#Jack was showing him around because the Wymack asked him to.

[jtl-fics]

Fluent Freshman - Part 35

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"Andrew, wake up." Andrew felt a hand on his shoulder and he lashed out as he always did. He found himself rocketing towards consciousness as he heard Neil's pained grunt. Panic lances through him as he realizes what he had hit instead of the intruder and he's glad they compromised when he and Neil had started to sleep in the same bed.

Andrew pulls Neil in closer to protect him even as Neil groans at the sudden jolting movement.

He needs to get-

"I already moved your secret pillow knife Andrew." The intruder says as Andrew's hand grasps at nothing. He has a second one but the intruder is now armed and Neil-

"Erik and the Hans Moretti Sword Box are the only combination of me, another guy, and blades being stabbed at me that I will accept. Now, wake up." The familiar sounding intruder says.

Andrew blinks awake.

Nicky's frowning face is staring down at him.

"I need to borrow the Maserati, or you need to drive me to Abby's house. Right now." Nicky says without a hint of the fear.

Or, at least, not fear of Andrew.

"What's wrong with Smith?" he asks holding out his hand for his pilfered knife as he rubs Neil's side where he had lashed out instinctively.

Nicky looks at him for a long moment before handing the knife back to Andrew, "There's...I just feel like something isn't right. I want to be there with him, I shouldn't have left him there." Nicky says.

Andrew didn't disagree.

FF had been relaxed and at ease, drinking the disgusting smoothie that Kevin had forced on him, and Andrew had noticed a hint of a smile on his friend's face.

Then that fuckface showed up and FF had looked worse than when Andrew had stabbed him. He still remembered the garbage that piece of shit had spewed and Andrew hated knowing things about his friend that his friend hadn't told him.

Hated that his brain could piece moments that made a horrible amount of sense now. FF staring at his car the first time before climbing in, how he had requested that Andrew focus on the road, Nicky looking at all of them exasperated "Smithy was going to walk back", and-

“See, you’re still upset over what that guy did. Why are you clinging to the last name of the guy that did this to you?” Fuckface asks from behind them, “He almost killed mom and you. He did kill our two-“

"Stop."

Andrew makes himself stop thinking about it. It wasn't something FF wanted to talk about.

"The keys are where I always put them." he says because he thinks if he gets out of bed he might go hunt fuckface for sport. The thought of seeing fuckface's well fucking face as he hits him with the Maserati is not a bad one.

"Thank you Andrew. Sorry Neil." Nicky says and Neil waves it off having mostly drifted back to sleep as Andrew had rubbed his back mindlessly.

Nicky leaves without another word. Andrew settled back into bed hand still mindlessly rubbing Neil's back. He closes his eyes. He thinks about how FF had looked at those two kids a few weeks back.

He'd looked like a good older brother.

He holds Neil tight, focuses on the feeling of his even breathing on his neck, and listens to Kevin's snoring to think about a monster consuming Daniel whole.

******

Sometimes Matt feels like he misses out on things with his friends. It didn't happen that often and he doesn't regret the Thanksgiving he spent with his Mom and Dan. Not a single atom regrets making hand turkeys with Dan or holding Dan and his Mom's bags during their Black Friday spree.

He still felt ice in his stomach when he heard that some of Nathan's men had come for Neil and that FF had gotten hurt. FF hadn't seemed overly bothered by the injury and Matt was looking forward to having the freshman as a roommate once he was fully cleared by Abby.

FF was a good kid and Matt had a hard time disliking someone who so obviously looked up to and liked his best friend. He'd told Dan about the 'Captain Neil' title and the two of them had just about died talking about how sweet they both found it.

Which is why he feels a certain kind of way when he finds out his Skype date with Dan had him miss out on a face that, based on what he heard from an incensed Aaron, was in desperate need of a punch.

"Where's Nicky?" Matt asks.

"He couldn't stop worrying about Smiths, he doesn't have Friday classes so he mentioned something about sticking with Smiths." Aaron explains over his oatmeal and Matt turns his head towards the wall they shared with Neil, Andrew, and Kevin's room as he hears the blender going. Aaron shovels the remainder of his oatmeal into his mouth, "I gotta go. I'll see you later." he says.

Matt waves his roommate off and wonders what the sudden rush was but it was hardly three minutes later that Kevin Day was bursting into their room without knocking. "Aaron, I need your-" Kevin stops gaze settling on Matt. "Where's Aaron?" he asks.

Matt looks at him, "He just left." he says. Kevin looks to the ceiling in obvious frustration, "Anything I can help with?" Matt asks while at the same time cursing himself for asking.

"Have you had breakfast?" Kevin asks immediately.

"Uh...no?" Matt says.

"Perfect. Drink this." Kevin says shoving a smoothie into Matt's hand. Matt looked at the blue-ish smoothie in his hands and then back up to Kevin. "You asked if there was anything you could help with. Tell me how that tastes." he points at the beverage and Matt recognizes the distinct smell of one of Kevin's health shakes.

"I don't want to do this." Matt says setting the smoothie to the side.

"I'm trying to improve the flavor." Kevin says, "It was brought to my attention that it isn't very...good tasting." Kevin adds sounding like the admission costs him something.

"Just now? You just figured out they taste like butt, just now?" Matt asks incredulously.

Kevin flushes, "Smiths drank it without complaint!" he exclaims.

"Yeah, 'cuz Smithster is nice! Also I think his face is just stuck like that." Matt says.

"There was no way I could have known they were gross!" Kevin argues.

"Kevin, most people TASTE the things they're giving to others." Matt points out and Kevin only grows redder.

"Are you going to help me improve the taste or not?!" Kevin demands pointing at the smoothie, "that's phase one right there." he points at the beverage.

Matt considers it, "This is to make these god awful smoothies taste better for Smithster?" he asks finally feeling like there was something he could offer his friend.

"Yes." Kevin says.

"And you can't just taste them yourself....because?" Matt asks.

"I need multiple datapoints, it can't just be me." Kevin answers immediately.

Matt rolls his eyes but he was not one to deny the scientific process, "Fine." he agrees and grabs the smoothie, "You said this was phase one of improving the flavor?" he asks.

"Yes." Kevin says.

Matt nods and brings the smoothie to his lips.

Bitter. Slimey. Why is it spicy? So Bitter. It's liquid how is it chalky?

He immediately spits it out, "Why does it taste like that?!" Matt demands immediately. "You said it was phase one?!" he hisses.

"That's the control. I needed your opinion on where I was starting." Kevin jerks his head to the side towards the entrance of Matt's dorm, "C'mon, we've got work to do." he says leaving the room without taking his godforsaken smoothie with him.

Matt looks to the ceiling like Kevin had earlier. Honestly, the world had been a darker place since Kevin had to take the required science course last year.

****** There was no singular more 'freshman' thing that FF had done, in Nicky's opinion, than the fact that the kid had early Friday classes. Nicky had gotten to Abby's place late and hadn't slept before, too caught up in a conversation with Aaron.

FF had been awake when he'd gotten to Abby's, staring blankly into the fridge and based on how cold his friend's pajamas were he couldn't help but wonder how long FF had been there. So he herded FF back to bed and FF had pressed his face into Nicky's shoulder and hadn't let go. So Nicky had crawled into bed after FF had nodded his consent.

Nicky had slept terribly.

Still, he woke up with FF's alarm. FF's gaze was about a thousand miles away but he got ready for his two early Friday classes robotically. Nicky shot a text to Aaron and Andrew to let them know that he'd stick with FF for the day to make sure that if Daniel showed up he wouldn't bother FF.

FF walked into a wall as he was texting. "Aw, bud." he says and sets him on a new course.

Andrew texted to tell him that Neil was going to talk with Wymack about not giving Daniel a chance.

He heard another thud, "Oh, Smith don't run into that." he hears Abby say worriedly.

Nicky puts his phone away.

Focus.

He gets FF through breakfast and through the walk to campus. He takes a seat next to FF in his Math class and ignores the narrowed eyes of the person who's usual seat he has obviously taken. He turns in FF's homework, pays attention, takes some notes, answers the clicker questions for FF, and guides him out and over towards his next class.

He sees Daniel being shown around campus by Jack.

He texts Aaron for back-up. The two of them manhandle FF across campus just in time for his Japanese class and Nicky and Aaron swear up and down that they are just there to look in on the class. Nicky hands the clicker off to Aaron since the future doctor's handwriting left a lot to be desired.

Eventually it was done and Nicky and Aaron had to maneuver FF through a truly STARTLING amount of people who wanted to 'have a word' with FF. Nicky remembers that kid from months back. 'The Adonis of the Foreign Language Department'

Eventually through a combination of Nicky's polite declinations, Aaron glowering, and FF walking into another wall they managed to escape the Foreign Language department of Palmetto State University.

"I think we deserve a treat." Nicky says, "Everyone who agrees raise your hand." he adds and raises his own hand before lifting FF's hand up and looking to see Aaron lift his own hand up.

"Are we sure he's okay in there?" Aaron asks waving a hand in front of FF's face as they made their way to an ice cream shop that had excellent waffle cones and was the place that sold FF's favorite triple berry milkshake.

"Yeah, this happens sometimes." Nicky says even if it had never gone on this long with FF having to reboot his system. It feels like his friend may have blue-screened but Nicky's willing to wait it out.

"If you're sure." Aaron says expression giving away how unconvinced he is but he moves along, "Did you do what we talked about last night?" he asks.

"Yeup." Nicky says popping the 'p' at the end.

"Good." Aaron says as he opens the door to the ice cream shop.

****** Andrew is walking to Abby's with Neil, Kevin, and Matt to pick up his car. Nicky had texted Andrew that he and Aaron were hanging out at Abby's trying to get FF to snap out of whatever daze he had fallen into.

"We have to let him tryout and there will be someone from the university there making sure it's all fair." Neil spits the word out with obvious disgust. "Like any of this shit is fair!" Neil kicks a pebble on the sidewalk.

Andrew keeps his thoughts to himself that if Daniel just doesn't make it to the tryouts then there's no issue. This whole mess kicked off because he stabbed FF and Andrew wanted to make it right. FF may not blame Andrew and may still reflexively tell anyone who asks that Romero did it, but Andrew can't forget the moment he looked over and saw his knife in FF's stomach and realized that the blood on his hands was his friend's.

"He might be a good addition to the team." Kevin says.

"Kevin, if you say that one more time I'm going to dump phase 3 down your throat." Matt hisses.

Kevin recoils in visible disgust and notably keeps his mouth shut. Andrew will have to get the recipe off of Matt if it's that effective at shutting Kevin up.

They make the final turn onto Abby's street and Andrew's eyes narrow as he looks at Abby's driveway where there was only one car.

"Where the fuck is my car?" he asks.

MASTERPOST FOR ALL PARTS OF FLUENT FRESHMAN AU

NEXT

[kazzyboy]

Andreil and arguing.

So, I’m pretty sure Nora mentioned something about them fighting in the extra content— I could be just making this up, considering I have the memory of a walnut, but apparently they’d give each other the cold shoulder. Again, that could be wrong, but I disregard half of the extra content anyway.

I don’t exactly know what they would fight about. Maybe Andrew kicked the upperclassmen back too hard. Maybe Neil is in a nasty mood and Andrew says something wrong. People are bound to fight, over one thing or another. It could be stupid. It could be Andrew pushing Neil to stand up to Jack. It could be Neil pushing Andrew’s buttons a little too hard. The one thing I do know, however, is that they are both petty as fuck. So, things heat up and snap and there are harsh, biting words exchanged, because that’s how they are, what they were raised (by themselves) into— and then it is deathly silent. Shoulders cold enough to give the rest of the team frostbite. The upperclassmen end up with Neil hanging out in their room more— Dan, Matt, and Allison all expected this would happen, that Andrew would be too hard-headed or violent, but they stay quiet about it, unwilling to beat a dead horse. Renee doesn’t talk to Neil about it, but hangs around him more than usual. Neil is pissed that he has a chaperone, but reminds himself he’s not mad at her. He’s not even mad at Andrew, really. He’s just mad. Instead, Renee (gently) confronts Andrew about it. His gaze is dark— he tells her they stepped on each other’s feet, and that’s just how it always was. Renee takes this and they spar. Andrew is angrier than usual— his blows are sloppy and fueled by emotion. Renee leaves with more than a few bruises, but also with reassurance.

Andrew takes the monsters to Eden’s more, and worries a drink in his hand without ever taking a sip. He spends the nights chewing on a unlit cigarettes, tells everyone who tries to talk to him to fuck off and eat shit. Kevin has to pound on his door in the mornings so they can get back to Palmetto.

It lasts for weeks. The Foxes are getting worried— Wymack asks Neil about it and isn’t graced with a response. Neil is tired, wants Andrew back, but he’d be damned to give in. He survived years on the run and years alone. He didn’t need anybody— especially not Andrew, or his cunning words or his golden hair or his bordering-on-amber eyes. Wymack leaves when the grinding of Neil’s teeth gets too loud.

Andrew gives in first. He goes to the roof, where he knows Neil is because there are gray clouds on the horizon and Neil loves this kind of weather. Neil is sitting there, legs dangling off the edge. His school bag is thrown half-hazardously a few feet behind him, notebooks full of Fox doodles spilling out. Andrew walks to the edge, a few feet from Neil. The cigarette between his lips is unlit. He stands there until the sun starts to slip below the horizon. Practice will start soon. Andrew sits down, a little closer to Neil. If Neil notices him, he doesn’t show it. A couple of minutes pass before Neil moves, slow and gentle, and nudges an unopened bottle of whiskey towards him. Andrew doesn’t touch it, but takes the cigarette out of his mouth, lights it, and sets it on the edge. Neil knocks it off just to watch it go flying.

“That’s a fire hazard.” Andrew says, stomach flipping for a second before he stops watching the cigarette plummet. Neil only hums. Andrew lights another. It’s quiet for a long time, before Neil’s ringtone knocks him out of his trance. Kevin is demanding to know why he isn’t at practice yet. Neil tells him they’ll be there in a second. Andrew’s phone goes off three times before they drag themselves from the roof. They’ll talk about it later, but, for now, there’s a truce.

The Foxes are bad at hiding their surprise when they show up, but no one says anything to them directly as they show up together, practically attached at the hip. Renee offers a smile and Wymack’s voice is less grim than usual as he divides them into teams— Renee, Dan, Allison, Aaron and Matt, Andrew, Neil, and Kevin. The freshman and Nicky are subs.

To no ones surprise, Andrew and Neil completely obliterate the competition.

[jingerhead]

I mean… 26 has to be andreil right…. I MEAN

If this one doesn't scream Neil then I don't know what does. TW for blood and Jack because Jack is an asshole (homophobic language?)

26 - hahaha no worries, it's not my blood

Neil had been distracted all practice, and he knew it showed.

Wymack had taken over directing the Foxes on what to do next after the third time Neil zoned out, more than once telling him to get his head in the game. But Neil couldn't manage it, which was strange, because exy was his life now. It was just that Andrew never got sick, and yet he was sick enough to have chills and a cough and a high fever.

This had never happened before, so Neil couldn't stop thinking about it. Despite his gut telling him to stay, he'd given in to Kevin and Andrew telling him to go to practice anyway, that he was the captain now, and that he had a responsibility to his team. And sure, Neil did, but they could manage without him.

For the first time in his life, Neil found himself wanting to take care of someone else. He wanted to be by Andrew's side, not because he had to be there, but because he wanted to be. He wanted to make Andrew some cocoa and get him cool towels to bring down his fever and measure out the Dayquil he was supposed to take.

That in itself was disorienting. On top of the fact that Andrew was sick enough to avoid practice? He used to play games while going through the early stages of withdrawal, if this was enough to convince him to take a day off, what the hell was it? Did he have to go to the hospital? Neil should've asked him for a list of symptoms before he left -

"Josten!"

Neil blinked and looked up at Wymack, who had his eyebrows drawn in and a disapproving look on his face. After a second, he just waved a hand and announced that practice was over for the day.

Neil had never been happy that practice was over. What the hell was going on with him? Was he sick?

He moved on autopilot to the locker room, deciding he'd shower back at the dorm and pulled off his gear as quickly as possible. He changed into a T-shirt and sweatpants and used a towel to wipe away the minimal amount of sweat on his skin, eager to get back.

But it would seem that life wasn't going to be easy to him today. Before Neil could slip away, Jack approached, looking far too pleased. He couldn't have anything good to say - not that Jack ever did in the first place.

"Off your game," Jack pointed out.

"A lot on my mind," Neil mumbled, throwing his shoes into his duffle bag and lacing up his sneakers as quickly as he could.

"About Minyard?" Jack asked. "What a shame he's sick. I'm sure he would've been happy to have practice end early."

Neil rolled his eyes, turning his back to Jack and grabbing his jacket. It was cold outside now that it was December, and Neil didn't want to risk getting sick if Andrew already was.

"You that eager to get back?"

Neil wasn't able to pull on his jacket just yet. He waited, because he knew that Jack was going to say something else, something that was going to set him off, because he was still processing that he felt this way at all about...about his something. Yeah, they were something, and whatever he and Andrew were was making Neil want to rush home and take care of him until he got better.

"Aw, you disappointed he can't breathe through his nose well enough to suck your cock?" Jack asked, lips twisted into a smirk.

Neil didn't think. He tucked his fingers into a fist and curled his thumb around them, and in a blink of an eye he twisted and punched Jack in his face. Jack didn't make a noise but stumbled back a step as blood immediately began to flow from his nostrils down his chin.

"Sorry, who couldn't breathe through his nose?" Neil sneered, hand still in a fist.

Jack let out a yell and rushed forward, but not with enough force to push Neil off his feet. The rest of the team was there in a second, pulling the two away from each other just as Wymack walked into the locker room. He let out a long sigh when he saw Jack's face.

"Go get that checked out," he said, jerking his thumb behind him. Jack angrily shook of the hands of his teammates and cupped his nose, stomping away. Wymack then turned to Neil, staring at him for a few seconds. "Cool it, Josten. Walk it off. We'll be talking about this tomorrow."

Everyone in the locker room backed away uneasily, letting Neil push through and rush to the Maserati. He didn't think about waiting for anyone else before driving back to the dorms, taking the steps two at a time to reach the dorm faster, only able to breathe easily once he finally closed the door.

Andrew was inside, leaning against the counter in their kitchenette and holding a mug of cocoa. Neil was almost disappointed to see he'd already made himself a cup, but he reasoned that Andrew would probably want another one later. He dropped his duffle bag and coat, attempting a smile in greeting.

"Blood," Andrew said, not meeting Neil's eyes.

Neil glanced down, seeing the impressive splotch of blood left on his shirt. He let out a hesitant laugh at the sight of it. "No worries," he said, walking closer to Andrew. "It's not my blood."

Andrew grabbed the hem of his shirt and drew it up enough to make sure Neil was telling the truth, his shoulders visibly drooping when he saw no injuries there. "You're back early," he said after a moment, looking up and dropping Neil's shirt.

"Coach had mercy on us."

"Or you caused trouble."

"Why does everyone always assume it's my fault?" Neil asked, leaning against the counter with a huff.

Andrew left that question unanswered. He grabbed his mug again and took a quick sip, sniffing a few times. Neil moved away from the kitchenette to grab a box of tissues, offering one out to Andrew when he came back. Andrew raised an eyebrow just slightly, but accepted the tissue.

"Go shower," he said. "You're still sweaty."

"Okay," Neil said, feeling himself smile once before turning to do as he was told.

[willowbird]

can we get an Aaron POV of him beating the abuslute shit out of Jack in the locker room. i’m talking about slamming this boys head into the locker beating, he need kevin, matt and nicky to get aaron to stop and even then he still struggling to get more in till andrew comes into his vision. show me that same aaron from that secne in thanksgiving!!!

I am so SO sorry it's taken me so long to answer this!! Work was getting hectic and I was working on something else BUT now I'm for sure gonna get through the rest of these asks ^.^

Aaron losing his shit on Jack, huh? Well, we can sure do that ^.^ 

I changed a few things from your prompt just because as I was sitting down to write it made the most sense to me that if Aaron was gonna go after Jack it probably wouldn’t be about Andrew or Neil. Neil and Andrew take care of themselves, more or less, and if they can’t then they’ve got each other. Not that Aaron wouldn’t beat the ever-living shit out of Jack for doing or saying something to Andrew, but he just probably wouldn’t have to -- if only because Andrew doesn’t care enough about Jack to be affected by him. 

Nicky on the other hand...? Well, I’m a bit soft for the twins being protective of Nicky.

Warning for violence, depression, mentions of suicidal thoughts, triggering language. Take care of  yourselves.

----

“Jesus fucking Christ. That was the most pathetic excuse of teamwork I’ve ever seen in my goddamn life, and this is my sixth year coaching this fucks-forsaken team.” Coach Wymack had just spent the last twenty minutes ripping all of them brand new assholes. They were all tired, they were all angry, and they were all ready for this day to be fucking over, but it wasn’t over until the Coach had had his say, so here they were -- sitting in the locker room, getting chewed out again. 

Not that they didn’t deserve it. Aaron knew they did.

It had been a brutal fucking loss. The Foxes trashed by some half-cocked team from Alabama. Even with Andrew actively trying to block the goal, there was only so much he could do when the other team’s offense kept breaking through their defensive line to swarm the goal. Matt was off the court with an injury, which meant the only backliners they had were Aaron, Nicky, and Keith -- the freshman backliner who still couldn’t figure out how to fucking pass to a moving target. 

Aaron cared less about the loss than he did about the cause for it, and not for the same reasons as half the rest of the team. 

Nicky had been all thumbs and no energy tonight, but that hadn’t been a surprise -- not to Aaron or any of the rest of the monsters. Nicky had been off for a few days, his usual chatty, chipper demeanor whittled down to strained smiles and shrugs in a way that the rest of the team had never seen before. Well, most of the rest of the team. Aaron had seen this before. Andrew had too. Neil and Kevin hadn’t witnessed it directly, but by now the other two “monsters” knew Nicky well enough to know this other side of him existed even if they hadn’t seen it. 

So yeah, he’d gone into this game knowing it was going to suck -- knowing that they might lose. Maybe that had been their mistake. He, Andrew, Kevin, and Neil had been distracted -- torn between concern for Nicky and the need to cover for him. The freshmen had been a nightmare about it and what the fuck even was teamwork. At halftime, the commentators had called it one of the worst performances by the Foxes in three years. 

Yeah.

But at least it was fucking over, right?

“Now get showered up and get the fuck outta my sight. I don’t want to see a single one of you fuckers until tomorrow -- yeah, that’s right, we’re having Saturday fucking practice thanks to that sorry excuse of a game you pissed all over tonight.” Coach glared at all of them in turn. “By tomorrow I expect Nolan and Fisk to get their heads out of each other’s ass and Hemmick?” The big man’s gaze landed on Aaron’s cousin and he felt himself go stiff. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Andrew stand up from where he was leaning against the lockers. 

“Learn how to be a little less fucking useless. I don’t know what the fuck has been up with you the past few days but get it figure the fuck out. You hear me?”

The first pulse of genuine rage ignited in Aaron’s veins. His hands curled into fists and his vision narrowed. Nicky’s quiet, tightly muttered, “Yes Coach,” was partially drowned out by the dull roar in his ears. 

Anything he might have said or done was stymied, however, by Andrew, who slammed his fist against the lockers, drawing everyone’s attention away from Nicky and onto him. 

“Coach, I think we need to chat.” By whatever magic Andrew had over everyone that made everyone automatically take him more seriously than anyone else, he had Coach’s attention, just like that. The man snorted then jerked his head toward the door.

“Fine, but make it quick. I need to try and block out what just happened.”

