"Thanks, mom!" Yelled Atlas as he started giggling. He kissed the side of Emrys' head, smiling all the while. Atlas loved hanging out with his friends, it was great that he got to work with them almost every day.
Harley shoved him with a playful eye roll, laughing when Cadmus turned to him with an overly offended "Hey!" and the pout he always slapped on when he wanted something. Em giggled and pinched his side to get him to knock it off. "Cadmus, don't be rude to mom!"
Atlas was laughing, unable to stop. These guys never failed to put Atlas in a good mood. "That's not a very nice thing to do to your kids, mom. But yeah Cadmus, don't be so mean!"
Harley swatted Cadmus on the shoulder and Am on the thigh. "You're all pieces of shit, and I'm not gonna buy you souvenirs at the aquarium," he grumbled, stirring up a round of complaints and whined from Cadmus and quiet pleading from Emrys, who quickly turned to Atlas for help.
Atlas simply couldn't stop himself from smiling. He looked at Emrys before lifting his head a little to get sight of Harley. "Oh man… that's not a nice word to call people. And that's so inconsiderate, how would you feel if your mom hadn't bought you souvenirs in places?" He paused, "Now think about it and that's how we're feeling."
Emrys grinned and kissed him on the cheek in thanks, turning to Harley with one eyebrow raised. "Yeah! Imagine how you'd feel if Mrs.Kempner brought you to an amusement park and didn't let you buy every commemorative ride photo!"
Harley groaned, grabbing a pillow from under Cadmus' head to toss at Atlas and Emrys. "I told you about my collection in the strictest confidence, ghost! You're all horrible terrible children!" He didn't refute Atlas' point.
Atlas ducked, letting the pillow fall off the bed, with a grin. He kissed Emrys on the lips, smiling while he did so. "Oh, I know I'm a 'horrible terrible' child, you don't need to say so. I know how to make you reconsider. You see everyone, mom didn't contradict my words, therefore, I am right and he should buy us our souvenirs."
Em kissed him back and then pulled away with a laugh when a very disgruntled looking Harvey buried his face in Cadmus' side and groaned out a defeated "Fine. But you've got a $20 dollar limit and that includes dippin' dots."
"Oh thank you so much, mom! But does that mean $20 per person or $20 for all three of us?" Atlas asked, making sure they were getting the most out of this deal he could. He was smiling, probably enjoying this whole thing way too much.
Emrys laughed and kissed Atlas on the cheek. "Yeah mom, what's our total budget? What if I wanna give some of my money to Atlas or Cadmus?"
Harley grunted. "if I give you thirty each will you shut the fuck up and let us cuddle in peace?"
"I'm happy with that. I'm down to cuddle in peace, now that we have all that figured out." Atlas said, of course, still smiling. He lowered his head back down to the pillow, as he had lifted it up earlier so he could talk to Harley better.
Harley groped around for another pillow to throw, but there were none, so he contented himself with a quietly huffed out "good" and a harder than strictly necessary squeeze of the arm that was around a grinning Cadmus' ribs.
"Yeah, I'm down and ready to cuddle now that mommy dearest's fixed us up with an allowance." Cadmus gave Harley a shit-eating grin and was quickly hugged into silence.
Em smiled and pecked the corner of Atlas' jaw. "I love you," he murmured, quiet enough that the others wouldn't hear.
Atlas' smile grew, feeling a kiss on his jawbone. "You're welcome everyone… sorry, I guess, Harley," He said giggling before pressing a soft kiss to Emrys' temple. "I love you, too." He whispered into Em's ear.
Harley snorted. "No you're not, but thanks for the sentiment."
Em smiled and kissed Atlas again, right below his ear, before he snuggled up closer to his boyfriend's chest and nuzzled the crook of his neck.
"You're very welcome, my friend." Atlas placed his hand on Emrys' head and softly pet it. He rested his chin on Em's head. His face lit up, an idea coming to mind. "Hey, what do y'all think of going to the outdoor pool before the aquarium? I think that sounds pretty nice!"
Em sighed happily and leaned up into the touch, smiling a little more brightly at Atlas' suggestion. "I'd like that," he said softly, at the same time that Cadmus chimed in with a loud cheer.
"Oh hell yeah! I got an all acess key from one of the busboys, so we could go way early if we wanted to. That way management won't get on our asses about taking a day off."
