Summery: May has a terrible morning and meets a green-eyed goober. Real-life AU.

May was never late. Ever. Or at least, she tried her best not to be. But after her alarm clock had decided it had been a marvelous morning to quit working, May found herself fighting her blue cardigan as she rushed out of her apartment, bobby pins dropping among the leaves that were scattered in front of her door.

Although she had woken up over an hour late, May had been able to get ready and jump in the car only twenty minutes later than usual. If she floored it, she could possibly make it to work on time. She prayed she would make it.

But as fate would have it, one of her front tires blew out on the way. She groaned and thumped her head against the steering wheel. As May dug her phone out of her bag to call into work and inform them of her impending tardiness, she pulled back onto the road and towards a tire shop just a couple of block away.

As she pulled the phone away from her face, she noticed that there was a tall, young man- probably around her age- standing beside the curb holding up a sign bearing the logo of the tire shop. May blushed a tiny bit at his attractive appearance, giggled to herself, and pulled into the lot.

The young man realized that May's car was actually pulling in, and he attempted to quickly run up to her window to ask how he could assist her. But the pole stuck in the ground and he face-planted into the back of the metal sign.

May watched it all happen in her side mirror, and she did her best to suppress her laughter. The young man yanked the sign up and drove it deeper into the ground, keeping it in place as he casually strode over to her window.

"Hello, welcome to Slateport Tire Repair and Replacement. My name's Drew. And how may I help you today, ma'am?" May was taken off guard by how easily and confidently the young man recited the greeting. His green eyes were cool and impassive, but his poor nose was a stinging bright red. He had to have been hurting.

"Um… Is your nose.. okay?"

Drew's detached eyes suddenly became flustered, and the facade was broken. "M-M-My nose? I-It's fine. Why would you even ask a question as random as that?"

At that point, May busted into laughter. Drew's face scrunched up and he looked away in embarrassment. After she settled down, May told Drew that her tire had blown out, and that she was hoping to make it to work as quickly as possible. After he directed her on where to park, Drew disappeared into the garage next to the front door, avoiding eye contact with her as much as possible.

May smiled to herself and opened up the door into the lobby. All of the furniture, decorations, and merchandise were very neatly coordinated and organized. She was impressed, as most lobbies only had simple framed chairs and wire hanging racks or wooden magazine shelves. As the clerk rang her up, May continued to admire how complementary everything was. "This place sure looks nice…" she mumbled to herself.

The clerk heard her, though, and piqued up, "Ah! Yes! That's our Drew's doing!" May made a confused face. The guy that just walked into a sedentary metal sign? The clerk read May's expression, and quickly explained.

"Drew comes from a wealthy family of politicians. It was his family's wish that he would follow in their footsteps, and go to school to study politics, law, economics- all that sort of business. But Drew's dream was to be an interior decorator! His parents were appalled, and refused to allow him to study interior design. But he had his mind made up. So Drew up and left! He moved in with some friend.. Harley I think it was? Anyways, Harley taught him some basic engineering, and one day, Drew showed up at our doorstep! He begged for a job, saying that he was trying to raise enough money to go to school and follow his dream. Why, I couldn't say no to that face and those teary eyes! So here he is, using our lobby as a practice ground for his studies. The customers like it, so I like it just fine, too."

May had been listening to the clerk's story so intently, she hadn't noticed Drew appear from the door behind the counter. When she finally noticed him, she flinched at the intense and defensive look in his eyes. "Your car is ready ma'am. It's right out here in the front." He walked around the counter and over to the door, holding it open for May to pass through.

He walked with her all the way to her car, hands in pockets, silent. May felt a nauseating array of emotions- pity, guilt, anger, compassion, etc. She paused at her car and turned to speak, but Drew held his hand up to her mouth. "You don't need to say anything. It's fine. I made the right choice, and I don't regret a single bit of it."

May hesitantly nodded and prepared to drive off. She watched Drew out of her side mirror as he returned to his spot by the curb. She was about to yank her car door open and run to him when she noticed the new air freshener hanging from her rear view mirror. It had a rose design on it. She pulled it off to see if it really smelled like roses, and her fingers grazed something fastened to the back. She turned over the freshener to find a tiny, lightly-crumpled note taped down. She gently unbound it.

"I really like your Volkswagen Beautifly. I'd like to check it out again sometime, and make sure it doesn't smell like stale French fries. Here's my number in case your tire blows out again and you're not in the area."

May smiled, then giggled, then burst into laughter again. She backed up and pulled up beside Drew. "Hey!" she shouted out her window, startling him. "What time do you get off work?"