Chapter Text
Andrew felt a tug on the edge of his shirt before he even saw Neil out of the corner of his eye. It was amazing how elusive his Little could be, especially when he wanted to be hiding. He was absolutely unbeatable in hide and seek.
But when Neil wanted to be seen and paid attention to, he was insistent about it, so in order to avoid loud yelling for ten minutes (and also because Andrew had no intention of ever ignoring Neil), Andrew turned to face him, giving a soft questioning hum.
"Hey, baby fox." Andrew greeted, holding out a hand with Neil took in his. "How are you doing?"
Neil had been small on and off today, feeling spacey and distant earlier in the day and a bit safer and warmer in the evening. He had changed into some comfy pajamas when he started feeling more consistently Little but had gone off to play on his own when Andrew asked if he wanted company. Currently, Andrew was in the kitchen, halfway through making a sandwich for himself and Neil to split for dinner. Little Neil liked eating the same things as Andrew, which was good for both of them, because Andrew had to eat something other than ice cream if he wanted Neil to get all his fruits and veggies and other good stuff.
Neil held up a bright plastic block with a different color and number on each side, going up to six. He had a set of blocks in his room. Some of them had numbers, other letters, or symbols. Neil favored the numbers.
Andrew knew exactly where this was going. He gave a soft sigh, watching fondly as Neil held the block so the face read one.
"One," Neil told Andrew, watching the block, and flipping it. "Two, three, four, five," he landed on six and hurriedly held out the block, shaking it with urgency.
"Six." Andrew said, tapping the block's number. "One, two, three, four five, six. Good counting, baby. Do you want to do it again?"
Neil very much wanted to do it again, grinning and shaking the hand the block was in in excitement.
"One." Neil said, showing Andrew the respective sides as he counted again and again, prompting Andrew for different numbers and reacting ecstatically every time they finished the set.
"You're so good at counting." Andrew said warmly after their fourth or fifth go around. "I bet you could count even higher. Want to try counting to ten with me?"
"Uh-huh." Neil nodded his head, watching Andrew with those impossibly blue eyes. "Count?"
"Yeah, baby, let's count." Andrew took his other hand, holding the block with Neil and flipping it to the faces as they counted. One, two, three..
When they got to seven he traced the numbers on the six side. Seven, eight, nine,
"Ten!" Neil shouted when they finished, grinning and rocking on his feet. "Ten, ten, ten, ten," Neil traced a 10 in the air, cheeks bright pink with how wide he was smiling;
"Is that your favorite number?" Andrew asked softly.
"Nope." Neil shook his head, curls bouncing around his head. He slowly turned the block to the orange side, and held it out with both hands for Andrew to take. "That's my favorite, Drew."
Andrew felt his entire chest warm, feeling a sudden urge to wrap Neil up in his arms and squeeze him tight. Neil's declared favorite number was of course, number 3.