"Hey, New!" Shay excitedly greets her friend once they meet at the local park.
"'Sup, Kai!" Shane grins and high fives Kai. It's summer, so the contest hall is under construction again. Shane placed in the Top 16 of the Hoenn League this year. He also didn't find Mirage Island, which disappointed him, but he plans to travel Hoenn again some day. Despite meeting the Maples a few times in Hoenn, Shane hasn't found the heart to tell anyone yet. He was lucky to have Norman accept his gym battle challenge after earning his 5th badge.
"Hey, guys!" Kai happily says to his friends.
"Our parents are cleaning the house today, and we don't wanna help." Shane admits with a sheepish laugh.
"How's May?" Shay asks Kai.
Ever since Max's visit, Drew has been coming by a lot more often. May and Kai have also visited him more too. All three of them would have weekly meals at the Enbars. Everyone has fallen into a routine of being involved in each other's lives. Kai, for the most part, likes Drew now. Fortunately for Drew, May hasn't brought up his confession, and he's also pretended like it never happened. With time, they've both forgotten about it.
Shrugging, Kai replies, "She went to Drew's. He said he needed gardening help."
"He gardens?" Shane curiously asks.
Shay enthusiastically nods because she knows about Drew's fascination with roses. "Let's go visit! We haven't seen them in a while!"
"It's only been a week." Shane sweatdrops, but his sister is already sprinting off down the street. Kai shrugs at Shane before following her. The older boy reluctantly chases after them too. Shane has interacted with Drew a few times this summer, though Shane isn't too sure who he is. Besides for the news stories, Shane hasn't gotten to know Drew to the extent his family has. His parents talk highly of Drew, so he's possibly a great guy. However, Norman does seem to hate Drew while Caroline didn't mind him.
Drew's House
"I can't believe how much you suck at this!" laughs the green haired man.
Frowning, May picks up dirt and throws it at him, which makes him glare at her. Drew is laughing because May opened the pack of dirt poorly, so the dirt puffed out and hit her face. This left dirt markings all over her face. However, now that she's tossed dirt at him, he has it on his face too.
"Don't start a battle you can't win." Drew warns as he moves closer to her. They're supposed to be planting roses in his backyard, but it's not going according to plan. Their Pokemon can only watch in embarrassment as the coordinators start throwing dirt at each other.
Soon, the adults are wrestling, and with Drew being bigger and stronger, he's winning. Pinning May to the ground, he smirks at her. "You lose again, November."
As May struggles beneath his hold, she exclaims, "I'm not giving up."
He chuckles because he knows she can't free herself. However, when May shifts her body, Drew loses his balance and he barely catches himself before falling directly on top of her. Their faces are millimeters apart while they gaze in each other's eyes. Both know that being this close is only going to result in something dangerous happening between them. The last time this happened, Drew had confessed to May.
Nevertheless, all thoughts are out the door as Drew remains mesmerized by her. His heart is pounding and his breathing is becoming nervously ragged, but all he's focused on is the beautiful woman in front of him. Groudon, he hates how he lost a decade with her. He won't allow anymore missed time with her and Kai.
When Drew's lips lightly brush May's, the adults hear a, "May! Drew!" Causing May to push Drew's chest away from her, and Drew pushes himself off the ground. They both shoot quickly away from each other while dark blushes appear on their cheeks under the dirt markings. May finds herself bringing her fingers to her lips. She had felt his for just a moment. Although brief and light, she had felt his soft lips.
Soon, three children run through the backgate where they spot the awkward pair. Kai suspiciously eyes them because he's caught May and Drew in weird conversations and behaving weirdly before. Shay excitedly says, "We came to help!"
Drew, whose blush is slightly cooling down, smiles at them. "Yeah. We need some help." He admits, and the kids know he's right. The garden currently looks like a mess, and May and Drew don't look any better. What had happened here?
Shane inwardly groans because they left home to avoid chores. They're supposed to be playing at the park. Shay always does what she wants for her own reasons. It annoys Shane, but Shay already volunteered them to help with this garden.
