Little Doves & Bonafide Heroes ~ Archie Cruz

Can You Feel the Rain

Not too long after Taime had left, there was a knock at the door.

Dropping my pen and closing my sketchbook, I hurried over, and I opened it to see Archie's handsome face.

"Hey," he said with a smile.

"Hey, come on in," I said, awkwardly inviting him into the house. "Sorry, it's a little messy right now," I mumbled, just now realizing that there was a pile of stuff from Taime digging through the hall closet.

"No worries," he replied, hugging me.

"Happy birthday," I mumbled against his shoulder. "I feel so bad, I-"

"Hey, don't feel bad," he said with a chuckle. "I didn't tell you. It's not a big deal anyway."

"It is too."

"Is not," he said, tilting my chin up so that he could kiss me.

"Is too."

"Not even," he purred following me into the kitchen.

"It is too!"

"Fine, then I guess you'll have to make it up to me."

He smirked at me, and I knew then and there, he was going to make me do something I wasn't super stoked on.

"What did you have in mind?"

"Well," he said while he was looking around, "I thought maybe we can go on a more normal date- one where we don't have sex in a public bathroom." He chuckled when he noticed my amused, yet confused face. "Just to shake it up."

"I think I can agree on that one," I said, letting out a nervous laugh, debating telling him that Ace had more or less 'caught' us.

"Good."

"Anything specific?" I asked him.

"Mmm, yes, but it's a surprise."

"Surprise for me? It's not my birthday," I joked.

"I know, but I don't want you to back out of it."

"Oh, come on, I'm not a wu-"

He cut me off with another kiss, and I decided to just let him win. It was his birthday, and I would do what he wanted, even if I didn't necessarily want to.

"So, at first, I was thinking we could do the whole cliché coffee date thing," he said, sitting at the counter.

"That's not a bad idea... but?"

"What?"

"What?"

"You said 'but' and now I'm confused."

"Oh, no I- I meant that it sounded like you were going to say it; I figured there was going to be a 'but.'"

"Ah, yeah... I thought it was too cheesy," he mumbled, his cheeks turning very light pink. "Kinda cliché, like I said."

"Hey, it's 'cliché' because it works- I like simple stuff like that."

"I do, too. I mean, sometimes it's just doing things and spending time together that's the fun part," he said.

"Exactly. Where have you been all of my life?" I asked with a soft laugh.

"Finland," he joked. "But yeah," he continued after a moment, "I was thinking maybe we can just hit a bar and wander around for a bit instead.

"Sure, that's great with me. Do you want one," I asked, offering him a bottle of water.

"Please. Thanks. So, what time do you want to go?" he asked, glancing at the clock, which read 5:16.