A/N: IT'S CHRIIISTMAAAAS! I trust you've all had a good day so far? If you're not reading this on Christmas Day, I hope you enjoyed your Christmas 2008!
So without further ado...
CookieShippers, prepare for some of the most OOC stuff I've got on here! YAY!
No, I mean it. Very OOC.
May looked around with a fake smile. It was Christmas Eve, and all her best friends were around, but he was missing.
Of course, she wouldn't be surprised if he didn't turn up. Since when had he been reliable? No, he was always unpredictable, reckless. It was part of his charm, she supposed.
But why did he have to be unreliable that night?
May's train of thought was broken by a sharp knock at the door. She joyfully bounded over to it.
'Please' she thought. 'Let it be him!'
May yanked open the door, and her grin faltered slightly when she saw Brock standing on the porch.
He had done his best to be festive, holding a badly wrapped present. It seemed he had even broken out the Stantler horns.
As she invited Brock in, she took a quick glance down the road to see if there was anyone there.
She looked out for a car, a motorbike, heck, even a tricycle!
May sighed. There was no sign of him.
"May, are you alright?" Brock's voice startled her.
"Oh, it's nothing!" She tried to persuade her friend, a deep blush coming to her cheeks.
"May." Brock said slowly, placing his hand on her shoulder, "We both know that's not true."
May sighed, smiling sadly. The older trainer never missed a thing. She looked up at her friend.
"It's just... I've been waiting for someone, and I..." A tear rolled down her face. "I don't think he's coming."
Brock squeezed May's shoulder gently.
"Now, I'm not sure who it is that your heart aches for, but-"
"My heart isn't aching for him!"
"May, if I know anything about love, I know the look of someone who longs to be with the one they care for on Christmas Day. You've got that look."
May looked at her feet. Was it true? Did she really... Was her heart really...
Unbeknownst to May, a look of confusion crossed Brock's face as he noticed a familiar figure walking along the pavement on the opposite side of the road. He then smiled.
"May, I don't suppose the one you want to be with is a certain tall, skinny, purple haired coordinator?"
May froze. He knew.
Brock chuckled.
"And I don't suppose that this person happens to have an odd tendency to dress as a Cacturne?"
May smiled, shivering.
"May, you're freezing. Maybe you should shut the door?" Brock grinned as he suggested it. May looked at him, confused, and following his gaze, she turned to look outside again.
A certain tall, skinny youth stood at the edge of the garden.
May felt a huge grin appear on her face as she looked at her old rival coordinator, and as he walked down the garden path, she could feel her heart race increasing.
Before she knew it, he was standing right in front of her.
"H- Harley! It's great to see you again!"
"You too, hun. Still hanging around with the boy toys, I see!" He looked at a lurking Brock pointedly.
"Hey! Brock and the others aren't boy toys-" She was silenced by Harley's finger on her lips.
"Shhh. I was joking. You're so uptight tonight, May. You need to relax." Harley removed his finger from May's lips, and brushed a loose strand of her hair back into place. "Here." He said, pulling something out of his pocket. It was a small tin. He opened it, and the scent of freshly baked cookies filled the air. He offered one to May, who gladly accepted. "I baked them myself. That's why I was late, you see. Temperamental oven." He grinned at the brunette girl.
"I heard Christmas cookies were extremely popular with some of your friends, so I baked up a batch. What do you think?"
When May finished the small cookie, she looked up at Harley, and almost felt as if she could drown in his sea-green eyes.
"It's not half bad!"
The violet haired coordinator's eye twitched slightly, but he smiled anyway.
"I was joking, Harley. It's wonderful. I'm sure they'll be a hit. Brock, could you put these with the rest of the food, please?"
Harley smiled gently, and held out an arm for May to take.
"We've got a lot to catch up on. Walk and talk?"
May happily took Harley's arm and, with a nod to Brock, allowed him to lead her out of the garden.
Turning left, the old rivals headed to the local park, each telling the other what had happened since they last met.
The youngsters sat on of the many benches the park had to offer, exchanging stories of exhilarating battles and exiting contests.
"You may be interested to know," Harley said, leaning back on the bench and looking up at the stars, "That I haven't been astonishingly barbaric towards a rival coordinator since we parted ways."
May looked at Harley, puzzled.
"What, you haven't been mean to anyone but me?"
"Indeed." He looked at May. "I think you make me go a little crazy."
May looked at the sky thoughtfully. "Aaand, I think I'm overdue for a bit of mean craziness."
May turned to look at Harley sharply.
"What do you mean?"
Harley leaned a little closer to May.
"I mean, hun, that I need to be mean."
"Wha- What are you going to do?"
"If I told you that, it wouldn't be any fun!" Exclaimed Harley, grinning at May.
May just stared back, genuinely scared of Harley.
Without warning, Harley leapt at May with his fingers outstretched, and started to tickle her.
Armpits, sides, back... Harley tickled the squirming girl ferociously.
"Ahaha- owwhahapleasehahahaHarleyahhstop! Ahahaahaahahha!" May screeched as Harley's nimble fingers attacked her. Harley, too, burst into fits of laughter as May kicked of her shoes and started tickling his bare belly with her toes. This worked for a few seconds, before Harley changed tactics and grabbed her feet. An evil glint passed over his eyes.
"I've got you now, May."
"You- You wouldn't!"
Harley used on arm to hold May's feet still, while tickling the soles with the other.
May tried to free her feet, but for a thin guy, Harley was remarkably strong. A few seconds of struggle later, Harley let go of May's feet, which she quickly moved so they were half behind, half under her, and she was kneeling on the bench.
