"Ash, are you absolutely sure that you know what you're doing?" May called out, nervously peering at Ash as he climbed up a ladder to her roof, cables looped around his shoulder.

"Yeah! Mostly. You throw this cable over to that pole there, and you attach the other one to that thing, and do a few other things. Simple!"

She didn't know enough to argue, so she just anxiously paced in the front yard as Ash climbed higher up.

It would be nice to have electricity in the house. The night before hadn't been too bad- the air mattress that Gary had procured had worked well enough, and she'd brought her car around back and dragged some of her belongings to her room- including bedsheets and a blanket. Maybe it was just because it hadn't been in the backseat of her car for the first time in days, but May actually found her first night in her new home to be one of the best sleeps she'd had in a while. She figured that she'd sleep a lot more soundly once the lights worked in the house, but she felt anything but restful, watching Ash teeter along her roof.

She chewed her lip anxiously, still peering up.

Ash spared a glance down at her. "Uh, May, you're kinda making me nervous, just pacing and watching like that."

"Sorry!" she called back up. But still, she couldn't tear her gaze away from his treacherous footing. She really didn't want someone to get hurt because of her. Or, heaven forbid he stepped across wherever the roof leak was, and the water-damaged wood splintered underfoot-

"How about you go wander around town or something?" Ash inquired, interrupting her anxious thoughts. "I bet I'll be done getting the electricity hooked up by the time you're back."

It was pretty close to noon, she supposed… May looked backwards over her shoulder, over towards the south side of town in the not-too-far distance. The dark roof of the barn and the open space of the riding arena stood stark off in the west.

She looked back up at Ash, his expression and body language clear- I'm too nice to tell you to go away, but I don't need an audience.

May sighed. "Alrighty. I'll head on over to the stables- out near the barn over there, right?" She pointed as she spoke. Ash looked in the direction that she was pointing, hands over his eyes in a makeshift visor, and nodded.

"Yep! That's the one. Are you looking into getting a horse?"

"Not really," she called back up. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she registered the absurdity of the situation- her first real conversation with Ash was with him up on her roof. He seemed rather nonplussed about the whole thing, though. It was just another average day in Oak Ridge, apparently. "I'm not looking for a horse, I'm just going to go check it out."

Ash nodded. "Gotcha! Well, I hope you have a good time, and hey, if one of the horses stands out to you, see if it's available! It's a beautiful day for a test ride."

As May turned to go with a wave to Ash, he shouted after her jovially, "Break a leg!"

"If I test ride a horse, I probably will," she muttered to herself.

Drew had been waiting for her.

Well, okay. Maybe he hadn't been waiting for her. For all May knew, he spent all of his free time just pacing around in the field outside the barn on horseback, eyes lazily scanning the dirt-road offshoot from the town plaza, shaded by the brim of a black stetson hat.

May approached down the little road, the warm spring sun beating down warmer than it had all season so far. Drew's posture straightened as he caught sight of her, and he nodded in greeting as his horse trotted up to her.

May paused a few yards away, giving his horse a wide berth.

"I was wondering if you were going to show up," he said casually.

"Me too," she admitted. May found herself squinting up at him as he spoke- not out of irritance, but because the glare of the sun was harsh, striking her right in her eyes. As ridiculous as the cowboy hats that the townsfolk donned were, she was starting to understand their utility. Looking up at someone on horseback was not an enjoyable experience without some sort of shade.

Catching the squint of her eyes, Drew lightly tapped his horse's side with his leg and the horse ambled along to the side of the dirt road so that May wouldn't be looking up at the sun when she looked up at Drew.

May warily eyed the horse. It was the same tall, lithe golden-cream one from before. A palomino, Gary had called it. Drew, for his part, seemed perfectly at ease on its back- reins held loosely, shoulders relaxed.

May tried to get a read on the horse, but she might as well have been trying to get a read on a brick wall.

Drew nodded over towards the direction of the barn and riding arena. "Glad you could make it." His horse started walking down the path towards the barn. May followed on foot, trying to keep pace while also staying a few paces away. If Drew noticed her avoidance, he didn't say anything. "How's the house working for you so far?"

"Pretty well, actually. Thanks, by the way- I really appreciate you and Gary working with me to clear it out yesterday."

"Of course. If you ever need anything else, I'd be happy to help."

