Chapter Text
Andrew dodged another one of Renee’s punches, aiming a kick towards her shins that she just managed to jump away from. They’d been sparring for almost an hour now, taking breaks between rounds but barely saying a word in-between. This was how most of their matches went: one would text the other, they’d meet up, beat the shit out of each other, and then maybe talk about what was going on.
Tuesday had been fucking with Andrew’s head as he replayed his conversation the night before over and over again, unable to stop. For some reason, he hadn’t texted Nicky back explaining the truth, and how nobody but himself would be showing up on Sunday. No, instead he’d been consumed with trying to figure out what to do about everything before it somehow got more out of hand.
Sparring was an outlet for his frustration, even if Renee was doing far more ass-kicking than Andrew was. He knew his distracted thoughts helped play into his sloppiness, but knowing that didn’t help his performance. At least Renee was kind enough to pull her punches just a bit, which meant the bruises he’d have later wouldn’t hurt as badly.
After dodging one of Andrew’s punches, she hopped backwards and lowered her guard, wordlessly stopping the round. Andrew lowered his own guard, trying to keep breathing through his nose no matter how hard it was. He followed Renee to the wall and sat down against it, watching as she unwrapped the wraps around her hands. She didn’t say anything, so Andrew focused on his breathing, wondering if she would. Sometimes she did.
“I could’ve pinned or knocked you out twenty different times,” she said, rolling the wraps up slowly. “At least.”
Andrew hummed in response, leaning his head against the wall and closing his eyes. He’d been off his game enough that she was pointing it out, her way of voicing her concern. She would never go easy on him, but at least she was considerate enough not to pin or knock him out.
“Want to talk?” she asked.
Taking in one last slow breath, Andrew started to explain. He went over the details of the phone call the night before and the root of his problem: he didn’t have anyone to bring on Sunday. Well, technically Nicky had assumed there was someone to come at all. Andrew hadn’t said that he was dating anyone.
Then again, he hadn’t argued against it, either.
“Do you want to bring someone?” Renee asked.
The automatic answer was ‘no’, but Andrew took a moment to think about it. Honestly, it would just be easier at this point if he had someone he could bring along, because at least that would stop his family from annoying him with phone calls and texts and everything else. So, did Andrew want to bring someone? No, not at all. But did he want to, in that he wanted to be left alone about everything? Yes.
He didn’t like saying he was unsure about something, so Andrew didn’t say anything at all. Renee seemed to understand anyways - she usually seemed to. “What if you found someone to play along with you?” she asked, pushing to her feet. “Is there someone who would?”
No, there wasn’t. Andrew's silence answered her question.
“I can’t understand what it’s like for you,” Renee said, looking serious and sincere, “but I am sorry. You should either tell them the truth or find someone to go with. I’m sure there’s people who would do it if you paid them.”
Well, as if the situation couldn’t get any sadder.
“I’m not paying anyone to date me,” Andrew said. But now that she had put the idea in his head…no, no, that was way closer to being a sugar daddy than he was comfortable with.
“Hm, too bad we’re both out to your family,” Renee said through a smile. She got up and stretched her arms over her head. “I would’ve gone with you.”
“A terrible idea,” Andrew mumbled, only because it was an amazing idea and he couldn’t believe he didn’t think about this three years ago, before Renee had a girlfriend and before he suddenly came out to his family by casually mentioning ‘Alex’.
The two stopped talking, taking some time to stretch and recover after their sparring session. After they cleaned the place up they went their separate ways, Andrew heading to his car and driving it back to his apartment. It was already dark despite it only being six at night, and the air had a biting chill to it that made Andrew pull his coat closer to his body. At least there wasn’t snow.
His drive back didn’t take long, and he was bombarded by starving cats the moment he walked through the door. Sir kept getting in front of Andrew’s feet as he walked, and he nearly dropped his gym bag on King, but both cats made it to the cabinet where their food was fully intact and meowing pitifully. They both tried to steal a bite of food before Andrew could finish portioning it into their food bowls, resulting in being pushed away. But the two sat adorably on the floor when their food was finally ready, immediately digging in when the bowls were placed before them.