She and Harley took a moment to recover their breath. Exhausted, May aimed to flop down onto the bench, but missed, her head and shoulders slipping off the bench. She shrieked in shock, but a strong pair of hands caught her arms just below the elbow. Harley let her dangle for a few moments before pulling her up. Her momentum kept carrying her forward, and she fell onto Harley's chest.
May took in the experience for a moment. Her head against Harley's chest, his strong, warm arms around her, and it all happening at that most magical time of year; Christmas.
"May!" Harley exclaimed. She quickly made a move to get up, spouting apologies. "No, May, I was just going to say you're freezing! We need to get you back to the house, now!"
Come to think of it, she did feel a slight chill on her arms and face, but when she was like this, in Harley's arms, she felt all warm and fuzzy inside.
But the brown haired girl took her friend's advice and, after May had put her shoes back on, they began to walk back to the house.
"It's weird..." May said as they were walking through the park gates. "I always thought you hated me."
Harley stopped.
May, not realising, kept walking for a few moments, before noticing he was gone, and turning around. Met with a slightly guilty look from the youth, her face dropped.
"What's wrong, Harley?"
He said nothing, but held out his hand. She walked towards him and gave him hers. He then lifted up her other hand, too.
"I have a confession to make. I guess if I said 'don't hate me once you hear this' it would be a bit pointless, considering the nature of what I'm about to say."
"What do you mean? Harley, I could never hate you-"
"Don't say that. You may regret it once I say this." He took a deep breath. "I've never hated anyone as much I've hated you."
May gasped.
"W- What?"
"May, when we first met, I hated you with a passion. I loathed you. If I'd had to say the one person who I couldn't stand, who I never wanted to see happy, I'd have said you like that." He clicked his fingers. "I just... I don't know. When I saw you, it was like there was a fire in my blood, like I just had to make your life as miserable as possible."
He let go of May's hands, which fell to her sides limply.
"You... Hate me?" A tear fell from May's eye.
"No! I don't hate you! I don't-" His green eyes were glistening. He gulped. "I don't hate you, May. In the years since we first met, I've come to realise that all the reasons I had for hating you, they were immature. I was immature. Never, even for a second, have you shown malice towards me. I was allowing my pride to get the better of me. You want to know the reason I hated you all that time ago?"
May nodded, more tears running down her pale face.
"When I was little, about four, I was in school, and it was lunchtime. I had some little octillery snackys, and I had saved one right till the end. I was about to eat it, when a brunette girl came up and, thinking I was finished, ate it." His eyes flared, but he shook his head. "That girl looked exactly like you. The brown pigtails, the blue eyes, the pretty face... She even sounded a little like you. She ate my last snacky, and whenever I saw you, I saw her."
"You.. Hated me because I looked like a girl who ate your cookie? That's-"
"Stupid. I know." He turned away from May. "Presumably you know the way back to your house. You should get home quickly, it's freezing out here." He started walking away quickly.
May looked after him. He had hated her simply because of an incident with a bit of food?
'Had' being the operative word... A little voice in her head said quietly.
May looked up, and ran after Harley.
"Wait!" She cried. "Harley!"
He turned around in surprise, and May grabbed his arms.
"Harley," She panted. "I don't hate you! I still don't hate you!"
"You don't?" His eyes were wide.
"No! Of course not! Now how about we get back to the party, eh?"
"Why don't you hate me? May, I've been a horrible fool."
"Yes you have." Harley's face dropped. "But I don't mind. We're friends now, right?"
"Friends... May, I think that you're my first friend..."
"Really? What about Soledad?"
"I have to say, I've never had a tickle fight on a park bench on Christmas Eve with Soledad."
Both of them laughed out loud. May linked arms with her taller friend, and they walked back to the party.
On the way, May was surprised to hear that Harley had, in fact, rented a flat in Petalburg, just a few streets away.
"Harley! You should have come and said hi! I really missed you!"
"Sorry, hun."
As they reached the porch and Harley started opening the door, May pulled him back.
"Wait, Harley. There's something I need to know. You know earlier, when you were talking about that girl who took your... um... 'snacky', you were describing her, and one of the things you said was that she had a pretty face. Were you just saying that, or..." Realising how stupid that sounded, she grinned, holding her hands up. "Actually, can you forget I said that?"
"May," Harley said softly, "I never forget anything you say to me."
He cupped May's face in his hands, and slowly lowered his face, giving her time to object, if necessary.
May allowed Harley to press his lips to hers, and a shiver went down her spine as their lips met. Immediately afterwards, she felt warm and fuzzy. The sensation of Harley's lips on hers was unlike anything she had experienced before. The best way to describe it would be like memory foam. It felt as if his lips fitted her perfectly, like they were meant to be there.
When Harley removed his lips from hers a few moments later, they grinned, and embraced each other tightly.
A round of clapping and cheering started, and the new couple looked round to see their friends smiling at them from the windows.
"Merry Christmas, May."
"Merry Christmas, Harley."
A/N: Merry Christmas, readers!
I thank you very much for reading my CookieShipping gift!
Reviews? Well, you really would be darlings if you let me know what you thought!
Once again, Merry Christmas!
Tidings of comfort and joy to you all upon this most merry day!
God bless you, fellow Earthlings!
I don't suppose anyone's interested in the rest of the story? It's what happens after this, i.e. ASH and DREW'S REACTIONS!
It's a bit dark, and it goes completely off the point and even more stupid and OOC than this chapter. However, if you are interested in reading it, let me know and I'll upload the optional second chapter.