Chapter Text
Neil Josten moved into Andrew’s apartment on an exceptionally sunny day. He tugged a duffel bag from the boot of Allison’s car and then pulled out a bigger suitcase, grumbling under his breath.
“I’m kinda happy that you have only two bags,” Allison huffed, wiping sweat off her brow. Neil glared at her.
“All you’ve done is step out of your car, Alli.”
“Oh,” she said, turning to look at him with a grin. “I’m aware.”
Neil huffed, hauling both bags at once, batting away Renee’s offer of help. “Don’t bother, Renee,” Allison drawled, pushing past Neil. “He won’t accept any help.”
“I wonder why,” Renee said, chuckling. And then, “Oh look, it’s Andrew.”
Neil followed her line of sight up, up and up until he found a blonde head of hair peering from the balcony railing five floors up. He squinted against the morning sunlight and flashed a grin. The blonde head disappeared from view.
Neil sighed and lugged his bags up four floors, refusing to get on the elevator because “they are death traps, oh my god. How do you even think of getting on them?”
He panted slightly and walked toward the only open door on the floor and stopped. He gripped his suitcase a little tighter and stood rooted to the spot. You’re making a mistake, Nathaniel, his mother’s voice taunted him and he felt only slightly sick. Neil was walking into the apartment of someone he wasn’t sure he liked. He was supposed to live there. He thought of shitholes he had stayed in, without safety, without food, without company, focusing on moving, moving and moving.
Why this felt like a trap but also like freedom, Neil did not know. He could almost taste the answer on his tongue, all he needed to do was think.
“Having second thoughts?” came a voice from the doorway and Neil startled, sending the suitcase crashing to the floor.
“Uh,” he gaped at Andrew. “I mean hi.”
Andrew stared back, unimpressed. “Josten.”
“Minyard,” Neil coughed, and bent down to pick up his suitcase. Andrew stepped forward and held out a hand for it. Neil was so surprised, he gave him his duffel bag.
“Tell me something,” Andrew shot him a glance and Neil braced himself.
“Yeah?”
“Do you want to move in with me?”
Neil stuttered and then scowled. “That question is a trap.”
Andrew only smirked and shrugged his shoulders in response. Neil let out a long breath through his nose and looked at the wall.
“Yes or no, Josten?”
Neil considered Andrew, his rumpled clothes, his messy head of hair and sharp, sharp gaze. He realised he was being given an out.
“Yes,” he said and smiled – all teeth.
Andrew stilled for a second and then nodded. Neil’s smile widened at the slight flush high on his cheeks.
-----
“You can put your bags in the- oh fuck,” Andrew cut off mid-sentence and stopped abruptly in the doorway of the second room of his apartment. Dragging his hand through his hair, he turned to Neil, who was right behind him, with some amount of alarm.
“What is it?” Neil’s brows furrowed and Andrew flailed. Behind him on the floor, stood four tall stacks of canvases. He had forgotten to shift his paintings to his room. Neil peered over his shoulder, confused.
“You need a hand?”
Andrew dithered, torn between wanting to hide and wanting to be seen. “Uh,” he cleared his throat and Neil walked past him and dropped his bags at the foot of the bed, cocking his head to look at the topmost canvas on the stack closest to him. It was mess of yellows and orange, sharp brush strokes, his anger and fears hidden in plain sight.
Andrew tugged his sleeves over his hands, thumbs digging into his palms. Then Neil wordlessly bent down and effortlessly lifted a stack. Andrew forcibly dragged his gaze from Neil’s biceps to his face only to find him smirking slightly, the corner of his mouth anchoring the expression to his face.
Andrew blanched and then shook his head, “Keep them in my room, thanks.” Neil nodded and left. Andrew sighed at the ceiling and picked up another stack, staggering along the hallway to his room. And then almost dropped everything on his left foot.
“What are you doing?”
Neil looked up at him from his place on the floor, King on his lap, purring contently like the traitor he was. “Petting your cat, Minyard.”
“He hates strangers,” Andrew retorted sharply and Neil held both hands up in a gesture of surrender.
“Hey, not my fault that he likes me more than you.” And then he bent down and kissed King’s head and Andrew wondered if he was still dreaming.
“No, you’re not,” Neil smirked again.
“Did I say that out loud?”
“I believe so, yes,” he laughed.
“Blue.”
“What?”
“Your laughter. It’s blue.”
Neil’s frowned and then tilted his head, all the while scratching through the cat’s fur. “What do you mean?”
Andrew shook his head and stuffed his hands in his pockets and turned, only to find Renee standing behind him, both remaining stacks in her hands. “Thought I’d help.”
“I keep forgetting how strong you are,” Andrew sniped and Renee stuck her tongue out at him.
“Have you told Neil all the rules?” she asked, gently placing the paintings beside the bed.
“There are rules?”
Andrew took in his surprise and slight worry. “Yes.”
“Like what?”
