A/N: This fic is inspired by DirtyFeet's story of the same pairing, specifically their present/past layout and chapter naming. Their fic is better than mine and I wholly encourage you to read it if the May/Steven pairing piques your interest!
Disclaimer: This is a blanket disclaimer for my whole story: I do not claim ownership over Pokemon or anything related to the games or anime. I'm just doing this for fun and pleasure. ORAS verse.
Prologue
In the late midnight hours of Kalos, a young man with silver hair sat hunched over a simple desk, flanked by two mounds of dusty books of subjects spanning from natural history to geology to the history of the Kalosian dialect. He leaned on his palm, reading one of the old books with an intense, focused gaze. He did not stop to have dinner, he did not mind the time. Steven Stone did nothing without with interest and intensity.
Ring. Ring. Ring.
The sudden tritone buzz of his phone startled him out of his focus, making him slide off of his palm and knock over the nearest book mound. He winced as dust and papers scattered about the floor. Steven wondered, with a tinge of annoyance, who could possibly be calling him at so late an hour.
He glanced at the glowing screen of his father's invention, but it read simply: out of area.
"Hello, who's this? Do you have any idea how late it is?" he rasped, his voice heavy from disuse.
"Hello, Steven," a sultry voice murmured, "Why yes! It's only six pm, in Hoenn, that is! I just finished up a dreadfully dull afternoon at the gym, but now I'm drinking a martini and enjoying this gorgeous weather we've been having lately."
"Wallace, to what do I owe this...welcome pleasure?" Steven chuckled, leaning back in his chair.
"I suppose I was calling to check up on my dear friend, since you haven't bothered checking in with me in a while," Wallace chided. Steven winced. He was going to have to grovel.
"I do apologize, Wallace. I've had to table my research for the last few weeks while I helped round up the last of Team Flare. Things have just started to settle down though, and it's the first I've sat down to read since-"
Wallace cut him off impatiently, "Excuses! You didn't think once to call your friends and family and check in after the Team Flare incident?! I was worried I was going to turn on the news and see your face in the headlines!"
Steven rolled his eyes at Wallace's drama, but was not surprised: this was how Wallace was on a good day.
"Of course I'm safe! No one was injured, there's just structural damage to Geosenge and some criminals roaming free. Like I said, things are settling down."
Wallace hummed skeptically.
"Well, apart from being a good friend and checking up on you, I did have another purpose in calling you so late..." Wallace paused theatrically, making Steven inquire into it further.
"Yes, Wallace?"
"I received a message today from none other than your father, informing me that you were planning on coming home soon to help him with the company," Wallace drawled, "is this true?"
"Is that so? My father just called you out of the blue to tell you that?" Steven said incredulously. There was some shifting on the other line, and then a deep sigh.
"Okay, I confess that I called him first, but that's neither here nor there. Is it true you're coming back?"
Steven smirked, reminded again that nothing ever gets past Wallace.
"Yes, indeed, I'm leaving for Hoenn as soon as I finish attending to others here."
Wallace smiled mischievously, "What's that supposed to mean? Oh god, please don't tell me you're bringing someone back with you."
"What, no! Where on earth did you get that idea?" Steven snapped defensively, "I just meant that I have to finish up my research at Sycamore's lab and duties to the local Kalosians here."
"Oh yes, how will Kalos ever go one without Steven Stone?" Wallace moaned dramatically, taking a mighty gulp of his martini.
"They'll manage," Steven muttered, and paused thoughtfully for a moment. "I hope you know that I was planning on telling you, I've just been busy these past few weeks. I'm actually looking forward to coming home."
Steven's quiet admission piqued Wallace's interest substantially. The flamboyant gym leader sat up in his chair, setting his martini glass down on the table.
"I suppose you would be, after four years of being away from your home...your friends. Have you kept in touch with anyone else, besides me?" Wallace pressed. There was a surreptitious glint in his eyes that Steven could not see. A pause quieted the line.
"Uh...no, I haven't," he admitted quietly. Wallace slumped, disappointed.
"Who have you been keeping up with since we last spoke?" Steven countered, spiking Wallace's interest a second time.
"Oh, you know, the usual crowd. Juan, Flannery, the psychic twins, who, by the way, just turned sixteen," Wallace could hear Steven feign interest over the line.
