Fic: Ties that Bind
Title: Ties that Bind
Story Rating: PG-13
Fandom: Hollyoaks
Pairing: Ste/Brendan
Word Count: 2558 words
Disclaimer: I don't own the folk in Chester. If I did, Hollyoaks wouldn't be shown pre-watershed.
Summary: When Ste gets an unexpected visit from his mother and his stepfather, he comes to realise that blood isn't always thicker than water.
Notes: For the ste_brendan Family Prompt.
Link:
~*~ ~*~ ~*~
Ties that Bind
~*~ ~*~ ~*~
The last time they had forced themselves into Ste’s life, Ste had truly hoped it was the last time.
Back then they had showed up unannounced and had not only frightened Amy and the then baby Leah but Trevor had beaten Ste to an inch of his life.
Ste had remembered locking himself in the bathroom afterwards and glaring hatefully at his reflection in the mirror, his eyes bruised and his bloodied lip almost fluorescent against his pale skin.
Never again, he had told himself. He would never let them into his life again. And for years, he hadn't.
Then he got the phone call.
It had been innocent enough, just a name flashing up on the screen of his mobile phone but it had been enough to spook him into immediately rejecting it, his palms cold and sweaty.
Ste wasn't sure why he hadn't deleted her number. He was even less sure why he had it in the first place. All he knew was seeing that screen light up had pushed every bad memory from his childhood back into the forefront of his mind.
Deleting all trace of the call, he tried to forget about it and headed off to work but throughout his shift it constantly niggled at the back of his mind and the phone in his back pocket began to feel like a ticking time bomb ready to explode at any given moment.
He was shaken. He was distracted. He was tense. So, naturally, Brendan noticed.
"Problem?" Brendan had asked smoothly, somehow materialising behind Ste without him noticing. Already on edge, Ste jumped with surprise, dropping the glass in his hand with a loud smash!
"Are you trying to do me in?!" Ste demanded.
Brendan cocked his head and looked between Ste and the remains of the glass by their feet. He then raked his eyes from Ste’s feet up to his face, his mouth twitching with amusement. The intensity of the gaze made Ste’s entire body grow hot.
"This?" Brendan said, pointing at the mess. "Coming out of your wages. Now what's wrong?"
"Like you care," Ste snapped petulantly, hunkering down with a dustpan and brush and vehemently cleaning the mess.
“Careful, Stephen, language like that might hurt my feelings,” Brendan drawled warningly as he stood over him. Unwrapping a fresh stick of chewing gum, he dropped the wrapper on the floor by Ste with a fake “Oops” then folded the gum into his mouth. “So.” He chewed on it, looking rather smug. ”You're looking tired there, mate. Sleep deprivation, is it? Amy and her wee fella keeping you up all night? Newlyweds, eh. They're insatiable."
“Oh, just leave it, will you?” Ste sniped, sweeping up the wrapper with the rest of the broken glass. A vibration in his pocket, however, made him freeze, his face paling.
Scrambling for his phone, Ste flipped it open with fumbling fingers.
Can you pick up some milk after work? x
It was only Amy. He let out the breath he didn't even know he had been holding.
"Expecting a phone call, are yeh?"
Brendan was casually tracing his finger across a knot pattern on the bar, trying to look blasé.
Ste had almost forgotten he was still there.
Snapping shut his phone, Ste slipped it back into his pocket.
"No," he said shortly as he picked up his dustpan and brush again and carried on sweeping.
Brendan stepped forward and his inability to respect personal space - as well as the fact that his crotch was suddenly inches away from Ste’s face - made Ste open his mouth slightly with surprise.
“ ‘Not interrupting anything, am I, ladies?” Warren Fox had emerged out of the office door, looking exceptionally pleased with himself as he took in their positions. “Because the books need looking at. That is if you can tear yourself away." He leered knowingly at Brendan before giving him a mocking sort of wink.
Brendan stepped back and Ste found himself feeling a weird sense of loss. “You're a funny guy, Foxy,” Brendan said drolly, following the man into the office but not before throwing the briefest of parting looks back at Ste. For a second Ste could have sworn he saw a flash of concern but it was gone in an instant. "Try not to break anything else, there’s a good lad," Brendan said dismissively before stepping inside.
Warren just nodded at Ste, still horribly amused.
"Ratboy," he acknowledged in passing before closing the door behind them.
Staring at the door and feeling irked, frustrated and annoyingly turned on, Ste came to the conclusion that Brendan Brady was the most infuriating person on the planet.
