#Andrew brings it up to Neil in earshot of Nicky

[jtl-fics]

Fluent Freshman - Part 03

PREVIOUS

In the Fluent Freshman AU I could see a moment where Andrew kind of misses having Renee around. She was a nice quiet support for him during her time at Palmetto and now she’s graduated. Bee suggests that Andrew try and make a new friend, he can try with someone on the team even.

Andrew, initially, thinks it’s a stupid idea. He real hates pretty much every sophomore (Jack’s group) and pretty much all of the new freshmen irritate him since they’re always trying to steal Neil’s attention with all their fucking problems. The only freshman that he has no opinion on (and therefore is miles and miles ahead of everyone else) is the quiet one that he glowered at pretty early on for staring at Neil’s scars.

Except now, with the knowledge that the kid is a foreign language major, he was probably just trying to figure out what language him and Neil were talking in since the kid isn’t phased at all when Neil absentmindedly used his shirt to wipe away sweat on his face. Everyone else had LOOKED but the kid had just continued on as if it were nothing.

Nicky likes him a fair bit and has assured both Andrew and Neil, after the fourth time the kid power walked away from them, that he’s not homophobic just due to circumstances public displays of affection make him deeply uncomfortable. The Foxes have pasts and if the kid isn’t going to make it their problem then Andrew isn’t about to get irritated over it.

(Nicky doesn’t elaborate that those circumstances being that he understands that Andrew is telling Neil all the places (geographical locations) that he wants to kiss Neil and where he’d do it. He’s really not a prude but how did watching Cars 2 result in this level of dirty talk?! He’s just trying to actually get to see these movies everyone keeps referencing so that he can join in on the conversation)

The kid’s quiet company the few times Andrew’s been in it and Neil has been making some slow progress on getting the kid to open up. Andrew knows that the kid has his own weekly meetings with Betsy and he’s not about to pry.

(It’s social anxiety and stress related. No he has not told Betsy about the whole Russian situation because she’d be mad at him right? Everyone keeps telling him that Betsy and Andrew Minyard are close and that Andrew is her favorite even if she can’t admit to having something like that. She’s nice but what if she gets mad about it and tells Wymack that he’s not fit mentally to be on the team? Then what? He can’t afford college without a sports scholarship. Oh god- Betsy spends a lot of time walking him through stress relief and not worst case scenario-ing every interaction)

Andrew figures that if nothing else this kid is fine with sitting in stony silence. If it doesn’t work then w/e he tried.

So, to Fluent Freshman’s absolute horror and dismay, Andrew Minyard starts to hang around him even when Captain Neil ISN’T AROUND. He becomes unbeatable at Poker and fluent in Japanese if not fully literate.

Once it’s just Andrew and Fluent Freshman sitting in absolute silence for an hour. This might be the nicest time Andrew’s had with someone not part of his family since Renee left. “You ever consider learning Russian?” Andrew asks.

Fluent Freshman’s award winning performance starts here.

“No, I have never considered taking Russian classes here.” He responds turning a page in his book on Esperanto (he thinks it’d be fun) because why take a class for a language he’s already fluent in. He’s bad at lying but he’s GREAT at just not saying the truth.

Andrew doesn’t say anything in response and they continue to sit in silence until Fluent Freshman has to get up and go quietly have a panic attack.

Everyone, except Nicky, all think that Fluent Freshman’s the second coming of Andrew’s general apathy. Bee is proud of Andrew for willingly sitting next to someone in almost complete silence. Andrew says it helps that there’s someone else like him (Bee is confused because Fluent Freshman is known to bring his own brown paper bag to hyper-ventilate into but she says nothing.)

Only Nicky knows the full extent. Fluent Freshman is doing breathing exercises, taking pepto bismol to help his stress related stomach ulcer, and considering using his art gen-ed for theater so that he can commit to this bit better.

Fluent Freshman kind of gets used to Andrew’s quiet company until one day they’re an hour and a half into their usual absolute silence when Fluent Freshman gets up to grab something Andrew looks at him and goes “Hey wanna learn how to use a knife?” And Fluent Freshman stiffens up and straight up faints.

