Ste starred at the spot where Brendan had been moments before and shook his head. He placed a hand on the wall and left the deli.

Brendan was up all night. He felt awful for hurting Steven the way he did it was a feeling he wouldn't have careless about but it was Steven, he was sweet and caring and innocent.

'Don't know how to make it up to him' thought Brendan.

Suddenly Brendan thought of an idea and jumped up from his bed and he went to work on it.

Few hours later at the deli.

Brendan placed some papers on the new deli counter and left the deli.

When Ste walked into the deli he saw some forms on the counter and read through all of them. Brendan was signing off his part of the deli to him, all he had to do was sign the forms and the deli would be completely his but did he really want that. He looked for a pen but couldn't find one. He heard a click of a pen and saw a hand with a pen in it at the corner of his eyes. Ste turned around and saw that it was Brendan.

"Here, sign it and it's all yours" said Brendan giving Ste the pen.

Ste grabbed the pen and was about to sign the forms, but turned around to face Brendan, Brendan was looking down at his feet as if he were shy.

"Is this some sort of game with you?" asked Ste angrily

"I used to play games but not this time, not with ye, not since I met ye" said Brendan honesty while looking Ste straight in the eyes.

"Ok then" said Ste right before signing the forms.

"The contractor will be here for a few more days then you're free of me like you wanted" said Brendan sounding hurt.

Ste nodded his head and handed the forms to Brendan.

Brendan left without another word spoken.

Later that night.

Ste walked into Chez, Chez and the first person he saw was Cheryl, she looked upset.

"Hey Cheryl, what's wrong?" asked Ste as he walked over to her at the bar.

"It's Brendan; he won't come out of the office. He won't talk to me"

Ste didn't say anything.

"Have you spoken to him?" asked Cheryl turning around to face Ste.

"Yeah I have" said Ste not looking up to face Cheryl.

"Yeah and?"

"I told him where we stand"

"What did you tell him?" asked Cheryl who was concerned and curious.

"I told him that he could help me fix up the deli but that I didn't need anything else from him"

"That's why he's acting the way he is"

"I don't care he hurt me"

"I know, he's going back to Ireland. I overheard him talking to Eileen and his kids. He wants to go to the hospital check out how the guy he beat up is doing. I swear Ste since he met you he's been a completely different person; I don't recognize my big brother anymore"

Brendan came out of the office, he saw that Ste was at the bar with Cheryl and went back in and closed the door.

"That was odd" said Cheryl to Ste

"What was?" asked a confused Ste

"Brendan just came out of the office. He saw us and walked back in his office. "

"Weird" said Ste

"It's as if he doesn't want to be around you"

"Well that makes two of us" said Ste seriously

"Please Ste talk to him for me" Cheryl said almost begging

"What, are you kidding me?" asked Ste a bit angry

"Please, for me"

Ste just nodded his head and walked to the office.

Ste walked in the office without knocking and saw Brendan lying down on the couch , he was on the phone with someone.

"I'm gay," said Brendan on the phone softly

"Do you feel any different about me?" said Brendan

Ste couldn't hear the other end of the confession.

"I love you too Declan, can't wait to see my big man" said Brendan before hanging up the phone.

'Wow, Brendan just told his son that he was gay, that's a big jump' thought Ste

Ste knocked on the door.

"Come in" said Brendan sitting up straight from the couch.

Ste walked over to him.

"Ste you should be here" said Brendan sounding hurt

"Cheryl told me to talk to you" said Ste

"We said all that we needed to"

'Shit Ste be the bigger man' thought Ste

Ste took a deep breath.

"Was that your son that you were talking to on the phone" asked Ste even though he knew that it was.

"Yeah, I told him that I'm gay" said Brendan softly

"What did he say?"

"He told me it didn't matter that he wants me happy and that he still love me"

"That's great" said Ste happily

"I heard that you're going to check up on that guy at the hospital"

"I called the hospital they told me he got out months ago, that he's well. I asked if I could have his contact information and they gave it to me. I called him and told him that I was truly sorry for what I had done that I thought back to my father when he abused me and that I took it out on him."

