Inspired by Marianas Trench's Celebrity Status. For delcatty546. I own nothing.
Before their third Grand Festival together, back when she was in the Johto Region, Drew told her something after flicking his hair and telling her something mildly insulting. Then he had gone and performed perfectly, getting a ridiculously high score – though she had to admit his creativity at his appeal performance.
At the time, May had been puzzled by his message. So puzzled that she'd been a little distracted, and had lost some points while doing her battle. She won, though, and his message was forgotten for a while.
That thought though, that came back to haunt her years later in the nights later when she'd be asleep, stressed from the fame and the glittering farce of all the 'important' things of being a well-known coordinator – a celebrity, and she'd go to the mirror and take a long, hard look at the person, only to wonder who this stranger with perfect skin and beautiful hair and hourglass figure was.
Who was she? Was she really May anymore? No one would be able to find the same, naïve, innocent girl from when she had left on her journey that fateful day inside this sexy, confident woman anymore, that was for sure. If she couldn't see her former self in her present being, then who could?
Certainly not one of the Top Ten Coordinators of the Century, or a Two Time Winner of the Grand Festival, and definitely not the Legendary Coordinator.
All of them were prestigious titles she'd fought tooth and nail for, and the media just made it seem like she got there effortlessly, flashing bits of skin with skimpy outfits and showing off a few flashy tricks with Pokémon and she had to encourage – encourage! – those kinds of thoughts, make it seem so effortless and easy for the dreams of children to flourish and trap them in little illusions of castles and smoke and false happy endings. She couldn't show them the ugly side of the celebrity status, and that annoyed her. Irritated her. Enraged her. It frustrated her to the point where she ended up drinking too much and on the cover of a magazine.
That sent her somewhat back to reality. From then on she just focused on her Pokémon and just how she could make them shine even more on the stage in the limelight – the only place where she really felt like her old self, other than near her family – because there was no way she'd ever surrender her position after all that work, her only way of pretending that things were normal for her and that everything was nothing but some part of her never-ending journey.
It made her happy, she supposed, when she defeated Solidad in the contest reunion. That had been a surprise for her, and clearly to the pink-haired coordinator as well, because for a moment, all they had been able to do was stare at each other in surprise.
Her senior had laughed, though, and shaken her hand, congratulating her on a job well done. May had smiled back, but it had been empty, and she couldn't help but wonder for the millionth time just what had happened to her, to be so uncaring to what would have – should have – been one of the happiest moments of her life.
"I'd like to challenge her."
For a moment, the old, fiery, irritated anger at that voice, drawling lazily and insulting her without even actually speaking the words themselves, lit within her, and she turned instinctively, lively and bristling, to meet with a man who had the same green hair and eyes, the same attitude from when he was a boy and she was a girl, and lost the wind filling her sails.
He was the same as before. Older, but still, quite the same as before. How? How did he do it?
"What's the matter, May?" he taunted, and she snapped out of her wonder. "Skitty got your tongue?"
Raising an eyebrow – really, just how old was he? – she took out Glaceon and Blaziken, ready to take on her old, sassy rival from childhood, not caring what she looked like to the public eye. "Bring it, Drew!"
She would have sworn she saw a genuine smile on his face before they began their battle.
. . .
May sank to the ground after she returned her Pokémon, and she laughed, hugging her Pokéballs to her chest. Everything was so clear now! She saw, once more, the happiness of the fineries of coordinating, the laughter and brightness of the stage.
She had also won against her mouthy rival, but that was a minor point in her rediscovery of her love for performing.
In her laughter and near-crying, she didn't notice someone waiting for her to notice them for some time. When she did, she looked up to see Drew, looking down at her with the genuine smile she'd thought she'd mistaken on him on that split second before their earth-shaking match had started.
"Congratulations," he told her as he pulled her back up to her feet. "You've actually gotten better. More skill and less luck."
May sighed, shaking her head, though a smile was still on her lips. Some things just never changed, and she couldn't expect them to. "Thanks, Drew."
He tossed her a rose. "Great job," he turned away, and began to walk away, simple as that. She guessed that she wouldn't see him until the next reunion they both decided to show up to, which probably would be a long time from now.
She caught the rose, noticing the little note tied around the stem near the red flower, and while he left, untied the thin strip of paper.
'In case you need reminding,' his clear, careful print said. 'Let's not lose ourselves, no matter what.'
Beneath the message and reminder was a phone number. She folded up the paper and slipped it into her pocket, and stuck the rose into the bun that her hair was in at the moment, not caring what fashion experts would say about her choice to put a real, living rose – a red one at that – near a pale yellow silk dress.
On second thought, maybe they'd see each other a bit sooner.