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Morris and Noah's rat up there!

"And then, you'll have unlimited access to our IT specialists who will help with whatever possible malfunction for free. Any time of the day, or night. Those guys never sleep." Morris chuckled, pointing over his shoulder.

The group of people that together with Morris formed a circle all chuckled, voices barely going heard in the main lobby of the company, what with the fuss all around. These were all representing potential clients, looking into acquiring routers. A meeting with them all had just ended and it was Morris's duty to take them to lunch as a special treat, and they were all waiting for taxis now.

"That's actually very helpful, my company has yet to have an IT wing. What with your services I might as well just stop looking into forming one. That's a lot of money saved!" a woman running a scented candles production company admired.

Morris shrugged, a grin to go. Little did they know, once you get associated with Vex, you get coaxed into buying more and more: little things, like, say, a switch device that performs exceptionally well with the router you just bought, and maybe our latest wi-fi extender, and since we're old pals how about a couple microwaves?

Morris kept at it, discreetly getting past talking about IT, for the thought of it was increasingly turning his smile upside down.

Just as he was about to go and make a knock-knock joke, luckily, a surprise element crossed his path.

A lollipop, to be precise.

The candy rustled faintly with that familiar squeak. It was held up by two slim fingers forming a rhombus. They were, much like the candy, white.

He let his eyes trail down the arm until he saw cute little Noah. Well, cute to Morris for some reason or another. His dark circles were standing out a particular lot that day, accentuated by the shadow from the hood on his head. His hoodie was black and loose, and it said 'This girl needs a coffee' with an arrow pointing to his big head.

"Go to the Carnival with me." Noah said, expression not inching one bit. Not quite neutral, his eyes were a tad wide, expectant, hopeful.

Morris gaped silently, daring to peek at his group of people. The better part of them looked inconvenienced, even offended, while the other (two women out of the eight total people) smiled behind their hands.

"Can we..." Morris barely moved his lips. "Discuss this sometime else?"

Noah's eyebrows knitted together and the candy started rustling loudly in his death grip. That was until he unwrapped it in a couple moves, which really impressed Morris since after two and a half decades of existing he's had yet to figure out the wrapping.

Obviously, Noah shoved the lollipop in Morris's mouth.

"Hey now, don't- mmm, coconut." Morris pinched the stick.

Taking advantage of his distraction, Noah inched closer like the cute thing he was, until his big hood covered head found itself under Morris's chin. Noah wasn't quite hugging him since his hands were in his pockets, he just glued himself to Morris's lean torso.

"Oh boy. Vin, look, could we possibly do this another time-"

Morris heard a scoff and watched with widen eyes as a man from the group left. Just like that. One of the bigger potential clients, too.

He blinked himself to reality and slowly took the lollipop out of his mouth. He threw a look from left to right at all the different expressions and then bent his head down, slipped under Noah's hood, and kissed him.

Noah made a tiny noise. Morris deduced he must've chosen to be intentionally adorable that day, and didn't mind one bit. Morris pecked his mouth twice, slowly, and then inched back just a little, still under the protection of Noah's hood.

He saw Noah's eyes tremble, the way they do because of his condition, and sighed lightly. "I love you."

Noah didn't hesitate one second. "I love you too Kent." he whispered back.

Morris broke into a grin and stole another peck. "I'll pick you up at 9, okay?"

Noah nodded vigorously and pecked Morris's cheek before running away. Morris felt like it'd be more probably to die from diabetes by watching him, rather than eating the lollipop in his hand.

He was surprised to find no one else had left. He twirled the candy between his fingers and, after darting a glance behind him, noticed the taxis had pulled up outside.

"Right. Let's be on our way, then."

Morris stood in front of Noah's door, contemplating.

His plan might just have worked. And yet, it could be only that Noah had caught onto it and was acting the way he was just so that Morris would quit the attitude, thus sending them back to where they'd started.

Morris sighed, running a hand down his face and glancing out the window of the hall. Much like in the Vex building, Noah's residence was at the end of an hallway, to the left.

He surveyed each car in the tiny parking lot outside, then the trees, and surrounding buildings. His intention was to wait 10 minutes from their established meeting time, just to put Noah on edge a little.

Yes he would quit the attitude, but he had to at least do a few small gestures here and there unless he wanted to go back under Noah's shoe.