"And of course, I see quite a lot of May too," Wallace added, nonchalantly. Though Wallace could never read his friend's mind, he knew there was always more to Steven's friendship with the blushing young Champion than he led Wallace, and himself, to believe.
A third pause filled the line, and every second of silence further confirmed Wallace's hunch.
"How is she?" Steven murmured quietly. Wallace cleared his throat.
"She's matured into the role quite beautifully since you've been gone. You would be proud of her."
A wash of sadness colored Steven's face. He closed his eyes, thankful this was a voice call with Wallace and that they weren't speaking over video or in person.
"Of course I'm proud of her," he forced out a cheery tone, "I knew she would do wonders for the League."
Wallace hummed in response. Hoping to arise some more curiosity and feeling from Steven about the young woman, Wallace ventured, "I'm sure she'll be happy to hear of your return."
Steven felt his pulse quicken.
"Yes, well, I am looking forward to seeing her."
Wallace smiled.
"I'm sure she will be even happier to hear that."
Ever Grande City was known for the Pokemon League, its opulent architecture, winding cobblestone paths, fine dining, and temperate weather. Though the island received tourists year round, the waters surrounding the Island made swimming and surfing nearly impossible, with swells reaching ten meters high and currents powerful enough to churn whirlpools. So, people came to the Island to enjoy pokemon battles and good weather, not to swim.
But few knew of the existence of a hidden cove on the far north face of the Island. Surrounded by sheer cliffs and loose boulders, the hike down to the quiet cove was treacherous on a good day, when the winds were gentle and fair. Those who risked the hike, however, were some of the lucky few to witness such natural beauty and splendor.
The waters in the cove were serene, still like glass. The sunlight was unobtrusive at all times of the day, and the wind that howled past the island gently whispered here in the cove. There was an ashy colored sand, and some krabbys often scuttled about in the tiny waves.
And there was a young woman.
May was propped up on her elbows, her hair down and her feet plunged into the cool sand, as she watched some of her pokemon play in the shallow waters.
May visited the cove almost daily now. Things at the League had slowed considerably, and they hadn't received a challenger in quite some time. They even hadn't heard of anyone new passing through Victory Road since January. Sid and Drake had warned May of potential lulls in the job, when trainers were either training or waiting for conditions to ease on the Road.
May feared that Victory Road had become too difficult. She began to question the Road's purpose as the League's selective practice and rite of passage. After all, there were many trainers who were not as able bodied as those who have made it through, and yet their teams were equally, if not more, strong and powerful. Perhaps, May wondered, some of the best trainers had been wrongfully weeded out by the Road.
May thought briefly of Wally: his quiet determination, his kindness and gentleness towards others and his pokemon, and his skill, his tremendous skill. And yet, his journey had been stunted at various points because of his health problems, his family's interference. When May breezed up a mountain, Wally would falter. When she scoured underwater caverns for pokemon and relics, Wally remained on the shore. When she won eight gym badges, Wally won his first.
In the back of her mind, she had always hoped that, one day, he would ascend Victory Road, ascend and defeat the ranks of the Elite Four, and give May a run for her money, like she once did for another. But the last time they had spoken, Wally had left the Road after a long stint inside to return to Verdanturf to rest.
It just didn't seem fair anymore.
The whole lot of the job.
That's when May realized that she and her pokemon needed spaces like the cove to retreat to when they were on the Island. Hoenn had a strained relationship with their seas. Though the oceans that permeated Hoenn gave the land so much richness and depth, the ocean for some Hoennese people was a place of perilous beauty; unlike the people of Pacifidlog or Sootopolis, the people of Ever Grande saw the ocean as an enemy to contend with, not as a thing to be loved or enjoyed.
But for May, the ocean, the currents, the rain and the waves, were grounding experiences for her and her team. They reminded her that there was life and adventure beyond the waters of this cove, beyond the waves of this island, beyond the oceans of this beloved country. May knew she needed to be reminded of this.
Latios suddenly cawed at May. She looked up to the blue eon dragon, but it was obvious something else had caught Latios' attention. Her lucario waded out of the water towards May, also turning his gaze behind May.
"What is it, Rio?" May asked, leaning up from her comfortable position.
The aura pokemon pointed towards the trail, and indeed, to May's great surprise, there was another visitor, clambering down the path.
