After the End of the World (HeroSteve)

Thoughts

Admittedly, Steve had always found Herobrine to be at least a little.... Creepy. Something about having him around always made him nervous. He wasn't sure if it was his blank and cold, pupil-less eyes, his somewhat odd and occasionally aggressive demeanour... Or maybe it was the sharp teeth Herobrine had. Steve had literally watched the man rip into some raw and bloody meat with them, and anytime that he looked at Herobrine's teeth since then, he had shuddered... Shuddered at the thought of what he could use those teeth to do to him.

Sometimes it would be the most terrifying thoughts, like Herobrine pouncing on him like some sort of wild animal and ripping out his jugular. And then there were the more... Sexual thoughts.

That was another thing that made Steve think Herobrine was creepy. He made him feel things that he hadn't felt before.  Things that confused him.

He had told Alex some of the thoughts he'd been having about Herobrine once before, and they just laughed and smiled and said that it hadn't been a surprise. That they had suspected this for quite some time now.

And that had only managed to make things even more confusing for him. What did they even mean "I've suspected it for awhile now"? What was there to suspect? That he might have feelings for Herobrine?

He tensed a little at the thought and felt his face get a little warm.

Feelings... For Herobrine... Feelings for... A traitor...

No... He sure as fuck could not be doing something like that, now could he?

Mentally, he began to berate himself over this possibility, and then proceeded to mentally berate Alex, who had asked Herobrine if he would like to come along with them once they had found them... Or had he found them?

Ironically enough, Alex was usually the smart one, and Steve was the dumb one. He knew this and accepted it. Besides, he was happy to be more skilled with combat and finding materials anyways. He was happy to at least be useful.

Still, he wasn't sure why they had asked him to come with them. Both Steve and Alex knew the stories and legends. Herobrine had betrayed humanity and lead them to the end of the world and...

Steve sighed and scratched the side of his head. No... That couldn't have been the story, was it? Hadn't Herobrine and Notch lead the people to the end together? As a last ditch effort to save humanity? And then Herobrine turned on them to gain power?

He stopped scratching the side of his head in favor of rubbing the bridge of his nose now, groaning a little.

Too many variants of the story. It was hard to remember the first version he was told, if he was honest with himself. All he knew was, despite these variants, they all ended with Herobrine betraying humanity to gain power.

That part, he assumed, at least had to be true.

Still, for whatever reason, Herobrine had agreed. He remembered the odd silence as Herobrine followed them back to the village. He remembered it so well because, despite the fact he didn't even bother to look at Herobrine the entire time, especially after arguing with Alex that this was a very bad idea and then proceeding to lose that argument, he could feel Herobrine's eyes on him the entire time. Like he was studying him... Or maybe he was glaring. It wouldn't have surprised Steve in the slightest.

He remembered how the villagers had all reacted the moment that Herobrine had stepped foot in the village. Alex had tried to calm them all down, but despite their best efforts, the villagers remained terrified. Alex had then suggested that Herobrine could stay with Steve, who lived a bit outside the village. Not too far, but far enough to give the villagers at least a little bit of ease.