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jtl-fics · 11 months

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Fluent Freshman - Part 14

When Andrew came out of his bedroom to grab a second Allen wrench (he’s working on the frame of the dresser while Neil builds the drawers) he finds quite a few things to irritate him.

1st was the sound of his brother and his cousin arguing loudly. Andrew had been pretty clear that they needed to be quiet that morning but following Andrew’s clearly given guidelines was NEVER either of their strong suits.

2nd was the fact that there was a smell in the air that Andrew was unsure of. It wasn’t a bad smell. It didn’t smell like Nicky had left some component of the breakfast FF had bought to burn. Andrew sniffed the air again and…..lavender? It wasn’t really a smell that existed in the house of three college student boys.

3rd and most irritating was the fact that FF was not where Andrew had left him four hours ago on the couch. Again, Andrew had been pretty clear to both Nicky and Aaron that FF was to be left ALONE. FF hadn’t been able to go to sleep until Andrew had promised that nothing would happen to him while he slept.

He moves towards the kitchen table where Nicky and Aaron are eating some of the sour patch kids that FF had brought back as they argued, “He can’t be serious that Kate and I gross him out more than Andrew and Neil! I’ve seen how fast he walks away when they start getting gross.” He hears Aaron say.

“Aaron I have watched Smithy climb out a second story window because you and Katelyn started making out and he’d have to walk closer to you to go out the door.” Nicky returns. “I think you made him mad when you implied he was grossed out by Andrew and Neil. This is why I get spoon privileges and maybe, if Smithy is feeling forgiving, you can swipe your finger around the bowl.” he points at Aaron.

Andrew hangs back just out of sight.

He knows that FF does not like to be subjected to seeing PDA. A part of him feels…better at the confirmation that it really isn’t because him and Neil are both men. FF has seen them hold hands, kiss chastely, and lean on one another and been unbothered by that it was only when it started getting a little heated that they’d realize that FF had left. FF never makes a scene about it, never scoffs in disgust or squeals in delight he just seems to see where it’s going and will leave if he doesn’t want to see it.

It’s nice.

“Well he’s probably mad at you for waking him up. Andrew said to leave him alone.” Aaron returns.

“He needs breakfast! He also has to take his ulcer meds at the same time so he had to wake up and eat something. He can go back to sleep after!” Nicky defends.

Andrew scowls. Ok. Nicky could live if that was the reason he woke FF up. Still, why the hell is FF in the kitchen and more importantly what bowl and spoon are Aaron and Nicky arguing over?

Andrew tunes his family’s argument out and heads to the kitchen to find FF putting a baking dish into their oven while incense burned on the counter (Andrew now realizes that was the thin box that had been in with the rest of the candy)

He sees the bowl and spoon that Nicky had mentioned and more importantly he can see the chocolate brownie batter on them. Andrew walks over to the bowl and picks it up. He wipes his finger along the inside and…

He closes his eyes for a moment to savor the flavor of the batter. He leans against the counter and his hand brushes against….a five hour energy bottle. Andrew knows he had thrown out the two he had found in FF’s bags before (Ulcer + exhaustion + FF = bad he didn’t need to be a math major like Neil to understand that math.)

Andrew shoves the bottle in his sweatshirt pocket as FF turns around and stares at him passively. FF’s eyebrow’s raise slightly but there’s no other reaction. Andrew considers that, perhaps, FF had wanted to lick the bowl.

He offers the spoon instead knowing it is the better prize but FF is the one who bought the ingredients and mixed together this amazing batter, so he gets first dibs.

“That wouldn’t be good for my stomach.” He declines and Andrew wonders if FF had taken his meds yet or, in his tired state, he’s forgotten to.

“When did you wake up?” Andrew asks.

“Hour ago.”

He should go back to sleep after he takes his meds but also knows that FF probably won’t go to sleep until the brownies are done.

“I’ll make the pie tomorrow.” FF says and Andrew blinks out of his thoughts.

