"No, I'm straight."
Steve's automatic denial when Hastings made the comment of having possibly put his 'in-P.C foot in it' layer made him consider why he did that. Things had changed and it was not necessarily a bad thing to be bi-sexual. It made him consider if maybe he should just tell everyone but then he remembered what happened the night after seeing Aidan. If he was to tell people outside of those whom he was closest them to then he was nearly guaranteed to be assaulted again.
Regardless of the fact that he knew that if anyone found out that he was bi-sexual it would cause him issues; the question behind why he was automatic to deny part of who he is was still at the front of his mind. He wanted to know if he read denying it because he was ashamed or because he was trying to protect himself and those close to him.
As soon as Aidan and Steve are slid through Aidan's front door the DS had his best friend pinned to the aforementioned door. It was at that moment that Aidan realised that something serious was going on with Steve and that it was something important.
"What's wrong?" Aidan asked after he managed to pull away from Steve. Aidan had known Steve for nearly a decade and in that time he had seen Steve go through hell and back more than once but it was rare to see him in this distraught of a state.
"They want me to lie," was all Steve gave him before he went back to trying to distract Aidan from what was going on with his mouth on the juncture between Aidan's neck and shoulder. Despite the lack of information the former police officer knew that Steve was talking about something that happened on the job.
As Steve thought about everything he realised that he was scared. He didn't know what he was scared of, just that he was. That however was not his issue to think about at that moment in time.
He would figure it all out one day.