Work Text:
The sun beats down on them. Brendan's taken off his hat to use as a fan, and some of May's hair has escaped her bandana to stick to the back of her neck. She passes him a lemonade and he takes it gratefully, pressing the cool glass to his forehead before he takes a long drink.
Thanks," he says.
May grins before draining half of her the bottle in one go, plunking down next to her pokémon. Linoone is sprawled out on its belly on the cooler ground, half-dozing.
By mutual silent agreement they've started buying each other a round of drinks after each badge. At the moment they're on the Mauville rooftop, recovering from challenging Wattson's gym below.
"Hey, May," Brendan says thoughtfully. "What was Johto like?"
May leans back, staring at the clear blue sky above them. "It never gets this hot, for one!" she says. "We get winter there, and it lasts for a while. The buildings look different, too."
"Different? Like what?"
She shifts on the blanket they've spread across the floor until she's sitting cross-legged, the lemonade nestled in the hollow of her lap. "It's kind of like..." she looks around and then leans forward, grabbing a stick and scratching in the dirt. She draws a simple building with a graceful, curved roof. "Kind of like that. Mom says it was an older kind of architecture. Dad's gym here is like that, too."
"Did you like it there?"
May shrugs. "I kind of miss autumn, I guess, and all the leaves changing color. But Hoenn's amazing, too! The pokémon are so interesting and there's so much to see." Linoone's tail flops once at the compliment, but doesn't stir beyond that.
"Yeah!" Brendan says, and he can feel his entire being light up at the chance to talk about his favorite topic. He's loved Hoenn ever since his dad took him on his first expedition. "My dad told me that there's a trench in the ocean by Sootopolis that's so deep, we've never even seen the bottom. There could be all kinds of pokémon there that we don't know about yet. There's so much to explore! I can't wait until I'm old enough to start working on my own research."
May's staring at him, he realizes, and he tries not to blush. He knows it's a little weird for a kid to be so fired up about science like he is. Everyone who works with his dad is at least twice his age; he's the only anomaly.
But what comes out of May's mouth is the last thing he expects to hear. "You know, you're pretty cool sometimes."
"What?"
"You know so much stuff! And you're always talking about what you want to do next," she says. "Talking to you makes me excited, too. It makes me want to work even harder." May is smiling and looking into the distance at something only she can see. "I like Hoenn, but I feel like I like it even more because I met you."
He scratches at the back of his neck, feeling flushed from the summer heat and the warm glow of May's praise. "Well, you're kind of cool yourself sometimes," he stammers, and she laughs.
May finishes the rest of her drink and jumps to her feet. "Linoone, are you ready to go?" she asks, and it nods before she calls it back into its poké ball.
"How about you, Brendan?" she says with a grin, extending a hand for Brendan to grasp. Her hand is warm and a little sticky from the lemonade, but it suits the summer day perfectly. May may not be from Hoenn, but she belongs here just as much as he does.
"Race you to the day care!" she says. "Last one has to let the other ride their bike!"
"It's too hot," Brendan complains, but pulls himself up anyway. The two of them race down to the first floor without letting go of each other's hands, their laughter echoing down the stairwell.
--
He can hear May shouting his name, an edge of panic rising in her voice with every repetition. He reaches for his poké balls first to see if they're all right, and breathes a sigh of relief when he counts them all against his belt.
"May," he croaks, and then breaks into a fit of coughing.
"Brendan!" she shouts, and a wavering light swings in his direction. "Brendan, are you okay?"
"I'm a little banged up, but I think I'm okay," he calls back. "Are you all right? How are your pokemon?"
"I think Crobat managed to get out of the way, but she's trapped on the other side. The others are fine. My leg hurts, I'm fine besides that! Can you see Manectric's light?"
"Yeah," he says. "Hold on, I'm coming."
It's just bright enough for Brendan to navigate by, but he still takes his time when picking his way across the fallen rocks. He's startled by the shudder of relief that runs through him when May comes into view. "Brendan!" she cries when she sees him. He hurries to kneel beside her, his hands pulling his bag open so he can get some supplies.
"I'm okay," she repeats. "But Crobat—"
"Hold on," Brendan says, digging a hyper potion and a roll of gauze out of of his bag. "Let me fix this first." Carefully he sprays the hyper potion onto the cut on her leg, watching as the bleeding stops and it heals some. It's not the first time he's used pokémon supplies in a pinch, though it's usually on himself. It's not pefect but it's a good temporary solution. Brendan gives it another spray, and then winds the gauze around her leg. "Okay," he says. "Can you walk?"
May bites her lip. "I think so," she says.
"I should have noticed that the ceiling wasn't stable," he said. "I'm sor—"
"Don't you start!" May says, pushing her fingers to his mouth to shut him up. "Blame won't solve anything. Let's just focus on getting out of here."
Brendan studies her face in the wavering light. She looks a little scared, and her brow is pinching like she's still in some pain, but she seems calm. He realizes that feels calm, too, now that they're together.