Coach and Andrew left the room. For a minute, there was a tense, weighty silence, then someone whined and someone else bitched and normalcy returned -- well, normal for a really shitty fucking day anyway. The women split off to their changing room to shower and get ready, and several of the guys did the same. 

Nicky remained seated, staring blankly down at his hands, shoulders slumped in utter defeat. That anger curled in Aaron again -- not at Nicky and not at the fucking game, but at Coach and the team for being so fucking stupid, and at himself for not knowing what the fuck to do about any of it. Nicky’s depression was an open secret among their group. It was something they all knew of but never talked about. This was probably the worst episode he’d had in years and Aaron just felt... fucking powerless. 

When they’d noticed it, they’d closed ranks around Nicky as a group and shut out the rest of the team in a way they hadn’t done since the cousins’ freshman year. None of them were soft enough to take care of Nicky in the way he probably needed, but Andrew drove Nicky to Reddin Thursday morning and Aaron and Neil joined forces in helping Kevin hold his fucking tongue during practices when Nicky struggled to keep up with the rest of them. 

It was not gentle support, but it was all they had to offer.

It just... wasn’t fucking enough. 

“Jesus, Hemmick, are you fucking crying?” Aaron jerked out of his thoughts at the sound of Jack Nolan’s sharp, mocking voice. It was edged with a cruelty that went beyond the typical assholishness of the Foxes. 

“What, forgot how to fucking talk too? Wow, you really are useless aren’t you?” Jack continued when Nicky only flinched at his ridicule and didn’t rebuke him like he usually would.

“Hey, Jack, leave him the fuck alone. You didn’t do so great out there yourself tonight so why don’t you worry about yourself,” Matt barked from where he’d been sitting through Coach’s dress-down. He was wearing his jersey but since he hadn’t played tonight there was no need for him to have to peel gear off or shower. 

“Whatever.” Jack rolled his eyes like a petulant fucking teenager, but the look he shot Nicky was all cold predator. “Why don’t you do us all a favor and just go kill yourself?”

Even over the exclamation of Matt’s reprimand, Aaron still heard Nicky’s breath hitch. He remembered, vividly, the night two years ago when he and Nicky had been drinking and he’d asked him ‘How the fuck did make it through? We were fucking assholes, we are assholes, and you still stayed.’ He remembered not expecting the answer he got. He remembered Nicky looking down into his drink and saying, ‘I almost didn’t. Probably the only reason I didn’t try to off myself again was knowing that if I did, you two would go to my parents and I... I couldn’t let that happen. Didn’t care about me, but I could care about you. Caring about you guys kept me alive.’

He remembered the sick feeling in his stomach and the way that knowledge cut through his buzz, striking him sober with one fucking word: again.

Aaron did not make the decision to grab Jack, or if he did it was overwhelmed by the roar of the monster under his skin as it surged suddenly up from whatever dark place it had been lurking since that violent, bloody night last November. All he knew was that one moment he was standing there, and the next he had his hands on something that needed to shut the fuck up. 

He only vaguely registered the shouts around him as he dug his fingers into Jack’s shirt and whirled him around. Then the only thing that existed was the feeling of flesh and bone and the slick of blood against his knuckles as he drove his fists into every soft part of the body in front of him as hard as he fucking could. Jacks hands scrabbled ineffectually at Aaron’s shoulders, then his face, trying to hit him or grab his hair or push him off, but for all that Aaron was a small man he was a fucking backliner for a reason and he threw every single ounce of his muscle into shoving Jack into the lockers. 

A second later he was on him again, taking a fistful of his hair so he could slam his head into the lockers until the fucker’s knees buckled and he went down. 

All he could hear was the rumble of rage in his veins. There was no thought, no goal, no understanding -- not of anything but the raw, unfiltered hate pouring out of him as he followed Jack to the ground. Distantly, he knew there was shouting or screaming -- that there were words being thrown at him and hands desperately trying to haul him back. He felt the fingers curling around his biceps and tugging on his shoulders. But his wrath was far too powerful and each time someone got a grip he was able to wrench free and use that momentum to land another hit. 

At one point a solid arm wound around his waist and hauled him up and away. A sound like a feral animal ripped from his throat as Aaron thrashed wildly, trying to throw himself back onto Jack. The man had stopped moving at this point but there was a wet, raspy sound coming from him that still spoke of life and maybe Aaron hadn’t consciously decided to keep going until it stopped, but the drive was there all the same. 

The rest of the room was hazy around the edges, people were blurs of sound and color. The only thing in focus was the wheezing form of Jack fucking Nolan on the floor, and Aaron fought viciously to get back to him, jerking at the arms holding him back, kicking and trying to lash out with all his strength. 

Until something blocked his view. And it took a minute for Aaron to recognize what it was. To recognize who it was. 

“A-Aaron. Aaron. Stop. Please. It’s o-okay. It’s okay. I’m okay. S-stop...” 

The rest of the world snapped back into focus at the sound of Nicky’s gasped, broken words. Aaron stopped fighting so suddenly that he and everyone trying to hold him back stumbled. There were three of them, he realized -- Matt, Kevin, and Dan. Neil and Andrew were flanking Nicky, the three of them blocking his view of Jack’s prone, gasping form but not actually trying to stop him from killing him. 

Nicky was crying, his eyes wide and his hands trembling as he held them out in front of Aaron, pleading him to stop. 

Aaron took a few more heavy breaths and realized he’d been panting. He looked from Nicky to Andrew’s cool, appraising stare, then to Neil’s similar expression before finally glancing beyond them to the mess that might have once been Jack Nolan. When he dragged his gaze back to Nicky, all he said was, “He shouldn’t have opened his fucking mouth.”

Nicky made a strangled sound, something between a sob and a laugh. Then he did something he almost never did and launched forward, wrapping his arms around Aaron in a tight hug. In a reflex that Aaron didn’t even know he had, his arms snapped around his cousin and he hugged him back just as fiercely. 

As Nicky sobbed onto his shoulder, Aaron looked over his hunched form and met his brother’s gaze. There weren’t words that could translate the look they shared just then, but if he had to label it, it might have been something like understanding. 

[kar3npage]

The 5 times one of the Foxes saw Andrew smile, and the one time all of them saw him smile

Because I love the 5+1 format, and because I just want Andrew and Neil to be happy. (Also I’ve decided that of course they would get married, because that just makes sense).

My apologies for any mistakes, this was written all in one go this afternoon and I was too excited to wait before posting. I’m also trying to sign up for ao3 so I can post it there, I’ll update when that happens:) 

Thanks for reading!

1.

The mood in the room was unusually somber before the Palmetto Foxes third game of the season. This was especially unusual because they weren’t expecting any sort of backlash, and the team that they were playing against was pretty tame. No one had any particular fear against the Terrapins and the two teams were mostly friendly.

Allison knew that the dark vibe was from the silence that came from the corner that Neil and Andrew sat in. 

Besides the cat fights with the new Foxes, everyone on the team has been working well together this year. The upperclassmen and Andrews group had an unbreakable bond from the events of last year, although they all pretended that they couldn’t care less about the other group (except for Matt. He couldn’t pretend to not care if his life depended on it, the sweet puppy).

Neil’s silence was accompanied by a far away gaze and sickly pale skin. Allison had already pulled him aside in the dorms to lecture him about playing while sick, but he insisted that he was fine. Allison had let him go, assuming that Andrew would take care of him. Now she was wondering if she should have pushed harder, since he looked absolutely determined to play today.

Renee’s soft nudge distracted Allison from their almost dead looking striker and she gave her an understanding look.

“I’m sure he’ll take care of himself,” Renee says quietly. Allison squeezes her hand, grateful to have her to lean against. She still wasn’t sure how Renee managed to understand exactly what everyone was thinking with such accuracy. 

“Okay people, we’ve gotten a strong start, let’s keep that up,” Wymack says gruffly, sending a concerned look toward Neil. “If any of you aren’t feeling up to it, tell me now so we can change the starting line-up.”

Everyone looks at Neil, who stares straight ahead like he hadn’t heard Coach. He turns his head to avoid Andrews dark look, then gets up stiffly.

“We done Coach? Dan and I would like to start drills soon,” Neil says. Allison snorts at his poor attempt at changing the subject, but Wymack just lets him go with a nod. 

As they make their way over to the court Allison sees Wymach snag Andrew. “You’ll keep an eye on him?” she hears him say. She doesn’t hear Andrew answer, but she knows that he will.

They’re up, 4-2, by the time the first half is done. Allison had kept her eye on Neil every time she was off, but he had looked fine while playing. Abby wasn’t able to check in with him during half-time though, too busy dealing with Jack’s minor injury that he had gotten from getting checked into the plexiglass. Allison had to admit that she had very little sympathy for the kid.

Everything was going fine until almost the end of the next half. Allison hadn’t been paying much attention to the health of her team while she was playing, focused more on actually playing, but no one could ignore the loud slam that came from near the other teams goal.

Allison instinctively looked toward the noise to find out who was down.

The game was still going, but slumped against the wall across from her was Neil. Allison didn’t hesitate to run over to him, abandoning the goal for Andrew to look after.

One of the Terrapins backliners stood beside him, helmet off and looking sweetly concerned. He starts babbling as soon as Allison makes it over to them.

“I swear, it wasn’t that hard of a hit,” he says frantically. Allison understood the panic-it had less to do with Neil and more to do with what might happen to the poor kid when Andrew got here.

Allison ignores him and tugs Neils helmet off to reveal his deathly pale face. His eyes start fluttering as he wakes up, and he’s able to put his hand up to stop the game. Allison hears a smack behind her, but she ignores it.

“Neil, where are you hurt?” she says. It comes out irritated, but she knows that Neil will get that it’s out of concern.

“‘M fine,” he mumbles, trying and failing to get up. Allison shoves him down and looks around for Abby.

The poor kid who hit Neil is being held against the plexiglass by a furious Andrew, Nicky and Aaron standing beside him and trying to talk him out of any blatant violence. Abby has fighting her way through the players with a mixture of anger and worry.

“Drew?” Neil says, eyes closed and head leaning against the wall. There’s another smack and a few seconds later Andrew shoves Allison out of the way to sit beside him. Abby shows up a few minutes later, but Allison stays where she is to use her body to give them a bit of a barrier.

“You idiot,” Andrew growls. “Next time, get up after you get hit.”

Neil gives him a feverish smile. “I’m sorry I worried you. I’m f-, I’m okay.” He just barely catches himself and Andrew shakes his head in irritation. Allison grins, a little relieved that he’s feeling good enough to catch his words. 

“Neil, do you know how high your fever is right now? You could kill yourself, playing like this. What were you thinking?” Abby lectures while she smooths back his hair. “Why didn’t you tell him to stop, Andrew?”

Neil grabs Andrews hand awkwardly, still wearing his armoured gloves. Andrew snorts. “You think I’m his keeper? He does what he wants. Junkie.”

Neil laughs weakly at that and lets Abby and Andrew support his weight as they get him up. Once he’s able to stand on his own two feet, the crowd lets out a supportive roar and Allison turns around to see Neil and Andrew. Andrew gives him a small, relieved smile, something that Allison never thought that she would see. No one had seen Andrew smile a single time since he’s been off of his meds. This smile is completely different. It softens his jaw, and even though it’s so small that it’s barely noticeable, Neil beams when he catches it.

She hears Andrew mutter a number under his breathe and they slowly walk off the court.

Allison could settle a few bets from this, but a part of her knows that she saw a private moment. Renee walks over to take over the goal and gives her a pleased smile, almost like she knew how selfless Allison was being by not telling anyone about this.

She grins back and relaxes, knowing that Neil is in good hands.

2.

Matt could cry, he was so happy to see his best friend after so many months apart. Dan squeezes his arm and lets him go give Neil a bear hug. All of them have graduated now, and Christmas is one of the only times that the original Foxes get to see each other, and even then it’s sometimes difficult to get everyone together. 

This year everyone is gathered at Abby’s, and it feels just like old times. Aaron and Katelyn are already helping Abby and Wymack in the kitchen and Nicky is regaling everyone with stories from Germany, Erik adding details every once in a while but mostly just looking at his fiance with heart eyes.

Allison and Renee are coming later, and Kevin is watching an Exy match on TV. His mouth is open slightly as he watches the rematch like he’s never seen it before. Andrew sits beside him with a bored expression while he scrolls through his phone, but Matt notices him glance up at them a few times while he chats with Neil.

Neil had mentioned how difficult it’s been to be playing on different teams than Andrew, and Matt can see how happy he is now that everyone’s together. He thinks that Neil’s been getting lonely.

The kitchen is a hive of activity and they all talk over each other as they catch up on the past year. Dan and Matt show everyone their engagement rings, way too excited to wait to tell everyone like they had planned. Matt swears that Wymack tears up a bit when Dan asks him to walk her down the aisle, and Abby just about breaks his back with how tightly she hugs him.

Andrew even offers them a nod and agrees to fly out with Neil for the wedding, even though they aren’t sure when it will be yet.

There’s more exclaiming when Allison and Renee get there and Allison shouts at them for not waiting to announce it until they got there. They look tired but happy after travelling all day, and Renee gives him one of her pleased, proud smiles. At some point Betsy had gotten there as well, and Matt sees her having a long conversation with Andrew in the living room.

Matt can’t believe how far they’ve all come. After such ruined childhoods and terrible experiences in University, they all managed to build themselves lives. Build themselves a family.

Matt feels so incredibly fond of them all that it feels like his chest is going to split, like it can’t hold all of the affection for these people.

Dinner is as hectic and happy as the rest of the day was, and they sit at the dining table for hours talking. Kevin and Neil have an in-depth conversation about their teams and their performance so far this season, which Andrew mocks and then turns to talk with Renee. 

Matt and Dan are talking over each other with the ease of people who are perfectly comfortable with each other as they tell Abby about their honeymoon plans, and Allison gives them tips. Or maybe they’re more like orders, but it’s all good ideas so they don’t mind.

It isn’t until after they’ve cleaned up the dishes and most of the Foxes have settled in the living room to rewatch some of their old matches that Matt gets the chance to talk with Neil on his own.

They skype as regularly as possible, and Neil calls him almost every week to get updates, but Matt has still missed him. 

When he notices Neil sneak out to the porch, he follows behind. 

“It’s hard to believe, but Kevin’s obsession hasn’t waned in the slightest,” Matt jokes as he plops down on the stairs beside Neil. The striker throws his head back to laugh and Matt revels in the warmth that comes with being able to make this once shy kid laugh his genuine, thrilled laugh.

“Andrew would say the same about me,” he says, eyes crinkling in amusement.

“He’s right. You’ve been playing well though, that goal in the last game where you hit it from half court was insane! I have the video saved to my phone so I can show people and tell them I know you,” Matt gushes, glad to finally be able to tell him how proud he is of him. Neil has a pleased blush on his cheeks.

“You still watch my games?”

“Of course I do! Dan and I’ve turned it into date night. We order pizza.”

Neils laughs again, more pleased than he would admit that Dan watches them too.

“How have you been Neil? For real?”

Neil fidgets with the bottom of his shirt. “It’s tough,” he finally admits. “Without Andrew. Our schedules are so different. There’s a chance that next year I might be able to switch though.”

Matt hums and bumps his shoulder against Neils. “I’m glad. I don’t want you to be lonely.”

Neil listens to Matt talk about Dan and what they’ve been up to for a while, and they sit in comfortable silence until Matt finally laughs. Neil gives him a questioning look.

“I have a ridiculous question for you that’s been plaguing me for years now.” Neil raises an eyebrow and waits for Matt to keep talking.

“So if you think that Andrews attractive, does that mean you think that about Aaron too?” Matts eyes are filled with mirth. He knows all too well the strained relationship that Neil and Aaron had through University, and also that they have just reached the point where they can talk about things other than Exy without killing each other.

Neil snorts, but then thinks through an answer much more seriously than Matt expected. “I’m not really attracted to people,” he says, then shakes his head and backtracks. “That’s not what I meant. Obviously I’m attracted to Andrew, and I think he’s beautiful, but it’s more because I know him so well and I trust him so much.”

Neil is blushing slightly at the admission and he looks to Matt to see if he understands what he means. 

“It’s hard to explain. I never was attracted to anyone before Andrew. I can see objectively that some people are nice looking, but it doesn’t really affect me. But I really care about Andrew, and I can talk to him for hours and I know what foods he likes and he knows what I like. And the longer we know each other and the more I know him, the more beautiful he gets. Does that make sense?”

Neil frowns and waits for Matt. Matt can’t help the soft smile that curves his lips. “Neil Josten, you are the sweetest person on this goddamned team, you know that? Yeah, that makes sense.”

Matt hears the door close behind them and turns around to see Andrew standing there with his usual blank expression, but his red ears indicate that he heard what Neil said. Neil beams up at him and Matt gets up to leave. He turns around to look at the two before he goes inside and is shocked to see the softest smile gracing Andrews lips before his sits down beside Neil. 

It’s no secret that most of the Foxes were worried about Neil choosing Andrew, of all people, to trust. But the longer they’re together, the more Matt realizes that Andrew is just as soft for Neil as Neil is for Andrew, he’s just better at hiding it.

Matt’s still grinning about that soft look hours later when him and Dan are getting ready to leave. 

“You two are good for each other,” he says quietly to Neil before they leave, and Neil rewards him with a thrilled smile and a nod.

3.

Playing professionally makes a lot of things very difficult to hide. Something about the sport has made it a fan favourite, and the interesting lives of the players mean that the general public is completely fascinated with hearing about their lives outside of the sport.

As much as Kevin hates how intrusive everyone can be because of this, he has to admit that it makes it much easier for him to keep his eye on the old Foxes. Articles about Neil and Andrew are ridiculously easy to find online, and Kevin has made a habit of checking on them regularly.

He’s doing just that when he finds an article about Andrew getting noticed after his flight to New York. The journalist muses about why on earth he would be going to New York, a place that holds none of his family, only his long time rival, Striker Neil Josten. 

What makes his trip even more interesting is the fact that the same long term rival picked him up from the airport.

What made Kevin look at this article with such interest was the picture that was attached to it. It’s obviously been taken with a good camera, since the photo is crisp and clear. In the center stands Neil and Andrew, standing only an inch apart. The crowd behind them is blurred out, making the photo look like a scene from a rom-com. Neil is beaming at Andrew and tugging his bag from him, eyes sparkling. What caught Kevins attention is the small quirk in Andrews lips, something that would be too small to call a smile on anyone but Andrew.

Kevin still has a protective streak for the two boys and wants them to have as easy of a life as possible, but he can’t deny the fact that they seem happier than they ever have been.

Kevin can’t remember the last time that he saw Andrew have a real smile that wasn’t violent or caused by medication.

He re-reads the article, then looks back up at the picture. Is this journalist stupid? He thinks. The whole article is about how Andrew must have come for something else, how their thrilled expressions must have been because they were mid-roast. Kevin can’t believe the journalist didn’t immediately realize that they were dating. He sighs and moves on to the next article, this one about Jeremy, but his mind keeps going back to the content smile on Andrews face. They’re going to be outed if they don’t stop making each other look so happy, he thinks. But he also thinks that maybe that’s not as bad of a thing as he’s made it out to be.

A few minutes later he goes back to the article and sends the link to Nicky without any explanation. He thought that might make Nicky happy.

4.

“I’m glad we still have the skype dates. I know Andrew and Neil are so busy right now,” Erik says, playing absentmindedly with Nicky’s hair as they wait for the boys to answer their skype call.

They’ve been having these weekly conversations with first Neil and Andrew, and later Aaron and Katelyn as well, for months. They had originally just called each other, but Nicky missed seeing his cousins more than he could say. He loves Germany, and he loves every single moment with Erik, but it’s still tough to have such a long distance relationship with his family. Especially after everything they’ve all gone through together.

It was harder to keep in contact with the other Foxes, but they all did their best to meet up for Christmas (everyone even came to Germany a few years ago. Nicky cried with joy, even though Andrew insisted it was just because everyone wanted to see Europe), plus he often got texts from Matt and Renee. And every once in a while he gets an Exy article from Kevin.

Nicky hummed in agreement and watched the screen with anticipation. They had missed last weeks skype call because Neil and Andrew were finally moving in together after signing for the same team in the fall. Nicky has been vibrating with excitement to see the apartment, and Erik has been waiting to ask for tips about taking care of a cat from Neil.

When the screen finally pops up, it’s obvious that Neil and Andrew haven’t noticed it yet. Neil is laughing about something, one of his rare laughs that is unforced and filled with true joy. And Andrew, Nicky’s beloved, terrifying cousin is beaming. It’s the biggest smile he’s seen on his cousins face for years, and it’s the first time he’s ever seen him smile with such true happiness. Nicky could cry, and when he turns to look at Erik, he can see that his eyes are shining as well.

Erik clears his throat and Andrew schools his expression as he turns to the screen. Neil is still looking at Andrew with pure love, but he waves to the screen.

A flash of silver derails Nicky’s thoughts even further.

“Neil. Neil, what is on your hand?” He asks, delight evident in his voice. Neil smirks and holds up the other hand, which has nothing on it. Andrews lips quirk.

“No, your other hand. Is that a ring?!” Nicky is almost bouncing, waiting for Neil to stop teasing him and show him the simple silver band that sits, unassuming, on his finger. 

Neil shows him his other hand without hesitating, and Nicky realizes that they’ve already talked about telling him. It makes his heart grow bigger than it already is.

“Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh, are you guys engaged? When did that happen?” Nicky practically shrieks while Erik gives them a heartfelt congratulations.

Andrew’s expression is as bored as ever, but Nicky doesn’t miss the fact that they’re holding hands under the laptop. 

“A few days ago,” Andrew says nonchalantly. The tips of his ears are pink though, and Neil can’t hold in the grin.

“Hows Germany?” Neil asks politely, and Erik laughs.

“There’s no way Nicky will let you change the subject that quickly,” Erik says, and Nicky nods effusively. 

“How did this happen? I need the entire story Andrew! Or Neil, whoever will actually give me the details. Who asked who? Did you cry?”

Neil laughs again. “We asked each other. We had a long conversation about it.”

Nicky wishes that he could tease them for that and call them boring, but he knows what a huge deal this is for his cousin. He’s thrilled that Neil understands that as well. 

“You guys are so good for each other,” Nicky says, sniffling a bit. Andrew rolls his eyes.

“I’m hanging up now,” he says.

“No! I need to hear what you’re doing for your wedding! Maybe I can help you plan it. And Allison can too! It’s gonna be so amazing.”

Neil laughs as Andrew reaches his hand out in slow motion to close the computer. Neil’s voice reaches them as the camera goes down.

“We’re going to have a party, we’ll figure out a time you guys can come out, okay?”

Erik confirms that because Nicky is too emotional over the fact that they’re planning the time around him. 

He leans his head against Erik’s shoulder and Erik smiles. 

“I guess we’ll have to wait until next week for an apartment tour,” he says, and Nicky can hear the smile in his words.

“I never thought that he would be happy. Isn’t that sad? I wasn’t even sure if Andrew would be talking to me for this long. Then this scrappy puppy comes along and puts us all in danger and makes us all love him, and here we are. No one ever would have guessed this in a million years.” Nicky says thoughtfully.

That night, Nicky falls asleep with the picture of a truly happy Andrew in his mind. 

5.

As much as he tries to convince his old Foxes that he’s a grouchy old man who doesn’t care, Wymack spends a lot of time checking up on his kids. 

He’s been to as many of Kevin’s games as he can possible fit in whenever they’re close enough and he doesn’t have a game on, he video calls Nicky as often as he can (keeping weird hours makes this easier, and Nicky and Abby both lecture him regularly about getting enough sleep), and Dan and Matt live close enough that they have dinner together regularly. Renee and Allison move around too often to make it easy to see them, but everyone ends up together at least once a year. They avoid doing it on Thanksgiving (Andrew and Neil prefer to keep that one quiet, and no one argues with that). Aaron and Katelyn have even come out to see them a few times when their schedules weren’t as hectic with the hospital.

