"Your collar is crooked."

May reached up to adjust Drew's shirt collar which was horribly sticking up like he was a vampire. Drew made a face and she stifled a giggle. He is so handsome.

"Sheesh, May, I'll be alright," Drew groaned, trying to push her away. May managed to fold it down before getting shoved away by Drew.

She humphed. "Well, if you don't appreciate my looking after you, then I suppose I should find a better guy-"

"No, don't-" Drew blurted and May smirked. She knew she was one of his few weak spots...and she loved exploiting that fact.

"Go break a leg," May whispered close in his ear, tucking in his collar again discreetly. After a quick peck on the cheek, he hastily left the locker room, ready to dominate another contest.

May sighed in relief before making herself comfortable on a front row seat. She smiled and waved as she saw Drew come out onto the stage with all the other participants.

He was scanning all over the crowd, looking for someone, looking for her. And when he found May, he waved back in that small, sexy way of his.

Her heart fluttered. Oh, if he only knew what he does to me.

As the first couple contestants started their preliminaries (And, Arceus, were they horrible, May thought-her boyfriend would scorch them when he came on.) May realized how weird it was to be in the audience of a Contest.

Normally, she would be up there performing too, but this time around she decided to pass and watch Drew snag another easy ribbon, making his fourth.

Then Drew came up, and the audience roared in recognition and excitement. May hunched forward slightly, knowing his routine by heart and knowing he would pull it off perfectly, but still worried about him.

Absol made a beautiful entrance, immediately firing off a Water Pulse followed by an Iron Tail. It smashed into the water forcefully, water droplets landing on its perfect form as it landed on its feet, holding its head high.

May let out a breath she didn't know she was holding.

Drew didn't even say anything; Absol just flowed into its next move. It sent out a Razor Wind, the huge, sickle-shaped blade breathtaking.

May knew what was coming. She covered her eyes as Absol let out an unbelievably bright Flash, blinding the audience and judges.

And when everybody opened their eyes, they saw beautiful sparkles raining down everywhere, Absol flipping and then landing on the ground.

The crowd broke into applause. May grinned at Drew before letting a loud whoop out.

"Yeah, that's my boyfriend!" she yelled at nobody and a couple of people looked at her curiously. Drew smirked and flicked his shimmering green hair.

The judges then began.

"Powerful," Mr. Contesta admitted. "But we couldn't even see the ending. This routine could use some work." The score that flashed up was a seven point five.

May gasped. That was the lowest Drew had ever gotten in a long time. And she thought his routine was flawless.

I guess there's a lot we both have to learn still.

"Remarkable!" Mr. Sukizo's comment was no surprise, and neither was his fine score of eight point five.

"I loved Absol's confidence!" And Nurse Joy ended with an eight, giving Drew a total of twenty-four.

May peered at him sadly. Oh, Drew. On the surface, he looked relatively calm, but May knew him well enough to know that this would not go over easily. She saw his handsome features slightly tense, his fists clenching and unclenching over and over, his cold eyes glaring at the scores.

But it all disappeared in an instant, him pivoting on his shoe to wave at the audience and flip his hair in a usual, haughty, hot Drew facade and go back into the dressing room.

May quickly got up and rushed after him.

What the hell just happened? Drew stormed into the dressing room, angrily thumping onto a nearby stool. After a couple deep breaths he held his face in his hands.

I did not just get a bad score. I don't get bad scores. Drew doesn't get bad scores...like a fucking twenty four!

Drew moaned, laying his head onto the table. He couldn't get rid of all the condescending thoughts dropping down on him like a bunch of anvils.

I'm a bad coordinator, my score reflects it...Why am I so famous? I don't deserve it, I'm a bad coordinator. Nobody will like me anymore because I'm a bad coordinator.

I'm a bad coordinator.

Drew sat up and shook his head. "Stop it," he mumbled quietly to himself.

He couldn't stop.

I am a bad coordinator.

Drew was watching the T.V. silently when May came in. Other people bustled around happily, but all she could see was his slumping form.

She came up behind him and put a hand on his back. He tensed at her touch, but then relaxed, not looking at her.

"Drew..." she began, not sure how to end. Drew was naturally a short-tempered person; at times like this, she usually kept her distance. She didn't want him to feel like she was sympathizing him which was something he particularly loathed.

