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“I had a good time tonight,” the ginger woman before him spoke, her voice sweet and gentle. He’d hate to ever break her.
“Does that mean I’ve earned a second date?” Steve questioned, a little smile on his face amidst the vague cockiness that plagued him.
“I can do Saturday next week.”
“I’ll pick you up at seven then.”
He escorted her back to the cab she’d ordered and closed the car door once she was in. He was eager to prove that he was good boyfriend material, and she seemed to be happy with that. The two waved each other goodbye before she was out of sight, and he walked his way back home.
Steve had been living with Garrett, his best mate, ever since he was taken back to Earth. The others lived together down the street, so they could always meet up and hang out easily. It was a good arrangement, he figured.
Closing the door behind him to their shared home, he was greeted by the face of Garrett on the living room couch. He was playing some kind of First Person Shooter game.
“How’d it go?” Garrett asked him, turning his focus back to the game in front of him.
“It went good! Her name’s Alex, she’s sweet, she’s a Christian woman, and she’s an architect,” Steve told him excitedly, going over to the other man and sitting down beside him. “I scored a second date for next week.”
“Good on you,” Garrett huffed out a supportive laugh, giving him a fist bump. “I think you’ve earned yourself a beer tonight.”
“Or maybe a couple?”
“Maybe.”
—
It was more than a couple, and more than a maybe. Steve was positively smashed, and so was his friend.
“Anyways, yeah, those are my opinions on child labour and my solutions for overpopulation,” Garrett shrugged, having just spent the last twenty minutes on those exact topics. Both of them must’ve been on their fifth can of bourbon by now, maybe sixth, who knows?
“You’re so interesting,” Steve told him, looking over at his beloved friend. The two of them were sitting on the floor together for God-knows-what-reason.
“Yeah, I know.”
The two of them just laughed together for a bit, making dumb faces at each other and inappropriate hand gestures. They just couldn’t stop cracking up at each other.
“Can I ask about when you got all religious? Like did your parents force it onto you or did you take it up when you were sent to the overworld?” Garrett asked him, breaking the series of laughter between them. Steve looked down at his cross, fiddling with it for a second.
“My parents were Christian, so I grew up the same way,” Steve answered him, the other nodding in understanding.
“So you believe all the rules or whatever? Like marriage before sex, and being gay is a sin?”
Steve thought about what he was asking. This was an awkward conversation, so he was subconsciously a little glad they were both drunk. “Yeah.”
“You’ve never thought about a dude that way before?” Garrett added to his pile of questions, and suddenly couldn’t remember if they had been sitting this close to each other earlier.
“Are you asking because you’re curious about my answer, or are you asking for yourself?”
Steve’s response resulted in a few seconds of silence between the two. It was almost hard to breathe in there with how thick the tension was. Then, Garrett’s drunken brain got the better of him.
He kissed Steve.
He didn’t pull away immediately, and Garrett could’ve sworn he began to kiss him back, but it didn’t last very long. He knew it wouldn’t, but he had gone through with it regardless.
“Goodnight, Gar-Gar,” Steve muttered, pushing himself to stand upright. He stumbled a little bit before walking into his room and closing the door behind him.
The other man sighed once he was out of his line of sight, picking up his can of bourbon and taking yet another swig. He felt like crying, but he knew he couldn’t bring himself to do that. He had too big of an ego to cry, even when nobody was looking.
—
The following week had gone from vaguely awkward, to back-to-normal in no time. It was as if the two of them hadn’t shared a kiss whatsoever. Nobody else knew about it as far as he knew, and that’s all that mattered. He prayed for forgiveness, and could feel it within his stomach. He was okay.
He found himself at a karaoke bar with Alex for their second date. The two of them were having fun, doing shots and going on stage to sing basic white girl music together. They were having a really good time, and he could feel himself falling in love with her.
