Hey everyone! Long time no see!

So, I was immensely surprised at how many of you went to my other stories when this fic took a little vacation. Wow, I'm so touched! You all are so sweet and wonderful, I just adore all of you!

We have a lot of people to address, so look to the end of the chapter for your responses! I'll try to get to everyone without taking up too much space!

NOTE: THERE IS AN ARCHIE/MAY THREE-SHOT ON MY PROFILE NOW! ALL OF YOU WHO ARE SHIPPING ARCHIE/MAY, CHECK IT OUT! :D

And now, I present to you: The Archie/May Date!

Enjoy!

Chapter Thirteen: Touché

The day of May's date—her first date, she had realized, which made the butterflies in her stomach feel more like miniature jackhammers—she could think of nothing other than what she was going to wear, how she was going to act, whether or not it would be awkward, was he maybe, possibly insane to even like her like that, oh god what was she going to do?

Bouts of low self-esteem and near-panic attacks aside, though, she was incredibly excited. She had decided rather arbitrarily over night that she really liked Archie. No, he wasn't her type in the way that he had immediately caught her eye, but she was starting to believe that maybe the personality aspect was more important to her. Never having had a relationship before, or at least not a real, adult one like she would possibly have with Archie—and was she maybe getting ahead of herself here? Fuck it, she was allowed to indulge in girly flaws occasionally!—made this so much more monumental for her.

In the end, she found herself calling Brendan for help, not for a moment remembering that he was a guy and had no experience with the girl's end of a date. He'd had a few girlfriends in high school, but they all inevitably ended with the same deal breaker: a girl by the name of May Andrews. Those poor adolescent girls couldn't manage having a boyfriend that also had a female best friend who he wasn't willing to abandon just because they wanted him to. That hadn't meant it was any easier on Brendan, as one of the girlfriends he had truly had some deep feelings for, but he never had held it against her or May.

"I don't know what to wear!" May babbled into the phone. "He's thirty-one, so he wouldn't want anything cutesy, because I don't want to stress the fact that I'm thirteen years younger than him and make him lose interest." She easily recalled with some shame the 'daddy' conversation she'd had with him. "But I also still want to be myself, you know? He obviously likes me for my personality so I have to accentuate that and play on my strengths and be who I am because that's the most important part in a relationship but I've never been in a relationship before so I don't know how to act and I know I should be myself but if I'm myself I probably won't want to move too fast and what if he wants to kiss me at the end and I've never kissed before and I might suck and do I really want my first kiss to be with him and god, I'm such a bad person for thinking that about the man I'm about to go on a date with but it's really that I just don't want to embarrass myself and-"

"MAY! Calm the fuck down!" Brendan all but shouted.

She giggled almost hysterically. "You sounded just like him for a minute there." Of course, it wasn't meant to last. "What the hell am I going to do?"

"Well," Brendan started, "you had a few things right just before you went off into psychoville." May scowled at him, but he couldn't see, not that it would have deterred him. "Just be natural. If you try to be someone you're not, it sounds like this guy won't take it too well. If he's a smart guy, he's already aware of the age difference and doesn't care, so just forget about that. I mean, probably don't wear your Hello Kitty hoodie-" May scoffed at him while simultaneously reddening—she should probably get rid of that, it didn't fit anyways "-and just dress tastefully. Wear, I don't know, black. That's always a safe color."

"Black?" May repeated contemplatively. "Yeah, but I'd look weird in only black. Maybe a little bit of color…" She swiftly dove into her closet's contents in order to find the article of clothing she was picturing.

"Yeah, black, I guess. And-and-FUCK. I'm a guy! This is not my job!"

"I know," May sighed dismally. "You don't know how many times I've wished you were gay before. Actually, I'm wishing it right now."

"HEY! You can't-"

"Here it is!" May exclaimed as she fished out the shirt she was looking for. Paired with the pencil skirt she had chosen as a prospective part of her outfit, she would look fantastic. "Okay, gotta go! Thanks, Bren-Bren!"

