This was originally part of a Valentines oneshot series I was doing, but I decided to now let it sit alone as its own oneshot. c: Sorry for any confusion!
This was really hard for me. xD Valentines Day is an open opportunity for cliché, cheesy, and just OCCness. So I'm sorry if that occurs. xDD
Disclaimer;
Pokemon, the characters, locations, and other various items mentioned in this story do not belong to me, and belong to Satoshi Tajiri.
It was nearly perfect.
The sun had long ago set and the moon laid peacefully in the cloudless sky, stars accompanying it on the quiet night. The ship moved slowly against the current. Every time the soft breeze picked up, a bit of mist sprayed a lone brunette in the face. The dark burgundy floor length dress and the pink flower pin in her hair she wore rustled as the ship rocked ever so slightly. On her right sat a table cloaked in a red cloth with two chairs positioned next to one another.
And yet... it was only nearly perfect. Something was clearly missing, and the young woman knew exactly what it was. Or more correctly put, who it was.
It was mid-February, Valentine's Day to be exact, and she was currently traveling by ship back to Johto after a short visit to her hometown. The climate in the Johto region was known to be a tad warmer than other regions in these cold months so the surrounding breezes didn't bother her bare arms all that much. Either that or her thoughts were too consumed by him to care or notice.
Him him him. She silently cursed his very being, fuming at the way he could distract her to this extreme. But at them same time, she also wished he would emerge from what ever room he was assigned to on this large ship and would make his way to the upper deck and sweep her off her feet. That is what would have made that night perfect.
"Damn him." She huffed under her breath. "Stupid dress, stupid Valentine's Day, stupid stupid stupid!"
Quiet footsteps echoed along the ship's metal deck, and the girl would had noticed if she had been paying more attention to her surroundings. "Talking to yourself again, May?" A smooth voice taunted from behind her, suggesting that this wasn't the first time he caught her having a one sided conversation with herself.
Blushing slightly, the girl named May whipped around and glared at the shadowed figure. "I got your note Drew. You said to meet you here at eight pm, and if you care to check the time I'm sure it's after eight. If you had been more of a gentleman and didn't keep me waiting, I wouldn't have to talk to myself about how much I hate you."
Drew chuckled slightly, not really buying into her frustrated act. "May... I'm only five minutes late." Stepping out from the shadows his figure bathed in the moonlight and May could see he was dressed in a purple jacket, gray dress pants, and black dress shoes. This made her mind drift back to the note she found on her door earlier that afternoon.
'May, meet me on the ship's deck at 8pm.
Dress nice.
-Drew.'
The vagueness of the note didn't surprise her, he always seemed to leave a bit of a mystery. She had been so eager to find out what he wanted and why she had to dress nice she arrived over an hour early. But now that he was here, she still didn't know why either of them were there. He just stood there silently, watching her. She shivered slightly, but both of them knew it wasn't from the cool night air.
"Uhh, so nice night huh?" May attempted to break the awkward silence but Drew wasn't making it easy on her. He sill didn't utter one word as he looked at her. Her face grew redder and redder as she grew more angry. "Ugh, Drew! What the hell are you staring at?!"
Then suddenly Drew whispered quietly something she didn't quite expect. "You."
More awkward seconds ticked by and May absolutely hated it. "Heh, yeah? Maybe you should take a picture, it'll last longer." She joked, trying to lighten up the atmosphere. When Drew let out a light laugh she knew it worked and let out a breath of relief.
Deciding it was now or never Drew started talking again. "Heh yeah. So May, you're probably wondering why I asked you here."
May nodded. "That and why I'm standing here in a dress." In reality May had a pretty good idea where everything was heading, but didn't want to risk embarrassment incase she was wrong.
Drew once again let his eyes fall onto May, his eyes scanning every detail in the dress, subconsciously making a note of every stitch and every wrinkle. "Uh yeah, that." Flicking the hair out of his eyes he pulled his other hand out from behind his back. In his right hand was a red rose but instead of tossing it to his rival like he normally did, he just kept it outstretched towards her.
"Drew?" May's eyes had followed his every movement and found herself very curious at his actions. In the second she had while he opened his mouth a dozen possible romantic lines played through her head.
"May, be my valentine." That very line was one of the dozens that she heard in her own head, but when Drew said it it sounded more like a... demand. Despite herself her face reddened once again but she made no move to respond right away.
"Be your... valentine?" May asked slowly in disbelief. Shock was written all over her face.
"Yes, that's what I said." Drew stuck his free hand in his pant's pocket and stared at her through half lidded eyes.
"Drew, you do realize Valentine's Day ends in less than four hours right?" Her voice was slightly unsure.
May was honestly a bit overwhelmed. She was taken aback by how casual he was being with this whole thing and she felt confused and helpless with how she should handle it. Even more so she was frustrated with how he turned a moment with tons of romantic potential upside down and had to do everything different to preserve his stupid man pride. Despite all this May stuffed all that down to try and see where this would go.
