A/N: The second to last chapter! Thank you, everyone, and I very much hope you enjoy this chapter!

To Guest: Thanks a lot! And we'll see how well Brock will fare… XD

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon or the picture used as cover.

Leave It To Brocko

Chapter 35

It was difficult to say whose fault this situation exactly was. None of the teenagers could be blamed for their feelings, and really, it was just the stupid way they were going about it, trying to make their crush jealous with someone else, they should've known it would never work, such things only work in movies and books, not real life, really, who came up with such a stupid stupid plan-

Right. That would be me.

At the moment, I wanted nothing more than to bash my head against a wall. Or hide in a deep, dark hole somewhere until this storm had passed.

But I couldn't very well do that – well, on second thought, I suppose I could try; I would look ridiculous, and it would undoubtedly distract everyone from the current situation… But no, it was only postponing it. Not to mention that I would look really ridiculous.

Regardless of whose fault it was – because really, that person was probably just trying his best to help his friends with only the best intentions and couldn't foresee these consequences – it was May who set off the explosion.

May – sweet, loyal, dense May – had decided to keep true to her word, not knowing that her services were no longer needed. Complete with flirtatious smile and batting her eyelashes, May leaned over to Ash and asked in a low voice how his day had been.

Yup. Indeed, this was going to explode.

Misty tensed, and Drew's eyes flashed. Ash seemed uncomfortable, but couldn't really back out now, could he? May would've looked ridiculous, not to mention that she probably wouldn't have known what was going on and what she was supposed to do now. With only one option left, Ash awkwardly responded in what was undoubtedly the most painful attempt at flirting I had ever witnessed.

"Oh, it was really nice, you know, on the beach with Misty in the morning, and then the afternoon battling with Max, and uh..." He seemed to think of a correct flirtatious ending for this. "But of course the evening was the best part, with you." He flashed her a grin, sweatdropping slightly.

Like I said, painful to watch, but still, both Drew and Misty could see he was trying. Failing horribly, but still trying.

Misty's jaw clenched, her eyes narrowing in anger, but the furrowing of her eyebrows told me that she could see something fishy was going on.

"Oh Ash!" May let out a ridiculously high giggle, putting her hand on his lower arm. "You're sooo sweet!"

It didn't surprise me that Drew didn't appear to fall for this act, either. His eyes were slightly narrowed, though the rest of his expression continued to be pokerfaced.

That was what you got when two of the world's least romantic-suave persons attempted to flirt with each other.

But, although I had come up with some pretty creative responses, I hadn't expected Drew's next move.

"May?" He interrupted May's next sentence, and she looked at him, confused and half-dropping her act. "Can I talk to you? Alone?"

His voice was toneless, forcibly neutral, but it held an almost dangerous undertone, and I felt something cold settling in my stomach. I didn't know Drew very well, but I could guess that this was not going to be a pleasant conversation. For everyone involved, and that included me.

"Oh, uh, sure," she said, glancing nervously at Ash and then at me. I could only try to keep the panic of my face and appear confident to encourage her, though it didn't seem to do much. With a shaky smile from May, she and Drew left the living room for the hall.

The door closed with a final click, and a thick silence descended on the living room. Misty looked even more suspicious than before, her arms crossed, and trying to catch Ash's eyes, who in turn did his best to look anywhere but her.

Despite how I strained my ears, it was impossible to follow the conversation going on in the other room. I could hear their voices, and then the sounds of someone going up the stairs, silence for a bit, then the stairs again, May's voice rising in volume-

Drew practically stormed back in the living room, an icy expression on his face and a bag slung over one shoulder. He refused to look at either of us, and the weight in my stomach increased when May entered the living room, almost in tears.

"Drew-"

"Just leave it, May." His voice was cold, and I felt my heart sink. Misty's eyes had widened as she followed the exchange, and Ash's face held a mixture of emotions: guilt, sadness, anger, uncertainty.

