Popped in to peruse this thread and was summarily bitten by the sharing bug.
From CHERRY (apologies for length):
“You’re going to remember this day, Mr. Bee,” Steve said.
“I don’t want to.”
“You will, though. Know why?”
I dragged my eyes open and glanced over. “Your head bonk?”
He smiled at that. “No.”
“My meltdown?”
“Nope.”
“Why, then?”
“Because,” he said, “this is the day somebody believed in you when you couldn’t believe in yourself.”
Totally,
completely unexpected.
I stared at Steve, slack-jawed.
“How come you’re looking at me like that right now?”
“You’re not real,” I said. “I think you’re an angel. Like what’s-his-name in
The Bishop’s Wife.”
“What?”
“Oh fuck, Steve. Never mind.”
“There’s nothing wrong with you, Mr. Bee,” he said.
“Yes there is. I’m fucked up, so fucked up you wouldn’t believe—”
“Listen to me, okay?”
I felt myself tearing up again and looked away but Steve wouldn’t have it. He took my chin gently but firmly in hand and turned my face toward his. Considering what I’d just done to him, I was keenly aware of the irony of that gesture.
“What happened to you isn’t who you are,” he said, and in his eyes, at that moment, I saw it. Unconditional, and absolute. I didn’t deserve it. Didn’t want him to say it.
But he did.