Steve, hearing the door swing open, followed up by chatter, looked back. Garrett, Henry, Natalie and Dawn all came into the karaoke bar. Shit, he thought.
“Steve? This is such a big coincidence, we didn’t know you’d be here,” Garrett spoke up first upon spotting their good friend.
“I didn’t know you guys were hanging out tonight,” Steve mentioned, fairly surprised to see his friends arrive here of all places. It made sense, he supposed. “Uh, guys, this is Alex. Alex, these are my friends.”
They introduced themselves to each other, exchanging handshakes and whatnot. The people who were on the stage finished their song and walked off, joining the bar for a drink.
“Steve, let’s go on,” Garrett urged him, practically dragging him up there. Steve laughed and agreed without a second thought. They were friends, and they loved to sing together. It was their thing.
The bar cheered at the sight of the two men, knowing who they were. They’d done karaoke here and at Garrett’s retro game store hundreds of times before. Plus, it was a small town after all; everybody knew everybody.
Garrett was the one to choose a song, he was the leader, always and forever. “Let’s do our jam,” he said, selecting the rock’n’roll version of I Think I Love You by The Partridge Family. Steve loved this song and he knew it.
So, there the two of them were, duo singing their hearts out to a dumb love song. Their friends were cheering them on, along with some of the other drunken adults in the bar. Alex just looked awkward, like she was trying to be supportive but couldn’t quite get it. Steve figured she was just a little nervous around all these new people.
Once Steve and Garrett were done with the song, they laughed together. It was always nice to see the other have fun. They got off the stage and excitedly talked with their good friends.
That’s when Steve noticed that Alex wasn’t in the bar anymore.
—
Steve went home early that night after he’d caught up with Alex and the two of them had a big talk.
Garrett came home at 11, visibly drunk off his ass again. “You should’ve stayed longer. Tonight was fun,” he told the other man, who walked right up to him. Steve pushed him, breaking him out of his giggly state.
“You knew I was on a date there. Is this what you’re gonna do? You’re just gonna ruin my chances of settling down with someone else because you’re in love with me?” Steve argued.
“Woah, woah, woah, what happened?” The other man asked, raising his hands slightly in surrender.
“Alex said she doesn’t wanna see me anymore.”
“Huh? Why?”
“Because she thinks I’m in love with you!” Steve had to look away from him after that, running a hand through his own hair to try and calm down. Just thinking about it was making his blood boil. “I can’t keep doing this, Gar-Gar.”
Garret knew what that meant, and he didn’t like it. He gently grabbed his friend’s arm. “Don’t leave me,” he said, being serious for once in his life. He didn’t want him to go.
“I need to move out.”
“Don’t. I need you, Steve,” Garrett turned him around, making him face him; to see how desperate he was. “I love you.”
“Don’t say that,” Steve shook his head.
“I love you.”
“You can’t.”
Garrett placed his hand on the side of Steve’s face, toying around gently with his hair. How could a beautiful man like him be so blind to what he could have? His hand trailed down, falling to the cross around his neck. “I love you.”
He shook his head again. “The kiss meant nothing,” Steve told him, not even realising how soft spoken he was now. Something about the taller man calmed him down. He could never stay mad at him.
“It meant everything.”
Garrett leaned in, their lips pressing together sweetly; lovingly. This time, Steve did not pull away from him, he couldn’t, he needed this. Their bodies pressed together, Steve kissing the man back once again.
“This is wrong,” Steve muttered once the kiss ended, resting his head against the other man’s chest. Garrett’s hand rubbed his back gently.
“It’ll feel wrong at first, but it’ll get better,” Garrett told him, wanting to make sure he felt heard and understood. He knew that his religion was dear to him — it kept him sane through the Overworld. Nothing was going to change that.
“We can’t be together. Not yet.”
“But you’ll stay?”
Steve thought about it for a few seconds, looking back up at the man before him. He knew he couldn’t leave him, so he just nodded. “Yeah, I’ll stay.”