Are y'all ready for some straight up fluff? I know you are - I always am ;)
Aiden and Michelle: 3 years old
Fair Play
"Mewwy go wow! Mewwy go wow!"
Ash laughed quite heartily at his young daughter's excited little squeals. "You see a merry go round, princess?"
Michelle looked up at her father and beamed, nodding her head. She generally tended to be more reserved and quiet, especially in public when strangers were around, but had started to develop a real fondness for merry go rounds and would go crazy with excitement whenever she saw one, regardless of how many unfamiliar people were around. Neither Ash nor Misty were quite sure why she was so enamored by the ride, but they found it cute and were simply happy that their daughter seemed to be coming out of her shell more.
"Do you want to go on the merry go round?" Ash asked. Michelle's nods somehow became more fervent, causing Ash to laugh again. "Okay! We just have to wait for Mommy and Aiden to come back."
"Why?" Michelle asked, quickly deflating.
"Because they might want to go on too!" Ash replied. "And besides, if we walk away while they're gone, then they're going to come back and have no idea where we are. And that will scare Mommy!"
Michelle frowned but did not argue, instead choosing to sink back into her stroller so her father couldn't see her. Ash blinked at the action, while Pikachu leapt down to try and crawl into the seat with the girl.
"What're you doing, you silly girl?" Ash cooed, reaching down and pulling up the hood of the stroller. Michelle was staring right up at him, and as soon as the hood disappeared, she burst out into giggles. Pikachu, who had initially been concerned about his trainer's daughter, fell over into the seat beside her with a relieved sigh.
"Hi, Daddy!" Michelle babbled.
"Hello to you too, you crazy little thing," Ash chuckled. "You're pretty energetic today! Was Mommy sneaking you candy while I wasn't looking?"
"No way, that's your prerogative."
Ash smirked and glanced up. "Guilty as charged."
Although a bit more reluctantly, Misty returned her husband's grin as she guided Aiden, whose hand she was holding, back towards the stroller. The boy quickly began to whine and resist, however, much to Misty's chagrin.
"Seriously, Aiden?" Misty groaned. "We just went for a walk! It's very crowded around here; I want you to stay in the stroller."
"No, Mommy!" Aiden cried.
"Maybe he's the one who's been sneaking all the sugar…" Ash mused. "He seems to be going a little off the walls."
"I think this is just…naturally him now," Misty sighed. "Independent, energetic, stubborn…great combination."
"Well, Michelle caught sight of the merry go round, so she's raring to go on," Ash informed her, nodding towards the nearby ride. "Think that might make Aiden happy?"
"Let's see," Misty breathed. "Hey, Aiden, do you want to go on the merry go round?"
"No!" Aiden refuted.
"But Daddy and Shelly are going to go on!" Misty tried. "Don't you want to go with them?"
"No!" Aiden repeated.
"Resounding," Misty droned.
"Well…that's okay!" Ash assured her, showing off a big smile. "Why don't you take Aiden for a bit more of a walk? I can take Michelle on the merry go round. Maybe by the time we get off, he'll have settled down!"
"Don't count on it," Misty murmured. "But I'll give it a try. Come on, Aiden, do you want to keep walking?"
"Ya!" Aiden chirped, smiling at his mother.
"At least I finally got a smile out of you," Misty sighed, shrugging her shoulders. "Alright, buddy, let's go."
She and Aiden set off again, Ash watching them and chuckling to himself. As they walked away, he glanced back down at Michelle, who in turn was still gazing up at him. "You ready to go on the merry go round, princess?"
Michelle beamed and nodded her head.
"You want to get there fast?" Ash asked his daughter.
"Ya!" Michelle squealed.
Ash made a revving sound and started to run with the stroller, causing Michelle to laugh wildly. Pikachu, who was still in the second seat, yelped and grabbed the seatbelt, holding on for dear life. Ash weaved between people, moving so quickly they weren't able to process what had just happened until he was already gone. Perhaps it was a bit obnoxious (Ash knew for sure Misty would've freaked if she was there to witness it) but now, all he cared about was amusing his daughter. At that speed, it didn't take them long to reach the merry go round, which Ash came to a screeching halt before. Michelle continued to laugh after they were stopped, and even began clapping her hands. Pikachu, meanwhile, was groaning and trying to ground himself from the turbulent stroller ride. Ash knelt beside the stroller, grinning at his young daughter. "Told ya we'd get here fast!"
"Weal fast!" Michelle agreed.
Pikachu looked over at his trainer, obviously far less amused than the child next to him, and grumbled, "pikapi, pikachu."
"Was it really that bad?" Ash asked, wincing.
"Pi."
Ash sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck. "Oops. Sorry about that, Pikachu!"
