"Morning, sleepy head." smirks the brunette woman sipping her tea.
Groaning, the green haired man sits beside the auburn haired man since they're both equally hungover. "It's too early for your teasing, Leaf." Drew mutters with his eyes closed.
This just makes Leaf's smirk grow as she says, "I heard everything last night, Drew."
The green haired man has no idea what she's talking about because he doesn't remember anything. "Don't tell me I said something embarrassing."
"I can't believe I missed that." Gary speaks with his head in his arms. His head is pounding, and he was Leaf's sole victim for her teasing before Drew finally got up. Their son Alex is currently playing in the backyard with the Pokemon. Leaf plans to take Alex to May's to spend time with Astrid later.
"Oh, you said a lot, Drew." Leaf snickers while setting her empty mug down on the kitchen counter. The two hurting men are slumped in chairs by the table. Winking at them, Leaf pats Drew's back. "Let's go to May's. You can ask her all about what you said last night."
Drew's face heats up in embarrassment. Despite not knowing what he said, he fears he may have made May uncomfortable. Groudon! Yes, he confessed to her this winter, but they've both moved on from that. What if he confessed again? What if he asked for her answer? What if he tried to kiss her? No. He can't face her anymore, though he knows he can't leave her alone either. For now, his killer hangover is telling him to just curl up in bed and forget about whatever his sins from last night were. "Don't wanna."
"No way. If I'm going, you're going to." groans Gary as he claps Drew's back. The auburn haired man already gets teased enough from his wife every day; therefore, Gary will let Drew share the suffering today.
"I already give you guys a place to stay." Drew hisses at his friend as Leaf expectantly watches them.
"If you don't come with us, I'm telling May the reason you dated Brianna." Gary threatens him.
"Wow. Low blow, Gary!" Drew mutters out of Leaf's earshot. "I'll tell Leaf the reason you got her pregnant with Alex then."
"I'm not scared of my wife, Hayden."
"I'm not scared of her either."
"But you seem to be scared of May." Gary smirks when he sees Drew twitch. They're here on vacation to spend time with Drew, so of course, they're going to drag Drew around to wherever they go.
May's House
"You look awful, Ash." chuckles the brunette sipping from her coffee. Misty, Kai, Astrid, and May had woken up an hour ago and had breakfast while they allowed the hungover man to sleep in.
Plopping down on an empty chair, Ash puts his head on the table. "My head hurts." He groans.
Misty makes it worse by hitting him with her mallet. "That's why I told you to tone it down last night. You know you can't outdrink Gary."
"I can try though." he winces at his wife who rolls her eyes.
"You're funny, daddy." Astrid giggles, which makes Ash smile for the first time today. His daughter always manages to brighten up his day. Kai has been spending time with the four year old, though Kai sees it more as babysitting than playing.
"Eat up and get ready, Ash. They're coming over soon." Misty warns her husband as May places a plate in front of him.
The brunette curiously looks at Misty. "Who's coming over?"
"The Oaks and Drew." Misty obviously replies. Who else would come over?
"Can I invite the Enbars?" Kai asks May who is still frozen in shock. Fortunately, Misty nods, so Kai hurries off to call Shay.
While May knows she's going to have to see Drew again due to the Oaks and Ketchums being in town, she isn't mentally prepared yet, especially after last night's close encounter. Her face heats up bright red, and she's grateful that Misty is focused on the hungover man to notice. Astrid runs off to the backyard where the Pokemon are, including Pikachu.
"Fine! I'll get changed." Ash exasperates and slowly stands up. He's in his pajamas, which is why Misty keeps pressuring him to change, even if they'll just be staying at May's today. The plan is to go to the beach later, though.
When Ash walks past his knowing wife, he catches a glimpse out the window facing the backyard where he sees his daughter with the Pokemon. "Why is Flygon here?" May turns away to pretend to be busy so that she can hide her blush. She can feel the Ketchums' eyes on her, but she won't say anything unless they do.
"We took May's car because you were too drunk, Ash. She borrowed Drew's Flygon to come home." Misty figured this must be the reason, so she didn't question May earlier.
May lets out a relieved breath and nods. "Yup! That's what happened!"
Because Ash is oblivious, he just shrugs and walks back to the guest room to change. Misty, however, leans against the counter and faces her friend. "So…" Seeing May flinch only adds to Misty's smirk. May is very similar to Ash, so Misty can read the brunette well too. "Is that all that happened after we left you last night?"
"Uh. Yeah. Drew walked to his room on his own and I left." May replies.
Misty hears the slightly nervous higher pitch though. "When did you get Flygon?"
"He gave me Flygon before he went to his room." lies the brunette. Groudon, why is she answering Misty's questions?
"I thought you said he went straight to his room?"
"Well, he did...after he gave me Flygon."
