Fallen Leaves

May laid down in the grass field, watching the autumn leaves swirling around her, giggling when they tickled her and sighing whenever the wind stopped and they all fell slowly to the ground. She giggled again as an orange maple leaf landed on her nose, before the wind picked it up again and it blew away. A few feet away, she could hear the light snoring of her Glaceon, resting within a pile of leaves that hadn't blown away. She lifted her head to look around. Blaziken and Wartortle were facing off in a mock practice battle, while Venusaur looked on lazily from the side, half-sleep, with it's flower open, absorbing the power of the sunlight, and the warmth. Close to Venusaur, Munchlax was sitting against a tree with a large pile of berries next to it, happily chomping away while watching the spectacle. A nearby trainer's Furret kept sneaking over to the pile of berries and taking a couple, making May laugh at the sight. She laid her head back down and closed her eyes to enjoy the fresh breeze.

Opening her eyes again, May watched Beautifly dancing along the wind currents, and playing with the leaves in the air. Every now and again, Beautifly would produce a small silver wind or a gust to create a marvelous display of beauty and power. May sighed happily and laid back, allowing the leaves to settle over her and lazily watching the clouds drift by. It was a perfect day. Just relaxing. No contests to worry about. No rivals around. No training to be done. Even Team Rocket wasn't bothering her. Just once, May was able to relax and let all her negative emotions fly away on the invisible wind, while her pokemon had fun and played outside their pokéballs. But just as her thoughts were finally floating away, and she started to doze off...

"May."

May groaned, rolling over onto her stomach and burying her head in her hands, keeping her eyes shut tight in hopes that he would just go away.

"Now, is that any way to treat a friend?" The sarcastic, arrogant voice responded to her actions.

"Just let me sleep, Drew." She moaned, lifting her head just long enough to stare up at him and yawn.

Drew smirked and flipped his hair, but didn't say another word as he sat down beside her. For a long time, they stayed like that. May resting in the grass, unable to actually sleep with Drew sitting so near her, but even more relaxed by his mere presence than she had been before he came. Drew, on the other hand, while relaxed, was watching May's pokemon playing, looking at May every now and again, smiling everytime she involuntarily giggled from the tickling leaves and breeze, although he would have hidden it in an instant if she had opened her eyes and glanced up at him. Slowly, the world around them began to darken.

May's pokemon walked over to her, Venusaur carrying the sleeping Munchlax in it's vines. Beautifly landed on Drew's head as Glaceon nudged May's hands and head. May slowly sat up and stretched her hands above her head, before glancing around at her pokemon with a sparkle in her eyes.

"Tired?" Her pokemon nodded and called their names in response. May pulled out their pokéballs and dramatically threw them all up in the air. "Return, everyone!" Six beams of read light shot from the small red-and-white balls, and the pokemon disappeared. Concentrating on her coordination, May reached out her hands quickly and caught five of the balls, narrowly missing one and crying out as it reached the ground. It never landed though, as Drew deftly caught it and tossed it to her.

"Needs work. But you'll never be better than me." He flicked his hair arrogantly. May huffed.

"Arrogant jerk!" May glared at Drew for a moment before glancing down to place her pokéballs in her pouch. Glancing up, she jumped and stepped back, startled be the appearance of a rose where her nose had been a moment before. Cautiously, she took it, staring at the soft petals and thorn-less stem a moment, unaware that Drew was watching her, fighting the blush that threatened his face. May rolled her eyes, rolling the rose between her fingers gently. "Let me guess. This is for Beautifly, right?"

Drew looked away for a moment, choosing the right words to answer. "Hmm. Not quite."

May looked at him, a bit surprised. She'd half-expected that he might answer differently someday, but she hadn't seriously been expecting him to. "Wha-what? Then who's it for?"

Drew stared at her a moment, constantly amazed when she showed just how dense she was. He'd given her over fifty roses over the past two years. Fifty-five to be exact, but then again, who's counting? He shook his head quickly to clear his thoughts, then flicked his hair again and smirked. "Guess, May. Who do you think?"

May thought. She didn't think he was seriously giving them to her. Sure, they were close friends now, but roses? Roses equaled flirting. Flirting equaled a crush, maybe even love, and Drew didn't love her. No way, they were just really close friends. Nothing more. "Umm…" May tapped her chin. But, then again. If they weren't for Beautifly. Maybe they were for Glaceon? No, not Glaceon. Blaziken then? For winning against Wartortle when he was at a type-disadvantage? No, that wasn't it. Maybe it was her. But, no, she couldn't say that. Unless the roses really were for her, she'd never live it down, even suggesting something like that. She sighed. "I don't know."

Drew rolled his eyes. "You're really dense, May."

May nodded for a moment, still lost in thought, before his words caught up with her. "Hey! No, I'm not!" She started moving towards him to bop him on the head for the insult, but tripped over a hole in the ground instead. They were so close though, that Drew was able to catch her without having to move. They both blushed lightly, but May took the opportunity to drag Drew to the ground with her momentum. The two tumbled down, rolling a short way downhill, their movement causing a large pile of leaves to fly into the air and float down on top of them as they landed neatly at the bottom of the gentle hill. May laughed, Drew groaning a moment before joining in. They opened their eyes and immediately blushed again, one of Drew's arms under May, while she was resting on top of and to the side of him, one hand neatly placed on his chest. They stared at each other a moment, before quickly sitting up.

