Emrys rustled his hair with a soft smile, peeking out the window and then breaking out into a bubbly grin. He'd always loved the big glass buildings cities like this often offered, but nothing was better than the aquarium. It was huge, teeming with life from the smallest jellyfish to the biggest whale shark and everything in between. "I see it! It's amazing, I can't wait to get inside!"
"Oh that smile is adorable," Atlas whispered, he was meaning to say it to himself, but that didn't really work. His smile grew seeing Emrys' excitement. "I can't wait either! It's gonna be so fun and a great break."
Em blushed and shoved his face into Atlas' shoulder. "You can't just say stuff like that," he whined softly, pressing a soft kiss to Atlas' neck. "It's… embarrassing. I don't know how to deal with this stuff."
"But you're just so cute, I can't not say stuff like that. I'm definitely not going to stop anytime soon. I love you too much." Atlas said, laying his head on top of Em's. "You'll have to learn how to deal with it eventually if I'm your boyfriend."
Em's answering whine was somewhat muffled against Atlas' neck, but still loud enough for him to hear. "But Atlas." He nuzzled him harder, more insistently. "It's… weird. I never get compliments, they're hard to deal with."
"Then I'll keep complimenting you until you can deal with them, k?" Atlas said, smiling, and he lifted his head off of Emrys' then placed his hand under Em's chin and lifted it as well. He pecked the tip of his nose, then planted a soft kiss on his lips.
Em blushed, forcing himself to let Atlas tilt his gaze up instead of shying away like he normally would. He kissed him back slowly and then faster, pulling him in close with a small smile. "I… I think I'd like that, then."
"Oh I love when you do that…" He went in for another kiss, pulling back after a few seconds. "But you're in for a sour-then-sweet treat. You may not know what to do for the first while, but eventually, you'll love compliments. Hopefully just as much as I love you."
Em chirped out the most adorable little sound, soft and confused, and pulled away just far enough to talk. "Do what?" he asked, letting Atlas yank him in, kissing him back enthusiastically as his fingers curled up in the soft fabric of his shirt. "And… and… I love you too."
Atlas didn't end up answering Emrys' question, he was distracted by Emrys in general, his eyes, his lips, his touch. He ended up pulling Em into a tight hug. But just a second after he did so, the Uber driver stopped, they got to the aquarium.
The way Atlas looked at him– like he was some precious perfect thing– was an answer in itself. He held him close, arms tight around him, and he was leaning in for a kiss as the car jolted to a stop. He pulled away with a sigh and a grumble, spilling out of the car and pressing three crumpled twenties into the driver's palm as everyone else followed him towards the blue glass entrance of the aquarium.
Atlas sighed as he sat up and handed the driver 2 fives, a 10, and a few ones. He then hopped out and ran to catch up to Emrys. He lightly grabbed Em's hand and laced their fingers. "Oh this is gonna be great!" He said as the got to the door. He opened the door, still holding Em's hand, and held it for him, closing it before Cadmus and Harley could get through.
Cadmus squawked mutedly, but Harley just led them inside, catching up to Emrys who had lagged behind long enough them to catch up.
"Awfully rude of you, Atlas," he commented quietly, kissing Cadmus on the hand to calm him down. "I was gonna buy your ticket, but I guess it's just gonna be me Cadmus and Em hanging out while you watch through the windows."
"Heyy! I thought you guys were further back behind us and I didn't want to wait holding the door for, like, a minute. Please, Harley, it's an honest mistake." Atlas said with a pleading look. Honestly, he did see that they weren't super far away, but he didn't think they were as close as they actually had been.
Harley gave him a once over before he clapped Atlas on the back– forgiveness in its quietest form. "Sure, Fox. Just don't make it again, yeah? Now let's go to ticketing, that line's at least a thirty-minute wait."
"Thank you so much. And yeah let's get there before moe people do. I mean, I bet some people in that line would give up their place in line to meet us, but I'm not about taking people's places at an aquarium. Imma wait in line like a regular-ass person…" Atlas started almost ranting. He stopped, realizing there was no point. "Um, and there was no point in that no one said anything about taking people's places…"
Emrys laughed and pecked him on the cheek while Cadmus tossed an arm around his shoulder, yanking him forward step in step with the rest of them. "That's ok," he comforted cheerfully, patting Atlas with a little too much energy. "We love you anyways, foxie. Even if you do slap doors in our faces."
"Oh that's good to know, princess. Can I slam doors in your face on purpose? Or is that too far?" Atlas asked with a giggle and a silly smile. And oh was Harley right, even though it was a weekday, there were so many people in line for tickets. Of course it must be a great aquarium, just by how many people are in line and from the size of it.
Cadmus bumped his hip with a lazy smile. "Don't get too ahead of yourself, foxie. Maybe next time it'll be Em and I closing the door on you, ever think of that you smug fucking dumbass?"
"Awe, you wouldn't do that, Em, would you? Of course, I'd expect it from Cadmus. But I bet I could still go through the door of it was just you. You may be a (insert what instrument he plays here since I forgot) player, but I was the capitan of the swim team and I can still swim just as fast or faster than I did then." He explained, elbowing Cadmus in the side. Atlas looked over at Emrys, smiling and hoping he'd take Atlas' side.
Cadmus was also pouting over at him, with Harley in the background shooting him a ho don't do it sort of look. of course, he lived for giving Harley grey hairs, so he immediately grabbed Atlas' hand with a wide smile. "Oh I'm with you 100% I say when we get back to the hotel we wait for Harley to get inside and then we just slam the door in Camus' face."
"You two faced whore! I thought we were friends!"
Em blew him a raspberry. "All's fair in love and war!"
"Oh I knew I could count on you, love." Atlas giggled before pecking Emrys' cheek. "I think that's a great idea, but know that Harley knows our plan I don't think it'll be that easy anymore. We'll just have to catch them at a different hotel once they forget." He said quieter into Em's ear.
Em snickered, ignoring the disappointed sigh/headshake combination Harley tossed at him and the nearly deadly stinkeye he was getting from Cadmus. "You're right, we'll have to seriously up our defenses. I think a strategy meeting will be in order once we get back to the hotel room."
He laughed before planting a soft kiss on Emrys' lips. Atlas let go of Em's hand and instead wrapped an arm around his waist and rested his head on Em's shoulder. "I think that is a great idea, this is a matter of war, couple against couple. We better be careful, who knows what they'll plan against us."
"Yeah, I'm a little nervous about what Cads'll get his hands on." He turned back, laughing when he saw Cadmus and Harley with their heads together, murmuring softly with matching gleams in their eyes. Those two would be the death of him and he couldn't even bring himself to be mad about it. "Hopefully we'll be able to beg for mercy, but I think our odds of succeeding are pretty low."
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