Andrew decides to go get FF’s meds for him. He’ll make it clear to FF later that the guy doesn’t HAVE to keep making amazing desserts as a thanks for being invited to Columbia. If FF just so happens to WANT to keep making amazing desserts then Andrew isn’t going to be the person that stops him.

He shoves the spoon in his mouth and heads out to go find Smith’s bag and his meds.

Aaron and Nicky see him and both let out outraged noises as their quarry had been stolen.

Andrew ignores them and gets to the bag by the couch.

Who the fuck just has 14 bottles of five hour energy sitting in their bag??

***

When Andrew handed FF his ulcer meds he could admit to feeling grateful even if Andrew had obviously gone through his bag to grab it. He swallows it dry because Andrew is standing by the sink and he knows that until Andrew eats a brownie he is not in a position to ask for favors big or small.

(He learned his lesson from that one time with Captain Neil. If he wants to do anything related to Russian he has to be in the safety of his lofted bed under the cover of night and the cover of his…covers while he reads via flashlight. He will not be caught so flat footed again! These are all necessary precautions!)

Andrew seems to very much want for FF to be in prime condition for the hunt. Part of him wonders if he’ll be released amongst other game animals and FF had never felt more jealous of the turkey who got pardoned by the president the day before. Why does that stupid bird get all the luck? Where’s his presidential pardon?

That grateful feeling evaporates into a dust cloud as Andrew lifts a plastic bag, “Stop drinking these.” Andrew hisses, “They’re going to make your ulcer worse.” He points at FF.

“I need them.” He says.

“For what?”

“Five hours of energy at a time.”

“Pull out the brownies and go back to sleep Smith.”

“They still have 10 minutes.”

“Then I’ll pull them out in 10 minutes.”

“There’s a final step that I have to do once they’re fresh out of the oven.”

“What is it.”

“Smith Family Baking secret. I don’t make the rules.” FF gestures towards where the incense continues to burn, “Great Gran’s recipe and methods cannot be shared with non-blood relatives. My mom wasn’t even let in on the secret.”

Thank god

Andrew glowers at him.

Oh God

“It’ll be just 20 more minutes.”

Andrew’s eyes narrow at him.

“They’ll be worth it.” He pleads.

Andrew rolls his eyes.

“Go to sleep when they’re done. Take Nicky’s room.” Andrew commands.

“Take Nicky’s what?” Nicky leans into the kitchen.

“Smith is going to go back to sleep on your bed.”

“Yeah you look like shit Smithy. Don’t worry, unlike Neil and Andrew’s bed mine is all safe.”

Nicky zips out of the kitchen with Andrew hot on his heels. Nicky really is a good friend.

He performs the sacred rites necessary upon the brownies when they come out of the oven and takes a small corner piece to taste test and -

He closes his eyes and clasps his hands together in prayer.

‘Thank you Great Gran.’ He prays earnestly.

‘Remember to wash behind your ears’ he thinks he hears a whisper of grandmotherly advice in return.

That was probably normal.

He extinguishes the incense.

He cuts up the brownies, finds a decently sized plate, and sets the brownies out on the counter before he starts to work on doing the dishes. Yeah Yeah he could have been cleaning while he waited for the brownies to cook! That’s what you always do right? Clean as you go?

Well have you ever been baking brownies that might be the difference between life and death? No? Well then FF is just going to have to stop you right there because he had the oven light on and his eyes GLUED to these fudgey squares.

Who knows what the cousins’ oven would do? He doesn’t know this oven. He and this oven are taking their first whirl together and it could decide to turn on him at any time. They don’t have the brotherhood that he and the oven at his Gran’s house have built over the years! This oven could be one of those ones that maintain their temperature by turning on the broiler! He felt like he could never again recklessly trust an oven after he tried to make crescent rolls in the Viking Oven at his step father’s house and had gotten them back blackened by the broiler.

That oven had been the SINGLE thing he had been excited about during the kitchen remodel which means naturally it was the thing that had betrayed him.

He lets himself think of all the ways he hates the Viking brand as he finishes the dishes and puts everything back to where they belong.

