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aftgficrec · 4 months

Note

Favorite Neil/Jean or Neil&Jean fics?

In the aftermath of the publication of The Sunshine Court the relationship between Neil and Jean has been put under the spotlight a little more (no spoilers here though!), but there have always been authors who have shown this combo the attention it deserves. In addition, many fics under our raven!neil tag feature friendships or relationships between Neil and Jean. - S

Previously recommended:

Neil Josten & Jean Moreau:

close friends Neil & Jean here

BFFs Jean & Neil here

Neil/Jean tumblr fics and headcanons here

‘Afterthoughts Chapter 68’, ‘Jean, Neil, and Kevin hanging out’ here (plus some more Neil & Jean under previous recs)

‘not very good at this’ here

Neil Josten/Jean Moreau:

Neil/Jean fics here (you can also find a link to our Neil/Jean tag here)

More Jean/Neil fics here

‘we’ll survive, you and i’, ‘Heart on Your Sleeve, Eyes on the Street (the Heart-Eyes Remix)’, and ‘Doves & Ravens’ here

Some of our favourites from previous posts:

Your humble and silky life by moonix [Rated G, 3582 words, complete, 2019, locked]

Jean’s life these days is quiet, uneventful. His best friend has a hopeless crush on the unattainable Minyard, Jean’s colleague at the botanical garden. Jean has a standing appointment every week with the most beautiful woman in the world, who is happily married to someone else—but that’s okay. There’s still Jeremy the waiter, whose smile is the highlight of Jean’s week.

tw: animal death

Black As Is The Raven, He’ll Get A Partner by nekojita [Rated E, 644156 words, complete, 2018]

When Wymack, Kevin and Andrew came to recruit Neil Josten in Millport, Neil decided to say 'no' instead of 'yes' to joining the Foxes and does what he does best, which is run. Unfortunately, that brings him to the attention of the Moriyamas, who return him to his 'rightful' place. Now Neil has to learn how to survive at the Nest with his only ally another 'asset' long kept under Riko's heel.

tw: violence, tw: rape/noncon, tw: dubcon, tw: blood, tw: panic attacks, tw: drug use, tw: alcohol, tw: minor character death, tw: homophobia, tw: involuntary outing

Apart from Your World (A Part of Mine) by ApprenticedMagician [Rated T, 17647 words, complete, Aftg Big Bang 2018, locked]

David is shipping him off to the Isle of Anglesey and, frankly, Neil could use the time and distance away from an ugly break-up that still hasn't smoothed over. The problem is, if he isn't being reminded of his ex (courtesy of working alongside his identical twin brother), then he's being reminded of the mother who abandoned him (courtesy of their assigned patient who suffers the same affliction she once did). All around, it's shaping up to be anything but the trip he signed up for.

tw: references to past abuse

NB: find art for this fic by @llheji here

So Keep Your Heart On Your Sleeve (And Keep Your Eyes On The Streets) by CasTheButler [Rated T, 4162 words, complete, Aftg Winter Exchange 2018]

Cause it's a God damn long drive fall, Back to normality. Jean starts at a new school on a new soccer team, makes some friends, and spends the whole time falling in love with a punk. Written for the 2018 AFTG Winter Exchange.

tw: panic attacks

And here are some fics we haven’t rec’ed yet:

Neil Josten & Jean Moreau:

Je crois en la chance de rejoindre la mer by Elyant [Rated T, 2007 words, complete, 2021, locked]

Part 4 of The Devil Makes Three

Jean has chosen the café whose tables were closest to the large windows overlooking the tarmac. After spending so many years underground and under the harsh fluorescent light of the Nest, he doesn't think he will ever have enough of the natural warmth of the sun. A duffle bag of clothes that are too new to feel like his, the tin of home-baked cookies Renee thrusted into his hands before he left, and a small package wrapped in kraft paper are his only baggage. He's waiting for a plane from London to land because of a phone call he received a few nights before. He is therefore purposefully two hours too early for the flight that will take him to South California, to meet the team in crimson and gold that will become his family, even if he doesn't know it yet.

tw: implied/referenced abuse

from rain by ratbandaid [Rated T, 62807 words, complete, 2023]

Over time, Jean grew unsure as to why he'd been so intent on running from the mafia. He barely took care of himself and could hardly call whatever he was doing living. After all, he knew that one day, he'll be caught and dragged back, kicking and screaming, to be killed or worse: put back in the hands of Riko Moriyama. But when a snot-nosed, cocky brat, Neil, stumbles into his life, Jean slowly realizes what he's running for.

tw: implied/referenced abuse, tw: implied/referenced child abuse, tw: violence, tw: nightmares

based on this art by @estavs

NB: This one contains slight spoilers for The Sunshine Court:

epic understatement by LadyTimelessness [Rated T, 335 words, complete, 2024]

he's pissed off that jean had to go through this. they're basically nothing to each other, but damn it, neil wants to crack grayson's skull open that second. faith in the world finally burns out in the fire of disillusionment.

tw: implied/referenced rape/noncon, tw: implied/referenced murder

Neil Josten/Jean Moreau:

Skip the Last Dance For Me (the Trojan Horse remix) by justadreamfox [Rated T, 3572 words, complete, Aftg Remix 2020]

Neil and Jean are free of the Nest, and wearing the Trojan red and gold, but they've still got "normal" life to navigate and friendships (past and present) to juggle. Really, sometimes you just want to be alone with your boyfriend. Ft. Exy, pizza, and Steven Spielberg.

Nothing Mattered Until You by Lostintheuniverseslies [Rated M, 22497 words, complete, 2023]

On the docks in Marseille, Neil fell in love. But his mother ripped him away and for years he never dared hope to see Jean again. He believed that he would die before ever getting the chance. But when recuperating with his uncle after his father is killed, Neil's chance comes. Unfortunately, he isn't the only one who went through some horrible things over the years. Despite their horrible pasts, they decide to try for a future together. Going to college and even making some friends along the way. But Riko has other plans and wants back what he considers his.

tw: implied/referenced torture, tw: implied/referenced domestic violence, tw: stalking, tw: harassment, tw: dissociation

It's Friday, I'm in love by Greenfallleaves [Rated T, 5834 words, complete, 2023, locked]

The day Neil had found himself pushed into the strong chest of their school’s new student Jean Moreau had been one of his luckiest in hindsight.

Hold my breath in your hands by Greenfallleaves [Rated G, 2154 words, complete, 2023, locked]

Adapting to the world outside the nest hadn’t been easy for either Jean or Neil but now that they had had a few years to get used to it, they got to complain about (i.e. enjoy) spending quality time with their friends.

sleep notes by nanatsuyu [Rated T, 2928 words, complete, 2024, locked]

Neil smokes a joint and discusses the possibility that Kevin is an honest to God vampire.

tw: recreational drug use, tw: implied/referenced abuse

A kiss while someone watches by @stabbyfoxandrew [tumblr, 2024]

Nathaniel never really saw the point of kissing until he was brought to the nest. Or rather, until the first time Jean Moreau backed him up against the wall of their shared dorm during an argument.

