"I bet someone already has. And honestly, I don't give a shit even though I really should. Besides, I love you too much not to." Atlas said, admiring Emrys' blush. "Do you think it's been two hours yet so we can go back to our hotel room?"
Em blushed harder and then took Atlas' hand. "Alright. If… um… if you don't care, then I can face whatever management throws at us until we come out with it officially." He nodded, steadying himself. "And… no, definitely not, but it's almost time to meet back up at the gift shop, so we should go."
Atlas smiled, pecking Em's cheek. "You don't have to deal with management more than I should have to. I'm gonna take some of their blows too, okay? But yeah, let's get going." He stole the last bite of the Dippin Dots, giggling as he did so.
(The girl from earlier that they both didn't notice I think should have followed them around, but like not obviously, and I think she should post something with pictures about them somewhere. Just to add a little bit of spice to this, yeah?)
(sounds like a plan!!)
Em smiled and then, after a few seconds of thinking, leaned forward to kiss Atlas sweetly. He wrapped an arm around his waist after he finished, shyly pulling him closer. "Yeah, okay. You… uh… you taste like Dippin Dots. Kiss me again?"
"Oh of course, what kind of question is that anyway?" Atlas giggled before kissing Emrys again, not pulling away after a few seconds, however. He honestly couldn't care less about management or loss of fans, he loved Emrys too much to not show his affection in public.
Emrys smiled, beamed at him practically, and kissed back with skittish excitement. He pulled away after a few minutes, less because he didn't want people to see and more because it was rude to french in public, and pecked Atlas on the nose with the dopiest little smile. "A silly one, I guess. Let's go to the giftshop, yeah?"
"Definitely. I'm interested to see what people are gonna say on the internet about us now." He said, a large grin on his face. Atlas looked around for the gift shop, spotting it, he started that way.
That had definitely been a show for that one girl, she was beyond stunned. She had taken her fair share of pictures and videos in the aquarium, but definitely not like that. She ran an Atlas x Emrys, Atrys, fan account, that would be a sight to see for everyone that followed her.
Em smiled and, just before they stepped out of the girl's sight, gave Atlas a sweet 'I love you' loud enough for her to catch on camera. After that they were gone, lost in the girftshop where they met in with a beaming Cadmus and a flustered Harley desperately trying to grumble enough to cover his blush.
"Oh what'd you do, Cadmus?" Atlas asked in a joking manner. He kept ahold of Emrys' hand, glancing around the gift shop. He always found gift shops like this interesting. There's no need for 99% of the things there, yet anyone's willing to buy things.
"I got him to make out with me in a bathroom for like… 30 minutes." Harley blushed even harder, wrapping his arms around Cadmus' neck to bury his face in the other boy's shoulder. Cadmus patted his cheek. "It was great. I'm pretty sure we were like… two seconds away from getting security called on us, but life's all about living thrills anyways so who gives a shit!?"
"Honestly, that's what's going through my mind at the moment. We've decided not to hide our relationship. Because fuck management, they can deal with it. Besides, over half the fans want to see us together anyway." Atlas said, planting a kiss to Emrys' cheek with a smile. "Hey, just don't kill Harley from embarrassment or something, k? We already put him through enough."
Cadmus reached over to thump him on the back with an approving nod. "Oh hell yeah, fuck management! You two decided to swap to a new company once were done with the tour, yeah? Cause Harls and I are so on board." Harley hummed his assent from Cadmus' shoulder.
Em laughed. "Well I'm glad we're all on the same wavelength then. Let's go but our gifts, um… w had 20 dollars to shop with, right?"
"Oh for sure, I hate management so much, y'all already know, I wanted to leave them even before we planned the tour, but I never made an effort to discuss it with everyone." Atlas said to Cadmus, high fiving him. "But I believe so… unless Harley's totally done with everything and backs out of our deal." He said with a chuckle, glancing over at him.
Harley grunted. "No, no, 'm not backing out. You all get $30, now knock yourselves out and leave me alone to grieve the loss of my reputation."
"What reputation?" Em asked, and earned a louder groan than ormal and a swat from Cadmus.
"Hey, Harley here has a perfectly fine reputation. It's just… y'know, kinda lame. And very mushy. And completely and utterly unintimidating because he's a big fucking sweetheart."
Atlas giggled and nodded, turning to Emrys. "Let's go over here! There are those cool lava lamp things that aren't actually lava lamps!" ((You know what I'm talking about, right? I literally have no idea what they're called)) He pulled Em over to that area, it also had necklaces and some pens.
(I think I know??)
Em canoodled around the pens for a while before his eyes caught on the massive tower of stuffed animals. He was walking over before he even knew what he was doing, drawn in by the adorable fluffy little animals. "Oh my god, these things are adorable. I have to get one, what animal should I pick?"
