“Lu ge~” Yixing whines as Luhan drags him by the hand down a long, winding road into the unknown, “How much longer?”

“Stop being a baby, we’ll be there soon.”

“But it’s so hot and you haven’t even told me where we’re going or why.”

Luhan clicks his tongue at younger’s impatience, “Because it’s a surprise!”, he is not too thrilled about the hike in this weather either, but he is doing it all for Yixing so he doesn’t see why the other has to keep whining at him like this.

“What on earth are you planning…”, Yixing ponders loudly and Luhan allows a knowing smile to settle on his lips,

“You’ll like it, I promise.”, he better, Luhan thinks, because Lao Gao didn’t stop complaining about how much renting that garden for today cost.

When they finally arrive to their destination, Yixing's frown disappears and he gasps in amazement. The mansion Luhan painstakingly found looks even more impressive in daylight and he pats himself on the back for a job well done.

“It’s huge! And so beautiful!”

“Before you start getting ideas, no, I did not buy you a mansion.”

“Oh,”, Yixing lets out a disgruntled sigh and turns to leave, “I’m going home then.”, but Luhan, who didn’t let go of his hand, jerks him back into his embrace and places a little kiss on his giggling boyfriend's nose.

“There’s something in the garden that I want you to see.”

“Ok..”, Yixing tilts his head, peering dubiously into his boyfriend’s eyes, as if trying to read his mind. He's obviously very confused, mainly because Luhan simply isn't the type to do things like these. Surprises from Luhan include successfully cooking a meal or figuring out how to work a washing machine, not long strolls in the countryside ending in front of huge western-style mansions.

But Luhan seems so self-confident about his idea, whatever it is, that Yixing happily follows him through the estate gate.

“Ta-da!”, Luhan exclaims much less enthusiastically than is required to make a proper impact, while Yixing stands in disbelief. Or confusion. Or both.

“Um..”, he turns towards Luhan, who seems to observe the garden with mixed feelings, “What’s going on?”, Yixing asks carefully.

“It’s a swing!”, Luhan chirps as if presenting an expensive gift to a child.

“It is. A very…floral…swing.”, he is so confused, “In a very floral garden.”

Whoever owns this mansion is heavily into 19^th century European esthetic, which is fine, in fact, if you asked Yixing, it is pretty cool because you don’t get to see things like these in China very often (or ever). But why Luhan went through all this trouble to get him here, was beyond him. Was there perhaps some amazing 19^th century European clock somewhere in there? That would explain a lot. Except for the fact that it wasn’t Yixing that was interested in clocks, but Luhan, and Luhan specifically emphasized that Yixing is the one who will like whatever it is they came to see.

“Do you like it?”

“The swing?”, he tried not to sound disappointed, because he wasn’t. It’s hard to get disappointed when you don’t expect anything. He also tried not to sound worried because while Luhan had his moments, this one seemed the strangest yet. He’s been under a lot of pressure lately.

“Yeah…”

“Sure!”, Yixing hurries to assure his boyfriend, “I like it. The garden too, it’s quite interesting.”, he used Luhan’s favourite catchphrase that has become a meme among their friend group, and Luhan smiles and nudges him in the shoulder. “I’m just a bit confused, why are we here exactly?”

Luhan takes his hand gently and leads him towards the swing, “I thought you liked swings.”, he shrugged, and Yixing offered him a blank look. “I just thought I would take you somewhere nice for our date since we don’t see each other that often these days.”

“A fancy swing surrounded by well trimmed flower bushes in front of a fairytale mansion? Lu ge, this is the most romantic thing you have ever done.”, he honestly tried to stifle his laugh, but he failed. Miserably.

“I thought you liked things like these.”, older pouted and crossed his arms over his chest so Yixing leaned into him, snuggling his face into the crook of his neck,

“I do, I do, I’m sorry. This is just so…unexpected of you. I never knew you had it in you to be this romantic.”

I’m not romantic, is what Luhan wants to blurt out in his own defense, but that would raise even more questions than it should so he decides to it up, “We can go if you don’t like it.”, he says, still refusing to return the affection the younger was pouring onto him now, because Yixing was still laughing, and Luhan didn’t like being made fun of.

“Lu ge~~”

Here he goes with his aegyo again, Luhan thinks as his pout traitorously turns into a smile and his arm disobeys his brain and stretches to land around Yixing’s shoulders, “What?”

“Thank you.”, the younger says and places a big, wet kiss onto Luhan’s cheek, and Luhan makes a face because the last thing he needed on his sweaty visage was a layer of drool, but a giggle escapes him and once again he wonders why even his body has to conspire against him. He is not a romantic softie, damn it! He’s also not petty and jealous, but he is painfully aware that with the legion of other men swooning over his boyfriend, he needs to step up his game. That’s all.

