Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

This is my Thanksgiving special for all you Americans! For everyone else, just enjoy the new chapter! :D It's a little bit longer than usual. I wanted to make it super extra long, but it kind of wrote itself and this is how it turned out. I hope you all like it!

Warnings: Questionable language

Chapter Three: Shake with One Hand, Punch with the Other

The next morning, May awoke to the loud, wall-penetrating sound of a large dog barking. It startled her and she shrieked as she shot out of bed, then tumbled to the floor in her panic. The sound was close, as if the dog were in her room, and she frantically looked around for the source of the sound.

It was only a few seconds later, after finding her room somehow dog-free, that May realized the barking was coming from behind the next wall over. Archie's apartment, then.

The barking continued and May grumbled to herself as she untangled herself from the sheets and pushed herself up off the floor. Her rear hurt from the collision and she rubbed it in irritation, slowly standing and tossing the sheets back onto the bed. Daylight was peeking in from between her blinds, but given how dim the light was, it couldn't be too long after the crack of dawn.

May hadn't been aware that pets were allowed in this apartment complex, but it wasn't like she had been planning to take on the extra expense, anyways. She slowly made her way to the refrigerator, where leftover pizza was waiting for her. She had ordered something different the night before, a spinach and feta specialty pizza from the parlor that was now her go-to for pizza, and her stomach rumbled softly at the thought of it. It was much better than the usual pepperoni, mushroom, and olive, to her surprise, and as she reheated two slices in the microwave, May decided that this was probably her favorite pizza in the entire world.

The barking was incessant and she wondered if she should make a noise complaint. On second thought, she mused, it probably wasn't a good idea to make an enemy out of her only next-door neighbor this early on. Frowning, she glanced down at herself. The large black t-shirt and baby blue shorts she was wearing probably weren't appropriate attire when visiting a large, muscly male she had only met once. As the pizza revolved in the microwave, May quickly went to change into a pair of white skinny jeans and a red ruffled top from her as of yet still-unpacked suitcase.

The microwave dinged that her food was ready just as she was slipping on her black flats. The smell of the pizza was tantalizing, but that damn dog still hadn't stopped barking and May wondered what the hell Archie was doing that would delay him from making it shut up.

Tiredly, she opened her door and crossed the sidewalk over to Archie's front door. May hesitated before she knocked. The dog absolutely had to stop barking, but she wasn't sure how to best approach the situation without offending Archie. She decided that she would play it as cool and polite as possible and hope that he wasn't easily pissed off.

She rapped on the door sharply three times and suddenly the barking stopped. She could hear claws scrabbling over what was either hardwood or tile and then a whining at the front door.

"Quit it, ya stupid mutt," she heard Archie's voice call from deeper within the apartment. She could vaguely pick out large, lumbering footsteps approaching the door. May took a deep breath and steadied herself. Now that the dog wasn't barking anymore, maybe…

The front door swung open and there stood Archie in nothing but black boxers that fit him just a little too well and a large navy blue New England Patriots t-shirt on…that fit him way too well. May only had a second to register this before she was barreled over by a great blue monstrosity that sent her tumbling down to the ground into the grass.

She was being attacked! …by a wet, pink tongue and the dog was standing on her chest, making it rather difficult of breathe.

"Dammit, Kyogre!" Archie growled, stepping out of the house to grab the dog. May futilely pushed at the dog to get him—her?—off her chest, but the licking was incessant and May spluttered.

Archie grappled with the dog for a moment before grabbing its collar and dragging it bodily off her. May slowly sat up and wiped her face.

"She likes you," he said with vague interest, continuing to restrain the dog that was still lunging to get at May.

"Uh, yeah…I think I noticed," May said, still recovering from the 'attack'. The dog had quieted and was sitting restlessly, her short tail wagging like a motor as she rested puppy-dog eyes on May.

"Usually when she…attacks, it's with her teeth," Archie told her, sounding slightly perplexed. "So I guess you're a lucky one. Never seen her act like that before."

"Uh-huh…" May replied as she finally got to her feet. She watched Kyogre warily, not quite certain that even Archie could restrain her. She was whining pitifully and attempting to jump on her again, even though the large man kept a firm grip on her.

"Anyways, what did you need? It's fucking early," Archie asked, not seeming particularly imposed upon despite his harsh language. However, it was still a bit of an awkward situation.

May wasn't quite sure how to respond. He didn't seem pissed off or anything, but she didn't know if that would last if she scolded him about his loud dog. Still, she took the plunge. "Well, uh…Kyogre was being, um, a bit loud."

She waited with bated breath while Archie peered at her for a moment, but then released it when he let out a booming laugh. "Yeah, Kyogre's a loud one. I think she saw a squirrel out the window," he laughed. "This bitch's a crazy one. Kills everything she comes in contact with."

