X

(*)

Nobody's bromance matched that of Gary and Drew's.

(*)

The use of the letter X as a symbol was somewhat weird. To some people it meant something wrong (especially in the context of tests and quizzes), or something that should not be entertained. To others it marked something right and special, like when used to mark the treasure in those treasure maps widely used in children's shows.

To Gary Oak, X symbolized Drew Hayden perfectly – both in the entirety of its wrongness and the entirety of its rightness. To Drew, Gary was the same.

The circumstance of which the two males met was, needless to say, slightly odd and of mere coincidence. They had each been the plus-one of a friend in their friends' mutual friend's birthday celebration a couple of years back. Drew had been invited by May Maple as his reward from a bet they had previously made, while Gary had been Leaf Greene's default plus-one ever since the two began dating.

The females of the group of four hit off splendidly at their first meeting, having found plenty of similarities between the two of them. By the end of the night, Leaf had reported to Gary, the two had already planned to have lunch together on the following day.

However, while the two males did find a lot of things similar between the two of them (their attitude was somewhat similar to each other, much to Drew's annoyance), they didn't quite get along so easily at the beginning but had clicked later on that night.

"What kind of a job is coordinating?" Gary said casually in the middle of one of his conversation with Drew. Whether the male meant it with malice or not was unknown. All Drew knew was that it took all of this might not to strangle the brunet and just sit there at the table like the civilized young adult that he was. Drew knew, then, that the guy seating next to him was someone he never wanted to talk to anymore in his lifetime. "I mean, sure at the moment I'm pretty sure you guys are going for passion and all, but being a coordinator is sort of unstable. How are you supposed to sustain your family's life when your income is irregular?"

Drew said nothing in response. If he were to be honest with himself, he knew that having a coordinating job was not at all sustainable for his future life (and possibly, though he tried not to think of it, his future family). Even more so did this fact slap him on the face when he compared his current source of income to that of Gary the pokemon researcher.

"It's not as if I'd keep it up forever," Drew said. "I'll get out of it when I need to settle down. I'm just having fun right now, living the moment, being somewhat rebellious, and doing this thing in the world that I actually like. Might as well keep it up while I don't have to be a responsible adult with a family yet."

Gary grinned. "What you're saying now doesn't match the image I projected of you from what those magazines say," he said in an amused manner. "I expected you to be more of a stuck-up, responsible guy, especially now that we're in our very late teens and all." Drew rolled his eyes in response. "But really, 'fun'? You classify not having a regular money stream, stressful nights with practically no reward, and a life with no romance of any sort for a future family under the 'fun' category?"

"Just so you know, Oak, I do have a regular money stream, thank you very much," Drew replied. He sipped from his glass of wine, causing a slight pause in the conversation. "There's no single coordinator's magazine issue that gets published that doesn't have my face in it and mind you there are around three different titles of those magazines in circulation. Secondly, no the stress does come with a reward. I'm a two-time Grand Festival winner, and that's pretty much a feat in itself." Rarely did he feel the need to bring up his accomplishments (Drew really only brought it up to May when she was getting her head to high up in the clouds), but Drew felt the need to flatten the ego radiating from Gary during the entirety of their conversation.

Gary raised an eyebrow. "And the lack of romance thing?"

"Is something not related to me being a coordinator, and is purely by choice."

"Sure it's a choice." Gary shot him a look.

"If I wanted to ask a girl out, I already would have," Drew said. "And the girl would have said yes, without question."

"Keep telling yourself that, buddy," Gary said with a smirk. "I did, and trust me, I had to chase the girl for a year before she said yes to a date. Mind you, it wasn't even a date type of date but a study date."

"Obviously that just goes to show how much more of an eligible bachelor I am compared to you."

"I'm not the bachelor here," Gary said as his eyes danced with amusement. "But hey, listen, I'll give you my number right now and you can ask me for advice on how to ask Maple over there out."

Drew smirked. "I do not need your advice, I've no plans to ask her out in the near future, and I will have no use for your number."

Regardless of that conversation, Drew ended taking not only May back to the pokemon center (though they, of course, booked separate rooms), but also a bottle of wine, tomorrow's headache and Gary's number.

"Aww," May cooed on their way back to the center. "Drew's making friends."

"Trust me, May. There's no way he and I would be friends. We don't share the same vibes."

"And we do?" May giggled. "Give it some time. You're probably only clashing right now because you give off more or less exactly the same vibe."

"Fancy seeing you here," Gary greeted with a slight smirk.

"You invited me here," Drew reminded.

