For the prompts - 16 and/or 23 and/or 19? (Andreil, of course)
you are in luck my friend because i'm sick of college apps so i'll just write a bit of all three !
16: "kissing knuckles"
23: "a hug that some might consider as ~too long~"
19: "peppering their face in kisses"
~
16.
So it turns out that punching a tree hurts a lot.
Neil would argue that it was worth it. Andrew seemed to disagree.
"Why," Andrew said flatly, inspecting Neil's split knuckles and glaring at him.
Neil considered — not lying, just... obscuring the truth — for a moment, but figured Andrew would see through it right away. "Technically, I did it for you."
"I do not recall ever asking you to punch a tree."
Neil huffed. "Well, you didn't but someone told me to, and I had to do it for you."
Andrew blinked slowly. "What."
Neil ran over the day's events. Honestly, it had started off pretty normal. He was walking back from a class, eager to see Andrew again, when he spotted a ball of white hiding in the arms of a student passing by it.
After staring at it for a few moments, he ran over (to a stranger!) and promptly asked if he could take a picture for his boyfriend.
The girl — Mara, she informed him — said sure, as long as he punched a tree.
Apparently, Neil explained to an increasingly annoyed Andrew, she was a Psych major doing a project on how far people were willing to go in order to act on their natural emotional response to cute animals. And of course, Neil wanted to show the furball to Andrew.
So he punched a tree. Which hurt.
"I'm fine though," Neil concluded. "I mean, it stings a bit and there's scratches everywhere and I can't really bend my fingers, but I'm fine."
Andrew huffed at him. "No."
"Here," Neil said after Andrew didn't explain further, shoving his phone towards him. "Appreciate the cat."
Andrew sighed as he looked at the picture, giving him an exasperated glance. "Junkie," he muttered, bringing Neil's hand up to plant a featherlight kiss on his injured knuckles.
Neil froze and gaped. His face felt unnaturally red. His fingers were tingling, he made a very squeaky voice, and he was probably staring a bit too much at Andrew.
"142%, idiot."
~
23.
Matthew Donovan Boyd was no fool.
Neil, though? The little guy had so little experience in the normal world, he was practically an infant (no short joke intended).
He knows that Andrew (probably) actually cares about Neil, but Matt's buddy sometimes forgets that not everyone outside of the original Foxes knows this.
This is why, as Matt casually walked with some freshman (Brian? Bradley? whatever) back from the store with bags of movie night snacks, he heard the kid's sharp intake of breath.
Matt's mother-hen instinct kicks in.
"What?" he asked frantically, dropping the bags. "Did you step on something? Did you trip? Did you see someone? Did— "
"Holy shit," Benjamin said emphatically. "Are Minyard and Josten... hugging? On the roof?"
Matt squinted at the striker. "That's what you freaked out about?"
"Look!" Bartholomew waved his hand around. "They've been hugging for at least a minute by now. I thought they hated each other?"
Wondering what he had done to deserve this, Matt ran a hand through his spiky hair. He probably shouldn't out Andrew and Neil, right? "Look kid. Toxic masculinity is not a good look."
"No, of course," Brandon bobbled his head. "Toxic masculinity is the worst. So not in style."
"... right," Matt agreed skeptically. "So, you know we all got pretty close last year—"
"Because of the murder stuff."
"Yes, the murder stuff. Anyways, hugging isn't uncommon between friends!"
"True," Benedict said slowly. "But they've been hugging for so long. More than what I would expect between just friends, if you get what I mean."
Matt ignored the weird eyebrow wiggle the freshman gave him and started picking up the dropped bags again. "That's... not really any of our business," he muttered, no matter how far in agreement he was with this young child.
There were a few moments of peaceful silence before Braxton's head jerked up.
"Oh gee. Hopefully they have socks on at least."
"What?"
"That way it's not gay! If they want it to not be gay, at least. Platonic hugs are valid though. Bad toxic masculinity! But gay people are just as valid— "
Matt let out a long-suffering groan. This was going to be a long year.
~
19.
