Welcome Home ch12: The truth
"Glaceon, jump!"
Feeling her guts burn in effort, May ordered the next attack of her small partner with a loud and strong voice. "I'm counting on you, let's go! Blizzard attack!"
Glaceon tried to follow the complex commands as fast as possible, though the ice pokemon hesitated quite a bit to perform them due to something strange about the coordinator's voice.
Absol and the other pokemon outside their pokeballs were watching the duo perform with attentive eyes - also sensing something strange in the air.
Drew raised an eyebrow watching his Contest partner ooze a sinister aura around herself. The boy raised his arm ready to order Absol's next move but he swiftly changed his mind, choosing to stay in silence instead.
"Huh, what's wrong?" The coordinator girl blinked in surprise then fretted, clenching her fists tightly. "Drewww, we don't have time to do mistakes like that! We're running out of time to practice this..."
"I agree," Drew groaned in a displeased voice. "Can't you see you're totally out of yourself? Gosh, this is not going to work until you show more confidence in the right places."
"But I-I I'm fine!..." May felt her cheeks getting warmer. "My voice shows confidence, I'm sure Glaceon can do all of this! You're the one here who needs more concentration..."
"Are you sure? Look at Glaceon's eyes... You're not being confident, you're being plain aggressive." The green-haired boy sighed, crossing his arms. "That energy is not being used to test limits or improve anything. You're just vomiting personal issues on your poor pokemon."
"Me?"
The brunette quickly changed her attention to her pokemon; Glaceon growled and gave her an obedient yet sad look, making the trainer grimace in guilty.
"Aw, I'm sorry! I'm sorry for being so harsh with you, Glaceon... It's just that-" May refused to admit she was the one wrong, dodging her rival's inquisitive stare. "C'mon, you provoked it first! It's hard to hold my temper all the time... It's your fault I'm annoyed?"
"Uh, it's your fault I'm annoyed?" The rival repeated her allegation, including the question mark in the end of the original quote. "What kind of logic is that? I was the one who tolerated your silly jokes with Harley for the entire meal, I even didn't get praised for that! How can you be the annoyed one here? I mean, unless... Are you bothered about what happened few hours ago?"
The clumsy brunette almost tripped on the floor after hearing that question.
"Why!" She waved her arms frantically. "Hmpf, like I care! Well, how can I be angry about something I don't know? I have no idea what Brianna told you."
Drew shrugged, sitting next to his house's entrance. He picked up one of the blue scarves on the floor and tied it around his wrist. "I was talking about Harley but... Oh well, you gave me the true answer now. I know what's bugging you so much."
May opened her mouth to answer it but she couldn't say a word.
"So, what if I told you what she said to me?" Her rival kept going. "Would it change anything?"
"W-Wait..." She calmed down for a second, breathing in a slow rhythm. "Was it... Something important?"
"It's... Confidential information." The green-haired boy smiled with an arrogant and teasing grin. "Why should I tell you what exactly Brianna talked to me?"
The brunette put her hands on her hips in disgust. "Egh..."
"Because..." She frowned, still fairly upset. "Because I'm curious! I'm more curious than a bad nosy Skitty! Gee, just tell me already!"
The real Skitty raised its ears in vigilance, jumping in excitement for hearing its name. Munchlax rolled its eyes out and patted on the pink cat's head.
"Okay, I enjoy your humble sincerity." Drew smirked. "Good point."
Jealousy much?
He grinned in vain, but subtly shifted his arrogant smile to a less abrasive one. "I'd never reveal Brianna's secret, that would be completely rude and it's none of your business, right? However-"
"I don't know why so much curiosity about it but... I think that, for you, it doesn't change anything." He flicked the tip his hair and stood up right in front of his partner. "Are you by any chance also angry because of an innocent small peck on the cheek? Really?"
"Hey!" The brunette felt her face intensively flustered. Was that the mysterious reason that was getting on her nerves so much? "No! Why does that makes any difference, I'm angry with you, not Brianna! Because... Because..."
