Flash forward a few months, it's summer break now and the group was going to the beach for the day, and Neil was super excited because he'd finally gained enough weight to go without needing a swimming shirt, he was always too skinny to confidently go shirtless, but not this year! He had his swim trunks on and just put on a t-shirt before leaving his room.
"ok, Neil we're going to see a movie, poppy will be at therapy, and the twins are going out with their friends. I can't say for sure about the twins, but I know we'll still be gone when you get back, understand?" Malachi told him as the American shorthair grabbed another breakfast burrito and gave him a thumbs up before leaving. He met up with Bobby on his way and she noticed the change immediately.
"Oh. my. God! Nini, did you finally stop wearing a swim shirt?" she squealed.
"Maybeeee," he dragged out as he walked up to her, running his fingers through his hair. She squealed again and wrapped her arms around her friend.
"Hey, hey! Calm down, you haven't even seen me without a shirt yet!"
"But still, i'm so happy for you!" she smiled as she showered his face with kisses before they walked to the beach together, where Hollie was waiting and digging a large hole in the sand.
"Hey, you two!" Hollie shouted as she waved them over.
"Hi holls," Bobby smiled as she sat down on the hot sand beside her friend.
"Nini, is it just me, or is there something different about you?" Hollie teased, seeing the difference clear as day.
"Guess," Neil signed back.
"Hmm, new haircut."
Neil shook his head.
"Different swim suit?"
Neil shook his head again.
"Oh!" her ears perked up for a second. "You finally ditched your shirt!"
Neil laughed and nodded.
"I'm so happy for you, nini! You're so pretty!" Bobby smiled and hugged him.
"Yea, i get a free pass to call you a twink now," Hollie snickered. They talked and helped Hollie dig her hole while waiting for the others to get there, and they were all equally happy for Neil, especially dylan. They spent their day at the beach dicking around, being a little rougher with Neil since he actually had the strength for it, and started packing up to go home around 4:30.
"Hey, honey pie~" Neil cooed, leaning on dylan.
"Yes?" the cocker spaniel chuckled, reaching behind him and petting his boyfriend.
"Everyone's out of my house for the day," he whispered in his ear, getting a sudden shocked stop out of him. Neil giggled.
"Oh, shut up. You want me to come over? Fine, I'll come over, just no funny business out of you, ok mister?" Dylan smiled. Neil bounced on his toes as he pulled his boyfriend to his house. Once they got in and dried off, they watched a show out in the living room and went to Neil's room to talk about summer break plans, slowly getting friskier and friskier until they were full blown making out against the back wall as they made their way into Neil's closet. The American shorthair hugged Dylan's neck as he pulled himself into the cocker spaniel's lap, still exchanging saliva. they briefly paused to shut the closet door before going back at it. (ok, rereading this part will never not make me gag, so i'll spare you from the horrors my sleep-deprived ass wrote in the middle of study hall. All you need to know is that it never goes past making out, g'day)
poppy POV-
Poppy sat at her desk drawing. therapy had ended early and Malachi drove her back home while he was taking everyone else to their movie. All of a sudden, she heard Neil's closet door thump shut. she ignored since it was a fairly normal sound, but what really piqued her interest was the quiet shifting she was hearing. she stopped and looked behind her where Neil's closet was as she heard more shifting, then a soft thump. she furrowed her brow as she heard another thump and... moaning? her eyes widened and her jaw dropped as she realized what was going on. she glanced at her window before looking back at the wall. What should she do? She knew neil and dylan were dating, and he's been over plenty of times and this never happened. What was different about this time? she took a second to think about what could've changed for them to do this. no one else was in the house and her door was closed, making it seem like she was still at therapy. they thought they were here alone. That's what changed. she sighed through her nose as she contemplated whether or not she should try to let them know she was here before she stood up and opened her door, that should do it, and if not, she'd knock on his door and tell him malachi got those shitty but somehow delicious store bought sugar cookies because he gave them to her and told her to let neil know about them when he got home since he they were one of his favorite cookies.
neil POV-
Eventually, both of them were shirtless and barely getting any air, still aggressively making out and probably contracting new diseases at this point, when they heard a door open. They pulled away and looked at each other. How long had whoever just opened that door been home for? Were they there since before they got home? they must've been, because they never heard anyone come in. Neil could've sworn everyone would be out, Malachi was off doing stuff with the cats, bunny and PJ, poppy was at therapy, the twins were off doing stuff with friends, and Donna was at work, so who the fuck just opened that door? it must've been poppy, the door that opened was so close to Neil's closet. They looked at each other as Neil slowly got off Dylan, mortified that poppy might've heard them. they put on their shirts and scrambled out of the closet and tried to make it seem like they were never doing anything, Neil was at his desk and picked up his tarot book and made it seem like he was reading and running his fingers through his hair, even though he was way too adrenaline high to focus on something as slow paced as a book, while Dylan was on his phone rapidly looking for something to do. whoever opened the door knocked on Neil's.
"Neil, Malachi got some of those sugar cookies that you like, they're in the kitchen if you want any," Poppy told him from the other side of the door.