The hardest ones to get to see are Andrew and Neil. They spent a few years doing long distance with both playing on different teams, so every time they had time off they spent it together. Wymack wishes that he could have lived closer to Neil, he knows that those years were particularly difficult on him.

Now that they are living together and on the same team, it’s been easier for them to get in contact with everyone, but they’re still moving around too often for it to be easy to visit. 

Last year they detoured to stay with Abby and Wymack for a few days during their annual summer road trip, and having Bee there meant that Andrew has come out a few extra times to stay when Neil was busy with press.

Wymack tries very hard to convince them that he couldn’t care less about how often they come out to visit him, but they all know that he misses them terribly.

To keep a closer eye on them, Wymack and Abby recorded all of their games, and Wymack secretly watches youtube videos with names like ‘Neil Josten’s Best 10 Roasts’ and ‘10 Minutes of the Josten Minyard Rivalry’. He does not miss dealing with the press after Neil’s been let loose, but he feels a bit of pride every time he rips into a deserving journalist after being asked about his scars. If Wymack could kick everyone’s ass who hurt his kids, he would. Since he can’t, watching them get demolished by a tiny redhead has to do.

For the first time in a few weeks, Abby and Wymack are finally watching a game live. It’s always a lot more stressful watching them live, but they make up for that by ordering Chinese and making an evening of it.

They barely talk through the game other than to insult the other team or praise a good save or goal. The second half as just started when an aggressive striker doesn’t stop at the goal lines. The entire court goes silent and Wymack watches with barely controlled terror as Neil sprints across the court just in time for Andrew to hit the wall. Neil shoves the striker away with more venom than Wymack has seen from him since Riko and turns his attention to the goalie currently lying on the ground.

“Come on Andrew, get up,” Wymack whispers as he watches Neil fling his helmet off and protect his prone form while the medical staff make their way over. The sports announcers are frantic as they explain what just happened and Abby groans in irritation as they show a slow motion recap of Andrew getting hit, then of Neil protecting him.

Wymack clutches his phone and enters the number of their coach before he’s even thought it through. He knows it isn’t likely that he’ll answer, but he’s disappointed when it goes to voicemail anyway. Beside him Abby is calling Neil.

It takes almost 30 long minutes before Abby gets through to Neil, and she immediately puts it on speaker phone so that they can both speak to him.

“Neil, is everything okay?” Abby says, concern leaking through her words.

“I’m… I’m not sure yet. I’m at the hospital? And I’m waiting for the doctor,” Neil sounds shocked, voice dull.

“Which hospital are you at? We’re flying there as soon as we can,” Wymack says, and Abby nods, grabbing his phone to book tickets.

“Umm, I’m not sure. One minute,” they can hear mumbling while Neil asks someone where they are and Wymacks heart aches for the poor kid. 

“Okay, we’re just at the New York Hospital.”

“I booked our tickets, we’re leaving in an hour okay?” Abby says as soothingly as she can. “We’ll call you when we get there.” Wymack says in lieu of a goodbye.

By the time they make it to New York they each have a few messages from Neil saying that Andrew’s going to be fine, he has a concussion and they’re keeping him for observation, but he’s okay. The relief is palpable after the tension through the flight, and Wymack is glad that Neil thought to tell them.

It’s early in the morning when they get there, so they sleep at a hotel for a few hours while waiting for visiting hours.

It’s far more complicated to get into the room than Wymack thought that it would be. They have to convince the staff that they aren’t journalists or well meaning fans before they’re brought up to the room, and Abby has to show them family photos from Christmas with Neil and Andrew before the nurses decide that they are allowed to see Andrew.

Wymack’s glad for the security but he curses at all the journalists for making it so difficult. They crowd them when they realize who they are visiting, and it takes a security guard and a lot of glaring to part the crowd so they can follow the nurse.

“Can you confirm the Josten Minyard relationship?” One journalist shouts as they walk past.

“Coach Wymack! Coach Wymack, is it true that Minyard’s injury is far worse than they are letting on? And what do you think that means for the team?” another journalist shouts, microphone shoved unceremoniously in his face. Abby pulls him behind her and gives him a warning look not to say anything.

The hallway where Andrews room is located is blissfully calm after the storm downstairs. The nurse indicates which room he’s in, then moves on.

Abby pauses in the doorway and motions for Wymack to step beside her, a look of contentment on her face.

In the room Neil is perched on the bed beside Andrew. He’s a bit pale but there are no visible cuts or bruises and he looks mostly alert. They’re hands are twined together, the silver engagement bands catching the light.

Neil is saying something in a low tone and Andrew squeezes his hand. His mouth tilts up at the corners and looks at Neil with something close to adoration. Wymack tugs Abby away from the door and takes a few steps back to give them their privacy. He texts Neil to tell him that they’ve made it in, and a few minutes later Neil peeks out the door to great them.

He looks exhausted, hair mussed and dark circles under his eyes, but his face brightens when he sees them.

Abby gives him a tight hug before going to sit in the chair beside Andrew who has his usual bored expression. Wymack stops beside Neil and squeezes his shoulder.

“I’m proud of you, kid,” he says, feeling a little choked up. Neil looks up in surprise.

“For what? I didn’t do anything.”

Wymack grins and pats his shoulder before going in to greet Andrew.

“Next time, get back up after you get hit,” he says gruffly to the tiny blond. Andrew raises a brow.

“Did I worry you, old man? You’re getting soft with age.”

Wymack grunts and sits down in the other chair near the foot of the bed. “Not worried, just annoyed. Kevin’s called me 3 times since I got up this morning to make sure you can still play.”

“He’ll be back in a few weeks,” Neil says while he takes back his post at Andrews side. Andrew rolls his eyes and mutters ‘junkie’ under his breath.

Wymack wishes he could be irritated at the long night and unnecessary panic, but he feels so content being in the same place as his kids that his gruffness is softened.

+1

Neil surveys the apartment from his spot in the kitchen. They’re 1 bedroom apartment is not nearly big enough to comfortably fit everyone in, but no one is complaining about the small space. Even Andrew isn’t feeling claustrophobic yet (Neil keeps checking on him, but he seems happy chatting with Aaron and Kevin on the sofa). True to promise, they did throw a wedding party at their apartment, and they made sure that it was at a time that Nicky and Erik could come out to see them. 

However, it took multiple arguments to convince Allison and Nicky that they didn’t need anyone to plan it and that they were just going to get married at the courthouse. Neil’s pretty sure that it was more Renee and Erik than his arguments who made them let it go. No matter what, Neil couldn’t be happier with how everything has turned out.

King winds himself around his ankles, meowing indignantly about the noise in the place and Neil smiles fondly at her.

Matt and Dan are swaying to the music near the balcony door, lost in their own little world. Beside them sway Renee and Allison, and Renee catches Neils eye to smile proudly at him. After Nicky, her and Allison were the next ones they told about the engagement. Andrew had mentioned that it was Renee who convinced him that marriage wasn’t always a bad idea, and Neil couldn’t help but feel a bit grateful for that.

Beside him stood Abby, Wymack, and Bee. Bee has been around long enough that Neil is able to accept her, and he’s glad that Andrew was able to find someone that he trusted so much. Neil has also been going to a therapist, but something about knowing Bee while he was going through everything made it too uncomfortable for him to talk to her. He found someone in New York instead, and Bee seemed so thrilled that he’s managed to open up to someone other than Andrew that Neil almost liked her a little bit. It’s tough to find someone who is genuinely happy about your healing.

Katelyn is laughing with Thea about something, and Erik and Nicky are in the corner cooing over Sir, who is soaking up the attention. 

Neil can’t help but think about all of the trials and tribulations it took to get to this point - the time in the Ravens Nest, the terror of Baltimore, all of the panic attacks and rough nights and foggy days. Neil never thought that he would live through his first year of University so every year after that has felt both like a gift and borrowed time. It took until the past year for Neil to wrap his head around the idea that he might be able to live until old age.

That thought was both a relief and terrifying, just because he wants it so badly. Andrew has helped him pull through multiple panic attacks just thinking about it.

Neil knows that there will be other challenges ahead of them (even though they really deserve a happy 20 years to make up for the bad ones), but he thinks that they’ll be much easier than the crap that’s gone on before this.

He catches Andrews eye across the room. They’re both wearing the suits they got for the occasion and Neils eyes have been tracking Andrew all night. He’s noticed that Andrews have done the same thing for him.

Aaron realizes that Andrews attention has strayed and he turns his conversation to Kevin. Neil and Aaron’s relationship isn’t exactly great, but they’ve managed to get to the point where they can go for coffee without hating each other by the time they get home. Neil knows that Andrew appreciates the effort both of them make, even though he’s never said anything about it.

Neil watches as Andrew gets up and makes his way through their friends, no, their family to get to him.

He watches the crowd impassively beside Neil while Neil watches the small twitch at his lips and the fond look in his eyes. 

“Staring.”

Neil grins. “I guess you’ll have to do something about that, won’t you?”

Andrew’s jaw tightens where he tries not to smile. Neil feels the glow of accomplishment. My husband thinks I’m funny. He tries to keep his expression calm, but he can see from Andrews pink ears that he’s watching him with as much love as he feels.

Abruptly Andrew holds out a hand. “Yes or no.”

Neil isn’t quite sure what he’s asking, but he puts his hand in Andrews without hesitation. “Of course.”

Andrew leads him over to a quiet spot near the hallway and places Neils hands on his shoulder. He grabs his waist and starts to sway to the music. 

“Don’t look at me like that.”

“Like what? Like I love you? Because I do,” Andrews ears go red and Neil smirks, feeling very proud of himself for making Andrew blush. 

“You’re a pest,” Andrew says.

“Yeah, but I’m your pest.”

And Andrew laughs. Neil almost trips in surprise. He can feel the eyes of the rest of the party on them, but he can’t tear his eyes off of Andrews smile. 

“Yes or no,” Neil says.

Andrew’s still smiling. “Yes, Junkie.”

Neil kisses Andrews forehead, not wanting to get rid of that beautiful, perfect smile. There’s a flash and Neil turns around to see Nicky holding a camera.

“This is going on the wall! I’m framing it,” he announces, and Andrews glare holds barely any heat.

A few weeks later, when the package from Germany comes, Neil can see how pleased Andrew is with the photo. It sits in a simple silver frame, and they hang it above the sofa.

Neil feels very much like he lives a charmed life.

[side-effect-of-the-meds]

neil finally gives up his hair as fried and a lost cause and shaves it off without warning. what are the foxes/andrew's reactions?

This took forever and I doubt it was what you were looking for, but here it is love! Thanks so much for your ask. 

 Allison is PISSED. She keeps insisting that she could have saved it. The rest of the upperclassman were sad to see it go but they don’t give him too much shit about it. Nicky is in mourning. He spends at least, the next two months whining. During each of their breaks, he comes up to tell Neil that there was nothing sexier than the way his hair fell when he pulled it out of a bandana at the end of a game. He insists that it was the only reason he dragged himself to practice. Neil just ignores him. 

Aaron has a mental breakdown. He thinks that Neil looks really badass and gets scared because now he thinks he’s gay and has a thing for Neil. It takes him a week and a half to chill out. It’s a good week for Katelyn tho. In an attempt to satiate his fears, Aaron’s been her eating out every day and she’s living for it. Katelyn and Kevin end up liking Neil’s hair too. They like the way it tickles their palms when they run their hands over it. Kevin used to ruffle Neil’s hair all the time, even before he cut it because Neil is his baby brother and he loves him with his whole heart. Recently, he’s been doing it as a stress relief thing. Something about the way it feels now makes him feel better. Don’t ask me to explain this one. I do this to my friend all the time. It makes me feel better and I like projecting onto Kev and Neil. Once Aaron calms down, he shows up at Neil’s dorm before practice one day. Neil frowns but lets him in. He goes into the bathroom and digs the razor Neil used out of the cabinet. Returning with it in hand, Neil finally understands. They lay a towel on the floor and drag in a stool. Aaron hesitates before taking his shirt off and Neil just glares at him. After losing the staredown, he shucks it off and Neil replaces it with a towel. 

“What exactly do you want?” Neil asks as he plugs in the razor.

“An undercut,” Aaron mumbles. Neil looks at him with wide eyes and an amused grin. Aaron just scowls. When he flips the razor on, Aaron curls into himself. 

“Hey,” Neil says, turning the razor off. He grabs Aaron by his chin and forces him to look him in the eye. “You’ve got to trust me.”

“Trust a liar?” Aaron snapped. 

“Look, man, you’re the one that came here. You want me to be honest? I really don’t care about you. You mean absolutely nothing to me. Last year, I needed you so that we had enough kids to make the line-up. This year, however, we’ve got two new backliners. Jack and Sheena might get on every one of my nerves but here’s the bottom line: I. Don’t. Need. You. To me, you are expendable. 

“To Andrew though? I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but he loves you so goddamn much. You think he chose me over you? Wrong. Your brother knew that if he kept holding on to you, you’d only grow to hate him. He saw that letting you be happy would be a show of good faith. He trusted that you’d return the gesture by showing him that he didn’t have to keep you on a leash. And you did. Why? Because I know you love him as much as he loves you.

“Contrary to what you keep deluding yourself into believing, I love Andrew. Andrew lets Katelyn live because he knows you’d never forgive him if he hurt her. I let you live because Andrew would never forgive me if I hurt you. You don’t have to trust that I’m a good person because, let’s face it, we both know that I’m not. No, you just have to trust that I love Andrew more than I hate you.” Neil lets go of Aaron’s chin and leans back against the counter. “So? What’ll it be?” 

Aaron can feel his blood boiling. A small part of him knows Neil is right. He came in here. He asked for this. Screwing his eyes shut, he takes in a deep breath. “Do it,” he says, finally. He hears the razor cut on. Every pass it makes scares the living daylights out of him. He’s too scared to open his eyes. He’s just going to have to trust Neil. Beneath the towel, he clenches his hands into fists. He focuses on the way his nails bite into his palms. You asked for this, he tells himself. When the razor cuts off, he feels the towel slide away. A hairdryer is turned on and he can feel it blowing on the back of his neck. 

“Done,” Neil says. Aaron pries his eyes open to see himself in the mirror. His jaw drops and he runs his hands over the buzzed sides.

“Damn, I’m one fine son of a bitch,” he whispers. He hears Neil snort behind him. 

“You’re the ugliest son of a bitch I’ve ever seen,” Neil replies. 

“What about Andrew?” 

“He’s the most beautiful man in the world.” Neil’s response is immediate. Aaron turns to look at Neil, dumbfounded. “Don’t look at me like that. I’m just stating the facts. Andrew absorbed your aesthetic appeal in the womb,” Neil snaps. He tells Aaron to shower and dumps some of Andrew’s clothes on the counter for him. The two of them have to walk to practice because Andrew left without them. They arrive just as everyone is about to hit the court. 

Everyone is shrieking at the sight of Aaron. He looks amazing, even if Neil doesn’t think so. They all know Neil had to have been the one to do it but he refuses to say anything about it. He hits the locker room to get changed, leaving the others to fawn over Aaron. 

Neil slams his locker door shut only to find himself face to face with Andrew. His face is as unreadable as always. Neil’s abrupt haircut was a week and a half old at this point but Andrew still hadn’t said a single word to him since his original comment. Every nerve in Neil’s body screamed for him to reach out and touch Andrew but he knew better. The status of their relationship was up in the air and Neil was too scared to push the subject. 

When Neil had first walked into the Foxhole Court with his hair buzzed, Andrew had been the first to react. He had also reacted in what had been simultaneously the worst and best possible way. 

“I want a divorce,” he had said. All of the foxes had been stunned. Even Wymack looked taken aback. They’d all burst into laughter moments later but Neil wasn’t sure that Andrew hadn’t meant it. He still drove him around. They still shared a room and smoked cigarettes but Andrew hasn’t touched Neil since his haircut. Not a hand resting on the back of Neil’s now exposed neck. Not a forehead pressed to the back of Neil’s skull. Nothing. Neil was terrified. 

“Drew,” was what Neil said. Please was what it sounded like. Andrew hated the word please so Neil had found a way around it. He felt dirty for playing that card but he was getting desperate. 

“460%,” Andrew replied as he ran a hand over Neil’s buzzed hair. Neil felt his knees give out from under him. Strong arms wrapped around him and hoisted him up. His legs wrapped instinctively around Andrew’s waist and he pressed his forehead to Andrew’s, feeling himself relax for the first time in over a week. 

“It was fried,” Neil whispered. He hears Andrew hum in response. “Is it really that bad?” 

“No,” Andrew replied. “It’s actually really badass.”

[ravenvsfox]

Hey there 😊 would you write the actual fight neil had w breckenridge players in the parking lot from your other prompt? (The 47 one)

(hello my darling please accept this brand new prequel to one of my oldest tfc fics ever MWAH)

He’s mid-shout when Matt grabs him, pins him by the elbows and struggles to walk them both backwards towards the stands. They have only a couple of steady feet between them, and their progress is a strange half-time waltz.

The referee whistles in blistering, repetitive bursts and Neil, overwhelmed, wrestles free from Matt’s grip. He veers downwards as soon as he’s supporting his own weight, barely getting a leg and hasty arm underneath him before he hits the floor.

“Easy Neil, Christ alive.” He claps a hand on the back of Neil’s neck, which irritates him enough to send him ricocheting even farther away, jumpy and unpredictable as a pinball.

He slaps a sweaty palm into the plexiglass to heave himself out of the court, leaving a tacky handprint behind.

“They can’t even play,” Neil pants, tearing off his helmet. “This has gotta be a sick joke, they can’t—play.” He hunkers down, both hands on his knees, breathing deep and violent.

“Yeah, I’m really laughing,” Matt drawls, tucking his own helmet under his arm. He gulps down water and then shakes his head like a dog under a stream of it, setting the soaked spikes of his hair on an angle.

“Here.” He offers Neil the water bottle but Neil waves him off, already scanning the court for the place that he would be if he were on it. Matt wiggles the bottle in front of his field of vision though, and Neil swipes it just to stop him.

When he tips his head back to take a swig from the bottle, his view of the court shivers, orange going brown, and he’s hyper-aware of his knee popping, an overworked injury.

“They’re vicious as fuck,” Matt says, sniffing thickly, maybe through blood. “Their defence thinks we’re punching bags.”

“They’re overcompensating because they don’t know any of the rules,” Neil says. “If I see one more dirty check I’m going to slit either their throats or mine.”

“And here I thought there wouldn’t be any knife play tonight,” Matt jokes, and Neil snaps him a dead-eyed look. “Not that I don’t appreciate Andrew and his menagerie of deadly weapons.”

Neil looks away, but he doesn’t say anything. Andrew’s absence is sitting right on his shoulders where it hurts to stand up straight. Renee in goal is the flavour you choose when your top three aren’t in stock. Andrew’s a loaded pistol and she’s a curled fist.

“I refuse to let fucking Breckenridge get to semis just because our numbers are off,” Neil says narrowly. “They don’t deserve to pick up a racquet, let alone win a game, and Nicky and Aaron aren’t strong enough players for us to be suffering this badly without them.”

“Tell me how you really feel,” Matt says, but he’s smiling, a little. “You do know we’re winning, huh Josten?”

“Not by much.”

“And what, you think that point gap would be a point gulf if Andrew were in goal?”

Neil’s mouth quirks. “I know it would.”

“Right,” Matt replies, really smiling now. “And do you ever think maybe that’s all your mushy feelings talking and not your brain?” He jabs Neil in the ribs and Neil steps backwards unevenly.

“I don’t have mushy feelings on the court.”

“Oh please, that’s all you have. You look at centre court like its at the end of a trail of rose petals, it’s super gross.”

Neil shrugs, taking another long pull of water, and Matt laughs. He catches sight of Wymack gesturing angrily at them from the end of the bench, and he tugs his helmet back on, wincing at the humidity and the still tender pulse of his knee when he moves.

“Sub in,” Neil tells Matt, checking the straps on his gloves and shaking his head to try and replace frustration with the fizz of white static. Matt hums acknowledgement, propping his shoe up on the bench to retie the laces.

“Hey Neil,” he says, and Neil peers over the grate of his helmet to catch his eye. “I’m sure they’re fine. Nicky’s got them.”

It’s weird to think of Nicky as the thing that’s going to keep them stable, but Neil’s been thinking it all day. He saw the look on Andrew’s face this morning, like someone spilled water on his usual expression and everything went sideways. Aaron had been so brooding that he was almost indistinguishable from Andrew. It was Nicky who got them in the car and rubbed Neil’s shoulder goodbye and sent him hourly updates on the court proceedings.

Last night he had watched Andrew’s profile across the darkness of their bed and listened to his laboured breathing. He could see his mouth tightening to suppress noise, even in unconsciousness. He’s heard Aaron’s nightmares too, louder and quicker to ease.

Neil keeps thinking of some lawyer clipping evidence up like washing, and some audience deciding whether or not it looks dry, like it hasn’t been kept wet in the well of Andrew’s memory, like it’s not dripping blood.

“Yeah,” Neil says. “Fine.”

Matt frowns, patting his own helmet down. “Poor word choice. You know what I mean.”

Neil bobs his head, eyes streaking out to the court, to the scoreboard and the time that’s left, feeling for the first time that he’d rather not be here at all.

Matt mentioned the court case like it wasn’t taking all of Neil’s willpower to tear his mind away from it. Talking about his fear of the thing lurking outside didn’t kill it, it just opened the door and let it inside with him.

They step heavily back out into the action, and Neil sees it all as if he’s at home watching practice tapes, the predetermined smallness of it all.

He’s never liked how it felt to play without the whole team beside him, like going on family vacation a few siblings short. This is much worse. He scans his teammates’ faces, as keenly familiar through the grill of helmets and sheens of sweat as they are when they’re composed and made up off-court. The determination in them is stretched too thin, and they have this old, hungry look like they’re all fighting with one broken hand.

Kevin keeps tossing his racquet between his hands like he’s trying to find the right fit, Renee is half-slumped in goal, and Neil can see fresh hair dye snaking down her neck in rivulets of sweat. Breckenridge is tumbling through different line-ups, keeping their fresh, un-bloodied fists up, keeping the threat sharp. One grinning striker mimes a heavy limp to her friends, throwing one arm out to gesture towards Neil’s unsteady gait.

“Fuck that,” Matt says, with feeling. “Let’s kill ‘em.” They crack their racquets together, electric, before they spring back into the mob.

_____

They win by three points, half of them crying with rage or vindication when they meet by the goal and grip each other, bare their teeth, hold their victory up to the glow of their heat-wrecked faces.

They clutch their sides and brush blood out of their teeth when they finally find their way to the change rooms, and Kevin tries to lecture them but ends up insulting the other team, hands shaking from rare overexertion.

Wymack pretends he doesn’t notice that they’re passing around a bottle of whiskey, and Neil checks his phone in the corner of the room, waiting for everyone to change out, frowning at the two hour-old message from Andrew that just says “home late”.

The use of the word home is making his heart race, despite everything. Andrew thinking of Neil and Fox tower at the end of the day instead of battered, bruised Columbia is more than he could have hoped for.

He breathes through the full-body ache from the game, relieved to find the kind of feeling that he knows will go away. He clutches the little phone in his fist, knowing that some feelings do not.

“Hitching a ride with us?” Dan asks, brushing into his space as gracefully and invasively as always.

“I can walk,” Neil shrugs.

He feels a jab at the back of his knee and he barely catches himself on the handle of a locker. “Can you?” Allison taunts.

“Don’t be a bitch,” Dan says calmly.