Andrew was sick of Valentine's Day.
PDA-loving couples kissing everywhere, gooey movies playing on every channel, sappy love songs being blared on repeat by Nicky during weights — there seemed to be no positives.
He had already announced to Neil weeks earlier that he had no intention of celebrating this crass holiday, a proclamation that Neil thankfully agreed to. Instead, they took the relaxed evening after practice to be exceptionally productive: Neil went to the store and bought groceries, caught up on his homework, and took notes on two whole exy games.
Andrew took a three hour nap.
By the time Andrew groggily woke up, it was nearly 2 a.m.. Kevin was God-knows-where and he padded out of the room to find Neil staring unblinkingly at a muted TV, eyes glazed.
"Josten," Andrew grumbled and kicked him in the shin. "Get up, idiot."
Neil jerked awake with an uncharacteristic groan but begrudgingly agreed to be manhandled to the bathroom and finally to the bed so they could sleep.
Infuriatingly, Neil pointed out through a yawn that sleeping was all Andrew had done that whole evening. Andrew shut him up with a kiss and promptly flopped himself halfway on Neil's body.
Hours later, Andrew's eyes fluttered open at the light shining in through a window. He blinked a few times before registering a pair of piercing blue eyes gazing at him.
Andrew hated him. "308%, dumbass," he muttered into Neil's shoulder.
"Drama queen," Neil snorted. They lay in that position for a few minutes, Andrew moments from falling asleep again, before Neil tapped him on the arm.
"Drew, yes or no?" he asked. "Just kisses, though."
Andrew hummed a yes and leaned forward with his eyes still mostly shut, expecting to feel a pair of soft lips on his.
Instead, he felt a hand slap over his face and an oddly strong kick to his gut.
"What the fu—"
His sputtering was interrupted as hard pieces of... foil? began raining down on his face. He swatted them away, ignoring Neil's snickering. Finally, Andrew grabbed hold of one and his felt an exasperated frown cross his face.
"These," he said, waving the tiny cones in front of Neil's face. "are chocolates."
"Yup," Neil agreed proudly. "They're Kisses." At Andrew's blank look, Neil explained slowly, "I just covered your face in kisses."
"I got it."
"Great."
"I thought we agreed to not celebrate Valentine's Day."
"It's February 15 now. Not Valentine's Day."
"Neil Abram Josten."
"That's my name."
"Menace. Now give me an actual kiss, junkie."
BONUS:
"So!" Kevin clapped his hands. "You all need a lot of improvement if you want to be even close to presentable for Spring Championships, and we're already behind. We will not look like flailing monkeys in front of Jerem— USC, understood? Any questions?"
Neil raised his hand.
Kevin sighed. "Yes, Neil?"
"Just one quick thing," Neil said, rummaging his hands through his pockets. "Wanna kiss?"
The Foxes whipped their heads between an innocent Neil, a gaping Kevin, and an unconcerned Andrew.
"Is this like... a threesome thing?" Nicky whispered loudly to Matt.
"Wha— Josten, what the fuck?" Kevin's intolerable screeching promptly came to a halt as Neil chucked a silver projectile through the air, squarely hitting Kevin in the nose. "What is this?!"
"A Kiss."
"What— "
"I asked if you wanted a Kiss."
"No, you asked if I want to kiss. Which— no, by the way."
"Stop hitting on Neil, Day."
"Andrew, I literally wasn't— "
"Anyway. Wanna kiss again, Kevin?"
"NEIL!"
