AN: Okay...so I owe this to Tropicallight. She made a great suggestion to write May and Drew's wedding in detail, and I've been wanting to, but I'm a procrastinator. Sorry. This is for you! Enjoy.
May shivered with fear. It was her big day! Well. Their big day. She was supposed to be excited! But all she could feel was nervousness, fear, and apprehension.
"Arceus I'm nervous. Dawn! I need...I need help!" May whimpered, hiding away from her friends. "I can't do this! I can't walk out there in front of people! And have the press probably burst in and, and...I can't do this!
Marina and Leaf shared exasperated looks. When in doubt, call the master, the only one not married yet. Well, Misty was too busy trying to sort out the flowers.
"Dawn!" Leaf called loudly.
May felt the nerves eat her alive, panic swooping in and overtaking everything else.
"Hey! May, look at me. Breathe. Stop panicking. Hey! Stop it. Look at me," Dawn scolded, her blue eyes wide with fury.
May tentatively looked up, almost with fear.
"Can you guys leave? Yeah, I know. We have a little time. Yep," Dawn said, closing the door behind the other girls.
"Alright. May. What is the first thing you think of when I say 'Drew Hayden'?" Dawn asked, with a deep sigh, making eye contact with May.
May looked nervous, almost scared. "This bubbly fountain of feelings and love, and nervousness. And emeralds. And that flicky thing he does. And roses. And green."
"Well, those are not the first thing you think of, but okay, what is this bubbly fountain exactly?" Dawn questioned.
"Just..." May's expression softened to a an almost dreamy quality. "Adoration. On both ends."
Dawn grinned, sitting next to May on the bed. "What is there to be afraid of? The commitment? The leap? Come on, you said it yourself! Drew loves you, just like you love him! There's nothing to worry about."
"Well, what if I don't know, I go out there and embarrass myself? Or...one of us fail to show the other person how to love? I just...I don't know. I'm scared Dawn. What if he doesn't really love me? I mean, we've said it a million times. But I'll always be the clumsy, no-good coordinator to him," May confessed sadly.
"No, you're not," Dawn reprimanded. "Drew really does love you, he looks at you like he never looks at someone else. He loves you May. All the clumsiness, all the imperfectness, that's what love is about! Loving through imperfectness."
"You're such a hypocrite Dawn," May laughed, nudging her friend.
Dawn smirked, "I know, but hey, I made you stop crying, didn't I?"
"Crying?" May demanded, glaring again.
"You're like bipolar May! I was just joking," Dawn sulked, giving May a pout.
"Hey! It's my wedding Dawn...careful now!" May laughed.
"A wedding that would have been ruined, without me of course," Dawn said smugly.
"Fine," May harrumphed.
"Come on wedding girl, let's get you into that dress," Dawn grinned.
Drew sighed as he inhaled the steam from the coffee.
"You look ready to drop dead, bro," Gary commented, staring at Drew with one raise eyebrow.
"Sure," Drew yawned, rubbing at the black circles beneath his eyes.
"It's your wedding day, shouldn't you have gotten more sleep?" Jimmy asked.
"I...*yawn*...couldn't sleep," Drew answered.
"From excitement?" Ash asked, almost jealously.
"Nooooo," Drew yawned again. "From worry."
"Oh, then I'm never getting married," Ash announced, almost proudly.
"You know Mist will kill ya, right?" Gary asked with raised eyebrows.
"No she won't..." Ash said worriedly. "Will she?"
"What're you worried about?" Calem asked, getting back on topic.
"Well, remember when I proposed? Well, when she dropped her Ribbon Cup, I thought I was done for sure and she was trying to kill me for embarrassing her, and that she would say no," Drew said quietly. "And so ever since, I'm scared that she never really liked me, because I was always mean and criticizing. I just...don't want to lose her just to take the next step.
"Blaziken! Overheat! ONE MORE TIME!" May yelled, feeling something tug inside her chest.
As Blaziken geared up for one more Overheat, Drew was yelling at Absol for one more Water Pulse. Blaziken was surrounded in a bright light, and then Blaziken's flames burst into large tendrils, and suddenly, all the exhaustion from the battle seemed to disappear, and Blaziken stood proud and opened his mouth for the best Overheat May had ever seen.
