There was a brown stain where Mo Guan Shan's face had brushed against He Tian's white t-shirt. A smudgy wipe of dried blood.
For a fleeting moment, he had allowed himself to catch a breath and briefly pressed his face against He Tian's chest. The blood had immediately seeped through the fabric, and the red had spread like a flower opening its petals.
"C'mere, let me look at you." Fingers lifted Guan Shan's face up, but he swatted the hand away. It came back, though, and this time gripped his chin tighter. "Let me look at you."
The position invaded his personal space, and Guan Shan struggled to decide where to look, finally settling with fixing his stare on the murky late-night sky behind He Tian's head.
Fingertips pressed and probed the sides of Guan Shan's nose and he winced.
"I don't think it's broken. Can you breathe?"
"'m fine," Guan Shan muttered and tried to pull back again, but the He Tian's hold was firm.
Next, a rough thumb swept over Guan Shan's cheekbone and pressed down on the soft, throbbing flesh. "Your gonna have a black eye tomorrow. We should put some on ice on that."
"You think, Einstein? I told I'm fine, already." Guan Shan shifted his weight and tried not to smell the wafts of cigarette and sweat from He Tian.
His protests were soundly ignored, and the hands continued their travels downward. One of the blows had split Guan Shan's lip, and the taste of iron still lingered on his tongue. Now He Tian's touch was gentler, but Guan Shan could barely stifle his hiss when the thumb circled the torn skin.
"Did you check your teeth? Are any of them loose?"
Guan Shan shook his head. He flinched when the tip of He Tian's thumb nuzzled his lips before pushing in between them. It felt the front of the teeth, and the dry skin dragged across his lips. Just as the adrenalin buzz from the fight had started to fade, a new load was pumped into his bloodstream, and his heart picked up its pace again.
"What about here?" He Tian's other hand lowered to Guan Shan's throat and covered the red marks on his pale skin. The fingers knead the sides of his neck, and the front side of his palm pressed slightly against Guan Shan's trachea. Guan Shan swallowed, and his Adam's apple bobbed under He Tian's hand.
Nervous, he turned his head away, and the intrusive thumb slipped out of his mouth. "Stop it, you bastard. You're – Hey – "
He Tian took a step forward and bodily pushed Guan Shan back a few feet until he hit the hard brick wall of the alleyway. The impact wasn't hard, but the sudden close tightness of the solid wall and He Tian's hand on his throat surprised him, and panic flashed through his system.
He gripped He Tian's forearm and tried to unhand himself. "Let me go, you fucking maniac."
The fingers loosened, and Guan Shan pushed the hand off. He was just about to knee He Tian on the nuts when suddenly his shoulders slumped and with a long sigh he reached down and buried his face in the hollow of Guan Shan's neck.
"Come over and make that stew for me, I'm hungry," He Tian mumbled against his neck.
