CHAPTER 347: WHAT ARE THEY DOING?

Andrew wouldn’t lie and say he didn’t have a little pep in his step when he arrived back home. He’d swung by a bakery to pick up a few sweet treats for everyone since he had been gone from the house for so long.

When he got home, he half expected Maxwell to come running to see him as soon as he pulled in. He didn’t take it to heart, taking his time getting out of the car and curiousity filled him. What had the two of them gotten up to while he had been gone? Had they been good? Did something happen to Richard?

Andrew realised that he hadn’t heard anything from them outside of lunch time. Andrew picked up the pace a little bit, grabbing the sweet treats and locking the car behind him. When he pushed open the door into the house proper he heard laughter fill the air.

Curiousity got the better of him and Andrew followed the laughter. He thought it might have been coming from the kitchen or the office, but as he got closer to the front of the house he found that he was wrong. It was coming from the dining room.

Only slightly concerned, Andrew placed the sweets down on the island, pulling off his coat and placing it on the counter next to the sweets. Then, he made his way towards the dining room, the sounds getting louder.

Andrew finally got to see what was going on, and his heart melted.

Maxwell and Richard were working on a puzzle. Andrew didn’t even know that they owned puzzles, but maybe that had been something that May or Ford had packed away in his suit cases. Maxwell had his back to Andrew, while Richard was facing him, but neither of them had noticed that Andrew was there.

It was the few empty snifters that really told Andrew what was going on.

Andrew felt his lips turn up slightly at the sight that hadn’t been seen for a while. Ever since Andrew’s ’accident’, Maxwell had mostly refused to drink around him. Andrew understood why. It’s why he hadn’t ever pushed it since. So seeing this? This warmed Andrew’s heart.

To see Richard slightly flushed, rifling through a puzzle box body, his shoulders relaxed even in a way that he hadn’t seen in a while. Not even at work.

Andrew stood in the doorway, watching them, listening to them chatter to each other gleefully as they drunkenly put together the puzzle in front of them. Andrew leaned against the frame, a smile on his face, his arms crossed as he watched, waited. He wondered when they would notice that they weren’t alone.

It wasn’t Richard who noticed first, like Andrew expected. It was Maxwell.

Andrew heard the man sniff, watched him raise his head, turn it from side to side before he spun in his chair, pushing it back to throw himself at Andrew. His arms were wide, his eyes sparkling as he smiled at Andrew, clearly in his cups but not too far gone.

"Andy!" He cried, wrapping his arms around Andrew and laughing, before he released him only to grab his face and lower it to his own, pressing kisses there. He smothered Andrew in kisses, and Andrew couldn’t stop laughing. Andrew held onto the man lightly, not too tight to let him move and bounce around as he wanted.

Maxwell wasn’t wearing the clothes he had left him in. He was wearing more of Andrew’s clothes again, and he was swimming in the clothing. Andrew wanted to point it out, but at the same time, it was so damn cute that he couldn’t say anything at all.

"You guys are so gross." Richard protested from where he was sitting at the dining room table and Andrew chuckled. Gross? They were keeping it tame because Richard was around. Andrew wanted to hold Maxwell tightly in his arms, his hands leaving handprints on Maxwell’s tender flesh, the contrast of their skin tones obvious as Andrew kissed the breath away from his lungs.

"We could be grosser." Andrew told him, a warning in his voice full of laughter that had Richard stiffening in his chair. Andrew laughed at his reaction and Maxwell hadn’t stopped kissing his face. "Angel, that’s enough." Andrew eventually told him, stopping Maxwell gently.

The other man was all big eyes, soft lips and it made Andrew want to melt into the floor.

"You want me to stop?" He asked, and Andrew swore he saw a bottom lip quiver. He froze.

"No, it’s not that I want you to stop, but we have company." Andrew said softly, gently, and Maxwell only looked disappointed. Andrew didn’t know what to do, what he could do. Even Richard was looking like he felt bad.

"Oh. Okay." It was a knife to his heart.

