Andrew Minyard does not understand how Riko Moriyama landed Neil Wesninski.
How the snot-nosed, small dick, rich brat, second son of the Moriyama family who also just so happened to own the largest EXY gear and merchandiser company in the world “RAVEN” - had landed smart mouthed, quick witted, stupidly blue eyed Wesninski, was beyond him. Well, unless Wesninski was a gold digger, but Andrew doubted it.
-
Or; how Andrew Minyard says he doesn’t get into messy situations, until he meets Neil and suddenly he is in the messiest, possible situation ever imagined - oh and also, he might be becoming a homewrecker.
Please check TW before reading.
There will also be a lovely art piece done by @sleepingnerd (@olivdoodles) as well soon! You’ll have to wait to see it :)
I feel like Aaron is one of those people that are always cold, always.
And Kevin is always hot, a l w a y s. Especially in winter.
So when Kevin and Aaron cuddle Aaron will shove his freezing feet between Kevin’s legs to warm them up because Aaron refuses to wear socks that dont have cats on them and Kevin will find that super cute for some odd reason.
My@aftgexchange gift for @bayta-darell !!! I’m so sorry that this is late, I went to post at the beginning of the posting week but I couldn’t find it anywhere. I’ve spent the week doing a rewrite. There was more of it (Kevin and Neil having a discussion) but I just wanted you to get something rather than nothing. I really hope you like it. A general foxes type fic where they do some healing. Canon warnings apply- mentioned not detailed.
———
Twenty minutes. Twenty whole minutes it took of the foxes remaining silent for Betsy Dobson to realise she’d have to make the first move if she wanted to make any progress at all here today.
“David first suggested this for you all once before and you refused, which I respected. I will not force anyone to talk until they are ready. But you’re all here today and I feel I should ask the nine of you, why now?”
Aaron watched as everyone not-so-subtly shifted their eyes to look at Josten who opened his mouth as if to speak before closing it again. He pulled his knees up to his chest and wrapped his arms around them from where he sat on the floor by Andrew’s chair. There was a space next to Boyd on the plush yellow couch but well…
“This is the second time this week Neil has almost stabbed one of us.” Ah, Reynolds. Always making sure she got straight to the point. Matt glared at her, muscled arms crossed over his chest.
“I said it was fine, I startled him-”
“It damn well isn’t fine, Matt! Were you not a boxer with some good reflexes, he could have done some serious damage.”
Aaron watched them argue back and forth until Betsy politely cleared her throat, her calm, soothing smile never once leaving her face. He admired the woman, he truly did; he couldn’t imagine dealing with people’s shit all day and managing to still look sane and collected. His own mind was enough of an asshole as it was. “I’m glad that we’ve gotten to why you’re all here, but I’d like for us to remain civil in these sessions. Talking about such things can be straining and I want you to remember you’re a team, that you’re friends.” Matt nodded and threw Neil a small smile and Allison simply flicked her hand, bright red nails catching in the sunlight streaming through the window. Aaron caught Neil bringing a hand up to rub at the scarring on his face but then Andrew’s hand came down to hold the back of his neck, thumb rubbing back and forth carefully and the tension Neil was holding in his shoulders eased up. His twin met his stare without faltering and simply raised a pale brow at him, as if daring him to comment. Aaron kept his mouth shut and turned back to Betsy. “Now Neil, would you be able to tell us what might have brought on these outbursts of violence?”
“I’ve always been this way, thanks to my mother.” Aaron saw Andrew’s jaw clench at the mention of Mary Wesninski; he knew well enough how his brother felt about abusive mothers. “But this is different. We lost our most recent game. We’re falling behind a little and if we don’t win the next game, we don’t get to progress any further.” Aaron couldn’t stop his mouth from moving, even if he had tried to.
“You’re telling me that Boyd almost got stabbed because we lost a game? Are you serious right now? It’s not the end of the fucking world!”
“It is for me!” He stopped and said nothing more, turning his face away from them all, ignoring their looks of confusion. He knew Josten loved Exy as much as Kevin, but he didn’t think such a thing was enough to stab someone over. Kevin sighed, eyes closing before he put his head in his hands. Neil’s jaw clenched and he stood abruptly, walking towards the door, Andrew following just a few seconds after. Betsy, bless her heart, she tried to reason with two of the most stubborn beings on the planet.
“Neil, maybe you’re not quite ready to talk, but we’ve only just-”
“I apologise, Dr. Dobson, but I can’t talk with you in the room. Anything regarding that part of my life cannot be discussed outside of the people who already know. I do not wish to implicate you.” The woman wrote a few things down; the scratch of the pen was loud to Aaron’s ears.
“Very well, then. Let David know when you’re all ready to come back, and we’ll schedule something between classes and practice.” Neil and Andrew disappeared out of the door and Aaron and the rest were quick to follow, but not before Renee, ever the peacekeeper, gave the woman a gentle smile and told her they’d see her next week. As if she alone could wrangle them all into another session. He made his way over to the mas with Nicky and Kevin, where Neil and Andrew waited, sharing a cigarette between them, and the upperclassmen left ahead of them in Matt’s truck. No one spoke until they were all in the car and on the move, and of course, it was Kevin.
“This isn’t a good idea.” Nicky leaned across the seats and over Aaron to bat at Kevin with one hand, all the while texting Erik on his phone in the other.
“Shut up. You don’t think that anything is ever a good idea unless it’s one of yourideas.”
“Neil I really don’t-”
“Enough, Kevin. I’m telling them and that’s final. I should have told them all anyway.” Kevin sat back with a huff and Aaron rolled his eyes at the idiot’s dramatics, staring out the window for the rest of the unusually quiet drive back to fox tower, except for the clicking of Nicky’s phone and the quiet giggles he would let out at whatever he and his fiancé were talking about. When they got there, Andrew found the closest parking spot to the building that he could, because his brother preferred not to do any more exercise than being an Exy player forced him to. The others hadn’t waited for them, not that Aaron thought they would have, but he thought at least Allison would have been standing at the doors so Neil couldn’t slip away and get out of telling them anything.
They hadn’t, however, stopped themselves from taking over Aaron’s old dorm room he shared with the rest of the ‘monsters’ before he moved to Matt’s. Dan and Matt were sitting together on the couch, the former tucked into the latter’s side, Allison was lounging in a beanbag while she inspected her nails and Renee was sitting on the floor in front of the small and worn table, sorting Nicky’s nail polishes into some sort of order. “Now that you’re here,” Allison said without even bothering to glance in their direction, “let’s get to this secret you’ve been keeping from us, shall we?” Aaron watched Andrew move over to the window to sit on the sill, lighting up another cigarette. He knew there was no need to worry about the smoke alarm because Andrew had taken it out from the first day they moved into the room. It was clear he wasn’t bothered by any of this, at least Aaron didn’t think he was, which means either he knew what Neil was going to tell them all, or he had guessed early on and hadn’t pushed for a definite answer just yet.
Kevin sat down in the other bean bag, although with how tall he was, he seemed to dwarf the bag. The sight was odd, considering that caused him to slouch more than a chair or the couch would have, something he would moan at the rest of them for when they did it. Nicky sat himself next to Renee, gushing over how she’d organised all of his colours, nodding so enthusiastically that his messy brown curls bobbed with the movement. Aaron went to lean against the wall closest to Andrew, who didn’t acknowledge him other than glancing at him out of the corner of his eye. They were better than they were before, Aaron actually managed to have whole conversations with his brother now and he was no longer hostile towards Katelyn, letting her come along sometimes when they went to Sweeties and Eden’s. He knew it would take time to have some sort of a stable relationship with Andrew but they were trying, and that was okay for now.
