This ended up being more one-sided amourshipping and friendship than anything, but the pokeshipping is very much there! I promise!

There's implied contestshipping and wishfulshipping, and fourthwheelshipping if you want. (You don't have to read it that way if you don't want to.) Enjoy~


C: COOKING

"Is something wrong?"

Serena wanted to tell him that no, absolutely nothing was wrong, and that was the problem. But how on earth was she supposed to approach that?

Ash had just moved to Indigo Plateau after winning the title of Indigo Champion, and this was Serena's first visit. She'd built up her own little idea of what Ash's bungalow would be like in the short taxi ride from Viridian City airport – a sink full of dishes, a few clothes strewn around, the faint smell of pokéfood and a stash of ketchup hidden somewhere. Ash would greet her with Pikachu on his shoulder, and maybe his other pokémon would be around too.

What she didn't expect was Ash announcing that she'd arrived right on time for his meat and vegetable potpie.

She was sceptical when he placed a serving of the meal in front of her, because it didn't look like a disaster. In fact, it looked and smelt just fine. And then she took a bite, and she found that it tasted better than any potpie she'd had in her life. And for someone born and raised in Kalos, this was a very big deal.

"No … nothing's wrong," she said, shaking her head. "Ash, this … this is amazing! Where did you learn to cook like this?"

Ash's worried expression quickly melted into a wide grin. "My mom sent me a few recipes for when I moved here, since she's not here to cook for me and all." He chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck. "But I mostly get takeout. I just thought I'd throw something together since you're my first guest here. It's a special occasion, you know?"

"I suppose," she tilted her head, fighting the small blush rising to her cheeks. She knew not to make too much of his statement – she'd given up hope of Ash reciprocating her feelings years ago. "But this is really, really good. You should cook at home more often, Ash! You have a lot of talent."

"Naw," he shook his head, "It's my mom's recipe that's really good. I just followed it."

"But it takes a lot of talent to follow a recipe and do it well," she pointed out, "I might be great at baking, but anything I make that's not a dessert is just mediocre. I don't have it in me. But for someone who rarely ever cooks," she gestured to her plate, "This is incredible!"

"You really think so?"

Serena nodded. "I do! If your mother's as good as you say she is, then you've obviously taken after her."

He gave her a crooked grin, rubbing the tip of his nose. "Well, gee … thanks, Serena. That means a lot to me." He picked up his knife and fork, pulling his plate closer to him. "So if it's that good, I better dig in, right?"

-oOo-

As Serena recalled the memory, she was further confused by the incredulous looks from the girls around her. They'd been staring at her silently for a good minute at this point, and she was at a loss for words.

"No offense, Serena," Iris finally said, breaking the ice, "But you're still not entirely over your ridiculous crush on Ash, so we can't trust you."

"Iris," May hissed, "Misty could be back from the bathroom any minute."

"I'm only stating the obvious. Misty probably knows."

"Wha –?" Serena spluttered, throwing a nervous glance towards the direction of the bathroom, "N-no! I'm not biased! I'm from Kalos! I think I know good food when I see it. And I'm definitely over him." But no one was convinced on either statement. It was distressing, because this was the one time her bias towards the guy didn't sway her opinion, and they still didn't believe her. "Has … has Ash never cooked for you before?"

May and Dawn exchanged a look, but Iris was the one who spoke up again. "I've only been here once, and that was with Cilan. He did all the cooking then."

"That's what happened with me and Clemont too," Bonnie nodded, "And when I was at the Indigo Conference last year, he just took me to the stalls and bought extra for breakfast. He said he was too busy to cook me anything, but I was okay with that."

That was plausible – as Champion, the Indigo and Silver conferences were always busy for him. But Serena still pressed on. "What about you, Dawn?"

"I make sure I only visit him when I know he's in Pallet Town with Delia," she admitted, "Especially after the wasabi fiasco …"

"The wasabi fiasco?" Misty walked into the room, asking the question already on Serena's lips. Neither Bonnie nor Iris seemed to have heard of it either.

May shifted in her seat. "Well … it was that time Drew and I visited Ash and we'd just missed you. And …"

"May cried," Dawn interrupted.

"There was a lot of wasabi. Way, way too much wasabi."