And suddenly, the four passing onto the battle rounds flashed on the screen, and her heart twisted painfully as the first three were not Drew.

But a sigh of relief escaped her when the fourth was her boyfriend's face.

"See, you made it!" She was right-the people competing were really that bad. With a score of twenty-four, though she hated to say it, nobody would make it in. He just got, well, lucky - another thing that Drew detested.

He didn't like luck or being lucky, just because he liked to believe that he was good enough on his own to win without chance.

When no answer came, May tapped him. "Drew?"

And then he shrugged her off. Her arm fell limply to her side as she watched him walk away, glancing to see who he was battling, and not over his shoulder and back at her like he should have.

She clutched her shirt right where her heart was and continued to stare at the spot where Drew had just been. Apparently, this low score ran deeper than she had expected it would.

If only he wasn't so overconfident all the time, May thought. May be he might have taken this better. She sighed yet again as she headed back to her seat in the audience.

"Drew is absolutely dominating this battle, as usual!" Vivian said. "After a tough appeal, he's back to the Drew we know! He's definitely going to win this, folk!"

And win he would. May was probably the only one who could see Drew's tense body language, and how callous he was being with Absol.

Drew flicked his hair and commanded something harshly to Absol, who hesitated for a moment and got hit by the opponent. May sharply inhaled.

"Absol!" Drew yelled, and Absol straightened itself and lunged at the opponent with its claws extended.

With a few swipes and pretty moves, the battle was over, and Drew had won the Contest. But, even on the podium, May could see that he wasn't truly happy, what with his darting eyes and forced smile.

"Oh, Drew," May sighed. Let it go.

It was now after the Contest, and May was changing into something a little nicer in the empty Pokemon Center room.

Drew had managed to pull off another win, as usual, but he hadn't let go of what had happened before, still in a bad mood and ignoring May's cries as he passed her by.

She now thought that she should give him some more space and time to think over what had went wrong out there. After spending a little time alone, she decided to meet him where she had left him - outside the Contest building.

She glanced at the mirror. Her fashionable sweater hung loosely in all the right places, and her cute jeans hugged her legs. Her hair remained the same with the doggy pigtails and red bandanna, along with her fanny pack, that still hung from her waist.

Yes, she looked fabulous-hopefully Drew would like it too.

All she did was for him, after all.

Drew walked alone along the sidewalk, hands in his pockets and kicking at the pebbles.

He leaned his face up at the setting sun. Damn it all!

Yeah, sure, he had won the stupid Contest, but he had completely failed at his appeal...and the fact that he still went to the second round bothered him. With a stupid, low score of twenty four, nobody should make it to the second round.

He admitted the other contenders were worse than him - if that was even possible - and was why he made it in still with a pitiable score like that.

But how could he have been so careless? To make a huge mistake like that when creating his appeal? Of course they couldn't see the ending, they were getting blinded by it! Drew bit his lip so hard it turned white.

And then May had been there in between to cheer him up. He loved May and all, but couldn't she just give him some space sometimes? At least she wasn't here now; she'd probably tell him some crap like, "It's okay, sweetie," even when it wasn't.

She hadn't really said much, but he could tell that she was thinking all sorts of pitying thoughts toward him. She probably felt bad for him, for getting such a low score.

Drew hated being pitied.

Drew continued to walk, and passed a dark, hidden alleyway.

"Hey, kid," came a raspy, gravelly voice from the darkness. "You okay?"

Drew stopped and peered inside. He couldn't see anything-

And suddenly a stout man popped out hugging the walls and squinting at the sunlight.

"Damn it's bright..." the man groaned, rubbing his shaggy brown hair and standing straight. He was a good head taller than Drew, but looked more on the scrawnier side. Drew assured himself that he could probably headbutt the man in the stomach or something if he needed a quick getaway from the shady, unknown man.

"You feeling down?" the man asked, leaning against the wall. Drew looked at him and didn't answer. "Hey kid, I asked you some'n."

Drew continued to stare before replying with a slow, dubious nod. The man chuckled.

"We all have our days, boy..." he replied. "Say, I know some'n that'll make ya feel better."

Drew replied with an incredulous, wary look. The man continued to chuckle before rummaging around in some boxes behind him in the alley.