But Absol had gone through the same process, and had grown wings and suddenly looked just as fierce as Blaziken.
"Blaziken!"
"Absol!"
"GO!"
The water and fire attacks combined in a beautiful light show, just like May's first appeal.
Both Pokemon held strong, knowing how much their trainers wanted to beat each other.
"COME ON BLAZIKEN! BEAT THE GRASSHEAD! HE ALREADY HAS ONE OVER US! THIS ONE'S OURS!" May screamed, her blue eyes, filled with the fire of competition, and her fists were clenched tightly as she willed Blaziken to win the standoff.
But Drew wasn't going down without a fight.
"Let's go Absol. We've beaten her once, we can beat her again. COME ON ABSOL," Drew said almost calmly, though as he ran his hand through his hair urgently, it was obvious he was rather panicky as well.
Both Pokemon attacked the other with more strength, and both of them looked close to loosing the battle.
"BLAZIKEN!" May shrieked as she felt a tug in her gut as Blaziken gave one last push, and the Overheat over took the Water Pulse, despite the Water type advantage. Absol was hit hard, and he crumpled to the floor, his wings winking out of existence.
May stood there, shocked. She had beaten Drew again, and gotten her 3rd Ribbon Cup.
Now she was equal to Drew.
May ran forwards and hugged Blaziken tightly, thanking him for his effort, and Blaziken swung May up onto his shoulders triumphantly, long flames still trailing behind.
Blaziken had to let May down to shake Drew's hand, and Drew smirked at May, happy that she had won, not at all bitter.
"Looks like you caught up to me again, eh?" Drew laughed, squeezing May's hand tightly. May shot him a dirty look, squeezing him back harder.
"Yup! And I will surpass you now!" May said gleefully, letting go to do a little happy dance.
"Hmm. Maybe we'll surpass our current relationship, yes?" Drew countered, smirking even more.
May flushed at the obvious implication.
"Oh! It looks like our coordinators Drew and May just might be more than just rivals!" Vivian cooed, her voice booming.
Drew leaned forwards to whisper into May's ear. "I guess they just don't how close we are, hmm?"
May blushed harder and slapped at Drew. "Shut up!"
"And the winner of the Hoenn Grand Festival this year, it's our alumni, May Maple of Petalburg, Princess of Hoenn!" Vivian announced, and a spotlight dance above May's head, making her eyes water. "And our runner-up this year, he is also a past Hoenn Top Coordinator, it's Drew Hayden!"
Drew waved modestly, a laid-back smirk on his face, and he winked towards May, who flushed again.
May glared at him a bit, before grudgingly clapping along, holding the Ribbon Cup.
Drew made eye contact with Vivian, who gestured towards the stage with acceptance, smiling almost secretively. Many noticed this, but none were prepared for what happened next.
Drew hopped onto May's larger, and higher podium, strolling casually towards her. May looked shock as she watched her boyfriend approach.
When he was facing her, Drew knelt, pulling out the velvet box hidden in those horrible aqua pants, grinning nervously all the while.
"I know we've been dating for years," Drew began. The entire audience gasped in surprise. DAML have been dating for years?! How come the Contestshippers out there never found out?
"And we've went nice and slow, going on dates and building a foundation of love and trust. When I first saw you, I fell in love with you, and you smiled because you knew. And I just kept falling harder and harder for you every single time I saw you. So May Maple of Petalburg, Princess of Hoenn and my heart, will you make me the happiest man alive, and marry me?" Drew proposed.
May's mouth was slack, and her eyes were as wide as the large blue diamond set on a bed of green diamonds, with a silver band. In other words...huge. Her arm seemed to lose the strength it needed to support the rather heavy Ribbon Cup, and with a thunk, it hit the floor.
Drew stared at it, where a small, almost invisible crack had appeared before meeting May's eyes again. There was adoration, and awe, and love in them. Yet at the same time, there was fear, panic, and distrust in them. What had he done wrong this time?
"I...uh...umm..." May trailed off, staring off into the crowd, as if looking for someone. The crowd held and anticipating breath, worriedly waiting for May's response. May seemed to find the person she was looking for, and relief filled her eyes as whoever it was gave May a signal.
