Seymour had to admit that he didn't have much experience when it came to planning dates. Or any experience, really. But Audrey deserved something good, so he was determined to do his best.

The biggest problem he came across was where exactly it should happen. Their room was a nice enough place to live, but he didn't think that the cramped little table was right for something like this. And though they both enjoyed being in the lab, they already spent enough time there that he worried it wouldn't be special enough for a first date. The ship did have areas set up for passengers to sit down for a meal, both regular mess halls and fancier restaurants if you paid extra, but he didn't really like either of those ideas. The mess halls often got noisy and crowded enough that it was too overwhelming for him to try and carry a peaceful conversation. And while there wasn't any rule against staff members booking a table somewhere, he could already picture the waiters looking at him like he didn't belong there the same way the rich customers did.

Eventually, he decided that the best plan would be to schedule a day off and go somewhere outside the ship. And so he once again found himself sitting in a shuttle with Audrey, though this time he was much happier about the thought of reaching their destination.

As soon as she heard the click of the small craft detaching from the main ship, Audrey turned to Seymour with a bright smile.

"So, where are we eating?" She asked.

The luxury shuttle they had once been in likely would have sprung to life at the merest suggestion that one of the occupants might be hungry, and would have already been trying to fire up the replicators and offer just about every refreshment imaginable. But the standard one they were riding in that day wasn't quite as determined to please, and Seymour reached for a screen on the wall to pull up a list of options within range.

Audrey noted that he looked a lot more at ease without all of the extravagance around, and she was glad to see that he appeared to be enjoying being in her company.

"There's a rest area coming up along our route, and there should be a few restaurants there. I thought we could pick something from one of them." Seymour explained. When his search produced a list of options, he moved aside so Audrey could see easier and asked, "Do any of these look good?"

Looking to narrow things down, Audrey pulled up the categories they could select, and had it show only the ones that would serve Earth-style food. Even if they were currently lightyears away from his home, she wanted to try and get as close as possible to experiencing the way a date would be on his planet.

The list dropped down to two, and Audrey leaned in to read the first one.

"What about Gus's Galaxy Grill?"

Seymour shook his head, immediately looking almost queasy.

"I don't think that's a good idea. I heard that last time we passed by, anyone who went there and ordered the special wound up spending a month in sickbay."

"Alright, not that one." Audrey quickly agreed. Moving onto the next entry on the list, she read, "There's a place called Schmendrick's Shooting-Star."

Seymour's expression brightened, and she noticed that he seemed to recognize the name.

"Oh, we had one of those back home. I used to go there whenever I could afford to go out for special occasions." He said. It had never exactly been fine dining, but was still finding himselffind feeling nostalgic. "The one on our street was just called Schmendrick's, but I guess they're trying to appeal to starship passengers out here."

"Could we go there, then?" Audrey asked eagerly.

Seymour nodded. "I can't promise it'll be anything fancy, but I would kinda like to see it again."

She smiled and reached out to take his hand. "Sounds perfect."

"I'm not sure I'd know what to order in a place like this." Audrey admitted as soon as she and Seymour were seated at their table.

She thought that the place looked very charming. Lots of bright colors and checkered patterns, and the booths providing at least some sense of privacy while still being open enough that it didn't feel like the sort of space people would go to for anything illicit. Best of all, there wasn't even a single stage where someone like her might have been expected to start giving the crowd something to stare at. This was very different than anywhere she'd been taken on a date before, which was exactly what she had been hoping for. But since it was something rather unfamiliar to her, she decided it seemed better to let Seymour take the lead.

"Why don't you choose something for us?" She suggested.

Though he looked a little nervous, and she knew he was probably worrying she wouldn't like whatever he picked, Seymour nodded in agreement.

Though the restaurant looked roughly similar to the one he remembered, Seymour had still noticed some differences. Notably, the tables were nice enough to have the same built-in menu screens as the ship, instead of relying on the old-fashioned ordering at the counter he would have to do back home. Maybe this place got better business, or maybe it was only possible for the owners to get ahold of that sort of thing at an affordable price out here. This place also offered more meals from different planets, likely due to a combination of having more non-human patrons and having an easier time getting ahold of the ingredients. But he knew that Audrey was hoping for an experience as similar to his homeworld, and after a few minutes of looking over the menu, he settled on the sort of thing he would usually get whenever he was able to treat himself to a restaurant meal.

Audrey soon had a tray sitting in front of her with a grilled cheese, a pile of fries, and what Seymour assured her was the best part, a tall glass full to the brim with a milkshake. Once she had tried it and it was clear that she was enjoying it, Seymour quickly looked much more relaxed.

As inexperienced as Seymour was with dates, he did know that having a meal together was only part of it. They should be able to have a conversation as well. While he always enjoyed talking with Audrey, he wasn't quite sure where to start, and he was relieved when she spoke up first.

"If all the food tastes like this, I might never want to leave once we visit Earth."

When Seymour looked up and smiled at her, Audrey took a deep breath and decided to push the topic further.

"I actually have started to look into where I might be able to live once I decide to find a new planet to settle on." Seeing Seymour look a little downtrodden, even if she could tell he was trying to hide it, she quickly added, "I'm not in any hurry to leave the ship. I just figure it would be nice to have a few options in place for sometime in the future."