After a quiet moment of walking, punctuated only by the dull thud of hoofbeats on packed red dust, May spoke up again. "I was wondering- do you know where I'd be able to find Misty later? I remember Gary said that she was the one who he'd borrowed the air mattress from, right?" May wrinkled her nose a bit, recalling her alternatives. "It's a lot better than the couch or that nasty old mattress that was already up there. She's to thank for me not getting mold poisoning, that feels like it deserves an in-person thank-you."

"Misty comes and goes- she does a lot of fishing out on the coast and in some of the lakes around here, but she'll be back later in the week. She just left yesterday evening, I think."

"Oh, okay. I'll catch her some other time, then! I'd like to thank her and introduce myself, I still feel like I barely know anyone here."

Drew nodded and looked down at her, contemplative look on his face. "You know, if you don't run into her before then, then you'd definitely be able to see her at the bar this upcoming Friday night. Every Friday, a bunch of us hang out together there. It's something of a town tradition, it might be a good way to get to know people." He paused and scoffed. "Plus, Misty and Paul were going to settle an arm-wrestling bet. Trust me, you'll want to be there for that."

"I'll consider it." Truthfully, she appreciated the idea of a more convenient way to get to know people all in one place, but… May paused and studied Drew's face for a second. He looked ahead neutrally as he led his horse in through a set of white gates to the riding arena. A large white tent-like structure sat overtop of it, but it was open to the air.

He seemed calm. Relaxed. Cordial, even, no goads or remarks. Something nagged at the back of her mind.

"If I go to the bar this Friday and meet everyone," she started slowly, stopping a few paces away from his horse as he slid off the saddle, "Are you going to sit next to me and be all nice and pleasant like you are right now, or will it be more like the first night at the bar?"

Drew tilted his head a little bit, as if seriously considering her question. If her brazenness in asking him outright surprised him, he did well hiding it.

But then, perhaps despite himself, a little smirk tugged at the corner of his lips. "What, you don't think I left a good first impression?"

"Hardly. You sat next to me, immediately made fun of my map, and kept looking at me weird."

"It was good enough that you're still thinking about it. Thinking about going to the bar on Friday, that is."

"I'm considering your invitation." She crossed her arms.

"Yes, well, that's what 'thinking about it' tends to mean, unless I'm mistaken."

The more familiar back-and-forth had once more commenced, she supposed. Though, the pressing question of how it could be familiar when she'd only just met him, she didn't linger on. Instead, she tilted her chin up slightly, giving him a 'told-you-so' glance. "See, this is what I mean. This right here. You were polite five minutes ago and now you're being all smartass-y."

He shrugged, leaning back against his horse. "And you're getting annoyed about it. Feels a bit like deja-vu, hm?"

Drew's gaze was now steadily trained on her face- as if waiting for her response with bated breath. Ready to pinpoint the subtle curve of her lips in exasperated amusement or the slightest downturn of her brow in annoyance.

She tried to keep her face neutral, tamping down the heat rising from his gaze. "So I take it that when I go, it'll be like this again?"

She almost swore, for a second, that what was quickly becoming his trademark smirk had broken into something dangerously genuine. "''When'? So you are coming?" He raised an eyebrow at her. "If I didn't know better, I'd say that being, quote, smartass-y, is working."

Okay, so there was something worse than Drew just pushing her buttons and being smartass-y, May decided (not that she'd truly minded it all too much to begin with, but that was beside the point). There was something much worse, in fact: Drew being right.

It had worked. Why had it worked? Or, even worse than it working, had she made her mind up the second he'd offered, and there was nothing to work out other than her own pride and refusal to admit it outright?

But there was nothing to admit. Accepting an invitation to a town event was casual, it was nothing. So why did it feel like giving in? And to what? May had to consciously un-clench her jaw as all the thoughts rushed in at once, far too tangled to worry about then and there.

Well, if Drew wanted a way to truly annoy her, then forcing her to be introspective was a good starting point.

Apparently having decided that he'd messed with her enough, or maybe just sensing that he'd started to actually bother her on a level deeper than the surface level, Drew stood up straight and took the reins of his horse. "Alright, let's get on topic here." Slowly, he led it a bit closer to May. Immediately, she snapped back to the moment and stepped back instinctively, and Drew motioned for his horse to stop. "No? Okay. I take it you're not very familiar with horses?"

