"Mist, do you think you'll ever get married?"

"Hmm... Maybe. Depends."

"On what?"

Misty took a small sip from her champagne flute, glancing at Ash out of the corner of her eye. "A lot of things," she said simply.

"What kinda things?"

"Why does it matter?"

"It doesn't. I'm just curious is all."

A comfortable silence fell back over the duo, and Misty took another small sip of her champagne. Ash had, intelligently, cut himself off once he had finished his best man speech; never the best with public speaking, he had needed quite a bit of liquid courage to make it through. Thankfully, Misty had thought it had gone quite well, and Ash was very appreciative of the positive feedback.

They snuck out to the patio together not long after, Ash claiming he needed the cool air to help dry his nervous sweat, and Misty simply needing a break.

Not that this was much of a break, she thought ironically. Standing this close to Ash while he looked so devastatingly handsome in his well-tailored suit, his tan skin and deep brown eyes warm in the glow of the sunset.

She took another, slightly larger, sip.

"Not a lot of champions are married," he said suddenly.

Misty nodded. "I've noticed that."

He frowned. "I don't think it's like, a rule or anything. That you can't get married if you're Champion."

"Maybe it's just a choice a lot of you make?" She nudged him gently in the shoulder. "I imagine the life of a champion can be pretty chaotic."

Ash smiled wryly. "It's not that chaotic."

She shrugged to herself. "While it's true some people don't mind the hustle and bustle of the trainer lifestyle, I can see how it can seem a bit much when all you want is to settle down."

"What about you?" he asked, probably softer than he had intended.

She sighed wistfully. "Honestly? I could use a little more chaos in my life."

It wasn't long before they were both ushered back inside for the bouquet and garter toss, neither of which was caught by either one of them. Not that Misty had even made an attempt, and she had a feeling Ash hadn't either.

She watched him flutter around the room with practiced ease, shaking hands and flashing that bright smile of his. At one point, he managed to sneak off unnoticed to the dessert table and snag a slice of cake, but his victory was short lived as someone important looking Misty didn't recognize came over to introduce himself, forcing the cake to be abandoned and forgotten once more.

Chaos, she thought, despite his insistence to the contrary. But what a beautiful chaos it would be, as long as Ash Ketchum was at your side.

Okay, yeah, wow, that was too corny. Maybe it was time to cut herself off from the champagne, too.

Finally, half-eaten cake in hand, Ash came tiptoeing back to the table in which she had taken residence, checking his surroundings over-dramatically for any championesque distractions, making her giggle.

"I think the coast is clear, for a few seconds at least," he said with a grin.

"That should be more than enough time for you to inhale that cake," she snorted.

Ash, already shoveling the cake into his mouth, winked, and proceeded to prove her right, devouring the rest in one bite.

"Ugh," she chided. "You are such a snorelax!"

He laughed. "Nah, if I was a snorelax, I wo- uh oh."

"What?" she asked, blinking in surprise at Ash's sudden, abrupt pause and turning to see what it was behind her that had caused it. "What is it?"

"Shh!" he snapped, gently guiding her head back to face him. "Don't look! There is this guy from Silph Co. here that had been bothering me about sponsoring for ages. Uuugh, I don't wanna talk to him right now."

"So what do we do?"

Ash bit his lip, freezing suddenly, seeming to get an idea. "Do you wanna dance?" he asked quickly.

"Do you?" Misty snorted, but Ash had already pulled her to her feet and all but dragged her to the dance floor.

Trying (and failing) to ignore the warmth flooding through her as his body pressed against hers, she gulped, allowing him to take her hand and guide her into a slow sway. His hand was surprisingly soft and warm as it grasped hers, and it was all she could do to hope that at this close distance, he somehow wouldn't notice the deep blush she was sure was covering her entire face.

"I think we avoided him," he whispered happily.

"Oh good," she squeaked.

"We better keep dancing though," he continued. "He's persistent."

"Makes sense."

Raising an eyebrow, he finally looked at her, causing her heart to skip a beet as their eyes met. "You okay? You look kinda red."

Damnit! "O-oh, I'm fine, really. Just a bit warm."

His face softened. "Should we go back outside?"

"What about your friend?"

"He wont bother us out there," he replied with a smile. "C'mon."

