Chapter Text
The wheel of the computer mouse scrolled as Mo Fan looked around his screen, he gave an exasperated sigh. Another website and he still hadn’t found anything fitting.
Christmas was just two days away and there were a few members of Happy that Mo Fan had yet to buy presents for, most namely, Ye Xiu. He was at a loss at what Senior Ye Xiu would even want. What do you gift a man who’s only interest is Glory? He couldn’t surely just buy the man a pack of cigarettes and call it a day. That felt.. wrong.
Chen Guo had organized a Christmas party this year as last year was “quite hectic” in her words. Mo Fan hadn’t celebrated a proper Christmas in a long while, in past years, Christmas was just another time when he would log into Glory for the annual Christmas event and poach rare materials. He looked out the window, it had been snowing for the past few hours, he could see the piles of snow start forming. It looked cold.
Sitting in the training room with Mo Fan was Baozi and Qiao Yifan. He assumed the others had gone to their rooms to sleep already. Baozi had been humming to himself for the past hour as Qiao Yifan was reviewing their past matches and taking notes.
“Do you want to tag along with me to go last minute present shopping tomorrow?” Baozi tapped on his keyboard, pulling his headphones down, and looking away from his screen. He finished up his arena match.
“Uh, you haven’t bought presents yet? Christmas is the day after tomorrow, you know.” Qiao Yifan asked inquisitively, as he continued penning down his notes reviewing their last match.
“Well not all of them, just some of them.”
“Who have you not bought presents for yet?”
Luo Ji walked up from downstairs and Baozi thanked him for bringing over a few cups of warm coffee. “Boss, Boss Lady, and Sister Su Mucheng.”
“Well, I guess I could help you with buying gifts for them.” Qiao Yifan sipped from his mug.
Mo Fan peaked his head up from his seat, listening in curiously.
“Let me see what they like.” Qiao Yifan flipped through his notes. He had written some small profiles on each of the team members in the past.
“We can grab Luo Ji and An Wenyi to come with too! It’ll be fun!” Baozi spinned around in his chair.
Qiao Yifan gave him a look. “Well, if they are free tomorrow, or haven’t gone home for the holidays yet.”
Baozi thought for a second. “Oh. Wait Luo Ji is still here, let me go ask him.” He stood up from his chair and headed down to the kitchen to find Luo Ji.
Qiao Yifan peered towards Mo Fan’s direction, watching as Mo Fan unsuccessfully averted his gaze, pretending to look disinterested. Qiao Yifan smiled. “Mo Fan, would like to join us in shopping for presents too?”
Mo Fan slid down his headphones. He checked one more site before looking up. “I’m busy during the day tomorrow.”
“Oh, sorry to bother you then. You seemed interested earlier. You’re free to join us if you change your mind.”
Mo Fan fiddled with his headphones. “I..” He didn’t finish that thought before Baozi ran back in the room shouting that Luo Ji would also tag along for their outing tomorrow.
”I’m heading to bed. Good night.”
”You’re not joining us?” Baozi asked.
Mo Fan shook his head.
”Oh, ok well. Good night then.” Baozi lowered his hand, looking a little dejected at the rejection, Mo Fan felt bad for turning down the kind offer.
~~~
It was Christmas Eve and Mo Fan still has yet to find a suitable gift for Ye Xiu. He debated stealing away a few bosses for the rare materials to gift to Ye Xiu but he felt that would be a copout. Qiao Yifan sent him a text, a location to a nearby mall with a Christmas market next to it. “If you feel like joining us, we’ll be here for the time being.” Qiao Yifan wrote to him.
After waffling about, Mo Fan put on his coat and waited for the bus. He might as well join them.
It didn’t take too long for Mo Fan to arrive at the mall, it seemed lively. Crowds of people in their colored winter coats buying from the several booths outside the mall, even more indoors savoring the warm heating and end-of-year sales. The scent of fragrant food wafted in the air as passerbys ordered street food from nearby stands.
”Oh! So you did want to come shopping with us!” Baozi said with a smile, he ran over to try and put his arm over Mo Fan’s shoulder, forgetting the multiple bags of gifts occupied in his hands that bumped into Mo Fan’s chest with a thud. “Ow.”
”Oh sorry sorry.”
”It’s fine.” Mo Fan rubbed with his hand, he was more so he was just surprised, though given how Baozi usually acted, he probably should have gotten used to it by now.
Baozi made some gestures with his arms. “I got maybe half of my shopping done but we still have the rest of the market and the other floors of the mall to go through.”
”Aren’t you cold?” Mo Fan asked him. Baozi was wearing a puffy winter jacket which was normal, but he also wore a pair of shorts. Just looking at his attire made Mo Fan feel chills.