Art

Jean & Neil by @ziegenkind094

Raven!neil au - napping by @dawnatlas

Raven!neil au - partners by @dawnatlas

‘Stitch by stitch, tape and gauze…’ by @dawnatlas

two by @02511213942

Neil and Jean find an empty pool at night by @aminiyard

i believe in jean moreau supremacy by @caraleadraws

secret santa gift for @nekojitachan by @aminiyard

Hello sunshine court by @estavs

66 notes · View notes

jtl-fics · 1 year

Text

Fluent Freshman - Part 31

Eventually, his grandma convinced him that he did not have to send a horse head to Ichirou Moriyama with his regrets. “He said if you’re ever looking for work my little Rotisserie, it’s going to be okay.” She had promised.

FF chooses to believe his grandma.

He’s found a lot of his mental stability is built up on just believing what his grandma has told him to soothe him, it helps that she’s usually right.

He takes some deep breathes, shoves down his embarrassment that he was seconds away from crying in front of Andrew, Captain Neil, and Nicky if Nicky hadn’t dragged the other two out. He really needed to thank Nicky.

“I can finish eating the soup Grandma, it’s really good. What was Kevin trying to do to it?” He asks taking the container his grandma brought the soup in and remembering what Nicky had said as he had gotten Captain Neil and Andrew out of the room.

“That boy is very handsome, very smart, and somehow does not have a bit of common sense.” His Grandma says with a fond laugh, “He wanted to put protein powder into your soup to help you heal faster.” She says.

FF had seen Kevin put protein powder in weirder things. What would be so bad about that?

“It was Vanilla flavored Protein powder my little Chicken.” She says reading the question off of his face and in his silence.

“Chicken and waffles exists as a flavor combination” he says not seeing what would have been so bad about it.

“Sweetie, you can’t have anything other than clear liquids right now. The doctor said so.” She says with a sigh.

He nods, that makes sense.

His grandma sighs and looks upwards.

“We need to talk to the Doctors about when you can get out of here. I think being back in a hospital is too hard on you.” She reaches up and brushes back his hair thumb starting at his eyebrow and tracing back to his ear. FF knows it’s not very noticeable otherwise his step brothers would have used the scar to torment him like how they brought up his slightly chipped ear. Still, he keeps his bangs long just so he never has to see the scar in the mirror, knowing his eyes will always search it out.

“It’s hard to sleep when it’s quiet.” He admits.

“I know.” She says. “Are you okay for people to come back in? I’ll take Nicky to act as my translator to go speak with the hospital or I can go with that nice coach of yours since he already knows I speak English.” She offers.

“Can…can you take Coach Wymack?” He asks because he really feels like he needs Nicky if his Gran is going off.

“Of course my little Chicken.” She rises up, takes the empty soup container from his hands, and kisses his forehead before she smoothes his bangs back down. “If you want I can just have Nicky come in and the rest can stay out.” She offers.

“No, just…maybe ask Nicky to come in first?” FF asks, he doesn’t want to be rude. They’re here to see him, it was just a lot and he wants to thank Nicky for giving him the time he needed to calm back down.

“Of course, such a sweet young man. His fiancé is lucky!” She says with a smile.

“Erik is a very lucky guy.” FF agrees managing to return the smile his grandma offered him.

“Ok, I’ll send Nicky in and take your Coach to go see about getting you discharged.” She says leaving out the door.

“Thank you.” He says into the now empty room before leaning against the pillows of his bed and looking around his room again.

His eyes narrow on the flowers Nicky had brought.

Pink Tulips, Yellow Sunflowers all in a Blue vase.

One does not become maintain a close friendship with Nicky Hemmick without hearing extensively about how he feels about newly adopted Pride Flags.

“Why did Nicky get me Pan Pride colors?” He asks if only to fill the silence.

***

Nicky couldn’t help but pace a bit. Somehow waiting for FF to calm down enough that he could take visitors again was a lot worse than waiting for him to wake up from being stabbed. He shouldn’t have let Andrew or Neil start in on his friend, he knows the two of them are scared but Nicky is the only one who can actually understand how scared FF would be.

His sweet little Rotisserie Chicken (He’s claiming it as his own, he’s in love, Aras is a laugh riot) would absolutely be spiraling in anxiety. The others are talking amongst themselves but Nicky isn’t feeling particularly chatty at the moment.

There’s a sound and Nicky’s head snaps up to see Aras coming out of FF’s hospital room. Her face giving away some of her exhaustion but she brightens the moment she sees him. It’s a nice thing, having someone her age being so happy to see him. “He wants to see you. I want to speak with Coach Wymack so he can help me work on getting our Chicken discharged, can you translate for me?” She asks in Polish slowly for his benefit.

Nicky stops.

“He wants to see me?” He asks, “Just me?” He adds wanting to make sure he was understanding her.

She nods, “He will let the others in after, but right now? You’re the only friendly face he wants to see.” She says, “Who could blame him when it’s such a handsome one!” She reaches up and pats his cheek affectionately.

Nicky can’t help the smile that fills his face.

He almost wants to turn around and be smug about it with everyone. The last two additions to their family were far closer with Andrew and Aaron, but FF was his.

A friend that would pick Nicky over his cousins.

“Of course, I’ll help you talk to Wymack.” He says and offers his elbow to Aras who laughs and calls him a gentleman as the two of them walk over to where the rest of the Monsters and Wymack were waiting.

“Is Smiths ready for company again?” Aaron asks rising to his feet.

“He only wants to see me right now.” Okay yes, Nicky is going to gloat a little. He feels pretty good when both Neil and Andrew’s faces tighten just a smidge. “Coach, Aras wants you to come with her to see about getting Smithy discharged?” He says before a thought occurs to him, “Wait, won’t I need to be there to explain it to Aras?” He asks with a frown.

Wymack coughs.

“We’ll be fine. I’ll get the information and you or Smith can explain it to Aras afterwards if need be.” Wymack waves away Nicky’s concern. “Go sit with the kid.” Wymack says.

Nicky looks at Aras, “Will you be okay without me to translate?” He says not wanting to make the decision without her.

“We’ll make do.” She promises with a smile, “Look after our little Rotisserie Chicken, will you?” She asks.

Nicky nods before looking to Wymack, “At least offer the lady your elbow Wymack! You’re escorting a LADY!” He exclaims and Wymack rolls his eyes but tellingly does offer his elbow for Aras to take.

“A gentleman coach!” Aras laughs.

“I’ll go with them, I want to hear what might need to be done for Smiths.” Kevin says rising up from the plastic chair he’d been sat in. “Aaron do you want to come too?” He asks.

“I think I’ve suffered enough today.” Aaron says and Nicky wonders what the car ride over was like for his cousin to sound that tired.

Kevin tilts his head obviously not understanding what Aaron was talking about but before Aaron could open his mouth and turn it into an argument Nicky intervened, “Kevin, be a gentleman and offer Aras your elbow.” Nicky insists.

Kevin spluttered his cheeks going a little red.

“Coach already is escorting her!” He squawks.

“Do you think one man is enough for a woman of Aras’ caliber?” He asks seriously.

Kevin looks embarrassed but, sure enough, offers his elbow to Aras as well.

She takes it, “Two handsome gentlemen. What a treat. Now this one just needs to keep his mouth closed and he’d be perfect.” She looks up at Kevin with a smile.

Kevin, as he has since Aras arrived, just smiles back at Aras’ warm tone looking very much like a pleased golden retriever.

Nicky turns to head towards the door, “He doesn’t want to see us?” Neil asks and Nicky stops.

