Drawn to You

6. Xie Lian needs a break

Hua Cheng brushed his teeth and was washing his face in a hurry when the doorbell rang: it was Xie Lian! They were supposed to meet at Okachimachi Station, but he overslept, and Xie Lian was probably already on his way when he woke up. Not wanting him to wait 15-20 minutes in that cold, Hua Cheng texted his to come to his place instead.

"Gege! My apologies, I overslept... and, and, please excuse my sorry state", he said at opening the door shirtless, only wrapped in a towel as he was, feeling his face burning.

Xie Lian's lashes trembled slightly, and he blushed too: he clearly didn't think that was a sorry state, with Hua Cheng pale and unblemished skin, his body slender and muscular, with well-defined arms, chest and abs. Hua Cheng himself knew he was a sight for sore eyes, but –

"Pardon the intrusion", Xie Lian said, stepping in, and smiled, "Don't worry San Lang, it's weekend".

"Right", Hua Cheng replied with a smile, "Well this is the kitchen, if you can call that a kitchen", he gestured around, "Make yourself tea of coffee, I'll just have a quick shower, be right back".

He then dashed to the bathroom: he never took long anyway, he could barely fit into that shower box. Xie Lian had finally agreed to meet that Saturday and go to the Ameya-yokocho Market nearby, so he wouldn't dream of not looking good to spend a fun day showing his area around.

He left the shower and walked into the room still shirtless, wearing jeans instead of a towel though, to grab a t-shirt from the closet. Xie Lian was standing silently by the window, cup of coffee in hand, looking out, unmoving, his figure framed by the daylight.

"Almost ready, let me just dry my hair a bit", he said, while putting the shirt on, "Sorry for the mess, like I told you the other day, I have to find another place to live. This flat is kind of small – "

Xie Lian didn't say anything, and just turned around. Looking at his desk with lots of sketch books and pencils all over it, Hua Cheng went on, "I don't really work here though, these are just very rough sketches. I got a studio nearby: a proper working space, with proper equipment".

While drying his hair, Hua Cheng kept talking about having been an early user of digital illustration, thanks to his bad handwriting. He Xuan (his editor) kept insisting he should hire assistants, with the argument that yes, he likes working alone, but digital work can be done remotely.

"He calls me a control freak but it's not only about control. Sometimes it's hard to explain the style, the kind of look I'm going for. Then there's the, huh, x-rated parts of my work, which would be a bit awkward to do with assistants – "

Hearing that, Xie Lian straightened up and said, "Right, you're almost ready. I'll go call the lift then – "

He left without waiting for a reply, and Hua Cheng couldn't help but be puzzled: was Xie Lian pissed off? He didn't mind having to come over to his place, was it waiting for him to have a shower then?

Hua Cheng combed his hair roughly with his fingers, then when he was about to go he noticed the sketches on his desk, something he's been working on till late the night before, for future reference: very graphic sex scenes and positions. Right, that's why Xie Lian was feeling kind of awkward.

He could only smile to himself: Xie Lian, 29 years old, an art history professor, getting all embarrassed because of some sketches. Or, maybe it's because he did these sketches? Putting his shoes on, he has a mind of teasing him about it, but then, huh, maybe not: he suspected he wouldn't be able to handle seeing the cuteness of Xie Lian flustered...

•

That day, he arrived at Xie Lian's office with a smile beyond smug: It was Thursday, cake day, and he had gone out of his way to find that layered pistachio cake bound to be even better than Ueshima's strawberry. Xie Lian deserved it: he was helping him so much discussing art-related ideas and showing his books –