“Oh, be realistic,” Allison snaps. Neil turns to confront her but now she’s crouched at Renee’s side, holding an ice pack to the nape of her neck and pursing her lips with concern. For some reason it makes the hollow of his stomach throb and contort.

“Neil. Ride?” Dan prompts, and Neil nods distractedly. Wymack’s directing Kevin and Allison into helping Renee to the couch, Matt’s bickering with Jack and one of the other new recruits. The room seems small but the feelings seem big, like an under-filled audience for a show-stopping number, like actors are gutting themselves for the benefit of only a handful of nervous eyes.

“Yeah, I just gotta, um, shower… still,” he says lamely, and Dan smiles.

“We’ll be outside drinking that game away, okay?”

“Okay,” Neil confirms. The room is filtering and he doesn’t want to be alone. The thought of nursing his knee without Andrew to manhandle recovery out of him is completely unappealing.

He changes out, steps into the spray of the shower gingerly, eager to get the almost-loss out from where it almost made it under his skin.

He wraps a stray tensor bandage snugly around his knee and steps into sweatpants and runners, tossing on the jersey he’d scooped off the dorm floor and pretended he didn’t know was Andrew’s.

When he finally makes his way out into the humid night air, the fight is already happening.

The door is almost jammed back into his body when he pushes it open, and his awareness trips instantly to high alert. He can hear Dan cursing, and Kevin shouting over the din of dull laughter and violent threats. He kicks the door hard enough to make contact with whatever was in front of it, and the person makes a gutted sound as they topple over.

All eyes swing to him, and he folds his arms over the number three screaming across his chest, taking stupid comfort in the splash of black armbands against Andrew’s number. He imagines the warmth of a knife holstered along his forearm and finds that he doesn’t miss it.

He glances backwards to see the Breckenridge goalie doubled over from contact with the door. That mocking striker from before has Dan by the hair, and the big one, Hawking, is trying hard to wrestle the whiskey from Matt’s hand.

“Playing dirty wasn’t enough, you’ve gotta fight that way too?” Neil asks coolly. “I don’t know what I expected from fucking Breckenridge Jackasses.”

“Jackals,” Leverett corrects. “Your betters.”

“Disgraceful and delusional,” Neil says. “That’s sad.”

Hawking steps towards him and Neil looks dully in his direction. “You’re pretty brave considering your watchdog isn’t here.”

Neil feigns surprise. “I didn’t know you knew how to speak. Or do anything except break things and lose games.” Hawking paces forward furiously.

“You’re not really helping, Neil,” Matt calls cheerfully.

“You shouldn’t have come out here,” someone says darkly. Feet scuff against the pavement, faraway birds titter, and Neil finds himself watching Kevin’s face, drained of colour, shaking almost imperceptibly at him.

“Why, because you’re allergic to an even fight?” Some dynamic shifts again, and Hawking is suddenly much, much closer.

“Who says you can fight? Isn’t that what your itty bitty boyfriend is for?” He mocks, leaning all the way down into Neil’s space. “Oh, wait! Shit! I forgot that he was too busy bending over to fight back.”

His fist is in screaming agony before he’s registered that he’s punched Hawking, clawed him in by the neck, and sideswiped him so hard in the jaw that he collapsed.

“Fuck you,” he spits. He gears up to kick him in the ribs, but it’s sloppy, and Hawking catches his ankle.

His teeth are bloody when he grins and rips his leg out from under him. Neil lands hard on his back, breath ripping out of him. “You’re embarrassing yourself. Defending your girlfriend’s honour.”

“That was dumb,” Matt says.

“I’ll kill you,” Neil promises, rolling in the dust and feeling tiny rocks raking his skin raw.

“Jesus, Neil,” Dan calls. “You can’t win against him, he’s a monster.”

Hearing her call anyone a monster gets into his heart and tears blood out of it, and he feels his chest ruined with rage. Neil whirls and knees his groin, throwing a gritty handful of dirt into his eyes and briefly gaining the upper hand. Hawking spits and blinks and his eyes stream, and Neil punches him in the throat, deadly fast.

“You really think he’s worth it, huh?” he wheezes. “I bet the only thing easier than scoring on that psychopath on court is scoring on him off of it—“

Neil swings his arm back but its too lethargic, it wobbles in the air. He can scarcely believe that it’s his punch that’s going so badly until Hawking grabs his wrist. It’s in that tilting moment that he realizes he was much too tired for this fight from the beginning, and that he’s not going to win it.

Hawking’s hand closes around his throat, holding all of Neil’s weight so he feels strange and light on his knees. The air in his lungs was already cracked and shouted out of him, and his vision goes very spotty very quickly.

He hears the others calling his name, but there’s a sharp ringing in his ears over top of everything else, so loud that it feels like an embodied thing. All that he knows is real is the rush of sound and the terrible pain of suffocation and the other version of himself, the one made of anger. His throat is being so effectively crushed that he feels like his flesh is tearing, like Hawking’s hand is serrated or maybe his throat is paper.

He’s let suddenly go, and he keels over on the pavement, coughing himself from his knees down onto his stomach. He touches his own neck and expects to feel bone. It’s not the first time he’s been choked, but it might be the longest, and he doesn’t think he could speak if he tried.

His vision is blurry, but he can see Kevin’s foot pinning Hawking’s neck, and the rest of them struggling weakly with players who seem more rattled than angry.

Neil dips one foot into unconsciousness, and falls accidentally thigh-deep before yanking himself back up.

“Neil,” someone says. “Fuck fuck fuck. Neil? Fuck.” He nods, not trusting his voice. Matt’s face ebbs into focus.“That motherfucker was beyond out of line.”

Neil nods.

“Never thought I’d wish Andrew was here to shank a guy,” Matt mutters, and Neil cracks a smile.

“He’s okay?” Kevin asks nervously from somewhere beyond Matt’s close, concerned face.

“Yeah, I think,” he responds.

“I’m sure he wishes there was a round two,” Kevin says icily.

“I’m right here,” Neil croaks, grateful to hear his voice coming out more or less intact.

“I know,” Kevin says. “And I’m leaving.”

“Don’t mind him,” Dan says, leaning into view, brow furrowed but mouth upturned. “He just loves you and hates to see your pretty neck get hurt.”

Neil grabs hold of Matt’s offered hands and hoists himself to standing, staggering a little when blood and oxygen swirl to his head again.

“Home, please,” Neil says hoarsely, thinking of Andrew’s text. He breathes through the shredding pain in his throat, part of the tally of miseries from a day against Breckenridge and his own loopy loneliness.

Dan and Matt grip his shoulders and keep him strung up between them, but he’s barely aware of their halting progress, too deep in thoughts of Allison’s hands on Renee’s throat, Kevin’s bruised neck, Andrew choking Allison to the ground, getting choked himself, getting held down, the word psychopath looping and meeting up with the word monster, the last blinking red seconds of the match sparking weird nervy panic in his guts.

He has to roll the window down on the way back to Fox Tower, has to swallow lungfuls of cold air and let the wind whip his tears away. He thinks of Hawkins being pinned to the ground, face welling, eyes raw, and satisfaction holds him together.

_____

He crawls into bed, light on his injured knee, pulling at the collar of Andrew’s jersey until it swallows his neck.

He’d tried to ice it, looking vacantly into the mirror and seeing his terrible neck, the rings of pink then shadow around his eyes. His hands were shaking too badly to keep the ice pack in place. He kept thinking about the heft of Andrew’s bravery, of that metaphorical clothing line, the lies and truth and villains and heroes and the impossible crisscrossing lines between them.

The rumours of the court case had clearly made it far enough to climb inside the taunts of opposing teams, or Hawking had made cruel and specific guesses and waited for something to bowl Neil over, and now he’s only been proven right. Both options are so awful that he has to swallow and swallow and swallow to get rid of the taste of bile.

Neil’s used to people prying his wounds open, but the idea of someone looking at Andrew and seeing monstrosity or weakness is impossible, it doesn’t fit in his head, it travels down his body and stiffens his hands and stirs his heart to the kind of rage that he thought he was forgetting.

He settles onto Andrew’s side of the mattress and fists the sheets, breathing cigarettes and sugar, trying to stabilize something that leapt and stumbled to Columbia and now no longer fits inside him.

He can’t imagine what Andrew will say when he sees him, if the tenderness of his body will register after a day at court, if anything matters except the justice that no one seems to have a full grip on, if his injury is just another cruelty in the current of cruelties that washes ceaselessly through Andrew’s life.

It seems unfair that Andrew should fix one leak and come home to another. It seems unfair that people can say whatever they like about you without ever having seen the gorgeous, murderous defiance in your eyes.

Neil rolls onto his side and holds the covers close to his chest, hands sweating, throat burning.

The door scuffs opens behind him, brushes soft against the carpet, and Andrew’s presence in the room is so enormous that he forgets to feign sleep.

Fists still clenched, throat barely able to support his shallow breath, Neil thinks, no matter what, I will not be another thing that hurts him.

(Original fic is a short little thing right heeeere and it’s very very old)

[ashrelfury]

Affection: Andreil

Everyone believed that Neil would be the more affectionate of the two of them.

In a sense they were right, but for Neil, they were very very wrong. 

Andrew's affection would never be normal. It would never be public, and it would never be obvious, that's why almost no one saw it like Neil did. 

"Shut up and get in the car." Andrew's tone was emotionless and his face lacked an expression, but it was the keys he pressed into Neil's hand that really spoke volumes. 

"Yes or no?" Andrew would ask, never moving until the answer was given. But it was the fact that Neil would always say yes, and Andrew would always ask anyway that made Neil's heart stutter. It was the sheer brutality of every kiss they shared. Andrew was never gentle with his mouth, he abused it like being gentle would hurt more for both of them, and Neil figured it would. When his hands wondered though, Andrew would press careful fingers into the scars, marking them every time without fail, like he was proving to Neil that the scars did fuck all to deter their attraction. 

The way his fingers were well lubed and slow to open Neil up to him. And when he felt Neil was ready, he was careful to enter, like to cause this sort of pain would be breaking one of his precious promises. 

It was in the way he singled Neil out when they were around the other Foxes. 

"You know what? Fuck you, Josten!" Jack snarled advancing fast on Neil, another one of their many fights. This one was because Neil had been faster and stole the ball before Jack got his chance to score. Neil wasn't impressed by the kid's skill, no matter that he was Kevin's pick, so these fights were a normal thing. The only difference this time was that when Jack went for Neil, he used his racket, pulling the stick back to put force into whatever blow he was going to strike, but Jack never got the chance. 

Neil, as prepared as he was to block the blow, wasn't too surprised to find Andrew behind Jack, holding the netting of the racket with an iron, unmoving grip. 

"Oh, sorry." Andrew said, blank faced when Jack's wide eyed stare turned to him. "I don't think babies deserve to play with big boy toys." And then he yanked the stick out of Jack's hold, tossing it to the side like it didn't matter before taking another step forward, into Jack's face. 

Despite the fact that Jack had 6 inches on Andrew, the boy quickly took a step back. Andrew's blank eyes being more than enough to intimidate. "How about you fight with your fists before trying to use weapons. If you don't know what you're doing, you could really hurt someone."

What the rest of the Foxes couldn't see, with the exception of Wymack in the teams waiting box, Renee who was watching the exchange closely, and Neil who couldn't really see it but knew what was going on by the stillness of Jack's back, was that Andrew had a knife pressed against Jack's stomach, between the protective Exy padding.

Jack didn't say anything. The fear for this short psychopath was overwhelming and all consuming, but this was true for everyone.

Andrew waited a couple of beats before backing away again, his steely gaze flicking to Neil, who shook his head slightly. The question clear only to him: "Do you want me to put him in his place?".

When Andrew saw the head shake, he turned, moving back in front of the goal and trusting that Neil could handle the kid from now on.

When the Foxes shook themselves out of their shock, they all asked Jack if he was alright. The kid was shaken, Neil could see it in the fleeting eyes and the slight tremor in his hands as he reached for his discarded racket. When he stood back up, his eyes met Neil's. Jack recoiled only slightly at the bored look on Neil's eyes, like Andrew's actions were par for the course. Jack suddenly understood that, for them, it was.

"You want to fight me, he won't stop you again." Neil said with a one shoulder shrug.

Jack glared at Neil, venom running through his veins at being so thoroughly embarrassed.

"Go to hell." He sneered. But he didn't swing, the fear still fresh in his mind.

"Get some sense in your head, kid. Whatever it is you feel, leave it off my court. We don't have time for drama." Neil said, turning on his heels to find Kevin behind him.

"Least you learned something from last year." Kevin grumbled before looking at Jack. "I wouldn't be so keen on picking fights if I were you. You've been here five months and you still can't score on Andrew."

During the rest of their practice time, any ball Andrew deflected ended up rocketing straight at Jack's shoulders. Impacting with a force that surprised the kid at first and infuriated him after, but he didn't engage Andrew. Instead to took the anger out on Neil, tackling and body-checking the other striker whenever he got the chance. In turn, Andrew would lob the balls harder, knocking Jack to the floor at one point. Neil was just about ready to commit murder, he just wasn't sure who he wanted to kill more Andrew or Jack.

The trips to Colombia were different too. Andrew had a habit of sticking to Neil side the whole night, something that didn't go unnoticed by the rest of the group. No one dared say anything, least they draw attention to themselves. Andrew didn't drink and he didn't touch the cracker dust, but when he turned to Neil, the message was always clear. 'You can drink, I'll keep watch.' because Andrew knew that Neil was still uncomfortable losing control. When Neil did drink, Andrew was always there to hold the runaway up, but he always mocked Neil for it the next day. That was another show of affection. 

But the greatest thing for Neil, was the way Andrew allowed Neil to sleep beside him. There were rules, of course, there were always rules: the first rule was that Neil had to be in bed first, on the outside so Andrew could press his back against the wall and have a view of the whole room. Next, Neil could only touch Andrew's arms. So when Andrew rested his head against Neil's shoulder, Neil would loosely hold onto Andrew's arm band. Taking whatever comfort he could find in the hard compact body beside him.

There were times that Neil would wake up with a knife to his kidney, Andrew still tense and on edge until he fully woke up. On those nights, Neil wouldn't move. He wouldn't fall asleep afterwards, though Andrew almost always did. The trust of that always stuck when Neil least expected.

No. No one would ever see the little things Neil did. No one knew Andrew like Neil did.

Neil could live with that.

[markonasurface]

7/50 - “I’ve never killed anyone before.”

Fandom: All for the Game/The Foxhole Court Characters/pairings: the Foxes (mostly Neil and Kevin), Jack/andreil mentioned Summary: Jack won’t leave Neil alone. A/N: Because I saw this post and all I could think of was tfc/aftg. Tbh it’s all I think about these days.

http://maelerie.tumblr.com/post/135803922052/send-me-two-characters-or-more-and-a-prompt-and

From the beginning Jack had a problem with Neil. Neil didn’t know much about Jack except that he must have talent if Kevin wanted to recruit him. Most days he thought the talent wasn’t worth the headache he brought into Neil’s life.

Every week Jack focused on a different aspect of Neil’s life - past or present, his personality, his inexperience, his relationships, the way he passed the ball, whatever. He made stupid comments and was unnecessarily rough but Neil could handle it. He gave as good as he took and he was confident in his place on the team.

The first week Jack went on about how he didn’t feel safe living across the hall from a “mobster’s son.” Never mind that Jack worshipped Kevin who lived most of his life as the adopted brother to someone who was actually blood related to Neil’s dad’s boss.

The next week Neil’s offense was that he had only been playing Exy for two years. Neil didn’t deserve to be starting striker of any Class I Exy team, let alone Vice Captain of the reigning champions. How could anyone expect Jack to listen to someone who had less years of experience than he did?

The third week Jack couldn’t stop complaining about Neil’s height. Neil was short. Jack couldn’t respect a man shorter than the national average.

When he found out about Andrew and Neil, it was his main focus for weeks. It took Wymack, Renee, Matt and Dan together to pull Andrew off of Jack. From that point on Jack was careful to only make derogatory comments out of earshot of Andrew.

It was a mild topic compared to a lot of the other things Jack had brought up that finally made Neil snap. It started off mild anyway. No one was surprised - or they shouldn’t have been - when Neil tackled the freshman to the ground.

“How many people have you killed?” Jack asked when Neil joined the rest of the team for laps.

Neil decided it was too early to get into it with him and utilized his speed to join Dan at the front. She led them around enough times to equal three miles then took them to the press room for stretches.

“You must not have been very good at it since you won’t even change out with the rest of your teammates.”

He refused to give him a reaction and stared straight ahead, hoping that for once Jack would take the hint and go away. He saw Dan eyeing them and gave her a shrug.

On the court for scrimmages, Jack stopped in front of Neil. He looked back at Andrew guarding his goal, then down his nose at Neil.

“What?” Kevin finally demanded when Jack didn’t move into position.

“Nothing,” Jack said. “I was just wondering. Neil -”

“No.” Kevin said. “Stop wasting time. Let’s go.” He pounded his racquet on the court floor but Jack stayed where he was.

His grin was an ugly thing. “Is that what attracted you two to each other?”

Neil heard someone, probably Wymack, slam a hand against the wall. He ignored them and kept his eyes trained on Jack, face impassive.

“Do you get off telling each other about the people you’ve killed?” he continued. “Can you only get it up if you picture Aaron smashing a racquet into the skull of Andrew’s -”

Jack was only a couple of inches shorter than Kevin but Neil took him down easily. As long as he’d been trying to provoke a reaction out of Neil, he hadn’t actually expected to ever get one.

In the few seconds it took him to realize his comments finally had worked, Neil already had a hand around his throat, his helmet pushed off and his arm pulled back for a second punch. Someone yelled. The court door slammed open.

Wymack grabbed Neil’s wrist. “Enough.”

Neil stopped struggling when he heard their coach’s voice. He was breathing hard and he smiled his father’s smile down at the boy beneath him.

“I’ve never killed anyone before,” Neil said lowly and moved his hand from Jack’s throat to grip his chin, forcing Jack to meet his eyes. “But you could be my first.”

He shoved Jack’s face away and stood up, shaking Wymack’s grip. “I’m good.”

“Are you?” Wymack shot back.

Neil held his hands up in what was supposed to be a placating gesture but only drew attention to Jack’s blood staining his gloves. “Yupp.”

Wymack turned a disgusted look back to Jack still on the ground. “Get the fuck off my court. I just had it waxed and you’re dripping blood all over it.”

Jack stuffed his gloves in his helmet and tucked his helmet under his arm so he could pinch his nose. He shuffled off the court looking as infuriated as a guy with a swollen eye and blood smeared over half his face could look.

“Stop bringing this bullshit onto my court! Wasting my time!” Wymack looked around at each Fox. “We’re not here to chitchat and gossip and trade insults. We’re here to play Exy! Now start running.”

He grabbed the back of Neil’s jersey before he could start on laps. “I’m calling Abby. Get your hand checked out.”

“It’s fine.”

“Didn’t ask,” Wymack cut him off before he could continue. “Say, ‘yes, Coach.’”

Neil sighed. “Yes, Coach.”

“About time you knocked him on his ass.”

Wymack hit the back of Neil’s helmet. “Wipe that look off your face or I’ll sign Andrew up for a marathon.”

“Sort your drama out off of my court,” Wymack looked around at the Foxes sitting in the lounge. “Don’t do it during my time.”

He uncrossed his arms and gripped the edge of the entertainment center he leaned against. “You.” He singled out Jack. “The next time I have to pry one of your teammates off of you, I won’t do it. I’ll let whoever it is go to town on your ugly mug. Then I’ll sign you up for a marathon and bench you for the next year.”

Jack looked unhappy but he muttered, “Yes, Coach.”

“We’re all Foxes. We all have pasts. Leave it there.”

Wymack waited for the scattered responses of “yes, Coach.”

“Don’t let your personal prejudices or biases or drama or whatever the fuck affect our game. As soon as it becomes a problem for the team, I have to get involved and I’m sick of how much I have to see you as is. Get out of here.”

The Foxes all got up from their various seats to leave. They were quiet as they walked down the hall and out of the building.

Then Jack grumbled, “Thanks for your help, guys.”

“You’re welcome,” Allison responded.

“Seriously?” Jack stopped walking.

Slowly the rest of the team stopped, too, except for Neil and the twins. Allison poked Jack in the chest. “Yes, really. You got exactly what you wanted since the first day you walked into Fox Tower.”

“I wanted Neil to break my nose and paint the court with my blood?”

“Seems like it,” Matt shrugged one shoulder. “If it wasn’t what you wanted ... well, you deserved it so stop being a little bitch and accept that you got your ass handed to you.”

“Learn to show some respect, you homophobic asshole.” Nicky called over his shoulder as he jogged to catch up with Neil and his cousins.

Jack flipped him off and yelled, “He could’ve killed me! He was going to kill me!”

Kevin looked unimpressed. “No. Andrew was going to kill you.”

“My eye is swollen shut,” Jack pointed. “He’s ruined my game for the next couple of weeks.”

“Stop being so dramatic,” Kevin said. “You ruined your own game. You brought this on yourself. Don’t bother showing up tonight.”

[thefoxholecourtrp]

THIS IS YOUR GAME

Name: Arthur Walton Age: Nineteen Class Year: Sophomore Position: Backliner, #26 Hometown: Washington, Pennsylvania

THIS IS YOUR MOMENT

TW: car crash, death

Walton had been a household name in Washington, Pennsylvania for decades. Arthur’s father, John Walton, made his legacy by leading his high school Exy team to victory in the state championships two years in a row. Half a dozen years later, he returned to coach his hometown team and dedicate his life to the sport he had fallen in love with. The legacy continued with Daniel Walton, Arthur’s older brother. Daniel grew up with Exy infused into every moment of his life: he went to every game, and his mother brought him to visit during most of the practices, living and breathing Exy before he could even walk or talk, practically growing up with a racquet in his hand. And so it was no surprise when he expressed the same natural talent as his father and became the star of his little league team, or when he joined the high school’s team and blew through many of his father’s records.

However, it was quite the surprise when Arthur Walton, who was five years younger than his brother, could barely hold a racquet and showed no interest in learning. He and his mother faithfully attended every game, determined to be the loudest people cheering for their team, but Arthur could never imagine himself on the court—he was too small to pack a punch, too soft to want to. Exy wasn’t the life for him—instead, the arts were his passion. His family was admittedly disappointed, but tried to be supportive. And so he never ran low on paint or sketching pencils, and he even got to help design and paint an Exy-themed mural at the town’s high school.

In the spring of seventh grade, Arthur missed the first of his brother’s games. It was an out of town game on the same night as his middle school’s art gallery walk, and Arthur was too excited over having one his paintings on display to not attend. It was eventful night that left him laughing and smiling in way that usually only Exy games could manage, but his good cheer ended quickly with an announcement crackling over the audio system: Arthur Walton, please report to the principal’s office. That was a first for Arthur, the disembodied voice leaving him with an uneasy feeling gnawing at his chest.

He found a red faced woman waiting for him in the office: his Aunt Virginia, her eyes with bright with tears unshed and her mouth set in rigid discontent. She was the one who had to break the news to him, and her grief made her brutally insensitive, delivering the news in one quick blow that would leave Arthur reeling for years to come. There was a car accident after the game, she said, her voice wavering, turning cold as she went on to tell Arthur that his family hadn’t survived. A drunk driver had hit them in a head on collision. His father had been announced dead on the scene, and his mother and brother quickly succumbed to their injuries at the hospital.

The very next day, they packed up his belongings and Arthur had officially moved in with his Aunt Virginia. She had agreed to be his legal guardian years earlier, but followed through with it begrudgingly. And thought she would never dream of raising a hand against her own flesh and blood, she had no qualms about cutting him with sharp words and bitter remarks. He looked too much like his mother, and so his aunt considered him nothing more than a walking reminder that her sister was dead, a fact that she reminded him of often. At her best moments, she would neglect the fact that he even existed—spending days, weeks even, ignoring him at every turn.