"That's great, what did he say?" said Ste happily

"He told me he appreciated the call and told me it was alright. I asked him how he was feeling, asked him what did I do. He said that he bruised him up pretty good and that he just needed to stay in the hospital for a few days to heal up."

"Good, that's good"

Silence for a second.

"Are you going back to Ireland?" said Ste curious

"I was thinking about moving back there, I don't have anything to stay for except for sister but I could visit. I just really want to be with my kids, I love my kids" said Brendan sad.

"Oh, I feel the same, I mean I love me kids as well"

"That's right, I forgot you had 2 little ones at home" said Brendan a bit cheerful

"Was there anything else you wanted to say?" asked Brendan, a bit on the rude side as if to say 'I'm done talking to you, you can go now'

"I… um…I never thanked you for what you did for me with the deli, can I treat you out later for some beers at the Dog?" asked Ste kindly

"You don't have to, it was nothing"

"I just thought we could go out as mates"

"Steven are you sure, I mean after all that stuff you said last night"

"I was hurt by your actions towards me last night"

"Are ye alright, I mean I didn't hurt ye seriously did I?" said a concerned Brendan

"I'm fine"

"Ste" said Brendan softly almost a whisper as he saw that Ste was about to leave the office. Ste turned around to face Brendan

"I heard what ye said at the deli when ye thought that ye was alone"

"Oh, that I missed Doug"

"Yeah, you're a nice guy Steven, hope one day someone will see that"

"Thanks Brendan"

"What time should we go out?" asked Brendan

"How about 8?"

"Sounds good"

Ste left the office and he looked at the bar area and Cheryl was still there.

"That took a long time" said Cheryl once Ste came back to where she was.

"Brendan told Declan the truth" said Ste facing Cheryl

"He did what?" asked a shocked Cheryl

"He told Declan that he's gay"

"I don't freakin' believe it" said a shocked and excited Cheryl

"It's alright, Declan is happy for him"

"That's good"

"He talked to the guy he had an affair with, told him that he was sorry for everything"

"Good, anything else?"

"we're going out for beers later"

Cheryl gave Ste a smile.

"It's not what you think, just as mates"

"Sure" said Cheryl with a smile

Later that night.

Ste knocked on Brendan's door.

Brendan answered the door wearing dark denim jeans, a blue button down shirt and his famous leather jacket.

Ste's mouth went completely dry looking at him.

"Hello Steven" said Brendan huskily

"Hi, you look nice" said Ste out of his Brendan trance

"So do ye" said Brendan looking over at Ste one time.

Ste was wearing black dress pants, dark brown shirt, and gray jacket.

Later that night

Brendan and Ste were having a laugh at the Dog. They were making so much noise that they got kicked out.

When it was time to pay for the drinks Brendan took out his wallet the same time that Ste did.

"Hey, I said I would pay"

"Yeah well just say this is for my crazy outburst from last night and call it even"

"Fine"

Brendan paid for the drinks and when they were about to leave the bar it started to down pour and thunder.

"Hey, want a night cap at mine? Cheryl won't be back to later"

"Uh, you sure?"

"I wouldn't have asked, now let's go" said Brendan playfully before pushing Ste playfully out the door. Ste almost fell over. Brendan laughed and ran after Ste. He grabbed a hold of Ste.

"Opps, watch what you're doing" said Brendan with laughter.

Brendan and Ste laughed and Ste patted Brendan on his back

Both were soaking wet when they got closer to Brendan's flat and both of them could hardly walk in a straight line. Ste as the younger of the two was worse for wear. Brendan had to hold him up most of the time and they would break out in fits of laughter.

When it was time to climb up the stairs to get to Brendan's flat that was the worst of it. Neither one of them could see right and they took their time climbing up. Ste on the other hand was almost crawling on his hands and knees. Ste lost his footing and fell flat on his back, bringing Brendan crashing on top of him. There starred deeply into each other's blue eyes and both touched the other ones wet cold cheek, before both crashing their lips against each other's, neither one knew who had started the kiss but neither one of them wanted to stop it.