Don't throw things at meeee! :(

I know I haven't updated this story in pretty much forever. I'm by no means abandoning it, though! It's just kind of one of my background stories, so I don't work on it as much as my main series. I do intend on finishing it eventually, however!

So, enough out of me, enjoying the newest chapter!

"What do you mean I have to come to Cerulean City?"

"Does it really matter why? I need to see you!"

"No, I guess not…" Ash trembled slightly at her clearly frustrated voice.

"And why are you whispering like that? I can barely hear you!"

"It's past 11, Misty!" Ash whined. "What would possess you to call so late, anyway?"

"I had a lot of challengers at the gym today," Misty sighed, sounding rather exhausted from said battles. "I didn't get off until an hour or two ago. I had to eat dinner, you know. I just got to settle down now."

"Fair enough," Ash nodded just once, although he knew Misty couldn't see him. They were talking on their poke gears, not on the video phone. "Do you like running the gym?"

"Yes, Ash."

The raven haired young man frowned. "You're not lying to me, are you?"

"Of course not, you fool. I really do love being a gym leader. I wouldn't trade my job for the world. Sometimes, it's just really exhausting. That's all."

"So you're tired?"

"Yes."

"Maybe you should go to sleep, then," Ash suggested. "I won't keep you up any longer."

"That'd be nice."

"You still want me to come see you tomorrow?"

"Duh."

Ash smirked. Misty never failed to be sassy, even when she was exhausted. Chuckling softly to himself, Ash threw in, "alright, I'll come to Cerulean tomorrow. Meet you at the gym around 2?"

"That sounds good…" Misty yawned, "To me."

"Go to sleep," Ash murmured, surprised himself by how gentle his voice had come out.

"Okay," Misty replied just as softly. "Good night, Ash."

"Night, Mist. See ya' tomorrow."

XXX

Ash was once again early to rise the next morning. He could barely sleep, again, this time excited by the thought of going to Cerulean City to see Misty. Just in a friendly manner, of course.

He got dressed quickly and fumbled down the stairs, pleased to see only his mother in the kitchen preparing breakfast for everyone.

"Morning, Mom!" Ash greeted warmly.

"Well, someone is cheerful this morning," Delia grinned at her only son. "What's gotten you so happy, dear?"

"I'm going to Cerulean to see Misty," Ash replied, sitting down at the table. "She called me last night and said she wanted me to come over. I'm not sure why, though."

"Oh, this is perfect!" Delia clasped her hands together, beaming at a confused Ash. "You can ask Misty to the wedding in person!"

"Uh…I…what?" Ash was grimacing.

"It's much more polite to ask a girl in person than doing it over the phone," Delia elucidated. "You'll come across as such a gentleman if you ask Misty to the wedding today! I guarantee it."

Ash rolled his eyes once his mother's back was turned to him. He loved and respected her, but he was getting a little tired of being told how to act like a "gentleman." Ash thought he was a perfectly kind person who didn't need to try any harder. Besides, he and Misty knew each other too well. She wouldn't fall for any of that nonsense.

At that moment, Iris and Cilan came down the stairs, fairly surprised to see Ash awake and dressed before them. Ash just chuckled and greeted the two with a wave, grinning deliriously as they sat down.

"Are you up to something?" Iris asked shiftily.

"No, not at all," Ash laughed off such an idea.

"Then what's with the big smile?" Iris pointed at Ash's face.

"I'm going to hang out with Misty today," Ash responded, Iris' heart fluttering at that simple sentence. Her plan was already going into effect! "Do you guys want to' come with me and check out Cerulean?"

"Sure," Cilan began, "we'd love-"

"No, it's fine!" Iris slapped a hand over Cilan's mouth, causing the connoisseur to whine beneath her palm. "You should go by yourself. You haven't hung out with Misty in so long!"

"It's fine, we can all hang out together," Ash gave a bewildered stare to Iris. "You guys and Misty really seemed to hit it off the other day. I'm sure she'd love it if you came!"

"No she wouldn't!" Iris replied much too quickly before removing her hand from Cilan's face and sinking down her chair. Grumbling, she folded her arms across her chest and muttered, "You're such a little kid."

At this, Ash growled, but didn't retaliate. With his mother standing right here, Ash knew he'd just get another lecture about "being a gentleman" and how he would be doing it all wrong if he snapped at Iris…who was a girl.

