Work Text:
1.
The problem with Neil was that he was hot. It’s not Andrew wasn’t aware of that, he’s not blind, but god, Neil was ridiculously hot. And the worst part was that Neil himself didn’t seem to know. It drove Andrew crazy. But over the time they were together, Andrew liked to pretend he got a grip on himself. Well, it’s not like Neil was actively trying to look good.
Until the time he comes to their dorm wearing makeup.
Andrew is sitting in one of the beanbags, Nicky in the other and they are watching TV, when Neil comes in. It takes Andrew precisely two seconds to realize this is a problem.
Neil is wearing just eyeliner and some highlight but fuck, it shouldn’t make him look this good.
Andrew studies his face with interest and hope he managed to keep a neutral expression, because in reality, he is sweating. It’s autumn in Palmetto and Andrew is sweating under his T-shirt.
Neil just smiles at him when he meets his eyes and makes his way towards the kitchen, as if this was completely normal thing to occur.
Nicky doesn’t let him walk far though, because he finally pries his eyes off of the TV and notices the change. “Jesus, Neil, are you wearing makeup?!”
Neil shrugs. “Allison thought it’d look good.”
Nicky basically jumps from his beanbag to inspect Neil’s face from up close. “Oh, it does,” he assures Neil. “Seriously, I didn’t think you could get any hotter, but –”
“Nicky,” Andrew growls in warning.
“What? I’m not doing anything. Come on, Andrew, admit he looks great.”
Andrew rolls his eyes. “He looks ridiculous.”
Nicky gives him an annoyed look, but Neil smirks, knowing very well Andrew doesn’t mean it.
Andrew shakes his head and forces himself to turn his attention back on the TV. He’s not going to let little bit of makeup shake him up like that.
2.
The team usually wears their jerseys on their way to the away games. It isn’t a rule, but they do it anyway. Andrew, for once, doesn’t have a problem with that besides being grumpy about wearing bright orange instead of his usual all black.
But the thing is, he can’t find his jersey. That doesn’t happen often. With his perfect memory he always remembers where he put his stuff and he is one hundred percent sure it was folded in his drawer with his other hoodies. He remembers putting it there. Why the fuck it isn’t there then?!
The reason turns out to be Neil. Of course it’s fucking Josten, Andrew thinks bitterly as Neil walks into the bedroom, wearing a jersey with “Minyard” spelled on the back. It’s bit loose on Neil’s lean body and for a second Andrew just stares at him. This is so goddamn unfair, who even looks good in jerseys? Well, Neil apparently.
“Josten,” Andrew hisses.
Neil gazes at him and gives him a loopy smile that definitely doesn’t make Andrew’s chest feel too tight. “What?”
“You are wearing my jersey.”
Neil looks down at the number 3 written on the front, as if this was news to him. “Oh. Yeah.”
Andrew is going to kill him. “Give it back.”
Neil frowns in confusion. “Why?”
“It’s mine.”
“Says who?”
Andrew is so going to kill him. “There’s literally my name on it.”
Neil doesn’t seem to see this as a valid argument. “You can wear mine,” he offers to Andrew instead.
“Why the fuck would I do that?” Andrew hisses.
Neil shrugs. “It’s fun.”
Andrew rolls his eyes. He swears Neil lives just to annoy him. “Just give me my stupid jersey back.”
“No.”
Andrew is sure he misheard. “No?”
Neil pulls it tighter around himself, which Andrew for some reason finds even hotter. Seriously, what is wrong with him?
“It smells like you,” Neil says quietly at last.
Andrew sighs deeply. “Three fucking hundred, Neil,” he growls and resignedly grabs Neil’s jersey. He is sure Nicky is going to have an aneurism when he sees them.
It’s just a few hours ride. He’ll just pretend seeing Neil in his jersey isn’t a big deal. He is going to suffer through the whole journey, but he can surely do it. Fucking Neil.
3.
Andrew wouldn’t admit it to anyone out loud, but he actually fairly enjoys the foxes’ movie nights. The movies themselves don’t really interest him, but he appreciates the distraction because it means the others aren’t talking. That’s how he likes the foxes the best – quiet and too occupied with themselves to notice he is holding Neil’s hand in the dark.
The only problem is Neil’s habit of resting various parts of his body on Andrew, which is something Andrew finds extremely annoying. Not cute. Definitely not cute.
Today isn’t much different. Neil starts yawning as soon as the lights go out and Andrew rolls his eyes at him. “We can just skip this and go to bed,” he mentions to Neil in quiet russian.
Neil, the stubborn idiot he is, shakes his head. “It’s okay. Can I rest my head on your shoulder?”
There it is. But Andrew can pretend all he want, he’s not going to tell Neil no. “Yes.”
It doesn’t take more than ten minutes until Neil is fast asleep, snuggled to Andrew’s side and all Andrew can focus on is Neil’s shampoo choice.
Fortunately the rest of the foxes are too absorbed in the movie to notice either of them.
When the credits start rolling, they all start arguing about the plot holes, Andrew rolling his eyes at them, when Nicky makes a choked sound and Andrew knows he’s screwed.
“Is he asleep?” Nicky asks as he quickly searches his pockets for his phone. “He’s so precious!”
