steddie established relationship argument (mild on the actual arguing) under the cut. ~1700 words. cw discussion of having kids. no teaser because it starts out kind of E rated lol
also on ao3
“Pretty baby,” Eddie said, nose in the back of Steve’s hair, dragging against his scalp. “You’re so sweet, you were so sweet with Emily earlier.”
They’d been playing with Nancy and Jonathan’s 3-month old for the first time.
“Oh yeah?” Steve said, grinding the swell of his ass back against Eddie.
“Yes,” Eddie rumbled, lips against a shivery part of Steve’s neck.
After nearly a year of dating, Steve was used to this flavor of praise from Eddie, but it still worked to calm something deep inside him. And it was exactly because he did feel calm that he said, “So do you finally wanna talk about it?”
Eddie made an inquisitive sound into Steve’s skin.
“Eddie. You know,” Steve said gently, holding himself still. He thought if he played his cards right he might be able to get Eddie to mess around a little, ask him if he wanted to get a baby put in him, that sort of thing.
But when Eddie just kept frowning into Steve’s neck Steve went on—“Kids?”
“Uh huh. What about them?”
“Come on,” Steve said, squirming and then flipping over when Eddie let up. “You know I want kids, right?” He said it softly, because of course Eddie did know.
Except Eddie froze, just a little, and the whole thing began to feel decidedly unsexy. “Uh,” he said, a notch too loud for the situation.
“Okay, not right,” Steve said, mostly to himself. He’d thought, for sure, that he’d been making no secret of it.
“I mean,” Eddie said, trying to recover. “I totally, yeah, I guess, I know you—like kids and everything.” He chewed his lip like he knew it was lame. Steve rarely saw him so wrong-footed.
“Well, yeah,” Steve said. “I do, but—like last weekend, remember when that dad was arguing with his kids about milkshakes? And I said I wouldn’t make a big deal out of a milkshake with my kids—what’s the point?”
Eddie sputtered. “Okay, that was a hypothetical! I thought! I just thought—and you never said—” Eddie shook his head. “Oh. Six little nuggets.”
“Yes, as you’re so fond of reminding me.” Steve rolled his eyes to show he was joking.
“But, Steve,” Eddie said, sitting up.
Slowly, not wanting to do it, Steve followed.
“I mean—what does this mean? You would want to, what? Marry a woman?” At least Eddie seemed baffled by it.
“Don’t be ridiculous. I mean I want to do it with you, obviously. Dumbass,” Steve added for good measure.
“With me,” Eddie said, not able to hide the way his eyes went wide.
“No, with Jonathan,” Steve said, annoyed. “Obviously you, man, who else am I in a serious relationship with?”
“Okay, Jesus, give me two minutes to catch up here!”
Guilt made Steve want to let him off the hook but he didn’t think he should have to, really. Steve frowned at his lap, feeling miserable and stuck. He had the unpleasant sense that this wasn’t going anywhere good.
“Is it really so bad?” Steve asked.
“I don’t know!” Eddie said. He stood up, paced restlessly to the opposite side of the room and back. He was wearing only a pair of boxers and he reminded Steve of a caged animal before he even started throwing on his clothes.
Steve sat quietly in bed as he dressed only partly because he knew it was the thing he could do that would annoy Eddie the most. And Eddie was the one who was leaving, he deserved it. He also did it because he really didn’t know what else to do. Begging Eddie to stay wouldn’t do any good. They both needed space sometimes.
“I don’t even—it’s not that easy,” Eddie said, picking up his wallet and then putting it down again to punctuate it. “It wouldn’t be that easy for us.”
“I get that,” Steve said carefully. “But I thought… it doesn’t have to be a baby. Maybe an older kid.”
“Steve,” Eddie said, looking almost choked up. “Can we—talk about this later?” His voice had turned brusque. “I just need to—clear my head.”
“Yeah, course,” Steve said, feeling stupid and vulnerable still in the t-shirt he slept in while Eddie was dressed. The fight had gone out of him. Eddie just needed to deal with the revelation in his own way. He’d come back. Steve owed it to him to be patient after, apparently, springing this on him.
Eddie paused at the door. “I do love you.”
“I know. You too.”
And then the door was shutting behind him. Steve’s fingers itched to call Robin but for the first time it felt so personal that he decided against it. It was personal for Eddie, too. It belonged to both of them, and, for right now at least, no one else.
Now, if Eddie wasn’t back by the morning, all bets were off.
