Once again Zitao was sweating like a pig.

It was late morning and the heat had already settled in the swamp, humid and sticky to the skin. There was no breeze and the dead air hung heavily around him, oppressive and without escape. 

On a ladder leaning against the bark of a gnarled tree Zitao stood with a pair of large tree shears and snipped away at the overgrown mess that had come to surround the lone house. Beneath him and scattered around the property were messy piles of branches, vines, and moss. From them filtered out the small insects that he had been frantically swatting away at with as much dignity as he could spare. 

The banana spiders were a particularly terrifying nuisance; large, brightly colored, and with sharp, pointed legs, Zitao exhausted all self-control to not shriek inhumanly when one would scramble by him as its web was disrupted or the new absence of branches revealed some that were far to close to him than he would have liked.

Yet, the previously strangled sunlight was now gradually pushing back against the shadows and shimmering overhead and the revelation of his progress helped him to push on with his task.

It was hard work and Zitao's arms were beginning to strain. He had long since discarded his shirt and took to working in just his jeans and boots; sweat ran in rivulets down the tan skin of his back and chest, cooling him only so slightly.

He was already exhausted, expending himself in a way he hadn't done in a long time.

As he perched on the ladder half concealed in the trees and resumed his snipping the faint crunch of driveway gravel drew closer and closer to the oblivious worker.

Yifan strode up to the edge of the property and surveyed the work Zitao had done with a wary look, glancing repeatedly at the tree line much like he had done at their last meeting. He shifted his weight uncomfortably. When his gaze caught on the outline of the other from underneath the tendrils of moss he moved forward, weaving between the piled debris. Zitao continued to absently snip along.

Breaching the overhang of spindly branches Yifan was met with an expanse of sweaty tan skin. He allowed his eyes to drag over Zitao's form.

The muscle beneath his skin rippled and flexed with the younger's movements and Yifan followed the path it took until he felt the need to avert his gaze. Correcting himself and where his eyes rested he let out a cough to alert the still clueless man of his presence.

"Zitao."

Yifan's baritone voice shattering the silence caused the man on the ladder to jump in fright and stumble to rebalance himself. He lowered his arms from overhead and twisted to see the newcomer, feline face bewildered.

"Y-Yifan. What are you doing here?" Zitao breathed out, still attempting to calm himself.

Yifan's gaze flickered briefly over the other's exposed chest before returning to meet Zitao's  nervous eyes. His breathing had quickened and he now felt somewhat exposed under the older man's stare. Normally he wouldn't have minded, would have even welcomed the lingering gaze of someone so attractive as Yifan -and he was attractive- but he wasn't sure where he stood with the other after their last meeting. Didn't understand the context of Yifan's words.

"Just checking in." He paused and scanned the trees in a movement so brief that Zitao almost questioned whether or not it happened. "Hadn't heard from you in a few days."

Yifan's answer didn't particularly seem to have an ulterior motive behind it but it was odd nonetheless; it felt unwarranted for the lack of a relationship the two had and Zitao found himself unsure how to respond but decided to offer Yifan the benefit of the doubt of being neighborly regardless.

"That's very kind of you to check in on me," he replied awkwardly, "I've just been attempting to fix up the house while I'm here."

"I see. You look like you've gotten very far." Yifan said, his gazed scanned the yard and his face hardened ever so slightly.

"Yes..."

Both of them could tell that the conversation was minimal at best and rapidly dying out- though Zitao wasn't particularly bothered by this- but Yifan made an unexpected attempt to save it.

"Do you need any help?" He asked, voice still deep but rapid. 

"I uh, I have more work to do still but I can handle it. It's not that big a deal."

"Sure it is." Yifan flashed a beaming smile at Zitao and Zitao found himself admiring the other's features, momentarily dazzled. "Just tell me what to do."

The black haired man was flustered and becoming increasingly unsure of the route to go about addressing the situation. Yifan just stared at him with that beautiful smile on his face that looked more uncomfortable the more he held it. Zitao wanted to shy away from the intensity of his focus. Just three days ago Yifan had frightened Zitao so much that he could barely breathe and left what the younger could only manage to interpret as a  hanging threat in the air that followed him throughout the past few days.

Maybe Yifan hadn't been threatening him the other day, maybe he had just spoken poorly, but the friendliness, the smiles Yifan was directing at Zitao felt wrong. Especially from someone who could barely keep an accusatory glare off of his face during past meetings. 

"Oh no, I wouldn't wa-"

"I insist." Yifan interrupted, voice somehow lower than before. It sent a shiver down his spine.

Yet almost afraid of what being percieved as impolite would grant him Zitao wasn't really sure he could respond with anything other than a 'yes'.

"If... if you're offering," Zitao spoke with a pause, almost reluctant to continue speaking, "You could grab the extra shears and help me trim back the trees."

Yifan looked momentarily satisfied with the reply, grin a little wider, before moved to do what was requested of him.

Upon feeling the weight of the shears in his hand Yifan's smile dimmed and his eyes turned wary. He glanced back at the tree line and then to the branches in front of him with a newfound nervousness. 

Zitao watched this from the corner of his eye and observed how Yifan steeled himself before lifting the shears and positioning the branches between the blades. The feline boy felt as though he shouldn't be watching this, as if he should turn away, but continued looking towards the other. The brown haired man took a deep breath looking like a man facing a trying task and closed the blades around the wood until it fell to the ground, detached. 

