Finally posting chapter 3! There's much more ikari this time. Hope you all enjoy.

Dawn never thought she'd be dating Paul Shinji.

She stole a peek at him from behind her cat-eye sunglasses. He strode confidently next to her as they traversed the pool deck. A pair of sunglasses shielded his eyes, and they might've served as a good disguise if his shoulder-length, plum hair didn't give him away. His shoulders swayed firmly as he walked, and her eyes trailed from his toned chest down to his navy swimming trunks.

Facing forward again, she felt a few stares zero in on them. The two of them. Together.

She also never thought she'd be dating the Sinnoh Champion, but here she was. Doing both.

Dawn was used to being in the spotlight. She knew very well what it was like to captivate the singular gaze of a stadium full of onlookers. It didn't feel quite the same to turn the head of every resort-goer.

This was their first real appearance together. Paul, being the most secluded individual she knew, didn't care about making a public show of anything. And Dawn, who was quite the opposite, surprisingly loved the idea of sharing a secret with him and seeing facets of him that were hidden from general view.

What began as random meetings between the two of them eventually blossomed into orchestrated ones. Before long, she found herself awaiting his name on her phone screen, awaiting his knocks on her door at the ungodliest of hours. She'd welcome him into her sheets to chat, or not chat. Ultimately, they'd wind up stifling laughter together at some twenty-four hour diner, at an hour when the difference between night and morning was blurred and debatable.

She'd never forget what it was like to watch the match that crowned him as Champion. His eyes found hers from the stage, and though the entire world was applauding his victory, it was funny being the only one to know his secret— that he'd left her place just hours before stepping into the arena.

They were intricately woven. It didn't seem like Paul was capable of being intricate or weaving anything at all. But he'd woven himself with her.

Together, they approached an occupied pair of beach chairs, and Paul claimed one of them, bending over to dust something from his shoe. The lofty umbrella afforded them with ample shade, but unfortunately didn't hide them from the gaze of the general public.

Dawn lifted her hair into a ponytail nonchalantly, casually ignoring the whispering attention they'd garnered.

"People are staring," she said to Paul under her breath.

"Yeah," he said, unbothered. "That's what people do."

"Do you think they'll start rumors?"

He shrugged and leaned back in his chair, his feet planted on either side of it. She sat on his chair between his legs, though she had her own.

A faint smirk slowly traveled across his lips. "Well, they'll definitely start rumors now."

She froze slightly at her mistake. Oops.

His eyes were barely visible from behind his sunglasses, but Dawn knew he was examining her face.

"Is it really bothering you?" he asked.

Dawn casually glanced towards the pool and watched as heads swiveled from facing their direction as a result.

"Yes," she said to him.

She heard him sigh, then felt him sit up straight. His left hand found her hip underneath her cover up, and her heart hummed with the feeling of his palm against her warm skin. With his right hand, he motioned for a resort staff member to approach them.

A uniformed employee holding a towel ducked underneath their umbrella.

"Good afternoon, sir," the employee said.

Paul cut right to the chase. "Do you have anywhere more private?"

His voice was smooth, as steady as an arrow. His firm tone struck the employee, who began nodding nervously.

"Of course, sir," he said. "You can follow me."

Dawn stood from the chair, and Paul followed suit, his hand sliding from her waist. The employee led them past the prying eyes of the lounging guests and to an easy-to-miss walkway on the other side of the building. The pathway, lined with moss green hedges, led them to an iron gate, which the employee unlocked with a code. He held the gate open for Dawn and Paul to enter.

"My apologies," he said. "We would have arranged this beforehand, but your name wasn't in our reservation system, Mr. Champion."

Dawn spoke up on his behalf. "That's alright."

She smiled at the man and thanked him for his help.

Then the gate was closed, and Dawn and Paul were left alone. This section of the property was entirely private, lined with eight- to nine-foot hedges on every side. Four cabanas sat on the perimeter of a smaller, oblong pool that, at least for right now, was for just the two of them.

Dawn glanced at Paul, who was watching her take in their new and exclusive surroundings. She raised her eyebrows at him, then strode towards a beach chair.

"This is very fancy, Mr. Champion," she said.

Paul's voice came from behind her. "I can't tell if I hate when you call me that or if I like it."

She laughed and turned around, immediately finding herself in his arms.

"Wanna hear it again?" she teased, hanging her arms around his neck.

He smirked, but didn't reply.

"Mister... Champion," she dragged out in a whisper.

