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Charlie hated rainy days. Given his usual sunny and cheerful demeanor, it came as no surprise to anyone about his dislike for rainy weather. They always felt gloomy, dark, and dreary, which ran counter to his personality.
The day however, had started off much more differently though. It was a nice spring weekend and Charlie had shown up at Alex’s house in the morning to take his boyfriend out on a date in the park. When he had pulled up to the Standall residence, Deputy Standall was on his way out to work. Charlie gave a quick greeting to his boyfriend’s father when he saw him.
“Good morning Deputy Standall!” He said with a wave and smile.
“Morning Charlie. I take it you’re here for Alex?” Bill replied, opening his car door.
“Yes sir, I was planning on going to the park with him today, enjoy some time out of the house and all.”
“Well, I think Alex just woke up as I was heading out, so go ahead and head inside, I’m sure he should be out of this room by now.” Bill gestured to the front door before getting into his car and driving off to the station.
Charlie waved at the deputy’s car as it drove off before turning around and heading into the house. Charlie hadn’t seen Mrs. Standall’s car in the drive way when he had arrived, so he assumed that she had already gone to work for the day. Hearing some noise coming from the kitchen, Charlie headed in that direction. Walking into the kitchen, he could see Alex standing at the kitchen sink doing the dishes, his back turned towards Charlie, completely unaware he had company. Taking the opportunity to surprise his boyfriend, Charlie snuck up behind Alex and wrapped him in another “king of the world” hug, pressing a kiss into Alex’s neck.
Alex, unaware until that moment that Charlie was even there, tensed up at the sudden contact, but immediately relaxed when he could smell Charlie’s cologne. Relaxing, Alex sunk into the hug before turning his head to give his boyfriend a kiss on the cheek.
Smiling to himself at Alex’s willingness at the hug, Charlie decided to tease him a bit. “So you do like being hugged like this hm?”
Alex flushed a little at the comment, because yes, he did enjoy being held like this in his boyfriend’s arms.
“Wha- shush Charles.” Was all Alex could conjure in lieu of a come back. Finally turning around fully to face his boyfriend, Alex stood up on his toes to give Charlie a proper kiss. Wrapping his arms around Charlie’s neck, he smiled into the kiss as he felt his boyfriend pull him closer.
Breaking apart, Alex smiled up at the younger boy. “Good morning to you. What did you have planned for today?”
“Good morning Lex.” Charlie smiled back. Wanting to enjoy their closeness for just a tad bit longer, Charlie just smiled again before leaning down to claim Alex’s in another quick kiss. Breaking apart, Charlie finally filled his boyfriend in on his plans.
“Well, seeing as the weather outside is amazing today, I thought maybe we could spend the day at the park?” Charlie asked, hoping the older boy would agree to go out.
Alex pondered for a moment before agreeing. A day out with his boyfriend wouldn’t hurt at all.
“Alright, just let me go upstairs and grab my stuff real quick. I’ll be right back.”
Alex then headed upstairs to grab his phone and keys. Heading back down the stairs, he met Charlie outside, getting into the car while the younger boy started it up. The drive to the park was short and quick, both boys just enjoying each other’s company in silence. Arriving at the park, the two got out of the car before going on a walk, talking and joking about things that had happened over the past week at school.
However, it was in the middle of said walk when the weather took a turn for the worse. A sudden rainstorm caught the two of them out in the open, forcing the boys to run back to the car.
By the time they both made it into the car, they were thoroughly drenched. Alex laughed it off and while Charlie did too, Alex could tell something was bothering his boyfriend. But before he could bring it up, Charlie started up the car and drove them both back to Alex’s house.
Running back inside, Alex took Charlie up to his room so that they could both get changed into dry clothes. Handing Charlie a pair of shorts, since none of his sweats would fit the taller boy, and an old t-shirt, Alex then grabbed another t-shirt and a pair of sweatpants, quickly changing out of his wet clothing. He walked out of the room and into the bathroom to grab a towel for both his and Charlie’s wet hair, but when he got back to his room, he found his boyfriend still sitting in his wet clothes sulking.
Putting down the towel on his bed, Alex made his way over to his boyfriend. Kneeling down, and placing a comforting hand on the younger boy’s knee, Alex asked, “Hey babe, what’s wrong?”
