Chapter 25: 22

Chapter 22

No Bullying, Please?

Translated by boilpoil
Edited by boilpoil

 

Soon enough, Mu Mu’er is yawning and his eyelids begin to drop.

Never mind the snow leopard thing, then. It’s not too important.

Bai Yao gets up and extends his hand to the boy, “alright, it’s getting late. Go to sleep.”

He accompanies Mu Mu’er back to the guest storeroom and watches him enter the bed, cuddling up towards the wall, and pulling the blanket over himself.

Summer can still get quite hot here, and so Bai Yao gave him summer blankets that are quite thin. He is going to turn to leave, but asks after thinking, “do you feel cold at all? Do you need more blankets?”

Mu Mu’er’s eyes are pretty wide in the dark, and he quietly answers, “it’s not cold. It’s warm.”

Bai Yao nods, but the thin mattress beneath Mu Mu’er also makes him feel slightly guilty and sorry for him.

He’s probably not cold, but this is probably not comfortable either.

Maybe he should buy a bed for Mu Mu’er; he isn’t sure when, but he thinks he’s starting to come to accept the boy living with him.

His hand squeezes the doorknob a little as he thinks about this more seriously.

A boy is no pet. He can’t just keep him like one, like a sea otter. Yet Mu Mu’er’s mental state means he also has nowhere he could send him to.

He cannot stay with other humans for the risk of him turning back into a sea otter. At best, he’ll still be locked up somewhere for research and stuff.

Not to mention…
Bai Yao feels unsafe sending Mu Mu’er away. He thinks what he is feeling is a sense of belonging with him.

He’s unable to close the door. He looks back at the boy who’s already closed his eyes, ready to sleep on the ground, and calls out quietly, “Mu’er.”

Mu Mu’er opens his eyes, hearing the call, and looks at him with textbook puppy eyes.

“Do you have a family?”

Mu Mu’er does not answer for a long time; finally, he rolls around and pulls his blanket up and up past his chin, before he speaks, almost inaudibly, “… older brother.”

Bai Yao wasn’t expecting this answer. He tenses up, his breathing quickens, for reasons he knows not himself.

He retracts his hand from the doorknob, and continues asking, “do you know where he is? Are you going to look for him? Does… Does he know you are here?”

Bai Yao has asked a lot, so Mu Mu’er starts looking lost and does not answer for a while.

Yet his expression also has a tinge of sadness to it. Then, he shakes his head very slowly, “he is angry. He did not talk to Mu’er anymore.”

After that, Mu Mu’er falls silent. A little while later, he says, “m-my head hurts.”

The boy is frowning. His eyes are watery. He sniffles, and squeezes himself into the blanket some more.

Bai Yao nods, gently telling him, “sleep, then. We can talk about it tomorrow.”

He’s going to close the door, but he hears a ‘mm~’ sound from behind. The tone sounds like a question.

Bai Yao stops and asks, “what’s wrong?”

Mu Mu’er opens his mouth, but doesn’t ask. He seems shy, but is expectant.

Calling out… Bai Yao suddenly recalls that he has never told his name yet. He smiles a little, and introduces himself, “my name is Bai Yao.”

Mu Mu’er immediately calls out, “Yaoyao.”

“Yeah?” Bai Yao answers. What a little fae the sea otter is.

“Yaoyao.”

“I’m listening.”

“Yaoyao.”

“… Yeah, it’s time you slept.”

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“Yaoyao~” Mu Mu’er couldn’t help but call out yet again.

“… Yaoyao is going to sleep.”

This night, when Mu Mu’er sneaks into his room, Bai Yao immediately wakes right back up; or rather, he didn’t fall asleep entirely the whole time, his thoughts fixated on the boy the next room over, a little bothered.

So Bai Yao can hear the door opening quite well. Then comes Mu Mu’er’s light footsteps on the floor. Bai Yao’s hearing really is exceptional.

He glances at the clock. It’s just past one.

A few seconds later, the bedroom door becomes ajar, as Mu Mu’er pokes his little sleepy head in. After standing for a bit, he sneaks in and closes the door behind him.

