The Cosmic Arts

Five minutes.

I glanced over at the clock over my desk and groaned. Make that four minutes. Quickly ticking down to three.

The wind blew so swiftly outside that my house creaked against it, and it might very well have moved me. I hurried over to my bed and grabbed the jacket I left lying across it; Hoenn, unlike Johto, failed to get cold enough for a winter coat, but the winters did get brisk. And that breeze didn't sound warm.

"May!" my mom's voice shouted up the stairs, and I looked over at the clock again. Two minutes early. Damn him.

"Coming! Hold on!" I responded, spinning desperately around in the center of my floor trying to locate my shoes. I could've sworn I forgot to take them off downstairs and kicked them off somewhere in my room…

The spinning took its toll when I tumbled over the Lapras doll that I hadn't convinced myself to get rid of in the five years since I moved here, knocking it over—and then a pile of papers on the bookshelf beside it—in the process. A small photo floated back and forth last until it hit the floor, settling on top of the mess I just created as light as a feather.

I sat up onto my knees, rubbing my rump with one hand and reaching for the photo with the other.

My door burst open just as I began laughing. "May, we heard a crash," Brendan muttered as he entered my room. When he noticed me on the floor, one hand still on my butt, he ran over to me so quickly that I feared he'd slip on the mass of papers spread out all about my floor now. But he made it safely over to me without tripping and squatted down beside me with a hand on my back. "Are you okay? Are you crying or laughing?"

"Laughing," I assured him through some giggles, and I held out the photo to him. "Look at this."

Brendan reached hesitantly for the photo, and when his eyes trailed down to it—lingering on me skeptically for just an extra second—he snorted. "Wow." He flipped the picture over, perhaps looking for a date on the back, but I hadn't penned one in. "This is old. Like, right after you became the Champion. Look at your hair."

"Please." I elbowed him, and he grinned guiltily. "Your face. Our preteen years were not kind to us."

"Speak for yourself. I was adorable." Brendan passed the picture back to me, only for me to start laughing all over again.

"Yeah," I agreed, wiping my eyes dry. "What happened?" He elbowed me this time, and I dropped the photo back on top of the messy pile knocked off my bookshelf.

I forgot all about that picture—no, even the trip. Brendan probably got the date right—sometime immediately after I became the Champion. My parents gave me two tickets to the Mossdeep Star Show to watch the meteor shower, and after a hell of a lot of extra drama involving a giant meteoroid possibly destroying the planet, Brendan and I went.

I could have done without the issue with the meteoroid, but… whatever.

Brendan and I explored the whole space center in Mossdeep, and one of the specials they had was a deal with a free picture in front of the spacesuit cut-out. Of course, Brendan insisted that I be the one standing behind the cut-out, but I kept refusing. The picture ended up being taken with Brendan behind the cut-out shouting at me and me walking away towards the girl with the camera with my mouth half-open and my eyes half-closed. In other words, we both looked absolutely ridiculous.

"I should have framed this," I whispered in between giggles.

"No, you should've had your Blaziken burn it," Brendan countered, his tone completely serious in contrast to his amused expression.

"Party pooper." I stuck my tongue out at Brendan, and out of the corner of my eye, I noticed the time. "Crap, we're late. You came two minutes early, though, so you're going to give me those two minutes back. Come on, up we go."

I grabbed Brendan's arm, slightly distracted by the muscle definition in his arm, and pulled him up to his feet. "Hold on," he protested as I moved behind him and ushered him towards the door. "You can't just—hey, May!"

With a firm push on his back, I knocked him out of my room and slammed the door behind him. But once out, he didn't attempt his way back in like my old friends used to do back in Johto. I didn't know if that made Brendan polite or too conservative, but he did just run into my room without knocking when I could have been half-naked for all he knew.

Not that I had any problem with that. Separate issue.

