Chapter 8: Dinner

Aether began getting ready after the call hung up. He put on a black crop top, an extreme cropped hoodie, black leggings, kept whatever socks he had on, and put on his black tennis shoes.

As Xiao had said, about eight minutes had passed and Aether had received a text from Xiao saying: "I'm waiting for you outside, so whenever you're ready."

Aether smiles at the text, glad that Xiao had followed through with what he said. He grabs his phone and wallet and leaves the apartment, locking the door behind him. Then, made his way out of the building and towards the parking lot, looking for Xiao's car in the crowded lot. After about a minute, he spotted it on the far left side of the parking lot and began making his way over to it.

Once he made it to the car, he opened the passenger side door and got into the vehicle. Xiao looked over at him, mostly to make sure it was actually Aether who got into the car and not a random stranger that mistook his car for someone else's. As Aether closed the door and clicked the seatbelt into place, he spoke, "Hey!"

"Hey, Ae." He says, making sure Aether had his seatbelt on before putting the car into reverse to pull out of the parking spot then shifting into drive once out of the spot. Aether couldn't help but blush a little at the nickname, hoping that the other wouldn't notice his reddened cheeks.

"Where's the restaurant at?" The blonde asks, turning his head slightly and looking at Xiao as he drives. He found it somewhat attractive that the other drove with just his left hand as his other hand was relaxed.

"It's close to the cafe we went to when we first met in person." He responded, eyes still trained on the road in front of him.

"Ooooh, okay!" Ae exclaimed, glad the restaurant wasn't all that far of a drive, it was bound to only take six minutes or so.

"How was work?" He asked Aether, the genuine curiosity could be heard in his voice.

"It was good! There were a lot of donors today, so we were rather busy, but Friday's are usually busy for us. How was your work day?" The blonde half exclaimed, trying not to raise his voice too much in fear of hurting the other's ears.

"It was okay. I pretty much just worked on paperwork all day." He answered, eyes still trained on the road in front of him.

"That sounds almost boring. I don't think I could ever do a job like that." Aether confessed, imagining him doing what Xiao did most days for work made his head spin with the amount of boredom he would feel.

"It's not always paperwork, sometimes I'm tasked to go investigate a disturbance somewhere in the city or something along those lines, but that's usually only if there's no one else to go investigate it." Xiao states as he pulled into a diagonal parking spot and put the car into park, turning the car off. The two men got out of the vehicle, Xiao locks the car and the two made their way to the restaurant which was only about a block away.

Once they arrive at the restaurant, they enter and get seated at a table for two. A few minutes go by of them looking over the menu and the waitress comes over and asks them for their drink and food orders. They tell her what they want and she writes it down on her notepad like thing, she takes the menus with her as she goes to put the orders in.

"This place seems fancy, right?" Aether asks, looking around at the more traditional Japanese decor. He couldn't help but notice how most of the tables were seemingly full of couples, which he felt a little awkward about.

"Yeah, it opened not too long ago too, so I'm surprised that it's not packed full of people." Xiao said, as he too begins looking around the place, admiring how it was decorated. Walls were covered in things that took part with Japanese history and culture, it felt like a restaurant that was in Japan and not one that was in North America.

"Yeah, I'm quite surprised too. It's uncommon, especially in a fairly big city like this one." The blonde commented, agreeing with what the other had said.

The waiter brought their drinks that they ordered over and both of them thanked her. Moments had passed and neither of them said another word. They weren't sure what to talk about, they had no idea where to even start with a potential conversation. So, as a result, they sat there in an awkward silence until either they thought of a good conversation topic or their food order came. It was the latter of the two.

"Here's your food, enjoy." The waitress said as she set the food down on the table to who ordered it. Both the men thanked her before she left. Almost awkwardly, they both began eating what they had ordered. Xiao had ordered a couple of sushi platters that were on the spicy side whereas Ae ordered sushi platters that were more on the savory side.

"Is your food good?" Xiao asks after a few bites of his food and he made sure Aether had taken a few bites of his food before asking the question.

"Yeah, it's really good! How about your food?" Ae asks, hoping the other's food is as good as his. He then took another piece of sushi into his mouth as he waited for an answer to his question.

"Yeah, mine's really good too." Xiao answers as he too takes another piece of food into his mouth.

"That's good!" Ae exclaimed after he finished chewing what was in his mouth.

They continued to eat in almost complete silence between them, no words were spoken between them. After another ten-ish minutes, they had finished their food and the waitress brought the check, Xiao insisted on paying since it was his idea to come to this place. They were only in the restaurant for about forty-five minutes.

Leaving the place, they made their way back to Xiao's car. Once they got to his car, he unlocked the vehicle and they both got in. He drove Ae back to his apartment in almost complete silence that was somewhat content and somewhat awkward. Dropping the blonde off he made his way back to his own apartment.

A few minutes after Xiao got into his apartment, he received a text from Aether: "Hey! You got home okay, right?"

Xiao typed up a response before hitting send: "Yeah, I did. Thanks for asking."

Two new messages popped up on his phone screen, one from Aether and the other from his cousin, Venti. With the one from Aether, Xiao didn't think it needed a response, but the message read: "I'm glad!"

The message from his cousin says: "Hey! Soooo… tell me about the dude you were with at the new Japanese restaurant, i saw you while you were there not too long ago there but I didn't wanna disturb you. Is he your boyfriend???"

Xiao couldn't help but roll his eyes at the last part of the message and types up his response: "No, he was not my boyfriend, just a good friend of mine. And why were you there? Stalking me or something?"

Another message popped up from Venti: "Nope, not stalking you, I was there with Albedo, when I saw you and that blonde dude walk in. I think I saw you blushing a few times tho, you like him, right?"

Xiao types again: "So what if I do? He doesn't like me back, so what does it matter?"

A new message shows up on his screen: "How do you know that? Did he reject you? Bc there is no way that dude is straight."

Xiao stopped for a moment, just thinking. He knows Aether is gay, but- could he like him? They do hang out and talk a lot, probably more than the average friends do. But there's no way, right?

Xiao responds after a few seconds: "He's gay but I just don't think he likes me like that is all."

Venti responds: "Whatever you think ig. But just think about it, because since when have I ever been wrong about stuff like this, hmm?"

Xiao rolled his eyes again and didn't respond, he instead made his way to his bed where he would turn on a streaming platform and just relax to whatever show caught his eye in the moment.