Previously...

"I don't want you to leave," she said as she searched for his hand. When she found it, she laced their fingers together.

"I don't want to leave either," he said as his grip tightened in hers. It was quiet after that, and May started to feel herself drift off.

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He had never even realized he had fallen asleep until his eyes began to flutter open. He must have been more tired than he thought from the stress and anxiety bubbling up. Immediately he noticed the warmth on his side. He felt the heat rush to his face as he realized that May had accidentally fallen asleep next to him.

She was pressed up against him, her face snuggled into his shoulder. One of her arms was thrown over his chest and a leg was in between his. The other one was still interlocking with his. Clearly the right and proper thing to do was pry her off of him and get up, but he just couldn't bring himself to care enough to do so. No matter how embarrassing and inappropriate it was, all he wanted was to stay next to her.

It was completely selfish. However, he also had the gall to be greedy. He could indulge himself just once and suffer the consequences. After all, he had already been good when this had happened before he would take his chances just this once. Making up his mind, rolled onto his side facing her as he slipped an arm around her, pulling her closer as he tangled his legs in hers.

Her head automatically pressed into his chest and she subconsciously readjusted her arm to wrap around him. She nuzzled into him as he tilted his head down to tuck hers under his chin. She sighed comfortably. He was a horrible person. He had completely taken advantage of her without her knowing. But even though he felt guilty, he couldn't bring himself to let her go.

He drifted off until May woke up about thirty minutes to an hour later. When she came to, she woke him with a squeak. Her face was red as she pried herself away from him and let go of his hand.. He feigned innocence but the blush he wore was real as he scrambled away from her.

"Sorry!" They both said at the same time. They both looked away awkwardly.

"It's probably my fault. I'm a sleep cuddler," May explained sheepishly.

"Well I was holding you back so..." he said quietly. A heavy silence hung over them.

"We should, uh, get going," Drew said.

"Yeah, um, right," May said quickly. "I'm gonna go take down my tent," she said, and hastily exited. It was irresponsible of him, but he just couldn't bring himself to regret it, even though it was a bit awkward between them now.

When they finally arrived in Goldenrod City the first thing they did was meet up with Solidad and Harley. A few days before, they had made arrangements to meet each other for dinner at one of the local restaurants. That's how they found themselves sitting across the table from the two coordinators.

"Well, it's so good to see you two again!"Solidad smiled widely.

"Yeah, you too," Drew said.

"How many ribbons do you darlings have?" Harley asked, his competitive side showing.

"We've won 2," May said. Harley smirked.

"So we're even!" He said triumphantly.

"Now, now Harley, let's put a pause on that talk for now! I was waiting to tell you in person! I'm a bit upset you didn't tell me yourselves, but congratulations! How did it happen?" Solidad asked excitedly. He looked to May to see if she had any idea what Solidad was talking about but she looked just as confused as he was.

"I'm sorry, what?" Drew asked her.

"Perhaps I said it a bit confusingly, let me clarify. Congrats on your relationship! So tell me, who confessed first?" Solidad asked. May choked on her water.

"If it was supposed to be a secret, you've done a horrible job," she said as she pulled out a Coordinator's Monthly magazine and laid it on the table. The front cover was the scene from the Azalea Town Contest where Drew was holding her as she cried. The caption was "May and Drew! Finally Together?" May looked horrified at the magazine. He wasn't sure if it was from the idea of her dating him or the fact it was a picture from a traumatic event for her.

"We aren't dating!" Drew explained.

"Oh. Hmm, that's interesting. Coordinator's Monthy doesn't usually report on gossip unless they are fairly certain it's true. If you don't want to give the wrong impression then I suggest you take action against that. You may not think it shows, but it's clear you two are definitely comfortable with each other, maybe even a little too cozy?" Solidad suggested with a raised eyebrow.

"Nothing's going on Solidad," he denied, though he had a slight suspicion that there was something definitely going on between them. At least from his side no matter how much he had tried to prevent it.

"You two sure look cozy in that picture though!" Harley teased.

"Why did they have to use that picture?" May said as she held her face in her hands. "That was super scary, the only thing I could do in that moment was cry. There's nothing remotely romantic about that event.That whole thing was just a nightmare,"

"Well, people have been talking about it since before the attack," Solidad said.

"Seriously?" May asked, surprised.

"Well, when the public found out about your partnership, relationship speculation between you two became a popular subject," she explained. May and Drew looked at her, appalled. "It's not my fault! Anyways, after Azalea Town, that just confined it in most people's minds. That's why it's in Coordinator's Monthy. You two have been the cover of several gossip magazines the past few months.

"Why do people care so much?" Drew asked.

