Heeey, everyone! New chapter, almost less than 48 hours!

I'm just a badass. You can say it, don't be shy. ;)

This chapter is dedicated to Archie and his awesomeness. (I'm totally rooting for him, but I'm also rooting for Steven. D: I'm giving Maxie a shot, though. Dunno how I feel about him yet...never fear! He shows up next chapter.)

On with the story!


Chapter Seven: Daddy Issues


The first class of geology was as much as May had come to expect—Professor Devon introduced himself, then Steven did so as the class's TA, and then they proceeded to go over the syllabus. Like in algebra, there was a reading assignment, but instead of problems to solve found within the textbook's pages, the class was briefed on the project that May and those who had shown up the previous Monday had been and all the students were told to start looking into a type of rock or gemstone that they would be interested in studying. She was glad she had shown up for the optional meeting because Steven's explanation had been much more detailed and holistic, whereas Professor Devon's speech was short, vague, and left much to be desired in the way of information.

They were let out early, to May's supreme joy, and she immediately locked her sights onto Steven, thinking that she wouldn't mind asking him for tips on what kind of rock she should study for the project. She gathered her things calmly but quickly, hoping to catch him before he got caught up in a conversation with one of the many other girls who had been ogling him as soon as they entered the classroom.

"H-hey, May," came a timid voice from beside her.

May looked up and saw Wally, the shy boy she had met at the meeting last Monday. She smiled at him. "Oh, hi, Wally. How are you?"

"I'm f-fine," he stammered with a small smile. He was very red for some reason. May absently noticed the casual pastel clothing he wore, which was not only a little too big for his frail form but also had a distinctly old-people feel to it. "H-how are you?"

"I'm pretty good," she replied. She had finished gathering her things and was itching to approach Steven, but as she began to walk away, Wally was keeping pace with her. "I'm glad class was let out early. It gives me plenty of time to-"

May's eyes flashed in annoyance when she noticed Lucy Bennett and her unnamed friend simpering in front of Steven. There was no sign of whether he was merely tolerating it or if he was actually enjoying the conversation. She hated to admit it, but a surge of jealousy rushed through her.

She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and exhaled out all the negative feelings. She might have a crush on him, Lucy Bennett and her friend might have a crush on him, hell, the entire female population probably had a crush on Steven Stone—but it didn't matter because May couldn't date him until she had finished the class. She let the jealousy ebb away—although she couldn't help that a little lingered against her will—and then realized that she had stopped talking midsentence.

Wally was still standing there, looking at her questioningly. "It gives me plenty of time to get to work, is all," she replied, forcing a smile onto her face. Jealousy or no, she still felt a little deflated at not getting to talk to Steven again, even if their time at lunch was more than she could have ever asked for.

Wally's face lit up. "Oh, where do you work?" he asked. She began walking and he walked alongside her. May vaguely noticed that the green-haired boy seemed to be going way out of his comfort zone by talking to her, what with the way he was flushed so red. Then she wondered if maybe he was sick.

"I work at Maxie's Bakery," she told him. She decided to ignore the way his eyes widened.

"O-oh…" he trailed off, looking extremely disappointed. The fact that he was judging her—for what, though?—bothered her deeply.

"What's wrong with working there?" she asked, a little indignantly.

"N-nothing!" Wally exclaimed, seeming embarrassed that she had picked up on his change in demeanor. "It's j-just that…isn't th-that place run by a," he lowered his voice conspiratorially, "g-gang l-leader?"

May was so shocked that she burst out into laughter. "Maxie?" she gasped, still laughing. "The leader? Of a gang? I don't even—wow. I can't. I can't even…wow."

Wally was watching her closely and as she calmed down he laughed a little, too. "Well, th-that's what everyone s-says…but if you know him p-personally, I guess you would know b-better than a-anyone."

May waved her hand dismissively. "Well, I don't know him that well, but there's no way in hell that guy is a gang leader. He's so prim and proper…I could never, ever see him dealing with a bunch of low-life thugs and gangbangers. It's just, well, it seems like it would be beneath him, you know?"

Her companion nodded fervently. "O-okay," he replied. They had left the building and were now in the courtyard between the science hall and the art hall. "Oh, there's my aunt!"

May's eyes widened in surprise as Wally started waving to an older lady dressed in frighteningly similar colors. It looked suspiciously as though she had dressed him…which was absurd, because even if he lived with his family—extended family?—there would be no way he could be letting his aunt dress him for school like he was five or something!

She followed Wally towards his aunt, more out of curiosity than anything at this point and because she had an extra hour that she had to kill. The closer they were to the older lady, the more the similarity in clothing became apparent. May found herself really wanting to ask just how old her new friend actually was.

