Today, we get to see from Archie's POV. For all of you new to this story or who don't know, we will now be going into the love interests' perspectives because I ended up opening that can of worms this chapter. Since I'm trying to give every pairing a chance, we'll get to see into both Steven and Maxie's POVs as well, and perhaps Wally depending on how the story goes.

Enjoy!


Chapter Nine: Like a Moth to the Flame


If Archie's apartment was to be described in a single word, that word would be 'bachelor.'

It was a one-bedroom, unlike May's studio, and had the ongoing theme of navy blue and off-white. There was a navy blue three-person couch in the living room facing a gigantic television set with surround-sound speakers, two similarly-colored recliners on both sides, and a sturdy black coffee table in the center of it all. The kitchen was similar to hers except in that it had a dishwasher as well as everything else. Archie apparently had the foresight to lock Kyogre in his bedroom so that the rambunctious dog wouldn't maul May the moment she walked in the door. It wasn't clear whether he had cleaned up for her arrival or not, although there was a distinct lack of dirty boxers laying around like there always had been in Brendan's room.

"You look like shit" was the first thing that Archie told her when she knocked on his door before inviting her in.

She was now sitting on one end of the couch holding a bottle of Heineken, dismally swirling the contents of the green bottle and waiting for Archie to sit down so she could spill her disastrous night. He was in the kitchen, readying something, but if it was food she certainly couldn't smell it. May sincerely hoped that she wasn't going to get any more surprises tonight.

May didn't get to find out. She glanced over at him with tired eyes, the adrenaline of the night starting to wear off, and saw him snapping shut a sleek, expensive-looking laptop. Not for the first time did she wonder what the hell he did for a living if he could afford a nice apartment with nice furniture and nice gadgets like a 60-inch flat screen TV and the beautiful monster that was his laptop.

After her encounter with Maxie's true nature, May was starting to think that honestly, anything was possible.

Archie took a long swig of his beer before tucking the laptop under his arm and coming to the living room. He tossed the laptop carelessly on the nearest loveseat in a manner that said he had absolutely no regard for the state of its wellbeing and then collapsed on the couch.

"So, d'you get fired or something?" he asked casually, taking another hearty gulp of beer.

May sighed and leaned back fully into the plush couch. "What do you do when you find out your boss is, at the very least, the head of a drug ring?"

This caught Archie's attention. "Where the hell are you working?" He was looking at her with great interest, leaning forward from his reclined position on the couch.

"Take wild guess," she deadpanned.

"The only place I know of that's involved with drugs is Maxine's Bakery." He snickered. "But I already told ya that was a bad place to work, so I know you're not stupid enough to have gotten a job there."

When May winced and crossed her arms, looking away, Archie's eyes widened comically.

"Oh, shit. No. No. Do not tell me you work at that fucking son of a bitch's pansy-ass shop."

Her dismal silence may as well have painted the word 'GUILTY' across her forehead in bright red lettering. With a Sharpie.

Archie was staring at her in openmouthed wonder. The look on his face said clearly that he had clearly misjudged her initially and was currently reassessing his judgment of her character—or rather, her brain mass.

"I told you not to work there!" he exclaimed after a long moment.

"You said Maxine's Bakery! It's Maxie's! I've never lived here before so how the hell was I supposed to know that there weren't two of them?" May wanted to be angry at his callousness, but she, too, was reassessing her brain mass. It hadn't been that hard to put together that the deprecating nickname was just that: a nickname.

Archie exhaled deeply and rubbed his eyes in exasperation. "It's not that hard to figure out, babe." There was deep disappointment in his tone. May flinched.

May felt the stress of the last two hours overwhelming her, giving her emotions the last push they needed to start overflowing. Tears pricked her eyes and she glared at the coffee table as though it had deeply offended her, trying to grasp onto anger directed at Archie rather than anger at herself. However, she was fighting a losing battle. To make up for it, she quickly chugged her beer, not caring how bad it tasted or the way it made her empty stomach churn.

