𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐞

THIRTY-FIVE: the end.

     

      IN THE morning, James and Steve had some breakfast quickly and before the two left for work, James stopped Steve by the door. "I love you too." He told him truthfully making the shorter smile wider. "I know." He shrugged then leaned up, pressing a soft kiss to his lips. James chuckled, leaning down for more as Steve pulls back, "I'm gonna be late."

"Then be late." James insisted, connecting their lips again and Steve just laughed against his lips. "James, if we both lose our jobs already within, like, the second day, we won't have money for rent." He said as he now pushed James back gently and the taller sighed. "You're right..." He nods softly.

Steve goes over, opening the door to find Robin there, her body completely still and she's staring in one spot. "You two boned!" She exclaimed and Steve covers her mouth right away. "We have paper thin walls." He whispers and she pushes his arm away. "Then I feel bad for your neighbours, Nancy says you're a loud grunter." She says and Steve grimaces before making a grossed out vomit noise. "Don't talk about me to your girlfriend." He tells her and James laughs. "See you after 5, Stevie."

He leaves ahead of them as Robin looks at Steve. "See? I told you... meant to be. You two ending up at NYU was not a coincidence." She said smugly as she crossed her arms and he rolls his eyes. "Come on, let's grab coffee before you drop me off at the firm."

At work, James went about his day and then around the last period of school, it was his free day and he was relaxing in his classroom when someone walked by and stopped. "James?" He looked over and sure enough, Eddie's in the doorway, just staring at him. "Hey..." He smiled faintly and Eddie walked in. "You're the new english teacher?" He sounds a bit taken back and James just softly nods.

"It was either this or publishing my own work but, uh, I figured this was the easiest first." He shrugs and Eddie approached the desk. "Ah... yeah, I get that. I'm working here for now before I can open up my own shop." He says as he sits on one of the student's desk. "Oh. Yeah, I remember that..." James nods softly and Eddie glanced all around. "This job kinda suits you, Mr. Hopper." He grins widely.

"Thanks..." James fidgets with a random pen he was using to grade the homework he assigned yesterday. "So, how have you been?" Eddie asked and James glanced over. "Good. Really good." He nods, smiling faintly before glancing away. "I hear you're living with Harrington. Robin fills me in everytime she sees me at the Hideout." He chuckled and James nods, glancing down. "Yeah." He smiled at the thought of Steve as Eddie stared at him, his smile fading away at the realization.

"That's great. I'm happy for you..." Eddie stood up suddenly and James glanced around his desk, trying to find some sort of excuse. "Yeah, thanks." He murmured and Eddie just sighed. "Um, yeah, see you around." He left and that really was the last nail in the coffin of their relationship. Because the rest of the semester, they never interacted, even when they had to chaperone the Halloween dance.

Even when they got each other for the Secret Santa the principal arranged, they sort of swapped with other people. And as for Steve and James, everything was going well, they had been going on dates, Steve officially moved his stuff from his room into James' and now they're using the second as a storage room, there's even a tiny cot for when Robin is here and needs to crash for the night.

One late night when Steve is busy, reading some paperwork and wearing his glasses when James looks over at him before scooting closer to wrap his arms around his waist. Steve smiled, wrapping his arms around his shoulders before putting the paperwork to the side then set his reading glasses on top of it. "You okay?" He whispers and James nods.

"I've never been better, Steve." He whispers, relaxing on the other's chest now. For a majority of his late teens, James was always convinced he and Eddie were tied by the red string, that they were meant to be and everything. But now he knows, maybe he and Eddie were destined to meet, but they were not tied by the red string. He's unsure. Maybe it was Steve all along after all. He's confident for some reason that he and Steve were tied by that red string, he's sure of it, but he never voices it in order not to jinx it.