I'll just get her back later. When Mom's not around.

"Are you sure?" Ash settled for the kinder response, throwing Iris a smirk that informed her she'd be paying for her comment later.

"Positive," Iris smiled right back, to show Ash she wasn't afraid of him. Cilan, meanwhile, was simply glancing between his two younger friends, wondering when and if they would ever grow up themselves.

Oh well, I suppose you can't rush a soufflé to rise, Cilan thought calmly to himself.

XXX

As soon as Ash had scarfed down his breakfast, he left the house and began his walk to Cerulean City. It wasn't a long one, especially when you knew all of the good shortcuts like Ash did. Being an adventurous kid, and one who had gotten lost enough times to know which directions weren't the right ones, had really helped Ash out in retrospect.

"And to think, Misty always made fun of me for getting us lost!" Ash turned his eyes onto Pikachu, who was sitting on the boy's shoulder. "Maybe I had utter motives, huh?"

"Pika, pikapi," Pikachu sighed. He knew that the correct phrase Ash had been looking for was ulterior motives. Sometimes, the electric mouse feared his trainer would never learn.

Eventually, the two friends made it to Cerulean City, without Ash making any other vocabulary errors. Taking his poke gear out of his pocket and gazing at the screen, Ash was happy to see that it was 1:55, giving him just enough time to reach the gym by two. On his way there, however, Ash passed by a quaint little flower shop, with bright blooms hanging from up above and displayed beautifully in the windows.

"Flowers are really big at weddings, right, Pikachu?" Ash asked.

"Pikapika," Pikachu shrugged. He was just a Pokémon; he had never been to a wedding before.

"What if I got Misty flowers?" Ash mused. "Do you think she'd like that?"

"Ka! Pika pikachu, pi!" Pikachu suddenly became very enthusiastic. He wanted his trainer and Pikachupi to get together just as badly as everyone else. Of course, being a Pokémon, it was more difficult for him to express these feelings than it was for the humans. Pikachu tried his best to nudge Ash in the right direction, but the boy really was quite dense, and Pikachu wasn't a miracle worker.

"That sure sounds like a yes to me," Ash chuckled. "My Mom would probably approve of this, anyway!"

Walking inside the shop, Ash soon found himself surrounded by a sea of flowers. There were all different kinds and colors; Ash had no idea which ones to get! He knew Misty's favorite color was green, but that green flowers weren't exactly something that was easy to find. Fortunately for him, he managed to stumble across a bouquet of daisies, the petals of which were dyed mint green. Ash knew that Misty had once told him her sisters hated the cliché of being gifted the same flowers that their names derived from. He assumed, however, that Misty herself wouldn't mind receiving some daisies as a gift. With those picked out, Ash headed over to the woman in charge of the store in order to buy the bouquet for Misty.

"Oh, aren't these just beautiful?" The woman asked, much to Ash's bewilderment. "These dyed green flowers are very special, you know. We make them just for our gym leader!"

Misty. Misty was the gym leader. They made those flowers specifically for her. Because her favorite color was green. Right away, Ash's face paled, and the shop owner took notice.

"Are you alright?" She asked concernedly.

"Just fine!" Ash nodded, a little too vigorously. His pale cheeks were now glowing a bright red, and it became apparent to the woman that her young costumer was embarrassed.

"Are these for someone special?" She pressed in a sweet voice.

"Yeah, I guess you could say that," Ash murmured.

"Does she love the color green?"

"She sure does," Ash bit his lip, still staring down at the green daisies. Was this really such a good idea? She was probably going to get mad at him now. Those flowers would probably be viewed as a gimmick gift.

"Well, I'm sure she'll love them," the woman beamed. "I made these in honor of the gym leader right after she was given her title! She loves them, you know. And they've been very popular ever since!"

This brought Ash a small sense of relief. At least Misty liked the green flowers. Even if it ended up being a cheesy and stupid idea, at least she wouldn't yell at him for it. Hopefully.

After purchasing the flowers, Ash restarted his trek to the gym. Taking out his poke gear, Ash now realized it was nearly ten minutes past two, and his eyes almost fell out of his head.

"Forget being mad at me for the flowers, I think Misty is gonna' get angry that I'm ten minutes late!" Ash cried. And with that, he took off into a sprint, with Pikachu holding onto his shirt for dear life.

