"Evan."

"Hm?"

"It's the twenty-fourth tomorrow."

"Ah."

"Dinner and movie?"

"Sure."

What began as a simple dinner and movie on their first date became a monthly ritual for the pair. Each time, more and more things happened, and each time, the feelings grew stronger, and much more intense. What began as awkward, nervous confessions made to each other that led up to arrangements for their first date bloomed over the months into an understanding between the pair – on the twenty-fourth of every month, they would treat each other to dinner and a movie. There would be no games with friends, no recordings to be done, no other plans other than each other and each other only. It would be a night dedicated to this ritualistic celebration of their newfound love in each other.

Despite the constant dates and this one special monthly date that they would go on, there was a problem, a problem that Evan wished to rectify as quickly as possible. He was growing rather impatient – he would wake up in the middle of the night countless times, roused by dreams of Jonathan and his electric blue eyes, by dreams of Jonathan and his soft pink lips, by dreams of Jonathan and his adorable little murmurs. His eyes would flutter open abruptly and dart about the room, his arms weakly searching about the empty bed for his lover – only to find no one at all.

They had been trying to take it slow – after all, it hadn't been long since Jonathan walked out from a long and painful break-up. Evan had seen how wet and red his eyes had gotten, and Evan himself had wiped the tears away from his best friend's face. Evan himself had gently kisses Jonathan's tears away – an act that led to a period of confusion and pain for the pair – and Evan himself had promised Jonathan that he would not let Jonathan feel that sort of pain ever again. Attempting to rush their relationship would be a death sentence for both his heart and their relationship. And so he told himself – It's fine. I'll wait for him.

After several months, Evan was still waiting – impatiently, but still waiting. He wished for Jonathan to move in with him, and he wished to be able to wake up next to Jonathan in the morning. He wished to be able to feel the warmth of his body, to be able to kiss his dearest after a night of tumultuous sleep and bad dreams. He wished to be able to look into his gorgeous bright blue eyes in the mornings and watch as the sunlight bounced of the glassy globes, causing them to glimmer and shimmer like diamonds in their sockets. Most of all, he wished to be able to touch his lover, to be intimate with Jonathan, to feel his body and tease him as he cried his name out in the dark of the night. He could already hear it in his head – Evan, please, Evan…

Evan had dropped multiple hints over the course of their relationship, hinting at his desire to move their relationship to the next level. There was little damage to be done in asking – yet, the thought of it made Evan uncomfortable. The terror was not in the rejection of his proposal, but it was in the idea that Jonathan might even feel in the slightest bit pressured. He had promised Jonathan that he would never cause him the pain that his ex-boyfriend had, and he was determined to keep to his word – which meant that he wasn't going to take the risk of making Jonathan even a little bit uncomfortable.

Jonathan, however, did not even seem to catch any of his hints. It was both laughable and understandable – the hints were extremely subtle, after all, and extremely implicit. Even the most intelligent person on the planet would have found his hints too cryptic at times. At the same time, Evan found the situation hilarious – it reflected every bit of Jonathan's adorable innocence. The same man that spouted profanities as if it were part of his everyday vocabulary, the same man that made innumerable amounts of explicit sexual jokes every day, the very same man that could come off as crass – was also the very same man that would go wide-eyed at things he didn't understand. It was the very same man that would say the most romantic things, the very same man who would blush a furious shade of red when Evan kissed him good-night at his door after every date.

This special date night, however, Evan had other plans. He wasn't going to force himself on Jonathan or force Jonathan into a life he wasn't ready for – but he wished to test the waters, to see if Jonathan was open to his ideas. He wished to see if Jonathan would express discomfort from being too close to him, to see if Jonathan enjoyed or disliked a small taste of cohabitation. And so when Jonathan had called the night before –

"Evan."

"Hm?"

"It's the twenty-fourth tomorrow."

"Ah."

"Dinner and movie?"

"Sure."

He paused for a moment, before he began again –

"What movie would you like to see?"

"Hmm," Jonathan hummed as he mused. "I don't know. I wanna watch something scary, though. So find me the scariest movie out there!"

"Sure thing. I'll find the scariest one. And you'll get so scared you'll end up hugging me." Evan teased.

"I won't!" Jonathan's voice came from the other end of the line, heated. Evan could almost imagine his cheeks reddening into a fiery shade of crimson as he spoke – How cute, he thought.

"I'll – I'd rather hug teddy bear than hug you!" Jonathan continued, the embarrassment still evident in his voice.

