Title: Symptoms of a Good Kisser

Pairing(s): May/Drew

Rating: K+

Warning(s): None.

Note(s): Enjoy.

"A kiss is just a pleasant reminder that two heads are better than one."

-Unknown Author

May suppressed a yawn.

It had been long day and she was ready for it be over. She knew it was traditional to stay up until midnight to greet the new year, but she was exhausted after competing in the special New Year's Eve contest (which she lost to Harley in the final round, she thought miserably) there in Olivine City. She wanted nothing more than for this whole New Year's firework show to start and finish so she could go back to her room and get some sleep.

May flicked over her wrist and checked her watch. Seven minutes remained. She sighed and leaned over the wooden railing of the pier, resting her chin in the palm of her hand. One ribbon. One ribbon was all she needed to get into the Grand Festival, and she was running out of options. There was one more contest in Ecruteak city and that was it. No more chances.

The young coordinator began to rub her temples, trying to soothe the headache that had risen as a result of her lack of sleep. She thought she had today's contest in the bag, but Harley snatched victory from her fair and square. Surprisingly, he had not tried to pull any tricks on her since her arrival in the Johto region. (Solidad probably had something to do with that). Certainly, it was nice not having to be on her guard all the time in case he started scheming, but now that Harley was aware he was talented enough to win contests without cheating, he had become tougher competition.

"Well, well, well, who do we have here?" said a familiar voice from behind May, interrupting the girl's thoughts. May's shoulders sagged slightly as she spun smoothly on the heel of her foot to face him.

"Evening, Drew," she replied dryly. She had seen him briefly that morning, before the contest started. He already had his six ribbons, so he didn't enter, but he politely wished her good luck nevertheless.

"So, that was a rather spectacular loss today," he commented, folding his arms and looking smug. May let out a nervous chuckle. She had actually been hoping she wouldn't see him again that day, knowing she would inevitably be taunted for her rather embarrassing performance.

"Don't remind me," she replied.

"At least you were good in the appeals round," he said. He paused before adding, "And by you, I mean Glaceon." May sighed.

"I'm sorry Drew, but I'm not really in the mood for this tonight," she said tiredly. "I'm already feeling pretty down because I only have one more chance to get my last ribbon." Drew recognized the gloomy tone in her voice, and immediately cut his teasing.

"Hey, don't worry too much about it, you'll win the next contest," he said, waving his hand as if it were no big deal. May perked up at that. Drew being nice? It wasn't unheard of, but it was a more rare side of him, for sure.

"You really think so?" she asked hopefully.

"I know so," he replied. "Besides, if you didn't, I wouldn't be able to crush you in the Grand Festival."

"Ha! Fat chance," she scoffed.

"Careful now, overconfidence is what lost you today's competition," he said smugly.

"Right, right," May conceded, putting her hands up defensively. "But, your arrogance isn't going to win you the Grand Festival, either."

Before Drew could reply, a loud cheer broke out after someone announced via megaphone that there were only two minutes left until midnight. Drew, apparently deciding to change the subject, leaned up against the railing, too, flashing his rival a winsome smile. May felt a blush creep up her neck. Most of the time, she couldn't understand why he had so many fan girls clamoring to get his autograph when he could be such a jerk. But when he smiled at her like that, she remembered it was (as much as she hated to admit it) because he was very, very attractive and, when he wanted to be, charming.

"So May, any New Year's resolutions?" he asked. She swallowed, reminding herself of whom he was and why she shouldn't be feeling all these Butterfrees in her stomach.

"Not really." She shrugged. "Win the Grand Festival, I suppose."

"Hm, that's not a very good resolution," he mused.

"Oh? Well, then what's yours?" May replied with a huff. "Torture May twice as much as you did this year?" Drew's smile devolved into a smirk.

"Yeah, something like that," he said, flicking his hair.

"You're unbelievable," she said, putting her hands on her hips and looking away.

