#exi goes from brown -> black

[nascentwaves]

Past Exi'vuro: a punk trying to adapt to the military lifestyle.

[dearanakin]

Biker Boy - !biker Eddie Munson

As requested by my girlie anonymous friend, who gave such a great idea, here it is!! I used the details as an excuse to make this short story spicy 🥹

Summary: You and Eddie are friends with benefits. Whenever he has the chance, he always gives you a ride and everytime you hear the engine and him revving, your body goes crazy. You have a kink he doesn't know, so maybe it's time to finally get the word out.

Warnings: oral sex, fingering, cursing, fluffiness. +18 DNI

Word count: 2k.

His engine was revving in the distance as you heard the roar of his motorcycle approaching your neighborhood. As you're just finishing getting ready, the sound of his vehicle makes your heart do a flip, it's always automatic. The anticipation of watching him riding his machine always made its way in. You run to the front door as soon as he pulls over on your sidewalk.

You watch as he leans his bike to one side and dismounts gracefully, your stomach sinking from the view. Clad in his black leather jacket, Eddie was wearing ripped jeans - as always -, white sneakers and leather gloves. Oh, the leather gloves. They certainly did things to you.

You and your friend became closer over the past months, then you had the greatest idea of becoming friends with benefits. Something your friends didn't quite understand because you both decided you'd be exclusive to each other. Robin would always say it kinda gives away the term, because you wouldn't date other people.

The metalhead had his face hidden under the helmet, only showing the end of his hair and his big brown chocolate eyes. Everything just sends shivers down your spine. As soon as he got rid of the helmet, his hair flung revealing a mop of tousled curls. His dark green motorcycle had fat tires, decorated with a silly amount of stickers of every kind; bands, movies, games. 

He had a gin, although he wasn't the biggest fan of a party. He promised he would only go because it was Steve's, and because his friend got into college. 

"Hey sweet thing," he greeted you with a small kiss on your forehead. You gave him some space to get inside your house, leaving the helmet on the coffee table and taking his jacket off.

"It'll be a couple of minutes, just finishing my makeup". He only then noticed how pretty you were looking. You were wearing a tight black dress, brown boots and your hair was perfectly sat on a ponytail.

"You look too stunning to wear makeup," Eddie responded and you chuckled.

"Always such a gentleman". You took that opportunity to finally give him a proper kiss as he sat on the armrest of your couch. But then your eyes caught a glimpse of his hands still wearing the gloves.

Approaching him, you wrap your arms around his neck as he uses his right hand to tug on your waist while the other one goes to your face. The way the fabric sticks to your skin makes you immediately stiff your entire body and you've barely reached his lips, leaving only a few inches close to them.

When Eddie hears your light but recognizable moan, he looks at you lifting his eyebrows. You're almost making a fool of yourself but fuck that, you liked his hands in gloves. He didn't know that, because you never actually bothered telling him you had an actual kink. It's not like he never asked, he was always pretty curious to know your deepest secrets about your sex life.

"That was quick," he joked and you tried not to laugh at his taunting.

"Shut the fuck up". As you retorted him, you gave him a wet but already forwarded kiss, sliding your tongue inside his mouth. He tasted like cherry from the candy ball he usually eats after smoking. The tobacco smoke was lingering on his entire body, as well as his cheap perfume you love.

Eddie slid his hand down your body and gripped your hips before loosening his touch, threatening to remove his gloves. You desperately held his hands and shook your head. He tried to comprehend just what the hell you wanted.

"Keep the gloves," you begged. The man was barely existing and yet you were feeling like you were turning into jelly just at the thought of the leather touching your skin.

He smirked and raised his eyebrows, teasing you. "These? Huh". The way he reacted to it gave him an idea you haven't thought of yet, and still he was already light-years ahead of you. Eddie firmly grasped your waist and swung you, making you sit at the exact spot he was sitting.

He assaulted you with his feral tongue, liking yours and pulling your lower lip between his teeth. Boy, did he become another man after that. Using his left hand, Eddie started sliding it down your body, making sure to hold the curve under your breast, pressing his fingertips on your waist, reaching the hem of your dress.

The kiss became sloppy as soon as he slowly lifted it to your hip. Thank God you always chose a good lingerie. This time it was a thin, soft, lace pantie he was about to pull to the side. Before he did his main show, the curly haired metalhead squeezed your thigh and ripped a small mewl from your mouth against his.

His tone became husky and his cherry breath hit against your skin. "It's a shame I can't feel how wet you are right now. But I'm guessing you're soaking already". You whined by the feeling of his middle finger opening your folds, rubbing your wet skin with tenderness first. Eddie was always gentle, sometimes he rushed things, but you were headed to a party, so this one had to be fast.

Without warning, he made his way with his middle finger into you and you tightened your walls against his gloved digit. "Oh, fuck, Eddie". You cried out, your lips were parted. You were too busy to actually kiss him, but he was also focused on something else as well.

"Jesus, baby. You're so dirty," he breathed out against your ear. Eddie stuck his index finger to your cunt, along with the other, and the leather surely made it feel different from anything else.

His pace was calm, but the minute he felt you were used to the dressed fingers, he started to speed up, curling both, so they would hit your perfect spot. You're having a hard time breathing in and out, his thumb was rubbing against your swollen clit with so much desire.

Quickly, you unbuckled his belt and unzipped his jeans, facing his fat cock throbbing against his boxer. From your position, you could choose between just jerking him off or eating him whole.

You decided you would suck the life out of him. You started giving him wet kisses around his arousal, his tip, and his balls. It made him hiss, throwing his head back.

"Fuck, sweetie," he pleaded, working his fingers in a sweet, but fast motion. Eddie felt the back of your throat hit the tip and he almost stuttered, it was always hard for him to hold back his moans. He never actually lasted more than five minutes because you had the most fuckable mouth.

Bobbing your head up and down, you could still whine with his cock in your mouth, giving him a full lick as well. Your living room was quiet and the only sounds that could be heard was from his finger pumping and your moaning, along with the sucking.

Eddie was focusing on rubbing your clit ever so slowly, while his fingers worked harder and faster inside you. He used his plump lips to keep them on the top of your head, while pulling a handful of your hair with his free hand.

You didn't have boundaries at this point. You were both so close and so intimate, you would even fuck on a balcony, if you had one. Alone in a room, you were free to use your hands and your mouth deliberately. Just like now.

Almost gagging on his length, you made sure to grip on his cock, hollowing your cheeks making enough pressure for him to gasp so loud, he almost fainted. "Oh God, I'm gonna cum," he cried.

You never left the smirk on your face because you knew how good you were with your mouth, and he was always reassuring you. Eddie, on the other hand, was trying to not break down from your blowjob, keeping his fingers curled hitting your spot. It didn't take longer for your walls to start clenching around him.

He gripped your clit with his thumb, rubbing it faster, sloppy movements as he started to feel his own pleasure hitting the roof. You felt his cock twitch inside your mouth and you kept your pace, bobbing your head, until he released his juices down your throat.

Eddie loved seeing how you always swallowed him until the very last drop of it. He squinted his eyes closed, relishing every ounce of your saliva on his throbbing skin. "Fuck, you're so good," the metalhead whispered.

Not so much behind, you felt him pinching your clit while using only his middle finger inside you, watching as you bucked your hips, rocking them against his digits. "Ah, Munson". Using his last name as a resource to help you reach your own climax always worked and he knew that, he never complained.

As you throw your head back against the back of the couch, Eddie assaults your neck, nibbling on the skin, feeling your walls throb and clench around his gloved finger. "Yeah, cum for me baby girl". He always alternates his pet names towards you, so you would never know what would come next.

Your entire body squirmed around his fingers, your clit became too sensitive to the touch and your cunt closed tightly on his finger. You felt too weak on your knees and you were thankful for sitting on the couch, even though Eddie was still holding your neck.

You felt empty as soon as he removed his fingers from you and your stomach flipped. God, you felt so needy sometimes.

He zipped his pants back and pulled the belt. "You made such a mess on my glove, sweet thing".

"Good thing you have another one for us to use at the party". You respond as you fix your dress and walk to your bedroom.

You missed his reaction to your statement and he put on his glove back. It had your taste and your smell, he might as well use it as his accessory.

Ready and outside your house after a quick pornography, you stood at the side of his sleek vehicle, ensuring your safety before hopping on his bike. Next to his machine, he handed you the helmet, reaching out gently guiding you through the process.

Eddie always made sure to strap on it, so it wouldn't fall off your head during the ride, not too tight and not too loose either. "Thank you, handsome".

You swung your leg, hopping on the back of his bike, watching as the sky was casting a lavender hue over the quiet street of your neighborhood. You heard his revving and your heart jumps in, you loved it when he did that.

Just when he screeched the tires on the floor, you held your arms around his waist, placing both hands on his stomach. He loved driving too fast and he knew you hated it. Most of the time he would just speed up just a little to taunt you.

Approaching a red traffic light, Eddie slowed his vehicle, smoothly stopping as he supported both of you with one foot on the ground. As always, he turned his head slightly, resting his hands on your thighs, rubbing your knees with his gloved fingers.

You're thinking he didn't even bother to not wear the glove he used to fuck you, and you didn't know if you were actually more turned on or just feeling really repulsiveness. Either way, his endearment towards you always caught you off guard, he's too used to resting his hands on you at every fucking red light.

You smiled in return and just enjoyed his warm and steady touch, while you leaned your head against his back. As the light became green, he left his grip to hold the handlebars, speeding up the engine.

Eddie pulled up at Steve's house, the loud music was banging from a boombox inside his backyard. Before you both got inside, you reached for his wrist, gently squeezing his arm. He stopped by your side, brows furrowed.

"I'm not kidding about the glove, you better keep it clean", you pecked his lips quickly, before ringing the bell. You didn't expect him to be so close to you before responding.

"This time I'll use a special guest". You turned your head slightly, only to watch him licking his lips, teasing you. Eddie as a biker had you at his mercy, on your knees. 

[ashiemochi]

aphrotitty - xxxii (i)

✠ Aphrotitty ↳ Don’t do anything stupid ↳↳ does something stupid

~~ pairing: OC x Leon S(exy) Kennedy. ~~ genre: fluff, a slice of life, angst, gore at some point, smut/suggestive themes ~~ word count: no

NOTE:

✠ = time skip ✠✠ = switching povs/characters

prev -> next

The thirty-second time Leon saw her, it was a Sunday afternoon around four o’clock. It was halfway through November and the weather was becoming progressively gloomier day by day.

Today though, the sun rays were seeping through the scattered clouds with the wind being on the cool side. It was a nice weather after all; hence why he was on his lawn and tinkering with his motorcycle.

Leon never used it since he moved here. With the DSO on his ass the day he finished settling in his new house, he needed a little actual time for himself. Thankfully, he knew a spot just right outside the city on the mountains.

Leon looked up from the engine of his motorcycle at the sound of her front door opening. For some reason, the sound of her door was specific. It would squeak and creek just right before she’d walk out. Either that or he was just beginning to lose it.

So Ah walked, almost skipped, to her mailbox with a letter in hand. He knew about her exchanging letters and pictures with her friend back in Korea. She’d always show him the pictures of the boutique her friend owned along with the dresses she made and pictures of Seoul. She’d beam at wanting him to visit if she goes back.

And how could he say no?

“Hey, Leon!” Her voice greeted him with a toothy smile.

He mimicked it uncontrollably, “Hey.”

“Cool ride.” She gestured to his motorcycle and he snorted as he stood up, wiping his hands with a dirty handkerchief.

“Is it getting you interested?” Leon crossed his arms with a smug look to which her cheeks reddened immediately when he brought up the talk of yesterday.

She huffed, looking away in an attempt to hide her blush but it was useless when it came to a guy like him.

“You should talk to Minji; she’s the one who has a thing for motorbikes.” She retorted instead.

“And what do you think of them?” He raised an eyebrow at her.

“I think they’re pretty... Loud...” She admitted before her eyes darted down, “And attractive to a certain extent...”

A chuckle left his lips at her sudden shyness.

“Really? Ever ridden one before?” He asked, leaning against the seat of his motorbike to which she shook her head at his answer.

“Would you like to?”

Her eyes lit up visibly at his offer and she looked at his bike. It was a black Ducati XDiavel and looked fairly new.

Did Diane ever mention him owning a motorbike? Especially one that reeks of being at least worth a kidney?

“Is it fast?” So Ah asked as she got closer to her fence and he pondered for a moment, feigning a deep thinking face.

“Why don’t we figure it out together? In about...” He trailed away as he looked down at his watch, “Thirty minutes? I just need to clean things up and we’re good to go.”

She beamed at that, “Okay! I’ll be done by then.”

He watched with a shimmer in his eyes as she went into her house with a bounce on her feet, practically skipping in excitement.

Okay, maybe spending some time alone with her doesn’t sound so bad.

✠

Around exactly thirty minutes, Leon had pulled the XDiavel in front of her lawn. Honestly, he didn’t need thirty minutes to finish cleaning up and replacing the oil; it all took about five minutes at most.

Leon just needed time to get ready himself.

Before he could think some more, her front door opened and she almost jumped out, hurrying on slipping on her last boot. He raised his eyebrows at her little comical moment when she zipped the black boot up and closed the door; then her eyes met his, first in surprise then shyly.

“Right on time,” Leon called out to her as he took in her attire.

She had a brown sweater, long enough to partially cover her hands, tucked into her taupe plaid a-line skirt, black tights that were visibly less translucent than those of yesterday and finally black heeled boots.

Noticing her slight flinches here and there as she walked up to him, he knew her scraped knees were still in that stinging-sensation-as-you-walk phase.

“I think I almost slipped and cracked my head in the shower.” So Ah exhaled before giving him a wide toothy grin, hands wringing with her black leather straps of the cross-body purse in nervous excitement; kind of like before you get on a big rollercoaster ride, “Where are we going?”

“You’ll see. Hop on.” Leon gave her a grin before swinging one leg over the bike and offered her his hand, "Did you eat anything yet?”

Her grip on his hand tightened for a split second when she got onto the bike then her hands gripped onto his jacket by the waist.

“Uhm, I had breakfast, why?” She asked, confused by his question yet incredibly anxious about how close she was to him.

“You could say I may have an idea of how fast this ride can go.” Leon teased and watched her eyes widen a little; excitement was overpowering the nervousness though, anyone could see it.

Hearing a certain furball barking, he looked over at the source only to see Diane on her porch with one of her kids playing with the dog. She seemed to have noticed the duo and visibly tensed up.

“Don’t you wanna say hi to your friend?” Leon piped up in a joking manner.

So Ah looked over at Diane, silently then shook her head, “Not really...”

His ears immediately picked up on the faint hostility in her tone. Before he could inquire further, she changed the topic by looking around then back at him.

“Does this thing have a helmet?” She asked and he chuckled then peered at her over his shoulder.

“Just hold on tight, sweetheart.” He winked at her and her attention was immediately grabbed by the roar of the engine when he revved it up.

Leon kicked up the stand and lunched forward, emitting a sharp gasp from the girl as her arms wrapped around his waist to secure her place. He felt her face being pressed against his back and held back a laugh; this is going to be fun.

✠✠

To So Ah, it felt like the wind was pushing against them in full force. Her hair was quivering wildly in the air and she knew her ten minutes of doing her hair was gone in vain. Slowly, she peeled her eyes open even though the wind was persistent in keeping them shut.

Her adrenaline instantly began rushing at how exciting riding through the city was. Although it was a Sunday afternoon, the streets were filled with cars as if it was a casual weekday. Probably having a day or night out before a wretched Monday arrives.

Her mind picked up on her position; her chest was practically pressed against his well-built back and her arms were wrapped tightly around his waist. She didn’t know if it was just her but she could practically feel his hard abs against her arms. With the rapidly vibrating motorbike against her legs and ass, she resorted to thinking it was just her just to save herself from becoming a wet tomato.

With his cologne wafting towards her, her heart sped up even more, now beating with both adrenaline and attraction. Still, she kept her face pressed against his back and a small sharp air got sucked in when he did a quick turn before he slowed down and halted next to the sidewalk.

“You can open your eyes now.” Leon teased her and she wanted to retort; then again, her eyes were closed ninety percent of the time.

“Shut up, this is my first time on a bike...” So Ah muttered as she lifted her face up.

He laughed at how red her cheeks looked from the rush and pressed the stand down, “I can tell.”

Reluctantly, she removed her arms, already missing the embrace, and he got off.

“Where are you going?” She asked curiously.

“I’m gonna get us some snacks.” Leon replied as he made his way to the mini-market, “Don’t go anywhere.”

A teasing wink was shot her way before he went into the store.

“Haha, funny man...” She mumbled under her breath, though still giddy that she was spending some time with him.

She decided to take in her new surroundings, hoping her anxiety would love some sense of familiarity for any place that she must’ve seen before. On the other side of the street was a line of stores and shops of different kinds. The street itself was a bit rowdy for her taste, flinching involuntarily whenever a car zooms by.

Looking back to her side, the store itself was big to be called a mini-market and she could peak that 90’s curtained hair through the windows waltzing through the aisles. A smile reached her lips at that.

“Well, well, well, look who it is!” She jumped at the voice as the owner walked up to her, catching her attention.

“Oh... Matthew, hi.” So Ah smiled politely as he shoved his hands into his jacket’s pocket with a tilted smile.

“It’s been a while, what are you doing here?” Matthew looked at the bike with an excited surprised look, “And with such a ride. Who knew the self-proclaimed soft girl would own such a thing?”

Annoyance crept up her back but instead calmed down. Leon did tell her that Matthew was a douche with a good heart – but still a douche.

“Oh, this isn’t mine.” So Ah corrected, “I’m here with Leon. He’s just inside getting something.” She gestured to the market and he looked over, letting out a stretched ‘ah’.

“That explains the motorbike.” Matthew muttered before looking back at her, “So... You and Leon, eh?” He wiggled his eyebrows and his grin widened when her cheeks blazed up immediately at just his name.

“No...” She stammered; get your shit together, girl!

“We’re just friends.” She squeezed out as he laughed loudly at her answer.

“Man, they all say that exact line and then still end up in his bed.” Matthew cackled and she blinked at that, taken aback.

“What?” She asked, thinking she must’ve misheard.

“Leon is quite... How do I say this in a nice way...?” Matthew trailed away before snapping his fingers.

“A ladies man. You know, he’s got the sharp looks, those piercing eyes, and that hair.” He gushed, clearly mocking a certain group of people in particular.

“It’s always that god damn hair.” Mathew shook his head incredulously, “Like what’s wrong with mine?” He gestured to his head and waited for her answer expectantly.

What the hell am I supposed to say to that?

His hair was a beautiful shade of chestnut with the fringes being swooped back with a brush and hair spray. It was a good look on him and if she were to be honest; had she met Matthew first, she’d maybe have a crush on him – and that’s a big maybe. He just had a tiny problem of owning a douche type of personality – emphasis on tiny.

