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Andrew sat on the bed, back against the headboard, his boots still on as he crossed his ankles and flipped through the travel magazine that most resorts seemed to have. Neil was puttering around the suite, loudly complaining about something that Andrew was tuning out as he got changed. Neil stopped at the foot of the bed, looking at Andrew expectantly signalling that the thing Neil was complaining about was him.
“Are you even going to get changed?” Neil asked, frustration seeping into his voice. Andrew continued his flipping with added force. Neil sighed dramatically, the corner of the mattress sinking with Neil’s weight as he sat on the corner. They hadn’t seen each other in months, and they had done nothing but squabble since they had landed. Leave it to Allison to plan an old team vacation on a tropical island that forced them to fly in.
“Why did you even come to this Drew?” Neil tried a different tactic, which finally pulled Andrew’s eyes away from the magazine. Andrew felt his stomach drop when he saw Neil was wearing nothing but a pair of swim trunks, the towel he was holding was draped across one of his thighs. Andrew was both very grateful and very angry at Matt for helping Neil get over his need to always completely cover up. Luckily for him he had many years schooling his features when it came to his attraction to Neil.
“Don’t ask questions you know the answer to.” Andrew said before resuming his flipping. When Neil said nothing to that after a few seconds Andrew looked up at him again. Neil was giving him that look he got when he was trying to figure out what was going on in Andrew’s head. Eventually Neil just shook his head with a look of defeat on his face. Standing he turned to Andrew, who had put the magazine down and now had his arms crossed across his chest.
“We’re going down to the beach, come and join us if you’d like to.” Neil told him before walking over and placing a kiss on Andrew’s forehead. Andrew watched him leave from the back sliding door by the bed and head down to the private beach their villa looked out onto. Andrew sighed, scrubbing his face with his hands. He knew he was being childish, but he got so little time alone with Neil that the idea of spending a week with other people just irritated him. But these people were important to Neil, and he wanted to help celebrate Allison’s first fashion line having just launched. Plus this vacation was all being paid for by Allison, who was also celebrating finally being financially independent of her parents. Heaving a sigh Andrew got off the bed, he knew he’d have to join them, but it was too damn hot here to be in jeans. He headed for his luggage and started searching through the duffel bag for anything that wasn’t black and came up empty. Eyes searching around the room he spotted Neil’s duffel bag sitting on the dresser and went to it. Pulling out items Andrew let a rare small smile grace his features, seeing that Neil had packed enough warm weather clothes for both of them. Pulling out the pair of baggy shorts and a shirt with the sleeves cut out, Andrew quickly changed and even put on the other pair of sandals Neil had packed before moving his phone and cigarettes to a pocket of the shorts and heading down to the beach.
Stepping out into the sun, Andrew nearly changed his mind and headed back inside, but instead followed the voices to where the group had gathered. Everyone that had survived the team his sophomore year was there, along with a few extras. Aaron and Kevin had brought Katelyn and Thea. Kevin had also talked Allison into inviting the Trojan group of Jean, Jeremy, Laila and Cat the Foxes seemed to have adopted. Andrew surveyed the group, the girls were over by a tiki bar that Andrew prayed was fully stocked, Matt and Jeremy were setting up a volleyball net into the sand while Nicky and Erik watched and gave unhelpful advice from the look of it. Neil and Kevin seemed to be having some kind of swimming race, which Neil was winning. There was one umbrella sticking out of the sand where Jean was sitting and since that was the only shade to be found, Andrew headed towards it before he burned to a crisp. Jean said nothing but looked over at Andrew as he sat down, the two of them sitting in silence as they watched the others play in the sun.
Andrew hated to admit it, but he was captivated by Neil as he played in the waves. It was so rare to see him not hide behind one mask or another that he usually wore while they played each other. But here, with these people, Neil was at peace with himself and Andrew couldn’t help but watch as he played in the waves. At some point Neil noticed Andrew watching him and the smile he got in return nearly took Andrew’s breath away. Slowly Neil waded out of the water and headed up the beach towards Andrew, grabbing his towel along the way. Stopping at Andrew’s feet, Neil dropped down on all fours and shook his head effectively spraying both Andrew and Jean with water from his hair. Jean said something in French that earned him a glare from Neil. Crawling towards Andrew, Neil stopped when he was a few inches from Andrew.
“I’m glad you decided to join us.” Neil told him quietly before leaning in for a kiss. Andrew’s brain shut off the moment Neil’s lips touched his, and suddenly he didn’t care where they were, because they were here together. Andrew heard the others wolf whistling, which just prompted Neil to kiss Andrew harder. When Neil finally pulled away he had the stupidest and most breathtaking smile on his face, and Andrew knew that never would have happened without these people. They were Neil’s family, and in turn his as well. They might not understand him, but they all accepted him anyway. It was hard to believe this ragtag group of people that at one point hated each other had all been brought together by one squirrelly runaway, and Andrew couldn’t picture his life any other way.