“Morning.” Fang, only a half-step in front of him, set his food-packed tray down on the table with a bright grin.
Sitting down next to the boy, Aris glanced at Han and they exchanged brief nods of acknowledgement. He avoided Rai’s curious stare, but the boy’s taunting voice was a little harder to ignore.
“Well, isn’t this the first time Aris has missed morning roll-call in a long while? And coming together with Fangie, too… sounds like you guys had fun after the party. Too much fun to wake up on time?”
“Shut up,” Aris growled, still disgruntled by his dream. But at least Fang replied with something normal.
“Nope.” Fang pointed at his bruised face and grimaced. “Aris knocked me out again.”
At that, Rai leaned back, though his scoff sounded a little disappointed. “Giving you a little facial present too, huh.” But he didn’t let Aris off that easily. Shooting the man a pointed glare, Rai added, “Then why were you late?”
Because I was too busy dreaming about playing with Fang’s nipples. “Headache,” Aris replied gruffly, escaping from the conversation for a while by busying himself with breakfast. Today, it was congee with yesterday’s leftover meat and vegetables mixed in.
“Uh-huh,” Rai agreed sarcastically, lifting an eyebrow skeptically at him. But as Han started talking to Fang, the boy turned and wedged his way into their conversation instead, sparing Aris of his suspicion.
He barely had two minutes to eat when Aris noticed white figures approaching them amongst the sea of orange. Swallowing his spoon of congee and soggy spinach, Aris lifted his head warily as he watched the two guards walk their way. With their faces masked, it wasn’t obvious what they were aiming for – but still, he had a feeling.
Despite looking busy with conversation, Fang shot a glance in Aris’s direction and seemed to notice the tension in his face immediately. Turning in the direction of the man’s gaze, Fang also saw the guards and stiffened. Rai promptly broke off mid-sentence, too, he and Han also turning in the same direction.
“Yue Shantao?” The guard’s deep but calm voice swept over their suddenly silent table as he and his partner stopped beside them.
Did they hear about his fight with Tao? Aris thought warily, noticing in faint surprise that Fang was gazing back at the two men with an almost fearful look of apprehension. So they had managed to teach the kid a lesson last time… A quick glance at the way Fang was shakily clenching his scarred left hand confirmed Aris’s suspicions.
“Relax.” The guard held out a note, similar to before but written on white paper. “We’re just here to leave this with you,” he said, setting it on the table with a careful pat and making sure Fang took it. “Give it to your cellmate, as well. He’ll help you out,” the man grunted, before turning and walking away with his partner.
It was silent for a while, then Rai reached forward and swiftly snatched the piece of paper out of Fang’s stunned hands. “Wow, you’re a big boy aren’t you, they have to send two guards just to leave you a note,” the boy said, his voice thick with fake brightness. “What’s this, a love letter?”
“Give it.” Aris didn’t realize that he’d spoken up until everybody had already turned to stare at him. Clearing his throat a little self-consciously under their surprised stares, Aris lifted his hand and gestured for Rai to pass the note with an annoyed scowl. “Didn’t you hear him? He said to give it to his cellmate.”
“Some kind of cellmate you are,” Rai scoffed bitterly, passing the note over anyway. “Since when did you decide that it was okay for Fang to exist?”
Ignoring the boy’s comment, Aris read the note over quickly. When he finished and looked up, he saw Fang staring at him with wide, anxious eyes. Sighing, Aris passed the note over. “It’s just a work transfer. Kitchen needs more workers because too many are in quarantine.” He gazed back at Fang’s dark irises, struggling to remain impassive. “… Looks like you’re working with me now, Fang.”
“What?!” Rai broke out in instant whining and leaned over the table to wrap his arms protectively around Fang’s head. “No! I finally got a work buddy! I’m not letting the big bad Aris take away poor Fangie! You’ll bully him!”
“Like hell I will,” Aris growled, narrowing his eyes irritably at Rai’s indignant glare.
“Yes, please don’t hurt Shantao unnecessarily. He gets hurt enough on his own,” Han sighed, pulling half-heartedly on the back of Rai’s uniform in an attempt to free Fang from his choking embrace so that the boy could swallow.
Annoyed, Aris shot the man a slightly betrayed look. Wouldn’t you want to punch someone if they came all over your face and then asked if they could do it again? But Aris looked away promptly, gritting his teeth instead and sighing.
“Anyway Fang, hurry up. There isn’t much time left and I need to go back to our cell first.”
“Eh? Okay, fine.” The boy didn’t sound enthusiastic about it, but he’d brightened visibly at the mere sound of Aris talking to him. Obediently, Fang lifted his bowl of congee and started rapidly shovelling the goop into his mouth.
“Wow, for an idiot who doesn’t care, you sure tamed him quickly,” Rai said snidely, casting Aris a dirty look and stacking his empty tray on top of Han’s. “I’m heading out first. See you guys later.”
“See ya,” Fang managed to mumble around his chipmunk cheeks.
Han leaned back, fingers twined loosely through Rai’s until the last minute as the boy slipped away. “See you.” There was a faint smile in the man’s softened expression as he watched Rai’s retreating back – though that quickly disappeared when he turned and noticed Aris’s narrowed stare.
“What happened, did you guys get married?” Aris said wryly.
Han shook his head, expression completely nonchalant again despite the obvious glitter of contentment around his head. “No, nothing happened.” He shrugged, avoiding Aris’s gaze as he picked up the trays and also got up. “I’ll be going too, then.” He paused to give Fang a concerned look. “Oh, you’re working kitchen now so we probably won’t be eating much together. If Rai and I aren’t at any of the recreation rooms then feel free to come to our cell.”
“Okay,” Fang said gratefully, lifting his eyes to the man with an affectionate stare. Aris could almost see a wagging tail sprouting from the boy’s rear end. It irritated him, slightly, and he glared at something else until Han was gone.
Without the usual chattering, Fang’s slurping was incredibly loud and Aris glanced back at the boy. For a couple minutes, with growing amusement, he watched food flying into the boy’s mouth. As Fang started munching on the last bit of bread, Aris cleaned up his tray and got up. Fang promptly grabbed his tray and bolted hastily up too, stepping into line behind the man.
“… What are you doing?” Aris said warily, glancing over his shoulder to see the boy trotting after him, cheeks puffed and still chewing. “Finish your food first. You’ll choke.”
Fang nodded, eyes bright in confusion as he neverless stuck close to the man.
Sighing, Aris gave up and turned away. “Don’t worry, it’s not like I’m going to abandon you.”
… Though nobody had any reason to believe those words, Aris thought wearily. Not when they came from him.
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