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The high pitched, 3 beat beeping sound of the alarm clock is what woke the blonde man up from slumber. He propped his upper body up to reach over the body of his still sleeping spouse to turn off the alarm, stretching his arms up and letting out a yawn as he looked at the calendar. It’s a Saturday, so it’s their day off, but that’s not what catches his eye, Valentine’s Day is today. The taller man grins, giddy about the idea of going on a date with his husband.
He takes a look at his partner and sees him curled up on himself with a furrow on his brow. He bends down to give a kiss on his spouse’s cheek, quietly greeting him a good morning. The shorter man just grumbles and bundles more of the blanket over his form and his early riser of a husband lets out a fond huff.
Like a fussy, fluffy black cat, he thinks as he gets out of bed to do his morning routine. Ah, once again, I’ll have to force my dear little rookie out of bed.
The faint sound of running water coming from the bathroom does little to rouse the older man out of extra rest. A few minutes later, he feels the bed dip and the blanket over his head is pulled off. He groans at the natural light pouring into his vision and he opens his eyes to glare at his partner. The younger man is unfazed and proceeds to pepper his husband’s face with kisses.
“C’mon toots, time to get up. We’ve got a big day today.” A gentle shake on the shoulder to coax his newbie to at least get up.
“Ugh… What time is it? It’s too early for this…” The dark haired man lazily brushes away the arm off his shoulder.
“Hm? It’s only 7:43 right now, plenty of time to get things done,” The blonde man softly cards a hand through his husband’s bed hair, his voice getting lower as he leans in. “And that also means more time spent awake with me.”
“TOO EARLY!!” The shorter man roughly shoves a hand at his husband’s chest and the other man lets out a pained noise at the action as he’s pushed away. “Fucking hell, this early on our day off? You’re horrid… Absolutely horrid…”
“Wha—?! C’mon sweetheart, if you knew that today’s our day off, then you should know what day it is! Don’t you leave your dear, handsome husband alone on a day like this~!” The taller man pouted while jostling his husband a tad bit rougher than before. The dark haired man flails about, getting up to stop his partner from shaking him any further and grabbing a hold of his glasses in the process.
“Augh— Hey! Stop that, you whiny baby! Of course, I know what day it is! It’s… huh?” As the man puts on his glasses, he turns around and gets a finer look at the calendar then sees the date. “Oh… Valentine’s Day…”
“See~? Now, are you sure you wanna spend less daylight with your husband on this special day?” The blonde man pouts, wrapping his arms around his spouse and resting his head on the other’s shoulder.
“Ugh, alright, alright. Now get off me for a bit, lemme go get washed up.” A little victorious hum can be heard from behind him as he gets out from the comfort of their bed.
The bespectacled man yawns and stretches upwards as he trudges towards the bathroom, inadvertently lifting the hem of his tank top to reveal a bit of his waist. His husband takes note of the sliver of skin shown and wolf whistles, alerting the other man to cut the stretching short and hurry to the bathroom.
As his spouse goes to freshen up, the taller man goes to the kitchen to start on coffee for the both of them. As the coffee maker starts the brewing process, he goes to make a simple breakfast, a fried egg and slices of bacon on top of toast. They’ll be going out to eat for their date, so no need to worry about eating something more suited for a valentines meal later on. The coffee maker beeps as he’s done putting breakfast on the table and he grabs their matching set of mugs. He hears the sound of footsteps and the faint squeaking coming in the kitchen as he’s pouring their coffee.
“Ah, you’re bringing the little devils in for breakfast again, aren’t you?” The blonde man asks while adding a bit of sugar to both cups and stirring to dissolve the granules.
“Oh, come on, these rascals aren’t such a big deal to have around for a meal.” The shorter man rebuked, setting the rats down on the dinner table, grabbing their mix of food in a little dish, and then setting it down for the pair to eat.
“Ugh, fine. Just make sure they don’t get their little hands on the meal that I worked so hard on…” The younger man complained as he set the coffee mugs down and received a noncommittal hum from the dark haired man as he reached a hand to give his rat children a little scratch as they ate.
After the couple finished breakfast and the rats were given plenty of attention and play time, the pair got dressed for the cool weather on their date. As they were both heading to the door, the taller man perked up and quickly headed towards their bedroom. Before the other man could ask what’s wrong, his husband returned with both of their rings in his hand. The blonde man lifted his spouse’s left hand and kissed him on his ring finger before slipping the ring on, leaving the other man flustered and red in the face. As the dark haired man recovered from the sappy gesture from his partner, he reciprocated the action by doing the same thing to him, though with much more shyness on his part.
As the pair walked out to the sidewalk, the younger man called for a taxi and whispered the destination to the cabbie and got in the vehicle with his husband. The other man sent a questioning look before he was met with a look that said “don’t worry about it” from his spouse. The interior of the taxi was filled with the taller man’s small talk, which was more akin to a mini rant, of the work hours separated from the man he was married to, the other only nonchalantly giving half hearted inputs.
