the first sound that came out of zhaohui’s mouth was a tiny yelp. not even that – a sound that really was quite high and not quite his own voice. he didn’t mean to look suspicious, but when he was trying to carefully cradle a wounded bird cradled in a jacket, in his arms like a baby, and hide it from other people, he was bound to make a wrong turn somewhere and run into someone he certainly didn’t want to explain things to. at least he knew who it was, instead of some random murderer – so he laughed, and tried to seem cool. because gio was cool. kinda. at the very least, not the kind of person he’d want to agitate. “g-gio! hi. hi. uhm...” the bird stirred, and it took every bone in his body not to look down and soothe it. instead, he held it closer and tried to hide it, buried under folds of cloth. “hi. uh... can you – can you point me to ...uhm... wherever is not here? i just need to give this little guy some water. and maybe something for its wing.” [ @giorxcci ]


