"I guess that doesn't give you alot of time to give me an answer then." Drew's arrogant voice broke through her thoughts while he stood their looking slightly impatient.
"E-excuse me?!" May began to fume. 'H-how dare he! What gives him the right?'
"You heard me. But hey, no rush. I'll be sitting here when you come to a decision." He walked pass her and pulled out one of the two chairs that accompanied the small table on the deck. May glanced behind her as he sat there twirling the rose between his fingers.
Then something just snapped. May turned around glaring fiercely at the now smirking boy. "W-What gives you the right to leave me a note telling me to meet you here all dressed up just so you can ask me to be your valentine?! Actually, that wouldn't have been so bad! But no! You had to be all... all you about it! You make it sound like a demand and that I have no choice and then you tell me I have to give you an answer in such a little amount of time!" After that she was breathing heavy and completely red from her yelling. "So what makes you think I'd even say yes?"
Not once did his smirk ever fall from his face. "Because, despite all that, you like me."
May wanted so badly to just drop to the floor out of pure exasperation and frustration, but she kept herself standing upright. "I-I..." She hadn't the slightest clue how to respond to him.
"And, I like you too." Drew looked the now gaping girl in the eyes, completely calm leaning back in the chair twirling his rose.
Surprisingly, May did not blush at this confession but her anger seemed to more than less completely diminish. "You do?" She asked, not allowing herself to completely believe her rival.
Drew nodded and stood up. "I do." He stopped and noticed the look she was sending him. "You don't believe me."
May noticed how he said it as a statement and cursed at how easy she was to read. "You can't really blame me can you? I mean, try looking at it from my point of view. Why put me through all this instead of just coming out and saying it?"
She was surprised when he answered with a laugh. "Because I like seeing you all flustered and angry." May narrowed her eyes at him as he shrugged and continued. "Besides, Drew Hayden isn't cliché enough to confess to the girl he likes, alone on a ship... under the moonlight."
This time May was the one laughing. "You, not cliché? Haha. Sorry to burst your bubble but going around tossing roses to your crush isn't exactly original." She grinned, seemingly happy at how she turned this around on him.
Drew didn't really care however. "Getting cocky, huh? Assuming those roses were for you. I always told you they were for Beautifly." When he noticed the girl standing a couple feet away from him about to open her mouth to rebut, he changed the subject. "You have about three and a half hours left."
At this reminder, May put her finger to her chin tapping it thoughtfully. "I want to say yes..." Drew's eyes lit up as she said that and then he noticed her tiny smirk. "... but I think it would be rather cliché to do so. What do you think Drew?"
The boy in question scowled as he began to get impatient. He had had everything planned out. He had asked May to show up dressed nicely, mainly for his own benefit. Then he was going to get her a bit riled up, she'd accept his offer and they would just take it from there. But she apparently wanted to make him squirm a bit first, and he didn't like that.
"Dammit May, you're killing me here. Just. Say. Yes."
"Okay. Yes Drew, I will be your Valentine."
With that Drew let out a sigh of relief and allowed that same cocky and confident smirk her always wore to reappear. He made a few steps towards her when she suddenly held out her hand. Drew cocked his eyebrow at her in question.
"I'll take my rose now." Her tone was expectant as she stood there waiting for him to hand it over.
"I thought my roses were cliché."
"They are." She paused. "But...", she hesitated. "cliché doesn't mean it's imperfect."
"Aww, May. I'm flattered. Are you saying I'm perfect?"
She huffed. "Now who's getting cocky?"
Drew's eyes silently laughed at her. "You said it, not me."
"Whatever." She crossed her arms and turned away.
Drew took a few steps towards her so that he was now standing right behind her. May could feel his breath on the back of her neck and she was sure she felt her legs wobble, threatening to give in. "I do like you, you know." He tried to assured her incase she still didn't believe him.
"Yeah... I know." May turned around and looked him in the eye. "And despite how angry you make me and how you make me want to hate you so damn much, I never can. God help me, but you've grown on me."
They both started to move their faces closer, almost robotically. "I'll try not to let it go to my head." Drew whispered, his breath brushing against her face. Their lips brushed together and almost instantly they pulled apart. Though it was only a quick peck, it was enough to make their hearts pound against their chests and for their faces to radiate heat.
Coughing awkwardly May once again held out her hand. "I still want my rose."
Groaning, Drew handed her the rose that had still remained clutched in his one hand. "You're relentless, you know that?"
"Yeah, I know." She grinned and held her newly acquired rose infront of her nose, smelling it. Even though nothing turned out like she had pictured, and she wouldn't admit it to Drew... it was exactly her type of perfect.
If you're wondering where the heck this came from, it was actually inspired by a Contestshipping pic I drew. :p
Oh boy. The first version of this was so bad. xD At first I made it so when Drew asked May to be his valentine it was all cheesy and ugh. xD I'm so glad I came up with an alternative... But I'm still not satisfied with it. But if anyone else likes it it's worth it. c:
&Review!