Let Me Ruffle Your Fur a Little

Chapter 68

Be Good

Translated by boilpoil
Edited by boilpoil

After grabbing the recipe for macarons off the internet, Bai Yao has ordered the ingredients and tools needed.

When he begins, he realises it’s even more difficult than he imagined. He watched and read quite a few tutorials, and made two whole pages of notes, still, he’s not confident about it.

Fortunately, it doesn’t go too badly. He’s adjusted and made the batter more or less the same, which is about halfway there.

Meanwhile, he’ll have to make the ‘sheep’ but squeezing each puff of fur out individually onto the tray. It’s a huge challenge on his hand’s dexterity and stability, and a test on his patience. Bai Yao takes his time to squeeze the pastry bag slowly, ensuring each sheep wouldn’t look too unlike the others.

He thought Mu Mu’er would be bored quite quickly, but the boy just sits by his side, observing, looking even more patient than he is at the tray.

Bai Yao can see how Mu Mu’er’s hair curls on the top of his head from the angle. The light makes the colour of his hair a little lighter. It has turned maroon, looking fluffy and soft.

How does even his hair whorl look so cute?

Distracted, Bai Yao has paused his work; Mu Mu’er is quite fixated on the sheep that’s forming, and exclaims a little. The breath lands on Bai Yao’s hand. It feels warm and moist.

Bai Yao’s hand tenses in response and a large amount of batter is suddenly deposited, giving the sheep a huge overcoat.

“Big pile of fur!” Mu Mu’er says, leaning even closer, sliding into the space between Bai Yao’s arms as he looks at the batter on the tray.

He doesn’t seem at all bothered that he’s practically entirely surrounded in Bai Yao’s lap, his back comfortably nestled on Bai Yao’s chest.

“This sheep looks different to the other sheep,” Mu Mu’er studies the fur on this sheep and then looks back and forth between it and the other sheep-shaped macaron, “it must be hot to have so much fur…”

Bai Yao’s arms are raised a little uncomfortably with the pastry bag still in his hands, lost. He feels like he can still feel the boy’s breath on his hand while looking at him stuck between him and the counter.

The cute little sea otter is practically asking for a hug.

Bai Yao can’t help but recall what Mu Yi once said.

Just like Bai Yao, Mu Mu’er also likes his own sex.

They hold hands in public, and Mu Mu’er always sticks close to him no matter where they are. They sleep together on the same bed, and Mu Mu’er’s hand is just the right size to fit in Bai Yao’s palm.

They aren’t exactly ‘boyfriends,’ but they are definitely much more than just friends. They’ve long moved past that obscure threshold.

And it feels like, if they just move forward a little more, they’d start kissing and embracing.

Or, is it simply is?

“Yaoyao, this sheep has no fur,” Mu Mu’er appears worried about his macaron when Bai Yao remains frozen for a while, pointing to the half-finished dessert on the tray.

Bai Yao finally snaps back to reality. Right now, each sheep features little dollops of batter on each of them, except for the last sheep in the corner of the tray.

The batter bag is still three-quarters full; it’s really time-consuming to squeeze these dollops out, especially because they’re not simple spheres. Given the high difficulty, Bai Yao only finished less than ten macarons over a quarter hour of squeezing.

Mu Mu’er then quietly asks, “Yaoyao, Mu’er wants to help.”

“Here you go,” Bai Yao is unsurprised, and hands the pastry bag over.

“Hold onto this place, and then squeeze gently here.”

Mu Mu’er carefully does as Bai Yao asks, and a test dollop of batter drops onto the tray. He turns back to look at Bai Yao, unsure if he did well or not.

Bai Yao smiles encouragingly, “Mu’er, look at the tray, not Yaoyao.”

Mu’er has finished giving additional colours to three sheep, and has become confident enough not to require Bai Yao’s orders anymore. He looks like he’s having fun.

There is enough batter around for Mu Mu’er to have some fun for a while, and he doesn’t look like he’d lose patience any time soon, standing with that firm expression in front of the counter and squeezing slowly and meticulously, so Bai Yao walks away to preheat the oven and get started working on the filling in the macaron.

Mu Mu’er doesn’t even notice Bai Yao has left.