Eventually, he made his way to the door. 9:12, as to not seem too intentional. The moment he knocked, the door swung wide open and Noah knocked into Morris with enough force to send him stumbling against the opposite wall.

Morris gingerly brushed the tips of his fingers against the arms wrapped tightly around his neck, then returned the hug.

"Thought you wouldn't show up..." Noah's voice was muffled by Morris's chest. You'd think he sounded all pitiful and vulnerable, but it was actually his usual cranky tone. And yet, his arms wouldn't loosen up one bit.

"No such thing." Morris pecked his head. He could feel his heart beat erratically, beyond happy to be wrapped in Noah's warmth like that.

He opened his eyes a little, only to see the ugly rat watch them from the entrance. It lowered on its fours and quickly scattered outside. Morris would've hoped it ran away or something, but on the contrary, it got to his leg and started clawing its way up.

"My suit!" Morris yelped.

Noah flinched in his embrace and pushed away violently. "I've about had it you prick! I don't give two shits about your stupid suit, you shouldn't either!"

"Oh, God, Vin, it's not like that!" Morris hurried, laughing. "Your- your-" he reached down to pick up the rat between two fingers, by the skin at the back of its head. "Your rat is being a little shit, is all."

Noah's eyes widened in embarrassment, his cheeks going red. Morris pouted teasingly and leaned forward to mouth his lower lip.

"You look very nice." Morris said, deciding to help him out of the silly situation.

Noah glanced down at himself, most probably only to avoid his gaze. He had on a plain white t-shirt with long sleeves and black pants that reached above his knees, and black converse shoes. To match the t-shirt, he had a white, thin, loose beanie, the exact shade his hair was.

"Oh God you look nice." Morris repeated lightly, a little out of breath.

Noah took his rat back and shrugged. "You too."

Morris was wearing what he wore last time. "Well, duh."

"...No, I was only trying to be nice, really."

"You don't mean that." Morris chuckled robotically.

Noah scrunched up his mouth and entered his apartment to put the rat away.

"Vin... You didn't mean that. Vin?"

"You think you're so funny." Vin deadpanned while unwillingly holding his cotton candy. White cotton candy.

"It's literally you! Can't even tell the difference." Morris accentuated his point by giving the cotton candy a peck. "Oops! Must've gotten it wrong. I don't recall you tasting so sweet."

Noah snickered against his will, but the frown persisted. "You are such a dork."

Morris only laughed, continuing to lead him through the crowd, by the hand. He had Noah's entirely wrapped in his, instead of interlocking their fingers like most couples did.

A family, two parents and a kid, openly gawked at them as they passed each other. In turn, Morris took the floating balloon from the kid, who was far too distracted by their PDA to even notice.

"Did you just steal a kid's balloon!" Noah hissed.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Morris raised their hands to get access to Noah's wrist. The thread already had a loop for the kid's arm, and he was shocked to see it fit on Noah. "... Jesus."

Noah eyed the loop and then the balloon. He was now full match: next to the black and white wears, the balloon matched his eyes perfectly, since the pretty lights all around turned them red.

"I'm trying." he said. "I really am. Started with baby food but now I can eat peanut butter on biscuits."

He eyed the cotton candy and pinched some of it to put it in his mouth. "And cotton candy." he grinned, the black dots of his braces glinting.

Morris smiled, stealing a kiss in which he could taste sugar. "Mmmm... I take back what I said, you do taste sweet."

Noah laughed, reaching up to swat the balloon into Morris's head.

"Dude, look!" they heard a snicker coming from a group of five young men.

Morris waved and smiled while Noah flipped them off. They all laughed, some returning Morris's gesture while some chose to reflect Noah's. Neither was necessarily offensive, they were just being brats was all.

"Let's go on a ride." Morris demanded.

"Most certainly not."

-----------

Noah wasn't the least amused as Morris drove their tiny cart into other tiny carts handled by kids.

He was even less amused while they rode one plastic pony in a merry-go-round.

However, a grin was persistent on his face as Morris handed him a ball at a target booth, only for him to throw it in Morris's face.

-----------

"It's my turn to choose." Noah said.

Morris frowned. "We already did all the cool ones!"

Noah gave him a look. "Right." he drew out the word. "But we didn't do that one."

