Oh man, I understand entirely. How do you even know, aside from announcing very clearly ahead of time that yes, this is a date? Like, does the fact that you're together intrinsically make all hangouts a date, and if so, does spending the night at somebody's house count? Does that change if you're doing it because otherwise it's hard spending any real amount of time together and there are other people around? Does going to McDonalds count? Going out to hunt Pokemon? Or do you have to decide ahead of time/dress up/do something out of the ordinary? Is the deciding factor somebody spending money? Being unusually romantic? I certainly don't know!

...In short, dating is weird. XD