Misty went pale. "And this was just after I'd visited?"

"Mhm!"

"Then … that wasn't Ash's cooking."

Dawn furrowed her brow. "Then whose was it?"

"It was mine."

Everyone's expression melted into one of complete understanding. Everyone in the room had been subjected to one of Misty's signature dishes at some point, and they all had an interesting story to share about it. Serena felt bad for her – it had come to the point where the redhead didn't even bother denying how bad she was.

"Hey Misty," Iris said, moving the conversation elsewhere, "You live with Ash now. Haven't you ever tried his cooking?"

Misty laughed and rubbed the back of her neck, a habit she'd obviously picked up from her boyfriend. "Actually, we usually just get takeout. Ash spends so much time training he never gets the time to cook, and I … well."

Everyone nodded solemnly.

"So he's never cooked for you even once?" Serena asked. She found it hard to believe anyone could live with someone for three months without having ever tried their cooking. She'd even tried the cooking of every single girl in that room at least once, and the only one she'd ever travelled with was Bonnie. "What about Valentine's Day?"

"I pretend I'm craving pizza," Misty admitted. "He only ever cooked once when his mom was over and she asked him to. I pretended Daisy had an emergency in Cerulean City. I'm not sure a leap of faith towards Ash's cooking is one I want to take."

"Won't he think that's kinda suss?" Dawn asked.

Misty shrugged. "It's Ash. He just wants to make me happy, I guess."

This prompted wistful sighs from both May and Dawn, and even Serena felt her own heart melting a little, but Misty just rolled her eyes. "Oh, like he wouldn't do the same for you guys."

"Definitely not on Valentine's Day," Iris snorted.

"I'd hope he's not doing anything for you girls on Valentine's Day," Bonnie said, eyeing each of the girls around her, and Serena laughed. Bonnie always seemed to find a way to involve herself in other people's love lives.

"Wait a minute!" May exclaimed, holding her hand up for everyone's attention. "Do you smell that?"

And they all stopped and lifted their noses to the air. And smell they did. Whatever it was took Serena back to the first time she was in Kanto, the first time she'd ever met Ash all those years ago. It reminded her of a particular soup she'd had for dinner at that summer camp that she'd found herself enjoying more than she had during her time so far. Serena had come to the region not very enthusiastic about its cuisine, but that dish had changed her mind completely.

It wasn't long before May flew off the couch and drifted towards the kitchen. Serena would have followed immediately if she hadn't noticed everyone else exchanging hesitant glances. One by one, they got to their feet and reluctantly trailer along.

"Don't touch that, May, it's –" she heard Ash yell from the kitchen, followed by a high-pitched scream. "… It's hot."

They ran into the kitchen to find May slumped over in the corner of the room, clutching her forefinger. Serena heaved a sigh of relief when she noted that May seemed dejected more than she seemed hurt.

"Hey guys!" Ash said, hands on his hips as Pikachu carried a stack of mismatched plates over his head and towards the table. "I was just about to go get you. Dinner's all ready!"

There were murmurs of acknowledgement around the room, and Ash's face fell. "Is everything okay? Did something happen?"

"Not at all!" Serena piped in, giving him a bright smile, "We're just really hungry is all."

"Awh, well," Ash laughed nervously, rubbing the back of his neck, "I'm sorry I took a while. I had a bit of an accident, but it's okay! I fixed it."

Everyone's face morphed into an expression of alarm, and Serena couldn't help it – hers did too. An accident? And Ash fixed it? That could never be a good thing. She started to wonder if the pie she'd had was a one-time thing, a fluke that she'd had the fortune of experiencing. Suddenly she felt very, very silly for gushing about his cooking the way she did.

Soon they were all seated around the dinner table, all with a bowl of some kind of Kantonese noodle soup in front of them. Serena thought it looked exactly like the noodle soup she'd been given all those years ago, but she couldn't be too sure she was imagining things. Pikachu had made himself sparse and gone to the living room to feed with a few of Ash's other pokémon. The trainer in question stood at the head of the table, looking at all of them expectantly.

"Well? Go on and dig in!"

No one moved, and Serena exhaled through her nose. She picked up her fork before anyone else made a move for their chopsticks, and dug right in.