He walks out of the kitchen with the platter of brownies and sets them down on the table where Aaron and Nicky are sat. “Oh my god they smell amazing.” Nicky says and immediately his hand is shooting towards the plate and picking up a corner piece.

FF valiantly resists the urge to slap his and Aaron’s hands away. He needs these to compel Andrew into letting him live.

“Oh wow, those do smell good.” He hears Captain Neil’s voice and when FF turns around Captain Neil and Andrew are both there. It is only in that moment that he realizes that he should have bought some vanilla ice cream to go with these.

Andrew’s love of ice cream was not unknown, probably even infamous. He was the man who, during the summer training, had been so possessive over the soft serve machine in the cafeteria that anyone who wanted any had to ask Captain Neil to get them a bowl or risk being threatened.

He starts towards the door. At this point Target probably isn’t even that bad, probably just some irate people who didn’t come with the rush and are mad they missed out, maybe some officers talking to witnesses on who threw cast the first Wii remote, and workers who will hate him marginally less (unless he gets the same check out person and they remember him (unlikely))

His progress is arrested by a hand grabbing his hoodie.

“Where are you going?”

“I forgot Ice Cream.” And he could get a five hour energy to slam on the way back home.

He then finds himself being pulled down an unfamiliar hallway.

Ah, the anticipation had been killing him more than the fear of his demise. His brownies had not contained the requisite amount of grandmotherly love to save him he had been relying on extract (Great Gran’s spirit guiding his hands) instead of organic (he does not have grandchildren or children for that matter)

Maybe ice cream would have been the deciding factor? He’ll never know.

He closes his eyes and lets himself be dragged. He’s too tired to fight.

A door opens, and he finds himself sat on a bed.

Weird.

“You are falling asleep standing up. Go back to sleep. I’ll leave you at Eden’s if you fall asleep in the booth.” Andrew threatens.

What.

FF knows about Eden’s.

He has heard about it from Nicky trying to get him to agree to go but he’s pretty sure it’d be like introducing an Amazon rainforest frog to the Sahara desert in terms of survivability for him.

“We’re going to Eden’s tonight?” He manages to ask.

Andrew raises an eyebrow at him but answers, “Yes.”

“I’m not really interested in clubs. I don’t drink out in public or dance.”

“Neither does Neil. I just drink. We can stay in the booth.”

“I don’t want to interrupt your time with Captain Neil.”

“It’s fine, neither of us hate spending time with you.”

“I don’t have clothes for a place like that.”

“Nicky grabbed some for you. You’re coming tonight. Go to sleep.”

With that Andrew pulls Nicky’s curtains close, shuts off the light, and closes the door.

FF, always very much like a bird when placed into a suddenly dark environment, starts to feel some of the exceptional sleepiness that he’d been pushing off through sheer manic desperation to earn another day of life.

He lays down in Nicky’s bed and is tired enough that he can ignore the sheer amount of body glitter on the sheets (does Nicky excrete it like sweat??) and starts to let himself drift off to sleep.

Eden’s might be something completely out of his wheelhouse but-

A conversation with Nicky from when he’d been trying to get FF to go comes into his mind and he sits straight up in bed as Nicky’s words roll around in his head like stale hotdogs at a gas station.

“Eden’s is cool, even though there’s some sick shit in the basement.”

Eden’s is a Secondary Location with a BASEMENT.

MASTERPOST FOR ALL PARTS OF FLUENT FRESHMAN AU

Per your requests:

@i-have-three-feelings @blep-23 @dreamerking27 @andreilsmyreligion @belodensetdust @rainbowpineapplebottle @yarn-ace @iwouldlikesometea @lily-s-world @obscureshipsandchips @booklover242 @whataboutmyfries @sahturnos @pluto-pepsi @dreamerthinker @passinhosdetartaruga @leftunknownheart @aro-manita-muscaria @hologramsaredead @Chaoticgremlinswishtheycouldbeme @tntwme @tayspots @nick-scar @crazy-fangirl2524 @blue-jos10 @stabbyfoxandrew @splishsplashyouropinionistrash @sammichly @the-broken-pen @bitchesdoweknowu @very-small-flower @ghostlyboiii @its-a-paxycab @bisexual-genderfluid-fan @cheesecookie @theoneandonlylostsock @foxsoulcourt @blueleys @adverbialstarlight @elia-nna @can-i-just-stay-in-the-corner @nikodiangel @foxandcrow-inatrenchcoat @hallucinatedjosten @satanic-foxhole-court @vexingcosmos @chalilodimun @insectsgetcooked @angry-kid-with-no-money @queer-crows @lilyndra @themugglemudperson @readertodeath @apileofpillows @mortalsbowbeforeme @hellomynameismoo @next-level-mess @youreonlylow @interstellarfig @notprocrastinatingatalltoday @percyjacksonfan3 @queenofcrazy27 @bsmr261 @ghostlyscares @spencellio @adinthedarkroom @harpymoth @sufferingjustalilbit

The requests to be added to the tag list got spread out across a few different mediums on this one so if I missed you then just ask in the replies!

As stated before if you’re up here and I spelled it right but you didn’t get a notification there might be something switched around in your settings that won’t let me tag you properly?

#Fluent Freshman AU #Andrew heads back out to try one of those brownies #Aaron and Nicky are both looking to the sky #'what the fuck did he DO to these? I would know if there was drugs in them right?' Aaron asks #'Is it straight that I want to kiss his grandma's hand?' Nicky asks #'It's his great grandma's recipe so it'll have to be her grave' - Aaron #'Fuck it. I'll dig up her grave and kiss her skeleton hand. These are divinely inspired.' - Nicky #Andrew tries one #Neil saved him two corner pieces #This is why Andrew intends to spend his life with this man #It's perfect #It's not like box brownies where it's all sugar and sweetness #it's bitter it's sweet is that a note of....spice? it's complex. It makes Andrew want to get a shovel and help Nicky desecrate a grave #He'll get in on the skeleton hand kiss #Maybe he'll take Neil and FF to the really cool speakeasy in the basement of Edens #It's quieter down there which he thinks FF would like #He doesn't have to watch out for Kevin tonight either #That's a good plan #Nicky and Aaron can dance and Andrew can show his appreciation for good baked goods to his friend #Nicky is not allowed near the Speakeasy nor is he allowed to know about it because it's suppose to be a secret #Nicky's terrible at keeping secrets!#He couldn't keep one if his or someone else's life depended on it #So Nicky thinks it's a straight swingers club down there #Which he has zero interest in #AFTG #AFTG AU #AFTG OC #AFTG shitpost #FF - Pt. 14

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alvarezforthegame · 5 years

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25 Days of Foxmas

Day One: Tree

super psyched to be posting this story!!! i love christmas and i’ve been working on this series for a few months!

you can read it here on ao3! or you can keep reading it under the cut!

Summary: Getting a tree is customary for Christmas, a long-standing tradition in most families, one that Neil never got. So Andrew brainstorms ideas with Bee and decides that Neil is getting a tree this year.

So Andrew wasn’t exactly a fan of the holidays. This had more to do with the fact that Neil had gone to the Ravens than anything else, because he felt that it was obvious that a shitty childhood would come with shitty childhood memories. He had expressed this opinion to Bee with blunt sincerity, and she had just nodded and asked if he wanted a candy cane to stir his hot chocolate with. He’d accepted the candy while he told her about how much he despised the holidays and gift giving and the adamance with which department stores pushed sales. He hated everything to do with the holidays and refused to participate.

So why was Andrew standing outside of the stadium, leaning against his car with Bee, smoking a cigarette and wrapped in a winter coat? Why was he texting Neil fervently, telling him to hurry his stupid ass up? Why did he have an extra jacket in the back seat? Why had he threatened Kevin to make Neil get off the court on time?

“Are you going to do anything with Neil?” Bee asked, her tongue swiping stray hot chocolate from the corner of her mouth. She reached forward and adjusted the little Santa figurine on her desk, aligning it with the reindeer and a moose baking cookies. “He might be interested.”