“It’s... Good...” So Ah hesitantly said and he huffed at her answer.

Seriously, I’m here practically drooling over a man I’ve met a few months ago and you’re the one huffing?

Still, his words did run around her head like measly flies.

If he was right with Leon being a ‘ladies man’ and that said ladies would ‘end up in his bed’, she wouldn’t be surprised. Insecure but then again, IF Leon was a ladies’ man, then he was sure good at it.

She frowned at her thoughts and her body wanted to recoil back in of itself.

“Harassing a girl in broad daylight, Matthew?” Ah, that chocolate audible voice.

“Just having an innocent little chitchat about you and your hair.” Matthew shrugged as Leon stood in front of them with a plastic bag of snacks, a can of cherry soda and a beer for him; then he offered her his hand to which she automatically took and he helped her off.

What am I now; a dog?

“Really, what about my hair?” Leon asked, opening up the seat, which she just realized it was similar to a trunk of a car and he set the plastic bag inside, shutting the seat after he was done.

“Nothing too special,” Matthew threw a wink at the girl who held back her annoyance for the sake of being polite. Leon rolled his eyes at that, getting on the bike then helped So Ah back on.

She chose to stay silent and let Leon do the talk. She was busy dealing with her mean thoughts and insecurities crawling up her back.

I’m not surprised but still... It hurt...

She blinked at her mind; do we really believe Matthew’s words?

“Don’t you have some wild turkey to look after?” Leon spoke as she returned back to reality for the convo.

Matthew’s head went back as he laughed before patting his stomach with a grin, “Yeah, we’ll be looking after her alright.”

Okay, I know I’m not the most vegetarian person on Earth but I think I speak to all those who eat meat that we prefer eating without ever seeing the animal. Saves us from the guilt, you know?

Leon’s ears picked up on her little ew and chuckled at her response before revving the engine as an indication and a clear hint that he wants to leave. Thankfully, Matthew picked up on it and took a few steps back from the bike.

“You two should come by on Thanksgiving,” Matthew beamed before smirking at So Ah, “Would love to have my karaoke partner back.” He winked at her and her hands instinctively tightened their grip on her arms that were around Leon’s sexy waist.

“We’ll see about that one,” Leon left Matthew’s offer hanging in the air with an ‘I’d-like-to-see-you-try’ look and just like before, So Ah gasped when the bike began moving.

“Had fun catching up with him?” Leon’s loud voice reached her ears which surprised her since the powerful rush of the wind was back.

“Yeah, so much fun...” She sarcastically said as loud, receiving a laugh. She didn’t really hear much but she felt his chest rumble; and that brought warmth to her stomach.

✠✠

After about ten minutes, her eyes opened instantly when she felt they were slowing down. As Leon drove them up the tilted hill, she found the height between them and the ground below was getting higher.

The rocky gravel sounded satisfying being crushed beneath the bike as they reached a flat surface and he turned off the engine then slipped the stand down.

“Wow...” Was all that left through her lips as he watched her get off on her own and take a few steps forward. Her eyes were entranced by the view.

It was around five o’clock and the sun was already nearing its setting time. With that being said, the sky had mixed hues of orange and blue, giving the city a beautiful warm glow. The city lights were beginning to come on, preparing for a long night and the faint sounds of busy streets were nearly inaudible.

The breeze up there was relaxing as So Ah took in the amazing sight.

“What do you think?” Leon’s voice asked as he walked up to stand next to her.

“It’s so... Beautiful...” So Ah breathed out, eyes still focused on every detail her inner artsy would find.

“Yeah,” Leon agreed with a nod and a smile, “I come here from time to time to clear my head, kind of like a safe space.”

She looked up at him, only to have her heart beat faster. The soft glow just made his appearance look so warm; especially with that smile of his.

“Come on,” Leon broke her out of her trance and returned to his bike to take out the plastic bag from the trunk along with a blanket, “It’s not dinner but if you want, we can get something on the way back.”

“No, it’s fine,” She shook her head as he laid down the blanket next to his bike and sat down, “With this kind of ride, I don’t think dinner would stay in its place on the way back.”

He laughed as she joined him, pulling her legs to the side and he nodded as he took out both the can of soda and bottle of apple beer.

“You’re right on that.” He winked at her and handed her the soda.

Both drinks hissed around the same time when they opened it in unison and So Ah took a sip.

“So, my hair,” Leon wiggled his eyebrows at her to which she scoffed.

“I know you agree with the compliment.”

“What compliment?”

“That your hair is great.”

“Hm, yeah but I wanna hear it coming from you.” His piercing eyes peered at her soft shy ones as the bag of chips crinkled when he opened it.

She blushed, “What’s so special if it came from me?”

“What do you mean?” He raised an eyebrow as he plopped one of the crispy goodness into his mouth then shook the bag a little towards her.

✠✠

Leon didn’t know how strong love can get but with the golden light hitting her features, making her look a lot softer than she already was, he can only guess it can get so much more.

She gave him a tiny smile as she took a potato chip and he set the bag down between them. He could tell from the faint distant look in her eyes that she was thinking of an answer.

“I mean... Look at you,” So Ah gestured to him and he only tilted his head in confusion.

“And look at me...” She trailed away, letting out a faint forced giggle as she kept her eyes focused on the potato chip in between her fingers.

Realization hit him instantly without a second thought and irritation bubbled beneath his skin; Matthew, you son of a bitch...

“Sure, I think you’re a sight for sore eyes,” Leon shrugged nonchalantly but smiled when her head turned to look up at him in surprise, “Why do you think I always watch you?”

Hold up, what?

She snickered when his ears burned up, eyes glimmering from the sunshine.

“That sounded... Bad.” A nervous chuckle left his chest rumbling.

“Stalker-ish even,” She added to his comment, taking in her chance to tease him; and he noticed that. He rubbed the back of his neck, peeling his eyes off of her.

“Yeah...” He agreed; is this what butterflies feel like? Shit’s annoying.

She laughed at his flustered state, you know, that laugh. An uncontrollable grin reached his lips at her happy sound, chuckling himself at, well, himself. After a few seconds, the laughter slowly went away as she put her potato chip in her mouth.

“I meant it,” Leon piped up, “Not the peeping Tom vibe but...”

She giggled again at his comment but stayed silent for him to continue.

“Anything that comes from you is special, at least to me.” He smiled at her, “I don’t know what that idiot had said but don’t listen to him.” He rolled his eyes in annoyance at just the thought of his co-worker.

“But uh... I do think you’re special. I mean, who else would I have to drag their drunken ass back home?”

Her lips parted a bit at that, cheeks blazing up before smacking his shoulder, “You were doing so well!” She scolded playfully and he chuckled at that; what just hit me; a fly?

Silence filled the air for a moment then she returned her eyes back up at him, more specifically; his hair. He took a sip from his beer, barely aware of her loving gaze but then she spoke.

“I think your hair’s pretty hot.”

He didn’t know whether it was the forwardness of her comment or how casually she had said it; either way, he nearly damn choked when she had caught him off guard.

Her laughter reached his ears like a melody as Leon was in the process of regaining his composure, “Damn, okay, I didn’t expect that.”

She seemed to relish in the fact that she was teasing him more than he was to her. For a minute, he pondered whether to bring up the fact she had said something more... Explicit about his hair.

Then he decided; if there was one thing he enjoys more in this whole world...

“But I do remember something more specific that you had said about my hair.”

“Oh really, and what was it?” She challenged with a grin.

“That I’d get more pussy with a hair like mine, which you did say; ‘such an oldie but still a goldie’ so...” Leon trailed away in a feigned innocent look and he watched her face turn to a deeper shade of red.

It was seeing her blushing face because of him.

“When did I ever say that?!” She exclaimed, now straightening up in shock and surprise.

He took his time humming, pretending to be deeply thinking about her question as he picked up another potato chip. He inspected the salty snack and her stature faltered a bit at his teasing.

So Ah jumped onto her knees, pushing away the potato bag in the process and practically put herself in his field of view.

“Tell me!” Her hands were pressed onto each side of his thighs as she looked up at him in plea.

Leon laughed loudly at her embarrassed face before eating the chip.

“It was after Matthew’s party and you were pretty drunk.” He replied then winked at her, “Didn’t know you were such a sweet talker.”

“Oh, my god...” She muttered before flopping back to place, though clearly nearer than before to the point her calming oriental perfume was surrounding him.

“You told me I didn’t do anything stupid!”

“I said you didn’t do anything embarrassing.”

“This is embarrassing!”

“As opposed to you emptying your guts all over the floor?”

“Shut up!” So Ah groaned before huffing and crossing her arms with a slight pout on her lips. He stifled a snort at her childish act and she glared at him, “You’re the worse.”

He chuckled, leaning back against the XDiavel with a grin, “Only to you, sweetheart.”

She was going to retort but the colours around her seemed to become warmer and she looked over at the horizon, seeing the sun was setting. It coated every land with its golden hour, making her heart pound as she uncrossed her arms and set her hands next to her. Leon noticed her silence and followed her eyes.

It was the only moment he’d look forward to when he’d come here. Usually, he associates it with mourning as to how the beauty of the warm colours would eventually be replaced with utter darkness. But with her next to him, nothing had made this seem dreamier. The golden and bright colours of orange, red and hues of purple were pleasing to look that; coaxing an exhale from him.

It was like an end of a long-lasting journey only to prelude to a bright sunrise; a new beginning. That’s what it felt with the girl next to him.

“Leon,” Her whisper brought him back to Earth; back to her.

“Yeah,” His voice came out low as he peeled his blue eyes away from the sinking sun and to the girl who was the reason for his fluttering butterflies; seriously, when was the last time did I feel this crap? Shit’s similar to my middle-school girlfriend; but more prominent.

“Thank you for being here,” She confessed softly, keeping her shy eyes on her cherry soda, “I’ve never felt happier after uhm... Ji Dae and I never had someone like you to keep me company and uh,” She finally looked up with a soft shy smile and he saw the stars in her cinnamon eyes.

“I’m glad I met you, Leon.”

Fuck, if that wasn’t the cutest thing he had ever been told – he smiled back at her, “I’m glad I met you too, neighbour.”

She giggled at that before returning her eyes to the sun but his gaze lingered on her before looking down between them; their hands were inches apart yet close enough he felt her presence coming from it.

✠✠

I said it, I said it, I SAID IT!!

While So Ah seemed calm and collected on the outside, the butterflies were going off the charts inwardly to the point she felt she could actually throw up but she held it in; though she couldn’t control her reddening cheeks and ears.

And he reciprocates it!

Feeling the faintest touch on her pinkie finger, she glanced down from the corner of her eyes. She knew she was small compared to his much larger self but his hand was big with beautiful slender fingers and from that little sight of his hand next to hers and the size difference, she discovered something new about herself; maybe I have a thing for hands now?

Swallowing to herself, her hand inched closer to his as a little test and saw he didn’t move away, in fact, she might’ve imagined it but his hand was closer now. Her cheeks burned up again at the tiny action; what the fuck is all this blushing for? It’s literally holding hands, you’re not making out with him.

She blinked at her thought; though I wouldn’t really mind...

“What are you thinking of?” His warm voice got her back to reality with a tilted smile down at her.

Fuck!

“O... Oh! Nothing too wild,” She stammered, caught off guard.

He blinked at that, now with an amused grin, “Just what’s going on in that little cute head of yours, sweetheart?”

Sirens went off in her head at this; he can read minds!

She stopped her train of thought at that; no, he can’t.

“Uhm...” She trailed away, being caged under his piercing ice eyes with that teasing glint. Before she could make a fool of herself, his phone rang, eliciting a sigh of relief from her but bummed out when he picked up his phone, hence his hand was no longer next to hers.

“Yeah,” Leon answered the call then that glint in his eyes dulled to a serious one. She straightened up immediately when he got onto his feet and walked off a little for some privacy.

She couldn’t see anything but his back that was facing her. Her eyes caught his hand clenching and her ears picked up on the stern tone of his faint voice.

After a while of distant bickering, Leon shut the call with a scoff. She didn’t know what to do as she silently waited for him to come back; and he did. That content expression was now turned into a scowl of annoyance.

“Is everything okay?” She got concerned when he knelt down but never sat back down to his usual spot.

“I...” He sighed before looking at her, “I got called in.”

“Like... Called in as in...?” She asked, not fully understanding what he meant.

“It’s a business trip.”

“Oh... Do... Did they tell you how long it’s going to be?”

Leon shook his head with a frown, “The timing is pretty unpredictable but from what I can estimate; three weeks.”

Her heart dropped to her stomach at this and her eyes widened but she nodded and looked down.

“Oh...” She managed to mutter, incredibly disappointed by the turn of events.

Throughout her entire life, her parents were always out on business trips, including her siblings. They’d leave for weeks and months on end, sometimes hitting the one year mark if the trip is critically important for their career.

Last thing she wanted was to have him be bombarded with business trips, but he does work for the government so she wasn’t surprised in the slightest.

“We can still text, you know?” Leon tried to lighten up the situation with a smile and it worked for a bit.

She nodded, now with a small smile, “Yeah, we can. If anything, it’d be better than nothing, unlike certain people I could name.” She mumbled at the end, her parents popping up in her head and he chuckled.

“Come on, let’s get you home.”

After they had packed up everything, they were back on the road; only this time, it was a bit sad. Her cheek was pressed against his back, arms around him to keep her from flying off of the fast motorbike. She had her eyes open, watching the car lights fly by in strings of colours.

She hated this feeling; knowing it was the last time to see him for a long while was utter shit. Sure, he said they’d text and call, but it won’t be the same. God knows how slow those three weeks will pass just to fuck with her.

Internally, bubbles and butterflies of red adorations giggled along with one another, fluttering and floating around like a carousel. Externally, she sucked at talking; so she wrapped her arms around him entirely in a back hug embrace, slightly rubbing her cheek against his back as she closed her eyes to cherish this moment with the cool wind brushing against the duo.

He sensed her hug and her face; if only this bike was automatic, he would’ve returned it.

The operation was specifically for special agents and surprise, surprise, he is one. The higher-ups didn’t tell him much, except they requested him to arrive at the headquarters and then they’d relay the mission.

Then he felt something beating in a rhythm against his back; he didn’t have to look over to know that it was her heartbeat.

Did she know Leon was taking longer routes to stretch out their limited time?

Most likely.

✠

“You were right about dinner coming right back up.” So Ah exhaled once they had arrived in his garage way, getting off of the bike with a stumble, “I only had chips and soda, yet my stomach is upside down for some reason.”

Leon chuckled at that and turned off the engine, pushing the stand and getting off himself, though in a much-balanced manner; “At least you now know how fast it is.” He joked and she scoffed, both of them walking to her place.

“I wouldn’t mind riding it again with you, though.” She said softly as they stood on her porch.

Leon smiled down at her while she rummaged through her bag, “Sure, when I’m done, we can get dinner.”

“You know if you keep saying that, your schedule will be full with forgotten dates.” She joked in a feigned upset look, putting her key into her lock then twisting it to open the door.

“What’s wrong with wanting to spend more time with you?” Leon irked an eyebrow, “And why would they be forgotten?”

“It happened one time.” She shot back, returning her mischievous eyes back up at him as she recalled the time he stood her up.

He huffed as his posture fell a little, “I thought you forgot about that one...”

She giggled at his half-joking half-dismayed look before waving at him dismissively.

“No can do, Mr Kennedy.” She shook her head stubbornly in a light-hearted way and he chuckled breathily, shaking his head slightly before settling with a soft smile at her.

It was good silence and it felt like forever just taking in each and every facial feature about one another; but it was all three seconds before she had looked away, getting shy, “So uhm... Thank you for the day, I really had fun.”

“I did too,” He spoke just as gently, “Let’s do it again when I’m back,”

She nodded with a toothy grin, “I look forward to that.”

Another good silence.

“Good night, Leon.”

Of course, she would break it.

Leon blinked at that and was going to tease her for old time’s sake but he saw her getting flustered under his gaze and decided to spare her – till he comes back.

“Good night.” He murmured back with a smile and she turned to get into her house just as he turned to leave.

“W... Wait.” Her hushed voice stopped him one foot down on the stairs and he looked at her with a raised eyebrow, waiting for her shy self to continue.

Instead, she walked over to him, fingers gently grabbing his hand partially to tug him down a little and she got up onto her tiptoes. The softest timid kiss was pressed quickly onto his cheek and he blinked in surprise, looking down at her.

“Have a safe flight.” She smiled, cheeks blazing before she practically ran back inside.

His mind took a few seconds to process this before grinning like an idiot – now making his way back home with his turn of being flustered.

[simonsrosebud]

“my ex is here make out with me” PLSSS

YES

dalton doesn’t get jealous. not about this ex at least.

that being said, he isn’t jealous that his ex boyfriend moved on and brought a date to this party. he’s the one who broke it off after all. he’s just annoyed that he himself didn’t bring a date and now looks stupid all alone. he has no idea where jenna went.

dalton sidesteps two people to find an exit, except when he looks up he sees his ex coming his way.

“fuck,” he mumbles.

distraction. need a distraction.

dalton almost trips over someone’s foot trying to flee and finds himself closer than typically acceptable to a guy in the hallway. with wavy dark hair and brown eyes. cute.

dalton glances away. ex still coming his way. he looks back, missing the nod his ex tries to throw him, and puts his hand on the strangers chest. he’s looking at dalton expectantly.

“are you single?”

the guy smiles. “no,” he tilts his head to the guy at his side. “but he is.”

dalton looks his way as his friend nudges his arm to get his attention. dalton pushes off of brown eyes and stands in front of the one with jet black hair and bored green eyes.

and a chess piece tattooed to his cheekbone.

he’s hot as hell.

“are you attracted to guys?” dalton asks.

it makes the stranger frown, and dalton almost backs off until he says, “um, i’m bisexual.”

okay, good, perfect. “and you’re single?”

“yes?”

“okay, i need you to make out with me because my ex is trying to come talk to me.” he raises his eyebrows when the guy looks a little confused. “i’m one hundred percent serious. right now.”

“oh- okay.” the stranger springs into action just as carter is five feet away and takes dalton in with a hand in his collar. dalton kisses back for a few seconds, long enough to deem acceptable. he pulls away and he means to check to see that his ex has given up, but he just kind of freezes and stares at the strangers lips.

“i’m kevin,” he says in dalton’s ear.

dalton looks up at his face, meets his eyes. “dalton,” he mumbles. kevin glances down at his mouth, subtly licks his bottom lip, and meets dalton in the middle again.

dalton’s almost against the wall already, so he backs himself up against it and wraps his arm around kevin’s neck so that he can slip his hands onto dalton’s hips.

dalton wastes no time slipping his tongue into kevin’s mouth. he slides a hand into kevin’s hair.

nicky shouts over the blaring music and lifts his drink in the air. “get it!” he stumbles out into the living room laughing at the turn of events.

it gets dan’s attention enough for her to peer down the hall. she coughs on her drink when she sees kevin aggressively making out with a guy against the wall. she pulls matt’s arm and smacks him in the stomach. “look. matt- matt! kevin, look, look at kevin!”

matt sticks his head into the hallway and lets out a laugh when he sees him. “holy shit!” he turns to allison, who has already taken a picture. “do we think he’ll go home with him?”

allison scoffs. there are other people in the hallway, the whole house is crowded, but kevin seems to have no shame. “kid hasn’t gotten laid since thea. he needs it.”

dan shakes her head. she wonders if it’s obvious they’re staring at him. “i don’t think he’s a one night stand kind of guy.”

