Twilight is still on the horizon, so Qi Ya takes the professional camera he brought to take some photographs, given he doesn’t have as much opportunity to travel with Bai Yao anymore. He always ends up going home with hundreds of photographs; with Mu Mu’er here as well, there is new meaning to taking photographs, too.
Qi Ya quite enjoys scouting for photogenic locations. When he finally finds somewhere that serendipitously includes the fading, almost pink sun in the background, he looks back only to find Bai Yao holding Mu Mu’er tightly, speaking something into his ears. The little guy appears amused, his smile as bright as any star would become in the night sky.
He does not call out, but uses his camera to capture the moment. The flash captures their attention, and they both look.
“Another one?” Qi Ya doesn’t put his camera down just yet, “Mu’er, look here!”
Mu Mu’er, standing next to Bai Yao, who is almost a head taller, makes for the perfect ‘bipod’ for his arm, and so Bai Yao gladly puts his arm onto Mu Mu’er’s head while putting his other hand in his pocket, and gives a lazy but manly smile to the camera.
In this second photograph, Mu Mu’er looks dumbfounded as he wasn’t prepared, and he’s like a poor bullied animal under Bai Yao’s arm.
He wants to see the photograph too, but Bai Yao takes the camera before he can see it. Bai Yao is laughing like a maniac while extending his arm out of the boy’s reach, in case he wants to delete it, saying, “it’s so cute. Yaoyao wants to put Mu’er into a frame and hang it from the wall.”
Mu Mu’er appears quite panicked at the remark.
Later, as night falls completely, Qi Ya surrounds the area they cleaned in the middle of the flat ground with pebbles, before setting up the branches they found to light a fire.
While watching over Mu Mu’er playing by himself off to the side, they chat by the campfire.
Qi Ya tells Bai Yao about this guy he met recently at a base of their agency. They haven’t gone as far as confessing yet, but Qi Ya thinks he’s fallen for him, the cute little fox who, rather than the stereotypical sly and cunning image, is actually a total dork in appearance who can also get pretty stubborn at times, in addition to being good at cooking up schemes.
And when they first met, he mistook Qi Ya for a seagull, asking him all about it, making Qi Ya misunderstand him as being particularly interested in seagulls and such animals. Still, this being part of his profession, he explained patiently to him. All until they were saying goodbye, when the little fox said, “thank you, Mr Seagull, I look forward to meeting and talking to you again.”
It was later that night when Qi Ya suddenly realised he was being played for a fool.
The topic soon ends up back on the hottest new couple – Bai Yao and Mu Mu’er. Qi Ya is really curious, since Bai Yao told him about it, about how they actually got together, when he remembered Mu Mu’er only as a little homeless guy Bai Yao gave temporarily shelter to the last them they met.
“So how did you get together? So soon, too,” Qi Ya asks, slower than usual.
Was it quick? Bai Yao thought it was quite slow already; anyway, he wants to spend the rest of his days with Mu Mu’er as each other’s boyfriend. That’s it.
Therefore he thinks for a bit before answering, “it’s like, when you do meet the one, you’ll realise sooner or later that no one else is as important. He’s all you need. I find everything he does to be so cute. He’s like a butterfly that suddenly decided to land on a cat’s nose.”
Before meeting Mu Mu’er, Qi Ya is certain Bai Yao would never be someone to say something like this.
The dancing flames bring warmth and scattered sparks, which fall gently onto the nearby rocks, glimmering, before fading.
Qi Ya grabs a carton of cigarettes from his pocket, shaking one out halfway and hands it over.
Bai Yao shakes his head, though, “I’m quitting.”
Qi Ya is quite amazed after realising he’s doing this for the little sea otter. Easily making a snow leopard abandon a yearlong habit, huh.
Well, since his friend is quitting, Qi Ya also puts his cigarettes away, while wondering, “and you’re determined to commit to caring for him for life?”
Bai Yao throws branches into the distance nonchalantly while saying, “… what do you mean ‘caring’? It’s not like he can’t take care of himself at all.”
“From now on, he can help run the restaurant with me. I cook, and he serves. We’ll both be making money for the family,” Bai Yao says, then adds after a little bit, with a tone of certainty, “if he doesn’t want to help, I’ll let him play around all day, too. I can take care of us both; he’s a tiny eater, you know.”
