#Wymack was hoping that Daniel would leave

[jtl-fics]

Fluent Freshman - Part 35

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

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

He needs to get-

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

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

Andrew blinks awake.

Nicky's frowning face is staring down at him.

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

Or, at least, not fear of Andrew.

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

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

Andrew didn't disagree.

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

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

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

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

"Stop."

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

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

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

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

He'd looked like a good older brother.

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

******

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

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

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

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

"Where's Nicky?" Matt asks.

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

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

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

"Have you had breakfast?" Kevin asks immediately.

"Uh...no?" Matt says.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Yes." Kevin says.

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

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

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

"Yes." Kevin says.

Matt nods and brings the smoothie to his lips.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Nicky had slept terribly.

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

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

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

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

Nicky puts his phone away.

Focus.

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

He sees Daniel being shown around campus by Jack.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

MASTERPOST FOR ALL PARTS OF FLUENT FRESHMAN AU

NEXT

[paradoxolotl]

Mama Bee

~~

Abby’s door was never locked when she was home, but Andrew still had his keys in hand out of habit. He could smell something warm and slightly charred coming from the kitchen, the low hum of voices not pausing with his arrival. He had been hoping that no one would be home, but he wasn’t about to turn back now.

Toeing out of his shoes, Andrew shuffled down the hall, keeping his steps light. He recognized Wymack’s voice, but not whoever he was with. He could see the pantry from where he stood in the hall, the door slightly ajar. Catching the tip of his tongue between his teeth, Andrew debated just leaving. But chances were they were in the dining room and Andrew could sneak in and out without being noticed. When a quick glance down the hall showed no one else, Andrew slipped into the kitchen.

Unfortunately, two bodies were already there, and Andrew locked eyes with who he recognized as Danielle Wilds, the new Fox captain. Her eyes widened when she saw him, and Andrew quickly ducked into the pantry before Wymack could turn around.

“Uh,” she said.

Andrew could feel Wymack’s unimpressed look leveled at him. “See if you can find some manners in there while you’re looking,” he said.

“Fresh out,” Andrew said. “Where is the cocoa.”

“I thought you were at some carnival today,” Wymack ignored Andrew’s non-question with one of his own. There was a pause where he waited for an answer, but Andrew only shuffled the cereal boxes onto a lower shelf. He hummed, and Andrew heard something clatter onto the counter. “You gonna make me pull teeth, kid?”

Andrew moved a few boxes of pasta, rattling them loudly as he did so. “Cocoa.”

“What’s wrong with yours?”

“We’re out,” Andrew said. He swapped the olive oil with the protein bars.

“There’s dirt on your clothes,” Wymack said pointedly. “You gonna tell me what that’s about?”

Andrew shrugged.

Another beat, and then Wymack let out a large breath. “Are you going to turn around and look at me or am I just stuck with the back of your head for company?”

“You’ve got your captain,” Andrew shot back, standing on the tub of flour to push the cans of tomatoes back as far as he could reach. “I just need the cocoa.”

“Turn around,” Wymack said.

“Tell me where the cocoa is.”

The floor creaked as Wymack shifted his weight. “Above the stove.”

Andrew cursed internally. He knew Wymack was standing at the stove, blocking his way. Pushing his tongue against his bottom lip, Andrew shot a quick glance to the kitchen door.

“Don’t,” Wymack said. “Or I’m calling your mother.”

“That’s a low blow,” Andrew grumbled, but finally turned around to face the man.

He focused on his shoulder, bracing himself against the explosive curse falling from Wymack’s mouth. He thought it was perhaps a tad excessive, but said nothing. Wilds was still looking at him, a grilled cheese forgotten on her plate. Andrew’s stomach pinched at the sight, reminding him he hadn’t eaten today.

“Can I have one?” he asked.

Wymack gave him a look that told Andrew that was not what he wanted to hear. “Can you tell me who the fuck hit you?”

“It doesn’t matter,” Andrew said. “I just-“

“Doesn’t matter?” Wilds cut him off, and Andrew glared at her, his teeth snapping shut. “You look like you were used as a punching bag!”

“Thank you for the observation,” he drawled. He turned back to Wymack’s thunderous expression and pointed to the pan still on the stove. “Can I have one?”

“I’m calling Abby,” Wymack said, pulling out his phone.

Andrew cracked his knuckles, frustration and anger at being ignored boiling in his chest. “Nothing is broken,” he said, trying to keep his control.

Wymack pointed a finger at him. “Andrew Joseph Dobson you are getting checked over.”

Andrew flipped him off, but Wymack only raised a brow at him. Annoyed with how his day had turned out, Andrew stomped over to the counter and began methodically cutting slices of cheese. He did his best to shut out Wymack’s voice as he assembled his food, glaring at the man until he stepped aside and let Andrew use the pan.

The sound of the butter sizzling and the smell of the peppers and onions had just filled the air when Wilds finally broke. She cleared her throat, glancing between Andrew and Wymack. “Dobson?” she asked. “Like Betsy Dobson?”

“No,” Andrew said.

“Yes,” Wymack said at the same time.

Wilds nodded, appearing slightly amused, if not still lost. “Right.”

“Andrew is a little rough around the edges,” Wymack said.

Andrew flipped his sandwich. “Fuck you.”

“He’s been here since the beginning,” Wymack continued on as if Andrew hadn’t spoken. “A pain in my ass most days, but he’s as much of a Fox as any of you.”

“I will be a Fox,” Andrew corrected, plating his food. He flicked Wilds a glance. “Good luck, Captain.”

She frowned, but Wymack cut in before she could speak. “I thought we talked about this.”

“We did,” Andrew agreed. “And I already told you I was signing with you.”

“That seems premature,” Wilds said carefully.

Wymack shook his head. “He’s the best goalie I’ve seen.” He turned back to Andrew, who popped a piece of crust into his mouth. “And you’re going to consider all your options.”

Andrew hummed. “Sure. And then I’ll sign with you.”

Wymack stared at him for a moment before rubbing his hand over his jaw. “Let me get you some ice,” he grumbled.

Hopping up onto the counter, Andrew tapped his heels against the cupboards below him, busying himself with tearing his food into bite sized pieces. The onion stung the split on his lip, his jaw aching with each bite, but the food settled the turning in his stomach. Accepting the bag of ice passed to him, he pressed it against his eye, his heated skin stinging.

[the-chicken-or-the-banana]

i had an idea i would love to see from your perspective (you're so good at andreil oh my god) if you wanted to write some stuff about it? i always wondered how andrew reacted when he first found neil missing after the binghampton game (starts pg 235 in the king's men). thoughts? (-- the ttyl blog <3)

omg i literally finished re-reading that scene before seeing your ask skjflsj ~ i hope you like this ! (i'm just realizing that i barely followed ur request and just rambled a lot but that's FINE 😬)

read it on ao3 here :)

«««———»»»

Andrew walked in line to the bus with the rest of the Foxes, mind going a million miles an hour behind his impassive expression. 

"Thank you," Neil had said, eyes truer than Andrew had ever seen them. "You were amazing."

Andrew wasn't such a fool for Neil Josten that he couldn't figure out there was something more happening under the surface, something bigger than just an Exy shutout, that he wasn't telling anyone. Something forcing truth out of him.

Neil looked scared.

Apparently, no one else received the memo, because behind him, Matt Boyd kept kicking at Andrew's heels and Andrew could nearly see the nosy smile on Reynold's face. Boyd's voice was drowned out by the cacophony of both jeers and shouts of approval coming from all around them, but he had no doubts that Boyd was fishing for information surrounding his and Neil's "not this" to settle a bet of some sort.

Andrew didn't really care. He was more focused on leaving Binghamton, getting some answers out of Neil, and then kissing him senseless.

Of course, Andrew had no plans to tell Neil of that last item on the list, but he was sure he (and everyone else, apparently) knew anyway.

Maybe not Nicky, though. For all his cousin boasted about having an "incredible gaydar," he tended to be a bit clueless about Andrew.

Andrew's eyes were unfocused, gazing at the bounce of Neil's red curls while his thoughts wandered around nothing at all.

Nothing? his mind mused unhelpfully. Or Neil? Or is that one in the same now?

Shut up, he huffed internally. I hate him.

Lost in his head, it was only until he heard a pained curse from Aaron that he jerked straight and saw the world burning around him.

«««———»»»

Andrew's vision went red. 

He nearly would have broken out of line and straight into the tidal wave of rioters had he not noticed the police trying to push back the crowd. He had never trusted the pigs, but Andrew supposed he could let them handle the mess until he'd gotten a chance to check on Aaron at the bus.

He had nearly fooled himself with that thought when an ice cooler sailed through the air and missed Danielle's face by an inch. An enraged shout came from Andrew's right, and he could feel the familiar heat of adrenaline in his stomach that always came when he and Renee sparred.

There was going to be a fight.

No sooner than he had that thought, the crowd around him exploded into madness, nearly running the Foxes over. Andrew may have been ready to throw some punches, but he was not at all prepared for the onslaught of unfamiliar bodies piling on him. Moving around him. Touching him. 

Andrew couldn't breathe.

He lost sight of Neil's head in the mess, hoping one of the security guards would bring Neil to safety while Andrew tried to ground himself. What had Bee taught him? 

What is your name? Andrew Minyard.

How old are you? 20 years old.

What is upsetting you? Hands. Everywhere.

Can you do something about it? Yes. I can move now.

He felt the glancing blow of someone's elbow on his face, nearly hitting his eye. It was sure to bruise later, but for now, the sharp pain mixed with Bee's words were enough to shake Andrew out of his stupor.

He ducked to the left, neatly missing a thrown shoe and was grateful to his limited stature for once. He kept an eye out for a flash of red, the glint of blue eyes, but seeing that Neil was nearly as short as Andrew himself, the effort was futile.

He'll be fine, Andrew thought. Find Nicky, Aaron, and Kevin, and get to the bus.

To his surprise (or maybe not), Andrew found Reynolds trading fierce blows with someone twice her size, Renee at her back. He caught Renee's glance and she gave him a firm nod of reassurance.

He nodded back, already swiveling to find the rest of his group. 

After a few minutes, he spotted Nicky and Kevin huddled together, slowly moving to the edge of the crowd. He caught up and grabbed Nicky's wrist, who jerked away and reared his hand back for a punch before realizing it was Andrew.

Despite it all, Andrew felt a thrum of satisfaction. A few years ago, Nicky had let people beat him down over and over again. At least now he was learning to fight back.

"Oh thank god," Nicky cried, catching Kevin's attention, before his eyes widened. He reached out, remembering himself at the last second. "Andrew... your face, what happened?"

Andrew shrugged. He'd been through worse. 

Nicky looked like he wanted to say something, but Kevin cursed loudly and began pushing out of the sea of bodies with renowned vigor.

"It's getting more violent and more people are joining," Kevin said, voice strained. "We need to get out and regroup at the bus."

"Aaron?" Andrew asked. Nicky glanced around a few moments before pointing to his right.

"There!" he exclaimed, and motioned to Kevin to go in that direction. Kevin nodded and they made their way over to Aaron, who was ducking under beer bottles and was nearly smacked in the face by a PSU banner.

"Aaron!" Kevin called, and Aaron's shoulders dropped with relief as he swerved a growing fight and made his way over to them.

Andrew scanned his brother quickly and, after seeing no visible injuries, motioned to start back towards the parking lot. They made their way over to the bus and found Boyd and Danielle standing, the former looking like he'd just lost a fight with a mountain lion.

Danielle was gripping his arm as Abby tended to his wounds, but Andrew heard her say he might need to go to the hospital for the more serious injuries. Boyd looked pained at the thought, but when he glanced up and caught Andrew's eye, he smiled and waved them over.

"Andrew, here," Abby said, noticing his injury. He took an ice pack from her and glanced around.

"Where's Neil?" he asked, choosing to ignore the suggestive look between Boyd and Danielle. Abby shrugged and opened her mouth before her eyes caught on something behind Andrew and she waved.

Andrew turned around to find Renee and Reynolds walking proudly towards them. Reynolds had a mosaic of bruises all over her, and Renee was holding her wrist precariously.

Abby sighed and began treating them as Wymack rounded the front of the bus and finally found his team.

Not the whole team, a ringing voice said in Andrew's head. Neil isn't here yet.

Which was odd, no? He had a security guard in front of him, surely he would have made it here first? Perhaps Wymack had seen him and taken him somewhere. Maybe he was already safe in the bus and Abby hadn’t noticed him.

Andrew pushed past Danielle and boarded the bus, walking the length of it but not finding a loudmouthed striker in its shadows. His stomach became knotted with a curious feeling he slowly identified as dread.

Andrew was at the door of the bus again. He looked at Wymack.

"Where. Is. Neil." he demanded. He saw Wymack's confused expression and before he even said anything, Andrew felt his heart stop.

"I don't know. I thought he was with you."

Reynold's knowing smirk gave way to uncertainty as the rest of the Foxes quieted. There was silence for a moment. Two.

Then Andrew threw his ice pack on the floor and raced back into the heart of the riot.

«««———»»»

He ignored the shouts coming from behind him, his mind an endless loop of Neil, Neil, Neil, is he safe, has he been hurt, he was supposed to be nothing, NEIL

After a few minutes of searching and more than a few near punches, the police finally regained some control over the situation and Andrew was able to scour the grounds for any hint of where Neil might be.

He saw the racquet first. The duffle bag was a few meters away from it.

Numbly, Andrew picked up both items, grabbing Neil's phone as it fell from the netted side pocket.

0, it said. 

Andrew felt a piercing emptiness when he saw Neil's things without their rightful owner beside them.

He slowly walked back to the Foxes' bus, head pounding but unable to really register the dwindling fight behind him. And when the Foxes finally came in view, he saw the confusion on their faces when they saw no Neil walking with him.

Andrew mentally ran through everything that he knew. Neil was scared. He was running from someone, someone Kevin knew about? A zero on his phone from an unnamed number — a countdown, perhaps. He would never leave his things unattended, so maybe he wanted to tell Andrew he had been taken unwillingly, knowing that Andrew would never leave without him.

There was something he was missing, some vital piece of information that Neil hadn't told him that was causing this mess.

The guilty look on Kevin's face told Andrew everything he needed to know. He knew something.

He dumped Neil's things on the ground by Wymack's feet, mentally assessing himself. His cheek throbbed, each breath he took was sticky with sweat, his heart was pounding.

Neil was gone.