"Mmf!" Serena's eyes widened as she slurped the noodles down, "Ash, this is really great!"

"It is? I thought I put way too much salt …"

"No, no," she shook her head quickly, and looked out at everyone else. "Here, you guys have to try it!"

The other girls looked at each other, before all moving to have a taste of it themselves. Slowly, one by one, their expressions relaxed.

"Oh my goodness …" Dawn whispered, "Ash … this is …"

"Incredible!" May gasped, and proceeded shovel the entire meal into her mouth. "Please tell me you have more!"

"O-of course," Ash said, reaching for her already empty bowl.

"Wow, this is as good as my brother's cooking," Bonnie said, "It might even be better! I bet Clemont would be jealous!"

"I think Cilan would want to hire you," Iris added. "Maybe you aren't such a little kid after all."

He frowned. "Iris, I'm twenty-six."

"Still! I sure couldn't cook like this at your age."

"You're twenty-four."

"Whatever."

Ash shook his head, before giving everyone a nervous grin. "So, you guys really liked it huh? It was my first time making it and I wasn't sure how it would turn out."

"Are you kidding?" Dawn raised an eyebrow, "This is as good as your mom's food!"

"Mmph!" came from May.

"That's exactly what I thought all those years ago," Serena chuckled, feeling a little satisfied that everyone was finally seeing her side. "Remember, Ash?"

"You did too, huh." But Serena noticed Ash's eyes flicking towards a particular redhead. It might've been sweet that he cared so much about her opinion, but Misty had been strangely quiet the entire time. She looked to her side to see her drinking all the soup from the bowl.

Evidently she was enjoying herself, and Ash was too nervous to tell. Serena rolled her eyes internally.

"So, Misty," she offered, because she knew Ash never would, "What do you think?"

Misty still managed to make gulping down an entire mouthful of soup look elegant. When Ash had first described the girl to her, he painted Misty as a scrawny tomboy with legs too long for her body, and who couldn't control where her limbs went unless she was in the water. The Misty she'd ended up meeting was definitely nothing like the image her friend had painted.

"I can't believe you've been holding out on me for this long," Misty chastised him, giving him a firm glare while everyone else laughed.

"Y-you always want take-out!" Ash waved his arms in the air, "Even on our anniversaries!"

"Why didn't you tell me I was making a mistake?"

"B-because?" Ash scratched his head.

"Well," Bonnie said, resting her chin on her hand, "I guess Ash'll be spending more time in the kitchen from now on."

"You bet he will!" Misty nodded at her, before turning back to the chef, "You're cooking dinner three times a week from now on!"

"But Misty," he whined, "I've got training!"

"Don't be a baby."

"Wow," Iris mused, "I take it back. You're still a little kid."

Dawn nodded. "But you know what? I think I'm going to move to the Indigo Plateau."

"Me too!"

"Me three!"

"Count me in!"

"You wanna move into our house?"

"Ash, no …"

"Yes!" May jumped out of her seat. "I'll bring Drew!"

"And bring your brother," Bonnie said, winking at the older coordinator.

"I'd bring Cilan but … I think he'd get jealous."

"I guess I'll bring myself," Dawn shrugged.

"Dawn, not you too!" Misty groaned, burying her head into the table. Serena reached out to pat her on the back.

"There, there," Serena whispered, "I'm not moving in."

"Gee, thanks."

She looked around the table, seeing Ash occupied with May and Bonnie's tales of what they'd do while living with Ash, while Dawn and Iris looked on amused. Misty still had her face on the table, but she was covering her head with her arms now.

"Maybe now you guys will trust me when I say Ash can do something right," she muttered to herself, thinking no one would hear her.

"Nope," Misty said, voice muffled from behind her elbows, "Sorry, Serena, but you can't be trusted because of your ridiculous crush on Ash."

Serena jumped from her seat. "Are you serious?!"


I started writing this one a few months ago after reading a bunch of fics with my friend where Ash was a hopeless cook, and I joked that it'd be funny if he actually ended up being an amazingly talented chef and no one knew about it. My friend mentioned that probably only Serena had tried it, and no one believes Serena because she's 110% thirsty for Ash. I fell in love with the idea but I thought it was too short to put in its own fic, so I shoved it in here.