Caim. {Danplan Shorts}

super sour

wonderwall
(adj.)
someone you find yourself thinking about all the times,
the person you are completely infatuated with.

[stosuh.]
use of profanity.

"Awh, you guys make such a good couple!" a pair of random strangers cooed. Hosuh and Stephen looked at each other. Stephen ran his thumb along the back of Hosuh's hand, which he was holding. In his other hand, he held the bags which contained other items they had purchased earlier. "Uhm, we're not—we're not dating." Hosuh flushed, touching his face with his free hand, which he found to be pretty warm. "Really?" the strangers looked at each other, embarrassed. They immediately apologized and rushed away.
"Damn, that's, what, the 3rd time this week?" Stephen narrowed his eyes, shifting them around, glaring at anyone else walking through the brightly-lit mall, "Hosuh, if you didn't get lost so easily all the time—" "'M sorry!!" the pony-tailed boy mumbled, his grip weakening as he retracted his hand, "You don't have to hold my hand if you don't want to-" Stephen rolled his eyes and snatched up his hand again, interlocking their fingers rather confidentially. "I'm not gonna let you walk off." Hosuh looked down at his feet.
Stephen continued to stroke the back of the other's hand.
It was something that Stephen did when he was either bored, anxious, uncomfortable, contemplating something or even when he was feeling threatened, Hosuh came to note. He found it endearing, but at times it could be annoying. At random moments, Stephen would come up behind him, lacing their fingers together. His palm was usually sweaty, unfortunately for Hosuh, and then his thumb began to move back and forth, back and forth. He never did it to Dan or Jay, and only did it when they were alone. If not, then he'd stuff Hosuh's hand into his pocket to cover it from the others. Hosuh would always become embarrassed or, upon the squeeze of his own hand, suddenly just act normal.
"Calm down." Stephen mumbled, not daring to glance at Hosuh, "Where are we going next?" "Well, there is this one store I wanted to go to.." the boy smiled. "Just take me to it." he frowned, opposing Hosuh's clear joy. While they walked (more like Hosuh dragging Stephen), Hosuh blabbered about the store. "Well, you see, I was thinking about buying some kind of plushie for Ann.." he rambled, and Stephen could only listen to the nervous excitement in the undertones of Hosuh's voice, "And you know Ann..she's so cute and tiny." Stephen furrowed his eyebrows together. "So I wanted to get something cute for her, haha.." Hosuh nervously giggled. He made a quick turn, and then stopped in front of a small store.
It was all pastel colors, the prominent hue being a soft pink.
Stephen flinched.
He looked at Hosuh, whose eyes were all squinted up and excited. Stephen looked away, finding the expression to be cute. "You can stay out here, I know you won't like it that much." Hosuh shook his head, "There was this certain toy that Ann kept looking at. I'll find it and buy it, so it shouldn't take long." With that, he let go of Stephen's hand and walked away.
Stephen flexed his hand. It felt weird without Hosuh's. Empty. Cold.
He walked off to the nearest bench and sat, waiting.
Stephen gnawed on his bottom lip. Hosuh's face when he looked back at him. It was...pure. Stephen wanted to cup it in his hands. God. That sounded cheesy. Stephen decided he wouldn't think about it again. Which, of course, he failed at. Hosuh's eyes were soft like the sky and shined with happiness. It was mesmerizing and Stephen hated him for it. He hated himself for thinking about it.
    Lately, Stephen's been hypersensitive to all the comments about them both being paired to each other. Originally, Stephen found it irritating. After it kept repeating over and over again, he grew numb to it. Now it made his stomach flip and he loathed it, because after it happened, each and every time his thoughts would start to race and lately, he could swear he would feel his face heat up, just like Hosuh's did.
    Speaking of the devil.
     (Not that Hosuh was a devil. Stephen himself was most definitely the devil out of the two. Besides, the word 'angel' suited Hosuh rather well.)
    The boy that Stephen had grown a foreign liking to walked up in front of him, clutching a small plastic bag in his hand. "Cmon, let's go before we're late!" Hosuh flashed a captivating smile. Stephen glanced his phone. "Hosuh, we're still, like, an hour early, and I'm so not gonna show up to some birthday party super early." the taller boy rolled his eyes nonchalantly, "I'm gonna get some coffee, mkay?" "Yeah..sure." Hosuh sighed, running a hand through his hair. Stephen rather curtly nodded and walks off to the nearest coffee shop.
    Stephen quickly passed through the line, paying in cash. Not before long, he received his drink and began to sip it as he walked back to Hosuh.

    Hosuh was chatting with some other people. He was smiling softly, his hands stuffed in his lap, gripping the shopping back rather tightly. Stephen first wandered why some random people would talk to strangers in a mall. Not only that, why talk to Hosuh, out of everyone?
    Cautiously, Stephen approached the group. He saw it was composed of 3 people. 2 boys, 1 girl. One of the boys and the girl were sitting at the edge if the bench, next to the boy whom sat next to Hosuh. Stephen slid next to the silver-haired boy, on the side that wasn't occupied, and Hosuh slightly jumped, looking back at Stephen, his blue eyes widened, "Don't creep up on me like that!" Hosuh gently hit Stephen's chest. "Hosuh, you know this dude?" one of the boys asked. He had messy brown hair parted in the middle. He had a streak of blonde hair on the left side. "Yeah, this is Stephen. Stephen, this is Liam." "Just call me Li." the boy half-shrugged, raising a hand for Stephen to shake.
    Stephen clasped his hand in his own.
    "So, how do you know each other?" the boy dropped Li's hand and faced Hosuh. "We're classmates." Li answered before Hosuh could speak. "Okay.." Stephen murmured, "Well, Hosuh and I should get going." He glanced at Hosuh's hand. "Really? You said there's no ru—" The boy cleared his throat loudly and interlaced their fingers together, beginning to walk away, tugging on his arm. "Stephen—" The aforementioned glared at Hosuh, and he quickly was quiet, mumbling a quiet goodbye Li, having to jog a bit to catch up with Stephen.
"Shoot—wait, Stephen, I forgot Ann's present—" Hosuh croaked out. "Shit." Stephen sighed quietly, "I'll get it." "Why did you leave so fast?" Hosuh asked, but Stephen was already walking away, back to where they had been sitting.