Two Years Previous
He had no idea how long he stared in the mirror, complete shock stilling his body. Cautiously he touched the darkening bruise on his face, how had that happened? He was just enjoying a quiet night in with… with him and he just snapped, before he knew it he was on the floor.
All Ste could do was sob as he was kicked over and over, shouts of abuse hurled at him.
Ste shook away the memory his face and body physically aching from where the injuries may have healed but the memory was still there. Brendan had managed to shake Ste back to reality to move him to the Staff Room. The last thing he had expected was Brendan to remind him of his ex, just the way his eyes had looked brought back the painful memories. It would have probably taken Brendan to hit out for Ste to breakdown completely.
"Here, this'll help." Brendan handed Ste a glass like the last time it smelt like some strong liquor, he already knew that Brendan had a taste for strong liquors he had noticed it at the end of his shifts when it was just him and Brendan closing up the club for the night. Brendan sat on the edge of the desk, his arms crossed and head tilted. "Drink." Ste lifted up the glass to his mouth his hand shaking so much it was impossible. "C-can I just go home? I-I just need some space." His voice quivered and quiet, he just hoped Brendan wouldn't ask.
In a way he was ashamed, how could anyone be proud of a man who had ran away? Brendan shook his head leaning in close enough to take the glass from Ste and placing it directly on his lips. "Not till you drink this, I'm not having you walking home in this state." He opened his mouth as the glass tilted letting a small amount of the liquid burn his mouth and throat but warming his stomach.
"You're a curious fella Steven." Brendan now drank from glass still watching Ste closely; half expecting the kid to black out again.
"I've been looking into Steven Hay's background." It was another moment where Danny seemed to drop the bombshell of an attempt to get some form of reaction from Brendan. All Brendan did was narrow his eyes and shrug. "Got a couple connection in the club areas you see. A friend of mine seems to remember someone by the name of Ste Hay who had gotten himself into a spot of bother in Birmingham a couple years back. Had a fall out with his boyfriend in the club. Nasty bit of work that boyfriend."
"What have you brought back from your travels Steven?"
The Next Day
He had to lie, lie so much it was painful because he knew Brendan saw right through it. There was no way he was going to tell anyone about what had happened to him. The past was the past and that was where it was going to stay just unburying the past would tear him a part. He wasn't sure whether Brendan would understand. Amy had no idea and even though they had a violent relationship he couldn't bare dumping all his emotional crap on her.
He was grateful when he arrived for work that Brendan wasn't around, he checked around to find Danny sitting in the office looking through paperwork. "Ste right?" he nodded not particularly sure what to say. "I found something interesting about you. Pretty nasty piece of work that ex-boyfriend of yours."
A/N: So the mystery starts to unravel. And also.. I just realised I've been spelling Ste's full name wrong. Okay, I spelt it like 'Steven' because that's how it spelt on the character thing for fanfic. But on wiki it's spelt 'Stephen'... Does it actually matter? So... In the end I was watching Hollyoaks with the subtitles on and it is indeed 'Steven' with a 'v'. That's one mystery solved :P