They sat in silence, Archie deep in thought while May tried desperately not to break down into tears. It wasn't that big of a deal, right? Except for the fact she had been deceived and then more or less coerced into it by the severity of the situation.

"So, what are you going to do?" Archie asked at last. "You gonna quit?"

May closed her eyes to fight the stinging tears. "I don't think I can," she answered quietly.

"Why the hell not?" There was no accusation behind his tone, just harshly-worded curiosity.

Feeling the tears dangerously close to leaking out, May took a deep breath and tried not to let her voice convey her state of distress. "When I came in tonight, Maxie—my boss—wanted me to deliver a package for him. He didn't tell me what was in it, only that I would get five hundred dollars if I did it. Being dumb and naïve, I took the package. By the time I r-r-realized it was dr-drugs," May took a deep breath to steady her voice, "it was too late. I followed this guy Maxie sent me with back to the shop and then Maxie basically said that it would be a v-very good idea t-to acc-accept his offer. He was threatening me…"

Archie was silent as she talked and when he said nothing for a long time, May felt the hysteria she held in burst.

"I sold drugs!" she began to sob. She had just enough mind to put the beer down before she buried her face into her hands and began crying all-out. "I'm a criminal! If I had been caught, that would be a-a felony or something! I d-didn't r-realize—I'm-I'm so stup-stupid…"

If May had had any presence of mind to be observing Archie's reaction, she would have seen a second of genuine panic in his eyes at the sight of pretty girl who was crying on his couch in his living room. Then there would have been a moment of guilt for being so harsh with her when she was obviously distressed, then more panic as he tried to figure out how to respond.

However, all she noticed was that while she was midsentence babbling about how horrible and idiotic she was, Archie had pulled her into him. She immediately latched onto him and bawled into his chest while he held her. If she had been blessed with telepathic abilities, she would have heard him thinking something along the lines of:

Oh shit oh shit oh shit. This would be so much nicer if she wasn't crying. Shit shit shit. Hell, this would be fucking fantastic if she wasn't crying AND she was naked. Shit, shit, no, don't think like that about chicks who are crying, even if they're hot as hell...Shit! No, stop that! Fuck, she's still crying!

And as she continued to cry into his t-shirt, the more uncouth thoughts would have dissipated into:

Fuck! Will she ever stop blubbering? Motherfucker! I didn't fucking sign up for this!

And five minutes later…

God dammit. When did I become such a fucking pussy?

But all that May knew was that Archie was petting her hair and letting her cry hysterically into his warm, strangely comfortable chest. In fact, his chest was very, very comfortable, and there was nothing she could think of that was more comforting than his large, strong arms holding her close. With Archie there protecting her, the sudden thought that Maxie would never be able to take down someone like him to get to her was definitely reassuring.

With that thought, she slowly stopped crying and then drifted off to sleep.


xXx


"Babe? Babe?"

May had stopped crying, something for which Archie was very relieved, but now that she was quiet, she was…too quiet.

He tried again, a little louder this time. "May?"

When there was no response, he tried to pull away from her. However, this was thwarted by her snuggling closer to him. She was all but in his lap right now and there was the momentary thought that maybe she wanted something a bit more comforting than to just cry on his shoulder…

And then he realized she was asleep.

Damn it. She had fallen asleep on him, and he couldn't help but notice that she was something of a cuddler, too, because when he gently tried to pry her off him, she only gripped him tighter.