“fifty bucks?” matt holds his hand out. it takes her a second, but dan eventually rolls her eyes and shakes.

kevin pulls away and presses his thumbs into dalton’s hips. dalton speaks up before he can offer. “wanna get out of here?”

kevin nods. dalton takes him by the hands and leads him winding through the hall, then the kitchen, and finally to the living room where the front door is

kevin doesn’t pay any mind to his friends as he leaves, but matt jumps and low fives allison, then picks up dan for a second. “we haven’t even been here for an hour and he’s getting lucky!” he cackles.

kevin leads dalton to his car. “i’m sober, i can drive.” dalton nods. he’s not drunk either, but going to kevin’s place gives him the option to leave whenever instead of having to kick someone out.

“wait,” dalton smiles, and pushes kevin up against the hood of the car. he grabs his face and kisses him again.

nicky comes running into the house through the front door. he smells a little like weed. “i just saw kevin get in a car with the guy!”

“we know!” matt, dan and allison all say at once.

when they get back to kevin’s dorm dalton notices it’s the athletes dorm, meaning kevin’s definitely fit, and that none of his roommates are there.

he lets kevin kiss him into the mattress and take control, and tilts his head back when kevin trails down his throat and sneaks a hand to his waistband.

dalton hasn’t woken up naked in a strangers bed in quite a while, he’ll just say that.

kevin, due to dalton’s alarm, wakes up the same time he does. he thankfully doesn’t question dalton’s arm around him and sits up.

“i’ve gotta get to class,” he rasps.

kevin nods, rubs his eyes, and swings his legs out of bed. dalton’s shirt smells like whatever drink he spilled on himself in the beginning of the night, so kevin gives him an old exy shirt he hasn’t worn in years.

of course, andrew, neil and nicky are all sitting on the couch when kevin walks dalton to the door. he tries ignoring them and steps into the hallway with the door shut. “do you need a ride?”

dalton pushes a hand through his hair. “nah, my place isn’t far.” kevin raises his eyebrows. “i’m serious. plus, it’s been a while since i’ve done the walk of shame.” he shrugs. “um… i can give you my number? in case you ever wanna do something sometime…” he scratches his scruff.

it takes a second for the light to go off in kevin’s head. “oh- yeah, yeah.” he frantically searches his pockets. dalton smiles a little bit, then bites his lip to hide it. he enters his phone number into kevin’s contacts and hands it back when he’s done.

“don’t be a stranger,” he says. “you’re really cute.” ew. was that cringey? his heart is beating so fast. he’s so bad at flirting.

but it makes kevin quirk a smile. he ducks down in a fit of confidence and kisses dalton, small and quick. “i won’t,” he says.

after dalton’s out of sight, kevin goes back inside the room. nicky jumps up from the couch and props himself against the kitchenette counter. “you got his number, right?” kevin shoots him a look. “he’s a total twelve out of ten, kevin! and he liked you enough to come here to have sex with you!”

“stop.” kevin drops his phone onto the table and goes right to the bathroom to shower. nicky grabs his phone where it’s open on a new contact.

dalton miller.

neil watches nicky grin and stick his fist up in the air in victory. “you are way scarily invested in all of our sex lives.”

[palmett-hoes]

YES. Oh my God you explained perfectly the logic behind Neil getting tattoos. I get that people think tattoos fix Andrew's "aesthetic" more cause he wears all black and all but tattoos nowadays are popular and not really a thing that only alternative people get. Anyway -> if Neil got tattoos, do u have an hcs for what he might?

yea the more i think about it the more i really like the idea of neil getting tattoos. and who knows, maybe if his boyfriend starts to get covered andrew will take an interest too. i mean you're right, it does fit his aes. maybe he gets some matching tattoos with the love of his life

WHAT neil would get tho? oh there’s so many factors to consider

i see him having a similar ideology about it as i do, that his tattoos are to memorialize significant people and events in his life. most importantly though, they’re just,, to make him feel good about himself, so they’re all of happy memories, even if some might be bittersweet

it’s also not about full-coverage. he’s fine if his scars are still visible under the tattoo and probably isn’t going to try to religiously cover every single one. it’s about having something good on his body that he chose to put there to combat but not necessarily blot out the bad things done to him against his will

he tends to collect smaller individual pieces rather than large scale work and he’s not committed to a specific style, so his collection is a bit random and eclectic. but in terms of the style generally drawn to very kinesthetic art with a lot of movement and fluid lines, but also angular and hard-edged. i don’t think he’s color-averse and definitely not a strict black-and-gray guy, but at the same time i can’t see him doing like super super bright color work. he goes for darker, more saturated colors, like jewel and natural tones. also of course i see him as brown skinned so you need to approach color work differently anyway

in terms of what he actually GETS, i don’t really have a lot of opinions on placement or like,, what tattoos should cover which scar, but have some random ideas i think he might get

he has a large piece (like maybe a sleeve or thigh) that’s dedicated to his time on the run, but the good parts. it’s a mix of a lot of images and very chaotic, drawing from like,, the french cafe where his most first bought him a cup of coffee and cottage safehouses in the alps in summer and where they had room to stretch their legs and run and chase each other and hustling three card monty in dubai with his mom and diners in the pacific northwest that sold the best fruit pies

he of course gets a lot of tattoos for the foxes, definitely at least one straight-up fox. tiny pawprints are his go-to filler pattern

he has everyone’s signatures somewhere on him, maybe with a tattoo of the Championship trophy being hoisted up by a group of hands. he also has small individual pieces that memorialize each of them individually

definitely got several exy sticks and various other pieces of gear scattered in various places. dark stadium chairs leading down to a brightly lit exy court

andrew is probably his biggest inspiration. he has the photograph of them together in the airport turned into a silhouette like a victorian cameo. a ring of keys; this one might go on the back of his neck. a tire track skid mark. a skeleton sitting on a roof against a sunrise. andrew’s hand sparking a lighter. the only reason he doesn’t have a full portrait is bc andrew says he’ll leave him if he does it

a rabbit skull overgrown by moss and vines and flowers.

he gets a rook and knight chess pieces tat because kevin says that’s what he and andrew would be

he gets some small cheeky ones too. things like a line of script that says “you should see the other guy” with a gun running under a nasty scar or a skeletal arm broken in half

once he starts to really establish who he is and flesh himself out as a person he gets some that don’t necessarily have a lot of meaning but that he just likes the look of because he has the luxury of having opinions on art now

i don’t necessarily know if i want him to cover his facial scars, but i think that’s mostly because i don’t like facial tattoos very much, especially ones located where neil’s scars are. that’s just a personal preference though. however, i think the idea of a minimalist, abstract take of just like,, adding color to the scars might be nice. something like well-saturated brushstroke work

(addendum: an au or something where all neil’s scars are just covered in abstract brushwork would be so fucking beautiful. like this but full-body holy shit)

(i just don’t think it really fits him in canon to have a full-body tattoo scheme. also those would require so much long-term maintenance you’d have to get them redone like every 5 to 10 years)

he also doesn’t get them all at once, this is something he builds up over years. he also doesn’t want to rush it because he wants to stay open to memorialize things that will come in the future, because he has a future to wait for now

---

also i assume you probably want some reference photos too bc this can be a little hard to understand just as words, so here's some of my reference images under the cut

they’re more of a stylistic reference than a content reference. also - as in all things - this will of course also tell you a lot about my own personal taste in tattooing even though i try not to make it based ENTIRELY on what i like and try to factor in what i think neil would like

these were the tattoos that most inspired me about the tattoo idea for neil’s happiest memories with his mother. for some reason my gut really drew me towards architectural tattoos for it. i like the way the perspective on the left image is curved and confusing and it takes you a second to make sense of what you’re looking at. it reminds me a lot of an MC Escher drawing and that’s sort of the exact seeling of chaos and confusion that i think the tattoo needs. but then i was also really drawn to the soft colors of the right image (although they’d have to be adjusted somewhat for neil’s darker skin), because they’re so comforting, and i think that’s the sort of balance i’m looking for out of a tattoo for mary. so like,, compositionally like the left image but colored more like the right

literally every person who’s ever considered aftg and tattoos together HAS to offer up a fox tattoo it’s law. anyway these are mine. or well, the types i can see neil with. also, not aside from the foxes, these tattoos are really the best examples i can find of the angular, kinesthetic art style that i feel very strongly matches neil

inspo behind the tattoo of andrew’s hand with the lighter. also just a good simple style for smaller tattoos or filler tattoos

victorian cameos. inspiration behind both the silhouette tattoos of andrew and neil in the airport and the skeleton & the sunrise. both would be more than just the bust and the poses would be more fluid and they don’t need the brooch design outline. it’s really more of a starter reference or a jumping off point

neo-traditional tattoos. phenomenal style. strong lines and highly saturated color, super important both for a long-lasting tattoo and for tattooing on darker skin. they also just tend to have a certain composition i really like

this is the style i see the championship trophy tattoo, the chess pieces tattoo, the rabbit skull tattoo, and the ring of keys tattoo all in

---

okay i’m done now

thoughts?

[91percentpynch]

the raven cycle x all for the games crossover part one - ronan and the ravens

i dedicate this to leni, as she sent me fanart of ronan lynch in a raven uniform and we started to talk about this. you probably won‘t see this, but this is for you. trigger warning: mention of abuse, mention of scars, mention/ hinting of rape, description of physical abuse at the end!! if i should add any warnings let me know!!

ronan joined the ravens because niall fucked up the moriymas and it was giving them one of their sons or dying

well we all know niall is a narcist so obviously he chose a son of his instead of his own death

declan figured that out pretty fast and immediatly volunteered so that niall would let ronan and matthew live in peace

but niall had other plans - he chose ronan: attitude problem and dreamer? he would surive the cruelties of the nest

declan told ronan, promised him to keep him safe, to not let niall take him away

declan tried to save him, really did try, but in the end he was just a teenage boy and their father? well he was their father, powerful dreamer, narcistic asshole, stubborn without limits

one night when declan and ronan go to bed, declan in ronan‘s room like every night since they heard from the deal, their father came in their room and got ronan

declan didn‘t notice, he slept too deeply - one of niall‘s dreams, so he would get ronan without declan noticing

when declan noticed however he screamed and cried and woke the entire house up

matthew didn‘t understand why his older brother cried in the room of the middle child every single day since the day ronan mysterically disappeared

riko tries to break him, because investments don‘t have feelings, they aren‘t human

little does he know that ronan doesn��t have feelings, he doesn‘t have a heart you can break

besides that he lived with niall lynch long enough to know what pain feels like - after all their father gave them boxing/ fighting lessons and taught them how to handle pain

ronan is a backliner, he is jean‘s partner

jean and ronan grow really close

ronan promised to keep jean safe and unless declan ronan masters and sticks to his plans

he does everything to get riko‘s attention - disrespecting him, not showing up to practise, not doing as he was told

riko tried to use jean against ronan only ONCE - one of the only regrets the king of exy had in his sorry life

when riko tries to use that against him, ronan protects jean by fighting riko

this ends in riko torturing him

ronan doesn‘t mind

ronan is a dreamer in this universe

only jean knows about him

ronan dreams jean and himself things against the pain

ronan is actually super good at exy

almost as good as kevin

kevin has a crush on ronan

ronan doesn‘t care, because kevin is not his type

his type is adam parrish - starting dealer from the palmetto foxes

when they marked him, he tried to get a feeling of what the color is like, so when he went to bed he got himself a tattoo of his own

on his back, a maejestic raven, two boys kissing, surrounded by the forrest in his dreams

he hides it as good as he can from riko - for jean‘s sake because yes he fought him once and he might have left him in peace but you never know with that psychopath, do you?

and so he goes through the days, pain blurring them all together, jean always waiting for him in their room

„you don‘t have to do that, you don‘t have to take all the pain for my mistakes“, jean whispers in french once again.

„jean, moi soleil, i promised you to keep you safe. i‘m not my fucking brother. i never lie. i keep my promise, i will keep you safe. and if that means that i have to entertain our favourite dickhead, i will gladly do that“, ronan replied softly.

„i don‘t want you to be in pain“, jean admitted quietly.

„jean, you idiot, i am always in pain. either in my dreams or in this hellhole. but at least seeing riko furious is fun, unless my dreams“, ronan‘s eyes slowly wandered to his scars on his wrist.

jean just takes ronan‘s hands and holds them - their secret promise to never leave each other‘s side

eventually they fall asleep, jean‘s head on ronan‘s shoulder, ronan‘s head on top of jean‘s dark brown curles

they get woken up by a furious riko

ronan wasn‘t able to hide his tattoo fast enough, riko already saw it

„how dare you? how dare you disrespecting your master you piece of shit?“, riko yelled.

„which master? all i see is a little dickhead with a napoleon complex“, ronan replied calmly, looking riko right in the cold, dead dark brown eyes.

riko didn‘t take these words well and went straight for jean

„i would think about touching him twice if i were you. i don‘t know how you see it but i‘m roughly a foot taller and i know how to box. I wouldn‘t take my chances there. one more step towards him, one funny look and we‘ll find out“, ronan said calmly, „whatever you want to do to him, do it to me. i‘m a lot of fun. don‘t like my tattoo because you‘re an homophobic brat? well try burn it off me. take a knife and cut it off me. i don‘t care, i‘m a big guy, i can take it. however we don‘t want the other dickhead to know i might not show up to practice because my back hurts and oh, how my exy will suffer under that. probably gonna send someone to me in the shower again, oh how creative“

riko however didn‘t listen and took another furious step towards jean, hatred and madness in his eyes, which only meant once: brutality, torture, no limits of his anger

ronan out stepped riko and put himself in front of jean „go as far back as you can. sit down on your bed, face to the wall“, ronan said to jean in french, the other boy did as he was told, not knowing what else he should do

it was one of these times where ronan asked himself what that boy did before he arrived three years ago. how he surrived so long. obviously he saw his scars and ronan blamed himself for every single one of them. technically they weren‘t his fault, he wasn‘t here. but his brain stopped working properly when it came to the people he loved, he cared about.

he took his chance, the moment of suprise on his side and punched him right in his face. when riko tripped over his own feet ronan didn‘t hestiate and kicked him in the stomach. riko was never used to abuse, he was never beaten, never kicked, so he fell to the floor, holding his stomach, trying to catch his breathe

again ronan didn‘t hestiate, he took jean and ran for it

ran without any goal, without any orientation, he didn‘t plan this through, he just knew they didn‘t have time

„run, if you can make it without me, you run! do you hear me jean? run!“, he whisper-shouted at the other boy as they made their way through an dark corridor

„i won‘t leave you behind. i‘ll go with you, or not at all. he will kill you if we don‘t make it“, jean replied, anxiety making his accent thicker

they were just about to run around the corner when kevin came into their way

„what are you guys doing?“, he asked innocently.

„oh we‘re on a romantic fucking walk, watching the sunset asshole. we‘re fleeing. from your nice little cult. we‘re going. and if i find out you tell someone what we do i will come back and murder you princess. now either move out of the fucking way or join us for all i care. but if mr dickhead king of exy finds me, he will murder you, so i would really appreciate you making your decision fucking fast shithead“, ronan whispered fastly and furiously.

„i‘ll go with you, i‘ll bring you out“, kevin says in french.

ronan knew he didn‘t have the time to question day so he followed him, jean always close, ready to fight anyone who would be a danger for him

kevin navigates them through the labyrinth of the nest fast, always in the shadows, carefully that they won‘t be seen

somehow they managed to get out of the nest, but they didn‘t stop, they couldn‘t, not if they wanted to live

„did any of you actually plan this through?“, jean asks nervously

„of course i planned that riko would walk in on us sleeping together in one bed, where my back with my secret tattoo is exposed, where i then beat and kick him, take your hand and run like my life depends on it. and while i was at it i texted day ‚hey dickhead wanna go on an adventure;)‘ with my non-existent mobile“, ronan replied annoyed

„i actually did plan that sometimes, for fun. thought i might wanna visit my dad, thought i might wanna change teams. you know, riko gets harder and harder to stan with his perfect team bullshit and bla bla bla ronan and jean are not worthy your attentin bla bla bla stop talking about jeremy knox bla bla bla i will show you how that feels like bla bla bla being forced to sleep with riko bla bla bla“, kevin said quietly, they almost didn‘t make the words out.

„i thought he wouldn‘t do that to you, asshole“, ronan replied softly, „as much as we love a good talk about shared trauma, how did you plan to get away from here“

„actually no“, kevin said.

„how long do you think we have until mr dickhead is coming out here with his shithead uncle to kill us all?“, ronan asked calmly.

„i‘d say not long? five minutes the longest“, kevin replied.

ronan could physically feel jean‘s anxiety

„jean, it‘s gonna be okay, give me two seconds“, ronan replied. „i‘m gonna lay down now. if they come, jean you run. run as fast as you can. take them down. don‘t let them catch you. day? help him, i swear to god if i hear you didn‘t i will come visit you and i will not be as nice as riko“, ronan sadi to kevin, with a cold smile on his lips

over the years ronan learned how to control his sleep, how to fall asleep fast and dream something fast, this would work

ronan carefully lays down, closes his eyes and takes a deep breathe. he repeats this a few times. quickly he falls asleep and thinks of the car his father owned. a black bmw. the memories might not be nice ones, but they need a car and this was the only one he knows by heart. carefully he touches it, checks if everything is alright and when he is sure it is, he wakes up, holding on to it like his life depens on it - which in this case it literally does

just in time to furious shouts he wakes up

the car next to him and he quickly gets in

„i recommend getting in if you don‘t want to you know get murdered by the japanese mafia shitheads“, he says calmly.

„you- you“, kevin tries to say.

jean just gets in the car and forcefully pulls kevin with him

„we have time to talk once we have some miles between these psychopaths and us day, so shut your pretty mouth and get the fuck in“, ronan says.

when the doors are closed ronan goes for it

he obviously does not know how to drive, but this was one of his dreams and his dreams never failed to suprise him

the car goes the moment he puts his foot down on one of the pedals, it doesn‘t have multiply gears, just one and it works

„to make this short: i am a dreamer. that means i can take shit out of my dreams. that‘s why jean and i could play. well, i don‘t know how you two losers surrived so long without me, but i will keep you safe. i don‘t lie. i‘m gay. you are not my type, so don‘t even try to hit on me. if you hurt jean i willl murder you, i don‘t who you are, i don‘t care what you are, hurt my family and die“

„i‘m your family?“, jean said, his voice barley more than a breathe.

ronan doesn‘t have to turn his face around to see the silent tears running down the face of the french boy

once again ronan wonders how jean deserved this life, this beautiful, sarcastic, yet kind soul

„of fucking course asshole, you‘re the only motherfucker who can handle me“, ronan replies.