Seymour nodded, his expression turning contemplative.

Recently, he had been considering that sort of thing himself. When he first got his new job, he had been so relieved to leave his old street behind that he hadn't really thought about what might come next. But ever since getting to know Audrey, he had been thinking about having a home base somewhere instead of only a room on a starship that was constantly traveling. He had never felt like he needed much, but thinking of Audrey made him feel that it should be something nice. Somewhere that would make her happy to visit. Because he really, really hoped she would want to visit. The thought of Audrey being off in some far away galaxy and never seeing her again gave him an uncomfortable feeling in the pit of his stomach.

"Have you found anywhere you'd want to live?" He asked.

"Well, there's a few planets that seem like they might be nice, but… if I can, my first choice would be to move to Earth."

She glanced anxiously at Seymour, wondering if suggesting she move to his home planet might make her come across as clingy and off-putting. But it soon became clear that she didn't need to worry, as Seymour lit up with a bright smile.

"That would be great! Maybe we could even be neighbors!"

Audrey smiled in return, and she instinctively reached for his hand. "I'd love it if we were still together." As her fingers intertwined with his, Audrey began thinking that as much as she liked to daydream about what her perfect life might look like, the most important part was that Seymour was there, and that he was enjoying it as much as she was. She knew that she had no desire to ever see her homeworld again, and she wondered if she was being selfish by hoping he would be on Earth with her. "Are you sure you'd like to be living there again? I know it wasn't always the happiest place for you."

He gave her hand a reassuring squeeze. "Skid Row wasn't really a happy place for anyone. But I have savings now, and we could go somewhere much better. I think I'd really like being with you in one of the greener parts of the planet"

Audrey was surprised at just how natural it already felt to be sitting with Seymour and plotting out their lives. Perhaps they didn't need to go any more in-depth for now, seeing as it was still only a first date. But after a long time of mostly knowing people she wasn't likely to see again, it was nice to know that he liked the idea of a future with her in it.

As Seymour and Audrey settled back into the shuttle, he started thinking that it would be a shame to head back to the ship this soon. After all, they had booked the whole day off, and it was still fairly early in the afternoon. And besides, sitting down in a diner to share a meal together was the sort of thing he would consider a date. He wondered if there was anything else that Audrey might feel it was missing.

"Audrey, what do people do for dates on Areole?"

She didn't answer right away, and took several long moments as she considered how to respond. Everyone she had encountered didn't exactly care about doing things 'properly,' and she had been through a lot of things she never wanted to do again, but she had at least heard of some old customs that she had always thought sounded sweet.

"Well… traditionally, a first date would happen at a marketplace. You don't have to buy anything, but it's supposed to be a good way to start learning each other's tastes and interests."

Seymour pushed a few keys on the navigation screen, and then turned back to look at her over his shoulder. "It says there's a shopping center set up on a moon not far from here. Would you wanna go?"

As much as she had been eager to leave reminders of her home planet in the past, this wasn't something anyone had ever done for her before, and Audrey quickly decided she would like to experience it with Seymour.

"Sure!"

Seymour had always considered himself a bad shopper. He had never bothered to do any decorating in the quarters he'd been assigned to on the ship, since he wouldn't know what to pick out to make it look nice anyway. And in his opinion, one of the best parts of the job was being able to wear his uniform every day so he didn't have to worry about the fact that he didn't seem to have good taste in clothes.

Though even if Audrey had assured him that the point wasn't to feel obligated into spend money, there were so many nice things set out all around them that he thought it would be nice to find something he could give her.

He didn't see anyone selling flowers, but his favorite thing to look at quickly became the produce stands, and he ended up buying a few seed packets any time he found a kind of plant he hadn't seen before. But even if it would be fun figuring out how to grow them with her, it still wasn't exactly a gift for Audrey.

After they'd been walking long enough to be ready for a snack, Audrey decided to stop by one of the food vendors and pick up two of something that reminded him a little of a caramel apple, though he wasn't sure what exactly the fruit was or planet it had come from. Whatever it was, it tasted good, and it had him feeling even more determined to find something for her.

Once the nearest sun was starting to set, Audrey turned to ask Seymour if he was ready to head back to the ship soon, but she found that he was no longer walking beside her. Turning around to look behind her, she saw that he'd stopped at a booth she had passed a few seconds ago, and she doubled back to join him. Hearing her footsteps, Seymour looked up from the wares he was examining.

"I was thinking I might buy some of this." He said.

Audrey looked down at the table, which was filled in spools of ribbon in just about every color imaginable. She thought it was lovely to look at, but she couldn't help wondering why it had caught Seymour's attention.

"What do you need ribbon for?"

Suddenly flustered, his eyes traveled down to his shoes. "So I can give you flowers and make them look nice."

He wondered if it was a good enough idea, when there were plenty of stalls offering jewelry and other fancy trinkets. But when he mustered the courage to glance up again, Audrey was smiling at him as if it was one of the most touching things she'd ever heard.

Still feeling a little lost looking at the wide array, Seymour decided to ask her, "Which do you like?"

After looking all of them over, she picked up a spool in a pale pink color.

"This one."

In the weeks that would follow, Audrey learned that it was difficult to stop beaming for the whole day every time she received a bundle of flowers with a clumsily-tied bow wrapped around it.