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Michael helps maneuver Ray through the crowd, pulling him through the large pile of people so they can find a nice place to relax. They've been on their feet all morning so now that it's nearing the afternoon they're dying to sit down on the grassy expanse, away from the large groups of people who also came out to celebrate.
With the parade now over, things are winding down. There's still some stuff they could probably catch; drag shows and whatever, but Michael knows of Ray's inability to handle crowded areas for long periods of time. In fact, he's sure the man has already pushed himself past his limits so that they could enjoy the parade until the end.
"Did you have fun?" Ray asks, slipping his hand from Michael's and getting his attention with the question.
The two take a seat on the ground between two trees. It's a shady little spot with just enough sun spilling through to keep both of them happy. Their bags rest on opposite sides of them, small but packed full of goodies.
Michael turns away from the colorful confetti and banners littering the street to look at Ray, holding eye contact before breaking into a smile. "'Course I did. How about you, dude? You holding up okay?"
Ray feels his stomach grumbling and clasps his hands together on his crossed knees. "Yeah. I think so? I'm pretty hungry but besides that it feels nice to just like have our own space, y'know?"
Michael nods, leaning back on his hands with his legs extended out front. "I get that. It's cool that we got all this free stuff too," he says, gesturing to his bag.
"Supporting the cause," Ray adds absentmindedly, uncrossing his legs and lying back. Hands tucked behind his head, he allows himself to take a deep breath, sinking back against the hard earth beneath him.
"Exactly. Fuck the people who don't support this shit. That parade was fucking magical and so is everyone here."
Ray hums in agreement behind closed lids, a small smile on his lips. It had partially been his idea to come, having seen it advertised on Twitter by some friends and mentioning it to Michael. His boyfriend was on board almost immediately after seeing some photos. Ray started to grow excited. Seeing the passionate side of Michael come out for things other than anger is always a good sign.
At the sound of Ray's hungry stomach making a reappearance, Michael pats it jokingly. "Do you want me to grab us something so we can eat and then get going?"
Ray immediately accepts the offer, opening an eye to peek up at the ginger. "What's around?"
Michael takes a minute to check, the sea of people now parted and only small clumps remain. It's a bit easier to see past them at the couple of restaurants situated across the street. He shrugs, "I dunno. Do you want a happy meal?"
There's no debate, Ray will pretty much eat anything and Michael's the same. "Sounds good. I'll come with," he says, feeling confident all of a sudden.
"Alright. Are you sure?" Michael asks in case his boyfriend has a second thought.
"Yep. Let's go," Ray decides, standing up and helping Michael up with a grunt.
It's a short walk across the street and into the semi busy fast food place. Michael places their orders and Ray slips him a five dollar bill to make up for his order. He grabs them a table in the corner opposite of the window, up against the wall.
Michael brings the two boxes over and it's not long before they're digging in. The place smells kind of sweaty but it doesn't matter, at least it's not as dirty as some of the other ones they've been to.
He sighs happily into his burger, taking another bite and watching Ray chow down on his cheeseburger like his life depended on it.
"This was fun, for the most part, he says after swallowing a mouthful. Batting his eyelashes expectantly, he leans his forearms on the table.
Michael meets him halfway, leaning over with his burger still in his hands as he presses a soft kiss to Ray's nose. They hear the sound of a shutter and quickly pull away, back's straightening.
At first, he thinks it's a fan and that really pisses him off. What an invasion of privacy. Do people really have nothing better to do than take unsolicited pictures of him while he tries to relax in his free time?
Turning towards the noise, they see a man sitting alone. Across the aisle from them at a table for two. "Uh, what are you doing?" Ray asks before Michael can chew this guy out for photographing them without their permission.
"Sorry, sorry. I usually ask first but that was such a sweet moment I just had to capture it," the guy explains, getting up and walking over. He pulls out a business card and Ray stifles a laugh. Who carries these around anymore?
Michael grabs the card stock and flips it around in his hand, reading the front and back of the apparent Austin photographer's card. As if the guy, Jimmy Davis senses the tension, he continues.
"I can 100% delete it if you're uncomfortable with this but, I'm working with someone at The Daily Texan and this would make a great addition to our article covering the parade."
It's only then that Ray becomes aware that they're decked out in pride gear.
Maybe not to the extreme but they had applied their rainbow flag tattoos and are wearing almost matching shirts. Ones they'd ordered the weekend before online. His, black with a multicolored circle and Michael's, white with the same design.
As Michael mulls it over, Ray pipes up. "Can I take a look at it?"
Jimmy smiles warmly and nods, pulling the camera strap from around his neck and fiddling with it to pull up the image. He hands it over to Ray who studies it carefully, zooming in on the touch screen after wiping off his greasy fingers on a napkin.
"Okay Michael, before you say anything, this is a really good picture. Can you send this to me?" Ray asks, turning to the photographer.
He notes how cool the coloring on the sole of his converse looks, visible under the table where he'd propped his feet up.
Ray's not usually a fan of getting his picture taken because he always finds that they come out badly. Either he's moving or not paying attention and something just doesn't seem right.
That's why he usually poses with a goofy face on purpose, to avoid the embarrassment. This candid is definitely an exception to that trend, proving to be a really nice memory for Ray to keep and be sappy about in private.
"I wasn't gonna say anything bad," Michael mutters, catching Ray's attention.
He smiles at his boyfriend reassuringly and raises his eyebrows in question, "so, are we going with yes?"
Jimmy takes his camera back and turns it to Michael, showing him the screen with their photo on it. Michael squints, looking from the camera to the guy. "Ah fuck it, sure. It is a pretty nice catch."
The guy excitedly replaces the camera strap around his neck, letting it hang so he can pull out his phone. He takes down their names and Ray's email before returning to his table.
Michael smiles a toothy grin at Ray across the table and Ray chuckles, enjoying the rest of his meal until they're both finished and ready to leave. He walks shoulder to shoulder with his boyfriend up the street to the parking meter, where they left the car.
"We are pretty cute," Michael comments, looking over at Ray's phone.
It's only been a few hours since the encounter with the photographer but he's already sent them a copy. Ray finishes clicking on the cropped png to set it as his home screen and looks up at Michael.
"Of course we are. Everyone knows we're the best looking couple in the office," Ray jokes, knocking his elbow into Michael's side and earning a snicker in return.
"Damn straight."