Neil stood in front of them all, hands in the PSU foxes hoodie he wore, barely any emotion on his face, as he always was. No wonder he and Andrew worked so well together, Aaron thought, internally rolling his eyes. He got straight to it. “After Nathan was killed, all his debts with the Moriyamas fell onto me. The money my mother took when she decided that we should run belonged to them. In Ichirou’s eyes, they still own Kevin and Jean too.”
“What does this have to do with you turning into a murderous little rage machine?” Matt rolled his eyes at Allison.
“I made a deal with Ichirou.” Dan dropped her head into her hands while Nicky made a choked off sound. Aaron was tired of Josten making dumb decisions and not telling them. This is what happened when the fucking idiot ended up at Baltimore. “I wanted something and to get him to give in to that, I said he could have the majority of our earnings when we went pro.”
“Wait.” Neil turned his head towards Kevin, who was outwardly confused now. “You said he wanted a take of what we earned, that I knew. But you didn’t say it was in exchange for something, what did he give you?”
“I wanted Riko dealt with and he was.” Aaron’s eyes widened at that, as did the others in the room. Kevin went deathly pale and he stood slowly, looking at Neil as if he didn’t even know him. He opened and closed his mouth several times before he gave up and disappeared to his room without a word. Aaron had a feeling there was a bottle of vodka waiting for him to drown his sorrows in. Allison looked mildly impressed.
“We all knew the suicide story was suspicious, but I didn’t think you had it in you.”
“I wanted him to pay for what he did. I walked out of that room and I laughed. But that’s why the nightmares have kicked in and I’ve picked up old habits, like sleeping with a weapon under my pillow. If Ichirou notices any slack, he will kill me.” Aaron looked to Andrew again, and his brother was staring back at Neil, as if waiting for him to fall apart. Dan stood, determination on her face and a fire in her eyes.
“Then we help you stay on top of the game. We’ll fit in an extra practice a week and on the free period you share with Matt, he can discuss drills with you.” Aaron saw Matt smile and nod, receiving a dip of Neil’s head in return. “We’ll tell Coach that we’ll have an evening a week at the court, watching old games and seeing what we can take from them. No one gets to ruin this for you, they don’t get to take anything else.”
Nicky whooped and got up to hug Neil quickly, after he got the consent for one. Aaron wasn’t too happy about all this extra work for a sport he wasn’t even that bothered by, but he supposed he owed Neil this. After all, he was the one, no matter how stupidly he went about it, that finally managed their rag tag group work as a team and to become friends. He brought them together, and so Aaron would do this
So that they could staytogether.
~~~~~
They did get better over the weeks, and they won their next game, letting them progress further into this season.
The session with Betsy continued, though progress on that front was slow going to begin with. Neil’s confession had broken the ice, and each of them would discuss assignments they were struggling with or the odd everyday problems life gave you. Betsy never pushed them, allowing them to get used to talking first before she tried diving for issues hidden deeper down.
After a few weeks, Allison discussed her parents when she had gotten a phone call from her mother out of the blue. Apparently, they had started to notice how the foxes were on the up and up, and how much more media attention they were getting. Allison’s mother wanted to use her daughter for her own gain, to get their businesses promoted through the foxes and for Allison to start building their incomes through Exy. Aaron didn’t understand a lot of it, other than that his teammate’s parents were some of the most self centred assholes on the planet. After all this time, they hadn’t gotten in contact with Allison to see how she was or to ask about working on their own family issues, but just to see how they could make life better for them. The blonde had said in the one session that she finally told them where they could stick it, and if they wanted to cut her off from the money they could. If they didn’t want to love her as parents should, then she wanted nothing to do with them.
When Allison ended her rant with the words ‘fuck them’, the foxes repeated them- even Andrew, to everyone’s surprise -loud and clear. Betsy tried to be reprimanding, but Aaron could see she was proud and trying valiantly to not smile with them.
~~~~~
Some months or so after that, Aaron was attending one of his sessions where it was just him and Andrew. It was coming up to a year now since they’d first started these double sessions with Betsy, and he wasn’t ashamed to admit he liked coming to them. Yes, sometimes it was bad and they’d end then arguing heatedly, or sometimes, it would leave them exhausted but content that they were managing to get on to the same page with each other. And other times, well, those times managed to bring their walls crashing down.
Today was one of those times.
“Aaron, you don’t look as if you’re well. Is everything alright? If you’re unable to sit through this one, you may go back and rest if you like.” He knew he must look like shit, after the night he’d had with his mind torturing him, but he felt as if this is why he’d been so plagued by nightmares the last few nights. Like Andrew had to know about them.
“Nightmares.” His throat felt raw and scratchy, but he supposed that was normal when you wake yourself up by screaming yourself hoarse.
“Are you able to tell us what they were or about?” He nodded, turning on the couch so he was angled to the left, making it easier for him to look directly at Andrew. His brother seemed unfazed as he usually did, but Aaron thought there was something different about him today, though he didn’t quite know exactly what was different. Maybe he felt like today was going to be better for them, too.
“I thought I was already awake, because I was walking around the house in Columbia. It was too quiet, and the house was dark, and it was almost as if I could feel the shadows closing in around my shoulders.” He breathing became ragged and clenched a fist where his hand rested on his thigh. “I thought I heard glass smash and the sound of a thud, like something had hit the hardwood floor. It was muffled, coming from upstairs so I followed the sounds.” He closed his eyes and swallowed hard; it was like he was back in the nightmare and he couldn’t get out.
“Aaron? Aaron, you can stop if you want to.” He shook his head, feeling part of his hair fall onto his forehead.
“The noise was louder up there, coming from your room.” He opened his eyes again, catching his brother’s gaze, hazel eyes that matched his own. And they knew, they knew where Aaron’s nightmare was leading them, yet he didn’t flinch away. “I opened the door and it was back to that day, and Drake…” Andrew did not outwardly show any reaction to the name of his abuser, though Aaron saw his fingers stray to the edge of his armband. As if it soothed him to know he had a way to keep himself safe. “When I tried to get in there, it was like there was an invisible barrier in front of me. No matter how hard I kept hitting it, it never went away. I kept screaming at you, to look at me, so you’d know I was right there but there was nothing.” His cheeks felt wet and brought a hand up to find that those were tears running down his cheeks.
Andrew’s eyes had widened, and the hand that was holding his armband started to drift towards Aaron, but stopped just shy of making contact. He took a few deep breaths before he felt like he could go on. “I closed my eyes after a while but I didn’t stop trying to get to you. Then all of a sudden I could hear laughing, and when I opened my eyes, I was back in that shitty apartment, before you came and Tilda had locked me in the closet. She had her Junkie friends over doing all sorts of shit, music on as high as possible.” He felt like he could breathe, as though someone kept on piling invisible weights on his chest, one after the other. “I had one toy, a couple of granola bars and a bottle of Gatorade, of all things. No matter how loud I shouted for her, she never came to let me out. I woke up screaming after that, scared Katelyn half to death.” He’d kept his gaze on the floor when talking about his mother, knowing she was a touchy subject between them.
There was a quick tap to his knee and, a bit reluctantly, he lifted his head to look at Andrew again. His brother was breathing a little heavier, and Aaron could see the way his chest moved. There was more emotion on his face than he’d ever seen. When he was on the meds it was different, it was just a constant sort of forced excitement. This was real and this was Andrew. His twin. “I’m going to hug you, yes or no?” Aaron almost choked on air at the words. Words he’d never expected to leave Andrew’s mouth. He saw Betsy falter just a little out of the corner of his eye, her own stalling from where she was writing things down.
