplaced. Let's hope your chosen one is luckier than I." James stated and no sooner had these words escaped his lips, Misty decided to join him at his full height with her own and with a telling expression on her face.
Her eyes flickered with disappointment. But after a moment she held her head high. She tried not to be too let down. She understood that people often came out with things to protect themselves. She was no stranger to that. So maybe that's why it secretly hurt so much. She didn't like the idea of being the reason someone needed to put walls up.
Misty pushed this to the back of her mind with a brave smile for which James took as an attempt to swallow her own contempt. As he continually looked at her, she looked away briefly to pick up the leather jacket that had been pressed into the ground. She was folding it up into an absentminded parcel at the same time that she turned back to him and addressed his words.
"We're fine. We know how we feel about each other." She told him with a bit of a nod of the head and I joined her, rather obviously lingering near the two of them, not that they even noticed.
James copied these actions as well. But he managed not to allow himself to bite on the inside of his own cheek. In fact, his mouth didn't even move, not even to retort back even more words to get the last word.
Possibly it was this that caused Misty to finally be done with bundling his leather jacket all together and offer it out to him. Nevertheless, whether they were going to experience a bit of bad blood between them or not, James shook his head. He shook his head and took a bit of a side step so as not to take the offering.
Almost immediately, her face grew decorated by a frown. She hoped it wasn't continuous pettiness. She hoped that she wasn't going to have to force it upon him! James remained silent. James remained silent as he rejected it. His mouth still didn't move for a bit of a while. But then it eventually did and his body did also.
James moved back in front of Misty. His eyes travelled down to her. She tried not to swallow and she tried to focus on insisting his jacket back to him. He continually refused. But at last, he refused with words, their bodies rather close to each other even although they had vowed not to let things be that way.
"Keep it. I could have simply misplaced it." he stated. Misty's eyes narrowed and her brow drew together at the words that came from him. Out of all the words he could have chosen, he of course chose to utter that one.
The orange haired female was really about to lose her rag with him. She was about to lose her rag and use her voice and be so damn loud to him. He very nearly set her off. And then she saw it. She saw something that she was often one of the few people to see. She saw the underlying reason why she was never disappointed in him for long.
Misty saw the very light - but noticeable to her all the same – twinkle in his eye as they remained standing face to face with each other.
That was what she saw when she looked at him. Through it all. She saw what usually wasn't there to be seen. She saw every part of him; including the parts he wasn't certain about and kept hidden.
There and there, she was certain. There was more chaos and more angst and more fire to be had. But at least he felt things deeply. That was admirable. Even if she believed that he had never felt deeply towards her like she had for him.
Cooling herself down and accepting his words and offering, Misty looked at him up and down to which he raised an eyebrow. And then after a couple of moments, her hand slid and found its way onto his shoulder. James bit down on his lower lip and he exhaled. He managed to stay put. He managed to stay a pillar. It was for the best. And it wasn't for the best. They would get things out in due course and much more explosively.
But for the time being, they stood. For me to see. For all to see. For anybody to see who was watching. And of course as Misty's hand lingered there, it was time for Ash to make his appearance all over again. He slid out of the door way of his home after indeed having freshened up a bit and not only did he linger by my side but he reached down and picked me up.
I clung to him right away. I clung to him tightly and didn't want to let go. I had absorbed so much and I was shaken. But I was solid too. I was trusting. Of some of the party anyway! At least Misty knew when to call it quits. And she proved this yet again by pulling away from James with a hand that appeared as though it never wanted to linger on him again.
This of course caused his heart to grimace. But his face didn't move an inch.
"I said I would be back for you, Mist." Ash interrupted even though the moment had already ended. He looked right at Misty. He meant no ill will as he held his hand out to her. And that time as it was accepted by the orange haired female, it wasn't watched by the lavender haired male but he of course sensed it. And speaking of James, Ash's attention and his words turned to him most of all even if his eyes glanced between he and his girlfriend as he cautiously asked. "What was it that you needed to talk about anyway?"
My best friend's words were understandably a little less easy going that time, and to make matters worse, a silence befell both James and Misty when the sentence floated into their ears. I pushed further against him but I couldn't look at him because he wasn't looking at me. I waited for things to be revealed to me.
I half expected Misty pipe up because, after all, she was Ash's girlfriend. As well as this, she was arguably the more outspoken of she and James. However, I was stood correct once and for all. And in actual fact, I was blown away by the words that came back. And not down to the sheer audacity of them, no. But because I heard them. And even I knew that, like Ash's prior returning words, they were not done out of pettiness.