Steve gave up on sleeping after a frustrating 45 minutes and resigned himself to sitting up at least until exhaustion won out with worry. And right now, worry was putting up a good fight.
Steve put the water on for tea. He wasn’t stupid—he knew that Eddie might not come back. Or, well, he’d surely come back to the apartment either way but he might not ever really come back to Steve after this.
They were serious about each other. A consequence of the years of charged friendship before they’d so much as kissed, maybe, or just a consequence of how well they usually worked together. They talked about spending the rest of their lives together. Something like whether or not they each wanted kids was a big deal—the kind of thing that changed things. Steve had given Eddie an ultimatum. Part of him wanted to backtrack, call Eddie up and say just kidding, I can be flexible about this. But he couldn’t, and besides, he didn’t know where to call (except for how, realistically, he knew Eddie was at his uncle’s or Jeff’s place.)
In the morning, Steve called Robin.
“Oh, babe,” Robin said when Steve explained it, her voice crackling just a little down the line from New York where she was always up early. “Did you sleep at all?”
“About four hours,” Steve admitted. He’d been too wound up for any more and he was sure as hell feeling it now, exhausted and eyes aching. He hadn’t cried, and he spared a thought for the fact that maybe he was kidding himself by not really examining the worst case scenario. “Do you think—I mean, obviously this isn’t a good sign. That he left. But do you think there’s a chance or am I delusional?”
Robin snorted. “There’s more than a chance. He loves you, obviously. But—yeah, he might decide he wants to end things. We know that’s an option.” She said it gently enough that now Steve did feel a little hot behind the eyes.
Today was a Sunday. Their only plans were hanging out with Jonathan and Nancy and Emily more while they were in town. If Steve had to go see them alone—
“I wish there was something I could do,” Steve said miserably. And then the front door opened and there was Eddie, close across the small apartment, looking a little out of breath in the yellow morning light that was pouring in through the window, too cheerful for Steve’s heavy heart. “Oh, shit, Rob, I have to go.”
“Is it—”
“Yeah. Love you.”
“I love you, call me, that’s a threat—”
Steve hung up the phone.
“Uh,” Eddie said. “Robin?”
“Yeah.”
“Hi, Robin,” Eddie said dutifully toward the hung-up phone.
“I’ll tell her,” Steve said, so giddy with relief that Eddie was back that the nothing joke made him want to laugh. “Hi.”
Eddie looked at him. “Hi.”
Steve took a breath. “I’m sorry. For bringing it up during sex, and all. That was stupid.” He’d been feeling guilty some more and that, at least, was a legitimate reason for it.
But Eddie just shrugged. “No, it’s…” He searched for the word. “You thought I knew.” He wore his hair short these days, and it looked like he’d been running his fingers through it.
“Yeah. Eddie, listen—”
“No, just—give me a second,” Eddie said. And then he was going down on one knee, pulling something out of his pocket and holding it out to Steve. It was a simple gold band. It looked well-worn, but it shone in the light.
He cleared his throat. “Steve, I—“ his voice broke. “I’m sorry I don’t have a ring box. I went to the pawn shop as soon as it opened and I didn’t want to wait for another place to—I love you. I got scared when you started talking about kids, because it seems so big. And I just didn’t realize you felt that way, even though, okay, I guess I should’ve. But the more I thought about it the more what really scared me was losing you. I love the idea of you as a dad. You’d make any kid so lucky to have you. I can’t believe you want to do it with me, but if you really do—I’m open to it. So—will you?”
“We can’t even get married, though,” Steve reminded him, perilously close to tears again.
“Psh,” Eddie said. “Fuck the government, I’ll marry you anyway.”
“Eddie, get up,” Steve said, and then the tears were coming. He swiped at his eyes while Eddie stood hesitantly. “Save it, okay? Save the ring. I don’t want it to be like this—to end a fight. I want it to be its own thing. And it’s too soon anyway. It hasn’t even been a year. But—” Steve grabbed Eddie’s hand before he could put the ring back in his pocket. “Yes. Of course I want to marry you.”
Eddie touched his knuckles to Steve’s cheek, pushed aside a tear. “Getting some mixed signals,” he said, looking between Steve’s eyes with his own so full of love it hurt to see. “I’m sorry. And for worrying you.”
Steve sniffed. “I was worried but—I knew you’d come back. I know you.”
“I know you do,” Eddie said. He was still holding the ring. “Do you want to at least try it on? You could wear it on a chain or something—”
Steve put the ring on, and he didn’t take it off until the day in Joyce’s backyard when Eddie held it safe in his pocket until it was time for him to put it back on Steve in front of everyone they loved in the world.