“Yes.” Then slowly, carefully, Andrew shifted forward so he could pull Aaron into him. His arms went around Aaron’s back, and he hesitated just a little before doing the same. Their cheeks rested against each other and when Andrew spoke next, Aaron could feel the words against his ear.
“We’re okay, you hear me? Both of us. We’re a little bit broken, but we’re doing okay.” Aaron nodded, taking a stuttered breath. And if the two of them, the same yet not the same, held onto each other for just a little longer then that was just fine.
They were just okay.
———
Again, I’m sorry about the lateness! Hope you liked it:)) I’m also sorry it’s not as long as it was, but trying to remember everything to rewrite was so difficult.
thank you to everyone who participated! if you haven’t already, please let your match know that you’ve received their gift, and if we’ve missed anyone or you haven’t had a gift and we didn’t notice, please let us know!
I’ve been at work all week so I had to wait to post this today and then tumblr wouldn’t let me. This is all from an edit in my drafts, but a moment ago, tumblr let me post half of the fic. This is a new post with that first half and then the second will hopefully go up sometime tomorrow.
I am so sorry for this delay but work is work I’m afraid. I loved your long prompt so I’ve made a note of that one to fingers crossed, try and write as a gift for you. I went with this time Neil getting hurt though you won’t have a proper ending yet. Hope you like it!!!
Neil thought going for his run an hour or so before sunset on Halloween was a brilliant idea.
How wrong he was.
The streets were clear of kids at this time of the day, the sky not yet dark enough to create that added fear factor of walking around in creepy costumes and asking strangers for sweets. Neil frowned as he slowed his pace to side step an old lady walking her yappy dog. She gave him a little smile which he returned politely before picking back up some speed. He and Kevin, his adoptive brother, had not long moved to Palmetto and he was still unsure of the areas surrounding their apartment. Their dad, David Wymack, had moved out here years ago after they had both finished high school and were going to college in Boston. He’d only stayed out near Baltimore to not upend either Kevin or Neil’s lives, but once his boys were no longer at home, he took up a coaching position at PSU. Neil couldn’t blame him for wanting to move away; he suspected living in a place that no longer housed his deceased wife was hard. But he’d done it for them. Because he loved them.
He was happier out here now, loving his job, his new house with quiet neighbours, and he was in a new relationship with his team’s nurse, Abigail Winfield. They’d been together for a few years now, but Neil hadn’t been able to meet her in person until they’d moved here. He remembered the video call coming through while he was in his college dorm room one day, his roommate Matt Boyd had not been in the room at the time. His dad had looked nervous, and it was weird for Neil not to see him,as his usual stoic self. When he’d asked Neil if it was okay for him to start seeing another woman, he had been confused. He and Kayleigh had only adopted a year before cancer had quickly taken his adoptive mother away from him. Still, his dad refused to let Abby into their lives unless both he and Kevin were fine with it. Neil had laughed as if someone had told him a joke, because of course it was fine. Since then, the woman would call them every week, fretting and fussing as any mother would. She was very excited to have them living so close now, and Neil smiled at the memory of her excitement a month or so back when he and Kevin said they were moving out to Palmetto. Kevin to work alongside their dad as an assistant coach, and Neil to join PSU as one on one Math tutor.
He was brought out of his reverie to the loud scuffling of shoes over gravel, loud enough to be heard over the music coming through his ear phones. He halted to a stop, pulling them out. Getting lost in his own head had caused him to go off of his usual route around the block. It was down a slightly darker, more rougher looking street, a few shifty looking people making their way into a run down apartment building. He suspected it was one of the small drug outlets for a town like this. The scuffling happened again but louder this time, and more importantly, it was closer. He turned on his heel looking behind him but he couldn’t see anything other than the flicker of street lights kicking in. He pulled out his phone, intent on calling Kevin, seeing as his brother was going to be on his way home from their dad’s place when he felt hot breath at his neck, and words whispered in his ear that he had not heard since he was a child.
“Hello there Junior.”
Neil spun away only to be gripped tightly on his biceps by strong hands and pushed further into a dark alley between two buildings, stumbling over his own feet and falling face first, He barely had time to use his hands to break the fall, pain spiking as the ground tore at the skin of his palms. “Now Nathaniel, is that any way to greet old friends? By trying to run away?” Romero Malcom’s low drawl made him freeze up, twisting to face both of his attackers slowly. The other man’s face was an angry sneer, seeming satisfied with the sight of Neil laying at his feet. Lola, however, was manic and almost feral looking. There was a knife in one of her hands, the fingers of her other running across the blade.
“You helped put Nathan in that hell hole, and a few days ago, someone from the inside did him in. They killed him and now you’re going to pay for a life that shouldn’t have been taken so soon.”
Neil laughed at that information, that Nathan was dead and gone, finally, and he didn’t stop laughing even as the two advanced on him.
He stuttered, when a cold blade met the skin of his cheek, cutting deep but he still laughed.
He laughed still when they dragged him deeper into the alley by his hair.
And he laughed through broken screams when Lola took a lighter to his face and arms, and Romero buried a knife in his abdomen.
He laughed and laughed and laughed as the world went dark.
oOoOo
Neil came around again, lying flat on his back and staring at the stars, stones digging into his sling. His body was on fire, pain radiating everywhere. He lifted a shaking and brutalised hand, pressing it to his lower stomach. Blood seeped through between his fingers, and his shirt was soaked through from more than just sweat. He was pretty sure he’d been lying in a pool of his own blood for a while.
He turned his head, finding his phone smashed to pieces a few feet away. Neil cursed under his breath. He tried opening his mouth to call out for help, but stopped instantly when he pulled at the wounds on his face, feeling blood run down his cheeks. His other hand shifted, fingers twitching against something rough. When Neil managed to look down again, there was a much larger rock next to him. He grabbed at it, ignoring the way the burns on his knuckles screamed in protest. With all the strength he could muster, he banged that rock against a trash can that had fallen over to his left.
He didn’t stop even when his eyes started to close.
He was just so tired.
oOoOo
There was a murmuring of voices, calling out to him. He told his dad that he just wanted five more minutes. He didn’t have school, it was the weekend.
“Come on, open your eyes dude. I’m not your dad, you’ve been hurt. Can you tell me your name?” Neil blinked slowly against a bright light. Oh, he knew this light, that light you saw right at the end. He didn’t want to die yet.
“You’re not going to die. An ambulance is on the way, but you gotta keep those eyes open.” He blinked again and realised he was seeing double. Two tiny blonde people hovering over him. The light gave them halos. How lovely. “Your vision is fine, and we’re not your angels. My brother is currently keeping pressure on that stab wound.”
Right. Lola. Romero.
Oh god Kevin was probably losing his damn mind. His dad and Abby too. He always called at the same time every day, always. “My dad, he…” he tried to move but screamed in agony. Neil relented to the hand pushing him back down. “I want my dad. Phone broke.”
He heard sirens getting closer, and the tiny blonde bear his head disappeared. The one with his hands on Neil’s stomach shifted so Neil could see him. “Whoever did this, they did quite the number in your face.” Neil flinched, because he just knew Abby was going to have a meltdown when she saw him. “Hey. You’re still attractive there, under all this grime. If I’d met you under different circumstances, I might have tried to bring you home with me.” Neil coughed, it wet and made him ache so much worse.
“I’m not, not…”
“Don’t talk anymore. You’ll hurt yourself. You can shut me down later. Name is Andrew. Do you want to tell me yours now, so I can give something to the paramedics who are coming over?”
