One sending memes to the other while they're at work so much they turn their phone off in exasperation
Brendan missed the picture messages he used to get from Ste, mostly the inappropriate ones, but he didn't mind the other tamer ones, whether it was him bundled up in Brendan's dressing gown watching TV captioned with 'bunk off n giz a cuddle xx', or a photo of what he'd cooked up at the restaurant for Brendan to eat when he arrived to sort out the club upstairs, Ste had only ever sent him somewhat intimate moments for them to share, that is until Declan sent Ste a friend invite on facebook.
Now all Brendan received when his phone began chirping on his office desk or in his pocket was some stupid graphic Declan had sent Ste, half of them could be considered digs at Brendan, in fact half of them were, since they were captioned by Ste with 'lol just like u xx'.
The latest one was a Gordon Ramsay one, white block capitals emblazoned on the image reading 'The beef is so undercooked it's eating the fucking salad' with Ste's added comment of 'rmr my bday last yr? xx' complete with a sick-face, and typically Brendan didn't respond to these, he had a slew of them, image after image with the occasional message about being home late or picking something up from somewhere, but never an acknowledgement of the 'meme' or whatever the hell it was. This time however, he thumbed in a response of 'remind me never to do anything nice for you.'
He expected it to prevent Ste from sending another picture but within seconds there was a game character telling him to 'cry some more' on his screen, so with a heaved sigh he shoved the phone to the other end of the desk, picking up a pen to go over his books, resting his head in his hand as he worked. His phone proceeded to chirp at him over the next hour or so, each time he'd glance up to see a photo briefly before it faded to black, it was only when he started getting text-only messages that he decided to pick the damned thing up, giving the pictures a disinterested glance before reading Ste's message. 'Soz b, i like ur cookn rly, best fry ups eva y/y?' he let out an unenthusiastic laugh through his nose at that, when their differences were minor, Ste would pander, but other times they'd both stubbornly stand their ground until whoever they'd gone to for venting got sick of them and tried to get them to resolve it, but Brendan was sore about the spam of images, sending back a brief 'Yeah.', his use of periods were a good indicator of his mood, and Ste was happy to point that out with a 'miserble git xx' which Brendan ignored.
He realised after a while that Ste's new torrent of images was mostly to try and cheer him up or make him laugh, but Ste hadn't pegged onto the fact that it was the images that were bothering him, that and the fact that Cheryl had sent out a friend request to Declan when she'd first made Brendan an account but it had been ignored until very recently, whereas as soon as Ste moved in with Brendan in Dublin and the lads had first visited, Declan had insisted Ste accept his friend invite, and had then gone so far as to label Ste as his step-father, which had been a riot to explain to Eileen over the phone, since he had no idea Declan had done that, having not used the site for much more than looking at photos he was tagged in. He pinched the bridge of his nose at the thought of that conversation, the headache brewing made worse by the whistle chirp of his phone notifying him that Ste had sent him another picture of a cat looking dumb.
He wanted to throw the phone at the wall at this point, but the last time he'd done that Ste had been angry for days about it, harping on about hypothetical emergencies that apparently wouldn't get through to the club or restaurant phones if they ever happened. So instead he picked it up, glanced at the text for long enough for it to register as read before turning it off and shoving it in the drawer of his desk, drumming his pen on the desk before setting to work once more, red penning a few things but the black pen prevailed, as per usual.
He was looking over the Manchester books when there was a knock on the office door, he didn't look up, merely calling out a quick 'come in', but getting no response for a good minute or so, which prompted him to look up finally, which he regretted as soon as he saw the print out being held in the doorway.
"You're wasting printer ink on those now?" he asked, shaking his head and looking back to his work,
"Aw c'mon look at it though, it's well cute, looks like Lynsey!" Ste beamed as he followed the image in and slid it on top of the books Brendan was looking at. Brendan exhaled slowly through his nose, closing his eyes for a few seconds before opening them and looking at the picture, it was a black dog lying down in a way that made it's floppy ears look open and alert, with 'did you hear that? The food bag!' written on it in bold text. It did look like the puppy they'd taken in, complete with little white chin and a spot of white on its chest,
"I suppose it does look like the little brat…" he admits, thinking about the dog that was probably trying to chew her way out of the wired crate in their living room, a precaution he'd insisted on when he'd come home to find her maw clamped around his boots, one of them anyway, which was Ste's defence for the puppy, not that Brendan would get far in a single limited edition boot, but it had stopped him trying to rehome Ste's (their) new baby.
"Oh Bren, you're not still mad about them boots are ya?" Ste huffed, sitting on the edge of the table, pouting down at Brendan like he was ready to defend the dog again,
"Six hundred pounds Steven, Gucci, the dog doesn't cost that much to feed for a year," he was changing the target of his irritation,
"She's a puppy," Ste protested,
"She's almost two Steven, that's what… 14 in dog years? You don't see Paddy destroying my shoes," he grumbled,
"Aye right you love that dog, stop pretendin' this is about her and your dumb shoes," Ste sussed him easily at this point, leaning across the desk and prodding at Brendan's chest, "What's got you all 'Grumpy Cat'?"
