what are your intentions with my brother?
Rating: G | 1623 words | shovel talk
A3 - dare romance for @harringrovesummerbingo
Read on Ao3
Summary:
Max gives Steve the shovel talk
Steve knocked on the door and let himself in, like Max had instructed him to. He followed the voices and excited squeals to the kitchen.
“ Dad! ” Rosie screeched when she saw him, jumping off her chair and running into his waiting arms.
“Hello, princess. Did you have fun at Disneyland?” As much as Steve had enjoyed his child free weekend with Billy, he’d also missed his daughter.
“We saw Tiana and Merida and Buzz Lightyear, Dad, it was so amazing!”
Steve walked to the table and deposited her back in her chair next to her friend.
“Ladies,” Steve said with a nod to Max and Roscoe, who was busy putting the final touches to what looked like an overly decorated cupcake.
“Hey, Steve. Coffee?” Max offered, getting up to make him one when Steve nodded.
The two little girls excitedly told him all about their fun weekend in Anaheim while they demolished their cupcakes and Max cleaned up the colorful mess of frosting and sprinkles covering the table.
“Roscoe, sweetie, why don’t you and Rosie go wash your hands then she can help you make sure your room is nice and tidy?”
“Okay, Mummy. Come on, Rosie.”
The two girls left hand in hand, whispering to each other and Steve was pretty sure he heard something about a Prince William and a King.
“We need to talk.”
Steve turned back to Max, who was looking straight at him with a rather serious look on her face, the likes of which he hadn’t seen directed at him before.
“Um, yeah, sure, what’s up?” he replied, trying not to squirm. He hoped Rosie had been good for the Sinclairs, though he was pretty sure that was the case.
“I wanted to know what your intentions are with my brother.”
“My intent—what is this, the Middle Ages? We’re… friends,” Steve said, wondering how much Max knew and what she’d heard from Billy. He wasn’t sure how close the siblings were.
“Don’t feed me this bullshit, Steve. You’re more than friends and you know it.”
“Well, yes, okay, we’ve gone on a few dates and had, um, sleepovers, but I fail to see how it’s any of your business.”
“Steve… you’re not as good at hiding your hook-ups with my brother from your child as you think you are.”
“What the fuck, Max?”
“Remember when I took them to the beach the other week?”
Steve nodded. He’d been so relieved when Max had offered to take Rosie after school and keep her until dinner time while he was stuck at school meeting with students and their parents.
“They built a sandcastle and then had a whole story going about Prince William and the King getting married.”
“Wh-what?”
“They know, Steve.”
“But… how?” Steve was in shock. He’d been so careful to keep his interactions with Billy separate from Rosie. Fuck .
Max shrugged. “I don’t know how, but they do. I need to know what your end game is, because I love my brother and he deserves better than some rushed trysts in a dark cupboard.”
“We…” Steve cleared his throat. “We agreed that it was better to keep things casual, and, um, see each other when Rosie was not home.”
“Steve, I like you, you’re a great dad and a good friend, but I know my brother and he doesn’t have a casual bone in his body. So you need to decide how you feel about him, and do the right thing.”
“And what would that be?” Steve was getting pissed off by Max’s interest in his sex life. “You know, he told me about what you apparently refer to as his ‘slut era’, so I’m not sure why you suddenly care.”
“Okay, that was completely different. Not sure how much he told you, but he was with Derek for four years. They were talking about getting married and finding a surrogate. They were looking at buying a fucking house together, Steve, then one day, Billy came home to find the douchebag in bed with their realtor, Stacey.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah. Apparently it’d been going for some time. Later, Billy found out that the bitch was pregnant.”
“What the fuck?!”
Max got herself a beer from the fridge, offering one to Steve who declined. He was trying to wrap his head around the bomb that Max had just dropped. While Billy had briefly mentioned the relationship on their first date, he hadn’t gone into details, and now, Steve could understand why.
