Captain Misty's 'Ship'

Ash Ketchum really didn't know how, but here he was. He could've been doing anything, anything better with his time this Saturday afternoon, he thought. But nope, he wasn't doing his homework – because homework is just dumb anyways, and frankly he just doesn't care enough for it -, and he wasn't helping his Mom with her gardening work, he wasn't even hanging out with any of his guy friends or playing his video games, not one of them; and all of those things, sounded way, WAY more enticing to do than what he was now.

Because at the moment, he was sitting in Misty Waterflower's – to be fair, she was his best friend - bedroom, helping her write her 'shipping' fics. Just…Err, wow, was all he could think.

He was sitting on the edge of her bed, whilst the orange-head sat in a swivel chair in front of her laptop, typing away furiously at her keyboard. " '…and then he leaned in, mouth wide open…' " Misty muttered out loud as she typed, her back arched as she was staring at the word document she was on. " '…and met hers, for the two of them, this was complete and utter bliss…' AAAAHHAAAHAHAA!" she yelled.

Ash jumped, startled, having not paid attention at all to the past few minutes. "W-what's happening?! Did your laptop crash, Trojan worm?! What happened?!" He looked at her, eyes completely shocked, Misty turned around to face Ash, surprised.

"Huh? Nothing's going on… I'm just so excited to be nearly done with this fic and then uploading it!" she squealed as she tucked her knees towards her, shaking her head into them in complete exhilaration over the prospect.

Ash just sweat dropped, stunned that a teenage girl could have this much energy for this… Romantic… Lovely-dovey nonsense. "Err… Y-yeah, sure… Good on you," he muttered.

Misty took this as a chance to tease her friend. "What? You want in on some of this good stuff too?"

"Ew! Gross, no thanks."

"You sure…?"

"Positive."

Misty sat back, thoughtful for a moment. "Oh…" she trailed off, a smirk gracing her face as a cheeky tease came to mind, "Or is it because it's not yaoi?"

"Y-y-yaoi…?" Ash asked, not sure he would like where this was potentially going…

"Oh… My… God…" she breathed, feigning exaggerated horror before swooning towards the air with her hand to her head, "Oh ma-aaa-an… Ash, 'yaoi' is a term for when people ship two male characters together…"

Ash stared, oh no, he groaned inwardly. "That's…" he began, "Oh that's just gross! What if they see each other as not more than friends!? You can't just do that to them!"

"But Ash, it's still the internet, and they are just fictional after all, jeez. It's the twenty first century, get with the times. Guy-ex-guy works in this day and age."

"I... Err…I think you spend way too much time on the internet, Mist…"

"Aw… But it is common knowledge though if you watch anime," she remarked simply. "And besides, everyone at school knows you and Gary have a special something going on…" she teased.

Now that was just crossing the line Ash knew, he had always hated it when someone suggested that. He angrily stood up, he felt his blood boil over as he processed the information he was just told to think on. "Wait… WHAT!? What the heck, Misty?! How dare you! How many, how many times have I had to tell you, that I am not gay!" he thundered, outraged, "and we do not see each other as 'more than friends'! We're rivals, so don't you even think that way about us!"

"Still looks cute as heck on paper though!" she countered, with a teasing wink.

"Oh! For pity's sake!" Ash yelled, exasperated. "Just, STOP doing that! Please…!" It had been nothing more than a joke at first between the two friends, this gay boy talk. Misty often did indeed like to tease Ash from time to time about how Gary always seemed to get under his skin with his flamboyant, flippant attitude. But in recent times during their adolescence, Misty seemed more dead set than ever or teasing him about it.

"Merciful…" Ash hissed loudly under his breath, as he sat down again, "time and time again, I have had to tell you I'm not like that. You spend every day pairing our classmates, but you always seem so set on pairing me with Gary! And I'm sick of it!"

Misty tapped he chin for a moment before smiling mischievously. "Oh, so then would you prefer being with either, Brock, Barry or even Kenny?"

"What?! Heck no! No guys! They're just friends!"

Misty could only cackle with baited laughter as she looked at Ash, who was flushed in a deep red from embarrassment from the orange heads mocking. "…Haha… Ash, please! I'm teasing, I teasing! A joke!" she laughed, her sides hurting from all the laughter.