"Probably the 'Grumpy Cat'," he air quoted as he spoke, giving Ste a tired, uninterested stare,
"What? You don't like grumpy cat?" Ste asked,
"I don't like having my phone filled up with this shite constantly," he gestured at the dog picture before burying his face in his hands, "you're an adult Steven, not a twelve year old, act like one," he chastised,
"Oh come on Bren, it's only a bit of fun, Deccy sent me them," he protested, touching the back of Brendan's neck lightly, Brendan shirked him off and sat up,
"Oh yeah, you an' Declan are bezzie mates now, aren' cha?" he sniped,
"So that's it?" Ste sighed, "look just cos me an' Deccy are mates right doesn't mean you have to go off on one about it," he grumbled,
"I'm not goin' off on one Steven…" he trailed off, not looking at the other man, "Do you know how ridiculous I felt havin' to explain to Eileen why people are askin' when she re-married cause Deccy's got a new step-da?" now he was going off on one, "An' I knew less than her!" he added, standing this time,
"Oh…" in another time Ste would have shrank back, but he just folded his arms across his chest and huffed at him, "Look I thought it was cute aright? Didn't think owt would come of it, besides they've got eyes to see Deccy's got a family relationship with us then they'll probably see I'm with you," Ste pointed out matter-of-factly, "now calm down and give us a kiss," he gave him a smug look then.
They stared at each other for a long while, Ste keeping up that smug expression whilst Brendan looked bitter and ready to throw something at the nearest wall, he wanted to so badly, turning his gaze down to his desk when Ste kept up the grin.
"Quit lookin' so smug Steven…" he tutted, as soon as he'd looked down Ste had pulled his phone from his pocket and begun playing with it,
"Nah I'm alright being smug ta," he grinned, thumbing something into his phone, "Still waitin' on that kiss though,"
"Alright then…" Brendan said slow and low, expression hard as he moved like a blur, violently shoving everything from the desk onto the floor,
"Brendan!" Ste balked, stepping back then,
"Get on the feckin' table Steven…" he grinned, waiting for Ste's look of shock to smooth into that cheeky, predatory look he got before matching it with his own,
"Brendan," Ste repeated, pocketing his phone and unzipping the leather jacket he'd once again claimed as his own and letting it hang off of two fingers before dropping it on the floor, the thud from his phone resonating in the room.
"Yanno there's a couch right there," Ste grumbled, rubbing his backside, Brendan was sitting with his feet up on the cleared table, next to the slightly shinier metal where Ste's bare ass had been moments ago,
"Desk is more fun…" Brendan muttered, turning his phone back on whilst Ste gathered his clothes together, "Huh…" he let out, frowning at his phone and then looking up at Ste, watching the younger man pulling his jeans back up, "So Deccy's admitted he's my son on facebook," he said slowly, watching as Ste didn't even look at him, but he saw his ears turn a little bit pink in embarrassment,
"Mint. Wonder what brought that on," he hummed innocently, expression struggling to copy his tone as he looked over at Brendan, soon zipping up his leather jacket and subtly patting the pocket where his phone was.
"Who knows," Brendan shrugged, Ste mimicked the gesture and sat down on the leather couch to put his shoes on, Brendan didn't really know how to react to that, feeling like he owed Ste more than just pretending he hadn't thrown him a huge lifeline by convincing Declan to set him as his father on facebook, it was something small and stupid, but it meant a lot to him.
"Right I'd best be off then, I've not been home yet an' Lynsey needs walking," Ste exhaled long and slow, checking he had everything, not moving when Brendan stood up abruptly and crossed the office to stand behind him,
"Thank you Steven," Brendan pressed his hands to Ste's hips, lips brushing against his ear as he spoke,
"It's the least I can do," Ste mumbled, "specially with the way Amy's been actin'," he was referring to the fact that Ste couldn't see his kids unless Brendan stayed in Ireland, or a hotel if he pushed that his businesses in Manchester needed him there,
"Well I did sock her fella one," Brendan mumbled into his shoulder, arms circling Ste more now,
"He deserved it, he's a right nob to us," Ste shrugged,
"Us? What's he done?" There was a protective tone low in his voice,
"Nothin', he just… I dunno, makes me feel like he's better than me or somethin'," he grumbled,
"Well I'll tell you what, next time I see that smug prick, I'll batter him," he promised, feeling Ste press back against him,
"That's better, there's my Bren," Ste grinned, leaning his head back on Brendan's shoulder so he could turn and kiss the corner of his mouth lightly, "All that needed was a text message, a quick shag, and violence," he beamed,
"Let's go walk that stupid dog," Brendan huffed, loosing Ste to grab his longer leather jacket and his keys,
"What about the mess?" Ste asked, gesturing to the desk,
"I'll clean it later," Brendan shrugged, giving Ste's ass a quick smack to spur him into motion, loving the look Ste cast over his shoulder at him before departing.
