Hey everyone! This is actually my very first genuine Pokémon fanfic! This was originally a prompt from Tumblr user "autumnoutboy," also known as Endless Storm here on this site. Just in time for some warm and fuzzy feelings for the holidays! Merry Christmas!

May was, first of all, beyond upset with herself that she had waited this long to finish her gift for Steven. Sure, she had thought of the idea weeks ago, but debating on the actual execution of the gift, and arguing with herself of whether the gift was perhaps a little…extreme, had unfortunately, preoccupied her for much of the process.

But somehow, regardless of all that, there she stood in front of Steven Stone's house in Mossdeep, all bundled up with a wrapped giftbox in her hands. A very light snow was falling on the island, and it wasn't cold enough to stick or make a huge impact on the tolerance level of being outside, but it was enough to stereotypically set the mood and send May's brain into a series of hypotheticals for the winter holiday.

It was 6 AM of Christmas morning. May normally wasn't even awake before noon, but truthfully, she hadn't slept at all the night before, as she had been working so diligently all night with her Pokémon trying to finish the present. She was now on her, 2nd, 3rd, wind (or 4th, who knows, she had lost count) and wanted to give her gift before time allowed her to chicken out.

So here she was, still debating on whether she should call Latias again and fly away, despite all the work that went into this present. Steven was giving her gifts all the time, and not willy-nilly gifts, either. Steven's gifts were always something unmistakingly of priceless value to boot, and what did she have to offer him in return? Potential, apparently, that he preached about every chance he saw her. Every time that they ran into each other, all across Hoenn, be it coincidence or chance, he almost always had a gift for her. Was it his intention? Did he mean to spoil her? Or was he so wealthy thanks to his father's corporation that he could afford to spread gifts wherever he roamed? How do you repay that kind of person?

And what do you gift for a person like that? It wasn't like she could simply go shopping in Lillycove for him; he came from the wealthiest family in Hoenn. She could always catch him a Pokémon, but Steven was truthfully just as powerful as she. Steven could genuinely obtain whatever Pokémon he liked, if he wanted. Regardless of however Steven might have seen it, in May's mind, these factors upped the ante to impossible heights that she hadn't previously imagined herself obtaining. It pained her that she couldn't just get him something he needed or a traditional Christmas gift, but ideally, this would all be worth it. Ideally.

Half of May felt that she was overthinking all of this, but the other half, perhaps entirely nerves, was doubtful. Hell, she didn't even know if Steven was home! It was December 25th! For all she knew, he was in the opposite side of Hoenn, Rustboro, with his family. Why hadn't she ever asked? It wasn't that she didn't want to, either, but being with Steven was always a whirl. He always seemed so…smooth, and she so…not smooth. She couldn't explain it, how she suddenly felt dumbed with him. And yet, despite that, he still seemed so happy to see her? For all she knew, he was just being cordial, and that was how he greeted everyone.

Starting to second guess herself again, she touched the Eon Flute in her pocket, only further complicating her feelings about her gift. That had been a gift from Steven, too, and the entire inspiration for this whole project. It had to be now, and she needed to get back to Littleroot soon, as her family was about to get on the road to head back to Johto to be with extended family for the holiday.

With a deep breath, and an attempt to push through this before her only power source of adrenaline wore off, she finally raised her hand to knock on his door. And before she could even knock, May didn't know if her body would roll her eyes at the stereotypical next moment, or if her heart would get caught in her throat, at the door opening inward before her knuckles could make contact.

There he was, the man of the hour, but bundled up for the weather, with a bookbag on his back and a pokéball in his hand.

"Oh," Steven exhaled, upon seeing May first thing, eyebrows lifted and color immediately hitting his cheeks (probably due to the sudden winter breeze that just blew by, May convinced herself), "Good morning, May," he said, a small charming smile unfailingly hitting his lips, "and Merry Christmas. I don't suppose this is a coincidence?"

What was that supposed to mean? And there he went again, leading the situation? How was she supposed to respond to that? "O-of course, it's not a coincidence, Steven, it's Christmas…" May said, hands trembling and heartbeat rising, but she pushed the words out anyway. After seeing Steven's tinted cheeks (that were definitely from the temperature change), May couldn't bring herself to look him in the eyes, and instead stared fiercely at the wrapped box in her hands, now suddenly worrying that everything was wrong with it. Should've used different wrapping paper, used a different bow, and now in her mind, the colors were all wrong, but she forced her hands forward toward Steven anyway, and shut her eyes, unable to watch him take the box from her.

May felt the package lift from her grasp, and she quickly shut her hands into fists at the emptyness, eyes still shut. "It- it's okay if you hate it," she started to explain herself, only to be quickly interrupted.

