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sykilik101 · 1 day

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Syk's Snippets #11

This is actually really long for a snippet, but as always with these snippets, I just kinda typed and went with it without thinking too much about the direction. Hope you like.

It was common knowledge that all Pokémon Centers locked and barricaded their doors late at night. Every trainer worth their salt knew this. Safety for the visitors and injured Pokémon inside was a top priority, and as such no one was allowed in or out, save for the gravest of emergencies.

Which meant that if someone found themselves unable to sleep, and didn't want to stay in their room, the main lobby was their only real alternative.

Misty sat curled on the unreasonably soft sofa stationed along the wall, pulling her knees to her chest with one arm as her free hand grazed Pikachu's fur. Even as Ash and Brock found themselves lost through the forests of Dreamland, Pikachu was always willing to join Misty in her occasional bouts of insomnia. His company was always appreciated; rare were sleepless nights something she wanted to go through alone.

"How's this, Pikachu?"

Her fingernails pressed firmer against the tiny nook hidden behind Pikachu's ear, and the small mouse mewled in response. "Piii-ka."

Misty giggled, and as she admired his yellow fur a strange inclination overtook her. "Oh, I have an idea. Be right back, Pikachu, wait here."

With as much silence as she could manage she rose to her feet, delicately bounding her way back to her room. Only a minute creak accompanied the door opening as she peered inside, seeing if her companions were magically awoken by the tiny sound. As expected, they hardly stirred from their slumber, and she took that as her cue to tip-toe inside.

It only took her mere moments to reach for her bag, digging inside until she found her hairbrush. Cinching it back closed, she turned to the door to make her exit, but her feet rooted to the spot as her gaze landed on Ash. He lay on his side, his arm out stretched to where Pikachu had previously been before escaping to join her. His lips moved almost imperceptibly as he breathed in and out; his bangs, soon in need of a trim, fanned across his forehead.

Misty, not having to hide from his gaze, smiled as she savored the warmth rising in her cheeks. She would've remained longer if not for the mental reminder that Pikachu was waiting for her, and with some hesitation she eased out of the room, making her way back to the lobby.

Pikachu perked up as she returned, his ear flicking curiously as his eyes landed on the brush. Misty nestled herself back into her original spot, using her free hand to pat at her legs. "Sit here, Pikachu."

Without missing a beat the small Pokémon followed her orders, perching himself atop her thighs. With a gentle touch Misty slowly began dragging the brush through his fur, and she giggled as she felt his weight relax into her. "I thought you'd like having your fur brushed."

"Cha..."

His voice petered out as she continued to stroke, finding the motion cathartic against the many thoughts blitzing through her mind. Her erratic feelings, the inability to sleep that had suddenly taken over for the past few nights, and, of course, the recent day's events.

One event in particular.

It was the standard fare Team Rocket situation; a trap is set, the group is caught by it, and eventually Team Rocket is sent blasting off again. It was so routine at this point that she'd practically begun mentally scheduling it into her day. She never knew when it was going to happen, but it would. It always did.

What didn't always happen was Ash kissing her cheek.

Team Rocket's flavor of the day was a net trap; as luck would have it, only Ash and Misty had succumbed to it, while Brock had been able to avoid its capture and thus play a vital role in their rescue. As the ropes pulled the two upwards, Misty found herself atop Ash, slumped together in the bundled-up net, and conveniently, Ash's mouth was pressed right against her cheek.

Given their specific position, she had no real leverage to move herself away. All she could do was encourage Brock as he fought for their freedom, decidedly ignoring Ash's exhales and the way his lips moved against her face as he tried mumbling his own cheers.

Admittedly, part of her had half a mind to turn her head to face him, just so the lip-to-lip contact would shut him up.

For the rest of the day, Ash had been uncharacteristically quiet. Normally the two of them would've been able to squeeze in a few arguments between their Team Rocket encounter and their arrival at the Pokémon Center, but he silently held his gaze forward. Even Pikachu's occasional comments didn't crack through Ash's tight-lipped persona. She'd known him long enough to read him and guess what was on his mind, but silence was rare for him, and with it came perplexity.

