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Pretty eyes. Those pretty eyes of his. How they were glossed over and there was a shine to them. How was he supposed to say no?
“What do you think?” Aventurine asked again, not sure if Boothill had heard him the first time.
Oh, he heard him alright. Pretty eyes and an angelic voice. He was defeated every time.
“Ghosts ain’t real.” he finally responded. He did not have a dismissive tone, it was more factually stated. It went right over Aventurine’s head.
“It’ll be fun, in any case. I promise!”
He handed the pamphlet to Boothill and turned. Before he could retort again, Aventurine waved him off. “I’ll pick you up tomorrow night, so be ready!”
Letting out a heavy sigh, Boothill begrudgingly looked at the pamphlet. It was an advertisement for a special event tomorrow at Fyxestroll Garden on the Luofu. Boothill had heard rumors it was notorious for being haunted, so he assumed that’s what Aventurine was hinting at when he first mentioned it. The event was for…couples…to walk around the garden together and explore the sights with a potential to meet some ghouls if you were lucky. It was to take place at night and would last several hours until the couple reached the end of the garden. He thought for a moment about two things: that ghosts didn’t exist (the sightings were most likely people’s minds playing tricks on them) and the fact that this event was specifically for “couples.” A single gulp.
Was this their first official…date?
Suddenly, he became nervous but fought it back as much as he could. He tried to focus on his former point more. He was absolutely sure there were no ghosts. But his partner seemed very interested, so it was hard to say no. He figured he would give it a shot, for his partner’s sake. That look he had given him was a force to be reckoned with.
He had much difficulty trying not to worry too much about the latter point.
–
It was 8pm when they made it to the gardens. It was always dark, but at night it was even more of a scary adventure, allegedly.
“I brought some gadgets we can try out too, if necessary.” Aventurine had a small pack with him that he gestured to. Boothill was focused on the entrance.
“I…don’t really know what you’re expecting here.”
Aventurine studied him for a moment before a small, reassuring smile appeared on his lips. “I expect you to enjoy yourself.”
Immediately, Boothill looked in the other direction, away from his partner. He was already feeling red. If it was going to be like this as soon as they got there, he wasn’t going to last the night.
“I meant that ghosts ain’t real. So really, you just wanted a garden da-” he stopped. He bit his tongue. He cursed himself in the only way he knew how - with a bunch of censored expletives.
Then he heard the sound of a chuckle and felt his partner’s warm body press against his arm.
“You are…so cute.” Aventurine said slowly as he then wrapped their arms together. “Shall we start?”
All he could do was nod and pulled his hat down with his free hand.
–
Perhaps an hour had passed, but neither of them were paying attention to this. They were quieter than usual. Maybe deep down Boothill wanted something to happen and that is why he was silent. He was not expecting anything, so it came as a surprise when he saw a shadow out of the corner of his eye.
“Wha-” he started and was only on edge for a millisecond. Aventurine looked up at him, curiously. A mischievous smile.
“What’s up?” he asked the brave and strong android man.
“Nothing, forget it.” Immediately dismissive, Boothill cursed himself for reacting outwardly. He was sure it was only because he was feeling so on edge that his eyes were playing tricks on him. It had nothing to do with ghosts.
While Boothill was distracted in his own head, Aventurine kept his eyes on him to study his expression. Boothill did not appear to be having as much fun as Aventurine had hoped yet. This called for a test.
Aventurine let go off his partner and reached into the small bag he had brought with them. “I’m going to try and talk to them. Want to watch?”
Boothill cocked his head a bit, much like a puppy. “Them?”
“To see if we have any friends with us.”
A shrug in response, but he agreed to at least watch nonetheless.
Aventurine turned on the Spirit Box he brought with them. It supposedly ran through a ton of radio channels and ghosts are able to manipulate this into forming words or full sentences to communicate with the living.
At first, he tried a few basic questions, such as “Is anyone here with us?” or “What’s your name?”, but there came no response.
After a while of silence on the Box, Boothill spoke up.
“Nothing’s gonna hap-”
Who are you?
Neither of them reacted.