He takes a deep breath and then lets it out, scanning the walls. "You're right," he says. "One thing at a time, right? That's what your mom always says."
After a brief brainstorming session, May calls out her craydily. It reaches its tendrils into the rock, letting Brendan's swampert know which rocks are safe to move and which will make it worse. It's slow going, though, and takes longer than their adrenaline can last; Brendan can feel his eyelids growing heavy. He glances at May, seeing that she's in no better shape.
"We might as well get some rest while we can," he says, and she nods, tilting her head onto his shoulder. Brendan drifts off to the sound of Swampert's soft grunts of effort and the occassional rumble of stone.
Brendan wakes up to the sound of another voice. "Hallo in there!" he hears someone shout. "Are you all right? Your Crobat came and told us you were in trouble!"
Swampert is scrabbling at the place where the voice is coming from. Brendan starts to move, but stops when he realizes that May's hand is clasped tight around his own.
"May, wake up," he says, shaking her shoulder. "Someone's found us." He turns to shout, "We're here! My pokémon is digging from our side!"
May stirs and then stretches, rubbing at her face with the back of her free hand. "We're free?" she mumbles. Her hand leaves a streak of dirt across her cheek, and her eyes are heavy-lidded as she blinks up at him. Her grasp is warm in his own, and something breaks open in his chest when he looks at her, then, something foreign and fond and not entirely unpleasant.
He doesn't have time to wonder at that now, though, because Swampert gives a pleased grunt as a sandslash breaks through to their side. Brendan licks his lips and then gives her hand a little squeeze.
"Yeah," he says, his voice a little hoarse. "We're safe."
--
"—So I need a date," May finishes.
Brendan stops dead. "You what?"
"You were thinking about your thesis again, weren't you," she says, and Brendan looks away guiltily because she isn't wrong. She huffs and bumps her shoulder against his. "I have this championship party thing," she repeats. "I need a date. Do you want to come?"
He blinks, thinking about it. He doesn't like crowds, and he doesn't know how he feels about a date, and besides—"Isn't there anyone better to ask?" Brendan asks. "I mean, I'm just a research aide. If it weren't for my dad, I'd be nobody."
May gives him a bewildered look. "I'm the champion, and you're my rival!" she says, poking him in the chest.
"We haven't had a pokemon battle in six months," Brendan points out. May frowns.
"I'm not asking anyone else to come," she says, quieter. "I'm asking you."
Brendan watches her cheeks go a delicate shade of pink, and sighs. "When is it," he asks.
Nobody comments on May's choice of accompaniment, which Brendan finds to be as unnerving as it is a relief. That sense of calm breaks when a waltz starts up and May tugs eagerly on his arm.
"Let's dance!" she says.
He eyes the crowd gathering on the floor and says, "I don't really—"
"But you're good at it," May says, and Brendan blinks at her.
"You remember that?"
May grins. "Come on, let's show everyone else how it's done."
Brendan never was good at backing down from a challenge, and in another moment the two of them have swept onto the floor. May's hand rests lightly in his, his other hand high on her back as they move in tandem.
"Just like a double battle," she says, and Brendan can't help but laugh.
"Yeah, it kind of is," he agrees, and after that realization the steps come easier. At the end of the song there's a brief round of applause for those who've been dancing, and Brendan and May share a smile.
"I'm glad I came," he said, and he's surprised by how much he means it.
May squeezes his hand. "Me, too."
--
Brendan blinks when a familiar head pokes through the doorway. "May?"
"Hey," May replies, smiling. "How are you feeling?"
"I've been better," he says, voice dry, and May laughs at that. "I didn't expect to see you."
"Of course I'd visit my best friend when he's hurt, silly!" she says, stepping inside the small room. "I came as soon as I heard. What happened?"
Brendan sighs. "We were conducting research on the Jagged Pass when we ran across a Camerupt and her young," he explains. "She started to attack us as we were climbing down the rock face. Swampert and I managed to hold it off long enough for everyone else to get to safety, but it knocked me off the cliff before I could escape."
May's eyes grew round as he spoke, but when he finished she didn't say anything, much to his surprise. Brendan watched her as she worried at her lip. "Did you fall a long way?" she said at last.
Brendan shrugged. "I guess, but it wasn't that bad, really. I was only about a story up when I fell. It's not like it's the first time I've been in a pinch, either."
May made a face at that. Brendan studied her, curious; it wasn't like her to be so quiet. "You always liked my research stories before," he pointed out.
She shook her head. "I like them when you don't end up in the hospital. You could have gotten really hurt."
"But I didn't. I can handle myself," Brendan retorts, frowning. "I've been doing this for a long time, remember? Besides, you get into as much trouble as I do."
Her hands balled into fists. "I have to," she says. "It's part of my job."
"This is part of my job, too!" he says. "Research is dangerous, but it's worth it. The work we do is important, we're learning about pokémon and helping—"
"You had a concussion, the nurse says you'll be in here for a week at least! You broke your arm!" May shouts back.
