This was uploaded before, but I took it down because I wasn't sure it fit what I had in mind for the sequel. But it's up again. We'll see if it works.

She woke up on her side of his bed, the morning light spilling through his window. The clock that hung on the wall ticked softly in a way that was soothing, yet very noticeable. Strange because last night she hadn't been able to hear it at all.

She felt the mattress move and suddenly his bare chest was against her bare back. His arm was draped protectively around her. The nerve endings on her back sparked to life as she felt his lips place butterfly kisses down her shoulder.

May rolled over slowly to face him, but his lips never lost contact with her skin. He locked eyes with her and she could see nothing but absolute bliss behind them.

His hair was beautifully messy, but that only made her wonder what hers looked like. She reached up and placed her hand on the nape of his neck. She could feel the softness of his hair beneath her fingers.

"Hi," she practically whispered.

He said nothing in return and instead watched her as she let the tips of her fingers graze his jawline on their way down to his chest.

She suddenly remembered that she had made this motion in the opposite direction yesterday. Her open palms had slid frantically from his toned torso to his hair in a desperate frenzy to grab at something, anything.

He seemed to remember too, because he immediately angled his head to kiss at her neck, when he stopped abruptly.

"Shit," she heard him whisper.

"What?" She didn't mean to sound so worried.

She watched his eyes flitter across her chest, lingering in certain areas.

"I hope you own a lot of turtlenecks."

May knew that she was going to be bruised. Drew had been kissing at her chest for most of what she could remember.

He ran his thumb along the marks and set off a swarm of butterflies in her stomach. He seemed to focus on one area on the left side of her neck.

"This spot's the worst."

She remembered that he seemed to favor kissing there in particular. She wondered why.

"Yeah, I really went all out," he said. He reached up to touch her chocolate hair. "Probably because you're such a goddess."

May almost laughed. "Shut up—"

"No, really." He ran his thumb across her cheekbone. She noticed that his eyelashes weren't quite black, but a very dark green. "You're so beautiful."

She just stared up at him as he leaned over her, holding himself up with his elbow. For a minute, neither of the two spoke a single word. May thought about the complete awe on his face upon seeing her the night before. She thought about how she just sat and talked with him for hours in her hotel room and how normal that had felt. She thought about how his face had looked when he was experiencing absolute bliss. How he'd stop kissing her to throw his head back.

Drew leaned down to place his lips on her cheek. Her nose. Her lips.

He left her lips and kissed her jaw, on his way down to her favorite spot on her neck. She could feel his stubble mark his tracks as his lips grazed her skin.

"Drew," May said, surprisingly breathless.

He hummed against her neck in response.

"Why do you keep going back to that spot?"

May couldn't imagine how bruised it looked.

She felt him smile against her skin. He lifted his head up and let his fingertips trace where his lips had been.

"Here?"

"Yes."

She just noticed that he was now on top of her. She felt his even breathing get interrupted by a very slight chuckle.

"Well," he started, "I don't know if I've told you this, but you smell really fucking good. Like it's just—" he shook his head. "Holy shit. I don't know what it is, but it's the best right here."

Suddenly, May remembered herself telling him how good he'd smelled to her two nights ago.

"Also—" He kissed her neck, and she sighed. "It drives you crazy," he whispered into her skin.

Her back arched automatically, pressing her bare chest against his. He exhaled and took the opportunity to snake his arm between her back and the mattress. Drew buried his head in her neck and just breathed against her skin. She let her hands slide up his back to his head, grabbing a handful of hair.

It was just too perfect. The way the molds of their bodies fit together perfectly should not have been possible; his legs between hers, his arms tangled around her torso. She became hyper-aware of how her toes only reached to his shins and how his forefinger was pressed firmly into her shoulder blade. She could feel his quickened heartbeat and his steady breath against her neck as he lay on top of her. He let her memorize the grooves of his back with her fingertips, although that was information she should have already known.

"Drew," May breathed.

"Hm…?" he hummed against her again.

"I want to see how bad it looks."

She couldn't see his face, but she knew he was smirking.

"Alright."

He slowly detangled himself from her and sat up on his side of the bed, watching her sit up as well. She didn't look at him, but could feel his eyes tracing her figure.

