Archive of Our Own ^beta

Andrew was in love with Jesse before seeing Zombieland. 

Andrew was in love with Jesse from the moment he met him. 

Andrew had never met anyone so funny and passionate and afraid, but so, so brilliant at overcoming his fears in order to do what he loved and what he was--in Andrew's opinion--absolutely made for. But it was a friendly little love, nothing more. 

Something resonated with him, though, after watching Zombieland. It wasn't Jesse looking badass with all the guns and shooting (although that certainly was fun to see, not that Jesse himself seemed to think so). It wasn't that one gorgeous make-out scene between Jesse and Emma at the end (although, truth be told, if Andrew had been watching the movie without Jesse in the room with him he probably would have rewound and rewatched that scene about fifty times because bloody hell that was something to see). It wasn't even how adorable Jesse was being about the whole thing, covering his face every ten seconds while they were watching because according to him, his face was doing something weird and he couldn't watch (personally, Andrew thought Jesse's face was doing something rather lovely and dashing for the majority of the movie, but that might have just been him). 

No, those things were nice, but they weren't what stuck with him after the movie had ended and Jesse had retreated to his room claiming emotional trauma or something else ridiculous and Jesse. Andrew sat on the couch, milking the last dregs of his tea with Tallahassee's advice ringing in his head. 

Enjoy the little things. 

That one little snippet of advice kept on popping up in his mind over the next few days whenever Andrew started drifting off into space. 

Enjoy the little things. 

It mostly happened around Jesse, so that Andrew found himself staring at his friend and co-star absentmindedly, noticing all the little things. 

Little things like Jesse's wildly curly hair. How he would always try to pat it down with water, combing his hands over it in an attempt to keep it tame, and Andrew would just laugh and pull on one stray curl, and Jesse would bat his hand away and glare, playful smile hidden underneath. They would start an argument about who's hair was more ridiculous and neither of them would concede defeat. But Andrew didn't really hate his hair, and it didn't bother him when it stuck up in odd directions, but Jesse's did bother him, so sometimes Andrew would go on for minutes at a time about how lovely and soft and perfect Jesse's hair was and Jesse would moan and whine all the while until finally Andrew would strike a cord and Jesse would give him that tiny smile that just made it all so perfectly worth it. 

Little things like Jesse's cheekbones because, god, did Jesse have cheekbones. Everytime he mentioned it Jesse would give him this look and go on about, "cheekbones are absolutely the most ridiculous facial feature for anyone to find attractive, you're insane, you're like, a loon, or whatever it is you British call crazy people." And Andrew would laaaaugh because everything that came out of Jesse's silly mouth (another little thing that drove Andrew absolutely bonkers if he focussed on it for too long at one time) was genius and hilarious and perfect. He lived for the little blush he got whenever he insisted on describing exactly why Jesse's cheekbones were so attractive, which usually involved slightly embarrassed mutterings about running one's tongue along them. 

Little things like the way Jesse smelled; like old paper and cats. It wasn't unpleasant and Andrew was sure he'd never be able to smell even one of those things without thinking of Jesse. 

Little tiny, insignificant things like Jesse's silly show tunes that could be heard from time to time pouring out of jesse's room, along with Jesse's own voice as he sings along with his records. Andrew pretends he can't hear him because if Jesse knew then he would be embarrassed and stop and Andrew is not having that. 

The funny thing was, when Andrew met Emma, he wasn't really thinking about the little things. She was lovely as a whole, and it's not that Jesse wasn't, but somehow Jesse's brilliance was more noticeable when Andrew looked a little closer. All the little things that made Jesse who he was were so, so lovely and Andrew could see how it might be possible for some people (particularly Jesse himself) to miss them. 

But Andrew didn't miss them, because for some reason Rule 32: Enjoy the Little Things stuck with him, stuck with him so strongly that he managed to enjoy every single little thing about Jesse there was to enjoy. And eventually, after all that time enjoying all those little things, Andrew realized one very big thing. 

And when he kissed Jesse, and Jesse made that little noise of surprise and curled his hands into Andrew's shirt, kissing him back with soft, nervous little moans, Andrew knew that he had hundreds and hundreds more little Jesse things that he was going to get to enjoy. 

When Andrew met Woody Harrelson randomly at some awards ceremony (Woody had gone up and instantly ruffled Jesse's hair, causing Jesse to glare but then smile like Woody was an older brother he looked up to), Andrew had thanked him. When Woody had asked why, Andrew just smiled, barely touched Jesse's hand with his, and replied,

"You taught me to enjoy the little things."