"Wake up." Rain said, poking Stephen in the side.

"What?" Stephen asked, still half asleep.

"I have work. I've been up for an hour so I'm ready to go. And you have a date." He took a breath. "Coffee with Maren. Remember?"

Stephen groaned and pulled his pillow over his head. "I don't wanna go. I don't even like her. I just wanted to make you mad." He complained.

"Stop it Stephen." Rain muttered.

"Stop what?" He groaned.

"You can't say that. You're going, because you asked her out. Now get up and get dressed." Rain said angrily.

"You know I don't like her Rain." He groaned again.

"Then tell her. Don't lead people on if you don't actually like them. You can't just make someone think you like them and then decide you don't, Stephen." He said angrily.

"Are we still talking about Maren?"

"Of course. Who else would be talking about?" He asked before walking toward the door. "I'll be waiting in the car. You have twenty minutes."

"Do you actually want me to go?" Stephen cried. "Or are you just going to pretend that nothing happened?"

"I want you to go because it doesn't matter that anything happened. It happened with Ethan, it'll happen with you too. You're not comfortable enough to be seen with me. You don't want be seen with me. You don't even really want me! Tell me, Stephen, would you ever kiss me like that in public?"

Stephen stayed silent. Not because he didn't want to kiss Rain in public -he wanted to kiss Rain everywhere- but because he was scared. Scared that Rain didn't like him or want him anymore. Did the kiss mean nothing to him?

"I'll be in the car." Rain said, before slamming the door.

********

Stephen spotted Maren as soon as he walked in.

"Hey Stephen!" She chirped.

"Hi." He said, walking over and taking a seat.

"Aren't you going to order anything?" She asked.

"I don't think that's necessary. Listen, Maren, I don't know how to say this. But, uh, I only asked you out to make someone else jealous." He said. Then he waited.

"What?" She asked, sounding confused.

"If I tell you this, you can't tell anyone. Got it?"

Maren nodded.

"So I guess I kinda like Rain. I guess. And I thought he liked you, but he doesn't, and I asked you out to make him jealous." He admitted.

Stephen had expected to get slapped. Or punched. Or yelled at.

Instead he got a hug.

"That is so cute!"

"You're not mad?" He asked cautiously.

"Nah. I've kind of come to terms with the fact you didn't like me recently, so I'm fine. Can I do anything to help you?" She asked.

"Pour your coffee on me." He ordered.

"What?" She asked with a laugh.

"Pour your coffee on me and then storm out angrily. Please." He added.

"Are you sure?" She asked, still smiling.

Stephen nodded. "Act mad."

So Maren stood up, coffee in hand and screamed, "You jerk! How could you do this to me?" She cried.

People turned and looked. Including Rain, who was working the cash register.

"I....uh....sorry." He choked out. Any other day he would've been more convincing, but he was very nervous. There were important people watching, after all.

"Fuck you! Never call me again!" She shrieked and uncapped her coffee, pouring it over him.
She stormed out angrily.

People stared at Stephen, judging him. But he didn't care.

Stephen turned to find Rain looking him right in the eye with a confused expression on his face.

Rain came out from the counter with napkins.

"What did you do?" He asked angrily as he began to dab the coffee off of Stephen's face.

"Do I have coffee in my eyes, or are you just really beautiful?"

Rain glanced down. "Stephen-" he tried.

"Listen, Rain. I don't know why I kissed you. But I'm not mad that I did it. I don't regret it. I don't think I would want to steal babies with anyone else." He said with a sad smile on his face.

"But-"

"No buts. It's your choice, Rain. You can push me away from the second person I've ever been able to tolerate in my life, or you kiss me and make me really, really happy." He said.

Rain pulled his hand away from Stephen's face.

"Please." Stephen begged in a whisper.

Rain looked up at him with a sad expression.

"Are you sure?"

Stephen cupped Rain's face in his hands and kissed him. He felt Rain melt into the kiss and arms wrap around his neck. People in the cafe gasped, some 'awed' and others clapped.

But none of them mattered except the boy he was kissing.

The boy he had spilled coffee on, the boy he had tried to hard to hate, the boy who liked the Gilmore Girls, the boy who made his heart race, the boy who he had stolen babies for and with, the boy who was scared of dogs, the boy he tried to make jealous, the first boy he had kissed.

Stephen had never been angrier in his life than when he realized he needed to breathe.

"Are we good?" He asked Rain.

Rain blushed and nodded.

"We're great."

********

Stephen never imagined that he would be sitting in the library with his best friend and the girl who used to like him, telling them about how he had kissed a boy. But there he was.

"And then you just kissed him?" Hugo asked, mouth gaping.

"Yeah. It was crazy." Stephen answered.

"How was it?" Maren asked.

"It was great. And all thanks to your good acting." Stephen said, blushing and looking down.

"I knew you liked him. I knew he liked him." Hugo said to Maren.

"Would you stop bragging about that?" Stephen begged.

"Never." Hugo said with a laugh.

"Maren, there's something I have to tell you." Stephen said.

"Yeah?"

"I stole your baby. Gerard. I stole Gerard." He said. "Cause Rain spilled lemonade-"

"I did not. That was your fault." Rain said, cutting him off as he sat down next to him.

"Anyway, he got lemonade on him, so I took yours to get extra credit." Stephen finished. "Sorry."

"It's fine. I stole Eva and Meghan's cause they're bitches. It all worked out. But don't tell Ethan, he thinks it's the original one."

"We also stole Lance and Keith's." Rain added.

"That was you?! Lance was freaking out so much about that. It was hilarious. But he and Keith took Liam and Andrea's."

"Wow. And we thought we were being crafty and original." Rain said, nudging Stephen's shoulder.

"Survival of the fittest." Maren said with a shrug.

"Well Maren, we have to go to science now." Hugo said glancing at the clock. "Bye, guys."

They waved and walked away, leaving Stephen alone at the table with Rain.

"What now?" Rain asked.

"I have no idea. I mean, I don't think we should be....boyfriends yet. Let's go on a few dates first and work up to it." Stephen suggested.

"Okay." Rain nodded. "Can I kiss you?"

Stephen answered by pressing their lips together and running his tongue along Rain's bottom lip. Rain tangled his hands in Stephen's hair and tugged at it, eliciting an involuntary moan from Stephen.

They only broke away for two reasons: oxygen and Ethan.

"Excuse me." He scoffed.

"Oh, hey Ethan." Rain muttered, wiping his lip.

"Hey Rain." He said.

"What do you want?" Stephen grunted. "Cause I'm kinda busy so..." he trailed off.

"I just wanted to say that I hope Stephen treats you better than I did. I was wrong and I'm sorry." Ethan said.

"It's okay. I'm over it." Rain said with a shrug.

"Well okay then. Um, have fun." He said uncomfortably. "Oh, by the way, be on the lookout for a baby thief. It's already claimed two victims." He said.

"We'll be on watch." Rain said with a laugh.

Ethan finally left and Rain leaned back in his seat.

"What kind of person steals babies in their free time? What a sick fuck." Stephen joked.

Rain punched him in the arm, but Stephen didn't mind. He was too busy thinking about how being with Rain didn't feel like wearing a wet sock anymore. It was more like.... a warm sock.

Good one, Stephen.