nov. 2015 - steven/may

[trainerlyra]

title: untitled
date written: nov 24th, 2015
ship: steven/may (pokemon rse/oras)
notes: written for a prompt request on tumblr, "you came back!". that tumblr is now deleted so figured i should put this back up... eventually i will get everything on my hard drive that doesn't exist on the internet here lol. has not been touched since 2015, so weird grammar re: pokemon stays in tact (this was before i figured out how to grammar pokemon LOL). as usual in all my hoennchampion fics, i use the same pokemon + nicknames for may's team.

other notes: team is nova (blaziken), yena (mightyena), sharpedo, tari (altaria), metagross, tropicana (tropius)

May practically fell off of Rayquaza after fighting off what her Pokedex recognized as Deoxys, an alien pokemon species. Space was exhausting. Fighting Rayquaza, Mega Evolving it, fighting Deoxys, all in the span of a few hours... was exhausting.
 

Fighting with Steven beforehand, and running around like crazy for the past 36 hours had left May completely dead on her feet. She couldn't remember when she had last slept. It had to be almost two days now. 
 

The fight with Rayquaza had taken far longer than she had wanted it to. It took roughly six hours to catch it, not that she was surprised. Her pokemon had been expecting it, too -- they knew how to reserve energy, thanks to their previous fight with Kyogre, and of course the Elite Four. Everyone besides Sharpedo was good at taking things slowly, which is why May didn't use her for the battle against Rayquaza.
 

The fight with Deoxys had taken almost as long, but though it was only a four and a half hour long battle, it was far more strenuous. Fighting in space was something that she really wasn't prepared for. May's pokemon had done amazingly, and after she had defeated Deoxys, the six of them wept together, awkwardly crying as she moved very slightly through space.
 

And now here she was, Rayquaza kindly holding her up as she leaned against the god of the skies. May's vision was blurry, her lungs felt like fire, breathing was ragged.
 

"We did it," she gasped out, her mouth feeling like sandpaper as she spoke. Slowly, Nova removed the helmet of the Aqua Suit, but it didn't help her breathing any. May's blaziken then unzipped the suit itself, clucking at its trainer as it did so.
 

May gave it a weak smile. "Thank you, Nova," she tried to say, but it came out more like a garbled mess.
 

The suit fell to the ground with a loud clack, but neither she nor her pokemon flinched. All of the pokemon were out of their balls, surrounding May, holding their trainer up. While it was mainly Rayquaza physically holding May at the moment, all the pokemon were around doing something to help.
 

Nova, her faithful starter pokemon, folded up the Aqua Suit for her, after Yena helped her step out of it. Tari hummed softly, lulling her mind into relaxation after being in high stress mode for longer then anyone should ever be. Metagross healed Sharpedo and Tropicana, who had unfortunately been beaten up the hardest in the battle with Deoxys. 
 

May's pokemon were all there, letting her know that they wouldn't be going anywhere. Tears welled up in her eyes, even though she weas so dehydrated she could feel her head pounding from all angles. 
 

She closed her eyes, letting the tears fall freely. She'd done it. Again. She and her pokemon had done something nobody else could've done. Twice, now, she was Hoenn's hero.
 

A clacking resounded around her, but she couldn't open her eyes. She could feel consciousness slipping. Years ago, she would've been terrified of what could happen to her in this state. But she knew her pokemon were strong. They wouldn't let anything happen, and they could most certainly take care of themselves. Besides, who would try anything with the great god of the skies propping her up?
 

Right before she blacked out, she heard a familiar voice shout her name. "You came back!" The voice called, and May's heart lit up in recognition.
 

"Steven," she tried to say. 

..
 

She woke up to bright lights and hushed voices, tired and delirious. Blinking, May opened her eyes, focusing in on the lamp directly above her. She didn't need to look around her to figure out that she was in a hospital. The feeling of the IV drip in her arm was a dead giveaway, if not the sterile white walls.
 

"May?" A familiar whisper. "Are you awake now?"
 

It hurt to turn her head towards him. She winced in pain, blinking again. 
 

"You look terrible," she said, even though she sounded just as bad as he looked. But it was true; he looked horrid. He was as pale as a sheet, paler then she'd ever seen him. His suit jacket had been discarded, and the shirt that went underneath was completely crumpled and wrinkled. His hair was a disaster, and he had bags the same color as his jacket under his eyes.
 

Steven smiled, and May couldn't place the emotion. Relief? Nervousness? There were so many things to that one smile, and she was still far too exhausted to figure them all out.
 

"You came back," he repeated, reaching his hand out to hers. She was still aggravated with him, she remembered, but she could barely move her head let alone her hand away. She gave him a jerky nod.
 

"I thought," Steven paused, and she watched his throat bob up and down with a gulp, "that I was going to..."
 

She waited patiently for a few moments, but he obviously couldn't continue yet. "That what, Steven?" She cringed, hearing herself talk again. She sounded just as bad as when she had been last awake. 
 

He locked his blue eyes with hers. "That you were going to die. That I was going to lose you."
 

May were taken aback. She knew what she had done was a dangerous stunt, but dying had never even crossed her mind. Is that why he was so adamant about her not going before? Was he thinking of all the possibilities, death being one of them?
 

"I couldn't lose you. I can't lose you," he stressed, gripping her hand like if he let go, she'd disappear. May's anger towards him slowly dissipated. "May," he closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. "I'm sorry this has taken so long. I'm sorry we fought before, and I'm sorry I can sometimes be very... enigmatic, about my feelings," he confessed. "I am not very good at relating to others, and I'm not very good at expressing myself. You have to know, though, that I've been keeping a secret from you, and for that I apologize."
 

A secret? She voiced her question aloud, hacking up a lung after she spoke. She really needed water, but she could ask about that -- and her pokemon, she glanced over the seven PokeBalls sitting on a table across the small hospital room -- after this, she supposed. She wasn't too worried about her pokemon, May knew Steven would take care of them as if they were his own.
 

He took another deep breath. "May Maple, I've been in love with you for a very long time, now."
 

The monitor next to her started beeping rapidly. She dazedly realized that was probably her heartbeat, and flushed. She had imagined how this scenario would happen for a long time now, but never did she think it would be after battling two legendary pokemon while she was in a hospital bed.
 

Steven flushed too, retracting his hand from hers to let her calm herself down. "I'm sorry, I know that was sudden. And it's perfectly alright with me if it's not something you wish to pursue. After all, I am quite a few years your elder, and as I said, not very good with my emotions."
 

May forced herself up into an upright position, leaning heavily on the arm that didn't have fluids flowing into it. She brought her right arm up to cover her mouth after doing so, coughing up a storm again. Steven looked flustered, but he knew logically there wasn't anything he could do while she was like this.
 

That was one of the things she appreciated about him.
 

"Steven Stone," May said, her voice still sounding like sandpaper, "I've been in love with you for a very long time, too."
 

Time seemed to freeze after she said those words out loud. She'd been holding them in for far too long, now, and it almost didn't seem real now that they were out in the open. She was glad that the truth was finally out, and she was glad to confirm that he returned her feelings, as well. She had known for a while, yes, but she hadn't been 100% sure before.
 

The two of them sat there, looking at each other, for awhile. May didn't say anything, didn't reiterate her feelings. There were no words, but a comfortable silence. Finally, he smiled, and got her a glass of water without being prompted.
 

"May," he said, after handing her the cool glass, "I've known since Southern Island that you were in love with me."
 

She nearly spit out her water.