Warnings: Slash (Stone Cold Steve Austin/Dean Ambrose), Mild Slash (Stone Cold Steve Austin/CM Punk), Smut, Mild Profanity, AU.
Tables shouldn't prove to be the problem that this one does. Steve wants to sit beside Phil, not a big problem, but Dean seems to want to sit by him too, again not a problem, the table's round, so sitting one on each side of Phil should solve the problem, but really that's the start of it. At a comedy show isn't the place to have the sort of conversation Steve wants to have with Phil. At a comedy show with a third wheel, like Dean, is an even worse place for it, so he's stuck making small talk, and trying to keep Phil's attention on him. Dean's making the kind of subtle play that Steve had never expected of him. He's telling jokes, and charming little anecdotes that have both Phil's attention and his laughter. Dean seems to take Phil's laughter as a cue to move his chair a little closer. He starts talking to Phil, so quietly that Steve can't hear, and a little part of him is fuming about it, but thankfully Phil's roommate takes to the stage. His set is funny enough, and straight after him comes the guy Phil's writing about so Dean's flirting, and Steve assumes it was flirting, is cut short.
The rest of the night is fine. Nothing overly interesting happens, and Steve's a little frustrated about that. Phil and his roommate left shortly after the show ended, and Dean levels Steve with a smirk. His lazy, sex smirk that has Steve shaking the image of Dean on his knees from his mind. Dean leaves Steve with little more than a bye, and Steve goes home.
Thanks for tonight, Steve. - Phil Brooks 02:21am
No thank you, Phil. I had fun. - sent 02:22am
Really? I mean, I know that it was supposed to be a date, and I invited Dean, and then alls I was doing was making notes all night... I'm sorry. - Phil Brooks 02:23am
I had fun, Phil. I like getting to spend time with you, even if you are distracted. - sent 02:23am
So, tomorrow you wanna go on a date? - sent 02:24am
Tomorrow? - Phil Brooks 02:24am
Yeah, tomorrow. I've an idea on where to go. I'll pick you up at 6. - sent 02:25am
Tomorrow? Okay! You know where I live? - Phil Brooks 02:26am
I know. I'll see you then. Dress casual, okay. I'm not gonna wine and dine you, unless you want to be wined and dined, minus the wine obviously. - sent 02:27am
Ha-ha! But no. Wining and dining isn't something I'm overly fond of... I mean it's great sometimes, but mostly no. I'm not into being wined and dined as it were. - Phil Brooks 02:28am
I'm looking forward to what you've planned, Steve. G'night. -_-zzz - Phil Brooks 02:28am
Sleep well, Phil. - sent 02:29am
The next day, Steve spends getting ready. There's no need for him to be in the office today. He's supposed to be working on that editorial piece, but he's mostly ignoring it, changing shirts repeatedly, and fussing over his pants. He's a little concerned about Phil and Dean being alone in the office, but thinks that Dean will be on his best behaviour. If he is trying to seduce Phil, even Dean has to have realised that Phil isn't going to be as easily persuaded into his bed as Steve was.
It was 6, right? I've not convinced myself of something I'm wrong about, have it? - Phil Brooks 04:46pm
6 sharp, Phil. - sent 04:47pm
Do I need to eat before you get here? - Phil Brooks 04:47pm
I hadn't planned on feeding you, but where we're going we can eat. - sent 04:48pm
Not feeding me! You're a terrible date, Steve! - Phil Brooks 04:48pm
Sorry, I'll buy something if you like. - sent 04:49pm
Nah... I grabbed a sandwich on my way home. I'm just gonna jump in the shower. - Phil Brooks 04:50pm
:3 That's a VERY pleasant mental image - 04:51pm
OMG! I just realised I sent that. -Phil Brooks 05:20pm
I did not mean to send something so... uh... Nevermind... *^-^* - Phil Brooks 05:21pm
See you in a little while. - sent 05:22pm
Phil's apartment building is nice enough, in what appears to be a fairly decent part of town, though the elevator seems to be out. Steve makes his way to Phil's apartment, his attention on his phone checking the time.