"No I didn't. Leaf invited May. Then May invited you with our permission, since it's our housewarming party and all. You're technically not part of our guest list." Gary grinned. "You're welcome to leave, but if you want to stay, you have to agree to a deal with me and Leaf."

Drew raised his eyebrow in curiosity. "Which is what?" Gary mimicked Drew's raised eyebrow. "I'm only considering taking on the deal because someone has to remain sane to make sure your house doesn't burn down."

Three years after that initial meeting at May and Leaf's common friend's birthday celebration, the two males had been able to establish some sort of mutual truce to be civilized in each other's company. With how often the two were in the same general area, their being in each other's company happened at least twice a week.

"You have to be seen on the dance floor tonight," Gary proclaimed to his green-eyed companion.

"With you?"

Gary almost spat his drink out. Luckily, instead of sending the liquid out like a projectile, he settled on quickly swallowing his drink and choking on it. "No, stupid. Unless of course you'd want to, then we can work that out."

"No thanks, Oak. I'd rather not be seen socializing with you at all. I'll be staying though. I don't know what kinds of crazy might happen if I leave. You really might burn the house down and Leaf would get angry at you since she didn't have the chance to live in it for more than a day."

"We've already slept in it."

"Noted. I'll be the sober guy who makes sure you're the only people who do. I know a lot of these people will end up wanting to sleep over here and probably do more. You seem to attract such types of people," Drew said, swishing the liquid in his cup. "I'm also just going to stand in the middle of the dance floor to fulfill my part of the deal."

Gray chuckled. "Don't make going to the dance floor sound like a death sentence, Hayden. You and I both know you'd rather be there with a certain someone than be on the sidelines with nobody at all. You could settle for standing with me like you're doing right now, but I have to apologize since I'm already taken and all."

"You flatter yourself too much. I'd rather not settle with the likes of you." Gary sighed at Drew.

"You need a push because, honestly, it's frustrating watching you watch her from a distance without trying anything to make her make sense of your attraction."

The serious tone Gary took in his last sentence made Drew lock his green eyes to Gary's onyx ones. Gary's look softened.

"Just don't resist too much tonight. Have fun. Have genuine fun."

Drew blinked, then smirked.

"Your older brother act doesn't suit you well." That elicited a chuckle from the other guy. Their one-year gap sometime made Gary feel the need to be the more mature one of the two, but both males knew Drew was the more mature one.

"Appreciate my effort though," Gary jokingly said.

With a two-fingered salute, Drew made his way over to the middle of the room to fulfill his part of the deal, his eyes locked on to his favourite brunette clad in a little red dress that flattered all of her assets, and who was dancing with her little female posse.

"Drew," Gary called from the place he stood. Drew whipped his head to turn around. "As much as I told you not to restrain too much, please do control yourself and still be the decent guy you are."

Drew smirked. "I'm not stupid, Gary. I'm just going to be standing on the dance floor tonight. Nothing more."

It was 1:57 in the morning and Drew was literally on the verge of falling asleep when his phone rang out of the blue, signalling the receipt of a message. He had half the mind to ignore his phone, but ultimately decided to entertain whoever had sent the message. His gut feeling told him it was something important, and his gut feeling never went wrong.

Flower boy, Leaf is mad at me. I need your help.

It was a message from Gary.

Drew sighed and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. Maybe, he thought, he shouldn't listen to his gut feeling all the time.

What did you do this time?

Regardless, Drew was already awake and was nowhere near getting back to sleep. He put his sweater on and made his way to his room's balcony. He leaned on the railing, waiting for his brunet friend – acquaintance - to reply.

Idrk, she's giving me the silent treatment.

Drew sighed as he typed his response.

Are you stupid enough to not have *any* idea of why she's mad at you.

When his phone rang to signal Gary's reply, Drew chuckled slightly.

I take offense to you calling me stupid, Hayden. You're not any smarter than I am. And no, I really have no idea at all. I've been good today.

Drew disagreed. He saw himself as more intellectual than Gary when it came to non-textbook things. Take this situation, for example. How was it, Drew wondered, that the brunet had no idea of the cause of Leaf's apparent silent treatment. Drew very well knew that Leaf was not unreasonable.

You really could have fooled me. Well, you might want to try to find out first. Just a suggestion. Otherwise, I wouldn't know how to help you out.

That message should be able to make Gary at least think.

I'm ignoring the first part of this conversation because it is of no importance whatsoever. Anyway, I might have said something when we were talking this morning.

'This morning' felt so long ago.

