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Growing up, Andrew never thought he’d actually have a boyfriend. But now, at age of 21, he has four boyfriends and even though he would never admit it out loud, he’s never been happier.
It was hard at first, sure, getting to know all the people inside Neil’s head; he was the first one to notice that Neil wasn’t just Neil and he’s the one to learn all the differences the quickest.
There’s Neil, of course. Andrew loves Neil most of all.
His second favourite is Abram despite him being the most clingy person Andrew has ever met in his entire life. Or maybe because of it. He’s a hugger, but his hugs are for upperclassmen and Nicky only. He respects Andrew’s boundaries and when he wants cuddles he just puts his head on the blond’s shoulder and only after he gets permission. He also has the fakest American accent and Andrew is surprised how he managed not to get himself killed just for speaking that way. He’s the primary protector of the system, knowing all of Neil’s alters.
Then there’s Chris. Andrew grew to respect the guy a lot when he found out about him. Chris is heavily depressed, doesn’t leave the bed and seems to have suicidal tendencies. He’s the only one Andrew never allows to go on the roof with him. Andrew didn’t even think Chris considered them boyfriends until one day he brought some cocoa (the guy likes sweets, who would’ve thought) and Chris mumbled a “You’re the best boyfriend ever.” Even with all the affection he feels for the guy, Andrew doesn’t like it when he appear, because it usually means something really bad is going in Neil’s life and Andrew has to worry about more than Neil running away.
There’s also Stefan. Andrew would never consider dating Stefan, he reminds him too much of Nicky. They’re in competition to be the gayest gay to ever gay. Andrew is sure Neil developed this personality to cope with the ‘no swinging’ rules his mother beat into him. Andrew hated Stefan at first, he is loud, colourful and extremely flirtatious. Andrew usually replied to the other’s compliments with a bored look, but after a while they started to grow on him. Another thing Andrew would never admit is how he loves hearing about how strong his arms are and how much Stefan would love to feel them around his body. Andrew makes out with Stefan probably more than he does with Neil.
Of course, before anything could happen between him and any of Neil’s alters, they had a long talk about it. Well, it mostly started with Andrew asking Neil to tell Stefan to stop hitting on him and Neil telling him he can’t really control what the others are doing. And after hours of talking and considering what should and shouldn’t be allowed and how Neil sees the whole situation, Neil finally decided that if Andrew wants to date any of his alters, he has his blessing.
There’s two Andrew doesn’t date.
He has a love-hate relationship with Alex. Alex is a little shit who refuses to speak any other language than French. When he finally revealed himself, they sent Kevin to talk to him but it took a minute for the yells to start and another for Kevin to run out of the room, slamming the door behind himself and announcing that "they’ll have to kill this one." Alex refuses to play Exy and no one knows why. Even Neil has no idea. They tried to get him on court by force, but then he took a step to a side when the ball went his way. On the other hand, he’s the only one who gets shit done. The only reason Neil isn’t behind in classes is because Alex loves going to them and then does most of Neil’s homework, which everyone is grateful for, especially Neil. He also loves drinking almost as much as Kevin does. They took Alex to Eden’s once, which was a bad idea. At first he was drinking with them and it was fun, but with all the lights, people and music Stefan decided to show up and quickly he and Nicky went to the dance floor.
Neil had the worst headache of his life the next day and he hated everything and everyone.
Andrew doesn’t date Sam, for obvious reason. And that reason is that Sam is a female. She’s there to give emotional support, mostly for Neil but also to everyone else. She loves spending time with the upperclassmen and her character is really similar to Renee’s. She also really likes Andrew and he even considered dating her for a while, until he realised what her gender is. She still tries to get affectionate with him, but she’s not pushy or disrespectful. None of them are.
Andrew knows all of them like the back of his hand. He knows their body language, their facial expressions and even all the things that make them different from Neil himself. That’s why it takes him only a minute to realise that the person who just walked out of the bedroom and sat down next to him is none of them.
“Hey,” Andrew speaks, watching the other.
The person blinks, before they look at Andrew over their shoulder. They have that look on their face that Neil gets when he’s lying, and they didn’t even say a word yet.
