Reputations Matter Most | Fedex Fanfiction

Chapter 25

"Wow, Atlantis. What a great date spot." Dex said as he and Fitz walked alongside each other in the busy street.
"Haha, I wanted to keep this date more...open." Fitz shrugged.
"You have a specific place you want to go to?"
Dex hummed for a moment, looking about.
"Mmh...what about the pet shop?" Dex suggested, looking at Fitz.
Fitz smiled at Dex. "Sure, why not?"
Dex grinned as he grabbed Fitz's hand and dragged him behind while he eagerly approached the pet shop. Fitz smiled as he interlocked their fingers. Dex felt his heart flutter when Fitz interlocked their fingers.

They entered the store together and Dex's eyes grew wide, his smile grew larger as he looked around at all the animals in the store.
"Oh my god, they're all adorable." Dex said, gasping as he looked about.
Fitz felt a little unsure as he allowed Dex to drag him towards a few tanks where there were murcats just swimming about.
"I've never really...liked pets." Fitz said.
"Awh what?" Dex looked at Fitz.
"Why not?"
Fitz shrugged as his face scrunched up.
"Biana always got a pet and anytime I'd try to pet it or feed it, it'd nip me." Fitz said.
"Animals never liked me. So I never liked them."
Dex could not help himself from laughing.
"Haha! And here I thought every living creature loved you!" Dex exclaimed, grinning at Fitz.
Fitz grumbled and Dex faced the murcats who seemed to swim up towards the glass.

Dex held his hand towards the murcats, in front of the glass and they swam in circles. Dex smiled at the scaly feline creatures.
"I thought that they were evil." Fitz said.
"Linh says they become sweet if trained right. Plus, animals seem to adore me." Dex said, staring at the sweet murcats.
"I'm assuming you've had pets then?" Fitz asked, raising his own hand towards the glass.
The murcats seemed to bare their fangs towards Fitz and Fitz took his hand away as Dex giggled, while taking his own hand away too.
"Haha, no." Dex said, letting go of Fitz's hand and heading towards where the gremlins were kept.
Fitz furrowed his eyebrows as he followed Dex.
They walked past an older couple who seemed to be looking at the imps that were kept in the store.

"How come?" Fitz asked as Dex slightly leaned in to the gremlins who were in this contained space to ensure they wouldn't cause mischief or steal anything shiny.
Dex shrugged.
"I was a handful, then my siblings came and they were a bigger handful. If we got a pet, that'd be too messy, too much." Dex explained.
"But I've always found an interest in gremlins."
Dex smiled at a gremlin which noticed his family crest on his cape and tried to reach for it but wasn't able to. Fitz watched as Dex stared at the mischievous animal.

"One of my family members had a gremlin." Fitz said.
"Sometimes we'd visit and things would go missing. I found it amusing, so did Biana. My father didn't."
Dex looked at Fitz.
"Let me guess, you didn't visit as often anymore?" Dex asked.
"Correct." Fitz sighed softly.
Dex looked back at the gremlins.
"I think they're cute creatures. Plus, I'm used to mischief. These guys would be easy to take care of." Dex said.
Fitz stared at Dex and the smile on his face just made Fitz...well, it made him feel warm inside.
"Mmh, c'mon! I wanna check out the stinky little imps!"

*****

"You're seriously telling me you don't like halcyons?" Fitz questioned.
"Nope. They're super lame!" Dex exclaimed.
Fitz couldn't help but scoff.
"They're beautiful creatures!" Fitz exclaimed.
Dex scoffed as well, rolling his eyes.
"Okay, they're pretty. But they're useless." Dex shrugged, leaning back in his seat.

Dex and Fitz were sitting at this café, waiting for their milkshake and slice of strawberry shortcake. Dex liked strawberry shortcake and Fitz decided to share a vanilla milkshake. Dex claimed vanilla was a basic flavour, but his favourite flavour was bubblegum. Fitz found Dex crazy for liking that strange flavour.

Fitz sighed as he ran his fingers through his hair.
"Maybe I don't want to continue this date and be your boyfriend?" Fitz said, using a joking tone on Dex.
Dex dramatically gasped.
"Woww! Yeah, way to not make yourself look like an ass." Dex said with a grin as he leaned in, tapping his finger on the tip of Fitz's nose.
Fitz's nose scrunched up and Dex laughed.
Fitz couldn't help but smile. Dex's laugh was such a wonderful sound. Fitz liked that he could make Dex so...happy.

Dex sighed softly as he stared at Fitz, tilting his head slightly to the side.
"I didn't know you were a bird guy." Dex said.
"Wild birds are lovely creatures." Fitz said.
"Plus I used to bird-watch with...my older brother when I was younger. And seeing all the different birds in the Forbidden Cities really was nice too."
Dex noticed Fitz's hesitation when he was mentioning Alvar but he didn't say anything about it.
"I don't see the fuss about birds." Dex shrugged.
"I mean, they're just little flying dinosaurs."

Fitz huffed and was about to make a retort but a server came over and set down their milkshake and plate of cake onto the table. Fitz and Dex thanked the server before they left the table.
Fitz watched as Dex eagerly slid the plate towards himself and picked up the fork.
"You have anywhere you want to go to after this?" Fitz asked as Dex began to dig into his sweet treat.
Dex took a moment to respond as he finished swallowing the bite of cake he took.
"Uh...let me think...does it have to be somewhere around in Atlantis?" Dex asked, raising an eyebrow at Fitz.
Fitz squinted his eyes at Dex. "Depends...where do you want to go?"
"Why not that secret place of yours? That field?" Dex suggested, a smile on his face.
Fitz let out a sigh.
"Mmh...okay." Fitz said with a smile.
"Ah, you're the best!" Dex exclaimed.
Fitz's heart began to beat faster from Dex's comment. Dex noticed how Fitz seemed to freeze up from his comment and his smile just grew.

"Wow, I didn't think you'd like my praise~"
"S-shut up! It's different to when the girls compliment me..."
"Hahaha! Awh, that's adorable! You're getting all red, Fitz!"
"I will light-leap away if you continue to tease me, Dex."
"Okay? You already paid for all this, so go ahead!"
"..."
"Hahaha!"