The two of them going down to the beach and one getting sunburned really badly so the other slathers them with aloe gel when they get home
Brendan was exhausted when he emerged from the ocean with Leah on his back and Lucas under one arm, dumping the smaller child unceremoniously onto the pile of sand they'd tried to make a castle out of earlier, before dropping to his knees at the base of his towel.
"It's your turn..." He let out, Leah slid from his back and he promptly flopped onto his towel, discarding his sunglasses and stretching out on the soft, expensive fabric.
"Aw, poor old daddy Brendan," Ste cooed, running his fingers through Brendan's hair affectionately, he was sat crosslegged on his own beach towel,
"Who're you calling old Steven?" He grumbled, "Didn't see you getting off yer arse to play shark attack with your kids," he added,
"No I was chuckin' a Frisbee about with yours," Ste retorted easily, "Paddy! Declan! Food!" He called out at the two Brady kids, who stopped throwing their Frisbee in favour of jogging over and dropping onto their own towels, Declan grabbing Lucas as he whipped by and sitting the rogue child down next to him.
Brendan didn't even bother rolling over when Ste placed a Tupperware container of jam sandwiches down in front of him, opting instead to prop himself up on his elbows to eat, looking over at his oddball family every so often, seeing how easily Padraig and Declan got on with Ste's younger kids, they were never short with them or weary of them, in fact, Paddy loved spending time with Leah and Lucas, being the big brother for once, Declan had grown protective of them too and would often help carry them to bed if they fell asleep on the couch when they visited the house in Dublin.
He was all finished with his sandwiches, folding his arms to rest his head on them and chill out for a while when a pair of small feet appeared in his line of sight,
"Daddy Brendan, are you coming back to play?" Leah asked sweetly, she always threw in the 'daddy' when she wanted something,
"Daddy Brendan's havin' a break princess," he grumbled, letting his eyes close as Leah plonked herself on the floor next to him and pouted, "not gonna work," he pointed out, adding to it by lazily grabbing his sunglasses and slipping them on, it was uncomfortable on the side of his head but he didn't much care, it kept out the sunlight a bit better.
"Please?" Leah's voice pitched to something cutesy and Brendan wished he had something to stuff in his ears, he was putty for that kid,
"Daddy'll come play with you in a sec, just gotta make sure everyone's protected from the sun," Ste piped up, he was caking Lucas in kiddy sunblock as he spoke, "want some Bren?" he didn't get a response though, because Brendan had begun to snooze and had officially checked out of all activities for the next hour or so.
"I'll do it!" Leah beamed, and Ste missed the glint of mischief in her eyes, handing her the fancy expensive sunblock which she proceeded to smear over her hands before starting her masterpiece on Brendan's back, making sure to put sunblock on Brendan's face so it would just be his back in her little project.
She was done in under ten minutes and Brendan snoozed through the whole thing, even when she'd poked his face enough to get him to turn it to the other side, declaring herself done as she wiped her hands on Brendan's towel and stood up, dusting sand from her knees before running to Ste to get her own sunblock topped up so she could go kick a ball at her brothers.
"Bren… Brendan wake up…" Ste sounded worried as he gently tapped the side of Brendan's face, rousing the man from his snooze, and when the worry sank in, he rolled over and was going to sit up but pain shot through his back as Ste yelped 'wait' in a panic,
"Sweet Baby Jesus, what the hell?!" Brendan seethed, flinching off the ground and feeling his entire back aflame,
"Alright don't get mad, I think ya upset Leah," Ste said hurriedly, crouching down by Brendan in those ridiculously small swimming shorts, Brendan sought out Leah quickly, she'd stopped whatever she was doing at Brendan's shout and was looking over sheepishly, seeing the scathing look on Brendan's face. "Oi don't do that," Ste reprimanded, prodding Brendan's shoulder, "it's just a sunburn, I don't think she knew it'd hurt ya," Ste excused,
"How the hell did she sunburn me?" Brendan asked, he wanted to reach and touch his back but he knew that calloused fingers on raw skin would just make things worse,
"She might've drawn somethin' on your back in sunblock…" Ste admitted, looking just as sheepish as Leah was, "But at least it wasn't Declan who done it, he'd 'ave drawn a nob or something," Ste explained offhandedly, "Leah just… you know… drew a face… with a mustache… big one… angry lookin' thing," he mumbled, he wasn't quite looking at Brendan now, and Brendan suspected it was because he was worried Brendan would go off on one like he had last year.
