aftg au where bee adopted andrew and later aaron when they were teens. she owns an apple orchard that the twins and occasionally a few of the foxes help run but it's almost harvest season and she needs help prepping everything for the town's fall festivals so she decided to put up a help wanted ad. neil, tired, alone, and running out of options, decides to apply. bee let's him use the renovated barn loft as residence when she learns he's homeless. andrew is wary, his family means everything to him and neil is a flightly little thing that could only bring bad news, but something about neil is familiar. maybe it's how he checks all his exits or how he flinches when people touch him or how he cradles the key bee gave him in his palm like it was a treasure instead of a piece of metal. he asks neil for truths and it's like bleeding a rock but he finds neil is more willing when truth is reciprocated. they spend their days walking down the lines of apple trees, harvesting and talking, and andrew is only a little mesmerized with the way neil's auburn curls blend with the red of the apples and his eyes match the sky like something deliberate, like he was meant to be here. andrew thinks that maybe he doesn't hate how neil looks at him like he's worth something. andrew thinks that maybe he doesn't want to lose this. he's still learning how to accept that not everything is transactional, he doesn't need to make deals to keep people close, hes still figuring out how to want things without the fear of them being snatched away. his mind screams at him to turn away and push any feeling aside but then neil is handing him an apple and smiling and telling him stories he says he's never told anyone else and andrew doesn't think he deserves this but he wants it