Andrew felt such a blind hot rage at that, the likes of which he hadn't felt in so long, the type where he felt like laughing at how cruel the world could be.

And before he could tell his body to stop, Andrew's hands were around Kevin's throat.

«««———»»»

"Shit Andrew! You're hurting— " "Andrew, stop— " "Get off of— "

«««———»»»

Andrew couldn't remember what happened after that, not immediately at least. It was a bit disorienting, going from a perfect recollection to being so overrun by anger that his mind went blank. Was this how everyone else felt all the time? He felt like someone just took out a Jenga piece from his mind, like it was close to collapsing.

Distantly, he recalled being yanked off of Kevin as he gasped some explanation about a mob boss, Kengo's right hand man, Nathaniel Wesninski. But none of it mattered. Andrew had broken his promise. He had hurt the person he had vowed to protect, just like so many had done to him.

And he still didn't have Neil.

«««———»»»

Neil used to make the emptiness a bit fuller, a bit easier to manage, Andrew thought. It felt so impossible to navigate himself now without Neil by Andrew's side.

«««———»»»

There was a hospital. A hotel. There were FBI agents. The news turned on. Off. On. There was another hotel. Handcuffs. Taken away.

«««———»»»

There was Nathaniel Neil. Standing in front of him. Blue eyes, wild hair, bandages unable to hide how irresistible he was, unable to stop the jolt in Andrew's heart.

There was Neil. And everything felt right again.

[simonsrosebud]

maybe 3, 16, or 18 on the angst ones??? im in a mood

NOT CANON IN THE KALTON AU

it’s may when dalton breaks up with kevin.

it’s right before their practice of the year when kevin catches dalton’s call.  he stops in the hall on the way to the lounge to answer it.  “hey, what’s up?  i’m about to go change out, but want me to come around after?”

“um, i think, maybe, it’s better if you don’t, kevin.”

and he frowns.  “why, what’s wrong?  are you okay?”

“i just, i’m going through some things right now, and i just think it’s better if i were to do it alone.”

“oh... well, you know i’m always here.  just call me later?”

“kevin...”

kevin’s heart starts beating faster.  “yeah?”

“i don’t just mean alone for a day.”

kevin leans back against the wall.  “what... what do you mean?”  he whispers.

“i mean alone as in, um... without a boyfriend.”

no.  “dalton, whatever it is, i-i’ll do better, i promise.”

dan is the only other person at the stadium yet, and stops in the doorway to the girls locker room when she hears the conversation.  she doesn’t want to pry, but if she’s right, and what’s about to happen really happens then she doesn’t want to leave kevin here alone.

“i’m sorry, kevin-“

“no, hey, please-“

“i-i gotta go.”

“dalton, please!”  but the line is already dead, and kevin doesn’t mean to, but he drops his phone in the process of turning and pressing his forehead against the wall.

he tries holding everything in, but he can feel himself starting to panic, and when dan turns him around with a gentle “it’s okay” he nearly crumples because it’s not okay.  he doesn’t know what’s going on.

dan drives him over to dalton’s apartment, and thank god kevin has a key, but when he gets inside it’s still and quiet.  and the coffee maker is gone and the closet is open and near empty.  the chargers next to the bed are gone and that’s when kevin drops to his knees and presses his hands to the floor because dalton up and left for the summer without warning.

he’s gone, and kevin can’t do anything about it. 

he lets out a sob, followed by heavy breathing and a weight so deep in his chest that he can’t get up.  his hands are shaking over his mouth, and his vision is blurry before he squeezes his eyes shut.

he takes a deep breath, but his exhale is a sob, and he leans forward with his arms around his stomach.

he can’t breathe.

dan comes to find him a few minutes later, and when she tries putting her arms around him he sounds like he’s in pain.  she pulls him upright to lean on her instead.  he clings like his life depends on it, hands clenched in the back of her t-shirt.

when she gets him up enough to get him back to the suite, she makes him promise he’ll be okay before making it to the stadium.  she’s a little bit late for practice, and by the time she gets onto the court neil already started.  it’s supposed to be a captains practice, so she gives him credit for taking over as vice captain.

“where’s kevin?”

“last minute appointment with betsy.”

neil nods.  he knows better than to want to ask.

dan checks the time every ten minutes it feels.  she needs this to be over.

meanwhile, kevin’s lying on the sofa, staring at the ceiling.  a weight back in his chest and tears silently crawling from his eyes.

he just wants to feel numb.

he looks to the kitchen.

kevin drinks.  he drinks so much that he throws up.

he wants to be numb, but it’s not working.  which is why he drinks some more.

wymack comes by at the end of practice and calls dan over after watching everyone shuffle out.  “kevin?”

she hesitates.  “um, dalton broke up with him right before practice, and up and left for the summer before we could get to his place.  he-he was a mess, coach, he could barely function.  probably on the verge of a panic attack.”

and that peeks his attention in a different way that the first thing did, because he curses under his breath and turns.  “you left him alone?  at the tower?”  she nods, and he curses again.  “come on, fast, danielle!”  she doesn’t usually see coach running for no reason, which makes her high tail it to his car.

wymaca rambles a bit on the way there.  “every time i’ve seen that kid have a meltdown without dalton to rely on it was before they were together, and it always ended with alcohol.”  his fingers tapped on the wheel.  “i don’t fucking care if he breaks sobriety so long as he’s not dying of fucking alcohol poisoning right now.  i know him.  i know how much he loves that fucking kid.  he can not be alone right now.”

and dan can’t tell if he’s seething or worried out of his mind, or both.  but either way, she hasn’t seen him like this since neil went missing and kevin told them it probably wasn’t an accident.

womack has keys to all of their suite’s for emergencies, but kevin’s door is open.  andrew and neil were straight on their way to columbia from practice, so he’s the only one there.

wymack bursts in, and kevin’s drunk out of his mind sitting on the floor against the cabinets.  he shakes his head when he sees his father, and stands.  dan doesn’t think he could make it across the room if he tried.

“m’fine, m’fine!” he leans back against the counter.  “s’probably my fault, anyway.”

he reaches for a bottle of vodka on the counter, and when wymack beats him to it he tries grabbing it.  “come on.”

“no-“

“please!  dan, i-“

“no, kevin!”  wymack is holding him back, a hand on his chest and the other around him to try and keep him still as he pushes against wymack.

“just don’t wanna feel!”  kevin cries out.  he goes limp against wymack and starts to crumble.  “hurts so bad, i just- i just wanna be numb from it all.”  his voice is weak, and he sinks to the ground.  he covers an arm around his face.  “please just take it away.”  he begs.  “please, please, help.  i-i can’t, i can’t,” he sobs.  dan drops beside him and pulls his head to her shoulder.  “i love him so much,” he whispers.  “i dunno what to do.”

she casts a pleading look to wymack, because all she knows to do is rub his back and try to shush him to calm down.

“hey, look at me.”  wymack takes kevin’s chin, gently.  dan backs off.  “this is going to suck.  but you’re going to get up tomorrow, and you’re going to call him up and demand an explanation.  i don’t care if you have to fly to his house, dammit, you’ll do it.  because after your mother left there wasn’t a day i didn’t regret not going after her, okay?  cause look what she left me, kevin.”  he raises an eyebrow.  “you.”  he sticks a finger to kevin’s chest.

kevin nods.  “i want him so bad.”

“then you’ll go after him.  whether it works out or not.”

kevin sleeps on wymack’s sofa that night.

and in the morning, he’s woken up by knocking on the door.

kevin’s head is pounding, but he already threw up everything he could last night.

he trudges to the door, but the person behind it makes him take a step back.  he wants to jump forward and hug him, but it hurts him too much to actually want to go through with it.

“what are you doing here,” he whispers.  he crosses his arms.  he probably smells like alcohol and vomit.

dalton looks desperate, and he falters on what he wants to say, so kevin jumps in again.  “can i just… can you just tell me what i did wrong?”  he bites the inside of his cheek.  he knows it’ll be easy getting him emotional what with just waking up.  “i know i’ve got baggage, but just-just tell me why.  cause i just woke up and i’m all torn up and hungover, so i-i just need to know.  please.”

dalton frowns.  “i… you promised you’d stop drinking-“

“and you promised you wouldn’t hurt me!”  kevin’s voice cracks.  “any other lies left to tell me?”  and he takes a deep breath.  “please, dalton, i just need to know why you’d fucking do this to me!”  he messily wipes his eye with the cuff of his sleeve.

“you left without explanation, and-and i… i feel like i’m always going through something, but you’re the reason i’ve come out just fine!  i just wanna be that for you, but instead you thought breaking up would be the better option?  how-how do you think that makes me feel?  to think that my boyfriend doesn’t think i can comfort him?  that he’d rather be a-alone?”  he’s starting to get worked up, and wipes his eyes again.  he takes a deep breathe.

dalton has tears in his eyes.  “i’m sorry,” he whispers.  “i’m so, so, sorry.  that wasn’t… i didn’t mean that.  that’s not what i think, i didn’t mean to leave you thinking that.  and,” he looks away for a second.  “can i just explain?  from the beginning?  i-i want you, i don’t wanna ruin this, and i hope i haven’t already.”

you haven’t.  i just want you.

but kevin lets him in.  he doesn’t sit, but he at least lets him inside and closes the door.  he’s sure his father is hiding out in his office or bedroom.  he’s a light sleeper, and they weren’t exactly being quiet.

dalton starts.  “um, my grandmother died yesterday morning, and my grandfather was admitted to the hospital almost right after, and-and my family doesn’t know why,” he says.  “and i was a mess, but i knew you had practice- i would’ve gone home right away regardless, but i-i didn’t wanna put all my family problems on you, cause you’ve already got enough.  but, i, um, i was almost to maryland and i wanted- i knew i had to turn around, cause i was a fucking asshole, but it was already late and i probably would’ve fallen asleep at the wheel, so i stopped home to sleep for a few hours and now…”  he meets kevin’s eyes again.

“i just can’t lose you, and i was stupid and a dick, and you don’t deserve to be treated like this.  kevin please, i’m… i’m so sorry.”  kevin notices how dalton holds back on reaching out to him.  “is there any way i can fix it?”

kevin looks to the side, arms crossed.  “you’ve probably dealt with so much fucked shit with me and my family,” my foxes, “family problems don’t scare me, d. i love you so much that i sat on my knees in your apartment having a panic attack… i… i don’t wanna do the whole thing where i take a few days away from you,” he says.  “i can be there for you like you’ve done for me, i swear, but you just, like, you have to talk to me. cause i can’t do that again.  so many things went through my head that i can’t go through again.  i-i can’t be left so broken that it makes me wanna be numb enough to drink.”

this time, he lets dalton wipe a tear under his eye.  he speaks quiet.  “i’m humiliated by that.  i never want to break my sobriety again.”

dalton nods.  “i’m so sorry i broke my promise.”

“mine too.”

“no.”  he shakes his head.  “that’s different.  and i should’ve talked to you, told you why i did what i did, even if it was stupid.”

kevin nods.  “can you hold me?” he whispers.

dalton doesn’t waste time, and wraps his arms around kevin, who sinks into his embrace.  “i’ll make you a new promise.  one i can keep.”  dalton speaks into kevin’s hair.  “i promise to communicate better and talk to you, no matter what.”

kevin slides his arms around dalton’s neck.  “i promise i’ll call someone if i ever get the urge to drink alone again.”  and then, “i’m sorry about your grandmother.”  he knows which one it is, too, because his grandmother on his mother’s side passed when dalton was a child.  this one kevin met a few months back, even.

he pulls back, and cups dalton’s face.  “i’m here for you, okay?”

dalton nods, and he tilts his head into kevin’s hand.  “i don’t think it’ll hit me for a while.  the funeral is in three days.”  he pauses.  “you don’t have to, but-“

“i’ll be there with you.”

dalton cups his hand around kevin’s on his face and brings his knuckles to his lips.  “i’ll make all of this up to you.”  kevin kisses his forehead.  “i love you,” dalton whispers.

i’m now realizing i forgot to include angst #16 aka “you’ve changed” but it’s probably better for my own sanity that i didn't bc that one just makes me think of “they break up and run into each other months/years later” which i can NOT do to my boys LOL

[ao3feed-thefoxholecourt]

Light my cigarette

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/33mIbC6

by thatsabitgay

The staring contest carried on for a whole five minutes and twenty-three seconds before one of them finally caved. It was always a toss up between who would win, seeing as Allison and Neil Reynolds were both equally as stubborn as the other, yet, for reasons unknown, this session’s winner was Neil. Allison let out a groan and fell back on her bed, ignoring Neil’s victory grin.

“Fine!” She whined, “We’ll skip shopping. But you better at least wear the most decent of your ratty outfits. Don’t embarrass me.”

“I solemnly promise,” Neil sarcastically agreed, nodding.

In reply, Allison rolled his eyes, nudging his thigh with her foot. “Rude bitch.”

--

After a long life of abuse, Neil is saved from his twisted life when adopted by the Reynolds after the abrupt murder of his mother and arrest of his father leaves him alone. Now, nearly four months have passed and Neil is about to start his Sophomore year as a 'normal kid' at Palmetto High School. Neil has no clue what he's in for...

(A Highschool AU and a Soulmate AU merged into one! Hope you enjoy!)

Words: 1657, Chapters: 1/12, Language: English

Fandoms: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence

Categories: M/M

Characters: Neil Josten, Andrew Minyard, Allison Reynolds (All For The Game), Aaron Minyard, Nicky Hemmick, Matt Boyd, Danielle "Dan" Wilds, David Wymack, Seth Gordon, Kevin Day, Renee Walker (All For The Game), Thea Muldani, Jeremy Knox, Laila Dermott, Alvarez (All For The Game), Nathan Wesninski, Mary Hatford, Marissa (All For The Game), Katelyn (All For The Game), Abby Winfield, Betsy Dobson

Relationships: Neil Josten/Andrew Minyard, Allison Reynolds/Renee Walker (All For The Game), Seth Gordon/Allison Reynolds, Katelyn/Aaron Minyard, Jeremy Knox/Jean Moreau, Kevin Day/Thea Muldani, Matt Boyd/Danielle "Dan" Wilds, Neil Josten & Allison Reynolds, Neil Josten & Aaron Minyard

Additional Tags: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - No Exy (All For The Game), Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, bruises and scars show up on your soulmate for twelve hours, neil and allison are the perfect sibling duo, Protective Andrew Minyard, Neil Josten is a Little Shit, Neil Josten is a Mess, Sassy Neil Josten, High School, Angst, Lots of Angst, lots of fluff, whole lot of fluff, Fluff and Angst, just read it trust me bros

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/33mIbC6

[100storiesin2020]

a Chainsaw in Fox Tower: Chapter 3

Come read on AO3!

