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Xiao Zhan doesn’t have any reason to visit his family’s country house. What will he do there all alone in an estate where he knows no one and the internet connection is less than ideal?
“You can get some country air,” his mother said. “You can take morning walks there, breathe in some fresh air for once. Also, you won’t be alone. Caretaker Wang would be there.”
Ah yes, and that was another thing. Caretaker Wang. Xiao Zhan is grateful to the man for keeping their country house in order but he doesn’t even know him and this is going to be awkward as hell. He requested his parents to come along but they were otherwise occupied and they needed him to visit.
Xiao Zhan gave in and now he is on his way.
It has been very long since he was last here. He thinks he was eighteen back then. He was here with his family and the caretaker was a different elderly man who was very nice to Xiao Zhan. Now Xiao Zhan is about to step into a place he has almost forgotten, all alone, with a stranger for company.
He knocks on the door, a little hesitant. He has a set of keys but it seems rude to use them and enter unannounced when he knows someone is supposed to be here. Or is it rude to knock and expect the door to be opened for him? Xiao Zhan is quickly descending into overthinking but it is already too late as he hears loud footsteps approaching the door.
A very young and very beautiful man opens the door, almost too hard, face creased with frustration. “Yes?” he asks.
“Um,” begins Xiao Zhan, feeling tongue-tied. Holy shit, who the hell is this ethereal man and what is he doing here? Is he Caretaker Wang’s son or something? Maybe Xiao Zhan should have considered visiting sooner. He shakes his head free of weird, thirsty thoughts and tries to speak again. “Uh, is Caretaker Wang here?”
“I am Caretaker Wang,” says the man. His irritation has given way to a curious gaze by now, eyes travelling over Xiao Zhan appraisingly. Xiao Zhan feels himself begin to flush. “And you are?”
This is Caretaker Wang? His parents didn’t tell him that they hired a fucking 20 something guy to take care of their country estate. Xiao Zhan gapes for a moment, considers how stupid he must be coming off in this interaction so far, and swallows. “I am Xiao Zhan.”
Caretaker Wang’s eyes widen and he looks down at his watch. “Oh,” he says. When he looks up at Xiao Zhan again, he looks chagrined and apologetic. “I thought… Doesn’t matter. Please come in.”
Xiao Zhan steps in as if he is in a daze, watching as Caretaker Wang shuts the door behind him. He is tall, almost as tall as Xiao Zhan and dressed in chic but slightly impractical clothes. His hair is long enough to skim his shoulders and so smooth that Xiao Zhan wants to thread his fingers through it and tug.
Woah! Easy there, Xiao Zhan.
“I’m sorry about that,” says Caretaker Wang. When Xiao Zhan looks at him blankly, he continues. “I was trying to eat and people kept knocking on the door and I got annoyed. I knew you were coming but when the first two people turned out to be not you, I thought maybe…”
Xiao Zhan smiles at him then. “Ah, no worries. You can eat now, I will just go and put my stuff down in my room.” He looks around and spots the small table laden with pastries and croissants. Like clockwork, his mouth begins to water. Wow, Xiao Zhan is suddenly insanely hungry. “You were going to eat the croissants?” asks Xiao Zhan, with a small laugh, spotting the one croissant kept on a plate, a crumb of it torn apart.
Caretaker Wang looks a little embarrassed. “They were for you. Your father told me you love these treats so I went and bought some for you but couldn’t resist trying one.”
He is so fucking endearing. “No need to resist. I will be downstairs in five minutes and then we can have them together.” Like a date. Fucking calm down, Xiao Zhan. “In the meantime, help yourself to as many of them as you like. You bought them after all.”
Caretaker Wang shakes his head. “No, I will help you.” He snatches two of Xiao Zhan’s bags away from him before he can protest. “Then we can come downstairs and eat pastries.”
Xiao Zhan lets Caretaker Wang come upstairs with him, to the room that clearly has been recently cleaned and made for him. He can feel the man’s presence keenly, heady and addictive already. These two weeks are going to be sheer torture and leaving would be an even bigger torture.
“I should have recognised you,” muses Caretaker Wang. “You look like your father aged down by 30 years.”
