Chapter 9
Burying her head into her warm, firm pillow, May groaned. She must have forgotten to close her curtains last night because it was far too bright.
Had her bed always felt this warm? Maybe she was sleeping with her pokémon plushies again. But why did it smell so familiar?
Cuddling into it, May didn't open her eyes, relishing the comfort from the hard surface under her arm, enjoying the faint smell of petaya berry.
Wait.
Petaya berry? Hard... Surface? Why wasn't she in bed? And what was she cuddling?
More importantly, why did she feel like she'd been hit with a seismic toss?
Opening her eyes, May froze as she realised she was lying on a jacket. An all too familiar jacket. With a human still inside it.
The human who owned it.
Glancing up, she saw the all too familiar ruby eyed gaze of Brendan Birch as he watched her with some amusement, his hand playing with her hair above her head.
'Morning, sleepyhead,' he grinned, kissing the top of her head.
Burying her face in his chest, May felt her cheeks burn as she inhaled his familiar, petaya scent.
How could a smell be so addicting?
Recalling everything they'd said and done the previous day, May froze. Last night hadn't been a dream?
The throbbing in her ankle told her as much.
'Brendan,' May whispered as she glanced uncertainly up at him.
She had no idea where she was going with this, but she had to think of something.
If this was happening, surely it meant their lives would change forever.
'No, May. I know that look and I'm not letting you twist this with your lack of confidence. I felt happier last night than I did with any of those girls you think I'm better with and I won't see you end up with someone else anymore. I'll take it up with Arceus himself if I have to,' Brendan interrupted, a dark glare filling his face, his arms tightening around her.
With a fierce growl, he continued, 'I know you better than anyone else, and we both know that it wasn't just me who was super happy with what happened last night. Screw anybody that tries to get in our way. I'm sick of just being friends.'
Unable to meet his gaze, May nodded numbly, her heart jumping painfully around her chest.
It hadn't been a dream.
Brendan liked her as much as she liked him.
She felt his arm tighten around her, gently squeezing her into him.
Pressing her lips together, May couldn't bring herself to face him as he kissed the top of her head, his warm lips pressing softly into her.
He withdrew his arm from her body before stroking her cheek with a gentleness she'd never have expected from Brendan Birch.
Though she wouldn't have expected this from him, either.
Hearing her stomach growl, May froze.
'You hungry?' He chuckled, shaking his head as May tried to shrink in on herself.
'N-no!' She retorted, pushing herself off of him, trying to hide her embarrassment at his amusement.
The pain that shot through her was immeasurable.
Taking in a sharp breath, May dropped on the ground, her body aching.
'May!' Brendan hissed, his voice strained as he crouched over her.
'I'm ok,' May said through her gritted teeth, not even having the energy to smile.
She'd completely forgotten about her injury.
'Clearly,' Brendan snarled, inspecting her face with an unabridged concern she'd never seen before.
He shifted his weight slightly, pulling out two pokéballs, hiding his face from her.
Grimacing, the brunette instinctively reached for Brendan's free hand, wanting to reassure him that she was fine, even if she knew she was doing a horrible job at it. Besides, the touch was a physically reminder that this was real.
'We need to focus on getting you out of here. Blaziken, Swellow, let's go!' Brendan said before releasing his pokémon, his fingers lacing into hers with an ease that made her heart soar, the beautifly and butterfree fluttering nervously in her stomach.
The pokémon stood prepped and ready to battle at the edge of the cliff, as alert as May had ever seen them.
Upon seeing no one to fight, they turned to face May and Brendan with confusion.
Seeing Brendan delicately checking May's body, Blaziken's eyes narrowed on May's cuts, bruises and strapped ankle.
The bipedal fire type stomped over, her eyes focused on May's scraps with concern.
She couldn't even look at the pokémon, knowing that the fire type's worry would be akin to her own starter's.
Feeling Brendan squeeze her hand, May glanced at him, though he still wasn't looking at her face, his eyes intent on her bruises.
Running her thumb on the back of his hand, May couldn't bring herself to look at him.
Uncertainly, she glanced up at Brendan's starter, whose eyes were narrowed on the way May was still holding Brendan's hand.
Seeing the realisation dawn on the pokémon's face, May instinctively tensed. Before she could warn Brendan, the starter pokémon glowed with joy as she began prodding her trainer.
With an eagerness May hadn't expected, the pokémon yammering away in a teasing manner.
With a dark flush, Brendan scowled, 'shut up, Blaze. May's badly hurt.'
At the words, Blaziken sobered, turning to inspect May's leg as she struggled to sit up.
'May, do you think you can walk?' Brendan hedged, and May instinctively winced at the idea.
'Shit,' Brendan muttered, running a frazzled hand through his hair.
Realising that there wasn't much point in trying to hide how she was feeling, May pressed her lips together, her thumb tracing Brendan's calloused hand. Brendan was always saving her, coming up with a plan to get her back home after fixing up whatever scraps and bruises she'd managed to get.
She should be used to him fussing over her, but she couldn't even look at him properly.
'What happened to your jacket?' He scowled, looking at the frayed edges.
Extrapolating his hand from hers, he appeared to ignore May's pout as he gently removed her jacket. Considering it wasn't the first time he was taking off her jacket, May had no idea why she was so frazzled.
Thankfully, Brendan appeared not to notice as he inspected her cuts, lifting her torn garments to inspect the torn skin underneath.
'Brendan,' May began, though stopped when his fingers grazed her skin, sending a jolt of electricity up her spine.
Just at his touch, she felt her cheeks burn, wanting to hide her head in her hands.
'Why didn't you tell me you hurt your back too?' He asked sharply, and May couldn't meet his gaze at the stern look on his face.
'You weren't being exactly approachable, and I was hurting all over. Besides, you're the one who didn't notice it,' May muttered, poking her bruised fingers together.
'Yeah, cause I thought you were dead. Stay still,' he sighed before trying to clean up her cuts on her back.
Normally she would have been mortified at their situation, but not after last night. When they were younger, they'd seen far more of each other than they'd probably seen of any of their other friends.
The only difference now was that they'd exposed their feelings too.
She glanced uncertainly back at him, trying not to be too obvious as he patched her up, surprised by the worried concentration on his face.
A/N:
For anyone interested, I've started my Pat r eon account under LSS Russell. I've uploaded some of my original works up on there (including a free chapter for each of my fictions as a sample), so if you're interested, please support me over there too.
As always, thank you so much for taking the time to read my work and let me know if you've got anything you're particularly after!