"Wallace," May murmured, "as I live and breathe."
Seeing the pristinely dressed gym leader fumble down a rocky path was indeed a sight to behold. May thanked Rio for his dutiful report and watch, and got up to help Wallace down before he hurt himself.
"Wallace, don't you know that those shoes are inappropriate for hiking?" May called as she approached him. Wallace rolled his eyes.
"Well, May, if you didn't have to be so damn near impossible to find, I would have dressed more accordingly."
"You could've called!" May countered.
Wallace scoffed emphatically. "Like you'd ever answer!"
The two stared at each other defiantly, until both cracked and laughed heartily over their well-rehearsed banter. May was grateful to have gotten closer to Wallace over the past several years.
"Enough of that, let's go for a stroll," he smiled, putting his arm around her shoulders. They walked in silence for a few minutes along the shore, where the sea embraced the sand. May peered up at him, trying to get a read on his face, but for some reason, his expression was inscrutable to her. Wallace, the man who always revealed his emotional cards, was vacant, unreadable.
"So what do I owe the pleasure, Wallace?" May finally asked. Wallace let his arm drop from May's shoulders and walked deeper into the waves, letting his white pants soak in the salt water. He stopped, peering out into the seemingly endless horizon of blue. Latios had retreated back at the first sign of another human, as May had trained him to do. Wallace sighed sharply.
"Now I see why you're never at the League, May. This place is stunning, a natural wonder of water. You're a woman after my own heart! I wonder why the currents don't reach here..."
"This is the north face of the island. The currents run up and around the island and bypass this inlet. It's perfect for swimming," May eyed him, seeing if he could be tempted to swim with her.
"You tempt me, but alas I'm not dressed for swimming," he said, looking down at his clothes.
May hummed in agreement. She could tell, though Wallace often visited her, that this wasn't a visit to chat idly about the weather.
"I remember Steven telling me about a cove with calm waters he would frequent on Ever Grande City. He'd go whenever work at the League slowed, or if Drake was giving him a hard time for his lack of participation and presence. I never pegged him as someone who'd appreciate a place that wasn't a dark cave or made of rare stones. But... he loved that cove," Wallace murmured thoughtfully, hoping to spark something inside of the Champion. But May's face was stoic, and he could tell that she was calculating her next words very carefully. Indeed, May was unsure of how to respond to his story without arousing any suspicion.
Yet Wallace was no village idiot, and he certainly knew how to read May. Wallace knew that May's feelings for Steven, whatever they were four years ago, were, at the very least, dimly present.
He turned back to May, his eyes brimming with anticipation that something, anything, would happen.
"Steven called me last night. He told me he's coming home in a few weeks, and that he is looking forward to seeing you."
May's face remained stoic for a moment, until suddenly, she cracked a flippant smile.
"You came all the way out here to tell me that?"
Wallace stared.
"Yes, I thought you'd want to know." May's smile fell.
"Why?"
"Don't play dumb."
"Well, why would I?" May countered, feigning disinterest, "He hasn't spoken to me once since he left."
"You two were very close and involved in each other's lives, May," reasoned Wallace.
"I mean he knew a lot about my life," May corrected, "But aside from that, I hardly knew anything personal about him."
Wallace paused thoughtfully.
"Right... well, Steven's always been, ah...a bit of an enigma. What I do know of him, I know that you mean a lot to him and that he considers you his friend," Wallace countered. May looked up to him, her frown deepened thoughtfully.
"He does?"
"Of course," Wallace emphasized, "even more so than me." May went silent again. He sighed.
"Well, I hope you can find time to spare with him. He told me that he's going to be in Hoenn for a while," Wallace said.
"For a while?" May repeated, hazarding a glance up to Wallace.
"I think permanently."
May nodded slowly. She suddenly walked out of the water.
"Thanks for stopping by, Wallace, but I should be getting back to the League," she said brusquely, collecting her beach bag and towel.
"Rio?" she summoned her lucario, reaching for his pokeball. Before the aura pokemon was called back, he shot Wallace a purposeful look of concern. Wallace nodded once to acknowledge Rio, and smiled. His suspicions were indeed correct, as there was certainly more to this "friendship" than May currently led him to believe.
Wallace sighed deeply. He knew from personal experience that matchmaking was tough work, and that this was going to be an even harder sell since both Steven and May were hopeless in their communication skills.
