what if they met later in life? maybe Maura and Lori got together when Ruben is married to Mona and Niall is a semi-successful author with mediocre books (because I'm sure his success was tied to him writing a book about his brother) dating Alby. what then????
i've been thinking about this all day. maybe lori mentions offhand something about maura and niall's like 'excuse me, who??' and lori reveals she has a girlfriend, that niall's not the only one in the el-gee-bee-tea 'thing'. niall demanding to meet her, angry that, out of everything, lori would keep THIS to herself when she knows niall's struggled with his own sexuality.
lori and maura inviting niall and ruben over for a 'meet the family' dinner. ruben, who already knew about lori months ago, from the start picking on niall. likes the way he gets riled up. likes how EASY it is to get under his skin. likes that niall is quick with a smart ass comment himself.
the two of them clicking so hard so fast that lori and maura leave the table and neither of the boys notice at first and then they're getting drinks and niall has this buzz under his skin that has nothing to do with the half of beer he's been nursing since dinner and it's getting later and later and niall does not want to call it a night. he just doesn't. he's never felt like this. every time he makes ruben laugh or earns himself a smile from the other man, it's like something inside of him that hadn't even been lit grows brighter and brighter.
and ruben knows niall's gay and he's married, too, just like ruben is, but he can't help but be pushy and handsy and get niall under his arm and call him bambi when niall looks up at him, healthy-flush in his cheeks from the cold or the drink or ruben.
they click. they snap together. they both feel it. they trade phone numbers. they talk every day. they hang out when ruben's home from the rig. ruben starts calling niall brother in the same way he calls him gorgeous.
alby asks niall six months later if he's cheating on him. it wouldn't be the first time. it is the first time niall's kept it a secret though. niall says no and barrels on to ask alby if he'd want to have dinner with ruben and his wife this weekend? they're brothers now. but alby would correct him with 'step-brothers' and niall would hate that so much and try very hard to act like he didn't hate that little dig. like ruben isn't his.
mona and alby get along well enough, but the problem is ruben hugging niall and burying his face in his neck and smelling him in front of his wife and niall's husband because ruben's been on the rig and it's been weeks since he last saw him.
