It was official. Hunter was completely, one hundred percent, absolutely head over heels in love with Sebastian.

It wasn't like this was new news. He had been slowly, quietly accepting that fact for a while now. But with the activity of the past month – kissing Sebastian, having sex with Sebastian, literally thinking about Sebastian just about every second of every day – it was incredibly difficult to see the situation for anything other than what it was.

The only thing that was left, he figured, was to talk to Sebastian about it. He figured that Sebastian already had an idea of how he was feeling, given the kiss and just his general behavior around Sebastian. In the time since their kiss, he had started spending the night at Sebastian's or asking Sebastian to spend the night at his apartment again, and in the nights when they were in bed in the dark together, he'd reach out and pull Sebastian close. The fact that Sebastian had never made a snarky comment about finally getting the spooning that he'd been asking for for so long told Hunter that he understood that the action wasn't insignificant.

So he felt fairly certain that Sebastian knew, it was more just a matter of openly communicating what they both knew, and agreeing to be… Boyfriends? Something. The details were something he knew would have to wait, and he was content with that; he was fairly certain that Sebastian still had feelings for him, in which case no matter what they agreed to, it would still be better than nothing. Sebastian had at one point a while back said something about being done with dating for a while, but that was at least a couple months back, and he was mostly saying it just because of his recent misfortunes in dating, mostly as a joke, he was pretty sure. But even if he was serious, Hunter had to be an exception to the rule, right?

Hunter didn't let himself stress out too much over it.

That was a total lie. More accurately, Hunter didn't let himself acknowledge the fact that he was stressing out over it.

That was, until Hunter was faced with the fact that sooner or later, if he wanted to have a relationship with Sebastian, he would, in fact, have to do something about it. This shouldn't have been an issue, since they were close and communication had rarely been an issue on his end before, and yet.

"Are you alright?" Sebastian asked him one evening as he was mixing the ingredients for some flavor of fudge.

The thing was this: Hunter had been trying to bring it up all evening. Sebastian had arrived at his apartment four hours ago, and there had been several opportunities for him to say something. Over dinner, while they were cleaning up, when they sat down to watch TV after dinner. At any one of those points or practically endless points, he could have said it. But no.

He almost got up the nerve at one point. And then Sebastian got the idea that they needed to make fudge, and suddenly they were off to the store and they were buying just way too much sugar to be healthy and Hunter felt like he might explode if he didn't say something. How had he turned into a teenager again, terrified to ask the object of his affections out?

"What? Yeah, I'm fine," he said.

Sebastian raised an eyebrow at him. "Are you sure? You look kind of a mess."

"Wow, thanks," he deadpanned.

"I say this from a place of caring," he said with a laugh, lifting his hand and waving it in a dismissive gesture. "You just look like maybe you're feeling either constipated or that terrible moment pre-diarrhea."

"When did you get so nice?" Hunter asked, shaking his head.

"Seriously, Hunt, if something's wrong, you can say it," he said. "And don't try and tell me it's our disgusting eating habits tonight, because you were on board. No take backs."

"No, no, that's not it," he said.

"So you admit that there is something?"

Hunter sighed softly before nodding. "Uh, yeah. It's pretty ridiculous."

"Try me," he said, raising an eyebrow.

Right. Now or never. "I've been trying to ask you out on a date."

"You've been… Seriously?" he asked, and Hunter wasn't sure whether the fact that Sebastian started laughing helped his nerves or made them a thousand times worse.

"Well, yeah…" he said.

"Oh, Hunter," he said, shaking his head and chuckling softly. "You're adorable."

"You're being delightfully patronizing right now," he said. "I just appreciate that oh so much."

"Sorry, sorry," he said, shaking his head. "It's just, you know, it already feels like we've been on several dates, you know? This would just be making it official."

"That doesn't make it any less of a big deal," he said.

"I know, I know," he said, turning to him more fully and giving him a smile. "Alright, I should not have laughed. I will now be completely serious and politely answer you when you ask me out."

"No, god, that sounds so awkward, the moment isn't right," he said.

"The moment isn't right?" he asked, chuckling. "Has the moment been wrong all evening, too?"

"The moment has been fine, I'm just an idiot," he said, shaking his head.

"I'm not going to disagree with you there," he said with a laugh, shaking his head. "If you're not man enough to do it, I'll do it for you."

"Ugh, no, don't do that," he said.

"I won't, I won't," he said with a small nod. "Take your time."