Neil looks uncomfortable and Andrew has the line on his forehead that he’s experiencing an emotion he isn’t comfortable with.

Nicky is a man with grace.

“I think he might just want to make sure this isn’t going to be Interrogation 2: Electric Boogaloo. I’ll promise that NO ONE,” he points a finger at each of the younger men, “is going to do that. Right?” He asks.

Aaron nods, Andrew gives off an aura of agreeing, and Neil opens his mouth, “We won’t.” He promises.

Nicky nods, “I’ll come get you guys in just a bit.” He says and heads for FF’s room.

Nicky finds FF sat up in his bed with tear marks under his eyes and feels his heart twist at the sight.

FF looks at him with a baffled look on his face, “You think I’m Pan?” He asks.

Nicky can’t help his laugh.

“I gotta cover my bases!” He says and fully steps into the room.

“I don’t even know if I like anyone like that!” He squawks, a flush rising to his cheeks and this is why Nicky has to control his laughter whenever someone says that FF seems like a chill guy.

“That’s why I was covering ALL of them!” Nicky teases unable to stop the laughter that bubbles up from his voice as he takes a seat next to his friend, “You feeling better? That must have been scary with Ichirou.” He says gently.

FF looks at Nicky, “It was.” He says, “I just…I hope I didn’t upset him in any way and make things hard for Captain Neil.” He looks at Nicky who is already shaking his head.

“Don’t worry about that. He seemed,” Nicky thinks back to Ichirou’s expression as he called FF ‘bright’, “pleased. Did he say anything to you about like a deal with Neil?” He asks.

“Not really, I just…he offered a reward and I told him to give it to Captain Neil. I can’t imagine how he was handling those kind of men being after him. I thought he deserved it more than I do.” FF says expression worried, “You really think it’s okay not to worry?” He asks.

Nicky could just eat him up.

He knows FF’s family aside from his grandma is a complete write off, maybe Erik and him could discuss adoption.

FF’s his anyways.

“Yeah, you did great Smithy. Don’t you worry about a thing other than what Kevin might be trying to sneak into your food.” He pats FF’s cheek.

“Yeah, it’s too early for protein powder is what Gran said.” FF nods as if it being too early in his recovery for the vanilla protein powder in his chicken broth was the singular issue.

Nicky decides to not pursue that further, if for nothing other than his own sanity.

“The others won’t bother you about Ichirou anymore or if they do I’ll stop them. Can they come back in?” Nicky asks.

FF doesn’t hesitate before he nods, “Yeah, sorry I just…thank you for having them step out. It would have been embarrassing for them to see me cry like I did.” He says.

Nicky looks at the obvious signs that FF had cried but doesn’t offer to clean them off fully. He thinks that the sight of it will stop any further inclination to interrogate.

“Of course Smithy. If they start overwhelming you again I’ll kick them right back out.” He promises and he means it, Andrew could threaten and scowl all he wants.

FF is Nicky’s friend and Nicky is going to do right by him.

***

Nicky goes and gets Andrew, Aaron, and Captain Neil from where they were waiting.

“Where’s Kevin?” FF asks looking at the three shorter men.

“He went off with coach and your grandma. He wants to know about your recovery and probably irritate them into releasing you if only so they can get rid of him.” Aaron answers taking a seat next to Nicky. “How was the soup?” He asks.

“It was good, I was pretty hungry.” FF smiles at Aaron. They hadn’t had much conversation and in all honesty FF didn’t really know what their relationship was, if they were friends or just acquaintances but he wanted to believe it said something in favor of them being friends that Aaron was here at all visiting him.

“That’s good.” Aaron offers him a smile that looks weird on a face that is identical to Andrew’s in so many ways even if there are just tiny differences.

He chats with Nicky and Aaron about inane things. Aaron tells him about Kevin’s multiple clashes with the nutritionist, Nicky talks about how Aras baked the pie with the ingredients he’d gotten, and Captain Neil and Andrew remain silent in the chairs they had sat down in. Maybe they don’t want to talk to him other than getting information that Nicky has deemed ‘off the table’. Captain Neil keeps looking at his face, opening his mouth, and then shutting it.

Maybe they just don’t want to be friends anymore after he blew it with talking to Ichirou.

FF comforts himself that at least Nicky is his friend, Aaron seems to be friendly enough with him, Kevin cares enough about him as a player to want to find out about his recovery and that could be counted as a friend. He has a vague sense that he also made a friend along the way to the hospital but that might have just been the blood loss and shock.

Maybe the EMT was just being nice.

His Gran comes back with Coach Wymack and Kevin both of them bringing her in on their elbows for some reason. Kevin looks a little irritated but he smiles at Gran before she takes the seat left open for her at Nicky’s side. Coach Wymack lets him know that after a final check from the doctor he’ll be free to leave.

“Are…are you going back to Palmetto?” Captain Neil asks him as Coach Wymack and Kevin were taking their seats.

FF blinks.

“Yeah, why? Am I off the team?” He asks and is quite proud that his voice doesn’t shake when he asks. This will keep him from playing for the rest of the semester. It might be better for them to-

Captain Neil smiles and he sees Andrew’s shoulders loosen. “Of course you’re still on the team Smith. We’re keeping you.” He says reaching over and squeezing FF’s shoulder once before moving and sitting back and sharing a relieved look with Andrew who merely rolls his eyes.

“I told you he wasn’t going to go back home.” Andrew says in Russian.

“We made him cry.” Captain Neil says in the same language and it takes everything in FF to not go red in mortification. Oh god he thought he had escaped anyone realizing that he had sobbed like a baby to his Gran.

The mortification passes quickly when he realizes why Andrew and Captain Neil had been quiet. They had been worried he’d leave and maybe a part of that was that they’d be losing two players but…

He looks at Andrew’s relaxed body language now and knows that Andrew wouldn’t care about losing a member of the team the way Captain Neil might.

…but maybe it’s that they wanted him to stay.

The thought leaves him feeling the best he has in months.

***

Signing out of the hospital takes a lot of paperwork. There are plans being faxed over to Abby. There are follow-ups being scheduled at the hospital down in Palmetto. There are discussions about who will go get FF’s stuff from his dorm so that his stay at Abby’s can be more comfortable. There is also the fact that his Grandma has asked if she can take up the other guest room to help with his recovery.

It makes him happy and guilty all at the same time.

Eventually he’s in a wheelchair being pushed out by Nicky and loaded into the Maserati with Nicky, his Gran, Neil, and with Andrew at the wheel. He notices how Andrew’s hands are solidly on 10 and 2 and feels better even if he wishes he had asked for that medical coma.

It’s a quick trip to the cousin’s house to grab their stuff and load it into both Wymack and Andrew’s cars and then they’re on their way back to Palmetto.