"Aunt Veronica, this is my new friend, May," Wally told the woman when they had both approached her.

Aunt Veronica was a maternal-looking older woman with curly, graying brown hair pulled back into a bun, although her face was rather young for the gray hair growth. She seemed to exude warmth and kindness and May instantly liked her just on first impression alone. She wore a pink cardigan over a ruffled white blouse and a long purple skirt that fell down nearly to her ankles.

"Why, hello, May," Veronica said sweetly, holding out her hand. "It's very nice to meet you, sweetheart."

May blushed a little and took the other woman's hand, shaking it. Veronica had a firm grasp, which May liked to think reflected a strong and confident woman. "It's nice to meet you, too," she said, smiling as warmly as possible.

Veronica went on, after they had released each other's hands, "I'm so glad Wally has made some friends." May hadn't thought it possible, but Wally was blushing even more intensely now. The older woman continued, unabashed. "I thought with him getting into such a large school at only sixteen he would be left out, but you've allayed my worries, so thank you." She smiled gratefully at May.

May was burning with embarrassment and filled with awe simultaneously at Veronica's confession. Wally was only sixteen and he had gotten into Harvard? That was pretty impressive in her books. It didn't quite explain the way he dressed, but it damn well explained everything else. The shyness, the stuttering, the flushing…it all made sense now. She was very glad she had accompanied him outside and walked with him, even though when she had seen Steven with the other girls there had been a flash of irritation. Now, that little inconvenience meant nothing to her. If she were sixteen and going to a large, prestigious school, she would want someone to be her friend, too.

"O-oh, it's n-nothing," May replied, stammering enough to rival Wally. She laughed to ease some of the tension.

"I'd offer you a ride, dear, but I'm afraid cars are actually probably the slowest form of transportation in this town," Veronica said.

"I-if you want t-to," Wally piped up unexpectedly, "w-we could go to the museum to check out s-stuff for our p-project, sometime."

May looked at him with interest, but quickly told Veronica, "Yeah, I'm starting to see that. And which museum were you talking about?"

"The Harvard Museum of Natural History, of course," Veronica answered for him. "It's not too far from here."

"Oh, yeah, that'd be nice. Here, let me give you my number…"

She gave Wally her number before she told them she had to be on her way. Waving goodbye, May quickly headed towards the subway, which would take her home. She didn't have work that day and she was planning to get ahead on the math homework while she still could.

Just as she was taking a seat, her phone vibrated. It was Cassie, and May also noticed that she had a reply text message from Archie from about half an hour ago, when she still would have been in class. After the terrible bombing incident, May always kept her phone on silent during class. As much as she was glad that Archie had called when he did, it had also been terribly embarrassing to get so flustered with all those people around.

First, she read Cassie's message.

To: May

From: Cassie

Message Body: R u coming in 2day?

May couldn't help but frown a little at the abbreviated text, but knew that it was a battle she would never win. She hated it when Brendan texted with single letters and numbers instead of words and she had all but beat it into him that it made him sound stupider than he already was. He wasn't easily deterred, but she had harped on him consistently enough that he now typed out the word 'you'.

With Cassie, of course, it simply wasn't her place.

To: Cassie

From: May

Message Body: Not for work, but boss wants me to come in afterhours.

Just as May was opening up Archie's text, Cassie's reply flashed back at her and grudgingly, she opened it.

To: May

From: Cassie

Message Body: ooooo cool. We shuld totally meet up after ;)

To: Cassie

From: May

Message Body: Maybe, today was my first day of college and I might be tired. I'll keep you posted. :)

After that, May was free to check Archie's message.

To: May

From: Archie

Message Body: Whatcha doin around 9?

To: Archie

From: May

Message Body: I have a meeting with my boss at eight, so I have no idea if I'll be home by then or not.

Unlike Cassie, Archie's reply was not instantaneous. This turned out to be good because she had just arrived at her stop. She figured she could just knock on his door or something to see what was up. May couldn't deny that she was a little excited to be hanging out with both Steven and Archie in the same day. It was pretty cool, in her opinion, although it was making her wonder how she was going to handle it if they both ended up reciprocating her feelings. While that was enormously unlikely, she was still a little apprehensive. What if she had to choose? Steven had caught her eye first, but Archie had saved her life

As she approached her apartment, she realized she didn't even need to knock on his door because Archie was on his porch, smoking a cigarette and thumbing a text message into his phone. It was perfect except that the big blue monstrosity tethered to the pole between their doors was now lunging in her direction and barking happily.

