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"Wanna know something I just realized, Augustus?"
I'm in Matt's house right now, sitting on his bed, his head lying on my lap.
"Mhm?"
He looks at me to make eye contact. "We've never really been on a date before."
"What?" I question, a little louder than intended. "Yeah we have! We do all the time."
"We never call it dates, though, do we?"
I look off and consider. Every time I've asked him out, every time he asked me out... We called it 'going somewhere.' 'Hanging out.' 'Doing something.' 'Messing around.' Dang, didn't realize...
"I guess I just... Always assumed they were dates."
"I mean, they kinda are, but kinda aren't. I dunno, I've been thinkin' about that."
"You're the one who said you'd rather be normal."
"Yeah, months ago."
We laugh together. The day we got together, he told me that he sort of wanted to stay how we were as friends, but with a couple extra things. When I asked him what exactly he meant, he said 'every now and again I'll do something romantic.' I have a feeling that the romantic part might increase gradually overtime due to the fact he keeps trying to flirt with me...
He's bad at it most of the time. He probably gets it from a book of pickup lines or something. He gives me so much second-hand embarassment... But I love him, so I get over it.
"Gus? Are we gonna, like, do something and actually call it a date this time? It'd technically be our first official one."
"Hmm..." I mumble. What could we do that we haven't already?
Oh! I got it!
We've always had a mutual interest for humans and their cultures. There was always so much to learn and discover, and I got to explore all of that when I went there.
Eugh, when I went there...
Not the happiest I could've been, since I didn't know if I could ever go back. I missed my home. My dad. Matt. A lot more things.
Anyway...
"How about the human realm?"
"The human realm?"
"Yeah! We've both always had a mutual interest for humanity. There's a working portal now. You haven't been there. I should take you!"
He laughs. Titan, I love hearing his laugh more than he'd ever know.
"Yeah. That sounds fun. But, uh... where would we even go? You said when humans go on dates they don't usually mess around in an abandoned magical graveyard or anything."
"Yeah! Something new! And if we have fun, it can be in our rotation of hang outs-slash-dates?"
"Our first official date. In the human realm. Pfft, sounds silly."
"But we're meant to be silly."
He laughs again. "Fair."
I run a hand through his hair repeatedly as I see his 'thinking face.' What he's pondering, I never know.
"Where do humans usually go on dates?"
"They do things similar to the day market sometimes, I think. Or to an amusement park, or to get food."
"W-wait- Human food? Can we digest any of it?"
"Some of it. I personally think that there's some witches on the loose or something secretly making food witches and humans can digest. I tried looking into it, but always got banned from the establishment when my illusions break."
"Dang."
"Yeah."
"So, uh... Are we gonna, like, bring food from the isles, or are we gonna find somewhere you're not banned from?"
"Pfft. I'm only banned from, what, fifteen places? We can go like, anywhere. To a store, to a restaurant, I'll let you know what's digestible. I'm basically an expert."
"An expert at being stupid and cheesy."
"Says you!"
"My poor, sweet Augustus... I'm president."
"I've been to the human realm, unlike you!"
"Are we gonna change that, or what?"
Matt sits up to be next to me. "You know you wanna, Augustus."
There's that dumb tone again. The one where he tries to seem cool, but actually sounds stupid, but somehow ends up getting me flustered anyway, so I falter on my next thought.
"Well-Whuh... What was I gonna- Oh! Oh, yeah. Yeah, I should. We should, like, plan a time, though."
"Hm. Tomorrow at noon, maybe?"
"Okay, then. That sounds good, Matty."
He leans over, gives me a peck on the cheek, and leans his head on my shoulder.
"Tired?"
"A bit." He shrugs.
I put my arm around him. "Excited?"
"Yeah."
Matt and I have gone through the portal door, but he refuses to step into the road. Standing out in the rain is something no witch does, so seeing me standing outside in the pouring rain is probably freaking him out.
"Augustus!"
"Matt, it's human rain! It's okay! You've known this for years."
"Still scary." He mumbles. "Nobody likes being wet anyway."
"It's kinda relaxing."
"You're literally struggling to keep your eyes open and you slipped as soon as you stepped onto the road."
"And you weren't there to catch me. 'Cause you're a scaredy-cat."