Andrew had first gotten the cats because his therapist recommended it following graduation. It was the first time he’d been living alone ever, thanks to a sports scholarship that got him through his degree and also got him Kevin as a roommate for five years. Going from living in a small dorm room to having an entire apartment to himself wasn’t as jarring as he thought it would be, but the silence only amplified the absence of any life other than himself. He’d gone to the shelter with the intention of getting one, but he couldn’t find it in him to separate the two cats he’d met there.
“They’re from two separate litters,” the shelter employee had explained, “but we found them both alone. They’ve been inseparable since we introduced them to each other.”
He knew what that was like. He took them both.
Before college, Andrew always had Aaron. The both of them were put in the foster system after being born, and had been lucky enough to stick together through a few families until they got to Bee. She’d been in her mid thirties, was a counselor, and despite preparing a room for each twin hadn’t batted an eye when they chose to share a room instead. They always shared a room, though eventually did move to their own spaces in high-school.
There was always Aaron, and then Bee, and then Nicky. Their cousin happened to overhear something about his aunt Tilda putting her children up for adoption and managed to find them. The reunion had been nothing but messy, especially when Nicky’s parents came into the situation, but Bee had long since legally adopted the twins and Tilda was six feet under by then. The twins held onto Nicky once they had him, even when he went away to Germany and found a boyfriend and hoped to settle down there one day.
Erik decided to come to America to complete his Masters degree. Once he he did, he and Nicky had plans to move permanently to Germany. Aaron had met Katelyn, a former cheerleader sharing most of his general classes, and then went on to marry her before he finished med school. The two now had twins of their own, who sent a letter once a month ever since they learned how the mail worked.
Andrew supposed that he could understand his family’s worries when he compared himself to them. But he never felt lonely, not with the cats or his family just a call away. Not with Sunday dinners or meeting Kevin every morning for a workout. Not with Renee to talk to, or Neil to look forward to seeing in the morning. He was alone, but never felt it.
Blinking a few times to stop thinking so hard about it, Andrew focused on finishing browning the meat for his burrito and pushing King away from the stove. It sizzled lightly as it cooked, and Andrew paused his stirring when his phone lit up on the counter with an incoming text from Bee.
Sorry I’ll miss Sunday. Don’t let the boys get to you too much.
If there is someone to meet, I’d be happy to when I get back.
Thinking of you.
Somewhere deep down, Andrew wondered if she was secretly hoping that there was someone. He was no closer to having a solution to that, though. He quickly sent her something back.
Focus on packing
She’d know he didn’t mean the words as harshly as they might’ve come across. She always knew, and she didn’t send anything back, either. That night, Andrew opened up Nicky’s contact four times and even started drafting a ‘I don’t actually have someone to bring on Sunday’ message, but something held him back. He didn’t send it.
~*~
When Andrew woke up the next morning, he wasn’t any closer to finding a solution.
He went through the motions of his routine, getting up to his alarm and feeding the cats. He grabbed his gym bag and went to workout, hoping that power lifting would get his mind off of the issue at hand. It didn’t, as Kevin so graciously pointed out.
“Don’t lift if you’re distracted,” he scolded. “Do some cardio. Run on the treadmill if you have to.”
Andrew would never run on the treadmill if he could help it, so he brushed off what Kevin said and poured his frustration into the last of the squats he did that day. He left the gym earlier than usual, glad that he could at least look forward to a muffin at Flour Pot.
Unlike most other times Andrew showed up, Neil was already standing behind the counter, putting fresh scones in the display case. He looked up when Andrew walked through the door, the little bell jingling lightly enough to announce his arrival. “You’re here early,” Neil said, looking back at what he was doing. “Did Kevin annoy you?”
Maybe it was a testament to how annoying Kevin could be that Neil remembered who he was, because Andrew didn’t usually talk about other people he knew, even his family. Neil was the exception to that, over the year learning what Andrew’s job was, that he had a brother, and that he had two cats. At one point, Andrew had grumbled something about Kevin being irritating about his workout plan, and that he’d really benefit from doing some cardio from time to time. Neil had never mentioned it, but apparently he remembered that moment to make a comment like this.
