Chapter 10

"Thanks for shopping at Circuit Central," Kwan said, smiling to the point that his face hurt as he handed over the bag to the woman on the other side of the register counter. "Please stop by again for all of your electronic needs."

The woman opened the bag and eyed the contents as if she expected to find some of her purchases missing despite that she watched him scan each item and place it into the bag. When she was satisfied that everything was there, she snapped the bag closed. Then with barely even a nod, she walked away, heading for the exit of the store. Kwan released his breath, feeling the tension melt from his shoulders once the woman was gone.

"Mrs. Nelson giving you problems?"

Kwan glanced over to see his co-worker Caitlyn leaning over the counter. She wore stylish green framed glasses that matched her eyes. It wasn't exactly allowed for employees to have oddly colored hair, but that didn't stop her from putting a random blue streak in her short, shiny ebony hair that had one side longer than the other.

"Oh yeah," Kwan answered with a nod. "She always makes me feel like she thinks I'm some criminal, quietly pocketing away the things she paid for."

"She makes everyone feel like that," Caitlyn said with a roll of her eyes. "I guess that's what happens when you're rich and look down your fake nose at everyone that has to work for their money." She huffed a sigh, probably happy that she wasn't the one that had to deal with Mrs. Nelson on her latest venture into the store. Mrs. Nelson came, maybe, once every three months or so to purchase something, like a new computer or television or something else. They had a running bet over what she would purchase on her next visit.

"I guess Ben won the bet this time around." Kwan chuckled, shaking his head. "I knew betting on the wide screen television would be the wrong choice."

"You haven't even won once since working here, sweet cheeks." Caitlyn reached over and ruffled his raven locks. "You suck at guessing." Her gaze drifted about the store. "Oh! Customer!" She wiggled her fingers at him in a brief wave before hurrying off to help an older man that was poking around at the cameras with some uncertainty.

Kwan laughed as he combed his fingers through his hair, trying to get them back into some semblance of order. Then he walked around the store to see if anyone needed his assistance. It was a slow day, and not too many people came into the store during his shift. He guessed most people had better things to do than spend their day roaming around a store full of electronics. When he noticed someone new enter the store, Kwan approached.

"Hello! Welcome to- Danny?" Kwan blinked in surprise to see the other man.

"Kwan?" Danny's eyes grew a fraction wider. "I didn't know you worked here."

"Only for about the last year or so." Kwan shrugged as if it was no big deal. He had only told Dash and Paulina about his job. "So," he folded his arms over the blue collared shirt all employees were forced to wear, though he hated it because he thought he looked terrible in the dark blue, "what brings you here? I would have thought Tucker would be more likely to shop around here on a day off from school."

"Well, it's Tucker's birthday in about two weeks," Danny explained as he strolled around glancing at the different products. "I want to be sure I have something ready to give him."

Kwan nodded as he walked beside Danny. "Well, he likes tech stuff, so this is a pretty good place to look for something for him. Did you have anything in mind?"

Danny's eyes surveyed the shelves before he turned a frown onto Kwan. "I'm not very good with all," he waved a hand around him, "this. And now that I think about it, he probably already has all the latest gadgets and gizmos." He reached up and scratched his hand through his hair. "What do I get him? I had this same problem when Sam's birthday rolled around."

"Hm." Kwan folded his arms as he pondered over it. "Friends can be hard to buy for sometimes. I was totally baffled over what to get Paulina. I mean, I know she likes jewelry and clothing, but she can also be picky about it. I didn't want to get her something she would hate. She, of course, would always do that thing where she says she likes it but really she hates it and plans to return it as soon as possible."

"What did you end up getting her?" Danny asked curiously. His blue gaze drifted briefly around as if trying to find something that popped out at him for a present, but his attention focused mostly on the man before him.

"I took her to a concert that she was pretty sure no one would want to go with her to. The band is, uh, kind of underground, and not exactly what the other A lists would consider good music. But Paulina's grown a sort of fond attachment to Blue Blaze." Kwan chuckled. "They were actually pretty good. I can almost see Sam liking them for the dark edginess of their music."

"Man!" Danny sighed out in disappointment. "You should have told me about them. I ended up getting Sam a new pair of boots from a thrift shop."

"Maybe next time." A smirk slipped onto Kwan's face. "Or you could pass the info onto Tucker and he could take Sam. Like it's a date."

"Ah, so there are people who realize that there's nothing between Sam and me." Danny smirked wryly. "Is a date what you get the techno geek that already has all the latest tech?"

Kwan, for a moment, forgot they were talking about Tucker. From all their time studying with each other over the last three years, Danny had to realize that Kwan was pretty much as big a techno geek as his friend. He nearly choked when he thought Danny was asking that question about him instead of Tucker. His cheek grew warm, despite his attempts to fight back the blush. "Well, that could be one option." Kwan coughed. "Though maybe it's better to let Tucker ask Sam out himself."

