"Hey, Misty. Remember Rudy?"

Brock tried to restrain his snickers to no avail. With fluidity that could only come with years of experience, Misty delivered a precise kick to the shin.

"Let's not," she told him crossly.

Ash, who was walking in front of both of them actually took the time to pause and turn around. "Wait, how do you know about Rudy?"

Brock smirked with barely restrained mirth. "Tracey told me everything."

Misty kicked again, expression even more aggravated this time, but Brock dodged expertly (with years of experience). She did not like the dangerous realm this conversation was beginning to venture into.

Brock, however, liked this dangerous realm very much. It had been quite the long time since he had teased his two best friends. While Ash would usually ruin the fun by being oblivious, Misty's reactions were totally priceless. That and since they'd only recently started traveling together again, he must have forgotten just how vicious Misty could get when her feelings were messed with.

"So, Misty, if Rudy's not your type, then who is?" Brock decided to play it vague for now. He'd best play his cards right or he'd be given a one-way ticket to Hell, courtesy of Misty.

The redhead seemed more willing to respond to this. "He was my type, actually! It's just... you know, I have... responsibilities!" She sounded about as convincing as a door-to-door salesman.

"Ha, responsibilities... you mean like the ones that made you abandon everything to travel with us?" Ash commented smoothly. Misty made sure to send him her fiercest glare.

"In case you've forgotten, I'm a gym leader, Ash. Though I'm not surprised you pushed that memory out of your brain; the way I almost pummeled you and all," she countered with a confident smirk.

"Oh, please!" Ash said, annoyed. "I won and that's that. Don't be a sore loser."

"I'm not a sore loser!"

"Just listen to yourself talk!"

Brock walked behind the bickering duo, head hung in dejection. He tried to get something going between the two and this happened. Maybe Tracey was right. Maybe it really was impossible...

No! Brock couldn't think like that. He had a bet to hold up here! Tracey bet him that it would take them another five years. He had to beat that. He just had
to. He was the world's biggest Pokéshipping fan, after all.

Seriously, Tracey had insisted he was the bigger fan. Like, what? NO. Brock traveled with them first. He had to deal with their awkward hormones and budding relationship! And the arguments... all the freaking arguments.

But no, apparently, the Orange Islands were when the "sparks really started flying." Psh, Brock would show him. His ship would be canon.

And he had a master plan to ensure it, too.

-x-

"So what is your type of guy?"

When Brock asked this, it was nighttime when they were all sitting around a campfire roasting mushrooms. Misty popped one into her mouth and made a thoughtful expression.

"Well," she said while chewing, "You know, mature, tall..." she trailed off, trying to rack her mind for more adjectives. She wanted to get as far away as from the description of Ash as possible.

"Tall?" Ash snorted. "Very descriptive. So you'd be okay with Gary?" He shuddered at the thought of his most hated rival and best friend together. It was just so wrong in so many ways. In so many ways in fact, he never bothered to wonder why.

"He's better than you," Misty retaliated, taking a particularly vicious bite out of her mushroom.

Ash appeared beyond offended. Gary? Gary. Freaking Gary. "But I'm tall too! Taller than you!"

"As if!" Misty cried, rising up from her seat. "I have, like, two whole inches on you!"

"Do not." Ash crossed his arms and glowered.

Brock gazed at the two of them thoughtfully, and then beckoned them to come closer. "Stand back to back," he told them.

The two immediately whirled around to press their backs together. And surprisingly... they found that they were nearly the same height.

"It's a draw," Brock said, eyebrows raised in awe. "Ash actually grew a little."

"Ha." Ash smiled triumphantly.

"Whatever," Misty shrugged with a playful smirk. "You're still not taller."

"Well sorry I'm not good enough to... wait a minute, what were we even arguing about?"

Misty and Brock both facepalmed before turning around to walk away.

-x-

While Ash released Totodile to put out the fire, Brock set up the tent. Usually the contraption wouldn't last longer than a week because of the wild pokémon in the forest, which was why they often slept in sleeping bags.

So Ash was a little confused.

"Hey, Brock, what's up with the tent?" he asked, genuinely confused.

Brock dismissed the question casually. "Hey, I happened to have a spare. You know how everything fits in my backpack."

Ash nodded wordlessly. True that. He had seen Brock pull an entire tea set out of that thing once. "It's nice sleeping in the tents, though."

"If you want, we can buy a new one every time we get to towns," Brock said. And was it just Ash, or did Brock's tone sound slightly hopeful? ... Oh wait, of course it did. Sleeping in tents was the best!

"Too expensive," answered the voice behind them. Misty appeared behind them combing through her hair, dressed in a T-shirt and shorts.

"You're not our mother," Ash pointed out dutifully.

"Yeah, you're right." Misty's nonchalant agreement surprised both of them. "That's Brock's job."

After Brock playfully shoved her and Misty retaliated by shoving him face-first into the ground, all parties sweatdropped before retreating inside the setup to call it a night.

-x-

They were so not sleeping. Three people together in a tent was never a good idea, especially when those three people were Ash, Misty, and Brock. It was nearing twelve in the morning and they were still talking, quite animatedly at that.

Brock seemed to realize this and suddenly stopped talking in favor of sitting up.

"I'll... be right back." He paused for a moment. "I'm going to go get some water and fresh air," he explained as an afterthought.

Ash raised an eyebrow in concern. "You okay, Brock?"

"Yeah, do you want me to come with you?" Misty asked worriedly.

"No, no!" Brock resisted, waving his hands frantically. "I'll be fine!" was all he got out before he scrambled out of the little opening.

"I hope he's okay..." Misty said, still worried at the sight of his shadow dancing away from them.

