#won't fall in love at the end

[gay-otlc]

Won't Fall In Love At The End- 6

Aromantic crises & lactose intolerant people making poor decisions

Since it's been 2 months since I updated, previously on wfilate: Rana discovers she has never had a crush

@xanadaus @an-ungraceful-swan @novaliae @gaslight-gaetkeep-gayboss I think you guys wanted to be tagged sorry if you don't want to be tagged

The question spins around her head as she and Abigail walk back to the gym. Has Rana actually never had a crush? Never? That can’t be right. She can’t never have a crush, she’s already weird, and everyone else gets crushes and she doesn’t want another thing that sets her apart. And if she never has a crush on anyone, never dates anyone for real, never falls in love with anyone… she’ll just be lonely forever. Rana is already lonely. She doesn’t want to spend the rest of her life that way.

That can’t be true. She won’t. She’ll have a crush someday. She just hasn’t had one yet, because maybe none of the people at her school would be a good partner, or maybe she just doesn’t interact with people enough to catch feelings. She’ll catch feelings for someone, someday. Probably. Definitely. 

Maybe it’ll be Asher. She promised not to fall in love with Asher for real, but they might be her best chance at finding someone to like. That doesn’t mean she’ll have to actually date Asher. Just fall in love with them, to prove that she can.

So when it’s time for the painfully awkward slow dance, Rana thinks, maybe she should ask Asher. Dance with them like a couple. Try to look like a good couple. Try to feel like a good couple, and maybe even like the way that feels. Try to show the world that Asher is her person and they chose each other and they’re together and that means something more than friendship.

She should at least try.

But it just sounds awful. So she stays silent and looks at her feet, and doesn’t ask Asher to dance, and they don’t ask her to dance. Abigail does ask Eva to dance, and Eva’s face turns so red Rana thinks she might explode. They look like a couple, or two people who might become a couple someday. Two people who might be happy together.

Why can’t Rana do that with Asher? Why can’t Rana do that with anyone? Why does the thought make her feel sick to her stomach, like she ate too many of those cookies at the snack table?

It probably was the cookies.

That’s easier to believe than there is something wrong with me. 

Despite her insistence that it’s the cookies, there’s something wrong with me ping pongs around her head until the slow dancing wraps up. Their group gathers, since Daniel is the only way for the rest of them to get home. Between Xavier being ridiculously tall and Asher’s blue hair helping them stand out in a crowd, everyone else finds each other easily enough, and they follow Daniel to his car.

“I don’t feel like going home yet,” Aziza says as she stuffs herself into the backseat. “How do y’all feel about pizza?”

“What, were all the cookies not a nutritious meal?” Asher jokes. 

“We got all four food groups!” Eva adds. “Cookies, cookies, cookies, and more cookies!” 

“There are five food groups,” Rana says.

“And the fifth one is pizza! As long as everyone’s okay with that?” Daniel pauses, and when no one protests, he holds out a thumbs up. “Alright. We’re getting pizza, then.”

Daniel agrees to pay as long as everyone else pays him back their fair share, which the group unanimously decides Rana has to calculate.

“Why do I have to do the math?” 

“Because you’re the best at math! Like, you’re in calculus!” Asher tells her, a big grin on their face.

“You don’t even need calculus for this! Just division!”

“Well, you’re the democratically elected math queer, so deal with it.”

Rana shrugs and accepts her fate. “I wish it did involve calculus, honestly. Calculus would be way more fun if it involved pizza.”

“Find the integral of the stuffed crust,” Abigail says, in a wheezing imitation of their math teacher, and Rana laughs.

“Okay, nerds, what toppings do you want? I’m getting pepperoni.”

“Um,” Rana says, too quietly to be heard over the crowd.

“Don’t get all pepperoni. I can’t have it. It’s not kosher.”

“It’s also not Halal.” Rana has no clue if Daniel even heard her addition, but she guesses it doesn’t matter- the effect is the same. He’ll only get pepperoni on one third of the pizza.

“Mushrooms?” Abigail suggests.

Aziza pulls a face. “Fuck mushrooms.”

“Mushrooms are good, fuck you!” 

Daniel holds up a hand before the two of them can spark an all out war between the mushroom lovers and mushroom haters. “Okay. One third pepperoni, one third mushroom, one third cheese. Is anyone going to kill me for that?”

A chorus of nos. He shrugs. “Okay, I’m still not a hundred percent sure I won’t get killed, but that’s good enough. I’ll be back soon.”

