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Stiles clung to Chris from behind.
"Stiles," Chris chastised. His eyes darted about, noting the curious glances from the other mall goers.
Stiles nuzzled his face into Chris' back. "No. I almost lost you."
"This is not funny," Chris hissed. He shrugged in an attempt to shake Stiles off, adding more strength to the casual movement than was necessary.
Stiles vibrated with barely contained laughter behind Chris. "But Chris," he mock whined. "One moment you were next to me in line and the next you had disappeared. What if a monster had gotten you?"
"I was under a spell," Chris stated. He took a deep breath and reminded himself that Stiles was just having some lighthearted fun at his expense. There was no malice in his intentions, even if the memory of a truth spell gone awry made him internally wince. It had been bad enough when he'd been hit with the spell instead of the target, but when he lashed out at everyone around him and demanded that Stiles be kept near him so that he could personally see to his young love's safety, the spell became had been terrifying. When they lost Stiles in the woods he had to be held down by Scott to keep from him from arming himself to the teeth and viciously interrogating anyone he came across.
It wasn't until after that particular incident that Stiles confessed to having knocked over extra of an ingredient into the spell, amplifying the spell to such an extreme.
Stiles poked Chris in the cheek. "Aw, c'mon, Chris." He squeezed Chris tighter. His tone softened and took on a remorseful lilt. "I'm just teasing. It was kind of cute though."
Chris snorted and slipped out of Stiles' hold. "Acting like a maniac isn't cute."
Stiles bit his bottom lip. One of his hands twisted and untwisted the hem of his jacket. "Okay, I get why you see it that way, but..." He frowned and ruffled his shorn hair as he struggled with words. "...but for me it was...nice to see you care so much." Stiles scrunched his nose in discomfort at his honesty. He huffed and crossed his arms over his chest, feigning apathy. "You don't exactly run around showing off your emotions all the time. It can make you a little hard to read, which is annoying as hell." He scowled. "I mean really fucking annoying. Like at least once a week, I have to question if read you right. It really—"
Chris slid his hand into Stiles', cutting off Stiles' rant. He took a moment to admire the wide-eyed surprise on the young adult's face. "Pisses you off?" Chris finished for Stiles.
Stiles huffed, pretending to have not been caught off guard by Chris’ public display of affection. "Yeah, something like that." He squeezed Chris' hand. "Still like you though. It's gotta be the muscles or something."
Chris squeezed Stiles' hand back. "Or something, I'm sure."