Then a strange silence settled over the both of them once he was gone. Ash hadn't a clue why, since they had always spent time together before... and it had never been like this. Misty, on the other hand, knew exactly why.

"Hey, um..." Misty coughed to get rid of something that seemed to be stuck in her throat before asking, "What's your type? You know... what Brock was talking about earlier."

Ash shrugged once. "Uh... I don't know. And I really don't care. I've got more important things to be worried about, like -"

"Like becoming a Pokémon Master," Misty interrupted monotonously with a dry expression.

"You know me too well," Ash replied proudly.

Misty laughed despite herself and turned to lie on her side, supporting her head with her arm. She gazed at Ash while he appeared to be in deep thought and felt her face heat up.

NO, no, no, no. Not this again. No. She refused.

"Good night," she muttered. "I'm going to sleep."

"What!? No!" came Ash's indignant protests. "C'mon, I'm still not sleepy! Pleeeaasseee?"

His only response was Misty's loud, utterly fake snoring.

-x-

Brock slept outside that night in his sleeping bag for the favor of leaving his two friends alone to their... ahem, private time (but not too private. They were practically five). So it was understandable he was totally and utterly disappointed when he found both of them curled up with their backs to each other.

Did he really sleep outside an entire night for this?

He sighed in disappointment and considered waking them up. The plan failed, after all, and maybe it was best he didn't interfere with anything. It was their business, after all...

Oh, who was he kidding? This was the perfect opportunity!

-x-

Ash woke up halfway, still in the realm of dreamworld as he stretched slightly and adjusted his position. It seemed there was something restricting him, so he fought not against it and instead welcomed the strangely comforting and warm feeling. It infested itself across his neck, his shoulder, and strangely his hand.

Misty, meanwhile, was stirring more and more awake. She, similarly to Ash, was filled by a very comforting feeling she had yet to find the source of. Misty was always disconcerted by things she didn't know, even in her sleep, so she opened her eyes quickly.

As she stretched, her arm slid past the length of Ash's, waking him up with a jolt.

And.

No one said a word.

There were no words to describe such a situation. Ash was lying there, in crumpled clothes and bed-hair while Misty's head lay against his shoulder, arm draped across his torso. It wasn't ideal, and their faces quickly morphed into ones of horror.

The screams were deafening.

-x-

Brock was proud of his work. It wasn't even a cliché or anything! He had purposefully arranged it, and Misty was hard to maneuver in her sleep, dammit. She was heavy and she also sleepkicked (of course).

But now, he wasn't so proud.

"Ewwww, gross!"

"Hey, that's what I should be saying!"

"What do you mean? You were all over me!"

"So were you!"

"Ugh, I've got to go wash the Misty off of me."

Misty fumed as Ash gave her a look of absolute disgust and stalked off. Then, she turned to Brock.

"Why didn't you wake me up!?" she demanded to know, her fiery gaze effectively freezing him.

"Um... I just... I don't know, I was..."

"WHY. DIDN'T. YOU. WAKE. ME. UP."

"I'M SORRY, OKAY. YOU SCARE ME."

-x-

This was the most uncomfortable Ash had ever felt, like, ever. He knew that Misty and him got teased for acting like a couple sometimes - which they totally did not, just for the record - but this was really, really weird. Because it was Misty. His best friend, Misty. Someone who he had been friends with forever.

It wasn't easy to explain, but it was like... a strange feeling, one that he hadn't felt before. It felt good but at the same time utterly humiliating - how awful was it to be in a situation like that with Misty?

But his hand touching her hair felt so right.

But Misty and him like that were wrong, he would never actually like her.

But her skin was so... smooth and nice, and cool to the touch.

Ash groaned.

This would be a mystery he would lock up and stow away and hopefully never have to think about again. He had one mission: Win the Johto league. He didn't need any stupid, untrue distractions in his way.

-x-

Brock knew about Ash. Like, a lot. He knew that Ash's mind consisted of mainly pokémon and occasionally Gary, but aside from that, nothing else. Absolutely nothing.

And if something would happen to cross his mind, say, something romantic, the boy totally wouldn't get it. His obliviousness would just end up locking the matter up and throwing the key somewhere that he would forget, later to trip over and land on his face.

So this would definitely be harder than he thought.

Because Ash didn't even act awkward once he came back, freshly showered and dressed. He acted completely normal, unnerving both Brock and Misty for some strange reason.

"Really, Ash?" Misty mumbled to herself, obviously displeased at his behavior.

"I know right," Brock agreed, tutting under his breath as he passed Misty.

They both froze in place.

"Wait, what?!" Misty pointed a finger at him accusingly.

"What?" Brock shrugged as best as he could while holding a large pot in his hands. "I know you like him."

Misty's reaction was akin to that of a cat, hairs raising on their ends. She squealed and smacked a hand over Brock's mouth so hard he dropped the pot, with had the unfortunate demise of landing on his foot.

"Ow," he said, tears running down his face.

"Not so loud!" Misty whispered angrily. Then she turned to see if he was listening. Ash was talking animatedly with Pikachu, so she didn't have to worry about that. "Look, I will tell you this one time. I do not like Ash."

"Right, and Pidgey don't fly," said Brock.

"I don't."

Brock wisely did not comment further, but kept one thing in mind as he begin to prepare that day's breakfast while watching the two argue over something again.

This would be way harder than he thought.

Oh, well.

For the Pokéshipping.

A/N

yeah this was kind of meant to be a one-shot but then i realized oh wait ash is totally oblivious and misty is denial ahahaha them getting together? IMPOSSIBLE

also i had some era 1 trio feels so. yeah, have this.

i may continue this (and probably will) so please REVIEW and leave any kind of requests, thoughts, comments, or critique. thank you and i hope to see you soon ;)