May blanched, but Archie didn't seem to notice. He was caught up in his amusement. She finally asked, "Does this happen, well, a lot?"

It was then that Archie sensed the problem. "Ah, no. I just forgot to close the blinds last night. She's a handful when she gets worked up, but she's usually pretty calm."

"Ah…huh." May nodded, thinking she understood.

"Yeah, well, sorry 'bout the racket," Archie said. "Looks like you were up and about anyways, though, eh?"

May glanced down at what she was wearing. Well, too late to tell him otherwise, nor would it do any good. "Yeah, I guess."

"You have any luck with the job hunt?" he asked smoothly.

May perked up. "Yup, I definitely did! And I didn't get a job at Maxine's Bakery or whatever, like you said." She didn't mention that they were awfully similar names, but she wanted to stay on Archie's good side, especially since he had a giant pit bull that was apparently usually pretty violent.

Archie chuckled. "Good, good. Glad to know you'll be stickin' around." He winked at her and May couldn't stop herself from blushing. It almost seemed like he was flirting with her, but…

Of course not. He was much older than her, probably in his late twenties or early thirties. It would have been flattering if he was, but May highly doubted it. Even if he was interested, she would have to say no. He just really wasn't her kind of guy.

"Yeah, well, like you said, it's not like there's going to be any other apartments up for rent, and I'm pretty sure the dorms have been full since June," she said with a laugh. "Not that I'd want to live on campus anyways. Too many rules."

Archie bellowed a laugh at that. "My kinda girl," he said with a smirk. May rolled her eyes good-naturedly.

"Well, I don't want to hold you up or anything. I'd better get going. My pizza is going to get cold."

"Haven't gone grocery shopping yet?"

May slumped a little. "No, not yet. Between moving in, finding a job, and…" getting woken up at six in the morning by a gigantic pit bull, "and all that, I haven't had the time."

"I was just cooking breakfast," he told her. "You're welcome to it, if you want. I made too much." He was watching her a little too closely.

Feeling a bit nervous at the sudden offer, May flushed a little and said, "Oh, I wouldn't want to be a bother. I already have pizza waiting."

Archie shrugged. "Have it your way, then. See ya around."

May smiled and waved before they both returned to their respective apartments. Archie was…friendly, if nothing else. Maybe a little too friendly, now that she thought about it.

But she wasn't going to think about it.

May ate her pizza and then looked at the clock. The grocery store probably wouldn't be open until nine, but she wasn't going back to bed anytime soon, so she decided to make a to-do list for the day. She needed to go to the grocery store, get her textbooks, and it would probably be a good idea to buy school supplies while she was running all these errands.

Jotting down a few other things she might as well do on her day off, May then set off to get on with her day.

xXx

Maxie's Bakery paid a little bit over minimum wage and it wasn't a bad job. May spent the majority of her first day, two days after she had been officially hired, behind the cash register and was a little surprised at just how much business the bakery got. Apparently, she had come in during a slow hour when she applied. She was checking people out almost nonstop and May would being willing to bet that the majority of the people who came by were lured in by the delicious aromas coming from the kitchen.

Cassie was friendly and, now that she was hired, Tim wasn't all that bad either. He still sent her odd looks from time to time—they started out as suspicious when her shift began at nine in the morning, but as the day went on they slowly morphed into something like confusion and then, surprisingly, what seemed like pity. May was a little wierded out by him, but she tried not to let it show and acted as casually as possible.

At the end of her shift, four on the dot, Cassie approached her. Maxie's closed rather early in comparison to all the other shops on the street, but May supposed that wasn't unusual for a bakery. In Littleroot, most home-owned bakeries closed in the middle of the afternoon, staying open just late enough to sell all of the day's baked goods.

"Hey, there's this new burger shop near Harvard Square. You wanna check it out? Me and some buddies of mine are going there in half an hour and I figure since you're new, you might want to make some friends," she said, leaning casually against the wall of the break room.

May glanced up from gathering her things into her messenger bag. She had been given a bright red uniform to wear when she arrived and was determined to never wear it outside the store. She had quickly changed back into her pink tank top and cutoff shorts as soon as she could—it seemed that Cambridge's weather was a bit moody. It had gone down fifty-four degrees last night, but when she woke up this morning it was a pleasant seventy-eight degrees. She'd only been here a little under a week, so she wasn't quite sure if this was an accurate estimation, but Arizona's weather could be fickle too and she was used to it.

It seemed that Cassie shared the sentiment that the outfit was completely garish and unappealing, having already changed into black capris and a casual but tight-fitting Red Sox t-shirt. May couldn't believe how many people wore sports regalia around here. It seemed to be something of a…trend.

