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He Tian made a last-minute reservation on his phone. The hotel only had four stars, but it wasn’t far from the police station. It would get them off the streets fast, while his brother had men out looking for him. Mo Guan Shan couldn’t keep running indefinitely; he was bruised, bloodied and medicated.
“We’ll need you to contact your guardian to check in,” the concierge added as a last, terrible step after she’d verified his ID.
“Then forget it.” Tian’s polite smile didn’t falter. He would find another way. There was always a way. He didn’t realize how hard a way it might be until he tried to buy a drink and found his bank account had already been frozen.
“How embarrassing.” He sighed dramatically as he glanced back at Mo, who was faced away from him at a conspicuous distance. Since they’d entered the lobby, he’d been shifting around nervously, face hidden by his hood, trying excessively hard to look like he wasn’t with Tian.
“I’m in a fight with my brother, you see,” Tian explained loudly to the concierge as he leaned back against her desk. “He wants me to switch schools.”
Mo stopped. He went very still, the color draining from his face. Tian knew he was thinking about what would happen to him if he were left to deal with She Li on his own. Tian hoped he was thinking about more than that. Something, anything else he might miss?
“And I won’t agree to the transfer.” He gave the desk a little rap with his knuckle as he smiled a quick goodbye at the staff. He slung an arm over Mo’s shoulders. Mo didn’t resist. “It’s not happening,” he added, quieter, as he ushered Mo from the building. “I promise.”
_______________
He Tian couldn’t afford a suite on his pocket money, but he did find them a room. It was (predictably) wretched. Rather than the king-size mattress with en-suite jacuzzi he’d planned to share with Mo Gaun Shan tonight, it contained two singles.
Two single, separate beds. Yuck.
Tian took a cold shower and then tried to rouse Mo from where he’d curled up on one bed. It was probably time to change his bandages.
Mo didn’t respond. Since he’d laid down without getting under the blankets, Tian pulled the cover off the spare bed to tuck him in. Then he climbed in over the blanket to wrap himself around Mo. Mo still didn’t respond. He was tired, yes, but Tian could tell he wasn’t quite asleep yet. He was pretending.
“I’ll find a way to give you a good life,” Tian whispered into his ear.
“You’re fucking noisy,” Mo complained in a sleepy grumble, but he didn’t move to wriggle free or knock Tian away.
Tian ignored his phony protest. “You’re going to let me take care of you.”
Tian had proof. The bed, the dinner, the medication had all come from Tian. Mo was wearing Tian’s clothes and bandages that Tian had applied. The redhead had not dared to utter one empty, prideful pledge to pay Tian back and quite frankly, he had never looked better than when he dropped the tough-guy, lone-wolf act and let Tian be the guardian he wanted to be. Mo looked as innocent and soft as a lamb in white.
Tian turned off the light and sunk into the dark warmth of his contentment. It felt good, maybe too good to be true. It was moments like these—moments in which Tian couldn’t find the boy who pushed people away before they could leave him, moments in which he could believe Mo would never push him away again—that scared him.
“Does this mean you accept me as your husband?” he teased.
“No.” The reply came faster and louder than he expected. “Shut up already.”
Tian hid his face in Mo’s hair. “Do you accept me as your lackey then?”
“Whatever. Just go to sleep.”
“Thank you, brother Mo.” One of Tian’s arms snuck under Mo’s, his hand coming to a rest on Mo’s chest. “I vow to never leave your side. As your personal bodyguard, I’ll always be here to protect you.”
He could feel Mo’s heart beating. Racing. Tian remembered how his face had blanched in the hotel lobby. “Believe me, Guan Shan. I…”
Tian’s throat felt thick, dry and closed. There were things he hadn’t been allowed to say in his family since his mother had died.
He forced a smile, so Mo would hear it in his voice as he teased, “Will you say you want me? I’ve disowned my family and lost my last yuan to defend your honor. Can you admit you want me to be your bodyguard?”
“No,” Mo groaned, half-muffled against the pillow.
“No you don’t want me, or no you won’t say it?”
“…” Tian felt Mo touch the back of his hand, lightly, as if testing a snake to see if it would bite. “I’m on too many pills for this. Okay?”
So no meant he wouldn’t say it, not that he didn’t want it. Tian could accept that for now. He knew Mo would say it, eventually, and Mo must have known it too. Otherwise, he would have been long gone by now. Tian had very clearly mapped out the future he wanted, albeit so ostentatiously that it was almost a joke. It was still no secret that Tian wanted to be with Mo all the time, everyday. He wanted to be Mo’s everything.
“Aw, little Mo wants me so much.”
Tian squeezed a little tighter. He wished Mo were wearing the earrings Tian had given him. His mouth was practically on Mo’s neck and he would have liked to feel one of those studs on his lips. Or his teeth. He could imagine biting down on it, the hard metal over soft lobe like a brace to make sure he couldn’t bite too hard.
“What…” Mo lifted his head. Tian felt Mo’s leg move against his thigh. A jerk away. He knew what Mo had just felt, hard through the blanket. “What the fuck ?”
“Shh,” Tian tried to soothe, holding him back from jumping out of bed. “I didn’t mean to. I can’t help that. Do you want me to…do something about it? I can do anything you wish–”
“No! Don’t do anything with it!” He struggled harder, trying to wrench free of Tian’s bear hug. “Why can’t you be normal for one night?”
“It’s perfectly normal and natural for a boy my age. Are you saying it’s never happened to you?”
“I didn’t—Not like this!”
“Please, boss, calm down before you hurt yourself—”
Mo kicked dangerously close to Tian’s crotch. Tian doubled over, turning his hips in time to block but his grip on Mo slipped in the reflexive move to guard himself. He froze on defense, waiting to see if Mo was really going to hit him.
Instead, Tian’s silence was met with concern in Mo’s voice. “He Tian…” Mo sat up enough to turn around and look at him. “I wasn’t trying to… Are you okay?” He touched Tian’s shoulder.
Tian considered taking that hand in retaliation, doing something obscene with it, but Mo still looked so sweet and frail in his white bandages. A ghostly vision in the dark.
Tian straightened so Mo could see that he was smiling and not, in fact, doubled over in agony.
“You’re a demon.” Mo turned away in a huff.
“You’re an angel.” Tian slid back into position behind him.
“I should be asleep right now.”
“Shh. Just let me be close. There’s no one here to know if you do.”
“I’m going to tell everyone you have a chicken dick.”
“Then they’ll know you’ve been feeling me up.”
“I’m not!”
If only.
It would’ve been nice if Mo would turn around and touch him back. But a trusting Mo that stayed in his arms after he’d popped a boner would have to be enough for now. No need to rush. He had all the time in the world.
Cheng wasn't going to win this war; Tian wasn’t going anywhere.