It's my favorite week of the year: Pokeshipping Week! I'm pretty excited about the stories I've got for this year, so I can't wait to share them all to you! I really feel like the Pokeshipping community is the absolute best, and this week always proves it.

So, without further ado, let's kick things off!

If Ash Was Aware of His Feelings

Misty sure made it hard for Ash to concentrate on a lot of things.

For starters, she really liked to tease him. A lot. Any time Ash made a mistake, or said something dumb, Misty always had to interject with a line just to let him know just how big of a fool he'd been. And even though it tended to tick Ash off, he had to admit that Misty's taunts were pretty creative. It was pretty difficult for him to match her bravado, although he did try his hardest.

She also liked to yell him. A lot. Whenever Ash became a bit too arrogant for his own good, or got a little short with her, she'd start shouting and firing off insults like nobody's business. Just like her teasing, it also ticked Ash off and got him to yell back just as loud. That he didn't need to try too hard to do. But she was also very good at raising her voice…even better than him.

And she enjoyed talking to him. A lot. Although the two seemed like total opposites at first glance, Ash and Misty actually had quite a bit in common and shared many interests. Although it might not have seemed this way to people who didn't understand the nature of their relationship, Misty really did enjoy his company and loved discussing all of the things they liked together.

And despite all of those things, the biggest reason it was so hard for Ash to concentrate around Misty was because he liked her. A lot.

Like…a lot.

It wasn't like Ash had never had a crush on a girl before, but Misty was easily the prettiest girl Ash had ever met. Her fiery red hair, cerulean eyes, and ivory skin reminded Ash of a storybook mermaid who had managed to turn herself into a human. Her long arms and legs, composed of lean muscles from hours upon hours of intense swimming, gave her a svelte yet athletic appearance.

And yes, even though she could sometimes get a bit gruff with him, Ash kind of liked it. He found Misty to be a strong, passionate girl. Smart as a whip and not willing to back down from what she believed in. And to him, that was just as attractive as her physical appearance.

He hadn't felt that way about her when they first met, but as time passed, Ash's feelings had changed.

Of course, this wasn't something he felt he could openly talk to Misty about, or even clue her into. After all, what if she didn't feel the same way about him? It's not like Ash just expected her to, but it'd hurt pretty bad if she didn't. Besides, he considered them best friends before anything else, and he didn't want to do anything that would jeopardize their friendship.

"Hello? Earth to Ash?"

The boy snapped his head up, not realizing that he had zoned out staring at the sandwich in front of him. Now, instead of his lunch, he was looking dead ahead at Misty, who had a teasing expression on her face.

A very cute teasing expression.

"It isn't like you to space out when there's food around just waiting to be eaten," Misty snickered. "Everything okay?"

"Uh, yeah! Totally fine!" Ash replied, grinning at Misty. She sounded genuinely concerned, which was nice. "Maybe I just didn't get enough sleep last night."

He picked up his sandwich and took a tentative bite out of it. Misty was still ogling him, but soon dropped her gaze so she could focus on her own lunch. There was someone else, however, who had watched that scene unfold from a further distance with great interest.

Smirking, Brock carried his plate over to the table and placed it down, taking the seat next to Ash. "So, how's the food?"

"Great, as always!" Ash crowed.

"Yeah, even though Ash was about to use his as a pillow," Misty snickered.

Ash glared at her, while Brock raised an eyebrow. Of course, he'd already heard this whole conversation, but he was going to play along and pretend he hadn't. "Really? Are you tired?"

"Just a little," Ash grumbled, still shooting Misty an unappreciative look. Maybe she hadn't been quite as genuine as he thought. "But don't worry about it; I'm fine! I'm sure I'll be much more awake after I eat!"

"Mmhm," Brock hummed, picking up his own sandwich and taking a bite.

The rest of lunch went off without incident, much to Ash's relief. Misty and Brock had both dropped the topic of his supposed tiredness and turned the topic into something far more mundane: where they planned on heading next and how they would get there. As they were cleaning up, however, Ash was given a bit of a jolt when he heard Brock call, "Misty, would you mind heading down to the stream and washing the plates for me? I'm going to start putting the table and chairs away."

