George drives a short way to the bakery and gets out of the car. "Ta-da! We're here!"

"Yay!" Philip cheers, dragging George inside.

George goes up to the counter with him. "Pick anything you want," he says with a smile.

"I want a cupcake!" Philip says, definitely sure of his decision. Cupcakes are the best baked good, in his opinion. And they're so diverse!

George chuckles. "Cupcake it is, then. I'm gonna have a croissant, because why not?" He orders their choices for them and then steps off to the side with Philip.

Philip, without really putting much thought into it, puts on his best French accent and says, "Croissant."

George laughs. "That was the most adorable thing yet," he says, handing Philip his cupcake. Philip immediately bites into the cupcake and is definitely not disappointed by the taste. George laughs for some reason as he takes a bite of his croissant.

"What's so funny?" Philip asks, taking a few more bites of his cupcake.

"Noooothing..." George claims, although his smile doesn't leave his face and he looks like he's trying hard to suppress more laughter.

"Georgieeee..." Philip whines, frowning. He doesn't like being discluded from whatever it is George thinks is funny. "What's so funnyyyy?" Without a word, George puts his finger to Philip's nose and pulls it back with icing on it, eating the icing off his finger. Philip blinks, not expecting something as simple as that. "...Oh." He giggles at his own needless worries and finishes up his cupcake. George just laughs more, still eating his croissant, so Philip steals a bite of his croissant when George isn't paying attention.

George gasps. "How dare you?!" he exclaims, although he's laughing.

"Mm!" Philip giggles, chewing the bread in his mouth. "Do you wan' it back? I haven' swallowed yet!"

George quickly shakes his head. "No thanks!" He laughs some more.

Philip swallows the bite and giggles. "Your loss."

"Yeah. I still got this last bite, though!" George says, finishing the croissant.

Philip smiles at him, really enjoying himself on this date so far. "What now...?"

George shrugs. "I'll leave that up to you," he says with a smile.

Philip is glad he said that because he has the most wonderfully romantic idea. "Can we go for a walk in the park...? So we can watch the sunset when it happens...?" He looks at George hopefully, really just hoping he'll like the idea.

Much to Philip's joy, George smiles widely at the idea. "Yes! Let's do that!" He thanks the man working at the counter of the cafe and then brings Philip back out to the car. Philip smiles brightly, really loving that George and him like a lot of the same sort of stuff. Once in the car, George drives them all the way to a park, which is pretty far from the bakery, so Philip hums a song as they go to entertain himself. He looks out the window. "Your voice is pretty. Have you tried singing?" George asks.

Philip blushes and stops humming. He didn't know George was listening. It's a little embarrassing, honestly. "Well, I mean... I've sung before..."

George smiles. "I think you have a really good voice."

"Thank you..." Well, if George likes it... "Maybe I'll sing for you one of these days," Philip suggests with a smile.

"That would be nice..." George says with a soft smile as he pulls up to park next to the... well, park.

"I will... someday. If we're gonna be together forever, that is..." Philip says hesitantly.

George blushes and smiles, looking down at his lap. "Y-yeah."

Philip bites his lip as he gets out of the car. "I really hope so..." George goes around the car to Philip, taking his hand.

Philip squeezes his hand and looks up at him. "What if... What if it turns out just to be one of those teen romance things that you hear about... where they fall apart after high school because they were never meant to last...?"

George looks at him, a look of sadness in his eyes. "I really don't want it to be... because I love you so much..."

Philip hugs him tightly. "I love you, too... and I don't want to ever leave you... and I know you don't want to leave me, either... but I'm just saying that... time does a lot of weird things, and opinions change..." He feels George hug him back tightly. After a bit, they pull away and George looks down at him. "C'mon... We gotta make it to a good spot for the sunset," Philip says with a smile. George smiles back and takes him through the park until he finds a spot that he seems to like. Philip sits down in the grass next to him and looks out at the changing sky.

George smiles and puts an arm around Philip. "I love you..."

Philip leans against him, feeling safe and comfortable. "I love you, too..." George stares out at the setting sun along with Philip. "...What do you think is the best way to end a date?"

"A loving kiss right as the sun sets," George replies.

Philip smiles. That really is a nice, romantic way to end a date. "That does sound amazing..."

George pulls him closer. "Then that's how we'll end it."

"I don't wanna end it yet, though..." Philip buries his face into George's side.

"The sun hasn't set yet," George points out.

"I know... but it feels so soon..." Philip really doesn't want this perfect date to end, but he also just doesn't want to go home yet.

"We both have to go home eventually..." George says.

Do they really, though? "...Yeah, I know..." Philip admits, knowing he can't just run away with him, even though he would so much like to, just like how he runs from his other problems.

