Lee seemed to think that Tarin was wrong about when the song had come out. It absolutely could have been the case, but Tarin very distinctly remembered the song playing in a stuffy classroom in his middle school.

Lee said that the song had come out in ‘97 and Tarin nodded, ”Yeah, tha-“

But Lee was still talking and working her way through things in her head. She continued to speak and Tarin leaned back a bit crossing his arms until she was done speaking.

Lee was making assumptions based on what she knew about the Tarin on this side of the rift…who had apparently been quite a bit older. Interesting. Lee almost never did that, so it was almost funny to Tarin that she was doing it now.

”I was born on May 4th, 1985 Lee. So in 1997, I was absolutely in middle school.” he said.

Tarin was leaning back with his arms crossed as though he was simply waiting for her to finish speaking. But he had been the one, on multiple occasions, to say that he knew very little about music. And sure, Lee didn’t know exactly when the band’s first studio album had come out, so she couldn’t exactly do the math, but if it hadn’t been when Tarin was in middle school, it had to be grade 9 at the latest, right?

But when Lee finished speaking, Tarin started.

Telling her when he was born.

In May.

Of 1985.

That…That was not even close. Not even remotely close to March 14th. Not even in the same decade.

Except…

Except that other than the name and the powers, there really was not much else about the two men that was the same. ”Oh my god…” Lee whispered. ”It didn’t even occur to me that you wouldn’t have the same birthday. I’m sorry.”

This meant that Tarin was actually younger than her. Not that it really mattered.

”Wait,” Lee said a moment later, her voice sharper and louder than it had been. ”Your birthday was last month, you were living here on your birthday, and you didn’t say anything??”

”Oh my god…It didn’t even occur to me that you wouldn’t have the same birthday. I’m sorry.”

”It’s okay.” he said, uncrossing his arms and waving off the apology. “Through this whole thing you’ve been the only one who hasn’t constantly assumed things about me based on what they knew about yo- the Tarin from here so I can definitely let it slide.”

Then Lee seemed to realize something and when she started talking Tarin realized that he had definitely made a mistake.

For a moment Tarin just sat there, staring at Lee and then he shrugged as nonchalantly as possible.

”It’s just another day Lee.” he said a bit uncomfortably, ”And it felt weird to just announce the fact…plus, that was a great day anyway.”

Lee had tried not to assume anything about Tarin based on what she had learned over the years about Kevin’s father. She hadn’t always been successful, but she had definitely tried. It had gotten easier not to do the better that Lee had gotten to know Tarin.

At least Tarin didn’t seem upset by it. Just…Somewhere between annoyed and entertained by how she had gone on?

And then Tarin was trying to brush off his birthday as not important. ”I used to do that too,” Lee pointed out, her voice more gentle now. ”Pretend it didn’t matter. And when you’re on your own, birthdays and holidays really are just another day.

“But Tarin, they really are different when you’ve got people who care about you. And you do, even if Rachel doesn’t know you and only cares because you make me happy…”

It was only then that the reason May 4th had sounded familiar despite the surprise she had felt. That had been Kevin’s guys day. ”Robert punched you on your birthday?”

Tarin literally could not remember the last time he had celebrated his birthday. Surely it had been before he’d left home, but he couldn’t remember anything specific about the day or the celebration or anything about it.

Lee was pointing out that there were people who cared about him now and that birthdays were different when that was the case. At least she was honest when it came to Rachel. There was maybe one person who cared about him in this New York and she was sitting a few feet away on the couch. That was fine though.

”Well, I guess next year you’ll know.” he said, still not completely convinced that it was all that big of an idea.

Then Lee realized exactly what day it had been and Tarin rolled his eyes, ”I prefer to think of it as the day that you decided you were going to talk to Kevin.” he said, then grinned, ”We also went running together…got sandwiches….watched a game …I remember thinking it was a perfect day.” he said. ”Your brother’s weak right was the smallest part of the day.”

Next year she would know. That was true. She also knew now to attempt to make up for missing Tarin’s birthday this year, even though she hadn’t known when it was.

Though, as Tarin continued, Lee couldn’t help but smile. ”Most of that day was as close to perfect as it could have been, wasn’t it?” Lee asked softly. ”About the only thing that would have made that better is if we had been about to go out together at that point.”

That certainly would have made that already great, main part of the day even better. Being able to actually hold hands while they had been walking, to not have to watch to make sure they didn’t touch just in case someone saw them before she had been able to talk to Kevin.

”Well, I’m glad that your secret birthday wasn’t a complete disaster then.” No, it hadn’t been a disaster, Tarin said he thought it was a perfect day. But she had still missed his birthday and wanted to make that up to him somehow.

”Not a disaster at all,” Tarin agreed, ”Even something as mundane as a shower just seemed…better that day.” he said softly with a little grin in Lee’s direction. It really had been a rather excellent birthday.

Sure, going out together that day would have made things even better, and Robert not being a jerk…twice…would have helped too, but it had really been fine. Like he’d said, and Lee had corroborated, it had really just been another day.

A thought occurred to Tarin and he tilted his head slightly, ”Turnabout is FairPlay…when’s your birthday?”

Yes, the shower that day had been better. Though Lee wouldn’t exactly call it ‘mundane’. Not that shower. Just thinking about it, Lee bit her lip slightly with a smile. That was something taht they weren’t able to do much at all. Something taht Lee wished they were able to do much more of.

”Somehow,” Lee whispered. ”Even if the day had been a disaster, I think that shower might have changed your opinion.”