Which, of course, was the moment Ste's mother and his stepfather walked up the steps of Chez Chez and made him withdraw that statement in record time.
To say Ste was unhappy would have been an understatement. He was reeling.
Disorientated, he stumbled back, his back hitting the bar. A phone call was one thing; seeing them in the flesh was infinitely worse.
"What you doing here?" Ste demanded, hearing a shake in his voice and hating himself for still having an emotional reaction to them.
They looked the same. Ste didn't know why he expected them not to. Maybe it was because he was so different now, almost unrecognisable from that angry youth he once was.
Pauline, on the other hand, hadn't changed. Perhaps she looked a little larger and more ruddy-faced than she had been but she was ultimately the same, from her ragged choice in clothing right down to the brand of beer clutched in her chubby fingers.
Terry also seemed to be trapped in time, his eyes just as piercing and full of revulsion as they had always been when they looked at Ste.
For some reason, this made Ste square his shoulders.
"I said 'what you doing here'?" he demanded, his voice stronger.
"Well, isn't that a warm welcome?" Terry had asked Pauline, his sarcasm deceptively light. "After all we've done for this little scrote and this is how he treats his parents?"
Ste breathed hard through his nose, his heart pounding like a drum inside his chest. He could see a tiny red spot flashing in the corner of his eye. In the past it would have spread its way across his vision, painting everything red until he couldn't see anything else.
But Ste wasn’t that boy anymore.
"Say what you've come here to say then do one, alright?" he said, steeling his voice as much as he could as he grabbed a crate off the table. "I've got me shift to finish."
"Would you get him," Terry said, sounding spitefully amused as he jabbed a thumb at Ste. "Big career man can't take a minute for his family."
"You are NOT my family," Ste spat out with loathing, slamming the crate down on the bar loud enough to leave a mark.
“Please, love,” Pauline finally spoke up, looking like something that had been crumpled up and left in someone's pocket. “Don’t talk like that."
" 'Love'?" Ste repeated, letting out a dry and ugly laugh that he hardly recognised. "You lot don't know the meaning of love. So what’s it you've come here for, eh? Money? Well, you're not getting out off me so clear off."
"You want to give us more respect, boy," Terry said threateningly, his fists clenched as he moved forward.
"Terry, don't..." Pauline said a little meekly but she immediately cowered when he turned on her, curling in on herself.
" 'Terry, don't!' " he simpered shrilly, mocking her voice as his face hovered menacingly close to hers. The vein in his forehead was pulsing as he bared his teeth. "Don't what? Beat some manners into the little shit? Maybe if I'd hit him harder he wouldn't have turned out like this. All high and mighty, acting like he’s above us just because he’s got himself a fancy job. You spoilt him, that’s how this happened. This is your fault!”
"I just... I just thought maybe he could help us..." she whimpered, backing up as he advanced on her.
"We don't need his help, you fat, stupid little-"
Terry raised his hand. Before he even realised he had done it, Ste had leapt across the bar and grabbed Terry’s wrist.
"Get away from her!” he bellowed. “You don’t touch her! D’ya hear me?!”
What transpired next happened so fast that Ste couldn’t entirely fathom how it did. One minute Ste and Terry were scuffling, the next Terry was lying headfirst on the bar with Brendan’s fist twisted in his hair.
Eyes bulging, Brendan looked slightly insane.
“Terry!” Pauline cried out in horror but Brendan didn't seem to notice this. He looked as though he had forgotten anyone else was in the room.
“ 'Makes yeh feel like a big man, does it? Hitting a woman?” Brendan sneered down at Terry, his other hand twisting Terry’s arm painfully behind his back.
“Brendan...” Ste said worriedly, wondering how long Brendan had been listening but Brendan’s eyes stayed fixed on Terry, as though seeing another face there.
“ 'Feel a rush, doncha?" he hissed, his voice dangerous as his eyes glittered. "Scaring yer kids? Beating them to make you feel like a real man? Because that's all you wanna be, ain’t it? A real man?"
“Get the hell off me!” Terry snarled, struggling in Brendan’s grasp but Brendan was much too strong, his extra height making him tower over Terry. Terry had obviously realised this was a fight he wasn't going to win because he suddenly had a look of panic on his face that Ste had never seen before.
It was the most satisfying thing Ste had ever seen in his life.