Drew grabbed his jacket from the couch, not even bothering to put it on as he tried to move past May and back into the hallway.

"No, Drew, wait, please-" May sounded utterly desperate, and she tried to grab his arm.

"Leave it, May," he hissed, pulling his arm free and stalking past her. With a gush of cold wind from the opened door, he was gone.

"Drew," May choked, staring at the black hole that was the opened door. Tears escaped her eyes and she trembled, dropping her gaze to the floor.

Oh dear Arceus.

Misty had sank into the couch, trying to disappear from this situation, and but I could only feel an immense wave of guilt.

This was all my fault. If only I hadn't been so dead set on getting Misty and Ash together, if only I had just allowed everything to run its natural course instead of meddling in other people's lives, if only I had not asked for May's help-

Ash's face mirrored my own expression, but after throwing one last glance at Misty, his expression hardened in determination.

"I'm sorry," he said, breaking the thick silence. May sniffled, looking up in confusion, and Misty frowned as well.

"What-" But before Misty could finish her question, Ash stood up and sprinted out of the door.

Even more confused, Misty looked at May for answers, before quickly glancing away and staring intently at me. I couldn't look her in the eye, instead turning my face away and looking at the door Ash and Drew had disappeared through.

The silence stretched on, growing heavier with each passing minute, but I had no idea what to say that would make this situation better. It were only May's sniffles which occasionally broke the silence, and that didn't help at all with keeping my guilt down.

It felt like an hour had passed before Ash and Drew returned again, though I doubted it had been more than five minutes in reality.

After closing the door behind him, Ash turned to us, a solemn and serious look on his face. He was looking directly at Misty. May was staring at the floor, though she seemed to have her emotions back in control. Drew did his best to maintain his cool expression, but his eyebrows were furrowed in confusion. I myself had no idea what to expect either.

"Misty, May, Drew, " Ash broke the silence, looking at each of them for a moment. "I owe you guys an explanation."

Misty sat up straighter, a befuddled look on her face, while Drew had redirected his gaze to May, whose head had snapped up at Ash's words. There were tearstains on her face, and upon noticing those, the green-haired boy quickly turned his eyes away from her.

Ash took a deep breath. "Drew, May, I don't know what you two talked about in the hallway, but I have the feeling it had something to do with May's weird behavior just before, right?"

Neither of them replied, and Ash continued, "That's my fault. I asked May to help me, because... uh..." For the first time since he came back in, he faltered, glancing at Misty nervously. He swallowed, and forced himself to continue. "I asked May to flirt with me-" Drew's eyes widened the slightest bit, May bit back a little gasp, and Misty's mouth dropped open. "-because I wanted to make a girl I like jealous."

Ash was looking anywhere but at Misty, instead focusing on May and Drew. "So uh, Drew, May, I'm sorry. May is, uh, I believe, I'm sure, she's not romantically interested in me, but, you, you know, I mean…" He gestured a bit helplessly, before finishing with. "She just wanted to help me, it's not her fault."

Drew didn't say anything, but his expression had softened, and when May finally dared to look at him, he gave her a smile. May's cheeks turned red, but she beamed back at him.

Ash took another deep breath, finally looking at Misty, emotions passing so quickly over her face that I was unable to identify them. "Misty, I'm sorry," he spoke strongly. "I lied to you about May and that was wrong. The truth is..." He took another deep breath, and I was sure that the nervousness I was feeling right now was nothing compared to what Ash was feeling right now. "I like you. Uh, romantically."

Something heavy dropped in my stomach when Misty finally seemed to have settled on an emotion: anger. Ash saw this, too, and he quickly continued. "And I'm really really sorry about that. I didn't want to ruin our friendship, and with you liking Gary, but with him going with Leaf, I just really didn't know what to do, and I just, I just-" He faltered again, his rambling drying up, before ending in a whisper. "I just really like you."

Silence. Misty's eyes were narrowed, her lips a thin line, her fists clenched and shaking, and her cheeks aflame.

