While the sun was shining brightly in the sky, it wasn’t exactly a hugely warm day. The season was truly setting in for many, and most were out and about on the streets of Canterlot, dressed for winter, be it thick coats or even just simple scarves. However, out on the edges of the town, there was a place that kept its own warmth. A small café, busy at this time of day, with patrons both old and young coming and going. It was a pleasant enough place, small and cosy. The kind of place where one might spend the afternoon with friends. However, that was not the agenda today for one customer in particular. A teenage boy, with a distinct pudding-bowl haircut. Wiz Kid, of Canterlot High, who was currently sitting quietly in a corner table, big enough for two. Every once in a while, he’d glance to his watch, seeing the seconds pass by, and when he did, he’d let out a sigh.

“It’s fine. No problem. I am early after all.”

Then, almost as if the world itself had heard him, he turned to the sound of a bell, signalling that the front door of the café had been opened. Once he saw who had arrived, he broke out into a small smile. For there, standing in her own winter coat, was Aria Blaze. This girl, a Siren of Equestria, scoured the place, until finally setting her eyes upon Wiz, who helpfully waved to her to give her a better chance of spotting him. She too smiled, though in her case it was halfway to being a smirk, and as she began to walk towards him, she unbuttoned her coat, slipping it off to reveal her regular outfit underneath. Once at the table, she hung the coat off the back of the vacant chair there, before sitting down. Wiz watched her, a degree of nervousness in his expression, before finally breaking the silence between them.

“So…any trouble getting here?”

To that, Aria simply shrugged her shoulders.

“Meh. Not much. You?”

Wiz shook his head.

“No problems here either.”

Aria opened her mouth again, only to be stopped when both she and Wiz realised that they were no longer alone. One of the café’s waitresses, a girl their age, had walked up to their table, and was holding a paper pad and pen in her hands. After giving a customary smile to the both of them, to which Aria rolled her eyes, she spoke up.

“Can I take your orders?”

Wiz smiled back, reaching over for a nearby menu, which was understandably small, given the venue, and looked over it briefly before giving his response.

“Yes…I’ll just have a tea for the moment thanks.”

Nodding, the waitress wrote that down on her pad before looking over to Aria. The latter spoke up before the girl had the chance to do so herself, and her voice bore its usual dismissive tone.

“Coffee. Black. No sugar.”

Though somewhat taken aback by this abrasive response, the waitress nevertheless continued to smile, jotting down the order before making her way off to prepare it. Now alone again, Wiz kept his eyes on his date, staying silent for a few moments before he finally thought of something to say.

“So…have you been keeping well?”

Looking to him, Aria’s expression softened a touch from what it had been when the waitress had been here.

“It’s been fine. My job at that clothes store has been working out fine. Better than I thought it would actually.”

Nodding to her, Wiz chuckled a bit.

“Kinda hard to imagine, you behind a counter.”

Aria returned the laugh somewhat.

“Yeah…it’s a long story.”

Looking up to her date, curiosity struck her for a moment, causing her to raise an eyebrow before speaking up to him again.

“So what about you? I gotta admit, I don’t really know that much about you, Wiz.”

To that, the boy shrugged his shoulders.

“Not much to say really. I’m part of the math club…and I can already see you losing interest.”

Surprised by those words, Aria found herself letting out a dry laugh once more.

“Good one.”

But Wiz slumped his shoulders a little.

“Awww. I was hoping to hear you giggle again.”

Looking to him in earnest, Aria narrowed her eyes.

“I thought we agreed that you’d never bring that up again?”

Smiling, Wiz nodded.

“Maybe…but I’d still like to hear it again one day. It was…nice.”

Despite herself, Aria found herself blushing slightly, which she did her best to hide by looking away from him.

“Yeah…well…whatever.”

Leaning forward slightly, Wiz opened his mouth to speak, only to be stopped when the waitress from earlier returned. As asked, she was carrying a small tray, with one tea cup and one coffee. After setting them down gently, she smiled to both youths, to which only Wiz returned it, before making her way back to the counter. Now alone again, Wiz took his tea and blew on it a little before taking a single sip, after which he looked up to his date.

“So…you getting on okay with Sunset and the other girls?”

Taking her own drink, Aria likewise took a single gulp of it before answering.

“They get on my nerves sometimes…but yeah, I gotta say I enjoy having them around.”

Raising her eyes to him, curiosity gripped her for a second time.

“What about you? Any friends I should know about?”

Wiz shrugged his shoulders before answering.

“Not that many. There’s Flash. I sometimes help him out with the equipment for his band. There’s also Bulk, Micro Chips and Sandalwood.”