So... Phil said you're taking him on a date... Have fun, cowboy. - Dean Ambrose 05:58pm
Steve doesn't answer the text, mostly because he's not sure how to answer. He doesn't know why Phil would have mentioned this to Dean, other than he's excited, which is kind of flattering really. Steve can picture Phil excitedly gushing over his date to anyone who'll listen. It's a nice mental image, one Steve hopes is true. He knocks on Phil's door, and is greeted by Colt, who smiles awkwardly, and hurries down the stairs.
"Go on in. He'll be ready in a bit." He calls out over his shoulder. For a moment Steve hovers at the threshold to Phil's home, listening to the sound of Colt's feet clumping down the stairs. Then his cell chirps, and Steve pulls it out to look at the message he just got.
Let me know how far you get with him for furture reference. - Dean Ambrose 06:00pm
"Hey, Phil! Colt said to come on in." Steve shoves his phone back in his pocket, shoving Dean to the back of his mind. Tonight is about Phil. Dean's little more than a mild distraction that's easy to ignore.
"Sorry. I'll be a minute." Phil sounds surprisingly stressed, and Steve takes a seat on the couch.
"As long as you need." Steve mutters, casting his gaze around the room. The apartment is small, and decorated with a lot of stuff. There's a heaving bookshelf in one corner, stacks of DVDs, an impressive collection of vinyls, an even more impressive one of comics, and pictures covering almost all of the wall-space. Polaroid's, old photos that you'd get developed at a store, more modern ones that look like they were printed on a home printer. Steve ends up getting up to look at them. He recognises a couple the people in some photos. Phil or Colt are most of them, and a lot of the other people Steve doesn't know, but there's more than one famous face that Steve recognises featured.
"Oh god... Please don't judge me based on the wall of bragging." Phil's somehow crept up on Steve, and is standing right beside him.
"Wall of bragging?" Steve turns to glance at him, noting that he's thankfully dressed casually. Steve had been worried that with the amount of time Phil had been taking, he might have decided to get more dressed up than necessary.
"Uh... It's basically a record of every awesome moment in either of our careers." Phil smiles slightly, and shakes his head. "I roomed with Colt in college... Here." He taps one photo that shows two people Steve assumes are younger Phil and Colt. "The frosted tips really made him look like an asshole, but I suited the blond." He grins, and Steve considers the photo for a moment longer.
"The blond really did suit you... Though I like you brunette too." Steve considers running his hand through Phil's hair, but decides against it. "Come on, time's a 'wasting." Steve lightly taps Phil's shoulder, and heads for the door.
Phil follows him down to the car, and seems a little flustered when Steve holds the door for him. He might not like to be wined or dined, but Steve's certain Phil's a bit of a romantic. Little gestures like holding doors seem to be highly appreciated by him. The drive is sound-tracked by Phil telling Steve all about his day, and Steve nods along, quietly enjoying the sound of Phil rambling. The trip seems far shorter than Steve had expected it to, before too long he's pulling up outside a large building, and parking the car.
"A bowling alley?" Phil sounds mildly amused, if slightly confused, and Steve nods. He gets out of the car, opens Phil's door for him, and starts leading the way in.
"What size are you?" Steve asks once they approach the counter, getting a laugh from Phil. "Shoes size, Phil... Shoe size."
"I'm sure that's the only size you're interested in." Phil tells the woman behind the desk his size, and gives her his shoes. "So are you any good at bowling?" He asks Steve as they're putting on the bowling shoes.
"I'm... In all honesty, I'm horrible at it, but it seemed more like your thing than some pretentious restaurant, and I didn't want invite you to my place on a first date." Steve's hoping for points for honesty, and it seems as though he's getting them. Phil's grinning up at him, a sly little smirk Steve's never seen before.
"I'm not going easy on you." He laughs, and stands. "Colt and I, we were on a bowling team before I left Chicago. He's been bugging me to rejoin ever since I came home."
"I can only hope that you're a gracious winner then." Steve gestures to the lanes, letting Phil make his choice on where to bowl.
