Work Text:
Pretty much all of the original foxes had eventually decided to have children. Kevin had his daughter, Dan and Matt had their son, Nicky and Erik had adopted, and even Jack had found someone that tolerated him enough to have a kid with. The only ones that didn’t seem to want children were Robin, Renee and Allison, who agreed with what Neil and Andrew thought: they weren’t cut out for raising anyone. Between their own childhoods and trauma they were still trying to overcome, bringing a child into the mess didn’t seem appropriate.
But that didn’t mean that Neil didn’t like kids. Lots of his fans were bright eyed elementary schoolers, and he’d made more than one trip to visit a few via the ‘Make a Wish’ foundation. Matt and Dan wanted to name him the godfather of their son, which Neil wasn’t exactly opposed to, but instead confused as to why they wanted him to be in the first place. In the end, he supposed it was the same reason Aaron and Katelyn had named Andrew the godfather of both their kids.
Neil was determined to get the girls to like him more than Aaron. He knew he had some competition, since Aaron was their dad, but he could be the most fun uncle in the world. Which was exactly what he intended to do, since Andrew apparently had no interest in being the best uncle. They came to their birthday parties every year with the best gift Neil could find and visited for holidays, making time to video call once in a while.
But this was different. This time, the girls were going to be around for a ‘sleepover’, as Katelyn had explained.
It started off with Neil meeting with Katelyn one day as their yearly check-up, as she always put it. Neil was pretty sure he had one with each of the foxes, but it was more like a monthly check-up in Matt and Dan’s case. They went for coffee, took a short walk and talked about how things have been since they last saw each other. It was a weird sort of friendship.
“In two months is our tenth anniversary,” Katelyn randomly said when they were sitting in the park people watching.
“Congrats?” Neil asked. “Are you going to have a party?”
“I want a night alone,” Katelyn said instead, grinning to herself. “No kids, no work. Just me and Aaron for a night.”
Neil made a face at the thought. “Where do you want to go?”
“I’m not sure. Maybe we could go on a quick trip? Somewhere relaxing.” Katelyn sighed, her grin getting wider as she clearly thought about it. Neil grimaced at the thought of Aaron of all people somewhere relaxing. Katelyn seemed to snap out of her daze after a moment. “But we’d need someone to watch the girls.”
“Okay. Get a babysitter.”
“For two days?” Katelyn asked, narrowing her eyes. “Neil, I know you’re not the best with kids, but…”
“Oh!” Neil said. “I see. You’re asking me and Andrew to watch them.”
“No, that wasn’t - “
“We could.” Neil attempted a smile, because while the thought of watching Sofia and Isla was appealing to him, he’d have to make sure Andrew was okay with it, too.
“No games?” Katelyn asked. “No practice?”
“Nope. Perks of summer.”
Katelyn nodded. “Well, we’ll have to see. And so long as you promise not to teach Sofia any more pressure points.”
“Okay, okay, I won’t.” Neil rolled his eyes. “She should know how to protect herself.”
“She’s seven, Neil.”
The plans fell into place. The girls would go over early Saturday morning and go home in the afternoon on Sunday, giving Aaron and Katelyn enough time to themselves. When the date was confirmed Andrew hadn’t so much as bat an eye at it, instead just marking the date on the calendar so that Neil wouldn’t forget it and helped get the guest bedroom ready for their visitors.
“Should we take them somewhere?” Neil asked one night while he watched Andrew make dinner. He’d been wondering for a while, because he wanted the girls to be entertained but not exhausted. They’d already decided they’d make pizza for food, let them find a movie to watch before going to bed, but they had no idea what to do during the day.
“Ask Aaron,” Andrew suggested.
“He blocked me,” Neil said, because it was true but also because he didn’t want to text Aaron for suggestions on how to keep his kids entertained.
“Sofia is obsessed with octopuses and Isla is four,” Andrew added, scooping some pasta onto plates. “Take them to the aquarium or museum.”
“Would you go too?”
“Yes.”
“Alright.” Neil grabbed his phone and started looking at the nearest aquarium’s website. He and Andrew had gone there before because Neil had wanted to pet the stingrays and Andrew admitted he wanted to see if Neil would touch one of their tails. Neil had been just slightly offended, because he wasn’t that stupid, but the thought of Sofia or Isla petting the stingrays was slightly worrying, because they may not know it would hurt.