„okay enough sentimental bullshit and emotions, day where are we going? have we planned that as well?“

„palmetto state, to my father. well he doesn’t know he‘s my father, but i guess he‘ll love two backlliners and a kevin day - second best striker in the united states“

„palmetto state it is. hope they‘re ready for the mafia to come visit to get us“, ronan replied, a small smile on his lips as he thinks about all the new possibilities and hopes he now dared to dream for

[violetwolfraven]

Drive! Fucking Drive!

@nightphans tagging you cause you seemed to like this idea and now I’ve expanded on it so... here goes my attempt at writing a new love interest for Kevin.

...

Kevin usually could put on a smile for his fans, but today was not a good day.

Him and Thea had been fighting (and it was bad, as in, they hadn’t so much as talked on the phone in two weeks bad), Andrew was off the court with a concussion, and the Foxes had a game against the Ravens in two days. While Kevin had come a long way, being away from them for almost 3 years now, he still didn’t exactly enjoy seeing his former teammates, even without Riko among them.

If any of the other Foxes had been there, Kevin probably could have handled it. Hell, he’d take one of the freshmen over facing this alone.

But he hadn’t thought it would be a big deal to go on a coffee run in Columbia alone, and then it was, and that was why he was running from a swarm of rabid fangirls.

Kevin wasn’t as fast as Neil, but he could definitely haul ass if he needed to, which was exactly what he was doing now. His only really clear thought was that he needed to get away and there was a convertible right by the curb and the top was down and it wasn’t going too fast yet so—

Parkour-jumping over the side-door into the passenger seat without asking probably wasn’t the smartest decision, but Kevin was desperate. He’d walked here, and there was no way he’d escape if he was sprinting away from fangirls all the way back to the cousins’ place.

“Fuck!”

The driver slammed on the brakes, probably rightfully. That was a reasonable reaction to having some guy jump into your car.

He didn’t recognize her—hadn’t even gotten a good look at her before he jumped into the car.

The driver was a young woman about his age, with hair dyed bright purple and brown eyes. She looked like she couldn’t decide whether to scream or punch him in the face.

She didn’t look like she had a clue who he was, which was unexpected, but Kevin wasn’t complaining.

“Hi,” he said, “I’m—“

At that point, one of the fangirls screamed and he remembered that he was running.

“Drive! Fucking drive!”

Whoever this woman was, she had quick reflexes. She didn’t question it. She just floored it out of the parking lot and narrowly avoided a car accident as she pulled onto the road.

“I’m sorry!” she shouted over the wind in a tone of voice that said that she absolutely was not sorry, “But who the fresh fuck are you?”

“I’m Kevin Day!”

“Am I supposed to be impressed? Why were those girls chasing you?”

“I’m a very famous Exy player!”

“Exy? You mean that indoor lacrosse ripoff?”

Kevin honestly didn’t think he’d ever been more insulted in his life.

“Exy is not a—“

“Tell it to someone who cares.”

At that point, the woman pulled over on the side of the road, safely a few blocks from the coffee shop.

“Look, I don’t give a flying fuck about any kind of sports,” she said, “I don’t know who you are and I don’t care to. The only reason I didn’t kick you out of my car right away is because you looked scared, and I have trouble turning away from people who look scared. It’s kind of a problem.”

“Seems like a good way to get yourself mixed up in things you can’t handle,” Kevin noted.

“Maybe. What about you? Have a lot of trouble with fangirls, Exy-boy?”

“Sometimes.”

She smirked, “What? Didn’t expect it, being a big-shot athlete?”

Kevin didn’t say that he’d never had a choice in being a big-shot athlete, so he’d never gotten to choose whether he wanted to deal with the fangirls and the press and all the not so fun things that came with the sport he loved.

The woman seemed to notice that the question was a touchy subject. She sighed.

“Look, what I’m trying to say is that you quite obviously need help, and I have nothing better to do this morning. Where do you want me to take you?”

Kevin was kind of in shock, to be honest. He hadn’t gotten much opportunity to meet people besides his team, being kind of anti-social, and he’d thought Renee, Abby, Jeremy Knox, and maybe Matt were the only people this nice on Earth.

Well, this woman didn’t seem nice, exactly. She didn’t seem like she particularly wanted to help him, just that she didn’t want to leave him on the side of the road. Plus, she definitely swore too much to be considered the conventional kind of nice.

Kevin would take it.

“My friends have a house here in Columbia. It’s not far.”

“Cool. Kevin, was it?”

It was so weird to talk to someone who didn’t know his name.

“Yeah. Kevin Day.”

“Well, what’s your friends’ address, Kevin Day?”

Kevin gave her the address.

Apparently, he’d been gone long enough that the cousins and Neil were getting suspicious.

They all seemed relieved, but very confused as he pulled up in a black convertible with a random young woman with purple hair.

“Did you get kidnapped?” Neil asked pointedly.

“If I was going to kidnap him, I wouldn’t have brought him back to you, now would I?”

“I got swarmed by fans and she gave me a ride,” Kevin explained, getting out of the car.

“Oh,” Nicky flashed her a smile, “Well, in that case, thanks for saving our guy!”

“I’d say ‘any time,’ but with any luck, I’ll never have to save Kevin here’s ass again, so... here’s hoping I don’t see any of y’all around.”

They all shot Kevin confused looks, except Andrew, who was just giving the woman a very suspicious once-over.

“She’s not an Exy fan,” he explained, “She didn’t even know who I was. I just jumped in the car and told her to drive.”

“And she actually did it?” Neil asked.

“She can hear you,” the woman said pointedly, “And if you’re all good, here, I’ll be on my way.”

“Then ‘be on your way,’” Andrew said, slightly mocking her South Carolina accent.

The woman glared at him for a second before tossing Kevin the jacket he’d accidentally left in her front seat and getting ready to drive away.

Kevin didn’t know why he did it, but he didn’t miss the annoyed look on Andrew’s face when he called after her.

“Didn’t catch your name!”

“Aria!” she called back, “And you’re welcome, by the way!”

Kevin probably should have thanked her before she was halfway down the street, quickly getting farther and farther away.

“So,” Nicky said with a shit-eating grin, “Aria, huh?”

“Fuck off, Nicky. I met her ten minutes ago.”

“She’s a risk,” Andrew said bluntly.

“None of us are probably ever going to see her again,” Kevin pointed out, “So it doesn’t matter if she is.”

...

Imagine Kevin’s surprise when he did see her again, at that same coffee shop, a couple months later.

It was another bad day, ironically. Tabloids were spinning stories about Thea and one of her teammates, and while Kevin didn’t think she’d cheat on him, he couldn’t deny that she never smiled for him like she did in those photos.

She was flying into town tonight, and she’d said over the phone that they needed to talk.

Basically, Kevin was about 90% sure they were breaking up, and Nicky had suggested going to Columbia to cheer him up last night.

He was sad about it, but not as much as he’d expected. He’d kind of seen it coming. Thea was still too much a Raven for him to ever fully relax with her, and being around him often made her revert to an emotionless mask he never saw when he watched her games on TV.

In the Nest, they’d found solace in seemingly the only other person who wasn’t a complete sociopath—besides Jean, of course—but now, they were in a big, bright world full of people who weren’t sociopaths, and as Neil bluntly pointed out, neither of them were what the other needed anymore.

At first, this morning, Kevin thought Aria was going to ignore him, but she didn’t move when he came over to stand next to her while they waited for their orders.

Andrew, sitting in the chair in the corner, glared at him, but didn’t intervene.

“Do you always come back to places you already got swarmed at?” Aria asked.

Kevin shrugged, “They have good coffee.”

“On that, we can agree. It was Kevin, right?”

“Right.”

Kevin realized he didn’t really know what to talk about. He could usually just talk about Exy and if a teammate didn’t want to talk about that, they’d start a conversation about something else.

Kevin didn’t know how to talk about much else.

“You go to school here in South Carolina?”

Aria shook her head, “Nope. I’m headed back to New York in the fall.”

“What school?”

“Trying to stalk me, Kevin Day?”

“Well, I don’t even know your last name, so I’d have a hard time if I tried.”

She smirked, but didn’t tell him her last name.

“I’m going to the Juilliard School. Performing arts is kind of my thing.”

“Cool.”

Kevin knew absolutely nothing about performing arts, but Aria sounded pretty proud of herself, so the Juilliard School was probably a good one.

“What about you? What school do you go to?”

“Palmetto.”

“And you didn’t go home for the summer?”

Kevin shrugged, “Training camp.”

And he didn’t have a home to go back to, unless Abby’s house counted, but Aria didn’t need to know that.

“Well, I leave in three months,” Aria said, “So probably no use in being friends if there’s a time limit.”

She picked up her coffee when they called it out.

“See you around, Kevin. Or not, if you decide to stop being a dumbass and keep coming to places where fangirls run rampant.”

Kevin was tempted to argue with that, but she actually had a point.

He and Andrew did leave pretty quickly after they got their coffee to avoid anyone recognizing them.

“What did she say to you?” Andrew asked when they were back in the car.

Kevin shrugged, “She told me she’s going back to New York for college in the fall, so there’s no point in being friends. She also said that I should ‘stop being a dumbass’ and coming to places I’ve gotten swarmed by fangirls before.”

“Well, she’s right about you being a dumbass.”

Kevin figured that would be the end of it.

...

It wasn’t. After a few more times running into Aria in that coffee shop, Andrew asked her to come with them to Eden’s the next time they went, and as much as part of Kevin wanted to stop him, he didn’t.

He actually really liked talking to Aria. She kind of reminded him of Thea, with the seemingly unbreakable defiance she always carried, but at the same time, she absolutely was not Thea. Aria joked more, was less concerned with survival in the way of someone who’d never had to fight for theirs, and as she’d made it very clear, didn’t give a flying fuck about Exy.

That was still weird. Having to come up with small talk. Aria didn’t know anything about Exy and Kevin didn’t know anything about performing arts. Instead of those things, they talked about the latest movie, which meant that Kevin actually had to go with Nicky and Aaron to see those movies, or debate their favorite Jane Austen novel, or just bitch about how hot it was. That had never happened with Thea.

It was probably weird to keep comparing his new... well, he didn’t know if he could even call her a friend yet, to his now-ex-girlfriend, but Kevin had thought about it more times than he probably should.

Oh, yeah, him and Thea had agreed to stay in touch, but after a talk, were both more relieved than they should be about breaking up. Neil was right. They weren’t what each other needed. And yeah, Kevin had been sad about it for a bit, but he couldn’t deny that Thea was happier now, with that teammate of hers. He was happy for her, and...

And he knew that Aria was pretty in an unconventional kind of way, and she was witty and funny and he really didn’t know if he was attracted to her or not.

Honestly, even if he wasn’t, Andrew would probably still see her as a threat.

She’d probably never speak to him again after whatever Andrew was going to do this weekend. But Kevin knew none of the other Monsters would ever get off his back until he let them question her.

It was kind of surprising when she gave him a weird look as he started drinking.

“Aren’t you a pro athlete?”

“Yeah, why?”

“Aren’t pro athletes supposed to stick to a diet or something?”

Aaron smirked a little, and Kevin fought the urge to roll his eyes. Nobody except Aaron and Neil actually even remotely followed those. Kevin would, but unfortunately, an athlete’s diet didn’t include copious amounts of booze.

“Don’t actresses have to stick to a diet, too?” Andrew asked.

Aria shrugged, “I don’t have a contract yet. And besides, I pretty much burn whatever I eat with dance, so as long as I keep rehearsing over summer, I probably stay about as fit as you guys.”

Kevin seriously doubted that. He didn’t mean to let it show on his face, but Aria was already shooting him a sour look.

“I would like to see you last an hour at a dance call at my school. Sports are hard, sure, but you guys don’t have to look pretty and stay on-beat while you do it.”

Nicky snorted, “She’s got a point. Can you do, like, flips and stuff?”

“I can do an aerial. One of my best friends is so good at tumbling and stuff that he can do a backflip, but I’m not quite there yet.”

“Cool! Can you sing, too?”

Aria grinned and sang along to the next couple lines of the song that was playing.

“I’m on my guard with the rest of the world, but with you, I know it’s no good. And I should wait patiently, but... I really wish you would.”

She actually sounded pretty good.

“Awesome!” Nicky exclaimed, “You’re a triple threat!”

Aaron gave him a weird look.

“What? I went through a theatre phase in high school.”

“Well, theatre is gay culture,” Aria admitted.

“Interesting,” Andrew said dryly, “How you claimed you knew nothing about Kevin, or even Exy, and yet you know that Nicky’s gay.”

Aria just shrugged, “I still don’t give a flying fuck about Exy, but after y’all invited me out, I got curious. Spent some time on the Internet. Speaking of which, your Wikipedia page didn’t say you were as socially awkward as you seem, Kevin. How the hell did you get a friend as nice as Nicky?”

Neil and Nicky laughed. Aaron hid a smirk.

Kevin glared at them. Obviously, he wasn’t going to tell her about that deal with Andrew, and therefore basically getting adopted by the Minyard/Hemmick family, but he did give Aria a fairly truthful explanation.

“You get pretty close with people when you play on a team. Sometimes, things happen and you can’t help but care about someone.”

“I think that’s the nicest thing you’ve ever said about any of us, Kevin,” Neil said with a shit-eating grin.

“Fuck off, Neil.”

Aria raised an eyebrow, “Woah. Seems like you’re just as much of a bitch as me.”

“Excuse me?”

Nicky was losing his shit laughing, and even Andrew seemed to find that funny, not that anyone who didn’t know him well would be able to tell.

“So, what else did our Wikipedia pages say?” Neil asked.

Kevin knew for a fact that Neil knew exactly what his said, but he didn’t say that.

“A whole lot of interesting stuff,” Aria admitted, “Your team seems pretty messed up.”

“That kind of sums it up,” Neil agreed.

“With any luck, I’ll have one someday. A Wikipedia page, I mean. Not that any of you will probably read it, but I’m gonna be on Broadway someday, so you can read all about it when I’m... well, probably not as famous as you. Broadway stars are famous to high school theatre nerds and basically no one else.”

“Convenient,” Andrew said, “Wanting to be an actress and meeting someone randomly outside a coffee shop who’s famous enough that his endorsement could probably get you exactly where you want to go.”

Aria seemed to get what he was implying, and she glared at him.

“Trust me, if I’m getting there, I’m getting there on my own. Victory tastes a lot sweeter when you got it fair and square, because then when you say that you’re better than the people you beat, you know for sure that you’re right.”

Kevin knew exactly what she was talking about.

Aria took a sip of her drink, still glaring at Andrew.

“If you wanted to know if I was a threat to your socially-awkward buddy, you could have just sat me down and asked questions like a normal person. If you had asked me if I was planning on using any of you to further my career, I would have told you that as a bisexual woman of color in performing arts, I have worked my ass off to get this far, and I sure as hell am willing to work my ass off even more to get myself the rest of the way. I’m not interested in taking shortcuts. So, if you still think I am, kindly get your coffee at a different time of day, because I’m not seeing you intentionally, but I’m not changing my schedule to avoid you, either. Basically, thanks for the drink, but I can call myself Uber, so don’t worry about driving me home.”

With that, Aria grabbed her bag off the table and started walking away.

To their credit, all the guys had the decency to look at least a little guilty, except Andrew.

Kevin didn’t want to know the look on his friend’s face when he followed her.

He caught up to her on the sidewalk, outside, waiting for her Uber.

“You weren’t kidding.”

“What?”

“You said that helping people who looked scared was a good way to get myself mixed up in things I can’t handle,” Aria said calmly, “And you were right. Don’t think I missed all the messed up headlines your friends have made when I looked up you and your team.”

“And you still came with us tonight?” Kevin asked.

She shrugged, “Seemed like they’d only get more suspicious if I cancelled. I didn’t feel like getting stalked by a team of athletes with half a dozen homicide accusations between them.”

That was actually fair logic. To be honest, Kevin was surprised there were only six accusations between Neil, Renee, and the twins.

“They’ve all seen some messed up shit,” he explained, “They’re just trying to protect me.”

“Yeah, I got that. Just don’t particularly see why I’m worth the fuss. I’m leaving in 2 months and I’m not coming back until Christmas.”

“They’re paranoid.”

“And you’re not? Judging by the articles analyzing you, you don’t go anywhere without at least one of them.”

Kevin had to admit, he usually didn’t. Even after 3 years away from the Ravens, he still didn’t do well alone.

He shrugged, “Sometimes paranoia keeps you alive. You don’t really seem like a threat, though.”

Aria snorted, “Thanks.”

She took a deep breath, seeming to be psyching herself up for something.

She took a piece of paper out of her bag and handed it to him.

It was a business card, with only three lines of information. A phone number, an email, and...

Aria Kennedy. It said her last name. By giving him this, she was making it a lot easier for him—and by extension, Andrew and the others—to look her up.

“You don’t have to use it,” she said simply, “But oddly, I actually enjoy talking to you. You make good conversation, for a jock.”

“You make good conversation for a sarcastic theatre kid,” Kevin admitted, “Aria Kennedy.”

Aria smiled a bit at that, “I’m not watching your games.”

“I’m not watching your plays.”

“Wow. I’m so crushed.”

Kevin laughed at her deadpan tone.

“Look, I’m not stupid,” she said, “I get that there are probably a lot of people out there who want to get with you for the fame and all that. That’s probably part of what your friends are protecting you from. But that’s not me. I’m not looking for a relationship. I’m barely looking for a friend. It just seems like you could use one who hasn’t done a turn at county.”

“Maybe,” Kevin admitted, “I’d like to be friends.”

He probably should figure out if he even wanted to be more than that, but for now... a friend seemed good. Even a friend who was moving to New York for most of the year.

Aria saluted with two fingers as she stepped into her Uber, “See you around, Kevin Day.”

Kevin nodded, “See you around, Aria Kennedy.”

...

((I’m sorry if this is out of character for Kevin. I’ve only read aftg once.))