Paul, again, stayed silent, but the silence itself was telling. The smirk on his face was gone, but Dawn knew his sentiment by the way his grip on her waist tightened. He hung his head for a brief moment, his hair covering his face. Then he moved to kiss her. Paul wasn't the best at articulating his emotions, but he was a master at expressing himself wordlessly.

Dawn wasn't transported cosmically each and every time his lips found hers, but she knew for certain that she was no longer standing on the pool deck; she was somewhere else entirely. Her mind picked up on the placement of his left hand— at the small of her back. Of his right hand, on the back of her neck.

It was thrilling— embracing so passionately in the most private of public spaces.

He disconnected from her, his heavy breathing barely noticeable. If she said she didn't love the effect she had on him, she'd be lying.

"I take it that you hate it?" Dawn murmured with a coy smile.

"Yeah," he breathed. "Don't say that again."

Dawn laughed lightly, and she watched as the corner of his mouth held the slightest uptilt.

Paul nodded his head toward the water. "Wanna join me?"

"Yes," she said, removing herself from his arms. "Just give me a sec."

Paul released her, then walked to the edge of the pool and lowered himself in. She approached her tote bag, fishing out her phone and checking the screen.

"What are you doing?" Paul asked her.

Dawn could hear the pittering of the water as it splashed faintly against the sides of the pool.

"I'm just checking in with May," she said.

"She's fine," Paul advised. "She's with Drew."

Dawn sighed. "I know, but… you know what I mean." She looked at her boyfriend. "This is a big deal for May."

Paul shrugged. "It's a big deal for Drew, too." When he could tell Dawn wasn't won over by that, he added more to his argument. "If anything, this is what they need."

She chewed her lip in thought. He had a point. She'd had countless discussions with May over the course of forever about the subject that was Drew, and yet things never took off between the two of them. Still, May did make him the first pick for her plus-one invitation, and it was something she'd decided entirely on her own. Her girl was ready for this.

"You're right," Dawn agreed.

Dawn removed her sunglasses with a flourish and made a point to drop her phone on the beach chair. She let her cover-up fall to her wrists before leaving it behind completely. Paul watched her walk to the edge of the pool from behind his tinted lenses, unable to prevent even the faintest of smiles from breaking across his face.

She sat at the edge, her legs dangling into the water. Her feet kicked playfully as Paul approached, and he rested both of his forearms against her thighs. His tanned skin glistened in the sun, and Dawn could feel the cold water from beneath his arms slowly drip down her thighs.

Paul was stunning. Over time, she'd come to equate him with the mystery that often accompanied nighttime. He was dusk, personified. Maybe it was because so many of their encounters had begun after the sun had set, but it was almost strange for her to see him existing comfortably in broad daylight.

"What?" he sort of grumbled.

Dawn realized that she'd been smiling. She shook her head.

She watched as he uncrossed his arms and slowly slid his hands from her thighs up to the dip in her sides.

"Come on," he beckoned softly.

Her heart became a puddle within her chest. How could she possibly say no? Dawn inched off of the edge and into Paul's supportive hands. The water was strikingly cold, but she loved the way it clashed against the heat of his skin.

She wrapped her legs around his waist as he carried her effortlessly to the other end of the pool. His arms locked across her back, and she giggled at his playfulness, earning a genuine smile from him.

Dawn looked behind her and saw that Paul was walking them towards a stone bench that was built into the pool wall. The area was overcast with shadows from the looming hedges. He set her on the ledge and stood between her legs, his arms caging her in on either side.

She could hear the faint sounds of laughter and summer merriment from the public section of the property. But here with Paul, all that could be heard were the sounds of the water lapping against his body and the bouncing of droplets against the water's surface as they pearled and fell from his hair.

She reached up slowly, as if he'd vanish if she moved too quickly, and lifted his sunglasses from his face. The hairs that worked overtime to frame his features were given a break, as they were pulled back with the glasses to rest behind his ears.

Dawn admired his pewter eyes, which she hadn't seen in too many minutes. Her fingers lightly grazed his cheek as she traced his jaw with her eyes. She ran her thumb along his smile and met his eyes once again.

"You're full of surprises," he murmured to her.

"What do you mean?" she responded back softly.

Paul let her gentle fingertips grow familiar with him. His temple, his hair, the back of his head.

"I didn't think you'd mind the attention."

She shrugged, admiring the ombré of plum his hair had become due to its exposure to the water.

"I usually don't," she said.

"So, why is this different," Paul wondered as Dawn's fingers traced a fine line across his collarbone and over his sunkissed shoulder.