They play a few games, Phil winning easily, with Steve managing to keep his annoyance at losing to a minimum. Though Phil does try to help Steve out, offering a few tips, and pointers that involve him pressing himself quite close to Steve to give. It wasn't bad, but as they head out of the bowling alley, Steve can't help but think that not enough progress was made.
"You wanna take a walk?" Phil's face is turned up to the night sky as he talks, his hands stuffed into his pockets, his whole demeanour carefully crafted to seem nonchalant.
"Sure..." Steve tilts his face down so he can meet Phil's eyes. "I'd love to take a walk." Phil steps back a little, his cheeks slightly reddened. "Lead on." He starts walking in the general direction of a park nearby.
"I've not gone on a date in years... I..." Phil trails off with a shake of his head. "Steve?"
"Yeah?" Steve's not sure if Phil had been expecting a comment on his lack of recent dating experience, and he's not sure what Phil's going to say next. If he asks when Steve's last date was, Steve's not sure he has an answer. He generally doesn't date, at least not here. In Texas he did a little more, his last relationship ended about a year ago, and he'd been keen to get back on the horse. Dates very quickly became hook-ups though.
"Will you... Fuck, I'm really gonna sound like an idiot, but will you hold my hand?" Phil sounds incredibly embarrassed as he makes the request, his eyes turned down to the path they're walking on.
"You're gonna have to take them outta your pockets for me to hold one, Phil." Steve chuckles, and nudges Phil's shoulder.
"Ah." Phil takes one hand from his pocket, and lets it fall to his side. Steve immediately catches a hold of it, and squeezes Phil's fingers lightly.
"You've got pretty fingers, you know that?" Steve blurts it out without really thinking about it. It seemed like the right thing to say, and Phil gives a soft, little laugh in response.
"Pretty?" He shakes his head, looking at Steve with a wry smile. "They're just fingers." He shrugs, and Steve squeezes his fingers once more.
"Still pretty." Steve starts swinging their joined hands lightly. "So, why has it been so long since you've been on a date?" He almost instantly regrets asking that question, because Phil's entire posture changes. The carefree bounce of his step has vanished.
"I said." Phil sounds sharp, but Steve thinks beneath that sharpness, there's something fragile and afraid. "It was a bad break-up...A bad relationship." He says quietly, his eyes downcast. "I don't... I can't talk about this with you yet, Steve. I'm sorry." Phil tries to pull his hand back.
"Hey." Steve stops walking, and lets go of Phil's hand. "When you want to talk about it, I'll want to listen, okay?" That comment gets a quick, grateful smile.
"When was your last date?" Phil changes the conversation topic gracelessly, and Steve laughs awkwardly.
"I've not been dating in a long time." He admits, and Phil nods slightly.
"Yeah... The scene these days." He sighs, and shakes his head. "I don't understand the sort of people who just fuck around... Not that sex is... I couldn't do it." Phil doesn't seem like he knows where he was going with that, and Steve's almost grateful for that.
"Casual sex can be fun." He offers weakly, and Phil smiles wryly, reaching out for Steve's hand once more.
"I'm sure." He starts walking once more, Steve falling into step with him easily. "Even in college I didn't really sleep around. I went from relationship to relationship, but not one of them started, because of sex. It seemed like such a hollow foundation to me."
"Some houses have basements." Steve's comment gets an unexpectedly loud laugh from Phil.
"That's true, but some people fill those basements with corpses." He grins at Steve, and Steve's no idea how the conversation has gotten from dating to murder so quickly.
"Is this where you confess to hiding bodies, Phil?" Steve nudges his shoulder lightly. Phil shakes his head, a little smile settling on his lips.
"So, I think this is an opportune moment to change the subject once more." Phil beams at Steve, and asks a question about baseball.
They wander around the park, before agreeing to head home. Steve's not entirely certain this went well, but it's not changed his mind about Phil. He definitely wants something long term with him. Phil's the long term type, he gives out the vibe, and his comments tonight confirm it. Getting the long term relationship that Steve wants might take some time, but the ground for the foundation has been broken at least.