'Yesterday morning' you mean. What were you talking about and what did you tell her?

It was times like these when Drew got annoyed at the lack of directness of people when talking to them. Was it so hard to get straight to the point?

Yes, fine, yesterday morning. She brought up marriage and stuff like that and I told her that I haven't thought about it at all. That's the gist of the conversation, and then she just walked off.

Drew stared at his phone for a good two minutes before typing in his reply and sending it. Was Gary honestly too dense to figure stuff out for himself? Drew frowned. No, Gary was probably just delaying telling Drew the reason. He was a bit too stubborn sometimes for his own good.

Do I need to spell your problem out for you, or have you figured it out?

Not even ten seconds had passed when Drew heard his phone ring again.

Okay, fine. I know why she's mad at me. What should I do now though? I have thought abt it but I'm not ready yet because we're both still young but I didn't tell her that and I think she is and she's probably going to break up with me because she thinks I don't see a future in us.

Drew sighed. It was evident that this conversation needed to be held in a platform that was not digital. As much as he didn't want to do it, he felt the need to restore the remains of Gary's sanity, for Leaf's sake.

Are you drunk?

Somehow, that seemed like an apt reply with the way Gary was texting. It had too much emotion for a normal Gary-styled message.

Not yet, but I'm getting there. Care to join me?

Figures. Drew patted his intuition on the back for being right.

Mind you though, you'd be talking to someone with very minimal experience in relationships.

Drew rolled his eyes at himself. How credible would his to-be advice be when he was yet to go through such conversations?

Doesn't matter really, you're still the one who makes the most sense out of people I'd consider talking to.

For some reason, that made Drew grin slightly. He took a pokeball from his pocket and enlarged it, sending Flygon out.

See you in ten.

"A little pidgey told me something intriguing that concerns you." Gary pulled up a chair next to where Drew was sitting at a small cafe. They had agreed to have lunch with Ash while May, Misty, and Leaf had their own girl's day out.

"Which little pidgey is this, and what did it tell you?"

Gary smirked. "Never mind which pidgey it was who told me. What I heard though is that you and our favourite sapphire-eyed cutie had some lip-locking action going on a couple of days ago." His smirked widened when he saw Drew's face go from its normal colour to almost bright red.

"Who told you that?"

"Misty."

Drew facepalmed. "Misty knows?"

"Yup," Gary said gleefully, popping the 'p' at the end of the word. "So it is true?"

Drew narrowed his eyes. "Depends on what she told you. Girls have an uncanny instinct of exaggerating stories that concern their friends."

"She really didn't say much," Gary said as he shrugged. "Leaf, Ash and I were literally just having a casual conversation about pokemon and stuff when she looked up from her phone and announced to the whole world that 'Drew and May made out at a park.' That was literally it."

Drew felt his eye twitch. "The whole world knows about it?"

"Oh, by 'the whole world,' I mean all the occupants of the room we were in which, aside from the four of us, included Pikachu and the other small pokemon who were out at that time. You're safe from tabloids," Gary reassured. Drew, however, was not entirely convinced.

"I doubt that. You managed to find out from other sources."

"I found out from Misty who found out from Dawn, who I'm assuming found it out directly from May. It's safe in our little circle."

"Our 'little circle' extends to Kenny and Barry and Zoey. If Paul cares enough, he's part of that too," Drew pointed out. "Am I still safe from tabloids when more or less ten people already know of it?"

Gary smirked. "Don't you trust us? Anyway, I'm pretty sure nobody actually saw you doing it."

"How sure are you?"

Gary sent Drew a pointed look. "You're too private of a person to let just anyone watch you do things that are personal. You didn't even tell me, which I really feel bad about, by the way. You probably did it in the middle of the night when everyone was asleep. Am I close?"

Drew locked his jaw. "Are you sure you weren't spying on us?"

"So I'm right?"

Drew sighed. There wasn't any point in hiding anymore. "Close enough," he said. "Are you going to ask for the details now?" Gary shook his head.

"Nah, I just wanted to know if it was true that you made out." Again, Drew's face reddened.

"Technically it was more of a sweet kiss than May and I making out."

Gary smiled. "Still," he said, leaning back on his chair. "It's a step closer."

"I need ideas."

Gary plopped on his bed as he said that, addressing the only other person in the room who was fiddling around on the computer on Gary's desk.

"I've given you plenty," Drew responded, not looking up from the work he was doing. "You don't like them 'cause they're not showy enough."

Gary groaned. "I need it to be memorable and there's nothing memorable about your ideas."