MASTERPOST FOR ALL PARTS OF FLUENT FRESHMAN AU

@i-have-three-feelings @blep-23 @dreamerking27 @andreilsmyreligion @belodensetdust @rainbowpineapplebottle @yarn-ace @iwouldlikesometea @lily-s-world @obscureshipsandchips @booklover242 @whataboutmyfries @sahturnos @pluto-pepsi @dreamerthinker @passinhosdetartaruga @leftunknownheart @aro-manita-muscaria @hologramsaredead @Chaoticgremlinswishtheycouldbeme @tntwme @tayspots @nick-scar @crazy-fangirl2524 @blue-jos10 @stabbyfoxandrew @splishsplashyouropinionistrash @sammichly @the-broken-pen @bitchesdoweknowu @very-small-flower @ghostlyboiii @its-a-paxycab @bisexual-genderfluid-fan @cheesecookie @theoneandonlylostsock @foxsoulcourt @blueleys @adverbialstarlight @elia-nna @can-i-just-stay-in-the-corner @nikodiangel @foxandcrow-inatrenchcoat @hallucinatedjosten @satanic-foxhole-court @vexingcosmos @chalilodimun @insectsgetcooked @angry-kid-with-no-money @queer-crows @lillyndra @themundanemudperson @readertodeath @apileofpillows @mortalsbowbeforeme @hellomynameismoo @next-level-mess @youreonlylow @interstellarfig @notprocrastinatingatalltoday @percyjacksonfan3 @queenofcrazy27 @bsmr261 @ghostlyscares @spencellio @adinthedarkroom @harpymoth @sufferingjustalilbit @anxietymoss @oddgrayhound @ohno-myhyperfixation-itsbroken @ken22789 @atiredvampire @isoldescorner @not--a--pipedream @azure-wing @bushbees @roonilwazlib-main @crumplelush @foldedaces-paperbirds @thesenseinnonsense @let-tyrants-fear @ketchupandfries @legowerewolf @deadlydodos @but-we-respect-his-craft @cariniqe @zanypersonapricotbiscuit @lesbian-blackbeard @lesbiansupernatural @silvermasquerade @thepeachfuzz @minniemariex @kazoo-the-demjin @gaypomegranate @ji-nk-ies @neilimfinejosten @omgrubelangel @itsyouitsmeorpheuseurydice @percabethotplove @cozyrosykay @foxyatlas @theoneandonlylostsock @cindersapsecrets @scornedethnographer @hugemotherfuckingnerd @givemethedamnflowers @our-king-bree @astrovoidy

SO I’M AT THE MENTION LIMIT.

Moving forward I’m going to put the people who want a ping in a separate post with a link to the new part. As always if your name is there, it’s spelled right, and you didn’t get a notification then it might be something in your settings.

#Fluent Freshman AU #Nicky is going to ride this wave to shore #He's feeling great #Oh were you the one that Smithy asked to see personally?#No #Okay then Andrew maybe you should let the PROFESSIONAL talk #Smith may not have been totally ready to leave the hospital #especially after his little walk #But the admin they spoke with is lunch buddies with the nutritionist #and that Nutritionist has given an exact description of the kid who keeps bothering him #'He looks like Kevin Day from that Exy sport but just SUPER irritating'#That gentleman who is escorting that sweet old lady sure does look like Kevin Day doesn't he #Ok lets sign this kid out #When the Admin asks if Kevin will leave if they sign Smith out Wymack says yes #'Ok let me expedite this. Where do I send the follow-up care instructions?'#Kevin is VERY offended but Aras pats his cheek and he's back in goo mode again #AFTG #AFTG AU #AFTG OC #Andreil #Nicky Hemmick #My Fics #FF - Pt. 31

348 notes · View notes

ashestoashes7 · 17 days

Note

Aaron and Kevin & no. 20. Personality swap, because I can think of nothing funnier than Aaron suddenly being obsessed with exy and everyone having to deal with that 🤭

Reverie - ao3 version

Aaron and Kevin wake up wrong. The Foxes investigate.

cw: implied/referenced child abuse

cw: implied/referenced homophobia

The world fell to ruins on a Tuesday.

Some might claim such a declaration erred on the side of dramatic, but the entirety of the Palmetto State Foxes declared it to be so upon laying eyes on the latest conundrum. Personally, Aaron didn’t see it.

No meteor fell from the sky and flattened the Palmetto area to an orange-speckled pulp, instead starting similarly to most days: with the most annoying alarm clock known to man. A familiar thump cut off the ringing, Matt’s groan sounding off after which Aaron typically took as a sign to attempt to depart from the waking world until Kevin decided to treat the hallway like his personal rage room.

For once, Aaron did not fall back to the tempting curve of his pillow. He turned to place his feet on the floor and pulled himself out of bed, a strange well of excitement bubbling up where reluctance was usually awaiting. It was not that Aaron hated Exy, but waking up at six in the morning for practice with the likes of Kevin Day and Neil Josten usually wasn’t the most enticing of options when his bed was right there.

Early mornings left most of them lethargic, but Josten and Day didn’t follow such human rules of the world. Their enthusiastic energy was ready from the moment the word ‘Exy’ entered their obsessive brains; Aaron had never understood it before. Even with Josten, Kevin’s enthusiasm had yet to find a true match—Josten was held back by Andrew-related reasons Aaron refused to contemplate—but with a new passion humming through his bones, Aaron thought he might just be the perfect match.

Matt dawdled in bed, but Aaron, to his bleary-eyed disbelief, coaxed him out until they were both dressed and standing in an unusually empty hallway. Aaron walked over to the nearest window to see if the others had already left to get in even more time on the court, an understandable pursuit, but the Maserati was parked in the exact same place it had been left yesterday. Aaron stuck his head out a little further, but there was no waft of cigarette smoke to indicate Andrew was waiting nearby for Josten and Kevin to finish squabbling.

Aaron would have to do it himself. A glance at Aaron was all it took for Matt to begin his trudge back toward their room. Aaron stared after him, quizzical. Sacrificing Exy for a few more minutes of sleep wasn’t an option worth considering, but Aaron did not elect to share his wisdom. He could remember when he had been similarly misguided.

Aaron closed the window and walked to the door where the only two people who could possibly understand the incessant need to have a racquet in hand should have been waiting. For the first time since Kevin had joined the Palmetto State Foxes, no sound drowned out his footsteps as he trailed closer to the source of the mystery.

Aaron knocked loudly twice before pulling the door open. All that awaited on the other end was various degrees of annoyance from the freshly roused occupants. Aaron knew from experience that Kevin was in charge of the alarm because otherwise it would be snoozed into what he once thought was pleasant lateness.

Kevin’s alarm clock was on the ground, tilted in a manner that suggested it had been tossed away. The scene was far more shocking than if Aaron had stumbled into an active crime scene. The one time Aaron had fiddled with the alarm clock Kevin had lost his mind in a way even Andrew wasn’t spared from. The petty war of retaliation had been bothersome.

Aaron frowned. After a moment of consideration, he slammed his hand against the wall with enough force a resultant sting bit at his palm. Everyone shot up, looking to be in various stages of conspiracy to commit and cover up his murder.

Aaron ignored them, unimpressed. “Get up! Maybe we can actually make it to practice on time today if you don't dawdle around.”

“What the fuck, Aaron?” Kevin muttered, drawing a hand back through his hair in annoyance. How he could look that attractive with a bedhead that would render Aaron unable to go into public without receiving a much different type of stare was one of the world’s greatest mysteries. Kevin made an aborted motion for where his alarm clock usually sat and then flopped back down with an exaggerated groan. “Practice can wait. Give us five more minutes.”

The descent of Andrew’s head toward his pillow came to a sudden halt. Neil’s rightly enthusiastic swing out of bed froze with his eyes glued on where Kevin unknowingly attempted to slumber away. Andrew reached a hand down to his side, pulled out a pen, put the cap on it, and threw it at Kevin’s head.

