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"enough is enough, steve. why are you avoiding me?" steve pause and looks at eddie with a confused face.
"i beg your pardon?"
eddie roll his eyes. it's been three days since they actually had spoken to each other. steve is always making excuses and exiting places when eddie is entering them. it's annoying and kinda childish.
"dude, come on. are you mad at me? upset? you can tell me if i said something stupid. i do that sometimes." steve is toying with his shirt and not exactly looking at his boyfriend.
well, not exactly boyfriend.
they haven't had the talk yet. i mean, not the sex talk. the other one.
"i'm just.. busy, eds. i'm not purposely avoiding you. i don't know, i have a lot in my mind lately."
eddie gets that. he knows the other is working a lot since robin went to college, he is covering all of her shifts until keith found someone to replace her. the thing is: the guy is picky! it's been at least two weeks and he just keep saying 'no!' to every person who wants the job. steve is slowly going nuts. he has dreams where he punches keith in his face and quit his job.
"i know. i'm sorry for coming at you. i just feel like everytime we had encountered each other this week is for accident, i don't know." eddie smiles weakly.
steve sighs and look at everything in the store except eddie. he looks at the tape in the balcony. it's the movie he and eddie were watching when they kissed for the first time. steve feels his heart sink a little. "i lied." he blurts out and eddie looks at him.
"what?"
"i lied. i am avoiding you in purpose. i'm so sorry!" eddie is anxious now. yeah, he knew something was up.
"okay. why?" he says dryly.
"i don't know, i just.. i think i should just say it."
"oh my god, you don't want to see me anymore, that's it?" eddie's holding back his tears now and steve starts panicking a little.
"no! you're wrong! oh my god, eddie!!" his eyes were huge with fear now. "please, don't think that, it's something totally different, it's quite the opposite!"
"the opposite?" eddie asks confused. steve is unreadable now, toying with his shirt again.
"why is this so hard??" he sighs dramatically. "eddie, look, i have something to say to you. it's quite huge but at the same time is just three little words. this is so stupid."
"what? steve, what the fuck are you talking about?" now he's just annoyed. steve's talking nonsense.
"i'm scared that my three little words are going to destroy our three months!" he seemed panicked again. "don't you get it, eddie? i'm scared."
"okay, you're scared of what?"
"of losing you. i'm scared that my feelings are too big and that you're going to run away from me. you're going to leave."
"i would never leave you. i'm not even kidding, harrington, you're stuck with me." eddie reaches for the other boy's hand, trying to comfort him. steve let him.
steve sighs and looks at eddie's face.
"i love you."
"oh."
"yeah, oh."
there's an awkward silence where eddie tries to process this new information and steve tries really hard to not run away.
"it's okay if you don't feel the same. i understand that it's hard being with me sometimes, i don't know.."
"shh, shut your mouth, harrington."
eddie kisses him. just a quick peck in his lips.
"why were you scared of telling me this?"
"i don't know, it's complicated. everytime i think of loving you i get scared that you will reject me. and then i feel weak for feeling scared, and this makes me wanna cry. and then i remember my dad telling me that boys don't fucking cry and then i remember how much i hate my dad and this makes me think of how much i love you, and then i'm scared again. see? it's a fucking cycle, man."
eddie laugh. he's really laughing and steve roll his eyes because why the fuck is he laughing? what's so funny about steve's insecurities?
"i'm sorry, i'm sorry. it's just so funny that you really thought i was going to reject you. i spent years crushing on you, dude. i memorized every freckle in your stupid and beautiful face. i count the hours to see you after school. i came here thinking you never wanted to see me again."
okay, now steve was really confused. does that means that eddie love him back?
"you're saying what i think you're saying?"
eddie smiles.
"yeah, idiot. i love you too. so fucking much."
steve is fully kissing him now. the kiss is salty because steve is crying. eddie don't mind it.
he thinks it's sweet.