I made it perfectly clear to him years ago that I thought taking our relationship from platonic to romantic or sexual didn't bother me. Of course, it had been an accidental kiss that brought that subject up—one of those stereotypical ones on TV shows where we were standing really close to each other and both turned… disastrous. It could hardly count as a kiss, but that didn't stop Brendan from fleeing to the other side of the room when it happened.

Well, in any case, his opinion was that we were friends—just friends—and mine was that I wanted him to put his hands in my hair and kiss me until I couldn't breathe anymore. Maybe more. Preferably more.

Obviously we had some, um, differing opinions here. So, I settled on making him happy. If he wanted to be just friends, we'd be just friends.

There wasn't much of a difference between what we had and what couples did, to be honest. Like tonight, for instance: here we were heading out to the Slateport Beach to enjoy a picnic dinner under the stars, arranged courteously by the man who owned the restaurant on the beach—we wouldn't be the only group there, but the reservations were for groups of two only. And he offered the whole deal to me for free, so I had no choice but to accept it.

The whole idea of it sounded like a date to me, which had been my subtle intention in asking Brendan even if he viewed it as a friendly offer. Oh well. It wasn't like I had anyone else with whom I wanted to eat dinner under the stars.

With a sigh, I pushed myself off my door and started to get ready again. I took those two minutes I had seriously, using every second if only to prove to Brendan what punctuality meant to me, though only jokingly. My shoes appeared, clearly mocking me, at the very end of those two minutes by the door, the last place I'd ever check after searching under my bed, in my closet, behind my desk, and every other nook and cranny in this room.

But the mess I made from tripping over the Lapras doll remained, the picture that encompassed everything about my friendship with Brendan sitting right on top. When I emerged from my bedroom, Brendan grinned at me, and I couldn't help but think of his face in that picture and how different he looked now. I probably looked different, too, but if I hadn't even noticed his changes until now, it was likely that he didn't notice mine, either.

"Ready? Finally," he commented with a sly grin, and I put my hands on my hips. "I'm kidding."

"Sure you are," I muttered under my breath, but as he walked ahead of me towards the stairs, I smiled up at the back of his head. He even got taller than me… when had that happened?

My mom was waiting by the front door as the two of us reached the foot of the stairs. She and my dad would never tell me directly, but they had been waiting for years for Brendan and I to get together, and I had a feeling that the fact that we didn't and wouldn't was a source of constant disappointment for them both. It did make me feel a little guilty—just looking at how eager my mom was right now was enough to make me laugh nervously and tug on the hem of Brendan's jacket. A bit of a show, but Mom's eyes lit up.

"Oh, you two…" My mom pursed her lips in that admiring kind of way, as if keeping her lower lip from quivering at the sight of us. "You're going to have such a good time. A meal under the stars—and you got such a good night for it, too. It's so beautiful out."

Brendan nodded, and I dropped his coat from my fingertips. "It's, like, really windy out right now, but it should feel good on the beach."

"We're going to be late for our reservation," I added just to prevent my mom from saying too much, and she gasped and pulled the door open.

"Go, go. Have fun! Be safe!"

Safe, I thought with a quiet chuckle, and I bit down on my index finger. That was hopeful thinking…

Of course, that was definitely not what she meant at all, but I couldn't help but let my mind go straight to the gutter. When Brendan looked like that—with his hair all neatly quaffed, his white shirt pressed and complemented with a tie that I never thought I'd see, and those shiny black loafers—and I looked like this—with my tiny red dress that provided him with the rarest possible experience because I didn't think he'd ever seen me in a dress—well… we were dressed like a hot couple. Could you blame me for being hopeful?

"Better take a picture before we head off, though," Brendan announced suddenly once we were outside, and my eyebrows furrowed together. He pointed to his hair and laughed. "This is the last time you'll see my hair like this all night. If the wind doesn't mess it up, then flying to Slateport totally will."

I reached a hand up and prodded a piece that already fell loose back into place, and the hardness of the strand made a giggle bubble within me, one that I couldn't manage to stifle. "Did you use hair gel?" I wondered, and when Brendan's eyes shifted away, I put my hand flat on the rest of his head. "Yep, hard as a rock. I think you're good for the evening, if not the next year."