May reached up to gather her hair in a ponytail, only to let it fall. She desperately needed to take a shower.

Wearing nothing but her boy-shorts, she stood up and tiptoed from his bedroom to his bathroom, the two being connected by a pocket door. She let her fingertips slide down the polished wood after she opened it. She thought she heard Drew curse softly in awe before the mattress groaned, announcing that he was about to follow her footsteps.

Natural light poured into the bathroom window, and somehow that caused May to realize just how quiet early morning hours actually were. A large mirror sat over the porcelain sink, and her reflection immediately shocked her.

A bruise the size of a golf ball was on the left side of her neck, still red from his brief revisit this morning. Smaller dark spots appeared in clusters along her collarbone, but seemed to filter out about her breasts. The bruises there were still quite prominent, however.

She remembered him kissing at her softly at first, as if she were fragile. As he'd worked his way up to her shoulders, his kisses had gotten a bit more frenzied, and his hands had attended to what his lips had left behind.

She loved the marks he left on her. In a way they represented how much he'd wanted her. How long he'd put off wanting her. So much that he couldn't bring himself to separate his lips from her skin. So terribly long that the marks he'd left behind were meant to last forever.

She felt Drew place a hand on her left hip, and she let him slip the tip of his finger underneath the top elastic of her underwear. She glanced up in the mirror and saw that he was standing behind her, slightly to the right.

Drew's right arm came to rest across her stomach at the end of her torso. "What are you thinking about?"

The first thought May'd had was that they looked like a painting. She'd never seen herself like this before. Only when they were together did she resemble artwork, and that was only because of Drew's presence.

He stood taller than she did, and her skin looked softer rather than toned like his. His chest was left perfect and unscathed, where hers was beautifully altered by his lips. Her hair was messier than his was, but the green seemed to complement the brown in a way that radiated warmth.

It was so strange to see how much they'd changed over the course of a little over a decade. Although they had matured separately, they had somehow aged well together.

Drew rested his chin on her shoulder. "Are you mad?"

She moved her right arm to cover his. Smiling, May shook her head no. She then slipped out of his arms and opened the shower door to turn the knob. The water sprayed her arm before she managed to pull it back.

He was still standing in front of the mirror, smirking at her. "Am I allowed to join you?"

She slipped out of her boy shorts and stepped onto the tiled floor of the shower. "Only if you take off your boxers."

"Do you want some coffee?"

Drew's back was facing her as he tended to the coffee pot. His v-neck stuck to his still-wet skin. She could see the outline of his back and shoulders beneath the cloth and the shorter green hairs at the nape of his neck. His hair was a bit longer at the top, enough for her to run her fingers through. She wondered how long ago he'd decided to wear his hair like that. She wondered what she was doing with her life when he'd first cut it.

"May?" He turned around to face her, the coffee pot in one hand, a mug in the other.

He smirked when he saw she was already staring at him. His eyes were so. green.

"What?" she asked, then remembered his question. "Oh, yeah. Yeah."

She was sitting at his kitchen island, in the same seat she sat in yesterday, her hair still damp, her heart still pounding. Drew had given her one of his T-shirts to wear. Because it was so big on her, it made her look even smaller.

Drew walked over to the island to pour her a cup, in the same way he'd poured her a drink last night. Her glass of whiskey was actually still sitting on the counter, as she hadn't gotten the chance to finish it.

She watched the veins in his forearms become more prominent as his muscles worked to grip the items he held. She let her eyes trail up his arm and to his neck, where his collarbone was peeking out of his v-neck.

May looked up at his face and saw that he was looking back at her with an eyebrow raised. She realized that she was biting her lip. She stopped and saw his smirk widen to a smile.

Drew set down her coffee mug in front of her and picked up his own.

"You okay there?" He poured himself some coffee and took a sip, using only two fingers to grip the handle.

She watched him set down the coffee pot as she picked up her mug, gripping it with both hands.

"Uh-huh," she said before bringing it to her lips. They locked eyes, and there was a moment of silence as the two drank from their mugs. She could just tell Drew was smiling at her from behind his perfectly white cup.

