It bites at Drew, that he has to keep his steps steady. Slow. Nonchalant. That's his whole thing, this show of casual carelessness, and it is usually easy.

It's usually true.

But it's biting at him like a wild Carnava now. If he runs, he'd catch her. If not — well, jury's still out.

He rounds a corner of the well-lit hallways of the PokéCenter and abruptly pulls back.

He should've run.

"What's wrong?" he hears Ketchum ask. May doesn't answer at first, but when she does, it's quiet and careful and lying and all the things that May is not.

"I'm fine," May says.

There's a pause.

"Okay. If you're sure," Ketchum says, and Drew can't help but shake his head. Dense, heartfelt, obtuse Ash Ketchum. Anyone with half a brain could tell that she was lying.

(In what short observations he had time to make before ducking back, though, it appears the kid's Pikachu is nowhere to be found. Aha. Makes sense, now. That Pikachu probably does at least half of Ketchum's thinking for him.)

"I am, thanks. Watch Max for me, alright? I'm gonna go...nap. For a little while."

Triumph, muted though it is, rings in his ears. Ketchum's loss is his gain, and he can only hope that May sees the second part, too. He waits a few seconds for the footsteps to leave, but then there's an elevator ding! and he hurries over just in time to catch the door with his shoe.

"Going somewhere?" he says, wishing he had time to think of literally any other pick-up line. Then he inhales, sharp, because she's crying.

Well. That's not something Solidad covered.

She looks up, an apology on her lips, and it vanishes halfway.

"Hi, Drew," she says bravely. The doors slide shut and the metal contraption starts to rise. "Where are you headed?"

"The next two contests on this half of the region are back to back, you know."

"Mhm," she says, unsubtly rubbing at her eyes with her palms. "We're heading out tonight for Sootopolis City. Apparently there's some kind of Illumise show along the way." She shrugs listlessly, even though the May he knows would probably be thrilled to watch a bunch of Pokémon lighting up the night sky for travelers of darkness. The elevator continues to climb.

"Then you won't be seeing me for at least another month," Drew says. "I'll be in Mossdeep by tomorrow morning. I was on my way out."

"Then what are you doing here?"

Drew blinks.

Whoops.

"Forgot something," he lies unconvincingly, almost as badly as she had — but she buys it.

"Mm," May says. "You'll fit right in."

"Huh?" And then she reaches over and fluffs the top of his head.

"Moss," she says simply, but she breaks into a wide grin and a choked laugh, both laced with the kind of hysteria of someone on the verge of crying. So even though he scowls at her and tries to fix the damage, there's a funny feeling in his chest all the while.

"You're a bad person," he informs her, patting down his hair for emphasis. She laughs harder.

The elevator sings out the floor and the doors peel open and May is still laughing by the time they reach what he assumes is her room. He hasn't heard her laugh in a while.

Suddenly, he realizes that as much as he gets a kick out of pulling out her ire, he might have found something even better.

Sweeter.

"How've you been, May?" he ask, folding his arms. She lets him in and he leans back against the door while she sorts something or other out.

Stilling when she hears his words, May seems to ponder over it for a while.

Moment of truth, he thinks to himself, waiting.

"Not so good," she says at last, and he lets his arms drop to his sides.

"Oh?" he says, trying very, very hard to skip past his usual field of dubious and into compassionate. And, somehow, it works.

"Yeah. I had a rough day." There, already he's gotten some headway into a legitimate conversation, even though his participation at this point is marginal at the most. She doesn't seem to mind — it's not even resigned, her response, never mind the quivering he heard earlier. So he must be doing something right.

May turns over her shoulder, just a little, and smiles at him. The funny feeling is back, spreading fast to the rest of his body.

"But I'm feeling better already."