Archie sighed a long-suffering sigh and surrendered to the fact that she was sleeping on him. After his harsh treatment of her, he would feel guilty if he woke her up in order to send her home to sleep in her own bed. She was an attractive little thing and her natural scent was pretty nice, so it wasn't like he was terribly opposed to letting her sleep on him all night, except that he had other things to attend to in about…

Archie glanced at the digital clock on his wall. In two hours. He also felt a little vindictive towards his enemy and rival for practically coercing May into selling drugs. He was pretty familiar with the tactic—make your newbie commit a crime so that they can't go ratting you out without getting into trouble themselves, then take advantage of their vulnerability and make them think that since they were already going to get in trouble if they were ever found out, they might as well get something substantial out of it. Money, to be specific. Archie had seen it happen a good number of times, but had always decided he liked his subordinates fully willing and there out of their own volition. Still, he wouldn't deny that it was a damn smart tactic.

But Maxie was fucking with the wrong chick if he was going to try to employ May. Archie had already laid his claim on the girl loud and clear, but apparently Maxie's eyes and ears were both blind and deaf because for fuck's sake, he had made it obvious.

Archie wasn't quite sure how Maxie had missed the fact that May was clearly his, but he had, and that needed to be rectified immediately. He and Maxie had had plenty of turf wars, competition over clientele, and fights over distributors, but there was no fucking way he was going to get into a pissing contest over May. He'd seen her first, since he had been the one to warn May away from that shithole of a bakery, so there really was no disputing the fact that if anyone was going to be in her company, it would be him.

He was distracted by his thoughts when May suddenly took a deep breath and then sighed heavily. Hope bloomed in his chest that she was finally waking up, but then she just shifted so that her head was resting on his lap—dangerously close to a place that was not ideal at the moment—and Archie suppressed a groan.

How long had it been since he had a really good fuck? He had had that fling with Shelly six or so months back, but he was a rather territorial male and Shelly liked living the good life too much to quit her 'job,' so that hadn't worked out for long. Contrary to popular belief, he wasn't one of the meatheads who hit it and quit it. Sure, he had had his fair share of one night stands and all, but he was getting to a point in his life where he was actually looking for something a little more…steady. With everything else always being such a shit storm, it would be nice to have a constant in his life.

He glanced down at the girl sleeping on his lap. Yeah, she was pretty young, and he knew better than to get involved with teenagers, who were so flighty and fickle, but something about May just drew him to her.

"Like a moth to a fucking flame," he sighed with vague frustration, absentmindedly running his fingers through her soft hair.

Before long, the doorbell rang and Archie cursed. He'd forgotten that he had ordered food since he hadn't eaten and May had seemed so distraught, but apparently, it was now here. The position he was in with the sleeping girl had been more than comfortable, but duty called.

Gently, he pried himself out from under her and went to answer the door. He dealt with the delivery boy easily, handing him a generous tip despite his irritation that he had been interrupted. When he turned back around, chicken wings and pizza in hand, May was blinking and sitting up.

"Did I…did I fall asleep or something?" she asked blearily.

He grunted an affirmation. "You hungry?" he then asked, holding up the boxes of food.

May stared at him for a moment before the smell of hot pizza and buffalo chicken wings hit her. "Hell yeah, I am," she said with a small smile. Then she faltered, as if remembering everything that had happened before she fell asleep.

"Don't worry about it," he told her, setting the food down and going to get some plates. "I'll handle it. You just stay away from him."

May nodded. "Okay."

He returned with the plates, another beer for himself, and then a can of coke for May, since he didn't think drinking was something that would be good for her at this point. She was quiet as she piled her plate high with a little bit of everything and was even quieter as she ate. He decided that it would be best to let her process the day and eat in peace. Maxie, however, was not going to be getting much peace at all come 2am. Archie was going to have to pay his friend a little visit.

Like a moth to a flame, indeed.


Review time!

Mucho amor para: Darling Grimm, TrueIchiro, Anime-girl-next-door, Pikas, loli-belle, DragonkynNatKiasu, Skyblu7, RubySmiley, JetravenEx, mononokehime503, Akatsupure, Smiling Loki, Almiaranger, Felicity Dream, EnigmaUniverse, L van Am, Veiton, 0Shadow Panther0, mupp3tbab3h, Alex T. Wallman, EndlessStorm, Ninten-Fan143, Okeanos-heart, the cerulean samurott, TrebleKnight, , and terracannon876.