”Nope! As long as it doesn’t snow, it’s shorts weather.”
”Shorts weather.. shouldn’t that be when it’s warmer?”
”It’s warm enough.”
Mo Fan gave a sigh. He supposes that he will never truly understand the whimsical mind of Bao Rongxing. “Whatever.”
”Come on, I can show you what stores we already passed by.” Baozi tugged at Mo Fan’s sleeve. Mo Fan nodded and followed behind.
Meandering between several booths, Mo Fan asked a question. “Where are the others? I thought Qiao Yifan and Luo Ji were also here, I don’t see them anywhere?”
Baozi looked off towards a direction before looking back. “Ah, we ran into Sister Su earlier and she yoinked Luo Ji to help do some clothing modeling or something I don’t know. I think she’s trying to pick out clothes for the Boss.”
”Then where’s Qiao Yifan?”
”I think he bumped into an old acquaintance from his past team so they are catching up or something? Don’t worry, we’ll meet up later!”
”ah. I see.”
One by one, Baozi led Mo Fan from one store to the next. Clothing, clothing, trinkets, jewelry, shoes, books, soaps. “I got this one here for An Wenyi.” Baozi lifted one of the multitude of bags he held. “He was talking about how his favorite mug broke so I found one that looks just like it!” Baozi said proudly.
”Wait, broken?? The mug that he lost and then found later was perfectly fine?”
”oh..” Baozi uttered softly. “Well, now he can have two! In case anything happens!”
”I..guess..”
Passing by another booth, a particular booth caught the corner of Mo Fan’s eye. Mo Fan looked around, it seemed to be a booth selling old thrifted and vintage items, which in and of itself was not anything out of the ordinary. He wasn’t sure why he gravitated to this one specifically. He skimmed through the items, touching and prodding the trinkets.
In addition to the various knick-knacks of spare jewelry, old leather clothing, and such, there was a pile of old books that sat in the corner.
With fraying edges and cracked spines, a few pages missing in many of them, Mo Fan flipped through each one. A small photograph slipped from the inside of what seemed to be a rough notebook, fluttering to the floor. Mo Fan bent down to pick it up when he froze.
Holding the photograph in hand, his eyes widened. The photograph had three young figures, the older two could not have been more than a teen, the third slightly younger. A set of siblings and a dark haired teen.
“They look like Senior Ye Xiu and Senior Su Mucheng..”
Mo Fan flipped through the notebook to which this photograph fell from. It almost seemed like a diary, to which the author was named Su Muqiu.
Su Muqiu.. Mo Fan remembered Su Mucheng once mentioned she had an older brother but never elaborated further than that. He wasn’t sure that this was Su Mucheng’s brother’s diary per se but the dark haired teen in the photo was unmistakably, Ye Xiu. He hasn’t changed at all, albeit slightly older now. Su Mucheng looks the same as in the photo, the same hair style, the face, she looked younger.
Mo Fan slipped the photo back into the notebook and carried it towards the register. “How much for this book?”
The older shopowner squinted, looking up from their crossword puzzle. “Eh, that one? It’s so old so.. 10 RMB.”
Mo Fan nodded and pulled up his phone to pay.
The shopowner handed him a small paper bag to carry his purchase, thanking him for his business.
Mo Fan let out a breath he didn’t know he was even holding. What was he nervous about? Was he worried that this notebook was not for sale? He wasn’t sure. He gripped the bag handle tightly.
“Oh, that’s where you went.” Baozi spotted him from a booth over.
”I got Senior Ye Xiu his gift.” Mo Fan held up the paper bag.
”Oh nice! Ough I still haven’t found anything for Boss.”
“Maybe something he might enjoy using in everyday life? If nothing else, you could give him a pack of cigarettes right?”
”You’re right. Maybe I get him a fun shirt. Everyone loves fun shirts.”
Mo Fan followed along, the two went into a few clothing stores and picked out a couple graphic Ts as well as a jacket with a few famous glory bosses printed on the back.
”Are you sure about that one?”
”What’s wrong with it?” Baozi held up a yellow and red t-shirt. “It’s yellow because I’m yellow so that everytime Boss wears it, he can remember that I bought this for him!”
”I mean nothing wrong with that but.. why does it have a ‘Leo’ zodiac on it?”
”Is Boss not a Leo?”
”He’s a Gemini.”
”It’s ok! I’ll add some drawings to this later then to make it more personal! DIY!”
A buzz came from Baozi’s pocket. His phone shown a message from Qiao Yifan.
