#tfcnet

Renee knew him rather well, dammit. “You better bring your double chocolate cheesecake,” he warned as he barely resisted the urge to throw the slip of paper back in her smirking face.

“Of course! And lots of fudge, too.” She smiled at him, all too aware of his weak points after working together for the last few years. “I might even try this eggnog cake recipe, if I have the time.”

Sweets and alcohol, how could he resist. “Find the time if you expect me to buy something for this person,” he demanded before stalking away, done dealing with people for the day.

He should be used to the damn gift exchange after working for Fleet Foxes the last five years, it was just that he ‘somehow’ usually got Renee or Aaron or Nicky, whom he didn’t mind to buy something small for (the limit was twenty dollars). One year he got Kevin, which had been almost amusing to find the most historically incorrect DVD series he could find to gift the history fanatic, and then walk away whenever Kevin had ranted about the show’s many, many inaccuracies (or even better, to listen to his coworkers complain about being trapped in the breakroom during one of Kevin’s rants).

Except that year? He’d gotten stuck with one Neil Josten, which he remembered setting up access for the guy after running the basic background check (nothing out of the ordinary… in fact, almost suspiciously nothing at all in the guy’s background). No, the only thing that had stood out about one Neil Josten, hired to work on translating the company’s websites into a few different languages and assist in customer service in said languages was that he was only a couple of inches taller than Andrew’s five feet. That and the faded scars on his too-attractive face.

Andrew had never imagined that he’d one day be holding down a nine-to-five job… but he supposed that there was an exception somewhere for him to be working for a former guidance counselor who took on all the hard luck cases back in his old high school whom he’d fought for to get various scholarships to universities, only to quit his job upon finding out that he had a son of his own and go on to form a company which put together and sold sports equipment to children with special needs. David Wymack just didn’t know when to give up… but Andrew guessed that was in part why he held any amount of respect for the man, why Wymack had managed to not be driven away by a certain messed-up kid with more than enough anger issues after bouncing around various (abusive) foster homes before his ‘lovely’ mother had decided to take him back in.

All that really mattered in the end was that Wymack had hired him to put that criminal justice degree to good use on background checks to make sure that the employees he hired were on the up and up and that the various charities and organizations weren’t trying to pull a fast one on the company, and that his twin brother Aaron had a stable job while he worked on his pre-med degree, down in the free clinic which the company offered for the families which often couldn’t afford healthcare, let alone the fancy wheelchairs and bikes and other pieces of equipment that the Fleet Foxes (or FF, as most of the employees referred to the company), gave out to the poor kids in order to make their lives better.

Which was why he suffered through the stupid holiday parties and whatever else do-gooders like Renee organized, though the free food and generous plates of desserts always helped. That almost all of the employees had learned to leave him alone by then, with the exceptions of Bee and Renee and Wymack.

Except that now he had to figure out a gift for one Neil Josten, dammit. Part of Andrew was tempted to just throw together a bag of socks and a Starbucks gift card… but then he remembered a pair of icy blue eyes and auburn curls and high cheekbones and….

DAMMIT.

He blamed it all on the fact that his longstanding fuck-buddy, Roland, had found a boyfriend in the last few months, which meant that Andrew didn’t have a convenient means of release other than his own right hand. Which meant instead of creamy dark brown skin and honey colored eyes, lately he’d been imaging pale gold skin and fire-dipped curls and-

He needed to stop thinking about Neil Josten.

Except now he needed to get a damn present for the gorgeous enigma, it seemed.

He spent three days trying to figure out the quiet young man who came in early in the morning (too early for Andrew’s tastes), didn’t seem to talk much to the other employees and remained in his own little office before leaving hours before Andrew (who arrived well after 9am). Josten dressed as if he raided Goodwill for clothes, his outfits hanging from his slim frame.

Still, knowing that the redhead was an early riser and a loner wasn’t really much of anything, so Andrew braced himself for the worst and turned to his cousin Nicky, who also worked for Wymack in the marketing department, along with Aaron.

“Eh, Neil?” Nicky squealed during their shared ‘family’ coffee break on Thursday. “The cutie? The cutie with the gorgeous eyes and the tight ass?”

