Only You
In their second year a deal is made. Andrew wants to explore his boundaries and there’s really just one person he trusts around himself.
Set in a universe where everything is the same except that Andrew never kissed Neil on the rooftop that night. Instead, they just got closer and more comfortable around each other.
Read from the start if you haven’t yet! [Part 1]
You can also read it on [AO3]
As always a huge thank you to @velvetnoodle for being an amazing beta <3
Part 2
Neil walks out of the cafe and lets the door bang on its way out. He feels his cheeks start to flush when he glances at the free coffees he’s carrying. He tried to refuse but the guy insisted so he thanked him and rushed to get out. He mentally curses when he stops in front of Nicky and Matt and they immediately start laughing. “You should’ve seen the look on your face,” Nicky says once he calms down.
“Shut up,” Neil says glaring. “Can we just go now?” and shoves the coffee cup holder into Matt’s chest.
“Oh man, I can’t believe that he actually offered you the coffees,” Matt says looking at the coffee holder in awe.
They watched the whole thing happening from the window and Neil feels exposed, all this attention is unwelcome and he’s just tired of all of it so he starts pulling his sleeves down out of reflex.
“You know what we should do?” Nicky asks, grinning at Matt. “We should send him in there every day, imagine all the free stuff we could get!”
“No,” Neil says immediately; he has had enough of this. He grabs the coffee holder from Matt’s hands and starts to walk away.
Nicky and Matt stare at his back confused until it becomes clear where he’s headed. “Wait, what are you doing?” Matt says once he realizes that Neil is walking in the direction of the bin.
“Is he— Neil this was just a joke!” Nicky says pleading, “Don’t do it!”
“Go get your damn coffee from now on,” Neil says looking at them pissed and drops the container into the trash.
“Such a waste of good coffee,” Matt whines still not quite believing what he just witnessed.
Neil turns and starts to walk away, ignoring them calling his name and sets a quick pace that quickly turns into him running in the direction of the Fox Tower.
Running feels good — it allows him to clear his head. Once he reaches the dorms he jogs the stairs up to the roof. His breathing is uneven when he reaches the rooftop access door, the cold air welcome against his skin but Neil still feels the urge to get out of the building and run until there’s nothing else to focus on and his legs give out. The frustration he’s feeling must be visible on his face because Andrew spares him one look and asks, “What happened now?”
“Now I know why your cousin and Matt find it hilarious to send me to the coffee shop and order their stuff while they wait by the door,” Neil says bitterly while he sits down.
Andrew clenches his fists before he answers. “The guy with the piercings?”
“Yeah,” Neil replies, not really surprised that Andrew had figured it out. Just a few days ago he had been there with Andrew and the others, but on that day the guy on the counter hadn’t given him anything and didn’t try to ask him personal information like he had done today.
“I’ll deal with it,” Andrew says after a moment.
“Okay, but you don’t have to beat up everyone who annoys me.”
“Hm that’s an interesting idea,” Andrew says tilting his head to the side. “But we made a deal, and I think I just need to make the message clear enough for him to back off.”
“Okay, then,” Neil says, he isn’t sure what Andrew has in mind and he isn’t entirely sure if this deal was a good idea to begin with but he doesn’t put much more thought into it, trusting Andrew to deal with it without his knives.
***
The next day, Neil finishes his classes and finds Andrew outside of his building waiting for him, and as soon as he spots Neil he turns around and begins to walk away. Neil is quick to follow and as soon as Andrew doesn’t turn to go to the parking lot and continues straight in the direction of the coffee shop Neil sighs loudly and follows along.
Andrew stops near the entrance, looks inside and seems satisfied with what he finds when he turns to look at Neil. “Why don’t you go in and order something?”
“Fine,” Neil says rolling his eyes and walks inside towards the counter.
“Hi there, what can I get you today?” the guy — the same one from yesterday with a name tag indicating that his name is Liam — asks him smiling.
“A black coffee,” Neil tells him as he sees in the corner of his eye Andrew entering the shop and casually stopping in front of the display window as if he was another customer deciding on what to order. It’s still unclear what Andrew has in mind so Neil remains where he is waiting for his coffee.
“Can I get you anything else?” Liam asks when he returns with the coffee.
“No, thanks,” Neil answers, but he notices Andrew eyeing the donuts and thinks he might as well order something for him too. “Wait, give me one of those chocolate donuts,” he says pointing to the display.