Andrew felt his brow drop into a glower, thinking about his dumb boyfriend and how he had probably never had a happy Christmas, and how he had overheard Dan and Matt planning to pool their money to buy Neil an extra pair of shoes so that he could run in the woods if they ever went back to Allison’s cabin.

“He’s never had a real Christmas,” was all Andrew said to Bee.

Because Neil was a little asshole who had never celebrated anything and dammit, Andrew hated the holidays but at least he had them. Nicky bought him gifts, and he and Aaron bitterly posed by the tree that they got every year. Even Bee made him peppermint hot chocolate after Thanksgiving ended.

Neil had never had that, Andrew knew. He had been on the run for so long, and more importantly, he had never learned to not stress about his money. Blending in didn’t cost a lot, and Kevin had felt inclined to inform him that chapstick didn’t count as a present. The problem was that Neil didn’t know how to celebrate, and he didn’t want anything because he didn’t know how to want anything. He didn’t understand that he was allowed to enjoy things, and that people wanted to buy things for him.

“Allison asked me what she should buy Neil for Christmas, but I don’t know what he wants.”

“Neil doesn’t want a lot, hm?” Bee was just asking questions to ask them - obviously Neil didn’t want a lot. He was a dumb idiot and Andrew was wondering if Wymack would get mad if Neil showed up to practice in his first set of dirty clothes again. Probably.

Neil’s head emerged from the doors of the court, stopping for a moment when he saw Bee sitting on the hood of the car alongside Andrew. He jerked forward for a moment, and then began walking, and Andrew realized that Kevin had probably shoved Neil forward because he was blocking the doorway.

Andrew had threatened Kevin that he would kill him the next time he laid a hand on Neil, but he figured that he could extend his holiday spirit to Kevin too, if he had to. Even annoying strikers had to be shown some cheer every once in awhile.

“Maybe you do some Christmas stuff with Neil? Do you remember what Nicky did for you and Aaron? Or maybe Nicky can take Neil out?”

“No, I want to take Neil. I remember what Nicky did.”

He paused for a moment, thinking about Nicky bringing the tree home, decorating it while Christmas movies played on the television. He usually danced around the kitchen and would go through the cabinets looking for ingredients to bake cookies - he always left out the tray, even if Andrew and Aaron weren’t in on the Christmas spirit.

Andrew made Bee leave the hacksaw in the trunk of the car, saying that it was something to do with Neil being impulsive, but he was pretty sure that Bee knew it was because of Neil’s somewhat rocky past with blades. He watched Kevin herd Neil away from the stadium and to the parking lot.

“Andrew! And Bee?” Neil asked, jogging up to the car while Kevin rolled his eyes.

“Get him home by midnight, Andrew.”

“Not likely, Kevin. Leave me and Neil alone.” Andrew flicked his cigarette on the ground and stubbed it out before opening the driver’s side door. “Bee gets front seat, Neil,” he said before slipping into the car.

Kevin rolled his eyes again and walked away toward Fox Tower, while Neil made way for the back seat. Bee looked like she wanted to offer her place in the passenger seat to him, but Neil didn’t like being studied, and therefore didn’t want to have her behind them, watching and taking in all their little quirks and interactions.

“Where are we going?” Neil asked, watching the road stretch ahead of them. They drove past Columbia, further into rural area than he wanted to be.

Andrew kept his eyes on the road as usual, but he was dying for another cigarette. If he didn’t have to worry about Bee, he would pull over and light one. She didn’t like when he smoked, and he had to respect that.

“Go to sleep, Neil. I’ll wake you up when we get there.”

An hour and two phone calls to Nicky later, Andrew pulled into the dirt lot outside of a “Saint Nick’s Christmas Tree Farm” and turned the engine off. He reached back and tugged on a chunk of Neil’s stupidly long hair, trying to wake him without too much trouble. Neil grimaced, but slowly sat up and rubbed the sleep from his eyes.

“Where are we, Andrew?” His hair flopped into his line of sight, his bandana still on the seat where his head had been.

