Months passed in Archers life that he fell more in love with Hunter with each flip of his calendar. As the snow melted away and revealed the rebirth of grass and flowers, and even some weeds, he found himself spending more time outside with Hunter, whose favorite place to hide away was between the green limbs of trees. Archer spent many hours resting against his fiancés chest, kissing him languidly as they listened to the chirps of crickets and the flutters of the leaves as the wind flirtatiously whistled by them. On the first night that he hooked himself onto Hunters back as he scaled the side of the tree, he remembered his fiancé flinging himself onto a sturdy branch, his arms spreading wide. "Do you see this, Archer? The world is ours." He had told Archer, who stared out at the long strips of land. It never failed to amaze Archer that a blind man had given him sight.

On one of the rainier days, Archer found himself sitting in his bedroom, bent over his desk and typing away at his laptop. As he neared graduation, the homework seemed to be piling up, but Archer couldnt bring himself to care as he found more interest in looking up wedding venues. Many of them were glamorous, with spacious dance floors, and tables upon tables for hundreds of guests he didnt know. Considering that he wanted to have a small wedding with only his family and his closest friends attending, Archer tried to ignore the more high-end offers, even though they were candy to his eye. "Hunter?" He suddenly spoke up to his fiancé, who had been lounging behind him on the floor, a wide canvas laid out in front of him that was already splashed in various colors and shapes. "What do you think about having a wedding at home? Maybe we could have one just like my parents... they married in the backyard of my grandparents home."

Hunter answered him with a grunt, "Whatever you want, babe. Thatd probably be the least expensive option." Archer turned back to his laptop as his fiancé picked himself up, wiping his smudged hands on his sweatpants. He clicked through several of the pages, not seeing a single building that was less than two thousand dollars.

His fiancés hands reached around Archer, grabbing the bottles of paint that had been given a permanent home at the back of Archers dresser. As he felt around, Archer handed him the two that he hadnt picked up when hed started painting. "The blue paint is in your left hand. The other is the yellow paint." Hunter bent for a kiss, one that Archer instantly responded to. Their lips formed over each other, a firm kiss that they broke off from with soft gasps. "Youre right about the wedding at home. I want to be frugal about my wedding. With the money we dont spend, we can invest it and eventually use it as a down payment for an apartment."

"Thats fine with me." Hunter said simply, making Archer curve his lips as he slowly came to understand that his fiancé wasnt very good with finances. "You know how I hate extravagant things. The larger the venue, the more time it will take me to memorize the interior of it so I dont fall and smack my face on the way up to the altar."

"Poor dear." Archer said sadly, and closed the window for the many lists of venues. "I guess its settled. Well get married the way my parents did, the old-fashioned way. My pére will most certainly want to make the cake for us, along with the dinner and finger foods that will be served at the reception. Thats less of a cost for us. And Im sure he could come up with something for us to wear. Ill just have to give him a year in advance to prepare all of this. My pére doesnt do well under pressure. This will be less costly, and I might have the extra money to splurge on a new hairstyle for the wedding."

"New hairstyle?" Hunter muttered from the floor, pausing in sweeping his arm over the canvas. "What are you talking about? I thought wed been over this. I dont want you cutting your hair, Archer."

"Just a few inches." Archer reasoned, "Hunter, its down to my chin! And its so thick and curly. It gets in the way, and I can never brush it out because its so knotted. Its so drab. If I cut a little off... maybe up to my ear... I could tousle it and make it do what I want it to do-"

"No." The word was flat, and Archer rolled his eyes as his fiancé stood again, walking over to Archer and taking his head in his hands. "Not an inch, Archer. You cant pluck a single hair out!"

Archer slanted his eyes at Hunters determined face, "I didnt think you were so shallow."

"Im not." Hunter groaned, his jaw clenching as he ran his fingers through the curls at the back of Archers head. When he tilted his chin farther back, Archers hair spilled over his shoulders, and Hunter scooped up handfuls of it. "I... I dont want you to cut it because, as a blind man, I have fewer senses than you do to get used to things. When it comes to your hair, I use my touch, for the most part. I can smell your shampoo, which is why I tell you to never buy a different kind... but, when I reach out and touch your hair, I know that its my fiancé Im putting my hand on. If you cut it, it wouldnt feel like you anymore. Besides, as a man... I like being the only one who gets to feel your hair tumble over my chest when you rest against me. I like hearing you complain about how tangled it is, and then kissing you until you forget what you were fussing about. I like feeling your hair slide through my fingers."

Archers mouth twitched downward, and he grabbed Hunters wrists, bringing his hands closer to his head. Hunters fingers delved through his masses of curls, hooking around a few of the strands. He raised his head and brushed his mouth over Hunters, "Alright... I wont cut it. But you have to make me a deal to never show up on my doorstep with your blond hair again."