"Then stop asking ideas from me. It's common sense."

"Are your ideas to ask May out as unmemorable as the ideas you're giving me, because really, I'd understand why you wouldn't push through with any of them because she probably wouldn't feel special."

Drew looked up and turned to face Gary with a glare. "That's my problem then, if ever, and not yours."

Gary sighed. "I don't get how you're not together yet. Like you act like you're together, but you're really not."

"Labelling relationships is a social construct."

"So is the idea of marriage, which I'm pretty sure you've already thought of before."

"Your point being?"

Again, Gary sighed. Drew was more stubborn than he was. "Even though you and May have been... doing couple-y stuff, there's still no certainty that it's you guys rather than just you guys."

"I'm pretty sure that by me kissing her, she'd know that I am attracted to her."

"I'm pretty certain of that too," Gary agreed. "But I can be attracted to a person and kiss her, but that wouldn't mean I'd want to enter into a relationship with her. I'm not saying that you'd have to be labelled 'May's boyfriend,' but you have to at least establish that yes, she's the person you'd want to spend the rest of your life with."

"How sure are you that I'd want to spend the rest of my life with her?" Gary's eyebrow rose at that question.

"Am I wrong?"

"No, I just want to know what makes you so confident."

"It's because she's the only girl you'd willingly spent your life with so far, and there's no sign of that wavering any time in your lifetime."

Drew rolled his eyes, but a grin on his lips grew. "I've got great ideas," Drew said, answering Gary's earlier question. "It's not that I'm ashamed to do it, but the timing is never right." He stood up and sat next to Gary on the bed. "You, on the other hand, have the perfect opportunities to propose to her, have the perfect ideas to propose to her, but don't have the guts."

Gary lightly punched Drew on the shoulder. "You're right though."

"What are you so scared about? That she'd say no?" Gary shook his head.

"That I won't be able to be a good husband to her when it's real."

Drew stared at the brunet. "You're seriously worried about that?" Gary nodded. "Don't be," Drew said with reassuring confidence.

"That's so easy for you to say."

"Because you shouldn't be. If you treat her the same way to treat her now, there's nothing to be worried about."

"What if I don't treat her the same way I do now?"

Drew rubbed his temples. "What in putting on rings and committing yourselves to each other will change the crazy you and her are together?"

"Nothing, I suppose."

"Then why in the world are you worried?"

Gary sighed. "You think tonight would be a good time to do it?"

Drew shrugged. "Like I said earlier, you have good opportunities and I trust in your timing." He checked his watch. "Speaking of timing though, I have to meet Kenny in the cupcake cafe in a bit."

"Date?"

"Sure, why not?" Drew said with a smirk as he got up from his seat.

"How dare you replace me, Hayden?"

"Stop being clingy, Oak. It doesn't suit you."

With their jobs and busy schedules, it wasn't common for Drew and Gary's group of friends to convene in a common area for extended periods of times. In the rare events that such convention happened, mischief was bound to happen.

One certain evening, the gang had decided to take on a drunken game of Truth or Dare: Adult Edition.

"I dare you to make out with one of the males in this room for one whole minute."

It was their redhead friend, Misty, who had suggested that, who laughed at the change on the look of Leaf's face upon hearing those words. Leaf did not, under any circumstance, want to see her fiance kiss another person. Much less was her desire to see him kiss another guy.

"Who is it gonna be, Gary?" Dawn pressed. Gary glared at her, then suddenly smirked.

"If I had to kiss a guy, I might as well kiss a good looking one."

That was when all eyes in the room turned to their resident pretty-boy, Drew and a look of mortification crossed May's face.

It would be a lie to have said that neither wondered what kissing the other would be like. In fact, it had been a topic of their conversation a few weeks ago. Their current state of drunkenness – that between drunk enough to do anything but not wasted enough to forget the night's events when they went to bed that night – was enough of a reason for them the feed that curiosity with answers.

"I'll be borrowing your unofficial boyfriend for a minute, May," Gary said before facing Drew and completing the dare.

That night was the night Gary decided that, yes, despite his occasional attraction to Drew's face, he was, indeed, straight. But, damn, Drew was one hell of a good kisser and May was a lucky girl to be kissing those lips on a semi-regular basis.

That was also the night Drew decided that kissing his unofficial girlfriend was the second-best thing that happened to his lips, next to eating.

After their minute together, Gary pulled away and spat out in slight disgust, then drew Drew close to whisper in his ear. "Don't look now, but May looks like she's about to kill me," Gary said gleefully. "And you too."