"That could take a while." Danny frowned, shoving his hands into his pockets. "Though I'm still not sure why they're playing this whole dancing game. Can't one of them just ask the other out already?"

Kwan felt, again, like Danny wasn't talking about just Sam and Tucker, but he knew that had to be only his imagination. "Perhaps they just need a nudge in the right direction." He chuckled awkwardly. "Well, if you think tech might not be the way to go, maybe you should think about looking for something that relates to one of Tucker's other interests. If he has any besides tech and Sam."

Danny laughed at that last comment. "Tech is pretty much his life. Next to Sam, of course." He grinned a little at Kwan then frowned in thought. "Well, there is horror movies. And he likes video games. I think there's a new one he was talking about, maybe, a month ago. I'm not sure if he actually got it though."

Kwan checked his watch. "Tell you what. I get off in about ten minutes. Why don't you call up Sam and ask her if Tucker got the game or not?" He gave the store a quick glance to make sure there were no other customers looking for an employee to help them. "If he doesn't have it, we can hit the game store. Maybe after that, we can grab a bite to eat."

"And if he has the game?" Danny asked curiously, already pulling out his cell phone to make the call.

Kwan shrugged. "We hit the movie store and see if they have any great classic horror movies you could get him?"

"Sounds like a plan to me." Danny grinned as he pounded in the number to call Sam. "I'll meet you outside, then?"

Kwan nodded and gave a wave as Danny headed toward the exit of the store, raising his phone to his ear. Then he swallowed nervously. Did he just arrange a sort of date with Danny? But did it count as a date if the other person didn't have any knowledge of it being a date? Or did Danny realize it was a date but didn't mind the fact that it was a date? He raked a hand through his hair, feeling like his head was spinning at those thoughts.

"He was cute," Caitlyn said, popping up beside Kwan and making him jump in surprise. With a chuckle, she pinched at his cheeks. "Aw! You're blushing! Do you like him?"

"That's not really any of your business," Kwan said stiffly as he walked through the store, looking for anyone to help in the last moments of his shift.

"Come on, sweet cheeks!" Caitlyn caught him with an arm around his neck. "You can tell dear old Caitlyn." She grinned broadly, ruffling up his hair. "Were you making plans with your sweetheart?"

"Stop!" Kwan managed to wiggle his way free from her hold. His face was beet red as he tried to smooth out his hair. "You're so nosy."

"So does your boy know it's a date?" Caitlyn smirked widely at him as she leaned against a display case.

"It's not a date," Kwan argued, though part of him really wanted it to be. "I'm just helping him out with buying a birthday gift for his friend. Then we might grab a bite to eat. That's it. It's not a date."

"Right." Caitlyn nodded with a gleam in her green eyes. "Grabbing a meal with someone you like is never a date."

Kwan glanced at his watch. "Well, my shift is over now. Have fun working your double!" He waved, grinning at the scowl she sent him at that reminder. After stopping in the staff room, he grabbed his things, changing out of his work shirt and into a plain black shirt. He crammed his work shirt into his bag then left the store to find Danny, who wasn't that hard to find as he sat on the bench in front of the store's entrance.

"You look like you get along with your co-workers," Danny said with a laugh as he stood.

"Yeah, she just likes to tease me." Kwan shrugged. "So what did you find out?"

"Sam said he hasn't bought it yet." Danny shook his head with a cute smile tugging at his mouth as they started walking toward the video game store. "Apparently, she's listened to him whine about wanting to buy the game, but he spent too much of his money on his new phone."

"Well, at least you now know exactly what to get him for his birthday."

"Yeah, that's a load off my mind." Danny nodded his head in agreement. "So where should we go to eat?" They turned into GameGo, and Danny headed straight for the section where he knew the game would be.

"Well, there are plenty of choices." Kwan shrugged as he followed Danny around the store as the other man scanned for the game title. "Pizza at Mama Mia. Burgers at Five Alarm. Chinese at Express." He scratched at the back of his head, trying to remember what other quick food places were in the mall. "Unless you want to head over to Nasty Burger."

"We're already here," Danny said as he grabbed a game off the rack. "We might as well just grab something here. And pizza is sounding pretty good." He walked over to the register to pay for the game.

"So if Tucker's birthday isn't for two weeks, why are you buying his gift now?" Kwan asked, waiting as the chubby man behind the register rung up Danny's purchase.

"Well, I figure since I've got the time and the money right now, I should get his gift all paid for." Danny smiled politely at the man as he took the bag. "You know, in case something comes up later and I can't make it to a store to get something. Or worse, I don't have the money to buy it." He winced as if that had happened more than once.

