Penny in the air.

Ash, Pikachu, Brock and Misty decided to stop off on their travels through the Orange Islands for a short rest. Misty sat down by the edge of the river and began to fish, Brock set about preparing lunch for the group and their Pokémon and Ash made himself comfortable under a shady tree, Pikachu sat down next to him and immediately went off to sleep. Ever since he decided to return from Kalos, (leaving behind Clemont, Bonnie and Serena) for a short while and once again travel over Kanto with Brock and Misty again he noticed little things about Misty he had never done before, the way her nose crinkled up just before she started laughing, or how her hair matched the colour of autumn leaves or how her eyes twinkled when she smiled. He was snapped out of his trance by Pikachu shifting around in his sleep to find he was subconsciously watching Misty fishing.

"LUNCH IS READY!" Brock called out to the pair

"Coming" Misty replied, pulling her rod in and folding it back down

"On my way" Ash yelled back, he gently nudged Pikachu awake and they strolled over to where Brock had laid out the food. Ash took the space next to Brock, sitting directly opposite Misty. The three of them released their Pokémon then tucked into their lunch.

"Catch anything good Misty" Ash asked in between bites of his sandwich

"Nope, just a load of old junk" Misty sighed

"I'm surprised you knew I was fishing, it looked like you and Pikachu were napping pretty hard under that tree" Misty added

"He was napping, I had something on my mind" Ash replied, Brock's ears pricked up at Ash's words, He'd had enough late night heart to hearts with both Ash and Misty to know how they both felt about one another but were both to stubborn to make the first move.

"Oh? Anything the matter?" Misty asked

"Not really, just thinking that Clemont and Bonnie would love it here" Ash answered, flashing her a grin which caused her to blush deeply. Ash cast his mind back to the siblings he'd befriended in Kalos, he thought back to how hard it was to say goodbye to them when he left to come back home.

"What about Serena?" Misty asked, gritting her teeth slightly at mentioning the girl's name

"Oh, yeah she'd have liked it here too" Ash's mind flashed back to the last encounter he had with Serena, her lips meeting his momentarily before she was off down the escalator. That kiss (Ash's first) had changed a lot for Ash. He snapped out of his daydream and turned to Brock

"So how are things going between you and the Nurse Joy from Pewter City?"

"Oh, we broke things off a few weeks ago" Brock answered, he sensed he might finally have a chance here to push Ash and Misty into admitting their feelings for each other.

"Aw, sorry to hear it man"

"It's alright, I know my dream girl is out there somewhere, least you two are lucky"

"Huh?" Ash questioned

"What do you mean?"

"Well you two have each other don't you?" Brock replied

"We don't have each other" Ash told him

"Yeah, we're just friends" Misty added

"I don't have Misty, she's just my friend"

"And I don't have Ash, cause... He's gay" Misty stated, Ash turned to her with his mouth open

"What? I'm not gay!"

"Of course you are"

"No. I'm not"

"You must be, in all the time we've known each other, when have you ever shown the slight interest in a girl?" Misty asked

"The penny is in the air" Brock commented. Ash just looked at her, unable to get his words out to tell her she was wrong. Misty looked at Ash and carefully studied his face and expression.

"Oh... OH!" Misty whispered when she realised

"And the penny finally drops" Brock sighed. Misty moved round to sit next to Ash, placed her hand in his and interlocked their fingers, resting her head on his shoulder.