"May," Steven abruptly interjected her name, "I'm not going to hate it. I'm flattered that you got me anything at all." He put the pokéball that was in his hand back on his belt and scratched the back of his head, sheapishly looking to the side past May, "If I had known I was going to see you today, I would have kept your gift here, but since I thought I wasn't seeing you until New Years, it's at Wallace's place, like we had planned. Weren't you heading out to Johto today?"

Oh gosh, had we talked about that? Now she felt more childish than ever. "Oh, yeah," May mumbled, her hands now fiddling together, her gaze still lowered, "but see, I was just…so excited to give you your gift, but now I'm second-guessing it…" she trailed off, finally bringing her face up to look at Steven. He had been looking at her, and upon making eye contact, went from an unconvinced face to another one of his charming smiles. "May. Again, I'm flattered just by the premise of you wanting to give me something for Christmas, truly," he affirmed, stealing one of May's hands to hold in his own, but May, most likely out of surprise, jerked her hand up and out of his grasp in an instant, and turned her hand into a casual up and down 1-2 wave.

"Yeah, yeah," May teasingly responded, now feeling a little more comfortable in the situation. Perhaps it was Steven's manner of speaking that reminded her that she could still be herself with him, as he always somehow did, "just hurry up and open it. Again, I'm sorry if you hate it, and I won't be offended if you do."

Despite his careful manner of unwrapping the box, it felt like both an instant and an eternity for May, but before she knew it, Steven's eyes slowly widened, and he ever so delicately lifted the contents.

Inside was a ring, a silver band, and centered on it, a mystical and beautiful stone of a pink and deep blue gradient, set within another red stone, the shape of the abdominal marking of Latios.

A few seconds went by after Steven had opened the box, so May decided to start explaining. "I know you like wearing rings, and I hope this one isn't too fancy for you." She chuckled a bit after that though, as if anything could be 'too fancy' for Steven Stone. "If you can't tell, the center stone is made of-"

"Soul Dew…" Steven muttered, still in awe, "How did you-"

"Shhh, that part I can explain another time. But right now," May said, now getting to the part that she worried was too extreme. Out from her fanny pack, she revealed a second ring, almost identical to the one she had given Steven, but instead of a red outer stone, this ring had a blue stone, to match the marking of Latias.

"They're a pair, and I was hoping…" May continued, trying to gather her courage for this piece of the puzzle, her face visibly becoming more colored, "that we would wear these rings together. Yours is Latios, and mine is Latias, and just like the Pokémon, each is actually symbolic of each other, the perfect complimenting pair. I thought that maybe, since it's thanks to you that I even know these wonderful Pokémon, and how close we've become," May stopped briefly, wondering if that word choice was too much, as the theory of him not even feeling the same way was still a possibility at this point, "-how close we've become to these Pokémon throughout these past few months," good save, "that we can wear these rings together."

Steven still hadn't said anything, but he was holding the ring up, his eyes wandering back and forth between the ring and May's face. May could feel the blood rushing to her head, be it the cold or the hormones, and the constant snow was not helping. She wondered how Steven felt about the snow in addition to this scenario.

"You," he finally responded, clearly taking his time to find the right words, "you made these rings yourself?!" he asked carefully, but still with some unidentifiable drive in his voice.

May nodded, and quietly added, "with some help from my Pokémon, of course." It was her turn to smile at the ground and scratch the back of her head, her other hand still holding her complimenting ring up, as she said, "I know you like rings, and I know how much you love precious stones. I thought that by combining the two, in addition to Latias and Latios…"

That was it. She suddenly felt a hand grasp hers that held the ring, and her head shot up to make embarrassing eye contact with Steven. His cheeks were definitely rosy, and May couldn't help but think, regardless of the reason, it definitely wasn't because of the cold anymore. Steven's mouth opened as if he were about to speak, but nothing came out except a cloud of steam in the winter air. He just stood there, squeezing May's hand between them, their cheeks now matching shades of crimson.

"Did you-" Steven tried to speak, then swallowed. He was still maintaining eye contact, and May could feel herself getting light-headed. She had no idea where this was going. Of course she had an idea of where she wanted this to go, but the sheer rush of blood and hormones was preventing her from having any kind of foresight into the situation.

"Did you…" he tried again, "did you make a gift like this for anyone else?" he almost breathed, and took in a deep breath after speaking. May felt a lump in her throat at this question.

"Well, no," May uttered shyly, almost ashamed, and started to look down again, "I would be lying if I said I put in as much effort into anyone else's gift. I guess that sounds kind of crappy of me, huh?" she asked awkwardly, with an awkward giggle to follow. "And I have to be perfectly honest with you too," she continued, looking off to the side, because Steven was still holding her hand and looking at her with anticipation that she suddenly didn't know if she could handle, "I didn't sleep much last night. With the combination of trying to make sure your gift was perfect, to debating on even giving this ring to you, I'm kind of a wreck,"

May had looked back up at Steven, and he had cocked an eyebrow when she mentioned possibly not even giving him the gift. May knew how to elaborate on that point. "I mean, you're always giving me this and that, for as long as I've known you, and I haven't ever gotten you anything. I wanted to make sure what I got you was special, that you'd be impressed."