"I wasn't done," she said quickly. "We can go back to me accusing you of being intentionally annoying. The horse can wait." Sure, going back to the previous topic wasn't ideal, but her thoughts couldn't hurt her. Not like a stray hoof could.

"We could. Or we could focus on why you're here and what we're supposed to be doing, which is meeting a horse."

"So you're smartass-y and a killjoy, huh?" May tried scanning his face for a reaction the way he'd scanned hers, but she only found amusement in his features. Not quite what she'd been going for. His skin was evidently harder to get under than hers. She'd have to work on that- whether that meant getting thicker skin or getting under his, she was undecided.

As Drew responded, he adjusted the foot straps of the saddle. "A smartass, a killjoy. I'm a man of many hats, what can I say? Can you think of anything else that I'm missing?"

She stood in silence for a moment as he waited on her response.

Hm. Well, that was new. Now the ball was fully in her court.

May ran through everything that he was to her in her mind.

Familiar. Frustrating. Always easy to look at, sometimes hard to talk to. An acquaintance? A stranger? A friend?

"I don't know," she admitted after a moment. "I'll come back to it later."

He nodded in an understanding way. "I see. Well, get back to me when you figure it out, okay?"

"Oh, I will. Trust me. You'll be the first to know."

"The first to know? I'm truly honored. Glad that I'm a priority." Was that warmth hidden behind his dry delivery?

The spring sun had heated up some, even from under the large tent over the riding arena. It sent warm prickles across the back of May's neck, a flush across her cheeks.

"I'll get it to you by Friday," she said, breaking off another silence before her own thoughts could seep into the crevices of their conversation.

He rolled his eyes in a good-natured way. "Sure, just leave it on my desk. You make your name-calling sound like paperwork."

"Of course I do. This is important business."

He leaned forward a bit, shifting his weight to the other leg. "Oh, well that changes things. This is a business interaction?"

"Strictly business. How does it change things?"

"It changes things," he started slowly, and May swore that he was reveling in her rapt attention to his every word, "Because first off, whenever someone says that something is strictly business, it's never just business. Second," he continued before she could inquire, "I appear to have brought a horse to a business meeting."

May really wished he'd stop reminding her of the horse. She'd just barely made peace with being in the same vicinity as it and learning to pretend that it wasn't there, she didn't need him reminding her that she was expected to ride one of those things. "Is bringing a horse to a business meeting better or worse than bringing a knife to a gunfight?"

"Well, that's up to you, isn't it?" He took the horse by the reins again, but didn't step forward. He did, however, give her an expectant look when she didn't step forward to meet him.

He sighed. "Living here is going to be really hard for you if you don't get over this hurdle. You can't procrastinate with fun conversations forever."

"So you think talking to me is fun?"

"May."

"How would you rather we procrastinate? How about we sit around and brainstorm for a few hours in the field over there? That sounds fun. We can make flower crowns and work out our differences and it'll be a great, productive time."

He ignored her this time, to her slight petulance. Not that she'd expected him to humor her, but it had been worth a shot. But the business meeting had been adjourned, evidently.

He gestured to his horse, but still made no further steps towards May, allowing her to set the distance. "Alright. Let's just start with names. This is Rosa. She's about eight years old, I've raised her from a foal, and she's one of the calmest horses that we have around here."

May took a deep breath and turned her gaze to the horse. Rosa calmly nibbled at the edge of Drew's hat, which he paid no mind to. He seemed to fully trust her, not at all intimidated by the horse's muzzle right up on his face.

If Drew trusted Rosa, and if May trusted Drew, and if her 'if's lined up…

She moved one foot forward, but still, she hesitated and pulled back.

This wasn't the kind of knee-locking fear that sent chills down her spine, but rather the kind of fear that came from standing on a glass floor or leaning against a top-story window. Everyone could say that it was sturdy and stable and safe, but there was always that uncomfortable knowledge that, at any moment, something could go very wrong. It wasn't a violent, gripping fear that prowled the corners of her vision- it was a logic-based fear that haunted her decision-making. Even if logic said that it was safe, a lot of things were safe until they went wrong.

And an animal that much bigger than her, that much stronger, that much faster, could make things go very wrong very quickly.

She sent Drew an apologetic glance.

She'd half expected him to come up with some snarky comment to attempt to spur her on, but all he did was give her a small nod. To her surprise, his voice came out gentle, a new tone. "Alright. Can we try something?"

"What is it?"