"Thirty seconds!" someone suddenly shouted in a nearby crowd. After that, May realized that Drew had somehow moved a lot of closer and noticed that there was a rather unusual look in his emerald eyes. She turned toward him apprehensively and suddenly felt rather weak in the knees, because she's seen that look before, typically when her dad kisses her mom good morning, or right before Brock gets ridiculously goofy over a pretty girl he's met. It's a look of fondness and total admiration, something she's never seen coming from Drew before. His stares usually consist of competitiveness and amusement (especially during their banter), sometimes even contempt.

"W-What?" May stammered, feeling her cheeks heat up. "Is there something on my face? What are you staring at?"

"Fifteen seconds!"

"Did you know it's good luck to kiss someone at midnight on New Year's Day?" he asked. If May had not felt like she was on fire before, she did now.

"What are you suggesting?" she asked, desperately trying to keep her cool. Her voice still shook a little, though.

"Ten seconds!"

"I'm suggesting..." He was just inches away from her now, and May was sure she was going to die of a heart attack. "That you need all the luck you can get."

"Five!"

"Four!"

"Three!"

"Two!"

"One!"

Fireworks erupted in the sky above the bay area and loud cheers broke out among the crowd. That was all just background noise to May, however, because she was more concerned about the fact that Drew Hayden's lips were on hers and he was kissing her. She wondered, briefly, if this was actually some crazy dream she was having, because never in a million years would she have guessed she'd kiss her arrogant green-haired rival among a crowd of at least several hundred people, under a disgustingly cliché and yet admittedly romantic full moon, with fireworks blowing up everywhere. Oh, there were definitely fireworks.

It took May a little while, but she finally accepted this moment as reality and figured out exactly how she should respond to it. Her first thought had been to run away screaming, but his breath was minty and it had made her delirious and unable to think rationally. So, instead, she moved her hands up to his chest and oh Mew, was she actually touching him like this? and pressed her lips more firmly against his. She guessed he liked that, because she felt him brush a strand of hair out of her face after he moved away and kissed her again. She wasn't really sure how it happened, but somehow their one kiss broke down into a bunch of little kisses, one in quick succession after the other.

"Arceus," Drew muttered under his breath after they finally broke apart, jumping back slightly. May felt her heart crack in two pieces. Her first kiss (well, it was like 20 kisses, but that was beside the point) and that's the first word to come out of his mouth. Obviously, she did not have a lot of experience with this sort of thing, but she guessed hearing that was probably not good. What had she done wrong? Did her breath smell bad, or had she accidentally bit his lip or something?

Her face flared in embarrassment, unsure of what to say or do. It would have been bad enough had she humiliated herself with anyone else, but this was her rival. Rivals typically did not kiss each other in the first place. May felt her stomach churn sickeningly, wondering if Drew did this on purpose. His favorite pastime was teasing her, and he could probably get a lot of mileage out of this apparent slip-up.

"I'm sorry." The words tumbled out of May's mouth before she had a chance to really think them over. "I, um, don't know a lot about this and ah... Well, you know, me, I'm a major klutz and I mess up a lot." Drew looked her way, raising his brow and giving her this odd look. May shifted uncomfortably under his gaze.

"No, you were ... fine," he said calmly after gathering himself together. "Better than I expected. A lot better, actually."

That shot her straight to Cloud Nine.

"R-really?" she stammered, knowing her face was redder than a tomato and not caring about it because surprise! he apparently had enjoyed himself. Truthfully, she had, too. Sure, she had been a little caught off guard and she was still a little unsure how she felt about kissing Drew, of all people, but she had never felt so wonderfully dizzy before.

He seemed to hesitate for a moment. He flicked his hair and looked away, trying to conceal the light touches of pink on his cheeks.

"Yeah," he finally said. May cast her eyes toward the ground, shuffling her feet awkwardly.

"That was my first kiss," she admitted shyly.

Drew gave her that odd look again and touched the bottom of his lips absentmindedly.

"Well, I certainly don't think it will be your last."

Fin.

Comment(s): Woo 2012.

Reviews are always appreciated.