"Very funny," he muttered, reaching into his pocket and pulling out his PokéNav. "Take a picture anyway. My mom'll want one."

"Mine, too," I agreed, and I slid myself into place beside him, hugging my arm around his torso. I fit perfectly into his side, like I belonged there all along, and when he squatted down just a tiny bit and pressed his cheek against mine, I leaned back against him. He was warm… so warm…

Brendan lifted the PokéNav and pointed it at our faces, and the two of us smiled our perfected faked smiles, the ones not quite as genuine as the rest, even if we were totally happy now.

"Ta-da!" He flipped the PokéNav around and showed the picture to me.

"Well, it's certainly nicer than the one I found earlier." I laughed, and Brendan shot me a look.

"Anything is better than that embarrassment. I think they would have given it to us for free out of sheer pity even if there hadn't been a special that night," he countered, and then he pocketed our newest trophy. "Okay, we really should be going now. Like, we're probably seriously late now."

I held out my hand, gesturing for him to go ahead. "Be my gue—"

I stopped when he clamped his hand over mine, but when I did, he backed away from me like I just broke out in vicious hives and dropped my hand as if on fire. "S-sorry," he said quickly, and then he grabbed a Poké Ball from his bag. "I just thought… never mind. My mistake. Let's go."

He jumped on his Swellow's back even before I sent out my Flygon, but I stood there watching only because I couldn't help but notice how quickly he tried to get away.

What I loved most about the beach was the way the stars reflected off the water, even with the waves lapping across the shore. To discern between the sky and the water was nearly impossible towards the horizon—it doubled the billions of stars and made infinity stretch. Out there, those stars extended forever, and we were just one tiny piece of the puzzle moving around one tiny star.

And when the reflections of the stars hit the waves, farther from us as the tide pulled out, those tiny balls of light burst with each push and pull, sliding back on the sand and leaving just a faint hint of themselves behind on the glossy surface of the sand.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?"

I tore my gaze away from the sea and looked at our waiter, who bent over to refill our glasses with water. Admittedly, sitting on a blanket on the beach and eating wasn't that strange, but having a picnic with a waiter and fancy dishes kind of was.

"You really lucked out on the weather. I swear the boss was watching the weather station every hour for the past week just to get an update on how tonight would look. Couldn't have gotten a better night, though." The waiter stood back up again and turned his face towards the sky. "Most people don't get the chance to see a sight like this."

"It's amazing," Brendan agreed. He smiled at me, and I picked at my vegetables with my fork just to look busy.

"Well, you two enjoy your meals," the waiter concluded. "I'll be back over in another few minutes to check on you."

Between Brendan and myself, we didn't often end up in silence together. But this dinner had been a quiet one, if only because we both spent so much time staring out at the water. It wasn't the least bit awkward, though. We worked well in silence and in noise.

"Canis Major," Brendan announced suddenly, just as I bit into a piece of my fish. When I cocked an eyebrow, he pointed up, and I let my gaze follow the direction of his finger. "Canis Major. You see that really bright star? That's Sirius. The stars around it make up the constellation Canis Major. Lepus is right next to it, and Monoceros and Orion are above those… if you look… that way."

He connected the dots with his finger, not that I could tell exactly what he was drawing. But I did see that one really bright star right now, and somewhere around that, Brendan was painting his picture for me. I just wished I could tell exactly what I was looking at up there.

"When did you become an expert in reading the stars?" I asked, probably too mockingly, and he stuck his tongue out at me. "You trying to impress me or something?"

I was joking, of course, so I didn't expect his cheeks to turn red, such a contrast to his tanned skin that it was conspicuous even in the relative darkness of our candlelit dining experience. I stared at him for a couple of seconds until he buried his face in his hands, giving into the sheer embarrassment of my hitting the nail on the head.