"I'm pretty sure a grown man hugging a teddy bear about in public would be a great sight to see," Evan teased further. "I'm sure nobody would be laughing at you. Oh wait, I would. Well, trash the 'nobody', I'll be laughing at you the whole night."

He could almost see Jonathan pouting at the other end of the line, growing increasingly disappointed as he caught up with Evan's reasoning. Finally, he spoke again after a long pause –

"I hate you."

"Sure you do," Evan laughed. "I hate you too. So much I think I want to go over and kiss you right now."

"Don't say that," Jonathan sputtered, the red growing even redder.

"You're still so shy after all this time."

"That's because you're so mean all the time," Jonathan whined softly. "You keep teasing me about the smallest of things."

"And that's because you're so cute. You should see the look on your face whenever I say those things to you – it makes me want to do it more."

"Bully."

"Aw," Evan groaned in mock hurt. "Will you at least let this bully take you out on the monthly special though? This bully swears he'll treat you well and kiss you loads."

A pause followed his words, before Jonathan answered softly and shyly –

"Okay."

"One more thing, though," Evan said. "Are you fine with having the movie night at my place instead? I've learnt some pretty slick recipes from a chef friend of mine and I wanna try out some of them. Besides, I just got the sound system for my home theatre set up, and I need someone to give me feedback on that."

"So I'm your guinea pig for tomorrow night?" Jonathan giggled. "Sure thing."

"Hm, I'm not sure if that was a yes or a no," Evan said, the teasing note in his voice growing. "Could you giggle again to confirm?"

"Fuck you," Jonathan laughed.

"There you go again, wishing for something yet to happen." Evan joked. At least, I hope it doesn't stay that way for too long.

A great amount of preparations had to be made for that day itself. The twenty-fourth of every month was always such an interesting day – it often marked the start of crowds at shops and at restaurants. Jonathan had always insisted that it was because it was when most people were beginning to receive their month-end paychecks, but Evan had always insisted that Jonathan's theory was but a product of his tin foil hat. He could not help but smile to himself at the thought of it, however – it was another thing to add to the list of adorably silly things that Jonathan had said, conspired, or mixed up. The list grew longer and longer with each day, but it never once bothered Evan – it was instead a list that made him smile, a list that made him want to hold his dearest close and tight much more.

It was this thought that made Evan even more determined to make that night work. He scoured the video store for a proper horror movie, spending ample time looking up the titles on his phone to see the ratings and the critical review for each title. After spending a good half an hour trying to look for a truly horrifying movie, he finally gave up searching on his own and decided to ask the store clerk for help.

"I'm sorry," he began, "but do you have any horror movie recommendations? Like – something so scary that it'll give me nightmares or something."

The clerk shot him an incredulous look. "I'm sorry sir, I can't help you on that one. I'm not really a horror movie expert."

"Neither am I," Evan muttered. "Mind you, I'm pretty sure the person I'm watching it with is more of a horror movie expert than I am. He's probably already watched all the horror movies out there in existence."

"We do have some older horror movies," the clerk said rather helplessly. "Some of the older psychological horror films get returned with the customers looking like they haven't slept in ages."

"Can I see them?"

The clerk vanished momentarily, and returned with a handful of disks in his hands. On the covers were a variety of gruesome and mortifying images, with blank eyes staring out from the covers and illustrations of bloodstains and skulls all over. The cover art itself was enough to send a slight chill down Evan's spine - a chill which satisfied him. A quick search for the titles revealed rave reviews citing an absolutely horrifying experience, and, thanking the clerk, Evan paid for the movies and left the video store with a slight bounce in his steps.

After a quick round at the grocery store for some ingredients, Evan made his way home, glancing at the clock occasionally as he set up the place for Jonathan's arrival. Everything had to be in tip-top condition – the food, the ambience, the lighting, the mood, the air…

It wasn't too long of busying around before there was a ring at the door. Heart pounding, Evan finished lighting a final candle before rushing towards the door, eager to see his lover's face –

Except when the door swung open, Jonathan stood at his doorstep, his signature hockey mask upon his face. Awkwardly, the man began to wave. "Hi," Jonathan murmured from underneath the mask.

"What's with the mask?" Evan probed.

"Well… we're watching a horror movie… so I wanted to scare you a bit…"

"You're not very scary at all," Evan dismissed, and reached out to pull Jonathan in. "Come on in, you silly cutie."