George kisses his forehead and sighs. "Hey, can you promise me something?"

"Yes, of course! What is it...?" Philip asks, just a bit concerned.

"If... if anything happens... I promise it will never be your fault. So promise me you'll never blame yourself," George says.

"But... what if it is my fault...?" Then Philip rethinks what he said. "...Oh. You're not talking about a generic anything, are you...? You're talking about something specific..."

"Just keep it in mind..." George replies, looking away and not really answering his question.

"...Okay..." Philip says, although he's dreading whatever's to come now.

"Just..." George says quietly. "...promise me."

"I promise, Georgie..." Philip says, despite his concern.

"Thank you..." George hugs him tightly, and Philip hugs back, although he's still kinda scared that something's going to happen now. George turns back to the sunset, leading Philip to do the same. As he watches the sun fall on the horizon, ending the day, he feels as if something else if ending, too. And he doesn't like it.

"Aren't we supposed to end this a certain way?" George asks with a soft smile.

"Yeah..." Philip smiles softly as well and then turns to George, accepting a deep and loving kiss. He melts into it, not having expected it to be as passionate as it is. He returns the kiss with as much love and passion, if not more than, George.

Eventually, George pulls away, panting softly. "I love you, Philip," he says, hugging him again tightly.

"I love you, too, Georgie..." Philip starts to tear up a bit, still expecting the worst. "...I don't ever want you to leave me..." George's arms tighten around him even more. "No matter what happens, Georgie.... promise you won't leave me..."

"I-I..." Philip hears George swallow. "I promise..." His voice is shaky, like he's about to cry.

"Don't break that promise... If you break that promise, you break my heart..." Philip warns, really just scared. He feels George's arms tighten around him even more, to the point where Philip feels like he's being crushed a little bit. "Not so tight..." he forces out.

George's arms loosen a bit. "S-sorry..."

"It's okay... Really, what's bothering you...?" Philip asks, still concerned.

"It's nothing you should worry about," George tries.

Philip isn't going to take this anymore. He takes his face into his hands and looks him right in his eyes, which he finds are tearing up. "George Eacker, I love you. And if there is something bothering you, I definitely have to worry about it!" With that, Philip pulls away and looks down sadly. "Please, tell me what it is..."

"I-I can't..." George persists.

"...Okay. Fine... It's fine... I see how it is... " Philip tears up again and this time, a few tears fall down his cheeks almost immediately, but he wipes them on his sleeve, not wanting pity from George right now. "It's okay. I... I trust you can handle it on your own... I'm just... concerned for you because I love you so much... That's all..." He looks up and smiles at him pitifully.

"Philip..." George looks down. "I'm sorry. But I'm only trying to keep you safe... " He stands up and mumbles, "I should get you home..."

Philip sniffles and tries not to cry more at that comment. "I understand..." He starts heading back towards the car by himself.

George follows him silently and gets in the car with him. Before he starts to drive, he breaks the uncomfortable silence. "I'm sorry..."

"It's okay... I guess you don't have to tell me everything..." Philip admits. "You're your own person, after all..." George just sighs and nods, starting the long drive back to Philip's house. Philip is silent the whole way there, not feeling like humming anymore.

George pulls up to his house and furrows his eyebrows, looking at the driveway. "Guess your dad's not home..."

"That's fine... He'll probably be home later... I'll just go to bed anyway..." Philip gets out of the car. "Bye, George. Thanks for the date... It was fun..."

George nods. "Yeah, I think so, too." He smiles slightly at him before driving away, towards his house. Philip goes inside, straight to his room to get ready for bed, despite his hunger. He didn't have anything for dinner but a cupcake and a few bites of croissant, after all.

Philip looks up as his bedroom door opens and his pa comes in. "Hey," he says.

"Hi, Pa..." Philip smiles at him as genuinely as he can, although he's still a little down about what happened earlier. Writing about it has helped him feel a lot better than before, though.

"Your ma called and said you were out late. I'm assuming with George."

Philip nods. "He took me on a really awesome date..." He doesn't elaborate because he feels tears threatening to well up in his eyes as he remembers the end of the date.

"That's cool," his pa says simply, sitting down on Philip's bed.

"Mhm... You look tired, Pa..." Philip says, changing the subject to something he finds more important right now. "Is everything okay?"

"Yeah. I've just been... really busy." Hearing that and the tone in his voice, Philip gets up from his desk chair and sits on the bed next to him, giving him a hug. "Thanks, Pip," he says, hugging back. They spend a good amount of time like this, just hugging and comforting each other in silence, neither admitting that something is wrong, but both knowing nonetheless.