Uh-oh.

She was going to explode on Ash. I just knew it.

And with the same certainty I knew that Ash didn't deserve that. He had just poured his heart out to her, and even Misty could see he was genuine, and now she was going to yell at him?

No. Just no. I would not have that.

"Ash Ketchum-" she started growling, but I wasn't going to let her.

"No!" I said, louder than intended. "No, Misty Waterflower, I won't have that! How dare you?! That boy just confessed his feelings to you, and you get angry?!"

Her mouth snapped shut, and Ash looked at me surprised, but I wasn't done yet.

"You always do that! Even now, when he just confessed his feelings to you, you still hide from your own feelings by resorting to anger? You're a coward, Misty Waterflower! If you are really as strong as you say, show me! Tell him! Stop fleeing, stop hiding, and come out and face the music!"

Misty actually cowered, and I heard Drew shuffling away from me. Ash gaped at me.

I glared at the redhead in front of me, my gaze challenging her. It took several seconds, but then her face hardened and she snapped, "Fine!"

She pushed past me, and walked straight to Ash. Grabbing him by the collar of his shirt, she pulled him down and smashed her lips on his. Ash's eyes were bulging out of his head for one short, comical moment, before Misty pulled away again. Undoubtedly she wanted to say something along the lines of "Happy now?" but Ash didn't let her.

After just one breath of utter shock, he grabbed her shoulders and pressed his lips against hers. This time, the kiss lasted longer, and Misty closed her eyes and wrapped her arms around his neck. I swore I could hear fireworks go off.

Finally.

I glanced at May and Drew, who had somehow ended up standing to next to each other, and saw that their hands were locked together. Ash and Misty pulled away, both grinning like idiots at each other, and I too joined in with their grinning as idiots thing, because Arceus, yes, finally!

I was incredibly happy, and truth to be told, also very proud. Proud of them, and definitely, definitely proud of myself. Because, let's face it, without me, this wouldn't have happened.

"And this was all my idea," I said, grinning and nodding pleased at the two of them.

Misty blinked, slowly turning around to face me. "Your idea?" she asked sweetly, her left eye slightly twitching. But I ignored the signs – she had just been kissed by the love of her life, of course she couldn't be angry anymore – and nodded proudly.

She gave me a crazy grin, and Ash took a step backwards, warily looking at her. I too felt a chill run up my spine, and unconsciously took a step away from her.

"You-" she said slowly, stressing each word. "-put me-" A mallet I hadn't seen in a while appeared out of nowhere. "-through-" She took menacingly a step towards me, still grinning. "-all of this?"

Needless to say that I didn't wait for her to finish, though I heard her yelling after me anyway.

"Brock, I'm going to KILL you!"

And then, Brocko, I ran.

A/N: Whoop whoop, just one more chapter to go! Thank you very much for reading, and I really hope you enjoyed this chapter! Last chance to have a look at the poll, I will announce the results and my own decision about the sequel in the next chapter (though really, I think there will be one ;)). As always, I love reviews!

Thank you!

Recommendations:

Pokémon: Sweets and Secrets by Cheeno. FFN. Haven't had enough ContestShipping yet? Then this is the right story for you :D Her friends are keeping something from her, and May is determined to find out. A beautiful written and deliciously fluffy one-shot.

Pokémon: In Love and War by legionaireofthe10th. FFN. An epic, in-progress multi-chapter about several of our favorite characters. Just after gaining the Champion title, the Pokémon League is thrust into a war with several criminal organizations, and Ash is forced to lead Trainers and Coordinators onto a real battlefield. Poke, Contest, Ikari, LeafGreen/Oldrival.

Naruto: The Rulebook by IncessantOblivion. FFN. A sadly so-far-unfinished multi-chapter about Ino and Shikamaru. Hilarious, as Ino tries to seduce Shikamaru, and misunderstandings thrive as both of them try to fight against their feelings – and fail, of course. Wonderful and very funny :)

Recommendations are welcome!