XXX

Misty was standing by the front door of the gym, her arms crossed and her foot anxiously tapping against the ground.

By last check on her poke gear, it was now 2:11, and Ash was nowhere to be seen. It had been his idea to meet up at two, after all. Leave it up to Ash to ruin his own plans!

Well, yeah she had told him he had to come to Cerulean in the first place. But that was just minor details. Misty may have initiated, but Ash was the one who had worked out the most important aspects of the meeting…like the meeting time.

"He probably got distracted by a Pokémon or something," Misty muttered. She had no idea why she was still head over heels in love with a boy who acted more like a child than his own age. All she knew was she couldn't fight it, and that there was nothing to be done about that.

"MISTY!"

The gym leader's head finally snapped up, and what she found was Ash running towards her like a mad man. Pikachu looked startled, and for some reason, the boy had his hands behind his back. He looked awfully strange running like that.

"Where in the world have you been?" Misty snapped, settling for the angry approach. "I've been waiting for you for eleven minutes!"

"I know, I'm sorry," Ash frowned, finally reaching his red headed best friend. "I got distracted."

"I knew that was it," Misty rolled her eyes.

"Not by a Pokémon!" Ash cried, much to Misty's surprise. It was as if he had read her mind.

"Then by what?" Misty asked.

Blushing once again, Ash sheepishly moved his hands back on front of himself to show Misty the bouquet of green daisies. The girl's eyes widened and then rose to look at Ash's face. It was void of any color, and he looked very nervous. At this, Misty giggled and gingerly took the flowers out of his very tight grasp.

"Oh, Ash, that was so sweet of you," Misty breathed, raising the daisies to her face.

"They're yours, aren't they?" Ash showed off a shaky smile.

"Huh?" Misty blinked.

"Those are your flowers, I mean," Ash shook out his head. "They made those just for you, right?"

"Yeah," Misty giggled, a delicate blush overtaking her own features. "How did you know that?"

"The lady at the flower shop told me so," Ash explained. "She was telling me that after you got named gym leader, she started dyeing daisies green because that's your favorite color."

"That's true."

"Are they really popular, like she told me they are?"

"Yeah," Misty's blush intensified. "It's really…really humbling. To have flowers for yourself, I mean. Flowers that everyone loves, no less. I never would have expected anything like this when I was a little girl."

Ash's blush was now just as intense as Misty's, if not more. He knew he was going to have to ask her to the wedding sooner rather than later. If he waited any longer, Ash just knew he'd get way too nervous and back out. And if he did that, his mother would surely have his head.

"Hey, Mist, wanna' go for a walk?" Ash asked. "Around the city?"

"Sure…" Misty raised an eyebrow, lowering the flowers. "Any particular reason?"

"I just thought it'd be nice," Ash shrugged. "I haven't been here for a little while…kind of forgot what it looks like."

"Okay," Misty's smile widened. "Yeah! We can go for a walk. Definitely."

"Can…can Pikachu stay here?" Ash managed to sputter. Misty looked shocked, so Ash reasoned, "he's tired. I think he'd rather just hang around with Marill. Is that okay?"

"Of course, Marill would love to spend some time with Pikachu," Misty giggled before glancing up at the yellow mouse. "She's inside, Pikachu! You two can play around the gym while Ash and I are gone."

"Pika!" Pikachu nodded and leapt off of Ash's shoulder, scurrying through the sliding glass doors of the gym.

"Violet and Lily are in there, so those two will be just fine," Misty assured her longtime friend as they started off their walk. "Daisy and Tracey are out at the moment. Last minute wedding stuff."

"Oh, I gotcha."

Misty bit her lower lip and squeezed the gathered stems of the bouquet even tighter. She was getting nervous…Misty knew she was going to have to ask Ash to be her date for the wedding before it was too late. And by too late, she meant when Daisy the bridezilla would surely bite her head off for not following the demands she had made. Hence the stupid little slogan Daisy seemed to have created for her special day: "my wedding, my rules."

I better not be like that when I get married, Misty thought scathingly to herself.

She and Ash walked in complete silence for a few minutes. There was obvious tension between the two, but neither of them knew it was for the same reason. In reality, they were both facing the same battle in their minds. And they both felt just as awkward as the other did.

