Just finished this! 🤩 This is an Aaron x Dan (Romance / Friendshipping) oneshot, requested by @buddieisafool. Very sorry for the long wait, I had a lot of appointments and things on my schedule earlier! 😞 I hope that it's good! 👍🙏

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The main road through Hayesville had always been very dark at night, but tonight ... it seemed even darker. And full of menace too ... strangely? Maybe it was the trees lining the road?

Or something else!

Aaron mentally shrugged, with a tiny shiver. He quickly dismissed it from his mind, not wanting to dwell on it. Aaron then leaned back in his seat as he glanced out of the car window at the ominous woods outside.

He and his friends were all off on a little trip to a certain restaurant, just out of town. Willy's Wonderland. Aaron shuddered at the very mental images the restaurant's title conjured up.

It was an unspoken taboo to mention its name in town; and even thinking the name made him feel like a frightened child. For very good reasons! His parents had told him tales about the startlingly-real monsters that lurked in the restaurant, and sometimes prowled around in the woods.

Killer animatronics possessed by serial killers ... who'd already committed terrible atrocities BEFORE transferring themselves into the robots. He'd never actually seen the monsters themselves, but the very real fear in his parent's eyes made him believe that there was something that scared them stiff!

Hopefully when they got back afterwards, his parents would be proud of him for what they were going to do this night. Aaron and his friends were off to destroy the restaurant, burn it down ... and its resident monsters too!

Sort of the equivalent of one of those new adventure games that just came out!

Smiling, the teenage boy turned around to look at his friends, next to him in the car. Dan smiled back at him. Bobby and Kathy ... eww. Aaron grimaced as he tried to inch away from the passionately kissing couple.

Who HAPPENED to be sitting right next to him. Just his luck.

"Do you guys have to do that in here?" he muttered. Aaron's kissing friends, of course, took no notice of his complaints. Dan, who was sitting on the other side of Bobby and Kathy, merely chuckled.

"You know those two are a thing, Aaron! They've had a crush on each other since high school!" he said. Aaron just rolled his eyes.

"If only this car had curtains in the back!" he said, sighing. And earmuffs too! he thought. Aaron then felt around in his jacket pockets for any sticks of gum, but found none. The tall teenage boy sighed again, and gave up.

Dan rolled his eyes. Aaron had always been a little bit sensitive around this sort of thing, especially in public. Much more than SOME of the others at any rate!

"Hey! I'm betting that Chris wouldn't mind doing that stuff though ... especially with you-know-who!" the shorter boy said, jerking his head at Liv and Chris who were in the front seats.

Liv was in the driver's seat, Chris in the seat next to her. Aaron and Dan couldn't see Chris's expression, but they could make a pretty good guess! Dan smirked.

"Probably putting on his 'adoring puppy face' expression for Liv?" he suggested. "Hoping that she'll take the bait!" Aaron nodded, shaking his head a little.

"Probably. Poor guy", he said, sighing. The whole group knew about the possibly one-sided romantic relationship between Liv and Chris.

"Liv's so caught up in planning to destroy that darned Wonderland restaurant, that she hasn't noticed his affections." Dan nodded, agreeing with his taller friend.

"Yeah. That's the most ironic thing, being as they've been in school together since primary. Chris seem to think that he's Liv's knight-in-shining-armour!" the shorter boy said, chuckling. Aaron smiled a wry smile at that.

"Well, she'll need all the protection where she's going! So will we!" he said. The taller teenager boy's face then clouded over and he stared down at his hands, fidgeting slightly. Dan frowned, confused at his friend's sudden change of mood.

"Hey, man? What's wrong?" he asked. Aaron sighed, and glanced over at Dan with a serious expression.

"I don't know, man ... is what we're doing really a good idea? Think about it! We're going to burn down a restaurant with demonic robots inside; but what if something goes wrong? What if the demons get out or something? I can't help but think that Liv's rushing the plan a bit?" he said.

Liv was one of their best friends, but she DID have a bit of a reckless side. It was true! Dan knew it, just as much as Aaron did ... but the shorter boy tried to comfort and reassure his friend.

"There, there, Aaron, it'll be all right", Dan said, smiling at his taller friend. "The plan will work, I'm sure of it! We won't actually go inside the restaurant, and when we get back to town ... we'll be greeted as heroes! Can you imagine that?"

Aaron grinned, buoyed by Dan's optimism.

"Like knights in shining armour?" he suggested. He received a friendly poke in the ribs from the aforementioned boy.

"Yeah, yeah, very funny, Sir Aaron! But sure!" Another thought suddenly occurred to Dan. "Do you think our parents will be proud of us?" he asked.

"Yep! Concerned, but proud!" The two boys then high-fived each other, as much as they could.

Bobby and Kathy were still kissing ... though how ANYONE would kiss this long was BEYOND the two boys' belief and knowledge. Aaron sighed, but this time: in good humour.

"Thanks for having my back again, Dan. For always having it, many years back!"

"Thank YOU for having mine too, Aaron!"

Dan then leaned back in his seat, smiling. He turned and winked at Aaron.

"No matter what happens tonight, Dan ... we'll always look out for each other. Us and the others. Good friends, having good times ... just livin' the good life!"

Aaron chuckled and nodded. He looked around the car at his various friends. They were a team; a team that no one would ever take down!

"Yeah ... just livin' the good life!" Aaron agreed with Dan.

Vote and comment if you like it! 👍