“Hi,” The other replies and watches Andrew in return, as if considering him. They both stay silent for a moment, until the other says, “I need to go.”
Andrew hums and gets up at the same time as the other person, earning a surprised and maybe a little curious look. “Where are you going?” Andrew asks, with the same flat voice as always.
In reality he can’t help but worry. He knows there are alters he hasn’t met yet. Like the gatekeeper of Neil’s system. Well, they probably met, but before Neil admitted that he has DID all his alters did their best to act like Neil, so no one would know. That actually explained why Neil was always so quiet when he was doing his homework.
“I need to buy something. Shouldn’t be out for long,” The other says, before making their way towards the door.
“You don’t have a car, remember?” Andrew replies.
“I can walk, not a big deal,” The stranger shrugs, before they start putting on Neil’s shoes.
“Do you always have to get up so early in the morning?” Kevin complains, his head poking out of the bedroom door, as he is holding onto the doorframe.
Andrew quickly takes a few steps to put himself between Kevin and the stranger. Neil had a pretty huge panic attack when he met Kevin for the first time. Later on it turned out that it was actually Chris. Chris was holding a memory connected to Kevin when they were children. He was also holding onto Neil’s grief after his mother died.
There was no telling if and what the person knew about Kevin and if they had a positive or negative feelings towards him. It quickly turns out they didn’t care as the person only replies a with a quiet ‘sorry’ and grabs the doorknob.
“Wait, I’ll come with,” Andrew says, moving to get his own shoes and putting them on.
“Oh, no, you don’t have to,” The other says quickly, clearly panicked. Not really good with hiding emotions. Interesting.
“That’s fine, I wanted to go shopping anyway,” Andrew assures. He’s better at lying than they are.
After putting on his shoes, Andrew and the new person walk towards the car. Andrew makes sure to keep an eye on them, but they just seem uncomfortable with him coming with.
After they get into the car, Andrew starts the engine and drives off. The other person is silent, just looking out the window.
“Bad day?” Andrew asks, softly raising an eyebrow at them.
They look his way and nod, “Um, yeah, sorry. Had a nightmare.”
That explains everything. Most days Neil wakes up as someone else due to his nightmares. Most times Andrew spends his mornings with Chris. Once he got Alex, unfortunately. A lot of time it’s Sam. Sam’s role is to make sure Neil stays relaxed, so if he has a nightmare, she makes sure he doesn’t stress about it after waking up and then eats some healthy breakfast. Sometimes Neil is just Neil. He has his black coffee, a toast maybe, and he is ready to go.
Andrew stops the car on the side of the road, earning a surprised look. They are out of town and they are in the middle of a field. Either the person has no idea where they are going or they didn’t pay attention to the road.
“I need a smoke,” Andrew explains, before he gets out of the car, pulling out his pack from his pants and getting one cigarette. He puts it between his lips and walks around the car, leaning against the back door.
He sees the person in the mirror, as he slowly smokes through his cigarette. They start to get impatient really quickly. After a while maybe even slightly angry. Andrew decides to push them a little more and as soon as he finishes his cigarette, he takes another one and lits it.
One… Two… Three… Four… Five… And the door on the passenger's side opens. Andrew sends a bored look towards the other, before he takes a long drag of his cigarette.
“Look, I’m kind of in a hurry. Can we go now, please?”
Andrew straightens up, his jaw clenching. He never expected those words to come out of those mouth. Whoever that is doesn’t have access to Neil’s memories.
“Why? We have all day, don’t we?” Andrew replies, taking a step towards them.
This time the other person clenches their jaw. They both know that they don’t have all day. Alters were around usually for a few hours tops.
“If you don’t wanna drive me, I will walk” The other says, opening the door wider, but Andrew grabs it, caging them inside. He lets the cigarette fall out of his mouth to the ground, even though it’s only halfway finished.
“Tell me your name,” Andrew demands.
The other looks at him with wide eyes, before his face turns into pure rage.
“Fuck off!” They yells, before trying to push Andrew away, but even though Andrew is small, he can stand his ground.
“Name?” Andrew asks again, his voice still as quiet as before, but he makes sure to put more venom into it.