Sometimes I literally just come on here to scroll and be an emotional gushy mess. Comfort aftg page <3
the way this is the sweetest thing ever 😭 y'all really be out here making me cry at 1 am
reporter: ...right, but what do you do with the racquet?
andrew: hit
reporter: how do you keep the ball out of the goal during games it’s incredible
andrew: racquet
pls this is so soft i cant 😭(also a lot longer than i anticipated but that's FINE 👀)
part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5, part 6, part 7, part 8
gang we got this ADORABLE art from @super-yellow-paris go give them aaaalll the love
so andrew and neil aren't too big on PDA, but after Baltimore, leaving the other is always followed by a lingering fear
neil notices how andrew always tenses a bit when neil leaves him, even if neil told him he was going somewhere beforehand
it could him going be to the mall, a restaurant, even just lectures
neil really doesn't like seeing andrew so tense but he can't figure out what's wrong
so one night on the roof, neil straight up asks "why do you always look so stressed whenever I go anywhere?"
andrew doesn't answer for a few moments, and neil assumes he's not going to get an answer but then—
"last time you left, you barely made it back. do you really expect me to trust you now?"
oh, neil realizes. oh, he's afraid i won't come back
andrew looks like he wants to drop the subject, so neil doesn't bring it up again, choosing to rant about his Intro to Stats teacher instead
but he doesn't forget. and he starts noticing how other couples leave one another
matt and dan kiss or hug, nicky and erik say "i love you," aaron and katelyn squeeze each other's hands and look into each other's eyes
it's all very... comforting. reassuring. and neil realizes that that's exactly what he needs to do. he needs to make sure that andrew doesn't forget that neil would never leave him again, not on purpose
so he thinks and thinks and thinks
(he quickly learns that paying attention in his Sports Medicine class is a lot less interesting than thinking about andrew)
neil knows that andrew wouldn't want showy affection with lingering kisses and they haven't really gotten to the "i love you" stage yet, so he needs to figure out a compromise
and then on a cloudy monday morning, the perfect solution hits him
he and matt study together almost every thursday, so 3 days later, they have a plan to head over the library to do some homework
so matt comes up to the monsters' room where neil and andrew are to tell neil that it's time to go
neil hops up from his place curled under andrew's arm on the sofa and goes around collecting his stuff — as usual
and andrew's shoulders begin coiling up with near-unnoticeable tension — as usual
this time though, instead of walking out the door directly, neil pauses in front of andrew and sets down his books on the coffee table near the sofa
and before andrew or matt can react, neil does it
he reaches over, gently cups andrew's face in his hands, and kisses him on the nose
it's feather-light and short, but andrew freezes, his face more expressive than he usually shows, eyes wide
neil gives him a small smile shit shit shit andrew's heart is beating so fast, come on andrew get a hold of yourself say something do something and then he picks up the books delicately and leaves with a gobsmacked matt
andrew doesn't really know what to do with himself and just sits there until kevin arrives 5 minutes later and asks why andrew is so red, if he's okay, does he has a fever, can he still play exy?
andrew shakes out of his stupor, stomps over to his room, and flops helplessly on his bed to be very gay
(this is how neil finds him 1.5 hours later. he tries (and fails) not to laugh. andrew gives him a bruising kiss to shut him up)
it becomes habit though. neil treating andrew like he's something precious, holding his face so reverently, kissing his nose softly
and andrew doesn't know what to do with himself. every single time
but it's okay, he thinks. because while goodbyes might sound permanent, kisses are a promise that the other will come back
i would give money to learn how andrew and kevin would react to finding out that neil's first thought upon being told that andrew was gay was that those two were dating. i just-
andrew: what a preposterous idea. i would never date someone who enjoys eating celery
kevin: and i would never date someone that tiny
andrew: day i swear to god-
okay uhh i'm probs gonna post the last part of the "andreil and goodbye kisses" series today or tomorrow (most likely tmrw) BUT if y'all have any specific prompts/things you want me to write, send me an ask and i shall try to get back to you soon :)
you can find part 1 here :) you probs need to read that to understand this one!
