49- Butterfly Garden

Heavy. What was so heavy? One of his arms was pinned down. Ryan peeked his eyes open. He didn't recognize his surroundings at first, then it hit him that he was in a hotel. Scott had taken him to the beach. Speaking of... Scott was the heavy thing. He was half sprawled over top of him, his breaths tickling Ryan's ear. Ryan tried very carefully to get his arm back without waking Scott, working it free a little at a time.

When they got back last night they continued with some of the experimentation, with much greater success than their poor first attempt at outdoor sex. Scott had packed a vibrator wand, and let's just say he more than made up for getting his rocks off while his fiance froze. And then some. It was a good thing there were so few people in the hotel.

Careful though Ryan was, he woke Scott anyway. They repositioned to be a little more mutually comfortable, enjoying lying abed together, while Scott tried to rub away the pins and needles in Ryan's arm.

"Happy birthday, Cuddle Bug! Love you!" Ryan mumbled. He still wasn't completely awake. He planted a kiss on his fiance's lips.

"Aww, thank you, Hot Stuff." Scott was maybe just a little less awake than Ryan was.

They cuddled for a little before Scott started insisting they had to get up. Mostly because he didn't want to miss the hotel's breakfast, but also because he'd had a lot planned for today. He still wasn't giving Ryan any clues. And thus, they got up and got dressed. Scott had the honor of wearing the "Birthday Boy" pin yet again, making it feel even more official since today was his actual birthday.

Ryan was very glad they didn't skip the hotel's breakfast. There was a waffle maker! And it made seashell shaped waffles! There were a lot of other things available too, a chef taking egg orders for example, but the waffles were so cool! He ate two of them. There were maybe three other families in the lounge, and after all the noise he and Scott made last night, he secretly prayed they were standing on different floors.

After breakfast came a little bit of a drive, mostly following the shoreline, and in the opposite direction they went in for dinner the night before. When Ryan pressed for where they were going, Scott just kept saying, "It's a surprise."

Ryan did his best to wait patiently, but he was buzzing with excitement. Hotels gave way to fancy houses, then restaurants and swim shops, and then Scott turned inland, and it was the same chain stores they had in the city. This couldn't be what Scott was keeping so secret, could it?

He didn't have to wonder too much longer. Scott pulled into a huge parking lot that surrounded what appeared to be an enormous collection of strip malls, with a few larger standalone buildings.

"We're here!" Scott said triumphantly. "Well, kinda. But trust me. This is one of the coolest places I know about. You're going to love it!"

Ryan tried to keep an open mind as they walked up to the first group of buildings. It was almost cold, but not quite, not too bad if you had a jacket. Scott brought a backpack with him, saying only that it made it easier to shop and that it had something in it they'd need for later.

They stopped to look at the directory, and though there were many names that Ryan already recognized, most of the stores he'd never heard of. Apparently this place was an outlet mall? Why was there an "Attractions" category if it was a mall? Before Ryan could get a good look at everything, Scott had found what he was looking for and pulled him away by the hand.

"I thought I parked in the right spot!" Scott said cheerfully. "We've got two VERY IMPORTANT things to do here, and the whole day to do them! Oh, and we'll check out some of the stores too! There's one in particular that you simply can't miss!"

Ryan let himself be drug along. This place did seem pretty neat, and Scott was obviously excited. They passed a few stores Ryan wouldn't mind peeping in to, if only for curiosity, on their way to the first destination.

I'm no time, they'd made it to the place Scott had in mind. It was a huge standalone building, with murals of butterflies and tropical flowers decorating the walls. The sign on the front said: "Butterfly Pavilion." Curiosity ate at him while Scott paid the admission fee. From the signage everywhere, this seemed like a really cool place!

He wasn't disappointed. After a secondary set of doors, they came to an extensive indoor garden full of flowering plants. A pathway wound through it all and, as the name suggested, there were butterflies everywhere! Scott chuckled at his fiance's slack-jawed, sparkle-eyed expression.

"They let you feed them too, you know." Scott said.

"Really?!" Ryan nearly radiated pure excitement.

"I had a feeling you'd like this place."

Before Scott went to go buy the little cups of butterfly food, they took a second to take off their jackets. It was much warmer in here than it was outside. A butterfly actually landed on Scott's head, and Ryan frantically told him not to move as he fumbled with getting out his phone and opening the camera.

There was a lot of picture taking going on once they started exploring. There were little plaques along the path, giving facts about butterflies, or about the plants in that particular area. Ryan loved every second of it, especially getting to feed the butterflies. He was attracting all sizes and colors to his little nectar cup. Scott loved seeing Ryan enjoying himself like this.

This building had one more surprise in store, and you could hear it before you could see it. Separated by another set of double doors was an aviary, full of rainbow lorikeets.

That was almost more fun than the butterflies. Ryan found them rather charming, if kinda loud, and he wasn't entirely sure he wasn't going to get bit. He got to feed them too. They ate something similar to what the butterflies got, and it was fascinating watching their weird little tongues lap up the liquid. Unlike the butterflies, they fought each other over access to the treat.

They were also super interested in Ryan's ring. They kept licking the stones, but when one actually grabbed it and pulled, Ryan very quickly twisted the ring around his finger to where the birds couldn't get to it anymore. They were still fascinated by the metal band. At least Scott was getting just as mobbed as he was, but the birds were mainly going after his phone, since he had it out taking pictures, and his "Birthday Boy" pin, since it was shiny.

They didn't stay too long in the aviary. The lorikeets were fun, but the butterflies were preferential company. They finished the winding trail, discussing the antics of the birds and admiring the scenery. Before they left, Scott got an employee to take a picture of them together. Ryan immediately requested to have a copy sent to him.

They had to exit through a little gift shop. Scott was open to the idea of a souvenir, but Ryan claimed the photos alone were plenty for him. But, when Scott saw a small display of picture frames, he couldn't resist, and insisted Ryan pick one out, promising to get whatever picture he wanted printed to go in it. It was hard to say no to that.

After the butterflies, they did a little walking and window shopping. They also stopped for a light lunch since Scott promised a big dinner. He was still refusing to give hints.

There weren't that many people out and about for a Saturday, and Ryan could almost imagine they had the whole place to themselves. They didn't buy much. Since it was Scott's birthday, Ryan was very politely turning down pretty much every offer to get him something.

Most of the stores were clothing or shoe shops, but there were some specialty shops mixed in. One store was dedicated to medical apparel, for example. Scott stopped in to get a new set of scrubs for work, while Ryan had fun checking out all the patterns scrub tops came in. They also had a few novelties, like pens that looked like syringes. Ryan used one to pretend to jab Scott.

"Well doctor," Scott asked with mock seriousness, "may I ask what I've just been inoculated against?"

Ryan, who was completely unprepared for how to respond finally stammered out, "Cooties?"

Scott then leaned in really close to whisper in Ryan's ear, "Good thing I've already been infected by your cooties."

Ryan licked his cheek, saying, "Then a little more won't hurt, right?"

After realizing what he did, and that they were in public, he was actually super embarrassed. Scott found it endearing, of course. The clerk didn't really catch what happened, but wondered why one of them was grinning ear to ear laughing while the other one hid his face in his hands.