Chapter Text
When Eric came out, Kitty didn't bat an eye.
Part of her always suspected her sweet little boy was more fit for a, well, let's say, masculine person.
Really, it was obvious when he tried dating Donna, who was always stronger and the real "man" of the two with her more blunt and violent tendencies (bless her baby boy's heart).
So, it truly didn't surprise Kitty that Eric had finally figured out that he was gay.
What did surprise her was when Eric and Steven began dating.
She laughed nervously as she chucked the clothes into the laundry basket, preparing for the Sunday wash.
Eric? With Steven?
What a-a pair!
She didn't know how else to put it, she supposed.
She wasn't opposed to the two dating; they seemed happy together.
It's just...
Kitty sighed as she fretted, patting and smashing down the overflowing basket before hefting it up and ambling towards the basement door.
It's just she wasn't quite how compatible the two were.
Steven was, well, bless his heart, cold for a lack of better word.
And no fault of the poor boy's own, either! It was all that wretched Edna's fault; truly, who could ever abandon their baby, the baby they carried for nine months, the baby they stayed awake 24 hours a day caring for?
Not a good mother, that's who!
So, she didn't fault Steven for his indifferent personality.
But Eric was very emotional. Her baby needed constant validation due to his poor self-esteem and needed as much physical affirmation as he did verbal.
She didn't know if Steven was able to provide that.
She had seen the girls that boy had been with over the years, and let her tell you, some were very nice young ladies (she could reluctantly include Jackie in that category, though the poor dear was just a little too dramatic and immature at times) and others were....were, well, perhaps not the most suited for a-a future, if you would.
Whether or not the ladies were becoming, the point still stood: none of those relationships lasted.
Even the longest-standing one he had with Jackie had been strife with tension, with the young girl demanding so much and Steven refusing to budge.
A relationship, a good and long-term relationship, was built on compromise (she had learned that early on with Red), and she was just...well, she was just worried Steven hadn't quite-quite mastered that vital skill.
Steven needed to learn how to compromise.
And Lord knew Eric needed to learn how to assert himself more.
At this rate, she worried that it would be another Eric and Donna, except Steven would be Donna and Eric would still be, well, Eric.
Nibbling at her bottom lip, Kitty quietly opened the basement door and began descending the steps.
She had barely made it past the few steps before she froze, her blue eyes landing on the pair snuggled on the couch below.
Steven was sprawled along the couch: his feet hanging over the armrest, his shades hiked up into his afro, and his arms wrapped around Eric's waist, one tan hand splayed in the middle of his back and the other brushing along the curvature of Eric's spine.
Meanwhile, Eric had his head tucked underneath Steven's (freshly shaven) chin, his cheek plastered into the other's shirt, and his long digits idly drawing shapes into the other's chest as he stared at the television.
What got her, though, was the emotions she could see so clearly--clearly! Steven was showing emotions! And not negative, laugh-at-your-pain ones! Oh! Oh! She wanted to clap her hands--shining from the older boy's face.
Gone was the usual smirk, gone were the jaded words and harsh tongue; all that remained was a tender smile and soft hazel eyes, the pupils slightly dilated as they gazed down at the figure on top of him.
And then Eric shifted, turned his head to look up at Steven with wide and endless baby blues and gave him the sweetest little smile, a flash of pearly whites glimmering underneath the fluorescent lights, as his alabaster cheeks tinted with a lovely pink hue.
They looked...
They looked...
So cute!
Kitty had to bite her lips to repress the squeal suddenly threatening to blow her cover.
Quickly and as stealthily as she could, she clambered back up the stairs and closed the basement door.
Perhaps, she had been wrong after all.