Normal People

"You know normal people celebrate their anniversaries by going to dinner dates and stuff like that."

The sky was painted all shades of orange as the sun was setting in the sea. She sat there on the sand, wearing a tanktop and shorts, the water tickling her feet. They had been here on the beach the whole day.

"Are you sure you're not saying this because of your bias towards restaurants?" Drew asked, smirking as he sat down beside her with a bottle of water in his hands.

May blinked a few times before throwing an annoying look but got flustered after looking at his smug expressions. "Uh.. I didn't mean to say that. " She averted her eyes, and began tracing on the sand with her fingers as she spoke softly, "I really like it here and I think this was a great idea. It's such a nice place."

Drew took a swig of water from the bottle, watching her from the corner of his eyes. She was now drawing circles on the sand. He gulped down the water before he spoke, "Good for you! But, you should get your facts right, a lot of people go out on beach on their anniversaries. Besides, we're only celebrating our rival anniversary!"

She looked up at him and shook her head. "You feel offended by the concept of us not being normal, don't you?"

"I'm fine with it." He shrugged carelessly.

She snorted, mockingly but didn't say anything making him roll his eyes. Her fingers were back to tracing on the sand; this time she was writing her name.

Eventually, she stopped tracing and began admiring the scenery which was growing more beautiful before her eyes as the sky was slowly turning pink. "Alola is so beautiful," she sighed, leaning onto her knees. "And the sunsets in Alola are even more beautiful."

The sight was fascinating and Drew could not disagree with that.

"It is." He nodded, his eyes following the movements of the sea water back and forth. He seemed to be in deep thought, the wheels turning in his mind almost as if there was an internal conflict he was going through.

"It has such Hoenn vibe to it, I love it," May went on, smiling to herself, "I'm glad you brought me here. Vacationing here has been a dream of mine from a long time."

Drew merely smiled, all of a sudden feeling uneasy. Closing his eyes, he exhaled all the air at once. There was a reason he chose Alola to spend the vacations. He shouldn't be feeling nervous about this now. There were bigger things he needed to do and this was only the first step. Seconds later, he took out an object from his pocket and glanced at her, she was still watching the sky with wide and amused eyes. He hid a smile forming on his face and nudged her lightly as he held out his hand. May turned her head to look at him, still smiling but stopped as soon as she saw what he was holding out; a Pokeball.

Furrowing her brows, she took it, still feeling confused. He gestured for her to enlarge it which she quietly did. He watched her closely as she pressed the button and a red beam appeared which turned into a Pokemon.

A bird Pokemon.

Pikipek.

May squealed in delight making Drew sigh in relief. Pikipek looked at Drew in confusion and he smiled in return. "She is the person I was telling you about. You are my gift to her-", he pointed his index finger towards her-May was glancing between them in disbelief-, "I know she's gonna keep you with care and love and I hope that you'll do the same."

Pikipek nodded and then jumped onto May's lap which made her giggle. "l can't believe you caught him for me," she said, enthralled before she let out another giggle.

"Her," he corrected, "this Pikipek is female."

"Oh, but how did you know I needed a Pikipek?" May asked him before turning to the Pokemon again and began running her fingers through her soft feathers. She said something to the Pokemon which Drew couldn't hear.

"You sure you're not suffering from short-term memory loss?" he quipped warily and shook his head in distress. "May, you've mentioned it like seven times since we came here that you wanted to catch a Pikipek."

"Hey!" she protested, punching him on the arm lightly. "I didn't realize I've expressed it, is all."

"Great," he mumbled, looking away.

May held the Pokemon in her hands, her eyes sparkling under the dim light of the sun. She never expected a Pokemon. It was a complete surprise to her."Anyway, thank you so much Drew! This is the best gift ever!"

He bit a smile, nodding at her, looking proud of himself. "I know."

After playing and talking to the Pokemon for a while, she returned Pikipek into it's Pokeball, still looking overjoyed.

"You know what," she turned to him as she began speaking with full energy. "Normal people don't really get.." she paused, blinking her eyes several times before biting her lip nervously as she looked away. No. She wasn't going to say it. She shouldn't.

"What?" Drew craned an eyebrow, feeling curious. Though he had an idea where she was going.

"Nothing," she muttered under her breath, crossing her legs on the ground as she ran her hands through her hair. "Let's enjoy the view."

"They don't gift Pokemon to each other on anniversaries? Thats what you were trying to say, weren't you?" He offered with mischievous glint in his eyes.

How the hell did he know?

May didn't meet his eyes, looking elsewhere. "It was something else," she lied. She couldn't bear another dose of humiliation at the moment.

Drew snickered under his breath, throwing an arm around her as he scooted closer to her, "Okay tell me. What do normal people do?"

There was no use of lying apparently. He could be so annoying at times."You said you were fine with not being normal, why do you ask then?" She asked wearily, leaning her head on his shoulder.

