Pokeshipping Week : 2016 Collection

"changing the others' world"

Disclaimer - I don't own things.

Author - Warlordess

Notes - Sorry for the delay, folks! Honestly, I'm so damn exhausted from my double last night that I fell half-asleep while typing this fic up and editing it before posting at least four or five times. But I kept pushing and now it's finally complete.

I chose to apply two of the optional themes to day three. It was originally going to be just the one (the main one in the title of this post) but, as I was finishing up, I realized that - doi! - I was including a confession so, you know. There's that one too. And we all know how addicted I am to finding a thousand different ways to get Ash and Misty to say those three special words to each other. Lol.

Anyway, I also really wanted to use this fic as an opportunity to develop Ash/Serena's bond in a platonic way (I know; not cool). This is the fic I posted about a couple of times before PW started, the one in which I said I was concerned about using Serena as a plot device… but I did my best to give her and her feelings justice while still making her play an important role in the story.

The final note is for the Pokeshippers who get so frustrated over anti-Pokeshippers writing Misty off as a violent, abusive witch because eff canon. THIS FIC IS ESPECIALLY FOR THOSE OF US WHO KNOW JUST HOW IMPORTANT AND VALUABLE MISTY IS TO ASH, EVEN IF IT TOOK HIM THREE REGIONS AND THREE HUNDRED EPISODES ALMOST TO SEE IT. I wanted to write a story that has Ash confronting Misty's varying personality traits and comparing them to his other friends'.

So here's that thing! I hope everyone enjoys it!

OoOoO

Ever since he could remember, Ash Ketchum had been the recipient of a flawless, idealized love.

Delia Ketchum was a phenomenal mom. She kept house, stuffed her darling son with his favorite dishes (that she knew how to make just right), tucked him in every single night, sang him lullabies, prepared his laundry, sewed his clothes back up after they happened to wear or tear, comforted him whenever Gary Oak went a little overboard with their childhood rivalry, supported his every dream wholeheartedly, and ran the most well-established restaurant in town - all while maintaining a monumentally pleasant disposition.

That wasn't to say she never once disapproved or else admonished her son when it was necessary, but even then…

Yup, it was easy to see that Ash Ketchum was treasured dearly and loved adoringly by his mother, and he knew that, and he based his own interpretations and experiences and expectations off of that knowledge.

Which was probably why it was so hard for him to comprehend Misty's confession.

"I just… I'm sorry, what?" he asked dumbfoundedly, mouth going dry and brow sweating at this twist.

"Yeah, for a few years now, I've… you know… I've liked you. Probably loved you. A lot," his redheaded friend replied nonchalantly as if she wasn't suddenly bearing her soul to him with predilection.

He felt the vision at the corners of his eyes darken momentarily and then mentally slapped himself for nearly blacking out from the shock. That woulda been right up there with confessing romantic affection to an unsuspecting friend on the embarrassment scale.

Or so he thought, but looking at her, he realized Misty seemed unperplexed by his inability to give her a straight answer. So he felt he had no choice but to ask the following question.

"So… why are you telling me now?"

"Because, Mr. Pokemon Master, for three or four years I've felt this way and for the past two years, I've been patiently waiting for you to come around but," she paused and Ash placed his next question on hold so that she could complete her answer to the first, "We all reach the end of our rope at some point and I'm definitely getting close to mine.