“Stop worrying,” Andrew demanded, even though he was clearly anxious about the weekend as well.
“I’m not worrying,” Neil mumbled, putting his phone down and following Andrew to the table. He scooped up Sir and cuddled the cat to his chest as he sat down. “What if one of them is allergic to cats?”
“We’d know by now. Their dad is a doctor.”
Neil grumbled and released Sir when she squirmed too much, eating some of the pasta so he wouldn’t have to respond. “It’s their first sleepover. I want it to go well.”
Andrew didn’t reply to that, but he was far more helpful in figuring out things to do after that conversation.
They made sure to tell the girls what their plans were before the weekend. Katelyn reported that Sofia was ecstatic about seeing an octopus and all Isla cared about was seeing the ‘fishies’. Neil hoped it would take up most of their time that day so that they wouldn’t have to try to think of anywhere else to go afterwards, but he found other places to visit just in case. He located a zoo, museum, amusement park and even an art show before Andrew made him stop.
Though he tried to keep the day as normal as he could, Neil still got up a whole hour earlier than usual to take his run and attempted to make some eggs that burned when he got lost in thought. Andrew walked into the kitchen with a scowl and helped clean up the mess, making something actually edible with a mask of perfect calm. But Neil was an expert in Andrew’s facial expressions by now and could tell he was a bit nervous about what the day would bring.
Facing Riko? No problem. The mafia? Neil could deal with it any day. Watching two little blonde girls that said words like ‘fishies’? Neil felt like his heart could stop at any moment.
By ten in the morning they made it to Aaron and Katelyn’s, quickly getting their car seats settled into the Maserati - and wasn’t that hilarious - so they could leave. Isla hadn’t stopped chanting ‘sleepover’ since they arrived, and Sofia kept listing off everything she knew about octopuses and sea cucumbers. She even proudly showed off her drawing of a purple octopus, giving it to Andrew and pointing out every stick figure that was holding one of the octopus’ tentacles.
“See, that’s me and Isla, and Mommy and Daddy,” she explained, pointing at the stick figures individually. “And there’s Uncle Neil and you , Uncle Andrew! And I added King and Sir, even though they’d try to eat the octopus.”
Neil had never understood why anyone would put a kid’s drawing on a fridge, but that’s exactly what he wanted to do with Sofia’s drawing. Andrew was holding it so carefully it was as though the cardstock paper was made of glass. “Thank you, Sofia, this is very beautiful,” Neil said, patting her back.
Aaron snorted. Neil glared at him, mostly out of habit, breaking eye contact when Isla rushed to his side and grabbed his arm. “Wanna see the fishies,” she said.
Sofia gasped loudly. “Can we go see them now?”
“Of course. Just say goodbye to your mom and dad first,” Neil replied, gently pulling his arm from Isla’s grasp to grab the girl’s backpacks. He took them to the Maserati and loaded them in the backseat, watching how carefully Andrew folded up Sofia’s picture and put it in the glovebox.
Finally, they were ready to go. Katelyn gave Neil a list of where they were going and all the phone numbers they could use to get ahold of them if anything happened, reminding the girls to behave and go to sleep on time. They all left quickly after that, heading straight for the aquarium to (hopefully) get rid of all the energy Sofia and Isla had.
For a Saturday the place wasn’t busy. Andrew easily found a spot to park in and the girls were released, thankfully knowing not to run across a parking lot. Sofia was still babbling and Isla was much quieter, looking around a bit nervously and sticking by Andrew’s side. Neil heard her ask in her adorable high-pitched voice, “Uncle Andrew, can I hold your hand?” and thought his heart might’ve broken, especially when Andrew wordlessly took it as they walked towards the entrance to the building.
They got wristbands after paying and began to walk through. Neil only had to remind Sofia to stick close once, not wanting her to get lost in the small crowd. For a seven year old that really wanted to see the octopuses, she had an incredible amount of patience to not say anything as Isla gaped at the coral reefs they walked up to. She instead looked at the lists of fish available to look at, reading off just about every one perfectly.
“That one looks like Dory,” Isla said, pointing at a flat looking blue fish.
Neil didn’t know who ‘Dory’ was, so he simply agreed and got a small snort from Andrew for his trouble.