"Did you pick me to get a reaction out of her?"

"Partly," Gary said as he smirked and pulled away. "But also partly because you were the best choice out of all the guys present. It felt wrong kissing you, but if I kissed any of the rest, it would have felt more wrong. At least we'd have been a pretty boy couple if kissing you felt right."

"I'll take your word for it."

"On a more serious note," Gary continued. "Is May sleeping with you tonight or is she bunking out with one of the other girls?"

"We were supposed to share a room tonight," Drew clarified as he crossed his arms over his chest. "But with what you pulled earlier, I think she'd want to bunk with Zoey and Dawn."

"Don't blame me if she decides not to sleep with you tonight. Trust me, what I did would be a great catalyst for your conversation tonight."

Drew stared at Gary suspiciously. "Again, it isn't sleeping together. We have separate beds that just happen to be in the same room. More importantly: Did you plan this?"

"No, stupid. I just have perfect timing and pick good opportunities."

"If you wreck this for me, I swear to Arceus that I'll destroy you."

"Ooh, scary."

The moment May opened the room, she felt blinded. Immediately, her hand flew to cover her eyes.

"Why is everyone in this room walking around without a shirt on?" she exclaimed. She felt her cheeks heating up.

"To prevent people like you form mentally undressing us," she heard Gary say. "We're doing a favour to any and every woman that walks in this room. You should have seen the face of our hair stylist."

"I don't think I care much about how the face of the stylist looked, just please all of you put a shirt on," May practically pleaded behind her eyes. A few chuckles were heard following her request. "Am I safe now?"

"Yeah, pretty much." The brunette relaxed at the sound of Ash's voice. Slowly she took her hands off her face and looked around the room, only to find a shirtless, smirking Drew. Again, her hands flew to cover her eyes.

"Drew!" she exclaimed. She heard an impatient sigh from her right.

"Why are you here, May?" Paul asked. He crossed his arms over his chest as he waited for her response.

"Oh," May said. She took her hands off her face and did her best to not let her eyes linger to the general area where Drew was standing. "Dawn wants you guys to go down to our room so that she can fix your attires up for the wedding. She sent me here to tell you that and to make sure Gary stays here."

"Why do I have to stay?" Gary asked.

"Leaf's still in our room." May once again addressed the rest of the guys in the room. "It's just down the hall. Room 319."

"Noted," Kenny said before the turned the doorknob and led the group of men out of the room in search of the girls' room.

When Barry walked out of the room, May looked up and met Drew's eyes. "You're supposed to go too," she informed him. Drew nodded, making his way slowly to the door. May didn't know if she liked the fact that she was standing oh-so-close to the door or not.

"I'm curious though," Drew said, addressing May. "You've seen us topless. Why so shocked right now?"

May again blushed. "That was because the environment was appropriate. We were at a beach that time!"

"How is this environment not appropriate to be shirtless in?"

"There's a bed..." As a reaction to those words, Gary's and Drew's eyebrows shot up. Seconds later Gary let out a low whistle.

"Little Miss May isn't so little after all," Gary teased. He took the nearest shirt and threw it over to Drew. "Your girlfriend's cute, Drew."

"You're stating the obvious." Drew laughed as May's face became even more red than it had previously been. He slipped on the shirt that was given to him then bent down to plant a peck on May's lips.

"Aw, that's so cute, I feel like puking," Gary called form the sidelines. "I can leave, you know, if you need the room." Childishly, May stuck her tongue out at the brunet. "Careful, Hayden, your girlfriend wants to tongue people other than you."

Light-heartedly, Drew chuckled. "Don't worry May, he's just jealous that he won't be able to do such as freely as he'd like in a few hours."

"I haven't in half a decade. Leaf's literally the only person I'd kissed with since we got together."

Drew smirked. "Might I remind you of the time you specifically chose me during a dare."

"That was once and never again," Gary deadpanned. "Not gonna cross that line anymore. I'm never kissing you again, just so you know. Never again."

"Try it again, and I'm sending May's blaziken to send you to the deepest pits in hell," Drew said as he walked out the door to get dressed for Gary and Leaf's wedding. Once he was gone, Gary addressed May.

"Your boyfriend is an ass."

May smiled softly.

"You guys love each other regardless."

In all its rightness and wrongness, nobody would deny that the Drew-Gary tandem was something to admire. It was bromance at its finest.

A/N: Expect a couple of one-shots to fill in the blanks regarding the progress of Drew and May's as well as Gary and Leaf's relationships.