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Omg I’m obsessed with your fics! Your writing is so good! Can I request some hurt\comfort Roy / Jamie where Jamie just needs some cuddles?
And now for something completely different! Back to the regularly scheduled short and sweet prompts, I jumped at the chance to do some fluff after my brief descent into madness.
(It wasn’t that brief and I doubt that it’s over.)
Roy/Jamie, set maybe two years after canon.
Song rec: Better Together
(Prompt Fill Masterpost)
—
Giving Jamie a key to his house had been an easy decision for Roy, regardless of how short the length of their ‘official’ relationship had technically been. Despite working together on a daily basis, their schedules could be vastly different and demanding.
Jamie had professional commitments outside of Richmond, split between brand partnerships and public appearances, on top of the time he religiously kept aside to spend with the team or on trips to Manchester. Roy was increasingly (frustratingly) involved in the day-to-day running of the club and spent at least two of the nights in a week that he wasn’t trapped in his office with Phoebe running circles around him after school.
Basically, dedicated ‘alone time’ was hard to come by and it was actually really fucking nice to come home some nights and find Jamie already sorting dinner in the kitchen, or to be surprised by an unplanned visit whenever he found himself at a loose end.
It was nice that Jamie clearly felt at home enough in his space to use it.
That said, this evening he was confronted with a lot more slamming of doors and aggressive muttering than he had typically come to expect when Jamie let himself in.
“In here.” Roy answered from his space on the couch when Jamie did eventually call out and confirm he wasn’t a bad-tempered burglar. He paused the film he’d been half-watching and scowled at his boyfriend when he poked his head into the living room. “What the fuck did my front door do to you?”
Jamie winced slightly and shrugged before all but collapsing over the back of the settee, 170 pounds of muscle immediately reduced to a floppy ragdoll. Roy made appropriately irritated sounds at being jostled, while simultaneously holding his arms agreeably up out of the way so Jamie could squirm around into a comfortable position. His head found its way to Roy’s lap and he tucked his legs up to avoid dangling off the arm.
“Sorry.” he said, smiling sheepishly once he was settled. “Long fucking day.”
“Yeah?” Roy’s hands automatically sought out more contact, one resting on Jamie’s chest, the other beginning to card through his hair.
He had let his natural colour grow back in this season. At this length, it had started forming a mop of soft curls on top of his head that Roy found unbearably attractive. Even with whatever overpriced products it had been saturated in for the day, it only took a few runs through of Roy’s fingers to set the strands loose again.
He suppressed a laugh at the way Jamie pressed into the touch with a contented sound, acting for all the world like an affection-starved cat.
“Yeah,” he sighed, eyes drifting shut. “The bloke running the shoot was a right dickhead. Whole thing dragged on way longer than it had to.”
Roy frowned. Jamie had been looking forward to working with this company - some fashion line Keeley had secured a contract for. It would be a fucking shame if the whole thing was a miserable cock up.
“Need me to knock some skulls together?”
Jamie huffed a laugh, lips twitching up, but the pinch in his brow didn’t smooth over like Roy had hoped it would. He was clearly upset by whatever happened.
“Nah. Not sure they’ll invite me back, to be honest. Keeley’s gonna go through me tomorrow.”
That was a straight up alarming concept. The list of things that would push Keeley to be genuinely angry at Jamie was incredibly short. “What happened?”
“Told him where to stick it, didn’t I?” Jamie groused, turning his face to nuzzle into Roy’s stomach. “Got sick of him yelling at me for just doing what he said. Prick.”
“Hey.” Roy waited until he saw Jamie’s eyes open and peer up at him. “He shouted at you?”
“A bit.”
“Where does he live?”
Jamie snorted and lightly smacked Roy’s arm. “Shut up.”
“No, seriously, Jamie.” The hand that had been petting his hair moved to cup his cheek instead. “Keeley is not going to be mad at you for telling off some idiot giving you a hard time. You don’t need to put up with that shit.”
Jamie hummed, not looking entirely convinced, but the tightness in his shoulders did ease up a little.
“It were a big deal, this shoot.” he said quietly. “Supposed to do a couple more with ‘em next month. They won’t if they decide I don’t know what I’m doing.”
“You’ve done more modelling in the last two years than I did in my entire fucking playing career.” Roy pointed out. “If it went wrong, I doubt it was because of something you did.”