Finally, Ash and Misty found themselves by the cape. Misty knew exactly where they were because of the sea cottages. They were tiny and cute, and Misty just loved the colorful little houses. She wanted one all her own to live in. Misty thought that living on Cerulean Cape would be so peaceful and romantic. It was her favorite place in the entire world.

So…maybe it was the perfect place to ask Ash to the wedding.

Ash, meanwhile, was having the same exact thoughts. He seemed to remember Misty talking about the cape before, and how much she loved it. She had a lot of good memories in relation to Cerulean Cape. Ash figured that if he asked Misty to be his date here, maybe it would make things easier…maybe it would make it more enticing for her. Ash didn't want her to say no.

But he didn't like Misty that way…did he? Ash couldn't even tell any more.

He took in a deep breath, and at the same time, so did Misty. The two both turned to face one another, and unintentionally, with perfect precision, the two blurted, "I have to ask you something!"

Their faces both flashed red. Ash took a small step back, while Misty just continued to stare at Ash, her emerald eyes boring into his own chocolate orbs. There was that silence again, just as uncomfortable as before. That was, until Misty found the courage to speak once again.

"You ask first."

Ash's eyes nearly fell out of his head. "Why me?!"

"Because I said so!"

"Ever heard of ladies first?" Ash huffed.

"Ever heard of being a gentleman?!" Misty bit back.

Now the two were glaring at one another. It was a standoff; who was going to ask their apparently burning question first. Misty refused to back down, however, and Ash's own resolve was just as fierce. Had Pikachu been there, he would have shocked them both by now.

"You…go…first," Misty warned.

Ash leaned in closer to Misty and slowly taunted, "Make…me."

Misty scowled and allowed her delicate hands to clench into fists. By now, Ash's lips had bent into a devious smirk, and that's when Misty had decided she'd had enough. Without so much as a feral cry or a deep throated growl, Misty jumped forward and tackled Ash right to the ground. The young trainer gasped, shocked that the dainty Misty had enough strength to bowl him over like that. But she did, apparently, and now she was taking him up on his previous tease.

She was going to make him ask first.

"Do it!" Misty finally yelled, grabbing Ash's collar.

"You think this is really gonna' work on me?" Ash asked, his voice only slightly choked with the material of his shirt pressing against his throat.

"You told me to make you," Misty seethed, pulling Ash's collar back so his head was pressing against the soft grass. "And that's what I'm doing."

"What happens when I don't tell you?" Ash stared up at the sky, rather than at Misty's frustrated face.

"My fists will be a little bit closer to your face, that's for sure," Misty muttered. Ash's face changed to reflect an expression of fear. Misty, meanwhile, started to giggle before letting go of Ash's collar and giving him some extra room to breathe. "I'm just kidding. I think."

Grimacing, Ash sat up and rubbed at his throat. Misty just smirked at him, watching as the boy cleared his throat before shooting her a serious, contemplative look.

"Why don't we ask at the same time?" Ash suggested.

"That's crazy," Misty rolled her eyes.

"Why? We did it before."

"That's true…" Misty murmured. "Fine, I suppose we could."

"Okay," Ash breathed, "we ask each other on the count of three. One…two…three!"

And then, the two of them asked their question at the same exact time, blurting it out in a similar fashion as before: "will you be my date for the wedding?"

If they thought their blushes had been bad before, then the two really had no idea how bad this would be. Their faces were completely red, from the top of their hairlines to the bottom of their chins. It was such an intense blush, in fact, that each one could feel the warmth of their face burning.

"T-to Daisy and Tracey's wedding?" Ash muttered, unsure of what else to say.

"How many other weddings do you know about?! Misty cried. She couldn't help it…this whole thing was so embarrassing!

Shaking his head out, as if to clear his thoughts, Ash smiled sweetly at Misty and shyly replied, "I think…we could go together. You're a bridesmaid, after all, and I'm one of Tracey's groomsmen. It would make sense…right?"

"Yeah, it would," Misty agreed quietly.

"So…we're gonna' be dates?" Ash asked quietly.

"Yes," Misty nodded slowly, her own mouth soon forming a small and shy smile. "We're going to be dates."

So, they finally asked one another out for the wedding! What will happen when their perspective parties find out? That'll happen next chapter! Stay tuned!

And thanks to all my fans who still read and reviewed this story even while it was on the back burner. You guys rule!