***

Renee smoothed her skirt and fiddled with the cross around her neck. She was waiting in the base of Fox Tower because she had been chosen to meet the new striker first. Apparently she was the friendly face on the team, which she still found amusing. She worked very hard to be a good person, but that didn't change the fact that she was far more dangerous than either Dan or Allison. It was always nice to hear that she didn't appear that way at first glance.

She could hear Wymack's booming voice even before the door opened. "Welcome to Fox Tower," he was saying. Coming in the door behind him was one of the strangest looking girls Renee had ever seen. She was tiny, possibly shorter than Andrew, with dark skin and spiky black hair that had clips thrown in seemingly at random. Her jeans looked like they had been bleached, dyed bright yellow, and then patched over with a rainbow of different fabrics. Her shirt was made of the leftover scraps of fabric. Renee smiled; Allison was going to have a fit.

Coach continued to explain that the girl would be rooming with three teammates as they crossed the lobby to where Renee was standing. "This is Renee Walker," he said. "She's going to show you around."

The girl extended her hand for a handshake. "I'm Blue Sargent. It's very nice to meet you."

Getting a friendly teammate was an odd experience for Renee but she certainly wasn't going to complain about it. "It's nice to meet you too, Blue. Welcome to the Foxes."

Wymack grunted, "She's yours now," before turning around to leave the Tower. As he opened the door, he called back to them. "Don't forget to meet at the court at 5 tonight." He didn't wait for a response before leaving.

Renee turned back to Blue. "Would you like a tour first or would you rather settle right in? We can take your stuff up to the room so you can move in before the other two girls get here."

"Moving in first would be great," Blue said. "I've never lived away from home, and I've never had a roommate." She fiddled with a hair clip. "I figure it can't be too much crazier than my crowded house, but it's definitely going to be different."

Renee tried to smile warmly. She really liked this girl and wanted to put her at ease, even though it still felt unnatural at times to be friendly. "Let's go up, then," she agreed. She looked around for a moment, realizing suddenly that Blue was only carrying a backpack. "Do you have more bags you need to grab?"

"Yes, I do. Mr. Gray kept them in the car so I wouldn't have to carry them around. He should be just outside." They started towards the door.

"Who is Mr. Gray?"

"He's my mom's boyfriend," Blue replied, as they left the Tower. "They haven't been dating long, but I think they're getting serious. He's the first real relationship my mom has been in since my dad, actually. He drove me up today because there was no way both me and Gansey would fit our stuff in the trunk of my car, so Gansey is bringing it up for me later today." They rounded the building and could finally see the parking lot. "Oh, that's him by the gray car." Blue chuckled. "He kind of has a theme going on.

Renee looked to where Blue had pointed and her eyes widened. Beside a nondescript gray car was a man in a nondescript gray suit. He looked purposefully unremarkable, like he would prefer nothing more than not being noticed. Renee knew better. It was in his stance, relaxed but ready to pounce. It was in his eyes and the way they tracked every bit of movement. This man was a trained killer. Renee strained to keep her calm, harmless demeanor, feeling his eyes weighing every inch of her to determine whether she was a threat. She reminded herself that this man was Blue's friend, and was probably safe.

"We are going to move in now," Blue told him happily.

Mr. Gray smiled, softening his hard face by a respectable amount. Renee breathed a silent sigh of relief. "Then let's get your things upstairs," he replied. He opened up the trunk and pulled out suitcase after suitcase, and duffel bag after duffel bag. Renee had to laugh then. This was reminding her a little too much of Allison.

They divided up the bags between the three of them and gradually made their way up to the sixth floor. Renee used the walk to tell Blue all about the Tower and what to expect from living with roommates. It had been quite the adjustment at first when none of the girls had gotten along, but nowadays they had it down to a system, and Renee was confident that they would be able to slot in one more person without too much trouble. Blue was hopeful for the same.

Renee pulled out her key ring and opened the door. "Here we are, home sweet home." It was a small living room area with two doors leading out. Through one door was a kitchen, and through the other was a bedroom with two sets of bunk beds. "You can take either the bottom or top bunk, as long as you are on the left side of the bedroom." Renee smoothed her skirt nervously. It had taken her awhile to feel safe sleeping in a room with other people, even though she had had half of the room to herself. Hopefully she was healed enough now that hearing sounds directly above or below herself would not startle her too badly. And Andrew had her knives, so they wouldn't be an issue.

"I'll take the top bunk," Blue said cheerfully. "I've always wanted a lofted bed." She picked through the bags that had been dumped on the living room floor, finally grabbing a tattered blue duffel bag before heading for the bedroom. "Let's get started!"

******

Eventually all was unpacked and Mr. Gray had taken most of the empty bags down to the car, promising to come back with dinner. All that remained was a single duffel bag which had been shoved haphazardly into a drawer. Blue had decorated her bunk and desk, as well as part of the wall on their side of the room. She had asked Renee for permission, and Renee had granted it despite knowing that Allison wouldn't be happy about changing the decorating plan. She quite liked Blue's decor. There were fabric trees on the wall and fairy lights above the bed. Renee assumed that was what they were, anyway. She'd been busy with her own unpacking while Blue had decorated, but she was fairly certain they were not plugged in anywhere, and there wasn't any spot on the wire large enough to hold a battery. A mystery.

Blue had also placed some strange symbols in various out-of-sight places. They went under her mattress, inside a cupboard, folded above a door frame. "My mom and aunts are psychics," she had explained, "and they insisted I bring some protective spells with me when I left the house." She grimaced. "Mom wanted to come put them up herself, but Mr. Gray helped me talk her out of it."

"Why didn't you want her to come?"

"Blue shrugged. "I've been 'the psychic's daughter' all my life, and for once I just want to be Blue Sargent. I know y'all will think I'm strange, and I'm happy with that. I just want to be strange because I am strange, not because my mother is."

Renee thought about that for a moment. "Was it a hard life?" Blue blinked at her. "Being the psychic's daughter, I mean. You don't seem to fit the Fox stereotype, but Wymack wouldn't have recruited you if there wasn't something there."

Blue laughed. "You mean the stereotype of a broken home? I was pretty offended when Coach showed up because of that. I have a good home and a good family. It was difficult to find friends, but I think that would have been true no matter who my mother was." The smile suddenly wiped from Blue's face. "I am broken, though. It's just in a different way."

There wasn't a tactful way to respond to that, but Renee was saved by the door bursting open.

"Hello Renee!" It was Dan, all smiles and confidence as she swept into the room and extended a hand to Blue. "You must be Blue! Welcome to the team! It's nice to have another female face around. We need someone sensible to balance out these boys."

Blue laughed, and Renee could already tell these two would get along nicely. "I'm nothing if not sensible, and it'll be nice to have some female friends. It's just been me and the Raven boys for too long now."

"Raven boys??" Dan and Renee exclaimed in unison.

Blue looked confused but understanding quickly crossed her face. "Not those Ravens!" She looked chagrined. "My friends went to a rival school and their mascot was also the Ravens. So I called them my Raven boys. I think I'm going to figure out a new nickname."

At this point the door opened again. "Hey babe," Matt said. He walked in and gave Dan a big hug. "You must be the new striker. Blue, right?" She nodded and he grinned back at her. "Is that orange monstrosity really your car?"

Blue lit up. "Gansey is here?" Right on cue, somebody knocked on the door extremely politely. "Gansey!!" She threw open the door and leaped into the arms of a brown haired boy several inches taller than her. He spun her around as she laughed, but he froze when he noticed the others in the room. Renee watched as the all-American boy transformed in the blink of an eye, suddenly becoming authoritative and presidential. It seemed to be a trick of the face and posture. It was very effective, and Renee did /not/ like it.

"Hello, I'm Gansey," he said. He approached Dan first and extended his hand to shake hers. "You must be Danielle Wilds, team captain." At least he was polite.

Dan seemed thrown by the formality and respect. "You can call me Dan," she said. "Gansey? That's an unusual name."

He laughed. "It's my surname. I'm Richard Campbell Gansey the Third, and that name is just too much." He moved on to shake Matt's hand and then Renee's. "I'm looking forward to playing with all of you." He turned to Blue. "Are you all unpacked? I could use a hand. Also, here are your keys." He handed over a key ring adorned with two keys and several key chains of varying materials and design.

Blue smiled. "Start bringing things up. I'll be right down." Gansey nodded and left. Renee handed her a key to the dorm, and she added it to the ring.

"So..." Matt began. "Are you two dating?"

"Yup," she replied, popping the p.

"Is he always so..." Dan started.

"Obnoxious? Pretentious? Presidential? Bossy?" Dan laughed at Blue's annoyed expression. "Depends. It took me a bit too long to get past that face." She smiled softly. "It was worth the effort in the end, even if he really pissed me off at first. Anyway, I better go help him." She turned and left the room.

Dan turned to Matt. "What do you think it will take to get Mr. President to thaw out?"

Matt grinned. "My money is on Andrew scaring him half to death."

Dan laughed. "I don't want Andrew to do that, but I think you're right."

"I think he just needs time to trust us," Renee said. "After some practices and movie nights I bet he will warm right up to us."

"Twenty dollars says you're wrong," Dan said.

"I'll match it," said Matt.

Renee smiled, "Consider it a bet."

[ao3feed-pynch]

by surviving_and_thriving

who would've thought there would be so many books that focus a bit too heavily on crows/ravens? not me.

anyway! this is a collection of one-shots for the raven cycle, all for the game, and six of crows :) feel free to leave suggestions/prompts in the comments

MOST RECENT UPDATE: neil likes being neil josten, but sometimes he wishes he chose a different name. on his bad days, neil sounds a little too close to nathaniel.

Words: 1509, Chapters: 1/?, Language: English

Fandoms: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic, Six of Crows Series - Leigh Bardugo, Raven Cycle - Maggie Stiefvater

Rating: Not Rated

Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings

Categories: F/F, F/M, Gen, M/M

Characters: Neil Josten, Andrew Minyard, Aaron Minyard, Kevin Day, Renee Walker (All For The Game), Allison Reynolds (All For The Game), Danielle "Dan" Wilds, Matt Boyd, Seth Gordon, David Wymack, Abby Winfield, Jean Moreau, Jeremy Knox, Laila Dermott, Alvarez (All For The Game), Katelyn (All For The Game), Wylan Van Eck, Jesper Fahey, Inej Ghafa, Kaz Brekker, Nina Zenik, Matthias Helvar, Dregs (Six of Crows), Blue Sargent, Richard Gansey III, Adam Parrish, Ronan Lynch, Noah Czerny, Nicky Hemmick, Erik Klose, Henry Cheng, god i hope thats everyone

Relationships: Neil Josten/Andrew Minyard, Matt Boyd/Danielle "Dan" Wilds, Katelyn/Aaron Minyard, Allison Reynolds/Renee Walker (All For The Game), Jeremy Knox/Jean Moreau, Jesper Fahey/Wylan Van Eck, Kaz Brekker/Inej Ghafa, Matthias Helvar/Nina Zenik, Richard Gansey III/Blue Sargent, Nicky Hemmick/Erik Klose, Ronan Lynch/Adam Parrish, plus all the lovey friendships :)

Additional Tags: please help this is what happens when all my classes are online, I have too much free time, every one of these one shots was written past midnight

[jemej3m]

What Now? (p1)

where andrew and neil are single dads and their kids hate each other. 

 Neil hated the administrators. They sat at the front desk and looked up at him with enormous eyes, eyelashes fluttering as they asked: “What’cha lookin’ for, hon?” She smiled, almost beseechingly, as she stood. “Tour? I can show you around.”

“Actually,” He cleared his throat, pulling his sleeves down. “I’m here for Robin.”

The woman’s face turned sour, though she did her best to remain neutral “Right. You said you would be here a half hour ago, Mr Josten. The others have been waiting. Take a seat, I’ll let Headmaster Boyd know.” 

I’m sorry, Neil wanted to snap. That some stupid kid has managed to aggravate Robin and that I’m a full-time working single father. Jesus Christ, people were shallow. 

He dropped into a plastic chair, straightening his shirt again. His hair was still a little damp after his 30-second shower: Convincing his coach to leave practise early was never easy, but he was one of the few teammates with a kid. And the only one of that small group who parented alone. He probably had a few more concessions than the rest, but he couldn’t afford to spend them on shit like this. 

Opposite him was a broad-shouldered man, staring at him. Unimpressed. Did he recognise Neil? He hoped not. He wasn’t in the mood for a facade. The staring continued. Neil elected to ignore him in favour of looking at the ceiling. 

When Robin was shuffled out by her classroom teacher, Danielle Wilds, she gave Neil a sheepish look. He stood up and offered his hand, which she let rest on her head. Touch was still incredibly unfamiliar to both of them. “What’s this all about, Robin?”

She pointed to the bruise on her jaw. “I pushed him after he called me bad things. Then he punched me back!” 

Neil glowered. It didn’t explain why his adoptive daughter was getting in trouble. She could sense that he knew she was omitting details of the story, and hid behind his hip as they followed Danielle Wilds down the hall. 

Behind them, the blond man stood. He was shorter than Neil - a feat in itself, really - but it was as though Neil could feel needles stabbing into the back of his skull. He took Robin by the hand as he lead her into the headmaster’s office, and immediately observed his surroundings: The enormous glass window looking out over the school’s courtyard, where kids were dressed for phys-ed and playing with skipping ropes, the mahogany desk, the shelves of books, the trophies and certificates of achievement on the walls. Boyd had a picture of a young girl with wild, curly hair by his computer. The man in question was sitting relaxedly in his chair, tattoos visible through the white button-down, his cuffs loose and rolled to mid-forearm. His hair was spiked with gel, and 

There was a young boy, sitting opposite him. He had black hair and green eyes, looking nothing like the blond man who sat next to him. The son was probably getting close to his father’s height. Both of them wore distasteful sneers. Like father like son, Neil supposed.

“Can someone please tell me what’s going on?” Neil asked, when there had been too many moments of frigid silence. “Robin? Anyone? I’d like to know exactly why I’m here.”

“I’m sorry, Mr Josten --”

“Neil.” 

