Please read and review and hope you like it! Just something I wrote very quickly at like 4am in the morning and hasn't been edited so excuse any mistakes!
I hope you enjoy and tell me if you want me to continue (I'm not promising I will as I'm so bad with that!)
Present day, The Wedding
Today was the day. What everyone brands as one of the biggest day of their lives. Their wedding day. His wedding day. Ste's
This was everything he had ever wanted. Right? A loving fiance soon to be husband promising everything he hand ever wanted. Everything he had never been able to get from him.
Pulling on his suit jacket, Ste looked at himself in the mirror. He looked good. Happy. Healthy. Doug had been good for him. He had been just what he needed after all the horrible things that had happened to him in the past. Doug was going to be family now. And everything would turn out just fine.
Straightening out his jacket, Ste pulled himself together and turned around to walk out of the room and towards the hall. In a matter of minutes, he would become Steven Carter-Hay.
He was leaving behind the old and starting a new chapter. A new life.
'If anyone knows any reason why this man and man should not be joined in holy matrimony, let him speak now or forever hold his peace.'
Silence fell upon the audience. Everyone with a slight fear that someone would get up and declare this wedding a fraud or a lie. And yet nothing happened.
A few seconds past and just when the priest was about to resume the procedure, a shadow moved.
A person stood up slowly.
All eyes turned to the man in the back and Ste slowly turned his head to meet the eyes of the black haired Irish man standing at the back.
'What was he doing here?' Ste thought to himself as he felt himself start to sweat. Start to panic.
Nothing was said.
No words exchanged.
Just a look.
As if a single look was enough to express everything each man wanted to say to the other.
Ste didnt' know what he was supposed to think at the moment. Was he supposed to wish Brendan would stop the wedding some how? And give this big declaration of love?
Or was he wishing Brendan would say nothing and Ste got to live what he thought was the fairytale ending? The right ending?
Confused by all these questions, Ste could do nothing but stand there, and stare at Brendan straight in the eyes and wait.
Waiting for what exactly? He did not know.
Brendan kept his gaze on Ste, not wavering from it. The glance so intense as if it was to say 'This is the last time I will ever see you. I need to remember this.'
Ste sighed as he tilted his head slightly as if to say 'I'm sorry' as he watched Brendan's eyes tear up slightly.
Without a single word, Brendan cut off the connection and dropped his head.
Take a deep breath and sniffing, Brendan stuffed his hands into his pockets and turned around to walk out of the hall.
2 days earlier.
'What are you doing here Brendan?' Ste sighed as he tried to busy himself. He was packing the final couple of things in his flat. The wedding was in a couple of days and he had found a place with Doug and they were moving into it after the honeymoon.
And just as usual, Brendan had interrupted him and picked one of the worst possible moments to.
'I just...' Brendan stuttered. 'I came here to tell you I'm leaving.' Brendan paused. 'Back to Ireland.'
'Ah ok well, see you when you get back.' Ste said casually.
'No Steven.' Brendan cut him off.
'I'm not coming back. Ever.' Brendan confirmed.
'Wait what?' Ste whispered, stopping what he was doing to turn around and look at Brendan.
'Er..yeah' Brendan said as he shifted uncomfortably. 'Flights in a couple of hours. I'll be well and truly out of your hair within a couple of hours.'
'Right...' Ste said. 'So what you doing here then?'
'I...er...I just wanted to check everything was alright with the flat. After all I am the landlord.'
'Right...yeah. I'll hand the keys back to you..or Cheryl I guess now you're leaving when I'm all moved out.'
'Yeah...alright then.' Brendan said as he suddenly seemed to snap out his bubble as he headed for the door.
What was he thinking? Did he honestly expect Ste to break off the wedding and hop on a plane and come with him to Ireland just because he said he wasn't ever coming back?
For all he knows, Ste would be relived that Brendan was never going to be in Hollyoaks again and he would never have to deal with him interferring in his life.
'Wait.' Ste said desperately.
Brendan turned around to look at Ste, his heart beating much faster than his head wanted it to.
'Don't go.' Ste whispered.
'Steven...'
'Stay.' Ste whispered again.
'Why? I have nothing left here for me.' Brendan replied back.
Ste looked up at Brendan sheepishly. He knew what Brendan was saying was only partially true.