"Honestly, I'm lucky I made it this far without getting hurt any worse than I have," Brendan says. "What's wrong with you, May? My dad's trusted me to do this since I was old enough to give my pokemon commands. Don't you believe in me anymore?"
"I'm scared, okay!" May bursts out, and flops down in the chair beside his bed as if she's suddenly lost the strength to stand. Brendan stares at her, mouth slightly ajar with shock.
"I don't yell at you when you go climb mountains or fight legendaries or whatever," he grumbles.
"But you used to come with me when I did that," she says. She won't meet his eyes. "We were a team, you know?"
"We were rivals," Brendan says.
"We were friends," May snaps. "I—miss you, Brendan. I haven't seen you in a year, and the only reason I can see you now is because you're hurt. I can't be happy about that!"
Brendan blinks at her. "You missed me?"
"You never wrote back fast enough," she mumbled, sounding a little sulky. Brendan blinked, swallowing against a sudden lump in his throat.
"I missed you too," he says.
It takes a moment for her to look up, and when she does her eyes are a little watery. Brendan's lips press thin.
"Am I really still your best friend?" Brendan asks.
"Who else would it be?" May replies tartly.
"Well, I mean...it has been a while," he says. "You're always off doing such important stuff. You're kind of responsible for the whole region now, and I...I just assumed you wouldn't notice, I guess."
May's eyes snap up to meet his, blazing with annoyance. Brendan almost flinches back at that, but stays still. After a moment her temper fades, replaced with a wistful expression. "You're—I mean, nobody else really....we were there, you know?" she says. " You were the first friend I made here. You were with me when we fought team aqua and magma, and we took on all the gyms together. Nobody else can really...understand. Of course you're my best friend. Of course I miss you," she says, looking away. "It just feels weird without you."
A small silence settles between them as Brendan processes what May's just said. "Hey," he says, softly. "After I'm better, do you want to see what I've been working on?"
She looks up, cautious hope on her face. "Would that be okay? I know how hard it is to get research clearance and grants and stuff."
Brendan looks away with an awkward little cough. She really did read all his letters, even though he thought she must have found them kind of boring, overly technical. "You're the champion, May," he says. "I'm pretty sure nobody would say no if you wanted to come help."
May's quiet for a moment, considering. "I'd really like that," she says. "But...there's something I want to do first. Is that okay?"
Brendan blinks. "Sure," he says automatically. "What is it?"
May breathes in and out once, her shoulders loosening, before she slips her left hand into Brendan's right—the side that isn't injured. He looks at her hand in his, the nails worn down from the hardy life she lives, covered in scrapes and healed-over scars just like his own, and can feel the heat rising in his cheeks.
When he glances at her out of the corner of his eye, he can see that May is blushing too. He closes his hand around hers slowly, his grip growing in strength until their hands are clasped tightly.
"Like old times," he says.
"Yeah," she murmurs, and turns to stare at the tree branch tapping against the window. The silence that descends this time is comfortable, and lasts for a long time.
--
Brendan has always wanted to see Johto, just to see the kind of land that would have produced someone like May. Now that he's here, he can see its influences. The region's traditions give it a sense of weight, somehow. Growing up, May sometimes had a tendency to look off into the middle distance, as if lost in thought, and now Brendan thinks he knows where she got that habit from.
But Johto is a cultivated region, shaped through generations of care just like the bonsai trees they treasure there. May has too much of Hoenn's wildness in her, now, and as they tour the region together he thinks May feels as out of place as he does, sometimes.
There's one thing that May mentioned the most, and now he can understand why. "This happens every year?" he says. They're walking side by side in the Ilex Forest, surrounded by leaves in every shade of red and gold. The air is light and crisp, and it's so easy to pull into his lungs that he almost misses Hoenn's humidity.
May turns to him and smiles. "Yeah, every year around this time," she says.
"It suits you," Brendan blurts out. "Autumn, I mean. The red and orange and brown. They're kind of your colors, you know? Your dress, and your...hair."
May stifles her laugh behind her hand, but Brendan turns red with embarrassment anyway. "I'm going to take that as a compliment," she says.
They walk a little further. May turns her attention back to the trees, giving Brendan a chance to recover. She looks up at them with a nostalgic sort of fondness. "I'm really glad I could show this to you," she says. "Thanks for coming with me, Brendan."
The light filtering through the leaves stipples her hair in red and gold shadow. She turns to him, smiling, and something in Brendan says, This is it, right now.
It's not the first time he's had that thought, but usually he takes her hand, or nudges her shoulder, or rests a hand on her head. This time, though, it feels different. Maybe it's where they are, maybe it's the fact that they're older and there are no real secrets between them anymore. But this time, he takes a breath and gathers up his courage.
"May," he says. She turns to look at him, curious. "C-can I kiss you?"
May blinks at him, shocked into silence for a moment. "I'm surprised you asked first," she says.
"Of course I'd ask first!" he yelps. "It's important."
May laughs again and wraps an arm around his waist. "It's sweet of you," she says, her voice softening, and before he can say anything to make it worse, May leans in and kisses him.