And now here they were, pulling into the parking lot of a two story restaurant with hanging lights strung from every surface possible, with the backdrop of the full moon in the background, Aphmau's nerves lit up like a low flame. It felt as if the night was turning into something else entirely.

"Here we are." Aaron opened her door and offered his hand, his back silhouetted by the backdrop of the moon and his eyes catching the light perfectly so that they seemed to glimmer with a golden light.

Aphmau felt her breath leave her, frozen into staring at him and what seemed to be a perfect moment. It seemed to last forever, until he took her hand, pulled her out of the car, and the moment was over.

"You alright?" He asked, an eyebrow raised and a small grin on his face.

"Uh... yeah! I'm fine! Just a bit cold." She lied through her teeth and tried to rein in the frantic butterflies in her chest. Which was made difficult when he didn't let go of her hand.

"Let's get inside then." He smiled gently and lead her inside by the hand. He had to be doing this on purpose, he had to feel the vibes of this entire situation, right?

But those thoughts were pushed back with the cold when he pushed open the glass door to the restaurant, it was covered nearly entirely in red drapery with carpet to match, suddenly, she felt slightly underdressed.

"Ah, Mr. Lycan I presume?" The waiter at the front podium asked politely, wearing a clean and pressed black vest and hair slicked back with enough hair gel to groom a lion.

"What gave it away?" Aaron smirked slightly, he was still awkward around strangers, but formal conversation never seemed to effect him as bad.

"You are our final reservation for the day, follow me please." He lead them to a table on the second floor, overlooking the street below decorated in dancing lights.

The creeping feeling settled in again, the situation feeling far too intimate for a pair of best freinds. Somehow everything seemed to be going perfectly wrong, in the best way.

"What will be your drinks for this evening?" The waiter asked, looking between them both as if trying to figure them out.

"White Russian, and a water as well." Aaron quickly answered, leaving Aphmau shell-shocked when it was very quickly her turn.

"Erm.." Should she drink too? I mean, somebody had to drive, and while a White Russian wasn't the most alcoholic of drinks, and Aaron could most certainly hold his liquor quite well, she didn't want him drinking and driving.

On the other hand, not drinking at this point felt strange, and maybe a few gulps of wine would calm her surging nerves.

"If you have any white wine that would be great, water as well." The waiter nodded and left them menus, before waltzing off downstairs.

"Didn't expect you to drink as well, thought you'd be opposed to drinking and driving." Aaron commented, glancing over the inflated menu.

"I mean, that's why we got water right? and it's just one drink."

Aaron only nodded and began to glance over the menu, seemingly finished with the conversation for now.

Aphmau was relived the attention was off her, and was anxious for the wine to calm her nerves, unlike Aaron she didn't hold alcohol well, so one glass of the stuff was enough to loosen her up adequately enough.

"Are you okay? You've gone green." Aaron was gazing at her now, leaning over the table to close the distance. His fingers hovering over hers almost as if he was asking for permission to hold her hand.

"I-I yeah, I'm fine, I just-"

"Think this feels too much like a date?" He finished for her, a sarcastic grin plastered on his face, he covered her hand in his own.

"Did you... do this on purpose?!" Aphmau replied in a seething whisper, her flustered nerves turning into white-hot rage.

"No! But you have to admit, the mood is perfect right now." He winked at her, causing her blood pressure to shoot through the roof, the audacity of this man!

"Aaron I swear to Irene." She raised her voice slightly, at the very least her nerves had transformed into exasperation and that was far more manageable.

"What? I'm not the one who was lovingly staring into my eyes getting out of the car." Aphmau felt her cheeks explode with heat, and she stammered.

"I d-don't know what you're talking about!" So he had noticed, which somehow sent even more color to her face until she resembled the lobsters in the aquarium downstairs.

"Uh-Huh, sure." He chuckled as she uselessly opened her mouth to retaliate even though only silence come out, she pouted, leading him to laugh louder.

"Your drinks." The waiter returned, setting both their drinks down in front of them and taking out a clipboard to take their order.

"A steak please, rare." Aaron didn't miss a beat, taking a long sip of his White Russian with a smug grin.

"The shrimp plate please." Aphmau responded to to waiter politely, giving Aaron the side eye as she took a sip of wine.

The waiter nodded and took their menu, feeling the growing tension in the room and leaving rather quickly.

In a strange way, this completely removed the romantic undertones and instead replaced the tone with an air of spite, and competition.

In a flash, the wine was gone and so was Aaron's White Russian, and while Aaron was steady on his feet and already downing the water, Aphmau felt the whole world was twice as funny and her spite was quickly melting.

"You're such a lightweight." Aaron commented, looking at Aphmau's slightly flushed face, and unsteady gaze.

"I am not! I'm not drunk!" Aphmau pouted, crossing her arms like a child and huff audibly.

"No but you are tipsy, What I had was about triple the content and I'm not even close to being your level." He chuckled as she swayed a little, taking a gulp of water.

"I'll sober up before we get in the car!" She protested, even though a tipsy giggle bubbled up from underneath the protest, spoiling the point.

"Your food sir, madam." The waiter sat their food down in front of them, and with a quick thank you they both began to clean their plates.

