Chapter Text
Andrew Minyard was a YouTube content creator, doing quite well for himself despite the fact that he never showed his face to the camera. He wasn’t self-conscious, but he wanted to keep himself unrecognizable on the street. He preferred being anonymous. That wasn’t as possible as it could be, however, since his identical twin brother, Aaron, also made his living creating YouTube content along with Kevin Day, a health and fitness professional, and Nicky Hemmick, their cousin.
At the moment he was editing their latest video. It was supposed to be funny. Andrew didn’t think so. Then again, Andrew didn’t really think anything was funny. His sense of humor didn’t go beyond the skills necessary to emphasize and amplify what they were doing, while also keeping it under 10 minutes.
This time Nicky and Kevin were both trying out yoga, neither of which had ever tried before now. Kevin was picking it up quite well while Aaron was displaying the poses on the computer off-screen, checking their posture. Nicky kept laughing.
Several monitors, wires, and a layer of dust atop a black desk was Andrew’s work station, which took up half the living space in his tiny, New York City apartment. He put cleaning the apartment on his mental to do list. It didn’t require much. His tidiness and lack of decorations made it seem like no one really lived here.
Tired and numb as a result of his lack of interest, Andrew paused the video and checked the time. He toed on his shoes, grabbed his keys, backpack, and headed out the door, collecting his skateboard from the entryway. He had an appointment to keep.
His friend, Renee Walker, was in the area for a video she wanted him to help with. He wouldn’t call her a friend, exactly, but out of all the people in New York – or the world for that matter – Renee’s company was a rare highlight in his normally dull routine.
Camera in hand and rolling, Andrew glided through the busy sidewalk bustling with people, expertly avoiding collisions and the fresh gum on the cement. These split-second moments, possibly resulting in a busted lip or broken finger, used to make him feel something in the early days he was just starting to skate. He liked going fast.
Now? He didn’t feel a thing. His skill was too good to be caught stumbling over a sidewalk abnormality or the dogs that people took on walks. It helped to know the details.
Getting on the subway and tolerating the closeness of strangers, Andrew made his way to Renee’s favorite coffee shop.
He ignored all the stares, either spurred on from the camera in his hands or his 5’ stature. Summer break was over and many people liked to assume he was 14 years old and skipping school. He accepted he would never look 23 until he was maybe 30. He lit a cigarette while climbing the subway escalator back to ground level. Right before stepping on his board again, he checked his surroundings and spotted an opening in the rush of people on their lunch breaks.
Coming to a smooth stop several blocks later in front of Flora Coffee on Madison Avenue, Andrew immediately spotted Renee’s pastel-colored hair.
“Hey, Andrew.” Renee beamed at him.
It had been 3 months since they last saw each other.
“Renee.” He sat down.
“I ordered our usual.”
He nodded and faced the bar, setting his board against it and balancing his bag on the back of the chair. He set his tiny video camera facing them at an angle that didn’t show their faces, mostly just their hands and the counter top. His daily vlog video was going to get three times as many views and twice as many comments asking if him and Renee were dating. Responses like this made him stop reading them altogether.
“You look like you’ve been working a lot.” She looked pointedly at his face, presumably at the bags under his eyes.
This was Renee’s way of giving him an opportunity to share. He could have told her that the nightmares were flaring up again, just like his ankle did that one time he sprained it skating, or that he couldn’t sleep well since his brother’s trial for murder was finally over, how the stress of it becoming public would’ve done some very not good things for his – or Aaron’s – private life, and how he hated what his imagination came up with concerning Aaron’s potentially compromised safety.
He wasn’t constantly by Andrew’s side anymore. They made a new deal and it didn’t consist of Andrew protecting him anymore.
But he didn’t say any of that. She could probably guess, anyway. He adjusted his bill hat and rested his crossed arms on the bar. She accepted his lack of response.
Renee was one of the few people who knew about the trial outside of the people working the case. Not his idea, however. His counselor, Betsy Dobson, challenged him to share his life with someone who didn’t need to know. He practiced this exercise of trust over a text, since she lived over 300 miles away in Maine. It consisted of as little words as possible. Renee was annoyingly considerate; she didn’t treat him any differently.
He cleared his throat before he spoke because of its disuse and asked after her recent travels. She calmly retold the stories that were no doubt already up on her channel along with colorful palm trees, ocean scenes, and exotic animals. There was one story he didn’t expect to hear.
“I met someone interesting while I was there.”
He lifted his eyebrows slightly for her to continue.
“Neil Josten."
“And what was he doing there?”
Andrew kept the spark of actual curiosity out of his voice. Renee wasn’t fooled. She smiled.
“Snorkeling with the whales.”
