(it's an awful cliché, but isn't it true?)

May hates firsts. Hates the importance placed on them. Hates the idea that an initial attempt is somehow more significant than a practiced, polished one.

(Or maybe it's because the firsts she's experienced haven't been ideal. First pokémon—dead. First contest—won in tears. First kiss—forgotten deliberately, willingly, actively, along with everything that came afterward.)

Dawn is an infuriatingly perfect person. A magnificent-job-on-the-first-try person. A naïve person, too, who hasn't experienced as many firsts as May and certainly hasn't failed them as often. May envies that.

So, when Dawn is the first to break the kiss that catches them both by surprise, May can't help but ask—was it your first?

When Dawn shakes her head no, eyes wide, May smiles and lifts up the other girl's chin to kiss her a second time.

a/n: this is the first of three timed fics for my first gym battle in the Indigo League Competition on my forum. this means i panic now cos giving me time limits makes me absolutely useless yaaaaayayayayay