Unexpected Desire × Danplan
[Okay so I am no writer, as you can probably tell. But I'm trying. Im open to feedback and suggestions!]
Summary: Hosuh and Stephen venture into a forest and discover a magical flower that tells them their greatest desires. What they find out is not what they expected. (Stosuh is in this story, but all relationships Daniel has in this fic is platonic only.)
Hosuh was never really the type to get lost. He is always extremely cautious every step he takes - especially when out in public settings or in crowds. He usually points something out in his mind that he can remember, and come back to later, so that he knows he's going the right way.
Stephen is a little more careless than Hosuh is with navigation, but it's still very unlike him to get lost. He has a great memory, so he usually just remembers where he came from the first time he heads to a place. Hence why he is - surprisingly - the most trusted person in the group for driving to places they've only been to once or twice.
So, naturally, when Stephen and Hosuh left the house in the morning while promising Daniel they'd be home before dark, he didn't think much of it. Until the night became darker. And darker. No Hosuh or Stephen to be seen out there.
Jay began to actually go outside in the streets to see if he could spot them still walking around outside. All Daniel needed was some closure that they were alright - he wasn't going to scold them for being late or whatever. Still, nobody to be found.
Jay was much calmer than Dan, as he did all he could to reassure him that they know what they're doing, and they're probably just still walking around and got sidetracked. While it did help reassure Dan that they're smart enough not to go off in a random direction and be kidnapped, it didn't completely reassure him than they didn't get kidnapped.
"Stephen?" Hosuh called out to the taller man who was in front of him. Said man turned around to face him and raised an eyebrow. "Shouldn't we g-go back? It's getting d-dark." Hosuh trembled on his words, the freezing cold of the forest clearly getting to them.
They ended up in the forest once Stephen swore to Hosuh that had saw something glowing in there. Hosuh, of course, wanting to find a logical explanation, said that it might be a fire. But Stephen insisted they go check it out - and so that lead them to wandering off into the damp woods.
"Hosuh, it'll be fine," Stephen grinned at him and turned back to where he was looking before, poking his head over a small bush to where he supposedly saw something glow. "Besides, we're adults. It's not like we're gonna get grounded or something for staying out to late."
This earned a chuckle from Hosuh; as he stiffened for a minute, and continued on while clutching his arms out of hope it would bring more heat to his body.
As they walked deeper and deeper into the forest, Hosuh actually began seeing a faint glow too. Every time it shone, the brightness of the glow seemed to be getting weaker and weaker. That was probably why Stephen could see it outside of the forest, maybe it was at it's brightest.
"You see that, Hosuh?" Stephen turned his head back to the silver-haired man trailing behind him. Hosuh nodded in return and quickened his walking speed, eventually reaching the bush the glowing was coming from.
Hosuh tilted his head as he hastily moved some leaves and branches out of the way to see what was happening, and when he got to the centre - which seemed to be the source of the glowing - he saw a flower. A bronze-coloured flower, actually, and it was glowing. Brightly.
"There's a flower... It's shining." After he said this, Stephen reached into the bush too so he could get a better look. Upon seeing exactly what Hosuh was seeing, he grabbed a petal of the flower and gently pulled it upwards, only to discover that the stem for this thing was longer than it seemed.
The glowing got progressively brighter the more it was pulled out from the leaves and branches, and when it was finally on top of it all, it was almost blinding.
"What... What is that?" Stephen mumbled, leaning closer to the flower. After a couple moments, he tried to grab it by the stem, he winced is a sharp thorn cut through his thumb.
As he brought it up to his face to get a better look at the cut, a small drop of blood landed on the flower. No big deal, right? Sure, it wouldn't have been, if the flower didn't start glowing pink instead of a blinding white.
Stephen's eyes widened as he stared at the flower, as the glowing became a small circle shape just above the flower as time passed. "The fuck...?"
Hosuh seemed to see the circle too, but for him, it wasn't pink. It was a type of baby blue colour to his eyes. But then shapes began appearing, and what was once a cluster of circles and triangles, became a singular image of Stephen. "Wait..."
Stephen's eyes were seeing an image of Hosuh on his side of the circle, as he took occasional glances towards Hosuh. "Do you know what this is?"
"It's... Have- have you ever read one of those mythology books? The ones you usually see in the back corner of a library?" Hosuh sheepishly smiled at the taller man, who nodded his head slightly.
"Yeah. They're full of shi-"
"This thing... Shows you a picture of what you want most. Like- like the mirror of erised, in Harry Potter." Upon hearing this, Stephen immediately shut up as he snapped his head back to stare at the image of Hosuh further.
When the two boys headed out of the forest, they were completely silent. Stephen kept his head straight, while Hosuh would sneak periodic flustered looks in the purple-haired man's direction for the majority of the hike back home.
They were able to put the pieces together and figure out what each person saw after a while of stuttering and progressive flushing colour of faces throughout the 5 minutes it took them to figure it out.
Daniel's look of relief as soon as they entered the house was probably the most happy state the two had seen him in, and Jay just sort of shot him a look saying 'told you'.
Although there wasn't a word spoken between Hosuh and Stephen when they entered their home, they knew exactly what the other was thinking. It was as if they had some sort of spiritual connection between them now that had just been opened. They understood that both of them were too embarrassed to speak, and they were comfortable with that for a while.
"Hey, Hosuh?" Hosuh jumped at the sound of Stephen's voice. He instantly shot a timid smile over at him as he was approached.
"That was an eventful walk." Stephen chuckled, sitting down next to Hosuh, who chuckled along with him. He nodded in reply.
"It was." Hosuh agreed, letting the stillness fill the room for a second before responding again. "I liked it, though."
Stephen grinned and looked away. "Yeah, me too."
[And so it ends on an awkward conversation. Great job me, A+ for creativity. Anyway, you're gonna have to bear with me for a while, since these are all written on a phone. I'll be getting a laptop for Christmas, so you'll just have to wait :). Also before you start wondering, no, the erised flower is not an actual mythology. I made it up for the story. I know, shocking.]