He leaves to go order, and everyone else claims a table. Xavier gives Asher a worried look as they sit down. “Asher, are you sure you should eat your slice of the pizza? Aren’t you lactose intolerant?”

“So what?”

“Why are lactose intolerant people idiots?” he sighs.

Asher flips him off. “Pain is temporary! Pizza is forever!”

“Technically, pizza is not forever. I mean, you only have a slice. That’s a limited amount,” Rana points out.

“Fine. Pain is temporary, my love for pizza is forever.”

“Can’t argue with that,” Aziza agrees.

Xavier groans. “Don’t encourage them!” 

Rana watches them bicker on her left for a little while longer, and then turns to Eva, who’s sitting on her right. They had all sat down at the table randomly, and Abigail is on the other end, so Eva is sending her longing glances. 

“Did you have fun?” Rana asks, because that’s how conversations go, right? That’s a normal small talk sentence? “At the dance?”

“Abigail fucking danced with me!” Eva whisper screams.

“I know. I saw. I was there.”

“I think I’m going to explode.”

“That would probably be messy.”

“This is so fucking exciting, oh my god, holy shit,” Abigail continues, bouncing up and down in her seat. This is weirdly excited to get over a dance.

Or, no, maybe Rana’s the weird one. There were a lot of people in that gym, dancing with their homecoming date. They all seemed to like it well enough. Maybe it’s normal, to want to dance with your crush and get excited when you do, and Rana’s just weird because she doesn’t like dancing and she didn’t want to dance with Asher and maybe she’s never had a crush, ever.

The pizza arrives. She’s so lost in her own head that she nearly reaches for a slice of pepperoni, before Eva gives her a weird look. “You good?” she asks as Rana corrects herself and takes the cheese pizza.

“Fine. Just zoned out.”

Eva grins. “Thinking of Asher?”

No. Well, yes, technically, she was thinking of Asher, but she was actually thinking of how she didn’t like Asher the way she should, which isn’t really what Eva was asking, and she’s so weird- “Nah, just kind of exhausted. Eventful day.”

Main event: Figuring out I’ve never had a crush and also maybe I’m kind of broken-

“Yeah, it’s been a lot.” Eva looks around, mostly in Abigail’s direction, and lowers her voice. “How do I ask Abigail on a date?”

Rana takes a bite of her pizza and shrugs her shoulders. “I don’t know. How would I know?”

“You’re dating Asher,” Eva points out, and Rana’s stomach clenches uncomfortably. “You have some idea how to date someone.”

“I guess. They asked me, though. I don’t know how to ask someone.”

“Well, how did they do it?”

“I don’t know, they just asked. Just went for it.”

Eva groans. “That sounds scary, though.”

“Just- I don’t know. What would you want to do with her?”

“Go see a movie, I guess?”

“Okay, so, you’ve asked me and Aziza to hang out with you and watch a movie. So this is basically the same thing, unless you kiss her, which you don’t need to do if you freak out too much anyway. Don’t make it a big deal, just ask her like you’re asking one of your friends.”

“It’s not basically the same thing, though!”

Rana looks down at her pizza, trying not to think about how weird she is for not seeing the difference. “Why not?”

“Well, you know, because I have a crush on her! I want to spend time with her and I enjoy being together, same as with you guys, but also when she’s around there’s this extra giddiness and adrenaline and excitement. You know what I’m talking about, you feel it with Asher.”

I definitely don’t.

“Yeah. I guess. But, like, you don’t have to be nervous! It’ll still be just like hanging out with me or Aziza, except even better. You don’t need to worry.”

Eva smiles at her. “Thanks! Damn, you’ve been dating Asher for like a week and you’re already an expert.”

I am not an expert on dating. How the fuck am I supposed to be an expert if I’m not even sure I want to date anyone and I’m not even sure I’m capable of wanting to date anyone?

The volume of the noise in her head varies, from a buzzing as they all finish their pizza and Daniel drives everyone home, to a screaming as she changes from her dress into pajamas, but it’s always there, impossible to ignore; there’s something wrong with me there’s something wrong with me there’s something wrong with me.

[ambrosiagourmet]

This is just a smaller observation that will hopefully someday be part of a larger analysis on Kabru's view of Laios & how Laios impacts him...

But I think it really interesting that Kabru surrenders something for Laios twice, and that these moments are inversions of each other.

