The audience had already started cheering once they noticed Emrys and Atlas' faces growing closer to each other. It grew a considerable amount once they finished the song, however. Atlas flushed a little when he realized how close they had gotten, on live tv. Any other time he would be decent;y confident, but talk shows always seemed to be a different world.
"Thank you two, so much for playing that for us. I hope you didn't mind the short notice of it." The host chuckled slightly. He waited until the crowd completely quieted down before continuing. "So, where has been your favorite place to perform so far? And to add on, where are you most excited to go?"
Emrys was blushing bright red, and his cheeks only got darker and darker as the crowd cheered. Still, he stayed settled comfortably on Atlas' lap, leaning back against his chest as if he could draw strength from all the places they were touching. He thought he saw Maggie and Hailey high five behind the curtain but he couldn't be certain because he had to turn his attention back to the host. "I don't suppose I'm allowed to say here, am I?"
"Of course you're allowed, lo- Em!" Atlas quickly covered up. It had kind of slipped out. "I was actually gonna say that myself. But I'm really excited to go to our show in New Orleans. Don't ask why 'cause I have no idea." He giggled a little then turned his attention to the other band members.
Emrys blushed a whole new shade of red and Cadmus shot them a knowing smirk. "Well I'm hyped to get home actually, because I love these guys but they're kind of disgustingly domestic. You know Em made Atlas waffles last week? Fucking waffles??" He shook his head in disbelief. "Smarmy bastard didn't save me any either."
Harley laughed softly. "I got one," he murmured and earned a smack on the shoulder for his contribution.
Em stuck his tongue out at Cadmus.
Atlas giggled. "Well, the way I see it, if you weren't such a princess then maybe Em woulda given you one." He said, moving his head enough to look at Cadmus. He almost pecked Emrys on the cheek, but actually did a good job at fighting his urge.
"You guys have such a great relationship with each other, wish I had friends good as you guys." The host chuckled at his comment. "But speaking of relationships-" Atlas' eyes went a little wider, this was the moment they had stressed over. His heart rate started picking up, he could only imagine how nervous Emrys was. "- I heard something about some… romance? Between some of you. Could you tell us about that?"
Em had been laughing at the teasing, starting to slip away from his earlier anxiety, but then the host brought up relationships and suddenly he was all nerves. He wanted to laugh and pull away from Atlas and pretend like they were just friends for a little while longer so he could have more time to prepare, but he knew that was just stalling. Fuck that. He pressed closer to Atlas instead, wrapping his arms around his boyfriend's neck and very deliberately pecking him on the cheek. "Yep." His voice was shaky but sure. "You heard right. Atlas and I are an item."
Atlas forced a smile through his nerves. He wrapped both of his arms around Emry's waist and leaned his head against his boyfriend. After a breath, Atlas spoke up as well. "Yup! I guess this also acts as us officially comin' out of the closet too… um yeah." He nervously let out a small chuckle. "Uh, I hope this doesn't make you not like the band anymore or anything, we're not different people in the slightest. In fact, this is a more real aspect of us than you all have been getting this whole time. So… yeah we decided it was about time to tell people, ya know?"
Emrys let out a shaky sigh, pressing his head against Atlas' with a shaky smile. He was really glad Atlas could do the talking for this, if he had to say more than ten consecutive words he'd either burst into tears or throw up. He laughed weakly, forcing himself not to hide his face in Atlas' shoulder the way he'd gotten so used to doing when he needed comfort. "That and the fact that someone leaked our date photos."
"Oh yeah, that too… um, Imma lecture you all real quick." Atlas let a real giggle through this time. He also let one of his hands travel to Emrys' hair, running his finger through."First to the original person that leaked the photos. Heck you and thank you. That's very disrespectful and invasive. Second, If you just have to take pictures or videos of something kinda like this in the future, at least don't post them anywhere, let alone everywhere. An artist, any celebrity for that matter, has the same rights as you. One of which being the right to privacy. Please don't anyone, especially in the audience since you're seeing this live, post pictures that could potentially expose or harm a celebrity. We're all human, as insane as that seems, and we all deserve privacy and decency just like you do. I know how it is to love a celebrity so much that you would do anything to even get a glance at them in real life, but invading privacy is not a good way to see them. So please, just think, is this invading on someone's privacy? Will this expose something in one way or another? If so, then stop immediately and don't post anything you already have. … Thanks for comin' to my Ted Talk!" He added at the end to lighten the mood. With that, the crowd let out a mix of laughter and cheers.
Em leaned into the touch, laughing softly as Atlas got started and as he wound down. "Yeah, um… I get that a lot of people picked up on the obvious mutual pining between us because… I mean… obviously." He gestured between them with a lighthearted smile on his face. "But outing someone like that is really not cool. Not only did it take away our choices about when where and to who we would come out, it also gave me a massive amount of anxiety over managing the information. Even though I'm really happy with Atlas, even though I love him, I didn't want to come out like this about my personal sexuality or my relationship. It's never okay to do this kind of stuff, especially when you don't know what a wide impact these things can have. I'm pretty sure Atrys is trending right now and that's really not how I wanted my family or friends to find out so please just… keep this stuff to yourself if you have it."