She furrowed her eyebrows as she searched for the answer. "I don't know. I guess it just felt like we were in a zoo." She met his confident, stoic stare. "Like we were an exhibit or something."

He nodded slightly.

"And when I'm on the stage," she continued, "I'm agreeing to be the center of attention. But if I'm just living my life, I don't always want to have my personal space violated."

He nodded again.

"It's not because I don't want to be seen with you," she said, "if that's what you think."

He broke into a smile and hung his head to hide it. "That's not what I think."

"I really like being seen with you, actually," she continued flirtatiously.

Paul lifted his head and eyed her slyly. "Yeah?"

She barely nodded, almost done in by the pure attraction she had to him. "Yeah." She watched as his gaze soaked in her features— her eyes, her lips, her pink bikini top, her eyes again. "But I like this just as much."

Paul leaned forward, his head slightly angled, and grazed his nose against her cheek. Dawn could feel the heat of his breath against her skin before the faintest of kisses was planted just under her jaw. She closed her eyes, and her hands found his back. His skin was hot to the touch against the water cloaking her fingers.

She tilted her head back to make more room for the trail of kisses he was leaving on his way back up to her mouth. She listened as one of his hands exited the water and lifted to gently touch her face. Streams of water flowed down her neck as Paul's open lips closed on hers again. And again. Creating a secret, quiet rhythm against the distant sounds of summer.

"Where are Dawn and Paul?" May asked.

Drew shrugged, surveying the sea of taken pool chairs for a pair of available ones.

"They're probably somewhere around here," he said. He pointed to a few seemingly empty chairs. "Wanna take those?"

May spotted the chairs instantly. "Yeah, that's perfect."

She sped up slightly, knowing not to run on a pool deck, but knowing that if she didn't hurry, they might lose their seats.

Drew's eyes fell on her form for the second time that day. Her brown hair trailed down her back, and her figure was hugged by a deep red one-piece. She wore some sort of sheer, flowy material about her waist to cover her lower half, though there was a high slit on one side that revealed the full length of her leg as she walked.

He dropped his head and tried to mentally reset by staring at his feet.

"Drew, hurry up!" she called.

Shaded by a giant beach umbrella, May was already seated and was beginning to unpack whatever she'd carried along with them. There was a small end table between their chairs, and he was sure that it'd be covered with a few empty glasses by the time they left for lunch.

She revealed a tube of sunscreen, popped it open, and began lathering it on her arms. Drew removed his shirt and then extended a hand to beckon for some. May squeezed the bottle into his palm, her cheeks already beginning to redden from the sun.

"It's hot today," Drew said.

"Yeah," May agreed, her tone slightly subdued. "Blaziken's probably loving it. Venusaur, too."

Drew sat down on the empty chair. "Wanna call them?"

Her face lit up. "Do you want to?"

Drew smirked. "Yeah. The resort said we can call whenever during business hours."

"Okay!" May said, excited once again. She applied sunscreen to her neck, then her legs. "Let's call them right after I finish this."

Drew nodded and watched as she reached behind her to get the spot between her shoulder blades. She switched positions in an attempt to cover the area fully.

"Need some help?" he offered.

May paused in contemplation. "Ummm…"

"I do you and you do me?"

She nodded in agreement, turning her back to him. He grabbed the sunscreen bottle and ignored the immediate hammering of his heart within his chest. Opting for a shorter distance and an easier reach, he moved to sit in the empty space of her chair, and May shifted to accommodate. She gathered her hair with one of her hands and pulled it over her shoulder to give him full access to her back.

Drew tried his best to be nonchalant. He suddenly couldn't remember the normal speed to apply sunscreen, but he applied the cream to her skin anyway.

"You missed your shoulders," he said to her. His hands approached the left strap of her bathing suit. "Can you—"

She hummed in agreement before lowering one strap. He ran his hands over the newly exposed area, a faint tan line already beginning to form.

"Other one?" he requested, and she lowered the other one.

Drew tried his best to not think too much about the softness of her skin, the canvas of her bare back. He tried not to think about the cut of her shoulder blades, or the line down the middle of her back trailing to areas she could reach herself.

Arceus.

"Alright," he said, turning around and wiping the remainder of the sunscreen against his legs.

He felt May's body weight shift against the chair.

"Did you get any of this yet?" she asked.

"Nope."

He listened to the click of the cap and waited for the impact of the cold cream against his skin. May's hands began at his shoulders, then worked their way down the backs of his arms. He closed his eyes and tried to focus on the technicality of her actions instead. She was applying sunscreen for him. With her soft hands and gentle fingers. To places he couldn't easily reach on his own. From his shoulders down to the small of his back. As a friend, as a roommate. As the one who kept him up at night.