[whatmack]

how unreliable a narrator do you think neil is in terms of his looks lol. neil thinks he looks "plain and average" w the contacts/black hair (more evidence for brown neil, w ginger hair/blue eyes being NOT average!) but then most other characters comment on how cute/hot he is 🤔🤔

Mm! So I’m going to start with a couple base assumptions– I guess they’re closer to hypotheses–about the human landscape surrounding Neil in Palmetto, that the other characters would be comparing him to.1) Most college students look good. I don’t mean most college students look well-rested, or dressed up; the opposite, actually. When I was in college we were all doing obscene things to our bodies, from the general oppression of unbearable stress to lack of sleep to horrendous diets to not going to the doctor to an, uh, inadvisable degree of alcohol consumption– but we basically looked good, even rolling up to class in holey sweats and unbrushed hair.As much as people would think they looked awful, we were all young adults and my baseline for what looked “fine” definitely was raised in college because a nineteen year old on no sleep (usually) looks worlds better than a forty year old with no sleep*; when you’re younger there’s more resilience (and also American beauty culture sets the baseline of beauty at youth, which is fucked up– but this isn’t the post for that). So we’re assuming that the characters are surrounded by basically attractive people. 2) The Foxes take better care of their bodies than most college students. Again, this is not to say they all take *good* care of their bodies– insomnia and alcohol consumption come to mind–but all of them, even Andrew, would need to give their bodies at least some of the nutrients they need because (as I learned my freshman year) if you try to be intensively active on the average college student diet your body will physically give out. As in literally collapse.The Foxes also get regular exercise, and shower at least once a day during the week. Now, most sports aren’t particularly good for your body (and Exy doesn’t seem like it goes the way of water yoga), but for most people any exercise is better than none as far as your parts and organs working well, and your parts and organs working well usually makes you look better. Even as fucked up as the Foxes are they’re definitely getting a workout. So what surprises me is not that people find Neil attractive– not to be a raging pansexual but basically everyone I went to college with was attractive, and if I thought otherwise it was because I was in a bad mood–but that people find him more attractive than the rest of the Foxes, because as far as looks go Neil is doing pretty much everything he can to sabotage himself. He shows up. He’s underfed (though that soon changes, but Nicky DOES find him good-looking when he first arrives and I’d argue so does Andrew). He’s at literally-sure-he’s-going-to-be-murdered stress level. He’s got box-dyed hair; box dye is usually one flat color, and as many people have pointed out Neil’s hair must be one big crispy frizzball after his frequent re-dyeings and his definite lack of conditioner. He’s got colored contacts in. Colored contacts often look– odd– because for most sighted people at least, your natural irises react to stimuli and emotion, but colored contacts don’t.  He’s in worn clothes hideous even by 2000’s standards. They’re baggy and hide whatever muscle Exy has given him. He probably washes his face with bar soap if he washes it at all.He keeps getting beat up/tortured. He doesn’t smile. He isn’t kind (how many people have you decided were not cute at all, actually, after they acted an ass?). And aside from when people make him, he isn’t trying to be attractive, not even subconsciously: he doesn’t swing, and he doesn’t want people to look at him.   He’s doing almost all of the “wrong” things and yet people still find him attractive enough to comment on and even pursue.So even if people are being kind, even if him being the new guy means people are attracted to the novelty….evidence points to Neil being fucking stunning.Now imagine how Andrew reacts when Neil actually starts to try.*It occurred to me after writing this that this is incredibly subjective, and might be rather rude. Perhaps the reason I’m most attracted to young adults is because I am one; so there’s a third sub-assumption that the young adults attracted to Neil generally think young adults are the most attractive age group. If any of the young adults attracted to Neil find an older age group the most attractive, then hey! That’s proof of Neil’s super-beauty in a different way! Whichever way you slice it, Neil standing out from the crowd means he’s got to be special

[sadboyayeron]

THE ONLY VALID MORIYAMA Nikoshi Doe

I came up with this Idea of Kevin having to raise Rikos son who’s name I decide would be Nikoshi Doe aka Niko

Enjoy

So If you Read “Tapping on my Chamber door” 

You know Nikoshi’s mother, Naima Dixon was born in Jamaica but came to the states at a young age after her mom past away.  She lived in the Bronx with her Aunt. She had tight curls aften in box breads or corn cornrows and dark skin with light brown eyes. She was 5’8.  Had a muscular build from all the years of track and had a scholarship to run at Eager Allen University. She was soon to have a spot on the olympic team for long jump, 100, 200 and 400 meters. She was then pregnant with Nikoshi after her and Riko started there little hook up.  The knew of each other but they first met in class.  She noticed Riko looking at her.

“Like what you see.”  I was trying to catch him off guard but he didn’t even look surprise.  But then he smiled.  Something sharp that left me feeling tingly, similar to how I feel before racing.  

“Not to bad, no.”  He chuckled, looked me up and down before he landed back on my eyes, “Want to sit.”

He left me in a trance and I took a seat next to him and sat my books in front of me.  I tucked some braids behind my ear and looked at him again, he was looking back with a smug smile on his face.  

At first I was thinking Nikoshi was Rikos frozen sperm and his mother was forced by Rikos uncle to have him BUT I decide that Riko died before he knew about Naima being pregnant She found out she was pregnant and went to Riko’s uncle for help and he said to give him the kid and she could get her scholarship Back.  So she agreed naming him “Nico” but sadly she died while giving birth from bleeding out. Tesuji doesn’t use that name and changes it to ‘Nikoshi’ stripping him of any last name (Doe) putting the kid into the system in the same place she grow up in Bronx. Ichirou is informed of Nikoshi ten years later after having his Uncle killed. Who then informs kevin.

Nikoshi is from the Bronx has a accent when he speaks. He knows Spanish because of the amount of Dominican and Puerto Rican foster parents he’s had.  Kinda understands broken english two because one of his foster brothers was from Jamaica which is cool because he knows he’s half Jamaican and some type of asian. He wears beat up high top jordan 1s baggy ripped jeans and long sleeves with a baggy jacket. He plays soccer because the system put him on a team and he’s very fast. He didn’t have much clothes but his best ones are the uniforms and he’s fine with that. He also plays street basketball and baseball with some kids in the area.

Kevin has to take Nikoshi in, according to Ichirou. Bringing Neil and Andrew with him. Ichirou just sent him a picture a kid and he was confused until he got that call that explained everything. He doesn’t need to explain who the kid is because you can clearly tell from the picture. Though the kid has milk cholclate skin, and curly hair that falls around his head in a fro.

When he frist sees Nico he has a scrape scab on his cheek, bruises on his wrist and purple knuckles. His ears a surprisingly pierced.

They find out Nikoshi Doe goes by Niko, he likes chocolate and cafe con leche (coffee), he likes shoes, he likes the color green, he uses a lot of slang and sometimes uses broken english and spanglish words, he’s quite but hyper and doesn’t know how to say still, asks why a lot, he hates math and likes to read, he loves listening to music it’s his safe place, he was diagnosed with ADHD/ADD and takes a pill in the morning and after noon on school days, he doesn’t like the way the pills make him feel, he likes Bee, Bee suspects Niko my be Borderline but it’s hard to tell, Kevin explains Riko was too.  When they go to pick up Nikoshi they are informed of his diagnoses. 

“So Kevin Day, It is very nice to meet you my husband loves watching you guys play Exy,” She smiled at them and then opened a drawer in her desk pulling out two folders.“ Now these paper were just printed out today.  One from Nikoshi’s Doctor and another from his psychologist.”  Kevin straightened his back more at that.

“Psychologist?”  She looked up at Kevin.

“Yes, a lot of children in foster care go to see a therapist.  It helps cope with abandonment and makes sure the kids are transitioning well in their new homes.”  She opened one of the folders.  “Nikoshi saw a therapist who recommended him to a psychologist.  He was diagnosed with ADHD/ADD and given medication.  He went through three different medications before he was put on Focalin XR.  His biggest issues are impulsivity, managing feelings, and energy.  There is more information in the folder with getting the prescription at a pharmacy and things to know about his behavior.  He takes Focalin every morning before school, its not needed on the weekends but to long off it isn’t the best idea.  Though if you want him off the medication, if you ever come to adopting him you can do that.”  She looked towards the other two. “Will you two be helping take care of Nikoshi.”

“Yeah we are, is there anything else we need to know.  If he needs a therapist we already got that covered.  We can send her the information.”  Neil replied with a bored tone but

“Thats good to know, he just saw the doctor last week.  He gained some weight and is now at a more healthier weight then he was before.”  She sighed. “You have to reminded him to eat, he forgets to and he doesn't ask for food.  The foster home he was just at was good with keeping a schedule, he ate, took his meds, ate at school, had a snack at home, soccer practice and then dinner.  He gets distracted and has little habits that cause him focus to much on random things.  The meds take away his hunger also, so it important that he finishes.”  She then closed both folders and stacked them together before sliding them to Kevin.  

Kevin didn’t know how to process that.  This information sounded to familiar.  He always had to remind Riko to eat something.  Riko would go days without eating, or sleeping, or even both.  It got so bad the master had to tube feed him because he past out and didn’t get back up.  Niko always got back up.  He was taken out of his thoughts when the lady, Jennifer stood.  He picked up the folders and got up following Andrew and Neil out the door.  Nikoshi was still sitting in his chair, he was singing his legs slowly and seemed fixated on his hands.

“Nikoshi, these gentlemen here are going to be your new guardians,”  Niko looked up at them.  He got a better look at there faces, now that the glasses were off he could easily recognize who the taller man was with the chess piece on his cheek bone.  He was confused o say the least.  This had to be some sick joke, or a stupid stuPID dream.  He looked at the other too, the screw that littered the red heads tan face and the man with blond hair and black studs.

“Deadass?”  He blurted out suddenly.  Fuck.  He did not mean to blurt that out.  Kevin day looked taken back by his statement and the other too snickered from slightly behind him.  The lady looked horrified.

Riko used to self harm, stop eating for days, wouldn’t sleep for days either.  His uncle had to force him into a tube feeder once because of this.  Kevin and Riko had to see a therapist and she diagnosed Riko. His uncle disregarded it and gave him sum type of pills that made Riko’s anger at himself turn down a bit but he was more depressed. He tried to commit 3 times after. Kevin made him promise not to. He flushed the pills and started to abuse others.

Kevin explains this to Neil and Andrew.  They then try to learn more about BPD.  They watch youtube videos, read articles and books on it till they had a better understanding of the disorder.  They learn about the self-destructive tendencies and suicidal gestures that are quite common with the disorder.  They all try there best to build a good support system. 

Niko has a hard time with his identity and ‘who he is’,  he tries to remember that Kevin wants him and isn't going to abandon him, he tries to keep his shifts in moods to himself but in only makes things worse.  He tends to shut down in his room more often then not.  He finds himself getting angry at little things knowing he shouldn’t but he still does.  Anger attacks aren't as bad as the empty feeling he gets sometimes.

When Niko meets all the foxes he drifts more towards Nicky for whatever reason.  He finds that he like Nickys happy vibes and feels it radiate from him.  He likes to soak in it.

Niko likes talking to Neil, he gets candy from Andrew, and he likes playing Exy with Kevin. He didn’t like school and says it’s hard for him but he still makes honor roll no problem.

During the second month of school when he first started living with Kevin he expriences racism for maybe the first time.  He didn’t have any friends, nor knew anybody.  He could tell he was different from the other kids.  They were mostly white with a splash of color here and there.  The way they talked and walked was different then how he did.  He didn’t grew up with white picket fences like they seemed to.  They dressed different too.  He didn’t like the stares he was getting from the kids in his class.

“Nice hair are you a girl?”  One of the boys said, with his little click at his back.  It was recess and Niko stuck to staying to himself drawling in his note book that Andrew gave him. 

“No.”  The boys continued to laugh.  He hated when people talked about his hair.  He didn't like his hair.  Especially when his foster mothers always tugged and pulled on it.  That wasn't just it though.  It reminded him of his foster father Mr. James.

“Such pretty hair.”

The boys crept closers and Niko started to feel closed in.  One of them pulled out scissors and two grabbed him by the shoulders.  One talked about how there dad said them Black boys need to cut there hair.  Another used a slur Niko heard a lot back in the Bronx, used it himself when with the kids in the neighborhood but he never heard it used like this.  He started to struggle but another one grabbed his face and held him down so his face fell between his knees.  He felt chuncks of hair being cut of from his head as they fell down his back and some at his feet.  

He felt his eyes water and struggled harder.  He kicked the one to his right in the shin, knowing how much it hurt from when he played soccer with out shin guards.  The kids let go of that shoulder and he swung his arm hitting another kid.  They all let go once they heard a teacher yell at them.  Niko reached for the scissors and threw them in the grass.  The boys ran away and Niko was left to look at the small and large chunks of his hair on the concrete.  He didn’t mean to bother anybody.  He didn't ask to have this type of hair.  He didn’t ask to be different.  Sometimes he missed the Bronx but then remembered his foster sister getting shot, and his doped up foster parents he used to end up with.  He didn't want to go back, but he found himself missing it sometimes.

Nobody asked abut his hair during the rest of the school day.  Not even his teacher.  Its fine he didn't want to bother anybody.  When Andrew came to pick him up he was wearing his hoodie.  Today Neil and Andrew were coming over, so was Aaron.  Aaron practically lived with him and Kevin now though.  He said nothing on the way home.  He didn't want to bother them.  He was trying his hardest not to.  

But then he got home he went straight to the bathroom and locked the door.  He didn’t hear Kevin nor Aaron calling him.  He stared in to the mirror and glared at himself.  Disgusting. You look like a girl. He ripped off his hood and he felt something in himself crack.  His hair was clearly uneven.  Some areas you couldn’t tell but he could see how his curls on his forehead were shortened compared to the pieces on the sides.  He could tell where every spot was that had been cut, like there were circles showing him where to look.  A broken sob cut through his throat.  The tears rolled down his cheeks.  He always thought he was an ugly crier.  He grabbed his hair and pulled.  He kept pulling till he felt arms wrap around his torso.  He wanted to fight who ever they were off but he couldn't.  They grabbed his hands but they couldn't pry them from his hair.  He heard someone calling his name and found a face to that voice.  He noticed another person accompanied him in the mirror.  Holding on to him.  It wasn’t his voice he heard though.  He saw the other three at the bathroom entrance but it was Aaron standing closest to him.

“Niko its okay, let go buddy.”  He didn’t know if he meant his hands or his feelings but he let them go.  He saw more pieces of hair fall through his hands but ignored it and them screamed.  Kevin turned him around and held him again.  Kevin lowered himself to his knees to let Niko cry and scream into his neck.  He rubbed his back till he calmed down.  Neil and Andrew left to prepare some ice cream and play music.  Kevin noticed the hair that fell to the floor and so did Aaron.  It didn’t match the amount that should still be connected to his head.

Niko told them what happened at school with less emotion then he displayed before.  They were all furious but chose to keep it inside to comfort Niko.  They called the school and told them what happened.  The school apologized but Kevin still wasn't letting Niko go back to that school.  He transferred Niko to another and reassured him it was okay and it was the same distance anyways.  They took Niko to the babor shop and they evened out his hair.  He got it cut some on the sides as well, allowing the back and top to be longer.  His hair showed more off his forehead and ear piercings now.  He felt more exposed, but was happy with the hair cut.

When he meets Dan she gives him oils and creams to put in his hair.  Even showed him how to wash it too, Matt helps.  He got to meet there kids.

Allison braided his hair down for when he graduated Elementary School.  She teaches how how to do other things like twist, braids, and box braids.

When he goes to college Renee helps him bleach the ends of his hair blond.

He has nightmares often. And likes to have hot chocolate to calm his nerves. He gets irritated easily, they learn. When he gets irritated he stops talking and fidgets, tapping his foot and cracking his knuckles. 

Kevin’s night terrors slowly fade as Riko’s dark shadow fades into Nikos warm glow.

Niko definitely learns how to skateboards when Aaron gives him his old one. Kevin likes to watch them practice it together.  Just like Aaron likes to watch Kevin teach Niko Exy.  He joins a team in Middle School.  He's definitely going to be something.

Hope you guys like this.  Leave ask and suggestions about Nikoshi Doe. I would love to hear about it and write the prompts.  

[foxy-exy]

Could you write Kandrew’s first kiss??

ANON I’M AWARE THAT U PROBABLY WANTED A MORE CANON KINDA KANDREW BUT DO U KNOW HO WMUCH I LOVE THIS RAVEN KANDREW AU???? enough that I’m 150% gonna overlook thatmy prompts were closed at the time bc honestly 😉 ily and thank u for caring about kandrew withme

(also I made thisits own fic on ao3 which has gone completely ignored but that’s how the kandrew cookie crumbles)

part four of escapedraven!kandrew (one two three all here)

tw: past abusediscussion, violence

Kevin does not know ifhe can hold down the alcohol he’d inhaled in the locker room. His field ofvision has narrowed to a black and red jersey across the court. MORIYAMA 01.

Andrew cannot try tokill Riko on the court, in front of everyone. He will be arrested, he’ll neverplay again. And Kevin will be alone until he, too, is killed — it feelsinevitable, darkness all-encompassing, a catastrophic future because Kevin willnever be able to exist in a world without Riko, without this terrible dread ofimpending failure hanging over everything, they are two sides of a coin, afterall, and he is —

“Kevin.” The head ofan Exy racquet is shoved against his chest, and Kevin instinctively seizes itand looks down to — Andrew, in orange. He is wearing orange, and so is Kevin.

They are Foxes now.

Andrew’s eyes catchhis across the slope of the orange and white net. His gaze is even and cool andeverything that usually sets Kevin off about him, but tonight Andrew’s coldbrown eyes are Kevin’s anchor in a sea of black feathers.

“If Riko doesn’t beatus fairly in front of them all, it is no win,” Andrew says, and Kevin grasps atthe words desperately, but he is underwater and they drain away through asieve.

“I don’t —”

Andrew twists thehandle of the racquet, shoving it harder against Kevin’s mile-a-minuteheartbeat, his eyes narrowing as he turns in. Kevin’s mouth is dry and sour andhe is very strangely breathless.

“He won’t touch you,”Andrew reiterates, impatiently. Then, more quietly, as he lifts his chin,extended far into Kevin’s space, “But even if he tried. I promised you.”

That lands. Andrew promised. But Kevin never promised himanything in return, did he?

Yet whistles are blowing, crowds are yelling, and Andrewmust leave his side for the goal. Kevin stands alone on the court floor, andsound cuts off as the door closes, and Riko is there, staring and smiling andplaying Kevin like a puppet.

Kevin flexes his fingers, inhales, and as the buzzer sounds,brandishes his racquet — settling into its proper place like it never left — heldsecurely in his scarred left hand.

***

They win.

It’s by a single point and panic-inducing near-goals in thefinal seconds on Andrew, but they win. The only glimpse Kevin gets ofRiko is him looking blankly shocked, and then Kevin is whisked away by histeam. Riko doesn’t matter. They won.

The Foxes are screaming and celebrating as one and Kevin isloose with disbelieving relief when Andrew catches his shirt front to yank himdown. Their helmets knock together and Kevin’s jaw goes slack at the gleam inAndrew’s eyes, wild and almost…almost excited, almost…victorious.Andrew’s heavy gloved hand slides over Kevin’s left then, still clutched aroundhis racquet, and Andrew’s grip tightens as a fierce little smile flashes acrosshis face for a half a second and Kevin…

Oh, no, Kevin…

***

Kevin trails behind the others as they stream for theshowers, still chattering and happy, and catches Andrew’s sleeve. They’vediscarded gear, stripped down to underthings, and Kevin gets an unimpeded viewof Andrew’s hair waving into damp ash blond curls at his temples, sweat still beadingslightly across his forehead. He has lost the animation of earlier, theferocious triumph, just looks cool once more. Slightly tired.

