Well Daniel had been absolutely no use at all.

There were now only ten days left and despite traipsing around half the shops in the West End Brian was no nearly any solution to his little dilemma.

Truth was what he wanted most to give Steve was himself.

For more years than he cared to remember now Brian had been in love with Steve. At first it was just friendly, brotherly love. The kind that he felt towards Stef. The two guys were his life, his protectors. They were always there covering his back when his big mouth had managed to get him into yet another fight. Always ready to rush to his defense with no regard for their own personal safety.

Then somewhere along the line Brian's feelings had changed. Or rather evolved. To begin with he dismissed it as simply he desire to 'screw the straight drummer' but gradually he realized that it ran deeper than that, much deeper. There was no denying it. He was head over heels in love with the guy. It was as black and white as that.

Except that it wasn't black and white at all. Steve was straighter than the proverbial arrow, and the constant jibes of 'you don't know what you're missing' the casual offers of blow jobs whilst they were on the road had done nothing to bend him even a little bit. Straight he had been born and straight he was going to die.

Brian sighed.

His was an impossible case and moping around wasn't going to change it.

In the end he had settled for just having Steve there as his surrogate Mum, his knight in shining armour. What he had with Steve was too precious to risk by telling him that all the casual offers weren't so casual. That Brian's 'take it or leave it' attitude was actually just a clever front for much more sincere emotions. He didn't just want to screw Steve, he wanted to be with him in every sense of the word. 24/7, rocking chairs on the porch. The whole nine yards.

All that walking round the shops had made his feet hurt so Brian decided to give himself a pedicure. A little 'pick-me-up.'

Carefully he pulled everything that he would need out of the bathroom cabinet and carried it through to the front room, lining it up on the coffee table.

Just for good measure he included a bottle of vodka and a tub of Haggen Daz as well.

He had got as far as applying the first coat of a deep blue nail polish when the door bell rang.

Brian paused and waited. Moments later a key scrapped in the lock. He smiled, only two people had keys to his flat

Stef and …

'Beanie…' Brian put down his bottle of polish and hobbled over to greet his visitor.

'Hi ya Molks.' Steve hugged Brian and planted a friendly kiss in his hair.

'To what do I owe the pleasure?'

Steve sighed. 'Em's mum was driving me up the wall. She keeps changing her mind as to exactly when I can see my daughter over Christmas, so I thought I would come over and see if you wanted to help me drown my sorrows,'

Steve had long ago learnt that there was little point in getting angry at his ex-girlfriend, doing that would only make her dig her heels in further but he was getting thoroughly pissed off with all of her games. 'but I see you have already made a start without me.'

Steve flopped down onto the sofa and reached for the vodka.

Brian joined him, balancing his feet on the edge of the table and re-adjusting the wads of cotton wool that he had placed between his toes.

'Pretty colour.' Steve commented, peering down to watch as Brian started to apply the second coat.

'Ermm, Brian exactly how much of this vodka have you had…?'

'Not enough.' Brian muttered under his breath as his hand wobbled and he ended up painting his toe rather than the actual nail itself.

'Come here.' Steve set down the glass that he and Brian had been sharing and swung Brian's feet round into his lap. 'I think I had better finish this or else you are going to end up with nail polish halfway up your leg.

Brian giggled.

He liked it when Steve was in a playful mood. When he took control and took care of him like this. He also liked the sensation of now having his toes just mere millimetres from Steve's crotch.

'What would I do without you eh?' Brian half joked.

'You'd get off your face every night, screw anything with a pulse and end up a washed up has been, boring the inmates of some rehab clinic with tales of how you used to be a kick ass rock star.'

'Ha bloody ha, very funny.'

'You'd manage Molks, you always do.'

Steve finished drawing the soft brush over Brian's right little toe and turned his attention to the left foot.

Brian sighed. It wasn't entirely unpleasant to have someone else handling your feet, in fact when that person was Steve it was very pleasurably indeed.

'Steve…' Brian started, remembering his conversation with Daniel.

'Yeah…hold still will you…' Steve carefully painted Brian's toes and then blew on them softly.

Brian forced himself to concentrate on the task at hand and not how turned on he was by what Steve was unconsciously doing.

'What do you want for Christmas?'

Steve looked up and fixed Brian with a wistful gaze. 'Right now, all I want is to be able to see my kid on Christmas Day.'