Because I like the angry, sassy and feisty side to their relationship as much as the sweeter side, and wouldn't ever trade it in for a lifetime of mushy romance. So here's them having a good ol' fight, then making up with a small dose of smut. Fml.

XOXOX

"Since when are you into sex tapes?!"

"Well I'm not really."

"So what the fuck is this then?!" Brendan demanded.
Ste sighed. Here they go again.

"I don't need to tell you; you can see it's a sex tape."

"Of you and Amy."

"Yeah. I guess. I 'aven't seen it for years, have I?"
"You've kept a sex tape of you and your ex?"

Ste rolled his eyes. Things had been going so well up until now. Brendan had been helping him pack up his stuff, and they'd shuffled around the bedroom together with a big box each without any kind of bickering. It had been too good to be true, really.

"Looks like it, don't it?" Ste replied flatly. "You don't wanna watch it, do you?"

"No I fucking don't!" Brendan snapped. His face was going red with his evident jealously. Ridiculous jealousy.

"Well why are you makin' such a big deal about it then?"

"I just don't get why you're keepin' sex tapes of you and your ex, that's all. What would you think if I jerked off to me and Eileen all the time?"

"You've just dug a dusty old video out of the wardrobe – and suddenly I'm supposed to be jerkin' off to it all the time?"

"Right, so ye don't mind me chuckin' it then."

Brendan shoved it into the bin-bag with a little too much force to be dignified.

"Errr….NO!" Ste cried in outrage, "You don't just get to decide that!"

"Oh, so you DO watch it?!"

"No, I don't, but that doesn't mean you get to toss out anythin' that makes you jealous! Which by the way, is stupid – you do know I'm gay, don't you Brendan?!"

"But missin' the glory days, it seems."

"Uhh. Just give it back to me. I knew I shouldn't have let you pack."

"Why, what else are ye hiding? Naked pictures of Theresa? Your fuckin' wedding ring still lying around here somewhere?"

The room descended into a cold, tense silence.

Ste took a deep breath to calm himself.

"That was a low blow." He breathed quietly.

This wasn't ridiculous and petty anymore, but a flash of old and very raw bitterness. Things were going well between he and Brendan… so unbelievably well in fact that they were moving in together. But any mention of Doug always tainted the atmosphere with a harsh sourness.

"I found a picture of him earlier." Brendan said; his voice strained like he hadn't been wanting to admit it out-loud.

"Where?"
"In the wardrobe."

"Right, that's cos I haven't cleared it out in years, Brendan!" Ste replied adamantly, "Things get lost in there; I don't keep 'em on purpose! I'm sure you've found plenty of your stuff as well."

"Yeah."

"Yeah, but you don't mention that, do ya?" Ste muttered in annoyance. "What am I supposed to say, Bren? I'm sorry I've got history with people besides you."

"That fuckin' sex tape is not comin' to my flat with you. And nor is this jumper – I know Noah bought it for you."

Brendan pulled a jumper out of his own box and shoved it into the bin-bag. This was going too far now. He was obviously perfectly fine to pack it half an hour beforehand, but now he was just getting erratic, and Ste couldn't bear it.

"Brendan – PUT. IT. BACK."

"Why?"

"Cos they're my CLOTHES!" Ste raged, "Will you LISTEN to yourself?! Amy bought me this t-shirt n'all; shall I take this off? Shall I bin this, Brendan?!"

"No, that shirt's fine."

"Oh that's fine?!" Ste could have laughed if he wasn't so furious. "Well thank you Brendan, for giving me permission to keep my item of clothing. Fuckin' hell, get a grip."

"Me get a grip?! What kinda guy keeps photos and video-tapes anyway?!"

"I DO!" Ste yelled, "And if you don't like it, you can DO ONE!"

"Yeah right." Brendan seethed. He slammed his box onto the floor so that half the contents fell out, "Maybe I should."

Brendan headed straight for the front door, and Ste instinctively followed him – not knowing why, but at least this way he could give the door a poignant slam as soon as Brendan's stupid arse was out of it.

"And just so ye know Steven," Brendan continued, "I'm not gonna be like Douglas. I'm not gonna put up with any of your shit where you keep on pinin' over your ex's, okay?!"

"Oh, I can't believe you're thowin' that back in my face, Brendan."

"Well forgive me, but ye don't have a great track record for bein' faithful."

"That is SO fuckin' low!" Ste yelled, unable to control his emotions any longer. "I cheated with YOU – every time. No way can you use that against me now!"

"That's funny isn't it; I think I just did!"

"What, so you don't trust me?"

"I just can't understand why you wanna watch yourself gettin' sucked off by Amy Barnes."