Kevin sat up with a curse and a pillow chucked at Andrew. Neil caught it before it could hit him. Andrew blinked back, unimpressed. “Have you finally given up on Exy, Day?”

Kevin ignored him. Andrew’s stare darkened.

“What?” Aaron asked, disbelieving. “We’re here for the court. Missing practice for such a mundane reason is a bad habit you shouldn’t even start to make. Kevin agrees with me—”

Kevin shook his head and murmured sounds of dissent.

The sound of Neil landing off-balance on the floor interrupted him before Aaron could say anything else. “Are you possessed?”

“No.”

Aaron dragged his eyes around until he found the set of keys belonging to Andrew. He didn’t move to grab them. Yet.

Neil turned to look at Andrew. “What day is today?”

“Tuesday.”

“No, is it that prank day Allison was talking about? The one where everyone lies and Aaron pretends to be Kevin?”

“There is no day like that,” Andrew replied, starting up a bout of intense eye contact between them that Aaron did not desire to interpret.. “It isn’t April”

Neil tilted his head and looked over at Aaron as if expecting him to go back on anything he had said. "Are you sure you’re not possessed?”

“I’m not possessed, Josten. If you’re to agree with me on one thing I’d think it would be this,” Aaron said, snatching up the car keys and stepping back into the doorway. He met Andrew’s doubtful eyes with a determination he wasn’t sure he could back up. “If you’re not out in ten minutes, I’m taking the Maserati to the court. I will not let your inability to function impede my practice.”

“Kevin?” Neil asked, casting a glance between them as if expecting the words Aaron was speaking to have come from the best striker in Class 1 Exy. Instead, the best striker in Class 1 Exy waved his hands in a ‘do what you want’ gesture and sunk back into the mattress.

Aaron didn’t stay long enough to see green eyes peeking open to follow his exit or to hear the words exchanged between the room’s other occupants.

Ten minutes passed. Aaron didn’t take the Maserati.

Another day he might have done it to spite the doubt that had painted itself across Josten’s face and the lesser degree of skepticism given away by Andrew’s lack of rapid movement, but the idea refused to turn itself into action. With such potent determination coursing through his veins he thought it to be a real possibility, but when he moved toward the building exit with the keys in hand he just couldn’t do it. His hand settled on the doorknob before the thought struck some intrinsic chord of wrongness that had his feet refusing to take him to where the car waited.

A weight settled in his chest as if someone had placed a barbell over where his lungs lay in their abnormally rapid movement. Uneasiness wrapped itself in his chest and refused to take one step toward something filled with so many ‘what ifs’. Andrew wouldn’t hurt him, but Aaron didn’t want him to hate him, either. Betsy would have a field day with the question of what the car associated inextricably with Josten would be worth compared to Aaron.

Aaron did not know how to drive the Maserati, but he tried to convince himself waiting in the car for their arrival would provoke a much more pleasant response. His feet refused to move and his heartbeat sped up to an unsteady thrum far more violent than he was used to. Indecision clogged up his throat and plucked out any words he could have thought to say.

Aaron wrapped a hand loosely around the base of his neck and slid two fingers up to check his pulse—fast. Unfortunately, the feel of the staccato beneath his fingers did not force the unusual and unwelcome phenomenon into a recession.

This was new; he didn’t like it.

Anger fought past the invisible challenge unwillingly foisted upon him until he was taking the stairs two at a time and stood face-to-face with a beleaguered Matt. He ignored the slight twinge of uneasiness that arose when he chucked the keys into an open drawer and stalked toward the taller man.

“Drive me,” Aaron said with enough confidence that Matt’s mouth snapped shut.

Matt picked up his phone and was in the middle of shooting off a text when Aaron wrapped a hand around his wrist and began tugging him toward the door. A noise of surprise followed by a smothered laugh sounded off behind Aaron, but he paid them no mind. While he wouldn’t break as many laws as Andrew, Matt could get him to the court fast enough to sate the stilted tap of his fingers.

All at once, there was something wrong about the lack of Exy equipment within his grasp and something horribly long about the distance between where the inner court awaited him and where Matt stalled. It was a limb he hadn’t known was missing until he’d woken up with the wound seared into his every movement. He needed to run his fingers over the knots in the net of his racquet, run until his legs ached, live and breathe Exy until the gnawing emptiness narrowed into something more manageable.

If this was what Kevin felt, Aaron could understand why a rare sort of life bled into his every movement when surrounded by plexiglass walls and the red light of victory. There was something more than just wrong about the broken routine—his whole world was knocked off kilter by the minuscule difference between typical and today.

Aaron was more awake than he had ever been for morning practice, adrenaline rising in the sort of anticipation he had never felt before. He needed to be at the court with the same intrinsic severity as he needed his next breath.

Aaron liked Exy. The first day he stayed late and trailed to the run-down gym to watch from the bleachers, he knew the desire was inevitable. He wanted to be a teammate but even more than that he wanted to wear a jersey with his name on the back and feel the warmth of his mother’s approval.

When Aaron wheedled a ticket out of the coach with a promise he would consider joining, he was seated amongst proud parents who cheered through every success and hardship. They pointed at their children in pride rather than disapproval, and Aaron wanted that. A spark of hope lit within him that day; it died soon after. His mother didn’t care, but Aaron never stopped liking Exy even when Andrew was better. Even when Andrew was the one who became wanted.

There was a very short list of things Aaron liked. He wouldn’t let jealousy whittle it down to a number small enough to fit on one hand. Andrew and Exy remained next to each other in fourteen-year-old handwriting as hopeful as when he had first scrawled it on a piece of paper that was now tucked away in the crack of a drawer.

Aaron liked Exy, but he also knew what addiction felt like. He did not appreciate the similarities.

Aaron walked back down with Matt’s wrist in his grasp, not faltering until they stood in front of a blue pickup truck. Aaron’s hand was wrapped around the door handle before Matt had even fumbled the key out of his pocket and received a raised eyebrow. Aaron slipped in the passenger side the moment the door was unlocked, closing it before Matt’s hand had even settled on his handle.

Surprise flitted across Matt’s face. “You're eager.”

“It’s Exy,” Aaron replied like that explained everything.

“Hello, Kevin,” Matt joked with a pass at friendliness that was new enough to have them both wincing. It took Matt until the second stoplight they encountered to work up the gall to meet Aaron’s eyes again.

Aaron tapped his foot impatiently as if the light too would grow tired of the soft thuds and turn from red to green. He was unsurprised when it didn’t listen. Matt’s face contorted into something resembling a glare, but he didn’t say anything. Aaron didn’t stop.

“So,” Matt started once the light had turned, “did you and Kevin make a bet? Switch out for the day and see how long it takes the rest of us to notice? ‘Cause, believe me, we’ve noticed.”

“What’s wrong with all of you? Am I not allowed to like it?” Aaron infused a challenge into his tone.

“It’s six in the morning,” Matt implored, the hand not set on the steering wheel moving about emphatically to illustrate the absurdity he found in the statement. “You are not a morning person.”

“It’s Exy,” Aaron repeated because it was the only answer he could think to give. Exy was everything—survival, joy, a chance at a family that wasn’t six feet deep or loathing his very existence before they had even met. Exy was a believable enough excuse that could placate the hard questions from parents, teachers, and coaches with whom the truth wasn’t an option.