Hunter snorted, "Didnt like the blond, huh? I take it you feel just as strongly about my self-tanner and yellow contacts."

Archer shook his head, "I didnt mind them. But I have a bias toward seeing you like this. I like seeing you when youre not hiding yourself from me. Youre a very handsome man, Hunter."

Squatting beside of Archers chair, Hunter rested his elbows in Archers lap, while he cocked his head upward and took his mouth with his own. "The blond hair wont be coming back, sweetheart." He pecked a series of kisses across Archers pursed lips, "Why dont you come upstairs with me while I get dinner started? I have to go home soon."

Archer stared blankly at his fiancé, shifting his weight from thigh to thigh, "Hunter, could I stay with you tonight? Its my parents date night. They wont be home until late. Ill call them and let them know that I left with you."

Shrugging, Hunter helped Archer up, "I dont see why not. I can walk you to school in the morning." Although he couldnt see Archer, he seemed to notice his disappointment, and he hugged him tighter to his chest. He spoke into his hair, "Soon, we wont have to plan whose house were going to meet at. Not right now... but soon."

It had been engrained into Archers daily schedule to stay after school with his fiancé, who worked for an hour to set up the props during rehearsals. Archer didnt think that his fiancé would enjoy the laborious work forced upon him in order to stay in school, but Hunter showed no resistance to adding on any scenery that Schuester asked him to, or doing minor touchups to ripped pieces of cardboard. His fiancé had been standing on the stage for the past twenty minutes, scoping out the pieces of scenery that surrounded him and switching them around. Because some of them were quite large, and probably twice as heavy as Archer, his muscles strained as he scraped those against the wooden floor, beads of perspiration rolling down his bare arms. Hunter had forgone the sweatshirt that hed been wearing all day, discarding it in the seat beside of Archer. The white tank top that he wore beneath it stretched over his muscular body, transparent from the patchy spots of sweat that had gathered on his chest. Archer was jerked from his slouch, with eyes boring holes through his powerful fiancé, and his mouth slightly parted, by the poke he got in his ribs. He looked over at his pére, who had made it a habit of arriving just in time for rehearsals to start, since he had nothing better to do with his husband at work.

"Dear," his pére didnt look up from his needlework, "youre ogling again." Archer blushed a deep crimson, returning his attention to his laptop, where hed been browsing through florists that could provide plentifully for the wedding. After his pére snipped off a loose thread from the baby blue sock he was knitting, he curiously raised his eyes to the stage, a small smile twitching onto his lips as he realized what had Archer so flustered. "He is quite a sight, isnt he? Hes much..." he tilted his head to the side, "much bigger than any man I thought you would set your sights on."

Archer took a deep breath, slumping in his seat, "Well, if hes capable of doing all of the maintenances that our future home will require, I suppose I can forgive him for being a foot taller than me."

His pére giggled behind his hand, "Hes not very much like a writer, is he? All of the writers Ive met have been very withdrawn. Theyre small, bookish people... a little like you. Theyre not very worldly, like he is. Your dad looks like more of a writer than Hunter does, if only he had the patience to sit at a desk and write something. He much prefers reading a chapter or two than struggling to find the right words."

Archer rolled his eyes, "You havent met any writers, Pére. No writer would go to the spectacular parties that you do. And Hunter is rather like a writer, in more subtle ways. Hes very intelligent... and he always knows the right thing to say. I think youre mistaken, because Hunter is introverted. Hes just not afraid to say whats on his mind. Hes a patient man, Pére. I dont understand many of the things that he does, but he never becomes cross with me."

Their attention was diverted from the men in their lives by the sound of screeching. Raising his brows, Archer watched the dark haired girl who had been cast as Maria storm onto the stage, her hands balled up into fists as she waved around a pink piece of fabric. Archer noticed his fiancé stumble backwards, as if he wasnt sure how close the irritable girl was to him as her loud voice resonated around him. "Mr. Schuester, I cant work like this anymore!" She flung the slip of fabric down, stomping on it with her wedge heel. "This is the wrong shade of pink! Did you see Maria wear anything like this in the movie? No!"

"Rebecca, calm down." Schuester muttered, "Its just a dress for one number. We dont have the means to replicate the exact dresses that were worn. Were a high school in the middle of Lima, Ohio-"

Rebecca wiped at her teary eyes, "I try so hard... and for what? Nothing! I quit!"

Rebecca, who was a young, naïve sophomore, wobbled down the stage steps with her boyfriend trailing after her. Since he had been given the role of Tony, Archer assumed that he would also drop out. Beside of him, his pére clicked his tongue, "I knew a girl just like her when I was in school."

"Did you know her well?" Archer asked pityingly.