“Like you’ll be expected to socialise twice a week,” Allison drawled from the doorway and Neil froze.
“What?”
“And then sleep naked,” she added, tying her hair up in a knot.
“What?” Neil and Andrew both chorused.
“And stand shirtless on the balcony every full moon night.”
“Oh,” Neil muttered. “You’re joking.”
“No,” Allison and Renee both chorused. Andrew’s brain had snagged on “naked” and he briefly forgot to form words.
“Andrew?” Neil called, jolting him out of his reverie.
“Um,” he tugged his ear and glared at both Renee and Allison. “None of that is true. Rent on the fifth of every month, we split grocery bills, the kitchen, drawing room and balcony are common spaces. I don’t get into your room and you don’t get into mine. Be nice to King.”
“That doable,” Neil nodded, swivelling around to glare at Allison.
“Oh and no sex in the common areas,” Renee said and Andrew and Neil choked.
“Okay,” Neil wheezed even as Andrew said “Renee” in the most accusatory tone he could muster.
“You tell each other in case you are having parties or inviting a lot of people,” Renee continued, looking supremely unconcerned.
“Right,” Neil got up brushing his pants and Andrew focused on Allison instead of Neil’s thighs. She raised an eyebrow at him and he rolled his eyes.
“Speaking of parties,” she began and Neil groaned. “No, Alli.”
“Shut up, Neil. We’re going to have one tonight.”
Andrew bristled, “No.”
But Renee said “please?” from her upside down perch on his bed and he sighed. “Okay. Who’s coming?”
“Matt and Dan. Some of Alli’s friends. Oh and Kevin too.”
Andrew stilled and then closed his eyes. “Why?” he bit out.
“You need more friends, Andrew.”
“I don’t think I can call him-”
“You don’t have to. I already did,” Renee smiled sweetly and Andrew glowered back.
“Hey, Neil,” he said, pushing his way out of the room and Neil followed him. “Yes?”
“Do you know to escape a party at your own house?”
Neil grinned at him and Andrew wanted to wipe it off his face. With his mouth, preferably.
------
That evening, six hours later, Neil Josten realised that he was not having a good time. He rarely did, but there was a low thrum of annoyance coursing through him, unsettling for reasons he didn’t want to examine. He leaned against the strip of wall that separated his and Andrew’s rooms and sipped at something fruity in a bottle Renee had handed him a quarter of an hour ago. There were about 15 people milling around the flat and he knew no one. Except Renee, Allison and Andrew. And a few people he’d met while doing a couple of modelling assignments.
Andrew was perched on the kitchen counter. Neil cursed open plan kitchens as he watched Kevin Day lean into Andrew’s space and say something, earning a twitch from Andrew’s lips. Allison had introduced them earlier, mentioning in passing that Kevin coached Exy. Neil disliked him on sight, his hair, his firm handshake, his clothes and the way his eyes had lit up when he had noticed Andrew.
“You seem to be having fun,” someone drawled to his left and he tore his gaze away.
“Do I know you?” he asked the woman with a frown. Her smile widened and Neil felt trepidation sink through his bones.
“I’m Alma. Andrew’s friend.”
Neil squinted at her and she scoffed, “He has friends. I work at the grocery store you walked into last month.”
Realisation dawned on Neil. “Oh no.”
“Oh yes,” she grinned and pulled out a cigarette from her pocket. “I had front row seats to scarface.”
“No,” Neil groaned, glaring at his glass. “That was-”
“Unfortunate, yes,” she lit her smoke with cheap lighter. Neil grimaced, subtly inhaling the smoke that curled from the tip.
“I was very new then.”
She hummed in agreement, “And also very defensive.”
“Are you here to pick apart my personality?” he glowered and she laughed.
“Here for the free booze, but you’re a side attraction, don’t worry.”
He sneaked a half-smile at her. Which meant that he unfortunately caught an eyeful of Kevin Day stepping into the vee of Andrew’s legs. Neil stilled, distantly realising that the back of his neck was hot.
“Uh,” he said, the room narrowing down to the sight of Andrew tilting Kevin’s face up with the tips of his fingers and kissing him on the mouth.
“Oh,” Alma said next to him.
“Huh,” he replied, unable to tear his gaze away, unable to form one coherent sentence.
At that precise moment, Andrew flicked his gaze up at Neil over Kevin’s shoulders, from all the way across the room, and Neil felt heat ignite through his body. In a half-thought-out gesture, he raised the bottle to his lips and took a long sip and watched Andrew falter slightly.
He licked stray drops of juice from his lips, hating the way Andrew’s fingers slipped into Kevin’s dark hair. Hating that he felt like he was two sizes big for his body. His feelings were everywhere – uncontainable, wild, breaking out of the shackles of his mind in a messy fall.
He abruptly broke off eye contact with Andrew, and walked into the balcony, slamming the sliding door behind him.
“Damn,” he heard Alma say right before the door slid shut.