”Oh, Yifan and Luo Ji are at the food court.”
”Then we should go too.” Mo Fan helped Baozi carry his bags, he put a few of the smaller ones into the larger bags for easier carrying.
~~~
“That was fun, we should go shopping together more!” Baozi exclaimed.
Walking through the doors of Happy, it was late in the day. Outside, the sun has set awhile ago.
”Oh, you guys are here.” Chen Guo said from the top of a ladder, she had been hanging up decorations and ornaments on the Christmas tree.
”Yo! Boss Lady, do you need any help?”
”Yes! Actually, I got most of the stuff onto the tree but I don’t think I’m tall enough to put the star up.” She reached to gesture to the top of the tree out of reach before stepped down from the ladder.
”Ok! Let me put my stuff down first then.”
”No no, take your time. Fang Rui, Wei Chen, and Tang Rou went to pick up the food I ordered.” Chen Guo looked at the bags of stuff Baozi held in his hands. “That’s a lot of shopping, are these all gifts?”
”Yeah.”
”I can help you with wrapping some of these up if you want.” Chen Guo offered.
”I can also help too!” Su Mucheng overhearing the conversation as she walked in, offered her help as well. “I’m pretty good at crafts.”
Luo Ji, Qiao Yifan, and Mo Fan followed in. “If it’s not too much trouble, us too.” Qiao Yifan said apologetically.
“Oh! No trouble at all!”
The rustling sound of presents being wrapped in giftwrapping paper, soft ambient festive music played as personal Christmas cards were being written. The laughter and cheerful energy of Happy. The feast of food brought in by Wei Chen, Tang Rou, and multitudes of snacks bought by Fang Rui. Mo Fan felt warm.
”Where is Senior Ye Xiu?” Mo Fan asked Su Mucheng as they headed to An Wenyi’s room to drop off their presents for him to open when he gets back.
”Oh, well. You know how Ye Xiu has a younger brother right?”
”The one that looks just like him right? His twin?”
”Yeah! So, he dragged Ye Xiu to a family dinner even though Ye Xiu didn’t want to go back. But he should be back here uh..” She checked her phone. “In about an hour I think?”
The jingling ringing of the front door could be heard.
”Oh! I guess he escaped early this year.” Su Mucheng laughed.
Su Mucheng reached into her pocket and pulled out a cone shaped object with a string attached to the end of it. POP!
”Merry Christmas! This time I got you.” Su Mucheng looked at Ye Xiu smiling and picking out the confetti from his hair. Ye Xiu was dressed in a formal suit, loosening his tie.
“Let me get changed first, I couldn’t escape the nagging this year.” Ye Xiu went up before joining everyone near the tree.
“I guess since it’s now Christmas, we can start opening the gifts then.” Fang Rui cheered.
Everyone looked at the presents and sorted them into a separate pile for each.
One by one, presents were unwrapped. Some were fun, some useful, some whimsical, some generic, some sentimental.
Unwrapping the paper from a present, Ye Xiu looked at the small worn down notebook. Mo Fan had included a little Christmas card as well, reading it made Ye Xiu chuckle a bit.
To Ye Xiu,
Merry Christmas.
I had struggled finding a present for you that didn’t seem shallow since all you seem to like is Glory and your cigarettes. But I found this notebook and it seemed important to you and Su Mucheng and I figured that you should have it. I hope I didn’t overstep anything.
Anyways, I hope you like it.
> Mo Fan
PS. I’m still going to prove you wrong about my future of scrap picking.
Ye Xiu flipped open the cover of the notebook and his hand started trembling. Ye Xiu touched the photograph and looked up at Mo Fan. “How.. ahem how did you find this?” Ye Xiu said with a slightly shaky voice, correcting himself to seem unphased.
”I was looking through a store and saw a pile of old books and started looking through them to see if anything was interesting. And then this photo fell out. As soon as I saw it, I recognized you and Sister Su Mucheng. It seemed important so I got it for you.”
Ye Xiu gingerly flipped through the notebook. Su Muqiu’s old notebook. His notes on Glory, his wishes for Su Mucheng, his hopes for Ye Xiu, and his dreams for Excellent Era.
”Thank you, Mo Fan.” He said sincerely. His expression looked pained, as though he was lost in old memories, but he did look happy, perhaps relieved. A bittersweet expression perhaps.
Mo Fan gave him a hug.
“We’re cutting the cake now come get a piece!” Chen Guo shouted as she waved a paper plate.
”Let’s get some before Baozi eats all of it then.”
Mo Fan nods, giving Ye Xiu another pat on the back.
A team Happy Christmas, was a Happy Christmas indeed.