Adversity is a Gift (19 days fan fiction) He Tian x Red Head

Chapter One - New Turf

He Tian was lying on his futon covered bed in Qiu's spare room.  It was small, compact, clean and nothing like his spacious, expensive apartment in any way.  He loved it.  He had been living with the silent giant for a week now and so far his impressions of the environment were 'quiet, peaceful, calm'.  Tian never realised lately how little sleep he got at his Uncle's apartment.  He always slept with one eye open, his ears pricked, waiting for something bad to happen, it was exhausting really.

    The first few days he was there he just slept and slept and slept. As soon as he finished school he would ride the train to Qiu's house, shuffle into his little bedroom and just collapse onto the soft quilt.  It was like he was trying to make up for the months of sleep he had missed and his body was trying to finally heal from the numerous injuries he had sustained.  He apologised to Qiu (when he saw him) that he was being unsociable, but the older man just looked at him with his usual calm expression and said 'You need to recover He Tian.  Sleep all you want, I'm not going to judge you.'

    The older man was an enigma.  Tian had been living with him for a week and he still knew nothing about Qiu, apart from he was closed mouthed, contained and invisible.  It made it incredibly hard to get to know him, but it was okay because he would take the quiet Qiu any day over his Uncle.  His Boss had been remarkably quiet since He Tian sent him a message saying that he was in contact with He Cheng, who was going to get him into the prison.  This apparently had assuaged his Uncle for the moment because he had received no further curt messages to 'hurry the fuck up'.  He Tian would still have to go to the prison, as soon as Cheng sorted out the guard he was bribing.

    He Tian had already finished his homework and had studied for a few hours as well, being a third year was proving as challenging as he thought, the workload had increased significantly.  Nothing He Tian couldn't do of course, he was an evil genius after all.

    When his mobile chimed with a call, he smiled and picked it up from the mattress and answered it.  Mo Guan Shan's grumpy face filled the screen, he looked like he had just come out of the shower, because his hair was damp and he had a towel around his bare muscled shoulders.  Hmm bare shoulders...

    "Hey idiot, you're awake that makes a change."  Mo started briskly rubbing his white towel over his hair, making it stand up on end in the most charming way.

    "Yeah, sorry I've been fucking zonked out every night, I've just been tired you know?"  He Tian yawned hugely and scrubbed his hand over his eyes.

    "I know Tian, don't get me wrong I'm not complaining, it's good to see your face minus  the depressing dark circles, you were starting to look like a panda."  He Tian could see Mo discarding his towel, then Shan walked to his own bed and lay down, holding his mobile so Tian could see delicious bare chest and light brown, small nipples.  Hmm nipples.

    They hadn't had a real chance to talk since He Cheng turned up at his apartment and told him to move out.  He hadn't had time to pull Shan up about his part in his escape from his Uncle's apartment.  Because he hadn't had time to tear Momo a new one, he had instead considered the situation calmly.  Shan had gone out of his way to help him, he approached his brother without Tian's knowledge and told Cheng every single thing about his abuse at the hands of their asshole Uncle.  He still didn't know what to think about Mo's betrayal, if it even was a betrayal at all, he was still in two minds on the subject.

    "Well if I was a panda I'm sure I would be the most handsome panda in China and women would come from all over to ooo and aaah over my magnificence."  Tian grinned at his red headed boyfriend playfully.

    "You're such a headcase.  How are you settling in?"  Mo switched off his lamp, leaving his face eerily illuminated by the light from his phone screen.