Chapter Text
Neil is staring at the ceiling, lying in his bed. The music playing quietly through the speakers on his desk next to his nightstand is mellow and melodical. Space song, by beach house. Neil’s favorite song.
His fingers itch to adjust his white shirt, which has ridden up on his stomach. The jeans he’s wearing are baggy and blue, and his sports socks are tugged up to his shin. Waiting feels less like a chore when he listens to music.
He keeps staring at his ceiling, the glow-in-the-dark stars he stuck to it are slowly peeling away. Every other day he finds one sticking to his white bedsheets. Andrew always puts tape on them and sticks them back up on the ceiling. He almost can’t reach it, but luckily the box spring bed adds another meter to his height. Neil likes to watch him put them back on, the way his arms stretch and bulge in his black t-shirt.
Andrew. He and Andrew have known each other for basically all their lives.
Neil's and his family are very close, so they see each other very often. It started when they were children. They had befriended very quickly and turned into best friends so soon that their parents were dumbfounded by it. Neil and Andrew had both been very antisocial children, so it was very surprising that they had immediately liked each other.
Neil had gotten adopted at four years old. His brother, Kevin, is the son of his dad, Wymack. Kevin is older than Neil, by two years. They play exy together, and Neil has gotten almost as good as Kevin. Their adoptive mom Abby is a nurse. She had befriended Betsy Dobson, Andrew’s adoptive mother, in college. Betsy and her wife Annie had adopted Andrew and his twin brother Aaron when they had still been babies.
The twins actually have a cousin, Nicky Hemmick, but he’s a few years older than them. He lives with his boyfriend Erik in Germany now. Neil remembers Betsy and Annie giving Nicky shelter when his parents had tried to send him to conversion therapy camp because of his sexuality. The Hemmicks were very religious people and had hated the way their son loved. Nicky had cut them out of his life after a year of living with Betsy and Annie.
Where Neil and Andrew are a package deal, Kevin and Aaron are just good friends. Neil and Aaron don’t work well together. They can tolerate each other by now and had even started befriending each other, even though it happened rather begrudgingly. Kevin and Andrew get along a bit better than Neil and Aaron, but they're not nearly as close as Kevin and Aaron are.
Neil sighs.
He doesn’t know how much time has passed since he started thinking about his life. He doesn’t think much. The alarm clock reads 12:57. He’s been waiting for ten minutes. Three more minutes to go.
He’s waiting for Andrew to ring the doorbell. Abby and Wymack are at work, and Kevin is out with Dan, Matt and Thea. They’re on a double date at the mall, which means that Neil has the house to himself, which is great, because he and Andrew can do whatever they want.
The thing is, he and Andrew haven’t been friends anymore for a few weeks now. They didn’t have a fight. Very much the contrary, actually.
Andrew had admitted his feelings for Neil 23 days ago.
They'd been in Neil’s room, the LED lights casting the room in a warm, yellow glow. Watching a movie in Neil’s bed under the covers with their legs touching had been their thing for years now. Horror movies make their hearts happy, even though when they were young, they couldn’t sleep for days afterwards.
Neil remembers looking at Andrew after the movie had ended only to find him already watching. For months Neil had already been looking at him, and once he noticed Andrew looking back, he caught him staring almost every time. Andrew had always been special to him. It was only after not seeing him for two weeks last spring break that he had realized just how special he was to him. Best friends don’t feel that way about one another.
Calling Andrew those two weeks in spring had been an everyday thing. While Andrew had been passing his time in Germany with his cousin, Neil was stuck at home, with exy as his only distraction. (Andrew plays the sport too, he’s a goalie while Neil and Kevin are strikers. Aaron is a backliner.)
The late-night calls due to the time difference had made his mom enter his room to tell him to go to fucking sleep on more than a few occasions.
Once Andrew had been back, it was like a slap in the face. He liked him.
So, when his best friend met his eyes after that stupid movie ended, Neil’s breath caught in his throat.
Andrew is beautiful – he's regularly reminded of it when they’re outside and someone comes over to ask him out. He rejects them all. It happens to Neil too, actually. But he’s never been interested either.
Neil’s mind wanders back to where it left off. The way Andrew had looked at him when they had watched that stupid movie had been truly open and hopeful. Neil doesn't know when or how, but his hand had ended up on Andrew’s cheek. He’d made the first move, but it was Andrew who finally executed the plan fully. He had pressed his lips to Neil’s softly and had slid his fingers between Neil’s free hand.
Everything Neil had ever expected was turned around when he didn’t just find it okay to be kissed, but absolutely loved it. He’s pretty sure it was only because he liked Andrew though.
Once they’d pulled apart and caught their breaths, Neil had quietly whispered ‘fuck’ and then grinned at Andrew, who had looked absolutely wrecked. “Drew, that was...” he tried.
“I didn’t know you wanted this.” Andrew had replied when he didn’t finish his sentence.
“I didn’t know you did. Or that you’re gay or something.”
Andrew sighed. “Neil, I thought I made it very obvious to you that I'm gay and interested in you.”
Neil had laughed and pressed his face into the crook of Andrew’s neck. “I don’t know what I am, because I know I'm not gay, but I really, really like you.”
