Work Text:
“Mo Guan Shan…”
He bent down, his lips meeting the red fiery hair, fluffy despite its spiky looks.
“We agreed, from now on you don’t have to shoulder everything alone…” He Tian whispered, his hands caressing the neck of the curled figure that was currently clutching his shirt, head bent, hiding from his gaze.
They didn’t know how much time has passed before the redhead pushed away from his chest and He Tian reluctantly let him go. Mo sat back down on the low wall, elbows on the knees, hands joined and face hidden behind them, taking a deep long breath before starting to talk.
And he talked. He talked a long time, he told everything from when he first met She Li to the moment he “saved” him, to when his ears got pierced, to this exact moment. He hid behind his hands and talked, like a dam that broke down and everything spilled out, the force of its flow unstoppable.
At some point He Tian crouched down, sitting on his heels, his hands coming to rest on the other’s knees to provide balance while he listened. A weight started pulling his gut as the other went on, and it took all he had not to clench his fists till the knuckles went white.
After what seemed like hours, Guan Shan’s trembling voice stopped with a choked sound, words failing him.
That sound felt like a punch in He Tian’s stomach, and his hand instinctively went up to meet the redhead’s and pull them down, revealing water drops caged in his eyelashes and a broken expression, eyes firmly shut.
Proud Guan Shan, fierce Guan Shan, even with the ever-standing stubborn crease between his eyebrows, was now looking defeated and tired. A weight too big for his years weighted on his shoulders, one that slowed him and pushed him down, but despite that he tenaciously kept on, head high and shoulders set, facing all the curveballs life threw his way.
As he looked up and his gaze met He Tian’s, his expression morphed into something fiery, eyes burning from within, challenging the other to dare to take pity on him.
He Tian chocked with unsaid words, and was stirred with the sudden urge to move.
He pulled himself up from where he sat on his heels, kneeling between the other’s legs, quickly closing the distance between them.
He gasped sharply as he saw Guan Shan’s eyes suddenly widening and stopped in his tracks, a hair’s breath from the other’s lips. A flash of the last time he pulled something like this hit him and nestled heavily in his mind. What was he doing?
A moment later something settled in those fiery eyes, and before He Tian could recognize it as something akin to resolution, hands came up and clutched at the dark hair on his nape, sharply tilting his head, and their lips met.
Completely caught off-guard, it took He Tian a few second before snaking his hands up on the other’s back, grabbing his jacket, keeping the little redhead in his arms as he eagerly kissed him back. He was right all along. Guan Shan really was a little pepper, the kind that faces the sky.
Too soon, the redhead interrupted the kiss and pulled back, He Tian’s lips already missing his.
“If you tell anyone, I’ll fucking kill you” Mo Guan Shan breathed, voice raspy as his hands still clutched the other’s hair. He Tian smiled, looking at him with hooded eyes.
“As you wish, little Mo.”
- freely inspired by chapt. 318 and the below art (by Old Xian) -