"I am not! I'll have you know I was very brave during the collectors reign."
I step closer and hold my arms out, as to assure that I'd catch him if he trips. "C'mon, brick boy."
"Don't call me that." He states, but I can tell he's not totally against it, 'cause it made him giggle. "Just give me a sec."
He stands there for another few seconds before stepping out into the rain with me.
"Eugh... Titan, Gus, you didn't tell me it was gonna be this cold!"
"Boiling rain is- Y'know- Boiling, so it's gonna feel pretty cold compared to that."
"Whatever." He says, voice wavering from his shivers. "Wish we knew it'd rain."
"Let's try and get some shelter, then!" I shout, grabbing his hand and tugging him along with me. "There's places around we can hide under."
"Hide... From the rain." He says. It sounds like he's returned to his normal attitude, which is fantastic. I didn't want him to be scared the entire time.
"Yeah." I gasp shortly after. "Lightbulb! New idea! Humans dance in the rain sometimes."
"...Whuh?"
"Lemme twirl you."
"Augustus, that's dumb."
...
"Eh, whatever."
So, I do. We stumble, but clutch to each other, laughing. He scoffs when I proceed to drag him onto the sidewalk and lead him throughout the streets. He tries to speak every now and then, but the sentences almost always go unfinished or unheard because of the rain.
I mean, I can't lie, I'm doing my best to act all chill, but I'm feeling the same way Matt is right now.
It's then that we hear a crack of lightning and we both yelp, grabbing onto each other tightly.
And he laughs at me before loosening his grip and finally letting go of me. Pfft. Stupid human realm, making him let go. You suck.
He can barely speak from his stupid wheezing. "Oh, titan, Augustus, you jumped like- Like you were- You grabbed me like- HAHAHAHAHAHA!"
"Screw you, man, you literally squealed!"
"I did no such thing."
He shoves me playfully after I start laughing alongside him. Titan, every interaction with us two always ends up with a crazy amount of laughter. Maybe it's our way of expressing affection and love, or something cheesy like that? I think we just kind of don't know how to respond to affection from each other sometimes.
"Whatever. Let's go somewhere before we drown."
"Alright."
We begin to walk again. Not fast, but not slow. We want to get somewhere but we don't really want to slip and fall in the rain.
More thunder and lightning before I feel Matt grab my hand, tightly.
Uhh, thanks, thunder?
Whatever.
He eventually points out a convenience store and asks if we can get anything from there. If the snacks there are fine for us, or if they have something cool other than snacks.
We enter the store with the chime of the bell. The sweaters Matt and I wore to cover our ears are soaking wet and cold. I can tell how badly he wants to take his off.
The girl at the register seems tired. The place was probably filled with screaming teenagers before we got here, it's about that time of day.
...We're also fairly energetic teenagers. Magical, too, and if we forget that, she'll probably think she's hallucinating or something.... There's a good amount of pros and cons to that.
"What about the... Orange half circles? Are those edible?" He says, lifting up a bag of...
Cheetos. Ohhhh my titan.
"Matty, I know that you know what those are."
"Well I didn't know they were snacks, we always thought they were-" and he slaps his hand against his mouth, glancing to the employee. She doesn't seem to pay much attention to us, I guess.
"Yeah. They're snacks. And we always knew that. Right?"
"Right... Right. Yes, Augustus."
"Yeah. Those are fine for us."
His face flushes out of embarassment before he moves on.
He walks up to a 'slushy' machine. "This one kinda looks like- Uhhh... We have a different called one back home, right? Mushy, or something?"
"Read the thingy, Matty."
"Right. 'Cause we do that to know the names and prices of stuff."
"Yeah."
I can't lie, his excitement and indecisiveness is cute. I totally should've taken him to this realm sooner than this. I wish it was sunnier; we could explore so much more if it were. Plus, Matty looks overwhelmingly gorgeous in the sunlight. Especially his eyes, they practically sparkle in the sunlight. He glows in every way. It's the most beautiful sight. He's the most beautiful person. In a way, I want everyone to be able to see that beauty, but in another, sort of selfish way, I want to keep that beauty to myself and just bask in it. The look of him in those ways might feel a little too vulnerable and intimate between the two of us for just anybody to get the opportunity to see. It makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside. Gives me a nearly unbearable urge to just shower him with kisses.
