Emrys laughed and pulled him over to the next exhibit, a much sludgier tank with two hungry-looking crocodiles sitting in the water, lumbering around with greedy smiles. "Maybe. I think doing a mermaid photoshoot would be really fun, but I'm not sure we can get management to go for it."
"Well, we could do it ourselves, like without management's knowledge. We have enough money to pay for it ourselves." Atlas said, nuzzling Emrys' neck. He watched the smaller of the two crocodiles swim around the tank.
Em laughed, kissing the top of his head. "Yeah, but then we'll get yelled at. I think it's a nice idea, but… maybe we can try it after the tour? Or it can be our backup if dancing with the stars doesn't work out for some reason?" He looked to Atlas, curious to see what he would answer.
Atlas sighed, know Emrys was right. He absolutely hated how controlling management was, he thought it wasn't fair. "Yeah… I'd probably still do it though. But even if Dancing With the Stars works we could still do it because now I'm determined to do a mermaid photoshoot with you."
Em kissed the back of his hand as he sighed, pulling him over to the next exhibit to help cheer him up a little. It was full of otters, chittering happily behind the glass. "And I'd love to do one with you. Oh! Maybe we should take some pictures here, for the Instagram. People're always bugging us to update more."
Atlas let Em pull him to the next exhibit. As he got there, he smiled, the otters cheering him up instantly, they were very adorable. He nodded, "Yes, we should definitely do that, good idea!" He continued watching the otters, swimming, playing with each other, and even jumping a little.
Em laughed at how quickly he lit up, setting his hand down so he could dig his phone out of his pocket. "Alright, pose in front of the otters then!" He finally managed to whip out his phone, grinning at Atlas from behind the camera. "Say cheese!"
Atlas smiled into the camera, his arms out to one side presenting the otters. He moved just doing a peace sign, to make sure they had enough pictures. "Em, get over here! We need to do a picture together!"
Em laughed and obliged, jogging over and tossing an arm around Atlas' shoulders so they'd be close enough to fit on his tiny screen. A few otters peeked in behind him, as adorable as ever with their sweet little faces. He took the picture with a loud 'say cheese!', quickly posting it and then watching the likes roll in. "Jesus, what do these people do all day?"
"Good question. But they probably have notifications so even if they were doing something they'd probably still see it quickly." Atlas explained. He reached his hand for one of Emrys', lacing their fingers. "Where are we going next?"
(Boop~)
"Umm…" Emrys scanned the aquarium, lighting up when he saw an exhibit where you could pet the stingrays. "Definitely here!" He pulled Atlas over as he spoke, excitement sparkling in his eyes. "They used to have these at the aquarium in my hometown, but I was always too freaked out to actually pet one. You have to take a video of me doing it!!"
Atlas excitedly followed Emrys to the stingrays. He giggled seeing Em's excitement to pet them. "Oh I was planning on it already, love!" He said, pulling out his phone. They found one that wasn't already being petted. Atlas wanted to pet it as well, but of course, he'd take a video for Em first. "You ready?"
Em nodded, rolling up his sleeves and flashing a quick peace sign before he reached into the water, slowly moving his hand deeper and deeper to try and brush the stingray. It seemed pretty excited to meet him as well. As soon as he'd brushed the water it had started rising off the floor, so it wasn't long before they met in the middle and Emrys jolted, then turned to the camera with the most brilliant smile. "This is awesome!!"
Atlas' smile grew, Emrys was so adorable. Seeing him so happy and excited made him feel the same way. He kept the camera on Emrys as he continued petting the stingray. It was cool that they let people do that, but it didn't seem to harm the animals, they seemed rather excited themselves. "I want to pet them now!"
Em nodded, giving the stingray one last pat before he rushed over, drying his arm off on his pants and making grabby hands for the phone. "Alright, alright, pass it over then! That one seems really excited, you should give him a pat for me!" He pointed out a smaller stingray a couple feet away who was splashing excitedly in his pool.
Atlas handed the phone to Emrys once he dried his hands off. He rolled up his sleeves as quickly as he could. "They're so cute! I love them!!" He said, going over to the smaller stingray. He slowly reached his arm into the water, breaking the surface. The smaller stingray was already off of the sand before he got his hand in the water. A huge smile was set on his lips, his hand and the stingray meeting.
Em watched him pet the stingray with the biggest smile, waiting for a few seconds before he turned off the phone and rushed over to hug Atlas from behind. "You're adorable, d'you know that? I feel like I don't tell you enough but you do this thing when you smile and it's kind of amazing."
"Awee I would have to say the same thing about you! Your literally the cutest thing I've ever seen, somehow cuter than this little sting ray." Atlas said, turning his head and planting a kiss on Emrys' cheek. His hand was still petting the stingray very softly as he was distraced by Em.
The stingray seemed content to sit still and let the two do their thing, which Emrys very much appreciated. He kissed Atlas back, a soft little kiss on the lips, and pressed himself up against his back with a happy sigh. "This is such a good first date. Whoever suggested coming here is a genius."
Not that it seemed to matter to them anymore, but there were still quite a bit of people even in the exhibit they were in. Of course, they didn't mean to do that on purpose, they just got distracted by each other. "I know, it was a really good idea… I really like spending time with you, on a date or not, in public or not."
Emrys hissed through his teeth when Atlas brought up the public, abruptly aware of what they were doing in front of all these people. He backed away, enough that they could be any two friends having fun together. "And I like spending time with you too, Atlas. Um… Let's go find another exhibit, yeah? Maybe somewhere a little less crowded?"
Atlas was then brought to the reality of where they were. It became painfully obvious how affectionate they were being in public, and they were going to try to avoid that. He retracted his hand from the tank and shook off the water. "Yeah, sounds good." He dried his wet hand off on his pants, his other hand taking Emrys'.
Em squeezed his hand gently, towing them over to some dinky bird exhibit that nobody seemed to be crowding around. It was honestly quite secluded, with a private cove for people to crawl into so they could watch the birds flit and wander around them. "Here! Um… the plaque says they're marshbirds, aren't they cute?"
Atlas nodded, "Yeah, not at cute as that stingray though." He giggled a little, planting a little kiss on Emrys' cheek. It was a nice little exhibit, he was glad it was so secluded. "You wanna go see the birds better?" He asked, nodding his head to the cove.
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