"Because- you're making this secret talk sound like a big deal!" She put her hands on her head in distress like a Psyduck with headache. "And also because- Gah, I don't know! Never mind, forget it... You annoy me, that's all!"
"I have no idea what you've just said but-" They boy touched his face and added one more detail to his answer in a casual voice. "Okay, so make it even. There, kiss me."
May walked closer to Drew in pure impulse then stopped in front of him with a shocked expression painted all over her face. "Then- Wait... Kiss you?"
"Go ahead." The boy tilted his head to the side, crossing his arms behind his back. "If this is what is bothering you so much... Just do it."
Suddenly, all pokemon stared directly at May. She frowned, refusing to stare back - focusing her eyes to her shoes instead. Her hands were sweating and trembling in anxiety - confused thoughts inside her head, adrenaline rush inside her veins.
Every single life form in that place was waiting for her answer. "I..."
"I... I can't!"
The brunette quickly looked at his disarming eyes; after that, she felt her cheeks blush and went back staring at her own shoes. "I can't! I don't want to kiss you! Why would I do that?"
Silence.
Glaceon cried softly and sat by Absol's side. Meanwhile, the other pokemon decided to go back to what they were doing before the two coordinators started training outside the house.
"I was just joking anyway," Drew whispered slightly embarrassed, slowly changed his smug expression to a mildly annoyed one. "So, what the heck you want..."
The green-haired boy crouched next to Absol and took Harley's scarf off his arm, wearing it around his pokemon's neck. The elegant beast stretched its body and moved it to nuzzle the coordinator's hand, noticing the subtle disappointment inside those emerald green eyes.
Absol silently looked at Glaceon; Glaceon nodded and stared at May, who felt her heart sink down to the stomach. The whole climax was gone.
If Drew offered his hand to dance with her, she would probably accept it.
Why did she refuse it then?
The shy coordinator bit her lower lip, clearly upset for being pressured to make the first move in front of everybody. That was so unfair! She was also unhappy for giving Drew such a lame answer; acting like this only made things more difficult and hurting her partner's ego with such immediate bad answer didn't help either, for sure.
"Oh boy, I'm being stupid again..." The girl talked to herself, hitting her forehead. "I'm so dumb."
"Hey, Drew. I... Didn't mean to say that." She sat by his side, still not confident enough to look at his eyes but clearly trying to fix her previous statement. "I-I mean, I don't want to kiss you, but..."
May closed her eyes then took a long breath.
"I'm a girl and your partner, at least until tomorrow I'll be more than a rival... I wish meanwhile you could consider some stuff that didn't matter while we were just mortal enemies. Girls not always know what they want, you know that? Take it easy."
"I..." Drew raised his eyebrow in confusion - May's weird change of speech kind of surprised him. "Honestly, I have no idea what you're talking about."
"I mean, I always wanted to get closer to you without looking stupid, it's so hard to reach you without failing it! Then Brianna out of nowhere managed to do what I always wanted to do-"
The brunette pictured herself in her thoughts telling him the truth - however, somehow the second part of her words escaped from out of her mouth. "You let her do that. You helped it happen, you never do that to me! Yeah, that's why I got a bit angry about all of this!"
"It doesn't make sense at all but..." The coordinator boy crossed his arms, frowning his eyebrows a bit. "Are you implying that..."
May felt her body turning red.
What did she just say?
"Ahem... Lalala, that's it! I think I've solved the problem myself, I'm not angry with you anymore!" Completely mortified, she blurted out a random excuse with a forced happy smile, sweat drops storming out of her head. "Haha... Isn't it great?"
"... No?"
"Not a little bit?" May forced her happy smile to grow into a huge grin. "Uh, please?"
"No?" Drew felt his whole face frown in disbelief against his own will.
That whole silly speech confirmed his first intuition.
'Jealousy much'? Yes, jealousy much.
He considered shooting an answer about how awful her excuse was, however...
A small spark inside his head flashed an interesting idea. That was an opportunity way too good be missed.