But he was here. Ste. Except he would never let himself admit that.
Especially not to Brendan.
He wouldn't let himself admit that he still wanted the man.
Ok, true, Brendan had saved his life and had been willing to take a bullet for him. But that didn't take away for all the pain he had caused him. All the bruises both physically and mentally.
'You know why...' Ste whispered.
Brendan let out a laugh and ran his hand through his hair and face.
'Will you still go through with it if I stay?'
Ste didn't even need to ask what Brendan meant. Of course...the wedding. Something so important that had managed to slip his mind for the past couple of minutes.
Ste knew he couldn't cancel the wedding. He couldn't do that to Doug. To himself. He looked at Brendan with sad eyes. Not wanting to say the words out loud but knowing Brendan would know just by looking at his face.
'Yeah...I thought so.' Brendan stated and turned around to open the door.
'But WHY?!' Ste screamed after Brendan.
'Because I'm not going to stand there and watch you promise the rest of your life to the wrong man! I am not staying to watch that!' Brendan shouted quickly in reply, without even a second's hesitation.
Brendan let out a long breathe as he continued.
'I'm not going to stay here and torture myself. Watching you build a life with him. Like I said. I'm done. I tried to fight for you. I tried to get you back. And I lost. Everything you're doing with him. You should be doing with me.' Brendan said.
Brendan slowly reached his hand up to Ste's face. Tucking some imaginary hair behind his ear and stroking Ste's cheek with his thumb one last time.
'No...' Ste shrugged away Brendan's hand, feeling the tears starting to fall. 'This is not fair.' He said, urging the tears to disappear. 'This is all your fault. Everything is all your fault!' Ste said, his anger building up at Brendan.
'We could have had all this. Everything I have with Doug now. It could have been us.' Ste admitted. 'But once again you had to go and ruin everything! You had to be the big man in control and take all that away from us.' Ste found himself shouting at Brendan as he shoved and hit Brendan's chest like a little kid having a tantrum.
Brendan stood there motionless as he watched his Steven, tears streaming down as he attacked him with a punch after a shove. Neither making much of an impact.
What was Brendan supposed to say? What was he supposed to say to him? He knew it was all his fault. He knew he could have made everything right if he had just apologised sooner. Kept his promise. Done something differently.
Brendan reached up and pulled Ste into a hug, strongly fighting against Ste's punches as Ste started to weaken and give up.
Now they were just standing there, in the middle of Ste's flat. In an embrace. Surrounded by nothing apart from the quiet sobs of Ste and Brendan's heavy breathing.
'I'm sorry. I really am.' Brendan whispered as he gripped onto Ste tightly.
'I would do anything to change how things were. I would.'
Silence once again took over the room. They had finally run out of words to say to each other. They had finally admitted everything they wanted to. They had all laid their cards on the table over and over again and they both knew that maybe this was it. They had gone round in this circle far too long.
Everything good or bad had to come to an end. And this was their end.
Pulling Ste away from him, Brendan laid a small kiss on Ste's forehead, whispering so quietly that not even the person next to them would have heard, but Ste did.
'I love you Steven. I always have and I always will.'
With those last words, Brendan turned around and walked out of the flat.
Present day, The Wedding
Why the hell had he come to this? Brendan thought to himself as he stormed down the stairs from the hall.
He knew it would hurt. Just like all those times before. When he had first seen Ste and Doug kissing. When Ste then told Brendan he was engaged to Doug. And finally when Ste had confirmed that he was choosing Doug over Brendan by going through with the wedding.
So no. He wasn't going to sit there and watch them say their vows. The vows which Ste should have been saying to him. Words which should be meant for him only.
Hurrying back to his flat, Brendan collected his bags and got into his car.
Pushing his emotions aside, Brendan pulled his sunglasses over his eyes and started the car and drove off, leaving Hollyoaks behind him.
Leaving him behind.
Leaving everything behind.
Only it was a few minutes too early.
If only he had stayed for a few more minutes. If only he had seen the 5'9" brown haired groom run to where his car had stood a few seconds ago.
If only he had waited a few minutes longer and heard this very man say...
'I do...
but I don't.'
Thank you for reading! Please review and favourite and follow :) I am very very bad at following on from stories as I never like my ideas for the next chapters enough to continue but please let me know if you would like me to continue and I might just.
xx