Archie growled at Kyogre in annoyance before realizing that the dog was acting up because of May. He took a long drag of his cigarette and stood, waving at her.

"Hey, babe," he said with a crooked grin. "Was just texting ya back."

May laughed, approaching her door but not quite able to reach it because of Kyogre's attempts to tackle her, despite the fact that she was tethered by her leash to the pole. "Is she…always going to be like this around me?"

Archie scratched his head. She noticed that he was wearing a solid navy blue bandana on his head and it rather suited him. The tight white wife beater he was wearing and the form-fitting blue jeans weren't helping May's attraction to him, either. It was like he was built out of solid muscle. "I dunno," he said contemplatively. "I expect she'll probably get used to you sooner or later. Can't say if that'll stop her from doing her thing, though."

Startled out of her appreciation for his physique, May shook her head to clear the unwanted thoughts and nodded. "That's what I thought," she said, having only hear the last few words that he'd said and hoping that what she replied with had made sense.

He smirked wickedly at her, as though he knew that she hadn't been paying attention because of his body, and then sat back down in his chair.

May blushed and cleared her throat. "So, did you want to hang out or something?"

Archie shrugged. "I figured you'll be pretty tied down with school'n shit by, I dunno, the day after tomorrow, so I figured you might want to come over and have a beer to celebrate the good life before you get sucked into the endless black hole that is Harvard University."

"I'm only eighteen," she said, not quite objecting but also not quite sure she wanted to break the law.

"It's totally illegal and I totally do not care," Archie said. There was a teasing look in his eyes that almost seemed to be daring her. "You shouldn't care, either. We'll be inside and it's not like cops are going to raid my apartment unexpectedly."

May smiled, but was a little confused by his wording. Did that there were times when cops would raid his apartment expectedly? She decided that wasn't a question she wanted to ask, nor did she want to know the answer to. "Well, let me see how the meeting with my boss goes. For all I know, I'll be losing my job and the beer will be a consolation prize." He chuckled and she peered closer at him. "How old are you, anyway?"

"Thirty-one," he replied. May's eyes widened. She had always known he was older, but she hadn't expected the age gap to be quite that large. He laughed when he saw her expression. "What? It's not like I could be your dad or anything. I ain't that fuckin old."

At his playful indignation, May decided that she didn't care if she was interested in someone thirteen years older than her. Maybe an older guy was what she needed, anyway. Steven was bound to be a good bit older than her, too, and that certainly didn't bother her.

But she decided to play right back. "Actually, in this day and age, it's totally plausible that you could be my father," she replied with a stone-face. Then, she gasped. "You know, I'm actually adopted, so-"

The next thing she knew she was dodging a cigarette butt, aimed at her forehead. May began laughing at Archie's annoyed pout, doubling over and grasping her sides as she laughed.

"There ain't no way I got a kid," he said, a little sullenly. "And you better watch it, girlie. I might just 'accidentally' let Kyogre off her leash."

May stopped laughing immediately and glared at him. "You wouldn't."

"You wanna try me?"

"If you do it, I'm just going to call you Daddy from now on," she threatened. She felt as though this constituted as flirting, but she since she was talking about calling him 'daddy', she wasn't so sure.

Archie looked distinctly nauseated. "Sorry, babe, I ain't into that shit. Go find some other sucker if you wanna do that."

May finally calmed down all the way and decided that if she kept up the daddy-talk, any interest on his side would dry up. "I take it back. If you were anything like my dad, I'd be more concerned about having an Electra complex."

It was kind of a coin toss to see what Archie's reaction would be. Did he know enough about Freud to be familiar with the Electra complex, the lesser-known female version of the Oedipus complex? If he did, she had just told him she thought of him as a possible lover. If he didn't, then the whole thing would go right over his head and his pride would just be assuaged.

As soon as the words came out of her mouth, she immediately hoped for the latter response.

Unfortunately, there was now a mischievous look in his eyes that May wasn't sure if she liked and did funny things to her insides. "Is that right?" he asked, leaning forward with devious curiosity.

Shit. The coin had landed on tails and now she had to book it.

"Oh, would you look at the time?" May exclaimed suddenly. "I haven't eaten yet," lie "so I should probably go making somethi-"

Archie burst out into raucous laughter. "You're playin' with fire, babe," he told her. "Make sure you don't get burned."

May cursed inwardly as she blushed and there was an awkward silence, at least on her end. Archie seemed to be enjoying the hell out of himself as he watched her flush with embarrassment, though.