Backliners bruised easily, and no one thought to look too deeply into why Aaron’s equipment elicited more than a perfunctory wince no matter the break between games or practices. The few adults persisting past the blockade he attempted to erect were met with a new volley of excuses: a stick-check gone wrong, stray Exy ball, inconveniently administered check that refreshed old bruises.

For so long, Exy had been one of the only things Aaron had for himself. How could he not love it?

Matt shook his head and bit his lip in the way Aaron had learned he did when waiting for someone to say the punchline of a joke. Aaron held his tongue and stared pointedly out the window, unwilling to waste his words on someone so intent on misinterpreting them.

It wasn’t a joke.

Aaron was used to falling into the category of unknowable entities. He didn't mind it back when he thought it to be temporary. Walking into high school with a doppelganger at his back for the first time and a slew of curious eyes following him in eerie silence had been a novel experience. Aaron had almost been able to convince himself he was some sort of protagonist, that the distant stares were a brief lapse before he was once again folded into the outskirts of their social circles.

A week later, he knew he was wrong. Andrew made sure of that.

If he wore long sleeves or the uncovered skin of his wrists was not visible, even the classmates who occasionally deigned to talk with him devoutly pretended he didn’t exist. In California and Columbia and Palmetto, Aaron was an extension of Andrew even if they had known him first. Andrew liked it better that way; Aaron didn’t.

The Foxes were an interesting dilemma to face after Neil crash-landed through every barrier drawn between them by circumstance and willful discord. Contrary to what a PSU Fox poll that for legal reasons Allison never created would have indicated, Aaron didn’t loathe the rest of the Foxes even without the newfound energy that painted anything Exy-related in vivid multicolor and outlined their faults in glaring red.

Matt was nicer to him than he deserved—than any of them did. With his mind back in Columbia watching Andrew’s latest attempt at isolation play out, Aaron wondered how Matt could even bear to look at any of them. Aaron knew the feeling of the betrayal Andrew had orchestrated—family spinning the wheel of ‘not good enough’ and claiming it was for the best—and of the horrible relief that ensued after. Aaron was going to be a doctor, and Andrew made that possible. That didn’t mean Aaron would thank him.

When Josten had taken up in Andrew’s dorm, Aaron had been the first to suggest he be the one to move out. Surprisingly, Matt helped. While Josten might play mediator when it struck his fancy, Aaron would not have been one to reap the benefits of his actions. Matt held out the olive branch all on his own.

Matt didn’t hate them, so Dan would do it for the both of them. Aaron didn’t like Allison or the feeling of her nails digging into his skin, and Renee was incapable of feeling something as mundane as hatred. Aaron and Andrew were a package deal to all of them even over two years after a first meeting and the ensuing close proximity.

Aaron understood it, in a way. The moment the word ‘twin’ came into play Aaron and Andrew were inextricably linked together, and Aaron would take Andrew’s side over any of theirs no matter the isolation it brought. Aaron was raised to survive solitude; it didn't matter that he longed for a break from the horrendous pattern

Kevin had been the first anomaly. Their proximity had been born of pressure, at first. Kevin was constantly foisted upon Aaron in the dorms or the club or the backseat of Andrew’s car. Aaron hated him because Andrew, somehow, didn’t. Andrew, who turned his nose at any person Aaron associated with, who drew a knife at the briefest whim and sent all of Aaron’s newest attempts at friendship running for the hills, had changed the rules again. Andrew had Kevin, and Aaron could not afford to hate Andrew for it so he drew the sharp edge of his misery on a much easier target.

Kevin was the face he pinned to the dartboard. Kevin, who made his stance firmly on the grounds of eternal disapproval. Kevin, who slotted himself into every place Aaron was meant to fill. Kevin, whose only goal had ever really been Andrew. Before he became a Fox, Aaron watched the Ravens’ games often and accidentally found his way to Kevin’s interviews. He wrote a two on a piece of paper, remembered green eyes glancing over him in disinterest once they had caught the five on his back, and pretended it didn’t sting.

Aaron had thought it inevitable that Kevin would take his brother away. Kevin had Andrew’s attention from the moment he walked in a room—their highschool court, their dorm room, Eden’s Twilight—and made promises that Andrew followed up with a blinding smile. Every moment Kevin was allowed at Andrew’s side and as his confidant felt like a taunt. Kevin was always going to take Andrew away; Aaron just didn’t expect to be there to watch the chasm widen.

Aaron fell into Kevin’s orbit by accident.

Kevin had been curled up on his bed, left hand clenched in front of him, and Andrew had been off to who knows where from which he would eventually come back smelling so heavily of cigarettes that Aaron walked out. Perhaps Aaron had spent a great portion of the day discussing the influence of bedside manner with Katelyn or perhaps he had simply been curious, but some force only hindsight would make him thankful for tugged him away from his textbook and over to Kevin’s side.

Aaron had been with Abby when she looked over Kevin’s hand and had seen the look on his face when the only assurance she could provide him was ‘I have hope’. Kevin looked broken for a moment, but the smile was back in an instant. Right back to the Queen of the Court, to the perfect media darling victim of a skiing accident gone wrong that wasn’t really an accident at all.

The plastic smile was long gone when Aaron circled close enough to catch more of Kevin’s facial features. He looked the same sort of empty that Midnight Nicky tried so valiantly to hide. Aaron had sat on the bed and made up bullshit Exy facts until color came back to his face. It was only when Aaron dared to call Jeremy Knox a disgrace to Exy that Kevin’s eyes sharpened and he began to prod back with a prepared defense whose verbosity could have filled Aaron’s most recent English assignment.

That was the day Aaron learned how hard it was to hate Kevin Day. He tried but suddenly Kevin was everywhere Aaron was even when Andrew had made himself scarce. Staring, watching, and critiquing the way Aaron moved his wrist until Aaron fought back with venomous words or music loud enough to offend Kevin’s delicate sensibilities.

Kevin offered for Aaron to join night practices, once, before Josten was even a blip on the map. He looked so pr—proper and smug that Aaron could do nothing but spit out a harsh refusal.

Looking upon the Foxhole Court with new eyes, Aaron couldn’t believe he had turned down such a momentous opportunity out of what, spite? Exhaustion? Fear that if he looked a little too long into bright green eyes the thoughts in his head would escape beyond the acceptable bounds?

At the end of a freshly opened bottle, his mother had once told him the only thing he did right was be straight. He hated being a disappointment almost as much as he hated Kevin’s lips stretching into that heart-rate-spiking smile. Kevin was dangerous in too many ways to count. He was Andrew’s, he was tied up in chains handcrafted by the same Ravens who had almost and actually gotten Andrew, and he was far too attractive to be a safe place for Aaron to rest his gaze. It was wishful thinking to believe that knowledge would dull the blaze that threatened to consume them both, but Aaron had always been told he was idealistic.

There was one reliable route Aaron could rely on when his eyes strayed a little too long: Kevin was an asshole. He was as Exy-obsessed as he was filterless, and Aaron could draw upon a litany of vicious critiques to prompt a necessary resurgence of anger. If you hold your wrist like that, someone is going to break it. If you check me like you’re pushing through a high school hallway, Aaron, I am going to throw the next ball at your ankles. I thought you were better than this. I can do better with my non-dominant hand in a position I don’t play than you could ever hope to—

It was a tried and true method: add Exy to the equation of Kevin and come out the other end with far more subtlety than Andrew and Josten ever afforded the rest of the seeing world. The lingering and appreciative glance he cast over the freshly cleaned plains of the Foxhole Court told Aaron didn’t think that would work anymore.