“You know,”, Yixing continues after a silent moment of snuggling, the shade making body contact somewhat tolerable, “this reminds me of this place I went to with the Go Fighting geges.”

“Oh really?”, Luhan squirms uncomfortably. Because of the heat obviously.

“Yeah.”,  he giggles, “All I need are bunny ears, and it will be just like…what are you doing?”, he gets interrupted by Luhan reaching into his backpack.

“Funny you should mention that.”, he tries not to blush as he produces two headbands, one with white fluffy ears and one with yellow prongs.

Yixing is now laughing his donkey laugh at him, which Luhan definitely does not appreciate, but it also sort of makes him want to kiss him, so he decides that the two things are not mutually exclusive as he leans in and catches the full lips with his. The act has the desired effect of shutting Yixing up. It also makes Luhan weak at the knees but it’s ok because they are sitting on the stupid swing anyway. The kiss turns a bit more heated than he expected so when he pulls back, Yixing’s face is flushed and serious.

Luhan tries to smirk, but it comes out a bit shaky because his face, the traitor, is also flushed and his eyes are trapped in Yixing’s and he doesn’t understand how he can still be so completely in love after all these years. It isn’t until Yixing’s eyes fall onto the two bands in his hands that Luhan is brought back to his initial plan.

He pushes Yixing’s bangs to the side and slides the bunny headband onto his head. Yixing is smiling at him now but there is no mocking behind it, so Luhan’s gaze falters into a shy smile as he looks down while putting his own antlers on,

“We should take a picture.”, he says, but he’s still struggling to look at Yixing for reasons unknown. Well ok, maybe he’s a bit embarrassed by all this, but it had to be done. He’s a man, and men do what has to be done, so he might as well it up.

“Wait, Luhan..”, Yixing says gently, and slides his delicate palm over Luhan’s cheek prompting the other to look at him, “I mean it, thank you.”

Yixing is not quite sure what this is all about, but it’s obvious Luhan went through a lot of trouble and forethought to make this happen and the fact that Luhan’s simply not the type to do this adds even more weight to it. He is still blushing, looking silly but incredibly adorable with his deer antlers so Yixing gives him a little peck on the lips, “We can take a photo only if you promise to push the swing for me after.”

Yixing is teasing again, and Luhan's gut reaction is to punch him in the shoulder and make him fall off the swing, something Yixing is readily expecting judging by the way his body turns and face twists expectantly, but Luhan is here to be a good boyfriend, and as embarrassing as it is, this falls under his boyfriendly duties.

"Fine" he sighs and Yixing's face contorts into a suspicious look.

"Ok, out with it, what have you done?"

"Wait, what?"

"I know you too well, Lu Han and the only reason Mr. Yoyoman would do all this is either he did something wrong, or he has an incurable disease. And since just last week you bragged to me about your great body condition, it must be the former. So out with it, what have you done?"

"Alright, alright.", Luhan exclaims sarcastically after a few seconds of shock, "Make me into a bad guy just because it turns out you don't know me as well as you think."

It's Yixing's turn to feel attacked and his gasp of dismay elicits a smirk from Luhan as they continue to bicker and tease each other until Luhan is required to run off into the hedge maze, with an enraged bunny at his heels.

§

Luhan spends a few minutes debating with himself whether he should photoshop the dirt from their faces and clothes, but gives up because to make the photo presentable, he would have to photoshop his broken antler as well as the twigs in Yixing's hair. It might even be better this way. Maybe their photo isn't as perfectly romantic as he was planning for it to be, but that would have been fake anyway, he supposes. In the end all he does is put on a subtle filter before he decides to send it to Yixing's WeChat. Knowing the younger, he will proceed to share it in his Go Fighting group chat and Luhan will fight you if you insinuate that that was the ultimate goal of his quest. The ultimate goal was to have a great time with Yixing, which he did, but if certain overly friendly people were to have their noses rubbed in it, Luhan isn't going to complain.

Just as he was about to choose the application and send the photo, a big grey furry thing appeared in place of his phone. This was not the first time that his cat jumped into his lap and straight onto the phone, making a mess, but this time it was with catastrophic consequences. Luhan let out an ear piercing shriek after which the cat ran out of the room and Lao Gao ran into it.

"What did he do now?", he asked cooly, but the expression on Luhan's face unsettled even him.

"Weibo....", it came out hoarse, so he cleared his throat and looked up at his friend, "He made me post it on weibo!"