“Yes,” Andrew said truthfully, because Kevin had, however unintentionally it might’ve been. It had only added to his frustration over this Sunday, and how painfully obvious it was becoming that he’d better come clean sooner rather than later. He should’ve just sent that text last night.
“Well, maybe chocolate will make the pain go away,” Neil said with a smile that was a bit too wide. “You should get more sleep. Your eye bags are really dark.”
The bag Andrew’s daily muffin was placed in crinkled loudly in the silence of the store. Andrew walked up to the counter and tiredly pulled out his wallet, wondering just how bad he looked. He hadn’t bothered to check before leaving his apartment that morning, but his sleep schedule had only been getting worse with each day that passed this week thanks to -
Andrew stopped mid-way through pulling out his credit card. Maybe it was the sleep deprivation, but something about Neil made him look like he was shining, like he was the answer Andrew had been searching for this whole time. Which was strange, because all the lighting in the store had a warm glow to them and Neil was in all-black that day, but there he was. Certainly an…option.
“ You should either tell them the truth or find someone to go with. I’m sure there’s people who would do it if you paid them.”
“Hm, too bad we’re both out to your family. I would’ve gone with you.”
Well, Neil wasn’t as familiar to Andrew as someone like Renee was, but they knew each other in the general sense. He knew more about Neil than Kevin, at least, and Neil was far more pleasant to be around in the first place. Andrew knew he wasn’t interested in a romantic relationship, but the thought of taking Neil to dinner on Sunday didn’t make him uncomfortable. Besides, what did he have to lose by asking?
As Neil put his muffin on the counter and typed into the register, Andrew asked, “Do you date?”
“No,” was Neil’s immediate answer. He tilted his head, eyes watching Andrew, almost like he was trying to stare right through him. “Are you asking?”
“Not exactly.” Andrew was very glad nobody came to the bakery this early in the morning. He leaned on the counter, quieting his voice as though anyone but Neil would be around to hear him. “My family has been on me for not being in a relationship, so I made one up.”
“You made…?” Neil asked, frowning like he didn’t understand.
“I’ve tried explaining I don’t see anyone that way,” Andrew pushed out, looking down at his hands. “I never have. They don’t get it, so I thought it would be easier to make something up, only now they want proof. They want to meet someone.” Andrew looked up again, straight into Neil’s eyes. “So, would you be my fake-date?”
Neil didn’t answer right away, and he was clearly thinking. His eyebrows furrowed just slightly and his jaw tensed, but he didn’t say ‘no’. That was further than Andrew thought he would get. “You’ve never felt that way for anyone?” Neil finally asked.
“Never,” Andrew confirmed.
“And telling them that didn’t change anything?”
“Don’t think they believe me,” Andrew admitted.
“Yeah, I’ll do it,” Neil said, shrugging as though he hadn’t been intensely thinking about it for thirty seconds. “I’m the same way. My friends don’t really get it, either.”
Andrew hummed once, nodding in understanding. No, this was even more perfect - if they both don’t feel anything romantically for anyone, then there would be no complications. They’d be able to do this easily. “What do you want in exchange?”
“Exchange?” Neil asked. The little frown came back as he thought. “Dinner. Every night. I’m not a great cook and I forget to have it, sometimes.”
That was it? Andrew almost asked that, but instead he forced himself to nod. He was a good cook, he liked cooking. He could make Neil anything he wanted. It couldn’t be an even deal, but he wasn’t going to question it. Holding out a hand to shake, Neil glanced at it once before reaching out, their hands barely brushing for a second as they shook on it. Neil pulled back immediately and then grabbed a bit of receipt paper, writing on it.
“Here. My number.” Neil offered that tiny smile. “You can tell me all about your ex over dinner. I’ll be there around six.”
Andrew nodded, slipping the receipt paper in his pocket and writing down his address for Neil on another piece. After that, he finished paying for his muffin and left after offering a two-fingered salute.
It didn’t register that he’d successfully gotten Neil’s number until he got back to his apartment.