He pointed.

Thing is, he pointed at the biggest, most dangerous ride with the loudest screams in the entire Carnival.

"Unless you're scared."

Morris arranged his tie as though it was the one that caused the knot in his throat.

"Pfffff. Please."

----------

"Don't touch me." Morris whispered.

"I don't know Kent, you're just about as pale as me. Are you sure you're feeling okay?"

Yes, Noah was having the time of his life poking fun at him. They were far from the lights and mess of the Carnival, but still in its parameters, at the edge. It was a grassed area just at the edge of the hill on which the whole mess had been built.

Morris needed some time away from the dizzying lights, smells, sounds, well... it could be just him who was dizzy from the ride, but no, he insisted that all surrounding factors were really at fault.

"Now wait just a second... Don't tell me a ride got to your head, Kent!"

"No, no, it's from the... slushie. Brain freeze..."

"We had slushies..." Noah reached for Morris's pocket clock and checked it before putting it back in his chest pocket. "More than an hour ago, Kent."

"Piss off!" Morris whined.

Noah laughed and sat down next to him, admiring the far city lights, tiny and glistening as though they were one with the stars. He tilted his head and ran a hand down his neck, sighing contently with a light smile to go.

He peeked at Morris and giggled, reaching out to caress his hair. The man only kept rubbing the bridge of his nose, staring tiredly into distance, his slim white tie flipping in the wind.

But then the tie turned red right before Noah's eyes.

Noah gawked. He wouldn't put it past Morris to get his hands on some high-tech color-shifting tie, but-

Pow! Fssss....

Deep lines formed under Noah's eyes as he moved his gaze to the sky. Uncountable red sparkles pirouetted downwards, and Noah got the familiar optical illusion they'd come pouring down on him in a matter of heartbeats.

He screamed and literally got in his fours, rounding the tree Morris was leaning on. There, he raised his legs and clawed his beanie down to cover his eyes.

"You prick! You fücking prick! Never talk to me again, we're through we're so through! It's over Kent!"

Morris slowly raised his head, frowning in pain. As if the obnoxious fireworks weren't enough, Noah's yells kept pounding at his aching head. He moved his bloodshot eyes around, trying to breathe through the urge to vomit.

"Ah..." he sighed.

Whereas he'd watch that video of Noah running from fireworks nearly every night, he... he sort of forgot the main idea. That being, Noah was terrified of fireworks.

"I forgot..."

"I hate you! I hate you I hate you I hate you!" Noah felt as though his fingers were halfway into his ears, and yet he could still hear the booms, see the grass turn all those different colors.

Morris grunted, peeking at the show through the hand pressed on half of his face. After running it down, he slowly turned around and inched towards Noah's spot.

"Go away." he snapped. "I hope they poke your eyeballs out!"

Morris sketched a smile, only getting closer. He gripped Noah's thin ankles and parted his legs so that he could hug him whole. Noah tentatively settled his legs around Morris's waist and nestled into his chest, head tucked under the man's chin.

"You cutie patootie..." Morris cooed. "I understand entirely. My fear of thunderstorms is just as irrational and yet... It could potentially happen. Get stricken by a thunder or have a firework poke your eyeballs out..."

Noah hummed affirmatively into his chest. Morris pecked his beanie and sniffed in the scent of tree bark and Noah.

"This... this date didn't go as expected did it."

Noah inched back, peeking at him from underneath his white eyelashes. He rubbed his eyes once they started trembling and then played with the thread of his balloon.

"I really liked it. I still do." he tightened his thighs around Morris's waist.

"I liked you. Still do."

"You're horrible at this."

"No, you're horrible at this."

"At what?"

"...You're horrible at not being horrible."

Noah knitted his eyebrows together. "Why do I put up with you?"

Morris grinned and placed his head on top of Noah's once again, peeking around the tree at the fireworks. They sat in silence for the next few minutes.

"Hmm...they're coming to an end." Morris murmured thoughtfully.

"No..."

Morris laughed in surprise, peeking down at Noah. "Really now?"

Two slim hands settled on both sides of Morris's face, simply framing it for the longest time. Then, they lowered Morris's head, sinking his lips into a long, long kiss.

Awwwwww~ :}

Do you like the drawing of Morris and the rat? It must've taken more than writing the chapter did x_x

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