"You wish I was gay and now Bren-Bren? You really are losing your-"

"Love you! Bye!" She interrupted him succinctly and then hung up. He would have to forgive her later—she now only had fifteen minutes to get ready, which normally wouldn't be an issue, but this was her first date ever!

May quickly dressed herself, slipped on the soft black boots that would go perfectly with her outfit, and then proceeded to put on extra makeup while still being tasteful about it. After her eyes were lined with a thin layer of black, her eyelashes lengthened and flared out with mascara, and had touched up her lips with some light pink lip gloss, she took in her appearance in the mirror and nodded. Determined, she grabbed her purse and was just about to sit down when there was a knock on the door.

Her first reaction was to freeze like a deer in the headlights, but after that one painful moment of genuine panic, she resolutely took a deep breath, smoothed out her white blouse with black accents and calmly answered the door.

Archie had looked like he was about to say something snarky, but when he saw her, he froze. It was only for a singular moment that he seemed to drink in her appearance, but it was enough to make May turn bright red and in turn look at him.

It relieved her on an incredible level that it looked like he had put some effort into his appearance; he wasn't wearing his customary blue bandana, instead letting his messy cropped brown hair reign free. He had trimmed his beard and evened out its shape, too, which combined with the messiness of his hair was enough to change his look altogether. May decided that she really liked him without the bandana—a lot more. He was wearing a navy blue button-up that seemed stretched almost painfully over his pectorals and biceps, truly accentuating just how muscular he was. The casual black slacks he wore didn't really seem his style, but it looked perfectly fine on him, honestly. For the first time, May realized what the term 'epitome of masculinity' actually entailed. His appearance appealed to something primal in her—just seeing him like this made heat pool in her abdomen.

"Wow."

And then the moment was over.

"Wow, yourself," May said teasingly, although the effect was probably ruined by her bright blush. Archie just shrugged as she closed and locked the door behind her.

"I have to say, 'I'll pick you up' is a pretty fuckin' loose term," Archie said casually as they began to walk towards the subway. "I literally had to walk about ten feet from my front door to yours."

May laughed. "If either of us had a car, it would be a whole other level of awkward."

Archie turned and regarded her with a smirk. "Who said I didn't have a car?"

This took her by surprise. "But-but last time-wouldn't it have been faster with a car?"

"Really?" He raised a skeptical eyebrow. "Jeez, sometimes I forget that you haven't lived here all that long. It usually takes longer to drive places than just walking or taking the subway. Whole fuckin' Boston area's that way."

It was then that May remembered that Wally's Aunt Veronica had said pretty much the same thing. "Huh." She blushed for an entirely different reason then. "Does that mean we're driving?"

Archie crossed his arms behind his head, resting his neck as he leaned back into them. Without his bandana, it occurred to May that he looked a lot like a surfer boy in that position. "Of course. I may be a little rough around the edges, but I know better than to fuck up a date by taking the T."

T means subway, May reminded herself. "I guess so," she said. "I don't know why it never occurred to me that you'd have a car, though. You don't really seem like the type for some reason."

Archie shrugged. "I don't really use it, honestly. Gas is expensive and I enjoy the exercise-"

"Not that you need it," May complimented subtly.

"-but it's always nice to have something to impress the ladies with," he finished, winking at her.

May was pretty sure that she would be permanently blushing throughout this date.

When they approached the car, May almost gasped. There, in front of her, was a bright red '57 Chevy. It had been maintained impeccably throughout the years and was probably worth more than she was at this point.

At her flabbergasted expression, Archie chuckled. "Told you it'd impress the ladies."

May glared at Archie for a moment before smacking him lightly on the bicep. It kind of sucked that she had to reach up to actually hit him there. "If you drive that out, I'm going to be fending women off left and right. Is that even fair?"

Archie boomed a laugh and unlocked her door before opening it to let her in, something she found to be a surprisingly gentlemanly gesture. She grinned at him and slipped in.

