Pink Roses

The Time Our Hearts Blazed

_Army Pov_

Every so often I have a dream of myself when I was a teen. Seventeen and clueless to everything besides turf wars. I was strategic, I kept my guard up, I devoted myself to learn all about the weapons and how they worked. I can understand the most logical of things. But that all changed once Aloha came into sight.
He threw me in through loops, he did things that I never expected. At first they frightened me, he was unpredictable and I didn't like that.

At some point I resented him because of it.

Time went on however. The more we grew and saw each other, I came to understand him. He was just living life the way he wanted to. He had fun and didn't carry regrets. I started to admire him and desperately wanted to see him smile because it banished even the darkest of things.

Nineteen and he was the first one that made my heart race. He made me vulnerable and I questioned everything after as if something was wrong with me, but talking with Forge she made me realize..that I'm in love.

*

My eyes open with a sudden startle. Looking around I notice that I'm on the couch. Another overnight. I thought and sat up to rub the tiredness from my eyes. I couldn't even make it to my bed. "Jeez.." sighing then I get up to head for my room. Aloha might already be in bed—

"Hey sleepy head." I hear him speak.
My head turns immediately to Alohas direction and I see that he's in the kitchen. "Wha— why are you up?? It's still dar—" The curtains are closed.
"I didn't want the sun to wake you up so I closed them once I noticed you were on the couch. Late night?" He asked while handing me a cup of coffee. "Indeed..what time is it?" I ask.

"Almost ten." Hearing that makes me feel guilty for not helping Aloha with breakfast. Here I was sleeping while he attends to our meal for the morning.
"Hey." I hear his tender voice as his hand brushes against my cheek. A slight stroke of his thumb against my face nearly made me melt.
"I didn't wake you cause you needed to sleep." He spoke. Aloha has been sleeping better. There's been some times where I had to drag him away from work because he couldn't stop himself. I'm glad he's getting healthier amount of hours in.

I place my hand over his and move it away from my face. "Thank you. I still would've liked to help."

"No. No. I said I'd cook whenever you were too tired."

"That's thoughtful of you Aloha." Ever since that night when he first cooked for me, he's been going out of his way to pitch in with meals. It's nice that he's learning these things; it means I can rest easy, knowing he'll actually get a better meal.

"Hey Army since it's your day off you wanna go to town with me?"

"I was actually going to head somewhere myself. We could walk together though."

"Wait, where you heading?" Aloha pondered as he sets a plate in my hands. "I'm meeting Forge. We need to discuss some things. That's all." Aloha looks at me briefly before turning away.
"Oh." Is all he said and walks back to what he was doing. I feel bad for not spending this time with him but..I do need to talk with Forge. Besides I can't have Aloha only go into town with me by his side. That might defeat the whole purpose of him becoming independent. Or 'normal' as Diver put it...cod that guy. What he said has stuck with me. It's irritating.

"Well that's fine." Aloha comes around and sits beside me, already munching on his breakfast. "Really? You're not mad?" I lean slightly forward to see his expression. "Why would I be? You're allowed to see your friends and we don't always need to be together." He takes a bit of his meal before adding, "It's not like we're dating." My body just twitched with an unpleasant feeling. That's right. We aren't.