“Do something!” Pauline pleaded at Ste desperately, pulling at his arm. Tears streaked down her round cheeks and Ste found she looked remarkably like an oversized baby. It was a pathetic image to be confronted with and it made Ste pull his arm out from her grasp viciously.
“What, like you did when he was battering me?” he challenged bitterly.
“I didn’t have a choice!” she sobbed pitifully. “You know what he’s like! If you didn’t push him, if you didn’t bring it on yourself-”
“Get out,” Ste hissed out, his hands trembling with rage. “I mean it, get out, both of you!”
“You heard the man," Brendan said, chewing hard on his gum as he yanked Terry up by his hair. He pushed his face close to Terry's and let out a terrifying sort of smile that would make the average person shiver. He then threw Terry aside by the hair and Ste watched as his stepfather stumbled to the ground, his face red with mortification. Pauline immediately ran to his side with concern but Terry pushed her off angrily as he focused back on Ste.
"We'll be seeing you, son. Mark my words," Terry rasped at Ste, the threat in his voice less impactful as he wheezed out his words. Brendan, who was still keyed up and bouncing on his toes, made a leap towards Terry at this but Ste grabbed him before he could do any further damage, his hands on his chest. Looking terrified, Terry hurried down the stairs, taking Pauline with him but not before she turned back and stared at Ste with such loathing that it winded him.
"You always were a disappointment," she slurred out spitefully, tear tracks still gleaming on her face. "I wish you'd never been born."
She then turned on her heel and descended loudly down the stairs. A few seconds later, the door slammed shut with a ringing finality and then there was silence.
Ste waited for a minute before grabbing the railings shakily and sliding down to sit on the steps leading out of the club. An irritating prickle began to twitch in the corner of his eye. He felt numb inside.
“Want to talk about it?” Brendan eventually asked after five minutes of quiet. He unstoppered a decanter loudly and began to pour himself a drink.
“No.” Ste wiped at his eye angrily, hating himself for showing weakness in front of Brendan. He then sniffed and looked at Brendan through watery eyes. “... Do you?”
A tick went off in Brendan’s cheek but he didn’t say anything. Ste took his silence as a refusal. Wiping his nose on the cuff of his sleeve, Ste let out a humorless laugh.
“It’s funny, in’t it?”
Brendan, who had lifted his glass to his lips, paused to look at him, his face puzzled.
“What’s funny?” he asked.
“Us,” Ste said simply, gesturing almost sadly between them. “How could I have ever thought we could work when we’re both so screwed up?”
Brendan didn’t say anything to this. He just let out a deep exhale and eased himself onto the step beside Ste. Taking a swig of his whiskey, he then handed it wordlessly over to Ste.
Ste took it and sipped, hiccoughing slightly as it burned down his throat. It brought some artificial warmth into his chest and blurred things at the edges. He could see why Brendan liked drinking it. It made the world look less grotesque than it actually was.
They were quiet for a few moments, sitting side by side in a comfortable silence, before Ste finally broke the silence.
“Do you reckon I deserve to be hit?” he asked softly.
Brendan, who had been drinking, almost choked on his drink. Coughing, he wiped his mouth, looking incredulous.
“No!” he spluttered, looking at Ste with shocked eyes. “What the- No, ‘course not.”
“You used to say it,” Ste pointed out.
“I know but-” Brendan sighed before pinching the bridge of his nose between his forefinger and thumb. Closing his eyes, a grumble-like noise sounded from the back of his throat. “I say a lot of things, Stephen. You shouldn’t listen to it all.”
“Terry said it, too,” Ste said, thinking aloud. He was babbling slightly but he couldn’t stop himself. “And my mum. Said I had it coming, asked for it. I didn’t think they were right but then I met you and thought maybe... maybe they had had it right the whole time.”
Brendan didn’t say anything to this but Ste could feel him stiffen beside him. Sighing, Ste felt himself droop against Brendan’s shoulder.
“Do you reckon some kids are born bad?” he murmured against Brendan’s collar.
“No,” Brendan said shortly but he soon relaxed under the pressure of Ste’s head on his shoulder.
Ste didn’t know how long they sat there on the steps of Chez Chez, his breathing quiet as he leaned against Brendan but it was as Brendan’s lips pressed against his temple that he suddenly came to realise how utterly broken they both were.
Lifting his head, he caught Brendan's eye, which looked uncharacteristically soft in the low light.
"What?" Brendan asked, confused but Ste just shook his head.
"Nothing," he said, burrowing his face back into Brendan's neck.
They really were broken. But maybe together, they could try and salvage whatever was left in tact.