"Hah…" she wheezed after another few seconds of her hysterics, wiping a tear from her left eye. "I mean, I don't really think you two are a… Thing… Uh… You aren't though, right?" she said, all of a sudden a serious look adopting its way into her gaze. Ash couldn't help but be a little bit stunned by her sudden bipolar shift in attitude, cause one moment, she was fine with… What she was suggesting, and now, she seemed to want it denied. The heck is up with her today?

"Of course not," Ash groaned with a roll of his eyes, "do you even have solid evidence that I'm the least bit gay? No, 'cause I'm not in the first place…"

A wave of relief seemed to splash at Misty when she heard that, as her hardened glare softened into a small smile. "Thank goodness," she thought, "Don't know what I'd do if he…"

"… And I don't particularly care to know why you care about my sexuality. Heck, I might as well be completely numbed. I can't even know a few girls at school because all you do is swat them away from me. You're really weird in that sense," Ash offhandedly remarked, it was more of a talk to himself than anything, but he said it just loudly enough for Misty to hear him. She froze.

Feeling uncomfortable now, she turned once more back to her screen and began typing away once more, trying to shut his words out of her mind. "D-don't even think about it," she said, with as much of a leve head she could muster, "I only did it to protect Gary from getting hurt." "Even though it isn't Gary I'm protecting…"

"Tch," Ash scoffed, annoyed, "Don't think for a moment Mist that I'm stupid or anything, I still remember that incident you caused with Duplica from a month ago."

At the mention of her, Misty felt a chill go up her spine. Ugh, Ash just had to mention that little incident… The memory began to annoyingly play in her mind. It even spurred up the first time she had ever cut Ash off from interacting with girls, in general...

*O*o*O*o*O*

If she were to be honest, twelve year old Misty wouldn't have dreamed that she'd be so surprisingly possessive of him, well, of Ash that is, her other male friend Brock she just chose to let be taken by a girl. Well if a girl wanted him anyhow. But with Ash Ketchum? Different story altogether.

She noticed it began one spring during recess. It began when a girl with pigtails by the name of Macey was idling around at the bottom of a cutting, when a cart load of various sports balls that was being transported at the top of the slope tipped over suddenly. Macey had been deep in her own thoughts, so she failed to see the incoming avalanche. Ash, Brock, and Misty had been nearby, and Ash, being the slightly heroic kid he was jumped in to save her.

He had had to run up to her and grab her by her hands away from the oncoming soccer balls. Macey had been so stunned by what could've happened to her, and Ash's own heroics she experienced one of those 'in the heat' love moments. Ash had tried to ask her if she was okay, but she was too enamored by the fact that her hero was a slightly tanned, scruffy black haired, brown eye individual with an infectious nice guy streak in him to care.

Instead, she grabbed his hands and tried asking him if he was available for lunch together with her. And in that moment utter pure jealousy overcame Misty, she immediately got between the two from the side, and thrusted a hand down to break Ash and Macey's hand hold before angrily telling Macey that "Ash is booked." Of course, Macey had been insistent, saying that Ash had a right to his own business. In reality Ash was supposed be at the table that he shared with Misty and some of their other friends today to participate in a gaming competition. It was a weekly thing they did. Macey in the end got over her brief infatuation a few days later, but it still left Misty slightly unnerved given Ash's un-immediate response, and the questions Macey imposed on her as to Ash's relevance to her.

And it worked, Misty couldn't figure out why, but the more she thought of it, she could indeed stand Ash eating with other girls, so long as she was there either across from him at a table, or next to him. It was when she turned eleven that all of sudden she was doing that, she thought. When she met Ash at the age of ten, she was irritated with him because Ash had accidently crashed into her bike. And refused to leave him alone when she realized they shared the same class together, but when as time went on, if other girls tried being friendly with him, she got… Jealous, and soon she developed a habit of always being with Ash if another girl was present. So long as she was within a 'reasonable' distance of him, she could stand the presence of other girls. Unless they were flirting with him, then she got irritated. It was really weird, yet it felt so right protecting him from those other girls…

*O*o*O*o*O*

…Oh but how it all came to a head fast forward a few years later…

*O*o*O*o*O*

It was their sophomore year of high school. In the time he knew Misty, Ash had begun to become friends with other girls, and whilst it made her a little uncomfortable, she took solace that none of them expressed romantic interests in him. But Ash's friend Duplica just crossed the line one day.

