stephen panted as he made his way down the hallways, feeling as if he was going to throw up. he quickly turned around a corner and there the two boys were, standing in the hallway as they laughed and talked. stephen felt a wave of relief once again as he made his way over. he snaked his arm around george's waist, smiling at alex.
"hey, i'm so sorry about that question. it was a really heavy question and i didn't think he'd get the results he did and i feel absolutely terrible about this entire thi-"
stephen cut himself off as he watched alex's head shake. he explained that him and george had talked about it and cleared the air. george smiled and leaned his head back against stephen's chest, playing with his hand.
"we needed to talk to one another about this stuff anyway, ste. we just didn't know how to bring it up."
stephen nodded, watching as alex's phone rang. will's name popped up on the screen, alex smiled, and walked off to answer it. stephen smiled as well, pleased with the now cleared air and tighter bonds.
after about 20 minutes downstairs, stephen made his way back up the where the guys were, confused as they watched him walk back in.
"hey, lads!"
stephen smiled widely. he walked to the kitchen, grabbed a beer, and sat down next to will, leaning his head on his shoulder. will just hummed, laying his hand on stephen's leg, squeezing softly.
"i'm sorry, will. i let jealousy get the better of me and ended up almost ruining our friendship and relationships."
will just shook his head, sighing. he wasn't mad at stephen anymore. after talking to alex, will realized that it wasn't a malicious attack, just a very underprepared one. it was out of pure jealousy and super last minute irrational feelings.
"don't apologize for your feelings, ste. you apologized and i appreciate that, thank you."
"cheers, will."
will and stephen stayed like that, watching as the guys fucked around with the lie detector test and make fun of each other.
everything was back to normal, maybe even better.