A thoughtful look overtook Jamie’s expression and, with a small grunt of effort as the only warning, he surged up to capture Roy’s lips in a sweet, warm kiss. He used the hand not propping himself up to grasp the back of Roy’s neck, pulling him in as close as he could at the awkward angle.
Roy was definitely not complaining but couldn’t help his surprise, blinking in confusion when they broke apart. “What was that for?”
“It’s sexy when you make sense.” Jamie told him, a welcome flicker of amusement in his expression. “And when you try to get me out me head. Sorry I’m being a grumpy bastard.”
“Oh, yeah, you’ve never had to put up with that from me.” Roy deadpanned, eyebrows raised. Jamie rolled his eyes but couldn’t stop the grin taking over his face. Fair play. “Tell me why you’re so upset over this. You know Keeley won’t give two shits about one bad day.”
Jamie’s face screwed up for a moment then he huffed and shifted around to sit properly beside Roy, still pressed up to his side but occupying his hands with spinning one of the few rings he had on that day.
Roy didn’t rush him, knowing he'd find the words in his own time.
“I don’t like being called ‘stupid’.” Jamie finally admitted, like letting that bother him was something to be fucking ashamed of.
The hot spike of anger that shot through Roy’s gut seized up his joints in a vice of coiled tension. Ten years ago, he’d let loose that energy by charging at the source and whoever else happened to be in his path. Now, with only Jamie there to take it out on, he forced himself to relax at least a fraction before trusting his voice wouldn’t come out sharply.
“What the fuck did he say to you?”
Jamie nudged him gently, no doubt reading the protective fury in every line of his body and appreciating the effort to rein it in.
“Dunno, exactly. I’m hardly fluent in Spanish but I’ve seen enough of Dani’s Twitter replies to know when I’m being insulted.” He shrugged. “After the third or fourth ‘móngolo’ and ‘apestar’ I told him to go fuck himself and stormed off.”
Jamie groaned and scrubbed his hands over his face, ears going pink like they did when he was embarrassed or stressed.
“In my defence, he were pissing off everyone on the shoot. The photographer found me later to say he were five minutes away from doing the same. And he kept getting on at the makeup girl ‘cause me abs weren’t ‘defined enough’.” He put air quotes around the words and Roy gritted his teeth so hard he thought he heard one of the back ones crack.
“Right.” he ground out and took another deep breath when even he could hear the homicidal rage in his tone. “First off, that’s the most moronic fucking thing I’ve ever heard. You’re in the best shape of your bloody life and your torso looks like you’ve airbrushed it on every morning.”
Jamie snorted, clearly appreciating the compliment, despite everything else.
“He’s just a prick they paid way too much money to fly in from Barcelona.” he said, leaning his head on Roy’s shoulder and sounding like he was trying to convince himself as much as anything. “Keeley already told them that if they were gonna insist on doing the shoot during the season, there’s no way I would be getting dehydrated before it.”
Roy sharing his opinions on that fun part of modelling, whether on season or off, was not going to help matters. He made the magnanimous decision to let it go and was very proud of himself.
“Second.” He continued instead, putting an arm around Jamie to tug him in and press a kiss to his temple. “You are not fucking stupid. Or whatever else he said. Like to see that bastard fend for himself in the kind of tactical nightmares you find a way around.”
“Footie genius.” Jamie agreed lightly, nodding like he was humouring Roy.
“Fucking brilliant, on or off the pitch.” Roy corrected and squeezed Jamie to emphasise the point. “I’ve never seen anyone read people the way you do. Or remember so much shit. You knew what that fucker was saying about you because you pay attention to everything. I don’t know how you do it.”
Jamie buried his face into Roy’s shoulder, ears definitely pink now.
“Alright, alright, I get it. Freaky when you give me this many compliments, you old weirdo.”
Roy chuckled and kissed Jamie’s hair again. “You know I mean it?”
“Yeah.” Jamie sniffed and Roy couldn’t tell if he was just clearing the air or something else. “You’re a shit liar.”
“Glad to hear it. Did you eat yet?”
“Meant to order in on the way back. Forgot.”
“Fuck that. I’ve got a pot of spag bol that Phoebe and me barely made a dent in. Let’s get you fed.”
Jamie propped his chin up on Roy’s shoulder, eyes big and soft with a smile playing around his mouth. He leaned in again and kissed Roy some more, unbearably gentle and intense about it all at the same time.
“Alright. Let’s see what damage I can do to these abs, then.”
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