A/N: Thanks for clicking on this story! I hope you enjoy! This is my entry for the fourth round of Empress Empoleon's competition on the PokeWrite forum. The challenge was to write a SpecialShipping fic, rated between K and T, consisting of more than 1000 words, with the prompt shiver.

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon.


The Act of Smiling

Yellow was the kind of girl that was always smiling. It was very rare that she was not smiling. She had several kinds of smiles, and Red loved them all.

First of all, there was the overly happy, overexcited smile. She only had this smile on her face when something truly amazing happened. Like, when he had won the Pokémon League. She had come running to him, the grin almost covering her whole face, had pulled him in a hug while squealing in his ear, "You did it, you did it, you did it!"

Then there was her shy smile; she used this one quite a lot. That smile is usually accompanied by a blush on her cheeks and her eyes avoiding his. Yellow seemed to use this one quite a lot times in his presence, whenever he would joke and smile at her, or when he put his arm around her. Red was still trying to figure out why exactly she did that.

There was also the giggly smile. This was a small smile she would always try to hide behind her hand, or by letting her hair fall in her face. Like the name implies, it was a smile accompanied by giggles, though she did try to contain them. Red liked it when she giggled – she hardly did, but when she did, he got a certain happy feeling in his stomach and he wanted to giggle with her, even though he absolutely never giggled.

The thoughtful smile was just as small as the giggly smile, but was used a lot more. She especially used it when she was alone, or sometimes when they would sit together but weren't talking. Usually, her eyes would glaze over and he needed to call her name two or three times before she finally would hear him. Yellow got lost in her thoughts easily, and whenever he managed to pull her out, she would blush a little, making him feel weak in his knees.

Yellow hardly used the teasing smile – a small, mischievous smile – but she when she did… With a grin Red remembered one certain incident, with Blue and Green. He wasn't sure how it happened, but something had caused Yellow to get that teasing smile on her face and say "Well, we all know Blue likes Green, so mystery solved." Red had never seen Blue blush, but that day that had changed. Blue and Green had both been as red as tomatoes.

There was also the sad smile. Fortunately, she hardly used this one. It was a small smile, with usually her lower lip quivering. Sometimes there would be tears in her eyes too, or her face would be already tearstained. It sounded maybe terrible, but Red couldn't help but like this smile as well. He didn't like to see it, but he thought it showed her bravery, how strong she was to still be able to smile, despite that she was sad. And the thought of a sad Yellow made him shiver – he would do anything to prevent that.

Then there was the embarrassed smile. It was a bit of a grin, a sheepish grin, and her face would turn red. She would look away, and let her blond hair fall in her face on purpose. He liked it when she blushed like that, it was like Blue had said, "You're cute when you're flustered." This had caused Yellow to turn even redder, and Red hadn't liked it that Blue had said that. At first he had thought he didn't like it because Blue was embarrassing Yellow, and he wanted to protect Yellow, but somehow his explanation didn't feel right to himself. It was for a part true, but for a part… it felt wrong. It confused him to no end.

The caring smile was one seen a lot. He usually saw her using this when she was busy with her Pokémon, or with her friends and family. It was a bit of a grin, with happiness shining in her eyes. He thought one would be almost able to touch the love that would radiate from that smile. She didn't look at him like though, which was weird. The smile she always gave him was a different one, definitely caring, but different…

Red wasn't sure how to call the smile she always used when she looked at him. He wasn't even sure if it was a different smile than the others. Maybe it was just the caring smile and was he just imagining that something was different about it.

Still, it didn't look completely like a caring smile. A lot, yes, but not totally. He thought he recognized something from the shy smile in it, as he swore Yellow blushed a little. And it wasn't only the shy smile he could recognize in it, Red was also pretty sure the overly happy, overexcited smile was recognizable in that smile.

Although, maybe recognizable wasn't the right word. It seemed more like the overly happy, overexcited smile was hiding beneath the surface of that smile, waiting to break through, to be freed. As if Yellow was containing it.

But that couldn't be, Yellow was usually a very open girl, she wasn't one to keep secrets. Besides, they were good friends, she wouldn't be keeping secrets from him, right? No, it wasn't a secret, he was quite sure it wasn't. She wasn't hiding something, not consciously at least.

No, it was something else, he believed. Something more mysterious, something deeper. He was still figuring out what it was, but he was sure it was something extraordinary. Something very special. A bit like that smile.

Special... A special smile, just for him. He liked that. He really liked that.

"What are you smiling about?" the girl next to him suddenly asked, pulling Red out of his thoughts.

"Hm? Oh, nothing…" He smiled at her. "Just thinking."

Yellow nodded, and then gave him that special smile, that smile she only used for him. Maybe he should call it the Red smile, he thought, grinning back at her. Or maybe just the special smile.

When she turned away from him, the thoughtful smile reappearing on her face as she looked over the water, he realized that he first needed to find out what that fluttering feeling in his stomach was, and why he always had it when she was around.

But it was definitely something special, Red thought, watching her with a smile on his face. It was the same special smile Yellow used for him – he just didn't know it yet.


A/N: Thank you for reading, I hope you liked it. Now, confession time, I've never read the manga, so I hope they were a bit in character. Just purely basing this off on Bulbapedia and some fanfics, so… Well, anyway, thanks for reading and please leave me a review!
Thanks again!