"Done," she said.

Thank Mew.

He looked over his shoulder. "You didn't miss anything, did you?"

"Nope."

He pivoted fully to talk to her directly. "So I won't have a random sunburn tomorrow—"

And then he saw it. In her eyes. Just as she was slowly shaking her head no. He saw it for just a fraction of a second— the very same wanting he was fighting only a few moments before. And just as quickly, it faded away, sinking back into the pools of her irises.

He was desperate to see it again. Was he mistaken? Was that always there or did it arise in the heat of the moment?

"Wanna call them?" she asked.

He nodded his head. "Yeah."

May pulled out her phone, and Drew watched as she dialed the number they were given for the resort, but his heart hadn't caught up to the present yet.

He replayed the look in her eyes again and again. He'd never seen her like that, her eyes an unrecognizable hue of blue. But if he'd never seen it before, then was it superficially driven? He didn't know.

The phone began ringing, and a resort employee picked up on the other end. The young woman smiled and asked for the name on the reservation. May provided her name and waited as the young woman researched which party belonged to her.

Before long, their familiar entourage was visible on the screen, and the image of his Roserade in sunglasses brought a smile to his face.

"Hey, guys!" Drew called.

At the sound of his voice, their pokémon rushed towards the camera. May and Drew laughed as they all fought to get close, which resulted in the camera only being able to see a few roses and the tip of Absol's crescent.

"Not so close, everyone!" the woman holding the camera chided.

When the field of vision was adjusted, Drew could see so much more. A man-made waterfall in the back, leading to a pool that held May's Wartortle. Venusaur sprawled in the grass next to Flygon as Blaziken lounged in a chair, sporting his own pair of sunglasses.

Roserade was chattering about something, desperate to talk with them about how much she loved the resort. Drew laughed again, along with May, and listened as best as he could over the sounds of their other pokémon exclaiming their happiness.

"Great," he said. "Glad you guys are having fun."

"Where's Glaceon?" May wondered, obviously worried about the heat. "Is she inside?"

The pokémon on the screen all nodded to confirm.

"Okay, good," she said with a sigh. "Well, have fun, guys. We'll catch up later!"

Their pokémon said goodbye in a chorus of cries, and May hung up the call.

She turned to Drew. "We're really good at this."

He smirked. "Good at what?"

"Raising pokémon!" she said, reciprocating his smile. "We may be the best trainers in the world."

He shook his head in amusement before running a hand through his hair. "That's quite the claim."

"I mean it," she said. Then she clapped with determination. "Okay! What's your relaxing plan?"

"I…" he trailed, searching their immediate area for her bag. "Put a book in your bag."

"Okay," she approved. "That sounds relaxing."

"What are you going to do?"

She stood up and began untying the knot of the sheer material that covered her hips. "I think I might check out the lazy river."

Drew nodded, his eyes locking onto her face for dear life. She left the cloth in a heap on the end of her chair, which reminded Drew that he should probably return to his.

"I'll be back!" she said as she left.

"Alright," he said as he watched her go.

Maybe getting lost in a book would be good for him. He needed his mind to be elsewhere.

May lounged in the center of her pink, donut floatie. Her bottom sank in the middle of it, her arms and legs exposed to the heat, and her feet and hands cooled by the water.

She closed her eyes, letting the river carry her wherever it pleased. As usual, her mind returned to Drew. The feel of his hands across her bare shoulders, his fingers barely brushing sections of her back that she'd already covered with sunscreen.

She slowly opened her eyes again. It was no use. If her daydreaming was bad before, it was so much worse now that her mind had fresh ammunition to torture her with. Her hands recalled what it was like to cover the muscles in his back, to scale the slopes of his arms. May sighed, pooling water in her cupped hands and letting the water spill onto her face.

Come on, May. Get a grip.

She thought of what it was like to check up on their pokémon together, both of their smiling faces within inches of each other on her phone screen. This was all she knew. This was all her pokémon knew. Their home was all of them, together. How could they ever be anything else? And conversely, how could they ever be anything less?

Frustrated with the cyclical nature of her thoughts, she rolled off of her floatie and into the lazy river completely. The cold sting of the water was exhilarating and the absence of sound was nothing short of refreshing. It was as if time slowed for her and for her only. And she could finally take a moment to pause.

May swam slowly to the surface, her hair trailing behind her as she broke through the water. She reached for her pink floatie and held onto it as she swam leisurely. The stairs to enter and exit the river slowly approached on her right-hand side, and she made her way towards them. After returning her borrowed inflatable, May padded towards her beach chair, noticeably heavier with the water weighing down her swimsuit.