"Did he give you Flygon? Or did you have to ask for Flygon?"
"I asked." Please stop, Misty! May is too nervous to stop answering her questions, thus May is subjected to this torture.
"When did you ask?"
"When he was in bed." May quickly clamps her hand over her mouth as she turns to face the smirking redhead.
"I thought you said he gave you Flygon before he went to his room?" Misty teases knowingly.
"I-uh…" May's face is as red as her shirt, causing Misty to laugh loudly.
Patting May on the back, Misty winks at her. "I won't say anything, but I'm happy for you."
"Nothing happened!" May insists.
"I'm not saying anything did happen." Misty then walks away towards the back door. "It's okay to follow your heart sometimes, May." It's the reason Misty is even with Ash right now. If she hadn't followed her heart and tracked him down to Alola to confess, then Ash may still be traveling some region right now.
Once Misty is gone, May leans over the kitchen counter to bury her face in her hands. Groudon, she's forgotten what it was like to interact with people her age. She hasn't been subjected to teasing in so long, but May attributes Misty's slyness with her having three older sisters. May frowns as she thinks about her younger brother Max. She hasn't heard from him since he left months ago. Has she really lost her family?
"May?"
The concerned voice makes May glance over at the white haired boy. "Hey, Kai." She gives him a reassuring smile.
Kai has noticed May's been giving him that smile a lot, and it only makes him more worried. Maybe he should ask Drew about it? Drew is her closest friend, much to Kai's annoyance. Walking up next to her, Kai says, "You have a lot of friends." He didn't know anyone in May's life when he first met her. They were on the island alone for a year until the Ketchums came to visit. And then Kai met Drew and learned about May's younger brother. Now they have the Oaks too. May knows a lot of people, and famous people too, though everyone is very down to earth.
May squats down to fix his red bandana. "I'll always have you, Kai." She smiles warmly at him. "You're my friend."
"I thought we were a family?" He inquires.
Giggling, May re-ties the bandana around his head. "You're right, Kai. We're a family, and we're friends."
His curious blue eyes meet her sapphire orbs. "Can I hug you, May?" He loves being a part of her family. It's something he missed when his father passed away. May has made him feel truly happy again, and he never wants to be apart from her.
Without answering him, May envelops the boy in her arms. She's always wanted to hug him more, but she would stop herself for fear of making him uncomfortable. He's very sweet and always cares about her. She's glad she made the impulse decision to adopt him years ago. Whispering softly in his ear, she says, "You can hug me whenever you want. I love you, Kai."
He buries his face in her shoulder to prevent his tears from falling. It's taken a few years, but he trusts her. He can rely on her, and he finally has a family again. "I love you too, May."
"Where's Ashy Boy?" the shout as the back door swings open makes the two break apart. They look to see an auburn haired man excitedly walking in followed by his wife.
"You can't just barge into someone's house, Gary!" Leaf exclaims angrily at her husband. He's supposed to be hungover, so she doesn't know how he has this energy right now. Oh yeah. Gary Oak can always find energy to tease people. He feeds off of that satisfaction.
May stands to walk over to them. She's also curious about Ash because it shouldn't take this long to change out of his pajamas. "Maybe he went back to sleep?" She suggests.
Gary now looks over at her since he hadn't noticed her and Kai were in the room. Giving her a smirk, he tells her, "Drew's out back. He's been looking forward to seeing you again."
Leaf smacks Gary's head while May's face heats up. "Stop teasing May!"
"I'm teasing Drew! Not May! You saw how red he got when we asked about her!" Gary cries as he hurries down the hall to find Ash with Leaf on his tail.
Kai curiously looks up at his embarrassed caretaker. "Do you have a fever, May?"
Furiously shaking her head, May replies a little too quickly, "Nope! Everything's okay! Let's go see everyone, Kai!" She then walks out the back door with him following. May's blush only deepens when she spots Drew patting his Flygon and Misty's smirk. Seeing both these people right now is not helping with her heart, so May says, "Ash is still sleeping. I think they need help waking him."
Drew looks over at the voice where he spots the brunette that has been tormenting his thoughts for years. Opting to return his attention to Flygon, he ignores her until Misty replies, "I'll get him up." The redhead looks at Astrid and Alex. "Wanna help me wake up daddy, Astrid? Wanna help me wake up Mr. Ash, Alex?"
The young children enthusiastically nod. "Yeah!" They exclaim and rush off past May and Kai to go inside. Misty walks after them, but she stops to whisper in May's ear, "You're blushing." May closes her eyes in frustration, especially as Misty grabs Kai's shoulders to lead him back inside the house. The boy is confused about what's going on, but he never puts up a fight. Maybe they really do need a lot of help waking up Mr. Ash?
