Sugar and Spice

A/N: Back to the fanfiction scene! Unfortunately I returned a bit late, seeing when this was last updated... -Cries in shame-

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Chapter Eight

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Misty glanced at her watch. It was just past 6pm, and her stomach grumbled loudly as if to remind her that it had been empty since morning. She locked up the gym after double-checking that she hadn't somehow forgotten about any trainers, and hopped on her bike. She was too tired to bother attempting another epic cooking session at home, and she had been meaning to try that new burger bar in town for a while...

She arrived at the bar half an hour later and locked her bike up outside. It was a busy night in town, and it was some time before she got to the counter and ordered her dinner. Thankfully most of the people there wanted takeout, so she was able to secure herself a table where she proceeded to unwrap her burger and start eating ravenously, ignoring the stares of the people nearby.

A few moments later, as she reached for her drink to wash down the lump of burger that was refusing to go down, she realized that she had company.

"You should really project a more ladylike image if you're trying to woo a guy," May said, daintily picking up a fry from Misty's tray.

"May? What are you doing here?" the redhead choked out, thumping herself on the chest.

May shrugged. "Coincidence. But just as well. I wanted to say something."

Misty's mind turned as she tried to predict what was coming. Misty, your butt looks huge in those pants. Misty, aren't you on a diet? Oh yeah, Misty, I heard somebody pounding on the door of your gym when I went past it just now. You should probably go back and check it out.

"Misty, this is what you should do," said the brunette, leaning across the table dramatically. She paused for effect. "Forget Ash, and go out with Gary."

"Huh?" yelled Misty, nearly choking a second time.

All the thoughts of Gary she'd been stuffing to the back of her mind for the past few weeks now flowed back full-force. The little to no thought she had been giving Ash was easily swept aside. Although the fact that May had noticed their interaction and decided they were a good couple sped up Misty's heartrate, she was still reluctant to put too much thought and hope into it. Gary was quite unattainable for her, if past events told her anything. She hadn't tried, but she didn't really want to get hurt before anything even happened between them - again.

Most of all, she was a little wary of May's sudden change in ideas. "What happened with Ash? I've pretty much given up on him, but weren't you the one who was the most pumped up about us getting together?" she asked suspiciously, sipping her soft drink.

May looked a little sheepish. "Well you're better than me. I've completely given up on him. There's no way he'll ever come around, at least not now." She coughed. "I've seen the light. Gary is the way to go, trust me."

Her words served not only to make Misty not trust her idea, but to deepen her suspicion. "I see what you mean about Ash, but your sudden preference of Gary is a little unsettling." Did he persuade you to do this? she wanted to ask, but didn't want to look egotistical by suggesting that he could possibly like her enough to get her friend to convince her. In truth her heart was pounding a little at the notion that he could have asked May to do this. It wasn't that far-fetched an idea. She fought to keep it from showing in the form of a blush on her face.

"Ah," the brunette said. "It's not really that sudden. Remember who told you to invite him to the amusement park? I've seen you two together plenty of times, and I'm telling you girl, there is chemistry at work here. Maybe too much, which is what put you off him. But you can't deny it's there."

"You don't have a crush on Ash too, do you?" Misty asked, surprised at how easily that came out. And how little jealousy went with it. Am I really getting over him? She could hardly believe how simple it had been.

"Huh? No! No, no no," May exclaimed, emphasizing every 'no' with increasingly shocked expressions. "I have no idea how you came up with that. I mean, no offence, I know he's a good guy and all, seeing how much you liked him, but he's not exactly my type."

That was true. She had seen May's 'type', and Ash would be a total outcast among them. Still, she wasn't entirely convinced May was simply doing this of her own will. May loved matchmaking, but she had never advised anyone outright to go out with someone before.

It was clear that the situation warranted some snooping. Considering how Ash probably still didn't realize she liked him, Misty thought it was unlikely he would have asked May to subtly put her off him in order to preserve their friendship. And with the way May was going on about Gary, she wondered if Gary had possibly blackmailed her friend into patching up the soiled impression of him in Misty's mind. She didn't want to be big-headed but that seemed the most likely answer at the moment.

