(M) "Hi Ash."

(A) "Oh, hi Misty."

(M) "Great party huh?"

(A) "Yeah, we were just going to get something to eat."

(M) "Hey, did you see Nurse Joy?"

(A) "Yeah – maybe you should go tell Brock!"

(M) "Maybe not…"

(A) "Anyway, can we squeeze past you? We’re pretty hungry."

(M) "Oh sure. Okay, um…."

(M) "Hi Ash, did you get something to eat?"

(A) "Uh, yeah."

(M) "Um, Ash? Did you realise we’re standing under the mistletoe?"

(A) "Huh? WAAAA!"

(M) "Ash, where are you going?"
(A) "Uh, I’m just getting some Xmas cookies!"

(M) "You just got some cookies!"

(A) "Y-yeah, I know. Come on Pikachu!"

(M) "What’s his problem Pikachu?"

(A) "Come ON Pikachu!"

(M) "Ash look out for the---

(Crashing sounds)

(A) "WAAAAAAAAAAA!"

(M) "Never mind."

[M]

Jeez Ash, you could have made it slightly. Less. Obvious. You. Prat.

You STOOD HERE ALL NIGHT – who were you waiting for? That Joy? That blonde bimbo – no one’s seen her face all night cos she’s had her tongue down everyone’s throat… well, everyone except you and Brock. Everyone male at least. Not too sure. She was pretty drunk.

Don’t know why I bother. Bothered for almost four years now. And now as I watch you fumbling to get out of the table-cloth, I stand under some stupid plant, with my arms crossed across my new dress (that you haven’t commented on), blinking about 50 times a second. Usually I’d be over there laughing at you, tugging at the corners and reassuring you that the fabric wasn’t attacking you; but it’s your own bloody fault if you go sprinting away at the thought of kissing me, tripping over a chair and into the table.

But that would hurt anyone’s feelings – arg, stupid insensitive MALE!! I wonder if anyone would notice if I slipped away upstairs – cuddled Togepi and sniffed over some unbearably soppy shôujo manga in my bunk-bed. Probably not; man that’s quite depressing in itself. A whole Pokémon Centre full of people.

Oh look, Blondie is on her way over to help you. Fan-flipping-tastic… that’s just excellen- holy Ho-Oh that’s a guy… Omigosh, now that’s just strange. I am outta here – I am outta this poxy (and way too expensive) dress. I’m gonna go and sit on my bunk. Maybe I’ll even cry just a little bit. Or possibly hurl stuff at the opposite wall and throw a tantrum. Yeah, that’s more fun.

~@~

[A]

Damn where’s she gone? Thought she would be the one to help me, but instead it was a very nice Trainer in a purple dress. His name is Tony, and he gave me his PokéGear number.

Oh where did she go to? Aw man, what did I do now? She’s gonna be all stressy and pouty tomorrow. What is her problem anyway? Jeez, girls. Did she really think that I was gonna kiss HER? HERE? NOW? Wait, I know a word for that…. deh- dee- duhlou- delusional. Yeah, Brock got us Word-Of-The-Day toilet paper for Christmas.

Aw man, now I have guilt. I totally blew her off earlier when she was trying to have a civil conversation with me and I practically clambered all over her to get away (and to the cookies). Don’t wanna think about where I put my hands – not somewhere too acceptable Pikachu hints – Misty’s wearing this new dress that shows quite a lot of her um, neck area and below.

Ahh guilt go away. I’ll deal with her when I go up to bed. She’ll be sitting straight upright on her bunk gazing at the dents she’s made in the wall. Costs us a fortune in bills. It’s just she’s damn scary when she’s… being… nice.

Yeah – dress, makeup, hair doing a weird… curly, wispy thing… plus the whole fiddling with her hair and gazing upwards through her eyelashes as she spoke (although she probably had too… I outgrew her quite a while ago…).

Please, I’m naive, but I’d recognise what was going on immediately.

But it’s so unlike her to get drunk…

~@~

[M]

LIKE I GIVE A TOSS ABOUT HIM. HE’S BEEN MY FRIEND FOUR YEARS AND HE GAVE ME A BIRO FOR CHRISTMAS! NOT EVEN A NEW BIRO, A CHEWED ONE FROM BROCK’S BAG!!

Why the heck hasn’t he come looking for me yet? It couldn’t have taken him this long to struggle his way out of that sheet…

Or maybe… maybe… omigosh, is he still under there? Aw, now I have guilt! Surely I’m not the only person in that huge group of people who would help him? Brock would have… yeah, Brock.

