Lunch time.
Brendan stood on the upper balcony of his club. It faced the village precinct and his gaze lingered on the deli across the pedestrianised area. He took a final bite out of the muffin he was eating then scrunched up the empty paper muffin cup before tossing it into a nearby bin.
He had unobstructed views of the deli. Its glass window panes reflected so much light that he could barely see the goings on inside. However, the steady stream of people who flowed in and out of its door suggested a successful small business.
The Deli.
That was its actual name. The Deli. What a shit, uninventive name. It was a good job that Brendan's interests lay in the young man who owned the eatery and not the place itself.
Steven had been elusive to him of late. So near and yet so far. The Irishman had a solution so he pulled his phone out of his suit trousers and made a call.
"Now's a bad time, Bren." Steven's whisper was rushed and distracted when he finally answered. "You alright?"
"Yeah." Brendan leaned on the bannister of the balcony. "I was hungry so I thought we-"
"I can't do lunch." Ste interjected, anticipating Brendan's invitation. "Sorry, like, I'd like to but it's too busy here."
"Doug can handle an hour without you."
"It's our peak business time." Ste whispered. "It wouldn't be fair."
Brendan swallowed a sigh of frustration.
Other than barely spending time with the lad the other thorn in his side was the fact that Ste still worked with that wet and weak ex-boyfriend of his.
Doug saw more of Ste than Brendan did and that made Brendan's blood boil.
"Sorry about this. It's me cheese supplier," He heard Steven lie to a customer. "I'll take your payment so you can be on your way. That'll be £6.60… Enjoy the muffin. Made them meself this morning. Original recipe."
Brendan couldn't help but smile at the smug pride in his voice.
"Bren, are you still there?" Ste asked after a moment over the phone line.
"Yup."
"Okay." Ste said. Brendan could hear the grin in his voice. "Okay. Let's meet at the flat. I need to do a couple of things first but I can be there in ten minutes. But I can only be gone for half an hour. Tops. What do you want me to bring from here?"
Brendan didn't care so he said,
"Surprise me."
zz-z-zz
Brendan wasn't even there yet when Ste got to the flat less than five minutes later. He mentally kicked himself as he carried a bag containing their lunch to the kitchen.
Why was he so completely incapable of saying 'no' to the Irishman? He had left the deli in a right state; with a queue of people extending out of the door and just Doug and a very slow Sinead to deal with them.
"Thirty minutes. Tops." He said to himself earnestly as he put his bag on the kitchen counter. "I needed to take a lunch break anyway but then I have to get straight back to work."
He glanced at a baking tray of muffins he had made in morning and left to cool on the grills of the stove. A muffin was missing from the set.
He placed an assortment of hams, cheeses, spiced artichokes and bread onto two plates, took them through to the living room and put them down on the coffee table. Then he sat on the couch and waited.
Twelve minutes later he was still waiting. He impatiently munched on a piece of artichoke. This lunch break was going tits up. Where was Brendan?
Ste stood up in annoyance, ready to pack up and go, just as the flat's door opened.
He tried to keep the irritation out of his voice as he caught sight of Brendan. "Where have you been? I'm going to have to go soon."
The Irishman closed the door purposefully. The click of the lock reverberated in the quiet room.
"I had something important to do before coming here." Brendan said.
"More important than lunch with me?"
Brendan smirked at him and gave him a thorough once over. Head to toe and back again.
Ste was powerless against feeling a ripple of excitement in his stomach when Brendan finally looked him straight in the eye. It felt like it had been an eternity since Brendan had last looked at him like that.
"Equally as important." Brendan stalked up to him with a determined gait.
Without another word he pulled Ste to him and leant in for a passionate kiss.
Ste felt an immediate rush of blood to his skin and groin. He got swept up in Brendan's unexpectedly urgent embrace. His arms fell over Brendan's shoulders and loosely wrapped around his neck as he returned the kiss and encouraged the taller man to get closer. Brendan's hands gripped Ste's hips then wove around his waist to pull him in as the kiss deepened.
Brendan began lifting his shirt up off him and backing Ste up towards the couch.
Thirty minutes.
Tops.
Ste's subconscious reminded him of his responsibilities.
He reluctantly pulled away from the kiss before he could get carried away. He tried to regain his composure but Brendan was making that difficult as he continued to kiss up Ste's jawline to his ear and down to his neck, while his hands trailed up under Ste's clothes to warm the younger man's skin.
Ste giggled as Brendan's tongue teased the fluttering heartbeat in his neck but he somehow managed to gather a rational string of words together.
"I got us… food because you said you were hungry."
Brendan sucked that place in Ste's neck that made his toes curl and turned him into puddle of messy putty and growled,
"I am."
Ste felt dumb. Brendan had meant THAT other kind of hunger.
"Oh."
"Yeah." Brendan whispered seductively as he continued his tactile exploration of Ste's body.
Ste ran his fingers through the back of the taller man's hair then gently grasped Brendan's face to force him to look at him. His intention was to slow things down. Be sensible and tell the man that now was a bad time because there wasn't enough time. Big mistake. He was never going to be able to resist the piercing, probing, passionate blue eyes staring back to him.
"Okay. Yeah." He gave Brendan a lopsided smile and a quick kiss on the lips then took the Irishman's hand and guided him to the bedroom.