She wrung out her hair and watched as Drew's green hair came into view. The echoes of his laugh reached her ears, even from her distance, and she couldn't help but smile.

Dawn and Paul had found him, and the trio was engaged in what was obviously a funny conversation. May sped up, afraid of missing out.

Dawn was laughing mid-sentence when she spotted May.

"May!" she said. "There you are."

"Hey," May said, breathless, as Dawn handed her a towel.

"Drew was just telling us—" she began.

May froze as she dried her hair, making stern eye contact with Drew. "Telling you what."

Drew chuckled lightly and held up a hand in defense. "May, relax—"

She sat down next to Dawn and listened to him explain.

"I was just telling them about the time Roserade locked us out of the apartment."

"Oh!" May exclaimed, throwing her head back at the memory. "Yeah, that was pretty funny."

The group laughed again, and Drew ran a hand through his hair.

"Man, what was she even mad about?" he wondered, shaking his head. "I don't remember."

"I don't remember, either," May said softly. And then it hit her, causing her to gasp. "The poffins."

Drew's eyes widened in remembrance. "The poffins."

"What?" Dawn asked. "What happened?"

Drew cleared the air with his hands to recount the tale. "Alright. So when we first moved in together, May would make these poffins all the time, right? But I asked her to stop because—"

Paul hung his head in quiet laughter, his hair shielding his face.

"—the pokémon would just fight over them," Drew continued through chuckles. "I don't know what she put in them."

May rolled her eyes as Dawn openly laughed beside her.

"But then she hadn't made them in a while, so we figured—" He looked to May for the words.

"Maybe it's time—" she offered.

"Yeah, maybe it's time to bring them back a little bit."

"But," May interjected, "we tried to limit each pokémon to just one poffin."

"Ohhhh," Dawn said, connecting the dots. "I remember you telling me about this."

"Yeah," May said to her friend. "It was a bad idea."

"Yeah," Drew said. "They kind of revolted for a second. Skitty was the distraction and… Roserade locked us out."

May met his eyes and shook her head, grinning at the memory. "I can't believe she did that."

"I know," Drew agreed. "She'd never try that today."

"How many pokémon do you guys keep outside of their balls?" Paul asked.

Drew frowned as he thought of the answer.

"Sometimes they prefer their balls, but I guess maybe five at the most?" May guessed. "We'd keep them all out, but they don't all fit."

Paul nodded, slightly amused. "So it was five against two."

Drew nodded. "Five against two." A grin spread across his lips. "Are you saying your pokémon have never staged a coup?"

Paul shook his head though they all knew the answer. "No."

"They've never traded your relationship with them for a baked good?"

"No," Paul said through laughter, and Dawn laughed along with him.

Drew playfully looked at Dawn, his eyebrows raised.

"Dawn…" he said. "You know what you have to do."

The girls laughed at that. May adored seeing this side of Drew. The charming side.

So often, he'd come home tired from a contest or be so entangled in his own thoughts that this piece of him was hidden from her. He met her gaze, and his smile softened. It was nice to see that being at the resort was already doing him some good.

"Why don't we," Paul began, his eyes trailing from May to Dawn. "Go back to the room for a second?"

"Right now?" she asked.

"Yeah," Paul answered. "I should probably grab a shirt before lunch."

"Oh," she agreed. "Yeah."

"You're meeting us there, right?" Drew asked.

"Yeah," Paul confirmed, standing.

"Alright."

Dawn stood as well, grabbing her tote bag and touching May's shoulder as she passed by. May watched as their friends left ahead of them.

"Ready to go?" Drew wondered, capturing her attention.

May nodded, though she hadn't packed anything yet. She stood and grabbed her cover up, tying it around her waist again. After surveying the area for her own beach bag, Drew stood up, holding it in his hand.

"I've got it," he said.

"And my phone?" she checked.

He nodded, and she ducked underneath the umbrella with Drew following close behind. May could see people eyeing the couple in front of them before giddily whispering amongst themselves. It was funny to think that Paul, a friend to both her and to Drew, had grown to become Sinnoh's Champion.

The eyes of the resort-goers seemed to slowly shift to her, but she was used to it. People had been speculating about her non-existent relationship with Drew for as long as she could remember. She wondered if being seen at the resort together would cause the media to revisit the conversation.

And even if they did, maybe it wouldn't be such a bad thing.

And that's it! Thanks so much for reading. Let me know what you think so far. x