She wanted to go to a café with him one weekend – alone – and when Misty found out, she was livid! She went there quickly as soon as she found out from another friend, Tracey. And oh, she let Duplica have it!

She and Ash were across from on another outside the café sipping on their straws when Misty found them.

"YOU!" Misty thundered, point an accusing finger at Duplica, whilst her other hand held a mallet, "Who do you think you are?!"

"Oh, hey, Mist," Ash said nonchalantly, "what're you doing here? I thought-"

"Can it, Ash!" Misty retorted before angrily walking up to him, "When did you decide to get a girlfriend huh?! You didn't even bother telling me!"

"Huh?! W-what?!"

"And you!" she screeched, turning to Duplica, "What the heck?! When did you suddenly start seeing Ash as more than a friend?! I thought you had Todd and-"

"Woah, woah, woah! Misty," Duplica began, startled, "It's not like that, Ash and I-"

"Oh, you wanted to confess to him in private huh?! Why I oughta… How could you when I-…!"

"We're just studying!" Duplica shouted, standing up, red in the face from fury and embarrassment. She picked up a copy of the Shakespeare play "Macbeth."

"I knew Ash was struggling to analyze some of the material in this. So I decided to help him out by inviting him here to help calm his nerves since y'know… He's a nervous wreck with reading and all…" Oh, how she herself (Misty) knew that about him.

"Hey!" Ash said, offended.

"…And I decided being alone would help him figure it out if he concentrated on his own with just me, since I've figured out everything myself already."

"O-oh…" was all Misty had to say. Before scratching her left cheek awkwardly, sweat dropping. "S-sorry to interfere then…"

Ash looked like he wanted to say something, but Duplica pointed towards the book with a stern look in her eyes. "Ash, go back to reading the section I told you to look at, and then after that tell me the significance of Lady Macbeth's taunting towards her husband. K'?"

"OK, OK…" grumbled Ash, who focused on a page in his book and began immersing himself in it.

Duplica sighed and ushered Misty a small distance away. Misty, for what it was worth, calmed down quite a bit compared to original enraged self. "Okay Misty," Duplica began, "You really have a problem."

"Huh…? W-where'd you pull that idea from?" she asked, both oblivious to the obvious, and also subconsciously knowing full well what the green haired girl meant.

"Please Mist… Daring any girl – including me! – To even dare try to have alone time with Ash with daggers in your eyes. The fact that you always need to be right beside him whenever there is another girl around… Frankly, you're just really obsessed."

Misty wanted to retort, but said nothing, looking shamefully at the concrete. Duplica sighed, "You'll have to tell him someday y'know? I know you're scared but… I think he feels the same way with you."

Misty felt a slight feeling of hope well up in her, but remembered the fact that it was him, the oblivious extraordinaire of Pallet Town…

"Thanks, Duplica, I guess I will, eventually…"

*O*o*O*o*O*

Misty felt her face heat slightly at that last part, and she stopped typing as she recollected those thoughts. Yes, she was possessive of him, and knew that it would be better in the long run if she went and got it over with. She breathed, steading herself before turning to face Ash yet again.

"What is it now?" Ash asked, looking up from his phone where he had been playing a game. Misty took a moment to look at the clock in her room and gasped, realizing that she had been completely silent towards him for the past ten minutes.

"O-oh… Sorry for making you just… Y'know, wait there… Was I… Typing all the while…? Or did I space out?"

"Huh? Sorry, barely noticed, you were being pretty boring so I decided to play some Zelda to past the time," Ash said, giving her a toothy grin before showing he had an emulator opened on his phone.

"Oh," Misty muttered, "crap… I'm getting cold feet right now…" she sadly thought, realizing she was trembling with fear just a bit. Then again, in fairness, love was hard, the thoughts of his rejection plagued her mind, so instead… She danced around the subject.

"So… Guess you really hate it when I gay ship you, huh?"

Ash groaned, "Oh not this again Misty! YES, I hate it! Why can't you do what you do to tease Gary or Tracey to me, huh?! I only ever get shipped with guys because of you, and meanwhile you ship Trace and Gary with other girls! Why can't you do that to me, huh Misty?!"

"Because you're as dense as ice, Ash! No girl could stand your obliviousness!" she countered back, the thoughts of her trying to pair Ash with anyone else actually ticked her off...

