A/N: This chapter got really, really long. Sorry/ You're welcome (depending on how you take that little tidbit of info). As always, thanks to anyone who reads this and double thanks to everybody who reviews. Hope you all enjoy it : )

A giant, purple hippo leaned onto a bag of multi-colored golf clubs outside the miniature golf course entrance. Josh plopped down on the base of the statue, waiting for Aidan's crazy agenda to continue surprising him. "So... how exactly are we getting in?"

"Give it a minute. She'll be here." Aidan was still in his unbelievably bubbly mood; he was literally bouncing up and down.

Though Josh giggled - in a manly way, of course - at the jolly vampire, he was a bit confused. "'She', who?"

"The manager." He looked off into the distance. "Oh, there she is." The woman in her mid-twenties parked her car and fumbled with her keys as she strode over to the odd pair.

"Hi! Sorry I'm late. I got all caught up in traffic and I-"

Aidan cut her off, "That's fine. So, can you open her up for us now?"

The woman seemed to calm down and get embarrassed all at once. She was wearing way too much makeup and she put a hand on Aidan's arm. "Oh, right." She giggled and got the correct key sorted out from the bunch. The woman leaned over and whispered something into Aidan's ear. Josh's senses were still heightened, but even a full-fledged wolf wouldn't have been able to hear the quiet utterance. He did manage to catch one word: 'cute'. Aidan laughed and held the door that the woman had unlocked and pulled open. She walked in hurriedly and disappeared down a long hallway.

"You coming?" Aidan asked, the laughter still resonating in his voice.

"Yeah... Yeah." Josh shook himself from whatever strange thoughts were running through his head and pulled himself up off of the statue, walking to the door.

Aidan spread his arm across Josh's back and placed his hand on the smaller man's shoulder, guiding him through the door. "This is going to be so fun. I haven't played golf since 1922." Aidan was speaking directly into Josh's ear. He wasn't being overly loud, but his breath was brushing softly against Josh's face.

It felt good; but, feeling good felt wrong. And, something else was bothering Josh, so he gently moved out from under Aidan's embrace. "Why do you think I can't pick up any girls?"

"What?" Aidan turned his entire body to face Josh. Then he playfully smirked, "Do you really want me to answer that?"

"Well... I don't know. It's just that it's been forever since a girl even wanted to talk to me. But... you. I mean, every time we're around a remotely available woman they just get all mushy and flirty with you. I usually just play it off as a vampire thing, but if there's something else, you've got to tell me."

Aidan shifted his weight to his other foot, preparing to speak. "I know I'm incredibly attractive..." - Aidan smiled and Josh returned the look of amusement - "But I do have one other big thing going for me."

Aidan stopped, which the already impatient Josh could not handle. "Well? What is it?"

Aidan leaned in, clearly amused with himself. "Girls love a guy with a cute puppy."

Josh scoffed at the remark: he was no one's puppy. The amused expression on Aidan's face gave no indication of whether or not he was kidding, and Josh was quite perturbed. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

Aidan had struck another nerve. He should've known better than to refer to Josh in such terms, but he had always felt comfortable poking fun at his friend. It seemed like a human thing to do. "Oh, come on. Don't be so sensitive. It was just a joke." Aidan patted Josh on the shoulder and chuckled.

Then, after a long, awkward silence, a sing-songy voice echoed down the hall, "Okay! Everything's all set up for you guys." She rushed down the hall, moving right between the pair. She reached out and rubbed Aidan's arm in what Josh considered an outrageously too friendly gesture. "Have fun. And don't forget to lock up when you're done." She smiled waved and swiftly exited the building.

"I... I'm really confused." Josh had decided to drop the whole "puppy" issue in lieu of the fact that Aidan had managed to get some stranger to open at an odd hour and leave them without supervision. "How did you get her to open early for us?"

"I have my ways." Josh did not look happy with that response. "I didn't compel her," he said, bending to Josh's moral compass. Josh lifted an eyebrow and still didn't look satisfied with the response. Aidan had to think for a moment, trying to come up with any other reason for the confusion. "She's not a vampire." Nope, that wasn't it. He paused again. He had no clue why Josh was still wary of the situation. "Okay, what's your deal?"

"Did you sleep with her?"

"What? No!" Disgust and confusion quickly flashed onto Aidan's face.

