A/N: Requested by the lovely lunabelle on tumblr: "I never meant to hurt you."

I'm rewatching Parks and I'm trying to pace my fic along with that so there's gonna be a fair stretch of little family fic. Besides, she has that covered in spades :)

That said, enjoy?

Andy has to fix this now, somehow.

The less-than-gorgeous Pawnee mid-afternoon couldn't possibly be worse, that's what he thought just ten minutes before now. Before now, Andy could only send another text into the void and stare at boring City Hall portraits.

But now?

It's been a few hours and he's still coming to terms with the concept of what's in front of him. He can't get the idea out of his head that she might not want him after all. Everything had felt so right back then, just a few months earlier, and now everything is wrong. The shoeshine stand is boring, the dire aromas of polish are just annoying, and there's no awkward greeting that's way too quiet from behind to tell him April is there to hang out for the day. Or the way she looks when she smiles and the way he reacts. Andy can still feel that wide open sensation in his lungs like her smile found everything wrong with him and softened everything into warmth.

None of that warmth is greeting him now as April stares at him without a smile.

"Can I talk to you?" Andy asks her, dumbstruck at this strange hanger-on next to her. It doesn't help that he's gorgeous.

"You are," she deadpans.

"Like, alone?" He jerks his head towards Eduardo.

"No," she answers.

It's gonna be like that.

He might never get a chance to say what he feels. That's what this was going to turn into and Andy knows it, but just like everything else in his life he can't stop. Giving up on April would be the worst decision he could possibly make, that's all there is to it. Determined, Andy takes a deep breath. And another, watching Eduardo smile at April and the way she returns it - that's real. Watching it happen burns through his chest, like an all too hot fire on a summer's day just an inch from his face. She smiles back at Eduardo and it's elemental, all pain with no reprieve.

"Well, okay," Andy scratches the back of head.

April turns and bores into him with a dreadful glare, like he's an insect. "Why are you talking to me?" she asks.

He can feel his mouth hang open but no words really come out. Eduardo asks something and he can't understand a word of it, but Andy knows he's probably making fun of him. If not, then later April would. Later when they're alone, and together...

The thought is revolting, turning Andy's stomach over in an uncomfortable moment.

"Y'know, I just wanted to apologize," he starts, "and I did mean that I'm gonna make this up to you."

"Andy," April groans.

"I didn't mean to hurt you," he says. It's the truth, she needs to know that. All the silly flower plans and methods to win her over he has in mind, she has to know. "I never meant to hurt you."

Eduardo fixes him with a look, one Andy can't quite place. He ignores it because now he's getting annoyed with the guy and he can only see the absolute positive outcome that's going to come out of this. Things have to get better, right?

"You didn't mean to?" April's eyes go wide and her voice is louder than expected. Andy isn't sure what is behind her eyes, but he doesn't like being on the receiving end of whatever it means. "You didn't mean to hurt me?"

"I-"

April lowers her voice, taking a deep breath before she speaks again, "Andy I don't want to talk to you."

"That's cool. That's fine, I can just beg for forgiveness other ways," he says with a smirk.

His hopes at a smile in return are not greeted with an instant and disgusted frown. It takes a second and Andy feels that beat in his heart. It takes a second but he recognizes her own frustrated, stopped breath.

"I'm gonna go hang out with my boyfriend," she blurts out with particular emphasis. "C'mon, Eduardo."

Andy watches them storm of the Parks department or, rather, April storms out and Eduardo follows with his hand in hers, dragged along without any say in the matter. That should be it and yet, his heart does not drop from his chest and crawl away from him like it should.

There is no progress made at all, he can even see the sadness in Leslie when he catches her peeking through the window in her office, but that second in April's withering stare? Andy can live off of that second for days. He would need to in order to maneuver himself through the complex hell that is April Ludgate's disappointment.