“Neil. Is Neil.” His head spun and there were the heavy sounds of people running towards him.
And then he was out again.
oOoOo
Everything was white. Oh so very white. Machines were beeping and there was something attached to his hand. It was itchy. Out. He should take it out and the bad itchy itch would go away. Before he could pull on the offending item, a warm strong hand wrapped around his own. “That’s there for a reason, you know.”
He wanted to explain to the stranger about the big bad itch, but his mouth was as dry as a goddamn desert. “Wa…” the words cut off when bandages pulled at sore skin and he hissed.
“You can have ice chips.” Neil tried to force himself to sit up at the other voice, eyes running around the room. “Stop that, you’ll pull your stitches. Do you want to start bleeding out again?”
“Aaron, stop. Go see if his family has turned up yet.” The tiny blonde by the door, Aaron, huffed and disappeared from the room. Neil looked around again, realising he was in a hospital room. He turned his head to the other tiny blonde who had come closer, gently trying to feed him a tiny piece of ice. After one or two pieces, he waved one of his hands about, and the other man retreated. He sat in a chair by Neil’s bed.
“Wha’ ‘appened?” His words were a little slurred, but at least his tongue was no longer stuck to the roof of his mouth.
“My brother and I were on our way to meet our cousin when we could hear banging. Thought it was just some kids messing around for Halloween, but it was a constant sound, a repetitive tone. We followed it and found you lying there nearly dead.”
Ah yes. It was assaulted with an onslaught of images then. Lola and her lighter, Romero breaking his phone so he couldn’t call for help. They’d intended to let him bleed out and die, right there in that alley, alone. Neil’s breath hitched and one of the monitors started beeping rapidly. Kevin and his dad and Abby, they wouldn’t have known. They would have had some cop knock on the door to say he wasn’t coming home. The blonde man beside him, who Neil remembered had said his name was Andrew, went to press a button by his bed when a group of people stormed into the room.
His panic dissipated at the sight of his family standing there, looking haggard but so full of relief. “Jesus Christ. What the hell have they done to you?” It was Kevin who spoke but his dad was the first to the side of his bed. David Wymack was not a man who liked when his kids were put into harm’s way.
“You didn’t call. You scared the hell out of us, kiddo.”
Neil smiled as much as he could. “I’m okay.” There was some more shuffling and Neil could see the two blondes who’d helped him trying to slip out of the room as his family crowded around him. “Wait.” The two meant stopped, both a mirror of the other with the way they had their hands in their pockets, and Neil also realised they were in blue scrubs. Probably Neil’s fault from all the blood he’d lost. They turned, Aaron flicking his eyes between everyone in the room but Andrew, the one who thought him attractive for some reason, only had eyes for Neil. “Thanks for saving my life.” Aaron simply nodded and turned to walk out of the door but Andrew didn’t follow immediately. He smiled at Neil, just a little one but a smile nonetheless.
“You can thank me with coffee when you’re all healed up. Number is on the table. You never did get to shut me down.” He winked and gave a two finger salute before disappearing to follow his brother.
“Only you, son, could say you had your first dating experience by almost dying.”
“What?”
Abby came over to run her fingers through his hair checking him over. “Ignore your father. You don’t need to worry about anything right now. We’ll talk about the birds and the bees later.”
Kevin laughed, but not as loud and hearty as he would usually, when Neil frowned. He gripped Neil’s knee under his blankets tightly, the only part of him that didn’t feel like it was on fire. “So oblivious, baby bro. It’ll make sense soon enough.”
Underneath all of their relief and happiness, Neil felt like they were all a bit too smug. As if they knew some secret that he didn’t.
He pushed it all aside to figure it out at a later date.
Right now, he was just glad to be alive and kicking.
but because he plays on a pro team he’s expected to do certain PR events for various charities
for the first season of his pro career he manages to avoid all of the events involving children, but at the beginning of his second season he has to volunteer at a local children’s athletic center for an exy day camp
at first he’s just happy that he doesn’t have to read them books or make crafts with them or something. but then he realizes that he will have to play exy with actual children. tiny little uncoordinated demons with heavy sticks and projectiles. maybe he would have preferred glue sticks and cotton balls.
when he gets to the event, his teammates (who had done events like this before) filled him in on what he was going to do. kevin’s job is to hand out equipment to the kids when they need it, but he won’t have to actually teach them anything or play with them if he doesn’t want to.
at first it goes relatively well. at least as well as giving energetic grade schoolers helmets and sticks can be. some of the kids vaguely recognize him, but otherwise he is mostly ignored. until two of the kids have an argument about him.
two of the gremlins were arguing over who the best professional striker was, and one of them built their hill on kevin’s career and was ready to die on it. the other kid didnt know who kevin was, until the other child pointed to kevin, who most of the children had simply been referring to as ‘the stickman’
but then kevin’s teammates start shit-talking kevin’s exy skills to the children, because they knew that while kevin might be unpredictable on the field he is a very predictable person when it came to his pride
five minutes later, kevin finds himself on the exy court with a racket that’s made for someone at least 2 feet shorter than him, vs every single child
aftg where everything is the same except neil and mary keep getting caught by the butcher’s men because neil writes kevin x reader fanfic and overshares in the author’s notes
*cue kevin reading this with varying levels of “what the FUCK” and “WHO THE FUCK” and fine neil pretty quickly
OH FUCK
WHAT IF KEVIN FOUND OUT AFTER NEIL JOINED THE FOXES.
KEVIN SEES THE CHANGE OF BEHAVIOUR IN THE KEVIN CHARACTER AFTER NEIL MWT HIM AND IS SUSPICIOUS
LATER NEIL FALLS ASLEEP ON HIS DESK AND KEVIN SEES THE COMPUTER!!
That night:
Kevin, gripping the raquet like its Neil’s neck: “YOU. You are even dumber than i thought”
Neil: “Andrew babe come help”
the chapter update that night:
“kevin’s strong hands gripped the raquet, in a yearning sort of way. like he wanted to be holding something else. for some reason, i wished i was the raquet.”
Despite himself Andrew woke up excited for today’s meeting with Neil, he kept replaying the events of the previous day; Neil pouring over the books hair falling in his eyes, auburn hair that Andrew itched to touch and see how it felt between his fingers. The intent focus he had when he was explaining something complicated to Andrew that he perfectly understood but making it hard for Neil was kind of fun, and if Andrew forgot to mention the fact that he had photographic memory and he only needed things to be properly explained just once well who was to blame him!.
Then there was the unexpected trip to the Waffle House, Andrew didn’t plan on taking Neil there or anywhere else for that matter but he found that he wanted to spend more time with him and to get to know him a bit better, that’s why before he could stop himself he suggested going there and the baffled and excited look on Neil’s face was totally worth it.
Getting dressed never took Andrew long but for some reason today he sat shirtless after his shower just staring at his forearms the ugly red slashes staring right back at him as if in mockery, and right then a rogue idea crossed his mind “what would Neil think if he saw them and knew why he did that to himself?”. At that Andrew shook himself and got dressed quickly “stupid” he told himself “so fucking stupid actually, get it together Minyard”, he kept repeating this to himself as he made his way out of his room to look for some breakfast and to his unpleasant surprise everyone was up and about their business already.
Heading for the coffee pot avoiding making eye contact with anyone, waking up in a pleasant mood really made him angry and he wasn’t in the mood to make niceties with anyone today, not that he ever was.
“Did you come by the court last night? I think I saw your car, and what are you doing dropping Neil off? How do you know each other? Why didn’t you come in aren’t you going to grace us again with your presence in the court? You know we need you Andrew”
This apparently was Kevin’s way of saying good morning and Andrew was already starting to get a headache from the bombard of questions. As a way of replying Andrew stared Kevin down and dropped an unceremonious amount of sugar in his coffee.