part 3, part 4, part 5, part 6, part 7, part 8
neil tries to kiss andrew out of sight of the other foxes, but it's not always easy
matt knows already, of course, about neil's newfound way of saying goodbye
but keeping the others away proves to be slightly... impossible
kevin catches them first
the three of them are at night practice, but andrew was refusing to participate
"this is homophobia, you can't force me to play, kevin"
"what the fu-"
anyway. so neil and kevin are practicing. they do their thing
(andrew is most definitely not staring at neil's shorts, of course not surely he has more self-control than that)
(spoiler alert: he does not, it turns out, have that much self-control)
about an hour in, kevin and neil go on a short water break because hydration
neil jogs up to the bleachers where andrew is sitting and quietly speaks to him, out of kevin's sight
kevin leans against the wall of the court, drinking water and scrolling through his East Asian Studies group chat (no Jackson, the Chinese were not "blazing it" during the Opium Crisis)
he gets so caught up in his rant that he realizes the time is now 10 minutes after their break was supposed to end
and that's certainly unusual isn't it? because neil is just as obsessed with exy as kevin is, and it's really weird that he hasn't come to tell kevin to start practice again, oh god what if something's wrong, what if kevin wasn't paying enough attention and something bad happened shit shit SHIT
so kevin runs over to the bleachers where he remembers andrew and neil usually sit and finds... them in a very heated make-out session
and yes, kevin can admit that he feels some relief that everything's okay. it's mostly just annoyance though. what did he ever do to be cursed to see this much PDA from his roommates?
"ahem. neil. josten. get off of andrew's lap right now, we're supposed to be practicing"
neil quickly twists around at kevin's voice, nearly toppling off of andrew. he regards kevin with a sheepish look
"ah right yes i just got a bit, um, distracted"
"evidently"
so kevin thinks neil will go about disentangling himself and starts to turn away
but of course, neil lives to surprise him
instead of getting off of andrew immediately he leans in once more
kevin is resigning himself to have to physically break the two apart at this point
but instead of going in for another long kiss, neil brushes his lips on andrew's nose and gives him a softer smile than kevin is used to seeing on the striker's face
kevin cannot believe his eyes
but the pink on andrew's cheeks is certainly real. so he couldn't have imagined that
quite frankly, kevin doesn't think he has the brain capacity to come with something like that in the first place
but he doesn't say anything. yet. he and neil practice as usual, and after some cool-down stretches and a quick shower, andrew drives the three of them back to the tower
andrew shoves neil into the their room and emerges again outside to where kevin is waiting
"spit it out day, why are you acting weird?"
"nothing really. you're just... a lot softer these days. with neil at least"
"what, do you want me to start kissing you too? i thought it was easier to remain heterosexual"
kevin rolls his eyes at this
"shut up. ugh. i guess i'm just glad he's making you a bit happier"
andrew gives him an appraising look (it's not as intense as he thinks it is considering the height different but kevin decides not to bring that up)
"and if i told you i'm never happy? that i may never be happy?"
kevin shrugs. "then i'll be glad that he's helping you feel safe enough to tell me that"
andrew is quiet for a moment. then—
"don't go around giving josten all the credit for that. he already has a big enough ego"
andrew turns on his heel and walks into the bedroom, leaving kevin to realize what andrew just implied
kevin lets himself smile for a moment. no matter what he says, he really is happy for his friends. even if what he saw today was horribly sappy
he goes to bed with the knowledge that andrew and neil are in good hands with each other
(but really, he's already drafting plans on banning PDA in the court because he desperately does not want to walk in on neil and andrew again)
part 1, part 2 <3 ||| part 4, part 5, part 6, part 7, part 8
contrary to popular belief, nicky is actually a relatively observant guy, especially when it comes to his cousins
andrew is a bit more closed off than aaron, but even before nicky found out about andrew and neil, he noticed that andrew was a bit... lighter. happier, almost
so it comes as no surprise that he would be the next one to catch neil and andrew
the cousins, kevin, and neil all head over to Columbia one weekend after a stressful few weeks at school
and it's nice. relaxing. minimal chaos occurs
(ok sure, nicky realized that he forgot about a Marketing project and maybe kevin kept muttering about a "PDA draft" of some sort and yes, aaron nearly flushed his anatomy flashcards down the toilet but that's beside the point)
the five of them had originally planned to come back to PSU on sunday morning so everyone could catch up on their work
but kevin and aaron had gotten weirdly competitive over dance dance revolution the previous night
so everyone was severely lacking in the sleep department
(there was a collective decision to forget about school and instead stay in bed until 1 pm)
nicky ends up waking up around noon though, feeling more rested than usual
and of course, being the oldest person there, nicky decides to check in on everyone, make sure all his "children" were doing okay
he peeps into aaron's room. he finds aaron half off the bed and goes in to quietly fix his cousin's blanket
he peeps into kevin's room. he finds kevin sleeping perfectly straight and wrinkles his nose at the sheer strangeness of sleeping like a literal rod
he peeps into andreil's room. he find them... not there?