Titan, I love him so much. More than he'll ever know. Probably more than I'll ever want to tell him.
...
(Please don't tell anyone I said all that, okay?)
Aaanyway...
"jal... Jala- peno, cheddar?"
"Matty, the J is silent."
"Ahhhh... Understood."
The person at the counter seems like she's a bit tired of Matt's obliviousness to human snacks and wants us to hurry up and leave. She's probably concluded that Matt has either been a recluse until five minutes ago, or is not a human.
"Augustus?"
"Mhm?"
"You're spacing out."
"...You're, like, really cute."
The girl at the counter sighs. Matt gives a short laugh. I stammer.
His face flushes. "I- Uh... Sorry. It's just, like- I can't- My bad, man." He manages.
"Is it really that strange to compliment my boyfriend?"
"Is it really that cute to run around a tiny store with you and ask about snacks?"
"Yeah... Admirable, how curious you seem about things I thought you already knew."
"Knew about some of these things, never knew I could eat most of 'em."
The cashier mumbles something I don't quite pick up, she must think two dumb fourteen-year-old boyfriends running around a convenience store talking like they're not even from earth is annoying.
She's not that wrong, I guess, we sound dumb right now. But I personally believe it's the good kind of dumb. The sweet kind. A romantic kind, even.
"What about this?" Matty says as he struggles to open a fridge, before grabbing a white can and inspecting it. "Says 'monster' on it, does that mean anything for us?"
"Energy drink."
"What's an energy drink?"
The girl at the counter groans.
"Something we can't drink. Trust me, we've tried. It's not good for us. For anyone, really. Luz told me-"
"I only live once, illusionist!"
Even though I'm protesting and obviously nervous about the fact he said 'illusionist,' Matt keeps the can away. He probably thinks it's funny that I'm worried about that.
"Get away from me! I can buy what I want!"
"Not when it'll make you sick-"
"Are y'all even real? Th'hell is an illusionist?" The girl says. Our heads whip towards her and Matt drops the monster can in surprise.
"Uh..." I begin. "We both have... Very specific allergies. We're totally allergic to, like, half the things in the store."
She scoffs. "None've my business anyway. Just get something and go."
We look at each other and laugh nervously before I lean back away from Matt, before he goes and finds two bags of Cheetos for the two of us, rings them up with the human cash we've got, and drags me outside again.
"Matty, you're so bad at this." I laugh.
"Well, I've never been here before, have I?"
"Guess not."
We start walking again, hand-in-hand, trying to spot another place to go.
"Eugh." I mutter. "I wish the rain would go away."
"Keep wishing, Augustus. Maybe it'll come true." He says in that stupid, horrible, flirty tone he has. My face is too cold from the rain to tell if it even worked.
"Maybe, it is dying down, I can actually keep my eyes open now."
"Now you can see me better." He kisses me on the cheek.
"Romantic today, hey?"
"Just matching your energy."
I spot a park, just as the rain finally stops.
"Oh, dang."
Matt scoffs. "It worked. Who knew?"
"I wish everything wasn't wet. Maybe we could've-"
He grips onto my arm and races over to that park, dragging me along with him. Once we make it, he lets go of me, and rushes to a bench.
It's then that I see him stare. Stare at the bench, his dumb 'thinking face' put on once again. He glances to me, smirks, and lifts his hand up.
Despite my protests, he casts a construction spell, creating a new bench directly next to the old one. "There." He claps his hands as if to dust them off. "New, and perfectly dry, bench. Until we sit on it. Then it'll probably get wet too." He winks.
"Casting spells in the open. Fantastic work."
He snickers while beckoning me over. "If it's any help, I put 'G+M' on it."
I feel my face flush a little bit.
"Ah... I saw that, Augustus. You blushed."
"No I didn't."
"Come sit. Hopefully those Cheetos of ours aren't wet inside the bags.
We pull the tiny bags out of our pockets and check inside. Well, I check inside. Mine aren't wet... But Matt can't figure it out. He looks fairly angry.
I snatch it, open it for him, and hand it back. He smacks me on the shoulder.
"Thanks."
