Chapter Text
[CHAPTER 2: Mamma Mia]
A few weeks later: Tuye is deciding how to spend his time during the few days before the next holiday. He eventually lands on the decision to learn more about fishing.
He wants to do his best with Sibuxiang, not make the same mistakes as last time and hopefully win his heart. Even if it means diving into a field he’s pretty much unknowledgeable about.
“Alright, you learned a lot of things over the past few centuries... Fishing shouldn’t be too hard! You are good with your paws...” He monologues to himself, beginning his inquiry into the activity.
As he did so, his ears fell and flopped, feeling himself be unable to grasp what he was reading. He rested his arm and head on the table in frustration, groaning. “Di bale [No matter], I think it’d be better to learn it from Sisi...” He sighed softly as he looked over to his phone, beginning to text Sibuxiang.
SIBUXIANG <3
hey so like
i was kinda wondering
do you think you could
teach me how to fish
when we get to in like
a few days
oh? sure
it’d be your first time
after all
id be happy to learn!
ty tho
:D
^_^
no problem
With Tuye’s mind at ease, he had a bit of time to kill before he had to go to sleep, he thinks to himself and just rummages around in his closet. “Nandito ba...? [Is it here...?]” He mumbled, sorting through the various apparel he owned.
Soon, he pulled out a rather nice-looking purple bucket hat, and then went over to his sewing kit. After a bit of hard work and some intense head turns to reference pictures, he had now embroidered Sibuxiang’s face onto it.
“Heehee~, he’s so handsome on it~.” He giggled and gushed, just laying back on his bed and admiring his handiwork. As he admired it, Tuye just kicked his feet lightly as he laid down in pure, lovey-dovey glee.
Tuye set the hat down on his bed frame, stretching after hours of embroidery work. Looking at the time on his phone, his eyes widened, realizing how late it was. “I-it’s been that long?! Time really flies...” He sighed as he then crashed himself onto his bed, beginning to feel tired from that meticulous work.
As his eyes closed, a thought ran through his mind, his imagination giving him a small scene of Sibuxiang holding his hand to guide him in holding the fishing rod. He let a small giggle escape him as he submitted to his slumber, rather giddy about the coming fishing trip.
On the day of the trip, Tuye packed a small backpack for himself. Organizing some essentials inside like some towels, some portable batteries, a camera in case Sibuxiang wants a picture with his catch, and a small portable printer for the camera. He smugly chuckled to himself as he put on a fishing vest he ordered a few days before, as well as the custom-embroidered hat he made.
Soon enough, he was out the door and off to Deerman’s. As he got on the bus, hoisting his bag over his shoulder, he put on some headphones to liven up the trip.
Tuye began to hum along and quietly sing along to the music, closing his eyes and bobbing his head all the while. “Just one look and I can hear a bell ring... One more look and I forget everything, woah!”
“Mamma mia! Here I go again~.” Tuye sang quietly, though in his head, the entirety of a musical number began. “My, my! How can I resist you?” His foot tapped along with the music throughout the song.
“Mamma mia, now I really know!” Soon, the bus pulled to its stop. Tuye happily exited the bus as the song played, making his way to Sibuxiang’s place. “I could never let you go!”
As the song concluded, so did his bus ride. Tuye hoisted his bag over his shoulder and hopped off the bus, energetically skipping towards Sibuxiang’s front gate.
“Sisiiiiii~!” Tuye yelled out before running up to hug him, Sibuxiang returning the hug after a bit of surprise and hesitation. “So....? You said you’d teach me fishing right?”
Sibuxiang nods, opening his phone and opening up the maps app, “Yeah, I will. It’ll be a bit of a hike to the spot though so please bear with me on that.” He shows Tuye the map’s route. “This is a spot I found about a year ago, good catches there this time of year.”
“Doesn’t look too bad, let’s head off then.” Tuye gave him a smile and a thumbs up, setting off with him.
Deerman’s was relatively close to the city edge, Sibuxiang often took advantage of this to find some fishing spots especially since he was banned from fishing within the city.
The two continued on their hike until soon, the lake was in view. Tuye admired the view as Sibuxiang ushered him on, the two carefully treading a steep path on the way down to the lake.
“Wh-whoa!” Tuye exclaimed, almost slipping on the way down. He fell into Sibuxiang’s embrace ready to catch him, as if he knew it would happen.
Sibuxiang smiled and just helped him on the way down, “Be careful now, I actually fell when I found this place.” He chuckled, just rubbing his back.
“O-oh, yeah!” Tuye tried to keep his composure, clearing his throat as his mind began to race, being so close to him like that, even by accident. “I’ll be careful.”
The two soon arrived at the lakeside, a small raft tied to a small stump. On the stump was a sign: ‘Property of Deerman’s Store,’ to which Sibuxiang pat the top of as he made a small gesture to welcome Tuye in.
“I claimed this plot of land after I found it. It is definitely much better than fishing in the city.” Sibuxiang beckoned Tuye over, to which he quickly followed suit as they began to untie the little raft from the stump. Sibuxiang quickly got on as they did, the little boat now just a little off the shore.