In eighth grade, Arthur joined his middle school’s Exy team and continued to play through his high school career. Even after he picked up a racquet and began to play—desperate to relive his favorite memories of watching his father and brother go head to head, hearing the crowd cheer as his brother scored a winning goal—Arthur never felt like the sport belonged to him. It was his father’s pride and joy. It was his mother’s favorite way to spend her evenings. It was a ghost of the brother he was afraid to let go. At best, it was a stress reliever. A distraction. A way to deal with the bottled up emotions and anger that couldn’t be sketched away or trapped within a canvas by strokes of paint. Exy was never a hobby for Arthur—it was a habit, an addiction. Some people turned to drugs or alcohol, he turned to a violent sport that kept him distracted and too busy with practices to worry about the shattered pieces of his own life.

Allowing himself to be recruited to the Foxes seemed like a joke at the time: they may have been a team of talented rejects, but they were still talented. Arthur was just a kid with barely five years of experience under his belt, his talent still raw and unrefined. It was undeniably there, but hidden under poor stats from being switched to too many inconsistent positions throughout his years—a jack of all trades, but master of none. And yet, he got a contract. The Palmetto Sate Foxes were willing to take a chance on him, and he let them down.

Arthur didn’t even manage to make it through his first semester. He was piece of coal put under enough pressure, and though he had the potential to become a diamond, he began to crumble, instead. Exy stopped being a stress reliever and started becoming a competition, and what used to be a distraction from life’s problems quickly became a problem of its own. Arthur put too much pressure on himself to be the best—to fulfill his brother’s dreams for him—determined to be the first to practice and the last to leave. But it still wasn’t enough. His anxiety worsened, always fearing for the other shoe to drop. Being a Fox was too good to be true, and he dreaded the moment his teammates would realize he wasn’t truly one of them. His grades, too, began to plummet, but he couldn’t bring himself to care.

SEIZE IT WITH EVERYTHING YOU’VE GOT

The idea that Arthur would never be enough to compared to his brother was utterly heartbreaking for him. It absorbed his every waking moment during his final weeks as a Fox: Exy wasn’t his, it couldn’t be. He knew that, he should’ve accepted that a long time ago. Exy was never a hobby for Arthur. It was a habit, something more like an addiction—and addictions rarely had positive outcomes. Arthur had already been quietly crumbling under the pressure of his own’s expectations, but the straw that broke the camel’s back was a letter he got in the mail from his Aunt Virginia, one that seemed to be personally written by his darkest fears and deepest doubts. He sent Wymack a resignation letter the next day. To say Wymack was furious would be understatement, and though he, Betsy, and Arthur had a long meeting the next day, Arthur couldn’t be swayed.

He stopped coming to practice, kept letting his grades fall, kept doing everything he could to sabotage himself, to make sure he couldn’t be a Fox anymore—purely out of the fear that he wouldn’t be good enough. But he never stopped going to his weekly session with Betsy. Partly because Wymack insisted, and partly because he didn’t have anyone else to talk to. He had spent his entire life passively watching the world around him, accepting things as they were instead of fighting for what he believed in, what he wanted. Part of why he was so afraid of becoming a Fox was that it meant he had to take an active role in his own life, that he’d have to start playing the game for himself and stop living his life in memory of his brother. It took Betsy months to convince him of this, to convince him that his place on the team was still there waiting for him, and that all he had to do was let himself take it. But despite her reassurances, Arthur still wasn’t sure he’d be able to do it, wasn’t sure he was ready to be a Fox for himself. And he still wasn’t sure when he finally let himself ask for his spot back on the team, but an addiction is hard to break. But if Arthur Walton learned one thing during his freshman year, it was that he undoubtedly and irrevocably loved Exy, and that he couldn’t imagine going another year without playing.

ARTHUR WALTON is portrayed by TOM WEBB and is CLOSED

[philosophiums]

Hi! I know we have so much of your marvelous a/b/o au but I keep thinking about protective Andrew! Could you give us like, I don't know, the new foxes noticing 'I don't know I'm gorgeous' Neil and Andrew growling because even if Neil smells like Andrew the new foxes are like: "Whatever, they are always together, it doesn't mean anything, Andrew hates him" so Andrew is torn between keeping with the 'We are nothing' and the 'Get away from him, he is MY nothing' please please! I love your writing!

anon: I need,,, more abo au with andreil pls

anon: I can’t remember if you’ve written about this before, but I love your a/b/o au and I was wondering how Andrew would react to Jack?

I am here for this

by Neil’s sophomore year, he and Andrew are pretty much a Thing™

not to like, the public, or even their team, but they have admitted to each other that this thing between them is important and not going away

Andrew, obviously, had the hardest time admitting this

half of the Foxes (most of the older ones) are convinced that Neil and Andrew are, more or less, together

there are bets, obviously

the pot is huge

the other half of the Foxes (mostly the new ones) are convinced that Neil and Andrew are not a thing 

at least not beyond what they assume to be a deal between them

Andrew and Neil have no desire to correct them, so they say nothing

until two of the new Foxes decide to start flirting with Neil

it starts innocently enough

smiles exchanged, trying to get Neil to laugh, etc.

Neil doesn’t respond in any sort of way

he’s aware of what they’re doing, but he doesn’t reciprocate

plus he smells like Andrew??? he and Andrew literally share a bed??? and clothes??? 

Neil has a hard time believing that the freshmen could be that stupid

alas, they are, and they just become more determined to get Neil’s attention

it’s actually started turning into a competition between them, to see who can get to Neil “heartthrob” Josten first

Andrew is not at all impressed, but he decides to let Neil deal with it

Neil is a perfectly capable adult who can handle shit like this

and sometimes he needs to know that he can have this sort of control in his life

usually, that would be the case

but Neil doesn’t want to fuck up the so-far good response he’s had to his co-captaincy

so he doesn’t confront the younger Alphas

he still doesn’t react to their attempts at all, but he’s not outright turning them down, so it keeps going

about a month into the whole mess, Andrew is finally tired of Neil sticking around after practice to “help” the freshmen

he’s tired of Neil sliding into the Maserati smelling like someone else

so one day after practice, when Neil is conversing with the two Alphas, Andrew sidles up behind Neil

he asks permission to touch with a low-cast “Neil” and, when he gets it, he steps into Neil’s space and pulls him back against his chest by his pockets

Andrew makes eye contact with both freshmen before he pointedly nudges Neil’s head to the side and scents the omega’s neck, ending the motion with a soft nip to Neil’s earlobe

Neil, despite his surprise, melts against Andrew, head tipped back to rest on the Alpha’s shoulder

the freshmen take the hint and make excuses to leave, and they don’t bother Neil again

unfortunately, this “claiming” raises another problem

this problem’s name is Jack

Andrew is not at all impressed with Jack

not only is Jack a homophobic Alpha who believes that omegas have no place in a sport like Exy

he also jump straight-up enjoys being an asshole

Neil doesn’t let Andrew interfere though, at least not right away

let the two Alphas that were flirting with him, Neil thinks that he can handle this

he’s wrong

surprise

the antagonism between Jack and Neil builds to a point where a fistfight breaks out between them in the middle of the court

the rest of the Foxes start shouting and crowding around the fighting players, attempting to pull them off of each other

they manage to eventually, after Wymack steps in

but both Neil and Jack come out of it worse for wear

this is the point where Andrew has had enough

he flat-out tells Neil that he’s going to handle Jack

“You had your chance to rein him in. I’m ending this now.”

the next day, Jack doesn’t show up to morning practice, but he manages to come to evening practice

no one knows what happened

Andrew wouldn’t even tell Neil what he did to Jack

he didn’t break any bones, so Wymack didn’t care

but Jack hardly spoke at all for the rest of the semester, and he downright avoided being around Neil and Andrew

[dangerouslydisquieting-blog]

Miscommunication

Words: 4.2k

Warnings: Angst 

Summary:Sometimes words were all you needed and sometimes words weren’t needed at all.

Alternatively; The first time Andreil don't say "I love you."

Ao3

“Pick up the pace! Let’s go! We lost our first two games!  We are not,” Neil paused to breathe, “-about to lose another!”

Neil’s throat was raw from all the yelling. It was Thursday, the team had been on the court 4 days in a row. They had a bye week, giving them another week to their next game. Neil had been running them ragged this week. They had lost the two games they’d played thus far, by embarrassing scores.

“Rachael, aim closer, hit harder!”

“Jack, use your fucking head!”

“Nicky! Where’s Andrew?”

“Jack, for fuck’s-”

Neil grit his teeth and breathed in through his nose, out through his mouth, keeping his temper in check. “Water break. 5 minutes. Get.”

Neil’s shoulder was throbbing, his feet were on fire, and his throat was parched. He walked over to the bench where he’d left his water bottle. Andrew hadn’t shown up to practice, for the first time in a long time. Neil sighed through his teeth. Andrew hadn’t come to bed the night before either.

Neil looked up as Kevin made his presence known, “Where’s Andrew?” he asked.

“If I knew, I wouldn’t have asked Nicky.”

“Well, find him and get him to come to practice. We need it.”

“Don’t you think I know that?”

“Not by the way you’ve been practicing them.”

“Give me a break, if I thought we were ready, we wouldn’t be here.”

“Well, show it Josten. We’re no where near ready and if these guys don’t get in shape, we have zero chance of even coming close to-”

“I know.” Kevin lifted a brow, it had came out louder and harsher than Neil had intended, but he wasn’t going to take it back. “I know. I’m doing my best-”

“Well obviously your best isn’t enough!”

Neil’s right eyebrow twitched with the oncoming headache. “I don’t need to hear it from you, Kevin. Back off. I’m doing what I can-”

“Do better.” And with that Kevin put his helmet back on and ran back onto the field where the rest of the team was already waiting.

Neil bit his lip hard enough to draw blood, and counted to 5 before slamming his water bottle down. He took a few breaths, and proceeded to spend the next hour screaming himself hoarse.

---

It had been bothering Neil for a while. He wasn’t sure how to put the feeling into words. He didn’t think there were words for the way he was feeling.

The bottom line - he was in love with Andrew Minyard.

But it was more than that. He had no idea how to tell Andrew without scaring him off, or at least, making a fool of himself. Because Neil didn’t know how Andrew felt about him. He didn’t know if this, he, was what Andrew needed. He was beginning to doubt himself. He was considering what Andrew had said about them - “Nothing” - being true to an extent. He had no indication from Andrew that his feelings had changed.

But, things had changed. Andrew was trusting him more and more, the nightmares were getting better, and Neil had a home with Andrew, unlike any he’d ever had. But - what if Andrew didn’t feel the same way? Neil saw the way Andrew looked at him sometimes, like he was seeing right through him, as if he really was nothing.

It had all come to a head the night before.

They had come back from practice, Andrew had been by the window, presumably doing homework. Neil was watching their last game, they had lost 7 to 1. He’d looked up from the screen to see Andrew staring at him, or - just past him. He wasn’t sure.

“Something the matter?”

Andrew lazily rolled his eyes at Neil’s question, returning his gaze to the papers he had been working on. Neil got up to get water and an Advil.

“Do you need anything?” No reply. “Andrew?” Nothing.

Neil sighed in frustration. “Andrew. Do you need anything.”

Still Andrew didn’t respond, he shifted in his seat, but made no other indication of hearing Neil.

Neil snapped, he walked over and pushed the papers away from Andrew, “Hey. I asked you something.”

“Congrats.” Came the dry reply.

Neil clenched his teeth as a wave of rage overcame him. His hands clenched into fists at his sides. He took a few slow breaths and took a couple steps back from Andrew.

“What am I doing wrong?”

Andrew narrowed his eyes at him.

“Why are you - “ Neil broke off, he didn’t know how to finish the question, didn’t know if he wanted to finish that question. “What -” He sighed, “Talk to me.”

Andrew turned his attention away from Neil before replying, “Go back to you game.”

Neil clenched his teeth again, making the headache worse. “I can’t -” Andrew didn’t react, “You’re - this - for fuck’s sake, I - I’ll never be like you.”

Neil winced, that wasn’t what he’d meant to say, well, it was, but not - he wasn’t sure! He didn’t know. All he knew was that he was in love with the man sitting in front of him and he didn’t know what to do about it. He had to - there wasn’t -

“Excuse me?”

Shit. “I -” Neil’s voice caught.

Andrew didn’t say anything more, but raised a brow at Neil, waiting for a response.

Neil took a breath, his mouth moving faster than his mind. “You don’t care! You are so damn apathetic about everything, and it wouldn’t bother me so much if it wasn’t me you keep looking at as if I am a - a nuisance!? Or worse, insignificant! What do you expect me to do!”

Andrew didn’t say anything, just stared at Neil, or behind Neil, again, he wasn’t entirely sure.

“Stop it!”

Still nothing.

“Stop looking at me like I don’t matter! Like I could die,” Neil’s voice caught again, “and you wouldn’t blink!”

Andrew’s eyes flashed, his jaw clenched. A muscle in his brow jumped. He swallowed and stood. He left without a word.

---

“PUT SOME FUCKING EFFORT INTO IT, AARON.”

Neil could see Aaron’s eye roll from across the court. It was Friday, last practice for the week, and no one seemed to care.

Andrew had shown up, but his presence wasn’t being felt. He was in gear, standing at the goal, but letting every ball pass him. It was only serving to piss Neil off more than if he hadn’t shown up. Neil had a sneaking suspicion that was exactly what Andrew was trying to accomplish.

Finally Kevin snapped. “Andrew! Do your damn job. Defend the fucking goal.”

And Andrew did. Not a single ball after was let through, the backliners stepped up their games, everyone stood straighter as Andrew put his game face on. Side conversations ended, everyone put in their best effort. They were playing like the team Neil knew they could be, if they practiced. They played like they meant it, like they had a captain they could count on.

Neil felt sick.

Do your damn job .

---

Nicky had been watching Neil over the course of the week, and he didn’t like what he saw. He was running himself ragged. He practiced more than the others, he was always doing homework or studying if not, and he put in more hours running or at the gym then the rest of the team. Nicky wasn’t sure how much sleep, if any, Neil was getting. And judging by the dark circles and copious amounts of caffeine he was consuming, Nicky was sure it wasn’t enough.

Nicky had also noticed the uneasy air around him and Andrew at practice that day, and with Andrew not having shown up to practice the day before, Nicky was sure something was wrong. And with Kevin’s attitude and constant screaming matches between Neil and him, Nicky was sure Neil could use a night out.

Kevin and Aaron were easy enough to convince, Andrew didn’t say no outright, because everyone knew he’d never pass up alcohol, and Nicky was going to drag Neil there one way or another.

They sometimes took two cars if someone had to be back earlier for some reason, or if they were going to be there longer than a night. But they weren’t going to be there longer than a night. Neither did anyone have to be back earlier than usual. But they took two cars. Kevin, Aaron, and Neil in Kevin’s and Nicky and Andrew in Andrew’s. This was probably what tipped Nicky off of the extent of Neil and Andrew’s fight.

---

They made it to Sweetie’s ok. They ordered their ice cream and ate in mostly silence. Andrew got dust. Neil winced. Kevin and Aaron took some. Nicky passed.

They left for Eden’s and shit hit the fan as soon as Kevin took his first shot.

“You know,” He started amicably, “Dan was probably the best captain Wymack could’ve ever hoped for.” He continued taking shots the way only Kevin could. He didn’t pause as if he hadn’t knocked all the breath out of Neil’s lungs.

The others were busy getting in their own shots to care what Kevin had to say. Aaron was drinking almost as fast as Kevin, Andrew coming a close second. Nicky had taken a couple shots and was nursing a third. Neil was staring at his first.

Neither Aaron nor Nicky got up to dance. Kevin drank as much as he usually did. Hss speech wasn’t slurring moreso adopting an accent. Andrew had held back a bit, downed a few shots and was now nursing a coke. Neil had taken his first shot and left it at that.

“Fucking freshme’ can’t shoo’ t’ save their lives. Know wha’ I mean?” Kevin asked Andrew. Andrew pointedly ignored him, looking like he’d rather be anywhere but there. “Maybe ‘f they’d’ve had a better cap’n, y’know Neil?”

Neil closed his eyes and didn’t otherwise react.

“Wy - Wy- Coach shouldda asked Rach’l to be cap, at leas’ she knows what she’s doin’. Maybe actually get us to finals.”

Neil swallowed. Nicky got up to dance. Andrew took another shot. Aaron lazily looked between Neil and Andrew.

Kevin laughed. “Coach though’ Neil couldda done it, can you believe ‘Ron? Neil? There won’ be Foxe’ after Neil.” Kevin laughed harder.

Neil clenched his jaw, his nose burning. He knew - he knew he wasn’t good enough. He knew Wymack should’ve chosen someone more qualified for the position. He knew Dan was the best the Foxes had, would have, for as long as there were Foxes. He knew that if he fucked up, they weren’t going to make it to finals. He knew that a bad year could mean the Foxes became a Division II team. Hearing it from Kevin, as drunk as he may be, only confirmed what Neil already knew.

Andrew hadn’t said anything, hadn’t reacted, just sat with his arms on the table, watching the people around them. Aaron was watching his brother closely. Usually, Andrew would at least be paying attention to the conversation, sometimes interjecting with a glare or a raised brow. But he was actively ignoring everything Kevin was saying.

Nicky had wandered back to their table, not long after he’d left. It just didn’t feel like a normal night out. Neil was looking a little pale, Nicky didn’t know if he wanted any attention on himself so forwent saying anything. Whatever it was, Neil could handle it, he was sure.

“What? Did you two break-up or some shit?” Aaron asked with a sneer. He wasn’t going to give anyone any reason to doubt that he actually cared if his brother was ok.

Nicky’s eyes were widened in panic, he knew it was serious, but a break-up?

Andrew glanced lazily at his brother, “None of your business.”

Kevin looked between Andrew and Aaron. His gaze landed on Neil. He snorted, “Can’t do anythin’ right, can y’, eh, Neil?”

Neil had had enough. He took a breath and swiftly stood and made his way through the club to get outside. His feet hit the cement running.

Nicky had gotten up after him, but lost him in the crowd. He made his way to the door, but Neil was already too far away to hear Nicky’s shouts of his name over the sound of the blaring music.

---

The harsh sound of Neil’s breath was the only noise in the silent night. His footfalls were quiet, the way his mother had made him learn to run - quiet, fast, efficient. He didn’t have any idea where he was or where he was going. He just knew he had to run. He wasn’t running away like he would have before. He just needed to get away for a bit. And running was his way of doing so.

Every doubt and insecurity he’d had in the past week since their last game played itself in his mind’s eye. Kevin’s words echoed in his ears. His vision flashed red. His fight with Andrew replaying itself it startling clarity. His eyes stung more than he’d care to admit. Aaron’s words stinging more than they should have. He ran harder, faster. And last, Nicky’s voice, yelling after him.The fight left him, he slowed to a stop, and looked around him.

Neil didn’t know the way back to PSU, but he was sure he’d never been to this part of Columbia. It was residential, away from the hustle and bustle of the main city where Eden’s was. He’d been running for - he reached into his pocket for his phone to check the time - it was dead. And he’d left his wallet at Eden’s. Shit.

He had a dead phone, no wallet, no money. He was stranded, and had no idea how to get back home or to PSU. He couldn’t call Matt, and he sure as hell wasn’t about to call Andrew or Kevin.  It was too late to knock on any door. He clenched his jaw at a flash of annoyance. He brought his hand up to run through his hair, making it stick up in disarray. Nothing was going right. He couldn’t catch a break, could he?

Neil takes a shuddering breath in and starts walking. A while away he reaches a park. The sky was beginning to lighten at this point, it had to be at least 4 in the morning. He finds a park bench and collapses, the dehydration catching up to him. He passes out to the sound of birds chirping. The last thought to cross his mind is of Andrew’s hurt expression as he left after their fight.

---

The cousin’s and Kevin had made it to the house an hour after Neil had run off. Kevin was passed out on the couch. Aaron and Nicky had made it to their rooms. Andrew had been in his and Neil’s room, but had moved to the kitchen at 4, and then the porch at 5. Still no sign of Neil.

Andrew had Neil’s wallet in his pocket, having picked it up for him after Neil had left it. It was 6 now and Andrew had smoked his way through half a pack standing out on the porch. A while after, Andrew caves and calls Neil’s phone. It goes straight to voicemail, his phone’s either off or dead. Knowing Neil it was probably dead.

Andrew’s right eye twitches. He considers calling Bee, but it’s not a him problem, it’s a Neil problem, the only other person he knows would help is Wymack. And so he calls.

It’s 6am on a Saturday morning, but Wymack picks up. It’s Andrew’s ringtone.

“ ’ndrew?”

“He hasn’t come home.”

A pause as Wymack considers Andrew’s words, his tone. Andrew’s never been one to beat around the bush, so the “he” must be Neil and “home” must mean wherever Andrew is, and Neil’s not there. And the fact that Andrew is resorting to calling him at all, means he’s worried more than he’d ever admit. So that means Neil’s either lost, or has decided to run.

Now, he knows Neil, Wymack knows that at one point in time, he didn’t have reason to stay, but now, he has no reason to run. So he must be lost, with no way to get home. “I’ll, I’ll get Matt, we’ll be there in an hour.”

Wymack wakes Matt up and asks him to come along so they can cover more ground with three cars. Matt gets up without argument and doesn’t even think to question anyone about anything, finding Neil being priority.

---

It’s an hour later that the three of them meet up by Eden’s and split up in different directions.

---

It’s an hour after that that Andrew pulls up next to Neil. His shirt soaked through with sweat, dehydrated, and totally and utterly defeated.

---

“Get in.”

Neil looks over, the sun in his eyes, blinding him. But it was Andrew, he’d recognize Andrew’s voice if he’d woken up from a coma with amnesia. He considers saying something, anything, but thinks against it. He takes a shaky breath, opens the passenger side, and practically collapses as he sits.

Andrew drives to the nearest gas station and got out. He takes his phone out as he grabs a couple bottles of water and a pack of trail mix.

”Andrew?” Wymack picks up at the first ring.

“Tell Matt to go home. We’ll be back in two.” Translation: Matt and you can go home. I found him. Neil and I’ll be back at PSU in two hours, give or take. We’ll see you there. Thanks for your help. Bye.

He calls Bee as he takes his wallet out and buys the stuff and a pack of cigarettes. “Would you mind telling Abby to come by the Tower in two hours?” A pause. “Thanks, Bee.”

He makes his way back to Neil. He passes a water bottle to Neil, but Neil doesn’t have the energy to open it, so Andrew opens the other one and passes it to Neil, and takes the one Neil has back.

He reaches over again when Neil starts to gulp down the water. He pulls the bottle away from Neil’s mouth, and glares at him when Neil looks at him questioningly. “Sip.”

Neil huffs and continues drinking at a more reasonable rate.

They don’t go to the house, but they don’t start towards Palmetto either. Andrew drives around for a while, Neil still drinking and quietly munching on the trail mix.

It’s been a half hour of this before Andrew’s “I don’t” and Neil’s “I’m sorry” break the silence at the same time.

Andrew waits, “I’m - I didn’t mean to say what I did.”

“I’ll never be like you!”

Andrew waits, “I know - I know that’s not good enough, but I swear…I’m, I’m sorry. I made a mistake.”

“Stop it!”

Andrew waits, “I’m sorry, and I didn’t mean it. I don’t think of you like that.”

“Stop looking at me like I don’t matter. Like I could die and you wouldn’t blink.”

“I’m sorry, I - “ love you.

“I don’t.” - look at you like that.

