"All I've learned so far is you're the only person I've ever met who can hold a conversation mid-makeouts," Mingyu teased in return, laughing right back, the sound slowly growing less foreign in his own ears as Fox continued to make it a staple of his life. He'd had to start being careful on TV not to burst into bright, bubbly laughter remembering something Fox had said, something he'd done. It was the thing sure to get reporters to pry, to start asking what had changed in Gabriel Bai's life to bring about this kind of open joy.

"But don't worry, that's still a feature. I always want to hear you. See you. Be with you. My little fox," he went on warmly, full of love, so full of love and light he felt as though it surely escaped him at his every seam, every fissure, every superficial cut and crease.

"If I had to pick between the whole rest of the world and you, I'd pick you every time."