Who: Michael & Steve What: FUNTIMEZ When: Sometime after Steve manned up and asked Michael to come over Where: Steve's Rating: Probably medium for Michael's language
Steve couldn't tell for any real certainty how long it had been since he was branded. A few weeks? The first while was spent in a cave of darkness, with Eva forcing him to eat and talk about it. After that, Steve tackled mountains of paperwork to distract him from what had happened. He'd been to the store no more than two times. The first he'd had to leave within the first ten minutes. The second, he hadn't left for about 48 hours. He cleaned up, he passed out in the back room, and then cleaned again. Steve had lost weight out of simply forgetting to eat, and without Eva pressuring him to eat something, Steve went without it.
As much as he was ignoring himself, Steve was constantly worried about Michael. He knew the Ravenclaw's tenancies; sleep around and drink his pain away. It was a method that would never particularly work for Steve, but he respected Michael's decisions well enough. The same way in which he respected that Eva made a choice to ruin herself, and refused to lecture her. They both knew what he thought, he didn't need to berate them over it.
After scribbling a reply to Michael, Steve had poured himself a few drinks. Enough to make him feel the warmth of alcohol, but not enough to cloud his judgment. The alcohol would give him a semblance of bravery for when he saw Michael. For when he had to apologize, and for what would ultimately be the demise of their friendship. How could Michael stay friends with the person who'd caused that life-changing brand? Steve didn't expect that of him, even if it was the last thing he wanted.