This is Not My Obituary

Trailed Children Have Issues

It had fallen in love with him so easily. He would run and play and yet it was unable to leave the child alone. Maybe it was the fact that Xinlong couldn't pick a flower without silently mulling over how pretty it was, or maybe it was the lazy summer afternoons the tot spent laying on the grass with his hands pushed to the tranquil blue sky, making out shapes and figures in the fluffy clouds. It had found itself attached to him in no time and checking over him constantly. Even as the boy grew from toddler to something more independent, the grounds adored him as if he were it's own. Though it knew of its rather off-putting appearance, it couldn't help but adore the sweet child and look over him in play and in rest. When Xinlong began to play football for the school's ever triumphant team, the grounds could've had a fit as it knew of how harsh that could be on his body, but he couldn't do a thing about it.

He felt the same loving emotion towards the little boy who would accompany Xinlong during their play dates on Mr. Yi's land. Yu Zeyu. He was a sweet little boy who had a shared love for the earth around them, adoring the beauty as his mother has taught him to.

By the time little Ren Shuyang had began to follow them around, The Grounds was so willing to love any child that Xinlong brought with him, admiration by association. But, he soon became its most loved child, protecting the younger with everything it had. He was just so precious.

   When ZeYu and Xinlong began to secret go together in high school, quite literally fucking around the back caverns, he didn't dare bother the two.

Though all of this love and affection came with a price, it stuck by their sides until they left.

But now they're back.

It understood that they had to move on and grow, but it had missed them terribly, so when it got the chance, it appeared to them in its various ways.

The grounds knew very well that it couldn't speak or unveil itself to Shuyang because it had put so much energy into the other two, so it did what it could to show it still cared, like protecting the youngest from harm, or taping a small envelope to the leg of his coffee table one night while he was asleep at Hanyu's house. It knew the love Shuyang had for the older and wanted to protect it as it had done the boy when he was young.

It was frustrating seeing the love of its life so depressed.

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"I have to do something, and it might not be morally correct. So, will you please forgive me in advance?" Shuyang comfortingly squeezed Rui's shoulder as he pulled him close to his chest. Rui nodded, burying his nose in Shuyang's collar and hugging his waist. "I guess, do what you have to, and then come back to me safely." Shuyang nodded and nuzzled his cheek in Rui's fluffy, black hair. "Always."

The younger of two hadn't confessed to the atrocities he had committed just nights ago, concerning the two oldest members of their community. But, when the obituaries were printed in the morning papers, the death was accredited to "natural causes."

Shuyang could laugh. These people were full of shit.
It's not like anyone would doubt that those two old ass hicks died naturally, but the authorities obviously saw the hole right in the middle of old Mr. Yi's face. "Natural my ass." Shuyang scoffed as he revved up the engine and pulled out of Hanyu's driveway, Rui watching out the living room window as his stomach sank. He didn't know what Shuyang was going to do and honestly he didn't want to know. He'd rather just sit in ignorance and wait for his lover to return to him, in one piece preferably.

The older clutched the stuffed, yellow puppy to his chest as he sat patiently on the sofa. Dela, Lona, and Kara all sat around him while ZeYu quietly offered a shoulder to lean on. MingRui rested against Zeyu's shoulder and tried to pace his breathing with the older man's. He closed his eyes and with all of his lower he tried to imagine Shuyang next to him. He was thankful for ZeYu being there, but he couldn't deny his need for the junior's comfort.