Something about it felt exceedingly ridiculous at that point. Sebastian now knew that he was going to ask him out, and he had all but said yes, going so far as to offer to ask Hunter out instead, but he was still nervous. What kind of idiot was he? He sighed to himself, letting out a long breath and watching as Sebastian finished up making the fudge.

You're just asking him to go on a date with you. You're not telling him you love him, or asking him to move in with you, or proposing marriage. Just a date. He's told you he loves you before. Relax, jackass.

And while he wasn't ready to completely negate the possibility of any of those other things, they weren't there yet and he had absolutely no reason to be this concerned with it.

Sebastian went over to the fridge to put the fudge in to chill, and when he turned around he was faced with Hunter right in front of him. "Oh. Hi. You're close."

"Do you want to go on a date with me?"

There was a pause as Sebastian teasingly had to think about it. "I don't know, I mean, are you sure we aren't moving too fast?"

"You're not funny," he said.

"Okay, okay, sorry," he said. "You're just cute when you're all panicked and a little bit pouty."

"I am a hundred percent sure I'm not pouty," he said.

"Sorry, babe, I don't make the rules. You're pouty, that just is how it is," he said.

"If I am pouty, which I am not, it is only because you're a terrible jerk," he said.

"Can I kiss and make it better?" Once Hunter nodded, Sebastian was leaning in, placing a hand on Hunter's chest as he gave him a gentle kiss, and somehow he couldn't find it in him to be upset with him anymore.

They had their date the upcoming Friday.

There was, of course, the problem that Sebastian had pointed out: they had essentially been dating for a while now just without officially calling it that, and they had already used up what Hunter would have considered his best potential date spots. And while sure, Sebastian probably would have been fine with going to one of the same places again, it didn't feel right to him. He wanted it to be special, and that entailed at least some amount of surprise for Sebastian. And that shouldn't be hard, should it?

He ended up Googling 'first date ideas,' hoping that maybe something there would inspire him to create a perfect evening for him and Sebastian, until he realized how very embarrassed he would be if Sebastian were to find out that he had done so.

Sebastian would be happy to just get some dinner and then hang out at one of their apartments. He knew that. He knew that he would be happy with just changing essentially nothing in their relationship except for adding in an official title and, of course, things like kissing and everything. And maybe they could do that, but they needed to have a real first date first, right?

In the end, what he does end up going with is a nice restaurant a few blocks from his apartment. It's nothing too fancy, and it wasn't quite the Perfect First Date that Hunter was looking for, but at the same time he had to remind himself that he wasn't a high school student trying to impress his first girlfriend anymore. He was an adult, and the line between friendship and more had always been a bit blurry between them, so maybe Sebastian was right and he was overthinking it. He managed to talk Sebastian into wearing something at least somewhat nice, and that was good enough.

When Sebastian arrived at his door (there had been some debate over this, Hunter saying that he needed to be the one "picking up" Sebastian given that he had been the one to ask him out, but ultimately losing because of the fact that the restaurant was closer to Hunter's apartment so crossing town just wouldn't make sense), there was no moment like there was in the movies of soft-focus and holy shit he's hot. He reasoned that it was probably because he had come to that realization long ago, and with or without a well-fitting suit jacket, Sebastian was indisputably attractive.

For a moment, Hunter flashed back to one of his first conversations with Sebastian, about whether or not Hunter could see, as a straight man, that Sebastian was attractive. Oh, how far we've come.

"Ready to go, champ?" Sebastian asked him with a grin, and he fondly rolled his eyes at him.

"Yeah, c'mon," he said, stepping back into the hallway with Sebastian and locking his apartment door.

"Since this is our first date and all, I should probably say something about how you look nice. So hey, you look handsome," he said with a laugh, and even though Sebastian was still making fun of him, he knew that there was still sincerity there, both in the compliment and in the fact that he was respecting the fact that Hunter wanted to have a good first date even if he didn't see the point.

"You're looking pretty good yourself," he said with a grin.

"I know I do," Sebastian said, taking Hunter's hand as they left his apartment.

And god, everything was perfect. Hunter still felt a little bit like a teenager on his first date, but there was something about that that felt right, too. Just being with Sebastian, holding his hand as they walked down the street, it was perfect.