The moment the door shut on the both of them, Evan gently tugged the hockey mask off his lover's face and planted a quick, gentle kiss on Jonathan's lips. As their lips parted, he caught a full view of the Jonathan's reddening cheeks. Pleased, he planted another kiss on his right cheek, gently whispering – "I love you."

It took a bit for Jonathan to regain himself and ask -

"Uh… what's – what's for dinner?"

"Steak with baked potatoes and some peas. I made them the way you like them."

"I think I will. Can we get to that now? I'm starving." Jonathan queried, and then laughed. "I want fooooood."

Evan rolled his eyes, and began setting the table, serving up the food before settling down at the table opposite of Jonathan.

"Tuck in," he prompted, breaking Jonathan out of his continued staring.

"Sorry," Jonathan replied. "It's just… nice to have something you made yourself. For me."

Evan raised an eyebrow. "Eat, silly. Weren't you famished just a minute ago?"

It wasn't long before the food on their plates was completely devoured by them both, and the dessert – a tub of ice cream shared between them two – completely demolished by the pair. Before long, the two had settled into the couch, with the home theatre system started up and a blanket wrapped around Jonathan. Giggling, he pulled the mask back onto his face, causing Evan to roll his eyes once more at him.

"What movie is this?" Jonathan giggled once more as Evan settled back onto the couch with him.

"Something about a guy going crazy. Just like you."

"Pft. Doesn't sound scary at all."

Famous last words, Evan thought to himself as Jonathan began murmuring to himself much later. Even when Evan had reached over to put his arm around the man, Jonathan curled up into himself tighter, murmuring louder than ever, over and over again – "I can't do this, I can't do this, I can't do this…"

Evan sighed, and gently squeezed Jonathan once more, only to have Jonathan's murmuring grow even louder, practically drowning out the sounds of the movie – granted, however, that the only sounds were the movie character's muffled panting.

"Ican'tdothis-Ican'tdothis-Ican'tdothis…"

Evan sighed once more, and began to turn towards Jonathan. "Can you please..."

He gently slid the mask away from Jonathan's face, just as the man began to turn towards him, his voice slowly dying out. "…Shut the fuck up…?"

Jonathan stared wide-eyed at him, fear still evident in his eyes, adorable beyond belief. It was too much for Evan, and his patience was tested beyond its limits. Almost instantly, he pounced onto Jonathan, kissing away at the man's neck and practically losing control of his senses momentarily as he breathed in his lover and tasted his skin.

"E-Evan!" Jonathan cried out, his hands patting gently on Evan's back in alarm. In the same moment, a horrified scream came from the movie, and Evan slowly came back to his senses, and he searched for the bright electric blues desperately, needing to know if he was alright – if they were alright.

"Evan…" Jonathan breathed.

"I'm sorry," Evan blurted out quickly, the guilt beginning to build up within him and weighing heavily on his mind. "I'm so sorry."

"Evan…" Jonathan repeated, his hands gently reaching up to caress Evan's face gently. "I'm sorry."

"What for…? You didn't do anything wrong."

"We took it too slow, didn't we?"

"It's not your fault. You're not ready, and that's fine with me."

"No, it is. I've been ready for the longest time and I just never told you. I keep thinking that I'm… that you've gotten my hints and all that, but… I want you, Evan. I want to be with you. We've been together for ages and we've only ever kissed and made out and it's like baby steps every single time we see each other, Evan."

"I don't want to force you." Evan insisted. "Don't do it for me."

"But you've been doing it for me since forever, Evan. You've been waiting for me. And I want this. I don't want to keep waking up to an empty bed only to remember that you're somewhere out there and not with me."

"Don't…"

"Evan," Jonathan gently pushed a finger onto Evan's lips, silencing him. "Can you please… just… shut the fuck up…?"

And Jonathan kissed him like he had never been kissed before. He felt his lover's lips on his, gently pushing up against his and parting them, his tongue invading his mouth with a pronounced eagerness. Their tongues soon met in a rhythmic dance, and with a playful flick, a soft little moan escaped Jonathan's lips. Just as Evan pulled away from the kiss, Jonathan whined softly, pushing his hips against Evan's own.

"Evan…" He whined and pouted.

"Shut the fuck up," Evan breathed as he paused the movie, before lifting Jonathan off the couch and carrying his lover into his bedroom, pulling off whatever clothes separated them as quickly as they could.

That movie night, the wait was over.