Aru hated to admit it, but they were lost. She and Aiden stood in front of a dilapidated building, peering into the open doorway and eye-balling the spiders that were scuttling across the walls and floor.

Backtracking to how they got there, their friend group, who called themselves the Potatoes for no apparent reason other than 'Brynne said so', went to the annual carnival that was hosted every year in Atlanta.

It had everything from flash mobs to rides to junk food. Naturally, Aru dragged them all there, fighting tooth and nail to haul their stupid butts to the damn place. Aiden was the only one who easily agreed to come.

While walking parallel to thousands of stalls and treading the dirt-packed road, the couple had gotten distracted. Aiden started taking photos of everything and Aru stared in awe at the ginormous fuzzy panda that was hanging on a nail in one of the prize booths. When she snapped out of it, she realized everyone was gone.

She had quickly tugged on Aiden's elbow and told them their predicament.

"I'm afraid we have just been abandoned by our so-called 'friends'."

They both decided to wander around, trying to find the others in spots the Potatoes would most likely be at. But perhaps they had gotten carried away again, because moments later they halted at the door of the haunted house that was at the edge of where the festival was held.

Also, she and Aiden were holding hands again when she was fairly certain they weren't before.

And that is how they got up to this point. Aru looked thoughtfully at the house, then at Aiden. He saw it and tried to back away but couldn't because of the fact that they were still holding hands, and apparently, he didn't want to let go.

".... I'm afraid to ask, but what?" She grinned.

"I have an idea."

"Oh no." He groaned.

"You haven't even heard it!" Aru protested.

"Please, since when are your ideas good-?." She clamped her hand over his mouth, muffling the rest of his sentence.

"Just hear me out. What if we go through the haunted house and whoever screams first loses and has to give the winner a gift? It can be anything, as long as it's nice and the other will like it."

"But-"

"Chicken?"

"Never." Aiden huffed. "Alright let's do this. Prepare to lose, idiot."

Aru smirked. "You wish, nerd." They signed their names on the clipboard hanging near the entrance and entered the dark hall.

To say the least, it was really hard. Eerie music floated through the corridors, and there were six of them. At random intervals, realistic monsters would pop out.

The actors who were playing them stood awkwardly, however, when neither victim looked terrified, before walking away. Then they both would continue as if nothing happened, but that was a lie. Aiden was shaking slightly and Aru was gritting her teeth.

In the third part, things really started to get scary. They got chased by murderers, Bloody Mary, the government, you name it. The duo was just leaving the fifth hall when one of them finally screamed.

They had just escaped Pennywise and Aru was full-on shaking by then. She despised clowns with every inch of her body. Both of them were running at top speed, glancing back every two seconds to make sure they weren't being followed. Aiden was not looking too good, but was much better off than her.

Why couldn't he have the clown phobia? Aru thought grouchily, glaring at his stupid, beautiful face.

Pennywise was still a bit in the distance so both of them didn't expect it when a corpse hanging from a noose dropped down from the ceiling. Aru stuffed her fist into her mouth and bit down hard. But Aiden wasn't fast enough.

He screamed and jerked away, instantly falling down. Distantly Aru thought how unfair it was that his voice still sounded pretty even while shrieking at the top of his lungs.

Once the dead body was pulled back through the ceiling tile, Aru helped Aiden up. He sighed.

"I suppose you win."

"Yeah," She smirked at having another victory over him. "Let's finally get out of here."

Once again, they were standing in a daze outside of the haunted house, but this time they were facing the other way.

"Um, could you close your eyes?" Aiden looked a bit nervous, fidgeting with Shadowfax's strap. Aru gazed around and spotted a weeping willow with fairy lights dangling from each branch, deciding that was the perfect place to finally rest her legs.

She walked over and sat down, with her back pressed against the tree's trunk, before reciting something Hira had taught her.

"I think this tree is very appropriate, you know?" Aru grinned. "It means mourning and loss. And you are right now grieving over having lost to me!" Aiden's mouth twisted into what he tried to play off as a grimace, but was definitely a pout.

He quickly covered Aru's eyes with his palms, probably to hide his sulking. "No peaking, and I am not!." She laughed, but shrugged her shoulders in agreement, closing her eyes.

She heard the sound of his footsteps fade and waited in the leftover silence. She hadn't realized how lonely it was when he wasn't by her side, hand ready to hold hers.

To use up the time placed in her hands, Aru amused herself by blowing away the leaves that landed on her face and shaking out the ones that fell on her hair.

She also didn't notice how tired she was until her butt hit the ground and was tiring quickly. She had just started to doze off when she heard someone whisper her name.

"Shah?" Before Aru could jump up, firm hands held her steady on the ground. "It's me, don't open them yet." She crossed her arms but uncrossed them as Aiden entwined their hands together.

"What took you so long?" He went silent for a moment.

"Would you believe that I am terrible at aiming?"

"What-?" A warm hand cupped her cheek, dislodging a few leaves in her hair, his other softly squeezing their already clasped hands. Lips pressed against her own gently. The scent of clean laundry and cooking spices wrapped around her.

Aiden Acharya was kissing her.

It was only for a second, but it seemed much longer. Her eyes flew open as he pulled away.

"Was that-" He breathed out. "Was that okay?" Aru probably looked just as stunned as him but couldn't stop a smile nonetheless.

"Yeah. Yeah, it was great." They both hesitated, before connecting and pressing against each other again, Aiden going back to his original position.

Aru panicked, unsure what to do with her free hand this time, but instinct took over and she slipped it into his hair, tangling in his soft curls. They didn't break apart as fast this time.

After pulling away, they just sat under the willow tree together, not really saying anything. Their hands were still woven together and resting on Aiden's leg. Aru wasn't sure about him, but that was her first kiss.

Lame, she knew, but it was just that she had never really liked anyone romantically before and even questioned herself if she was aro-spec. That all changed when she met Aiden and suddenly she was a high schooler in love. And they had only started dating a couple of weeks ago.

After a few minutes of trying hard not to randomly smile out of nowhere, Aru nudged Aiden and broke the silence.

"What were you saying before? About the aim thing."

"Oh," He looked flustered. "I didn't want to take any chances with the kiss, so just in case you hated it or felt uncomfortable, I was going to use the prize I won at the Ring Toss booth to apologize or bribe you into forgetting it ever happened."

"Where is it now?"

Aiden went behind the tree and came out with a giant stuffed animal. The panda she had been eyeing before they got lost. Aru's eyes lit up and Aiden sighed.

"I'm guessing I won't be able to keep this then?"

"Nope!" She said cheerfully, before adding, "But we can share."

"I'll take what I can get."

"Next time, I'll win you a prize Wifey." Aiden scoffed.

"No way!"

"Who's gonna stop me?"

"Then I'll win you more prizes than you can win for me."

"Are you challenging me?"

"I don't know am I?"

"Are you?"

"Yes, and I believe I will absolutely leave you in the dust."

"You wish."

"Prepare to be overwhelmed with tons of stuffed animals, Shah."

"I'll overwhelm you first." Both of them jogged off, Aru gatekeeping the panda the entire time, and played as many games as they could before being found and dragged away by the rest of the Potatoes.

Bonus: Aiden finally won and shoved all his stuffed animals at Aru with a well-deserved smirk on his face. Aru did the same but was still kinda grumpy about losing.