Work Text:
"What is this?"
Neil asks in bewilderment, pointing to the bright something in Andrew’s hands.
"Flowers."
Rolling his eyes, Andrew replies as if he’s already tired of explaining the obvious. Well, it wasn’t obvious to Neil why Andrew had brought this huge bouquet into the dorm and was now holding it out to him.
"To me?"
Still not understanding anything, Neil asks and Andrew nods, pushing a strange gift into his hands.
"Ummm, why?"
Neil clarifies awkwardly, accepting the bouquet and almost drops it on the floor from the weight.
"Don't like it?"
Andrew asks calmly with an unreadable expression on his face, carefully following Neil's changes in emotions. He hesitates a little, noticing Andrew’s nervously clenched hands into fists and his anxiously pursed lips. Neil was always far from romance and sometimes forgot that Andrew was not a master at it either.
"I do!"
He screams, clutching the flowers to his chest and sees Andrew relaxing in front of him. A gentle smile spreads across Neil's face as he notices how cute the tips of his ears are turning red. But he already knows that he shouldn’t talk about it out loud.
"Well then, shut the fuck up and say thank you."
Andrew says in a rough voice as he leans over to the kitchen cabinet and takes out a large glass vase that Neil had no idea about. Why do they even need a vase in the dorm?
"Thank you, Drew!"
Neil repeats obediently and places the unexpected bouquet in the outstretched vase. They stand silently looking at the flowers for several minutes. Neil easily runs his fingertips over the beautiful yellow petals framing the large core. He is not a big fan of flowers and knows at most a couple of them, roses or peonies or even roses.
"What is this?"
Neil asks, leaning towards the flowers and inhaling their aroma deeply. A light, pleasant scent with sweet honey notes envelops Neil. And the bright color pleases his eyes. The more Neil looks at them, the more glad he is that Andrew didn't give him a rose.
"Sunflowers."
Andrew sighs, as if his mere presence is doing Neil a fucking huge favor.
"Cool. Cool, they are very beautiful..."
Neil says, not knowing what else to do, because apparently Andrew is not going to explain his unexpected spiritual breakthrough to him.
"They absorb radiation."
Andrew suddenly adds, also touching the delicate petals.
"What?"
Neil asks again, now completely lost.
"Sunflowers have learned to absorb toxic radioactive materials, such as cesium-137 and strontium-90, to survive."
Andrew explains and lightly, as if by accident, touches Neil's fingers on one of the sunflowers, intertwining their hands together.
"And you are saying that because...?"
Neil hints at a continuation, responding to the touch with pleasure and not taking his eyes off Andrew's face.
"They remind me of you..."
Andrew confesses and immediately cuts himself off mid-sentence...
"Because I was able to transform the toxicity around me and survive?"
Neil asks cheerfully, touched by Andrew's words and looking at the flowers with great interest. But Andrew rolls his eyes and yanks his hand away from the grip.
"Because you are also radioactive and you make me want to puke."
Andrew speaks making no bones about telling it, but Neil is not offended at all. He hears deeper and sees further than Andrew is trying to show by putting on his usual mask of not giving a damn. And now Neil seems to finally see the whole picture. He gasps as he looks back at the bouquet and back at a confused Andrew.
"Oh this is so cute."
Andrew becomes even more embarrassed and turns to the sink, hiding his face, as if pouring water for the vase.
"I hate you."
"Yeah, I know that."
Neil smiles softly, feeling his heart beating faster and faster in his chest.
"But isn’t yellow a sign of separation?"
Neil asks, provoking Andrew to talk. And he succeeds. Andrew turns to him with interest, raising an eyebrow.
"Nicky told me about the meanings of colours and all that kinf of stuff."
Andrew chuckles and shakes his head as he pours water into a vase with a bouquet of bright, yellow sunflowers that smell like honey.
"In fact, yellow is not a sign of separation, but rather of respect and love. This color also signifies long-term relationships, vitality and happiness."
Andrew quotes as if he were reading and Neil doesn’t know exactly how his memory works, but he has no doubt that the lines he's read earlier appear before his eyes.
"Then these are my favorite flowers now."
Neil exhales, falling more and more in love with the presented bouquet and with Andrew, twitching the corner of his lips and trying to hold back a satisfied smile.
"Don't you have your own opinion?"
Andrew quips, finishing with the bouquet and grinning.
"Darling..."
Neil whispers, taking a step closer to Andrew, who reflexively opens his arms to him. Neil nuzzles into Andrew, pressing his cheek against his warm chest and clasping his arms tighter around his waist. Andrew hugs him too, exhaling almost audibly, it’s not often Neil uses this affectionate address. So it's not surprising that Andrew reacts this way.
“Everything you do is special and it’s no wonder that I love everything you give me.”
And no matter how Andrew pretends that he doesn’t care about this confession. Neil feels his heartbeat speed up and hears a slight sigh of satisfaction. Neil, smiling, closes his eyes and tries to remember this moment full of quiet happiness, love and the aroma of honey from a bouquet of sunflowers.
...
"What kind of yellow broom is this?"
A dissatisfied voice and then a sneeze is heard from the kitchen.
"Fuck. I'm allergic to this!"
Another sneeze followed by a scream.
"Get your fucking hands away! It is mine!"
"Ouch! What the heck? Get those weeds out of here!"
"Don't touch it!"
The sound of a blow is heard, followed by a scuffle that develops into a real fight. Something falls and breaks with a loud crash, and quiet curses are added to the sounds of struggle. Andrew rolls his eyes and ignores Kevin and Nicky's looks and goes back to reading his book. And if Kevin just shrugs and almost instantly returns all his attention to the TV screen, Nicky looks at him intently with ever-increasing interest.
"No."
Andrew says before Nicky can even open her mouth.
"But I just..."
Nicky tries again.
"No."
"But!"
"No, I said."
Andrew seals it uncompromisingly, turning the page and hearing another crash from the kitchen.
"Hmph, okay. Then I'll go and find out everything from Aaron and Neil."
"In vain."
Kevin grunts from the floor and Nicky freezes, already getting up and heading towards the kitchen.
"Why is it so?"
"It's like a hurricane. When Neil and Aaron are fighting, it’s better to stay away and just pick up the pieces later."
Andrew can't help but grin.
"But I'm so interested..."
Nicky whines. Immediately another loud crash and a wild cry from the frightened Aaron are heard from the kitchen.
"Damn!! Someone call an ambulance!!!"
Andrew is already jumping up and grabbing his phone when he hears another howl.
"You fucking dickhead!!! You broke my vase!!"
"Are you insane?! You are fucking bleeding and thinking about a vase?"
"My sunflowers!"
Andrew hurries into the kitchen and sighs, taking in the scene in front of him with an unreadable gaze. Aaron, with a black eye beginning to turn blue, squeezes Neil's heavily bleeding hand, trying to stop the bleeding. But Neil is not the most grateful patient and instead of gratitude he tries to kick Aaron. With his uninjured hand, he squeezes the few remaining flowers, causing Aaron to periodically sneeze and squeeze Neil's hand harder, causing him to swear. Kevin rushes to get the first aid kit while a terrified Nicky wails as he helps Aaron apply a makeshift tourniquet to Neil's arm. Trying not to worry, Andrew calls the number on his speed dial.
"911, what's your emergency?"
"Hello, I need an ambulance to the Palmetto University athletic dormitory. My brother tried to kill my boyfriend over a bouquet of sunflowers."