Bit Down on His Abs

The moment Gu Ze realized what he was thinking, he jolted. His hand slipped and pressed against Ye Qing's wound.

This time, Ye Qing really couldn't hold back. He sucked in a sharp breath. "Brother Gu, that hurts, that hurts!"

Gu Ze came to his senses and apologized at once. "Sorry. My mind wandered."

Ye Qing looked at him with tears in his eyes. It hadn't hurt that badly before, but now he really couldn't bear it.

Gu Ze looked at Ye Qing. Pain had brought a faint flush to his fair face, and the corners of his eyes were especially red with tears that threatened to fall.

They drew Gu Ze's gaze despite himself.

But his hands became so gentle that, if Ye Qing hadn't felt the cool medicine, he wouldn't have known anyone was tending his wounds.

"Brother Gu, you don't have to be that gentle. What happened just now was an accident."

"Mm. My accident."

"It's fine, it's fine." Ye Qing didn't mind at all. "Everyone loses focus sometimes, right?"

Gu Ze didn't argue. His thoughts were a mess. What had gone through his head just now was so strange that he couldn't bring himself to meet Ye Qing's eyes.

Sigh. Brother Gu is too gentle. Anyone could slip up like that.

Gu Ze closed his eyes briefly. No, you don't understand.

"Are you hurt anywhere else?"

Ye Qing thought for a moment, then turned around without hesitation and lifted his shirt. "My back hurts a little. Brother Gu, could you check if it's injured?"

Without warning, Gu Ze found himself looking at a bare, fair back. Ye Qing's back was beautiful, with a thin layer of muscle and smooth, balanced lines.

Gu Ze had never paid attention to anyone else's back, but he thought Ye Qing's was beautiful. It suited him: he was so capable, yet no one knew it.

He was injured, but the marks gave his back another kind of beauty, one that made Gu Ze think of cruelty.

The thought made Gu Ze curse himself for being a pervert. Thinking that way about Ye Qing, whom he considered a younger brother, was terribly disrespectful.

He felt as though he'd gone mad today, having one strange thought after another.

It wasn't as if he'd never seen another man's body. Taking off clothes was sometimes unavoidable when filming.

But no one had ever made him feel this way. Perhaps Ye Qing was simply too good-looking.

There were good-looking people in the entertainment industry too, though. Some were even better-looking than Ye Qing.

Gu Ze dismissed all those explanations. There was only one reason: Ye Qing was Ye Qing, and there was no one else like him.

Gu Ze made himself stop looking at Ye Qing's back and focused on applying the medicine.

"All done."

Ye Qing pulled his shirt back down and slumped onto the sofa. "Brother Gu, this medicine feels great. I already feel a lot better."

Seeing how relaxed Ye Qing looked, Gu Ze slowly set the medicine on the table and turned to him. "Xiaoqing, do you think what you did today was a good thing?"

"Of course!" Ye Qing looked rather pleased with himself. "How could it not be? I even got him sent to the police station."

Gu Ze nodded in agreement. "I think it was a good thing too. But..."

That "but" sounds familiar. It always feels like I'm about to get lectured.

But did I do anything wrong? I don't think so!

Gu Ze didn't want to lecture Ye Qing harshly. He only wanted him to understand that he'd made mistakes today too.

His tone was gentle. "When you went there, did you know what that man might do to you?"

Ye Qing shook his head. "I didn't know. I just thought I should stay on my guard."

I did know, actually, but I definitely can't say that now.

Gu Ze paused. "Then did you consider what you'd do if you couldn't handle them?"

Of course I could handle them. They only had a few moves.

"You thought you could handle them, didn't you?"

"No, I didn't think that." Ye Qing denied it, but the curiosity in his eyes gave him away.

How did he know?

"Did you consider what you'd do if he brought more people? Or if he'd drugged the wine from the start?"

"Could you take on that many people by yourself?"

But I won, didn't I?

"Even if you'd won today without me there, you wouldn't have come away unscathed."

Ye Qing had to admit that was true. Gu Ze was gentle, even now, laying out the facts and reasoning with him.

But Ye Qing kept answering each question with an objection. He still hadn't fully recognized his mistake.

"Couldn't you have told me about it and let me handle it?"

"I didn't think that far at the time."

Mainly, I wanted to handle it myself.

"I know you probably wanted to handle it yourself. But you didn't leave yourself any way out. That wasn't wise, was it? What would you have done if something hadn't gone as you expected?"

Ye Qing drooped. "You're right about that."

"I'm not trying to criticize you. I think you did well too. But from now on, you have to leave yourself a way out when you do things, understand?"

"I understand, Brother Gu. I'll think about those things in the future." Ye Qing knew Gu Ze was saying it for his own good. He really hadn't thought things through at the time, or he wouldn't have ended up hurt.

"Mm. As long as you understand. Don't be so impulsive next time."

Experience really makes a difference. He can read me like a book.

Gu Ze thought, I'm not that good.

For a moment, Gu Ze didn't know what to say. He couldn't tell whether to take that as a compliment.

"How old are you this year?"

"Twenty-three."

Gu Ze nodded. He was only two years older, then. People said three years made a generation gap, so there wasn't one between them.

Sometimes Ye Qing felt Gu Ze could read his mind perfectly. He had only just been thinking about age, and Gu Ze had asked him how old he was.

That was seriously impressive.

It was still early, so Ye Qing invited Gu Ze to play a game. Gu Ze didn't know much about games, and Ye Qing had to teach him step by step.

At first, Ye Qing taught him enthusiastically. But once Gu Ze had learned everything, teaching stopped being fun.

Gu Ze had picked it up too quickly. It hadn't taken long at all.

He's too good. I don't get any sense of achievement as his teacher.

But later, as they played, Gu Ze seemed less sure of himself. Ye Qing finally had a chance to put his teaching skills to use.

"Xiaoqing, is this how I move it?"

When no answer came, Gu Ze realized Ye Qing had fallen asleep. His phone was about to slip from his hand and onto the floor.

No wonder. He'd had a busy night. It was time for him to sleep.

Not wanting to wake Ye Qing, Gu Ze picked him up and carried him upstairs.

But on the stairs, Ye Qing must have dreamed of something. His hands wandered over Gu Ze's body, and he even bit down on Gu Ze's chest.