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“Hey man, I got you something!”
Neil looks up from the book he’d been skimming through just in time for Matt to thrust a large takeaway cup in his face, and Neil just manages to scramble and grab it before Matt lets go, inviting himself to sit beside Neil on the couch.
“What…is this?” Neil asks, eyeing the red, white and green embellished cup with something akin to trepidation, the contents of which he can see nothing but whipped cream, mini marshmallows and chunks of crushed up hard candy, like…peppermints?
“Candy-cane hot chocolate. You’re welcome.” Matt tips his equally ridiculously decorated cup toward Neil before taking a sip through the striped straw.
Because hot chocolate in and of itself wasn’t sweet enough, Neil thinks, they just had to go add extra candy to it.
“Thanks,” Neil belatedly answers, taking a tentative sip and managing to hide his grimace, putting the cup aside and picking up his book again.
Matt merely hums around his straw in answer, distracted, and Neil spares him a look, noting how his attention is on the photo wall, and Neil feels his lip twitch upward slightly, thinking about how many additions have been stuck up since he'd arrived.
There are now so many photos that some are overlapping, and there are photos of Neil with every member of the team: a picture Dan had taken of him and Matt, Matt hunched over practically in half in order to hug Neil from behind, lifting him somewhat off his feet.
A photo of him and Renee, she’s grinning, her hands held up, gesturing as she had been telling Neil about a new charity idea, with him smiling a little at her enthusiasm as he listened.
There’s pictures of him with Dan and Allison, one with Allison pushing her fingers through his hair, a determined look in her eye as she tried to convince Neil to let her cut it for him, and the next being one that Dan had taken herself of the three, Neil looking vaguely terrified while Dan held up a pair of barber’s scissors and Allison held clippers.
His hair had actually turned out really nice.
Nice enough for Andrew to begrudgingly tell Neil it suited him.
“You don’t look like an unkempt dog now,” Andrew had said, his fingers scratching idly at the shaven short hair on the back of Neil’s head.
Neil lets his eyes linger on those photos for an extra moment as the memory flows through him, before passing his gaze over the rest, to the picture of him standing with Nicky; they’re looking at Nicky’s phone as he showed Neil photos of Erik and his family, with Aaron peering over to look, too.
Then there’s the photo of him and Kevin sifting through papers Kevin had printed out of Exy stats for a team they were to verse for that week’s upcoming game. They’re sitting on the bench during a break at practice, too absorbed in what they’re doing to notice Dan nearby with a camera. Andrew had noticed, as in the photo he’s looking directly toward the camera from where he’s sat between Kevin and Neil, a cigarette between his lips and the most I want to be anywhere but here look on his face known to man.
Neil can’t help the breath of a laugh he lets out seeing it, and Matt turns his head upon hearing the sound, smiling around the straw still in his mouth.
“What’s funny?” He asks, and Neil gestures toward the wall.
“Looking at those,” He says, and Matt nods.
“Me too. Good times, huh?”
Neil goes to agree when the door opens to the lounge, the team entering one by one, taking off their winter coats and throwing a multitude of greetings Matt and Neil’s way.
Andrew walks past everyone and walks straight up to Neil without a word, and Neil smiles up at him, Andrew huffing in response and reaching for Neil’s abandoned drink.
“Hey—“ Matt protests, expression too close to a pout for Neil’s liking. “That’s not yours.”
“Neil wasn’t going to drink it.” Andrew says in response, sitting on the arm of the couch and sipping what’s more than likely the now nearly cold hot chocolate.
“You weren’t?” Matt asks, sounding sad, and Neil winces.
“I’m not a fan of sweet drinks. Sorry.” He says, and Andrew lifts the cup toward Matt as if to say I told you so.
“Aww,” Dan coos, sitting next to Matt on the vacant side of the couch, wrapping an arm around his shoulders. “He was so excited for you to try his favourite holiday drink.” She smiles at Neil as Matt leans against her side.
“I did try it,” Neil starts, interrupted by an obnoxious slurping sound as Andrew finishes the drink. “I was going to have some more, but…” He gives Andrew a deadpan look that’s just thrown right back at him.