“Neil.” Boyd cleared his throat. “Robin and Kevin have been having some serious disagreements over the past few weeks. Neither seem willing to compromise, or come to an impasse. We usually like to guide students to conflict resolution, but this is getting out of hand. Isn’t it, Kevin?” He looked at the boy. “Robin?” Neil’s daughter withered under his look of disappointment. 

They both pointed at each other. “They started it!” 

“Kevin always tells me that I’m dumb and get all the answers wrong.” Robin wailed. “And he hides my pencils!”

“Robin scribbled in my maths scrapbook.” Kevin huffed. “Then she hid my completed spelling homework --”

“Wasn’t me!” 

“And then she put grapes in the bottom of my bag, and they’re all squishy!” 

“Are you sure that your own grapes didn’t spill, Kevin?” His father implored. 

“You’re very good at losing pencils, Robin.” Neil shook his head. “Maybe you’ve lost them?”

“No!” Both of them cried. 

Momentarily, Neil looked to the other father, and recognised the look of pure frustration furrowing the man’s brows. 

Boyd rested his elbows on his desk, clasping his fingers beneath his chin. “But is that why we’re here today?”

Both of the children quietened. 

“What the supervising teacher told me was that she saw Robin push Kevin, who hit her on the face.” He gestured to the bruise on Robin’s chin. “The other children said that Kevin was calling her names. I would like to reiterate that there is a strict, no-violence policy at this school, and would like you both to go home and think about the way you have behaved. Neil, Andrew: You should help them reflect and compose apology letters to one another. I’ll see you all tomorrow morning.”

Andrew glared daggers, standing abruptly and ushering his son out the door. Neil grabbed Robin by the shoulder and dragged her out. 

When they caught up to the other pair, Neil sniped: “Really appreciated being dragged in here, thanks.”

“Maybe butchering is a hereditary thing, hm?” Andrew examined his car-keys. They were sleek, an expensive model that Neil couldn’t possibly name. “Such a shame.” 

Neil fumed. Sensing Neil’s irritation, Andrew turned a blank look on him; Neil wondered how someone with such a void-like gaze could be a parent. 

“Let’s go home.” He murmured. Robin tucked herself into Neil’s side and they hurried out of the administration building together. 

Here’s how it goes:

Neil was almost 24, and coached Exy teams in Couth Carolina’s little league. He’d got out of his family’s criminal history through his Exy scholarship, but never taken it further. He hadn’t even really liked kids, but it was something to do.

Then, because Neil’s tragic existence seemed to be catastrophic for those around him, a car t-boned into a van outside his apartment. Neil, always running in the early hours of the morning, immediately rushed over. The sedan’s driver was a crumpled heap, blood splattered across the windscreen -- he most likely dead, so Neil ignored him. But there were screams coming from the back of the van, so he yanked the damaged door open. 

Bruised and bleeding, curled into the corner of the van, was Robin. She was thrown into the foster system as an infant, and was then kidnapped at the age of three. No one cared about a foster kid going missing. Her missing person’s file was practically non-existent, especially after 2 years. Robin had clambered into his arms as he pulled her out of the back of that van, and he hasn’t had a full night’s sleep since. 

Four years later, he’d set up a scholarship program in the little league, his daughter was making enemies at her new school, and Neil still didn’t regret a thing. 

Andrew sat in the car and thought about the best way to approach this. For Kevin’s sake, he would be a role-model. But every inch of that Josten had him wanting to clench his fists. Of course he knew of him: Exy had gotten him through college. The Josten scandal was everywhere: Leaving the Ravens for the Trojans, Jean Moreau quickly following suit, the Butcher of Baltimore, the Moriyamas, the FBI; Then, settling down to coach kids. That drama had to be almost a decade ago, though. Didn’t matter. Exy had never mattered to Andrew. His degree had also been second thought: His occupation was satisfying, but never thrilling. 

Having a kid, though. Jesus. 

Kevin was a handful and a half. He was brimming with energy and emotion, repressed anger and competitiveness creating a volatile reaction to most situations. Andrew had taken Kevin in after his mother’s death, his old exy coach, Wymack, being the father but being unable to, you know. Father. 

Andrew didn’t understand how the fuck he was meant to be any better. 

“I’m sorry, Andrew.” Kevin didn’t look that apologetic. “She’s just super annoying! And she wouldn’t shut up about how her dad’s team is the best, and she loves her dad, and he’s the best, and how she’s going to play Exy too. Exy, exy, exy. All the time! It drives me insane! She talks so loudly, too. And so much. She never shuts up.”

Andrew could read his son. “Usually people aren’t this successful at getting under your skin, Kevin.”

“I hate her!” He frowned, his lips puckering. It was stupidly adorable. Andrew hated the word adorable. “I really do, you know. She’s always teasing me about liking history and reading my books. She can’t even do maths!”

“Remember what I tell you, Kevin.” Andrew switched on the ignition and swerved out of his car-parking space. He searched for the flash of an expensive sportscar, of which would be presumedly Neil’s, but he couldn’t find one. 

“Be the better person so you can shove their own failures up their asses, I know.” Kevin drew his feet onto the dashboard but Andrew swatted them down.

“No feet on the dashboard.” He pointed at Kevin but the brat pushed his hand away, promptly sticking out his tongue. 

God, why did he decide to have kids?

Oh yeah. He didn’t. Right. 

(Still didn’t believe in regret, though.)

i hope this made sense! 

i just think itd be hilarious lmao imagine seeing a parent in the lobby and be like damn and then figure out that their kid and your kid hate each other

[kar3npage]

Sewing Scissors and Throwing Knives

Chapter 2 is up! Read from the beginning on ao3 here

What would have happened if Neil stopped playing Exy? If he kept running after his mother died? Neil Josten is working as a janitor at Palmetto State University when he gets the opportunity to work as a fashion designer for an up and coming brand. It's a dream come true, if it wasn't such a public position and if he wasn't still running from his father and the Moriyama's. Aka, the Fashion Designer AU that no one asked for but I couldn't help but write.

After a restless night Neil is sick of thinking about Wymack and his stupid, too good to be true proposal. And he is especially sick of the fact that he knows exactly what he’s going to do. He knew before he even left the university yesterday, but that doesn’t make his choice any better or easier to deal with. The truth it, Neil is exhausted. There is only so long that a human being can go without friendly interaction, and he’s been alone for so long. Every time someone gets too close, he leaves. It was bad enough when he was with his mother, but the past 7 years have been harder than Neil ever thought that they could be. There is a pretty solid chance that Kevin won’t recognize him: Neil’s hair is black and his eyes are a dull brown now, and it’s been so many years that even if his hair and eye colour were the same he doubts that Kevin would have remembered. Although, it was a pretty traumatic event so that might have hammered home some details that would usually be lost to time. And if Kevin does recognize him? Neil figures that he’s been running on borrowed time for a while now. He might as well go out with a bang, and it would be nice to be known as someone with potential. It would be nice to be known at all. So far he’s imagined that his death will be covered up and no one will remember. An unknown body found in the ditch outside of a small American town maybe, or perhaps he will never be found and his name will be forgotten along with his mothers.

The sticky note with Kevin’s number on it that Wymack left on the sketchbook is jarringly orange. It almost makes Neil smile, how it matches the unreasonably bright shade that is on the team jerseys. Neil is standing in the parking lot of a bus station that looks like it’s been around longer than buses have. He’s facing a telephone booth--something that is not easy to find nowadays, but Neil doesn’t want to buy himself a phone just for one call. Plus, this way he is harder to trace. Just in case. Taking a deep breathe, Neil steps into the enclosed space and starts dialing. He holds the phone up to his ear and clutches at his sketchbook like it’s his lifeline. At the moment, it kind of is. The phone of the other end rings, and rings, and rings. Neil is just about to give up and pretend none of this happened when a gruff voice answers the phone. “What?” the voice says, talking over the sound of arguing and faint music in the background. “Is this Kevin Day?” Neil asks after a panicked pause. “Yes. Who is this?” There is murmuring in the background and Neil can barely hear Kevin say ‘no, it’s from a payphone I think’. Neil speaks before he can continue the side conversation. “This is… Neil. Neil Josten. You’re father gave me your number.” “Oh! Oh, you’re the one with the sketchbook.” “Yes.” “Why didn’t you call yesterday?” Neil blinks in surprise. “Wymack said I had until Friday to answer. It’s only Wednesday.”

“Yes, but no one waits for opportunities like this. Everyone wants what I am offering you.” Kevin sounds irritated, or maybe stressed. Neil tries to put this voice together with the smiling picture from the Exy magazines he used to be in. The two do not mesh.

“Well I had to think about it. Is your offer still up or not?” “That’s ridiculous. Why did you have to think about it?” Neil gives him a similar bullshit answer that he gave Wymack yesterday. “I didn’t think I was good enough to work with Kevin Day.” Kevin snorts. “You aren’t. But I still want you to. If you listen to me, do everything I tell you to do, I think that you could be good.” “So the offer still stands?” “You’re in Palmetto? I’ll book your plane ticket. Since I obviously can’t send you the information on this number, I’ll send it to Wymack. It’s up to you to get it.” “So the offer still stands?” Neil says, feeling rather irritable. All this time he was worried about Kevin recognizing him and it turns out that he should be more worried about dealing with Kevins attitude. “Yes. We’re flying you out next week.” The line goes dead and it occurs to Neil that he isn’t actually sure where he’s going yet.

Wymack hadn’t been smug about Neil crawling back for a plane ticket. Instead, he seemed quite pleased about the whole thing. Now that Neil is in the John F. Kennedy airport in New York waiting for one of Kevin’s people to pick him up he is starting to regret every single decision that he’s made since his mothers death. Actually, he’s regretting every decision he’s ever made. Ever. It’s the blank look that draws Neils eye rather than a sign indicating who should pick him up. Neil had done some research this week in between panic attacks, so it’s easy to recognize the man standing in front of him. According to the fashion magazines, Andrew Minyard has been pretty much glued to Kevin’s side since they went to Design school together after Kevin broke his hand and flew the Nest. Andrew is now an infamous addition to the fashion world--his skill with embroidery is often ignored in favour of talking about his tragic past and terrifying demeanour. Now that Neil is seeing him in real life, he can see that Andrew doesn’t look like much at first glance. 5 foot even with pale hair and a blank gaze, Andrew is much more dangerous than he comes across. His time in juvie, a legally required drug induced mania that occurred after nearly beating four men to death with his bare hands, and the assault that ended the drugs during his time in university are all well documented. The only thing that keeps reporters from asking Andrew about these events is the terror that they won’t survive the encounter. “Bags?” Andrew asks once they’ve both looked each other over. “This is it.” Neil says, pointing to his well worn duffle. Andrew shrugs and walks away, assuming that Neil will follow him. Neil follows him.

