You of all people - Stosuh

Fuck, he looks great though - Stephen

I stared at Hosuh as both of us sat at the kitchen table together. He was crunching on some sort of spicy snack he had brought while I did some science homework. When he had come over, and I asked about the worksheets we were given in class; but was taken aback to find out that he had already done them. He was working on some english essay, a class that I didn't have. He seemed to be writing down notes too.

I put my worksheets away into a folder and looked at him, studying his face for a moment. Light skin, rosy cheeks, blue eyes, him staring at me. I froze and looked back at him, but he was smiling. "Checking me out?" He asked teasingly, to which I was quick to deny. "No." Hosuh's face fell into an expression which I couldn't tell, but he moved over beside me and sat down in a chair that was closer to mine, instead of staying across the table from me. He had some red dust on his fingertips from the snack he had been eating, which he instinctively brushed off onto his pant leg.

"Ew." I commented, as I leaned close to his computer screen to watch what he was doing. "Problem, jackass?" He replied as he continued typing with his right hand, his fingers barely messing up whenever he typed. "Yeah. That's super unsanitary." I pointed out as he reached back into the empty bag of snacks and put some more powder on his fingertips, before rubbing them off onto his pant leg- again. Just to piss me off. I glared at him and he laughed and got up to go wash his hands in the sink.

I stared at the back of his head as he did so. Past him, I could see the back yard. It was cloudy outside, with no sunshine. It was actually very dreary, despite having only a little rain today. And yet light shone through the window and rested nicely on his features. He looked up and I could tell for a moment he was looking at the seed packets on the window sill, but he didn't address them. He was probably staring outside, and then he said: "Been uh, very rain-y lately. Huh?"

"Rain-y isn't a word Hosuh. But yeah, it has been. That's because it's almost December." I stated as I scrolled through his essay, fixing a few mistakes along the way as I read through his paragraphs. He didn't respond as he walked back over to the table and sat down next to me. He was on his phone though, I noticed.

"Snow is coming in only a week. Are you going to go out and get a jacket for-" "No." I replied, fixing another word. "Oh, alright. My dad's wife is probably going to make me go out and get a jacket for winter some time this weekend." He replied, trying to make it sound casual. But he sounded nervous. I turned to look at him. "I thought you said you didn't have a mom. At.. the moment at least."

"I don't. I mean, at the end of 7th grade my dad went on a business trip and he ended up meeting this really nice woman in Minnesota, and he kinda just decided he'd rather be with her than my mom. I don't know, they weren't in love anyway. Not really at least- I kinda just decided: 'oh well. I'll just settle for two birthdays I guess..'" Hosuh mumbled, still aimlessly scrolling through social media without paying me much attention.

He finally froze and looked at me, wincing. "I'm sorry- I was rambling. Anyway she just- I don't really like her but she 'cares' about me and I have no other choice really-" He started to stutter, before quickly cutting whatever he was saying into: "Did you want to go to the mall with me? I mean it's not much but you know we could hang out?"

"Yeah, that sounds good."

Hosuh froze for a second, before nodding and shutting off his computer. "Yeah, okay. Cool." He replied back casually, getting up and putting his tablet into his bag. I watched aimlessly, as he fiddled with the zipper on the bag, turning to my own backpack and simply adding: "I can go with you and your mom if you'd like. Make it less boring?" I mumbled to him, pretending to look busy with something in my bag. I could see his face from the corner of my eye, and he just stared for a moment. I felt my face heat up a little, but much like pretending to look at something in my bag, I also pretended to not notice his blue eyes on me either.

"I'd.. like that." Hosuh whispered after a moment. He seemed uneasy. "Okay. Well, I'll see you at school tomorrow. Just get back to me when you're going shopping with your mom. Okay?" I smiled. He just nodded and gave a nervous grin back.