They continued on after the girls looked their fill, getting to larger fish that Sofia read were freshwater and lived in lakes. She also giggled at the fat looking fish and whispered to Neil about it. “Hey, this says there’s sharks in here,” she said with a frown, pointing at another list of fish. “Look, Uncle Neil. Sharks are s’posed to be in the ocean.”
“Not all sharks, I guess,” Neil replied, looking at what she was pointing at to appease her.
“Hmm,” the seven year old hummed. Neil wasn’t sure how she was able to make it sound so sassy and disbelieving at the same time.
Further down the long hallway were where the other sharks were. They got to walk through glass tunnels and listen to Isla point at every shark she saw, saying, “Hammerhead,” every time.
“What if the glass breaks?” Sofia whispered between the two of them.
“Then we’d go for a swim, I guess,” Neil replied.
Her head was craned back, just like her sister's, to watch the sharks swim over the top of the tunnel. “Here, Uncle Neil,” Sofia eventually said, holding out a hand. “Hold my hand so you don’t get scared.”
“Thanks, Sofia,” Neil said, taking the girl’s hand. She seemed less tense after that.
They moved more quickly past the sharks, making it to some smaller tanks. Those fish looked like the ones you could find at a pet store. Andrew lifted Isla so that she could get a better look at the tiny fish, her wide hazel eyes following every movement in the tank. Sofia was tall enough to not need such treatment to see into the tank.
The next tanks were even larger, full of more coral reefs. Sofia then declared everyone needed to be on the lookout for octopuses, since they could camouflage themselves and might be hard to see. Neil helped her look, not noticing anything out of the ordinary but also not entirely sure what he was looking for in the first place. Andrew and Isla stood further back, both watching Sofia and Neil get close to the glass as they searched for what they’d come for in the first place.
“Turtles!” Isla cheered after a full minute, letting go of Andrew’s hand to get closer to the glass. “Are they - are they as big as me?”
They certainly looked it. “You look like you could fit in a shell, Isla,” Neil told her. It made the four year old grin.
“No octopuses, Uncle Neil,” Sofia declared, getting to her feet and brushing dust off her pants. “We gotta keep moving.”
Next were tanks full of jellyfish that both girls got distracted by. It was strangely hypnotizing to watch them move. “There’s like a billion!” Isla whispered from where Andrew was holding her on his hip, allowing her to get a better view.
Neil was pretty sure the actual number was closer to a hundred, but he let her believe what she wanted. They moved on to the next tank, which appeared to be another coral reef of some kind. The fish here were even more colorful than in the previous tanks and in all shapes and sizes. Neil was distracted staring at Andrew, who was still carrying Isla and looking perfectly calm while doing so, when Sofia spotted her first octopus.
“It’s hiding!” she cheered, kneeling down to look at it through the glass. “Look, look! It’s moving!”
“Pretty cool, huh?” Neil asked, crouching down next to her.
“Uh huh!” Sofia replied with a giggle.
She seemed perfectly content to watch the octopus for a while longer. Andrew and Isla ended up turning to the other tank on the other side of the room that had seahorses. Eventually Sofia was done, dusting off her pants again as she got up and walked after the other two. There wasn’t much else to see, so before they knew it they had reached the gift shop. Neil checked the time and was glad to see they’d wasted a lot of time at the aquarium, and it was about mid-afternoon. They’d have to get the girls something to eat before they realized they were hungry.
“Want to pick something out?” Neil asked both the girls when he noticed Sofia staring at a huge octopus stuffed animal.
“Can I?” she asked, grabbing it. It was as large as her torso.
Isla picked out a seahorse that Andrew passed to her. She didn’t seem super interested in choosing something herself but she latched onto that stuffed animal as soon as it was in her arms. They paid and went to a small sandwich shop that was in a food court following the gift shop, bringing their food back to the Maserati. “Don’t make a mess,” Andrew told them.
“We won’t!” Sofia said for the two of them. Isla wordlessly agreed while she munched on her ham sandwich.
They went back to the apartment and brought the girl’s backpacks inside, leaving them on the couch. The cats had quickly jumped onto whatever high place they could, warily watching the girls that definitely noticed them but let them be. They’d both brought coloring books and other toys that they played with at the kitchen table, finishing eating their late lunch and babbling about what the aquarium was like as though Neil and Andrew hadn’t been there too. Neil just listened, definitely noticing when Andrew pulled out Sofia’s drawing and stuck it in front of their various notes left on the fridge.
“Can we go back?” Sofia asked.