The other watches Andrew, his nostrils flaring as he apparently decides to have a staring contest with Andrew. They stand like that for about a minute, before the other finally gives in.
“Nathaniel,“ He replies. “Nathaniel Wesninski”
Andrew stares at him for a moment, feeling his whole body freeze and next time Nathaniel tries to get out of his seat, Andrew doesn’t stop him.
“Surprised to meet the Butcher’s son, I assume,” Nathaniel says, mockingly.
“What were you going to buy?” Andrew askes, wanting to change the subject.
“A knife,” The boy says honestly, before he shrugs. “I need one for protection and I didn’t find one in my things”
“Your father is dead-” Andrew starts, but gets interrupted.
“I know,” Nathaniel yells in his face, before adding quietly “I was there.”
Neil couldn’t tell anyone what exactly happened to his father. He didn’t remember. When FBI asked about it, Neil simply said he was knocked unconscious and when he woke up, his father was dead.
“But my father worked with many people. Loyal people. And they won’t let me go that easily,” Nathaniel looks down with a sigh, before he looks back up at Andrew “Look, I don’t know who you are. But I can see you’re important. I can see that you care.”
Andrew feels soft fingers moving down his arm. Usually he’d flinch away, but the touch feels so familiar, that he doesn’t mind it anymore. Neil isn’t a threat. None of them are.
Nathaniel’s look turns to an almost innocent one, his eyes round and soft and his lips pouting just a tiny bit. And if it wasn’t for those blue eyes, Andrew would notice earlier that Nathaniel is pulling his knife out of his armband. When he notices, it’s already too late.
Nathaniel pushes him against the car, pressing the knife to his throat as his other hand is pressed to Andrew’s chest to keep him in place. Andrew doesn’t waste time and quickly presses his other knife against the Nathaniel’s stomach, making him freeze for a second.
“Quick hands,” Nathaniel only comments with a smirk on his lips. “Sorry, I’m gonna need your keys”
“Sorry, no” Andrew replies, mockingly, which makes the smile fall from Nathaniel’s face.
“You realise I have a knife pressed to your throat, right?”
“You realise I have one pressed against your stomach, right?”
Andrew sees anger go through Nathaniel’s eyes, before he relaxes a little, “You won’t hurt me. You care too much about the host and his body. I on the other hand don’t care about you at all. I could kill you right here and right now”
Andrew knows Nathaniel isn’t lying, but he also knows he is safe. He was never scared of Neil or one of his alters and he wouldn’t start now.
“But you won’t,” The blond replies, his voice relaxed. “You’re one of the protectors. You’re here when the flight doesn’t work and you need to fight. You’re the one to stand against your father. Probably the one who burned your mother’s body. But I’m not a threat, am I? You have no business in hurting me”
Nathaniel clenches his jaw again, before he growls, moving away from Andrew “I’m keeping the knife,” He announces.
“For now,” Andrew agrees, hiding his knife in his armband. “But you’re not getting the keys. You wanna go for a ride, get in.”
Nathaniel narrows his eyes as he watches Andrew, “Just like that?”
“You’re right, I care about Neil. I care about all of you. If you need something, let me know, I’ll provide. But one, don’t you ever fucking lie to me again. And two, respect my fucking boundaries. You touch me one more time, and I will fucking stab you. I know where to aim so it’s not lethal”
Nathaniel seems to consider him for a moment, before he nods “I like you,” he finally decides, before walking past Andrew and getting into the passenger's seat.
Andrew closes his eyes for two seconds, before he walks around the car and gets in, starting the car and driving off. Andrew reaches over to the radio and presses play. Music from the CD starts playing. Neil’s favourite music, which is something Nathaniel hopefully dosn’t know. Other than the music, the car is silent.
Apparently Nathaniel doesn’t care where they are going as long as they are on the road. As long as they are running.
It takes about 3 songs, before Andrew hears Neil’s voice again.
“Why do I have one of your knives?” Neil asks, confused frown on his face as he looks at the blade in his hand.
Thank fucking God.
“I had a little visit from your past. Don’t worry about it, everything is fine” Andrew assures, as he turns the car around and drives back towards the Fox Tower.