Chapter Text
Sam was pestering Andrew, which seemed to be his new normal.
His cousin and Blur were at some fancy academic event, and Sam could almost imagine Andrew’s pinched, disdainful expression at having to socialize. It would have been amusing, if Sam wasn’t wishing Blur was there with him instead.
Sam could blame it on being bored, but he knew it would have been a lie. Too much of a thrill shot through him at Andrew’s what’s your address text.
Not much later, he heard the sound of gravel crunching. Sam grabbed a pack of tallboys off the counter and met Andrew outside. He looked like a nerd—complete with a blazer and button-up shirt. Whereas Ed and Riley managed to pull off the look, Andrew looked distinctly uncomfortable and out of place. It made Sam wonder how much Andrew really liked the academic world, and how much he just let Eddie dictate sh*t for him.
Andrew was grabbing a tallboy before Sam could say much, popping off the tab with a slight fizz and downing half of it in one go. A drop hung off the corner of his mouth, and Andrew’s tongue flicked out and licked it up. Sam grabbed the can out of Andrew’s hand before he did something stupid, taking a swig for himself.
“Let’s go for a drive.”
Andrew straightened, a gleam in his eye. “Yours or mine?”
“Mine. I haven’t gotten to show her off yet.”
Sam walked over to the garage, leaning over and pulling open the door with a clamoring grind. His baby was inside—a WRX, all gunmetal and black chrome, and one of the few things Sam spoiled himself with. He watched as Andrew trailed a hand over the back of the car reverently and could feel the savage smile on his face.
“Get in.”
Andrew did, not even waiting before passing Sam a tallboy with coordinated ease. Sam executed a two-point turn onto the main road, propping his hand on the back of Andrew’s seat, and he couldn’t resist skimming the back of Andrew’s neck as he let go and feeling a perverse pleasure at the slight shiver it elicited. Sam headed onto the road with no direction in mind, just driving.
“So, it sucked,” he prompted.
Andrew nodded, scowling, and Sam felt himself grin. It was exactly the reaction he was expecting from the grumpy man. “Well, f*ck ‘em,” Sam barked, before revving his engine and gunning it. The drove around a curve, some of the beer sloshing onto his arm, but Sam didn’t give a damn. Because Andrew was smiling beside him, head lolled to the side and staring at Sam with that look in his eyes, and Sam had always felt invincible when he was driving.
Andrew looked abruptly back at the road, as if he just clued in that he had been basically eye-f*cking Sam, drinking the rest of his tallboy and crushing the can.
“None of them ever shut up,” Andrew said as Sam slowed the car to a more acceptable pace.
He snorted. “Let me guess. My cousin and that rich dude he’s always getting irritable at sniped each other about bullsh*t they technically agree on while Luca tried to smother their dumbass feud, and you hated every minute of it. Am I right, Blur?”
Andrew’s response was another long drink of his beer, a slight flush on his cheeks.
“Call me Andrew,” he offered.
Sam felt something warm flood his veins. “All right, Andrew.”
The name felt good in his mouth. Better than Blur, better than princess, because Andrew had asked for it. A small olive branch from the boy who hissed and snarled at anything that got too close. They drove the winding route back to the house, quiet unspooling soft and easy between them, finishing off the six-pack.
Sam thought about how right it felt, having Andrew in his car. He wasn’t obnoxious like some people, always chattering his ear off. He was a steady, solid presence and Sam liked having him there. He ignored the way his fingers twitched to reach out and settle on Andrew’s thigh, because Sam was a dumbass, but he wasn’t that stupid.
Still, looking at Andrew with his auburn curls and lanky limbs out of the corner of his eye, Sam couldn’t deny that he wanted to.
Wanted him.
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The night had been going too good, too peaceful considering Andrew motherf*cking Blur was involved, so Sam should have expected something.
Not that Andrew getting cozy with a dead deer in the woods was something he could have ever predicted.
Sam had heard the door open and close in a half-asleep haze, briefly thinking that Andrew must be going out on a walk. It had only taken him a few moments to jolt upwards in bed, dread curling in his stomach. Sam was barely thinking as he shoved on his house shoes. The night air hit his bare chest like a cold slap, and Sam could hear the sounds of cicadas screaming all around him, but he ignored it all. He followed the sounds and wreckage of Andrew’s path to see Andrew… he was—
“Jesus f*cking goddamn,” Sam grabbed onto him, blank eyes looking at him back, unseeing. “Wake the f*ck up, come on Andrew.”