“Look I’m just saying if you’re going to come to court anyway why not come in for a bit even just to observe the new goalkeeper.” Kevin pushed on.
“Drop it Kevin.” Andrew warned with a glare that ought to shut him up.
“Well someone is in a particular merry mood today.” Nick snickered as he made his way to the kitchen.
Without replying to any of them Andrew grabbed his stuff and headed out because god forbids him being able to enjoy a perfect cup of coffee in piece. He didn’t have to meet up with Neil until later that day after his classes so he waited for Renee outside her room as he always did to go about their day together.
“Morning Andrew” Renee greeted him with the ever sweet smile she always had that never stopped to baffle him, “Renee” he greeted her back with two fingers to his temple in salute as she fell into step beside him, this was easy and familiar to him Andrew never had a problem knowing Renee or letting her know him she was the only person other than Bee who knew everything about him and strangely that sat very well with Andrew.
“So how was your first session with Neil?” she asked with a smile that now had a hint of mischief in it.
“Don’t start with me Renee.”
“What! I’m not starting anything I really want to know, I also want to know how the infamous Andrew Minyard with his photographic memory needs any tutoring at all.” She said with a chuckle, Andrew really couldn’t argue or discourage Renee as he does any other person so he begrudgingly said
“It was fine, I understood everything thanks to that little math wiz, and I need tutoring because you know perfectly well that our beloved professor already has a foot in the grave and can’t form a whole sentence, honestly how you understand anything from him is beyond me.”
“Oh don’t be mean he’s cute” she said laughing; they kept at it until they reached the lectures hall and they went their separate way.
The rest of the day passed in a blur until Andrew was seated in the library waiting for Neil who was late again! As Andrew pulled out his phone to text him Neil made his way slowly to where Andrew sat but something was different about him the way he moved and held himself was all wrong as if he was trying so hard and failing to disappear into himself and as Neil stood right in front of Andrew he was sure something was really wrong, Neil was more disheveled than he normally is with deep dark circles under his too red eyes that didn’t seem to be able to focus in one place and Andrew knew that look all too well, the look of someone scouring the place looking for all the exists and possible escape routes.
Andrew waited as Neil heavily dropped in the chair next to him and started pulling his things out of his ridiculous duffle bag, “you look terrible” Andrew said; it took Neil a moment to focus on Andrew and process what he said “umm yeah thanks I have a mirror, let’s just get started” Neil retorted.
They spent the next hour tripping over the material that they were supposed to go through Neil couldn’t seem to focus every now and then his eyes would wonder looking for someone or something that wasn’t there and he would flinch at every little sound around them.
“Alright stop! That’s enough for today” Andrew said flipping the books closed and shoving the notes aside.
“Wait what! Why??”
“Well there is clearly something wrong and I’m not wasting my time like that so you either tell me what the fuck is wrong with you today Josten or we leave now.”
Neil said nothing he only looked down his hands and started tapping his leg furiously, “well fine we’re leaving then come on.”
Neil stuffed hiss stuff back in the duffle and headed out without waiting for Andrew who was now jogging after him to catch up to him “and where do you think you’re going?” Andrew asked Neil’s back.
“Well what do you want huh, what the fuck do you want Andrew, my performance isn’t up to your standards today so I’m leaving report me if you want or do whatever you want, I don’t care just don’t push me not today.” That took Andrew by surprise and in that minute Neil started moving, again Andrew caught up to him, “god Andrew what do you want!?”
“Nothing you’re headed to the dorms right, well so am I” and with that they walked in silence until they reached Neil’s room and before he could reach out to open the door Andrew stopped him “there’s something that might help I think come.”
Begrudgingly Neil followed him as he made his way up the stairs until they reached the roof, Andrew nudged the door open and stepped inside with Neil following hesitantly after him “Is that even legal?” Neil asked but Andrew only shrugged as he reached behind the door for something that Neil found out that it was a bottle of wine, a very expensive one.
Andrew sat at the ledge with his legs swinging on the side of the building and Neil followed suite, they sat like that for a while none of them talking and just looking at the sun dipping and bathing the campus in its warm golden afternoon light.
“Thanks for bringing me here it’s beautiful, and umm sorry about before I’m really having a bad day” Neil broke their silence.
“Don’t”
“Don’t what!!”
“Say that “sorry” don’t say it I hate that word”
“Well umm thanks still, it’s beautiful up here how did you come by it?”
“Same as the Waffle House, was looking for someplace quiet and here I am.”
They fell quite again gazing out at the campus and then Andrew said “well I guess it’s my turn now”
Neil looked at him a moment too long and Andrew was shocked by the intensity of Neil’s too blue eyes then said “what do you mean?” Andrew rolled his eyes and answered “our deal remember? Question for question!”
“Oh yeah right, well shoot”
“What’s wrong with you?” “but don’t ask me what’s wrong” they both said at the same time and Neil laughed for the first time today and his face lit up which made Andrew want to punch him in his too handsome face.
“Okay fair enough, how about ummmmm, why are you keeping that hideous thing you call a cat?”
Neil chuckled and said “Well I found kitten as I was headed to the dorms, he was this tiny little fur ball abandoned near the building soaked and shivering from the rain and the whimpering sound he was making really undid me, and he’s not hideous kitten is magnificent you know.”
Andrew blinked at him several times then said “You’re telling me you called him kitten that’s not a name you know!”
“Why does everyone keep saying that, it’s a perfectly good name that describes him well, he is a kitten after all.” Neil retorted.
“For someone who’s good with math you are unexpectedly dim witted Josten.” Neil looked at him and started saying something but right then a car’s engine backfired and Neil flinched soo hard at the sound he must’ve pulled a muscle.
Andrew looked him over body taught, hand gripping the ledge too tightly that his knuckles turned white, frantic eyes looking around for the source of the sound and breath coming in short heavy pants. He thought this isn’t working at all he meant to bring Neil here in order for him to unwind a bit, so without really thinking what he was doing he hooked his finger in Neil’s collar and tugged until Neil finally looked at him and the look Neil gave him sucked the breath from his lungs, he looked like a wounded animal looking for shelter, his eyes kept roving Andrew’s face and after a minute he started to relax as if he found what he was looking for in Andrew which was completely and utterly stupid Andrew thought.
“Come on we’re leaving” Andrew said and dragged Neil up with him finger still hooked in his collar.
“Where are we going?”
“Just come!”
They made their way outside and rode the Maserati, he drove in silence which he didn’t mind, for once no one needed to fill the silence and Andrew loved that. Soon they reached the exy court and Andrew asked “Do you have your keys?”
It took Neil a second to get what he was saying but as he looked out at the court he nodded to Andrew.
“Well come on then we’re not staying in the car obviously.”
They headed inside and as they reached the lockers Andrew told Neal to change as he headed for the court to wait for him, but why was he doing that, what is it about Neil that makes Andrew wants to know him, spend time with him, and above all comfort him when he’s in this state, to tell him that it’s okay, he’s safe and he won’t let anything happen to him, that he was willing to share his demons if only Neil wouldn’t run away if he saw Andrew’s.
As Neil came out and made his way towards Andrew who was lying on the floor with the exy racquet cradled on his chest he said “Now what? Why are we here?”
Andrew got up lazily and headed for the goal where he took his position and said “Try to score one goal and you get to ask me two questions.”
Neil raised his eyebrow in disbelief “you know that I will win right, I mean you must keep up with the matches.”