Finis
Story Rating: PG-13
Fandom: Hollyoaks
Pairing: Ste/Brendan
Word Count: 2558 words
Disclaimer: I don't own the folk in Chester. If I did, Hollyoaks wouldn't be shown pre-watershed.
Summary: When Ste gets an unexpected visit from his mother and his stepfather, he comes to realise that blood isn't always thicker than water.
Notes: For the ste_brendan Family Prompt.
Link:
~*~ ~*~ ~*~
Ties that Bind
~*~ ~*~ ~*~
The last time they had forced themselves into Ste’s life, Ste had truly hoped it was the last time.
Back then they had showed up unannounced and had not only frightened Amy and the then baby Leah but Trevor had beaten Ste to an inch of his life.
Ste had remembered locking himself in the bathroom afterwards and glaring hatefully at his reflection in the mirror, his eyes bruised and his bloodied lip almost fluorescent against his pale skin.
Never again, he had told himself. He would never let them into his life again. And for years, he hadn't.
Then he got the phone call.
It had been innocent enough, just a name flashing up on the screen of his mobile phone but it had been enough to spook him into immediately rejecting it, his palms cold and sweaty.
Ste wasn't sure why he hadn't deleted her number. He was even less sure why he had it in the first place. All he knew was seeing that screen light up had pushed every bad memory from his childhood back into the forefront of his mind.
Deleting all trace of the call, he tried to forget about it and headed off to work but throughout his shift it constantly niggled at the back of his mind and the phone in his back pocket began to feel like a ticking time bomb ready to explode at any given moment.
He was shaken. He was distracted. He was tense. So, naturally, Brendan noticed.
"Problem?" Brendan had asked smoothly, somehow materialising behind Ste without him noticing. Already on edge, Ste jumped with surprise, dropping the glass in his hand with a loud smash!
"Are you trying to do me in?!" Ste demanded.
Brendan cocked his head and looked between Ste and the remains of the glass by their feet. He then raked his eyes from Ste’s feet up to his face, his mouth twitching with amusement. The intensity of the gaze made Ste’s entire body grow hot.
"This?" Brendan said, pointing at the mess. "Coming out of your wages. Now what's wrong?"
"Like you care," Ste snapped petulantly, hunkering down with a dustpan and brush and vehemently cleaning the mess.
“Careful, Stephen, language like that might hurt my feelings,” Brendan drawled warningly as he stood over him. Unwrapping a fresh stick of chewing gum, he dropped the wrapper on the floor by Ste with a fake “Oops” then folded the gum into his mouth. “So.” He chewed on it, looking rather smug. ”You're looking tired there, mate. Sleep deprivation, is it? Amy and her wee fella keeping you up all night? Newlyweds, eh. They're insatiable."
“Oh, just leave it, will you?” Ste sniped, sweeping up the wrapper with the rest of the broken glass. A vibration in his pocket, however, made him freeze, his face paling.
Scrambling for his phone, Ste flipped it open with fumbling fingers.
Can you pick up some milk after work? x
It was only Amy. He let out the breath he didn't even know he had been holding.
"Expecting a phone call, are yeh?"
Brendan was casually tracing his finger across a knot pattern on the bar, trying to look blasé.
Ste had almost forgotten he was still there.
Snapping shut his phone, Ste slipped it back into his pocket.
"No," he said shortly as he picked up his dustpan and brush again and carried on sweeping.
Brendan stepped forward and his inability to respect personal space - as well as the fact that his crotch was suddenly inches away from Ste’s face - made Ste open his mouth slightly with surprise.
“ ‘Not interrupting anything, am I, ladies?” Warren Fox had emerged out of the office door, looking exceptionally pleased with himself as he took in their positions. “Because the books need looking at. That is if you can tear yourself away." He leered knowingly at Brendan before giving him a mocking sort of wink.
Brendan stepped back and Ste found himself feeling a weird sense of loss. “You're a funny guy, Foxy,” Brendan said drolly, following the man into the office but not before throwing the briefest of parting looks back at Ste. For a second Ste could have sworn he saw a flash of concern but it was gone in an instant. "Try not to break anything else, there’s a good lad," Brendan said dismissively before stepping inside.
Warren just nodded at Ste, still horribly amused.
"Ratboy," he acknowledged in passing before closing the door behind them.
Staring at the door and feeling irked, frustrated and annoyingly turned on, Ste came to the conclusion that Brendan Brady was the most infuriating person on the planet.