---

Abby’s waiting for them at the parking lot as they pull in. Neil rolls his eyes in protest but doesn’t say anything as she looks him over. She tells him to get some salt in his system and let’s them go.

They make their way up to their room. Neil puts his phone on the charger as soon as he can. As soon as it powers up, he gets a flood of notifications from Nicky and then a missed call and a “ i hate you ” text from Andrew.

Andrew’s in the room and as Neil comes in he tells him to text Matt.

“Why?”

“He and Coach came to look for you.”

Shit …Neil swallows. He text’s a “ Hey, I’m fine .” to Matt, and debates calling Wymack before just making his way to his apartment.

---

Neil knocks on Wymack’s door and he opens it soon after. Wymack regards Neil a second before moving to the side to let him in.

They move to the living room, where Wymack sinks into an armchair with a sigh. Neil stands for a beat before sitting n the couch where he’d slept all that time ago.

They sit in silence for a bit, Wymack not pushing Neil to say anything, and Neil comfortable enough in Wymack’s presence for the silence not to feel awkward. Neil looks up at Wymack and notices the worry lines at the corners of his mouth and eyes. He doesn’t know what it is, but something about the concern shining through without words had Neil opening his mouth before his mind could catch up.

“I’m sorry I’m such a shitty captain.” Wymack is taken aback by the words to say anything before Neil continues. “I know you expect better. I swear I’m trying but I just, It’s so hard, and I’m not complaining. Thank you for this opportunity and I’m so grateful, but Kevin doesn’t think we’ll ever make Championships and Jack hates my guts and Andrew -“

Neil’s voice wavers, his words faltering. Wymack gets up and sits down next to Neil, he places a hand a bit awkwardly on his shoulder, waiting for Neil to look at him.

“Neil.” Wymack starts “I wouldn’t have made you captain if I didn’t think you could do it. You can. You will.” You can. You will. The same sentiment Wymack would give the team before difficult games. Neil let out a breath.

“Kev-“

“Screw what Kevin says, you are his captain, act like it.”

“Jack -“

“Neil.”

“Andrew…”

“Neil, I never said Andrew would be easy to captain -”

“No - It’s not…I - ”

Wymack raised a brow, waiting for Neil to continue.

“I don’t - I mean, I’m not, I…”

Wymack didn’t say anything as Neil faltered and then fell silent. And then sighing, squeezing Neil’s shoulder, “I’m, uh - I’m proud of you, kid. Everything you’ve accomplished and everything you’ve overcome. I’m proud of who you’ve become, Neil.”

And even though it was no where near what Neil was expecting, they were all the right words, the words he needed to hear. It’s not much, but it’s all Wymack’s got, but it’s more than enough for Neil.

---

Neil comes home to Kevin, Nicky, and Aaron in their room, Nicky haven driven them home in Kevin’s car. Nicky tackles him in a hug and then a smack on his shoulder for the stunt he pulled. Neil takes it without a word, searching for Andrew.

Neil heads up the stairs to the roof, he can smell the cigarette smoke before he even opens the door. Andrew is sitting with his back against the edge, a lit cigarette dangling from the corner of his mouth while lighting another. He passes this one to Neil, who comes to a stop standing before Andrew. He takes the cigarette and takes a single drag before letting the rest burn.

Andrew wants to talk to Neil. He wants to tell Neil that he does care for him, and that he doesn’t look at him like he means nothing to him. He wants to tell Neil that there’s no doubt in his mind about what he has with Neil. He wants to explain how he’s feeling.

Neil wants to talk to Andrew. He wants to tell Andrew that he loves him. He wants to ask what he really means to him. If Andrew sees them the way Neil sees them. Neil wants Andrew to talk to him.

It’s Andrew that opens his mouth first, sitting in front of a standing Neil, he says, “I didn’t know what I - I wasn’t sure, because I’d never experienced it.”

Neil’s lips part in confusion, his brow raising a infinitesimally. He doesn’t say anything, waiting for Andrew to continue.

“I’ve never known affection, I’ve never had a steady, a relationship where, I mean - ” Andrew broke off, his mind working faster than his words. “I didn’t recognize it because I’ve never felt it, so I had no idea how to react to something so foreign, unfamiliar.”

Still Neil said nothing.

“So I responded in the only way I was sure of. Hate. Hate was familiar territory, I understood hate. This - You were new and unfamiliar and I didn’t like it. But I, I’ve figured it out, I guess.”

Neil’s breath was coming in shallow.

“I hated you on principle because I had no idea how else to respond…so -“ Andrew broke off once again, looking up at Neil.

Neil went to speak but the lump in his throat prevented him. He swallowed hard. All this time he’d been stressing on how to tell Andrew how he felt, and on top of all the stress of captaining and everything going wrong. And here Andrew was, telling Neil everything he never knew he needed to hear.

“You - You -” He stuttered

“I’m not saying it, fucker.”

That was all that it took for the relief to flood through Neil, he let out a breathless giggle, giddy with the realization that this, this was real. What he and Andrew had wasn’t going anywhere, and both of them knew that. Even if they didn’t say the words.

“Me either, asshole.”

[markonasurface]

6/50 - “Could you be any louder?”

Fandom: All for the Game Characters/pairings: the Foxes/andreil, kevin x allison, (aaron x katelyn, matt x dan, renee x jean) Summary: The Foxes decide to spend spring break together again (sans the freshmen). The walls are thin and Allison doesn’t want to hear any stupidly happy couples screwing. A/N: Because I saw this post and all I could think of was tfc/aftg. Tbh it’s all I think about these days.

http://maelerie.tumblr.com/post/135803922052/send-me-two-characters-or-more-and-a-prompt-and

**warning for the usual things brought up from the Foxes’ pasts**

It was their second spring break together and would be the girls’ last one with them since they were fifth year seniors. Dan, Matt, Renee, and Allison had decided to rent a cabin again.

Even though they were no longer roommates, or maybe because they were no longer roommates, Neil and Matt kept up with their fighting lessons. Neil showed up just as the upperclassmen decided it might be nice to go to the same place as last time.

“Think Andrew would let you guys come along again?” Dan asked.

“I’ll ask,” Neil said.

“Then it’ll be a definite yes,” Matt grinned.

Neil smiled, a little less socially awkward after nearly two years with the Foxes. “Are the freshmen coming?” he asked.

“God no.” Allison groaned. “Spring break is supposed to be relaxing and fun. It’ll be hard enough with the monsters around.”

All Neil said was, “Okay.” He knew she had a soft spot for them even if she still hated them all. Also, he was pleased they didn’t want the freshmen around as much as he didn’t.

He joined the others in the lounge after his shower and Wymack went over notes for the coming week. He ended with, “Don’t fail your midterms.”

“So?” Allison asked Neil.

“I haven’t asked, yet,” he told her.

“Asked what?” One of the freshmen questioned.

Neil turned to Andrew and spoke in German, “They want to know if we want to join them for spring break like last year.”

“Hell yeah!” Nicky shouted in English.

“It’s not fair when you guys speak in German,” Sheena complained.

Aaron looked at her and said, “If it’s in German, it’s not your business. You don’t hear Kevin complaining.”

“That’s probably because he’s just relieved he doesn’t have to listen to Neil and Andrew’s dirty talk and understand.”

If it wasn’t Exy, Kevin didn’t care so he didn’t respond. Neil ignored the comment and relayed the invitation in French.

Kevin shook his head. “There wasn’t a court last time.” His response was in English.

Neil kept on in French. “Will you go if they find a place with a court?”

“Nobody likes it when you guys speak French either!”

“No one likes it when you speak.” Aaron returned.

Kevin pointed at Allison. “Find a place with a court.”

She glared. “You’re so fucking predictable.”

“Fuck you.”

“In your dreams, asshole.”

One of the freshmen blurted, “You guys are making plans and only inviting half of the team?”

They ignored the freshmen and started for the door. “Aaron?” Dan asked. “You can bring Katelyn.”

This started another round of protests from the freshmen. “She’s not even on the team!”

Aaron shrugged and Dan grinned. “I’ll take that as a yes.”

“Thea can come, too.” Renee said kindly to Kevin.

“No.”

Neil nudged Andrew and got a glare. “So we’re going?”

“Make sure there are enough rooms. I want the one farthest away from them,” he shot over his shoulder.

“Hey, Renee,” Nicky said. “Is Jean coming?”

“Are you kidding me?” Jack yelled when Renee nodded. “He’s on another fucking team!”

Dan/Matt Kevin/Nicky Andrew/Neil Aaron/Katelyn Allison Renee/Jean

They left Saturday afternoon. They took three cars since they had two extra people coming along. Matt drove Nicky, Aaron and Katelyn since Aaron still refused to have Katelyn and Andrew in the same space for long. Allison drove Dan, Renee and Jean since Renee wanted to avoid the awkwardness that was Kevin and Jean. Andrew, Neil and Kevin were the last to arrive since they stopped for alcohol.

Neil thought there wasn’t much difference between this place and the one they stayed at last spring. The set up was much the same with one bedroom on the first floor and four on the second. The only difference was there was a loft/attic that acted as a sixth bedroom.

The others had left the first floor bedroom for Andrew and Neil again so Kevin went upstairs to find the room with Nicky’s bag.

Their first day was remarkably similar to their first day last year. The others were already in the hot tub. Nicky helped Andrew mix drinks for the others. Andrew and Neil isolated themselves in view of the others and sipped whiskey.

They ate dinner together then settled on couches and raced to see who could get wasted first. They ended the night with Allison calling out the same warning she had the year before. “The walls are thin! I better not hear any of you stupidly happy couples fucking.”

“I bet if you ask nicely Kevin will keep you warm tonight,” Nicky singsonged.

Kevin shot him a disgusted look at the same time Allison told Nicky, “It wasn’t funny the last five times you said it.”

Late Sunday morning the Foxes slowly convened in the front room so they could head to breakfast together. They talked quietly, most of them hungover, all of them still waking up.

“I’m hungry,” Nicky complained.

“Then go wake up your cousin,” Allison snapped back.

“They have to be awake,” Dan said, eyes closed and head leaned on Matt’s shoulder. “I heard one of them get up to shower this morning.”

Nicky glanced at their door. “If one of them is up, the other is, too, but I haven’t heard a sound from their room. Have you?”

He crossed the room and knocked. There was no answer so he tried the door knob and was surprised to find it was unlocked.

His jaw dropped when he took in the scene before him. Neil was leaned back against the wall, hands in Andrew’s hair, and Andrew was on his knees.

Neil’s eyes snapped open with the door and he spluttered, “Fucking hell, Nicky -” He made a noise Nicky never in a million years thought he’d hear coming from him in real life and struggled to keep his eyes open. “G-get the fuck out!”

Nicky slammed the door in his haste and turned to the others who were looking at him curiously. “I think I just saw Neil enjoying himself while not playing Exy,” Nicky deadpanned and couldn’t keep the grin off of his face.

“You’re lying,” Matt accused but he was laughing like the rest of the team.

“Andrew was -” Nicky mimed giving a blowjob and the others lost it.

“You’re gonna make me puke,” Aaron was perhaps the only one less amused than Kevin.

“They’re so quiet,” Matt looked back at their door.

Allison stood. “Let’s go to breakfast, then.”

The others agreed and stood up. About half of them were out the front door when Andrew emerged from his room.

He grabbed Nicky by the shirt and hissed, “Don’t do that again.” His cousin struggled to hold back his laughter but nodded.

“You look wrecked,” Allison commented and Andrew glared.

“Shut up.” More than a couple of the others snorted. It was hard to take him seriously when his lips were swollen and red, his pupils were so dilated his eyes were almost completely black, and his hair was sticking up in weird angles thanks to Neil’s hands.

Allison only allowed a small smile and said, “It’s a good look on you,” before walking out the door. It wasn’t a lie.

Andrew refused to come out of his room for the rest of Sunday which meant Neil didn’t either. The others left them alone until after dinner.

“They could be having sex,” Nicky slurred, already tipsy. “And we wouldn’t even know.”

“Is it normal?” Matt looked toward their door again. “To be so quiet?”

Renee cleared her throat softly and the others looked to where she was curled up with her feet under her and Jean’s arm around her. “I think that everybody’s different. Different experiences and all that.”

“What?” Katelyn asked.

Aaron groaned but kissed her temple. “If the only experience you have is being raped and having your life threatened if you make a noise, you’re used to being quiet.”

He waited for Katelyn to show she understood. The alcohol made her brain sluggish so it took her a few seconds. “Okay, but what about Neil?”

“I heard him tell Andrew that his mom used to beat him any time she caught him with a girl.”

“Damn!” Nicky laughed and Aaron turned to glare. He had been speaking quietly but hadn’t realized the others had gone silent around him to listen. “I’ve heard of people trying to beat the gay out of you but never have I heard of someone beating someone n-not straight!”

Aaron ignored the others as usual and told Katelyn. “Also, Neil’s a liar. The first nineteen years of his life he spent controlling what other people saw of him. I imagine it’s not easy giving up control after so long.”

“Neil ‘I’m fine’ Josten,” Matt agreed.

“What does that mean?” Jean instinctively looked toward Kevin for an answer.

The others hadn’t really seen the two former Ravens interact except for at the banquets when Riko had a collar around Jean’s neck. They also knew the reason Jean wasn’t playing with the Foxes was because there was too much history between him and Kevin.

They didn’t know what they expected but it wasn’t an open expression and Kevin telling Jean, “Last year, whenever anyone asked Neil how he was or if he was okay he would automatically say, ‘I’m fine.’ Even after he came back from Christmas break he told everyone he was fine.”

Jean nodded at this. He changed to French. “The two weeks he spent with the Ravens he never said how he was doing. Mostly just screaming and groaning.”

“Nobody asked,” Kevin assumed. “Nobody would’ve cared.”

“When we talked, it was mostly about Riko, Exy, and you.”

Riko’s name spiked interest in their conversation even more. Kevin only slightly stiffened. When Jean finally looked at the others he said in English, “I’ve never heard Neil say, ‘I’m fine.’ If I had to give him a name like that it would be Neil ‘fuck you’ Josten.”

His comment lightened the mood again and the others went back to talking about random things. Allison motioned for Dan and Renee to follow her so they got up from their seats. Renee looked at Allison and pointed to Katelyn with her eyes and Allison shrugged. While Dan kissed Matt, Renee went over to Aaron and Katelyn and said, “We’re going upstairs. Care to join us?”

“Sure,” Katelyn looked only slightly surprised. She kissed Aaron’s cheek then let Renee help her to her feet.

“Come on, Dan,” Allison whined. She pulled Dan away from Matt and grabbed the fullest bottle she could on their way to the stairs. Renee brought up the rear in case any one of her tipsy friends decided to trip.

When they reached the attic, they all climbed onto Allison’s bed. Allison and Dan turned to Katelyn.

Her face was already a little flushed from alcohol but blood rushed to her cheeks when Allison asked, “So is Aaron loud?”

“Wh-what?” she stuttered, then laughed a little nervously. “Why?”

“We just got proof his twin’s not.”

“No, we didn’t,” Katelyn said. “We got proof that his twin’s boyfriend isn’t loud.”

Dan nodded. “Yeah, but you heard what Aaron said.”

Allison rolled her eyes. “Okay, but both of them are very controlling. The only time we’ve ever seen Andrew show any personality was on his drugs. After that, nothing. I think it’s safe to say neither of them is able to give up that much control even when they’re getting each other off. I think Andrew’s less likely than Neil.”

Dan giggled and choked on a mouthful of liquor.

“So, back to Aaron,” Allison tried to gesture to Katelyn.

She shrugged and took a gulp from their shared bottle when Dan offered it to her. She grinned and said, “Mostly only when he’s drunk. Otherwise, he’s not. He’s kind of serious and sweet.”

“Aaron? Sweet?” Dan hiccuped. She paused then said, “Last year I would’ve never believed it. But now - now that we’ve seen him around you - Oh, my god! He does have a soft side!”

She said it like a revelation. She turned to Allison. “Do you think Andrew is sweet to Neil?”

Allison blinked lazily up at the ceiling. “I don’t know. Remember when Nicky thought it was just hate sex?”

“Yeah, but they’ve been together for a year now,” Dan took another swig from the bottle.

“I’d be more shocked to find out Andrew is gentle when they’re - do you think they’ve even had sex? I mean, like, besides handies and blowjobs. Like, I’d get it after all that shit with Drake last year.” Allison leaned up on her elbows suddenly to look at Renee. “Does he tell you that stuff?”

“No,” she said and left it at that.

Allison fell onto her back again and dragged Dan with her. Katelyn drank from the bottle and swallowed. Then she said, “Which one of your teammates do you think is the loudest in bed?”

At the same time Dan and Allison answered, “Nicky.” This sent them into a fit of giggles. Renee smiled down at her friends.

“Hm,” Allison hugged Dan and snuggled into her warmth. “Now we know two are quiet, two are loud and one -” She pointed at Katelyn and nodded once in thanks. “Is both.”

She gasped and blurted, “What about Kevin?”

“Someone so uptight has to let loose somewhere, right?” Dan rolled so that she was on her stomach.

“I don’t know,” Renee said and the other women immediately gave her their undivided attention.

When she didn’t elaborate, Allison and Dan both complained.

“C’mon, Renee-nay,” Allison leaned across Dan’s back to tug at her pastel colored tips. “What do you know?”

She pursed her lips. “This doesn’t leave this room,” she finally caved. They waved her off and she spoke quietly, not wanting Jean or Kevin to hear her even though there was an entire floor between them. “Riko decided when Kevin and Jean had sex for the first time.”

“What? Like he fucked them?” Allison shrieked.

Renee shushed Allison and said, “No. He chose the girls for them and was there when it happened. Ravens weren’t allowed to go anywhere without another Raven. Kevin was literally by Riko’s side for most of his life and when he finally left, Jean was.”

Dan grimaced and spoke slowly. “That’s sick. So they were only allowed to have sex if someone else was watching?”

“I don’t think the rules were as strict with the other Ravens but I don’t know. Neil said Riko and Kevin shared a room in one hall and all the other Ravens were in a different hall.”

“But if he was always with Riko, how’d he and Thea get together?”

Renee shrugged, deciding she had shared way too much information for the night.

Allison was on her back again, blinking lazily at the ceiling. She asked, “Is Jean loud?”

Renee’s eyes looked empty. “I imagine it’s a little bit like Andrew’s situation. He learned begging and fighting didn’t make them stop.” She flinched and she was sweet Renee Walker again. “I didn’t mean to say that out loud. We’ve kissed and that’s it. I don’t really know.”

Dan grabbed her hand and squeezed. It was hard to believe Renee when she said she and Andrew were very similar but times when they were reminded of her past and now that they knew a little more about what he had gone through, it was hard to believe she didn’t turn out exactly like him.

“I thought Kevin was gay for the longest time,” Allison admitted, subdued. “Like, I thought it was the reason he couldn’t fully give up Riko.”

“Do you think he was ...” Katelyn wondered. “Is that why you said you don’t know if he’s loud in bed?”

Renee shrugged. “I don’t know. Everyone’s different. Even two people who go through the same situation can react to things differently.”

“Geez,” Dan said. “Sorry, Katelyn. We promise our hangouts aren’t always such downers.”

“It’s interesting,” Katelyn admitted, laying next to Dan . “I know not all the girls on the squad had perfect lives but I feel like we live in a bubble sometimes, you know? I feel like everything I’ve learned about your team is stuff you only see in movies. Abuse, rape, murder. After hanging out with you guys, it’s just something so different hanging out with the squad.”

“I guess after dating one of the monsters, nothing can really surprise you, huh?” Allison’s eyes were closed and she reached out blindly to squeeze Katelyn’s arm.

Dan threw an arm over Allison’s waist and snuggled her face into the side of her neck. “Remember that thing that Neil said? Uh, it-I, um, if we got what we deserved we wouldn’t be foxes.”

“Hm,” Allison sighed, already asleep.

Renee woke up before the sun rose and couldn’t fall back asleep. She turned over under Jean’s arm and studied his face. It was weird, the contrast. She had seen all of her teammates awake and asleep at some point and it never ceased to amaze her.

They all looked so peaceful and it made Renee sad to think that anyone could hurt them. The thought passed through her mind again and she remembered why she couldn’t fall back asleep. She felt guilty.

Jean’s and Kevin’s lives at Castle Evermore were their business and for some reason Renee had shared some of Jean’s and Kevin’s experiences. She wouldn’t want Jean telling his teammates that she had been raped. Yet, she had all but stated that multiple people had forced themselves on him.

Lightly, she pressed a fingertip to his cheek and traced the three she knew was underneath his coverup tattoo. His eyelashes fluttered and he breathed deeply, moving a hand to cover hers. He moved their hands down until he could press a kiss to her palm.

“Morning,” he sighed against her skin and she felt his lips quirk up into a smile.

“I didn’t mean to wake you,” she said softly.

He squinted his eyes open and turned to grab his phone off the nightstand. “You didn’t,” he told her after checking the time. “I always get up now.”

A door opened on the other side of the space separating Dan and Matt’s and Renee and Jean’s rooms from Nicky and Kevin’s and Aaron and Katelyn’s rooms. Quiet footsteps crossed that space and stopped in front of their door.

The knock was light and Renee looked up at Jean before sliding off the bed and going to answer it. She knew who it was going to be but she was still a little surprised.

Kevin leaned against the doorframe, looking slightly surprised to see Renee as well.

“Kevin, good morning,” she said.

“Hi, Renee,” he responded. “Is Jean up?”

She had a feeling he already knew the answer. She opened the door the rest of the way and moved so Kevin could see Jean.

“Neil and I are going to the court.”

Jean sat up. “Meet you downstairs.”

Neil finished tying his shoe before turning back to look at Andrew. “Are you planning on leaving the room today?”

“I might kill Nicky if I do.”

Andrew’s eyes were closed so Neil rolled his eyes and leaned in close. “Yes?”

“Mm,” Andrew hummed. Neil kissed him.

When Neil closed the door behind him he was greeted with an annoyed look from Kevin. He looked at his watch, making sure he wasn’t late, then shrugged it off, knowing Kevin was displeased with Andrew’s failure to join them.

Kevin didn’t move so Neil shot him a questioning look. He looked up at the second floor when he heard a door open. Kevin waited for Jean to get halfway down the stairs before heading outside.

Neil drove them to the court. He would’ve preferred to run but then he couldn’t take his racquets. They started with laps around the court which was nice but slightly smaller than an actual Exy court. They stretched like they usually did at their morning practices with their teams before running through the Raven drills. Kevin let Jean borrow one of his racquets since he and Neil both used heavier racquets more commonly used by backliners and was closer to Jean’s height.

Three hours later other people started showing up at the court much to Kevin’s annoyance. He started collecting the balls into a bucket but he was Kevin Day and he was with Jean Moreau and Neil Josten. He was one of the sons of Exy and now he was the only son of Exy. They had all been marked for Riko’s perfect Court.

Of course he wasn’t able to gather more than a couple balls before someone approached him. Kevin half assed one of his press smiles which was more than enough.

Neil took over collecting balls. Kevin and Jean were media trained; Neil was known for saying controversial things and pissing people off. As soon as he finished collecting the balls, he called out to Kevin.

The boy who was posing for a picture with Kevin and Jean looked at Neil. Kevin motioned for him to come over and Neil tried to wave him off.

It was a repeat of Kathy Ferdinand. Kevin called out in French, “You gave me your game so get the fuck over here. Play nice.”

Jean raised his eyebrows at that. “Really?”

Neil called out, “Fuck you, both.” Kevin and Jean laughed like Neil had made a joke. None of the people there had understood their conversation so they laughed, too.

They posed for pictures and gave autographs for ten minutes before Kevin said, “We better get going. It was great meeting you.”

“Play a game with us!” Someone suggested.

Neil thought Kevin would decline. These people were only playing for fun. They weren’t dedicated enough that Kevin would be wasting his time.