"Well? Go make yourself something to eat," he said, waving her away after she just stood there for a while. "Don't mind me." The wicked smirk on his face, however, told her that he had one-hundred percent caught her implication and was thoroughly enjoying seeing her rather virginal response to him.

"Y-yeah," she stammered, slipping her keys into the lock and all but rushing into her apartment. Kyogre had calmed for a moment while she and Archie talked, but now that May was leaving she began to whine and lunge towards her again.

"See you when you get off work?" Archie called.

Despite her embarrassment and the clear knowledge that she truly was playing with fire, May called back, "Only if you behave yourself!" before she slammed the door shut.


Okie doke, everyone. I hope you enjoyed it! May really is playing with fire, isn't she?

For all of you who skipped the author's note up top, Maxie is coming up next! I know you guys probably expected him this chapter, and he totally WAS in this chapter, but then so much was happening that I decided to make it two chapters in the end. However, expect a new update Monday or Tuesday!

Review time! Damn, you all are awesome. :D Special thanks to EnigmaUniverse, Pikas, Akatsupure, DragonkynNatKiasu, RubySmiley, mupp3tbab3h, 0Shadow Panther0, TrebleKnight, F. Flotsam, Felicity Dream, loli-belle, L van Am, terracannon876, Guest, Swiftfire Mews, and Gabyy3. You all are the best!

Everyone who gave me info on Maxie gets SPECIAL brownies... ;) lol They can be 'special' in any way that pleases you... (This is totally a convoluted reference to next chapter. No, there will not be pot brownies, buuuuut...well, just wait til next chapter.)

And by the way. You all over there, with the long reviews? You get CANDLES on your brownies. Yes. You get fucking candles. :D

Pikas - thank you for reminding me about Wally! He is actually intended to be a 'regular' in this story.

Akatsupure - Honestly? I have no effin clue. Probably until my imagination runs out. Right now, the story is just writing itself, which is why the chapters are coming out so fast. I'm going to at least get May through freshman year and from there, we'll see how it goes. But May will at least make it to freshman year. Promise. :)

NOTE: TO ALL OF YOU WHO HAVE COMMENTED ABOUT HOW WONDERFUL IT IS THAT THE CHAPTERS ARE COMING OUT SO QUICKLY - IT'S BECAUSE YOU REVIEWED. YES, A SIMPLE REVIEW HAS MADE ME UPDATE AT LEAST 3 TIMES THIS WEEK. THAT IS THE POWER OF THE REVIEW!

DragonkynNatKiasu - Yes, I nickname all of my Pokemon, even if the nicknames are shitty and don't even make sense. When I was watching a video of a player's final battle with Maxie, the player's Swampert's nickname was DoUEvenLift? I really appreciated that. When it evolved into Mega Swampert, I was just laughing my ass off. I really, really appreciated that in ways I cannot describe. As far as my favorite 'type' of video game, I don't have one. I follow two or three series for the 3ds and just play those to death as they come out. The ones that come to mind are Harvest Moon and Pokemon, but there are a few others.

mupp3tbabeh - Awesome! That was my first game too, exactly! I bought Crystal specifically for Suicune...

Felicity Dream - I have LOTS I want to say to you, so I'm probably going to PM you later when it's not 2am in the morning. :D As for your question...with the exception of very few, the ONLY thing I do is protag/villain pairings. I pretty much like any boss with any female protag. I'm not much into yaoi/yuri (just 'cause). My favorite pairing right now is Archie/May, but I also like dark Cyrus/Dawn. I like dark stories. This story is a complete 180 of what I usually do. I like angsty, dark, terrible stuff. You DO NOT want to see my other writings. It's horrific. :( P.S. You're awesome for writing such long reviews! Yours was the longest one for this chapter!

terracannon876 - Yes, my inspiration for Maxie was actually from Omegaevolution's final battle video. Thanks so much, you got the story moving again!

Gabyy3 - Oooh, you asked a tough question. Favorite type is overall is Dragon...hmm...my favorite pokemon from that is Dragonair. I always loved her (shh, it'll always be a female to me) and always will. It's really lame that something so beautiful and awesome evolves into something dopey and cute like Dragonite. Don't get me wrong, Dragonite is cool, but...Dratini was cute. Dragonair was beautiful. Dragonite is...a mail man? (Reference to First Pokemon Movie.) And yes, I'll probably do a BlueOrbShipping one-shot at some point. If nothing else, there's going to be a BlueOrbShipping lemon one-shot. It may or may not be related to this story. :)

Question: Of all the Teams in all the generations, which had the most noble pursuit and why?

Reviews are love and long reviews are eternal love. :D