Once the back door is shut, May opens her eyes to see Drew is still focused on Flygon. Masquerain and Beautifly are happily flying above them. May chooses to keep her attention on the bug Pokemon so that she can avoid thinking about last night. So that she can avoid thinking about the man in front of her. So that she can avoid thinking about how quickly her heart beats when he's around.
Fortunately for her, he breaks the silence. "They're meddling again, huh?"
May is confused by what he means though. "What?"
Chuckling, Drew turns to give her a small smile. "Leaf and Gary have been on my ass about you since before we ever met up again. I only just realized it recently." He figures it's the reason why Leaf had him leave Olivine City for Cianwood last year. It's the only explanation because Olivine City needed him more than Cianwood, but Leaf insisted that he go to the Island.
However, this just adds to May's confusion. "What do you mean, Drew?" She's too lost to be embarrassed about last night anymore.
"Uh…" Now it's Drew's turn to blush, so he avoids her gaze. Sometimes, he gives May more credit than she deserves. She's still pretty oblivious about things. "Nevermind."
May is annoyed with him writing her off like this, though, thus she approaches him. "No way! Tell me, Drew!"
He rolls his eyes at her outburst, but he still chooses to look away from her. "They've been trying to get us together."
"Duh. We are together." May knowingly tells him. So what if the Ketchums and Oaks are trying to get them alone together? It's not like Drew and May haven't been alone together before? They did travel together for two years, and they visit each other often now that the media has somewhat left them alone.
Sighing, Drew finally gazes into those oblivious sapphire orbs. "Did you forget my confession months ago, May?" He feels his face heating up, but Drew ignores it because he wants May to know his feelings. They won't change. They never have, and he'll wait however long he needs to for her.
Her face also flushes at the thought that she's been getting good at ignoring. However, Drew just has to bring it up again. Typical Drew Hayden making her life more embarrassing. She'll play his game then. Copying his signature smirk and hair flick, which just makes the serious man confused, May says, "You confessed again last night." Seeing his face flush more adds to her satisfaction.
He turns his attention back to Flygon but asks her, "What else did I say last night?" A part of him wants to know all the embarrassing things he said last night, and another part of him is telling him to pretend like nothing happened. However, he isn't sure what to speak to May about right now, so he's just going with the flow.
Walking over to him as she also pets Flygon, May replies, "You said we're raising Kai together."
He lets out a relieved breath. "Oh. That's it?" Drew shoots her a grin. "Of course we're raising Kai together. I did promise you both that I'd do that."
Groudon, he always makes her heart beat quicker. She's lost in those beautifully charming emerald orbs of his. What did she do to deserve him back in her life? He's always put her first. He's always been caring. He's always cherished everything she cherishes. "I appreciate your help, Drew."
"What are friends for?" Although he wants to be more than friends, he respects May too much to force her into something she doesn't want. He will remain by her side as her friend, especially since he already promised Kai that he wouldn't leave them.
[I LEFT TO PLAY BASKETBALL AND GOT DRUNK AT THIS POINT, BUT I OWE Y'ALL A CHAPTER, SO HERE WE GO LOL]
When May breaks her gaze, Drew worriedly looks at her. Nevertheless, she says, "You said you didn't wanna mess up again. What do you mean by again?"
Despite his face being very hot, Drew extends a hand to her. "Can I get Flygon's pokeball?" He asks. May curiously wonders why he's ignoring her question, but she hands him Flygon's pokeball. After Drew returns the dragon type, he answers her, "I didn't know I was sleeping with Brianna, so when I woke up sober, I realized I was with her." He sighs. "Eventually, I ended up dating her to avoid the negative publicity, but I never loved her."
"How did you not know you were sleeping with her?" Although it aches May's heart hearing about Drew sleeping with another woman, she knows he can do whatever he wants. It's not like they're together anyway.
Gazing into her sapphire eyes, he replies, "I was drunk, May. I didn't know." Drew then shrugs as he turns his attention to the bug types flying above them. "It's the second biggest mistake of my life."
Following his gaze, May spots Beautifly and Masquerain dancing. "What's your first?"
"Leaving you." he quickly tells her. He's regretted ever separating from her. While it did allow him to focus solely on coordinating, it resulted in him losing the closest person to him. He never wants to lose her again.
May gives him a warm smile. "Well, we're together now, Drew, so you can stop regretting."
Returning the smile, Drew says, "I know. But just know, I won't leave you and Kai."
May giggles at his determination. "Good. We won't let you."
The two friends high five, and eventually, the Oaks and Ketchums walk out with Kai. They had been spying on the two, but seeing as how nothing has been happening, everyone decided to finally hang out together. Once the Enbars arrive, everyone enjoys a nice little barbeque as well as a small Pokemon tournament where Ash ends up winning by narrowly beating Gary again.