As messed up as it sounds when Aden internally admits it, the obvious nervousness of Neo's face eases some of his own.

Which is probably the only reason why he looks scarily composed even though he feels anything but, as he walks over to the booths at the end of the café where Neo had chosen to take a seat. Although Aden would never say it out loud, he internally has an entire crisis over where he's supposed to sit.

Beside him? In front of him? Won't that be weird? The space beside him is empty...

Neo doesn't notice him walk over, his eyes on his phone. The straw of his now-finished milkshake absentmindedly is held between his teeth, his beanie now off his (messy) hair and sitting on the table looking lonely. Aden shakes his head and tries to squash the fluttering feeling returning in his stomach when his eyes fall on Neo's previously rolled-up sleeves now half covering his palms.

He is in the process of resisting an urge to shove his entire fist inside his own mouth at the realization that he's probably never going to get used to how adorable Neo is when he taps his knuckles on the table twice, grabbing the other boy's attention.

The other boy looks up with his blue eyes a little too wide, straightening up so quick that he almost drops his phone. "Oh, hi!"

"Hey," Aden replies, mildly amused by his reaction. Just suck it up, he tells himself and takes the empty spot beside Neo instead of the one in front of him. "Did you enjoy your food? Can I get you anything else?"

Neo shakes his head in reply, eyes following Aden's movements a little absentmindedly. It probably registers inside his head that he replied to just one question because he opens his mouth to say something else.

But before he can backtrack, Aden jokingly asks, "You didn't enjoy your food?"

When Neo's eyes widen comically, Aden can't help but the chuckle that escapes his mouth. He waves it off, yet another part of his nervousness ebbing away at the reminder that he isn't the only one feeling unnerved. "I know what you meant. I'm just messing around."

Neo blinks at him, then looks away. There's a wry smile on his face when he mumbles, "I guess I deserved that."

Although Aden is a little unnerved at how their roles seem like they have suddenly reversed, he knows he needed to see this side of Neo. The mix of awkward and panicked for once instead of the Neo he saw around school. The Neo who always knew what to say, the Neo everyone admired, the Neo Aden would have never approached on his own.

Neo isn't perfect.

It's a stupid, unreasonable thing to seek confirmation about, but Aden is relieved either way.

"That wasn't an attack," Aden admits with a faint blush blooming on his cheeks to match the one already on Neo's. He's embarrassed that his harmless sentence came out that way. This is why I think fifteen times before I let a string of words leave my mouth.

"Oh..." Neo scratches the back of his neck, grimacing a little. "I still deserved that. But it's good to know that you aren't —" He cuts himself off, peeking up at Aden through his lashes. "Wait... are you? Mad at me, I mean."

He wants to tease Neo a bit, because mad or not, Aden was miserable these past few days. But he shakes his head. He'd probably feel horrible about it later.

"Oh," Neo breathes again, sounding so relieved that Aden is glad he didn't jokingly say otherwise. He fiddles with his fingers on his lap, looking down for a few seconds before finally speaking. "I'm uh," He clears his throat, taking a deep breath before he adds, "I'm really sorry. For um, y'know... making you uncomfortable at the party —"

"You didn't."

"—huh?"

"You didn't make me uncomfortable, Neo."

"...oh."

"Yeah."

Neo breathes out a sigh, slumping back in his seat. "Now I feel even stupider."

"As you should," Aden jokes, trying to keep his voice deadpan but failing miserably when Neo exhales through his nose in amusement, hanging his head before shaking it a little.

"Well..." Neo drags the word, tilting his head to one side before looking at Aden with yet another wry smile. "Guess I have something else to apologize about then."

"If—" Aden says, but his voice is so high-pitched with nervousness, he has to take a pause before he tries again, trying not to avoid eye-contact. He fails. "What if... instead of the apologies, you just tell me what you were going to say at the bonfire?"

There's a sharp inhale from Neo, and then, "Isn't it obvious?"

No, Aden wants to say. It's not. Because people like you aren't supposed to like people like me. He resists the urge to pinch the bridge of his nose and says, "Oh, you have no idea."

Neo stares at him curiously, probably wondering what those muttered words actually mean. When Aden gives nothing away, he backs off and averts his eyes again. "I don't wanna sound stupid again."

Aden isn't sure what compels him to say the next words. Maybe it's because he's tired of keeping his feelings to himself. Maybe he's just trying to do what he otherwise wouldn't dare let cross his mind. Maybe there's something about the hesitance on Neo's face that makes Aden want to take the first step.

Because he's afraid that if neither of them say anything, they're going to lose something that's supposed to be theirs to nothing but a moment of weakness.

"You wanna know my secret?"

