Blush - Steddie

3

eddie was sitting in the lonely trailer.

wayne has left for work after their conversation. they talked for around two hours, most of it was just wayne trying to comfort eddie and the other part was them sipping their coffees after eddie not so subtly told wayne his secret.

"that...that i like guys."

holy shit, he didn't just say that.

eddie was looking at his uncle with scared eyes, searching for any hint of disgust or disappointment on the latter's face.

but staring back at him was wayne's normal, relaxed expression. he took a sip of his coffee and put the cup down on the table. "and what happened then?"

that took eddie by surprise. he stared at his uncle, not sure if he actually heard it right. he was blinking his eyes rapidly as if the image of the man sitting opposite him will change any second.

"umm he..." eddie trailed off but soon regained his composure and asked "wait i'm sorry, you did just hear what i told you, right?"

"yeah yeah, you like boys. you ain't the first one eddie. i wanna know what that idiot said to you." wayne was leaning forward, his forearms resting on his tights, waiting for eddie to continue the story.

eddie stared at him confused before shaking his thoughts away and continuing "well, he was quiet for a minute but he said it's okay and that he doesn't mind."

wayne looked up as though he was trying to piece all of the information together but ultimately failed and asked "don't think i understand son, what's the problem then?"

"well in about a week somehow the whole school knew that i was.. well, that i'm gay. so he obviously  told everyone. or probably just his stupid friend tommy h and that shithead doesn't know how to keep quiet." eddie didn't know where to look. he was way to embarrassed to look at his uncle so he kept switching between the coffee mug, ground and the picture of baby him on the wall.

"and i told him to not tell anyone. he knew what would happen to me if people found out." tears welled up in his eyes as he continued "and, and he told me he's not gonna tell a soul. he promised me."

eddie was now crying again and wayne's hand was immediately rubbing his back in soothing motion. "we were friends. i trusted him with the most important thing and he broke the promise."

eddie couldn't speak any longer, he was sobbing uncontrollably yet again, his face buried in his palms. and that's how they stayed for about an hour, eddie hiding his crying face in his hands and wayne rubbing his back, telling him it'll be okay.

ultimately, eddie wanted to believe his uncle. he wanted to trust him more than anything, believe it will really be okay. but the more he thought about it, it really couldn't be okay.

it's been two years since steve told the whole school eddie is gay. and it's not like eddie wasn't bullied before but now it gave everyone a legitimate reason to beat him up and make fun of him, calling him all kind of slurs.

and it might've hurt less if it wasn't steve who told everyone. but he did. and eddie knew he couldn't trust him anymore. he knew that this was a sign steve didn't care about their friendship any longer.

and he even tried to apologize. after what he did, he came asking for forgiveness. but eddie didn't let him utter a single word. he ignored him, walked away before he could say anything. and that's how he hoped to keep things between them.

but it seemed that steve had different ideas recently. and it just hurt eddie more.

so he decided he's going to erase any memories he had with the latter.

he walked to his bedroom, opening a drawer in his table, he pulled out a small plastic baggie and pulled out a bunch of photos. looking at them he grimaced, trying to suppress his sadness. he was staring at himself and steve. he was sitting on a chair infront of the table he still visited every week, the hellfire dungeon. steve was sitting in the table, eddie relaxed in between his thighs.

he looked at another photo. they were in the pool, steve trying to dunk eddie who was doing his best to stay on the surface, both smiling widely. steve was wearing his lifeguard shorts and eddie couldn't help but laugh at how short they were.

eddie noticed another photo, he recalled it was taken on his birthday. steve invited him over to his place, saying they can celebrate a little and eddie was extremely happy. he never really had any friends and steve was so kind as to have him over at his house. a big smile crept on his face as he remembered how all of his friends jumped up from behind sets of furniture screaming "SURPRISE!"

it was the best party he ever had for his birthday and he felt extremely grateful to have steve as his best friend. yes, his best friend. his best friend who had his arms wrapped tightly around eddies shoulder, giving him a big back hug as eddie sat infront of his cake that steve baked and decorated himself. quite well too.

eddie wasn't sure what he was feeling in the moment. part of him was extremely happy looking at these photos, these bittersweet memories. another part was sad because he knew deep down that he could never have this. he could never pretend that what happened didn't actually happen. and another part of him was just angry. so extremely angry that steve would dare to even tell anyone, that he would dare to break their friendship.

flipping out a lighter from his pocket eddie opened it, flicked the wheel and stared at the flame for a second before tipping it slowly towards the picture. he held it at a corner as he slowly lit the opposite one.

he watched as the paper slowly started to chip away as the light fire made its way towards the center of the photo. something close to terror flicked through eddies mind and just before the fire could consume anything but the surroundings he quickly patted the photo with his hand, putting out the fire.

inspecting the photo he saw that most of it was still intact. their bright smiles never fading and steves tight hug still engulfing eddie.

he sighed, relieved he managed to save the picture from his own stupidity. he couldn't lie to himself. eddie wasn't ready to let steve go. even though the latter might be, he wasn't as sensitive as eddie. he didn't care as much as eddie did. obviously. otherwise he wouldn't tell everyone about eddies little 'secret'.

and god eddie hated himself for it. he hated that he could not let steve go. he hated himself for the fact that he still cared about the boy. hated himself for the fact, that he loved steve.

and most of all he hated steve. for not loving him back.

...

A/N: heres the back story that I've been mentioning in the previous chapters. so i guess this would be more of a friends to enemies to lovers hehe. its a bit shorter chapter but i promise i will try to write the next one soon. you're all gonna have to suffer thru a little more angst. thank you to everyone for reading the story and if you enjoy it don't be shy to leave a comment, it's always encouraging.