When he had gotten in and started the car, he answered her. "Don't worry. I'm a one-woman kinda guy." He didn't give her a particularly meaningful look, but he did maintain eye contact. May smiled at him softly before looking out the window as he pulled out of the parking space and then onto the road.

"I'm glad you know where we're going, because I have no idea," May admitted as Archie seamlessly switched lanes.

"Cambridge ain't hard to understand once you've been here a while. You only moved up here, what, a month ago?"

"Just about," May agreed.

"You ever lived anywhere else before Littleroot?" he asked after a moment of concentrating on driving.

Conversation flowed easily from there. Archie showed genuine interest in getting to know her. Not that they hadn't gotten to know each other already, but it was in a different context this time and May decided that she really liked this aspect of the date. As it turned out, she also got to learn a lot about Archie.

It turned out that Archie had come from generally poor origins, growing up in the slums of Brooklyn—although, surprisingly, he didn't have an accent to reflect that upbringing. He had graduated high school, though, which relieved May a little because her parents would blow a gasket if she was dating a high school dropout, no matter how well he was doing for himself now. After that, he had taken to traveling the world, working as a crewman for cargo ships, the occasional cruise, and other exploits of the sea. May personally was excited about this because he knew so much about the sea and sailing, which she would be doing a lot of after she graduated. He had even worked for a fisherman in Alaska for a short period of time.

By the time they got to the topic of what he did now for work, they had already arrived at the restaurant and been seated. May ordered herself a lemonade while he ordered a beer, but it was as though the waiter wasn't even there for all that the conversation was interrupted.

"So, I know you probably can't answer this, but are you like some sort of…secret agent or something? FBI was my guess, but I wasn't sure." May honestly couldn't think of him doing anything else with all that she knew about him.

Archie promptly choked on his beer. Thumping his chest with his fist, he slowly regained composure—he was rather hindered by the fact that he was laughing so hard he was turning red. May was red for another reason: embarrassment.

"Well, I didn't know what else to think!" she exclaimed. "In my defense, not many people would recognize a-" she stopped herself at the last minute, knowing that bringing up a bomb so shortly after the explosion at Dawes Island Park was an unwise decision. "…well, you know. And, I don't know, it just made sense…"

"Sorry, babe, but that's probably the last thing I'd ever do. I'm all for the life of danger, but working for our beloved government is something I wouldn't sink to even if I was faced with a fucking death sentence." Archie started to laugh again, but at May's questioning look, he stopped and then suddenly looked uncomfortable.

"Well? What do you do?"

He floundered for a split second before saying, "Mostly under-the-table work. It's not the most glamorous of existences, but it gets the bills paid."

May wasn't sure how to feel about this admission, but she decided it could be worse. How it could be worse, she wasn't sure, but he did seem well off enough, and as long as he wasn't breaking the law, she wasn't going to object. In the end, she shrugged and changed the subject.

Dinner went on peaceably after that. The conversation about his work was the only thing that really put a blip on her radar, but it wasn't enough to ruin her date. In the end, Archie covered their bill—which was nothing to sneeze at—and May decided she didn't care what he did for work. As long as he wasn't a criminal, she truly had no problem with it.

They drove back and were still talking up until the point he walked her up to her door.

"I had a really nice time," she said, blushing. She was both terrified and desperately hoping that he would kiss her. She just couldn't die of heart failure before then.

"Hah, I'm glad you did. I'd like to take you out again, if you don't mind." He was smiling gently at her, looking at her as if she was the most beautiful thing on the planet, and it made her feel giddy.

"I'd like that," she said. And then he was leaning down and she closed her eyes, waiting for that magical moment…

And then he pecked her on the cheek and pulled back with a mischievous grin. Her eyes snapped open and she glared at him, suddenly realizing she had made a fool of herself.

"You jerk!" she snapped, crossing her arms and pouting.

"Gotta keep you comin' back for more," he said, not looking at all remorseful. Winking at her, he turned to leave.