Xiao Zhan snorts. Inwardly he cringes a little at being compared to his father by the hot, dashing caretaker that he is already infatuated by. “And you don’t look a day over twenty,” he says.
“I am twenty-seven actually,” says Caretaker Wang with a little sniff. “And you are one to speak, you look twenty yourself.”
“Okay, I know that is just an exaggeration,” says Xiao Zhan, rolling his eyes. They have kept the bags in his room and are now just roaming around the first floor and staircase, peering from the windows to the lush garden outside that Caretaker Wang himself must have tended to. He can feel eyes on himself the whole time and tries to act nonchalant.
Caretaker Wang huffs. “Fine. Twenty-five.”
“Still an exaggeration.”
“Are you saying you are older than twenty-five?”
“I am definitely much older than you, yes.”
Caretaker Wang hums, apparently mulling over that. Then: “Forty?”
“For- Forty?!” Xiao Zhan whirls around to glare at him. “Do I look forty to you?”
Caretaker Wang is trying very unsuccessfully to hide his wide smirk. “You said you're much older than me.”
“It was just a figure of speech!”
“So how old are you?”
“Not forty! Oh my god, Caretaker Wang is a bully.”
“No way.” Caretaker Wang shakes his head vehemently, his hair falling into his eyes a little. He is so devastatingly beautiful, Xiao Zhan doesn’t know what to do with himself. “Xiao-laoshi is the bully. He still won’t tell me what his age is.”
“I’m thirty-three.”
Caretaker Wang makes a cute little ‘o’ with his mouth. His lips are… there. Full and lush just like the garden outside. Pink like pretty flowers. Begging to be kissed.
Xiao Zhan really needs to cool it.
“So only seven years less than forty?” says Caretaker Wang with a wicked gleam in his eyes. “Still pretty old. You were right about being much older than me, yes.”
Xiao Zhan swipes at him. There is no way to defend his actions, he actually swipes at him but Caretaker Wang has excellent reflexes. Xiao Zhan is left grabbing air and Caretaker Wang is sailing downstairs, calling over his shoulder. “Xiao-laoshi should come downstairs if he doesn’t want all his pastries eaten up by youth half his age!”
“Does that mean you are twenty indeed?” calls Xiao Zhan, already chasing the man downstairs. Caretaker Wang responds back with an offended noise.
The croissants are delicious but honestly Xiao Zhan can’t focus on anything else when Caretaker Wang is eating with relish right in front of his eyes.
He is not making any obnoxious sounds while eating nor is he closing his eyes in bliss the way Xiao Zhan himself is known to do when he eats pastries. It’s just that his lips are very distracting. His cheeks are puffed up cutely from the treats and he keeps licking his damn lips. He may not be outright moaning but he makes small, almost inaudible appreciative noises.
For the first time in his life, Xiao Zhan’s focus is not on the pastries he is supposed to devour.
When Caretaker Wang is done eating his share, he sucks the tips of his fingers one by one, then finishes by dusting his hands off. Xiao Zhan clears his throat.
“So, Caretaker Wang. Do you have a name?”
Caretaker Wang grins at him. “Name’s Wang.”
Xiao Zhan groans playfully. “That’s all I’m getting, I suppose.”
Caretaker Wang opens his mouth to say something but then his eyes drop to Xiao Zhan’s decidedly fuller plate and he frowns. “Do you not like them? Should I get them from somewhere else?”
“No, no,” says Xiao Zhan hurriedly and takes a bite. “These are good. I just eat slower, I like to savour it.” Which isn’t false, Xiao Zhan definitely eats slower than the speed Caretaker Wang just displayed. “So. Your name?”
Caretaker Wang seems to consider him seriously for a minute. Xiao Zhan despairs this strange world he has fallen into where he has to request for someone’s name instead of their number. Ironically, he does have Caretaker Wang’s number on his phone since his dad shared the contact with him.
“Tell you what, Xiao-laoshi,” says Caretaker Wang, leaning over the table and getting quite close to him. Xiao Zhan forgets to breathe for a second. “If you want my name, you will have to earn it. Sounds good?”