"Sure!" Misty cheerfully replied, gathering up all the plates so she could carry them over to the water.

Ash watched her go with a sense of dread before slowly turning to Brock. He knew there had to be a reason for Brock sending Misty off with the dishes and judging by the contemplative look on the Pokémon breeder's face, Ash was right.

So much for moving on from his problems.

"Um, what's up, Brocko?" Ash asked awkwardly.

Brock glanced at Misty over his shoulder before turning his attention back onto Ash. "You've been acting strange around Misty lately. Any reason why?"

"No…not…really."

"Did you two have some big fight behind my back?"

"No! Of course not!" Ash hastily refuted. "We'd never be able to hide a fight from you."

Brock silently seemed to agree that this was true. He was still visibly thinking, however, which made Ash nervous. After all, Brock was pretty good at figuring things out, and this wasn't the first instance as of late where he'd given Ash a weird look.

"You don't…happen to like Misty, do you?"

Ash felt his face go pale, and as an immediate response, began to laugh wildly. This caught the attention of Pikachu and Togepi, who had been playing nearby, and caused Brock to raise an eyebrow. "Uh…of course I like her, Brock! She's my friend! And you always like your friends!"

Once Ash had finally managed to calm down, Brock sighed and deadpanned, "I don't mean as a friend."

Stubbornly, Ash turned away and huffed, "well, I don't know what else you could possibly mean!"

"I think you do," Brock scoffed. When Ash refused to respond, Brock continued, "you know, how I feel about pretty girls? That kind of 'like'."

"Obviously not," Ash calmly refuted. "You don't see me drooling over her like that!"

"No, but that's kind of exclusive to me," Brock boasted, much to Ash's bewilderment. He thought the world of Brock, but he also didn't think that was much to brag about. "You're much calmer about it, but still. You've been acting a little weird around her lately. Maybe a regular person wouldn't have noticed it, but I'm somewhat of a love expert, so I could see it from a mile away."

"Love expert?" Ash repeated incredulously. Brock shot him a wry look, to which Ash groaned. He figured there was no use trying to deny it now, even if he thought Brock's specific wording was a little off. "Alright, fine. I might think Misty is kind of cute."

"Kind of?" Brock repeated, amusement in his voice.

"Fine, very cute," Ash grumbled. "But…she's also really passionate, and smart, and funny, and…and lots of other stuff I can't think of right now!"

Brock smirked. Ash had it bad. "So, are you going to tell her?"

Ash's eyes widened to a near comical size. "Are you kidding?! No, I'm not gonna tell her!"

"Well why not?" Brock prodded.

"Why would I tell her something like that?" Ash questioned. "What if she doesn't feel the same way? Do you know how embarrassing that would be?!"

"There's nothing embarrassing about having feelings for someone," Brock reasoned with him. "We can't help who we fall in love with."

"Stop saying 'love'," Ash groaned, burying his face in his hands. "I'm not 'in love' with her. It's just a crush."

Brock scoffed but didn't argue. He knew this was more than just a crush, even if Ash didn't…or just didn't want to admit it.

"Maybe one day I'll tell her," Ash muttered, causing Brock to raise an eyebrow. "But not right now. I'm not ready for that. Not yet."

Despite his previous insistence, Brock smiled at his younger friend. "I think that's fair." Stopping to think for a short moment, Brock added, "just…try not to act so strange around her, alright? Misty's a smart girl. If you keep that kind of rambling up around her, she's going to figure out that something's up."

"You're right," Ash conceded. "I'll keep that in mind. Thanks, Brocko."

"Don't mention it," Brock replied, giving a single nod of his head.

Misty soon returned with the now clean plates, a smile on her face. "All done, Brock!" Handing the dishes over to the grateful Pokémon breeder, Misty asked, "did I miss anything?"

Brock glanced at Ash out of the corner of his eye, noticing that the younger boy's blush had failed to disappear. "No. Nothing interesting."

This one was interesting to write since it's so opposite of what the anime always presents to us. But that's also what made it fun!

Tomorrow is a theme that I replaced with one of my own choosing. See you then!