It’s not until they’re sitting in an obviously expensive car that Andrew speaks again. He’s smoking a cigarette with the window open, the vehicle still parked in the underground parking at the airport. Neil holds himself absolutely still to make sure that Andrew doesn’t notice how badly he wants to get away from the airport. “Kevin says Wymack recruited you,” Andrew says in a bland tone. “I don’t think ‘recruit’ is the right word. I forgot my sketchbook at the court and Wymack kidnapped it. Then sent photos of it to Kevin.” Neil hopes that he could mask some of the disdain at being slightly forced into this opportunity. Andrews glance at him says otherwise. Andrew doesn’t respond to that, just stubs out his cigarette and starts driving. Neil is on high alert throughout the drive, his eyes tracking every sign that they pass. Andrew doesn’t even look at him again until they get to what Neil assumes is the studio. Despite the brand getting more and more popular, the building is bland and unassuming. Neil guesses that this is just an office, that clients wouldn’t normally come here. The area that it’s located in is obviously high end, with the buildings all new and built in modern and stylish ways. The one that Andrew leads them to doesn’t stand out, but the closer they get the more Neil can see how tastefully expensive it is. There are two men standing outside waiting for them when the car pulls over and Neil gets out. Both are significantly taller than Neil. He maps out an escape in his head, hoping that their height would slow them in a fight. Neither seem to notice his hesitation. The shorter one of the two beams and pulls Neil in for a hug, one that he extricates himself from as soon as he can. “Kevin didn’t say you were so attractive! This is seriously going to be so much fun, Kev never lets anyone have any kind of control. Except for Andrew, sometimes, but never over the designs! I’m still in shock that he wanted another designer here, this is crazy,” the man babbles. The taller one beside him looks just as thrilled, but he’s calmer and just offers a hand to shake to Neil. “I’m Matt Boyd, and this is Nicky. Dan wanted to be the one to meet you first,” Matt sends a significant look to Andrew, “but it’s a little hectic right now with a client fitting. You know how it is.” Neil does not, in fact, ‘know how it is’. But he gives a little nod to let Matt know that he’s following. Andrew starts into the building and the others follow him. Neil wonders about the control comment that Nicky made about Kevin allowing Andrew to have some. “Dan, Danielle Wilds, is head seamstress,” Matt explains as they walk. Nicky buts in. “And she keeps us all together when it gets stressful. And she’s Matts girlfriend.” Matt takes over again, a small smile on his face. “I’m lead pattern drafter, Nicky here is in the Marketing department--” “And Andrews cousin,” Nicky sings. Andrew gives him a rude gesture without turning around to look at them. Neil sends a quick glance between the two of them. Where Andrew is pale in every way, with his blond hair and nearly translucent, Nicky is the complete opposite. His tan skin and dark eyes make a stark contrast between the two, and his hair is curly while Andrew’s is straight. Nicky must notice Neil’s confusion because he explains quickly. “I know! Doesn’t look like it, does it? My mom was ‘rescued’ during one of dads missionary trips in Mexico. I got moms colouring.” “Why are you greeting me if you’re in marketing?” Neil asks. Matt laughs at his blunt approach. “Nicky always does, it makes new employees feel a little more at ease. Especially when Andrew picks them up.” Andrew is waiting for them to get to the elevator. If the comment bothers him, he shows no sign of it. Neil clutches his duffle a little closer as they all pile into the elevator. No one mentions it, but Nicky does raise an eyebrow at the ratty bag. “Anyway, I’ll introduce you to everyone else once we get to the floor. Like I said, it’s been a little crazy right now so we won’t be able to ease you into anything.” Matt gives him a sympathetic look, even though this news is a relief for Neil. The less time people have to ask him questions the easier. “What do you do, Andrew?” Neil asks, even though he knows exactly what Andrew does. Andrew gives him a carefully blank look and crosses his arms, one hand on an armband. Neil’s eyes track the movement. It makes sense to have weapons there, since it would make them easy to access. He vows to keep a closer eye on them from now on. After the silence lasts too long Nicky takes over, laughing uncomfortably. “Andrew is an embroiderer and Kevin’s guard dog.” There’s a barely concealed threat in Andrews eyes and Nicky is quiet for the rest of the excruciating elevator ride. It stops on the 14th floor. It takes everything in Neil to get himself to step off of the elevator and away from any possibility of escape. He scans the room to find the emergency exit (in the far right corner) and check the windows. No matter what, he knows that there isn’t an easy way out of this building. Quietly spoken German startles Neil out of his thoughts. He turns around to see Nicky whispering to Andrew. “What was that? Is he going to have a panic attack or something?” Andrew doesn’t answer, but when he sends an assessing gaze towards Neil, he knows that they’re speaking about him. Neil forces his muscles to relax and follows Boyd into the room. After the original alarm, Neil actually looks at the room and how it’s set up. There’s a gently hum of voices and machines that permeate the floor and make it feel almost cozy. The room that they’ve stepped into has a line of industrial sewing machines on one side, each with a dress form sitting beside them. Most of the dress forms are partially dressed with the beginnings of elegant evening gowns. On the wall to the left under the large windows is a row of ironing boards. A man is standing at one of them with a look of bright concentration on his face while he irons what looks to be a cotton gown. Neil has never had the time to properly construct anything-all of his training when it comes to sewing was done in the heat of the moment. He’s much better with hand sewing, a by product of the little chores he had to do when they were on the run. “Knox! Neil is here,” Boyd says to the man. He puts the iron down on the holder and turns around with a thrilled smile. “Hi, I’m Jeremy Knox. I’m the lead tailor. I work mostly menswear, so you won’t see as much of me, but I love to do a good women’s suit as well.” “Who designs menswear?” Neil asks, shaking the enthusiastic blond mans hand. Nicky gives him a strange look. “Um, Allison does. You know, Allison Reynolds? The creator of Alli Rey?” Neil sends him a blank look. His research had focused on Kevin, he hadn’t had the time to pay any attention to the other roles in the company. He’s regretting that already. Matt takes over, sounding more friendly about Neil’s lack of knowledge. “Allison is known for exquisite suits. As her company expanded, she wanted to add in womens wear, and that’s when Kevin joined the crew.” Neil tries to commit every detail of the jobs of each person that he comes across. Matt is patient and good with the other staff. He introduces Neil to everyone without interrupting their work too much, and is quick to move them on to each room. There are two rooms with sewing machines, one of them for mens and one for womens. Another massive room is filled with huge, waist height tables for the pattern drafters. Matt is obviously in his zone there, and he shows Neil the area with pride. There are rooms for fittings and meetings, as well as a cutting room, which they don’t enter but just peak into. The area is filled with offices--one for Nicky and his small crew that work marketing, and one each for Allison and Kevin. There are a few more offices off of this, but since Matt stops at Kevins door, Neil decides to ignore them for the moment. Neil notices Andrew slip into one of the rooms without any of the others noticing. Even though Neil has already spoken to the ex-striker and was perfectly aware that he would be seeing him today, it’s a shock to see him sitting at a desk and yelling into the phone, one cheek tattooed with a queen chess piece. It had been a huge deal when it came out that Kevin had covered up his tattoo. Accusations and rumours were thrown around for months, but when Kevin never released a statement it was eventually forgotten about. Or, at least the topic had gone dormant. They wait in the doorway awkwardly while Kevin finished his heated call. The wall behind his desk is covered in images that look like reference and inspiration photos. One wall is full window and the room is stylishly furnished. When Kevin finally puts down the phone and puts his full attention on the two men hovering in the doorway Neil freezes. This entire journey was stupid, and if Kevin recognizes Neil right now he won’t have a way out. No flash of recognition mars Day’s face, though. Instead, Neil is fixed with a haughty expression. He barely spares a glance for Matt, and Matt eventually leaves after telling Neil that he’ll introduce him to Dan as soon as she’s back from the fitting at the Madison Avenue store. “You don’t look like much,” Kevin says eventually, pinning Neil with an unimpressed look. Neil is fully aware that he’s wearing an old t-shirt and jeans, both a size too big. He feels like trash in this fancy office with shiny furniture. Usually these clothes help him blend in, but here they are making him stick out like a sore thumb. “I don’t think I’m here to look good,” Neil finally replies. Kevin doesn’t look impressed with that answer, and chooses to ignore it. “I’ll send someone to pick up clothes for you. Probably Nicky, he knows the image that we’re trying to portray.” Kevin gets up from his chair and leans against the desk. He is significantly taller than Neil (like most people are), but he stands hunched over like he’s trying to hide himself. He straightens every few minutes, but continues to forget and hunch over again. Neil watches the inner battle with fascination. “As I’m sure you know, the Resort show is coming up fast, which is why things are so hectic around here right now,” Kevin looks put out by the chaos. Neil doesn’t appreciate the assumption that he knows when fashion shows are, since he very much so does not. “Anyway, we’re working on Spring/Summer right now and it needs to be good. We’re getting outside pressure and with the brand getting so much attention right now, we need to keep it up.” “So why did you bring in a rookie?” “You’ve seen the floor,” Kevin says with outright disgust. “We’ll never come up with something groundbreaking the way it is now.” Neil raises an eyebrow and makes a note of how little faith Day has in his own team. That could be a bit of a recipe for disaster. “That doesn’t explain why you’ve brought someone in whose never studied or worked in the industry.” “If you do exactly what I tell you to do, it’s all going to work out.”

Neil spends the rest of the day shadowing Kevin, being grateful he never played Exy with the man, and trying to memorize every single piece of information he’s being given. He’s exhausted by the time Kevin decides that they’re allowed to leave at 8pm, but he knows he can’t let his guard down yet. Just because Kevin hasn’t recognized him yet doesn’t mean that he won’t, and there’s something about Andrew’s vacant stare that’s causing Neil some anxiety. He’s pretty sure that the small blond will be more trouble that Kevin and Nicky combined. Although Nicky is starting to be a big problem. He’s gotten it into his head that if Neil doesn’t look perfect, he’ll lose all acclaim that he’s procured from his years in Marketing. To be fair, the way that Kevin worded his job to buy Neil clothes did make it sound like life or death. Nicky refused to let Neil get a cab to the hotel room he’ll be staying at while they try to find him accommodations, so he’s trapped in the back of the expensive car with a chatting Nicky while a grouchy Kevin sits in the passenger seat and an apathetic Andrew drives. “Don’t worry about anything, we’ll get you measured tomorrow during your lunch break. If Kevin gives you one,” Nicky says, glaring at Kevin before continuing on his tirade. “It’s seriously going to be so easy. You’re gorgeous enough in that trash, but in a suit? No one will survive those sharp cheekbones!” Nicky fans himself. To Neils surprise, Andrew gives Nicky a sharp look through the mirror. “Stop,” he says in German. Nicky takes the dangerous tone in a stride and rapidly changes the topic to talk about an upcoming photoshoot. That sets Kevin off about not having promotional material ready in time, which gives Neil a glorious breather in the conversation. Getting measurements done shouldn’t be a big deal. It wouldn’t be, for most people, but Neil isn’t most people. And he’s pretty sure that he’ll have to disrobe at least a little to get proper measurements. He’s still trying to figure out a way around this when Andrew dumps him at the hotel. Only Nicky says goodnight.

[flippancies]

Location: The Foxhole Court Time: September 9 Status: OPEN

     Sienna seats herself on one benches of the inner court, placing herself at a good distance from the set of Foxes doing a practice round in front of her. As her gaze fixes itself on the drills playing out, her happiest memory resurfaces with visceral clarity: from behind a television screen her younger self watches as Kevin day scores within the last two seconds of the match and earns the Palmetto State Foxes their first championship victory. And Sienna’s mother — despite obvious exhaustion from a long day of work, despite claiming to have never understood Exy, earlier protesting that replays existed and that they didn’t have to watch the live showing — is the first to scream her joy.       Sienna had been a child then. All her life she’d known nothing else but Palmetto, but there was nothing about being a Palmetto local that was worth bragging about. Nothing, until Danielle Leigh Wilds and her ragtag team of underdogs and misfits clawed their way up from undeserved infamy to hard-earned victory. Only losers root for losers, some girl from her class once said when Exy had been brought up. She’d feared their scrutiny then, but for once in her life, Sienna feels unburdened by her peers’ judgment, feels no shame for what she loves, and shows up to her elementary school in bright, Palmetto State Fox orange.       Her reverence for them died down with her idealism. As Dan and Kevin moved forward, the Foxes lagged behind, falling back into laughingstock status, leaving a grown-up Sienna to pretend she never rooted for them, never cared for Dan Wilds or Exy or her town’s joke of a team. Still, there’s a reason she’s a Vixen, however much she claims it’s a heedless choice and not a deliberate one. As a Fox walks away from the drills and to her direction, it’s as if the child in her reemerges, reminding her of every reason she held the Foxes so high in regard to begin with. She knows what it feels to be a nobody striving to be somebody, and seeing people climbing up from pasts far uglier and grittier than hers — well, there’s hope to be drawn from that.       More than the sport, it’s the people that captivate her.      “Catch,” she says, tossing a water bottle to the person approaching her. “Great work out there.” Though her words are encouraging, Sienna maintains a tone of nonchalance. She’s new to the squad, new to the university, even, and though the Exy-loving child in her is bursting with excitement, Sienna doesn’t want to look too eager on her first impression. A cheeky grin spreads across her face. “Say, does Wymack ever invite alumni to your games? Would love to know if Dan — ” Sienna bites her lip, internally cursing her fucking Freudian slip, “ — if Kevin Day’s ass is as thick in person as it is on TV.”

[ohsweetflips]

hawk in the raven nest, chapter twenty-four

chapter summary: tragic: causing or characterized by extreme distress or sorrow

A/N: hey guys!!! im so sorry that i had to postpone today's chapter, i was had classes and then a swim meet and was out from 8am to 11pm last night and passed out the moment i got in

read on ao3

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Ever since Kevin began his time as a Fox on the starting line, the Ravens made it a habit of watching their games. Riko was the one who enforced that. Their teammates believed that it was so Riko could laugh at Kevin’s misfortune; Kevin left the best Class I Exy team for the last place Foxes, what was there that Riko couldn’t laugh at? Nathaniel, however, knew it was because Riko was paranoid. Kevin was always a threat to Riko, but before the Foxes, Kevin was a threat that Riko believed he could beat down. Now, with Kevin as an opponent, and an opponent who was drastically improving a team meant to amount to nothing, Kevin was a danger to Riko.

Riko became obsessive when watching the Foxes’ games. He kept note of every win and loss, the length of each point gap, which team they were playing and how they had fared against the Ravens. With each game that the Foxes won, and with that each large point gap, Riko grew less and less happy with his results.

With the Foxes winning game against Binghamton, Riko’s nerves were through the roof. He was past the point of a violent outbreak; at this stage, everything was internalized. His hands were clenched on the arms of his chair, his knuckles white. His eyes stared blankly at the screen as their teammates chattered around him in the lounge. Maybe they were nervous, too, but didn’t want to let on; maybe they didn’t see Kevin as a threat yet. Either way, Riko was panicking because championships were getting very close and the Foxes were going to be in the death matches. With the path they seemed to be going on, they might be able to get past Penn State. The Trojans could be the ones that stop them, but even that was too close for Riko’s liking.

Attention was brought back to the screen when none other than Kevin Day came back on it. He was the one who the reporters decided to interview that night. He was sweaty, with some pieces of hair clinging to his forehead. His green eyes shone with victory, and he flashed an award winning grin at the camera. The two on his cheek stared at them all, showing where he had come from, and where he was now.

“Kevin, what an amazing game the Foxes played tonight!” the reporter beamed, happiness obvious on her face at being able to interview Kevin Day.

“Thank you,” Kevin grinned, swooping his hair out of his face. “We’ve all worked really hard for this game.”

“Talk about working hard!” she exclaimed. “Look at you! Last year, no one thought you would ever step onto a court again. Now, here you are, right-handed, and picking up speed with the Foxes, who finally seem to really deserve their Class I rank. It seems that you’ve really been pushing your fellow teammates.”

“Actually, we all push each other. You see, while I definitely push the Foxes to be better, they push me, too, not just with their own drills, but with stamina in a game. The Foxes are really big on endurance training. Coach Wymack really emphasizes on it considering how few of us there are, some of us are out here playing full games with no subs. So, yeah, when I got here I was getting good training in. Not only was I coming off of not being able to play for months, but I also hadn’t gone on long runs in forever. Years ago, before we were even on the Ravens, Riko and I would go running around campus. But once we were official Ravens and had night practices, we haven’t done it since. We had no time, we would spend our time on the court before we would even think of going running. The Foxes and Coach Wymack really helped me get back to where I needed to be, I’m so thankful to be able to play again.”

The reporter wouldn’t realize what Kevin had said, and how it didn’t match up. She would realize it when she went over tapes, or had someone write an article about Kevin bouncing back from a hit and run that happened while Riko and Kevin were on their usual late nights runs. While she was talking about it, or someone was writing about it, they would realize the discrepancy in that story when they noticed that Kevin said very clearly that he and Riko hadn’t ran together in years.

At that moment, though, she just nodded along with a grin on her face. Captain Danielle Wilds came into view, but Nathaniel didn’t catch what she was asked. All eyes were on Riko, because while the reporter wouldn’t catch the discrepancy, it was all the Ravens noticed. They were told by Riko himself that something terrible had happened to Kevin, by Tetsuji that Kevin was struck by a car while they were on their usual run. Yet, Kevin himself, the injured party, blew that truth out of the water in just a couple sentences.

“Didn’t you say that you and Kevin would go on runs all the time?” Jenkins asked.

“He doesn’t know what he’s saying,” Riko managed out, his eyes locked on the TV.

“He seemed very confident in what he had to say,” Andrew unexpectedly said from besides Nathaniel.