"Thinking ahead." Kwan nodded. "Smart." They walked out of the game store and turned toward the food court. He turned over his thoughts for a moment. "When is your birthday?" He realized that, despite being sort of friends since sophomore year, the topic of birthdays hadn't actually come up.

Danny tilted his head as he glanced toward Kwan. "Huh. I guess we never told each other." He blinked in surprise. "My birthday isn't until August. It's the fourteenth."

Kwan nodded as he made a mental note of that. He would have to remember to get Danny something really great for his birthday. "Mine was back in November, on the seventh."

"Ah! You should have told me!" Danny frowned in disappointment as they reached the pizza place Mama Mia. "I would have gotten you something."

"We were all pretty busy at the time." Kwan shrugged, and they waited in line. "I wasn't really expecting anything anyway. It's mostly just Paulina and Dash that come over, and we hang out watching movies the whole night." The corner of his mouth stretched in to a crooked grin, and he leaned closer to Danny. "Dash always brings some pretty horrible romance dramas and then gets all huffy when Paulina and I tease him about it."

Danny burst out laughing, drawing some attention to them. "Oh! I wish I was there to see the look on his face!" He sobered up with a cough. "Though Dash would probably want to kick my ass for that."

"He would have had to get through me first," Kwan said, beating a fist to his puffed out chest. "And Paulina probably wouldn't have allowed it." When they reached the front of the line, Kwan ordered them a large pizza, asking what Danny liked on his before simply deciding on it himself. They ended up ordering a sausage, green peppers, pepperoni pizza. Then they went to sit at a table with their sodas.

"So," Danny said after swallowing a sip, "did you know about this date auction this Sam and Paulina are putting together?"

"Ah, so you found out about that?" Kwan relaxed a little to hear that. "I wanted to tell you about it, but," he scratched at a cheek in embarrassment, "Sam can be scary."

Danny laughed. "Yeah, tell me about it." He smiled in amusement. "Luckily, though, I managed to escape that."

"Oh?" Kwan's eyebrows lifted in curiosity. "Is there some secret I should know about? Because I'd like a chance to get out of it too."

Danny's smile fell a bit as his gaze slid sideways. "Well, I don't think you'd be able to use the same method. Sam sort of let the whole thing slip out by accident. So she said if I did the photo shoot for the posters without complaint, I could skip being in the auction."

"Drat!" Kwan snapped his fingers. "I guess I can't get out that way." He frowned as he placed his chin in his hand. "You don't think they'll need someone else to do the posters, do you?"

"From the way Paulina was talking?" Danny shook his head. "She seemed really set on this whole Cinderella, making your dreams come true theme for prom."

Kwan sighed, guessing he would have to resign to the fact that he was stuck being in the auction. When the girl came by to bring them their pizza, she let it drop with a splat on the table between them. Kwan didn't miss the dark circles under her brown eyes or the frizzy mess of her usually straight and shiny brunette hair.

"That's kind of weird," Kwan mumbled, his brow creasing as he followed the woman walking back toward the counter. "Francine is usually really friendly. This might not be her dream job, but she's happy enough with it if it means saving up enough money to buy that car she's been wanting since she turned sixteen."

"Well, I don't care!" Francine shouted when an older woman tried to speak to her. "I can't stand this job. I quit!" She yanked off the ridiculous white visor from her head and threw it down on the counter. Then she stormed out of the little pizzeria.

"Very weird," Danny agreed in a mumble, his gaze following the woman with some worry.

It wasn't the first strange occurrence. Kwan remembered the odd listlessness Star displayed and that strange boost of fighting confidence from Parker. What exactly was causing these changes to people's personalities? Kwan glanced toward Danny. Should he ask? Danny always seemed rather embarrass about his parents' work as ghost hunters, though that was more before ghosts started popping up all over the place. But if it was something ghost related, Phantom would take care of it. He hoped.

Some Weird Chick: Now you're making me nervous that this all building up to something spectacular, but then when I get to it, it's just going to fall flat and bomb. orz ;; *rubs hands together* But the next chapter should be pretty fun to write.

midnight: It was mostly to cover up any dark circles and blemishes! XD;; At least he's not wearing, like eyeliner and lipstick too. XD;;;

Snowleopard0: Haha, poor guy. XD;; At least he got some relaxing time in this chapter. Foreshadowing is always a possibility~ *shrugs* I guess Danny and Kwan isn't a very popular ship?

Just Will: That's what happens when you put Kwan on the spot. D8 *looks at title* Hm, it's a mystery where that idea came from~ XD;; Ah, Danny~ Always willing to help out if the ghost isn't causing trouble. 8) Yup, Paulina knows Kwan likes Danny. Well, it's kind of like everyone pretty much think Danny and Sam are still a thing because they have that locked in their brains from freshmen year. And Danny seems more relate-able to people?