NEXT

#Fluent Freshman AU #He wakes up 20 minutes later to Andrew holding one of Kevin's sweat socks under his nose #Like they're smelling salts #Andrew asks if they need to go to the hospital #FF looks down and sees that all his blood is still in his body 'No I'm good' #Andrew brings it up to Neil in earshot of Nicky #Who is a bro and also thinks this is kind of hilarious #He was the only one not even kind of aware of Andreil happening #So he's excited to be the only one aware of FF's secret #'He has a big test and a stress ulcer so it was probably related to that.' #Andrew comes to their next 2-3 hours of silent company with a whole tub of 'good for ulcer' foods #FF wonders if they are all poisoned but is too awkward to decline them. He eats the probiotic yogurt and hopes that his death will be swift #AFTG #AFTG shitpost #AFTG OC #Andreil #Nicky Hemmick #Andrew Minyard #Neil Josten #AFTG fics #My Fics #In a Masterpost #FF - Pt. 03

[markonasurface]

7/50 - “I’ve never killed anyone before.”

Fandom: All for the Game/The Foxhole Court Characters/pairings: the Foxes (mostly Neil and Kevin), Jack/andreil mentioned Summary: Jack won’t leave Neil alone. A/N: Because I saw this post and all I could think of was tfc/aftg. Tbh it’s all I think about these days.

http://maelerie.tumblr.com/post/135803922052/send-me-two-characters-or-more-and-a-prompt-and

From the beginning Jack had a problem with Neil. Neil didn’t know much about Jack except that he must have talent if Kevin wanted to recruit him. Most days he thought the talent wasn’t worth the headache he brought into Neil’s life.

Every week Jack focused on a different aspect of Neil’s life - past or present, his personality, his inexperience, his relationships, the way he passed the ball, whatever. He made stupid comments and was unnecessarily rough but Neil could handle it. He gave as good as he took and he was confident in his place on the team.

The first week Jack went on about how he didn’t feel safe living across the hall from a “mobster’s son.” Never mind that Jack worshipped Kevin who lived most of his life as the adopted brother to someone who was actually blood related to Neil’s dad’s boss.

The next week Neil’s offense was that he had only been playing Exy for two years. Neil didn’t deserve to be starting striker of any Class I Exy team, let alone Vice Captain of the reigning champions. How could anyone expect Jack to listen to someone who had less years of experience than he did?

The third week Jack couldn’t stop complaining about Neil’s height. Neil was short. Jack couldn’t respect a man shorter than the national average.

When he found out about Andrew and Neil, it was his main focus for weeks. It took Wymack, Renee, Matt and Dan together to pull Andrew off of Jack. From that point on Jack was careful to only make derogatory comments out of earshot of Andrew.

It was a mild topic compared to a lot of the other things Jack had brought up that finally made Neil snap. It started off mild anyway. No one was surprised - or they shouldn’t have been - when Neil tackled the freshman to the ground.

“How many people have you killed?” Jack asked when Neil joined the rest of the team for laps.

Neil decided it was too early to get into it with him and utilized his speed to join Dan at the front. She led them around enough times to equal three miles then took them to the press room for stretches.

“You must not have been very good at it since you won’t even change out with the rest of your teammates.”

He refused to give him a reaction and stared straight ahead, hoping that for once Jack would take the hint and go away. He saw Dan eyeing them and gave her a shrug.

On the court for scrimmages, Jack stopped in front of Neil. He looked back at Andrew guarding his goal, then down his nose at Neil.

“What?” Kevin finally demanded when Jack didn’t move into position.

“Nothing,” Jack said. “I was just wondering. Neil -”

“No.” Kevin said. “Stop wasting time. Let’s go.” He pounded his racquet on the court floor but Jack stayed where he was.

His grin was an ugly thing. “Is that what attracted you two to each other?”

Neil heard someone, probably Wymack, slam a hand against the wall. He ignored them and kept his eyes trained on Jack, face impassive.

