Darling [Steve x Eddie]

Chapter 6

A thump from outside in the hallway brought Eddie back to his surroundings and he blinked open his eyes, a familiar twist of fear rushing at him. He waited in silence, his breath pinned to the back of his throat, as a soft knock resounded against the door.

"Hello?" came a strangely familiar voice.

In Eddie's current state, the garbled sound formed a face, but he couldn't tell whose it was.

"Yeah?" he croaked nervously.

If this was someone getting his hopes up, he was going to actually die.

"Eddie?" the voice asked tentatively.

Oh, Steve.

Eddie closed his eyes and thumped the back of his head against the door.

Either Harrington was pulling another marvellously funny prank, or Eddie's knight in shining armour was in fact his worst nightmare. Both versions of the next ten minutes looked like they were likely to end in cutting remarks.

"Yes," he said reluctantly.

It sounded like Steve said 'fuck', but he couldn't be sure. Also, that would make absolutely no sense because Steve should be overjoyed to find him trapped in a closet with no way out.

Eddie whistled a low note, still shaking with nerves and a little bit of hunger.

"Um,I don't have a key, so I'll be right back," Steve said after a moment, his voice muffled behind the door.

"Fine," Eddie muttered.

He knew that Steve probably couldn't hear him, but it didn't matter anyways because it sounded like he was already halfway down the hall.

"Well..." Eddie mused aloud. "I wonder what the golden chances are of him actually coming back for me?"

He couldn't imagine Steve not succumbing to the calls of his friends or Tracy, for that matter.

He probably had lots of uninterrupted make-out sessions to check off of his to-do list, which were definitely far more important than saving Eddie from potential death in a stuffy school closet.

Eddie kept quiet anyways and waited with one ear at the door for any sounds of human life.

"Please come back, Harrington," he wished out loud in a tight whisper.

He immediately hated how desperate he sounded, especially for a boy who he hated with all of his soul, but what else could he do? It wasn't as though an angel was going to suddenly descend from the sky and make the door disappear with a wave of their hand.

Steve, whether he liked it or not, was Eddie's only option right now.

Probably the only other person in the building was the basketball coach, who usually stayed after hours to work out play by plays for the team. The level of dedication in that man's body was mind blowing to Eddie.

The janitor only came in every other day, and today was a no-go, just Eddie's luck.

So aside from coach, Steve was the last person in the high school and the only one who seemed to have noticed Eddie' disappearance, which was a little bit weird. Eddie wondered how he knew where he was.

Then he remembered the guitar.

"Idiot." He facepalmed.

Of course, if Steve saw the guitar in the hallway, he would immediately know that Eddie was nearby, especially after the afternoon's previous fiasco.

That's when Eddie heard quickened footsteps once again nearing his makeshift prison.

"Eddie?" Steve called, his voice higher than usual, which Eddie deftly attributed to a reluctant concern for his wellbeing.

"Yeah, believe it or not Harrington, but I'm still very much here," he replied sarcastically.

"You know, I could just walk away and leave you here," Steve answered in the same voice. " My friends are hanging out and you know I'd rather be with them."

Eddie felt anxiety claw at his ribs.

"No, no, I take it back!" he amended hastily. "I'm just feeling off right now."

He didn't like how his voice got quieter and considerably more nervous at the end of his sentence. He was suddenly painfully aware of how obvious he was making his panic to Steve.

"You know, if I recall correctly," Harrington said slyly, "you only get weirdly combative like this if you're incredibly worried or stressed."

Eddie rolled his eyes. Of course Steve would only remember his weaknesses.

"You know, as cute as it is that you remember everything about me," he said sweetly to disguise his growing fear, "I'd much rather get out of here than listen to your anecdotes."

"Fine," Steve sighed and then Eddie heard the joyous sound of the lock clicking out of place.

He sprang to his feet and shoved the door open, stumbling out into the fluorescent hallway and smacking straight into his saviour, who looked incredibly smug.

"Oh, hey Steve," he joked, pushing away from him like the boy had some easily transmitted disease. "Didn't see you there, big boy."

Steve looked unimpressed.

"Okay, alright," Eddie conceded without being asked. "I'm really glad that you were here today, Steve."

He tried his best to hide the repulsively intense gratefulness that he was currently feeling for Harrington, but a fraction of it still came across in his voice.

"Now you've got me all teary," he pretended to sniff.

Steve rolled his eyes.

"What happened?" he asked.

"Nothing."

Eddie didn't want to make it a big deal because obviously one of Steve's jerky friends had trapped him and it would just cause unnecessary bad blood between everyone involved.

Steve fixed him with a hard glare.

"C'mon Eddie, you know I don't want this conversation to last any longer than it has to. Just tell me what happened."

Eddie sighed.

Then he began to tell Harrington everything.