It Takes Two

Ignore the Hurt

Andy walked out of Avery's room. His mind playing her questions on repeat as he entered the living room. Jake had fallen asleep on the couch, earning a soft laugh from Andy as he moved to sit on the couch next to him. He stared at the older man, his eyes tracing over his lax features.

Andy couldn't remember when he fell in love with Jake, but he knew it had to have been early on. Andy had been eighteen and living on the other side of the country from his entire family and Jake was the hot, older guy with pretty whiskey brown eyes that made Andy's stomach do back flips every time they met his gaze.

He had chalked it up to a silly crush that would fade... but it never did. If anything, it got worse over time. Andy loved Jake so much it hurt, but he was straight, so there was no point in waiting around. So Andy moved on. He dated a few people here and there including a Canadian guy that was far too sweet to ever deserve a sarcastic asshole like Andy. That relationship didn't last long at all, but they were still friends.

It did sting a bit when Jake got married. Andy knew he was being selfish and ridiculous, but he couldn't help it. He had tried so hard to like Clara, but she seemed to hate him from day one, so Andy stopped trying. He never understood why Clara hated him.

Until the drunk texts started.

It started off as nonsensical ramblings that Andy could laugh at, but then it started turning darker. Clara accused Andy of having feelings for Jake(true) and trying to turn him gay(false, though if he thought it would work, Andy would have done so years before Clara showed up). It kept getting worse until Andy finally blocked her.

Andy never told Jake of this because if he acknowledged it, Jake might ask him if there was any truth to it, and Andy was a bad liar when it came to the older man, so he knew it would have ended horribly.

It was a lot. The last thing Andy wanted was for Clara to say any of this to Jake at any point, so avoiding her at all costs was the only option.

Andy thought he finally moved on when he met Nikki. She was smart, funny, and very much the opposite of alternative, but Andy thought she was beautiful and so interesting to talk to. Falling in love with Nikki wasn't hard, and for the first time in over a decade, Andy thought he was finally free.

That is until she cheated on him, broke his heart, and stole his identity to open credit cards.

Andy was miserable. He just wanted to lock himself in his house and never leave again. He was a song writer, he could easily work from home and make zoom work for him.

That was until Jake called him that one fateful night that changed Andy's life forever.

Andy never in a million years expected Jake to ask to move in. Sure, they lived together before, but he never thought it would happen again. Before Andy could stop it, his mouth took over, making plans for the older man and his daughter to move in meanwhile his mind and heart were at war.

On one hand, Andy couldn't possibly turn them away, especially Avery. That was the only good thing that came from Jake's marriage as far as Andy was concerned. On the other hand... he knew those feelings he had been succsessfully ignoring for the last two years would hit him like a sledge hammer to the face if he had to live with Jake 24/7.

But alas, his love for his surrogate niece far outweighed his own stupid feelings, so he was willing to give it a try. He couldn't live with himself if his inability to deal with his own emotions meant Avery didn't have somewhere to live.

Jake mumbled something in his sleep, and Andy smiled sadly, wanting so desperately to trace his fingers over Jake's face. He wanted to curl up next to him and fall asleep in his arms. He wanted to kiss him gently until he awoke and tell him to come to bed.