"Well, I can't really rewind the time neither deny that Brianna kissed me, but..." Pulling the tip of May's pink bandanna, the boy chuckled under his breath. "Okay, close your eyes."
"My eyes?" The brunette girl raised her hand in a interrogative attitude. "Why should I-"
Mimicking Brianna's gesture, Drew lowered his head gently and gave an abrupt and quick kiss on her cheek.
"There." He poked her head with the palm of his hand. "Now calm down, we got a big show tomorrow, people from all continents will be watching us. I want it perfect, I'll kill you if your crazy airhead of yours blew it all because of nonsense stuff. Stop panicking."
"Ah..." May held her cheek in a dazzled way, feeling her skin with a delicate touch of her fingers.
She shook her head in embarrassment, trying to look as normal as possible after receiving that unexpected sweet kiss.
"T-That's what I said before!... Concentration, concentration!" Putting the other scarf around Glaceon's neck, May sang those words to herself. "Concentration, concentration!"
Drew sighed, touching his lips thoughtfully.
"You sound oddly happier now." He observed, small devilish grin appearing on his mouth.
"I do not!" May pouted. "I was no longer angry way before this!"
"You do."
"I do not!"
"Sorry, I can't help I'm much more popular and desired than you... And guess no one besides Harley likes to kiss the bad moody queen, huh?" The green-haired coordinator gave her a playful pitiful look. "Did I give you some hope in the end of the tunnel? You do sound happier now."
"Hmpf!" She shook her head again then stuck her tongue out in provocation. "Concentrate on our Appeal first, then we discuss about that, alright! Jerk..."
The girl winked then blew a kiss to her partner.
"Okay, we are all even now!" May smiled playfully. "Are you ready?"
The boy blinked. He didn't move for few seconds then briefly muttered something impossible to recognize, flicking the tip of his hair.
"Hm? What did you say?"
"Nothing. Alright, let's do this." He grinned, trying to change the subject and ready to have a blast. "Tomorrow is our real test."
Leaving the bathroom with a wet towel on his head, Drew threw himself on the bed then drowned his face into his pillow.
Turning his body to the side, the green-haired teen spotted May in pink pajamas organizing some stuff inside her bag - then walking into his direction.
"May I?"
Hearing his partner talking to him, the boy didn't say a word in answer but slowly rolled out to the side, giving some generous space on his bed. The girl scratched her head in embarrassment, smiling meekly.
"Thank you."
She jumped to his side in a childish way, bouncing playfully on the bed. "Wheee!"
"You're terrible, you know?" The boy sighed then muttered with a small grin on his face. "I bet Max is the one who used to take care of you, not the opposite."
The two young coordinators were a bit tired after training very hard for their next day's exhibition, slightly sore throats and tired legs - still, none of them felt too sleepy. May was full of adrenaline dreaming of spotlights and her beautiful red dress; Drew was quite busy fighting agaisnt those strange feelings inside his chest. They were growing stronger and somehow it was getting harder to hide them.
The brunette poked her partner's back, whispering her words in a happy tone. "Drewww, are you awake?"
"Hm..." Turning his back to the other side, he faced two big curious eyes watching him with glee. "Yeah, I am. Why?"
"Oh, me too. I think I'm too excited about tomorrow! This is going to be amazing, we did a great job! I'm so tired yet so anxious! So... How are you feeling? I think you and Absol did a great job, the ice petals look so pretty and real!"
"Yeah, they do..." The boy slowly replied while putting the towel on his head aside. "Don't worry. We will be fine, Glaceon and Absol are fully confident about their skills. You just need to not hesitate, that's all."
"Ehehe..." The brunette grinned, poking his shoulder in a teasing manner. "You know, I love competing against you but working together with you is-"
"May..."
Drew touched her hair in a gentle way. He couldn't stop watching her innocent and surprised eyes. He was trying really hard to hold all the strange feelings running down his spine, holding his arms to not get closer to her. However, the confused boy couldn't help but keep playing with her hair, caressing as if it was fragile as that cold rose petal.