His pére shook his head, lowering his gaze back to his knitting, "Unfortunately." Despite how serious the situation, Archer couldnt help but smile at the most condemning thing his pére had ever said. "Oh, you wouldnt understand the half of it, Archer. I try to keep my chin up as best I can. But that girl... oh, she was a mean thing! She did anything she could to make your dad feel at his worst. I couldnt stand the way she treated him. Your Uncle Finn dated her for the longest time, and there was no news I was more relieved to hear than when he left her." He patted Archers thigh, "Im glad that youre humble, my love. It isnt good to be vain."

Archer wrapped his arms around his thin shoulders, "Poor Pére. How dreadful it must have been for you to deal with her. Youve never liked anything that isnt as it should be."

He let go of his pére when his fiancé came striding down the aisle, wiping droplets of water from his brow. "Schuester just let me know that he didnt have backups prepared for any of the roles. His glee club is too small for there to be many people willing to take center stage, and no one in the rest of the school wanted to have any part of it. The play is off." He turned a hot glare in the direction that the girl had run off, "Self-important bitch." He spat those last words, unaware of the presence of Archers pére.

Luckily, his pére had gotten used to foul words a long time ago, after hearing strings of them from his husband, so he didnt even blush. "Isnt there something that can be done? Cant two of the smaller roles double as the main roles? No one will notice if theyre simply taken from one of the dance numbers."

"Thats not the problem." Hunter muttered, his tone softening as he realized that his future in-law was in the vicinity. "Like I said, no one will bother themselves with taking the roles because theyre intimidated. I dont even know why I care this much."

"You spent a lot of time painting the backgrounds, dear." Archer reminded him, reaching out to take his hand.

"Yeah." Hunter rolled his eyes. "At least Ill get to stay in school. I served my time on this stupid play committee." Begrudgingly, he bent when Archer kicked at his knee with the tip of his shoe, and he let him slide his sweatshirt over his head. As he shrugged it into place, he turned at the sound of fast footsteps approaching.

Schuester moved in a flurry to get away from Archers cousin, Dillon, who galloped after him, "But, Mr. Schuester, I can pull off the role of Tony! Let me prove it to you! It cant hurt anything, can it? Without me, we wouldnt even have a play!"

"Thats enough, Dillon!" Schuester waved his hand at the belligerent boy, pushing him backward with a small gust of wind. "Whether with you or without you, we still wouldnt have a Maria. Besides, I told you at your first audition that I simply dont feel youre mature enough to handle a role like Tony. Youre simply not old enough. I would rather not have a play, than put one on thats a complete sham. As if we dont already look like big enough of a joke."

Archer flinched at the cutting words, but, to his surprise, his cousin stuck his hands on his hips. "My dads told me that I could make any role I took on. This is your loss, Mr. Schuester. We could have found someone to play Maria."

"Spoiled child." Hunter grumbled, wincing when Archer jabbed him in the side with a sharp elbow.

After Dillon slammed through the doors, Schuester dropped his head into his hands and rubbed at his temples, "What has the theatre come to? A bunch of kids who act like theyre always owed more solos, more roles, more scenes onstage. Why cant they just be grateful to have the talents that they do, and appreciate the number of applause theyre given? Its an insult to the stage when its actors and actresses become greedy. Ive always thought that it was about the characters, not the people playing them." He gave Archers pére a withered look, "Kurt, please tell me that theres hope still for France."

"I cant say so." His pére put in remorsefully, tugging at his skirts as his eyes glazed over. He must have been thinking back to a time that Archer couldnt remember. "Those were lessons my mom taught me when I was just a little boy. She told me that I should never become my character... that I should let my character become me. She reminded me each day to never take more than Ive been given, because Id only be disappointed if I expected more than I received. Sometimes just one gift is more than enough."

Schuester regretfully shook his head, "I dont understand whats gone wrong. With each year that goes by, I have fewer kids that were like you and more that were like Rachel..." after a moment, he added awkwardly, "to be blunt. I would even appreciate to get one kid thats like how Blaine was. He might have been on the quieter side, and didnt sing as much as he should have, but at least he became a helpful hand when things turned sour among the other members of the glee club." Abruptly, Schuesters brown eyes snapped between Hunter and Archer. Archer sank lower into his seat. "You two." He murmured, as if hed just had a moment of insight that could save his neck. "You two could play the roles-"

Archers head whipped around to Schuester, his hair slapping Hunters shoulder, "Oh, no, Mr. Schuester. I-I cant... I have-it wouldnt be-"

Schuester impatiently raised his brows at Hunter, who simply shrugged his shoulders, "I dont sing."

Archer felt his back prickle with annoyance when Schuester smirked in the direction of his pére, "Theyre not nearly as resistant as Blaine was. At least Blaine had good reasons."