Steven let out a nervous chuckle at that last bit, and it was May's turn to look confused. "Sorry, but," he began to say, his hand now squeezing hers tighter, if that was even possible. May felt a rush of electricity through her hand up her arm and into her heart. "May, you've always impressed me, from day one. And I guess that's why you could say I want to give you things…because I feel like I have to accommodate somehow, as I've always felt my personality to be a bit…lacking…"

Nope. Nope. Nope nope nope nope nope. She couldn't handle it anymore. This whole thing had become so incredibly innocently flirty and she couldn't take it.

"Steven."

Steven stopped talking and his brows furrowed. "Steven," May said again, "I'll need to get going soon…so let's put them on? I had to guess on your ring size, so I hope it fits…"

"Oh, yes, of course," Steven said, finally letting go of May's hand and then looking at his own fingers, still holding the ring. May knew that Steven already had rings on his index and ring fingers, which, with his ring fingers already having rings on them, made this whole deal just a smidgen less awkward when choosing what finger he'd wear the ring on. She didn't think it was too big, but he could always wear it on his thumb if it was. But hopefully, it would go on his middle finger just fine.

Which, it didn't. Steven tried sliding it on his middle finger, and it stopped just at the second knuckle.

"Oh, Steven, I'm so sorry-"

Steven chuckled softly, "May, it's really no problem. It's just barely too small. I can always get it resized, no problem. But," he continued, his voice softening, as if he could sound any more sincere, "I do want to wear it now, so I'll just have to take one of my other rings off for now."

May swallowed hard, and hoped as she watched him that he'd take off a ring from one of his index fingers.

He didn't.

He took the ring off of his ring finger.

He took the ring off of his ring finger on his left hand.

There was no way he was conscientious of that, May decided, but she absolutely was. She felt her ears burning up as she watched him innocently slip her gift on his finger, and he continued to admire it all the same. Her heart fluttered a moment, noticing how happy Steven seemed to be with it, though. That in itself was a relief. She had done good.

"Here, May, let me put yours on, too!"

Steven seemed so genuinely happy, and May was beaming, now that she had accepted that she caused it. She did something right for him! She let him take her ring from her and she kept her fingers extended, as he gingerly took his hand and then…oh no. No, that was too much to not be a coincidence. He was sliding it onto her ring finger. Did she say something? Was she supposed to say something? Was Steven reading further into this which for she had prepared herself?

After the ring was placed on May's finger, Steven continued to hold her hand by her fingers, admiring her ring as well. And what happened next just went by too quickly for May to even interpret it in that moment.

Steven let go of May's hand, and suddenly his arms were wrapped tightly around her back. Just as May was absent-mindedly about to return the embrace, Steven pulled back just slightly, and May felt one of his arms disappear from her back, suddenly feeling the warmth of his hand cupping the side of her face. "This is the best present I've ever gotten, May. These rings mean so much to me," he barely breathed against her ear, and May felt just a flutter of his lips graze her cheek in the most delicate kiss. He drew back, his hands now resting on her shoulders, and cheeks ablaze.

May stood completely still. What was she supposed to make of that? Was she supposed to make anything of that? They stood there for a little bit, just like that, his hands still on her shoulders, still maintaining that horribly embarrassing but enriching eye contact, as May felt a forest of blooms grow in her stomach and chest.

"Well," Steven said, his eyes darting left and his hands giving a quick squeeze before withdrawing them back to his person, "We should probably be on our way, huh? You've got a bit of traveling to do yet today."

It was true. May needed to fly back to Littleroot, and then her family was en route to Goldenrod in Johto to be with her family for the holiday. So with that, she reached in her pocket for the Eon flute, and called upon Latias to come pick her up. It was also true that they probably could have flown together on Latias, as Littleroot was on the way to Rustboro, but May felt as though she would burst like Mount Chimney if she spent anymore time with Steven.

Latias arrived, and May hopped on. Attempting her best to not behave too feverishly, she managed a little wave and called out, "Merry Christmas, Steven! Tell your dad I say hello!" and with that, she flew off, leaving Steven waving back at her, and then calling out for his Skarmory and taking off himself.

The whole flight back, May couldn't help but play back the entire gift exchange in her mind. Over and over, she felt the chills and goosebumps that had accompanied all of their awkwardness and strange compliments. She also made a point of switching her ring over to her other hand. After all, they weren't promise rings or anything like that, right? Either way, there was definitely something between her and Steven, but she definitely didn't feel like explaining that to her parents and extended family today.

But it sure would be hard to not think about him as every relative asks, "So, do you have a boyfriend yet?"