I've fallen so behind on writing because work has been so insane. It's seriously bumming me out. But all that stress has made me a bit sick, so I've managed to get to slow down and actually do some writing! Silver linings and all that.
Aiden and Michelle: 3.5 years old
Sunrise Swim
"It's swim time!"
"Yeah, swim time!"
Misty groaned and slowly opened her eyes, yelping when her young twins were the first things she saw. She had been hazily aware of their presence but hadn't been aware they were perched only inches away from her face, which was entirely too close.
"Guys, it's too early to go swimming," Misty groaned, rubbing at her right eye.
"No, it's not!" Aiden cried. "It's nine!"
That got Misty to jolt up. Had she seriously slept in that late?! The twins would normally never allow that! Her adrenaline still pumping, Misty whipped her head towards the alarm clock on her nightstand, groaning and deflating as soon as it came into view.
"Aiden, it's six o clock, not nine," Misty sighed.
The boy hummed and looked at the alarm clock himself before turning his attention back onto his mother. "What's the diff-ence?"
"One is a normal human time to be up and about," Misty patiently replied. "And the other is six o clock."
"But we'we alweady up," Aiden calmly argued.
"Yeah, so we can swim!" Michelle giggled.
Misty blinked and took a closer look at the twins. She had failed to realize that they were both already dressed in their swimsuits, which was an entirely new development.
"Oh, so you guys have learned to get into your bathing suits all on your own," Misty murmured. "That's…exciting."
Michelle stared right back at her mother and deadpanned, "you don't sound -cited."
Unable to help herself, Misty let out a small chuckle. Ash had always said Michelle acted a lot like her, but that became much more apparent the older the little girl got. She was pretty introverted and quiet as a whole, but what a lot of people outside of her family didn't get to see was the hefty amount of wit and, dare Misty said It, sass she also happened to possess. And that only seemed to become more pronounced as the girl got older.
"Fair enough," Misty conceded. "Sorry, sweetie, Mommy's just tired."
"If you go swim, you wake up!" Michelle warmly suggested.
"You think so?" Misty whimsically asked.
"Mmm…ya," Michelle mused, grabbing a lock of her bright red hair and pulling it across her face to imitate a mustache, giggling at her own playfulness.
Misty raised an eyebrow. "If I didn't know you two better, I'd say you both need more sleep yourselves. You seem downright delirious."
Aiden furrowed his own brow. "We'we Delibiwd?"
"Not Delibird, delirious," Misty replied with a smirk. "It means you're loopy."
Aiden and Michelle both started to laugh wildly, for reasons Misty couldn't quite decipher. She loved her children more than anything, but they could be very strange sometimes. She liked to blame that little fact on their father.
Speaking of Ash, all of the twins' giggling and shrieking had managed to stir him from his slumber, albeit not by much. He groaned and attempted to look over his shoulder, letting out a puff of air and throwing his head back down when he couldn't twist it far enough.
"Wha-s happen," Ash mumbled, his voice barely audible.
"Aiden and Michelle would like to go swimming," Misty airily informed her husband.
"Mmm…kay."
"Which means we have to go swimming."
"Mmm…nah."
The twins giggled again, and Misty rolled her eyes. "We cannot send a couple of four-year-olds to go swimming on their own. I'm pretty sure that's bad parenting 101."
Ash mumbled something into his pillow, to which Misty raised an eyebrow. "I'm sorry, what was that?"
There was a long pause, which was obviously Ash debating whether or not to repeat what he had just said more clearly. After an almost uncomfortably long time, however, Ash picked his head up and groggily repeated, "you go."
A fire sparked in Misty's eyes. "Are you kidding me?!"
"No, too early for that," Ash groaned before putting his head back down. "Have fun."
Growling, Misty threw the covers off of herself, the twins squealing with delight as the sheets became draped over them instead. While the twins entertained themselves in their newly created fort, Misty threw herself on top of Ash, causing him to let out a pained huff.
"Do you have a death wish?" Misty whispered in his ear.
"I might," Ash grumbled. He was clearly still annoyed but seemed more alert. "It's too early to be awake, and it's definitely too early to go swimming."
"Exactly. So, you think I want to go swimming at this ungodly hour?"
Ash opened his mouth, but quickly closed it. "No. I'm sorry."
Misty nodded just once, right against Ash's head. "It's okay. I know you're just tired. Trust me, I know."
"I'm a scawy cave Pokémon! RAWR!"
"Ah! I don't -ike scawy cave Pokémon! I'll battle you wif my nice Pokémon that's not scawy!"
Ash smirked and shook his head. "How do they have that much energy so early in the morning?"
"They're kids, their batteries recharge way more quickly than ours do," Misty snickered.
"They could be nice and share some of that energy," Ash sighed.
"I don't know if we could handle it," Misty stressed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "I feel like if I had that much energy coursing through my body at this point in my life, my head would explode."
Furrowing his brow, Ash concluded, "I guess I was like that as a kid, too. Don't think I could be like that again even if I tried, though."
"Daddy! I-s swim time!"
Michelle eagerly crawled over to her father and pounced on him, giggling with excitement. Ash chuckled and rolled over, trying to get Michelle to fall off of him. She held on for dear life, however, and wouldn't so much as roll over him.
"Hey, I'm gonna end up squishing you!" Ash chuckled.
"No, you won't!" Michelle giggled. "You can't! I gotsta swim!"
Ash sighed and threw his head down again. "You're not giving up on that, are you?"
Michelle shook her head. "I don't give up on swimming."
"She's very persistent when she wants to be," Misty noted with a smirk.
"Yeah, Michelle loves swimming," Aiden added, a big grin on his own face.
Still giggling, Michelle finally let go of her father and instead climbed over him before tugging at his shoulder. "Come on, Daddy! Let's go!"
Pikachu, who had been pretending to still be asleep on Ash's pillow, was unable to hold back the smirk on his face. Misty noticed him out of the corner of her eye and was amused by the mouse's reaction but said nothing.
"Who, me?" Ash murmured.
"Yeah!" Michelle giggled. "You'we Daddy. Duh!"
Ash blinked; a static smile stuck to his face that accompanied a dry chuckle. "Heh…'duh'? Who taught you that one, princess?"
"Koty," Michelle replied effortlessly, referring to her older cousin.
"Yeah, I'm not sure why I even asked," Ash sighed.
"Sooo…swimming?"
Ash raised an eyebrow, and Misty snickered. "She's not going to back down, Ash. I think she's made that very clear."
"Yeah, I see that," Ash chuckled. "Okay, well, guess we're going swimming!"
Michelle gasped; her eyes sparkling. "Weally?!"
"Yeah!" Ash repeated, his laugh growing stronger. "How in the world could I say no to such a determined little girl?"
"You can't!" Michelle giggled, jumping off the side of the bed. Ash nearly panicked, but stopped as soon as he watched his daughter land skillfully on her feet.
"Yeah!" Aiden chimed in, following after his sister. He managed to land on his feet as well, albeit far heavier. While Ash and Misty cringed at the sound, Michelle continued to giggle wildly before charging out of the room with Aiden at her side. "Come on!"
Ash smirked before groaning and smashing his face into his pillow. Misty watched him with an impish smirk, quipping, "ready to get your swimsuit on?"
"Mmmff…" Ash mumbled into his pillow before turning his head and pleading, "can I get five more minutes?"
"You can get however long it takes me to change into mine," Misty teased, gently poking Ash's cheek. "But I'll try to take my time."
"Thanks," Ash sighed, blissfully closing his eyes. "I'll take whatever I can get."
One of Michelle's special talents is getting Ash to do whatever she wants, whenever she wants ;)