Now that her thoughts were influenced by wine, any emotion or thought was about half the speed but double the intensity, so the butterflies she'd tried hard to repress all day had not only multiplied, but gotten heavier and much harder to ignore. The idea that the wine would distract her thoughts was poor in hindsight.

Despite their return to sarcastic bickering, once the relative silence of feasting began, her thoughts were bouncing between how damn good these shrimp were and how damn fine her best freind looked.

She was slightly relived her face was already red from the wine, otherwise it would be painfully obvious to the man in front of her, although he was buried into his steak like it was his last meal.

Finally, they finished, but Aphmau was nowhere near sober, everything was funny, nothing was out of bounds, and the hanging lights outside were slowly but surely giving her a headache, but she couldn't remember why she'd been nervous, so hey, a positive.

"Well, this was definitely worth the trip, don't you think?" Aaron asked, seemingly through with his teasing for now, although that may have been because Aphmau was on the precipice of being too tipsy to function.

"Mmhm, I had fun tonight." She found herself batting her eyelashes at him as she said it, which in the back of her mind felt wrong, but didn't stop herself.

The action however, didn't go unnoticed, Aaron, for the first time since forever, blushed rather deeply, seemingly at a loss for words.

"I think you had a little too much to drink." He chuckled, as if he was laughing away his slight embarrassment, and waved down the waiter for the bill.

"I'm not anymore tipsy than when I stopped drinking?" It was supposed to be a statement but it came out as a question, making Aaron shake his head.

"You're not anymore sober either, come on, let's get back to the hotel." He gripped her hand and handed the waiter his card, Aphmau absent-mindedly laced their fingers together like it was the most normal thing in the world.

"You're probably right, I shouldn't have drank on an empty stomach." She admitted, leaning slightly into his shoulder, he looked away, hiding his face.

"It's alright, you'll be fine by the time we get back to the hotel." They stood there, connected loosely like a young couple, Aphmau near snuggling into him without realizing and Aaron trying hard not to let anyone know it was getting to him.

Yes, he'd teased her, yes he made wildly inappropriate jokes to get a rise out of her and get her flustered, but this felt different, it felt intimate, it really did feel like a date.

After too long, the waiter came back with his card and a smile, wished them well, and they were out the door, and heading into the car. Aphmau released him and curled up into the passenger seat, patting the drivers seat with a grin.

Better, she isn't being as touchy.

He thought to himself, not that he exactly minded her touch, but it was easier to push back the static shocks when she wasn't actively causing them.

He knew she'd be like this, she'd always been a lightweight, even in college, and while she'd never been blackout drunk, she'd always been more touchy when her inhibitions were lowered.

The drive home was relatively silent, mostly due to the sleep tugging at both their eyelids, but Aaron couldn't help but steal glances over to the passenger seat, watching the street lights dancing over her skin and the light it brought out in her eyes.

He thought he was getting away with it, but as he was pulling into the hotel parking lot he stole a last glance, only to make eye contact with her.

She smirked, looking a fair bit more steady than when they'd left.

"Who's looking at who lovingly now?" She teased, making him blush for the second time that day, his teasing was coming back to bite him, and he didn't really enjoy it.

"I'm just making sure you're getting sober." He tried to explain, but all he got was a smug smile, he looked away, knowing he was caught staring.

"Come on, I'm just teasing." He sighed in relief, following her into the elevator and up into their room, where sleep began to slow them both down.

"I think it's time to hit the hay." Aaron murmured, stretching out as he yawned, watching Aphmau as she rummaged in her luggage for her pajamas.

"Yeah, let me change." She replied sleepily, slinking away into the bathroom and throwing the door behind her.

Aaron stripped to his boxers, not giving half a thought to the day ahead nor the day that had passed and yawned, absent-mindedly opening the slightly ajar bathroom door to brush his teeth.

Aphmau whipped around, shirtless with a toothbrush in her mouth, there was a solid three seconds before she screamed and rocketed towards the shower to cover herself.

"Aaron!? Get out!" She yelled, and his feet moved before the rest of his brain could catch up, he slammed the door behind him before resting his back against it.

There was a long silence, his heart pounding out of his chest as memories flooded back into his brain, memories from high school, from college, from moments in their past he tried hard not to think about.

"S-sorry!" He shouted through the shut door, trying to rein in his infernal brain from the trip down memory lane.

Aphmau didn't reply, but he really couldn't blame her. His face was flushed as the image of her in front of him made his guts jump to his chest. He stepped away from the door gently, jumping into bed and turning the lights low without another word.

It kept dancing in his head, he turned over to block out the intrusion to no avail, he squeezed his eyes shut, only to find it burned to the inside of his retinas.

Shit He thought to himself This is never going to leave my mind.

Then the bathroom door creaked open hesitantly, and Aaron took a glance at her from under the blanket, dressed in black sweatpants and a tank-top, with a face as red as a Christmas ornament.

He decided against apologizing again, and just laid still as she tucked into bed beside him, she laid as far as she could from him and curled into a ball, leaving him feeling rather cold.

He didn't expect them to cuddle, but in a weird way he felt more alone with her that far away than if she just wasn't in the bed at all, he pushed the thought out of his head, and slowly drifted off to sleep.