“Fix your hair, Josten,” Andrew said bluntly, reaching for his cigarettes before deciding against it. Bee wouldn’t be appreciative of it, and this seemed like a family-friendly area. Instead, he crossed to the back of the car and popped the trunk to grab the saw.

The trio walked into the fences and were met by a jaunty college student with her braids tied up into two buns and elf ears clipped in. She bounded up to them with her hands in her green canvas apron and a huge smile across her face.

“Hey! Welcome to the farm! We’ve got firs, spruces, and pines, it just depends on what you’re looking for and how big you want it to be.”

“We’ll go for the Douglas fir, thanks.”

“Nicky always got us Douglas firs. I don’t know why. He says they’re the best one to get.”

Andrew had finished his hot chocolate, and staring at the slush of the candy cane that was left over. He could taste the film that the drink left in his mouth.

“Do you think that you can bring a real tree into the Fox Tower?”

Andrew could practically see Bee thinking about all the needles across the floor.

“Why would I bring a tree into Fox Tower if Neil and I are spending the break at the house in Columbia?”

Bee nodded, taking her final drink of her hot chocolate. She’d always been slower at drinking hers than Andrew had been. She looked at the clock, and Andrew knew that it was time for their session to end.

“I’ll see you next week, Andrew. Thank you for talking to me about the holidays. I think you and Neil will have a lovely time.”

Andrew stood and made his way to the door, pushing open part way, before turning back to.

“Bee?”

She stopped putting her notebooks away and looked at Andrew. “Yes?”

“Can you come get a tree with us?”

The girl pointed them in the direction of the Douglas firs and turned her attention to the next group of people who had entered the farm’s gates. Andrew walked forward without question, and Neil and Bee followed. It took them ten minutes to reach the section with the trees, whereupon Bee decided that she needed to use the restroom, and disappeared off in search of the building.

Andrew turned his attention to Neil, who was glaring at a Douglas fir for no apparent reason.

“Did the tree say something about exy?” Andrew asked, walking up to Neil’s side. “Or do you just look like that all the time?”

Neil turned his grimace to Andrew, who had done nothing to deserve it, much like the tree.

“It’s cold, Andrew.”

“No shit, Josten. Do you like this one?” Andrew motioned to the tree that Neil had been making faces at.

Neil shrugged. “How do you know how to pick them?”

Andrew rolled his eyes. “You check to see if the needles are brown, and if the trunk is healthy,” he said, inspecting the tree. He found a bunch of dried parts and shook his head. “This one isn’t good. We can find a better one.”

“I want to be closer to Neil,” Andrew said softly. He stared into his lap and twisted his thumbs. He could hear Bee sit up straighter while her pen ran against her paper, before she finished and tapped it three times.

“Is there any reason why?”

“I don’t know.”

Andrew chewed on the inside of his cheek and looked up at Bee. She was giving him a sympathetic look, which Andrew didn’t usually appreciate. She folded her hands together.

“Do you want to brainstorm ideas?”

“I don’t know.”

Bee thought for a moment longer, and then smiled again.

“Why don’t you wait for a moment? I trust that you’ll be able to figure out a good one.”

He turned on his heel and began to wander through the trees, trying to find one that looked like one that Nicky would have picked. At one point, Neil was dawdling in front of one tree that was still too brown for Andrew’s liking, and Andrew found his moment. He took a deep breath and reached for Neil’s hand.

Neil stood up as if ice water had been poured down his back. He looked down to their interlocked hands, then slowly looked to Andrew.

“Yes or no?”

Neil nodded jerkily. “Yes.”

“Then let’s find a tree.”

Bee found them twenty minutes later and helped them carry the tree to the front. The workers at the gates helped them trim the trunk down to the house’s dimensions and tie it to the car.

Andrew paid at the kiosk, Neil standing closer to him than they had started out.

#aftg #all for the game #the foxhole court #the raven king #all the kings men #andrew minyard #neil josten #andreil #christmas andreil #christmas fluff #andrew minyard x neil josten

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