"Come on."
zz-z-zz
Brendan hadn't intended to pounce on Steven the minute he got to the flat but… damn. It had felt like ages since he had had a taste of the younger man.
The sex had been frantic at first but had settled into something more sensual and erotically charged. Eventually Brendan had brought Steven to climax before joining him soon after. The young man had cum hard and was still languishing in the afterglow.
Brendan stayed lying over him and wrapped his arms tightly around him. The taller man pressed himself deeply into Steven's warm welcoming heat which precipitated an errant pleasurable shudder that ran through the full length of Mancunian's body.
Ste emitted a surprise laugh and gasped,
"Oh wow!"
Late aftershocks... the lad had had a great time. Brendan gave himself a figurative pat on the back. After all their times together he could still make the lad go weak at the knees and show him the time of his life in bed.
He planted a lazy open mouthed kiss on the smaller man's lips.
"Did that feel good?" He asked, already knowing the answer.
Steven nodded dreamily and gave Brendan a smile that reached right into the older man's soul. "You?"
Brendan replied with a kiss and a, "Hell yeah."
Ste laughed lightly and repeated, "Hell yeah!"
The Irishman slowly pulled out and collapsed next to Ste.
He stared up at the ceiling and said, "Now you are like one of your muffins."
Ste turned to face him with confusion etched on his face. "What?"
A hint of a smile appeared on Brendan's face. "Filled at the centre."
Ste whacked him hard across the chest. "That's gross! Do you know that?"
Brendan's grin grew wider. "It's true though."
Ste blushed.
"Nice muffin by the way." Brendan continued.
"When you say muffin do you mean me or an actual-"
"I mean the actual muffin I stole from the kitchen this morning although you're pretty tasty yourself."
Ste momentarily buried his face into Brendan's chest at hearing the compliment. "I noticed one was missing. When did you have it?"
Brendan pulled Ste close by the waist.
"Just before I called you. They were sitting there when I got up and they were calling my name." He drew lazy patterns on Ste's back with his fingertips. "Brendan! Take me! Eat me! A bit like what you moan at me."
Ste chuckled. "They are a new recipe I'm trying out. Glazed ginger and pecan with cream cheese filling."
"I am going to resist the obvious pun."
Steven's smile became nostalgic as he clasped Brendan's hand between his own and placed it lightly against his heart. The Irishman could feel the steady thump of the Steven's heartbeat. It caused him to drag his eyes away from a spot on the ceiling to face his lover.
"It feels like ages since we did this, don't it?" Ste said softly.
"Nine days but who's counting." Brendan said.
Steven kissed Brendan's hand. "Like, we've fallen out of sync. I get up early when you are still asleep to get things ready for the deli and by the time you are up to get the kids to school I'm gone. And at the end of the day by the time I've picked them up and got back home, you've long been gone to the club. And then when you get back from work at like, 4 am, I'm already asleep."
Brendan shrugged as if the situation wasn't driving him up the wall and fucking with his head as much as it was.
He was learning that this was what happened to life when one a) turned straight… from a criminal point of view and had regular working hours, b) moved a partner into one's place, c) got involved in the rearing of said partner's children and d) had to contend with a partner's increasingly successful, time consuming job.
Brendan couldn't quite understand how he had fallen into having to deal with such domestic issues. He understood even less why he wasn't freaking out over the fact that he had to deal with them.
At one time the thought of commitment with anyone, particularly a man, was unconscionable to him and yet now…
"It is the way it is." He said.
"I miss you though." Steven said to him fervently, emoting in a way Brendan still couldn't bring himself to. "We live together but at the same time we don't, you know."
Brendan knew. He totally got it but he had never been one to relish overly-emotional situations so he said,
"I thought you said you had thirty minutes before having to get back to work. Tops."
He arched a single eyebrow and nudged his head towards the wall clock.
Ste looked at it too and flew into a blind panic.
"Shit!" He leapt out of the bed and ran into the adjoining bathroom. "Shit!"
Brendan smiled as he heard the water from the shower start up.
"This is your fault! I haven't even had my lunch yet!" Steven shouted at him over the loud jet of water.
"You got some meat and protein in you."
"This isn't funny, Brendan! Doug is going to kill me!"
"Or I could kill him and do us all a favour including him."
"Don't joke about that!"
Steven was showered in three minutes flat and back in the room. Brendan thought he looked adorable in his haste. The deli owner threw his clothes onto his still damp skin while talking to Brendan.
"There's some food on the coffee table if you're hungry. I've got to go but I'll see you later, yeah. Wake me up when you get in from the club. It doesn't matter what time it is." Steven gave him a small smile. "I liked this. Wouldn't it be nice if we could do it more often? I mean, hang out more often."
Brendan stretched out lazily in the bed and smiled.
"I've sorted it."
"Sorted what?" Steven asked apprehensively.
Brendan replied, "The reason I was late was because I was making changes to the work rota at the club for the next couple of months."
Steven stopped in the middle of putting on his shoes and gave Brendan his undivided attention. "So we can hang out more?"
Brendan nodded. "You can't get much 'hanging out' done in thirty minutes."
Ste smiled. "No, you can't."
"You'll get sick at the sight of me."
Steven walked over to the bed and leaned in to press his lips onto Brendan's then straightened up.
"Never."