Expression {bxb}

Part 9

Oof haha-

Liam PoV

Before we fell asleep yesterday, I told him we would leave for the aquarium at eleven, to get there shortly after they'd open the doors, and he agreed. All too soon, the alarm clock was going off, and we both grudgingly got up from within our respective blankets. I sighed and turned to look at him, sleep still evident in my eyes, I'm sure, "You ready?"

After thoroughly rubbing his eyes, he heavily dropped his hands, "mmhm," his voice hoarse from sleep.

On the drive over, Spencer excitement was visibly rising, and by the time we got there, he practically flew out of the car. I chuckled and followed him inside, and he eyed every part of the lobby with doe eyes, even though there weren't even fish yet. I chuckled and nudged him, "This isn't even the good part."

He turned to me and I jerked my head toward me left, and he followed behind me as I led him to the sting rays. One of the employees I don't know and his wife were in there also, but Spencer practically ignored them as he ran to edge of the open sting ray tank. "You want to feed them?" He nodded and I went to get two dishes of fish. Spencer hadn't moved from the tank by the time I got back, and I held out one of the dishes and he took a fish form it. "Put it in between your fingers so it's sticking out, and then put your hand against the wall."

He leaned forward to reach his hand in, but as he did, his other hand reached out and grabbed mine, like he needed an anchor least he fall in. Eventually, a ray noticed and came to take the fish from him. As he did, Spencer's grip on my hand tightened, and he whispered as if almost to himself, "That feels so weird." I laughed aloud and he turned to me with a smile.

Eventually he ran out of fish, but he stayed another minute or two just to run his hand over the rays slimy backs. Finally he pulled his hand out of the water and turned to me, "Where to next?"

"You want to go to the quarantine room?"

He just shrugged, "Sure, you're the guide."

I wasn't sure if I was actually allowed to take him in there, but once we got in, no one was there so I figured it's be okay.

The first pool had a red arowana, it's mouth perpetually open in a surprised frown, "Some guy dropped her off because he didn't want to deal with her broken jaw, so we've been housing her, trying to get it fixed. She kinda always looks like you just told her she can't have dinner."

He chuckled the stopped himself, "That's actually kind of sad never mind."

"And this is the discus breeding tank, we only have one with babies right now, but she's a good mom. You can stick your finger in there and they'll nibble it."

He did as I said and started laughing, "It kinda tickles."

"Come on, I have one more thing to show you." I grabbed his hand, which I realized I'd been doing a lot recently, and guided him to my favorite part of the aquarium.

No one was there, and we were alone, facing the biggest tank the aquarium owned, surrounding us on all sides but one. It housed our only whale shark, and they kept the room dark, the only light being the blue hue the tank emitted. "They call it the deep blue. It has the most species we have."

He gestured toward it with a smirk, "Name as many fish as you can."

I turned from him to face the massive tank in front of us, "Oh god, okay um. That's a fairy wrasse, that's some kind of blenny, those four back there are groupers." I pointed to each of the fish as I spoke.

But he wasn't watching the fish I was pointing at.

He was watching me.

I don't know what it was. I don't know if it was the way he was staring at me, I don't know if it was the way the light reflected off the water, and flickered across his face, I don't know if it was the way his eyes dropped to land on my lips, but something overcame me, and I couldn't stop my hands from cupping his face and pulling him toward me until our lips connected and my eyes fluttered shut. I freaked out for a second, before Spencer started kissing me back, and my heart started doing weird flips, and I knew I wasn't going to be able to pull away. My hands dropped to his hips to pull him impossibly closer to me, and his fingers had gathered up tuffs of my hair to tug.

I should probably pull away.

I bit his lip, asking for entrance, and he obliged almost immediately, allowing me to explore his mouth. The longer it went on, the more I lost the self control to stop. He let out the smallest of moans that made me want to keep going, but it also brought me to my senses, and I finally pulled away, both of us gasping for breath.

Holy fuck.

My hand flew to cover my gaping mouth and my eyes were almost as wide as his. Neither of us said anything for a long moment, but eventually a smile overtook his face and he started laughing. I smiled along with him even though I had no idea why he was laughing.

"I'm so sorry... this is not the time to be laughing," he managed to get out in between his fits of laughter. He started coughing, and eventually gained control of himself and took a deep breath, before looking at me with a smile.

I shook my head and chuckled as I reached to grab his hand, lacing our fingers together and pausing to make sure he didn't pull away. He didn't.

I guided him through the rest of the aquarium, never releasing his hand. At some point, he had started absentmindedly tracing circles with his thumb on my hand, and I stopped being able to focus on what I was talking about, so after that it was less of an informational visit.

He agreed to my proposal of staying over again with tinted cheeks, getting the wrong idea I'm sure, but not saying anything about it. He sill didn't have any clothes, so he wore some more of mine. As I was about to turn off the light and head to bed, he touched my bicep lightly with his fingertips, sending electricity through me at the contact, and whispered, "C- could I... sleep on the bed?" I hadn't even given him any blankets to sleep on the floor, so I assumed he would take that as an indication, but knowing him, I should've known he wouldn't.

"Yeah, of course."

We both got in, and he stayed a few inches away from me, likely on purpose to make sure I want uncomfortable.

"Spencer?"

    "Hm?"

    "What was the point of getting in bed if you're just gonna stay on that side and keep to yourself?" He turned to face me with a questioning look, and I couldn't help but chuckle. I wrapped my arm around his back and pulled him into me, and he sighed with satisfaction, and nuzzled closer, letting his arms go around my waste. Within minutes, he was fast asleep, filling the air with his steady breaths.

~~~

Ugh wholesome I love this chapter - mostly because I love fish lmao