Dinner was nice, too, and simple. Sure, it wasn't particularly remarkable, just your average sort of dinner out on the town, but he wasn't really expecting it to be anything more than that. They had long since worn out any typical first date topics of conversation, and they went out to eat together enough that it didn't feel particularly out of the ordinary, aside from the quiet knowledge in the back of his mind that this was a date, a real date, not just them eating together.

"And now," Sebastian said at one point during the meal, as they were finishing up their entrees, "here is the point in the first date where we've talked a bit and we've decided in our heads whether or not we like each other, and based on that we'll start doing things like getting dessert, or making excuses to leave, like oh, my sister's calling and it's important."

"So, what'll it be?" he asked him with a grin.

He just chuckled softly, rolling his eyes. "Next time you see the waiter, call him over," he said. "We need to see a dessert menu."

"That's what I like to hear," he said with a laugh, waving their waiter over.

As they were finishing off the tiramisu that they had ordered to share, Sebastian spoke up again.

"So, I've got an idea."

Hunter nodded, raising an eyebrow at him. "Okay, what is this idea?"

"Remember the night we met?" he asked.

"How could I forget?" he said with a soft laugh, gesturing for him to go on.

"That club near your apartment," he said. "We should go."

"Wait, what?" he asked.

"You heard me," he said, grinning at him. "Let's go, have a few drinks, maybe dance a little. You wanted our first date to be special, right?"

"Special, yes, but… I don't know, Sebastian, bad things happen when I drink."

"Like what? Having sex with the hottest guy you ever met?" he asked with a laugh. "Which yes, I will admit, did not immediately work out, but long term I think it was a good choice."

"I just in general make poor decisions when I get alcohol in me."

"That's fun," he said, chuckling. Shrugging, he added, "But I mean, if you don't want to get drunk, that's okay. Just have a drink or two, just enough to get a pleasant buzz going, and dance with me."

Hunter stopped for a moment to consider it. He had, after all, never been before, and he was looking for a way to make this date stand out from anything they'd done before. He looked back at Sebastian after a bit, nodding. "Alright, okay, let's do it."

"I knew you'd say that," he said with a grin.

"Don't get too cocky," he said with a laugh, shaking his head.

"I'm going dancing and I know I'm going home with the guy I'm going to be with," he said, chuckling. "I can't help it."

Hunter rolled his eyes fondly at him. He paid the check and they left the restaurant, making the walk to the bar. Before they went inside, Sebastian looked them over, deciding that their attire was acceptable for the venue (stating, however, that they were, "a bit overdressed, but maybe we're just those people.")

It was loud. Hunter knew it would be, he wasn't sure what he had been expecting, you could hear it from outside, so of course it would be loud, but damn it was loud. And crowded. There was barely room to stand.

Sebastian took Hunter's hand and started to lead him through the crowd, looking back at him and saying something that he couldn't quite make out (as previously noted, it was loud), but seeing the direction he was leading him in, he figured it was something to do with going to the bar to get drinks.

Hunter let him order drinks for the both of them, just standing beside him and still holding his hand as he waited until he had to let go to take the drinks from the bartender.

"Here you are, good sir," Sebastian said with a grin as he turned around, offering him one of the glasses. "A Cuba libre for you."

"Cuba libre?" he echoed with a laugh, rolling his eyes.

"Rum and coke sounds lame," he said. "And does not have the benefit of having historical significance that I can use to impress hot guys."

"I'm not going to encourage you," Hunter said, shaking his head.

"Fine," he said. "Just enjoy your drink, sans trivia, dick."

"I'm sorry, you're right, I should be making you work harder," he said.

Sebastian laughed, rolling his eyes. "Of course."

They found themselves a small bar near the wall, staying there for a bit just drinking and chatting with each other. Sebastian looked around the room, his eyes returning to Hunter a moment later. "You said you've never been here, right?" he asked with a grin.

"That's right," he said with a small nod, raising an eyebrow.

"And nowhere else like it? No clubs or anything?"

Hunter shook his head. "Not really. Why?"

"We have to dance, then. No way around it," he said with a laugh.

"No way," he said. "Not happening."

"Oh, come on, Hunter," he said. "It'll be fun."

"I am nowhere near drunk enough to allow myself to do that," he said, immediately realizing the words were a mistake as Sebastian got to his feet. "That was not a challenge."

"Too late," he called over his shoulder before returning to the bar. He came back a moment later, carrying a shot glass in each hand.

"No," he said, shaking his head. "That is not happening. I am not doing shots."