"Why? I don't understand..." He frowned in a puzzled expression, feeling his body getting heavy and uncomfortable. "Why I can't..."
"Drew?..."
May couldn't really read his face; she didn't know why he looked so tense and a bit... Sad? His gestures were tender but something about his sharp eyes warned that her partner was feeling uneasy and reluctant about something strange.
But what exactly was it?
"Uh... What's wrong, Drew? Are you okay," the teenager girl spoke in a soft way, slightly worried about her partner. "What's bothering you?"
"Nothing..." He let his hand go out of her hair, retreating it and sighing quietly to himself. "Look, I'm not exactly sleepy but I guess I need some rest. You know, I'm really tired..."
"Oh..." The brunette muttered, lowering her eyes. "Okay, then..."
"But... You know, Luvdisc's Pink Sea..." With a quite serious look on his face, the young boy watched his rival close her eyes. "If you want to see wild Luvdisc once in your life, maybe... I think you might find them in that island Sid told you about. It's a real place."
"Island?" May opened her eyes in mildly surprise.
"Yes, Luvdisc families live in nests made from Corsola branches... I actually know how to go to that place, we just need some pokemon that can surf to southeast LaRousse." The boy coughed, slightly embarrassed. "Maybe we could... Check it someday?"
"Oh! Really?" The brunette exclaimed in surprise. "That would be so awesome! It's the prettiest natural spot in LaRousse, isn't it? Ohhh, Wartole would handle this just fine! Sid and Brianna are dying to see the Pink Sea, it's supposed to be a romantic place and we could all go together to..."
"Hmm..." All of sudden, May blushed, putting her hands close to her chest. "Unless you..."
"Drew, are you inviting me for a date?"
Another huge awkward silence filled up the bedroom.
"Uh, maybe... Yes? Now we're officially partners and rivals, right?" The boy tried to fix his proposal, pretending it was no big deal by crossing his arms and avoiding staring at those curious sapphire eyes. "Only a comrade thing. Well, you complained about how you want to be treated like a girl, so... There's nothing weird about that, is there?"
"It is a bit..." The girl giggled sweetly. "Harley would mock us so badly, don't you think?"
May closed her eyes and smiled, thinking about his kiss. Both returned to their heavy awkward silence for another couple of seconds.
The boy came up with an answer as soon as he figured out what he needed to say to break up that uncomfortable cage. "Never mind. You're right, it's a stupid idea."
The brunette didn't understand Drew's sudden change of heart; that really surprised her. Her timid heart was jumping out of her chest - trying to keep going on with their weird chat, she just rambled whatever went on her mind. "I don't think it's a stupid idea!"
"It is a stupid idea!" He quickly replied, a little bit harsher than he intended to sound. "It has nothing to do with Contests and people would most likely bother us for going out together. It's nonsense, blame my tired brain."
"I don't care it has nothing to do with Contests! Luvdisc, hmm..."
Who cares about what the others say? The girl wanted him to invite her out... She really regretted talking about Harley. Maybe she should just shut up about that friend, Drew obviously felt annoyed every time his name appeared in their discussion. "I know those, I've seen a whole swarm of them once, I guess? The heart-shaped ones, right? Hahaha, they're adorable... So, we can find them in LaRousse if we surf to southeast, huh?"
"Oh." Drew's eyes got wide open. May had already seen wild Luvdisc before? "Really? They're very rare and can only be found by humans in their natural habitat and in very... Specific conditions."
"Hmm..." With a curious tone, he added a question. "You've seen a swarm of those before? How come?"
May raised an eyebrow, feeling that one was a quite odd question. "Huh... Why?"
"Well, it's..." The boy coughed, unsure how to put his thoughts in words. "Wild Luvdisc are somehow fragile and they're very afraid of humans... They are a quite rare sea Pokemon, you know?"
Manaphy...
May's heart suddenly got heavier.