“Whoops.” Andrew says, and it earns a chuckle from Renee as she comes to sit on the nearby armchair.
“Don’t worry,” She says, tucking herself into the chair in a way so that she can face everyone. “Allison bought coffees and hot chocolates for everyone, so you can still have a drink.”
“Andrew made sure there was a black coffee ordered for you, you weirdo.” Allison pipes up as she walks over with a cardboard tray of takeaway coffee cups, sifting through them until she hands him the right one.
Neil accepts the cup with a thanks, and Allison hands out the rest of the drinks, and Neil is unsurprised when Andrew’s handed a large cup that looks not unlike a concoction fit for a sickly dessert more so than a drink, easily taking a sip despite having just drunken a large, barely touched hot chocolate.
“How do you not like hot chocolate, but drink black coffee?” Matt asks, nose turned up as Neil takes a drink. “And you,” He addresses Andrew, who barely spares him a glance. “How do you drink so much sugary shit and not get sick?”
“Good metabolism.” Andrew answers, and Neil notes that he’s looking at the wall of photos, not unlike Neil had been doing a few minutes prior.
He follows Andrew’s gaze to the first image of the two of them, standing together in the airport wearing matching jackets the day he’d given Andrew his real name, or what is now his old name, glancing back at Andrew to find he’s already looking at Neil.
“A lot’s changed since then, huh?” Neil asks, voice low enough for only Andrew to hear, and he inclines his head in a slight nod in response, making Neil smile a little.
"Oh! I just remembered," Dan suddenly pipes up, standing from the couch and sifting through the bag she’d put down upon entering the lounge, taking out an envelope and holding it up for the team to see. “I got more photos developed, including couple’s images.” She waves the envelope with a grin, and there’s a chorus of interest throughout the room.
“Couple’s images?” Nicky asks, holding out a hand and wriggling his fingers until Dan hands him the photos to look at.
“Yeah, there’s me and Matt, Neil and Andrew, Kevin and his racquet,” Dan lists, laughing when Kevin protests, and Neil quickly looks at Andrew, who’s now paying attention to anything but the people in the room.
“Me and Andrew…?” Neil hedges, looking back toward Dan who’s gotten the photos back from Nicky, and she hands them straight to Neil.
“That’s okay, right?” She asks, and Neil takes the moment to find the image she’s talking about, trying to recall when it could have been taken.
Dan must have caught Andrew and Neil when they had separated from the group for a quiet moment, as they’re stood by the water fountain, Andrew’s hand on the back of Neil's neck and Neil leaning close, holding onto Andrew’s wrist and smiling softly at him.
He gently nudges Andrew’s side and holds the photo up for him to see, Andrew taking it from Neil by a singular corner, looking it over and shaking his head.
“This isn’t going up.” He says, pocketing the photo. “There are too many pictures of me already.”
“There’s three,” Dan argues.
“Too many.”
Dan scoffs in annoyance, looking to Neil as if asking him to change Andrew’s mind, but Neil shrugs, and Dan rolls her eyes, taking the envelope of photos back when Neil hands them to her.
“Fine, at least there’s one photo of you two up there.” She says, turning toward Renee and chatting to her, and Neil shifts his attention toward Andrew again.
“What do you want for dinner tonight?” He asks, and Andrew glances at him, taking the time to sip his drink before answering.
“Food.”
Neil rolls his eyes, turning to search for Kevin amidst the team, spotting him and getting his attention to repeat the question and actually receiving more of a helpful answer.
After they’ve finished meeting up with the team, Andrew, Kevin and Neil head to the store to buy what they needed for dinner that night, the three deciding on making lasagna, with Kevin insisting on making a salad to go with it; some bougie sounding concoction he’d read about in a health magazine that Neil didn’t care to remember the ingredients of.
Pulling into the parking lot of Fox tower, Kevin exits the car practically before it’s parked, already grabbing grocery bags from the trunk, and Neil pauses when he notices Andrew not moving, the engine still running.
“Everything okay?” Neil asks, and Andrew taps the steering wheel a couple times.
