Chapter Text
Andrew had gone to the effort to save Aaron’s chances with Katelyn and Aaron had gone and embarrassed himself in front of Neil. If only he’d had the foresight to absorb Aaron in the womb, life would be so much easier.
Andrew stood outside the math department (ugh) and started a note on his phone and listed everything he knew about Neil.
- Named Neil Josten
- Plays Exy (ew)
- Likes math (this man is a sociopath)
- Rich?
- Hot
The note felt a little creepy after three point five seconds of Andrew having it so be quickly deleted it. It wasn’t like he could forget any of it anyway. It was more of a curse than anything to have the ability to recall in perfect clarity what Neil’s legs looked like in his stupid orange shorts.
Andrew had spent far too long the night before coming up with what was a ridiculous plan. If Neil could just see that he and Aaron weren’t the same person, he couldn’t be embarrassed about it. Instead, he could spend his time wallowing about everything else that made him embarrassing.
So, Andrew stood outside Aaron's class and waited, pretending like he was a nice brother who did cool things like bring him coffee between classes. Finally, Aaron's professor must have grown tired of torturing them with math and people started streaming out of the doors. His twin was not hard to spot, what with being five feet flat, having bright blonde hair, and being fucking identical to Andrew.
“Hey, Aaron,” Andrew said, speed walking to his side before he could disappear.
Aaron jumped and whirled, narrowing his eyes at Andrew suspiciously. “Are you stalking me?”
Andrew scoffed. “Who would want to stalk you? No, I’m fixing the embarrassing thing you did to us.” Aaron made a face not dissimilar to the one he'd made when a bird had pooped on him the week before.
“How?” he asked.
“Like this.” Andrew waved subtly over Aaron’s shoulder at Neil leaving the building. Andrew guessed that the only proper clothing he owned was workout gear because Andrew was mortified by the fact the man was wearing jorts (jorts!).
Aaron flicked a look over his shoulder and sighed. “You make my life difficult.”
“Oh hush,” Andrew said. When Neil glanced at them on his way past, his expression was baffled for a minute before it settled into something plainer and slightly guarded. There was a short moment of eye contact between Andrew and Neil before Neil looked away and hurried off.
“That was the most awkward moment of my life,” Aaron complained, “and he’s an asshole anyway.”
“What makes you say that?”
“Nuh-uh,” Aaron said, “we’ve got a deal, remember? Information on Katelyn for information on Neil.”
“I was under the impression that that was a one-time thing. I gave you her name, go stalk her on Facebook or something.”
“You didn’t even give me her last name!” Aaron protested.
Andrew waved a casual hand at him. “Meh, details. If I find out more about your cheerleader, will you tell me something else about Neil?”
For someone smart enough to be a future doctor, Aaron took a lot of time to think about literally anything. He peered cautiously at Andrew for long enough that Andrew considered poking him in the face to see if he was buffering.
“Okay,” Aaron agreed eventually, “but only if it's something interesting. No boring shit.”
“Everything about you is boring. You'd be a perfect match if it turns out she's the same.”
“Shut up.”
*
One thing was became very obvious the second Andrew next stepped into his speech class: Katelyn was not in class. When Andrew asked, the guy in the row behind him mumbled something about cheerleaders having a tournament or whatever. Andrew wanted to bang his head off the desk. What was even the point of turning up to class if he wasn’t even able to gather information about his classmates to pass onto his brother.
Andrew moved to just get up and leave but he found himself boxed in on either side by people who apparently didn’t care if they invaded his personal bubble. Andrew flicked his neighbours glittery pink gel pen off his notebook and away into another row. She might have said something, but he didn’t bother listening because a giant sat in front of him. Some big guy in a palmetto orange shirt must have taken one look at the shortest person in the class and thought Ah, he doesn’t need to see the board. Andrew didn’t, because he wasn’t planning on taking notes anyway but still .
“Hey giant,” Andrew said loudly, tapping the guy on the shoulder. “Move your massive head.” Tall man turned around and glared at Andrew.
“Excuse me?” He asked.
“I can’t see the board,” Andrew snapped, “move your head, tall guy.”
The guy scowled deeply, not a good look for his well groomed, handsome face. “My name is Kevin, and you can move somewhere else. I’m not sitting hunched over for you.”
“Aw,” Andrew crooned, “worried it’ll affect your posture?”
“Yes. Now shut up or move.”
Andrew stared at Kevin’s audacity for a moment before shoving his notebook into his bag and standing. Never one to lose a fight, Andrew didn’t push past all the people towards the end of the aisle, instead swinging a leg over the little barrier and clambering into the row in front. He may have kicked Kevin a couple of times in his struggle. Entirely by accident, of course. Kevin glared at him with fierce green eyes as Andrew settled himself into the seat next to him.
“You’re an asshole, you know that?” Kevin grumbled. Andrew shrugged at him.
“I did what you said didn’t I?”
“I have a game on Friday. If you’d have hurt me-“
Andrew interrupted him with a gag. “Ugh. Jocks and their games.”
“I heard that!” Kevin said indignantly, “and Exy isn’t just a game! It’s everything, it’s-“
“What you get off to at night?” Andrew supplied. Andrew had to give it to him, Kevin was very very good at glaring.
“I hate you so much,” Kevin decided and turned away from Andrew. It took him a second but Andrew managed to connect some dots. Neil plays Exy . Katelyn might not be there, but she also wasn’t the only person he could get information from.
“So, Exy, huh?” Andrew asked casually. Kevin wrinkled his nose at him quizzically for a second before his boner for sports kicked in and he nodded almost enthusiastically. Andrew wanted to gag for real.
“Yes,” Kevin said. Andrew waited a moment for the long speech about the game and it’s wonders but none came. The tall man simply turned his attention down to his notebook, writing a very slow title in neat handwriting.
Andrew heaved a put upon sigh. “You’re very hard to talk to.”
Kevin scoffed at him. “You’re not exactly a socialite either. You’re the one with the twin, right?”
“How do you know that?” Andrew asked, narrowing his eyes at the Exy player.
“Matt and Neil.”
“Who?” Andrew asked innocently, doing an excellent job at pretending his heart wasn’t beating out of his chest.
Kevin shrugged. “Teammates.” Then he went back to his notes and Andrew briefly considered murdering him and hiding his body.
“I’m Andrew,” Andrew said in a horrifically uncharacteristic attempt at socialising.
Kevin scowled. “I didn’t ask and I don’t care.”
“We are going to make such good friends,” Andrew said with forced enthusiasm. At least Katelyn had taught him something. Kevin made another unattractive face at him and shifted in his seat so his back was facing Andrew.
With that, their professor started talking about something Andrew wasn’t going to listen to and another piece of his plan fell into place. Now he had Kevin, who just so happened to both play on the same team as Neil and be his friend. Kevin could be a goldmine of information. Screw Aaron, Andrew found a new way to find out about his crush and he would be damned if he wasn’t going to go digging.