May turned back towards Drew with a large, wide smile. "Yes! Of course I'll marry you Drew.
And with that, she swiftly swooped down and kissed Drew.
It wasn't a hard, passionate kiss like they had shared before, but soft, loving, and claiming.
"I love you," Drew muttered against her lips, taking the ring out and sliding it home.
"And I love you, though sometimes I wonder why," May teased, admiring the ring. "I guess you really are rich, hmm?"
Drew finally pulled himself out of the memory, smiling weakly.
Gary snorted. "Dude, that's what someone says when they're about to propose. You already got that over with, now it's all sunshine and rainbows! What are you worried about!? May loves you. Even me, the least romantic guy in this room-"
"Actually that would be Paul, he still haven't gotten himself a girlfriend, except for that...Regina girl. I don't approve," Calem cut in.
"-But even I can tell how much the brunette adores you. She loves you, and probably loved you for longer than you have. You just had an infatuation with teasing her, and she always made a big deal out of it, because she cares for you. With all of your arrogance, you're cynicism. She loves you for who you are, and all you really have to do is love her back the same way."
Jimmy whistled in appreciation, "When'd you get so wise, Gary?"
"I've always been wise!" Gary said indignantly. "Ash is the only unwise person here."
"Hey!" Ash protested through a mouthful of chips.
"Where'd you even get those?" Drew asked, sighing.
"Uh...the rwecpwion arwea?" Ash mumbled.
"See?" Gary pointed at his cousin. "Unwise."
Drew smiled as his weird friends. "OK, I guess what you're saying is true Gary."
"May loves you, Drew, don't worry about it," Jimmy said gently.
"Hm," Drew nodded, "I bet she does. Who wouldn't love this?"
"Uwgh Nwow You awct like Gwary," Ash mumbled, crunching on more chips, specks of food flying everywhere.
"Could you be more of a pig?" Paul muttered, speaking for the first time today.
"Pig? I thought I was human," Ash grinned crookedly, swallowing.
Paul glared at him, "In your dreams Ash. In your dreams."
"Hey!" Drew complained, "You're my best man, and this is my day! You should be talking to me!"
"You want to be called a pig?" Paul asked skeptically.
As Drew, Paul, and Ash started arguing, Gary left to go find Leaf.
Boys...will always be boys. Even during weddings.
"Sweetheart, I know I said I approve, but I'm not really ready to give you away to that...thing in there," Norman insisted, holding onto May's hand tightly. "You're more beautiful than your mother on her wedding day, and I thought that she was the most beautiful bride ever! Not being biased too."
"Sure Dad," May rolled her eyes. "And Dad, it's pretty serious, we're going to get married sometimes anyways. I'm twenty three dad, and he's twenty-four. I think that it is beyond time to get married, no?"
"How long did you say you've been actually dating him?" Normal asked tightly, still disturbed by the idea that his little girl was grown up and ready to start her own life.
"Four years Daddy," May sighed.
"Did you two have sex before marriage? Bet you wished you waited if you did!" Max sang, towering over May now.
"Max!" Norman scolded, shocked by Max's blunt language, "You're twenty-one, young man!"
"Yeah, you think I'm a virgin?" Max said bluntly.
May closed her eyes and took deep breaths. "Too much information little bro. I do not need images of you and Bailey doing the...thing, on my wedding day."
"Yeah, but we all have you and Drew doing the deed in our heads because it is your wedding day," Max laughed.
Normal and May shared disturbed looks.
"Go inside the Gym, Max," May ordered.
"Fine, but only because it's your wedding day," Max grumbled, skipping outside of the small dressing room and out into the hallway, then into the large spacey area.
"Are you ready honey?" Norman asked May.
"I could always go in there and tell that arrogant green-haired guy to call it off!" He said hopefully.
"No Dad," May sighed, glaring a little bit. "I'm getting married to Drew today, and that's that, okay?"
"Where are your Pokemon?" Norman asked, grumpily changing the subject.
"Oh, my bridesmaids got them inside with Drew's, why?" May questioned.
There was a loud bang and then a yell.
Norman swung out of the room, then peeked through the crack in the door again, shocked at what he saw. Misty caught his eye, and mouthed something that looked suspiciously like, 'Distract May!'
