WARNING: UNEDITED
He Tian notices every little thing when it involves his Little Mo. It’s not as if he’s acting strange all of a sudden. Nothing changed with the way they look at each other or how the other takes care of him every single day without fail, especially since work has been really piling up lately. There’s just something, not quite alarming, that’s making He Tian feel like Mo Guan Shan’s keeping from him. It was like a tiny scratch on your new eyeglasses. It’s not annoying yet but you know it is there and you just want to get rid of it if you could.
3rdBall cockadoodled outside before resuming his favorite job of altering the garden landscape by scratching the earth and ruining the lawn grass. He’s growing into a fat chicken all thanks to the morning and evening routine of casting chicken feed whenever one of them gets bored and just wants to watch the chicken eat to his heart’s content. Visitors would often comment about the chicken’s luck, especially after learning about how there isn’t any plan of including him in any menu for the rest of his fortunate life.
“This is nice,” He Tian said after a long time of silence. Mo Guan Shan looked cozy, lying facedown on top of him like a lazy cat. If humans could purr he would have been purring in contentment. “The weather’s nice.”
“Hmm. Nice weather,” Mo Guan Shan answered. “Can’t believe we’re talking about the weather.” He chuckled and buried his face on He Tian’s chest.
“It’s been a while since it’s gotten this sunny.”
“That’s why we’re chilling inside right? It fucking burns outside.”
“I’m actually thinking about going to the beach. Just the two of us,” He Tian said, fiddling on the other guy’s hair.
Mo Guan Shan lifted his head to look at him lazily. He Tian’s fingers on his hair was a sure way to make him sleepy any time of the day.
“Beach? In December?”
“Well. . . This is the Philippines. There are pretty beaches all over.”
Mo Guan Shan’s mouth gaped open as he absent-mindedly stared at him.
“Pretty. . .beaches. Pe-petty. . .bitches. . .”
He Tian stared at him in amusement. The trace of a scratch that he noticed seemed like a product of paranoia now. It wasn’t Mo Guan Shan’s beating heart against his own, because he’s aware of how at peace it is. It’s not something noticeable right away, like how his arms were two distinct colors now, with his shoulders the same milky white before they came to this place and the lower part sunburnt, a clear line separating each color like spray-painted on a stencil.
“So what do you say?” he asked, running a light touch along the other guy’s ear.
“Just the two of us?”
“You don’t want to? We could invite Rica and Nato if you want.”
There it was. A flash of uncertainty caught between his eyelashes and a seemingly insignificant furrowing of brows. Mo Guan Shan was bothered by something.
“No. We should spend quality time together.”
And that’s how they talked about it, as if making plans about today’s dinner and the next thing Mo Guan Shan knew, they’re on a chartered yacht bound to a famous island up North. Mo Guan Shan was worried about the cost but thankfully it was surprisingly cheap and it wasn’t just them. Among the passengers were other foreigners and mostly were Koreans so they didn’t feel too out of place. He Tian later told him that the yacht was cheap because there were fewer tourists due to some recent international developments. To attract passengers, they had to lower the prices even if it wasn’t making the businessowners happy.
They arrived in the evening so they weren’t able to admire the view to the island along the way but the resort they were staying in looked like a paradise in the middle of nowhere and their room smelled so good and the bed was so soft they dozed off right after checking in. Even He Tian was dead to the world when he’s always the one who usually stays awake to unpack their things.
Mo Guan Shan woke up first. Peeking outside was the right decision because the sun was about to rise. Taking the camera with him, he sneaked out of their cottage and looked for the best spot to watch the rising sun.
All the people he met greeted him and he smiled and greeted them back, which surprised him a bit because he was never that amiable back then. He must have really changed a lot after living with He Tian and the villagers. They made it easier for him to deal with smiling faces and good intentions. After walking for a while, he reached a small plateau lined with huge trees with hanging roots. It was lower than that plateau he jumped off from after meeting He Tian and he could see the waves slamming against the rocks and splashing into the edge.
He took photos along the way. The whole resort felt so peaceful and soothing that he wanted to capture every single spot so he wouldn’t miss anything. The sunrise was like any other sunrise but right then it was breathtaking and literally. The two figures standing right before the rising sun kissed and smiled and stared at each other like they were trying to draw the other’s soul into their own and he couldn’t resist the urge to click his camera and capture that moment even if it would turn him into a thief. It wasn’t his. That moment belonged to them and he took it for himself just because it was pretty.
The short-haired man touched the other man’s cheek before turning around and walking away. He glanced into his direction but there wasn’t any sign that showed he knew what happened as he went away. The man with the longer hair tied to his back glanced at Mo Guan Shan and waved like they knew each other before striking a pose and yelling in Chinese, “Please take my picture!”