To the Start of a New World

3.3

'Til then, they would just go on like this.

Lu Hao picked up the apron, started to put it on, then paused before his fingers could knot the ties. "Hong Sheng?" Lu Hao called. Hong Sheng had been in the living room, sitting jittery on tenterhooks as he tried to familiarize himself with the environment. Upon hearing his name, Hong Sheng jolted and stood, following Lu Hao's voice to the kitchen.

"What is it?"

"Help me tie this." Lu Hao smiled at him before showing Hong Sheng his back. His wide shoulders and sleek back had a certain sex appeal, especially as Hong Sheng had to draw closer to properly tie the knot of the apron.

Hong Sheng's fingers trembled. Lu Hao's body gave off a lot of heat; he wondered if Hong Sheng could feel it, was affected by it. Lu Hao felt Hong Sheng's shaky breath on his back, and then the small shift in the air as Hong Sheng rapidly pulled away.

"Thanks." The apron around him secured, Lu Hao turned and caught sight of Hong Sheng looking away. "I'll be making steamed spare ribs and stir-fried cabbage. Could use another dish, though. Take a look at this, what else do you think I could make?"

Lu Hao opened the fridge, showing Hong Sheng the ingredients he'd stocked earlier. There wasn't much. In truth, he just wanted to let Hong Sheng pick something he wanted to eat, but Hong Sheng was the kind of person who was afraid of being presumptuous. If you asked him, "Hey, what do you want to eat?", he'd reply with something like, "Whatever you want," or "Whatever's easy for you," or even, "I'm okay with anything."

When it came to important things, the kind of life-or-death decisions that would make anyone quake in their boots, Hong Sheng was decisive without an ounce of hesitation. He could look death in the eye without fear, and wouldn't waver even when he was trapped with hundreds of zombies around him.

But the second he had to do something as simple as saying what he wanted to eat, he became as timid as a hamster, and would only get nervous if pressured.

So Lu Hao went in a roundabout way, and framed it as a problem to solve. There was a handful of components Lu Hao had, and all Hong Sheng had to do was identify something that could be created from those components.

Hong Sheng took to this mission seriously. He stood next to Lu Hao in front of the fridge, and the two of them peered into it together. "Tomato scrambled eggs," Hong Sheng said in an instant.

"Good choice." It was an extremely easy dish to make, and that might have been why Hong Sheng had picked it. Lu Hao patted Hong Sheng on the shoulder, took out the tomatoes, and closed the fridge door. "Help me prep?"

Hong Sheng nodded. Working together was better than handling it alone. This gave them more time together, and set the tone for the kind of domesticity Lu Hao hoped to share. He didn't want Hong Sheng feeling like a guest, sitting awkwardly on the sofa and unsure what to do. This villa was their shared home, and letting Hong Sheng perform the day to day tasks with him would cement that feeling.

The two of them busied themselves in the kitchen, washing the vegetables, chopping up ingredients, getting out the seasonings. Lu Hao took over the cooking proper, and it wasn't long before everything was done.

Hong Sheng set the table with the rice bowls and helped Lu Hao carry the food over. The steaming plates of food filled the table: stir-fried chinese cabbage with plump shrimp, steamed pieces of short rib in a rich black bean sauce, and savory sweet tomatoes with fluffy scrambled eggs, along with the fragrant bowls of white rice.

They ate like starving dogs, devouring the food until nothing was left. Food was a luxury in the apocalypse, and home-cooked food with fresh ingredients and seasoning had been rarer than anything.

When they were done, Hong Sheng leaned back, looking satisfied, if not a little too full. As the two of them stood to clean up the table, glanced to make sure Hong Sheng wasn't feeling ill. Hong Sheng's expression was as stoic as ever, so he seemed fine. "Let me know if your stomach starts to hurt after a while," Lu Hao told him, a bit sly, "I can help you rub it."

This made Hong Sheng's stoic expression crack, and he became the shy, bashful young man that was practically begging to be teased once again. "I—I—I'm fine," he said, flushed and curled up, before scurrying away with the dirty plates.

Hong Sheng hid his rebirth poorly. Maybe Lu Hao didn't have the right to say that, considering he'd immediately gone to his parents and told them he'd time-traveled. But the next day, Lu Hao figured they should go out and shop for more groceries as well as any other supplies Hong Sheng might need; and when they arrived at the supermarket, Hong Sheng started stuffing the cart full of supplies and non-perishables as if the survival instinct had kicked in and he was running on autopilot to stock up on as much as he could.

Lu Hao watched him in faint amusement, letting Hong Sheng pile so many bags and boxes of food that the cart was nearly about to overflow. "Are you stocking up?" he couldn't help but ask, teasing.

He was sure that Hong Sheng had been running on autopilot. Once Lu Hao had pointed his actions out, Hong Sheng froze, then stumbled over himself trying to find a justification for what he was doing that didn't boil down to 'I know we're going to go through a zombie apocalypse in a few months'. "Um," Hong Sheng started, "Maybe? Well, the villa is far, you never know if maybe we won't be able to get to the supermarket before we starve."

So transparent. He was too adorable; Lu Hao just wanted to hug him. "I'm sure we won't have to starve, but you're right. We should be prepared for any circumstance." Lu Hao had already started stocking supplies that he'd purchased in bulk in warehouses as well as a supply room in the villa, but it didn't hurt to support Hong Sheng's contributions. Lu Hao dragged over another cart and started filling it up with additional supplies, as well as the fresh groceries they needed for their day-to-day consumption.

Once they finished purchasing from the supermarket, Lu Hao drove back to the villa. Hong Sheng intermittently glanced out the window, and after a few times, Lu Hao asked, "Is there somewhere you want to go?"

Hong Sheng's dark eyes slid over to Lu Hao, and he shook his head. "...I'm just wondering when your parents will be back."

"They'll be really happy to see you again. It shouldn't be long. I'll bring you over as soon as they're back."

Hong Sheng nodded, looking more settled.

That must have been a regret for Hong Sheng in his past life, too—not being able to see Lu Hao's parents before they died. But now that they had a second chance, Hong Sheng could meet them again.

Like Lu Hao, Hong Sheng had changed greatly over the years. The last his parents had seen of Hong Sheng was the fifteen-year-old who was still so quiet and withdrawn, unsure if he should accept the affection his parents so freely gave. Now that Hong Sheng knew their outcome, Lu Hao wondered how Hong Sheng would treat them, and what their reunion would be like.

At night, Lu Hao cooked again with Hong Sheng assisting with the prepwork. This was the kind of thing Lu Hao hoped to establish as routine. One day, when the apocalypse was over and they could fight to return to a normalcy, Lu Hao hoped he and Hong Sheng could live this kind of ordinary daily life where they helped each other do small, inconsequential chores and just spent time comfortably together forever.

Once dinner was finished, Hong Sheng turned in. He had squirreled away some mechanical components and sheets of paper to his room; perhaps he was still inventing or modifying some kind of tool for the future.

And on Lu Hao's end, he opened up his laptop and checked the messages in his chat app.

[You're seriously offering to pay that much money?]

That was the latest message sent to him just a few hours ago.

The warmth of domesticity faded from Lu Hao's body, and leaving only a stone-cold calculation in his eyes. He typed into the chat, [That's right. I expect perfect results. Otherwise, it's half.]

[Even half's still a pretty good deal], the other side typed after a short while. [Give me the details.]