Kai also frowns at the task. It's the reason he decided to hang out with the Enbar siblings today. He doesn't want to be around May and Drew acting weird again, but it seems like Shay has other ideas for the group of friends.
Hours Later
Drew had ordered food, so the group is currently outside eating sandwiches and drinking lemonade in the shade. Fortunately, Drew has patio furniture. His Cianwood home is pretty large for just him living here. Everyone is happy for the break, and while the children are helping with the garden, Drew isn't forcing them to do anything. Kai and Shane have battled at some point too.
While Drew takes a sip from his lemonade, Shay requests, "Can you tell us another story from your journeys?" It's been a long time since she's last heard a story from him. All his big ones are already found in interviews and on the internet.
Drew furrows his brows in thought. "What do you wanna hear about?" He has too many stories to pick just one.
Shay isn't sure what she wants to hear about either. She would want to question Drew for his thoughts on May, but Shay is too shy for that. She's already asked about his favorite part of his journey. She could ask about a time he fought Team Rocket?
However, before she can ask it, someone else pipes in. "Tell us about the time you tried catching that Espeon."
Drew looks over at the voice and glares at the smirking brunette. Shay has been curious as to why Drew's only had 5 pokemon all these years when he can carry up to 6. He tried catching an Espeon once? With her eyes open wide in excitement, Shay exclaims, "Yeah! I wanna hear that!"
"Fine." Drew remains cool to shoot his own smirk at May. Flicking his hair, he says, "After, May can tell you about the time she called a herd of Wailmers to us." May's snoring one night had been so loud that a bunch of Wailmers came to the shoreline near their campsite. Drew, being a light sleeper, woke up to see everything, and he then woke up May. She was embarrassed to find out she drew in this herd of concerned Pokemon.
Drew's story suggestion causes the woman's jaw to drop. He really just went there. "Then Drew can also tell you about the time he got lost in-"
"Um. Let's just hear the Espeon story." Kai interjects because he knows the adults can banter back and forth for a long time.
Smirking victoriously at him, May crosses her arms to wait for his story. He glares at her, but the anticipated looks of the children make him sigh. Fine. It's for the children. He'll embarrass himself for them.
Flashback
"What are you doing?" May questions her friend hiding behind the bushes.
"Shhhh!" He hushes at her. May is too loud. She's going to scare all the Pokemon away. Drew has been looking for a Pokemon to fill his last slot on his team, and he's found one.
Rolling her eyes, May squats down behind the bush with him. "What are you doing?" She repeats in a whisper. She had come back from training to see Drew nowhere in the campsite. Fortunately, she found him not too far away, but this is such strange behavior from the boy.
"Trying to catch an Espeon."
"Those are rare and native to Johto. You might as well get an Eevee." May knowingly tells him.
Keeping his eyes on the area beyond the bushes, Drew replies, "I saw one here earlier. When I see him again, I'm capturing him!"
"What if he already belongs to someone?" Suggests the brunette. She really doubts there would be a wild Espeon in Unova. He ignores her comment, and May eventually grows bored. She heads back to the campsite to cook a meal for whenever Drew comes back.
Some time later, the purple Pokemon freely walks into the area, and Drew tosses out Absol's pokeball. "Crunch!" The Espeon dodges the attack and tackles Absol. This just makes Drew grin because Espeon is already a strong Pokemon. "Razor wind!" The razorwind hits, but Espeon's swift attack does too.
While the two Pokemon are battling, Drew doesn't notice the presence approaching them until someone shouts, "What're ya doin' to my Espeon?" This makes Drew freeze. Looking over, he spots an elderly man glaring at him along with an Umbreon and Flareon. "Get ova 'ere, Espeon!" the angry man calls.
With Drew's shock, Absol doesn't attack. They watch as Espeon warily prances off to his trainer. Drew mutters a "Sorry!"
This results in the man glaring at him. "Stealing other people's Pokemon is wrong!" The man then storms off, leaving a very embarrassed Drew. How would he know it belonged to someone? Espeon was freely walking around in an empty field nowhere near houses! They're in the forest, for Groudon's sake!