The first time, Kabru gives up his life to maintain his control. He changes the course of the entire story with this action, and is willing to die to achieve that. Kabru is (supposedly) entrusting the future to Laios, but he is still very much the primary actor in the overall narrative. He is still the one choosing what the story should be.

The second time, however, Kabru gives up his control to keep hold of something personal and selfish (in the way of dungeon meshi selfishness - it is a good thing to keep this desire. It small piece of what makes him a living creature). He steps aside to let Laios choose the way forward. He surrenders narrative agency for personal agency... not changing the story, but changing himself.

[embrace-your-illithid]

heere she is..… my illithid tav creature....… my sunshine goth pink sparkle princess paladin.… naive -2 int will drop a divine smite a-bomb on whoever threatens her lynchpin bf…... loyal lapdog to the very end, won't break her oath so she is the most cringefail starving mindflayer in toril.... Qurrn ✨🦑☀️

[darkdragon768]

Various doodles of the Dorito Twins.

I just like to play with them like dolls and put them into situations.

[delicioustarong]

Fanart for this ACHINGLY GUT WRENCHING FIC! 'my body is young (but my mind is very old)' by green_tea_and_honey!!

Chapter 20 made me ugly sob y'all, I m not kidding (My eyes were puffy for the whole day LMAO) I can't express in words how this fic touched my soul so I decided to make fanart. This illustration is based on this part of the fic 👇 (under the cut) It's not biblically accurate but I like it. (Spoilers ahead!)

“Okay,” he whispered to himself, clenching and unclenching his fists. “Okay. You’re okay. You’re okay.”

The wave of panic he expected never came, even as water sloshed in, soaking his waist and rising more rapidly than ever now that Bill had been swept away. He could smell it, as if he had never left; salt, sand, and a hint of oil from a nearby factory that he suspected had stained the beach with its constant dumping in the ocean.

“I’m okay,” Ford said, looking at his hands, and taking a long, slow breath. “I’m okay.”

You guys should go read the fic and give it lots of love. I guarantee you all it's worth it!

(also small note; I have a lot of fanart for fics otw, I'm just busy with college and deadlines so it might take a while lolz)

[greenqueenhightower]

Alicent goes to Rhaenyra to avoid shedding any blood, and the Rhaenyra she knew, the one she saw in the sept in 2x03 would have acceded to that. This new Rhaenyra, having amassed great power and now relishing in her newfound strength, does not cower at the thought of spilling Aegon's blood. It is Rhaenyra who believes she can have "all she wants" now that she imagines herself indestructible. Having lost all faith in the green cause, the Seven, and her expectations as Queen, Alicent becomes disillusioned with Rhaenyra herself. Rhaenyra can no longer talk of peace. Alicent's quest to find it as she preserves her and her children's lives fails. She's once again left alone to tread this difficult path of reconciling her duty to herself, her family, and the realm.

"A true Queen counts the cost to her people."

Alicent still is that true Queen, The Queen Who Ever Was, and she offers Rhaenyra the only way out, with the least possible casualties. But even in service to herself and her freedom, Alicent again shows altruism and is called to pay the highest price possible. She's destined to never be completely free and at peace, her inner torment always eating her soul as she drifts further away from the unattainable dream.

[becauseimanicequeen]

Why in the world would you like toxic characters? Why are you so proud of that? What is it even to be proud of? What's wrong with you?

Well, my dear Anon. If you only knew how many times I've asked myself those very same questions…

And the answers always come down to: It’s fiction.

And even though fiction is a vital part of life (just like any other art form) and you can learn a lot from it (you have no idea how many toxic people I’ve been able to avoid, before they even found out my name, thanks to my love for toxic characters and seeing their red flags), fiction is also just fiction.

The characters aren’t real, even though they can seem like it. Just because I love a character that's toxic as fuck doesn't mean I would condone real people who behave that way.

Also, I’m not hurting anyone with my obsession with toxic characters. It’s not like I'm forcing anyone to think like me (and for the love of all things holy, don't do that!).

Besides having a healthy obsession with the toxic characters I love, I’m not very emotional (for lack of a better word) about what I watch. I can be intrigued by toxic characters without either excusing their behavior and actions or hating them (because there’s enough hate in the world for me to do that shit). I can watch taboo topics and other shit that most people find triggering and not be triggered (even though I see the taboo topics for what they are). I can watch problematic stuff and see beyond it to what’s really being said (even though I see the problematic stuff for what it is).

But that’s just me. And I would never force my perspectives on anyone else because I know the majority isn’t like me (which is a good thing, btw).