now, for all of nicky's good qualities, it cannot be said that he's always the most rational person
so he races over to aaron's room, ready to break down the door screaming that his favorite couple has gone missing
just as he's about to fling open the bedroom door, he hears a quiet laugh coming from downstairs
he freezes
"right. there's another half to the house. i remembered that"
nicky quietly drops his hand and moves away from aaron's room, tiptoeing down the stairs
he moves around the house, unable to find the source of the laugh until he finally reaches the kitchen
there, he finds andrew sitting atop the counter, his legs wrapped around neil, their noses nearly touching
nicky can't see neil's face, but he does notice neil playing with his and andrew's hands, occasionally bringing them up to press a kiss to andrew's knuckles in the middle of conversation
andrew says something quietly to neil, causing him to laugh again and lean up to kiss andrew
(it does not escape nicky's notice that this is the first time andrew has been taller than neil, but really, the adorableness of his two stabby children takes greater precedence over that)
nicky wants to keep looking, wants the reassurance that his cousin is safe and happy and loved
but he also knows that andrew is a private person and nicky should respect his wishes
nicky trusts his cousin. really, he does. it's just— andrew has been through so much, and getting like 5 more seconds of confirmation that andrew's doing okay wouldn't hurt anyone, right?
the beeping of the coffee pot jerks nicky out from his thoughts
he decides to leave, that andreil will be going fine and strong even without his intervention
but in the few seconds it takes to make his decision, something so adorable happens that nicky's poor heart stops functioning for a moment
andrew pouts — pouts! — and tightens his grip on neil, not uncrossing his legs
neil rolls his eyes and brings his hands up to andrew’s face, caressing his cheeks
neil kisses andrew on the nose
andrew hums and begrudgingly lets go of neil
nicky is internally hyperventilating
he’s frozen to the spot as neil pours the coffee into mugs and brings them back to the counter
andrew takes his mug and promptly wraps his legs around neil’s waist again, burying a hand in neil’s hair
he runs a hand through it slowly, bringing it down until his hand is resting on the back of neil’s neck, their foreheads nearly touching
nicky suddenly turns away, feeling raw and surprised by the amount of intimacy he just saw
he lets out a breath. they’ll be okay. andrew’s going to be okay.
he goes back up to his room and lies in his bed, mind running a million miles an hour
after a few seconds of staring up at the ceiling, he turns over, burying his face in his pillow, and screams a muffled proclamation that andreil is the cutest ship to have ever sailed
(a few hours later when they’re on the road back to PSU, aaron turns and asks nicky why he heard screaming coming from his room. nicky shrugs.
“i was just really hoping that the titanic situation doesn’t occur again. wouldn’t want my favorite ship to sink, you know?”)
neil: hoards bananas, oranges, apples, blueberries — basically every fruit imaginable
nicky: see?? i told you he was a bit fruity
imagine if andrew minyard was a flannel gay. the sheer power of that man i-
hi! i’m that ttyl blog — it’s a side blog and i would rather keep it separate from my main, hence the anonymity ^^;
i love your andreil soft kisses series!! god they’re so soft and idk your characterisation feels right. i’ve read a lot of hcs that just don’t get andrew’s soft side right, but i think you do! so so cute
fam 😭 you have no idea how happy this makes me i spent so long overthinking andrew’s characterization but i’m glad i could make you smile friend 💙
she/her, perpetually sleepy, coffee lover ~ currently an andrew minyard stan account ~
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