"Here you go, kid. One sip and all yer troubles will be gone." A large bottle was dropped into Drew's hands. Drew stared at him disbelievingly.

The man stared back, frowning, before realizing something. "Oh yeah! It's free of charge, kid, so you can drink up."

Drew mumbled a thanks before inspecting what he had been given. It was a big glass bottle of...vodka?

Drew scowled. Vodka was a fairly strong alcohol, if he recalled correctly. He had never drank before, and he had never really planned to, but...

He had heard things from inns where he had stopped at before on his travels - how alcohol always made you feel better when you drank it, how it tasted amazing and you would always want more, how it parched even the driest of lips.

People said that alcohol was amazing, and was the solution to all problems. Of course it would make him feel better, or at least better than May's dumb sympathizing.

But he also knew that alcohol could mess up your life, how you could get addicted and how you could never stop-

Damn it all!

He popped open the cork and took a big gulp.

"Hey there, pretty lady."

A drunk, disheveled Drew came staggering down the sidewalk and landed face first on the lawn in front of the Contest building. A girl with hair in a similar color to May's eyes turned around.

"Come and get me, tiger!" Drew exclaimed into the ground, clearly intoxicated and not in his right mind.

He wanted more. He had a hazy memory of the man kicking him away after Drew had weaseled five bottles of vodka from him for free, but he didn't know...it was so good, and he just couldn't control himself.

Meanwhile, the girl gazed at him, unsure. This was a drunk teenager, probably her age...and, she had no idea if he would pull something or not, if he was dangerous or not...

But he was damn hot, she decided. And, if he was that heavily drunk, he would be easy to take advantage of and screw. He wouldn't even remember anything.

With a smirk, she swaggered up to him.

The large Contest building loomed in sight. May trotted along the dirt path, following its twists and turns carefully.

I don't remember it being so crooked when I walked it with Drew. Oh well, whatever. Must be my imagination.

And then she came out of the trees, seeing the front lawn of the Contest Building.

Her heart literally stopped, and she stumbled a step or two back, bumping into a tree but not tearing her eyes from the scene that was unfolding in front of her. What?

Right in front of her, she saw her own boyfriend, Drew, kissing some pretty blue haired girl.

No. No. This is not happening. Drew wouldn't do this, he loves me, he wouldn't cheat on me.

Yet she saw the pure evidence in front of her - Drew's arms snaking around her slim, curvy waist, and her hands messing up his perfect hair...their tongues and hands traveling...

She choked on a sob, covering her mouth with her hand. Tears welled up in her eyes as she found two empty beer bottles lying on the ground near them.

He loves me...right?

She continued to watch them make out, even though she knew where it was going. Why was she doing this to herself? They were clearly done with each other.

He loved me.

Anger surged in her, and she screamed, the Pidgeys flying in flocks from the tree tops. The pair broke away, Drew immediately noticing her.

I blinked. Nothing changed. I blinked again. Everything was hazy, blurry...I thought I saw May, but who knows...

May.

I shot up to my feet, suddenly feeling shaky. Am I drunk? What was I just doing?

"May?" I slurred. Fuck, I am drunk.

"I don't want to hear it." I could hear the strain, the anger, the hurt in her voice, even if I couldn't see it in her clear, sapphire eyes.

"I thought you were better than that. I thought," her voice broke. "I thought you loved me."

"I do!" I exclaimed. No, no, don't leave me, I do love you-

"No, you don't! You were just cheating on my with that...that bitch!" I heard the girl stand up next to me, yelling and bumping into me.

I slapped the girl - who the hell was she anyways? - away - or at least, I tried to, but I had no control of myself. The alcohol was taking over, and little black circles were dotting my line of whatever vision I had left.

"I thought you were real," May said so softly, it was almost a whisper. "I thought we had something."

"I loved you. But I didn't know you were so crooked." And in my double vision, I managed to make out the real May sprinting back down the path, her face covered by her flying hair and tears.

Everything went crystal clear for a split second, and I reached out to grab something that was already gone.

"I promise that I'll set everything straight, May. I promise."

And everything went black.

This angsty ContestShipping one-shot is for Ebaz's General Writing Prompt Challenge.

I might write a sequel to this if enough people review. ;-)