“Wake up, Yao!” Feliciano shakes the Chinese nation’s arm, ignoring the grumbling coming from him.

“Ugh...What is it, Feliciano?” Yao opens one eye, looking at the Italian with confusion and annoyance.

“It’s your birthday!” Feliciano responds with a wide grin, causing Yao to groan.

“I’m well aware, Feli. But why are you waking me up early?”

The Italian giggles in excitement, “Because I want to take you somewhere and it opens in an hour!”

Yao opens both eyes, blinking them at the Italian, “Where exactly? Couldn’t this wait until later in the day?”

“Nope! I know you’ll want to spend the entire day there once we arrive so we have to get there when it opens!”

A spark of curiosity appears in Yao’s eyes and he sits up, “Fine, fine. Anything specific you want me to wear?”

“Whatever you want, just casual would be better!” Feliciano says with a grin as he presses a mug into China’s hand.

Yao glances into it, giving an appreciative smile when the smell of his favorite tea hits him and he takes a sip, “Xiexie, Feliciano.”

“It’s nessun problema, Yao~! Buon compleanno, tesoro.” Feliciano leans in and pecks Yao’s cheek, giggling at the light blush that forms. “I’ve got to go get ready, so drink your tea and get dressed when you’re done. I’ll get everything else ready!”

Yao smiles at how thoughtful the Italian is being and he nuzzles his nose against Feliciano’s cheek, “Alright. Thanks again.”

Feliciano just beams at him before skipping out of the room.

~~~~~~~~~~~

An hour later finds them in front of the Beijing Zoo and Yao’s eyes widen, “The zoo?”

Feliciano grins and nods, “Yup! I know how much you like animals, so I thought it was perfect! I have another surprise once we get our tickets.”

Yao looks at the male in awe and affection as the Italian drags them over to the entrance. They’ve arrived before the majority of people so it doesn’t take long to go through the line, Feliciano grinning when he pays for the aquarium and the panda house in addition to general admission.

“So, where to first?” Feliciano asks, his eyes sparkling at the other nation as he hands him a map.

“You’re amazing, you know that?” Yao retorts as he takes the map, deciding on just going around the zoo in a circle until lunch then visiting the aquarium and panda house afterward.

The only response he gets is a giggle from Feliciano as he takes him by the hand and leads him to the closest animal.

Time passes quickly as they visit the various animals, Feliciano having a constant smile at seeing Yao so happy. His heart melts every time the Chinese nation squeals at seeing a baby animal, no matter what kind, and he feels confident that he made a good decision in bringing Yao here.

It’s been too long since Yao has been allowed to relax like this and simply enjoy life, and Feliciano promises himself that he’ll do whatever he has to to keep this smile on Yao’s face.

When lunchtime rolls around, instead of leading Yao to one of the restaurants scattered around the zoo, Feliciano takes him to the peony gardens. They sit down and the Italian takes off his backpack, opening it to reveal several insulated containers, the sight causing Yao to raise an eyebrow.

“I know you would have been fine with the food here but I thought you’d rather have home-cooked food.” Feliciano offers with a sheepish smile, opening the containers to reveal a variety of Yao’s favorite foods, both Italian and Chinese dishes.

Yao gapes at him, shutting his mouth after a second. He blinks a few times before smiling radiantly at the Italian, “You didn’t have to go this far, Feliciano. But thank you.”

Feliciano grins at him, “It’s all worth it to make you happy, Yao.” They both blush at the admission and the Italian starts splitting up the food.

They eat while looking at the beautiful flowers and talking just to talk, as they don’t get to spend a lot of time together solely in the other’s company.

Once the food is gone, they pack up and head to the aquarium. Feliciano takes a lot of pictures, not wanting to miss a moment of today, while Yao reads the information they have about each fish.

Once the aquarium has been exhausted for new experiences, Feliciano announces that it’s time to go to the panda house. Yao brightens at the statement, causing the Italian to giggle, take his hand, and start dragging him towards the house.

The panda house is crowded as everyone wants a chance to see them but that doesn’t discourage Yao or Feliciano. They manage to weave through the crowd and get up close to where the pandas are, Yao squealing at the sight.

Feliciano’s heart melts at the sight of the Chinese nation so happy and quietly pulls out a sketchpad, working quickly to capture the moment. He could have taken a picture, but it wouldn’t have been able to capture every nuance of Yao’s expression like a pencil to paper can.

They spend hours with the pandas, Yao squealing whenever something cute happens or he sees one of the cubs. Around an hour to closing, Feliciano pokes Yao, “We should probably leave. I want to get you something from the gift shop, okay?”

Yao nods, looking a bit put-out that he has to leave the pandas but knowing that it’d be better to get out before everyone else does. Feliciano smiles and takes his hand, both of them walking to the gift store where the Italian buys Yao a panda plush that caught the Chinese nation’s eyes.

They get dinner on the way home and Feli gives Yao the sketch from earlier, smiling as awe fills the older nation’s eyes. “This is beautiful, Feliciano, thank you.”

Feli just smiles brightly, “It’s no problem~ Buon compleanno, Yao.” He says once again, leaning in and pecking Yao’s cheek. Yao smiles, his heart light.