Ash had abandoned (or more likely, lost) his smart suit jacket somewhere at some point, but now, in just his shirt, vest, and tie, still looked just as dashing. She wasn't sure if it was a trick of the light, but his face was lightly flushed, either from the warmth of the venue, or maybe he hadn't quite cut himself completely off from champagne as she had thought, she wasn't sure, but she found that she quite liked the color on him.

Now that it was completely dark, the small, cozy patio was lit up exclusively with twinkling lanterns and candles, with only the faint sound of the music from inside drifting in the air. Thankfully, no one else was outside to see them as they made their way to a small, tall table near the railing in a cozy little corner, so she granted herself a relieved, albeit shaky, breath to calm her rapidly beating heart.

"There, that's better," Ash said with a smile once they got settled. "It's too nice of a night to be all cooped up inside, anyway. I mean, just look at the stars."

The stars were certainly lovely, Misty thought, but there was something far more stunning on this patio to look a that was taking up her attention.

"They're beautiful," she mumbled, tearing her eyes away from him long enough to spare the stars a glance.

"Not as beautiful as you."

What.

"Wh-what?"

Now it was Ash's turn to really blush, his face blossoming into a deep, bright shade of red. "I, uh, what I meant was, um..."

"You think I'm beautiful...?" she asked quietly.

Ash, looking slightly panicked with his eyes wide and his mouth opening and closing like a magikarp, ran a hand desperately though his hair. "Mist, look, I- um... Okay. H-here is the thing." He took a deep breath, gently picking up her hands and holding them in his own, his thumb making gentle caresses against her skin.

"Listen," he began, unable to meet her eyes and choosing instead to focus on their intertwined hands. "I- You know I'm not good at this kinda thing... Words and stuff. But, the thing is, you're my best friend, besides Pikachu of course, and, well, I care about you. A lot." He sighed. "I don't expect you to, you know, even know what I'm talking about, but I... the thing is that, I..." He ran his hand through his hair, finally meeting her eyes. "Aw man, this is way harder than I thought it was gonna be," he chuckled.

"Ash..." she breathed. "What...?"

"Okay, I told myself I was gonna do this tonight, and it's almost time to leave, so here goes," he took a deep breath. "I think I may... love you. A-and I think I may have for a long time. I know you probably don't feel the same, and must think I'm even more of an idiot than I usually am, but I- mmf!"

Ash froze, his words dying on his lips as Misty pressed her own to his in a desperate, sudden kiss. It lasted no longer than a few seconds, but with an intensity neither of them had expected. Their eyes met as they broke apart, Ash's wide, and Misty's brimming with just a slight shimmer of happy, relieved tears.

Ash was the first find his voice, croaking out, "Y-you just-"

"I did," Misty interrupted in a whisper.

"So you...?"

"I do."

"Really? I mean-"

"Of course you idiot, I always have," she laughed, shaking her head in disbelief. "For as long as we've known each other, since the moment I fished you out of that stupid river, it's been you. It's always been you."

Taking in her words carefully, a small smile began to inch its way onto his face, growing steadily, until it morphed into that megawatt Ash Ketchum grin that never failed to leave her weak in the knees. This time, it was Ash who made the first move, gently taking her face in his hands, he brought them in for a softer, gentler kiss, finally taking time to savor each other as they always, secretly, wanted.

Misty felt like she was dreaming, the gentle brush of Ash's lips on her own sending tingles through her body. She couldn't help the gentle sigh that escaped her as he ran a hand through her hair, causing him to smile a bit arrogantly against her lips. She inwardly rolled her eyes at that, but the action was just so unapologetically Ash, it warmed her heart more than she cared to admit. As they slowly broke apart, she felt herself smiling dreamily, but at this point she couldn't even care less.

"You're going to be the death of me, Ketchum," she said breathlessly.

He beamed. "I can live with that."

"You're the worst."

"You love me."

"I know."

They smiled at each other, Misty basking in relief that for the first time in years, she could be an openly and genuinely in love with her silly boy, and she didn't have to hide it.

"Should we get out of here?" Ash asked, voice low in a way that made her shiver. "Mom is watching Pikachu for me tonight, so we could be alone at my place, if you want."

She knew the future wouldn't always be this easy; she was sure there was a reason so many champions went through life alone, after all, but for now?

"Lead the way."

She would embrace that chaos as it came.

A little challenge to myself to write something unapologetically fluffy and romantic! Hope you enjoyed!

I promise, I'll get back to the funny nonsense soon. ;)