“Nothing, it’s just…I don’t like rainy days. Everything feels so gloomy and sad and I was really hoping to spend some time outdoors with you today.” Charlie replied without his usual sunny persona.
Deciding that this time it was his turn to cheer up his boyfriend, Alex stood up and handed the towel and dry clothes to Charlie.
“Ok, go dry off and put these on. Then grab all the pillows and the blanket from my bed and meet me downstairs in the living room.”
Upon hearing the shorter boy’s orders, Charlie’s curiosity was piqued.
“Oh? What are you planning?” He played along, already having an idea of what was going to happen, but wanting to hear it from Alex directly.
“You’ll see, just do as I say and meet me downstairs, I’ll show you that rainy days aren’t all that bad.” Alex said with his usual smirk before turning around and exiting the room.
After leaving his room, Alex proceeded to grab all the spare pillows and blankets in the house before heading downstairs. As he sat on the couch waiting for his boyfriend to join him, he turned on the TV and put on a movie for the two to watch. Then, he heard the door to his room open and footsteps going down the stairs, signaling the arrival of the taller boy.
Charlie walked into the living room dressed in a t-shirt that was still slightly too small for him, which made him look both adorable and incredibly sexy in Alex’s eyes. He was holding two pillows and a blanket, which Alex took from him, giving Charlie a quick kiss as thanks. Charlie stayed standing where he was, waiting for Alex to explain what they were going to do.
“So, are you going to tell me what you have planned? Or am I going to have to start guessing?” He asked with a small smile.
“We, my dear Charles, are going to build a blanket fort, watch a movie, and cuddle. Because rainy days are the best days for cuddling and I happen to know you enjoy that too.” Alex responded in a matter of fact tone.
Upon hearing his boyfriend’s plan, Charlie immediately brightened up and started to help the older boy with the task of building a blanket fort in front of the TV. It took a while longer than expected because the two of them got into a small argument on how exactly to build said blanket fort but that argument ended quickly when Alex decided to shut Charlie up with a kiss.
Finally, after completing the blanket fort, the two boys crawled in and got comfortable. This time, Charlie had his head on Alex’s chest and arms wrapped around the older boy’s torso. Alex had one of his arms slightly wrapped around Charlie’s shoulders, but his hand was carding through the younger boy’s hair.
The two of them sat there in their fort in silence for a while, watching the movie and enjoying being close to one another.
After a few moments of silence, Charlie lifted his head to look up at Alex.
“Thank you…you know, for doing all this to cheer me up. You’re right though, I guess rainy days aren’t so bad like this. Especially if I’ve got a hot boyfriend to cuddle with.” Charlie said.
Alex rolled his eyes fondly at Charlie’s last comment before leaning down to press a kiss to the top of Charlie’s head.
“You’re always cheering me up, so it’s about time I did the same for you. I love you so much Charles, and I always want you to be happy.” Alex said with a small smile, voice laced with affection and love.
Even though Charlie and Alex had said “I love you” many times to each other, hearing that phrase from his boyfriend still made Charlie just as happy as the first time Alex had told him that.
“I love you too Lex, more than anything else in the world.” Charlie replied.
“Even more than Eli Manning?” Alex asked with a teasing smile.
At the mention of his childhood crush, Charlie flushed bright red before burying his face in Alex’s shoulder while the older boy laughed. Poking Alex a few times in a few spots where he was ticklish as payback, Charlie couldn’t help but smile as well.
“Yes, even more than Eli Manning.”
At that, both boys leaned in for a kiss before settling back down to watch the movie. Eventually, the two of them dozed off inside the blanket fort, with Charlie resting on Alex and Alex’s arm wrapped around the younger boy. It was an hour later or so that Alex’s mom came home and she found her son and his boyfriend still asleep in the living room.
Snapping a picture of the sight in front of her, Carolyn Standall smiled at the scene in front of her. Deciding to let the boys sleep, she headed into the kitchen to prepare dinner. She sent the photo she took to her husband before calling Charlie’s father to ask if he’d like to come over for dinner later that night as well. As she worked, Carolyn thought to herself how lucky Alex had been and how deserving he was to be in such a loving relationship.