"If you're okay with it, I'll take your hand and place it on Rosa's forehead," he responded simply. "Nothing more, I promise. I'll be right there with you, I'll let you set the pace, and if it's too much we can stop. Is that okay?"

May resisted the urge to decline, but she couldn't find the ability to accept, either. She felt frozen between her fears and her wants, unable to move in either direction.

Drew took off a fingerless riding glove and extended his bare hand to her.

"You can do things the hard way," he reminded her. It wasn't pushing buttons or a challenge or anything of the sort- only encouragement.

But why? What had prompted the shift in atmosphere? She was at her easiest to taunt and ridicule, yet now, all she got from him was outreach and understanding.

She looked him right in the eyes, searching for answers to questions that she hadn't even fully figured out yet. She was looking for motive of some sort, some glimmer or gleam in his eye that differentiated this softer Drew from the one who reveled in friction and wit.

Where was the line between the two? What separated the aloof Drew who elicited snap-backs to his remarks from the Drew that stood before her now, anchoring and steady and tranquil?

It was like trying to find the exact line where the heat of a flame went from comfortable to searing, where in the gradual gradient it shifted. How close was too close? Where was the line?

She couldn't find the line.

All she found were green eyes, imploring her to take a chance.

All she found was her hand slowly extending out towards his and skin meeting warm skin, her tense hand relaxing at the contact.

Drew moved his palm from under hers to sit softly on the back of her hand, fingers ever-so-gently wrapping around her hand so that he could guide it. She stepped towards him and Rosa, and he stood right beside her, shoulders almost touching but not quite.

With a deep breath, she closed her eyes and allowed him to take delicate control, moving her towards Rosa.

His arm slid against hers, and maybe she understood what he'd meant about strictly business being a misnomer. At least it was incredibly, incredibly distracting from the task at hand.

May flinched briefly as the palm of her hand met soft, short fur, but the flinch diffused with the slightest squeeze of Drew's hand.

Her hand laid between Drew's warm hand and Rosa's forehead. Both his hand and her head were steady and comforting and still.

May opened her eyes.

Rosa lazily looked right at her with huge brown eyes but made no sudden movements. She seemed… relaxed? Probably? Drew's hand, a bit larger than May's, slowly moved hers up and down the horse's face, stroking its head in slow, linear motions. With each upwards and downwards gesture, the calluses of his hand brushed against the unworked, silky back of her own.

"Good," he murmured softly, and she wasn't sure if he was talking to her or the horse.

Slowly, he let his hand slide off of hers, dragging down the length of her hand in a gradual movement, his fingertips disconnecting at her wrist. He'd given her plenty of time to pull back or to pause, but she kept up the petting motion without his help; running up and down Rosa's face in a controlled manner.

She took another deep breath. This was okay. It was almost nice, even.

Or maybe it was just hard to be afraid when her mind was in such a fuzz that she couldn't think or feel anything at all other than the ghosts of trailing fingertips down the back of her hands, dragging from the tips of her fingers to her wrist.

Either way, for a quiet moment, she stood petting Rosa on her own. The creature, whose head was almost the size of May's entire torso, was calmly letting herself be pet. Maybe even enjoying it, though May made no assumptions.

She was acutely aware of Drew's gaze on the back of her neck. Watching her.

Was he judging? Assessing her? Watching just in case something went wrong?

Before she could dwell, he came back up beside her and lightly touched her wrist again.

"Do you want to try scratching her neck? Rosa loves it."

May nodded, and mindlessly, she allowed herself to be guided once more, across the contour of Rosa's face and down towards her muscular neck. Drew lightly brushed past May towards the lower end of Rosa's neck, where he scratched the base of her mane. The horse's head drooped a bit lower, ears relaxed down a bit.

May smiled. She could read that body language well enough- one of her childhood dogs always did the same thing when being stroked on the back. She used to lull him to sleep that way.

Drew stole a glance from the corner of his eye. "Not so terrible, is it?"

"It's… manageable," she confirmed, now more comfortable with petting the large creature.

"Do you think you're up for some time in the saddle?"

The panic must have shown on her face, because he put his hands up in a placating manner with a little smile. "Okay, forget I said anything. Little steps are fine."

"Little steps are good," she confirmed.

"We can always take more little steps next time, right?"

"Next time?"

