Yeah...I found myself cooking up this little Advanceshipping oneshot fluff! I've never written Drew's character before, so I hope I got his personality down.

I don't own Pokemon.

Roses

"And the winner is May from Petalburg! Congratulations for winning this year's contest!"

May had to fight tears from falling from her eyes as she happily accepted the ribbon. It was a sparkly ribbon, as red as a rose. She proudly held it high in the air to the roaring applause of the audience. Her blue eyes, as bright and sparkly as her ribbon, scanned the crowd until coming to rest on where her friends sat. Brock and Max were shouting "Way to Go!" while Pikachu waved a little victory flag. But her eyes connected with that of her best friend, Ash Ketchum.

He was currently shouting the loudest, fists pumped in the air, yet not leaving his seat...just barely. He had a huge smile on his face as he shouted words of encouragement to her. His brown eyes were wide with excitement and joy at her victory. His words seemed to carry over everyone else.

"Great job May! I knew you could do it!"

She smiled back and started to wave to him to show that she acknowledged him in the crowd, when...

"Nice work...for a beginner, May."

May's mouth curled slightly into a frown as she addressed him stiffly. "Thanks, Drew."

Drew smirked back at her. He was just acting sour at losing. Maybe not at losing to her directly, but just the same he had lost. He reached a hand up to toss back a sheet of short green hair from his eyes that never left hers.

"That was an interesting combination that you used for your Beautifly." he suddenly spoke up.

"Uh, thanks..."

He suddenly held out something to her. One of his signature roses with its pretty sparkling petals, sweet smelling fragrance, and possibly trimmed thorns. It was similar to the one that he always carried around and to the one he had given to her at the last contest, yet off-handily stating that it was for her Beautifly.

"T-thanks. Is this one also for Beautifly?" May asked curiously. Yes, May was quite naive to Drew's possibly growing feelings for her.

A dull blush spread across Drew's pale cheeks. "Y-yeah..."

"Well, thanks Drew!" May smiled. He might have been a snobby pretty boy, but he had his nice moments...and for a brief second, May turned toward the audience, to where her friends were, so that she could go over and leave with them, but...

Brock, Max, and Pikachu were looking curiously over to their right, and May followed their line of vision before feeling her mouth open in surprise.

Ash was no longer sitting in his seat. Heck, he wasn't in the room anymore.

He had seen everything that had gone on between May and Drew.

"Where do you think he went?" Max asked May after they left the contest hall.

"I-I don't know." May whispered. Drew's rose seemed so insignificant now, slowly being crushed in her worried fist.

"Maybe he went back to the Pokemon Center to wait for us?" Brock suggested.

That seemed like a logical reason, but not the reason May wanted. Ash always waited for her immediately after a contest was over, grin plastered on his face as he talked to her about how good she was and possible room for improvement. For Ash was her teacher and she was willing to learn even if sometimes she felt that he was a little too pushy.

So when they arrived at the Pokemon Center, they were surprised to see that Ash wasn't there.

"Don't worry May, he'll show up." Max tried to comfort his sister. Unconsciously, May nodded, sitting down next to a trash can. She didn't even notice when she threw Drew's now crushed rose away in the trash can.

It felt like hours of just sitting around, waiting for Ash to come back from wherever he went. A light rain had started to fall outside. May was fidgeting. What if Ash got into trouble? Was Team Rocket involved? Was he hurt?

May stood up. "I'm going to go out and find him." she announced to Brock and Max.

"But it's raining! Do you expect to go out there and be able to find Ash?" Max asked.

"I have to. Something might have happened to him. Don't worry, I'll be right back." May said assuredly as she ran out of the Pokemon Center before Brock or Max could suggest coming with her.

"Now where could he be?" May asked aloud as she ran about the town ragged, doused in rain. Her hair was drooping uncomfortably, plastered to the sides of her face. May sneezed once. "If I get a cold because of this, I swear I'm going to..." she started cursing about Ash.

She started to walk past the park when she heard an odd noise. Like someone groaning while trying to walk. May curiously turned to investigate the source. She approached a park bench nearby, and felt her mouth drop in a silent scream.

Ash was leaning against the park bench, breathing hard. His clothes were covered in mud, rain sliding off his hat and dripping onto the ground. He looked like he might have twisted his ankle.

"Ash!"

Ash looked around at hearing her voice, eyes wide with surprise. "May...what are you doing here?"

"I should be asking you the same question!" May huffed, looking Ash over. "What happened?"

Ash started to open his mouth, but May went on. "Do you have any idea how worried I was? I was going out of my mind! I thought that you were in trouble!" May had to stop herself from screaming at him, fists shaking.

"But..."

"But what?"

"I was just going to get this for you."

Ash shakily held a hand out. Inside his fist was a rose. But it was anything but pretty. It was soaked and limp, several petals missing from it. Large thorns were cutting the inside of Ash's fist, causing blood to trickle down its stem and hit the ground, only to be washed away with the rain. It frankly looked like Ash and this rose had gone through Armageddon.

"Wha..." May was at a loss for words.

"See, I went to a lot of trouble getting this for you! It was rooted down in the ground and cut up my hands, but then it started raining and I think I twisted my ankle slipping through the mud..." Ash started rambling. May cautiously took the beaten rose from Ash's hand, wincing a little when a thorn cut her palm.

"But...why?" she asked.

Ash shrugged nonchalantly. "I don't know. It seems to work with Drew."

And in that moment, May realized why. Ash had felt that since May was happy to receive a rose from Drew, that he too must have a rose in order to make May happy. In that moment, May found herself assessing her feelings for Ash. Drew might have been pretty and smart, but Ash was something else. Ash was...Ash. A unique individual like no other. May might have been a little naive about Drew, but she could see that she felt something a little higher than friendship for Ash, and Ash possibly felt the same.

May smiled as she held a hand out. "Come on Romeo, let's go back to the Pokemon Center before we both catch colds out here."

Ash went red in the face and broke off in a flabbergasted spasm, but accepted the hand anyway. May blushed herself when Ash wrapped his arm around her shoulders so that she could help him back to the Pokemon Center, rose clutched in her hand. She vaguely felt Ash's free hand take the hand that held the rose, so that both of them were holding the beaten rose.

Drew could keep his pretty roses, as May would gladly take any rose that Ash had to offer, as Ash's roses were the results of ones determination for another's happiness.