"As if you have to do anything to try to impress me!" I announced cheerfully, and Brendan groaned. I sighed, looking back up at the stars. "It is cool, though. I can only ever find the Big Dipper… which is currently evading me with all of these other stars…"

"It's part of Ursa Major." Brendan lifted his head, slowly and definitely unsurely, and then pointed up at another batch of stars. "There."

I followed his finger again, and this time—knowing what I was looking for—I found it. It was right there in front of my eyes, hidden between the thousands of other stars in plain sight. But somehow in the crowd, Brendan could find all of this cosmic art, the pictures in the sky that those who appreciated it might see.

I could only wish that Brendan saw me within the crowd, too.

To be friends was enough, though. To enjoy this beautiful evening and this delicious food with my best friend—that was truly enough. To watch Brendan paint the sky for me… it was all enough. It would be selfish of me to ask for more when I had so much already.

"Hey, Brendan," I began quietly, and his hand moved slowly back to his side. Just like that, the Big Dipper faded back into the cosmos. "I want to take another picture—to commemorate us being here. And if it turns out pretty good, then I'll frame it… But it has to top the one from the Mossdeep Space Center."

Brendan picked up his fork and stabbed a piece of chicken, smiling as he lifted it towards his mouth. "That'll be easy," he said, and then he bit the chicken off the fork.

"No. It really won't."

It came off much more solemn than I intended, and Brendan's eyebrows rose slowly as he chewed. So, I smiled at him, laughing it off like a joke.

"I mean, we couldn't possibly look more ridiculous in another picture, which makes that one special, especially since it was candid," I explained, and Brendan finally laughed, too. Got him. "Come here."

I pushed myself to my feet and gestured for Brendan to join me by the water. He sighed and dropped his fork a little unwillingly, and I chuckled as he slumped over to my side. But this time he moved into place beside me instead of the other way around like earlier, and I slid my hand up his back to his shoulder, holding him where I always wanted him to be.

When he pulled his PokéNav from his pocket and held it out in front of us, I shook my head and put my hand over his.

"Down, like this. I want the stars," I told him.

He fixed the camera on our faces, shifting the angle in order to get the sky into focus. "I'm not sure you can have them. The sky just shows up black."

"Well…" I smiled, leaning my face against Brendan's. He wasn't as warm as he was earlier, maybe because the cool breeze stung his cheeks too many times. "I'll always want what I can't have. It's in my nature."

The angle wouldn't be flattering—the stars wouldn't show up. But everything about this picture would be as perfect as it could ever be.

Brendan's finger hovered over the side of the PokéNav, and I stared into the camera with my mouth half-open and my eyes slightly dazed. But beside me, I could feel Brendan's muscles in his face clench as he smiled, and I turned towards him just before he clicked the button to take the picture, leaving barely a centimeter between us.

When the flash went off, I backed away from my friend and stepped into the cool seawater. It lapped over my shoes, the shoes I spent minutes looking for, the shoes that made me find that ridiculous picture in the first place. I folded my hands together and looked down at them, watching as the stars faded against my feet.

"Oh…"

I glanced back at Brendan and found him staring down at the PokéNav screen with a soft expression. He was always delicate like that, even though he used to act like a tough guy all the time. I saw through that years ago—probably after our first meeting, actually, when he told me he wished I was a guy. The "cool guy" persona didn't suit him.

Without a word, he stepped towards me and passed the PokéNav over. There on the screen was our new picture, the one for just the two of us—not for our mothers. I was looking up at Brendan, and he was smiling a picture perfect smile. We both looked we had multiple chins because of the angle, Brendan more so than me. The sky around us was dark, just an abyss or a canvas or something we pasted ourselves onto.

But there, in our eyes, were the stars. The flash reflected in them like it would in a mirror, leaving the tiniest of stars glowing in our eyes.

To anyone else, the picture would have been deleted, thrown out, destroyed. But I ran my fingers over the screen and smiled.

"It's perfect."

"It's terrible. Want to redo it?" Brendan offered, but I shook my head.

