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It started out ironically, as a joke.
If Neil was having a bad day, it was only natural for Andrew to affect an accent and call him darling, in order to make him laugh. It was a way for them to joke about Nicky and Erik, without them knowing.
The problem was, to get the joke, you had to know like six different things that only Andrew and Neil knew.
First, you had to know that Nicky was a fucking romantic and he hid it with a thin veneer of sexual jokes and light teasing. Second, you had to know that Nicky’s favorite movie was Lady and the Tramp. Third, you had to know that it was the first movie he watched with Erik, after he had come out to the Klose family. Fourth, you had to know that Andrew loved to say random quotes from movies that Neil had never seen until Neil asked to watch them with him. It finally got to the point that Neil started quoting those random things to, for the joke. Fifth, you had to have a keen understanding of Lady and the Tramp. That particular knowledge being that Lady believed her human parent’s names were John Dear and Darling, because it’s the only way they referred to one another. Finally, sixth, you had to know that Andrew and Neil would do anything to further their inside jokes; to the point that sometimes their inside jokes had inside jokes.
It took Neil awhile to catch on. Andrew would say in the most casual tone as he walked by Neil, frustrated and furious, trying to figure out his homework for his survey of astronomy and astrology class. Darling.
When Neil finally caught on, he started calling Andrew, Andrew dear. They would share a private chuckle over how sickly sweet and openly romantic Nicky and Erik were.
They were Andrew Dear and Darling, until one day they witnessed something in the park that took their joke from good to great.
A little girl called her grandmother Lovey. Lovey. Neil started calling Andrew “Lovey” every chance he got. He and Andrew would share a private grin in remembrance. They always referred to each other like that when they were texting. Eventually, Neil shortened Lovey to Love, and that was that. Over time, it wasn’t brought up in order to make one another laugh, it just became the nicknames that they had for one another.
Love, can you grab the remote while you’re up?
Darling, would you grab my mug while I start the coffee?
Darling, want to go for a smoke?
Love, I think Kevin wants us to meet him 20 minutes early for night practice.
The only problem with their new form of communication was that none of the Foxes were aware that they did it. They tended to speak to one another in glances and snorts and scoffs. They had their own language of eyerolls and side glances. Since they were rarely away from one other’s side, it was easy for the Foxes to be kept in the dark. Not on purpose, because if called out on it, both men would adamantly argue that they only did it as a joke to make fun of Nicky. And if they tried to argue that, the Foxes might have believed them.
If they didn’t so clearly have love in their voice when they shouted it across the court.
“Darling, I’ve seen ducks with better footwork than that. If you think I won’t start aiming for your feet for you to pick up the pace.” Andrew left the threat unfinished, but everyone on the court froze as if he had explicitly stated how he was going to murder everyone on the court.
“Oh, is that right, Love? Maybe if my backliners had my back, I wouldn’t be out here making a fool of myself. Matt, what the hell man? The ball is in play, don’t just stand there.” Matt was frozen and so was the rest of the team. Neil spun a little wildly, until Nicky spoke up.
“What the fuck? I thought you guys were just hate fucking to get out all your pent-up rage.”
“If I wanted to get out my pent-up rage, I would take it out on your face,” Andrew said menacingly, but coming from under all his layers of armor, it was hard to sound tough.
“Are you guys, like, dating?” Allison asked.
“Shh, don’t be nosey, Al,” Renee shushed from the other side of the court where she was defending the opposite goal.
“No, fuck that. I’m being nosey, what the fuck guys! Why didn’t you tell me? I’m your family!” Nicky screeched.
Neil looked confused. “What, exactly, were we supposed to tell you?”
“That you’re in love, man!?” Matt asked, almost hysterical.
“I suppose I wouldn’t want him to die,” Andrew said, “could you imagine the trouble that would put me through. No, it’s much better he stays alive.”
“Okay, but we’re playing exy right now, guys,” Neil said.
“I changed my mind. I’ll fucking kill him,” Andrew said, throwing off his gloves.