#also my first chapter just reached 100 notes!! WHEEEEE!!!

[nickireadstfc]

The Foxhole Court, Chapter 10 – Your Friendly Neighborhood Shrink

In which we meet Betsy Dobson who appears to be Molly Weasley’s long-lost Ravenclaw sister, some quality Renee time happens, Kevin’s Stoic and Mighty Demeanor has nothing on Dan’s doughnuts, and actual school happens at some point but who gives a shit (spoiler alert: It’s not Neil Josten).

Sounds good? Then it’s time for Nicki to read The Foxhole Court.

           Classes were scheduled to start on Thursday, August 24th, so Wednesday’s practice was a bit of a convoluted mess.

Oh, right. Actual school is a thing in this book.

10 bucks says Neil will totally forget about the fact that college exists besides Exy all the damn time.

           Neil had forgotten the Foxes were supposed to meet with the psychiatrist Betsy Dobson before the semester began.

As had I.

FUCK YES. SHRINK TIME.

Also, Neil seems to forget an awful lot of things that aren’t either a) Exy, b) Kevin Day, c) his runaway paranoia or d) any combination of the aforementioned things.

On the drive to Betsy’s office, Neil is forced to spend a little time with Renee, which he hates and I love. Give me more Renee time, always.

           Nicky had only nice things to say about Renee, but Neil had noticed earlier that no one, Nicky included, wanted Renee and Andrew to be friends. Nicky likely sided with the upperclassmen in thinking Andrew was an awful influence on someone as sweet-tempered as Renee.

If it turns out they don’t like their friendship because it’s actually the other way around and they fear Renee “I’m probably a really cute axe murderer” Walker’s influence on Andrew I’m shitting myself.

(It’s probably not that. But let a girl dream.)

           [Neil] wanted to ask why she and Andrew got along so well, but he didn’t want to open up a conversation, so he stared hard out the window and hoped she got the hint.

Somehow, I feel like that’s a very Neil thing to do.

Oh, there’s this thing I really, really want to talk about because open honest conversation about things that bother/interest me could really improve my mental stability? Better never fucking talk about it, ever.

When will he stop being #relatable.

(I should point out at this point that I don’t necessarily always personally relate to things I describe as #relatable. I mean it more in the overall #relatable-ness, the “tumblr-slash-tagged-slash-me”-ness, the grand scheme of relatable things, if you so will.)

(I myself find myself relating more to Nicky than to Neil at this point anyways, morals about consent set aside.)

           Dr Betsy Dobson had pale brown hair to her chin and a few extra curves. Years of smiles were etched into her face the way only genuine warmth could scar. She looked friendly, but she wasn’t harmless. The brown eyes looking at him through narrow-rimmed glasses were bright and intelligent.

Which means the only way I’ll be able to see Betsy Dobson now is as a brown-haired, Ravenclaw version of Molly Weasley.

Heck yes.

          Neil took an instant disliking to her.

HOW DARE YOU.

I mean, I get it, trauma and anxiety, I don’t blame him, yadda yadda, also how dare you.

           “My name is Betsy Dobson. You can call me whatever you like; I’ll answer to just about anything from Betsy to Doc to Hey You. Shall I call you Neil, or would you prefer Mr. Josten?”

           “Either one is fine,” Neil said.

           “Then for the time being, I will call you Neil. If you’re ever offended or feel like this makes our relationship too personal, just warn me and I will edit it too something more appropriate for our needs. (…) Why don’t you get comfortable and I’ll make us some hot cocoa.”

That’s it, accepted, loved, cherished, made a nice lil corner for her in my heart, Bee, you’re a good egg.

This impression of her stays through their entire talk she has with Neil. She reminds me of  the psychiatrist I briefly saw when I was still in school, and as that woman was bloody amazing, this can only mean good things.

           “What you and I say in here is meant for us alone. [Wymack and Abby] will never ask, and I will never tell. Do you believe me?”

           “How can I?” Neil asked. “I just met you.”

           “I respect that,” Betsy said. “Hopefully I can earn your trust over time.”

GAH. <3

I’m so, so incredibly happy this character exists. Why is this talk over already.

I hope she comes back lots of times to bless us with wise insights and hot cocoa #cocoaoutforbetsy

Time for more Renee now!

           “That wasn’t so bad, was it? Andrew was convinced it would be a disaster. He put money on you hating Betsy.”

“Did you bet against him?”

           “Yes,” Renee said. “It was a private bet between the two of us.”