An inaudible conversation erupted outside of the empty locker room while Aaron pulled his gear on at record speed. A key was already set into the orange door when Aaron reached it, and he pushed it open with a flourish he felt all the way down to his bones. The inner court was shrouded in too many shadows for Aaron to make out the details, but he closed his eyes and built its majesty up from hazy fragments of memory.

He had not been able to fully appreciate the refurbishments brought by Kevin’s arrival before, but Aaron braced the end of his racquet on the floor and imagined the swirls of bright orange and white arching up the court. The only noise came from a faint discussion out of earshot and his own breathing, but Aaron brought forth memories of the stadium filled to the brim. Crowds stretching up to the nosebleeds, plexiglass the only separation between the outside world and the one Aaron desperately longed to be a part of.

A voice called out from behind him, startling Aaron out of his silent reverie, and the familiar hum of electricity began to bring the court to life. The emergency lights beneath his feet gave an almost fairytale glow to the nearest home benches, but Aaron forced his eyes away toward the main event. Light trailed out from beneath his feet and bathed the court in a warm glow, framing a cinematic masterpiece he had lost appreciation of far too quickly.

The Foxhole Court was beautiful in a way words could never hope to encompass.

A grin stretched across Aaron’s face, real in a way he could barely begin to comprehend, and he started forward before a loud throat clearing caught his attention. He turned slowly, hesitant to put his back to the inner court, and met the eyes of a severely concerned David Wymack.

Aaron had seen a range of expressions on Wymack’s face: post break-in exasperation, Josten is starting shit annoyance, the sort of determination Kevin whispered to Aaron his mother would have loved. Despite the hell the Foxes and the world had put him through, Aaron had never seen such disturbed bewilderment displayed on Wymack’s visage.

Though Wymack was the easiest for Aaron to notice, he wasn’t the only face strewn with confusion. The rest of the Palmetto State Foxes lurked behind him, gazing at Aaron with horror comparable to his own whenever a particularly ill-informed freshman made some remark about his lips being anywhere close to Neil’s.

Aaron frowned as Wymack strode forward and examined him as if he were the type to recklessly hide his injuries the way Josten did. Aaron had borne witness to too many of Abby’s examinations and Andrew’s suspicious stares to risk needlessly exacerbating an injury. He was almost offended.

Footsteps sounded off to the side, and Aaron craned his neck to meet the assessing eyes of his twin. Andrew looked him over as if he were a stranger. “I told you there was something wrong with him.”

“What?” Aaron asked for what felt like the millionth time.

Nicky shot forward and made an exaggerated gesture to the lit-up stands surrounding them. “You looked at the court like Neil did the first time. Like Kevin every time he pushes open that door. We just want to know if you’re feeling okay, Aaron. Don’t look at me like that. Even you have to admit this is kinda weird,” Nicky stopped flailing about for a moment to swivel a finger between Kevin and Aaron. “Did you two switch places or something because I’ve got to say, I am not a fan.”

Kevin was the one to speak up in their defense. “For the last time, Nicky, no. Now if we aren’t going to be productive I would appreciate being able to spend the time your hair-brained assumptions are wasting on my classwork.”

Every eye that was once trained on Aaron shot back to Kevin. Not a single person was capable of looking gleeful when presented with such a contradictory picture: Kevin Day treating Exy as if it were a chore rather than a pleasure. Kevin drew his shoulders in at the attention, trying to appear smaller. It didn’t work.

“Do you need to see Abby?” Wymack asked. His voice was soft enough not to reach the

majority of the Foxes, but Andrew’s eyebrow ticked upwards at the mention.

“I’m fine,” Aaron assured, wincing the moment the words left his mouth. “I don’t understand the issue.”

The moment Kevin nodded his agreement, Andrew walked over to the nearest bench and laid down, uncaring for Wymack’s frustrations. Kevin didn’t say anything. The words that usually belonged to him sat on the tip of Aaron’s tongue until Allison let loose a vaguely horrified laugh.

“I’m calling Abby!” Dan declared, storming off to the locker room to do just that.

As she did so, Aaron trailed the rest of the way down to enter the inner court. It was far more stunning than the images his mind had drawn up. He rested his hand on the plexiglass and walked along the side until he reached the wall equivalent of his preferred starting position and waited for the others to join in. Josten was the only one to follow him, hauling out one of the barrels of Exy balls with him to make the stand-off more than just a staring contest.

The rest of the Foxes didn’t bother to involve themselves, glancing between where Aaron was giving his all and Kevin passed out on one of the benches as if this were some sort of twisted nightmare. In a way, Aaron agreed with them. He would much prefer to be going against a determined Kevin than Josten, but it appeared that wasn’t in the cards.

Kevin sporadically lifted his head to look in their general direction, but the moment he set a foot down to prop himself up his face twisted and he instead exerted his effort on tuning out the rest of the Foxes. Aaron couldn’t watch Kevin as much as he would have liked to. Trying to keep him in sight was a mistake Neil quickly took advantage of, and Aaron wasn’t willing to sacrifice the lightness permeating his every movement to watch Kevin attempt to starfish on a bench not made for such a thing.

Josten was fast but he was also confused. As he tried to force his way toward the open goal, Aaron recited the same critiques Kevin droned on and on about and watched Josten’s lips thin out into something almost resembling a snarl.

When Josten and Kevin collided, it was explosive but Josten was generally placated by the knowledge that every word Kevin spat out at him was done so for the sake of genuine improvement. When Aaron did it, it was a Molotov cocktail of advice and provocation that left Josten’s effort barely diverted to swinging in the hope of catching the rebound of the ball rather than clipping Aaron’s helmet.

Everything Aaron said was factually accurate, approved by Kevin Day himself with an occasional thumbs up or shouted explanation whenever Josten looked a little too close to throwing his precious racquet to the ground. Even as indisposed as he was, Kevin understood that to be sacrilege. Aaron would have been less amused by the thought if Kevin’s additions were not fully in support of Aaron telling Josten how to be a better striker.

Within the span of twenty minutes, the Foxes' death count miraculously did not tick up though it was a close thing. The moment Abby shuffled through the door, lowering the phone pressed to her ear at the same time Wymack did, Aaron was directed to strip out of his gear and join Kevin to be cordoned off in one of the offices like they were ground zero for some new contagion. A face would peer through the window occasionally—usually Nicky’s—only to vanish when Wymack reminded them that they were there to practice, not gawk like tourists at a zoo enclosure.

Aaron didn’t appreciate the comparison or the refusal to let him join in and had been hoping for some support in that regard, but Kevin seemed more resigned than angry.

After a few rudimentary tests, Abby stepped out to ‘give them some privacy’ which was code for ‘contemplating being the Foxes’ nurse for the one hundred and thirty-sixth time’. The Foxes stopped by for a short break, but any suggestions proposed by the team had been met with nothing more than exasperation and mild horror. Wymack had shooed them away before their proposed experiments could edge closer to ethically questionable solutions.

