Let Me Ruffle Your Fur a Little

Mu Mu’er’s hand is sneaking towards the macarons, so Bai Yao quickly moves the plate away, “he’s eaten over a dozen at home.”

Mu Mu’er looks unhappy at Bai Yao’s accusation to Jing Xiaoqing, and denies it, “Mu’er did not.”

“Oh? Then who might have eaten the little sheep?”

Mu Mu’er says, with a cute, questioning tone, “not Mu’er~”

Bai Yao pokes the boy on the stomach, “then, was it a little sea otter?”

Jing Xiaoqing observes with a smile, then suddenly retrieves a piece of candy in a beautiful, brightly-coloured wrap from behind her like magic, “jiejie has candy, Mu’er, do you want any?”

“Wow,” Mu Mu’er’s attention moves away from the macarons immediately. His eyes brighten up, but when he tries to grab, Jing Xiaoqing retracts her hand a little, while revealing her other hand.

Another piece of candy, in a different wrap.

Jing Xiaoqing asks, “jiejie has two, Mu’er, do you want any?”

Mu Mu’er appears to be stuck in a conundrum. The two pieces of candy in green and blue wrap respectively are making him indecisive.

In the end, he chooses the green one, and he makes sure to express his gratitude with a ‘thank you, jiejie.’

The concept of taking both pieces of candy didn’t seem to have registered in the boy’s mind.

Bai Yao, disgruntled, goes, “tch, you’re feeding him candy when I’m not letting him have more macarons?”

“Why not? Eating is one of the joys of life. To eat is to be happy,” Jing Xiaoqing then waves the blue candy in front of Bai Yao, “want one?”

“… How old do you take me to be?”

Jing Xiaoqing insists, leaning forward, and jokingly suggests, “he’s such a dearie isn’t he? I can take care of him if you don’t want to.”

“No can do,” Bai Yao is adamant, “go get your own from the beach. What’s with trying to get mine?”

After Bai Yao sits back down on the sofa, Mu Mu’er’s posture changes a little, with his legs curling towards him, and looking at him every few minutes.

Jing Xiaoqing is observant, and she notices when Bai Yao does not.

Her mouth curls into a smile as she observes their distance with her head resting on her arm. Before Bai Yao can ask her what’s happening, she says, “you know, it’s nice to see you two together. You suit each other well.”

Mu Mu’er is mostly focused on manipulating the brightly-coloured candy wrap in his hand, as he does not always understand what the two people are talking about.

But he does this sentence, so he quickly puts the candy in his mouth and declare, “Mu’er is with Yaoyao!” Mu Mu’er pulls Bai Yao’s hand and looks up at him with bright eyes.

“Cough,” Bai Yao almost chokes on his tea, and coughs a few times.

Since Mu Yi has returned to Xishi, he’s felt the distance between himself and Mu Mu’er shrink. He thinks, the boy can’t be without him, nor can he, him.

It’d be a lie if he said he’s never thought about the relationship between the two of them. In fact, he often thinks about it.
He thinks about it every day.

Jing Xiaoqing sees him deep in thought, and chuckles, “see? Your dear sea otter thinks so too.”

She then continues, “it’s a nice relationship. He depends on you, and you also like him.”

Bai Yao remains silent. Jing Xiaoqing knows him well, and being good friends of many years, she decides to act, “what are you still worried about?”

This time, Bai Yao does answer, albeit after a rather long while, “I’m worried he does not know what like is.”

“There is no way he doesn’t like you. Look at how he’s holding onto you for dear life.”

Jing Xiaoqing misunderstood Bai Yao a little, but Bai Yao doesn’t correct her. Instead, he smiles.

The two of them don’t see each other very often, so they have quite a bit to talk about. Mu Mu’er finds his energy drifting, and he soon leans his head onto Bai Yao’s shoulder naturally, and eventually, he’s half sunk into Bai Yao’s lap.

Mu Mu’er has hair slightly lighter in colour than them, and it becomes even brighter under the sun. It’s soft, like that of a little sea otter.

The boy’s head is now on Bai Yao’s thighs, so Bai Yao puts his hand onto the boy’s shoulder, his fingertips curling his hair around.

He is paying close attention to Mu Mu’er while still talking to Jing Xiaoqing. His hair is a little long, he thinks. He needs to give him a haircut.

Mu Mu’er doesn’t really need to say anything, but he’s already the centre of attention there. Bai Yao and Jing Xiaoqing’s conversation topic and their eyes drift smoothly back onto the boy, who has decided to play with his phone.

Bai Yao briefly goes over what happened with Mu Yi’s visit. Mu Mu’er did have an older brother, who was separated from the boy when Mu’er was only thirteen. He only found him recently.

“Gege was going to take Mu’er away, but Mu’er went back to Yaoyao,” Mu Mu’er chimes in with a big smile.

“Just play with your game, my boy,” Bai Yao says, though his expression says otherwise.

Jing Xiaoqing suddenly chuckles audibly, and when Mu Mu’er goes back to playing his mobile game, she asks Bai Yao quietly, “you really are dense, you know that? If you can’t call the way he’s looking at you ‘affectionate,’ then what else?”
“It’s right in your eyes, too, you big dumbo.”

Bai Yao still looks a little confused, even despite the increasingly clear language, and he asks, “what’s in my eyes?”

Jing Xiaoqing, though, refrains from answering.

And that is also when a carrot carried in a hot air balloon drifts through the sky in the mobile game, drawing an exclamation from Mu Mu’er, who shows it to Bai Yao immediately.

The boy remembers seeing it a few times, but he has never shown Bai Yao.

Bai Yao looks down, and though he might appear to be looking at the screen, he’s more looking at Mu Mu’er’s eye, trying to figure out what emotions there are. He fials to see anything else but trust and reliance.

They’re the same eyes that have been looking at him thusly for these few months, unchanging.

A little more chatter later, Bai Yao gets up, to help Jing Xiaoqing tidy her house.

She hasn’t had the easiest time cleaning her store and living area being pregnant, and Bai Yao is happy to help, picking up things, organising miscellaneous stuff and sweeping the floor, wiping the tables and the like.

Mu Mu’er waits for him on the sofa patiently, playing with the Moon Rabbit Adventures in the living room. He occasionally looks up to see if Bai Yao is still in his field of vision, only settling down temporarily when he confirms so.

Jing Xiaoqing will have to be quite busy when her expected date of delivery approaches. The town only has a small clinic, and she must go to Xishi for the nearest hospital.

She doesn’t have a better friend in town than Bai Yao, so he promises to come see her again in a few days, and to call him immediately if she needs anything. He’d do his best to help.

Bai Yao is a little relieved, too, after making her promise him a few times that she’d be booking a good postnatal care service provider.

When Jing Xiaoqing sees the two of them off, watching Mu Mu’er grab Bai Yao’s hand subconsciously after putting his shoes on, and how Bai Yao takes that hand without the slightest hesitation, she can’t help but call out.

“Hey, Bai Yao.”
“Yeah?”
“If you never say anything, nothing’s ever going to change.”

Bai Yao doesn’t understand, and raises his brow in response.

“Do you know what your eyes say right now?” Jing Xiaoqing smiles, and makes each syllable count, “it says – I, love, him, so, much.”