Andrew tapped the racquet twice against the floor and said “Bring it on Josten.”
They played for a full hour Neil trying and failing miserably to make one pathetic score against Andrew who defended the goal without breaking a sweat. After what must’ve been the two hundredth attempt Neil threw his racquet and lay on the floor, Andrew came over and hovered above Neil, from this angle with Neil sprawled on the floor, face flushed and hair sticking up every which way Andrew felt the need of kissing him, feeling Neil’s lips on his, would they be as full as they look? How would Neil taste like? What if he bit them what would Neil do. Instead he swallowed and said “Giving up already Josten tsk, what a shame.”
“God I hate you Minyard”
“Well good, I hate you too.”
Neil smiled a dazzling smile and Andrew allowed himself to flop down next to him. This close Andrew was itching to lean just a little bit forward to kiss Neil instead he turned his head and fixed his eyes heavenwards.
“I guess it’s my turn now” Andrew didn’t answer which Neil took as a sign for him to ask,
“Why did you stop playing exy”
“Ugh soo predictable Josten”
“Well I want to know and it’s my turn and it’s not like I asked you about your arm bands.” Sensing Andrew tensing about that last part he added quickly “and I will not I promise not unless you want to talk about them I swear.”
Andrew looked at him really hard eyes glaring which no doubt Neil interpreted as him wanting to punch Neil but not for mentioning his arm bands it was because he respected him to not ask about which was what Andrew bracing himself to be asked but nooo! He had the audacity to understand what the word privacy meant and actually respect it when no one else around Andrew seemed able to get their petty little heads around the concept.
“you’re an Idiot Josten, I stopped playing because I don’t care enough to play, I had a deal with Kevin and in order to honor it I had to play, now it’s done and I don’t play”
“Then why come here tonight when you clearly hate it?” Neil pushed
“First off I don’t hate it I just don’t care and secondly apparently being around you makes people stupid as well so here we are.” Neil smiled that sweet dizzying smile again and Andrew really wanted to wipe it off of his face, preferably with his own mouth, “good god you’re losing it Minyard” he told himself.
“Let’s go I’m not sleeping here, go change I will wait in the car”
In less than five minutes Neil was done and sitting in the car and they headed back in silence which neither of them seemed to mind. Andrew walked Neil to his room where Neil hesitated a minute before he turned on Andrew and lifted his hand as if to hold Andrew’s but thought better of it and said “thank you, really you helped, I don’t know if you meant to or not I mean I think you did but I don’t want to be presumptuous so thank you, I …I mean it really.”
“You’re an idiot Josten” that made Neil smile and not for the first time today nor the last Andrew suspected he felt like kissing that smile off of Neil’s face.
“Next time don’t be late or your kitten will pay the price” Andrew said as he walked away but not before he heard Neil’s laughter around him even after he made it to his room.
“Well, what a good fucking job Minyard, you’re screwed” he told himself as he flopped down on bed with blazing blue eyes imprinted in his mind.
Shit, shit, shit, shit, i’m late, i’m soo fucking late Neil though.
“Maaaaaaaatt hurry up i need the bathroom, go do your ridiculous hair routine at Dan’s” Neil shouted.
“Damn Neil don’t insult my hair routine, and what’s soo important that you’re rushing me through it?”
“I told you I’m late!!” Neil answered exasperated as he pushed past Matt into the bathroom.
“Late for what?!”
“That guy that monitors the dorm came by two nights ago and he saw the kitten so i made a deal with him that i will touter him in maths and in return he won’t report about it, and thanks to you now I’m late and if he calls of the deal and the kitten is taken i will fucking kill you!.”
“Okay first off you need to name the damn kitten you can’t just keep calling him “kitten”, and secondly do you mean Andrew Minyard, as in you made a deal with Andrew Minyard!!”
“He has a name and it’s kitten, besides if you don’t like it why don’t you come up with a name, and yes i made a deal with him I’m not sure about his last name but his first name is Andrew”
“I won’t name him because it’s not mine I don’t even like it you’re the one who bought it……” at that Neil rolled his eyes, it wasn’t the first time they had that argument and yet each night when he came back he found kitten safely sleeping on Matt’s chest.
“Wait are you serious!! You actually made a deal with Andrew Minyard.” Neil could tell that Matt was standing now outside the bathroom door and couldn’t get what the big deal was.
“Yes, i said i did what is wrong with that?!” Neil said as he yanked the bathroom door open and headed for his room to pack.
“You mean you don’t know the infamous Andrew Minyard.”
“Well I don’t personally know him but i’ve heard about him.”
“And yet you made a deal with him!” Matt exclaimed clearly amused.
“Yes i did to save our cat so you can just shut it.” Nail yelled as he stormed out of their room.
“Well it’s not my caaat!” Matt yelled back.
Neil was jittery, yes he was running late but that’s not it. Something about Andrew made him actually excited and looking forward to this deal.
The next day after Andrew came to their room and still hadn’t texted Neil on when they would meet Neil got really anxious and his patience was wearing thin.
He couldn’t focus on his homework and kept pacing up and down his room that he almost ran a trail on the rug, kept checking his phone which earned him weird looks from Matt because Neil rarely remembers that he even owns a phone, and finally he almost considered skipping practice and this though has never crossed his mind in all his life which was a testament to his anxious state.
Practice didn’t help that day he was distracted and no amount of drills could get him to focus and that made Kevin furious with him and by their third fight Neil decided to leave and go for a run that always helps him.
Half an hour in his run Neil started to relax and focus solely on regulating his breath when a text alert jarred him, checking his phone it read “tomorrow at 4 in the library don’t be late or the deal’s off.”
Neil stopped in his tracks, breathless, excited, and kinda dizzy. “Okay, it’s happening don’t panic it’s cool, it’s nothing actually we’re just studying just don’t ruin it” he told himself.
Now he was actually headed to the library to meet with Andrew however being late didn’t stop him from grabbing coffee on his way.
“I know i know i know I’m late sorry, Matt was hogging the bathroom and……and you don’t care” Neil finished as he saw the impassive look on Andrew’s face.
“Well i bought coffee”
“Is it sweet?”
“Umm no, I don’t really drink it with sugar so i got yours black too, sorry” Neil said weakly
“Stop saying that”
“Saying what?”
“Sorry, stop saying sorry.”
“Yeah okay sure, should we get started?”
This wasn’t going well, at all, Neil didn’t know if Andrew was angry about him being late or about the black coffee, or if Andrew was even angry at all and that impassive look still on his face was because he just couldn’t care less, it was impossible to get a read on him and Neil was getting anxious again.
An hour into the tutoring session Neil started to be at ease, they started with some basics and even though Andrew didn’t utter a single word that impassive look was replaced with an intent focused look instead and Neil took that as a good sign.
After two hours Neil got up to stretch his legs and starting walking around their desk, “How are you soo good at this?” Andrew asked stopping Neil in his track.
“At what?”
“This maths and teaching it.”
“I don’t know i guess it just makes sense to me.”
“Maths makes sense to you?!” Andrew asked with a hint of disbelief in his voice.
“Well yeah, it’s just rules and equations it’s constant so it makes sense, it’s calming in a way.”
At that Andrew just raised his eyebrows and didn’t say anything else.
“Okay!, we don’t have much left to go through for today about fifteen minutes or so.”
“We’ll go over them tomorrow, i need to eat.” Andrew said as he gathered his things and started to leave, leaving a baffled Neil behind him.
“I’m not waiting for you are you coming or not?!”
“Umm….yeah, yes right behind you.” Neil hurried after Andrew a bit pleased with himself.