“Shut up!” Riko shouted, and Nathaniel didn’t miss some of their teammates flinching. He wondered if Riko felt his own validity crumbling to pieces. Riko looked over at where Nathaniel and Andrew were sitting, except his eyes weren’t on Andrew. He was staring directly at Nathaniel. Riko didn’t know that Andrew knew everything, he didn’t know that Nathaniel and Andrew were constantly speaking with Kevin; Riko thought that everything that really happened with Kevin was just a secret between him and Nathaniel. He was waiting for Nathaniel to say something, to say anything that would give up Riko’s crumbling alibi. It was a threat; if Nathaniel said one wrong thing, Riko would kill him. Riko wanted to see if Nathaniel was smart enough to stay quiet.

Nathaniel had an attitude problem, but luckily for him, he knew when to save his remarks for a later date when they would be more beneficial. To reveal the truth now would give Riko an opening to destroy Nathaniel; Nathaniel was smarter than that.

Nathaniel met Riko’s eyes and said nothing. For right now, he would leave Riko the satisfaction of thinking that he scared Nathaniel into silence. He would let Riko try to convince his teammates that Kevin was delusional, because inevitably he would fail.

The lie that had been formed was finally being broken apart. The end never looked so clear and bright.

--

In the morning, Tetsuji was forced to call off another practice. Instead of practicing, the Ravens were corralled into their lounge. Nathaniel was sitting on one of the loveseats with Andrew at his side. Riko was alert, sitting tense on one of the recliners. The rest of the athletes were groggy with sleep, but anyone with a mind could see what was happening.

The door from above swung open, and all heads turned to the staircase. Down walked Edgar Allan’s Director of the Board of Education and the Athletics’ Director. After them came Tetsuji; he looked emotionless, though Nathaniel had a feeling it was just a facade. Even he had to know what was coming for them.

The Education Director stared down the athletes. “After the departure of two of your athletes, one with severe injuries, one in need of ‘time away’, we grew suspicious. We planned to have done this already, but we were told it would have been of no use,” he said, sliding a look to Tetsuji. “Now, though, it either seems that it was of use, or one of your top athletes doesn’t know how he broke his hand. We have a warrant from the board to search through your dormitories-” He held up a piece of paper. In his other hand were black garbage bags. “-You all will stay here as we do so, and no one is permitted to take anything from their dorm or leave.” He paused. “This team is in hot water right now. Even if all of you are confident in that nothing incriminating is in these dorms, it would bode best for all of you to listen and comply.”

Nathaniel hoped that they would see Riko as incriminating evidence, but he didn’t know if they could remove a person and take him to the Board of Education for inspection.

The Athletics’ Director looked over the athletes in front of him, and his eyes came to a stop at Nathaniel. It had only been a few days since Riko hit him, and the bruise on his jaw was an unmissable, ugly green. The Director didn’t say anything, but Nathaniel imagined that he would take note of that.

Both directors waited a moment longer, a dare to see if any of the athletes would disapprove. When they were satisfied with no one’s response, they headed down the hall that led to the red dormitories. They were the dorms for the athletes with two digit numbers; the ones suspected to leave no impact on the Exy world. They weren’t the reasons for the Directors being down in the Nest, but maybe the two of them hadn’t heard about their corrupt captain.

It wasn’t long until the Directors came back to the lounge. The bags in their hands looked empty, perhaps one or two items that were prohibited thrown in, but nothing major. Nathaniel didn’t expect them to find anything there in the first place. The black dormitories would grant them much more success in their search. The single digit players were the ones expected to yield success, five (now three) of which were expected to be stars in the Exy world, three of which were expected to earn the Moriyamas money, one of which was a Moriyama. The Directors would have fun in that wing.

Nathaniel believed some bloodstained clothes were still tossed in a pile somewhere in his room. Laundry was such a hassle sometimes.

Nathaniel also knew that Riko had knives somewhere in his room, along with who knows what else, and that Kevin’s belongings were still in their shared room.

The Ravens watched as they entered the black wing. Nathaniel shifted his eyes to Riko, who was staring blankly down the hall. The tension in the room seemed to shift from bad to worse. Just twenty-four hours before, the Ravens who were not Perfect Court hadn’t expected anything. They believed that Kevin broke his hand in a hit-and-run. They knew Riko was violent but they didn’t know the extent of it. Nathaniel found himself wondering if they knew what he did to Jean. He wasn’t going to ask to find out.

But now, everything had changed. Kevin had revealed that perhaps Tetsuji -who was standing perfectly still, watching over his team- and Riko had lied about what happened to him. Their rooms were being searched for evidence that the Ravens were a corrupt team, and how it was to be found in their captain’s room. Nathaniel always knew the corruption in the Ravens and how it tiered down from the Moriyamas, and he saw how blind they all were to it when they all believed Tetsuji’s words with no question, but now they couldn’t trust who they were forced to.

In this room, everyone’s lives were being flipped around. The rest of the Ravens couldn’t be blind, or play blind, any longer. Their team was at stake, and if Nathaniel knew any of these people, they either played Exy or they died. There was no way they could turn away from the corruption and the violence when there was a chance they would lose their only way of breathing easy.

What a tragic life these Ravens lived.

A couple minutes passed and the directors came back. Their bags were significantly more filled. The Athletics’ Director sweeped a cool gaze over everyone in the room before landing on Tetsuji. “We need to speak with you about some of the… belongings your athletes had, specifically in that room at the end.”

The room at the end was Riko’s.

Tetsuji nodded once. He followed them up the stairs.

When the door swung close, eyes shifted from one to another but, in the end, they fell upon their captain. Nathaniel turned to Riko and opened his mouth. The words he said next could have been borderline suicidal if Riko wasn’t under such heavy scrutiny. His next words told Riko that he had no secrets any longer; everything that he had done was bound to be brought to surface:

“Careful Riko, everyone’s watching.”

Riko said nothing, but he did tense his jaw. Out of his peripheral vision, Nathaniel saw Andrew give the smallests of nods to Riko.

It was enough to show that this secret between Riko and Nathaniel was never really between them at all. It was a sign that Riko was never as subtle as he hoped.

Nathaniel wondered if Riko’s stomach flipped at his fall from grace, or if it fell freely because, in the back of his mind, he knew everything would come crashing down at one point.

[ao3feed-grishaverse]

birds of a feather

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/2Qud2GP

by surviving_and_thriving

who would've thought there would be so many books that focus a bit too heavily on crows/ravens? not me.

anyway! this is a collection of one-shots for the raven cycle, all for the game, and six of crows :) feel free to leave suggestions/prompts in the comments

MOST RECENT UPDATE: neil likes being neil josten, but sometimes he wishes he chose a different name. on his bad days, neil sounds a little too close to nathaniel.

Words: 1509, Chapters: 1/?, Language: English

Fandoms: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic, Six of Crows Series - Leigh Bardugo, Raven Cycle - Maggie Stiefvater

Rating: Not Rated

Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings

Categories: F/F, F/M, Gen, M/M

Characters: Neil Josten, Andrew Minyard, Aaron Minyard, Kevin Day, Renee Walker (All For The Game), Allison Reynolds (All For The Game), Danielle "Dan" Wilds, Matt Boyd, Seth Gordon, David Wymack, Abby Winfield, Jean Moreau, Jeremy Knox, Laila Dermott, Alvarez (All For The Game), Katelyn (All For The Game), Wylan Van Eck, Jesper Fahey, Inej Ghafa, Kaz Brekker, Nina Zenik, Matthias Helvar, Dregs (Six of Crows), Blue Sargent, Richard Gansey III, Adam Parrish, Ronan Lynch, Noah Czerny, Nicky Hemmick, Erik Klose, Henry Cheng, god i hope thats everyone

Relationships: Neil Josten/Andrew Minyard, Matt Boyd/Danielle "Dan" Wilds, Katelyn/Aaron Minyard, Allison Reynolds/Renee Walker (All For The Game), Jeremy Knox/Jean Moreau, Jesper Fahey/Wylan Van Eck, Kaz Brekker/Inej Ghafa, Matthias Helvar/Nina Zenik, Richard Gansey III/Blue Sargent, Nicky Hemmick/Erik Klose, Ronan Lynch/Adam Parrish, plus all the lovey friendships :)

Additional Tags: please help this is what happens when all my classes are online, I have too much free time, every one of these one shots was written past midnight

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/2Qud2GP

[ao3feed-trc]

birds of a feather

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/2Qud2GP

by surviving_and_thriving

who would've thought there would be so many books that focus a bit too heavily on crows/ravens? not me.

anyway! this is a collection of one-shots for the raven cycle, all for the game, and six of crows :) feel free to leave suggestions/prompts in the comments

MOST RECENT UPDATE: neil likes being neil josten, but sometimes he wishes he chose a different name. on his bad days, neil sounds a little too close to nathaniel.

Words: 1509, Chapters: 1/?, Language: English

Fandoms: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic, Six of Crows Series - Leigh Bardugo, Raven Cycle - Maggie Stiefvater

Rating: Not Rated

Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings

Categories: F/F, F/M, Gen, M/M

Characters: Neil Josten, Andrew Minyard, Aaron Minyard, Kevin Day, Renee Walker (All For The Game), Allison Reynolds (All For The Game), Danielle "Dan" Wilds, Matt Boyd, Seth Gordon, David Wymack, Abby Winfield, Jean Moreau, Jeremy Knox, Laila Dermott, Alvarez (All For The Game), Katelyn (All For The Game), Wylan Van Eck, Jesper Fahey, Inej Ghafa, Kaz Brekker, Nina Zenik, Matthias Helvar, Dregs (Six of Crows), Blue Sargent, Richard Gansey III, Adam Parrish, Ronan Lynch, Noah Czerny, Nicky Hemmick, Erik Klose, Henry Cheng, god i hope thats everyone

Relationships: Neil Josten/Andrew Minyard, Matt Boyd/Danielle "Dan" Wilds, Katelyn/Aaron Minyard, Allison Reynolds/Renee Walker (All For The Game), Jeremy Knox/Jean Moreau, Jesper Fahey/Wylan Van Eck, Kaz Brekker/Inej Ghafa, Matthias Helvar/Nina Zenik, Richard Gansey III/Blue Sargent, Nicky Hemmick/Erik Klose, Ronan Lynch/Adam Parrish, plus all the lovey friendships :)

Additional Tags: please help this is what happens when all my classes are online, I have too much free time, every one of these one shots was written past midnight

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/2Qud2GP

[ao3feed-thefoxholecourt]

birds of a feather

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/2Qud2GP

by surviving_and_thriving

who would've thought there would be so many books that focus a bit too heavily on crows/ravens? not me.

anyway! this is a collection of one-shots for the raven cycle, all for the game, and six of crows :) feel free to leave suggestions/prompts in the comments

MOST RECENT UPDATE: neil likes being neil josten, but sometimes he wishes he chose a different name. on his bad days, neil sounds a little too close to nathaniel.

Words: 1509, Chapters: 1/?, Language: English

Fandoms: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic, Six of Crows Series - Leigh Bardugo, Raven Cycle - Maggie Stiefvater

Rating: Not Rated

Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings

Categories: F/F, F/M, Gen, M/M

Characters: Neil Josten, Andrew Minyard, Aaron Minyard, Kevin Day, Renee Walker (All For The Game), Allison Reynolds (All For The Game), Danielle "Dan" Wilds, Matt Boyd, Seth Gordon, David Wymack, Abby Winfield, Jean Moreau, Jeremy Knox, Laila Dermott, Alvarez (All For The Game), Katelyn (All For The Game), Wylan Van Eck, Jesper Fahey, Inej Ghafa, Kaz Brekker, Nina Zenik, Matthias Helvar, Dregs (Six of Crows), Blue Sargent, Richard Gansey III, Adam Parrish, Ronan Lynch, Noah Czerny, Nicky Hemmick, Erik Klose, Henry Cheng, god i hope thats everyone

Relationships: Neil Josten/Andrew Minyard, Matt Boyd/Danielle "Dan" Wilds, Katelyn/Aaron Minyard, Allison Reynolds/Renee Walker (All For The Game), Jeremy Knox/Jean Moreau, Jesper Fahey/Wylan Van Eck, Kaz Brekker/Inej Ghafa, Matthias Helvar/Nina Zenik, Richard Gansey III/Blue Sargent, Nicky Hemmick/Erik Klose, Ronan Lynch/Adam Parrish, plus all the lovey friendships :)

Additional Tags: please help this is what happens when all my classes are online, I have too much free time, every one of these one shots was written past midnight

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/2Qud2GP

[jemej3m]

To the Good Place We Go (p.1)

part one! hope u like this crossover. hopefully it makes sense???

I read @gluupor‘s hilarious Good Place au and wanted to have a crack at my own! note to gluupor, i’ve changed things around a bit but thanks for the idea! 

link to their the good place au here:  https://archiveofourown.org/works/16782301

part two here: http://jemejem.tumblr.com/post/182518336942/to-the-good-place-we-go

Dan was having the worst day.

And this was the Good Place. She wasn’t supposed to have bad days. She’d spent her life trying to wade through misgivings and a lack of opportunities: Now she was dead, and she was supposed to be happy—forever!

Instead, she was staring at her living room, which was on fire, and wondered what the frick she did to deserve such bullshirt.

Neil—always, Neil—pointed at Kevin. “He did it.”

“Dan, I’m so sorry—“ Matthew Boyd begged. “I tried to get them to stop yelling, but Kevin fell back onto a candle and so Andrew went to get water to put it out, but he thought it’d be funny to pour Vodka instead—How he got Vodka, I don’t know—“

“It was me!” Nicky cheerfully chirped from the corner.

“And so Kevin was really on fire, so Allison asked Nicky to turn on the sprinklers, but not before she could ask for an umbrella, but she never specified which sprinklers, so whilst your garden is currently being nicely watered, Kevin’s whole ass is exposed and your living room is a mess!” He wore his pathetic puppy eyes, and whilst he’d been pestering her to go on a date (“We’re soulmates, Dan! Think about it! We could be happy together, forever, if you just listened to me—Hey! Where are you going—!”) He was seemingly sincere.

Kevin was sitting in a bucket of ice, teeth chattering. Neil was laying on the sofa, grinning up at Andrew, who smoked lazily. Dan hoped he hadn’t used Kevin’s fire catastrophe to light his cigarette, but knowing Andrew, he probably had.

“Oh, dear.” Renee said, softly, from Dan’s side.

Here’s how this all started:

Dan got into the Good Place. Wymack, the ever-present, genderless guardian of their neighbourhood who used he and him pronouns, F0X35, had greeted her at her initiation. She’d died in a brawl outside a strip club, her strip club. She knew she’d been protecting her fellow stage sister, but couldn’t understand how she’d ended up in the Good Place.