So, if you don’t vibe with my shit, block me. I don’t mind.

Trust me. I’ll survive. You’ll survive. The world won’t fall apart. We’ll both be okay. Just block me.

Because I will keep loving my favorite toxic fatherfuckers. I won't excuse their behavior and actions. But I will love them.

And the only one who can stop me is ME. But I don’t want to because I love all the shades of toxic bitches and their red flags.

Like Boston from Only Friends.

And Todd from Not Me.

And Chalothon from The Sign.

And Ray from Only Friends.

And So from House of Stars.

And Yai from Big Dragon.

And Way from Pit Babe.

And Boeing from Only Friends.

And let's not forget Vegas from KinnPorsche!

And Yoden Ryoji from Dangerous Drugs of Sex.

And Yong Jie from HIStory 4: Close to You.

And Rio from The Novelist.

And Ritsu from To the End of the World With You.

And definitely Ming from My Stand-In!

I love them all because I have issues. But so do all of them, which is precisely why I love them.

Thank you for your ask.

[insomnya777]

boat boys coded

[softgothbabe]

[triglycercule]

horror is so BLESSED he's the only one out of the murder time trio that has actual good people trying to influence his story 💔💔 dust and killer were both driven to INSANITY because of the choices of their respective humans but horror??? every time without FAIL the polls for horrortale's plotline have always ended in a good place for aliza (either by bettering her relationships/reputation or for her to just. not DIE)

horrortale's potential alternate timelines my beLOVEd🙏🙏 they're SO lucky that we're being kind and benevolent hehe (≧ω≦) now where are the aus based off the possible different outcomes that could've happened in horrortale HUH???? (like how aliza couldve killed toriel or chosen horror's puzzle or gone with undyne to the core........)

[lale-txt]

it's been over a week but i legit haven't stopped thinking about this

[gay-otlc]

Won't Fall In Love At The End- 4

Get Rana some fucking therapy

@xanadaus @an-ungraceful-swan @novaliae @gaslight-gaetkeep-gayboss I think you guys wanted to be tagged sorry if you don't want to be tagged

By the time Saturday afternoon rolls around, Rana has still not entirely convinced herself that this will be fine and fun. Rana’s dad drives her to the address that Asher texted, and once he’s met Ms. Siegal for long enough to be confident she’s not a serial killer, he leaves. Aziza has gotten there before her and is eagerly taking a bite of Asher’s mom’s challah. Ms. Siegal offers Rana some. Luckily, she’s been over at Eva’s house often enough to have tried challah before, and knows it’s a texture she doesn’t hate, so she accepts the offer.

“It’s nice to meet you, Rana,” Ms. Siegal says. “I wasn’t sure Asher would ever find someone to date.”

“Mom.”

“We weren’t sure Rana would ever date someone either,” Aziza says.

“Aziza,” Rana groans, exchanging a look with Asher. They both still haven’t found anyone to date, not for real. 

Asher glares at their mom, and then says “You look nice.”

“You do too,” Rana says, and it’s true. They’re wearing a suit jacket and a skirt that reaches their knees. Their necktie is the same shade of green as Rana’s dress- she remembered them asking about the color of her outfit, because couples should match, or something.

Couples.

She knows that’s the point of fake dating, to pretend to be a couple, but the word makes her a little bit squeamish to think about. 

“You two are cute,” Aziza says, as the doorbell rings and Ms. Siegal moves to let Eva in. Rana’s discomfort has moved past “a little bit squeamish” into “vaguely nauseous” territory.

“They are,” Eva agrees, walking in. “Imagine not being tragically single.”

Rana almost laughs. She can’t imagine herself not being single, genuinely not single. That’s the problem. 

“If you’re sad about being single you could just, like, ask someone out,” Asher says. They understand sadness about being single about as well as Rana does, she guesses.

Eva sighs dramatically. “She’s straight.”

Rana looks at her feet. After eating lunch with Abigail for a few days, she’s noticed that Eva’s hypothesis about Abigail’s sexuality might not be entirely true. From the details she’s gathered about Abigail’s camp girlfriend turned long distance girlfriend turned ex girlfriend, Rana doubts she means “girlfriend” in a platonic, straight girl way. But that’s not her information to tell Eva about, so she stays quiet as Eva laments. 