Cassie waved her hand in front of May's face and May snapped out of her reverie. "Uh, yeah, burgers sound great. Is it far from here?"

"Nah, just a quick shoot down the subway. Wait, where do you live, anyway? It might be far if you're out in the boonies." May rattled off her address and Cassie smiled appreciatively. "Oh, that's right by where we're going to be…you're not from around here, are you?"

May shook her head slowly.

"You're about a mile from where you want to be. Just east of there is a really good neighborhood, but where you live…" Cassie shook her head and shivered. "So many Aquas over there. It's really dangerous."

"Yeah, that's what Archie said," May told her as she gathered her things. She missed the way that Cassie flinched at the name and by the time she turned back to her, the brunette was looking at her strangely.

"Archie…who?" she asked, a deep frown on her face.

May pondered that for a moment. "Oh, he's just my neighbor. I met him yesterday, so I don't really know much about him."

"What does he look like?" Cassie continued to drill her and May shifted uncomfortably, the other girl's expression way too intense for her liking.

"He's, uh, kind of big I guess. Real muscular…" She paused. "Why, do you know him?"

This seemed to take Cassie by surprise and she hesitated. "Yeah, I know him. The guy's a dick. You should definitely stay away from him."

May raised her eyebrows. First Archie telling her to stay away from what was probably this very place and then one of the workers here telling her to stay away from him? This reeked of suspicion, but it probably wasn't wise to say that out loud.

May hummed noncommittally and Cassie didn't seem completely satisfied, but May then said, "So what's this burger place called?"

This seemed to distract her coworker sufficiently. "Chunky Joe's. They're a specialty burger place with all these burgers that are seriously culinary masterpieces. And, of course, there's a build-your-own station for all the cowards out there who are afraid to try something new."

"Good thing I'm not a coward then!" May exclaimed and they both laughed amicably as they left the shop.

They took the subway and as they were getting off, Cassie waved to a group of people all wearing Red Sox shirts that seemed almost identical to Cassie's clothing. They were all guys of varying stature but they had one thing in common: the Red Sox shirts.

As they were approaching, Cassie discreetly whispered to May, "Word to the wise—don't mention anything about Archie to these guys. You'll start a riot."

May was surprised but nodded. Was Archie some kind of major figure in Cambridge, for so many people to dislike him? This was growing more and more suspicious by the minute. Nonetheless, she decided that she would keep to Cassie's advice.

When they finally reached the group, May noticed that she was being regarded with distinctly suspicious looks. She hesitated for a moment, then decided to trust Cassie and joined the group.

"Hey guys, this is May. She's the new hire at the bakery." They all seemed to relax minutely. "Boss interviewed her personally, so be nice."

And just like that, the switch was flipped. They all introduced themselves in turn. Connor was a big guy all around—he was probably just a few inches shorter than Archie, but his physique couldn't have been any more opposite. He was as thin as a toothpick, gangly and a little awkward in his build. His hair was a dusty light blond, cropped short, and he wore glasses.

Then there was Mark, who was the complete opposite of Connor, built like a boxer. He had square jaw and was one hundred percent muscle, but almost obscenely short. He was probably only a couple of inches taller than May—even Cassie was taller than him.

Ricky was a little older than the group with a buzz cut and a thin mustache. He was otherwise average and indistinct, but had a shady feel to him that made May a bit uncomfortable with his presence. Lastly was Mackenzie, who was distinctly feminine. He wore his long dark blonde hair in a high ponytail and wore thick eyeliner, which stood out a little oddly with the masculinity of the Red Sox shirts, but he was probably the most attractive of the group.

After everyone was introduced, they headed off to Chunky Joe's. There was a bit of a wait and it seemed that the restaurant was already booming with business. They, too, had a "Now Hiring" sign and May wondered whether she could have gotten a job here—it was actually closer to home than the bakery.

When she walked inside and saw how harried all the waiters looked, she swiftly decided that she was glad she had been hired at Maxie's. Although the bakery was busy, it wasn't nearly this busy.

They settled down at their table and chatted away about anything and everything. It was almost strange how friendly they all were, especially since they had seemed so distrustful at first, but May wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth. She was glad to find some people that accepted her so readily and were so nice to her, even though they hadn't known her for more than an hour at most. They welcomed her with open arms and May was having a wonderful time.

"So, you met the boss, huh?" Mark asked, just before taking a bite of his triple-patty barbeque burger. "What'd you think?"

May nodded in response and put her own half-eaten burger down before answering. "Well, he seems pretty nice." Ricky choked on his food and May hesitated. "…but I haven't talked to him much since the interview."

"Boss is a good guy," Mark agreed. "Just…has a funny way 'a showin' it."

This earned a laugh from the whole group and Ricky finally finished swallowing his food, chuckling a bit towards the end. May thought for a minute, then inquired thoughtfully, "Do you all work at the bakery, too?"