"Jesus…" Brendan grimaced, shedding his sunglasses and rubbing at his face, "What'd I do to deserve that?" he asked, just moving his arms shot pain through his back, tight and reddened by the sun,
"You decided to have a nap when she wanted ya to play shark attack," a sunburn didn't seem like a fair punishment for not wanting to go back into the ocean, but Leah was young and possibly didn't understand that what she'd done was wrong, at least she hadn't when she'd done it, but now when Brendan looked at her, eyes brimming with tears and Declan trying to figure out what was wrong with her and looking completely hopeless, she clearly knew she'd hurt Brendan.
He beckoned her over with a gesture, motioning for a hug, regretting it when Leah flung herself at him and squeezed him tight, hands slapping against the red skin on his back, but he didn't snap or scold her, instead tentatively hugging her back.
"Leah hun, not so tight, Bren's got a poorly back," Ste said softly, and Leah obeyed shakily,
"I'm sorry Daddy Brendan, I didn't know it'd hurt," she started to bawl then and Brendan cradled her head as his anger melted away,
"Oh Princess, don't cry, I'm fine," Brendan soothed, sending a sharp look Ste's way when he scoffed a laugh at Brendan's weakness for the little girl, his little princess.
"We should get some aloe on the way back to the villa, slap it on to sort that right out," Ste suggested after Brendan had settled Leah in his lap,
"You're not slappin' anything on my back thank you," Brendan huffed, stroking Leah's hair as she rested her head on his chest and quietly fiddled with the skirt on her swimming costume,
"I'll be gentle," Ste promised, standing and leaning down to press a slightly awkward upside down kiss on Brendan's lips before straightening up,
"You better," Brendan grumbled, watching Ste corral the boys and get them to help pack up, Brendan instead stood and picked Leah up, holding the seven year old with one arm and standing aside, making no effort to help, not even when Declan made a dig at him for it, instead retorting that he was injured.
Of course Steven laughed it up back at the villa, sitting on the edge of the bed with Brendan sat between his legs, slathering aloe gel all over his back with gentle hands that still weren't gentle enough to not hurt as they rubbed against Brendan's raw, reddened skin.
"Would you be careful!" he snapped, he shouldn't take it out on Ste, it wasn't exactly his fault, he'd not expected Leah to exact some kind of revenge against Brendan over the whole 'not going to play' thing, but he was the one who'd opted to help Brendan, and as such got the brunt of it.
"Oh quit whining, it's not that bad," Ste tutted, and Brendan knew at this point Ste would be biting his tongue in concentration,
"Not that bad? Steven I look like a burns victim," he griped,
"Nah you don't, I think it looks a'right," Ste hummed, "At least her art's getting better," Ste teased,
"Of course, let's encourage her to start burning her artwork into the backs of her victims, next time she should use the blow torch," he drawled out sarcastically, earning a poke in the gel covered burn on his back, "Hey!"
"Sorry," Ste grumbled,
"You better be, I blame you in all this Steven," he grumbled, "let's go to Mallorca with the kids, he says, we'll stay in a right lush villa, it'll be well mint," he was mocking Ste's dialect but failing on the accent, but he did decide to pronounce Mallorca wrong,
"Oi, I know how to say Mallorca thank you very much," Ste protested, giving Brendan a quick smack on the head, "And it is mint! You're just being a sore old baked potato," Ste ribbed, squirting some cold gel down Brendan's spine with a well-timed fart noise,
"That's racist," Brendan shivered, scooting forwards as Ste shimmied closer to stretch an arm down his back.
"What?" Ste was blatantly confused, but still rubbing gel into the burn just above Brendan's waistline when there was a knock on the door and Declan leant in,
"Hey da, Ste, we- what are you doin'?" he asked, confused, shaking his head after a second, "We figured out how to work the telly an' that lot want to watch that cartoon dragon movie," he grumbled,
"Do I need to pay for it or somethin'?" Brendan asked, Declan shaking his head,
"Nah it's in the telly package, says so in the book, we wanted to wait for you two," he shrugged,
"Start without us yeah?" Ste began, "We'll be out in a few," he beamed, Declan nodded and left, closing the door behind him,
"Are you seriously not done yet?" Brendan asked, impatient,
"Yeah," Ste leant and pressed a kiss to Brendan's ear, running a gel covered hand down his front instead, fingers teasing at the front of the tracksuit bottoms Brendan had donned when he got in. "Thought you'd appreciate a little alone time before then," he was smirking against Brendan's cheek now, "If yer up for it,"
"Well now Steven, if I recall I ain't usually the one on my back, am I?" Brendan turned to twin Ste's smirk, pushing to his feet and shoving Ste back onto the bed, ignoring the pain in his back as he climbed on top of him.