He doesn’t wait for an answer before he winks and flounces off. Well, the wink wasn’t quite a perfect wink but the adorableness of it makes it all the more charming. Xiao Zhan is in deep trouble.
Xiao Zhan’s foreboding proves to be true when he spends his next few days finding himself doing nothing but drooling over the Hot Gardener.
Yes, that’s right. For some reason he keeps referring to Caretaker Wang as the Hot Gardener in his mind. He spends most of his time in the garden, tending to the plants and watering them and pulling out weeds. Sometimes he crouches next to the shrubs and stares at them, which would have seemed odd and potentially unhinged on anyone else but looks perfectly okay on him, as if Hot Gardener communing with plants is acceptable simply because he is hot.
Xiao Zhan is quite pathetic.
He keeps finding excuses to hang around in the garden when Hot Gardener is working. Caretaker Wang never objects and Xiao Zhan would have assumed he is largely being ignored if he didn’t catch the barely there smiles and occasional glances. He continues to wear clothes which should be impractical in a garden but rather than rolling his eyes, it’s all Xiao Zhan can do to keep himself from sighing dreamily at the sight of him. One time Hot Gardener accidentally sprayed water on himself and laughed at his own mistake while water dripped down his hair, face, neck…
This is not how Xiao Zhan envisioned his vacation to be like but he is not complaining in the slightest.
He doesn’t stare at Hot Gardener all the time though. Sometimes he reads books in the garden… while conveniently keeping Hot Gardener in his line of sight. Or maybe it is Hot Gardener staying conveniently in his line of sight? Quite possible. Xiao Zhan may be pathetic but he is not pathetic enough to imagine the looks Caretaker Wang throws at him. Sometimes his clothes seem designed to specifically drive Xiao Zhan crazy. Take today, for example. Hot Gardener is wearing a top which is short enough that it rides up and gives Xiao Zhan glimpses of his tummy now and then. Entirely unfair. Xiao Zhan is going to trip over a root or something. The glimpses are too short for Xiao Zhan to really paint a picture of what’s going on underneath those clothes but honestly it doesn’t even matter. Xiao Zhan is going to trip sooner or later.
“Zhan-ge,” calls Hot Gardener while Xiao Zhan is focused on his book for once. He blinks up to see him standing in front of him. “Can you help me with something?”
“Uh, yeah, sure,” says Xiao Zhan, keeping his book down and standing up. “Sorry, did you just call me Zhan-ge?”
Hot Gardener raises his hot eyebrows hotly. What the fuck, Xiao Zhan. Now you can’t even think in intelligent sentences. “Yeah?”
Like it’s a challenge. Xiao Zhan grins and shakes his head. “Nothing. Just wondering if I am allowed to get Caretaker Wang’s name yet.”
“Maybe if you help me well today,” says Caretaker Wang, leading him to one of the greenhouses. He has a bulb in his hand. “The lightbulb has fused so I need to put a new one in. I need you to hold this chair firmly so that I don’t fall off.”
Before Xiao Zhan can process that, Hot Gardener has already climbed the chair. He hands the new bulb down for Xiao Zhan to hold (which Xiao Zhan does dutifully) before raising his arms to take out the fused one and oh.
Caretaker Wang is a sick, sick bastard.
His top rides up further, higher than it has all morning, and it stays there, providing Xiao Zhan with ample time to gape at his exposed belly. He has abs, which isn’t surprising at all, but the visual proof of it right in front of Xiao Zhan’s face is terrible. Xiao Zhan can’t escape. He can’t help but think thoughts, each dirtier than the last. Those are defined fucking cum gutters running down his… nope. Nope. Xiao Zhan looks up instead to focus on Caretaker Wang’s face. He seems to be taking out the lightbulb with extreme focus. This little shit.
“Can I have the new one?” says Caretaker Wang, handing down the fused one. Xiao Zhan mutely holds it up while taking the old one in his hand. Their hands brush and Xiao Zhan is certain it is not an accident. Caretaker Wang has a tiny little smirk tucked into his lips, which disappears as quickly as it appeared, assuming the picture of innocence.
