Work Text:
Pikachu wouldn’t say Ash is oblivious, a bit dense maybe. But not oblivious. He’s been with him long enough to know that Ash knows his social cues very well, but he just chooses to ignore them at times.
Ash chose to ignore romantic cues and flirting because he thought it would’ve been rude to assume they were flirting and not just bantering with him.
Pikachu’s also pretty sure it’s easier to tell if you’re not on the receiving end of someone’s affections to see it. Because Ash noticed Pike Queen Lucy’s subtle blush when Brock flirted with her. He noticed they blushing and looks between Drew and May. He noticed how Kenny seemed so adamant to have Dawn with him. He noticed how Lillia and Clemont got along so well and understood why Bonnie was so scared.
But Ash never voiced it because while he’s, for lack of a better term, blunt at times. He’s not stupid. He knows that certain things are just not things to say because it would make people uncomfortable or embarrassed. Plus, those type of emotions were never things Ash understood.
Sure, he blushes when people assume him and one of his friends are an item, but not because he’s interested but because it comes out of nowhere and is just rude and makes this awkward and embarrassing for both of them!
Pikachu never likes it when anyone does that, sure he’ll tease Ash about it sometimes, but never beyond a certain point of discomfort.
Pikachu knows Ash better than anyone, even Gary. He knows that Ash notices when someone flirts but doesn’t say anything about it because it would be rude and awkward to assume that it is flirting. He knows that Ash only realizes that it was flirting if it was the blatantly obvious kind of kids with puppy crushes, at least when its pointed to him. He knows that Ash had a miniature crisis after Serena kissed him before she left for Hoenn, a lot of the things Serena did being reframed but ultimately he wasn’t surprised.
Ash is a strange person, but he wouldn’t be Pikachu’s trainer if he was normal now would he?
Several years down the line, after Ash has dated several of his friends, broken up but still remaining friends. Pikachu is there when Ash realizes that he’s not interested in sex or romance, that he loves all his friends as just that. Friends. Family. Companions.
And, Pikachu thinks, it makes sense. Ash has always had a heart too big, showing so much compassion and empathy for everyone he meets. He could never commit to a romantic relationship because loving just one person so much was not something Ash could do.
In a slightly different world, where almost everyone is born with some sort of connection to their soulmate, Ash is born with none. But that doesn’t stop the many with soulmates to fall for him, only to learn that his heart was made to love all and not just one or a few.
In a future only one can see, Ash, born without a soulmate, has a daughter who has several. As if the universe decided it to keep the balance. She was made to have multiple lovers while he has none. But that doesn’t stop the love of adventure, and battle, and the world to be passed down from father to daughter.