He dragged Blur away easily, glad once again for the slighter man’s build. Andrew struggled, but Sam didn’t give one single f*ck. He wasn’t getting back near that carcass, with its fur matted with blood and rot-eyed skull. The smell of it was overpowering enough that he was distracted, and Andrew kicked out of his hold before falling to his knees.
He blinked, some clarity returning to his eyes, and stared in horror at the deer. Sam crouched in front of him, trying to block his vision.
“You in there?”
Andrew blinked again, harder, and focused on Sam. He looked absolutely wrecked in the moonlight—hair sticking up in every direction, dirt smeared across his cheek, his eyes gleaming dark and wide. He shuddered, full-body, before grunting out, “f*ck.”
Which—ain’t that the truth.
“So do you sleepwalk often,” Sam said flatly, because really—how had this become his life?
Blur opened his mouth before snapping it shut so hard his teeth clicked together. He looked down at his shirt, covered in gore, and made a disgusted noise. Andrew pulled the shirt off him in an easy motion, balling it up and throwing it on the ground next to him.
“I heard the door open, figured it wasn’t a big deal until I remembered you’re the poster child for doing insane sh*t when no one is looking.” He scrubbed a hand over his buzzcut, getting to his feet. “Get up. I’m tired.”
He waited until Andrew stood up to make his way back through the woods and to the house. He was so tired his brain felt thick with it, and he was glad for it because it stopped his mind from truly comprehending what he had seen. The deer, sure. Andrew practically cuddling it, f*cking gross—but okay. It was the faint shadow that had been clinging to Andrew that had really chilled Sam straight down to his core. Eddie. That had been Eddie.
They got in the house and Andrew glanced down at himself once again.
“I’m gonna shower,” he said hoarsely.
“Yeah, I’ll find you something to wear,” Sam said, turning to his room. “A dead deer. Christ, man.”
An hour later and Andrew was sitting at the kitchen table, wearing Sam’s too-big clothes, pink skinned and looking fresh as a daisy. Seeing him like this, with his damp curls clinging to his forehead and glass held loosely in his hand, it was almost easy to forget that Andrew Blur was a giant f*cking mess. Sam sat down across from him.
“Here’s some free advice for you,” he said. “Our grandma, Riley’s and mine, she owned this house. She told us one thing from time to time when we were little: don’t f*ck with what’s outside your scope. There’s a lot of weird sh*t out in these parts. Keep your hands off it, it’s good for no one. I told Ed and Riley the same thing, they just didn’t listen.”
And now Eddie was f*cking dead and clinging to Andrew like a parasite.
“I hear you,” Andrew muttered, his eyes never leaving Sam’s. His voice was earnest, something heavy in his expression, and Sam believed him. Andrew didn’t want to be involved in this sh*t.
But he was.
“Seem like you’re smarter than those two chucklef*cks, but I still keep catching you at it.” He stood, downing the rest of his drink. “C’mon.”
Andrew followed into Sam’s room, because Sam sure as sh*t didn’t trust him to sleep on the couch again. Next thing he knew, Andrew would be cozying up with a dead f*cking bear. Sam sprawled onto his bed, watching as Andrew pushed the door shut behind him with his heel. Those dark eyes looked to Sam first before grabbing a pillow and flopping onto the floor. Like a dumbass.
“Just get up here,” Sam said.
He could practically hear the gears turning in Blur’s head before the man was sitting up off the floor and crawling onto the mattress. He tossed the pillow back into its spot before laying down stiffly, clearly trying to take up as little space as possible. Sam sighed. Andrew Blur was giving him a run for his money, that was for sure.
Miracle of miracles, Sam managed to actually sleep that night. He woke up the next morning for his shift with something warm pressed all along his front. It seemed sometime in the night they had shifted, and now Sam had one arm thrown across Andrew’s middle, pulling their hips together, his knees pressed into the backs of Andrew’s. Andrew’s curls tickled his nose, and it was too goddamn hot for touching like this, but Sam allowed himself a few seconds of it. It was the least he deserved, and he liked the feeling of Andrew in his arms.
Sam detangled their limbs and Andrew made a soft noise before flipping over and burrowing back into the sheets. If only he wasn’t so goddamn adorable, in a utterly feral type of way.
Without wanting to, Sam’s mind flashed back to last night and the shadow that had clung to Andrew like a promise.
Eddie, Eddie, Eddie.