“He kinda spiraled after that, which, fair enough. I thought I was going to lose him a couple of times, but he pulled through only to start hooking up with random guys, like, a different one every day of the week. I think he looked for the wrong guys on purpose, so there was no risk he’d get his heart broken again.”
“He told me he stopped after a while, because it made him feel empty,” Steve recalled. He was surprised to realize he felt the need to hug Billy and never let go.
“Yeah, that was two years ago, give or take. He threw all his energy into work, accepted a transfer to Seattle to oversee the new branch, and spent all the time he wasn’t at the office either at the gym or sleeping. He only came home for Christmas and Roscoe’s birthday. And yet, somehow, you two ended up playing Seven Minutes in Heaven in my hallway closet.” Max gave him a pointed look and Steve felt his cheeks heat up.
“I didn’t mean for anything to happen, I can promise you that.”
“Oh, I know. But I’d be lying if I didn’t say I had high hopes.”
“I’m sorry, what?”
The smirk on Max’s face was eerily similar to the one he’d seen on Billy’s, and the blue eyes only compounded the resemblance. “I had a hunch you two would get along. And I was right.”
“You usually are,” said a deep voice coming from the doorway.
Steve whipped around to see Lucas standing there—so tall, his head almost reached the top of the doorframe. “Lucas. Hi.”
“Hey, Steve,” Lucas replied with a smile, walking into the kitchen and dropping a kiss on Max’s awaiting lips. “Hi, baby. The girls upstairs?”
“Yeah, they’re supposed to be cleaning up but I have a feeling they’re reenacting the royal wedding again instead.”
Lucas chuckled and threw an amused glance Steve’s way. “I’ll go check on them and make sure Rosie didn’t forget to pack anything.”
“Thanks, babe.” Max watched him leave then turned back to Steve. “Like I said before my husband walked in, I had a feeling you and Billy would hit it off, and you did. You are now at a crossroad, my friend. I know you worry about Rosie getting attached to a potential partner in case things don’t work out, and I get that, really, I do, but you can’t keep going like this. Billy is…” Max let out a sigh and put her bottle down on the counter, fingers picking at the label. “Billy is not built for casual, Steve. He’s the ‘all or nothing’ kind of guy. He puts his whole heart into everything, including relationships. So you need to decide if that’s something you want in your life. If he is someone you want in your life. Otherwise, I need you to end things with him now, before he gets hurt by an attractive bisexual man again.”
Max got out of her chair, taking a moment to put her empty bottle in the sink, then stopping by Steve. She patted him on the shoulder a couple of times. “I’ll give you a week to think about it.”
Steve barely heard Max leave the room, lost in thought about everything she had said. She had filled in some of the blanks about Billy’s dating history that Steve had been too chicken to ask Billy about, and given him quite the shovel talk…
He was still puzzled about the fact that Rosie knew about him and Billy, but he wasn’t mad about it. Truth be told, he’d found himself liking Billy more and more as the weeks passed. Lately, he’d even started to think about how he could approach the subject of Billy with his daughter.
He sighed and folded his arms on the table, resting his head on his hands, as he thought about what Max had said. The thing Steve didn’t get was why Billy would agree to be casual if it was so against his nature. Steve had tried dating since his divorce, with limited success. It was hard to take the time to get close to someone when your child and their well-being was your priority. But that hadn’t been an issue with Billy.
Steve had heard about Uncle Billy on numerous occasions, and from the moment he had laid eyes on Max’s brother at Roscoe’s party, he had been entranced. He’d just had to follow Billy into that coat closet, going as far as to pretend it was an accident so he had a reason to start a conversation.
He’d been the one to text first and had let out a very undignified squeal when Billy had replied, earning himself a surprisingly scornful look from his six-year-old. Not only was Billy hot, but he was also funny, thoughtful, clever, and really amazing in bed. He could do things with his tongue that made Steve blush merely remembering about them.
So, yeah, fair to say, Steve was smitten. He really regretted suggesting they keep their relationship casual because now he wasn’t sure how to tell Billy he wanted more. Though, listening to Max, there was a high chance they would get their happy ending.
