Chapter 20- A Whole New World

After leaving Sledge Hammer Peak, the group of four stuck together, with KO and Hao Mei joining them on their geocaching adventure before taking them to a local café for lunch. It was the first time the Chinese pair had heard of geocaching and, not surprisingly, Hao Mei was enthralled. Searching for items based on coordinates and obscure clues was like a MMROPG come to life. The cache the Australians had been looking for on Sledge Hammer Peak had included several criteria: not only did they have to visit, they had to find the location of a specific mulberry tree, and had to take a photo of their GPS showing their exact coordinates at the site. Tom and Will explained that sometimes you got to a site and the "items" (as Mei insisted on calling them) were fixed in place, like tourists information signs, while other times they could search an entire area just to unearth a gaudily painted garden gnome. Some caches, like the Sledge Hammer Peak cache, had tasks for the adventurers to fulfill, and the Aussies had Hao Mei in stitches recounting some of the more extreme tasks they had needed to fulfil... including getting a photo of Will proposing, on bended knee, to a kangaroo at the zoo. Even KO cracked a smile as Tom regaled them with how the Kangaroo had leaned against Will... leaned and leaned and leaned until Will toppled over and into a muddy puddle, at which point the kangaroo decided it was done being sociable and bounded off. Will had spent the rest of the day with a drying brown patch on the rear of his jeans and Mei was almost in tears as Tom copied Will's expression of discomfort.

"Can we make one?" KO's question took the other three by surprise. Even though Tom and Will had only met him that morning, they already knew how reticent he was.

"You want to create a cache?" Mei was stunned.

"Hmm."

"It's easy enough to do and Chengde only has the two caches already set up; Sledge Hammer Peak and Frog Crag." Will thought about it a bit more then turned to Tom to discuss it in English. While he filled Tom in on KO's suggestion, Hao Mei put a hand on KO's arm.

"I didn't think you'd get in to something like this? But you enjoy it enough to want to create some?"

"No." KO lightly touched the hand resting on his arm. "But I enjoy your smile."

Suddenly self-conscious, Mei felt his cheeks heat and quickly removed his hand, folding his arms and leaning back in his chair. When he looked up, Tom and Will were watching them, knowing half smiles on their faces. He shifted in his seat and the pair took pity on him, leaving their comments unsaid.

"Why don't we do a tourist trail of caches?" Tom leaned forward and smoothed a tourist brochure over the table. "We can find the best place to sample street food, or local delicacies. Find the best entertainment, night life, place to stay... set it up so that people can only claim the cache if they go to those coordinates and actually experience something new."

"Donkey Rolls, here. You Noodle and Pubang deer meat clusters, here." KO drew a star on two different streets that weren't too far apart.

Mei chuckled. "I should have known that you'd know where the good food is." He filled the others in; "he's a chef. Super talented chef but unfortunately for the food world, he's an even better programmer so laosan hired him to work in the office."

"So you work together?" Will reached a hand behind Tom's chair, subtly stroking his back, hidden from the rest of the café. "We met at the office too. Technically."

"Technically?" Hao Mei looked between the two.

"I'm an electrician. He's a paper pusher." Will gestured at Tom with a jerk of his chin.

"The job title is Accountant." Tom fake glowered at his partner before shrugging it off with a smile. The feeling was that of a long standing joke that only the couple really understood. "He came in to get his taxes done but his receipts were a mess and it was going to take hours to sort out his non-existent filing system."

"He was reading me the lecture on 'the economic importance of organised filing' when his power went out. We ended up trading services: I replaced the faulty wiring in his office and he sorted my taxes without bitching at me about it." Despite the rolling of Will's eyes as he explained, it was clear in the way they maintained eye contact throughout the story that both men treasured their initial meeting. "That was seven years ago now and as soon as New Zealand legalised same-sex marriage, Tom proposed. He said that it wouldn't take too much longer before Australia followed suit given the constant rivalry between the two countries. We married on the first day it was legal, then we headed here for the honeymoon. I wanted to show Tom the country I fell in love with when I lived here."

A comfortable silence settled over the two couples and Mei felt a slight pang at the love in the eyes of the other pair as they looked at each other. Seven years together, and still looking as though they were in that first flush of love. It was enviable.

"Well, let's take you exploring! End your honeymoon with an adventure?" Hao Mei looked up just in time to see KO give a small incline of his head in approval.

With their course agreed on, the four set off; stopping first to sample the local street food that KO had recommended, before heading to the Museum of Summer Resort and culminating in the Kangxi Ceremony in the Shuangluan District. The screens at the side of the stage provided English subtitles so even Tom could follow along and enjoy the full experience. They'd prebooked their taxi's for the end of the night, with the Australian's heading off to their own hotel while Hao Mei and KO returned to the Mountain Resort. Before going their separate ways, the group rearranged travel arrangements for the following day; organising to share a sleeping compartment back to Beijing where Hao Mei and KO would see them off at the airport.

Mei was excited from the day, bubbling away about the geocaching- he couldn't wait to introduce Yu Ban Shan and Qui Hong You to real life questing- and how well they got along with two foreigners. In direct contrast, KO was as silent as ever, maybe even more so as he didn't even interject with his usual, wordless agreements. Unperturbed by KO's silence, Mei talked enough for both of them, missing the silent laughter making the taxi driver's shoulders shake, and not stopping until they reached their room. Toeing his shoes off, he turned to KO with yet another observation about the day on the tip of his tongue only to find his words stolen from the source.

Without touching him in any other way, KO leaned forward and kissed him softly. Mei's eyes widened at the unexpectedness of the kiss. KO nibbled at his lower lip and Mei gasped, opening his mouth and making them both pause momentarily. Their eyes met, and then bodies clashed. It wasn't clear who moved first; Mei wound his arms around KO's neck while the older man pushed him back against the wall, leaning over him as he devoured his mouth. This kiss was like the one on the cable car- hot, hard and left both hungry for more. Mei groaned into KO's mouth as their tongues tangled, and he slid his hands up from his neck and pulled KO's head tighter towards his own, feeling like he wanted to sink completely in the kiss.

Not breaking the kiss, KO slid his hands down Mei's body before gripping his thighs and lifting him, wrapping the younger man's legs around his waist holding him up with hands on his arse. Mei responded by gripping KO tightly, pressing his body as close to the other man's as he could. His skin felt hot, and too tight for his body. Pulling his head back, he leaned it against the wall behind him, panting for breath. KO swooped in, kissing and biting the line of his neck, leaving a trail of pink marks. Mei shivered, his legs tightened around KO's waist in response to the surge of sensation that seemed to travel directly from his neck to his groin. The other man chuckled, the sound vibrating against Mei's skin, before he slowly lowered Mei's legs. With soft, gentle kisses to his lips, cheeks, then forehead, KO slowly calmed them both down; bringing them back from their passionate session until their breathing became deeper and their hearts stopped racing.

As his desire cleared and rational thought returned, Mei wasn't sure whether he was grateful or not for KO's cool head. On one hand, he was glad that he'd slowed them down before heading somewhere that Mei had barely even considered as a possibility, on the other he was left feeling antsy with a dissatisfied throb in his groin. He sighed, leaning his head against KO's chest. The older man pressed his lips to the top of his head before gently turning him around and giving him a push in the direction of the bathroom. Mei looked back over his shoulder and a thousand words passed between them with that one look.

KO smiled warmly at him, making his heart flutter. "There is no need to rush. We have time."