“Sure thing,” Liam replies and when he places the small package containing the donut in the counter he adds, “it’s on the house.”
“Uhm, thanks,” Neil says immediately beginning to feel uncomfortable. It’s the second time Liam’s offered him products and Neil has to wonder how this guy makes a decent profit at the end of the day if he doesn’t charge his customers.
“Oh, isn’t he nice, giving you gifts,” Andrew says glaring at the guy while stepping closer to Neil.
“Oh, it’s nothing,” The guy says, but his smile starts to falter once he sees the murderous expression that is starting to form on Andrew’s face.
“He’s not available, so you can just fuck off,” Andrew tells him with a menacing tone straight to the point.
Neil almost feels bad for the guy when he sees him wincing from Andrew’s tone. Almost. But Andrew kept his word, of course he did, he had told Neil he only needed to make the message clearer and that’s exactly what he just did. Neil quickly grabs his wallet and puts a note on the counter to pay for his order, knowing that it’s time to leave and Andrew grabs the package with the donut and the coffee with one hand, and with the other he grabs Neil sleeve to pull him towards the door.
Once they step out of the coffee shop Andrew lets go of his sleeve, and they begin to walk in the direction of the car side by side. Andrew starts eyeing the coffee before passing it to Neil. “Pathetic,” he says with a bored tone.
Neil, curious, looks at the container and notices the phone number written on it. “What--” he starts to ask about what it means but he remembers Allison mentioning passing phone numbers as one way to try to talk more with someone you were interested in and closes his mouth. Damn it; if Allison was here she would never let this go.
***
Like most nights, Neil silently follows Andrew to the rooftop when they get back from night practice with Kevin. Once he finishes climbing the stairs and opens the access door, he finds Andrew already lighting two cigarettes for them. Neil walks to his side and sits only an inch away from him and accepts the cigarette Andrew passes over.
When Andrew finishes his cigarette, he turns to Neil with a calculated expression and motions for Neil to take his hand from his pocket. Neil, confused, turns to the side and sits with his legs crossed to face Andrew and puts his hand in front of them. After a moment, Andrew grabs his wrist and stares at their hands.
“We don't have to do this,” Neil says, realizing what this is about.
“No, we don't,” Andrew agrees and squeezes his wrist.
“But you want to,” Neil concludes.
Andrew doesn’t bother giving him an answer; instead, he brings Neil’s hand near his face. He stops just an inch away from his hair. “I don’t think you realize what this means.”
“I think I do,” Neil says looking him in the eyes. He’s been thinking about it ever since they made their deal, and he keeps thinking about what Andrew told him months ago at Eden’s Twilight that turned his world upside down. At the time it was a lot to process but now, the urge to reach out and discover how Andrew would feel under his touch is there, has been there for a while now. He was never curious about these things before but somehow Andrew is different, he makes him want to discover, to explore this.
Andrew gives his hand one final squeeze and places it on his hair. “Just here,” he says and lets go.
Neil nods, and slowly moves his hand through his hair, noticing that it’s thinner and smoother than his own. Andrew stays still, watching Neil, and neither of them says anything. Neil pays close attention to Andrew’s reactions, and once he sees his shoulders relaxing Neil lets his hand slowly travel from his side to where his short hair ends by his neck.
Suddenly Andrew grabs his wrist again and Neil immediately stills as he waits for Andrew's next move, thinking that this was enough for today. So he can't help but be surprised when Andrew slightly brings his arm down, bringing Neil’s hand to his neck. He lets it rest there for a few moments, and Neil lets himself enjoy the feeling of Andrew’s warm skin under his own until Andrew, who had kept his hand on Neil’s wrist, pulls it away.
Andrew without a word turns back to stare at the campus, lits a cigarette and takes a long drag. Neil stares at his hand resting on his lap, unsure about what to do now. Then the wind blows the smoke into Neil’s face and he takes a deep breath letting the smell of smoke ground him. He closes his hand that just moments ago was touching Andrew and looks up at Andrew’s profile in front of him. He tries to fight the urge to grin when the realization that he liked being able to touch Andrew hits him, and that Andrew had really trusted him to do this. Neil still isn’t sure how this could help Andrew in any way, but if Andrew wanted this, he was fine with it.
[Part 3]