"Do you wanna come in? I think Colt's still out." Phil looks nervous as he stands outside his front door.
"I'd like to, but I want a second date more, so I'll head home." Steve's holding Phil's hands once more, his thumbs absently running over the back of Phil's thin hands.
"You sure you want a second date?" Phil meets Steve's eyes easily, a grin on his face. "I'll pick next time, and I promise you now it won't feature a restaurant."
"Really? That's a shame, because I do like the idea of you in a suit." Steve wonders if he'll get a goodnight kiss. As much as he'd like one, he doesn't want to risk the little progressed he's made with Phil.
"Hmm... Date three. That's the suit date." Phil's grin melts from his face as he realises what he's just said. "I mean if we get to date three. That wasn't an assumption. It was a hope, an aspiration really-"
"Phil. I'm hoping we get to date three hundred and three." Steve raises Phil's hands to his lips, and presses a kiss to his knuckles. "I know the nicest little restaurant we can go to for date three."
"I'm not entirely sure I own a tie." Phil's obviously avoiding the main thrust of Steve's sentence, but that's okay. He didn't shoot it down outright, so Steve's taking that as an encouraging sign. "Well... I guess this is where we awkwardly stand outside my house until a neighbour shows up, or we ki-" Steve cuts him off with a quick, light peck of a kiss. "Kiss... I was gonna say that." Phil's smiling when Steve opens his eyes once more.
"I guessed." Steve lets his hands go, and cups one of Phil's cheeks. "I'm gonna go before I do that again, and I fail to make it to even date two. I'll see you at work on Monday."
"Yeah." Phil's nuzzles against Steve's palm, and then seems to catch himself. "I'm going inside before I decide we can skip dates too." He presses a kiss to Steve's palm, and turns to open his door. "G'night, Steve."
"Goodnight." Steve watches him close the door, and loses the fight with the stupid grin that appears on his face.
"So... How was your date?" Dean's voice is sharp, tinged with something annoyed. Steve presses himself against the wall outside the office to listen better.
"What date?" Phil asks softly, though defensively.
"C'mon, Phil... The date with Steve the other night... Did he take you somewhere nice?" Dean's tone hasn't changed, and Steve decides that he should spare Phil from having to tell Dean anything.
"Morning." Steve hands Dean his Americano, and then holds Phil's coffee of choice out to him. "You sleep alright?" Steve slides between Phil and Dean, his back to Dean, actively blocking him from the conversation. He's sure that Dean will have understood the little implication Steve's making there. It's not an unusual question, but Steve's sure that Dean's come to the conclusion that Steve's asking how Phil slept means that at some stage over the weekend they had sex. Lie though it is, it's the conclusion that Steve wants Dean to draw. He wants Dean to back off of Phil. Steve saw Phil first; he's not in the mood for fending off Dean's advances on him as well as trying to make his own advances. He's not entirely certain the assumption that Steve's slept with Phil will make Dean back off, but it might make him think twice.
"Hmm..." Phil doesn't answer, instead there's a soft little smile on his lips as he takes the coffee from Steve. "Thank you for the coffee, by the way." Phil sets the coffee down, and takes Steve's hand, tangling their fingers for a moment before letting go to start typing once more. Steve heads to his desk, and starts working. He finished his stupid think piece over the weekend, and now he needs to finish editing it before it goes to the editor. It's boring, but necessary work. There's a silence in the office. Not an uncomfortable, or even a heavy silence. It's just the silence of three men working hard, the clattering of keys, and occasional muttering under breaths, the sounds of papers shuffling, their chairs scrapping on the cheap flooring. It's almost pleasant, but when Steve meets Dean's eyes, sees that lazy smirk, he knows it's not going to last. Dean's gaze drifts from Steve over to Phil, and Steve begins to realise that the implication that he and Phil slept together had the exact opposite effect. The look on Dean's face is little more than desire, and Steve's no idea what to do about this situation.
Thank you to those who reviewed: Moiself, Metalgrl29, and Rebellecherry.
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Next chapter scheduled for 2016/04/03
