Collecting Things, Meow. Can't Talk

Age gap: 29 and 19. Height difference: 194 and 174.

A sunny, spirited athlete, and a timid, socially anxious little artist.

Any fandom terms used in this story will be explained in the text, so don't worry if you don't understand them.

Synopsis:

Wei Leyu is an anime fan. Aside from hiding in his studio to paint, his favorite thing is browsing secondhand sites for merch of Yi Zhenli. He likes everything, from figurines and cards to plushies. But Yi Zhenli is hugely popular, and people rarely sell the merch. When they do, the prices are often several times higher.

One sleepless night, Wei Leyu searched for "Yi Zhenli" on a secondhand site again and suddenly spotted someone selling a very rare figurine, one that everyone in the fandom knew as an "ultra-rare treasure." The price wasn't much higher than usual, so Wei Leyu worked up the courage to get in touch.

[Hi, seller-mommy. Would you be willing to meet in person if we're in the same city?]

[Hello, buyer-mommy. We can meet in person. I'll send you a video showing the details.]

That very night, Wei Leyu finalized the deal. Judging by how carefully the seller-mommy maintained the figurine, he assumed she was a woman. So on the day of the exchange, Wei Leyu brought a little gift bag he'd carefully prepared and a handwritten thank-you note. He kept checking his phone, eagerly awaiting the meeting.

"Hello, are you 'The Silent Little Fish'?"

A young man's voice sounded above Wei Leyu's head. He looked up and saw the seller-mommy in front of him, a muscular man towering twenty centimeters over him.

Then Wei Leyu shook his head in fright, grabbed his bag, and ran.

Ge Jiamu hadn't expected the in-person exchange to fall through. First, he mistook someone else for the buyer. Then he waited an hour, but the buyer-mommy never showed up. He couldn't get in touch with them afterward, either. Just as he was starting to think he'd been stood up, a message from the secondhand site popped up on his phone that evening.

[Hi, I was the one from earlier today... I got too scared. Are you still selling it? I still want it.]

Ge Jiamu had never met anyone so timid. Even after he and Wei Leyu started regularly trading merch, he rarely heard Wei Leyu speak. Then one day, in the crowded stands at a competition, he spotted him there, tiny and silent, mouthing "Good luck" to him.

After the competition, Ge Jiamu caught Wei Leyu.

At a loss, Wei Leyu rolled up his sleeve, revealing a barcode-like scar. In a hoarse voice, he said, "Seller-mommy, I'm heavily damaged..."

Ge Jiamu pulled him into the sunlight to have a look and said, "Ultra-rare treasure. No damage when held up to the light."

Notes:

* Wei Leyu can speak, but his vocal cords are damaged and his voice is very hoarse. When he's scared or nervous, he can't get a full sentence out.

* "Seller-mommy" and "buyer-mommy" are affectionate terms people use for those selling or buying this kind of item. People in the fandom generally call each other "mommy."

* "Ultra-rare treasure" means something exceptionally rare and precious.

* "Heavily damaged" means severely flawed. "No damage when held up to the light" means there are no scratches even when it's checked in the light.

Theme: Fall in love wholeheartedly and bravely win gold.