Private It ain't the Sistine, but it'll do

"Yeah, yeah for sure." Dorian's cheeks flushed more and he felt like he might cut and run at any moment. It was a surreal feeling, for sure. He'd had plenty of crushes over the years, but this was the first time he'd had somebody actually seem interested back in him.

---

Dorian didn't dare go onto the teleporter up to the space station by himself. Not at all. If he was being honest with himself, the whole thing was kind of terrifying. But he'd made that bed a while ago when he had suggested it to begin with, and he wasn't going to back out now.

Dressed up a bit for the occasion in khaki slacks and a collared shirt with the first button undone and the sleeves rolled up, he had pulled out just enough money to hopefully get lunch and maybe pay for like... did they even have movies up there? Would P{ap even want to go see a movie if they did?

No.

No, he was overthinking things. Reminding himself to breathe, Dorian checked his phone. He still had his text to Paprika pulled up, sent just a few minutes ago.

I'm here. Can't wait to see you.

Dorian's nose twitched before he saw Paprika, his head swiveling around to figure out where the scent was coming from. When his eyes locked on his date, he felt his mouth go dry. Wow, he looked... great. Dorian felt almost plain by comparison - his own fashion sense wasn't really great to begin with since it had only been a couple of years since he'd stopped wearing oversized hoodies literally all the time.

"Pap, hey!" he called out, waving as he approached. "You look great. I mean you always look great, but your- I mean the jacket and the..." Dorian stumbled over his words as his own nerves began to get the better of him. So he pulled back a bit and laughed at his own ineptitude at all of this.

"I'm glad you came."

"Thanks," Dorian said quickly, rushing at first to take Pap's hand and giving it a gentle squeeze. He was swimming on clouds that he had said that he was excited for the date. "Let's go then, yeah?"

The teleportation hub that led up to the space station was bustling, and Dorian kept a firm grip on Paprika's hand so they wouldn't get separated as they made their way over to one of the glowing circular pads.

The trip up left him a little woozy and nauseous for a moment, but Dorian quickly recovered and tugged down his shirt to smooth is down again. "That was weird... yeah?"