"I was actually expecting at least someone to object since it's still raining and I'm assuming we're going to the aquarium today?… Actually, Harley, you never said anything. What d'ya say?" He asked. "You know. we don't need an all-access key though… we could always hop the fence if it didn't let us in with key cards."
Harley hummed, pulling Cadmus closer to his chest as he considered. "Well, I'd be okay with it as long as I can hang out under one of the umbrellas and I don't have to swim."
Cadmus whined, pushing his shoulder softly. "No fair, it's no fun unless everyone swims! And also hopping the fence would definitely get us in trouble, but using a swiped card can be excused away into nothing."
"I mean… it wouldn't get us in trouble if no one saw us do it," Atlas said with a silly smirk. He kissed the top of Emrys' head the lifted his head to talk to Harley. "He really is the embodiment of a old mom," he mumbled, loud enough so everyone could hear, "It would be a lot less fun without you, I know we always seem to be against you, but Cadmus is right."
Emrys leaned up into the kiss, whining softly when he pulled away to talk even though he giggled at the old mom comment. Cadmus lit up at the encouragement, leaning across Harley's chest with his best pout slapped on. "Yeah, c'mon babe! We all want you to be in there with us, it'll be great!"
Harley groaned, trying to find a reprieve by looking to Atlas or Em for sympathy. Unfortunately he found none, and soon he was rolling his eyes and sighing dramatically. "Fine."
"Just get on with it…" Atlas whispered, only loud enough for Em to hear, but he was referring to Cadmus and Harley. He wiggled a little, in excitement though. "We should go soon then! The pool opens at 10:00 and it's almost 9:00. We should go now so we can use that key or hope the fence!"
Emrys buried his laugh in Atlas' neck, struggling to keep quiet enough that the others wouldn't hear him. Luckily, Cadmus kept up a string of noisy enthusiasm, so nobody really paid attention to him until he forced himself up into a sitting position and swatted Cadmus on the thigh. "Atlas is right, time to get up! Cadmus, Harley, go grab your bathing suits. We're gonna meet in the lobby in 5, okay?"
Atlas struggled to sit up, getting there eventually. He pecked Emrys' cheek before slipping out of the bed. "Chop, chop, you two. I know you guys like each other and all, but now's not the time, we have plans." He said with a silly smile.
Em slipped out of bed behind him, watching with amusement as Cadmus turned beet red and Harley seemed to choke on his own breath. Before either could protest, he had them on their feet and out the door. "Remember, 5 minutes! Don't get distracted while you change, I've already been scarred by Cadmus enough!"
Atlas broke down laughing. He put his hand on Emrys' shoulder so he wouldn't fall over. He laughed for a solid 5 minutes before slowing down and taking his hand off Em's shoulder. "That was great! They need to stop denying it and embrace it. I've been waiting for them to get together since before I even met you. They've been dancing around their obvious feelings for years. Maybe they've been inspired by us and they'll be together before we know it."
Emrys' giggles shifted into full-on laughs as he leaned against Atlas to hold himself up. He wiped a tear from the corner of his eye, smiling so hard it almost hurt his cheeks. "Well a lady can hope! Their UST is unbearable, and honestly, I couldn't believe the guy Cadmus was pining so hard for when we were in high school was Harley 'cause they're so obviously in love!"
"We need to get them together, I can't bear watching that for much longer!" Atlas finally got ahold of himself enough to look for his swimsuit and change into it. "My ultimate goal for the rest of the tour is to help them realize their feelings for one another and get the second couple of this band on its feet."
Em bit his lip to keep from falling into another laughing spell and nodded furiously. "Oh definitely! I say we trick them into playing a game of seven minutes in heaven and then just lock them in the closet, but I'm up for some alternate ideas."
"That sounds good to me, we just have to figure out how to trick them into it. Harley obviously is smart and would probably figure out if we were tricking them, if it was obvious enough." Atlas said while throwing his pjs in his suitcase and sitting on the edge of the bed. "We should all hang out in one of our rooms tonight and we can try to do that."
"Yeah! I can ask Cadmus to come play truth or dare with us after we visit the aquarium, he'll bait Harley into coming no matter how suspicious he is." Em grinned, yanking off his shirt and pants and tossing on some swim shorts. "And then once one of them picks dare, we can get them trapped together in a bathroom or something."