Her hand was in the middle of hitting Ash on the head as he munched away.
Norman trudged almost fearfully back to the room, and closed the door before turning slowly to look at his daughter. "Nothing's wrong. Everything's fine."
May stared at him suspiciously. "Are you sure Dad?"
"Yup! Everything is right as well as...everything to your right?"
May sighed. "Oh Daddy."
On the inside, everything was not fine.
"BLAZIKEN! NO! DO NOT SET THE cake...on fire," Serena sighed helplessly, looking at the Fire Pokemon who shrugged and glared at Drew with some hatred.
Zoey was chasing Pachirisu, and Wartortle across the room with their Pokeballs in had as the danced through the many deserts and dishes on the food table. Misty was busy hitting Ash and trying to get him to stop eating the food.
Munchlax had ate all of the Pokemon food already, which probably irked half of the amok Pokemon.
The rest of the bridesmaids were trying to keep their own, and May's Pokemon under control, and trying to deal with the sudden shortage of food.
"We have to be in place outside the doors, because we're supposed to let the guests in soon!" Marina yelled across the room.
Drew stood calmly by the alter with Flygon, Absol, Roserade, Butterfree, and Masquerain were all dressed appropriately, hovering, or standing appropriately, not at all bothered by the chaos around them.
His groomsmen were all lazily lounging around, not bothering to help the bridesmaids.
Eventually the bridesmaids got everything under control, with newly ordered food on the way, Pokemon in rows and acting calm, and their own proper places outside of the large double doors, decorated just for the occasion.
Caroline then let the guests in.
And then the ceremony began.
One by one, as pairs, the bridesmaids and groomsmen walked in.
Of course the best man and the maid of honor walked in together. Dawn and Paul looked as happy as a couple could possibly look. Dawn's smile was obviously fake, but Paul was cracking a rare smile. Drew thought it was pretty unusual. Usually it was the other way around.
As the ceremony progressed, the occasional yell or flash of the camera would distract everyone for a second, the large windows of the Gym crammed with reporters on ladders, eager to get some pictures of the wedding of the famous coordinators.
When May walked in, on her father's arm, the entire room gasped in surprise.
She was gorgeous. And she focused only on Drew, her sapphire eyes sparkling with nervousness and excitement.
Drew's eyes watered, and then his vision started getting fuzzy as he stared intently at her. Then he collapsed, Roserade letting out a squeak as it darted behind him to catch him.
The crowd gasped, as everyone was friends with either the groom, or the bride.
Cameras flashed wildly, trying to catch moment as best as they could.
May let out a yelp as she let go of her father's arm, and darted towards her fallen fiance. But of course, May being...well, May, forgot entirely about her heels, and ran like she was in tennis shoes.
And fell flat on her face, onto the red carpet that was on the floor, not slowing her down at all as she sprawled across the floor.
The crowd gasped again, even more shocked. What a strange wedding.
Within ten minutes, Roserade managed to revive Drew, May dusted of her dress, which still looked gorgeous on her, mind you, and the ceremony continued.
Norman glared at Drew the entire time he had to go through the process of giving May over to him, and Drew wasn't oblivious to it either.
They went through the vows without a hitch, to the relief of everyone.
"You may kiss the-" was all the officiator got to, before May and Drew were kissing. Drew grabbed May's waist almost possessively, and May's hands wandered into his hair, making it a full on make-out session before Dawn let out an 'ahem' loudly.
The reception was beautiful, with roses and rose petals everywhere, so that the air smelled pleasantly like a garden.
When the dancing started, the newlyweds eagerly started on the dance floor, to everyone else's cheers.
"You look really beautiful right now," Drew muttered softly, twirling her around.
May smiled warmly. She looked him up and down and smirking, "Thanks, and you look amazing as well, but I really do think I look better, thanks."
Drew shot her a death glare. But then he seemed to think of something, and shot her a wicked smile. "Sure, but I think you would look much better without that beautiful dress on."
"Drew Hayden!" May gasped, her eyes wide at the innuendo.
"What," Drew said scornfully. "It's not like its something I haven't seen."
May flushed and closed her eyes as took deep breaths, and twirled again.
"I love how you get so flustered when we talk about sex, when we've done it plenty, and we're going to do it tonight anyways," Drew said casually, smirking at her discomfort.
