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This wasn’t the first time Eli and Steve had spent the night together. When they first started creepslaying, the two had slept over at each other’s houses religiously to discuss the strange occurrences they’d noticed in Arcadia. But that was before they became… well… a couple.
Not to mention there were always parents home during their late night investigations. But this time an out-of-state work conference had Steve’s mom and Coach Lawrence taking an extended weekend. And Eli was only majorly freaking out about it.
“Breath, Eli. Remember what Doctor Lake said about overcoming your fears. Wait? Does that mean I’m afraid of Steve? No that’s not it. Oh god. I’m not ready for this.” Eli’s attempts at deep breathing rapidly devolved into quick, desperate gasps for oxygen. “Maybe I can just cancel? Steve would understand. Yeah, that’s it. I’ll just tell him I’ve got a stomach bug and that we’ll have to resched-“
The sound of the doorbell cut off Eli’s spiraling monologue. Steve was here.
“Eli, your friend is here to pick you up!” He could hear his mother calling from downstairs. Was it too late to back out now? Probably. If he didn’t overcome these anxieties now, he never would. And what was he afraid of really? It’s not like Steve would bite. Right?
Eli grabbed his overnight bag off his bed, took one last deep breath, and started down the stairs.
-
“So, this is my room.” Steve shifted his weight from side to side as he waved a hand to display the less-messy-than-usual bedroom.
“Steve, I know. I’ve been in your room before,” Eli replied, not moving from his place in the doorway.
“Right, haha. I knew that, Pepperjack. Just seeing if you remembered.” The boy retracted his hand and scratched the back of his head, trying to play it off as a cool gesture. Totally natural. “So… wanna… make out?”
Eli flushed a bright shade of red instantly. He wasn’t expecting Steve to pop the question so suddenly.
“I mean, we can do something else too. Like uhh I got a new game recently if you wanna do co-op,” Steve quickly added.
“No, no, no. It’s okay,” Eli squeaked. “We can,” he took a deep breath, “we can make out.
Steve smiled and hoisted Eli into a tight hug, lifting the smaller boy off the ground as he twirled them to the bed. “Cool.” He set Eli down with a gentle thud, brushing a loose strand of hair from his forehead. “You know, your glasses are actually pretty cute.”
Eli gave Steve a questioning look. “Really? I’ve had them forever so I don’t really think about how they look. I didn’t even pick out these frames, my mom did,” Eli’s voice dipped down at that last point.
“Ha. You’re kidding.” Steve barked. “Well in that case I don’t feel bad for taking them off.” He gently took off the glasses and placed them on the bedside table.
“I can’t really see much without them,” Eli protested.
“That’s okay. You won’t really need to.” Steve moved his head closer to Eli’s, nuzzling their noses together.
Eli couldn’t bear the anticipation building in his gut anymore. He pushed his lips to Steve’s, pecking him gently on the lips. The taller boy happily accepted the invitation, greedily leaning into the kiss, subsequently thrusting Eli further back into the bed.
Steve’s kisses were hot and messy, but not entirely unpleasant. Actually, if Eli was being entirely honest, Steve’s mouth kind of tasted like toothpaste. The thought of the other boy furiously brushing his teeth in preparation for this made him smile into the kiss.
Steve placed one hand on Eli’s back and the other on the wall beside them, effectively caging in the smaller boy. His kisses became rougher, as if the two could melt together through sheer force alone.
Eli clutched the front of Steve’s shirt, pushing against him gently. His mind was swirling. Were they really going to do this? Shouldn’t they take a step back and think about it first. Take a moment to breathe? That’s when Eli realized he couldn’t breathe. He tried to shake the feelings away. He was okay just a moment ago, what happened?
Steve was nipping at his neck, biting gently while also slipping a hand under Eli’s shirt and everything was going too quickly. Calming breaths. Calming breaths. But Eli couldn’t get the rhythm down. There wasn’t enough oxygen in his lungs. He wanted to tell Steve to stop but there was a lump in his throat blocking anything from coming out.
Steve stilled, noticing that something was off. He pulled back gently and looked at Eli, worry visibly painting his face. “Pepperbuddy? What’s wrong?”
“I- I-“ He gasped for air; hot tears started to spill down his cheeks. “I’m sorry, I-“ he choked on his tears. “I can’t do this. I'm not ready. I’m sorry, Steve.” Eli looked away, embarrassment and shame filling him.
“Eli,” Steve cooed. “Hey, look at me.”
Eli took a tentative glance at Steve. The other boy didn’t look mad, which confused him.
“It’s okay. You have nothing to be sorry for. We don’t have to do anything if you don’t want to.” He flashed Eli a toothy smile.
“Really?” Eli rubbed at his eyes, red and puffy from the tears.
“Really,” Steve affirmed. “Eli, I-” He swallowed. “I love you. I wouldn’t force you into something you weren’t ready for.”
Eli pulled his hands away from his eyes and stared at the other boy in shock. “You… love me?”
Steve looked at a corner of his room as if it were suddenly the most interesting landmark in Arcadia. His face burned with embarrassment. “Dang it, Pepperjack. Don’t make me say it again,” he muttered.
A smile broke across Eli’s face. “I love you too.” He crouched up on his knees and pecked Steve gently on the cheek.
Steve’s head whipped to look at Eli. “Really?”
“Really,” Eli laughed out. His smile was infectious.
“Right we’ll umm… cool. Cool cool cool. That’s cool.” Steve wasn’t sure how to respond. He hadn’t really meant to admit his feelings for Eli so easily. Yeah he had realized he loved Pepperjack ages ago, but he had been trying to maintain a tough guy persona. He was a creepslayer after all.
“Umm… so…” Eli started. He cleared his throat. “If we aren’t going to do… that, umm, did you maybe wanna binge Space Invaders with me? I’ve seen it a couple times before so I don’t mind if we maybe kissed a bit during it...” The second half of his sentence trailed off to a whisper.
Wow. Steve really and truly loved this dork. He clutched Eli’s hand and looked him directly in the eyes. “I’d love that.”