“Sure, one game,” Kevin agreed and Neil gave him a look. “Jean needs to borrow some gear though.”

They headed over to their duffle bags and Kevin muttered, “Stop looking like Nicky just walked in on Andrew giving you a blowjob.”

Neil gaped. “Did you just make a fucking joke?”

They pulled on their helmets and gloves, deciding they’d do a short first-team-to-five-points kind of game. They were just deciding teams when Andrew and Renee showed up.

Neil watched as one man was brave enough (or stupid enough) to try to introduce himself to Andrew. He offered him a hand to shake and Andrew stared at him uninterested. Renee intervened and shook the poor guy’s hand, introducing herself.

Andrew left them and went straight for Neil. He hooked his fingers through the grating of Neil’s helmet and said, “You’ve been gone for more than three hours.”

“Don’t blame me,” Neil couldn’t help but smile knowing Andrew had run five miles to get here. “Blame Mr. Celebrity, Queen Day, over here.”

“I want ice cream,” Andrew said and a piece of sweat-darkened hair fell into his eyes. “Give me my keys.”

“Play a game with us,” Kevin said.

Andrew’s gaze floated over to Kevin. “No.”

“Neil will get wasted after.”

“No, I won’t.”

It was amusing watching Kevin try not to scowl because so many pairs of eyes were on him. “I’ll fill the freezer at the cabin with your favorite ice cream and won’t say anything when you make yourself sick off it.”

“I’m not putting on any gear.”

Jean and Renee joined them, both wearing borrowed helmets and gloves. They each had an arm wrapped around the other. Under her free arm, Renee carried an extra helmet and gloves.

“Here you go,” she smiled at Andrew.

He took it and said, “I’m not guarding your goal.” He crossed the court and went to stand in the opposite goal.

Renee smiled at the other three and said, “I’ll be a backliner for the other team.”

They had more than enough volunteers to fill their team. They ended up having to play three games because so many people wanted the chance to say they played on Kevin Day’s team.

Andrew rebounded most of the balls off of Kevin’s helmet whenever he got the chance. Neil was relieved Renee was put on as Kevin’s mark because she knew what he was like when he was frustrated or upset with Andrew. Whichever striker Jean guarded had a hard time getting the ball at all but their other backliners weren’t very good and their goalie was worse.

After the third game, Andrew walked off the court. Kevin declined another game and Renee made sure to thank everyone she played with. Jean waited and held a hand out to her when she started toward him.

They changed out of their sweaty clothes. Jean gave Renee his clean shirt and she smiled gratefully. He replaced his dirty shirt with his jacket. Neil threw Andrew his hoodie before going into a stall to change.

“I will leave you,” Andrew called so Neil could hear him from his bathroom stall.

“Just like you’ll push me off the roof of Fox Tower.” Neil came out and joined the others.

In the car Jean checked his phone and frowned. “What’d you do to piss off Thea?” he asked Kevin.

Kevin didn’t turn around and he answered in French. “We had an argument about Riko and the Ravens. She didn’t like what I had to say so she dumped me.”

“I thought we convinced her last year that you were telling the truth,” Jean switched to French to humor Kevin.

“She wanted to know more so I told her more. She’ll get over it.” Kevin turned the volume up on the radio to end the conversation. Andrew slapped his hand but didn’t turn it back down.

Andrew parked the car in the farthest parking space possible and told Kevin, “Buy me a spoon, too.”

Jean and Renee went with Kevin. Neil waited until he couldn’t see them through the back window before leaning forward. “Shower when we get back?”

“Not with you.”

Neil kissed the side of Andrew’s neck and murmured, “Why not?”

He didn’t answer. He wouldn’t answer for two reasons: Neil already knew the answer and Andrew wouldn’t admit to weakness.

When the others came back, they filled Andrew’s trunk with ice cream. Renee passed him a pint and a spoon and he ripped the plastic seal off with his teeth. Kevin looked disgusted but true to his word didn’t say anything.

On Tuesday the group went on a five mile hike. It was a loop trail through a densely wooded area. They paired off on the narrow trail talking about anything and everything.

It was one of Neil’s favorite parts of spring break. Their team blended together and “upperclassmen” and “monsters” was scarcely used, if at all. They still argued a lot, but it was over stupid things that normal twenty-somethings would fight about.

Neil hung back until he was bringing up the rear with Andrew. They walked in silence, listening to their teammates laugh and shout.

As they approached a part in the path where sunlight broke through leaves and branches, Neil nearly toppled over the side of the trail. Andrew’s grip on his hand tightened and to anyone who looked back at them it would seem that Andrew only grabbed Neil’s hand to stop him from falling. In truth, Neil had tripped because he wasn’t expecting Andrew to hold his hand with all of the others around.

He looked at Andrew, hair and eyes unnaturally pale in the sunlight. Andrew stared back, mouth straight, eyes only Neil could read as defiant.

“Aw,” Nicky cooed and the couple’s attention snapped forward.

Andrew dropped his hand and Neil glared at Nicky for ruining this moment. Katelyn was peering over his shoulder at his phone.

“This is a great picture,” she said. “Dan will want to put it on the wall.”

“I will kill you,” Andrew fixed Nicky with a look.

Nicky rolled his eyes but forced his way to the front of the group as he yelled, “What’s new?”

Four miles in Allison stopped.

“Where’s Dan?”

The others looked between themselves and shrugged. Neil frowned. “Matt’s missing, too.”

“Oh,” Allison smirked.

“We should go look for them,” Neil said.

“Dan and Matt are missing together,” Nicky emphasized. When Neil still looked confused, he said, “They’re probably doing the straight person nasty.”

The others groaned. “Do you always have to call it that?”

“What if they’re actually hurt?” Neil didn’t look convinced. “We’re in the woods. One of them could have twisted an ankle or fallen.”

“They’re fine,” Allison put her hands on Neil’s shoulders. She breathed in deeply through her nostrils. “Fine. Let’s go everyone!”

The others protested but they all headed back the way they came calling out to their ‘lost’ teammates.

They didn’t have to go far before they heard Dan moaning and Matt grunting through a patch of trees. The others tried to keep straight faces. Aaron was the first to turn away.

“Happy?” he asked. “They’re fine.”

“More than fine,” Renee agreed, taking Jean’s hand and following Aaron and Katelyn.

The others started to follow but Neil stood frozen in place. He felt the burn in his cheeks.

“Neil?” Kevin looked over his shoulder when he didn’t hear them following behind.

“Wh-why?” he stuttered. “Why would anyone want to do th-that out here?”

Nicky put a hand over his heart and sighed. “Oh, you sweet, sweet boy.”

Andrew shot him a warning look and Neil glared. “I’m serious.”

“Andrew, take Neil about a mile back and show him why.” Nicky winked.

“No.”

Nicky laughed. Andrew took Neil’s hand and dragged him along in the opposite direction from the others. Neil looked back and forth between the cousins.

“Have fun, you two!” Nicky called.

“Andrew, stop,” Neil said. He immediately loosened his grip and waited. “We’re not actually going to - like, we’re not going to do whatever Matt and Dan are doing, are we?”

Andrew shrugged.

“I don’t want -” Neil sighed.

“What?” Andrew demanded, impatient, not angry.

“Our first time to be in the mud,” Neil finished, rushed, eyes locked on Andrew’s.

Neil could have sworn Andrew nearly smiled. “Can I blow you in the mud?”

He wasn’t Andrew so he grinned, suddenly at ease. “Can I blow you?”

The upperclassmen wolf whistled when Andrew and Neil finally returned from their eight mile hike. Andrew ignored them and went straight to the porch, pulling out his pack of cigarettes.

“So now do you understand why people do that out there?” Matt smiled knowingly at Neil.

“No,” Neil tried to keep a straight face. He turned to Nicky, “Thanks for pissing off Andrew.”

“Anytime.” Nicky winked.

Neil crossed his arms. “Stop winking at me. I had to walk an extra three miles because Andrew refused to finish the hike with you guys.”

Nicky frowned. “You mean you guys didn’t -”

Neil shrugged and went to find Andrew. When he joined him at the railing, he leaned in close and asked, “Yes or no?”

“Yes.” Andrew exhaled his lungful of smoke in Neil’s face.

Neil closed the distance, smiling as the taste of Andrew on his tongue was replaced with the more familiar taste of his cigarettes.

“Smells like rain,” Dan commented as she came out of the bathroom toweling her hair dry. “Did Neil and Andrew come back, yet?”

The others pointed around a table, through the archway toward the sliding glass door. Dan tilted her head.

“Guess they didn’t get enough of each other out on the trail.”

“Do you think Neil’s only allowed to touch Andrew’s hair?” Matt asked, not able to drag his eyes away.

“Five dollars - yes,” Nicky responded.

Allison shook her head. “Fifty for no.”

“I’m with Nicky,” Matt said.

“Oh, honey.” Dan plopped down next to Matt. “You boys are so wrong. Fifty for no.”

“Are you going to bet?” Jean asked Kevin.

The others immediately started protesting. “That’d be unfair.”

“Kevin has an unfair advantage. He shares a room with them. He spends extra time with them on the court.”

Kevin glanced at the others. “We go to the court to play Exy and run drills. I see what the rest of you see.”

“Liar.”

He shrugged, unaffected.

Dan groaned at the sunlight coming in through the window. She pressed her naked body closer to Matt’s, one leg thrown over his thigh, and kissed his chest.

“Good morning,” he whispered, his lips pressed to the top of her head.

“Ugh, five more minutes.” She stretched against him before curling up again.

They had been up late, talking, drinking, betting. Despite Kevin’s protests they all went out and tossed a ball around in the rain.

“Ok-” Matt started to agree but a loud clatter had them both shooting up in their bed.

They exchanged looks and paused, waiting to see if a fight would break out. They heard Allison give a shout and Dan was out of bed in a split second, pulling on shorts and a tank top.

She ran downstairs accompanied by a few other bedraggled Foxes. Neil was the first to reach Allison since his and Andrew’s room was on the first floor.

“What’s going on?” Dan crouched next to Allison who had sunk to the floor and pulled her legs up to her chest.

“That fucking asshole motherfucking cunt,” she seethed through her teeth. She was glaring at the pieces of her cellphone across the room. She was yelling and angry but Dan could see how she held back her tears. “Fuck him!”

“Allison,” Renee said from the stairs. “What happened?”

Allison turned to look at the others behind her. “He fucked a Vixen.” She fixed Katelyn with an accusatory stare and Aaron grabbed his girlfriend’s hand defensively.

“Who did?”

“My good for nothing virgin ex-boyfriend. Ha!” Allison’s laugh was humorless. “Ex-virgin ex-boyfriend, if he really was one. There’s a video and everything.”

Kevin emerged from the bathroom, hair wet.

“Get your laptop,” Allison told him.

“Why?” Kevin asked, dully.

“Because I fucking said so!”

His expression went from bored to angry but before he could say anything, Dan said tiredly, “Just do it, Kevin.”

Dan insisted they do whatever Allison wanted for the rest of the day which mostly meant sitting on couches and piles of blankets, drinking. Whenever Allison sent him a pointed look, Neil took a sip of his drink.

Soon enough even Neil was feeling warm and light. It was only one in the afternoon.

They spent the first hour listening to Allison talk shit about her stupidly tall basketball playing ex boyfriend. The conversation slowly moved on to worst breakups - personal and in the celebrity world.

Nicky pulled up a list on his phone and the Foxes made bets as to which breakup was number one. They were all wrong.

“Number one,” Nicky read aloud. “Kevin Day and Riko - uh.”

The group fell silent. Finally Jean said, “Go on. Finish the article.”

Nicky looked stunned but obliged when Kevin said nothing. “They may not have been an actual couple, though some fans dispute this claim - but many will agree the breakup of the sons of Exy was a horrible one. Inseparable from the time that Kevin was adopted by Riko’s uncle and cofounder of Exy, there was mass hysteria among Exy fans when it was discovered that not only did Kevin break his hand but also that he would be leaving the Raven’s for the last-ranked Foxes. Kevin only continued to add to the confusion over a year later when he implied something else had happened to his hand that conflicted with the original statement offered by the Ravens.”

“Stop,” Neil said. “We all know what happened. This is just some stupid recap.”

“I need another drink,” Matt said.

“Nicky, what was that drink you made yesterday?” Dan asked.

Nicky got up, only a little wobbly. “Aaron has dust, right?”

Aaron reached into his pocket and pulled out some packets.

“When did you get that?” Neil questioned.

He shrugged and handed them to Nicky. Andrew got up and went outside to smoke.

“Neil?” Renee offered a packet to him but he shook his head. She gave them to Kevin instead.

Nicky returned fifteen minutes later, using a circular pan as a tray. “I made one for everyone!”

The bright blue drinks got passed around as Dan enthusiastically insisted, “You have to try it! It’s the best drink ever.”

A glass was shoved into Neil’s hand as he stared toward the porch at Andrew. Allison wrapped an arm around Neil’s neck and hoisted her glass toward the center of their deformed circle.

“Fuck cheaters!”

The others echoed her toast and sipped their drinks. Neil grimaced a bit but took another sip. Even he had to admit it tasted better than most alcoholic beverages.

He accepted the shot Allison messily poured for everyone and toasted the “lying bastard” before tipping his shot back like the others. He hadn’t finished Nicky’s first drink but another was passed to him anyway - pink and glittery.

“Why is it sparkling?” he asked, his tongue starting to feel heavy in his mouth.

“Edible glitter!” Nicky yelled over the music that had been turned up once Allison started pouring shots. “It makes everything better!”

Neil barely tasted the second drink. The sun was setting outside and the lights were blurry inside.

“Drink!” Allison called from where she was dancing with the other girls. They all obliged.

Neil was three quarters through the glittery pink drink when he felt someone behind him. He startled, trying to blink the haziness from his eyes.

“How much did you drink?”

“Andrew!” Neil twisted around and pulled Andrew’s hands so he could sit next to him. He started to crawl into his lap but paused. “Is it okay if I -?”

Andrew reached around him and picked up a glass. He kept his other hand on Neil’s hip as he took a sip.

He licked his lips and Neil watched, mesmerized. “Dust.”

“What?” Neil sat up quickly.

“You’re all high,” Andrew stated.

Neil’s brain slowly processed that information. “You’re not?”

He was rewarded with an annoyed stare. “You told me no more.”

“Well,” Neil thought, still staring at Andrew’s lips.

“Well, what?” Andrew snapped his fingers and Neil realized he’d been reaching a hand up to touch his lips.

“You should tonight.”

Andrew shook his head.

“An exception,” Neil insisted. His head felt heavy so he leaned it against Andrew’s shoulder, feeling himself go crosseyed trying to keep his gaze on his mouth. “I had some so it’s okay if you do, too.”

“Not tonight.”

���Can I kiss you?” He saw the hesitation. “We won’t do anything else but I want you to kiss me.”

Andrew looked around the room.

“No one cares. They’re all high,” Neil reminded him.

He stood up and Neil pushed his bottom lip out, prepared to pout. Then Andrew helped him stand and he smiled. “Yes?”

“Yes.” Andrew told him and Neil went in too quick. Their teeth clacked and Andrew hissed, forced himself to unclench his tight grip on Neil’s wrists. “Not here.”

“Why not?” Neil knew he sounded pathetic but he couldn’t help himself. He almost never drank and now he was on drugs, too.

“Hey, when’d you come back?” Matt asked on his way to the kitchen.

Andrew stared at Matt’s retreating back as if that was Neil’s answer. It was but Neil’s brain wasn’t working enough for him to comprehend why.

“Kiss me?” Neil said, question mark at the end.

“Not here,” Andrew repeated.

“If we go to our room, I’ll just want you to fuck me,” Neil said, exasperated. He tried to pull himself free but Andrew ended up having to steady him again.

Nicky, Allison and Dan were close enough that they called out obscene support.

Andrew tensed and Neil tried to take a step back. “Never mind. We don’t have to,” Neil slurred and tried to backtrack. “We can just be here. Not touching. I want to kiss you but it’s okay if you don’t want to kiss me. I shouldn’t have - like, I’m high? And drunk? And high? I want you to be okay and if that means -”

A hand shot out and Neil stumbled forward. It took him a moment to react but then he registered Andrew’s hand clutching the front of his shirt and his lips moving against his.

Neil kissed him back, then put a hand between them. “You don’t have to.”

“I want to,” Andrew growled and grabbed Neil’s hand, bringing it to the back of his head. He turned them so Neil’s back was to the wall, fingers digging into his hips. He nipped at his lip then pulled back just enough to study Neil’s face. “Yes or no?”

Neil blinked his eyes open, confused as to why he wasn’t being kissed anymore.

“Yes or no?”

He realized Andrew needed to be extra sure when Neil was in this state and said, “Yes.”

He loved that Andrew put everything into kissing him, even now - especially now and he moaned. Andrew bit his lip in warning so he tightened his grip in his hair.

Some of the others started wolf whistling and cat calling. Neil didn’t notice until he felt the lack of pressure on his right hip. He opened his eyes and saw Andrew flipping them off. They laughed and Andrew stopped kissing Neil.

“Stop!” Neil nearly whined but caught himself. He tried to remember who he was without the extra stuff running through his veins. He forced an edge into his voice. “You’re ruining everything!”

The others laughed harder, Neil knew he had failed, and Andrew took a step back, forcing Neil to release his grip. Andrew shot the others a cool look before walking toward the porch.

Neil quickly sank to the floor and pulled his knees up to his chest to hide his arousal. “Sometimes I really can’t stand you guys,” he muttered.

“Aw, Neil!”

“Fuck off, Nicky.”

Kevin didn’t know how he found himself alone with Allison but here they were outside in the cold night, both drunk and both recently single. She tipped her head back and finished her drink before saying, “Being cheated on rea-really sucks.”

Any other night Kevin would have just ignored the comment. Tonight he said, “I wouldn’t know. You can’t be cheated on if you’re not allowed to be in a relationship and everybody is fucking everybody.”

“How could he cheat on me?” Allison was still whining and still drinking.

Kevin sipped his drink and said, “You’re annoying as fuck.”

“What?” she tried to glare at him. “I’m fucking hot as fuck, I’m beautiful, I have great boobs and I’m fucking good at fucking. Fuck!”

“Hm,” Kevin shrugged.

Allison stepped closer. “What’s that supposed to mean? Queen Day. You’re the most condescending asshole I’ve ever met and you’ve seen my father! You’re the fakest - stupidest, dumbest person ever. You needed a short little psychotic midget to protect you. You’re incapable of loving anything but Exy and yourself! No wonder Thea dumped you.”

“Thea dumped me,” Kevin was over enunciating to avoid slurring and tripping over his words like Allison. “Because she didn’t like the idea that I was telling the truth when I said Riko had her teammates fu -”

He turned away suddenly. “Fuck you.”

Allison grabbed his arm. “No. Fuck you. I’m amazing.”

Kevin looked at her, an eyebrow cocked. “Ha.”

The next morning Kevin woke up to the sound of Allison puking over the side of her bed. He shot up, ripped the sheet off of her to wrap around his waist and ran downstairs. He ignored stares from the others as he tripped into the bathroom, barely managing to get the toilet lid up before he emptied the contents of his stomach.

Allison appeared a few minutes later, wearing Kevin’s shirt from the night before inside out, sprinting for the other bathroom. Nicky leaned against the doorway to the bathroom by his and Kevin’s room and wrinkled his nose. “What’d you guys do last night? Rob a liquor store?”

Kevin flushed the toilet and kept vomiting.

“Renee gathered the clothes you two discarded on your way up to - ugh,” Nicky shuddered.

Kevin flipped him off and Nicky laughed, closing the door to the bathroom.

Matt, Nicky and Aaron kept driving even when Allison’s and Andrew’s cars pulled off at the first gas station. Allison groaned and said, “I think I’m still drunk.”

Neil went inside and came back out a few minutes later. He stopped by the pink Porsche and Renee rolled Allison’s window down. “Shut up.” Allison commanded even though no one was saying anything.

He handed over a couple of water bottles, something for her headache and a few plastic bags (”just in case”), then got back into Andrew’s car, presumably giving Kevin the same. The passenger door opened and they heard the splash of sick hitting the pavement.

“Ugh,” Allison groaned, holding her stomach. “Get me away from him.”

Renee obediently pulled out of her parking stall and got them on the road again. The drive was a few hours long so they let Allison try to sleep off her hangover. Dan and Katelyn dozed as well as none of them had gotten much sleep the night before.

An hour out from Palmetto Dan’s phone buzzed and she answered it sleepily. “Hello? Hm? Yeah. Tell them -” She got Renee’s attention. “How long?”

“One hour.”

“One hour. Love you. Yeah, I’ll call Neil. Love you.”

Dan selected Neil from her contacts and waited for him to answer. “Just a reminder to dress nicely.”

The freshmen had agreed to shut up about not being invited on their spring break plans if the upperclassmen treated them to an expensive meal when they got back. They stopped at another gas station to change and Andrew’s car pulled in not far behind them.

Kevin and Allison reached the doors at the same time and they stopped to glare at each other before going inside. Renee wrapped her arms around Jean’s waist and sighed. “Think this will be a problem for our team?”

“No,” Jean said honestly. “Kevin would never let anything as trivial as a one night stand with someone he hates get in the way of his game.”

When they arrived at the restaurant the freshmen and Matt’s car were already there. They joined them at a group of tables pushed together. Nicky had made sure to save the end spots for Andrew and Neil.

“You guys look exhausted.”

“That’s because somebody woke us up in the middle of the night and kept us awake for quite awhile,” Dan said without any heat.

“A couple of somebodies,” Nicky smirked.

The freshmen looked around at the others’ faces trying to figure out who they were talking about. Katelyn laughed. “Dan came out of her room because she thought she was going to have to break up a fight.”

“What convinced her it wasn’t?” someone asked.

“She tripped over Allison’s bra,” Katelyn giggled.

“Shut up before I tell everyone what you said about Aaron in bed,” Allison threatened through her teeth.

Aaron shot Allison an annoyed look but he turned and raised his eyebrows at his girlfriend. Katelyn blushed and shook her head.

“I’m sure Allison was only doing it for science,” Dan mused.

“Fucking Kevin was a science experiment?” Nicky’s jaw dropped. He winced. “Don’t kick me, Kevin.”

“What?”

“Kevin and Allison?”

“I thought they were both seeing other people?”

Kevin continued fixing Nicky with a loathsome stare. When someone brought up cheating Allison whipped around. “I am not the cheater,” she seethed.

“But how?” Sheena questioned. Everyone looked between Allison and Kevin, legitimately confused.

Finally Allison stated, rushed, “Because we were so wasted his face was blurry.”

“Oh, I’m sure you guys knew who you were fucking. Also, we all know it’s not his face that’s hard to handle. The amount of bickering between was enough to know you knew. Never mind the ‘fuck, Kevin, god.’” Nicky mocked.

“Kevin always talks shit,” Jean offered, maybe thinking he was helping by offering a fact that negated Nicky’s statement that the bickering is what gave them away.

“Not surprised,” someone said.

Nicky looked at Allison. “So really, how the fuck did that end up happening?”

“Have none of you ever been cheated on?” Allison demanded. “You choose the best looking guy around and fuck him.”

“But you and Kevin?”

Allison groaned. “God, Nicky. We were wasted and both recently dumped. That’s enough. End of story. It won’t ever happen again. Mind your own fucking business, you creep.”

“Okay, okay, okay,” Nicky conceded. “Just one more question though because I mean damn! I thought I was loud but, could you be any louder?”

[markonasurface]

1/50 - “Are you drunk?”