It’s kind of funny to watch Eva’s face as Abigail arrives. She’s in a suit with a red necktie, her shoulder length hair tied back, and for the first time, Rana understands how Eva finds Abigail so attractive. She still doesn’t understand why Eva is actually sad about not dating Abigail, but Abigail is, objectively, very hot. 

She arrives with Xavier, who has on a blue button down shirt and a bow tie decorated with dinosaurs. Rana has no particular desire to ever wear a bow tie, but if she did, she would definitely steal that one. 

Eva’s eyes narrowed, looking between Xavier and Abigail. She opens and closes her mouth a few times, and then Aziza jumps in, saying they both look nice and are they going to homecoming as a couple?

Xavier and Abigail exchange a look, and then burst out laughing. “We’re both gay in opposite directions,” Abigail explains finally, and Eva nearly chokes on her sip of water.

The Eva-pining-over-Abigail rants are probably about to get even more annoying.

No. Wait. She’s not supposed to think that. Eva’s her friend, and Rana wants Eva to be happy, and she should listen when Eva talks about her feelings. 

Being a good friend is hard, but if Rana wants to hold on to the few friends she has, she should probably do her best to be one.

Asher checks their watch. “Where’s Daniel?”

“He’s late for everything ever,” Xavier says with a shrug. “While we wait for him, can I ask the names of these new people? I’m Xavier.” 

He glances over at Aziza and Eva. Eva is still recovering from the shock of realizing Abigail is gay, so Aziza introduces herself first. 

“And I’m Eva,” she says weakly.

Abigail smiles at her. “My name’s Abigail. Nice to meet you.”

Eva blushes bright red. “I. Uh. You too.”

Rana seriously does not understand crushes. Saying “nice to meet you” is a very normal thing to say. It’s not anything special, just someone being polite. It doesn’t seem worth blushing over.

The doorbell rings, and Asher rushes over to answer it. “About time,” they tease as Daniel steps in. “You’re our ride, man. We need you to be on time.”

He holds his hands up. “Sorry, sorry. I’m here now?”

“I can’t wait until another one of us is allowed to drive around other people,” Asher grumbles. “A more punctual person.”

“I’m allowed to!” Abigail says indignantly.

“You don’t have a big enough car,” Xavier tells her, and she rolls her eyes. 

“Technicalities. We’ll just stuff some people in the trunk, it’ll be fine.”

“I don’t think that’s safe,” Rana points out.

Abigail shrugs. “We’ll vote. Least liked member of the group gets the trunk.”

Rana stares down at her feet. The likelihood that she’d get voted least liked member of the group… about a hundred percent. She knows things are rarely one hundred percent likely, but this seems like an exception. Abigail and Xavier and Daniel, they probably don’t like her at all, and definitely not more than the others. They just tolerate her, since she’s Asher’s fake girlfriend.

She bites her tongue as Daniel says “Or we could give everyone a seat, because my car is big enough.”

“I don’t trust that car,” Xavier says. “It’s like a million years old.”

“It works!” Daniel scowls. “Insulting my punctuality is one thing-”

“-Because it’s a true insult,” Asher cuts in. 

“But insulting my car is where I draw the line! Jerry may be old, but he’s a good car. Don’t be mean.”

“You named your car Jerry?” Aziza asks.

“Jerry is a fine name! Stop judging me and my car!” 

The group laughs, except Rana, whose mind is still spinning around we’ll vote, least liked member of the group gets the trunk. Had Abigail been looking at her when she said that? Maybe Rana was imagining it, or remembering wrong, but she probably was. 

The group files out the front door, and Ms. Siegal insists on taking photos before they leave. The big group photos are okay- even though they probably all wish I wasn’t part of the group photo- but then Ms. Siegal grins and says “Everyone out except Rana and Asher. Time for a picture of the couple.”

“Mom,” Asher protests.

“Asher,” she repeats back in the same annoyed voice. “I’m a mom. You’re my kid, going to homecoming with their girlfriend. I want pictures of you two.”

Asher rolls their eyes.

“Step closer to her,” Ms. Siegal directs. “Put an arm around her. Stop glaring at me and try to look happy to be with your girlfriend.”

Rana forces a smile. She���s not happy, not enjoying this at all, but she does have a lot of practice making her face look the way it’s supposed to look. So she pretends it’s not gross to stand so close to Asher, looking so… couple-y, and smiles for the camera. 

Finally, mercifully, Ms. Siegal is done snapping photos, and she orders everyone to be safe as they pile into the car. 