“Some other time,” Neil promised her.
“See the fishies!” Isla cheered to herself.
Apparently both girls were still excited about fish, because when asked what movie they wanted to watch that night they both chose ‘Finding Nemo’. Andrew found it quickly and didn’t hesitate to tell the girls that Neil had never seen it, which seemed to shock them both to silence. Isla had been the first to speak up about it, telling Neil he just had to watch it ‘cause it was the greatest movie ever. So, he sat on the couch and watched.
He had to admit, it was good. Maybe a bit heavy for a children’s movie because of the whole ‘kidnapping’ thing, but good. When it was over they made their way to the kitchen, where everything was ready to make small homemade pizzas so that everyone could have their own. It was apparently a good idea, because Sofia seemed to care where every topping went and Isla didn’t seem to mind what ended up on her’s. They were put in the oven for a late dinner, so they found another children’s movie to watch. This time they both wanted ‘Frozen’, which was also the greatest movie ever. Neil had also not seen that one either, but managed to keep that to himself.
Another heavy children’s movie. Neil didn’t know if it was because of his own childhood that made him read too into the lines, but it made him wonder why Aaron and Katelyn would let the girls watch these in the first place. Then, after Anna went looking for her sister Elsa, Sofia looked across Isla to get Andrew’s attention. “Daddy said he and you are like Elsa and Anna, ‘cause you didn’t grow up together at first like they did.”
“Who’d he say I am?” Andrew asked, holding his head up with one arm propped on the couch’s arm rest.
“He said you’re Elsa.”
Andrew seemed smug. Neil figured he’d have to continue watching to find out why.
They paused halfway through to get their pizzas, cutting them into small pieces per the girls’ request, and ate while the rest of the movie played. He had to admit, he did not predict Hans would be the bad guy, so when he said, “Oh, Anna, if only there was someone out there who loved you,” he almost swore in front of the children.
“This is a kids movie,” Neil stated, watching Hans almost kill Elsa.
“Yes,” Andrew told him from the other end of the couch.
He almost swore again. Sure, it ended up happy, but shit .
They gave the girls ice cream and played the only board game Neil thought they would like when searching for things to entertain them: LIFE. He helped Sofia keep count of her finances and Isla moved the cars around the board more than playing, shuffling the little people into groups she explained were families. Andrew had the most money in the end, to which both Neil and Sofia scowled. “I’ll get you next time,” she declared, throwing her money on the board. “At least I got married.”
Andrew had remained stubbornly single in the game. Neil had tried his luck at the family routes and ended up landing on every ‘have a kid’ square. He was definitely the poorest. “Uncle Andrew doesn’t know fun,” he whispered to Sofia. Andrew just shrugged.
“Are you guys married?” she asked.
“No.”
“Are you gonna have kids?”
“Probably not.”
Sofia frowned. “But then what do you do on Father’s Day?”
“Sleep in?” Neil asked more than answered, looking at Andrew for help. He didn’t get any.
Sofia mumbled to herself, starting to help put away the board game while Isla handed over the people pieces. “I’ll make you guys a Father’s Day gift next time.”
“Alright.”
Bed time was supposed to be around 8:30 at the latest, so of course that was when they only just started getting ready. Isla was yawning as she got changed and brushed her teeth, and Sofia seemed to lose some of her energy as well. They got into the bed Neil and Andrew had gotten ready for them, snuggling up under the covers. Isla seemed to fall asleep immediately, but not before saying goodnight.
“Thanks for taking us to the ‘quarium, Uncle Neil,” Sofia whispered when Neil tucked her in.
“Sure thing, sweetie.”
She sat up, undoing his work. “Goodnight kisses?”
After a moment of hesitation, Neil leaned forward, letting her press a quick kiss to his cheek. Andrew had been leaning against the door the whole time, but it only took one look from the girl to get him to enter the room and let her do the same. After that she settled down, letting the blankets be tucked around her, and said goodnight.
Once they were back in their own room, Neil smirked and leaned into Andrew’s space. “Can I have a goodnight kiss?”
“Should’ve known this was a bad idea,” Andrew seemed to say to himself, but he looked right into Neil’s eyes and nudged their noses. “Yes?”
“Yes,” Neil agreed, leaning into his kiss.