"Did you flirt with her?"

"Seriously, Josh? You think I would do that?"

"I don't know. Maybe?" Aidan looked bewildered and he had lost the exuberance that he had had earlier. Josh felt terrible. "I'm sorry. That was inappropriate. So... What did you do?"

"I... just told her our story - obviously not the whole story - just that we work a lot and we finally had some time off together and I wanted to do something... special."

"Oh... Okay then." Josh took a moment to recompose himself. "Something special." He bowed slightly and waved his hand like an old British butler, "Lead the way, good sir."

Aidan smiled widely and almost bounced down the hall before stopping and turning 180 degrees at the end. "Okay," he said as Josh approached with a big grin, "close your eyes."

Josh giggled. "What?"

"Close your eyes." Josh shut his eyes, but Aidan was still unsure. "You're looking!"

"No I'm not!"

"Okay, quick fix." Aidan moved behind Josh and wrapped both hands around his eyes. He pushed his legs against Josh's to make him walk forward. After about ten, tragically slow and excruciatingly comfortable steps, Aidan stopped the conjoined pair and turned them to face a large, open space.

One of Aidan's hands moved away from Josh's face and clicked a button on some unseen remote. Suddenly music whirred around Josh's ears and Aidan allowed him to see the swirling and flashing lights, yelling, "Surprise!"

It was as if a carnival had been crammed inside a warehouse, and Aidan was ecstatic with the shocked and elated expression on Josh's face.

"Holy crap, dude! This is incredible!" Josh had never told anyone, but he had always been a big fan of carnivals. The crazy music, the flashing, colored lights, and the carnies. He loved carnies. Josh was awkward, carnies were awkward; it was a match made in heaven. "How did you know?"

"Know what?"

"I love carnivals. How did you know?" Josh knew it was likely to be just another crazy, random happenstance, but he felt like Aidan got him well enough to know these sorts of things.

"Well - and don't think I'm some sort of creepy serial killer - you talk in your sleep." Immediately after saying it, Aidan could not believe he admitted to one of his more embarrassing habits. Hopefully Josh hadn't picked up on it.

"Okay, the fact that you were a creepy vampire serial murderer aside, how would you know I talk in my sleep?"

Shit. "Yeah, um... Here's the thing, you talk really loud and I hear really well and... I don't know, it's soothing to listen to you talk." That was too deep, Aidan thought, so he spat out a joke: "You're like white noise; so boring I fall asleep."

"Oh, ha ha." Josh playfully punched Aidan on the arm and grabbed a golf club and ball from the bin beside the entrance. "Are we going to play, or what?"

Aidan laughed and picked up a ball and club. "You are going to lose so badly."

"Please, I'm going to kick your butt." The two laughed and Josh set his ball down on the first tee.

"Okay, game time," Josh said. Aidan chuckled again. "Shut up. Now, square up the hips, adjust your shoulders, and..." Josh swung the club and smacked the ball. Unfortunately, he was still a little stronger than he thought and the ball flew through the air until it hit the back wall of the large enclosure.

"Wow... Josh, you know the goal here isn't distance, right?"

"Yeah, um, I just put a little too much oomph in I guess."

Aidan put his ball on the tee and sent the ball sailing perfectly down the path to the hole, using just the right amount of force.

"Seriously?" Josh asked, and Aidan laughed. Josh tried again, getting much closer this time. It took another three swing to pass the first hole and Aidan was already gaining a major lead.

It went on like this until the pair reached the eleventh hole. Aidan had a twenty point lead, and at this point, Josh showed no sign of improving beyond his current performance level.

"Okay, Josh, you need some help."

"What? No! I'm going to catch up."

Aidan stepped up to Josh, standing directly in front of him. "Mirror my movements, okay?"

"O-kay." Aidan put his arms out holding an invisible club. He shifted his shoulders, preparing to swing, and gazed up at Josh who was watching intently. There was a long moment when their eyes met and neither man moved, but then Josh suddenly broke eye contact and they continued with the mimicry.

"Now swing, but softly." Josh lowered the club in an arc at what he thought to be an unbearably slow speed, but the ball still flew past the hole and bounced off the short wall outlining the course.

"Well..." Josh said sarcastically, "That worked super fantastically."