With all that info in hand, she reluctantly decided that there was unfortunately no better place to start interrogating than Gary himself. It wouldn't be that hard, would it? It was only Gary, after all. She knew him - actually, she was surprised at how much she knew about him. She knew his house, she knew some things he liked and didn't like, and she thought she might know a decent amount about the guy himself. She also knew what kind of dirty magazines he appeared to favor, but that was beside the point. The point was that the more she knew about him, the harder it was getting for her to find a reason to continue to dislike him. And that itself was becoming harder to hide.

"Misty! Are you listening to me or what?" May's voice cut into her thoughts crossly.

"Uh yeah, sorry," she said, dazed for a moment. "Carry on."

The brunette made a disgruntled noise. "I know you're totally into Ash and all, but you could at least cut out the daydreaming while I'm talking."

Misty blinked. Daydream about Ash? It had been a while since she'd done that. "I wasn't daydreaming about him," she said.

May raised an eyebrow and a slow smile came onto her face. "Well, Gary then. Hoo boy, I didn't know you were this into him already!"

"Guhhh," Misty said, feeling her face go red. "I really wish you would stop that."

"It's true though, right?"

The color of Misty's cheeks was answer enough.

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Gary paced up and down his studio. Would it work? Did May exert enough influence over her to convince her? He felt he was being unnaturally anxious about the situation, but considering the people involved, perhaps his anxiety was well-placed.

His forceful measures, on the other hand, didn't register much with him. He had always been the type to know what he wanted, and then take appropriate actions to obtain it. Currently, the wanted item happened to be Misty. So he was doing what he could to get her. Granted, it would be no easy task to win her over, but somewhere in the recesses of his mind he knew that it wouldn't be very hard either. She was almost as good as won, from the looks of things.

He flipped on the TV, which happened to be playing the usual late night marathon of crappy action movies, and sunk himself into the couch. He checked his watch. It had been over two hours since he'd cajoled May into encouraging Misty to move on from Ash so that Gary could effectively make his move. He was expecting some kind of contact informing him of the results, but so far there had been no sign from his partner-in-crime. He sighed heavily and resigned himself to watching people roundhouse kick each other all night until he fell asleep.

The doorbell rang half an hour later, just when his eyelids were about to meet. Gary jolted awake, rubbed his eyes and stumbled to the door, almost tripping over furniture as he did so. He wrenched open the door, an annoyed retort at the tip of his tongue, but was shocked to find himself face to face with Misty herself. "... Uh," he said.

Misty blinked. "Good evening to you too. Can I come in?"

The firm hand she placed on the door gave him little choice in the matter, so he swung the door back to let her in. She stepped inside and immediately made for the couch. Gary scowled but made no comment, instead settling for the bar stool at his kitchenette.

There was a silence in which neither looked at the other. Gary could tell that she knew he had asked May to talk to her, and she knew that he knew it too. He stood and combed through the pantry. "Coffee, tea or hot chocolate?" he asked, by way of conversation.

"Hot chocolate. I still have to go to the gym tomorrow. Can't afford to have a sleepless night."

He made their beverages slowly, and eventually spoke again. "So. I guess you've met up with May."

Misty walked over to the kitchenette and sat down. "You're serious?" she asked incredulously.

"You think this is some kind of prank?"

"Not exactly, but it seems a little overboard for you. And why didn't you just come see me yourself?"

"I don't exactly have the authority to tell you who you should or shouldn't like."

She snorted. "As if that was ever an issue for you."

Gary cracked a smile and handed her her hot chocolate, which she accepted with a thanks. "Fine. Go out with me," he said, sipping his own coffee.

"Would we work out?" she responded, both piqued and amused by his nonchalant proposal. To be honest, she had expected a more romantic start to her first relationship. On the other hand, she hadn't expected her first relationship to be with Gary.

How many times had she run through this scene in her mind, with Ash? He would be shy, stuttering a little, but would be firm in his asking. And when she calmly agreed, he would beam at her, and she would scream in glee inside. And probably have a heart attack once she was alone.

