He found himself smiling at the way Xue Yang sighed at the fruit. Heâd missed his friend quite a bit t0 the point that even the silliest things Xue Yang did was a comfort. Mo Xuanyu let go of his sleeve to sit down properly at the table. It was a little dusty but nothing he wasnât already used to.
Plus, he wasnât going to complain about having another meal so soon. Heâd almost forgotten that three meals a day was pretty standard.
âIt might be the soil here. Native plants are easier to grow than invasive. Making the soil fertile for most plant life is pretty hard⌠but I can help tilling some of it.â He had to do all sorts of chores back in Mo Village. Only this time he wouldnât have to do it on an empty stomach.
âYou know..â He said as he started to eat. âYouâve matured a lot. Your mannerisms are a little different and your face looks really niceâ not that you didnât look nice before!â He hurried.
âYou look like an adult, is all.â He was sure once he gained some weight heâd look better, too. But right now Xue Yang was ahead of him in being more handsome.
No matter how much he cleaned, it seemed the house got filled with dust pretty quickly. Xue Yang was as thorough as he could be, cleaning every day to adhere to a routine, but something about this place just refused to give him a day off, it seemed.Â
Maybe he had to clean outside, too, to prevent dust from coming in.Â
Sitting down with his apples and a knife, he began to cut them up as he listened to Mo Xuanyu speak. It was still so surreal, having him near. Having him be himself, here with him⌠A single thought haunted him as he took in the presence of his friend.
âHuh. You become a farmer since the last time I saw you?â He teased, offering Mo Xuanyu a little smile. âIâll take any help you can offer. I donât wanna starve, and Iâm sure you donât want to, either.â
Placing the apple slices in the shape of a star on a plate, he looked up from his task with an eyebrow raised. Was Mo Xuanyu praising him? Was he â flirting with him?Â
Surely not. The mere idea made him snort.
âRight, last time we saw each other, I wasâŚâ He stopped to think for a moment. âSeventeen? Eighteen? Canât have been much older than that. Itâs been a long fucking time, wow.â
Yet it felt like Mo Xuanyu himself hadnât changed at all. Perhaps it was due to the fact that heâd seen âhimâ fairly recently. âWould suck if I still looked like a kid. YouâŚâ
He pushed the plate of apple slices over towards Mo Xuanyu, not caring if he was coming off as overbearing. âDonât look so bad yourself. Just need to round out a little.âÂ