Turning his head to the side, Archer listened to his pére laugh lightly. He patted Archers back, "Go on, my lovely. Go up to the stage with Hunter. You know all of the songs. Ill even lend you the dress that your grandma wore when she played Maria-"

Archers eyes opened wide, as his fiancé covered his snickers with his hand. "I am not wearing a dress! Why do I have to be Maria, anyway? What if I wanted to be Tony?" Picking up on the sounds of Hunters chuckles, he whirled back around to him and whacked the back of his head. "You be Maria!"

Hunter rubbed the sore spot on his head, "Maybe you should be Tony. You hit like he does." Stretching his legs out like a cat, he slowly raised himself up, "But Im going to be Tony, and Im going to give you two reasons, little one." He pinched Archers chin in his fingers, making him screw his face up. "I can swear like a thug on stage without making your dad cry, and you dont want to see all of this in a dress." He motioned to himself, making Archer titter as he imagined his lanky fiancé stretching the seams of whatever poor dress he was stuffed into. "I dont have the butt for it, and my shoulders are too broad. So, youll be Maria. Deal?"

"Fine." Archer huffed. "But Im still not wearing a dress."

A twisted smirk spread onto Hunters face, and he leaned down for a quick kiss, "But youd be so cute, especially with a little bow on your head."

Archer narrowed his eyes at Hunter, and then they became round once more when his pére let out an excited squeal, "Oh, thats a fantastic idea! Ive always wanted to doll you up. When Im finished with you, youll be gleaming."

"Damn." Archer whispered, standing up after Hunter and following him down the aisle. When they were far enough from his pére, he punched him in his stomach. A satisfied feeling settled inside of him when Hunter folded over himself, coughing out air. "Just remember that, you ass. Ill always have the body of Maria, but I have the fists of Tony, too."

"Point taken." Hunter wheezed, hooking his arm over Archers shoulder to give himself support as he straightened up. "Youd better get that temper checked up on, little lady. Maria knew her manners."

"Maria was feisty." Archer argued, "And Tony was tough enough to not collapse under the punch of a girl. I think youre losing your touch, Hunter." Hunter muttered to the side about losing something else, to which Archer retorted, "If they were to ever redo the play, I would hope that its Maria who kills Tony. Shes very smart, you know, and she shouldnt tolerate an ignorant man like him-"

"Again with the death threats!" Hunter flung his head back.

Archer playfully wrapped his fingers around Hunters neck, "If I get a hold of the gun from Chino, they wont have to be threats anymore!"

Hunter laughed and pushed Archers hands away. Cupping Archers round cheeks, he smiled down at him, "Why did I ever want to marry a boy who wants to kill me?"

Archer stretched onto his toes, "My dearest, you know I would never go through with it. I like your kisses too much." A gruff sound rumbled from Hunters throat as their lips met, teasing at each other but never interlocking. Suddenly, a high pitched screech broke out of Archer as he was tipped downward, his foot popping up in his automatic reaction to catch his balance. Slinging his arms around Hunters neck, Archer stared up at his fiancés face, which glimmered under the bright lights. He shook with deep giggles, closing his eyes at the warmth of Hunters mouth.

"Im practicing for the dancing sequence." Hunter informed him, pushing a stray lock of hair out of his face. "You broke character with that scream of yours. Tone it down, or else youll never make it onto the big screen."

"Is that really what you think I want to do? I can barely stand on the stage at my high school."

Hunter grinned from ear to ear, kissing the tip of Archers nose. "Im enjoying it."

"Im not." Archer said darkly. His nails dug into Hunters back when he tipped him farther back, "Im going to fall! Are you crazy? Lift me up right now."

"I like it when you fall for me." Had Archer been standing upright, he would have hit Hunter for a cheeky remark like that. But then he couldnt remember what had him so flustered because Hunter nuzzled at his lips, parting them with his tongue. His minty breath fanned over Archers flushing face, "And, yes... I am crazy. So crazy, Archer. Youre in love with a madman."

Archers hair scraped the floor as Hunter lowered him even farther, and he could feel the blood rushing to his head. He moved his lips sluggishly over Hunters, "Im in love with a madman." He repeated weakly, blaming his dizziness for his lack of eloquence. "Mm... I dont want a sane man. Im perfectly fine with your insanity."

"Good. Thats the only way youre going to get me." Archer laughed into Hunters mouth at those last words, his blue eyes reopening and finding Hunters face hovering over his, the edges of it glowing. Hunter had never seen his own smile, and Archer felt a moment of sorrow for him, since he knew that there were few things more beautiful and carefree. With his brown hair tousled over his forehead and the smile creased onto his lips and the tip of his nose scrunched, Hunter looked like a wild boy, who wasnt burdened by a sick dad. It was then that Archer had a jarring moment when he realized that he was the thing that had put that expression on his face. The thought made Archer smile lovingly, his lips sealing over Hunters even more ardently than before.