Chapter Text
The weather is nice. The breeze is soft and cool as it comes through the car window, rustling his hair so the strands of his bangs fall into his eyes. He will need a haircut soon, and He Tian is sure that Guan Shan will tell him so as soon as he sees him.
Guan Shan will reach out with his hands to grab at his hair, playing the role of annoyance. Tugging at the locks in between his fingers, much too gentle to really match his demeanor. He Tian knows that when Guan Shan will say—
“Go to a barber, are you some kind of child?”
—he will really not mean it. Once they are home, safe in the quiet of the night and within each other's orbit, alone, Guan Shan will push him down onto the closed seat of their bathroom toilet. Will pull out a pair of scissors that he keeps next to his hair clippers, and he will trim He Tian’s hair himself. Exactly as he has been for the past few years, every few months when He Tian can’t stop flicking his head around trying to move his bangs from his eyes. Just waiting for Guan Shan to point it out again.
The restaurant comes into view.
A large red brick building that has a rustic ‘downtown bar’ charm to it. The windows are also large, spanning about mid waist up toward the ceiling of the inside of the restaurant. There is some graffiti on the backside of the building, from some punk kids that He Tian has yet to catch, but the front is clean and often has flowers blooming in the pots by the door.
The parking lot is nearly empty when he arrives. A few cars here and there that He Tian can recognize most of. It is morning, only about two hours away from what will surely be a lively lunch rush, but for now it is quiet. He Tian can appreciate it, more time for Guan Shan to shower him with the affection he has missed since being gone.
The car door clicks behind him as he gets out, just as the front door to the restaurant opens. For a moment He Tian thinks that Guan Shan must be coming out to greet him, but then he is pleasantly surprised.
“He Tian?” Her voice is gentle, with a delighted tone that warms him to his core. So unlike the men he had been dealing with the last three weeks, who made him so impatient, so agitated he thought he wasn’t going to make it without losing his temper at least once.
Mo Guan Shan’s mother stands before him, still a foot shorter than himself despite her standing above him on the curb of the sidewalk.
She looks beautiful, wearing a flowing orange dress that cuts off at her knees with a pretty matching sun hat. Weather finally permits the wardrobe change of winter. The purse around her shoulders that hangs by her waist, and the white dress flats on her feet make him think she isn’t working today.
“Mrs Mo!”
He Tian takes a few strides toward the door, stepping up onto the curb. Unintentionally towering over her, but she doesn’t seem to mind or notice, Guan Shan is only a few inches shorter than He Tian afterall. She simply tilts her head up to look at him, then glances back toward his car.
“Hi, honey, how are you?” She steps a little bit closer, beaming with her eyes and smile, “I haven’t seen you recently, are you finally back from your trip? It’s a shame you missed last Sunday!”
She is referring to her and Guan Shan’s weekly dinners at her home, which He Tian attends when he can. Watching the mother and son working side by side on meals in her kitchen, laughing and talking about anything and everything. It’s an experience that he is truly loath to miss. Something that pulls a cord deep inside himself that feels like home.
“I just got back this morning,” He Tian hopes his exhaustion doesn’t show, but Guan Shan’s mother is sharp, “I’m sorry about Sunday, but I am sure Momo will tell me all about it.” He Tian doesn’t realize he calls him by his nickname until she is smiling even happier at it, and he doesn’t feel embarrassed at all, “You look lovely today, are you going somewhere?”
“Thank you, honey,” She flushes, and readjusts her sun hat, “I am going to see my husband today. They have new visiting hours so I am taking advantage of the morning.”
It’s a sudden bitter pill, but she doesn’t seem to be letting it dampen her mood, so He Tian simply nods and smiles back, “That’s great, Mrs Mo. I am sure he will be happy to see you.”
“Yes, thank you.”
Mrs Mo pauses, tilting her head to the side as her hat flops slightly with the motion. A concerned look crosses her expression as she blinks up at him, clearly thinking.
The urge to touch his face is buried underneath the desire to stand still for her inspection, “Is something wrong, Auntie?”
After a beat she shakes her head, leaning up to reach her soft delicate hands to cup his face. It takes him by surprise, but at her gentle insistence he leans down to meet her halfway. Once he’s within her reach, Mrs Mo brushes his too long bangs aside with her fingers to give his forehead a tender kiss, as if he were her own son.
The immediate warm feeling of his heart clenching hard in his chest makes the annoyance, the frustration of the last three weeks melt away.
Guan Shan's mother doesn’t release him from her hold right away, however. Even as he forces back the sensation of his eyes becoming misty. She tilts his head this way and that.
Once she seems satisfied, she beams at him again and nods in approval, “Good!”
