short stories and extras of our beloved Zihao!
Please read "Green Smog" before this story
These stories will not be connected to the plot unless said otherwise
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chapters with brackets are angst chapters
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Exclaimer: this is in no way a traditional example of this celebration. My grandma migrated here from Taiwan and our celebration is based off of her family's. I welcome you to my family's personal tradition :) so please be respectful when you read Zihao's celebration that is based off mine.
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Zihao roughly shook the sleeping male, "Hu! Wake up! It's lunar new year!" It was roughly eight in the morning, and Zihao was the only one awake. Hu was always a tough kid to wake up, especially when it was before noon.
Groaning, Hu swatted away his hand and turned over. He pulled the blanket over his head and nuzzled deeper into the mattress.
"Strawberry I swear if you don't get your ass up I'll eat all the nian gao." The greenette threatened, leaving no room for argument.
A loud gasp emerged from under the covers as Hu scrambled out of bed. "YOU WOULDN'T DARE!" He exclaimed while looking at Zihao with betrayal.
"Yes, I would, get up lazy ass." L/n walked out of the room as Hu rushed to get up. The blanket wrapped around his foot and caused him to fall on his face.
The entire living room was adorned with hanging red lanterns. Red envelopes for each students laid across the table, roughly ten dollars in each of them. Random cherry blossoms laid sprawled out in the apartment.
Zihao sat in front of an open window, a half-peeled orange in his hand. The sound of music could be heard from the TV as he hummed along. He turns his head to look at an out of breath Hu. "Congrats, you woke up." He spoke sarcastically.
"You don't even have any!"
"Nope, that's for later." Turning back around, he gestured to the empty spot next to him.
Hu let out a sigh as he plopped down onto the floor, grabbing an orange the two sat there and peeled the oranges. They'd use their nail to create a round shape on the top and tear it to make a ribbon. If done correctly, the entire orange should peel in one piece. Then while you eat the orange, you roll the peel into a rose shape. If you make enough of them, the entire house will be decorated and smell lovely.
"Ugh! I ripped another one!" Throwing the peel into a bag, Hu let his head fall backwards with a loud groan.
"Maybe if you were more gentle it wouldn't tear." His friend teased as he made his sixth flower. There was no real reason of doing this, other than a nostalgic feeling.
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"Remember Zi, you must be careful or else the peel will tear. With delicate hands you too can create something beautiful. The smell is even prettier than a rose, see? Take a sniff." The elder lady held out the peel rose for the boy to smell. Her hand shook slightly as she tried to keep it up to his nose.