Which, of course, was the moment Ste's mother and his stepfather walked up the steps of Chez Chez and made him withdraw that statement in record time.
To say Ste was unhappy would have been an understatement. He was reeling.
Disorientated, he stumbled back, his back hitting the bar. A phone call was one thing; seeing them in the flesh was infinitely worse.
"What you doing here?" Ste demanded, hearing a shake in his voice and hating himself for still having an emotional reaction to them.
They looked the same. Ste didn't know why he expected them not to. Maybe it was because he was so different now, almost unrecognisable from that angry youth he once was.
Pauline, on the other hand, hadn't changed. Perhaps she looked a little larger and more ruddy-faced than she had been but she was ultimately the same, from her ragged choice in clothing right down to the brand of beer clutched in her chubby fingers.
Terry also seemed to be trapped in time, his eyes just as piercing and full of revulsion as they had always been when they looked at Ste.
For some reason, this made Ste square his shoulders.
"I said 'what you doing here'?" he demanded, his voice stronger.
"Well, isn't that a warm welcome?" Terry had asked Pauline, his sarcasm deceptively light. "After all we've done for this little scrote and this is how he treats his parents?"
Ste breathed hard through his nose, his heart pounding like a drum inside his chest. He could see a tiny red spot flashing in the corner of his eye. In the past it would have spread its way across his vision, painting everything red until he couldn't see anything else.
But Ste wasn’t that boy anymore.
"Say what you've come here to say then do one, alright?" he said, steeling his voice as much as he could as he grabbed a crate off the table. "I've got me shift to finish."
"Would you get him," Terry said, sounding spitefully amused as he jabbed a thumb at Ste. "Big career man can't take a minute for his family."
"You are NOT my family," Ste spat out with loathing, slamming the crate down on the bar loud enough to leave a mark.
“Please, love,” Pauline finally spoke up, looking like something that had been crumpled up and left in someone's pocket. “Don’t talk like that."
" 'Love'?" Ste repeated, letting out a dry and ugly laugh that he hardly recognised. "You lot don't know the meaning of love. So what’s it you've come here for, eh? Money? Well, you're not getting out off me so clear off."
"You want to give us more respect, boy," Terry said threateningly, his fists clenched as he moved forward.
"Terry, don't..." Pauline said a little meekly but she immediately cowered when he turned on her, curling in on herself.
" 'Terry, don't!' " he simpered shrilly, mocking her voice as his face hovered menacingly close to hers. The vein in his forehead was pulsing as he bared his teeth. "Don't what? Beat some manners into the little shit? Maybe if I'd hit him harder he wouldn't have turned out like this. All high and mighty, acting like he’s above us just because he’s got himself a fancy job. You spoilt him, that’s how this happened. This is your fault!”
"I just... I just thought maybe he could help us..." she whimpered, backing up as he advanced on her.
"We don't need his help, you fat, stupid little-"
Terry raised his hand. Before he even realised he had done it, Ste had leapt across the bar and grabbed Terry’s wrist.
"Get away from her!” he bellowed. “You don’t touch her! D’ya hear me?!”
What transpired next happened so fast that Ste couldn’t entirely fathom how it did. One minute Ste and Terry were scuffling, the next Terry was lying headfirst on the bar with Brendan’s fist twisted in his hair.
Eyes bulging, Brendan looked slightly insane.
“Terry!” Pauline cried out in horror but Brendan didn't seem to notice this. He looked as though he had forgotten anyone else was in the room.
“ 'Makes yeh feel like a big man, does it? Hitting a woman?” Brendan sneered down at Terry, his other hand twisting Terry’s arm painfully behind his back.
“Brendan...” Ste said worriedly, wondering how long Brendan had been listening but Brendan’s eyes stayed fixed on Terry, as though seeing another face there.
“ 'Feel a rush, doncha?" he hissed, his voice dangerous as his eyes glittered. "Scaring yer kids? Beating them to make you feel like a real man? Because that's all you wanna be, ain’t it? A real man?"
“Get the hell off me!” Terry snarled, struggling in Brendan’s grasp but Brendan was much too strong, his extra height making him tower over Terry. Terry had obviously realised this was a fight he wasn't going to win because he suddenly had a look of panic on his face that Ste had never seen before.
It was the most satisfying thing Ste had ever seen in his life.
“Do something!” Pauline pleaded at Ste desperately, pulling at his arm. Tears streaked down her round cheeks and Ste found she looked remarkably like an oversized baby. It was a pathetic image to be confronted with and it made Ste pull his arm out from her grasp viciously.