Letting go of his face, she trails her hands down his front. Both adjusting his jacket collar and smoothing out the fabric as she gently pats at his chest, with all the motherly affection she seems to possess.
He Tian is thoroughly charmed. Can’t think of anyone doting on him quite the same way. At least, not since the last time he saw her.
“Did you drive here, Mrs Mo?” He Tian knows she did, he can clearly see her car from where they’re standing. Offering her his arm to take, “May I walk you to your car?”
Reminding him of a gently ringing bell, her laugh is as soft as the rest of her. Cute . Quite unlike her son's loud sharp barks of laughter, but the way her lips curl up, showing off her teeth is nearly identical. The way her eyes close with her laughter is also the same.
Mrs Mo takes his arm while using her free hand to cover her smile. Giving her a polite after you, they step down off the curb. Almost immediately they are passing his car and struck with a thought, He Tian pauses at the back door.
“Oh, Mrs Mo, I have a gift for you from my trip. What a lucky coincidence that I can give it to you now instead of next Sunday.”
Usually he makes it a point to buy her something whenever he leaves the country. It's what a good future son-in-law would do, after all.
Despite her kind protests that it is ‘not necessary, Honey, just seeing you back safe and sound is all I need,’ and Guan Shan’s insistence that he is just being a show off—the look of joy on her face at the gifts and in turn the look of adoration on Guan Shan’s at his mothers happiness—He Tian has no intentions of stopping.
What is the point of all the money deposited in his bank account if not to spend it on two of the people he loves most in his life?
Mrs Mo waits for him patiently as he opens the car door to start digging into his luggage. Originally he wanted to get a gift bag for it along with some flowers, but this is fine too. The box is a nicer one, with the clerk who sold it to him saying that the chocolates inside were the shops’ best sellers. Rich, smooth. Just what a hardworking mother deserves.
Accepting the box of chocolates from him, as she laughs again, Mrs Mo retakes his arm when he offers it. The walk to her car is short, it is just across the parking lot. Once they reach the door, it is only natural for He Tian to open it for her too.
“Thank you honey,” She slides into the driver's seat, setting the chocolates on the passenger side, "I'll see you again on Sunday, right?”
He Tian wouldn’t miss it for the world, “Of course.”
“Good!” Eyes squinting with her smile, Mrs Mo says confidently, “Guan Shan will be happy to see you!”
“I hope so,” He Tian laughs with her, waving goodbye as he carefully closes her door, taking a few steps back so she can start her car.
He Tian continues to wave after her as she pulls out of the parking lot, driving down the road until she is out of sight.
Turning back toward the restaurant, the glass double doors staring him down, He Tian really does hope that Guan Shan will be happy to see him.
His boyfriend tended to be a little fickle, though.
—
There are only four people in the restaurant that He Tian can see when he walks in.
An older couple that sits by one of the large windows, smiling at each other and not paying him any mind. The other patron pauses while sipping from his coffee mug, idly watching him from a table in the back as He Tian walks in, but as soon as they make eye contact he looks down quickly, obviously embarrassed.
The only other person in sight is a familiar man with a noticeable recently-shaved head, as is his usual hairstyle. Standing behind the bar with a surprised, but delighted expression directed at He Tian. The pen and papers in his hands get placed on the bar counter so he can wave and gesture for him to walk further into the restaurant toward him.
“Boss doesn’t want you here, Bro He.” Buzzcut says—a direct contradiction of his big welcoming smile on his face. Pleased as punch to see him, “He told me to tell you to get the fuck out if you came in. So, get lost, I guess.”
He Tian just smiles back, “No.”
Guan Shan must have woken in a bad mood, probably due to He Tian being late coming back home. He was supposed to arrive back by yesterday afternoon, but because of some unfortunate circumstances with an unwilling client—He Tian had to postpone his flight.
“Well, can’t say I didn't try.” Buzzcut shrugs while still smiling, well used to his and Guan Shan’s cat and mouse games.
If He Tian can even still call it that. Their push and pull relationship has always been an interesting one, and Buzzcut has had practically a front row seat for years. Being Guan Shan’s oldest friend—not best friend, that is He Tian’s to claim—he has been around for all of their ups and downs.
He has gotten rather good at figuring out whether Guan Shan was actually pissed at him or not.
He Tian takes a moment to look down the bar, noticing all the drinking glasses carefully lined up and waiting to be filled. The beer spouts and soda fountain sit unused so far with customers preferring hot coffee in the morning, even if it is nearing noon.
“How are things?” He Tian glances down at the paperwork under Buzzcut’s palm where he is twitching the pen up and down, clicking and tapping, seemingly unaware as he does so.
Despite the restaurant being under Guan Shan’s name, He Tian knows that Guan Shan considers it just as much of Buzzcut’s business as his own. Together they keep the restaurant running as Guan Shan controls the kitchen side of things while Buzzcut runs the front end. Specifically the bar, waitstaff, and counting the previous day's finances.