At the mention of that final name, Aria grimaced slightly, turning away from the boy. Wiz noted this immediately before addressing her.

“Ah…that’s right. You two dated once, right?”

Aria turned to him with a raised eyebrow.

“You heard about that?”

Wiz nodded.

“Yep. He said he enjoyed it. But…I’m guessing you weren’t really that into him?”

Putting her coffee down, Aria shook her head.

“Not really. He was nice, I guess, but…he just wasn’t for me.”

For a moment, there was silence between them, after which, Aria looked to Wiz again.

“You bothered by that?”

The boy considered that for a moment before shaking his head.

“Nah. He got over it pretty quickly. And as for me, I don’t mind that you’ve dated other guys.”

The Siren looked to him, letting out another hearty laugh briefly.

“Trust me, you have no idea.”

This time, it was Wiz’s turn to raise an eyebrow.

“Oh?”

Aria nodded before explaining herself.

“Kid…I’m a lot older than you. And I mean centuries older. In that time…well…my sisters and I have had our share of guys….and then some.”

Needless to say, Wiz looked rather surprised at that.

“Wow…centuries?”

Aria nodded.

“Yep. Millennia, in fact.”

Wiz looked away for a moment, considering that before looking back to the seemingly-young-looking girl before him. After a while, he chuckled nervously before speaking up again.

“Well…you look pretty good for it.”

Chuckling herself, Aria brushed aside one of her long pigtails.

“Yeah, I know.”

However, after a few seconds of silence between them, Wiz looked to her with an intensely curious expression.

“What’s it like? Living so much longer than all the rest of us?”

Aria looked back to him and shrugged her shoulders.

“Just something you get used to, I guess. We were always long-loved, outliving the ponies of Equestria. That just carried on with you humans once we got sent here.”

Wiz kept on nodding at that, clearly fascinated with those words. But, after a while, he seemed ponderous for a moment, before finally speaking up again.

“And you been with a whole bunch of guys in that time?”

Again, Aria nodded.

“Not as many as my sisters, but yeah.”

Briefly, Wiz looked away, and when he finally looked back to her, he seemed, for lack of a better word, hesitant as he spoke.

“So…what made you want to date me exactly? I mean…you must have had some pretty amazing guys in all that time. Why go for me?”

Aria paused for a moment, clearly having not expected that question. She sat and thought about it for a while, occasionally sipping her coffee as she did so. When she finally spoke up again, her expression was one of uncertainty, perhaps even nervousness.

“I dunno. I guess…for the first time in my life…I just wanted a guy I could talk to. Go on a date with without wondering about…you know…needing stress relief afterwards.”

It took a while, but Wiz finally got the meaning behind those latter words, and a fierce blush crept onto his face as a result. Seeing this, Aria folded her arms and laughed a little.

“Don’t get too embarrassed, kid. Hanging out with Sires, you’re gonna hear that kinda thing a lot.”

Wiz laughed nervously in response to that, but afterwards, he fell into silence, poking his index fingers against one another as he looked to his date.

“So…am I…okay? As a date?”

Raising an eyebrow, Aria looked him over for a little bit, before developing a small smirk.

“I can tell you this much. I’ve talked more with you in the last five minutes than almost any guy I’ve been with before.”

However, for a moment, her expression became somewhat more serious, and even a little sad, causing her to look away briefly.

“Well…except for one.”

Wiz, naturally, was curious about that, but elected to stay silent, especially when Aria looked back to him.

“So, bottom line, you’re doing fine. Besides, aside from that milkshake at Sugar Cube Corner, this is only our first real date. It’s hardly fair to judge your potential as a boyfriend after just one bout in a café together.”

Wiz laughed a little at that.

“Yeah…guess it is.”

Still smirking, Aria reached forward, pacing her hand upon his in a display of gentleness most wouldn’t usually associated her with. This caught his attention, and as he watched her, he saw her look to him with interest in her eyes.

“Although…I’d say you’re off to a good start.”

It took a while, but eventually, he broke out into a small smile.

“Well then…here’s hoping I keep it up.”

Leaning back into her own chair, Aria let out another brief chuckle before replying.

“Oh, trust me on this. If you don't…you’ll know.”

As one would expect, this led to yet another bout of nervousness from Wiz, as he sat there in silence while Aria took another sip of her coffee, keeping her eyes on him the whole time.

“No pressure, right?”

Author's Notes:

Originally, I was going to do this as a separate story, but after doing some thinking, I decided to simply make it a final chapter of the established Aria fic