Chapter Text
November 4 th
Neil Josten carried the last box up the creaky, wooden stairs and watched as three cats jumped on top of it – two were his, one was Andrew’s. Well, technically they were ‘theirs’ now, he supposed. The felines were all very interested in inspecting each new box, offering their own stamp of approval in the form of rubbing themselves over the side and gnawing at the corners.
Two months prior, since the lease was running out on his apartment, Neil had purchased a house in a quiet suburb of Columbia. The two-story home sat at the end of a dead end with no other structures beside it. Since he planned to stay in South Carolina, he figured he might as well find something more permanent. And with three cats, a little more space was needed anyways. So, he bought a spacious three bedroom with a large garage and attached workshop. Andrew had already put the workshop to use and filled it with woodworking tools he used create elaborate cat accessories for the shelter and their home. The location was only a ten-minute drive to the rescue, which worked out well when Andrew decided to move in, just a week ago. He’d basically been living there since Neil moved in, spending more time at the house than his own place. When his own lease ended, they decided moving in together would be easier.
Three weeks prior Andrew brought the cats over. They wanted to try and get them acclimated to the new surroundings and to Neil’s own animals before they were too traumatized with the hustle and bustle of the actual move. Luckily Andrews cats were older and lazy and didn’t really care about the other animals. Neil's were curious and liked to try and goad Sir and King into playing, but other than that they mostly existed separately.
One room had been turned into a guest room – not that Neil knew when he would have any guests. Another had been turned into a small office, but mostly belonged to the cats. The walls were lined with complex trails and climbers and it had a bay window with a bench that overlooked the backyard. The cats could often be found lounging there, soaking up the beams of light in a ridiculous pile since they gave up fighting for space.
The third bedroom had a massive en suite with a tub and separate shower, both of which they’d put to good use, and a massive queen size bed plopped down in the middle of the room. It was too big, really, but after six months with Andrew, he knew that the man still liked his space.
They still had to fight for ground sometimes, take a step back every once in a while , but it was usually followed by two steps forward and Neil hadn’t regretted a second of it. He was even beginning to feel comfortable in his role at the shelter and enjoyed going to work with Andrew in the mornings. He still argued when Andrew tried to pay him, eventually allowing them to give him a meager salary and enlisting Kevin to help him get involved with other charities so he didn’t feel like he was a dragon sitting on a surplus of unspent cash. Eventually, Andrew agreed to let him talk with the owners of the law offices next to the rescue and he was currently in the process of buying them out to expand the shelter.
Pushing the box against the wall with his toe, he noticed the words ‘whiskers’ were scrawled across the side and picked it up again, moving it to the office. Andrew came in a few moments later and Neil followed him to the kitchen, helping in sort through the plastic bags. They had just come back from dinner with Katelyn and Aaron for Aaron and Andrew’s birthday. Initially Andrew declined the invitation to the new ‘organic farm to table’ restaurant Nicky had recommended, claiming it was probably filled with ‘pretentious vegans’. But Neil wanted to go and pouted about it, so Andrew caved. Something he’d been doing a lot of lately – letting Neil talk him into things. Not for free of course – Neil had to promise to buy him ice cream from his favorite shop on the way home, which meant now they were trying to make room in the already full freezer for three more pints of unreasonably sweet frozen confections.
After putting away his spoils, Andrew went to shower and Neil started to go through his nightly routine with the cats – playtime, food, cleaning the litter boxes. He showered afterwards and when he came out, steam following, Andrew was lying in bed with a book, glasses perched on his nose. Neil loved seeing him like this – relaxed and guard lowered. Love. They weren’t quite at that word yet. Maybe they never would be. But Neil couldn’t deny what he felt and continued to feel everyday. His heart gave a little stutter as he climbed into bed. He laid on his side and watched Andrew. After a few minutes the blond reached over without taking his eyes, or other hand away from his book, and pressed two fingers to Neil’s cheek – just over the faint scarring where his tattoo used to be.
He pushed his head away lightly. “Don’t look at me like that.”
Neil smiled, hiding it for a moment in the pillow before looking back up to keep staring.
Finally, Andrew sighed. He slowly and carefully placed a bookmark between the pages and sat up a little more to put the book on the nightstand.
Andrew looked down, hazel eyes narrowing. “What?”
Still smiling, Neil shrugged, eyes dragging up Andrew’s bare arms from his wrist to shoulder until they found his eyes. “Nothing.”
Blond brows lifted in something akin to amusement and Neil chewed his lip.
“I just ....never thought I’d have this,” he said finally.
“A staring problem?” asked Andrew, definitely amused.
“A home,” Neil said seriously.
He didn’t miss the way Andrew’s eyes widened a fraction before his lids lowered again, heavy and affectionate. Well, as affectionate looking as Andrew ever got.
Neil came to realize there was the Andrew everyone else got to see, and his Andrew, and they were very different. Sometimes he felt completely unworthy to know Andrew as he did and would never take it for granted.
“Thank you, Andrew,” he said, feeling the need to say it at least once. “For everything.”
Andrew glared at him but slouched down almost immediately. He kissed Neil, reaching up to take off his glasses mid-kiss and tossed them towards the table. He often kissed Neil to shut him up and Neil didn’t mid one bit.
“You are an idiot,” murmured Andrew, still hovering over him with their lips touching.
“Nah....an idiot would have said you ‘ whiskered me away’ ,” he said with a laugh.
Emitting a noise very close to a growl, Andrew bit a mark into his neck and Neil felt he would probably pay for his stupid pun but couldn’t find it in himself to care with Andrew’s teeth scraping along his jugular.
“Take off your shirt...” Andrew whispered against him, sucking another bruise into his skin.
His laughs turned into groans.
“Yea?” asked Neil, breathless and scrambling to sit up and yank his shirt off.
He was long past being self-conscious in front of Andrew.
“Yea....” Andrew replied. “I’m going to strangle you with it.”
Neil laughed again and tossed it to the side. At least he would die happy.