When the wind picked up and blew wildly around him Yifan looked at the fallen growth with an expression that was anxiously narrowed, like he was piecing together his actions and realizing that he had done the unthinkable. Zitao recalled when he had made the first cut into the growth around the house and how the wind had acted similarly. 

"Is everything alright?"

Yifan whipped towards Zitao and the younger jumped. His stare became that uncomfortable smile again.

"Yes. Why wouldn't it be?" 

He snipped at the tree branches again with a nonchalance, as if he had not hesitated just seconds ago.

Yifan came back the next few days, too.

It was to much work for one person, he had insisted. They worked together in a silence as comfortable as Zitao's nerves and Yifan's ever present mysteriousness would allow. Admittedly, Yifan did not prove to be all that much more abnormal after his tree cutting bipolarity and the smile had faded its way into a less unsettling expression, more natural. 

Zitao was still unsure of the other but less so today than the days before.

Yifan was bent down against the wooden slats of the shed, hammer in hand as Zitao positioned a new board. He had decided to relinquish the hammer to the older man earlier as he nursed a pulsing thumb. 

The sun was once again overhead and shining freely through onto the property  now that the trees were pushed back from the house. It beat down on his once again and Zitao glanced down to look at the shadow beneath him. It moved as he did and brought Zitao back to the porch a few nights ago and the tall shadow flickering between the trees of the swamp.

It had terrified him like nothing else ever had before, though that was happening a lot since he coming down to his aunt's. He found himself cowering from the dark like a frightened little child lately, forced to take solace in the indoors and what sunlight he could find.

On a whim he turned to Yifan.

"A few nights ago, I saw something. " He started lamely, but managed to catch the attention of the person crouched beside him.

Yifan angled himself towards Zitao and looked up at the other.

"I uh, I was on the porch and I saw a shadow over in the trees. Scared the hell out of me."

Upon hearing this Yifan set his jaw in a fierce line and glanced out at the swamp. His eyes scanned over it again and Zitao wasn't sure if he was looking for something or not. 

"You saw a shadow?" He asked. 

His throat contracted as he swallowed and the movement didn't go unnoticed by Zitao. 

"Yeah." Zitao figited.

"It was probably just an animal, a boar perhaps." It was to tall to be a boar, Zitao thought. "You should stay indoors at night just in case, sometimes animals, they become more active at night."

After he spoke a pause drew pregnant between them.

Yifan had glanced down at one point, finally tearing his gaze away from the woods, but then returned it again. Zitao followed it  and wondered what he was thinking. Why he gave answers that didn't quite fit. Why his emotions change so quickly. When Zitao glanced back at brown hair on the back of Yifan's head he realized the other still wasn't looking at him.

 "You always do that." Zitao said.

He didn't turn.

"Do what?"

"Look at the tree line like there's something out there."

His jaw clenched.

"Who says there isn't?"

The next few days turned into the next four.

Yifan was mysterious and odd and quiet and borderline scary but Zitao wasn't sure how to stop him from coming back, or if he even wanted him to stop. It was a mental push and pull for Zitao because sometimes Yifan would be creepy and subtly threatening and other times -like now- he flashed that wide smile and acted like an old friend.

Zitao wasn't sure where he and Yifan stood and sometimes when Yifan's eyes hardened and he would look off into the trees he would scare Zitao more than any shadows or talismans did. 

However as he stood now, smiling and shy with a friendly ease about him, he could find himself admiring the other. 

And, God, was he handsome. It drew him in and left him paralyzed at the same time because that sort of beauty lulls people into false security, false trust, and makes him a predator in the wild, vibrant and attractive but deadly. It was a lethal beauty and Zitao wasn't sure if he could rule out Yifan of being one and the same. 

In many ways Yifan was a predator, at home in the messy wild of the swamp and holding a physical brutality; all muscle, hard lines, and sharp eyes.

Unbeknownst to Zitao the cognac eyes that often startled him followed his movement when he turned, sliding greedily across the tan skin, absorbing, admiring. If his eyes weren't on the trees or on his work than they were on the younger, black haired male. 

The glances ended quickly enough though, more schoolboy than wolfsh, and Yifan would twist his head down as if he had done a bad thing. As if unallowed. 

Once or twice Zitao would catch these stares.

Not that he wasn't guilty of his own. Sometimes Zitao was tempted to fall at the other's feet and say take me, but ultimately refrained.

Yet, these stares only confused Zitao more because they were clashing in nature; innocent yet dangerous, bash yet bold. He supposed that it fit to the bipolar image Yifan had created for himself. When he was just glaring and angry Zitao could understand him, be less fearful; but now, bordering between two very opposite levels of threat, he could only tread lightly and hope that Yifan wasn't who he feared he might be.

There was faith though, because the smile on his face was not the uncomfortable one that made Zitao's skin crawl, but a reflection of something a little more genuine in his eyes. 

The trouble was figuring out what that was.

So, so sorry guys. Thought I'd be faster this time around but it fell through. I'll admit I lost the inspiration and time to write for a little while but Halloween is on its way so that gave me a nice little push.

Regarding my previous question on my ideas for Taoris fics I have decided that I will only do one chaptered fic and one one shot at the same time to avoid to many stories that I can't finish. The newest one shot that I am working on is published but not complete so I will get to that inbetween chapters of this. That's the last I'll advertise of it on this story so don't worry about being bombarded with pleading requests if that annoys you.

This chapter is only three breaks long but the next chapter will be longer.  Out of curiosity do you guys have any theories about where this is going?  Also let me know if I made any mistakes. Thanks for all the support!

Comments, questions, criticism, concerns?