"ARRGHHH!" Ste screamed out in frustration. He hadn't even seen that fucking video for about five years. And he and Amy been stupid kids having a laugh at the time. It could go in the bin and Ste wouldn't care less, but with Brendan it was the principle. He had to know he couldn't control Ste's possessions or try and erase his past.

"Just…" Ste stammered for words, too angry to form sentences right now. "Just piss off, I don't wanna talk to you right now."

"Yeah, likewise. And don't bother bringin' your stuff round."

"Fine I won't!" Ste yelled, and slammed the door hard. There.

He couldn't help taking a peek out of the peep-hole either, only to see Brendan storming away like he couldn't wait to get out of there.

Only when Brendan was completely gone did Ste sink down to the ground, back against the door and knees pulled to his chest.

Did he hear that right?

Did Brendan just call off their moving in plans?

Fuck. Ste's heart was starting to slow from its angry pace, but at the same time his stomach was knotting in a panic. Did… did Brendan just break up with him?! Is that what just happened? Oh fuck. All because of some stupid old video that he couldn't care less about? How had that escalated so fast?

How? It was him and Brendan; things always fucking escalated.

He pulled his phone from his pocket and stared at Brendan's number, wondering whether to call it or not. No. That would be weak. And he had been perfectly justified; it was Brendan who was being the jerk. Brendan could sweat for a while, and no doubt he'd be back with his tail between his legs in no time…

XOXOX

He wasn't. That night Ste slouched on the sofa and checked his phone about fifty-million times. He had the two half-packed boxes still piled against the wall in front of him, and wondered about whether he should start unpacking them or not. The bin-bag remained dumped in his bedroom, and he hadn't bothered removing that stupid sex-tape. He had half a mind to crush the damn thing into a million pieces; make sure it couldn't cause any drama again, but the feat would be pointless.

The next day at lunch, Ste expected Brendan to saunter into the deli as usual. He would probably be smarmy and unapologetic, the bastard, and knowing that Ste wouldn't cause a fuss in front of Doug, their argument would probably be buried and forgotten.

Except he didn't turn up. He was ACTUALLY giving Ste the silent treatment. Well how fucking childish. Two could play at that game. Ste determined then that he would NOT give Brendan the satisfaction of calling him… he could hold out for days if he had to. And he spent another night sprawled out on the sofa, arms physically fastening themselves around his chest to prevent his fingers wandering for the phone. He spent the entire night half-watching television, and practically counting down the hours until he could go to bed and sleep and forget about it for a while.

Brendan played on his mind every second. Every time he considered the possibility that they were over his heart would pang with misery, but at the same time he blamed Brendan completely, and he couldn't be the one crawling back and begging for forgiveness. Somewhere inside of him, he knew they'd sort things out, but he also knew he was NOT going to make the first move – not this time.

But fuck, he'd been so excited about them moving in together. They were supposed to be there now; tucked up on the sofa together, or having the mind-blowing sex which Ste, after 48 hours, was starting to sorely miss.

"Where's Brendan?" Doug asked casually the next day.

"Busy." Ste muttered, non-committal. The last thing he needed was Doug revelling in the knowledge they couldn't even pack boxes without as-good-as breaking up.

"You guys haven't fallen out, have you?"

"No!" Ste snapped, a little too aggressively.

"Okay. It's just you've been checking your phone non-stop for two days now."

"So?"

"And Texas saw Brendan in College Coffee yesterday lunchtime and said he screamed the place down cos someone spilled coffee near him."

"Jesus Doug, what are you – a stalker?!"

"No." Doug frowned, face flushing red, "Jesus, sorry I said anything."

"Well every couple has fall-outs you know – it's not a big deal."

"Okay, I know." Doug held up his hands in surrender, "Just showing an interest."

"Yeah well no offence, but I'm not gonna talk to you about me and Brendan, am I?"

"What, even though we're such 'good friends'?" Doug mimicked the phrasing Ste had used when two months ago he'd left him alone on an aeroplane.

"Oh right, seriously Doug – you wanna have a fight as well?!"

"No I don't! Gees, take a breather. If it's gotten you so stressed, why don't you just go round and talk to him?"

"Cos it doesn't work like that."

Doug rolled his eyes, "No, right." He sighed, "Sure it doesn't."

Ste clenched his fists tightly. Just cos Doug was now dating some 'down-to-earth', 'level-headed', 'assured' guy (his words), he thought he could mock and judge Ste's relationship with Brendan. Not that Ste ever expected him to make his peace with it exactly, but he could do without this fucking headache at work.

Which is why he was none too happy when Cheryl traipsed in either.

"What's going on with you and Brendan?" She asked immediately; no small talk.

"How d'you mean?"