“Are you playing with me? Why’d you ask something you should definitely know?!”
“That wasn’t me.” Aventurine replied, nonchalant.
Boothill nervously let out a short laugh. “Oh, right, like I’m gonna believe that.”
A ranger…and…a gemstone.
“Stop doing that.” Boothill was slightly annoyed at this point.
Aventurine completely ignored him. “Ooh, am I the ‘gemstone’? Thank you~” His eyes lit up and he went on.
“Is there just one of you here or do I have an audience?”
Immediately, came a One.
Boothill hadn’t even realized he had gotten so close to Aventurine until he felt his warmth. When did that happen? The position he was in was as if he were cowering…What made matters worse was that even though he became self-aware of this, he did not move an inch.
“Do you want to say hi?” Aventurine was enjoying this too much.
“Fudge no!” came his quick and bothered reply. He was pushed up against Aventurine’s back, however, watching what would unfold intently. The image was comparable to that of a child watching someone do a magic trick.
“My name is Aventurine and this is Boothill.” Aventurine went on. “Do you have a name?”
“You just lied to it!” Boothill whisper-screamed.
I do not.
Aventurine grew a concerned look on his face. “Now, now, that won’t do. You greeted yourself pleasantly, so you at least need a name.”
“Stop indulging it…It’ll…attach to you and follow you home, or something!”
Aventurine almost burst out laughing. “For someone who says ghosts don’t exist, you sure sound like you know a lot about them!”
“No, I just…….watch TV.”
“Uh-huh. What do you think, Mr. G?”
Boothill nearly recoiled into himself with agitation. “How do you know it’s a mister and why is that it’s name?!”
“Oh, you have a better name in mind?”
“I don’t want to be involved!”
Boothill continued to cower behind Aventurine with both his hands gripped on Aventurine’s arms as if he were a human shield.
Ranger is funny, the voice said.
Aventurine nodded even though this ‘ghost’ couldn’t see him, so he spoke.
“He’s very entertaining.”
Thank you.
“Huh?” the two asked in unison. However, there was no response.
Waiting another minute or two, there was still no answer.
“I guess he left…”
Boothill slowly left his position from behind Aventurine. The coast seemed to be clear, for now.
“It’s because of the dumb name you gave it.”
–
Later, the two came to the center of the garden with no further events taking place since earlier. Aventurine grew a bit restless. He had so many questions and he was enjoying Boothill’s reactions.
There were shelves of books at the center and they decided to take a quick break there.
“Are you hungry?” Aventurine asked his partner who was wandering around the area. He wasn’t sure if he was antsy as well. If he was, he wondered if it was because he had questions too.
“Nah, go ahead.”
Aventurine took out a granola bar and started to eat away at it. He leaned up against a table as he did. To his right, he heard shuffling and then the sound of something falling. He had turned his head in the direction of the sound, so he caught a glimpse of what fell. Boothill, on the other hand, had not. In response, he jumped about 50 feet in the air and started to pull his gun out of the holster.
“WHAT THE FORK?!”
When he only saw Aventurine standing there, he changed his tune and tried to compose himself.
“You’re fudging with me, aren’t you?”
His partner did not respond as he was walking over to the fallen item. It turned out to be a book from the shelf. He picked it up and the book opened in his hand, purposefully.
Boothill made his way over to him, leaving his gun in its safe spot in the holster. He peered over his partner’s shoulder. “What’cha got?”
“I picked it up and it opened to this page…” Aventurine was speaking slowly as he studied the page. He seemed deeply confused.
“And?”
“All the words are blacked-out, except this one.”
Boothill studied the page too, which was easy to do because it was just as Aventurine said.
The word was “kiss.”
The hair stood up on Boothill’s neck. This was surely a joke. He instantly became silent.
“Wonder why.” Aventurine spoke up again. When he turned his head to see Boothill, he realized he had retreated. This caused him to place the book back on the shelf and fully turn to see where his date went. As it turned out, he was not far away, but he appeared greatly agitated.
“What’s wrong?” Aventurine called out.