"Oh! So why then do you insist on hanging out with me all the time, huh? If I'm so dense, why do you tolerate me if no other girl would?"

"Um… I… Well-…" "Oh no, things here aren't going right… I shouldn't be getting this riled."

"Hmph. Maybe I should hang out with somebody else… Heck, Duplica makes better company than you…"

"W-what?! Are you saying that I'm boring to you?!" Misty could not believe what she was hearing. "Unbelievable! But, oh, I don't know, maybe is it because I like having you around because no one else deals with my shipping that I want you around?!" she huffed, turning around, offended. "What am I saying, what am I saying?! I'm saying things that make no sense…!"

"Tch, I guess that's all I am to you then…" Ash muttered darkly. Misty felt pangs of guilt run through her mind, she hadn't meant for it to sound like that… She wanted to work out a solution in her mind, but suddenly she unconsciously opened a tab on her laptops browser to briefly check her email account when one new one caught her eye.

"Aah!" she squealed, Ash jumped in alarm and asked what was up this time. "Oh, my favorite author just published a new fic, I just gotta read this!"

Ash could only smile at Misty's sudden turn of mood, amused and pleased that Misty was back to her normal self. But also felt a bit… Bitter, that she was back to ignoring him again, he suddenly however then felt his stomach growl. "…Hey, Mist…"

She didn't hear him though, she was too busy pulling up the fic, she thought it would help to read it before she tried to calm things between her and Ash at the moment – as she thought he was still ticked with her. She was just reading a certain bit in the second paragraph when she found the courage to talk to him again.

"Hey, Ash… Huh?!" He was gone! "No, no, no, no, no… This can't be happening," she said aloud, alarms ringing off in her head as she bolted for the hallway, scared that in his earlier frustration towards her that he just up and left her. And without so much as a goodbye…

She ran as fast she could down the stairs, towards the lobby of her families aquarium and out the door. "Ash? Ash?!" she shouted, looking frantically around, surely he couldn't have gotten that far… "Oh no… I messed up," she groaned, "I doubt he'll want to talk to me for a while now considering what I put him through. Stupid, stupid…"

There was one last hope though, she thought. Maybe he had just went to the bathroom? Or maybe he was in the aquariums?! Maybe call him? She quickly turned around to enter the Waterflower aquarium and bolted for the family's private housing. She was just racing past the living room when the sound of the fridge and cabinets being opened and closed caught her ears.

"Lily? Violet? Are you guys seriously… Ash?" she stopped, stunned, there he was, blue and white jacket and all. A pack of fruit snacks in his hands. Well, so much for her theory of him running off without saying goodbye

"What?" he said, mouth full, he was always impolite like that. "I said I was hungry and was going to get something. Or 'things' I guess, heh, heh… Want somethin'?"

"Ash… I-I-I thought you were mad at me," she stammered, still stunned and shocked how he wasn't at all mad like he was just a few short minutes ago at her. "I… Thought you went back home in a huff?"

"Now why would I do that?" Ash asked, a little taken aback by what his orange haired friend was trying to imply. He reached into the fridge and pulled out a juice box and quickly poked the hole where the straw went and had a sip. "I mean, I'm not really mad at you. I mean, why would I?"

"B-b-but I thought… You said you hated it when I teased you about a fake romance you had with Gary… And then you said Duplica would make better company than me… I thought you didn't want to hang out anymore because you said that," she sighed, bowing her head.

"Misty…" Ash sighed, "Sure, I was a little bit upset about that whole Gary thing. But I'd never really walk out on you. You're too much of a good friend for me to just… Abandon," Ash scoffed, disgusted by the idea. Misty could only breathe a sigh of relief as Ash continued. "I mean really, my heart wouldn't let me anyhow whilst you're so busty enjoying yourself, sure I don't get it much but if it makes you happy. Then hey, I guess I'm happy... Yup, err… Yeah, that's all I got." And he went back to sucking on his juice box, content.

Misty meanwhile tried to process what she just heard. "So wait… So even though you deal with all the bull I throw at you. As long as I'm happy… You'll tolerate it…? I mean me?"

"Yeah, pretty much."

"Um… Well, then you know… I don't actually ship you with your guy friends…"

"Uh… I already kinda picked up picked up on that…" Ash said, raising an eyebrow. Not sure when this was going.