It was fairly late when they arrived at the Pokémon Center, enough that it was already bedtime when Nurse Joy greeted them. Ash had mumbled out the usual nightly rituals; "I'm gonna shower" and "Good night" managed to escape him, but that was all she'd managed to get. He didn't appear angry or upset at all; if not for his silence, she wouldn't have even imagined him to be bothered by anything.

"Did Ash tell you why he was so quiet today, Pikachu?"

The question came out almost as an afterthought she'd opted to speak aloud; her voice was quiet, her eyes not even leaving the speck on the wall she'd been fixated on. She continued to brush Pikachu's fur, mulling over the question and doubting he'd have an answer for her.

Predictably, Pikachu shook his head, leaving Misty to lean hers back until it touched the wall. The clock hanging above her serenated the lobby with its ticks and tocks, its metronomic rhythm a soothing accompaniment to her brush gliding through Pikachu's fur. She unconsciously began recalling the moments in the net in time to the clock, each moment snapshotting into a still image captioned with questions and commentary.

His lips first touching her cheek. Was he conscious of the fact that he was kissing her?

His lips gliding along her cheek as he failed all attempts at coherent speech. Did they tingle the way her cheek had?

His lips when they, so very briefly, seemed to pucker against her. Was that intentional?

Tick.

Tock.

She rewound the scene, memorizing the way the sun would occasional peek through the net and his cap, the smell of nylon from the rope and the way it dug into her skin, the small crick in her neck from trying to peer at the battle. Every facet of their capture was preserved in mental amber, a gleaming memory that brought warmth to her face and coerced her heart into starting a little game of hopscotch.

"Pikachu pi?"

Pikachu's voice pulled her from her musings, and it was only then that she realized she'd stopped brushing his fur. "Oh, sorry, Pikachu." She attempted to resume tending to him, but Pikachu suddenly leapt from her embrace, and before she could question him he bounded away from the couch.

"Hey, where are you-"

Her one-question interrogation died in her throat as Pikachu immediately leapt up onto Ash's shoulders. The boy was meandering down the hall towards her, wearing his trademark bedhead and a matching set of dreary eyes. As his gaze found hers his eyes lost some of their drowsiness, his lips pouting the slightest bit. "Whatcha doin' out here, Misty?"

"Oh, um, nothing really. I just couldn't sleep."

She couldn't tell if he look unconvinced or if he still hadn't fully returned from Dreamland, but nonetheless he settled himself into the cushion beside her. His hip pressed against hers, and the small touch brought back the warmth to her cheeks that their previous net incident had instilled.

"Is everything okay?"

It would've been easy to say no, and to chide him for bothering her when he should've been sleeping, but the knowing look in Pikachu's eyes held her tongue in place. She ping ponged the pros and cons of talking about it with him; maybe he'd have been conscious of what happened as well, and maybe she wouldn't feel so alone about it. At the same time, given Ash's proclivity for never picking up on romance, she might be making herself look stupid by seeming presumptuous or hopeful, whichever was less embarrassing.

"Piiika."

The gentle ire in Pikachu's voice caught both their attention. His eyes sharpened for a moment before softening, offering Misty a cheeky grin. "Pika pika."

Ash turned back to face Misty, his eyebrows knitted. She knew the subject would be impossible to ignore now, and she leaned back against the couch with a small sigh. Her fingertips played together as she tried grasping at a coherent thought that she could put into a sentence.

"You know, it's been a while since Team Rocket tried using a net to catch us."

The mention of their archenemies clearly wasn't what Ash had anticipated, turning his body towards her and cocking his head. "Yeah, it's usually some weird gadget or weird disguises or something."

Misty nodded. "And today, I didn't expect it to be just us two in the net."

"It's a good thing Brock didn't get caught. We'd have been in big trouble without him."

"Yeah, Team Rocket might've actually won for once."

"Nah, no way, I bet we'd have found a way out, no problem."

"...I'm still thinking about how close we were."

Ash blinked. "I mean, yeah, that's usually what happens when you're stuck in a net."