But Brock is probably pissed and making out with Miss Man by now. Bugger. Buggerbuggerbugger. Now I’ve gotta go downstairs and sneak a look. I won’t be able to enjoy a tantrum otherwise---

Wait. Like I give a TOSS about him. Humph. That’s right. This is my stand on Ash. Right… something to throw. Oooh. Smash goes the lamp. Aah, that sound of shattering ceramic is SO satisfying when you’re a bubbling mixture of alcohol, fruit-cake and oestrogen.

There’s nothing else to throw! Why don’t they put more junk in these rented rooms? Dammit, the dresser’s nailed to the floor. Jeez, this Joy’s a bit of an untrusting cow, isn’t she?

My head hurts… and I’ve gotta lay it on this pillow that has all the softness of… of… something that’s generally very hard. Hey, I’m very… (yawn) … tired.

~@~

[A]

Yeah, I’m gonna have to go and get her. I can’t give her her Christmas present if she’s not here, can I? Course not. Although I must admit, the biro thing was a rather cunning idea of mine, if I do say so myself. Brock said once that Misty had wily woman intuitions. Or something like that. I had to throw her off the scent; or as the toilet paper would say, the ‘aroma’. Going to the loo is educational. They’ve gotten to everything.

Decisions, decisions, decisions… now I can’t wheel the stupid thing up the stairs. Or through the large group of people for that matter. Oooh! I could beep the horn to make a path!

~@~

[M]

Ash, I’ve had enough, I say, poking the boy on the shoulder. Ash turns around with an inquisitive look – which rapidly changes to one of confusion.

"Kasumi?" he asks, warily. Wow, I didn’t know Ash could speak German.

I’m leaving tomorrow, I thought you might wanna know, Ash. His look of puzzlement intensifies.

"Satoshi da," he says slowly. "Sumi! Baka," he adds fondly, trailing an ungloved fingertip gently down the side of my cheek. Wow. Electricity in my face. And since when could Ash speak a different language? Since when did his voice get so… not gravelly? Since when did HE stroke ME lovingly down the cheek?

Ah. I’m dreaming.

Shhh-ugar. Ah well, may as well milk it.

Ash! Or, Satoshi, or whatever! I love you! I squeal, none-too-dignified; I follow up this beautiful erm, speech by throwing my arms around his neck. Woah, by the look on his face he understood that.

"Sumi," he smiles, cuddling me closer.

Awwww this dream is good! I just wish I knew what the hell he just said to me.

~@~

[A]

This doesn’t bode well. Just trampled all over a completely destroyed table lamp. Well, she’s lying on her bed not moving… um. Shall I poke her? I’ll poke her… um. Um. Where? The leg? No, she’s funny about her legs recently. Thinks they’re fat. Cuh, she wishes; like anything on her scrawny frame could ever be.

Her hair’s all coming out – she’s gonna be really annoyed, it took her ages to get it done right. It’s hot in here, and her hair’s gone all sweaty and sticking to her cheek and all. Uh oh… oh damn. Oh damn. She just woke up to find me moving hair from her cheek… how incriminating… (gotta love that toilet paper).

"Satoshi!" she mumbles, still more than half asleep. Sato waaaaa? Who the heck is Satoshi and why is she calling out hi-

Hey Misty! I interrupt myself, as her eyes snap open widely, and she swings around so her feet are on the floor. She blinks, and then yanks down her dress.

"HeyAshwhat’sup?" she murmurs quickly, brushing her hair back from her face herself. I shrug – original. You look intelligent now, Ketchum.

How’s that pen working out for ya? Hmm, yet another intelligent question.

"Fine," she answers, but she’s looking at me as if I’m mad and her lips have gone all tight.

Would you like your real Christmas present now? I ask, grinning. She grins back.

~@~

[M]

Aw, I should have had more faith in him. Now he’s boasting that it’s something I’ve wanted for ages – well he took that away from me earlier!! No, no Misty, don’t get bitter. Bitterness causes wrinkles. Holy Ho-Oh I sound like Daisy… it’s gotta be the hair-spray. Infects the brain.

"I’m sorry for blowing you off earlier, Myst," he says shyly. Wow. Yeah that was so incredibly not romantic, but it’s a start. I think my heart jumped a good few centimetres.