"You're welcome, your majesty."
He scoffs before he starts eating his... And I can tell he likes it because his eyes widen.
Man, he's cute. I didn't know how much I'd like seeing him try new things. I wonder if he'd see me that way if I acted like this.
"Ya like 'em?"
"Yeah."
"Glad we got them?"
"Heck yeah!"
"Having fun?"
"Augustus, don't make me repeat the word 'Yeah' over and over."
"I dunno, it's funny."
"Funny?"
"Alright. It's adorable. Admirable, even."
"You're stupid. The stupidest. You're my stupid boyfriend."
We do some more back-and-forth banter-slash-flirting as we eat our snack, and I think of what to do next. Have we done enough? Have we done too little? Am I overthinking? Yeah, I'm overthinking.
"...Augustus? You alright?"
"Huh? Oh! Oh, yeah."
"You're red."
"Sorry."
"It's alright. Did you see me? I totally threw our wrappers into the trash from all the way over here. It was soooooo cool."
"It was awesome."
He grins before standing, offering a hand to let me do the same.
"Should we go back to the demon realm? Or should we cause some mischief? Maybe we can go steal some human stuff. Can we pleeeaaaase go steal some human stuff?"
"Why would I wanna do that?"
"We don't have enough human money left... Plus, don't you like authentic human stuff? Or are you just a poser?"
I take his hand to rise up with him and give him a quick peck. "Eh, whatever."
He looks around before spotting a pawn shop. "Human junk?"
"Human junk is the best human stuff."
We giggle before running across the street as I hide the two of us with an illusion spell, grabbing his hand at the same time so we don't lose each other. We shush each other, and we enter. A guy in front of us looked freaked out, saying something about a ghost, and he almost bumped into Matt and I.
Anyway... We find a couple things. I manage to tap Matt and guide his hand to that one black-and-white kind of ball humans use for sports.
He guides mine to a guitar that looks extremely used, but totally fixable.
We just have each other look at random stuff on shelves over and over before he whispers-
"Lets just take all of it."
I whisper back, protesting, because it's gonna be stupidly hard.
"I'll make them float."
I see Matt's spell circle appear as he makes literally everything we pointed at float towards us. He grabs me and we run out, all our stuff flying behind us. People scream and shout in some combination of frustration and fear at the invisible creatures who stole their junk.
I don't know why Matty didn't make it all dissappear. Guess he just wanted to mess with people.
I turn us to be visible again as Matt summons a few bags for us to throw our stuff into.
"Why'd you think that was a good idea?"
"I didn't." He shrugs. "Just thought it was funny."
I lean forward and give him a quick kiss on his cheek. "That's the Matty I know."
He mutters something about me being a tease before grabbing my hand and dragging me forward.
We walk back towards the house containing the portal, laughing and chatting about what we're going to do with all the human stuff we stole. We deducted that I would take everything I pointed out, he'd take everything he pointed out, and that maybe we could come back to the human realm again another time.
We make it back to our realms, and start flying to Matty's house side-by-side, all our human junk on the bags and tied to our staffs.
When we make it to Mattys house and desummon our palismen, he rests his hands on my shoulders and leans closer.
"Had a great time. Maybe we should go on a second date." He kisses me, and we hold it for somewhere around five seconds.
I feel my face flush up after that. "I loved that. I love you. Like a lot." I stutter out, feeling like I might just melt.
"Pfft." He scoffs, raising a hand to my cheek. "Love you too, jerk."
I look at him. Really look at him. Into his eyes, to his soul. Vulnerable moments like this is what made my unbearably long yearning for him all worth it. How much I missed him in the human realm over a year ago, and the fact that I came to terms with my feelings when it was impossible to see him. The mixed signals he gave me sometimes. How the first time we said 'I love you' was our first grom night when we were just about to walk home in opposite directions. How our anniversary and first kiss was because of an unintentional confession. He's so stupid and embarassing sometimes... But I'm in love with him anyway. I love him. He loves me.
"Well, Steves probably waiting inside for me." He sighs. "He does that after I hang out with you, like, any time." We kiss again before he says goodbye, grabs his human stuff and walks off.
The first date that we've ever called a date, huh? I should do that a lot more often.
Man, I have so much to tell Willow.