"You’re mean!"

Nie Chang didn’t mind the accusation. He had expected worse. Countering this was way too easy. "Ah? How am I mean?"

"I’m not a kitten!" Obviously!

Nie Chang bit back another laugh. So that was what bothered his little darling the most? "Of course not! But you’re gay and in a relationship so what’s so bad about getting on a tandem with your boyfriend?"

Su Yan tightened his lips and eyed the tandem warily, forgetting about his anger at the stupid joke about the kitten. "What if we crash with it? Two people sitting on the same bicycle doesn’t sound too safe to me."

Nie Chang blinked. So that was what this was about? "Uh … Don’t worry about that? How about this? I’ll sit in the front and do all the work. I’ll pedal and I’ll steer and you’ll just sit behind me, hold onto me and look around. Does that sound good?"

Su Yan shook his head. "No! Not at all!"

"Alright, alright. Let’s just try it." Nie Chang ignored his boyfriend’s protest and got onto the tandem before looking at Su Yan expectantly. Ah, don’t think I wouldn’t know all your weak points after so many years! You’re way too curious to not try it if you’re already presented with the opportunity.

Su Yan indeed wavered. Maybe he should try it, after all? Nie Chang had spent a lot of time thinking about this and it wasn’t such a bad idea. And if anything happened, he could still point at Nie Chang’s nose and yell that he had told him so. Mn, maybe this wasn’t too bad?

Nie Chang waved at his little darling. "Come on now. Let’s try it at least."

Su Yan wriggled on the spot. "Alright. But only because you’re asking so nicely." Then he got onto the tandem.

Naturally, he took Nie Chang’s suggestion of holding onto him very seriously. He embraced his waist with both arms and even went so far as to plaster his cheek against Nie Chang’s back.

Mn, this should do. He wouldn’t fall off if he stuck to him like this!

Nie Chang wondered if his little darling was secretly a spider monkey instead of a cat. At least his way of clinging to things was more elaborate than he had ever seen any cat do it. Well, as long as he felt safe everything was right.

Nie Chang patted the hands that were tugging at his shirt and started to pedal. He made another turn before entering the Amenity Grass. He would have loved to take a look at Su Yan but first of all, his little darling was clinging too closely to him, and secondly, Su Yan would get furious if he dared to turn his head now. Ah, he’ll have to wait until his little darling relaxed.

Nie Chang made sure to drive as steadily as he could. He didn’t even say anything so as to not startle Su Yan. As for looking at the gardens … Well, they had been here before and a casual look around suggested that not much had changed since then.

At least not in the park.

Nie Chang’s lips curved upward. Mn, even without looking at the park, this was pretty good. It was still early so it wasn’t hot yet but the sun made riding comfortable. There was hardly any wind either so he didn’t have trouble to keep the tandem upright. And the most important thing was that he was once again here with Su Yan and as a couple this time. What more could he ask for?

The effect of Nie Chang’s steady steering didn’t need long to show. Su Yan had only peered at one side of the garden from the safety of Nie Chang’s back at first but when nothing untoward happened in the first few minutes he lifted his head and looked in the other direction.

He also remembered that he had come here with Nie Chang before but there was no comparison to be made between that day and this day. Back then it had been the beginning of March and a light drizzle had made everything seem dull and gray. Now … in the ray’s of the August sun the plants seemed to glow.

Well, they were in the European-looking part of the park right now so there wasn’t that much to see. Most of it was just a lawn and some kind of hedges. But everything had a nice green color. That was already something, wasn’t it?

Actually, he knew nothing about gardens and had only gone along with it when Nie Chang suggested it back then. Come to think of it today it had also been Nie Chang who came up with the idea so maybe he liked gardens? Su Yan straightened up and craned his neck, trying to place his chin on Nie Chang’s shoulder but at the end of the day, a tandem wasn’t made for this kind of hugging. Especially not if the person sitting in the back was shorter by more than a head.

Su Yan grumbled and tugged at Nie Chang’s shirt to get his attention. "Ah Chang?"

Nie Chang smiled happily and withstood the urge to try and look back. "What is it, darling?"

"I was wondering … do you actually like this stuff?"

Nie Chang coughed. Even if he liked it, would he dare to say so after hearing the utter disregard in Su Yan’s voice? The way he asked that said a lot about his own thoughts.

"I asked you something!" Those little claws once again tugged at Nie Chang’s shirt.

"Not particularly."

Su Yan blinked. "Not? Then why did we come here?"

Nie Chang motioned to a spot a few hundred meters in front of them. "See there?"

Su Yan tilted his head. "See what?" He hadn’t seen Nie Chang move. Well, blame it on his boyfriend’s broad back. How was he supposed to see anything from behind it?

Nie Chang laughed. "There’s a couple in front."

"Is that bad?"

"No. Why should it?"

"I don’t know. Maybe they’re doing something they shouldn’t?"

"What kind of thing should they do?"

Su Yan once again leaned his head against Nie Chang’s back. Something they shouldn’t do … "Mn … Using their birds?"

This time the tandem swerved to the side.