No problem, I understand, I lie. As we climb down the stairs in a sort of embarrassed teenaged silence, there comes a round of applause from the partiers – for me??? No, wait. The Jenny just performed a strip-tease. Ash leads me over to the corner where there is… crap. My heart just lifted and sunk at the same time. Quite confusing I must say.

"Sorry it took so long!" Ash grins, as I gasp in awe. "I really have been saving for it, and then I decided to save up for a really nice one in return for all you did for us." Okay, that… that… that was past tense. Ash just applied the past tense to me. That means one of two things – he assumes I’m leaving, or he’s going to murder me.

Holy Ho-Oh he thinks I’m leaving the group… I know I was PLANNING too, but I wasn’t actually gonna go through with it! Where would I go? What would I eat?!

I manage to squeak out a convincing thank you. I really am happy that Ash went to all this trouble for my bike. But… oh gods he thinks I’m leaving… I’ve gotta do something.

~@~

[A]

I wonder what she’s gonna do with the bike? I mean, she can’t exactly ride it when me and Brock are walking. Put it in storage maybe? Send it ahead to the Cerulean Gym? Or maybe Brock and I will buy…

Aw man, she’s gonna go and leave now! I know she is! Ugh, nice going Ketchum! You practically gave her a one-way ticket to Cerulean City! Duh, now I remember why I kept putting off buying the damn bike. Waaaaaaaa…

She’s still thanking me… she must really be excited about going back. Wow, she’s so happy she’s sorta crying. Well, not tears crying… shiny eyes. She actually looks better this way than she did all made up before; more natural I guess. Especially with the sparkly tears in her eyes. She has such pretty eyes. But I’m never sure if they’re green or blue. I’ll have to ask her before she leaves…

I feel quite depressed now actually. I also feel like maybe it might have been a bad idea not to take advantage of her under the Mistletoe earlier… man that sounds a bit violent…

~@~

[Third person – no POV]

Ash studied her earnest face for a second; his head tilted, and his facial expressions thoughtful. Misty thought he seemed to lean in just a tad closer, and she jolted backwards violently – too painful. Ash blinked.

"Jeez, calm down Misty! I wasn’t gonna kiss you—or anything like that!" Misty blinked, and blushed slightly.

"I know…" she murmured, embarrassed. "You wouldn’t be brave enough anyway," she teased, not knowing what to say. "We’re not even under the Mistletoe," she added, "not that that made a different last time," she muttered under her breath. Ash folded his arms arrogantly across his chest. A challenge. An insult to his masculine pride!

"You keep on talking that way, Scrawny, and I just might! How’d ya like THAT?!" he huffed. Misty arched an eyebrow, totally swept away in the argument; arguing with Ash was a very funny thing. Everything wiped from her mind except for ‘Ash is wrong. I am right’.

"You just go right ahead and try it, bluffer," she scoffed, folding her arms also. Ash’s eyes widened. He gulped.

"You sure?" Misty’s eyes also widened as she realised what she had just landed herself in. Oh… the embarrassment. But she couldn’t back out now.

"I DARE you," she muttered grimly. "You could NEVER. And even if you could, I bet you wouldn’t do it well!" she added, lightening the extremely oppressive mood; both teens were breathing rather heavily.

Well, Ash thought to himself. You would have kissed her earlier if you hadn’t thought she was blind drunk. Now you know she wasn’t – and in following with Christmas traditions…

"Well, okay," he blushed fiercely. "I’ll kiss you… but, but, only c-cos you told me too," he added hurriedly.

Their lips only met for the briefest of moments at first, and Ash felt what could only be described as both a hot and cold flush (so really just a flush) spread from his lips to the rest of his body. They pulled apart pretty quickly, and just stood for a second, staring into space over the other’s shoulder.

"Hey you two!" hiccoughed a totally sloshed Brock. "You’re not even under the Mistletoe!" The tall boy pushed them to the right, until they were once again under the dreaded plant. Ash looked down a few inches into Misty’s eyes, and shrugged.

"I find this very perplexing," he grinned.

"Ash, how many times have you gone to the toilet just so you could use that toilet paper?" Misty asked, her eyes narrowing. Ash sweatdropped, and then leaned in to kiss her quickly. "I’ve got a really good idea for your birthday present now, Ash," Misty continued, when their lips parted. "A dictionary. Or maybe a thesaurus. Or maybe I’ll spring for a combined one." Ash grinned.

"I want Mistletoe to be used on my birthdays from now on," he laughed. "This stuff is fun!" he said as he scrambled for a chair so he could pull the festive plant off the ceiling for his own, personal use.

~@~