“I forgot a couple things.” Is all he says, and Neil wracks his memory trying to remember what they could have forgotten, Andrew glancing at him pointedly before leaning over and opening Neil’s door for him, a clear get out if Neil’s ever seen one.
“Okay then…” Neil says, getting out of the car but holding the door open an extra second. “See you soon?”
“Yeah,” Andrew answers, and Neil nods, shutting the door, grabbing the last of the grocery bags out of the trunk before closing it, barely stepping out of the cars’ way before Andrew is driving off again.
“Where the fuck is he going?” Kevin asks from the other side of the parking lot, ignoring the annoyed stare he receives from a couple passing students.
“Said he forgot some things,” Neil answers, walking alongside Kevin as they make their way inside, his fingers growing numb from the cold and the plastic handles of the bags cutting into them.
“In other words, he’s avoiding helping us cook again.” Kevin mutters, and Neil half laughs.
“Probably.”
“He’s doing dishes.” Kevin then says, pointing at Neil as if he’d argue, and Neil lifts his hands up somewhat in surrender, following Kevin into the dorm.
Andrew comes back just as Neil is putting the finishing touches on dinner, sprinkling the top layer of the lasagna with cheese and Kevin berating him for putting too much, pausing mid-rant to gesture toward Andrew.
“Nice of you to show. Maybe you can put this in the oven, pretend you helped in some way.” He says, and Andrew merely stares back at him for a long second, looking toward the tray of lasagna and back.
“Looks like you’re doing just fine without me.” He says, shouldering past and putting a few pints of ice cream in the freezer.
“Unbelievable.” Kevin mutters, watching Andrew walk away, and Neil half-smirks to himself, putting the lasagna in the oven before Kevin asks, setting the timer and leaving Kevin to start on his weird sounding salad to search for Andrew.
He finds him in their bedroom, sitting on the edge of the bed fiddling with something and barely looking up at Neil’s arrival.
“You forgot an extra three pints of ice cream?” Neil asks, coming to sit beside Andrew, eyeing what’s in his hands curiously.
“And deodorant.” Andrew says, and Neil hums, finally realising what it is Andrew’s got.
“A photo frame?”
Andrew holds the frame after putting the back of it into place for a long moment, before turning it over for Neil to see.
It’s the photo Dan had gotten developed along with the others earlier, the one Andrew pocketed after saying it wasn’t going to go up on the wall. He doesn’t look at Neil as he takes it gently, looking at the photo inside again and smiling a little.
“Where are you planning to put it?” Neil asks, trailing a finger along the frames’ edge, and Andrew watches, shrugging.
“Thought you would appreciate it more than me.” Andrew says, and Neil nudges his shoulder with his own, laughing when Andrew raises an eyebrow at the motion.
“Here,” Neil leans over Andrew to place the frame on the nightstand, angling it toward the bed a little. “How’s that?”
“Typical,” Andrew replies, catching Neil’s wrist as he goes to lean back, staring at him with heady intent, asking silent permission that Neil grants with a nod, closing his eyes just before Andrew’s lips press to his.
The kiss is slow, and Neil hums into it, lifting his free hand to gently cradle the side of Andrew’s face, shifting closer until his thigh is pressed flush to Andrew’s, and Andrew nips his lip in response, tugging it a little and letting go when Neil gasps at the slight sting.
They pull back enough to shift positions, with Neil lying on his back on the bed, Andrew slinging a leg over him until he’s carefully straddling Neil’s lap, leaning over him and holding their joined hands above Neil’s head on the pillow, kissing languidly down the side of his neck until Neil exhales shakily before kissing his lips again.
They stay that way for a while, Neil shivering with the effort of keeping still, Andrew slowly rocking his hips against him, making Neil groan into the next kiss, Andrew’s tongue slipping past his parted lips to flick against Neil’s, and all Neil can do is part his lips further, let Andrew kiss him how he likes and reciprocate as best he can.
It's just as Andrew sits back to take his shirt off, getting the hem as far up as his ribs when the oven timer goes off, and Neil tips his head back with a groan that differs entirely from the few before, his lap growing immediately cold when Andrew gets off him.
