Eighty Days Of Summer Camp (RoChu)

Chapter 10: The Sino-Russian Treaty

I flushed them down the turtlet

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Yao felt as though his heart was gonna leap out of his chest, run to the nearest cliff, and take a swan dive- as Ivan's large hand squeezed his and he was led out of the cabin. 

Was Ivan mad at him? Was he going to tell them they couldn't be friends anymore? Maybe he was gonna yell at him, or maybe he was going to give him the silent treatment? He couldn't decide which scenario would be worse...

Just as Yao was in the midst of his internal crisis, Ivan let go of his hand and instead grasped his shoulders.

"Why have you been avoiding me? Did I do something wrong, Yao?" he asked, his brow creased in concern and his eyes were glossy with sadness.

Yao was wrong. This outcome was way worse than Ivan being mad OR giving him the silent treatment- because with this outcome, Yao had made Ivan sad.

"You didn't do anything wrong, if anything, I'm to blame, so please don't be sad Ivan!" Yao cried, squeezing his eyes shut as he couldn't bare the guilt any longer. If he had to see Ivan's sad face for just a second longer, he was going to die. No matter how pretty Ivan's eyes looked under the moon, no matter how much his hair seemed to glow in the pale light, nothing could mask the sadness that was visible on his face in that moment.

"If I'm not to blame, then why are you avoiding me? Did Natalia threaten you or something? She said she would be more understanding now so you don't have to worry!" Ivan pestered, shaking Yao's shoulders unconsciously as he talked.

Yao shook his head quickly and tried to conjure up the right words to say. Did he tell Ivan that he likes him, and that he was attracted to him in that way? He didn't seem to mind when Alfred came out, but that didn't exactly make Ivan gay either. What if things got awkward when he did, and he ruined his first ever friendship? What would he do then?

"Yao, you're spacing out! Just tell me, I won't judge you no matter what! I just need to know. Please, Yao. You're important to me, I don't want you to avoid me like that again." Ivan pleaded, his eyes now wet with tears, a dozen droplets threatening to spill as soon as he closed his eyes.

Yao couldn't bare this. It was all too much, and before he knew it, his brain had gone numb and he just started to talk.

"I want to kiss you." He suddenly spat out, grabbing the sides of his head as his brain went fuzzy and he failed to recognise what was happening.

Ivan let go of his shoulders. For a moment, all that could be heard was the distant hoot of an owl and the brustling of pine trees in the wind. Yao's eyes widened in shock as his brain finally started to digest the last 2 minutes of events.

"You- eh? What do you mean Yao-Yao?" Ivan questioned, his tears suddenly drying up and pure shock taking over as his primary emotion.

"Oh crap- I didn't mean that! I was just overwhelmed, it's uh... A popular saying in China! Ah yes, we're always saying 'aru' and 'I want to kiss you' it's just a cultural thing!" He bullshitted, his face becoming redder than Gil's eyes when he did weed that one time.

"Really? But- but! What if I said I wanted to kiss you too, and it wasn't a cultural thing? Does that make me weird?" Ivan panicked, his hands shaking slightly.

Yao blinked.

And then blinked again.

Eh? Did he hear that right? Ivan wanted to... Kiss him? And it wasn't a cultural thing?

"You mean, Romantically?" Yao asked.

"Uh... I suppose." Ivan breathed out, talking slow breaths to calm himself. Yao watched his chest rise and fall to keep himself occupied from freaking out, though it didn't work.

"You know I'm not a girl, right? I know my hair's long but don't let that fool you! I don't have boobs or anything."

"I'm aware."

Yao stood still for a moment, not knowing what to say or do.

"So, can I kiss you?" Ivan asked, grabbing Yao's hand and smiling softly. Yao was still gradually getting redder and redder in the face. How come Ivan was so much cooler than him in situations like this?

"I- I mean... I like you! I love you, in a gay way! Full homo, Ivan! If you kiss me you'll be homo too!" he warned him, beginning to panic as Ivan's gentle grip sent him into a state of absolute lovestruckness. Maybe Ivan still didn't understand, right? He wasn't gay, that would be too perfect, that would work out too much! That would be-

Ivan let out a nervous chuckle.

As Yao panicked silently and looked away, Ivan planted a teeny tiny kiss on his lips, and then withdrew to think.

Yao almost screamed.

"AH! THAT WAS MY FIRST KISS! IVAN!" he shouted, gripping Ivan's hand tight.

Ivan looked like he was done thinking, and as they finally made eye contact once more, he smiled down at Yao.

"I wanna do that again. Yao, you have very nice lips. Very soft. If you love me, then perhaps we should date? I'm starting to think that I may be very homo for you, too." he chuckled, intertwining his fingers with Yao's.

Yao couldn't believe this...

He just got his first boyfriend. 

He had come the camp despising the very idea of being outdoors, completely certain that he would hate every day and every experience he would have to endure. He thought he would go home having made no friends, and end up just as confused as before.

However, after summer break was over, he was going to go home having made two idiot friends, and a very tall, very strange Russian boyfriend.

How the hell was he going to explain this to his parents?

He made sure to nod in approval at Ivan's request to seal in the deal (he was feeling too shy to actually say anything) and they both sat on the deck of the cabin silently, looking up at the stars.

Yao lifted his neck to the sky to allow the soft breeze to cool down his face. What an ordeal this whole day had been...

"Yao, this is kind of like the first day we met, no? We looked up at the sky like this." Ivan whispered.

Yao nodded, a smile appearing on his face as he realised the irony of it all. He took the view of Ivan sitting, his hair reflecting the moon's rays, his eyes almost illuminated with child-like wonder, and attempted to engrain it in his memory forever.

However, that activity was interrupted when all of a sudden, a loud noise erupted from the cabin, they both jumped, extremely startled by the sudden noise spoiling their tender moment, before realising it was just Alfred snoring.

They burst in to laughter. How ironic, indeed.

So he had gone to bed before every else again, huh? Well, it looked like him and Ivan would have to stay outside the cabin a little longer.

Yao didn't mind that at all.