After some time, Bai Yao has a delivery. It’s a large amount of fresh seafood he ordered two days ago. It takes some time for him to sign and receive all the packages, so it surprises him a little to find Mu’er still hard at work in front of the counter when he returns.

As it turns out, Mu Mu’er has almost drained the entire pastry bag of batter already, having breathed life into the six neat rows of sheep with white fur and pink faces.

Each sheep macaron looks cute with fluffy fur. Though each appears subtly different, none can be said to be ugly.

Mu Mu’er isn’t much of a skilful decorator, but he has unparalleled patience when it comes to something he’s interested in. He can focus solely on the matter and do his assignment to the best he can.

Bai Yao is happily surprised. Such a focused Mu Mu’er looks exceptionally, extraordinarily cute to him. He watches over him from behind, feeling a little proud inside.

When Mu Mu’er has finally finished the last macaron sheep, he looks around for Bai Yao, and finds him standing right behind him. The boy smiles and proudly declares, “Mu’er is done!”

Bai Yao can’t help but caress his face, “yes, you did really well.”

The batter needs to be baked for 15 minutes, and after confirming with Bai Yao a few times, he stares right into the oven, like the sheep might sprout legs and run away if he wasn’t looking.

Bai Yao gives himself a 9/10 for this very first attempt at making macaron. He made the batter precisely per the instructions, and it turned out to be just adequately gluey. While two of the sheep had eyes spaced into the uncanny valley and one with a dented dollop for a fur coat, the rest of the macaron look appropriately proportioned and cute.

When they are out and cooled, they can have the filling added and the two halves joined. Then they’d be finished.

“Done, you can eat now.”

Mu Mu’er has been waiting for this. He picks the biggest, best-looking sheep, observes for a while, before putting it next to Bai Yao’s mouth, looking at him with bright, hopeful eyes, “Yaoyao eat.”

Bai Yao knew Mu Mu’er would do this, and doesn’t disappoint, eating off of his hand.

It’s not bad, but a little too sweet for Bai Yao. Probably just his own tastes, though.

Mu Mu’er, meanwhile, is truly a sweet tooth. He has no resistance when it comes to sweets he likes, and his eyes are practically glowing as he chomps down.

Bai Yao occupies himself washing the sink full of utensils while counting the number of macarons Mu Mu’er eats.

He keeps feeling like ‘this must be the last one Mu’er eats,’ only to see the boy take another from the tray right afterwards. He started by biting and chewing properly, and now he’s basically already stuffing them into his mouth.

After the sixth macaron, Bai Yao, seeing the boy not looking to stop any time soon, decisively confiscates the tray.

Mu Mu’er can only watch the trayful of sheep macaron being put atop the fridge where he can’t reach even if he stands on tiptoes.

“Yaoyao, Mu’er is hungry~” a dissatisfied Mu Mu’er speaks with his tone rising a little at the end, “Mu’er still wants more.”

“No, that’s all you can eat,” Bai Yao means that the dessert is too sugary to eat all at once. Mu Mu’er, though, misunderstands, and runs out of the kitchen after some thought.

Bai Yao is curious, but he decides to wait in the kitchen for him to come back.

Mu Mu’er comes back from the yard soon enough, with a pile of stuff in his hands. He’s looking at them to balance, and so bumps his head right into Bai Yao.

Ignoring the little bit of pain on his head, Mu Mu’er stuffs all the seashells and stones in his hands into Bai Yao’s hands, and smiles.

“Shells, shells and stones for Yaoyao,” Mu Mu’er points to the macaron on the fridge, “to trade for sheep.”

The shells actually weigh a little, and there are all kinds. Bai Yao studies them a little, and recognises one as the abalone shell left over from the dinner two days ago. They… probably come from the trash, because Bai Yao threw those shells straight into the bin after digging the meat out that day.

He isn’t sure how to react. When did the little guy find the time to go through the bin when he wasn’t looking, huh?

Mu Mu’er did not have his macarons in the end; Bai Yao put the tray of sheep into the fridge, on the highest level that Mu Mu’er is barely able to reach, then turns to caress Mu Mu’er on the hair while stifling a chuckle, “be a good boy and eat some more tomorrow.”

Mu Mu’er nods and says, “ok. Mu’er will be a good boy.”