“Sorry,” Neil tries, looking to Andrew who merely shrugs, looking for the most part as if nothing had just happened, but Neil can still see the flush on his cheeks even in the dark, can tell the way Andrew’s breath is still ever so slightly heightened. “Continue after dinner?”
“Sure.” Neil stares at Andrew a moment longer until he meets his eyes, nudging Neil’s cheek with a finger and shifting to get off the bed. “Better get that before Kevin does or you will never hear the end of it.”
“Right,” Neil stands after Andrew, adjusting himself quickly and leaving the room, entering the kitchen a millisecond before Kevin and turning off the oven and its timer.
Kevin shakes his head when Neil glances at him, muttering something Neil doesn’t quite catch and getting out the necessary cutlery for dinner, Neil getting plates with Andrew making an appearance to get them drinks as the lasagna gets portioned to serve.
Neil’s left to do the dishes afterwards, but Andrew compromises with him by drying and putting them away, then pressing Neil against the counter to kiss him slow and heavy, at least until Kevin walks in, deciding then to take things back to the bedroom.
“Do I need earplugs?” Kevin calls out as Andrew tugs Neil by his wrist toward the bedroom, never mind the fact that Neil is eager to follow, the two pausing for a second, and Neil lifts a shoulder, a silent it's up to you.
“Better safe than sorry.” Andrew calls back, and Neil can’t help but smirk, closing and locking the door at his back before he’s pushed against it, Andrew’s hands on his sides and his lips on Neil’s neck.
Afterwards, when Neil is lying in bed and looking at the photo frame Andrew had gotten earlier, he looks over to the man in question when he hears rustling on the other side of the room, Andrew’s back to Neil.
“What’s that?” He asks, sitting up some, and Andrew looks at him over his shoulder, silent for a second before he turns and chucks something in Neil’s direction, Neil catching it on instinct and looking down at the item in his hand in confusion.
“Camera.” Andrew says, as if it’s a completely normal thing for him to gift Neil as he looks up toward Andrew in surprise.
“Why did you get a camera?” Neil then asks, turning it over in his hands, feeling the mattress shift as Andrew sits beside him.
“Because you are a sentimental idiot.” He says, and Neil looks up, affronted, but notes the hint of something akin to a smile in Andrew’s eyes. “You are done running and hiding, and I know you like the photos at the stadium.” It’s then that he lifts his hand, holding up a couple batteries. “Thought perhaps you would like to take your own, make a new binder, maybe one that’s not so much of a shrine to Exy but to the life you are making for yourself here.”
Neil swallows around the sudden lump in his throat, taking the batteries from Andrew’s hand and gently placing that and the camera on the nightstand, leaning toward Andrew and pausing just shy of his lips, letting Andrew close the gap between them and kiss him softly.
“Thank you,” Neil whispers, stroking a strand of still somewhat damp hair back from Andrew’s forehead, and Andrew hums in response, the backs of his knuckles tracing Neil’s jaw.
Neil smiles at him then, and Andrew huffs, gently pushing Neil’s face away from his and moving around him to get into bed, Neil waiting for him to get settled before switching off the lamp and getting under the covers beside him.
Feeling a hand tug gently at the back of his shirt, Neil twists around until he’s close to Andrew, eyes adjusting in the dark and making out the outline of his silhouette, ignoring the instinct to turn back around, to not leave his back to the room, trusting Andrew before him and carefully finding the side of his face, touching him softly.
Leaning forward just as carefully, Neil seeks Andrew’s lips, bumping his nose and breathing a laugh that he can feel more than hear Andrew return, tilting his head down slightly and catching his mouth in a slow kiss that dwindles as sleep begins to take over.
“G’night, ‘drew…” Neil mumbles, pressing his forehead to Andrew’s for a beat before pulling back, giving him some space, and he hears Andrew exhale shakily, feels his fingers clench in the front of Neil’s shirt before loosening their grip to instead sling his arm across Neil’s waist.
“Night.” He whispers back, and Neil smiles in the dark, yielding to the heaviness of his eyelids and letting them close, falling asleep to the sound of Andrew’s breathing evening out and the thought of the photos he’s going to take, the memories he’s going to make with the team; with Andrew.
With his family.