He rubbed the back of his neck with his hand, turning away from her and braiding little plaits into Rosa's mane as he spoke. "Yeah, if you want. I know you're probably being dragged in a few directions right now, getting settled in, but if you're up for it, I'm happy to see this through and get you riding."

She'd stopped petting Rosa as she listened to him and considered his words, which was apparently not appreciated. Rosa turned to nudge May's shoulder with her broad head as soon as May had stopped petting her. May jumped back, but recognized the gesture as a bid for more attention rather than an act of aggression.

"Sorry," she mumbled to the horse, as if she'd offended it by jumping back. Rosa just turned her attention to Drew instead, who gave in with an eye-roll and scratched her under her chin.

Drew continued. "Again, if you think that living here is going to be something you want for the long-term, then I heavily suggest being able to ride, if not having a horse of your own, but again- little steps, right?"

She nodded. "Little steps."

Ash had been packing up a few tools in the yard when she'd returned home. Much to May's delight, she could see the glow of overhead lighting through one of the windows, and Ash seemed to still be in one piece as he grinned and waved her down.

"Hey! How'd it go?" he asked, tossing the last of his assorted things into a large, clunky backpack. For a second, May took note of how messy everything was inside of the backpack- tools, a bag of screws, what looked like a pair of gym shorts, a bag of chips, all just tossed in the same main compartment. Then she remembered what the back of her car looked like and decided to not mention it.

"Well," she started, trying to sort through everything that had happened, "It was manageable," she repeated. It seemed the best word for everything. "Drew introduced me to Rosa, and it went pretty okay. I think I'm still more of a cats-and-dogs person, but Rosa's not bad."

Ash nodded. "I guess it would take some getting used to, huh? Pretty much all of us here grew up on a horse, I never really stopped to think about how it'd be intimidating for someone who isn't experienced with them." He zipped his backpack and slung it over his shoulder.

May shrugged. "It's just really new."

"Well, you're in good hands. Drew's one of the main horse caretakers around here and he's the one that usually helps the kids who are just learning to ride. Paul's a pretty good rider, too, but he's not really the warm, teaching, nurturing type."

"And Drew is?" May asked, before she could stop herself. Sure, Drew had been incredibly patient when it came time to actually teach her, but it was allegedly strictly business and he seemed to take great pleasure in back-and-forth every other minute of their interactions.

Thankfully, Ash just laughed at the remark- a hearty, deep laugh. "Well, usually. He's a little different with you, huh?" He continued before May could ask how he was with everyone else. "Trust me, though, you'd rather Drew be teaching you than Paul. I mean," Ash corrected himself, "It's not that Paul's a bad dude or anything, he's just… Paul. Eh, you'll see what I mean."

"He's the one with the arm-wrestling bet with Misty?" May clarified, recalling her invitation from earlier.

Ash's eyes lit up. "Yep, that's the one! You heard about that? Oh, you've gotta come, I've got fifty bucks on Misty. She spends all day hauling fish around, I bet she can take Paul down. You're coming this Friday, right?"

Well, she couldn't say no to two invitations. It wasn't giving in to smartass-y charm if someone else had asked her to show up, too.

"Probably," she confirmed. "Same bar?"

"The one and only! Let's see- tomorrow's Tuesday, right?"

"I think so?"

Ash nodded. "Alright, so it's not too far off! I should head home soon- I've got my own animals to tend to and I need to help my mom get some meal prep done, but if I don't see you before Friday, then I'll see you then!"

"See you then!" She waved as he started down the little path leading from her house to the town off a little ways away.

Once she felt that she'd waved for a reasonable amount of time, she turned around and headed up her porch steps, opening the door to a lit house. No longer restricted by daylight hours, it was time for her to poke around a bit, to see what worked and what didn't.

Though, if her appliances were anything like the rest of her experiences in Oak Ridge had been, she had a feeling that they'd work out somehow. And if they didn't, things could be fixed or replaced, right? Little steps could be taken, townsfolk could be reached out to for help.

Things had a way of working out, right?

May closed her front door behind her, opened her windows to let some fresh air in, and plugged in the old radio that she'd found in the storage room upstairs. Things would work out, and she fully intended to see to it- now in the brightness of her own home, and not in fading evening light.

She could pet a horse. She could fix a house. She could take the little steps.

A/N: Sorry for forgetting to update for several months! This story is fully caught up to date on my Ao3, and I can also be found on tumblr- both at Zestyzigzagoon as well. Thank you for reading!