Pen Pals {MXTX}

29- Picnic

Shen Qingqiu woke up the next morning to a panda staring at him in the face.

It was a stuffed panda.

Somehow it made its way to his bed and onto his face. Shi Qingxuan has a nasty habit of kicking when he's asleep.

Speaking of stuffed animals, there's something extremely wrong with Xie Lian's. The stuffed fox was practically an elf on the shelf, appearing in a different spot every morning.

Today, it was on the wall of the bathtub and it almost gave Shen Qingqiu a heart attack when he gazed through the mirror this morning to brush his teeth. He wasn't quite awake at first, but thanks to the fox, he definitely was.

Shen Qingqiu's just hoping that one day the stuffed fox will become clouds of stuffing while being washed in the washing machine.

The boy was having a headache as he stayed too late last night reading novels. He can barely pour the milk into the bowl properly. Thank god, he woke up too late to make up for it. It was almost noon.

Oh. Did he miss the brunch?

"No, you didn't," Shi Qingxuan announced, coming (twirling) out of the bathroom. Shen Qingqiu lifted his head and looked up with tired eyes. Is it just him or Shi Qingxuan is sparkling?

"That's just you and the sunlight playing tricks in your eyes, Shen-xiong," Shi Qingxuan said as he pulled up the blinders to let in even more light.

Shen Qingqiu blinked slowly, head drooping, his arms on the table, a spoon pointing up at the ceiling in one hand. Ugggghhggg. Feeling sluggish. Did he turn into a zombie last night?

"No, you didn't. Anyway! Where's Xie Lian?" Shi Qingxuan said, clapping his hands. "Shen-xiong, you should get up earlier, and do some exercises, it'll be good for your body."

These, my friends, are two types of people in the morning (technically noon). And I'm Shen Qingqiu. Just look at him, he's about to faceplant into his bowl of soggy cereal.

Xie Lian walked out of their bedroom. He tried stifling a yawn behind his hand. "Morning, guys," he said sleepily.

Shen Qingqiu and Shi Qingxuan looked at each other. "Uh, it's noon, Xie Lian," they said simultaneously.

Xie Lian's closed eyes flew open. "Ah, really?" he exclaimed. His face turned worried. "Did I miss brunch?" he asked.

"Noo, you didn't. Actually, considering how nice the weather is when I went out for a run this morning, we should totally have a picnic in the park instead," Shi Qingxuan said, moving close to the window and peering out. "I'll go text the others about the change of plans."

Shi Qingxuan went to the bedroom and closed the door. Then he opened it and poked his head out and said, "And you two, I want to see you both awake and alert when I finish. Go drink coffee or something."

Xie Lian and Shen Qingqiu looked at each other. "There's a bit of cereal on your shirt," Xie Lian told the latter.

Shen Qingqiu hastily took a napkin and wiped his shirt. "What were you doing so late last night? I thought you were asleep."

"Oh, I was chatting to a friend. We had so much to talk about that I lost track of time," Xie Lian said. "They were very good at conversing just about anything." A small smile appeared on Xie Lian's face.

...

It took them an hour.

One extremely rash hour that seems to be longer than an hour. Shi Qingxuan made Xie Lian change twice. Okay, it wasn't Xie Lian's fault that he wasn't as 'fashionably knowledgeable' as Shi Qingxuan.