As Wallace accompanied May back up the cliff towards the city, he could tell that May was preoccupied with her thoughts by the way she engaged distantly in their conversation. When they reached the city, May waved goodbye to Wallace and thanked him again for his company.
Wallace bowed his head to the reigning Champion and watched her walk away towards the League, her white linen coverup trailing along the cobblestone paths.
After years of knowing both May and Steven, it was clear to Wallace that May and Steven were more alike then they thought they were. In Wallace's imagination, May was bright and refreshing, like water. She was patient, full of life, and hopeful.
Though Steven was more of an enigma than May, he was equally patient and indeed hopeful, but in a quiet, steady, grounded way. Like stones in the earth.
May and Steven weren't opposites in Wallace's mind. They were partners, unbeknownst to one another, standing side by side towards the same future, eyes on the same goal. Wallace smiled, and sighed deeply.
For her sake and for Steven's, nothing was ever easy in love and war. But, like stones under rushing water, he knew that they would both come to rest in the same place in time.
"He is looking forward to seeing you."
May's conversation with Wallace left her mind churning with questions and anxiety. Questions about the manner of his return, if he was really staying for good like Wallace said and if he was indeed looking forward to seeing her.
In May's mind, Steven's return wasn't just a return to his home country. It was a return of four years of feelings May had long suppressed. Her feelings of anger and deep sadness and confusion came rushing back to her mind in the spans of one afternoon. The magnitude of her anger and sadness was surprising to her, after all this time.
When Steven first left, May, to her embarrassment and confusion, wondered how she would ever get over him. But because he was out of sight, out of her life and her circle of friends, she was able to genuinely bury the hope she had of him, one day, falling in love with her.
She walked on autopilot the steps to her navy blue front door and stood in front of it in silence for some time. She glanced to her left. Further down her quiet street, were the houses of Drake and Glacia and their respective families.
And before she knew it, she stood at the threshold of Drake's home, breathing heavily and on the verge of tears, as she held down the doorbell.
He can't come back. He just can't.
The door swung open on May's fifth ring. Drake's wife looked perturbed, but once she saw the distress and tears in May's eyes, her anger waned.
"May?" she gasped, "Whatever is the matter?"
Why is he coming back, after all these years?
"I-I... I need to talk with Drake," May stammered hazily. Drake's wife nodded once and walked away from the door to find her husband. Drake soon took his wife's place in the doorway, his eyes widening in disbelief at seeing the Champion's distress. He quickly stepped out of the house, closing the door behind him. Drake, even in the context of his own home, was somehow still intimidating to May. Maybe it was the mustache.
"What happened?" he asked lowly.
He's coming back.
"I-" May glanced up at his stern, cold eyes but quickly looked back down to her feet, "I want to leave, the League... just on a break, for a few months," she stated, hazarding another glance up to Drake's face. But his expression was unreadable.
"Why?" he asked simply. He hasn't spoken to me in four years.
"I just want to," May replied. Drake stared at her with his arms folded, studying her. He knew that, whatever happened to set May off, she was not going to share with him. And frankly, he didn't want to know. He didn't particularly appreciate chumminess, though he hated to see May in such pain and sadness.
"Well, as second in command, you have my permission to leave for a vacation," Drake said slowly. May sighed in relief. "But," he added sternly, "remember that if the League receives a challenger, and that challenger ascends and defeats our ranks, and you fail to return, you automatically forfeit your title. I won't make an exception for you, is that understood?"
May nodded once. Drake sighed heavily again.
"Which is unlikely anyway, since things have been so damn dull around here. You sure that's not why you're leaving?" he countered, glancing at the Champion's red eyes.
May shook her head.
"Alright... you sure you don't want to tell me why you're really leaving?" Drake pressed, somewhat awkwardly. May shook her head again, but this time smiled up at the graying admiral.
"No, Drake. And... I'll be fine, I just need to do this, for myself. It's long overdue," she breathed. Drake nodded slowly, and the two faced each other in silence for a few moments.
"Well, I'll let the others know," he said finally. May thanked him, and dried her eyes with her sleeve, turning to leave.
"May?" Drake called from his porch. She turned back to face him. A faint smile graced his sharp features.
"Go well," he said simply.
