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Aloysius heard about the event through Melody and hadn't really thought much of it at first until there was a mention of a buffet. While he couldn't eat all that much, it sounded very much like something Liam would enjoy. It would also mean that Aloysius could weasel them away from trying to do everything related to cooking while they were still in a cast. As much as he appreciated the warm meals when coming home from work, he worried that they were pushing themselves too much.

So, after getting some help from Melody, Aloysius cornered his partner and got them dressed up a bit more formally. "You have to look nice if we are going to an event, otherwise Melody will be most displeased. Many of the local restaurants are hosting a buffet of sorts so you need not worry about having to cook for today, possibly even for a few days if you want to go back a few times before the event ends." Carefully tying a tie on Liam, he smiled and smoothed his hands over the nice suit Mel had gotten for them. It looked good and he thought Liam cleaned up nice, other than still having a cast. It would be off soon though, maybe a week or two if he remembered for Lorcan had said.

"It has been a long time since I have gone to a large event, if it gets to be too much let me know." However, when he said it, it was probably obvious that he was going to be the one who would have to leave after a while. It would be a bother if any of his students came up to interrupt them while eating and it would be hard to politely shoo them away. Some of the younger ones couldn't really wrap their heads around the fact that teachers do in fact have lives outside of class.

Finishing up with his preening on Liam's outfit, Aloysius went back to making sure his hair was braided and tied neatly. Smoothing his hands over to make sure every strand was neat and in place, he made a decision to wear contacts today instead of his glasses. They may be a bit more annoying to manage but Aloysius knew Liam liked him better without the glasses.

"We can do that, it should be a bit less crowded than it will be on Valentine's Day. There will be plenty of places to sit and things to try but I will let you shoo people off if things get bothersome." Smiling as he turned back to look at Liam, everything was coming together well so far.

"You look very handsome, I think it suits you. I look alright as well?" Doing some final preening, he smoothed out his vest and tie before making sure his shirt was tucked in neatly and his family's emblem was pinned where it always was on his clothing.

"If everything looks alright we can head out."

"We can stay most of the time it is open today since I am off tomorrow, all I have to do is prepare things for a quiz but that just requires me to finish setting it up on the site for my students. It really is nice that I can avoid carrying a hundred exams to and from most of the time. I believe the only time I have to proctor an actual exam is when I test them on music writing since that works best on paper." Things had changed since he'd started as a TA ten years back and he couldn't help but appreciate how easy it was when things decided to work.

"I would like that... maybe not always something with so many people but I would enjoy getting to do more things with you out and about. Once you graduate there will be a lot more time for things and I will try to manage my workload a bit better to accommodate for things as well. Maybe if there is a restaurant we end up liking during the buffet, we can start going out to dinner at their location from time to time?"

Smiling as they nudged him, he quickly refixed his bangs before nodding. "I feel like Voce would take offense to me being compared to a bird like them. But yes, we can head out now." Grabbing the keys and carefully pulling Liam along, Aloysius made sure the door was locked and called out to let Desiree know they would be back later. Mel would already be there so he didn't have to worry about bringing her along in his car.

The whole drive over, he thought about how long it had really been since he'd been to a large event with normal civilians. Had it been Destiny Con in college? It felt so long ago but when it boiled down to it, everything had lined up and it had in fact been the last large civilian event he'd attended. The smaller music gathering was just this past year but it was small in comparison.

Pulling up and parking, he went around and opened the door for Liam. Leaning in for a kiss, he smiled a bit more. "Love you. This will be fun."

"I know, I know. Things should be a bit easier next semester, most of my students are in their final year of college so there may not be as many coming up next year. I think the department has gotten smaller this year, there are a lot few prospective students coming in with the freshmen in the fall."

It all sounded nice and he looked forward to trying to make time for more things, especially if it made Liam happy. Aloysius made a small surprised noise as they kept him held close for a bit but he didn't fight it. "I think we can find a few places to make sure we can do that, even if I do like cooking it would be nice to go out every so often."

Walking along with them at his side, Aloysius paid for the couple's ticket and looked around until he managed to find the way towards the buffet. As soon as he walked in, the smell of sweets and chocolate left him pulling Liam along just a bit faster to try and get a look at what there was to offer.

"I would love to have that much control over the class schedule for DCU but that is out of my hands. I can adjust the small afterschool one that I do since I am a volunteer who runs that. The main thing I think I need to cut back on is the private lessons I offer since I have to commute to our other home to provide those." They'd been draining on him a bit more because of that commute, so much so that he'd been heavily considering borrowing Desiree so that he could just teleport back and forth with her covering his signature.

Making his way through the stalls, he found the one with the chocolates and looked over the choices while leaning into the other. "We can do that, going out occasionally for dinner or ordering in a bit more often. We just need to find out what will deliver out there since we are a bit out of the way now." Luckily it hadn't affected Amazon or when they both ordered groceries but he hadn't found much that looked good restaurant-wise.

Picking a few of the options out, he felt a bit embarrassed about being called out on his sweet tooth even if it wasn't so direct. "I think that might be enough for me from this place, did you want anything? There are dipped strawberries and other fruits."

Nodding a bit as he looked over things he felt a bit exasperated over the fact they thought he had that much say in things as a professor. In a perfect world, he might have that much power of it, or in a smaller school.

"I think that first part would work, we should get a larger mirror so you can avoid using the one in the upstairs bathroom. Maybe we could put it on the back of the door to that bedroom upstairs." It would be easier since that door was kept closed when nobody was home so they could pop right out into the bedroom without any notice.

"I wish I could do that with the university, it boils down to either a Monday/Wednesday/Friday schedule or a Tuesday and Thursday one. The latter usually ends up being almost four hours though to make up for one less day. It really does fall to staffing and what the university needs of me. My department is rather small, at least when compared to engineering or any of the other STEM-based departments. You might have noticed how much smaller my classroom maybe than the one you go into for your accounting classes."

Leaning into the petting for just a moment, he made some final decisions on what else he was going to get from this stall. Adding some chocolate-covered strawberries and candied oranges, he paid the stall owner and collected the box of sweets with a soft smile. Once they were away from the stall, he found a table a bit farther away and tucked near the wall. Somewhere quieter they could sit and chat.

"You know... I do have a dentist I go to, I am due for a cleaning again soon. I can see if he has any openings for a new patient if you would like? I went a bit more frequently when I smoked, it is why I never really had that same level of staining that you might expect from a smoker." It also helped that he was on top of brushing and everything else to keep things under control.

"I think I like your version of take out, it would keep more options open to us since there are fewer places that will head out our way. Desiree might enjoy going on small little trips as well."