          (…)

           “I hope you didn’t lose much,” Neil said.

What’s that saying? ‘A subtle dash of savage a day keeps the curious teammates away’.

           “Why does Andrew tolerate you, anyway? You two should hate each other on principle.”

           “Either you think too highly of me or not highly enough of Andrew,” Renee said. (…) “My faith keeps me and Andrew from always seeing eye-to-eye, but he and I understand each other.”

Oh, so her cross necklace in those soft grungy tumblr edits isn’t just ~aesthetic religious symbolism~? This is v interesting. TELL ME MORE.

           There had to be more to Renee than her cross jewelry and pretty smiles if she’d qualified for a spot on Wymack’s broken team, Neil knew, but he hadn’t thought he’d misjudged her this badly. He mulled over everything that could be wrong with her from split personalities to clinical insanity.

Aha ha ha, literally me since we first met her. GIVE ME RENEE’S SNOWFLAKE AXE MURDERER BACKSTORY, AND GIVE IT TO ME NOW.

They get back to the Court, where Wymack gets ready to do one of the things he does best: Drop casual unexpected oh-shit news bombs.

           “If the press slips past and wants answers, you tell them we’re not saying anything until Kathy’s show on Saturday.”

           “Kathy?” Dan asked.

           “Kathy Ferdinand.” Wymack took one look at her confused face and scowled at Kevin. “Didn’t you tell them?”

           “There wasn’t a need to,” Kevin said.

There wasn’t a need to, my ass. This is prime Kevin-speak for “I don’t want you to watch me fake a billion smiles on national television because I don’t want you to see me as anything else than Prime Exy Overlord, Stoic and Mighty, All Hail Unto Him.”

Thankfully, the Foxes are fluent in Kevin-speak and take none of his bullshit.

           “Do you even remember how to smile?“ Matt asked. Kevin glared at him, but Matt only laughed. “Well, that’s worth going for. I’m in.”

           “I’ll buy us doughnuts for the ride,” Dan said.

It’s Road Trip To Embarrass Kevin Time!! Love this. Will mentally chip in on the doughnuts.

I also found my chapter title for that interview part just now.

           “No thank you,” Neil said.

           “I vetoed your choice on the matter,” Wymack said. “The ERC is outing you Friday morning. I don’t want you out of my sight until the initial hubbub dies down.”

           “I can take care of myself,” Neil said.

           “Watch me beam with pride. It’s not your job to take care of yourself anymore. It’s your job to play, and mine and Abby’s job to look after you. Get your priorities straight.”

Hello, and welcome to our popular show Neil Doesn’t Realize People Actually Care About Him, episode 2 of a billion!

Also, I want to make a sexuality joke at Neil getting his priorities straight, but I can’t decide on one. I’m sure they’re all ace though.

(I know he’s demi. You fucking try making a demi pun in that context, it’s bloody hard.)

(Actually, do try. Flood my inbox. PLEASE.)

           “Kevin, wake that dingbat up withought getting punched in the face. (…)”

           “I got it.” Nicky grimaced and gave Andrew a hard shake.

           (…) Andrew was moving before he was fully awake, slamming his fist so hard into Nicky’s chest that Neil’s entire body ached in sympathy pain.

Is this habit of Andrew punching the fuck out of people when they wake him going to become a running gag, because I love it.

(It’s probably to do with his backstory, yadda yadda, we all know this, boring, give me more hilarious accidental uppercuts.)

The next three pages are a pretty uneventful description of Neil’s first day at Actual College™, which I’ll spare you because of aforementioned uneventfulness.

Neil giving actual negative fucks about his education makes my lil Ravenclaw nerd heart weep, though. Just for the record.

           Neil debated for a minute as to which one [of his assignments] sounded least painful. Five minutes later he was still uninspired, so he put his head down on his desk.

#relatable, this time for real. Me doing maths/science homework in school, all the time.

Matt then catches him literally sleeping his textbooks and, to wrap things up, says the indisputably best thing anyone has said this entire chapter:

           “I’d say it gets easier, but.” Matt shrugged. “You should probably cut back on your late practices now that classes are in session.”

           “I’m fine,” Neil said. (…)

           “You say that an awful lot,” Matt said. “I’m starting to think you don’t know what it means.”

D R A G   H I M.

Neil “I’m fine” Josten has nothing on Matt “I can see your bullshit and I don’t like the way it stinks up my area” Boyd. <3