eshajun

He dropped the fragment of the beer bottle aside and plucked the iodine-soaked cotton ball he had prepared earlier with the tweezers. Focusing on cleaning the abrasions peppering Leon’s face, he braced himself for what he already knew his boyfriend was going to say in his defense.     “He called you a fag, Chris,” Leon muttered with resignation. His low voice coiled around Chris’s heart like a vice and disrupted the careful fingers working over the wounds. “I can... forgive people who don’t know any better. But the hatred in his eyes...” He exhaled sharply through his nose. “Guess I’ve got a short fuse after all when it comes to you... Ow! Are you sure you know what you’re doing?” he snarled, his eyes crinkling from the sizzling pain coursing through his raw nerves.     “Cry me a river, will you?” Chris replied as he rolled his eyes, his voice coarse but steady. He shut the first aid box resting atop Leon’s motorbike seat, one he had instinctively grabbed on the way out. He sighed, checking the bandages one more time to make sure they were holding properly. “I’ve seen you walk off worse injuries in the field after patching yourself up with a damn first aid spray.”     Before Leon could open his mouth to defend himself, Chris seized his jacket collar and tugged him closer until their faces nearly brushed. Leon’s back pressed against his bike seat as he leaned into the hold, lowering the flashlight to accommodate his grip on the love of his life.     “Or maybe...” Chris murmured, his tone lowering into a smooth rhythm, “you’re just putting on a show to get something out of it?”     Leon smiled cheekily, his face contorting from the sharp pull of the dressed lacerations rekindling the forgotten ache. His breath grew heavier, mirroring Chris’s warm exhales fogging the cold air between them. He shivered when he felt Chris’s arms settle around his torso, slowly sliding over his clothes until he found himself snuggled against the warmth of Chris’s chest, filled with nothing but love.     “Well...” Leon whispered, realizing Chris’s attempt to change the subject had worked after all. He allowed himself to melt into his hold as he momentarily forgot the ugly prejudice that would always loom over their relationship. “Maybe a kiss would shut me up.”     The sudden, chilly shower rattled their cores, yet failed to invoke a shudder while their lips dissolved into each other. The night sky kept its distance, as though granting them room to breathe, while the stagnant space lost its ability to disturb the silence wrapped around them. The two men let their guards fall away, unspoken desire igniting the passion they had kept hidden deep within the walls built around them.     Their hold around each other only grew stronger as the moments slipped by. The insatiable thirst to become one left them desperate for air between hungry kisses, blurring the world around them into nothingness.     And tonight, not even the beginning of the apocalypse could pull them apart. 

Tonight, he deserved every bit of self-indulgence, after all.