“You’re forkin’ with me. I was really careful not to come across that way, but you clearly see right through me. I should have known…You’re really smart, after all.”
Aventurine blinked. “...Thank you for the compliment, but what are you talking about?”
Boothill gestured wildly, flailing. “Come on. ‘Kiss’? You weren’t supposed to know I’ve been thinking about it all night.”
The blond grew quiet. A very blank stare on his face. Usually he was very quick and understood people’s emotions, but for some reason this one caught him off guard. It took him too long to process, the gears turning rapidly in his head.
“...you’ve been wanting to kiss me. All night.”
Boothill hissed like an angry cat. “YOU DON’T HAVE TO SAY IT OUT LOUD.”
To the android’s complete and utter shock, Aventurine’s cheeks reddened. Very slightly, but definitely apparent.
“Oh.” the blond whispered. Mostly to himself in the sense that he was so involved with hunting ghosts that he failed to realize the other’s feelings. He felt a bit ashamed, yet honored at the same time.
Alternatively, Boothill was in stark contrast in the fact that he was redder than a tomato. He hid his face again by looking away and once again lowering his hat.
Sensing incorrectly that Aventurine may be rejecting him, he started to backtrack.
“Ah, don’t worry about it. Forget I said anythi-”
Soft.
Softer than he could have ever imagined.
Aventurine had cut him off with a kiss. He had been so quick about it too. He was a good distance away just a second ago.
Fireworks went off in Boothill’s head. Completely mesmerized, he happily returned the kiss. Aventurine wrapped his arms around Boothill’s shoulders and continued.
“Aggressive…” Boothill thought to himself.
At first he felt like he was floating on the river of eternity, yet at the same time, once Aventurine parted their lips, it felt like the fantasy ended in the blink of an eye. He had to compose himself after as it had taken his breath away.
“You know…” Aventurine speaking cut the silence in half and snapped Boothill right back to reality. The blond paused, avoiding eye contact and contemplating his word choice. He looked embarrassed. “You don’t have to…wait for me. You can kiss me whenever you want.”
Boothill looked hopelessly confused like there was a light on but nobody was home. He just stared at his lover who had just stolen a kiss.
“...You don’t need my permission.”
“...ever?”
“Yeah.”
“Oh, okay.” Boothill actually smiled to himself. Aventurine saw this and his eyes started to sparkle again. How was this android man so generally aggressive yet such a gentleman when it came to his romance? Was Aventurine making him soft?
Before he could think much else about it, he felt something wrap around his waist and soon enough he was pulled up against this taller man. Boothill was still smiling.
“Wh-” Aventurine started, but did not finish.
A sweet, gentle kiss. This time with Boothill as the ‘aggressor.’ How could something so sweet and gentle come from this man? Aventurine was glad he was holding on to him as he feared he may just float away otherwise.
The two enveloped each other like blankets and disappeared into their own little world as they kissed. So much so that they failed to notice the heliobi nearby snickering to itself…
–
Unfortunately, the date had to come to an end. They did not keep track of how long they were in the garden, and quite frankly, did not care. All they knew was that it was very late, perhaps even early morning. A guard met them at the exit.
“Did you enjoy the garden?” the guard asked as they approached.
“I have to say,” Boothill said, “I wasn’t expecting much, and I still don’t believe in ghosts, but…that was pretty fun.” He gestured and smiled at his lover next to him.
Aventurine playfully punched his arm, a light dusting of pink returning to his cheeks once more.
They parted ways from the guard and after a distance, Boothill spoke up again.
“I still don’t believe you know.”
Aventurine smirked at him. “Even after all that?”
“Nah.”
“As I recall, you were behind me when the first ghost talked to us. But you still deny?”
“Nah, that was a fluke thing. Your radio is junk.”
This made him laugh. He could tell he wasn’t being serious. It made him happy that he had a good time. “Hahaha, I suppose you’re right…I’ll just have to take you out again and see.”
It was Boothill’s turn for the red to return to his cheeks. However, he smirked despite this betrayal of his own body.
“Okay, but no guests next time. Just us. Alright?”
A warm smile. “Of course.”