Sibuxiang extended his hand out for Tuye to pull him onto the boat, Tuye’s face just flushing a soft red as he made this gesture. Thoughts raced through the rabbit’s head as he went to reach for his hand to grab, such as the image of Sibuxiang as a rather dashing, handsome, debonair pirate hoisting him up onto his ship.
Tuye’s face felt a bit hot as he held Sibuxiang’s paw, his thoughts continuing to race now moving on from a pirate Sibuxiang to a knight in shining armor Sibuxiang as he stepped onto the boat. “Are you feeling okay, Tuye?” Sibuxiang asked, looking at him before pushing the boat off the shore with the oar.
Tuye squeaked a bit as he snapped back to reality, blinking a few times before clearing his throat, “O-oh! Oh, yeah, pshhh... I’m fine!” He waved him off, trying not to absolutely melt under the heat of his face from the blushing.
Sibuxiang gave a shrug before rowing the boat to the middle of the lake, letting Tuye watch him as they now floated in the middle of the lake. He handed Tuye a fishing rod, “You asked me to teach you, right? Here, I’ll guide you, just watch what I do.”
Tuye blushed as he took it and held it firmly, looking to Sibuxiang, “Am I holding it right, Sisi?” He looked quite nervous.
Sibuxiang chuckled a little and moved next to him gently to not rock the boat, holding his paws and guiding them to the right places, “You hold it like this, Tuye... And then...” As he held Tuye’s paws, he guided his motion to cast, casting the line into the water. “Get it now?”
Tuye quietly nodded, smiling at him as he turned to focus on the fishing line. As focused as he seemed, his thoughts blew up, “AAAAAAHHHH!!! THAT WAS REALLY NICE OF HIM, HE GOT SO CLOSE!!!! I’M NEVER WASHING THIS PAW AFTERWARDS, EVER.” Internally, he was dancing and hopping all around, his blush growing as he gushed about Sibuxiang guiding his paws to help him. His thoughts continued to race as he focused on the fishing line, looking over to Sibuxiang who cast his own line into the water.
“Now we wait.” Sibuxiang smiled, sitting down in the boat and looking over to Tuye, “Come on, sit! It’ll be a bit before we get a bite, get comfy!” He patted the boat’s seat nearest to where Tuye was.
“Oh, right...” Tuye smiled, sitting down still holding onto the rod, making sure to adjust his grip for comfort.
The two waited for quite a while, a small bit of awkward tension and silence filled the air, Tuye turned to Sibuxiang, “So... you said before we got here to be careful, right? That looked quite steep...”
Sibuxiang smiled and just chuckled a bit, “It is, it’s no issue with my hooves but when I first found this place I certainly wasn’t expecting the drop.” He turns to Tuye, “Nothing too bad though, just a scrape.”
Tuye chuckled as well, looking to Sibuxiang then back to the water, “I was wondering if you’d fallen to get here, haha... I could build a small ladder to get down if you’d like.”
“No need, the fishing season for this spot is pretty rare, I’ve yet to track it properly.” Sibuxiang looked over to Tuye, “Thank you for offering though.” He gave him a nice smile, turning back to focus on his rod.
Tuye sighed softly as he did too, the rabbit just looking closely at the water until he began to feel the line being pulled, “O-oh, I think I got something!” Sibuxiang turned to look, then looked to Tuye to observe how he reels it in.
He gently pulls back the rod, making sure not to put much pressure but put enough strength to try and reel in the fish, “You think it's a big one?” Tuye asked.
“I think so, be careful now, or you’ll-” Before Sibuxiang finished, Tuye began to be pulled by the large fish, suddenly pulling him into the water.
“AY PUTA-!” Tuye splashed into the water, the splash also landing on Sibuxiang, who rushed to help Tuye up from the water.
Sibuxiang began to laugh a little after pulling Tuye up, the deer rummaging through Tuye’s bag to pull out the towels the rabbit brought. He noticed Tuye looked a bit frustrated as he handed him the towel, lightly tossing it to him and putting a paw on his shoulder, “No need to fret. It’s your first time and you’re bound to find one that gets away.” He chuckles, patting his shoulder.
Tuye looked at him and laughed a little as well, any doubts fading as he blushed softly, “I suppose... You wanna head back for a bit? Just so we don’t exactly freeze despite the... towels and all, haha.” He smiled, Sibuxiang nodded and smiled as well, rowing the boat back to the little dock.
As the two got out of the boat, drying eachother off, they continued on and went through their hike back to town. Sibuxiang walked Tuye back to his store before eventually saying their goodbyes, but not before one photo together.
SNAP!
A little selfie of the two in front of the gate to Deerman’s in the city, smiles all around. Tuye set off back home, waving off Sibuxiang as he made his way home.
“I hope this feeling doesn’t end...” Tuye sighed softly and smiled before boarding the bus, putting on his earphones again and putting on a song.
“Mamma mia, here I go again! My, my, how can I resist you?”