Anderperry Oneshots Collection

Forget I Said Anything

"Just make your move, loverboy," Charlie said, tossing his cigarette off his bed, and crushing it with his heel.

Neil, who was lying upside down on Cameron's bed, legs crossed on the wall, gave Charlie a disgusted look. "Are you kidding? I've been trying for weeks!"

Neil huffed, blowing a piece of hair out of his eyes.

"What have you been doing, exactly?" Charlie raised an eyebrow at him.

Well, that just wasn't a fair question. It forced Neil to admit he hadn't actually been trying all that hard.

"Y'know...giving him looks, leaning on his shoulder...flirting!"

Charlie gave him an exasperated look. After an hour-long conversation, he was only just getting to the root of the issue. "Neil, as your oldest friend, I want to support you. But you're not going to get Todd by batting your eyelashes at him."

"Then what do I do?"

"Stop being a pussy! Just go up to him and tell him he's hot! Flirt!"

"Dammnit, Nuwanda," Neil laughed. "Fine, you know what? I'll get it over with."

Neil was easily convinced. On some level, he wanted to do it just as much as Charlie wanted to watch him do it.

In one quick motion, Neil rolled off the bed and scrambled to his feet. Charlie grinned mischievously. "Have fun!" he called as Neil walked out the door.

And from out of nowhere, nervousness hit him like a brick wall. Neil had never felt this way about talking to someone. Suddenly his door across the hall seemed much too far away, and was his hands always this sweaty?

No, no, we're not doing this again, Neil thought, and took a deep breath before opening the door.

There was Todd, sitting at his desk, studying his chemistry textbook. His golden hair was dark with dampness, a towel was slung carelessly around his shoulders. Clearly he'd just gotten out of the shower.

He looked up from his notes as Neil walked in, meeting him with gorgeous blue eyes and Neil's heart fluttered.

"Hey," Todd greeted.

This was it.

"Hey...hottie," Neil said, leaning on the doorframe.

For a moment, Todd froze, blushing. Then he laughed. "That's new," he chuckled, going back to his work.

Neil's face turned from a poorly put-together smolder to a blank slate. Shit.

It might've gone terribly, but Neil had more determination than the average man, and wasn't willing to give up so easily.

"So...you're coming to the meeting, right?"

Todd looked up again. "I normally do."

"Good, I look forward to it. To you. To seeing you."

Todd looked at him, confused.

"'Cause you're hot," Neil clarified.

Todd fell out of his chair laughing.

-

"Neilison, it's been a month. Why am I not seeing any progress?" Charlie asked one day, through a mouthful of spaghetti. Todd had snuck away from the dinner table to use the bathroom, and Charlie pounced at the opportunity.

"Because your advice was terrible! He thinks I'm kidding!" Neil whisper-yelled across the table, then crossed his arms, partly from the frustration, partly to keep out the cold. It was getting to that time of year when even the Welton furnaces couldn't keep out the bitter winter bite, and Neil forgot his sweater in his dorm.