Smiling, and now narrowing his eyes to observe Mu Mu’er, who is in turn observing mushrooms on the ground, he says, “I’ll also like a little lazy sea otter.”
“Whatever happens, I only have eyes for him. This life, and the next. Always together.”
Qi Ya has never seen this side of Bai Yao before. If you ask him to describe it, he’s always pretty untamed and carefree. He doesn’t seem like the type to become bogged down by something, let alone settle down.
That’s why, despite the man’s general lack of frivolousness with relationships, Qi Ya also never thought of Bai Yao as ‘faithful,’ or that he might suddenly find his true love even before him, his best friend does.
It feels like he’s changed, but he can’t pinpoint where. Qi Ya thinks about it, and concludes, it’s his personality. He’s become gentler. He’s become… approachable, better.
Qi Ya spreads his fingers a little about his lips while holding his chin, smiling.
Ah, to be in love, huh. Love does change people.
Still, there’s one thing he does believe for certain——That the couple will be the same for the rest of their lives.
“Truly?” Crossing his arms and leaning back onto a rock behind him, Qi Ya asks.
“Truer than diamonds.”
Bai Yao leans forward, adding a bit more kindling to the fire. The flames licking the branches slowly turn from orange brown back to bright red in colour, burning more brightly.
He says, “I wish he’ll be able to say one day, that his boyfriend is a leopard, who can protect him.”
Qi Ya is quite happy for Bai Yao, and has nothing but blessings for them, but he recalls something, and furrows his brows instead.
“Does…” Slightly hesitant, he decides to push through with the question regardless, “does he actually understand what ‘boyfriends’ mean, though? Are you able to be a couple no different from any other ones around?”
Bai Yao thinks about the question. The more time he’s spent with Mu Mu’er, the more he feels like Mu Mu’er actually understands. When something is to his interest, the boy doesn’t need too much explanation. And there are occasionally things he can figure out on his own, too.
Possibly, including the concept of boyfriends.
Bai Yao does not answer the question directly in the end, but he does smile and say, “he doesn’t understand what it means to plant strawberries on the neck yet, but I’ll teach him, slowly but steadily.”
“I’ll teach him anything he doesn’t understand, until he does.”
Twilight is still on the horizon, so Qi Ya takes the professional camera he brought to take some photographs, given he doesn’t have as much opportunity to travel with Bai Yao anymore. He always ends up going home with hundreds of photographs; with Mu Mu’er here as well, there is new meaning to taking photographs, too.
Qi Ya quite enjoys scouting for photogenic locations. When he finally finds somewhere that serendipitously includes the fading, almost pink sun in the background, he looks back only to find Bai Yao holding Mu Mu’er tightly, speaking something into his ears. The little guy appears amused, his smile as bright as any star would become in the night sky.
He does not call out, but uses his camera to capture the moment. The flash captures their attention, and they both look.
“Another one?” Qi Ya doesn’t put his camera down just yet, “Mu’er, look here!”
Mu Mu’er, standing next to Bai Yao, who is almost a head taller, makes for the perfect ‘bipod’ for his arm, and so Bai Yao gladly puts his arm onto Mu Mu’er’s head while putting his other hand in his pocket, and gives a lazy but manly smile to the camera.
In this second photograph, Mu Mu’er looks dumbfounded as he wasn’t prepared, and he’s like a poor bullied animal under Bai Yao’s arm.
He wants to see the photograph too, but Bai Yao takes the camera before he can see it. Bai Yao is laughing like a maniac while extending his arm out of the boy’s reach, in case he wants to delete it, saying, “it’s so cute. Yaoyao wants to put Mu’er into a frame and hang it from the wall.”
Mu Mu’er appears quite panicked at the remark.
Later, as night falls completely, Qi Ya surrounds the area they cleaned in the middle of the flat ground with pebbles, before setting up the branches they found to light a fire.
While watching over Mu Mu’er playing by himself off to the side, they chat by the campfire.
Qi Ya tells Bai Yao about this guy he met recently at a base of their agency. They haven’t gone as far as confessing yet, but Qi Ya thinks he’s fallen for him, the cute little fox who, rather than the stereotypical sly and cunning image, is actually a total dork in appearance who can also get pretty stubborn at times, in addition to being good at cooking up schemes.