“The linguistic guy,” Andrew stressed as he gave his cousin a flat look. “Say anything else and you better have signed up for the high level insurance premium.”

Nicky laughed at that until he finally seemed to figure out that Andrew wasn’t kidding. “Okay, okay!” He held his hands up for a few seconds while smiling nervously. “Neil Josten, yeah!”

“The antisocial asshole,” Aaron murmured into his huge mug of coffee. “Wouldn’t take off his shirt while Katelyn did his physical.”

Andrew turned his flat look on his brother, unwilling to hear about the ‘girlfriend’ at the moment. “I like him better all of a sudden.”

Aaron gave him the finger for that comment while Nicky laughed again, just a nervous. “Neil, okay? He actually gets along with Matt, but I think it’s more because Matt doesn’t give him much of a choice,” Nicky confessed. “Matt seemed to latch on to him as someone who needed a buddy, and Neil will go out to lunch with him once or twice a week.” The more he spoke, the more Nicky calmed down and seemed interested in the topic. “He’s quiet and keeps to himself, but he seems to like tea and will eat a lot of different stuff for lunch, according to Matt, but no sweets. He never touches any of the donuts that anyone brings in or the birthday treats.”

In other words, the guy was a freak. “So bad taste in food, friends and clothes,” Andrew murmured as he put together a mental image of the new guy based on what Nicky had just said.

“You noticed, too?” Nicky perked up on that as he went to refill his mug with some more coffee. “He really needs some new clothes, he’s too hot to wear stuff that’s like, ten years old. At least? I mean, it’s all clean and everything, but he looks like he was dressed by his grandfather or something.”

“It’s work, not Eden’s,” Aaron said as he rolled his eyes as he mentioned the club where Roland bartended. “Who cares?”

“How are we related?” Nicky gasped. “Hot guys should always look hot!”

Andrew pushed away from the counter he’d been leaning against before the conversation degraded any further. “Anything else?” Checking his emails was more interesting than listing to Nicky’s inane prattle.

“Uhm… oh, yeah! Neil has a thing for cats,” Nicky offered up with a grin. “I overheard him say something about having to go out to buy cat food one day. Did that help?” He gave Andrew a hopeful smile, which Andrew ignored as he left the breakroom.

So, tea, something to do with cats, maybe a nice sweater or something – now Andrew had an idea of what to get the new guy. Yet instead of logging on to Amazon and finding something under the price limit, he spent the next few days lingering in the breakroom and outside of his office as much as possible, suffering Nicky and Renee and the others just so he could catch a glimpse of one Neil Josten.

The weather had taken a ‘cold’ turn for the end of the year (as much as it ever did in South Carolina), which meant that Josten showed up in overlarge sweatshirts and sweaters, all of them appearing old and faded and a few washes away from fraying – and none of them having anything to do with the holiday (that was one thing which Andrew approved of, considering how much grief he got over wearing black all through December). There was indeed traces of black and grey cat hair on his blue sweatshirt the one day, confirming that he had at least one cat, and Andrew watched him turn down a slice of Renee’s rather good coffee cake in the breakroom on Monday while he made himself a cup of what looked to be some sort of black tea. He was polite but distance, and seemed to miss her question about what he’d done over the weekend before he excused himself.

He was also quick on his feet, and quiet, too.

Andrew helped himself to an extra-large slice of the coffee cake since Josten hadn’t taken any. “Someone’s shy.”

Renee shrugged as she made herself some herbal tea. “He doesn’t like to be put on the spot, but if Matt’s around, he’ll open up a little. You should see the picture of his two cats, they’re adorable. He rescued them from a shelter.” She smiled at Andrew, the expression warm and inviting, which he knew better than to trust after digging into her background. “Said that it’s nice to have something to come home to each night.”

In other words, Josten was single, not that Andrew cared or anything. “I imagine the furballs are about as useful as Nicky,” Andrew drawled before he took a big bite of the slice of cake, his gaze locked with Renee’s.