Xiao Zhan holds the chair, idly wondering if he should tip him over and catch him in his arms. That could be romantic. Or it could go horribly wrong and they will both have fractures. Or maybe Xiao Zhan should try sedating himself. Anything to escape the sight of Hot Gardener’s abs in his face yet again. This time Xiao Zhan doesn’t even pretend to look anywhere else. He needs to touch. With his hands. Lips. Teeth maybe.
Caretaker Wang fiddles with the switch after fitting the bulb in and a stream of yellow hits his face like magic, his eyes shining with it. Xiao Zhan has apparently shifted his staring from his abs to his face at some point. It is daytime so the light is not needed right now but Caretaker Wang does not turn it off as he looks down and smiles. He is so pretty. It fucking hurts.
“Good job, Caretaker Wang,” says Xiao Zhan. “Do I get your name now?”
Caretaker Wang laughs as he begins to step down. His legs are long enough but he puts a hand on Xiao Zhan’s shoulder, and then the other one. He doesn’t remove his hands once he is down on the ground, looking up at Xiao Zhan from so close up that Xiao Zhan is almost sure they are about to kiss. He is lit up and beautiful, like he is some sort of mythical fae creature who is really enjoying toying with Xiao Zhan. He could be mythical. Xiao Zhan wouldn’t be surprised.
“I have more I need to make you do before that happens,” replies Caretaker Wang. His smile is brighter than any lightbulb; his eyes more luminous than light itself.
Caretaker Wang is not good at cooking food. Sure, he manages, but it is clear that it is not his strong suit. He is not good with measuring or using spices so most of the food he makes is just… boiled and bland.
Xiao Zhan announced very early on that he will be taking over the kitchen the entire duration of his stay. Caretaker Wang didn’t protest, letting him take over easily.
On the third day of his stay, when Caretaker Wang comes into the kitchen to offer to help and Xiao Zhan shoos him off, the relief on his face is hilarious.
“Not a fan of cooking?” asks Xiao Zhan, laughing. Caretaker Wang smiles sheepishly.
“No. Once you are gone I will have to go back to my boring food again.”
Xiao Zhan does not want to think of leaving quite yet so he says nothing about that. But he does make a face. “I don’t know how you were eating that every day.”
“Hey! At least it’s healthy.”
“Exactly. Boring.”
“Zhan-ge is insulting my hospitality.”
“Zhan-ge is horrified that your main mediums of seasoning were coriander and vinegar.”
Caretaker Wang snorts. “Oh my god, I used them one time for you. What can I say to convince you that I don’t just eat a bunch of coriander stalks and wash it down with vinegar?”
“Nothing.”
Their banter is constant, even more constant than all the staring that Xiao Zhan does. They banter about anything and everything. One time Xiao Zhan realised they were bickering over complimenting each other. It was so ridiculous but it didn’t stop and they have these weird compliment wars every now and then. Caretaker Wang also mentions his other interests, which seems to include everything (other than cooking). He sometimes steals Xiao Zhan’s green tea even though Xiao Zhan makes tea for him separately. Sometimes he will trail behind Xiao Zhan while he is taking a stroll through the house, claiming to do so because “I don’t want Xiao-laoshi to get lost in this big house.” Xiao Zhan rolls his eyes and secretly feels pleased that he is not the only one with a crush.
Caretaker Wang’s room is on another floor but both of them spend time in each other’s rooms constantly, even if they are not actively talking or playing games. It’s nice to just keep each other company while they do their separate things. Of course they are never silent for long. Quietude turns into questions turn into conversations turn into banter turns into slap fights. This boy is a force of nature and Xiao Zhan is happy to be keeled over.
He clearly loves gardening the most out of all his chores. The gardens are well-loved and feel like an extension of Caretaker Wang himself, green and fresh. It is good to see him strutting out in yet another pristine outfit and it is also good to see him muddied up by the end of the day, a little sweaty and rumpled and even more delicious than before. Caretaker Wang doesn’t know what critical damage Xiao Zhan takes to his heart every single time he huffs in the heat and turns his face up to the sky with his eyes closed.
A week passes by. Soon it will be a fortnight and Xiao Zhan will have to leave.
Xiao Zhan sighs.