They got ready for bed themselves not too long later, each of them tired from the day. Neil fell asleep pretty quickly, but woke up what felt like not long after. He was a light sleeper because he once had to be, so he was wide awake for when their door creaked open and Isla hesitantly walked into their room. He waited, listening for what she would do, but didn’t want to scare her away. He could feel that Andrew was awake on his other side.
She crossed over to him, whispering quietly, “Uncle Andrew?” Andrew must’ve opened his eyes, because just a second later she said, “I think there’s a monster in the room.”
Andrew didn’t say anything, but just got out of bed and walked her back to the guest room. Neil waited, hearing them move around there and then out to the rest of the apartment. He gave them some more time alone and finally got out of bed himself, taking a moment to rub any sleep he still had from his eyes, and went to the kitchen. Isla was sitting on the counter, holding a large spoon and getting some chocolate ice cream all over her face. Andrew stood right next to her, his pint of ice cream on the counter.
“It’s, like, three AM,” Neil pointed out, walking until he was next to them both.
“Isla thought there was a monster in the room,” Andrew reported while eating some more ice cream.
Isla nodded to confirm the story. “It was just King. But she was scary looking.”
“How did she get in there?” Neil asked, ruffling Isla’s blonde curls. “She was scary enough that you needed some ice cream?”
“Uncle Andrew said it was okay.”
Neil didn’t argue. He put the lid on the pint and returned it to the freezer, coming back with a washcloth and wiping away the ice cream left on Isla’s cheeks. “Too much sugar will give you cavities.”
“Daddy says that,” Isla murmured. “Are we goin’ home tomorrow?”
“Yes,” Neil confirmed, lifting the girl up and carrying her back to the guest room. “Your mom and dad will pick you up after breakfast.”
“Okay,” she whispered, getting under the covers and holding the seahorse she’d gotten that day close to her chest. “Night, night.”
“Goodnight,” Neil said, leaning back. Andrew brushed some of Isla’s hair away from her face and poked her seahorse, making her giggle slightly. They then went back to their room and got in bed again. Neil quickly fell asleep, but he was sure Andrew didn’t for a while.
The next morning, he decided to not go on his run and instead laid in bed long enough that Andrew got up before him. Just when he was sitting up in bed, Neil made a big show of stretching, grinning over his shoulder. Andrew just narrowed his eyes and got to his feet, leaving the room. Neil snickered to himself and followed him to the kitchen.
The girls came out not long later, rubbing their eyes and yawning. Their hair was a complete mess and the blankets had left red lines on their faces, but they perked up the moment they noticed Andrew was making pancakes. “You have to add chocolate chips, Uncle Andrew,” Sofia told him, sitting down at the table. “Otherwise they’re not real pancakes.”
“You’re right,” Andrew agreed, going to the pantry and adding more than what was already there to the batter. Neil considered taking a picture and sending it to Kevin, but didn’t.
After breakfast, both Neil and Andrew made sure that the girls were cleaned up for the day, faces washed and teeth brushed. They both changed into what they had brought and watched some other movie while they waited for Aaron and Katelyn to arrive. They did around noon, entering the apartment and getting bombarded by the two girls who babbled on about what was at the aquarium and the stuffed animals they’d gotten from the gift shop.
Aaron blinked slowly at the sight of the large octopus that Sofia had. She was grinning brightly and declared its name was Purps, because of the lilac shade the stuffed animal was. Isla held tightly to her seahorse, whispering that its name was Fishie. Neil snorted when he heard and told her it was a great name.
“Did you have fun?” Katelyn asked, brushing Isla’s hair with her fingers.
“Yes!” both the girls replied, pulling their packed backpacks over their shoulders.
“Uncle Neil promised we’d go to the aquarium again,” Sofia declared.
“Something to look forward to at your next sleepover,” Aaron told her.
Neil was thrown off at the thought of another sleepover. “Oh, okay.”
“Say goodbye to your uncles, girls.”
Both Neil and Andrew had to lean down so that the two could press quick kisses to their cheeks, saying goodbye and running down the hallway. Katelyn and Aaron left not long after, saying a quick ‘thank you’, and then the door was closed and the place was quiet. A lot quieter, actually. Neil turned from the door and glanced at the fridge, where Sofia’s picture was still hanging.
“We don’t want kids, right?” he asked Andrew, mostly to confirm it.
Andrew just shrugged and turned towards the bedroom.
“Andrew? Andrew, that’s not an answer. Come on - yes or no? Andrew!”