“So where are we going?” He asked as they stepped out of the library.
“A Waffle House thirty minutes away from here, get in.” Andrew gestured to a black sleek Maserati car.
“Is that your?!”
“No, we’re stealing it.” Andrew deadpanned
“Damn how can you afford this.”
“Are you getting in or am i going to leave you here?” Andrew asked already bored.
“Fine, fine I’m getting in.”
As soon as Neil closed his door Andrew flew with the car leaving Neil holding on to his door. With the way Andrew drove it took them only fifteen minutes to reach the Waffle House and Neil couldn’t be happier to get out off it.
The Waffle House wasn’t fancy and packed as the ones around the campus, this one was a small almost deserted place with a broken neon sign. Andrew headed for it without a backwards glance towards Neil who followed him silently.
As soon as Andrew opened the door a strong smell of fresh baked waffles greeted Neil and he swore to himself that it wasn’t like anything he’s ever smelled before.
The Waffle Houses around the campus smelled nothing like this they had a stale kind of smell around them that meant that the waffles they served are most definitely not fresh while here you can smell the freshness of the waffles and taste them before they reach your mouth.
They settled in the furthest booth in the place, looking down at the menu Neil found that they’ve managed to include every possible combination of toppings and flavors that anyone can think off, it was confusing to choose as he wanted to try everything.
A young waitress came to take their order as she saw Andrew she beamed and asked him if he wanted his usual, he gave her a nod, when she turned on Neil she smiled sweetly at him, “I’ll just have the regular waffles with chocolate syrup on the side please.”
“Great, you’re order will be ready in fifteen minutes.” With that she gathered the menus and left.
“This is a nice place, how did you know about it?”
One, two, three, four blinks was all Neil got in response, he got the feeling that Andrew was bracing himself for something he just didn’t know what it was.
“Was driving around, came across it, tried it, the end.”
“Okay, ummm… so that Maserati how did you afford it?”
At that Andrew leaned forward on the table with a look of clear mischief in his eyes, Neil was kinda startled but intrigued as well.
“How about this, for every question you ask i get a question in return.” Andrew finally said.
“So like a game we each take turns asking questions!”
“Exactly like a game.” Andrew said with a smile plastered on his face that didn’t really reach his eyes.
Neil was speared from answering as the waitress came with their orders, Andrew’s was a monstrosity of a plate, it was a heap of different kinds of ice-cream flavors topped with chocolate chips, chocolate and caramel syrup and strawberries, the waffles where no where to be seen but Neil had to assume that they were somewhere under there.
As soon as Neil took his first bite he was certain that that what heaven would feel like “mmmmmmm, this is soo good!!” He moaned, when he looked at Andrew there was a strange look on his face that he couldn’t quite decipher, “how’s yours?!” He asked but before he could answer Neil’s phone rang and as he fished it out of his pocket and saw the caller he swore
“I know I’m late, I’m on my way.” He said as soon as he picked up then immediately hung up on the caller, “I gotta go, I’m late for practice and Kevin will have my head on a spike, how much do i owe you?”
“Never mind, come i will drive you.” Andrew answered as he threw a couple of dollars on the table and headed out with Neil behind him.
“You really don’t have to, you probably have other stuff to do”
“Get in the car Josten”
The ride back was silent but it was a relaxing kind of silence, Neil really didn’t get the concept of “awkward silence”, it’s like how can silence be awkward it’s just silence.
When they arrived and Neil got out Andrew stayed in the car, “you’re not coming?” Neil asked
“No, if i got in I won’t be able to get Kevin to back off without punching him.”
“Yeah, sure okay” Neil said defeated.
“I will text you when to meet again and next time don’t you dare be late!” Andrew said, raised to fingers to his forehead and gave Neil a mock salute and drove away.
Neil really couldn’t wipe off that stupid grin from his face and no amount of yelling from Kevin did it either.
So here’s the second chapter i hope you like it, i still don’t know how long it will be but i will figure it out along the way and also based on your feedback on it.
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“I hate your advice.” Was Andrew’s way of greeting his therapist.
“Well hello to you too Andrew” Bee said with a sweet smile that reached her eyes.
Betsy Dobson was Andrew’s therapist which Andrew was referred to after his previous therapist gave up on him, surprisingly she’s the one that stuck with him.
She was ever soo patient with him and actually listened to him instead of just assuming how he felt or what he was thinking about and proceeding based on those assumptions.
Of course they got on the wrong foot at first what with Andrew’s temper he kept pushing her to get the disappointment over with except she didn’t disappoint him, she was ever patient and persistent with him even on the days when he wouldn’t utter a single word she was there and she never pushed back she would just sit there sipping her cocoa and talking about nothing in particular and he really appreciated it, and from there he started trusting her bit by bit, it was a rocky road but here they are years later and she was the only one after Renee his friend and sparing partner that he completely trust and could talk to about anything and everything.
“Why don’t you make yourself comfortable while i make us some hot cocoa and you can tell me why you hate my advice.” She said as she closed the door and started on the cocoa.
Andrew settled in his usual place on the couch opposite from her chair, his leg bouncing rapidly as he tried to sort his thoughts.
“There you go” she placed the hot mug next to him and settled in her chair, “ready?!” She asked with a smile on her face.
“I hate your advice.”
“Yes, you mentioned that but which advice is that?”
“To get involved in something besides school work, to try and engage with different people, that it would help me now that I’m off my meds and after…. after what happened with Derek and Aaron’s trial”
“Do you know why i advised you to do so?” She asked earnestly.
That was one of the reasons why Andrew liked Bee soo much, she considered his opinion and feeling when describing a coping method for him or advised him to do something that he wouldn’t normally do, and if he didn’t feel comfortable with whichever method they were using she had no problem changing them accordingly.
“I wasn’t in a good place after the trial, I retreated even more within myself to the point that i started itching for my meds which is crazy considering how much i hated my self when i was taking them”
Bee pursed her lips at this last part but let him continue not wanting to cut his train of thought.
“I felt even more worthless not able to protect my family from my past and i wanted to be numb for a moment and i started thinking about……ummm you know about…..”
“It’s okay take your time Andrew”
He exhaled took a sip from his too sweet, too hot cocoa and continued
“About hurting my self” and as he said it he started tugging at his black armbands that hid angry slashes across his forearm that he did himself way back when he wanted an escape from the emotional and physical pain.
She stayed silent for a moment giving him time to collect himself and continued,
“You know how proud i am with how far you’ve come since that set back, as you remember we started with small steps i asked you to try and engage more with your friends and family especially Aaron and it worked out right?! There is still a long way ahead of you too but you both have come to terms with what happened and that is a major step, so what happened that made you hate that advice soo much?”
“You know i chose to be responsible for the dorm rooms and report anyone breaking the rules which is pretty ironic since, Well it’s me but there were no other options except for sports and there is no way in hell i’m giving up smoking or following Kevin on that exy stadium with his hotheadedness and stubbornness about the damned sport, or acting classes which i would rather impale my self than participate in it”
That drew a small chuckle from Bee but she motioned Andrew to go on,
“Well, yesterday i was on a round and I stopped by this room like i had a million times before but yesterday I didn’t meet the guy who I thought lived there alone instead i met his roommate.”
“And you’re upset because you didn’t see the guy you thought lived there alone?”
“Well yes, no, I don’t know who to blame the guy for not being there or the roommate for being there.”
“I’m sorry Andrew but I’m not quite following”
Andrew took a longer moment this time, legs bouncing and fingers tapping his mug trying to rearrange his thoughts so he could explain the problem with the least amount of humiliation possible.