He thinks he might be trying not to scare him, and so Bai Yao’s eyes remain shut and pretends to be asleep, to see what the boy will do.

The weather is pretty stuffy today, so Bai Yao isn’t under a blanket at all. Soon enough, his bed sinks a little on the side, and a warm little body sneaks over and lies down beside him.

Mu Mu’er puts his soft hand carefully inside Bai Yao’s palm, before gripping it tightly. Then he brushes his face against him slightly.

Bai Yao tenses up quite a lot, remaining immobile so that he doesn’t scare the boy.

Then he slowly opens his eyes, to watch Mu’er finally snuggling into a comfortable position, and is ready to fall asleep.

Their gazes meet, and Bai Yao watches Mu Mu’er’s eyes widen.

The boy shudders and yelps, retrieving his hand, and then rolls into the foetal position on the bed; protecting his head with his arm. He is shaking.

“Don’t… don’t beat up. Don’t beat Mu’er,” he mumbles, in between whimpers from his throat.

Bai Yao immediately gets up, turns on the lamp by his bed, and moves between the light so it doesn’t irritate his eyes.

Seeing him all frightened, Bai Yao is going to soothe him by patting him on the back, but it feels like a bad idea to touch him right now. He first asks gently, “why do you think I will beat you?”

Mu Mu’er has turned into a little ball who is covering his ears with his arms too. He looks like he did not hear.

Bai Yao does not know what just happened. All was still well when suddenly… He thinks, and decides to still put his hand gently on Mu Mu’er’s back, massaging, trying to relax him.

As soon as Bai Yao has put his hand on Mu Mu’er, he immediately speaks – seemingly frightened of worse consequences to suffer.

“Don’t… chase. Bite.”
“It h-hurts.”
“Mu’er is good. Not bite,” he takes a deep breath, and pleads, “no bullying, please?”

The words squeeze right into Bai Yao’s heart like thorny brambles wrapped around his heart. There is no blood, there is only a bone-chilling pain.

He does not know what has Mu Mu’er so scared. He thinks about whether to ask further, when the boy sneaks a glance at him, and, perhaps hoping it would play to some unknowable effect, falls right to the side stiffly and without moving.

“Don’t beat, Mu’er. Mu’er sleeps,” he mumbles, clearly still worried. His eyes may be closed, but it’s clear he cannot fall asleep like this.

Bai Yao waits a little. He really wants to hug the boy to reassure him, but in the end, he decides to try holding his hand first.

“Shh, it’s ok. Yaoyao does not beat Mu’er.”

He can feel all the sweat in Mu Mu’ers hands. It’s cold. His fingers are locked. Bai Yao holds his hand with both hands, to try to bring him warmth.

“Mu’er, look. Yaoyao is holding your hand,” it seems this is effective. Mu Mu’er looks down, and starts to calm down a little. He looks up at Bai Yao, winking.

Bai Yao pulls the blanket over, covering them both, and squeezes Mu Mu’er’s hand tight, caressing the back of his hand with his thumb.

A while later, Mu Mu’er finally seems reassured enough to relax fully. Then Bai Yao raises his hand slowly, and Mu Mu’er does not retreat, allowing him to gently close his eyelids. Bai Yao says, “good night.”

Mu Mu’er appears to be on the verge of falling asleep, mumbling, “… night.”

After he’s asleep, Bai Yao, in contrast, fails to fall asleep. He blanks out staring at the ceiling.

He is curious about everything regarding Mu Mu’er. He’s curious, but he also has an inkling that the boy would not tell him. He seems to be coming from rather complicated background. His wounds, his behaviour like a man starved of food, his instinctive reactions just now…

Mu Mu’er rolls around in his sleep. He remains close to Bai Yao, leaning into him.

Like a child, he starts kicking the blanket away too. Finally, he succeeds. The blanket is gone, and he makes a little victorious harrumph in his sleep.

Bai Yao can only pull the blanket back up; worried he might find it too hot, but even more worried he might catch a fever, he decides to only put the blanket on their legs.

He thought maybe it would be a sleepless night of thinking for him, but soon enough, he falls asleep as well.

A sound sleep that lasts all the way until morning.

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