andrew and neil are cuddled on the couch in the dorm room. andrew would say it was because neil was coming down sick, and he wanted to keep him warm so he could “heal faster” but not even Andrew could convince anybody that were really true.
Not when andrew was sat criss crossed in the middle of the couch, supporting Neils entire sleeping body weight in his lap. Neils bottom rested on his ankles, his side on his torso, and his right cheek squished against andrews collarbones.Neils entire fluffy blanket that nicky bought him, completely engulfing his sleeping form. Covering his socked feet, and andrew’s sweatshirt and sweatpants because “Neils are the running kind not the comfortable kind.” The only thing of neil exposed being his head and messy auburn hair, resting on andrew’s chest. Of course Neil being neil, did not want to be asleep right now. He wanted to bust his ass on the court with kevin and ruin his already weakened state because “i outran the mafia at age 9 I can work through a cold.”
Andrew had talked him into sitting with him, and in exchange neil could go to the court if he felt better in an hour. He begrudgingly sat beside andrew in a huff, murmuring “you better get your car keys out” only for him to be past out on andrew’s shoulder 5 minutes later.
Andrew looked down at him and shook his head murmuring “junkie” under his breath before he combed a careful hand through Neils long hair.They sat like that for almost 20 minutes before Neil began to cough in his sleep against Andrew’s shoulder. Andrew immediately pulled his face up , a hand around the side of his head, and let Neil choke on rough coughs into the air beside him. “they’re you go” he whispered. “how does that feel dummy?” At that Nicky ventured into the room (the only roommate andrew actually liked at this moment) the sound of Neils coughing interesting him. Nicky tilted his head. “He sick?” he asked. andrew did not reply, he was only looking at neil, who was still coughing throatily. When Neil began to wheeze, the loud sound finally seemed to wake him up.
His eyes fluttered open for half a second, before scrunching up again. He whined like a child, and let out a shutter. Before Andrew could think, Neil was reaching out to him,wobbly trying to crawl into his lap. Andrew did not hesitate. He grabbed neil under the armpits and yanked him into an upright position, sideways in Andrew lap. andrew looked to his side and saw the white blanket, he pulled it off the floor and draped it across neil. Precariously, tucking every inch of Neil under the warm cotton. Only when Andrew settled again, Did Neil fall back to sleep, a peaceful look on his face and the sound of a contented sigh leaving his lips. Andrew stared at Neil for a moment, enjoying to rush of warmth that flowed unwilling through his body, making him lean forwards in a moment of weakness and pull Neils black hood up over his head, and then kissing the fabric there. He wrapped both of his arms around Neils arms interlocking his fingers on Neils forearm
He closed his eyes and squeezed once, and then finally looked up to Nicky where he was still hovering in the entryway. “Call Kevin and tell him to go and buy medicine for Neil.”Nicky went wide eyed at the direction. He nodded tightly, looking as though he was about to smile, probably thinking something he knew andrew would kill him for if he said allowed. Nicky picked his phone from his pocket and hit a few buttons before the phone began to ring and he pressed it to his ear.
After a couple of rings, Andrew heard fuzzy words through the speaker. Nicky told Kevin he needed him to drive to the store and get medicine for neil,only for the voice on the other end to become louder and faster. “He’s SICK kevin. Ever heard of a person not being at 100% at all times?”… “I don’t know. He’s coughing a bunch and he’s all cold. Andrew’s got him swaddled like a newborn.”……. “NO KEVIN HE CANT FUCKING SIT AND TAKE NOTES ON YOUR PERFORMACE.” at that Andrew, burst with a horrible anger, and shot his hand out at nicky. “Give me the phone.”
Nicky did so without question, putting it in his hand, watching as Andrew pulled it aggressively to his ear. “he needs to work through a few drills with me. Has he thrown up or something? Cause we have trash cans here and-“ kevin was saying. Andrew wasted to time leaning his face away from Neil and snapping into the receiver. “Kevin if you don’t get into your fucking car in 3 seconds and drive to the drugstore I will never step onto that fucking court again, and I will release clips of your practices to the front of the fucking raven webpage, do you understand me?”
it was silent on the other line until Kevin whisper a frantic “fine” into the phone, and the call rang out.
Andrew breathed and handed nicky his phone back. He looked at neil again to see he was sniffling, and with a damp forehead. Andrew sighed and held around Neils head.and his torso, pulling Neil tight against him, and resting his cheek on top of his head.
when Neil coughed again, Andrew swore internally that he would murder kevin if he wasn’t here in 10 minutes. Andrew could feel that nicky was still watching them, but he found he did not care. Neil grumbled in his sleep, and andrew leaned down to tip his chin up, staring into neils flushed face for a moment. Even is sickness, he was utterly beautiful. Andrew cursed himself and leaned in to kiss neils cheek, his forehead, his eyelids, and finally his lips. Feeling the warm skin hot against his lips.They were passed the point where andrew felt like he needed to ask “yes or no” everytime he touched neil. It was an unnecessary boundary now for the most part. They know eachother better now. When andrew needs space, when neil needs to be close, When andrew needs to hold neil to just know he is okay, and when neil needs Andrew to just hold his hand when they pass a red haired man at the grocery store.Andrew swipes a thumb over neils cheeks and watched as neil smiled in his sleep, slipping a hand out to wrap around Andrews wrist and then pulling it back under the blanket. Somewhere to andrews left, he could hear the squeek of Nickys obnoxious obsession and the click of his camera. Andrew found that he did not care.
if there was a picture of them now with neil coddled in andrews lap, a smile on neils face and fingers intertwined with andrews now plastered across nickys social media’s, as fans profile picture, as matt’s phone background, and stuck to bee’s laptop. Andrew did not care.
