Damon and Jun left Mark to fend for himself at the Hart's house – and yes, Mark was extremely terrified at the prospect. He clung to Damon's sleeve surreptitiously for a full ten minutes, pretending to look casual despite the absolute death glare he was receiving from Jay. Damon then spent an additional ten minutes trying to reassure Mark that he wouldn't be murdered, with little success. Damon wasn't honestly sure Jay wouldn't murder Mark, so his reassurances sounded hollow even to himself.

Finally, Jun took matters into his own hands and grabbed Mark by the collar – strikingly similar to the way Jay had dragged Mark around earlier – forcefully separating Mark from Damon like peeling off a band aid. He held Mark by the scruff like a feral cat for several seconds before tossing him to the side.

Unwilling to give Mark another chance to latch onto them like a leash, Jun quickly ushered Damon out of the house with hurried goodbyes to everyone. Damon had built up this whole day in his head so much – it was jarring to just leave like that. Damon was also a little glad. An hour more in there and Damon would have been too overwhelmed to function properly, which Jun likely knew.

So, once out of the house, instead of going straight back to the apartment, Jun grabbed Damon's hand and lead him down a different path. Damon stumbled along in confusion but didn't bother to ask where they were going. He didn't really want to think anymore, and he trusted that wherever Jun was taking him, it wouldn't require any brainpower on Damon's part.

Seriously, meeting Jun's family had only taken a couple hours. Why was Damon so fricking tired?

Lost in thought, Damon didn't pay attention to where they were until Jun stopped, swinging their clasped hands gently between them. He looked around, bewildered. Wasn't this the market where he and Jun first met? At this time of day, it wasn't as crowded as Damon remembered, but there were still plenty of stalls open selling everything from fresh produce to handmade clothes and decorative crafts.

The day was stretching into evening, and the sky was burnished orange on the horizon, giving the stalls exaggerated shadows on one side and bright highlights on the other. Damon side-eyed Jun for an explanation, to which Jun just shrugged, something playful in his gaze.

And just like that, Damon felt lighter. He couldn't help but give a tiny smile, letting Jun pull him through the stalls. They browsed the stalls they passed but didn't seriously peruse what was on sale. They just walked, hand in hand, enjoying the gentle bustle of the customers and the sweet warm breeze. It was very comfortable – and quite reminiscent of his and Jun's first real date at the beginning of April this year, most of a month before The Season began.

This was only a few days after Jun issued his courting claim. He moved fast, barely letting the dust settle on his confession before accosting a still very flustered Damon on the sidewalk outside his house.

Literally accosting him. He popped up from out of nowhere as Damon was getting the mail and nearly made Damon pee his pants.

"Gahh!" Damon said – very eloquently. He immediately blushed red. He was still a little freaked out over the whole courtship idea, not to mention deeply confused about why Jun was pursuing him – and confused about Jun as a person, because to this point, Jun hadn't said a single word to Damon. So now, officially, Damon's first word to Jun was 'gahh.'

Very smooth. Very not-embarrassing.

Later in their courtship, Jun learned the value of personal space to Damon. Kind of. At least enough that Damon could breathe comfortably without inhaling Jun's air. But at the beginning, personal space wasn't even in his vocabulary, at least where Damon was concerned.

So when he popped up next to Damon at the mailbox, he was right up in Damon's business. Damon's nose was maybe three inches from Jun's chin. So that was overwhelming in and of itself. Damon had only ever encountered Jun from a safe distance – Jun on the stage at the center of the village, Damon in the crowd. This was way too much way too fast. He took a breath, got mouthful of Jun's scent, and froze in place like a rabbit caught in the gaze of a fox, too overloaded to even take a few steps back.

Jun tilted his head down to meet Damon's eyes. "Go out with me," he said. And then stopped, considering. "Please," he added.

Damon blinked slowly, mouth falling open slightly. "Uhmmm."

Jun stared at Damon. Damon stared back. In the distance, a car alarm started going off, but for a second Damon couldn't tell if the alarm was real or if it was the sound of his last two braincells imploding.

Jun didn't say anything else, just waiting for Damon's response. And for once, despite being an overthinker literally every other second of his life, Damon's mind was utterly blank.

"Okay," he said.

Jun nodded, grabbed Damon's sleeve, and started walking him down the sidewalk. And amazingly, Damon couldn't think of a single thing to say or do. He was frozen, completely on autopilot.

Damon could have said no. Given himself time to get used to being in a courtship first. He could have put it off and asked Jun to reschedule whatever he had planned. But he didn't.

For the past few days, after entering the courtship, Damon had been thinking about what he was going to do when Jun inevitably approached him. He had been creating scenarios and making plans in his head instead of sleeping. He had come up with three likely outcomes.

Scenario 1. Jun would come to Damon and explain the real reason why he was courting him. Because, of course, Damon didn't think Jun legitimately wanted to date him. There was no way Jun was actually in love with him, so Damon could only assume Jun had an ulterior motive – such as covering up a real relationship that he wasn't supposed to be in, or something equally as dramatic.

In that scenario, Damon would agree to help Jun. Because he had nothing better to do, honestly, and he was a nice guy. He would lend a helping hand, as long as there was no risk of a crazy lover coming after him.

Scenario 2. Jun would do nothing. In this case, the courtship angle might entirely be to keep someone else from placing a courting claim on Jun, and so Jun would just be using Damon as a shield to protect himself. In which case, Damon would choose to do nothing as well. There was too much he didn't know. He couldn't make the first move, so if Jun didn't do anything, Damon wouldn't either.

Scenario 3. Jun would tell Damon he sincerely wanted to date him. This scenario was the least fleshed out of the three because every time Damon thought about it, he felt like he was having a heart attack and a 104-degree fever at the same time. Damon hadn't yet figured out what he would do if this scenario were to come true.

Anyway, it seemed, at this moment, like scenario number three was occurring, but still Damon wasn't sure. Jun had just asked to go out with him. That didn't necessarily mean Jun was actually interested in him. It could, again, be a cover up. A way of maintaining appearances.

But Damon couldn't think too hard about any of that. Jun had led him to the Alley, which was a very small street in Ganymede pack dedicated to small businesses – boutiques, a café, and the like. It was the only place in Ganymede pack where you could window shop – which is exactly what they did.

They walked slowly up the Alley and looked in all the windows. At the end of the date, they even stopped at the café and got hot drinks. They didn't really talk, which was par for the course with Jun, but because of nerves for Damon. It was also early evening when they went on that date, though much colder, and it wasn't quite as relaxed. Instead of boldly holding Damon's hand like he was now, Jun only dared to hold his sleeve until they got there, at which point, he let go and they just walked side by side. But still Jun maintained that closeness, letting their arms brush together as they walked. Damon had tried to subtly step to the side to give himself more space a few times, but each time Jun just gravitated right back where he had been.

It was weird. Super weird. And awkward, of course.

But it wasn't now. It was just comfortable.

"Jun. Is this a date?" Damon asked, teasing, the smile clear in his voice. Jun swung their hands again, and Damon thought he was going to say something unbearably cute, but when he answered he was unexpectedly serious.

"No," he said. "This is just me and my mate, walking in the market."

At that moment, while Damon was gaping at Jun for just having the audacity to call him his mate, an older couple sporting white and gray hair but still walking at a steady pace appeared walking in front of them with their hands clasped together, just like theirs. They both fell silent, watching the couple chat, too low for them to hear.

And suddenly, Damon found himself stopping the pithy retort to Jun's words sitting at the tip of his tongue. Following the couple's footsteps, the market fell away, and then it was just Jun and Damon and the path beneath their feet.