* * *

I went to meet him at the mall. More specifically the mall fountain. I looked around. It hadn't changed a bit since I had been here a little over a week ago. I turned my attention to the clock. It was only a few minutes till Hosuh would be here, and there was busy shoppers walking along the walls, some children gently pulling at their parent's hand, or hands, teenagers and kids walking with one another chatting or pushing each other around, and girls chatting on their phone and sometimes an occasional couple shuffling by.

I looked around. It wasn't December yet, but that didn't seem to stop the mall from decorating the place early. I had to give them credit though, it did look nice. And it was only a day or two until December, but I didn't know exactly since I was unsure when November actually ended. There were golden streamers lacing themselves along the ceiling, tied into big bows at the pillars. They were on both floors actually. And there were tiny trees on the second floor from what I could see from down below, and a big tree making itself home in the middle of the 1st floor. It had large colorful ornaments hung from it, and fake gift boxes surrounding it from below. It was now truly December.

I felt a hand on me and instinctively flinched, turning my body around quickly to face whoever had grabbed me, and there stood another boy my height, with grey hair tied into a ponytail, and handsome blue eyes. Hosuh Lee. I slowly exhaled and he smiled at me. I looked at his shirt. It was a nerdy logo shirt for some band I had never heard of. Or maybe it was a video game? "What the fuck is that?"

"It's a shirt! From my favorite band! They're kind of underrated, but I don't care. I like them." He smiled thoughtfully, but after not giving him a response he kind of brushed it off and gave an awkward chuckle, looking away into the fountain full of coins, intent on the idea of not meeting my gaze as he lifted his hands to the zipper attached to his jacket, the other hand grabbing the lower hem of the black piece of clothing. He fumbled with it for a moment in an attempt to zip it up.

I grabbed his hand and stopped him. "Hosuh, do I make you nervous?" He continued to hold onto his zipper, but looked at me. "Yes." I didn't know what to say for a moment, but I didn't want to not say anything either and make the situation more awkward than it had to be, so I rolled my eyes and scoffed. "Come on, let's go."

Hosuh nodded, but I didn't reply to the action. I took him into the local SOL Lanyol store and pushed him around, smiling at the jackets he liked. I thought about it. He always seemed more relaxed around me, and playful. But at school he was such a bitch. He was always acting so 'macho' and smart ass kind of cool. And for once out of the people I knew, well I didn't really know him, I just kind of tutored him, and we didn't hang out or anything. Or- wait, we are hanging out!

Back on track. Out of the people I relatively knew, I couldn't tell if the school Hosuh was an act, or if the Hosuh who hung around me was just an act. "I kind of like this one." Hosuh stated, cutting me out of my thoughts, as I turned my attention to him. "Oh, let me see." I responded, not very interested, but I still wanted to help him out.

"It's.." I felt the inside. "It's cool, but the inside isn't patted. It's not going to keep you warm." I said, handing it back. He didn't look very happy with my comment on the jacket, but I solved it real quick.

"Well it doesn't look very warm, but it looks great." I said, making my voice a little higher in a horrible effort to impersonate Hosuh, to which he jokingly put a hand over his heart as though offended, but the corners of his mouth were turned up slightly.

"Looks like this man froze to death in the cold." I added, making my voice a little deeper. I paused for a moment, before continuing. "Fuck, he looks great though." and then I made my voice just a little deeper, to add a final comment. "Oh yeah, he totally pulls off that jacket, very stylish." Emphasis on the word very, waving my hands around for effect but now I had Hosuh laughing out loud, and put him in the position where he was now looking for a less stylish, but warmer coat.

"Oh, wait- where's your mom?" I asked, only now noticing that nobody was with us.

"Oh my god! I forgot. I mentioned you and she smiled and told me that it should just be you and me. She gave me extra money to go grab us ice cream or something at the food court and said: You boys have fun okay?!" Hosuh smiled, a very pretty smile. I could feel my face heat up again. "You got me out of shopping with my mom." He held up a coat and smiled at it, before turning to me. "You're the best."

I stood there, before I too slowly felt a grin tugging at my lips and nodded. "Whatever, dork."