Soon the taxi arrived at their mystery destination, the pair paid the cabbie and the shorter of the two was taken aback a little of what greeted them. An aquarium, with couples and families coming in and out of the main entrance in droves. A promotional banner next the entrance reads that there’s a discounted entry price for couples for today only. An elbow nudge from his partner shakes him out of his stupor and they start to head towards the ticket booths. After a bit of a romantic showing off to the ticket person and subsequent discounted payment, the two men enter the aquarium.
The dark haired man was immediately enthralled by the blue and white lights of the aquarium lobby and the sheer size of it and the different sections of biomes and rest areas, the man never thinking he’d had a chance to enter an aquarium in his life. A shake on shoulder snaps him out of his awe and he turns towards his husband.
“Hey, I know you’re amazed by this site, but it’ll be even better if we go to the exhibits.” The blonde man pulled out a map of the aquarium, which the other hadn’t realized he even had one in the first place. “Now c’mon hun, which one do you wanna see first?”
“Oh… then…” The bespectacled man looked over the map a little more closely, eyeing out which area nabbed his attention the most. He then pointed at one particular area. “How about the sharks?”
“Mm, I’m more keen on where the underwater tunnel is, but sure, we can go ahead with the sharks.” The dark haired man gave his spouse a blank look. Why bother asking him first then go suggesting another option? Well, no matter, at least he complied with going with him to the exhibit.
The couple made their way towards the sharks, holding hands so they didn't lose each other in the massive crowd. They arrived at the exhibit just in time for a presentation on a male lemon shark named Dusty. As the presenter went on about the habits of lemon sharks, a diver was present in the tank trying to get Dusty’s attention as the shark in question just swam about. Another lemon shark came up to the diver wanting to be pet, Dusty took notice and swam towards the other shark to drive it away so he could get the pets instead. The presenter noticed the interaction and laughed it off, saying that Dusty easily gets jealous for attention even if he seems he doesn’t want it.
“Heh, he reminds me of you…” The shorter man jabbed, letting out a little chuckle as he heard the offended scoff coming from his partner. “Come on, let’s go check out the other sharks.”
The both of them walked further in the shark exhibit, checking out the large variety of species of sharks the aquarium had to offer. One particular kind of shark grabbed the younger man’s attention and he tapped a finger on his husband’s shoulder and then pointed at the critter of interest, a nurse shark. The dark brown colored shark had been resting underneath the shade of some coral, others of its species were a bit more active, swimming around and some of them were gathering around a diver for a petting session.
“Hey, would ya look at that? That shark is just like you this morning.” The taller man jokes, laughing as he received an offended shove to the chest from his spouse. “Hey, easy now! We should be coming towards the end of this exhibit, let’s go check out the other areas.”
The pair traveled to the other stations of the large aquarium, seeing seahorses performing their courtship dance, taking a peek at a group of puffins, and marveled at how the moon jellies floated around in their tank. The couple had gotten up close to see otters play around, standing near the glass border to witness them dive beneath the water and fiddle around with toys floating around. The bespectacled man let out a soft chuckle as one of the otters pawed at him through the glass while his partner showed a small smile as he paid more attention to the smile on the other man’s face.
The last exhibit that the two chose to visit was the underwater tunnel, despite the blonde man wanting to visit the attraction first in the beginning. The popular attraction was packed with people so the pair were squeezed together with barely any wiggle room. Regardless of the lack of personal space, the couple were in awe of the variety of sea creatures swimming up and around them in the tunnel. The dark haired man’s eyes were wide open in a pure childlike wonder as they slowly made their way through the tunnel, still wanting to bask in the beautiful scenery inside the exhibit. Soon the end of the tunnel came upon them and the two of them decided to take a visit to the gift shop before leaving, maybe get a little souvenir for the rats while they’re at it.
The gift shop was filled with many aquatic themed items and clothing that centered around the aquarium itself. The two men looked around the store in curiosity, unsure of what to get as souvenirs. As they searched the shop, the older man heard a chuckle coming from his husband and he turned around to see. The younger man was holding up a cup with a whale shark’s head and tail coming out from the sides, his shoulders shaking and his other hand covering his mouth as he tried to not laugh at the quirky piece of merchandise. The other man gave him a tired look and shoved the item away from his face as his partner laughed a bit harder.
The pair soon come up to the section dedicated to plush toys, the dark haired man deciding to get a gift of this nature to his rat children. While he contemplates on what to get, his spouse goes off to search for something. A jellyfish plush is what catches the shorter man’s attention the most, the dangling frills meant to mimic the tentacles could get the rats to play with them. As he plucks a blue colored jellyfish plush from off the hook, the taller man returns with two shark plushies in his arms, a lemon shark and a nurse shark. The couple share a chuckle before heading towards the line to the cash register, the blonde man quickly nabbing the stupid little whale shark cup as well as they inch closer to the check out.
After ringing up and leaving the aquarium, it was about time to go get lunch. Another taxi ride later, and the two men arrived at a classy looking cafe. A waiter came by to seat them in the outdoor area and passed out the menu. The pair placed an order and chatted about what they liked in the aquarium now that they were in a quieter place. The waiter returned with the orders and placed down a dessert menu.