"Just… that I'm glad you had a nice time together today." James stated with hands sliding into his pockets as he ever fading away touch of Misty became a memory upon his shoulders. I was one of the few people who couldn't stop my eyes from widening. Ash didn't exactly show his surprise. In fact, he didn't show anything. Waving a hand but not revealing whether he believed them or not – whether he even accepted them or not – his other hand continued clasping Misty's as he intended on leading her away. This prompted the lavender haired male to have to utter. "Ash?"
A second of pause happened. I don't need to tell you that Misty was wondering what on earth he was going to come out of the man that she loved.
The male that was my best friend licked his lips very briefly. Then he turned on his heel. He retorted back.
"What?" he questioned and his voice came out plain. I knew that it was going to be anyone's a guess whether James decided he wanted to continue or not with the response he got. Regardless, his eyes flickered to Misty albeit briefly. Then they switched towards Ash.
As if that was a place where he found solace, his hand ran and tousled through his own hair. He avoided looking at the leather jacket parcel in Misty's spare hand as much as the raven haired male did. And instead, he focused on speaking his own words.
"She's all yours." James began and the eye roll that brewed on Ash's face was undeniable. His face threatened to flush a little bit. His shoulders almost moved up to his ears. Almost being the operative word. James got in there first and added, more quietly than he had ever added to his own words. "Don't ever let her down."
And for the first time that day, I almost didn't want it to be the case when I knew that I could feel Ash's body rotating back towards James after these words floated into his ears. It goes without saying that there was competition between them. There was straight up disdain at that point. My best friend's body twitching towards the lavender haired male's as soon as he heard this only proved this.
But surprising me, I didn't want that to be the case. Maybe even I could sense the sincerity. Perhaps my best friend did too.
Managing not to take too much notice of the lip bite that took over Misty's demeanour and her hand clutching the leather jacket all the more so, Ash stared the lavender haired male down. He stared James down. His eyes burned into his. He took note of his words. He took his words in. He didn't react to them.
James stood firm. Softly, James stood like a statue. With hands still in his pockets, he just stood there. It was the moment that the ex-rocketeer's chest moved inwardly and Misty's moved outwardly that Ash finally responded.
With my paws clutching against his chest as I was continually held, he didn't smile. Ash didn't all the way smile. But his mouth twitched a tiny bit. He very much nodded. He definitely nodded before finally responding.
"I would never dream of it." He replied matter-of-factly and greatly contrasting the defensive kiss from earlier on in the day, Ash wrapped his arm around his girlfriend after I climbed onto his shoulder and then he lovingly planted his lips there.
That was the last thing that happened before Ash led Misty off for good. That was the last thing that happened before the three of us disappeared and Misty didn't dare look back. She didn't even look forward. She looked up. Yes, she had a man that thought the world of her. And for that, she felt the luckiest girl in the world and didn't want to screw things up.
Unfortunately, her mind and her heart weren't always on the same page. James would often wander across her mind. After all, they had been through so much and shared so much. They shared so much that they didn't share with anybody else. Maybe it was misplaced. Maybe it was wrong. I very much thought these things at the time.
But still, one couldn't help but be grateful for the way that things turned out. For Ash and Misty. For Jessie and James too. Things did indeed work out. And maybe it would've been a completely different life if it hadn't been for that hiccup along the way.
Sure, it could've been avoided. It should have been avoided. But matters of the heart are complicated. There's not always a definitive right and wrong. There's often a lot of things going utterly against each other. That was certainly the case with James and Misty.
But this isn't about them, not really. This is about Ash and Misty and everything that they've been through. I can effortlessly hold my hand up and hold my hand to my heart and admit that they taught me the meaning of unconditional love. And not only that, but I got to experience it truly through them.
Maybe parts of their story and parts of their life shouldn't have happened to them. But they did. And here we are now. All still smiling. All still sharing. All still laughing. I supposed that love wasn't exactly always heart shaped. In fact, it could be a bit of a triangle at times. A very, very intricate triangle!
But even triangles have a quality of infinity. And I knew that all of the lessons learned in between were exactly that. And peculiarly, some of the memories too.
The End.
There you go! Thanks so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed :3 It's definitely something that I have written about less because it can get rather messy! Which is different to how I am now because I really do like to try and tackle that kind of thing. Despite being heavily James and Misty focused here, the lasting relationship of Ash and Misty comes through as well. When this story takes place, I don't believe any of them believed that they would be able to trust each other or be alone together again - let alone James ending up being the one who gives Misty away to Ash at their wedding! Such surprises for all :P Thanks again and I will be back on Wednesday with more Ash and Misty stories so see you then!
Amy signing out :)