“Sex isn’t necessarily immoral, Danielle.” Wymack reminded her. “Neither is stripping. And saving your friend’s life with non-violent negotiations—very brave, and very effective!” They sighed. “Such a shame he had to stab you in the back out of fury as you were escorting your friend back inside. Would you like to hear a recording of how he is experiencing the Bad Place? Your friend stabbed him with your murder weapon out of anger.”

“She what?” Dan had blanched. “Is she alright?”

“Oh, she’s fine. Don’t you worry.” He huffed, arms flexing as they stood out of his chair. “Welcome to the Good Place, Danielle. Would you like a cup of coffee before Nicky escorts you to your new home?”

“But sir—“

“No buts.” Wymack pointed at her. “Tea, coffee, lemonade or scoot.”

She stood obediently, nodded in thanks and left.

She hadn’t need to worry about her unremarkably neutral life, wherein she’d done just as many shirty things as she had good things, because her soulmate—Matthew Boyd, an overbearing young man with horrifically spiked hair and pouted lips—confessed to her immediately.  

“I don’t know why I’m here.” He whispered. They were sitting together on her couch: She was in a studio-style house, with a jacuzzi and a large bed. It was sophisticated but not excessive: It was perfect. “I overdosed on drugs at a socialite’s party, with a bunch of rich shirt-heads! Oh, gosh, Wymack’s going to kick me down to the Bad Place, isn’t he?”

“Shh.” Dan hissed. “I was a stripper and totally scammed and stole from all my customers so I could support my aunt and my baby cousin, I wasn’t much better.”

Matt looked relieved. “Oh, thank gosh. I was terrified of having to keep my secret for all of eternity. This must be why we’re soulmates.”

“Because we’re shirty people in disguise.” Dan said dryly. He looked sheepish. “Whatever. Whatever’s happened, it’s probably a mix-up. Do you want to go down to the Bad Place, because I don’t. My killer is there. So keep your mouth shut.”

“Yes ma’am.” He muttered.

That was how she’d found out about Matthew. The others had all followed suit: She found Kevin and Neil trying to beat each other up in a secluded spot by the lake, yelling censored profanities at each other and insulting each other with petty accusations.

“You stole Andrew’s whisky!”

Kevin blanched, before scowling furiously. “You were there!”

Dan tore them apart physically then tore into them verbally. By the end they were sullen but quiet, and Dan walked down the lake’s jetty, her heart thudding in her chest. How many of them were frauds? The neighbourhood only had three-hundred and twenty-two of them, and she could count four that definitely didn’t qualify to be there.

Andrew sailed past the jetty she stood on, laying on his back in a little row boat. His eyes were closed, arm thrown lazily over his face. In his hand, he spun a terrifyingly sharp throwing knife.

“Interfere with my things again and I’ll get you kicked out of here.” Andrew floated away, leaving Dan struck silent.

Make that five people.

Eventually, she discovered the rest. Some, on accident: Some, like Kevin and Neil, because of truly stupid and avoidable situations. Some, like Matt and Renee, just came right out with it.

That’s how all ten of them —  Allison, because she was ‘deprived of gossip’, Renee, because she was at least somewhat moral, Matt, because Dan couldn’t shake him off her tail, Seth because he was arrogant but not stupid enough to miss this entire sham, Kevin, Andrew and Aaron, because they went everywhere together, Neil because he was like a lost puppy, and Nicky, because someone had called for him—ended up in Dan’s living room and promptly wrecked the place when she’d gone to check the perimeter for nosy neighbours.

She never remembered lighting those candles, anyway.

“Everyone,” She said, barely able to contain her anger. “Shut up. Don’t move. Or so help me, I’ll kill you all.”

“Too late.” Neil harped, before Kevin whacked him over the back of the head and he sulked into the couch.

“We’re going to figure something out, as a group, okay?” She insisted. “Okay?”  

They mumbled in assent.

Dan sighed. If all the shirt she’d endured in her short life hadn’t aged her, trying to conceal eight people’s true moral standings so that they wouldn’t be struck from a peaceful afterlife surely would.

Welcome to the forking Good Place.

“Now, Renee, do you understand?”

She nodded. “Ingenious, really, sir.”

He sighed, rubbing his temples. “Fortunately for you, Renee, much of your reformation happened whilst on earth. The others didn’t get that chance, so it will take much longer for them to come forward about their true moral standings. You must not tell them that it’s a test, okay?”

“Okay.” She promised. “I hope they succeed.”

This was honest, as Renee stood by honesty: She had confronted Wymack on her first morning, after their introductory seminar in the town square, telling him her true upbringing, her crimes and her regrets. He had smiled with relief and sat her down in his office to explain the truth: A select group were all unqualified for the Good Place, but could earn their spot if dedicated enough. He’d known about her all along.

“I hope you all do.” Wymack confirmed. “This—Middle Place Project—Nicky!”

Nicky popped up from behind the desk, next to Wymack. Renee smiled at him and he waved, curls bouncing. “Yes, sir?”

“From now on, we’re referring to F-0-X-3-5 as MPP, for efficiency purposes, and also to keep it discreet. Also, tick off Renee Walker’s name from MRPFMPPL1.”

“What does that mean?” Renee inquired.

“Moral Rehabilitation Process For Middle Place Project List 1.” Wymack frowned. “That is a bit much, isn’t it. Nicky, change all the MRPFMPPL’s to just Test and whatever number it is.”

“Of course!” And then he disappeared again.

It was an odd thing, the afterlife. And while Renee had placed all her faith in God, she wasn’t disappointed to find a non-denominational place for a peaceful existence after death. Besides, Wymack was practically at the bottom of the chain in regards to omnipotent guardians.

He turned back to her. “Where were we?”

“Discussing the Middle Place Project.” She reminded him. “You were saying you hope we all succeed.”

“Right, right. Well, my superiors think it’s a bad idea. They’re a bit old-fashioned: Everything’s black and white for them: There’s no such thing as second, third, fourth chances, not for lost causes. Sound familiar?”

She nodded.

“We’re working on it, but it’s not your concern. Okay?”

“Okay.” She promised. His words were always soothing, so any unrest she felt was immediately eased.

“Alright, well, that should be everything.” He stood. “Get lost, Walker, and have fun.”

She hesitated by the door. “Wymack?”

He looked up at her from the papers on his desk. They hadn’t been there a moment ago. “Hm?”

“Do you believe in lost causes?”

He paused. A tiny smiled appeared. “Is there anything else worth believing in?”

She beamed and closed the door behind her.

Andrew wasn’t interested in his own wellbeing, but he’d promised Kevin that he wouldn’t let Riko take him down to the Bad Place, and he’d promised to always stand by Aaron’s side. Turns out Walker — not-so-innocent Walker — had beat him in Wymack’s honesty race.

Andrew had planned on telling him about his mother, the four homophobes at the bar, the arson and thievery, the violence. That’d surely get him sent to the Bad Place, where he’d wipe Kevin and Aaron’s names from record and then get to spend the rest of eternity being the Devil’s incarnate, or whatever.

So when Wymack had congratulated him, called his pet robot to strike his name off the list and informed him that it was all a stupid forking test, he’d felt a flicker of rage—towards himself, for not suspecting this.

Then his attention turned elsewhere. “Just me and Walker, right?”

“Correct.” Wymack nodded.

“So can you tell me about Neil?”

Wymack frowned. “What about him?”

“Well, he’s a liar and a threat.” Andrew said, petulantly.  

“Is this because he’s your soulmate?” Wymack furrowed his brows. “I understand that with your past, such an intimate proposition might be intimidating, but I assure you that—“

What? Neil, his soulmate?

Irrelevant. Not true. Andrew didn’t have a soul, so how could he have a soulmate? He flung the fleeting idea aside and bludgeoned on. “No, I’m saying that Neil’s a threat to the safety of this whole fricking mission of yours and if you got your stupid fricking omnipotent head out of your frigid ash, you’d see the same. Ash. You know I’m trying to say ash, not ash. Fork.”

Wymack shook his head. “You’re not the boss here, Andrew. Okay? Leave me to worry about these things. Talk to Nicky about talking to someone, wont you? Trauma is best dealt with through professional therapeutic techniques.”

Andrew bristled, standing up.

“Storming out is very immature!” Wymack called.

“Fork you!” He yelled back.

So Wymack had given him a non-discreet warning to leave the problems to him, but since when had Andrew ever obeyed a request, or failed a promise? Never. And he wasn’t going to start now, not even in death. So he decided to take care of Neil himself.

Step one: Intimidate.

Glaring didn’t work. They were all standing around, socialising from behind glasses of champagne. Andrew let his eyes linger on Neil’s lithe form, the high cheekbones. And yet, when Neil noticed Andrew’s heavy stare, he simply rose his eyebrows up as a challenge.

He tried a more tactical method, being, shoving Neil up against a white-and-gold patterned wall in an abandoned corridor—who’s house was this, anyway?—his forearm against Neil’s throat.

“You’re not meant to be here.” He hissed, leaning in close enough that their noses were practically brushing.

“Really?” Neil snapped. “What about you, murderer?”

The accusation slid off Andrew like water off laminated paper, so he bared his teeth and leaned impossibly closer. “All bark, no bite, rabbit.”

“Rabbits don’t bark.” Neil’s lips curled up, ever so slightly.

Andrew shoved off him and made himself scarce.

So. Intimidating didn’t work. He moved onto step two: Investigating.

Nicky was useless, smiling in a way that made Andrew want to pull his teeth out and shove them into his eyes. “I can’t reveal personal information about other residents. I can, however, provide you with a Wikipedia page.”

Neil Josten.

It came up with nothing.

“Thanks for nothing.” He said, dryly.

“You’re welcome!” He beamed, before disappearing again. Good lot of help that was.

So, once again, he upped the theatrics. Nicky, though disapproving, gave him a dozen sachets of cracker dust. It was only a matter of time before Allison hosted another stupid party, as though she was trying to better her parents in the afterlife. Ridiculous.

“A drink?” Nicky offered him. He was deliberately standing by Neil, who was refusing to admit his discomfort and move away. Stubborn little shirt.

“Whisky.” He hooked a finger under Neil’s chin. “You?”

“I’m fine.”

“He’ll get a soda.” Andrew amended.

Neil frowned. “Why are you being nice?”

“Got off on the wrong foot, didn’t we? Wouldn’t want to continue our eternal partnership as soulmates hacking at each others throats, would we?”

The colour drained from Neil’s cheeks. “We’re what?”

Nicky appeared with the two drinks: Andrew intercepted, a sachet ready in his palm, and handed Neil the soda. It was still swirling around its glass when he took a massive gulp, positively shaken by Andrew’s admission.

“You seem shaken, Neil.” Andrew leaned forward. “Didn’t think a monster such as myself could have a soulmate? That’s very hypocritical, if my suspicions about you are correct.”

He drained the glass in an attempt to avoid answering Andrew’s pestering, but he was already wobbling on his feet. A secure arm around the waist kept him upright until they’d found themselves in what looked exactly identical to wherever they were before; Allison’s place was a fucking maze.

“What did you do!” Neil spluttered, furious. Scratching at his skin, his voice became hysterical and  breathing became laboured. “I forking swear to gosh, I’ll kill you, I will—“

“What are you doing here, Neil?” Andrew demanded. “Are you from the Bad Place? Trying to drag us all back down there?”

“You think I’m a mole?” He said, incredulous. He was readily turning a putrid shade of green. Andrew wondered if what Nicky gave him was actually cracker dust. Could have been asbestos. cyanide, maybe even ground up Lucky Charms: There was no way of telling. “Are you out of your Gosh-darned mind, you psychotic forking midget?”

He was the midget? Neil was only three inches taller. Andrew leaned into his ear. “Give me one good reason to let you stay, and I’ll back off. Clear?”

“I’m going to be sick.” Neil moaned, shoving weakly at Andrew.

He shrugged. “Suit yourself.”

Then he left, leaving a very poorly and bewildered Neil alone. There would always be another day: This was the afterlife, after all. This was eternal.

What he wasn’t expecting was Neil Josten in all his blatant honesty, sitting on the roof of his own house at sunset. He had two cigarettes on hand, offering one to Andrew and looking out wistfully over the rolling fields and fellow neighbour’s abodes.

This house was identical to Cass’s. It was meant to be all his, empty of his old demons and offering only the best memories. If only Andrew’s mind was remotely functional: Then he would be able to isolate the good and the bad, and be able to live in peace under this roof. Except he couldn’t, so he had to stare at a forking muffin tray and think about the time his foster brother forked him half to death.  

It’s why he had a hammock drawn up between two trees at the bottom of his garden. He was creating a nice little space for himself, behind a large bush that obstructed the house from view.

“I don’t really know why I’m so terrified of the truth when I’m already dead.” Neil said, thoughtfully. “I suppose I’m scared of meeting my father again if I’m sent down there. He’s the one who killed me, by the way. What am I saying—I know I’ll see him again. He’s my worst nightmare. He’s bad enough that they probably promoted him in anticipation of my arrival.”

“Why are you telling me this.” Andrew said flatly, despite the leap of his heart.

Neil shrugged, eyes cast downwards. “I know you wont turn me in. I don’t know how I know, or why I’m so sure, but I just—“ He waved his hands around. “I don’t forking know.”

Andrew could attest to that. Nodding, they smoked in agreeable silence. What was surprising was the weight of—could it be—guilt? It pressed down on his shoulders, and he hated. So he straightened up, looked right at the sun like he was never able to on Earth, and said; “Truth for truth. This house is a replica of my almost adoptive family’s home. I hate it.”

Neil was looking at him. Andrew hated that too. Why was it, that when they had all of eternity stretched out in front of them, he felt like spilling every secret he’d withheld on Earth? It made no sense. This made no sense. Neil made no sense.

Especially when he said; “So come stay at mine.”

So, yeah. Neil’s strange brand of honesty shocked Andrew enough for him to forget that nothing ever took him by surprise. But only for a moment. And yes, his devastatingly sharp cheekbones and incredibly blue eyes were horrible and Andrew hated every atom of Neil’s being, but he found himself smoking in silence beside the young man and finding it—comfortable.

