Crescendo || Steddie

Chapter 11

(TW: Suggestive situations)

-Eddie's perspective-

    Steve had been missing school. A lot of school. He hasn't been with his old friends. He hasn't been with Robin. He hasn't been with Will. It's been...a solid week since I had seen his face...since anyone had.

    Now here he was, sitting next to me. Silent. I tried to say hey like I did before but all I got was a look. A simple stare met with a fake smile. No teeth like how he normally does when we play Mariokart and he actually wins. No laugh. No...Steve.

   Our classes together since we got closer were mostly goofing off sessions. Where I would learn who Steve really was. The side of him that's the lovable goofball that hardly saw the light of day. The side that played dungeons and dragons. The side that actually started to help me plan my next campaign with the club.

   The side...

   I was falling head over heels for even further.

  The side....

  I might never see again.

Was it something I did? Was it something I said?

  I was...lost. I planned over and over what I could say to him once I saw him in person again. I had so many questions I wanted to ask and yet...My brain went empty. All I felt was guilt.

   It was bound to happen from the start...right? He knows I'm gay. He's the popular kid...and...who was I joking being friends with him?

    Any minute now he'll storm out of the room and just...

   Leave me behind.

   Just like...

   "Hey...how do you solve this problem?" Steve slowly slid his paper towards me before pointing to problem number 5. His face was flat. I couldn't tell if he was being serious.

   "It's a factorial...you...multiply it." I nervously started picking at my nails. An old habit that I tried very hard to combat with the rings but in times like these...it happened naturally.

   "Thanks...you're...really smart." Steve slid the paper back over to himself before showing a genuine smile. One that I was anxious I would never see again.

   "Say....um...where were you? You had the gang worried..."

   Steve raised an eyebrow before turning his face back over to me "The gang...?"

   "Sorry...I kinda assumed...that..." I took a deep breath in as I kept picking at the loose skin around my nail. "You know...Will, Robin, and I...we're your friends now...like a gang."

   "Don't gangs do like...violent stuff?" Steve's smile slightly grew.

   "I mean yeah sometimes but we'll only be good...for now."

    "Alright, Munson...yeah...I'll be part of your gang." Steve tapped his pencil onto the desk lightly to get the bits of eraser off the top of his mechanical pencil.

   "Cool...but...that still doesn't answer my question, Harrington..."

   "I...something personal came up. I'm fine now. Trust me. Would you...want to play Mariokart after school?"

   "Yeah...I'd like that" I softly smiled before pulling my hair behind my ear.

   "You looked like that one meme" Steve laughed slightly under his breath.