"…But you know how I care if it's you with another girl… Right…?" Well, here goes, now is as good as time as any, Misty thought.

"Uh huh… Not sure why you care about me hanging out with them but… I'm listening. You have to have a reason for being so defensive, right?"

She gulped nervously, her nerves not sure how to react to what she wanted to do. Well, there was a way to sorta get around it. So instead of saying anything, Misty lunged forward, arms opened out to engulf Ash in a bear like hug. At first Ash was stunned, but even more so when Misty raised her head to his and locked lips with his, pushing him against the fridges ledge.

Her softer lips gently but passionately pressed against Ash's, both of them a blushing mess. Ash at first didn't consciously know what to do, but a few seconds after the lock he found himself moving against hers and opening his mouth a little to have just a bit more out of it. Sure enough, Misty let him, their tongues fighting against one another. But this lasted… About a minute. But to both Ash and Misty it felt like a blissful eternity before they needed to breathe, well, Ash did anyways.

"Gah!" he spluttered as he inhaled. He then noticed Misty's arms were still wrapped around his neck. He then remembered his last statement before Misty made her move. "So… I guess that's why you care…?"

Misty nodded, looking down, blushing. "I only cared so much because… Well, you see. I…" There had to be a way around this confession, right? Misty thought, the thought of telling him what she truly felt made her throat parched. Then, she figured out a better wording. "I…Ash, I ship us…. As in, y'know… AS IN I LIKE YOU…!" she suddenly yelped, she tried dancing around the idea, but that last minute detail just needed to come out.

Ash was now staring, completely and utterly stunned. Misty looked at him, eyes quivering, holding her hands in a praying manner in front of her before him, waiting for his answer. "Well…?" she asked, nervously.

Ash needed to answer, a girl just told him she liked him… This wasn't exactly what he had been expecting today, he had just been expecting a normal average day of listening to mushy bits of writing that for some reason Misty liked, even though they just made him want to sleep. But, looking at the girl in front of him, he couldn't deny his own feelings; she was pretty, and… In all fairness, he couldn't really see himself without her somehow nearby; she had forced herself to be associated with him out of her own jealousy of other girls, and in a way, that familiarity made him feel attached to her…

"Well, captain," Ash said, after a few moments of silence, before leaning down to place a hand over her two connected palms. "I guess I'll gladly keep the winds going in our ships direction."

Misty's face brightened up! "So, it's a yes?!" she asked, excited by the thought of him returning the feelings she had, "Y-you like me too?!"

"Well… Yeah, that's what I kinda said, right? About 'ships' and how I'd support it…? Especially, y'know, since it's ours." Even though you don't give a darn about fictional ships, he told himself harshly.

Misty only allowed a small tinge of red to overcome her, as she looked down and smiled at how crazily this afternoon seemed to have gone. And now, she had her closure on those feelings she bottled up after so many years. Ash wanted to say something, but then the sound of several text messages sounded off from Misty's shorts.

"Doh…! I'll get it!" she sighed, fishing out her phone before seeing the text, it was from a girl named Dawn, a friend of Misty's. "OH, MY, GOD!" she yelled, after scanning them.

"W-what's happening?!" Ash asked, now what was the matter?!

"That girl just has to immediately start talking to me about that fic!" Misty grumbled, but it didn't sound like she was addressing him. "Darn her!" before she turned on her heel and began walking out of the kitchen.

"Um… What's happening, Mist?"

"Ash," Misty said, looking at him, "I forgot to read that fanfic that just got updated." Oh, well, there went the moment. "Now hurry up sweetie!" Doh! Already giving out affectionate nicknames huh? "I want to read this one out loud with you, so hurry up! I am not letting myself get any more spoilers! So hurry!" And she raced away as fast as she could for her bedroom.

Ash sighed, allowing himself a smile. That girl sure knew how to get worked up over weird things, but… in a way, that's what made her so special, he thought. He turned to some of the drawers, and gathered in his arms some snack bars, bags, and a few drinks; he was going to need them. After all, once Misty got those sails going, it would be a long time, he knew – or until his Mom called him back home for dinner – until he got back to land from another shipping adventure. And he wouldn't have had it any other way, particularly because it was also in part due to that ship's captain being his now girlfriend.

The school was going to be in a frenzy over this, he thought. Eh, that's fine, they didn't know the captain.