“I think I’m angry because that roommate guy, Neil, is….. he’s a bit, well im having a weird feeling since i met him.”
Bee didn’t laugh at him or belittle his problem instead she said, “define weird, is it good weird or bad weird?”
“I don’t know yet, all i know is that there’s this feeling at the pit of my stomach since i met him and it’s weird, and to top it all i found him hiding a kitten in the room which is against the rules so we made a deal that he would touter me in maths and in return I won’t report him.”
“Why don’t you try and sort through the weird feelings you’ve had before, think that you have two piled in-front of you one for the good weird feelings and and one for the bad weird feelings, that way you might be able to identify that particular weird feeling.”
Andrew nodded thoughtfully as her words actually made sense to him.
“So this deal, are you going to go through with it or not.”
“You know I don’t break my deals Bee”, she smiled fondly at him and continued
“So when are you meeting him again?”
“I don’t know I haven’t texted him yet” he said not meeting her eyes.
“Well you’d better hurry, he might actually help you figure out this feeling you have.” He nodded but didn’t say anything else.
“Is there anything else bothering you?”
“No, that’s all”
“Okay, I’ll wait for you next week in our usual time, but call me anytime you want or if there’s anything else bothering you.”
“Yeah i will don’t worry, thanks Bee see you next week”
“Andrew” she called for him as he reached the door, “if you want my opinion on the matter i think this is a good weird kind of feeling.” She said with a sweet smile and kindness in her eyes, which what was always Andrew saw every time she looked at him and it baffled him.
“Bye Bee”
After he left and got in his car, her words still ringing in his ears he fished out his phone, “tomorrow at 4 in the library don’t be late or the deal’s off.” He hit send tossed his phone in the glove compartment, rolled down his window and kept driving until he cleared his head.
Soo guys this is my first attempt at writing a fic with more than one chapter to it, i will try to post a chapter once a week i still don’t know how long it will be.
Hopefully you will like it and as always I appreciate your comments and feed back also if there is something in particular you want to see in the fic feel free to ask :)
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Neil woke up to a loud banging on his door, sometimes he slept like a rock other times just a breeze would wake him up, apparently this was “sleeping like a rock” kind of day. Finally he made it to the door after trying and failing to snap out of his sleepy state.
“what’s going on?!” It came out in a half yawn as he opened the door to an angry blonde with his fist still in the air.
“What were you napping!” The angry blond retorted and pushed his way in the dorm room past Neil.
“As a matter of fact yes, yes i was”, “wait who are you and what are you doing barging in like that?” Neil asked as he started to come to his senses.
The guy gave him a once over “I’m Andrew, I’m responsible for checking the dorms for stuff or acts that breaks the rules, where is the other guy the tall one and what are you doing here I’ve never seen you here, is this your room?”
“Yes, this is my room you must mean Matt my roommate, he’s out with his girlfriend i guess”
Andrew shrugged at that he really couldn’t care less, he just wanted to get this over with and get the hell out of this room and away from this guy.
How come he never saw him before, he was sure he would never forget this set of blue eyes if he even saw them in a fleeting moment.
“Soo are you going to look for something or are you going to just stand there?” Neil asked a bit hesitant and Andrew realized that he was staring.
“Well yes I’m looking at what a dump this is, have you heard about a little thing called cleaning, it’s an ingenious act really” Andrew deadpanned and pinned Neil with a glare.
“It’s Matt okay, he’s not big on tiding up his things, and what are you looking for exactly?” Neil was really starting to get irritated from this guy.
“Well anything really alcohol, drugs, pets” at the mention of pets Neil’s whole body tensed and any traces of sleep were really gone now.
“Who would be stupid enough to sneak in pets” he asked nervously and prayed that Andrew won’t pick up on it.
Andrew narrowed his eyes and looked at him really closely that Neil felt he can certainly see through him, “you would be surprised really” was all Andrew said as he kept looking through the room.
Neil couldn’t help but steel a glance towards his bedroom, “shit, shit, shit, the door is open, i left the door open, oh please don’t come out” he pleaded with himself but as his luck goes a small black fur ball came darting from the bedroom directly to Andrew’s leg before Neil could move.
“What the hell !!” Andrew exclaimed as he bent down to pick up the creature. Huge black eyes stared back at him and a little mew escaped from the kitten as Andrew held it up to his face.
Without a word Andrew turned to Neil with the kitten still firmly but gently held in his hand.
“You’re not gonna report that are you?” Neil asked his voice small and pleading with his eyes.
“Now why would i do that?”
“Because it’s a kitten, i found it stranded and starving on the street and it’s not gonna cause any harm look how little it is.”
“I don’t think that’s a good enough reason.”
“Come on Andrew can’t you see how helpless it is, and besides think about it, no one knows about it except for Matt and we’re not gonna report ourselves so if you don’t report us no one will know, i mean look how small and cute it is,and it’s not like it’s gonna pee on the carpet or something.”
Andrew raised his eyebrow at this last statement and stared at Neil
“Well yeah it might pee on the carpet but I’m training it and if something happens to the carpet i will replace it, come on what do you say?”
Andrew took a moment to consider the situation while stroking the kitten behind it’s ear clearly both of them enjoying it.
“Well what’s in it for me?” Andrew asked
“I can help you with your maths assignments, i always see you in the library struggling with maths.”
Andrew was taken aback by this, how come he’s never seen Neil before if Neil saw him enough times to know how he struggled with his maths assignments without Andrew ever noticing him.
“I’m really good with maths because i like it, you wont regret it i promise.” Neil continued mistaking Andrew’s silence for disapproval.
“No body likes maths.”
“Well i do, it makes sense to me so I’m in control of it.” Neil said as he smiled sheepishly at Andrew.
“Good god what is going on?” Andrew thought to himself as he felt his stomach flipping.
“Come on Andrew, what do you say?” Neil asked hopeful.
“Fine, keep your pet but if my grades aren’t up by the end of the semester the deal is off”
“Great, fair enough” Neil said happily with a shit eating grin that wasn’t at all cute.
“When do you wanna start?” He asked
“Give me your phone”
“Oh, okay just a sec i will go get it.” Neil hurried to his bedroom and tripped on his too long pants, “Idiot” Andrew thought to himself but he wasn’t sure whether he meant Neil or himself.
“There” Neil said and handed Andrew his phone, Andrew punched in his number, texted himself and tossed back the phone to Neil.
“I will text you when to meet.” Andrew said as he was already walking away “and i better not see your cat anywhere other than this room.
“Don’t worry, i’ll …….”
But before Neil could finish Andrew headed out and banged the door behind him leaving a jittery Neil behind. That was soo unlike him but he always saw Andrew studying in the library but never worked up the courage to talk to him and if an opportunity presented it self what was he supposed to do but seize it.
“Aaron, are you ready to go? The emergency room queue isn’t getting any shorter.”
Aaron feels a thrill of nervousness pull unpleasantly in his belly. He doesn’t want to spend the night in a brightly-lit, overcrowded emergency room and have strangers prodding at him. He glances back at Andrew, who looks as disinterested as ever. He’s slouched over, hands in his lap and unmoving, face expressionless. He’s facing forward, but his eyes are on Aaron.
And Aaron’s halfway out the door when he swivels. Blurts, “You’ll come with me?”
–
Aaron breaks his arm in a game; he and Andrew spend an evening hanging out in the emergency department.
“Here are two pictures,” Kevin said, holding photos out. “One is your desk. The other is a garbage dump in the Philippines. Can you tell which is which?”
Nicky surveyed both pictures. “That one’s the dump,” he said confidently, pointing at the one in Kevin’s left hand.