"You're right, you're not doing shots," Sebastian said, winking at him. "We are doing shots. As much drinking as necessary. And then we're going to dance."

"Why do I like you?" he mumbled, though he knew he wouldn't be able to hear him, shaking his head.

And so they both tipped the shots back and downed them.

And, after a bit, Hunter did allow himself to be dragged out onto the floor.

From that point forward, the time they spent at the club was a bit of a blur, not necessarily because of alcohol (though he did, absolutely, drink more than the rum and coke and the one shot, though if you were to ask he couldn't tell you what exactly he drank and how many), maybe more like a mix of the alcohol along with the sheer amount of everything that was going on around him.

The highlights that he remembered were as follows:

Sebastian was an amazing dancer, just like he would have suspected he would be if he had ever put much thought to it. It was a good thing, too, because it meant that Hunter was able to just let him take the lead and not worry about the fact that he had never been much for dancing, especially not this kind of dancing.

He was vaguely aware of people around them watching them (which had been, of course, part of the reason that he had not wanted to dance) and he was also aware of Sebastian's awareness of them, which led to the fun realization that the other man was surprisingly territorial, making more of a point of touching Hunter and putting himself between anyone who might have tried to edge their way in.

Even though Hunter had thought that Sebastian might have been kidding about impressing guys with drink trivia, he did go on to share some fun facts about any drinks that they saw or imbibed over the course of the evening.

(With all of the above facts combined with the alcohol in Hunter's system, it was a small miracle that he did not at any point during the night declare his love for Sebastian, especially not repeatedly.)

And lastly, alcohol made him tired. He forgot about how true that was until it was too late and he was beyond being fun and the good kind of dizzy and was moving into wanting to just curl up against Sebastian.

"Do you want to go home?" Sebastian asked him eventually, evidently picking up on the fact that he had tired himself out.

"Yeah," he said with a small nod. He allowed himself to be led as Sebastian took his hand once more, leading him through the people in the club until they reached they exit.

The night air around them was cool enough that it woke Hunter up a bit, more alert and still drunk enough that in the low light provided by the street lights they were passing by, Sebastian looked so great that he had to stop and kiss him a few times along the way, likely doubling the time it should have taken them to get from point A to point B.

But eventually they did reach his apartment, struggling a bit on the stairs up to his door but getting there alright.

"So, I'm pretty sure this is the part where I kiss you goodnight on your porch and say goodbye," Sebastian said as they approached the apartment door, looking over at Hunter who was looking for his key.

"Don't you dare leave," he replied with a laugh, shaking his head and stopping his search on his keyring in order to kiss him.

"Hmm, you do make a wonderful argument," he mumbled against Hunter's lips.

"I know," he said with a grin, hesitating for a moment before pulling back (having to remind himself that just because he stopped kissing Sebastian for a moment didn't mean he had to continue to not kiss Sebastian), returning to finding his key to let them into the apartment (where the kissing Sebastian could continue).

They didn't have sex that night. They didn't have sex for at least another month after that, Sebastian at first citing that they shouldn't have drunk sex again, and especially not for their first time as an official couple, and after that point admitting, after some badgering by Hunter, that he, too, was trying to ensure that they were doing everything right.

Instead, they just kissed, and Sebastian let Hunter take off his shirt, and Hunter let Sebastian do the same, hands moving over skin, and that was as far as it went.

After that they just laid together for a while, talking about nothing, their voices just above whispers as they talked about anything that came to mind. They got up and changed into more comfortable pants eventually, still leaving off their shirts, and laid down together. Tired from a mixture of a long day and the heady drowsiness that comes with alcohol, they laid together, arms wrapped around each other as they continued to talk just loud enough for the other to hear. They both had to fight to stay awake, not wanting to let go of the moment, until eventually sleep got the better of them.

The hardest part about going into a relationship already being in love with the other person (along with having had the other person tell you in the past that they were in love with you) was knowing when to actually say it. Hunter felt fairly certain that they both probably knew that they loved each other, but it was one thing to know that and another to actually say it, and he didn't want to make their relationship feel too rushed. He wanted it to be perfect and he wanted it to last, and it seemed to him that running headfirst into it could turn out to be a pretty good way to potentially mess it up.

He told himself he had to wait at least a month. That seemed at least somewhat reasonable. It might have been a bit fast if they hadn't known each other before, and if they were younger it would be fast in the way that was typical of young people, which is to say that people wouldn't take it seriously. But he and Sebastian had practically been dating long before they were officially dating, so that definitely took some time off of the "too soon" counter.

