Chapter Text
In a small down halfway between Wakita and Oklahoma City, Neil and Andrew have settled into their modest brick home. It’s located conveniently near their lab and Andrew’s family so he can visit them more often. Which he does. He feels more settled than he ever has before. So settled, he even indulged Neil when he insisted on bringing home the two stray kittens they found behind an old diner on one of their last storm chasing trips.
He can hear them meowing behind the screen door at his back, begging to be let out. He’s settled on the porch with a letter in his hand, having just collected the mail. Kevin, who he kept in touch with, had been dating Jeremy Knox for seven months now, and they would soon be moving in together – according to the pretentious house-warming invitation he currently held.
The rest of the Foxes were still around as well. Allison managed to win a grant and was currently traveling around the mid-west with Renee and Seth, filming a documentary about their endeavors with Dorothy. When they weren’t traveling, they had an apartment they shared nearby.
Dan and Matt were only a few minutes away, both working at the lab full-time with Neil and Andrew. Though Dan would be taking time off soon since she learned she was pregnant a few months earlier. Andrew wasn’t sure how to feel about the prospect of soon being surrounded by small children. His brothers twin girls were only eight months old but he was sure they would be mobile little terrors in no time.
When he hears the door open, he sets the letter on top of the pile at his side. Neil comes out, the cats twining around his ankles. He taps Andrew on the shoulder with a cold bottle of beer and Andrew reaches around to take it. Neil sits beside him, one of the cats promptly hopping on his shoulder.
In the yard one of Bees sculptures spins. It’s ugly really. He’s never actually been a fan of that kind of art. But it’s familiar and makes a pleasant tinkling sound when the wind picks up.
Neil leans back on his hands, looking up at the sky. He quietly mutters that it looks like it might rain.
Andrew drops his head to his shoulders, scrutinizing the gray the sky. Puffy, cumulonimbus clouds are rolling in and thunder rumbles softly in the distance, but otherwise, everything is still and quiet.
“It does,” Andrew says quietly.
Neil leans over and kisses his cheek, a familiar form of affection. Andrew turns into it, like he always does.
They kiss until Sir, the cat that spends more time on Neil’s shoulders than on the ground, wedges herself between them, demanding attention. Andrew relents, pulling away slowly. When they’re sitting shoulder to shoulder again, Neil’s fingers buried in the white ball of fur on his lap, Neil tips his head to the side. Andrew’s fingers skate along Neil’s back until they find his neck with a steady, grounding pressure, playing with the short hairs at the base of his skull. He stares skywards again.
It will rain, and the quiet will be chased away by the steady stream water plucking against the glass windows and the roof.
“But we have time.”