Neo raises his head at the question and turns to look at Aden again, a spark of interest in his eyes, a curious smile lifting the corner of his lips. He raises an eyebrow, and Aden almost forgets about everything and asks, 'How do people even do that?'

"Didn't peg you as the type to have secrets," Neo teases lightly, and there's something about his tone that makes Aden wonder if he's being flirted with.

He crosses that thought out as soon as it comes.

"Well," he starts, leaning back and taking a three-second pause for dramatic effect. "I did almost kill someone once."

An incredulous eyebrow raised — 'Seriously, I need to learn how to do that' — Neo says, "Oh?"

"Mm-hmm." Aden pulls his lips in between his teeth, tops of his ears feeling hot. Don't back out. Just say it. Tell him.

"Okay. Who?"

"You."

Neo stares at him silently for a few excruciatingly slow seconds. Then he looks away and shakes his head with a chuckle. "Me?" Aden nods, trying to hold back a smile at the unmasked amusement in Neo's voice. "Is that what your secret is?" Neo tilts his head to one side, a grin that knocks the breath out of Aden appearing on his face. "Should I feel threatened?"

"Maybe."

Neo reaches out and shoves him lightly.

Aden chuckles a little, hoping he doesn't sound as breathless as he feels. "No, seriously," he says, turning a little and trying to deflect another swat from the other boy. "Remember that day at the café when you, uh... almost suffocated on your sandwich?"

Much to Aden's surprise, Neo scrunches his face before he buries it in his hands, the back of his neck turning a bright shade of pink. "God, just when I was beginning to push the memory out of my brain." Then he looks up again, his face almost as flushed as his neck. "What about it?"

"I — well. That was, um... my fault."

Neo narrows his eyes at nothing, probably trying to make sense of what Aden is trying to say. Then, "So you're telling me you tried to murder me with a sandwich?"

Aden laughs despite himself. He can't not laugh. This is ridiculous. The entire situation is ridiculous and he can't believe they're having this conversation.

"No," he manages eventually, in a breath of laughter before his voice grows quieter again when he adds, "I... tried to ask you out with it."

Neo stills, and so does Aden's heart.

This is it. The words are out there; out of Aden's chest and laying on the ground in front of Neo, all his to either pick up or stomp on them. And because Aden needs a few more minutes to pretend that the secret is still his own to keep, he adds,

"There was a paper in there — no, I won't tell you what it said — that you were supposed to see. But, well..." Aden shrugs weakly, the apples of his cheeks still red and eyes away from Neo's face at all times. "You didn't. Of course."

Neo is silent, too silent, and with each passing moment, Aden hears his own heart getting louder and louder inside his chest.

There's the sound of a sharp inhale, and just as Aden is about to tell him that he doesn't have to say anything in return to his confession, Neo whispers:

"Oh, my God."

Aden's chuckle is shaky. "Yeah."

"I ate it."

"Yeah."

Neo buries his face in his hands again and groans, "This is so humiliating. So humiliating." Then in an even lower voice, "God, what are the odds?"

Aden awkwardly scratches at his own arm, his voice a little wry when he says, "Not in my favor, apparently."

"Aden."

"Sorry."

When Neo raises his head and stares ahead, he looks like he can't believe this is happening. Aden doesn't blame him, really."Jesus, no. I'm sorry." He rubs a hand down his face. "I — this is so —" Embarrassing? Uncomfortable? "...stupid," Neo finishes. Oh. Then, in a voice that sounds like he didn't mean to say it out loud, Neo adds, "Why are we both cowards?"

Aden is just... there. Thinking. Processing. Failing? Failing.

"Aden?"

"Yeah?"

"Will you do it again?"

"Do... what?" Crashing.

"Ask me out."

Aden's head snaps up, eyes wide as they look at Neo's determined face. "W-what?"

"I'm tired of pretending like I don't come to the café every day just so I can talk to you. Please."

It's definitely crashing, crashing, crashing inside Aden's head for a solid minute or so. He doesn't know. Maybe it's a little more than that. Maybe a few days. A decade. And then there's absolute silence.

"I don't understand," he whispers dumbly.

"Ask me out. Again." A pause. "Well, not again, because technically the first time I ate your confession, so..."

Aden doesn't have it in himself to laugh at Neo's attempt to lighten up the mood. He just fiddles with his fingers in his lap and asks in a small voice, "Are you gonna say no?"

Neo laughs like he finds the situation just as ridiculous as Aden does. "Oh, you'd be surprised."

Well, then. Here goes nothing. "Will you... go on a date with me?"

Neo's returning smile is blinding, the spark in his half-closed eyes somehow growing tenfold. Then in a tone that tells Aden that he's been waiting to say this for quite some time now, Neo says:

"I would love to."