When Drew returns to camp, May sees his defeated look. Espeon must've not come back then. "It's okay, Drew. Wild Espeons are rare."
She sees him flinch uncomfortably as his ears turn red. Drew wouldn't react like this if a Pokemon doesn't show up. He wouldn't let it affect him this much. Something must've happened. "You couldn't catch him?"
He ignores her while grabbing a sandwich. This makes May roll her eyes, so she releases Roserade from one of Drew's pokeballs. "What happened, Roserade?"
"Hey!" Drew glares at his nosy friends. "Leave my pokemon alone!" He's also blushing because she almost touched him.
"Rosa roserade rose rosa roserade rade!" the Pokemon explains, making Drew's glare intensify. Roserade loves embarrassing him.
When May's amused expression faces him, Drew turns away. "So Espeon wasn't wild after all, huh? I wonder who told you that?" She puts a finger on her chin pretending to think.
"Oh, like you've never been wrong before?" he fires back.
Giggling, she replies, "I have, but I know you pride yourself on always being right!" He chooses not to argue as he stuffs the sandwich in his mouth. This is a very embarrassing day indeed.
Flashback
"How did you not know Espeon belonged to someone?" Shane curiously asks.
Sighing, Drew says, "He was walking around in the wild alone! I thought he was wild! There wasn't a trainer or a house in sight!"
May giggling beside him isn't helping either. "You should've seen his face when he came back to the campsite! He was so embarrassed!"
"I have many more worse stories on you!" Drew knowingly reminds her.
However, May's laughter doesn't stop. "Yeah, but the great Drew Hayden prides himself in always being right." She wipes her hysteric tears.
"I've changed, you know." He replies in annoyance. He's not that same arrogant kid anymore. Drew Hayden accepts that everyone makes mistakes, even him. It just takes someone great to acknowledge the mistakes and learn from them. Like how he knows it was a mistake to ever leave May. Now, he won't leave her again.
With May still laughing, she doesn't challenge his comment. Instead, Shay asks, "Don't you miss your family, Drew?" After learning about Kai's family and seeing how Drew now seems to be a part of it, Shay has been curious about the Hoenn man. She's read stories on his family being from LaRousse City in Hoenn, though Drew hasn't left Johto since becoming the Top Coordinator. He must miss his family too, right?
The man sighs and gives her a tight smile. May worriedly looks at him because she already knows of Drew's relationship with his family. "My family is rich." He chuckles. "Like filthy rich. So rich that I never saw my parents. They just had me to be an heir for them to pass the company down to someday."
"Whoa! So are you doing that now that you're done being a Top Coordinator?" inquires the intrigued girl.
He shakes his head. "Nope. The fall after I turned 10, I left. I took a bunch of the money I saved up and left with Roselia."
"Why?" Shane asks. Wouldn't someone who's already rich want to stay in their comfortable lifestyle? Unless Drew just wanted to travel, but Shane has learned that the wealthy doesn't like camping out and getting gross from traveling. They will just fly to different cities to compete.
Shrugging, Drew tells them, "My parents were always working. I don't want a boring life like that." He leans back in his chair. "So I seeked the adventure life as soon as I could."
"Have you gone back at all?" Kai curiously questions.
"Nah. They quit trying to force me to after I started making a name for myself. If anything, I'm unofficially disowned now." Drew hasn't seen his parents since he was 10, and even then, he'd see them monthly while growing up. They haven't contacted each other in almost 20 years.
"You should go." Kai suggests. As much as he likes keeping his opinions to himself, it doesn't sit well with him that Drew has a family he won't see. Even though Kai is upset at his mother's abandonment, he would still see her if he could.
The man gives Kai a warm smile. "There's nothing in LaRousse City for me anymore." When he sees Kai's defeated look, Drew takes a deep breath. "They died in an accident when I was 16."
This makes May look at him in shock. She and Drew had stopped traveling together when he was 15, so this all happened the year after they separated? How come she never heard anything? If this contributed to Drew's lack of communication with her, then May feels even more bad for not reaching out to him. She let her own anger and sadness keep her from contacting her friend who lost his estranged parents.