He was silent for a while, his hand rubbing the length of her arm softly. "Because.. I care about what you want."

Her brows shot up, was he really feeling concerned?He shouldn't be. But it was Drew, and he needed everything to be perfect. She sighed and stared up at him, watching him closely before she began, her voice low but enough to make an impact, "I love what you do for me, Drew. I love that we are celebrating here in Alola. I love that.. you gifted me a Pikipek." She adjusted under his grip, "I would never want you to stress over me. I enjoy little moments like these. I enjoy my time with you wherever we are and whatever we're doing! Don't look at me like that, I'm not lying! And please, don't ever feel that you're not doing enough because you've done more than that."

He said nothing in response. The sky was all shades of purple now, making the atmosphere darker. "Who knew you would be such a speaker?" He said after a while, smiling.

May rolled her eyes and leaned on his shoulder again. "I should never expect a proper reply from you."

He snickered again. Little did she know, he had the reply; the best one in his opinion.

"You need a reply?" He asked, his confidence was on full swing all of a sudden. At least he felt like it.

"No. I'm fine. Let's enjoy the view," she said plainly.

"But I have a reply. Besides, there's no view now. Sun has already set. Come on, stand up." He gently tapped on her head and withdrew his arm.

"What?" Startled from the sudden change in his behaviour, she sat up straight, looking surprised.

What was he upto now? He rose to his feet and she followed reluctantly.

They both now stood in front of each other, Drew was looking straight into her eyes while she looked around aimlessly, "What's the matter, Drew?"

He took a deep breath. The time had came. He assured himself. There was no turning back now but he feared his nerves would make the matter worse. Taking deep breaths in a row, he knelt down on one knee. May watched him with wide eyes, her heart stopping at the thought. He wasn't..

Pondering from where to start, he lowered his gaze to the ground. It wasn't easy at all.

"You needed a reply." He nodded, chuckling to himself. "The first rose," he began, "it might have been for beautifly but the ones after that, they were for you!" The confession came in a very light voice.

She was frozen at the spot, her hands trembling. Everything else had faded away. "I don't know when I fell in love with you. In Hoenn, I wanted to help you. In Kanto, I grew respect for you. In Johto, I think.. I fell for you and in Sinnoh, well.." he laughed a little, still staring at the ground. "I guess I lost my shit."

May couldn't move her eyes from him, her heart was beating stupidly fast. This was so not happening. Drew was only teasing her. It was only teasing no matter how much it seemed like he was speaking the truth.

"It hurts my pride but you are a fantastic coordinator, May! The way you've grown as a coordinator blows me away every time I get to see you perform."

Another pause. He had it all prepared but words seemed to have lost somewhere.

"It's hard to believe that we still love each other the same, even though it's been what? Seven years?"

The gentle breeze caressed their faces and Drew looked up at her only to see that she had tears, threatening to spill, in her eyes. He smiled softly, "You know what? I love everything you do. You're beautiful. You're loving. You're kind and caring."

May closed her eyes, trying to hold her tears back. "No listen to me, I might not repeat this for a long time. You don't realize but you're so courageous and confident. Your eyes are freaking gorgeous and as cliche as this may sound, you're everything I need. You are the one I'm willing to spend my life with."

He reached into his pocket and took out a jewellery box. Opening it carefully, he said, hiding his smile, "Did you really think I brought you to Alola for no reason or Pikipek was the only gift?" He then smirked, "Also, proposing on the beach is a very normal thing."

Her heart was racing and her mind was dizzy. She glanced at the box and the silver ring was placed neatly inside it. A tear fell down across her cheek and the rest of the tears followed. She was almost sure this was a dream. Even if she knew that Drew loved her to death.

Drew exhaled all the air, struggling to stand on one knee, "I, hereby, ask you, May Maple, on this beach of the MeleMele Islands, Alola region. Will you marry me?"

The sky was now a mixture of dark purple and dark blue. They could still see each other, thanks to the lamp post a few steps away.

Drew looked at May, who was now smiling but tears were still there.

She wiped her tears, a breathless laugh escaping her lips. "Admit it Drew, you were not fine with being called not normal." His face broke into a grin, indirectly admitting what she said. She held out her left hand, tears filling her eyes again.

Taking a deep breath, she opened her mouth to speak.

Another tear spilled down.

"Yes."

Turns out they aren't normal people or maybe they are, who knows? Anyway, it is a Contestshipping Day one-shot I posted on tumblr yesterday. The theme was Alola. Honestly, I can't wait for Pokemon Sun and Moon to come out because Alola seems like such a nice region and all the Pokemon (which are announced as of yet) also looks pretty cute! My favourite is Pikipek and Cutiefly and I can totally see May or Drew having a Cutiefly. I hope you enjoyed this! xx