"Come on," Aidan sighed. "We'll try again." They began the mimicking session again, but it quickly became clear that Josh couldn't mirror well enough for this to work. "Let's try something else." Aidan stepped around behind Josh and wrapped his cold arms around, gripping the club over Josh's burning, trembling hands.

Josh couldn't believe how unbelievably wrong and right it all felt, and he almost pushed away from Aidan, but the ball glided down the course, bumping off the corners at the exact right angles and plopping right into the hole.

"Oh... My... God! That was awesome!" Josh jumped forward and threw his arms up in the air, cheering. Then, in a moment of pure, childish ecstasy, he threw his arms around Aidan and jumped up and down. Both of the men laughed and cheered, but after the moment should've been over, they lingered in each other's embrace.

Aidan drew a deep breath and pushed Josh out to an arm's length. "So... you think you got it now?"

"Yeah, I- achoo! - think I got it."

"What was that?" Josh couldn't be sure, but he thought he heard a smidgen of concern in Aidan's voice.

"Oh, I've just had the sniffles for the last few weeks." He could not believe he just said 'sniffles.' As if there wasn't enough of an age difference between them, Josh used childish words all the time. "I'll be fine. Nothing my wolfy - ahem - canine system can't recuperate from."

Of course, Josh being sick would not bode well for Aidan's weekend plans, but he found himself more worried about Josh's actual physical health than his vast, personal investment in the planned agenda.

Aidan was staring, and Josh had a minor internal freak-out about it. "Aidan? What are you looking at?"

"Huh? Oh, nothing." Aidan couldn't see anything majorly wrong, so he just decided to go on with the game, which he was still winning by a landslide.

They walked - very close together - to the next hole. Aidan sent his ball straight down the course and into the hole. He turned, and when he saw the look on Josh's face, he cracked up. "I swear, I'm not trying to whoop you."

"Oh, that boosts my confidence." Josh put the ball on the tee and got ready to swing.

"Wait," Aidan sighed. "You're still doing it wrong."

"Oh, come on. Seriously?"

Aidan stepped back around Josh and positioned them to swing. "We'll take it slower this time. Now, pay attention." Aidan moved the club and Josh's arms along with his own. As they turned, Josh's hips ground into Aidan. "Okay," Aidan said with a start, "There's your problem." Aidan slid his hands down Josh's arms to his hips and held them firmly. "You're swinging your hips too much. It's giving your swing too much power and you keep overshooting the target."

Josh was getting far too uncomfortably comfortable with this closeness, and, unfortunately lucky for him, his body ended it. After an extremely short silence and a soft breath on the back of his neck, Josh's face got all screwed up and he let out a giant sneeze, then another, then another, and one last burst of air left his face. The convulsions accompanying the massive sneezes pushed the two men apart.

When Josh turned around and saw the shocked look on Aidan's face, he immediately burst into a fit of laughter. Aidan got really confused, which only made Josh's laughter worse. Then Aidan began to laugh and the two of them went on for almost ten minutes, laughing at nothing and at everything.

Once they finally got calmed down, Aidan asked, in a very concerned voice, "Are you sure you're okay?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine. Okay, let me try to do it without swinging my hips." Josh readied himself, swung his arms up, and tapped the ball down the course. It bounced off the first wall, then the second, and glided to a stop just inches shy of the hole. Josh went into a infantile excitement and when he turned around, he saw Aidan, standing with his arms folded and a smile of pure pride spread across his face.

"Are you going to finish this course or are you just going to stand there with that stupid grin on your face?"

"Oh, right." Josh hopped over the outline of the course and prepared to sink the ball. A small tap and it went straight to - and around - the hole. "Are you kidding me?" Aidan was laughing uncontrollably and Josh emitted a few half chuckles, but he walked to the other side and putted the ball in.

Josh walked over and stood next to Aidan, who was still doubled over laughing. "You... must have... the worst luck in the world," Aidan managed to get out while he almost suffocated from laughter.

Aidan was actually right. Josh did have some of the worst luck in the world, because, every second that went by took him further away from his connection to the wolf, which was the only reason he hadn't been feeling much more than the 'sniffles' for the last few days.

Aidan watched as Josh's face got ridiculously screwed up and then he was thrown into a fit of sneezes and coughs.

His stomach rumbled ominously and his face got serious. "Aidan?" He looked up with enormous puppy-dog eyes and pleaded, "Bathroom?"