They'd both managed to stop and place their mugs back on the counter at the same time. The silence continued, as did Drew's smirk, then he took a quick breath and started speaking.

"So last night—"

"It was good," May interrupted just as quickly.

He leaned on the counter with one forearm, his eyebrows shooting up. "Really."

Everything he did was attractive. May tried to give off a "strictly business" demeanor.

"It was actually really great," she answered.

"Oh, interesting," he said. "It went from good to really great in like five seconds." He moved his face closer to hers. "And this morning?"

"You mean ten minutes ago."

"Yeah."

"Even better," she admitted.

He nodded slowly and raised his mug to his lips once again. It was as if they were discussing his job performance. In a way they were.

He set down his mug once again and pushed it a bit to the side. His smirk was beginning to fade.

"You know, I wasn't expecting any of this to happen," he said.

May continued holding the coffee cup for the sole purpose of warming her fingers. "What do you mean?"

Drew stared at the counter and seemed to be lost in his thoughts. To bring him back, May said something she really shouldn't have.

"You're really good in bed."

He looked up at her, fairly close to laughing.

"It's almost criminal," she continued. "I don't know why I didn't expect that."

"All of that— none of it was intentional," he stated.

"Oh, really." May put her mug on the counter and defiantly crossed her arms. "Then why—"

"—Yes."

"—Then why did you bring me here? We were—"

"—To have a nice little conversation—"

"—About what?"

"—And then you took your shirt off."

"What did you want to talk to me about?"

"—And then you took my shirt off…"

"Well, yeah. Because that was the logical thing to do!"

Drew gave a light chuckle before speaking. "What? How was that logical? How did you go from talking about us when we were little to taking off your clothes."

"It just seemed like a good idea at the time—"

"How."

"And wasn't it a good idea? Aren't you happy I did it?"

Their rapid conversation came to a quick pause.

"Well, I mean, yeah," Drew admitted.

"Okay, then."

"No. How. Tell me."

He was still leaning over the counter, smirking at her. She couldn't imagine how red her face looked.

"Well, we were talking about us…"

Drew said nothing, but lifted an eyebrow.

"As little kids…"

He nodded at her, motioning with his hands to continue a bit faster.

"And I just thought," May trailed slowly, breaking eye contact and staring at her coffee instead, "about how… twelve year old Drew never kissed me. And twenty-four year old Drew never kissed me—" she put up an open palm to stop Drew's inevitable interruption. "—as of last night. And I thought about how much I've matured over the years… and I thought you might want to see that."

She finished her thought confidently and looked him in the eyes.

"And my shirt?" he asked.

May was back in her "strictly business" attitude. "Purely for my benefit."

He smiled and nodded slowly, his gaze shifting between her eyes.

She returned his gaze for a second or two before sliding off of the bar stool and walking around the kitchen island to put her cup in the sink.

"So, what were you going to talk to me about?" she asked him.

He seemed reluctant to answer, so she moved to lean on the counter next to him until he did.

"I was going to convince you not to go to Veilstone with me."

"What?" May felt incredibly hurt. "Why?"

"I don't want you to worry about me."

"I care about you! You don't want me to worry about someone I care about?"

Drew sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Do you even remember why you wanted to go?"

"Yes, I wanted—" she paused. "I wanted us to—"

She couldn't bring herself to finish the sentence. Drew's eyes seemed to plead with her to understand just how ridiculous she would sound if she did.

"May, you have a life without me."

"Do you even remember what you said to me?" She could feel herself getting infuriated. "Were you lying?"

Their next sentences overlapped.

"You were supposed to be telling to truth, Drew—"

"Why would I lie about anything I said— I was telling the truth!"

May stared at him in disbelief. "Then what—"

Drew took a step closer to her, which only emphasized what he said next. "May. You have. A life. Without me. I don't want you to throw that away because of what I told you. It doesn't matter."

"Drew. I'm not going to leave you."

"We haven't seen each other in twelve years. Some of what happened was bound to happen, but soon you're going to be on the next flight home—"

"I am NOT leaving you."

"I don't want you to sacrifice anything for me! I want you to be happy—"

"Listen to me!" May yelled, completely frustrated.