Pikachu glanced over at Michelle, who was still giggling, her face lit up like the sun. Sighing, the electric type sat up straight and waved a paw at his remorseful trainer. "Pika pikachu."
Realizing that Pikachu had stolen a look at his daughter, Ash started to laugh once more, much to Pikachu's confusion. "Yeah, I know. It's really hard to stay mad when she's so happy, huh?"
"Pi-ka!" Pikachu confirmed.
"Well, now that we're here, who's ready to go on the merry go round?" Ash asked.
"Me!" Michelle cried, throwing her hand up.
Reaching down, Ash freed Michelle from the stroller and placed her on the ground next to him. Pikachu jumped out from the other seat and climbed onto Ash's shoulder instead, earning an impish grin from his trainer.
"May I have your hand?" Ash requested in a very gentlemanly manner, holding his open palm out towards Michelle. The little girl nodded and quickly grabbed her father's hand, which he closed around hers. "Thank you, little lady!"
He stood back up and began walking towards the entry gate to the merry go round, Michelle following beside him. Her steps soon became uneven, however, and when Ash looked down, he realized that the little girl was trying to skip. She was only three years old, so it was very uncoordinated and only half resembled a real skip, but the effort was there, and it was easily one of the cutest thing Ash had ever seen his little daughter do.
If anyone were actually keeping track of that, however, the list would have been remarkably long. Throw in Aiden and the things he did, and that list would've stretched all the way to Unova.
"Somebody's excited!" Ash cooed in a sing-song voice.
"Mewwy go wow, mewwy go wow," Michelle chimed, making up her own little song as they made their way up to the ride.
"So cute!" Ash marveled. "You'll have to sing that for Mommy when she and Aiden come back from their walk, Shelly. She'd love it!"
Once the father-daughter pair (with one Pokémon in tow) reached the entry gate to the merry go round, Michelle was bouncing on her toes, unable to contain her excitement. As soon as the attendant opened the metal door, Michelle squealed and began to pull at her father, alarming him.
"I wanna pick!" Michelle clamored.
"Okay, you can pick!" Ash assured her. "You find the best Ponyta of the bunch!"
Michelle went nearly all the way around the circular ride before finding the Ponyta she liked best: one that had a blue and purple painted mane, with a majestic, "jewel" covered gold bridle gracing its head.
"Dis one!" Michelle cheered, jumping up and down as she pointed at it.
"This one is your favorite?" Ash questioned.
"Uh huh!" Michelle replied.
"Alright, up ya go!" Ash declared as he lifted the giggling Michelle off the floor and sat her down on the Ponyta. The young girl quickly grasped the figure's golden pole, grinning at her reflection in the paint. While she was distracted, Ash made quick work of fastening the seatbelt around her waist before asking, "want me to stand here and hold onto you, or do you want me to ride with you?"
"Ride wif me!" Michelle chirped.
"Okay," Ash chuckled. Without any hesitation, he placed his foot in the metal step of the Ponyta figure and hoisted himself up, taking a seat behind Michelle. The girl giggled and looked over her shoulder at her father, her eyes positively sparkling. Ash, in turn, laughed again himself. She was so sweet; it just melted his heart! Misty always said he was powerless when it came to Michelle, and Ash never, ever argued. There was no point; he knew she was 100% correct.
"Make sure you hold on, okay?" Ash reminded his daughter.
"Ya!" Michelle agreed, turning her head forward and nodding towards the pole she was clutching. "I am, Daddy. I'm howding it."
"Good job!" Ash complimented her. Looking up at Pikachu, who was still perched on his shoulder, Ash also advised the Pokémon, "you hold on tight too, buddy!"
"Pi-ka!"
Only seconds after, the ride slowly began to move, causing Michelle to bounce excitedly in her seat. The melodic music that accompanied started at the same time as well, which led Pikachu to tilt his head from side-to-side. When Michelle looked over and noticed Pikachu doing this, she giggled and began doing it as well, much to Ash's amusement.
"You two are so funny," Ash laughed.
"Me?" Michelle asked.
"Yep, and I love it!" Ash replied.
Michelle smiled and turned to face forward again, watching intently as the merry go round spun in its slow circle. Ash did as well, taking notice of everything just outside of the ride: balloons floating in the air in the likeness of all different kinds of Pokémon, the smell of unhealthy (but delicious) fair food, adults and children alike running around all over the place with excitement reflected on their faces…there were even a bunch of Pokémon around, who looked just as enthralled as their trainers! It was all great, but when Ash looked down at Michelle and saw the unbreakable smile on her face, and the sparkle in her eyes, he knew that was the best thing he was going to see all day.
It was a short ride, as most merry go rounds were, and once it was over, Ash slid off the Ponyta they'd been riding on and unfastened Michelle's seatbelt, pulling her off the horse Pokémon figure and into his arms.