Fandom: All for the Game/The Foxhole Court Characters/pairings: Neil, Andrew, Renee, Nicky/andreil Summary: Andrew goes to practice after an appointment with Betsy and Neil is drunk. A/N: Because I saw this post and all I could think of was tfc/aftg. Tbh it’s all I think about these days.

 http://maelerie.tumblr.com/post/135803922052/send-me-two-characters-or-more-and-a-prompt-and

It was a Wednesday when everyone, including Andrew, saw Neil drunk for the first time.

His session with Betsy had run long and he was relieved Aaron had opted out of their joint counseling this week. He wouldn’t have talked about breaking Neil’s nose the night before if his twin had been sitting in the room. Their progress was slow and although Andrew liked to see how far he could push Aaron by making comments about Katelyn, he absolutely refused to discuss details of either of their relationships.

With Aaron far away, when Betsy commented, “nice bump,” Andrew was able to respond, “I head-butted Neil last night.”

As he walked into the lounge, he was still fuming over her suggestion that perhaps Andrew felt guilty and he kicked the door on his way past. He stopped in his tracks and stared back at the teammates looking at him.

He didn’t bother asking what they were all doing here instead of on the court. Someone would explain eventually. Instead, he shoved his hands in his pocket and started for his usual seat, only pausing for a microsecond when he noticed one of his strikers was missing.

Andrew raised an eyebrow at Kevin but he was too busy glaring at the rest of the team, probably upset that their practice time was being wasted.

“You look in a mood.” Allison didn’t look up from studying her nails. She had her long legs draped over the arm of her chair.

He turned his gaze disinterestedly toward the defensive dealer. “Looks to me like Kevin’s the one in a mood right now.”

“Isn’t he always?”

Kevin gritted his teeth so hard Andrew could hear it.

“There was a fight,” Nicky blurted suddenly as if he had been holding the information in for too long and would burst if he didn’t get it out. “Neil -”

The door to Abby’s office opened and the Foxes’ coach stepped out. “Look who decided to show.”

Andrew stood up, ignoring Wymack, and looked past him into the room. He heard a groan and an exasperated sigh.

“I told you not to drink with a concussion,” Renee’s gentle voice reprimanded.

He watched Neil push her hands off of him and sit up, then carefully scoot himself closer to the edge of the examination table. He clumsily slipped off and fell in a heap on the tile.

Andrew strode over, peering down at Neil’s auburn head cradled in one hand. Finally, Neil lifted his head to see who was casting a shadow over him.

“Andrew?” His name sounded foreign.

The blond man studied his face. The bruising around his eyes had darkened and spread, his lip was split and he had a gash stitched together on his right temple crossing over an old knife scar. Unfocused eyes met his.

“Are you drunk?”

“No, concussed.”

“Yes, he’s drunk.” Renee had both hands on her hips.

There was commotion behind Andrew as the rest of the Foxes crowded the doorway. Allison pushed one of the freshmen aside.

“No way!” Dan ducked under Allison’s arm.

“Do you know how long Matt’s waited to see Neil tipsy?” Dan gawked. “He’s literally falling-on-his-ass drunk. Matt’s gonna be so mad he missed this.”

Andrew reached down and hauled Neil to his feet. He swayed, a hand reaching for Andrew then falling back to his side. He would have fallen backward if Andrew didn’t grab his shoulders. When he winced, he prodded his shoulder with his fingers and realized there were bandages underneath his shirt.

“Can I - yes?” Neil waved a hand and Andrew nodded, grabbing his hand and helping him place it on his shoulder.

“He can’t even stand by himself,” someone snickered.

Wymack smacked the back of the person’s head. “What’re you all standing around for? The court -”

Andrew didn’t catch the rest of Wymack’s words as Neil opened his mouth and took a deep breath.

“About - l-last - about last night. When we - y-you know were kissing.” He was babbling now, a stark contrast to the only other time the cousins had seen him trashed and he had paid a busboy to knock him out.

The rest of the Foxes were trying to smother their laughter but Andrew heard them. Without turning around he said flatly, “Get. Out.”

He didn’t need to tell them twice.

“Thank God,” Aaron muttered.

“I’ll say it again because apparently I need to. Abby is gone for another two days. Don’t maul each other.” Wymack reminded the team.

“Nicky. Stay.”

Renee tilted her head at Neil, her pastel colored hair just brushing her left shoulder. She pursed her lips and turned to leave but Andrew stopped her.

Neil gagged then and Nicky kicked the trashcan so it slid over to Renee who picked it up and held it in front of Neil. Andrew held onto his upper arm to keep him balanced and waited for him to stop being sick before urging him out of the office and onto one of the lounge sofas.

“He has stitches in his side,” Renee warned.

She put the trashcan by the couch near Neil’s head and told him, “Keep your eyes open or I’m making you sit up.”

Andrew stayed standing next to Neil’s couch. “What happened?”

“Coach sent us for a water break and Neil punched Jack. Jack punched him back and broke his nose -”

“It was already broken,” Andrew said dully.

“Neil beat him up pretty bad,” Nicky continued nervously, looking sideways at Renee. “Jack pushed him and he slipped, hit his head on that broken concrete wall at the end of the lockers, the one next to the crushed locker door we still haven’t got fixed. I don’t know really, like, he has a pretty deep cut in his side and Kevin had to pull the door to get it out of his shoulder.”

Andrew’s face was passive but they watched him swallow. “That all?”

“I think Neil broke Jack’s ribs.”

He didn’t give approval and his face still showed nothing. “Where is he? Why is Neil drunk?”

Renee looked over at Neil, who blinked at her, before telling Andrew, “He’s at the hospital. Matt took him. Neil refused to go. He hit his head pretty hard and was going on about needing to stay here. He was getting a little hysterical. There was some blood so Coach asked if I knew anything about stitches.”

“And? Why is he drunk?” Andrew might’ve been annoyed he had to ask again. His eyes were narrowed but it didn’t bother Renee.

“Coach said that when he had to take a look at the damage from Castle Evermore last year, Neil said the only time he drank was when he needed a hospital but couldn’t go to one.” She gestured in the general direction of Abby’s office. “He finished off Kevin’s stash from Abby’s travel kit and the bottle in Coach’s office.”

“Idiot.” Andrew crouched in front of Neil. “C’mon. We’re going home.”

Neil looked delirious as he tripped over his words, “You’re not mad at m-me?” His voice was lethargic and Andrew shook his head once. A smile spread over Neil’s face, loopy and brilliant. “But you still hate me?”

His only response was to help him to his feet again. “How - how m-much do you ...”

Neil trailed off and Andrew glanced at his face. His eyebrows were furrowed. He looked confused.

“Neil?” Nicky had crossed over to them and was grinning, at ease now that the story was out and Andrew hadn’t made any threats.

“Right,” Neil breathed and looked only slightly less lost. “Want to kill me?”

Andrew pushed Nicky, who only laughed, and guided Neil towards the exit. It had been months since either of them had brought up Andrew’s percentages and he wanted to roll his eyes in a very non-Andrew like way but he told Neil, “753%”

He didn’t know if it was the alcohol or the concussion or the combination of the two but the dopey smile on Neil’s face made him swear he would find out. In a few weeks. When he wasn’t concussed.

[markonasurface]

49/50 - “It sounds like you’re trying to convince yourself.“

Fandom: All for the Game Characters/pairings: the Foxes, Wymack/kevin x wymack, kevin x allison Summary: Allison is about to have their baby and Kevin shows up to his game. A/N: Part 3 to Kevin and Allison have a one night stand and make a baby.]

Part 1 - “Could you be any louder?” Part 2 - “Don’t call me that!”

Nicky’s jaw dropped when Kevin walked into the Trojans’ guest locker room. Jack clapped him on the back and said, “You’re late.”

“Did she -”

Kevin silenced Nicky with a look. He quickly stripped down to his underwear and dug out his gear, ignoring the way Nicky, Matt, Andrew and Aaron stared.

Wymack walked in and stopped dead in his tracks. “The fuck are you doing here?”

“We have a game to win,” Kevin replied simply, pulling his shoulder pads on.

“Excuse me?”

Kevin looked annoyed as he adjusted his jersey and said, “Shouldn’t everyone be warming up?”

“I’m the coach, I say when everyone should be warming up and I’m also your goddamn father and I’m telling you that you should be in North Dakota.”

“Did Kevin, like, get suspended or something because I for one think we’re gonna need him on the court tonight.”

“Shut up, Brian,” Nicky hissed at the same time Wymack told everyone, “Get the fuck out. Get warmed up. Tell Neil I’ll be out in five.”

Andrew raised an eyebrow at Kevin but followed the others out. Kevin continued getting dressed.

“Did she have the baby?” Wymack asked rhetorically.

Kevin sighed. “No, but she knows this game is important.”

“This woman is having your fucking child and you left her in the middle of labor?” He stared at his son in disbelief.

“Renee and Dan are with her.”

“She’s not having their baby!”

Kevin straddled the bench, his helmet making a loud clatter in his hands and said, “We don’t love each other. We don’t even like each other. I doubt she wants me watching a human child come out of her vagina.”

“Kevin fucking Day,” Wymack gritted out through his teeth.

“This is my last year playing for the Foxes,” Kevin argued and gestured toward the court. “There are scouts out there tonight.”

“It sounds like you’re trying to convince yourself that this is okay. You could not play for the rest of the season -”

“Is that a threat?” Kevin asked petulantly.

Wymack groaned. “Do I need to threaten you to get you to go watch the birth of your firstborn child?” He shook his head. “No, it’s not a threat. I was just going to say that even if I did pull you from the rest of the season, you and I and everybody else knows you’ll still get signed. Actually, if you play tonight I think you’ll actually hurt your chances of getting signed. When’s the last time you slept?”

Kevin shrugged tiredly. He stared down at his hands.

“You’ll have other chances to play for scouts, but you’ll never get back the chance to see your first kid come into this world. I’m telling you you’ll regret that.” He put a hand on Kevin’s shoulder, sitting next to him, and Kevin looked up. “I know I’ve regretted it every day since finding out you’re mine.”

“Coach - dad,” Kevin whispered finally. “I’m scared.”

Wymack took a steadying breath. “We both know there are worse things to be scared of.”

“This is a different kind of scared,” he choked out. “I have no idea how to brace myself for what’s coming. What if I fuck it all up? What if I’m a shitty father? What if my kid hates me?”

“Kevin ...”

“No. I’ve never had a father - a real one,” Kevin told him, eyes wide and wet. “I didn’t have you until I turned twenty-one years old and that’s too late! I learned everything I know from the Master. I don’t remember my mother. I don’t remember her kindness because when I think about growing up I think about -”

Kevin shook his head and cut himself off. He sniffled.

Wymack squeezed his shoulder and with his other hand grabbed Kevin’s chin to force him to look at him. “You know about my dad.” He waited for Kevin to nod. “He was an abusive shit and have I ever raised a hand to any of you brats? Minyard’s been on this team four years now and I still haven’t kicked his ass.”

“That’s different.”

“So what if it is?” He looked into Kevin’s eyes. “We choose who we’re going to be today. I know I wasn’t there during your childhood but I promise you I will never hurt you or any of my grandkids until the day I die.”

Kevin looked unsure.

“Now you promise.”

“What?”

“Go ahead and make your promise to me,” he encouraged. “I’ll hold ya accountable.”

“I promise,” Kevin started, voice thick. “I promise that I will never raise a hand to my kid. I promise - to be better than what I was shown.”

Wymack nodded. “Good. You can start by getting your ass on the next flight back to North Dakota.”

Kevin nodded somberly. “It’s a three hour flight. I’ll still probably miss it.”

“Doesn’t mean you can’t try.”

They both looked toward the door as it squeaked open. Neil stepped in with Jeremy and Jean.

“Kevin!” Jeremy called cheerily. “You’re not on tonight’s lineup. Are you okay?”

Kevin quickly turned away and wiped his face. He looked back at his father. “I am,” he answered.

“You shouldn’t even be here,” Neil said lamely. “Dan’s pissed.”

“Sorry to interrupt,” Jeremy continued. “We can’t start without you. We have two minutes until they disqualify you and that’s no fun.”

“I’ll be right there,” Wymack said. “Kevin? Are you joining us on the court tonight?”

Kevin shook his head and offered a shaky grin. “The court will still be here after my baby is born.”

Allison looked at Renee on her left, tears leaking out of the corners of her eyes. “I can’t do it,” she gasped.

“Yes, you can,” Renee pushed her sweaty hair off of her forehead. “You’re doing so great, baby.”

Still, she shook her head. “This - god! It hurts,” she cried. “I can’t. Kevin and I hate each other. I never should have told him.”

Dan squeezed her hand and said, “Look at me. You are Allison fucking Jamaica Reynolds. You were the starting defensive dealer for a Class I Exy team. You kick ass and look gorgeous doing it. You are number one on every important magazine’s list of up and coming future business owners and you made that happen for yourself while pregnant. Fuck Kevin Day.”

“Okay, Allison,” her nurse said. “In ten seconds you need to push again.”

“I am never,” Allison groaned as her nurse counted down. “Ever in a - million goddamn fu - cking years ever. Going to. Fuck Kevin Day. Ever again - ah!”

She dropped her head on Dan’s shoulder, breathing hard and crying. “Why isn’t it coming out?”

A knock on the door was followed by a nurse peeking her head around the privacy curtains. “Sorry but -”

“I missed an important game for this.”

Dan and Renee exchanged glances. “He came back,” Dan whispered.

“Allison?” Renee questioned.

“What?” Allison snapped.

“She wants to know if she can let Kevin back in.”

“I don’t care!” Allison sobbed tiredly.

Kevin stepped into the room and Dan looked at his outfit unimpressed. “Did you seriously fly to California and play part of the game before coming back?”

He glowered at her. “No.”

“Come, Kevin,” Renee interrupted before Dan could say anything else about Kevin’s bright orange shorts. “Help her hold her leg like this.”

Allison glared at him. “You’re an asshole.”

“Mhm.”

“Ready, Allison? I think this is it.”

“It better be!” She leaned forward and tried to breathe.

“Okay, now!”

Kevin’s eyes were wide and he asked, “Is that -”

Her nurse smiled kindly, eyes flicking up to Kevin briefly. “Your baby’s head. Keep pushing, Allison!”

He bit his lip, trying to hold back his tears.

“You did it!”

Allison gasped for breath and collapsed back against the pillows. She blinked the sweat and tears from her eyes. She heard a wail.

“Are you fucking crying?”

Kevin tore his eyes away from their baby to glare at Allison. “Fuck you.”

“Seriously?” Dan looked between them. “Watch your language.”

“It’s a boy!” Matt yelled and their party erupted in cheers.

“A boy!” One of the USC players toasted and the other partygoers tipped back their drinks despite most of them not knowing what boy they were toasting.

Jeremy threw an arm around Matt and asked, “Is there a picture?”

“Yeah, but none of you can tell Allison we saw it.”

The Monsters, Katelyn, Jeremy and Jean gathered around Matt and he held out his phone. There was some cooing from Nicky, Katelyn and Jeremy.

“Wow,” Jeremy said. “Allison and Kevin are parents.”

Nicky sighed. “That poor boy.”

Because I saw this post and all I could think of was tfc/aftg. Tbh it’s all I think about these days.

http://maelerie.tumblr.com/post/135803922052/send-me-two-characters-or-more-and-a-prompt-and

[markonasurface]

3/50 - “I don’t want your pity, I want your absence.”

Fandom: All for the Game/The Foxhole Court Characters/pairings: the Foxes, freshmen Foxes/andreil Summary: After the freshmen find out about Neil and Andrew, a terrible practice leads to Neil saying things he shouldn’t. A/N: Because I saw this post and all I could think of was tfc/aftg. Tbh it’s all I think about these days.

http://maelerie.tumblr.com/post/135803922052/send-me-two-characters-or-more-and-a-prompt-and

*There’s insensitivity to past trauma and homophobic remarks.*

Things had been heated all practice. Strikers shoved strikers and balls were aimed at heads. Neil was being overly aggressive with one freshman player in particular.

Levi was actually a sweet kid but he was overeager and had no filter. Neil had been dreading facing him again after last night when he burst into their room unannounced.

He was just trying to be helpful when he took the room key from a pale and visibly shaken Kevin outside of Fox Tower. He didn’t think to knock as he threw the bedroom door open and yelled, “Something’s wrong with Kevin!”

Alarmed, Neil and Andrew had both sat up in Neil’s bed. The sheets slipped down to reveal Neil’s scar riddled torso.

“Holy shit,” Levi looked from Andrew to Neil. Then his eyes traveled down, following the marks of ruined skin and he said, “Holy. Shit.”

Neil self consciously pulled the sheets back up and said, “Get out.” He sounded sick.

“Kevin -”

“We heard you.” Andrew snapped. “Go wait not in here.”

As soon as the door closed Neil slipped off the bed and pulled his hastily discarded shirt back over his head. Andrew stood in front of him, a questioning tilt to his head. Neil took the armbands he held in one hand and forced himself to meet Andrew’s eyes. He nodded and they went out to follow Levi wordlessly to where Kevin sat outside of Fox Tower.

“What took you so long?” It was the freshman girl Neil had insisted on recruiting.

He looked warily at Levi, then went to crouch in front of Kevin.

“I-I-Ichir -” Kevin gulped.

“Ichirou?” Neil demanded. “Did he hurt you? What’d he want?”

“Get out of here.” He heard Andrew command behind him. The freshmen knew better than to protest.

Andrew came to stand beside Neil before reaching and tugging Kevin to his feet. He was more than a full foot shorter but he made it look effortless. He pushed Kevin onto Neil and Neil was forced to support his weight up the three stories of stairs and to their room.

When they decided Kevin wasn’t physically injured, Andrew told him to shower.

Kevin hadn’t wanted to get out of bed which meant the upperclassmen and the freshmen all arrived before Andrew’s group. Levi had been excited to divulge the gossip he had learned.

“What happened last night?” Dan asked, meeting the freshmen at the door to the lounge. “Jack said something was wrong with Kevin.”

“We were coming back from eating and Kevin was just sitting in front of the tower not moving,” Levi told her a little too excitedly. “So we asked what’s wrong and he wouldn’t talk for, like, a good five minutes -”

Jack rolled his eyes. “It was, like, three.”

Levi waved a hand at him and continued unfazed. “Finally, he just says, ‘Neil,’ and holds his hand up. He’s like shaking. So I grab his keys and run as fast as I can up the stairs and unlock their door. No one in sight. So I run to the bedroom and open the door and say, ‘Kevin needs you!’ And did you know Andrew and Neil kiss?”

Dan only raised an eyebrow. It wasn’t a secret; they just didn’t go around displaying their relationship. Judging by the freshmen’s reactions Levi had already told them.

“I’d say they do a bit more than just kiss,” Matt said under his breath.

“You guys know?” Levi was in disbelief.

“It’s not a secret,” Allison was on the sofa, looking bored.

“Why didn’t you tell us?”

Renee tsked. “It’s not ours to tell.” She never sounded like she was trying to make anyone feel guilty but it still had the desired effect.

“Then I guess I won’t talk about Neil’s scars,” Levi mumbled.

“You saw them?” One of the freshmen exclaimed.

That was all he needed to start describing what he could remember. “There was, like, this curved triangle on his shoulder with, like, small circles in it! And he’s been shot! There was a bullet scar. His stomach -”

Suddenly Levi was pulled back and slammed into the wall by the door. His face was squished against the wall but his hands were free and he tried to push himself away. He wasn’t strong enough.

Dan sighed but otherwise the upperclassmen did nothing. The freshmen shouted. Andrew just leaned in close and snarled, “Don’t talk about what’s mine.”

He gave Levi another shove for good measure then followed his group toward the locker room. Kevin looked exhausted but he glared at the rest of the team, “Stop wasting my time with your stupid gossip.”

“You just got here!” Jack complained.

“I also put in two extra hours of practice most days of the week,” Kevin reminded him.

“Hey, Neil,” Levi was waiting for him when he came out of the bathroom stall.

“Don’t.” Neil said. He had tried to tell himself that not even changing out his bottom half with the others would just feed into the freshmen gossip but after last night and arriving this morning to hear Levi describing his mess of a body, he just couldn’t do it.

“Please.”

“Fuck off.”

Neil could have been nicer. Considering the last twelve hours though, he thought he was being nice.

“Hey, Josten,” Sheena called to him. “Your boyfriend’s a psycho.”

Neil gritted his teeth. It wasn’t anything he hadn’t heard before. It also wouldn’t be the last time someone called Andrew psycho.

When Neil shoved Levi extra hard, sending him into the wall Kevin called out to him in French. “No permanent damage!”

He shrugged and moved so that another one of their teammates could make sure Levi was okay. Neil responded back in English. “We’re not short on subs this year.”

They all took their places on the court to reset. Neil took a deep breath in through his nose. He tried to squash his father’s temper down.

“Oh, captain, my faggy captain!”

“Cut it out!” Dan warned.

Jack’s mouth twisted and he kept his eyes on Neil’s. “What I don’t understand is ...” He pretended to think, then finished. “If your boyfriend is gay, was he really raped? Can you call it rape if he enjoyed it?”

Neil’s racquet was on the ground before he could think about it. He swung his fist upward to catch under Jack’s protective grid on his helmet. He jumped on top of him and shoved at his helmet to get better access to his face.

Jack managed to roll them over and get in a couple of punches but Neil was stronger and angrier. He had Jack flat on his back again in seconds, his helmet rolling away.

Neil was yelling but he didn’t know what he was saying. All he could imagine was seven year old Andrew pleading, begging to be left alone. All he could see was Drake with his pants down on top of Andrew. All he could hear was a loud thwack and laughter, manic laughter.

Being in the goal meant Andrew couldn’t really hear the banter that went on between players farther up the court. He watched Neil’s head snap up, saw his racquet fall to the ground.

Then he was on top of Jack.

Andrew heard Neil yelling, “Fuck you!”

Wymack threw the door open and shouted, “Hey! Cut it out!”

When Neil showed no signs of stopping Wymack turned to Kevin, “Help me out.”

Kevin looked only slightly bothered and called out in French, then in English, “Don’t break your hand!”

Wymack pushed past Kevin and tried to get his arms around Neil. When he finally managed to pry him off everyone clearly heard Neil spit, “He was seven! Seven! Fuck you if you think he enjoyed it!”

Andrew felt something. It almost felt like coming off his meds, a combination of phase one and phase two. He felt exhausted and sick.

Nicky was talking to him and he barely registered that it was in German. He couldn’t hear anything clearly through the roaring in his ears. He focused on keeping his face a calm mask and putting one foot in front of the other until he was in the locker room.

He took off his helmet and threw it at a wall. He heard someone yell, then realized it was himself; he was the only one in the room. He punched a locker.

Then the door opened and he froze. He didn’t turn around to see who it was. He glared at the wall and tried to get his breathing under control.

“Hey.”

“Get out.” Andrew forced himself to sound detached.

“I’m sorry.”

Andrew whirled around and the girl in front of him had enough common sense to flinch. “I said get out. I don’t want your pity, I want your absence. Get. The fuck. Out.”

Sheena left without another word. Andrew seethed. He was angry. At Neil. He punched the locker again. Then a third time.

The door opened as he swung a fourth time. “Jesus, fuck.” Kevin ran a hand through his hair. “What is with you assholes trying to break your hands?”

“Get out of here.” Andrew pulled his fist back, and glared at the dent he had made in the locker like he could melt the metal if he squinted hard enough.

“Don’t break your fucking hand.” Kevin sounded more annoyed than worried. “Betsy’s here. She wants to see you.”

“I don’t want to talk to her. Who told her to come?”

Kevin shrugged. “No one. She was with Abby when Coach called her.”

Andrew punched the locker again and felt something crack.

“Fuck! Did you just ...?”

He dropped his hand to his side and turned to face Kevin, a smile stretched his mouth wide. “I need to see Abby first.”