Kevin does not know what to do beyond hold fast to Andrew’sarm. He swears his heartbeat has not slowed since they won, and he thinks maybeAndrew will know why, but Kevin is only just starting to comprehend the reason.

Slowly, he tugs again on Andrew’s sleeve, and Andrew letshis arm be pulled in, only a slight twitch of his jaw betraying his otherwisestony stillness.

Kevin gathers Andrew’s fingers against his chest, over hisheart, and Andrew’s face does another, stronger twitch at the frantic pace.

“I’m the wrong twin to ask if you’re looking for help with aheart condition,” is all he says, but Andrew’s voice is faux smoothness, anundercurrent of something not as calm.

“I never gave you anything in return for playing with me,”Kevin says.

Andrew looks away. “You did briefly entertain me by playinga winning game against our ex-captain with your actual playing hand.”

“Andrew.”

Andrew turns a hard glare on him and shoves at Kevin’schest, backing him into a bench. Kevin drops to the seat and knows his heartpicks back up again, knows Andrew can feel it because Kevin still hasn’t let goof his hand with his own broken, put-back-together left one.

Andrew hovers above him, a head taller now, gaze lingeringon those rippling white lines interrupting flesh, until his eyes flick toKevin’s — and they are so close — Andrew steps another pace closer, closeenough to bump his nose to Kevin’s, close enough to feel a brush of eyelash —almost close enough to taste his mouth —

“You don’t want this,” Andrew accuses in an undertone, halfa breath away. “You are doing what you think I want. This is an exchange.”

“What,” Kevin mumbles as he hovers on the edge of losinghimself, and then again, “what?” as he pulls back and replays. “No.”

Andrew stands and stares and tugs ever-so-slightly on theneck of Kevin’s undershirt. “Then what do you want, Kevin Day?”

Kevin’s scar-roped fingers seek and find the steady beat inAndrew’s chest. It, too, is too fast, thumpthumpthumpthump. Kevin canonly focus on the slight part of his lips. Andrew has been with him all thistime, protecting him, saving him, an immovable wall between Kevin andhis demons, a steady right hand as Kevin worked up the courage to return to hisleft. How could he have not seen until now?

“I’ve…I’ve wanted you for a long time, I think.”

Andrew grips fists of thin shirt and drags Kevin back tojust-barely-brushing and asks raggedly, “You think, or you know? Reallyyes?”

Kevin is impatient now. “Fucking of course I know, yes,Andrew —” and he goes to say something biting because that I think camefrom that unsure, scared part of him that pulls Kevin back, that turns Kevincoward, that does not let him reach for what he truly wants — and Andrew seemsto know this, because Andrew knows Kevin like Kevin knows the back of his handafter all this time together, and Andrew shuts Kevin up.

Andrew’s mouth is hot and Kevin is so warm and he cannotthink. Andrew stiffens under Kevin’s own curling of fingers in his shirt, pullsaway to drag Kevin’s hand away. “Don’t touch,” he hisses before capturing Kevinin a kiss again, and Kevin balls his fists in the hem of his own shirt, dizzy.

He pushes in return when Andrew nudges forward, and nearlyfalls when, just as quickly, Andrew steps back and away and someone — severalsomeones — step into the room, talking loudly. The rest of the team, askingfrom far away why they haven’t showered yet.

Andrew’s stare does not break from Kevin in his retreat backto the door leading to the showers. His lips are very pink and his breathingisn’t unaffected, for once, and Kevin feels slightly mollified with the utteruselessness of his legs right now.

He kissed Andrew Minyard. And Andrew Minyard kissed him.

And god, Kevin thinks as he wobbles to his feet tofollow after, barely nodding to puzzled teammates as he passes them by.

He wants to do it again.

-

(Feel free to send me more prompts!)

[shit-uhm-sorry]

It all starts in one of Andrew's criminal justice classes. It was specifically for analyzing the sociology of criminals. (how victim-abuser relationships work, criminal empires, the structure of how criminals interact with other people, etc.)

Andrew likes his degree. He really does. And having to admit that, even to himself is as Bee would put it: a big step forward

He doesn't care enough to shove it away. It feels... interesting. The whole field is interesting.

But then theres times like- this.

That makes Andrew want to commit another felony himself.

It was not long after the Baltimore incident.

Only a month after.

And his sociology professor comes in with a peculiar pep in her step.

She sets down her notes for the day and waits for the rest of the students to file in.

Once everyone is settled she plastered on this big grin

"Everybody, I have something to share." She said it as if she was trying to contain her excitement but everyone knew she was practically bursting with it. "If any of you are avid on keeping up with news involving big criminal networks you would have seen an absolutely astounding albeit vague breakthrough about a month ago."

Andrew felt his stomach clench. If she was going where he thought she was going with this...

"Some of you criminal conspiracy theorists out there know all about infamous Wesninski scandal."

Andrew felt a spark of anger begin to boil but he absolutely refused to show anything outwardly. He heard some classmates that were the avid conspirators start to also whisper excitedly. Andrew clenched his hand into a fist under the desk so hard he could feel half moon marks forming on his palms.

"For those of you who dont..."

She then pressed a button on her remote and the projector started to turn on.

An article titled "The Blood of the Fallen Wesniski Family" appeared on the screen. It had the picture of a giant house-closer to a mansion-on the front that Andrew could only assume was the Wesninski's.

"This article was published this morning. A month ago there had been a news story about a big bust in the Wesninski house reporting several murders of the occupants inside, but the police refused to release any more information than that. It was huge, considering many had speculated exactly what has been happening involving the Wesninski's for years."

"But this morning the FBI finally released information about what had happened."

His professor scrolled down past the picture to start reading the article outloud.

"Nathan Wesninski, Lola Malcolm, Patrick DiMaccio and 7 other victims have been reported dead, found around and mostly in a hidden basement of the Wesninski household."

It then went on to talk about the cause of death, why the FBI had been withholding this information, and the speculation on who killed them.

Suddenly she scrolled down and a picture of Neil showed up. There were a few audible gasps in the room. A select couple were from recognition, the rest were from the shock of the images.

Andrew had seen Neil in the hotel. But that was after he had gotten medical care.

This was when the police and press had arrived right after he narrowly escaped death.

Andrew felt such a white hot rage that he could feel his lips curling upwards in a snarl.

Neil was being man handled by a cop in the image, his hair a matted mess and blood was everywhere. The lacerations and burns on his cheeks were stark against his pale face. The shirt- the fucking shirt that Andrew saw Neil leave in before the riot was stained with so much fresh blood and sweat.

The worst part-

The worst part though was that in the image Neil was doubled over laughing. His eyes were filled with panic and hysteria and his mouth was wide. Andrew could hear his own laughter filling his ears when Drake-

Andrew pushed that aside in favor of trying to contain his immense anger. To contain the temptation of burning this fucking school into the ground.

"Some of you might recognize this man. He actually goes to our very school" the professor informed the class with such elation.

"This is Nathaniel Wesninski. Nathan Wesninski's son. He barely survived the events of what happened that night, and informed the FBI that the suspicions the police and other crime enthusiasts have had over the Wesninski's were true."

Andrew tuned out the rest of his professors ramblings on the theories and the confirmed murders and tortures the Wesninski circle was involved in until the name Nathaniel was mentioned again.

"Nathaniel is actually on our Exy team-"

Andrew surprised himself when he heard himself snarl "His name is Neil Josten."

Suddenly all eyes shifted onto him. The woman then had a look on her face like she just realised who exactly was in the class room.

"Ah.. uh, yes Mr. Minyard is correct. Nathaniel and recently changed his name to Neil Josten in an effort to distance himself from the Wesninski history and name."

She seemed to realize how insensitive this entire situation was because her joy and excitement noticeably dimmed.

After a few more words she went on with the actual lesson that day.

Andrew couldn't pay attention. His focus much more attuned towards Bee's breathing exercises that weren't working in calming him down.

After class was over Andrew was just about to be leaving when his professor stopped him. "Ah Mr. Minyard, a word?"

Andrew turned his head but didnt come near her.

She sidled up to him instead and said "I know you are on the college Exy team, and I have seen you with Wesnin- ah Josten in the halls."

Andrew felt himself clenching his fists again

"I was wondering, if it is alright with him of course, if you could possibly talk to Mr. Josten and ask him if he'd be able to guest speak on the next lecture?"

Andrew stared at her in disbelief, but to her in must have just been a blank mask.

"How about this." Andrew started

"The next time you decide to use a student, a human being, that you are trained to teach and to respect and coincide with as something for you to squeal over like a scientist dissecting a specimen, ask yourself this. Am I being professional? Am I being a person with common sense? Am I being someone who can fall asleep without crying over how pathetic my life has become? I can already guess that the answer to all these questions is no. No you are not. So stow away this asinine facisnation with other people's serious trauma and act like a goddamn fucking professional."

Andrew then turned around and left without a word.

Later that day Andrew entered the dorm after his classes were done and set his things down.

Neil was on the couch already, spacing out looking at the wall.

"Browning called this morning." He said after Andrew had settled himself on the arm of the couch.

"Said that they released the information to the public about Baltimore."

Andrew showed no reaction to this information, which he knew Neil would interpret as Andrew already knowing.

Neil gave a cruel smile and looked at Andrew. "Do you know how many people have approached me today? Asking about it?"

Andrew kept his face blank, giving Neil the foundation of nothingness he needed.

There was a tense couple of minutes of just staring before Neil's smile finally cracked and he looked at his lap in defeat. Andrew could see how tired he was.

"They asked. They asked why I laughed."

Andrew finally moved to sit next to Neil and put a hand onto his neck for much needed comfort.

Neil side eyed Andrew and started elaborating "...There was an image the press took that had been withheld by the FBI until now... it was of me-"

He couldnt hear Neil say it. Couldnt hear Neil relive it. "I saw." Andrew interrupted.

Neil looked at him fully, twisting his body towards Andrew.

"Yes or no?" He asked in a quiet and weakened voice.

Andrew saw the fresh scars on Neil's face. Saw the black armbands he wore proudly. Saw the eyes that usually held such a burning fire but now only held a dim flame. He saw a man who has survived so much. He saw a man that he knew better than himself and he saw a man just like him.

"Yes."

Neil, very slowly, learned towards Andrew until his face was buried in his neck and his weight was on Andrew completely. He kept his hands to himself.

Andrew buried one of his hands in Neil's hair, rubbing circles in the scalp and with the other hand he gently grabbed one of Neil's to lace their fingers together.

A sighed escaped Neil's lips and tickled Andrew's neck, effectively giving him goosebumps all over his arms.

Andrew tilted his face into Neil's hair and murmured "I did too."

He knew Neil knew what he meant.

He knew Neil had heard his manic laughter when they discovered him bloody and numb and high on his pills.

Neil nuzzled in further, not responding.

The message was clear anyways.

You're like me.

We are both damaged and the world will never understand,

But at least we have eachother.

[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.

[aftgficlibrary]

Baltimore Masterlist

Updated 11 November 2018

cigarettes and riots. by nebulousviolet (T | 1/1 | 2,709)

“Renee,” he acknowledges. “Matt and Neil?”

She flashes him a smile, a little too knowing for his taste, then dulls. “Matt’s being kept behind a while longer,” she explains. “We-I didn’t see Neil there. There’s another hospital nearby that he could’ve been taken to.”

Andrew doesn’t care about Neil being in another hospital. He knows, with blinding clarity, that he will not be there. Matt would’ve made sure where he was if that was the case. Neil is gone.

—

or, Andrew and Binghamton featuring his constant inner monologue.

neil josten can never die by kuroneko (T |1/1 | 2,802)

After their match and the riot breaking out, Andrew realizes Neil is nowhere to be found…

baltimore blues by spanglebangle (M | 3/3 | 17,097)

He saw the duffel. It was battered all to hell and the strap was nearly torn from the bag, but it still glowed almost neon in the darkening night and streetlamp glare. Neil would never… He dropped to his knees beside it and rifled through it, looking for any sign, any clue as to where Neil might have run. Nothing, nothing, nothing. Until his fingers found the keyring. Until he found the phone.

Andrew’s perspective on the Binghamton riot and the walking tragedy that is Neil Josten.

/Graphic Depictions of Violence

where the evening splits in half by countlessuntruths (kalicephirot) (G | 1/1 | 587)

“Thank you,” Neil says. “You were amazing.”

Andrew has but a second to wonder why it sounds like a goodbye.

you were amazing. by tolvsmol (Not Rated | 1/1 | 5,271)

“Thank you. You were amazing.”

Why was there such finality in those words? Like he was thanking Andrew for more than the game? Andrew knows every breath Neil took was at least half a lie, concealed hints of the truth laced with every other word. So why did this sound like the most honest thing he’d ever said?

amazing by reneewvlkers (M | 1/1 | 4,892)

Andrew can be patient. His knuckles are red, and with that familiar pain comes a wave of calm. He has no control over this situation and that’s nothing new. Neil Josten is a force of nature; utterly unpredictable and infuriating.

But he knows one thing. Neil would not leave if he had a choice. He would come back to Exy, to the Foxes, to this godforsaken bus if he had to limp the whole way. And Andrew will be right here when he does.

falling by fuzzballsheltiepants (G | 1/1 | 4,663) (also on tumblr)

When Neil disappears during the riot in Binghamton, Andrew is going to tear the world apart to figure out where he’s gone. (The King’s Men abduction scene from Andrew’s point of view.)

i felt your pain when you were gone by elfo98 (G | 3,533 | 1/1)

Another Soulmate AU where Neil and Andrew can feel each other’s pain and how the Foxes find out.

Or: my take on the Baltimore incident because I can’t seem to get enough of it.

Series: Part 1 of soulmates

lost boy by amesbaloo (T | 2,421 | 1/1)

It fell completely silent when the rest of the team realized what Andrew had noticed minutes earlier: Neil was nowhere to be seen. Neither the bus nor the slowly thinning crowd contained the striker.

Andrew’s PoV during Neil’s absence.

our days are numbered by unknown_entry ( M | Incomplete | 13/? )

What if the FBI stop the Hatfords from entering the country on the day of Nathan Wesninski’s Parole? What if Neil was left in his father’s hands for longer than a few minutes?

/Graphic Depictions of Violence

through your teeth by modernpatroclus (T | 2,598 | 1/1)

prompt: andreil + “things you said through your teeth”

//

Andrew’s phone rang where he clutched it in his fist. It was blaring Neil’s ringtone. As he answered, the rest of the Foxes crowded around him, Dan demanding, “Is it Neil?”

Andrew ignored her and said, “Neil,” into the phone. Neil didn’t respond to him, though. He listened to a voice beg on a whisper, “Please, please don’t.”

It was Neil.

here and where you are by pentagrammed (Not Rated | 24,999 | 1/1)

“I exist in two places, – here and where you are.”

On March 10th, Neil Josten died.

After awhile I thought I'd never find you by Moth2Flame (Not Rated | 7,754 | 1/1)

He never came back.

The space carved out for him ripped open like a jagged, rotting wound. Never healed, never filled. A festering gash contaminating the air around it with something black and toxic, so thick you could choke on it. So contagious it could seep into your skin and infect every muscle, every bone, every organ, every pore.

It could steal your very breath and turn your vision black.

It could crawl into your veins and grip your heart so tight it turned to a charcoaled dust.

AU if Neil never came back from Baltimore as is presumed dead Andrew's POV

Anything by a_case_for_wonder (T | 4,595 | 1/1)

Andrew promises to close the goal against the Bearcats, and Neil says "anything." Now all Andrew has to do is figure out what he wants in return.

OR

5 things Andrew doesn't end up asking for, and 1 time he figured out the perfect trade

Two Can Keep a Secret if One of Them is Dead by ThePackWantstheD (T | 1,186 | 1/1)

Kevin had ignored the itch under his skin as they filed out, contributing it to the satisfaction of a win and the urge to get right back on the court to feel the rush again, and now Neil was gone and everything felt wrong.

Wheat Is Still Wheat by monster_without_a_name (Not Rated | 928 | 1/1)

a re-imagining of parts of baltimore with trans Neil

Series: Part 2 of trans!neil

Love Hurts by Demi_jos10 (T | 3,319 | 1/1)

Soulmate au where you get the same injuries as your soulmate.

/Graphic Depictions of Violence

Martyr by PalmettoFoxDen (Not Rated | 8,763 | 1/1)

Andrew catches on that there is something off when Neil takes longer than usual in the locker room after a game and then thanks him for putting effort into the game with a little too much weight behind his words. So he goes to investigate and convinces Nathan's men that taking him instead is a better way to truly punish Neil.

Waiting on Nothing by Sundaye (M | 1,902 | 1/1)

A short piece on Kevin's perspective of the events that followed the riot at Binghamton.

Kevin has to deal with the realization that Neil isn't returning to the Foxes once he goes missing following the riot at Binghamton. Being the only person who knows the whole truth about Neil's father, he makes that realization before everyone else.

/Graphic Depictions of Violence

dealbreaker by lolainslackss (T | 1,095 | 1/1)

In Baltimore, Aaron figures some stuff out.

Colors of You by foxesjosten (Not Rated | 3,580 | 1/1)

Neil first sees the world in color when he's looking up at the boy who smacked him with an exy stick. That same boy sees color for the first time as he's taking a swing at Neil. If both of them ignore this obvious mistake, then it isn't real. The universe would eventually fix its mistake. What Andrew can't ignore is the world reverting to black and white when Neil goes missing. And there's only one reason Andrew would lose his colors, but that's another thing that can't be real, right?

Four minutes ahead by Obsessedwithfanfiction (T | 943 | 1/1)

Small drabble of the scene after the riot if Kevin had made himself tell the truth before Browning called Wymack to tell them Neil was alive

Coming Home to Hell by RayreadsDestiel (E | Incomplete | 6/7)

My EXTREMELY GRAPHIC take on what could have happened in the Baltimore house after Neil was reunited with his father.

/Graphic Depictions of Violence /Rape/Non-Con /Underage

You knew the game by EvanJosten (Not Rated | 3,733 | 1/1)

What would've happened if Baltimore had gone as planned for Nathan Wesninski is a path full of tears and regrets. One of the hardest things I've ever wrote and kept secret for a long time.

/Graphic Depictions of Violence /Major Character Death

Everything by conniptionns (T | 7,076 | 5/5)

Baltimore from Andrew's pov

“Thank you, you were amazing.”

The words sent a thrill up Andrew’s spine. No one had ever spoken to Andrew with such conviction before—at least not in a positive light. Whenever foster parents had spit venom at him, Andrew always knew that they were telling the truth. He had always had a knack for knowing when someone was lying to him, and when his foster parents had told him how worthless he was...he knew they weren’t lying. And that was what he deserved. Not a ‘thanks’ spilling from the lips that had never conveyed so much emotion before.