“Are you two wanting dessert? We have a special confection specifically for Valentine’s Day.” The younger man contemplated a bit on the waiter’s question while his spouse was going through the menu of sweets in curiosity.
“Well, what kind of dessert is it? I might be tempted to get it.” The bespectacled man gave him a look and the other held up a hand to make him hold onto any questions before the waiter answered.
“Ah, this year we have a cherry cream pie topped with whipped cream for Valentine’s!” A cough comes from the dark haired man and his husband huffs out a small laugh.
“Hah! Yeah, I’ll get a slice for my companion here.” A kick to the shin is what the taller man receives and his grin tightens as the waiter goes to get the additional order.
After finishing up their food at the cafe, the couple decided to head home for the rest of the day. Walking around for roughly 3 hours in the large aquarium was a bit tiring and it was likely that a majority of couple hotspots were flooded with people by now so the pair would rather not deal with the commotion. The two of them paid the bill, picked up their gift shop bags and called for their final taxi of the day.
As the couple opened the door to their apartment, their rat children came to them and greeted them in squeaks, sniffing the bags in curiosity as the items were set down on the coffee table. The shorter man pulls out the jellyfish plush and holds it towards the rats for them to examine it more closely as his partner goes to put the absolutely ridiculous whale shark cup up on the living room shelf so the rats can’t accidentally shove it off and shatter it. One of the rats bat at the frills while the other goes under it to use it as a blanket, their primary caretaker softly smiling at their actions. Once the bespectacled man feels that the rats have gotten accustomed to their new toy, he pulls out the shark plushies and turns to his spouse.
“Hey, do you know where you want to put these?” The blonde man turns away from shelves and raises an eyebrow.
“What? You can just put them in here. Either with the funny cup or in a separate section.”
The older man sighs, he shouldn’t have asked. After all, the purchase of the dumb, inconvenient to hold whale shark cup was proof enough that he didn’t care where novelty items were placed in their home. Still, he took the suggestion and placed the sharks with the cup. The dark haired man went back to where the rats were and picked up their new aquatic themed plaything to go put it near their cage, the rats running after him.
The rest of the day proceeded as usual for the pair for their days off, cuddling on the couch while watching the TV, giving the rats attention and play time, and the occasional light hearted bickering. Topics that were briefly discussed earlier in the day were now being brought back up for more details, the afternoon slowly giving way to the evening as they talked.
As the day drew to a close and dinner was had, the younger man heads towards the bath as his partner goes on and gives one last play time for the rats before they rest for the remainder of the night. The shorter man finishes putting his rat children in their cage when his husband comes out from the bathroom and they switch. The taller man yawns as goes to check around the apartment for anything that was still on and goes to the bedroom to wait for his spouse. When the dark haired man exits the bathroom, he’s immediately met with his partner clinging onto him like a koala and he smacks the back of his head in response.
“C’mon, let me go. I need to check what we have left in the fridge.” He receives a tighter hug. “Ack! Hey!”
“You can do that tomorrow. Cuddle in bed with me now…” The blonde man leans into the hug, making his husband lean back and adjust his stance so they don’t fall.
“You big baby—! Lemme do just one thing and you can get your damn cuddles after!!” A rough shove does the trick to separate them. As he goes towards the kitchen he can hear his spouse flop onto the bed.
“I can’t believe you’re doing this… Neglecting your dear husband… on a day like this? You’re absolutely cruel!!”
“It’s literally just one thing, it won’t take more than 5 minutes to do…”
“CRUEL!!!”
The bespectacled man sighs and continues to go towards the kitchen. He turns on the lights, grabs a notepad, and opens the fridge. The man writes what needs to be bought when they go out to the market after work. After the fridge was checked, he went to the cabinets and counters to see what else needed to be replenished. When the list was done, he tore the piece of paper out, stuck it on the fridge with a magnet, and made his way back to the bedroom. The sight that greeted him was nothing surprising anymore, his spouse wallowing in fake misery whenever he’s gone for more than 10 seconds at night.
“Ahh, is this it? The end of our loving marriage? So shamelessly ripped away from my grasp?” The older man pinches the bridge of his nose in exasperation before going towards the bed and sitting next to his partner.
“Alright, you big drama queen, I’ve done what I needed to do. So you can—” A tight hug around his waist interrupts him. “Ghk!!”
“ There you are! I’ve been waiting for ages!!” And just like that, the acting was immediately cut off.
“Five minutes! I was only gone for five minutes!!” The dark haired man struggled to push his husband away at this angle. “Get off so you get your damn cuddles already!!”
“Alright then!” The younger man immediately perks up and releases his arms from the other’s waist only to hug him from around his shoulders.
Christ, he’s like a fancy, clingy big dog , the shorter man thinks as he’s taking off his glasses to put on the nightstand.
After what was deemed enough cuddles and kisses for the taller man, the other turned off the bedside lamp and prepared to go to sleep. The older man sighed, he knew they were going to do this morning and nightly song dance many, many times over and every time they knew they were going to be fed up with it at times. However, they also knew that they’re willing to do it every day for the rest of their shared time together, and that’s just fine with them…