"Oh, no," Mark replied. "None of us do. We just do the-"

At that moment, Cassie coughed and thumped her chest three times, as if she was choking on something. May looked to her worriedly and missed the looks quickly exchanged between all the members of the table.

"-we just know him. Longtime friend," Mark finished before quickly taking a bite out of his burger to prevent further questioning.

May looked around at them, a little confused. "Then why do you call him 'boss?'"

"It's just kind of a thing," Cassie told her, patting her on the shoulder. "An old habit that just kind of happened. You'll get used to it…I promise. You'll probably end up calling him that soon, anyway."

May was utterly confused but decided that, like Cassie said, she would probably understand soon. Exactly how that was going to happen, she wasn't sure, but apparently, only time would tell.

After that, the group seemed a bit more censored in what they said, but not enough to bother May. The meal went on without a further hitch and soon, they had paid the bill and Cassie was walking her back to the subway.

"If you take the T to the very next stop, you should be right in your area," Cassie directed her. When May looked at her questioningly, Cassie went on, "The T is what they call the subway around here. Anyway, I have to go back to the bakery. I…forgot something."

"Oh, okay. Thanks," May said. "I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Yeah? I guess Boss is getting you all the work you can before school starts?"

"Uh-huh. He was pretty cool about it. He said I could work mostly full-time until the first week and then we could work out a schedule once I started."

"He probably wants to try you out before giving you a permanent position," Cassie said out loud, but it sounded more like she was talking to herself.

May turned to her quickly, internally panicking. "Wait, my position now isn't permanent?"

Cassie looked at her for a moment, seemed to realize she had spoken her thoughts aloud, and quickly withdrew her statement. "No, no, that's not what I meant! You'll do just fine at the bakery. Boss just has a side project that he's recruiting members for and he probably wants to get to know you and your work ethic before he lets you in on it."

May sagged in relief. "Jesus, don't scare me like that."

The brunette laughed and elbowed her gently. "And don't be so nervous all the time. You gotta chill out, okay? But hey, the T's here. Don't want to miss your stop."

May quickly bid farewell to her new friend and they parted. The ride back to her apartment took less than ten minutes and she was relieved to be at home again.

Archie was outside again, smoking a cigarette, and he waved to her as she walked up to her door. She waved back but didn't stop to chat, noticing vaguely that he was on his phone but all conversation had stopped the moment he noticed her. However, the day was finally catching up to her and May was exhausted, so she was a little glad that he hadn't started a conversation because she didn't have the energy to hold one.

When she open her laptop and got on her email, she found that she had a new group message from someone named "Steven Stone", whose email was clearly on Harvard's database and the email was linked to probably about fifty other recipients. She clicked on it and began to skim the relatively long message.

In the end, it told her that her geology class, an elective she had decided to take because it linked in to her major and because it was her one 'easy' class of the semester, was meeting up a week early. It was apparently because the professor wanted to give the participating students a head start on the semester's main project, which would consist of fifty percent of her final grade. The meet up was optional, of course, because class hadn't officially started, but it was recommended by whoever this Steven Stone person was. Scanning back over the email she noticed that it was mentioned that he was the TA for the class and then it all made sense. May wondered if she would ever actually get an email from the professor himself, but highly doubted it if he had someone to do the grunt work for him.

'A week early' was Monday and the meet up was supposed to be at three. She technically had work that day and she wasn't eager to ask Maxie for a half-day off so early in her time working there, but decided that in the end, school was more important than work and Chunky Joe's was still hiring.

Sighing, May RSVP'd to the email to say that she was going and decided she would have to apply at the burger joint tomorrow, just in case Maxie threw a fit and fired her. It was a hard decision to make, but as long as she had a job it didn't really matter where, exactly, she worked.

May was pretty sure that she was woken up in the middle of the night by a fist fight, but by the next morning she wrote it off as just a dream.

Okie doke! So I'm guessing some of you are wondering where Steven is. Don't worry, he shows up next chapter!

A big thanks to mitzi, Gabby, Almiaranger, Guest, F. Flotsam, lolibelle, Jetraven Ex, and Akatsupure.

Everyone give a big round of applause to mitzi a.k.a. secretly sociopathic, who gave me crucial information about Boston/Cambridge and is helping me make this story as realistic as possible. You go girl and thank you so much!

If I could be any Pokemon in Gen III, I would be Absol. (Awesome taste, Guest!) I mean, "Disaster Pokemon?" How cool is that? And Mega Absol looks like a dark angel type Pokemon. Seriously. If I could be in Mega Absol form all the time (if I was a Pokemon in the first place, of course...) I totally would. They should have just made that form its evolution.

Question: What is your favorite Pokemon type? (Including Fairy.)