“Maybe,” Renee answered with that damn knowing smile on her face. “You should talk to him at the party on Friday, I think you two have a lot in common.”

He didn’t answer that, he just ate the cake in steady bites before he topped off his mug with more coffee, sugar and milk and then left the room.

If he happened to eat lunch at the same Chinese place where Boyd took Josten on Tuesday? Pure coincidence. He sat at a table by himself and watched Boyd urge Josten to eat some more while the redhead poked at his noodle dish and nodded along with whatever his gregarious coworker said (the kids loved Boyd, who worked events with Wilds and Renee where they gave out the various pieces of equipment and made sure it met the kids’ needs and everything). Andrew noticed how Josten seemed to keep his head down, his hair falling onto his face and eyes, as if to avoid drawing attention to himself.

Yet he still drew looks, and not just because of the faded slashes on his left cheek and the burn on his right (which Andrew hadn’t found anything about, despite all of his digging), not when they failed to detract from the fact that he still was a very attractive young man.

… Andrew really needed to stop thinking things like that.

Still, he finally had an idea of what to get the guy (and if it went over the price limit a bit, who the hell cared?), and placed the order along with some more thick socks for himself and a new mug which read ‘I don’t like MORNING PEOPLE. Or mornings. Or people.’

The next couple of days he had to put up with Nicky babbling about the present he got for his secret Santa and Aaron whining about if his present for the annoying girlthing would be good enough (Andrew didn’t give a shit about either, but most especially the latter), and spent most of his time at work playing solitaire since there was so little to do now that the holiday rush was over. Friday finally came, and all he cared about was the one conference room on the second floor filled with food and the fact that they had the next week off, per Wymack’s ridiculously generous holiday package (something about spending time with loved ones and family – Andrew planned to be barricaded in his room as much as possible to avoid seeing Nicky and Aaron).

Most of the staff had shown up in horrendous holiday sweaters, Nicky included, which made Andrew want to grab some food and retreat back into his small office until it was time to leave for the day, but Wymack insisted on everyone spending some time together, the bastard. The old man wore a bright red and green sweater with the words ‘Oh Snap’ on the front and the image of a broken gingerman cookie, of all things, with Abby standing next to him with a sloth wearing a Santa’s hat on hers.

The worst part of it all? No real alcohol at the damn event. At least Renee had made the eggnog cake, so Andrew headed straight for it and cut himself a huge slice.

“I want to thank you all for another great year here at Fleet Foxes, for all the kids we made happy and the wishes we’ve fulfilled,” Wymack said as he smiled at everyone gathered in the conference room. “I couldn’t have done it without your hard work, and I look forward to another successful year.”

People cheered and clapped to that bit of trite nonsense, while Kevin glared at Andrew for eating cake through it all. Wilds was quick to take over and start calling out names so people could come and collect their gifts while everyone helped themselves to the food (Andrew remained by the cake since Renee had outdone herself on it), and Josten was one of the first few who went up to fetch his.

Andrew munched on the cake while Josten accepted the large bag and would have stepped away with it, except that Wilds made him show everyone what was inside. Clearly nervous with all of the attention, Josten pulled out the dark blue hooded sweatshirt with the saying ‘Carry On and Keep Ignoring Me’ across the front, which made him smile as he read it.

“That’s really cute,” Wilds said as she gave him a pat on the back. “You’ll look great in it, too!”

“Yes, something new for once, and not three sizes too large,” Reynolds called out from where she stood next to Renee.

Andrew had gotten it a little large, but not so much that it would swamp Josten’s lean runner’s figure. Josten gave Reynolds a bland look for her remark, but he took care to fold the gift before he put it back in the bag, and after reading the tag attached to it, he glanced around the room and gave Andrew a shy smile.

A few minutes later it was Andrew’s turn, and Wilds had a huge grin on her face when she handed him a small gift bag. Figuring that maybe Reynolds had gotten him again and it was another lump of coal inside, he opened it to find what was a small box of gourmet truffles from the one chocolate store downtown which he tended to patronize on a regular basis.

The only thing more surprising about the contents was the name on the bag’s tag, which informed him that his secret Santa for the year was one Neil Josten.