Andrew was certain that he deserved the opposite of a ‘thanks.’ And Andrew was mad, because he never should have let Neil have this much of an effect on him. What was worse was Andrew didn’t think anyone had thanked him for anything before. There was a reason that they called him a monster, and there wasn’t a moment that Andrew had ever disagreed with the assessment. Andrew knew when people lied to him, and he knew that they were being genuine when they called him a monster.

Viva la cucaracha or whatever the fuck.

Scars by all_my_dreams_and_ambitions (M | 3,098 | 1/1)

An AU where the injuries of one soul mate appears on the skin of the other, but they aren't as severe. This is a oneshot focusing on Andrew's take on what happened to Neil in Baltimore after they played the Bearcats.

When he’d been younger, Andrew had never thought himself worthy of a soul mate. His own mother hadn’t wanted him, let alone a random stranger. Then, he felt the sharp pain of a knife on his ribs. A few months later, the hot press of an iron left him blistered and red under his shirt. Years later, the shape of a bullet hole appeared in his shoulder and that’s when he realized he’d been wrong the whole time.

/Graphic Depictions of Violence /Rape/Non-Con

You'll Have to go Through Me by Pyreof_Books (E | 2,380 | 1/1)

When Neil is taken from under the Foxes noses, Lola taunts him. She shouldn't have threatened his family.

Andreil Week 2018 Day Eight

/Graphic Depictions of Violence

Coming Home by puddlejumper99 (T | 19,341 | 1/1)

After Baltimore, the Foxes get Neil back--in a jar of ashes.

Across the ocean, Nathaniel Wesninski schemes to get back to his family.

Angst and copious amounts of fluff ensue.

/Graphic Depictions of Violence

Baltimore Memories by Wolvesandwerewolves (Not Rated | 3,422 | 1/1)

Idk what this is. I was bored, its not my best, I apologize.

Lola recorded some of the Baltimore kidnapping. The videos surface after years.

Aaron and Katelyn visit New York City to see the ball drop. Aaron can't miss the opportunity to see his brother while he's in town.

/Graphic Depictions of Violence

At least he said goodbye by AlexGlass (G | 1,715 | 1/1)

Neil dies in Baltimore, but leaves behind letters for the foxes.

/Major Character Death

two birds by hulklinging (M | Incomplete | 1/3)

"I almost believe you," Lola says with a smile. "That's too bad. If you're telling the truth, we didn't really need the one in the trunk."

The ride to Baltimore takes on another level of horror as Neil fights with thoughts of who is in the trunk, and who he hopes it isn't.

/Graphic Depictions of Violence

[nikothespoonklepto]

34, Ichirou maybe to Neil or Kevin.

Hey anon! thanks for this!

For the 200+ prompt list; Ichirou to Neil 34: “ I don’t deserve to be loved. ”

You can read it on ao3!

~

Neil has a good arrangement with the new Lord Moriyama going, he has for the last few years since he graduated from Palmetto and joined the Barons, the team owned by the Moriyamas. Ichirou puts him to work as a translator and additional accountant for him when he’s not busy playing exy and surprisingly, it is… easy.  Nice even. Most would be put off, knowing what kind of business the Moriyamas run, but given his lineage it doesn’t even phase him. Ichirou is rather expressionless, a cold wall, but over the years, Neil can see the increased ease in his posture and warmth hidden his his brown eyes. As if he learned to trust Neil, despite how they came together and Neil must say, he likes it, having a working relationship with his… whatever he is.

All that matters to him, is that he doesn’t have to worry for his life or about his friends’ lives. Obviously he always will out of force of habit, but less so knowing Ichirou isn’t going to kill him for the slightest thing.

Neil’s phone buzzes with an incoming text on Ichirou’s desk where he is finishing translations and pauses to check it.

Andrew: Food?

Neil smiles and shoots back a text, telling Andrew he’d let him know when he’s heading out so they could meet up. Andrew sends back a thumbs up emoji and he returns to work, glad that he is almost done. But, he can only leave if Ichirou doesn’t need anything else.

Speak of the devil, he re-enters his office from behind a door that leads into a private area with a couch, refrigerator and small appliances which Neil has only set foot in a couple of times. Ichirou went in there when he had to take a call, only when he went in, he didn’t look… wrecked. His long black hair looks like he had run his fingers through it despite the ponytail it’s in; he’s loosened his tie and left his suit jacket unbuttoned.

Neil has never seen him look anything less than pristine and perfect, but he returns to his work, refraining from comment. Ichirou is unusually noisy as he crosses the office floor to his personal stash of liquor in the far corner, pouring out something and setting the bottle down with a heavy clunk. He looks up to see Ichirou sitting himself down with one leg crossed over the other in one of the chairs across from the desk and blinks. Ichirou is pulling his hair out of it’s ponytail and taking a long sip as he does so, sighing heavily after he swallows and running his fingers through his now loose hair.

Neil only realizes he is staring when Ichirou looks up and makes eye contact. God he looks exhausted, just staring back at him. At this point, Neil can’t help but question it.

“Is everything alright, my Lord?”

He is only a little startled by the brief sarcastic smile and huff he is given. At this rate his glass is going to be drained in the next two mouthfuls. Ichirou stays quiet for the moment, staring into his glass, swirling the alcohol inside.

“I don’t deserve to be loved, Nathaniel,” are Ichirou’s first words, drinking half of what is last.

Neil’s eyebrows meet his hairline, feeling confused about where this conversation could possibly be going. “What-”

“Does Minyard love you, Nathaniel?” Ichirou cuts in, looking up at him with cold eyes - no. Defeated eyes. Seeing such a powerful man as Ichirou, looking so pathetic is a big reminder that Ichirou is human.

He gives Ichirou an even smile, knowing his eyes must be soft when thinking of his fiance. “We’re engaged, and he was the one to propose.  I sure hope he loves me,” he can’t help but be a little sassy while answering. It’s who he is.

The man before him is so much different than the person he met during his freshman year at Palmetto; that man was cold.  Professional. Not much like the warmer and more relaxed version of the man he greeted upon reporting for work. And now even that is hidden beneath the sadness and exhaustion Ichirou is allowing to show, as if he can no longer hold it back. Neil does not know what to do with it.

“Be thankful you got to choose your spouse, Nathaniel.” Ichirou finishes his drink and sets it on the edge of the desk, staring at it for a moment.

Neil doesn’t realize he has stayed silent until Ichirou looks up and meets his gaze. Ichirou looks down again, staring intently at his interlocked fingers placed over his knee; a poor attempt to regain his expected Moriyama composure. Something makes Neil stand and grab the rocks glass Ichirou had been drinking from and move to get him a refill.

He takes the liberty of pouring one out for himself as well and goes to stand next to the chair Ichirou is slouching in. If he looked this pathetic all those years ago, back in his freshman year, Neil would’ve thought this to be a ruse. After being around Ichirou though, he can see parts of himself in him and wonders if in a different universe, if they could have been friends. Are they friends now? No? They aren’t boss and employee, that’s for sure. What...

Ichirou has yet to look up, clearly zoned out in the time it took for him to get them their drinks. Neil could kill him right now, he realizes. He also realizes he doesn’t want to. How much does Ichirou trust him to allow him to see him this vulnerable?

“My Lord?” Neil breaks the silence and watches Ichirou tense very slightly before he lifts his head, looking at the glass Neil is offering and then Neil’s face.

“Thank you, Nathaniel,” Ichirou’s voice is quiet as he accepts the glass, long fingers brushing his scarred ones. Neil gives him a respectful nod and begins to turn away, to continue work, but his hand is grabbed and he freezes, looking down at Ichirou. Ichirou doesn’t say anything, but flicks his eyes to the spot in front of him.

Neil moves and his thighs brush Ichirou’s leg as he leans against the desk, crossing his legs at the ankle, resting his free hand behind him on the desk and raising his glass at Ichirou. Ichirou copies him and they drink at the same time. Neil stares at Ichirou as he practically drains the glass again, leaving maybe a mouthful behind, looking more like a real person than before. He’s reminded of Kevin, who managed to get his shit together and is currently married to Thea, with their beautiful baby girl he sees when the Foxes get together every year.  

“You’re wrong, Ichirou,” the words come out before he can stop them and he expects the anger he gets in return.

“Excuse y-”

“I don’t think you would be talking about this as Lord Moriyama, Ichirou; this is too personal.” He watches Ichirou’s eyes flash again, first with sheer agony and then that exhaustion again. “That was your wife you were speaking to, right?” A minute nod. “Arguing?” Another nod. “What was it about?”

Ichirou deflates and his leg slides off from where it is crossed over his other leg. When he plants it on the ground, Neil is effectively trapped between his legs. The close proximity is normal for him and Andrew or getting checked playing exy. It is strange here, now. He watches as Ichirou pinches the bridge of his nose, his hand relaxing its hold on his glass and Neil manages to catch it before it can slip from his fingers. Ichirou looks up at him and glides his other hand through his hair, staring at him so intently, Neil feels frozen, bent slightly towards him, clutching the glass that Ichirou’s fingers are still loosely grasping.

“It doesn’t matter what the argument was about,” Ichirou finally speaks, taking the glass back and cradles it close to his chest, eyes never leaving Neil’s. “She wants to fight about everything, because our union was arranged by my late grandfather and she hates children, hates that I gave her my heir. I hardly trust her with our son, but…” Ichirou sighs, looking away. Neil can tell he’s regaining some of his composure, as the only tell that he’s more upset is how his fingers clutch the glass, knuckles white from how hard he is squeezing.

“Why don’t you get rid of the problem?” Neil’s stomach clenches, instantly disgusted with himself for allowing that bit of Nathan to resurface.

Ichirou is slow to respond, turning his head back to look at Neil and stares intently at him again. After swallowing the rest of his drink, Ichirou replies. “I am not the man who killed my mother or my grandmother. I am not the man who killed your mother, Nathaniel.”

“I know.” Neil blinks, finding that he truly believes that.

Ichirou looks briefly amused before he is overtaken by exhaustion again.

“What makes you think you don’t deserve to be loved, my Lord?”

The title takes Ichirou by surprise, eyebrow lifting. “Back to formalities?”

Neil decides to ignore it and just voice what he’d been mulling over. “I don’t know about Lord Moriyama and what he deserves, but…” Neil does not break eye contact as he notes that he has Ichirou waiting with anticipation. “A year ago I wouldn’t have known about Ichirou, either, but the Ichirou I have grown accustomed to has warmth and is capable of compassion. That man is deserving of love.”

Something very intense flashes through Ichirou’s eyes and Neil quickly locks onto the slight tremble in his hand. He’s reminded of Ichirou’s likely upbringing, similar in ways to his own, where he was expected to be something. Being groomed to be a successor and to follow in their father's’ footsteps. Neil managed to escape that fate and Ichirou didn’t force the mantle of ‘The Moriyama’s Butcher’ onto him. Ichirou wasn’t so lucky in avoiding his role as Lord and Neil wonders how the weight of that responsibility feels.

“What do you need from me, Ichirou?” Neil tilts his head, unsure of what he has to offer him further, what he is willing to offer. Ichirou parts his lips to speak and for once he falters, truly falters as if Neil’s words were beyond what he was expecting. Studying Ichirou’s appearance, his long black hair that falls over his shoulders and frames his sculpted face perfectly. Expressive warm brown eyes that remind him of Andrew’s hazel ones. A long, ‘slender’ frame that is misleading as he knows his suits must conceal lean muscles like his own and if he had to guess, tattoos. He is a very attractive man and anyone would be happy to mother his children, be his partner. Love him. He is, as Neil continues to realize, so much more than the cold facade he portrays.

“Show me,” Ichirou finally speaks and Neil notes his words were intentionally vague, to leave Neil to interpret.

Neil has never been the most ‘brilliant’ of thinkers, as Andrew liked to point out, but he likes to think his heart is in the right place. He sets his half full glass on the desk, without breaking eye contact and purses his lips, debating his and Andrew’s approach to things. He decides he wants to just act and does so slowly, to give Ichirou time to pull away.

Neil reaches out with his left hand, toward Ichirou’s face and Ichirou does not break eye contact either, nor does he pull away as Neil’s hand cups his right cheek, In fact he leans into it, so slowly. His skin is smooth and warm. Neil’s chest clenches familiarly, though unfamiliar in this situation. The exhaustion seeps away from Ichirou slowly and Neil can’t help but smile faintly.

Surprise glimmers in Ichirou’s eyes as it does in Neil’s chest as he leans down toward him, not stopping until he’s softly captured Ichirou’s lips with his own. Ichirou trembles against him and he realizes he closed his eyes, sliding his lips with Ichirou’s. A hand is placed on his shoulder, gliding up tentatively over his neck and then threads into his hair. Neil shivers, getting goosebumps, but he doesn’t complain and he doesn’t stop. His own fingers slide into Ichirou’s hair and it is as silky smooth as it looks, Neil can’t help but stroke his fingers through over and over. Ichirou trembles again, making a soft noise he never would have expected from him and tentatively licks into his mouth, sighing as well when met with a warm tongue that tastes of expensive liquor and Ichirou.

The sound of Ichirou’s glass hitting the carpeted floor doesn’t even register as Ichirou’s other hand grips the back of Neil’s neck, pulling him in for something deeper. Their kiss is slow and growing more and more passionate, Neil knows it’s not the booze making him try and mould himself with Ichirou, but Ichirou himself. He’s learning so much about himself he never expected and it feels so good. He doesn’t swing and he only ever did for Andrew, so why is he enjoying this kiss with Ichirou?

When they part, Neil finds himself straddling Ichirou’s lap, his knees digging into the leather of Ichirou’s chair on either side of his hips, both hands in each others hair. Breathing a little harder from excitement and exertion, Neil stares at Ichirou’s slightly swollen, spit slick lips, reddened from kissing. Habitually, Neil licks his own and notes with interest that Ichirou’s eyes followed, before meeting his again. He’s never seen him like this either and it is preferable to the miserable state he was in before. His phone buzzes on Ichirou’s desk and his engagement ring glints on his finger and he stares at it, shocked as he fully realizes what he just did. Recognition floods Ichirou’s face after a moment and he grips Neil’s chin gently, brown eyes warm, but serious.

“Thank you, Nathaniel,” Ichirou pauses again, clearly holding back. Neil hates it. “Loyal and flexible, caring as always. I will always value those traits in you.”

“Ichirou,” Neil swallows when given a hard look, feeling lost.

“I’m sure Minyard is waiting for you. You may finish up here and leave, Nathaniel.” Ichirou releases him, leaning back so he is not touching him, only Neil touching him from where he straddled him, hands in his hair.

Neil sees a mask similar to Andrew’s slide into place, accepting he’s not going to get what he wants and pushing away. It hurts him to see it happen and he swallows again. This is so similar to his situation with Andrew, it is terrifying.

“Glad to be of service, I- my Lord.” They both fight a flinch at the title and it amazes him how just a handful of minutes can change things so completely. They aren’t the same two people they were before that kiss, not before Ichirou opened his mouth and Neil did in return. Managing to gather himself, Neil carefully climbs off of Ichirou and picks up the glasses, setting them aside as he walks back to sit behind the desk. When he’s seated, Ichirou is disappearing into the same room he did before and Neil hates this hollow feeling in his chest. He needs to talk to Andrew.

Forcing himself to finish the last page of translation, before gathering his things and heading out. He glances at the door Ichirou disappeared through and sighs inaudibly.  He nods to the bodyguards and staff employed by the Moriyamas, his mind buzzing as his feet carry him to the sidewalk outside of the building.

Neil is dialing Andrew before he registers it and is connected after the second ring, hearing Russian as a greeting.

“Took you long enough.”

“I kissed him.”

A pause, Neil hears Sir or King mewling in the background and rustling, then a door opening— their balcony. Andrew’s lighter clicks in his ear and after a moment, Andrew releases a slow breath, he can imagine him staring out into the city with his phone in one hand, cigarette in the other, looking sexy as he exhales smoke. For a moment he worries he won’t get to see that again.

“Was it consensual?”

“He… was kind of sulking and tried to engage me and said he didn’t deserve to be loved and somehow we ended up kissing.” Well, he started it by making eye contact, but details… “I enjoyed it, it felt good.”

Andrew hums as he takes another drag. “Still sure you don’t swing? Going after dangerous men seems to be a habit of yours.”

Neil can hear the teasing, not sure why Andrew does not seem to care, but it glad for it. It makes him smile to himself and sag his shoulders in relief.

“Well, I am marrying you, ‘Monster’,” Neil teases right back. Andrew huffs out a laugh and he knows they are okay.

“Do you want more?”

“From him? I— yes. I don’t know if he does, but yes.”

“Hmm… bring home dinner, we’ll discuss this properly, Junkie,” Andrew hangs up without saying anything further and Neil sighs.

Neil thinks of Ichirou and Andrew, their similarities and differences. Ichirou’s mouth was gentler; he tasted.  Andrew devours. But they both are hungry, and Neil loves how it feels, being the meal they sought. He glances back at the tall office building he had just left and looks to the top floor, he can’t see it even with craning his neck. He wonders if Ichirou is watching and if he wants more.

He hopes so.

~

Thanks for this! I have numerous lists active! 45 100 200

Pick one and in your ask, just add 45, 100, 200 to indicate the list!

#asks #anon asks #tfc #aftg #Ichirou #Neil #ichirou/neil #prompts

[simonsrosebud]

how many freshman are there in the kalton au ? can you introduce them all

YES OMG. there are 6. i love my bby freshmen they have my hearts i legit have their whole lives figured out.

first up is kenna pierce, striker from delaware. she’s 5’9, white, and has long wavy orange strawberry blonde hair. she’s studying addiction studies and attends AA meetings religiously after struggling with alcohol abuse throughout high school.

she was kicked out by her parents senior year, which was mainly her mother’s doing. her oldest brother of 2 takes her in to live with him after 3 months of rehab.

wymack visited her just after christmas and made a deal that if she could straighten out by may that he’d sign her. her father aides her in finding a good rehabilitation center. after seeing her play again in state championships he signs her.

NEXT, is jack young, kevin’s striker recruit from north carolina. 5’11 and white with dark brown hair. lowkey built like kevin… he’s studying social work and psychology. wymack recruited him over spring break.

when jack’s father left him and his 3 toddler siblings in high school, jack’s mother went into a depression after a few months. she lost her job as a result of stopping taking her medicine and not going to work anymore.

jack worked in between school and exy to help make ends meet when money got low, and after almost a year of taking care of his siblings nearly on his own he broke and talked to his school counselor. he had a panic attack trying to express that he was worried for his siblings and his mother.

child protective services interfered and even though jack wanted to stay with his mom to help her, he was placed in an emergency foster with his siblings. they lived with a foster family (a couple with a daughter in college) for a year before going back to their mother. jack’s relationship with his mother is never quite the same, but they try. his father kept in touch sporadically for a year after he left, then just barely. he keeps in touch with the foster family often as extended family, almost.

