Warnings: Mentions of blood

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“Brian? Can you tell me where you’re hurt?”

You wanted to stretch out a hand to rouse the boy, but you quickly retracted your hand, not wanting to aggravate his wounds any further. Thankfully, Brian hears you, and very slowly, he lifts a hand and taps the index finger against his shoulder. Your hands then fly to the hem of his shirt and carefully, you shed him of his black tee. Brian raises his arms with no qualms – he’s comfortable enough with you to let you do it without resisting. With his shirt now gone, you can see the angry red spreading over his shoulder like just the previous time, the wound looking tender. Eyes moving upwards, you spot the fresh cut that Jaebum gave him – one horizontal slit right across his cheekbone. The area around the wound has already started to swell a little, a small trail of blood travelling down his cheek as the remaining blood slowly starts to dry to form a protective scab over the wound. You do a quick scan of the rest of his body, letting out a small breath when you find nothing else amiss.

“Wait here, I’ll be back really quick.”

Fingers moving fast, you make a makeshift ice pack by filling a plastic bag with ice, before grabbing the first aid kit from the shelf above you before you return to his side.

“Slowly…”

Gently, you push Brian back till his back was resting against the cool tiles of the wall behind him before you position the ice pack on his shoulder. You set to work on his face, dabbing the cloth softly against his skin to remove traces of the red liquid. He in a harsh breath when you apply the ointment over his wound despite your feather-like touch, and you softly mumble out a quick apology. With nimble hands, you tear open the packaging of the plaster, only realising that you’ve accidentally chosen one with fox prints on it. You mentally apologise to him in your mind, hoping that he wouldn’t mind the childish plaster when he finally sees it. Taking his face in your hands, you softly cradle his face as you smoothed the plaster over the cut with the pads of your thumbs. The slight pressure on his face is soothing and Brian gradually relaxes into your touch.

His ragged breaths become steady, shallow breaths; a frown no longer etched on his face. He slowly relaxes his facial muscles, his eye brows finally unfurrowing as he releases his lips from his teeth. You can feel his hot breath fan over your fingers that are still on his face, the skin of your hand just resting lightly on his upper lip – and you make the mistake of letting your thoughts wander. You’re now hyperaware of how close you are to him and unconsciously, you continue mindlessly smoothing the bandage over his face, even though you were long done with it. You allow your eyes to wander across the plane of his face, slowly take your time to admire his expression of peace. His eyelashes rest lightly against his skin, the long lashes casting mesmerising shadows across his face. Travelling down the perfect, sharp slope of his nose bridge, your eyes come to rest on his pouty lips. The skin is peeling where he bit down too hard just now, the pinks and reds of his lips akin to a blooming rose. Like those beautiful flowers, you decide that they were better to be admired, and left untouched. Your eyes travel back up his face, and you take your time to admire every imperfection on his skin – marks left from old acne wounds, slightly darker patches of dried skin from the long hours spent under the sun. Every bit of him seemed beautiful and had you known earlier; you would have spent more time admiring him whenever you could, choosing to focus on the details instead.

When you finally reach his eyes again, you stopped breathing for a moment – for he had caught you red-handed. His eyes were now opened to slits, and you had looked directly into his obsidian black eyes. His gaze had a hypnotic pull, and whilst you’re embarrassed that you got caught, you just can’t seem to tear your gaze away from him. He blinks once, and it breaks the spell. You blink rapidly after him, shaking your head slightly to come back to reality. That’s when the embarrassment fully sets in, and your entire face bursts into flames right down to the tip of your ears. The space between both of you suddenly becomes too small and hot, and you act fast to move away. Your nervousnes