But now, after he had revealed his birthday more than a month after the fact, Tarin wanted to know her birthday? ”I don’t know…” Lee replied. For the most part she was joking here, but it did sort of seem fair. ”After this little fiasco with you not telling me about your birthday, I’m not sure you should get advanced notice this year.”

”Oh, I know it would have.” Tarin said with almost absolute certainty.

If they were going to do the whole birthday thing it was only fair that Lee share her birthday as well. Except it seemed like she was going to be cagey now. Like she was going to withhold the information in some sort of retaliation for his unitenteded secrecy about his own birthday.

”I didn’t intentionally hide it Lee…” Tarin said ”I just didn’t make a big deal out if it…besides.” he said with a slight smirk. ”If you don’t tell me, I’ll just ask Kevin…and if he doesn’t tell me, we both know that Rachel will…so you might as well just tell me yourself.” The problem with having a robust family that cared about you deeply was that they knew things, like your birthday, and would likely share it with someone if they said they were trying to do something special.

Tarin might actually win this one, he thought. It was a rare enough occurrence that it was even a little exciting.

Lee’s smile turned into a full grin as Tarin agreed with her shower comment.

They really need more of those…

And Lee knew that Tarin hadn’t intentionally hidden his birthday from her. She had felt similarly about her birthday at one point.

But taht also did not mean that Tarin had to go and play dirty, threatening to get the information from Rachel if she didn’t tell him.

Lee leaned back against the couch and just grumped for a few moments as she looked up at Tarin. Knowing her luck, if Tarin ended up resorting to asking Rachel when her birthday was, she would probably end up doing something ridiculous like trying to plan a surprise party for Lee.

Yeah…Lee really didn’t want any of that to happen.

Heaving a sigh, Lee rolled her eyes slightly. ”Fine…. December 20th.”

Tarin had known he was playing dirty when he’d said he could go to Rachel if Lee wasn’t willing to tell him her birthday. Tarin had also known that Lee wouldn’t like that he was strong-arming her into telling him. Lee could absolutely grump with the best of them though and only because he knew that she wasn’t seriously upset, Tarin found it a bit difficult to keep a straight face as she tried to work her way out of the situation.

It was really only a few moments before Lee relented and told him. December 20th.

”See. That wasn’t so hard, was it?” he said with a satisfied nod.

Leaning back against the couch, Tarin did some quick mental math. ”Six months should be long enough to figure out something good…” he mused, ”If you haven’t gotten sick of me by then.”

”I didn’t say it was difficult,” Lee replied, still grumping a bit. ”I just thought it would be fair to not tell you with so much advanced notice this year.”

Glancing down at her guitar for a moment before she stood up and moved to set her guitar on the stand. They kept getting distracted, and then Lee was simply sitting there holding the guitar.

”Nothing big,” Lee said as she turned to face Tarin again, crossing her arms as she looked at him. ”And don’t let Rachel do anything outrageous. I’m sure she’ll try again since I didn’t let her hold a big party for my 40th.”

Shaking her head, Lee walked back to the couch. But rather than sitting where she had been, or closer beside Tarin on the couch, Lee sat down on his lap, an arm around his neck. ”Really nothing big…”

”You have basically a whole year, so it’s totally fair.” Tarin said, willing to admit that maybe he should have said something about his birthday, but everything had still been really new at that point and it just hadn’t seemed right.

Then Lee was getting up and Tarin wondered for a minute if he really had messed up. Was she actually mad at him?

Maybe? Maybe not? She was crossing her arms over there and insisting on nothing outrageous or big for her birthday. God, was he going to have to go toe to toe with Rachel over something? Tarin nodded, ”Okay,” he said seriously, a big party really didn’t seem like a Lee sort of thing. It did seem like a Rachel sort of thing.

Maybe she wasn’t too upset with him though, Tarin decided when Lee chose his lap over the rest of the couch for seating. As she slid her arm around his neck, Tarin slid his around her waist, ”Nothing big.” he repeated, ”Promise. Even if I have to take my life into my hands and tell your sister no.” Because honestly, that’s what it would be.

Yes, Lee had basically an entire year. Until Tarin's next birthday. That still did nothing about this year's birthday.

But then Tarin was commenting on the risks he might have to take to ensure that Rachel didn't go overboard for her birthday. Lee grinned, then leaned in to give him a quick kiss. ”Thank you,” she said softly. And then just sat there looking into Tarin’s eyes for a few moments. At a height that was almost looking straight into his eyes, only slightly higher.

”If I had known about your birthday, is there anything you would have liked to have been different?”

”Thank me when I’ve been successful.” Tarin said remembering how easily he’d caved under Rachel’s pressure to take Lee to the bar for that open mic night. Sure, if he was honest with himself, the idea of taking Lee out had definitely not been something he was opposed to…but Rachel just tended to decide things were happening and expect everyone else to just make it happen.

It was a problem for later though, Tarin decided, turning his attention to far more enjoyable things. Like Lee, in his lap. She was looking him right in the eyes and he looked back, curious what was going on in her head.

She asked a question a moment later and Tarin just shook his head, while he thought, ”We’ve already established that it was essentially a perfect day. What would I have possibly have wanted to be different?”

Honestly, even if he tried really hard Tarin couldn’t think of a thing he’d have changed…maybe getting rid of Robert making Lee upset…but Tarin was not bringing him up again right now.

”No, I don’t think I’d have changed a thing.”