Even Shay is shocked because she didn't read anything about it, else she wouldn't have asked Drew. "I'm sorry." She sadly says.
He ruffles her hair. "It's okay. You didn't know." He then shrugs. "They passed on the company to one of the directors. I don't care though. I never wanted it."
"Alright, let's get back to work!" May speaks because she sees the pain Drew is fighting back. She's learned about his family a long time ago when She and Drew were traveling together. While she had tried to get him to visit them, he's always told her he won't. There's a lot of bad blood there, according to him. Now that they're gone, she feels even more terrible for him. Drew gives her a grateful smile before everyone resumes quietly working on the garden.
Later
The kids had left to play at the park after Shane finally managed to drag his sister away. May and Drew finished with the part of the garden they've spent the day working on, so they're currently in his house. Drew walks out of his bedroom and tosses a towel and some clothes at May. "I don't need dirt everywhere." he smirks at her.
Rolling her eyes, May walks past him. "Then you better watch where you're going." He has just as much dirt on him too.
Chuckling, Drew heads to the master bedroom where he has his own shower while May uses the hallway one. Once he leaves after changing into clean clothes, he spots May in the kitchen, which makes him blush. She's wearing his large black shirt, and like his imagination had once pictured, it's down to her knees. She isn't wearing the athletic shorts he gave her, and he can't tell if she's put on his boxers. Groudon, May looks so cute in his clothes!
Before he can retreat back to his room to cool down, she spots him. "Hey, Drew!"
Letting out a strenuous breath, he tries to coolly walk over to her. "'Sup, December?"
"Can you chop some veggies?"
"Uh huh." He nods and heads over to wash his hands. "Is Kai gonna join us?"
"No. I think he'll be sleeping over at the Enbars." Kai had packed a bag earlier when he left the house, and he did mention that he may sleep over if it gets late. May isn't worried because he has Munchlax and Glaceon with him.
After a while of cooking, Drew watches May stir the food on the stove. "I'm sorry about your parents." Their deaths have been on her mind since she found out earlier.
He smiles warmly at her. "I wasn't close to them."
"But I'm sure it still hurts you."
Drew shrugs, though he knows she's right. He flat out refused to be the heir before running away. He never called and he would constantly talk bad about his parents. Now that they're actually gone and he's grown up, he's realized that he should've been kinder to them. Yes, he never wanted to be the heir, and they were never present, but did he have to be so cruel as their only child? "It's been years."
"Let's visit their graves when we're in Hoenn." she suggests.
Since May is cooking, her back is to Drew. He looks at it and appreciates everything about this woman. His past with his parents may be the reason he doesn't want to leave Kai alone. Having no parents, Drew has a soft spot for the boy. Plus, May loves Kai, and Drew likes May.
"Sure. Let's visit Brenden's too." The man hasn't visited his parents' graves yet, but he should. "And let's visit your family too." He hasn't heard anything about the Maples after Max's visit in the winter. May also continues to avoid the topic of her family, however since she brought up his first, he will question her.
Frowning, May turns off the stove because the food is ready. She turns to face him. "Maybe."
He raises a confused eyebrow at her. "Why not? It seems like they miss you." He's heard enough from May's argument with Max to know that the Maples don't accept Kai, which is why May left Hoenn.
Sighing, May replies, "Not until they stop trying to get me to take Kai back to the orphanage."
"Why don't you go convince them? This silent passive aggressive fight of running away and not speaking with them isn't going to solve anything."
Although May wants to tell Drew to mind his own business, she just interfered with his. "I don't want to risk Kai getting hurt, Drew."
"I'll watch him here so you can go alone." suggests the green haired man. While Drew never had a good relationship with his family he knows May loves hers. She'd talk about them nonstop during her travels with him.
Looking into Drew's concerned green eyes, May gives him a grateful smile. "Thanks, Drew. But I'll go when I'm ready."
He lets out a relieved breath since she at least is listening to him. "I'll help you too."