"ok, thanks flower field!" he shouted back as he heard poppy walk away. The boys looked at each other and started laughing, not out of joy or amusement of any kind, just pure adrenaline and stress.
"my house next time, got that?" Dylan chuckled. Neil nodded as he stood up.
"Want one?" he signed, opening his door, getting a nod from the canine. He went downstairs and into the kitchen, where Poppy was sitting at the table eating one of the cookies. He grabbed a snack plate and took 2 cookies out of the container. The tension was so thick you could cut it with a knife. He awkwardly glanced at Poppy before taking a deep breath.
"I am soooo sorry. I didn't know you were home. please don't tell Donna or Malachi," he whispered, turning his head to look at her.
"It's ok, I didn't think you did, just don't do it again," Poppy laughed in a similar discomfort before making a 'zip it' motion over her lips. Neil smiled and waved as he went back to his room with the treats and sat down beside Dylan. the cocker spaniel scratched behind his boyfriend's ears, making him purr. They enjoyed their food as they went back to talking about summer break plans until Dylan had to go home, leaving Neil alone with Poppy until people started getting back from stuff.
dylan POV-
Dylan put his keys away as he walked into the house and looked around. The house felt so hollow with no one else around. He was usually outside spending time with friends, but would dread coming home, not out of fear, but loneliness. When mom had declared him old enough to take care of himself, which was around middle school, the house seemed so empty. He started getting into watching speedrunning just so he'd have someone to hear talk as he did stuff. His personal favorite speedrunner was this ginger cat StellarLoaf since she was fairly chill and pretty damn entertaining. He put on one of her VODs and started making dinner. Once he was done with the cooking part and moved onto cleaning, which gave his food some time to cool off, he heard something big fall in his room. He stopped and went over to pause the VOD as he listened for anything weird. He heard someone moving around in his room before his door opened. Did someone just break into the house? Dylan's blood ran cold as he slowly made his way to the knife block and looked at it to grab the biggest one. All of a sudden, he felt like whoever just broke in was right behind him, nearly breathing down his neck. He was a quiet breather.
"Boo," the culprit said at conversation volume, somehow managing to scare the cocker spaniel as he turned around and screamed. Turns out it was Neil, who was now laughing his ass off at his boyfriend's distress.
"Dude, what the hell?! You scared the ever living shit out of me!" Dylan demanded as Neil collected himself.
"Sorry. Sorry, sorry," the American shorthair laughed as he walked over and hugged him.
"No, don't touch me, I'm mad at you!" Dylan chuckled as he pulled Neil's paws off his shoulders and put them onto the counter.
"I'm sorry, I didn't think you'd get that scared," Neil laughed, trying to collect himself.
Dylan sighed. "It's ok, just never fucking do that again. Why are you here anyway? You want round two without poppy?" Dylan flirted, snuggling up to the American shorthair.
"Is it so crazy that I wanna spend time with you alone without sucking your face off? besides, I snagged you another cookie," Neil held out a plastic bag with two cookies in them.
"aww, thank you angel food cake!"
"it's no trouble, honey pie~"
Dylan finished washing the dishes and went over to the couch with his food and Neil as he played the VOD and sat down on the couch and started eating.
"so, what do you do when you're alone?" Neil asked.
"this."
"elaborate."
"make food, watch a speedrun, go to sleep, repeat once I get home."
"That's grossly bland."
"It's not like I have much else to do when I'm not hanging out with you guys."
"hmm."
Neil inched closer to him and snuggled his muzzle in the crook of Dylan's neck as he wagged his tail.
"seems lonely," Neil muttered comfortably.
"eh. It is, but it's not like I have much of a choice."
"What if I stayed with you? you sound different right now. It's a sad sort of different, it doesn't suit you. Would having some company help you be less lonely?"
Dylan almost melted. He was always so busy making sure everyone else was comfortable, that he tended to forget about himself most of the time. sure he made sure he fed himself and kept himself stimulated, but he never made sure he was always happy, he just kinda forced himself to be for everyone else's sake. but if Neil were here, maybe he wouldn't feel as forced to be happy. Neil was the type of person to reach into your heart and pull out your emotions with ease, and he always knew how to make anyone feel better without even trying. He was an expert at cheering people up, it was a skill Dylan lacked. He usually tried to cheer people up by being positive, and if people were happy enough, his positivity would radiate off them, but that didn't always work.
"Y'know, sometimes you just need to be the shoulder to cry on," Neil blurted out. Dylan raised an eyebrow.
"you can't try to force a smile out of someone, you may just need to let them be sad and be there to comfort them."
Dylan didn't know what it was, maybe he was so used to being more emotionally vulnerable at home, or Neil's scent, or he was already a little upset, but what Neil told him had just made a flood gate open and the cocker spaniel started sobbing his eyes out. Neil just put Dylan's plate on the other side of the couch and cradled the canine's head in his chest and pet him as he cried. They sat like that until Neil tried to get up for whatever reason before Dylan gripped his arm.
"don't leave, please," he sniffled as Neil went over and pet him on the head.
"i'm just gonna grab a box of tissues, I won't even leave your sight, ok?"
"Just stay with me," Dylan pulled him back onto the couch and went back to snuggling him while Neil seemed to accept it, snuggling back and purring.
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