It was late April in Hoenn, gentle and cool, but still the daytime winds seemed to promise the swift arrival of warmer weather. May was scheduled to leave that evening from Slateport Harbor, aboard the SS Anne. The ship would take her to Vermillion City in Kanto, where she would begin a new journey. And although May had spent most nights of the last four years in Ever Grande City, her cabin on Route 119 was her forever home.
She considered selling it, but a remote cabin atop a waterfall on a perpetually rainy route didn't exactly scream prime real estate to anyone with half a brain. Besides, how could she sell her first home? This was another one of her safe havens during all of those lonely days after winning the Championship, the days when she realized that fulfilling her greatest dream made her feel emptier than ever before. Few people knew of its existence - a luxury May was grateful to have as a well-documented Champion. One of those few would be the cabin's, and her pokemon's, caretaker while May was away for the summer. As she folded her last pair of shorts, she heard a knock on the cabin door.
"It's open!" she called.
A young man with green hair and pale clothes walked through the door with a companion, a gallade. Beyond the threshold, May could see the afternoon deluge and could smell the now fragrant, happy grass from where she sat on the floor.
"Wally, you're drenched," she grimaced, trying to ignore the mud he had tracked in.
"Hey, blame yourself for choosing the wettest route in all of Hoenn for a vacation home," Wally quipped, brushing the rain droplets off his shoulders, most of which hit gallade in the face. May shrugged. She didn't mind the rain.
Wally whistled funnily at the general disarray of the cabin - May's last minute trip sent her home into a flurry of potions, antidotes, and max repels, as she tried to scrounge up all of her old gear, saved from her days as a trainer. On the kitchen table was a simple bin, filled with pokeballs. She tried hard not to look at them.
"I can't believe they are actually letting you take a vacation, especially since Steven was gone all the time. Shouldn't they see you as a flight risk?" Wally sighed as he took a seat at the kitchen table. She winced at his mention of Steven. Since Wallace had told her of Steven's impending return last week, May found herself wondering when or if he was back in Hoenn. If he was, he still hadn't contacted her. So much for being such great friends, as Wallace so argued. She did her best to dispel the image of Steven away from her mind. The last minute packing, and presence of her old friend, kept her mind busy, anyway.
"They understand how exhausting the job can be," May shrugged.
"Yeah, I bet they can see how much you've been changed by it, too."
May nodded thoughtfully at her kind friend and rival. It was true, she had changed. When she took her place as Champion, she was branded as the "fiery Champion." May thought it misleading PR: after all, her team didn't have a single fire type, and she much preferred the water to practically anything else. Thus, the meaning of fiery was pitched to her as twofold: her penchant for red clothes and her brave, unflinching personality.
But these years watching trainers fail at the Hoenn League and Victory Road made May more sensitive and introspective than she ever had been before. Time, hardship, and the rhythms of a job instantiated a sense of maturity in the twenty-four year old that hadn't been there before, at least, not in the same ways.
"They should have tenure limits on these positions. From what you've told me, you should have taken a break a year ago. No wonder you aren't the first to leave," Wally muttered. May chose to ignore that. As much as she wished they didn't, she knew that her friends, family, and total strangers of Hoenn might surmise that May was following in Steven Stone's footsteps.
"May?...MAY?" Wally snapped May out of her anxious thoughts.
"I'm sorry, I zoned out."
"I was asking you if you've heard from him lately," Wally said nonchalantly. May's stomach lurched. She had indeed heard of him, from Wallace. But that wasn't Wally's question.
"No, but that's not a surprise," she shrugged.
"Well, I imagine that being heir to Devon Co. is no small role. I bet his move to Kalos had something to do with their company."
May hummed absently in agreement and returned to her packing.
"Is that why you're not going?"
"Going where?"
"To Kalos! Are you even listening?"
"I'm sorry, I'm distracted! Erm...yeah, I suppose. Who would want others, or him for that matter, to think I was chasing after my predecessor? It's just pathetic," May said, though that was only partly true, since she knew good and well that Steven was returning to Hoenn.
Wally looked at her sympathetically.
"Anyone would be lucky to have you chase after them. And besides, most guys don't think that deeply into things. I know I wouldn't."
