Again

Chapter 7

Beans' nose firmly presses against the bedroom window that looks outside, condensation disappearing and reappearing around it as Steve changes into what he has deemed appropriate sportswear to not embarrass his daughter. A pair of simple black sweatpants, a plain simple tee to match, and his old favourite sneakers. He checks himself over in the mirror one last time, running a hand over the now lesser-toned areas of his body before he's quickly wrenched out of his thoughts by a sharp bark from the dog. It hadn't been an especially good night's sleep, so the zoning out had happened a few times already this morning.

"Thanks, Beanie-baby! What would I do without you?" He says, baby-talking to the giant clump of black fur, currently beating a new dent into the chest of drawers with its tail, as she eyes him happily, tongue hanging out. Once she asserts Steve is ok, she turns back to the window. Her nose squeaks against it, and her tongue goes back into her mouth with seriousness. Business-mode Beans . Steve laughs, "Jelly-beans! Don't worry, ok? They're gonna love you" By the commotion in the house, it would have been easy for the dog to sense someone new might be visiting, so her reaction wasn't unfounded, and Steve wondered if half of his affirmation was for himself. He was nervous, though he had every reason not to be.

When Eddie had called, Steve hadn't read the name first. Instead, he'd answered it immediately, as usual, thinking it was kid-related because the only other people with his cell number were Jenny and the kids.

"Everything ok?!" he said urgently, already half out of his chair, motioning to grab his car keys as he heard a squeak on the other end of the phone.

"Jesus Christ, Steve! Whatever happened to Hello?" Came a heavy breathing voice of panic, and finally, Steve took a calming breath and sat back down.

"Oh! Eddie? Sorry, I just-" Steve started apologising, but Eddie cut him off.

"Just hang on a second, Steve. I'm just trying to get a grip on my soul that successfully left my being when you answered" Steve could hear the words were doused in sarcasm at his expense, but he smiled anyway.

"Ok, ok. Deserved. Sorry, Eddie, I didn't mean to scare you. Hello." Steve tries in a much calmer, softer tone.

"Now that's more like how we humans do it. Hello. I wasn't scared, by the way," Steve could hear the smile in Eddie's voice, and it made him shuffle back into the sofa cushions a little more, where he decided to try his own brand of teasing.

"You sure? You sounded pretty terrified, to be honest," Steve asks, in his best pretending to be concerned voice.

"No, I didn't! Did I?" Eddie played along, starting with an air of defiance before slipping into something that sounded like it had an accompanying pout. The thought of which sent Steve's brain into some sort of frenzy and accidentally triggered his humour centre.

"Yeah, you did. I haven't heard a scream that high-pitched since I went to a Backstreet Boys concert." Steve managed to get the sentence out through a huge grin and repressed laughter

"Ok, maybe you're right, but you know what I didn't do?" Eddie conceded before tagging on the question in a lower register.

"What's that?" Steve says, finally composing himself with a sigh.

"Out myself as fucking Backstreet Boys fan!" Eddie shouts down the phone. Steve can almost see him turning to stare wildly at his handset as he did so before moving it back to his ear to unleash a maniacal string of cackles. Steve could have let it go, but he enjoyed this little back-and-forth too much, so he played defensively.

"Ok, first of all, it was for Zee when she was younger. Do not tell her I told you that; definitely do not tell Morgan that. Secondly, it was alright. They had nice sweaters for one song."