Cabin Fever (MeanPlan)

Day 7 - 16:38 PM

Back on soft sand, Mean sat under the shade of a palm tree watching Plan, keeping an eye on him from a distance. The boy had stayed there in the water, floating on his back and drifting along with the current, almost completely still.

Any unsuspecting passers-by could easily have mistaken him as asleep or maybe even dead, his distinct lack of movement somewhat unnerving. Concerned for his safety, Mean had called out to him twice but Plan had simply returned each shout with one of his own to say that he was okay and to stop god damn fussing. Apparently, it was peaceful to lay in the sea like a corpse.

Mean had abandoned him for two reasons, the first being that he didn't quite trust himself.

Plan looked good amongst the waves, thick hair combed back away from his face and radiant under the sun's vigilant gaze. The elder's skin wasn't always so kind, highly sensitive and prone to allergies. He regularly complained about it, frustrated when new makeup, creams and cleansers caused unpremeditated break-outs even though he was now well into his twenties and on the other side of puberty. Mean had somehow become his go-to for recommendations but the younger had stopped giving them to him, the products that worked for his skin generally only making Plan's worse. Today there were no such problems to behold, the elder's cheeks clear and blemish-free. Mean had wanted to brush his thumbs across them, remembering how soft they had been every time he'd touched him that way as Can.

More importantly than Plan's supple skin and distinct lack of body hair though, had been the look in his eyes. The second and main reason as to why Mean had left him bobbing there by himself. His intense stare, framed by dark eyelashes that entirely stopped blinking, had made Mean feel guilty. A deep, unsettling guilt that left his chest in knots. He hadn't known what to do, whether to smile and tell him that everything was going to be okay, apologise again for screwing with his emotions or just wrap his arms around his neck and hold him close, paying tribute to the blurred lines defining their friendship that were far less clear than the sea they shared. In the end he'd done none of those things, trapped by narrow crescents that ached with longing.

Faced with a fight or flight decision, Mean had chosen the latter and swum like hell.

He'd expected Plan to follow on behind once he reached the shallows but the elder did not, leaving him to feel an absolute coward all by himself as he settled down to wait for him.

Mean wondered what he was thinking about, still laying there nearly thirty minutes later, dark hair fanned out around his head like a mer-creature. Whatever it was, Plan looked calm, resting atop the watery surface as though it were a plush mattress adorned with silk sheets. As he observed him, Mean thought that whoever did end up dating Plan would be a very lucky girl.

Or boy, he supposed.

In all truthfulness, Mean hoped it wasn't a boy, not sure if he could stomach the thought of Plan being intimate with a man who wasn't him. Although Plan's body was petite in terms of frame and height, in many ways he had the brain of a top. He didn't like being told what to do, often tried to assert his dominance and was ridiculously stubborn. Quick witted and clever, Plan was so different to his on-screen counterpart. They did share some qualities, overactive minds, an inability to process their feelings and fiercely loyal to their friends but one thing they did not share was Can's subservience. So much so that Mean could not imagine Plan underneath the hips of someone else.

Submissive? Rathavit? Never.

Suddenly, the elder moved from his horizontal position and distracted Mean from his thoughts. The younger immediately busied himself with his phone, allowing Plan to swim back towards the beach free of prying eyes. The boy was a fairly strong swimmer, arms slicing through the weak current until he reached the shoreline. As he waded out of the water, Mean could sense his self-consciousness, awkwardly shuffling towards the bags they had brought that Mean sat guarding. Reaching in helpfully, the younger retrieved a towel for him and held it out. Plan took it without meeting his gaze, wrapping it around his shoulders and coming to sit beside him.