"Oh please, Ste. One minute you were supposed to be moving in, the next Brendan's back on the whisky and biting my head off every five minutes." She muttered. "Please tell me you've not broken up already."

Ste drew a heavy sigh, "Why don't you ask him?"

"He said I should ask you."

"Well why doesn't he have the guts to come and ask me himself?!"

"Cos you're supposed to be living with us, and you haven't come anywhere near us for two days! He probably thinks you hate him."

"But…" Ste splutters, "He told me not to bother bringing my stuff round!"

"And then he watched the door all evening."

"Oh, well that's just pathetic, that is. What, he couldn't have called?"

Cheryl's face becomes a smug smirk.

"What?" Ste snaps.

"So you've just wasted two days and a half days being miserable and stubborn little bastards, then?"

"Don't call mea bastard." Ste said warningly.

Cheryl only laughed. "Sweet baby Jesus, you two are unbelievable."

And with that she turned on her heel and exit the deli.

XOXOX

Ste wasn't prepared to spend another night on his own watching his phone and staring at half-packed boxes. That was loser talk. That was letting Brendan dominate his life without even bloody being in it. He didn't exactly have any mates around either though, so it still required a fair amount of pride-swallowing when he picked up his phone and gave Tony a call. Bloody Tony, of all people.

And even he rejected him.

"Errr sorry Ste, I'm a bit caught up tonight. Have a good one though, mate, yeah?"

Ste hung up immediately. Okay, he had reached new lows.

Following rebuff from Tony things couldn't exactly get any worse, so he ended up heading to the Dog on his own and sat at the bar determinedly harbouring a pint, and pretending not to give a shit that he was the only one in here without company.

He was soon joined by another loner however when the doors swung open and Brendan strutted inside. He was dressed casually, in the back jeans Ste liked and the black V-neck top that showed off his chest hair. His façade was well-crafted; he pretended not to spot Ste as he paraded over to the bar, stood about one metre away from him and ordered a whisky as though Ste was bloody invisible.

Bastard. Bastard, bastard, bastard.

"Did you follow me here?" Ste ended up retorting, before he could stop himself.

Brendan glanced – yes, merely glanced – in his direction.

"Can't a man have a drink in peace, Steven?" He replied breezily.

"I dunno – I were here first!" Ste shot back, before cringing at his own childishness.

"Cute." Brendan merely muttered.

Ste had had enough. How dare he act so carefree and arrogant when only four days beforehand he'd been cradling Ste's naked body and telling him he wanted to move in together... that he couldn't handle spending any more hours apart. How dare he act so blasé when he'd had Ste checking his phone and driving himself mad every five minutes, and assuming that Brendan was doing the same.

"Uh, you know what?!" Ste growled through clenched teeth. And then not having words to demonstrate the rest, he merely flung the end of his pint across the metre space between them; wetting Brendan's hair and clothes in the process. Before Brendan could even retaliate, Ste was making his way towards the door.

"Oh, what the FUCK?!" Brendan yelled, "Jesus – what the hell is WRONG with you?!"

"YOU ARE!" Ste shouted back, pulled open the door and stepped out into the cold.

He was only a few steps out of the pub before Brendan was grabbing his arm, pulling him backwards. And whilst Ste would be ashamed to consciously admit it, even the touch of Brendan's skin against his own sent waves through his body, like a miniature electric shock. He continued walking, forcing Brendan to tighten his grip.

"I'm going home Brendan."

"No wait a second – I'm supposed to just let you show me up like that in front of all those punters back there, am I?!"

"Awwwww, are you embarrassed you got wet?!" Ste mocked.

"No but you realise I've got a reputation and you're currently fucking it up?"

"Oh get over yourself, will ya?!"

"Fuck Steven, will ye just slow down?!" Brendan growled, "I'm tryin' to talk to you."

Ste spun around, "Oh NOW you wanna talk?!"

"Yeah, now I wanna talk – why d'you think I followed you here?!"

Right. There we go. So Ste was right then. And Brendan's whole shitty nonchalance had been an act.

"I thought we were passed playin' games." Ste muttered in annoyance.

"Yeah, well I wanted to work out if you were still mad at me or not, but then you started gettin' pissy and throwin' your drinks about…"

"Yeah and you wonder why?" Ste sighed, "You can be such a dick sometimes, Brendan."

"Yeah I know that." And then with a smirk, "That's why you love me."

"Actually it's in spite of that." But Ste couldn't help the small smile creeping onto his face. It's the affect Brendan had on him… the mischievous glint in Brendan's eyes never failing to make Steven's heart do stupid things.

"But you do still love me?" Brendan asked. And his expression was open… sincere. Maybe even a little cautious, though he tried to hide it. Christ, was that a real question? Was he serious?