Besides, he figured, he had made it past the first date without blurting it out, so at very least he had one up on Ted Mosby.

So when the one month mark hit (and Hunter resolved himself to not say anything about their monthiversary because that, absolutely, beyond a shadow of a doubt would have gotten him teased by Sebastian), he started considering saying it. He would pause in a moment and ask himself if that was the right time or not, because he was just that kind of person. He considered maybe making some sort of meal, but in the end decided that that would be too much, and why the hell did he keep finding himself having trouble with these kinds of things?

In the end, the issue solved itself.

One evening, Sebastian let himself into Hunter's apartment, without warning and without announcing himself. That in and of itself didn't necessarily mean a lot, seeing as it was fairly common for them to just make themselves at home at each other's apartments, but when he went straight to where Hunter was sitting on the couch and sat down, gently nudging him backwards so that he was laying down, he started to get the feeling that something was up.

"Hey," Hunter said, looking down as Sebastian wound his arms around him. "You okay?"

"I'm exhausted," he said with a small nod. "Today was…" He paused, groaning. "I don't even know. Today kicked my ass. It's one of those days where I kind of wonder why I ever agreed to this whole law school thing. Right now I just kind of want to, like, you know. This."

"Okay," he said, turning the volume down on the TV and embracing him. He slowly ran his hand up Sebastian's spine, eventually tangling his fingers in the hair at the nape of his neck, making him hum happily.

"Thank you," Sebastian mumbled, letting out a sigh and nuzzling his face into the curve where Hunter's neck met his shoulder. "You're holding me together here."

After a bit, he said softly, "I could make us dinner or something."

"Don't you dare move," he replied, his arms tightening around him.

Hunter chuckled softly, nodding and rubbing between Sebastian's shoulder blades. "Got it."

"Thank you," he said, laying his head back down against his chest once the threat of him moving was gone.

And from there, it was almost like Hunter couldn't hold himself back from speaking even if he had wanted to. "I love you."

Sebastian looked back up at him again, chuckling softly.

"What?"

"You are totally ruining my moping," he said. "You've really got to stop all… this."

"Ah, no, I really think I can't," he said.

"You're the worst," Sebastian said, shifting up slightly and bringing his hand to Hunter's jaw as he kissed him. "I love you too."

Hunter smiled into the kiss. "You mean I'm the best," he said.

Rolling his eyes, Sebastian rested his head against his boyfriend's shoulder again. "No arguments here," he mumbled, pressing a soft kiss to his neck.

Hunter chuckled softly before he closed his eyes for a moment, letting out a soft breath and just enjoying the feeling of Sebastian curled up against him. Sebastian was a cuddler, but not usually the type to just hold onto him like this, doing nothing else. He'd never known before how much he would love being able to be with someone like this, offering a comfort in such a simple way.

He wasn't a deeply philosophical person. But god, he couldn't help it, laying here with Sebastian, wondering about where he would be now if he had just gone inside and ignored the drunk guy shouting at him, or if Sebastian's ex hadn't lived in a building that looked like his, or if Sebastian hadn't caught said ex cheating. He never would've known the difference, he knew that logically, but still…

"Hunter."

Hunter opened his eyes again to see Sebastian looking at him, his face somehow both amused and concerned.

"Hey. Welcome back," he said. "What were you thinking about?"

"Nothing," he said, shaking his head.

"No, c'mon," Sebastian said as he shook his head, chuckling and nudging him. "Tell me."

"If you'll allow me to be cheesy, I was kind of thinking about how much I love you."

Sebastian rolled his eyes at him, but the smile on his face betrayed him. "Oh god, shut up, you," he said, laughing. He kissed him again softly before sitting back slightly. "You offered to make dinner earlier."

"I did," he said, nodding. "I can still do that."

"You're the best."

It took a bit of convincing for Sebastian to allow him to get up, and even then once they were in the kitchen he picked back up clinging to Hunter, but he couldn't find it in him to complain. Sebastian wasn't always a sentimental person, so he knew what this meant. It meant I love you. It meant you're perfect and I can't believe you're mine and what would I do without you? and you're so fucking cute.

So even though it was hard to move around the kitchen with Sebastian there, hugging him from behind, he just turned his head to kiss his temple. I love you too. You might be the love of my life.

Everything was good.