Winter Wind (YiZhan)

20. Audacity

Xiao Zhan wants to send the clip to Yibo so that they can laugh about it together.

They used to do things like this in the past- send memes and videos to each other but, things haven't been this way between them in a long time.

Speaking to him once in a while will be normal, however contacting him again, especially after he has already sent a message earlier that morning would be pushing it no?

He hates all of this contemplation, and cannot help but recall when Yibo asked him in Beijing a few weeks earlier, why he couldn't speak to him everyday?

At the time, Yibo was offering everything he had on a platter of gold, and Xiao Zhan had thrown it in his face.

He still doesn't know if he is, or will ever be ready to fully accept their 'relationship' to the depth that Yibo was offering it, but he still wants to speak to and hear from him. To have him somehow be a part of his daily life.

He gets a nudge then from Mimi, and turns towards her.

"What is it?" she asks. Right now, they are at the canteen on set, having dinner before the night's shooting schedule commences.

"Nothing," he sends a smile, and returns his gaze to his food. They are on a long table filled with several other cast and crew members, so he wants to watch what he says.

Mimi however taps him again, and pushes her phone towards him. "You need a laugh," she says. "Here's another video."

He is about to reject it when she once again puts an AirPod in his ears.

And this is how he is forced to watch with her, a five minute compilation of Yibo losing his marbles. The first scene is of the atrocity of a salad that he is putting together for one of the hosts on Day Day up. He is shown smashing the cucumbers like he is pounding rice cake, and shamelessly admitting that he cannot cook.

Xiao Zhan is very aware of this, and cannot help but smile. He wants to someday teach him how to cook at least a couple of simple meals to get by on.

"This is such a violent dish," Yibo admits as he continues to smash, rather than actually slice through any of the vegetables with the flat side of the knife.

Xiao Zhan's smile widens.

Yibo is indeed violent; violently passionate about the things that he loves, and violently lazy towards the things that he does not care for. There is no in between with the boy, and this he realizes is one of the things he most ... appreciates about him. Yibo never ceases to just awe him with amusement for his little quirks. And that smirk!

Xiao Zhan scoffs as Yibo sends that devilish smile into the camera, as if sending this message to the audience; "Yes, I know it's painful for you right now to watch what I'm doing with these vegetables, but don't look at the vegetables. Look at me instead. I'm a better view."

Xiao Zhan is suddenly too heated then, and almost takes the Airpod out of his ears, but then he sees Yibo pick up a jar of vinegar, and douse the battered pieces of vegetables with it. Everyone around, including Xiao Zhan himself, gasps.

"Yibo!" he calls out, and it is only after the words have sounded from his lips that he realizes that he has spoken aloud.

Mimi hears him, her eyes widening in part alarm and amusement as she looks around to see if they have drawn any unwanted attention. She jabs him in warning, and that should be a cue for him to stop watching but he can't stop. He needs to see the end of this at least.

Yibo's defense for his horrendous salad is simple. "It's good enough. At least I'm not the one eating it."

In another clip, one of his co-hosts on the show is siting in a camping chair during one of their episodes, when he mistakenly spills some water on himself, thereby soiling his khaki pants. Yibo who is sitting by his side, sees the dampened crotch area, and bursts out into the deepest and most extreme forms of laughter that Xiao Zhan has ever seen from the boy. And what is just as mesmerizing about this is that he tries to keep it all in, so instead of laughing aloud, his entire body is shaking from the belly deep attack. He doubles over, and eventually he is unable to hold onto the sounds. Yibo lets loose an adorable laugh, and Xiao Zhan feels his heart shake.