He Tian also knows that Buzzcut has been given strict instructions to not tell him anything about that.
‘If we need your help, I will ask for it.’
It’s entirely within Guan Shan’s character for him to keep He Tian in the dark about the restaurant’s finances, While He Tian knows it isn’t necessarily indicative of anything—Guan Shan is merely a proud man who can take care of himself—it still makes the entitled rich boy in He Tian want to try to put his money where it isn’t wanted.
He isn’t worried. The restaurant is rather popular, especially among the locals, and the many shopping districts around the area certainly help.
Buzzcut hears the question for what it is, “They are good.” It’s a vague response, but seems genuine, he continues quickly before he can ask anything else, “Do you want any coffee, He Tian?”
The very thought has his empty stomach churning, but he nods, “Yes.”
—
Buzzcut leaves him at one of the restaurant's tables, coffee in hand with the promise that he will go to let Bro Mo you’re here.
Sipping the coffee and pulling out his phone, He Tian checks the latest messages from He Cheng. His brother messaging him to ask when exactly he will return to the family property to deliver the official paperwork from his trip. As if He Cheng doesn’t already have a very solid deal of where he is.
A soft set of footsteps sounds near him and fabric brushes his elbow—“Brother He?”
The voice is cute, girlishly unique and He Tian already knows who it is before he looks up.
Zhan Zi Qian, Zhan Zheng Xi’s younger sister.
Smiling at him, with her naturally pink, rounded cheeks and dimples showing. Looking so much like her brother and simultaneously not at all. Zhan Zi Qian stands close. Closer than perhaps would not be socially acceptable, but He Tian knows that she is a touchy person by nature. Comfortable in the space of her brother and his friends.
Her closeness and her gentle hand touching his arm in greeting does not surprise him, but the half-apron wrapped around her waist and the ordering booklet in her hand does.
“Little sister,” He Tian smiles at her, and she smiles back even wider, “What are you doing here?”
Zhan Zi Qian leans back on the balls of her feet to huff out a laugh. Instead of her normal twin pigtails she has two buns wrapped tight atop her head. Both her hair and the quarter-sleeved blouse with matching skirt are not her usual attire.
Though, He Tian mostly sees her in her high school uniform these days rather than her casual clothes.
“Brother Mo is letting me work here part-time after school and on the weekends!” Fidgeting with the little book in her hand, Zhan Zi Qian starts to pull a pen out of her half-apron, “I started two days ago.”
“Is he now?” It makes sense then why he didn’t know. He Tian can’t help but tease her, “What do you need a job for, little sister? Is Zhan Zheng Xi not providing you with any money like he promised?”
Zhan Zi Qian laughs, “I am going on a trip at the end of the school year with my friends. I want to buy Brother presents when I come home.”
“How kind that brother Mo had an opening, then.”
“Yes, he was very nice,” She nods, pausing to tilt her head as she, almost nervously, opens her booklet and poses pen to start writing, “Um, so, Brother He did you want to order anything?”
“Ah,” He Tian cannot remember a time when he came to Guan Shan’s restaurant and ordered. Normally he would simply tell He Tian to sit in the dining room and wait until Guan Shan would bring out whatever he felt like cooking that day.
Truthfully, He Tian doesn’t remember ever seeing the menu before.
“May I?” He Tian reaches out his hand, asking for the book, smiling when she hands it to him, “Thank you, little sister.”
‘Mo Guan Shan
A meal from your heart to show how much you missed me.
Your Husband’
He Tian hands back the book. Zhan Zi Qian glances down at what he has written, laughing, “I will pass this along to brother Mo.”
“Please do.”
—
Mo Guan Shan does not come out of the kitchen to see him—at least not immediately.
A few customers come in while He Tian sits at his table, swirling the coffee around in his cup as he watches Zhan Zi Qian seat them and take their orders. Buzzcut has come back to the bar during his conversation with her and appears to be doing some kind of inventory: counting the bottles on shelves, opening cabinet doors to take stock of others.
It’s quiet. It’s comfortable.
Exactly what He Tian needs.
Despite himself he finds his posture relaxing, leaning back into the plush back cushions of his seat. Nearly closing his eyes, barely open as he watches the patrons make idle chitchats. Most trips tend to make him drained like this. Hopefully soon he will be done with them altogether, but until then he comes home—tired, socially exhausted, and rather tense.
But the familiarity of Guan Shan’s restaurant has him calming. The spicy food cooking in the kitchen, the smell of brewing coffee, the pleasant warmth of the heater to combat the cool spring air.
Guan Shan can take his time, because within this space He Tian can be patient and he can wait.