May decided she wasn't going to let him win like that. He might be older, but he wasn't going to have the upper hand.

"Hey, hold on a minute," she said as casually as possible.

He turned around, looking at her questioningly.

"No hug?" May said innocently, holding out her arms.

Archie laughed and let her hug him, and then, just as they were pulling away, she caught his lips for a long moment. The moment their lips touched his arms made to hold her to him, making it clear that he actually had nothing against the idea of kissing her—and possibly wanted to do more—but she slipped out from under his grasp.

"Gotta keep you coming back for more," she said by way of explanation, throwing his words back in his face. When Archie realized that he'd been played, he laughed amiably.

"Touché, my dear."

"Good night," she said genuinely, all games over. He nodded and her and returned to sentiment before heading inside to his apartment with a long, lingering look just as the door was closing.

May entered her own home and touched her fingers to her lips, which were tingling from the grizzle of his beard and the electric spark she'd felt when their mouths had touched.

As far as first kisses went, May decided she hadn't done too bad.

So, I had the original Chapter 13 written a while ago, but it didn't have my heart in it, and I really wanted this chapter to be awesome. So, was it awesome? Even you people who aren't shipping Archie/May, let me know how I did!

First of all, thank you to all who reviewed: Dreamtraveler1313, Hallelujah It's Food, Lady Deviance, DayDreamerKnight, GleamingCoral, Guest1, lightxhope2124, shipping, Shadow's Interceptor, suzukeii, Rifts, Bloodywings90, EclipseKuran, MizukixTsukiyomi, korras, Porphyritic, DragonkynNatKiasu, Kaica, hahalolsmileyface, Princess Mononoke 503, Akatsupure, Hieroglyphic, Kaz, Pikas, ZeroBunny, MissQuiet, statickandy, TrueIchiro, EnigmaZZ, Okeanos-heart, Smiling Loki, and L Van Am!

Review response time! Whew, we might be here a while. You wonderful people...

GleamingCoral: Wow, it is an honor to hear you say that! Thank you so much!

lightxhope2124: Multiple endings are a possibility. I'm not sure about it yet, I need to get further along with the story, but it's a possibility!

suzukeii: Oh dear! I hope your mother is doing okay! And no, it was not intentional, but that's a secret! From here on out, IT WAS INTENTIONAL! :D

korras: Well, there's your Brendan! I hope you enjoyed him! And I'm so glad you've decided to review - it's so nice to hear from my readers!

DragonkynNatKiasu: Rayquaza is a thought in the making. I already know what it will be, but I'm going to let you keep guessing whether or not there will be Rayquaza and what it will be if I decide to include it. ;) No spoilers! And, my favorite Bug-type? Probably Scizor. I can't help it - Scizor's a badass. No two ways about it!

Kaica: Yes, 'scary why' is pretty much the perfect description of what May's feeling for Maxie right now. Kudos to your descriptive abilities!

Felicity Dream: I COMMAND YOU TO TELL ME HOW THE ARCHIE/MAY DATE WENT! I'm genuinely curious. And thank you so much for your concern, it was very kind of you. :) Hearts!

Princess Mononoke 503: Like I said to Felicity Dream, thank you for your concern. I'm doing okay, I've been through a bit of a rough patch recently, but I'm a survivor and always will be. And yes, I believe I'm friends with anyone who wants to be on FFN! You all are great!

Smiling Loki: God, you don't even know how tempting it is to have a dog!Absol. Wow. That never even occurred to me...Damnit! Curse you for tempting me! D:

And to all you amazing people, MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR! I know we're far past all that, but thank you for the well-wishes. I hope to be updating more now - I'm having a rough time of things recently, but I swear that I will try not to let it affect my updates.

Also: FOR THOSE OF YOU SHIPPING ARCHIE/MAY, CHECK OUT THE THREE-SHOT ON MY PROFILE!

Now...attack me with reviews!

Cheers and love!