The movie was around an hour long, and when it finally began rolling the credits, Sam stood up, walking over to the DVD player with a considerably loud, "welp, that was fun." Aster was admittedly a bit startled, getting pulled out of his thoughts as his attention snapped toward Sam. "U-Uh, yeah, it was-!" He smiled again. "But uh, it's only eleven PM, would we wanna split now, orrr..?" He asked, earning a chuckle from her. "What, you wanna sleepover or somethin'?" Aster shrugged. "Would you?" "... Honestly, maybe you two could spend the night," she decided, but Benton decided to cut in. "But I should head home soon, I don't wanna keep her waiting or anything..." "But isn't she like, asleep?" Sam asked, immediately knowing "her" meant "my wife", and Benton sighed. "Yeah, but I don't wanna come home too late..." Sam couldn't help but tease at least a little. "Alright, wifey boy, any other problems you got cuz of your wife, or that it?" Benton just stared. "... Alrighty then, whatcha think, As'?" Sam turned toward Aster, catching him off guard. It took a second for him to think of an answer. "U-Uh... Coin toss..?" "Really? You wanna put the fate of our night together on a coin toss?" "It was just a suggestion..." He murmured, glancing away. Sam couldn't help but smile. "Alright, alright, whatever. You two can leave if you want. I probably should catch up on some work I've been meaning to do..." She murmured, earning a nod from the other two. "I'll walk Aster home," Benton offered, and Aster began to protest. "Oh, n-no, that's fine, I'm fine wal-" "No, really. I want to." Benton cut him off, and he just sighed, not saying anything else. "Good luck, love birds," Sam teased one last time before disappearing down a hall. Aster didn't even blink at the tease, and he also didn't react when Benton took his hand, leading him out the door. After closing it, Benton turned to Aster. "Let's talk a little on the way home," he asked, and Aster didn't protest as they walked off.

After they were a street away from Sam's house, Benton finally decided to just stop and bring up what was on his mind. "You've fallen into a depressive episode, haven't you?" "Wh-What? No, I haven't, it's just that I-" "Aster." Benton interrupted. "I want you to stop, think for fifteen seconds, and then try again." It didn't even take five for Aster to sigh and admit it. "I was hoping to at least make it home and just tell you over text... I didn't want to tell you in person... I'm sorry..." "Well, that might be fine with Sam, but not with me. I want you to tell me as soon as you feel anything, okay?" Aster only nodded, staring down. "It started when you asked me about Maple earlier, right? What Sam did only sped up the process with the stress of taking your phone, right?" Another nod. "And I know what you were thinking about during that movie, too. Part of it, at least. I just wanted you to know that I really don't mind. As long as it's just teasing, there are no hard feelings... But I shouldn't have gone as far as I did before. If you were really uncomfortable, you should've told me." "No!" Aster piped up, then calmed down again. "N-No, it's not that... It wasn't that... I didn't... You..." Unable to put his feelings into words, he just sighed. "I'm sorry..." "Don't be. It isn't your fault, okay? Let's get you home. You can think on it and tell me later, alright?" Benton earned another nod. "Alright, good. Let's go, Aster." He offered a hand to his friend, but the blue reptile seemed hesitant to take it. "Really, Aster. I don't mind," Benton reassured, and Aster reached out to take his hand, but he froze. Seeing this, Benton decided to go the rest of the way and envelop Aster's hand again as he walked off. As Aster followed, he didn't know how to feel about that at first. Although, as he got lost in his thoughts again, he felt worse and worse. He flicked to autopilot, just following Benton as he dragged him along, but didn't do much else but think.

It didn't feel that long to Aster when they got to his house, but at the same time, it felt like forever. Noticing his apartment door, he finally pulled himself out of his head, turning to Benton with a small smile. "Thanks..." Benton warmly smiled back. "Of course, any time, Aster." "I... I guess I'll see you tomorrow..?" "Well, maybe," Benton said, "but I'll definitely text you, okay?" Aster nodded. "A-Alright. Bye, Benton," he said as he used the key he had to open the apartment door. "Bye, Aster." As Benton walked off, Aster headed inside, locking the door behind him. He pulled his hoodie over his head, yanking the drawstrings as tight as they could be to conceal as much as he could. Aster made a beeline to the elevator but tried not to draw too much attention to himself.

Although, it was to no avail.

"Hello, Aster! You feeling okay?"

Freezing in his tracks, Aster slowly spun around to face the front desk attendant. "O-Oh, uh..." He murmured. "Yeah, y-yeah, I'm fine! Just a bit tired, I think I, uh, I'm just gonna head to bed..." He half-lied. "Ah, alright!" The attendant seemed not to doubt him. "Rest well!" She wished him with a wave as he pressed the elevator call button. Thankfully, it was already on that floor. As he went inside, he turned and waved back. "Thanks, I-I will..!" And the doors shut. Aster sighed. "Sometimes I just can't..." He murmured to nobody in particular, then pushed the button to his floor. He longed for the elevator to finally arrive, and when it did, he didn't waste time rushing into his room. Quickly unlocking the door with his key and locking it behind him, Aster slowly sank to the floor.

"... At least nobody can see me right now. No one would want to, anyway... I deserve to be alone anyway." He muttered, glancing around at his apartment room which seemed to have never felt more empty. Aster lived alone. Forcing himself to stand, he made his way to his bedroom. Not feeling like even changing out of his clothes, Aster bundled himself in his bedsheets like a caterpillar would do with a cocoon, and then he slowly drifted off to sleep with nothing but himself and his depressive thoughts to keep him company.

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