He walked away while Wilds was still talking about something, over to where Josten and Abby seemed to be discussing whatever dish Bee had brought to the potluck. Abby smiled at him as he drew near and nodded in greeting. “Have you tried Betsy’s new casserole yet? It’s pretty good.”

Andrew glanced at what looked to be some sort of cheesy potatoes and shook his head. “Not yet.” He held up the small gift bag while he gazed at Neil Josten. “Who told you?”

Neil set aside the small plate of food he held in his left hand and smiled, the expression slight but evident with that full bottom lip of his. “Well, everyone here talks about how much you like sweets, so a few people told me about that one shop.” The smile faded as he nodded over to Renee, who had her right arm wrapped around Reynolds. “Renee gave me ideas about some flavors in particular, though.”

Andrew had to wonder just how much ‘chance’ had to play in the two of them ending up as each other’s secret Santa that year. “You probably spent too much,” he argued since he knew that those truffles weren’t cheap.

“And you didn’t?” Neil nodded to the large bag near his feet. “That’s a nice sweatshirt. Thank you.”

Abby glanced at the two of them before murmuring something and walking away. Meanwhile, Andrew gave the new guy a flat look and clicked his tongue. “I was doing everyone here a favor. It’s time you showed up in something decent for once.”

“Ah, well… I guess I still appreciate it.” Neil’s expression was a little wistful as he swiped his right hand down the front of his worn grey sweatshirt.

“I know Wymack pays a decent salary, so why don’t you buy some new ones?” Andrew knew more than that, actually, considering the access he had.

Neil shrugged. “Old habit, I guess.” His pale blue eyes narrowed as he looked over Andrew. “Why do you always wear black?”

“Old habit, I guess,” Andrew shot back, and told himself that he didn’t feel anything when Josten’s smile strengthened at the retort.

“Hmm… so… how about this? It’s a new year, so if I show up in something new, you show up in something not black?” Neil offered with a slight tilt of his head. “A resolution for us both?”

Andrew considered that for a moment, about seeing Neil in something other than the baggy clothes he always seemed to wear. “It has to be something other than what I got you today.” Neil hesitated for a moment before nodding in agreement. “And I get to pick it out.”

Those blue eyes went wide and for a moment Andrew thought Neil would say ‘no’… but Neil looked him up and down again before he began to fuss with the hem of his grey shirt. “Uhm, okay? I guess you’ll just bring it to work and-“

“We’ll go shopping together.” Andrew told himself that it would get him out of the house and away from his brother and cousin and their ‘respective others’, not that he was trying to spend time with a cute coworker and… it was nothing. Nothing.

Just like it meant nothing when Neil peered at him through those overlong bangs with his big blue eyes then stuttered out a yes. They exchanged phone numbers and agreed to meet up before New Year’s Eve, then Andrew watched Neil all but stumble over to Matt, who took to grinning while the much shorter young man talked while motioning about with his hands.

Renee waltzed all over a couple of minutes later with a large plate of her double chocolate cheesecake and a pleased smile on her face. “I told you that you had a lot in common.”

“I’m just doing everyone a favor and preventing an eyesore at the office.” Andrew was determined to stick with that story.

“I’m sure everyone will greatly appreciate it, whatever it is you’re doing,” Renee agreed as he snatched away the dessert. “That blue will go very well with his eyes.”

“It was the only color available,” Andrew said. Well, the only acceptable color available.

“Hmm.” He hadn’t thought it possible, but her smile grew even brighter. “Merry Christmas, Andrew. I wish you all the peace and happiness possible for the new year, which you truly deserve.”

“Yeah, well, it’s too late to wish you anything good, Reynolds already has her claws sunk in you,” he told her, which made her laugh as she walked away.

Besides, Andrew didn’t believe in things like nice wishes or holiday spirit or ‘goodwill to mankind’, not after everything that had happened to him as a child. He was responsible for his own happiness and future from now on, and that wasn’t going to change any time soon.

That didn’t mean he couldn’t wait to see what role a certain quiet, mysterious redhead played in that future, though, right?

*******