New Year’s Day



Yixing wasn’t as emotionally invested in the Gregorian new year as Yifan, but he blamed it all on the fact that he had never lived outside of China for more than four or five months.


However, he did his best to keep up with Yifan’s excitement; he loved it, because he loved that almost-childish side to Yifan almost as much as he loved the man himself. It was cute. He didn’t understand it, but he wasn’t complaining.


“It’s a new year, what shall we do?”


Yixing didn’t know what to answer, so he shrugged. Yifan seemed to be deep in thought; fifteen minutes could have passed easily before Yifan broke the silence again.


“What do you think about lazing around? Since you don’t seem up to anything that includes dressing up or going out. I’ll go get us some food and when I come back we could just watch TV until it’s bedtime.”


Yixing might have not seemed it, but he felt a bit bad. At least Yifan knew him well enough to know he didn’t want to go out for the sole reason of him being too lazy.


“I can make some dessert, or maybe give you a back massage in return before bed. You know, so you can forgive me for being a lazy boyfriend who despises leaving home unless strictly necessary.”


Yifan seemed to mull it over for a good ten seconds before raising an eyebrow – he knew Yixing loved that face.


“Not that there’s anything to forgive, but that sounds like one of those offers you just can’t pass up, so I’ll take it.”


He grinned at Yixing before grabbing his coat and heading out.
    Spring Festival



Yixing’s friends didn’t see Yifan as the typical, tradition-bound, guy; on the contrary, they saw him as the guy who spent too much time away, and since most of them didn’t know him that much, they were convinced he was more of a Canadian-Chinese than a plain Chinese. They were wrong, though. Yixing knew this perfectly.


Even if he didn’t know, seeing Yifan slinging a red poster on their door after hanging red lanterns in every room of their shared flat would have sufficed to confirm just how wrong everyone else was.


Yixing didn’t particularly care about what his friends thought of Yifan, it was enough with the fact that they accepted they were both men. Nevertheless, he invited them over, by Yifan’s request. He’d bought twice his weight in fireworks and, as much as both of them loved being alone together, it was a bit too much; everyone loved fireworks, anyway.


Yifan was silently reading a book in the passenger seat while Yixing drove them downtown. It had been his own idea to get new clothes, since it was part of the tradition. He knew Yifan hadn’t said anything at all because Yifan knew Yixing had been going downtown a lot lately.


The streets were lively, there were kids running around, outrunning tired, slower parents. It made him feel happy; he’d always wanted a kid, and it seemed like it would be possible sooner than he thought. He was quietly thankful because, although normal for men to want a child, Yifan not only wanted one, but he, much like Yixing, wanted a daughter.


He dreamt of taking her downtown during the Spring Festival, to get her clothes and watch the fireworks. Maybe Yifan would have learnt to drive by then, maybe they’d all get bicycles, or maybe she would be quiet like her fathers and wouldn’t mind staying home. He didn’t mind, he would love her no matter what.
    Lantern festival



Kneading was Yifan’s favourite part of making rice balls. He’d told Yixing how it was ‘highly therapeutic’ once. Yixing was okay with that. Grateful, actually; he hated kneading any kind of dough.


He was in charge of preparing the red bean paste. Yifan had bought some earlier, when they were buying food to restock their shelves, but Yixing didn’t believe in processed food, so he’d discarded them. Eventually, he would end up eating them, since Yifan sometimes liked to cook, even if he was a lot more practical and less meticulous than Yixing.


They worked in relative silence, the only sounds made by Yifan punching the dough and Yixing processing the red beans. It was rather comfortable. Yixing was happy that they had a big kitchen.


He knew Yifan liked the quiet most of the time. He himself didn’t like much noise around the house. It made for an exciting