"No. Can you print out a copy for me when we get home?"

He scrunched his face once again, his favorite way to express his disgust at my many wonderful ideas, but eventually nodded. Why I would want this crappy, amateur, just plain ugly picture was beyond him, but the stars were beyond me.

"All right, I want to finish my food," Brendan announced, and he began to turn back. He gestured back towards our blanket, and I stared at his hand.

I latched my fingers around his, holding him back as he started forward. It was the reversal of roles, but the effect was the same. He froze, and like a flame had been lit between us, pulled his hand away from mine.

"You've impressed me, Brendan."

His cheeks went red again, but then he swallowed and forced a grin. "With that picture? You need to raise your expectations a little."

"I know you've expressed your opinion on this, and that's fine if it's the same," I started, ignoring his attempts to smooth this over. "But I need to tell you. Looking at that picture earlier and seeing this new one now made me think about us. Our friendship. The way you see me and the way I see you. We disagree."

Brendan was hesitant, still blushing, as he asked, "On what?"

"I love you, and not just as a friend. I have for a long time, but I've been content with just being your friend for all of these years," I elaborated, watching as Brendan somehow got smaller. "If you still don't see me the same way I see you, then I'll continue to be just a friend to you. But if you've changed your mind…"

"I…" Brendan swallowed, his eyes dashing back and forth, somewhere beyond me to the edge of the sky. "I don't know. I mean, I do know, but, like… we make such good friends, don't we?"

"You don't want to ruin that," I finished for him, and he nodded.

A silent confession, one that wasn't mean to be. It was a yes, his feelings for me had changed—or maybe they weren't so different than before. He just never wanted to mess up our relationship by risking trying this, us, at all. We couldn't go back if we took a step forward.

"May…"

"All forgotten," I assured him with a smile. "Not worth the risk. Now, let's go finish eating before our food is not only cold but taken away by the waiter, too."

This time he reached for my hand. "Are you planning on framing that picture?"

I looked up at the stars, trying to find that bright one Brendan called Sirius, but so many of them looked the same to me. I saw it earlier and couldn't see it now without Brendan pointing the way.

"Yeah. But don't worry, I'll keep it in my room where only I'll ever see it—maybe my mom if she goes in."

Then I found it. The brightest star in the sky. The stars around it, the ones that shone just a little bit more brightly than the rest but more dimly than Sirius, formed Canis Major.

"Do you want to take the risk?" Brendan asked, and I became conscious of the fact that he was still holding my hand as I went to lift it towards the sky, to paint just like he did earlier. He squeezed my fingers, keeping me there. "I mean… is the risk worth it to you? Because I think it is. I've been in love with you for years, and… I'm starting to make an idiot out of myself."

I turned away from the sky and stared at Brendan with wide eyes. "Why didn't you say that sooner? Not the idiot part," I added quickly. "The… everything else part."

"Sorry."

"If you mean it… kiss me." I pulled my hand away from his and grabbed onto the collar of his shirt, just above where his tie met it. "You idiot."

He sealed the deal with that kiss, the risk taken. From this point forward, nothing would ever be the same. And how could it when I knew now that he could take my breath away, that he could leave my heart pounding so hard from a single kiss that shivers crawled up my spine?

"Now…" I breathed as he leaned away from me, and I latched my fingers around his tie. "We'll finish eating, and you can tell me all about those stars."

"Uh… that was about all I know…"

"Oh. Well, I have regrets already," I quipped, and he frowned. "Kidding."

I patted his back, and with a skip and a hop—and a squelch from my wet shoes—I led him back to our legitimately romantic dinner. And maybe by the end of the night I'd be able to paint the stars, too.

Author's Note: The story of Pokémon selfies. Didn't you know taking selfies can result in romance?

It's nice to write a fluffy story every once in awhile, especially considering the amount of angst I write, haha. So, even if this isn't particularly "deep" or anything, it's relaxing! And since this is my first Brendan/May story, that's a little exciting, too.

Happy holidays!