And when they first met, he mistook Qi Ya for a seagull, asking him all about it, making Qi Ya misunderstand him as being particularly interested in seagulls and such animals. Still, this being part of his profession, he explained patiently to him. All until they were saying goodbye, when the little fox said, “thank you, Mr Seagull, I look forward to meeting and talking to you again.”
It was later that night when Qi Ya suddenly realised he was being played for a fool.
The topic soon ends up back on the hottest new couple – Bai Yao and Mu Mu’er. Qi Ya is really curious, since Bai Yao told him about it, about how they actually got together, when he remembered Mu Mu’er only as a little homeless guy Bai Yao gave temporarily shelter to the last them they met.
“So how did you get together? So soon, too,” Qi Ya asks, slower than usual.
Was it quick? Bai Yao thought it was quite slow already; anyway, he wants to spend the rest of his days with Mu Mu’er as each other’s boyfriend. That’s it.
Therefore he thinks for a bit before answering, “it’s like, when you do meet the one, you’ll realise sooner or later that no one else is as important. He’s all you need. I find everything he does to be so cute. He’s like a butterfly that suddenly decided to land on a cat’s nose.”
Before meeting Mu Mu’er, Qi Ya is certain Bai Yao would never be someone to say something like this.
The dancing flames bring warmth and scattered sparks, which fall gently onto the nearby rocks, glimmering, before fading.
Qi Ya grabs a carton of cigarettes from his pocket, shaking one out halfway and hands it over.
Bai Yao shakes his head, though, “I’m quitting.”
Qi Ya is quite amazed after realising he’s doing this for the little sea otter. Easily making a snow leopard abandon a yearlong habit, huh.
Well, since his friend is quitting, Qi Ya also puts his cigarettes away, while wondering, “and you’re determined to commit to caring for him for life?”
Bai Yao throws branches into the distance nonchalantly while saying, “… what do you mean ‘caring’? It’s not like he can’t take care of himself at all.”
“From now on, he can help run the restaurant with me. I cook, and he serves. We’ll both be making money for the family,” Bai Yao says, then adds after a little bit, with a tone of certainty, “if he doesn’t want to help, I’ll let him play around all day, too. I can take care of us both; he’s a tiny eater, you know.”
Smiling, and now narrowing his eyes to observe Mu Mu’er, who is in turn observing mushrooms on the ground, he says, “I’ll also like a little lazy sea otter.”
“Whatever happens, I only have eyes for him. This life, and the next. Always together.”
Qi Ya has never seen this side of Bai Yao before. If you ask him to describe it, he’s always pretty untamed and carefree. He doesn’t seem like the type to become bogged down by something, let alone settle down.
That’s why, despite the man’s general lack of frivolousness with relationships, Qi Ya also never thought of Bai Yao as ‘faithful,’ or that he might suddenly find his true love even before him, his best friend does.
It feels like he’s changed, but he can’t pinpoint where. Qi Ya thinks about it, and concludes, it’s his personality. He’s become gentler. He’s become… approachable, better.
Qi Ya spreads his fingers a little about his lips while holding his chin, smiling.
Ah, to be in love, huh. Love does change people.
Still, there’s one thing he does believe for certain——That the couple will be the same for the rest of their lives.
“Truly?” Crossing his arms and leaning back onto a rock behind him, Qi Ya asks.
“Truer than diamonds.”
Bai Yao leans forward, adding a bit more kindling to the fire. The flames licking the branches slowly turn from orange brown back to bright red in colour, burning more brightly.
He says, “I wish he’ll be able to say one day, that his boyfriend is a leopard, who can protect him.”
Qi Ya is quite happy for Bai Yao, and has nothing but blessings for them, but he recalls something, and furrows his brows instead.
“Does…” Slightly hesitant, he decides to push through with the question regardless, “does he actually understand what ‘boyfriends’ mean, though? Are you able to be a couple no different from any other ones around?”
Bai Yao thinks about the question. The more time he’s spent with Mu Mu’er, the more he feels like Mu Mu’er actually understands. When something is to his interest, the boy doesn’t need too much explanation. And there are occasionally things he can figure out on his own, too.
Possibly, including the concept of boyfriends.
Bai Yao does not answer the question directly in the end, but he does smile and say, “he doesn’t understand what it means to plant strawberries on the neck yet, but I’ll teach him, slowly but steadily.”
“I’ll teach him anything he doesn’t understand, until he does.”