"I hate you Drew..." May muttered, glaring at him. "And who says! I could say no tonight."
Drew stared at her as if she had just announced that she grew four eyes. "May, honey, we are consummating our marriage. Period. No argument. You don't get to decide. Okay?"
"Stop acting like you own me," May huffed.
"No, but you are...mine," Drew grinned.
As the song ended, a nice, slow waltz came on, and the couple shared a look.
"Do you want a drink?"
"I think I'm going to go get some food."
"Yeah, let's get off this dance floor."
"Quick!"
"I'm going to kill Dawn," May grumbled. "I told her not to put waltzes in."
And as the newlyweds made their escape, Dawn laughed into her champagne flute, and shared a meaningful look with Misty.
"Why are they running as if the world is ending?" Jimmy wondered aloud.
Misty's face twisted into an amused expression. "Because...it's a waltz."
"Huh?" Ash asked confusedly, taking a bite out of a slice of wedding cake.
"Never mind, Ash," Dawn said secretively.
Throughout the night, whenever a waltz came up, Drew and May fled the dance floor, but once the waltz was over, they were back, dancing as if it was the best day of their life. In which, it probably was.
One by one, all the guests congratulated them, and by the end of the night, May almost automatically said, "Thank you! We're so happy you're here!" whenever someone came over, regardless of who it was.
By 11:00 Drew had had enough of the wedding and publicity. "Alright May, time to go, say goodbye to all your friends and we're going back to the hotel."
"Hotel?" May asked in confusion.
"Yes," Drew nodded seriously, "I didn't think it'd be polite to ravish you in the same house that your parents are in."
May's jaw dropped as she flushed again and glared at the chartreuse-haired boy.
"Whatever," May muttered, turning around to say goodbye to all their guests.
Halfway through the goodbyes, Drew got rather impatient again.
"Alright! Thank you for coming! We appreciated it! Now I need to take my wife back to the hotel so I can...uh, consummate our marriage. Good night!" Drew called, leaving the microphone on the table, and raced towards May, swept her up, and ran her out of the room. May was shrieking curses the entire way.
The guests laughed nervously at what had just happened as they all prepared to leave, the bridesmaids and groomsmen staying back to help clean up.
"I'm going to kill that boy!" Normal yelled furiously, a little belatedly. "I can't believe he announced that to the entire room! My little girl is pure! Innocent and perfectly pure!"
Tracy and Brock shared confused looks and gave strange looks to May's father before leaving the reception.
"Dad, May's really not, and stop acting so weird. I hope you don't act like that at my wedding," Max sweat-dropped, wiping his glasses.
Norman glared at his son. "What did you say?!"
"Come on honey," Caroline said tiredly as she stacked up more dishes. "Time to clean up!"
And as the couple dozen people left cleaned up, they could only wonder, if Drew was going to get killed tonight, because May was definitely not happy with him. Or was she? And that's where the wondering came in.
Though Gary was wondering if Drew would get lucky. Typical pervert.
As he opened his mouth to voice exactly that, Leaf leaned over and smacked him, hard. "Not one perverted word from you, dear husband. Not one word."
Gary smiled sheepishly.
The rest of the guests wince as Leaf tried to break a plate on his head.
"I wonder how Drew and May are faring," Dawn wondered aloud, her eyes curiously happy.
In fact, Drew and May were arguing on top of Flygon, whether May would let Drew touch her or not.
"In fact, sleeping on separate beds is looking more and more appealing!" May snapped, huffing as Drew's arm tugged her closer.
"Oh come on, June, you don't mean that," Drew said into her hair. May could hear the smile in his voice, yet she relented.
"Okay, maybe you'll get lucky tonight," May admitted, flushing a bit at the decision.
"Good decision. I promise to not make you regret it," Drew smirked as they landed.
"Drew!" May yelled.
"What! It's true!" Drew protested.
"We are not..."
And as they continued to argue all the way to their room. Well, one can only guess, if Drew really did get lucky.
AN: Yup, Drew's proposal has a William Shakespeare quote in it. One of my fav quotes. XD I hope you enjoyed it! I enjoyed writing it. It was fun. Yay!
-Ange