he winces as you gently dabbed a piece of wet cotton on the wound across his cheek. the wound had started to clot, but a slow trickle of blood still ran down his face.
"i can take care of myself, you don't have to do this," he mutters, trying to sound tough but failing miserably.
you roll your eyes. "yeah, sure you can. that's why you came back looking like a punching bag." you reply, unable to keep the sarcasm out of your voice as you continue to gently clean the wound.
"why'd you get into a fight in the first place?" you say.
he sighs. "stupid, really. some guys were just being dicks, saying some stuff about you and i couldn't let that slide." he says with a small shrug, wincing again as you cleaned a particularly deep cut.
you pause for a moment. "you got into a fight because of me?" you say.
he glances away, his cheeks reddening slightly. "yeah, well... i couldn't just let them talk about you like that. i mean, they didn't even know what they were talking about, but it still pissed me off." he mutters.
you can't help but feel a warm flutter in your stomach. "you didn't have to do that, you know." you say, shaking your head. "i'm not worth getting beat up over."
"yes you are." he says without missing a beat. "don't say stuff like that." he says. "besides, it's not like they got much more than a couple of lucky punches in. i didn't lose." he says with a smirk, trying to sound confident.
you roll your eyes again. "yeah, well, they did a good job of messing up your pretty face." you tease.
his face flushing pink, he reaches up and gently cups your cheek with one hand while wiping away a smudge of dirt from your face with his thumb. "my pretty face, huh?" he says with a grin.
you playfully smack his hand away. "yeah, yeah, don't let it go to your head." you say, trying to hide the fact that your heart is racing from his touch.
he smiles and takes your hand in his, raising it gently to his lips and pressing a soft kiss to the back of your hand. his lips linger for a moment longer than necessary, sending a shiver up your arm.
his eyes lock with yours, and for a moment, you're both silent. then a smug smile makes its way onto his face. "so, you think i'm pretty, huh?" he teases, still holding your hand in his.