(lol, it's not that important anyway)
"Ooo! Those are adorable!! I think you should get a jellyfish or one of the colorful fish! I think I'm gonna get one as well!" Atlas basically squealed. He too was a sucker for cute stuffed animals. He picked up one to feel the fluffiness of it, his eyes went wide.
Em pecked him on the lips with a smile. "Oh they're adorable! And they're only ten dollars each, so if we both get two we'll still have money left over to buy a hat or a postcard or something." He picked out a jellyfish and then, after a few moments of consideration, a shark, because it didn't seem like may people were buying them and he felt bad. "Which ones are you gonna get?"
"Definitely an octopus, that's not even a choice. But the second one…" Atlas hummed, looking at all the stuffed animals, taking an octopus before trying to decide on the next one. But as soon as he spotted a stingray, he scooped it up, a large smile on his lips. "Okay, let's keep looking around."
Em smiled, reaching over to pet the newly chosen stuffies with the sweetest smile. "They're so cute~" he cooed, peering up at Atlas with bright eyes. "Almost as cute as you, huh? Um… but… yeah! Let's keep going. Together we've got about 15 dollars left to buy stuff with!"
"Hey, I was just about to say that, but about you instead." Atlas giggled, pecking Emrys' cheek. He scanned the gift shop, his eyes immediately landing on the squished penny machine. He took Em's hand and dragged him over there. "Do you have two quarters and a penny? I might have a penny but I'm not sure."
Em beamed at the compliment, kissing him back as he was dragged ver to the machine. He dug around in his pockets, eventually fishing out the two quarters they'd need. "No penny, but I do have two quarters! Will this work with a dime or something? Maybe a nickel?"
Atlas jumped a little, glad Emrys had quarters. He collects squished pennies, so he was always very happy to find one. "That's a good question, I'm gonna have to try that someday. But let's not give up hope yet, I haven't looked for a penny yet." He transferred his stuffed animals to one arm so he could fish around in his pockets. He started feeling around for a penny, eventually finding one. "Yay I found one!!"
(some news: I've got errands to run all morning and my girlfriend is coming over tonight so I probably won't be on until, like, late afternoon tomorrow)
Em beamed and took it, feeding the coins into the machine and then stepping aside so Atlas could choose which imprint he wanted. There were four: a fish, a jellyfish, a turtle, and a shark. "I vote for doing the shark!" He raised up with stuffy with a smile. "So they can be friends!"
(Okay, have fun and be safe! :)
Atlas giggled and started turning the lever to the shark. "Sounds like a plan, I'd love for them to be friends." He said, landing on the shark. Excitedly, he pushed in the coins and started cranking the lever. He did so until the penny fell into the opening to grab it.
(Thanks! We had a good time, she finally convinced me to watch a horror movie with her which was horrible but also not as bad as I'd feared.)
Em grinned and made grabby hands for the penny, smiling when it was passed over to him. The picture was of a shark with its jaws open wide, ready to speed forward and swallow up the viewer. "Coooooool. He held it up to his shark toy. "Look, it's your brother!"
(Oh that's great to hear! I've never seen a horror movie and I don't plan on it lol)
Atlas giggled, pecking Emrys' lips. "You see, we have four children, five if we include the penny." He said, holding up his stuffed animals and nodding to Em's stuffed animals. Taking back the penny, he pocketed it and spotted Cadmus and Harley.
(it was pretty sooky but the time passed by pretty fast so it wasn't the worst thing that's ever happened to me."
Em gave him a soft kiss in return, nuzzling against Atlas' cheek when they pulled apart. "We have to count the penny, Atlas! He's our son too, even if he is tiny." Cadmus waved them over with a bright smile and then, after a few minutes of cheerful chitchat, they were being herded into the checkout line by Harley. After that, they hit the Dippin Dots stand, and then they were strolling outside, laughing and talking about what they'd seen.
(That's good lol)
At that point, Atlas let Emrys take as many bites of his Dippin Dots as he wanted, stealing a bite from both every now and then. "Okay, but did you guys see the little marsh birds or whatever they were called? It was a small and kinda out if the way exhibit and there was this little thing to go see the birds up close." He asked, smiling. Noticing that Emrys had finished his ice cream, he handed his to Em.
Emrys pecked him on the cheek in thanks before he dug in, savoring every bite of the delicious treat.
Cadmus lit up when Atlas mentioned the birds, nodding excitedly. "Yeah!! Harley dragged me over so we could get a look at them, weren't they cute? I'll admit that I was kinda wigged out at first 'cause I wanted to see the sharks again but then I saw that poor little one with the broken wing and I was just struck.
Harley grunted. "Struck is one word for it. I had to drag hm over to the gift shop."
