... There were a few knocks at the front door. "Who is it?" A voice from inside called out.

"I'll give ya' two guesses!" Someone called back.

The person inside immediately recognized it. "One sec, Bent," she said, then got up from her table before heading to the door. Opening it, she smiled friendlily toward the two reptiles standing at her door. "Heya, you two." "Hey, Sam!" Aster greeted back, widely smiling, although she immediately picked up on his awkward undertone. "What's the matter, As'? Bent teasing you again?" The reptile in question immediately blushed and flusteredly glanced toward the ground. "Why can't you two leave me alone..?" He murmured. Sam chuckled a bit but backed down soon after. "Well, you should see yourself during your manic episodes. You tease us so much that I feel like we're justified in giving you at least a little bit back," she stated with a smug grin. The blue reptile self-consciously rubbed at the cyan wrist band on his right wrist, signifying he wasn't having any episodes at the moment. "You know I can't help it, and I always apologize after, I'm really sorry..." "Hey, did I ever say I minded? I can take it, y'know. Anyway, come inside, I'm not gonna force you to stand here and take my s*** in the cold. At least it's warm inside." She headed back inside, prompting Benton to follow her inside. Eventually, Aster brought himself to head in as well, shutting and locking the door behind him with a sigh. "I guess it's just one of those days for me, huh..." "Yyyyep." Sam responded. "Can't you at least just call me by my real name, Aster? When you shorten it, it just sounds... Bad..." "We'll see about it, As'," Sam shrugged, and her statement was much to Aster's dismay. "... I'm guessing not?" "Nnnnope," Benton chimed in.

"... Figures..."

After the three settled into Sam's home, Aster sat down on the couch and quietly tapped away on his phone whilst Benton and Sam talked nearby. Even while in conversation, both were paying ample attention to Aster, and Sam eventually said, "hey, Benton, watch this," then began walking toward Aster. Partly confused but mostly curious, Benton kept his mouth shut and watched quietly. The blue reptile didn't notice her even when she got right up behind him, and she snatched his phone right out of his hands, understandably giving him quite the scare. "Come on, As', you came here to be with us, you can't just sit on your phone the whole time," she said, but Aster wasn't hearing it. "Give my phone back, please..." He asked, but instead, she smirked back, waving his phone out of his reach on the other side of the couch. "What's so interesting that you'd choose it over us, huh?" "Just give it back already," Aster stated with a more firm tone, and Sam began looking at the screen. "Let's take a looksee. Woooow, very interesting!" She was very, very obviously exaggerating her act, but Aster was too defensive to notice at that point, beginning to climb over to get to her. "Stop it, Sam! Give it back!" He demanded, dropping onto the floor and snatching his phone back, only to realize with great confusion that... The screen was off. Sam couldn't help but laugh at the whole ordeal and the look on Aster's face. "Chill, I didn't actually see anything, man," she reassured, and Aster merely huffed, shoving it into his pocket and deciding he'd just do what he was doing on it later. "Why do you bother me so much? I may tease you a lot, but at least I still have enough restraint not to mess with your personal belongings, even while I'm having a manic episode," he pointed out. "You may call me As' a lot, but maybe sometimes you're the real a** here." Sam's grin lessened slightly, and she replied with, "C'Mon, don't tell me you're actually that upset?" But all she earned for a response was Aster uncomfortably rubbing his arm and turning away.

Sam crossed her arms but decided not to retaliate. While it wasn't super uncommon for Aster to get upset like this, it still didn't happen too often. Sam got the feeling he might've been doing more than just playing around on his phone. Benton, who had wordlessly watched the whole thing, stood from his chair and walked over to the pair.

"Alright, alright, let's not kill the mood here. This is a night for all of us to hang out together and enjoy ourselves! We don't get to have these very often, so let's have fun while we can. Besides, who knows if I'll be able to convince my wife to ever come here again? You know how she is," he joked with a wink, and it definitely worked on Sam, who stifled a snort.

However, Aster's ears drooped as he slowly felt like he was the problem there. He decided he shouldn't be so immature as to get mad over what happened. It was just a joke, right? She didn't see anything, so it didn't matter... Right? His feelings just got out of hand... Again...

Aster smiled a bit, turning back to face the others. "Yeah... Sorry. I just... Sorry. I shouldn't have lashed out..." "Nah, it's fine," Sam responded, seeming completely unbothered. That convinced Aster enough that he should just drop it and let it go. "Still... I mean- Anyway," he moved on, "what did you feel like doing for the rest of tonight?" "I dunno, maybe watch a movie or something?" Sam shrugged indifferently, and Benton just nodded in agreement. "Okay, but I'm not picking. You can put on whatever you want," Aster said, and Sam moved to her shelf. "Right-o," she said before picking a DVD from it, heading over to the TV. Aster sat down at the edge of the couch, Benton deciding to sit in the middle as Sam inserted the DVD. Since it was the last spot - and the best spot in her opinion - she sat on the couch corner, laying her legs out on the empty space and immediately losing herself in the TV screen. Aster was already too busy picking at his cyan bracelet to even notice what movie it was, but Benton nudged him with an elbow, giving him a meaningful glance. Aster merely gave a small smile, meeting his eyes for a second before beginning to play with his other, bisexual-flag-colored bracelet instead. Deciding not to bring it up with Sam around, Benton quietly sighed before sinking into the couch and staring at the screen.

For Sam, watching the movie was pretty enjoyable.

For Benton, he was too busy thinking about what was wrong with Aster to really pay attention.

As for Aster, he was too lost in thought to be aware of his surroundings.

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