"You're pretty popular with the ladies Drew, they want to know all about you, and your relationship status. As for May, she's starting to pick up some traction with the male contest fans, and in the contest world in general. Two popular coordinators like you partnering up is perfect speculation and gossip material," Harley said. Drew didn't like the thought of May getting popular with the males, but that was his jealousy talking. It wasn't like she belonged to him or anything, and he had to get it through his skull.

"Why has this dinner turned into talking about speculation of our nonexistent romantic relationship?" May asked exasperated. That hurt him a bit, but she was right. They were just friends. Platonic hand holding. Platonic falling asleep next to each other. Platonic cuddling. He was so sure it was all platonic anymore. It was probably his fault though. As much as he was trying to forget about it, he was still pushing his boundaries past the platonic level and now she was suffering from it.

"Look, if you don't want speculation, get whatever is going on behind the scenes figured out otherwise people are going to talk. I can feel your tension from over here and I'm sure it's visible to others as well," Solidad advised. She was right. Even though he denied it to, there was definitely something going on behind the scenes between them that was definitely more than friendly feelings.

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-A/N-

Well, uh, I hope you liked the chapter! Some big stuff is about to go down in these next few chapters hehehe so be excited for that. Also, XaestheitcX I believe asked me about Rose Garden so after this author's note is a little preview of Rose Garden. I'm almost done with the first chapter, but the little excerpt (I say little but the Rose Garden chapters are going to be a lot longer than Platonics) is from the beginning of the first chapter so it's not that special. Warning, it has a little more mature language and themes because it's college so if you don't like that then don't read. It's PG 13 and nothing too crazy but for Pokemon it's more mature. Anyways, until next time!

YouDontKnowShipping

PS thanks for 8K reads!!! I love you all so much!! <3

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~Rose Garden~

The first thing Drew heard as he opened the door to his apartment was the screaming of Ash and Paul who were in a heated argument. He sluggishly dragged himself over the threshold and let his backpack fall off his shoulder and down his arm to land on the ground. He was totally beat.

He had a group presentation in his Business Management class that had taken a lot of work to put together and finally he could let that weight fall off his shoulders. He still had a big test the next day in his Intro to Economics that he needed to study for though. Except the idiots in the apartment wouldn't be able to give him a quiet place to study.

"What's wrong you two?" Drew sighed.

"I totally creamed Ash in our Pokemon battle," Paul said smugly, holding up his 3DS to show Drew.

"You got a lucky crit! I so would have won! Fight me again! Pikachu and I will win for sure this time!" Ash yelled angrily.

"With pleasure! Anything to smoke you again, loser!" Paul obliged.

"ERRR! YOU'RE SO ON!" Ash roared before aggressively tapping his screen with his stylus. Paul smirked after a moment.

"WHY WOULD YOU USE PROTECT!!!??? THAT'S SO CHEAP!! STOP STALLING!!!" Ash raged.

"I can do whatever I want so just deal with it!" Paul scoffed. Drew stood in the entryway deadpanning at the scene. He bent down to grab his backpack he had just put down and slung it over his shoulder.

"Where are you going?" Paul asked.

"HEY! PAY ATTENTION!" Ash snapped.

"Somewhere I can study in peace," Drew said exasperatedly.

"You should try Sol's. Gary told me the owner is young and supposedly super hot," Paul suggested offhandedly.

"That's all?" Drew raised an eyebrow. Getting a girlfriend didn't matter to him as much as some of the other guys, mostly Gary. He wasn't the type for flings either. He knew he would get too attached which would cause problems later. So he just didn't. His whole life was planned out for him anyways.

"It's a coffee shop. Seeing as you can't live without it..." Paul provided. That sounded much better to him. Maybe some coffee would help give him some energy back and he could study for his Economics test before his evening class later.

"Plus he said it's not as crowded as some of the others,"

"You just fainted my Pikachu! YOU'RE SO GOING DOWN!" Ash exclaimed. Drew sighed.

"You two are never going to graduate if the only thing you do is play Pokemon," he teased.

"Why don't you try relaxing for once? You're so uptight it's physically painful to be in the same room as you," Ash razzed him.

"I do relax," he defended himself.

"When?" Paul asked smugly.

"When I'm doing my work, and sleeping," Drew said matter of factly.

"I wouldn't call you haunching over a computer for hours relaxing. Also, you have a hard time falling asleep, you're always restlessly moving around!" Ash said. Drew looked at him in disbelief.

"We shared a dorm freshman year, remember? You would not believe how many times you kept me awake rolling around in the top bunk," Ash clenched his fist.

"So many hours of my precious sleep wasted," he said to himself. "HEY!" He exclaimed.

"You should have been paying attention," Paul smirked.

"Whatever, I'm out of here. I'll see you guys later," Drew said. He was closing the door behind him when he quickly opened it to shout at the two boys.

"Roselia is the best Pokemon!" He said and slammed the door behind him.

"OH HELL NO!"

"NO WAY!"