Work Text:
I love you
Clyde felt helpless when Stens’s eyes widened, bottom lip pulled under his teeth, face turning away, drawn to the ground.
He felt helpless when he stuttered out a reply, an excuse, bowed himself out of the conversation, walked away, didn’t look back.
Helpless as he stared at the yellow ceiling of his bedroom for hours on end, out of tears, despairing, wondering what he might have done wrong.
Three little words, and they apparently had the power to crush him.
So, too, did they have the power to lift him higher than before.
For there was hope when Stens texted him later that night, words garbled and misspelled, but Clyde could read the emotion likely behind them, the fondness.
Hope when he demanded that Clyde come over, his voice just that side of different that told him he’d been smoking again.
Hope when the door opened after his knock, a silly grin accompanying the hug, the smell surrounding him confirming his suspicions.
Hope when Stensland patted the couch seat next to him, curling against his arm after he did so, fingers twirling strange patterns onto his thigh.
That hope turned to warm incredulity when Stens asked “Okay, when you say love, do you mean ‘I love pizza’ love, or do you mean ‘I love you’ love?”
“I.” A kiss.
“Love.” A kiss.
“You.” A kiss.
Warmth blossomed further, heart blooming, when Stens repeated his actions and words, words that soon got lost in the movement of their lips, hands, bodies.
Perhaps he wasn’t helpless after all.