Schizophrenic Steve || ʙʟᴜᴇꜱ ᴄʟᴜᴇꜱ

Found Family Within Blood

We've previously acknowledged Steve and Josh's relationship. They met in college, they share a dorm. Steve never hated Josh. In fact, he wanted his attention. Perhaps he's even jealous. Jealous of how someone could be so free, talented, liked, smart, friendly and happy at the same time.

Steve never wanted to hurt Josh, but thinking about him sometimes made his blood boil. Josh never wronged him... except for the time at the concert. But he felt so bad after that. He kept apologizing days after. And now he checks up on Steve every now and then because, well, the poor guy is sensitive.

Although they have similar interests, they are very different people. Steve sometimes wondered how it'd be like in Josh's shoes. It must feel way better. Sometimes Steve couldn't help but want to see something bad happen to Josh. But he never really wanted that.

Josh was just too perfect, after all. And Steve never would've thought they'd be related. Let alone first cousins.

That was until clues dropped. Very subtle hints of Josh just reminded Steve of himself. But he thought he was crazy. He kept telling himself that somebody like himself could've never compare to Josh.

As Steve wanted more of Josh's attention, he decided to hang out with the guy more. He gathered a lot of information, some of it personal too. He drew an attachment to him. Maybe he was a bit obsessed with getting to know him. He's just curious. He has never met anyone like Josh.

So he did his research. He went online, on social media to know more. He already has Josh friended on FaceBook and stuff, but he dove deeper. He went through the people he was friends with and his family.

This was practically a part of Steve's routine. The young man couldn't help it. He actually did this with a few people he's met throughout his life. But people come and go.

Not Josh though.

One night, he was stalking his socials, as usual. He was stalking his families socials. And he noticed something. He didn't even realize it until he looked deeper into it. He was looking at his mom's profile, scrolling through pictures. Then he spotted someone too familiar, standing next to her in a picture.

Holy fuck.

Josh's mother is Steve's aunt. He figured it out, although he probably didn't wanna know this information. Too far. Too damn far. And he knew it for a fact because the photo was taken at some family function, and the caption said "with my sis, who puts the misery in family!"

Steve's mom didn't usually talk to her sister. I guess their relationship was a private thing. Some nights she'd go out to her sister's place, but would never bring Steve or Joe along. She didn't even tell them that they had a cousin.

A knot in his stomach twisted. He doesn't know how he should react. How? This is too much. This made his family feel so distant. In this moment, Steve wished he could vanish six feet underground. He stared at the screen instead, the crappy late 2000's computer.

"Hey Steve! What are you doing?" Josh came into their room without knocking, Steve panicked.

He tried to exit out of the tab as quick as possible. He faltered as he stressed, which made it take even longer. His panic mode isn't subtle at all. Josh immediately noticed Steve was hiding something.

"Nothing! Just, uh, social.. media-ing. Ya know." He chuckled uncomfortably. "Uh, did I come in at a bad time or..??" Josh glanced down at Steve's pants, nothing off about it. Yeah, his pants weren't off or anything. Steve felt his face heat up as he knew what Josh was thinking as he glanced down at him. So damn embarrassing.

"No! Nah, I don't..." he cut himself off by clearing his throat, trying to get as far away from that topic as possible. Josh didn't seem fully convinced though. "Seriously though, are you alright? You got pretty startled." Josh walked towards Steve, which nearly made him forget how to breathe.