Atlas nodded, agreeing with every single thing Emrys. He kept his hand in Em's hair as he finished up. "Now don't think we hate you guys or something because of it. Literally we love you guys so much, and none of this would be possible. Just… think about the repercussions next time, yeah?" He smiled brightly. "Okay I think it's time for another question, I feel bad for making this sound like me and Em are yelling at our children or somethin'."
Em leaned into him happily as they finished up, laughing as Atlas finished up. "Yeah, we love you guys, you make everything we do possible, just… think a little more discerningly next time. Um… with that said, back to you Jimmy. Any other burning questions you've got for us?"
Jimmy smiled, "Well, I think that's it actually! You guys are such amazing guests and I feel so lucky to be able to have you on my show. On that note, I heard that you all were planning on playing a song from your last album?" He looked at them hopefully, even though it had been part of the plan for the show from the beginning.
Em laughed softly. "You heard right. I've got my guitar here so I'm assuming you can get Cadmus and Harley their setups?" He shifted a little, ready to get up off the couch and walk over to the stage hidden behind a curtain off to the left. They'd gotten it all set up before the show had started, and management assured them that everything was tuned properly and ready to go.
"I'm so excited! Well, everyone, let's let these guys get set up, meanwhile…" The host continued talking to the audience and that was their queue to go back behind the curtain and get ready. Their microphones had been disconnected.
"C'mon y'all, let's get ready," Atlas whispered to the band. He pecked the back of Emrys' neck with a smile on his lips before they left the stage.
Em glanced back at the thoroughly distracted crowd and then pecked Atlas on the lips before he could talk himself out of it too much, hurrying backstage before anyone could catch them and get all worked up about it. He pulled of his mic before he took his spot on the ministage, smiling over at Atlas. "Alright, which song did we decide on? I was busy recovering from that freakout with management in the car to process."
Atlas basically ripped off his mic and set it down somewhere. He took his place in front of the microphone and stand. "We decided on Maraschino Cherry, I think." He smiled back. Still able to hear the host talking on and on, he decided there was at least a little time to wast. He walked over to Emrys and kissed him on the lips. "Jeez, I love you so much…"
Em hummed in recognition, letting ut a soft sound of surprise before he melted into the kiss. Cadmus made a gagging sound behind them and Em flipped him off, though he did pull away a few seconds later. HE was grinning from ear to ear. "I love you too, Atlas. I'm really glad we came out." He reached over to take his hand, squeezing gently. "I'm really glad I've got you in my life."
Atlas did grab Emrys' hand, but he also dodged Em's guitar and wrapped his arms around his boyfriend. He buried his face in the crook of Em's neck. "I am too, it would be a lot harder without you." His words were muffled by Em's skin, but that didn't change the love in his voice.
Em hugged him close until the crow settled down and he heard Jimmy starting to announce their entrance. He gave Atlas one last check before he pulled away, nervously shifting his guitar into his hands. He and Cadmus were supposed to start the opening notes before the curtain opened to build hype, and soon Cads was drumming away so he had no choice but to play along, playing with as much confidence as he could muster.
A few seconds later, the curtains opened and the crowd quieted down a little after an influx of cheers. With a wide smile on his lips, Atlas started singing. He loved this song very much, but to be fair, he loved every song from the last album. He always got lost in the music when singing.
Emrys had always liked the song, but it was never one of his favorites. The thing that really made it shine for him was how Atlas lost himself in the music, but then again he did that with every song. It was part of what made working with him so amazing. He did his best to lose himself the way Atlas did, with moderate success.
His eyes fluttered shut and he shifted his weight from side to side to the beat of the song. Atlas did that quite a bit, it was both a way of fitting into the beat and getting some of his nerves out. His hands gripped the microphone. One thing different from most artists, Atlas wasn't one to take the mic off the stand, he always left it there unless he needed to go somewhere farther than it would make sense to carry a stand.
Emrys slowly started to get his feel for the music, sinking farther and farther into the song. He tended to get stuck in his own head over the course of the song because he always overanalyzed his fan's reactions. It was easier for him to just zone out, letting his fingers act on muscle memory instead of hyper-focusing on every single note. He smiled even as his eyes drifted shut, happy just to be where he was today.
After a minute or two more, the song came to a close. Atlas blinked his eyes open, a bright smile on his lips. The crowd grew very loud, clapping and cheering like their lives depended on it. "Thank you!! And thank you, Jimmy, for having us tonight!" The host got up from his seat, walking over to the stage the band was on. Atlas gave him a big hug, beckoning the rest of the band to come as well.