As far as he knew, it was still just him and Renee who had confronted Wymack. A few weeks had to have passed since, but Andrew had no way of knowing the time or date, so he couldn’t say for sure. What he could say was that Wymack was frustratedly pacing grooves into the carpets of his office, waiting for one of them to step forward and prove their integrity. Neil was a jumble of lies and dead-ends, and the only thing he’d come clean about were his motives for staying in this place.

Neil would be the last to confess to Wymack. Andrew was sure of it.

Which was why, when Neil stood up at a neighbourhood meeting, Andrew’s entire being came to a grinding holt

He had the sun illuminating a red halo from above, the ferocity of his gaze intense and determined.

“I don’t belong here.” Neil admitted, in front of dozens and dozens of people. “I’m not who you think I am, and I don’t belong here.”

Oh, Andrew thought. Fork you, Neil.

hope u enjoyed!

[ohsweetflips]

hawk in the raven nest, chapter twelve

chapter summary: do you really get used to all the orange. do you really.

A/N: thank you for reading!!! feedback is appreciated!!!

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There were many things Nathaniel did not like about the Palmetto State Foxes. He didn’t like that they were a team of rejects that received so much publicity when it should be going to teams that deserved it, like the Ravens, or even the Trojans. He didn’t like how they managed to keep their Class I rank after all the failures they have had. He didn’t like how they barely came together as a team for games; he felt like he saw more fighting than playing. He didn’t like how the weather was still so warm, even in October; he couldn’t necessarily blame the Foxes for that, but he was still bitter.

Most of all, though, he hated how orange everything was. Everything was too orange and too bright and he was getting a headache. At least the darkness of the Nest was easy on the eyes; being at Palmetto was like being blinded. Between the shining sun, heat, obnoxious fans, and even more obnoxious colors, Nathaniel really just wanted to kick the Foxes’ asses and go back to the Nest. The only thing keeping him here was the fact that, for the first time in months, the Ravens would see Kevin as a coach instead of an athlete. None of the Ravens were concerned about losing. The Ravens hadn’t lost a game yet, which surprised no one. They weren’t even concerned that the Foxes had won five out of their seven games; most of them were close calls. No, the Ravens thought more about how their coach and Perfect Court would react to seeing Kevin, and what the reporters would end up saying. Nathaniel could already hear the grating questions thrown himself and the rest of the Perfect Court about how they felt about this “betrayal” or if they’re worried about their rank or if they think they’re better without Kevin.

Frankly, Nathaniel was just hoping to see that Kevin was healing and well. He wasn’t worried about the game in relation to their plan. Kevin had told Nathaniel and Andrew to not worry about whether or not the Foxes beat the Ravens. The Ravens could completely destroy the Foxes and the plan could still go as they wanted it to. Kevin just kept saying on every phone call that his new team was getting a new athlete in November, and then things would hit the ground running. Nathaniel was still wary in trusting a random new athlete, but the confidence Kevin had was uplifting.

The game itself would be a pain in the ass. But at least Nathaniel had Kevin watching from the outer court observing how to make the Foxes more efficient in playing against the Ravens, and he had Andrew on court with him, a stabilizing force for him with all that had been going on.

Nathaniel was slightly less bitter about their current situation when he entered the locker room. Slightly. Him, Andrew, and Kevin all being in the same vicinity helped sedate his annoyance, even when affronted with bright, white lockers and orange paw prints printed everywhere in the guest locker room.

That bitterness subsided even more when Andrew took the locker one away from Nathaniel. Riko had the locker across from Nathaniel, and Jean next to him, but with Andrew so near to him, Riko’s presence didn’t feel so damning. Nathaniel felt a smile pull at his lips and turned back to his locker before people could see.

When Nathaniel had his gear pulled on, save his helmet and gloves, he closed his locker and found Riko waiting for him at the end of the row. He was waiting for all of them, eyes flicking from Nathaniel, to Andrew, to Jean.

“Tonight, we’re making Kevin realize that leaving the Ravens was the biggest mistake of his life,” Riko started. It wasn’t an inspirational speech before a game, it was a command to make Kevin regret everything he had done in the past couple of months. “He thinks he can pull this worthless team out of the gutter? Instead, he’s going to find out that Kevin Day died the moment he walked out of Castle Evermore.” Riko spoke like the other three in front of him were all on his side; Nathaniel wondered how he would react if he knew that all three of them, along with Kevin, were plotting his demise. One day, Riko would realize that the mistake made wasn’t Kevin leaving the Ravens, but it was Riko’s own over-consumption of power and pride.

Instead, they just nodded along, because tonight Riko expected the Ravens to win. The Ravens would win. In March, when they all met again, except this time for the Championships at Edgar Allan, the Ravens would not win.

Nathaniel was used to being on his guard. Very rarely could he turn to a person and know that he trusted them. The way his life had folded out had caused him to believe that there were few people in the world deserving of trust. But this situation, right here right now, was so much different. Nathaniel wasn’t used to putting so much confidence in something, in a person, in Andrew Minyard. But this felt right, trusting Andrew felt right. Nathaniel gave Andrew his back, and finally he felt like someone wasn’t holding a knife to it. Andrew took Nathaniel and, no matter how much he denied it, gave him an alliance that formed not due to circumstance, but because both boys believed that the other was trustworthy. Then Kevin got involved, more than he already was, and Nathaniel realized that their King was going to be outnumbered.

Nathaniel was so ready for the collapse of Riko’s kingdom that his chest ached with want.

The team collected their rackets from the foyer. No one spoke, not even Tetsuji, who was just sweeping his eyes over all of them. Tetsuji was never one for motivational words; he leaned more towards threats. But a game like this required none

Nathaniel could hear the voice of the crowd before they even reached the court. He heard the Foxes’ fight song playing and assumed that their opponents had just entered the court. The Ravens entered not long after, and their arrival was immediately signaled by their own fight song, consumed with drums and power. Their song was not the Foxes’. The Foxes’ was loud, overwhelmed with horns and too much enthusiasm for a team like theirs. The Ravens’ was powerful, a reminder to who they play against that they are not to be taken lightly. His ears buzzed with the drums and the screaming. He ran his eyes over the court and the audience that awaited the most anticipated show. Everything was still very orange, but Nathaniel did not miss the clumps of black. Right above the Ravens’ bench was a reserved section for their fans, and their voices only grew when their eyes found the team. Stragglers who weren’t included in that section scattered throughout. Mourners of the Riko-Kevin split held signs that read “1 - 2”.

It was always one and two. It might always be one and two. Nathaniel hoped that one day Kevin would be his own person.

Nathaniel’s eyes finally brought him to the Foxes, who were already by their bench and watching them. A pitiful team of only eight, they shouldn’t even had been allowed to play. But when Kevin Day said to wait because he had someone coming, the ERC tended to listen.

Kevin Day, the man of every reporters’ and sports fans’ interest, stood with his head coach (and father, unbeknownst to the head coach) David Wymack. From where Nathaniel stood as they walked to their own bench, he couldn’t see any bandages on Kevin’s left hand. He could only imagine the scars that marred it.

Nathaniel didn’t get a long time to stare, for Tetsuji sent them on their warm-up laps. They took the inner court and ran in the opposite direction of the Foxes. How their laps usually went was that Riko and Kevin would take the front, Nathaniel and Jean right behind them, and then Andrew right behind the four, with the Ravens then trailing behind him. It was to show who dominated the team, who the Ravens fell in line behind. However, with Kevin gone, Nathaniel found himself being pulled up besides Riko. Andrew ended up next to Jean, and the team followed behind like nothing had changed.

“Do not look at them when we pass them,” Riko said over his shoulder. It was said to the entire team, but directed towards the Perfect Court. Reporters, fans, everyone expected them to be besides themselves with their loss for Kevin; Riko wanted to show the world that the Ravens’ were better off without him. When Riko received nods and a couple of comments of affirmation in response, he seemed satisfied and continued with leading the laps.

The Ravens did not look at the Foxes when they passed, and the Foxes did not look at the Ravens. Riko did not look at Kevin when he passed, and Kevin kept his eyes on the clipboard in front of them. Nathaniel would admit to having snuck a glance at their former striker; he hoped Riko did not notice.

Tetsuji then separated the team into those who would continue laps, and those who would start drills. All strikers and dealers were pulled to shoot on goal, while their defense line continued running. Nathaniel always thought it was useless to shoot on an empty goal, since now Jean and Andrew were leading the pack, but he figured Andrew wouldn’t have done much. The Ravens, even with a smaller team on the court, still outnumbered the Foxes by multiple bodies.

When warm ups were called to an end, the only players remaining on the court were Riko, and the Foxes’ captain, Danielle Wilds. Kevin had said that Danielle had admirable qualities as a captain, but needed to work harder as a player if she wanted to bring her team to success. After seeing Danielle with her toothy grins with her teammates and determination on the court, however, Nathaniel thought that perhaps Kevin underestimated the captain, and Nathaniel found himself with a growing respect for her.

It doubled when she met Riko at half-court for the coin toss and gave him a wide grin. The two had met before, and she had to know that Riko was, at best, an asshole. And yet, she met him with kindness, even if it was perhaps fake. Nathaniel didn’t think he could fathom doing what Danielle did.

The Ravens got first serve, so the Foxes got home side of the court. Both coaches readied their starting lineup. For the first time in playing for the Ravens, Nathaniel was looking at the back of Riko’s head instead of Kevin’s. The lineup had already all pulled on their helmets, but Nathaniel still felt the difference. With Kevin, Nathaniel was once able to call him a friend before he was just a fellow Raven. Riko was no friend, and with him looming in front, Nathaniel felt like he was being lead to doom. But with Andrew behind him, he felt like he could escape and leave Riko in hell.

The subs walked wordlessly past the lineup and out to the benches. Riko looked over his shoulder and said, “Don’t fuck this up.” The words seemed directed towards the line of athletes behind him, but Nathaniel knew they were for himself, Jean, and Andrew. For Riko, this game was a statement that the Ravens would prosper. For this game, Nathaniel won’t disappoint him; he can make no promises for later.

Nathaniel hadn’t realized that he missed the Foxes’ starting lineup being called out until Tetsuji motioned for them to go forward. He barely heard Riko be announced when he stepped out onto the court; the crowd went wild for the sons of Exy.

“Number three, Nathaniel Wesninski.”

Nathaniel stepped onto the court, trying to tune out the cheers that followed him. His ears rang, and he didn’t need this distraction at the moment, he didn’t want it. As he walked to his starting point, his eyes skimmed over where the Foxes were set up. He found Kevin, looking down at a clipboard in his hands. Even from here, Nathaniel could see that his knuckles were white. A woman next to him was speaking intently. Coach David Wymack had his eyes switching from his own athletes to their opponents; he knew what Ravens were capable of.

His eyes then scoped out his opponents. Despite the helmets and heavy gear protecting each body, he knew the Foxes’ starting lineup. The Ravens could list the lineup of each team they played; knowing the lineup determined whether the game was actually worth their time. This one, determined by the Ravens as one, was not. The Foxes had strong players, such as Matthew Boyd, Seth Gordon, and Danielle Wilds, but as a group they could barely pull it together. Danielle became their saving grace when she took on role of Captain, but even then the Foxes hardly have any coordination.

Renee Walker was currently in goal. Allison Reynolds and Danielle Wilds were in their positions as defensive and offensive dealers, respectively. Seth Gordon and Janie Smalls were on as leading strikers. Kevin told Nathaniel that he believed Smalls would end up benched before the season was halfway over. Matthew Boyd was on as one one the starting backliners. Nathaniel’s eyes then froze on a jersey with the name MINYARD in large, orange letters going across the back.

Nathaniel hadn’t thought to mention Aaron Minyard to Andrew after their conversation that night in the locker room. With everything that had been happening, with sneaking around to talk to Kevin and finding out ways to sit in the locker room, and still just being a Raven, Andrew’s brother and the thought that they would soon be seeing each other slipped Nathaniel’s mind. For a split second, Nathaniel wondered if Andrew felt anything towards it. If he expected some brotherly reunion, or even a simple nod towards each other. But then he remembered what Kevin said about how Aaron barely mentioned Andrew, and how Andrew had only mentioned Aaron twice in his time on the Ravens. Once, when he talked to Nathaniel in the locker room. Second, when he first got to the Ravens in his drugged state and said that his black armbands were to tell him and Aaron apart, despite being in different states. Andrew had said that he sent Aaron to Palmetto because it would be what was best for him. Nathaniel couldn’t help but wonder what Andrew was keeping Aaron away from.

The ball had been passed to their starting dealer, Engle. There were ten seconds on the clock and counting down. Despite the fact that there was no reason to feel any fear or nerves for this particular game, Nathaniel felt a jolt go through him. It was times like this, when he was watching the clock tick down and the crowd was roaring, that he remembered how much he loved Exy. Life could be shit, everything was being pulled apart at the seams, and if things went terribly he could be dead in a couple months. But he felt alive on the court. When he and Jean helped to guard goal, everything that wasn’t Exy washed away, and he was able to just focus on the one thing that he could truly use the word “love” to describe how he felt.

The buzzer rang through the court, signalling the start, and the sound had barely cut off before Engle served the ball. Nathaniel didn’t watch where it went; instead, his eyes were on Seth Gordon. Gordon was the strongest striker the Foxes currently had, and from the way he was racing towards him, Nathaniel assumed he was Gordon’s mark. Gordon had height on Nathaniel, but that meant nothing when their skills were compared.

Allison Reynolds had gotten possession of the ball and served it to Renee Walker in goal. Walker shot it back to Danielle Wilds. From there, she served it to Seth, who had now put what he deemed enough distance in between himself and Nathaniel.

It still didn’t stop Nathaniel from intercepting his pass and rebounding it back to Engle.

The ball was now near the Foxes’ goal, and in Riko’s possession. Then, in a pass that went from Riko to Engle to Jenkins and then back to Riko, the wall behind Walker lit up red. They were two and a half minutes into first half.

That was a sequence that continued through both halves, and by the ending buzzer, Nathaniel was left staring up at a scoreboard that read fourteen-three, Ravens, and three of those four points for the foxes were scored when Andrew wasn’t in goal. The stands roared around them, and he had a feeling that most of it was expressions of hatred for his team.

Nathaniel wasn’t surprised that the Ravens had crushed the Foxes. He knew it was going to happen, as did Andrew, Kevin, and ninety-nine percent of people. He was surprised with the Foxes, however; they put up a fight. They were more organized than usual.

It pleased him to know that Kevin was making a difference.

Nathaniel found himself without worry for how the next couple months would proceed.