“What, like you did when he was battering me?” he challenged bitterly.
“I didn’t have a choice!” she sobbed pitifully. “You know what he’s like! If you didn’t push him, if you didn’t bring it on yourself-”
“Get out,” Ste hissed out, his hands trembling with rage. “I mean it, get out, both of you!”
“You heard the man," Brendan said, chewing hard on his gum as he yanked Terry up by his hair. He pushed his face close to Terry's and let out a terrifying sort of smile that would make the average person shiver. He then threw Terry aside by the hair and Ste watched as his stepfather stumbled to the ground, his face red with mortification. Pauline immediately ran to his side with concern but Terry pushed her off angrily as he focused back on Ste.
"We'll be seeing you, son. Mark my words," Terry rasped at Ste, the threat in his voice less impactful as he wheezed out his words. Brendan, who was still keyed up and bouncing on his toes, made a leap towards Terry at this but Ste grabbed him before he could do any further damage, his hands on his chest. Looking terrified, Terry hurried down the stairs, taking Pauline with him but not before she turned back and stared at Ste with such loathing that it winded him.
"You always were a disappointment," she slurred out spitefully, tear tracks still gleaming on her face. "I wish you'd never been born."
She then turned on her heel and descended loudly down the stairs. A few seconds later, the door slammed shut with a ringing finality and then there was silence.
Ste waited for a minute before grabbing the railings shakily and sliding down to sit on the steps leading out of the club. An irritating prickle began to twitch in the corner of his eye. He felt numb inside.
“Want to talk about it?” Brendan eventually asked after five minutes of quiet. He unstoppered a decanter loudly and began to pour himself a drink.
“No.” Ste wiped at his eye angrily, hating himself for showing weakness in front of Brendan. He then sniffed and looked at Brendan through watery eyes. “... Do you?”
A tick went off in Brendan’s cheek but he didn’t say anything. Ste took his silence as a refusal. Wiping his nose on the cuff of his sleeve, Ste let out a humorless laugh.
“It’s funny, in’t it?”
Brendan, who had lifted his glass to his lips, paused to look at him, his face puzzled.
“What’s funny?” he asked.
“Us,” Ste said simply, gesturing almost sadly between them. “How could I have ever thought we could work when we’re both so screwed up?”
Brendan didn’t say anything to this. He just let out a deep exhale and eased himself onto the step beside Ste. Taking a swig of his whiskey, he then handed it wordlessly over to Ste.
Ste took it and sipped, hiccoughing slightly as it burned down his throat. It brought some artificial warmth into his chest and blurred things at the edges. He could see why Brendan liked drinking it. It made the world look less grotesque than it actually was.
They were quiet for a few moments, sitting side by side in a comfortable silence, before Ste finally broke the silence.
“Do you reckon I deserve to be hit?” he asked softly.
Brendan, who had been drinking, almost choked on his drink. Coughing, he wiped his mouth, looking incredulous.
“No!” he spluttered, looking at Ste with shocked eyes. “What the- No, ‘course not.”
“You used to say it,” Ste pointed out.
“I know but-” Brendan sighed before pinching the bridge of his nose between his forefinger and thumb. Closing his eyes, a grumble-like noise sounded from the back of his throat. “I say a lot of things, Stephen. You shouldn’t listen to it all.”
“Terry said it, too,” Ste said, thinking aloud. He was babbling slightly but he couldn’t stop himself. “And my mum. Said I had it coming, asked for it. I didn’t think they were right but then I met you and thought maybe... maybe they had had it right the whole time.”
Brendan didn’t say anything to this but Ste could feel him stiffen beside him. Sighing, Ste felt himself droop against Brendan’s shoulder.
“Do you reckon some kids are born bad?” he murmured against Brendan’s collar.
“No,” Brendan said shortly but he soon relaxed under the pressure of Ste’s head on his shoulder.
Ste didn’t know how long they sat there on the steps of Chez Chez, his breathing quiet as he leaned against Brendan but it was as Brendan’s lips pressed against his temple that he suddenly came to realise how utterly broken they both were.
Lifting his head, he caught Brendan's eye, which looked uncharacteristically soft in the low light.
"What?" Brendan asked, confused but Ste just shook his head.
"Nothing," he said, burrowing his face back into Brendan's neck.
They really were broken. But maybe together, they could try and salvage whatever was left in tact.
Finis