Oh, Bee. Bee was so happy for them, because Neil was proof that Andrew was healing enough to let other people in. Her immediate reaction had to be tempered, though, because she found out before she was supposed to know – until Aaron threw the relationship in Andrew’s face during a joint session ((the day he made Andrew choose between him and Neil)), she had no clue they were seeing each other.

((She knew something was going on, because Andrew had gone from bringing Neil up at nearly every session–usually in throwaway comments and insubstantial insults–to refusing to talk about him at all. She just didn’t know what. Bee had quietly wondered about Andrew’s sexuality off and on, mostly because she knew from Andrew that the upperclassmen were betting on his & Renee’s chances. Andrew didn’t tell Bee what he told Renee**, but he sounded so disinterested in the entire thing that she marked it in her notes. She never asked, though, because she knew it wasn’t time.))

Bee knew Andrew would’ve brought it up with her if he wanted to talk about it, and she knew Aaron crossed a line by tell her about it. But once it was in the open she did have to react so that Andrew would understand where she stood. That shared session was the wrong time, so she messaged Andrew later, a simple “I’m happy for you” to test the waters. It was a while before she managed to get Andrew to actually talk about it, but eventually they were able to address the underlying issues. Bee had as much fun with that “I hate him” conversation as Neil did, and tbh Andrew was a hundred times more likely to listen to Bee’s reasoning on the matter.

((Go Mama Bee! \o.o/ ))

Nicky & Aaron didn’t have a clue the two were together until Maryland, when Allison basically outed Andrew & Neil to the team. After Aaron realized there was something there, he took approximately one day to figure out where he stood on it, and one second to realize he could profit from it.

Aaron & Andrew might’ve had a complicated relationship, but they were still twins in the end. They were too much alike; they could read each other in the tiniest gestures. Bias tried to argue, but Aaron knew the moment Andrew walked back into their room in Neil’s clothes that this was something important. He went to Katelyn and the upperclassmen, demanding every insight they could give him, and put it all together with a selfish intensity.

Nicky, who thinks he’s so smart and observant but who can be quite oblivious sometimes, didn’t realize there were two-way Feels involved until Aaron switched rooms with Neil. He was as surprised as Neil was that Andrew would take Neil over Aaron. He thought Neil had more invested in the entire thing than Andrew ever would, and that night proved him wrong.

**

“I wanted you to hear this from me,” Renee said as she slipped her knife back into its sheath. “The others are starting to talk, and while I haven’t been able to catch the entire conversation, it seems they are betting on our chances of ending up together. As a couple, I mean.“

Andrew laughed. “Are they really? Oh, but they really will bet on anything. What a waste of time and money. Know this before you give any weight to their suspicions, Natalie Renee Shields Walker: I don’t fuck women.”

It took a moment for it to sink in, the words first and the meaning behind them. Renee was too startled by the confession to react immediately, and her pause gave Andrew time to get to his feet and start for the door. She wondered for a second if he was walking away from her potential reaction or if he was just leaving because this conversation didn’t interest him any longer. It was likely the latter, but if it wasn’t—

“And I don’t kiss heathens,” she said, in as cheeky a tone as she could manage, and Andrew wheeled back to look at her. She smiled and said, “So it’s not going to be a problem for either of us, right? We’ll have to settle for being friends.”