Trevor wanted to do this scientifically, like everything else he did. He had his laptop on, with a notepad in one hand and a pen in another. Multiple tabs were open containing various articles discussing romantic pet names to give your significant other, and he had written down the most common ones he found - Love, Dear, Honey, Baby, Sweetheart.

But it wasn't working.

He wouldn't call Tierno any of these things; "Love" was too generic, "Dear" was something his guardian called him, he thought it was weird to refer to Tierno as "Honey" or other food, and Serena had already nicknamed Tierno as "Baby" and "Sweetheart" amongst other things. None of these felt right coming out of Trevor's mouth.

So instead Trevor scribbled out his notes in frustration, followed by tossing aside his notepad and pen in exaggeration. He leaned his cheek on his hand, pouting. Why did this have to be so hard? Tierno came up with pet names for him all the time, so clearly they must be a key part of romantic relationships. Or, at least to Tierno they were anyway, which was the more important factor in Trevor's decision to start using them.

Trevor continued holding a pity-party for himself until he noticed extra weight being added onto the bed. He glanced up, seeing that Tierno had moved his laptop away and sat down in its place, mimicking Trevor's body position and pout.

"Your research not going good?"

"It is not," Trevor huffed. "Creating pet names is much harder than I anticipated."

Tierno's eyes widened. "Pet names? I can help you with that! I'm great at those!"

"No, I want to do it myself," Trevor disagreed, and then realizing how harsh that might have sounded, quickly clarified with "It would defeat the purpose of pet names if you created one for yourself, after all. It would be more romantic if I could come up with one for you on my own."

"That doesn't mean I can't help," Tierno decided, bobbing his head a bit. "I like pet names." With that, he pulled Trevor into his lap and wrapped his arms around him, as if physical closeness would help Trevor think better.

Not that Trevor minded. He shuffled around slightly so he could lean back on Tierno's chest and look up at him.

"I suppose the first thing we need to do then is review why the initial results were incorrect," Trevor stated, returning to the familiar scientific method that he had abandoned just a couple minutes prior. "The conclusions were too impersonal to be used as proper pet names, for a variety of reasons. Some were too bland, others already used in other contexts that they could not be separated from. And others still were too ... Serena-esque."

Tierno chuckled and with a good nature asked, "Too Serena-esque? Like too affectionate?"

"Of course not!" Trevor defended. "I most definitely want to pick a pet name that shows my affection for you. It's just that the type of affection Serena gives you is different than mine; it's a bit more saccharine and exaggerated."

"Like how she squishes my face when she compliments me?"

"Right. I think that it would be strange for me suddenly act in such a manner, would it not?"

"I would let you do that," Tierno answered, smiling down at Trevor.

Trevor merely shrugged at his response. "I still believe it would be strange of me to do that. Instead what we need to do is move onto the next step, which is discovering what method I should use to obtain proper results." Trevor pulled away from Tierno and then turned to face him. "Or in other words, what do you suggest I do?"

Tierno considered the request for a moment. He had various ways he created nicknames, like simply shortening someone's full name or combining the first letter of someone's full name with a trait he recognized in them. Those didn't feel particularly research-y to him, though, and Trevor clearly wanted a method that involved note-taking or other research-like aspects. He decided to try one of his more layered approaches to pet names.

"One way I come up with pet names is by thinking of all the traits I like about a person and combining them into one name. Here, I'll show you." In demonstration, Tierno held onto Trevor's hands, and again operating under the theory that physical closeness increases cognition, leaned into him until their noses touched.

Trevor's face heated up at the touching and the staring, but he allowed it to continue, trusting that Tierno had a purpose for his actions.

And he did. After thoroughly analyzing his partner, Tierno pulled back and let go of Trevor's hands, beaming with confidence. "Your new pet name is sugar plum!"

Before Trevor could counter that will his own misunderstanding of why food-based pet names even existed, Tierno launched into an explanatory ramble, complete with excited arm motions.

"See, it's short for sugar plum fairy, like the ballet. Like, first it was just sugar plum, since you're small and sweet like a sugar plum, but then I started thinking about the sugar plum fairy ballet, which is a really pretty and fancy and magical ballet, and, uh, you're really pretty and fancy and make me feel all magical around you, and if I was going to make a pet name based on a ballet of course I would pick the sugar plum fairy ballet-"

The ramble had shifted focus to Tierno's passion for ballet, which Trevor didn't mind. He was still recovering from the sudden flood of endearment he was receiving, as even after he began to date Tierno he was still not used to such affection. He tried to will his blush away as he focused back on his own attempts to create a pet name.

Trevor understood Tierno's method easily enough - it was a simple puzzle of finding what a group of traits had in common and then what said commonality resembled in reality. He already knew particular traits he adored about Tierno as well.

Once there was a pause in Tierno's excited babble, Trevor mimicked Tierno's earlier movements by holding onto his hands and leaning forward until their noses pressed together. As he gazed at his partner, he began to think about everything he loved about Tierno.

Tierno was soft and warm, both physically and personality-wise, with excitement in his eyes and passion in everything he did. He lit up everything around him and cared so deeply, always making Trevor feel so safe and loved.

So what was bright yet gentle at the same time?

After a bit of pondering, Trevor pulled away from Tierno to give the result, though it wasn't as confident as Tierno's answer. "Your new pet name is ... starlight." Then, feeling as if he should have an explanation for his reasoning as Tierno had, he started into one, though verbally it was not as eloquent as it was in his head. "You see, starlight is bright and you are bright as well - wait, no - you see, starlight is a welcome addition to the otherwise darkness of the night and - that isn't right, hold on-"

But Tierno didn't care about the reasoning. With a blush and watery eyes, Tierno again pulled Trevor close to him, arms staying wrapped around him. "Aww, it's so nice of you to make a pet name for me! I'll be your starlight if you want me to! You'll be my sugar plum and I'll be your starlight!"

Trevor hugged him back, blushing and nuzzling his face into Tierno's shoulder. He loved hearing Tierno so happy. He was overjoyed that he successfully came up with a pet name for him. He was even warming up to the sugar plum name, just because he adored the way Tierno said it with such adoration.

"We can do that if it makes you happy, my starlight."