Today Caretaker Wang takes Xiao Zhan to one of the furthest gardens from the house. Xiao Zhan hasn’t been here before in his stay so far. Caretaker Wang is literally holding his hand and pulling him along. Xiao Zhan feels dizzy.
When they enter the garden, Xiao Zhan’s breath is knocked out of him for a moment. The garden is way more lively now than it was back when Xiao Zhan was eighteen.
“Do you like it?” asks Caretaker Wang, dropping his hand to kneel down. The whole garden floor is covered in thick greenery with sprinkles of yellow flowers dotting it all over. He moves his hand in a wave over the flowers, touching them gently.
Daylilies, thinks Xiao Zhan, kneeling down as well and examining the flowers. Pretty with a mild fragrance. Xiao Zhan wonders if he would find that fragrance wafting off the man in front of him as well. What happens if he pushes him down into the green, yellow petals scattered over him, and lowers his face to the crook of his neck? What happens if he breathes in before pressing a kiss there? What happens if he drags his lips along until he finds the sharp point of his adam’s apple and…
Xiao Zhan breathes out, a little shakily. He watches as Caretaker Wang holds a flower in his big hand, thumb brushing along the petals softly like he is petting it. He is gazing at Xiao Zhan expectantly.
“It’s beautiful,” says Xiao Zhan, unable to tear his eyes away from the man, the herbs, the flowers. From any of it.
Caretaker Wang’s face splits into a smile and Xiao Zhan has to look away. “I’m glad you like it, Zhan-ge. I love lying down here among the flowers, looking up at the sky. I feel so restless all the time, but I feel quite calm here.”
Xiao Zhan chuckles then. “Caretaker Wang, not restless with too much energy? I will have to see it to believe it.”
“You can see right now,” says Caretaker Wang, his voice a touch deeper than before. When Xiao Zhan looks at him again, he is laid out on the ground beside him, hands resting on his belly and head turned towards Xiao Zhan. The flower he was holding is right there, beside his relaxed hand. Xiao Zhan picks it up and with a small, nervous giggle, places it on the beautiful boy lounging around. He places it on the tip of his nose, expecting it to fall off but miraculously it stays there. Caretaker Wang’s smile is still present but it is heavier now, strands of hair falling over his eyes, intent swimming in those eyes as he keeps staring at Xiao Zhan. Xiao Zhan stares back, because honestly there is no other option for him. The sky may be blue and clear and the clouds may look soft as cotton candy with shapes ready to be deciphered. But Xiao Zhan would have to lie down and look up to actually see any of that and so far all his body wants to do is keep kneeling beside this beautiful boy’s stretched out body and look at the flower perched on his nose like it’s an enchanting point of focus.
“How do I look, Zhan-ge?” he asks, his smile fading into something intoxicating, eyes liquid and bewitching.
That’s it. He is too much.
He giggles when Xiao Zhan lands on him and pushes him back. His arms come up to wind around Xiao Zhan’s neck. And then his giggles are melting into small moans as Xiao Zhan kisses his lips.
It is like a brilliant burst of yellow, seeping joy into every part of Xiao Zhan. The kiss deepens and they lick into each other’s mouths. The arms around his neck tighten. Xiao Zhan can feel a leg entangling with his own and he can feel the sheer physical pull the man exerts, as if he needs to kiss Xiao Zhan senseless right now. Xiao Zhan kisses and kisses and kisses until he finds his face resting against the man’s shoulder, both of them exhaling in short, sharp bursts of air.
A sigh. Then: “Yibo.”
Xiao Zhan pushes himself up slightly to look at him. “What?”
“My name,” says the man, eyes trained on Xiao Zhan’s lips. His own lips are swollen and slick, the sight making Xiao Zhan’s breath hitch. The flower from his nose has long fallen off and Xiao Zhan is not surprised. He tries to drag Xiao Zhan down into another kiss.
Xiao Zhan resists but just barely. “So I have finally earned your name now?” he asks. Yibo. A cute name, just like the boy himself. Xiao Zhan can get used to it. It is a step above Hot Gardener, at any rate.
Yibo bites his lip and Xiao Zhan can feel how much he wants to go back to making out immediately. “Keep kissing me and you will earn a lot more.”