Drew stopped talking and clenched his jaw, looking slightly annoyed. She glared at him and spent about six seconds just trying to hold back tears.

"Shut up!" she finally said. She knew that he desperately wanted to point out that he hadn't said anything for a while now, but he kept quiet. "Who said that I wanted to do any of this for you?"

He furrowed his eyebrows at that question, but didn't answer.

May struggled to find the words she wanted to say. "I have never—"

She paused, but tried again. "Right now, I—"

She took a deep breath and looked him in his beautiful green eyes. "I have missed you for twelve. years. But this morning I woke up and didn't have to wonder where you were, or how you were feeling, or whether or not you were still alive or not because I already knew. And I can't even explain how good that felt. To just know. That I could be absolutely anywhere in the world, and I was actually with you this time." She took a slight pause. "Do you know what I've done on every single date I've been on in the past decade?"

There was a slight pause before Drew realized she wanted him to answer.

"What?" he asked.

"I compared every single one of them to you." May watched his expression soften, and she felt hers soften as well. "None of them were ever good enough." Another slight pause. "And none of them had green hair."

He gave a short, breathy laugh. "May—"

"So if there's even an opportunity where I can make both of us happy with little to no effort," she smiled, "or lots of effort with little to no clothes—" Drew instantly laughed, making May's smile widen. "—then I'm going to take it. Okay?"

His eyes searched hers. "You really want to do this."

"Yes. I do."

Drew placed his palm over his mouth, seemingly covering a smile. His genuine grin was one of the most beautiful things May could remember ever seeing. She could see the excitement behind his eyes as he slid his hand from his face and chuckled lightly.

May felt a small smile tug at her lips.

"What?" she asked so quietly that it was almost inaudible.

Drew leaned on the counter with his elbow. "I just really loved you when we were younger."

May couldn't tell if her heartbeat sped up or stopped altogether. She suddenly didn't know what to do with her hands.

"It's so weird how people tend to invalidate every thought they had as a kid," Drew continued, "as if kids are totally unaware of what they're feeling. All of these years I thought I was just over-exaggerating my memory of you, but I wasn't."

"Why are you thinking about this?" May asked quietly, although she knew the answer.

He shrugged. "I guess I was just vividly reminded of how I felt back then."

She suddenly remembered where her hands should be. She moved a bit closer to him and hung them from his neck.

"By what?" she asked, her head tilted to the side.

Drew placed both hands on her hips and pulled her closer to him. "By whom," he corrected.

May rolled her eyes but couldn't help grinning, and he smiled softly at her in response. He lifted her up and sat her on the counter, standing between her legs. This was exactly where they were last night when Drew started kissing her bare chest.

"By whom, then?" she questioned.

"A girl."

"Ooooh," May cooed, wiggling her hips against the counter. His grip tightened on her waist. "A girl. I bet she's really gorgeous."

"Obviously."

"Does she think you're gorgeous?"

"God, I hope so. Or things are about to get really awkward."

May ran her forefinger behind his ear and felt his gaze on her somehow intensify. "And why is that?"

"Because I'm marrying her."

She rested the same hand against his chest and looked him in the eyes. It took her a couple of seconds to process that. Every day would begin and end with Drew by her side. "You're marrying me."

"I know."

May wrapped her legs around his back and watched something inside him crumble. Drew pressed closer to her and placed his forehead against hers. He clenched his jaw and grabbed a fistful of material about her waist.

"You're wearing nothing but my T-shirt," he murmured so quickly she almost didn't catch it. For some reason it sounded like both a reminder and a warning.

She straightened her back and he pulled her against him forcefully, his arm at the small of her back. She could feel his heart pounding where her hand rested against his chest.

"Sounds tempting," May whispered, completely aware of the effect she was having on him.

He didn't answer. She didn't think he could have. He ran his lips from her jaw to her neck to the necklace that hung from it, his hand reaching underneath the oversized shirt to feel the soft curves of her hips.

She already knew where he was headed, and just as quickly, he was already there: on the left side of her neck. She automatically reached up to grab a fistful of his hair. She said his name in a sort of exasperated sigh. His grip around her waist tightened and he exhaled against her skin.

And there you have it! Thanks for reading. Review please!