Andrew had accepted this with a nod. “I really, really like you too. Even though you’re an oblivious idiot.”
Neil, drowsy and amused, had laughed quietly. “Your idiot.”
Finally, the doorbell rings.
He basically jumps out of bed, runs down the stairs and opens the door. Andrew looks bored to the outsider, but to Neil he looks ecstatic. He steps inside, puts his jacket on the hanger and toes off his shoes. Neil takes his backpack and waits for him to turn around.
“Hi.”
“Hi.” Andrew mimics and kisses him.
When they pull apart, they’re both wearing a small smile. They go upstairs, talk, kiss and talk some more. Time passes incredibly fast when you’re with your favorite person.
~
Too soon, they hear Wymack and Abby come home.
“Where is my damn shirt, Drew?” Neil asks and buttons his pants. Andrew shrugs his pants on and picks Neil's white shirt up from the floor. Neil quickly slips into it and flops back down on the bed, ten seconds before the door opens.
“Hi mom.” Neil greets, casually lying on the bed with Andrew next to him. Their feet are tangled as usual.
“Hello Neil. Andrew, it’s good to see you! How are you doing?” Abby smiles warmly.
Andrew talks to her briefly about his family before Wymack joins.
“Boys”, he greets.
“Dad.”
“David.”
Wymack kisses Abby’s cheek. “Will you stay over for dinner, Andrew? I’ll grill some spareribs.”
“Sure.” Andrew tells him. “We can grill Neil.”
"Fuck you, I suggest we grill you."
Suddenly, Andrew’s legs swing over his hips, straddling him. Neil looks up at him in surprise before he yelps and laughs. Andrew is tickling his sides, where he’s horribly sensitive.
“Drew stop!” He screams, while his parents laugh pitilessly from the doorway. “I’m going to kill you!”
“You wouldn’t survive without me.” Andrew tells him and wiggles his finger softly over Neil’s neck.
“I capitulate! I capitulate, you win!” He yells breathlessly.
Andrew finally lets up and flops back down next to him. Neil's chest is heaving. “Fucking asshole.”
“Neil, be nice.” Abby tells him and closes the door with a smile, following Wymack who is shaking his head.
“You know, I like you sitting on me like that, but don’t ever tickle me again.” He stabs his finger on Andrew’s very muscled, very beautiful chest. He doesn’t even realize he’s spread his fingers to cup Andrew’s tits. He notices when Andrew puts a finger under his chin to tilt it up, a smirk and raised eyebrow plastered on his angelic face.
“Fuck you.” Neil pouts and kisses the stupid smug expression off his face.
~
The food smells great but Andrew kicking his feet under the table is not that great. His shins have bruises on them. Neil glares at his boyfriend and threateningly grips his fork.
Kevin comes barging into the house with Thea right on his heels. “Family!" He yells happily before turning to them. "Andrew.”
Andrew glares at him. “Hi, Thea.”
“Fuck you.” Kevin says casually.
Andrew turns to Neil. “Do you hear that too or am I going insane? It feels like an insignificant person is trying to tell me something.”
“I think you’re going insane.” Neil tells him. “You should probably see a doctor or talk to Bee, since she’s a psychiatrist, you know.”
Thea snorts and shakes her head before sitting down next to Andrew. Kevin takes his seat next to Neil, facing her. Thea is a good girl. She’s smart, nice and extremely athletic. Actually, she’s just Kevin’s type.
He gives Andrew a look when his chair is pulled forward to the table by Andrew’s feet pulling him closer. Andrew is also smart, athletic and, well, he isn’t nice to anyone other than Neil.
He adores him.
Neil sticks his feet out and puts them in his lap. Pokes his socketed toes into Andrew’s sixpack for good measure and yelps when Andrew stabs them with Kevin’s fork. Laughs when Andrew puts Kevin’s fork back without him noticing. Take that, Kevin, smelly fork for you.
They eat and drink and talk. Wymack shares stories about work while Abby tells them about her newest knitting project. Kevin keeps talking about their double date while Thea chimes in here and there.
Neil likes listening to his family, because he never knows how he could explain what he did with Andrew without them knowing what they did.
“And what did you do this afternoon?” Kevin asks him.
Neil curses him internally. “The usual.” he replies instead and cuts a potato.
His brother glares at him. “I don’t understand you two. I never will. How can you spend so much time together and still have something to talk about?”
Andrew shrugs. “Neil is an idiot and a magnet for trouble. There is always something happening.”
Thea huffs. “You know, at first I thought you were a couple.”
Kevin frowns while Neil’s heart falls out of his pants from sinking so deeply. He sees it running away from the table, upstairs, hiding in the closet in his room. Metaphorically, of course.
“What do you mean ‘at first’?” His brother asks.
Thea sighs. “If you hadn’t told me that they’re ‘best friends’ I’d still think so.”
Andrew chokes on his water. Neil laughs at him. “Are you okay, Drew?”
“Shut that stupid mouth of yours, Josten.”
Neil dramatically touches his finger to his chin and acts as if he were thinking for a moment. “Hmm. No.”
“See?” Thea says and shakes her head. “Anyway. I’ve got to tell you about an article that I read.”