“Do you get off telling each other about the people you’ve killed?” he continued. “Can you only get it up if you picture Aaron smashing a racquet into the skull of Andrew’s -”

Jack was only a couple of inches shorter than Kevin but Neil took him down easily. As long as he’d been trying to provoke a reaction out of Neil, he hadn’t actually expected to ever get one.

In the few seconds it took him to realize his comments finally had worked, Neil already had a hand around his throat, his helmet pushed off and his arm pulled back for a second punch. Someone yelled. The court door slammed open.

Wymack grabbed Neil’s wrist. “Enough.”

Neil stopped struggling when he heard their coach’s voice. He was breathing hard and he smiled his father’s smile down at the boy beneath him.

“I’ve never killed anyone before,” Neil said lowly and moved his hand from Jack’s throat to grip his chin, forcing Jack to meet his eyes. “But you could be my first.”

He shoved Jack’s face away and stood up, shaking Wymack’s grip. “I’m good.”

“Are you?” Wymack shot back.

Neil held his hands up in what was supposed to be a placating gesture but only drew attention to Jack’s blood staining his gloves. “Yupp.”

Wymack turned a disgusted look back to Jack still on the ground. “Get the fuck off my court. I just had it waxed and you’re dripping blood all over it.”

Jack stuffed his gloves in his helmet and tucked his helmet under his arm so he could pinch his nose. He shuffled off the court looking as infuriated as a guy with a swollen eye and blood smeared over half his face could look.

“Stop bringing this bullshit onto my court! Wasting my time!” Wymack looked around at each Fox. “We’re not here to chitchat and gossip and trade insults. We’re here to play Exy! Now start running.”

He grabbed the back of Neil’s jersey before he could start on laps. “I’m calling Abby. Get your hand checked out.”

“It’s fine.”

“Didn’t ask,” Wymack cut him off before he could continue. “Say, ‘yes, Coach.’”

Neil sighed. “Yes, Coach.”

“About time you knocked him on his ass.”

Wymack hit the back of Neil’s helmet. “Wipe that look off your face or I’ll sign Andrew up for a marathon.”

“Sort your drama out off of my court,” Wymack looked around at the Foxes sitting in the lounge. “Don’t do it during my time.”

He uncrossed his arms and gripped the edge of the entertainment center he leaned against. “You.” He singled out Jack. “The next time I have to pry one of your teammates off of you, I won’t do it. I’ll let whoever it is go to town on your ugly mug. Then I’ll sign you up for a marathon and bench you for the next year.”

Jack looked unhappy but he muttered, “Yes, Coach.”

“We’re all Foxes. We all have pasts. Leave it there.”

Wymack waited for the scattered responses of “yes, Coach.”

“Don’t let your personal prejudices or biases or drama or whatever the fuck affect our game. As soon as it becomes a problem for the team, I have to get involved and I’m sick of how much I have to see you as is. Get out of here.”

The Foxes all got up from their various seats to leave. They were quiet as they walked down the hall and out of the building.

Then Jack grumbled, “Thanks for your help, guys.”

“You’re welcome,” Allison responded.

“Seriously?” Jack stopped walking.

Slowly the rest of the team stopped, too, except for Neil and the twins. Allison poked Jack in the chest. “Yes, really. You got exactly what you wanted since the first day you walked into Fox Tower.”

“I wanted Neil to break my nose and paint the court with my blood?”

“Seems like it,” Matt shrugged one shoulder. “If it wasn’t what you wanted ... well, you deserved it so stop being a little bitch and accept that you got your ass handed to you.”

“Learn to show some respect, you homophobic asshole.” Nicky called over his shoulder as he jogged to catch up with Neil and his cousins.

Jack flipped him off and yelled, “He could’ve killed me! He was going to kill me!”

Kevin looked unimpressed. “No. Andrew was going to kill you.”

“My eye is swollen shut,” Jack pointed. “He’s ruined my game for the next couple of weeks.”

“Stop being so dramatic,” Kevin said. “You ruined your own game. You brought this on yourself. Don’t bother showing up tonight.”

#aftg #tfc #palmetto state foxes #aftg fic #tfc fic