May smiled softly as the leaves finally settled around them. Drew watched her, dazed by how she looked covered in the last rays of the setting sun, surrounded by leaves that mimicked the sky. The effect was dazzling, May glowing a faint red-orange, with leaves the same colour caught in her hair. With the smile on her face and the look of serenity as she watched the leaves around her, she looked angelic to Drew. The light from the sun dulled suddenly, having just gone down beneath the tree line, and as she glanced over at Drew, he reached out a hand for her cheek.

Slowly, gently, he held her cheek in the palm of his hand, feeling the smooth feminine skin under his fingers, watching first his fingers, amazed at the feel of her skin, and then in her eyes, for a sign, anything that told him to continue or stop. She was surprised, that much was obvious. Inside, she was torn between what to do. If he was teasing her, well, then he was a mean friend! But if he was just teasing her and she leaned into his gentle touch, she didn't think they'd be able to stay friends, and if they did, it would take a long time for her to forgive him. On the other hand, if he meant it, if he really was going to do what she thought he would, then…she couldn't even think about it, it made her heart soar so. Finally, she decided that she'd regret it forever if she didn't, so she closed her eyes, smiled, and leaned into his touch, her hand reaching up to brush his hand with her fingertips. She felt him move towards her, and opened her eyes to see him coming closer, eyes half-closed.

For a moment, he paused, seeing her eyes open, but when she started to close her eyes again, he rushed in, gently taking her lips with his own, pulling her in with the hand on her cheek. She took her hand off his and placed it lightly on his forearm, reaching up with her other hand and wrapping her arm around his neck. They broke apart and stared at each other for a moment, catching their breath. Finally, Drew smiled and pulled her closer to him, wrapping his arms around her and burying his face in her hair.

"You have no idea how long I've wanted to do that." He whispered, breathing in the scent of her hair, the scent of the leaves and the dirt.

She smiled and hugged him tighter. "You have no idea how long I've been waiting for you to."

He laughed, kissing her again before standing up, and helping her up. They brushed the dirt off themselves.

May looked at Drew. "So…now will you tell me who the roses are really for?" She asked. Of course, she already knew the answer by now, but she still wanted to hear him say it.

Drew smirked and flicked his hair. "May, May, May. Tsk tsk tsk. You should know by now."

May pouted, trying not to smile. "Tell me!"

He tucked her hair behind her ear. "You," he whispered, "they were always for you. Always."

May giggled. "I know. I just wanted to hear you say it." She started laughing, and spinning around in the leaves, stopping only for a moment to grab Drew's hands and spin around with him.

Drew laughed with her, and pulled her closer after a moment, picking her up and twirling her around some more. A little while later, the sun had set and it was getting harder to see. "Time to head to the center and get some sleep."

May pouted, but nodded. Hand in hand, they headed slowly for the Pokecenter, silently enjoying each other's company. Later that night, May lay in her bed, reflecting on what had happened, and smiled before closing her eyes and falling asleep.

A/N: This was originally a Thanksgiving-based oneshot, but I prefer to write the stories based on everything in the anime, not AU stuff (not to say AU stories aren't good, a lot of them are amazing, they're just not really my style.), and I didn't think Thanksgiving would actually occur in Pokemon, at least, not in the same type of holiday, if you get my meaning. So, I just started typing, and this is what came out. All I knew when I began this story was that it was contestshipping, and it would begin with May watching the leaves as they danced in the wind. Everything else I wrote based entirely on that, no planning or anything. This is a pure freeform oneshot. This is all I've had time to write lately, but that's only because I had a couple hours of free time. I'm sorry to say that I have my finals in 3.5 weeks, and I will have to start seriously studying for them soon. I've said it many times, but I'm also sorry that I haven't been able to update Pokemon: Rose Chronicles lately. Had I not gotten writer's block and actually kept up with everything, I would be posting chapter 20 soon, but unfortunately I'm still stuck on chapter's 4-7, and like I said in the A/N update recently, I just won't have time to seriously work on it until after my finals. Because I never got around to writing a Halloween-based oneshot, this is just a general fall oneshot. Yay fall! Or autumn, which you prefer.

As always, advanced critique encouraged. Please, if your opinion on this is a little harsh, let me know anyways. I need to know everything I do wrong in my writing just as much as what I do correctly. Whether it's grammar errors, out-of-character..well, characters...or anything else that occurs to you. Not to say I don't appreciate praise, as well. ;P

A/N (Nov. 18): Wow, I'm sorry. I just re-read most of this (for the first time since writing it, sadly), and I didn't realize just how badly out of character they are!! If enough people like the story and ask, I'll re-write it later with them a lot more in character.

Please read my other contestshipping stories: One Good Reason, We Are One, An Overdose of Happiness, and Pokemon: Rose Chronicles (full-length version of One Good Reason and We Are One).
Feb. 15th - I started a Contestshipping forum where anyone can discuss anything and everything related to contestshipping. Just remove the () and replace dot with a .
www(dot)fanfiction(dot)net(/)forum(/)Yet(_)More(_)Contestshipping(/)57089(/)