Day 10 – 23 December

Arthur had tackled Yao to the couch and was tickling him mercilessly. Yao was on his back, doubled over in laughter and struggling to buck Arthur off him as Arthur assaulted the sensitive parts of his body. They had been together for quite a while now, and Arthur knew all his ticklish spots.

Arthur finally stopped when he was satisfied from prying those delightful sounds out of Yao.

Yao lay on the couch, staring up at Arthur. His clothes were in disarray, his hair was mussed, and he was panting in exertion. But a soft laughter of mirth still escaped his lips.

"Hey," Arthur began.

"Hm?" Yao's eyes drooped.

"Wear something nice to dinner tonight?"

"Why, aru?"

Arthur leaned forward so that his mouth was near Yao's ear. "I made reservations for us to have dinner on a ship. I rented out the whole ship," he said. "We have the whole ship to ourselves tonight, so we can do whatever we want. Have dinner, dance, make out in highly inappropriate places…"

Yao groaned. That must have cost Arthur a bomb. He didn't like to see Arthur spend extravagant amounts of money on him. "Didn't I already tell you not to spend so much money on me?"

Arthur rested his chin on Yao's shoulder. "Don't worry about the money. I managed to pull some strings for our dinner tonight," he told Yao. "Since we don't do this very often anyway, this is your Christmas present for today."

Yao could feel his cheeks growing warm as Arthur's voice vibrated on his shoulder. Wordlessly, he nodded his assent.

That night found Arthur and Yao alone on a cruise ship. They had time before dinner would be served, so they decided to walk on the deck of the ship to watch the sunset.

As the sun set before their very eyes, Arthur wrapped his arms around Yao's tiny waist. They stood there in silence until the sun had fully gone down. Then, Yao turned around and the couple shared a kiss before heading into the ship for dinner.

Dinner was a simple and quiet affair. Arthur chose a Chinese-style dinner, because it was Yao's favourite food. However, since there were only two of them eating, Arthur could not request for too many dishes. So, Arthur ordered in advance three extravagant dishes, much to Yao's discomfort ("I told you not too spend so much money, aru!").

Arthur did not waste any time pouncing onto Yao once they had finished their dessert. They both landed on the ground; Yao made a soft "oof" as his back came into contact with the ground.

"Hong Kong will be back tomorrow. This is the last night we don't have to worry about him. What say you we do it here?" murmured Arthur seductively and sultrily into Yao's ear.

Immediately, Yao flushed. "Here?! But what about the waiters, aru?" he sputtered.

"They would have left after our food was served." Arthur began planting feather-light kisses on Yao's neck.

"But… but… I don't like doing it on the floor," said Yao in a small voice. He turned his head to the side, looking away from Arthur. "It's hard and uncomfortable…"

"Not a problem!" said Arthur brightly. "This is a cruise ship! I'm sure there are plenty of rooms here that we can choose to use!"

"Wha-?" Yao didn't have time to protest, for Arthur picked him up, bridal-style, and carted him off.