To both DragonkynNatKiasu and Pikas: Thanks for asking for my friend code! You both are awesome!

JetravenEx - I have a feeling you're really going to like the next chapter. ;) No spoilers though! Also, my friend code is currently residing in your inbox. As far as your question, I'd want to live in Hoenn, so I suppose my life would be similar to trying to become a super-strong trainer and all. Then again, I might try to become an Admin for Team Aqua, just so I could interact with Archie. (Shelly, you have competition! :D) I'd probably have Absol as my number-one Pokemon, and I probably wouldn't have any starters. As far as just a team I would like to have that doesn't have to be able to handle just about everything, I'd have Absol, Altaria, Salamence, Flygon, and possibly Rayquaza and Kyogre. Then again, that would mean I was the main character, so who knows? Maybe Archie and I will be PARTNERS instead of me just being an Admin. ;)

Anime-girl-next-door - Why is Hoenn my favorite? Because...because...everything. Specifically, though, I love the characters. And I really like the layout. Beaches, lots of ocean, a volcano, forests, deserts...it's just fantastic. :D

Pikas - As far as Madara-sensei!, I have absolutely no idea. It's not going to be discontinued (seriously, almost 50 reviews for two chapters?!) but it's taking a little while. I promise it will be updated as soon as I can. But Oral Presentation is truly my first priority right now. I'm just having too much fun with it.

DragonkynNatKiasu - I'm not super familiar with Gen IV, but as far as mega evolutions...hmm...probably any of the legendaries. I wasn't really a fan of the new Pokemon with the exception of Luxray, so...yeah.

Skyblu7 - I'm taking my sweet time with AS because I want to stretch out the excitement of the story line for as long as possible. :D I'm currently in Cave of Origins struggling to capture Kyogre without making it faint... :/

RubySmiley - A Voltorb named Ballin'? You are FANTASTIC! Also, PM me whenever you like! I love making new friends! (And trust me, nobody on this earth could drag me away from writing, so don't worry about interrupting or anything. I'll get back to you as soon as I can WITHOUT messing up the flow of the story.) :)

Smiling Loki - Absol FTW!

Veiton - So glad you're not lurking anymore and have come into the light! Looking forward to further reviews from you!

Ninten-fan143 - Never be afraid to give suggestions! The fact that Maxie is becoming a more central character is because people suggested Maxie so many times that I made it a love-square, so no worries! That is an interesting idea and we'll definitely see about it. :)

terracannon876 - Thank you for pointing that out about Tabitha. I'm not familiar with him at all, since I only did my research on Maxie. Truth be told, I thought Tabitha was a girl for the longest time until I looked him up! LOL I'm not going to go back and fix it, per se, but I can definitely make him more in-character in the future, and I can certainly come up with a reason why he was OOC in his debut. Maybe he was high? Who knows! Tabitha isn't an integral part of the story, but I want to keep everyone as in-character as possible, so again, thank you!

Next chapter is the one that all of you Maxie-May-Archie fans have been waiting for! It will have none of May's POV aaaaand...that's all I'm telling you!

Reviews are love and I get so much overwhelming encouragement I just can't stand it, there MAAAAAAY be a THURSDAY UPDATE! And, if the next chapter is out by then, there will ALSO be a Friday update!

So shower me with love!

(You all are already so fantastic anyways, I'm not sure why I'm asking for reviews anymore. I guess I just like hearing your opinions and comments so much that I just can't help myself!)

For those who didn't read the review replies, the region I would live in is Hoenn, specifically Alpha Sapphire. I'd also be Archie's partner, not just an Admin. ;)

Question: Favorite single-type Pokemon? For example, you could choose Torchic but not Combusken or Blaziken. It has to be single-type, no matter where it is in the evolution line!

Ta!