how andreil got together aka an excuse for another hc of my icos au:
andrew and neil have to do an undercover mission for a like a year
in like russia maybe bc they both speak russian canonically
they have to change their appearances so no one can trace them back to the Agency
andrew now has black hair and green eyes and neil has brown eyes and blond hair and no this is totally not based off hsin and boyd shhh
for the first few months they don’t really see each other bc they’re out trying to find jobs according to the bio of the profiles they were given
andrew works as a bartender and neil works at a nearby uni’s bookstore
then they start finding leads on their target
some low level drug dealer who’s been scamming a mafia boss who’s getting po’d or something and got the help of the Agency in return for some files about a janus op
one day they get the chance to track the guy down and send andrew after him
he follows the guy into some building and manages to take an employee’s key card
he’s in the middle of downloading some files to send to neil when an alarm goes off and he’s stuck in the room
of course he could just kill everyone and get out but they’re trying to be discreet
so he’s kinda just waiting in the room furiously whispering at neil to shut the security down
fortunately andrew was only like 3 or 4 floors up so he books it tf outta there
his comm busts bc he was thrown back and it fell out so there’s no way he can reach neil
there’s another explosion before he reaches the front doors and the entrance is blocked
at this point neil kinda realizes that andrew is either unconscious or unable to reach his comm so he runs to the building
he gets there about 10 minutes after the second explosion and there are a bunch of people scattering and ambulances coming
and he doesn’t see andrew at all
and he’s thinking fuck what if andrew didn’t make what if i was too late to get him out
all he can think is that andrew lived through so much just to die like this and it’s so unfair
and then a hand grabs his shoulder and turns him
and neil’s first thought is to punch whoever it is but then he sees andrew’s face and he’s just so relieved
andrew’s body is littered with bruises and scratches and neil’s pretty sure a piece of glass cut his side pretty deep but they decide to go back to the shared apartment they’re staying in
and neil is helping andrew with his injuries and at the same time he’s also confused as to why he always feels so weird around andrew when it’s never happened around anyone else before
and he finally figures out that he’d been scared that andrew might have been dead
which ?? didn’t make sense to neil because he never really seemed to care about andrew’s near death experiences on their previous missions
anyways flash forward to a few months later when the mission is winding down and they’ve gathered all they can even with the loss of the files bc of the explosions
but they’re just sitting in their apartment one day watching tv or something an exy game probably
and andrew shifts so he’s turned towards neil
and he reaches out and lets a hand hover over neil’s cheek and asks “yes or no”
neil of course says yes even though he doesn’t know exactly what he’s saying yes to
and andrew starts leaning in slowly
and neil finally gets it and his eyes go wide at first before he closes them and bridges the gap between them
they just sit there for a few moments with their eyes closed and lips touching
then andrew pulls back and continues watching the tv
they don’t speak about the kiss until after they get back to the Agency but for the time being both are content with just leaning against each other