Rana feels like she’s underwater. Which, on paper, shouldn’t be a bad feeling. She likes swimming, likes the ocean and its plants and sea creatures and ecosystems, but now she just feels trapped, like waves keep crashing over her head and she can’t swim away. Waves of least liked member of the group and they all wish you weren’t part of the group and try to look happy to be with your partner. 

Asher taps her shoulder and leans in close. “You okay?”

“Get a room,” Aziza teases, before she could say anything.

Rana considers how it looks from the outside; a caring partner, leaning in to whisper sweet things to their girlfriend, maybe give her a kiss. It feels like everyone is looking at her and seeing the wrong thing, and she knows that was the point of fake dating, that they would see her as a normal person who dates people, but that’s… not… right.

That feeling is added to the waves that relentlessly wash over her, that feeling that everyone sees her as someone she’s not, and she wants them to because they probably won’t like it if they see her as someone she is, but at the same time, feeling invisible is…

She doesn’t know.

[tenwhiteandalusians]

and then no one said anything about the fact that if i watched ONE MORE episode tenax pulls a "i'm not angry i'm just disappointed i'm hurt" about scorpus signing with the white faction.

[fitzrove]

Started watching a "problem with greek myth retellings" video and it began with a blurb montage like "Condemned by the misogynist guys of history, this is the true girlboss feminist story of [A WOMAN]" and like. brb writing one of those about crown prince rudolf. It's ok he's like a misunderstood girlboss to me<3

[mc-critical]

Hatice and Ibrahim have never been more divided from each other up to that point than in E43-E44. While Hatice always sensed when Ibrahim was actually in danger or she's lost him in any way (i.e. E35 when she felt something in Edirne while Ibrahim was with Nigar), nothing came up when he was shot; he didn't even tell her what happened to him until she found out herself; they were seperated while he was recovering; the wait for Ibrahim to come back felt like an eternity to Hatice and she went through several breakdowns at once (and his carriage was right in front of her but she couldn't see him, her only thought until the very end was that he was dead, isn't that what her dream with the "crying" statues meant?); when he came back she wasn't allowed to spend at least some time alone with him as SS wanted to talk to him; even their sleep was interrupted. The only thing that Ibrahim asked Hatice to do was to play him his mother's song on the violin (I like to think that Hatice started learning the violin in order to become closer to him, to who he is, to his past again after what they went through with little Mehmet).... but he no longer associates even that with Hatice anymore.

[jaybren]

I Believe...Steddie

I normally don't mind angst (though I avoid drama fics in general). Miscommunication is the biggest trope in romance, so I'm all for it, but for some reason Steve x Eddie fics / drabbles where Eddie still thinks of Steve as Steve THE KING Harrington always sit weirdly for me. Sometimes, if the Upside Down didn't happen (AUs in general) or pre-UD setting, maybe -- sure, then that could work. But close to canon fics where Eddie lives and Steve legit confesses to him? Always just -- strikes me as wrong.

Finally realized why -- it's literally the antithesis of canon Eddie. Canon! Eddie is quick to acknowledge Steve has changed. He literally runs up to him in the Upside Down while a bunch of madness is happening and where he has every right to be consumed by his own shit-tastic situation, but instead, he's telling Steve how he is a great guy and has changed.

Can Eddie be bitchy and prejudice? Yes.

Does Eddie have grudges against jocks / the popular crowd? Yes.

But he also goes full on bowing gentlemen for cheerleaders (going out of his way to help Chrissy and make her smile) and he's quick to acknowledge Steve's not that same popular AH anymore.

With Steve's bitchiness not aimed at him, Eddie would be eating his Honeycomb and snickering when old habits popped back up, and maybe he'd feel conflicted about jocky Steve, complaining about going to games or something until somebody smacked some sense into him. Totally believe tension and disbelief about one liking the other or some bias about things, but I just can't see Steve proclaiming his love or whatever and Eddie assuming it is a trap or trick or prank or something.

Maybe he'd think Steve was confused. Maybe he'd assume they were doomed, but I can't see him blaming Steve for that or blowing up their relationship IF Eddie accepted the confession and they started dating. Eddie's way more down on himself.

If someone can explain how it makes sense, please do. I'd love to enjoy all Steddie tropes, and that one seems popular lately, but where my brain sees so many problems with them getting to the confession point or even a number of big arguments that could happen afterward due to outside aspects, those two strike me as highly tactile, highly clingy romantics who would be convinced they were the height of discrete while practically fused, constantly touching and being snide little judgy dudes together.