She should have expected that implication wasn't Ash's strong suit, but she wished she didn't essentially need him to overtly spell it out for him. "I'm talking about where your mouth was, Ash. It was kind of like...you were kissing me."

She'd already been prepared for Ash's inevitable confusion and fluster, but seeing Pikachu's eyes narrow gleefully towards the boy was a sign of camaraderie she wasn't ready for. In that moment, more than becoming overrun with nerves, she sound herself wondering what Ash would say or do when mental density was no longer an option for him.

His thumbs had already begun spinning around each other, his eyes downcast and his bottom lip tucked between his teeth. "Well, it wasn't really a kiss, right?"

"It felt like one to me. Your lips were on my face."

This emboldened fire had burned away all of her anxieties; all of her worries about their feelings, the status of their friendship, all of it was lost to the embers. As if to emphasize her point, she touched her finger to the spot where the kiss had happened, and this was enough to finally add a spattering of pink to his cheeks that the late night couldn't hide.

"I-I mean, yeah, sure, but...it's not like I want that to count as a kiss or anything."

And almost instantly the flames were doused, her stomach hollowing out immediately. She hadn't explicitly expressed her modest crush on him yet, so it wasn't as if he knew what his words had done to her. Even Pikachu's expression was a cross between anguish and frustration, eyeing his trainer for any sign of it being a joke.

Ash, however, remained silent, and it was a silence that was making the heartbeat pounding in Misty's ears far too loud for her. "O-oh. Okay. Right."

Tick.

Tock.

She watched his fingers dig into the cloth of his jeans, and she felt the bite of anger bubbling within her. He was the one who decided to ruin what could've been a wonderful moment; he had no right to feel frustrated, to feel the same way she did.

How could he possibly feel the same way she did?

Hiding watery eyes was easy; all she had to do was look away, pretend she was getting tired; stifling a yawn, nothing out of the ordinary for the time of night. Hiding the sob, the shaky inhale of air, on the other hand, was much more difficult to conceal, especially when their ambience consisted of the tick and tock echoing through the lobby. Still, Misty endured; she was a tough girl, she could manage.

She heard Ash rise from his seat, and she was almost grateful for his decision to leave her to her tears. She knew she was overthinking things; this didn't mean he didn't like her, and it didn't mean she had to give up on her feelings for him. Still, even the notion that he didn't want to kiss her was enough to pierce at her heart. She would need a few moments to patch the wound.

"Hey, Misty?"

She made a small sound to let him know she'd heard him. She had no faith in her ability to talk without letting her vocal chords shake, without being able to relax her tightened throat. He didn't immediately reply to her, so he was clearly trying to draw her attention and gaze, but she couldn't bring herself to offer either.

"Pikachu pi."

Pikachu, on the other hand, was a different story. He always had her best interest at heart; how often had he taken her side over Ash's? With a hard swallow and a deep inhale she turned to the duo, surprised to find Ash's gaze aimed at the hallway. His cheeks had come to match her hair, his hands sheepishly shoved into his pockets as Pikachu glanced at him with a knowing smirk.

"I...I just meant that, y'know...if..." Nervous stutters were foreign to Ash, and Misty felt a pilot light begin to glimmer in her chest; sparks began searching for something flammable again. "If I ever kissed you, I wouldn't want it to be an accident, or part of one of Team Rocket's traps. That's why I don't count it."

And with that, with Pikachu on his shoulder, Ash turned and headed back towards their room; it was just as well, since Misty found herself unable to conjure up a reply to his words. She watched the pair as they made their way down the wall; watched Ash's back and wondering if he'd turn to look at her one last time. However, he continued facing forward until reaching the door to their room; at that point, the hallway was too dark to make out his expression before they entered, the soft thud of the door closing quietly reverberating through the center.

The ticks and tocks wormed into her mind again, and the way she'd recalled the day's memory in time with their rhythm began its repeat performance. Her tear-stained cheeks felt on fire as she thought about the half-hidden sun, the nylon rope, the crick in her neck, and the realization that Ash had been aware of the exact situation they'd been in. She took a deep breath, wiping at her face and replacing her former wobbly lips with a small grin.

Maybe Ash wasn't so bad with implication after all.

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