Ste frowned, "Well… yeah, of course I do."

"Even though we had a fight."

"We fight all the time."

"I know but…" Brendan shuffled his feet uncomfortably, "But ye didn't move in."

He sounded so…so… stupid, Ste thought; suppressing the urge to laugh. The damn fool! Ste was struck between wanting to kiss his daft face off, and wanting to torment him for the rest of eternity and drag his discomfort out even longer. Instead a small chuckle escaped him, and his eyes glistened as he asked;

"Do you still want me to move in?"

"Course I do; I told ye, didn't I?" Brendan paused and the softened, "Am I allowed to help you pack?"

"Yeah." Ste nodded, "As long as you behave yourself."

"Now that's a tall order."

"Hmm." Ste mumbled, knowing that all too well.

XOXOXO

There was nothing well-behaved about Brendan's actions that night.

Ste didn't know whether he ought to feel offended about the fact that during his two days of silence, Brendan had been presumptuous enough to invest in a video camera. He didn't really have too much time to stew on it before Brendan had him laid back on the bed and was pulling the trousers off him in that maddeningly slow way that had Ste putty in his hands. By the time Brendan had the camera in the air, Ste was too far gone to be questioning anything.

"Oh… oh fuck Brendan, please." He gasped, rocking himself against Brendan's fingers as they scissored fast and then slow inside of him.

"You want more of this?" Brendan's voice was low and sensual in his ear, his breath ghosting Ste's neck… his fully clothed body pressed against Ste's fully naked one.

"Yeah," Ste gasped. It continued to stun him to this day how Brendan could get him so hot, so desperate. Like in these moments he NEEDED Brendan completely; needed Brendan to fill him… couldn't ever have him close enough. And if he had the brain capacity in these times, it could be potentially terrifying; the acknowledgement that he could never truly be without this.

"But I'm sposed to behave myself." Brendan teased.

"N…no, c'mon." Ste arched his back on the bed; Brendans' expert fingers were very nearly pushing him to the edge, before pulling out of him just in time.

Ste winced against the emptiness, pulled himself into sitting position and scrambled to get Brendan out of those clothes – quick as possible. Now was not the time for coyness; it had been two and a half days for Christ sake and to put it crudely, he was quite frankly gagging for it. Brendan allowed Ste to rid him of his belt, whilst he just sat on his knees, camera haphazardly positioned to capture the moment, and his eyes glowing with lust. He loved it when Ste got like this… ruthless, needy, relentless.

"C'mon," Ste whispered again, his voice rasped as he took hold of Brendan's cock and started to direct it towards his arse.

"Hey, hey, easy…" Brendan said, amused, "Slow down."

He lowered the camera so it was practically touching the sweat of Ste's forehead; focused in on his glazed, yearning eyes and then round, swollen, open lips.

"Brendan stop it." Ste whined impatiently, nudging the camera aside.

"C'mon," Brendan teased, "I need somethin' to keep for our next fallout."

"Ughh!" Ste moaned. He really was a squirming, desperate mess – completely on the edge of abandon, but it wasn't enough for Brendan yet. Brendan liked him at his most vocal; when those crude and shameless words escaped from his lips without any sort of restraint. To indulge him now would be a sinful waste.

"Brendan please." He muttered.

Tucking the camera between his shoulder and chin, Brendan lifted Ste's legs and looped them over his shoulders, ran his fingers up and down the hair of Ste's thighs. Then he pushed right forward so his lips were against Ste's, and Ste's body practically folded in half; arse perfectly placed against Brendan's hardness.

Ste liked it like this – intimate… every dirty word shared hovering privately in the mere inches between ones lips and the others ear.

"C'mon fuck me," He whispered breathlessly; quiet but clear enough to make Brendan's hardened cock twitch with desire.

"Louder, for the camera." Brendan encouraged him.

In any other circumstances, Brendan would have received a pout and snappy remark at the very least for such shameless instruction.

Right now though, Ste would have done anything.

"Fuck me!" He cried out frantically, pushing his arse against Brendan's dick.

Brendan didn't need any further persuasion. And Ste's gasps were heated and frenzied and caught in irresistible close-up as Brendan pushed inside him. His crudeness forever caught on film as he spieled, "Oh fuck, fuck, fuck, shit."

"Ye like that?" Brendan whispered intensely to him.

"Yeah." Ste gasped softly back.

The camera went forgotten after that; their session remaining intense and heated, but as always with them, private. When the camera bounced from the bed and onto the floor, neither of them noticed. It was something they'd come to regret when in 10 years time they dug the DVD out of their combined dusty wardrobe.

XOXOXOX

That was such a random fic. Hope you enjoyed though. Comments appreciated :)