At the moment Gary was neither shy nor stuttering, but she was pretty damn close to that heart attack. Keeping herself composed was proving to be a difficult task, but she persevered and eventually evened out her breathing and thoughts. So it's all true. May was telling the truth when she said this wasn't one-sided for me.

Gary peered at her over his cup, and shrugged. "Worth a shot, right?"

Misty shook her head in disbelief. "This still feels unreal."

"I assure you you're not dreaming," he said.

"As if I'd dream about something like this. This isn't even part of my imagination. My imagination runs pretty far, but never this far."

"Hah. So what's it gonna be? You still need more time to think? You still like Ash?" He was beyond caring what her answer was, as long as she got him out of this limbo of anticipation. Well, he cared, but he was sure that this waiting was worse than whatever answer she would give him.

She didn't answer for a long moment. "Come to the gym tomorrow at noon," she said finally, putting down her cup. "I promise I'll tell you then."

"Oh, for goodness sakes," he said, frustrated. "You're damn good at this cliffhanger game." He brushed a hand through his hair and sent a glare her way, which she returned with equal intensity. This went on for several minutes, until their eyes both hurt and they were blinking furiously between glares.

"I should probably take my leave now," she said when she felt her left eye start to twitch.

Gary muttered something under his breath about unreasonable women and shut the door with force as she left. Misty looked back and poked her tongue out as she got on her bike and pedalled down the driveway.

She already knew her answer. She just wanted to show a certain other person, that was all.

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The next day couldn't come fast enough for both of them. Misty hurried to her gym early, having organized what she needed to, and battled her opponents distractedly, much to the annoyance of her Pokemon. Before lunch she fussed over them a little to make up for it and then left them in the pool. She checked her watch. It was just about time.

At quarter past twelve, the gym doors burst open and Gary stalked in. "Well?" he demanded.

She was saved from having to answer by the arrival of her two other guests, May and Ash. May looked like she wished she'd brought along popcorn, while Ash looked totally nonplussed. "Hi Misty," he said, then spotted Gary. "Wait, what's he doing here?"

Misty bid Gary to come closer and then glanced at May, who mouthed 'go for it'. The brunette grudgingly shuffled closer, and then in one swift movement Misty pulled him to her by his shirt and planted a kiss on his lips.

Time stood still for what seemed like an age before Gary got over the shock enough to respond.

"Misty?What are you doing?" Ash shrieked, his face draining of blood. He turned around wildly to look at May, who merely shrugged. "W-w-when did... this happen? How come nobody told me?"

At the same time Misty was having great trouble prying herself from Gary, who seemed to be enjoying himself greatly. When she finally did so, she grabbed Gary's hand roughly - ignoring his wince of pain - and beamed at the others. "We're an item."

"I can see that," May said dryly, and Misty held in a torrent of laughter as Ash stared at Gary, then herself, then back again.

"Wh-what... the..." was all he managed to splutter.

May clucked her tongue and tugged on Ash's arm. "Come now, let's leave those two alone. You could at least have said a word of congratulations, or something! You can be so untactful sometimes, Ash. We really need to work on that..."

"I... they... Misty..." he gargled in reply, too shocked to resist being pulled towards the exit.

They were soon alone. Gary turned towards Misty, a slightly irritated look in his eyes. "Fighting to get through to him to the bitter end, eh?"

"I knew you would take it the wrong way." She grinned at him and sat back on a nearby stool.

"What's the right way to take it?"

"I was just showing Ash what he's going to be missing."

Gary started to smile. "You mean he's going to miss out on kissing me? He must be traumatized."

"You!" Misty said in frustration, which only made him smile wider. "Urgh. I'm starting to regret my decision already."

Gary laughed outright this time, and pulled her to her feet. "I think it's a bit late to back out now," he said, his mouth an inch from hers. "Don't you?"

It wasn't as if Misty could answer, anyway.

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Finally... freakin'... done... Review if you like, I'm just happy to have this done so that I can move onto my next story. Which might be quite a long way coming, considering the other fanfiction stuff I have going on (i.e. fanfic100).

Thanks to everyone for reading and patiently waiting (or not) for this story to update/end. :D