He hummed in response. Unbidden images of the pretty, blue-eyed boy flashed in Andrew’s mind. He stopped watching his videos since it was becoming a problem. There was no way they would ever meet, and yet the one person Andrew tolerated more than anyone ended up meeting him by chance. He actually felt something. Surprise.
“He asked if you edited some of my videos.”
“And?”
“He prompted the direction of the conversation all on his own. And he was exactly who he seemed to be, which was interesting. People usually change their personalities a little for the camera, but he was exactly as straight-forward as he is in his videos.” She waited a beat. “Except his height. He’s almost as short as you.”
Renee turned away, probably getting her smiling under control. Andrew should follow her example, but his interest was definitely showing in his eyes by now. He was practically a meme. He felt like one, anyway.
"And he's prettier in person."
Their coffee came then. He took a sip of his caramel and chocolate latte while she tasted her iced coffee with lavender syrup. He wasn’t going to ask.
“Did you two collaborate?”
He asked anyway.
“Yeah, a little. He said the British Virgin Islands are among his favorite places. And he asked a bunch of questions about you.”
Surprise again. He wasn’t going to ask.
“Like what?” Andrew asked.
“Like how close we are, why you never show your face.” She sipped her drink. “If you had any openings for another editing job.”
His hand paused while bringing his drink to his lips. Just for a second. But Renee was sharp. There was no way she missed it.
“No.”
He wondered how close he was going to get to regret by saying no to this opportunity, but Andrew wasn’t interested in keeping problems hanging around, especially one like this. An unresolvable issue.
Renee smiled again.
“Alright, you can let him know when he comes to New York in two weeks.”
They both took another sip of their drinks. He wasn’t going to ask.
“Show me your notes for today.”
He didn’t ask.
They went over her plans for the day, Andrew shooting out ideas about specific shots and editing styles whilst pushing his thoughts about Josten firmly away. After half an hour of going over everything, they packed up their gear and headed out to their first location after stopping at his apartment to leave her duffle bag. She unpacked her skateboard, which was purple like her hair, and they were off.
He wasn’t going to ask about Josten again, but his curiosity came back at the end of their work for the day. Sometimes even the YouTube algorithm suggesting one of Josten video's would throw him off all over again.
Back at his apartment, Andrew took off his bill hat, which kept his sunburn at bay, but Renee’s cheeks were pink.
They got curry takeout for dinner and headed back to his apartment, Renee pulling out some plant clipping from her duffle bag and applying its insides to her skin.
“What is that?”
“Aloe Vera. Cure for sunburn.”
He could smell it from the kitchen.
“Gross.”
She smiled so much it scrunched up her face. Signature Renee smile.
“Don’t worry, the smell will be gone really soon. Will you be in my vlog today?”
He finished putting two tea bags of earl grey in a mug for her and hot cocoa for himself, carrying them over.
“Yes.”
She set to work with her vlog by getting out some camera gear, effectively turning the half of the room with his grey sofa into a studio. He sat on the sofa, chest and below in the frame while she settled onto the floor with her mug. He got up when the electric kettle finished boiling the water and she started filming before he got back.
Going over their day and mentioning what both of them were drinking, Renee waited patiently as Andrew poured the hot water into their mugs, put their dinner on plates, and brought it over with spoons. They ate leisurely together.
Renee didn’t expect Andrew to do anything but just be in the frame. She was already buying him dinner every night she would be here, a total of five days. This was the deal they had made when they first collaborated almost three years ago. Dinner in New York City was pricey.
Wrapping of the video, Renee said, “I’m really happy I have a friend like Andrew who gives me his honest opinion about my work and ideas without any bias or ulterior motives.” She ended it with another signature smile.
Andrew asked once she stopped recording, “Allison?”
She sighed. “Yes. And Seth.”
They cleaned up after themselves and Andrew got out his extra sleeping mat and linens for Renee to sleep on in the living room floor. She was already editing her footage of the day into a vlog at the kitchen counter, halfway sitting on a bar stool, one leg stretched out to the side.
“Spar tomorrow?” he asked.
“Yeah,” she said.
By the time he finished cleaning his apartment, Renee had invaded with her belongings and was coming out of the bathroom in her pajamas. He kept reminding himself that he could trust her to stay the night without supervision, but knew sleep would evade him regardless.
“Hey, there’s something I didn’t mention. Neil asked if we were dating.”
She climbed under the blanket and he was working his way around the place, switching off lights. He wasn’t going to ask.
“And?”
“I told him no. He looked surprised.”
He hummed in response and turned off the last light.
“Goodnight, Andrew.”
He closed his door and locked it behind him.
Laying in bed and remembering their day together through a viewfinder, Andrew's wind-down was interrupted with what Renee said about Josten. If just some conversation about him threw him through an entire montage of what footage of him Andrew had scene, perhaps becoming his editor would get him to get over this.
Maybe his answer didn’t have to be no. Maybe it could be a maybe.