RICKY ROJAS! he’s my love ugh he’s so sweet. ricky is a 6’0 latino defensive dealer from south carolina. he studies secondary education and applied to PSU specifically for exy so that a sports scholarship could pay for college. not typical but he figured maybe he’d, unfortunately, fit wymack’s type. despite playing for the foxes for the free tuition, neil’s passion for the sport ultimately makes ricky fall in love with exy in a different way than he had before. he’d seen what it could do for people, what it meant to his teammates.

he’s got jet black hair and tattoos spread sporadically across his arms and his right leg below the knee. they started as a way to cover up self harm scars from early high school. he’s been clean as of his junior year.

ricky’s parents divorced sophomore year after a lot of emotional abuse and manipulation from his father to both him and his mother. he also took dangerous control of their finances- lots of gambling, very toxic. ricky and his mother both have restraining orders against him.

ricky started therapy the same year and his therapist suggested sports as an alternate way of feeling something, something else to put energy into and let off steam. his mom proposed exy for its fast and hard nature.

the tattoos came about when he caught himself slip and wanted to cover a particularly bad scar. his mom is a tattoo artist and thought maybe redirecting whatever pain he was feeling into something that wasn’t harmful- tattoos. once he got clean he continued because he wanted all his scars covered and just loved tattoos. his mom’s rule is that she won’t ask about the design (within reason) so long as he is honest about ever feeling the urge to harm.

EVA WHITMORE <3 physical therapy student and 5’6 goalie from michigan. they’re white with shoulder length brown hair. eva goes by they/them pronouns.

eva grew up playing ice hockey, but an accident during an unsupervised midnight sneak to the outside ice rink when they were 14 resulted in a lost finger. parents were not happy when they got that 1am call.

eva switched to exy after their parents refused to let them play hockey again. they still went to the rinks when they could drive and learned some spins and jumps.

eva developed an eating disorder sophomore year. it put them in the hospital junior year and they got the help they needed. they figured out their pronouns senior year, but still haven’t told their parents. they ultimately said yes to wymack’s offer because it was far from their family, the campus was pretty and they had a good pt program, and bc they learned to love exy enough. none of the foxes know they’re a damn good ice skater </3

CHARLIE MILASKY! my teddy bear. my boy is a 6’5 shaggy blonde florida man. he’s a backliner studying sports and adventure media, and strategic social media.

junior year he came home from school to find his drug addicted mother loading his belongings into his car and kicking him out to go live with her boyfriend. she’d always been absent so he didn’t even try with her. he stayed in the house until the landlord kicked him out, then slept in his car.

he mastered pick-pocketing & stealing as best he could, lived homeless in his car and squatting for a few months before his coach got suspicious and tried talking to him, but nothing came from it. eventually he got caught breaking into an abandoned house and was arrested. thankfully the cop had a kid on charlie’s team and recognized him.

charlie got put into foster care with a young 33 year old widow. his mother tried getting him back (poorly) but flopped. charlie got adopted a week before his 18th birthday about a year and a half later by his current foster mother. ugh my heart.

LAST but not least, miss gwen garber, picked by neil josten. gwen is studying civil engineering. she is black, and is the 5’7 20 year old freshman offensive dealer from texas.

spring of her junior year of high school, she and her parents got into a car accident resulting in her parents deaths. it left gwen hearing impaired, she has hearing aides but doesn’t wear them often. she learned sign language instead, in case she ever fully lost her hearing.

gwen went to live with her relatively young godfather and had to repeat junior year from falling behind. it put her 2 years older than her class since she already had to repeat 1st grade.

the accident left her with a lot of anger and guilt that she doesn’t know how to deal with, its why she throws it into exy.

wymack noticed her confusion on the court every once in a while due to her hearing and tells her to wear her hearing aides during practices and games for her own safety and success. he and neil recruited her after the foxes championship.

FUN FACTS: kenna was the first to break through to jack and they started dating after a few months. she stays out of drama and gets along with all the foxes, even the monsters to a point.

she “keeps” jack in a similar way renee keeps the upperclassmen. she doesn’t always feel comfy around the foxes when they’re getting hammered and often finds solidarity sitting next to a sober kevin. andrew respects her, mainly when she helps kevin when he relapses.

andrew calls ricky richard on purpose, it’s not even his full name. allison colors in his tattoos on the bus or planes to games. they get close but just friends. ricky getting along with neil was surprisingly a challenge at first bc to him exy was a way to go to college, neil got him to realize how much he wants exy to be part of his future.

eva is probably the funniest of them all. they and charlie get along the best.

charlie is a HIMBO to the max.

gwen is bisexual (the foxes don’t know but she’s not secretive about it, if asked she would tell). she and renee are suspiciously close and have many bets going on them.

gets easily annoyed when kevin or jack jabs at her with exy stuff. she taunts jack and aaron by turning her hearing aides down and pretending she can’t hear them at all. neil gets through bc she respects him the most and bc he gives her notes short and to the point, no smart mouth. she is intimidated by him at first bc he chose her.

gwen is the second one on the team to punch jack bc he took her hearing aides as a joke. she also doesn’t have her license yet after the accident, she prefers to walk places if she can. she runs with neil to the stadium.

[ravenvsfox]

hello, i love ur fics! can u write something where neil uses the "do u play exy bc ur a keeper" or something like that pick up line to andrew in front of the foxes maybe hes drunk idk i think itd be super funny xx

(so uhhhh I made this not funny at all and also an au but hey! it’s a thing!!)

Neil’s blearily grateful to be wedged into the dark embroidered fabric of a low-slung couch, pushed away from the sweat and throb of the dance floor. He feels enough like a raw vein without the club sucking the blood from him.

He knows he’s drunk because the blue lights are making him see ghosts in strangers’ faces. When he speaks it feels like he has a marble tucked into each cheek, just enough to garble his words. He knows that his legs won’t come with him if he stands, and it scares him.

Dan and Matt are crooning into each others’ ears, rocking to the sugary remix overhead, stacked next to him on the couch. He wonders how long he’s been swallowing shots to drown the taste of the last shot, trying to raise his pulse, trying to feel something. He opens his mouth to ask for the time and realizes, unsettled, that he’d asked less than a minute ago. He makes an aborted sound, smothering the stupid question before it can find oxygen and catch.

His friends notice anyway. Dan breaks away from Matt’s mouth at the noise, both of them gasping, adjusting to life on land.

“You look fucked,” Dan tells him. Neil nods seriously. He can taste so much salt. He’s drowned it in tequila and limes and rum and ice but his mouth still tastes savoury and sick.

“You need to get out of here?” Matt offers. Neil zeroes in on where Matt is rubbing circles into Dan’s bare thigh with his thumb. He knows they don’t really want to leave. He knows what their kindness tastes like because he’s gorged himself on it. He shakes his head, but it feels like his brain sloshes one way and his skull the other.

“I need a cigarette,” Neil says. He puts all his focus into standing without knocking over empties. Matt reaches out to steady him anyways but Neil pulls back hard, overcorrecting and falling into the wall. He stays there for too long, face pressed to the dark wall-paper, swallowing over and over again. He feels along the wall, liking the way it holds him up.

He finds himself on a short staircase down to the exit, and his feet and eyes are attached on a string. He can’t stop looking down because he can’t stop moving, and he doesn’t trust his body to do what he asks unless he’s watching, holding it accountable.

He’s struggling to light up before the door’s even open, hands shaking, lighter circling and sparking and coughing out in cycles.

Someone’s hand swims into view, and Neil watches his cigarette come alive like it’s happening to someone else. There’s a sharp-featured face and a pink mouth and moonlit hair and smoke peeling out of a mouth when it breathes.

“Thanks,” Neil mutters. The face doesn’t respond. Neil gives him a rare second look, squinting. “Did I thank you out loud?”

“You did,” the face says simply. His voice is cool and deep; it reminds Neil of cold patches in open water, and he gets phantom goosebumps.

Neil takes a drag of his cigarette. He sees his mother’s hair on the pillow next to him when he closes his eyes, and when he opens them, the stranger looks the same somehow: comforting, smoky, eaten by darkness, a good memory made painful.

It’s Andrew Minyard, he realizes suddenly. It’s the best goalkeeper in the world, smoking vacantly outside of a random seedy club in the middle of the season. The alcohol pitches and tries to come up his throat. Neil remembers that Minyard’s life intersected with Kevin’s somewhere in the timeline that he’d made himself put together half a dozen years ago. He remembers wishing for a way to be hidden but also to have Exy, his most treasured, unattainable obsession.

He looks at Andrew again, this time with recognition needling him so much that it hurts. He drops his cigarette on the ground and walks stiltedly away, feeling that old wish effect him more than the booze ever had. He keeps seeing steely brown eyes and that puzzling mouth even though he’s facing the other direction now.

Before everything, before he’d met Dan interning as a coach at his university, before Matt and Allison and Renee and Seth had become the only social circle he’d ever had, before he’d scared them and left them and killed his father, he’d thought of Kevin Day like a key, and Andrew like a keyring.

He’d watched them in black and red and scowls from afar and thought, things could’ve been different.

He stumbles back into the club with his past trying to introduce itself to the forefront of his brain, his eyes glued to his friends. They’re all bunched on the couches now, craning their necks for him, and things feel easier now that he’s focused on something other than the alcohol for a minute. He finds his way back through the masses, steadying himself on the arm of the couch as soon as he’s near enough.

“There you are, Christ Neil,” Matt says. “We were about to send out the world’s drunkest search party.”

“It’s fine,” Neil says. He wants to say more but he doesn’t know how to articulate that a professional athlete and former Raven just lit his cigarette for him, and he certainly doesn’t know how to explain why the thought of it makes him sick to his stomach.

“He’s fine,” Allison repeats. “He needs another drink.”

Matt goes to respond, but his mouth goes suddenly slack and his hand claps automatically to Dan’s arm. Neil’s throat closes up. “You’ll never guess who just walked in.”

All eyes swing to the door but Neil closes his, feeling the room tilt angrily around him, trying not to listen to the whispers spreading like a disease.

“No way, the monster?” Dan says. “Haven’t seen him since we played the Ravens in senior year. God, he’s hell in goal, remember?”

“He’s hell everywhere,” Seth says snidely.

“Maybe we should evacuate,” Allison says consideringly. “He’s an unpredictable little fucker.”

“I heard he stopped taking his meds when he made court,” Matt says. “—And he hasn’t said a word since.”

“He has,” Neil says unthinkingly, mouth cottony dry.

“What?”

“Nothing. He— nothing.”

“Oh,” Allison laughs. “I forgot that you were like— an Exy groupie.”

“I’m not,” Neil says firmly. He finally gives in and looks back towards the entrance, and he sees flickers of pale blond hair over a black ensemble. He feels himself sliding off of the arm of the couch and onto the cushion. Renee is a gentle pressure at his side.

“I think it’s good,” Renee says. “That you’re defending him. I have the feeling that he needs friends.”

“Maybe if he didn’t look like a serial killer,” Allison muses.

“Maybe if he didn’t act like one,” Seth agrees, and they exchange a mean, knowing glance. Neil always hates it when they agree.

“Anyways Neil,” Dan says pointedly. “We’re playing truth or dare, and you can’t get out of it.” Neil rolls his eyes and she flicks him in the face. “Whose turn was it?”

“Seth’s,” Matt tells her, and Seth succinctly tells him to fuck off.

They jump back into the rhythm of the game that they’d started while Neil was away, and he tries to focus on anything but the phantom panic in his stomach. The memory and the alcohol don’t want to coexist inside of him.

The group cycles past an uncooperative Seth and a sweet truth from Renee. Neil watches Andrew, a complex shadow on the opposite side of the room. He slips in among a group of people jostling around a table and Neil looks hastily down when a head turns and he narrowly avoids Kevin Day’s eye.

He recognizes the group now, Kevin and Andrew and Aaron, the infamous duo and the twin who didn’t make the cut. There’s someone else too, tall and dark and visibly enthusiastic.

“Neil,” Matt says abruptly. “You’ve gotta go try to pick him up.”

“Who?” Neil asks woozily. His focus is ice and Andrew and Kevin are salt.

“Minyard. Of fucking course. Don’t tell me you’re not in love with the way he plays at least, Neil.”

“No,” Neil replies, agitated, rubbing his own arm and feeling the weight of his scars beneath his sleeve.

“Uh, yes,” he says. “I dare you.”

“I choose truth,” Neil says petulantly, and Allison snorts.

“That’s new for you.”

“I’m not doing it,” Neil reiterates. He’s drunk enough that he would, though. He’s twitchy and unfiltered and he wants to know why Andrew did something for him without asking for anything in return.

“Then you lose,” Dan tells him. Neil glares at her. The club seems to get louder around them, an ocean reacting to a charged sky.

“Fine,” he says, and makes to get up with his glass limbs and his jelly focus. Somewhere in his sweaty palms he remembers to be terrified that Kevin might remember his face. Neil’s stopped putting in the effort to dye his hair since the butcher died. It’s grown out auburn, darker at the tips, curling around his neck. He still puts in brown contacts, scared of the ice in his own eyes.

Matt tugs him down. His expression is gleeful when he says, “wait, wait. We’ve got to give you your script.”

“Script,” Neil repeats, incredulous. Dan starts to reply but then Matt ropes her in close, whispering in her ear until something surprises a laugh out of her. She takes his phone and passes it along to Neil, grinning.

“We’ll be here, if he tries anything.”

“Fine,” he hears himself say again. He doesn’t know why he’s agreeing to this. He doesn’t know why he can’t disconnect the smoke on his tongue with Andrew’s face, soft but still in the light from his cigarette. He’s not used to wanting anything except adrenaline, but its possible Andrew’s just a version of the same thing.

He pushes through the crowd with the phone clenched in his hand, dizzying colours flashing over Andrew’s bowed head, his brother’s a shocking mirror across the table. Neil can hear his own breathing, curiously loud in the thunder and rain of music and voices.

He stops a couple of feet away from the four of them, eyeing Kevin’s tattoo and feeling very very foolish. He paces the last handful of steps closer and feels their eyes land on him like a coffin door closing. He looks down at the phone in his fist, trying to find meaning in the glaringly bright screen.

“Do you play Exy,” Neil starts, watching despairingly as Andrew’s interest fizzles out. “Because you’re a keeper.” He turns to go immediately, suddenly uninterested in a response, throat burning with humiliation. He should’ve read the note first. He shouldn’t have engaged. He shouldn’t have made friends with a bunch of malicious former Foxes. He can hear someone laughing in Andrew’s group, something about boys being too scared to even wait around for rejection.

“You,” he hears. Neil stops short. He breathes through his nose and rolls his shoulders.

“Don’t worry,” he says over his shoulder. “It was a dare. I didn’t come looking for a ‘you’re welcome’.”

“I wasn’t offering one,” Andrew says. Then, “come here.”

Neil glances back at his assembled friends without really seeing them, like feeling for the shape of your phone in your pocket. He weighs his options as best he can through the gauze of alcohol and exhaustion, and returns unsteadily to the group clustered around Andrew. He knows it doesn’t make sense for them to be assembled around someone as explosive as Andrew, but he seems to manufacture his own gravity.

Andrew regards him for a long moment. He’s pristine on the outside, like a stainless steel fridge with all manner of rot and vitality inside.

“I know who you are,” he tells Neil calmly. The tall boy titters nervously. The fine hairs on Neil’s neck stand straight up.

“You too,” Neil says as clearly as he can. It still comes out dirty. He can’t keep his past out of his voice tonight.

“Lots of people know who I am,” Andrew says, uninterested, and Neil gets a knick of pure anger. He wants Andrew to care.

“I’m sure,” Neil says. “I’d reckon that not quite as many know about the murder of your mother. Or about the real reason for your armbands.” He’s blowing smoke on that last one, but he enjoys the way Andrew’s face leaps, for a minute, barely able to strangle his own feelings before they get loose.

“Nathaniel,” Andrew tries, vindictive and crystal clear. Kevin’s gaze snaps in his direction, and Neil ducks his head, turns, trying to be lost again like he always is.

Andrew catches his arm in a shockingly strong grip, and Neil wrenches it around. He gets an inch of surprise, but Andrew outmatches him for strength and clearheadedness. He finds himself pinned to the bar, the room swimming but Andrew fixed.

“Pretty convenient that Tilda’s side of the car went non-functional and yours was untouched. Were you even trying to cover it up?” Neil hisses.

“Who are you,” Andrew says, jostling him hard so that his shoulder digs painfully into the lip of the bar.

“I thought you knew?” Neil mocks. He’s running on fumes, using every un-loaded gun in his arsenal until he finds a bullet. He half hopes that Andrew will knock him out before he finds one.

“I’ve seen your face. The runaway killer. You were on the news for patricide,” he says the last word like he’s tasting it and daintily spitting it out again.

He doesn’t bother denying it, Andrew’s eyes are too clever, even in the slur of the club. They’re all murderers here, anyway. “Two years ago,” he says instead. “A grainy photo on the Maryland news two years ago.”

“I do not forget faces.”

They stare at each other, Neil breathing hard, Andrew’s hands flexed tight in Neil’s shirt. He spots the club’s security shoving their way towards them over Andrew’s shoulder, looking grim and important.

“Let go,” Neil says, and Andrew does, instantly. He gives himself a moment to be impressed and then he’s being hauled up by a heavy hand on his bicep.

“You guys going to continue to destroy property?” He understands dimly that Andrew must have broken something on the bar with Neil’s body.

“Might,” Andrew says, and Neil’s mouth twitches. The hands get tighter, and he lets himself be manhandled towards the exit without digging his heels in too much.

“No way,” he hears, and when he looks up he sees Matt’s face on the outskirts of a distracted crowd of dancers, flushed drunk and obviously horrified. He spots Allison laughing into Renee’s shoulder just beyond him, the whole group navigating the line between amusement and horror. Renee gives him a thumbs up, and Neil follows her gaze to where Andrew is already looking at him.

They’re dragged the rest of the way out of the bar and deposited on the curb, and the whole affair is ridiculous: their utter silence and stiff compliance, security’s over-performing, the way the lingering smell of smoke calms Neil down so much that he sinks into the wall as soon as arms are gone from around his body.

His head lolls towards Andrew when he hears the twist and spark of a lighter a minute later. Andrew looks at him and then out into the street when he extends a second cigarette in Neil’s direction. Neil shakes his head, mostly to clear it.

“I just like the smell. Thanks, though,” he mumbles.

Andrew accepts this, tucks the cigarette back into the pack, and leans up against the wall beside Neil.

“Nathaniel,” Andrew starts, not cocked to hurt this time, but Neil still flinches.

“Neil. Not—“ God, he’s still drunk. “That���s not my name anymore.”

“Neil,” Andrew corrects smoothly, blowing smoke just right so that the wind carries it into Neil’s face. “You’re welcome.”