myownface | The Causeway, Sunday Evening

"Possibly to experience them," Hernando replied, relaxing lazily back against the cab seat. "I could tell you all about them as we walk the aquarium but quietly. In case of children."

Sparkle bit his lip, grinning around his teeth and leaning his head back as he considered that.

"Quietly," he agreed. "In case of children."

Hell yeah, please.

Hernando simply smiled in response. Sparkle's response when Hernando had talked about food he enjoyed had been delightful. Sparkle's response when Hernando began talking about enjoying Sparkle would hopefully prove the same.

Sparkle was so going to end up pressing Hernando up against the jellyfish tank and kissing him stupid, yeah.

The trip didn't take long, at least, and Sparkle paid the cabbie in cash he'd quite possibly pilfered from his own till at the clothing shop before slipping out of the car.

"Aquarium!"

Ta-daaa!

Hernando would be fully in favor of this plan, yes.

He stepped out of the cab and smiled up at the building. "This.. is a big aquarium."

"I figured if we were going to look at fish today, we ought to look at a lot of fish," Sparkle shared. "So..." He spread his hands and gestured up at the place. "Big aquarium!"

It was probably cooler inside, though.

Hernando laughed quietly. Then he leaned in to nuzzle Sparkle again. "Thank you for bringing me here. Shall we go in?"

"Unless you really wanted to spend the rest of the day standing out here," Sparkle agreed, smiling and nuzzling right back. "It doesn't seem too too busy today, at least. That's a good sign."

He reached for Hernando's hand for a moment, and then looked back to the front door before starting toward it.

"Okay, aquarium." Yes, Sparkle, aquarium. "In we go."

"I really want to spend the day with you," Hernando murmured into the nuzzle, "but yes, let us go in."

He wound his fingers with Sparkle's as they made their way in.

And Sparkle absolutely grinned and stepped forward to pay admission for both of them once they were there, because yes, this was the date he'd picked, and he was going to own that, dammit.

"So," he said, giving Hernando's hand a squeeze and grinning back at him when he was done dealing with admission stuff, "was there anything in particular you wanted to see, or should we just start a circuit and linger at whatever catches our attention?"

Hernando let him because that is what one does on a date. It wasn't as though he had let Sparkle pay for anything when the date had been his idea.

"I have never been so starting at the beginning and working our way through the whole appeals to me," he answered.

You're not getting that hand back, Sparkle. It was his hand for now.

"Great," Sparkle chirped, resisting the urge to start skipping or swinging their hands like a giddy little kid or something, "that's what I was hoping you'd say. I don't want to miss any of it."

A beat.

"Unless I have an adequate distraction, of course."

Hernando laughed softly and squeezed Sparkle's hand gently. "I will try not to be too distracting unless we find a part that is particularly boring."

He glanced warmly at his date. "I should not like to make you miss anything exciting."

"Mmm, good," Sparkle replied, looking fondly back at Hernando. And if he was looking so fondly at him that he misjudged and his shoulder bumped into the nearest doorway, well... "Oof. Heh. Not missing anything so far."

"No, you struck that doorway quite firmly," Hernando agreed with raised brows, "Are you alright?"

"Just fine," Sparkle declared. "Any harder and I suppose I might've had to call the whole arm a write-off, though. Totally tragic. Fortunately, I think it was just a glancing blow, and it can probably be saved."

It was so going to bruise.

"Oh, good," Hernando answered with a small smile, "A spontaneous field amputation would probably prevent you from exploring the aquarium with me."

He'd kiss it better later.

Hell he'd kiss it better now if he wasn't certain at least one of the children around would say something about it.

"I mean, where there's a will..." He paused, and then added, grinning a little, "I just really want to see jellyfish."

In good company, of course.

"I will be happy to see them on the other side of a glass barrier," Hernando teased, "There are many of them around the coast and they are best avoided when snorkeling."

Swimming.. diving.. ever.

"So I've heard," Sparkle replied with a laugh. "I really don't have any real desire to swim with them, cross my heart."

"Certainly not in here," Hernando responded with amusement, "Though there is something to be said for the idea of taking you swimming somewhere the water is warm. Unlike the ocean around the island."

Beach dreams.

"Yeah," Sparkle said, laughing a little. "Something a little more exciting than Lake Ontario, maybe."

There was a little bit of a difference, too, between swimming at a beach in Mexico and puddling around in a really big, heavily polluted lake.

"Yes, between the Man O Wars and the sharks, our waters can be very exciting," he teased, "It is quite beautiful however."

"I believe it," Sparkle replied, smiling. "I'm kind of sorry I wasn't teaching this semester. The school went to Greece; people got to hang out on beaches all week."

Slightly different beaches, again, from Mexico's.

"Perhaps next semester," Hernando suggested, "Then you could go on the trip."

Very different beaches. Especially the part that traveled back in time.

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