Andrew gives him a flat look.
“How are we getting him back to his dorm?” Matt asks.
Andrew rolls his eyes again. “He can walk,” he sneers before turning to Neil. “Neil. Neil, wake up. Come on, we’re going to bed.”
Neil stirs and buries his face more into Andrew’s shoulder. “‘m tired, ‘drew. Could you carry me?”
It takes all of Andrew’s self control to ignore the rest of the foxes and their excited comments. “No. Get up.”
Neil frowns. “You’re a meanie,” he mumbles grumpily, but allows Andrew to hoist him up on his feet.
Andrew knows very well Neil’s too sleepy to walk on his own, so he lets him lean on him as they slowly make their way towards their dorm. He pretends he doesn’t hear Nicky talking about how cute they are. He can kill both Nicky and Neil tomorrow.
4.
Andrew doesn’t know what led Neil to decide getting drunk in Eden’s was a fun idea to proceed. He doubts it was accidental, since Neil was always careful when it came to alcohol, so for some reason, this was planned. Well, at least the getting drunk part. The part of actually being drunk, didn’t look too planned to Andrew.
Neil’s sitting close to Andrew, leaning on the table to keep his balance and talking in slurred french.
Andrew wouldn’t find that too weird, since Neil and Kevin spoke french quite a lot, but the thing is, Kevin is with Aaron and Nicky on the dance floor and Neil is obviously talking to him.
“Neil. Try some other language, I don’t understand you.”
Neil rolls his eyes and mumbles something, still in french, but this time Andrew is probably glad he doesn’t understand.
“You’re cute when you’re frowning and trying to figure out what I’m saying,” Neil mentions with lazy smile, switching to german.
Andrew gives him a flat look. “Now I know why you don’t drink. You’re annoying as hell.”
Neil grins. “You don’t mean that, Drew. ‘cause you love me.”
Andrew chokes on his drink. It doesn’t take long for him to decide he does not like drunk Neil.
“Shut up before Nicky hears you.”
“Why? Nicky knows we’re dating.”
Andrew doesn’t have the energy to explain to him why he doesn’t want Nicky to hear anything that currently leaves Neil’s mouth.
“I want to kiss you, Drew,” Neil announces suddenly. “Can I?” He asks with hopeful look on his stupid face. Andrew so wants to kill him.
“You are drunk, Neil,” Andrew points out. “I’m not kissing you when you’ve been drinking this much.”
Neil makes a sad face, but otherwise takes Andrew’s no without complains, which makes Andrew hate him even more. He doesn’t know how he’s going to survive the whole night with him.
5.
Andrew is watching Neil sitting on the floor of the court after practice. Everyone else left for the shower but Neil doesn’t seem to mind. He’s stretching, obviously ignoring Andrew standing by the end of the court, glaring at him.
“Move your ass, Josten. I want to get out of here,” Andrew growls, eyeing the way too short shorts that Allison must’ve bought him. He hates how good Neil looks in them.
“You look like you enjoy the view,” Neil replies with amused smile and Andrew wants to kill him. But in the next moment Neil bends over, making a show of presenting Andrew just how short the shorts are.
Andrew grits his teeth. Neil’s all sweaty and disgusting. Yes, disgust. That’s the emotion Andrew feel towards him. Nothing else. Yet it takes all of his self control to not march to Neil and kiss him senseless right there in the middle of the court.
“You look awful,” Andrew retorts and stomps out of there, in desperate need of icy cold shower to cool himself down.
Stupid Neil.
+1
Andrew doesn’t exactly mind the fact that Nicky is friendly with literally everyone, until he decides to bring one of his friend with him to the dorms. Andrew doesn’t know the guy and he probably wouldn’t think twice about him, but that idiot turns out to be the same exy junkie as Neil and now Andrew is sitting on the kitchen counter, glaring at Neil and the guy, having a heated debate about their last match.
Andrew usually doesn’t get jealous. He knows Neil doesn’t swing, so he has no reason to be worried. But Neil doesn’t really talk to strangers and even if he does, he is all reserved and cool. Now nothing of that, he’s gesturing wildly, wide smile on his face and Andrew wants to murder Nicky. It doesn’t help that the guy looks at Neil like he’s a piece of meat.
So what if he’s flirting with Neil? It doesn’t matter. Neil still doesn’t swing.
“We should go get a coffee some time,” the guy says suddenly and Andrew tenses.
“Oh. Sure,” Neil responds, completely oblivious to the fact that he just agreed on a fucking date.
Andrew has had enough. He hops down from the counter and walks to the two of them. Neil beams at him with soft smile, which Andrew doesn’t return.
“Hold my hand,” he says in russian.
Neil raises an eyebrow. “What? Why?”
Andrew rolls his eyes. “Because putting a leash on you is too much work.”
Neil looks between Andrew and the guy and suddenly realizes what’s been going on and smiles in the smuggest way possible. Andrew suppresses the urge to kill him. Or kiss him. Either way is fine.
But Neil obediently slips his hand into Andrew’s and Andrew can’t resist meeting the guy’s gaze and wordlessly sneering at him yes, asshole, he’s mine.