Emmerdale fans have fumed at soap bosses after Arthur was left heartbroken in a cruel twist.
The young boy – who recently left fans emotional as he admitted to his mum that he was gay – had taken a shine to one of the guys from school, and it seemed the guy was giving him all the right signs back. Arthur's crush and two of his mates came by the house to have a party with April, Cathy, Arthur and some of the others and it all seemed to be going well.
It was only towards the end of the party, where the young boy asked Arthur if he'd like to go outside and they chatted about things, with the boy giving clear indications that he really liked him.
Arthur couldn't believe it but soon his world came crashing down as the other boys filmed the whole thing from the top window and watched on as the young boy rejected Arthur and they tossed him some money for taking part in the 'bet'.
He was heartbroken and ran off, but fans were left fuming by the storyline, saying a potential positive storyline had now been ruined.
EastEnders' Jake Wood's snap of son has fans pointing out the pair's likenessOne angry fan wrote: "Who wrote this storyline!!! Terrible ,,please put some kindness back into Arthur's life also show other youngsters in life that are going through this situation that everything will be ok," whilst another added: "Why do they always have to do the negative option, it would be nice for once for it to be the positive options on the subject there putting across."
"Sick, I know it’s only a soap but it was still horrible to watch," a third shared, with a fourth penning: "What a disappointment Emmerdale, I really though this would be a positive story for a young man, you really didn’t need to do this!"
A fifth added: "Awful storyline. What message does it send out. Poor Arthur," whilst another took to social media and gave their verdict as they shared: "Always negative these soaps doesn’t help anyone coming out DOES IT." One viewer wrote: "i thought it’d be nice to see a positive LGBTQ storyline for once but it’s once again been ruined."
However, some fans of the soap have worked out a possible happy ending for the two boys.
"I think he really likes him and they will get together. Don’t turn this into something it shouldn’t be this story line should be something positive," one wrote, with another adding: "That boy likes Arthur, but daren’t say so because of his friends. It’ll be all right in the end.
A third shared: "I think , the other lad is gay but had to pretend he wasn't when the 2 lads hanging out the window. Although throwing a £10 note bet out the window is making me think it was a cruel joke. Aww I could have cried for him."
*Emmerdale airs weekdays at 7.30pm on ITV, with an hour long episode on Thursdays.