"Yeah, I've heard they are rare. The water gym leader from Hoenn had one, though... And my gym leader friend from Kanto got a couple for their Aquarium as well." The brunette tried to shrug off her nostalgia, trying to smile thinking of Misty. "The sensational sisters show them in their Aquatic Exhibition! It must be beautiful!"
"Oh, that's lovely... But you haven't answered me yet."
May blushed, a bit uncomfortable. Those memories about her times with Manaphy were very special but also intimate... Also, Drew's enigmatic and inquisitive stare was making her feel just too nervous and shy to talk about it.
"Drew..." She shook her head in embarrassment. "Uh, it's a very personal memory..."
"Eh?" The green-haired rival blinked. Such strange surprise that he didn't bother to pretend not being interested on her story. "Personal memory?"
"I... I saw lots of them once in the Kanto sea..."
Drew felt even more puzzled. She quickly tried to complete the context of her line. "I know, they are native from Hoenn... I am not lying, Ash saw them too and we... And..."
Ash? That Ash again?... Drew frowned. "Oh. Ash Ketchum?"
"Hgh, I don't want to talk about it right now. The whole story meant a lot for me and - oh gosh, I miss him in my arms..." May bit her lower lip, looking down her legs. Manaphy's happy cry echoed in her mind, making her heart wrench in reminiscence.
"Sorry, I get a bit emotional when I think I might never see my friend again..." The brunette girl smiled softly, looking at Drew with gentle eyes. "Do you know that feeling? When you love someone but you can't stay together with that someone?"
Drew's heart stopped for a second.
Wasn't it obvious... It was those two moments, the one he desired the most and the one he never wanted to happen - but, deep inside his heart, he knew it was an obscure possibility.
It was that special smile. She finally fully opened herself to him. May let herself show her love, all her affection and kindness ready to welcome someone in her arms...
...But not him.
The boy cringed, feeling ashamed and confused. Suddenly many things became clearer - but also bitter and harsher.
That smile... It disarmed him.
Ash this, Ash that...
What was May doing? Weren't the two of them flirting with each other all day long? Why did they start opening their hearts to each other? What was that whole talk about getting closer? Being gentler and nicer?
He wanted to get closer. Now he knew he really wanted it for real. Not for fun, not for rivalry, just because May... Was just May. And that was enough.
But he couldn't.
"...Ah, I see." Drew laughed to himself - then turned his back to his partner. "I guess I was the blind one, huh? Such an irony..."
The climate suddenly changed faster than a fingersnap. May couldn't see or understand what changed in the air but something really made it get colder.
"Sorry, Drew. That's a long and complicated story... I promise, I'll tell you about it maybe another time..." The brunette frowned. "It's just... Now... I can't really..."
"Don't worry, you don't need to keep going with that. It's personal, isn't it? Anyway, we should sleep, tomorrow will be an important day."
Few minutes ago she was feeling very heavy and warm, very warm - but she felt something heavier and surprisingly cold hit her chest... What happened?
The boy sighed, shrugging off the nonsense thoughts he had just imagined and tried to pretend that nothing had happened. However, what he really wanted to do was to hit his fist against the wall and yell.
Drew felt defeated.
"Yeah I see... Well, whatever. Goodnight, May."
"Night' Drew..."
And he had just figured out what exactly were his feelings for her.
A/N: Thank you very much for your lovely comments and support, you guys make writing stories so much fun! I'm almost done writing [Welcome Home] but don't worry, I've got few ideas to work on as soon as I finish either this or [When Drew met May]~ I wonder if I should write more A/U or animeverse stories, which one do you enjoy the most?
About this chapter... Aww, they were so close! Drew almost said it but he gave it up after feeling his ego completely crushed! Bad time to lose the game - but now he knows what's going on inside his heart... Go Drew, you can do it! You didn't have any problem kissing May on the cheek, how about telling her your real feelings?
Next chapter... Appeals Show, here we go! Time to take the stage, I wonder how great will be May and Drew's teamwork in the next day of CW~