May snorted. Wally obviously didn't know Steven very well. But then again, she didn't really either. At least, she thought she did for a time. But then he left, leaving behind a cryptic letter, a house key, and a baby pokemon. Time made him out to be more of an enigma than he had been when they were friends on her journey. There were nights she'd wake up in a cold sweat, fearing that she had dreamt up the whole thing, their adventures and shared memories. But how could she dream up a heartbreak that real when he left?
"There!" May cheered, standing before Wally with her packed bags. Wally nodded in approval.
"Not the same outfit I remembered you traveling in. Are you teleporting to Slateport?"
May nodded as she tightened her black leather belt, before releasing her gardevoir.
The embrace pokemon looked surprised to see Wally and his partner in their private cottage, but happy nonetheless. Gardevoir was May's first wild pokemon capture when she began her pokemon journey at seventeen. Wally had been with her, and together on that day they both caught ralts. Now, Wally's ralts had evolved into a quick-footed gallade, and May's a gentle gardevoir.
"Time to go, Maris. Wally, here are my keys," May handed the keyring to Wally, eyeing the bin on the table sadly. Wally noticed.
"I promise I will take good care of your pokemon, May," Wally murmured softly, his green eyes meeting hers. There was kindness in them, an open tenderness May hardly saw in men. She admired that quality in him.
"I just haven't ever been away from them for this long. I hope they don't resent me for it," May said quietly. Maris whimpered empathetically, reaching for her trainer's hand.
"They could never resent you, May. They understand their trainer needs some space, and it's only for a few months."
May inhaled sharply, "Yes, well... um, I should probably give you my instructions now..." May said awkwardly. Wally nodded, sitting up straight.
"They're very self-sufficient, but just to be sure they're eating enough, try to feed them in the mornings if you can."
"Can do."
"And they're allowed to explore and roam, but they can't be alone and they must be back whenever you go to bed."
"Okay, curfew, got it."
"If you have to leave for any reason, you can just keep them in their balls till you get back. Oh, and Rio is team leader since I'm taking Finn."
"Got it," Wally smiled broadly. May felt a weighty sadness settle on her shoulders as it hit her she would be gone from most of her team for a while. She felt like a parent, leaving her children home reluctantly with another caretaker.
May's gaze softened.
"And... they're used to sleeping in my room. You don't have to do that if you're uncomfortable, but they'll appreciate the closeness, so sleep at the cabin when you can."
May then paused to stare at Wally, "Just no wild parties and don't burn it down or I'll sue." Wally whistled again and exchanged a glance with his gallade.
"I can concede to no parties, but wouldn't you be impressed if I pulled off arson with all of this rain?"
May rolled her eyes and, picking up her bags, took Maris' hand. She felt her hand warm at her gardevoir's touch.
"Wally, I owe you big time for this. Thank you," May said softly. Her friend and rival returned a sunny smile.
"Promise me something?"
"Yeah?"
"Promise to be careful, don't get into any trouble, and just, have fun again, okay?" His eyes danced mirthfully as he considered his lifelong friend and rival. May beamed, all thoughts of fear and sadness leaving her for a brief moment.
"But trouble is fun," she winked, before vanishing out of the evening light. May's surroundings morphed from her cozy cabin into the bustling, fragrant harbor of Slateport City. The dark ocean waves were choppy, as the tide rolled in along with large passenger vessels. May looked around at the different ships, until she saw one docked in the center of the harbor marked: S.S. Anne.
May returned Maris to her ball and placed it back on her belt. She made the hard decision to only bring two pokemon to Kanto since she had hoped to catch and train some new pokemon while she was abroad. It had been difficult deciding who would come and who would stay since May had grown so used to living between Ever Grande City and her cabin, where she could let all of her pokemon roam freely and come and go as they please. She made the decision that her two oldest pokemon should accompany her, since they were the weariest and in most need of a new locale. Maris and Finn, her swampert and starter pokemon, hummed in anticipation at her waist. Perhaps, like May, they too hoped to be revived by new waters.
As May neared the boat's dock, she looked back to admire the beauty of Hoenn, a brief flicker of Steven's face flashed before her mind's eye. She wondered, with some dull emotion she couldn't place, if they stood on the same soil of their homeland in that moment; she wondered if he, too, actually did want to see her, like Wallace had said. But before she could give it a second thought, the deep rumble of the ship's horn resounded in May's belly. She walked forward towards the sea and stars, unabashed, in pursuit of a new adventure.