Xiao Xin liked to stargaze most nights. But this night, instead of lying down and looking up, he was sitting up and looking down. Huo Linghun's head rested in his lap, a content expression on his face as Xiao Xin's finger lightly traced over his skin. "Are the stars beautiful tonight?" Xiao Xin asked.

"Very beautiful," Huo Linghun replied, though his gaze never moved from Xiao Xin's face.

Xiao Xin's cheeks turned pink and his fingers wandered to play with Huo Linghun's hair. "Why do you wear these beads in your hair?" he asked.

"It's a tradition of the Huoshan tribe," Huo Linghun said. "You get a set of three beads for each brave and heroic venture you accomplish."

Xiao Xin listened with great interest as he gently played with the beads in Huo Linghun's hair. "Tell me how you got yours."

"Well, I put them in myself after leaving the land of the fire mountains," Huo Linghun said. "Usually it's someone else who decides you've earned the beads, and there's a whole ceremony and everything. I don't think mine really count."

"Tell me," Xiao Xin repeated. "Let me decide if you earned them."

Huo Linghun smiled up at him. "Okay. I have four sets of beads," he began.

"Four brave and heroic ventures," Xiao Xin said helpfully.

Huo Linghun gave a small laugh. "If you can call them that," he said. "I put the first set in after leaving the Huoshan tribe."

"That's something no one else in the Huoshan tribe dares to do," Xiao Xin said, remembering what Huo Linghun had told him before. "That's definitely very brave."

Huo Linghun was touched by his words. "The second set was for that time I survived and escaped the caves after that supposed friend of mine betrayed me," he continued.

Xiao Xin affectionately brushed his hand over Huo Linghun's forehead and back through his hair. "Very very brave," he said softly.

"The third set is um... well..." Huo Linghun said a bit sheepishly. "It's dumb."

But Xiao Xin was smiling so kindly at him. "Tell me," he urged.

After some hesitation Huo Linghun told him, "I got stung by a bee and... I didn't cry."

Xiao Xin continued to smile kindly at him. "My Linghun is so very brave," he said sincerely.

Huo Linghun couldn't help but smile too. "And the last set of beads," he said, reaching up to brush his fingers against Xiao Xin's cheek, "is for when I went into the crater."

"When you rescued me," Xiao Xin said quietly.

"That's right."

"That was very very brave," Xiao Xin said, "and very very heroic." He placed his hand atop Huo Linghun's on his cheek and turned his head to kiss his palm. "You've earned every single one of your beads," he told him. "You are the bravest and most heroic of all."

His words made Huo Linghun blush a bit but he was still smiling. "I don't know about the bravest and most heroic..." he said.

"You are to me."

Huo Linghun didn't reply for some moments. If he could be the bravest and most heroic for his Xiao Xin... Even if the world didn't see him as such, the person who was most important to him did- wasn't that all that mattered? He took Xiao Xin's hand and brought it to his lips to return his earlier kiss. "Then I'm very glad," he said. "Thank you, my Xiao Xin."