They left and took the hum of conversation with them. There was only so much silence Aaron could tolerate before he snapped, so he tossed torn-up bits of paper at Kevin until he was graced with his full attention. “Do you remember anything unusual we did last night?”

Kevin blinked tiredly at him until Aaron tore off another piece of a discarded envelope. As Aaron raised his hand to throw it, Kevin caught his wrist and glared. “I don’t know, Aaron. It must have been that magical potion we drank labeled ‘personality swap’.”

“No need to be an asshole.” Aaron flipped him off with the hand Kevin had captured.

Kevin glared at him with the promise of violence they both knew he wouldn’t fulfill. “You’re the asshole. If they’re to be believed, this is your asshole-ness.”

“Your mouth, your problem,” Aaron said distractedly as Kevin’s hand slid up from his wrist to link their fingers together.

Kevin’s eyes lit up. “That’s it!”

“We didn’t drink a potion, Kevin. Or get drunk. Magic doesn’t even exist. This is a waste of both of our times when the court is right th—”

“No, your mouth,” Kevin interrupted, holding up his other hand when Aaron frowned. “We kissed, remember?”

Aaron nodded slowly, a smile unfolding as Kevin’s cheeks flushed. “So my mouth is magic now, Day?”

Kevin absentmindedly tapped on Aaron’s palm. Aaron pulled back, unsure if that was Kevin’s way of signaling he wanted to end the brief point of contact, and was met with Kevin’s grabby hands reaching back out to recapture it. “To find that out, I think we need to do it again. For science.”

“For science?” Aaron repeated, skeptical.

Kevin nodded too emphatically to not have ulterior motives. “Don’t you trust yourself? Have a little faith.”

“That’s not how this works,” Aaron stated. “And that's even assuming we had some sort of personality transplant which isn’t only impossible but also—”

“How do you know?” Kevin shot back, encouraged by Aaron’s less-than-frosty reception. “Maybe I’m the one with the magic mout—”

“Shut up and kiss me,” Aaron said, forward in a way he would usually shy away from.

Kevin’s words died off as his eyes glued themselves to Aaron’s lips. Aaron tapped the back of his palm twice, imploring Kevin to take up the challenge. He didn’t have to ask twice.

They came together like they were always meant to be. Kevin braced himself against the desk and Aaron slotted perfectly against him, reaching a hand back to card through his hair. When Aaron’s hand tugged lightly at brown strands upon Kevin’s movement, Kevin pressed him impossibly closer.

The moment Kevin’s hand cupped his chin in an attempt to deepen the kiss, the worst headache Aaron had ever experienced shot through him as if on cue. Aaron pulled away with a start, unsurprised to find Kevin in an equally shaken state. Aaron pressed a hand against his forehead, pain sparking through his body with an involuntary shout for a few agonizing seconds before the feeling vanished as quickly as it had emerged.

Kevin’s eyes fell back to Aaron’s, but before they could pick up where they left off the door burst open. Abby stood in the entryway, wide-eyed and concerned at the source of the sound that had drawn her back.

“We’re normal again,” Aaron said before Abby put her thoughts into words. He stepped away from Kevin before anyone with less respect for privacy could come barging in. “I’m leaving.”

“Practice has barely even started yet!” Kevin protested, a finger ghosting over his lips in what might have been awe before concern fell over his features. “We have the first match of the season in two weeks. Although they might not have the best track record, they have an unusual—”

Aaron made eye contact with Abby. The time he spent familiarizing himself with the aspects of her job she let him in on had made them close enough for her to read the exhaustion behind his eyes. Abby could be trusted to be sympathetic to his cause.

“Kevin,” Abby interrupted, far kinder than Aaron would have bothered with. “I believe it’s best if you both head back to the dorms to sleep off any potential side effects.”

Kevin’s mouth clicked shut. The response wasn’t outright denial, so Aaron prodded Kevin with his elbow and tried for a route that worked more often than it failed him. “Are you really going to risk it this close to a game?”

Kevin glared at him, seeing through it in an instant. “You just want to sleep.”

“You stole my sleep,” Aaron pointed out. “Literally. I think we’re all allowed a daily allowance of bench naps if even <i>you</i> want to indulge in them.”

Kevin’s face twisted into a grimace, and Aaron knew he was remembering everything he had said that wasn’t a declaration of love for his favorite sport. Aaron, having been provided a unique insight into the inner workings of Kevin Day, would have had more sympathy if he wasn’t about to pass out at any moment.

“Fine,” Kevin spat out in a tone that meant the next few days would more than make up for any time they missed for personality swap-related reasons. Unluckily for Aaron, Kevin Day was an asshole. Worse still, Kevin was beautifully passionate when he was acting particularly assholish. Aaron wanted to cave his face in. With his lips.

“I’ll drive you,” Abby suggested, not bothering to hide her grin.

Kevin and Aaron didn’t waste their time arguing about it. Through some overdue miracle, they managed to make it out without being accosted by another Fox. Kevin spent most of the drive staring out the window, focusing on nothing in particular as he ruminated on every word the Foxes would never forget him saying. Aaron met his reflection in his own window and imagined every worst-case scenario his twin and Josten would act out.

They were partners in a shared but distant misery.

Aaron tried to lay against the window, but his head bouncing into the hard windowpane was not an effective or pleasurable option so he soon gave up on that pursuit. He eyed Kevin’s position instead—the several boxes labeled ‘fragile’ taking up the passenger seat having relegated them both to the back—and pressed himself into the crook of his outstretched arm.

“What are you doing?” Kevin stage-whispered.

“I’m going to sleep,” Aaron replied with finality. He closed his eyes and tried his best to ignore the way the tension seeped out of Kevin’s frame the longer Aaron went without moving. Despite his exhausted predicament, the car ride was too short for him to actually drift off, so the moment Abby pulled the car into park Aaron was murmuring a sleepy “Thank you” and pushing open the door.

Kevin followed him upstairs, not saying a word until Aaron went to slam the door in his too-pretty face. “You did well at practice today. The progress you made based on the improved hold I demonstrated was exactly as I predicted. If you continue on—”

“Kevin,” Aaron said, drawing his name out as long as Nicky did when calling for him within the Columbia house. “My muscles hate me right now. And you. I am suffering beyond your comprehension. You got your beauty sleep, someone is going to die if I don’t get mine.”

“While the memories are still fresh is the perfect time to go over the merits of the adjustments you made today,” Kevin stated, voice taking on a serious tone betrayed by the teasing smile he didn’t bother to stifle. “Who are you planning to kill?”

“Neil,” Aaron said immediately. “Wait, no. You. Definitely you.”

“Adorable,” Kevin replied. “Save it for after we discuss the ineffective placement of your feet during turns.”

Aaron moved to pull the door closed, but Kevin stuck his foot further in between. Aaron stepped on his foot. Kevin laughed.

“Fuck you,” Aaron declared without heat.

“Later?” Kevin asked, momentarily taken aback by his own boldness.

Aaron walked further into the room, leaving the door ajar. He stared into the mess the morning had made of his pillows. “Fuck. You.”

“Not later?” Kevin put forth, muffling laughter behind a loose smile.

Aaron threw a pillow at his head; Kevin dodged because of course he did.

He left before Aaron picked up a textbook.

#kevaaron #kevin day #aaron minyard #personality swap au #aftg #all for the game #psu foxes #aftg fic #exy

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