"Baby, you can’t look so sad just because I said that. You’re killing me here. I brought some sweets home. Did you want some?" Andrew asked and Maxwell nodded slowly. Richard raised his hand like he was back in school and Andrew grinned. He bent, kissing Maxwell softly on the lips before he let the other man go, slipping backwards and back into the kitchen. "I’ll go get them ready. Are we ready for dinner after that?" Andrew asked and Richard nodded.

"We had some snacks today. Didn’t even need to use the stove." Richard told him proudly, and snarkily and Andrew just shook his head. He had a feeling he wouldn’t be living that aspect down.

"Did you? Did you also eat a proper amount for how much you two have been drinking?" He asked and watched them as they both remained quiet and wouldn’t meet his gaze. Like naughty animals.

Andrew chuckled, shaking his head. "Wow you two. I’m a bit disappointed. Well, no matter. Max, or Richard, can you grab some forks from the kitchen while I get the sweets plated?" Andrew asked and Richard scrambled to his feet to do so.

He was glad that he was keeping an eye on them, and that he came home when he did. He was going to start making dinner as soon as he got the sweets in front of them. They would probably need it.

Richard moved around and it was like watching a child trying to play a game. It was sloppy, and Andrew almost worried he was going to fall over, but he ended up being fine. Maxwell stood in the doorway mimicking Andrew’s stance from before. It was cute to watch them bumble around, and when Andrew brought over the desserts he had meant to save for after dinner but couldn’t do so in the face of their cuteness, Maxwell gave him a wet, sloppy kiss that had Richard making loud noises of protest.

Andrew gave him a middle finger as he kissed Maxwell deeper, much to Maxwell’s delight and Richard’s upset and loud protests.

Andrew then went on to cook dinner, stealing a few bites of the sweets from Maxwell’s plate as the two continued working on the puzzle, giggling to each other.

It was a nice sound to hear in their normally quiet home. Andrew hadn’t even realised that their home was missing anything until Richard arrived. Andrew hadn’t thought there was anything missing, but now he was getting it. He and Maxwell didn’t entertain, didn’t have people over. They never had friends over to celebrate or just hang out.

That was going to change from this point on. They had three extra bedrooms, not including the soon to be finished suite in the basement. Their house was huge, and that was something that Andrew and Maxwell had wanted.

So, once they were semi happy with everything, Richard was better, and Maxwell felt stable, they were going to be having people over. Andrew decided that in this moment. With how happy Maxwell was, just sitting doing a puzzle and having a few drinks with Richard? Yeah, it was a no brainer for him.

Andrew kept puttering around, hearing the laughter, Richard trying to shush Maxwell, and that only made the two of them fall into more laughter. Andrew just shook his head, happy to hear such good sounds in his and Maxwell’s home.

Andrew was almost done making dinner, his coat still on the counter when he heard silence from the other room, and then he could smell the other man. The sweet and spicy scent filled his nostrils, really ruining the other man’s surprise as Maxwell wrapped his arms around Andrew, letting out a small scream of joy.

He was trying to scare Andrew, and had no idea that he was his own worst enemy.

Andrew turned, smiling down at his drunk boyfriend, and just wanted to squeeze him tight.

"You’re precious that you thought you’d scared me." Andrew told him sweetly, and Maxwell stuck his bottom lip out.

"Not even a little?" He asked and Andrew shook his head.

"No, not even a little." Andrew confirmed and the man went on to pout some more before he let out a deep sigh.

"Guess I’ll just have to try next time." He muttered and Andrew had to restrain himself from kissing the man senseless. He was sure that Maxwell had no self control right now, and Andrew knew he didn’t. So, he kept his hands to himself, continued working on dinner and then plated and served it to the drunkards in the dining room.

Both dug in and Andrew sat down, watching them enjoy their food, including Andrew in their conversation easily. It was sweet, cute, and Andrew was so excited to tease them about this moment tomorrow. It wasn’t nearly as bad as when Maxwell had been at the wedding, but he had a feeling he might see more like that moving forward.