"One mowe," Michelle pleaded as her father held her against him.
"No sweetie, we have to go see if Mommy and Aiden came back from their walk yet," Ash breathed, feeling guilty over denying his daughter a second go around.
"Daddy…" Michelle whined, looking up with a frown.
"Let's just go check, okay?" Ash requested, patting her back. "If they're still gone, maybe we'll come back for another ride!"
Michelle sighed and placed her head on the shoulder that wasn't occupied by Pikachu. The electric mouse stretched behind Ash's neck to lick Michelle's temple, causing her to giggle softly. Ash smiled at the two before hopping off the merry go round and walking to the stroller. He made a move to put Michelle back in, but when she let out a little groan, he stopped himself and instead chose to keep carrying her, pushing the empty stroller with one hand.
Once he made it back to their original spot, he was pleasantly surprised to see Misty and Aiden already there, sitting on a bench together while the little boy scarfed down some cotton candy.
"Decided to give the wild child some extra fuel, huh?" Ash asked teasingly. "I thought you said I was the only one who snuck the kids sugar!"
Misty sighed and perched her arms on her legs, resting her head in her hands as she gazed up at her husband. "I've officially given up."
"Well, at least you got him to sit still!" Ash chuckled.
"Yeah, until the pure sugar starts coursing through his veins," Misty quipped. A cloud of fluffy blue was suddenly shoved in her face, causing Misty to lower her arms and straighten up. Glancing to her side, she realized Aiden was holding the treat out to her.
"Want?" He squeaked.
With an impish smile, Misty ripped off some of the cotton candy and sweetly replied, "yes. Thank you, sweetheart!"
"Aw, he knows his mommy can't resist sugar either," Ash snickered.
"We do have that in common," Misty agreed, winking at their giggling son.
Lowering the cotton candy, Aiden beamed at his father and cried, "Daddy!"
"What is it, little man?" Ash chuckled.
"I wanna go on the mewwy go wow!"
Ash nearly fell flat on his face. "What?! Aiden, Mommy asked you before if you wanted to go!"
"I wanna go now," Aiden murmured before stuffing some more cotton candy in his mouth.
Ash sighed and shook his head. "Well, Michelle was asking me for another ride. I guess I could take you guys back over there."
Misty raised an eyebrow. "Michelle has been awfully quiet since you two came over here. I haven't heard her make a peep!"
Ash turned his eyes onto the little girl and let out a small gasp. "Oh man, she fell asleep!"
"Really?" Misty asked, sounding in awe. She got up and observed the girl herself, her eyes widening once she looked at her. "Wow, she's out like a light."
"Guess all that excitement over the merry go round really wore her out," Ash mused, a smile slowly appearing on his face. "Too bad! I was going to have her sing the little song she made up about it to you. It was so cute, Misty."
"I can imagine," Misty giggled.
"Why don't I take Aiden for his turn on the merry go round, and you can stay here with Michelle?" Ash suggested. "I'm sure you'd love a little bit of a break with the sleeping kid."
"That does sound nice," Misty agreed.
Kneeling down, Ash placed the sleeping Michelle in the stroller, which Misty then pulled closer to the bench, where she reclaimed her seat. Once she was settled, she reached out and gently took the cotton candy from a displeased Aiden. "Hey!"
"You can't eat that on the ride," Misty calmly reminded him. "It'll still be here when you come back!"
"Mommy's right, as always," Ash chuckled, reaching down to lift Aiden into his arms. "Come on, buddy, let's go!"
Aiden's cloudy disposition quickly cleared up, and he started to giggle as his father moved him on top of his shoulders, with Pikachu moving to the top of Aiden's head so he wouldn't block the boy's view.
"Ash, be careful!" Misty called after her husband.
"Don't worry, I will!" Ash assured her, his voice floating further away as he walked off.
Misty sighed and, as Ash and Aiden disappeared from her sight, turned her attention onto Michelle. The little girl was still fast asleep, the noise and fervor of the fair happening all around her doing nothing to disturb her slumber.
Smiling to herself, Misty reached out and gently brushed her fingers through her daughter's hair. Although Michelle remained asleep, her lips bent up ever so slightly, into a tiny smile that was clear as day to her mother.
"Your daddy's sure got a way of opening you up, huh?" Misty asked sweetly. "Although I think it knocked you right out!"
Michelle sighed in her sleep and allowed her head to lull closer to her shoulder. Misty looked back up and watched the merry go round, which had just started its latest rotation, in the distance. She knew Ash and Aiden were likely on there right now, laughing and having the most wonderful time together.
"So cute," Misty muttered to herself, shaking her head. She tore off some more of Aiden's cotton candy and popped it into her mouth, sighing happily as she sunk back against the bench. "And this is so good!"
