Work Text:
Mo Guan Shan treats him with a tenderness that He Tian knows he doesn’t deserve.
He Tian grew up with violence in every sense of the word. He’s never known much about anything outside of it and so he doesn’t know how to treat those around him otherwise. The concept of gentleness and tenderness is lost on him.
But Mo Guan Shan is. At least with He Tian, he is. Always gentle when they’re not at each other’s throats and sometimes even then. Tender like a lover when he’s cooking or cleaning after He Tian. When they’re not trading blows and their hands are not curled into fists, there’s a lot of hesitance and a sort of tentativeness to Mo Guan Shan’s touch. Like He Tian is something delicate, breakable. Like He Tian deserves to be handled with care and softness he doesn’t need.
And maybe that’s exactly why Mo Guan Shan is the way he is with him.
He Tian has never been treated as such. He was raised to be unbreakable. Merciless. He’s never been taught to handle anything with care, was told to be hard and tough. ‘Don’t cry. I hate weaklings,’ his brother used to say and so He Tian has only ever known to hurt people and break things.
Hurt people hurt people.
But Mo Guan Shan doesn’t expect that of He Tian.
Mo Guan Shan tells He Tian to stop when he thinks he’s going too far. Pulls He Tian by the wrist to run away with him instead of leaving him to fend for them both. Knows when to not let He Tian’s instinct to inflict hurt and violence get the best of him.
It’s like ‘I know you can handle yourself and most of anything but just because you’re built tough and all sharp edges don’t mean you don’t deserve to know tenderness.’