above all (m×m) ✔

3) kitchen disasters

"I can't believe I have to watch from the other side of the world as you burn down that heavenly loft of yours." Nyra complained, pulling her sand brown hair into a bun. The bun wouldn't hold, so she cursed and set down the phone to fix the catastrophe with hair pins.

"Sydney is hardly on the other side of the world." Steven pointed out dryly. Although, he had to admit that the 22 hour flight distances to his sisters was more than he would have preferred to.

"Where the hell is Della in a crucial moment like this?" Della's wife, Brea, asked. She was wearing an apron, but it was just a prop as she wasn't the one cooking that day. Steven still appreciated the effort.

"I'm here, I'm here!" Della joined them, rushing to the kitchen in such a rush that she nearly knocked down a chair on her way to the phone. "Okay, seal pup, are you ready?"

Della was one and Nyra three years older than Steven, so they always treated him like their baby brother. They had a slew of names for Steven, but seal pup was and would likely always remain their favorite.

While Steven stuck out his tongue at the nickname, Della began to instruct him in precise details how to boil potatoes. Steven measured the water in a pot and covered it with a lid. The peeled potatoes were waiting in a bowl filled with cold water and the pot roast was already stewing in the oven. He had done everything by the books and so far he hadn't needed to use the fire blanket, but unfortunately there was still plenty of time for it.

"Is the water boiling yet?" Nyra questioned, frowning as if she was certain Steven would burn down the apartment. "We don't want another rerun of Thanksgiving Day —"

"2019." Della and Brea finished for her.

"No, not yet." Steven told them, rolling his eyes. His sisters would never let him forget the one and only time he had assisted in making a pumpkin pie. There had been an actual fire that day, but still, Steven wasn't a total disaster in the kitchen. "Wait, now it is. What should I do next?"

"Put the potatoes in the water." Brea suggested, cocking up an eyebrow. When he did, the trio on the other end of the call had the audacity to clap at him. Brea poured herself a glass of wine and leaned closer to the screen. "So, this boy.. You're attempting to cook for him, so I think it's safe to say that he's something special."

"Shh, don't distract him, he's going to burn the potatoes." Della ordered, nudging Brea's shoulder. Both Steven's sisters were tall like him, and next to them Brea looked pocket-sized.

"Even he can't burn potatoes while boiling them in water, hun." Brea laughed heartily, taking a long swig from her wine. "You better start talking. What is he like? Handsome? Smart? Kind? A great shag?"

"We haven't fucked yet, I just took him on a date." Steven explained, shrugging. "But yes to everything else."

"What? You. Haven't. Done. It. Yet?" Della squeaked, managing to flip over Brea's wine and spilling the red liquid all over the white marble counter. Della barely even noticed it as she snatched the phone and gaped at Steven through the screen. "So you are serious! Tell us everything."

Steven closed his eyes, smiling as he thought back to their date a week ago. He could understand his sisters' astonishment, as he had been one to seek for hookups and even his closest relationships used to have a no strings attached label in them. One-night stands simply fit better in his busy, rather chaotic way of living. But it was different with Brandon: it was worth all the effort settling down would take and more.

Steven told, or rather spelled out to, his audience how he and Brandon had ended up in their current situation. The memory of Brandon gaping at him at their friend Jeremy Preston's wedding, made a face-splitting grin spread on Steven's lips. It wasn't the first time he asked Brandon out, but it was the first time he could make Brandon believe he wasn't joking.