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Language:
English
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Published:
2024-11-12
Updated:
2025-11-09
Words:
19,007
Chapters:
6/?
Comments:
28
Kudos:
50
Bookmarks:
8
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867

choosing you (easier than breathing)

Summary:

a love story sixteen years in the making.

...

The moment that twenty-six-year-old League Champion, Ash Kethcum, realised he was deeply, irrevocably, madly in love with his best friend, was also the moment Misty Waterflower became someone else's fiancé.

Now, Ash has to navigate his newfound feelings, all the while helping the bride-to-be plan her wedding and trying his best to make sure he doesn't lose the one person in his life who means the most to him. Even as, each day, the knowledge that he will lose her weighs heavier and heavier.

But hope burns brighter in the dark, and sometimes - as the two spend more and more time together and Ash remembers all the years they've spent by each other's sides - he can't help but think, is it really too late?

Notes:

hello!

i feel like i have to preface this entire work by saying i have loved misty, and ash and misty, since i was a literal child. pokemon was my jam in the 2000s, when i was but a toddler, and when i rewatched it as a preteen, something just clicked.

aaml, or pokeshipping, is genuinely one of by oldest otps, my first experience with shipping, entering a fandom, etc. i have so much fondness and affection for these two characters and the bond they share. and i haven't watched pokemon in like, over a decade - in fact, i have never watched anything beyond the orange islands - but in recent weeks, especially with everything going on all over the world, i felt nostalgic for something sweet and simple.

and because i'd also been itching to just write, lately, and NaNoWriMo was about to begin, this fic was born.

i am having so, so, so much fun with this project! and i hope, as we go on, that you have as much fun reading it as i do writing it.

now, some brief notes:

  • this fic switches back and forth between a linear present and a non-linear past. blame the phenomenal bellarke fic that inspired me to do that :)
  • there will be lots, and i mean, lots of errors and straight-up fabricated bullshit regarding the pokemon world, how gyms work, the championship titles, etc. etc. please ignore them. i exercised my right to be liberally creative.
  • i don't know if this is a new thing, because i certainly don't remember it being a prominent part of my experience in this fandom years ago, but apparently, there's a lot of fighting between amourhsippers and pokeshippers? correct me if i'm wrong, but that's just the vibe i've picked up. i do not know anything beyond the basics about serena's character or her relationship to ash, and i have tried my best to be a nuanced writer when writing both relationships in this story. that being said, this is very much ash and misty's love story. if that is not something you like, please. click away. any mean-spirited, hurtful, bashing, or otherwise rude comments directed to me, to other people, etc. will not be tolerated.
  • i haven't decided on the release schedule yet. a third of the fic is written, half that is edited, and it's currently sitting at 30k, so... please bear with me. updates will be slow, at least until all chapters are written because editing is much quicker. i will finish this, that much i know, but it's going to be a long ride, so strap in ;D
    • anyway, yapping aside, i'm just excited to share this story, and see where it ends up going. enjoy <3

Chapter 1: prologue; now

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Ash Ketchum is monumentally, severely, completely fucked. 

He leans against the fireplace of his childhood home, partially hidden by the couch and the not-so-small group of people littered around him and spilling into the adjoining dining space.

His head thunks against the wall as his friends and family clap and cheer, shouting over each other as they hurl congratulations and compliments, surrounding the two figures in the middle.

Though Ash’s eyes are closed and his hat is pulled low over his face, he sees, clear as day, the wide cerulean eyes and a beaming smile. The blinding glint of a diamond ring slipping onto a dainty finger. 

He sees brown eyes staring warmly at a joyous face. Sees the strong arms wrap themselves around a slim waist, and show no signs of budging.

Ash can’t stop it, can’t stop replaying the moments burned into his mind, watching as his oldest friend, his best friend, stares in shock as her boyfriend of barely a year drops onto one knee, pulls out a small, navy blue velvet box, and asks the woman in front of him if she’d do him the honour of becoming his wife. 

He can’t stop replaying the moment that a breathy, elated yes slips out of soft, pink lips.

Misty Waterflower has just gotten engaged.

Misty Waterflower is to be married. Has agreed to it in front of everyone she cares about and more. Is wrapped up in the arms of a man she’s been with for all of thirteen months, blushing and laughing as those around her, her sisters, her friends, Ash’s mom , all congratulate her. 

What a time to realise you’re in love with your best friend, right? 

So, yeah. Fucked . 

❣  ❣  ❣

Notes:

O.O

^_^

<3